Something was rotten in the state of Ohio.
 

You're cute when you play dumb, but not so much when you are dumb. In my prior post, I said

• I'm not saying it was right, but come on. That's a different order of magnitude of problem from what Hitchens describes. And it's a problem of enforcing the laws as written.

Something was rotten in the state of Ohio.
 

Actually, "ooh, you're Not Me" isn't bad as a put-down.

Something was rotten in the state of Ohio.
 

You voted for a flip flopper?

Something was rotten in the state of Ohio.
 

Issue submitted- next!

As Penske would say: ftr,fwiw,fyi - It is really weird not knowing what most of you look like and whether or not you are male or female.

Turning the Tide
 

Pretty much everyone on this board is male. Hank will tell you I'm really really fat.

No. i'm the one who says you have some weird mental problem where you denigrate yourself, but you are actually pretty aattractive- and less overweight than the average lawyer. I'll kid my sister but I won't let others dog her WTTW.

You call me a fattie all the time, babydoll. I think you meant to tell spankmyass that he better not call me fat or you'll, uh, spank his ass.

You are probably accurate with the weird mental problem analysis, though.

No. You say you want donuts so I spin scenarios to help you get them. meanwhile if you really had them you'd leave them sit.

I've beenperfectly nice to everyone this entire year. It's my resolution- but I've been double nice to you!

Something was rotten in the state of Ohio.
 

FWIW, here's the Master's Report from the Heflin challenge in District 149. Republican secretary of state, Republican reviewer, Republican county clerk, 15 Republicans in the room when they did the recount.

Damn HYbrids!
 

Give me enough alcohol....

But there will also be nude models.

Not in a million years...............
 

Is anyone else as shocked as me that Sony put a Gaijin (foreigner) in charge of their company? I worked for a Japanese law firm in Tokyo for three years, that represented mostly Japanese companys, and my experience told me that a Japanese company would never, at least not in the near future, put a Gaijin in charge. Does anyone know if Sony's headquarters is in Tokyo? Is this guy going to be based in Japan? Does he speak Japanese?

Not in a million years...............
 

I was pretty surprised, as was the NPR commentator who told me all about it. I think he was born in the UK but has an American citizenship.

Something was rotten in the state of Ohio.
 

I will agree that, with Hitchens saying this, it takes on new seriousness. No, he's no hack - and what he's saying, I had discounted as the things hacks say. So, I can't anymore.

And I agree that his suggestions should be examined, and maybe followed. So, to that extent, I agree.

I was simply reacting to the undertone of your post - that the R's were unconcerned about fraud, mostly because we're winning now. Look to Wisconsin - look to the history of some of the middle states - vote fraud has been rife throughout, recently and historically. And it's been an R topic, roundly criticized as being aimed only at stopping the vote, to which, of course, the response is, yeah, we need to stop the votes that should have never been counted.

But, like I say, when Hitchens started talking about this (weeks ago), it started to sound like something to look at.

Something was rotten in the state of Ohio.
 

I'm confused. You're speaking of the voting allegations now?

Something was rotten in the state of Ohio.
 

They were for Kerry.

(Sorry. It just sort of floated there.)

ETA - Hank beat me to it.

Recruiting down
 

I saw this satistic earlier today and I'm sort of suprised at how much it bugs me. I'm sort of hoping that the answer to why is "good economy/better jobs" instead of "disenchanted with the country/don't support the war."

Military Update: Black Army recruits down 41 percent since 2000

The article mentions that it's more difficult to track Marines, and it doesn't mention the Air Force or the Navy. I imagine Navy recruiting may be a bit easier, since as far as I know, the Axii of Evil and/or Terror aren't known as naval powers.

Something was rotten in the state of Ohio.
 

This was the crux of the Sidd/Ty/Gatto/SS/Panda attack on Hank's vote fraud points today. I bet you guys were hell on the playground while in groups.

Recruiting down
 

I couldn't figure out if this was a good thing or not, simply based on this:

Blacks represent 14% of the recruit-aged population.
Black recruits now make up 14% of all recruits.

I suspect the reason is the one you fear, but look at the result: proportional representation.

Weird.

ETA - I wonder, if they could track Democrat v. Republican recruits, would the number change be equal? It might be as simple as that.

Recruiting down
 

Why would you have a problem with the reason people aren't volunteering is that they don't support the war? I can see being bugged by "in actual danger rather than just getting money for college and training."

Something was rotten in the state of Ohio.
 

To be fair, I agreed with Hank that what his partner observed was wrong, and only called him stupid when he told me two posts later that I thought it was OK.

Something was rotten in the state of Ohio.
 

And also to be fair, I was aiming my post at the group swarm more than at you individually - your post was just one of the last ones for linking purposes.

bad bill. very bad bill
 

Good treatment of the bankrutcy bill here:

http://www.redstate.org/story/2005/3/10/105835/413

bad bill. very bad bill
 

Ooooh, hell has frozen over. I totally agree with you. Bush has already committed to signing it.

bad bill. very bad bill
 

Now granted, I haven't read the bill, but this statement is absurd:

• The record number of bankruptcies in America is not the fault of consumers so much as it's the fault of credit companies willing to extend credit to pretty much anyone, independent of their means or station. When I lived in Brooklyn, one of my roommates was unemployed for almost a full year. After six months of unemployment, he did an experiment and saved all the pre-approved credit offers he received. The result: in one month, this unemployed 26-year old was offered almost a hundred thousand dollars in preapproved credit. That the bankruptcy bill does zero to address this corporate malfeasance -- a major and easily-addressed cause of the bankruptcy rate -- is absurd.

Isn't the GOP the party of personal responsibility? To believe this statement, you must believe that the debtors are really the victims. PA-LEASE.

Recruiting down
 

Wait, I'm confused. I thought equal representation based on race is what the whole affirmative action movement is all about? I also thought it was a "bad" thing that blacks were overrepresented (based on demographics) in the military. Can someone please explain?

bad bill. very bad bill
 

It's not so much that, as to believe in this bill, you need to consider the credit companies to be victims. This is a bill in search of a problem, manufactured from whole cloth as a direct result of campaign contributions.

I spent a small amount of training time in this court. The proper abuse concern arises in the high-net-worth end of the filings, an area that is explicitly carved out and protected in the current bill. It's not the $50k/yr couple with the med bills, or the three judgments arising out of stupidity, or the profligacy, that costs "us" all of this money that the bill's sponsors are so noisily protecting. Chapter 13 should have been mandated for the big-asset people, not for Julie Sixpack with her too-expensive used-car loan, overdue dental bills, and unfiled-in-court "lawsuit" judgments sending her paycheck proceeds directly from her bank account to her cable provider's collection lawyer. You can't imagine how many people get forced into BK simply because creditors already have such an easy time attaching their funds - people who are barely making it, thinking they have worked out a payment schedule with creditors but finding out after the fact that their meager savings and checking accounts were emptied yesterday by that creditor's attorney, incurring hundreds of dollars in bounced-check fees and violating other payment schedules.

I'm a hard-core republican. And this bill stinks.

Recruiting down
 

There's a change. What's the cause?

I'm guessing, after some thought, that my earlier meanderings might be it - if one could track Dem v. Repub enlistments, there would be a change equal to this "drop in black enlistment". This ain't a Dem's war, it belongs to Repubs. Since blacks are overwhelmingly Dem, and blacks are measured while party affiliation ain't, this is just the only available indicator of that.

Something was rotten in the state of Ohio.
 

S'ok.

In that case, I suppose it's telling that Hank had to learn from a poll watcher that some votes were being cast for the other guy, but no matter.

Recruiting down
 

I would think that a war would affect military recruitment by discouraging enlistment by those who fear death or dismemberment but increasing enlistment among those who feel called to service. Whether you're a Democrat or a Republican, I suspect that latter impulse is far outweighed by the former by now. This is surely more true among Democrats, but I don't think Republicans are flocking to the recruitment office to sign up to go man roadblocks between Baghdad and the airport.

Something was rotten in the state of Ohio.
 

Aww, Dad.

You almost made me feel bad for pointing out and complaining about something profoundly stupid and insulting I was told on the playground by the strange man with his hands in his pockets.

Almost.

Something was rotten in the state of Ohio.
 

No worries- what I told you about being afraid of gangs of punks at the Warped Tour applies when they're in the hundreds. Those 5 I can handle- especially since Gatti and SS tend to flail around when they make arguments, and punch their teammates more than hurting me.

The Dating Game, Sadly, No style

Something was rotten in the state of Ohio.
 

Well, that settles that.

bad bill. very bad bill
 

Why shouldn't creditors bear some personal responsibility for their actions?

Something was rotten in the state of Ohio.
 

You're short.

Something was rotten in the state of Ohio.
 

And that's bad right? Explain why being short is bad for a guy.

Something was rotten in the state of Ohio.
 

Short guys cannot get Ftang.

bad bill. very bad bill
 

They are, their debtor just went b/k, so they get paid pennies on the dollar, if at all.