In light of the passage of the horrible new voting restrictions, I urge you to take 15 minutes to watch this fascinating documentary on the history of Voting Rights and Voter Suppression in North Carolina.
I learned a lot of North Carolina History I did not know and saw so many historical parallels to what the Conservatives are trying to do in North Carolina and other states today.
This may be the best use of 15 minutes you’ll have all weekend.
Filed under Politics
This is one of , if not the main reason the GOP is trying so hard to limit voting by passing Voter ID Laws, limiting early voting and gerrymandering districts…
And the challenge for the Democrats is to still drive this level of participation when President Obama is not on the ticket….
From Taegan Roberts Political Wire:
“America’s blacks voted at a higher rate than other minority groups in 2012 and by most measures surpassed the white turnout for the first time, reflecting a deeply polarized presidential election in which blacks strongly supported Barack Obama while many whites stayed home,” the AP reports.
“Had people voted last November at the same rates they did in 2004, when black turnout was below its current historic levels, Republican Mitt Romney would have won narrowly.”
Very….
This poll should be a wake-up call, but it won’t be…
The GOP just doesn’t care….
They are only going to play to their Tea Party base because that’s how they have gerrymandered the Districts…
Remember, over a million more people voted for Democratic Congressional candidates last election, but the Republicans still control the House- again, due to gerrymandered districts…
From Greg Sargent at the Washington Post.com site:
I already touched on today’s new Post poll this morning, but there are a bunch of numbers in here that really deserve their own post.
To wit: It finds that only 23 percent of Americans — that would be fewer than one in four — believe the Republican Party is “in touch with the concerns of most people in the United States today,” while 70 percent believe that it is “out of touch.” Among independents, those numbers are 23-70. Among moderates they’re 20-75.
By contrast, Americans say by 51-46 that Obama is in touch. Among moderates that’s 56-42 (he fares worse among independents, 44-53, though far better than Republicans).
At the same time, the poll finds the public siding with Obama and Democrats on many major issues surveyed. Americans disapprove of the sequester cuts, 57-35 — cuts that Republicans are describing as a “victory” for them. Americans support a path to legality for illegal immigrants by 64-32. In fairness, the poll doesn’t test citizenship specifically, so this finding is somewhat inconclusive, but a new CNN poll finds that 84 percent back a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants who have a job and pay back taxes.
Filed under Elections
More bad publicity for the State of North Carolina…
This is from one the latest batch of GOP idiots elected to the State Legislature last election- when the Democrats stayed home….
Elections have consequences and that one had big ones- it handed the State Legislature to the GOP along with the power to gerrymander the districts to make it safe for people like this to keep their seats…
But this woman is just beyond stupid…
But if you click the link and look at her picture….
From TalkingPointsMemo.com:
A Republican legislator in North Carolina told a constituent that she has misgivings with an Islamic prayer being conducted before a legislative meeting because she doesn’t “condone terrorism,” the Raleigh News & Observer reported Wednesday.
In an email exchange obtained by the News & Observer, state Rep. Michele Presnell (R) was responding to a constituent who asked her if she is comfortable with a prayer to Allah taking place before the meeting.
“No, I do not condone terrorism,” Presnell responded to the constituent.
Presnell did not immediately respond to TPM’s request for comment.
The constituent was taking Presnell to task over an ACLU lawsuit against a North Carolina county over Christian prayers being conducted before commissioners meetings there. That lawsuit was the impetus for a bill that would nullify any federal ruling on prayer in the state, on which Presnell is a co-sponsor.
via Michele Presnell, N.C. Lawmaker, Opposes Islamic Prayer | TPM LiveWire.
Filed under North Carolina, Politics, Religion, Uncategorized
Here we go again….
And since there is no longer a Democratic Governor to veto this, it will probably pass this year….
Another attempt by the Republicans to block voters who don’t vote for them…
With demographic trends against them, the GOP’s only hope to stay in power is voter suppression- hence the bills to limit early voting, require voter ID and restrict College student voting….
They can’t continue to win on policy- even with their gerrymandered districts-so they are trying to win anyway they can-no matter the cost to Democracy…
From WRAL.com:
RALEIGH, N.C. — House Speaker Thom Tillis and Republican House leaders have filed a new proposal to require photo identification for voters.
House Bill 589, entitled the Voter Identification Verification Act, or VIVA, was filed Thursday afternoon, after what Tillis said was “a transparent and deliberative process” of seeking public input.
“This bill has had more discussion than anything in recent history,” said House Elections Committee Co-chairman Tim Moore.
Under the proposal, beginning in 2016, voters would be required to show a photo ID at the polls. The bill would allow “multiple forms of state-issued ID,” according to Rep. Tom Murry, R-Wake, including tribal cards, public university IDs and state employee IDs. Private university IDs would not qualify.
Voters without a photo ID will be allowed to cast a provisional ballot but would have to return to their local board of elections with a valid photo ID to have the ballot counted.
Filed under North Carolina, Politics
Well, they don’t get much simpler or crazier than Pat but he sure isn’t humble….
He thinks Americans should be “simple” and “humble” like Africans so we would believe in Miracles.
This is a) racist and b) stupid.
He’s really saying only the ignorant can be fooled into believing in miracles….
Or, in my mind, in the Republican Party and Televangelists….
Those guys count on ignorance….
And of course he knows nothing about the complexity and history of Africa.
He’s commenting from his own ignorant, Old South Plantation Era mindset…
It may have been April 1st yesterday, but televangelist Pat Robertson wasn’t kidding when he told a viewer that Americans aren’t experiencing God’s miracles because they are too “sophisticated.”
Why do miracles “happen with great frequency in Africa, and not here in the USA?” asked a 700 Club patron Ken. “People overseas didn’t go to Ivy League schools,” Robertson replied with a chuckle.
“We are so sophisticated, we think we’ve got everything figured out,” the Christian Broadcasting Network chairman continued. “We know about evolution, we know about Darwin, we know about all these things that says God isn’t real, we know about all this stuff.”
According to Robertson, it’s the “skepticism and secularism” that is being taught at “the most advanced schools” around the country that is keeping God’s miracles at bay.
Meanwhile, Africans are “simple” and “humble.” “You tell ‘em God loves ‘em and they say, ‘Okay, he loves me’,” said Robertson. “You say God will do miracles and they say, ‘Okay, we believe him’.”
If Americans wish to experience more miracle, Robertson concluded, they must reject their miracle-negating sophistication in favor of the more credulous African way of life.
via Pat Robertson Blames Ivy League Schools For Lack Of Miracles In America | TPM News.
Filed under Politics, Religion, Uncategorized
North Carolina Republicans are really doing everything they can do to keep their gerrymandered majority in the State legislature. They know demographic trends are against them, so their goal is to stop Democrat leaning voting blocks from being able to vote…
Now, it’s college students they are after and whose votes they are trying to suppress or water down….
When are the Dems going to learn that Republicans fight dirty and if they are going to pull us into the gutter with them, we have to fight back in the gutter…
There is so much ammunition accumulating to use against these GOP dinosaurs.
If only the Dems would learn to use it effectively….
From WRAL Raleigh:
RALEIGH, N.C. — A bill filed in the state Senate Tuesday would carry a tax penalty for parents whose children register to vote at their college address.
Senate Bill 667, known as “Equalize Voter Rights,” would remove the tax exemption for dependents who register to vote at any address other than their parents’ home.
“If the voter is a dependent of the voter’s parent or legal guardian, is 18 years of age or older and the voter has registered at an address other than that of the parent or legal guardian, the parent or legal guardian will not be allowed to claim the voter as a dependent for state income tax purposes,” the bill says.
The measure would affect only state income tax, so it wouldn’t have much effect on out-of-state students. But it could effectively cut student voting in counties like Watauga and Orange, where college voters have been a key part of the Democratic Party’s dominance.
The bill would also require voters to have their vehicles registered at the same address as their voter registration. That also could cut down on college student registration, since many students maintain their vehicle registration in their home counties.
Filed under North Carolina, Politics
Our North Carolina Republican Legislature continues its march into insanity….
Jesse Helms would be so proud of them….
And the national press is laughing at North Carolina again…
For those of us who live here and know this isn’t a true representation of the growing Progressive majority, it’s just plain embarrassing…
I wish I had more confidence the North Carolina Democratic Party would learn how to run campaigns…
And I wish we had more hope of the Dems retaking the Legislature, but we wouldn’t be in this position if they had run decent campaigns in the past…
And all the GOP Gerrymandered redistricting only makes it harder…
Still….
If we can’t defeat these GOP Clowns in the next election, that’s really embarrassing…
And this is all coming about because the ACLU stood up to the Rowan County Board of Supervisors for mixing Church and State…..
From ThinkProgress.org:
The Constitution “does not grant the federal government and does not grant the federal courts the power to determine what is or is not constitutional” according to a resolution sponsored by North Carolina House Majority Leader Edgar Starnes (R) and ten of his fellow Republicans — a statement that puts them at odds with over 200 years of constitutional law. In light of this novel reading of the Constitution, Starnes and his allies also claim that North Carolina is free to ignore the Constitution’s ban on government endorsement of religion:
SECTION 1. The North Carolina General Assembly asserts that the Constitution of the United States of America does not prohibit states or their subsidiaries from making laws respecting an establishment of religion.
SECTION 2. The North Carolina General Assembly does not recognize federal court rulings which prohibit and otherwise regulate the State of North Carolina, its public schools, or any political subdivisions of the State from making laws respecting an establishment of religion.
This resolution is nothing less than an effort to repudiate the result of the Civil War. As the resolution correctly notes, the First Amendment merely provides that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion,” and, indeed, the Bill of Rights was originally understood to only place limits on the federal government. For the earliest years of the Republic, the Bill of Rights were not really “rights” at all, but were instead guidelines on which powers belonged to central authorities and which ones remained exclusively in the hands of state lawmakers.
In 1868, however the Fourteenth Amendment was ratified for the express purpose of changing this balance of power. While the early Constitution envisioned “rights” as little more than a battle between central and local government, the Fourteenth Amendment ushered in a more modern understanding. Under this amendment, “[n]o State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States,” nor may any state “deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.” The Fourteenth Amendment completely transformed the nature of the American Republic, from one where liberties were generally protected — if at all — by tensions between competing governments to one which recognized that there are certain liberties that cannot be abridged by any government.
Filed under North Carolina, Politics, Uncategorized
I seem to be pulled into the “marriage” debate a lot lately….
To be clear, we have 6 sets of dishes, so I originally didn’t see the need for Gay Marriage.
As time has passed- almost 16 years with m partner- I’ve seen the need for gay marriage from a legal and societal point of view. I, and most enlightened, educated people understand that marriage is a legal contract that provides security for couples- and gay or straight is irrelevant to this legal contract.
Frankly, to me at this point in my life, it’s more about protecting joint assets, determining who can visit you in the hospital and make major medical and legal decision if you are incapacitated. It’s about who makes sure, when the time comes, your wishes are honored to be cremated and have a tasteful memorial- instead of being painted and stuffed and subjected to a hypocritical Southern Baptist Funeral by people who barely know you….
It’s also really nice to give a big party and celebrate who you love with a couple of hundred of your closest friends. And maybe get some more dishes….
Anyway…..
I’ve also been read by an old friend for not taking Marriage seriously as a religious institution. That’s because it isn’t- at least not primarily so. It’s a legal contract. Period. That’s why you have to get a marriage license from the government before running off to your clergy person, if you choose that route….
There is such a thing as the separation of Church and State whether these people like it or not….
The religious significance of Marriage depends on the Religion. And the time and place….that does not supplant the legal, contractual importance of marriage.
I’m fine with a religious marriage ceremony- as long as it’s a secondary religious observance of a civil contract.
Legal rights come first. And “traditional marriage” is a concept that has changed radically over time- both in the Christian and non-Christian world.
I won’t even touch the Biblical Old Testament definition of marriage as it’s too complicated and messy for even me to explain, so I’ll leave it to Mrs Betty Bowers:
And those who think Gay Marriage is an especially new invention should read this from “The Week”….
Same-sex unions aren’t a recent invention. Until the 13th century, male-bonding ceremonies were common in churches across the Mediterranean. Apart from the couples’ gender, these events were almost indistinguishable from other marriages of the era. Twelfth-century liturgies for same-sex unions — also known as “spiritual brotherhoods” — included the recital of marriage prayers, the joining of hands at the altar, and a ceremonial kiss. Some historians believe these unions were merely a way to seal alliances and business deals. But Eric Berkowitz, author of Sex and Punishment, says it is “difficult to believe that these rituals did not contemplate erotic contact. In fact, it was the sex between the men involved that later caused same-sex unions to be banned.” That happened in 1306, when the Byzantine Emperor Andronicus II declared such ceremonies, along with sorcery and incest, to be unchristian.
Filed under Gay, Uncategorized
Lost in the 21st Century 
Some Thoughts on Boston….
I feel the need to share a few thoughts about Boston and the tragedy that occurred there….
I can already see people trying to use this horrible act of terrorism to justify their own ends and feel the need to give my perspective….
This attack was personal to me, at least at first, as I had some friends at the Marathon in Boston. I and they were lucky. They were fine…
But that still made feel connected to this in a way I haven’t felt connected to these events since that awful day in September of 2001…
First of all, as more details are emerging about the Boston Marathon bombings, people are desperately trying to make a link to Islam and Islamic terrorism. This really disturbs me…
I just want to ask people to stop, think and remember- three things that are increasingly difficult to ask people to do in America.
Remember, if there is a religious link, it is not a question of Islam being the root of all evil and driving terrorism. Violence is contrary to the teachings of Islam, just as it is to Christianity.
Fundamentalism and the viewpoint that one’s personal views are right at the expense of all others is the aspect of any religion- or politics- to fear.
No single religion drives Terrorism. Angry, isolated people do….
Stop and think about it…
And remember….
Two of the worst terrorist attacks in America were perpetrated by so-called Christians.
Eric Rudolph was the man who executed the deadly bombing at the Olympic Park in Atlanta back in the 1990’s that also injured many more people than it killed. He also killed and maimed others with his bombs at abortion clinics. He was a member of the Christian Identity Movement.
Timothy McVeigh, who killed 186 people when he bombed the Federal Office building in Oklahoma City, was also a Christian. He was upset at the government response to the Branch Davidian sect and the tragedy that followed.
They both wanted to be the personal delivery mechanism of vengeance…and they were Christians.
So, don’t blame Islam. Don’t blame Christians….
Blame the poor, sick, lost individuals who perpetrate these acts of terror.
Think….
Think of the victims and their families. Wish them a recovery and the peace and strength to handle what they were so unexpectedly given.
Don’t spend so much time worrying about the perpetrators and don’t seek to place blame so simplistically and freely.
Don’t look at this as an opportunity to reinforce stereotypes and your own prejudices.
Don’t try to make political mileage out of this like so many politicians are already trying to do….
Remember the 3 tragic victims who’s lives were cut so tragically and unexpectedly short. Remember the people with such horrific injuries that their lives are changed forever.
And remember this is an aberration. This was an act committed by a couple of young men whose’s reasons we may never really know, accept or understand.
This was their choice, their crime, their individual action…
Like it or not, we have to try to hold individuals accountable and not seek to judge whole groups of people just because we perceive they aren’t like us or our beliefs….
Times like this should not be used to drive personal agendas…We should have learned that from all the mistakes after 9/11.
Remember….
You can’t blame a whole group of people or people of a certain belief for the actions of a couple of misguided or sick so-called “losers”….
At times like this, we have to think- not just feel or blindly react. We can’t look for simple solutions in a complex world.
But, stop and think….
We can try to follow a few simple, personal guidelines to get through times like this….
First, focus on the living and on life….
Then focus on keeping our freedoms, not using actions like this as an excuse to limit them…
Focus on preaching love, not hate….
Focus on practicing acceptance and not judgement…
Focus not just on putting yourself your beliefs first, but think on how you can give hope to others, understand their journeys and help them move forward in life…no matter that they may not believe just as you do….
We really are all in this together. Boston proves that. As did New York, the Pentagon, Oklahoma City and Atlanta….
Don’t focus on hate and blame; that’s probably the type of thinking that drove these two young men to perpetrate this horror…
Focus on the right things….
The good things…
That’s the best way to avoid this happening again…..
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Filed under Scott's Commentary, Uncategorized
Tagged as Boston Bombing, Boston Marathon, Boston Marathon Bombing, Christianity, Fundamentalism, Islam, politics