March 31, 2004

Air America Radio

God, that had so much content that I wanted to listen to that I quickly got overwhelmed. It sort of makes me want to get a full-time job with a long commute just so I can justify listening to the show more. :-)

I caught the section of Randi Rhodes slamming Nader. I loved it. I wish she had made the point that she would agree with him if it weren't for how the election system was set up.

The only thing is, however, if Nader were on the verge of considering dropping out and endorsing Kerry, as some have been theorizing given his upcoming meeting with Kerry... then I think that possibility just got a little bit less likely.

Posted by Curt at 08:47 PM

The Blogging Of The President

I removed BOPNews from my daily bookmarks list today. I don't have a clear reason why, I just realized that the occasional worthiness of its remarks was overshadowed by how often it just bugs me. That and, I just cannot get through a complete article of Stirling Newberry's writing without wanting to tear my hair out from having to parse his grammar.

Posted by Curt at 02:31 PM

March 29, 2004

Social Proof: Nader Should Not Run

I have updated my latest Social Proof, NaderShouldNotRun:

NaderShouldNotRun

NaderCannotWinDemocratically proves that Nader cannot win without undermining DemocraticIntent; i.e. cannot win democratically.

ProtectingDemocraticIntent proves that a ThirdPartySpoiler that cannot win democratically undermines DemocraticIntent.

Nader is a ThirdPartySpoiler, by definition.

DemocraticIntentMustBeProtected proves that DemocraticIntent must not be undermined.

Therefore, since Nader's run undermines DemocraticIntent, Nader should not run for President.


Parent: ProofList

Here are the subproofs:

NaderCannotWinDemocratically

NaderCannotWinThePresidency is socially proven, contested by NuclearNader.

NuclearNaderIsNotDemocratic proves that winning through the NuclearNader scenario is not a democratic win.

Therefore, Nader cannot win democratically.


Parent: NaderShouldNotRun

NaderCannotWinThePresidency was covered in a previous entry, but here are the Proofs concerning NuclearNader:

NuclearNader

There is one scenario that says Nader could win one state, limiting the others from winning 270 Electoral Votes, and then demand that Kerry assign all his delegates to him by proclaiming that he doesn't care if Bush wins over Kerry (since Bush would probably beat Kerry in the House Of Reps). This is arguably absurd, but we haven't yet proven it impossible. Are delegates from any states prohibited from casting Electoral Votes for someone other than the winner, even if the winner wishes it? A proof would probably have to look closely at precedent and social pressures on delegates to guarantee this wouldn't happen.


Parent: NaderNeedsToWinLotsOfStates

NuclearNaderIsNotDemocratic

NuclearNader describes a scenario where Kerry's delegates plus Nader's delegates would be enough to beat Bush.

Since Nader would only win one state, this would mean that the population as a whole would prefer Kerry to Nader. The population as a whole would also prefer Bush to Nader.

Therefore, the DemocraticIntent of the voting population is clearly not Nader.

Nader winning in this fashion would therefore be undemocratic.


Parent: NaderShouldNotRun

And for the remainder of the proof:

ThirdPartySpoiler

The "Third Party Spoiler" is a type of candidate (referred to herein as a "spoiler") that can make one winnable candidate lose to another, when it might otherwise beat the other. Not all candidates are spoilers. Not all third party candidates are spoilers. A spoiler will not definitely affect an election in this way; it's only a possible outcome.

We define a spoiler as a candidate that fits all the below required criteria.

  • The spoiler is running
  • The spoiler is running against other candidates who do have a clear shot at winning ("winnable candidates")
  • The spoiler is clearly ideologically closer to one of the winnable candidates than the other(s), in terms of voter support
  • The spoiler is participating in an election that does not allow the spoiler's supporters to register preference between the other winnable candidates.

Reasoning:

A spoiler gets support from a variety of supporters. We define a "preferenced supporter" as a supporter of the spoiler, that also has a preference among the winnable candidiates. This means that if the spoiler wasn't running, the spoiler's supporters would vote for that other winnable candidate.

Since the spoiler is ideologically closer to one party, some of the spoiler's support would come from preferenced supporters of that party's candidate. The spoiler would also have more preferenced supporters from that candidate than from another.

If so, then if the spoiler loses, a winnable candidate could then lose to another winnable candidate, even if the population as a whole preferred the losing winnable candidate to the winner.


Parent: NaderShouldNotRun

DemocraticIntent

The Democratic Intent of the voters can be defined as the candidate that the population prefers overall, among a group of candidates. In a group of two candidates, the majority preference is the Democratic Intent.

ProtectingDemocraticIntent

There is an absolute definition of DemocraticIntent.

In matters where a population has a direct input, it is a truism that DemocraticIntent must be protected in order for it to be a Democracy. Since states decide presidential elections, DemocraticIntent must be protected on a state level.

A ThirdPartySpoiler is capable of spoiling an election, but may not. In cases where a ThirdPartySpoiler has a shot at winning, then by definition that means they may be the DemocraticIntent of the population.

If a candidate may be the DemocraticIntent, then excluding them from the race would also undermine DemocraticIntent.

Therefore, any ThirdPartySpoiler that has a chance at winning democratically should run. While they may turn out to spoil the election, this would only be clear after the fact.

However, a candidate that does not have a chance of winning democratically only has two possible outcomes. They have a chance of having no effect, and they have a chance of undermining DemocraticIntent. But, their presence does nothing to protect DemocraticIntent. No matter what, their presence reduces the likelihood of DemocraticIntent being expressed. The presence of such a candidate may have value in terms of "providing a voice" to voters in the minority, but at the cost of making it less likely that DemocraticIntent will be expressed.

Therefore, a ThirdPartySpoiler that has no chance at winning democratically undermines DemocraticIntent.


Parent: NaderShouldNotRun

DemocraticIntentMustBeProtected

DemocraticIntent must be protected. This is pretty much a truism. Anyone opposing this argument for politic purposes would be exposing Democracy to the same sort of abuse from their political enemies.

American Democracy is about majority rule, without minorities being trampled. This is not the same as minority rule. Minorities are given protection, but not the right to win elections outright.

DemocraticIntent must be protected. If it is currently undermined, we must work toward restoring it.


Parent: NaderShouldNotRun

Seeking input to make it stronger. The idea is to point out that any argument supporting a Nader presidential run is either undemocratic, or under the impression that Nader will win several states outright in November.

Posted by Curt at 11:53 PM | Comments (9)

March 28, 2004

Nader Should Not Run

I have a rough version of a new proof. This attempts to socially prove that Ralph Nader should not run for president, if Democratic Intent is to be protected. It's contested by one far-fetched scenario by which Ralph Nader could hypothetically win the Presidency.

NaderShouldNotRun

NaderCannotWinThePresidency is socially proven, contested by NuclearNader.

Nader is a ThirdPartySpoiler, by definition.

SpoilersUndermineDemocraticIntent proves that a ThirdPartySpoiler that cannot win should not run, if DemocraticIntent is to be protected.

Therefore, Nader should not run if DemocraticIntent is to be protected, contested by NuclearNader.


Parent: ProofList

DemocraticIntent

The Democratic Intent of the voters can be defined as the candidate that the population prefers overall, among a group of candidates. In a group of two candidates, the majority preference is the Democratic Intent.

NuclearNader

There is one scenario that says Nader could win one state, limiting the others from winning 270 Electoral Votes, and then demand that Kerry assign all his delegates to him by proclaiming that he doesn't care if Bush wins over Kerry (since Bush would probably beat Kerry in the House Of Reps). This is arguably absurd, but we haven't yet proven it impossible. Are delegates from any states prohibited from casting Electoral Votes for someone other than the winner, even if the winner wishes it? A proof would probably have to look closely at precedent and social pressures on delegates to guarantee this wouldn't happen.


Parent: NaderNeedsToWinLotsOfStates

Posted by Curt at 04:16 AM

Kerry's Blueprint

The Washington Post write about how Kerry is in need of a blueprint:
"The party has stamped Kerry's candidacy more than Kerry has put his imprint on the party..."

This could be a flaw, but not if he turns it to his advantage. I've written about a similar idea before when I still was hoping Dean could turn it around. This election is bigger than Kerry, there's no way around that. So what Kerry should do is market a platform, a label, a system, that all the Democratic candidates can get behind.

If we had a Democratic version of Contract For America, that would actually be marketed as a document, or a badge, or something tangible, then it could be a nationwide movement that would actually lend momentum to a whole crowd of Democrats, with Kerry as their leader. And it's very much something that could be used to triangulate the Republicans. You make it about being honest with Americans, but you present it in a partisan fashion - put the Republicans in the position of having to run against honesty. You make it about civic education and open information, and put the Republicans in the position of having to defend secrecy and obfuscation. You don't need to make it about Democratic things that can legitimately be opposed, like multilateralism, or minority rights. Everyone knows the Democrats are about that.

You come up with a smartly marketed theme, a tangible something that people can brand themselves with - I keep thinking of a document - and we've graduated from a bunch of individual races to a movement.

Posted by Curt at 12:37 AM

March 27, 2004

Clarke Etc

All the Richard Clarke stuff has just made me feel like sitting back and waiting to see what will happen. I feel like I've been disappointed so far - it's like watching Truth square its shoulders and charge the door it's trying to break down, and each time it just runs into the door, that never quite breaks down. What does it take to break it down?
Posted by Curt at 06:57 PM

March 25, 2004

Dave Winer And Baby Squirrels

Dave Winer remarks about Six Apart's growth.

He sounds all gracious and thoughtful for almost the entire entry, and then lets loose with this:

"So try to give them the benefit of the doubt, and try to work with them. I will too, overlooking how they've treated me in the past, because it's good for the community for us all to work together."

(emphasis mine)

Eight words standing in the way of a fine sentiment. It totally undermines the point of the piece. The (false) magnanimity gets in the way of it feeling truly supportive.

Posted by Curt at 03:05 AM

March 24, 2004

Other Bloggers' Desks

For some reason I feel better about my home.

Posted by Curt at 04:04 AM | Comments (1)

Strange 9/11 Quotes

"Unfortunately, history shows that it can take a tragedy like 9/11 to awaken the world to a new threat."

Donald Rumsfeld, in today's hearings.

Plus, atrios writes about a Rumsfeld statement where he claims that it would have been a mistake to go after Bin Laden before 9/11, since it then probably would have happened anyway, justified as retaliation. Why the attachment to it happening? It just doesn't seem like the thinking of one who was completely taken by surprise by 9/11.

Atrios also picks up a Bush quote given today:

"If we had specific information that on the morning of September 11, four planes would be hijacked, 2 would be flown into the world trade center, 1 into the Pentagon, and 1 into an unknown target, then we would have acted..."

Why so specific?

Posted by Curt at 02:02 AM

March 23, 2004

Weblog Planning

One of the things I'm thinking of doing is splitting my weblog, but I thought I'd let myself be affected by my readers! So if you have input on the following, let me know.

I've been writing about politics more and more. I realize that might not be so interesting to my friends. And most of my technological interests are having to do with groups, consensus, decision-making, and... politics. So I'm thinking of making a weblog specifically for technology and politics (and honestly, I've already registered the domain name for this hypothetical site, but that's a secret).

Then I'd have a personal weblog elsewhere for miscellaneous and personal stuff, for those that like to keep up with all things Curt.

So that's the idea. What do you think? Why do you read this site?

Posted by Curt at 07:44 PM

Web Design

I need some web design help. I'm going to be launching a new weblog and need a new movable type template. I'll also need to redesign an existing website with your basic business/portfolio layout. I'm hoping to find someone to trade with - I make my living as a freelance web programmer (perl, php, mysql, oracle, etc) so that would be the best bet. So if you need some programming and can help me with the design, inquire within.

I'll update this weblog entry when I've got it solved.

Posted by Curt at 04:46 PM

March 22, 2004

Muse Located

I'm ready to declare my muse located. No more need to hunt. Not quite sure how to relate to her yet, but that's another challenge.

The museworld.com weblog will be moving soon, and will be converted to business website I'll be launching soon.

There's a lot of work to do first, however! So I will be blogging at museworld until that happens.

Posted by Curt at 03:11 AM | Comments (1)

March 21, 2004

Radio Soundtrack

As some of you know, my life as a programmer and political analyst (well, opinion-giver) is only one of my lives. My other life is the one with the music degree, piano-playing, composing, music-directing, and more recently, dramatic scoring.

I've gotten more into scoring over the last few months and have been building up my studio and taking film scoring classes up in Seattle. I recently completed my first real soundtrack project, and it just finished post-production.

This is for a radio drama pilot. They want it to turn into a serial and are hoping to get airplay on satellite radio. I got involved with it for fun as a voice actor, and then it turned out they needed music, too. I composed the score for it and they finished their post-production work recently.

They'll be selling the complete pilot soon when they make the website live, but in the meantime I was able to rip and encode the teaser and the prologue, both of which have a fair amount of my music mixed in. I had a lot of fun working on this project - hopefully they'll find an audience willing to support more episodes.

Posted by Curt at 02:36 AM

March 19, 2004

Spain, Terrorism Victory, and Double Binds

Josh Marshall quotes from another about the right-wing "Spain appeasement" argument and writes:
However, I think Ash has a very good point when he writes the following ...
So far as the Spanish voters' intentions are concerned, the election result was not subjectively a victory for al-Qaida. But it is, as Marxists used to say, an objective victory for al-Qaida. The Madrid bombings look likely to do exactly what a message posted on a radical Islamist website months ago said they should do: exploit the election moment to knock Spain out of the "Crusader-Zionist" coalition in Iraq. Conclusion: terror works.
I don't see how you get around that.

The whole reason that they can argue that it "works" is because the terrorists are opportunistic. I mean, they're on record as saying they want Bush to win because he serves their purposes. The same logic could be extended to saying that the reelection of the Spain Popular party would have served their purposes and been a victory in the same way. Basically, you can argue that any result other than the complete eradication of terrorists everywhere is a victory for the terrorists. Refusing to invade Iraq was, Bush argued, a victory for terrorism. The outcome of invading Iraq is, we argue, an objective victory for terrorism as well. So what's the point of using "victory for terrorists" as a scorecard?

In psychology there's a term called "double bind". It's basically when a bully puts you in a damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don't situation. Sometimes the responsibility lies with the bully, but ultimately the responsibility lies with the person that has allowed the double bind to have power over them. The people of Spain knew very well that a Socialist victory could have been painted as an act of appeasement, and a victory for terrorism. They knew it ahead of time. They did it anyway. The way you get out of a double bind is to simply refuse to accept the premises of the argument.

The right wing and the terrorists have a lot in common in terms of their political approach. They set things up to break (they don't care how), and then they claim victory. The way to oppose that is to call them out on it.

Update: This entry has already created some discussion - Tamara writes:

...as well as not accepting the premise, you also need to realize that "they" are not seeking understanding but are seeking to confuse. The right wing makes a lot of noise that way. Yes over here, no over there... (which is right? when? I don't get it.. I'm confused...) and that allows them to be opportunistic and tell you when it's right/wrong.
Posted by Curt at 01:52 PM

Support Section

Due to a few requests, I'm putting a "Support" section in the sidebar. You can click on a couple of google text ads every once in a while and they'll send me a couple of bucks. In the future I'll try to add little buttons for amazon affiliates, paypal, and amazon wishlist... as soon as I figure out how to make them accessible without looking too cluttered.

Posted by Curt at 05:03 AM

March 17, 2004

Rip Van Winkle

Once in a while I think of the hypothetical guy who fell asleep before 9/11 and then woke up this winter well after Bush invaded Iraq in response. He'd be a lot more dumbfounded and enraged at Bush and our cowlike acceptance than we and our media have been, I'm certain of that.

So, I left for vacation on the day of the Spain bombing, and today I'm watching CNN Headline News and I see the headline that Spain's election of the Socialist party is a win for Al Queda.

I think this is where the Rip Van Winkle effect works in my favor. What the hell is everyone smoking? Do they honestly believe this is somehow a win for terrorism? Even Jon Stewart was in on the act on last night's Daily Show. Only the dullest thinking dimwit would be thinking this. Seriously, people have to get a hold of themselves.

To spell it out. It serves Al Queda's purposes to have an aggressive government coalition suppressing the middle east as Bush has been doing. Their whole success has always been in playing both ends against each other. They make "the enemy" out to be the big evil, the big evil comes back and clumsily smashes some generic arabs, Al Queda sabre-rattles some more and makes noises about how it just goes to show the middle east that we hate their entire way of life and want to destroy them all, and Al Queda's recruiting is then even more successful.

We played right into their hands after 9/11. "Duuhhhhh... they attacked us because they hate FREEDOM. Duhhh." Even Aaron Sorkin got into the act. Idiots. And here, we're in danger of playing into their hands once again. (And by "they", I mean both our right-wing neohawk freaks as well as Al Queda.)

A fear-mongering manipulative imperialist could argue that a bunch of quavering Spanish wimps were scared and laid down before the mighty terrorists. I've got memories of a million marching and protesting Spaniards that say otherwise.

Kerry better handle this right. It'll take the sort of shameless courage that I doubted he had. If he handles this well, it'll go a long way towards alleviating my concerns.

Posted by Curt at 01:38 AM | Comments (2)

March 10, 2004

A Break

Well, I am taking a nice break the next few days. Off to Fort Myers for a long weekend to see grandmothers, nieces, and everyone in between. I might be blogging a bit, but I doubt it. Too bad, since traffic is just starting to take off. Oh well, I'll pick up the threads of momentum soon enough...

Posted by Curt at 11:10 PM | Comments (1)

FactCheck.org

I thought the idea of FactCheck.org was really cool, but its appeal has worn on me. Sometimes even the attempt to be "accurate" can be slanted, such as by strongly opposing Dean's tax argument even after he left the race, and by giving weak opposition to Kerry's "liberal elite" status, and releasing an article about Bush's ads by saying that there's not that much to oppose. Why release the article then? There's one bookmark going away.

Posted by Curt at 08:11 PM

Movable Type Kwiki Plugin

I figured out how to integrate my Kwiki Plugin with my Revision Plugin.

What that basically means is that if I include a wiki node like so:

SandBox

This is the sandbox. If you're not sure about wikis, play around here. Edit the text, do what you want, press submit, delete, restore, do whatever, don't have fun. I mean, do.

SandyCove is another junk page.

See, I deleted a Hmm comment, and I'm adding this.

Just curious: what was so Hmm about it?

Dunno. No idea who added the Hmmm. Hmmmm.

This is Pete and Kira checking in... Hmmmm. Hmmmm. Hmmmm.

And then I go and decide to change the wiki node, then I can decide to republish the blog entry with the latest version of the wiki node. And then, the revision history of this weblog entry will not only show the version diffs of this weblog entry, but also of the wiki node from what it was the last time it was published in this weblog entry.

Go ahead and browse the revision history of this weblog entry, you will see what I mean.

What is cool about this is that since I can display several wiki nodes in a weblog entry, then it is in effect freezing a series of wiki nodes into one release. Then I could change all of them for an overhaul, and browse the diffs between entire releases.

Here's a second node to demonstrate.

SandyCove

Hiya. Here's the contents of the other junky page. I'm expanding on the junkiness here.

In other words, it's a way to take snapshots of a wiki progression.

Posted by Curt at 03:10 AM

March 09, 2004

Spoiler Proof Suspended

Well, I'm clearly back to where I began. The only really consistent conclusion you can make from this - if the intent is to protect DemocraticIntent - is that third party candidacies should be opposed under all circumstances, no matter what - in presidential races, for as long as the Electoral College exists in its current form, and in other races, for as long as preference voting is left unimplemented.

Posted by Curt at 09:27 PM

Third Party Spoilers

I revised my Third Party Spoiler Proof by generalizing and splitting it out. It is now SpoilersUndermineDemocraticIntent.

First, the definition:

ThirdPartySpoiler

The "Third Party Spoiler" is a type of candidate (referred to herein as a "spoiler") that can make one winnable candidate lose to another, when it might otherwise beat the other. Not all candidates are spoilers. Not all third party candidates are spoilers. A spoiler will not definitely affect an election in this way; it's only a possible outcome.

We define a spoiler as a candidate that fits all the below required criteria.

  • The spoiler is running
  • The spoiler is running against other candidates who do have a clear shot at winning ("winnable candidates")
  • The spoiler is clearly ideologically closer to one of the winnable candidates than the other(s), in terms of voter support
  • The spoiler is participating in an election that does not allow the spoiler's supporters to register preference between the other winnable candidates.

Reasoning:

A spoiler gets support from a variety of supporters. We define a "preferenced supporter" as a supporter of the spoiler, that also has a preference among the winnable candidiates. This means that if the spoiler wasn't running, the spoiler's supporters would vote for that other winnable candidate.

Since the spoiler is ideologically closer to one party, some of the spoiler's support would come from preferenced supporters of that party's candidate. The spoiler would also have more preferenced supporters from that candidate than from another.

If so, then if the spoiler loses, a winnable candidate could then lose to another winnable candidate, even if the population as a whole preferred the losing winnable candidate to the winner.


Parent: NaderShouldNotRun

The conclusion:

SpoilersUndermineDemocraticIntent

If a ThirdPartySpoiler exists, then it is possible that an otherwise winnable candidate can lose even when the population prefers that winnable candidate overall.

ProtectingDemocraticIntent proves that a ThirdPartySpoiler that cannot win democratically undermines DemocraticIntent.

DemocraticIntent must be protected to keep a race Democratic.

Therefore, if DemocraticIntent is to be protected, a ThirdPartySpoiler that cannot win should not run.


Parent: NaderShouldNotRun

And the definition it depends on:

DemocraticIntent

The Democratic Intent of the voters can be defined as the candidate that the population prefers overall, among a group of candidates. In a group of two candidates, the majority preference is the Democratic Intent.

Posted by Curt at 08:16 PM | Comments (1)

Third Party Presidential Spoilers

I'm trying to abstract out a definition of Third Party Presidential Spoilers. Let me know if you can think of any holes or exceptions in this, or if you disagree with it, on what grounds.

ThirdPartyPresidentialSpoiler

The "Third Party Presidential Spoiler" is a type of candidate (referred to as a "spoiler") that can make one winnable candidate lose to another, when they might otherwise beat the other. Not all presidential candidates are spoilers. Not all third party presidential candidates are spoilers. There nonetheless exists a type of candidate that is a spoiler, and this is the definition and proof.

We can define a spoiler as a candidate that fits all the below criteria.

  • The spoiler is running for president
  • The spoiler does not have a shot at winning the election
  • The spoiler is running against other candidates who do have a clear shot at winning ("winnable candidates")
  • The spoiler is clearly ideologically closer to one of the winnable candidates than the other(s), in terms of voter support
  • The spoiler is participating in an election that does not allow the spoiler's supporters to register preference between the winnable candidates.

Reasoning:

A spoiler gets support from a variety of supporters. We define a "preferenced supporter" as a supporter of the spoiler, that also has a preference among the winnable candidiates.

Since the spoiler is ideologically closer to one party, some of the spoiler's support would come from preferenced supporters of that party's candidate. The spoiler would also have more preferenced supporters from that candidate than from another.

If so, then an otherwise winnable candidate could then lose to another winnable candidate, even though the population as a whole preferred that losing winnable candidate.

(You can even edit it over on my wiki; follow the link at the top of the block.)

Posted by Curt at 03:47 AM | Comments (2)

Nader Hurting Kerry

MSNBC - Bush ratings slide on Iraq, economy Nader draws 3% nationwide. Without Nader, Kerry leads Bush by 9. With Nader, Kerry leads Busy by 4.
In a bit of good news for Bush, Nader is drawing essentially all of his support from Kerry, who leads Bush by 9 percentage points in a two-way matchup with the president -- an indication Nader could play the spoiler for Democrats in 2004 as he did four years ago. Underscoring that potential, nearly two-thirds of Democrats opposed Nader's decision to run, while nearly half of all Republicans supported his move.
There's nothing new here. In an alternate reality we could cheer that so many Republicans seem to like Nader (and golly gosh, maybe they'll vote for 'im!). But that's not what is going on.

Shorter Nader: "Democracy is threatened! So vote for me or Democracy gets it!"

Posted by Curt at 03:12 AM

Dean's talk on CSPAN

Gmooth has a transcript of Dean's recent talk with the Washington Press Club at the Gridiron Club Luncheon:
"I get this serenity every time election day comes along, because I know I’ve done everything I can, and it’s in the hands of the boss, and the boss is the voters, and as long as we have that system I have a fair amount of confidence in the country."
Reading that, and reading the whole transcript, leads to one feeling in my heart. Goddammit.

Posted by Curt at 12:16 AM

March 08, 2004

Safer. Stronger.

Take Back The Media has another good Bush ad. I love that piano!

Posted by Curt at 11:29 PM

Kerry's 2004 Electoral Map

Update: Read my weblog for up-to-date commentary on the election.

According to a report linked to by political wire, here is how the electoral map currently looks for Kerry and Bush in 2004 (click for larger version).

zogbynation

Red is Bush, blue is Kerry, white is "in play". And right now, Kerry is leading in Florida...

(Made using this cool electoral map tool.)

Update: Please note this map is many days out of date. Here is the up-to-date synopsis of the electoral vote (updated daily):

Click for www.electoral-vote.com

It links to electoral-vote.com, which is updated every day from the latest polls.

This entry is part of my weblog, which you can read for daily updates on politics, media, and rhetoric. Other recent entries you may be interested in:

Posted by Curt at 03:05 PM | Comments (115)

March 07, 2004

David Wilcox War Poem

Here's a spoken word poem by David Wilcox - I heard it on NPR tonight. It's about the war - it came across really well verbally, although its intent is a bit more obvious when you read it.

There was a long haired guy who drew a crowd outside
He got them all angry over national pride
He was talking of the war that's on our shore
And how we've never had to fight so hard before
It's a war to fight and a war to win he said
But how do we strike and where to begin?

We want to kill those guilty of the crimes they've made
But they don't live in one city; there's no fortress to invade
This war is psychological and it starts righthere
So in my defiance, I will not live in fear
Because fear is their weapon so I won't give in to that

They know that fear turns to rage, and thats just their trap
The way they win is to make us strike back
They want us to launch a dreadful counterattack
The more people that die at the hand of our nation
The more hate it will breed in the next generation

In this kind of war, they're not after our land
They want their children's blood on our vengeful hands
They want to make us act like an angry mob
So we look like a bully that hates their god

Their plan is to hurt us with our own brute force
Like a herd stampeding down a deadly course
If they can get us running with a rage like this
They can lead the free world off the edge of a cliff

And the cliff is to fall for the trap they've sprung
To make us play the role of the vengeful one
They want us to chase them and hunt them down
To kill their people and burn their towns

The few guilty people are happy to die
If they can make us kill a few thousand more besides
Becuase the death of the innocents just fuels the flame

Until the next war starts and its all the same
And the future unfolds for a hundred years
As the terror grows and it breeds more fear
So who will decide the future of our nation?
Will we follow along with their invitation?

The invitation is to trust our hate
To let revenge define our fate
To never see that it's a different war
And we can't fight the same way we fought before
We're not hunted by a tiger, or a lion or a shark, its more
Like FIRE that's the danger and the enemy's a spark

But the trickiest spin that the devil could twist
Was convincing the world that he didn't exist
If you don't believe in evil, then they're just dangerous men
And you'll fight fire with fire, and you'll be just like them
An eye for an eye, time after time
Eye after eye until the whole world is blind

If our enemy is evil, like a virus of the mind
And its moving through the body of all humankind
Then the evil brilliance of this virus which is hate
Is that our natural reaction makes it replicate

We want to shoot at a target thats easy to find
But the enemy is in us - all humankind
We want to kill the invader like we could in the past
But you can't kill a virus with a shotgun blast
This is not a nation that we're up against
If it's good against evil what's our best defense?

The man on the street was drawing a crowd
Some people got angry and voices got loud
The crowd answered back to the sidewalk guy
That we must have revenge for the people that died
But the man kept talking about love and light
As if that were any way to fight the fight
And a scuffle started and they hauled him in
He was convicted of crimes and convicted of sins
And for national safety and religious pride

That sidewalk preacher was crucified

Posted by Curt at 05:14 AM

March 06, 2004

Nader Can't Win

As a way to show off both my "Social Proof" concept and my new plugin to display wiki nodes in a weblog entry, I now present my proof that Nader Cannot Win The Presidency.

There is a discussion of this proof going on over at daily kos.

The Social Proof starts with the conclusion, based off of several subproofs. You can then choose to follow the links to see the subproofs, but I'll include all the subproofs here to show the complete line of reasoning.

First, the conclusion:

NaderCannotWinThePresidency

NaderNeedsToWinLotsOfStates proves that Nader needs to win several states outright in order to win the Presidency, contested by NuclearNader.

By definition, Nader needs to outscore all other candidates in the same state to win a state.

NaderWillNotWinEnoughStates socially proves that Nader cannot win 270 electoral votes worth of states in 2004.

Therefore, Nader cannot win the Presidency, contested by NuclearNader.


Parent: NaderCannotWinDemocratically

This relies on two subproofs. These are social proofs, which means that we can't always prove through straight fact - we have to sometimes make strong arguments that cannot be opposed except through arguments of absurdity.

First, we'll examine why Nader can't win enough states.

NaderWillNotWinEnoughStates

This is ultimately a subjective proof, or a strongly-argued allegation.

Nader has no party organization behind him. Nader is not focusing on attracting Democratic voters. Nader's policies are more liberal than conservative, and will not attract a large portion of Republican voters. Nader intends to gain support from the millions of nonvoters, but he intended that in 2000 as well and did not get them. Nader's message is not extremely different than in 2000, when he got less than 3% of the vote. Nader cannot match the ground organizations of the other two parties, and has not exhibited strong support online or through the media. Nader has not demonstrated the abililty to win, and does not have an entirely different approach than when he lost before. Nader cannot win one state, much less the eleven largest states (or the 40 smallest states and DC).

Most of the reasoning behind this proof, however, rests on polling. In various state polls, Nader is not polling above 10% anywhere. His unfavorable ratings are also significantly higher than his favorable ratings. He's not even close to gaining more support than even one of the other two candidates, much less both of them.

Therefore, Nader will not win enough states to capture 270 Electoral Votes in 2004.


Parent: NaderCannotWinThePresidency

And here's the proof for why Nader needs to win that many states:

NaderNeedsToWinLotsOfStates

NaderNeedsToWinTheElectoralCollege proves that the only way Nader can win the presidency in 2004 is to win the Electoral College outright.

By definition, Nader needs to win 270 Electoral Votes.

A candidate can get Electoral Votes in two ways:

  1. Winning a state outright (states award their Electoral Votes on an all-or-nothing basis)
  2. Convincing pledged delegates to vote against their party and their state's elected candidate.

A candidate's pledged delegates are party loyalists, from the party of the state's winning candidate, and will not vote against their party in most cases.

Therefore, a candidate needs to win enough states outright to get 270 Electoral Votes.

The largest eleven states are the smallest number of states that total 270 Electoral Votes.

Therefore, Nader needs to win several states outright - at least eleven - in order to win the Presidency.

There is one NuclearNader scenario, invented by Carl Nyberg, that contests this proof...


Parent: NaderCannotWinThePresidency

This depends on the proof that Nader needs to win the Electoral College:

NaderNeedsToWinTheElectoralCollege
  1. WinningThePresidency shows that is only possible through system-breaking revolution, winning at least 270 Electoral Votes, or winning through the House of Representatives.
  2. NaderWillNotWinByRevolution shows that Nader cannot currently win through nonconstitutional means.
  3. NaderWillNotWinInHouseOfReps shows that Nader cannot win if a contested election goes to the House Of Representatives.

Therefore, Nader can only win the Presidency in 2004 by winning the Electoral College outright.


Parent: NaderNeedsToWinLotsOfStates

That proof depends on a definition and two proofs. The definition shows all the constitutional ways a candidate can win the presidency:

WinningThePresidency

A presidential candidate can win the presidency in any of three ways:

1) A system-breaking revolution - Whether by force or by a huge proactive effort by American society to be led in a new way, this would be a massive change in context that would have similarly massive resistance.

2) Winning the Electoral College - the Constitution requires that a presidential candidate win a majority of the Electoral Votes in order to win the presidency outright. There are 538 Electoral Votes, so this means 270 must be won by a candidate.

A plurality is not enough. In other words:

Candidate A: 200
Candidate B: 170
Candidate C: 168

does not mean that Candidate A wins the presidency. If no one gets 270, it goes to the House of Representatives.

Illustrative point: this means that to win the E.C., a candidate must win more Electoral Votes (more electoral support) than all other candidates combined.

3) Winning the House of Representatives - in manners where there is not a clear electoral winner, the election is determined in the House, with the Representatives voting for the candidates.


Parent: NaderNeedsToWinTheElectoralCollege

We shoot down the ridiculous idea that Nader will win through some sort of coup:

NaderWillNotWinByRevolution

Proving that a revolution that would result in Nader being installed president through means other than the Constitution will not be successful by 2004.

Such a revolution can be accomplished publicly or secretly. A secret revolution would require a small number of players that have the power to have an effect in overthrowing government. There does not exist a small number of players with the power to overthrow and redefine the U.S. Government. Therefore, a secret revolution is impossible.

A public revolution would require public momentum before it would become successful. As of the moment of this writing, there is no public momentum for such a revolution. Furthermore, Nader is not calling for one, and there is also not a well-known independent effort calling for one.

If a credible public effort begins to overthrow the U.S. Government, then this proof would be contestable. As it stands now, it is not.

Therefore, it is currently impossible for Nader to win in 2004 through a non-Constitutional revolution.


Parent: NaderNeedsToWinTheElectoralCollege

And finally, we prove that it is impossible for Nader to win through the House Of Reprsentatives in the case of a tie. Not many people understand the intricacies of the House process.

NaderWillNotWinInHouseOfReps

(formerly named NaderWinningHouseOfReps)

In order to win the House of Representatives, you have to have Representatives willing to vote for you. When the election goes to the House, it is determined by the Representatives that were just voted into the House. Each state's delegation caucuses separately. Each state gets one vote. The state's vote is determined by the representatives in that state. So if CA has more Democratic reps than Republican reps, the state's vote would most likely go to the Democratic candidate. (Interestingly, the Senate chooses the Vice President, but not by state - each Senator just gets one vote.) Here is a scenario based off of 2004 numbers.

Currently, alll the Representatives but one (Vermont) are either Democrat or Republican.

Representatives represent Congressional Districts. One representative might be loyal to their party even if their candidate doesn't win their district or state.

In the cases of a split delegation (two Republican Reps and two Democratic Reps), the delegation might choose to go to who won the state, but otherwise they vote by party.

In order to win the House, a candidate needs to win the majority (not just the plurality) of the states. If they can't, the Senate picks a Vice President that can serve in the President's stead. So, Nader would need to win 26 state delegations.

In other words, the Republican and Democratic representatives of 26 different states would need to agree to vote for Nader, even when Nader would not have won the popular vote of their state.

The only way a state delegation would vote for Nader is if Nader won the state, AND if that state had a split delegation of representatives.

There are not 26 states with split delegations, or even an even number of representatives, making this impossible.

Therefore, Nader will not win through the House of Representatives.


Parent: NadersShotAtWinning

So it's proven.

And the good part? It's a wiki. So if you disagree with any of the proofs or find them to be based on inaccurate information, you can go and edit those areas of the proof itself, or argue the points, or declare the proof in contention. This is what make it a social proof.

The other good part? Since it's a proof, we can then use it as a subproof for other contentions, like whether Nader has a secret plan or is merely delusional.

Posted by Curt at 04:33 PM

Kwiki Plugin

Cool. I believe I have a nice new kwiki plugin that allows me to integrate my wiki with my weblog in the only ways I believe really matter.

First, if I want to automatically link to a wiki node, all I have to do is type the wiki word prefixed by a kw:. Like, I have a wiki node entitled "Proofs". So, I can link to it just prefixing the 'kw:' like this: Proofs.

Second, and much cooler, is the in-line display of wiki nodes. In this case I prefix the wiki node name with 'kwdiv:' . I named it that because it gets put in a div that you can assign style elements to in your stylesheet. My wiki homepage has a nodename of HomePage. So I add the prefix:

HomePage

Welcome to my wiki. Some pages (like this one) are protected, but most are public, meaning you can edit them if you see an edit button. Feel free to play around in the SandBox.

To participate, go to the UserPage and follow the instructions. Then your page edits will have your user name attached to them.

I have a Proofs page - go here to participate in generating Social Proofs.

Movable Type users might be interested in my RevisionPlugin.

- TuneSmith (weblog)

Is that cool or what!

Now, the wiki node always displays the version that existed as of the weblog entry publication, so if people go and edit it afterward, it will be out of date (although you can always republish the weblog entry). But there is always a link to the wiki node at the top of the div so you can click to the most recent version and edit it.

Go try out my SandBox.

SandBox

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Posted by Curt at 05:11 AM | Comments (2)

March 05, 2004

Outrage Fatigue

There's this new chic meme out there in the blogosphere that people are calling outrage fatigue. I dislike the term immensely. I actually think there's this kind of spiritual battle between the concept of "standing up for what's right" and the concepts of cynicism, snarkiness, and bitchy hopelessness. Referring to "outrage fatigue" is just another way to make it okay to lose hope. I've gathered together weblog entries before of bloggers merely linking to horrible news and making snarky comments, rather than actually registering their vocal disapproval, and I've complained about it. Sometimes all you have left is your voice, and that's when you need to use it most.

Posted by Curt at 02:21 PM | Comments (1)

MT-Revision 0.91

I released 0.91 of my MT-Revision plugin. It fixes some issues regarding weblogs and entries that have the convert_breaks and convert_paras options enabled.

RevisionPlugin

My Movable Type RevisionPlugin allows you to keep a version history of your weblog entries. It tracks"main entry" and "extended entry". It also allows you to browse the diffs by using your individual archive template. This is an effort to make movable type revision history more possible and available than what is currently available through Aaron Swartz and Mark Pilgrim's python effort (thanks to both of them since I cribbed a couple of their ideas and attempted to improve on them.)

If you use it, please add your name or a link to your website to RevisionPluginUsers.

I have some community-editable RevisionPluginInstructions. My instructions below are only for harder-core geeks. Hopefully the community will add some friendlier instructions. :-)

Here are the unchanging elements:

The plugin intercepts Movable Type's "save" entry.

It requires a few perl libraries. You can find these at cpan.org and put them in your extlib directory, but it's better to install them via CPAN yourself, or ask your administrator to do so.

  • Rcs::Agent
  • HTML::Diff
  • HTML::TokeParser
  • String::ShellQuote
  • Algorithm::Diff
  • File::Temp

It supplies two Template tags. I use them on my index page template and my individual archive template:

<MTIfRevised>
 Revision: <$MTRevisionLink$>
</MTIfRevised>

Finally, it uses two style elements for added and deleted text:

<span class="ins"></span> 

and

<span class="del"></span>.  

Add style definitions for these classes to your stylesheet. I use the following:

.ins {
    text-decoration: none;
    padding: 0 2px 0 2px;
    background-color: #66ff99;
}
.del {
    text-decoration: none;
    padding: 0 2px 0 2px;
    background-color: #ff6699;
}

But they are pretty ugly so you might like to suggest something better.

In the future, this plugin might use the ins and del tags instead. Go ahead and make your style elements apply to those tags as well in case you upgrade and the syntax changes.

Please Note: Versioning happens upon save. This means that if you edit an existing entry and make changes, the version you are changing from is not versioned. For these entries, you may wish to edit and save without making changes first, one time for each pre-existing entry you wish to edit. New entries will be automatically versioned upon creation, though.

RevisionPluginChangeLog

RevisionPluginBugs (check here for a note about customized individual-entry tpls)

Posted by Curt at 05:48 AM | Comments (1)

Bush Ad Satire

Bush Ad Remix | MFA

This is classic. This is a remix of the three Bush commercials that I reviewed below. Go watch it!

Posted by Curt at 02:34 AM

March 04, 2004

Tivo Alert - Dean special

Mathew Gross mentions an upcoming CNN special - 8pm Eastern Sunday, "True Believers" about the Dean campaign.

Posted by Curt at 02:36 AM

March 03, 2004

Bush's TV Ads

So, Bush's TV Ads are out.

The first one I saw was Safer, Stronger. It really is beautifully done in terms of production values. The theme is that it looks back to bad stuff that has happened, that helps us feel nice and sorry for ourselves. Oboe and piano music that is somewhat healing. And then, the message that we are now turning the corner. Hooray! I mean, I felt convinced - I think we are too. But then, George Bush showed up on screen and I started laughing. Honestly, it's a complete non sequiteur. There's nothing in the ad that convinces us that we're turning the corner because of him. Why would a viewer think "because of" Bush rather than "despite" Bush?

Tested does a (slightly) better job at making the link. It says we've been through change. It has this line that says that what gets America through the tough times is "Freedom, Faith, Families, and Sacrifice", which is in itself enough to make me feel disgusted. But I don't know how it would play to swing voters. Then it says that Bush is steady leadership in times of change. It's again, almost a non sequiteur, but at least there's the rhetorical link with the concept of change. It's basically an admirable effort to paint Bush as someone who is helping us deal with the change, rather than the guy who either caused the change or made it more traumatic.

Lead is just ridiculous. He sounds slightly defensive. He says a few times he knows what we need to do to accomplish various liberal aims. What he doesn't say is that he has no intention of actually doing them. This one is vulnerable to the whole Bush doesn't do what he says thing. It's completely see-through. It would have worked in 2000, but the advantage Bush had then is that nobody knew him. This ad won't convince anyone that has been paying attention these last four years, like most swing voters.

Update: Boy, these ads sure seemed to backfire. Check out this list of reactions against the ads, from 9/11 victims and firefighters.

Posted by Curt at 07:46 PM | Comments (2)

March 02, 2004

Gay Marriage Here

Well, Multnomah County, which is where I work and about two miles from where I currently live, will be the third county in the nation to allow gay marriage tomorrow.

Update: Portland Communique has some local updating. I guess Kevin Mannix called it "idiotic" and "a travesty". So I guess that makes it a good thing.

Chuck Currie, a United Church of Christ Seminarian, has some more local news. Evidently some of the clergy from the First Unitarian Church (which I attended for a short while) are on the streets performing wedding ceremonies.

And here's some reporting on Vera Katz and her statement about the whole thing. Very cool.

More local commenting.

And finally, someone commented on this entry about it and I went and visited her weblog - your basic conservative railing against what this state is coming to, and comparing it to legalizing murder, etc. I commented about this on another weblog, but wanted to put it here too.

I try to understand what she means. Not to defend it, but just to, you know, understand. She's not trying to make sense when she compares it to legalizing murder. I think it's just that she feels, as others do, that it's "yet another step" on the way towards society crumbling apart into something awful; as awful as it would be awful to legalize murder. It's an emotional argument, not a logical one. They see it as condoning another sin. It doesn't matter to them that there's other sin out there already like adultery or divorce. They see this as yet another sin that is now condoned. So folks like her are desperate and see this is another part of the slippery slope.

So those folks need paradigm shifts. They need to see that these kinds of shifts actually make society better for them as well. That it means more love, more social stability, more affirmation of basic legal equality. They need to remember that it doesn't mean they have to morally accept it; that tolerance is not the same as acceptance. If we're going to convince them to calm down, then it'll be about eventually showing them that this isn't a part of a slippery slope towards social corruption and sin.

Posted by Curt at 11:57 PM | Comments (5)

Jesus, Etc.

"Jesus died for our sins."

"So it was preordained?"

"Yes, God sent Him to die for our sins."

"So... that thing about the Jews killing Jesus didn't happen?"

"No, the Jews killed Jesus."

"I thought God killed Jesus."

"No, God sent Him to die for our sins. But the Jews killed him."

"Oh, so they were acting in service of God."

"No! It was wrong for the Jews to kill Jesus!"

"Oh. So God didn't want Jesus to die?"

"Jesus was sent to die for our sins."

"So, God sent Jesus to die for our sins, but by making it bad for the Jews to kill Him? How Machiavellian of Him."

"Why can't you understand this! Jesus died for our sins! But the Jews killed him!"

"I thought God sent Him to die for our sins."

"He did!"

"So God framed the Jews?"

For the record, I think there's something a bit off about the whole thing regarding Jesus being sent to die for our sins.

I think the understandings of God and Jesus are so messed up that most of the literal conclusions to be drawn from the Bible are really only assured of being pretty far from the truth. It's a great source of metaphorical wisdom and inspiration, though. I own both a normal Bible and a Vulgate. I still have back-burner plans to write a choral cycle off of the "love" chapter in I Corinthians. But it's more beauty than literal truth.

My personal beliefs about God and Jesus are unsupported (as far as I know) from anything literal in the Bible. But as far as I know that doesn't make them any less likely of being the truth. I believe Jesus existed, was more than just a "great man", was a part of God, and I believe that God was heartbroken by the crucifixion of His son, and I believe the crucifixion wasn't what God desired for Him at all.

I think guilt, sacrifice, and sin are horrible concepts designed to undermine free will, love, and desire.

And it pisses me off to no end to know that these beliefs mean that huge portions (half??) of the nation would therefore see me as a sacrilegious heathen.

I don't know if I'm going to see the Passion. Right now the thought of it just makes me angry.

Posted by Curt at 05:41 AM | Comments (9)