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
Rand Paul is truly an idiot….
People just didn’t realize it in time to prevent him from becoming a Senator….
The good news is, the Peter Principle has kicked in: He has reached- and surpassed- his level of incompetence….
And he’s illustrating it on the national stage….
From ThinkProgress.org:
On Wednesday morning, Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) gave an address at the historically-black Howard University designed to convince black voters to support Republicans. While some of his remarks, most notably on harsh drug laws and other civil liberties issues, were well-received, the majority of the speech consisted in Paul condescendingly explaining American racial history to the audience, occasionally incorrectly, and expecting that it would open black voters’ eyes to the real Republican Party. Here are five moments that encapsulated the general problem with Paul’s speech:
More: Five Ways Rand Paul Whitesplained Politics At Howard University | ThinkProgress.
Filed under Elections, Politics, 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, this is good news….
Too bad it happened after these idiots made North Carolina the laughingstock of the Nation in the national media for several days…
From WRAL.com:
RALEIGH, N.C. — A House resolution supporting the creation of an official religion in North Carolina will never come to a vote, officials said Thursday.
House Speaker Thom Tillis’ office said House Joint Resolution 494 was dead.
Filed under North Carolina, Politics
The North Carolina GOP has really been busy this week….
Busy trying to piss off as many people as possible….
So far, they’ve introduced legislation to establish a State Religion and ignore the Constitution, to block Student voters, to repeal racial justice legislation, privatize medicaid and now…
They want to make it more difficult to get a divorce in North Carolina.
See, they have something for everyone! Not just Gay people, Black people, Young people….Everyone!
Who do they think is going to be left who is not too pissed off to vote for them?
As I’ve said before, it takes a rare kind of ineptitude for the Dems not to be able to defeat this crew of crazies….
From the Raleigh News and Observer….
A pair of Republican lawmakers want to make it harder to get a divorce in North Carolina by making estranged couples wait longer and go to counseling.
The Healthy Marriage Act would extend to two years the current one-year waiting period in order for a divorce to be finalized. During that time, the couple would have to complete courses on improving their communications skills and conflict resolution.
If the couple has children, they would have to take at least a four-hour class on the impact of divorce on children.
Veteran Sen. Austin Allran of Hickory is the primary sponsor. Second term Sen. Warren Daniel of Morganton has signed on to Senate Bill 518.
Separated couples could resume living together during the two-year waiting period, under the bill. Either the husband or the wife would have to have lived in North Carolina for six months before filing for divorce.
It would also strike from the current law a provision that says “isolated incidents of sexual intercourse” don’t count against the one-year waiting period. It’s not clear if that means an occasional fling with your estranged partner does count against you under the proposed law.
via NC legislators propose more rigorous divorce regulations | State Politics | NewsObserver.com.
Filed under North Carolina, 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
North Carolina’s new Republican Governor is succeeding nicely in his quest to infuriate as many people as possible and lead the march to GOP irrelevancy….
This shows just how seriously the Governor and the GOP take the concerns of one of the fastest growing demographic groups in the state and the country…
It’s really quite unbelievable how fast this man is moving to alienate people. I just hope they remember this is his- and all the Republican’s agenda- come the next election.
There are fewer and fewer old white people left who support his kind of politics….
From the Charlotte Observer:
WASHINGTON North Carolina’s Latino advocates are voicing alarm following the governor’s decision to eliminate the state’s office for Latino affairs.
The closing of the Office of Hispanic/Latino affairs was sudden and caught many by surprise. The move appears to have exacerbated the already tense relationship between Republican Gov. Pat McCrory and the Latino community, including criticism over a driver’s license plan for young immigrants.
Advocates say it sends a message that McCrory and Raleigh conservatives are less concerned with the needs of the Latino community. Paradoxically, it comes at a time when issues of deep concern, such as immigration, are at the political forefront.
via McCrory eliminates Latino outreach office | CharlotteObserver.com.
Filed under North Carolina, Politics, Uncategorized
Lost in the 21st Century 