It’s election day, and millions are lined up and voting from coast to coast.

And even now, the radical right is doing its best to deny the vote to folks they think might vote the wrong way. Reports of voter harassment are coming in from Ohio, Colorado, Virginia, Florida and other swing states of self-appointed “poll watchers” lurking outside polling places and demanding to see the ID cards of people waiting to vote. A disproportionate number of those that they are targeting, of course, are black and Latino voters.

The folks doing this are from a Tea Party linked organization that calls itself “True the Vote.” If truth in advertising laws applied, they should more properly call themselves “Suppress the Vote.”

But don’t take my word for it. Here are some news stories:

http://www.inquisitr.com/389496/true-the-vote-barred-from-harassing-voters-in-key-ohio-county-as-election-forges-ahead/

http://www.thenation.com/blog/171066/sheriff-deputies-poll-worker-harass-latinos-swing-state-colorado

http://crooksandliars.com/mugsy/true-vote-virtually-nonexistent-voter-fraud-

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/22/opinion/voter-harassment-circa-2012.html?_r=0

These folks, FWIW, have no right whatsover to demand anyone’s ID. They are just trying to intimidate people, to scare them away from exercising their franchise. The Voter ID laws I wrote about in my earlier “Show Us Your Papers” post (below) have largely been struck down by the courts. If you’re a registered voter, you have the right to cast your ballot.

If ANYONE tries to stop you from voting, call 866-OUR-VOTE for help. They’re a nonpartisan voting rights organization dedicated to making sure no one is denied their rights.

I guess we will find out tonight how well voter suppression works… “not at all well” would be my hope, in the country I love.

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The presidential election is one day away, and both campaigns are going all out.

Must admit, I am nervous about this one. All the polls say that Obama will win, but I never trust polls. I was born the year that Dewey defeated Truman, after all. And the Washington Redskins lost yesterday, an unfortunate omen. Yes, I know, it’s a silly superstition, but as a predictor, the Redskins have a better record than Gallup does.

The voting in Florida is already a mess. Despite having lost several court cases since I made my “voter suppression” post a few months back, Republicans in Florida, Ohio, and several other key states keep coming up with nasty new ways to try to keep black people, brown people, college kids, and retirees from voting. “If you can’t win their support, just disenfranchise them” seems to have become the new GOP slogan in the swing states.

The election may very well turn on the success or failure of Romney’s Big Lie push in Ohio, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. Yes, I am talking about the Jeep ad. It still boggles me that the Republicans are continuing to run that ad, even after both GM and Chrysler have come out to say how false it is. “When caught lying, lie LOUDER,” seems to be the philosophy.

Well, there’s lots more I can say… but nothing that those of you who are paying attention have not heard before.

Whenever I make one of these political posts, I always get a rush of emails. Lots of “right on, you said it, I agree” mails from those who share my views, a couple of reasoned and thoughtful dissents (which I value), and a handful of “I am never going to read your books again” screeds. (Those last just make me sad. Not because I have lost a reader, but because such people seem deliberately intent on closing their eyes and shutting down their minds. I grew up reading Robert A. Heinlein, after all, and still have been known to read works by Orson Scott Card, Dan Simmons, Larry Niven, and others whose political views are worlds away from my own. It’s GOOD to read things that challenge your own opinions and preconceptions… or so I have always believed…. ) All of which has become fairly predictable, I fear. But supposedly there are still some undecided voters vote there, and if my posts here can sway even one or two of them into voting for the president, then it’s worth the vitriol.

Anyway… be sure and vote tomorrow… and if anyone tries to stop you or obstruct you, scream long and loud.

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‘Nuff Said.

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I am way too busy these days for long political rants.

But I would be remiss if I do not at least make passing mention of how depressed, disgusted, and, yes, angry I’ve become as I watch the ongoing attempts at voter suppression in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Florida, Iowa, and other states where Republicans and their Teabagger allies control key seats of power.

It is one thing to attempt to win elections. But trying to do so by denying the most basic and important right of any American citizen to hundreds and thousands of people, on entirely spurious grounds… that goes beyond reprehensible. That is despicable.

It would really be nice if there were still some Republicans of conscience out there who would stand up and loudly denounce these efforts, a few men of honor and integrity for whom “win the election” does not “win the election at any cost.” There were once many Republicans I admired, even I disagreed with them: men like Everett Dirksen, Clifford Case, Henry Cabot Lodge, William Scranton… yes, even Barry Goldwater, conservative as he is. I do not believe for a moment that Goldwater would have approved of this, any more than Robert A. Heinlein would have. They were conservatives, but they were not bigots, nor racists, nor corrupt. The Vote Suppressors have far more in common with Lester Maddox, George Wallace, John Stennis, and their ilk than they do with their distinguished GOP forebears.

The people behind these efforts at disenfranchising large groups of voters (the young, the old, the black, the brown) are not Republicans, since clearly they have scant regard for our republic or its values. They are oligarchs and racists clad in the skins of dead elephants.

And don’t tell me they are libertarians either. No true libertarians would ever support a culture where citizens must “show their papers” to vote or travel. That’s a hallmark of a police state, not a free country.

TUESDAY ADDENDUM: Okay, this has been running several days now, has been featured on HUFFINGTON POST and ABC news, referenced on Stephanie Miller, and no doubt countless other people. We have had four hundred messages, and I think everyone has had their say, and everything that needs to be said has been said. Generally eight or ten times. There are plenty of links and references in the comment threads for those who would like to know more about these voter suppression efforts. If you don’t want to dig through the links, start with the Brennan Center for Justice and get the facts.

There’s no sense in letting this spin on in circles forever. I am locking comments. Back to Westeros and worldcon and similar subjects, boys and girls.

Thanks for listening.

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So I accidentally bumped into this on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9_bP219ehQ

I came away feeling I had seen this before. Or something very similar.

I had:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bs5bnVoZK4Q

Have to admit, this sent a cold chill up my spine.

Deja vu can be a bitch.

Or, as someone famous once said, those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

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I wish I was a United States Senator, so I could introduce a bill to strip Joe Lieberman of his American citizenship.

You know, Golden Rule and all that. Sauce for the goose, sauce for the gander. What goes around comes around.

Joe Lieberman = Al Gore’s Biggest Mistake.

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