| |
Friday, October 08, 2004
Why Do You Think They Call It Dope?
I support legalization, but I still like to laugh at the stupid.
With his wife busy shopping, a Lykens man decided to "smoke a quick bowl" outside an Elizabethville shop Wednesday, police say. Mark Miller, 51, failed to realized that the spot he selected to smoke marijuana belonged to the State Police at Lykens, police said yesterday. The police station is next to the store where Miller's wife was shopping. A trooper saw Miller puffing on a pipe and promptly arrested him, police said. Miller told the trooper, "My wife went shopping at the Goodwill store, and I thought I could smoke a quick bowl," police said. He's 51 and too frickin' stupid to walk or even look for an alley before whipping out the pipe. Geez. Most teenagers have at least that much sense.
What Double Standard?
Just wondering. If a lawmaker in a state senate got pissed at the majority leaders and called them "faggots" on the floor in a rant, would he be allowed to just apologize to the gay community and be forgiven and everyone would want to move on if he was a Republican?
If he was a Democrat in Pennsylvania, apparently.
Sen. Vince Fumo issued an open apology yesterday to the gay community for his use of the word "faggot" in a name-calling tirade on the state Senate floor late Wednesday. Fumo hurled the epithet several times at Senate President Pro Tempore Robert Jubelirer, R-Blair, and Majority Leader David "Chip" Brightbill, R-Lebanon, after the Senate Republicans moved to stifle debate on a number of Democratic amendments to their slots bill. According to witnesses, Fumo stormed over to the GOP leaders during a break in proceedings and accused them of breaking a pledge that he and his colleagues would be permitted to present their amendments. Fumo used the term several times before the exchange ended. It was not captured on tape. Later, the Philadelphia Democrat acknowledged to reporters that he had lost his temper and "made a mistake" in his choice of words. Yesterday, Fumo phoned Mark Segal, the publisher of the Philadelphia Gay News. According to a press release issued by his office, he apologized for "a very unfortunate word choice. ... I am especially sorry about using the term because it is not the way I feel in my heart toward gays." The expression of remorse was not meant for his Senate colleagues, Fumo staffers said. "He feels that the error he made was in using a term that is regarded as derogatory toward gay people," Fumo spokesman Gary Tuma said. "He does not regret getting into an argument with Senators Jubelirer and Brightbill." Fumo's apology was accepted by Segal and other gay rights advocates. "Vince is the kind of guy, when he gets angry colorful things come out of his mouth," said Segal, who considers himself a friend of Fumo's. "But he is also the No. 1 supporter of gay and lesbian issues in the Pennsylvania Senate ... and deeds speak louder than words." Gee, that's really understanding. No complaints about his hateful speech. How close-minded and this reveals the way he really thinks. Calm, reasoned response and understanding.
You'd think there might be more questions about why he would think calling someone a "faggot" to be an insult. Perhaps a question of what's in his heart? Or perhaps it just doesn't matter as long as the politician is on the "right" side.
Thursday, October 07, 2004
An Eastlake Summary
One of the local alts does a recap of all the problems facing Eastlake. There is some additional details of how DiLiberto became mayor (ran unopposed) and eventually stacked council in his favor, but regular readers of this blog will know most of the problems. I almost think the author read my site to help put his summary together. Almost. Of course, he actually bothered to talk to some of the Eastlake officials.
Meanwhile, the ever growing saga of Eastlake and John Chiappetta has a new twist. A lending company based in Oregon is seeking to foreclose and force the sale of two parcels of land in the Eastlake Industrial Park that is also the subject of the defaulted loans from ODOT to Chiappetta.
The News-Herald produces a decent timeline of Chiappetta's troubles and his activities in the Republican Party. To give you an idea of how incompetent the Cuyahoga County Republican Party is, this guy was actually chairman for 2 years. The Repbulicans incompetence in Cuyahoga County is only surpassed by the Democrats at the state level in Ohio.
Oddly enough, this dovetails with Rep LaTourette's girlfriend/DC lobbyist and former staffer of his being revealed.
And to think, I only got to find out about this so late in the day.
A Brief Respite
Actually, this is the respite. The daughter decided to let us know she has a cold around 5 am this morning. I've spent most of the day comforting her and obliging her whims of Elmo and Baby Einstein DVDs. When she has cried in frustration and discomfort, I've had the success expected in explaining to a 2-year-old the reasons why I can't do much to take away the body aches and congestion.
Wednesday, October 06, 2004
The Not So Secret Plan
Calling attention to the BBC's anti-Israel bias seems like such a waste of time, since it is so hard to miss. Take this headline and breathlessly reported story: Sharon plan 'blocked peace talks'.
A top Israeli official has claimed that Ariel Sharon's Gaza withdrawal plan was deliberately formulated to block peace negotiations with Yasser Arafat. "The significance of the plan is the freezing of the peace process," Dov Weisglass told Haaretz newspaper, adding the US had given its backing. Palestinian statehood, refugees and the status of Jerusalem had effectively been dropped off the agenda, he said. But he later added Israel was open to talks with other Palestinian leaders. Wow. Breathlessly reported as if this was something newly learned.
I'm sorry, I thought that it was obvious back in 2002, after the Passover Massacre, that Israel wasn't going to negotiate with Arafat. I thought the fact that Arafat has been confined to his rubble in Ramallah without meetings with Israeli and US leaders since 2002, was a pretty clear indication that there were not going to be peace talks with Arafat and the Palestinian Authority. I thought all the statements over the last couple of years that Israel would no longer negotiate with Arafat made all of that rather clear. I thought the whole plan of unilateral disengagement from the West Bank and Gaza by Israel made it abundantly clear, that there were no longer going to be any negotiations with Arafat and the Palestinians.
None of this is new or should be shocking. Yet the article treats this like it is a stunning and cruel admission by heartless Israelis. Pathetic.
Voter Registration, Provisional Ballots and Overload
Voter registration in Ohio ended on Monday, but they are still behind in getting the new registrations filed. Summit County (Akron) expects that the final tally will be around 50,000 new voters. Ohio as a whole has seen well over 1,000,000 new voter registrations this year. Hell, in Cleveland area the numbers may be up over 1,000,000.
"It may be that no one knows the exact number of new voters until Election Day," said Carlo LoParo, a spokesman for Secretary of State Ken Blackwell, the state's chief elections official. Even before final figures are in, registrations statewide were more than double what they were during the same period in 2000. As of Monday, new voters represented almost 8 percent of the 7.6 million voters registered. Ohio has been the focus of intensive registration efforts for nearly two years by national organizations, such as America Coming Together, ACORN and the 21st Century Democrat New Voters Project, all of which target traditionally Democratic enclaves. The Ohio Republican Party countered with its own elaborate voter registration drive. Dan Trevas, a spokesman for the Ohio Democratic Party, said his party's county chairs believe the bulk of the new registrations will vote Democratic in the neck-and-neck presidential contest between Democratic nominee John Kerry and President George W. Bush. There's still lots of problems, though.
Meanwhile, the fate of about 3,000 potential voters in Cuyahoga is still unclear. These voters sent in registration forms lacking important information, such as a signature or date of birth. Vu has asked the county prosecutor and Blackwell if these voters can complete the forms after today, or if their registrations should be tossed out. He had not yet gotten an answer yesterday. Directors at other boards of elections have said that they will spend the 30 days before the election clearing up small oversights but that registrations without signatures will be tossed, as they always have been. Those who registered by mail but failed to provide the proper identification information will appear on the rolls, though they will have to provide a valid ID on Election Day, Vu said. Federal law says these registrations must count. Provisional ballots in Ohio are a big source of contention. What are provisional ballots?
Provisional ballots are special ballots for voters who believe they are registered, though their names do not appear on the voter rolls. The ballots are set aside on Election Day so local officials can determine later whether the voters are truly registered. Now the issue in Ohio is that the law states that provisional ballots can only be cast at the voter's proper precinct. To reduce fraud risks, and keep people from just trying to vote where it is more convenient for them. In other words, if you go to the wrong precinct, you're name obviously won't be on the voter roll. And the polling locations, in my experience in both Lake and Cuyahoga Counties, do not have computer terminals for the poll workers to check to see if you are on the roll at the proper precinct. The workers are working off of printed lists. They have charts that can help them determine whether a voter is at the right place based on their address (hence a need for identification).
The Ohio Secretary of State, Ken Blackwell (R), has issued an order to be sure county officials enforce this rule. The Ohio Democratic Party has filed a lawsuit against this order, saying it and the state law contravene federal law --the Help America Vote Act. They even brought in Jesse Jackson for a press conference to complain:
On Monday, a group of Democrats, including the Rev. Jesse Jackson, held a news conference at the Cuyahoga County elections board to denounce Blackwell's decision, which they said will disproportionally affect minority voters. In the 2000 presidential election, the largest number of provisional ballots in Cuyahoga County came from predominantly black neighborhoods in Cleveland. "We paid for the right to vote," said Jackson. "Our basic American inheritance will not be taken by any secretary of state." Jesse can't really play the race card very well in this case since Blackwell is also an African-American.
Cuyahoga County Board of Elections director, Michael Vu has already said that Cuyahoga will "defy" the order. Well, at least until the federal judge rules on the matter on October 15. Fight the power.
The argument is that by forcing a potential voter to cast his provisional ballot only at the correct precinct location, is too burdensome. I realize that this is all about the Presidential election, but there are other issues on the ballot. Many quite local -- school boards, local officials, local taxes. You cast the provisional ballot in the wrong area, then none of those other votes can be counted. Doesn't that seem wrong? Is it so blindly about only casting the Presidential vote that local elections -- the things that really are more day-to-day in life -- don't count? I'm just wondering
Let me ask something else. If you are a new registrant to vote, especially if registration was sent by mail, is it that unreasonable, that burdensome to be required to present some form of identification? You know to prevent voter fraud? Especially if you aren't on the list of registered voters? Apparently to some people, it is.
A voting-rights group filed a lawsuit Tuesday challenging Ohio Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell's rules on provisional voting - the second such legal challenge over the controversial issue. The suit, filed by the Ohio Voter Protection Project, says Blackwell will require some first-time voters to show identification before receiving a provisional ballot on Election Day - a violation of the federal Help America Vote Act, or HAVA. The group, which includes several labor unions and the Ohio League of Women Voters, also challenged a Blackwell order that says voters who appear at the wrong voting precinct may not receive a provisional ballot. So, you can show up at the wrong place, cast the wrong ballot and then insist everyone else fix the problem -- the election workers have to sort it to the right place, find the right location, find out if the voter is properly registered... It would make Florida look competent.
Look, I'm all for making voting easy enough for people, but there are issues of fraud and some personal responsibility in voting. Count every vote has to have a limit.
Tuesday, October 05, 2004
So Much For a Sweep
Yankees lost. They actually were hitting Santana, but 5 double plays will end a lot of scoring opportunities. Not much else to say. Mussina pitched well, but the Yankees tend to be a feast or famine hitting team.
Try again tomorrow.
Spend the Money, All of It and More
I had to re-read this editorial from the News-Herald a couple times to believe it. It decries the "failure" of the Congress to agree upon the Federal Pork Projects Bill that masquerades as the National Transportation Bill. Even better, they complain that Bush threatened to veto the bill if Congress compromised on the higher-priced Senate version. It seems that the more spent the better by the federal government when it comes to pork. Any chance they'll recognize their own hypocrisy when they decry the federal deficit? Nahhh.
The editorial makes the argument that the money is "virtually" all from the federal gas tax, that is supposed to be redistributed. It is a b.s. argument. The money is supposed to come from it, but these are projections. The federal government has to guarantee the money even if the projections are wrong -- like say the price of gas goes higher than expected and people cut back their consumption. Therefore, you hedge. You would think anyone who lived in Ohio and saw what happened to the state when tax projections started falling way short in the last couple of years would get that.
There is a difference of about $19 billion between the two. They seem to be blaming Senate Democrats and 3 Republican Senators for this. Best demonstration for a supporter of smaller government to hope for a Kerry victory -- split the executive and legislative branches and less bad spending like this gets passed.
Even Less Important
So the VP debate is tonight. At the place where I attended law school. In my backyard. Hell, it could be in my living room and I would skip it. I'm not watching the Pres. debates, especially when it conflicted with a college football game, and I sure as hell am not missing they first game of the Yankees-Twins division playoffs. So the odds I'll watch the second bananas square off is even slimmer. I want to thank the debate planners for the schedule so far -- two straight debates I can skip in favor of sports. Keep up the good work.
Monday, October 04, 2004
Eastlake -- Rounding Up Old News
The city is still broke. Federal ballpark money will not happen again this year. Maybe next year. Maybe never.
Here's a shock. The recovery plan that was put forward meets with the News-Herald Editorial Board's (N-HEB) approval. Well for half of the editorial. The other half, is spent attacking the lone City Council member voting against it. Mainly they attack his attendance record ( Idle question: Will they hold Kerry's voting and attendance record to that standard when they give their recommendation for the Presidential election?), and suggest that Eastlake voters are being cheated with his representation.
They don't address the substance of his complaints, they just dismiss them out of hand as uninformed because he hasn't attended all the meetings. Funny, Councilwoman Curtis, the subject of a recall vote that the N-HEB condemns, was chairperson of the finance/budget committee but never seemed to know a damn thing about the budget problems until it was too late (after she was reelected). They have no problem with the job she did, of course she must have had perfect attendance. And that's really all that matters, the perception that you are actually working for the people -- not whether you really are.
For more property tax news in Eastlake, the Willoughby-Eastlake School District has placed yet another emergency levy on the ballot. They blame the need for a 5th levy in 5 years (including a previous "emergency" levy) on a reduction of the business inventory tax revenue. But I thought, the new ballpark would create more businesses? They may have to sweat this one.
Voter Registration and Absentee Ballots
No worries. Four counties have voter registration that exceeds their 2003 estimated population. Not to worry, though, it isn't necessarily fraud.
Franklin County, won narrowly by Democrat Al Gore in 2000, has about 815,000 people age 18 or older. On Friday, the county's voter registration number stood at 817,000. Matt Damschroder, board director, said his office is taking in about 6,000 to 8,000 registrations each day. Damschroder said the discrepancy is in large part because of inactive voters -- people who moved or died and whose names have yet to be purged from the rolls -- and new voters who may be registering multiple times to ensure they are eligible. Actually, it wouldn't be completely surprising for Frankin County -- the county where Columbus is located -- to be so high. Not mentioned in the story, but what would make sense would be if a large number of Ohio State students registered to vote in Columbus rather than their hometown.
No clear answer for the other counties, and more counties are expected to be on this list.
A story on the soaring number of absentee ballots in Ohio. Makes the point I made earlier that parties are pushing people to go that route to try and lock in votes early, especially for straight party-line voting.
But unlike some states, Ohio does not require the signature of a witness on the returned ballot to verify the voter's identity. And Ohio has a history of minor scandals with absentee votes. In 1997, then-Secretary of State Bob Taft suspended a Pike County election official for trying to influence the votes of residents with absentee ballots. That same year, a former state lawmaker from Athens County was convicted on charges of tampering with absentee ballots. Lorain County Elections Director Marilyn Jacobcik became concerned last month when a caller claiming to be with the elections board contacted several voters and asked them to mail their absentee requests to a post-office box. The caller also asked for the voters' Social Security numbers. Why do I have a feeling that this year the scandals may not be so "minor."
In other Ohio Absentee Ballot news -- the screw-ups in mailed ballots. Heavily Republican Hamilton County (Cincinnati) somehow sent out absentee ballots that would have "a vote for an unopposed Republican county engineer to morph into a vote for Ohio Supreme Court candidate Nancy Fuerst, a Democrat." They are sending out replacement ballots. Cuyahoga County (Cleveland) has to fix the absentee ballots they were going to send out now that Nader is off.
Less than a month to go.
Sunday, October 03, 2004
Down Time on the Home Front
I didn't mean to spend the weekend away from the blog. I just got so pissed about Pitt's loss on Thursday night, and other things to do. Then Saturday was spent tearing up our bathroom -- had to replace the toilet and the entire flooring (including the underlayer). Since we only have one bathroom, I had to get it done in one day. Managed to do it, but my back and knees were killing me. As it stands, I haven't read much in the last couple days.
|
|
