Posts Tagged ‘elections’

Fidel Castro and Pappy McDaniel

Posted: September 7, 2010 by datechguy in media, opinion/news
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In 1941 Governor Lee “Pappy” McDaniel ran in a special election for an open Senate seat created by the death of Senator John Sheppard (an interesting fact is that a son of Sam Houston the 1st president of Texas born in 1793 was appointed as a “placeholder” senator during the time between the death and the election). His primary opponent was Lyndon Johnson then a congressman from the 10th district. The two primary candidates fought it out and both were involved in some underhanded tactics however at the end of the day it looked like Johnson had the game won until (According to Robert Caro in his book The Years of Lyndon Johnson the Path to Power) O’Daniel’s enemies contrived to steal the election FOR him to get him out of the governors office.

It turned out that Pappy although corrupt had one “virtue” and that was dislike for alcohol. Convinced it was the devil’s brew he was prepared to keep “dry” zones around military bases and his foes in the liquor industry wanted him out.

I thought of Pappy O’Daniel when I read this surprising quote from Jeffrey Goldberg’s interview with Fidel Castro:

Over the course of this first, five-hour discussion, Castro repeatedly returned to his excoriation of anti-Semitism. He criticized Ahmadinejad for denying the Holocaust and explained why the Iranian government would better serve the cause of peace by acknowledging the “unique” history of anti-Semitism and trying to understand why Israelis fear for their existence.

It was quite a shock to hear one of the monsters of the 20th century excoriating a modern monster for antisemitism and going on about the long history of Jewish suffering, that’s when I remembered Pappy.

Pappy was an opponent of the dangers of drinking, but it didn’t make him any less a corrupt pol.

Castro if this interview is to be believed believes that antisemitism is a centuries long disgrace and that Israel has a right to exist, that doesn’t make him any less of a murderous thug. I’m not going to fall for his pap any more that the Babliu blog guys will.

As the Doctor once told Margaret the Slitheen it doesn’t matter, you can oppress millions because every now and again you can speak up against an injustice that has nothing to do with you.

memeorandum thread here

Massachusetts disenfranchises their voters

Posted: July 27, 2010 by datechguy in elections, opinion/news
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Just as the state starts to swing in a more conservative direction our one party state legislature decides that our votes will no longer count.

Under the law, which was enacted by the House last week, all 12 of the state’s electoral votes would be awarded to the candidate who receives the most votes nationally.

After all who cares what the voters of Massachusetts think, If enough other states think differently our votes and our decisions are don’t matter. We no longer have control of our own franchise. To say this is an abomination is too weak a word. Why even have a state?

Allahpundit is poo pooing this. He doesn’t live here.

Smitty is as angry as I am:

Abso-effing-lutely. This is what Article Five is about. Understood, there seems to be a psychological joy, which some find, in taking words to mean whatever they wish. Hence the Commerce Clause becoming the Constitution over the last century. Hence the “judicial deference” doctrine, where Congress can emote whatever it wishes, and We The People get to watch the 14-ish trillion dollar debt pile up due to Federal over-reach.

Any legislator who voted for this bill doesn’t deserve his office, PERIOD!

Ironically Under Article 2 section 1 the legislature has the power to do this:

Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress

So in theory if the legislature that electoral college electors would be selected by putting pictures of the candidate on the ground, cutting the head of a chicken and giving the votes to the person in the photo closest to where the body finally drops, they can do it.

And don’t give me the “oh we still need x amount of electoral votes states to go along, it’s this kind of incremental change that is quietly done and unnoticed. In fact it is designed to give legislators that out to minimize what is actually going on so when it takes effect they can claim surprise. The ultimate goal? To make it easier to steal a national election.

Remember we get the government we deserve, for decades we voted a one party legislature into office. We willingly elected legislators who voted away our franchise. We’ve done this to ourselves. It’s our fault.

memeorandum thread here.

The citizen in me cheers the partisan frowns…

Posted: July 23, 2010 by datechguy in opinion/news
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…at this story:

The revelation that tax increases could hurt the economy has recently been heard from Senators Evan Bayh of Indiana, Ben Nelson of Nebraska, and, most surprising, even from Kent Conrad of North Dakota. On a scale of unlikely events, this is like the Pope coming out against celibacy. As Senate Budget Chairman, Mr. Conrad has rarely seen a tax increase he didn’t like, but this week he averred that “As a general rule, you don’t want to be cutting spending or raising taxes in the midst of a downturn.”

Granted the writer is not aware of the rules concerning married priests in the church but I digress. he continues:

Over in the House, Bobby Bright of Alabama even dared to defend the rich Americans who Democrats have been pounding for years. “I don’t care if it’s the wealthiest of the wealthy. You don’t raise their taxes,” he told The Hill newspaper. “In a recession you don’t tax, burden and restrict.” Better don the body armor on your next visit to the Speaker’s office, Bobby.

The citizen in me is very pleased as HotAir points out:

It’s the wealthy who drive consumer spending and the last thing you want to do in this economy is reduce that by raising taxes on them

No politically this might anger their base a bit but I don’t think it will lose them the votes people think. In fact making the right economic moves makes it more likely that the recession will end and may sustain their re-election.

Now the partisan in me doesn’t like anything that helps the democrats re-election so in that sense this is bad news.

However the citizen always has to trump the partisan. I didn’t become a republican because I like the letter “R”, I vote republican because I have a set of views and beliefs that I believe in and I think are best for the country, I’d just as soon have them soon have them advanced sooner than later. If it means an issue is off the table so be it.

Local Candidate Mike Stopa on Sean Hannity tonight

Posted: July 14, 2010 by datechguy in elections, opinion/news
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Stopa is one of the republicans/tea party candidates running to oppose Jim McGovern:

Stopa on the Mosque in NY: The Cordova initiative is funding this and is not good cross cultural, moving the Mosque would be a good outreach by these people, will they?

On the NASA topic: The greatest symbol of American exceptionalism is the space program, would be an ideal thing for them because it squashes American exceptionalism while promoting Islamic outreach. The president is a dilettante. He has no interest in outer space, it’s not on his agenda.

On Arizona: He brings up the apologizing for the Arizona law to China. Points out the reaction of the district to this is negative. He says the first thing we should do in the next congress is helping the states enforce the existing laws.

He looked good but really didn’t have a lot of screen time to work with. With Juan Williams and S. E. Cupp that’s some heavy competition for attention. He needed to be jumping in more, but he make some pretty good points. He certainly helped himself tonight.

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