DOJ Blocks SC Voter ID Law

Altogether this year, 20 states which did not have voter ID laws and 14 states that already had non-photo ID laws have considered legislation requiring citizens have a photo ID to vote, according to the latest figures from the National Conference of State Legislatures. Of those 34 states which considered voter ID legislation, six of them enacted laws: Alabama, Kansas, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Wisconsin.

The Voters Rights Act puts the burden on the state to prove that the change in voting isn’t discriminatory in purpose and effect. Section 5 — which requires certain jurisdictions to clear changes to their voting laws with the feds before they go into effect — only applies to two of the states which have passed voter ID laws: Texas and South Carolina. Both states are trying to convince the Justice Department that their laws don’t have the intent or effect of suppressing the minority vote.

Attack on The Grio

Stanley Crouch

In his December 19th op-ed in the New York Daily News, black conservative Stanley Crouch writes:

Black websites such as The Grio have become some of the most contaminated places on the Internet because they have licked the boots of disreputable people in every kind of career, seeming to believe that the hustling attitude is perfectly correct and nothing can ever be wrong about money.

Thus, minstrels like Lil Wayne came to be celebrated as heroes.

Honor Combat Veterans Home From Iraq

Quote of the day: "And in the quiet of night, you will recall that your heart was once touched by fire. You will know that you answered when your country called; you served a cause greater than yourselves; you helped forge a just and lasting peace with Iraq, and among all nations. I could not be prouder of you, and America could not be prouder of you." - President Obama at Ft. Bragg, North Carolina, honoring combat veterans coming home from Iraq.

What lessons did we learn in Iraq? Why so little response at the war's end? How should we honor those who served?  Your thoughts?

Iowa G.O.P. Presidential Debate: More Debate Lies

2012 Republican Presidential Candidates

At the Iowa Republican Presidential Debate, Newt Gingrich asserted that he balanced the budget for four years as Speaker of the House. And in claiming sole credit for the achievement, he glossed over the facts.

NEWT GINGRICH: "I balanced the budget for four straight years, paid off $405 billion in debt — pretty conservative."

In fact, the government ran deficits in 1996-97 and surpluses in 1998-99, the four years Gingrich served as Speaker. Budgets are not a one man show, so Gingrich can't take credit or blame for deficits or surpluses. The statement was not true.

Michelle Bachmann has the worst record of accuracy of all the Republican candidates, as rated by PolitiFact and traced by others. Fully 73 percent of her statements checked by PolitiFact were judged mostly false or worse. Gingrich was wrong the next most often, 59 percent of the time.

Trump Quits G.O.P.

According to the Associated Press, billionaire businessman Donald Trump has changed his voter registration in New York state from Republican to unaffiliated.

A spokesman for Trump says the businessman and television host changed his affiliation to preserve his option to seek the presidency in 2012. Special Counsel Michael Cohen said Friday that Trump could enter the race if Republicans fail to nominate a candidate who can defeat President Barack Obama.

Cohen said Trump's commitment to hosting TV's "The Apprentice" will keep him from doing anything until May, when the show's season wraps up.

So for all the folks that missed Sarah Palin work the media with her on again-off again race for the White House, watch Trump garner all the free publicity that working the media brings.  What a waste of my time!

What do you think about Trump allegedly running for President?

Congressman Calls First Lady Fat

You'd think the country has big problems that would command law-makers attention. Not so for a Wisconsin congressman who was caught talking "very loud" about the First Lady's anatomy -- "she lectures us on eating right while she has a large posterior herself."

Jim Sesenbrenner was at a church auction December 10 when according to a 72 year old retiree he started taking shots at Michelle Obama. The witness told the events as follows: "He then talked about how different first ladies have had different projects -- Laura Bush and literacy -- and he named two or three others... And then he said, 'And Michelle Obama, her project is obesity. And look at her big butt.'"

Rush Limbaugh calls the First Lady fat all the time. Do you wonder why Limbaugh and other right wingers often disparage her in this way? Well, as always, things boil down to racial issues. Some blogger say the attacks are because the First Lady is black.  Some say that black women have "big butts" and claim that white women have "flat butts". Regardless, most agree that the congressman's comments were inappropriate and insensitive. I often wonder why I ever thought that the First Family would be treated with respect. Wishful thinking I guess.

Chicago Sun Times reporter Lynn Sweet reports that Sesenbrenner has sent a written apology to Michelle Obama.

Follow-up :
Akiba Solomon's article for The Daily Beast offers a relevant point of view on this story:

"Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner and Rush Limbaugh make asses of themselves when they trash talk about Michelle Obama’s appearance instead of frankly addressing the issues she raises about nutrition and health care."                   

And that’s what’s scary to a paunchy, sexist trash-talker like Limbaugh. He simply can’t bear to see a woman be proud of what her body actually looks like when she’s eating nutritious foods, splurging occasionally without apology, exercising regularly, and sporting biceps that make his look like mammoth knees.

I also think Sensenbrenner, Limbaugh, and their folk are afraid of how this country’s first black First Lady is changing the centuries-old, dehumanizing scripts about women of color in media and beyond.

Every time Michelle Obama from Chi-Town jumps Double-Dutch with schoolkids, hits the hula hoop, teaches us how to dougie, shows Desmond Tutu how to do a proper pushup or does a record number of jumping jacks, she chips away at Ronald Reagan’s fake welfare queen, Hollywood’s jolly mammies, and Jackie magazine’s “niggabitch” with a “ghetto ass.”

Clearly, these petty, dirty old men have been gawking at the First Lady’s behind when they could have been studying and debating Let’s Move policies.

SCOTUS May Impact 2012 Election

(Photo: Bill O'Leary/The Washington Post)

Aaron Blake, Washington Post, reports:

With its recent decisions to take up a trio of major cases, the U.S. Supreme Court has signaled that it will become a major player in the 2012 election.

The court’s decision Monday to review Arizona’s controversial illegal immigration law was just the latest addition to what many see as its most important and politically charged docket in recent years. 

The court also said late Friday that it would review a contentious redistricting situation in Texas, and perhaps most importantly, a few weeks ago it said it would examine President Obama’s health-care bill.
 

...all three are part of an emerging picture of a pretty powerful and assertive court that will hand down rulings with political consequences for the 2012 election.
 

 Who will benefit from the court's decisions?

Tea Party Group Compares POTUS to a Skunk

Patriot Freedom Alliance, a Hutchinson, Kansas Tea Party group, is coming under fire for making a racially-tinged Obama skunk reference. An offensive illustration comparing President Obama to a skunk was posted on patriotfreedomalliance.org, the website of the group, with the caption: "The skunk has replaced the eagle as the new symbol for the president. It is half black, it is half white, and almost everything it does, stinks."

It was removed from the Patriot Freedom Alliance web site after being highly criticized for its racially charged message by the NAACP.

Local newspaper the Hutchinson News reported that Thomas Hymer, who maintains the web site, defended this message saying: "It's satire is what it is. Satire in a politically incorrect form."

Area NAACP president Darrell Pope told the paper that the caption attacking President Obama is "a blatant statement of racism[...] intended to be malicious."

Source: The Grio

Glenn Beck Calls Tea Party Racist

From Think Progress:

In a startling admission from a major Tea Party champion, former Fox News host Glenn Beck said Friday that race may be a motivating factor in the Tea Party's opposition to President Obama. In an interview with Fox Business host Andrew Napolitano, Beck said Obama and GOP front-runner Newt Gingrich are both "big government progressive[s]," so he doesn't understand why Tea Party members are supporting Gingrich. "If you're against [Obama] but you're for [Gingrich], it must be about race," Beck said:

BECK: And I issued a challenge to Tea Party members. ... [Gingrich] is a progressive. ... If you have a big government progressive, or a big government progressive in Obama, one in Newt Gingrich, one in Obama, ask yourself this, Tea Party: is it about Obama's race? Because that's what it appears to be to me. If you're against him but you're for this guy, it must be about race.

I'd love to hear your comments on this. I'm just speechless! What do I do now since I almost never believe anything Glenn Beck says  and I usually don't agree with him.

Senate GOP Block Cordray Nomination to Stop the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

The Senate rejected Richard Cordray, President Obama's nominee to head the newly formed Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. There was little mystery to the vote -- 44 Republicans pledged in May to block his nomination. The final tally was 53-45, with Republican Olympia Snowe of Maine voting "present." Sen. Scott Brown of Massachusetts, facing the bureau's inventor Elizabeth Warren, was the lone dissenting GOP vote.

Republicans don't like the agency, so they've fought to hamper it by refusing to approve any one as its Director.  Once again, they've made new rules and confirm they'll do anything to protect the rich and stick it to the middle class.

Some Democrats Waiver in Support of President Obama

Joe Manchin, Bernie Sanders, John Barrows (AP Photos)

Democrats Joe Manchin, independent Bernie Sanders and John Barrow aren't committed to Obama.    

A number of moderate Democrats like Texas Rep. Henry Cuellar and liberals like Sen. Bernie Sanders are declining to give their unqualified support for the president, saying they’re either too focused on their own races or are calling on the White House to cater to their agendas before they will offer an endorsement.

It would never happen in the GOP.

Related articles

• Some Democrats refuse to back Obama (politico.com)

Political Games: Same Song-Different Day

The country’s facing serious difficulties. Unemployment is at 9 per cent, the housing market is tanking and Americans have lost confidence in the future. The President is fighting back and his Republican opponents are climbing over another to grab the brass ring.

The GOP candidates take every opportunity to criticize Obama, promising to make him a “one term president”. Romney went to Nevada where foreclosures are highest in the nation and promised to let the “normal market process” force owners out of their homes and allow the properties to be rented. The candidates have presented their financial proposals, including Herman Cain’s 9-9-9 plan and Rick Perry’s “flat tax” plan. The rich will get richer and the middle class and the poor will be adversely affected. Bachman and her fellows vow to repeal “Obamacare”, but offer nothing to replace it to solve healthcare issues.

Voters agree with the President and the Democrats on major issues such as ending the Bush tax cutas for the wealthy and preserving Social Security and Medicare. They agree with Republicans that the government should spend less, but seem to doubt that any of the GOP candidates would trim the budget in an intelligent and compassionate way.

Simply not being Obama is not enough. Calls to make Obama a “one term president” aren’t getting the same big response.  Many voters realize that Republican candidates are selling the same old policies-trickle-down economics and tax cuts for the rich. Funny, they don’t even try to change their rhetoric. I wonder if they know voters aren’t buying it.