Civil & Human Rights

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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Governor Goodhair ‘mansplains’ to Wendy Davis

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Governor Goodhair, Rick Perry of the theocratic Republic of Texas Gilead (literary reference to The Handmaid’s Tale), was none too happy about state Sen. Wendy Davis leading a people’s filibuster to defeat his anti-abortion measure. Doesn’t this little lady know that women are supposed to be subservient to their men folk and to be seen and not heard? How dare she violate the law of God (according to these religious extremists).

Read this disturbing report by Forrest Wilder in the August 2011 issue of Texas Observer, Rick Perry’s Army of God. The movement is called the New Apostolic Reformation. Believers fashion themselves modern-day prophets and apostles:

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[T]wo Texas pastors, Tom Schlueter of
Arlington and Bob Long of San Marcos, who called on Perry in the
governor’s office inside the state Capitol. Schlueter and Long both
oversee small congregations, but they are more than just pastors. They
consider themselves modern-day apostles and prophets, blessed with the
same gifts as Old Testament prophets or New Testament apostles.

The pastors told Perry
of God’s grand plan for Texas. A chain of powerful prophecies had
proclaimed that Texas was “The Prophet State,” anointed by God to lead
the United States into revival and Godly government. And the governor
would have a special role.

* * *

If they simply professed unusual beliefs,
movement leaders wouldn’t be remarkable. But what makes the New
Apostolic Reformation movement so potent is its growing fascination with
infiltrating politics and government. The new prophets and apostles
believe Christians—certain Christians—are destined to not just take
“dominion” over government, but stealthily climb to the commanding
heights of what they term the “Seven Mountains” of society, including
the media and the arts and entertainment world. They believe they’re
intended to lord over it all. As a first step, they’re leading an “army
of God” to commandeer civilian government.

In Rick Perry, they may have found their vessel. And the interest appears to be mutual.

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President Obama’s statement on Senate passage of immigration reform

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

From the White House: Statement by President Obama on Senate Passage of Immigration Reform:

Statement by President Obama on Senate Passage of Immigration Reform

Today, with a strong bipartisan vote, the United States Senate
delivered for the American people, bringing us a critical step closer to
fixing our broken immigration system once and for all.

I thank Majority Leader Reid, Senator Leahy, Senator
Schumer, and every member of the ‘Gang of Eight’ for their leadership,
and I commend all Senators who worked across party lines to get this
done.

The bipartisan bill that passed today was a compromise.
By definition, nobody got everything they wanted.  Not Democrats.  Not
Republicans.  Not me.  But the Senate bill is consistent with the key
principles for commonsense reform that I – and many others – have
repeatedly laid out.

If enacted, the Senate bill would establish the most
aggressive border security plan in our history.  It would offer a
pathway to earned citizenship for the 11 million individuals who are in
this country illegally – a pathway that includes passing a background
check, learning English, paying taxes and a penalty, and then going to
the back of the line behind everyone who’s playing by the rules and
trying to come here legally.  It would modernize the legal immigration
system so that it once again reflects our values as a nation and
addresses the urgent needs of our time.  And it would provide a big
boost to our recovery, by shrinking our deficits and growing our
economy.

Today, the Senate did its job.  It’s now up to the House to do the same. 

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