The Tedder P. Schoenhopfer Policy Exchange

Rush Holt has created an online petition in support of the Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act (H.R. 550). Sign this petition and in only seconds you can be a good citizen for the day. To quote Congressman Holt:

“Anything of value should be auditable. Votes are valuable, and each voter should have the knowledge-and the confidence-that his or her vote was recorded and counted as intended. Passage of this bill (H.R. 550) will be a big step in restoring that confidence, which is the very foundation of our democratic republic.”

Summary of H.R. 550 and more info: (more…)

A very telling graph from Harris Interactive (copyright Dow Jones & Co., Inc.)

Bush will probably take great comfort in the fact that one recent president was lower-rated… namely, Nixon in the throes of the Watergate scandal, leading to his resignation. But Bush still has plenty of time to sink down a few more points, thereby ensuring his well-deserved place in American history.

Dear /sir/ ma,

I’m happy to inform you about my success in getting those funds transferred under the cooperation of a new partner from paraguay. Presently i’m in Paraguay for investment projects with my own share of the total sum. meanwhile,i didn’t forget your past efforts and attempts to assist me in transferring those funds despite that it failed us some how.

Now contact my secretary, her name is Mrs.Joy martins, contact her on her email address { mrsjoymartins@yahoo.com.br } ask her to send you the total $200,000.00 which i kept for your compensation for all the past efforts and attempts to assist me in this matter. I appreciated your efforts at that time very much. so feel free and get in touched with my secretary and instruct her where to send the amount to you. Please do let me know immediately you receive it so that we can share the joy after all the sufferness at that time. in the moment, i am very busy here because of the investment projects which me and the new partner are having at hand, finally, remember that I had forwarded instruction to my secretary on your behalf to receive that money, so feel free to get in touch with Mrs. Joy Oko, she will send the amount to you without any delay.

with best regards,
Mr.jude obi.

Are you with the patriots or with the terrorists?

Dear Family,

Cousin Randy has taken up the banner of this important cause, The American Society for the Conservation of Gravity. It is an honor to our family legacy and continues our family tradition of service to our country.

The American Society for the Conservation of Gravity was formed by my grandfather, Darwin Randall Crum, in March of 1980. Once a strapping organization, it had all but fallen apart since his death, surviving only in stacks of papers and pamphlets in attics and filing cabinets. I have begun the process of creating the Society anew and continuing my grandfather’s essential work in educating the public about the terrible menace we all face.

Here’s a neat story about Bill Clinton (and others) honoring Muhammad Ali. check out the part where Ali gives Bill bunny ears during his speech.

In a related funny anecdote that shows the champ hasn’t lost his touch, this guy on some message board was helping out building the new Muhammad Ali center, and ali was there. The guy asked ali if he missed being so fast, and ali said “I’m so quick that last night in my hotel room, i turned off the light and was in bed before the room was dark.”

Hi everybody. I thought I’d share a family photo with you. See if you can guess which one is Uncle Chris:

Voting fraud should be the top priority for anyone who cares about democracy. In the recent Ohio election, several “good democracy” initiatives were on the ballot; notably, giving districting power to an independent commission (to limit partisan gerrymandering).

The Columbus Dispatch (which had produced “uncannily accurate [results] for decades”) polled voters soon before the initiatives. Also, soon before the initiatives, Ohio rolled out shiny new Diebold machines in about half of its counties. The results? The “good democracy” initiatives were overwhelmingly defeated, despite overwhelming public support in the polls. The one relatively uncontroversial issue (Issue 1) passed basically just as planned.

ISSUE 1 ($2 Billion State Bond initiative)
PRE-POLLING: 53% Yes, 27% No, 20% Undecided
FINAL RESULT: 54% Yes, 45% No

ISSUE 2 (Allow easier absentee balloting)
PRE-POLLING: 59% Yes, 33% No, 9% Undecided
FINAL RESULT: 36% Yes, 63% No

ISSUE 3 (Revise campaign contribution limits)
PRE-POLLING: 61% Yes, 25% No, 14% Undecided
FINAL RESULT: 33% Yes, 66% No

ISSUE 4 (Ind. Comm. to draw Congressional Districts)
PRE-POLLING: 31% Yes, 45% No, 25% Undecided
FINAL RESULT: 30% Yes, 69% No

ISSUE 5 (Ind. Board instead of Sec. of State to oversee elections)
PRE-POLLING: 41% Yes, 43% No, 16% Undecided
FINAL RESULT: 29% Yes, 70% No

These results are so egregiously blatant that it just has to be news, right?

Wrong. The discrepancies have not been reported or mentioned *anywhere* in the mainstream media, much like the discrepancies in 2004 between exit polls and vote results.

For more details, see The Brad Blog.

We had our big NAACP LDF Princeton Committee fundraiser on Sunday. It was a big success, and look at this column about it.

I know Marsh has some of these - Marsh, what are they? Like, one was the guy walking to the window and looking out after someone asked him a question? Also, the final “mano a mano” fight scene. I’ll never forget seeing some dumb movie in the theater with Mom and we started laughing uproariously at the end when the two guys threw aside their weapons.

Something else I think is automatically funny is when there’s music playing in the background and the camera is just moving around some scene, and then the camera pans over and you realize the music is being played by people in the scene. Oh, and a cliche I just saw: “you can’t fire me because I quit.” Does this *ever* happen in real life??

Give Bush a new Brain!

I just thought this was kind of interesting, and annoying too–the leader of my favorite band Pain of Salvation (and Dad can attest to their awesomeness) won’t even tour in the US because of this stupid rule whereby all visitors to the US must scan their fingerprints before entering. Here’s a quote from Daniel Gildenlow (the lead singer):

“It is not up to a nation to do this towards others, especially since they threatened Brazil with financial sanctions when they intended to ask the same of US citizens.” says Daniel. “Political hypocrisy and ethnocentrism, I cannot support that or submit to that, and I was clear about that the last time we were in the States together. I was asked by Roine and Tomas not to mention the true reasons until after the tour and I obliged. They were afraid of negative feedback from American fans, but so far I have received mainly positive feedback from American citizens, which goes to show how far the sociopolitical climate has gone in the States. Some of them wrote they were afraid to say their opinions out aloud in their own country due to the witch hunt for anti-patriots. When I heard about the finger print scanning I called the American embassy to see if there really was no way around this. I told them I was even willing to have them burn mark or tattoo me, or that I could wear a yellow star on my chest, but not scan my finger prints. Nope. Well, I had to try.”

Did anyone else know about this rule?

In her official capacity as co-chairperson of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Princeton chapter, mom was quoted in an article this past Wednesday in the Trenton times.

Here is the quote and attribution:

“The group selected the New Orleans theme several months before Hurricane Katrina, and the way our nation has responded to that catastrophe underscores the continued need for the work of the LDF and all organizations like it,” said committee co-chair Jenny Crumiller.

Here’s the link:

http://www.nj.com/columns/times/smith/index.ssf?/base/columns-0/1131527519217400.xml&coll=5

On this topic, I hope everyone saw dad’s quote in the Tedder Times recently: “Tedder Wedder is a fuzzy wuzzy.”

The wonders of democracy are truly encapsulated in the incredible weirdness of certain minor-party candidates. Like Jimmy McMillan of the “Rent is Too Damn High” party.

First read the Voice article about him:

Then there’s Jimmy McMillan—or as he dubs himself, Prince Jimmy McMillan (a.k.a. Papa Smurf)—of the Rent is To Damn High party. According to his website (where one can hear the song “Rent is Too Damn High”) McMillan is calling for a an 8- to 12-year rent freeze and a $550 cap on rent, claiming the Rent Guidelines Board is illegal, and hoping to enlist 25 million volunteers. If that sounds like an uphill battle, McMillan’s used to them. In 2000 he tried to run against Hillary for the Democratic nomination for Senate but was bounced from the ballot. In 1994 he ran for governor, traveled much of the state on foot, and was expelled from the state convention after he heckled Mario Cuomo. He ran for New York City mayor once before, in 1993, and it was an eventful candidacy: In June he was found at the side of the Belt Parkway tied to a tree, blindfolded, and doused with gasoline; in October he climbed a cable on the Brooklyn Bridge, was coaxed down by police, and then hospitalized. . . Those were just the latest adventures in a life that took McMillan from Vietnam, to a job as a letter carrier, and finally to being an actor, rent activist, Karate expert, and “Independent Private Investigator.”

Then, check out his website, and make sure to turn your volume up to an audible level. If you like the “Rent is Too Damn High” themesong, you can always purchase his CD, with hit songs like “Eviction Notice,” “Water Dripping from my lights,” and “The Landlord and I.”

Rent is Too Damn High website
Village Voice article