Saving America, one voter at a time…. Paul Carroll an 86 year old WWII veteran who has lived in the same Ohio town more than forty years, was denied the opportunity to vote yesterday after a poll worker rejected a recently-acquired photo ID from the Department of Veterans Affairs. The poll worker rejected the ID because it did not contain an address, as required by Ohio law. Interviewed by the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Carroll went on to say:
“My beef is that I had to pay a driver to take me up there because I don’t walk so well and have to use this cane and now I can’t even vote,” said Paul Carroll, 86, who has lived in Aurora nearly 40 years, running his own business, Carroll Tire, until 1975. I had to stop driving, but I got the photo ID from the Veterans Affairs instead, just a month or so ago. You would think that would count for something. I went to war for this country, but now I can’t vote in this country.”
Those Republicans who sponsored Ohio’s recently amended voter laws must be feeling mighty proud today.
Rush to Judgment… as the few conservatives left who will defend Rush Limbaugh have circled their wagons, there are developments that go beyond the dozens of advertisers who have decided that his particular flavor of venom does not match their values… We can forgive the legendary rock band Rush for taking so long to send Limbaugh a letter demanding that he stop playing their music on his radio show. They are Canadian, after all, and things do move a little slower up there in the northern hinterlands.
Manly man and defender of all things right-wing, L. Brent Bozell III, has started an online petition via his Media Research Center that attempts to have you believe that all the hoo-haw over Rush Limbaugh is a clear attempt at censorship in violation of the First Amendment. We keep hoping, but thus far have yet to find any government agency looking to pull his sorry ass off the air…
A group of professional ladies, d/b/a SeekingArrangement.com, has offered to purchase $500,000 worth of ads on Limbaugh’s show. The website is one in which “sugarbabies” are encouraged to peddle their wares to “sugardaddies,” for “college” and cash.
Meanwhile, Big Daddy Limbaugh has found himself a new person of the female persuasion to pick on. Author Tracie McMillan is a young, single, white women who’s dared to write “The American Way of Eating: Undercover at Walmart, Applebee’s, Farm Fields and the Dinner Table”, a book about food. Although there are no pictures in the book showing Limbaugh in shirts with black and white horizontal stripes, his misogynic hallucinations know no bounds. “Overeducated doesn’t mean intelligent,” he ranted, attacking the author for the heinous crime of having a Bachelor of Arts Degree….
Tomorrow is International Women’s Day…. Which means that if you have any point of view about women to the left of Flush Rimbaugh, you are a femnazi. So you might as well be proud of it and celebrate the accomplishments of women in U.S. History. The official gathering is at the Federal Courthouse (940 Front Street) starting at noon. San Diego’s Occupellas will sing protest songs, and there will be words of wisdom by Jennifer Coburn from Planned Parenthood and Comedian Diane Jean.
The Russians are coming… even though I’ve waaay overused the letters “r.u.s.” in today’s column, I’d be remiss if I didn’t call attention to the latest conspiracy theory making the rounds of the far, far, right: President Obama is giving away seven prime Alaska islands to the evil Russian empire. It’s all part of the President’s war against U.S. energy independence. You can read all about here in this State Department document that shows how Obama went back in time and did this deal.
The only thing worse than finding a worm in an apple… is finding half a worm in an apple… As you read/hear about all the jobs that are being whacked in our local schools due to lack of funding, take a few minutes to read this article about how California spends more than five times as much on its prisoners than on its students.
Those of you who were observant… noticed that I jumped the gun in dating yesterday’s column. So today we get a second edition of March 7th at no extra charge. (The truth of the matter is that the toxic cocktail I take daily in my struggle against cancer makes things like the actual day of the week difficult to ascertain at times. Lord knows I try to stay organized, but, you know, shit happens….)
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Hey Doug- March 7 can be the new Groundhogs Day….
Yeah I’ve got the same photo ID from the VA, it’s identification for health care benefits purposes and I’m expected to show it when I go to the VA to see a doctor.
On the day I get so clueless I think it passes for acceptable identification for anything other than that maybe I shouldn’t be voting?
The fact that it doesn’t have an address on it is significant, what’s to say people couldn’t go from precinct to precinct, saying they lived in each, and casting multiple ballots? (in fact the only thing on it is your name and a picture- no DOB, no description, etc, and it lacks any kind of anti-counterfeiting features as found in state ID’s.)
I sympathize with this old guy and perhaps it’s a lot of trouble to get to the DMV for an ID card, but you can vote with a mail in ballot and the rules exist for good reason most of the time.
there were 8, count them>>>> 8<<<<< convictions for voter fraud nationwide during the last four election cycles (pre-Obama). is that why it became priority #1 for the GOP to pass new voter registration laws in so many states? was there really a problem? the answer is NO.
but there is a black guy in the White House…
#1, if nobody’s committing voter fraud why should anyone care that anyone, GOP or otherwise, has passed laws preventing it?
#2 how do you know this guy isn’t a republican? are you saying only democrats are going to be affected by these rules because they’re the only ones irresponsible enough to not normally carry ID or read the voter pamphlet which says you must have it?
#3 what does race have to do with anything? would you posit that if the President were white the GOP would be less motivated to replace him with a GOP candidate?
I don’t expect an answer to each of those questions but would summarize it seems people are trying to make an issue where there really isn’t one at all, just to malign “the other side”.
One thing glaring by omission is the fact that the most widespread accusations of voter fraud have not been by the GOP but by Democrats following the 2000 Presidential election. Hmm…. (noting I did vote for Obama in 2008, but will probably write myself in in 2012 as neither party has an appealing candidate)