Posted by AzBlueMeanie: Hey "coalition of the ascendant" Democrats — you still need to actually get out and do the hard work of campaigning to win. Demographics alone does not win elections. So here are two opportunities for you to put on your walking shoes and do some some grassroots campaigning this weekend. You can … Read more
by David Safier This morning I posted about the $8 million tax credit donation GEICO made to Arizona Leadership Foundation a Student Tuition Organization (STO) that gives out vouchers for private school tuition. I also noted that GEICO will get the entire $8 million taken off its tax bill, leaving the taxpayers stuck with $8 … Read more
by David Safier For anyone interested in the financial well being of the for-profit, online-school corporation K12 Inc. (local school, Arizona Virtual Academy), after the stock plummeted 40% two weeks ago, it made a feeble attempt at recovery from its $17.60 low — it climbed all the way back to $19.01 — but today it … Read more
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
Voter I.D. laws have a disparate impact on the poor, the elderly, minorities, and college students by requiring a state-issued photo I.D. many do not possess, and requiring original documents, typically a birth certificate, in order to obtain the appropriate state-issued photo ID. The cost of obtaining original vital records document(s) is often prohibitively expensive to someone who cannot afford it. This works as an unconstitutional poll tax in my opinion, but our illustrious U.S. Supreme Court disagrees.
Another bloc of voters for whom voter I.D. laws have a disparate impact are women who have married or divorced, but who have not updated their state-issued photo I.D. to reflect their name change. This is about to become an issue in Texas. Alex Palombo writes at the Huffington Post, What 19th Amendment?
It's a trend lately, that if a party is afraid of losing an election,
they pass legislation barring key groups in their opponents' base from
voting. And clearly, it's something Texas has taken to heart. Right
after Wendy Davis declared that she was running for governor, Texas
Republicans set out to disenfranchise women from voting, 19th Amendment be damned.
And the way they're keeping ladies out of the voting booth it is a doozy.
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
A must-read post from Jon Favreau at The Daily Beast. The Tea Party, Not Democrats or Republicans, Is the Problem:
So now that our government is open and able to pay its bills, what soon-to-be-forgotten lessons have we learned from this sorry fiasco?
Perhaps most important is the reminder that political temper tantrums in
Washington exact a toll that goes far beyond unfavorable headlines and
worse-than-dog-poo poll numbers. This decision hurt people.
* * *
Which brings me to the second shutdown lesson. As a country, we may
never get a more revealing, disturbing look at the true source of
Washington’s dysfunction than we did over the last few weeks.
* * *
The Tea Party is the problem.