Boil Before Drinking » election

Intrade, bringing in the mad politics $cash$

Brother Greg — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 15:02:37 +0000

A lot of things in life that are no fun can be made more fun by making a game out of it. One of my favorite games is dressing your wife up like a pony and riding her around your bedroom while you’re at work. Another one is gambling on politics.

It’s election season in North America. I recently won a chunk of change on Canada’s Federal election, and now thanks to someones serious tampering with the Intrade McCain contracts i’m set to come out pretty well with an Obama victory as well.

What’s next after that? Iraqi elections? I think Georgia is due for one soon. I’m going to bet on whoever gets the Putin seal of approval.

Elections suck, your vote doesn’t make much of a difference in the our antiquated voting systems. Might as well make some money on them!

John McCain Mashup Video – Yes We Can!

The Runs — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 14:07:00 +0000

Boing Boing directed me to this video mixing John McCain with music and singers. Its worth a quick look. It certainly has the best use so far of the “Bomb bomb bomb Iran” soundbite.

Video on You Tube

Via Boing Boing: Yes We Can — the McCain mix

Canadian National Igloo

The Runs — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 14:10:00 +0000

Canadian comedian Rick Mercer’s show ‘Talking to Americans’ occasionally has some good segments. I didn’t catch this when it aired, or maybe forgot about it, but am glad it came to my attention again. Certainly, its more relevant after the Iowa results.

The show involves Mercer interviewing Americans and exposing ignorance of Canada, Canadians, and the world in general. I have no idea how many people he has to talk to in order to fill up an hour of ignorance.

This clip shows Mercer talking with Mike Huckabee, then Governor of Arkansas. Mercer had Huckabee convinced that Canadian Parliament meets in an igloo modeled after the White House.

Mike Huckabee’s endorsement of the National Igloo

via Boing Boing

The Iowa Caucus: Surprises, Controversies.

Ninja Man: with Ninja Powers! — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 14:02:00 +0000

In case you’ve been living under a rock or have at least been avoidant of the American cable news channels, you know full well that the Iowa caucuses chimed in last night, beginning the process of selection for their party’s presidential candidates. The results (source):

Democratic: Obama – 37.6%, Edwards – 29.7%, Clinton – 29.5%, Richardson – 2.1%.
Republican: Huckabee – 34.3%, Romney – 25.3%, Thompson – 13.4%, McCain 13.1%, Paul – 10%, Guiliani – 3.5%

First of all let me say I’m glad to see Assface Guiliani get trounced, but apparently he didn’t try very hard in this state anyway. Also, there’s a lot of controversy about the Iowa caucus in general and the importance placed upon it. See this editorial for some of these concerns.

Clearly, the biggest “surprise” of the evening was Hilary’s 3rd place showing. Michael Moore suggests a simple explanation – the two candidates that beat her oppose the war in Iraq, she doesn’t (link).

This insight on the republican side is very interesting. Basically, the loose alliance between libertarian, evangelicals, big business, and the ‘empire builders’ is falling apart and pulling right-wing voters in all directions.

What is most interesting to me is that Huckabee and in particular Edwards, who both had very strong and somewhat unexpected support, are hauntingly populist in their approach to the problems of corporate interference in politics – stances which have cost them the endorsement of nearly all major media outlets. My guess is that politically involved Americans have finally had it with “towing the party line”.

Finally, with Ron Paul only getting 10%, his supporters clearly have to get their butts away from the keyboard and get themselves involved in the process. In other words, “they need to put up or shut up”.

Hostage Taker Wants Drinking Buddies

The Runs — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 21:19:00 +0000

I came across the following headline and thought it would be something funny: Clinton ‘hostage-taker’ wanted help with drinking. Now how many other people would have assumed it was a story on some poor, lonely dude who couldn’t find someone to drink with him, and had to resort to taking booze hostages? I can’t be the only one. Am I?

Alas, it turns out to be a tale of desperation and one man threatening to blow himself up for health care.

Mail & Guardian Online Article

Stephen Colbert: NY Times Columnist for a Day

The Runs — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 20:39:00 +0000

Stephen Colbert is a guest columnist for Maureen Dowd at the NY Times. He provides his usual stance, focusing on the upcoming Presidential Election.

On running for president:

“Our nation is at a Fork in the Road. Some say we should go Left; some say go Right. I say, “Doesn’t this thing have a reverse gear?” Let’s back this country up to a time before there were forks in the road — or even roads. Or forks, for that matter. I want to return to a simpler America where we ate our meat off the end of a sharpened stick.”

A Mock Columnist, Amok – New York Times