Before I get windy here let me say here right of the bat that if I was permitted and authorized to vote for US President 2012 it would be a bitterly cold day in hell before I gave Mitt Romney my vote and if the only way to keep Romney from winning the presidential election equated to me casting my vote for ineligible Barack Obama I would do so, somewhat reluctantly and apprehensively, but I myself would so.
For the record here I was allowed to vote in 2008 but I didn’t know it until the same night that Barack Obama won the election. I remember that night. I was sitting in the living room with a family of black Americans (husband, wife, two children). When asked who I voted for I replied that I hadn’t voted. When asked why I had chosen not to vote I stated that I have never had the right to vote for US President.
When asked to elaborate I explained that I in the year 1996 I was only 16 years old and did not yet have the right to vote for Bill Clinton.
I went on to say that in the year 2000, while I was now of legal voting age, I was also now a felon (not to mention I was physically serving a 5 year prison sentence within the Iowa Department of Corrections) and felons in the state of Iowa did not have the right to vote in government elections, including that of US President, and so, that being said, I was not permitted to cast my vote in that election. Btw, I wouldn’t have given my vote George W. Bush or Al Gore.
At that point my friend, a member of the United States Armed Forces, explained to my that I did have the right to vote in Iowa because Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack (Democrat) issued an executive order (42) which restored the citizenship rights (including right to vote for US President) of all felons with Iowa.
Paragraph II: “The rights of Citizenship, including that of voting and qualification to hold public office, which were forfeited by reason of conviction shall be restored for all offenders that are completely discharged from criminal sentences, including any accompanying term of probation, parole, or supervised release, as of July 4th, 2005, but have not made an application pursuant to Iowa Code Chapter 914. This executive order shall serve as evidence of restoration of of citizenship rights for such individuals.“
I discharged (no parole, probation or supervised release) on Christmas Day, 2002 and walked out of the front gates of the Newton Correctional Facility (medium site) a categorically and absolutely free man. The above embedded executive order, issued by Iowa Governor Thomas J. Vilsack (Democrat), on Independence Day 2005, serves as evidence of restoration of my right to vote for, though not limited to, President of the United States of America and for US Congress.
Since discharging (12.25.2002) my prison sentence I have not returned prison or penitentiary within the Iowa Department of Corrections nor within any other State.. Moreover, since that date of discharge, I have not been placed on probation, parole or supervised release within the state of Iowa.
Then the unthinkable happened in November, 2010…..I was in Cedar Rapids (Wellington Heights neighborhood), Iowa and I walked over to Johnson Elementary School on 18th Street SE not far from my grandmother’s house on 18th Street SE. Once inside Johnson Elementary I proceeded to straight-party-vote (or straight-ticket-vote). With a lead pencil I voted Republican for city, county, state and federal elections. In voting straight party I voted for Terry Branstad (Republican).
Terry Branstad, with the help of my vote as a felon, won the 2010 election and in January, 2011 became the Governor of Iowa.
(Its should be noted, for record here, that Terry Branstad was also Governor of Iowa before Thomas Vilsack became Govenor of Iowa. Branstad served as Governor of Iowa from 1983 thru 1999. Vilsack served as Governor of Iowa from 1999 thru 2007.)
On the very day that Branstad assumed office of Governor of Iowa, January 14, 2011, he warmly expressed his gratitude for my vote as a felon with the following executive order (70) which rescinded Vilsack’s 2005 executive order (42):
As of January 14, 2011 felons in Iowa must make application with the State of Iowa for restoration of their citizenship rights (includes voting). Moreover, before making that application (which can be denied) it is stipulated that the felon must pay all fines, restitutions, unpaid outstanding monetary obligations and court costs owed to the State of Iowa.
Thank you Governor Terry Branstad (Republican). I’ve learned a lot from you including that I was a fool to straight-party vote / straight-ticket vote.
I will never again vote for any based solely on their party affiliation. Mitt Romney wont get my vote and if I had to vote for Barack Obama to keep Romney out of Office I would do so, reluctantly. Don’t worry though, I don’t have the right to vote.
A few words now from U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice, Earl Warren, in Reynolds v. Sims (1964): “The right to vote freely for the candidate of one’s choice is of the essence of the democratic society, and any restrictions on that right strike at the heart of representative government.“
Postscript: For the record, I video-recorded my straight-party voting at Johnson Elementary School in November, 2010 with my then i-Phone (I now use an HTC HD7).
“A few words now from U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice, Earl Warren, in Reynolds v. Sims (1964): “The right to vote freely for the candidate of one’s choice is of the essence of the democratic society, and any restrictions on that right strike at the heart of representative government.”
The above sounds good on the surface, but consider —
Children in the USA under the age of 18 are not allowed to vote in presidential elections. This is one of our country’s understandable and readily accepted ‘restrictions’ on the right to vote. However, it could be interpreted as a ‘strike at the heart of representative government’, according to the decidedly left-leaning Chief Justice Earl Warren who writes that ANY restriction must be avoided.
http://sovereignstates.org/books/NMAA/NineMen_13.html
Also, as a practical matter to insure fair elections, the right of an adult citizen to ‘vote freely’ should not, in my opinion, allow someone to vote without first establishing his or her citizenship/residency requirements and showing proper identity credentials at the ballot box.
Thus, it is reasonable that SOME restrictions regarding voting be placed on a country’s citizenry. My views on the topic of voting in national elections, like my views on most other important matters, lie considerably to the political right of those of Chief Justice Warren.
Democratic societies become increasingly unstable as the fraction of their voting citizens feeding significantly at the public trough grows ever nearer to the majority level of 50%.
“A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world’s greatest civilizations has been 200 years.” — Alexander Fraser Tytler (1747–1813).
It would be politically impossible and functionally impractical to prevent even people now living largely on the public dole from voting in national elections. Therefore, our only choice, if we wish to remain free as a country, is to consistently elect principled Congressional Representatives who understand the ramifications of Mr. Tytler’s statement quoted above. – Otherwise, we are doomed!
The U.S. House of Representatives is the key to our stable future, if only enough patriots can be persuaded to work diligently at their local and county levels to forever keep a ‘principled majority’ in Congress. Unfortunately, we are a very long way from achieving that goal!
—————————–
I will hold my nose and vote for Romney next November, unless the Democrats somehow are able to legally replace Obama with a principled leader on the ballot. In that unlikely case, I will ‘flip a bird’ to Karl Rove and the Republican Establishment and vote for the other ‘party’ in 2012.
I detest the ‘big government, business-as-usual-in-Washington guy ’ Romney, but I think he is at least ‘competent’ and he does not actually ‘hate’ America! For the record, I did not like any of the other Republican candidates running in the primaries. I think they all had serious problems concerning their abilities and/or their election potentials.
Perhaps, Romeny can buy us some time to at least stabilize things for a few years until better choices become available. Most importantly, I think he can beat Obama, especially if he selects an intelligent choice for a VP.
Obama is ‘scary, enemy-in-the-White-House, radical left’! I believe he hates everything America stands for and seeks our absolute destruction! There is no way I could ever vote for him!
You make @ Bruce:
Well stated.
I agree that Chief Justice Earl Warren was decidedly left-leaning and I certainly don’t praise his other ‘victories’.
I agree that with what you’ve said regarding Democratic societies. Although I think that the words Democracy and Republic are nowadays equated with other terminologies that they weren’t associated with in the past and its difficult for me to use these words when I know that they will automatically be construed as having some sort of significance that I have not meant to be implied.
I also agree with what you’ve stated about Obama.
I’m not authorized to vote so I wont be voting for Obama.
If Obama does not win this election I fear, and am rather confident that, that we’ll have another Goerge W. Bush in office (this time named Mitt Romney) and that it will be back to the same old business of shredding the US Constitution while most of white America (as well as all colors of America) is lead along like sheep and, inexplicably all the while, praise and defend the overt shredding of the US Constitution such as they did with the Patriot Act.
It will be back to business as usual and it won’t be ‘cool’ anymore for conservatives and republicans to hold ‘rallies’ and ‘protests’ and those that do will be dismissed as crazy conspiracy theorists by other white Americans (and all colors of Americans).
The troglodyte is coming out in me and I’m reduced now to using four-letter word adjectives when I say that Mitt Romney is, categorically, a piece of shit that I would never vote for.
Well, Lucas, very revealing. A birther admits that he would vote for “an ineligible Obama” over Rmoney; that is, if he were able to vote. It goes along with what I have believed from the beginning. It is not and never was about eligibility, but simply about not liking Obama for one or another reason (ideology, race, party, White Sox fan) and looking for an excuse rather than simply being honest.
But let’s all be honest-elections in the US come down to a binary choice in the end. How many could not imagine a candidate so awful that they would vote for an opponent whom they believed to be ineligible? Imagine a race between David Duke and Jennifer Granholm or Madeline Albright- wouldn’t the naturalized citizens be the obviously preferable choice?
Obama is eligible, but, just as importantly, he is an actual human being as opposed to the corporation known as Mitt Rmoney “corporations are people, too!” and deserves the votes of all those who want a country that isn’t 100% owned by large corporations. I wish Obama would stand up for real (as opposed to corporate) persons all of the time, rather than only some of the time, but Rmoney and his party will not go to the bathroom without permission from their corporate overlords. God help us if the Republicans EVER control Congress and the White House again. This crew will make GWB look like a great guy.
@ Scientist:
Scientist hides his ulterior motives quite well. For some, anti-birtherism has been excellent cover.
Borrowing from Lincoln: There are some of us who can’t be fooled.
BTW, Lucas Smith is a complete joke.
Rambo Ike wrote:
Please tell me what I am “covering” for. Hey, if you think Rmoney is a great guy and he and Ryna and Cantor are looking out for you, vote for him. That’s your right. Just stop all this “who’s your daddy?” crap, OK?
@ Rambo Ike:
THE 2 CLOWNS RAMBALONY AND SCHEMATIST ARE REALLY QUITE IGNORANT AND MORONIC OBOTS . SUCH IDIOTIC STATEMENTS . PLEASE TELL US HOW badrak ‘ insane ‘ obummer COULD POSSIBLY BE ELIGIBLE WHEN HIS FATHER WAS NOT A CITIZEN , AND obummer RECEIVED COLLEGE AID AS A FOREIGN STUDENT . THIS TRUTH HAS BEEN PROVEN MANY TIMES OVER , AND YOU 2 ARE STILL IN THE DARK .
@ Scientist:
Scientist April 22, 2012 at 10:35 am # Rambo Ike: Your hypocrisy radiates.
“Really? The hypocricy is to demand proof from one candidate different from that demanded of others. Two birth certificates from Obama are insufficient, yet 0 from Rmoney is fine in your view. Come back when you are ready to ask from Rmoney what you ask for from Obama. And if Rmoney actually does post an electronic copy of a Michigan (or Ontario) b.c., I expect you to explain that it isn’t legally valid since it’s only a set of pixels and you want access to the originals just to check..
But you will never do that, you hypocriite…”
~ ~ ~
Notice the date when I did do that and to top it off, you had posted several times around me in the same thread.
Rambo Ike April 13, 2012 at 7:03 am Rambo Ike(Quote) # US Citizen: So now that the GOP front runner is Romney with a dad born in Mexico, where will the birthers take us now?
I for one hope that the Birthers continue their 4 year honest quest to make all candidates provide proof of eligibility to be on the party tickets for the presidency, and not act like their opposition has over that same time period.
============
Scientist April 22, 2012 at 10:41 am Scientist(Quote) # It has nothing to do with where fathers were born. Either every candidate must show a birth certificate or none. Simple fairness and equity.
~ ~ ~
Now the hypocrite says that because of possible problems with Romney’s records. The 0b0ts weren’t talking that before the start of the 2012 campaigns. Starting in Oct.’08 thru the summer of ’11 when I took the position that all candidates must be vetted the 0b0t smear merchants used every form of bigotry they could come up to attack me because I wanted a simple one standard fits all in the vetting process.
===============
Cover? It’s when you & fellow 0b0ts get on other issues/subjects. It becomes evident where you fall in at on the ideology-political spectrum. Anti-Birtherism makes great cover.
@ ARNOLD CARL TAPP:
Yo Dude,
You’re mixing me up with those 2 idiots [Scientist & Lucas Smith]. I’m NOT a supporter of the ObOts’s dear leader badrak ‘ insane ‘ obummer.
Smith is certifiable. He is voting for badrak ‘ insane ‘ obummer because he knows he is an illegal occupier of the Whitehouse. If that doesn’t make ya a candidate for the Looney Bin then I don’t know what does.
No, Rambeau: You are in the dark. You will vote for Rmoney even though he has shown 0 birth certificates and Obama has shown 2. That is the type of partisan hack you are.
When you say “all candidates must be vetted” I agree. That is what the election is for and it’s the voters who vet them. And then Congress says yea or nay. That’s what happened with obama and all of his predecessors. the same will happen in 2012 with whomever wins.
You are just 1 of 140 million or so voters. No smarter and no worthier. Likely less than many. You can cast your vote how you like and they cast theirs. End of story.
Rambo Ike wrote:
So who DO you support? Which candidate, including 3rd parties, has shown a b.c.? Certainly not Mitt Rmoney, Inc.. So, since NO candidate has established eligibility by your own standards, will you stay home on election day? Or are you a hypocrite?
@ Scientist:
As I said, “anti-Birtherism makes great cover”, but eventually the ObOt will expose their true self.
I can only conclude from the way you’ve stated it is that you believe in a pure democracy for America. You’ve eliminated all pre-election rules & laws, including Constitutional requirements. According to you the vetting takes place by the voters during the election, then it’s left up to the Oligarchy [oops, scratch Oligarchy. I meant government elite] to decide if they want to honor the vote of the people. My, oh my, your facist roots are showing.
Where I said “all candidates must be vetted” that is to be understood as prior to being placed on the ballot.
I will agree with you if there really is a problem with Romney’s records/documents – I don’t know that to be a fact there is one – he needs to clear up any and all questions.
I’m not sidestepping the issue by saying I don’t vote for a candidate. I have voted straight party ticket at the national level ever since catching on to what was happening to the DemoRAT Party. For an explanation on that check out what congressman Alan West has recently been saying.
Rambo Ike wrote:
But who will do the vetting? You birthers have yet to find an actual body that agrees with you-not any actual courts (state or federal), not the actual Congress, noot actual election commissions. According to you, they all lack legitimacy because their decisions have not gone your way. In fact, any vetting by actual vetters always finds Obama eligible. Tough luck for you.
Rambo Ike wrote:
Yet none of the GOP Presidential candidates in my lifetime have provided ANY evidence of their eligibility. None. Zero. But you don’t care. Only in Obama’s case do you pay the slightest attention. Interesting, to say the least. One could say-selective, perhaps even biased. Certainly NOT fair and balanced….
URGENT MESSAGE TO clown 1 AND clown 2 : YOU ARE NO SCIENTIST AND NO RAMBO . THE FAITHFUL FOLLOWERS OF THIS FORUM HAVE BEEN ” WITH IT ” SINCE DAY ONE OF THE LISTING OF AN AUTHENTIC KENYAN BIRTH CERTIFICATE FOR obozo . THERE IS NO SUCH IMAGINARY ANIMAL AS A BIRTHER or TRUTHER . THESE ARE MORONIC TITLES INVENTED BY IDIOTS .
WE WHO KNOW WHAT HAS HAPPENED AND WHAT IS HAPPENING ARE LOYAL PATRIOTIC AMERICAN CITIZENS WHO DEMAND THAT OUR CONSTITUTION AND ALL SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS BE HONORED FOREVER , AND WE OPPOSE ALL WHO WOULD VIOLATE OR TRY TO CHANGE THESE .
@ Rambo Ike:
@ Rambo Ike:
RAMBALONEY , WHO THE HELL DIED AND LEFT YOU IN CHARGE OF JUDGEMENT REGARDING THE SANITY OF ANY OTHER PERSON ?
LUCAS SMITH OBTAINED THE ONLY AUTHENTIC BIRTH CERTIFICATE FOR obozo BY THE CIRCUMSTANCE OF BEING IN KENYA ON BUSINESS . NOBODY HAS EVEN WRITTEN A CHALLENGE TO THE AUTHENTICITY OF THIS DOCUMENT , AND TO LOOK AT IT , WITH ALL THE EXACT INFORMATION REGARDING EVERYTHING , YOU KNOW THE REASON THEY HAVE NOT CHALLENGED IT .
WHY DO YOU IMAGINE TO KNOW THAT NO CANDIDATE HAS PROVIDED PROOF ON ELIGIBILITY ???????? ARE YOU OMNISCIENT ???????????
RAMBALONEY AND FAUX SCIENTIST SHOULD TAKE A LONG WALK ON A SHORT PIER AND DISAPPEAR FROM THIS FORUM . ADIOS ( AMF )
@ ARNOLD CARL TAPP:
I happen to agree with you on the titles; Birther & anti-Birther. They are misnomers that have been accepted in the political arena, so I too, like many others, use them. I have found over the last couple of years a number of people who call themselves Birthers really aren’t, and are using it as cover for other motives. This year I’m finding the same with those calling themselves anti-Birthers. They too have ulterior motives and are using the label as cover.
Isn’t it the reason noone believes you on your claim of having Obozo’s Kenyan Birth Certificate is because you haven’t provided any receipts such as lodging, dining or travel that would correlate with the time you were in Kenya?
The sanity of anyone claiming they would vote for someone for the presidency that they knew was illegal needs to be questioned.
@ Scientist:
I gave you a day to correct what one can only deem as anti-Constitutional Republic statements by you. This is the huge ideological divide that exist between many of you ObOts and me.
I believe it is the right of the people [employers] to know exactly who the person is that is applying to be their representative [employee] in government prior to being placed on the ballot. This did not happen with Obama, and when law suits ensued to get the people’s questions answered, Obama used law firms to block it.
~~~ “Yet none of the GOP Presidential candidates in my lifetime have provided ANY evidence of their eligibility. None. Zero.”
How many of them had the same problems as we’ve had & are having with Obama? McCain’s problem was cleared up – he is a natural-born Citizen.
Of course I’m bias, never claimed I wasn’t. The problem here, now going on 4+ years, is the sleazy bottom-feeding way the ObOts define the bias.
No comment on the recent Alan West statements? You’re better off ~grin~