“What possible reason could the Ohio GOP offer for expressly prohibiting poll workers from assisting voters in completing election forms or locating their correct polling place? One can only suppose that the objection to counting good ballots tainted only by worker error stem from that same noxious paranoid soup that has infected all modern electoral politics: mistrust for voters, mistrust for government workers, and mistrust for the single most basic premise of any democracy—that we want more people to vote, not fewer. Almost every aspect of the recent efforts to “improve the integrity” of the voting system actually ends up undermining the integrity of the system. But punishing voters for poll-worker error and silencing poll workers best placed to help voters achieves new lows in cynicism. The net effect will serve no purpose other than to raise doubts about voting as a whole.”

Ohio Republicans want to disallow ballots with errors caused by poll workers. - Slate
  • Slate

“Most of you know I’d rather post photos of my family and write about Alaska than talk about politics. But after reading and watching some recent commentary, I can’t help myself.
The chattering class is talking – endlessly – about Mitt Romney’s choice of a Vice Presidential running mate. Will he choose a Governor? A Senator? A Congressman? There are many good options for Governor Romney – and all of them have already been dissected in the media – with a list of pros and cons beside their names. One is too “northern,” another is too “boring,” another is too “white.” I’ve lived through the scrutiny the family will endure, and it can be a nightmare.”

So the thing I find most disturbing about Bristol Palin’s blog isn’t that it’s so obviously written by a 45-year-old staffer. It’s that the 45-year-old staffer is so bad at pretending to be a 20-ish woman….

(Bristol Palin )

“The left media and Wasserman Schultz will try to tell you that I threaten the president’s life and that I’m a mean, nasty man who wants to rape your puppy.”

Okay, Ted Nugent — it might be time to just stop talking altogether. (via entertainmentweekly)

What the liberal media won’t tell you is that Ted Nugent in fact only wants to make sweet love to your puppy.

“Imagine a meeting of your county board, with an open comment period for citizens to discuss some pending measure. A local organization—let’s call it “Citizens United”—signs up to speak first. Then, when its allotted time is up, the organization’s representatives refuse to yield the microphone. Citizens United has more to say, they argue; government cannot “silence” them to allow others to talk. Other citizens are still free: They can shout their comments from the back of the chamber or fold notes into paper airplanes and toss them in the direction of the board members. Would anyone accept this logic? Or imagine that Citizens United members come to the meeting with privately purchased bullhorns. After their representative has spoken, they use their bullhorns to drown out other speakers. If the chairman told them to stop, would this be “wholly foreign to the First Amendment”? Wouldn’t it be ordinary democratic procedure, designed to make sure that as many points of view as possible are heard? The private-bullhorn approach is now the dominant view of free speech. The First Amendment exists, in the new logic, to allow those with money to drown out those without.”

“Corporate Personhood” Is Not the Problem (via azspot)

(via azspot)

“The report, which Mr. Christie continues to dispute, cited estimates that home values and tax revenues would have risen, and that the construction would have added $9 billion to the regional economy. But Mr. Christie wanted to use the tunnel money to avoid adding a few cents to the state’s gasoline tax, the nation’s second lowest. He was thinking about his career, not his constituents.”

Well, OK, but if he gets the GOP nomination in 2016 it will all be worth it, right?

Gov. Chris Christie and the Tunnel Project - NYTimes.com

  • The New York Times