Mrs. Dan from Madison and I vote absentee every election. We like it for a couple of reasons, the biggest being that we can sit at home and fill out our ballots at our leisure rather than standing in a line (much more important in presidential elections) and we get to hash out a few things politically away from the TV. We typically make it a date over a bottle of wine to research the candidates and talk about the issues on the ballot.
The ballot for our upcoming election in early April has a very strange referendum on it, proposed to the good people of Dane County:
Should the US Constitution be amended to establish that regulating political contributions and spending is not equivalent to limiting freedom of speech, by stating that only human beings, not corporations, are entitled to constitutional rights?
The city of Madison council is famous for preparing and passing declarations denouncing all sorts of crap on the federal level (this activity, I assume has ceased since the zero became president), but I had hoped that the county board wouln’t get involved with this waste of time and ink. Sigh.
What’s next, declarations of war? Impeaching federal officials? Raising the federal tax rate?
How about recall or impeachment of county council officials? They clearly do not understand the scope of the duties to which they were elected. ‘Unfit for service’ should be adequate cause for action.
I don’t know, outlawing corporate speech is pretty tempting.
After all, Greenpeace, Code Pink, unions and the Democrat party are all legal corporations as is any group were two or more people have any kind of fiduciary responsibility to anyone else. Why at one feel swoop we could outlaw the speech of every leftwing activist group in the nation!
These children haven’t thought things through.
C’mon people, you know what this is about. The Citizen’s United Supreme Court case that pretty much upended McCain-Feingold. It is the reason Justice Alito silently mouthed off at the President a couple seasons ago.
And you know what the nexus of the Citizen’s United case was, don’t you? Hillary the Movie. A person ought to watch it, it is about an hour in length and it is available on the Web.
And Hillary the Movie is this hatchet piece on how Hillary Clinton pretty much gets anything she wants by whatever means necessary and doesn’t let anything or anybody get in the way. It is all a right-wing libel, don’t ya know, but enough people believed the premise that we elected Mr. Barack Obama as President of the United States. Its just that all the people who put Mr. Obama into the Presidency take umbrage that Hillary the Movie was even made, including the esteemed members of the Madison Common Council or whoever.
Is Hillary the Movie a fairy tale? Ask Mr. Julian Assange, guest of the Swedish Criminal Justice System, or is he still under house arrest in some lord’s estate in England? Mr. Assange should have, like, watched Hillary the Movie and have gotten the message that however he went about his mission of putting persons of questionable bloodlines in their places, a person, male or female, just does not mess with Secretary Clinton. Mr. Assange blames the CIA for his current difficulties. Hillary the Movie, Julian babe, what makes you think the CIA is any way responsible?
Yes, the children haven’t thought things through. I was “pulling the chain” of a child collecting signatures for that ballot initiative last September on the Library Mall. I mentioned Hillary the Movie, explaining that if it didn’t get Mr. Obama elected, it in hindsight explained why we wanted Mr. Obama as President. I also explained the union angle. Children, however, are not only not to be persuaded, when they are on a mission to collect signatures, they don’t particularly want to hear what you have to say.
I would be happy if we were allowed to watch “The Path To 9/11.” That miniseries has been blocked from being shown a second time or appearing on DVD by those who think Hillary might someday, somehow be a presidential candidate again.
The series was very well done, very accurate and pretty much established that Clinton’s policies led to 9/11.
Bill, not Hillary.
That is why it is blocked, by ABC although it is a mystery, other than political factors, why a company would forego the revenue from further showings or DVD sales.
Why don’t they just secede so we can embargo them.
That is why it is blocked, by ABC although it is a mystery, other than political factors, why a company would forego the revenue from further showings or DVD sales.
The only explanation would be that political ideology trumps rational economic behavior. I guess that’s not unusual for the true believers on the left.
Funny how simple morality and decency never come close to prevailing over economic gain. But protecting an iconic fellow traveler does.
just look how the ny times, cbs news, abc news, etc, etc have destroyed their market value in order to play partisan politics. it is odd, but there you go — another example of the irrational nature of leftism.
Cjm…”just look how the ny times, cbs news, abc news, etc, etc have destroyed their market value in order to play partisan politics”
These are all public companies or subsidiaries of public companies, and I think there is a valid question as to whether they are honoring their fiduciary responsibilities to shareholders by acting on behalf of the personal political beliefs of executives and other employees rather than optimizing the profitability of the enterprise.
Presumably, they would argue that they are acting to develop & solidify a niche market and that this is a rational business strategy…also, in the case of subs of larger companies, it might be argued that they are acting to improve the relationship of the company with the current Administration—although there are also potential traps in this argument.
“That is why it is blocked, by ABC although it is a mystery, other than political factors, why a company would forego the revenue from further showings or DVD sales.”
I believe there is a portion of Hillary the Movie that addresses your question.
There is an argument to be made in the referendum. Of course, if only people may vote, I think it stands to reason that only people may be taxed. Bring that up at the local Starbucks and watch their heads explode.
Craig – good one.
Dan, you can just choose to vote absentee in Wisconsin? Where I live, you have to sign an affidavit stating that it will be impossible for you to vote in person, before you can get an absentee ballot.
Yes, you can simply choose to vote absentee in Wisconsin, and I do every time. You just have to fill out a form, mail it to your clerk, and they send you the ballots in the mail with a post paid envelope. Simply fill out and send back. Yes there is an element of trust there – I always wonder if they just toss some in the trash. Hopefully there is some sort of auditor somewhere that tracks certain ballots and then looks for them at the counting site but I doubt it.