State officials in Texas and Iowa have succeeded in putting the United States in the company of countries like Iran and North Korea this week after pledging to block access of international observers with the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) to polling places — even going as far as threatening to arrest the monitors. The actions are in direct violation with our long-standing position vis-a-vis other nations. It is a shameful position that, again, makes our country look like a hypocrites in demanding such monitoring in other countries but not allowing it in our own.
Greg Abbott, the Texas attorney general, sent a letter to the 57-member observer mission, warning that “the OSCE’s representatives are not authorized by Texas law to enter a polling place. It may be a criminal offense for OSCE’s representatives to maintain a presence within 100 feet of a polling place’s entrance.”
Thomas Rymer, a spokesman for the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, has said that the group always abides by local election laws. He correctly notes however that the denial of access to polling areas suggested by these officials, and the threats of arrest, contradict our own obligations under international law. Both Texas and Iowa officials have threatened to arrest monitors from the OSCE who come within a certain distance to the polling places. In Texas, it is 100 feet. In Iowa it is an extraordinary 300 feet.
Iowa Secretary of State Matt Schultz insisted that “Iowa law is very specific about who is permitted at polling places, and there is no exception for members of this group.” In the 2008 election, international OSCE election observers were turned away from polling stations in Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Ohio and Texas as well has having problems in areas of Colorado, Louisiana, Pennsylvania and Virginia.
Admittedly, these monitors act under generally defined provisions but these states are undermining our ability to take such a position in the future in other countries.
Yet, lawyer and Fox News Anchor Greta Van Susteren has defended the threats against international monitors: “The election is none of their business. We ought to be able to police our own election.” Of course, that is precisely the same argument used in Iran, China, and other countries. It is another example of what is often referred to as “American Exceptionalism” that we are simply unique and above the rules that we apply to other nations.
Even though state law may be clear, it is up to the State Department to make known to the states any clear obligations under international agreements. Notably, these monitors have been in the United States after being invited in by George W. Bush — a correct and admirable decision.
Source: Politico
George W is a walking anti-Romney ad: “Remember what happened last time?” “Read my lips”, as his Poppy said. Well, we sure can. Now.
Push the wrong button and you get a premature posting.
Where the elite get to meet. Caymans. Remember, you read it here. Our advisor fees are cheapest in the fraud racket.
George? Fill him with alcohol and he can deliver any speech necessary. All he needs is strings and a ventriloquist. But he can’t govern without Cheney and Poppy, and can’t fulfill his NG obligation either.
Malishs, even if it is not Alzheimers, the Repugs will
need some excuses for him the next few years.
Ex-President Salih of Yemen was also among the attendees of that Cayman Islands conference. As was twice-convicted fraud Michael Clott of Maryland.
OMG, if I had made that up for party of a script, even THEN it would not be believable. You don’t even have to EXPLAIN it!!
Malisha,
George W. has been busy speaking at a conference in the Cayman Islands.
*****
‘Blackout’ imposed as George W. Bush speaks at Cayman Islands investment conference
http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/11/02/14875519-blackout-imposed-as-george-w-bush-speaks-at-cayman-islands-investment-conference
By NBC News staff and wire reports
GEORGE TOWN, Cayman Islands — Organizers of an investment conference in the Cayman Islands have been forbidden from disclosing any details about a speech by former President George W. Bush in the offshore financial haven, an event spokesman said Thursday.
The keynote speech by the former president was “totally closed to all journalists,” and conference organizers were banned from discussing any aspect of it even in general terms, spokesman Dan Kneipp said.
“We’ve got a complete blackout on discussing the Bush details,” Kneipp told The Associated Press.
A friend of mine who is actually a Republican ( 😳 ) was discussing George W. Bush with me the other day. Even she did not like him, and claims that lots of her fellow Republicans were infuriated at him for messing up the party. (Oh Sure) But I mention this because he has been so silent, so out of sight, so not even acknowledged, recently. No statements except when his daddy sat beside him, seeming to make sure everything went OK. Etc.
My friend speculated that George W. Bush is suffering from early onset Alzheimers. She says observing his speech patterns in the last two years of his presidency made her think that is possible. Yet the Internet says nothing about it as far as I can tell. Does anybody know anything about this idea? Has it been discussed in any political circles?
PPS Re civility in NC, ie lack thereof…..
Time for our democratic governmor, Beverly, to call out the National Guard to help the police maintain peace. But can the NG be trusted? Ohio State comes to mind.
My niece’s husband comes from Crisco land, where they don’t know how to boil. They fry everything in his
part of eastern NC. Went to UNC and learned how to boil food. Hee Hee.
Can only say that the bad news from Carolina is not a surprise. Frequenting the McClatchy newspaper (ie liberal) during the campaign for the Wake County school board election made it clear that most commenters to editorial articles were rednecks, no matter what their actual sun exposure happend to be.
I think it is an epigenetic problem, originating from raising tobacco as a one-cash crop for two hundred years. Runs in the family, so to say.
Can you imagine? The Koch money was there being dispensed by the Raleigh black millionaire who knows the political ropes. Hope the blacks who voted FOR Obama in 2008 will vote again, and that the KKK Republicans will all get lost in the swamps on their way to the polls.
And I am from Wake County originally.
PS A little surprise from 1972 Presidentlal campaign.
They were predicting then that a situation would develop which would in a few years lead to a four–five party system. Did it happen? A shame that smart people can be so wrong. Reliable source.
10 Dirty Ways to Swing an Election
Politicians and their henchmen have lots of ways of messing with voters. Here are their favorites.
—By Adam Serwer
Nov. 1, 2012
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/11/election-dirty-tricks
Excerpt:
America has come a long way from the days of Jim Crow segregation, but our voting system is far from perfect, and even today there are organizations committed to preventing legitimate voters from excercising the franchise. Here are 10 of the most common legal and illegal paths to keeping Americans from the ballot box:
Voter Caging
Voter caging is the process of sending mail to the addresses of registered voters with the intent of challenging their votes if the mail goes undelivered and the voter still shows up at the polls. It still happens, but the most famous instance occurred in 1981, when Republicans sent thousands of letters to black and Latino voters in New Jersey, hoping to block as many as possible of these likely Democratic voters from voting. As a result of that stunt, the Republican National Committee entered into a consent decree with the Democratic National Committee agreeing not to engage in voter caging unless a court says it’s okay. They leave it to third-party conservative groups now.
Lying Flyers
Dropping flyers with erroneous or deceptive information about voting may not be effective, according to voting law expert Rick Hasen, but it certainly happens a lot. Flyers in Virginia in 2008 told Democrats to vote on the wrong day, while flyers distributed in black neighborhoods in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 2004 told residents they couldn’t vote if anyone in their family had been convicted of a crime. Dirty tricksters are getting with the times, however—the 2008 election saw erreoneous election information distributed through emails to students at George Mason University. “Those things are very hard to investigate,” says Penda D. Hair, co-director of the voting rights group the Advancement Project. “They’re usually anonymous, so we don’t have good data on what the impact is on people.”
Reprehensible Robocalls
When a lying flyer just isn’t good enough, there’s always the deceptive robocall to Democratic-leaning districts giving people false election information or urging them to stay home. Last year Paul Schurick, the former campaign manager of the ex-Republican governor of Maryland, Bob Ehrlich, was convicted of ordering 2010 robocalls aimed at black voters implying they could stay home and “relax” because the Democratic candidate, Martin O’Malley, had already won.
Timeline: The Long History of Voter Suppression
The 200-year battle over which Americans get to cast their ballots on Election Day.
—By Zaineb Mohammed and Deanna Pan
Nov. 4, 2012
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/11/timeline-history-voter-suppression
Malisha,
Fortunately these religious types, and even those who have the same motivations but not grounded in religion (there are those kind too) are less than ten percent here in Sweden. And all other ninety percent are united against this phenomenon.
Swedes have great arm muscles from closing the door in the faces of Mormon proselytizers.
This praying to be the exception is the essence of all religions, even taoism, buddhism, and confucianism. Obey your god (and his priests of course) and you will be rewarded in your fight for life. Say these prayers, sacrifice 500 horses, and bow to this statue, and CRUCIFY THESE SUFFERERS and you will be anointed and rewarded by Dog.
Of course as besserwissers will point out, thosereligions mentioned above do not have gods, but they are nevertheless corrupted by mankind and are offering fortune to those who follow their way. Even if fortune consists of escaping the eternal wheel of reincarnation. That is why I chose to mention them—to taunt besserwissers.
They cater to RWAs. see link below. I have promoted it after Mikes book review. Wonder if any read it. It explains the whole damn phenonema in secular terms.
You can nderstand these peculiar phucks who are otherwise unexplainable. And myself I haven’t read to see if there is any cure, but most of Swedes are secular now, so there must be hope.
http://home.cc.umanitoba.ca/~altemey/
All can read it free here on line and find out if they are also a RWA. Nothing to be ashameed of. Handicaps are not to be laughed at. Only corrected where possible.
Meanwhile vote for the man who goes to church but does not impose it on society. Obama, the white President candidate, for those who remember the video.
Roxanne Rubin, Nevada Republican, Arrested For Allegedly Trying To Vote Twice
The Huffington Post | By Nick Wing
Posted: 11/03/2012
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/03/roxanne-rubin-nevada-voting-twice_n_2068999.html?utm_hp_ref=politics
Excerpt:
Roxanne Rubin, a registered Republican from Henderson, Nev., was arrested Friday on a felony charge of attempting to vote twice in the same election.
FBI agents took Rubin into custody as she arrived for work at the Riviera hotel-casino, according to the Associated Press. Rubin had roused suspicion on Oct. 29, after casting a vote at her precinct in Henderson, and then allegedly attempting to vote at a different polling site in Las Vegas later that day. Election workers at the second location ran her name through a database, which showed that she had already voted. When confronted by officials, Rubin reportedly claimed that their database was incorrect, and that she had not yet voted. She was ultimately prevented from casting the second vote.
Otteray,
I never had any doubt that Obama would win Massachusetts–or should I say that I always knew Romney would lose to Obama in the Commonwealth where he once served as governor. That should tell the voters of this country something about the GOP candidate for president.
Early Voting Experience In North Carolina Bodes Ill For Civility On Election Day
By Dan Froomkin
Posted: 11/03/2012
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/03/early-voting-north-carolina_n_2069171.html?utm_hp_ref=politics
Excerpt:
If Election Day goes anything like the past 17 days of early voting in North Carolina, here’s what you can expect at your local precincts on Tuesday:
– Belligerent citizens demanding the right to personally inspect the voting process and yelling “shut up” at the top of their lungs when election officials tell them that only official poll observers can do that.
– Official poll observers who have been improperly trained by the groups they represent and think it’s their job to interrogate voters rather than just watch.
– Long lines, which means that a lot of people end up waiting outside the designated no-electioneering zones, getting harangued by campaign workers.
– Shouting matches between Republican and Democratic campaign workers — and sometimes voters standing in line — that can involve name-calling, threatening gestures, and the summoning of law enforcement.
– A guy driving a tractor-trailer bed filled with effigies of Democratic officials, including President Barack Obama, with nooses around their neck. (Federal officials are looking into that one, which took place at an early voting center in Eastern North Carolina on Thursday.)
The fact that all these incidents have occurred at a few, tightly supervised early voting centers is giving state officials reason to worry that things could be much worse when regular polling stations open for business.
“I am hoping that people will have a return of good manners and civility by Tuesday,” said Johnnie McLean, deputy director of the North Carolina election board. Then she quickly acknowledged it’s not likely.
Elaine,
Nate Silver at 538 is giving 100% odds of Obama winning Massachusetts. Hopefully there will be some really big coattails to give Warren a boost. Nate gives Warren a 93.6% chance of winning.
“And now I really find myself saying something I would find embarrassing under any other circumstances: Extreme religiosity should naturally exclude ANYONE from becoming President of this country.”
There’s a problem with that Malisha. It’s prime facie unconstitutional. Article VI, paragraph 3, states that “[t]he Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.”
As personally distasteful as I find magical thinking of any sort when applied to governance, such a requirement would not only run afoul of the No Religious Tests clause cited above, but the Establishment Clause of the 1st Amendment as well. The way to keep zealots out of office is not to vote for zealots. The same goes for crazy people. There is only one antidote for protecting the secular integrity and stability of democracy and that is a well-informed and well-educated constituency.
Swarthmore mom,
The most recent Boston Globe poll that was released last Monday showed that Warren and Brown were tied. I’m hoping the newer poll is correct. It looks like the nor’easter that was originally predicted to hit my area on voting day won’t arrive until later in the week. That’s good news.
And now I really find myself saying something I would find embarrassing under any other circumstances: Extreme religiosity should naturally exclude ANYONE from becoming President of this country. And all Mormons who describe themselves as Mormons are obviously subscribed to extreme religiosity.
Why would I say this obviously prejudiced sounding thing? Because the extreme of certain religions represents a system in which people basically get what they deserve. A flood destroys the whole world except for a guy who builds a boat to save himself and his family and a bunch of livestock? Why? Because all those other people deserved to drown, of course. If they drowned, it was their own damn fault. Pharoah sends his army to retrieve the Israelites as they escape. They chase the Israelites into the seabed and then the Red Sea closes over them and drowns them and their horses too. Why? Because all of those people (soldiers, sent into action by their commander in chief) deserved to drown and so did their evil horses. On and on and on and on. All you need to say to justify horror after horror in the half a dozen or so standard religious codes commonly followed by Americans is that the poor, the wrong, the bad, the undeserving, the Canaanites, the whoever-ites, all got starved, ridden with disease, had their first-born killed off, etc. etc. because THEY DESERVED IT.
If the best person in the history of the whole world — god — could say, “Damn Them; they are bad and I don’t care about them at all,” then why can’t the President of a mere country? That’s the origin of the hatred for the 47%: religion. They are bad, undeserving, damned. And yet they expect food? They expect shelter? And “what not” too?
Why should they? God wouldn’t give it to them; why should we?
Nate Silver’s computer models are continuing to trend blue. His “now-cast” updated at 1:38 AM this morning has Obama 307.2 electoral votes and Romney at 230.8 electoral votes. The now-cast has Obama with a 86.6% chance of winning to Romney 13.4%.
John Husted ought to be the poster boy for voter fraud, right up there with James O’Keefe, but they still wail about ACORN and claim somebody, anybody, voted illegally. I see that out in Nevada a Republican woman was caught trying to vote twice, at two different polling places. Computer cross check caught her. This kind of thing has Karl Rove’s fingerprints all over it, with Lee Atwater reaching out from the grave to pull Rove’s strings.