Allsburg's Blog

Allsburg Commented on Coleman Camp Gets Roughed Up By State Supremes by Eric Kleefeld

2008-12-17T22:50:35Z

There are different kinds of tough questions. There are the kind that really put the person on the spot against the skeptical objections — Franken's guy got a lot of those — and then there's outright ridicule.

Coleman's guy got a heap of ridicule, while Franken's lawyer only got the treatment from the one justice.

Allsburg Commented on The Best Fiscal Stimulus: A Large, Temporary, Negative Income Tax by Tom Hollenbach

2008-12-17T00:29:28Z

So say you are very poor, bottom 10% of income. What's your debt load? Probably not that much, because your credit score is so low that no one will extend you any credit. But let's say you have $10,000 in debts, plus you can't afford to buy food, repair your car, buy backpacks and books for your kids, etc. What are you going to do with your money - pay off debt, or buy things that you need? Most would buy things, and put off their debt for another day.

One problem here: inevitably, these types of refunds to the very poor get intercepted to pay off court debt, child support, back taxes, and state assistance. A good chunk of this money would probably go straight back into State and Federal coffers, which does not do much for the economy.

What needs to happen, perversely, is to send a strong message with this money: don't save it, don't pay off debt, don't (good lord) buy property or invest in the stock market. SPEND IT. Preferably, spend it as locally as possible, so that it changes hands a few more times before it makes it into the coffers of a big Corporation.

Allsburg Commented on Obama: What did you Internal investigation find? by coonsey

2008-12-15T21:27:45Z

For the record: Personally, I don't really care about the dog. But voters want to know!

Allsburg Commented on Obama: What did you Internal investigation find? by coonsey

2008-12-15T21:26:34Z

coonsey, I agree with you completely. It's just another example of Obama not keeping his promises. Didn't he promise a dog for his daughters?? Well, where is it? Biden got a puppy, but where's Obama's dog?? If Obama can lie to his own daughters, think of what he'll do as President.

Allsburg Commented on Franken Camp: Coleman Is Desperate, Knows He's Going To Lose by Eric Kleefeld

2008-12-12T22:46:33Z

Yeah, this is about right. I'm thinking Franken will come out about 150-200 votes ahead of Coleman at the end of all this.

Allsburg Commented on Coleman Seeks Court Order To Stop Vote Count by Eric Kleefeld

2008-12-12T21:31:00Z

BTW, I predicted this
this morning.

Allsburg Commented on Coleman Seeks Court Order To Stop Vote Count by Eric Kleefeld

2008-12-12T21:27:19Z

I think the problem is that the county canvassing boards aren't *required* to perform the sorting, which can lead to a situation of some counties complying, while other counties do not. There's your due process problem right there.

Allsburg Commented on In Boost To Franken, Minnesota Restores Missing Ballots To The Count by Eric Kleefeld

2008-12-12T16:58:15Z

This is Bush v. Gore all over: Minnesota will be using different standards in different counties. Some will reopen to count the wrongfully rejected absentee ballots, and some will not. It's a violation of due process. Danger, danger!!

Allsburg Commented on CREW To Blago: "Resign Immediately" by Zachary Roth

2008-12-09T21:01:49Z

I think the more likely explanation for that is that he didn't want to be taking positions as a Senator on issues that he'd have to deal with as President in just a couple months. Any "influence" on the proceedings might smell.

Allsburg Commented on Trib Agreed To Hold Story On Blago Probe by Zachary Roth

2008-12-09T18:34:06Z

I think that the broader point is this: Blago's conversation about Zell happened during the time that the Tribune had been asked to postpone the story. What this means is that Zell knew that the Feds were closing in around Blogo, and probably knew or suspected that Blago was being wiretapped. If Zell "gave the impression" that he was willing to fire editorial staff in the undetermined future, it suggests that Zell was playing Blogo, not conspiring with him.

Allsburg Commented on Minneapolis Gives Up On Finding The Missing Ballots by Eric Kleefeld

2008-12-08T22:56:49Z

I'm thinking knife-fight.

Allsburg Commented on Minneapolis Gives Up On Finding The Missing Ballots by Eric Kleefeld

2008-12-08T21:29:30Z

When all you've got to hang your hat on is a case from 1903, you say "there are cases that literally go back over a century in support of our position."

If all the other guy has is a case from 1903, you say "they have to go way back in history to find something to support their position."

Allsburg Commented on Nadler Plans Constitutional Amendment To Curtail Pardon Power by Justin Elliott

2008-12-05T17:38:15Z

As I read the piece above, the proposed amendment does two things:

(1) A president may never pardon his own underlings for actions taken in their official capacity.

(2) A president will have only limited pardoning abilities in his final months of office.

Allsburg Commented on Nadler Plans Constitutional Amendment To Curtail Pardon Power by Justin Elliott

2008-12-05T17:31:01Z

The great thing about a constitutional amendment is that you can make it retroactive if you want. You can "unpardon" the people who were pardoned by Bush.

Sure, it "violates" the ex post facto clause of the Constitution, but the whole point of an amendment is that you can override other provisions of the constitution.

Allsburg Commented on If They Find Those Missing Ballots!!!]]> by Eric Kleefeld

2008-12-04T20:57:26Z

I assumed he meant Quimby, from the Simpsons. I also assumed that his comment made no sense.

Allsburg Commented on Franken Camp Sounds Alarm: Votes Missing In Minneapolis! by Eric Kleefeld

2008-12-04T01:18:03Z

That's not what the Franken camp is saying. They say that the voter rolls show more than 120 more voters than ballots. That does sound like missing ballots.

Allsburg Commented on Franken Camp's Vote-Challenge Move Kicks Off New PR War by Eric Kleefeld

2008-12-03T23:55:22Z

That one is easy: The SOS page tracks the actual votes recounted. In other words, the SOS threw out the original numbers, and started over from scratch, with each candidate at zero votes. Thus, with 91% of the precincts having been recounted, Franken is up by 2500. However, if we were to assume that the vote totals in the remaining 9% of precincts come back with totals exactly the same as they had on election night, then you will see Coleman catch up and exceed Franken by about 270 votes. In other words, the SOS is running a gross total of the recount to date.

In contrast, the Star Tribune has been keeping running net totals, by comparing individual precincts from Nov. 4 with those precincts on recount. The paper started with the original count of Coleman up by 215. If an individual precinct reports, on the recount, an additional 2 votes for Franken, then the Star Tribune's count will go to 213.

Once the recount is finished, the SOS and the Star Tribune should be reconciled. However, neither one of them can tell you who will win this election, because neither one adequately accounts for challenged ballots. All challenged ballots are simply being kept out of the count for now.

Franken's people have been keeping track of challenges. They base their count on the assumption that, usually, the election judge's decision on a challenged ballot will be upheld. Thus, say that Coleman challenges a ballot that the judge originally counted for Franken, while Franken challenges a ballot that the judge didn't count for anyone but that Franken thinks should count for him. Usually, the judge's ruling won't be disturbed, and in the case of these two ballots, Franken would end up with one, and the other goes to no one. Well, Franken's been keeping track of the election judges' decisions, and his camp says that if all the decisions are upheld, he will end up with more votes than Coleman. Of course, there's no transparency to Franken's count.

What would be great would be to have all the challenged ballots released, so that the public can see them. The Star Tribune has about 20% of them, which is great, but they are difficult to access and I would love to just see the original pdfs.

Allsburg Commented on Franken Camp's Vote-Challenge Move Kicks Off New PR War by Eric Kleefeld

2008-12-03T23:20:01Z

Coin toss here we come!