How to stop political ads

Well, not quite stop them, but here are two ways to avoid them.

1) Don't watch TV.  Read lots of newspapers and magazines instead.

2) OK, you don't want to give up sports, reality shows, and Comedy Central.  Then try these simple steps each time a political ad comes on the screen.
a) Close your eyes
b) Put your hands over your ears
c) Count to 60
With these three simple steps you won't have missed anything meaningful.

Remember also that political ads are designed not to get you to vote for a candidate, but to get you discouraged about the other candidate and not even vote.  It seemed to work very well in New York's Ninth Congressional District in 2011.  The Republican candidate won despite a 3 to 1 Democratic registration.

So, get even yourself and be sure to vote.  Remember that the biggest spender is not always the winner.  Think Meg Whitman who outspent Jerry Brown by a wide margin for governor of California and lost by a wide margin.

Senate blames the cops, not the criminals

I left the following comment on Facebook on the Coffee Party's link to "Senators put federal regulators, not JPMorgan, on the hot seat", Dana Milbank, Washington Post, 2012-05-22.

What are all the complaints about?  We have the best government money can buy.

The 1 percent may have the money, but the 99 percent have the vote.  The problem is that too many of the 99 percent blame the money but never bother to show up.  Election after election has gone to Republicans because too many "Democrats" didn't even bother to show up - Florida, 2000; Wisconsin, 2010; New York Ninth District, 2011.  This last has 3-1 Democratic registration!

And money doesn't always win elections.  Meg Whitman outspent Jerry Brown by a wide margin, but Brown won the Governorship of California.

Whatever else you do, show up to vote, each and every time.  Vote Republican, Vote Democrat, Vote Third Party, Write somebody in, but vote.  The only votes that don't count are the votes not cast.

An ad for candidates with deep-pocket opponents

I thought up the following after reading about Meg Whitman spending $119 million of her own money for the California gubernatorial campaign:

Do you want the be$t candidate money can buy,
or do you want the best candidate.

BTW, I think it was Meg Whitman who said we needed candidates with experience in the real world.  Gosh, I wish I lived in her "real world".