Welcome to Gaia! ::

Really? We had an excellent presentation on sexual assault today...

I'll be leaving Gaia indefinitely because I don't want to continue hurting the feelings of people I care about but disagree with intensely. I don't want to get to the point where friendships are ended over disagreements that should not have been taken so personally.

I wish you all good luck and blessings!

EDIT: If any females want some free items, please email me and let me know. I won't be checking Gaia, so I won't see any PMs.

surprised

Okay, can someone please tell me what the ******** is going on?

Apparently, JoVo's gotten so pissed off about a few things on Gaia, that he's opted to leave permanently. I'm not sure if it has anything to do with his siggie being removed or not.

Actually, voting is a priveledge, but that's not the point.

Your vote does matter. And I'm not saying that your vote, by itself matters, I'm saying that if you, and all the people like you who didn't vote, got together and voted, 49% more of the country would be voting.

Don't ******** with me, Matiko, I know how the voting system works. Point being, it's the most votes in the state. So if your state happened to be majority voting for the 3rd party, then the 3rd party would get however many votes the state had(one or two depending on size, IIRC).

So yeah, it is a little off, but that doesn't mean your vote doesn't matter. Your vote does matter, and you should cast it.

Think of it this way. You don't want to vote republican or democrat, so you don't vote at all.
But if you go to the polls and vote for the third party, you're voting against the republicans and democrats. So that's one less vote for them in the state average.

1 + 1 + 1 = 1, 1, 1.
So that's saying that one person voted for each representative. Okay.
But let's say you didn't vote. So it ends up looking like this:

1 + 1 + 0 = 1, 1, 0.

So instead of it being a three-way tie, since you didn't vote, the third party has no chance of winning at all, now.

I understand that what I just showed you is completely primitive, and in no way in as sheer a number as the whole nation, but it was to get the point across.

So please, just vote for something. I'm tired of Americans complaining when they don't even vote for who leads our damned country.

[Q]: Unfortunately for you, I'm German by birth. Born in the States yes, hence an American citizen. But both my parents are German. But that's not the point.

My point is, a right or priviledge, it *is* my right to vote or not to vote. That is a decision that is mine, and mine alone to make. And I've made the decision not to vote. Because my state votes republican every election year. So, my vote really is wasted. Trust me, I've studied American politics. The system doesn't work. The government barely works.

If this were in Germany, or any other country with a democratic vote, I'd be the first one to line up and vote. Why? Because the politicians in those other countries, don't concern themselves with the personal lives of their citizens. All they care about is getting the taxes paid, and having everyone follow the law. It is only here in the United States, where a person's personal plays into an election, as much as their tax breaks, and other benefits. And, the only reason Canada and Holland have taken stances *for* gay rights and marriage, is to snub their noses at the US. And I personally commend them for that. Any country that would so arrogantly go around telling other nations what they can and can't do, and willingly damaging their diplomatic relations for a sake of a vendetta, I would snub my nose at the US too. But again, that's not the point of this response.

What *is* the point, is that, I'm educated enough to know that it's not worth my time and energy trying to vote for candidates that don't stand a chance of winning. If Ralph Nader or someone like him, tried pursuing a nomination in the Democratic, or Republican, parties, *then* I'd go, register to vote, and then vote. But as it is, so long as Bush and Kerry are the only ones getting any attention, and the only two standing a chance at winning this election, I chose to keep my little Uke butt at home, doing something more constructive. Like logging on Gaia.

And, BTW Q, as I said in my previous post, I can complain about anything I want. Why? Again, because of my 1st Amendment rights. If you're getting tired of it, then stop telling people to do things they don't wanna do. In the end, they'll be less annoyed with you, and you won't be causing yourself unnecessary stress. As they told me at my last job, worry about yourself first. If you want to make such a difference, go and vote. You also have the right to boycott things too, so go and do some of that. Then maybe you'll feel better about having done *something* to change things, and leave people like me, who choose not to act, alone.

The locked "Thank You" thread, among other things.
I called him on the phone to yell at him. I will apologize, but I think the issues run much deeper than that. You all have a right to know, tho.

When you call him, tell him we miss him, and please ask him to come back online, at least on AIM. I miss chatting with him crying