Wednesday Open Thread

post from My Left Wing - Front Page on 18 July 2012 07:00:00 AM. © My Left Wing - Front Page

America... just a nation of two hundred million
used car salesmen with all the money we need to buy guns
and no qualms about killing anybody else in the world
who tries to make us uncomfortable.

Hunter S. Thompson

Born July 18, 1939

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http://www.myleftwing.com/diary/28030/wednesday-open-thread

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New Study Finds Voter-ID Laws Burdensome

post from The American Prospect on 18 July 2012 07:00:00 AM. © The American Prospect

Ten states have recently passed laws requiring voters to present government-issued photo identification before they can vote. Ostensibly, these laws are to prevent voter fraud. However, a study by nonpartisan university researchers at NYU's Brennan Center for Justice has shown that voter fraud is microscopic (e.g., 0.00004% of the votes in the 2004 Ohio election were fraudulent); the penalty for getting caught is so large (5 years in prison), and the effect of one vote so small, that nobody risks it. The very occasional fraudulent vote is invariably from an ex-felon or green-card holder who mistakenly thought he had the right to vote. Nevertheless, states persist in passing voter ID laws. Why?

As the study shows, the real effect of these laws is to disenfranchise low-income voters who are disproportionately minorities and Democrats. The legislators who pass voter-ID laws and the governors who sign them (invariably, Republicans) know this very well. By making poor people, who often don't have cars, go get (and pay for) birth certificates and voter-ID cards, they are putting up a barrier and hoping many low-income voters won't bother. A very blatant example of the intent of these laws is the office in Sauk City, WI, where voters can get an ID card?but only on the fifth Wednesday of any month. In 2012, only February, May, and August have a fifth Wednesday. Examples like that make it abundantly clear that the real purpose of these laws if to discourage low-income voters from voting but do it under the radar in such a way that most people don't know what is going on.

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http://prospect.org/article/new-study-finds-voter-id-laws-burdensome

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Anti-Obamacare Stupidity in Kentucky

post from They gave us a republic... - Front Page on 18 July 2012 07:00:00 AM. © They gave us a republic... - Front Page

By @ KYYellowDog

No surprise: all the state house members are up for re-election, but Beshear is not, so all the morons are running against That Ni**er in the White House.

Jack Brammer at the Herald:

Gov. Steve Beshear signed an executive order Tuesday to create an online marketplace offering health insurance plans for Kentuckians, as called for in the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
Shortly afterward, the Kentucky General Assembly's Capital Projects and Bond Oversight Committee rejected, on a 4-3 partisan vote, a proposal by the Cabinet for Health and Family Services to spend $294,540 for rental space to accommodate 210 employees associated with the health insurance exchange.
Despite the vote, Finance Secretary Lori Flanery has the authority to override the oversight committee's decision and let the rental project proceed. Beshear said late Tuesday that Flanery will sign the lease "in order to make sure that we don't fall behind on implementation and run the risk of a federal takeover of our health benefits exchange."
Sen. Bob Leeper, an independent from Paducah who usually sides with Republicans, said he could not support the rental lease because he was reluctant to put his name on anything related to "Obamacare."

Kudos to Beshear for doing the right thing for Kentuckians. Fortunately for Kentuckians, it didn't require much political courage.

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http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheyGaveUsARepublic-FrontPage/~3/FA9idhT5jQo/antio
bamacare-stupidity-in-kentucky

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Top Agency Lawyers Reportedly Approved FDA's
Spying

post from TPMMuckraker on 18 July 2012 06:30:00 AM. © TPMMuckraker

The Food and Drug Administration is facing increasing pressure to explain who authorized a massive spying campaign that secretly gathered personal emails of agency employees and generated over 80,000 computer documents.

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http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TPMmuckraker/~3/R0rKThz9Y0k/story01.htm

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Cartnoon

post from Docudharma - Front Page on 18 July 2012 06:29:05 AM. © Docudharma - Front Page

On Topic - Childhood - Parents (3:39) [...]

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http://www.docudharma.com/diary/30386/cartnoon-by-ek-hornbeck

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Fox's Kimberly Guilfoyle Rolls Her Eyes As Bob
Beckel Notes Unemployed Americans' Need For Food Stamps

post from Media Matters for America - Latest Items on 18 July 2012 06:00:45 AM. © Media Matters for America - Latest Items

From the July 18 edition of Fox News' The Five:

Previously:

Fox Repeats Debunked Claim About Heightened Food Stamps Use

Fox Helps GOP Gut Vital Antipoverty Programs By Dismissing The Poor

Fox News' Shame Test For The Poor

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http://feeds.mediamatters.org/~r/mediamatters/latest/~3/qx_tL1KViJc/187224

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Tennessee Tea Partiers To GOP Gov: Stop Employing
Muslims, Gays, Democrats!

post from TPMMuckraker on 18 July 2012 06:00:43 AM. © TPMMuckraker

Conservatives and Tea Party activists in Tennessee have recently pushed several Republican Party county organizations to pass resolutions criticizing the state's Republican governor for, among other things, employing Muslims, gay people, and Democrats.

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http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TPMmuckraker/~3/efifrzo18_4/story01.htm

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Muse in the Morning

post from Docudharma - Front Page on 18 July 2012 06:00:00 AM. © Docudharma - Front Page

Muse in the Morning[...]

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http://www.docudharma.com/diary/30382/muse-in-the-morning

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Mitt's Taxes

I keep watching the whole Mitt tax thing like a slow motion train wreck. Why wouldn't he release the data? He certainly has copies, he provided 23 years of tax data to McCain in 2008. It can't just be because he's rich...everyone already knows that. It could be that he doesn't want to disclose how his IRA is worth between $21 million and $102 million. Given the limits of what a regular person can contribute, it seems incredible. Here's one possible explanation.

It might also be that he didn't pay any taxes at all for a number of years. In general, this wouldn't really matter. Take someone like Joe Biden, who was the least rich member of the Senate for the whole time he was there. He earned his salary, paid his mortgage, borrowed to put his kids through school, and had that huge transportation bill for taking the train back and forth from DC to Delaware EVERY day. When running for Veep, it came out that he had a negative net worth. His taxes would not have been too interesting. But Mittens has run on a platform that the rich pay too much in taxes, and therefore we need to cut taxes to the rich so that they can create more jobs. Oh wait, Chinese jobs...sorry. I get confused by Mitten's rhetoric. Seriously, what happens to his argument if he paid no taxes on income of mega-millions in investment income while creating no net jobs at Bain, nor as governor...will he want the earned income credit?

For me, I think it's the addresses. He was able to get on the Massachusetts ballot by saying he worked for Bain, and therefore had Mass residency in 2000, 2001 and 2002. But that may not be true. Here's more info on that. Releasing the tax returns, with the addresses, may set him up for perjury charges, not to mention charges of voter fraud.

But that's just my opinion. What do you think is the real reason?

Online Surveys & Market Research

Read The Full Article:
http://www.DemocraticConventionWatch.com/diary/5408/mitts-taxes

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James O'Keefe Fails To Find A Scandal, Union And
Public Works Edition

post from Media Matters for America - Latest Items on 18 July 2012 05:29:51 AM. © Media Matters for America - Latest Items

O'Keefe

In the latest of his heavily edited, deceptive videos, discredited conservative activist James O'Keefe claims that he found "union bosses" who "loved the idea" of a company that does nothing but dig holes in the ground and fill them again -- and that those union men said "public officials" would fund such projects. The unedited video, of course, shows nothing of the sort.

The edited video shows workers from the fictional company Earth Supply and Renewal (ESR) meeting with New York union leaders John Hutchings and Anthony Tocci and former NY state assemblyman Ronald Tocci (Anthony's brother). The faux-ESR employees explain that workers at their company dig ditches and then "put [the dirt] right back in the ground," then ask if the union leaders can help them get public funds for their hole-digging, hole-filling operation.

In a series of fast cuts, the union leaders are shown advising the supposed ESR employees to "just call it a jobs program for workers," explaining how they lobby officials, and saying that they are "good with [Sens. Kirsten] Gillibrand and [Charles] Schumer." The video repeatedly shows Hutchings saying, "It's awful hard for anybody to vote against a jobs bill right now" -- the implication being, apparently, that anyone will vote to fund any kind of jobs, even useless ones like repeatedly digging and filling holes.

The Project Veritas press release accompanying the video claims it shows that "UNION BOSSES LOVED THE IDEA!" of funding "a fake company that literally does nothing but dig holes and then put the dirt back," and during the video, O'Keefe claims that "union bosses expressed the willingness of public officials and lawmakers to secure funding for projects just like ours."

But the raw footage of the video shows no such thing. In the raw footage, the union leaders are highly skeptical of Earth Supply and Renewal, and they never promise to help "secure funding" for it.