A brief pause for the cause

I've been working on another post since September (around Yom Kippur to be exact).  But I read this tonight and I just had to ask, "What does this look like, sound like, feel like -- to you?"

Int’l Election Observers Grumble, But Agree Not to Enter U.S. Polling Places Where Law Forbids

The OSCE, a grouping of 56 member nations in Europe, Central Asia and North America, says its members are obliged to have their elections observed, under an agreement signed in Denmark in 1990, which says member states will invite observers “to observe the course of their national election proceedings, to the extent permitted by law.”

Screw that, "agreement signed" and "will invite" shit. The operative, and most important phrase to recognize is -- "to the extent permitted by law” (in other words, "We got an out!").  To wit, the "Belly of the Beast" in which I live, along with Iowa, have not only said, "No!" -- but, "Ha-a-ayell no!"

Another one of those "points to ponder":

In its report after the 2008 election, the organization said its observers were unable to access polling stations in Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Ohio and Texas due to state laws, and had also faced difficulties doing so in some specific locations in Colorado, Louisiana, Pennsylvania and Virginia.

I'm gonna keep my thoughts about that to myself. But can somebody explain to me why we can send folk like Jimmy Carter, all over the world, to observe "Other" elections (because of course, as a representative of these alleged, United States, he's invited), but we, here, can pick and choose -- even though, we signed that pesky 1990 agreement?