If that's what its all about, then I'll just respectfully disagree.

I see no reason to object to having the same ID necessary to get a job, board an airplane or buy booze and cigarettes for voting.

Oh and there are always elections.  These laws you refer to have been in the works for many months and in some cases, years.  The right before election time is not a valid claim, IMO.

Those things aren't rights granted to our citizens the 15th Amendment to The Constitution and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.  They are not anything near equivalent.  You know this, I know you can do better than that, all due respect.

And you can certainly get a job and buy booze & cigarettes without ID.  You used to be able to board a plane before 9/11.

These laws are at issue because the GOP has a stated agenda of getting Obama out of office however they can, including passing bullshit laws that are clearly aimed at suppressing the vote of the old, young, and minorities. It couldn't be more blatant and I can't pretend otherwise.

There's an ocean of difference between "should" and "is constitutionally required to." I agree; it's odd leaving the house without my wallet. There's never any money in it, but it has my license. But in this country, we tend to bristle when someone wants "papers, please."

We're putting the requirement for voter fraud prevention onto the voters themselves, and the poorly-trained (sometimes) precinct worker. Satisfactory measures can be taken by county clerks to verify addresses and IDs when registering. It's rare enough and hard enough and illegal enough that better recordkeeping at the courthouse can beat common cheats, and uncommon cheats can beat a Photo ID law.

Years ago we were told here that running a lottery would solve all of our education funding issues.  Funny, we still have the same issues after a decade or so of lottery.

Everyone should have a proper ID.  

Certainly not. Sales taxes, sin taxes, excise taxes are all regressive, meaning they're a higher tax rate % the lower your income. Of course the sin tax can be avoided altogether by simply not smoking or drinking and in this respect it's identical to a lottery. Would you want important gov't programs paid for via a lottery?

Oh, and the increase in taxes on cigarettes applied evenly to anyone who smokes, regardless of race, creed, color, age, sexual orientation, financial circumstances, or political leanings.  Maybe the most fairly applied tax in history!  Can't be helped that 99% of smokers aren't rich.

And if he compares favorably, let's not bury this on page 25 of Section E.

You are surely not arguing in favor of lower taxes and therefore availability and usage of cigarettes? I mean....they could quit smoking, live another 20 years, and vote out a couple of Democratic governors or senators or maybe even a president down the road.  Not mention all the money they'd save in not buying the cigarettes in the first place.  Sorry to preach, lifelong non-smoker here. 

Oh, and the increase in taxes on cigarettes applied evenly to anyone who smokes, regardless of race, creed, color, age, sexual orientation, financial circumstances, or political leanings.  Maybe the most fairly applied tax in history!  Can't be helped that 99% of smokers aren't rich.

On this we can agree.  Let's hope it doesn't take one day being on the other end of this to get it.  Before you buy off on all the oblique arguments about how voter ID laws are just some innocent thing and what's the big deal, ask yourself this and give your best honest answer. 

Why now?  Why by GOP controlled state governments backed by the GOP House?  Why, when all evidence clearly shows this to be a non-issue - you'd sooner get hit by lightning while being eaten by a great white shark while waiting in line to vote than have someone in line with you committing voter fraud.  Look it up. Why does do the laws affect the old, the young, and minorities, and not, say, blue collar white male voters and rich people?

What I just don't understand is why we are even having this dialog in 2012.  Oh yeah, I remember now.

40. Expanded the SCHIP program to cover health care for 4 million more children

63. Ordered a review of hurricane and natural disaster preparedness

Those things aren't rights granted to our citizens the 15th Amendment to The Constitution and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.  They are not anything near equivalent.  You know this, I know you can do better than that, all due respect.

And you can certainly get a job and buy booze & cigarettes without ID.  You used to be able to board a plane before 9/11.

These laws are at issue because the GOP has a stated agenda of getting Obama out of office however they can, including passing bullshit laws that are clearly aimed at suppressing the vote of the old, young, and minorities. It couldn't be more blatant and I can't pretend otherwise.

The Republican-controlled state governments that have been busily passing new and totally unnecessary & bogus voter suppression ID laws just in time for the election.

Perhaps, but who is using then now?

And that cartoon, especially the deficit reference, seems as relevant as ever...

 

Hard to believe that two years have gone by so fast...  time flies when we're having fun, eh?

 

This could get really long.

First let me say that I do generally consider myself to be fairly conservative fiscally, so I have no representation in the .gov on that front.  Socially I'm really liberal, so I think the dems have a few decent ideas, but no stomach for what really should be said and no sense at all when it comes to paying for social programs (I support quite a few of those, from public education to public health care). Frankly I think the dems main failing is a failure to really embrace the progressive side of their party.  No we can't have welfare for all and unlimited arts and social programs. But we can have single payer health care, we can have gay marriage, we can have a solid public commons that supports and grows the underprivileged in our society, and keeps all but the absolute laziest from living under the bridges (and my conservative side could fix that problem too).

The dems haven't done enough on entitlement programs. They haven't done enough on taxation. They haven't made their case that they have a good set of ideas, and been willing to stand behind them even if it means not being re-elected.  This is good for me, because I doubt I would like a lot of the social stuff they would put forward. 

So to that point - the fact that re-election numbers are so high is our fault. We keep electing these bozos and then complaining about them for then next cycle. But then we re-elect them. What a bunch of dolts we are. Sure, money, gerrymandering, misleading ads.... whatever, we punch the ballot, it's our fault. As an electorate we are failing. We can't even mobilize half of us to show up. Bad on us.

I'm all out of order here, but I'm not going to fix it.  Vicitmhood. Yes, that's you. Go back and look at your previous post. It's all wah, wah, wah, Democrats, wah, wah, wah, won't let us play, wah, wah, wah, not our fault...... Sheesh. Put your fucking pants on, wipe off the tears, take credit and blame where appropriate, and get back in there with me and let's try to get 79% of the people to vote so we can toss out some of these idiots.  Sorry if that was a bit harsh, but that post was a whiny, bitchy tirade.

Wisconsin, Indiana and Ohio need to all get their shit together. The right needs to stop being so vindictive and the left needs to stop being so entitled. They need to sit down and work out a compromise. This means that neither side gets what they want, but they figure out a way to make it work. The electorate of all three deserve what they get if the officials can't get their crap together soon. Lather, rinse, repeat for the entire nation if we have a .gov shutdown in March.   

That's enough for now. I'm happy that you are active and in the debate. I'm glad you support the tea party. I want your participation even where we don't agree. I think there is enough good that we can compromise and be stronger/better together than we would be apart. If not we'll have to divide up the kids and the furniture and sell the house. And no one wins in that situation. Just don't tell me it's all my fault, and that you had nothing to do with it. This breakdown has been a long time coming. All sides are culpable and responsible and need to take part in the fix.