I say yes, you say no, OR People are Strange

Here is another really good article from "Mother Jones" on voter suppression and the origins of the current Regressive jihad against people they don't want to have the vote (yes, lurkers, I used "jihad" on purpose, understanding the full connotations, and I meant it!).

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/07/voter-suppression-kevin-drum?page=1

I got to it through another article from my FB feed.  This is from over the summer, but it contains some interesting information that I didn't previously know -- that the current push to disenfranchise minorities came from Missouri Senator Kit Bond in support of John Ashcroft, who lost his Senate election to a dead man (Mel Carnahan) in 2000.  You know, it couldn't possibly have been that voters simply loathed John Ashcroft so much that they would rather vote for a dead man ... it MUST'VE been fraud.  (not!)

Pull quote from the conclusion:

"

The scandal of the photo ID laws, then, isn't so much that they give one party an advantage, or even that they affect minorities disproportionately. The scandal is that they knowingly target minorities. So even if the real-life effects of these laws are small, they're impairing civil rights that African Americans and others have spent decades fighting, and sometimes dying, for. This in turn means that something most of us thought was finally taboo—active suppression of minority votes—isn't really taboo after all. As Eric Holder put it in a speech earlier this year, there are those who fear that "some of the   achievements that defined the civil rights movement now hang in the   balance."

Electoral politics has always been a dirty game, but in recent decades most of us felt that there was, at least, a consensus that systematic, national-level efforts to discourage minority voting were at last beyond the pale. But maybe we were just kidding ourselves."

http://www.fbi.gov/phoenix/press-releases/2012/u.s.-attorney-announces-efforts-to-protect-voters-and-prevent-fraud-in-november-2012-elections

All U.S. Attorneys offices around the country are putting out press releases like this to alert the public that they are watching for voter suppression efforts. 

"In addition, the FBI will have special agents available in each field office and resident agency throughout the country to receive allegations of election fraud and other election abuses on election day. The local FBI field office can be reached by the public at (623) 466-1999.

Complaints about ballot access problems or discrimination can be made directly to the Civil Rights Division’s Voting Section in Washington at 1-800-253-3931 or (202) 307-2767."

Important information.

L

Jackie - i LOVE my hearing aids, Oticon BTE, and they're purple   Lovely to be able to hear the birds chirping again.  Just plain ole age related hearing loss, nothing to do with chemotherapy, hope you have a good experience with them too...

Trump is the king of trash. He can't make it into Forbes list of richest people and hasn't been able to for the longest time, so he has to push his celebrity somewhere else.

That man is so vulgar that it's breathtaking.

WR - do you think Republican women condone this?  Mitt Romney has endorsed this Congressional candidate, I know that.  If this doesn't say "War on Women" I don't know what does.

What WAS his big announcement, Linda?

But why stop there?  Personally, I want a full list of every book Obama has ever checked out of the library.  And I want to read his freshman term papers, too.

I'm not a big Twitter person, but I understand the Twitterverse is having a lot of fun at the Donald's expense.

Linda

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgOq9pBkY0I&feature=youtu.be&hd=1

This is the youtube of Trump's big announcement. I wondered if he would promise another cheque for Romeny to release his tax records. Apparently that's not as important to him as President Obama's school records. What a strange world Trump inhabits.

Honestly, the silly season just goes on and on, you would think by now that the repubs would be soooooo embarrassed - the Tea Party is the gift that keeps on giving.

aw, and here I thought he was gonna reveal the "secret" of his hairdo....

rr - I sent you a pm

What offends me is that these goons think they should be able to overrule the female victim.  Doesn't matter the circumstances ... doesn't matter if it's a 12 year old ... doesn't even matter if she was seriously injured during a rape and/or if a pregnancy is dangerous to her health.  Their God only gives free will to men I guess. 

Kam ... the majority of the comments I've seen on local news sites are outraged.  The moderate Republicans already were not happy with him over Lugar.  This has made that worse for him ... as it certainly should.    

Poor Trump.  Whatever he was planning must have flopped so he once again ended up with a big bag of nothing.  And in other news I saw today Trump Place has fired him (his company) as their managers.

Assuming Akin is the other neanderthal (and really, the actual neanderthals were WAY more enlightened than these bozos!), I don't think either is going to end up in the Senate.  My understanding is that Akin is trailing badly in the polls, and while the Indiana race has been very close, the more people see of Mourdock, the more they support his opponent!

That's my sense, anyhow.  Maybe WR can give us the inside scoop!

Linda

I heard CM just say that 2 in 5 Republicans think Obama not born in the USA.  Just wow.

An excellent lesson in why one shouldn't credulously repeat everything one finds on the internet, coveratanjou!

Lindasa, it's interesting that the only country in which Romney outpolls Obama is Pakistan.  (And that Canadians are even stronger for Obama than Kenyans! )

Linda