October 1, 2013

My Congresscritter Pete Olson is an idiot

I am in Tom DeLay's old district and my current congresscritter is an idiot named Pete Olson. Pete has never held a private sector job in his life and is clueless as to even simple issues. Pete is blaming President Obama for the shutdown http://www.dotnews.com/2013/orderly-shutdown-federal-government-begins

Rep. Pete Olson (R-Texas), speaking from the House floor Wednesday morning, said Obama was failing to address cost escalation in entitlement programs and was “demanding a naked increase in our debt ceiling.”

“Mr. President, the government did not have to shut down today,” Olson said amid reports that the Senate voted 54-46 against joining the House in a conference committee to resolve differences.

September 30, 2013

I know why the DOJ filed a lawsuit on voter id in Texas first

I know a great deal about the Texas voter id law and remember that some posters from North Carolina were upset that the DOJ filed against Texas first. After reading the petition, I can see why Texas was first. You can read the petition here http://big.assets.huffingtonpost.com/dojnclawsuit.pdf I have read the section dealing with voter ID and found that the North Carolina law as described in the DOJ petition is actually more liberal than the Texas voter id law (SB 14) in a number of key aspects. For example, the North Carolina law allows Veteran’s cards and indian tribe identifications to be used:

………(5) a Veteran’s identification card issued by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs; (6) a tribal enrollment card issued by a federally- or State-recognized tribe;

The Texas voter ID law does not allow for these forms of identification but does provided that conceal carry permits are acceptable.

Next, the North Carolina law exempts persons over 70 from having identifications that is current on the voter’s 70th birthday:

Voters who are 70 years of age and older are exempted from the requirement that the photo identification be unexpired; however, the photo identification they present must have been unexpired on the voter’s 70th birthday.

In Texas, the free id, i.e., the Election Identification Certificate, issued to a voter who is 70 years or older does not expire while EICs issued to other voters do expire.

Third, voters with disabilities are treated differently. In North Carolina is a voter qualifies for curbside assistance, then that voter can present forms of identification that are acceptable under the Help America Vote Act which includes ultility bills and other correspondence:

(3) registered voters who qualify to cast a ballot curbside because of age or physical disability. The voters in at least the last category must show one of the forms of identification approved by the HAVA for first-time voters who register by mail

In, Texas only voters who are more than 50% disabled according to the Social Security Administration or the Veteran’s Administration and who submit paper documenting such disability to the county voter registrar can meet the disability exemption.

Finally, under the North Carolina law, the counties are required to provide free birth certificates to any voter who requests a birth certificate in order to get the free identification from the state:

Further, although HB 589 requires a North Carolina register of deeds to issue without charge a certified copy of a birth certificate or marriage license to any registered voter who declares that he or she needs the document to obtain a photo identification in order to vote, it does not address any fees that will be imposed on voters who will have to obtain the requisite underlying documentation from out-of-state agencies.

In Texas there is no provision for free birth certificates.

The North Carolina law is actually a more liberal law compared to the Texas law and the DOJ still sued. To me, this means that Texas may have a harder time justifying SB14 given that the Texas voter id law is far stricter than the North Carolina law in many respects. The fact that the DOJ has a court ruling that the Texas act adversely affects the voting rights of minorities combined with the fact that the Texas voter id law is a much stricter law explains why the DOJ filed suit in Texas first.

September 25, 2013

Texas Department of Public Safety opening Mobile Stations to Process Voter IDs

It appears that Greg Abbott and the State of Texas is worried. In Georgia and a couple other states, the DOJ forced the state to agree to have mobile stations to process the free voter id so as to get pre-clearance under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. I was a speaker at some town halls held by Congressman Al Green on voter id and one of the other speakers was the spokesperson for the Texas Department of Public Safety. The DPS spokesperson told the town hall that the DPS did not have the money and did not plan to have mobile stations for processing voter ids.

The DOJ and the plaintiffs in the voter id litigation have mentioned the lack of mobile stations in their pleadings and it appears hat Greg Abbott is worried enough to cause the DPS to reverse course on this issue. http://www.keyetv.com/news/features/top-stories/stories/dps-roll-out-mobile-stations-process-voter-ids-13430.shtml

The Texas Department of Public Safety announced on Tuesday it is offering another way for potential voters to obtain a photo ID needed to vote.

Twenty-five mobile locations will begin processing the election identification certificates on Oct. 1. The documents, which are free for applicants who meet voter requirements and show proof of identity and citizenship, are also available at driver's license offices.

Tuesday's announcement follows a DPS decision two weeks ago to extend the hours of about 50 driver's license offices to include Saturday to encourage more citizens to apply for the documents.

The DPS and the State of Texas (i.e. Greg Abbott) is trying to answer some of the issues raised in the voter id lawsuit. I doubt that these efforts will change the course of this litigation.

September 25, 2013

True the Vote is trying to join the Voter Id case

the True the Vote idiots are trying to intervene into the voter id case brought by the Department of Justice http://txredistricting.org/post/62250385510/true-the-vote-seeks-to-intervene-in-texas-voter-id-case In the motion, the True the Vote people claim that they have a special interest in protecting SB 14 https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BxeOfQQnUr_gRlZuczdCRkYwNWM/edit?usp=sharing&pli=1 If you look on page 8 of the motion, Cathy and True the Vote claim that they have a special interest in protecting election integrity and preventing vote dilution.

The petition is brought by J. Christian Adams. Adams is the idiot who was illegally hired during the bush DOJ years in apparent violation of DOJ rules http://www.justice.gov/oig/special/s0901/final.pdf and http://mediamatters.org/research/2011/10/03/who-is-j-christian-adams/183411

Schlozman Is Said To Have Picked Attorneys Who "Lacked Relevant Experience" And "Rarely Expressed Any Interest In Civil Rights Enforcement." The IG/OPR report stated that Special Litigation Section Chief Shanetta Cutlar "said that the applicants whose résumés she reviewed after they had been culled from the applicant pool by Schlozman or others in the front office typically reflected membership in conservative organizations. She also said the most striking thing she noticed about the résumés was that the applicants generally lacked relevant experience. She said Schlozman minimized the importance of prior civil rights or human rights work experience." In addition, the report states:

Former Criminal Section Chief [Albert] Moskowitz also said the candidates for career positions chosen by Schlozman had conservative political or ideological affiliations and rarely had any civil rights background, rarely expressed any interest in civil rights enforcement, and had very little or no federal criminal experience. [IG/OPR report, "An Investigation of Allegations of Politicized Hiring and Other Improper Personnel Actions in the Civil Rights Division," 7/2/08]

If True the Vote is interested in stopping vote dilution, then they may want to consider the case of Bruce Fleming who lives in the same county as the founder of True the Vote http://www.juanitajean.com/2013/03/28/an-open-letter-to-cathy-engelbrecht-queen-of-true-the-vote/

September 6, 2013

March 2014 Primaries will occur on schedule-2012 maps to be used as Interim Maps

It appears that the March 2014 primaries will occur on time. The San Antonio Court just issued an order that rejected Abbott’s claim that the lawsuits were moot but did adopt the 2012 maps as interim maps for the 2014 election cycle. Here is a link to the order https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BxeOfQQnUr_gcDV1VEIza2p2a2c/edit?usp=sharing Here is a brief analysis prepared by Michael Li http://txredistricting.org/post/60471213872/breaking-court-enters-order-in-texas-redistricting

The court also said that because “a full, fair and final review of all issues before the Court cannot be completed prior to upcoming deadlines for the 2014 elections,” the court would adopt the 2013 maps as interim maps for the 2014 election cycle, stressing that the maps were being adopted “on an interim basis only.

”

The rejection of Abbott’s mootness claim is a major victor for the plaintiffs. Abbott argued that the lawsuits on the 2011 maps had to be dismissed and the evidence collected showing that racial issues played a part in the formulation of the 2011 maps had to be ignored. The court rejected that claim:

[T]here is no indication or assurance that, in the next redistricting cycle, the Texas Legislature will not engage in the same alleged conduct that Plaintiffs assert violated their rights, including removing economic engines from minority districts, dismantling coalitions, manipulating turnout among Hispanics, or engaging in other conduct that Plaintiffs allege violated their rights in connection with the 2011 plans. While Texas may have voluntarily ceased or diminished the allegedly illegal conduct, it has not conceded the illegality of the conduct and has steadfastly maintained that its actions did not violate Plaintiffs’ rights. The fact that the Legislature has adopted the Court’s interim plans in an attempt to curb this particular litigation is no assurance that it will not engage in the same conduct in the next legislative session or any session thereafter.

It appears for now that we are stuck with the 2012 maps for use on an interim basis and the March 2014 primaries will be held on schedule.

September 4, 2013

Greg Abbott commercial-can you find a non-white face in this ad?

Greg is out with a youtube ad that is really amusing to watch

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I dare anyone to watch the ad and tell me how many non-white faces you see in this ad.

Juanita Jean has some good comments about the ad http://juanitajean.com/2013/09/03/oh-greg-abbott-you-are-so-i-dunno-weird/

And then come back for a test.

1. Do you see any faces in that commercial that aren’t white and pretty damn old?

2. Whose bright idea was the wall of cuckoo clocks? They need to be fired. I intend on using that wall every time I talk about Greg.

3. German? Really?

One of my customers watched it and was pretty darn sure that they were trying to make Abbott look like a wounded veteran. He was never in the military. A tree feel (more commonly known as fell in non-typo world) on him. He turned it into a multi million dollar judgement.

I am also wondering about the cuckoo clocks.

September 3, 2013

Pete Olson Town Hall and AARP

CD 22 Congresscritter Pete Olson has a town hall today. Here are the details

Sugar Land Town Hall Meeting
Tuesday, September 3rd
6:30pm-8:00 PM
Clements High School - 4200 Elkins Road
Sugar Land, TX 77479

Juanita Jean herself is planning on attending to deal with some crazy comments made by Pete concerning the AARP http://juanitajean.com/2013/09/01/congressvarming-pete-olson-hates-the-aarp/

Pete put out some campaign literature blasting the AARP. I need to be honest and tell you that I am a 10 year member of AARP and I have their supplemental insurance for my Medicare. I have been very happy with them and I even enjoy the little magazine they send me.

Pete Olson is not so happy with AARP. He put a picture on his literature of President Obama wearing an AARP button, which means that now the AARP has cooties.

Pete declares that the AARP “is nothing but a shill organization for the radical left.” ....

Oh Sweet Lord of Delusion, he doubled down and called these old people in tennis shoes patsies of the “Democrat” party.

Well, if the AARP is what Democrats want, then maybe Yvonne and Leon might want to come on over. Yvonne and Leon, we don’t think you’re anybody’s fool. Pete does.

Pete Olson is having a town hall at Clements High School in Sugar Land on Tuesday night at 6:30. You have to submit your questions in writing. The last Olson townhall we went to, a guy threatened to punch Bubba in the nose. Bubba laughed at him. The police had to escort him out while while Bubba continued to grin.

Bubba can’t wait to go again.

This could be a fun meeting to watch. I am hoping to make it.