For the love of God Hillary, drop out!! You’re killing your party and handing another victory to the Republicans!!

I am thoroughly convinced that Hillary wants McCain in the White House - If McCain wins, she’ll run again in four years. But if Obama wins, she won’t be able to run for another eight years, far past her prime. By dragging this contest on as long as she can, she achieves two goals:

1) There’s a 1% chance she’ll receive the nomination, it’s slim but still a chance

2) the longer she stays in, the more chances McCain wins and more chances she can run again in four years instead of eight.

And even if she bows out, she won’t go gracefully, it’ll be all kicking and screaming.

INDIANAPOLIS, May 6 — After failing to win the decisive sweep in North Carolina and Indiana that could have reshaped the Democratic race, disappointed aides to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton conceded it would be difficult for her to catch Sen. Barack Obama in either delegates or overall votes in the six remaining contests.

The outcome caused the candidate and her campaign to intensify their efforts to persuade party leaders to include the results of disqualified contests in Michigan and Florida, both of which she won. The Democratic National Committee’s Rules and Bylaws committee is scheduled to meet on May 31 to consider two challenges pending on whether, and how, to seat delegates from those states.

“Absent some sort of miracle on May 31st, it’s going to be tough for us,” said a senior Clinton official who spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to be frank. “We lost this thing in February. We’re doing everything we can now . . . but it’s just an uphill battle.”

As expected, Hillary Clinton won Pennsylvania last night, putting a small dent into Barack Obama’s delegate lead. I think it’s official now - this primary is going all the way to the Democratic National Convention in August before Barack is finally declared the winner. After an entire spring and summer of battling, the Democratic supporters will finally be tired and poor, essentially handing an easy victory to John McCain. Great.

It’s April 15th, U.S. tax day! I’ve filled out my taxes every year except last year when I forgot. I know quite a few Americans who don’t bother, do you? I’d rather be safe than sorry. Finnish income taxes are certainly easier to do than its American counterpart, but I still rather pay the cheaper U.S. taxes.

An American abroad can earn up to 85,700 (USD) without paying taxes, which seems like a lot but if the dollar keeps plummeting I may one day actually have to pay something. Thanks to the crap dollar my salary actually begins to look quite decent, but then you need to consider that I pay $8/gallon for gas, $16 for a movie ticket, $39k for a car that costs $20K in the states…and my income again looks quite depressing.

At the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday, Barack Obama addresses Barbara McConnell Barrett, the proposed new U.S. Ambassador…

“Finally, Ms. Barrett, you have a different task, as you will represent America in a country that has travelled further down the path of democracy and prosperity. Finland is a world leader in technology and innovation, and even outranks the United States in some measures of development. But it still faces challenges in its relationship with Russia and its longstanding position outside of Euro-Atlantic security institutions. At some point soon, Finland may move toward membership in NATO. Should the Finish (sic) people and government choose to pursue that objective, I hope you will be their biggest booster.”

Heh, I love these maps of America - I thought Finland needed one too… (large image)

I predicted a Ron Paul/Mike Gravel Libertarian ticket a while ago. It just might happen - He’d certainly get my vote if I were a delegate…

The fact is, the Democratic Party today is no longer the party of FDR. It is a party that continues to sustain war, the military-industrial complex and imperialism — all of which I find anathema to my views.

By and large, I have been repeatedly marginalized in both national debates and in media exposure by the Democratic leadership, which works in tandem with the corporate interests that control what we read and hear in the media.

I look forward to advancing my presidential candidacy within the Libertarian Party, which is considerably closer to my values, my foreign policy views and my domestic views.

Hat Tip to ichibanjohnjon for the link!

Diebold Accidentally Leaks Results Of 2008 Election Early

Hat Tip to Dan “The Man” for the link!

Original article from 19, Feb.

The German government illegally bought banking personal data from Lichtenstein, in order to find Germans who were keeping their money there. They have already cracked down on some people who have been collecting interest on their money tax free there. The German government should bloody well know why people might want to hide their money away in another country in a secret account. Only around 60 or so years ago, the government was killing millions of Jews, other ethnic minorities, and political dissidents and masses of refugees were running all around Europe, trying to find somewhere safe to go. Nazis were simply taking peoples’ money and property. They were taking peoples’ gold teeth right out of their mouths.

Lichtenstein has very strict banking secrecy. It has been labeled as an uncooperative tax haven country by the OECD and there is a lot of political pressure for them to comply with banking transparency demands. So far they haven’t- Luxembourg and Switzerland have both compromised with the EC demands for imposing taxation on non-domiciled peoples’ interest on their accounts. A person who has money in Switzerland or Luxembourg nowadays must either pay tax on interest to that country or report the income in their own country.  Still both countries hold the strict banking secrecy as something very sacred. By 2011, the taxes will be so high, that it will be cheaper to report the income in most countries. But will people report it? Reporting the income exposes that the person has or has had money in one of those places, so I doubt that anyone will start reporting income, even if there is 35% tax there and 28% here, for example. It won’t repatriate money, if that’s what they are hoping for.

Luxembourg has an average income level of about twice that of Finland, and I look for that to go even higher, now that the government is making income on non-domiciled peoples’ money. Luxembourg, Switzerland and Lichtenstein are all going to become very wealthy countries. They have billions there in the banks and a large percentage of the population is employed in the banking industry.

Some libertarians have money in offshore accounts in order to avoid  government interference with their money matters. And then the Finnish government also has interesting ideas of how to use personal data that is forcefully collected for taxation,meaning you don’t have a choice whether or not to give the personal data: they sell it and publish it in the newspapers. I am still astonished to think about it. Quite the opposite “meininki” from elsewhere in the EU, especially Luxembourg.

There has been talk over in the USA of having a federal sales tax, which would put an end to a lot of the nasty capital gains and income taxes. In essence, the USA could become the world’s banking paradise if they were to enact such a thing. It would totally undermine the need to hide money in offshore accounts.

This years Carnival floats in Düsseldorf bit quite on the spot.

Meanwhile Finland is the “most racist country in the EU”? Whine me a Rhein.

McCain wins in Florida, I suspect he’ll win Super Tuesday and become the nominee. Jason Rothenberg of The Huffington Post summed up the Barack-Hillary ordeal quite well, my thoughts exactly…

It’s time. Now. Before February 5th. If you wait, it’ll be too late. You’ve won the popular vote, an Oscar and a Nobel Prize, and now it’s time for you to give something back. Although somewhere in your mind you may think that there’s a chance for you to rise from the dust of a brokered convention to claim the nomination for yourself, you must also know that this would not be the best thing for the Democratic party or the country. Not because you wouldn’t make a great president, you would, but because of the inter-party civil war that we would need to go through first. We’ve seen it for the past few weeks. It seems that the Clintons (and believe me it breaks my heart to say this) will stop at nothing to get elected. And if they do, we will be faced with the same ugliness we had to live through in the 90s. Yes, Bill Clinton was a great president. Peace and prosperity were the order of the day, and that was good, but the political wars (in most cases not started by the Clintons) dragged this nation into the gutter, and the Bush regime has kept us there. It’s time to rise above. It’s time to believe that our politicians are good, and honorable. It’s time to be inspired. Mr. Vice President, you’ve done incredible work these past few years, and you’ve made all of us proud. Now, like so many times before, we need for you to show us the way. History, by way of the future. Yes, we can.

I was getting a bit worried, my home state’s election day is February 12th, but my absentee ballot has arrived. I declared myself as a Republican for the primaries so I can vote for Ron Paul, although now I’m kinda wishing I chose the Democrats instead so I could vote for Barack Obama.

Below is the front and back of the ballot, along with a checklist booklet and form… (btw, WTF is Alan Keyes doing on the ballot!?)

The Libertarian Party won’t elect their Presidential candidate until their national convention May 22-26, but you can visit this page and get a early look at some of the prospects. A good LP candidate should…

1) Be able to spread the libertarian message (although the LP debates tend to turn into “Who’s the MOST libertarian” or “Who can deliver the best one-liners about freedom)
2) Be able to raise a decent amount of money (being semi-famous helps)
3) Not be too crazy (this has been a problem in the LP)

Any sort of previous political experience is purely gravy, it’s not necessary.

So knowing these three things above, the only viable candidate is Wayne Allyn Root (shown right), a business mogul, television celebrity, TV producer, best-selling author, professional sports handicapper (wtf?), and Donald Trump wannabee. He’s got the supposed millions and fame to run a halfass campaign. (although I’m worried about the craziness factor)

However, here’s my honest prediction - Ron Paul never drops out of the Republican race even though he fails to win a single state. Then he’s nominated for the Libertarian Ticket, he accepts and runs for President as a spoiler, taking votes away from the Republicans and giving the Dems a victory just like Perot did in 1992 and Nader did to the Reps in 2000.

Obama wins in South Carolina!! I gotta admit, I’m excited about his campaign. He’s young, idealistic, sincere, he’s received the an endorsement from the U.S. Pirate Party, he’s tried drugs and wasn’t afraid to admit to it - what’s not to like?

But just because I’d vote for a Democrat doesn’t mean I’d vote for any Democrat, namely Hillary Clinton, the most polarizing person in U.S. politics at the moment. A lot of Finns don’t quite understand why so many Americans love one Democrat but loathe another, so I thought I’d help shed some light…

- Scandals, scandals, scandals. Watergate, Travelgate, Filegate…before she even moved in to the White House she was involved in scandals. Americans have grown tired of this in their politicians.

- Hillarycare. Imagine if I brought my girlfriend into Nokia headquarters one day and announced to everyone that she’d be taking over part of my workload, how would my colleagues react? Yeah, exactly - and that’s exactly how the American people reacted. Sorry but the President’s spouse is just baggage, we didn’t vote for him/her, just as Nokia didn’t hire me because of my girlfriend. Hillarycare not only was a failed initiative, but millions of Americans turned their backs on her because of it and haven’t looked back since.

- The White House at any cost. She will do or say anything to become President, she has no morals or principles. Case in point: The New York Senate seat. She has absolutely ZERO ties to New York, yet she ran for senator and used New Yorkers like a tool to become President. You think she gives a damn about New York? Pleeease. If I were from New York I’d be extremely offended.

- She supported George Bush and voted for the war in Iraq. Why? Cause that’s the way the wind was blowing at the time in the U.S. Like I said, she has no principles. Tarja Halonen shares a lot of the same qualities as Hillary Clinton, they’ll do or say anything to remain popular, never taking a stand on anything remotely controversial.

- Negative campaigning. I wish politically active Finns were in the states to see her and Bill’s constant attacks on Barack Obama, Finland would have a very different opinion of her after that, negative campaigning isn’t tolerated in Finland. It’s not like she’s attacking George Bush, she’s attacking Barack, a fellow Democrat who’s done nothing wrong. I’m very proud to see my fellow Americans reject her attacks and have been happy to see this backfire against her, we’ve all grown tired of negativity, especially when it comes in the Primaries.

- No charisma. As you all know too well, charisma plays an important role in electability, and Hillary’s got none. I just look her and think, “liar”. She lacks passion, credibility, and most importantly, sincerity. She’s a phony. She doesn’t want to become President to change American, she wants in for personal gain and for power.

Hillary is simply too polarizing of a figure to win the White House, she’ll lose out against any of her Republican challengers. A vote for Hillary is a vote for four more years of Republicans in the White House.

Hey all you Finns living in the U.S. - Ilta-Sanomat will be in the states to cover Super Tuesday. They’re looking for political active Finns to interview about the presidential elections, e-mail Sanna Ukkola if you’re interested!

Glad to see Obama win in Iowa, or rather, glad to see Hillary take 3rd there. I was hoping my man Ron Paul would perform better than 10%, but double digits is nice and at least he beat Rudy…

With all Democratic precincts reporting, Obama had the support of 38 percent of voters, compared to 30 percent for John Edwards and 29 percent for Hillary Clinton.

[…]Iowa delivered fatal blows to the campaigns of Sen. Chris Dodd of Connecticut and Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware. Both have decided to abandon their White House runs. New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, who finished fourth, said his campaign plans to “take the fight to New Hampshire.”

[…] With 92 percent of Republican precincts reporting, Huckabee, former governor of Arkansas, had the support of 34 percent of voters, compared to 25 percent for Romney. Fred Thompson had 13 percent, McCain had 13 percent and Ron Paul had 10 percent. Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who has turned the focus of his campaign to the February 5 “Super Tuesday” primaries, trailed with 4 percent.

[…]With such a close race on both sides, voter turnout was key. The Iowa Democratic Party reported seeing record turnout. The party said there were at least 227,000 caucus attendees. The Iowa GOP projected that 120,000 people took part in the Republican caucuses.