Friday, January 11, 2008

Friday Morning Blog-o-rama

Good morning everyone. I'm seriously wishing I hadn't gone out with my roommates last night. It's making sitting in my office kind of unbearable right now. Someone has the heat set way too high.

Two things to get your Friday going right. First, it's not really news when a man kills a dog. It may be news however when 1) the man is allegedly suicidal 2) he asks the dog to shoot him and 3) the dog is a cockapoo. Just another case of southerners polluting the north if you ask this Yankee.

Second, and more importantly, the Supreme Court recently heard oral arguments on Indiana's voter ID law. The law, so far as I can tell, requires voters to present a state issued photo ID before they can vote. That, in a sense, seems like a very prudent requirement, but as with any law, the devil is in the details, or as the law kids can tell you, the innane hypotheticals.

The problem here boils down like this. First, as you can imagine, voting is a very important right, a fundamental right. In order for the state to infringe upon it, the state must have a very, very good reason. And there seems to be some infringement upon the right to vote, especially for poor people who can't afford to get a photo ID, or those who might be denied an ID for reasons that would have nothing to do with voting or voting fraud. Liberal folks get that argument.

For the conservative folks, the idea is law and order and keeping fraud at bay. That's an easy one to understand. But, as the folks over at SCOTUSBlog point out, this issue a political football, with both liberals and conservatives accusing each other of voting shenanigans.

On a side note, I just took a fantastic poop. I'm feeling much better now. I love the restorative power of a simple poop.

14 comments:

Kim said...

Can I just say that cockapoos are adorable!

SayHey Kid said...

Do tell us more about your bowel movements. Your good poops equaltes to a damn good day for me.

The Indiana ID voter law is pure horseshit and im happy that its going to the Supreme Court. It will get shot down in a heartbeat. Just because Republicans hate voter turnout, it doesnt give them the right to wipe their ass with the Bill of Rights.

Didnt someone in NY throw their kids out of an apartment window last week?? Yeh, Mentally insane people live in the North to Buddy. Cant blame us for everything....Except cheap beer and Coca-Cola, oh and the Huckwagon

Jack Gonzo, MD said...

I read one story of who this Indiana voter ID law is hurting, and it should be an easy fix but like you said, the devils in the details.

It's hurting elderly folks who aren't able to move around that much and are not able to just get up and go get a state ID. This is also true with the disabled.

The problem is that they say they're protecting fraud, yet there is no evidence of fraud and they reply (Chief Justice did) that of course there isn't much evidence it's fraud and very hard to discover. I understand that you may want to outlaw alien and human sex, but if there's no proof of such said action...

Jack Gonzo, MD said...

SHK, that was a bridge and it was in Alabama.

The Republicans are pushing for it, even in the Supreme Court, cause this hurts Democratic votes more then Republican.

Dewey, Cheatem, & Howe said...

Cockapoos are cute, though I'm not a big fan. My former roommate Kate had one named Damon (after pre-Yankees Johnny Damon), and he was kinda weird and not so bright. I wouldn't go around shooting them though. I just like big dogs myself.

Sorry about the poop comment. Dews encouraged me to post about how refreshed I felt.

It will be interesting to see how the voter ID case turns out. The transcript from the oral argument suggested that the Court might not address the merits of the case. They may toss the case by finding that the people challenging the law don't have standing to sue yet because they haven't yet been "injured" by the law by not being able to vote.

SayHey Kid said...

Oh, I thought there was something in NY as well.......

Well, DC&W- Damn you for being correct. All the bad truely does root from our beloved South.

Very true Shane, As I said, Voter turnout is the greatest fear of the Republican Party. As you said, it hurts the elderly but also students who do not have a drivers license.

Dewey, Cheatem, & Howe said...

Yeah, this is the kind of law that hurts the Democratic base. This is one of the very, very scary aspects of the Republican party. They are all about using their power to prevent people from voting. Democrats are just the opposite: vote early and vote often. If I had to say which is less evil, I'd go with the Democratic approach. At least there you're not violating civil rights.

SayHey Kid said...

Not being able to vote is a serious blow to those who defend the Constitution. Voting is what defines a Democracy and stealing that priviledge to those who are citizens of the US is illegal and extremely unconstitutional.

I think it would be moronic to toss this case out.

Dewey, Cheatem, & Howe said...

I really hope you all understand that I'm (mostly) joking about the South, or as my boy Mitch Hedberg would say, the Sth.

Dewey, Cheatem, & Howe said...

Yeah, the problem with the standing requirement is that a voter would have to show that he has been denied the vote before he could challenge the law. Moronic as it seems, the standing requirement is there to prevent truly frivolous lawsuits from clogging our courts even more.

SayHey Kid said...

Oh I know......its easy to pick on us, hell I do it all the time. But its like calling your sister a slut. Its ok if I do it (If i had a sister) but if someone else does it they will get slapped.

Not implying that I will slap you DC&H =)

SayHey Kid said...

Im sure exemptions could be made.

Dewey, Cheatem, & Howe said...

Ha, good to know.

Dews said...

Think its unfair to randomly blame me for strange comments :)