Tag Archives: Politics

Someone on the internet agrees with me

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… regarding the likely response by Coleman following the certification of the Minnesota Senatorial Race tomorrow (Monday) by the Canvassing Board.

No matter who wins, either party can lodge a legal challenge, potentially pushing the election results out quite a period of time from now. In 1969, Minnesota was unable to certify their Senator until well in to March.

But this isn’t the 1960s, and Norm Coleman surely knows that.

Just because he challenges the election, which is something he’s well poised himself to do, it doesn’t mean the outcome will change. If he fights tooth and nail to the death, and he loses, it will surely spell the end of his political career…

Read the rest by Brian White at Glossy News. Oh, google it. The site is showing signs of not being well behaved so I’m not linking to it.

Franken lead rises to over 200

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And the worst case scenario is that this lead could drop by far less then necessary to turn the race around.

Everyone assumes that the loser, in this case Coleman, will file a law suit. It would fit with how the game has been played so far. But what would such a law suit do? It is not the case that there is some 300 votes laying around that Coleman could have if he won a suit. The best he could probably do, and this is very unlikely, is to get about 130 votes that may or may not have been double counted thrown out. Not enough.

The other thing Coleman could do with a law suit is to end his political career in Minnesota. It is now Obvious that Franken has won this race. If Coleman files a law suit, which he would have to do within seven days of the certification of the election (expected Monday), and the suit was heard by the State Supreme court (which it may well not be), then there would be a period of several (three or four) weeks during which time Coleman would be increasingly seen as not really caring about democracy. This, of course, would be happening as the other shoe drops on Coleman’s political career.
Continue reading Franken lead rises to over 200 →

New Analysis of the Franken-Coleman Senate Recount

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The current situation is this: We are waiting for a final decision next week on the outcome of the race, and most likely this outcome will start numerically with Franken’s current 49 vote lead and be adjusted by the addition of several hundred absentee ballots. The exact number of these ballots to consider is still being fought out.

Following the board’s decision next week, probably Wednesday, one of the candidates will be declared the winner (this is the job of the canvassing board …. to declare the winner) and sent to Washington. There may well be further court fights over this, but at some point the Senate seats its Senators and it is difficult to imagine how a court can overrule the Senate in this matter, as long as it has acted Constitutionally.

At some point, the candidate who loses will have to realize that there is not a legal “recourse” for losing an election.

Given that the absentee ballots are up for grabs and constitute the most important thing happening right now in the recount, I thought you might enjoy a brief analysis of what the possible outcomes might be. First, have a look at this graph:

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Continue reading New Analysis of the Franken-Coleman Senate Recount →

If Marriage is a Sacred Bond between Man and Woman ….

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This finger needs a ring! (soure)
… then it’s OK if the ‘woman’ is a guy in drag, right?

The couple walked into a Norfolk courthouse on a spring day, exchanged a few words, and within 10 minutes, were seemingly husband and wife.It was an unremarkable ceremony – except that several weeks later, officials realized the shapely bride might not have been a woman.Now authorities in Virginia, where same-sex marriages are illegal, are weighing whether to file misdemeanor charges against the couple, Antonio E. Blount, 31, and Justin L. McCain, 18. An announcement is expected this week.

Read the whole story here.The people who are insisting that marriage is only valid if it is people of different sexes are asking for it. It might, in many states, be easier to recognize gender orientations beyond hetero male and female as additional ‘sexes’ (in courts) than to get legislatures to pass non-discriminatory bills.Just as interesting would be the reaction in some legislatures…. Continue reading If Marriage is a Sacred Bond between Man and Woman …. →

The American South, Urban Areas, People of Color, Native Americans … In short, the poor and disadvantaged … suffer greatly from poverty-caused neglected diseases

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Triatoma infestans, Chagas vector
This is the conclusion of a report to be published in the June 2008 PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases journal. The report, by Peter Hotez of George Washington University and the Sabin Vaccine Institute, is a clear indictment of economic disparity in the United States. The bottom line: Many poor Americans are, effectively, living in a poorly managed third world country. Continue reading The American South, Urban Areas, People of Color, Native Americans … In short, the poor and disadvantaged … suffer greatly from poverty-caused neglected diseases →

The Christian Life and Character of the Civil Institutions of the United States

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The Christian Life and Character of the Civil Institutions of the United States by B. F. Morris was published in 1865. Recently, the Right Wing of the United States discovered this book, and wishes to present it as evidence that the United States is officially Christian.Whatever.I’m sure they are wrong, but the United States definitely is, and the Right Wing is in particular, driven by mercenary tendencies. So Human Events (which I monitor) is now hawking a commercial reprint of this early book. Here are some of the things the Right Wing is saying about this book: Continue reading The Christian Life and Character of the Civil Institutions of the United States →

Some News of Africa

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Do you have any idea of what is going on in Zimbabwe? And has been for quite some time? I’ve not chosen to make any effort to note the African news that I semi-regularly follow, but I think it is time for that to change. Expect a bit more. I don’t know how much insightful commentary I can add, but I can at least point to goings on of interest.In ZImbabwe, we have a situation of a long term leader who won’t seem to go away even though many people seem to want him to. There was an election recently, and that may have been co-opted by the ruling party. And this, today:

The bodies of four opposition activists have been found near the Zimbabwe capital, after being abducted, the Movement for Democratic Change says.An MDC spokesman accused supporters of President Robert Mugabe of being behind the deaths, ahead of next week’s poll.The body of Harare’s recently elected opposition mayor’s wife has also reportedly been found, badly burnt.source

Continue reading Some News of Africa →

Obama Likes Edward’s Heath Care

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Check this out:

Obama’s speech in Raleigh launching his economy tour is underway, and towards the end, during a discussion of health care, he drops a surprise aside that wasn’t in the speech’s prepared remarks:

“By the way, I’m going to be partnering with Elizabeth Edwards, we’re going to be figuring all this out.”

source

[Anybody know where I got this? It just was sitting there open on my computer … I’d like to give a ‘hat tip’ …. Maybe Obama has been poking around in my basement again….] Continue reading Obama Likes Edward’s Heath Care →