The Butt Ugly Weblog

I usually enjoy what you write and respect you a lot for your technical wisdom.

However on this one occurence I have to desagree eventhough as a US resident I'd like to see Bush out more than you do.

They are a lot of things you could do to help in the process but buying votes is not the answer. It is unethical and point less as only one vote won't make much difference. What You can do (and you can promote that on your site) is to identify US citizens abroad and convince them to vote.

US citizens living abroad vote in the last state they lived in when they were in the US. So if you search for US citizens who lived last in florida and convince them to vote you'll promote the electoral process and help Kerry as a majority of americans abroad vote democrat. Sites you can promote: http://www.tellanamericantovote.com/

You can promote as well contributions to the democratic party: https://www.democrats.org/support/kerry.html

Hopefully that fever of yours is what triggered this odd post.

BTW JSPwiki is really great!

Keep up the good work. -Christophe.

--200.60.186.235, 16-Oct-2004

As an Ohio voter, my vote may make a difference seeing that it is one of the "swing" states.

I quote you blog as saying "I am so angry now. And I also feel so powerless, looking at how the good US citizens are being led like cattle." but you just saw a movie and now feel the need to buy votes against Bush. You seem to be the one being led like cattle and by an American movie maker. Quite sad really.

As far as American politics go, I know the two party system may seem like the lesser of two evils, but unfortunately, no political system is perfect or else we all would be using it and there are many of advantages to the two party system. I hope you realize the ridiculousness of you trying to buy votes.

Good day. JPS

--Schmigz, 16-Oct-2004

Frankly I don't think anyone in Finland needs to watch Fahrenheit 9/11 to be against Bush so your comment about being led by an American movie maker is rather silly. It's the American people who don't seem to realise that they're being led by a dangerous idiot. That, if anything, is sad.

The world outside US (you do know there are other countries, right?) is perfectly aware of how important it is that Dubya does NOT WIN the election, I wish the American people would wake up as well, before it's too late.

You people, as a nation, speak about the "war against terrorism" but right now your own president and his politics are a lot bigger threat to this planet than any terrorist group.

--so effing annoyed, 17-Oct-2004

Thanks for the links, guys :).

And it's a good thing people disagree with me on occasion. Even when I'm being sarcastic. Besides, isn't buying votes a time-honored tradition in all countries?

And, to be fair, Moore did not trigger my anger. People in the States do not perhaps appreciate the amount of disagreement towards the current U.S. policies in Europe and elsewhere. Moore was the trigger for me to write about my feelings - which are desperate enough to make a semi-serious offer to buy votes. You haven't seen them here before, because I try to keep quiet about politics, but trust me, I've been angry at the US foreign policy for quite some time now.

--JanneJalkanen, 17-Oct-2004

Er, just in case I wasn't being clear enough: my comment was directed at Schmigz.

--so effing annoyed, 17-Oct-2004

It seems to me, that U.S. has found a great need to use military forces (not on it's own soil though) every five years for several decades now. We've been figuring out that the reasons for that are mostly war industry based (not forgetting oil as a reason), as new weapons are best experimented in live action and of course the old ones need to be used before war industry can sell new ones to the U.S. covernment.

This tendency to find a "valid" enough reason from where ever, even without UN approval has made U.S. the biggest threat to world peace. Riding on past good deeds (WW2 50 years ago) and trying to validate it's selfappointed role as a world police is pitifull, as most of the world disagrees with U.S. foreign policy nowadays.

U.S. and it's trigger-happy covernments are making it more and more unpopular and untrusted year after year. I'd love them to make a drastic change in their policy and to start concentrating in domestic issues, which from where I stand (Finland) seem to be in a complite mess with all the homeless, poverty, crime, poor health care, neglected educational issues etc. U.S. should consider solving their own problems before thinking that they have any right to attack any more countries.

I'm more scared of U.S. than any arabic country.

--130.231.172.16, 17-Oct-2004

I agree that people do not need to watch Fahrenheit 9/11 to dislike Bush. Most people dislike him also because the world media dislikes him. But I would prefer people make informed decisions before bashing America. That was the only point I was trying to make. Everyone has their right to their opinion. I just think they should make sure they are informed before trying to persuade others (or buy votes). I have been reading Janne blog for sometime now and if he says the Moore did not make up his mind then I believe him. I just read it as he saw the movie and then posted in his blog about how bad Bush is. There have been 3 other movies made here, 2 of which I have seen, that contradict Moore's movie almost entirely. Then there were movies made to contradict those. I have seen one. What do I come away with all of this? Moore's movie was made to entertain. That's what he does. The other's were not entertaining at all and actually rather boring and thus have not got the attention of the world or even many people in America. I feel Bush made many mistakes. I really do not blame Bush. I blame the Neocons that actually run the country. I equate Bush to the Queen of England where he is only a figure head and others are actually running the country. If you are informed enough to actually understand what I am talking about, then I thank you for being informed. If you are lost and are still bashing Bush, then you have no right to do so publicly until you become informed.

As for U.S. foreign policy, I agree it is less then adequate. I also think the U.S. tends to get a worse then deserved perception in world media from what I have seen. The U.S. tries to do good but it seems that only the bad is shown. The U.S. needs to drastically help its reputation. The war on terrorism should not be about fighting terrorists but should instead be about improving America's image world wide so that the terrorists no longer want to attack us. Unfortunately, I am one of the few American's that feel this way. As for the person who said we need to worry about our own country, I am told that all the time. I also am told how wealthy America is and how we need to do more to help the poorer countries. America tends to get it from both sides. I have discussed this in open-forum with people with both views and there does not seem to be a nice middle-ground to make everyone happy. Everyone has these simple solutions. Unfortunately, the solutions are not as black and white as people seem to make them, everything is always in that gray area.

My vote will go for who I feel is the best canidate. There are more then Bush and Kerry. I can name them all and I can also tell you where each one stands on almost every important issue. Unfortunately, not everyone is like me.

Good Day. JPS

--Schmigz, 18-Oct-2004

But I would prefer people make informed decisions before bashing America.

I think this is where people get it wrong. It's not bashing America, or hating America - it's not even about Americans as such, after all they elected Gore as a president. It's about GWB, and hating his policies.

(IMHO, of course)

--kolibri, 18-Oct-2004

Yup. Same here. Love America (I mean, it is a great country, though it would need some adjustments, especially in the judicial system), especially the people. Hate the president. He's not fit to run a country.

But I liked your response, Schmigz. It's good to see that you've clearly given a lot of thought on this, and are not blindly going by the "I am a republican, therefore I will vote for GWB" -mantra, which I've also heard. Good on you! As long as people really go and find out about things and are making informed decisions, there's still hope.

--JanneJalkanen, 18-Oct-2004

But if Bush were to be elected for a secod term. He would probably continue to drive the country towards crisis (both in economics and foreign relations). Could it be that this would diminish the economical and political credibility of the US?

If somebody wanted to take an anti-american point of view, wouldn't the re-election of Bush actually be pretty good thing for the rest of the world, in a long run?

--Sampo, 25-Oct-2004

Unfortunately the US economy is so big, that if USA falls into a recession, so will Europe, and soon after, the rest of the world. While some people would watch USA falling on its knees with some glee, it would not be a good thing for us, either.

And it's also the question on how much you value the lives of the soldiers and civilians dying in Iraq and Afghanistan right now...

No. If you want to reduce USA's significance to the world economy, convince OPEC to start demanding payment in Euros instead of dollars...

--JanneJalkanen, 25-Oct-2004

Still, if the point of view is that of an extreme environmentalist (like, for example, Linkola) maybe global recession would be quite a good thing for the whole planet.

Also, after that hypothesized recession, the new economical playground might be more even, or at least different. I can imagine some people could consider these things good.

--Sampo, 25-Oct-2004

Perhaps. But I think that's an awfully big if - and since a recession always means human suffering, I think it's too big of a gamble to make. I mean - a sure-fire way to fight recession is to start a war...

--JanneJalkanen, 25-Oct-2004