wow
Friday, October 17th, 2008Fringe. Wacko Bachmann way out there.
UPDATE 8:57pm – Looks like Bachmann is vulnerable in her district. Tell her to go sell crazy someplace else.
Archive for October 17th, 2008
I need a few letters written…
Friday, October 17th, 2008Any lawyers out there interested in some easy work in trade for bike parts?
Koppenbergcross 2007
Friday, October 17th, 2008
Wellens eats la merde (0:23) and then gives Nys the killer block (0:30) but Nys still thumps him.
How much of that chopping and blocking goes on in the local races?
more debates = less commercials
Friday, October 17th, 2008How would you feel about outlawing campaign commercials on radio and television in favor of increased mandatory debates and press conferences?
On one hand we would be infringing upon the 1st Amendment of the candidates. But on the other hand it would force those running for elected office to do much more than lie and distort without sufficient chance at rebuttal.
The debates would be set up by an independent commission that would decide the format, the questions and the follow ups. The press conferences would be 5 hours spread throughout each week open to all media outlets..
Would this improve our political process?
I think it would.
It would force the electorate to educate themselves regarding the candidates positions and platform and reduce the chance of the election turning into a popularity contest.
ACORN bullshit
Friday, October 17th, 2008Hendrik Hertzberg, The New Yorker:
During this election cycle, the Times reported today, ACORN has deployed thirteen thousand mostly paid workers, who have registered 1.3 million new voters. One or two per cent of these workers turned in sheaves of forms that they filled out themselves with fake names and bogus addresses, and, even though at least a hundred of these workers have already been fired, the forged forms have been submitted to election boards.
Sounds suspicious—unless you know that groups like ACORN are required by law to submit them, even if they’re obvious fakes. This is to prevent funny business, such as trashing forms that look like they might be Republican (or Democratic, as the case may be).
Sounds suspicious—unless you know that ACORN normally sorts through forms, flags those that look fishy, and submits the fishy ones in a separate pile for the convenience of election officials.
Sounds suspicious—until you reflect that the motivation of the misbehaving registration workers is almost always to look like they’ve been doing more work than they really have, and that the victim of the “fraud” is actually the organization they’re working for.
Sounds suspicious—unless you know that even if one of these fake forms results in a nonexistent person actually being registered, now under the Help America Vote Act of 2002, “any voter who has not previously voted in a federal election” must provide identification in order to actually cast a ballot. This will make it tough for Mickey Mouse, even if registered, to vote, no matter how big, round, or black his ears. Likewise, members of the Duck family (Donald, Daisy, Huey, Dewey, and Louie) who turn up at the polling place will have a hard time getting into the voting booth. (Uncle Scrooge might be able to bribe his way in, but he’s voting Republican anyway.)
Sounds suspicious—unless you know that despite all the hysteria, from 2002 to 2005, only twenty people in the entire United States of America were found guilty of voting while ineligible and only five of voting more than once.
Of course, Republicans already know that this is a totally bogus issue. Their only goal is to attempt to deny legitimacy to an Obama Presidency after the election should he win.
