Caging the vote...

Well. I received an interesting email from the Republican Party of Florida this weekend. It was a ad stating that the Democrats have ignored the need of our solders overseas... Now, as you can tell by the title of this entry, whether you agree with that or not is not what I'm writing about today.


Most ads that come from political parties usually are for the solicitation of money, but this one was different. This ad requested that I ask for a vote by mail ballot. This was a first, and under normal situations, I would have just tossed it in the trash and moved on with my life. But I thought my wife would get a kick out of the idea that the "stupid" Repubs sent us this ad.

Well she took a closer look at it and noticed a few interesting "mistakes" that were made on the ad.

First, the name on the address was incorrect. it was Martin Stuart Fried. Stuart is not my middle name. Obviously, because I received the letter, the address was correct.

Second, and more importantly, the return portion of the letter that is supposed to go to the Supervisor of elections of the county that I live in was actually addressed to the County Supervisor of Elections for Miami-Dade county. I live in Broward County.

Third, the return address on the portion of the letter that goes back to to the supervisor of elections had a different address (in Miami no less) than mine.

Now you ask what does this all mean... Well, I heard listening to the radio about a underhanded tactic that the Republicans have been accused of using in the past to invalidate potentially democratic votes. It is called caging.

Here is the wikipedia defination of caging when it is used in political cotext: term applied to a technique of voter suppression.

Now when I look at how caging has been reported in the past, this is not exactly the same, but it could still be considered a form of vote supression.

I asked myself the following questions:

1. What would have happened if I had sent in this request for a vote-by-mail ballot?
2. Would I have just eliminated my vote for the 2008 election?
3. Would I have eliminated the vote of the individual that actually lives at the address the vote-by-mail ballot was sent to?
4. Could this have just been a mistake by the Republican Party of Florida?


Well, it looks like I at least found the answer to my last question.
It looks like I'm not the only one who received this types of letter, here is an example of a VERY similar letter that went to a voter in North Carolina. If you continue to read the article, it seems this is going on in all of the battleground states.

What does this say about American politics in general and the McCain campaign specifically... I'll let you decide.

Until next time, keep an eye on the mail you receive and if you have not already done so register to vote!

Martin

Sarah Palin. The VP candidate that keeps on giving!

Who could ask for a better republician VP candidate. Sarah Palin just keeps giving people reasons not to vote for McCain.

1. Total lack of experience. Before being selected for the VP slot of the Republician ticket, Palin was the governor of one of the least populated states in the union. Also, she has only been in that position for 19 months. Before that she was the mayor of Wasilla, Alaska a town of less than 9000 people.

2. Palin is an ultra conservative when it comes to a womans right to choose. She is not only against a woman's right to choose, even in cases of incest and rape.

3. Palin is under investigation by the legislature of the state of Alaska for the firing of the Commissioner of Public Safety, who would not fire her ex-brother-in-law. They are calling this Troopergage

4. Palin replaced Monegan with Chuck Kopp. Kopp had to resign 2 weeks later due to a sexual harasment charge.

5. Palin supported currently indited Senator Ted Steven's bridge to nowhere before she opposed it.

5. Palin seems to support the idea of an independent Alaska.



Finally, the media has announced that Bristol Palin, the 17 year old unmarried daughter of Sara is pregnant.

How is that for a Compassionate Conservative???


that's it for now.

Republicans, the party of NO!

So, If this was the do nothing congress of 2008, it is because of the obstruction from the Republican party. For example, how many different proposals did the republicans in congress turn down, let's count:

1) Drill on land that is already leased to the oil companies. Link

2) Tap the country's strategic oil reserve, or swap light oil for heavy oil Link

3) Oil speculation legislation. Link


Now whether you agree or disagree with some or all of the above suggestions, this does in part disspell the myth that the Democrats are doing nothing about the energy crisis. The rules of legislation are set up that a minority of senators or congressional reps can bring any legislation to a screeching halt.

Martin

Alaska, Home of the Corrupt Republician Politicians

Wow,

Can you believe it? So many corrupt / scandal laden politicians all coming from one state. I guess when it is that cold, all you can do is sit around and think of ways of screwing the system:

Let's make a list and summarize:

Governor Sarah Palin:
Mixed up in the wrongful firing of the Commissioner of Public Safety for not firing her ex brother-in-law a State Trooper who is embroiled in a nasty child custody case with Palin's sister.

Senator Ted Stevens:
Indicted on seven felony counts of making false statements on his financial disclosure forms.

Representative Don Young:
Young is under federal investigation for taking bribes, illegal gratuities or unreported gifts.

Senator Lisa Murkowski: Initially named to her position by her Father Governor Frank Murkowski after he became Governor in Alaska in 2002. Also, Lisa had an ethics complaint filed against her last year for a real estate deal.

Plus the whole cast of characters in the Alaska political corruption probe, lovingly known as the Corrupt Bastards Club.

All from the OIL laden state of Alaska

Stay cool for now!

Martin

Robert Novak announcement

So, here is my first attempt.

It seems that Mr. Robert Novak has had a strange twist of fate. He has announced today that he has been diagnosed with a brain tumor. Now, I would not wish this upon anyone, not even Mr. Novak but, it does show that if you believe in God, he must be bi-partisan. first Ted Robert Kennedy now Novak (Thanks Fernando). Now here is a bit of history on Novak that a friend asked me to explain.

Who is Robert Novak and how is he connected to the outing of a CIA agent:

Novak was the first journalist to "out" Valerie Plame in the pages of the Washington Post. Now, Im sure the next question is who is Valerie Plame and what did he "out" her from. Valerie Plame was an undercover CIA operative and the wife of Ambassador Joseph Wilson. Her main function was to stop the proliferation of nuclear weapons. This outing ended her career.

The next question is why. Why was Plame outed and by who. Now of course like all things political, this is very long and complicated story. Here is a quick summary.

Ambassador Wilson was asked by the CIA to verify if Niger was selling uranium yellowcake to Iraq. Which Wilson did. It turns out that there was no deal between Niger and Iraq, but President George W. Bush used the connection in his 2003 State of the Union Address.

Subsequently members of the administration gave out the name of Wilson's wife to members of the media. Of all the individuals who were told of Plame's identity, Novak was the first to report it. Novak's report came out a week after Wilson wrote his Op/Ed in the New York Times stating the administration "exaggerated" the Iraq / Niger connection.

So, this is just a quick dirty summary of the Novak, Plame, Wilson, Bush, Iraq connection.

Until next time... or never again!!!

My First Post

I am going to be rambling about political issues pretty soon!! Check back soon