Why vote for a party that is taking away the right to vote?

That would be the “Republican” party, of course. They are, as they have been for many years, trying to suppress the vote, in order to limit the franchise to people like themselves, thereby cutting anyone is not male, rich, and white (and of late, a right wingnut) out of the action. From the article:

Pivotal swing states under Republican control are embracing significant new electoral restrictions on registering and voting that go beyond the voter identification requirements that have caused fierce partisan brawls.

The bills, laws and administrative rules — some of them tried before — shake up fundamental components of state election systems, including the days and times polls are open and the locations where people vote.

Republicans in Ohio and Wisconsin this winter pushed through measures limiting the time polls are open, in particular cutting into weekend voting favored by low-income voters and blacks, who sometimes caravan from churches to polls on the Sunday before election.

Notice this: it is an admittedly targeted set of blatantly unconstitutional laws that are designed to rig the game against those who might vote for the Democrats. The supposed reasons have been changing from “voter fraud” (which almost never happens) to “uniformity” ( demolished here ), but the measures remain the same.

One might think that when a problem changes, the solution would likewise change. And one would be right. The fact that the actions taken to remove our voting rights aren’t changing is all the proof you need that we are being screwed.

This writer sees a different problem, and thus a different solution: the problem is scumbucket politicians taking away our rights. The solution is to throw them into prison, and keep our rights intact.

Oh, and stop voting for the party that wants to take away your right to cast that ballot.

Mr. Blunt and Cranky

Partisan State Elections Officials Should be Thrown in Prison

First off, let’s note that Secretary Of State (SOS) has the same acronym as Sack Of S*** (SOS). Coincidence? Mr. Blunt and Cranky thinks not.

http://mobile.cleveland.com/advcleve/pm_29204/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=yS5XCPR9 is a link to a story that shows just how much of a scum-sucking partisan is Mr. J. Husted, and how pissed off the judiciary is getting with his reindeer games. He has spent loads of scarce taxpayer money trying to suppress Dem voters, all with the blessing of Kasich and the rest of the “Republican” yahoos that run the State-level government here in O-H-I-O. Indeed, he has gone all the way up the judicial ladder with his sleazy, unconstitutional power plays and been shot down like a skeet on almost every occasion. But does he stop? Nooooooooo. He keeps on keeping on in his quest to steal the next election (since he failed miserably this time), and be damned to those who want free and fair elections: or even those who just want him to stop wasting our money.

Nor is he the only SOS who is stinking up the joint: in Kansas, they have a jackass who is busy trying to get every non-lily-white person in the U.S. deported (even if they were born here). Any of those swarthy folk he can’t boot out, he is trying to remove from the state voter rolls. Citizens there are trying to recall his ass, so far without success.

And let’s not even talk about the malodorous SOS in Florida, who is working with Rick Scott to make his state into a bigger banana republic (and laughingstock) than it already is. Yes, you thought it couldn’t happen: but they are giving it their all. Bless their pointed little heads.

These “people” are required to be fair and impartial: they don’t even pretend anymore. Or, if they are pretending, not much of anybody is buying their act. But they continue trying to steal elections, disenfranchise voters, waste our hard-earned and generally making a mockery of the oaths they swore.

Throw ‘em in prison (since we aren’t allowed to use stocks in the village square anymore) and let them rot. We do that to criminals who steal cars: we should most certainly do it to politicians who are stealing whole state governments. Perhaps the next politician who “serves” as SOS will take the lesson and actually do the job he promised to do.

Mr. B & C

Bitch-Slapped Sacks of S*** of The Week – Texas Legislators

It’s not often that a state gets the Judiciary Smackdown dropped on them twice in the same week, but those wiley Republican coyotes in Texas have felt the Acme Super-Dooper Bitch Slap Kit whack their corpulent cheeks in such wise this past week. In a state that is trending towards fewer white voters, the white legislators are trying every trick in the book to hold onto power, even as they become what they despise (a minority group).

First, their Voter ID law got flushed down the pooper because it, well, discriminated against everybody who isn’t white and financially secure. “Naughty, Naughty” said the court as it pulled the chain and sent the law swirling down into the sewer.

Then their Redistricting Plan got like treatment, for the same reason. The courts said “I can NOT believe this s***, and pulled the chain again. Swoosh, swirl, buh-bye to the crooked white guy laws.

This is yet another example of the corrosive effects of party politics on the nation. In order to hold onto power, a political party (the ‘Phants in this case) lied, cheated, and broke laws left and right. They could have spent the taxpayers’ money on roads, bridges, cops, or useful things like that; but because their party is more important to them than the people, they wasted their constituents’ hard-earned on gerrymandering and voter suppression.

Rarely has a group of individuals been more worthy of being bitch-slapped, and twice within a few days at that. It warms the cockles of this blunt, cranky old heart to see an entire state party get taken down in such a brutal fashion.

Mr. B & C

P.S. Ohio got two judicial bitch-slaps this week, too, for the same partisan horses*** behavior. But Ohio gets a lot of crap in this blog already, so Texas got the headline. One must share the Blunt and Crank around every once in a while, n’cest pas?

Ohio’s Secretary Of State: Everything and Everybody Everywhere is Exactly the Same at All Times

Stand in a cornfield. Now stand in downtown Columbus, OH, at Broad and High. Mr. Blunt and Cranky bets you can see a difference. But John Husted does not.

Drive a new Mercedes around I-270. Now sit in a COTA bus on the Near East Side, say along Parsons Avenue. See a difference? Yep. But John Husted does not.

Be a retired individual with loads of free time and enough money. Now be someone who has to work two or three jobs to get by. See a difference? Of course you do. But John Husted does not.

You see, Husted the Hustler has decreed that each and every location in Ohio shall be limited to a certain set of days and hours on which voters may cast ballots before the election, regardless of local factors. So if you are in, say,  Henry County, there aren’t all that many voters, and many of them are retired or live in small towns and  farms close to polling locations, so the limitations aren’t going to cause much of a problem.

But if you are in Cuyahoga County, there are gazillions of voters, many of whom are poor, work crazy hours (if at all), have limited transportation options and may not be anywhere near a polling location. There will be lines, hassles, and the limitations will cause huge problems, and likely suppress the votes of many citizens. Husted sees no difference between 100,000 people trying to get into a building, and 100 people trying to get into a building. Guess he’s never been to an Ohio State game, eh?

Note that Henry County has lots of Republicans, and Cuyahoga has lots of Democrats. Note further that this pattern of limitation by party is consistent across the state. The Secretary of the State of Ohio is using the false premise “consistency” to rig the vote in favor of his party, which is (no surprise) Repubs.

As pointed out by the League of Women Voters, consistency of hours does not translate into equality of access. As pointed out by von Clausewitz, the map is not the terrain. Mr. Husted most assuredly understands both points, and  knows full well that his real motivations (partisan skullduggery) do not match his stated ones (high-minded consistency); so he is fighting hard to keep his slimy strategy alive until, say, November 7^th or so. Thus far, the Republican Legislature and Courts are doing their best to help him steal yet another election. The motherf***ers.

At one time, Mr. Blunt and Cranky must confess, he had hopes for Mr. John Husted: compared with  the blatantly partisan and corrupt Ken Blackwell, it seemed that professionalism might become a trend once again in the SOS’s office. And certainly, ol’ Johnny said a lot of good things and did some non-partisan things when first he took office.

Note to blogging self: stop with this silly hoping for an ethical Ohio Republican crap. It’s even dumber than hoping for the Tribe to win the Series, or the Browns to win the Super Bowl. None of the three will ever occur, and much heartbreak can be avoided by simply accepting that reality. Mr. Husted has shown himself to be just as much of a corrupt, partisan, election-stealing scumbucket as Blackwell, but far smoother and less overtly offensive.

Ohio, once again, our state can become a laughing stock (as it did in 2004); or we can kick some nuts and take some names. It’s up to us, the voters, to get out of our easy chairs and put on our steel-tipped cowboy boots.

Mr. B & C