Tag Archives: Philosophy and Politics

WA’s Supreme Court orders Ballots Counted

From the Seattle Times Breaking News service:

Wednesday, December 22, 2004 1:56 PM

Supreme Court orders King County to count disputed ballots

The state Supreme Court ruled today that King County should count hundreds of recently discovered ballots in the hand recount of the still-undecided governor’s race.

Poland’s Nuclear Power

With Poland planning its first nuclear power plant, the Bush administration may now have cause to attack them. After all, if Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and other Middle Eastern countries can’t have nuclear power, why should they?

Why is this unlikely to happen? First, Poland is a first-world country; only third-world countries are denied the benefits of nuclear power. Secondly, Poland is a member country in the European Union, and we’d hate to do anything to piss them off. If it weren’t for these two reasons, Poland would likely be in trouble.

Hearts and Minds

Hearts and Minds is an Academy Award-winning documentary released in 1974 (1hr 52min) that is openly critical of the U.S. invasion of Vietnam. I decided to pick it up from Netflix and watch it again after viewing it once in class.

The film is a collection of interview clips and B-roll film put together in an astoundingly shocking way to tell the story of the real nature of the Vietnam War. Some background from the film itself (and some not): by 1954, the United States had become involved in Indochina (otherwise known as Vietnam) by financing 78% of France’s war against Indochina. As a colony of the French leadership, Vietnam was fighting for its independence against the French and, later, against the United States. The United States then went on to continue the counter-revolution against Vietnam through the Vietnam War, which really started with our subsidizing of the French-Indochina battles. The population of the United States was told that we were fighting against an evil called Communism; Noam Chomsky explains that

“Communists” is a term regularly used in American political theology to refer to people who are commutted to the belief that “the government has direct responsibility for the welfare of the people.” I’m quoting the words of a 1949 State Department intelligence report which warned about the spread of this grim and evil doctrine . . .

— Noam Chomsky, Intervention in Vietnam and Central America: Parallels and Differences (1985); reprinted in The Chomsky Reader, James Peck, ed., 1987; ISBN 0-394-75173-6, page 319

The title of the documentary is from a statement by former President Lyndon Johnson:

“So we must be ready to fight in Vietnam, but the ultimate victory will depend upon the hearts and the minds of the people who actually live out there.”

— Lyndon Johnson

Interestingly, the phrase “hearts and minds” is also being used in the current war on terrorism in much the same manner.

There is a very famous scene in the documentary showing two US soldiers taking advantage of two Vietnamese call girls, twisting their nipples and trying to convince them to cooperate; one soldier is quoted as saying “If my chick at home could see this now, man, she’d flip.”

The very next scene is a soldier lighting a straw roof on fire and escorting the men away, with helicopters firing on huts in rice paddies.

The contrast between these two scenes is stunning: first, we have U.S. soldiers treating Vietnamese women as nothing more then toys, then we have the destruction of Vietnamese homes and lives, also by U.S. soldiers. The implication here is that we regarded life in Vietnam as subhuman. This is backed up by a quote later in the movie from one Lieutenant George Coker, a former Prisoner of War in Vietnam. Coker is speaking to a group of schoolchildren, and is asked what Vietnam looked like. He replies: “What did Vietnam look like. Well, if it wasn’t for the people, it was very pretty. Uh, the people over there are very backward and very primitive. And they just make a mess out of everything.”

Probably the most compelling quote from the entire movie, for me, was from Daniel Ellsberg: “We weren’t on the wrong side. We are the wrong side.” To me, this also epitomizes most U.S. wars (peace actions, interventions, etc.) since Vietnam: the U.S. has consistently been the wrong side. This holds true in Iraq as well. One could very easily make a documentary about our attacks on Iraq and have it look a lot like Hearts and Minds.

The final scene in the movie is a clip from an interview of Randy Floyd, a Vietnam veteran. When asked “Do you think we’ve learned anything from all this?”, referring to the war, he replies:

I think we’re trying not to. I think I’m trying not to sometimes. I can’t even cry easily. From my, uh, my manhood image. I think Americans have tried–we’ve all tried very hard to escape what we’ve learned in Vietnam, to not come to the logical conclusions of what’s happened there. You know, the military does the same thing. They don’t realize that, um.. people fighting for their own freedom are not gonna be stopped by just changing your tactics, adding a little bit more sophisticated technology over here, improving the tactics we used last time, not making quite the same mistakes. Uh, you know, I think history operates a little different than that. And I think that those kind of forces are not gonna be stopped. I think Americans have worked extremely hard not to see the criminality that their officials and their policy makers have exhibited.

Overall, this is one of the most influential documentaries I’ve ever seen. I’d highly recommend it to anyone trying to understand Vietnam or our current actions in Iraq.

Iraqi Troop Buildups

The New York Times reports U.S. intentions to increase Iraqi forces by nearly 12,000.

<sarcasm>

Yeah, the “insurgents” are giving us so much trouble by fighting for their right to control their own lives. Oh, no. We’ve gotta send more troops to stop that process. We already look like idiots on the world stage; sure, let’s go make it worse.

</sarcasm>

I only wish it were false–though some people will probably immediately argue that it is. Any force buildup when we were once committed to withdrawing as quickly as possible is hypocritical and breaks promises to the United States as a whole.

Washington Gubernatorial Primaries

From the Seattle Times Breaking News service:

Wednesday, November 24, 2004 12:44 PM
Rossi wins recount in governor’s race

When the final votes in the race for governor in the state were tallied shortly after noon today, Republican Dino Rossi won the the election by just 42 votes over Democratic challenger Christine Gregoire. With a margin that small, a hand recount is almost a sure thing.

Story

Of Gregoire and Rossi, both are moronic clowns. Should’ve voted write-in for Gary Locke…

Post-Election Reflections

We are deeply troubled, deeply divided, and deeply unsure. Unsure of the future, unsure of the policies that the United States continues to perpetuate, unsure of what happens next, unsure of the motives behind the November 2nd Presidential election. The election has demonstrated, as many have put it, the continuing divide between two halves of the nation.

Thomas L. Friedman of the New York Times writes:

We don’t just disagree on what America should be doing; we disagree on what America is.

Is it a country that does not intrude into people’s sexual preferences and the marriage unions they want to make? Is it a country that allows a woman to have control over her body? Is it a country where the line between church and state bequeathed to us by our Founding Fathers should be inviolate? Is it a country where religion doesn’t trump science? And, most important, is it a country whose president mobilizes its deep moral energies to unite us – instead of dividing us from one another and from the world?

— Thomas Friedman, “Two Nations Under God”, The New York Times, November 4, 2004

The election somehow reminded me of the movie The American President. Conveniently, I wasn’t the only one:

The consequence of a misinformed American electorate is illustrated in the movie, “The American President”, starring Michael Douglas. Douglas plays Andrew Shepherd, a Wisconsin liberal up for re-election but unwilling to engage his Republican rival, Senator Bob Rumson (Richard Dreyfuss), in a character debate. Consequently Shepherd’s approval ratings fall as Rumson’s rhetoric pummels him. Lewis Rothschild (Michael J. Fox), the President’s Domestic Advisor, finally tells Shepherd in a heated debate that, “People want leadership, Mr. President, and Rumson’s the only one doing the talking. People want leadership, and in the absence of genuine leadership they’ll listen to anyone who walks up to the microphone. They want leadership. They’re so desperate for it that they’ll swim in a mirage in the desert, and when they find there’s no water, they’ll drink the sand.”

Shepherd looks at Rothschild a moment and replies, “Lewis, we’ve had beloved Presidents who couldn’t find a coherent sentence with two hands and a flash light. They don’t drink the sand because they think it’s water. They drink the sand because they don’t know the difference.”

Yesterday, fifty-one percent of the American electorate didn’t know the difference.

— Stephen Mitchell, “Envisioning the Future”, November 4, 2004

His obvious implication is that Bush supporters didn’t know the difference, but I step beyond that here and even risk saying that 100% of American voters didn’t know the difference. While those who voted for Kerry may or may not have had a better grasp of what was going on, there’s still, as Friedman put it, a sense of “my team, your team” — it just happens that one team won with a slim margin, essentially ensuring no change in U.S. national policy.

What does it say when, out of 11 states that put an anti-gay marriage Constitutional amendment, most states pass that amendment? Indeed, Mr. Friedman, what happened to our country? What happened to who we are? What happened to the Constitution, the civil rights movement, women’s rights? Are we so blind that we can’t recognize that all rights are human rights, and that we do not stand in the way of one man’s love of another man, one woman’s love of another woman, or their right to express that love through the sanctification of marriage? Where are we when we begin to ignore basic civil liberties, when the words “liberty and justice for all” don’t mean a thing?

This election says a lot about us as a nation. I find myself fearful that, with international opinion of the United States at a very low point, it stands to get still lower if we don’t begin to seriously reflect on who we are as a country and where we want to be. We drink the sand right now as a nation because we don’t realize it’s not water. Where’s the humanity, the respect for all that presumably so embodies our nation? We need to find it, and we need to find it quickly. All may not be lost if we don’t, but we’re stumbling down a road in the pitch black of night.

A cliff lies ahead of us.

Election Day 2004

Just got home from work and I’m monitoring both NPR (KUOW in the Seattle area) and the BBC’s U.S. Elections Map. As of 7:28PM PST (according to the BBC tracker), George Bush has 196 electoral votes, Kerry 112; California, the state with the most electoral votes (55), has yet to be decided, as has most of the West Coast. Ohio, one of the key states, is also undecided, though Bush is ahead in Ohio so far.

This entry will be updated relatively frequently as the vote tallying goes on.

Update (7:47PM): I would like to thank Alec Weir of Evergreen’s Writing Center for giving me the BBC tracker link. In addition, there are some other unlikely Presidential runs — I support the Kermit/Gumby ticket. I’ll post the number of electoral votes states have shortly (though I can tell you that California has a whoppin’ 55!).

Update (8:11PM): Direct from the horse’s mouth — the Federal Election Commission horse, that is — is the Distribution of Electoral Votes.

1-5 Electoral College Votes (18 states): Alaska(3), Delaware(3), D.C.(3), Hawaii(4), Idaho(4), Maine(4), Montana(3), Nebraska(5), Nevada(5), New Hampshire(4), New Mexico(5), North Dakota(3), Rhode Island(4), South Dakota(3), Utah(5), Vermont(3), West Virginia(5), Wyoming(3)

6-10 Electoral College Votes (16 states): Alabama(9), Arizona(10), Arkansas(6), Colorado(9), Connecticut(7), Iowa(7), Kansas(6), Kentucky(8), Louisiana(9), Maryland(10), Minnesota(10), Mississippi(6), Oklahoma(7), Oregon(7), South Carolina(8), Wisconsin(10)

11-15 Electoral College Votes (9 states): Georgia(15), Indiana(11), Massachusetts(12), Missouri(11), New Jersey(15), North Carolina(15), Tennessee(11), Virginia(13), Washington(11)

16-20 Electoral College Votes (2 states): Michigan(17), Ohio(20)

21-25 Electoral College Votes (2 states): Illinois(21), Pennsylvania(21)

26-30 Electoral College Votes (1 state): Florida(27)

31-35 Electoral College Votes (2 states): New York(31), Texas(34)

36-40 Electoral College Votes (0 states): NONE

41+ Electoral College Votes (1 state): California(55)

As of now, 211 electoral college votes go to Bush, 188 to Kerry (according to BBC).

I do realize that most of these are projected and not actual; the actual numbers won’t be in for a day or more.

Update (8:22PM): As many sites have pointed out, 270 Electoral College votes are required to win the U.S. Presidential race.

Turning to Washington State, Patty Murray has been re-elected as Senator with 54% of the vote according to the Seattle Times as of this time. The gubernatorial race between Gregoire and Rossi is close, 50% to 47%.

Update (8:28PM): Seattle Times’ Between the Lines blog, as well as more notable blogs such as Wonkette, Instapundit, and many more join me in live election coverage. Not that anyone’s actually reading mine (not live, at least), but there ya go. Of course, you can always check CNN, MSNBC, NBC, CBS for TV news — but for the love of God, don’t trust Fox Network. They’ll call it for Bush in a heartbeat before everything is actually in. They did that last election year, in an extremely stupid move.

Update (8:36PM): Now 211 votes to Bush, 188 to Kerry. On the West Coast current reporting indicates that Oregon is 69.4% Kerry, 29.9% Bush with 19% of precincts reported; California is not yet reporting; Washington is 50.6% Kerry, 48% Bush, and 0.7% Nader (morons!) with 2% of precincts reporting.

Update (8:50PM): To repeat what I’ve said to at least three people so far, I’m predicting that if California truly goes to Kerry, so will Oregon and Washington. ’nuff said.

As of 8:42PM, the Seattle Times reporting Patty Murray for U.S. Senate with 52% of the vote (45% Nethercutt), Rossi with 50% of the vote for Governor (47% Gregoire), and 66% no vote on raising Washington’s sales tax by 1% to support education (33% yes; I voted yes on this one).

A reminder of what I actually voted for is available here, though this doesn’t include any statewide initiative measures.

Update (9:02PM): The BBC reports 238 electoral college votes for Bush, 188 for Kerry; CNN reports 197 for Bush, 188 for Kerry. The BBC has called Florida in Bush’s camp; CNN is saying Florida is too close to call. CNN reports 41,417,329 (51% total) for Bush in the popular vote; 38,816,696 (48% total) for Kerry in the popular vote.

Update (9:04PM): The above update data was as of 9PM Pacific.

NPR has called Florida, giving it to Bush.

Update (9:18PM): CNN is being incredibly cautious in calling states, which means that BBC and NPR had Bush in a higher lead than CNN (the same is true of the Seattle Times). However, CNN has now joined other sources in giving Florida to Bush. Currently:

BBC: 188 Kerry, 238 Bush
NPR: 188 Kerry, 237 Bush
CNN: 188 Kerry, 234 Bush
Seattle Times: 188 Kerry, 237 Bush

NPR calls Oregon for Kerry as of 9:17PM PST.

Update (9:32PM): Somebody call Ohio’s race. Please? Pretty please? Kinda-shoulda-coulda-woulda-maybe please? Come on, it’s 74% precincts reported and currently 51.2% percent for Bush…

BBC: 195 Kerry, 247 Bush
NPR: 206 Kerry, 246 Bush
CNN: 188 Kerry, 237 Bush
Seattle Times: 195 Kerry, 237 Bush

NPR calls Washington, giving it to Kerry. BBC has given Oregon to Kerry, as has NPR. CNN is still out on Oregon.

Update (9:39PM): Washington State’s elections show Murray with 54% of the vote for Senate, Gregoire with 49% of the Gubernatorial vote, and 64% no vote for the sales tax initiative, I-884 — this data is retrieved from the Seattle Times, accurate as of 9:33PM PST.

Update (9:44PM): If nobody else calls Ohio, I will — in Bush’s camp.

This is an appropriate time to plug, once again, the Atom Films Flash animation “This Land”, which I’ve plugged before.

NPR and BBC call Minnesota for Kerry.

BBC: 206 Kerry, 246 Bush
NPR: 196 Kerry, 246 Bush
CNN: 195 Kerry, 246 Bush
Seattle Times: 216 Kerry, 246 Bush

Update (9:56PM): I’ve been listening to NPR for two and a half hours now. Seesh.

Whoa — New York Times is being even more cautious than anyone else. They haven’t even called California yet, and everyone has called California (that I’m monitoring, at least). In fact, they haven’t called Oregon either…

BBC calls Washington in Kerry’s favor.

BBC: 217 Kerry, 246 Bush
NPR: 216 Kerry, 246 Bush
CNN: 195 Kerry, 246 Bush
Seattle Times: 205 Kerry, 246 Bush
New York Times: 134 Kerry, 224 Bush

Update (10:07PM): Why the Hell isn’t Hawaii a major part of this coverage? NPR keeps either not mentioning Hawaii or making Hawaii an afterthought. Sure, they’re nowhere near the mainland, but that’s just rude when you’re mentioning every other mainland state. Now.. will someone call Hawaii? Alaska, maybe?

Patty Murray has given her acceptance speech for the Senate seat in Washington State.

BBC: 217 Kerry, 246 Bush
NPR: 216 Kerry, 249 Bush
CNN: 195 Kerry, 249 Bush
Seattle Times: 216 Kerry, 246 Bush
New York Times: 141 Kerry, 229 Bush

I would like to ask Washingtonians: Why, when you could’ve voted for anyone, did you have to choose, of all morons running, NADER? I bet it was all those Evergreen State College students that did it.

New York Times (finally) calls Oregon for Kerry.

Update (10:11PM): “Although far more people are taking part, the country appears as divided as it was four years ago” (paraphrase of NPR). Didn’t I say this might happen a while ago? Sometime last month?

Update (10:15PM): NPR is trying to find out if polls are still open in Ohio.

BBC: 217 Kerry, 249 Bush
NPR: 220 Kerry, 249 Bush
CNN: 196 Kerry, 249 Bush
Seattle Times: 216 Kerry, 249 Bush
New York Times: 141 Kerry, 229 Bush

Update (10:22PM): Washington State basically knows Murray is Senator at this point — 54% for Murray, 43% for Nethercutt. Gregoire has 49% of the vote and Rossi 48%. It’s basically a given that I-884 has lost.

Update (10:25PM): Alaska has gone to Bush, according to CNN and BBC. Waiting still on Ohio and Michigan — I’m antsy. What’s going on in Ohio?

BBC: 221 Kerry, 249Bush
NPR: 220 Kerry, 249 Bush
CNN: 200 Kerry, 249 Bush
Seattle Times: 220 Kerry, 249 Bush
New York Times: 141 Kerry, 234 Bush

Update (10:38PM): An interesting article on Wired entitled “Calling the Election: A Primer”. I still don’t get why people wasted their vote and voted for Nader in Washington State, but I recall what my father told me — “a vote for Nader is a vote for Bush.” Well, Dad, you’re partly right, but you’re partly wrong — that tiny percentage in Washington didn’t go to Bush, it went to Nader. On the same vein — argh, so far 0.5% of Nevada voted for Nader with 24% of precincts reporting there. Question hereby extended to Nevada residents.

I’m beginning to wonder if I should’ve done a write-in vote for Washington State governor. Who? Gary Locke, of course. Too late now, but still.

CNN gives Washington to Kerry.

BBC: 221 Kerry, 249 Bush
NPR: 221 Kerry, 249 Bush
CNN: 211 Kerry, 249 Bush
Seattle Times: 221 Kerry, 249 Bush
New York Times: 141 Kerry, 234 Bush

Update (10:51PM): An interesting article on The New York Times entitled “The Revolution Will Be Posted&quot, covering blogger commentary in this election. The title seems like a takeoff of the documentary “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised”, a documentary about Hugo Chavez.

BBC: 221 Kerry, 249 Bush
NPR: 221 Kerry, 249 Bush
CNN: 211 Kerry, 249 Bush
Seattle Times: 221 Kerry, 249 Bush
New York Times: 141 Kerry, 234 Bush

Still waiting on Ohio, Michigan, Nevada, Hawaii, and a few other states.

To the New York Times staff: You’re worse than snails. You’re coral. Update faster. And, while you’re at it, join everyone else and call California for Kerry!

Update (11:17PM): A friend of mine in the Writing Center handed me a slip of paper with the word “monkey” on it when I was at work earlier, saying that I might need it. I just pulled it out of my pocket. Bush is a monkey (and he looks like one too).

He was right. I needed it.

BBC: 221 Kerry, 249 Bush
NPR: 221 Kerry, 249 Bush
CNN: 211 Kerry, 249 Bush
Seattle Times: 221 Kerry, 249 Bush
New York Times: 141 Kerry, 234 Bush

Update (11:25PM): New York Times FINALLY called California and Washington for Kerry. About time. Ohio, Michigan, Iowa, Wisconsin, Nevada, New Mexico, Hawaii are still waiting on results.

BBC: 221 Kerry, 249 Bush
NPR: 221 Kerry, 249 Bush
CNN: 211 Kerry, 249 Bush
Seattle Times: 221 Kerry, 249 Bush
New York Times: 207 Kerry, 246 Bush

Washington’s gubernatorial race is now 50% for Gregoire, 47% for Rossi; 55% for Murray, 42% for Nethercutt (Senate).

Update (11:48PM): CNN is now showing an incredibly close race.

BBC: 225 Kerry, 249 Bush
NPR: 225 Kerry, 249 Bush
CNN: 242 Kerry, 249 Bush
Seattle Times: 221 Kerry, 249 Bush
New York Times: 217 Kerry, 246 Bush

Update (11:50PM): According to CNN, “Broken machines and a delay in opening absentee ballots will delay Iowa reporting its final count in the presidential election, state election officials said.”

Update (11:51PM): MSNBC called Ohio for Bush, but Kerry holds out.

Update (11:53PM): I figured out what happened with CNN – it called Michigan for Kerry, bringing Kerry’s total very close to Bush’s. Duh.

Update (11:55PM): Washington, with 88% of precincts reported, votes 52.6% for Kerry and 46% for Bush, with that same piddly 0.7% for Nader. Gubernatorial race remains close, 49% for Gregoire and 48% for Rossi (Seattle Times).

Update (11:57PM): Aw, crap, not another recount possibility. At least it’s Ohio this time and not Florida.

Update (11:59PM): Apparently, Hawaii went to Kerry at some point according to BBC and CNN — hadn’t noticed (or if I did, I don’t recall posting it).

November 3, 2004 – Election Coverage Continuing

Update (12:07AM): Now up to 4 hours and 40 minutes on NPR. Perhaps I’m too obsessed.

NPR joins CNN in showing a close race.

BBC: 225 Kerry, 249 Bush
NPR: 242 Kerry, 249 Bush
CNN: 242 Kerry, 249 Bush
Seattle Times: 225 Kerry, 254 Bush
New York Times: 221 Kerry, 249 Bush

Reiterating — all figures are projected from all these sources. I will, of course, post the final electoral college figures when they become available.

Update (12:10AM): Posted a while ago on CNN, but still important: “Democratic VP candidate John Edwards says: ‘We’ve waited four years for this victory. We can wait one more night’ as results lag in Ohio and Iowa.”

Update (12:16AM): A thought that was brought up: is Ohio the Florida of the 2004 elections?

Update (12:21AM): Bedtime – Power in American Society, the class I’m in this quarter, has a post-election discussion in the morning which I will likely blog about. I will keep my computer on so that I can check the numbers when I get up. I listened to 4 hours and 54 minutes of NPR coverage tonight, all the while bringing these figures and my relatively useless commentary to the web. Hopefully, it has proved entertaining for at least one person other than me.

The final College numbers for the night:

BBC: 225 Kerry, 249 Bush
NPR: 242 Kerry, 249 Bush
CNN: 242 Kerry, 249 Bush
Seattle Times: 225 Kerry, 254 Bush
New York Times: 225 Kerry, 249 Bush

Good night!

Update (8:53AM): I get up this morning, and what do I see? John Kerry is conceding the Presidential election. That’s incredibly premature of him. If anything, they should be patient like the rest of us and wait for the damn results.

In the meantime, Seattle Times has called the race with Bush as President.

BBC: 252 Kerry, 254 Bush
NPR: 252 Kerry, 254 Bush
CNN: 252 Kerry, 254 Bush
Seattle Times: 252 Kerry, 274 Bush
New York Times: 252 Kerry, 254 Bush

Update (9:07AM): The Washington State Gubernatorial race stands at 48% for both Gregoire and Rossi. To quote my father, “That’s what happens when two clowns run against each other.” One of those will be our clown as governor. Lovely thought.

Update (9:16AM): Class!

Update (2:58PM): And in the end, George W. Bush remains in office, with all covered sources declaring Ohio in his favor. Final counts:

BBC: 252 Kerry, 274 Bush
NPR: 252 Kerry, 274 Bush
CNN: 252 Kerry, 274 Bush
Seattle Times: 252 Kerry, 279 Bush
New York Times: 252 Kerry, 274 Bush

New Mexico and Iowa are still out, but at this point, their numbers won’t make much of a difference with only 12 votes between them.

Many thanks to The New York Times, National Public Radio, CNN, The Seattle Times, and the BBC for providing the sources on the electoral college numbers.

Expect more from me in the next few hours regarding the election, as well as regarding my recent post, “Five Questions We Need to Ask”.