Voting rights, revisited | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's Note: Jim Bispo's weekly column appears in the Beaufort Observer.

    It would seem that the Anointed One's Chief Skin Merchant, (Eric Holder - in case you were wondering) doesn't like the way North Carolina wants to run its elections. He is taking NC to court over the Voter ID legislation. It is nice that he doesn't seem to have anything else to do. Anything worthwhile, that is. Surely this is more important than doing something about the Benghazi investigation (aside from waving the flag by seeking Grand Jury indictments); or perhaps clearing up the Gun Walking fiasco; or perhaps looking into the legality of IRS behavior toward 501(c)(3) applicants.

    Of course, when you are busy harassing Sheriff Arpaio in Arizona and worrying about what the first Republican administration in NC on over 100 years is up to, and then you factor in the Rep created Government shutdown, how could you reasonably be expected to find time for all those other things. And, by the way, does anyone know who is responsible for enforcing the law that requires a budget every year?? Strange that no one seems to be worried about that transgression - or a myriad of the Anointed One's other transgressions. Hmmm...

    It would seem to be a real stretch to lay the blame for the government "shutdown" on the doorstep of the Reps, but the Dems continue to work that talking point. The Reps have sent several bills to the Senate funding the government only to have the ex-pugilist from Nevada reject then out of hand and then accuse the Reps of trying to shut down the Government. The Anointed One is no better.

    Back to Eric Holder. Has anyone ever heard of the Tenth Amendment?? As a reminder, the Tenth Amendment says, "Powers retained by the states and people. The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." That's it. The whole thing. Surely a lot of folks know about it, but Eric Holder is apparently not among them. Either that or he doesn't care - which is much more likely given his track record of discrimination (or is it reverse discrimination??). But then he may simply trying to make more work for lawyers.. Hmmm.

    Who are these minorities that he is fighting to protect?? Could it be the Obama "Cell Phone folks"?? Could it be the Food Stamp folks?? Could it be a lot of the Child Tax Credit folks?? Could it be the SSI folks?? Or could it be folks who are taking advantage of a lot of the programs spawned by the Agriculture department (for instance)?? That list is long. To see what just the Agriculture Department has to offer click here

    Not everyone is able to latch on to all of these handouts, but clearly a lot of folks would seem to be able to find their way to more than one of 'em. Considering that they allegedly don't have the resources, or intellect, or ability (or something) to get themselves a free state provided ID, it's amazing that they are able to find their way through the Ag. Dept. maze to latch on to the freebies available there. How in the world did they ever do that when they can't even figure out how to get a free ID at the local DMV office (or wherever)?? Another of life's imponderables...

    What makes the situation even worse is the fact that the folks who are paying for most of these goodies very likely don't even know they exist. That would be the long suffering taxpayers. It doesn't take much review to see what looks like a lot of overlap between some of the programs listed and a lot of other government programs.

    And, what about the shortened early voting period those nasty Reps in North carolina have instituted to discourage the minority voters??

    Yes, shortening the early voting period is a real travesty. But wait.. Was it really shortened?? It depends how you want to look at it. The number of hours available for early voting remains the same as before, even though the number of days on which early votes can be cast is fewer. Of course being able to vote earlier in the day or later in the day would seem to help "working folks" more than non-working folks, for what that's worth. Surely helping working folks wouldn't discriminate against minorities. Favoring working folks couldn't possibly be what AG Holder means when he talks about discriminating against minorities?? So was the voting period shortened only for the minorities?? No?? Oh, it was shortened for everyone. How do you suppose that demonstrates a racial bias?? This sounds a lot like another of those "What difference does it make??" pronouncements. If Ms. Holder's boy Eric doesn't like it there must be something wrong with the notion. Yeah, right...

    It is interesting that the Dems profess to only be interested in obeying (and enforcing) "the law" (i.e. Obama Care). That would be except for the 18 or nineteen instances where the Anointed One has unilaterally altered the law by providing "relief" from parts of this "duly enacted, Supreme Court approved law" to some of his pals (Unions, big business, and Congressional staffers for instance - there are more). Don't tell me, authority for the Anointed One to unilaterally change the Obamacare legislation is on page 1698 (or maybe some other page we haven't "got to" yet.).

    D'ya think??