The GOP and voter intimidation and disenfranchisement

Dear GOP,

You, who are so concerned about "voter fraud" that you've enacted restrictive voting laws harkening back to Jim Crow... You have the balls, the unmitigated gall, the cajones, the chutzpah to "require" your primary voters to sign a pledge that they will vote Republican in the general election? What. The. Fuck.

This strikes at the very heart of free elections. Something our democracy is based on. What gives you the legal right to force a citizen to vote for any candidate? If this were happening in the elections in Iraq, Egypt, or any other middle east nation, you would be crying foul, and rightfully so.

Whether there is any legal way to actually enforce this forced pledge, other than through intimidation (uhh, illegal) is unclear to me. But to deny a citizen the right to vote in a primary unless they commit to a particular party for the general election has got to be illegal, unconstitutional, immoral, and im-, il-, and un- everything else.

I understand that the parties set the rules at the state level for primaries, and I have no problem with that in theory, assuming that the rules set forth are freaking constitutional.

US Department of Justice - I call on you to investigate this practice and put a stop to it!

So, GOP, how do I spell GOP?

H.Y.P.O.C.R.I.S.Y.

You have created voter ID laws in many states, under the guise of "stopping voter fraud", when indeed, there are so few cases of voter fraud in the US that your obvious goal of disenfranchising any voter likely to vote against your party becomes glaringly obvious. Whether this is motivated by greed, desire for power, simple and outright fear that your base is itself becoming disenfranchised from your ever-increasingly extremist message, or all three does not matter. What does matter, is that you are forcing honest, law-abiding US citizens out of their constitutional right to vote. People who traditionally vote Democratic. The elderly, students (who apparently only vote liberal), minorities and the poor - all who may, due to socioeceonomic and other factors, may have a more difficult time getting an approved voter ID.

And yet, in the Iowa caucuses, you are not requiring voters to show ID. Huh. I wonder why that is? Could it be that you are confident that all GOP voters in the caucuses will vote GOP, so then, no need to force their hand? Apparently, you aren't so confident in Virginia.

If only you would step away from your desperate grab for more power, more money, more, More, MOAR!!! You might see that you were elected to represent ALL the people in your district - not just the ones who voted for you or are likely to vote for you again. You would see that people are hurting, and forcing them to take time off of a job in order to obtain "proper" voting ID might cause them to lose said job. But of course, those people are just deadbeats anyway, so what do we care if they lose their job?

Constitution 101, just in case you've forgotten some of these...
Article XV
The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

Article XIX
The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.

Amendment XXIV
The right of citizens of the United States to vote in any primary or other election for President or Vice President, for electors for President or Vice President, or for Senator or Representative in Congress, shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any state by reason of failure to pay any poll tax or other tax.

Amendment XXVI
The right of citizens of the United States, who are 18 years of age or older, to vote, shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any state on account of age.

Word. Oh, George, how I miss you.

Words can't express how much I miss George Carlin. He hits the nail on the head every time, no more so than here. Yes, Pro-Life IS Anti-Woman.

Disclaimer: this is George Carlin. Profanity is a given. If the use of the F word multiple times is offensive to you, please stop now. If not, listen to Carlin tell it like it is. And so well.

Dear .@MittRomney, guess what $10,000 gets the 99%?

Oh, Mittens. Really? Truly?

You have the chutzpah to just throw a $10,000 bet out there in a presidential debate on national TV just to prove you're not a flip-flopper?  Really? Ok then. And then you defend yourself by saying you had to poop in a bucket on your Mormon mission? *shakes head* Mitt, Mitt, Mitt.

You gave this ammo to the DNC before the bet was even declined, in the only bright thing that Rick Perry has ever done in his adult life.




Lots of folks are sharing #what10Kbuys, just to help you understand why we're all so annoyed with you.

For me? It would pay off my credit card debt - the one incurred because my teacher husband and I, while both working full time, come up short about $250 every single month in keeping a roof over our heads in Southern California, paying for gas to get us to our jobs (since there is no public transportation system where we live), feeding our two teenage boys (and yes, Newt, the older one even has a job!), clothing them, and saving for college so we aren't, you know, an absurdity.

Once again, I'm forced to say to a Republican presidential candidate: Fuck you and the horse you rode in on. Until you've walked in my shoes, don't talk about how great I have it and how I'm a deliberate drain on the system. Don't talk about how my teacher husband, who goes to work at 7:00 and comes home at 4:30 without a lunch break, and works at least one weekend day each weekend, works part time. We're part of the group that keeps this economy going. You know... the MIDDLE CLASS. I buy in the stores. I pay to the colleges. I actually pay my taxes, even though I may not like how the government uses most of that money.

[Oh, and side note. Newt? Simply because I don't like a law like having to pay my taxes when the government is screwing it all up, doesn't mean that I get to disregard it. Cause if I could? Yeah, you wouldn't be getting a dime of my tax money. Except guess what? I would go to jail for that. So think about how the little people feel when you want to disregard laws or judicial rulings simply because you don't like them.]

Oh, and also? The second that Ann Coulter, the bitchiest, cruelest, nastiest woman person thing in America endorsed you, Mitt? Yeah, you gave up any hope.

What does $10K buy? Apparently, when Mitt pays it, it buys a second term for President Obama.

What would $10,000 buy you?

Again I ask, Why do you guys always call us racist?

I've tried to curtail my ranting in deference to my blood pressure, but the past couple days have brought some just awful stories in the news. For example, I've kept my mouth shut as Rick Santorum threw himself back into the limelight with a vengeance, creating several Santorum is an Ass moments.

However, in response to the age old question that the Tea Party and Republicans keep asking about why people would ever think they're racist, I just couldn't keep my mouth shut any longer...

The Patriot Freedom Alliance Tea Party of Hutchinson, Kansas posted on its home page a picture of a skunk with the following text:

The skunk has replaced the eagle as the new symbol for the president. It is half black, half white, and almost everything it does, stinks.

In yet another version of "I know you are, but what am I?", they have defended their position by saying that Sarah Palin has been called worse.

Then, there's good ol' Rush Limbaugh, the king of the racists. Laughing about Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, and the President.


I think Bill Maher summed it up perfectly in his New Rules.

Oh yes. And then there's the campaign to rid all advertising from All-American Muslim. The Florida Family Association has run a campaign to get all advertisers to back out of the show, claiming it's Muslim propaganda. Lowe's has apparently succumbed to the pressure. Because we all know that the retirees in Florida are spending their retirement dollars at Lowe's. Pretty sure that if Home Depot wanted to get a leg up, they should advertise on TLC right about now.

The irony is, of course, that the show seeks to reach out and teach understanding of Muslims and their faith to good old fashioned Americans. Ok then.

It's just another act that proves the point that corporate America is in the pockets of the far right. And yes, that's a huge generalization. But lately, I haven't seen a whole lot about corporations doing a lot to promote peace, tranquility, and prosperity for the little guy. Please feel free to point out all the wonderful corporations that are out there doing the right thing. I'd love to send my money their way.