Tag Archives: GOP

October 6, 2011 · 8:24 pm

The Republican Jobs Plan: Florida Lawmaker Wants State to Reinstate Dwarf Tossing

You just can’t make this stuff up….

The GOP has no-zero- interest in job creation or income equality.

But they have plenty of time and interest in frivolous lawmaking, laws to favor their campaign contributors, trying to legislate morality, trying to oppress women, gays and immigrants and trying to extend employment opportunities for Dwarfs….

This is so frigging ridiculous, I just can’t say any more about it….

Talk amongst yourselves….

From Frank Cerabino in the Palm Beach Press:

Some news on the job-creation front in Florida.

A state legislator has found yet another example of government regulation getting in the way of job creation.

So Rep. Ritch Workman, R-Melbourne, filed a bill this week to bring back “dwarf tossing,” the barbaric and dangerous barroom spectacle that was imported from Australia and thrived briefly in Florida before it was outlawed in 1989.

“I’m on a quest to seek and destroy unnecessary burdens on the freedom and liberties of people,” Workman said. “This is an example of Big Brother government.

“All that it does is prevent some dwarfs from getting jobs they would be happy to get,” Workman said. “In this economy, or any economy, why would we want to prevent people from getting gainful employment?”

via Cerabino: Lawmaker wants state to reinstate dwarf tossing.

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October 5, 2011 · 6:52 pm

Sarah Palin Will Not Run for President – ABC News

Damn.

This would have been so much fun!  I was so looking forward to new Saturday Night Live sketches.

And she would have been the easiest Republican for President Obama to beat…

Oh, well….

I guess she decided she better stay out of the limelight so she can keep raking in the big bucks from gullible conservatives.

She must have learned a bright light shining on her is not a good thing for her credibility-as if she had any to begin with– or her marketability…..

ABC News’ Polson Kanneth reports:

Sarah Palin will not run for president.  She made the announcement in a letter to supporters Wednesday night.

Read Palin’s letter here:

October 5, 2011

Wasilla, Alaska

After much prayer and serious consideration, I have decided that I will not be seeking the 2012 GOP nomination for President of the United States. As always, my family comes first and obviously Todd and I put great consideration into family life before making this decision. When we serve, we devote ourselves to God, family and country. My decision maintains this order.

My decision is based upon a review of what common sense Conservatives and Independents have accomplished, especially over the last year. I believe that at this time I can be more effective in a decisive role to help elect other true public servants to office – from the nation’s governors to Congressional seats and the Presidency. We need to continue to actively and aggressively help those who will stop the “fundamental transformation” of our nation and instead seek the restoration of our greatness, our goodness and our constitutional republic based on the rule of law.

From the bottom of my heart I thank those who have supported me and defended my record throughout the years, and encouraged me to run for President. Know that by working together we can bring this country back – and as I’ve always said, one doesn’t need a title to help do it.

I will continue driving the discussion for freedom and free markets, including in the race for President where our candidates must embrace immediate action toward energy independence through domestic resource developments of conventional energy sources, along with renewables. We must reduce tax burdens and onerous regulations that kill American industry, and our candidates must always push to minimize government to strengthen the economy and allow the private sector to create jobs.

Those will be our priorities so Americans can be confident that a smaller, smarter government that is truly of the people, by the people, and for the people can better serve this most exceptional nation.

In the coming weeks I will help coordinate strategies to assist in replacing the President, re-taking the Senate, and maintaining the House.

Thank you again for all your support. Let’s unite to restore this country!

God bless America.

– Sarah Palin

via Sarah Palin Will Not Run for President – ABC News.

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October 5, 2011 · 4:18 pm

96-Year-Old Tennessee Woman Denied Voter ID

This is truly despicable….

I keep telling people, there is no “voter fraud” in the sense the GOP is citing for these Voter ID Laws.  This is all an attempt to disenfranchise legitimate voters-who generally vote against the GOP.

The Republican Party is the one really perpetrating Voter Fraud as they are trying to defraud people of the right to vote.

From ThinkProgress.org:

Swept up in the craze of preventing widespread voter fraud that doesn’t actually exist, Tennessee Republicans passed a voter identification law this year that they claimed would put an end to fraud and ensure fair elections. Like similar laws in other states, Tennessee’s version has come under scrutiny from voting rights advocates, civil rights groups like the NAACP and ACLU, and even Democratic senators, who oppose the laws because they will disenfranchise poor, elderly, and minority voters who are less likely to have photo IDs.

The state now has evidence that that will be the case. Dorothy Cooper, a 96-year-old Chattanooga resident who says she has voted in every election but one since she became eligible to vote, wanted to ensure she’d have the necessary ID to vote in next year’s elections, when Tennessee’s law goes into effect. But when she went to apply for the ID, she was denied, the Chattanooga Times Free Press reports:

That morning, Cooper slipped a rent receipt, a copy of her lease, her voter registration card and her birth certificate into a Manila envelope. Typewritten on the birth certificate was her maiden name, Dorothy Alexander.

“But I didn’t have my marriage certificate,” Cooper said Tuesday afternoon, and that was the reason the clerk said she was denied a free voter ID at the Cherokee Boulevard Driver Service Center.

“I don’t know what difference it makes,” Cooper said.

Cooper doesn’t have a driver’s license — she never learned to drive — and has never needed identification to vote, and her lack of a valid marriage license is likely due to the fact that she’s outlived two husbands. Under the Tennessee law, Cooper will still be able to vote via absentee ballot, which does not require photo ID. But standing outside her normal voting precinct, Cooper told the Times Free Press she will miss going there to vote. “We always come here to vote,” Cooper said. “The people who run the polls know everybody here.”

via 96-Year-Old Tennessee Woman Denied Voter ID Because She Didn’t Have Her Marriage License | ThinkProgress.

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October 4, 2011 · 6:52 pm

White House on Occupy Wall Street: `We understand’ – The Washington Post

The fact that the mainstream media is finally paying attention and that the White House is having to address this is a really, really big change….

This movement is getting too big to ignore- which is a very good thing!

I knew there was an Anit-Tea Party alternative out there and it looks like the sleeping giant has awakened….

From Greg Sargent in the Washington Post:

The story here is not what the White House said but that it was asked to weigh in on the protests at all — another sign of the remarkable speed with which it has grown from a crowd chanting at police two weeks ago. As for the substance of the White House response, it would have been a mistake for it to go any further than it did here — registering an understanding of economic frustration. Because if there’s one thing that’s growing clearer by the hour, it’s that this is an entirely organic effort, one that’s about nobody but the protesors themselves. In this sense, we’re seeing a replay of the Wisconsin protests. Those ended up falling just short of what activists had hoped to achieve, but their months-long showing was still important — it demonstrated that left wing populism is still alive and well and sent an important message about the mood of the country. The key was that it grew organically with little to no involvement from Beltway Dems and the White House.

If anything, Occupy Wall Street’s lack of outside encouragement from bigfoot Dems has been a strength, rather than a weakness. As major progressive groups debate how they can contribute to strengthening the movement — and how to give it specific direction and a specific agenda — the need to preserve its grassroots nature will remain paramount. Who knows where this will end up, but for now, this is another reminder that the Tea Party isn’t the only voice of popular discontentment over the economy. We don’t necessarily live in Tea Party Nation, after all.

More: White House on Occupy Wall Street: `We understand’ – The Plum Line – The Washington Post.

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October 3, 2011 · 9:00 pm

Restrictions Could Keep Five Million Traditionally Democratic Voters From The Polls In 2012

This is why the GOP is pushing all these new “voter” initiatives in so many states.

It’s a coordinated effort  to deny people the right to vote.

Republicans know they only win as long as turnout is low.  They also know the demographic trends are against them.  Therefore, their goal is to drive down turnout and find ways to disenfranchise groups of people who traditionally vote Democratic.

I’m afraid we’ll only see more of these efforts to steal elections.  The GOP is the real driver of voter fraud– defrauding people of the right to vote….

 

Restrictive voting laws in states across the country could affect up to five million voters from traditionally Democratic demographics in 2012, according to a new report by the Brennan Center. That’s a number larger than the margin of victory in two of the last three presidential elections.

The new restrictions, the study found, “fall most heavily on young, minority, and low-income voters, as well as on voters with disabilities. This wave of changes may sharply tilt the political terrain for the 2012 election.”

The study found that:

These new laws could make it significantly harder for more than five million eligible voters to cast ballots in 2012.

The states that have already cut back on voting rights will provide 171 electoral votes in 2012 – 63 percent of the 270 needed to win the presidency.

Of the 12 likely battleground states, as assessed by an August Los Angeles Times analysis of Gallup polling, five have already cut back on voting rights (and may pass additional restrictive legislation), and two more are currently considering new restrictions.

The total number, according to the Brennan Center, is the sum of the 3.2 million voters they estimate will be affected by new photo ID laws, “the 240,000 citizens and potential voters who could be affected by new proof of citizenship laws, 202,000 voters registered in 2008 through voter registration drives that have now been made extremely difficult or impossible under new laws, 60,000 voters registered in 2008 through Election Day voter registration where it has now been repealed, one to two million voters who voted in 2008 on days eliminated under new laws rolling back early voting and at least 100,000 disenfranchised citizens who might have regained voting rights by 2012.”

“These voting law changes are radical and completely unnecessary,” Wendy. R. Weiser, a co-author of the report, said in a statement. “They especially hurt those who have been historically locked out of our electoral system, like minorities, poor people, and students. Often they seem precisely targeted to exclude certain voters.”

via Restrictions Could Keep Five Million Traditionally Democratic Voters From The Polls In 2012 | TPMMuckraker.

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October 3, 2011 · 8:06 pm

Art Pope, Citizens United, and North Carolina Politics : The New Yorker

Very scary article in this weeks “New Yorker” about Art Pope and how he’s used his money to effect North Carolina politics….

The “Citizens United” decision by the Supreme Court last year is really hurting Democracy in America.  We are only just now starting to see how much….

Here is a brief excerpt from a very long article.  I encourage you to click the link and read it in it’s entirety.

For years, Pope, like several other farsighted conservative corporate activists, has been spending millions in an attempt to change the direction of American politics. According to an analysis of tax records by Democracy NC, a progressive government watchdog group, in the past decade Pope, his family, his family foundation, and his business have spent more than forty million dollars in this effort. Sizable as Pope’s contributions have been, they are negligible in comparison with his fortune. The Pope family foundation—of which Art Pope is the chairman and president, and one of four directors—reportedly has assets of nearly a hundred and fifty million dollars.

This wealth has enabled Pope to participate in the public arena on a scale that few individuals can match. Some have compared him to Charles and David Koch, the conservative oil-and-chemical magnates, whom Pope regards as friends; Pope has at times joined forces with them, attending some of their semi-annual secret planning summits and, through the family foundation, contributing millions to many of the same causes. Pope, in addition to being on the board of Americans for Prosperity—which David Koch founded, in 2004—served on the board of its predecessor, Citizens for a Sound Economy, which Koch co-founded, in 1984. Charles Koch recently praised the Popes, along with other donors, for providing financial support for the 2012 election effort, and tax records show that Pope has given money to at least twenty-seven groups supported by the Kochs, including organizations opposing environmental regulations, tax increases, unions, and campaign-spending limits. Pope, in fact, helped fund the legal center run by James Bopp, the lawyer who made the initial filing in the Citizens United case

More:   Art Pope, Citizens United, and North Carolina Politics : The New Yorker.

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October 2, 2011 · 6:10 pm

Top Tea Party Organizer Arrested for Soliciting Prostitute

When are the “Family Values” crowd going to wake up and realize they are being used?

It seems like almost all their leaders are hypocrites.  And I’m thinking the Family Value crowd needs to ask themselves if they aren’t hypocrites, too, for still  following these guys after all their sins become public….

I mean, come on!  Picking up hookers, multiple marriages, gay affairs by closeted leaders, not paying child support…..but, still good “Family Values” Republicans.

Give me a break…

The whole thing is just ludicrous….

From The Wisconsin Gazette:

Steve Stevlic, one of the top organizers of TeaCon 2011, describes himself as an ordinary family-values man. But, as Gawker reported today, he’s not ordinary in at least one sense: He was arrested last summer for soliciting a prostitute.

Last September, Stevlic mocked and condemned U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr., via Twitter over revelations that the congressman had a two-year extra-marital affair. The tweets were sent out two months after Stevlic’s arrest.

Stevlic is one of the primary sponsors behind one of the largest-ever gatherings of tea partiers. About Some 600 supporters turned out today for the opening of the event in Schaumburg, Ill., a northwest suburb of Chicago. Some of the right-wing movement’s highest-profile representatives were on hand.

But after news of Stevlic’s year-old arrest grabbed attention, he apparently decided to steer clear of the proceedings, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

Keynoters at TeaCon today included Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain, conservative talk radio host Glenn Beck, and U.S. Rep. Joe Walsh, R-Ill., a party favorite and an afternoon highlight.

Walsh has image problems of his own. A Chicago judge ordered him last month to explain why he appears to be $100,000 behind in child-support payments to his ex-wife.

Laura Walsh has hauled her ex-husband to court on numerous occasions since 2002 to seek orders to make him pay his court-ordered child-support obligations. She says he started making half-payments years ago and then completely stopped sending any money.

Although Walsh claimed he was broke, last year he made a $35,000 contribution to his own congressional campaign.

Despite the evangelical-Christian bent of Tea Party supporters, including a growing anti-gay fervor, Walsh’s failure to support his kids has not dampened their enthusiasm for him.

via Top Tea Party organizer arrested for soliciting prostitute | Breaking News | Wisconsin Gazette – Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) News.

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October 1, 2011 · 11:53 am

Bill Maher: “Promiscuous” Republicans Wouldn’t Even Support Jesus for President

Great video from Bill Maher’s “Real Time” last night….

He talks about the “promiscuous” Republican electorate that falls in love with a new Candidate every month- until they get to know them.

Then, he closes with how even Jesus of Nazareth wouldn’t be able to please these people….

Which should give the GOP voters something to think about.

But if Republicans really thought-and felt- well, would they be Republicans?

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September 30, 2011 · 9:29 am

Theme Song for the GOP Presidential Primary: Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves….

Every time I read or see the Republican Primary Candidates….this is all I can think of…..

I just hope Cher doesn’t give them the rights to use it for their campaigns….

 

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September 27, 2011 · 8:19 pm

Tea Party More Than a Temper Tantrum

Another brilliant – and frightening – column from Leonard Pitts, Jr in the Miami Herald.

Here is a brief excerpt and a link to the full column:

 

Then you realize it was not so long ago that a man blew up a federal building in Oklahoma City out of anti-government sentiment not so different from that espoused by the tea party. And you remember how that tragedy exposed an entire network of armed anti-government zealots gathering in the woods. And you read where the Southern Poverty Law Center says the number of radical anti-government groups spiked to 824 in 2010, a 61 percent increase over just the previous year.

And you wonder.

This is not a prediction, only a speculation — and a suggestion that those of us who have regarded the craziness of recent years as an aberration, a temporary temper tantrum from people who feel threatened and dislocated, may have been entirely too sanguine. In less than 20 years, the locus of radical anti-government extremism has moved from remote woods to Capitol Hill.

How should the rest of us respond? That’s a question we urgently need to answer. They say they’ve come to take “their” country back.

Maybe it’s time we took them at their word.

Full Column:   Tea party more than a temper tantrum – Leonard Pitts Jr. – MiamiHerald.com.

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