**Jay-V**

I got my Motely Crue along with my Jay-Z in my IPOD

Nicotunes

You are TRULY a Renaissance Man, Jay. I to you.

Wait.....you don't have my band in there?

**Jay-V**

Send me some mp3's so I can upload them

Nicotunes

ALL PRIOR POSTS IN THIS THREAD REFERRING IN ANY WAY TO POLITICS IS NOT THE NICOTUNES PERFORMING AT PIERCEMAN'S TOYS FOR TOTS EVENT ON 12/3, BUT NICOTUNES' EVIL TWIN "MONOTUNES". PLEASE DO NOT HOLD THESE POSTS AGAINST NICOTUNES IF YOU ATTEND THE EVENT.........

**Jay-V**

Love the disclaimer

oatnet

... and not as long as our money says 'In God we trust' like it always has, at least since McCarthy put it in 1954, just like the pledge of allegience. Except then Big Government was scaring us with "Commies" (the 50's version of 'terrorists') and using THAT fear to violate our civil rights. I thought we swore 'never again' but 'free speech zones' previaled.

Let me state that I am a Republican - or I was until the party went on walkabout. I believe in low taxes, less government, free markets. I don't believe this NEW stuff with the Moral Minority, I don't care if gays marry, I don't want stem cell research curtailed - clone me new parts, please! I think 1 nuke on Afghanastan would have shut down all terrorist support; sure we would have burned off all the 9/11 sympathy, but we already have; sure we would pay a fortune for reparations, but we already have spent a fortune, and the recipients wouldn't thank us with IEDs.

So I am glad that we finally have a muzzle on Halliburton, er Bush, so he can't protect another Enron while it rapes California with rolling blackouts and imaginary power outages... (For more info Tivo 'Enron: The Smartest Men in the Room' about the Enron scandal, it only mentions Bush in passing but it is telling).

=================================

Realistically though, it doesn't matter which Party machine is in charge at this point. Why? 3 points:

1) You know those TV spots for proposals we have been suffering through for the past few months? You know how they list all of the groups and individuals that support a measure or a candidate? I was horrified to read that those supporters are getting PAID hundreds of thousands of dollars for lending their names to the ads. That means their support has more to do with how much $$$ they can make than the actual issue at hand. I think that it should be illegal to receive ANY recompense for supporting an issue/candidate - if you got PAID then you aren't supporting the issue on its merits, so WTF does your support matter?

LA times is weird, Cut 'n Paste this link to read, strip the leading xx_

xx_http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-spokesmodel22oct22,1,6610296,full.story?ctrack=1&c set=true

2) Our partisian political world is sick and twisted. How many times have we heard that a candidate's chances depend on the dollars in his/her 'campaign chest', forcing politicians to become fundraisers first, and representatives second. Contributions from individuals cannot compete with the concentrated donations of businesses persuing an agenda instead of an ideal, forcing politicians to cater to business interests to survive.

I believe businesses should be banned from ALL political contributions, be it campaigns or PACs - the government is elected to serve the people and legislate the businesses, not the other way around. Only registered voters should be allowed to donate to a campaign, and that should be limited to 5k/yr TOTAL to ALL campaigns so that rich folk don't get to dilute everyone elses' donations. Get the Abrahomoffs out of the mix.

3) Finally, (and here is where I get whacky) I question the validity of our representative form of government, especially in an era where they activities taking place are often less than representative of the populations that elected them, in an era where voting districts are carved up to support agendas instead of populations. Sure, in the last few centuries, when a coast-to-coast trip was measured in months instead of hours, it made a lot of sense to have one representative to send to Washington. Now we have the internet - and even if one is homeless, one can access the internet from a public library. We could, and should, vote on every issue our 'representatives' currently confound.

I know someone out there is screaming 'Voter Apathy! Nothing will get done!' I think the most apathetic voters are the one who vote every year, but blindly vote 'the party line'. Doesn't it seem sometimes that the people least likely to vote often have the strongest, and loudest, positions on issues? And why don't those opiniated folks vote? I believe the biggest cause of voter apathy is that under a representative system, their vote doesn't matter. Give people a chance to express their beliefs, and they will. Can the masses make stupid choices? Surem just as stupid as our 'representatives' - but at least we know the stupid choice wasn't made to earn a campaign contribution at the taxpayer's expense.

-JD

Nicotunes

www.underhandedband.com

Tunes page.....the first one is the new singer....

Lemme know whatcha think

**Jay-V**

JD is alive

**Jay-V**

I'll check it out

Nicotunes

And if you're gonna throw something at me, please throw it..........ummm.....Underhanded.