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" (Optional Musical Accompaniment To This Post) Things continue to get feisty down in the newly insane state of North Carolina, formerly known as The Smart One. As we know from previous episodes, North Carolina is afflicted with that deadliest of all contemporary political phrases -- the &amp;quot;Republican-controlled legislature.&amp;quot; And they&amp;#039;ve got it bad, and that ain&amp;#039;t good. The latest symptom to erupt is that legislature&amp;#039;s attempt to join in the Day Of Jubilee announced by Justice John Roberts, when the latter informed the nation through a judicial opinion that racism was dead, dead, dead, and that, therefore, we didn&amp;#039;t much need a functioning federal voting rights act any more. This new bill does the following: *shortens early voting by 1 week, *eliminates same day registration and provisional voting if at wrong precinct, *prevents counties from offering voting on last Saturday before the election beyond 1 pm, *prevents counties from extending poll hours by one hour on election day in extraordinary circumstances (like lengthy lines), *eliminates state supported voter registration drives and preregistration for 16/17 year olds, *repeals voter owned judicial elections and straight party voting, *increases number of people who can challenge voters inside the precinct, and *purges voter rolls more often. This, it should be pointed out, is not voter-suppression. One of the reasons you know it&amp;#039;s not voter-suppression is that it is heartily endorsed by True The Vote, a Texas organization that is dedicated to maintaining &amp;quot;free and fair elections,&amp;quot; and which is not at all a voter-suppression organization, even though much of its work seems to result in fewer people being able to vote easily, most of them likely Democratic voters. (Coincidence is a harsh mistress.) Another way you know it&amp;#039;s not voter-suppression is that its supporters say it&amp;#039;s not, so there, and that laws like this one are democracy&amp;#039;s only defense against the undetectable. Republicans say the measures are necessary to combat voter fraud, which they claim is rampant and often goes undetected. &amp;quot;People need to have confidence in the fact that everyone only votes once, and that their vote matters, and establish integrity in the electoral process,&amp;quot; said Sen. Bob Rucho, the Mecklenburg Republican who shepherded the bill through committee. &amp;quot;I would hope we can pass this bill and re-establish a level of integrity and confidence in the electoral system. Were this not the Day Of Jubilee, of course, the people whose votes are not being suppressed in North Carolina could have appealed the new law on the grounds of the Voting Rights Act, but that historic unfairness was remedied by Justice Roberts and his four colleagues. If this involved voter-suppression, which it does not, or else True The Vote wouldn&amp;#039;t come within 100 miles of this law, it would be time for me to point out here that Elections Have Consequences, and so does the federal judicial nominating process, and that John Roberts, who had been crusading against the VRA for his entire career as a government lawyer, was as full of shit as the Christmas goose when he told the Senate that a justice&amp;#039;s job was to be a neutral arbitrator, like an umpire or a referee. I might even make an unkind reference to former NBA ref Tim Donaghy, but that would only be if this involved voter-suppression which, of course, it does not. The North Carolina legislature then moved along to more important business. The Republican-backed bill approved by the House and Senate on Tuesday allows concealed-carry permit holders to take firearms into bars, restaurants and other places where alcohol is served, parades and funeral processions as long as owners or organizers don&amp;#039;t expressly forbid it. The measure now heads to the desk of Republican Gov. Pat McCrory. The bill will also allow concealed-carry permit holders to store weapons in locked cars on the campus of any public school or university, or a state government parking lot. Permit holders can also carry their firearms at public recreation areas and playgrounds. Guns in bars. Well, that ought to liven up election day, anyway. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a19087/more-bastards-out-of-carolina/>