Supreme Court Pulls Teeth From the Voting Rights Act

posted by John Nichols on 06/22/2009 @ 10:42am

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Once an election is done, it is hard to undo.

That's true in Iran, and it's also true in the United States.

This is why it is important to get the rules by which elections are held right before elections are held.

For this reason, one of the essential components of the Voting Rights Act -- arguably its most powerful tool for combating discrimination and disenfranchisement -- has long been a requirement that officials get approval from the Department of Justice before they change the way in which elections are conducted.

Allow states, counties, municipalities or school districts in the 16 states that are wholly or partially with historic patterns of discrimination to opt out of the review, and they will be able to organize and hold elections that renew those patterns. That's why the requirement has been referred to by law professors as "one of the crown jewels of the civil rights movement."

Foes of the Voting Rights Act have long focused on weakening Section 5 of the act, the provision that requires election officials in the states covered by the act to obtain federal permission before making changes to voting procedures, moving polling-place locations, requiring so-called "citizenship checks" and redrawing voting district lines. They rightly argued that to do so would remove the teeth from the measure that has long been disdained by southerners pining for the days before what former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott referred to as "all the laws of Washington" changed the way things were done in Dixie.

On Monday, the Supreme Court tarnished the crown jewel, giving state and local officials new flexibility to "opt out" of the requirement that they obtain permission when changing election rules. The court ruling does not invalidate the Voting Rights Act -- as some had feared -- but it does undermine it.

The court, with only one justice (Clarence Thomas) in partial dissent, said that the Northwest Austin Municipal Utility District No. 1 in Austin, Texas, can avoid the advance approval requirement.

The ruling is being interpreted as a signal all local jurisdictions in a Voting Rights Act state can at least apply for what is referred to as "a statutory bailout."

That was a reversal of a lower federal court that had preserved the Voting Rights Act as it was intended to operate.

That's a dangerous move, say civil rights supporters.

As Georgia Congressman John Lewis, who has watched the court's deliberations closely, says, "No one can deny the fact we've made progress. But that's not the question. That's not the issue. The issue is we need this tool to guard against the possibility of reverting back to our dark past."

Lewis is right. Invalidating the Voting Rights Act would be a shock to the body politic. But dismantling the measure tooth by tooth should still be recognized for what it is: a judicial assault on history, and on the future.

The Voting Rights Act is still on the books -- despite evidence from recent hearings that Chief Justice John Roberts and some of his conservative activist colleagues would like to do away with it. Voters can still sue under its provisions when they believe they are victims of discrimination. Unfortunately, notes Laughlin McDonald, who directs the ACLU's voting rights project, few plaintiffs will have the financial resources to pursue these complex cases.

So the high court has taken a big whack at the Voting Rights Act.

Now it falls to the Obama administration's Department of Justice -- which has sent good signals regarding its commitment to enforcing voting rights protections -- and the Congress to put the teeth back in the act.

Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont, has warned that any attempt by the court to strike down the Voting Rights Act "would be conservative activism pure and simple."

The same goes for pulling the act apart tooth by tooth.

Comments (87)

Easy prediction...one of our local right-wingers (betting RIO/Big Posture or SJCHER) point out that...

"It took REPUBLICAN votes to pass the VRA for Johnson. It was opposed by Democrats!!!!"

(and naturally have amnesia when it comes...which party those Southern Democrats now belong....how many of those Northern Republicans are no long allowed in the GOP....or what "Nixon's Southern Strategy" was. Of course)

Posted by Mask at 06/22/2009 @ 10:48am
Activist judges are at it again...

Posted by Extraneous at 06/22/2009 @ 11:01am
The ayotollahs would approve. Ditto al Q. And bigots everywhere.

But what else can we expect from 4 justices who are Opus Dei members. The 5th should be ashamed, but perhaps he's satisfied just receiving absolution when he goes to confession.

Posted by sloper at 06/22/2009 @ 11:10am
I have always seen the Voting Rights Act as Discriminatory. Why only 16 states? There are 50 States and discrimination is not only limited to 16. All 50 states should be included in the Voting Rights Act. Otherwise the law itself is discriminatory.

Posted by chaoszen at 06/22/2009 @ 12:04pm
"It took REPUBLICAN votes to pass the VRA for Johnson. It was opposed by Democrats!!!!" Posted by Mask at 06/22/2009 @ 10:48am

Just point out that in a time long ago and far away. Republicans were still Republicans and not a bunch of crazy fascist Neo-Humans like they are now..

Posted by chaoszen at 06/22/2009 @ 12:21pm
If there are any Eisenhower Republicans left out there they really need to take back their Party. Please take back your Party! Do us all a favor. We miss you!

Posted by chaoszen at 06/22/2009 @ 12:24pm
Posted by chaoszen at 06/22/2009 @ 12:21pm

Most were "Arlen Specter" Republicans in the early 60s....the kind that those same right-wingers say "Purge the Party of them!" now.

Nevertheless, they try that talking point on "Repubs helping LBJ" and don't dig too deep into it. If they did that, they might start to question where and WHO is feeding them the talking point....and that, cannot be allowed.

Posted by Mask at 06/22/2009 @ 12:27pm
It is ironic that nowadays Eisenhower would be viewed as a far left loonie. Imagine running on a platform of PEACE and talking about the dangers of the "Military Industrial Complex".

Hell, the likes of Ike would not even be allowed in the current version of a once "Grand Old Party".

Posted by chaoszen at 06/22/2009 @ 12:30pm
The so called "Republicans" of today would have fit right in with the John Birch Society or the Ku Klux Klan of yesteryear. They would have been considered to be on the "fringe" then. But now they love to accuse the left of being fringy. When in actuality many considered to be on the left or even far left now are more similar to the Republicans of the 50's and early 60's.

And the Neo-Cons of today still like to point to long ago Republican politics and claim the cherry picked positions when it serves their purpose. Talk about a hijacked party. Unreal.

Posted by chaoszen at 06/22/2009 @ 12:49pm
I suppose that the "Republicans" of today could be considered the decendants of Joseph McCarthy.

And we all know how well that worked out..

Posted by chaoszen at 06/22/2009 @ 12:57pm
While the Southern states may have had more discrimination against Black voters, all states should be subject to this act. As we have seen, voter fraud happens in every state and needs to be eliminated.

Posted by pjcasey at 06/22/2009 @ 1:04pm
Just listen to all the whining of the "backwards" leftist race baiters and racist white American haters squeal like pigs as they lose thier reverse discrimination legality!

"It leaves the courts wide open to another challenge. If someone files a new lawsuit, I think there's a very good chance that down the line they might find it unconstitutional."

The court's avoidance of the constitutional question explains the consensus among justices in the case rendered Monday, where they otherwise likely would have split along conservative-liberal lines.

Justice Clarence Thomas, alone among his colleagues, said he would have resolved the case and held that the provision, known as Section 5, is unconstitutional.

"The violence, intimidation and subterfuge that led Congress to pass Section 5 and this court to uphold it no longer remains," Thomas said.

Roberts himself noted that blacks and white now register and turn out to vote in similar numbers and that "blatantly discriminatory evasions of federal decrees are rare."

He attributed a significant share of the progress to the law itself. "Past success alone, however, is not adequate justification to retain the preclearance requirement," Roberts said.

The Voting Rights Act, first enacted in 1965, opened the polls to millions of black Americans. In 2006, the Republican-controlled Congress overwhelmingly renewed the part of the law which provided for the advance approval requirement for 25 years and President George W. Bush signed it."

The Hopeless and Changless Demoncrats and the Obamanation administration can only now "turn back the clock" and take us backwards in time or file briefs which will ultimately show that this Act is basically fully UNCONSTITUTIONAL!

Posted by BigPasture at 06/22/2009 @ 1:12pm
Uh, RIO...did you read YOUR OWN POST???

"which will ultimately show that this Act is basically fully UNCONSTITUTIONAL!"---Posted by BigPasture at 06/22/2009 @ 1:12pm

"In 2006, the Republican-controlled Congress overwhelmingly renewed the part of the law which provided for the advance approval requirement for 25 years and President George W. Bush signed it."

You are attacking Republicans and George W. Bush!

ROFLMAO!

Posted by Mask at 06/22/2009 @ 1:35pm
You are attacking Republicans and George W. Bush!

ROFLMAO!

Posted by Mask at 06/22/2009 @ 1:35pm

I just got up off the floor myself. My eyes are red now from tears of laughter. RIO must be thanked for inducing a true spirit cleansing guffaw.

Thanks Rio!

Posted by chaoszen at 06/22/2009 @ 2:05pm
Odd, but the NYTimes' 1st account of this decision gives quite a different interpretation, viz. that the decision upholds the act of Congress -- 8-1 (Thomas dissenting -- has he ever dissented alone before?), but notes that differentiating between the 16 states & the rest might no longer be justified & should be reexamined.

Posted by sloper at 06/22/2009 @ 2:13pm
this Act is basically fully UNCONSTITUTIONAL!

Posted by BigPasture at 06/22/2009 @ 1:12pm

According to The One, the one Justice that has the least experience in the field of law.

What should we expect from BP anyway? I guess, being an "independent" living in Texas, he has never witnessed an act of discrimination based on ethnicity.

09:57 AM CDT on Thursday, May 28, 2009

KHOU.com staff report

HOUSTON--There were some tense moments and heated exchanges at Houston City Hall Wednesday when a police sergeant took a noose into council chambers.

Off-duty HPD Sgt. Shelby Stewart held up the noose and challenged council members to do more about allegations of racial discrimination within the Houston Fire Department.

Earlier this year, a noose was found in a fire captain's locker.

Posted by crabwalk at 06/22/2009 @ 2:32pm
but notes that differentiating between the 16 states & the rest might no longer be justified & should be reexamined.

Posted by sloper at 06/22/2009 @ 2:13pm

Exactly. That is why I said in my previous post that the law was discriminatory. The law should apply to all 50 states. To limit the law to 16 states is a problem, constitution wise.

But it does not mean that it is a bad law, it only means that the law should be applied to all 50 states.

But the fascists on the Supreme Court look at it as an opportunity to trash the law entirely.

But they may have made a decision that will bite them in the ass. That is if any in the Congress or the Senate have the balls to introduce a bill that would address this issue. Then they could throw the courts decision back in their face.

Posted by chaoszen at 06/22/2009 @ 2:38pm
March 13, 2008

Insurance Journal

An aviation fueling company with headquarters in New York has agreed to pay nearly $1.9 million to black and Hispanic workers at the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport who said they were taunted with hangman's nooses, racist cartoons and other racial slurs.

----

And I do want to get this right, a Supreme court overturning legislation supported by both parties, legislation that has been on the books for decades, is or is not judicial activism?

Posted by crabwalk at 06/22/2009 @ 2:40pm
We don't have a "dark past". We have a magnificent past with some black marks along the way. Lewis should take his guilt inducing, manipulative whining and go live somewhere where an uneducated sheep-like populace will buy that kind of crap.

Posted by CHIP THORNTON at 06/22/2009 @ 3:11pm
The only neo-con fool who was foolish enough to post here was Rio. They don't want to open up this particular can of worms, do they? Nope.

Because when you live in a house of cards it does not pay to entice the wind of truth. Even if it is just a small breeze. This shows just how vulnerable they actually are. They are just like the straw men that they constantly construct. No brains and the fear of a stiff wind..

Posted by chaoszen at 06/22/2009 @ 3:13pm
And I do want to get this right, a Supreme court overturning legislation supported by both parties, legislation that has been on the books for decades, is or is not judicial activism?

Posted by crabwalk at 06/22/2009 @ 2:40pm

Crab it is only activism if it changes a law that that neocons support. Activist judges by definition have to be liberal socialist plants who undermine freedom of capitalism and destroy family values. If the courts undermine civil liberties or any social legislation. Then they are clearly just upholding the constitution.

Same goes with the corporate media being liberal media. The only ones allowed to complain about the media are the conservatives, when they don't get the story they want told the way they want it told. However, they are ever silent when things go their way and no one would believe it if the democrats complained about a conservative bias because it would be contradictory to the lie that is liberal media.

Posted by Extraneous at 06/22/2009 @ 3:18pm
Posted by chaoszen at 06/22/2009 @ 2:05pm

He's done it before...posted something that clearly (from his OWN source) was done by Bush and the Republicans...

and then ended with his bemoanment of "Demoncrats" and "Obamanation" doing it.

and seemingly doesn't even see what he's posting!

Posted by Mask at 06/22/2009 @ 3:18pm
Lewis should take his guilt inducing, manipulative whining and go live somewhere where an uneducated sheep-like populace will buy that kind of crap.

Posted by CHIP THORNTON at 06/22/2009 @ 3:11pm

Look at yourself Chippie. Attacking a black congressman from Georgia. Isn't that just so Klanish. And then telling him he should just "go somewhere". And accusing him of being uneducated and sheep-like. That is the same tired old neo-con tactic of accusing someone else of having the same mentality that you do in order to reinforce your own shotcomings and tranfer your weakness onto another.

How quaint.

Posted by chaoszen at 06/22/2009 @ 3:25pm
Poor Mask, still doesn't get it that you don't have to be a Repub. to be conservative. Guess the myopia has just filled in all the remaining cracks!

Posted by BigPasture at 06/22/2009 @ 4:25pm
Thanks Rio!

Posted by chaoszen at 06/22/2009 @ 2:05pm | ignore this person | warn this person

As a lifelong Independent registared conservative, you are welcome!

Posted by BigPasture at 06/22/2009 @ 4:38pm
<i>Posted by Extraneous at 06/22/2009 @ 3:18pm </i>

The standard for activism is not "do you overturn federal legislation?" The standard for activism is whether you rule in accordance with the Constitution's provisions as their principles were originally understood. As I've argued before, this is how virtually every law is understood, but why an exception is made for the Constitution is unclear...

The reason it's referred to as activism isn't because it's literally the Court being active. It's referred to as activism because when the Court imposes its own philosophical preferences on rather than legitimate law on the society at large, they are effectively assuming a role of political activism which they are not entitled to assume.

If you would (and quite reasonably) prefer a different, non-politically-laden term, I think that would be a big benefit to the discourse. I just want to make clear that when people talk about "activism," they're not always just using it as a shield for "liberal things." Many are, but many are not.

Posted by Thrawn at 06/22/2009 @ 4:40pm
you don't have to be a Repub. to be conservative. Posted by BigPasture at 06/22/2009 @ 4:25pm

No, you don't have to be a Republican to be a Conservative. But on the other hand if you claim to be a "conservative" then it becomes difficult to lay claim to that when you claim to be a conservative without conservative principles. That is what happens when a Fascist pretends to be a conservative in order to advance Fascist principles.

That is a wolf in sheeps clothing. And the wolf has hijacked the "real" conservative party. REAL conservatives are disillusioned and many have become "Independents". Because they don't know where else to go. And instead of ousting the fascist element from their party (which takes the balls they don't have) they are wandering in the wilderness.

It is sad. Especially for those of us on the left. Because we really miss the true GOP. They were a modifying force against the wild and winsome ways of the true left.

So now there is an imbalance. And you Fascists are a danger to us all. But the light of truth will eventually put you back in the dark places where you rightfully belong.

Posted by chaoszen at 06/22/2009 @ 4:50pm
The pendulum of politics swings naturally from side to side. And even when disturbed by an outside force it will eventually find its cadence and proceed on course.

Posted by chaoszen at 06/22/2009 @ 5:11pm
A young girl dies on the streets of Teheran. Shot in the chest at the age of sixteen. Wide eyed and unbelieving as she goes. Blood runs from her mouth and nose. She dies.

The cause? RELIGION. Religion used for the sole purpose of subjugation of the masses ultimately results in things like a young girl who has an entire life in front of her having to deal with death before her time. The look in her eyes's as she went spoke volumes about a sick and diseased world.

Have you seen it? Hard to watch. And the fascists who use religion in our own country as cover for these very same agenda's are disgusting and abhorrent.

It's a good thing? I think not. That is the world that the neo-humans want. A world of fear. A world in which protest is punished by death. A world in which a sixteen year old girl must die before the true promise of her life is realized, so that a few power mad micreants can reap temporal profits.

And who use religion as their vehicle. Shame is on us.. Shame.

Posted by chaoszen at 06/22/2009 @ 6:11pm
How stupid can the left be? (other than the usual perversions of truth) Activism is when you MAKE laws unconstitutionally with judicial rulings, exercising legal constitutional jurisprudence is when you interput the laws passed by a congress and signed by an administration. How hard is it to understand that?

Posted by BigPasture at 06/22/2009 @ 6:35pm
REAL conservatives are disillusioned and many have become "Independents". Because they don't know where else to go. And instead of ousting the fascist element from their party (which takes the balls they don't have) they are wandering in the wildernessPosted by chaoszen at 06/22/2009 @ 6:11pm | ignore this person | warn this person

You are right, now after 40 plus years as an Indpendent I will registar Democrat like one parent and OUST the lying fascist!

Posted by BigPasture at 06/22/2009 @ 6:40pm
What religion was Stalin again? ;)

Posted by snowball666 at 06/22/2009 @ 6:13pm

The religion of Stalin was power and greed. I suppose that it must be hard to understand.

Posted by chaoszen at 06/22/2009 @ 6:41pm
How hard is it to understand that?

Posted by BigPasture at 06/22/2009 @ 6:35pm

Very..

Posted by chaoszen at 06/22/2009 @ 6:43pm
You are right, now after 40 plus years as an Indpendent I will registar Democrat like one parent and OUST the lying fascist!

Posted by BigPasture at 06/22/2009 @ 6:40pm

Typical, ilk wise. not impressed.

Posted by chaoszen at 06/22/2009 @ 6:45pm
And get rid of the darn godless socialists and communists too! Now where is that polling place?

Posted by BigPasture at 06/22/2009 @ 6:52pm
It wasn't until the nineteen sixties, Supreme Court decisions enforced one man one vote, aka electoral equality, and now the Court is officially rolling that back.....

Since we can get so self righteous when it comes to others, maybe this time around, when this government insists on treating us like morons, it is time to learn from others and take to the streets in the US version of a "velvet" revolution. Then solidarity might really mean something.....

What do they say in Iran? "Where is My Vote."

Charlie M

Posted by cmsandia at 06/22/2009 @ 6:53pm
I'm tired and ill tempered. Need to rest. I just worked 6 1/2 days and drove almost 4000 miles.

Tommorrow if I feel better, I will jump on my Harley and tear up the road. And perhaps the wind in my hair and the power beneath me will improve my disposition.

Good night...

Posted by chaoszen at 06/22/2009 @ 6:54pm
The neighbor a registared Democrat was right, registar Democrat and vote the godless liars out in the primary, them vote for the republican if you have to in order to get a decent moral American in office!

Posted by BigPasture at 06/22/2009 @ 6:55pm
Here's an interesting passage related to our topic, from the web article "GOP pushes voter ID bills in the South":

"When the Supreme Court ruled last April that Indiana's voter ID law, considered the strictest law of its kind in the country, didn't violate the Constitution, the passage of ID laws became a big issue in Republican circles."

Comment: This seems to show the weakness of the Voting Rights Act to which "chaoszen" rightly alluded, namely the exemption of all Northern states from judicial review.

"As a result, a wave of voter ID legislation was introduced in state legislatures prior to the 2008 election. By December 2008, more than 25 states had introduced bills to require voter ID at the polls, according to the voting rights group Project Vote.

A GOP-backed voter ID bill passed in the Texas Senate Tuesday. The vote, which came down along party lines, paves the way for legislation that would require Texas voters to show photo identification, or two alternative forms of ID, when voting. [...]

The Democrats have said they plan to challenge the bill's legality in court, under the Voting Rights Act, if it passes. The VRA governs states with a history of discrimination against minorities.

Voting rights advocates have long opposed voter ID legislation, much of which requires voters to present government-issued photo identification before they cast their ballots. Voting rights advocates point out that studies have shown that such laws act as 'de-facto poll taxes' and are discriminatory and burdensome, disproportionately impacting the indigent, elderly, students, women, people with disabilities, low income people and minorities."

THIS is why the Voting Rights Act is still important and should be strengthened, not weakened.

Source: www.southernstudies.org

Posted by JakobFabian at 06/22/2009 @ 7:08pm
Too funny!

Stop discrimination!

Stop the intimidation and thuggery!

Stop the corrupt voting practices!

What?

That's not what you folks really want?

No prosecution of Black Panther thugs threatening white voters?

No legislation to reign in ACORN after their vote tampering scandals?

No increased scrutiny of Democrat election offices after employees were ordered to slash tires on Republican "get out the vote" vans?

Gee, I guess the headline fooled me. Thought you folks we enlightened.

There's your house of cards.

Another opportunity to be truthful, blown by the editors at The Nation.

"REAL conservatives are disillusioned and many have become "Independents". chaoszen

Funny. According to Gallup, folks with "Conservative" ideology outnumber other ideologies.

Growing too.

"The cause? RELIGION." chaoszen

The cause?

Totalitarian Government.

What's that? Why yes, the Iranian Government is run by folks that belong to the only religion respected by Obama.

Okay, okay. That's not entirely fair. After twenty years as a member, I'm sure he respects the blatantly racist Church of Black Liberation Theology.

Many people don't realize that Atheism is a religion.

But then, some folks seem to have made religions out of big Government and Liberalism.

Certainly the media has made a religion out of "Obamanism".

Let's see. Yeah. It was the editor at Time that said Obama was "Godlike" and "above others".

Funny, I always thought "Obamanism" was "a statement that is horribly mangled by poor speech skills, even with the help of a teleprompter."

What religion was Stalin?

Stalinist.

Yep. Greed and naked power. Rather like the current Administration.

Posted by nighthawk750 at 06/22/2009 @ 7:26pm
Aw gee, Snowy.

All that blather but no actual content.

Too bad. Nice try though.

Yep.

Established fact that Dems are election thieves.

Not only do dead democrats get to vote (Twice!), they're getting stimulus checks too!

Maybe your miter is too tight. Might have something to do with the inflated head.

Glenn Beck! Hey, that's was a good one!

He's the guy that had a tingle up his leg at the mention of Obamalamadingdong's name, right?

No?

Oh yeah! That was Democrat "mainstream" "journalist" Chris Mathews.

Too funny!

Supply side econ! How funny! The same stuff that Willie touted when he signed NAFTA and GATT!

American Labor thanks you!

Idiot.

Posted by nighthawk750 at 06/22/2009 @ 9:25pm
Let's see.

The National Debt was 1.5% of GDP in January. It's 13% now.

Obama motors is building Fiats in Mexico. He cut a check to Opel to insulate them from the bankruptcy. He ignored the difference between secured and unsecured loans to enable redistribution, while calling retirees with IRAs and 401Ks "speculators".

Oh no, it's not about raw, naked power. HAH!

Obama has definitely joined the fold. I'm sure the rank and file thanks him. Well, what's left of them, anyway.

Guess he should've paid attention in Econ101, eh?

And here I thought he was going to tutor Snowy.

Posted by nighthawk750 at 06/22/2009 @ 9:39pm
Voting rights advocates have long opposed voter ID legislation, much of which requires voters to present government-issued photo identification before they cast their ballots. Posted by JakobFabian at 06/22/2009 @ 7:08pm | ignore this person | warn this person

It makes it so easy for ACORN and the Demoncrats to get all those DEAD people and non-existent ones registared we just gotta save it! The dead really photograph poorly!

Posted by BigPasture at 06/22/2009 @ 10:24pm
"Obama fired Walpin after Walpin led an investigation into the alleged misuse of federal grants by the St. Hope Academy, a charity led by Kevin Johnson, now the mayor of Sacramento.

Federal money intended for the charity allegedly was used to pay for political activities and to run personal errands for Johnson, according to the IG's report. Johnson and St. Hope agreed to repay half of the $847,000 in grants they received from AmeriCorps between 2004 and 2007. "

Must be more HOPE and CHANGE to get rid of Ispector Generals who squeal on leftist mayors misappropriating taxpayer dollars ($800,000.+) for their own purposes! ahhh... the new transparency, no politically motivated firings get recognized!?

Posted by BigPasture at 06/22/2009 @ 11:33pm
So, "BigPasture," when's the last time a dead or non-existent person actually voted? When's the last time a large number of them actually changed the outcome of an election?

The real threat to the integrity of elections comes from the officials who preside over them, who can digitally add or subtract thousands of votes with the touch of a keyboard.

The ACORN scare is what we call a DIVERSIONARY TACTIC, most eagerly used by those politicians who are most likely to steal our elections themselves, if we are foolish enough to make them all-digital.

Posted by JakobFabian at 06/23/2009 @ 06:17am
Posted by BigPasture at 06/22/2009 @ 6:55pm

You want to talk morals in the White House now?

Why the change of heart after 8 years?

Exactly what morals does the Obama family lack, in your humble opinion?

----

nighthawk....

"February 17, 2009 Categories: Republicans Vote fraud at issue in YR race

Here's an interesting entry in the long-running, partisan battle over (usually, Republican) allegations of widespread (Democratic) voter fraud:

A leading candidate to head the Young Republican National Federation is also one of the few people actually charged and convicted for voting shenanigans in recent years.

The candidate, Rachel Hoff, pled guilty to the misdemeanor of notarizing absentee ballot signatures without actually witnessing them during the 2004 South Dakota Senate race, when she was working for the state Republican Party on behalf of John Thune, who went on to beat Tom Daschle.

Local authorities charged six Republicans with violating the rules, and the State Attorney General, Larry Long, explained the rare decision to prosecute notary violations on the grounds that they had invalidated the ballots of students who intended to vote. "

Posted by crabwalk at 06/23/2009 @ 06:18am
LasVegasnow-

(Oct. 13) -- Federal, state, and local officials are gathering information about allegations of voter registration fraud that were first raised Channel 8 Eyewitness News.

On Tuesday afternoon, Las Vegan Eric Russell and his girlfriend took a packet of documents to the Las Vegas FBI office but left before filing a formal complaint about what Russell says was a deliberate effort to disenfranchise local voters.

Russell worked for a company called Voters Outreach of America, along with 300 other people. He says he got into a beef with the company over a pay dispute, and witnessed his bosses ripping up registration forms that had been filed by democrats.

However, similar problems have been alleged elsewhere. In Washoe County, the registrar says he too has turned over information to the FBI about Republican backed registration efforts.

In Oregon, the same company that was operating here has been criticized for its tactics in signing up voters. There, it used the name America Votes, which is actually the name of a Democratic organization.

Employees in Las Vegas say they too were told that the name of the company was America Votes. "They confused us with the name. They told us one thing and told the temp force something else. They told us America Votes," Russell said.

Posted by crabwalk at 06/23/2009 @ 06:30am
"Obama fired Walpin after Walpin led an investigation into the alleged misuse of federal grants by the St. Hope Academy, a charity led by Kevin Johnson, now the mayor of Sacramento."

I sympathize with your feeling that justice was not done in this case, "BigPasture." But what can we expect from a president who will not investigate Bush administration officials for torture and will not hold bankers responsible for massive financial fraud and malfeasance? If he won't go after these guys, why do you expect him to prosecute comparatively small-scale corruption in Sacramento?

Posted by JakobFabian at 06/23/2009 @ 06:40am
Established fact that Dems are election thieves.

"Over the weekend, police and state investigators arrested the "owner of a firm that the California Republican Party hired to register tens of thousands of voters this year…on suspicion of voter registration fraud." Voters charge that Mark Jacoby duped them into joining the California Republican Party by making them believe they were signing a petition to toughen penalties against child molestors."-Thinkprogress.org

-----

Clevelandplaindealer.com

Originally published Thursday, April 1, 2004

Former broker Frank Gruttadauria pleaded guilty Wednesday to bribing an official in Ohio Treasurer Joe Deters' office, delivering a political black eye to the once-rising Republican Party star.

In 2002, federal officials convicted the former Gates Mills broker in connection with the investment scam. He pleaded guilty to nine state charges, including bribery, forgery, racketeering, theft, money laundering and election law violations.

-----

GOP CONSULTANT CONVICTED OF TELEPHONE HARASSMENT DURING ELECTION The Boston Globe (Boston, MA) | December 16, 2005

A Republican political consultant from Maine who has been a leading fund-raiser for President Bush was found guilty of telephone harassment yesterday by a federal jury in New Hampshire in connection with an Election Day plot to disrupt Democratic operations during a 2002 Senate race.

Posted by crabwalk at 06/23/2009 @ 06:53am
Since you bring up Ohio, "crabwalk," it occurs to me that what some observers are now saying about Iran's recent presidential election,

namely that there were many "irregularities," but "probably not enough to change the outcome of the election,"

is more or less exactly what most observers concluded about Republican-governed Ohio after the presidential election of 2004.

Posted by JakobFabian at 06/23/2009 @ 06:59am
RAWSTORY.com

Republican IT consultant subpoenaed in case alleging tampering with 2004 election Larisa Alexandrovna and Muriel Kane Published: Monday September 29, 2008

COLUMBUS -- A high-level Republican consultant has been subpoenaed in a case regarding alleged tampering with the 2004 election.

.....

The case, known as King Lincoln Bronzeville Neighborhood Association v. Blackwell, was filed against Kenneth J. Blackwell on Aug. 31, 2006 by Columbus attorneys Clifford Arnebeck, Robert Fitrakis and others. It initially charged Blackwell with racially discriminatory practices -- including the selective purging of voters from the election rolls and the unequal allocation of voting machines to various districts -- and asked for measures to be taken to prevent similar problems during the November 2006 election.

....Connell is a long-time GOP operative, whose New Media Communications provided web services for the Bush-Cheney '04 campaign, the US Chamber of Commerce, the Republican National Committee and many Republican candidates. This in itself might have raised questions about his involvement in creating Ohio's official state election website.

However, the alternative media group ePlubibus Media further discovered in November 2006 that election.sos.state.oh.us was hosted on the servers of a company in Chattanooga, TN called SmarTech, which also provided hosting for a long list of Republican Internet domains.

when a scandal erupted surrounding the firing of US Attorneys for reasons of White House policy, other researchers found that the gwb43 domain used by members of the White House staff to evade freedom of information laws by sending emails outside of official White House channels was hosted on those same SmarTech servers.

Posted by crabwalk at 06/23/2009 @ 07:00am
Well, Well, Well...

Whaddya know NIGHTHAWK... it looks like dems have voter fraud problems...like republicans.

Dems cheat on their wives...like republicans.

Dems have gay sex...like republicans.

Dems take money from AIG and Goldman Sachs...like republicans.

Dems raise the debt...like Bush (60% in his first couple of years)

Dems go to churches where preachers say things you don't like... like republicans (see Rev Haggard, Rev Roberts, Rev Robertson and David Koresh)

The Big Difference?

Republicans talk up Family Values and whine and cry about ACORN (please point to convictions arising fromACORNS voter registration, if you are able) and tell us only they have "core values".

Do you see the problem yet?

Posted by crabwalk at 06/23/2009 @ 07:06am
Did I forget to mention that the Ohio Sec of State, the guy responsible for overseeing election results....was the head of Bush's election campaign in Ohio?

Or that the CEO of the company that made the voting machines used in Ohio said he would do "whatever it takes" to elect Bush?

Or that Summer Redstone, the CEO of VIACOM, an alleged "liberal media" outlet said similar things about getting Bush elected?

Now, if any of these people were Sotomayor, you would be getting your knickers all twisted up about "liberal control" of the media, voting machines and racism.

But, as we know, the neo-con republicans are all about finding the logs in other peoples eyes, but pretty lax about looking in the mirror.

Posted by crabwalk at 06/23/2009 @ 07:11am
The quote "all the laws in Washington" in this article is wrongly attributed to Trent Lott. The linked article discusses Lott's comments about Strom Thurmond and attributes the quote to Thurmond during the 1948 presidential campaign.

Posted by alden at 06/23/2009 @ 08:09am
'If there are any Eisenhower Republicans left out there...' -- chaoszen

'We're Eisenhower Republicans here. We stand for lower deficits, free trade, and the bond market. Isn't that great?...we help the bond market and we hurt the people who voted us in.' -- President Bill Clinton (quoted in Bob Woodward's 'The Agenda')

Posted by HonestLiberal at 06/23/2009 @ 09:48am
Posted by HonestLiberal at 06/23/2009 @ 09:48am

So, HL, if Clinton was an "Eisenhower Republican"....wouldn't that indicate that YOUR kind of Republican is so far out on the fringe they make William F. Buckley look like Bernie Sanders?

Posted by Mask at 06/23/2009 @ 09:52am
Nighthawk

For a guy bragging about his identity as a cattle outfit security guard, which is what a nighthawk is, you seem to have a very inflated ego. Unless of course you're trying to be a bird.

Most permanent nighthawks are either runaway teenagers or pokes very low on the company totem pole. If the job is rotating or secured by drawing lots, it's an undesirable one.

As for the 750. that must be the monthly wage that you dream of drawing someday. Better get a new moniker, loser.

Posted by Sorelish at 06/23/2009 @ 10:11am
Has any one noticed that there is not a single blog topic on the Nation addressing health care and the EFCA? It's all about Iran this and North Korea that.

Whenever that happens it makes me wonder why the most important domestic topics of the day are being ignored. It's like a contrived misdirection. Smoke and mirrors.

Our "legislators" on the hill and the corporate owned media for the most part want to distract us from the important issues. They pretend to scratch their heads concerning healthcare and say in unison "how can we pay for it?". When in reality it is quite easy. They make a simple thing complicated. Just like with Social Security. The simple solution to that is to remove the cap, so that everyone no matter what their income level pays into Social Security. Presto!

As far as healtcare goes all that is necessary to pay for it is to roll back not only the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy but also to roll back the Reagan Tax cuts for the wealthy. So that corporations and the obscenely rich are required to pay their fair share of the social load.

As far as the EFCA and card check this will allow the middle class to more easily establish unions that guarantee we are getting a fair share of the pie.

Then we need to forget this "free trade" B.S. and protect and bring back our manufacturing base. You know just like China is doing..

These things are simple like bringing back Glass-Steagall so that the banks can't gamble with our money.

But these things will never happen because our government is corrupt. To the core. Writing or calling you representatives will do no good at this point.

We need to march on Washinton in great numbers in order to save this country. If you wish to stay at home and hope for the best you deserve the abuse.

Posted by chaoszen at 06/23/2009 @ 10:30am
Posted by snowball666 at 06/23/2009 @ 10:17am

Well now Nighthawk has pictures to dream over. In the meantime he still has his Huffy with the flashlight clip-on for "nighthawking."

Posted by Sorelish at 06/23/2009 @ 10:34am
As far as healtcare goes all that is necessary to pay for it is to roll back not only the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy but also to roll back the Reagan Tax cuts for the wealthy. So that corporations and the obscenely rich are required to pay their fair share of the social load.

But these things will never happen because our government is corrupt. To the core. Writing or calling you representatives will do no good at this point.

We need to march on Washinton in great numbers in order to save this country. If you wish to stay at home and hope for the best you deserve the abuse.

Posted by chaoszen at 06/23/2009 @ 10:30am

Your hatred of successful people blinds you to the facts.

Before Reagan cut taxes, the top 1% paid 17% of the income tax. When Reagan left office, they were paying 28%.

Since the Bush taxcuts, that level has now increased to 40%.

So you want to increase the tax rate and put the burden back on lower and middle class income earners?

Posted by antisocialist at 06/23/2009 @ 10:39am
I can't march alone.

Posted by chaoszen at 06/23/2009 @ 10:41am
Posted by antisocialist at 06/23/2009 @ 10:39am

You can make up all the figures you want. They are just lies.

You are irrelevant.

Posted by chaoszen at 06/23/2009 @ 10:43am
So you want to increase the tax rate and put the burden back on lower and middle class income earners?---Posted by antisocialist at 06/23/2009 @ 10:39am

I'm sorry? You're HONESTLY trying to make the case that a rise in the tax rate on the top 2% translates to "more tax burden on the lower and middle class"?!?!?!?!

Isn't that like saying "If we raise cigarette taxes, it'll hurt NON-smokers"?!??!??

Posted by Mask at 06/23/2009 @ 11:01am
Isn't that like saying "If we raise cigarette taxes, it'll hurt NON-smokers"?!??!??

Posted by Mask at 06/23/2009 @ 11:01am

I'm glad someone has the energy for quippy comebacks. Made me laugh.

Posted by chaoszen at 06/23/2009 @ 11:09am
"If we raise cigarette taxes, it'll hurt NON-smokers"?!??!??

Posted by Mask at 06/23/2009 @ 11:01am

Are smokers generally acknowledged as risk-takers who fund start-ups, extend $$ lifelines to young promising companies,fund foundations that provide a range of jobs from the cutting-edge to the do-gooers?

I ain't shy to declare, while I'm NOT in the top 2%, I have drastically cut back my own venture-funding and charitable donating......but, no worry, Magic is taking over for me and my kind, out of your children's future (and mine as well).

Posted by Happy at 06/23/2009 @ 11:13am
We should trash the "Freedom Fries" and look to France as a social model. They have a system of social programs and healthcare that may work well here. With a few modifications.

If I had any sense I should have stayed in France. Severac-le-Chateau and a girl who loved me and a family that accepted me. But I pissed it off.. Stupid me.

Posted by chaoszen at 06/23/2009 @ 11:22am
CRABWALK-6/23@7:11

Fine work again by CRABBY in putting whats-his-name NOCTURNAL_EMISSIONS in his place with a long set of exhibits on Repug vote scams. Shall add one more. Here, Judge Clark ruled correctly in favor of counting the ballots despite GOP trix.

11/29/00-NY Times: "A second heavily Republican county in Florida allowed party officials to fix hundreds of flawed absentee ballot applications that had been submitted by voters but rejected by the elections office, officials said yesterday.

The Martin County supervisor of elections, a Republican, let Republican Party workers take away the ballot requests on a daily basis, add missing voter identification numbers and resubmit them, a deputy elections supervisor said.

At the same time, the elections office allowed other incomplete applications submitted by voters, some of them Democrats and independents, to stack up without being corrected, the official said...

A similar situation in Seminole County has resulted in a lawsuit filed by a Democratic lawyer who says state law requires that only voters, or close family members or guardians, may submit personal identifying information, including voter registration numbers. The law is intended to prevent absentee voter fraud.

The Seminole County supervisor of elections, Sandra Goard , has said that she refused a request by Republicans to take away thousands of absentee forms sent to her office that lacked the identification numbers, but she acknowledged letting Republican workers spend as many as 10 days in her offices completing the forms. The lawsuit, which has moved to Leon County Circuit Court in Tallahassee, seeks to have all 15,000 absentee votes in Seminole County disqualified, which would cut Mr. Bush's tally in Florida by some 4,800 votes..."

Posted by PhilMcCrevice at 06/23/2009 @ 11:27am
Posted by Happy at 06/23/2009 @ 11:13am

I would hope that you know this.

You make no sense whatever.

Posted by chaoszen at 06/23/2009 @ 11:29am
ConservaFreaks like SJ-ASSCLOWN are open in their appeals for "profiling". As we from his earlier comments, SJ also advocates profiling at the vote queue.

More from FL:

J-Tapper, 11-28-00, Salon: "In Florida, where all local politics is national, a losing Democratic candidate for commissioner in Seminole County has a grievance with the election supervisor that suddenly could have far greater importance. Dean Ray, 40, says that election supervisor Sandy Goard would not allow him to fix the petition signatures he submitted to her in order to run for office. And that complaint has some significance since Goard, a Republican, is being sued by a local Democrat, in a case set to be heard Wednesday in Leon County Circuit Court, that alleges that Goard illegally allowed GOP operatives to fill in crucial missing information on Republican absentee ballot applications that had been rejected…(Ray) says that in March he submitted almost 900 signatures to Goard as part of the 1,862 he needed to secure his name on the ballot, and that Goard "rejected about 30 percent of them…"..Goard confirms much of Ray's story...

Florida Democratic Party Chairman Bob Poe charges that Goard's treatment of Ray was in complete contrast with what she allowed state Republican Party operatives to do with absentee ballot applications. According to Poe, the charge against Goard contrasts strikingly with Ray's complaint: In October and November, the lawsuit alleges, Goard allowed Republican operative Michael Leach and volunteer Ryan Mitchell to set up shop in her office for 10 days. There they filled in missing voter ID numbers on 4,700 Republican Party-printed absentee ballot applications that otherwise would have been scrapped…

Goard refuses to discuss any aspect of the lawsuit against her...

Posted by PhilMcCrevice at 06/23/2009 @ 11:33am
Posted by PhilMcCrevice at 06/23/2009 @ 11:27am

I really don't mean to be critical here.

But you tend to supply too many details about trivial statistics and such.

Just come out and say what you mean, so that we can digest it. Not many of us have time to fact check a bunch of obscure details relating to minute political expressions in the microcosm of political discourse.

Just sayin'

Posted by chaoszen at 06/23/2009 @ 11:37am
To pull together the previous posts: What we saw in Repug-leaning Seminole County in '00 was that some of the absentee ballots were fluffed and could have been discarded on a strict interpetation of the letter of the law. In the event, Judge Nikki Clark *correctly* ruled that someone should not lose the vote on a rigid technicality. And these votes furnished George W Loser's wafer-thin margin. The concept is that the benefit of the doubt should favor including & not excluding the voter.

However, George W Loser's campaign both got the largesse of the liberal, inclusive concept of what is a vote in the Seminole County case with its trove of Repug votes. AND, at the same time, Loser got the outlandish anality of the SCOTUS-5 that refused state-wide hand recounts in order to reify the election result that First Cousin John Ellis/FOX had announced on national TV before any (legally mandated machine) recount had occurred. And SCOTUS-5 had the ass to cabin the ruling as outside precedent.

Nevertheless, visceral haters like SJ-ASSCLOWN run ass-over-elbows to embrace racial profiling in whose votes were more likely to get counted in Florida. Far less than 1 percent of votes were spat out in wealthy, Repug-leaning districts with optical scan devices. As many as 30 percent of the ballots evaded clunky machine counts in some black districts. SJ-ASSCLOWN, NOCTURNAL-EMMISSIONS & their ilk pant with delight over such forms of racial profiling.

But we also know that, had they been born in Iran, SJ & NOCTURNAL are the type of haters, goons and thugs who instinctively take their place among the basij. Yes, they have the basiji mindset that aches for any excuse at all to act out in heinous, antisocial ways in favor of putridly stale rightist dogma and the privileged strata.

Posted by PhilMcCrevice at 06/23/2009 @ 11:58am
Posted by chaoszen at 06/23/2009 @ 11:37am

Hope the later post at 11:58 scratches your itch, 'ZEN.

Posted by PhilMcCrevice at 06/23/2009 @ 12:02pm
Magic is taking over for me and my kind, out of your children's future (and mine as well).

Posted by Happy at 06/23/2009 @ 11:13am

Actually, I think Chimpy McFLightsuit is taking your kids money, and giving it to Hu. Obama ( Magic what? Happy? Magic.... Negroe..is that what you are too afraid to add to your blog?) is taking care of your grandkids money , and giving it to Hu's communist succesor.

Which are you more upset about?

Hey, why don't you sing us Barak the Magic Negroe while you type about Sotomayors racism? That would be fun.

It would be like Sen Ensigns attacks on Bill Clintons infidelities. A shining ewxample of core values to share with your kids befor Obama hauls them off to atheist work camps.

Posted by crabwalk at 06/23/2009 @ 12:10pm
Posted by crabwalk at 06/23/2009 @ 12:10pm

Isn't it amazing that some people like ole' Happ like to dance around blatant racism? They realize that by outwardly extolling their racism with words that relate directly to their diseased brain would undermine their already specious arguments.

I suppose it does relate to some forward movement in the rhetoric of bigots. But it will never change the underlying hatred that burns in their primitive and retro evolutionary mind.

We are all homo sapiens. We are all equal and arise from the same primordial stew of genetics that had it's origin in the mother of us all, Africa. The mapping of the human genome proves this.

We are all magic negro's.

Posted by chaoszen at 06/23/2009 @ 12:30pm
We are all magic negro's.

Posted by chaoszen at 06/23/2009 @ 12:30pm

Here Here!!

or

Hear Hear!!

or

Damn Straight!

Even jeebus was a Magic Negroe, more so than us "white folk".

But then, Moses spoke with an English accent so....

----

and another thing...

I thought "people" like HAP were agin political correctness? They don't even have the cojones to walk the walk. Just look at Palin getting all upset with Letterman. Aghast! she was that a celebrity entertainer made an off-color joke!

Posted by crabwalk at 06/23/2009 @ 12:41pm
You can make up all the figures you want. They are just lies.

You are irrelevant.

Posted by chaoszen at 06/23/2009 @ 10:43am

You are truly blinded by your hate. Do you have any evidence to counter the IRS figures?

"Before Reagan cut taxes, the top 1% paid 17% of the income tax. When Reagan left office, they were paying 28%. Since the Bush taxcuts, that level has now increased to 40%."

28-40% of what?

How much did their income go up?

Posted by snowball666 at 06/23/2009 @ 11:10am

in 1981 the top 1 percent paid 17.6 percent of all personal income taxes, but by 1988 their share had jumped to 27.5 percent, a 10 percentage point increase.

The share of the income tax burden borne by the top 10 percent of taxpayers increased from 48.0 percent in 1981 to 57.2 percent in 1988. Meanwhile, the share of income taxes paid by the bottom 50 percent of taxpayers dropped from 7.5 percent in 1981 to 5.7 percent in 1988.

http://www.house.gov/jec/fiscal/tx-grwth/reagtxct/fig-1.gif

The top 1 percent of taxpayers (AGI over $388,806) earned approximately 22.1 percent of the nation's income (as defined by AGI), yet paid 39.9 percent of all federal income taxes. That means the top 1 percent of tax returns paid about the same amount of federal individual income taxes as the bottom 95 percent of tax returns.

Table 6 provides the share of income taxes paid by percentage bracket

http://www.taxfoundation.org/publications/show/250.html

And Snow, I don't care how much their incomes went up, nor should you if they pay a larger percentage of all income taxes paid.

Posted by antisocialist at 06/23/2009 @ 1:00pm
"I ain't shy to declare, while I'm NOT in the top 2%, I have drastically cut back my own venture-funding and charitable donating......"----Posted by Happy at 06/23/2009 @ 11:13am

And not a single tax been raised??!??!?!????

Posted by Mask at 06/23/2009 @ 1:03pm
"The share of the income tax burden borne by the top 10 percent of taxpayers increased from 48.0 percent in 1981 to 57.2 percent in 1988. Meanwhile, the share of income taxes paid by the bottom 50 percent of taxpayers dropped from 7.5 percent in 1981 to 5.7 percent in 1988."----Posted by antisocialist at 06/23/2009 @ 1:00pm

So, by that "math", a tax cut for the top 10% ...

equals a tax cut for the bottom 50%, even if they don't "directly" get one?

Right?

Again, just waiting for him to "prove" if you give $1000 to "everybody named McMurdo"...."everybody not named McMurdo will get a $1000".

Posted by Mask at 06/23/2009 @ 1:08pm
And not a single tax been raised??!??!?!????

Posted by Mask at 06/23/2009 @ 1:03pm

I'll play along with your simpleton-ness....I'm waiting on my Realtor to pick me up for today's adventure.

You have the same mindset as most Americans that take salaries....the most planning you'd do, is to decide, once in while, whether you should increase or cut back your 401K contributions or make some changes to where the money go. Some may even dip their toes into college funding for their young ones.

Investors and the business-minded, actually DO have to project ahead based on actual INVESTMENTS....something along the line of a 5/10-year Discounted Cash Flow model and the reversion.

Even using the existing tax rates of Bush, but with nil economic growth for years to come, it's already difficult to imagine robust growth. And with Magic's policies forthcoming, well, let's just see how your Hopey and Changey will turn out.

Had I mentioned that time is our friend?

Posted by Happy at 06/23/2009 @ 1:19pm
....it's already difficult to imagine robust growth...

Posted by Happy at 06/23/2009 @ 1:19pm

should've been: "it's already difficult to imagine significant new investments...."

Posted by Happy at 06/23/2009 @ 1:22pm
So, by that "math", a tax cut for the top 10% ...

equals a tax cut for the bottom 50%, even if they don't "directly" get one?

Right?

Again, just waiting for him to "prove" if you give $1000 to "everybody named McMurdo"...."everybody not named McMurdo will get a $1000".

Posted by Mask at 06/23/2009 @ 1:08pm

You're talking apples and oranges. As taxcuts for the top brackets have been implemented, they are paying a greater share because they don't shelter as much income as they did previously.

Posted by antisocialist at 06/23/2009 @ 1:25pm
Posted by JakobFabian at 06/22/2009 @ 7:08pm

Agreed. Voter ID legislation is all part of the neocon/fascist agenda of forcing every American to have "papers" that prove something (i.e. citizenzship, membership in "the Party", paid your taxes last year, etc.). They want us all registered, photographed, printed, prodded and poked so they can database us (or "Dbase us" for short...NOTE to self: copyright that) more than they already do. They want us in their government databases, with fingerprints, hair samples, photos, DNA samples, etc. so they can identify us, eventually, as being "un-American" when THEY run the government. Why do you think Rove and Co. were working so hard for the "Permanent Republican Majority (PRM)?" They STILL think McCarthy wuz right and now they have the technology to prove it, if they can only implement it! When they run the government, and everyone has been Dbased, just watch as the camps open up for the homosexuals, Muslims and anyone else who doesn't fit in with their limited view of what a "real American" should be. Yet the "godless libruls" are the folks fighting the Dbasing of the American people. This is, of course a nightmare scenario which will not come true because the Dems are fighting it hard...oh wait, not really.

I can just see they day when an American citizen is not allowed to vote because he or she did not have the correct response to <vaguely German accent>, "Papers, please."

The Supremes should be ashamed.

Posted by Stephen_Carver1 at 06/23/2009 @ 2:14pm
Posted by Stephen_Carver1 at 06/23/2009 @ 2:14pm

If I didn't know differently, I would think by the inane content of your post that you are just some wacked out college kid who doesn't know better.

the whole content of your post is absurd.

Posted by antisocialist at 06/23/2009 @ 2:36pm
All the numbers can be shuffled this way and that. But the bottom line is still if the gov rolled back the Bush and Reagan taxcuts there would be enough money to pay for a cadillac version of single payer healthcare and other social programs that would be the envy of the world.

And it would not hurt at all if we reduced defense spending by about 50%. We would still be spending more on defense than any other country. Even a 50% reduction in defense spending still leaves us with a crazy amount of money being spent on nothing.. Except wet dreams for imperialists.

Posted by chaoszen at 06/23/2009 @ 2:46pm
....Connell is a long-time GOP operative, whose New Media Communications provided web services for the Bush-Cheney '04 campaign, the US Chamber of Commerce, the Republican National Committee and many Republican candidates.

Posted by crabwalk at 06/23/2009 @ 07:00am

It should also be noted that Mike Connell, AKA Karl Rove's IT guru, died in a plane crash shortly before he was to testify regarding election tampering in Ohio.

http://www.rawstory.com/news/2008 /Karl_Roves_IT_guru_Mike_Connell_1220.html

Posted by BlackFrancis at 06/23/2009 @ 3:33pm
If I didn't know differently, I would think by the inane content of your post that you are just some wacked out college kid who doesn't know better.

the whole content of your post is absurd. Posted by antisocialist at 06/23/2009 @ 2:36pm

...and Anti, HOW do you know I am not a wacked out college kid, hmmm? Been spying on me lately? heh heh

Hey, I agree that the premise of my post is a little paranoid, but hey, not all Germans were members of the party...and the fascist Nazis still managed to kill 6 million Jews and god knows how many homosexuals, gypsies, intelligentsia, scientists, etc.

But seriously, the idea of voter IDs is, in my opinion, intimately related to the idea of a government database of all citizens and a very un-American concept. As I hope you will agree, in an information-based society, those with the most information have the most power. I would hope that true conservatives would be AGAINST giving the government more and more information about ourselves, just to be processed into some database. However, because the Republicans see a short term electoral advantage in not allowing poor people (most of whom cannot produce two photo IDs) to vote, the long term scenario becomes ever more possible.

So, Republicans should be AGAINST voter IDs, not for them. But modern neo-Republicans are actually for MORE government power (as illustrated so lovingly by Bush/Cheney), even as they speak out of the other side of their mouths against more government control.

Hmmmm...the Republicans, as a party, seem to be speaking with a forked tongue....

Posted by Stephen_Carver1 at 06/23/2009 @ 4:07pm
Investors and the business-minded, actually DO have to project ahead based on actual INVESTMENTS....something along the line of a 5/10-year Discounted Cash Flow model and the reversion.

Posted by Happy at 06/23/2009 @ 1:19pm

Happy - that sounds suspiciously like a 5 year or a 7 year plan...are you SURE you're not a communist?

Posted by Stephen_Carver1 at 06/23/2009 @ 4:12pm