Civil & Human Rights

Ohio Tea-Publicans restrict women’s reproductive health care

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

While all eyes were on Texas last week and the people's filibuster led by state Sen. Wendy Davis, Tea-Publicans in Ohio demonstrated how to get things done in the dark while no one is paying much attention. Like cockroaches.

Former FAUX News host and Governor of Ohio, John Kasich, signed into law an appropriations bill this week that contains some of the most onerous and restrictive anti-women's reproductive health measures in the country. I fail to see how these substantive legislative measures are germain to an appropriations bill — perhaps this is grounds for a legal challenge — but that is how Tea-Publicans roll in Ohio. Surrounded By Men, Ohio Governor Signs Stringent Abortion Restrictions Into Law:

Flanked by a group of other male officials, Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R) signed a contentious two-year budget bill
into law on Sunday evening. The governor vetoed 22 amendments to HB 59
before approving it, but he left intact several provisions that will severely limit women’s reproductive access.

The new budget, which takes effect on Monday, includes at least five
new anti-abortion provisions. HB 59 will defund Planned Parenthood
clinics, reallocate family planning funding to right-wing “crisis pregnancy centers,”
strip funding from rape crisis centers that give their clients any
information about abortion services, impose harsh restrictions on
abortion clinics that will force many of them to shut down, and require
doctors to give women seeking abortion information about the presence of
a “fetal heartbeat.”

Taken together, the budget amendments ensure that Ohio now has some of the most stringent abortion laws in the nation.

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So how exactly does this help GOP rebranding after its War on Women?

On the Anniversary of the Civil Rights Act of 1964

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Today marks the 49th anniversary of the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, a landmark piece of civil rights legislation that outlawed major forms of discrimination against racial, ethnic, national and religious minorities, and women. It ended unequal application of voter registration requirements and racial segregation in schools, at the workplace and by facilities that served the general public (known as "public accommodations").

I guess the media is waiting for the 50th anniversary to take note of this historic achievement. The media may not want to wait after the U.S. Supreme Court effectively gutted the enforcement provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 last week, and interpreted provisions of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 in such a way as to make claims for workplace discrimination under the act harder to enforce. The Roberts Court is hostile to the civil rights acts.

I am in agreement with Ed Kilgore at the Political Animal blog, “Getting Over” Jim Crow:

[Chief Justice] John Roberts and so many others try to argue that discrimination
against black folks in the Deep South is some sort of ancient scandal
with no relevance today, you can’t much get around the fact that just 49
years ago Jim Crow was very much alive and as pervasive a feature of
southern life for both races as fried food or hot weather or going to
church on Sunday.

Referendum to block the Voter Suppression Act, HB 2305 filed today – it’s on!

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

6a00d8341bf80c53ef0192abd1b7ee970d-piThe Arizona Capitol Times (subscription required) reports, Election law opponents move toward a referendum:


Critics of the state’s new election law today filed papers to create a political committee that will challenge the legislation through a referendum.

The new group, Protect Your Right to Vote, faces a daunting task: to gather 86,405 valid signatures by Sept. 12 to halt the law’s implementation until voters get the chance to weigh on it in the 2014 general election.

The group filed a referendum petition with the Secretary of State today.

The referendum committee is chaired by Julie Erfle, who writes for the blog site Politics Uncuffed and is the widow of a police officer killed in the line of duty.

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Is the GOP becoming the White Man’s Party?

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Crazy Uncle Pat Buchanan was a firm believer in the GOP Southern Strategy of appealing to the racism of white voters against African-Americans when he worked for Presidents Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan. The Southern Strategy is sometimes referred to as “white grievance” against federal enforcement of civil rights laws for African-Americans and intervention on their
behalf, including the passage of the Voting Rights Act. It is a political strategy of racial polarization.

Back in May, crazy Uncle Pat Buchanan wrote an article calling for a new Southern Strategy against Latino voters. Pat Buchanan Calls For ‘Southern Strategy’ Against Latinos, Immigrants:

In an article published by the website World Net Daily last week, Buchanan describes increased black voter turnout and Latino demographic growth as a “crisis for the Grand Old Party.” To combat it, the conservative pundit implies that the Republican Party should adopt a new version of the “Southern Strategy” revolving around immigration.

At the time, the commentariat largely dismissed this as just crazy Uncle Pat spouting off his usual racist ranting again.

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Citizens Referendum to block the Voter Suppression Act, HB 2305

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

If you have vacation plans in in July and August, you should consider rescheduling. Get a good pair of shoes and a hat, and stock up on water and sun block. It is time for you to fight for voting rights in Arizona.

It is going to take every man and woman who honors the brave sacrifice of those who marched and died for your right to vote to go to work to make this citizens referendum happen. “We shall overcome.”

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Arm in arm, Martin Luther King and his wife, Coretta Scott King, leading the voting rights march from Selma to Montgomery, Ala., March 1965. (Credit: William Lovelace—Express/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

The Arizona Capitol Times (subscription required) reports Election bill foes join forces, eye referendum:

There’s plenty for a broad array of opponents to hate in an omnibus election bill passed at the end of the session, and a diverse coalition is now banding together for a probable citizen referendum drive against HB2305.

Democrats and Latino activist groups oppose a provision making it illegal for campaigns or political organizations to collect voters’ early ballots, as well as a provision intended to purge the Permanent Early Voting List of people who don’t actually use their early ballots. Libertarians and Greens are worried about dramatically increased signature requirements that they say will make it extremely difficult, if not impossible, for most of their candidates to get on the ballot.

Sen. Steve Gallardo, D-Phoenix, said it is a near-certainty that the coalition of HB2305 opponents will file a referendum.

“We have our shoes on. All we need to do is tie the laces and we are moving forward,” Gallardo said. “The chances of this happening are pretty much there.”
Arizona Libertarian Party Chairman Warren Severin said the decision is essentially a done deal.

“There will be a referendum on this,” Severin said.

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