Tomorrow is your chance to take your words and put them into action. I read some of these post throughout the year and many are complaints about local and national issues that concern surfers. No offense, but no one cares or knows that you complain on swellinfo about the water quality or the tourists in your town.. The only voice that matters is the one that you speak on Nov. 2nd. "you must be the change you wish to see in the world" gandhi
Most people hate politics, unless you somehow make a living in or around it. However it is how things get done. Forget the president for a moment, your local and state politicians create laws that could have a direct impact on your life and your experience in the water as a surfer. Being indifferent is just another way of saying you dont care what politicians do while they are in power.
seriously... Forget about the national stuff. 95% of media attention is paid to Congress and the president, and yet 95% of the stuff they do will have no impact on your life whatsoever. Politicians elected in your state, county, or city will do things everyday that impact your lives and your jobs. Do yourself and your community a favor by spending 20 minutes tonight reading the voters guide put out by your local paper or chapter of the League of Women Voters (www.lwv.org). If you still want to learn more about a certain candidate, find their website. The information is out there to make informed choices. I work in local politics, so I'm maybe a little sensitive to this stuff...
locla govts do directly impact people's lives but to say that 95% of things Congress does will not impact people is patently false. Every act of Congress affects everyone.
How do you figure that? Wouldnt you agree that 95% of the "stuff they do" costs money (or saves money...but mostly costs money) and therefore affects my financial life (positively or negatively) in that I pay federal income tax?
95% is an exaggeration, though not by much. More than 50% of the actions taken by Congress -- House and Senate -- are non-substantive acts, resolutions and other measures that literally don't impact you -- stuff like naming post offices and bridges, affirming congressional support for holidays and such. This fact, along with Congress' rules, procedures and general courtesy, is how you end up with polar opposites, like Pelosi and Bachmann, voting together more than 50% of the time (http://thehill.com/homenews/house/124165-boehner-a-rubber-stamp-for-pelosi). Even among the substantive stuff that Congress does you're much less likely to notice its impact on your life than you are if the local town council decides to enact new health code requirements for restaurants or change the zoning at a local farm to allow for new development or cut funding to your kid's school. Yes, there will be impacts, but nothing as immediate as that which is determined on the local level. Anyway, I didn't mean to get in an argument about meaningless numbers I pulled out of my a$$. Just reminding people that you don't have to guess at the lesser-known candidates down the ballot. Information is out there, and in local elections, your vote really can make a difference.
message to all: If you base an argument on a made up or even estimated statistic, its based on bullsh!t. So all I heard was ...bullsh!t, then some further explanation of bullsh!t, then the defense of your bullsh!t once you got called out on it (back peddling). You need to be on your P's and Q's if you want to talk the 'tics on the interweb.
Poop on a stick, man. If you take everything you read on the internet at face value, you'll never fill up your car with gas for fear of some psycho having taped a hypodermic needle infected with AIDS under the handle on the pump. It's called hyperbole. It's a literary device used to demonstrate a point. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperbole Use some common sense to discern the real point from the exaggeration used to help prove it. Or is that asking too much, stud?
ok fine, sub in "hyperbole" where you see "bullsh!t" if that makes you feel better about it... but it is what it is.... RUN AND TELL THAT, HOMEBOY!
