From a NY Times editorial:
Voters in Ohio can be forgiven if they feel they have been beamed out of the Midwest and dropped into a third-world autocracy. The latest news from the state’s governor’s race is that the Republican nominee, Kenneth Blackwell, who is also the Ohio secretary of state, could rule that his opponent is ineligible to run because of a technicality. We’d like to think that his office would not ultimately do that, or that if it did, such a ruling would not be allowed to stand. But the mere fact that an elected official and political candidate has the authority to toss his opponent out of a race is further evidence of a serious flaw in our democracy.
Yeah, well, nothing would surprise me in Ohio anymore.
It’s curious to note that after pulling out of their House, Senate and gubernatorial races, the Ohio state GOP is focusing its efforts on holding the Secretary of State’s office — you know, the Ohio Republican base.
Makes one wonder why King County Republicans are so determined to make the county Auditor an elected office, huh? No wait… no it doesn’t.
Republican Beverly Woods needs to go in the 23rd pos 2. She constantly votes with Democrats and actually believes that taxes are the way to create jobs as she herself said in repsones to criticism of her support for the gas tax.
As much as I hate to tell people to vote against a Republican, Beverly Woods is no Republican. In order to provide voters with a clear choice, we need Republicans that do not vote with Democrats on disasterous tax legislation in order to give them cover.
This Republican endorses her opponent, Christine Rolfes. When a real Republican runs, we can vote for them. But for now, we are going to get either a pseudo Democrat or a real one, so it is only fitting that the Democrat Party get full credit for the disasters will perpetrate upon the citizens of Washington State.
Hey nutroots, can you please support Christine Rolfes?
She needs money to get her message out. Beverly Woods needs to go. How about Clownstein dish some dirt on Beverly Woods?
Commentby FreeSpeech— 10/17/06@ 10:45 am
Who the fuck ARE you and WHAT THE FUCK are you talking about?
So when do we all get to be beamed back to our real universe ?
KCGOP must have something up their sleeve, because they can’t possibly think they could actually win an auditor’s race in King County in a fair election. Touch screen voting machines, anyway? Once those are introduced, Seattle will suddenly become a bastion of electoral conservatism — Republicans will get 135% of the total vote in every election!
You’re right about some things here, David. I don’t know enough about Ohio to judge Blackwell on the merits of what Democrats are complaining about, but I do understand the perception that election officials might abuse their offices for partisan gain and that in itself is problematic. Those of us who want an elected Auditor in King County are motivated by a similar concern that Ron Sims has used the elections office under his personal control for partisan gain. As you know very well, the probability that King County would elect a partisan Republican to that office is virtually nil. One could win only by appealing to both a lot of Democrats and a lot of Republicans, increasing the likelihood of a fair and well-run office.
I think the reality is that you admire what both Blackwell and Sims are accused of doing with their respective elections operations, you just want to do it exclusively for your side.
1
“As much as I hate to tell people to vote against a Republican” Commentby FreeSpeech— 10/17/06@ 10:45 am
It’s not hard. I do it every day. I don’t even feel any pain. After a couple days, it’ll become second nature, and you won’t think twice about it.
6
OMG Stefan actually sounded reasonable for a sentence and a half, before he blew it. Hey steffie I got a couple questions for ya:
1) Are you going to share the proceeds of your lawsuit against King County with the generous donors to your “legal action fund” who helped you pay for the lawsuit?
2) Are you going to plant CARROTS in your garden next year? YUMMY!!! I LOVE CARROTS!!! :D :D :D
“It’s not hard. I do it every day. I don’t even feel any pain.”
Brain dead people usually don’t.
I think the reality is that you admire what both Blackwell and Sims are accused of doing with their respective elections operations, you just want to do it exclusively for your side.
Please. Ron Sims and Democrats in general need to fix elections in King County about as much as Bill Gates needs to look under his couch for bus money.
And as for a Republican not being able to get elected auditor, it would be fairly easy- make it a nonpartisan office. What a coinkydink, that’s what Reagan Dunn and Jane Hague proposed:
http://www.metrokc.gov/mkcc/Ne.....uditor.htm
Dave Reichert got elected multiple times to a nonpartisan office of Sheriff in King County. Is anyone going to seriously suggest he didn’t turn into a Republican until he ran for Congress?
FWIW, Thurston County regularly sends Democrats to the Legislature…and Republicans to the Auditor’s office. Just sayin’.
According to the NYT editorial, Blackwell is down 28 points. If his supporters’ bid to remove his opponent from the ballot by challenging his voter registration fails, will they try Low Tax Looper’s strategy next?
Looper, as you may recall from my previous posts on this subject, was a crooked GOP county auditor who ran for Tennessee state senator (at the same time he was running for three other offices on the same ballot, including Congress).
Looper did some research and discovered that if a candidate died within 30 days of an election, his name could not be replaced on the ballot. Therefore, Looper reasoned, he could overcome his disadvantage in the polls against a popular incumbent if the latter died within 30 days in the ballot, as Looper would then be the only candidate in the race.
Looper carried out his plan. He drove to the Democratic senator’s farm and killed him with one shot to the head. Unfortunately for Looper, a witness saw him do it, and “Low Tax” (his legal name; he went to court to change his name) is now serving life without parole in Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary, the same facility where Martin Luther King Jr.’s killer was incarcerated.
Even worse for Looper, he failed to take into consideration Tennessee’s write-in candidate laws. The victim’s widow ran against him as a write-in candidate and got 96% of the vote. You’ve got to wonder about the 4% who voted for the murderer, but then, they’re all Republicans which explains a lot of other things as well.
If Blackwell’s thugs succeed in clearing the ballot for him in Ohio, that state’s Democrats definitely should consider a write-in strategy. Blackwell is not Low Tax Looper; he’s worse. He may not be a murderer, but he stole a presidential election and re-installed in the White House a usurper who has used our nation’s highest office and its military forces to pursue policies of warmongering, torture, false arrest, and murder of innocent “terrorism” suspects (i.e., unarmed, noncombatant, Afghan and Iraqi civilians who were minding their own business but happened to be standing on the wrong street corner when Bush’s terrorist-hunters happened by). There’s at least a decent shot that this charlatan, like Looper, could be sent packing to the dustbin of history (and, hopefully, a dusty cell in a penal institution) for his crimes against humanity by organizing a write-in campaign against him.
There is precedent for it in the great state of Tennessee, where even all but 4% of the Republicans had enough sense to know a criminal when they see one.
Man, writing that was fun! I’m gonna be milking this Low Tax Looper thing for the next 30 years!! Thanks, Looper, for being such a Horse’s Ass!!! You’re an inspiration to Rethugs everywhere, and I’m gonna make the most of the reputation you helped establish for your criminal party.
In case anyone’s interested in the details … http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byron_Looper
So FreeSpeech wants a free ride as well. It is all about money with you Republics, isn’t it?
Why vote for Darcy?
People understand in this election that they are voting for congressional control. This election is now about who’s in charge and what that means for the country. More of the same lying, failures, and corruption isn’t good enough.
Stefan… we had a count, a recount and a hand recount conducted under extraordinary public scrutiny, and the difference between the three counts was statistically insignificant, so we know there was no hanky-panky done there.
Then we had six months of hearings and depositions, followed by a two-week trial before a Republican judge in a Republican county, and not only did the judge rule that there was no fraud, but he dismissed the case “with prejudice.”
Meanwhile, there were how many recounts in Ohio? How many investigations? How many court battles?
Republicans lose in King County because there are simply many more Democrats. You are in the minority. More people here vote like I do than vote like you do.
All that said, I’d be love for you to explain to me how making the auditor an elected position somehow makes the office less political?
And by the way, how can you equate simply ruling your candidate ineligible to win a vote with vote counting issues?
This is why log-cabin republican Steffy has been so marginalized. He’s a fraud. Simple.
Let me ask you this then Goldy, why is it that Sam Reed, our Republican SOS, who travelled the state selling the idea of Touch Screens, is now advising a group selling Vote By Mail as the solution to Touch Screens? Or more simply, why is it the same people that bought the poison in the first place should be trusted with providing the cure?
More info here:
http://gentrylange.blogspot.com/
Oh, and BTW it was the Greens and Libertarians who have worked dilligently in Ohio against Vote Fraud and Blackwell, not Kerry and the Democrats. John Kerry “I have 10,000 lawyers” conceeded almost immediately.
If you really want all the info on Ohio, simply start reading Bob Fritrakis and Harvey Wasserman’s Book on it.
http://www.iwantmyvote.com/
Ok, my next question for Goldy— Why is Diebold bad for Ohio, but ok for King County?
Well, isn’t it about time for a major US military attack in Iran? The scandals and Iraq news are killing the GOP—they have to get them off the headlines. I’ll take October 31 in the pool.
It’s getting difficult to tell the players here without a scorecard.
Gentry asked: “Why is Diebold bad for Ohio, but ok for King County?”
Somehow I missed where Goldy was proposing Diebold voting machines for King County. If he did, then I think he’ll find that most Democrats disagree.
Most of us really want honest elections, because we’re in the majority. Give us an honest election with an honest count and we win.
Propose voter verification methods that do not look suspiciously like the old deep South poll taxes, and find out just how fast we sign on. (How about a thumbprint spot on the polling list for anyone that doesn’t have a photo id? I’d have a thumbprint spot on the absentee ballots as well. Does anyone really think that someone trying to vote illegally would be willing to supply a thumbprint?)
Verifiable paper ballots are an important safeguard against fraud by public officials. Those Diebold machines that can be pre-loaded with “approved” votes are at best a disaster waiting to happen, and there is some question as to whether or not that disaster has already happened.
Remember, from our perspective, completely honest elections are the best thing that can happen. We’re the majority. When elections are honest, we win.
The fact that Sharkansky claims not to know about Blackwell’s credentials indicates that he doesn’t know much about real voter fraud. Blackwell’s antics in Ohio during the 2004 election have become notorious.
Oct. 16 (Bloomberg) – Bono, the rock star and campaigner against Third World debt, is asking the Irish government to contribute more to Africa. At the same time, he’s reducing tax payments that could help fund that aid.
After Ireland said it would scrap a break that lets musicians and artists avoid paying taxes on royalties, Bono and his U2 bandmates earlier this year moved their music publishing company to the Netherlands. The Dublin group, which Forbes estimates earned $110 million in 2005, will pay about 5 percent tax on their royalties, less than half the Irish rate. [……………..”Save the world!! Pay more taxes!! Save the blacks!!………..Oh, I’m out of here, because taxes are too high!!!……………Typical “progressive” Democrat!!!]
It is very important, also, that our voters have faith that their votes will be counted accurately. That is the only way we can ensure that the outcome of elections is accepted. When it comes down to it, our entire system rests upon the willingness of the great majority of our citizens to accept the results of an election, even if it goes against our preference.
But similarly, people of good conscious, regardless of their political leaning, should refrain from allegations of election misconduct solely to gain political advantage. False allegations of election fraud are almost as damaging to our civil process as the actual election fraud.
“In case anyone’s interested in the details … http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byron_Looper “
Commentby Roger Rabbit— 10/17/06@ 11:46 am
I had never read the story of “Low-tax Looper” before this, and had wondered what you were talking about. The link is priceless, thanks. I won’t try to claim that this joker represents all Republicans, but it is nice to have this in reserve for the next time some Republican brings up a twenty-year-old Democrat scandal.
If it weren’t such a tragedy, it would be funny.
Washington – The U.S. is offering to permanently resettle up to 10,000 refugees from a 12-year civil war in the African country of Burundi, the State Department said Tuesday. The refugees would be brought to the United States over the next two years with refugee status, and will be given the option of applying for U.S. citizenship, said State Department spokesman Tom Casey. [5000 in King County, and 5000 on Cape Cod?? Sounds good to me!!!! hehe, JCH]
NEWS ITEM:
“Tuesday, October 17, 2006
McGavick’s Plan for Iraq Gets Little Support from GOP Senators
By NEIL MODIE
P-I REPORTER
Republican U.S. Senate candidate Mike McGavick urged Congress Monday to form a “bipartisan, bicameral select committee on Iraq” to seek “new ideas … to achieve victory,” but an influential GOP senator gave the proposal a seemingly dismissive response.
At a news conference, McGavick suggested that reporters contact Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John Warner, R-Va., and Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb. He said he had telephoned them Tuesday to discuss his idea and “had the sense that they were impressed.” Both senators have expressed skepticism about the course of the war.
The senators later, however, publicly offered no support for McGavick’s proposal, which he unveiled at news conferences at Spokane, Kennewick and Seattle’s Boeing Field in his campaign to unseat Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell.
In fact, Warner issued a statement throwing cold water on McGavick’s plan as well as his suggestion that congressional leaders start “laying the groundwork” for a bicameral Iraq panel immediately despite the fact that lawmakers are in recess until after the election Nov. 7.
Warner also implied that he’d prefer to wait for a report from a special bipartisan commission exploring U.S. options in Iraq. The Iraq Study Group is to report its recommendations after the election….”
FreeSpeech @ 1:
Republican Beverly Woods needs to go in the 23rd pos 2. She constantly votes with Democrats and actually believes that taxes are the way to create jobs as she herself said in repsones to criticism of her support for the gas tax.
OK. I’ll bite. How do roads get built or maintained without money from gas taxes? Does the road fairy do it? I tried that with my dishes for two weeks and was disappointed with the results.
The MVET got scratched, which took a big chunk of money out of the transportation budget. I like the MVET, but I also drive an older car. I refuse to pay the “stupidity tax” that comes with buying a new car. (that’s the one where your car loses a third of its value when you drive it off the lot, not the one that’s levied by Olympia).
In terms of means of taxation, the gas tax is about as fair as you can get. Larger vehicles are harder on the roads. They use more gas, they pay more tax.
Short of a GPS/computer-based system which tracks how far you drive, where you go, and distributes your share of the tithes to the roads you use, you aren’t going to get any fairer than a gas tax will be.
Or do you just not want to pay for what you use?
NEWS ITEM
State Investigating Intimidating Letter Sent to O.C. Latinos
By Jennifer Delson, Times Staff Writer
October 17, 2006
The (California) state attorney general is investigating a Spanish-language letter warning some Orange County Latinos that they could be jailed or deported if they vote in the November election.
The letter … warns that the state has developed a tracking system that will allow the names of Latino voters to be handed over to anti-immigrant groups.
“You are advised that if your residence in this country is illegal or you are an immigrant, voting in a federal election is a crime that could result in jail time…,” the letter says….
Sen. Gloria Romero (D-Los Angeles), who called on California Secretary of State Bruce McPherson and state Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer to investigate, believes the letter is an effort to scare Latinos from voting in Orange County.
The sender could be charged with a felony and receive up to three years in state prison, he said.
Trasviña wants an investigation of a “potential violation” of federal election law, which prohibits intimidation, threats or coercion.
He said he was aware of six people who received the letter, all of whom “appear to be naturalized citizen voters from Latin American countries.” Voters’ birthplaces are available from voter registration records.
The letter’s assertion that immigrants can’t vote is untrue, because immigrants who become naturalized citizens can register to vote. Trasviña said that an undocumented immigrant who voted could be subject to deportation and jail.
http://www.latimes.com/news/lo.....-headlines
Gary, Ind. – City officials are temporarily shutting down some fire stations to save money because Gary’s $2 million budget for firefighter overtime has already been spent. Mayor Rudy Clay said the overtime budget has already been drained. “We just ran out of money,” he said. Source corrected by LComStaff to conform to site style. Dateline reinserted
Meanwhile, elected officials continue to get paid their exhorbatant salaries and bloated city worker pensions and healthcare programs which Joe Taxpayer has to bend over to pay for these selfish greedy people.
Nearby Calumet City, IL just voted themselves free healthcare for life after 5 years service. [Typical black Democrat Hillary Village. Not a Republican around for miles!! Lots of drugs, crime, and corruption. Atlas has Shrugged!]
Sorry, Dems!!! Illegals can’t vote!! Deport all illegals!! NOW!!
hehe. The shark pops in to prove what is quickly becoming a adage: if repug is acussing you of something it’s usually not an acussation, but a confession.
JCH, black Democrat, Big Island, Hawaii: “Where’s ma mofo FEMA trailer? Where’s ma guvment credit card? Where’s ma guvment check? Bush made da earthquake!! He owes me!! Eyes gotsa gets ma KFC, ma Black Velvet, and ma King Cobra!! Eyes gots da 42 inch plasma SONY HDTV by lootin da Best Buy in Hilo!! But what about ma “surround sound”!! I bet votin Democrat, so I bees gettin da mofo check NOW!! You white devils owes me!!!” …………………………………………………………………………….. [Sorry, I’m a Republican. I take responsibility for myself. Insurance, sweat equity, and I’ll clean up myself!!! Fuck you Democrat “Victims”!!!! JCH]
Gentry @18,
Diebold is NOT good enough for King County… I never said it was. But when you provocatively raise that argument you imply that there have been problems with KC’s Diebold equipment, when in fact the 2004 recount showed that there was not. That hand recount was the ultimate audit, and the KC passed with flying colors.
Meanwhile you have aligned yourself with dufuses like Tim Borders arguing for more touch screens, and cynical partisans like Stefan fighting against vote by mail, which at the very least guarantees a paper trail.
What we need are paper ballots and high-speed tabulating machines operated by open source software. It’s simple. That and third party audits solves the problem. But you’re muddying the waters fighting against touch screens in a state that is moving towards 100 percent vote by mail.
The Republicans are re-thinking their strategy to keep convicted felons from having their voting rights restored. The way things are going, there won’t be any non-convicted Republicans left to vote within a couple of years.
Goldy at 33,
As well you know the hand recount overturned the election. Hand recount versus high-speed voting machines.
Sims has, and the King County Dems have, voted time and time again to bring Diebold into our system. In fact, the Vote By Mail system is combined with Diebold touchscreens.
I don’t align myself with Stefan or Tim or you. I agrue the same argument everytime, which you have paraphrased above. Open sourced software and paper ballots. The problem is that with Vote By Mail, you undermine the paper ballot by eliminating ballot secrecy and ballot security. And then it’s counted by closed sourced machines anyway.
You also, in King County, hand over the ballots to a private company known and PSI Group, basically no better then Diebold.
The problem with both you Goldy, and Stefan, is that neither of you steps outside of your partisan boundaries to honestly address election integrity.
Oh, and Goldy you basically answered none of my questions. In fact you never even tried.
I thought the funniest thing ever was when you had Ron Sims on your show talking about Vote By Mail, and then during the commercial break an ad played from the Attorney General warning about mail fraud. That was pure comedy.
Vote by mail fraud, or computer vote fraud, makes no difference to me how the fraud occurs. What I want is open and honest elections. Vote by mail will not get us there.
BTW, Aaron Dixon was arrested at King5 studios today trying to get in the debates. It’s one thing to disagree, it’s another to rig the system. Blackwell has his tricks, and the Democrats and Republicans have in Washington have theirs. Excluding legally qualified candidates in anyway should not be allowed.
9
“Brain dead people usually don’t.” Commentby FreeSpeech— 10/17/06@ 11:36 am
You can’t mean me, because I’m a rabbit, not a people.
9
Unless you wish to admit you’re too stupid to tell the difference between a rabbit and a people.
24
We have Ted Kennedy. They have Low Tax Looper. I don’t defend what Kennedy did, but if anyone can outdo Chappaquiddick, you can bet it’ll be a Republican who does it.
20
Diebold made the Accu-Vote machines that King County has used for years to tally its ballots.
18
That’s one of the reasons why Kerry should not be our 2008 nominee.
21
The fact Sharansky (sic) even posted here proves he is still reading this blog regularly. Apparently he finds his own pathetic little blog too boring. I wish he’d answer my question, though, about why he won’t share the proceeds of his lawsuit against King County with the generous donors to his “legal action fund” who helped pay for the lawsuit. And it would help his credibility a little (but not very much, because his credibility is too far gone in any event) if he learned how to spell his own fucking name correctly. It’s Sharansky, not Sharkansky. I suppose he could argue he’s just trying to be cute, but I personally think it’s a literacy problem.
ROGER RABBIT POLL
Sharansky won’t share the proceeds of his lawsuit against King County with the generous donors to his “legal action fund” because:
[ ] 1. There weren’t any — the lawsuit had no merit, and he lost.
[ ] 2. What donors? His appeal for donations raised a grand total of 15 cents.
[ ] 3. Anybody who can’t last even one day on a pollworker job needs the money himself.
[ ] 4. He’s a greedy prick.
35 “BTW, Aaron Dixon was arrested at King5 studios today trying to get in the debates.”
Shit. So ya don’t get to play at the table unless you can show a big enough ante, huh?
Having heard Aaron speak recently (at the rally on September 30 about the impending closure of the two north Seattle health dept. clincs) all I can say is that Cantwell and McGavick should both be relieved. He’s a very eloquent speaker–and might have ended up making them both seem like inarticulate hacks by comparison. Oh, excuse me, I forgot…nowadays we elect inarticulate hacks to even higher office, don’t we?
BTW, Aaron Dixon was arrested at King5 studios today trying to get in the debates. It’s one thing to disagree, it’s another to rig the system. Blackwell has his tricks, and the Democrats and Republicans have in Washington have theirs. Excluding legally qualified candidates in anyway should not be allowed.
I don’t blame King 5 for having standards. If you’re willing to make the effort, running a serious campaign isn’t hard. But joke candidates like Dixon think they shouldn’t have to work hard in order to be taken seriously. Raising money isn’t hard. Running a field program isn’t hard. It just requires willpower and committment. Sadly, Greens and Libertarians in this state are typically lacking in both.
Dixon and Guthrie are both unwilling to make the effort to run real campaigns. If they want other people to take their campaigns seriously, then *they* need to take their campaigns seriously first. Respect is earned, not given automatically because you paid the filing fee.
Complaining that your half-assed campaign doesn’t get enough attention from political reporters is like complaining your five-year old’s crayon drawings from school don’t get covered by the Arts section in the newspaper.
Aexia at 44
So, when exactly was it that you ran a campaign and tried to raise money?
Why are cities that are 100% Democrat unsafe and full of drugs, gangs, and crime?
Which city is 100% Democrat?
The crime comes from the Republicans in our midst, like in DC.
From Greg Palast’s new article:
“Absentee Ballots Uncounted. The number of absentee ballots has quintupled in many states, with the number rejected on picayune technical grounds rising to over half a million (526,420) in 2004. In swing states, absentee ballot shredding was pandemic. ”
Now I don’t know yet where he got his numbers from, but it certainly is an interesting read. And published right here in the Northwest.
http://www.yesmagazine.org/article.asp?id=1511