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| Home Front: Politix |
| UK's Guardian paper trying to influence US vote in Ohio |
| 2004-10-13 |
| Hat tip: Spoons Experience--These are my own words. Go to this website I linked to and enter your email address. You will almost instantaneously receive the name and mailing address of a registered voter in Clark County, Ohio. The Guardian wants you to write a letter to this person to encourage him to vote and let him know how seriously concerned you are about this election! The Guardian proclaims it is not doing this to encourage support of either candidate, but I think most Rantburgers are quite familiar with the slant of the Guardian's articles and, by projection, its readership. I don't expect the FEC has any authorization to shut down a foreign newspaper's blatant attempt to influence America's own national election. Is there any recourse available? I received the name and address of a Mr. L. Gwinn. I'm tempted to write to him not to influence his vote, but to let him know a foreign newspaper readily supplied his contact information to me for that purpose. I can only hope there's some sort of class action he and other Clark Co. voters can take against the Guardian in response. |
| Posted by:Dar |
| #14 As an American who hated Bush long before the 2000 election I have a somewhat different mindset towards this forgien newspaper helping Kerry the way they are than most. I am glad they did what they did. I am glad because worse than having some lonely English guy stalk me would be four more years of Bush. Today a mall security guard here in Chicago told me he could call the police and arrest me for wearing a shirt that said, "If you are not rich Bush won't help you, this Halloween vote the dumb monster out. Vote!" America is a sick place now. There are drug deals taking place right outside in the mall parking lot but a political shirt is a no no. A lot of Americans DON'T KNOW the rest of the world hates us, they are too poor or beat down when they get home from work to do anything except sit on the couch and watch sitcoms and news programs paid for by Bush INC. We need other countries to barge in and say something loud so those who don't realize they've got BushWax in their ears can finally hear what is going on. A lot of people here have been quietly going insane the last four years. I have a good feeling about Nov. 2nd |
| Posted by: Miss America 2004-10-30 10:50:08 PM |
| #13 Lex - Lol! America: Masters of Invasion for No Good Reason! Damn! He's right, of course - just look at the American Empire! Fred - got an IP addy on GS8553? If we're going to invade, lol, we have to know where, heh. GS8553 - You wouldn't happen to be Taleban, would you? Lol! Wotta 'tard. |
| Posted by: .com 2004-10-22 10:48:21 AM |
| #12 Careful what you wish for there, Groluck. We all know Bush is an evil genius bent on world domination. Or is today a Bush: Semi retarded money boy day? I always get 'em mixed up. |
| Posted by: tu3031 2004-10-22 10:44:32 AM |
| #11 troll cleanup, aisle 3 |
| Posted by: lex 2004-10-22 10:40:19 AM |
| #10 If it annoys you so much you could always invade, it's not as if you haven't invaded countries for no good reason before. Damned Right Wing nut jobs! |
| Posted by: Groluck Spomoger8553 2004-10-22 10:38:51 AM |
| #9 Trailing wife: I'm really unsure that if an average American conservative were suddenly granted citizenship in the UK or France, whether they'd have anyone representative of their views to vote for to begin with. |
| Posted by: Phil Fraering 2004-10-13 11:22:08 PM |
| #8 What fun! Its a pity I live at the wrong end of the state, where Republicans pretty much rule. I think Elder Daughter would get a kick out of explaining to her British pen pal exactly why his/her opinions don't matter in the least, and who she thinks Pen Pal should vote for in the next By election. This could actually be very educational for the Guardian readership, once they recover from the experience. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2004-10-13 8:57:26 PM |
| #7 Actually, the ineptitude of the whole effort's pretty funny. If you bother to look at their open letters" to Clark County voters, you realize they've selected three British figures whom almost no one in Clark County would recognize, two of whom, if their true opinions were known, would probably be run out of town on a rail: 1) a blatantly anti-American tory snob who lives in southwest France (John Le Carre/David Cornwell); 2) a viciously snide, patronizing and condescending Oxford prof who champions atheism wherever possible (Richard Dawkins); 3) an aging historical novelist whom no one under the age of 75 reads anymore (Lady Antonia Fraser). Rove could not have scripted it better. |
| Posted by: lex 2004-10-13 6:36:29 PM |
| #6 This could very well be a violation of the EU Data Protection Directive. I don't know how this would apply to data of U.S. citizens, but that's the track I'd investigate. If those U.S. voters have not agreed to having their data divulged by the Guardian, I see trouble. I would check what the Guardian says about its own privacy policy (which is mandatory to state). Also the EU has strict spamming laws. They were probably violated, too. |
| Posted by: True German Ally 2004-10-13 6:24:56 PM |
| #5 Is there anything that they could do to counter this or is it 'out of jurisdiction' so to speak? Does anybody know? Have any suggestions? |
| Posted by: Flomoting Slang7198 2004-10-13 6:11:43 PM |
| #4 F***ing clowns. As if those idiotic, unbelievably condescending "letters" from Le Carre/Cornwell et al were not sufficiently Pythonesque. |
| Posted by: Signiore Buttman 2004-10-13 5:25:40 PM |
| #3 No representation without taxation! |
| Posted by: Uninegum Elminenter3876 2004-10-13 5:14:03 PM |
| #2 Dar - This was also noted over at LGF, and many minions (including me) have already received our Clark County name and address. The scary thing is, the name I got was a woman's, living in an apartment, so I'm guessing she's single. Nice of the Guardian to support stalkers. Think I'll write her a nice letter to let her know what they've done. (BTW, I used my Hotmail address - they say they won't use my e-mail address for anything else, but why should I trust someone who is willing to send a voter's name & address to a complete stranger for the express purpose of influencing that vote by a foreigner?) |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2004-10-13 3:28:05 PM |
| #1 Ah--I didn't see Angie's comment in "Send in the Clowns" below 'til now, but this is certainly something that justifies its own thread. |
| Posted by: Dar 2004-10-13 2:33:07 PM |