Daily Shame # 7 - Unchristian like attack by Dole

Unchristian like attack by Dole

Is there no shame among the republicans? I guess there isn't. We have seen what Bush and Rove did to win, now we see what McCain, Palin and now Dole will do to win.

Dole, republican Senator for North Carolina is in a tight fight with Democrat Hagan. Hagan was not supposed to do this well. North Carolina is the home of NASCAR and Jesse Helms. Its supposed to be deep dark red country.

After a less than stellar senate term, Dole who voted with President Bush 93% of the time, is referred to as the absent Senator. She is rarely seen in North Carolina. Hagan and the Democrats have seized on these issues and with Obama's long and broad coattails is tied in most polls with Dole.

This latest attack on the Democrat running against Dole is over the top. It suggests Hagan, an elder at First Presbyterian Church, will get rid of god. In North Carolina, its important to profess your faith and all candidates do this. Dole's ad suggests how well Hagen and Obama are doing in the tar heel state. I predict Hagan and Obama takes North Carolina due in part to the ad you can look at below.

In Greensboro this morning Kay Hagan stood with her minister and stated that her lawyers are preparing a cease-and-desist order demanding that Republican Dole stop airing the ad – if the Dole campaign doesn’t pull it in the next 24-hours.

Unchristian like attack by Dole on Hagan. Hardly lady like Ms Dole...

Daily Shame #4

Democrat voters use fingernail only...

In West Virginia voters using a touch screen voting machine saw their vote for Obama flip to McCain. They did it again and the vote went to McCain. Several stories of people using these screens have come up over the last few days of early voting.

Retired factory worker Calvin Thomas of Ripley...

"When I pushed Obama, it jumped to McCain. When I went down to governor's office and punched [Gov. Joe] Manchin, it went to the other dude. After I finished, my daughter voted. When she pushed Obama, it went to McCain. It happened to her the same way it happened to me."

When they complained about this the polling clerk asked if they were sure they touched the screen inside the box. The State's Secretary in charge of the election stated that they had problems before when they moved the touch screen voting machines from storage to early voting places.

"When I touched the screen for Barack Obama, the check mark moved from his box to the box indicating a vote for John McCain," said Matheney, who lives in Kenna. When she reported the problem, she said, the poll worker in charge "responded that everything was all right. It was just that the screen was sensitive and I was touching the screen too hard. She instructed me to use only my fingernail."

Even after she began using her fingernail, Matheney said, the problem persisted. When she tried to vote for candidates running for two open seats on the Supreme Court, the electronic machine canceled her second vote twice.

The question is that if this has been a problem before, why were the machines not re-calibrated before voting began. How many people voted for someone they did not want and missed it or just gave up? Voters also have the option in some areas of using an optical scan machine with a paper ballot. I know which one I would be using.

Even after all the problems that the elections that Bush won, why are they still unable to assure people that their vote is being counted, it will go to the person you have chosen. It brings into question the integrity of the American democracy. Perhaps bringing an end to partisan control and over-sight of elections could begin to restore faith.

All I can add is that I am pleased i have the paper ballot here in Canada. If I were an American voter, I think I might use the mail-in ballot. At least then there is a copy and I can see my vote is in the correct box...

...more here and here

Daily Shame #3

Daily Shame #3

The Rt. Hon. Stephen Harper, Prime Minister- Senate appointments

Harper has stated he wants to change the Senate. Harper wants to elect Senators and to place an eight year term limit. Harper stated he would introduce two bills to effect the change in the House of Commons. The bills then would have to be passed by the Senate.

Its really a hypothetical exercise as Harper will never get his bills passed in the House of Commons let alone the Liberal dominated Senate.

Harper went on to say he would start appointing Senators to ensure that the elected will of the House of Commons and the people of Canada is reflected in the Senate. Right now that is all talk. He wont get a reform bill on the senate through the house in the first place.

Alberta Senator Bert Brown, a Conservative, who was selected by Harper for appointment to the Senate after he was elected in a provincial election, has raised doubts about the legality of the proposed changes without the approval of the provinces. "... the Constitution calls for these types of measures to meet the approval of at least seven provinces with half the population of Canada." Quebec and Ontario are likely not going agree to such a change.

I'm no big fan of the Senate, lets get rid of it. Harper is just looking for an excuse to appoint Conservatives to the 16 vacancies. And he will do that. Harper went onto say...

"I do not believe it is justified that the Senate would continue to [be] dominated by a party that did not win two consecutive elections."

Harper has been elected twice, to what looks like very short terms. He was elected to minorities. This ought to imply that he does not have an over-whelming mandate.

One other Canadian Prime Minister used extraordinary powers to appoint eight additional Senators so as to pass the GST in the Senate. Brian Mulroney had no problem and Harper will have even less problem doing it. Harper could in fact appoint as many as 24 Senators. Imagine that Canada.

The Conservatives are attempting to paint themselves as the anointed ones by the Canadian voters. They received fewer votes than the last election and some 65% of Canadians voted for people other than Harper's Conservatives. That's hardly a mandate to do as you wish.

The last Parliament allowed Harper to do pretty much what he wanted it to do. The Liberals played ball with the Conservatives, either by not showing up for a vote or showing up and voting in favour of a bill, this they did 43 times. I wonder if they have learned their lesson.

Daily Shame #2

Daily Shame #2

Conservative MP, Dean Del Mastro

Normally one would leap stand up and applaud a Conservative candidate or MP for standing up for first nations treaty rights. At the first ever all candidates debate in the First Nations community of Curve Lake in the riding of Peterborough, Del Mastro running for re election stated he was concerned about First Nations treaty rights. In denouncing the Liberals doomed Green Shift Mastro according to the Peterborough Examiner, finding a reason First Nations members ought to vote for him,

"...the Liberal's Green Shift carbon tax plan would violate their treaty right to not pay taxes to the federal Crown by putting a tax on everything."

I haven't met a Conservative yet that wouldn't want to eliminate these treaty rights. It was a crass attempt to drive votes from possibly going to the Liberals to either the NDP or Green Party.

More about Del Mastro here

Daily Shame #1

Daily Shame #1

Wal-Mart begins our Daily Shame ...

Wal-Mart is closing a tire-and-lube garage in Gatineau where workers won a major victory last August when a Quebec arbitrator imposed a collective agreement on the company...

Wal-Mart is the biggest company in the world, according to the Fortune 500 rankings, and recorded nearly $13 billion US in profits in 2007 — yet its front-line employees make less than $20,000 US a year, on average.

cbc

h/t Just another willy loman