James Bopp, Jr. — The Biggest Douchebag You Never Heard Of
Most Americans — of all political stripes — think the Supreme Court’s “Bribery is a Family Value” decision was a crock. James Bopp, Jr. had been planning and engineering for years to get this issue brought before the Supreme Court.
He isn’t exactly a household name — Yet. But that’ll change. His “work” has just begun.
There are still some types of bribery that the Supreme Court hasn’t legalized yet. James Bopp, Jr. will fix that. Ultimately, he wants to legalize not only bribery itself — he wants the people making the bribes to stay hidden under their rocks. No public disclosure. No right to know. Those lowly peons don’t need to know why Congress suddenly voted against a law that most voters were in favor of. Or vice versa.
No more “follow the money.” No more microscopic letters at the bottom of your TV screen saying “this sleazy pack of lies was paid for by _____________________.”
But don’t worry, that’s a long ways off. It’s all part of his ten-year plan.
For now, the next phase of his ten-year plan will be heard by the Supreme Court today. He thinks that when somebody has signed a petition to get an initiative on the ballot, that person’s name should remain private. Presently, your name and address are public information when you sign a petition. You’re taking part in the political process. I wasn’t aware of that myself, but I’ve never signed any petition that I was ashamed of or wouldn’t want other people to know about.
This whole can of worms got opened last year in the state of Washington. The state legislature passed a law granting unmarried couples (which includes those wicked homosexuals) almost as many rights and benefits as married couples. Again, that’s Almost. Washington doesn’t have gay marriage. This law was nicknamed “Everything But Marriage.”
Needless to say, this was too much for the local snake-handling inbreds, who immediately got a referendum on the ballot to overturn “Everything But Marriage” and bring Washington back home to Jesus.
The referendum lost. Everything But Marriage is still the law, and the sky hasn’t fallen or anything.
But the can of worms was now open. A gay rights group created a website called Who Signed. If the referendum succeeded in overturning Everything But Marriage, they were going to display the names and addresses of the petition signers on their website. Again, this is already public information under state law.
Anyway, the "I'm a bigoted sickfuck but I don't want my friends to know" Brigade is getting their day in court. The Supreme Court will hear the opening arguments sometime today. They’re expected to make their ruling this summer.
Labels: Everything But Marriage, James Bopp Jr., Who Signed
posted by Tom Harper @ 12:21 AM
14 Comments:
I'd sure like to know who's paying this guy to do all this shit. How the fuck can someone really justify the shit he's done/doing?
Like you, Mr. H, I have not ever signed a petition of which I am ashamed. That being said, this group of people wanting to post the names and addresses of people that signed a petition against their cause are doing so simply for the intimidation factor.
That is fine by me too, as I could give a damn and certainly would not be intimidated.
Such is the political process.
Like you, I do think it is a bad idea to have people's names and addresses witheld when signing petitions or being involved in the political process though.
This would make it far too easy for sleazy ACORN-type groups to say they have 100,000 signatures supporting their communist causes and not have to produce the verification of these signatures. (Kind of like what they do with thousands of falsified registrations they "collect" through their voter registration drives to support Democrats.)
I have so lost "Faith" in the Supreme Court. They don't seem to know their cell phone from,you know the rest.
I'm going to look up this Mr.BeBopp and try to dissect him.
As far as signing petitions, I've know they were public record. The ones I have signed, I to am proud of.
I have to wonder if this has anything to do with the ruling about Corporations having people status.
Bring Washington home to jesus, Ahhh christ....
Hey, Tom,
Thanks!
Is this possibly Scaife money? Stands to reason. Imagine not being able to find out anymore what the Heritage Foundation, etc., is funding.
Woowee!!!
Adolph Hitler II arises (unbeknown and unreported upon).
S
P.S. On another extremely important subject (ahem - just kidding!) did you know I got linked yesterday at More Paul Krugman at krugmanonline.com?
Yeah baby.
Love ya.
Preach it Brother Tom. Ever since the demise of ACORN, I've wondered how I can enact my own communist cause, and I really need those signatures.
Interesting. I live in Atlanta and, had I lived here in 1955, I, a white male, would have been eager and willing to sign a petition to end segregation.
Would I have done so if I'd known that every hood-wearing hillbilly in the state would then be informed that I'd signed said petition and been given my address. I like to think that I would have but I honestly don't know.
Along these same lines, what would you say about amending the constitution so that presidential ballots are no longer secret? Wouldn't there be a whole lot more transparency if we did a national roll call and everyone's vote was published online?
This would make it far too easy for sleazy ACORN-type groups to say they have 100,000 signatures supporting their communist causes and not have to produce the verification of these signatures. (Kind of like what they do with thousands of falsified registrations they "collect" through their voter registration drives to support Democrats.)
And yet..... there are EXACTLY 2 known cases of a fradulent registration translating to a vote.
Either your heroes are too fucking stupid to wipe (leaving their incompetent asses unable to find all this fraud you seem to know about,) or you're as nutty as a walnut tree. Take your pick, because there are no other choices.
You're beginning to make lisa's arguments look intellectual in comparison.
Would I have done so if I'd known that every hood-wearing hillbilly in the state would then be informed that I'd signed said petition and been given my address. I like to think that I would have but I honestly don't know.
I would have Thomas, but I'm only half white and familiar with the hiding places in the hills :)
Ever since you first posted this, I have made a decision not to sign any until I get back to work, as I work in high security situations I don't need a background check revealing I signed something my future employer doesn't agree with. This is also why I also remain anonymous on these posting's. My professional colleagues have advised me to stay low. Unlike my niece who's posting every move she makes on her facebook page.
Erik
Carlos: Probably the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other oligarchs who think America should be the personal fiefdom of a few CEOs and VIPs.
TP: Well at least we agree that petition signers' names/addresses should be public information.
Tim: No doubt James Bopp is one of those people that think money equals speech and corporations are people.
Suzan: Scaife, LOL, I wouldn't doubt it. He never met a rightwing cause he didn't want to donate a few billion to. Congrats on getting linked at Paul Krugman's site. Movin' up in the world.
Randal: Don't worry, ACORN will prevail and overthrow this evil capitalist government and establish a Workers' Paradise. Fight on Comrade!
Thomas: I think their legal reasoning is that when you sign a petition you're playing a more direct role in governing than when you vote for a candidate. I think that's the legal basis.
I personally wouldn't care if my votes were all made public, but that could be a slippery slope. If we ever became a police state, I wouldn't want the government knowing that I voted for "the enemy."
JR: I wouldn't go that far, comparing him to Lisa. At least he has better grammar and his sentences are shorter.
Erik: I wouldn't think there'd be anything to worry about, with signing petitions; but that has to be a personal choice.
Jolly, not sure where you get your information (Daily Kos perhaps) but there are a bunch of documented cases of fraudulent voter registrations particularly originating from ACORN registration drives.
It seems very unlikely considering the fact that there are thousands of these falsified registrations, that this translated into only two known votes.
Frankly, the crime was still committed in the attempt, regardless of the outcome of how many of these fraudulent registrations passed scrutiny and resorted into unlawful votes.
Again, I dispute your asinine "two known votes" but frankly I am too damned tired to do the research to prove what an arrogant and factually challenged person you are, sir.
I read something about Bopp awhile back. I'm quite sure his aim isn't to protect the ID's of people who sign petitions out of bigoted attitudes. I think he's more interested in corporate power.
I suspect what Bopp is looking forward to is situations where corporations set up Astroturf groups to push referendums that corporations want. But the corporations don't want the public to be made aware that most of the people involved in the referendum drive are connected with them. Being able to suppress the names of petitioners to get the referendum on a ballot is therefore essential, in their eyes.
IMO, anyone who signs a petition should be prepared to have his or her name made public as having signed that petition, period.
TP: You have this habit (as most conservatives do, for some reason) of going way off topic in your comments. Even when you start off by talking about the post, two sentences later you're zigzagging all over the place, with talking points that cover five other subjects but not the one we were talking about.
It was Dave Dubya who pointed that out, several posts ago, that conservative commenters always do that. I hadn't quite put my finger on it, but suddenly it was all clear -- My God, that's it. That's exactly what they do.
I'm just guessing that when other commenters go after you, that's the reason.
SW: That's exactly what James Bopp plans to do. Keeping petitioners' names secret is just a tiny cog in his longterm plan.
After he's dismantled what remaining campaign finance laws we still have, he wants to eliminate all disclosure laws. It'll all be their little secret.
If you see a bunch of TV ads attacking a politician, you won't know who's behind the ads, how much money they spent or where the money came from. Or if Congress does a big 180 and votes the opposite of what the public wanted, it'll just be a big mystery.
He's been planning this for years. Everyone used to laugh at him until the Citizens United ruling came along.
Mr. Harper, I know that I have a habit of sometimes brining other issues to illustrate a point I am trying to make.
I will endeavor to remain more on topic, but I would hope that the relevance in my tangential issues is apparent most of the time! :)
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