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If the Republicans succeed with their illegal actions, then this is a de facto bloodless coup d' etat. We will have become the United States of Koch. These bandits are stealing democracy from the people. If they succeed they will be seen later as those who dug America's grave, and they too will fall victim to their nefarious actions. After the Democrats are defeated, the Republicans will be next. This is a descent into hell. In Australia citizens are fined if they do not vote; in our country, Republicans do every thing they can to see that the minimum number of citizens get to the polls. What a bunch of losers. They cannot win using logic and the facts, so they stoop to illegal actions; anything to get their way.
In the name of all that is decent, I sure hope so. It's hard to stay optimistic when the country has come to even this point, but I believe just as we rose up to fight for our independence, we will again. The sad part is that we will have to fight for it.
If Obama wins the election, then the heads will roll in Florida. If, however, the voter purge works and Romney gets elected, then the people who purged voters will get Medal of Freedom awards.
The justice department is not known for it speed. So, to me, it looks like Florida can thumb its nose at the DOJ until after the election and pray that their man gets elected.
IfI were a state or local chairmain, I would encourage all at-risk democats to change their registration from D to R. Then they would all be safe.
This was a tough one. The fact Scott Walker is very slightly ahead in Wisconsin and Liz Warren is neck and neck in Massachusetts is disturbing. I don't know how far down the road we are going to get before these people wake up. Very depressing.
A 50-year old friend was essentially living "off-the-grid" -- he'd lost all ID and per his "free" lifestyle, got along without it. Past attempts to re-establish "his papers" had met Catch-22 impassibilities.
You need a "Sosh" to get a State-ID, and you need a Government Photo-ID, just to request the paper Social Security Wallet Card. (Huh?) -- even though he'd long had a Social Sceurity account with benefits from past employment -- just "NO CARD." (Mine originally came with the warning: "NOT FOR ID," and I think I burned it in a '70s anti-war protest).
So, we set out to re-create his ID -- including voter registration. I don't tollerate absurd BS about how something CAN'T be done; I'll call for a Manager demanding how it CAN be done. It took something like 6-weeks or more to buy a birth-certificate, establish an address, gather evidence, submit forms, etc. one puzzle-piece at a time, in the right order.
It became obvious how, without the tenacity of a pit-bull, many citizens would and do give up. And In the process I wondered how (other than my ethnic privilage) I could "prove my citizenship" on short notice (ie: a police citizenship ID-check).
In the Oligarchy, I disagree that the Koch Brothers rank higher than the descendants of Brown Brothers & Harriman, G.H. Walker & Company, and Prescott Bush. They should be assigned the less major rank of front men, like "The Dukes of Koch."
Thom you need to get this guy on the program, He's been taking on the banksters and winning! His name is Attorney Doug Rhoades and here is an interview he did on the local conservative program.
http://www.kfyi.com/player/?station=KFYI-AM&program_name=podcast&program_id=terrygilberg.xml&mid=22143614#.T8vMfUVUzpk.email
I wasn't sure how to vote since many folks have been ignorant and seemed to be lambs to the slaughter I decided to be optomistic and voteYES Speak Out People now before we have lost everything and huge Corps, con judges & DC lobbyists finish the US off
www.whitehouse.gov www.congress.gov www.factcheck.org
Thanks
I can speak from my own experience. Florida requires one to be identify oneself as a Democrat or a Republican or an independent. I went into register to vote in a Republican area. I had a strange feeling that I should put down Republican, so my wife and I both put down Republican. The person registering us to vote saw the form and simply handed us a place to sign. There was no identification check, no other questions except asking us where we lived. There was no attempt made to verify anything we said. I could have said I was you or any other name. Perhaps she looked out the window and noticed the new Cadillac -- I don't know. Evidently when one is of northern European extraction and looks "OK" there is no problem in Florida. -- Patrick Lowe
The problem with voter registration is not identifying legitimate voters, it is creating completely new and bizarre forms of identification that elderly people, students or non-drivers are not likely to have. You know what is going on when in Texas you can vote using your gun registration, but not with a student ID. In Minnesota up to now various forms of identification, including a utility bill were adequate. Failing that, a person on the voter rolls could vouch provisionally for another person whose name, for whatever reason, did not appear on the rolls (got married and changed name, recently moved, etc.). Sadly, this may disappear in the next election, since the ALEC tea-party know-nothings in the legislature have introduced a constitutional amendment to disenfranchise voters. The gentleman who complained that he had to show more ID to see The Avengers than to vote in Maryland fails to understand that voting is a constitutional right. Seeing The Avengers is a matter of choice.
“Give a man a fish; you have fed him for today. Teach a man to fish; and you have fed him for a lifetime". Our society has taken away the boat, the fishing rod, and tackle. Now we wonder why the children are in poverty when the parents have no resources to provide for the family. Our government can be cruel at times as evidenced by a high unemployment rate and underemployment and by closing factories and shipping jobs to foreign countries like China.
The Republicans and some Conservative Democrats are stripping our education resources as evidenced by the one trillion dollar debt that college graduates are strapped with paying long after they graduate, along with the increased interest rates on their debt. And, the Republicans are increasing the interest rate on the college loans that these young adults so appropriately earned.
The Republicans have filibustered any and all Job Growth Programs and thusly responsible for our high unemployment rate. Besides, the rule of our Government allows the outsourcing of our American jobs to foreign countries, as evidenced by over 60,000 manufacturing companies being closed and shipped to China with incentives. The House of Representatives under House Leader Nancy Pelosi introduced legislation to turn around this insane program of incentives to move our jobs overseas, but the Republicans Filibuster, and it died.
President Lyndon Johnson’s War On Poverty reduced the poverty rate over 50% in just 4 years. This reduction in the poverty rate tells me that we did something correct. Now we are faced with an increased poverty rate with children tells me that there is something wrong.
President Kennedy said: “Our problems are man-made, therefore they may be solved by man. No problem of human destiny is beyond human beings.”
I’m reminded by the Bible in Matthew 25:40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
Where is the justice?
I am not Irish and I don't drink. You don't get it- we are all going to become united with The Fatherland, Germania, in the year 2023. The financial arrangements were made long ago. First we will be convinced to merge North America with Great Britain.
Thank u for bringing attention to this Thom. I'm puzzled as to why other than here hardly any major networks are picking up this story (exception for Rachel) - We are losing our democracy in Michigan, no joke! Gov Snyder actually fired city Mayors in Michigan and replaced them with his unelected buddies called Emergency Managers. They have the power to close schools, firehouses, police stations and take public land and claim it private. All in the name of a "Financial Emergency."
What a joke! Its like a plumber coming to someones house, clogging up the toilet, then not only charging them to fix the toilet but then claiming that it's such an emergency that the plumber is going to need the deed to the house as well. A public park has already been turned into a golf course for the wealthy. It's time to rise up! Enough is enough. These tea party corporate republicans need to be taught a lesson and get the heck out of our states.
Thank u so much Thom for ur research and continued fight against these arrogant republicans who think that they can slip in under the radar and usurp our democratic laws.
I agree. It is not socialism when the workers owe the monarchs for every necessity of life.
Socialism doesn't work and we are seeing these socialist countries fall like dominoes. The U.S. thinks things are bad but over there, it is much worse. It is said that Spain ended a lot of their jobs with the "green energy". Sure, green energy is good but you can't kick people to the unemployment line to get there.
Sometimes people need to think about their personal preference before they push their agenda so much that countries economies collapse and more harm is done.
If you think socialism caused the European crisis, you have a lot left to learn.
Your post is so very sad and true. I think what we are witnessing is Capitalism in the cancerous stage, as Thom Hartmann has phrased it at times. Society is cannibalizing itself because the good man has perished in the earth. Or as Jesus put it,,, as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the last days. Fortunately he also said, "Do not worry about tomorrow for today has enough trouble of its own."
Sounds like the Irish have been down at the pub too long. If they want austerity, that's their choice. I just hope they realize it never works and the why of their economic woes which are very similar to ours.
In essence, the same Ayn Rand economic libertarianism of Larry Summers and Alan Greenspan that helped create the "financial innovations" that would magically lift all boats and that now reside in the 700 trillion dollar swaps black cloud that hides international theft by megabanks that brought the middle class to its knees is now also bankrupting Europe.
Of course, if Spain and Greece have an economic meltdown it will ripple back to us. It's like a boomerang to Wall Street. It started there and it will come back to haunt them.
Supply-side extremism is always a hay-day for the 1% (think Roaring Twenties). It leads to economic recession and depression. Then the austerity frenzy begins and pulls the rug out from under any vibrant middle class. FDR got it right and pulled us out. Obama can't be FDR because the frenzied right won't let him.
Americans don't understand what's happening or the mechanics of the grand theft going on. It's really quite bizarre and in some ways unprecedented. What is tragic is to see our old managed democracy being unraveled in the process. I don't mean to sound hopeless, we're not. I just mean we're going to have to pull a rabbit out of the hat to wiggle out of this one.
Right-wingers who are drinking Kocha cola think that government is the problem. They've actually already rendered government impotent in the "starve the beast" game. This "plan" they have is going to hurt the average Republican as much as anybody else. Many of them will turn around one day and wonder what they were thinking. They weren't. Roger Ailes was thinking for them. And even Murdoch once called Ailes "crazy."
Hi Thom,
Thom I love you like a brother! Here's the part that hurts me, to be critical of Ellen Ratner's (and your) comments on the unemployment numbers. My head exploded when Ellen commented on how wonderful the number were not being negative! Ellen forgot to mentions the March and April numbers were revised down by tens of thousands! Without new job numbers +200k there is more unemployment being generated due to new additions to the population. This was a horrible report for many reasons! Growth has stopped in this country and most of the world. This would have been a major platform for O'Bummer to attack the Republicons! O'Bummer will and has now used this report as GOOD NEWS we are still creating jobs! O'Bummer will go down in defeat not understanding how real people live. I wish he would have rolled down the limo windows during the ten minutes he was my Senator. I am losing hope that we and by proxy our government will survive the enduring depression.Growth is not always a good thing and we have no other plans than more Mcmansions, suvs and burgers. My prediction now, in the coming year the depression will intensify so strongly the G-8 will mention a new global economic system to try and salvage the last hopes of the failed last three decades! We no longer have the time to replay failed policies of O'Bummer/Shrub and the gang of thieves T.G., L.S. B.B. A.G. and R.R. (I think everyone by now knows these intials ha). I work in Chile now and then, it might be time to stay there? The police have bars on their cars, to protect them from the people and I like that! Landrew
This article about sugar (in this case, high-fructose corn syrup) making you dumb has the absolute wrong conclusion. There is no control group for the sugar; there is a control for the omega-3 fatty acids. There is no way to get a valid statement about the effect of sugar on intelligence from a study in which all the rats get the same dose of sugar. It's bad science.
There is no doubt in my mind that all Republican controlled states across the Nation will be activily participaiting in this conspiericy to steal the election.
Yes, we sooo need outside attention to help us in Michigan. We will WELCOME it! We are an economically battered population and it has taken a toll. We want change but are almost superstitious now about keeping quiet to keep our scarce jobs & illusion of safety.
I once read a rather eloquent essay on the speculation of taxation without represenation and Michigan's EFM. I sure wish I could find it now :-/ This subject will raise its ugly head again.
Austerity for Windsor Palace!
Austerity for Bush!
Let them split their toilet papers
for every Act of Tush!
Let Congress live on soy food-
their benefits decrease.
Till every child's plate is full,
all Whitehouse dinners cease.
thank you Thom you are great american.....send love and wisdow be you