Dear Brophy and Schultheis: 'No' Means 'No'

and I want (4.00 / 1)

 
Should I write a letter to Owens too?  What's next, will they demand the no-longer-so-special session also declare him as the bestest governor ever? 

Republicans, proving once again, they'll pass do nothing legislation, and waste our money while they're at it.

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by: johne @ Tue Jun 20, 2006 at 19:56:23 PM CDT

Excuse my ignorance. (0.00 / 0)

What's the pony thing about?  I see it everywhere.

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by: zenhound @ Tue Jun 20, 2006 at 21:02:48 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

from dailykos (0.00 / 0)

I don't know where it originated but the idea is to reward someone's excellent comment with something nice other than a '4'.  Thus some people reply with a picture of a pony.  Mine is more of a, I'm going to ask for something that I know is impossible and/or silly. 

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by: johne @ Tue Jun 20, 2006 at 21:06:25 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Holden's ponies (0.00 / 0)

bestowed upon him by Atrios on each occasion Bush's approval rating went down.

Not sure, but I think that's where the ponies were spawned.

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by: bumblebums @ Tue Jun 20, 2006 at 21:15:52 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

A pony bet (0.00 / 0)

Wikipedia provides answers. 

In other Wikipedia Colorado election news, nobody can edit Bob Beauprez's page on Wikipedia, due people constantly removing bad (but cited) news about Beauprez.  The locked current page isn't very flattering, including the Ref C flipflop, Russian gangsters, and the flight suit photo.

Bill Ritter's is still free to edit and is very positive.

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by: peterco @ Tue Jun 20, 2006 at 22:20:16 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Also... (4.00 / 1)

from Examined Life & Crooked Timber. The saying is actually "...and a pony!", meaning that you're asking for something so patently ridiculous that you might as well ask for a pony as well.

You can find Examined Life, which is written by John Holbo & Belle Waring, here, and Crooked Timber, to which they both contribute, here. Now, I'm not certain that John & Belle were the ones that originated it, but they certainly gave it some of its biggest play.

ad astra, per aspera // keep calm & carry on

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by: rnoboa @ Tue Jun 20, 2006 at 22:29:49 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

You nailed it (0.00 / 0)

I do believe the John & Belle post is where the "and a pony" thing comes from.

Illegal is not a noun

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by: Luis @ Wed Jun 21, 2006 at 13:49:39 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Thanks for the pony info. (0.00 / 0)

I actually did search wikipedia, but the pony entry was actually about ponies...

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by: zenhound @ Wed Jun 21, 2006 at 16:19:36 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

a little poem (4.00 / 1)

how priveleged one must be
to whine the way they do
their biggest stress in life
is pressing 'one' or 'two'

---------

I think we should make it law that you have to press '2' for English.

SoapBlox - the new blog framework.

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by: pacified @ Tue Jun 20, 2006 at 19:58:55 PM CDT

Problem w/ HB-1008... (0.00 / 0)

it was actually HCR-1008 :)  You pointed to the right one in your link though.

I remember listening to the proceedings of the committee meeting while I was at the Capitol, I don't remember who said it, but someone asked Schultheis if this meant that we would have to change the name of the state (Colorado, Spanish for "Color Red"), names of cities, towns and counties (like Pueblo and Huerfano Counties,  most of the towns in the San Luis Valley) or the names of any number of streets in the Metro Denver Area and Colorado for that matter. "Why?" you might ask.

Here is the summary of the bill:

SUBMITTING 101 TO THE REGISTERED ELECTORS OF THE STATE OF COLORADO AN AMENDMENT TO SECTION 30a OF ARTICLE II OF THE CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE OF COLORADO, CONCERNING A REQUIREMENT THAT ENGLISH BE THE OFFICIAL LANGUAGE OF PUBLIC ENTITIES IN THE STATE, AND, IN CONNECTION THEREWITH, REQUIRING ANY PRINTED OR ELECTRONIC DOCUMENT, PUBLICATION, OR OTHER MATERIAL ISSUED BY THE STATE OR ANY POLITICAL SUBDIVISION, OR ANY OTHER FORM OF INFORMATION TRANSMITTED IN EITHER A PRINTED OR ELECTRONIC FORMAT BY OR ON BEHALF OF THE STATE OR ANY POLITICAL SUBDIVISION, TO BE EXCLUSIVELY WRITTEN IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE SUBJECT TO SPECIFIED EXCEPTIONS, AND IMPOSING ADDITIONAL RESTRICTIONS ON THE USE OF A LANGUAGE OTHER THAN ENGLISH IN CONNECTION WITH PUBLICLY SUPPORTED LIBRARIES, PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICTS, AND PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT.

Schultheis (a member of the committee hearing the bill) was dumbfounded (and redfaced after thinking about it according to a couple people who were in attendance) and after a long pause responded, "No".  Shortly thereafter Rep. Terrance Carroll made a motion to table the the bill indefinately. 

-9.13, -4.82, Just left of Gandhi

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by: Archangelsk @ Tue Jun 20, 2006 at 22:07:21 PM CDT

HB v. HCR (0.00 / 0)

what's the diff?

SoapBlox - the new blog framework.

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by: pacified @ Tue Jun 20, 2006 at 22:37:15 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

I don't know (0.00 / 0)

from what I understand, a bill passed as a concurrent resolution is some sort of opinion by both chambers of the legislature and doesnt have the same legal standing as a reuglar bill. 

-9.13, -4.82, Just left of Gandhi

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by: Archangelsk @ Wed Jun 21, 2006 at 00:00:05 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Bill are intended to become laws. (0.00 / 0)

Usually a concurrent resolution produces a ballot measure.

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by: ohwilleke @ Wed Jun 21, 2006 at 11:59:16 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Senator Obama On Voter Citizenship Enforcement (4.00 / 1)

From here.

There are two problems with the argument: number one, there's been no showing that there's any significant problem with voter fraud in the 50 states. There certainly is no showing that non-citizens are rushing to try to vote: this is a solution in search of a problem.

The second problem is that historically disenfranchised groups - minorities, the poor, the elderly and the disabled - are most affected by photo ID laws. Let me give you a few statistics, overall 12% of voting age American do not have a driver's license, most of whom are minority, new U.S. citizens, the indigent, the elderly or the disabled. AARP reports that 3.6 million disabled Americans have no driver's license. A recent study in Wisconsin this year found that white adults were twice as likely to have driver's licenses as African Americans over 18. In Louisiana, African Americans are four to five times less likely to have photo IDs than white residents.

Now, why won't poor people be able to get photo IDs or Real IDs? It's simple. Because they cost money. You need a birth certificate, passport or proof naturalization and that can cost up to $85. Then you need to go to the state office to apply for a card. That requires time off work, possibly a long trip on public transportation assuming there's an office near you. Imagine if you only vote once ever two or four years, it's not very likely you'll take time off work, take a bus to pay $85 just so you can vote. That is not something that most folks are going to be able to do. . . .

The Carter-Baker commission in 2002-2004 said fraudulent votes make up .000003% of the votes cast. That's a lot of zeros. Let me say it a different way. Out of almost 200 million votes that were cast during these elections, 52 were fraudulent. To put that into some context, you are statistically more likely to get killed by lightning than to find a fraudulent vote in a federal election.

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by: ohwilleke @ Wed Jun 21, 2006 at 12:12:06 PM CDT

The largest group of non-citizen voters are dead people. (4.00 / 1)

At least in one Wisconsin race where the statistics were examined closely.

The breakdown:

Apparently dead people 12.

[I]nterviews revealed honest mistakes occurred in most cases. One woman was upset to learn that the federal government had erroneously marked her as being dead; two men had been unwittingly voting under their dead fathers' registrations.

Felons on Parole 361

Like Colorado, in Wisconsin you can't vote if you are in prison or on parole, but aren't disqualified from voting entirely simply for having a felony conviction.  Those who voted were still on parole.

and

Legal Immigrants Awaiting Naturalization 4.

There were no double votes.

The review looked at 370,000 voting records.  Thus, roughly one in a thousand was a felon on parole, and one in 100,000 was a non-citizen, in each case apparently just shy of being a citizen.

If Colorado is similar, even in a Presidential election year like 2004, we would expect perhaps 21 such votes statewide.  In an off year election, we might expect half that many.  Hardly a pressing problem.  Indeed, it is interesting that Republicans think people voting is an emergency, but people not voting isn't a problem.

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by: ohwilleke @ Wed Jun 21, 2006 at 12:42:36 PM CDT