Plunderbund

George Bush, after meeting Vladimir Putin in 2001:
I was able to get a sense of his soul, a man deeply committed to his country and the best interests of his country.
But this weekend…
The OSCE’s election monitoring unit announced earlier this month that it would not attend Russia’s election, saying Moscow had refused to provide visas […]

Rumors are that Michael Mukasey will be tapped by Bush to be the new Attorney General. I don’t know a lot about the man, other than the disappointing fact that he ruled that US citizen Jose Padilla could be held without charges as an “enemy combatant” by President Bush (even tho he did force […]

No comment needed except… 1) Wow! and 2) It will be interesting to see how this story will play out alongside the presidential primary election cycle. Surely there will be a hailstorm of commentary on that over the next few days.

DES MOINES, Iowa - A Polk County judge on Thursday struck down Iowa’s law banning gay marriage and ordered the county recorder to permit gay and lesbian couples to marry.

Less than two hours after word of the ruling was publicized, two Des Moines men applied at the Polk County recorder’s office for a marriage license, and for the first time the application was accepted. The process of granting a license to marry in Iowa takes three days.

PBS provides evidence of the GOP fixing the election here in Ohio. Of course, this will be ignored because of “media bias”.
Was there a White House plot to illegally suppress votes in 2004? Is there a similar plan for the upcoming elections? This week NOW examines documents and evidence that points to a Republican […]

When I finally got close to the front of the line at my polling place in 2004, a pollworker told me to cover my T-shirt. It had the words “Vote Explosion” on it.

Seeing as I had nothing to cover it with and had just spent 3 hours in line, I politely pointed out that there was no partisanship expressed by the shirt. Vote Explosion was just a loose group of friends registering folks to vote at rock shows. She replied that they were trying to avoid even the slightest possible implication of impropriety.

OK, fair enough. Polling places are supposed to be inner sanctums of nonpartisanhip. Neither voters nor pollworkers may wear political shirts, stickers, or buttons within a 100 foot radius. Although the words “Vote Explosion” aren’t explicitly partisan, neither are the words “Eagle Forum” or “MoveOn.” I think it was a wise move to err on the side of overzealousness, and simply prohibit T-shirts bearing all of the above.

The guy behind me in line loaned me his sweatshirt, and I was able to step forth to express my partisanship in the privacy of the voting booth. As an ongoing tribute of thanks to sweatshirt guy, ever since that day I’ve stowed an extra large, plain T-shirt in my purse whenever I go to vote - just in case a fellow voter is asked to cover up.

Until I read Monday’s Columbus Dispatch, it had never occurred to me that I might someday want to offer my spare shirt to a pollworker.

While I’ve been taking a long weekend (and taking advantage of the nice weather to get some woodworking done in the garage), Jerid has been filing a complaint with the Ohio Election Commission against the Bill Brownson for Council committee. Bill Brownson is running for Columbus City Council. See the details at BSB.
It’s […]

As a part of The New Hampshire Project, BSB chief (and PB alum) Jerid sat down for a fifteen minute interview with Democratic Presidential candidate Senator Chris Dodd.
It’s an excellent interview by Jerid. Having participated in a Meet The Bloggers event before, I know both how powerful these opportunities can be, and how difficult […]

Ben Franklin: “We must hang together, gentlemen…else, we shall most assuredly hang separately.”
RABid: “Eww, collectivism!”
This was RABid’s response to a speech by Hillary Clinton where she said this:
“There is no greater force for economic growth than free markets. But markets work best with rules that promote our values, protect our workers and give all people […]

Time gets the exclusive excerpt of the new Gore book which was announced over a year ago. It was thought then that it would produce more speculation on Al’s run for President in ‘08 and that might happen. My guess is the smart money is on him not getting in the race. […]