I came across this article in Rolling Stone Magazine, http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-gop-war-on-voting-20110830. Quite frankly I was setback in slackjawed disbelief. Once again this goes under the category of "this stuff isn't made up." But it makes sense. The GOP ran the show for 8 years, got a taste (or an addiction) of the power & they want it back. In a bad way.
All the historical allegories to Jim Crow are right on the money. It's sad really. The GOP's big soap box is that Obama & the Democrats want to turn the U.S. into a new socialist state. All while trying to take voting rights away from taxpaying citizens. Inconceivable. These guys give the term "sore loser" a new meaning. They seem to be trying to stack the deck for the 2012 election. It isn't bad enough that the GOP seems to drag their feet when trying to come up with solutions to our economic problems (please note that both sides seem to be content with pointing fingers at the other side but the GOP, to me anyway, just appear more stubborn than the rubber backboned Democrats) they have to eliminate voting rights.
The best part about the article is how the GOP is doing this under the guise of going after voter fraud. The stats show that most of the "voter fraud" are results of people who were not aware of their status. Of course their actions just happened to be aimed at traditionally democratic voters. Thanks for the favor! Aren't there more important issues in these states (Ohio & Wisconsin are mentioned) than worry about trying to eliminate voting rights in order to stack the deck in 2012? The Republican Kansas Governor stated that an actual dead man voted. It turns out that the alleged dead voter was indeed very much alive. Once again these people just make stuff up, I'm certain of it.
According to the article, as early as 1980 this has been a GOP issue. Conservative activist Paul Weyrich told a gathering of evangelical leaders in 1980, "I don't want everybody to vote, as a matter of fact, our leverage in the elections quite candidly goes up as the voting populace goes down." Here's the Wikipedia link to this guy if you want to know more or get the full quote, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Weyrich.
The GOP has targeted those long standing perpetrators of "voter fraud" like Rock the Vote &the League of Women Voters. If the GOP gets there way in certain states these organization's members could be arrested. Wasn't there a big stink about 20 years or so ago about countries calling for sanctions against South Africa for not allowing it's Black citizens to vote? Yet here we are watching something similar, yet there isn't really a big stink. Where are the alleged "liberal media" that people like Ann Coulter are always railing against? I read this in Rolling Stone not in the NY Times or saw an expose on CNN or MSNBC. In fact Jesse Ventura mentioned stuff like this in a chapter of his book entitled, American Conspiracy.
In the film, Capitalism: A Love Story, director Michael Moore put together a segment in which some financial institution (that was involved in bringing about the financial meltdown in 2008) was worried that if regular people (i.e. the working class) exercised their voting rights, their running rough shot over Wall Street & netting billions in profits, could come to an end. So they were scared of people voting! Think it's possible that their lobby is throwing money toward the GOP? It's a safe bet. On a side note, regardless of your personal feelings on Michael Moore, this film is worth watching as it paints a pretty good picture of who was responsible for the recent financial meltdown. It concentrates more on how it affected working class families than the global outreach like the film Inside Story.
As I've said before I'm politically neutral but I do feel that both the Democrats & the GOP serve their own interests. I recently read an old Playboy interview with Jesse Ventura in which he mentioned that when the country was founded, anybody could run for office. You could be a farmer, serve in office then go back to farming. Now it's an occupation. These guys get in office and don't want to leave. Once they get in, they no longer care about solving the problems of the country, they only care about the issues that will get them re-elected. My personal feeling is that a lot of the guys on Capitol Hill have been there too long. These people are no longer in touch with the working class (I say working class because I think that's what most people fall into. We all go to work everyday to raise a family and what not.)
That's it for now. Thanks again to all the men & women serving in the military. Your dedication & sacrifice are well appreciated. Thanks for your time.
All the historical allegories to Jim Crow are right on the money. It's sad really. The GOP's big soap box is that Obama & the Democrats want to turn the U.S. into a new socialist state. All while trying to take voting rights away from taxpaying citizens. Inconceivable. These guys give the term "sore loser" a new meaning. They seem to be trying to stack the deck for the 2012 election. It isn't bad enough that the GOP seems to drag their feet when trying to come up with solutions to our economic problems (please note that both sides seem to be content with pointing fingers at the other side but the GOP, to me anyway, just appear more stubborn than the rubber backboned Democrats) they have to eliminate voting rights.
The best part about the article is how the GOP is doing this under the guise of going after voter fraud. The stats show that most of the "voter fraud" are results of people who were not aware of their status. Of course their actions just happened to be aimed at traditionally democratic voters. Thanks for the favor! Aren't there more important issues in these states (Ohio & Wisconsin are mentioned) than worry about trying to eliminate voting rights in order to stack the deck in 2012? The Republican Kansas Governor stated that an actual dead man voted. It turns out that the alleged dead voter was indeed very much alive. Once again these people just make stuff up, I'm certain of it.
According to the article, as early as 1980 this has been a GOP issue. Conservative activist Paul Weyrich told a gathering of evangelical leaders in 1980, "I don't want everybody to vote, as a matter of fact, our leverage in the elections quite candidly goes up as the voting populace goes down." Here's the Wikipedia link to this guy if you want to know more or get the full quote, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Weyrich.
The GOP has targeted those long standing perpetrators of "voter fraud" like Rock the Vote &the League of Women Voters. If the GOP gets there way in certain states these organization's members could be arrested. Wasn't there a big stink about 20 years or so ago about countries calling for sanctions against South Africa for not allowing it's Black citizens to vote? Yet here we are watching something similar, yet there isn't really a big stink. Where are the alleged "liberal media" that people like Ann Coulter are always railing against? I read this in Rolling Stone not in the NY Times or saw an expose on CNN or MSNBC. In fact Jesse Ventura mentioned stuff like this in a chapter of his book entitled, American Conspiracy.
In the film, Capitalism: A Love Story, director Michael Moore put together a segment in which some financial institution (that was involved in bringing about the financial meltdown in 2008) was worried that if regular people (i.e. the working class) exercised their voting rights, their running rough shot over Wall Street & netting billions in profits, could come to an end. So they were scared of people voting! Think it's possible that their lobby is throwing money toward the GOP? It's a safe bet. On a side note, regardless of your personal feelings on Michael Moore, this film is worth watching as it paints a pretty good picture of who was responsible for the recent financial meltdown. It concentrates more on how it affected working class families than the global outreach like the film Inside Story.
As I've said before I'm politically neutral but I do feel that both the Democrats & the GOP serve their own interests. I recently read an old Playboy interview with Jesse Ventura in which he mentioned that when the country was founded, anybody could run for office. You could be a farmer, serve in office then go back to farming. Now it's an occupation. These guys get in office and don't want to leave. Once they get in, they no longer care about solving the problems of the country, they only care about the issues that will get them re-elected. My personal feeling is that a lot of the guys on Capitol Hill have been there too long. These people are no longer in touch with the working class (I say working class because I think that's what most people fall into. We all go to work everyday to raise a family and what not.)
That's it for now. Thanks again to all the men & women serving in the military. Your dedication & sacrifice are well appreciated. Thanks for your time.
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