Giving Up = Guaranteed to Lose (Talking to YOU, Democrats)

Mr. Blunt and Cranky has become somewhat accustomed to dealing with weakness, vacillation and incompetence from the Democratic Party, but it is still possible to be shocked. Thus it happened when he read this article. In it, we find out that one of the worst Teabaggers in Washington is guaranteed to win, because Local Dems did not field a candidate. Seriously. Nobody is running against Mr. Sessions:

WASHINGTON (AP) — The primary season just ended and the general election campaign now unfolding looks the same to Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions, tea party favorite, foe of immigration legislation and the only Republican senator running in 2014 without a ballot opponent of any stripe.

Sessions’ lack of opposition this fall in a state with a heavy African-American presence stems from a Democratic party weakness so pervasive that it holds none of the statewide offices, only one seat in the nine-member congressional delegation and a minority in both houses of the legislature.

Against this backdrop, we are compelled to inform you that two Dems are in a position to win in Georgia: for Governor and Senator.

All the talk of a Republican takeover of the US Senate after this year’s midterms may have been a bit premature as a new poll in Georgia shows that Democratic candidate Michelle Nunn holds a three-point lead over Republican nominee David Perdue for Georgia’s open Senate seat. The seat is currently held by retiring Republican incumbent Saxby Chambliss. The poll, conducted by Landmark Communications, has Nunn up on Perdue, 46% to 43%. The poll’s margin of error is 2.9%, so Nunn’s lead is razor-thin. However, considering that Georgia is a deep-red state, it has to be extremely disheartening for Republicans to see themselves down in a race where they’d normally be holding a comfortable lead.

The GOP is also taking its lumps in the race for governor. Incumbent Governor Nathan Deal is currently trailing his Democratic opponent, State Senator Jason Carter. Like Nunn, Carter is the beneficiary of a famous last name. While Nunn is the daughter of former US Senator Sam Nunn, Carter’s grandfather is Jimmy Carter, the 39th President of the United States. The poll shows Carter leads Deal by three points, 47% to 44%. With Deal dealing with an ethics investigation, along with general voter dissatisfaction over his policies, trend lines seem to be pointing in a Democratic direction.

The difference in this Tale of Two Red States? Attitude. That is all. Both states are deep red, full of entrenched “Republicans” who rule with iron fists over what should be Democratic majority populations. Geryymandering? Check. Vote suppression? Check. Poverty and oppression? Check. Corruption? Check. These two states are far more similar than they are different.

In Georgia, we have two bad-ass Democrats running for statewide office: Nunn and Carter are lean, mean, politicking machines who are in it to win it. The Sessions race could be going just as well, but Alabama’s Democratic officials are a load of whiny little weenies with loser sweat all over them. They surrendered before the battle even began.

When you give up, you WILL lose.
When you stand up, you CAN win.

Let’s all remember that we are not defined by either of our two parties. We have the power to change things whether  our party hacks have any intestinal fortitude or not.

Mr. Blunt and Cranky

Putin was not “emboldened by Obama”: he was inspired by Bush

Take a gander at that flock of sphincter birdies: they were paid political operatives sent to Florida to stage a fake riot at a Board of Election, thus helping steal the 2000 election for Gee Dubya Bush. The idea was; create a false impression of public outrage and dissent that the government “had to deal with right away”, thus allowing “extraordinary measures” to be taken to “preserve public order”. As we all know by now, that effort was a success, and the Bushistas robbed, pillaged, and murdered their way across the country and the Middle East for 8 interminable years of illegitimate government.

This year in Crimea, Vladimir Putin and his oligarch buddies followed the same model: they sent in faux “demonstrators” to create the impression of disorder, and so Russia just HAD TO send in troops to restore order and allow the oppressed locals the opportunity to shuffle off those dreaded shackles of Western Oppression, blahblahblahblahBLAHblahblah. (Guns were required in Ukraine because they, unlike we wimpy Americans, were unlikely to allow a bunch of corrupt billionaires to steal their entire nation. We rolled over and accepted it without a fight.)

Now in Eastern Ukraine, what was done in Crimea and Florida is being done again. The Russians are staging more fake riots and creating a “need” for “immediate intervention” yadayadayada. And any number of Right Wingnuts would have you believe this is being done because of Obama’s “weakness”.

Nonsense: a President who orders the invasion of sovereign countries to kill our enemies there (via drones and SEAL teams, mostly) is not a wimp. Obama is a hard-assed Chicago lawyer who would cut off your wedding tackle if need be, were you a threat to him. And we have ample proof of this. Ask the Taliban and various Al-Quaida groups: well, ask the surviving members, that is. He has killed a s***load of ’em, and never shed a tear.

No, if Putin needed guidance from an American Prexy, he got it from the Shrub. What Russia is doing in Eastern Europe is straight out of the “Republican” south Florida playbook.

It’s just as transparent, just about as illegal, and just as successful as it was in 2000.

Mr. Blunt and Cranky

Barely Legal (at best): how a “Republican” scams the Voter Registration system

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This is a video of a “Republican” who is only registering Republican voters, in a public library in Erie, PA. The usual schtick: he asks,”Are you a Republican?”: you say “yes” or “no”; and only if you say “yes” does he escort you to the table to get you signed up. He’s got a petition in his hand so it looks like he’s doing something legit.

We saw this before, Gentle Reader…the infamous “Romney Honeybunch” video: http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Rdk55dLsFhc
Its sole and nefarious purpose is to disenfanchise voters. Some of these scumbuckets will collect Dem registrations and then trash them, and ones like this clown will try to stop Dems from registering at all.

This is just one example of the kind of crap we are dealing with, peeps. Watch these two video clips, and ask yourself if you want to support a party that can’t win elections without cheating.

Mr. Blunt and Cranky

Yes, Ralph Nader is still an A**hole.

Nader is a millionaire dilletante arsewipe who took lots of money and assistance from the “Republicans”, deliberately damaged the Democrats, and alternately admitted it and lied about it repeatedly in 2000 and 2004. He hoped ( and said so) that Bush would defeat Gore and Kerry, and worked to make that happen.

Never mind the many thousands who would suffer or die as a result of his actions: Nader wanted a Bush presidency that would be so bad, so destructive, so injurious to the populace that Nader’s own political fortunes would be enhanced. And he got the cataclysm he wanted. In fact, we all got that cataclysm, even though the rest of us didn’t want it (because WE suffered, while his wealthy, privileged a** suffered not one bit). Of course, he didn’t get the political throne he coveted, and thank God for such small favors: but the damage he wrought via the illegal and illegitimate Bush “Presidency” remains with us to this day.

And when he is challenged on his idiotic, un-American, Left-betraying, Right-enabling actions? Why, his response boils down to “I’m right, and you’re wrong.” Pretty much the same thing that the Naderoids (differing from hemorrhoids only in the type of a**hole they are attached to) say, in the main. And if you bring up the facts that are contained within the above hyperlinks? He and his Naderbots either ignore them, embrace them, or deny them, depending on their mood at the time.

And this, Gentle Reader, is the crux of his a**holitude: it’s not that he did stupid s***; it’s not that the stupid s*** he did helped to cause such death, destruction, and exacerbated the economic injustices that plague our society; it’s that he looks at the havoc he enabled the Bushistsas to wreak upon the planet, and STILL says that he was right to do what he did.

Actually, a**hole isn’t a strong enough word for him or his supporters. But it’ll do for getting along with.

Mr. Blunt and Cranky

Texas Says: We Won’t Discriminate, We Just Want to Rig Elections

And they say it straight out, with no shame at all. The state of Texas is fighting the DOJ, hoping to keep the courts from blocking them from screwing tens of thousands of citizens out of the right to vote. Their “logic” works like this: “We aren’t discriminating against people of color, and never did, really, well, maybe we did a little bit but not all that much,and we willnevereverever do it again. Honest. Pinky swear. But we ARE trying to rig elections so Democrats can’t win”. From the article:

“Shortly after the Supreme Court’s Voting Rights Act decision, Texas moved to reinstate restrictive voting laws that had previously been blocked by the feds. As far as it’s 2011 redistricting plan goes, the state’s brief argues that’s all in the past, and it was a partisan issue rather than a racial one anyway.

“The redistricting decisions of which DOJ complains were motivated by partisan rather than racial considerations, and the plaintiffs and DOJ have zero evidence to prove the contrary,” the state writes in its brief. “It is perfectly constitutional for a Republican-controlled legislature to make partisan districting decisions, even if there are incidental effects on minority voters who support Democratic candidates.”

This is yet another example of why political parties suck, and why we should have listened to President Washington and never allowed the corrupting beasties to exist in the first place. Texas “Republicans” see absolutely nothing wrong with election-rigging, screwing voters from the other party out of the right to vote, and subverting the electoral process for partisan gain. In their minds, it is perfectly OK to steal elections. And that is truly frightening.

Criminals saying that their crimes are no big deal are always scary: murderers who say “God told me to kill that doctor”, child rapists who claim “it was her idea”, and so on. The creepiest crooks are those who simply fail to understand that the law of the land applies to everyone, or even think that their crimes are legal when they commit them because, well, just because. Texas is saying that they can completely destroy the democratic process, so long as their primary intent is not to discriminate on basis of skin color.

Here’s hoping the courts and the Department of Justice drag out some big ol’ cans of Whoop-Ass for this case, and open them upon the Texas “Republicans” who are trying to steal an entire state. Because THAT, dear reader, would be a big crime, and worthy of a commensurate punishment.

Mr. Blunt and Cranky

A Quick Brick Upside the Head to an Election Conspiracy Theory.

Mr. Blunt and Cranky hates hates HATES Conspiracy Theories. So when he heard the new one about those yahoo glory-hound hackers at Anonymous having saved the election by counter-hacking Karl Rove’s election-night hacking, he got ticked off. And later, he laughed. A lot.

Firstly: yes, it is possible to hack a vote tabulation device. And yes, it has happened. But the only way to do it in the timeframe required is to work for the company that owns the hardware and software that is being used. Exhibit A: the new software that was illegally installed on Ohio’s tabulation devices several days before the election, by the vendor, with the blessing of our SOS John Husted. That could well have been an attempt at a hack. But since it’s a black  box system, we’ll never know.

But there isn’t any way for an outside hacker group to get in there and deliver a counter-hack after the vendor put in his patch, for a variety of reasons. The only outside group that can beat a hack is the voting public. If the turnout exceeds the forecast amount by a sufficient margin, the hack either fails or is so obvious that the would-be-election-thieves don’t dare do it.

You want to thank somebody for the way the election came out? Thank your fellow voters. They deserve it.

Mr B & C

Tagg Romney – Couldn’t Punch the President, so He’ll Rig the Election Instead

Yes, that’s right:  Mitt Romney’s son Tagg (short for “Taggart – may or may  not be named after Mr. Taggart from Blazing Saddles) controls the company that controls Hart Intercivic,  manufacturer and operator of the vote-casting and vote-counting  equipment in some key Ohio precincts: http://www.hartintercivic.com/pr/108

For those of you who don’t know, these devices have a long list of security and quality “issues”: http://www.forbes.com/sites/rickungar/2012/10/20/romney-family-investment-ties-to-voting-machine-company-that-could-decide-the-election-causes-concern/

Mr. Blunt and Cranky knows a lot more than he is allowed to say about how elections are conducted and the equipment used to conduct them. He can say this much: like any technology, they can be used in an honest or a dishonest manner. And dishonesty is hard to catch with this particular company’s products. So it really matters who is running the boxes.

Li’l Tagg, being the speak-first-think-later chip off the ol’ block that he is, recently threatened the Prexy with physical violence. No doubt he’ll get a pass from the Secret Service due to his connections, but you have to wonder about people who utter such illegal statements. If they do not respect the laws and institutions that have made America a beacon of hope and freedom, it is a fair bet they’ll be willing to break other laws: in young master Romney’s case, the laws against vote tampering and election rigging.

A bit of history: former Senator Chuck Hagel’s first election win was a “stunning upset”. The votes were counted by a company called ES&S: Hagel then owned ES&S. So, the idea that Tagg could swing the election for his daddy is not at all farfetched.

Another bit of history: “Who votes, decides nothing. Who counts the votes, decides everything.” (Joseph Stalin)

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