The Spencer Hamilton Blog

Voter Suppression will backfire, just you wait   So…remember North Carolina VIVA Law? It is now making waves in the state that saw Governor Pat McCrory win last year. This was the chance for the tea leaves to start showing some promising signs of rubber stamping. Voter suppression has been a key prong in the GOP since 2011 when the GOP took states that were very very purple like WI, (full Legislative and Governor) MN (both chambers) ME (Split Legislature and R Governorship) NH (veto proof majority D Governor) and in 2012 when we were celebrating over Obama’s re election something that the GOP had fought so hard to stop. Art Pope was seeing the fruits of his labor pay off when Pat McCrory, routed 4 years ago by Governor Beverly Perdue (no relation) was elected to the NC Legislature. They got to work on abortion bill in a motorcycle safety bill, tort reform, basically a blueprint of ALEC which I’m sure Art Pope has a membership in—kind of model legislation…including Voter I...

The full article can be found here: http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2013/07/07/us/ap-us-california-prisons-condoms.html?smid=fb-share&_r=0#h[TASBih,2,AiiPho,TCsBtc,2 ] SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California prisoners have unprotected sexual contact, forced or consensual, even if both are illegal, and this reality often leads to the spread of HIV and other diseases in prisons and in communities where felons are paroled. One state lawmaker says it's time to give inmates a way to practice safe sex behind bars to reduce an infection rate that experts say is much higher than that of the general population. The bill, AB999, passed the Assembly and is awaiting consideration in the state Senate. If it becomes law, California would be the second state behind Vermont, which has a fraction of the inmate population, to provide condoms to all prisoners. Canada, most of the European Union, Australia, Brazil, Indonesia and South Africa already take that step, according to legislative rese...