DISQUS

not only is this man getting away with overtly and flippantly violating federal law, but it looks like he is also on his way to US Congress- ironic and unfortunate to see an anti-voting pol moving on up to the House, based on the results of an election he seems to have deliberately tried hard to undermine. (I hesitate from jumping on a conspiracy theorist track, and these purges appear to be nonpartisan, but still I'm trying to figure out what's in it for him.)

I'm confused on logisitics. How will they identify which provisional ballots are from purged voters and which are from voters who did not have appropriate id, or in fact are not registered? Isn't it supposedly an anonylous system, or is each ballot actually traceable to the voter who filled it in? Are they really going to sort through the stack of provisional ballots and split them into fraudulent-until-proven-innocent and vice versa?

This is probably the most upsetting thing I have read about the right to vote. Although frustrating, things like the "check-box problem" that cause administrative problems are understandable. This is a deliberate effort- led by our own government officials!--to deny voters their right to vote, the most elemental principle of this country. And all in the name of preventing voter fraud, which appears to not even be a huge concern. And whether or not these purges violate federal law (which it sounds like they unequivocally do), don't they violate basic principles of democratic governance?

great news! Ironic that this announcement coincides with Palin's three-stop tour of Colorado...if CO really does go blue (and the nation), this will be an amazing example of of the ability of the grass roots.

What is most unfortunate about this issue is that although we all know it is politicized, and that new (often young) voters have had much higher interest and registration among democratically-leaning folks, and that republicans are trashing these efforts and making a mockery of our American democratic ideology through voter caging. Check-boxes are a pathetic excuse of a reason to keep voters from the polls- this is the saddest example I can think of of bureacracy interfering with and actually prohibiting one of the greatest American rights and traditions.

This makes me embarrassed to be an American - the founding principle of our democratic system is that all eligible voters can vote. This check-box issue is evidence that the system works against particular demographics- not to sound like a conspiracy theorist, but voter caging is very real, and the demographics most likely to be disenfranchised by this rule (among them students) suggest that there is indeed a political agenda here.
How on earth can Alton Dillard argue that this is anything but voter disenfranchisement, when it unequivocally is?

Biden nailed a few issues that Palin is utterly clueless on-- most importantly, what the vp does! She knew that questions was coming, too. Biden undersatnd teh separation of powers that makes the US what it is- she's not even elected, and has plans to legislate in addition to serving as an executive.

"Anti-gay" is NOT "pro-family," which is probably why the reporter chose not to write it that way....conflating homophobia with healthy family life is one of the most egregious civil rights violations of our time, and to condemn this article for accurate language only encourages further anti-gay rhetoric.

Tim,
If you click into the amnesty web site, it says, "Your cell is waiting." The museum at Auchwitz does not make any claims welcoming you to relive an experience that is not re-creatable, or offer a "glimpse"- it in fact offers the camp as it actually was. Amnesty is advertising an experience that is designed to show you what Guantanamo detainees are going through, and I find this to be the least creative and yes, insensitive way to bring attention to an issue that does need our attention. Normally I expect much better work from Amnesty.

This is shamefully off-the-mark and utterly offensive to those who are and have been detained at Guantanamo. There must be a more mature and meaningful way to draw attention to human rights violations than imitating torture.

The reality is, nobody who walks into this makeshift cell will fell remotely what actual detainees feel- to purport that they do is irresponsible and insensitive on Amnesty International's part. If somebody suggested that you could identify with or better appreciate the suffering endured at Auschwitz by going through a mock day, the public would decry it as an insensitive, ineffective, non-educational exercise in insensitive human idiocy, which is exactly what it would be.

Just because offenses at Guantanamo are in the present and not decades in the past does not mean that advocates should simulate severe, and real, conditions that they cannot simulate at the expense of human respect.