Supporting the Separation of Church and State
Posts Tagged ‘Voter Suppression’
RSS Roundup 5-21-8
Categorized: Politics
Tagged: 2008 Election, Economy, Good Science, Kansas Politics, LGBTQ Rights, Reproductive Rights, Ted Kennedy, Tolerance, Voter Suppression
Happy hump day everyone. Were half way to a long holiday weekend. After 3 years in corrections when I never had holidays, or even weekends, off I am so looking forward to this summer. Being a month away from finishing up with school I hope to never ever have to do shift work again. Anyhow, lots to cover so lets get to it.
Senator Ted Kennedy Diagnosed with Brain Tumor
Ted KennedyI really wanted to write about this yesterday as the news came out but didn’t have time. As you probably know Kennedy was taken to the hospital after having seizures on Monday. Obviously a malignant brain tumor was not the news the nation was hoping to hear. We are all pulling for him and his family.
Kudos to Kathleen Sebelius!
I feel kind of embarrassed that I haven’t been covering this as well as I should. I have a project in the works for a local Kansas news site so I apologize. As a Kansan I am incredibly proud of our Governor. She has consistently made the right choices even when they were not the most politically expedient. Since I have dropped the ball on her recent acts here are links to others who are picking up the slack.
Kathleen Sebelius Vetoes Voter ID Law. Read Think Progress and Crooks and Liars. Everything I said about the SCOTUS ruling on the Indiana law applies here. Reading local news and blogs it is apparent that most Kansans are unaware of the true effect of these kinds of laws. Either that or their a bunch of assholes. The jury is still out on that distinction.
All the Rest of the News thats Important
- A federal appeals court has ruled Virginia’s late term abortion ban unconstitutional!
- Openly gay Sam Adams has been elected mayor of Portland making him the first openly homosexual mayor of a major American city. It seems like every day I get to write about another accomplishment in LGBTQ equality.
- On the other hand LGBTQ hate crimes rose by 24% in 2007 over the 2006 rates. This just proves that there is still a long way to go. It also shows how needed hate crime protection is.
- A top aid for McCain has stepped down out of respect for Barack Obama. I haven’t followed politics long but can anyone remember this happing before? More at The Carpetbagger Report.
- Tim Haab has a good piece up at Environmental Economics about what we as consumers can do about $4 gas. Read the comments.
- Bush has issued a formal apology after a soldier apparently shot a Koran. Keep telling yourself that its our freedom that they hate.
- I have found out why American schoolchildren compare so poorly to children from other countries. 16% of biology teachers are young earth creationists. The same survey shows that 48% of the general population believes that “God created human beings pretty much in their at one time within the last 10,000 years or so”.
Video of the Day
Henry Waxman Threatens to Have Rep Issa (R-CA) physically removed from hearing. Awesome.
Thats all for today folks. I’ll try to have something up over my lunch break. Also Summer finally had a chance to comment on a story yesterday. If you havn’t been reading long it may surprise you to know that this is a multi-author blog.
In fact we accept story submissions from anyone with a progressive viewpoint. Writing for us couldn’t be easier. Just sign up for an account then when you log in you will have the ability to write a story. We will then post it assuming that its appropriate for our viewers.
Have a wonderful day
William ~ WWJV4.com
RSS Roundup 5-9-08
Categorized: Politics
Tagged: John McCain, LGBTQ Rights, National Security, Support The Troops, Voter Suppression
Its finally Friday and whats even better its Mothers Day Weekend!!! I hope you all have made plans to thank the many mothers in your lives. Well lets get right into the news from the past 24 hours or so. I flagged a lot of stories but from skimming it looks like today is going to be a pretty fast one. As always this is an open thread to talk about whatever.
How does John McCain, the Republican Nominee only get 74% of the vote with no one else campaigning?
Somehow I missed this yesterday. Crooks and Liars has published their top 10 list of McCain’s Out of Touch Moments. My favorite is still the “I’m not running on the Bush presidency.” joke. That one makes me laugh every time.
Here is something that shouldn’t surprise anyone. McCain’s “maverick” image is entirely made up by the media.
John McCain is refusing to release his wife’s tax records. So much to say on this topic that I’ll let you draw your own conclusions as to what he may be hiding. I will say that this is so offensive that even some right wing magazines are attacking them over it.
A Michigan State Supreme Court ruled that “Michigan’s 2004 ban against gay marriage also blocks domestic-partner policies affecting gay employees at the University of Michigan and other public-sector employers.”
The over stretching of our military caused by the needless war in Iraq has been reported many times. Yesterday we learned via Newshoggers that over 43,000 injured troops listed as medically unfit for duty have been sent anyhow. If I had voted for Bush it would be time to put another “Support The Troops” sticker on my car so I could feel better about myself.
This was under CBS’ Strange News but its really not strange at all, in fact for those in law enforcement its so common that it made me wonder why it’s even news. Suspect Surrenders After Cop Yells ‘Taser, Taser, Taser!’. In many situations the presence of a taser will be enough and this story is about just one of the hundreds of examples that happen across the country every single day.
Bloggers Unite for Human Rights on May 15th. I’ll have more information on our sidebar (today) and you can read more here. (h/t Alas, a blog)
And finally one more …
12 nuns in Indiana were unable to vote because of the states restrictive voter suppression registration laws. Whats worse is that these horrible laws are being pushed throughout the nation by conservatives under the lie of “voter fraud”. Anyone want to guess which party the poor, disabled, and elderly who are disenfranchised by these laws vote for?
This may sound like a good idea at first,” stated Sister Sandy Schwartz of the Franciscan Sisters of Mary regarding voter ID requirements, “but once you stop to think about who would really be affected, this is going to keep a lot of our loved ones from being able to vote.
Thats enough for today, its Friday and I have a lot to do. Have a wonderful weekend and make sure and thank all the moms you know. HAPPY MOTHERS DAY SUMMER!
p.s. I didn’t forget about Clinton’s comments. I have a story in draft about it that I will try to get out today. If not I’ll cover it on Monday’s RSS Roundup.
William ~ WWJV4.com
Law Requireing ID to Vote Upheld
Categorized: Politics
Tagged: 2008 Election, SCOTUS, Voter Suppression
In a 6-3 ruling (Breyer, Ginsburg and Souter dissenting) the U.S. Supreme Court has upheld an Illinois (doh) Indiana law that requires photo ID to vote. This law was pushed by Republicans who claim that it will prevent fraud. There is little evidence that this is true but one thing that is not disputed is that those who will be affected by this law (minorities, the elderly, and the poor) are overwhelmingly Democratic.
I don’t buy that the Republicans are just concerned about voter fraud considering their history the past two elections in Ohio and Florida. I say that this is just another version of the Poll Taxes that were used so effectively to prevent minorities and the elderly from voting in the past.
My primary concern with these types of laws are a little different than most. I strongly feel that any American who makes the decision to abstain from getting a state ID has the right to do so. If they feel that their privacy or freedom from the government is worth the hassle then the government should not be able to restrict them from their basic rights. And Yes voting is a basic right.
William ~ WWJV4.com
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