Vote Fraud: Conservative Style

1Atrios has the goods,

Time to find out if the rule of law applies to Ann Coulter.

A Palm Beach poll worker says he tried to help GOP-loving pundit Ann Coulter vote in the right precinct last week. But, Jim Whited says, Coulter dashed out of the polling place when he told her she needed to file a change of address.

"I even ran out after her," he says. "But she was fast."

Later, elections records show, Coulter cast her ballot 2 miles up the road — in the wrong precinct.

Whited, a former candidate for WPB mayor, was posted at Bethesda-by-the-Sea Feb. 7 as a $185-a-day precinct adviser, records confirm.

"Ms. Coulter came to me, and the address we had for her in the computer didn't match the address I know she lives at," Whited says.

He says he remembered a Page Two story in April about Coulter, 44, buying a $1.8 million home on Seabreeze Avenue. Yet county elections records show Coulter gave an address in June at the northern tip of the island, on Indian Road, when she registered. Turns out the addresses are in different precincts.

So, I guess that its not really a matter of culture, language, or stupidity (well, maybe in this case) when it comes to vote fraud. Maybe we just need to make it easier for people to vote. I'm sure Coulter would agree that even brilliant people like herself have a bit of difficulty when it comes to figuring out where the correct polling place is. No matter the reason, reform is needed.

Tag: Ann Coulter

Dan Weintraub Makes an Excellent Point

11On the recent ruling mandating an anesthesia expert at the execution of Michael Morales,32

So the state is going to pay a board-certified anesthesiologist33 to make sure that a convicted killer is put to sleep before he is put to death, so he will feel no pain. A federal judge so ordered, to protect the murderer's rights. But if I were terminally ill and wanted to hire someone to do the same for me, it would be against the law. Right.

We have some pretty whacked values. And the Death Penalty is still wrong.

Tag: Death Penalty34, Michael Morales35

LA Times Checks the Facts on the SOTU

1The LA Times points out that Bush stretched the truth during a number of occasions in his speech tonight. Here are some of their disputes,

Defending the surveillance program as crucial in a time of war, Bush said that "previous presidents have used the same constitutional authority" that he did. "And," he added, "federal courts have approved the use of that authority."

Bush did not name names, but was apparently reiterating the argument offered earlier this month by Atty. Gen. Alberto R. Gonzales, who invoked Presidents Lincoln, Wilson and Franklin D. Roosevelt for their use of executive authority.

However, warrantless surveillance within the United States for national security purposes was struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1972 — long after Lincoln, Wilson and Roosevelt stopped issuing orders. That led to the 1978 passage of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that Bush essentially bypassed in authorizing the program after the Sept. 11 attacks.

Also,

On his headline-grabbing pledge to decrease U.S. reliance on Middle East oil by 75% over the next 20 years, Bush's words seemed to suggest a dramatic new program to reduce dependence on foreign oil.

But experts point out that the U.S. gets only a fraction — about 10% — of its oil imports from the Middle East. In fact, the majority now comes from Canada and Mexico — and Bush said nothing on Tuesday about them.

And my favorite,

The president also seemed to ignore Supreme Court precedent when he called for Congress to give him the "line item veto." But Congress did that once, in 1996, and it was used once, by former President Clinton. But in 1998, a federal judge ruled that it was unconstitutional. That was affirmed by a 6-3 decision of the Supreme Court.

A pesky thing that Constitution...

Tag: State of the Union