Froth Slosh B'Gosh

Is This About His Ego?

Frankly, I can not for the life of me figure out why Governor-Bought-And-Paid-For is suing the NCAA over the sanctions against Penn State.  The university agreed to the penalties, and while Corbett sat on the board of trustees, the Commonwealth itself doesn't run Penn State.  So why are the reasources of Pennsylvania going into a lawsuit to benefit what is essentially, an independent entity that itself accepted the sanctions, and plans to abide by them?

What possible legal standing does Corbett have in this case, if other than his overly inflated sense of importance?  How much tax money will be wasted in this appeal to the governor's ego?  Or is this just an attempt by an unpopular governor to pander to Penn State fans as he prepares to try for reelection?

Today In Voter Suppression News

Corbett eliminates online registration and absentee ballot requests because its "too much to handle" for elections officials.

Here's Department of State Commissioner Jonathan Marks, "Paper voter registrations and paper applications for absentee ballots have been used by election offices in all 67 counties for years," Marks said in the e-mail. "Voters and election workers are familiar and comfortable with both. We are confident that this system will continue to work well."

Of course, Pennsylvanians in all 67 counties have been voting without photo ID for years as well, without any cases of fraud, but creating an entirely new requirement in order vote, a requirement that doesn't address any known problem, isn't at all "too much to handle." 

If there were still any question at all that this entire exercise is an effort to suppress voters who might trend democratic, you have your answer.

I'm Sure THIS Will Turn Out Well!

Pretty much what I'd expect from a corporate whore like Corbett.

Republican Gov. Tom Corbett's administration has signed a $249,660 contract with a company run by Mitt Romney fundraiser, former state GOP party executive director, pharmaceutical lobbyist, and school voucher advocate Chris Bravacos to direct a media campaign promoting the state's Voter ID law.

I expect a minimal effort, more likely to muddy and confuse the matter, rather than any real effort to educate and inform, and then when the voter suppression plan works exactly as designed, Governor Boughtandpaidfor can throw up his hands and say, 'Well we tried to let people know, its not our fault they didn't know!"

Meanwhile, from the AP, we learn that these laws are disenfranchising thousands of legitimate voters:

The numbers suggest that the legitimate votes rejected by the laws are far more numerous than are the cases of fraud that advocates of the rules say they are trying to prevent. Thousands more votes could be in jeopardy for this November, when more states with larger populations are looking to have similar rules in place.

Supporters of the laws cite anecdotal cases of fraud as a reason that states need to do more to secure elections, but fraud appears to be rare. As part of its effort to build support for voter ID laws, the Republican National Lawyers Association last year published a report that identified some 400 election fraud prosecutions over a decade across the entire country. That's not even one per state per year.ID laws would not have prevented many of those cases because they involved vote-buying schemes in local elections or people who falsified voter registrations.Election administrators and academics who monitor the issue said in-person fraud is rare because someone would have to impersonate a registered voter and risk arrest.

Its all part of the plan.

Breaking Promises

I see in my newspaper today that Harrisburg and Governor-Bought-And-Paid-For are starting to lay the groundwork to attack public employee pensions.