THE WEEK THAT WAS Unaffiliated Rooster has never voted - but reserves the right to speak up

[webfact]

 

OPINION | by Rooster

 

I’ve never understood people who say if you don’t vote you have no right to complain. What a load of baloney.

 

I’ve never been near a polling station in my life. Not because I don’t have an opinion on the candidates but because ever since I was a teen I have subscribed to the view that anyone who seeks power is unworthy. So why bother.

 

 

Also show me an election where it comes down to one vote. Even Bush beat Gore by more than that didn’t he?

 

I just let the politicians get on with it and get on with my life. Whatever they do won’t really affect me much. 

 

Here in Thailand I’m not allowed to vote anyway. You have to be a citizen. I’m just a humble resident. Or “alien” as it says in my police book.

 

 

Maybe I have rights in Alpha Centauri. No idea.

 

I once announced my intention to become a citizen and stand for parliament. It was just a ruse. That’d be like cutting off your jamook to spite your naa.

 

Not that I don’t have an interest in politics. Actually I find it fascinating and far more interesting than the decisions these numpties make. 

 

Thai politics is the ultimate smoke and mirrors act. Brazen lying. Uncontrolled corruption and misinformation under the guise of statehood. I have to follow it because it’s my job. Mrs Rooster’s got the right idea. She votes for the candidate with the number she likes. That’ll do.

 

My real liking if for the shenanigans that go on in Westminster, in the land of my birth. I think I was once on the Electoral Roll there. I did jury service at 18 putting some fellow teens away for a few years. So I guess I must have been.

 

 

As a young man I suppose I considered myself on the political right. These days I guess I’m more on the left. It’s called growing up.

 

They say that a week is a long time in politics. In London this week things were changing about every seven minutes never mind seven days.

 

At the time of writing this it appeared that Liz Truss - what a ghastly U-turning waste of space - might become the shortest serving PM since they were invented.

 

She’d sacked her chancellor, over the mini-budget debacle then her home secretary resigned. Then MPs started getting assaulted in the House of Commons for daring to vote according to conscience over fracking. 

 

What a load of fracking nonsense!

 

The main fun was at the weekly treat that is PM’s question time. That’s 6PM in Thailand on Wednesday’s, 7PM when the UK puts its clocks back. Even Al Jiz had it live this week.

 

 

Labour leader Keir Starmer - at least he’s got a lawyerly way with words - had me rolling in the proverbial aisles with his opening remarks aimed at hapless Truss:

 

“A book is being written about the PM’s time in office. Apparently it’s going to be out by Christmas. Is that the release date or the title?”

 

Brilliant. 

 

All followed, of course, by those public schoolboy guffaws from the benches that so bemuse non-Brits (and many Brits who fail to appreciate their “place”).

 

The only Tory I’d vote for if you held a gun to my head and denied me Marmite would be the new chancellor Jeremy Hunt. Some of his work on various House Committees seemed - dare I say it - almost verging on the sane.

 

My other main interest in politics is political betting. 

 

I once won a packet on the Scottish Referendum at odds of 1-2 even though that was squeaky bum time. I was going to play up my winnings by backing Hilary to beat that orange haired thing thinking she couldn’t lose. I got cold feet for some reason. Call it divine intervention, not that the non-existent almighty did anyone any favors in the eventual result. 

 

Though increasing retirement penury has led me to wish my wagering ways goodbye, I love to check out the latest odds to try and gauge what might happen next.

 

Currently on Betfair Drumph is about 4-1, Biden 5-1 and The Rock 90-1 to win the next US presidential election. 

 

In the UK to win most seats in the next election it’s 2-5 Labour and 5-2 the Tories. However did they let a landslide win lead to that!

 

Perhaps we need to ask Boris, or Liz!

 

YouGov said that Truss is “the most unpopular leader it has ever tracked” while three quarters of the entire UK population disapprove of the government according to the same organization.

 

 

Priceless. They backed the wrong pony bigtime and that after Brexit - one of the biggest and deceitful disasters in UK history. Northern pensioners have got a lot to answer for.

 

Then came news on Thursday evening Thai time (added here in a final edit) that Trussism was over. She’d resigned and a leadership race was on to shore up the party.

 

 

With the real prospect that they only place for some MPs to turn was……Boris! You couldn't make it up.

 

But best of all was a Daily Star stunt that live streamed a dressed up, iceberg lettuce to see if it would last longer than Truss. Though a bit browned it managed to do so!

 

 

Oh, yes you gotta love UK politics. Far more snap crackle and pop politics than here in Thailand with its stodgy porridge.

 

In the eastern Kingdom it doesn’t make any difference who you vote for. You’ll be shafted. Better just to get a magic marker and draw funny faces on the election posters. Job done. Not that I do. Though I’ve thought about gouging the eyes out. 

 

 

I guess I’d have voted for Anutin’s weed policy, but I never believed it would happen. 

 

This week the Cannabis Act continued its path into law. At least Thailand got that one right though the pointless war on other drugs continues. 

 

In Aranyaprathet the authorities all lined up to have their picture taken while Siam Rath sucked up to the police and military as usual.

 

A lady had 0.6 grams of ketamine. Words fail me. 

 

All drugs need to be decriminalized immediately. Follow enlightened Portugal’s model. Spend money on rehab and weening addicts off the hard stuff. Will it happen? Of course it won’t. 

 

You couldn’t expect politicians to make a sensible decision when they have the RTP’s revenue streams to consider!

 

The week on ASEAN NOW started promisingly on Monday with a couple of click-fests.

 

There was the Canadian rollerblader risking life and limb on the streets of Krung Thep. He was fined 1,000 baht. I’d have given him a warning and let him go but fined him 5,000 for his shorts. 

 

 

Though charges would never stick in Pattaya (dressing badly there seems to be a badge of honor), there really ought to be fines for “sartorial inelegance in the hours of darkness and daylight” in a civilized place like Bangkok. There are no standards anymore particularly among the tourists that us residents have to tolerate stomping through our smog.

 

Further evidence of this drop in fashion fiber was in the bare breasted flowery shorted French dude who hopped out of a red plate Porsche and had an altercation with a Thai who liked his mate’s motor. 

 

 

What really happened was the subject of much conjecture on the forum along the lines of “there must be more to the story”.

 

Funny that there is not more to the story when the farang is the victim. Oh no! Bashing the Thai is what it’s all about eh fellahs. 

 

 

Meanwhile the fallout from the massacre at the nursery continued. The RTP concentrated on drugs and weapons to try and save some face. 

 

They handed over 12 million baht to the victims, donations from cops. There are so many police in Thailand that that was about 50 baht a person. In RTP terms that’s half a streetside fine for a biker without  a helmet, less 'oop country'. 

 

 

The vinyl sign at the handover was sickening. New chief Damrongsak needs to spend less time on these face saving gestures and really stamp his mark on the next year. He will only serve one.

 

Weed out some of the miscreants under your command, general. Pull back some of the corruption. We know there’s a mountain to climb but as they say at Tesco, “Every Little Helps”........

 

Just as you thought it couldn’t get worse for Damrongsak came news that a sergeant at Pak Kret had pinched 100 Glocks and Colt Carbines and scarpered. 

 

 

Not surprisingly it emerged that he was the trusted keeper of the armory. The fleeing cop was arrested in Nong Khai after waiting several days for a passport.

 

Rooster has never had to flee to Laos though I did come close on one or two occasions. But if I did I would make sure I’d already got my visa. 

 

Midweek saw a weird story about two ladyboys - whoopee extra spice - who convinced some nurses they were in some weird Korean cult. (South Korea not North, they already have one).

 

If you were confused by the story join the club. The translator was equally baffled. 

 

Another foreigner behaving badly was a New Zealand biker who was nabbed in Lat Krabang. He was wanted for coke and crystal meth dealing by NZ and the FBI. 

 

 

Why is it always bikers with those vile tattoos? And why are there always posters who come on and say they do marvelous things for charity. 

 

In Thai crime top billing this week went to the murder of a father at a temple in Ratchaburi in front of his kids. The villain was the boys’ mother’s new love interest.

 

Then there was the shooting death in Ubon Ratchathani at a merit making event with Mor Lam singers because someone stepped on some toes while dancing. 

 

I find avoiding temples and making no merit whatsoever keeps me alive and a tad wealthier. 

 

In sleepy Bang Saray two naked slappers on a boat created some faux outrage and gave the forum curmudgeons something to drool over. 

 

 

The slappers were obliged to surrender to the good offices of the Sattahip constabulary whereupon they admitted it was a fair cop but all a misunderstanding. 

 

The men making a move for their minge on the boat were their better halves. And when they said “doo nom” and “chom hoi” they were referring to ‘milk’ and “admiring shellfish”, nothing saucy.

 

 

Finally, in Nakhon Sri Thammarat - the murder capital of Thailand incidentally - a giant Ultraman fell over at the temple of “Ai Khai” - the mischievous spirit beloved of the loony faithful.

 

The media declared that Ai Khai was not responsible. Apparently it was poor construction. 

 

Call me an atheist, but that I could believe.

 

Rooster

[proton]

'As a young man I suppose I considered myself on the political right. These days I guess I’m more on the left. It’s called growing up'

 

Or signs of early dementia ????

[Lacessit]

I think I still have a T-shirt somewhere that says "Don't vote - it only encourages the b*****ds."

 

The left votes to get a bigger slice of the pie. The right votes to keep what it has, sometimes to get more. I can't think of any politician that survived his/her ensuing election by telling the electorate the pie would be smaller.

 

IMO politicians are living proof of Lord Acton's observation, power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

 

The only politician I have ever admired was Ted Mack. Anyone reading his history would know he was a man of integrity, a quality very rare in politics.

 

[RayWright]

Nah. Only politician I ever admired was Screaming Lord Sutch, 3rd Earl of Harrow.

Number one rule. If you're elected you're sacked. Is this why Dizzie Lizzie had to go!

 

[BostonRob2]

 

From The Grauniad:

 

"A wilting 60p iceberg lettuce from Tesco in a blond wig has been crowned the winner of a bizarre competition after outlasting Liz Truss’s tenuous grip on power.

Seven days ago the Daily Star set up a webcam on the lettuce to see if it would have a longer shelf-life than the prime minister. To add to Truss’s humiliating resignation, the lettuce won".

 

Rooster

 

 

 

Attachments area

 

Preview YouTube video LIVE: Can Liz Truss outlast a lettuce?

 

 

LIVE: Can Liz Truss outlast a lettuce?

 

 

 

[Hawaiian]

Ever wonder what would happen if no one showed up to vote?  In some countries voting is mandatory with civil penalties for those failing to vote. 

The excuse that those running for office are only seeking power is not always true.  Someone needs to be in charge or else you eventually end up with anarchy.  If that is what you want, fine.

I would rather have law and order rather than disorder.

[Dionigi]

4 hours ago, RayWright said:

Nah. Only politician I ever admired was Screaming Lord Sutch, 3rd Earl of Harrow.

Number one rule. If you're elected you're sacked. Is this why Dizzie Lizzie had to go!

 

Monster raving initiated 18 year old voting, passports for pets and 24 hour licensing law

[finnomick1]

There was also a slogan from way back that said " don't vote, a politician will get in "

 

Voting can be used as much to vote someone in or to make sure someone doesn't get in, it just depends if you can be bothered to vacate your chair.

[BritManToo]

7 minutes ago, finnomick1 said:

Voting can be used as much to vote someone in or to make sure someone doesn't get in, it just depends if you can be bothered to vacate your chair.

What if you don't want any of them to get in?

For example Hillary Vs Trump, Boris Vs Teresa, Cameron Vs Corbyn, Macron Vs Le Pen .......

[Tropposurfer]

I was born in a nation that saw voting as law, and a duty to self and country (obviously not the strange, bizarre US of A), and perhaps more importantly a privileged right to honour and cherish. A nation where ones choice was honoured and respected despite the outcome of any election. most noticeably because we have a totally sane, transparent, and un-fiddled election system.

 

Acknowledging the falsities and deceit of some/many who seek political office makes more imperative the need to vote with alacrity and wisdom.

I do not see the validity of opinion of anyone who sees benefiting from the nation that bore and nurtured them (however unsatisfactorily and cynically viewed to them that may have been) not voting and exercise the freedom and social voice they have been gifted as members of a free society. Such a 'democratic (?) right seems to deny and spit in the face of the very freedoms they have enjoyed all their lives.

The narrative that theres' no point because the outcome is rigged, or pre-ordained in some conspiratorial power clutching/retaining, dystopian fatalistic way only serves to support both the truth of this statement. the historical, sociological, and relational notion of making oneself informed and voting wisely for the best candidate all the more prescient. Sorry Rooster but I call a saddened BS to your notions and comments.

[Doowat]

You prefer Jeremy Hunt?This man, apart from being a WEF globalist and in the Tory Party under false pretences (like so many of them), was strongly in favour of removing covid positive people from there homes and put in quarantine camps, and mandatory vaccinations. Anyone who favours this kind of tyranny should move to China - which is where Hunt's wife is from by the way. 

[proton]

what does a WEF globalist mean?

[Zenwind]

Rooster, some Americans like me may honor you by calling you a "libertarian" (lower case "l"). That is, a "classical liberal", in the revolutionary British tradition of the Levelers, Locke, the Glorious Revolution and Cato's Letters, and in the American tradition of Thomas Jefferson et al. We may want to conserve such perennial values of personal freedom, but please do not ever call me a "conservative". Both Left and Right lust for obscene amounts of power these days. 

 

Live and let live. Refuse the seduction of acquiring political power to dictate the lives of others. Tolerate peaceful differences. Let me alone, and I will tolerate you. 

 

Thank you for your above meditation. 

 

-Zenwind.

[1FinickyOne]

8 hours ago, webfact said:

Even Bush beat Gore by more than that didn’t he?

I think the Bush margin was something like 784 votes in Fla... but does anyone believe that if they had moved to Fla with 785 Gore voters, that the results would have been different... 

[1FinickyOne]

2 hours ago, finnomick1 said:

There was also a slogan from way back that said " don't vote, a politician will get in "

 

my favorite bumper sticker was from the late 60s... a wildly hippie vehicle and driver "my vote cancels out yours" 

[Freed1948]

What a load of waffle.

[Gottfrid]

8 hours ago, webfact said:

I’ve never understood people who say if you don’t vote you have no right to complain. What a load of baloney.

No, it´s not a load of baloney, and I can explain that for you Rooster.

It starts like this. If you can´t bother to use your right to vote. The only tool you have, for be a part of change in the direction you see better than the other. Then, how can you reserve yourself any right to complain?

[kennw]

4 hours ago, Hawaiian said:

Ever wonder what would happen if no one showed up to vote?  In some countries voting is mandatory with civil penalties for those failing to vote. 

The excuse that those running for office are only seeking power is not always true.  Someone needs to be in charge or else you eventually end up with anarchy.  If that is what you want, fine.

I would rather have law and order rather than disorder.

I am surprise that a person of your (Rooster) "intelligence" would say "what difference would one vote make" sorry to inform you but honest elections are made up of one votes. 

[Thingamabob]

Jeremy Hunt backs China against Taiwan. Very disappointing that you say you are a Hunt supporter.

[KanchanaburiGuy]

53 minutes ago, Tropposurfer said:

I do not see the validity of opinion of anyone who sees benefiting from the nation that bore and nurtured them (however unsatisfactorily and cynically viewed to them that may have been) not voting and exercise the freedom and social voice they have been gifted as members of a free society.

I am an Agnostic. I am neither an Atheist nor a Theist/Deist. I have no idea whether or not God exists. As an Agnostic, I've frequently been accused of being a "fence-sitter;" unwilling to take a stand for one view or the other.

 

For nearly 50 years, now.....

.. since I was 15, or so........... my response has been: "Those are not the only two choices. There is a perfectly valid THIRD choice. That third choice is to confidently say, 'I don't know.'"

 

Given what I believe, which is......... Any time there is more than one credible answer to a question, no answer can be called "correct,"  I therefore also believe that "I don't know" is, in fact, the most honest answer I can give. Even though.......... many people can't seem to understand that "I don't know" IS a decision, not a stubborn unwillingness to make one!

 

I tell you all this so that you'll have some sense of my world view; of how I look at things. So............ consequently.......... when I come across a person who says "I choose not to vote".......... I really can't come up with a reason to object to that! 

 

I've lived my life in full recognition that many things that seem to have only TWO valid choices............  frequently turn out to have THREE or FOUR or FIVE!

 

--------------

 

When it comes to voting, I'd much rather someone who is not confident and convinced of a particular choice........... abstain, instead! Don't be a "Believer" or an "Atheist"........... [metaphorically speaking]......... just because someone tells you you're supposed to PICK ONE!

 

NOT picking is a perfectly valid THIRD CHOICE......... Don't let anyone tell you otherwise!

 

Not choosing IS  a choice!

 

--------------

 

Now, as far as I'm concerned........ any country that REQUIRES you to vote........... is only giving lip-service to the concept of "freedom!" 

 

Because if it was "freedom"........... you'd have the freedom not to!

 

Unless a country has "None of the Above" on their ballot........... they have no business compelling their people to PICK ONE! Because.......... in the absence of a valid "None of the Above" choice........... SILENCE becomes the only remaining way to make that choice!

 

And in a "free" society.......... shouldn't everyone have the right and opportunity to make the "Agnostic" choice............ to choose, as I do with religion.......... "None of the Above?"

 

Cheers!

 

 

[GreasyFingers]

4 hours ago, finnomick1 said:

There was also a slogan from way back that said " don't vote, a politician will get in "

 

Voting can be used as much to vote someone in or to make sure someone doesn't get in, it just depends if you can be bothered to vacate your chair.

or put another way;  "it does not matter who you vote for a politician always wins." And people still complain about used car salesman.

[twestheimer]

2 hours ago, Tropposurfer said:

I was born in a nation that saw voting as law, and a duty to self and country (obviously not the strange, bizarre US of A), and perhaps more importantly a privileged right to honour and cherish. A nation where ones choice was honoured and respected despite the outcome of any election. most noticeably because we have a totally sane, transparent, and un-fiddled election system.

 

Acknowledging the falsities and deceit of some/many who seek political office makes more imperative the need to vote with alacrity and wisdom.

I do not see the validity of opinion of anyone who sees benefiting from the nation that bore and nurtured them (however unsatisfactorily and cynically viewed to them that may have been) not voting and exercise the freedom and social voice they have been gifted as members of a free society. Such a 'democratic (?) right seems to deny and spit in the face of the very freedoms they have enjoyed all their lives.

The narrative that theres' no point because the outcome is rigged, or pre-ordained in some conspiratorial power clutching/retaining, dystopian fatalistic way only serves to support both the truth of this statement. the historical, sociological, and relational notion of making oneself informed and voting wisely for the best candidate all the more prescient. Sorry Rooster but I call a saddened BS to your notions and comments.

The opposition LOVES you!  

[RayWright]

4 hours ago, Dionigi said:

Monster raving initiated 18 year old voting, passports for pets and 24 hour licensing law

I suppose it's a bit late to propose a ban on dog racing!

[Hawaiian]

7 hours ago, kennw said:

I am surprise that a person of your (Rooster) "intelligence" would say "what difference would one vote make" sorry to inform you but honest elections are made up of one votes. 

Very rare occurrence, but there have been elections where one vote decided the who the winner was.

[Rocking Robert]

People Who don’t vote thing that they do not matter I do matter that’s why I vote

[crouchpeter]

18 hours ago, Tropposurfer said:

I was born in a nation that saw voting as law, and a duty to self and country (obviously not the strange, bizarre US of A), and perhaps more importantly a privileged right to honour and cherish. A nation where ones choice was honoured and respected despite the outcome of any election. most noticeably because we have a totally sane, transparent, and un-fiddled election system.

 

Acknowledging the falsities and deceit of some/many who seek political office makes more imperative the need to vote with alacrity and wisdom.

I do not see the validity of opinion of anyone who sees benefiting from the nation that bore and nurtured them (however unsatisfactorily and cynically viewed to them that may have been) not voting and exercise the freedom and social voice they have been gifted as members of a free society. Such a 'democratic (?) right seems to deny and spit in the face of the very freedoms they have enjoyed all their lives.

The narrative that theres' no point because the outcome is rigged, or pre-ordained in some conspiratorial power clutching/retaining, dystopian fatalistic way only serves to support both the truth of this statement. the historical, sociological, and relational notion of making oneself informed and voting wisely for the best candidate all the more prescient. Sorry Rooster but I call a saddened BS to your notions and comments.

So says an ultra-pedantic Australian!

[crouchpeter]

16 hours ago, KanchanaburiGuy said:

I am an Agnostic. I am neither an Atheist nor a Theist/Deist. I have no idea whether or not God exists. As an Agnostic, I've frequently been accused of being a "fence-sitter;" unwilling to take a stand for one view or the other.

 

For nearly 50 years, now.....

.. since I was 15, or so........... my response has been: "Those are not the only two choices. There is a perfectly valid THIRD choice. That third choice is to confidently say, 'I don't know.'"

 

Given what I believe, which is......... Any time there is more than one credible answer to a question, no answer can be called "correct,"  I therefore also believe that "I don't know" is, in fact, the most honest answer I can give. Even though.......... many people can't seem to understand that "I don't know" IS a decision, not a stubborn unwillingness to make one!

 

I tell you all this so that you'll have some sense of my world view; of how I look at things. So............ consequently.......... when I come across a person who says "I choose not to vote".......... I really can't come up with a reason to object to that! 

 

I've lived my life in full recognition that many things that seem to have only TWO valid choices............  frequently turn out to have THREE or FOUR or FIVE!

 

--------------

 

When it comes to voting, I'd much rather someone who is not confident and convinced of a particular choice........... abstain, instead! Don't be a "Believer" or an "Atheist"........... [metaphorically speaking]......... just because someone tells you you're supposed to PICK ONE!

 

NOT picking is a perfectly valid THIRD CHOICE......... Don't let anyone tell you otherwise!

 

Not choosing IS  a choice!

 

--------------

 

Now, as far as I'm concerned........ any country that REQUIRES you to vote........... is only giving lip-service to the concept of "freedom!" 

 

Because if it was "freedom"........... you'd have the freedom not to!

 

Unless a country has "None of the Above" on their ballot........... they have no business compelling their people to PICK ONE! Because.......... in the absence of a valid "None of the Above" choice........... SILENCE becomes the only remaining way to make that choice!

 

And in a "free" society.......... shouldn't everyone have the right and opportunity to make the "Agnostic" choice............ to choose, as I do with religion.......... "None of the Above?"

 

Cheers!

 

 

When voting is voluntary, certain groups can intimidate any demographic group that they hate. This has been happening in the good old USofA for over a hundred years. That's why, if you're not a WASP, you're known as the disenfranchised! Blacks, Hispanics, trailer trash, the homeless etc.!

[LomSak27]

On 10/22/2022 at 5:20 PM, 1FinickyOne said:

On 10/22/2022 at 8:52 AM, webfact said:

Even Bush beat Gore by more than that didn’t he?

I think the Bush margin was something like 784 votes in Fla... but does anyone believe that if they had moved to Fla with 785 Gore voters, that the results would have been different... 

That was the margin, when the recount was stopped. They were recounting a heavily democratic district, then the “Brooks brothers riot” & brother Jeb happens. I have no doubt, if they finished the recount of that district, Al Gore would have won the presidency. And for those blowhards like Rooster who think a vote doesn't matter.  Al Gore, good or ill, does not invade Iraq for WMD. Instead by fluke, history throws up a callow president, the unexpected happens (9/11). The deathstar twins; Rumsfeld and Cheney, yacking in his ear, The rest is history.

Al Gore as president, no Iraq WMD adventure. The first major US clusterpuck of the new millennium is averted. Al was never big on unregulated banking either so a good chance he would have moved on the banks and their CD swap madness before the implosion of 2008. Stopping the recount, declaring Bush winner was thought no big deal at the time. We are still paying the price for that “epic disaster”.

[Stargeezr]

I just love how some politicians will say they are fighters, then resign the very next day. I think the lettuce won.

  Thanks for the news update. It was refreshing to see some news from the UK as well. It seems that there are many leaders 

in several countries that are less than popular. Maybe there is very little good leaders left, too much corruption, too much

dishonesty. Then there are the Putins and Xis in the world. What a mess.

[BostonRob2]

11 hours ago, LomSak27 said:

That was the margin, when the recount was stopped. They were recounting a heavily democratic district, then the “Brooks brothers riot” & brother Jeb happens. I have no doubt, if they finished the recount of that district, Al Gore would have won the presidency. And for those blowhards like Rooster who think a vote doesn't matter.  Al Gore, good or ill, does not invade Iraq for WMD. Instead by fluke, history throws up a callow president, the unexpected happens (9/11). The deathstar twins; Rumsfeld and Cheney, yacking in his ear, The rest is history.

Al Gore as president, no Iraq WMD adventure. The first major US clusterpuck of the new millennium is averted. Al was never big on unregulated banking either so a good chance he would have moved on the banks and their CD swap madness before the implosion of 2008. Stopping the recount, declaring Bush winner was thought no big deal at the time. We are still paying the price for that “epic disaster”.

And he called me a blowhard.

 

Thanks for reading.

 

Rooster