Bad Deeds for 6-1-2011

 

Republicans Hold America’s Financial Health and Credit Rating Hostage – In yet another act of political terrorism, the latest Republican plot is to hold our nation’s honor and good credit hostage until Democrats join the Republican assault on Medicare.

Republicans are trying to shift public blame for their Medicare misanthropy by attempting to force Democrats to join them through blackmail. They want to be able to say that Democrats joined them in attacking Medicare because it was necessary, thus absolving themselves of well-deserved guilt.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) says substantial Medicare cuts must be part of a spending and deficit cut package to get his support to raise the debt limit. “To get my vote, for me, it’s going to take short term [cuts, via spending caps]… Both medium and long-term, entitlements.,” McConnell said. “Medicare will be part of the solution.”, To clarify, McConnell was asked “[I]f [the Biden group] comes up with big cuts, trillions of dollars worth of cuts, but without substantially addressing Medicare, it won’t get your vote?”, “Correct,” McConnell said.

If Democrats cave-in, they will lose all the political advantage they have gained. Every time Democrats surrender to Republican terrorism, we lose support.

 

Republican Congressional Redistricting Plan for Texas Violates Voting Rights Act – Tuesday, Republicans presented Texans with their proposed congressional districting map.

“This map is the very definition of an unfair and illegal congressional plan, one that was constructed behind closed doors with reckless disregard for the testimony of Texans who asked for a plan that adheres to the Voting Rights Act and preserves communities of interest,” Rep. Veasey explained. “The Seliger-Solomons Plan is a slap in the face of minority voters responsible for 90% of Texas growth in the last decade.”

An initial review of the proposed plan clearly indicates that it is retrogressive and creates only 10 effective minority opportunity districts out of 36 compared to the 11 effective districts in the current 32 member plan.

“In fact, preserving only 11 effective minority opportunity districts when the state now has four additional seats due to minority population growth would still be retrogressive, and I have no doubt that a plan that has only 10 effective minority opportunity districts runs afoul of the Voting Rights Act,” Rep. Veasey said.

Across the state, this discriminatory plan splits and packs minority communities. Nowhere is that illegal scheme more apparent than Tarrant and Dallas Counties. Veasey pointed out that once again, the Southeast Ft. Worth community he represents is separated from other areas of African American growth in Tarrant County and placed in a district that would be controlled by suburban Anglo voters. This time, the North Side Hispanic community is exiled to a Denton County district and Latino voters in Dallas-Ft. Worth are split into at least seven different districts.

“A plan that splits and packs the 2.1 million African Americans and Latinos in Dallas and Tarrant Counties to provide us only one effective voice in Congress is not just illegal, it’s wrong,” concluded Rep. Veasey.

The above was released by State Representative Marc Veasey, who is serving his fourth term in the Texas House. He is a member of the Elections; Pensions, Investments and Financial Services; and Redistricting Committees. Residents of District 95 are encouraged to contact Rep. Veasey at (512) 463-0716.

 

Republicans Depriving Citizens of the Right to Vote Across Country – Republicans have a long history of gaining electoral advantage by schemes to deprive people likely to vote for Democrats of the right to vote. Methods used include caging, choosing challenge based on race, electronic vote theft (ES&S and Diebold), preventing voter registration campaigns, placing too few polling places districts with high concentrations of minority voters, and now, voter ID laws. Their excuse is the straw man, voter fraud. The actual problem is virtually nonexistent, and what few cases there have been are mostly Republican fraud.

Less than 18 months before the next presidential election, Republican-controlled statehouses around the country are rewriting voting laws to require photo identification at the polls, reduce the number of days of early voting or tighten registration rules.

Republican new rules have advanced in 13 states in the past two months. Democrats say the changes have little to do with fraud prevention and more to do with placing obstacles in the way of possible Democratic voters, including young people and minorities.

Gov. Rick Perry of Texas signed a law last week that would require each voter to show an official, valid photo ID to cast a ballot.

Democrats, who point to scant evidence of voter-impersonation fraud, say the unified Republican push for photo identification cards carries echoes of the Jim Crow laws — with their poll taxes and literacy tests — that inhibited black voters in the South from Reconstruction through the 1960s. Election experts say minorities, poor people and students — who tend to skew Democratic — are among those least likely to have valid driver’s licenses, the most prevalent form of identification. Older people, another group less likely to have licenses, are swing voters

“There is not one documented case that has been presented to us, and we had numerous hearings,” said State Senator Brad Hutto of South Carolina, a Democrat. “Republicans have to have some reason to do this because it doesn’t sound good to say, ‘We don’t want Latinos or African-Americans voting.’ ”

 

The Republican Pathetic 10-Page Jobs Brochere – On Thursday, House Republicans finally unveiled their “plan” for tackling America’s jobs crisis. It clocks in at a mere 10 pages, in large type, chock full of slick images. What’s missing is any legitimate solutions to lowering the nation’s jobless rate. The Washington Post’s Ezra Klein wrote, “It looks like the staffer in charge forgot the assignment was due on Thursday rather than Friday, and so cranked the font up to 24 and began dumping clip art to pad out the plan.”

The criticism is well deserved. Reading the “House Republican Plan for America’s Job Creators” (PDF), released by the House Republican leadership, is an exercise in wonderment: you wonder what the Republicans actually propose. Several of the “Republican Solutions” are a bit vague. “After a systematic review of our visa system, the Congress should undertake prudent reforms,” reads one “solution.” Another “solution”: “We will work to control the federal deficit to assure investors and entrepreneurs that our nation’s elected leaders are finally getting serious about paying off the debt over time.” Details? Apparently, the Republican view was, why bother?

The Republican “plan” boiled down to its essence is rather retro: Roll back regulation, lower taxes, pass free trade agreements, shrink the US debt, and boost energy production. In other words, the same failed Republican agenda we had for the past three decades. There’s nothing in this plan that is specific regarding the current jobs crisis. The plan completely forgets that George W. Bush was president four years ago and that he was a Republican, and perhaps there should be a pro forma mention of Wall Street and the financial crisis somewhere in this narrative.

Regards,

Jim