Well, folks, here's new one in voter suppression. If shortening hours, closing polling places, requiring specific forms of ID (gun licenses, say, but not college student ID), fingerprinting, not giving correct information to people at wrong polling places, holding on to mail-in ballots or sending out just plain misleading packets (ala Koch Brothers)….just tell folks that their vote doesn't really count anyway.

"Again, the idea is to make voting a troublesome and an almost unnecessary act that in the big picture isn't worth the effort. “Maybe not this time” we'll say, due to that 20 minute drive to the other side of town where we’ll wait in a 3 hour line……

…...There’s no shame in it, your vote is statistically unlikely to affect the outcome of an election. "

http://tinyurl.com/qcrevqz   (Thanks Democurmudgeon)

Speaking of those students having a tough time voting where they attend college….why not just tell 'em  "forget about voting…we don't even want you to register."

Later, she added: “If it’s not done the way we did it back in 2012, I’m not—I’m not good with it.”

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/college-republican-blocks-campus-voter-registration-drive

Remember, folks:

Your right to vote…..your duty actually…is being chipped away nefariously state to state, under the guise of "doing away with rampant voter fraud." If you don't have policies that the people are receptive to, you resort to other means. Don't let the Kochs and ALEC take this vote away from you. (Even if they try this: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/26/koch-brothers-voting-_n_5888110.html )

"As ALEC co-founder, Paul Weyrich, so chillingly observed during his 1980 remarks to a right-wing Christian audience (see video at right), their side does better when the number of citizens who vote goes down.

http://www.bradblog.com

"Way Down South In The Land Of Dixie....."

Living in the South..in the state of Tennessee exactly.....can be a mixed blessing. The Smoky Mountains are a whole world unto themselves, any time of year. People are friendly and hospitable. Food is wonderful and music of all genres is everywhere. Families have lived here for generations...even those who have lived in other states always seem to return.

But how do you explain the absolute thoughtless, heartless, selfish, and of course politically motivated, moves such as these:

Take food away from families if a child gets bad grades:
http://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/320-80/16764-tennessee-advances-bill-that-would-tie-welfare-to-childrens-grades

Refuse to counsel troubled students:
http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/david/tennessee-bill-allows-christian-counselors

Don't accept state-issued college ID for voting:
http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2013/apr/04/bill-wont-allow-student-ids-for-voting/

Refuse to obey any federal legislation:
http://www.thepiratescove.us/2013/02/26/kentucky-senate-passes-gun-nullification-legislation/



And then what was my personal favorite:
http://news.msn.com/us/lawmakers-want-state-religion-in-nc-defying-first-amendment

Which has been topped by THIS:
http://www.upi.com/blog/2013/04/03/North-Carolina-bill-would-tax-parents-of-college-students-limit-college-vote/6961365017546/

The Wonder Of Voting in America
or wondering if your vote is counted

Our system of voting is not the same for every state, country, locale, class, or skin color. Oh, yes, I know.....we say it is, but deep inside we know that is a lie.  Big corporations with deep pockets, their lobbyists and politicians, and those with "hidden" ulterior motives set the tone for this basic "freedom " we take for granted.
"Politicians of one party do not set voting schedules to favor their side and harm the other. Politicians do not move around voting places to gain advantages for themselves or to disadvantage their opponents. In fact, in almost no other country do politicians have any say in the administration of elections at all."

http://tinyurl.com/a39cb3t

Instead of looking for "voter fraud", manipulation of votes, re-programmed voting machines, and changing the requirements for voter IDs or early voting hours, why not just make it MANDATORY for everyone to vote???

"Places with mandatory voting also have less wealth inequality, lower levels of political corruption and higher levels of satisfaction with the way democracy is working than voluntary systems. Here in Australia, where we love freedom as much as anyone else, we have a mandatory voting regime that is well managed, corruption-free, easy to access, cheap to run and has an approval rating of more than 70 percent."
                                                           http://tinyurl.com/a39cb3t

Oh, I know I'm not naive enough to think that would ever be agreed upon here....what the Repubs complain about then? Would they want to put people in jail because they DIDN"T vote or voted for the WRONG person?

And even after the election no matter how it is done, we'd still get result like this, no matter what: 

"House Republicans are sending a stark message to the White House: If President Barack Obama pushes for tax increases during the lame-duck session, it would ruin his chances for a productive second term."

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1112/83297.html#ixzz2BNpD3cwk

Same old, same old: http://firstread.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/11/06/14974172-gop-leaders-draw-line-on-taxes-ahead-of-election-results?lite

Just This....

UPDATE:
If you've got a minute, head on over to Southern Beale's blog, especially those of you who were not aware of ol' Mitt's family background. He had a pair of really supportive, understanding parents it seems. WHAT happened???

http://southernbeale.wordpress.com/2012/09/19/who-is-john-galt-and-why-is-he-such-an-asshole/#comment-11665

Who are YOU voting for in November?

Creating A More Congenial Reality

.....or at least one that fits your politics

Rush Limbaugh, the Oracle of the Right, came out today with the most convoluted tirade he's done in a while: Obama and his team are using FACTS to suppress the voters in the upcoming election.

"So now it’s not a referendum on Obama. It’s a choice between two guys, which means, of course, whatever Romney says matters. I’m here to tell you, folks, you have got to stay bucked up. The effort to depress you and keep you home, I’ve never seen it like this before in my life."
http://www.politicususa.com/rush-limbaugh-claims-obama-facts-polls-suppress-republican-vote.html

That would seem to fit in with the Romney team which announced last week that they were NOT going to let their campaign be "dictated by fact checkers." Yes..they only put a damper on things....

I read an interesting article that seems to put in perspective this alternative reality seemingly accepted without question on the Right. Republicans would not be Republicans today without it.

"My old Republican worldview was flawed because it was based upon a small and particularly rosy sliver of reality.  To preserve that worldview, I had to believe that people had morally earned their “just” desserts, and I had to ignore those whining liberals who tried to point out that the world didn’t actually work that way.  I think this shows why Republicans put so much effort into “ creat[ing] our own reality ,” into fostering distrust of liberals, experts, scientists, and academics, and why they won’t let a campaign “ be dictated by fact-checkers ” (as a Romney pollster put it).  It explains why study after study shows -- examples here, here, and here -- that avid consumers of Republican-oriented media are more poorly informed than people who use other news sources or don’t bother to follow the news at all."

http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/political-awakening-republican-i-had-viewed-whole-swaths-country-and-world-second?page=0%2C0

Aside from all the headaches this creates for the voters in this election, it also creates a more dire problem in the long run: too many people rely on the media to give them background on which they will base their decisions. OR they just sit there, soak in all the mistruths, and perpetuate the falsehoods.

"Whether all this helps the Republican Party in 2012 is of less consequence than the larger danger it poses to America. Democracy cannot thrive when truth becomes irrelevant. To the contrary, history teaches that this is how demagogues take root."

http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/reich/article/How-Republicans-reinforce-campaign-of-lies-3850026.php

Denial Of Rights Made Right

UPDATE: Governor NOT going to follow court's ruling.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/04/ohio-voting_n_1855238.html
This is going to be an all-out war for votes in Ohio.

It's gratifying to see that once in a while precedent actually counts for something, and fairness prevails:

http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2012/08/31/784981/breaking-federal-court-strikes-down-ohio-law-restricting-early-voting

"Amusingly, the court’s opinion relies on the Supreme Court’s infamous decision in Bush v. Gore to reach this holding, citing Bush‘s statement that “[h]aving once granted the right to vote on equal terms, the State may not, by later arbitrary and disparate treatment, value one person’s vote over that of another.”


Now, I wonder if Rep. Sec. of State Jon Husted (he of the questionable political past) will give the two Dems on the Montgomery County Boards of Elections their jobs back??

"The Democrats were removed as the result of their failure to comply with Husted's order to standardize early voting hours across the state. Ritchie and Lieberman voted to keep early voting hours on weekends despite Husted's order which only specified weekday voting, claiming that Husted's order was ambiguous."

http://www.wdtn.com/dpp/news/local/montgomery/dems-kicked-off-local-election-board#.UED_RELFJ5g

I know these Right Wingers, with the aid of Koch money, are trying their best to win this election. Maybe, just maybe, they won't. But we can't take ANYTHING for granted....or lying down.