If you could pick one of these two issues to be fully addressed and

[Guaranteed]

Poll question: If you could pick one of these two issues to be fully addressed and

"solved," so to speak, which would you pick?

Which do you think is a more important issue for our country?

I ask this because these are the top two issues that I think our country needs to address.

I'll throw in an "other," also, so that people can add what they think is the most important issue affecting our country today (transparent voting, deficits, civil liberties, etc.).

[Ready4Change]

1. Of the two, I pick correcting the media.

Because, if we can get a trustworthy, informative media, we'll have a chance to fix so many other things.

However, even if we solve our need for alternative energy, without a trustable media, we might never learn of the advances. (Some tinfoil hat wearers claim this is already the case.)

[Guaranteed]

2. I actually voted for alternative energy, but the media is so basic

to our democracy and the influence of the people. It literally affects everything, and gets right to the heart of the corporate dominance of our country.

But so does oil, which also affects our foreign policy and environment.

It's hard for me to pick between the two.

[mestup]

10. Hard for me too, but I thought about my parents...

...Depression era, WWII people. It's amazing how many times they'll refer to McCarthyism, or the Cold War, Vietnam, etc, etc, etc. and what we know now based on study, and exposure.

Time and again the refrain is, "but see, we didn't KNOW that at the time."

I had to go with the power of media influence.

[MissWaverly]

3. I think we need to straighten out 2000/2004 elections

we need to fix the rigged elections

[Guaranteed]

4. How do you think we should straighten them out? nt

[MissWaverly]

7. expose wide spread deliberate election fraud

establish that bush does not have a claim to be president of the
US

[Guaranteed]

9. But, what I'm saying is, what do you expect to be done?

Not that I'm saying there is nothing to be done.

I'm just asking- if it was definitively proved that Bush lost either the 2000 or 2004 election, would you expect him to step down, and for Gore or Kerry to replace him?

Do you think our Constitution would allow that?

[MissWaverly]

16. I expect him to be indicted

the indictments are coming, once Cheney, Gonzales, Rove and Bush are
indicted, suddenly it will come out that Bush has been a squatter,
I see him being tried as a private citizen not as "President" I
think they will do this to preserve the dignity and respect of
the US presidency and the authority of the US government.

[Guaranteed]

19. Who should take over?

And, BTW, I'd give any appendage that I might own...I mean ANY....to see a Bush indictment.

[MissWaverly]

21. It would have to Al Gore

Since he was the elected but not inaugurated president, do you think
it was a freak accident that Carter announced that Gore really won
the 2000 election this week. And have you noticed that Bush is no
longer in the filtered lens, the National Enquirer is printing an
article showing him as a falling down drunk. This is hard hitting
and is directed at the average American.

[Guaranteed]

23. Well, I think it would be RIGHT...

However, if we're going to maintain an orderly government, we have to have rules for these things. Typically, we have to follow the Constitution, otherwise it's kind of a "coup."

Should we just have another election?

Or, do we just riot and move Gore into the White House?

I mean, you see what I'm saying? I don't think there's really any precedent for this, and I don't think the Constitution accounts for it. This has to be allowed by law, or else it's a rebellion.

That's NOT to say that it shouldn't be definitively proved that Bush stole either election, and be forced to step down. Obviously, he can be forced to resign.

But who replaces him? By the Constitution, it's Cheney. Or, if he resigns as well, it's Hastert. And so on down the line of neocons.

[MissWaverly]

27. Look, you are looking at the picture from the wrong position

US Constitution, Article II

SECTION. 1. The Person having the greatest Number of Votes shall be the President, if such Number be a Majority of the whole Number of Electors appointed; and if there be more than one who have such Majority, and have an equal Number of Votes, then the House of Representatives shall immediately chuse by Ballot one of them for President; and if no Person have a Majority, then from the five highest on the List the said House shall in like Manner chuse the President. But in chusing the President, the Votes shall be taken by States...

Do you see anything in here that says the Supreme Court shall pick the
winner, NEITHER do I. The only way out of the maze is to go back to
where we came in. That way we do not have to choose between bad choices a,b,c,d,e,f,g. This is only way we can preserve the U.S. is
to prove that Bush has no claim on the presidency.

[Guaranteed]

33. Technically, the SCOTUS didn't "pick" the winner, although

they did realistically, with their decision.

The decision that they made, which, IMO, was wrong, was to stop the recount vote in Florida.

In any case, that was back in 2000. Certainly the case for a fraudulent election was much better for that election than the one in 2004.

Further, it does seem to have been determined that Gore would have won Florida in 2000.

So, in 2005, do you think the Constitution allows us to just de-throne Bush and put in Gore, given that?

[MissWaverly]

37. we can't dethrone him until he's indicted

Page 62 of The Betrayal of America: How the Supreme Court undermined the
constitution and chose our president.

"That an election for an American president can be stolen by the highest court in the land under the deliberate pretext of an inapplicable constitutional provision has got to be one of the most frightening and dangerous events ever to have occurred in this country. Until this act--which is treasonous, though again, not technically, in its sweeping implications--is somehow rectified (and I do not know how this may be done), can we be serene about continuing to place the adjective "great"
before the name of this country?"

You have to remember that I grew up under the idea of "separate but equal" which was struck down and civil rights for blacks became a reality.

[Guaranteed]

39. We can't put in anyone other than those in line for the presidency.

That's what I'm talking about, here.

What do you want to do??

[MissWaverly]

40. Listen to this idea

Say it was revealed (which I have heard on some hard core tin hat conspiracy theory places which I will not divulge here)--anyhow,
say it was revealed that several Supreme Court Justices were told
that if they did not vote in favor of Bush v. Gore that they would
be murdered, where's your line for the president then, why don't we
just hand over the presidency to the nearest mafia kingpin.

[Vincardog]

8. fix the rigged elections until we get control of the elections

we can't force the others. Paper Ballots Hand Counts now

[HomerRamone]

13. Here, Here! (eom)

[MissWaverly]

22. we have to regain control of the government

[Guaranteed]

24. MissWaverly, I hear you...but listen.

If it's truely come to what you're saying, and if it is that extensive...

We shouldn't be abiding by the Constitution, or doing things in that fashion, if you get what I mean.

Which I suppose is kind of the counterpoint to the points I'm making above. But the threshold is that what you're contending has to be happening on a regular basis, and be widespread, if we're to throw out our established laws.

[MissWaverly]

28. see my reply above

we threw out our established laws when we allowed George Bush to be
given the presidency by the Supreme Court, that is not in the
Constitution, it is some kind of outside special privilege. Everything
goes back to that.

[MissWaverly]

30. I am not advocating anarchy

But I believe there will be change, Hugo Chavez said that there was
an attempt by the U.S. to start a war with Venezuela. We cannot
exist as a country fighting multiple wars on multiple fronts, we
are rapidly going bankrupt and our political infrastructure has
been eaten away by cronyism and corruption. I feel that there will
be change, but it will be a peaceful one and there will once again
be a government based on the U.S. constitution, our treaties will be
upheld and our position at the UN will be as a responsible member
of a global community.

[Guaranteed]

36. I hope you're right.

The problem is, if what you're saying is true, and our votes will not matter...I don't think "peaceful change" is going to be an option.

HOWEVER, I also take issue with your premises. I don't think that our votes are as widespreadly discounted as you are contending.

In fact, I place the majority of the blame on the media- not the voting machines. I can not IMAGINE that someone would somehow even be able to justify a lack of paper trail when it comes to voting in their mind, however, I don't think that it was enough in this last election, 2004, to justify the claim the votes were counted in such a way as to give the Chimp the election, when he actually lost- EXCEPT for perhaps in Ohio, where Blackwell seemed to be doing his best to disenfranchise so many low-income and/or black voters. I think that the biggest problem facing the U.S. is that the voters DON'T KNOW WHAT THE HELL THEY'RE DOING.

Further, though, remember the role of the media in the 2000 election. Remember what Michael Moore showed us in F/911. Gore was DECLARED the winner of Florida, to begin with. Then, out of the blue (ha ha, no pun intended), they suddenly changed their minds, and Bush had won Florida! Oh, yay! And, the first news network to broadcast that? Fox News. Where Bush's cousin made the decision to broadcast the claim, after Bush's protest.

Again, though, if what you're saying is correct, ultimately, it all doesn't matter. It's time to start over.

[MissWaverly]

38. what you have to understand is the machines were rigged

I saw it myself in Baltimore, I saw my voting machine default to
George Bush 5 times, If you doubt what I am saying go to the City of Baltimore Board of Elections website, the 2004 general election results are not posted. When I paid for results, they came without a count of how many registered voters there were and the total votes for my ward was only 944 for the entire day although I waited 2 hours to vote. I read on the web that at some heavily populated Democratic areas, the
response rate was 8% and that one place registered a -25 million votes.

http://www.ci.baltimore.md.us/government/elections/index.html

[JohnLocke]

5. The media, because it controls the keys to solving so many things.

[Guaranteed]

6. That's exactly right. It's the base of our country.

But, these environmental as well as economic issues regarding oil seem to be getting to the point of very, very serious crisis.

With the global warming, on top of $5/gallon gas...our economy, besides the politics, can't even sustain with what is happening with oil, not to mention our shores and foreign policy.


????

[Guaranteed]

17. I think an interesting way of putting this question is to contrast

the material basis of our country with the informational...

What's more important? Energy to get around and get things done, or the information that the country feeds on and needs in order to operate?

[New Earth]

53. my choice for the same reasons exactly.

[blm]

11. The media controls every other issue this country needs to deal with

that is, they control the perception by controlling what issues are heard by the greater public.

For instance, the voting machine issue - wouldn't this country be in near shock if the media told them the whole story about who controls the machines and how insecure their votes really are?

[Guaranteed]

12. Totally agreed.

This country would change overnight if the truth was ever told about what is happening.

[RepublicanElephant]

18. exactly!

most americans aren't stupid and try to do the right thing, when informed with the TRUTH.

unfortunately, we're kinda lazy when it comes to searching-out the truth, so, like randi rhodes says, "if it wasn't on the tv, it didn't happen".

[dcfirefighter]

14. Understanding of, appreciation for, and sharing of the Commons.

I picked 'other'.

Among other things, the Commons refers to our shared natural heritage:

Namely, the atmosphere is part of our commons. Allowing 'the few' to use it as a dumping ground for the waste products of fossil fuel combustion detracts from the right of 'the many' to enjoy clean air and a relatively stable climate. If we charged market rates for emissions 'rights', we'd mostly get off oil & coal, while raising public revenue (and hopefully reducing a terrible tax like the payroll tax, which raises the price of employment, and keeps people out of jobs).

Another part of our commons is the broadcast spectrum. Periodically auctioning portions of it would pretty much prevent the concentrated ownership of broadcast rights. (again, while raising public revenue). It would also increase the bandwidth available, as it would be very financially lucrative to figure out how to put two channels where one used to be.

[Guaranteed]

20. I think you're right in that massive taxes need to be used

as a pressure on unclean energy.

[sweetheart]

15. Ending the drugs war

Why? WEll, without the drugs war, the only currency of illegal trade
will become weapons, and these are theoretically controlled by
sovereign states, something that could be controlled... and then we
can look at arms proliferation outside of the context of an unstoppable
demand for drugs by many millions of persons.

"our" country should just let energy markets find their bottom, and
cut out with (ALL) the wars.

[nonconformist]

25. Media. Once the issue with getting information to the people is addressed

Unbiased, uninfluenced truth, the rest will fall into place.

[Stinky The Clown]

26. Three Monkey Media ... the key to all of it.

[PurityOfEssence]

29. Unverifiable electronic voting

Everything else, and I do mean EVERYTHING ELSE is secondary. Iraq is less important, Syria and our other soon-to-be entanglements are less important. The destruction of the environment, the subjugation of all but the very rich and the looting of the treasury are all less important. Without real voting, the reactionaries will drive us to our doom.

[never_get_over_it]

34. I agree with you but I can't help but think if the media

had addressed this issue fairly - they wouldn't have gotten away with it - but if we don't get this voting issue fixed we're screwed - and you know I think they are already plannig for 06 becuase the repunks have been acting outrageously - and you would think they would fear for their seats in Congress - voting unaimously not to hold and independent investigation of Katrina responce when 75% of Americans want it - that is outrageous and there are other examples...

Time and time again friends would ask me what I thought about Kerry's chance to win and I would say - I think he will be ok unless they steal the election and then I sat there and watched the exit polls and then the results - there is NO QUESTION

[Guaranteed]

35. I think that if it has come down to the point where we have

ZERO confidence in the idea that our votes count, across the country, it's time for much more than just political action. The entire basis for the Constitution has been destroyed, if that is the case, and even talking about it isn't going to do any good, since our votes don't count.

The counting of votes is EVEN MORE BASIC than the dissemination of information by the media, which is most definitely saying something. I'd say that votes being counted is the only thing that matters more than the media's integrity, politically.

If we've lost that, consistently and on a widespread basis, truly, we've lost everything, and there's no need to be constrained by the so-called Constitution and "rule of law."

[MissWaverly]

45. Yes, it is the time for the Constitution

As the neocons try to push us ever closer to a police state with
an iron fist rule to quell any opposition, did you hear the neocon
comment, "Why provide for 12 years of education when all "they" will
need for the rest of their life is 6 weeks of basic training." We must
restore law and order, and the framework of our democracy. Now is the
time, I believe there are a significant amount of people committed to
this.

[hippiegranny]

31. media=horse

put the correct thing first and the rest (energy solutions = cart) will follow.

[Crunchy Frog]

32. I vote for media.

Without a truly free and independent media, our society can't even begin to address its real problems. With the media we've got right now it's not even possible for our society to have the kinds of discussions we need to have about energy issues. We're also not going to get the kind of elected officials who would begin addressing these issues with a corporate owned media that only shills for corporate friendly (mostly Repuke) candidates.

[GreenPartyVoter]

41. All four plus election reform. Sorry, but I don't think we can focus

on just 2. All of these issues are hugely important.

[donheld]

42. If we had a media worth anything the oil consumtion problem

would be addressed by the media, and that would go a long way to fixing that issue.

[donheld]

43. If we had a media worth anything the oil consumtion problem

would be addressed by the media, and that would go a long way to fixing that issue.

[David Zephyr]

44. Tough choice, BullGooseLoony. I chose the Media issue.

I think the corporate media consolidation dovetails the public right into fascism and prevents sound energy polices from being exposed to the public.

[wellstone dem]

46. poverty

wish we could solve it.

[mcscajun]

47. Without the truth, America is doomed.

With the truth, America can get to work on our problems.

[kitp]

48. free flow

of information is vital.
True #1 issue would be election reform, then media reform, then energy/poverty/economy etc...

[OKJackson]

49. Other - Restore election integrity, other issues pale in comparison n/t

[Lecky]

50. Hands down: alternate energy

That's so much more important IMHO!

[Joebert]

51. I voted that way as well...

I would love a press that does its job.

Either:

Being beholden to pollution and foreign policies, and have a great press telling us about it.

or

Having energy independence, cleaner air, water, etc, and having to read about it here, or hear it on Democracy Now!

I'll pick the clean, sustainable energy.

[Mr_Spock]

52. Faux "news" must be destroyed at all cost.

I'm serious. I hate seeing people here supporting those fascists.

[nvliberal]

54. Neither of the two.

Both are important, but having fair elections and doing something about the relentless class war being waged by the elites and their representatives in Washington against everybody else are FAR more important, for they are bedrock to our democracy.

[mb7588a]

55. B helps solve A. Shrug. Easy choice. nt.

[BlueIris]

56. I haaaaaad to go with media.

There are a billion things wrong with this here country, but citizens simply not getting the right information is right up there.