I Know Were Marco Isn't

[IntenseOperator]

March Honors Voting Rights Act Anniversary



Saturday, August 06, 2005 1:47 p.m. ET
By ERRIN HAINES Associated Press Writer
ATLANTA (AP) -- Thousands of demonstrators streamed down Martin Luther King Jr. Drive chanting, singing and marching on Saturday in support of extending the 40-year-old Voting Rights Act.

Organizers hope the "Keep the Vote Alive" march will pressure Congress and President Bush to extend key provisions of the landmark law, which expires in 2007.


"Forty years later, we're still marching for the right to vote," said U.S. Rep. John Lewis, who participated in the civil rights struggles that helped secure passage of the law in 1965. "Don't give up, don't give in. Keep the faith, keep your eyes on the prize."

Activists from across the country joined Lewis, NAACP President Bruce Gordon and the Rev. Jesse Jackson, who heads the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, at Saturday's demonstration.

"The right to vote does not endanger, but we must protect it against discrimination," Jackson said at a rally at the end of the march.

Civil rights groups fear conservatives will try to modify two key provisions of the law. One requires nine states, mostly in the South, to get federal approval before changing voting rules. The other requires election officials to provide voting material in the native language of immigrant voters who don't speak English.

Activists also used the rally to protest Georgia's recently passed voter identification law, which critics call the most restrictive in the country.

If that bill is approved by the Department of Justice, Jackson warned on Friday, it could "spread like a virus" to other states. Rainbow/PUSH is among a list of objectors that have urged the Department of Justice not to approve the law.

In the weekly Democratic radio address, Lewis said his party is committed to strengthening the sections of the law that are set to expire.

"Our democracy depends on protecting the right of every American citizen to vote in every election," Lewis said.

 

[Marco]

You're absolutely right, I'm not there....

Voting has always been a rather cynical subject for me....as some of my posts have made very clear....

If the average politician could actually accomplish 10% of what they babble about that they want to do, most of the problems inside the USA would be solved or on the way to being solved.

Too many promises unkept....the good ole boys network, corporate influence, pork barrel...infighting between dem/rep....you name it, most of it doesn't solve any problems....just creates gridlock, payoffs, and politicians protecting each other.....

All kinds of foreign aid packages yet I still watch clips from "60 Minutes" showing new schools in one county and the school in the next county is as old as the Alamo and falling down....

Voting won't make a difference until the rules are changed as to how these guys operate and how money gets spent and where......until there are some guidelines in place, some solid checks and balances and the government has to be financially responsible and accountable the only thing that will change is the politicians in the system who pass the problems on to the next generation of electees.

Vote for whoever you want but I'm saying the rules of the system have to change before your decision at the voting booth will ever matter.

I use to think lawyers were at the bottom of the cesspool but all you have to do is dig a little deeper and you'll find the average politician....

 

[IntenseOperator]

Marco did you ever think that maybe the decent folks that want to swim against the tide and the status quo, won't because of people such as yourself?

Why should a good man/woman make the effort and deal with the stress involved when many won't even do what little they can in their world?

Not blaming you of anything. Just don't fully understand the whole train of thought. The defeatest attitude is something I'm not privy to, although you do make a lot of very correct points.

 

[ferdville]

I don't disagree with hardly any of what you say like "Voting won't make a difference until the rules are changed.

Short of a hostile takeover, the rules cannot be changed any way but voting. And yes, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals may reverse it. But there is no other way.

 

[Marco]

"defeatist attitude"?????

Call it whatever you want, I've seen enough corruption and lack of action in politics to call it REALITY.

"Short of a hostile takeover, the rules cannot be changed any way but voting."

Needless to say I don't foresee anyone from the House speaking out against the 100% retirement plan they so conveniently voted in for themselves, far be it for any one of them to voice disapproval of a policy effecting themselves and the rest of thier cronies....curious to know what checks and balances were in place to prevent this one from happening in the first place....apparently none...

Like I said before, until there is some well-defined structure and regulations concerning how taxpayer money is spent and the legalized bribery of American politicians by corporate America, all you guys are doing is changing the cogs in the machine and electing another politician that ends up just as ethically bankrupt as his peers....

Don't expect any of them to turn on the pack and cut down thier money tree anytime soon.

 

[CHARLESMANSON]

You denied a defeatist attitude then I read the rest of what you had to say and it sounded to me exactly like a defeatist attitude. lol. Them damn corporations I'm telling you!!!!! grrr!!! How dare capitalism take place.

 

[Marco]

"Them damn corporations I'm telling you....How dare capitalism take place."

We live in a country where a policeman cannot legally accept a free donut yet politicians receive thousands of dollars from corporate America and special interest groups.....

Where is the standard when you hold the police force to a higher standard than the politicians?

You can call it capitalism, I call it bribery plain and simple....these groups don't pour money into politicians pockets just because they like the guy....they want favors down the line and rules to swing thier way

The politicians might as well wear those suits the nascar drivers wear, with all the sponsors and patches all over, then whoever wins can stand at the podium while some stagehand switches ball caps and places another sponsor on the guys head...

Put your head in the clouds but I'm telling you corporate America bought this country a long time ago and the politicians are just sucking up to whoever puts the most money in the envelopes...

 

[kosar]

The politicians might as well wear those suits the nascar drivers wear, with all the sponsors and patches all over, then whoever wins can stand at the podium while some stagehand switches ball caps and places another sponsor on the guys head...

lol- good analogy

 

[djv]

Outstanding Idea.

 

[ocelot]

Marco - absolutely correct - we only have the illusion of democracy. Like teh NASCAR idea. That is exactly what is going on anyway.

But until American voters / revolutionaries put an end to it all and DEMAND change, voting is all we got.

 

[ocelot]

By the way:

America had its chance with Perot and blew it.

 

[Marco]

Funny you should mention Perot.....in all likelihood the only politician in my life I would have even considered voting for......

I liked his practicality and his ability to cut the crap and get to the point, where other candidates pussied around with a drawn out speech and at the end you never really knew where they stood...

Too many politicians stay on the fence and avoid the issues, thereby refusing to step on toes that might have voted for them....easier to put a smear campaign together pointing out the failures of the opponent than to actually man-up and say what you're going to do if elected...and then do it.

Perot might have had a chance if he was from one of the two major parties....but I'm thinking he was too controversial and would have shaken up the system too much for the existing good ole boys network to handle....

 

[dawgball]

My first right to vote was used with a ballot for Perot. I still think he had a decent chance to win if he would not have dropped out and come back in.

 

[IntenseOperator]

Perot was finished the minute he chose that skeleton to be his VP :sadwave:

 

[ferdville]

Perot lost in part because our two party system effectively shuts out anyone who isn't Dem or Repub. He had some great ideas and he did register with people that wanted to change the status quo. When he chose Stockdale or Stockwell or whoever it was as running mate, he was done. Too bad. I voted for him anyway.

 

[Marco]

That Perot thing......correct me if I'm wrong but wasn't there some threats made against his family if he continued to run for office??

I remember hearing something about that but maybe I'm mistaking that for a Kennedy thing...

 

[spibble spab]

You're absolutely right, I'm not there....

Voting has always been a rather cynical subject for me....as some of my posts have made very clear....
...

i got an Idea. Well have Kosar self appoint himself as the drug czar. sell heroin and that'll take care of the deficit the republicans have ran up. Marco
you can be king and rule forever unless some brave soul decides do throw a coup de etat attempt with rubber band guns and uranium.
naw...we'll just vote his ass out....oh wait...
voting is for sissies :mj07:

 

[ocelot]

Yes, the Dirty Politics Boys from the GOP threatened to kill his daughter at her wedding if I remember correctly. Perot was no fool, he knew who was behind it and said so. Politics as usual for the GOP.

 

[Marco]

spibble......If voting was anywhere near the great cure-all that some of you guys make it out to be, most of our problems would have been solved decades ago.

Vote for whichever candidate blows smoke up your a$$ and jerks your chain, there is no democracy in place when a political body can raise thier own wages by thier own accord.

 

[spibble spab]

What do you suggest? And don't try to play Utopia with me. Im talking about a real world anwser. be specific