07.28.08
What impact will displaced voters have on the 2008 election?
Overlooked in the discussions of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae and the bursting of the housing bubble is the plight of these formerly stable homeowners when it comes to being able to vote in the upcoming Presidential election.
The numbers of those who have lost their homes just this year is staggering. Almost a million homes lost in the first six months of this year:
Foreclosures are up 120%. Some 220,000 homes were lost to repossession in the last quarter, and another 739,714 entered foreclosure in the first quarter. That’s one in every 171 American homes involved in what Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson euphemistically calls the “housing correction”…. http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2008/7/28/142127/083 Read the rest of this entry »
07.13.08
VA treats disabled vets like second-class citizens
Those who have been wounded in service to their country deserve better. The Veterans’ Administration has decreed that voter registration drives may not be conducted in VA facilities. The VA is putting unnecessary barriers between veterans and their right to vote. At any given time there may be 100,000 vets living in VA facilities — and the number is growing as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan drag on.
Who more than our wounded warriors deserves to have their right to exercise the franchise? Who indeed? These vets have put their lives on the line and now the VA says that voter registration activities would “interfere with” delivery of services at VA facilities.
Connecticut Secretary of State Susan Bysiewicz, expresses the frustration of many Americans when hearing of the VA policy against voter registration drives.
“The practice of banning voter registration drives at veterans facilities is a slap in the face to people who have served, put their lives on the line and sacrificed the most for our fundamental freedoms,” Connecticut Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz, a Democrat, said in a Friday [July 12] news conference. http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080712/NEWS/80712006/-1/rss Read the rest of this entry »
06.19.08
‘I was working for the Sith lords:’ fired U.S. Attorney David Iglesias
Because he refused to prosecute bogus “voter fraud” cases in New Mexico, U.S. Attorney David Iglesias was fired by the Bush Administration. A dyed-in-wool Republican, Iglesias was disillusioned by the politization of the DOJ under John Ashcroft and Alberto Gonzales.
In a recent appearance on Comedy Central’s Daily Show with Jon Stewart Iglesias won audience applause by referencing characters in Star Wars movies:
“I thought I was working with the Jedi Knights and I was working for the Sith Lords.”
The video is from Comedy Central’s The Daily Show, broadcast June 16, 2008. Find it here: http://rawstory.com/news08/2008/06/17/fired-us-attorney-i-was-working-for-the-sith-lords/
06.04.08
The GOP war on (Democrats) voting
As previously noted on this blog, the Republican party has a long history of voter suppression, dating back at least as far as William Rehnquist’s activities in Arizona, long before he ascended to the U.S. Supreme Court. We have chronicled the effort by the Bush administration to foist Hans von Spakovsky on the Federal Election commission, an effort that, fortunately for American democracy, has come to an inglorious end with von Spakovsky’s withdrawal from consideration for the post.
One of the recent GOP tactics has been to push for legislation requiring voters to show ID in order to vote. To listen to many Republicans the greatest danger to the country is voter fraud, i.e., folks casting ballots they are not entitled to. Most often the boogie man is the specter of illegal aliens voting but no proof is ever offered. Read the rest of this entry »
11.24.07
Just a coincidence?
So now we find out that there has been a surge in applications for citizenship — a fairly predictable consequence of an impending fee increase. The backlog stands at about 1.4 million and the wait has jumped from 7 months to an estimated 16-18 months. Those eligible for citizenship rush to get their applications in before the deadline and the the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service is unable to cope. They say they hired 1500 new employees to deal with the deluge of applications but the backlog mushrooms out of control nonetheless.
Of course, once one remembers that Citizenship and Immigration is part of the Homeland Security department the pattern becomes clear — this is just another branch of the folks who have brought us color-coded security alerts and the dreadful mismanagement of the Katrina disaster. More bumbling in yet another part of Homeland (In)Security — or so it would seem on the surface.
But wait a minute — is there a more sinister pattern here? If these 1.4 million applicants have to wait 16-18 months to become citizens then they will probably not be able to vote in the 2008 presidential election. This could have a significant impact on elections in several states with high concentrations of applicants such as Florida. Read the rest of this entry »
