HELEN:
Margaret, I just called my friend Patricia to apologize for dipping her hair into that inkwell back in grade school. I feel bad that I did it and I feel even worse that she no longer remembers who I am or that she one time had hair long enough to put in pig tails. We’re getting old, Margaret. And you know what else is getting old? The parade of schmucks who keep running for political office.
The population of the United States is now over 300 million people. That means that every four years, one person out of 300 million gets the honor of being President of the greatest country on the planet. With those odds, you would think the Republican Party could have found someone who wasn’t a dry drunk like George W. Bush… or the bully in high school like Mitt Romney. I know. I know. We all did dumb things when we were young. Youth. I miss it like I miss my waistline. Shit happens… or in this case Mitt happened. “Back in high school, I did some dumb things,” Romney said. “And if anyone was hurt by that or offended, obviously I apologize for that.” Me too. I really do feel bad about dipping Patricia’s hair into that ink well.
Mitt went on to say, “There’s going to be some that want to talk about high school. Well, if you really think that’s important, be my guest.”
Thank you Mr. Romney, I think I will. I think I will talk about this because unfortunately we don’t seem to have solved the problem yet. Bullying is alive and well today and it is just as inexcusable today as it was 48 years ago. You can send your wife out to the media to laugh about your “wild and crazy” high school years but I wonder how the two of you would have reacted if one of your sons had done that that had been done to one of your sons. Wild and crazy? Yes, actually. It was. And it’s even more wild and crazy today that anyone would want to honor you with the highest office in the land. Mitt was the son of a Governor… born into a privileged life. You can’t tell me he didn’t know any better.
Mitt and a group of his friends threw a younger boy to the ground and hacked off his hair while he cried and screamed for help. The younger student was believed to be a little light in his loafers by the way, but Mitt now claims that he didn’t know he was gay. As if that really matters.
Mitt led the charge and did the actual hair cutting. Maybe I am overreacting here, but I think he just might not deserve to be that one person out of 300 million to be President. Believe it or not, lots and lots of people go through their entire school career and never dip another person’s hair in ink or physically abuse another student.
I have said before, I come from a generation that doesn’t really talk much about gay people. I remember thinking that a perfectly lovely word had been ruined. Today, however I say, “Gay marriage?” Why not? Everyone should be allowed to be with the one they love. I honestly don’t understand what all the hoopla is about. If you don’t agree with gay marriage then don’t marry a man who dresses like Rick Santorum or has hair like Mitt Romney. If you don’t like gay people simply ignore them. They probably don’t like you either. If an octogenarian from Georgia can see that, why can’t privileged politicians?
Margaret, I really don’t think this is about being gay or the sanctity of marriage. I think this is about common decency and what we should expect from that one person in 300 million who becomes President. I’ll be the first to admit that I would not make a good president. If ever an example of who not to elect there was, I certainly fit the bill. But let’s slow down for just a second here. He gathered a group of students. They tackled a younger student and while that student cried and screamed for help, Mitt Romney, the assumed Republican nominee for President, cut off his hair because he didn’t like the way he looked. Does it matter if that student was gay? Would it be worse if he was black? How about if that student were a woman? I don’t give a rat’s ass if that student were all three. One in three hundred million. One.
Maybe I am old school, as they say, but I really don’t think that one is forgettable much less forgivable when you want to become President.
No one is perfect. But surely we can elect someone more perfect than that. I mean it really.
MARGARET:
Helen, dear, I think this all has to do with the length of time little Mitt was allowed to breast feed. Or maybe he’s just a asshat. Probably the latter, dear.
Excellent, Cynthia. I believe that the response will be the Cosmo Kramer approach: “It’s a well-known fact.” Always so persuasive.
By: Donna on May 26, 2012
at 9:01 PM
My sincerest apology for not believing there is a problem with Massive Voter Fraud. I stand corrected.
An investigation revealed a voter had voted a total of 365 times!
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/11/massive-vote-fraud-nullifies-hawk-name-contest/
Peace.
By: Cynthia on May 26, 2012
at 8:47 PM
oh, and how about a source for the claim that Democrats’ “largest voting block” is illegal voters? Last I checked, it tended to be a mix of highly educated people, certain geographic areas, many blue collar workers, Catholics, Jews, and other groups whose legitimacy is not in question. But what an easy and cheap shot to make.
By: Donna on May 26, 2012
at 8:45 PM
How adorable. Noah/Nagic demonstrating how it is that he never makes personal attacks (unless he is attacked first). Nope, just those nasty liberals do that. I guess it doesn’t count that he calls us “hags” and “sheople.” Such intellectual discourse.
p.s. When used in that manner, it’s “affects” not “effects.”
By: Donna on May 26, 2012
at 8:38 PM
I do love how people try and muddy the water. If we have a problem with people making false I.D.’s, great, that is another topic. Despite what the hags on here want you to believe, not everyone making below 75k a year is a Liberal looking for a handout. Voter I.D. is being able to able to have a way to visually inspect someone to ascertain if they are who they say they are. You sheople think if you can find one flaw it invalidates the entire premise.
I do not care if it makes it harder to vote. Republicans and Democrats alike are equally effected. Making it a partisan issue is the Liberal way of saying they have no logical reason other than the truth which is to allow their largest voting block, illegal voters, to continue voting.
As for Cynthia’s claim that voter fraud isn’t an issue, say it one more time and I will post pages of issues in just the last couple of elections. We all know a Liberal has no issue with winning by cheating, so lets just call it what it is and move on.
By: Anonymous on May 26, 2012
at 7:13 PM
Have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend, Helen and Margaret and all the porch visitors and dwellers. Thanks to all who have sacrificed to preserve liberty. Now if we could only take it back and hold onto it…
By: poolman on May 26, 2012
at 5:00 PM
Also there is a you tube that gives a better accounting than the AF http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkl0gV7epsI&feature=share
By: annishka on May 26, 2012
at 3:36 PM
http://www.change.org/petitions/police-shooting-needs-fair-investigation
By: annishka on May 26, 2012
at 3:29 PM
Hi! We had some trouble with a bully here in Loxahatchee Groves Fl. An undercover cop parked in my friend’s driveway. When Seth Adams came home he was shot 4 times by the cop. He died. Report by the Sheriff tried to make Seth out to be an aggressor;some people who didn’t know Seth might believe that, however those of us who did know him knew it was a cover up..We have a petition and we have been advised to let people on blogs know of this…so I am asking for you to sign the petition and to help circulate it, if that is not too much trouble.Thanks Margaret , Helen, Alaskapi, JuneauJoe & all here.
By: ann friedlander on May 26, 2012
at 3:23 PM
Cynthia- thanks! Will go and read it soon. Have to go into work for awhile now.
) I now have spinach and greens to eat everyday with kales, turnips, pac choi, broccoli, and so on coming along nicely as well. Truly fresh food counts for a lot. Wildflowers slowly coming on and fish starting to run counts for a lot too. Life is good, chilly but good.
Snow is melted below 1000 ft but weeks of cold rain and daytime temps averaging 8-12 degrees below normal for this time of year have kinda punched a hole in enjoying the lack of snow so far – dang.
However, using double row covers on outdoor veggies (and chasing covers and frames of low hoop houses all over the ridge here in the wind
Have a good weekend
By: alaskapi on May 26, 2012
at 2:02 PM
Alaskapi
http://www.west.senate.state.tx.us/pr12/p031212a.htm
…”Department of Justice – Voting Rights Division (DOJ), that changes made to Texas elections laws that would require voters to show a state-approved form of photo identification to vote have been rejected….
.. In other words, the new law would make it harder for minority citizens to vote than the existing requirements already set in state law.”…
The other states face similar reasons for oversight/rejection.
IMO it is not really about…..OMG Massive Voter Fraud!!!
Has the snow melted yet??
By: Cynthia on May 26, 2012
at 1:43 PM
http://www.justice.gov/crt/about/vot/sec_5/about.php
This is the section TX was denied something under. Congress reauthorized the oversight for another 25 years in 2006. I don’t, again, know what TX was trying to do.
We just got a semi-ok for redistricting after the 2010 census here to be able to have the state know what districts are ( for now) so people can file for state seats for primary . As redistricting means every seat in the state legislature but one ( my Senator) is up to vote this year the time frame , State Supreme court rulings, DOJ rulings , and all have been quite a spectacle and really do not have a final plan – just an interim one to manage the coming primary and general elections under.
I worry about all that more than I worry about phony voters- here.
By: alaskapi on May 26, 2012
at 1:21 PM
have a great weekend everyone…..
By: uawtradesman on May 26, 2012
at 1:18 PM
UAW- oh . ok. I misread something there that you said then.
We are also an under-DOJ -oversight state along with Texas and 7 or 8 other states who have had routine problems with meeting federal law under the Civil Rights Act of 1965.
I am not familiar with what the problems are in TX and the other states which got them under DOJ oversight but I am very familiar with why we are.
Ours has to do with districting and Alaska Natives and the mighty battle here as relates to urban v rural. Very long, very involved and good that fed got involved ( jeez- did I just say that ? ).
If those other states did/do what happened here or similar kinds of voter disenfranchisement stuff, then they have work to do to get off the radar , just like we do.
By: alaskapi on May 26, 2012
at 12:59 PM
well anon- this where my libertarian side comes out. Why and when did we get so comfortable about ID for everything we do?
That being said, Folks who want false ID will get it whether it is to vote or to do business. We should hop right on making discovery and proof of those false IDs and extract penalties but I don’t think illegal aliens and, here, felons, wanting to vote is the largest problem with voting problems.
Crappy maintenance of the rolls is and sometimes, crappy management of the actual election like what happened in ANC last month- where under stocking ballots at polling places and such things alongside poll workers ending people all over the city to find ballots and vote questioned ballots outside their precincts and the like made for a SNAFU which is just disgusting. muncipal clerk has resigned and asst clerk in charge of election was fired but MOA ( unified City and Borough of Anchorage) is looking to rewrite election code so that cannot happen again.
Problem wasn’t the voters, problem was the elections division.
By: alaskapi on May 26, 2012
at 12:49 PM
alaskapi?????????
I didn’t think the Feds were trying to invoke voter ID laws…I thought the states were…….at least we agree that “something” needs to be done……back to your article it’s the DOJ(the Feds) that is trying to supersede state laws(Texas)….
still wondering why JJ has a problem with purging dead people and/or live people that have no right to vote in that area……(notice how I didn’t say Illegal aliens/illegal,immigrants)……
So JJ….should there be ANY restrictions on voting or should everybody be allowed to vote as many times and wherever they want……(got a local millage issue I can vote on in your area???????)(send me 20 absentee ballots please)…..
By: uawtradesman on May 26, 2012
at 12:41 PM
We require nothing less than a photo I.D. to…..
1. Boarding an airplane
2. Writing a check
3. Cashing a check
4. Using a credit card
5. Driving a motor vehicle
6. Applying for a business license
7. Applying for permission to hold a protest or rally
8. Securing employment
9. Purchasing a house or real estate
10. Renting a domicile
11. Renting a motor vehicle
12. Purchasing a firearm (Includes BB guns)
13. Applying for a hunting license (waived for 16 and 17 year olds when their legal guardian provides a photo ID)
14. Applying for a fishing license (waived for 16 and 17 year olds when their legal guardian provides a photo ID)
15. Purchasing alcoholic beverages
16. Purchasing tobacco or products that contain nicotine
17. Purchasing a motor vehicle
18. Initial registration of a motor vehicle
19. Applying for a building permit
20. Receiving prescription medicine
21. Purchasing OTC medicine that contains pseudoephedrine
22. Serving on jury duty
23. Getting a bank account
24. Cash transactions of $5000.00 or greater
25. Sales tax exemption for people aged 80 and above
Of the above, numbers 2, 3 and 4 are not state law but at a business owners discretion. By law, they can demand it. Numbers 15, 16 and 25 are usually applied using common sense, as in if you appear to be too young the business can demand proof and refuse to engage in the activity if one cannot provide proof of the required age law.
All of the above are things that occur on a daily basis but not necessarily to everybody.
Despite the above common actions that people engage in, some seem to think that asking for a photo ID for voting purposes is somehow a violation of civil liberties or an attempt to prevent people from voting. The really interesting part is that it is usually liberals claiming that it is conservatives attempting to prevent people from voting when a photo ID law would apply equally to both liberals and conservatives. Heck, they would apply equally regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, weight, sexual orientation, income, health, disability, race, wealth, intelligence, marital status, attractiveness, employment status and everything else. Is there something wrong with preventing the dead, the illegal aliens, the young (under the age of suffrage) and other non-qualified people from voting just as we prevent them from engaging in the activities listed above?
By: Anonymous on May 26, 2012
at 12:36 PM
I am not against showing ID to vote. Most states require some form of identification at this time. The ‘poll tax’ I was referring to the requirement of a photo ID as a condition for voting. Not every one has a photo ID or a copy of their birth certificate. For example Wisconsin’s requirements for a FREE state ID is a certified U.S. birth certificate, or valid passport or certificate of naturalization and the state ID must be obtained at the DMV service center. A copy of a BC may cost $25-$35. IMO this is a poll tax. You of course may see it differently.
BTW do you look like the picture on your driver’s license or passport??
State’s Voter Identification Requirements
http://www.ncsl.org/legislatures-elections/elections/voter-id.aspx
It is a beautiful weekend…….take a break and enjoy it.
Peace.
By: Cynthia on May 26, 2012
at 12:21 PM
UAW-
while people can register to vote in their community it is the state who manages the voter rolls.
It appears the state purges rolls in March these last few years but that November election showed way too many who didn’t get purged who should have. I have been trying to find out what criteria the state uses to purge besides death notices and re-registration in another precinct and not gotten very far yet.
Another non-open and transparent govt process to try to ferret out details on… sigh.
By: alaskapi on May 26, 2012
at 12:21 PM
UAW- there’s still a lot of the in the living room-office type registering here in bush communities or village tribal offices and the like. ( When I paid off my truck the DMV office which issued the new reg and ownership slip was someone’s kitchen
)
Given the isolated circumstances of these places birth certs are still the preferred method of registering though folks in the big city use passports and other IDs to register.
A funny but true side note-
as there are multiple legal ramifications, way more so than registering falsely to vote, for falsely obtaining resident hunting and-or fishing licenses here one’s license may be used to establish residency to qualify to register.
Fish and Game routinely nails folks who lie to get licenses- the fines and all are ginormous. Elections Division seems to rely on ADFG to police voter rolls in some ways…?
And here all these IDs are valid for voting :
“When entering your polling place, the election worker will ask you for a piece of identification. The following documents may be used for identification:
signed voter ID card, driver’s license, state ID card, or military ID card;
passport, hunting or fishing license; or
other current or valid photo identification. ”
http://www.elections.alaska.gov/vi_hv_vote_polls.php
I think we cover the bases ok here for knowing whether someone is entitled to vote at the time of voting . We haven’t done a very good job of keeping up with the actual lists and rolls and all.
By: alaskapi on May 26, 2012
at 12:15 PM
so Alaskapi….did they purge the voters list up there yet?….or are there court orders stopping the purge/or complaints from other areas that stopped the purge……or is the village/township/borough clerk not doing their job…..
By: uawtradesman on May 26, 2012
at 12:10 PM
UAW- mostly folks in the bush use birth certificates to register and that can be done various ways which do not require big trips.
It is the question of whether picture ID supercedes the voter ID card at the time of voting which I am talking about.
Why has the argument turned away from voter ID cards which are issued by the state after registration processes to producing picture ID independant of that voter ID at the time of voting?
Dead people who can produce their voter ID card at the time of voting ? More power to them…
By: alaskapi on May 26, 2012
at 11:57 AM
lol anon- you and your all/none routine…
I don’t care what the rest of the states do to solve their voter issues- that it is the purview of the states to manage is the point you missed.And the basis of most current arguments and attempts at laws to require picture ID.
Should Congress decide to step in as regards federal elections . they would be treading some interesting ground but at this point there is no big push for them to do so.
And you would be surprised how many communities here have no store ( all goods are flown or barged in by individuals themselves) so seeing ID for tobacco sales is a different critter than you know. And how many communities have no vehicles larger than 4 wheelers or snowmachines – we have no roads as you know them in most of the state. Kotzebue is having a cow because they now have a few miles of road and enough vehicles that the state is enforcing reg and insurance laws along with driver’s licensing
And how many communities are dry by law so ID for alcohol is a moot point though tracking bootleggers is a big deal- including watching how much sugar and yeast people have sent in
I think states need to get their acts together on voter rolls and oversight and that we don’t get all liberal and feddy and all and require the fed to oversee one more nanny-state dealie in a federal voter ID law- are you saying you are “liberal”enough to want one more federal hoo-bobby?
If so- then yes, I’m all for the rest of the country being based on hicksville
The billions and billions of dollars generated by resources in hicksville power this whole state.
The liberal one man, one vote SCOTUS decision a number of years back effectively silenced rural Alaska and rural America and i’m up for whatever rocks that boat til we get it evened out again.
hippie commie liberal most of the time hicksville Pi
By: alaskapi on May 26, 2012
at 11:51 AM
Alaskapi……..
apparently everyone up there at one time or another had to register to vote….that means at least one trip to whereever it is you register at….in Mi. it’s at the Secretary of States office….cost=$0.00……40+ years ago it was to the township clerks office(usually his living room)…..like Mageen I got a voter registration card…….now we use drivers licenses…..big deal…….you have 2000 registered voters in an area the size of W Virginia……..and Florida has 53,000 dead voters………if the dead can show a license let them vote……
By: uawtradesman on May 26, 2012
at 11:44 AM
Gov Scott Walker had an anemic performance in his recent debate – hip, hip, hooray!
http://www.politiscoop.com/us-politics/wisconsin-politics/1415-walker-crawls-into-shell-after-anemic-debate-performance.html
By: JuneauJoe on May 26, 2012
at 11:44 AM
I was wondering alaskapi
So all of these people in your state dont drive, dont buy tobacco, dont drink? Or are you all just breaking the law and dont want to give up this perk? And really, do you want to have the rest of the nation be based on hicksville?
By: Anonymous on May 26, 2012
at 11:20 AM
alaskapi
So all of these people in your state dont drive, dont buy tobacco, dont drink? Or are you all just breaking the law and dont want to give up this perk? And really, do you want to have the rest of the nation be based on hicksville?
By: Anonymous on May 26, 2012
at 11:17 AM
UAW- since you asked in honesty:
http://blog.constitutioncenter.org/2012/03/are-voter-id-laws-constitutional-and-are-they-a-good-idea/
Recently I was part of an independant observer group for an historical election here- though my contribution was tiny in the overall picture, it was enlightening on a number of fronts to me.
It is a borough in which all voting is done by mail,for borough business, as it encompasses an area almost the size of West Virginia and has fewer than 2000 residents including children. For state and federal elections , hand counts or touch screens are employed at sites set up within the communities.
Nowhere in any of these communities can one get a state approved ID (including getting/renewing a driver’s license which is not needed locally but is if folks go to the big city. The big city is a plane ride and many hundreds of dollars away) as the state doesn’t deem them large enough to warrant the expense of running an office to do those things.This is fairly common in the state once you get away from ANC, FBX, and JNU.People get their voter state ID cards by filing copies of birth certificates as often as not.
Previous to the election it was obvious that the borough’s voter rolls were very out of date and well overdue for a purge as there were more names on it than resident inhabitants in the entire borough including children and pets.
It is an area which swells with seasonal fishing activities by at least 10 fold for about 12 weeks in the summer and given 30 day residency rules the state has for registration has certainly added to the voter rolls.
It seemed quite obvious as things unfolded that it was mostly the lack of will and /or process by the STATE to follow up and purge the rolls of deceased and left-the-area folks which was at base of the swollen rolls.
I have seen that working on elections in my area too. I enter data into vote-builder , a program which shows ALL registered voters, regardless of party affiliation in local precincts. Over and over I see names of folks I know don’t live in the area anymore.
I have talked to state election people about all this. While there are numerous checks and balances to keeping folks from voting more than once or from more than one place (which worked quite well in the election I observed ) I think Alaska needs a real and abiding system to keep rolls up to date.
That is the purview of the individual states- not the fed, though the fed can weigh in on rules for federal seats like Reps and Pres.
Picture ID at the time of voting ? Not really needed here . We do tend to know each other and state voter card is adequate for finding folks on the lists.
If Congress were to weigh in on the federal level for federal elections and try to require it? Bad news for most of this state and just more one-size-fits-all tyranny of the metropolitan majority. And pffft! on that.
By: alaskapi on May 26, 2012
at 10:24 AM
New Rules
By: JuneauJoe on May 26, 2012
at 10:10 AM
Even tho I think Bill Mahar is a asshat I still laughed my ass off about the Romney Wifer clip…..
By: uawtradesman on May 26, 2012
at 10:03 AM