From the New York Times blog "The Lede": "Ohio is an election battleground state with perennial problems at the polls. So what have election officials in some precincts of the state been doing to keep their voting machines safe from tampering? Taking the machines home with them and stashing them in their garages in the days before a big election."
Oy.
Our good friend Mike Gurklis sends in this link to an interview with Vincent Bugliosi. In a new book the former LA County Assistant District Attorney lays out the case for prosecuting George W. Bush for murder:
You’ve got to realize, there’s no statute of limitations for the crime of murder. So this could very well happen. At this stage of my life, I cannot engage in fanciful reveries. This is a very real thing that we’re talking about here. I’ve established jurisdiction on a federal and state level for the prosecution of Bush for two crimes: conspiracy to commit murder and murder. On a federal level, we’re really only talking about the Attorney General in Washington, D.C., operating through his Department of Justice. But on a state level, I’ve established jurisdiction for the attorney general in each of the fifty states, plus the hundreds of district attorneys in counties within those states, to prosecute George Bush for the murder of any soldier or soldiers from their state or county who died fighting his war in Iraq.
Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee
430 South Capitol Street
Washington, DC 20003
http://dccc.org
An Open Letter to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee
Dear DCCC:
I am greatly distressed and disappointed to learn that during the recent special Congressional election in Mississippi, the DCCC ran ads linking a key Republican donor, Sheldon Adelson, to what you refered to as "atheist China".
Certainly there are good reasons to point out the influences a
foreign nation - especially one with a questionable human rights record
- might have with a candidate.
But labeling China as "atheist" in this context can only be seen
as a slur against atheists.
In a story right out of the headlines from fifty years ago, Wendy Gonaver was recently fired from a teaching job at Cal State Fullerton for refusing to sign a loyalty oath.
The oath, a remnant of the 50s Red Scare, required Gonaver, a Quaker and a pacifist, to swear to "defend" the U.S. and California Constitutions "against all enemies, foreign and domestic." She was willing to to sign she could attach an addendum expressing her pacifism - a practice allowed by other state agencies. But Cal State Fullerton insisted she sign the oath as is if she wanted the job.
Excuse me, but anyone who wants people to sign a loyalty oath meant to enforce doctrinal conformity is an enemy of the U.S. Constitution and the free and vigorous debate of democracy.
Our good friend Brian Jefferson posted something on his MySpace Blog that meshed with some recent thoughts of mine. This is a slightly edited version of what I posted there in response, a few typos fixed.
I've been thinking about this a little bit, since the Obama speech a few weeks ago.
George Carlin said, about the end of slavery, "So we freed the slaves. But not so you'd really notice, just sort of on paper." A lot of people say that the end of slavery was a long time ago and we ought to put it behind us, but the problem was that it didn't just end. It changed into Jim Crow.
And that stayed with us long enough that it was only in 1967 that the Loving case overturned miscegenation laws - and they were still on the books in Alabama until 2000. And 40% of people voted to keep them!
In a speech to a meeting of the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO, Hillary Clinton compared herself to Rocky Balboa, the hero of the Rocky movies. "Let me tell you something, when it comes to finishing a fight, Rocky and I have a lot in common. I never quit. I never give up. And neither do the American people," said Clinton.
She seems to have forgotten that at the end of Rocky, Balboa lost the fight. (To the black guy, no less.)
Now, if Clinton needed to prove something to herself, the way Rocky Balboa did, that'd be fine - but it would be pretty sad if a U.S. Senator had such self-doubt, felt a need to prove herself by stepping into the ring with the champ. It would pretty much prove the point that she got where she is by riding Bill's coattails rather than on her own merits.
(BTW, as silly as some of the sequels got, the original Rocky is a damn fine movie.)
From the "things I didn't know existed" file: Pink Pistols, whose motto is, "Armed Gays Don't Get Bashed". Outstanding.
They've submitted a brief in the Surpreme Court case of the D.C. gun ban, which states in part:
Laws that prevent the use of firearms for self-defense in one's own home disproportionately impact those individuals who are targets of hate violence due to their minority status, whether defined by race, religion, sexual orientation, or other characteristic. Even in their homes, LGBT individuals are at risk of murder, aggravated assault and other forms of hate violence because of their sexual orientation. In fact, the home is the most common site of anti-gay violence. Thus, for certain [lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgendered] individuals, the possession of firearms in the home is essential for a sense of personal security -- a fact generally lost in the majoritarian debate about restricting individual's access to, and use of, firearms. . . . [N]ot only do members of the LGBT community have a heightened need to possess firearms for self-protection in their homes, the Second Amendment clearly guarantees this most basic right. . . .
Did you know that Hillary Clinton was president of the College Republicans at Wellesley College? It's no wonder she grew up to marry "best Republican president we've had in a while."
Ah, beautiful beautiful irony!
Casey Knowles is a high school senior in Washington state. Like a lot of people her age, she's a big Obama fan. She's even gotten involved as a precinct captain for the Democratic caucuses, and could be a convention delegate.
Unlike a lot of people her age, about a decade ago she did some film work, and appeared as a sleeping kid in some footage shot for a railroad company ad. Getty Images got the rights to that stock footage. The Hillary Clinton campaign bought it from Getty Images, and used it in the now famous "3 a.m. phone call" ad.
The Times (London) considers presidental poetry and notes that Barack Obama "may be the best amateur poet to run for president since Abraham Lincoln, which is saying quite a lot." Obama had two poems published in a college magazine back when he was 19.