Must Read

I haven't finished this post, yet. But it should be shared far and wide as well.

As Michael Lind has compelling argued, the Tea Party movement is the latest echo of the Southern Confederacy. In all, they are neo-Secessionists whose language of “States Rights’,” “nullification” and “Second Amendment remedies” hearkens back to that of the old Confederacy. Because the Tea Party are in fact neo-Confederates, the federal government is viewed with deep hostility, and they are heirs to a political tradition that views the preservation of Jim Crow segregation in the name of “States’ Rights” as more important than civil rights for black Americans.

Tea Party representatives such as Rand Paul have echoed this suspicion of the civil rights laws which brought down Jim Crow; the Tea Party faithful have made repeated efforts to (quite literally) white wash the U.S. history curricula of the Arizona and Texas school systems; and in their creative reimagining of the U.S. Constitution, the Tea Party GOP has conveniently removed all of the “bad parts” (i.e. references to slavery) as a function of a feigned and convenient “colorblindness” that actively avoids the full complexity of the country’s past and present.

In keeping with their oversimplification and flattening of history, even the Tea Party’s Revolutionary War era costumes and histrionic railings against a “tyrannical government” speak to an embrace of Lost Cause ideology. Not coincidentally, the Confederacy also embraced the same symbolism, and imagined themselves as the true heirs to the founding fathers, the real champions of the U.S. Constitution.

I gotta find a way to get this to Dennis G over at Balloon-Juice.......

New Voter ID laws and me....

As a poll worker and listening to Keith talk about the new Voter ID laws in WI, I can say that most of the people who vote in my precinct hand over their licenses when they walk in. They have to sign a Voter form verifying their information, they take this paper (usually I'm the one they give it to) to get a ballot. (Ha! I am the Ballot Keeper - I like that!) Then they vote. I had to tell the other precinct workers that they can't ask for ID in NC. They were asking for it sometimes. They didn't know. I had to show them in our book. But that's just my precinct. It's a moderate, older neighborhood with new developments in the last years before the shit storm came, but still. Not rich, but steady. I just don't see it where I vote.
Having said that, I find these laws, all over, to be repugnant.
It is our 1 Constitutional duty. One.  It's the only thing the Constitution says we have to do. More people should do it, but they don't. And since I have worked at the polls, 2005 I think, I have seen the turnout go from very low levels (one municipal election we had 2 votes in addition to our 3 votes for a total of 5) to sky high in a matter of 2 years and the mood from 2006 to 2008 in my 60-40 republican precinct was incredible. Then 2010 happened and all I saw were repubs voting and very few dems. 2010 the repubs were more than happy to tell every one they were voting repub to 'get' Obama. or some such other version of 'hell yeah, I'm voting repub and I'm proud'. Anyway, I think next year, the people who voted in 2008 will be back. It will be too hard with another year of GOP controlling the House. They will have too. And I bet even some of those repubs who did show up but were quiet? They'll be there too, voting for the dems.

At least, a girl can hope that they cannot allow them to get away with this shit much longer than that. At some point, yourself and your family have to over come the ideology. Right?

What she said.....

This is a must read. I agree completely with Desert Crone. Please go read it here.

Yet, still Olbermann and other critics frequently go to great lengths to give President Obama advice on how to do this or that. The fact that Obama is a pragmatist and a Constitutional scholar with a brilliant mind leads me to believe that his positions on issues are not based on his religious beliefs or political scheming but the most pragmatic, quickest way to do the right thing for people of the United States. Thus, he has used and is using his executive powers to make it easier for unions to organize, to implement parts of the DREAM Act, and to obtain civil rights for LGBT’s. If Congress won’t get the job done, then Obama looks for other avenues.

Bravo Desert Crone! Bravo.

So go read it and share it.

Hell Yeah!

If Democrats can flip the State Senate, it will be big. Even gaining a seat or two will be big. The nation is watching. I think you’re gonna find, when all this shit is over and done, I think you’re gonna find yourself one smilin’ motherfucker.

The Democratic Party of Wisconsin has enough signatures to recall one of the repubs.....and I hope he's correct.

read about it here

....the denial is a river in Egypt.....

While watching the marathon of Star Trek: The Next Generation on ScyFy....I am going through my blog list and reading the things I missed the last month or so...

I love The Rude Pundit and his ability to be Rude. I wish I had his imagination...check this post out.

Regarding Haley Barbour's recent "mishap/gaffe" about how he remembers the Civil Rights Era, "not being that bad", The Pundit (also a southerner) gives us this....

In 1955, parents of schoolkids in Yazoo City had signed an NAACP petition calling for schools to be integrated. The White Citizens' Council published the names, addresses, and phone numbers of all those who had signed in an ad in the local newspaper, saying it was a "public service." Medgar Evers' widow, Myrlie, stated how this act essentially killed the possibility of change in Yazoo City since those listed, like carpenters and plumbers, saw their incomes plunge. A grocer on the list couldn't get food from his wholesale suppliers. Local white merchants inflated the price of bread to those who had signed. The Citizens' Council asked its members to fire any black employees or evict any black tenants who signed. All but two parents eventually removed their names from the petition.

For those of you who don't do Rude, don't click....you won't be happy. For those of you who find him imaginative, intelligent and correct, do yourself a favor and stop by regularly.