Still on the road and still a bit under the weather, so here’s some very quick hits for now…
Naturally Premature Resigners: NPR CEO Vivian Schiller has resigned following the resignation of chief fund raiser Ron Schiller (no relation) after the latter Schiller was featured in a secretly video-taped attempted hit piece with two of convicted criminal and Republican con-man James O’Keefe’s flunkies performing as members of a Muslim foundation. Having watched the edited version of the video tape, I have no clue as to why anybody at NPR has resigned. (Sidenote: Imagine if even half of the RWers who committed actual crimes, real ones that actually hurt and/or killed people, resigned in shame as fast as non-RWers resign in shame after having committed absolutely no crime at all.)
Pro-Life in IL: Gov. Pat Ryan (D) signs a bill banning the death penalty in the state. It is the 16th to do so. Prisoners previously on death row have had their sentences commuted to life without the possibility of parole. Welcome to the civilized world, Illinois!
GOP War on Voting in FL: Gov. Rick Scott (R)’s executive clemency board pulled a fast one by changing the rules for re-enfranchising former felons after former Gov. Charlie Crist (R) had previously restored their voting rights. “The board did not release the proposed rule changes to the public until moments before the meeting began and limited public testimony to two-minutes per person for a total of 30 minutes before unanimously approving the changes,” reports Palm Beach Post. “Civil rights advocates, including five black lawmakers, objected to the rule changes, saying there is no evidence the current process … is not working.” Leon County Supervisor of Election, and election integrity hero Ion Sancho says the board is turning back the clock to FL’s post Civil War era with restrictions “whose sole purpose was to ensure that the former slaves of this state could never reintegrate into the society.”
GOP War on Voting Nationwide: ThinkProgress details GOP efforts in 22 states around the nation to impose new polling place Photo ID restrictions likely to disenfranchise millions of elderly, minority and student (read: Democratic-leaning) voters. That, even though there is no “voter fraud epidemic” in this country, or any state in the union, at least not among Democrats. Republican voter fraud, however, as we noted late last week, when IN’s new GOP Sec. of State was indicted on 3 counts of felony voter fraud, is a different matter all together.
2012: Newt Gingrich says he cheated on his wife because he loves his country so much. Or something. Sarah Palin won’t be in the first GOP Presidential Debate at the Reagan Library (which reminds me that she’s only ever been in one national debate, and that was with just one person, Joe Biden. I have a feeling she’ll not want to participate in any “real” debates with a bunch of other folks, and therefore, while I don’t make predictions, I’ll predict she will not be running for President.)
In Memoriam: David Broder, WaPo’s “Dean of the Washington Press Corps,” died today at the age of 81. The death of the Washington Press Corp itself, however, has yet to be officially reported, even as its passing occurred quietly years ago without public notice.
Discuss.
NPR president steps down after another hit from O’Keefe.ACORN is defunded. Blackwater lives on with a new name. Why are we so afraid to say the word fascist. NPR was pretty silent during the bush years. But still the punks have too much power. Vanity Fair stated that Breitbart helped start Huffington Post.It is amazing those people are still working.
Rick Scott’s rule change.
Get caught smoking a joint and do your time — wait five years to vote. Commit murder — wait seven years. Why is Florida being so mean to murderers?
Voting related issue. Regarding the South Carolina senate primary, “staggering” discrepancies were reported between the absentee vote count and the Election Day DRE count. The implication made here is that the absentee count is somewhat more representative of the truth.
There is a discussion ongoing about advancing the use of absentee voting, in the expectation that a manual counting of absentee ballots will more accurately represent voters’ intent. The observation was made that in many states, absentee ballots are inputted into and counted by Diebold machines. Is that indeed the case? Is there no wiggle room for a voter who wants his vote to be manually counted?
ghostof911 said:
The observation was made that in many states, absentee ballots are inputted into and counted by Diebold machines. Is that indeed the case?
Yes, that’s the case in the state of Connecticut. Many towns have one Diebold computer programmed with the ability to accept all ballot types for that town. Said Diebold computer is used to process the absentee ballots.
Absentee ballots generally are less secure, more susceptible to vote buying and fraud, and render it impossible for a citizen to eyeball voter turnout/ get a sense of how many people voted.
ctwatcher said:
Absentee ballots generally are less secure, more susceptible to vote buying and fraud, and render it impossible for a citizen to eyeball voter turnout/ get a sense of how many people voted.
Since exit polling is no longer conducted, what is the practical value for a citizen to eyeball voter turnout/ get a sense of how many people voted.
?
How would one go about locating those intending to vote absentee to buy their votes?
Unlike with iVoodooTronic voting, there is a paper trail with absentee voting.
Well said on all points Brad. Especially the part about the death of journalism in the USA.
NPR needs to grow a pair of gonads. Just imagine if any ultra-right wingnuts were secretly caught on tape spouting their idiocy. They’d stand up and be proud of it! The NPR folks said a lot of stuff that is true (and some things were even said without the “NPR cap” on); truth is not something the rulers and money bags in this country want to hear, so NPR caved and bowed out in abject humility. Stand up and take the heat and be proud of it, why dontcha!
O’Keefe’s NPR vid shredded @ Glenn Beck
http://www.theblaze.com/stories...iting-tactics/
Surprise surprise surprise! It turns out the NPR video was edited to misrepresent what was said.
How many more times will the MSM fall for O’Keef’s BS.
Ron Schiller needs to take legal action against this slime ball