Voter ID: The Pennsylvania Supreme Court Heard Arguments Today

Today the Pennsylvania Supreme Court heard arguments over the state’s strict — I mean, discriminatory — voter ID law. The case is on appeal from a lower court ruling. Unless overturned by the PA Supreme Court, the voter ID law is set to be enforced this election day, November 6th, potentially disenfranchising hundreds of thousands of PA voters.

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28 Quotes from President Obama’s DNC Acceptance Speech

President\ Obama - DNCPresident Obama delivered what started out as a safe speech but turned into an optimistic vision for America’s future. People don’t want to be told what is wrong with America, they want a leader to tell them what is right with America. And they want a leader to tell them how we can make things better. Obama’s speech was a renewed message of hope and change but this time he said that change was not him, it was us, and he challenged all of us to strive to make this country better for future generations, just as generations did before us.

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Did Clinton’s DNC Speech Win President Obama a Second Term?

Clinton and Obama hug - DNCFormer President Bill Clinton delivered a lengthy, issue-specific speech and he did so in a way that was both entertaining as well as informative. His speech delivered much needed context on the economy and President Obama’s record after the Great Recession, and it destroyed Republican lies and out of context talking points.

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Know Your Voting Rights: Election Day is Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Vote - photo by Ann DouglasVoting rights are under attack in America by a Republican Party that sees its odds of winning future elections hinge on the ability to suppress the minority vote. The country is growing increasingly diverse and by 2050 whites will no longer be in the majority. The Republican Party is going in the opposite direction. The party of Abraham Lincoln is now nearly unrecognizable. While the Republican Party should be able to recruit minorities with a conservative message, that message is overshadowed by a party that is hostile towards immigrants and people who they view as “different” or “foreign.” Just ask President Obama.

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Texas Voter ID Law Blocked By Federal Appeals Court

Texas flag on capitol domeFinally some good news on the effort to stop Republican voter suppression. Today a federal court of appeals blocked the Texas voter ID law saying it would disenfranchise the poor. Texas cannot implement their discriminatory voter ID law unless today’s ruling is overturned by the Supreme Court. While Texas is not a swing state and is a lock for Mitt Romney in November, this is still a nice victory for everyone who believes in a fair election system.

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A Letter to Liberals and Democrats Who Didn’t Vote in 2010

If you are a liberal or a Democrat and you didn’t vote in the 2010 midterm election then you only have yourself to blame if you are concerned about all the new voter ID laws that have passed in Republican controlled states. According to the Melissa Harris-Perry show and the Brennan Center for Justice, at least 180 bills were introduced in 41 states to restrict voting rights since the beginning of 2011.

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Paul Ryan as Running Mate, Mistake or Deceptively Clever?

Paul RyanIt’s been a week since Mitt Romney announced Paul Ryan as his running mate, and in this past week we’ve seen Ryan running away from the two big things that he is known for. If it wasn’t for the “Ryan budget” or his love-affair with Ayn Rand, Paul Ryan would just be another congressman. And if that was the case, it’s probably safe to say he would not have been on Romney’s VP short-list. So why is Paul Ryan running away from the very things that got him on that list to begin with? Did Mitt Romney make a mistake or is this a deceptively clever plan to win the White House?

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