Bad Deeds for 7-1-2012

Pennsylvania Republican: House Leader Says Voter ID Laws Are ‘Gonna Allow Governor Romney To Win’ – This weekend, Pennsylvania Republican House Leader Mike Turzai (R-PA) finally admitted what so many have speculated: Voter identification efforts are meant to suppress Democratic votes in this year’s election.

At the Republican State Committee meeting, Turzai took the stage and let slip the truth about why Republicans are so insistent on voter identification efforts — it will win Romney the election. He said, “We are focused on making sure that we meet our obligations that we’ve talked about for years. Pro-Second Amendment? The Castle Doctrine, it’s done. First pro-life legislation – abortion facility regulations – in 22 years, done. Voter ID, which is gonna allow Governor Romney to win the state of Pennsylvania, done.”

Texas Republican Party Platform Urges Repeal of Voter Rights Act – The Republican Party of Texas’ recently adopted 2012 platform contains a plank that wants the Voter Rights Act repealed. It states, “We urge that the Voter Rights Act of 1965 codified and updated in 1973 be repealed and not reauthorized.”

Texas Republican Party Platform Opposes Teaching Thinking Skills – The Republican Party of Texas’ recently adopted 2012 platform contains a plank that opposes the teaching of “critical thinking skills” in schools.

The plank in question, on “Knowledge-Based Education,” reads as follows:
“We oppose the teaching of Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) (values clarification), critical thinking skills and similar programs that are simply a relabeling of Outcome-Based Education (OBE) (mastery learning) which focus on behavior modification and have the purpose of challenging the student’s fixed beliefs and undermining parental authority.”

(Critical thinking, of course, is what allows a person to differentiate between fact and hokum. However, Republicans apparently believe that when elders spout hokum, now that needs to be properly respected. If your parents say the Loch Ness Monster is proof that evolution never happened, you had better not start using your newfound critical thinking skills on picking that apart. – JLV)

Coal Company to Get Cheap Coal From Our Public Land and Sell It Overseas for Huge Profit – The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) plans to give Peabody Energy the rights to 721 million tons of publicly owned Wyoming coal for about $1 a ton,1 just so Peabody can sell it in Asia for $80 a ton, unleashing a massive amount of climate-change causing carbon pollution in the process. Realizing that dirty coal use in the U.S. is in a steep and permanent decline, big coal companies want to build massive coal export terminals in the Pacific Northwest for shipping American coal to Asia, where environmental rules aren’t as strict.

BLM’s coal leasing decisions are supposed to be made “in the best interests of the nation,” but fueling climate change by heavily subsidizing dirty coal that will be sold to China isn’t in anyone’s interests.

Tell the Bureau of Land Management: Stop the dirty coal giveaways and stop subsidizing climate change. Click here to automatically sign the petition.

Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio Arrests a 6-year-Old Undocumented Child – Notorious Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio recently arrested a 6-year-old undocumented child, despite President Obama’s recent revisions to immigration policy, which stops the deportation of undocumented children. The young girl, who was with 15 other immigrants, was arrested on the same day that Obama implemented these major changes to the country’s immigration policy.

Republican Senate Candidate Says He’s Sick and Tired of Hearing Sob Stories About the Poor – During the Q&A portion of a Greater Brookfield Chamber of Commerce event, Wisconsin U.S. Senate candidate Eric Hovde (R) expressed his support for lowering the corporate tax rate, tackling the country’s spending problems and lowering the national debt. Then, pointing to a reporter in the audience, Hovde said he would love to see the press stop covering sob stories about low-income individuals who can’t get benefits and start covering issues like the deficit more frequently.

Regards,

Jim