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September 22, 2003
Elections? We don' need no steenkin' elections!
Lawrence Tribe (pictured above), tried arguing today to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals that the key to preserving Democracy is to cancel an election if it's not perfectly executed.
I can't begin to tell ya how appalling this is. It represents the inexorable advance of a judicial oligarchy, wherein the will of the people is of no moment; the Executive is humbled and the Legislature neutered.
Three co-equal branches of government have apparently been replaced by two branches dominated by the robed solons of Da Law Iz Whut We Say It Iz. I've watched the arguments and am flabbergasted by Tribe and his cohort's dishonest presentation, one targetted from the very beginning by Judge Kosinzki.
Tribe said that thousands of voters would be "disenfranchised" -- Gawd, does no one use a dictionary anymore? -- by use of the impossibly-difficult-to-use punchcard system. The sharp-witted judge spotted the flaw, pointing out that the hack poli-sci prof feeding the numbers to Tribe failed to work the problem through to the end.
Whut?
It's like this: assuming arguendo (lawyer speak for, "for the sake of argument" and "check out the size of my brain!") that 40,000 Punch-O-Matic ballots are rejected by the automated counters. Under the hypothesis put forth by Tribe, that's it; game, set, match.
"Not so fast, my pretties," said the judge. Even if 40,000 ballots were rejected, constituting a rejection (or failure rate of two percent), the analysis doesn't stop there. Under California law, a manual tally is then conducted, and, unlike our retarded Floridian friends, Californians have an election law that provides a standardized basis for determining what that ballot says.
So, let's say that of those 40,000 ballots, more than half can be counted by hand. That reduces the error rate to less than one percent, well within the margin of error for even the latest, greatest, voting machines.
In essence, the Judge caught the shyster attorney trying to mislead the court.
D'oh! Stupid judges!
I want to think some more on this. But the bottom line is that the ACLU, et al, are essentially saying the election must be delayed because blacks and latinos are too stupid to figger out how to vote. How pathetic is that?
Posted by Mike Lief at September 22, 2003 09:29 PM
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Comments
It looks to me like the federal court lost its courage and decided to win favor with the uneducated masses. When it comes to an election system, we must do everything possible to see that the votes of unrepresented people are counted. This is the only way we can truly say that we live in a free and fair democracy. Once again, the people of the United States are looking at California and wondering whether we are truly as crazy as we are reputed to be. I live south of Los Angeles in a predominantly minority community and I think its racist and a shame if the votes of my neighbors aren't given the same weight as the votes of the rich white upper class in Beverly Hills because they can afford computerized voting machines and we can't. This seems like another attempt of white rich Republicans to steal an election just like they did in Florida. I for one voted for the real president of the United States, Al Gore. Latinos and other opressed minorities have a right to be upset. I hope and pray that the fight will continue and that those opposed to the recall election will take this issue to an even higher court.
-Edgar M. (Los Angeles)
Posted by: Edgar M. at September 23, 2003 01:13 PM
Mr. Edgar, you need to check your facts. The courts are out of control! They are pissing on our democracy by just deciding to do whatever the hell they want to do. You may be surrounded by "minorities" but my bet is 70% of them are illegal so I don't give two shits whether or not they can find a place to vote or are too damn stupid to punch a hole in a paper ballot. I'm voting for Tom McClintock so we can kick your deadbeat neighbors the hell out of this state.
Posted by: PoppaCorn at September 28, 2003 12:55 PM
Federal Judges need to be impeached! Our democracy will mean nothing as long as they can do their bidding. Who do they answer to? Certainly not their concscience or the law. Impeach them all!
Posted by: Son of Atilla at October 4, 2003 04:30 PM
The ACLU has done great things in New York City where I'm from. Bashing a group that has dedicated its existence to the freedom and personal rights of all Americans is just stupid.
Posted by: ticklemered at October 11, 2003 03:35 PM
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle! Life's but a walking shadow; a poor player, That struts and frets his hour upon the stage, And then is heard no more: it is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing
Posted by: stinkdragon at October 11, 2003 04:31 PM
wanker
Posted by: possum33 at October 23, 2003 11:17 PM