It’s Not Even Election Day Yet...
And we’re already seeing the effect of Republican efforts to restrict the vote. It was voting chaos in Florida over the weekend, as voters tried to cast their ballots early. Nightmarishly long lines at polling places forced voters to wait in line for as many as nine hours. At one polling place, more than 180 voters had their cars towed away while they were waiting to vote. This is all the result of Republicans in the state legislature deciding to cut down the number of early voting days this year from 14 down to 8.
Republican Governor Rick Scott rejected calls to keep polling places open longer to accommodate for the influx of voters, but he refused saying that only a natural disaster would warrant extending voting hours. On Tuesday, more chaos is expected as fewer polling places will be open around the state than in 2008 – thanks to budget cuts. Similarly long line were reported in Ohio – where Republican Secretary of State John Husted also cut down on early voting hours.
There are many ways to rig an election – cutting down on early voting is just one of them. Stay tuned.
Comments
If you carefully read those amendments, you'll see that they were carefully worded so as to not give anyone the right to vote; they only state a reason that someone cannot be denied the vote. Ask any lawyer and they'll tell you there's a legal difference between saying "You have the right to vote" and "You cannot be denied the vote because of sex, race, religion, etc."
We still need an amendment that says "YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO VOTE IF YOU MEET THE FOLLOWING QUALIFICATIONS: YOU MUST BE AT LEAST 18 YEARS OLD; YOU MUST BE AN AMERICAN CITIZEN; YOU MUST BE MENTALLY COMPETENT; YOU MUST BE ALIVE; AND YOU MUST NOT BE CURRENTLY SERVING A SENTENCE FOR A FELONY."
At least, that's how I would word it.
The republican party has evolved into just another criminal organization. Reject them from the top to the bottom of the ballot.
I will just be happy when I no longer have to keep changing the channels on my radio and television to avoid all the B.S. from both sides and everybody in between. You have to be able to read to vote. All I want to do is read the measures on the ballot and what each candidate stands for in a pamphlet, that’s it. I can then make up my own mind on who to vote for and what measures I would to see passed without the insult of these two parties trying to brain wash me with all their commercials that are constantly being broadcasted over the Medias we have. Simple, honest and helpful. I will not be voting for either of these criminals that the R. and D. parties have nominated to represent their causes. I have changed my preference to the Independent Party and will vote for Dr. Stein. Of course she has no chance to win in the present corrupt system bought and paid for by the wealthy interests in this nation. But, at least I will know I did not vote for the least evil and least corrupt candidate, depending on who you listen to. The Senate will determine what either of these two bozos will be able to pass, with a few exceptions that could be brought forth by executive order. I have almost gotten to the point where I would like to see the whole system go down in flames by means of insurrection by the citizenry of the U.S... The corruption is so over whelming in Washington it really does not matter who wins this year. The voters will lose in either case involving Obama or Romney as the next reigning king. A perons political view in America is generally determined by which party their parents followed and indoctrinated their off springs into following, as their own party of choice. Right, some choice. It is like being born into a specific religion and you end up believing your sect or side is the only honest and correct choice. It is like being born a Sunni of Shite Muslim, and you end up hating the other side in the same religion. It has all become a cycle of madness. No thank you, I will abstain from indulging in this two party madness any further. Vote Independent to be independent of these two corrupt parties and what they stand for....
The Florida ballot has about 10 Const. ammendments in it. The average booth time is ONE HOUR!! I defy any one to be able to figure out what the heck they are asking for with one reading. I expect some poling places to be open til 1 am. And riots elsewhere. Should screw both sides equally.
The politicians that did this in a National Pres. election need to be horse whipped!
If Obama wins and the House/Senate doesn't change to Republicans favor - maybe, we can remove another bunch of Tea Party members in 2 yrs.. Obama's going to have an uphill battle with the GOP as the fight continues. They are so close to changing our form of gov't to a Theocracy/Oligarchy that they can smell it. Look at the am't of $$ they put into buying, lying, cheating, fraudently taking Democracy away from us. From ALL of us. Many republicans aren't voting for him, either. They are not all nuts. Others will try to get their party back. It's going to be a long 4 yrs and a battle to take back all that they have taken away. Do we have the resolve and commitment to make this America - For the People, By the People?
Are you talking about President Obama, the guy who signed the NDAA stripping away even more of our civil rights? The guy who thinks it is okay to lock up American citizens without a lawyer or trial and stick them in a military prison! This is the guy who signed the House bill allowing the military to arrest peaceful demonstrators. How is it you see Obama different from Bush or in that matter Romney? Obama tried to extend the agreement with Iraq to leave American troops in Iraq after the date agreed upon by Bush to pull them out. He was unsuccessful because the Iraqi government said NO, so he played if off that it was his decision to withdraw the troops! This guy has killed more people with drone strikes, innocent people by the way, then Bush ever considered. He called it acceptable losses to get the bad guys! I find it even more ironic that Hartmann promotes the third party debates and thinks Dr. Stein would make a good president, while pushing the idea on his shows that we need to vote for Obama. Can you spell hypocrite? Hartmann makes his big bucks by advocating the liberal progressive agenda and never stops to acknowledge that Obama is no different than Bush. I refuse to let this Chicago politician fool me twice. And why is it the system is set up to automatically nominate the standing president for re-election no matter how poor of a president he or she is? I find all of you who vote for Obama because he is the lesser of two evils, repulsive at best. Do I care if that offends anyone? NO. And the so called Christians who proclaimed Mormonism as a cult and not Christian before Romney was nominated for the Republican candidate, but now finds it very acceptable are even worse. HYPOCRITES of the worse kind. It is sad and laughable at the same time when you look at who the Republicans and the Democrats support. Yeah, I have heard over and over again, Obama is the least of the two evils that we have to choose from! I am just thankful that the Senate will be the determining factor on what bills get passed and not the White House. Obama or Romney, it does not matter who gets the kingship, nothing of any real magnitude will change. The children that will suffer because Romney will kill part of the bill by executive order also falls on Obama's shoulders because he had the Senate and the House to back him up, yet stated he will fix any problems with the bill on his second term. What arrogance this politician shows is sickening on the eve of the next presidential election! The children who are poor or who have pre-existing medical issues are the people who pay the price for Obama's arrogance and Romney's lack of compassion for the 47% he will not be representing if he wins. Great country we have here folks, as long as you’re wealthy and in most cases white. The Tea Baggers are just one of the many things that are wrong in Washington. When is the next flight to Canada?
Another way GOP policies lead to death: increased suicides found in US since recession began.
Evidence to go along with British multi-decade study Thom often cites.
The Supreme Courtesans declared in 2000, "The individual citizen has no federal constitutional right to vote for electors for the President of the United States unless ..."
And thus no right to vote for the Commander In Chief, the very person who can send any citizen, voter or not, off into war to kill and die. Yet these Supreme Courtesans found "corporate personhood" and "money equals speech" somewhere in the same Constitution.
It's time for much better Supremes, and this is a VERY important reason to re-elect Obama.
The uber-recession was created by Greenspan and Bernanke. All booms are created by low interest rates coupled with inflation. Busts are just market corrections. Some people can't handle it. Others got in way over their heads and their assets are worthless, while their debt is catastrophic. There is no connection between the recession and the GOP. Anyone citing "evidence" otherwise merely presents footnotes and coincidences to hide the scary picture: Our economic and monetary policies have gotten us into too much trouble. After the math is done, it's unrealistic to expect anything to dig us out now. People sometimes kill themselves when the reality of being utterly screwed hits them. It happened in 1929-1933. It's just a case of history repeating itself because of Keynesians ignoring the lessons of history.
Last count I got was six states, six governors, all pulling some sort of trick to restrict or discourage the votes from being made. (wonder why do people wonder the need of vote watchers) We have now advanced (?) like third world countries with corrupt officials trying to get what they feel we need in the form of their ideal government. These attempts are a joke, but the sad part is they got away with it before, made it worse this election and will get away with even more the next time. It would be great to see Obama win the majority as well as electoral vote. Maybe with the ideal he cannot run again they would make an honest attempt to finally do their job we elected they to do. Happy Marine Corps Birthday, November 10th.
bobhiggins, vote for Jill Stein, or you're drowning in hypocrisy. The Democratic party crooks are not outnumbered in crooks by the Republican party.
Ken, You've nailed it and we'd better all(masses) recognize that, and to get the masses to force clean up, make fair, moral and etc. our government.
Here goes. In defense of Thom, thinking of the whole in his messaging, I say he is very helpful. The man is a saint secularly and spiritually.
I am one of those that is voting for the lesser of two evils. So I'm repulsive. Until we change a handful of prominent things to include more well meaning parties to equal status of the two evil ones the change to make things better will never happen. Some how the evil two parties have to be infiltrated by incorruptible benevolent citizens to take them over to put in place the correcting factors. More should be said here about campaign financing, preferential instant run off voting, and oh crap, I don't want to make this long. Do everything Australia has done. I'm burnt out and tired about all this. Thom has gone over these many points many times and we need to change to them.
Is there another way to convince people in those parties to run from them into the more level headed parties?
The stark truth has to be megaphoned constantly! The election rules and procedures have to be changed! Infiltrate! Take them over! Otherwise serfdom will increase!
Talk about stark truth, some how find Thom's article on The Lost People. I can't praise it enough along with many others. I believe that should be read before any other of his published material like The Last Hours Of Ancient Sunlight. The Lost People sets the stage. It's a wonderful understanding.
I'm ashamed that I was ever a Republican. Now the party is Machiavellian. The ends (winning) justify the means (cheating). Citizens United, voter suppression, redistricting, secretive ballot counts, throwing out registrations, intimidating billboards in Democratic zones, disposing of ballots, ties to voter machine companies, and shortening the voting days. The GOP should be spelled C-R-O-C-K.
Personally I think that all these Republican voter suppression tactics are going to backfire. It seems to be firing voters up and making them more determined to vote than ever.
There is clear intentional attempts of voter suppression. The people leading and planning this should be charged.
Thom's Blog Is On the Move
Hello All
Thom's blog in this space and moving to a new home.
Please follow us across to hartmannreport.com - this will be the only place going forward to read Thom's blog posts and articles.
Images of Thom
Tom keeps saying there is no federal right to vote. What about amendments 15, 19 and 26?