Please don't go to sleep on the massive attempts at VOTER SUPPRESSION IN FLORIDA

hat tips-The Reid Report, DailyKos

I've been writing about the numerous attempts at VOTER SUPPRESSION by the GOP just in time for the 2012 election. No state is more obvious about it than FLORIDA.

There is absolutely a concerted effort by the new GOP thug Governor and GOP-led legislature to pretty much LEGISLATE THE VOTER SUPPRESSION OF DEMOCRATIC PARTY VOTERS.

Rachel Maddow gives you a great background on Florida and what happened between 2004, when George Bush won the state, and 2008, when Barack Obama won the state handily. And, all the legal maneuvers of the GOP to undo/block every method the Democratic Party used in 2008 to get Democratic Party voters to the polls. Maddow has been doing a yoeman's job, almost single-handedly pointing out the attempts at Voter Suppression spread over a multi-state strategy. It's a very instructive piece; I wonder if those in the DNC are paying attention:

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I wrote in a previous post how the new Criminal who happens to be Governor in Florida reversed what former Governor Charlie Crist had done with regards to restoring voting rights for ex-felons. He stripped those ex-felons of their voting rights. Considering that the prison population in Florida looks like the prison population in the rest of the country, what color of voters do you think this recent reversal mostly affects?

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POTUS, Bin Laden, the Photos &......GOP Manhood

The President has decided NOT to release the photos of Osama Bin Laden. Good for him. We killed him; did the DNA test on him, he's dead, that's the end of it.

So, why are so many GOPers 'insisting ' that the President release the photos of Bin Laden?

I could go into a long treatise about why, but I think I'll leave the explanation to our poster coop10, who dropped this knowledge yesterday, and all I could say when I read it was AMEN.

So, why are some GOPers saying that the President should release the photos?:

ANSWER:

coop10

Let's not get it twisted. It's not about the photo of Bin Laden. It's about exerting power over President Obama. "Boy, since you got Bin Laden on your own without our (Obama-haters of all stripes) input, you bedda damn well put them pictures out."

What President Obama did, ladies and gentlemen was to emasculate the white man, and they are furious about his doing so. If they can force his hands on those photos, then they can maintain their control over him and the narrative. But he trumped them this time with the mother of all trumps --the killing of Osama Bin Laden.

But what do white men do? They minimize, denigrate, doubt, deride, scorn,and equivocate.

"Obama hesitated."

"He didn't give Bush credit."

"He just signed off on the mission."

"He didn't release the photos. "

"We don't know if he's really dead."

That a black man with the name of Barack Hussein Obama achieved the ultimate white male fantasy --killing America's number one enemy--is unforgivable to white men. Obama's achievement rendered the white man impotent, and so they try to reclaim their power --by demanding the pictures...."Give me those pictures, boy."But the President of the United States, Barack Obama, won't give them the chance to assume their white machismo. Instead, he says that we don't do trophies. We don't do heads on spikes. We don't do drunken frat boy stunts.

The black president is rewriting the rules on manhood and American-ness, and the white boys can't stand it. But after the slap down of Paul Ryan and Donald Trump, the release of his birth certificate and the killing of Bin Laden, President Obama stands as a man among boys-- white boys -- so they better grow up, in a hurry.

Like Rats Leaving a Sinking Ship...the GOP Deserts Paul "VOUCHERCARE" Ryan

Well...well...well.....

it seems as if the GOP isn't as big and bad as they pretended to be when they passed the Paul Ryan "DESTROY MEDICARE AND MEDICAID" 2012 Budget.

Now.....they're deserting him, leaving him on the branch alone.

I don’t give a shyt about how many Frank Luntz phrases that they use…

Seniors understand

End Medicare…Replace with Vouchercare


The GOP couldn’t get past that.

From TPM.com

Boehner: 'Political Realities' Make Medicare Privatization Difficult

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) is the latest GOP leader to acknowledge that his party's plan to privatize Medicare -- which passed the House as part of the Republican budget -- will hit a wall in the White House and Senate.

Responding Thursday to the news that one of his most powerful chairmen, Rep. Dave Camp (R-MI) of the House Ways and Means Committee, will not push ahead with the Medicare plan, Boehner told reporters, "My interpretation of what Mr. Camp [said] was a recognition of the political realities that we face. While Republicans control the House, the Democrats control the Senate and they control the White House."

Boehner insisted the GOP hasn't abandoned the plan, and isn't prepared to take anything other than tax increases off the table. But with multiple top Republicans now acknowledging that budget negotiations will focus on other areas of potential agreement, it seems understood that the plan is basically dead.

So, Orange Julius is saying that it might be needing, what, 'some retooling'?

Yeah, good luck with that.

But, TPM already points out the problems for ALLLLL the House Republicans, save 4:

There's just two problems with that, if you're a House Republican:
1.) The plan is still very unpopular, and 2.) There's over a 97 percent chance that you already voted for it.

Yes, the 2012 DNC Ads are being written as I type for those GOP House Members.

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On The Death of Osama Bin Laden

On May 1, 2011, President Obama announced that Osama bin Laden was killed in an American military raid in Pakistan. Here is Obama's announcement. Below are my initial thoughts. I'll avoid the political speculation for another day. It is too premature for talk like that because that is inherently divisive. For Americans not old enough to remember V-E day on May 7, 1945 and V-J day on September 2, 1945, this is the closest they have had to celebrating an actual military victory. Conflicts in Korea and Vietnam ended with quite unsatisfactory thuds. America and her allies were resoundingly victorious in the first Persian Gulf War, but we were merely freeing Kuwait; Americans did not feel the violent brunt of an attack in 1990/91.

This is different. It is rather eerie to celebrate the death of anyone, but exceptions must be made and this definitely calls for an exception. Bin Laden was a horrible ogre whose death signals justice to the friends, family and countrymen of his thousands of innocent victims.

My hope is that Americans remain dignified in this moment of joy.

Terrorism against America and her allies will not end tonight. The way of life that we love - and that others hate - will not change. Enmity toward America remains. May this moment serve as reflection for the thousands of American and allied service members and the untold number of civilians killed and wounded that their sacrifice was not in vain.

Just as importantly, let this night serve as a powerful signal to those that oppose America and her friends that we are at our best not starting wars, but finishing them.

Issues: May 4, 2011: bin Laden, Iran, Gas, GOP's budget, Cities w/Jobs, & Divorce

Most of the Western world continues to celebrate the death of bin Laden, many in Pakistan vow revenge. See this slideshow. The president's approval ratings went up 11%, but if you're an Obama supporter, don't get too excited. Not to be a Debbie Downer but these rally effect approval rating hikes tend toward the ephemeral.

Remember the hike the first Bush received after repelling Iraq from Kuwait? His approval ratings reached an all-time high, but he failed to win reelection when voters blamed him for a stagnant economy. This is why there is a sense of "foreboding" (NYT) in the polls despite personal satisfaction with Obama.

Joshua Tucker believes this might be "a bit of a game-changer."

I've heard lots of calls from liberals that now is the time to get out of Afghanistan because the wars cost too much. How much? Read here. I disagree. Now is the time to double-down on non-military foreign aid. It's important to remind the Middle East that we're than just about hunting down terrorists. We want economic and democratic opportunity everywhere for everyone. This chart show U.S. aid in the Middle East.

Violence, in the case of bin Laden's death, can actually be a good, however, in the case of Syria, violence, as it typically is, is quite bad. Follow that? One outcome is the Iranians have shut up. They know they are next in Spring Revolutions.

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In related news, George W. Bush's declination to Obama invitation to appear with him at Ground Zero should not go unnoticed. I appreciate the fact that the former president has stayed out of the limelight. It shows grace that he's not seeking to hog the limelight. Obama gave the order to get bin Laden after serious debate, but what president would want to be known as the one that let bin Laden escape.

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In unrelated news, this chart breaks down the cost of gas. No, most of it is not in taxes. The economy is what most Americans care most about and the GOP, if it loses big in 2012, according to Anson Kaye, will have to blame their proposed and enacted budget cuts. For those whom the economy is not so hot, you might want to consider relocating to these cities where the economy is hot. Whether or not you think the economy is hot or not largely depends on how much money you make.

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What do Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas, Texas, Georgia, Louisiana, Kentucky, Oklahoma and Maine have in common? They are high divorce, low-education states.

Understand the ORGANIZED, COORDINATED efforts by the GOP to shill the destruction of Medicare with VOUCHERCARE

Rachel Maddow has been one of the few in the media to keep, as part of her focus about the Paul Ryan VOUCHERCARE issue, her eyes on the MONEY and FOCUS behind the GOP.

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Ed Schultz also has on a guy from Mother Jones, who discusses the GOP phony think tank phenomenon that is behind so much of the nightmare legislation that you see cropping up now. The point of them is to undermine the Middle Class.

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But but but.....I thought the GOP was all 'big and bad'

West has been one flapping his mouth since before he was elected, and now he's can't be bothered to answer questions from constituents?

from The Huffington Post:

GOP Town Halls: Reps Forced To Screen Questions, Duck Out Of Meetings In Secret

The wave of town hall protests targeting House Republicans, and aided by labor and progressive groups, is forcing lawmakers to put restrictions on the forum’s traditionally open structure.

On Tuesday night, Rep. Allen West’s office (R-Fl.) reportedly screened questioners during his town hall event by requiring individuals to fill out index cards which were then vetted by his staff.

This was, the Boward County Sun Sentinel noted, different from “his usual practice at previous town hall meetings, where West took questions from people who lined up at microphones.”
................................

"Is this the type of transparency Alan West promised when he ran for office?" emailed one labor source, whose members and retirees have been attending town halls.

The source, who pointed out the West news, declined to go on the record but didn’t shy away from touting the role played by his and other organizations in causing discomfort for West and others. The labor union, the source said, had been sending members to other West town halls (though not the one Tuesday night), “to ask pointed questions of their members where they stand on privatizing Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security versus ending spending on tax cuts for the richest 2% of all Americans.”

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Breaking News; OSAMA BIN LADEN IS DEAD

it feels odd to even type that, but that's what the reports are saying.

The President's Statement:

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Media Alert:President and Mrs. Obama on Oprah

President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama sat down for an interview with Oprah Winfrey. It airs Monday, May 2nd.


President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama are pictured with Oprah Winfrey during a taping of The Oprah Winfrey Show at Harpo Studios in Chicago, Wednesday, April 27, 2011. ----AP Photo/Charles Dharapak