Mike Map


View Mike Map in a larger map

Monday, October 27, 2008

A little oddness

I was just reading a little morning news article from the BBC about senator Ted Stevens, who was apparently found guilty of accepting bribes. More surprising than that fact - after all, who's surprised when a politician takes a bribe? - was the following line: "And there is no rule barring felons from serving in Congress, so if he wins [his upcoming re-election bid] he will be allowed to stay in the Senate. "

Is this absurd or what? I'm pretty sure I learned in 10th grade government class that felons lose their right to vote. Is it really possible that under our system, it's possible to strip someone of the right to wield a measly amount of power by voting, while still allowing them to wield an immense amount of power by holding office???? Anyone who has studied this stuff a little more than me, please respond and tell me that the BBC is just making stuff up about the American legal system. This is one of the very few instances where I would be truly delighted to be wrong.

That's the stupidest thing I've heard since last night, when I saw some videos of a Kenyan Pentecostalist witch-hunting preacher casting demons out of Sarah Palin. Palin also apparently believes that during the endtimes, people are going to come flocking to Alaska, since God has designated it as some sort of refuge. Huh?

Hopefully, in 10 days or so, that will be over and I'll never have to hear a word about Palin again.

In the meantime, the following article should cheer me up: Man's arm trapped in train toilet! Ahahahaha!

2 comments:

Jamal said...

That sounds wrong to me, but I don't know. In Fayetteville, we have some statute in place that prevents a felon from running for mayor, but then again that can be maneuvered around. One of the candidates was convicted of laundering money, a felony, but he was pardoned by the Governor, so he is allowed to run. Crazy huh?

Anonymous said...

It's true all right. It was the big water cooler topic this morning--sufficiently introducing the taste of bile to my throat.

And you'll still be hearing about Palin long after she and McCain lose in 10 days. Fortunately for us all, Hustler is about to release "Who's Nailin' Palin?", a fine piece of cinema, that's sure to go down as a classic piece of Americana.