Alabama desegregation vote recount likely

<ATLANTA - On Election Day, Alabama voters rejected an amendment striking segregationist language from the state constitution by a margin that is probably thin enough to trigger an automatic ballot recount, state officials said. The proposed amendment, to strike language in the 1901 document and in subsequent amendments, was defeated after opponents said it could open the door to court-imposed taxes.

With some tallies still missing, the proposal is failing by fewer than 3,000 votes, or about 0.2 percent of the more than 1.3 million votes cast on the measure. State law requires recounts for measures that fail by less than 0.5 percent, said Rep. Ken Guin.

The amendment proposed to strike language that said "separate schools shall be provided for white and colored children, and no child of either race shall be permitted to attend a school of the other race." It also would have deleted provisions about poll taxes, which were often used to stymie black and poor voters.

The measure met trouble after it was changed to delete more language that was passed in 1956, two years after the Brown v. Board of Education decision desegregating public schools. That language prohibited "recognizing any right to education or training at public expense.">

http://www.kentucky.com/mld/heraldleader/news/nation/10161266.htm

And they need to get that passed, then they need to tax Alabama for everything that it uses and get it off of the federal handout list. As a resident of California I am tired of having to pay for those people. They refuse to pay taxes, but they are quick to extend a needy hand. I am tired of living in a giver state so all of the republicans and red states can be taker states. Because an apparent majority of Alabamians think they should not pull their weight in this country, and keep segregationist language in the state constitution I have no choice but to think of them as a bunch of smegma. They need to become part of the United States. The confederacy died and it is time to bury it. If they do get it passed then only 49.9% of Alabamians are smegma. If there was good reason to vote against this measure I am willing to listen to the argument.

Smegma: A secretion of sebaceous glands, especially the cheesy, foul-smelling secretion sometimes found under the foreskin of the penis and at the base of the labia minora near the glans clitoris (Mosby's Medical, Nursing, and Allied Health Dictionary. 5th edition, 1998)

:eyes:

Most of the white folks down here in the south don't want to pay their taxes and help others who are in need but when it comes time for handouts we are the first in line.

totally disgusting...

It's only one piece of evidence that the South is still racist and could be used to support the argument that the Republican Party won the South by appealing to racism, and now homophobia too. I remember reading that Ronald Reagan started his first presidential campaign in Philadelphia, MS, known only at the time for the place where 3 civil rights workers were murdered. Since him, the Republican Party has continued to use prejudice to fuel its success. This story, which reveals how deprived a slim majority of Alabamans are, deserves much more attention.

Copy the story and post it on every message board and forum that you go to. Send it to your friends and email buddies.

I am going to send it to AAR, specifically to Randi, and to majority Report and Mike Malloy.

Send it to you local broadcasters and to the major networks. If we keep hammering away at them with this kind of stuff, they will realize that we are not going to just shut up and fade away.

A story like this is exactly what most of the media would prefer to present rather than anything of true importance, which we are not getting at the moment and this story has not been presented in truth.

This law had been on the Books since 1901, I believe. It's just one of many antiquated and uninforced laws that have never been removed by Public Vote. If you look at your state, you probably have some too. I believe "Public Kissing" is illegal in some states. Also, showing of a female leg above the ankle??????

Having this law taken off the Books was not widely advertised or explained before the Election. I think I heard it mentioned once on the Local news.

From someone who actually saw the language on the ballot and had to read it twice to determine what they were actually asking you to vote for, it was so complicated, many whites nor blacks voted for it.
The language made it appear that current funding would be cut from all public schools. People who didn't understand the language, left it blank.

This is just the kind of ridiculous crap that would make Top Stories on all media's while we are at War and have many other High Priority problems. "Alabama is still racist." Check out which states have the highest hate crimes reported....it ain't us.

Due to the continuing posts of confirmed low IQ's in the South, Mine is quite a bit higher than 90 and I really did have to read this proposal twice to understand it's meaning.

Yes, it is an antiquated law that needs to be removed, as there are many others.
No, they did not make it clear enough for many people to understand.
Yes, the media is again reporting what they want to report to make big news and possibly stir up hard feelings. Which they have done.

I can only suppose why our State government would make this so complicated as to cause problems and cost money to recount. However, we have a Republican governer and it seems many needless News Stories are cropping up lately. Diversion? Divide and Conquer?

Who knows anymore.

it still must be passed on. Who knows when the right wing crazies will decide to implement the law because, after all, it IS still a law and it IS still on the books.

Your attitude seems a bit cavalier on this matter.

Get it off the fucking books, for fuck's sake.

that states,as its central tenet, that the ballot was too complicated to understand. If you wait till the last minute to familiarize yourself with the issues, it is little wonder as to why this country in general, and Alabama in particular, is in the world of crap it finds itself in. The fact that Alabama looks to judge Moore, and the other paleo-racists for leadership is proof enough for me that perhaps we should let it secede and let them become that theocracy they so fervently pray for.

I can certainly sympathize with terrible wording, and if that was the case (I haven't read wording myself, but I will take your word for it) then that is the product of the dolts who proposed and wrote the amendment. Agree.

BUT

My understanding of the amendment was that it got poison pilled when the language forbidding the state from "recognizing any right to education or training at public expense", language that was added in 1956 following Brown to protect segrogationist school districts who were going to shut down due to white flight. Opponents felt that if this language was struck, there would be an equal protection challenge to the Alabama school funding formula that might be sucessfull and that might lead to a judicially imposed school funding formula (a.k.a. tax increases).

It's quite irronic....not removing segregationist language from the State Constitution because doing so might lead to a court forcing the state to abide by a universal constitutional protection (equal protection) to fix a problem caused by segregation.

That is certainly worthly of criticism in my book.

Christian family values.

Imagine combining the twin bogeymen of racism and taxes. That oughta scare the feces out of any Gawd-fearin' cracker. The amazing part is that the vote would be close enough to trigger a recount.

:freak:
dbt

If you pass this on, please read post # 7 and pass on the truth.

I'm not being cavalier, I saw the language. I talked to people of all races and ask why they voted againt it or left it blank.
They didn't understand. It appeared to be purposely complicated when the issue was very simple.

It appears our Republcan governer needs some press.....he's not real popular and using fear is something they all do very well.

All of the amendments on the back page of my ballot were lawyer-ease verbose and I didn't know what the hell most of them said (and I, too have a college degree). I knew this prop was gonna be in there, so I found it and voted on it, but the others? Sheesh.

Raise taxes is the key word people heard about this. One of the amendment's co-authors CHANGED HIS MIND A WEEK BEFORE THE ELECTION and told people NOT TO VOTE FOR IT because it would raise taxes for schools.

But it's so much more fun for those Californians and others to smear the entire state with stereotypes instead of understanding the heinous way the repukes work down here. Oh and one last thing. Why the fuck do the red state legislators have so much more POWER AND SMARTS than the blue state representatives that they get all this "red state welfare?" Sounds to me like some people have shitty representatives.

Glad you saw the problem, too.

And try to understand the problem instead of demeaning everyone. Hell, we don't even have secret voting in my area. There were 3 tables to stand at with side guards. The rest of the area (in a nursing home) was couches, the wall, a few chairs and one card table to write on. I sat next to an elderly black woman and a young black man. I could see their voting and they could see mine. Both of the black people finished and did not turn their ballots over to vote on the amendments.

But I guess it's easier to blame white racists for this than to blame the ballot, the mis-information from the author and news, the lack of education in general here (especially public schools), lack of voting knowledge and the Monster repuke machine here.

It sounds more like the Congress is controlled by Republicans who have changed all procedural precedents in denying the voices of the minority.

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