OT: Where non-Americans get to vote - Please have your say!!

Moonburnt · Post by **Moonburnt** » Wed Oct 27, 2004 12:22 pm

At the risk of starting another political thread, I thought I'd start another political thread

For all you non-American citizens out there wishing you could have a say in who is the next president of the planet, well maybe you can - check out the page below. And email it to people if you like the idea, because voting closes in 2 days time! If nothing else, it will be interesting to see the results, but the idea is that it might make US voters take global opinion into consideration when they cast their votes.

From the site:
"We will count the votes 48 hours before the election and submit the result to the US media. Just letting US citizens know how the world has voted could influence what looks like a tight race."

To confirm each vote, they do require an email address so they can send you a validation link but don't worry - i promise they don't spam you, it's just to keep everything legit.

So without further ado, here's the link:
http://www.technicola.com/globalvote2004/

forge · Post by **forge** » Wed Oct 27, 2004 12:41 pm

cool idea! thanks moonburnt

I just hope green party means the same thing there because I've no idea who that guy was!

mudbone · Post by **mudbone** » Wed Oct 27, 2004 12:44 pm

God help us if that retarded hillbilly oil boy gets back in

Moonburnt · Post by **Moonburnt** » Wed Oct 27, 2004 2:31 pm

yeah, i assume green means green in the usual political sense - saving the environment and legalizing hippies, not that the Green candidate looked very hippie. i assume those 5 "filler" candidates don't count for much at this stage in the game, if ever.

Vercengetorex · Post by **Vercengetorex** » Wed Oct 27, 2004 6:40 pm

Forge, you voted for Nader without even knowing who he is? That rules!
Seriously though, I would vote for Nader if it would not guarantee GWBush's seat in the WhiteHouse (that how GW won last time!!)

forge · Post by **forge** » Wed Oct 27, 2004 10:27 pm

no I dont think I voted for Nader (is that Ralph Nader?) I think he was some other party - the other guy I'd never heard of on there who looked like a slightly camp High School teacher - I just voted for him because it said Green Party - I dont think Kerry would really be that much better than Bush - for that reason (that and Florida) I have a really bad feeling about the outcome....

Alex Reynolds · Post by **Alex Reynolds** » Wed Oct 27, 2004 11:36 pm

I dont think Kerry would really be that much better than Bush

It's a good thing non-citizens can't vote in US elections if they're all as misinformed. No offense.

forge · Post by **forge** » Thu Oct 28, 2004 7:02 am

Alex Reynolds wrote:
I dont think Kerry would really be that much better than Bush
It's a good thing non-citizens can't vote in US elections if they're all as misinformed. No offense.

It's not so much about being misinformed but unbearably cynical. Kerry might be less of a Cowboy, but I cant see him being a champion for justice - the number one threat to humanity today (a LONG way ahead of
'terror') is climate change - America needs to not only stop consuming to the extent it does but actually take steps to reverse it. Your man Bush wouldn't even sign Kyoto - this late in the game there isn't alot of hope for our children - they're certainly going to inherit a pretty shitty world at this rate.

No offence but I find it difficult to accept Americans are that much better informed because Dubbya got close enough to buy his way in last time. A moronic pig like him shouldn't even have made it to the race.

The US media en masse is notorious for bing the most one sided contrived corporate sponsored tripe which means Americans have to go a bit further to be well informed and the president you've had in office since 2000 is living proof.

Also - you only ever hear about America in your news - most of us outside hear a bit more about the rest of the world.

fatrabbit · Post by **fatrabbit** » Thu Oct 28, 2004 8:05 am

Yeah a lot of Americans don't even own a passport.

A recent article in The Guardian put some Americans from all walks of life to the test, and tryed to get them to locate Cardiff, Edinburgh, London and Belfast on a map of the UK. They had 4 locations to choose from, and only a very small number (~ 5%) actually got it right or almost all right.

I don't think Kerry would be that much better than Bush either.. although I would rather see Bush out of the White House. There was a programme on over here about large companies making huge donations to the main political parties and then (over the last 4 years) Bush has passed laws and done things in favour of these companies. This time around, many companies have invested in both parties, to cover all bases as such, so Kerry would be just as bad.

djshiva · Post by **djshiva** » Thu Oct 28, 2004 9:45 am

fatrabbit wrote:Yeah a lot of Americans don't even own a passport.

A recent article in The Guardian put some Americans from all walks of life to the test, and tryed to get them to locate Cardiff, Edinburgh, London and Belfast on a map of the UK. They had 4 locations to choose from, and only a very small number (~ 5%) actually got it right or almost all right.

what i find fascinating is that, while i have not been outside the country (not for lack of wanting to travel, but for financial reasons), i can find all of those places thanks to my incredibly geeky knowledge of techno and who produces it from where.

Moonburnt · Post by **Moonburnt** » Thu Oct 28, 2004 3:30 pm

forge wrote: It's not so much about being misinformed but unbearably cynical. Kerry might be less of a Cowboy, but I cant see him being a champion for justice - the number one threat to humanity today (a LONG way ahead of 'terror') is climate change
..etc...

good comeback! I'm a tad cynical about the merits of Kerry too, but he's still the lesser of two evils, and I really hope that people don't end up splitting the vote and leaving us with monkey man. At this stage I just see it as 2 choices:

GWB vs. Anyone who isn't GWB

And as Mr. Kerry is the most prominent candidate who fulfills the stringent requirements of the latter category, he gets my vote on that basis alone.

forge · Post by **forge** » Thu Oct 28, 2004 3:38 pm

Moonburnt wrote:
GWB vs. Anyone who isn't GWB

And as Mr. Kerry is the most prominent candidate who fulfills the stringent requirements of the latter category, he gets my vote on that basis alone.

exactly what we were saying at work today - the only reason to vote for Kerry is to get rid of that moron, and that's enough of a reason!

Martyn · Post by **Martyn** » Thu Oct 28, 2004 10:09 pm

forge wrote:a LONG way ahead of 'terror' is climate change - America needs to not only stop consuming to the extent it does but actually take steps to reverse it. Your man Bush wouldn't even sign Kyoto - this late in the game there isn't alot of hope for our children - they're certainly going to inherit a pretty shitty world at this rate.

Unfortunately the damage is done already, if you push a swing in a certain direction you can deny till the cows come home that that swing will come right back and smash your teeth out, it won't make a difference. It's now pretty well accepted scientifically that we have to accept the consequenses of our actions. If we all stopped producing ALL kinds of atmospheric pollutants right now, it still wouldn't change that fact.

We are already seeing some evidence of this in the weather. Added to that, it's also extremely likely that a polar reversal is on the cards, the earth's magnetic field is now measurably weaker (by quite a bit) and there is a large anomoly in the south atlantic where the compass points the wrong way. Then there's that huge caldera that IS yellowstone national park...etc....etc.....

We are all absolutely fucked! It's just about how long we have left, could be in the hundreds yearwise though.

Then again if the old wise sages were correct it's all just Maya (illusion) anyway. That illusion of a table still really hurts when I accidentally crack my toe on it.

It's hard not to be a little cynical isn't it? Can we be forgiven just a teensy weensy bit of cynicism?

Machinate · Post by **Machinate** » Thu Oct 28, 2004 10:57 pm

Martyn wrote:We are all absolutely fucked! It's just about how long we have left, could be in the hundreds yearwise though.

-and that's where the Kyoto aggrement comes in. But then again, who cares about buying the world a few hundreds or thousands of years more?

hitherto · Post by **hitherto** » Thu Oct 28, 2004 11:33 pm

NEWS FLASH......

Americans (for the most part) don't care what foreigners think. To think that some silly poll would have an effect on the election is ludicrous.

There is a common conception here that if Americans cared what you Europeans thought, you would all be Nazis.

It is funny...cuz I live in the US, I live in Califorinia, and my vote for president doesn't even matter. You see we have this silly thing called the Electoral College.....

Yeah a lot of Americans don't even own a passport.

A recent article in The Guardian put some Americans from all walks of life to the test, and tryed to get them to locate Cardiff, Edinburgh, London and Belfast on a map of the UK. They had 4 locations to choose from, and only a very small number (~ 5%) actually got it right or almost all right.

Ummmm.....what does this mean? Is this supposed to mean that Americans are uninformed about the world. No...what is shows is how uninformed you are. Most Americans don't have a passport because the US is huge...you don't need a passport to go from state to state, you don't even need a passport to pass over the Mexican and Canaidian borders.

On a map of Texas could you locate San Antonio, Dallas, El Paso, and Austin? I don't think so.....