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Boo! The House Majority PAC Is Watching You
An anonymous reader writes I received some interesting mail this week from the House Majority PAC. First, a "voter report card" postcard telling me my voting record was "excellent" (I'm a good citizen!), but also letting me know that they "plan to update this report card after the election to see whether you voted". OK, so one of the Democratic Party's super PACs want me to vote, but it seems to be something of an attempt at intimidation. Today, I received a letter in which they really put the pressure on. Here are some excerpts: "Who you vote for is secret. But whether or not you vote is public record. Our organization monitors turnout in your neighborhood, and we are disappointed that many of your neighbors do not always exercise their right to vote." So why contact me instead of them? Voting is a civic duty, but it isn't illegal to abstain. That's my neighbors' business, not mine. It's one way of expressing dissatisfaction, isn't it? And if there are no candidates you wish to vote for, then why should you vote for someone you don't want? But Big Brother PAC has other ideas: "We will be reviewing the Camden County [NJ] official voting records after the upcoming election to determine whether you joined your neighbors who voted in 2014. If you do not vote this year, we will be interested to hear why not." The letter is signed "Joe Fox Election day Coordinator". So what happens if I don't vote? Well, at least I got a scare this Halloween. Are PACs using similar tactics in other states?
I've gotten three of the same things from "American's for Prosperity"
I live in Louisiana.
As with most of the Republican "outrages of the day", this isn't new. In 2012 a Republican PAC called Americans for Limited Growth was doing the same thing:
‘Vote history audit’ shows whether your neighbors voted
As usual, now that Democrats are doing it too, it's the worst thing ever.
Sounds like classic case of voter intimidation - but threatening voters *to* vote is new. Go vote for a third party or something.
"We'll be checking the voting records. It would be a real shame if you didn't vote. We would need to visit you personally."
I eat only the real part of complex carbohydrates.
Whether you show up to vote (not whether you actually vote) is recorded. However, given the trouble they are having with vote buying in both WV and KY I doubt they actually release the specific info.
BTW, they both (republican and democrat) got my info wrong because I moved to this district recently.
I consider this an attempt at intimidation and won't bow to it. I would join any lawsuit if they released any list of individuals whether they showed up to vote or not.
This is a sig. This is only a sig. Had this been an actual sig you would have been informed where to tune for more sigs.
As it turns out, in all 50 states, whether or not you voted is a matter of public record among other things besides.
In California for example, all of your voter registration information is transmitted to anyone, anyone who asks.
Real political change is brought about by lobbies. If someone wants to do something about the state of things, he either founds a lobby or supports an existing lobby that champions his cause (and by "supports" I mean "gives cold hard cash to.").
Voting does not have the same level of impact. This is obvious to everyone who is paying attention. All the candidates lie, and all wind up responding to political force rather than to what is right. So, those who pay attention simply apply the sort of political force that actually moves politicians, and they don't bother with voting.
Why are they so interested in voter turnout? Mostly because it perpetuates the illusion that voting actually matters, and keeps poor people like us from bothering with the lobbies.
As well as those "register to vote the day of the election" deals. If you can't be bothered to pre-register to vote, or need to be pestered to vote, then you probably get 100% of your info on candidate's and issues from the mailers and TV/radio commercials. In other words, you've just digested a load of garbage and have nothing with which to make an informed choice. Uninformed voters are assholes, keep them out of the voting booth.
I'm fine with you voting in a way I think is repugnant, as long as you've done a bit of research and actually have a reason for voting the way you do.
(Here's my response to something like this, and you may use it if you like...)
I have a right to vote or not, as I decide. It's entirely my business if I voted or not, and for whom or what I either did or didn't vote, when I voted, where I voted, etc.
My vote is MINE, and no one else'. If I vote for a "third" party or independent candidate, neither of the "two" parties' candidates has had a vote "stolen" from them. For example: in the last US Presidential election, I cast my vote for Gary Johnson. Mr. Johnson didn't "steal" a vote from Obama, nor did he "steal" it from Romney, as it didn't belong to either of those losers in the first place. It belonged to ME, and I cast it according to my will. No one is a "spoiler" in an election. My vote is MINE to bestow upon whomever or whatever I see fit. It is also mine to opt NOT TO BESTOW, AND MY REASONS ARE MY OWN. They are not subject to questioning by anyone, or for any reason.
If you don't like that, why...
YOU CAN GO FUCK YOURSELF IN THE ASS WITH A BROKEN WHISKEY BOTTLE SIDEWAYS, YOU GODDAMNED, MOTHERFUCKING, DICK-HEADED, PILE OF LIVING, BREATHING, HUMAN DOG SHIT!!!
Sincerely,
(Your name here--optional.)
Not voting isn't the same as expressing dissatisfaction with all of the candidates, it is the same as voting for the candidate who wins. In a real voting system, one of the options would be "none of these candidates should be allowed to hold office".
Seriously, why and how did this ever get posted? "I got political material in my mailbox in an election year", big deal. How is this stuff that matters or even news? Yeah if you vote is recorded, as is jury duty and car registrations. So what?
putting the 'B' in LGBTQ+
We should have an amendment that every ballot must contain the choice "none of the above". I would go voting every time.
... that they're interested to hear peoples' reasons for not voting?
Don't just stand there, get that other dog!
Using peer pressure to shame people into a preferred action common. E.g. "Did you know that 80% of the other visitors in the hotel choose to reuse their towels" or "Did you know your neighbors are using 50% less water than they were a year ago?" In politics, "vote shaming" is employed by representatives of both major parties.
More here: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2012/11/02/peer-pressure-and-voting/1675019/
Which you can read about here. And his letter didn't come from a PAC, it came from the Democratic Party.
I've never gotten anything remotely like this letter from the Republican Party or a conservative PAC (and I probably get well over 200 begging direct-mail solicitations a year).
I don't see such intimidation tactics as paying off for them...
Lawrence Person (lawrencepersonh@gmailh.com (remove all "h"s to mail)
http://www.lawrenceperson.com/
So it's time for us to take over some new territories? Canada? Mexico? The Bahamas? After all that is traditional for the USA
Obligatory South Park reference (NSFW).
"So after all this, you make my case for me. To end this stalemate, you must die..."
That only Republicans use FUD to get votes?
Democrats: Vote or we’ll kick your ass
http://nypost.com/2014/10/30/d...
VP Biden Says Republicans Are ‘Going to Put Y’all Back in Chains’
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/po...
Democrats ‘Shame’ Voters With Mailers
http://online.wsj.com/articles...
They want people who are easily swayed and don't look in to shit to go out and vote for their guys. They know an election could easily be swung if you can get people like that to vote for you.
Sometimes from the outside we foreigners receive reports on the aggressive voter shaking, like getting phoned automatically.
Also the problem that some of those campaingers try to conceal or obfuscate their true origin to use a reverse psychological reaction to their advantage.
This "House Majority PAC" actually from my POV reeks as such a reverse thingy.
- page design & clumsy argumentation for example
If I would project myself into your place and would have been more likely to vote democratic than republican previous. This could make me angry and I would change to either "fuck off" from all voting or reverse my voting tendency.
It would been anoying to be bombarded with this load of crap, thank PASTA we don't have to.
But there is only one solution to this, because voting really is important, but when politicians and supporters don't know where politics turns out to be nothing more than a joke, and every vote turns into a dumb sheep shoven it's mostly the time to start an alternative that really is an alternative in being none.
All within the ruleset but ridiculing the current campaigners by beating them with their own ridiculous nonsense.
Example from germany:
In germany we have the party that's calling itself "the Party"/"Die Partei".
A satiristic nonsense party that ridicules other politicians and parties not by harrasing them, instead by just throwing some of their slogans back against them.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D...
Hey, that means we have six years to plan the campaign.
(Not actually joking...)
"[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz
Clearly this person registered as a Repub (which is a public record) and they want you to spread the word. The Repubs need recruits in NJ. I live in Virginia where you don't have to declare a party. They try to figure out who their friends are by sending out letters purporting to be a "survey". They have a bar coded serial number on them. It has questions that are the usual drivel such as "Do you believe in socialized medicine?" I just cut out the barcode and send back the post paid envelope with "FUCK YOU" written with a sharpie.
A house divided against itself cannot stand, but a democracy divided against itself cannot do further damage. Always vote for the minorities.
Ethics II Axiom 2. "Man thinks." B. Spinoza
If you don't like any of the choices, write your own name in there. That way, you at least voted for someone you trust.
Get all your friends to vote for you as well, and you might even get mentioned on the evening news.
Were I a greater sleazebag than I am, and were I, a democrat, willing to go way out on a limb, I'd try to make it look like the GOP was heavy handedly watching their votes with sleazy mailings like this to their loyal voters, to turn them off to their party. I couldn't do such a thing, but in my state, the GOP has been caught over and over pulling nasty scams. I have no doubt my party has it's share of underhanded tricksters too. I assume this is a piece of partisan sleaze.
Don't step on the baby.
The summary starts by mentioning the House Majority Pac, and then segues to a claim a Democratic Pac wants to push people to vote. The House is, of course, where the Republicans have the majority, not the Democrats. Both sides aren't doing it, one side is.
Who is John Cabal?
If there's no candidates that you want to vote for, there's almost always a candidate you want to vote against. If I don't like any candidate, I put my vote behind the least objectionable one to reduce the chances of the more objectionable ones getting in. It may not help, but at least I'm not just handing the keys over to the guy I hate most.
And in my book it might not be a bad thing to see a little peer pressure applied. I know a lot of loud complainers about how bad the government and politicians are who're also the proud of the fact that they skipped voting because the politicians are so bad. If you don't like the politicians, how do you propose to get rid of them if you stay away from the polls and leave the election in the hands of the people who want them to stay? I know I've seen the complainers shut up in a hurry when I point out that they had a chance to at least vote for someone not as bad as the guy they're complaining about and they passed on it, and once this fact got out the people listening to them started either ignoring their complaints or telling them to shut it until they'd done something about what they were complaining about.
Submitter must be some uneducated PC technician fuckwit to live in that ghetto...
You may be unaware of how big Camden County is. Points for harshing on Camden (city) but full penalty and three-game suspension for reading comprehension failure and then calling the submitter names about his intelligence because of your fail.
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
There was a study done a few years ago where the researchers found that if they simply sent people a grade showing how their voting compared to their neighbors, and then assured them that they'd do a followup study afterwards, they could increase voter turnout by something like 30% I can't remember who it was or anything...
I never saw it amount to much until this year. There's a governors race here in Wisconsin and the Democratic challenger Marry Burk is specifically and very heavily targeting women. They're sending activists around to our house every other day or so where they ask "Can we speak to your wife please?" which gives me ample opportunity for one liners like "She's busy mopping the kitchen, she's not allowed to talk to other women until shes done, come back later."
Anyways, one other tactic has been them to send these "Grades" regarding her voting habits and veiled threats to tell her friends about her. The ironic thing is that there are apparently mutiple groups sending them and not communicating because her "patriotism grade" is floating all over the place.
Long story short, If you're voting (D) or (R) You're the problem.
But I agree, there is really no substance to this post. Hell, in many countries, Australia for instance, voting is mandatory. It's a crime not to. (You don't have to vote for anyone, but you must turn your ballot in.)
But heaven forfend that anyone be asked why they didn't vote in an election, that's so.. so... so! A first-world problem to be truly outraged about.
Can't say I disagree with you. Do you have any ideas for a better system?
Snowden won't be eligible to run until the 2020 election.
He won't ever be eligible.
All the man has to do is get him convicted for something in absentia, and he loses his right to run for office as well as his right to vote. Or toss him in jail as soon as he sets foot on US soil, and he'd also become ineligible.
It's nice when you have a system where you can weed out unwanted political figures that easily.
Not very democratic, though. Which is why voting and running for election are inalienable rights in most democracies.
This may backfire this time around.
It tells the voters that whether they voted can be checked - by ANYONE.
Whether they're citizens can ALSO be checked - by anyone.
If they voted and are not citizens, they've just committed a felony. ANYONE can create a database of that, and use it to bring pressure on law enforcement, employers, and so on.
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
We should have an amendment that every ballot must contain the choice "none of the above".
With teeth:
If "none of the above" wins, the office is empty until filled by another election, and none of the candidates who lost to "none of the above" may run for that office in the next election for it.
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
I don't see where the Constitution state that "fourteen Years a Resident within the United States" have to be the most recent years, or even consecutive. Where is relevant case law?
You don't mind choosing between a couple of extra bus fares and eating lunch, do you?
I don't know about Toronto's public transit, but even in Fort Wayne's underprovisioned system (60 minute headway and no service at all at night, on Saturday evenings, or on Sundays or major holidays), riders can buy a pass for unmetered rides within a four and a half week period.
Snowden won't be eligible to run until the 2020 election.
He won't ever be eligible.
All the man has to do is get him convicted for something in absentia, and he loses his right to run for office as well as his right to vote. Or toss him in jail as soon as he sets foot on US soil, and he'd also become ineligible.
It's nice when you have a system where you can weed out unwanted political figures that easily.
Not very democratic, though. Which is why voting and running for election are inalienable rights in most democracies.
He's a bit more than an "unwanted political figure". You're glossing over the fact that he released tons of classified government information. I'm not going to argue whether it was right or wrong, but using Snowden to support an argument of a broken or corrupt election process is quite a stretch.
Tired of being "punished" by the Slashdot $rtbl since 2002. I'm now over at http://soylentnews.org/ .
Plenty of people in the government swear to defend the constitution, and yet that doesn't stop them from violating it. A real patriot would tell The People about the government's treacherous/immoral actions, as Snowden did.
I'm not going to argue whether it was right or wrong
Why not? That's *extremely* important. If the law is unjust, then that is something to consider.
What leftists? I haven't seen any of those since the '70s. They are all on Social Security and voting Republican to increase subsidies and welfare for the well-off seniors.
Learn to love Alaska
Felonies can prevent you from voting, but they can't prevent you from being a Presidential candidate. The only rules on that are in the Constitution, and the Founders didn't bother to include a ban on felons holding office.
They may not "know" how you vote, but rest assured they would not send you such a letter unless they thought you'd vote the way they'd like you to. If they can get you to influence other votes, all the better.
Well don't vote for someone you don't want.
But don't just stay at home. If you don't vote at all, you will be interpreted as lazy or disinterested or failing to uphold your civic duty. If you drop a blank ballot, and sign it, that sends a message.
Something similar showed up in my mailbox a couple times.. dont recall which group sent it though.
You mean you read that crap?
Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
Although I loath the right wing there really is no left wing to vote for at all. The US needs some radical changes and no politician is willing to do a single thing that really helps. For example we need to limit reproduction and stop immigration completely or we will suffer deep poverty and ruin. The very last thing we need is growth. We need quality and we need a highly educated population. My vote will do nothing to improve anything. The ignorant masses will continue to have babies they can not afford to have. People will not be educated, Corporations will not be held responsible. The legal system will remain an idiotic mess. We are in a spiral headed for the gulping sound at which our nation will be mixed with raw sewage. Our politicians care about their money and position and nothing else at all.
Nothing new here; University of Wisconsin law prof and blogger Ann Althouse related the (apparently quite similar) mailings she received during the 2012 campaign. Those apparently worked, so it isn't surprising that the Dems would try the same dirty tricks again.
It's the "(We WISH we were the) House Majority (and maybe we will be again, but not THIS time) Pac ".
Ummmm..... Wrong. As the mailer said, they don't know HOW you voted, but the fact that you did - or didn't - is public record. They even know whether you voted in person, or by mail. They even know if you requested an absentee or vote-by-mail ballot and didn't return it.
And the stats are extracted per PRECINCT, which is pretty darned granular.
Big computers and massive databases - especially when run out of the most corrupt White House in history - can be scary things.
I see what you're trying to do, but do we really want the incumbent deciding whether or not your review of his election is a legitimate use?
We already have tens of thousands of laws, including a great many concerning elections. I suspect a decent lawyer could argue that these letters violate a few laws.
I mean, would two non-gay roommates end up in a "common law" marriage now if they live together for long enough?
Common law marriages are idiotic to begin with. They shouldn't assume that just because you lived together with someone for X amount of time, that you're together.
That's a bit of an urban legend. The first requirement for common law marriage is that you hold yourself out as husband and wife over an extended period of time - that you go around introducing her as "my wife" and she says things like "my husband bought ...". This indicates that the couple has decided that they are married.
The second requirement is that they live together as husband and wife. Examples of living as husband and wife include things like having a joint checking account or filling taxes as "married".
Note that BOTH requirements have to be met - the couple has to go around saying they are married (proving they've decided to be married) AND they have to actually do so - actually do the things married people do.
If a couple decides to be married and they do so for a long time, the court will simply recognize what already is true. So for example when one dies, their spouse will have rights to the property, because they did in fact live their lives as a marriage - not as roommates.
Whoop-tee shit! It's a stupid and desperate strategy precisely because most people will react as you did but nobody is trying to threaten or intimidate you, though they may be trying to shame or coerce you into engaging with your friends and neighbours in order to encourage them to engage in the political system. I think they are frustrated and grasping at straws because political discourse in the US has deteriorated to such an extent that the process has become mostly dysfunctional.
You need to register once, that's it. I registered to vote when I was 18, and never again. That makes you valid for all elections.
Also, in most if not all counties, you can have your ballot mailed to you. That's what I do. I would much rather vote at home and mail it back than bother to go to a voting booth. There is no charge for this service, you just fill out and mail in a form, or call, or fill out a form online (which is what I did) and the county recorder mails you a ballot when an election happens. They also mail you all the official election materials listing candidates, propositions (short text, full text, and legislative analysis) and so on.
Really, it is dead easy to get to vote on your schedule. If you don't, that's on you.
Take your political news to a political news website, we really don't give a damn about American politics. Returns Slashdot to its former glory, we want technology news!
If you don't want to carry out your duty as a citizen, that's fine, you just have to put up with the government chosen by those who did.
Of course with a few quirks like blatant Gerrymanders of course from the State level and other weirdness at the county level that strongly influence who gets in.
Compulsory voting run by an impartial nation wide body is likely to deliver more than two choices in some places and more than the single choice in others. People may actually end up with a government that listens to them instead of what Rupert Murdoch has decided will be on Fox News.
Hidden ballot voting systems beg for corruption. Open voting is the best way to deal with this. It's as simple as "everybody who votes for Johnny raise their hand."
Political correctness is really just herd psychology pushed by insecure people who desperately seek social conformity.
It is SOP for BOTH parties to check voting records, what ISN'T SOP is the implied THREAT at the end of the letter "If you don't vote in this election, WE will want to know WHY"
-- 73 de KG2V For the Children - RKBA! "You are what you do when it counts" - the Masso
I don't need to know if you have voted to send you two letters, one which says "You have a excellent voting record" and "You have a bad voting record". That's classic astrology stuff. Just send letters with something which applies to everyone. It's working, you have decided that the first one was a personalized letter and the second is one that they have send to everyone, while your neighbor that doesn't vote just think the opposite.
Is that voting records are public records. And ever since 2006 when the Help America Vote Act was passed - almost every state has a centralized database of all voters that they'll sell for a modest fee to anyone.
I've long had a copy of the voter database for my state on my computer. You just never know when it comes in handy.
They didn't bother sending anything out here in Kochs home-state. By all signs their puppy Mike Pompeo is already in place. On the other hand they are pouring funds into Roberts campaign against the Independent (clearly Democrat) Orman and I have a 3 lb pile of ads to prove it.
*Repent!Quit Your Job!Slack Off!The World Ends Tomorrow and You May Die!
Same as usual. Don't go with the flow. Don't swim against the current. Neither rule is a substitute for making choices.
"There are some people that if they don't know, you can't tell them." ~ Louis Armstrong
i think it should be available to " people from each campaign" or even create judges of some sort whos only role in the election is to verify votes. The information should not be used for these types of bullshit mailers
have you seen my sig? there are many others like it but none that are the same
As the super PAC focused on holding Republicans accountable and helping Democrats win seats in the House, House Majority PAC combines innovative new approaches with time-tested strategies to do battle with Republican outside groups and make a difference.
Look at the people on their staff, most of them worked for Obama's 2012 campaign.
I donated about $50 to Ron Paul when he was running in 2008. Campaign laws require that to be a public record so since then I've received about 1000 letters from various GOP candidates saying I'm a valuable supporter and asking for money. I typically hate every single one of their positions so I just mail back their prepaid envelope.
I love Jesus, except for his foreign policy.
The lists have existed 'forever' and have been used in elections for decades. Where do you think campaigns get their lists if voters from?
Ken
And if there are no candidates you wish to vote for, then why should you vote for someone you don't want?
That is why there is a need for None of The Above to be introduced as an option.
Is sending around 'Election Violation Notice'-s to democrats that imply that if they vote for his opponent, they're committing a crime. Very official looking.
So don't tell me "voter fraud is nearly non-existent". We have plenty of existence proofs
And that's ONE reason why the Electorial College, rather than at-large election of the president, is important: It provides a firewall that limits the amount of voting power a single corrupt political machine can deliver in the presidential election. (The other elected officials are by region, which limits the number of them one corrupt machine can deliver.) With popular vote one big state with a corrupted election process can swamp the rest of the country and control the White House.
Remember the Florida recount? Imagine a close presidential election if the office were by popular vote. You'd have to recount the WHOLE COUNTRY.
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
True statement! Of course, Nixon was a piker on the corruption front compared to the incumbent.
There's some local variation, but not nearly as much as popular misconception would have you believe. It's called COMMON law for a reason, after all. This is the law as commonly applied by many courts over hundreds of years.
The other type of law is statutory law. Different jurisdictions have different statutes regarding controversial topics. (They tend to use codes and model statutes for non-controversial topics.) The statutes generally codifyan official way of getting married and registering that marriage with the state; a marriage license and such. The common law, including common law marriage, is concerned with fair ways of dealing with actual facts, using principles of fairness developed over hundreds of years. This is largely separate from the written statutes. Local statutes will specify how you can get an official piece of paper saying that you're married, and thatvaries from place to place. Common law deals with people who are _in_fact_ a family, regardless if what Abby piece if paper says. Much of common law was decided in thirteenth century England, so it was already decided before your city existed.
Probably the fact that most of them were felons, at least in the view of the British, had a lot to do with that.
Apocalypse Cancelled, Sorry, No Ticket Refunds
whether registered voters exercise the right is contained in every state's registration of voters. this open document is supplemented at political parties by canvassing each election in their own databases (in Minnesota at least, it's called the VAN.) every survey or doorknock you take, you update the VAN.
just like Amazon tracks your purchases and makes recommendations, and Facebook suggests new friends and a bunch of bogus ads for crap you want to shoot like skeet.
because the vote is secret, you can game the VAN if you so choose. the percentages of error are going to be really, really small, so it doesn't matter whether you do or not. a million won't for the prankster that does. it's thus a ton more accurate than anybody else's survey of 467 landline users in WAKO-TV land.
big data has been trained to slavery for politicians. to a very fine point. make of it what you will.
if this is supposed to be a new economy, how come they still want my old fashioned money?
And guess how they are watching you?
They are getting your information from google and facebook who volunteer the database of personal information they have compiled on you.
I've also been harrassed by democratic party activists in real life. They even used a few of my old friend's they converted.
I'll be honest, I might be receptive to a handful of their political ideas, but I feel like I live in a police state where I have had people I used to trust spy on me for soley political purposes.
If this wasn't bad, its the language some of these people use when on other social networking, and other sites with political discussion, they are the first to deviate from the issues. They use loaded language, and repeat claims that they want to lock up opposition. They are very suspicous, and even the slightest deviation from their platform they will attack, in every offense way up to, but exlcuding violence to punish people who step out of line. if you are to the "right" of their position, your a "republican agent", to the "left", a "dangerous extremist", of both which they openly declare their desire to arrest and harrass by any means neccary.
They are fairly comfortable with doublespeak, and have one set of values in public, another in private, and the two get further everytime I run into one.
I'm not a radical because I want to be, or because I think its cool, or any romantic notion. I am a radical because I have no other options really. I am not a radical because I encourage political violence, or spying, or malice, but because I am opposed to it. I am not a radical because I am an extremist, but because I'm not an extremist. I am a radical because its the only way I could really be honest about myself, and the political system of the United States of America. The system has failed. We have a paper democracy, but the net effect is at least one major party(potentially two, I never had any real run ins with the republicans), has their own private gestapo. They use language like war, spies, double agents, and most important "enemy" to describe the opposition in a supposedly democratic system. Most of these people are white privledged hipsters who never been to war, and many if not most would never hack in the army.(I have, I came back home to this.).
We are not free. We do not have in effect open elections. We don't have rights, we have privledges the government can wave at any time under either "homeland security", or "the war on drugs", even if we are not terrorists or drug dealers.
Relevant example: Edwin Edwards is currently on the ballot for U.S. House seat in Louisiana. He can apparently do this as a convicted felon because he has completed all of his prison sentence and probation. I am not sure, but it's possible that he can stand for office even if he cannot vote.
For Federal office the only barriers are those laid down in the Constitution:
You have to be a certain age (25 for House, 30 for Senate, and 35 for President/VP).
There are citizenship and residency requirements (ie: the President has to be a "natural born citizen," whatever that means; and legislators have to be resident in their state on election day).
So Edwards could actually run for US House office from a prison cell, as long as the prison was in the same state as the prison. He couldn't vote from prison, but he could run, and honestly I can't think of anything that would bar him from actually assuming office. As a convicted felon, in prison. He'd probably be immediately expelled by the House, tho.
http://thinkprogress.org/elect...
The ad is a variation of a GOTV (Get Out The Vote) strategy called “vote shaming.” The tactic is employed by liberals and conservatives to use social psychology to increase the chances that people vote. In every state but Virginia, whether or not you participated in an election is public. “[I]f you publicize something, it has a very powerful effect on behavior,” Chris Larimer, an Iowa political scientist, told USA Today in 2012.
The Facebook ads at issue go beyond traditional “vote shaming” by strongly implying that their ballot will not be secret. Two Facebook users who posted screenshots of the ad on social media confirmed to ThinkProgress that they had seen the ads on their Facebook newsfeed.
Should say 'Your Neighbors Will Know If You Don’t Vote Republican' but /. accepts more chars in subject input then chops the end off.
It would be something to consider if the US was a third world country or ruled by some awful dictator. Exiled felons fighting "the system" typically don't end up getting elected in the US or even considered by the general public. Regardless, it's hardly an example of a corrupt election process or democracy gone bad.
Tired of being "punished" by the Slashdot $rtbl since 2002. I'm now over at http://soylentnews.org/ .
But it is. He's a patriot, and merely breaking unjust laws shouldn't disqualify him from anything.
Wonder if they'll be seeing how many people from the cemetaries voted for the Democrats. Mental capacity is about the same.
Hey it's funny, lighten up.
I got the same thing in the mail but for Wake County saying very similar things. I am registered unaffiliated. I was livid and emailed the NC Democratic Party how irritated I was. And I had already voted a week before. If I had gotten that letter before I would of not voted just out of spite. They had excerpts like " you let your community down by failing to vote", "our organization monitors turnout in your community and it would be an understatement to say we are disappointed by the inconsistent voting of many of your neighbors." I felt like I was getting the shake down.Grrr!
What the fuck? Intimidation? Because someone sent you a form letter asking you to vote? They sure seems to making some folks with awfully thin skin. And someone might come to your house/apartment to ask you to vote. I guess you could always tell them to go to hell or something.
But no... Da man must be harassing me.
That is all.
Publication 17, Part 2 covers the various filing statae.
http://www.irs.gov/publication...
Considered married. You are considered married for the whole year if, on the last day of your tax year, you and your spouse meet any one of the following tests.
You are married and living together as a married couple.
You are living together in a common law marriage recognized in the state where you now live or in the state where the common law marriage began.
You said "my girlfriend and I". You did not say "my wife and I". If you do not consider yourself to be married, do not lie on your tax forms and claim that you are. That would be tax fraud. File as married only if you consider yourself to be married, you tell other people you're married, and your state recognizes common-law marriage. (Even at that, if you're married, you may as well take a few minutes to file the paperwork with the state.)
But he's not disqualified. Convicted felons can serve in federal office, and Snowden isn't even a convicted felon, yet. So he can run for office. This quite simply isn't an example of a corrupt election process. He can run and get elected. Whether he sets foot on US soil and gets arrested is an entirely different issue. Getting elected to office doesn't absolve one of a crime, unless he somehow can grant himself a pardon.
Tired of being "punished" by the Slashdot $rtbl since 2002. I'm now over at http://soylentnews.org/ .