Rant #1

So I was aware that what ACORN does is, by any rational standard, legit. They hire people to register voters and got swindled by some wage-earners trying to make a fast buck by making up fake names to make quota. ACORN flags the applications they believe to be falsified and they are forbidden, by law, from not turning them in.

I've yet to hear a conservative offer what they think ACORN should have done differently. That's because it's easier to be ominous and deal in innuendo when you haven't got a leg to stand on.

[Yes, Bill-O the Clown, I'm looking at you...]

Further, for these fake registrations to become actual votes, Mickey Mouse (yes, one of the names was Mickey Mouse) would need to show up with a valid ID in-hand and actually vote.

Good luck.

But maybe I'm living in a cave because I completely missed this:


I think it's important for people to know exactly what is happening. We do massive voter registration to low- and moderate-income folks. The Right Wing and Republicans, specifically, have been coming for us since the 2000 and 2004 elections. Former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales sent U.S. attorneys after us to investigate and try to find a prosecutable action. In 2006, the reason he stepped down is that he fired eight attorneys because they kept coming back to him saying, "There's no evidence; ACORN is clean."

Bertha Lewis - Executive Director of NY ACORN.


So let me get this straight...

A conservative administration gives politically-independent state prosecutors a choice; "Bust ACORN or you're fired. It doesn't matter if there's evidence or not, we're quite sure they're guilty. If you can't, you're clearly incompetent and we'll bring someone in who can."

Huh.

If this party, these self-labeled "strict constructionists," have such little reverence for the 5th, 6th and 14th Amendments of the United States Constitution -- the foundation of the right to be presumed innocent -- then it's fitting that We, the People, should show them the door.

I'm sure McCain would appreciate the irony if he was only capable of noticing it.

Rant #2

I am, for the first time during this election, sure that Obama is going to win. Why? Because the Palin/McCain ticket is imploding. I saw some story on CNN about a McCain spokesperson referring to Palin as "a diva" and "going rogue."

Jesus H. on a greased-up pogo stick. That's rather severe language from a running mate's own camp.

And while we're on the topic, wasn't Palin's raison d'être the whole "mavericky" appeal?

So I hit news.google.com around 5PM and found this:



Three stories. Hm.

Four hours later, I get home and check again:



1,256 stories. Moahahahaha. Christmas in fucking October.

Rant #3

Yes, people lie to pollsters but nobody lies to their bookie.

Intrade is a company that trades in the political futures market. You can buy stock in a given party/candidate being elected to the White House. Here's the trading for the last thirty days: