Saturday, March 18, 2006

Cowboys Tee Spells Voter Fraud

This is what voting fraud looks like to Republicans, this is what it looks like to the reality-based community.

Friday, March 17, 2006

Erin's Seed Always Takes Root

In the young Ireland disorders, in Ireland in 1848, the following nine men were captured, tried, and convicted of treason against her majesty, Queen Victoria; and were sentenced to death: John Mitchell, Morris Lyene, Pat Donohue, Thomas Mcgee, Charles Duffy, Thomas Meagher, Richard O’Gorman, Terrence Mcmanus, and Michael Ireland. Before passing sentence, the judge asked if there was anything that anyone wished to say. Meagher, speaking for all, said; “My lord, this is our first offence, but not our last. If you will be easy with us, this once, we promise, on our word as gentlemen, to try to do better next time. And next time, sure – we won’t be fools to get caught.” Thereupon, the indignant judge sentence them all to be hanged from the neck until dead, then drawn and quartered. Passionate protests from all over the world forced Queen Victoria to commute their sentences to transportation for life to the far wilds of Australia.

In 1874, word reached the astounded queen that Sir Charles Duffy, who had been elected Prime Minister of Australia was the very same Charles Duffy who had been transported 25 years before. The queen inquired as to the records of the rest of the men, and this is what she was told:

Thomas Francis Meagher became governor of Montana; Terrence Mcmaus was a brigadier general in the U.S. Army, as was Patrick Donohue; Richard O’Gorman was governor general of Newfoundland; Morris Lyene was attorney general of Australia, in which office he was succeeded by Michael Ireland. Thomas D’Arcy Mcgee was a member of Canada’s parliament from Montreal, Minister of Agriculture and President of the Council Dominion of Canada; and John Mitchell was a prominent New York politician, who was the father of John Purroy Mitchell who became mayor of New York at the outbreak of World War One.

This is so Larry...

He lives by Ronald Reagan's dictum, that when you find a pile of horse***t, if you dig far enough, you will find a pony:

I was ranting the minute he stepped in the door just now about Tennessee's new "choose life" license plates. He waited the smallest beat, then asked me, dryly; "Oh, so they're against capital punishment in Tennessee?"

Erin Go Braugh (Translation: Texas Goes Blue)

St. Patrick, that fine, fine Democrat, has worked a miracle for Celtic History Month, sorta like driving the snakes from Texas:

Lookee here - watch Texas go from red to blue. In terms of Bush's job approval ratings, Texas is no longer red. Check it out, it's fer real.

Although as one of the Irish wimmin who runs LittleLarry's life, I'd prefer, today, that the graphic show Texas turning away from the Orange, and into the Green; just for today.

Wednesday, March 15, 2006

Is 6% The Canary In The Coal Mine? Desperate Housewives Need To Know

Geez, I was depressed by Digby today. In a long entry discussing whether Feingold was right or wrong both strategically and tactically to introduce his censure, at the end Digby writes:

I said this yesterday and I'll repeat it. This image of "powerlessness" at a time when the Republicans are on the ropes is the biggest problem we face for the fall elections. If Democratic pols don't understand that they are flirting with terrible grassroots defeatism, then they are going to lose. They must take action (and I don't mean boring press conferences and 10 point plans) or it won't matter a damn if the Republicans are on the ropes --- demoralized Democrats are not going to bother with them. Come on. Speak for us. If not now, when?


Defeatism: acceptance and content with defeat without struggle. The term is commonly used in the context of war: a soldier can be a defeatist if he or she refuses to fight because he or she thinks that the fight will be lost for sure or that it is not worth fighting for some other reason.



I might just point out that in the few primaries so far, the Democrats have not had an exceptional turn-out. Maybe it means nothing. But it might also be a canary in the coal mine.


And I left this little comment:

You bet low turnout is a canary in the coal mine. In Bexar County, Texas, the turnout for both parties for the primary last week (and this number includes 10 days of early voting) was 6% - yes, 6% of registered voters. 6 freaking percent. We are tired, we have given up hope, and nobody is standing up for us, expecially not the Democrats. I think we have given up on Democracy and are settling for religion. Pretty soon we won't be able to choose our religion anymore, they will all be some variation of fundamentalist, whether Christianity, Islam or Judaism. Hell, even my Hindu next door neighbors are sending their 8th grader to a radical fundie "tradional" papolatrous Roman Catholic school for its "values".


So is low turnout the canary in the coal mine of the Republic? You tell me.

Actual AP Government Assignment, Completed *With Update*

( Update - The bill passed the student Senate of Mr. Magadance's AP Government Class, just frakkin' barely, but it did pass. If only Mr. Magadance's class really were in charge...)



Committee:
Rules and Administration


Principal Author:
William Stallings


Bill No:
S 1965


Title of Bill:
An Act To Secure Democratic Elections in the United States



BE IT ENACTED BY THE UNITED STATES CONGRESS

Preamble:

Whereas a significant number of direct-recording electronic voting systems have failed thus far and

Whereas these systems do not provide voter-verifiable ballots, Congress must act to defend the foundation of our Democracy, our right to vote.

SECTION 1: Electronic voting machines may not be used for any elections on any level of government.

SECTION 2: All votes in every election will be cast upon a paper ballot with a voter-verifiable receipt.

SECTION 3: The obligation of the government to ensure proper voting procedure is defined by some states’ constitutions (i.e. “In all elections by the people, the vote shall be by ballot, and the Legislature shall provide for the numbering of tickets and make such other regulations as may be necessary to detect and punish fraud and preserve the purity of the ballot box…” Texas Constitution: Article 6, Section 4).

SECTION 5: Citing the intent of a January 20th Inauguration Day, all votes will be counted by hand with an observer from each political party in the election present.

SECTION 6: The cost deemed necessary by the states and approved by Congress to satisfy this bill will be paid by the federal government.

SECTION 7: This bill will take effect on October 1, 2006 to ensure voter-verifiable ballots for the 2006 fall elections.

Religion And Lawnmowers

I am beginning to think differently about this whole Religion and Politics Thing. I am beginning to think the real war is not between religion and politics, but between religious visions of the world. That's right, sisters and brothers, it appears to me that politics is just a weapon in the religious wars, not the other way around as conventional wisdom holds; and that's why politics is not working like it's supposed to.

Now, my religious vision is way different from Nancy Jacobs, state senator of Maryland, who introduced this senate bill, another one of those bills designed to "protect marriage". I guess in her world view, the world is so morally threatening, and her God so weak, that the State of Maryland has to protect the institution of marriage from what she thinks are non-believers out to destroy it by entering into it, like this family obviously is. You remember - back in November last year, folks like her in Texas felt the need to actually change the venerable constitution of the great State of Texas to protect religious marriage from women like these who are obviously secret 5th column infiltrators of marriage who want to destroy religious marriage and scatter its ashes gleefully into the streets of Sodom.

I am one of those religious types that believes Ol' Yahweh rather likes the world, so much so that He embraced it by sending His Son to it. Remember Yahweh? He's the Guy Who said the world was "good" when He made it? If He made it and called it "good", it must be, well, good. That's where I stand, firmly in the good world, finding God Sign everywhere in it; and more to the point, that is Candidate Larry's stand.

But the real point is this: politics does not serve religion, just as religion does not serve politics. Politics is a tool to create a space for the free exercise of religion, sort of like a lawnmower that mows the weeds, stickers and twigs out of the way so we can all sit down in the meadow and praise the Creator in our own language.

And this guy is pushing the lawnmower for us. Nancy Jacobs was questioning him at hearings regarding her bill to protect religious marriage in Maryland because God is unable to. She asked, "Mr. Raskin, my Bible says marriage is only between a man and a woman. What do you have to say about that?" The guy pushing the lawnmower answered, "Senator, when you took your oath of office, you placed your hand on the Bible and swore to uphold the Constitution. You didn't place your hand on the Constitution and swear to uphold the Bible".

Now, that's what I'm talkin' about.