James O'Keefe is at it again, this time with video showing that voters are on the registration rolls even though they've been excused from jury duty as non-citizens. That was a clever trick, cross-checking the voting rolls against the jury records. There's something unusually offensive about using one's lack of citizenship as an excuse to avoid jury duty, then trying to vote anyway.
I swiped the title from one of the article's commenters. My astonishment that voter I.D. has become a race issue knows no bounds, as does my astonishment at people who think that there's no voter fraud.
The Texas primary is right around the corner. Early voting, in fact, already has begun. As I'll be traveling to a wedding on election day, I'm going to early-vote any day now, as soon as I figure out what to do about some of the less-publicized races. Any comments from people knowledgeable about races such as the Texas Supreme Court justices or the Railroad Commission (our oil & gas body) are encouraged to hold forth in the comments section. This will be the first election in ages in which we've have some realistic choices for a U.S. Representative other than Ron Paul, not only because he's not running again but because the district lines have been redrawn. Our new (to us) incumbent, Blake Farenthold, is a bit of a Tea Party type but not a Pauline.
10 comments:
I've been reading this guy's site for a while now. He seems a level-headed conservative. This is his rundown if you're interested.
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My astonishment that voter I.D. has become a race issue knows no bounds, as does my astonishment at people who think that there's no voter fraud.
The Dems are simultaneously the loudest in insisting voter fraud doesn't exist and the most numerous of those arrested and convicted for voter fraud.
"In November 2009, Democratic operative Anthony DeFiglio told New York State police investigators that faking absentee ballots was a commonplace and accepted practice..."
http://specfriggintacular.wordpress.com/2012/04/03/democrats-arrested-andor-convicted-of-voter-fraud/
I would attempt to say something measured about voter fraud but damned, right at this moment the fraud and those who perpetrate the fraud makes me angry enough not to trust myself with commenting in public.
The Liberty Institute publishes a Voter's Guide; I hope this URL works, and I think, if it does, it'll have some information about your district.
http://ivoterguide.com/Default.aspx
Eric Hines
A little off topic but related:
I've taken to not answering the race question whenever it's a box I'm supposed to check. Recently (for my current job), I was asked about it and asked to fill it in. I said I'm American, and there's no box for that. I think they checked "Other."
It's amazing how many places want to know what your race is. Giving blood yesterday, I'm asked. I skipped the question. How would I have to answer it? Half my genes are from Sicily and half of those are from Palermo, which was colonized by the Normans, Saracens, Ottomans, Visigoths, and the Greeks and Romans before that. Or does my family's coming here in 1914 and 1929 automatically categorize me as white, with no regard for the history of the places where my people started? Make no mistake, my family identifies as caucasian but things are not static and understandings change. If I did the DNA test available, I wouldn't be surprised if I were multi racial.
Which leads me to another point. Having worked in higher ed for 17 years (no longer; now I'm in very measurable medicine), I've seen trends happen in admissions. Young people today choose, in ever-increasing numbers, NOT to check the race box, not because they are taking a principled position against it, but because they would need five boxes to adequately identify themselves.
Demographics always are underestimated. Things change. I happen to thing that any affirmative actions taken (in higher ed, for example) ought to happen on an econimic basis, so as a policy it has durability, as groups who move here move in and up, as they should.
Blake Farenthold would be my representative if I still lived in the environs of Corpus Christi (which I don't, alas). I've heard good things about him -- very different from his very liberal grandmother Cissy Farenthold.
Advice? Vote for Ted Cruz for Senate.
For dellbabe68 above: more people are demanding (& we're seeing it on recent census forms) a category of 'mixed'. As for me, for example, try to have someone nail down the definition of 'Hispanic' -- I have an ancestor from Spain, & my family consisted of Confederate refugees in Mexico until they were forced to return to Texas after the revolution in 1910 (just wasn't healthy to be a gringo there anymore). Technically, I would qualify.
dellbabe,
I've been writing "Human" in those boxes for over a decade now. I even do that for my daughter on the various school enrollment forms.
"I would attempt to say something measured about voter fraud but damned, right at this moment the fraud and those who perpetrate the fraud makes me angry enough not to trust myself with commenting in public."
I empathize completely with your resistance to comment. Many's the times I have had to sit on my fingers to avoid getting started so that I don't "get started".
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"I'm going to early-vote any day now, as soon as I figure out what to do about some of the less-publicized races. Any comments from people knowledgeable about races such as the Texas Supreme Court justices or the Railroad Commission (our oil & gas body) are encouraged to hold forth in the comments section. "
While doing some PVC work this a.m. it dawned on me that you might find some guidance in a Vote Smart database. Don't ask how plumbing an outdoor irrigation line stirred an association with Tx. politics or I'll be forced to plead the Fifth.
Anywho, this VS link on Judicial Officials and/or this link with a drop-down for picking the special interest of interest might help, or not.
FWIW...
Thanks, all. Oh, heck, yeah, Ted Cruz was the easiest of my choices, and I didn't have much trouble with Farenthold, either. But there was an embarrassment of riches in the Railroad Commission race, and I always hate to admit how little I know about even the incumbents in the S. Ct. races, the one area I might be expected to have a bit of expertise. That's the problem with always being in federal court. I never really learned much about the Texas courts. And then it was truly humiliating to realize that I knew nothing about the local judges, constables, JPs, and sheriffs.
"Giving blood yesterday, I'm asked. I skipped the question. How would I have to answer it?"
That's one place I would check the appropriate boxes. It's not like they're using it to tout the diversity of their donations, but to know if there are possibilities of disease in your blood due to racial prevalence. If it's for scientific reasons, I'm identifying my race as best I can. If it's for demographic reasons, I refuse- or just pick other (because if you don't put something, they will). I think we should all just do that.
Maybe I'll get a t-shirt made with the 'other' box checked on it- just to get people to imagine walking around with their box checked on the front of their shirt.
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