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RedditWith Election Day around the corner, and concerns about another voting debacle of Florida 2000-proportions running high (especially given problems at primaries this year in Maryland, Ohio, Illinois and several other states) – Republicans in Congress are on the job and doing everything they can to further disenfranchise voters.
Rather than taking the necessary steps to strengthen, expand and improve the democratic process, the GOP has launched a new effort to create modern-day Jim Crow exclusionary practices through new voter ID requirements.
The House recently passed a bill along party lines requiring voters to present a photo ID beginning in 2008. Starting in 2010, voters would need to pay for a government-issued proof of citizenship – a virtual poll tax. This shameful legislation was passed just months after the reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act when President Bush declared "the right of ordinary men and women to determine their own political future."
"If the [House] Bill passed the Senate and became law, the electorate would likely become more middle-aged, whiter and richer – and, its sponsors are anticipating, more Republican," the New York Times wrote in a recent editorial.
Demos, a national public policy organization, reports that the legislation would disproportionately impact people of color, individuals with disabilities, rural voters, people living on reservations, the homeless, and low-income people – all of whom studies show are less likely to carry a photo ID and more often have to change photo ID information.
Senate Democrats have asked that Majority Leader Bill Frist not bring the bill to the floor. In a letter to Frist, Senators Reid, Kennedy, Dodd and Obama wrote: "The burdensome and costly requirements of obtaining [citizenship] documents not only could prevent many eligible voters from participating, but… Worst of all, this bill recalls a dark era in our nation when individuals were required to pay a poll tax to cast their ballot and has been termed a 21st century poll tax." Frist's next move remains to be seen.
States, too, are getting into the voter suppression act. Georgia, Missouri and Indiana have passed similar ID requirements. The laws were overturned by the courts in Georgia and Missouri while in Indiana, the law was upheld by district court and is now under appeal. The right- wing pins hopes on appealing all the way to the Supreme Court where decisions by Scalia and the Supremes seem to fall in their "1 Man, 1 Vote – sort of" favor.
"This is the most sinister scheme I've ever seen," said former Georgia Governor Roy Barnes, "and it's going on nationwide." "Voter suppression doesn't happen with intimidation on election day," said Michael Waldman, executive director of The Brennan Center for Justice, "but rather through silent and sometimes secret government actions in the weeks leading up to an election."
If the Republicans are truly concerned about "the integrity of our voting process," as Rep. John Boehner claims, they should take a look at flawed voting machines that, according to the Washington Post, "scientists have shown they could manipulate… to report a vote total that differed from the actual total cast by voters." Or they could address the fact that the Diebold machines tested in Cuyahoga County, which includes Cleveland, rendered a paper trail "nearly 10 percent of [which was] destroyed, blank, illegible, or otherwise compromised." Or they could explain why a Princeton professor was able to hack into a voting machine as an experiment. Or they could reform the administering of elections, so that partisan secretaries of state with lofty political ambitions such as Katherine Harris and Ken Blackwell are no longer running the show. Or they could try to stop the purges of valid voters from the voter rolls…
The blueprint for what to do is out there. Robert Pastor, director of a commission on electoral reform organized by former President Jimmy Carter and former Secretary of State James Baker, told the Washington Post, "The Carter-Baker commission identified 87 steps that need to be undertaken. Regrettably, almost none of them are being done right now. I would start by establishing statewide, nonpartisan election administration."
And Americans can start by voting Democrat this November, and then pressing a new Congress to give us common sense reforms that create a truly democratic, transparent and legitimate electoral system.
Just hope your vote is counted – correctly.
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Katrina vanden Heuvel
Thoughts on politics, current affairs, riffs and reflections on what’s in the news and what’s not--but should be.
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Just a question: since it is highly unlikely that politicians of either party are likely to work towards election reform, maybe it is time for the consideration of constitutional amendments to take the place of partisan, re-election-obsessed politicians. Of course, that would require the mobilization of the same people who keep electing the morons we have now...never mind!
Posted by Turk33 at 09/28/2006 @ 09:26am
This is more bogeyman politics from the right.
We are supposed to be frightened by the relatively slim prospect of ineligible voters swaying our elections, taking our eyes off the greatest threat to our enfranchisement - the use of these insidious voting machines that can be hacked undetected.
The Jim Crow effect is just icing on the elephant's cake.
Posted by drhammer at 09/28/2006 @ 09:34am
"The burdensome and costly requirements of obtaining [citizenship] documents not only could prevent many eligible voters from participating, but…"
Why exactly is getting an ID (not even a driver's license, just the state ID card) "burdensome and costly"? Aren't they like $10 or so in most states?
And if it's going to effect "the homeless"....don't you have to provide evidence that you live in the voting district you live in, for purposes of REGISTERING to vote? So that people aren't voting in more than one district?
or...uh....is that the idea?
Posted by Mask at 09/28/2006 @ 09:35am
Posted by MASK 09/28/2006 @ 09:35am
So being homeless is a legitimate reason to be disenfranchised?
Posted by Turk33 at 09/28/2006 @ 09:41am
Turk
Obviously being homeless, or poor, or illiterate or any combination thereof makes these folks ineligible to participate. Wake up man....grab the teat of Mammon and suckle away.
Best bumper sticker award
Of course it hurts. You're getting screwed by an elephant!
Posted by leftofcenter at 09/28/2006 @ 10:06am
Turk,
No, we just need to keep holding the politicians' feet to the fire on this. Make it an issue that the average voter can understand and make sure they know how it applies to them. Confront all candidates on the issue and don't let them off the hook until they commit to implementing at least the Carter/Baker recommendations [american.edu]. That may not go far enough, and I have some quibbles with the Commission's recommendations on voter ID, but it would certainly be a good start. Make both parties targets until they agree to verifiable (paper-trail) voting, non-partisan election administration and independent observation, and simplified, uniform and free voter registration and identification. Anything less, and we should be opposing them as the opponents of (real representative) democracy. I know that's rhetoric that BushCo has co-opted for their foreign policy, but it actually applies here and would be a nice thing to turn back on polticians. If we want voting reform, the only way we're going to get it is to make it the issue.
Posted by Stwriley at 09/28/2006 @ 10:10am
Posted by MASK 09/28/2006 @ 09:35am
Why exactly is getting an ID (not even a driver's license, just the state ID card) "burdensome and costly"? Aren't they like $10 or so in most states?
And if it's going to effect "the homeless"....don't you have to provide evidence that you live in the voting district you live in, for purposes of REGISTERING to vote? So that people aren't voting in more than one district?
or...uh....is that the idea?
Holy mackeral Mask! Can you not look beyond your own affluent lifestyle? The need to obtain and pay for a photo ID certainly can be burdensome for many of the people Katrina pointed out if it is not implemented very carefully, and not just because of the direct monetary cost. Assume to begin with that anyone without a driver's license is also without a car (I know that's not necessarily a given, but work with me here.) They must get to the issuing agency for the ID (it's photo, so it must be in person) which may well mean a long ride on public transit (if they're in an urban area that actually still has decent public transit, if their in a rural area they're likely even further away and without transit options) and thus time away from work. That's making them pay three time over right there. The only real solution, I fear, is an actual uniform state photo ID that is issued to every citizen, voter or not, at state expense and with full outreach provisions to get such cards to those who may (from poverty, age, illness, etc.) not be able to readily come in to an agency to obtain the ID. Yes, that is essentially a national ID card, and I can hear the right-libertarians who post here sharpening their rhetorical swords to attack that idea even as I write it, but if anyone thinks that they aren't already easily ID'd by a variety of methods, then they're living in a fantasy version of the modern world. The Carter/Baker Commission recommended using the Real ID license (which has other problems and is the reason I don't entirely back their proposals) but they were right to call for other, free and easily obtainable ID's for those who cannot or do not have driver's licenses.
As for the homeless quip, you can't be serious. Even the homeless live somewhere Mask. State issued ID's would make the process of tracking where and when a person shows up to vote easily verifiable and would make your objection moot by rendering it impossible to vote in more than one place.
Posted by Stwriley at 09/28/2006 @ 10:36am
Posted by LEFTOFCENTER 09/28/2006 @ 10:06am
Best bumper sticker award
Of course it hurts. You're getting screwed by an elephant!
I know we shouldn't be encouraging the posting of commercial links but...
Where can I get one?!?
Posted by Stwriley at 09/28/2006 @ 10:38am
Make it an issue that the average voter can understand and make sure they know how it applies to them.
Posted by STWRILEY 09/28/2006 @ 10:10am
I agree, but how? And who will do this? I hate to sound cynical, but 6 years of Republican-Orwellian media control and complete apathy by Americans (and Democrats in both houses of Congress) will do that to a person.
When Bush can convince 62 million American citizens that fear/faith is more important than the truth (election 2004), I have little faith in convincing 60 million people that an abstraction such as voter reform is important. It may very well be the most important issue, as disenfranchisement and election fraud invalidate our "republic", but I can't see people mobilizing and rallying to this. Please, convince me I'm wrong. Show me the leaders who will get this done, and I'll volunteer and contribute to their campaigns. Just because something should be done doesn't mean it will be done or can be done. In fact, it seems to be the opposite under our current commando-in-chief.
Posted by Turk33 at 09/28/2006 @ 10:39am
I had inklings that the Nation and its writers had fallen off the deep end, but this article proves it! Show up with a photo ID of some sort and vote...once. End of controversy. If you're on some sort of government handout program, chances are that you've already found transportation to get there, and proven your ID somehow. THis is just a bullshit excuse. 70% of Iraqis voted, and most of them walked through a freaking war zone to do so.
I'm not sure where I stand on the electronic voting machines issue. Take it or leave it. Most of the problems in Cleveland were proved to be worker related anyway. Millions of Americans have used ATM machines built by the same company for over 2 decades now, and I have yet to end up with someone elses money in my account. If the possibility of hacking is an issue, keep the machines off any sort of network and use them as stand-alone data devices. That's doable.
In Ohio, Democrats are gearing up for massive fraud this election season. Democrat election commissioner Tim Hagan (who lost his bid for Governor last time around) is urging everyone to vote absentee this election. Is there any possible way to F-up an election more than having everyone vote absentee?? I can't think of one. Would me or anyone else be able to vote multiple times on behalf of other people if done by absentee??..Sure. Until Democrats stop blocking voter ID requirements, their claim of "disenfranchisement" doesn't hold any water.
Posted by Sliver at 09/28/2006 @ 11:04am
Posted by SLIVER 09/28/2006 @ 11:04am
ATM's have a paper trail. You can be sure that no one else's money ended up in your account, but you have no such assurance that your vote actually gets applied to the candidate of your choice. Additionally, as an example of Diebold's disingenuous PR, they have been known to claim that they were not able to build a voting machine that could produce a paper trail, when all their ATM's do exactly that.
I have no interest in being argumentative; I am just extremely discomfited by this issue. If you haven't already, Google "Harry Hursti", and the Princeton Diebold demo. If what you can still remain cavalier about the issue, then my concerns are unlikely to change your perspective.
Posted by drhammer at 09/28/2006 @ 11:29am
Correction:
"If you can still remain cavalier about the issue, then my concerns are unlikely to change your perspective."
(Left an extra "what" in there...)
Posted by drhammer at 09/28/2006 @ 11:31am
Additionally, Google the name "Chris Hood".
Hood, a former Diebold employee, has installed "software patches" on Diebold machines, under less than transparent circumstances.
Posted by drhammer at 09/28/2006 @ 11:43am
"Even the homeless live somewhere Mask."
Posted by STWRILEY 09/28/2006 @ 10:36am
Did I just read that?!?!??...LOL I can see the voter registrar "Sir, do you reside in Ward 7?" "Well, I have a cardboard box on Sycamore Avenue, which is in Ward 7....but I also sleep on the steam grate on Oak...and I spend time at the Pine Avenue Shelter in the 3rd Ward" "Oh, well....we'll just register you to vote in BOTH Wards 7, 9 AND 3 then!"
This is just nuts....or duplicitious.
Okay, no IDs.....what IS the plan to stop voter fraud from those who "fight against disenfranchisement"?
Posted by Mask at 09/28/2006 @ 12:23pm
Given the last election, these are two of the stupidest remarks on this or any other board:
"In Ohio, Democrats are gearing up for massive fraud this election season"
and
"...voter FRAUD so fondly adherred to by the Demoncrat party"
I'm also opposed to national ID cards (and still figuring out why beyond my gut reaction - maybe it's a mark-of-the-beast thing), but Riley has advanced some strong ideas worth considering.
Posted by New Dawn at 09/28/2006 @ 12:32pm
From a paper by the Century foundation entitled Voter ID And Fraud: Prove It, 7/28/2005:
"Similarly, in Ohio--perhaps the only other state to be subjected to the same level of scrutiny as Washington--a statewide survey found that of the 9,078,728 votes cast in Ohio's 2002 and 2004 general elections, a total of four were deemed as ineligible or "fraudulent" and found by the board of elections and county prosecutors to be legally actionable."
Voter ID is a relative non-issue, designed to distract us from the real threat of digital disenfranchisement.
Posted by drhammer at 09/28/2006 @ 1:01pm
Brilliant solution, Katherine! We'll all vote Democrat and things will be just like they were during the Golden Clintonian Age! Why, our fearless Democrat leaders will be sure to defeat the evil Republican poll tax plans just as soon as our fearless leaders are done rigging the fucking ballot! OH YEAH! THEY'LL BE SURE TO GUARD OUR DEMOCRACY! YOU BET'CHA!
Posted by AlanSmithee at 09/28/2006 @ 1:05pm
Four ineligible votes out of a total of nine million. Even if one were to argue that there were a thousand times as many that weren't detected, that would extend to 4000, in the whole state.
In Tarrant County, Texas, electronic voting machines recorded 100000 more votes than there were voters.
Which kind of fraud do you think we should be looking at?
Posted by drhammer at 09/28/2006 @ 1:07pm
Seems IDs AND paper ballots would be a nice compromise...and would...GASP...actually help!
You take your ID to vote, the machine scans it, and after you vote gives you a hard copy of your ballot WITH your scanned photo ID copied on it as well.
Any troubles and you simply take your ballot back to the precinct...show your paper ballot WITH your photo on it (from the ID) and NOBODY can claim it's a fake.
Now, why won't a compromise like that work....because NOBODY wants it. If you're a lib, it "disenfranchises people who are so totally poor and helpless they can't get a cheap photo ID from the same government we want them to get Social Security cards from"...and if you're an "evil conservative who wants to steal the vote", it foils your diabolical plans.
Despite the fact it would BOTH eliminate fraud AND eliminate any chance of "black boxes" altering the votes counted.
Posted by Mask at 09/28/2006 @ 1:10pm
Reform absolutely needs to be comprehensive. I live in a ONE PARTY STATE that would still make Mussolini proud--Chicago. For that matter, the state of Illinois--regardless of whether Republicans or Democrats happen to be dominant at the particular moment--is no exemplar of democracy either. Here, neither party has any credibility on this issue whatsoever. The whole system still stinks to high heaven and is ample proof that those in power have no interest in honesty or transparency.
Posted by feinfein at 09/28/2006 @ 1:20pm
Principles should dictate that these two issues -- identity cards and machine irregularities -- be treated separately. The machines are bad and cannot be proven to work honestly, so their use must be curtailed. But that said, there is nothing wrong with making people prove they are enrolled voters when they show up at the polls.
I first voted in New York City, where you signed a card at the time of first registering, and whenever you came to the polls to vote, bingo, there was that same card, and you had to sign your name on the first vacant line to prove you were the same person who registered. Every candidate had poll watchers to challenge voters whose signatures didn't match or who were known to be dead. When I moved to Massachusetts, I was astonished to see these folks let anyone vote as long as they can provide the name and address of a registered voter. If Joe Blow gave my name at 9 AM, then when I showed up at 3 PM, I would be turned away. Not that voting fraud ever occurs in Massachusetts.
Kids under 21 who want to drink -- just to drink! -- can get identity cards but have to prove their identity first. There is no principled reason not to make voters prove their citizenship in the same way. If the only objection to identity cards is cost, make the government provide them for nothing. But if the real objection is that we really want to sneak noncitizens into the voting booths, then let's find something else to fight for.
Posted by nomolos at 09/28/2006 @ 4:04pm
I don't trust the current Republican-run government to institute a system whereby everyone needs a state-issued ID in order to vote. The administration has, time and time again, proven itself incapable of administering anything at all with even a minimum of effectiveness.
Part of the Democratic party platform in '06 and '08 should be COMPREHENSIVE election reform, with the most important aspect of this reform being verifiable ballots, followed by consistent procedures and rules across different jurisdictions (which should include a standard way in which voters can be identified).
Posted by liveeasy at 09/28/2006 @ 4:19pm
Can anybody make a case....to not implement BOTH...free, regulated photo IDs for voting AND a paper ballot trail?
You go to the machine...scan your card...vote...and get a copy of your ballot with your photo on it. Any "irregularities" can both prove the COUNT of the vote...and that the voter was legitimate.
Anybody?
Posted by Mask at 09/28/2006 @ 4:21pm
The main consideration for implementing an ID requirement is to make sure it is not implemented too soon before an election that it DOES end up disenfranchising voters, and to make sure that the administrative systems are in place to help people who have may have difficulty obtaining ID do so BEFORE the new rules take effect.
So, to answer your question...depending on the circumstances I might be able to think of SEVERAL objections to a new ID requirement.
Posted by liveeasy at 09/28/2006 @ 4:49pm
Posted by LIVEEASY 09/28/2006 @ 4:49pm
See, I just don't get it, LIVE. I assume you'd like everybody to have a ....Social Security number (to gain their SS benefits).
Why not a voter ID card? At this point, even civil libertarians have admitted that driver's licenses are a "de facto" national ID (given they are checked and considered valid in all other states).
And if it's FREE, for Gosh's sakes...even less the claim to "disenfranchisment of the poor".
And I agree...it obviously would have to skip atleast one election cycle (2 years) before being implemented.
Other than that....I see it as a GREAT compromise, that Dems could take the lead on, garner liberal, moderate, maybe even conservative Republicans on.
Only down-side...it costs the "civil rights 'leadership'" an issue...and no more excuses for Dems come the day after Election Day!
Posted by Mask at 09/28/2006 @ 4:54pm
Posted by TURK33 09/28/2006 @ 10:39am
I hear you, but I think the best way is to keep confronting politicians as citizens. Show up where your Rep. does and keep asking why s/he hasn't sponsered voting reform legislation. Anything we can do to get a better system.
Posted by Stwriley at 09/28/2006 @ 5:09pm
Posted by LVLIBERTY1 09/28/2006 @ 2:54pm
Another otherwise decent post destroyed by its author's need to use the blanket term "the left".
I've told you, Liberty, when you throw out that blanket, you are referring to me, too, even though you know I am a total hardass on illegals and borders and the like.
Why do you insist on whitewashing?
Posted by New Dawn at 09/28/2006 @ 5:16pm
Posted by MASK 09/28/2006 @ 12:23am
Did I just read that?!?!??...LOL I can see the voter registrar "Sir, do you reside in Ward 7?" "Well, I have a cardboard box on Sycamore Avenue, which is in Ward 7....but I also sleep on the steam grate on Oak...and I spend time at the Pine Avenue Shelter in the 3rd Ward" "Oh, well....we'll just register you to vote in BOTH Wards 7, 9 AND 3 then!"
This is just nuts....or duplicitious.
Okay, no IDs.....what IS the plan to stop voter fraud from those who "fight against disenfranchisement"?
Yes, you did just read that Mask, but you obviously didn't read the rest of the post nor the Carter/Baker Commission report. The state ID I proposed (a slight modification of Carter/Baker) would be to every citzen, which would naturally include the homeless (and also would have other obvious identification purposes beyond voting, so no need for duplicated effort by the states.) The card itself would probably need to be the kind of chip-card that could be periodically updated. There need be no particular problem with someone having no fixed address (indeed it would allow the state to render services to such people more easily) as long as all are in the state database. To register in a particular precinct if your ID's address is not fixed, all that would be necessary is to vote there once (anyone with an address would naturally be registered automatically where they live) and that would then be your precinct. The database requirements in each precinct would be small, since they would only need their own on site and an uplink to the state system for any changes or the almost certainly small number of homeless who might vote in as new place. To vote you simply insert your card in the polling places' reader, it identifies you and confirms that you have not yet voted in this election, or rejects you if you already have. If you're not in the local database then the process would go through the state system, where the same process would apply. That would eliminate any possibility of casual vote fraud or old-fashioned multiple voting without any problem. Then you'd actually enter the voting booth and make your picks, then receive a verifiable receipt with your encoded voter number but no other ID data on it (we still have the secret ballot to preserve.) Simple as that.
You want to hound the Democrats about supporting this kind of plan, fine. I've already said above that we should be after both parties to enact this. And the next time you might actually try reading a real proposal and it's supporting document and actually think about them before you post a criticism whose answer should have been self-evident. You're always asking for proposals Mask, so don't be so hasty when you actually get one. And one last thing, you don't even begin to know me well enough to pop off with that "duplicitious"[sic] line, given that I have always approached you and this forum honestly and openly.
Posted by Stwriley at 09/28/2006 @ 5:43pm
Another sound post, Riley, though your last three sentences were a complete waste of your valuable time.
Posted by New Dawn at 09/28/2006 @ 6:54pm
Don't you have to produce photo ID to receive a welfare check, food stamps, wic, R rated movies, hotel rooms, bars, cash a check in a pawn shop or a bank or a check cashing store,send money in Western Union office, receive money in Western Union office,....even illegal immigrants pay coyotes more than $10 to "get in" to the US....so all of a sudden having to show one to vote is a hardship?
Bullshit.
To solve the voter problem...
Give each voter, after seeing Photo ID, a large kindergarden pencil, the size of a Clinton cigar..and a piece of paper that contains a large box 4" by 4" next to the name of the candidates ...and in 2 inch letters above that reads...PICK 1 (ONE)...if they fuck this one up..we don't want them voting...for anything anywhere....then finger print the voter(thumb) and press in on the ballot....and then count the votes.
Posted by john maasch at 09/28/2006 @ 9:24pm
What is this Carter/BAKER con? BAKER? The BAKER that powered the Supremes to cap the Florida election for BushCorp? THAT Baker? How could Carter let himself get within miles of THAT Baker? Looks from her that Jim Baker jimmied Jimmy Carter -- and us. And now he's jimmying the next two elections -- if America even holds elections after '06
Midwitch
Posted by johnk at 09/28/2006 @ 11:20pm
Posted by STWRILEY 09/28/2006 @ 5:43pm
Apologies, STW.....I assumed you were in agreement with Ms vanden Heuvel on this "no IDs EVER!" policy.
If you support one....we're in agreement.
Posted by Mask at 09/29/2006 @ 09:02am
STWirley
Bumper Sticker
Show your support today! (and it's only $4)
Posted by leftofcenter at 09/29/2006 @ 5:14pm
Posted by MASK 09/28/2006 @ 4:21pm
Will the homeless and/or functionally illiterate be able to produce the required documentation? Sure the card is free, but it may cost $15-$20 bucks to get a birth certificate....(depending on locale)
Posted by leftofcenter at 09/29/2006 @ 5:18pm
So let me understand, the "small government" Republicans who are so into "free trade" and all taxed my sales comp at about 43%, about twice my base pay. However, they cannot afford to send me "proof of citizenship" unless I pay a virtual poll tax? Hmmmm... Hope I have some good sales months in the fall of 2008, based on the way the economy is going though I might have to whip out the Visa, just like for everything else that matters.
Shameful kooks. Our legistlative branch has become impotent. Has Big Pharma come out with a pill that cures shy democracy yet?
Posted by libsurf at 09/29/2006 @ 6:55pm
You liberals will use any excuse possible to explain why voters don't vote your way any more. Why are you so worried about having to show a photo ID to vote? Indiana passed the law in spite of a lawsuit launched by the loony liberal ACLU since they couldn't provide even a single example of a voter who would not be able to vote in the upcoming election because of the photo ID law.
"Oh, but it is a burden on the poor people." That's pure BS idiocy. If a voter doesn't have a driver's license, they can get a photo ID from the license bureau - for free. Don't have a photo ID on election day? That's OK, you can still vote and obtain an ID up to a week after the election. Does your religion forbid having your picture taken? That's OK, there is a verbal ID that will be accepted as well. Even voters who care so little about elections that they don't prepare for them (mostly the democrats) will not be turned away.
"Oh my, Jim Crow laws" "Racism", "Disenfranchment". "Voter Supression". And you exaggeraters and liars wonder why no one votes for your candidates any more. Instead of campaining for election fraud why don't you try campaining on the issues you support. Oh yeah, that's the other reason no one votes for you any more. I guess you're right, you are SOL when it comes to future elections so you might as well sit back, whine and complain, and call everyone else racists and suppressors. You people are pitiful.
Posted by hoosier57 at 09/30/2006 @ 05:55am
The Power of Truth. The Rabid Right is determined to remake America in it's own image and they have no scruples about how they do it. Republicans control all three branches of government plus every federal agency and if they can't rewrite existing laws, they simply ignore and violate them. Which they are doing in a hurry on a daily basis as if fearful they might not be able to rig the midterm elections.
Why are they so worried? Who's going to stop them? They also own the media, so even if they get caught rigging the next election, who's going to blow the whistle besides liberal bloggers?
Perhaps the answer lies in the Power of Truth.
Authoritarians feel threatened by even the tiniest glimmer of truth. They fear the shifting sands of time will erode their power and blow away with their dreams of a neo-conservative Thousand Year Reich.
Posted by rabblerowzer at 09/30/2006 @ 07:33am
Another voting scam taking place is the sudden decrease of oil prices just weeks prior to the elections. Clearly, the timing cannot be a coincidence. In fact, the fascist regime's political interests and tactics, and oil industries' pricing patterns seem to be in perfect synchronicity. It sure seems as if the whole oil pricing process has little to do with oil-related affairs and everything to do with oil companies' self-serving illegal and unchecked price fixing! Although, we are facing similar international issues as those of few months ago, fuel prices have magically dropped! These price reductions are oil companies' deliberate attempts to protect their "elected" servants. Democrats need to remind people that the prices will increase 1 minute after the elections are over.
Posted by Sal at 09/30/2006 @ 1:10pm
This for Katrina Vanden regarding her opposition to a simple ID verification that exists in most countries in the world. I am not American, not even a permanent resident of the US. My greencard is pending but I am already concerned with the direction that this country is taking thanks to ideas of irreponsible liberals such as Katrina Vanden.
Reality check:you have millions of millions of illegal aliens entering this country on daily basis. If you do not provide a simple, common, ID requirement how in the world can you verify whether people voting are citizens of this country ?! Don't you realize that MILLIONS of people who are not authorized to vote can simply cast a vote there illegally ? Where is your democracy at this point ?
Katrina, do a reality check. Big deal that a vote ID costs $10. The State could even pay for this, if that is the excuse that poor citizens cannot afford it.
Posted by Marlon at 09/30/2006 @ 4:36pm
Marlon,
Your common sense is lost on this site...but I agree and welcome you as a new American....most here end up selling the US down thr river for unrealistic nmotions and blame all the evils of the world on US...you are correct to be worried by these irresponsible liberals...unintended consequences are their legacy....too many loons in the pond.
Posted by john maasch at 09/30/2006 @ 5:50pm