Far East Cynic

Principled conservatism…………..

UPDATE: Here is how they do it. And in a note to my commenters-“most election law is state law”.

We’ll skip any discussion of “curb-stomping” and how its all the victim’s fault-so therefore the stomped should be doing the apologizing.

Original Post:

You know, if the teabaggers want to stop being compared to brownshirts, they might want to stop acting like them:

NPR received a bomb threat Monday, five days after its decision to fire news analyst Juan Williams sparked a hugely negative reaction.

Sources at the news organization said the threat was received via U.S. mail and was immediately turned over to local police and the FBI. The organization did not publicly disclose the threat or release details, on the advice of law enforcement officials.

The letter didn’t reference the Williams firing specifically, but people at NPR, who spoke about it on the condition of anonymity, said the timing and tone suggested it was sent after Williams’s widely publicized termination.

Or this:

Tea Party members have started challenging voter registration applications and have announced plans to question individual voters at the polls whom they suspect of being ineligible.

In response, liberal groups and voting rights advocates are sounding an alarm, claiming that such strategies are scare tactics intended to suppress minority and poor voters.

In St. Paul, organizers from the Tea Party and related groups announced this week that they were offering a $500 reward for anyone who turned in someone who was successfully prosecuted for voter fraud.

The group is also organizing volunteer “surveillance squads” to photograph and videotape what it suspects are irregularities, and in some cases to follow buses that take voters to the polls.

In Milwaukee last week, several community groups protested the posting of large billboards throughout the city that show pictures of people behind jail bars under the words “We Voted Illegally.” The protesters said the posters — it was not clear who paid for them — were intended to intimidate people from voting.

In Houston, a Tea Party group called the King Street Patriots recently accused a voter registration group, Houston Votes, of turning in voter registration applications with incorrect information.

By what authority can they do this? And how long till we have to hear the words-Black Panther again?

  1. Skippy,
    In the first article, where does it say that it was from a Tea Party person? I think you are jumping the gun on that one just as much as they are on issues too.

    Tell me about the cases being reported in the news about people starting to early vote in NV, and no matter how they vote, the screen showed that they voted a straight Democrat ticket, or the other case where when they went in the booth, the ballot was all ready marked for the Democratic person.

    The Black Panthers were there supporting the Dems in the 08 election. The question you should ask, is why did the Feds drop the case against them, when they had won the case against them because they didn’t show to challenge?

    If anyone is suggesting “brownshirt” activitiy, I think that the next “Reichstag fire” will be done by the purple shirts from the SEIU.

  2. The Illinois State Board of Elections has been lying about the status of military absentee ballots and a lazy Department of Justice has allowed itself to be duped.

    Over 35 counties in Illinois missed the deadline to mail military ballots to our soldiers defending America. But in Chicago, county election officials have taken special steps to ensure that no inmates at the Cook County Jail are unable to cast a ballot.

    New York disclosed last week that election officials had missed an Oct. 1 deadline to mail absentee ballots to such overseas voters from New York City and the counties of Erie, Niagara, Putnam and Westchester.

  3. Since the Justice Department has no interest in maintaining and enforcing federal election laws then I’m glad somebody is out watching for fraud.

  4. I find it interesting that skippy has many posts from writers that call people who lean toward the Tea Party as nothing but knuckle dragging mouth breathers, who don’t understand the complicated world of politics and don’t know what they are getting into.

    But, as it seems to appear that their movement may actually make a difference in the upcoming election, now they are all of a sudden devious and shrewed enough to manipulate the system by tampering with the polling places.

    It’s never the fault that the Dems and the liberals may have screwed it up, but that the other guys have cheated.

  5. Maurice,

    First of all I like John Cole. He’s from Pittsburgh and he is a dissalussioned Republican, just like me. That he bashes the Tea Party is just a bonus. I like people who bash the tea party because I hold them in the contempt they richly deserve.

    Second-and my posts bear this out pretty clearly, the Tea Party is more of a testament to the stupidity and selfishness of the average American-than to any inherent brightness on their part. As I pointed out several times before, Obama lost this election back in 2009 when these idiots were allowed to subvert the message-and subsequently when he failed to communicate clearly the need for changes that are required in this country.

    On the whole Obama has not done so badly-however thanks to the inability of the Dems to communicate, and the overall Teabag noise machine which has turned up the anger level to a near fever pitch-the American people have been particularly susceptable to the lies that Teabagger nation tells. As Chuck Todd said a few days ago: But the anger this cycle — culminating in Monday’s stomping in Kentucky — feels so much more different. Just think back to the contentious town halls in the summer of 2009, Joe Wilson’s “You lie,” and Newt Gingrich agreeing that the best way to describe the president is as a Kenyan anti-colonialist. More recently, we’ve seen the Carl Paladino phenomenon, a candidate’s security detail handcuffing a reporter, and Frank Caprio telling the president to “shove it.” And then there’s all the women candidates (from both parties) aggressively saying, “Man up.” Maybe our memories are too short, but the level of anger, disrespect, and incivility seems to be at an all-time high right now..

    We have worthless whores like Sarah Palin and the crew at Fox News to thank for that-and the overall gullibility and stupidity of a significant percentage of the American people. These are the same people who have not woken up to the fact the world has changed, and the fuzzy world they want back is never coming back. That they are doing well now is not smarts-its just luck. If there are any smarts at play it is those of the men behind the curtain who are pulling the strings and leading this group of swine over the cliff.

    The odds are good the GOP will win big on Tuesday-but it still does not mean the Tea Party has anything useful to say to the country. I will continue to mock them and attack them at every opportunity. Could not happen to a to a more deserving bunch of guys. Eventually, as the French revolution did-they will turn on each other and self destruct. When that happens it will be the men behind the curtain such as Dick Armey who will walk away laughing all the way to the bank.

    As for voter fraud-lets not forget who had to turn to the Supreme Court to win a Presidential election. Voter itimidation is an old Carl Rove tactic.

  6. Now to answer Richard.

    Consider the source. That guy is a British version of a Teabagger and not exactly representative of British opinion as a whole.

  7. As I pointed out to you before the 87.5 million number was in error. The NYT ran a story showing that. And they only closed the gap in the last two weeks-playing defense. Details here.

    And part of that was my making donations to the Democrats in Curtis’ and Maurice’s name this week. 🙂

  8. Funny how anybody and everybody who disagrees with the demlibprog party are ‘stupid and gullible’. There’s very little room for reasoned debate when the dim side rejects all and any debate as the feeble arguments of the ‘stupid and gullible’. We both know where we fall on this divide.

    Lying mendacious swine are all democrats and they seem to have all the vast corporate wealth of the Wall Street Plutocrats and Nazi Soros at their back but anybody who dares to disagree is treated like shit by folks like Skippy. Where’d all the stimulus go skippy? What about all the bailouts? Who got all the $ when the ONE gave 2 car companies to their unions over the bond holders and stock holders? You have a fairly robust defense against the obvious. Democrats and their supporters loot the economy on a scale you can’t even imagine.

    Tell me. What did YOU get from that 1.9 trillion $ stimulus? Wanna bet all your favorite SEIU and Union and Democrat lobbyists walked away with a $ million each?

  9. Curtis-I’m so glad a gave money to the Democrats in your name. They will appreciate it and so should you.

    What did I get from the Stimulus-a lot. For one thing, my TSP account is almost back to where it was in 2008. My other investments are doing better and the Stimulus had a lot to do with that. I still have a job-and part of that is due to money that poured into Huntsville for missile defense and BRAC. Oh and the stimulus was only 787 billion, NOT 1.9 Trillion.

    Based on its economic models, the Congressional Budget Office recently estimated that between 1.4 million and 3.4 million workers who have jobs would be unemployed if the stimulus hadn’t been enacted. Three of the best-known private economic research firms — IHS Global Insight, Macroeconomic Advisers and Moody’s Economy.com — have come up with similar estimates. The average estimated effect on employment is about 2.5 million jobs.

    TARP? The final cost to the taxpayers was only 50 billion dollars. Just like with the Stimulus we avoided a great depression. I can get credit again-and in a personal benefit to me I was able to refiance my house. So yea banks!

    Auto bailout? It saved a hell of a lot of AMERICAN jobs. GM and Chrysler are getting back on their feet and many of the excesses of the past — overproduction, bloated vehicle lineups, expensive rebates — are gone.

    Got any other questions? I am getting a wider road to go to work on.

    Its not that the damn Teabaggers disagree, it is the way they disagree. They have the gall to ignore the facts and then call me names like “Plutocrat”, “Nazi” and “Socialist”-and then expect me to have a reasoned discussion? Not a chance.

    As Danile Monyihan said-you are entitled to your own opinion, not your own facts.

    That’s a lesson the teabaggers haven’t learned yet-and so I will continue to scorn them. Deservedly so.

    The thing all these teabag morons keep ignoring is how bad things reallly were. And how bad things would be if nothing had been done. An ambulance stops by the roadside to help a man suffering from a heart attack. After desperate measures, the patient survives. Brought into hospital, he then makes a protracted and partial recovery. Then, two years later, far from feeling grateful, he sues the paramedics and doctors. If it were not for their interference, he insists, he would be as good as new. As for the heart attack, it was a minor event. He would have been far better off if he had been left alone

    Ungrateful bastards.

  10. Skippy,
    Rob Weiner was on Politically Incorrect this past weekend making the connection that the Tea Party is just waiting for the right person to come along so that they can follow like the Nazi’s. So why is it that he can call a large portion of Americans who believe a certain way Nazi’s, but if the GOP says it, all hell breaks loose.

    I guess you, like Katie Couric think that they are just a bunch of “unwashed masses” that need guidance.

  11. So Skippy, you have broken FEC campaign finance law by donating money in someone elses name. Now you really are a Democrat, principled.

  12. Well unfortunately-the Nazi analogy is charged with bad images. But Weiner’s point is basically correct, “movements” like the Tea Party are dangerous because they are susceptible to manipulation by someone. In many ways you are seeing that with the actions of the people who are organizing and bankrolling them-Dick Armey, Palin, and the rest of the crowd. They are cynically using people who seem to be incapable of thinking for themselves.

    You need to come back to this country for a while and see how far it has fallen politically and in terms of basic infrastructure. You are living over in Paradise, seeing this place from afar. I’ve been stuck here for the past 2+years, its not any fun.

    It is not that I view the American people as unwashed, it is that they are making incredibly bad choices in defiance of the facts. It is interesting that I get accused of incivility for criticizing a movement that has become identified prominently for its utter incivility — a movement that is as uncivil in the public square as any in my lifetime, a movement that ascribes the absolute worst motives to its political opponents, accuses them of being out to willfully gut the Constitution and destroy the country, and then talks about “Second Amendment solutions” should they not get their way at the ballot box.

    These people are fundamentally wrong. That they have numbers with them does not make them any less wrong. The American people have made big mistakes before-and they will again. They would not be making this mistake, this time, if more of them actually had the ability to discern the facts and more of them voted.

    If criticizing that makes me uncivil, then so be it.

  13. Even the ‘lion of the Senate” and the president himself could not get the things done that they wanted.
    The power lies in the Chairman and certain committees not in the hands of ANY freshman congress-PERSON.
    Even when Newt came to power with all their grandiose plans, virtually nothing came to fruition until Clinton decided to work on some compromises, like welfare”reform”.
    It will not be the end of the world, at least not yet. Somehow we will muddle thru.
    Before we deployed to Korea we had a briefing by a State department official and even after all these years I remember the pearl of wisdom that he imparted to us…
    Wherever you go(even “paradise’) you take your personal baggage with you.
    For good or ill……

  14. Skippy,

    Redo your basic sums on TARP and “stimulus” $ amounts. I think you’ll find I’m closer to correct than you are.

    The $ were going to MICOM anyway.

    The stockholders and bond holders in the auto companies were totally and completely fucked over.

    “Your TSP account….” Selfish bastard, where do you get off? Fuck the other people? The great unwashed? The masses? Just as long as your snout was in the trough and slurping up OPM.

    I don’t know this Danile Moynihan is she an economist?

    There are some that ignore the facts but I dare to say that they are not TEA partiers.

  15. Curtis,

    It is clear you were a shoe in your former life-only shoes would check for spelling errors on a comment.

    Remember-you asked me what the TARP/Stimulus had done for me. I told you. The fact that the market has rebounded has benefited a lot more people than me-even you. Or are you already so rich you don’t need to have an IRA or a 401K? How is my fault I signed up for TSP the very first day it was offered to active duty. I though Teabaggers placed a premium on saving. (TSP was one of the greatest things the military did for its service members).

    TARP cost: The Act increased the statutory limit on the public debt by US$ 700 billion however, the legislation is designed to have a net zero long-term cost. It has mostly worked out that way. The amount of funds currently outstanding in the program is $49.6 billion.

    Stimulus was 787 billion 1/3 of which was a tax cut for working families (including you).

    As for the auto bailout-Let’s see. My FORD stock is up 65%. When GM announces it’s IPO the stock will be valued at 20-25 dollars a share. (And before you ask, I know FORD did not take any bailout money. But all the car companies are being recommended as a good short term investment right now-especially Ford.) Cost of the bailout, about 95billion.

    So no matter how you do the math-the cost was nowhere near 1.9 trillion. And again I will ask you the question-do the math on what would have happened if nothing had been done. Those results are frightening-even for Tea Partiers.

  16. And if you are going to go around watching everything you say-you will never get anything said. English and Japanese are the only recognized languages on this blog. And its my name on the check.

  17. Skippy,

    I was in fact a SWO. I didn’t have 40,000 guys ashore writing down every single procedure to follow in every single aviation event that had to be memorized and followed as closely as a caboose on a train . We had “free will”. We were expected to use good judgment. Results are in. Way way way more aircraft crashed then ships crashed and none of our ships killed an entire family on impact.

    Seriously, Danile. Ain’t that a river in Egypt? 🙂

    Where’s your GM stock? What about them stockholders? Totally and completely fucked over were they not? By Government intervention and blanket fiat.

    You are a silly moose. Social Security was a net zero too but…….what happened to all those $ collected to pay the retirees? You believe everything the government prints? You are a bit more credulous then I thought.

    The math I’ve seen is that the ‘recovery’ crap passed by congress equals the destructive effects on the economy that FDR and his congress imposed on the nation during the early days of the depression.

    nice spot of a soldier singing God Bless America. Good one.

  18. Way way way more aircraft crashed then ships crashed and none of our ships killed an entire family on impact.

    I think that was true until the last five years. I’d submit the number of ship mishaps has jumped drastically. To me it seems the Navy has a training problem and an over use of ships problem.

  19. Och, but we skimmers cannot help it if the damned submarines run into us. It’s hardly our fault with them being so stealthy and all.

    anybody you know drop a DDG on a man’s home near Miramar MCAS?

    The good news………..the pilot survived.

    …and I thought I was a narrow door on answering. Anything else about that post you’d care to comment on?

    I did use the word moose which I thought would make Palin haters leap into the air in spasms of joy.

  20. You compared me to Pol-pot. That gets a comment deleted.

    Wonder if you would care to comment on the whole “CO having quarters while entering Norfolk harbor thing”.

  21. thought you weren’t a deleter.

    CO entering harbor with crew at quarters..hmmm..Have to think about that one.

    nope, never happened before. Usually ship’s company, ALL OF THEM not on watch, MAN THE RAIL at commencement of Sea and Anchor Detail….in dress uniform. But only for special occasions like coming home or entering a foreign port. And getting underway.

    You have no idea how crucial the offwatch is when entering port.

  22. You appear to have missed the point. On any given ship if you’re not on duty at your station you may as well stand on your head.