Mentioned as exposing who was involved in this was Rob Eno. Didn't he used to be a member of the LRCC?
I would like to be straight here. I would rather lose an election than see legitimate voters not registered. On the other hand, legitimate voters should show some interest in being registered. Same on voting itself. To paraphrase H L Mencken,
Progressivism: The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy just the way they are.♠But, then, he also said:
Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want and deserve to get it good and hard.He was such a cynic.
It is not that a crime has been committed, but that the limits to which the campaign is willing to go may not exist. I find that to usually be dangerous.
Hat tip to the Instapundit.
Regards — Cliff
♠ I am not as cynical as H L Mencken, quoted above, or John Steele Gordon, quoted at InstaPundit, who wrote recently: "Implicit in all of these revelations, of course, is the firmest, if never directly expressed, belief of the Left: That the average person is too stupid to run his own life, let alone make public policy decisions. Those few, those happy few, that band of liberal intellectuals, must do that for them." I give you What's The Matter With Kansas?
The NEW (old) progressive game in town is the continued push toward the "popular vote" as the "decider" of Presidential elections. Lest anyone feel that it truly based on a popular vote, you have to read the progressive (read that "Democratic Party") fine print. What they want to enact is a scheme by which the popular vote determines the award of electoral votes....and it is popular winner take all. So, by that calculus, only the big Democrat states get to decide the outcome...essentially......and the states with few electoral votes are essentially shut out as their votes don't really mean anything....ever.....unless they are cast for the "winning" or "popular" party.
ReplyDeleteWon't take long and elections at that level will become pointless, time and money consuming, and elections will be simply done by some sort of cursory acclaim process.....
That failing...there is always "vote early and often." After the last Presidential "election," NH considering issuing a proclamation of gratitude to the MA Democratic Party for their able assistance in helping NH elect the correct guy. Ah...such neighborliness.
This year, the ITIN will provide the means and methodology for nationwide impact and should handily enable Obama to secure...oh...any number of years of the Presidency according to his wishes.....AND....get the First Lady on the Federal payroll as the First Lady.
This year, the ITIN will provide the means and methodology for nationwide impact and should handily enable Obama to secure...oh...any number of years of the Presidency according to his wishes.....AND....get the First Lady on the Federal payroll as the First Lady.
ReplyDeleteShould someone introduce Neal to the concept of emoticons?
Without a ;v) associated to the quote cited, Neal comes across as a fringe wingnut.
I remember when wackadoos accused Bush 43 of planning to impose martial law, so that he and his owner, Dick Cheney, could hold onto power indefinately.
When wackadoos infiltrate the lines of mainstream partisan debate, we spin wildly off course.
The Left had a stint with the "No Nukes" science deniers that put fear ahead of all else. Today, the Right has the allowed the Tea Party to devolve and trash the public square.
I'm hoping that America is healed by the returning veterans. It happened after WWII. I'll do what I can to help these young folks bring civility to the debate.
Oh Jack, Jack, Jack. You would be the one who would criticize the grammatical construction of The Theory of Relativity and miss the entire point of the treatise.
ReplyDeleteAnd I do apologize for skipping rapidly past emoticons...their definition.....their form.....and their use. Talk about cliche.
But then, having a meaningful dialogue with you regarding liberalism vs conservatism is just too much like (pardon MY cliche)leading a donkey to the watering hole and convincing him to take a drink. Well...there IS a methodology.....but I would decline to use it.
I am disappointed that you have not formed a Greater Lowell chapter of the Joe Soptic sympathy society. Yeah...one morning at Bain, Mitt took one last sip of his coffee from the gold mug on his desk and told his secretary, "You know that Joe Soptic guy? Lets make him miserable today. I've been wanting to get to old Joe all year long...and now is the time."
What the MSM fails to point out.....only because the DNC and its wagging tongues have not released it.....is that Mitt sent one of his dogs to impregnate one of Joe's dogs....he let the air out of Joe's automobile tires.....sent stacks of porn to Joe's mailbox.....just to name a few of Mitt's very personal attacks on Joe. But that will all come out next week.
Jack
ReplyDeleteI am with you on the returning Vets, folks like you and Greg and Neal and I, healing the wounds. However, you seem to have missed today's edition of Democracy Now, the War and Peace Report, where Amy Goodman tells us that the Sikh Temple massacre was the outgrowth of White Suppremicism in the US military. (Ms Goodman is on LTC Channel 8 right after the boys and guests of City Life.)
I will see your "Tea Party" and raise you an Amy Goodman. :-)
Regards — Cliff
Not to forget that our very own Secretary of DHS stated that military and former military personnel bore watching as potential domestic terrorists. Now THAT ought to go a long, long way to healing wounds.
ReplyDeleteOf course, we have the darling of the Democratic party David Axelrod fronting for Obama as they sue the State of Ohio for giving a preference to military not enjoyed by the civilian populace of the state. Of course, they just want to "level the playing field." Actually.....truth be known...they just want more time to bus in the "absent" (vice "absentee") voters...and the boxes of "discovered" ballots not counted. Logistics takes time and careful planning.
Cliff,
ReplyDeleteIn 1987-1989 time frame, there was concern about those of us in the various DOD ceremonial units wearing 'high and tight' haircuts because we looked like skin heads.
Yes, buttercup, there are white supremicists in the military. They must hate it though because the integration make it impossible to segregate.
There was also a time, on Ft. Cambell in 1991, when the Base Commander didn't allow shoulder carried bags (not ladies purses) to be carried. The poop was that these bags were worn by members of the "Bloods" & "Crips" gangs. Which should you donned the strap on was a gang sign. Fist fights were breaking out on base.
None of that matches the accusation that SOCOM guys were returning CONUS without any sort of Customs checks. So, they were peddling drugs and weapons to outlaw bike gangs. Those Green Berets sure love their Harleys!
What did Amy Goodman say? Oh, that grunts may hate "rag heads" and "Haji's?"
Some folks need to hate to do the war thing. They don't know how to switch that off when the leave theatre.
My Uncle told me the wounded Rangers coming back on his merchant ship from D-Day, used to creep up on the deck and kill the POW Nazi officers.
The Lowell Department of Transitional Assistance is in walking distance of City Hall.
ReplyDeleteI understand it is the law, but a wasteful way to solve the problem. Not everyone who needs assistance is a U.S. citizen and there are people on assistance who are already registered to vote, so we are sending letters out uneedingly and blindly to many.
Cities and towns should reference their local yearly census to voter registrations. The local census has info on who is a citizen and who isn't already registered to vote.
From the Devil's own lips:
ReplyDeleteIn 1993, Congress passed the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA)—commonly known as the “motor voter” law—to boost election participation by ensuring that all eligible citizens have ample opportunities to register to vote.
Because Congress determined that low-income citizens and those with disabilities are less likely visit motor vehicle departments (the law’s primary voter registration site), it included Section 7’s requirements for state agencies that provide public assistance, including those that administer federal assistance programs such as food stamps, Medicaid, TANF, and WIC, and disability offices, to assist their applicants and clients in registering to vote.
Many states across the country, like Massachusetts, have been neglecting their responsibilities to provide voter registration at public assistance offices. Starting in 2006, organizations including Demos, Project Vote and the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law have filed lawsuits to rectify these violations in Ohio, Missouri, Georgia, Louisiana, New Mexico, Indiana, Pennsylvania and Nevada. Pre-litigation notice letters have been sent to many other states including Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas, Michigan, Florida, Texas and Virginia. Some states have worked with our organizations cooperatively to resolve compliance issues without the need for a federal lawsuit, including Mississippi, North Carolina, Colorado Michigan and Virginia.
GOPer says, 'Corporations are people and the poor can't vote.' Got it!
Thanks Jack. I've never been a fan of motor voter laws, and it can be argued very well that many people in need of assistance may not drive or own a car.
ReplyDeleteDo we have more details on the law suit, since it was a 35 year old Lowell woman as the plaintiff?
Great catch, Renee. Maybe the Blog of Record will pick up the local angle?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.docstoc.com/docs/126257679/Delgado-v-Galvin-_MA-welfare-voter-registration-case_---Complaint
ReplyDeleteThe plaintiff lived in walking distance of the DTA, but when she applied for MassHealth you have to go to Tewksbury (not walking distance). She couldn't get her physical body to city hall, the same place where you would obtain a birth certificate for your child when you apply for DTA or MassHealth???
We have city and town halls for a reason, we have city/town clerks that already handle the registration and maintenance of voter rolls. RMV is slow enough and social workers at DTA, MassHealth, or any other agency such as Department of Mental Health need to focus on the department goals, not registering voters.
I think simply having informational posters in the waiting rooms of these state agencies informing anyone about their right to vote and where they can obtain a registration form at their local city/town hall would just make sense.
19 years later, motor voter registration just seems like a 'feel good' idea with little impact except for suing states.
On a personal note, many times individual may walk into the Department of Children of Families seeking the Department of Transitional Assistance. I sit out in the lobby in between my cases, and I over hear the conversations. When your at the point of seeking DTA, especially if you never had to seek out help before, you're not really in the state of mind about registering to vote. Really you are just interested in getting food on the table.
ReplyDeleteOf course registering and voting is vitally important to people, no doubt, but let social workers do their job and stabilize and address the families needs first. Once those issues have been addressed then offer voter registration.
A few years ago, yes admitting as a family we sought out services from differing agencies for options, eventually we declined because in good fortune we escaped the layoff. No one offered us voter registration, and to be honest it would of been a total WTF, because we were more concern about other things.
So, Jack's Devil's own lips tells us:
ReplyDeleteQUOTE
According to 2010 Census Bureau data, only 58.2% of the Commonwealth’s eligible low-income citizens were registered to vote, as compared to 76.9% of higher-income citizens – a voter registration gap of 18.7%.
UNQUOTE
We actually, as a nation, have a bigger problem than just the low-income citizens not registered to vote. When 23.1% of "higher-income" citizens are not registered to vote we have a major failure to communicate. Who are these people and where did they go to high school and college? Just shy of a QUARTER of our better off folks don't care about the government, how it operates and who is managing it.
Jack, you are the data guy with voters. How does this break out by Ward and Precinct? Is it income or education achievement or what? Maybe those chaps over on North Campus can throw this up on their computer and help us better understand this.
As for Renee's testimony on this, I appreciate it. I think she makes a good point about how registering to vote may not seem as immediate as getting assistance and how the registration to vote can be seen as an insensitive bureaucratic burden on a person who is already burdened.
Is there a better way?
Regards — Cliff
There is insight here.
ReplyDeleteJack
ReplyDeleteThat is not a file to downloan onto an iPad, via a cell phone, in the parking lot of a Mall in Chestnut Hill. Turned out we wanted the Mall across the street.
This passage sort of gets to the core of my question:
QOUTE
Notably, education had the second‐highest correlation with voter participation in State Primaries, after length of residency. Education levels vary considerably across Lowell.
UNQOUTE
Education seems to always be positively correlated with things we think are good, like higher salaries, lower smoking rates, fewer premie babies, less crime, and so on. I am sure there is an upper limit to this "goodness", but since the 1970s the steady increase in High School graduates going off to college has stopped. Put another way, after MY generation it all stalled out.
The question is, how do we "un-stall" it?
Regards — Cliff