No Love For Rick - Florida’s Gov Keeps Low Profile Ahead Of State’s Primary

David Taintor TPM

Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) has kept a low profile in the weeks leading up to his state’s Republican presidential primary. And that’s probably for good reason: It’s no stretch to say Scott is one of the most disliked governors in the U.S. His disapproval rating peaked at almost 60 percent and currently hovers in the mid-40s.

Given those numbers, it’s not surprising that Scott’s endorsement “is not sought very intensely by the candidates,” University of Miami Associate Professor of Political Science Gregory Koger told TPM. It could “hurt as much as help,” he said.

When Scott has weighed in on the Florida primary, it has been through cable news interviews. His message is always the same: jobs. Florida’s unemployment rate — 9.9 percent — is higher than the national average and, of course, the housing crisis has hit Florida particularly hard. More...

WE’RE NOT BROKE tells the story of U.S. corporations dodging billions of dollars in income tax, and how seven fed-up Americans take their frustration to the streets…and vow to make the corporations pay their fair share.

New Hampshire Legislature Turns Policy Reins Over To ALEC

Kenneth Quinnell Crooks and Liars

Republicans in the New Hampshire legislature seemingly have ceded all control of the state to the American Legislative Exchange Council by introducing an unprecedented seven of ALEC's pieces of model legislation in the past week. ALEC legislation is basically written by corporations to protect their own interests and the organization is behind a rash of legislation across the U.S. that has assaulted working families, attacked unions and sought to unravel the American social safety net. Granite State Progress is watching the progress of the New Hampshire bills:

"This is an incredible illustration of how the current leadership of the New Hampshire House and Senate are selling our state out to the highest bidder," said Zandra Rice Hawkins, Director of Granite State Progress. "Corporations already funnel unlimited money into our political system but to hand them the pen and paper to craft legislation is just plain wrong."

ALEC model legislation heard in committees this week range from repealing new consumer protections under the Affordable Care Act to creating specialized tax credits for businesses and privatizing education to limiting voter access at the ballot box.

"Each of these pieces of legislation benefit special interests at the expense of everyday, hardworking Granite Staters," Rice Hawkins said. "We need to reject corporate-written legislation and focus on ways to ensure New Hampshire state laws benefit New Hampshire state residents."

The ALEC-inspired legislation includes:

Representative Mark Pafford’s Letter to U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee Regarding Florida's Voter Suppression Law

The Honorable Dick Durbin, Chair

U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary

Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights & Human Rights

224 Dirksen Senate Office Building

Washington, DC 20510

Dear Senators:

I filed House Bill 1189 for the 2012 Florida Legislative Session in hopes of reversing the harsh restrictions on voting imposed under a voter suppression law approved by the Republican-led Legislature in 2011. I believe many of the changes imposed under the voter suppression law will bring great harm to minorities in this state and make it considerably more difficult for others to cast their votes.  On behalf of the citizens of Florida, I commend you for fulfilling the request made by Senator Bill Nelson to hold field hearings on the issue of voting suppression.

An analysis of election records has shown that 1.1 million black voters participated in Florida's general election in 2008. More than half of those votes were cast prior to Election Day at early-voting sites. Comparably, just one-fourth of all white voters used early voting, and roughly one-third of Hispanic voters participated in early voting in that historic election.

On the final Sunday before the 2008 presidential election, black voters accounted for 32 percent of the daily early voting turnout in Florida. The changes made in last year's voter suppression law would reduce the number of days of early voting and would eliminate the Sunday before election day as an early voting day.

Also of grave concern to me, the Republican-led Legislature's move to reduce the number of days that third-party voter registration organizations have to submit completed applications will also be detrimental to minorities. In Florida, 15 percent of Hispanics and nearly 20 percent of African Americans registered to vote through registration drives in Florida in 2008, compared to 6 percent of whites.

The move to eliminate the ability to complete a change of address form at the polls will also hurt minorities.  According to an  estimate based on 2008 election figures, nearly 34,000 additional Florida voters will now be required to cast provisional ballots. Because minorities have higher mobility and foreclosure rates than whites, they are the voters most likely to move and will likely be disproportionately forced to cast a provisional ballot under the new law.

According to the Pew Research Center, 43 percent of African Americans and 48 percent of Latinos moved during the previous five years, as compared to only 27 percent of whites. African Americans and Hispanics similarly report a higher likelihood of moving within the next five years. Many individuals have also been forced to move in the wake of the foreclosure crisis, which has disproportionately impacted minorities. The decline in homeownership rates among African Americans and Latinos in recent years is almost twice that of whites. The likely increase under the voter suppression law of greater reliance on provisional ballots among minorities is troubling because provisional ballots are often not counted. For instance, during the 2008 elections, fewer than half (only 48.59%) of all provisional ballots cast in Florida were actually counted.

The consequences of the voter suppression law are great. Therefore, I am proud to support House Bill 1189 this year as a measure to restore confidence in our elections and to ensure that every vote counts.

With kind regards, I am,

Sincerely,

MARK PAFFORD

State Representative

District 88

cc:           U.S. Senator Bill Nelson, Washington, DC  20510

                The Honorable Perry Thurston, Florida House of Representatives, District 93

Hell - If you Don’t Count Inhofe and Coburn that's 20 Points Right There

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Oklahoma Republican seeks to ban use of aborted fetuses in food products

Well, it's good to know that lawmakers are finally cracking down on this problem:

A bill introduced in the Oklahoma Legislature has some folks scratching their heads, as it prohibits "the manufacture or sale of food or products which use aborted human fetuses."

The bill states:

No person or entity shall manufacture or knowingly sell food or any other product intended for human consumption which contains aborted human fetuses in the ingredients or which used aborted human fetuses in the research or development of any of the ingredients.

The genius behind this bill, State Sen. Ralph Shortey, (R-Of course), explained his rationale:

The senator says that his research shows there are companies in the food industry that have used human stem cells to help them research and develop products, including artificial flavorings.

"I don't know if it is happening in Oklahoma, it may be, it may not be. What I am saying is that if it does happen then we are not going to allow it to manufacture here."

Frankly, I'm appalled at this attempt to restrict our personal liberties. Who doesn't enjoy a fetus pop on a hot summer day? Or a nice bowl of cream of fetus on a cold winter night? What about folks who enjoy deep fried fetus on a stick at the county fair? Do we really want to prevent McDonald's from introducing the McFetus? That's not very free market-y of the senator. Come on, man, this is America. Our founding fathers didn't discover America just so we could not enjoy our favorite fetus recipes in the privacy of our own homes.

Maybe Oklahoma shouldn't have been so quick to ban that other non-existent creeping epidemic: sharia law in U.S. courts. I hear the terrorists don't like aborted fetuses either.