How to Fix the Primary System

This piece is a few weeks old but relevant especially to people who live in states like Kentucky where the primaries for the presidential election do not occur until May. By this time primary candidates are already chosen and many states have virtually no say in the selection. It also leads to messes like we had this year when a couple of states moved their primaries up in the schedule to have more of a say but ultimately hurt themselves by breaking party rules and causing them to be shunned by candidates.

A new system is being proposed by the nation's secretaries of state. Kentucky's Secretary of State, Trey Grayson had this to say about the bill.

To remedy the problems, the National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS) proposes a revolving regional primary system.

"We start with Iowa and New Hampshire, leave them in their traditional front status, because we think it's valuable for a couple of small states to start off, so that under-funded and lesser-known candidates have a shot to compete and we can have some true, retail politicking," Grayson said.

But once voters in Iowa and New Hampshire have their say, the plan divides the country into four geographic regions, with primaries to start in March.

"Each of those regions has a primary - a Super Tuesday, if you will - but it will be a regional Super Tuesday, and we stretch it out over the next four months," he said.

Lots will be drawn, and whatever region goes first - East, West, North or South - would go last the next presidential year and work its way up towards the top, so that over a 16-year cycle, each region will get a chance to go first, last, and be in the middle, Grayson said.

Something like this sounds great in theory. Like I said, as a voter in Kentucky where the primary isn't held until May 20th the current system is extremely frustrating. And the article goes on to explain why the current system works against us. It's a chaotic mess with states and campaigns jockeying for position to win the most delegates early on so that the remaining ones will not matter.

Nader Runs Again

Ralph Nader announced on 'Meet the Press' with Tim Russert that he is running for president in 2008. He has been blamed by many Democrats for costing Al Gore a very close election in 2000. At that time his support was approximately 2.7%. In 2004 when he ran again it was a mere 0.3%. Current numbers are showing that he may have even less support this time around.

We all know he doesn't have a snowball's chance in hell of winning anything. But would he threaten the Democratic hopefuls?

“Not a chance,” he said. “If the Democrats can’t landslide the Republicans this year, they ought to just wrap up, close down, and emerge in a different form.”

I tend to agree with him on the second part of his answer. It's easy to despise Republican tactics and stances on the issues. But it's also easy to be completely disenchanted with the Democrats who seem to be perpetually spineless. Just look at the Congress and its abysmal approval ratings. We have a choice in this country to vote between extreme conservatives and moderate conservatives. There are no true diversity except within that narrow political range. Yes, they differ on various issues but nothing like you see in Europe with candidates running the full width of the ideological spectrum.

So far Democrats have been far more energized and showing up to the polls so if that momentum continues they should win handedly over McCain who continues to have trouble winning the far right wing of the party.

High Definition Media Format War Ends

This has been coming for a while as the remaining movie studios started switching to the Blu-Ray format. The latest blow was when Wal-Mart along with Netflix decided to drop HD-DVD and only provide Blu-Ray. Reuters reports that Toshiba, the leading HD-DVD supporter, will stop producing the equipment. Now we just need to wait for Blu-Ray prices to come down.

More Religious Bigotry in the 'Heartland'

A religious school has caused some problems with their screwed bigoted belief system in Kansas.  St. Mary's Academy near Topeka refused to allow a female referee to officiate a basketball game because of their beliefs that a woman should not be a position of authority over boys.

The Activities Association said it is considering whether to take action against the private religious school. St. Mary's Academy, about 25 miles northwest of Topeka, is owned and operated by the Society of St. Pius X, which follows older Roman Catholic laws. The society's world leader, the late Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, was excommunicated by Pope John Paul II in the late 1980s.

Fortunately, her fellow ref, Darin Putthoff, also walked off the court and refused to officiate.  Putthoff said that even though he had officiated games for St. Mary's Academy for 10 to 12 years, he would probably not accept any offers from them in the future.

Vile Stuff in Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia is in the news again.  It's more of the same.  This country is full of some of the most batshit insane, barberous, disgusting humans on the face of the planet.

The illiterate woman was detained by religious police in 2005 and allegedly beaten and forced to fingerprint a confession that she could not read.

Among her accusers was a man who alleged she made him impotent.

Human Rights Watch said that Ms Falih had exhausted all her chances of appealing against her death sentence and she could only now be saved if King Abdullah intervened.

You might be wondering if you read that correctly.  It's not a typo or a joke.  She is being executed for witchcraft.  The article doesn't state the method of execution but an image states that most executions in Saudi Arabia are carried out with a sword by beheading in a public place.

Human rights groups are calling for King Abdullah to overturn the conviction.  I'm not sure if he will but I'm sure they'll have something to say about how the rest of the world should not dare insult Saudi Arabia by challenging their barbaric legal system.  After all these are the same people who use the Qur'an as their constitution.  They also contribute a large amount of their GDP toward development 'aid' of other islamic countries as a way to spread puritanical islam and root out anyone with a moderate bone in their body.

Henry Rollins Teeing Off on Intelligent Design

I hadn't heard of this guy before but after seeing this video I'm going to be checking out his show on IFC.

In News That isn't Really News

I don't have much to say about this. I'm not that surprised that with all the problems we have in this country that members of Congress still find crap like this on which to focus their energy. Of course maybe Chuck Norris had something to do with it.

Responding to complaints from the Religious Right, Congress has passed legislation mandating that the phrase "In God We Trust" be moved from the edge to the back or front of the new presidential dollar coins.

President George W. Bush signed the measure into law Dec. 26. It was tucked into a $555 billion domestic spending bill after having been pushed by U.S. Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.). Brownback and other Religious Right conservatives have been complaining about the new coins since the series started last year.

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The 12 Tribes of American Politics

This is a pretty interesting piece breaking down American demographics by religious belief. It breaks down and explains each group, including how they voted in the 2004 presidential election. I was surprised to see that the Religious Right comprises the same percentage as the Religious Left. Just goes shows you what better organization can do for a particular 'cause'.

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