At 7:08 PM +0000 11/10/00, Gil Hamilton wrote:

Ernest Hua writes:

...

It is abundantly clear to me that much of the ranting going on here on this list is at least 50% sour grapes.

Not to pick on Tim, but he just seems like a convenient example; it is clear in Tim's mind that he does not want the possibility of Gore being the next president. He may have some procedural reasons to back this rant up, but he definitely does not like Gore.

You arrogant pinhead. It is you who have been whining that these poor dimwitted voters in Palm Beach County must be allowed to vote again; after all, "the voters should get what they want."

In any case, if they did hold a revote in Palm Beach County, what happens after that? What if Bush is still ahead and there are more spoiled ballots? What if Gore is ahead, but there are spoiled ballots? Or, is the objective to just allow them to re-vote again and again until you and Gore get the outcome you're looking for?

There will be blood in the streets if a "do over" is allowed in Palm Beach County. Frankly, were such a "do over" ordered, I have no doubt that Gore would pick up the extra 300 or so votes he needs to beat Bush. I outlined the basic reasons a day or two ago in my "Causality and Close Elections" piece. It's why we all vote at nominally the same time. In fact, the margin for a "new victory" would likely be much more than 300 votes. To Ernest Hua, Pinhead, this would be "the will of the people." As I've said, I sort of hope this happens. It would make for exciting news. And blood in the streets. Folks like me would be calling for the trial and execution of Al Gore and his thousands of lackeys. That would be sort of fun. Meanwhile, the chaos and paralysis is also useful.

And what about other states? There were spoiled ballots in every state and probably every precinct, and I have no doubt there was some idiot confused by the ballot in every such case. What is the threshold at which we allow that state or precinct to vote over again?

Re-votes, or "do overs," are inherently unfair in the most basic sense. This is why they are so rare, so _fucking_ rare. Even in cases in Miami where actual fraud was found, the courts did not order a re-vote. Rather, they tossed out entire blocs of ballots which were thought to have been tainted. There is no evidence of substantial fraud in the Palm Beach County matter, as we've discussed ad nauseum (ballots approved in advance, ballots published, no disputes, ballots used in '96 election, number of spoiled ballots comparable to number in '96, etc.). Even if there _were_, the remedy would likely be to discard all of the Palm Beach County votes before there would ever be a re-vote. (And the 150,000 voters, IIRC, who got it "right," who didn't drool on their ballots or mark mulitple choices, would be justified in then complaining that _they_ were being penalized for having carefully looked at the ballot!)

I'm beginning to think Tim is right: The fuse on this powder keg is lit. The NAACP and its ilk, along with Gore partisans like you, will never accept the outcome of this election.

Which is one reason I sort of hope the hundreds of lawyers sent down to Florida by the Gore Team succeed in throwing the election to Gore.

Better stock up on ammo, folks. (Maybe Y2K was just a few months late.)

Got that one covered. I don't expect hordes in the countryside, but we could see some the Welfare Mutants and Inner City Maggots rioting, looting, and shitting in their own nests. Most of South-Central LA remains boarded up and economically wasted, which I think is poetic justice. Let the Democrat "maggots and faggots" deal with Jesse Jackson's promised race war. --Tim May -- ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, ComSec 3DES: 831-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets, "Cyphernomicon" | black markets, collapse of governments.