Let me do my Conservative Republican imitation for you..."Barry. Like that Hope and Change yet? Osama Obama. Obamalama. This picture." ...and I could go on. It's as if political criticism from a party of supposed "thinkers" has degraded into nothing more than a bunch of Limbaugh sound bytes. Note that not only can Republicans do better than that, but they will have to do better in order to win in 2012.
Schools, budgets and sports...I will respond to the comment by blogger Coal Region Voice to THIS posting some time this week. He has a great blog that is well worth checking out. I was going to do something yesterday, but Sunday seemed like a great day to go for a late afternoon walk, which is precisely what I did, at McDade Park. By the way, can we re-name the park after someone who hasn't been implicated in fraud and hasn't exposed his genitals in public? Just wondering on that last part. And so I digress. Anyway, seeing the well thought-out comment I wanted to reiterate that I'm not anti-sports. As a kid I played tennis, basketball, baseball and I dabbled in some wrestling. These days I hit the gym 4-5 days a week and, one of these days, I'm going to get my Trek out and hit the pavement. The central point is this: sports should be a secondary part of the educational process in our public schools. Hell, they already are in grades K to 8, so my point is that they shouldn't be some kind of sacred cow in grades 9 to 12, especially when hard choices need to made with budgets. More to come.
Voter ID...There is a great piece in NEPArtisan about the voter ID legislation that is being pushed in Congress these days by Republicans. I'm actually of two minds about this whole things. Here's where I think both sides have it wrong:
Democrats have it wrong in the sense that it is NOT unreasonable to ask a voter to produce some form of ID. Voting is an important process, and there is plenty of precedent for asking for ID when something important is on the line...a policeman can randomly ask you for it at just about occasion...you have to produce ID to get on an airplane...to start a new job you need one to complete your I9 form...etc.
Republicans are doing this simply to cut out as many lower-economic scale voters as is possible. You know, these would be voters who typically vote Democratic. The simple fact is that there is no wide-spread voter fraud in this country, and even if there was, it should be handled on a case-by-case basis. Imposing a fraud solution in an area where there is no evidence of fraud makes you suspect the intentions of Republicans. And I am.
My solution: ID yes, but just about any form of official ID should do, including a social security card. Requiring a valid photo ID is too onerous. My mother, for example, is 76 years old and does not drive. She does have a photo ID, but it expired years ago. By virtue of pending legislation she would be disenfranchised. Why? To prevent some mythical fraud from occurring?
In the "Why" department...Why does the media continue to feed the attention gluttony of Sarah Palin? Simply stop following her around. Outside of dirty old Conservative men, Rush Limbaugh and Matt Drudge, I suspect that most people don't particularly care what she does OR the fact that she routinely mangles history. I get it, she is a moron. Can we move on now?
No comments:
Post a Comment