OMG! Really!? Who Would Have GUESSED?!
When (p)Rick Scott was elected Governor of Flori-duh a few years back, a few people here in America's Soft Dangly Bits braced themselves. Scott had been elected by a margin of about 50,000 votes, probably all of them meth-addled gun-fellating GOP-Jesus-worshiping Tea Baggers, so you knew what was coming down the pike from the Phallus Building in Tallahassee and its Republican supermajority was bound to be bad.
Well, it was. No real big surprise there.
In between screwing police, firefighters and EMTs out of part of the pensions (by instituting a 3% "contribution" that amounts to an extra tax) and trying to finally destroy all vestiges of public education in the state, Scott and his merry band of idiots passed a law that shortened the early voting timetable in the state.
Civil rights groups and the rump Democratic minority in the State Legislature cried foul, of course, and a Federal judicial panel agreed with them - the law unfairly targets minorities and the young. Minorities and the young are the most likely to use early voting, and - Surprise! Surprise! Surprise! - are mostly likely to vote Democratic.
Now, when I say that a judicial panel agreed with the plaintiffs, they only agreed for five counties currently under the scrutiny of the Voting Rights Act. The rest of Flori-duh would have to shift for themselves, and they did, with reports of people waiting in line up to nine hours to exercise their Constitutional right to vote.
And in our Well, No Shit, Sherlock Department, we have this little article from The Huffington Post. Former state GOP boss Jim Greer, currently on trial for various bits of financial skulduggery (a corrupt Republican Party boss? Say it ain't so!) alleges that the intent of the law was, in fact, to target and limit the impact of minorities and the young on the elections.
Imagine my surprise at that.
And imagine my continued surprise when Governor Scott announced that he was "satisfied" with how things turned out, but said that he might institute a review of the law anyhow.
Don't lay any wagers on the outcome, folks. If this is anything like the 'review' of the Stand Your Ground Law, the best we can hope for is that the demographic shifts in the electorate succeed in ousting Scott in 2014 and gradually bring the Legislature back into balance.
Well, it was. No real big surprise there.
In between screwing police, firefighters and EMTs out of part of the pensions (by instituting a 3% "contribution" that amounts to an extra tax) and trying to finally destroy all vestiges of public education in the state, Scott and his merry band of idiots passed a law that shortened the early voting timetable in the state.
Civil rights groups and the rump Democratic minority in the State Legislature cried foul, of course, and a Federal judicial panel agreed with them - the law unfairly targets minorities and the young. Minorities and the young are the most likely to use early voting, and - Surprise! Surprise! Surprise! - are mostly likely to vote Democratic.
Now, when I say that a judicial panel agreed with the plaintiffs, they only agreed for five counties currently under the scrutiny of the Voting Rights Act. The rest of Flori-duh would have to shift for themselves, and they did, with reports of people waiting in line up to nine hours to exercise their Constitutional right to vote.
And in our Well, No Shit, Sherlock Department, we have this little article from The Huffington Post. Former state GOP boss Jim Greer, currently on trial for various bits of financial skulduggery (a corrupt Republican Party boss? Say it ain't so!) alleges that the intent of the law was, in fact, to target and limit the impact of minorities and the young on the elections.
Imagine my surprise at that.
And imagine my continued surprise when Governor Scott announced that he was "satisfied" with how things turned out, but said that he might institute a review of the law anyhow.
Don't lay any wagers on the outcome, folks. If this is anything like the 'review' of the Stand Your Ground Law, the best we can hope for is that the demographic shifts in the electorate succeed in ousting Scott in 2014 and gradually bring the Legislature back into balance.
posted by Walt at 3:47 PM
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