In today’s market, 30 pieces of silver equals 15 bucks
Writing by treason on Wednesday, 22 of February , 2006 at 8:02 am
Why do I do it? Why do I tune into the local news and read our newspaper? Every time I hear what’s going on around me it confirms my suspicions of what I think is going on around me and my first impulse is always: Call the realtor. We’re outta here.
Where do I live? It’s a Third World state - just turn left at Haiti. No, no - still west of Louisiana. Keep going. The great irony is that there’s a lot of sage here - but it’s just the gray-green stuff that grows in sand.
There’s a town north of here that’s always the subject of jokes like: “Did ya hear about the tornado in ********? Did five billion dollars worth of improvements.” I know a lot of people who grew up there, but got out. It’s a touchy subject for them.
Well, it sounds like there’s some sort of mayoral election going on up there and now there’s evidence of irregularities. People are claiming that they were paid for their votes. Fifteen dollars. So that’s what a vote is worth these days? I guess that’s better than a pack of cigarettes or a bottle of Thunderbird.
Ever the optimist, I see the good in this story. At least people are getting out and voting. The problem in this state is that a lot of people don’t vote, while others vote repeatedly - unfortunately in the same election. “Vote early, vote often” isn’t all that funny when it’s the norm. That’s why I was so fired up a couple weeks ago when I heard that poll workers were violating the new law that requires voters to show photo i.d. I’ve written here about past voting scandals - I won’t revisit all of them now.
Wasn’t it a few weeks ago in Haiti when they found smoldering ballots in the dump? We’ve had burned ballots here, too. Lost ballots. Ballots and voting machines discovered in the trunks of cars. In 2000, we had found ballots. Just enough to turn the state from red to blue. How convenient.
Just when I thought paper ballots were going the way of the passenger pigeon, our governor and attorney general have announced that we are going to return to the paper ballot. We will be an all-paper voting state. Those newfangled electronic ones just confuse the voters, dontcha know. And paper burns.
Every Leftist blogger in the state is waxing poetic over this decision and the grassroots efforts that made it possible. VerifiedVoting.org wants a nationwide system. Hmmmm. This is the 21st century, is it not? Yet we’re moving to replace technology with paper ballots. That’s one hell of a lot of dead trees. I guess annihilating forests is okay if it makes it easier to steal elections for the cause. And the environmentalists are justifying this decision how?
Democrats were against photo i.d. but they’re for paper ballots. Should we be suspicious? Here’s a blurb from a website urging people to help end electronic voting:
“Important: If you or a friend of yours experienced any difficulties related to electronic voting system please write it down as a signed affidavit and send it to us. We need to collect actual voter testimonies on this topic. Even simple things like long lines, confusing instructions, difficulty pressing choices, lack of supervision by poll workers or observation of machines out of service are important to make note.”
Long lines? Confusing directions? You push a button. If you can’t push a button, what else can’t you do? The argument for paper ballots is that they provide a paper trail and can be recounted endlessly if need be.
Dimpled chads, hanging chads…and you’re telling me that this is progressive? Say, how ’bout we start dipping our fingers in indelible ink after we vote? I just want to know why we voters weren’t allowed to vote on this, that’s all.
Ah, that’s right. It’s because the current system is just so confusing. We need one uniform system. One way, one choice. Decided by our government. Just one. So suddenly diversity is a bad thing?
Doesn’t matter. My ballot in this state is a lost cause. Literally.
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