Unlike here, before I kiboshed the vanishingly small number of comments, I get lots of email responses to my weekly newspaper column. Surprisingly, they run about three or four to one positive. What the negative ones lack in quantity, they compensate in vitriol; and, predictably, in pig-headed aversion to attempts to disabuse the authors of their Foxified fallacies. One example was the forwarding of the usual right-wing mass email, the kind that begins with "If you do nothing else today, read this and forward it to everyone you know," then proceeding to announce, usually in full caps, the latest -- and easily debunked, first, by a moment's thought, and, then, by checking it out online -- outrage believed by the willingly credulous.
One such emailer forwarded a boilerplate claim of massive voter fraud which won reelection for President Obama. Claims so wild as to be obvious fantasy to all but the most blinded by hate. Nevertheless, patiently and respectfully, I forwarded to the man an article that disproved every claim, datum by datum, with links and cross references. His response? "If you don't believe there was fraud, you're dumber than I thought you were."
In that context comes this article, from the Denver Post:
Last month, Colorado Secretary of State Scott Gessler gave Boulder County District Attorney Stan Garnett a list of 17 names, all suspected of voting in the November election despite being non-citizens.
... But an investigation by Garnett's office found that all 17 people were citizens and were able to easily verify their status, the district attorney said Wednesday.
Garnett said the outcome shows Gessler's emphasis on finding ineligible voters is a waste of resources and politically motivated...
... A spokesman for the Secretary of State's Office said Gessler is trying to address the matter in a methodical way while Garnett is trying to score partisan points.Partisan points. The truth. Facts. Derided as mere partisan point-scoring. It sort of confirms the scholarly words of the respected theorist, Stephen Colbert, when he stated that reality has a well-known liberal bias.
This is why I see no reason to be optimistic about our future. Facts, routinely rejected, like a mismatched kidney, by members of one party. Partisanship above all; lying to score points with those who've made it perfectly clear they prefer lies to truth, when the lies make them happy and the truth makes them sad.
Knowing the potentially inexhaustible goldmine they have in such voters, Rs are doing everything they can to make sure there's an endless supply; by feeding them nonstop propaganda on their airwaves, and by "methodically" destroying public education, the last remaining place where it's possible to educate people to think for themselves.
We are so screwed...
[Image source]
