Voter ID laws combat voter participation, not voter fraud. These laws may prevent 10% of people who are supposed to vote and addresses a problem that is generally non existent. The real design is to drive down Democratic base participation.

And the truth, at least in the Keystone State, is that Republicans are prepared to block a huge chunk of the voting-age population from participating in their own democracy.

Nearly 10 percent of Pennsylvania’s registered voters do not have photo identification cards from the state transportation department and could be ineligible to vote in November under the state’s new Republican-backed voter ID law.

The Pennsylvania Department of State reported Tuesday that more than 758,000 registered voters lack a standard driver’s license or a non-driver photo ID. That’s 9.2 percent of the state’s 8.2 million voters.

In Philadelphia, where Democrats outnumber Republicans by about 6-1, 18 percent of the city’s registered voters do not have the state photo ID, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.

source: Widespread disenfranchising in Pennsylvania – The Maddow Blog.

In 2008: 132,653,958 out of 213,313,508 elligible people voted in 2008 (around 62.2%). 131,304,731 voted for the highest office (federal or statewide executive). There are 10% of voters who don’t have voter ID (via Ari Berman at Rolling Stone):

More than 10 percent of U.S. citizens lack such identification, and the numbers are even higher among constituencies that traditionally lean Democratic – including 18 percent of young voters and 25 percent of African-Americans.

[…]

Even at the time, there was no evidence to back up such outlandish claims. A major probe by the Justice Department between 2002 and 2007 failed to prosecute a single person for going to the polls and impersonating an eligible voter, which the anti-fraud laws are supposedly designed to stop. Out of the 300 million votes cast in that period, federal prosecutors convicted only 86 people for voter fraud – and many of the cases involved immigrants and former felons who were simply unaware of their ineligibility.

source: The GOP War on Voting | Politics News | Rolling Stone.

86 out of 300m voters convicted of voter fraud. That’s when George W Bush appointee Attorney General John Ashcroft was beating the couch cushions to show there was a problem. 2.866666666666667e-7 cases of voter fraud. Literally, the problem has no discernible affect on our Democracy.

More on PSU’s administration covering up Sandusky

The alleged e-mails among Spanier, Schultz, 62, and former Athletic Director Tim Curley, 57, never mention Sandusky by name, instead referring to him as “the subject” and “the person.” Children that Sandusky brought on campus –some of whom might have been victims — are referred to as “guests.”

[…]

In an alleged e-mail dated February 26, 2001, Schultz writes to Curley that he assumes Curley’s “got the ball” about a three-part plan to “talk with the subject asap regarding the future appropriate use of the University facility,” … “contacting the chair of the charitable organization” and “contacting the Department of Welfare,” according to a source with knowledge of the case.

Schultz refers to Sandusky as the “subject” and Sandusky’s Second Mile charity as the “charitable organization,” according to a source with knowledge of the e-mails.

Pennsylvania law requires suspected child abuse be reported to outside authorities, including the state’s child welfare agencies.

[…]

Curley refers to a meeting scheduled that day with Spanier and indicates they apparently discussed the Sandusky incident two days earlier.

Curley indicates he no longer wants to contact child welfare authorities just yet. He refers to a conversation the day before with Paterno. It’s not known what Paterno may have said to Curley.

Curley writes: “After giving it more thought and talking it over with Joe yesterday, I am uncomfortable with what we agreed were the next steps.”

The athletic director apparently preferred to keep the situation an internal affair and talk things over with Sandusky instead of notifying the state’s child welfare agency to investigate Sandusky’s suspicious activity.

“I am having trouble with going to everyone, but the person involved,” Curley allegedly continues.

source: Disturbing e-mails could spell more trouble for Penn State officials – CNN.com.

After these people are tried (and hopefully convicted) the NCAA needs to look at serious sanctions for the football program.

How many bonuses were paid before this was revealed?

JPMorgan Chase stock declined more than 2 percent on Thursday, making it one of the worst-performing banks, after a published report said its loss on a bad trade could be far higher than the bank first estimated.

The New York Times, citing an internal report at the bank, reported that the loss could reach $9 billion. JPMorgan’s initial estimate was $2 billion when it disclosed the trade in May, although CEO Jamie Dimon said then that the loss could grow.

source: JPMorgan Chase shares fall after report that trading loss may reach $9B – The Washington Post.

The only reason secret prisons are used is to deny prisoners due process and human rights. Under any name (internment, rendition) it’s nothing we should do. But because one party is far right and the other is mostly moderate and then liberal, these secret prisons are still accepted as neccessary evils to stop evil.

Which awful CEO or despot needs advice on how to talk like a principled centrist, blame “both sides” and determine how much they need to donate to Super PACs or Crossroads GPS?

“I had a bad experience trying to convert a non-democracy to a democracy for the State Department, Davis told Flock. “And I learned that no good deed goes unpunished.”

Steele and Davis said they don’t have any clients yet, but are in talks with a multinational corporation “in crisis” and a “great democracy” seeking increased tourism.

Lanny Davis, Michael Steele defend their new firm against criticism | TPMDC.

Again, if Bain Capital is his rationale for being President of the country during a tenuous recovery, Romney should be challenged on the relevancy of that experience to the American employment picture:

While economists debate whether the massive outsourcing of American jobs over the last generation was inevitable, Romney in recent months has lamented the toll it’s taken on the U.S. economy. He has repeatedly pledged he would protect American employment by getting tough on China.

“They’ve been able to put American businesses out of business and kill American jobs,” he told workers at a Toledo fence factory in February. “If I’m president of the United States, that’s going to end.”

Speaking at a metalworking factory in Cincinnati last week, Romney cited his experience as a businessman, saying he knows what it would take to bring employers back to the United States. “For me it’s all about good jobs for the American people and a bright and prosperous future,” he said.

[…]

Campaign officials have said it is unfair to criticize Romney for investments made by Bain after he left the firm but did not address those made on his watch. In response to detailed questions about outsourcing investments, Bain spokesman Alex Stanton said, “Bain Capital’s business model has always been to build great companies and improve their operations. We have helped the 350 companies in which we have invested, which include over 100 start-up businesses, produce $80 billion of revenue growth in the United States while growing their revenues well over twice as fast as both the S&P and the U.S. economy over the last 28 years.”

source: Romney’s Bain Capital invested in companies that moved jobs overseas – The Washington Post.

The folks still with Bain Capital are honest about their record: they make money by shearing labor costs. Bain’s business model is more often than not dependent on layoffs, benefit cuts, outsourcing/off-shoring. That’s simple. The President never has begrudged them that or intimated that it was illegal or immoral to do. He’s been clear that Bain’s purpose wasn’t job creation for Americans, it was profits for investors:

And let’s take a look at the record specifically of Bain Capital, which Romney owned from 1992 to 2001.

• 1988: Bain put $10 million down to buy Stage Stores, and in the mid-’90s took it public, collecting $184 million from stock offerings. Stage filed for bankruptcy in 2000.
• 1992: Bain bought American Pad & Paper, investing $5 million, and collected $107 million from dividends. The business filed for bankruptcy in 2000.
• 1993: Bain invested $25 million when buying GS Industries, and received $58 million from dividends. GS filed for bankruptcy in 2001.
• 1994: Bain put $27 million down to buy medical equipment maker Dade Behring. Dade borrowed $230 million to buy some of its shares. Dade went bankrupt in 2002.
• 1997: Bain invested $41 million when buying Details, and collected at least $70 million from stock offerings. The company filed for bankruptcy in 2003.

Romney owned 100 percent of Bain Capital making him involved in all these deals, which represented more than 20 percent of the money Bain made from its investment funds between 1987 and 1995. Bain’s focus during all this time was leveraged buyouts, and it had not made venture investments since its earliest days.

Romney says he will get jobs back because he knows why companies send jobs overseas and that’s because he used to buy companies and build strategy for them which included outsourcing. That’s like saying you can stop heroin abuse because you know why people get addicted to it and you used to teach people how to shoot it in their veins. Regardless, Bain Capital is sending in the big guns to Romney’s donor, VP vetting retreat in Park City, Utah this weekend. But, according to Cory Booker, Harold Ford, Ed Rendell and others: no one should talk about Romney’s experience working for Bain except for Mitt Romney, it’s too negative. That’s a foolish generality. Romney spent most of his adult life at Bain prior to politics. It’s his rationale for why he can fix the economy. He made it the centerpiece of Romney 2012, he should have to defend it and if Obama doesn’t make him defend it, then he is committing campaign malpractice.

Mitt Romney at NALEO on June 20, 2012:

Barack Obama at NALEO on June 21, 2012:

Romney’s position on measures to deal with current undocumented immigrants, not in the military, who would be protected under the DREAM Act Republicans blocked in the senate and he said he would veto, is still unclear:

Mind you Romney’s halfway version of the DREAM Act is: volunteer to join a military that will be sent to fight a war in Iran he believes he can unilaterally declare, and he will be eager to start if he gets in office, and he will let you be a citizen.

UPDATE: Link to Romney’s Iran War Policy

Of course Ron Paul cashes social security checks…

Ron Paul joins Ayn Rand and Paul Ryan among the ranks of the moochers and the leeches.

Paul admitted he does, stating, “[It’s] just as I use the post office, I use government highways, I use the banks, I use the federal reserve system. But that doesn’t mean that you can’t work to remove this in the same way on Social Security.”

source: INSTAPUTZ: Another libertarian welfare queen.

But then Ron Paul names all the awesome federally funded, built and administrated things he uses but would like to under fund or just “turn over to the states”.

Swing state economies are improving, the Republican Governors want to publicize it but Romney doesn’t really want them to talk about it:

The development is perhaps one of the clearest examples of the messaging predicament the Romney campaign finds itself in. For the Republican presidential nominee, the election is largely a referendum on President Obama’s handling of jobs and the economy. And with last month’s weak jobs report, he appeared to have a winning message. Yet when you ask Republican governors how things are going, especially in swing states, the economic picture starts to brighten considerably

source: Romney Campaign Reportedly Asked Florida Governor To Downplay Job Growth | TPMDC.

These Governors are not just trumping the rationale behind a line of attack (like the Democratic Bain defenders tried to do) they’re usurping the rationale behind the core message of the Romney Campaign.

The debate was to be sponsored by the Edward M. Kennedy Institute and Vicki Kennedy is the president of the Institute. So there’s some notional logic to the demand. But c’mon. In the real world it’s irrelevant to anything to do with the debate. Media organizations would control the questions and the questioners. Brown’s really trying to insist that Kennedy’s widow stay uncommitted for the whole cycle?

source: What Am I Missing? | TPM Editors Blog.

You know, Martha Coakley was endorsed by Vicki Kennedy and Scott Brown didn’t give a damn. I think Scott Brown is shook because Warren is actually a much better opponent, but he shouldn’t be so shook that he wants to bind Vicki Kennedy’s free speech to his agreement to debate. It’s a f*cking stupid bargain. Nothing irks me more than this new type of debating where candidates pre-screen questions and cherry pick moderators, but there is still value in debates. It’s where some real differentiating can happen. Scott Brown is really happy to seem more moderate than he is and wants to not remind people that he works for a party powered by a swelling base of aging, increasingly mon0-cultural, political zealots.

And that’s what it is: Scott Brown won’t debate Elizabeth Warren. it isn’t “they can’t come to terms” or “both sides were unreasonable”, Scott Brown wants to keep the widow of the Senator he succeeded to keep her mouth shut. To literally trade free speech for him to feel it necessary to debate his opponent. Warren should hammer him on this. And not in a mean, snide way, but demand that they be allowed to discuss the issues in front of voters.

Prisoners Phone conversations are all recorded, So it’s good not to prove you committed perjury and be a callous jerk who’s bereft of remorse when you are a defender in a manslaughter case after murdering a teenager:

They also discussed Zimmerman getting out on bail, and how to keep him from the press. The Sentinel reports that his choice of words was not ideal:

… “Well, I have my hoodie,” he says, a possible joke, referring to the hooded sweatshirt Trayvon Martin wore the night Zimmerman shot him in Sanford, Feb. 26.

source: George Zimmerman Jailhouse Tapes Reveal Ill-Conceived Code Words, Hoodie Reference — Daily Intel.

More Democrats than the President needed to defend this (and he did defend it) but right during it’s passage, even stalwarts like Bernie Frank and Howard Dean said to scrap it.

It was Remote Area Medical’s 667th clinic. But this one came at an unusual moment: as the Supreme Court deliberates whether to uphold the health care law that will have a disproportionate impact on the sort of people served by the organization.

Layman was hardly the only patient unaware that the law aims to help people like her, by expanding health insurance beginning in 2014. And this gets to the heart of the political dilemma for Democrats: Despite spending tremendous political capital to pass the law, the party is unlikely to win many votes from the law’s future beneficiaries, most of whom live in Republican-dominated states in the South and West. In fact, many at the clinic said they don’t vote at all.

source: Alec MacGillis: ‘What New Law?’ | The New Republic.

so here we are today…waiting for a 5-4 vote tomorrow that may destroy the Affordable Care Act and confirm their place as a regressive rights, pro-power court.

Rodney King Dead at 47:

In April, Mr. King published a memoir detailing his struggles, saying in several interviews that he was hopeful, but that he had not been able to find steady work and was essentially broke.

No clue what they mean nor how much they will mean.

Romney wants a new pre-requisite for Presidency

“I was speaking with one of these business owners … And he said, ‘You know, I’d like to change the Constitution,’?” Romney said, citing the earlier conversation. “?‘I’d like to have a provision in the Constitution that in addition to the age of the president and the citizenship of the president and the birthplace of the president … I’d like it also to say that the president has to spend at least three years working in business before he could become president of the United States.’?”

Romney did not explicitly endorse the suggestion, but added that if business experience were a requirement, the president “would understand that the policies they’re putting in place have to encourage small business, make it easier for business to grow.”’

Let’s see if this rationale holds up:

In a scholarly ranking of great presidents, a 2009 survey conducted by C-Span,6 of the 10 best leaders lacked sufficient business experience to be president by Romney’s rumination. This list includes Ronald Reagan, the actor, union activist and corporate spokesman, and John F. Kennedy, the naval officer, writer and politician. There is one failed businessman on the list of great presidents, the haberdasher Harry S. Truman.

By contrast, two 20th century businessmen — George W. Bush, whose sweetheart deal with the Texas Rangers made him a multimillionaire, and Herbert Hoover, who came by his mining fortune honestly — were ranked among the worst presidents ever by the same historians. Bush left the country in a sea of debt and an economic crisis rivaled only by the one that engulfed Hoover.

source: The Myth of the Businessman-President – NYTimes.com.