NJ: No idiot voters, just stupid ones

[Judy G. Russell]

New Jersey voters passed one ballot question yesterday that removed language from the state constitution that describes mentally disabled people as "idiots" and "insane" who were barred from voting. Now only those held incapable of understanding the act of voting by a court will be barred, and they won't be called "idiots."

No, that label really should be used -- along with the term "stupid" -- for those who voted down the ballot question that would have allowed the state to sell bonds to fund stem cell research and create a major research center in the state for that purpose. I would politely disagree with those who voted it down if they did so on principled grounds -- that they disagreed with the concept. But the exit polls strongly indicate that the votes were on financial grounds -- that it was too expensive.

Sigh... the fact that the bond issue would have created thousands of jobs and offered the potential of saving thousands of lives seems to have escaped those who voted it down. Plus I suspect there's a fair amount of duplicity in the "it's too expensive" claim, since the biggest votes against it came from the most right-wing anti-abortion sections of the state...

[Lindsey]

Plus I suspect there's a fair amount of duplicity in the "it's too expensive" claim, since the biggest votes against it came from the most right-wing anti-abortion sections of the state...
I suspect that's the real story. Funny how the people who call themselves "pro-life" seem to be less concerned with life once you are actually born, and never seem to concern themselves with the quality of that life at all.

--Lindsey

[Mike]

...less concerned with life once you are actually born, and never seem to concern themselves with the quality of that life at all.
Because they've never been told to think about those things.

[Lindsey]

Because they've never been told to think about those things.
You know -- you may have something there. The religious right is not much into figuring things out on their own...

--Lindsey

[Judy G. Russell]

Funny how the people who call themselves "pro-life" seem to be less concerned with life once you are actually born, and never seem to concern themselves with the quality of that life at all.Their God never seems to speak in terms of that, unfortunately...

[Mike]

The religious right is not much into figuring things out on their own...
Particularly for those issues that the church, uh, "leaders" can use as incendiary topics to mobilize the flock, such as abortion, homosexuality, war, ...

[Lindsey]

Particularly for those issues that the church, uh, "leaders" can use as incendiary topics to mobilize the flock, such as abortion, homosexuality, war, ...
One ray of hope in the current election campaign is that many of them may finally be forced to do some thinking of their own, now that Pat Robertson has endorsed for president Rudi Giuliani, who has backed any number of positions that are (or are supposed to be) anathema to his 700 Club flock. That is not an endorsement based on religious principle, it is based solely on political expediency.

Then again, it strikes me now that this is a little like Animal Farm, where the leaders kept shifting the rules in the middle of the night depending on what suited their own private agenda, and most of the rest of the animals never quite managed to catch on to what was happening.

--Lindsey

[Mike]

...the leaders kept shifting the rules in the middle of the night depending on what suited their own private agenda, and most of the rest of the animals never quite managed to catch on to what was happening.
More specifically, the agenda for the leaders is whatever they believe will rile the flock into contributing $$$. Read Stranger at the Gate by Mel White to see how Falwell (may he never RIP) manipulated his "followers." When the wall came down and Falwell (and his ilk) no longer could fleece the flock by asking for help to fight the "godless commies," he then needed funding to fight the "godless homosexuals."

now that Pat Robertson has endorsed for president Rudi Giuliani...
On the radio on Friday, the morning quiz was for people to replace the writers for the late night talk shows (e.g., Leno, Conan, etc.). One contestant quipped, "Now that Pat Robertson has endorsed Giuliani, all references to 'John 3:16' will be replaced by 'Rudy 9/11.'"

[Toni Savage]

Yeah... interesting that a high proportion of "pro-life" folks are also in favor of the death penalty.

[Lindsey]

Read Stranger at the Gate by Mel White to see how Falwell (may he never RIP) manipulated his "followers."
I will look for it, thanks! You know, I never thought about the railing about the "gay agenda" being the substitute for a dead "godless Communism" issue, but I can see that indeed it was.

One contestant quipped, "Now that Pat Robertson has endorsed Giuliani, all references to 'John 3:16' will be replaced by 'Rudy 9/11.'"
LOL!!!

--Lindsey

[Mike]

I will look for it, thanks! You know, I never thought about the railing about the "gay agenda" being the substitute for a dead "godless Communism" issue, but I can see that indeed it was.
FWIW, Mel White was Falwell's ghost writer and for many years, until he realized (accepted?) that he's gay.

[Lindsey]

FWIW, Mel White was Falwell's ghost writer and for many years, until he realized (accepted?) that he's gay.
You know, if I didn't know better, I'd be tempted to say that it is association with the Republican Party and then religious right that makes people gay...

--Lindsey

[Mike]

...I'd be tempted to say that it is association with the Republican Party and then religious right that makes people gay...
I kind of think it's the opposite... some people have internalized homophobia or are otherwise fighting who they are. What better way to show how "normal" one is than to hang around others who will show them the "right way"?

A few of them finally escape that.

[Lindsey]

I kind of think it's the opposite... some people have internalized homophobia or are otherwise fighting who they are. What better way to show how "normal" one is than to hang around others who will show them the "right way"?

A few of them finally escape that.
I was being silly, but I think your theory makes a lot of sense.

And "otherwise fighting who they are" applies in a lot of other areas, too -- I think that has a lot to do with Clarence Thomas's embrace of the Republican Party. I haven't read the book, but going by Jeffrey Toobin's review in last week's New Yorker, I'm guessing he suffers from a self-hatred that is in no small part the result of being raised by a disapproving grandfather who appears to have had all the warmth of a glacier.

--Lindsey

[Mike]

I was being silly
I knew that, but...
but I think your theory makes a lot of sense.
which is why I posted it! :-)

[Mike]

I dare you to look at The Onion's "American Voices" (http://www.theonion.com/content/amvo/pat_robertson_endorses_giuliani) column regarding Robertson/Giuliani. Go ahead. I dare you.

[Mike]

Speaking of Repuglicans...

"If we took away women’s right to vote, we’d never have to worry about another Democrat president. It’s kind of a pipe dream, it’s a personal fantasy of mine, but I don’t think it’s going to happen. And it is a good way of making the point that women are voting so stupidly, at least single women."
-- Ann Coulter

(SLB: Didn't you post the picture that looks like Coulter has an Adam's Apple?)

[Mike]

Funny you should say that...

[Judy G. Russell]

Yeah... interesting that a high proportion of "pro-life" folks are also in favor of the death penalty.It's only "life" if they can make political capital out of it...

[Judy G. Russell]

Funny you should say that...ROFL!!!

[Lindsey]

I dare you to look at The Onion's "American Voices" (http://www.theonion.com/content/amvo/pat_robertson_endorses_giuliani) column regarding Robertson/Giuliani. Go ahead. I dare you.
It's a distressing sign of the times when the Onion makes more sense than the actual news! But my favorite quote there, "I don't know whose credibility this ruins more." (Not that either of those two guys actually had any...)

--Lindsey

[Lindsey]

(SLB: Didn't you post the picture that looks like Coulter has an Adam's Apple?)
Indeed I did!

OK, Coulter-geist says that single women vote stupidly. Is she then admitting that she votes stupidly? She lives in Florida, too -- another factor causing "stupid voting." Maybe that is why she has had trouble figuring out which precinct (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2006/06/02/coulter-accused-of-voter-_n_22097.html) to vote in.

--Lindsey

[Lindsey]

Funny you should say that...
LOL!! I'll have to start paying more attention to that strip.

--Lindsey

[Mike]

Coulter-geist
The name you use is much more polite than what I'd use.

http://users.rcn.com/skutsch/anticoulter/evilstupid.html

[Mike]

It's a distressing sign of the times when the Onion makes more sense than the actual news!
On my browser at work, I have a folder of bookmarks called "Daily." If I middle-click it, it opens all the links in it. Along with Dilbert and GiveawayOfTheDay, I see The Onion each morning. :-)

I always remember to swallow my coffee and put down the cup before actually going to the tab with The Onion.

[Lindsey]

I always remember to swallow my coffee and put down the cup before actually going to the tab with The Onion.
LOL!! Yeah, that's a good idea!

--Lindsey