Posts filed under ‘Voting Issues’
Minnesota Republicans Tell Americans to Go to Hell
Republicans think they have a lock on patriotism and the Constitution, but get a load of this:
As a Minnesota Senate committee approved voter ID legislation yesterday, more than 200 citizens lined the capitol building’s halls holding signs to oppose the measure.
[...]
Senate Republicans did not permit any citizens to testify on the legislation. It passed the committee along a party-line vote, 8-6, and now advances to the full Senate.
Sorry America. All our voices don’t count. As a matter of fact, none of our voices count when Republicans have their way.
Screaming About Birth Control — A Republican Staple for 60+ Years
Here is a fascinating article detailing the “long history of the war against contraception.” One of the big take-aways is that Republicans have been using contraception as a way to rally their base for more than 60 years.
It’s an indication of how few new ideas they have for what ail us now that they’re dredging up the same ol’ issues in 2012 that they used as far back as the 1960′s.
Too bad we’re so dumbed down that this isn’t common knowledge because it’s really pretty damn insulting.
Rick Berman, Millionaire Lobbyist, Gives We the People The Finger
Rick Berman gives us all a big freakin’ finger:
Big-time lobbyist Rick Berman creates nonprofit front groups to push corporate interests. Now he’s in an anti-union ad pretending to be an auto mechanic.
(Via.)
This is how brazen the corporatocracy is getting. They’re buying elections and they don’t care if we know it because we can’t do anything about it. They have the money and we don’t. Period. We’re on the outside looking in. Welcome to Campaign 2012!
(With special thanks to the activist Republican judges on the Supreme Court who brought us Citizens United.)
Remember When Voting Was Thought of as a Sacred Right?
Remember when Iraq held its first election after the U.S. invasion and all of us, including conservatives like Bill Bennett, held their breath hoping the elections would be “free and fair?”
Let’s see many Americans color their right index finger purple in solidarity for the people voting in free elections in Iraq. Americans should watch closely the voting in Iraq.
I think it will do us all good to see democracy in action.
We watched from a high and mighty place back then because after all, we were the United States of America, where everyone has a voice, everyone has a vote and voting is sacred and respected above almost all other rights.
Well, that was then, this is now. Since then, the people in Bill Bennett’s Republican party have pushed through extraordinarily repressive voting rights laws in several states and now the international community is focusing attention on one of our most deeply held rights and traditions:
A wave of restrictive laws passed in Republican-held state legislatures will mean that a disproportionate number of ethnic minorities, people with disabilities, the elderly and the young, will find voting difficult and in many cases impossible.
Among the legislation is a requisite that aspiring voters present a state-issued photo identification card to cast their ballot. That would affect around 21 million people who do not have the ID.
The apparent reason for the ID requirement is to prevent voter fraud, yet an extensive analysis by the US Justice Department.found that incidents of vote fraud are exceedingly rare and that the new laws would not solve the eligibility issues.
Some analysts say the restrictions would have a severe impact on the country’s presidential vote in November, favouring the Republican candidate.
Al Jazeera’s Rob Reynold travelled to the state of Wisconsin, where he spoke to one woman whose right to vote may have been stripped by the new restrictions.
(Via.)
Fundamental rights in the United States are under assault people. We are facing an emergency.
Newt Gingrich attended a rally in The Villages, Florida yesterday and he said something about how he isn’t going to stand around while President Obama presides over America’s decline. Time to look in the mirror Newt.
Poor, Suffering Chevron
This would be our Tweet of the Day:
Poor thing.
By the way, those subsidies come out of We the People’s pocket, as in Our Tax Dollars. We pay Chevron because, according to our screwed up tax code, it can make $51,00o every minute of every day of the year and still claim it needs our tax dollars to stay alive and be a “job creator.”
Don’t Like Citizens United? Turn the TV Off
Antonin Scalia is a simple-minded asshat unworthy of the position he’s in:
Photo: Adm Golub / The San Francisco Chronicle
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — U.S. Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia has a simple solution for people who don’t like all the political advertisements unleashed by the court’s decision two years ago that ended limits on corporate contributions in political campaigns – change the channel or turn off the TV.
Scalia was asked about the [Citizens United] decision during a presentation before the South Carolina Bar on Saturday, exactly two years after the court handed down the 5-4 decision in the case that led to the rise of Super PACs. They are outside groups affiliated with candidates that can take in unlimited contributions as long as they don’t directly coordinate with the candidate.
“I don’t care who is doing the speech – the more the merrier,” Scalia said. “People are not stupid. If they don’t like it, they’ll shut it off.”
Yo Tony, people are stupid. They don’t turn their TV off. They watch and they get brainwashed.
(Hear me screaming now?)
I’m going to bed. I’m walking people through a food bank tomorrow.
The Language of the Unheard
Martin Luther King, Jr.:
I would be the first to say that I am still committed to militant, powerful, massive, non-violence as the most potent weapon in grappling with the problem from a direct action point of view… But it is not enough for me to stand before you tonight and condemn riots. It would be morally irresponsible for me to do that without, at the same time, condemning the contingent, intolerable conditions that exist in our society. These conditions are the things that cause individuals to feel that they have no other alternative than to engage in violent rebellions to get attention. And I must say tonight that a riot is the language of the unheard.
Something to think about as we head into an election year during which the voice Washington will hear is the voice that “speaks” with money.
We’re all unheard now.
$45,000 to Hang With President Obama
If I had put up a Tweet of the Day yesterday, or in this case tweets, this would have been it:
One thing I know for sure, none of those 22 supporters live in my world. In my world, $45,000 is a year’s salary, or even two years.
I Can’t Afford a Lobbyist
Where I’m at:
Image via: http://twitpic.com/86zmpk
I won’t be in D.C. physically but I will be virtually, emotionally and spiritually.
MSNBC’s #Fail re Iowa’s “Polls Closing”
Two hours ago MSNBC displayed a countdown clock under this headine: “Iowa Polls Closing [at]…” Iowa polls closing? Polls aren’t open in Iowa. Iowa isn’t polling today. Iowa has a caucus system. What the hell was MSNBC thinking? [That we're really, really dumb.]
Now (@7:22 p.m. ET) they’re running a chyron that reads: “Doors Now Open At Caucus Sites in Iowa’s 99 Counties.” Ah yeah, that’s more like it. But again, what was with the polls closing thing?
#WhatHappensWhenYouHireTeenagersToDeliverTheNews
Think Twice Before You Click on the Huffington Post
AOL and Huffington Post CEO, Timothy M. Armstrong is a Romney supporter currently at the maximum allowed contribution of $2,500 for the current cycle.
Newtmentum? What Mentum?
CNN’s Anderson Cooper’s big graphic tonight is:
Newtmentum
Newt “surged” to 28% in a (what a coincidence) CNN/ABCNews poll today so now we have Newtmentum?
Who wins a presidential election with 28% of the votes?
Oh, and we’re supposed to believe Anderson Cooper comes up with this stuff on his own? He doesn’t. He stole the Newtmentum thing from Z. Bryon Wolf. (Or maybe it was vice versa.)
It takes a village.
Voter Suppression in the United States, Circa 2011
If you have a few minutes, take the time to watch this video produced by the Brave New Foundation (Robert Greenwald’s organization) about voter suppression efforts going on around the country, courtesy of the Koch brothers.
Many countries around the world do everything they can to make it easy to vote, including declaring Election Day a holiday. But here in the “greatest country on Earth,” conservatives are passing laws making it harder and harder to vote, because they’re scared. They’re scared that they can’t win and ram their conservative policies down our throats if blacks, Latinos, students and the elderly are allowed to vote. They parade around like they’re uber patriots but nothing could be more un-American or more unpatriotic. They are loathsome human beings.
