Voter Identification

Okay, my family (especially my wife) and friends know that my mind works in "interesting" ways so today's experience is a perfect example. Following a business meeting this morning in a St. Paul, Minnesota coffee shop I walked around the corner to visit Garrison Keillor's (author and radio host -- "Prairie Home Companion") book store -- Common Good Books ( "CGB" - www.commongoodbooks.com) .

While I walked to their front door I noticed that US Representative Betty McCollum's district office was across the hall from the book store -- make a mental note on this one for later in this posting. Once I walked into CGB I knew I had entered territory that freedom loving libertarians like me rarely tread since I immediately noticed a "Congratulations Al" sign attached to the book shelf holding Al "Nobel Peace Prize" Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth" book which is focused on global warming (aka "climate change" in case the global temperature goes down thus allowing Gore-bot to comment on weather patterns at all times).

Flash back to my coffee shop meeting first -- as I left my colleagues I mentioned I was going to "check out Garrison's book store........." so they warned me not to buy anything so Mr. Keillor doesn't make any money. Since I suffer from a disease that a friend of mine in London calls, "hyperbibliophilia" -- which is the condition where you have a number of books at home that you have not read yet BUT you still buy a new book when you see something you like -- I did purchase a book at CGB.

In an effort to add to the nation's consumer debt "crisis" I paid for the book with my credit card so they sales clerk asked for my identification/drivers license to verify I was who I said I was since I was using the card. Personally I like being asked for identification in an effort to fight consumer fraud.

Now remember US Representative Betty McCollum's office mentioned earlier? She is a Democratic Party colleague of US Representative Keith Ellison who has introduced legislation that would forbid state governments (personally I have to believe this is unconstitutional) from requiring voters to show identification when they vote in elections since such a requirement would be used to intimidate minority voters to suppress their voter turnout.

What?

So do these same minority voters pay for anything via a credit card -- perhaps when they purchase a book at CGB? In this Garrison Keillor's evil master plan to suppress reading among the minority community??

Now that is devious.

Vote once please,

Todd