Visit the Cellar!

The Cellar Image of the Day is just a section of a larger web community: bright folks talking about everything. The Cellar is the original coffeeshop with no coffee and no shop. Founded in 1990, The Cellar is one of the oldest communities on the net. Join us at the table if you like!

 
What's IotD?

The interesting, amazing, or mind-boggling images of our days.

IotD Stuff

ARCHIVES - over 13 years of IotD!
About IotD
RSS2
XML

Permalink Latest Image

October 22, 2020: A knot of knots is up at our new address

Recent Images

September 28th, 2020: Flyboarding
August 31st, 2020: Arriving Home / Happy Monkey Bait
August 27th, 2020: Dragon Eye Pond
August 25th, 2020: Sharkbait
July 29th, 2020: Gateway to The Underworld
July 27th, 2020: Perseverance
July 23rd, 2020: Closer to the Sun

The CELLAR Tip Mug
Some folks who have noticed IotD

Neatorama
Worth1000
Mental Floss
Boing Boing
Switched
W3streams
GruntDoc's Blog
No Quarters
Making Light
darrenbarefoot.com
GromBlog
b3ta
Church of the Whale Penis
UniqueDaily.com
Sailor Coruscant
Projectionist

Link to us and we will try to find you after many months!

Common image haunts

Astro Pic of the Day
Earth Sci Pic of the Day
We Make Money Not Art
Spluch
ochevidec.net
Strange New Products
Geisha Asobi Blog
Cute animals blog (in Russian)
20minutos.es
Yahoo Most Emailed

Please avoid copyrighted images (or get permission) when posting!

Advertising

The best real estate agents in Montgomery County

   Undertoad  Monday Nov 26 03:18 PM

11/26: Honduras prevents voting fraud



In Honduras they just had an election, and this is how they prevent people from voting more than once: you dip your finger in red dye.

This low-tech solution is probably fool-proof for their citizens. I'm sure we could all imagine various ways around this, but it's far better than the methods we use in the US of A. My wife works as the local inspector of elections, and you know how they prove you've not voted before? They ask for your name, and verify your signature against the signature they have on file. That's all!

I think Honduras has a better idea.



Whit  Monday Nov 26 05:05 PM

     So every voting Honduran walks around with a red finger for a few day's? Wow, can you imagine the imense number of jokes they must have on the subject?



leif  Monday Nov 26 07:30 PM

it has the secondary benefit of showing everyone who voted and who didn't!

It's kind of funny, Americans don't seem to have a problem with all the new "anti-terrorism" laws (some of which are blatantly unconstitutional) but I bet they'd throw a fit if the government wanted to color their thumb red for a few days...



tw  Tuesday Nov 27 11:58 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by leif
It's kind of funny, Americans don't seem to have a problem with all the new "anti-terrorism" laws (some of which are blatantly unconstitutional) but I bet they'd throw a fit if the government wanted to color their thumb red for a few days...
An optional system of ID verification and protection gets those who fear all government up in a tizzy. But when 5,000 Arabs are held up to months in jail for no crimes, without a lawyer, and without even a hearing, then those 'tizzys' are silent. Arabs held by such meaures is unconstitutional. But those who most cite their constitutional rights are silent when Arab constitutional rights are openly violated? Maybe they fear that if we protect someone elses constitutional rights, then they personally might be at greater risk? IOW the thinking is self-centered?

When the extermist right wing Attorney-general intentionally subverts the will of citizens in Oregon (because it goes against his own religious beliefs), those same people and their equivalent, left wing extremist liberals go silent (thread entitled 'Where is Dr Kevorkian'). Amazing how those far from the center are really only intestested in rights and protection from government when they feel threatened - others be damned.

Those truly interested more in America than in their own little worlds would be howling at the illegal imprisionment of 5,000 Arabs and at Ashcroft's decrees. But since Ashcroft represents their own political views, the silence really indicates their true interests and political beliefs.


dave  Tuesday Nov 27 12:15 PM

tw -

not to challenge, but i'm curious where you got the 5,000 number from. i've been reading closer to 1,100-1,200 detained/arrested, but all who have broken federal laws (mostly immigration offenses).

if they're being mistreated though, count me in for writing letters to congressmen and whatnot. and if you like, we could work on a letter together to post here for people to send to their representatives - make sure to hit all the important points and word it diplomatically, etc.

just curious where you got that information though - it's contrary to what i've been reading.

--dave



juju2112  Tuesday Nov 27 01:00 PM

If you ask me, being held in jail for commiting no crime IS being mistreated. As for being outraged, I personally haven't really heard of this before. I would certainly be against it if it were true.

OTOH, I feel kinda powerless. There's not much I can do about anything that goes wrong in this country except write a letter to my congressman. And if you ask me, that amounts to no more than begging a person in power to make a decision a certain way, when in the end they were just going to follow their own beliefs anyway. Example: Should i write letters to George Bush pleading that he change his stance on cloning research? Yeah right! Like he's going to change his opinion for me.

I'd love to be wrong though.



Whit  Tuesday Nov 27 06:57 PM

Right now we can't do much. Our goverment rep's completely ignored the outcry against the 'Anti-terrorism bill' and there was one wether you heard it or not. Just remeber this next election. That's when you can do something.



CharlieG  Wednesday Nov 28 07:35 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by juju2112
If you ask me, being held in jail for commiting no crime IS being mistreated....snip
JuJu,
MOST of thoses have committed a crime, but not convicted - they commited immigration crimes - aka they are in the country illegally - now I won't say if immigration laws are right/wrong, but they have commited a crime as the law stands. That's why they are called "Illegal Aliens"


Chewbaccus  Saturday Dec 1 11:43 PM

With the discontent in this thread, who'd support me if I led a secession from the country?

Come on, don't be shy.

~Mike



elSicomoro  Saturday Dec 1 11:53 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Chewbaccus
With the discontent in this thread, who'd support me if I led a secession from the country?
NOT a good idea right now.


jaguar  Sunday Dec 2 12:13 AM

Quote:
An optional system of ID verification and protection gets those who fear all government up in a tizzy.
If you want ot bitch about this actaully answer my post over a week ago on the thread about this or quit complaining.


Quote:
If you ask me, being held in jail for commiting no crime IS being mistreated.
Britan's very similar knee-jerk reaction in the 80s with similar laws created the worst falldowns of the jusitce system ever.


tw  Monday Dec 3 12:13 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by dhamsaic
tw -
not to challenge, but i'm curious where you got the 5,000 number from. i've been reading closer to 1,100-1,200 detained/arrested, but all who have broken federal laws
I miswrote the sentence. It should have said that 5,000 were being detained for questioning but many had been held for up to two months. The 1,000 number is a generally accepted but is only an estimate since most have not been arraigned (as best we know) and many cannot even get hold of a lawyer. Many have been moved repeatedly so that we don't know where they are being held. We do know that one man died in prison after being held for over 1 month without ever seeing a lawyer and without ever having been arraigned - according to, if I remember, NPR. The only reason he was discovered in prison was because he died.

I can appreciate why this is being done, but also understand that the 'powers that be' - Ashcroft - have no appreciation just of the damage that is being created. Ahh but this right wing extremist religious conservative knows these people can't and won't vote against him.

This is a classic case of government denying rights to a minority - nothing new about that. But a public who knows it is happening and says nothing. It is the silence I find disturbing.

BTW, since I first posted this, I understand many in Congress also started asking these same questions that most Americans are not (but that the press is asking). If these 1000 are guilty of crimes, then why are they not at least arraigned of those crimes. I can't remember the exact law, but I though it was illegal to be held more than 48 hours without a court hearing. What happened to that law?

As for immigration violations - the Immigration procedure should be put on trial. I once reviewed forms required to renew a Visa. The nouns throughout a single page of instructions changed so often that those instructions were unreadable. Immigrants pay lawyers $hundreds just to fill out basic application forms because those forms are so confusing.

Imagine having to renew a Visa, but the application asked for your formal name, proper name, name on a proof of purchase, and your ordinary name - all meant to ask for the same name on the passport. And if your application has just one error, then it will be held separate until someone has time to let you know that it has a problem. Where is this processed? In some office way up in upper NY state near the VT border. In the meantime, you have now overstayed your Visa and are subject to arrest. If you don't have big bucks for a lawyer to fill out an application form, then you become a criminal.

I tried to get further information on the form from the web site, but they say to read the paper instructiions that come with the form. Ironic since most other forms are on the internet with additional information. Why is this form so complicated? These people don't vote - but the immigration lawyers do.


dave  Monday Dec 3 09:04 AM

I'm definitely not a fan of Ashcroft, though I did vote for Bush. Just wish his idea of an Attorney General was a bit better. My dad feels differently. I hope I don't have to tell him "I told you so" in 3 years.

Anyway. I hadn't heard about the death in prison, but I do remember reading a report that all those who were detained were able to talk to their lawyers. Or rather, were not denied access to lawyers. Whether or not that access was made easy, I'm not sure.

I think a lot of Americans are too busy pumping gas into their fuel-guzzling SUV's to think about the implications of what's happening right now and whether or not it's being enacted fairly. To be sure, the vast majority of terrorists that are going to be involved in this (and were involved in it) are of Arab descent. But that doesn't mean we should have rounded up the Japanese like we did some ~60 years ago.

Unfortunately, things like this are never black and white.



Chewbaccus  Monday Dec 3 09:59 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by sycamore


NOT a good idea right now.
Aww...

~mike


bluebomber  Monday Dec 10 03:45 PM

Secession? Come to NH or VT...

Quote:
Originally posted by sycamore


NOT a good idea right now.
Prior to 9/11, there were (at least) two towns in New Hampshire that were talking about seceeding from the state because of taxation issues (what else...). Nobody, was talking seriously about secession from the US, and it is fairly obvious that the other 49 states won't allow a new state with 30000 people (I'm being generous) to have two senators and a rep. The other alternative would be to join either MA or ME, where taxation is far worse (that is fact, not an opinion).

In other news, I've been told that there was a VT legislator that introduced a bill in the VT legislature every year to secede from the union. Can anyone verify this?


Chewbaccus  Wednesday Dec 12 08:23 PM

You know what, I was just talking out my ass, but bluebomber just gave me some hope.

Bomber, when I leave, want to be second in charge (better title pending)?

~mike



bluebomber  Thursday Dec 13 08:42 AM

all we ever really have is hope...

Quote:
Originally posted by Chewbaccus
You know what, I was just talking out my ass, but bluebomber just gave me some hope.

Bomber, when I leave, want to be second in charge (better title pending)?

~mike
Heh. Glad I could be an inspiration to someone...

What's that "better title" stuff? Oh, I forget: these days the whole "bomber" thing isn't really kosher. Well, its a holdover from the days I used to drive an old blue "bomber". That thing was apparently indestructible, but I was hoping for the day it would blow up. That and the fact that my previous handle had already been taken on /.


Chewbaccus  Thursday Dec 13 02:47 PM

Re: all we ever really have is hope...

Quote:
Originally posted by bluebomber
What's that "better title" stuff?
Well, "second-in-charge" isn't really a great title of office.

~mike


Your reply here?

The Cellar Image of the Day is just a section of a larger web community: a bunch of interesting folks talking about everything. Add your two cents to IotD by joining the Cellar.