Bisexual Atheist Woman Wins Arizona Congressional Primary

[Chronos]

Does that mean she will have to give oral...

She will always be in congress ...

[Garja]

aaaand yet another thread devolves into a pun trade-off.  /jk

[Hatter23]

X-rated bow chika wow music and a male voiceover leers, "She puts the BI in Bipartisan--" Candidate fades into view wearing black leather outfit. "--and she's ready to straddle any issue." She winks and licks her lips.[1]

In a perfect world, that would be her campaign commercial.  Of course, in a perfect world her sexual orientation would not matter. 

1.	Oh, I forgot that acting sexy is only allowed if you are a Republican family values politician with an illegitimate grandchild on welfare, a la Sarah Palin....

Hey buddy, this isn't France!

[nogodsforme]

Or Italy, where they elected a porn actress to some office. She had plenty of experience, but probably changed positions frequently.

[Garja]

Or Italy, where they elected a porn actress to some office. She had plenty of experience, but probably changed positions frequently.

BA DUM!

[Quesi]

Sorry to interrupt this R-rated punfest for a gerrymandering example, but I just had to share.   

How does Texas discriminate against minority voters? Federal judges counted the ways.

Last Tuesday, a panel of federal court judges ruled that new district maps drawn by Texas' Republican-controlled legislature weakened the influence of Latino voters and in some cases evinced "discriminatory intent" against both Latinos and African Americans. Two days later, another panel of federal judges unanimously struck down a voter-ID law passed by the legislature in March 2011, arguing that it would disproportionately harm African-American and Latino voters. The judges did not address whether there was discriminatory purpose behind the legislation, but they noted that the legislature failed to pass amendments that would have mitigated the law's discriminatory impact.

Minority groups have outnumbered whites in Texas since roughly 2004, and 55.2 percent of the state's residents are now minorities, according to Census figures. As of 2011, the state's legislature was more than two-thirds white.

...snip....

In the redistricting case, a panel of three federal judges found that Texas lawmakers had intentionally created districts that would weaken the influence of Latino voters, while appearing to satisfy the requirements of the Voting Rights Act.

In drawing Texas' 23rd congressional district, the judges found that "The mapdrawers consciously replaced many of the district's active Hispanic voters with low-turnout Hispanic voters in an effort to strengthen the voting power of [Congressional District] 23's Anglo citizens. In other words, they sought to reduce Hispanic voters' ability to elect without making it look like anything in [Congressional District] 23 had changed."
http://www.propublica.org/article/five-ways-courts-say-texas-discriminated-against-black-and-latino-voters?google_edit

[pianodwarf]

After checking on federal law and determining that my job does not prohibit me from donating, I sent her a campaign contribution and added myself to her mailing list.  In response to a e-newsletter she sent to her distribution list, I also dropped her a note saying that although I couldn't vote for her (because I live in Maryland), I did give some money and wished her luck.  Rather to my surprise, she send me a thank you note from her iPhone -- folks that high up the "food chain" typically don't have time for things like that, so I was pleased to her back from her.

[Azdgari]

...
Minority groups have outnumbered whites in Texas since roughly 2004, and 55.2 percent of the state's residents are now minorities, according to Census figures.
...

"Minority".  Odd wording.  Doesn't this data technically make whites a minority there?  Yet "white" is assumed to be the "natural" colour, with everyone else being a minority...even though whites make up a minority themselves.  Hmm.

[screwtape]

Or Italy, where they elected a porn actress to some office.

god bless the italians.  They are truly a more advanced civilization. They also show boobs on regular tv, in commercials.

[Dante]

...
Minority groups have outnumbered whites in Texas since roughly 2004, and 55.2 percent of the state's residents are now minorities, according to Census figures.
...

"Minority".  Odd wording.  Doesn't this data technically make whites a minority there?  Yet "white" is assumed to be the "natural" colour, with everyone else being a minority...even though whites make up a minority themselves.  Hmm.

Whites aren't a minority there, unless one race/ethnic group is the 55.2% that they're referencing. But blacks, asians, and especially latinos, put together, outnumber whites.

[Garja]

The term "minority" does not have to refer to numerical minority, but the traditional social-power associated with the group.

[nogodsforme]

The term "minority" is pretty inaccurate. Native Americans and black people were majorities in some states when the US was founded, but were treated like minorities. That's why women, who often number more than men in a population (because women live longer) are sometimes considered a minority group in terms of the discrimination we face.

Frequently the official or national language of a country is spoken only by a small group of powerful people. The language most of the population speaks is considered the "minority" language and not used in official discourse, in school or in the media. The Mayan language in Guatemala, versus Spanish, for example. Portuguese in Brazil. Or French and English in many African countries.

[Azdgari]

Whites aren't a minority there, unless one race/ethnic group is the 55.2% that they're referencing. But blacks, asians, and especially latinos, put together, outnumber whites.

What is your operating definition of "minority"?  The one I'm familiar with is "less than 50%".  As far as I know, that's a pretty universally-used definition of "minority", within numerical contexts.

[Garja]

Whites aren't a minority there, unless one race/ethnic group is the 55.2% that they're referencing. But blacks, asians, and especially latinos, put together, outnumber whites.

What is your operating definition of "minority"?  The one I'm familiar with is "less than 50%".  As far as I know, that's a pretty universally-used definition of "minority", within numerical contexts.

That is the definition when talking about numbers, but in human societies that's not what "minority" means.  It tends to refer to the power that an individual group controls.  At one time I'm sure it was more numerically focused, but that is no longer the case (from a sociocultural-historical perspective).

[Azdgari]

That's why I added "within numerical contexts".  And Dante was speaking within a numerical context as well, as you can see from his post.

[Dante]

If caucasions are the minority, which race constitutes the majority?

If there are 5 people, 1 Hispanic, 1 black, 1 Asian, and 2 white, who's the minority?

[nogodsforme]

There are either three minorities (members of minority groups) or if you group the three non-white people together,  one numerical minority group consisting of the two white people.

Depends on what you are counting. And why.

[Dante]

I tend to look at all races as equals, so I wouldn't lump all non-whites together, especially just for a numbers thing. I'd hoped that was fairly clear from my example using 5 people.

[Azdgari]

There need not be a majority group in order for the others to be classified as minorities.  A majority group is more than 50%.  That's what majority means.  If a group is neither the majority (>50%) nor a minority (<50%), then what are they?

[Dante]

There need not be a majority group in order for the others to be classified as minorities. A majority group is more than 50%.  That's what majority means.

I did not know that! Learn something new every day.

 

If a group is neither the majority (>50%) nor a minority (<50%), then what are they?

In voting parlance, a plurality, according to wiki. In mathematical? Hell, I dunno.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Majority

We need new words.

[Azdgari]

I didn't know that that was what a "plurality" was.  Turns out we both learned something!

[jedweber]

I'm been wondering why many of the articles about her describe her as a "nontheist?" Shouldn't that be the same thing as an atheist? Or could it refer to a follower of an alternative religion that doesn't have a personal God? (i.e. pagan, Wiccan, New Age, etc.)

Not that I care too much what her personal beliefs are, she has the right views on church-state separation and is clearly opposed to the theocratic Christian right, which is good enough for me...

[darkdragon46]

This is affecting my preconceived notions of voters in Arizona. (or is it effecting it? this is the one grammar rule I NEVER felt I understood).


In other news: Yeah, I would.

Having an affect on....
Effecting.... (i.e. something caused this effect.)

Btw, you used it correctly.

[pianodwarf]

There's a reception here in DC to meet her on the 20th... just got the notification of it in my email.  Being able to meet her would be a big deal if she does get elected afterward, but the minimum contribution to attend is $500... that's a lot of money.  I guess I'll have to think about it.  (And also remind myself, once again, how fortunate I am to be in a position where I'm able to consider such a thing.  Many people aren't.)

[pianodwarf]

OK, I've decided: I'm going to go.  An opportunity like this doesn't come every day.  With any luck at all, I'll have photos around the end of next week, and of course I'll be letting everyone know how things went.

[jedweber]

^ That's great, pianodwarf. I look forward to hearing about it. I'm not in good enough shape financially right now to do what you're doing, but I'm still thinking of sending her a modest donation as a sign of support...

[stuffin]

OK, I've decided: I'm going to go.  An opportunity like this doesn't come every day.  With any luck at all, I'll have photos around the end of next week, and of course I'll be letting everyone know how things went.

Photos, photos, nevermind, I'll keep those thoughts in my head and I won't let this thread deteriorate.

[jedweber]

Kyrsten Sinema's campaign has released a poll showing her with a narrow lead:

http://images.politico.com/global/2012/09/az09_poll_release_091312.html