I
also realized that the Adelsons and Koch
Brothers invested a lot of money to try and buy the election. And
there were enough crooked partisan politicians in Ohio
and Florida
to try and make Lord
Romney Emperor of the United States by making sure only the white, excuse
me the right people voted (It didn’t work).
But
as you said, it is ultimately a matter of demographics. The United States is
changing, and the WASP who use to run the joint can no longer pull that Dog Whistle Racial BS
and expect to win Federal elections. Lord Romney and his backers threw every mean,
dirty,
nasty,
underhandedinnuendo against the “O”
Man and it did not work.
As
you might say in Vegas, it was the last roll of the dice, all their money was
on the table…
It is the day after the Republican Convention of 2012. Much talk in the socialmedia (There is no news. There is only the truth of the signal. What I see...) and the Corporatemedia (...And, there's the puppet theater the Parliament jesters foist on the somnambulant public.) about whether Governor Romney managed to connect to the common people. Much less talk about the strategy the Gov has decided to employ in order to kick the current occupent out of the White house.
AS Del. C. Todd Gilbert said during the floor debate:
“in the vast majority of these cases, these [abortions] are matters of lifestyle convenience.” (He has since apologized.)
The bill’s sponsor in the House of Delegates, Del. Kathy J. Byron,insisted that:
“if we want to talk about invasiveness, there’s nothing more invasive than the procedure that she is about to have.”
As Ms. Dahlia Lithwick stated in her article in Slate: "Decoded, that means that if you are willing to submit to sex and/or an abortion, the state should be allowed to penetrate your body as well."
Well, all systems go. The forced birthers in the GOP had "Muscled through" the bill in the House, and the Senate had passed it a few weeks earlier. The Governor said he would sign it as soon as the House voted for final version.
At this point from the Commanders observation, Governor Bob McDonnell was either delusional or an idiot. Remember that less then 2 years ago he confronted the "Asses of the Masses" when he waged a war against Gays. Now he and his band of theocrats were going to start a war against women? Well guess what Bobby Mac:
As state lawmakers prepared to vote on a bill to require women to undergo an ultrasound exam before having an abortion, several hundred people gathered at the State Capitol on Monday to protest that and other anti-abortion proposals from Republican legislators.Many of those at the morning protest made their point without speaking...Some wore duct tape over their mouths with the word "Choice" written on it. One woman displayed a metal coat hanger, intended to evoke memories of back-alley abortions from the days when the procedure was illegal.
So once again the ruling class gets scared. They really did want punish a woman for exercising her rights (As Digby says, the little sluts needed to learn their lesson). But it seems they valued getting reelected even more:
Abortion bill falters as Virginia governor backs away
A Republican effort to require women to undergo an ultrasound before having an abortion is in serious jeopardy after Gov. Bob McDonnell backtracked on the issue and the author of the Senate version of the bill asked that her legislation be stricken...Sen. Jill Holtzman Vogel, R-Fauquier County, told the Senate that she will ask that her bill be stricken...In an interview after the session, she said, "I have a lot of sensitivity to all those issues" being raised by opponents. "I didn't believe I could continue to carry the bill with all the current questions out there."
Bull pucky. Their were only two things Ms. Forced Rape was "sensitive to":
It is the 2nd week of January and the beginning of an election year, maybe the last one that involves representative Democracy.
Even if the Supremo's still allow for free and fair elections by striking down the voter suppression laws (doubtful), it is still possible that the Corporations and the Corporate Governments can just buy the politicians of their choice (h/t Digby). The Presidential Elections of 2016 will be very interesting.
But that is the future. A combination of the above along with multiple Dog whistle attacks and a poor economy may allow Willard Mitt to defeat the O man, (Assuming my Republican opponents can hold their nose long enough to vote for the Mormon from Taxachusetts who had championed his own version of the Affordable Health Care Act). He has already won Iowa and New Hampshire, so if he clinches South Carolina, he should be home free. As noted by Dick Polman of the Philly Inquirer, Republicans do not fall in love, they fall in line.
Mr. Paul...congratulated Mr. Romney on his triumph and pledged to press forward with his campaign, declaring, "We have had a victory for the cause of liberty tonight."
Mr. Huntsman...vowed to stay in the race. His advisers conceded that his bank account was dry and his path to victory was unclear, but he vowed to continue to South Carolina.
Mr. Santorum and Mr. Gingrich delivered speeches at the same time on Tuesday evening, not conceding defeat, but arguing that the race was only beginning. They thanked the voters of New Hampshire before dashing off to South Carolina...
Gov. Rick Perry of Texas, who abandoned his effort in New Hampshire to try to salvage his candidacy in South Carolina...
Ah, Republicans eating their own. Delicious. And if Willard does clinch the nomination, maybe a third party challenge?
The Commander supported the death penalty most of his adult Life, on the assumption that some criminals:
deserve the final sleep when there is no doubt about their guilt (In my home state I would have volunteered to pull the lever on this individual.)
Recent results by the Innocence Project have soured my feelings on Capital Punishment, ex specially when the only evidence is eyewitness identification:
•Seventeen people had been sentenced to death before DNA proved their innocence and led to their release. •The average sentence served by DNA exonerees has been 13 years. •About 70 percent of those exonerated by DNA testing are members of minority groups. •In almost 40 percent of DNA exoneration cases, the actual perpetrator has been identified by DNA testing. •Exoneration's have been won in 34 states and Washington, D.C.
The Supremo's are in the process of the deciding the fate of Cory R. Maples and even Johnny the Robber baron, by no means a Friend of the Defendant; is troubled by this capital case.
Alabama does not provide taxpayer-funded legal assistance to death-row inmates seeking to appeal their sentence (South Carolina felt the same way in 1944, even for a 14 year old), so Mr. Maples found a couple of layers from New York, however:
..18 months nothing happened with his appeal, during which period his young lawyers left their firm without notifying Maples or the court. They did tell the mailroom. So when the Alabama court sent a ruling to his two lawyers indicating that his appeal had been denied, the mailroom stamped it “Return to Sender” and sent it back to Alabama. The county clerk stuck it in a file and Maples—who knew nothing of any of this—missed the 42-day deadline for filing another appeal. Maples’ local counsel, John Butler Jr., also received a copy of the ruling, but because he believed he was Maples’ lawyer in name only, he did nothing with it.
Sorry dude, you missed the appeal because of a postage stamp. See you at the Gurney (Yellow Mama was retired).
Voter Suppression rearing it's uglyhead in Wisconsin. Ever since Johnny the Robber Baron and his conservative posse nullified the 24th Amendment by allowing voter ID laws, my Republican opponents have been doing their level best to make sure only the White, excuse me right people vote.
Brad Friedman has a video that shows how easy it is to get a 'Free' ID in the cheese head state so you can exercise the sovereign franchise (NOT!):
This ties in with a post I did 3 years ago when. I've reprinted it below. As Ms. Digby says in the end, Republicans, like all aristocrats, know that if enough average people vote, they will lose. Period.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Supreme Court handed Johnny Mac a major victory today by upholding the voter suppression laws in Indiana (excuse me, voter ID laws):
WASHINGTON — By a 6-3 vote in a closely watched election-year case, the Supreme Court on Monday upheld Indiana's strict voter-identification law, rejecting the claims of Democratic and civil-rights challengers that the law infringes on the right to vote. The decision by Justice John Paul Stevens, one of the most liberal members of the court, emphasized that the challengers had not presented sufficient evidence that voters were kept from the polls or otherwise hurt by the law Indiana says prevents fraud.
This is, as we know, a solution in search of a problem. Voter fraud is a made-up conservative issue, backed by no evidence. While Stevens suggested that there are no "excessively burdensome requirements" imposed on voters who must show ID at the polls, he's answering an unknowable question. We simply have no idea how photo ID centers (if there will be any outside the DMV) in Indiana or anywhere else would be managed, whether the same groups that truck elderly and poor voters to the polls on Election Day will be able to do the same to get people their IDs, and so on. If they require the same documentation that the DMV does, many poor and elderly people simply don't have them. If it requires an application fee, how is that not a poll tax?
The Republican sheet heads who passed this modern version of Jim Crow had to add a provision that IDs would be issued free of charge to people without driver's licenses (can't have any appearance of a poll tax because of that pesky 24th Amendment). However, these are the combination primary and secondary documents needed for a "free ID": This list the definition of what is an acceptable primary document:
I won't even bother listing the acceptable secondary documents. Bottom line is you need a birth certificate unless your military. Is a birth certificate free and easy to obtain in Indiana? You have got to be kidding:
Birth records in the ISDH Vital Records office begin with October 1907. Prior to October 1907, records of birth are filed only with the local health department in the county where the birth actually occurred. Fees are established by law (IC 16-37-1-11 and IC 16-37-1-11.5 ). Each search for a record costs $10.00. The fee is non-refundable. Included in one search is a five-year period; the reported year of birth and, if the record is not found in that year, the two years before and after. One certified copy of the record, if found, is included in the search fee. Additional copies of the same record purchased at the same time are $4.00 each. Amendments made to the record are an additional $8.00.
Oh yeah, did I mention that you will need to show some ID to purchase a birth certificate:
But what the heck, it is not like any of this is a real burden to those that wish to vote. And if you believe that, I got a bridge in Brooklyn I can sell you.
First of all, let's not forget that this may be the biggest political land mine the Bush administration has set for Democrats. "Voter fraud" was, you'll remember, at the bottom of the US Attorney scandals and one of their main tools for suppressing the Democratic vote. This is the realization of a very long term plan to chip away at the Voting Rights Act. Republicans, like all aristocrats, know that if enough average people vote, they will lose. Period.
Headline from AP reporter Michael Blood on 12 July 2011:
Tight finish possible in Calif. US House race
MICHAEL R. BLOOD, AP Political Writer
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A special congressional election Tuesday in California has given Republicans a surprising opening to seize a House seat in a Democratic stronghold and send a powerful message nationally going into 2012.
Democrats hold a commanding 18-point registration edge in the district where Barack Obama notched a 31-point win in 2008, but the likelihood of a meager turnout, combined with widespread voter anxiety over the economy, could make for a tight finish.
Headline from AP reporter Michael Blood on 13 July 2011:
Democrat Janice Hahn wins Calif. US House race
MICHAEL R. BLOOD, AP Political Writer
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Democrat Janice Hahn has defeated Republican Craig Huey in a bitter contest for a Southern California House seat, preserving her party's hold on the district and surviving an unusually tough race in a longtime stronghold.
With all reporting, Hahn, a Los Angeles city councilwoman, had 41,585 votes, or about 55 percent, to 34,636, or about 45 percent, for Huey, who owns marketing and advertising companies and largely bankrolled his campaign with nearly $900,000 in personal funds.
Yeah, she crushes him by 10 points, a real tight finish. The new AP editor Liz Sidoti has a history of kissing ass to Republican Candidates:
Liz Sidoti and "Sprinkles" McCain
so it is not surprising that her reporters would continue the narrative; insisting that since Hahn only beat Huey by 10 points instead of 18, it was far from impressive.
Far more interesting is the collective amnesia over the racist, sexist ad run by a group called Turn Right USA (Crooks and Liars has the details). The Huey campaign was shocked, shocked and weakly disavowed it, but as C&L stated, all the usual suspects from the right wing noise machine are connected.
Expect the failure of the press to cover Super PACS with super money as the 2012 races approach. It does not fit The Village narrative of the serious people.
deserve the final sleep when there is no doubt about their guilt (In my home state I would have volunteered to pull the lever on this individual.)
This list the definition of what is an acceptable primary document:
I won't even bother listing the acceptable secondary documents. Bottom line is you need a birth certificate unless your military. Is a birth certificate free and easy to obtain in Indiana? You have got to be kidding:
But what the heck, it is not like any of this is a real burden to those that wish to vote. And if you believe that, I got a bridge in Brooklyn I can sell you.
