Monday, February 01, 2016

Will Iowa's Caucus Rock us or Shock us?


Caucus? I didn't know exactly how this weird system works. This video offers a quick, brief outline. Wikipedia has it down in more detail. Starting at 7 PM this evening (Central Time) the fun will begin.


This year is, for me, the most interesting election season I've experienced - my experience is admittedly narrow, of course. We shall perhaps glean from this first sample whether We The People have, at last, said "Enough is more than enough of establishment politicians!" From my own "ex-alien" point of view I tend to think "What the heck have y'all been thinking all these years?"

Fingers and toes will be crossed for my candidate tonight.

14 comments:

mike said...

Caucus...sounds a bit like "ef" us and probably is an "ef" us...LOL. Iowa should get with the program and modernize its Democratic party's election process. Join the states that have primaries. Weird that the Republicans in Iowa cast individual, private votes, but the Democrats caucus in groups.

Add super-delegates and proportional representation into the mix with some hocus-pocus-abracadabra, we have a presidential winner! Who says magic doesn't exist?

I am SO in favor of election REFORM. There is no reason to maintain the asinine system we currently employ. There are many proposals for reform, most favor retaining the electoral college...I say NO to electoral college. The popular vote should be used to elect our politicians.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electoral_reform_in_the_United_States


"Since the United States does not hold national elections, the national popular vote does not determine the outcome of the United States presidential election."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_presidential_elections_by_popular_vote_margin

Twilight said...

mike ~ .....the national popular vote does not determine the outcome of the United States presidential election. So in the end it will, indeed, come down to your first thought "ef us". I agree, electoral reform is sorely needed. At least all states and all parties ought to be using the same dang system! In a country that is supposed to pride itself on its modernism, to be hamstrung electorally in these ways ought to be unthinkable. It probably benefits some - guess who? Those shadowy folk behind the curtain for sure, otherwise they'd have had it changed decades ago.

Anyway, it gives talking heads and all media something to write and chit chat about, so there's that. Just before we checked out yesterday morning I watched a few minutes of "Meet the Press" on TV. I'd never watched the programme before, and never will again. Chuck Todd royally pissed me off ...say no more!

Sonny G said...

just a factual side note to the iowa causus-- they called the winner WRONG 3 times before they finally recounted at the 6 weeks point,to DECIDE who the real winner was .lol..

regardless of the events tonight- its going to be a LONG tough race and its only going to get uglier as time goes on.

In deference to who I know is your's and Mike's preference of candidiate is, I'll excuse myself from any political post and come visit other times.

mike (again) said...

Well, Sonny, it's not like any of us here ACTUALLY select the nominee. You and I are similar: I'm for Bernie, you're for Hillary...if Bernie isn't selected, then I'll vote for Hillary...if Hillary isn't selected, then (I hope) you'll vote for Bernie. Hoping for "our" candidate" to be the nominee is one thing, but who we will truly end-up casting our ballot for is another. Besides that, our individual votes are rather meaningless in the scheme of things.

Sonny G said...

Mike,

maybe I wasn't as clear as I thought I was being..

what I actually meant is-- this is Annie's blog and out of RESPECT for her and her choice of candidates, I wont come here and discuss my choice and the why's of it.
To me, that's inappropriate behavior.. I realize others might not feel that way, but I do.

There are many blogs where I can comment and cheer on my choice of candidate.

for instance. if a friend was holding a Bernie party tonight- I would decline the invitation and let them freely enjoy themselves or be unhappy, without me there " in their face" so to speak..

and YES, I will vote regardless of who's standing, at what I see as a bloody fight.. as I said before- its gonna get ugly and for me that's a sad thing all the way around.

I dream too of one day a different sort of election. One where the only speaking allowed by the candidates concerns their own issues- intentions- successes or even what they've learned from their failures- plans for this country's future and that of her people and how that would be handled in detail.. I'd love to see it but in the mean time I must deal with it, as it is.

Twilight said...

Sonny ~ It's thoughtful of you to spare my feelings, but there's really no need. :-)
I am exceptionally keen to see Bernie win the first primary, there's no denying that - he's the candidate I've been waiting to see ever since I arrived here, and shortly after said to anyjazz, "There's no left here - what happened?" As I commented elsewhere a few days ago: a representative of the real left has arrived, it'll be up to us to retain it, from here on.

I agree, Sonny, that argumentative too and fro-ing, at this stage will change no minds. I'll not argue here, but I will state my feelings, and if you wish to do so at any point - so can you. :-)

Twilight said...

mike ~ I've just noticed astro.com is giving a birth time for Bernie at 12.27pm. Scorpio rising.
Jupiter at 22 Virgo today is conjunct his Virgo mean node and Jupiter is also conjunct node for today...? Is that correct?

Twilight said...

mike - astro.com link
http://www.astro.com/astro-databank/Sanders,_Bernie

mike (again) said...

Re - Bernie's time of birth...see this post and the comment from taya_at_astro:
http://astro-charts.com/blog/2015/bernie-sanders-closer-astrological-look/
"Hello whybaby. Bernie Sanders' birth time is not entirely certain. I talked with a man who campaigned with Bernie Sanders in the Burlington, Vermont races 35 years ago, and was also an astrology enthusiast. According to him, working off of his memory, Bernie's birth time was 12:27 PM EDT."

astro.com has a discussion about Bernie's TOB in "Source Notes".

Note that astro.com discussed a time of 0.00..."Kanon McAfee reports per email: Donald Clayton, on whose Qala bist blog appears the 0:00 a./p.m. time has told me directly via twitter, '... the 0:00 is a space-saver entry for information that is not known ...'"

Interesting, because astrotheme.com uses 12:00 AM, ie 0:00 for Bernie's TOB.

Yes, transiting Jupiter & N Node in Virgo are conjunct Bernie's N Node...and essentially conjunct his Sun, too, within 7*. Both transiting Jupiter & N Node are retrograde (Jupiter stations direct at 13* Virgo, March 8th. Bernie's natal Sun is 15.5*. The third week of March, transiting Saturn will square transiting Jupiter at 16* Sag-Virgo, then Saturn stations retrograde. I'm concerned Bernie will be feeling the bern and will be worn-out at this time. Saturn in direct motion will square his Sun again at election time in November. Another odd thing...transiting Uranus will conjunct his natal Mars (24* Aries) in June, then stations retrograde shortly after at 24*.

The caucus results should be rolling-in shortly.

mike (again) said...

I think my comment went to spam...

Twilight said...

mike (again) ~
No more comments in spam, should there be there another of yours?

I waited until after 10 pm to go to MSNBC and find it's a virtual tie between Clinton and Sanders, with Ted Cruz predicted as winning for the Republicans. Watched both Hillary's and Bernie's speeches, (and Ted Cruz's too YUK!!!) - I think Hillary was being a little previous, but never mind. If she wins this one she wins a small battle with a very small margin, but certainly not the war!

Thanks for the astrological line-ups. We'll see how near they come to the reality, in time.

mike (again) said...

Not sure what happened to my comment that is now posted...my end of things or yours...or Google's. My 8:51 PM comment is now visible. Double YUK on Cruz! The pundits were saying he did well due to the high proportion of evangelical electorate in Iowa and they don't expect him to maintain the win. BUT we still have Trump and Rubio behind him...it's all a no win for the Republican side. I'm very pleased with Bernie's standing as a "virtual tie"...I read this morning that Hillary won by four delegates...very slim margin. Bernie is expected to pull New Hampshire.

Twilight said...

mike (again) ~ I'm trying not to think about Cruz! A Cruz presidency would make George W. Bush's reign seem positively utopian!

Bernie did a great job in Iowa. Those darn coin tosses seem a tad suspect to me though. I read somewhere that there were 5 or 6 of them in various precincts, and Hillary won them all. I don't know how reliable the information is. Hmm - 5 out of 5 or 6 out of 6 statistically likely I ask myself, with 50/50 chance.

Bernie will have an easier time in New Hampshire by all accounts, but from then on it'll be a hard fight. He will be laying the ground for the future though, even if the Clinton machine overpowers him. He is doing good work, sowing seeds for future germination abd blossoming. I once thought that's what Obama was doing, but I was wrong. This time I'm not wrong - I know it!

We thought Bill Clinton looked quite unwell, and quite strange at times last night - haven't seen any comments yet on that though.

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