Will someone with a BIG stick

[Racket_Man]

Tell some of these politician to just STFU???? Then tell the district that politician represents they will be carted off to regions unknown????

California Representative "claims" that repealing abortion law will end drought

This is just as bad as this one half way around the world
Tourist arrested for taking nude pics that "caused" earthquake

[protege]

I knew there was a reason why a friend of mine referred to California as the "land of fruits and nuts"

But seriously, where the hell do these people come from?

[Greenday]

How do these people who are too stupid to even get to the position they are in keep these damn positions they are in? This woman should be forced to resign immediately. No one that dumb should have ANY influence on our laws.

[protege]

They keep those jobs...because quite a few people vote down party lines. They're too lazy to decide on the issues, so they'll look for the D or R next to the name. For example, when it was time for several Republicans in Congress to face reelection, nearly all of them lost. Why? Quite a few voters decided that they were aligned with Bush and the Iraq war...and voted for Democrats instead. Same thing happened after Obamacare was passed--things went the other way.

That's just one reason. Another could be the political climate simply isn't conducive to change. Where I live, we've had the same party (and many of the same families) in office since the 1930s. Up until the late 1970s, Pittsburgh had a heavy union presence, which tended to favor the Democratic party. Understandable, since the mills were still operating.

30 year on, and inside the city...people still vote that way. They vote for names that they recognize. Usually, those people stay in office until they die. Unless...they manage to fuck up royally (like the previous mayor), and people revolt. However, it's always the same party.

[Andara Bledin]

She's from District 34, which is anchored by Bakersfield. This is a particularly redneck part of California. I have an uncle who retired there who is a white collar redneck (he used to be a mechanic for the offroad race circuit and opened his own shop), and a cousin (kid of a different family member) who lives in the same area who is the ignorant white trash sort of redneck. This is why it is unsurprising that they would have a religious fanatic Republican as their Assemblywoman. She fairly accurately reflects the views of the area.

The 'fruits and nuts' part of Cali are the new agers and "granola" crowd who tend to cluster (granola clusters, lol) around places like Haight-Ashbury up in the Bay area in central Cali, and all over the place in the south part of the state.

[wolfie]

They keep those jobs...because quite a few people vote down party lines. They're too lazy to decide on the issues, so they'll look for the D or R next to the name.

I've heard it said that a fairly high proportion of the population would vote for a convicted child molester over a Nobel Peace Prize winner if the molester had the "right" letter next to their name and the NPP winner had the "wrong" letter.

[HYHYBT]

Ah, *that's* why Romney lost to Obama: he wasn't a convicted child molester

[Panacea]

I knew there was a reason why a friend of mine referred to California as the "land of fruits and nuts"

But seriously, where the hell do these people come from?

As a former California resident, the correct phrase is to say that California is the Granola State: full of fruits, nuts, and flakes. The saying is generally applied to the lingering hippie/New Age influence in the state, not the uber conservative variant of crazy.

This is just as bad as this one half way around the world
Tourist arrested for taking nude pics that "caused" earthquake

To be fair, the local prosecutor in that case did NOT make that claim, and has in fact specifically said the earthquake is completely unrelated. Some local residents did make that claim, but they are in the minority.

However, the country as a whole IS outraged by the behavior of tourists who pull shit like this, and I'm embarrassed by Americans who do it. We would be outraged if some tourist did something like this at Mount Vernon, or in Independence Hall. We'd be outraged if someone did something like this at the Temple Mount, or in the Sistine Chapel.

So why the fuck do these assholes think it's OK to do this on someone else's cultural heritage sites and religious shrines?

[Jetfire]

I've heard it said that a fairly high proportion of the population would vote for a convicted child molester over a Nobel Peace Prize winner if the molester had the "right" letter next to their name and the NPP winner had the "wrong" letter.

This happens in Canada too, and is one of the reasons I really wish they could just drop party affiliation off the ballots. All you would get is the person's name. (With an amendment to make sure all candidates must be uniquely identifiable by their names; if John Doe is already running, then you need to run as John MiddleName Doe if your name matches someone else).

It's more possible in Canada (where it's usually 1 position per election ballot), but I'd also make the ballots randomize the order people appear on the ballot so no one has any 'preferred ballot position'.

Sadly, none of the above reforms are likely to ever happen, so it's just a pie in the sky dream. But I can dream none the less.

[Gravekeeper]

This happens in Canada too, and is one of the reasons I really wish they could just drop party affiliation off the ballots.

Ehh...I'm sure some people in Canada do but it doesn't really seem like the norm. Canadians generally seem to vote for whomever they agree with. Whether its local or national. Canadian politicians can also break rank with their party without being ostracized. I don't know, maybe its more rigid on the east coast or the prairies?

I mean, if a party fucks up in Canada it will get fucked at the polls. Recall the Liberals brutally losing over half their seats in 2011. Whereas in the US it doesn't seem to matter what any politician or group does he still gets the stamp of approval by virtue of the letter next to his name.

Conversely, US presidential elections have never moved more than a few percentage points back and forth in my lifetime.

[mjr]

I heard a tongue-in-cheek one:

If "pro" is the opposite of "con", does that mean "Progress" is the opposite of "Congress"?

[Hyena Dandy]

The one I like is

"One useless man is called a disgrace, two are called a law firm, and three or more become a congress."

[Andrew B]

Few people quote John Adams. Nice.

[Hyena Dandy]

Few people quote John Adams. Nice.

Well, it's fake movie John Adams, who's probably a lot more eloquent off the cuff. He certainly had the unfair advantage in that case of being written at a point where the phrase 'Law Firm' was common, and the idea of a law firm being two people's names.

[Andrew B]

The writers of the play, and subsequently, the movie, did quite a bit of research into John Adams, who at the time was considered a footnote in US history. Many of the quotes were real.