by Pamela Powers Hannley Pro-choice advocates are fighting the Republican Party's anti-woman laws in Wisconsin, North Carolina, and Texas. In Wisconsin, a federal judge has issued a temporary restraining order to block enforcement of the anti-abortion legislation signed in secret by Governor Scott Walker on July 5. From the Huffington Post… U.S. District Judge William Conley … Read more
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
I am a devoted fan of School House Rock, and "I'm just a bill on Capitol Hill" has always been one of my favorites. This remix by Bad Bill at YouTube, "Texas Special Session Blues," is awesome! Texas Special Session Blues (I'm Just a Bill Remix) – YouTube.
Video and transcript below the fold.
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
Last week I posed the question, Is the GOP becoming the White Man's Party?, based upon a provocative series of articles by Sean Trende at Real Clear Politics arguing that the GOP does not need to improve its appeal to Latino voters as much as it needs to improve its appeal to the "missing white voters" of its base.
Today we know the answer to the question: the GOP has dramatically shifted to the position that the House does not need to take up comprehensive immigration reform any time soon, and the GOP should focus on appealing to the "missing white voters" of its base.
The "Pinky and The Brain" of movement conservatism intellectual thought, Weekly Standard editor William Kristol and National Review editor Rich Lowry — two of the most influential conservative voices in media — co-signed an editorial today in The Weekly Standard urging House Republicans to "kill the bill."
Governor Bobby Jindal, the self-styled "Brain of Baton Rouge," who famously advised the GOP that it has to "stop being the stupid party" earlier this year, penned a column today for the National Review on immigration reform entitled “Botching immigration again,” in which he also comes to the conclusion to "kill the bill" (without saying so directly).
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
I posted about this legislation in Oregon last week. Automatic (universal) voter registration – Oregon leads the way.
Sadly, the legislation failed by a single vote in the Oregon Senate when a Democratic defector joined with Republicans to defeat the bill. The Oregonian reports, Oregon Senate rejects universal voter registration proposal:
Legislation aimed at adding hundreds of thousands of registered voters
in Oregon failed by a single vote in the state Senate on Sunday.
Sen. Betsy Johnson, D-Scappoose, joined with all 14 Republicans to
defeat a bill that would automatically register eligible voters when
they received new or updated driver licenses in Oregon.
Secretary of State Kate Brown had promoted House Bill 3521 as an ambitious way to remove barriers to voting and greatly increase voting participation in the state.
* * *
[Critics] said they feared the bill would lead to greater voter fraud in
Oregon and that anyone who cared enough to vote should take personal
responsibility for registering.
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
A frequently made argument by GOP apologists, like Robert Robb of the Arizona Republic, is that Arizona should not be a covered jurisdiction under the Voting Rights Act.
Arizona failed to meet certain criteria in 1972 to get federal approval for any state legislation or procedural changes that could impact voting, which included having low voter turnout and not offering election materials in other languages.
Arizona in 1974 implemented bilingual voting, but Congress never removed Arizona from the Section 4 covered jurisdiction formula in subsequent renewals of the Act. "We're being punished for the past!"
This argument requires one to ignore the fact that Arizona has always had the opportunity to "opt out" of the covered jurisdiction formula if it could adequately demonstrate a clean bill of health for a period of 10 years without any violations for discrimination against voters. A number of jurisdictions have successfully "opted out' over the years.
This argument also requires one to ignore the history of discrimination that occurred after Arizona was added to the list of covered jurisdictions — the Department of Justice filed formal objections
to racially discriminatory changes to Arizona law 22 times since 1973,
including each decennial redistricting — except for the most recent
redistricting in 2012.
This is the reason why Arizona has never been able to qualify for the "opt out" provision. Arizona cannot demonstrate a clean bill of health for a period of 10 years without any violations for discrimination against voters. Funny how the GOP apologists never mention this. They would have you believe it was just a one-off event over bilingual ballots in 1972. Hardly.