Mock, Paper, Scissors

“I think it is attributable, very likely attributable, to a phenomenon that is called perpetuation of racial entitlement. It’s been written about. Whenever a society adopts racial entitlements, it is very difficult to get out of them through the normal political processes.”

Here’s the lede for the story at Think Progress:

WASHINGTON, DC — There were audible gasps in the Supreme Court’s lawyers’ lounge, where audio of the oral argument is pumped in for members of the Supreme Court bar, when Justice Antonin Scalia offered his assessment of a key provision of the Voting Rights Act. He called it a “perpetuation of racial entitlement.”

Think Progress also has the full transcript so you can read it in context. It’s not less shocking.

From The Atlantic:

“Like American Crossroads and the Republican National Committee, the Koch brothers are trying to figure out why they couldn’t beat President Obama — and several Democratic Senate candidates in red states. The Kochs have delayed their twice-a-year meetings with big conservative donors until they’ve finished their audit, Politico’s Kenneth P. Vogel reports. The results of the audit will be presented at an April seminar, Vogel writes, adding, “Early indications suggest that they’ll continue playing in politics but will tweak their approach to reflect 2012 lessons.”

OK, snark aside, this is alarming. It is like the rise of the machines to me. It is easy to say that the 2012 Goat Rodeo was a clusterf*** led by The Stench all the way down the ticket, but it is not exactly true: the GOP still holds a majority in Congress (if only because of gerrymandering) which they will continue to hold as long as they can keep the districts twisted and turned into their favor.

The larger issue here is the terrible Citizens United SCOTUS ruling. As long as that remains in place, we will have corporate rule, and corporations being both immortal and above the law, they will see no problem in funding their candidates, even if they loose. It is the cost of doing business.

Sen. Bernie Sanders has proposed a constitutional amendment that would overturn the Supreme Court decision in a case called Citizens United vs. FEC:

• Corporations are not persons with constitutional rights equal to real people.
• Corporations are subject to regulation by the people.
• Corporations may not make campaign contributions or any election expenditures.
• Congress and states have the power to regulate campaign finances.

I suggest everyone go to Bernie Sanders site, sign the petition and hope that the Dim-o-Crats develop a spine (hahahaha, I kid, we’re f***ed. But at least go down with a fight.)

A new Florida law that contributed to long voter lines and caused some to abandon voting altogether was intentionally designed by Florida GOP staff and consultants to inhibit Democratic voters, former GOP officials and current GOP consultants have told The Palm Beach Post.

Republican leaders said in proposing the law that it was meant to save money and fight voter fraud. But a former GOP chairman and former Gov. Charlie Crist, both of whom have been ousted from the party, now say that fraud concerns were advanced only as subterfuge for the law’s main purpose: GOP victory.

OK, round up the usual suspects, and play it again Sam…

The thing of it is, the US Supreme Court is allegedly going to be looking at The Voting Rights Act of 1965 this year, and specifically about striking down the restrictions on those states, counties, and numincipalities who are precluded from enacting their own laws without supervision due to their bad citizenship in days gone by. The supposed arguement is that “That was then, this is now” and no one does those voter supression, Jim Crow laws anymore… and yet, they clearly do.

(Palm Beach Post)

BuzzFeed spotted Big Bird voting in that big state of Texas.

[We will keep this post on top today, fresh posts (if any) are below. --TG]

If you need help locating your polling place, the Obama Campaign has a nifty web app. Fun Fact: You must vote at the polling place for the location in which you are registered to vote.

Moving aside the skeeviness of Nolte saying that Obama’s young, blossoming daughters (does he want to pollinate them or something? Probably), what could this possibly be about?

Hahaha, this is really great:

I’m guessing that The Party of Rape wants to distract us from their Leda and the Swan Rape Theology.

Not working, boys.

(TPM)

I was going to write about the Aryan Warrior-looking/young Hannibal Lechter-looking/serial killer-looking dude who might have committed a federal crime in Virginia by throwing out voter registration cards (he was employed indirectly by the GOP to gather voter registration, which I guess means throw ‘em out in Wingnuttian?).

Nicole Belle at Crooks and Liars beat me to it and did a better job than I would have, so go read her story, or the one at Talking Points Memo, which is also excellent.

…because eight and six even sound alike in Messikano:

ABC News

Arizona election officials in Maricopa County admit they flubbed the date on an official government document that was printed in Spanish.

The document, which was attached to updated voter registration cards that were requested in person, lists the general election date as Nov. 8 in Spanish. An English translation on the document lists the correct date, Nov. 6.

Anger Troll Jan Brewer’s terrible sand kingdom of Arizonastan has a strange problem with bi-lingual documents.

(The Note)

Pennsylvania’s divisive voter identification requirement became the latest of its kind to get pushback from the courts ahead of Election Day, delivering a hard-fought victory to Democrats who said it was a ploy to defeat President Barack Obama and other opponents who said it would prevent the elderly and minorities from voting.

Commonwealth Court Judge Robert Simpson said in his ruling that he was concerned by the state’s stumbling efforts to create a photo ID that is easily accessible to voters and that he could not rely on the assurances of government officials at this late date that every voter would be able to get a valid ID.

Expect to see Frothy, Penelope, Judd, Splot and all the little Santorums–maybe even the jarred one–weeping the tears of angels.

Wingnuts turn a bleary eye to Diebold.

(MSNBC)

…the GOP practically invented it:

The North Carolina Republican Party has fired the shady voter registration firm owned by Mitt Romney’s paid political consultant and longtime GOP operative, Nathan Sproul. The firing came as Democrats in the state were on the brink of denouncing the Republicans’ tie to the operative’s firm.

…and that has lead to this shocking development:

BREAKING UPDATE: Just after publishing, word comes that the RNC has also now reportedly “cut ties” with Strategic Allied Consulting, as evidence of fraudulent registrations emerge in four counties in FL, including “dead people being registered as new voters” by the GOP firm.

…which leads us to this shocking conclusion:

But one note to Isikoff who repeatedly refers to “voter fraud” in his article: There is no known “voter fraud” related to this scandal. This is a form of election fraud known as “voter registration fraud”. There are no actual voters involved in this scandal. The voters have been, and are, doing just fine. Please leave them alone. Inappropriate attacks on voters are best left to members of the Republican Party. Thanks.

…which has to be the finest conclusion to an article ever.

(Alternet)

(Columbus Equality) Doug Preisse, who now says, “No Comment.”

“I guess I really actually feel we shouldn’t contort the voting process to accommodate the urban — read African-American — voter-turnout machine,” said Doug Preisse, chairman of the county Republican Party and elections board member who voted against weekend hours, in an email to The Dispatch. “Let’s be fair and reasonable.”

He called claims of unfairness by Ohio Democratic Chairman Chris Redfern and others “bullshit. Quote me!”

It’s a new bold, kind of Party of Lincoln that stands proudly and declares, I’m a racist idiot who wants to disenfranchise [insert your own colorful epithat here]. Somewhere, Lee Atwater and Saint Ronnie smile.

Of course, it will only be a matter of time before he blames the Kenyan Usurper Hawaiian Devil Baby for dividing the country.

(Columbus Dispatch)

So the swarm of GOP arsonists and pig-fuckers decided, en masse, to allow the interest rates on federal college loans to double by July 1. The entire GOP Senators–everyone of ‘em–voted to not allow this bill to come to a vote.

Even Senator Dick Lugar–after decrying partisan, destructive nihlism and rigid orthodoxy to an idealogical purity–went along with this obstructionist agenda.

Is anyone still saying that voting doesn’t matter? Your absence allows the trogs and waterheads to do stuff like this. Policy has consequences, so even if you dislike the players, you need to participate if for no other reason than to keep stuff like this from happening. Again.

…has there been such an idiot running a criminal enterprise.

Yup, pock-marked basement dweller James O’Keefe tried to commit organized Voter Fraud in New Hampshire (you know, to prove a point about how swarthy undocumented immigrants are voting and stealing our democracy), and he and his morans might be looking at Federal time:

Federal law bans not only the casting of, but the “procurement” of ballots “that are known by the person to be materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent under the laws of the State in which the election is held.”

Hamline University law professor David Schultz told TPM that there’s “no doubt” that O’Keefe’s accomplices violated the law.

“In either case, if they were intentionally going in and trying to fraudulently obtain a ballot, they violated the law,” Schultz said. “So right off the bat, what they did violated the law.”

Election law expert Rick Hasen, who writes the Election Law Blog, joked in an email to TPM that O’Keefe’s team should “next show how easy it is to rob a bank with a plastic gun.”

Dude is an attention whore.

(TPM)

Jeepers, besides being stupid (do they really believe that there is a concerted effort to commit election fraud? Do they project much what they plan to do?), this thing is way too long to be funny.

Anyway, I like the way that they so believe it that they actually have a list of things to do (from their website, which I will not link to):

1. Go to your local municipal court house
2. Find Clerk of Court Office
3. Obtain a copy of the death rolls
4. Copy names of the deceased potential voters going back at least 2 election cycles
5. Upon completion of this project notify media that you are in possession of the names of all deceased potential voters in the area
6. Provide a copy list to appropriate conservative representative and/or poll watchers, and instruct them of the legal process in your jurisdiction on how to challenge a fraudulent vote (information obtained from commissioner of elections, registrar, or other appropriate authority from your state)
7. Document everything and get video if possible

Mmmm, death rolls!

OK, just a hint here: in cities like mine with 1 million-plus residents, there are bound to be some repeats on the names of the Quick and the Dead; George Foreman’s family is going to have hella problems when those kids get old enough to vote…

The local media might be interested in a color story of some Medicare-scooter riding Jedi Knight carrying “death rolls” to precinct stations, but I’m guessing that they have enough to do without some Teabagger claiming that the Garcias are disenfrachising the Whitmans to their duly purchased office.

It seems that you cannot vote or hang out in Nevada’s polling places wearing a chicken suit any more. It seems that the would-be Senator Chicken Lady (Sue Lowden) doesn’t have a sense of humor.

Everyday we are becoming more and more like the soviets.