Republicans wouldn’t be so smug, so sneaky or so bold if they had to worry about getting shot in the back of the head. To be honest, I think that is one way in which the Iraqis are superior to us. They’re willing to die, and their willing to kill for their beliefs.

I wish Americans were more like that. It would be entertaining to watch news stories about political violance in American each night on CNN, with a new Republican or Democrat getting killed one way or another. THAT would be good TV.

Personally I can’t see a HumV on the road and wonder what it would be like to fire an RPG at it – Ka BOOM ! tires & body parts flying all over the place. Since the Republicans seem to be so concerned about war, well let’s show them what it’s like, up close and personal.

I wonder how “moral” their political positions would be if they determined THEIR OWN life or death ?

Ka – BOOM ! ! Still have that image of the HumV blowing up, soccer balls & body parts flying about. With the little “W” sticker on the back window.

They *want* that whole “military” fashion chic, so give it to them.

Now I’ve seen in several blog posts that people should know. Indeed, the position of the GOP and the people who made the CD is the word “interactive” suffices for a privacy notice. I don’t think it does, frankly.

IN fact, the person who made the Flash presentation said words like SUBMIT and CONTINUE also qualify as notices that the information is being extracted and transmitted. In a Flash environment, that’s EXTREMELY presumptuous and someone who’s in the business of making Flash prsentation knows that.

Interactivity in Flash is I give you something, you give me something back. In this case, it just as easily could be a part of the presentation. If a question pops up in a lobbying CD Flash presentation, I might equally assume that when I press SUBMIT, that the program content is going to respond to that. So we’re not talking about someone “filling out a form.”

Furthermore, the data being extracted is NOT limited to the answers you provide. It’s what you looked out and how long you considered a question before answering. It’s also your name, and your address.

And to make matters worse, that data was viewable by me.

YOu didn’t put your last name in your post. You didn’t put your address or phone number. You didn’t write down exactly how you voed. And you didn’t because you CHOSE not to. If properly informed, I think people can make those choices and frankly I don’t care what they are. I do care whether they’re given the information to make the choice.

The irony of this is this CD that’s being sent out is abot a same-sex marriage ban in Minnesota that the GOP wants sent to the Senate floor for a vote. In the packaging, it says in big letter, “shouldn’t you have the right to decide.” Gosh, that’s a good question. Shouldn’t you. And shouldn’t the people who stick this CD in their computer have the right to know that they’re about to open up personal information to someone else AND that the data is available (or was until I pointed it out) to people like you…or me?

Let’s be real here. The reason these folks are saying that terms like SUBMIT and CONTINUE constitute a privacy notification, is because they know that IF they were to tell people that personal data was being extracted, they wouldn’t provide it. And so the logical alternative…was not to tell them.

THAT is the issue that people are missing.

We spend day after day, reading and witnessing news and opinions from “the talking heads“, and feel that our vote should matter. We listen and grow weary of the thoughts and decisions made by those people who we have elected (either by majority or simple popularity). We pine over the ridiculous issues which don’t truly affect our own lives. Yet, when “big brother” is INTERESTED in our point of view as a private citizen, we BALK.

It is in my humble opinion as a voting citizen that even when I do not agree with the views of the opposition, or rather, of the political party which is in control of both my state and my country. If said party desires my opinion either via a public or private forum, I should not only provide my TRUE view of the topics, but also – and more importantly – JUMP AT THE CHANCE to let them know my full and complete opinion.

With that in mind, I am unnerved when my telephone rings and a marketing firm as trying to sell me some pile of donkey food which I do not need or want. And, at the same level, I am tired of the constant advertising and marketing to me online, on television, and everywhere I go. However, when I receive a call from a polling entity, specifically funded or requested by the political parties, I go out OUT OF MY WAY to answer the surveys truthfully and completely, regardless of how much time I am missing, revolving around in my own little world, because, they are there to REPRESENT MY OPINION AND VOTE.

Finally, while it is indeed annoying to answer these surveys, there is no – and I repeat a resounding – NO REASON for me to JEST their request of my view. Unless the information they are asking is illicit, or is a private topic (like how much money my household makes, which of course, they already know because they have both demographic and geographic information. But because they also have my tax forms).

Please, before you throw out your burning flags and turn your asses upwind towards Capital Hill – think about the reasoning behind the polling – rather than the horrible waste of your time (and apparently your opinions) because you would prefer that they not know what YOU THINK.

(And of course, all of this because they don’t read this tiny forum)

This has been gaining traction around the ‘net, but in case you haven’t seen it yet, Think Progress came out with this somewhat disturbing revelation: A story by Minnesota Public Radio reveals a disturbing new way that a political party is secretly g…

Spot on! Sink ‘em.”

The problem here is that the software operates without telling you what it is doing. from a user perspective this bothers me immensely. beyond that the data that was being transmitted back wasnt encrypted on the site, so it was free for anyone to access, and since the questions asked were retrieved from the website, someone could have altered the questions or required forms to specify information more pertinent to what they want (at least according to polinaut), so what this is is a security hole.
While i think there are larger implications for the nation as politics starts to catch up to where the advertisers and retailers are, in this case its bad coding, bad design, and a general bad idea to use this system.