COLLECTIVE MADNESS


“Soft despotism is a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville describing the state into which a country overrun by "a network of small complicated rules" might degrade. Soft despotism is different from despotism (also called 'hard despotism') in the sense that it is not obvious to the people."

Monday, April 09, 2012

Are you sure I don’t need an ID?



From John Fund National Review

Attorney General Eric Holder is a staunch opponent of laws requiring voters to show photo ID at the polls to improve ballot security. He calls them “unnecessary” and has blocked their implementation in Texas and South Carolina, citing the fear they would discriminate against minorities.


I wonder what Holder will think when he learns just how easy it was for someone to be offered his ballot just by mentioning his name in a Washington, D.C., polling place in Tuesday’s primaries.

Holder’s opposition to ID laws comes in spite of the Supreme Court’s 6–3 decision in 2008, authored by liberal Justice John Paul Stevens, that upheld the constitutionality of Indiana’s tough ID requirement. When groups sue to block photo-ID laws in court, they can’t seem to produce real-world examples of people who have actually been denied the right to vote. According to opinion polls, over 75 percent of Americans — including majorities of Hispanics and African-Americans — routinely support such laws.
One reason is that people know you can’t function in the modern world without showing ID — you can’t cash a check, travel by plane or even train, or rent a video without being asked for one. In fact, PJ Media recently proved that you can’t even enter the Justice Department in Washington without showing a photo ID. Average voters understand that it’s only common sense to require ID because of how easy it is for people to pretend they are someone else

Filmmaker James O’Keefe demonstrated just how easy it is on Tuesday when he dispatched an assistant to the Nebraska Avenue polling place in Washington where Attorney General Holder has been registered for the last 29 years. O’Keefe specializes in the same use of hidden cameras that was pioneered by the recently deceased Mike Wallace, who used the technique to devastating effect in exposing fraud in Medicare claims and consumer products on 60 Minutes. O’Keefe’s efforts helped expose the fraud-prone voter-registration group ACORN with his video stings, and has had great success demonstrating this year in New Hampshire, Vermont, and Minnesota just how easy it is to obtain a ballot by giving the name of a dead person who is still on the rolls. Indeed, a new study by the Pew Research Center found at least 1.8 million dead people are still registered to vote. They aren’t likely to complain if someone votes in their place.

In Washington, it was child’s play for O’Keefe to beat the system. O’Keefe’s assistant used a hidden camera to document his encounter with the election worker at Holder’s polling place:

Man: “Do you have an Eric Holder, 50th Street?

Poll worker: “Let me see here.”

Man: Xxxx 50th Street.

Poll Worker: Let’s see, Holder, Hol-t-e-r, or Hold-d-e-r?

Man: H-o-l-d-e-r.

Poll Worker: D-e-r. Okay.

Man: That’s the name.

Poll Worker: I do. Xxxx 50th Street NW. Okay. [Puts check next to name, indicating someone has shown up to vote.] Will you sign there . . .

Man: I actually forgot my ID.

Poll Worker: You don’t need it; it’s all right.

Man: I left it in the car.

Poll Worker: As long as you’re in here, and you’re on our list and that’s who you say you are, we’re okay.

Man: I would feel more comfortable if I go get my ID, is it all right if I go get it?

Poll Worker: Sure, go ahead.

Man: I’ll be back faster than you can say furious!

Poll Worker: We’re not going anywhere.

Note that O’Keefe’s assistant never identified himself as Eric Holder, so he was not illegally impersonating him.

Nor did he attempt to vote using the ballot that was offered him, or even to accept it. O’Keefe has been accused by liberals of committing voter fraud in his effort to expose just how slipshod the election systems of various no-ID-required states are, but lawyers say his methods avoid that issue. Moreover, he has only taped his encounters with election officials in jurisdictions that allow videotaping someone in public with only one party’s knowledge.

33 comments:

  1. No, we don’t need any change, that would be un-American, too exclusionary. A little sedition now and then could be a thing of beauty.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. "James E. O'Keefe III (born June 28, 1984) is a conservative American activist who has produced audio and video recordings of staged encounters with public ..."

      ---

      One of America's Greatest and most effective patriots.

      ...and at such a young age.

      Let us hope that unlike Breitbart, another Great American, James lives a long and successful life on this orb.

      Delete
    2. When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.
      Thomas Jefferson

      Delete
  2. No match for the even greater Susan Candiotti, of course.

    How many mainstream newsreaders have read
    "Fuc.... N......" out loud on national news shows?

    Anybody been able to access the video?

    Doesn't come up for me at Daily Caller.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Let us not fail to mention the passing of One of our Great Traitorous SOB's,
    the much beloved bastard that would gladly sacrifice the lives of American Warriors in following the much higher calling of being a "Reporter of the News"

    Good riddance to bad rubbish, shoulda been Fragged in 'Nam.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Mike Wallace, 93, FWIW, which is less than nothing.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Eric Holder,

    Defender of Black Panther Thugs at the polls,

    Refushing to Defend DOMA.

    Approving Fast and Furious in an attempt to outlaw firearms.

    Releasing terrorists who have murdered American Citizens, (under Clinton)

    ...the list goes on and on.

    No coward he, when it comes to fighting Liberty and National Unity against "racial injustice."

    ReplyDelete
  6. Montana leading the charge for free speech:

    The Supreme Court has agreed to take a case that justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer say will give it a chance to rethink its infamous Citizens United v. FEC decision. The court is being asked to look into a Montana Supreme Court decision stating that its law restricting corporate election spending in state elections is fine, because it "arises from Montana history," UPI reports. Essentially, Montana is arguing that Citizens United only applies to federal laws and elections, not state ones.

    Two Montana corporations are asking the court to make a summary judgment to the contrary; their lead counsel argues that otherwise, "free speech will be seriously harmed," because states anywhere could "ban core political speech." But Ginsburg and Breyer earlier wrote that the case "will give the Court an opportunity to consider whether, in light of the huge sums currently deployed to buy candidates' allegiance, Citizens United should continue to hold sway."

    http://www.newser.com/story/143671/supreme-court-agrees-to-reconsider-citizens-united.html

    ReplyDelete
  7. This happens in Holder's voting precinct and the dope at the polling area gives away Holder’s home address. What can happen to you? WTF? This country is really FUBAR.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Good point. Any guess on who will get investigated?

    ReplyDelete
  9. .

    At a meeting in Istanbul last week, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced an escalation of U.S. aid to the opposition. In public, she pointed to a doubling of medical and other humanitarian aid, plus the provision of communication equipment. Less publicly, officials confirmed that the new package also includes "non-lethal" help that will go to the Free Syrian Army, the newly formed opposition armed forces, including night-vision goggles and U.S. intelligence information such as early warnings of Syrian troop movements.

    And while the United States has decided not to provide weapons to the rebels, it isn't objecting to military funding or arms shipments from Saudi Arabia, Qatar and other Arab states that would like to see Assad fall...



    Here We Go Again

    .

    ReplyDelete
  10. …"interventionist liberals” Is the American public so docile that we will put up with anything? I believe it is and has reached a level of resignation that is hard for me to understand. Why do we think we can control an outcome in a country like Syria that is a Lebanon on steroids? We can’t control our own legal voting in Washington DC.

    ReplyDelete
  11. .

    We report, you decide.

    Prescribed drugs 'to blame over spate of violence among US soldiers'

    Psychologists have blamed a surge in random acts of violence among US soldiers on the heavy use of prescribed medicines by the American military...



    More than 110,000 Army personnel were given antidepressants, narcotics, sedatives, antipsychotics and anti-anxiety drugs while on duty last year, according to new figures by the US Army Surgeon General.


    The figures indicate an eightfold increase in martial drug use since 2005, with nearly 8 per cent of servicemen and women on sedatives and 6 per cent on antidepressants...


    In one case, an Air Force pilot who had taken a tablet of Dexedrine, a prescribed amphetamine, every four hours during a 19-hour flight, started hitting his friend in the head and accusing him of kidnap just a couple of hours after landing. The father-of-one, who also stole a car to “look for terrorists”, was charged but later found not guilty in a military court due to “delirium” bought on by alcohol, sleep-deprivation and the 40 milligrams of military-issued Dexedrine...


    Another soldier, who was hearing voices, told doctors he was feeling suicidal, fearing he would be thrown out of the Army if he revealed his true condition. He was prescribed the antidepressant Zoloft and trazodone, but his illness worsened and eventually he randomly shot a Taliban prisoner in the head...



    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/9193850/Prescribed-drugs-to-blame-over-spate-of-violence-among-US-soldiers.html


    .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Zoloft and trazodone are serotonin reuptake inhibitors, supposed to take the depression away though they can bring on suicidal thoughts,(figure that out) which this guy already had. Kinda sounds like double dosing, throwing fire on fire.

      Delete
  12. Showing your ID -

    One effort more—my altar this bleak sand: 40
    That Thou, O God, my life hast lighted,
    With ray of light, steady, ineffable, vouchsafed of Thee,
    (Light rare, untellable—lighting the very light!
    Beyond all signs, descriptions, languages!)
    For that, O God—be it my latest word—here on my knees, 45
    Old, poor, and paralyzed—I thank Thee.

    My terminus near,
    The clouds already closing in upon me,
    The voyage balk’d—the course disputed, lost,
    I yield my ships to Thee. 50

    Steersman unseen! henceforth the helms are Thine;
    Take Thou command—(what to my petty skill Thy navigation?)
    My hands, my limbs grow nerveless;
    My brain feels rack’d, bewilder’d; Let the old timbers part—I will not part!
    I will cling fast to Thee, O God, though the waves buffet me; 55
    Thee, Thee, at least, I know.


    Prayer of Christopher Columbus WW


    ID




    Teling

    ReplyDelete
  13. Lanny Davis plays the purity card:

    *********************

    Among the most hypocritical aspects of certain purist Democrats who call themselves liberals is their willingness to attack any Democrat who veers even slightly from liberal orthodoxy.

    Sadly, their attacks almost always turn personal, substituting name-calling for thoughtful analysis of the facts.

    Oregon Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden is one of the Senate’s leading progressives, with a voting record on every major issue defining liberalism that is second to none.

    Yet he has also been a target of attack by purist liberals — because he has shown a willingness to mix liberal approaches (relying on government to assure social equity) with conservative principles (relying on private market competition and individual choices) to achieve traditional progressive social goals.

    In 2010, Wyden introduced the Healthy Americans Act (HAA), co-sponsored by Utah conservative Sen. Bob Bennett.

    It combined a commitment to national healthcare coverage and the individual mandate with allowing everyone to cash out their employer-provided insurance to exercise their choices to purchase insurance among competing private insurance companies. [An alternative reform I supported.]

    [skip]

    But it never gained traction among the liberal base of the Democratic Party, and the Obama White House never seriously considered it.

    Now, in recent months, Wyden has joined with conservative Republican Rep. Paul Ryan (Wis.) to come up with a Medicare reform proposal that reflects a similar mixture of liberal and conservative principles.

    It combines the “Medicare Guarantee” — ensuring all seniors access to Medicare as we know it — with providing seniors an option to purchase private Medicare policies that would compete for their business.

    In short: If you want to keep your Medicare, you do. If you want to shop and, with some federal subsidies, purchase private insurance, you can.

    What could possibly be wrong with that?

    *********************

    http://thehill.com/opinion/columnists/lanny-davis/217469-wyden-ryan-plan-deserves-a-look

    ReplyDelete
  14. Pastor Rick Warren said on Sunday evangelicals have a fundamental “sticking point” with Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney’s Mormon faith.

    Asked by ABC’s Jake Tapper on “This Week” if Mormons are Christians, Warren — the pastor of Saddleback Church and author of “The Purpose Driven Life” — said “the issue of the Trinity” marks one of the biggest differences between evangelicals and Mormons.

    “Well, the key sticking point for evangelicals and actually for many is the issue of the Trinity. Orthodox Christians, Catholic Christians, Protestant Christians, evangelical Christians and Pentecostal Christians all believe in the Trinity. That’s the historic doctrine of the church, that God is three-in-one. Not three gods. One God in Father, Son and Holy Spirit,” Warren said. “Mormonism denies that.”

    ReplyDelete
  15. Max, you would have to be careful in a deal like that that you didn't end up with some form of "adverse selection."

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. RE adverse selection

      There's going to be some form of "adverse selection" in any market-based system, even without the price distortion caused by corruption within the Medicare/caid programs (the former more than the latter.)

      So either you argue that the General Welfare clause mandates some form of private-public healthcare solution, as I do, or that a solution isn't possible, as Quirk argued.

      Which is why I argue for prevention and criminal prosecution as priority steps - don't get sick and aggressively clean up the industry.

      Delete
  16. Warren ought to STFU. We are doing politics - how to carve the worldly turkey - not theology, in an election.

    If we start fighting over whether the Trinity is a council or a clover leaf we're fucked.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. From Dale

      :)



      Warren ought to STFU. We are doing politics - how to carve the worldly turkey - not theology, in an election.

      If we start fighting over whether the Trinity is a council or a clover leaf we're fucked.

      Delete
  17. Warren ought to STFU. We are doing politics - how to carve the worldly turkey - not theology, in an election.

    If we start fighting over whether the Trinity is a council or a clover leaf we're fucked.



    From Dale

    :)

    ReplyDelete
  18. Replies
    1. I am not the person I was at 20, or at 40. Some parts are the same (mostly the annoying intractable stuff) but other things are dramatically different. Sense of humor is one. Never "got" Rowen Atkinson when I was younger. Somewhere along the way he got real real funny.

      Delete
  19. Anne Graham Lotz, daughter of revered televangelist the Rev. Billy Graham, appeared on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday, where she joined other faith leaders in discussing religious freedom and politics. Among the topics debated and the statements made, Lotz said that she would not vote for an atheist — a statement that will certainly ruffle non-believers’ feathers.

    http://www.theblaze.com/stories/rev-billy-grahams-daughter-i-would-not-vote-for-an-atheist-poll/

    ReplyDelete
  20. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/obama-offer-could-defuse-or-ignite-confrontation-with-iran/article2396576/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. What a wonderfull world you Americans have created. If the Republicans are elected there will be no negotiating. They're ideologues. Tt's sick how the world is held captive by US electoral cycles but in December, when something can be doneand if Republicans are in charge, they will once again fuck the world up by bombing Iran.

      Delete
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