All linkage today. Despite my best efforts, Monday continues to be le day du suck. But now it’s over. So there’s that.
One from me: Andy D. and the Detroit Bus Company. A fun guy.
We’ve come a long way, but we have a lot further to go: Sally Ride’s sexual orientation isn’t exactly the first line of this obit — it only looks that way, because of the way the Telegraph makes its online presentation — but still. We’ll know we’re done when such news is in the last two paragraphs, where it usually is.
Final poses with the Paterno statue, a slideshow. I like No. 8.
Lately I’ve been reading Mitch Albom’s sports columns, to see if they suck, too. They do. Lots of rhetorical questions, the midpoint I’m not saying this, but I am saying that hands-in-the-air gambit, the usual.
Coffee, food, work.
brian stouder said on July 24, 2012 at 9:23 am
That was an interesting Bridge story, about the smart fellow who is working to pull people onto his buses.
It’s a great, constructive counter-point to the prevailing news of the day
185 chars
Deborah said on July 24, 2012 at 9:44 am
I’m not saying it doesn’t have potential but 100 people riding each weekend at $5 a pop is $500. How is that profitable? Is it 100 per bus times 6 buses?
153 chars
Dexter said on July 24, 2012 at 10:57 am
Looking at that statue, I reflected back to the tenure of Athletic Director Tom Goss at U of M about fifteen years ago.
He came up with the illuminating idea of a golden halo around the top of Michigan Stadium. It was met with derision by nearly everyone, and the university regents were livid. It was shameful , that damn halo.
After a couple seasons or so, it was unceremoniously ripped down.
That being stated, I cannot imagine the all-powerful regents allowing a statue of Bo Schembechler or anyone else to be erected.
Personally, I would love to see a statue of Bo and Don Canham. Mr. Canham was A.D. from 1968 to 1988. He alone pushed the marketing of the UM program via clothing lines and media outlets, and many more avenues were explored to saturate the airwaves and stores with maize and blue stuff…deluxe jackets and tiny little crappy key fobs. Plates and saucers, themed-out Ford pickup trucks (even though these were created by the fans themselves, but attributed to the Michigan football craze.)
Sometimes statues last even when the subject person(s) were vilified in life.
“Commy” Comiskey comes to mind. In statue form, much beloved…in real life, hated by everyone. He was the owner of the team which came to be known as the “Black Sox” in 1919.
1283 chars
coozledad said on July 24, 2012 at 11:18 am
You’d think a sportswriter would have some understanding of how the law might handle different transgressions. I can’t tell if Mitch is just incapable of processing the idea that sanctions are related to the severity of the violations, or he just doesn’t wan’t to alienate a sizable chunk of the people who purchase his twaddle. This seems particularly obtuse:
If it’s $60 million and all victories for pedophilia, what happens, for example, if a future coaching staff member commits rape — and it’s covered up? What if coaches get involved in a drug ring? These are crimes, too. How do you determine which are more heinous? And when does the NCAA jump in — and how fast?
The NCAA jumps in at the moment those things come to light, Mitch. For the next couple of years, anyway, it doesn’t wait for the university to feed the paper shredders or pool its legal resources. It doesn’t wait for the sentimentitious bullshit spin to work a bunch of drunks up into a riot. It follows the law. How hard can it be to wrap your head around that, unless you’re just pitching toward the kind of dumbass fanboys who think that passes for a moral dilemma?
1151 chars
Julie Robinson said on July 24, 2012 at 11:19 am
Here’s a cogent letter to the editor from one of our own:
http://www.jg.net/article/20120724/EDIT09/307249999/1149/EDIT09. Well said, Brian, and they gave you the lead position on the page!
Also, hop over to Sweet Juniper to read about their recent vacation, especially his great takedown of Frankenmuth, Michigan. Classic.
328 chars
Dave said on July 24, 2012 at 12:04 pm
Pic nine with the Girl Scouts and the sign that says “Penn State’s Spirit in the Sky”. They remind me of the folks who LOVED Woody. As I know there’s folks who loved Bo and loved Bear and the list goes on, I’m sure they covered up plenty, too, although it may not have been a sex scandal quite like this.
305 chars
alex said on July 24, 2012 at 12:05 pm
Well done, Brian. And quite a contrast to the letter that appeared last from a global warming denier who probably has an eighth-grade education and thinks he knows everything.
“Mister we could use a man like Archie Bunker again… .”
236 chars
Dave said on July 24, 2012 at 12:06 pm
Same letter was in the News-Sentinel last night, Alex, and I don’t mean Brian’s.
80 chars
brian stouder said on July 24, 2012 at 12:07 pm
Thanks Julie; I’d given up on that letter. Must have written it 5 or 6 weeks ago – after a school board meeting(!)…and then I missed the one last night.
The editors made the thing much better; the original had twice as many words, but had nothing more to say. (and once again, THIS is why the cheap seats are the place for me!)
339 chars
Kim said on July 24, 2012 at 12:21 pm
Mitch is such a lazy man – first, he doesn’t even think about what Cooze references @4. Then, 14 times in that ignorant, tryin’ to have it both ways column he starts a sentence with the words “And” and “But.” Thoughtful writers everywhere are offended. If ever there’s a time to be thoughtful and explain something to the dumbasses enamored of you – surely he understands this?
377 chars
Prospero said on July 24, 2012 at 12:22 pm
A picture worth $30million:
http://front.moveon.org/who-takes-30275229-a-day-burns-it-and-then-works-to-deny-you-health-coverage/?rc=daily.share
And Bill O’Reilley thinks he’s smarter than Bill Moyers:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/24/bill-oreilly-bill-moyers-gun-control-pbs-lucky_n_1697734.html
Must be the imaginary Peabody Awards that give the Spinmeister the overinflated opinion of himself. Or his loofah prowess. God what a blight on the gene pool. Like a red tide bloom.
498 chars
alex said on July 24, 2012 at 12:32 pm
Pic nine with the Girl Scouts and the sign that says “Penn State’s Spirit in the Sky”
Never been a sinner I never sinned
I got a friend in JoePa
So you know that when I die
He’s gonna set me up in
The shower room in the sky
Oh set me up in the shower room in the sky
With little cherubs and a tube o’ K-Y
When I die and I’m out of the pen
They’re gonna pick up my soap once again
403 chars
coozledad said on July 24, 2012 at 12:41 pm
Alex: Has Rush Limbaugh leased his old Manhattan apartment to Penn State?
73 chars
Prospero said on July 24, 2012 at 12:48 pm
Willard RMoney thinks Andy D. is particularly awe-inspiring because he built those roads his buses run on with no help from the gubmint.
Like those little girl entrepreneur lemonade stand operators on Fox:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/24/fox-and-friends-lemonade-stand_n_1697665.html
And GOPers have finally admitted that the great voter fraud crusade and Jim Crow voter ID laws are intended for vote suppression:
http://www.addictinginfo.org/2012/07/23/pennsylvania-gopers-concede-that-voter-fraud-claims-are-a-myth/
540 chars
Jakash said on July 24, 2012 at 1:08 pm
Deborah,
Re: Your comment from last night. “All this talk about gun control right here, right now has me a bit worried. I can’t believe I’m writing this, it’s so against my nature, but I’m afraid we can’t take our eyes off the ball of winning this election. … ”
I don’t think you need to worry about gun control derailing Obama’s reelection at all. (Not that the economy won’t.) There’s been a lot of people talking about guns the last few days, but, you’ll note, HE hasn’t been one of them. His eye is, most assuredly, on the ball, which is why he hasn’t even mentioned guns since he’s been President, as far as I know.
For one thing, and for whatever the reasons, there’s just not enough public support for Obama to take this topic on. As this piece from the New York Times notes “As depressing as the Aurora event is, none of the other recent massacres has moved the needle in favor of gun control, at least for very long.” The writer’s comments are headlined “Too much at stake”, which is exactly your point.
http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2012/07/23/where-is-the-leadership-on-gun-control/too-much-at-stake-to-take-on-gun-control
Prospero,
Have you noticed that Doonesbury this week features Mr. Jim Crow, himself?
1260 chars
Connie said on July 24, 2012 at 1:21 pm
I am meeting a friend at a new to me restaurant later this week. I just checked out the menu online and I see there is a salad named after Mitch. http://thestagedeli.com/pdf/StageDeliMenu.pdf
192 chars
brian stouder said on July 24, 2012 at 1:26 pm
Connie – that looks like the best thing to appear under his name, probably ever!
Mitch Albom Cobb 12.95
chicken breast, bacon, avocado, egg, bleu cheese,
tomato, crisp lettuce, Stage dressing
Although it should have turkey in there, and at least a few raspberries
278 chars
Julie Robinson said on July 24, 2012 at 1:30 pm
You’re welcome, Brian. I don’t think you belong in the cheap seats anyway. Too bad Mitch doesn’t have an editor with some cojones.
It rained here all morning. It’s too late for the corn, but maybe the soybeans have a chance now.
232 chars
nancy said on July 24, 2012 at 1:41 pm
Oh, look: A new Mitch book. With an excerpt!
147 chars
Deborah said on July 24, 2012 at 1:58 pm
Maybe it’s my computer but I could only see 4 of the promised 6 slides of the Mitch Albom excerpt. From what I read. I’ll pass. Or is this a hoax?
Jakash, I know Obama isn’t talking about guns and hasn’t at all that I know of. It’s my hope that after we get him elected we can put the pressure on. Sadly of course there will be another incident which may bring it back to the spotlight. Then it will have to pass Congress which won’t happen in my lifetime. This is a complex issue that will take a long while. I remember thinking in my youth that racism would be wiped out in my lifetime. Far far from it.
edit: Here’s a shameful chart showing violence in the US compared to other countries. Granted it’s declining from a peak in the 70s but my lord it is so much higher than the other OECDs (excluding Mexico and Estonia for some reason) http://dailydish.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83451c45669e20177438c24f3970d-popup
917 chars
coozledad said on July 24, 2012 at 1:59 pm
Jeebus. I thought it was a parody too.
38 chars
Prospero said on July 24, 2012 at 2:12 pm
Yep, Jakash. Looks suspiciously like that crow in Dumbo singing When I See an Elephant Fly.
GOPer Vietnam era draft dodger blames the Aurora victims.Quelle surprise.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzv-vEy4BdE
And then the asshole plays the victim card when the paper calls out his callous stupidity.
In the debate over not debating gun control, has anyone heard a single sane justification for availability of “assault weapons”. Are the deer firing back? Did Congress finally acknowledge the inalienable right to arm bears? Nothing else looks quite right in the gun rack in the Urban Assault Vehicle.
793 chars
mark said on July 24, 2012 at 2:12 pm
Medicaid, Medicare, VA and every private insurer requires presentment of government issued ID for treatment. The expansions under the ACA (to arrive by 2014) will do the same. Strangely, we won’t be allowed to walk in and say “Hi, I’m Bill, it says so here on this gas bill. Is my oxycontin ready?” Is this an effort by Obama to suppress health care usage? Will all of those ID-challenged Democrats have to do without medical care, or will they suddenly discover the resources necessary to obtain a picture ID? And if they do get IDs will it matter if we ask to see it when voting as well as when picking up a prescription?
But keep pushing the issue. I’m sure the moderate middle are outraged that ID would be required in order to vote.
746 chars
adrianne said on July 24, 2012 at 2:16 pm
Could not stop from clicking on the new book excerpt from Mitch. And then I couldn’t stop reading that drivel! Even by his standards, this novel featuring “Father Time” as a character is a new low.
197 chars
coozledad said on July 24, 2012 at 2:22 pm
Poll tax!
How I love ya, How I love ya!
My dear old poll tax!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAwhC_btAUU
107 chars
Sue said on July 24, 2012 at 3:13 pm
mark, I don’t think my Medicare-using in-laws have to show an ID every time they go to the doc. They probably did when they first established their accounts at their various clinics.
You show an ID when you register to vote. Then you can vote, or someone evil and nefarious who somehow knows you won’t be voting that day votes for you. The amount of planning and co-ordination required to get fraudulent voters to the polls in numbers large enough to turn an election is such that you would think that there would be more evidence of it. Or any evidence of it.
I would be interested in hearing your opinion of what happened in Racine during the most recent recall election, where poll workers and voters were harassed during the election, poll workers were grilled by attorneys after the election, complaints were filed of such ridiculously low merit that the final report by the Sheriff should have been an embarrassment if anyone had bothered to cover it. It appears that this is the newest tactic now that the voter ID law (which was so sweeping it really threw the baby out with the bathwater) is on hold in WI.
Are these your people, mark? Is this what your side stands for? Please make me understand that this is not the way of the future and not what you would ever consider acceptable.
The links I am providing are obviously partisan but the facts are clear: Republicans spent a good deal of time and money, first harassing mostly-minority voters and the poll workers in those precincts, then fighting the results by disparaging and attacking people who were doing their job.
And while I’m at it:
Mike Turzai: “Voter ID, which is gonna allow Governor Romney to win the state of Pennsylvania, done.”
Glenn Grothman, to the question “do you think it might ultimately help Romney’s campaign here in the state?”: “Yes. Right. I think we believe that insofar as there are inappropriate things, people who vote inappropriately are more likely to vote Democrat… I think if people cheat, we believe the people who cheat are more likely to vote against us.”
http://rootriversiren.blogspot.com/2012/07/racine-sheriffs-investigation-and.html
http://rootriversiren.blogspot.com/2012/06/whos-calling-shots-in-racine-recount.html
2251 chars
mark said on July 24, 2012 at 3:29 pm
Sue- Yes, they do have to show ID. It is possible that there GP or other long-standing provider ignores the practice. When they try to get tests, lab work-ups and drugs, the requirements are strict. I took my 80+ year old father for prescribed tests (not of the type anyone would want to fraudulently obtain)at Methodist Hospital/Indianapolis and the ID verification process bordered on the absurd.
Does your pharmacist hand out drugs to you without ID?
I suppose if health care is a “right” requiring ID to obtain it violates that right?
I’ll read your links after work. I’m not in favor of harassing. Asking for ID isn’t harassing in my book. We do it in Indiana, which Obama won in 2008, and I’m unaware of any horror stories because of it.
759 chars
Danny said on July 24, 2012 at 3:33 pm
There is no reason whatsoever that a person exercising their right to vote should not be required to show ID. Too many MUCH less important transactions require the same show of ID and people seem to cope with that.
215 chars
Sue said on July 24, 2012 at 3:36 pm
‘Does your pharmacist hand out drugs to you without ID?’
Yes. They verify my address by asking me what my address is.
‘Asking for ID isn’t harassing in my book.’
Requiring ID isn’t a harassment issue. It’s a voter-suppression issue. One of the plaintiffs in the WI ID lawsuit is an elderly woman who was born at home, doesn’t have a birth certificate, can’t get an ID because of it, and therefore can’t vote. Like I said, baby out with the bathwater.
459 chars
Danny said on July 24, 2012 at 3:55 pm
Sue, these arguments based upon anecdotally extreme “corner” cases are actually more like letting in the sewage with the bath water. The potential for voter fraud is too great and too many less important transactions require ID.
229 chars
coozledad said on July 24, 2012 at 3:56 pm
It’s not simply voter supression, it’s reinstitutionalizing racism. The way they’ve scheduled the availability of free voter ID on limited days (5th wednesday of every month) in Wisc. is a testament to this. If they legitimately wanted to distribute voter ID, they’d do it through boards of elections via the mails, by sending it to your address. But that’s not an effective way to interfere with the franchise, and hence useless to Republicans, who can’t abide suffrage.
Just go ahead and put on the fucking sheet and torch a cross or two if it makes you feel better, asswipes.
579 chars
mark said on July 24, 2012 at 3:59 pm
Sue-
You have the better of me on WI. I haven’t followed, don’t know the issues.
I’m absolutely amazed that your pharmacist hands out prescription drugs without a picture ID. If they hand out Scheduled substances (narcotics) that way, I’m pretty sure they are violating federal criminal law.
299 chars
mark said on July 24, 2012 at 4:01 pm
Cooz, you are incapable of holding an adult discussion, so shut up. The name calling is childish.
98 chars
Sue said on July 24, 2012 at 4:05 pm
Not buying it, Danny, sorry. Wisconsin wrote one of the most restrictive ID laws in the nation and those who wrote it were willing to disenfranchise lots and lots of innocent people to reach their goal, ostensibly a reduction in fraudulent voting but really, as Sen. Grothman said, a reduction in Democrat voting. It is now in the courts, and for good reason.
I have to correct myself. The lady in WI who can’t vote actually can get an id. It will probably cost her $200 because of a spelling error on an old document, but she can get one. But that’s not a poll tax, just the cost of getting an ID in the new Wisconsin.
627 chars
Peter said on July 24, 2012 at 4:06 pm
Girls, now stop this – you’re all pretty.
41 chars
Prospero said on July 24, 2012 at 4:06 pm
Sorry, Mark. Those PA GOPers basically admitted they were after vote suppression. When the Texas lege omitted student IDs (with pictures) from the State University System as valid poll IDs, they gave the game away, expecially since the student IDs are valid for CCW licenses. If the aim isn’t suppressing the vote, what the hell is it? Ending non-existent voter fraud? That’s even stupider than voting 33 times in Congress to repeal ACA and not once on a single jobs bill.
472 chars
Sue said on July 24, 2012 at 4:07 pm
mark – I’m as surprised as you. I have never been asked for an ID to pick up a prescription, never seen anyone asked for one while waiting in line, at any pharmacy I’ve ever been to.
How does that work when you’re picking up a prescription for someone else?
261 chars
coozledad said on July 24, 2012 at 4:15 pm
Mark, you belong in Thailand, where you’re happy.
When you’re here, your impressions are governed thoroughly by talk radio. Your knee jerk racism is apparent from the readiness with which you accept the vilest Fox News agitprop without the filter of judgement. You’re the dupe who kept flogging the New Black Panther story, the thoroughly discredited Breitbart crap on Shirley Sherrod, and now this manufactured bullshit.
I’ve registered voters of all stripes, and been involved in the political process, on the ground, during a couple of fiascos engineered by your party. Let me know how many people you’ve registered to vote. Let me know how many people you’ve had to step in for because some big-haired old white bitch thought she could get away with turning them away, and was encouraged to do so by your shitty party.
Your people are trash. They’re all up in the asses of klansmen and neo-Nazis.
903 chars
Prospero said on July 24, 2012 at 4:18 pm
When politicians set out to solve a problem barely visible with an electron microscope, it’s a good bet there is an ulterior motive. Those PA pols I cited have admitted to doing exactly this in their response to the Justice Department. Turzai’s statement is reminiscent in its stench of the joint statement of Ken Blackwell and his bud the CEO of Diebold, that they’d guarantee a Shrub win in Ohio. Which they got from Diebold machines in Democratic Sandusky Co. What’s that smell like fish?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWxJOht2yRE
537 chars
Jeff Borden said on July 24, 2012 at 4:57 pm
I’d be able to take this voter ID bullshit seriously if it weren’t so transparently about keeping large sections of the Democratic electorate from voting. There is absolutely ZERO evidence there has been any kind of massive, or even minor, voter fraud. And these efforts always seem to begin less than a year out from a big election.
So, Mark, what do you make of the 91-year-old great grandmother in Pennsylvania who has voted in EVERY election since the sainted LBJ pushed the Votings Right Act through Congress now being denied the right to vote because she does not have a picture ID? Isn’t it enough that she be recognized by her neighbors at the polling place, which is what happens to us when we vote? What resources is the state putting out there to help voters like her get the ID they now say they need?
All this happy horseshit about how easy it is to get a photo ID ignores the blatant efforts to hold down the vote in places like Texas, where a state-issued student ID card is not accepted, but a fucking concealed-carry permit is?
Conservatives know in their heart of hearts they are on the downswing of history. Conservative politics have nearly shattered the Middle East. Conservative economics have nearly destroyed the once vital American middle class. Conservative theories have nearly destroyed an infrastructure that was the envy of the world. Conservative biases make lives miserable for millions and millions of your fellow citizens who are poor, gay, dark-skinned or recent immigrants.
No wonder the ultra-wealthy, ultra-Caucasian mandarins who bankroll these terrible ideas are working overtime to tilt the playing field. They can see the future in the demographics and they understand their hold on power is going to slip away. They’re angry. They’re scared. And they are nasty motherfuckers about always getting their way.
It is voter suppression. Period.
1897 chars
JWfromNJ said on July 24, 2012 at 4:59 pm
Stepping on the tail of a sacred cow here but Cooz, you are capable of making your point without resorting to name calling and silliness.
And to weigh in – my pharmacy (Walgreens) asks for us to verify our address which is idiotic. I think back to the neighbors we had over a year ago – the redneck pride contingent. They would have been comfortable going to “pick up” our RX if my wife babbled she had to run to Walgreens later. the address proves nothing. I’d prefer birthday or asking for ID.
498 chars
coozledad said on July 24, 2012 at 5:07 pm
JW from NJ: Adult conversation isn’t just kissing some Republican’s ass. I’m willing to discuss politics on a level commensurate with my own political experience, but not with mouth breathers whose sole experience is turning a knob on a television set. If you don’t believe Republicans have been breaking their backs trying to restrict the franchise, you haven’t been doing enough to help Democrats in the field.
And speaking of silliness, I’ll just repeat what NC State Senator Ellie Kinnaird told us about attempting to legislate in the aftermath of the tea party gaining control of the NC Legislature. In addition to black shirted AFP goons flooding the floor during debate to interfere directly with the democratic process, Republicans resorted to holding votes when Democratic senators were off the floor in committee, they locked the constituents out of the second floor offices.
You don’t sweet-talk fuckwads like the Kochs. You fight them.
953 chars
Sherri said on July 24, 2012 at 5:08 pm
I’ve never had to show an ID to pick up drugs at a pharmacy, and that includes Schedule III drugs (things like an opiate w/ an NSAID.) I get a Schedule IV drug filled through mail-order, as required by my insurance, so I don’t show any photo id there, either.
We also vote by mail here, so no photo id required.
315 chars
brian stouder said on July 24, 2012 at 5:13 pm
Well, let’s have a kiki, eh? We’re over-due; maybe when the campaign is over, we can have a Barack/ re-elect kiki, and I’ll buy the first round for our dissatisfied fellow nn.c’ers. And, if it comes to pass that Romney wins the office, then we can pitch into a Mitt-kiki, instead. I’m picturing a Festivus sort of party, wherein our “feats of strength” celebration would devolve into all of us holding down whichever of us looks the most heterosexual, the better to forcibly change his or her hairstyle. Cooz – you’d have to go back about 30 years ago, but I spent a couple election cycles helping the precinct committee people (my mom – a ‘D’, and after that, my mom’s friend – an ‘R’) knock on doors and register folks and working the elections. This was back in the day when they had those impressively large mechanical voting machines, which – if I was rich and bored – would be a very neat thing to own, and which were susceptible to all sorts of chicanery.
By way of saying, I respect anyone who does the hard (and time consuming) work of making elections work, and conducting ground-level, door-to-door, block-by-block politicking, and I respect all of your opinions, and the passion with which you express them. (and there is no “but” floating in the air)
I can go this far toward the folks who like all the voter requirements that seem to be in fashion right now. ‘Back in my day’ (ha!), the county and the state election boards had precinct-level voting places scattered everywhere. The theory, which I accepted, was that then neighbors ran the polling places, and would recognize – or not recognize – the people who trudged in to vote. The right two or three women will know everyone in the neighborhood.
But, the 2 weeks of voting at centralized vote-centers looks like a good thing, too. Then, people who work odd hours or who forget one day and remember the next have a much better chance of getting in to one of these centers and voting. But then, who knows who a person is, when that person comes in to vote?
Really, I think that this “problem” is readily fixable with technology…and one thing that we really should agree on is that if we disenfranchise a voter, that is a much worse thing than if some buckaroo actually succeeds in casting a fraudulent vote.
2341 chars
alex said on July 24, 2012 at 5:14 pm
I think Cooz makes his point quite eloquently, thank you, and I’m also calling bullshit on the freakin’ trolls as regards pharmacies. As someone who’s on a ton of chronic meds (that would be unaffordable without insurance) I can assure you no one ever has asked me for an ID.
Anyone who pretends the GOP’s voter suppression efforts have anything to do with rampant voter fraud is just here to goad and deserves to be cussed far worse than you’ve just seen.
459 chars
Prospero said on July 24, 2012 at 5:39 pm
The last actually proven unquestionable case of vote fraud took place in the Neh Hempsha GOPer primary, and was subborned by James O’Keefe, to prove it’s happening. . GOPers got the Teabangers hot and bothered on this subject with erroneous tales of fraud by the wicked anti-‘Murrican cabal ACORN. The ACORN story was twisted beyond recognition by the GOP to claim widespread fraud in registrations, because some crooked paid workers defrauded ACORN by registering Donald Duck and Madalf Heatlump (who only had one), since they were paid by the piece. In reality, what transpired was that ACORN official vetted the forms and reported the phonies to election officials. Those evil bastards.
One of the main reasons Cheney and Rove fired all the US attorneys was to attack the Great Voter Fraud plague. For five years, the new Loyal Bushies (the criterion by which the new attorneys were chosen, along with toilet-paper degrees from Liberty and Regency, as admitted by the Loyal Bushies that selected them). Over five years and two national elections, the number of fraudulent votes, augmented by acts of confusion and stupidity came to 89, which, divided by just the 122,295,000or so votes cast in the 2004 federal election, yielda a cheating percentage of 0.0000007. Well south of the number of votes cast in total for a variety of socialist and prohibition candidates. Kinda puny numbers to get so riled up about we disenfranchise nonagenarians that have never missed an election. Funny if it weren’t so un-American.
1522 chars
Prospero said on July 24, 2012 at 5:44 pm
It’s well-documented that GOPers in Volusia Co., FLA in 2000, caused trains to park across RR crossings to prevent black voters from reaching polling places. The ID scam is kinda a step up from Klan related tactics of that sort, actually.
238 chars
Prospero said on July 24, 2012 at 5:46 pm
And if my party was running a candidate this fracking lame
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWxJOht2yRE
I’d be looking for an EMP to use on the opposition rather than mere vote suppression.
193 chars
Danny said on July 24, 2012 at 5:52 pm
R.I.P. Sherman Hemsley. Odd factoid (or rumor) was that he was a fan of the progressive rock group, Yes. One of my favs.
Mark, take heart. There are a lot of very rich fantasy lives on display in comments section today.
225 chars
MarkH said on July 24, 2012 at 6:23 pm
Prospero #47, provide a link to this documentation please.
58 chars
Prospero said on July 24, 2012 at 6:26 pm
That ain’t fantasy, Danny, that is Okham’s razor. Since there is no fraud problem, the most obvious explanation for this GOPer canard has got to be the simplest one. Party of the Brooks Bros. riot. Party of robbing FLA and Ohio.
228 chars
Prospero said on July 24, 2012 at 7:24 pm
MarkH, a childhood friend of mine that is a CSX conductor admitted to me that he was paid $7,500 to park trains to block neighborhoods from polls. There were a tremendous number of anecdotal accounts at the time. I choose to believe my ex-friend. The GOPer voting officials changed polling places and times. FLA was rooted for GOPers from the get-go, as soon as the Painted Lady was put in charge of the ballots. It’s GOPers that despise the electoral college, but if you threw it out in 2000, Shrub crashed, no Bush tax cuts, no deregulation and no illegal invasions and occupations. Crash less likely.
603 chars
Sue said on July 24, 2012 at 7:35 pm
Danny:
Wow. That didn’t take long.
36 chars
coozledad said on July 24, 2012 at 7:53 pm
Sue: Well you can be certain if there’s at least one adult in the room, it’ll be the guy who cast his vote for a rage-addled casino mushroom and a preliterate chainhumping matriarch of a family of reality TV hos.
Until Sarah climbs out of that bulemic receptionists’ getup and gets nasty with Tommy Gunn, she’s not living up to her full potential.
348 chars
Kaye said on July 24, 2012 at 8:05 pm
It is difficult to imagine a life in which a government-issued photo ID isn’t necessary for at least one other interaction.
When I moved from the small town in which I grew up I was amazed that ID was not required for voting. There, as Brian mentioned, at least one poll worker knew me so there was no need for ID. In the big city though it is rare that I recognize a poll worker even after living in the same precinct for ten years. The ID requirement here (OH) seems to be as much about where you live as it is about who you are. Once I tried to vote with a passport, the ultimate ID in most situations, and was advised it was not acceptable as passports do not contain addresses.
At local pharmacies I must show ID to buy Sudafed or washing ammonia but to pick up Vicodin I just need to know my name and birth date.
Spent a good chunk of my day seeing/hearing Shelly O along with 2,000 of my closest friends. Love her! Any seat in the gym would have been good but we took advantage of the opportunity to stand on the stage behind the podium, less than 20 feet from the speakers. Enjoyed the experience immensely but ooooh, my legs are complaining tonight.
1181 chars
Prospero said on July 24, 2012 at 8:11 pm
MarkH. You can claim I’m lying. The voter suppression campaign is obvious. These days, some photo ID is required to ensure you aren’t making W=oxy. The war against drugs is the most horseshit crap ever, Steer them third strikes sad-sacks into the GOPer privatized shit. Are you folds that fracking stupid?
307 chars
Danny said on July 24, 2012 at 9:58 pm
Sue, for what? For me to (very) mildly call a few people out who are calling the few conservatives of us a bunch of lying, racist, nazi fuckwads? Is that what you are referring to?
181 chars
alex said on July 24, 2012 at 10:10 pm
Nance, you were right, that was Raquel Welch in Myra. Somehow I remembered her differently.
734 chars
alex said on July 24, 2012 at 10:33 pm
Danny, I think the wanton and careless voter purge by Governor Rick Scott of Florida proves the point. And I’ve never thought of you as a nazi or a fuckwad.
156 chars
coozledad said on July 24, 2012 at 10:35 pm
Strange what people will latch onto. Blue language (English, by the way. Learn it, motherfuckers!) will make them shit their drawers, but what’s a little Nazi cosplay among Republican congressional hopefuls? What’s a little rapeboating among Breitbart’s speech impaired protegees? What’s a little childbonking, diaper filling, toelicking, tax scamming, warmongering, racebaiting, bank looting, uterus snooping, panty sniffing anti semitic anti-hispanic anti-black anti-muslim anti-gay anti-lesbianism among soulless white trash at the end of the day, as they say.
What’s important is that we can agree to name the oceans after that casting couch slut and Chesterfield salesman, their beloved Rongo.
I say we start with the former Gulf of Mexico. Since New Orleans and the Halliburton/BP spill have largely swirled down the Republican memory hole, we can call it the Gulf of Alzheimer’s.
889 chars
Prospero said on July 24, 2012 at 10:44 pm
Mark H, am I lying? wouldn’t bother. For a fact, I’m sure ahole GOPers actually impeded voting. I admit it isn’t proved beyond a shit, but you have to claim I’d lie if you say this isn’t true, and I swear it is absolutely true. I think I’m more trustworthy than you are. You are a Republicant.
294 chars
Danny said on July 24, 2012 at 10:44 pm
Alex, thank you {sniff}. I need to catch up with you and a few others in email soon. Maybe this weekend if they don’t have me on a plane to Turkey or Timbuktoo.
Cheers, Danny
178 chars
Prospero said on July 24, 2012 at 11:51 pm
Is Rick Scott trustworthy. He’s the most massive medicare fraud in history and moron voters selected him in FLA. This guy is the biggest crook in the history of government and people voted for his crooked ass. What say, Mark H and Danny? Rick Scott is a monumentaal crook, N’ecst Pas? The asshole is a GOPer, How do you make amends for that astounding crook?
358 chars
Prospero said on July 24, 2012 at 11:54 pm
Danny and Mark? How od you account for acrook so massive? That is RMoneylike crooked shit.
90 chars
Prospero said on July 25, 2012 at 7:12 am
Cooze, vagina will make them queasy. Personally, I always liked the word borrowed directly from Latin.
Even some GOPers find Rick Scott’s voter purge noxious:
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2012/06/12/497973/gop-election-supervisor-blasts-florida-lawsuit-against-feds/
My poll workers all know me, which is parbly the way the Founders meant it to go. Those old boys also never heard of “assault weapons” nor 100-round magazines, much less wrote them into the Bill of Rights.
And that’s Time and Timbuktoo.
Not all football players are mindless:
http://dogbytesonline.com/former-uga-football-player-witherspoon-tackles-antibiotics-use-in-farming-59579/
671 chars
Prospero said on July 25, 2012 at 7:27 am
Ain’t that America?
216 chars
Basset said on July 25, 2012 at 8:45 am
Mark@49, with you on Yes… but the classic lineup, not the tribute band that’s currently touring under that name.
114 chars
maryinIN said on July 25, 2012 at 10:31 pm
It never occurred to me to wonder about Sally Ride’s “orientation”. Therefore, I never did even give it a thought. She was the first woman in space, that trumps everything.
175 chars