Articles tagged with: Elections 2012
Of anger and lying
Politicians lie, but we can’t afford to lie to ourselves. Quit thinking that someone else will vote in your place: In today’s political climate, complacency equals death.
Winter is coming — so vote
Winter is coming — and election season is here. It’s time to prepare for the coming political storms. Today is the 2012 Alaska primary election. Please vote.
The Muni played favorites with ballot distribution (Anchorage 2012 election)
Analysis of official Municipality of Anchorage reports from the botched April 3 municipal election by Jeanne Friedman show vast differences in how ballots were distributed to precincts on Election Day, with some precincts receiving enough ballots for only 16 percent of their registered voters, and others receiving enough for 70 to 101 percent of their registered voters. The figures raise the possibility of intentional disenfranchisement of voters in some precincts.
Uncounted ballots: A new can of worms (Anchorage election 2012)
At 6:30 PM on Friday, July 13, Assembly Chair Ernie Hall and Municipal Clerk Barbara Jones issued a press release about 141 “potentially uncounted ballots” from the April 3 Anchorage municipal election which had been discovered in sealed election bags on the previous Wednesday. As a result, the Anchorage Election Commission will yet again convene and the Anchorage Assembly will for a third time certify the botched election. Linda Kellen Biegel responds.
Privilege as a character reference
…in which Annie Muse, who’s been quietly enjoying the benefits of citizenship, attempts to show that besides blinding us, privilege also is allowed to impersonate good character.
Anchorage election: Duke confirms she told election workers not to worry about broken security seals on voting machines
Anchorage Deputy Municipal Clerk Jacqueline Duke has confirmed an election worker’s report that she instructed election workers not to worry about broken security seals on the Diebold AccuVote voting machines used in the April 3 Anchorage election, according to a story published this morning on The Brad Blog. Duke’s instruction directly contradicts instructions in the election handbook, and creates additional questions about the integrity of the election process.
It’s official: Anchorage Equal Rights Initiative certified for April 2012 ballot
It’s official: the Anchorage Equal Rights Initiative will appear on ballot for the April 3, 2012 Anchorage municipal election. One Anchorage, the group spearheading the initiative, received an email yesterday addressed to One Anchorage campaign chairs Arliss Sturgulewski and Gov. Tony Knowles.
Bent News, 10/10/11: Herman Cain’s choice
Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain chooses every day not to be gay; and more in this edition of Bent News.
Bent News,10/4/11: Booing a gay soldier — presidential politics, post-DADT
Post-DADT presidential politics, as illustrated by continuing reaction to the booing of an active-duty gay soldier at a Sep. 22 GOP candidates debate; and more in this edition of Bent News.
(Based on @bentalaska tweets and Facebook shares from October 2–3, with supplementation.)
Presidential politics, post-DADT
- Cain says he should’ve defended booed gay soldier; McCain says all GOP candidates should’ve. (via @AMERICAblogGay) http://t.co/EirAGYud #
Nearly two weeks after audience members at a Republican presidential debate booed Stephen Hill, a gay soldier serving in Iraq who asked if GOP candidates planned to “circumvent” the repeal of DADT, Republican candidates and politicians are defending — or not defending — their lack of response to the disrespect shown an active-duty servicemember.
Herman Cain said he should not have stayed silent, and Sen. John McCain agreed that none of the candidates should have; whereas Mitt Romney said,
I don’t know when they booed and I don’t know why they booed. But I will tell you, that the boos and applause hasn’t always coincided with my own views, but I haven’t stepped in to try and say, ‘this one is right, this one is wrong.’ Instead, I focus on the things I think I will say.
ThinkProgress reports that “Rick Santorum, Jon Huntsman, and Herman Cain are the only candidates to publicly distance themselves from the jeering after last month’s debate.” Both Rick Santorum and Herman Cain have stated they would reinstate Don’t Ask Don’t Tell if elected president.
President Obama, by contrast, told the audience at the annual Human Rights Campaign fundraising dinner last Saturday,
We don’t believe in the kind of smallness that says it’s okay for a stage full of political leaders — one of whom could end up being the president of the United States — being silent when an American soldier is booed. We don’t believe in that…
“We don’t believe in standing silent when that happens. We don’t believe in them being silent since. You want to be commander in chief? You can start by standing up for the men and women who wear the uniform of the United States, even when it’s not politically convenient. We don’t believe in a small America. We believe in a big America — a tolerant America, a just America, an equal America — that values the service of every patriot.
Audience members gave the President a standing ovation. ThinkProgress has video — watch:
ThinkProgress also has analysis and text of President Obama’s full speech at the HRC dinner.
Notably at Saturday’s dinner, there was a table filled with servicemembers — both active-duty and retired — wearing their uniforms. HRC spokesman Michael Cole-Schwartz said it was a first for active-duty members to do so, since it’s also the first post-DADT dinner.
However, President Obama is “still working” on his views about same-sex marriage, and is still stopping short of advocating for full marriage equality, though he endorsed the end of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).
Other tweets
- Week in Review of LGBT news from @gaycivilrights Wall Street, Saudi women suffrage, DADT cases, Obama at HRC http://t.co/48RLl1GG #
- Why do conservatives oppose military chaplains’ religious liberty? (via @TPEquality) http://t.co/R5QfrMSp #
- @afterellen tells us about five documentaries to watch during LGBT History Month http://t.co/OKvFUFeG #
- Country singer Toby Keith OK on same-sex marriage? Yep! Whaddaya know. Good for him. (via @TheAdvocateMag) http://t.co/QFwfC3lN #
- South Africa: So-called “corrective rape” of lesbians — & now a serial killer may be stalking gay men. The Advocate http://t.co/AK5sDIBM #
When a saint backslides….
When former Louisiana Governor Buddy Roemer announced he might run for President in 2012, Caleb was encouraged and intrigued. But that didn’t last long — especially after reading what Roemer had to say about marriage equality and DOMA.
