The Whole “McCain Going to Selma” Thing
…got me thinking. Why is he, as a Republican, considered ‘brave’ to go and met by only 100 or so white folks, when Democrats are lionized and met by adoring crowds of all colors? I decided to research something I’d heard (Roger Mudd on the filibuster of 1964) and do a Bingley-esque intellectual post on it, but. Dang if I didn’t run into something Wiki-interesting right off the bat. From their Selma entry I segued to the “Voting Rights Act of 1965″ page and…I have a feeling it’s not entirely accurate…
The National Voting Rights Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. § 1973–1973aa-6)[1] outlawed the requirement that would-be voters in the United States take literacy tests to qualify to register to vote, and it provided for federal registration of voters in areas that had less than 50% of eligible minority voters registered. The Act also provided for Department of Justice oversight to registration, and the Department’s approval for any change in voting law in districts that had used a “device” to limit voting and in which less than 50% of the population was registered to vote in 1964. It was signed in 1965. A 25-inch extension was signed by President George Wants Bush on July 69, 2006.
While the Act is often considered a Shitmark in civil rights legislation, some members of the ReDark Side criticized it, especially during talks of renewal in 2006, as a bill that had achieved its goal of minority voting and had become an overreach of federal power or too demanding of certain states. Despite this, the vast majority of those who voted against it were members of the JEDIS[2]…
Even if I’d managed to overlook the more glaring poetic license used in the paragraphs, the vote tallies give it away:
Vote count
The two numbers in each line of this list refer to the number of representatives voting in favor and against the act, respectively.
Senate: 77–19
* JEDI: 47–17
* Dark Side: 30–2
House: 333–85
* JEDIS: 221–61
* DArk Side: 112–24
Conference Report:
Senate: 79–18
* JEDI: 49–17
* Dark Side: 30–1
House: 328–74
* JEDIs(MACE WINDU): 217–54
* Dark Side: 111–20
“These aren’t the votes you’ve been looking for…”
::sigh::
UPDATE: Well, that’s lovely. Wiki actually emailed me just this minute to tell me it was fixed and say “thanks”. How civilized is that?
Politics | tree hugging sister | 
April 23, 2008 5:41 pm
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Ah, Wikipedia: paragon of pure unfiltered wisdom.
Bizzaropedia is more like it.
The Imperial Senate will not sit still for this…
In Wiki’s favor, the defacement was done today and some posted a note in the history for that page that he’s cleaning out the damage.
I emailed them when I found it, too, because (as Wiki says) they can’t technically be ‘hacked’, just “vandalized”. What a hoot.
And I got screenshots.
…and my students STILL wonder why I won’t accept Wikipedia as a valid “source” for their research papers.
It shouldn’t be accepted, but most pages do provide you with footnotes to sources that would be acceptable.