God Bless America
Jan 28th, 2001 | 04:27 PM
#41
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Olive: As a Floridian, you know the results are now coming in.
From today's Sentinel:
"On election night, Lake County's canvassing board decided that a presidential ballot with two marks for the same candidate -- one by the name, the other a write-in -- was trash.
The board was wrong.
"It should be counted," said Ron Labasky, lawyer for the Florida State Association of Supervisors of Elections. State election rules back that up.
Inexperienced and confused voters have taken much of the blame for Florida's Election Day chaos. These voters, some say, deserved what they got if they couldn't deal with the system.
But in Lake County, it often was the other way around: The system failed to deal with the voters.
Throwing out the 628 legal write-ins discovered by the Orlando Sentinel not only cost Al Gore 122 votes, but denied those Lake residents a voice in the closest presidential race in history.
"The fact that they made the wrong decision, I wouldn't accuse them of being irresponsible," election consultant Martyn Stollar said
of Lake's call not to count the votes. "It was more a case of ignorance."
Lake Assistant Elections Supervisor Jerry Foster defends the canvassing board's decision, insisting there was no way to sort the double-bubble votes and count them consistently.
The Lake canvassing board made its decision not knowing what other counties did, said Lake County Commissioner Catherine Hanson, a Republican. She now concedes that perhaps such votes "should be counted."
But Lake officials failed in smaller ways, too.
For instance, a ballot must be marked in pencil to be counted. But Jim and Kim Corrigan of Lady Lake had to nag poll workers to get that pencil because the polling booth was out.
Kim had already started marking hers in pen -- which counting machines ignore -- so she asked for another ballot. Though voters are entitled to a new ballot to correct a mistake, Kim was finally given a pencil and told to fix the one she had. Now she's not sure her vote counted.
But Foster says "it likely got counted" by the canvassing board anyway.
Sometimes Lake canvassing-board members improperly fixed pen-marked ballots by going over them in pencil. That's against state law.
Lake, like the 14 other counties that count ballots with centralized optical scanners, put no erasers on pencils supplied to voters in the ballot booth. And attempted erasures were never reviewed to discern voter intent, as they were in Suwannee County.
The Lake ballots themselves caused more confusion. Instructions were in tiny print that could strain weak eyes.
The small type kept presidential candidates in one column and avoided the headaches of a split ballot. But it also put the name of Gore running mate Joe Lieberman right on top of the "Libertarian" party label over the next candidate's name.
The result: 271 ballots rejected because of double-votes for Gore and Libertarian Harry Browne.
"People got confused and thought [Libertarian] was Lieberman," said retired Clermont teacher Marvin Jacobson."....
Current updates at miamiherald.com, washingtonpost.com, and more coming in.
Leone, Paesano, is it boring to you that our current white house resident was not elected, but is the first to be judicially selected by a partisan majority, by a margin of 1? Mamma mia!
From today's Sentinel:
"On election night, Lake County's canvassing board decided that a presidential ballot with two marks for the same candidate -- one by the name, the other a write-in -- was trash.
The board was wrong.
"It should be counted," said Ron Labasky, lawyer for the Florida State Association of Supervisors of Elections. State election rules back that up.
Inexperienced and confused voters have taken much of the blame for Florida's Election Day chaos. These voters, some say, deserved what they got if they couldn't deal with the system.
But in Lake County, it often was the other way around: The system failed to deal with the voters.
Throwing out the 628 legal write-ins discovered by the Orlando Sentinel not only cost Al Gore 122 votes, but denied those Lake residents a voice in the closest presidential race in history.
"The fact that they made the wrong decision, I wouldn't accuse them of being irresponsible," election consultant Martyn Stollar said
of Lake's call not to count the votes. "It was more a case of ignorance."
Lake Assistant Elections Supervisor Jerry Foster defends the canvassing board's decision, insisting there was no way to sort the double-bubble votes and count them consistently.
The Lake canvassing board made its decision not knowing what other counties did, said Lake County Commissioner Catherine Hanson, a Republican. She now concedes that perhaps such votes "should be counted."
But Lake officials failed in smaller ways, too.
For instance, a ballot must be marked in pencil to be counted. But Jim and Kim Corrigan of Lady Lake had to nag poll workers to get that pencil because the polling booth was out.
Kim had already started marking hers in pen -- which counting machines ignore -- so she asked for another ballot. Though voters are entitled to a new ballot to correct a mistake, Kim was finally given a pencil and told to fix the one she had. Now she's not sure her vote counted.
But Foster says "it likely got counted" by the canvassing board anyway.
Sometimes Lake canvassing-board members improperly fixed pen-marked ballots by going over them in pencil. That's against state law.
Lake, like the 14 other counties that count ballots with centralized optical scanners, put no erasers on pencils supplied to voters in the ballot booth. And attempted erasures were never reviewed to discern voter intent, as they were in Suwannee County.
The Lake ballots themselves caused more confusion. Instructions were in tiny print that could strain weak eyes.
The small type kept presidential candidates in one column and avoided the headaches of a split ballot. But it also put the name of Gore running mate Joe Lieberman right on top of the "Libertarian" party label over the next candidate's name.
The result: 271 ballots rejected because of double-votes for Gore and Libertarian Harry Browne.
"People got confused and thought [Libertarian] was Lieberman," said retired Clermont teacher Marvin Jacobson."....
Current updates at miamiherald.com, washingtonpost.com, and more coming in.
Leone, Paesano, is it boring to you that our current white house resident was not elected, but is the first to be judicially selected by a partisan majority, by a margin of 1? Mamma mia!
Feb 3rd, 2001 | 06:53 PM
#42
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Re; the title of this posting ("God Bless America"). That's a GOP politicial chestnut from the Reagan days. The use of this religious jingoism is threefold; to show that the person using it is closer to Jesus which makes them better than you, to infer that the politics of those using it are closer to Jesus which makes their ideology better than yours, and to shove as much of Christianity into the face of the public politic as they can get away with.
It is now well documented that Jesus Christ has only four issues to instill upon his flock. Looking after the wealthy in lieu of the poor, allowing each individual state to decide who should own whom, to make sure there are bigger, faster and more guns on the streets, and of course, forcing women to have children they do not want.
One way to put a kybosh on this crap is to overuse the phrase until it becomes too silly to bother with.
God Bless you and God Bless America
It is now well documented that Jesus Christ has only four issues to instill upon his flock. Looking after the wealthy in lieu of the poor, allowing each individual state to decide who should own whom, to make sure there are bigger, faster and more guns on the streets, and of course, forcing women to have children they do not want.
One way to put a kybosh on this crap is to overuse the phrase until it becomes too silly to bother with.
God Bless you and God Bless America
Feb 4th, 2001 | 05:42 AM
#43
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I usually don't bother to read these baiting posts, let alone respond. I'm sick SICK to death of the buffoons that we Americans keep having imposed on us by the system. For you Europeans who are masochistic enough to have read thus far, I'll tell you that who's actually in the White House is not nearly as important as who has their hands up his shirt to make his head nod and mouth work.
What makes me more anti-Republican than anti-Democrat is that this kind of remote-control window-dressing government is exactly how they think things ought to work. That, and the repulsive, hypocritical, greedy, acrimonious rhetoric they revel in -- this post is a perfect example. Look out when a Republican starts ranting about morality and responsibility and compassion -- "do as I say, not as I do" should be their motto.
I haven't been proud of many Democrats in recent years, and Slick Willy bugged me beyond words. If nothing else, his adolescent sabotage of whatever might have been good about his presidency guaranteed that the sleazoid Republican fatcats would have a field day with name-calling and pious self-congratulation.
--All so they could protect their own ability to squeeze every last dollar out of the health, environment, and education of this country for their own First-Class seating -- making sure they'd be answerable to no one.
The Democrats have given us a demonstration of the cost of human indulgence and lack of integrity. The Republicans are about to give us a demonstration of wholesale pillaging of our future, all with big, sanctimonious, s-eating grins on their faces.
Sorry, as I said, I'm sick of the lot of them. Sick of the "Pay-Back Time" mentality of Republicans who can't forgive Roosevelt and can't forget Nixon, and sick of Democrats who can never quite get their act together enough to resist every breeze that comes their way.
What makes me more anti-Republican than anti-Democrat is that this kind of remote-control window-dressing government is exactly how they think things ought to work. That, and the repulsive, hypocritical, greedy, acrimonious rhetoric they revel in -- this post is a perfect example. Look out when a Republican starts ranting about morality and responsibility and compassion -- "do as I say, not as I do" should be their motto.
I haven't been proud of many Democrats in recent years, and Slick Willy bugged me beyond words. If nothing else, his adolescent sabotage of whatever might have been good about his presidency guaranteed that the sleazoid Republican fatcats would have a field day with name-calling and pious self-congratulation.
--All so they could protect their own ability to squeeze every last dollar out of the health, environment, and education of this country for their own First-Class seating -- making sure they'd be answerable to no one.
The Democrats have given us a demonstration of the cost of human indulgence and lack of integrity. The Republicans are about to give us a demonstration of wholesale pillaging of our future, all with big, sanctimonious, s-eating grins on their faces.
Sorry, as I said, I'm sick of the lot of them. Sick of the "Pay-Back Time" mentality of Republicans who can't forgive Roosevelt and can't forget Nixon, and sick of Democrats who can never quite get their act together enough to resist every breeze that comes their way.
Feb 4th, 2001 | 05:47 AM
#44
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Too windy, Wilson, but good points.
For me, the sight of Cheney, Lott, Armey, et al marching down to the podium behind W at the Inaugural reminded me exactly of a scene out of the Godfather. Those guys are scarey, man! They're gonna get you another $.32 in your paycheck, but you'll never see a word of truth in the news again. Who cares -- you got your $.32! Just don't get sick and need a clean glass of water.
For me, the sight of Cheney, Lott, Armey, et al marching down to the podium behind W at the Inaugural reminded me exactly of a scene out of the Godfather. Those guys are scarey, man! They're gonna get you another $.32 in your paycheck, but you'll never see a word of truth in the news again. Who cares -- you got your $.32! Just don't get sick and need a clean glass of water.
Feb 5th, 2001 | 04:58 PM
#46
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You people make me sick! George W Bush is a wonderful man and you are not fit to wipe his boots. He is a caring Christian who will save this country from immoral creeps like some of the people who wrote here. God Bless our President and his family who are the saviors of our great nation.
Feb 5th, 2001 | 07:04 PM
#48
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Praise be, Norman, that I won't have to wipe W's boots. You know what them Texans call their boots, dontcha?
W is an idiot airhead who majored in cheerleadin' 'n partyin' -- glad he sobered up, but I wouldn't trust him to figure out how to program a VCR let alone lead the country. Never fear, though. It's all the Reaganites who've been disinterred and jump-started who are in charge anyway. Their idea of morality is to get into my bedroom and tell me what I can do there but look the other way when their oil buddies steal everyone's money.
W is an idiot airhead who majored in cheerleadin' 'n partyin' -- glad he sobered up, but I wouldn't trust him to figure out how to program a VCR let alone lead the country. Never fear, though. It's all the Reaganites who've been disinterred and jump-started who are in charge anyway. Their idea of morality is to get into my bedroom and tell me what I can do there but look the other way when their oil buddies steal everyone's money.
Feb 5th, 2001 | 09:55 PM
#49
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Feb 7th, 2001 | 11:46 AM
#50
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At least we know that Bill and Hillary won't be able to steal anything else out of the White House. Unbelieveable behavior. The guy spends eight years p**sing all over the presidency and then realizes on his last day that he missed a spot. What a jerk. Thank God the good guys are back in the White House.
Feb 7th, 2001 | 12:38 PM
#51
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Oh, the "good guys" are back in, are they?. Andy Card announces Bush will close the WH AIDS office and end the One America race issues work ... only to have Ari refute it all the next day. No one at the WH can explain Card's mistatements. Lets see, Card's background is the car business and a short stent at DOT. Maybe I can offer an answer .. because like Card, they are for the most part a bunch of mean AH's who don't give a s*** about public health and racial issues. Good guys? Check your pulse ... your heart seems to be missing. Ciao, callow.
Feb 7th, 2001 | 12:54 PM
#52
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Just like a liberal to point a finger instead of answering a charge. Bill is a crook, Leone. And as far as the "whoops, he didn't mean it" statement from Ari, that was something perfected by the Clinton White House. They retracted more statements and floated more trial balloons than any president ever did.
