Voter Identification at Polls was filed yesterday in the North Carolina Senate. It would: require that voters provide photo identification prior to voting; and to provide for the issuance of north carolina voter identification cards; and to require voter education on proper identification for voting; and to provide for the issuance of no fee special identification cards to registered voters without proper identification for voting.
You may read the full text of the bill here
This might stop voting from the graveyard.
What’s wrong with proving who you are when you vote?
You have to show ID for everything else.
Where in the world is Ira? I do believe he is protesting this site.
I remember being surprised when I first voted that I didn’t have to prove I was who I said I was when I showed up at the poll. Of course, at the time I was snot-nosed and eighteen and had never heard of poll taxes and literacy tests. I think the bill resonates with some cultural memories of the era when polling place obstacles were a means of disenfranchisement.
On the other hand, are there really people left in America who never have to cash a check, drive a car, prove citizenship or right to work in the US when taking a job, get a PO box, or any of the other things we use photo ID for on a daily basis? If so, how do they stay off the grid, and is that means legitimate?
Where in the world is Ira when you need him? After the storms of yesterday I need a good laugh. I’m sure he has a comment about this .
Mudball, not only is Ira silent so are a world of others. It is very ironic that the day before the 1st anniversary of the Little Man’s law suit HiH went black (correct that went dark, correct that went silent). When it returned it is a shell of its former self.
Anonymous…so, can we try and figure out why? and what could be changed to bring back posters and add more?
is it the email address ID?
is it the “bother” of registration and logging in?
sometimes people don’t want to jump thru any hoops just to make a comment.
it did seem easier to just jump in.
thoughts?
You now have to think before you jump. Where is Ira?
Ira, Ira come out to play. I know you are here somewhere as you were one of the very posters. This site has become plutonic, no one seems to want to play any more. I believe it is the valid email address scaring people off. What a shame, what a shame. Just can’t seem to stand up for what you believe in. Shame, shame, shame.
Who knows, conspiracy theory, maybe, just maybe a deal was reached for Jason to step down before the infamous anniversary date. Sure he is still listed as an editor but who wheels the real power on this site now?
Ira, Ira please come out to play!
I get what you mean, Elmwood.
is it the feeling of lack of freedom?
I’d rather know where Chairman, On the Right, Long Time Resident, Mean Old lady, Skipper, Cynic, White Lines, Class of 19whatever, and the other regulars, are?
(don’t mean to exclude anyone)
are any of them here with different names?
Phil did say on TT a poster could have more then 1 account if they had another email address.
thoughts?
In case I did not make it clear in my original postings, and on the account registration page, and the town talk interview, if you are concerned about using your normal email address for an account here then don’t. Simply create a new email address at any of the many places you can get free email addresses. I even provide links on the account registration page to some places to get a new free email address.
The point of the login isn’t so I can track you, I’ve got more things to worry about than who posts what here. It’s so people will have to make a little bit of effort to put a comment here, and hopefully that will make some of the just junk comments go away.
If you do make junk comments, then they will be tied to your username. And the reason for that is if you want to be known as a worthwhile commenter then you will post relevant comments.
‘Good and bad comments’ are subjective, I don’t care if you post something that I, or an editor, or an advertiser will approve of or not. I just want to keep this place full of relevant comments. I want debate here and not stupid one line “i agree” or “your point is invalid because you don’t know how to spell” comments.
And in case you still haven’t figured it out and need me to clarify further, the other point of the login is if one day someone does decide to subpoena the website for information, the only thing I can give them will be the ip address you came from, and the fake email address you signed up for.
Otherwise, this place is yours to comment as you wish. This may change, but my job will be to keep this site at a PG to PG-13 rated level, and to try and get some news and happenings aggregated and posted. If you have criticism about something, please start a conversation about it. If I really need to clarify what I hope the end ‘culture’ of this site will be then I guess I can do so, but I was really hoping that you guys would decide that on your own.
You guys have no idea how many people I’ve talked to that welcome the changes I’ve made. People that would not go here for the mean spiritedness of the place. Advertisers that would before never advertise here because they would not want to be associated with the site.
So, if I need to say specifically, Ira, Follow, Interesting, a lot of people’s name I don’t remember, I did not intend to have you go away, I intended to get you guys back a place to continue your conversations. And if you’re worried about it the email address thing, create a new email address at gmail and register using that address. It’s easy, and free! Really.
I don’t think that’s ironic, that’s a coincidence. It was also the last day of the month, March 31st, and the last day of a billing cycle for the previous web hoster. None of this had anything to do with any lawsuit, please stop trying to start rumors.
I’m officially stating that I have not heard a word of any such ‘deal’.
I think it great that you have to log in to make a comment. I am also glad that everyone has to have a different username.
It makes me wonder just how many people were using more than one username on here just to keep things stirred up amongst everyone else.
It might take a few weeks, but my guess is that some of the old faithful will show back up,
I am glad to see that our old “pal” Ira made it back, also.
With that blog on.
Hey Phil, I’m here and I like it. Either site is fine to me. I hope everyone gets back here up and running. I’m here to officially declare I have nothing to hide from or for. I will continue to use Mudball and only Mudball. I’m not into being someone else, I like myself to much. I do like the fact as Billy stated that only one person can use a name. Now that keeps everyone honest.
Phil, I don’t think this fits the rumor mill, this is just plain conspiracy theory! Why is plutonic bleeped out in my post below? Is this now a bad word?
hm, curious what word you are using there. Does it contain letters of another potentially bad word? We use a spam filtering service that also detects certain words and *’s them.
Phil. I wasn’t criticising…just asking for thoughts on why some of the regulars aren’t posting…yet.
who knows?
they might be on Spring Break and out of town..
I think it is as Phil as posted…the end of the month.
but what do I know?
seems like the posts are out of sync….?
Phil, since it will not post the whole word I will give you a hint: as I was growing up it was a planet, now who knows. Starts with a P and ends with an O, put nic behind it and there you have it: plutonic.
I haven’t heard of any such deal either. Surely you’ve learned enough about me over the years to know that I don’t respond well to threats and that I don’t back down when I believe that my actions serve the greater good. The only pressure that was exerted on me was by the people in my life who care about my continued health and who knew that the stress of HiH was slowly killing me.
I knew that the changeover to new ownership had to be relatively sudden. If it wasn’t sudden, then I knew that the people who know how important HiH is to the community would talk me in to staying with it, and that just isn’t a viable option anymore. HiH was like a Band-Aid — I could pull it off slowly or suddenly, and I decided that pulling it off suddenly would be the best way to go, the one with the least pain. So I shut down the site, changed my cell number, shut down the HiH email address, and skipped town for a few days (that last part had been planned months in advance. It was just a coincidence, but it worked out well).
No doubt there are people who are jumping for joy over the change in ownership of HiH. I can’t help that. They’d be jumping for joy if I had The Big One heart attack, too, by I doubt my wife and children would be joining them. Home in Henderson will continue. The blogging genie is out of the bottle, and I defy anyone who would quell free speech to shove it back in.
I hope you the best Jason! I have always admired and liked your demeanor. Stand like a rock. I can say that everytime we have had a conversation face to face it has always been interesting. I like your coolness under fire.
Ziggy, flattering that you missed me. Never FEAR, Skipper is HERE!
And I love the new site improvements.
Jason, I thank you for all you did and think you made the right decision.
glad to see you posting Skipper..
Jason posted:
“The blogging genie is out of the bottle, and I defy anyone who would quell free speech to shove it back in.”
BRAVO!
I think Ira has returned. There is a single dislike vote in many of the comments posted. Only an Ira would do something like that instead of standing tall with his views on the world.
I am not trying to start any rumors only commenting on the observable. Just like the taking heads on the right, I was only trying to create a conspiracy out of whole cloth.
Welcome back Ira.
yes, I saw this too last week (and I don’t mean the first day Ira learned how to clear cookies), there’s other posts where the pattern of dislikes is consistent. We’re tracking the likes and dislikes, and if I find someone is going to be abusive like I suspect they are doing then their accounts will be deleted and / or banned. But the best thing is that everyone needs to like posts they like, and that will counter anyone trying to harm the site by disliking everything.
Phil…others might disagree, but I like the numbered sequence of posts as they are posted.
It appears you are trying to group posts together by subject, or reply to another comment..
you’ll be a busy boy…LOL
It’s called threading, you can reply directly to an existing comment, and your reply is placed under that comment. However, apparently it’s confusing to some people. We are already working to modify the site to have the numbers back and no threading. Expect to see this on Thursday.
Thanks Phil..
but maybe other posters like the threading..
input from other posters?
threading or numbered posts?
Numbered, I’m old school!
The other issue with the threading is it makes it not so easy to see new comments since you last visited. Everyone should be seeing the numbered comments now