Monthly Archives: December 2011
‘Mischief’ Voters Push Paul To Front Of GOP Race
‘Mischief’ Voters Push Paul To Front Of GOP Race – Washington Examiner
Ron Paul is surging in the Republican presidential race. Just not among Republicans.
The Texas congressman is leading some polls in Iowa and is in a tie for second in New Hampshire. A candidacy once dismissed as sideshow is now being taken very seriously; the front page of Monday’s Des Moines Register featured a huge spread under the headline “COULD RON PAUL WIN?”
Given Paul’s views on the Fed, the gold standard and social issues, not to mention his isolationist foreign policy, the polls have left some politicos wondering whether Republican voters have somehow swerved off the rails. But there’s another question that should be asked first: Who are Ron Paul’s supporters? Are they, in fact, Republicans?
In an analysis accompanying his most recent survey in Iowa, pollster Scott Rasmussen noted, “Romney leads, with Gingrich in second, among those who consider themselves Republicans. Paul has a wide lead among non-Republicans who are likely to participate in the caucus.”
The same is true in New Hampshire. A poll released Monday by the Boston Globe and the University of New Hampshire shows Paul leading among Democrats and independents who plan to vote in the January 10 primary. But among Republicans, Paul is a distant third – 33 points behind leader Mitt Romney.
In South Carolina, “Paul’s support is higher among those who usually don’t vote in GOP primary elections,” notes David Woodard, who runs the Palmetto Poll at Clemson University.
In a hotly-contested Republican race, it appears that only about half of Paul’s supporters are Republicans. In Iowa, according to Rasmussen, just 51 percent of Paul supporters consider themselves Republicans. In New Hampshire, the number is 56 percent, according to Andrew Smith, head of the University of New Hampshire poll.
The same New Hampshire survey found that 87 percent of the people who support Romney consider themselves Republicans. For Newt Gingrich, it’s 85 percent.
So who is supporting Paul? In New Hampshire, Paul is the choice of just 13 percent of Republicans, according to the new poll, while he is the favorite of 36 percent of independents and 26 percent of Democrats who intend to vote in the primary. Paul leads in both non-Republican categories.
“Paul is doing the best job of getting those people who aren’t really Republicans but say they’re going to vote in the Republican primary,” explains Smith. Among that group are libertarians, dissatisfied independents and Democrats who are “trying to throw a monkey wrench in the campaign by voting for someone who is more philosophically extreme,” says Smith.
Paul tops the field when pollsters ask Republicans which candidate they are certain not to support. “When you ask people which candidate they are least likely to vote for, Ron Paul is pretty high, because most Republicans here really don’t want to vote for him,” says Smith. “His support is not coming, by and large, from Republican voters.”
What’s true in New Hampshire is also the case in South Carolina, where Paul is 28 points behind Gingrich in the most recent Palmetto Poll. “The economic positions of libertarians are popular here, but Paul’s positions on gay marriage, abortion, illegal immigration, and national defense are all antithetical to South Carolina’s conservative culture,” says Woodard. “About 13 percent of the GOP primary electorate are military veterans, and they don’t want to bring everyone home. We have a strong pro-life network, and it is knit into the Republican Party at its roots, and the amendment declaring marriage to be something between a man and a woman won with over 70 percent of the vote in South Carolina.”
Non-Republicans are sure to vote in all three early GOP contests. Iowa requires that caucus participants be registered Republicans, but anyone can show up on caucus night, register, and vote. In New Hampshire, so-called “undeclared” voters of any stripe can participate in the GOP primary. And South Carolina’s GOP contest is open to all. Wherever Paul’s final total, it will reflect lots of non-Republican votes.
Daily Benefactor News – Ron Paul In 2009: I Wouldn’t Risk American Lives To End The Holocaust
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Ron Paul In 2009: I Wouldn’t Risk American Lives To End The Holocaust – Big Government
On the evening of Sept. 16, 2009, I was invited to a function for Rand Paul’s U.S. Senate campaign at the headquarters of Americans for Tax Reform.
I had been invited by a friend of mine via Facebook who was a passionate supporter of Ron Paul. Within minutes of arriving, I saw Rep. Paul enter the room, followed by an entourage of several college students.
I immediately walked up to Paul and introduced myself, and Paul smiled at me and shook my hand. I told him that I had always wanted to ask him a question, and that it was a hypothetical question, but I would appreciate his answer nonetheless. Paul smiled, and welcomed the question. At this point there were about 15 people surrounding us, listening.
And so I asked Congressman Paul: if he were President of the United States during World War II, and as president he knew what we now know about the Holocaust, but the Third Reich presented no threat to the U.S., would he have sent American troops to Nazi Germany purely as a moral imperative to save the Jews?
And the Congressman answered:
“No, I wouldn’t. I wouldn’t risk American lives to do that. If someone wants to do that on their own because they want to do that, well, that’s fine, but I wouldn’t do that.”
Paul then looked at me, and I politely thanked him for his time. He smiled at me again and nodded his head, and many of his young followers were also smiling, and nodding their heads in agreement. Clearly, I was the only one in the room who was disturbed by his response.
When I first presented the story of Paul’s comments about the Holocaust to major news media outlets two years ago, they were so stunned they were afraid to publish my story, and as a result it has remained unpublished until now.
I went to great lengths afterwards to learn more about the basis for Paul’s comments. I spoke to Eric Dondero, a former senior aide for Paul, in February 2010. Dondero is quoted in a Weekly Standard article today about Paul’s isolationist beliefs.
When I called Dondero again this morning, and told him I was finally going forward with the story, he told me that Paul had made similar comments to him.
“He told me numerous times it was not worth it to intervene to save the Jews in World War II,” Dondero said. “I don’t think that’s because he’s an antisemite. It’s because he’s an extreme isolationist and he’s trying to be 100% principled – he doesn’t think there’s any reason to intervene for human rights or any other reason anywhere on the planet.”
Calls to Rep. Paul’s congressional office and campaign office last week and this morning were not returned.
The Holocaust of World War II is not the only historical tragedy that Paul’s isolationism would disregard.
In 2007, the Congressman actually faulted Abraham Lincoln for using military force to end slavery in the Civil War: “He shouldn’t have gone to war… Slavery was phased out in every other country in the world and the way I’m advising that it should have been done is do like the British Empire did; you buy the slaves and release them.”
Editors told me two years ago that they couldn’t believe Paul would respond in the same way to a question about the Holocaust, but I wasn’t surprised. Paul’s answer is actually consistent with much of what he’s been saying for years.
Yet philosophical consistency doesn’t always translate into a policy that is practical or presidential.
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Newt was for RomneyCare before he was, well, you know………….
You know, the health care reform that was the genesis for Obamacare:
Newt Gingrich voiced enthusiasm for Mitt Romney’s Massachusetts health-care plan as recently as five years ago, the same plan he has been denouncing over the last few months as he campaigned for the Republican presidential nomination.
“The health bill that Governor Romney signed into law this month has tremendous potential to effect major changes in the American health system,” said an April 2006 newsletter published by Mr. Gingrich’s former consulting company, the Center for Health Transformation.
The two-page “Newt Notes” analysis, found online by The Wall Street Journal even though it no longer appears on the center’s website, continued: “We agree entirely with Governor Romney and Massachusetts legislators that our goal should be 100% insurance coverage for all Americans.”
What I, and I think most Conservatives cherish is consistency. Ideological consistency. That is the one quality most often lacking in most politicians, and in this crop of GOP hopefuls. Well, except for two. Rick Santorum, who I doubt is electable, despite my respect for his consistent ideological positions. And, yes, Rick Perry, who is, if people will take a few minutes and listen to him and look at his record, completely electable.
So, there you go Conservatives, you actually have two very steady, consistent candidates. If you ask me, we all have three choices. One, give up, go with Mitt or Newt. Just let the establishment tell us to vote Romney, or support Gingrich, who we know cannot be trusted. that is option one.
Option two is to keep whining about getting some “other” dream candidate who will just woo us and make us all tingly. Until, of course that candidate has their imperfections exposed, and then we can pout and say they are just not exciting enough, or genuine enough, or not “slick” enough, or blah, blah, blah.
Option three? Well, I think the two Ricks offer, as I already said, consistent Conservatism, good character, and maybe best of all, we will not have to wonder when they will flip, or flop. They are who they are. If we want some real change, and not just some modest, dare I say moderate change, then there you go.
Now, I have made my choice in this race very clear. I will not bore anyone with all the reasons I support Perry. I will not go into all the reasons I find Santorum a tad too Socially Conservative for me either. I merely wanted to point out how too many of us are overlooking the thing we said we wanted, CONSISTENCY!
Man Tried To Take 247 Animals On Plane
Man Tried To Take 247 Animals On Plane – AFP
A Czech national was nabbed in Argentina for trying to board a transatlantic flight with 247 live animals including poisonous snakes and endangered reptiles packed in a bulging suitcase, reports said Monday.
The man identified as Karel Abelovsky, 51, was caught while trying to board a flight for Madrid when shocked baggage X-ray technicians and staff at the Iberia Airlines desk at Ezeiza Airport in greater Buenos Aires noticed “organic substances moving inside,” local media reported.
When they opened the bag, they found more than 200 reptiles and mollusks, among them nine species of poisonous snakes including South American pitvipers, packed in clear plastic containers.
There were also 15 venomous vipers, including two yararas – which can measure up to 1.50 meters (five feet) – and several young boas.
Some of the animals were reported to be extremely rare and protected by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.
Two of the animals were found dead and most of the others could have suffered the same fate due to a lack of oxygen if the suitcase had been placed in the plane’s cargo area.
The discovery was made on December 7 but only recently came to light. A judge has charged Abelovsky with attempted smuggling, and he faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted.
Researchers suspect that an exotic species smuggling ring was behind the trafficking attempt.
Well, looks like cupcakes are now a level orange treat!
Oh, the adventures of the TSA! Duane Lester highlights the latest ingenious move to combat Jihad!
Just when you think it can’t get any more ridiculous at the airport, those magnificent bastards at the TSA have gone and done it again!
Rebecca Hains told ABCNews.com today that a Transportation Security Administration agent at Las Vegas- McCarran International Airport seized her cupcake, saying the frosting sitting atop the red velvet cake was gel-like enough to violate regulations.
The incident took place Wednesday.
Hains, a teacher, said the cupcake was a gift from one of her students. She was traveling with her husband and toddler, and thought her young son might get hungry on the long trip home.
The cupcake was packaged in a glass container with a metal lid, which was why it attracted the attention of the scanner in the first place.
The TSA agent didn’t know what to do with the cupcake, so she called over her supervisor, Hains said.
“The TSA supervisor, Robert Epps, was using really bad logic – he said it counted as a gel-like substance because it was conforming to the shape of its container.”
“We also had a small pile of hummus sandwiches with creamy fillings, which made it through, but the cupcake with its frosting was apparently a terrorist threat…I just don’t know what world he was living in,” said Hains, speaking of the TSA officer.
A world where brains and common sense are unwelcome Duane nails it for us!
Let me tell you what world this guy is living in. He’s living in a world dictated by policies and procedures, which is a mentally rocky place where the seed of logic can find no purchase. I’m not surprised Mr. Epps “was using really bad logic.” If he was using any logic, it was too much for the federal government.
You see, the people who work for the TSA have their rules dictated to them by pencil pushers and so-called experts who think they know what security is and write all their ideas down in a book labeled, “Procedures.”
AMEN! call it dumbing down. And certainly that is being done all over America. Just sit and observe people sometime. No one can THINK anymore!
Solyndra: Politics Infused Obama Energy Programs
Solyndra: Politics Infused Obama Energy Programs – Washington Post
Linda Sterio remembers the excitement when President Obama arrived at Solyndra last year and described how his administration’s financial support for the plant was helping create hundreds of jobs. The company’s prospects appeared unlimited as Solyndra executives described the backlog of orders for its solar panels.
Then came the August morning when Sterio heard a newscaster announce that more than a thousand Solyndra employees were out of work. Only recently did she learn that, within the Obama administration, the company’s potential collapse had long been discussed.
“It’s not about the people; it’s politics,” said Sterio, who remains jobless and at risk of losing her home. “We all feel betrayed.”
Since the failure of the company, Obama’s entire $80 billion clean-technology program has begun to look like a political liability for an administration about to enter a bruising reelection campaign.
Meant to create jobs and cut reliance on foreign oil, Obama’s green-technology program was infused with politics at every level, The Washington Post found in an analysis of thousands of memos, company records and internal e-mails. Political considerations were raised repeatedly by company investors, Energy Department bureaucrats and White House officials.
The records, some previously unreported, show that when warned that financial disaster might lie ahead, the administration remained steadfast in its support for Solyndra.
The documents reviewed by The Post, which began examining the clean-technology program a year ago, provide a detailed look inside the day-to-day workings of the upper levels of the Obama administration. They also give an unprecedented glimpse into high-level maneuvering by politically connected clean-technology investors.
They show that as Solyndra tottered, officials discussed the political fallout from its troubles, the “optics” in Washington and the impact that the company’s failure could have on the president’s prospects for a second term. Rarely, if ever, was there discussion of the impact that Solyndra’s collapse would have on laid-off workers or on the development of clean-
energy technology.
“What’s so troubling is that politics seems to be the dominant factor,” said Ryan Alexander, president of Taxpayers for Common Sense, a nonpartisan watchdog group. “They’re not talking about what the taxpayers are losing; they’re not talking about the failure of the technology, whether we bet on the wrong horse. What they are talking about is ‘How are we going to manage this politically?’ ”
The administration, which excluded lobbyists from policymaking positions, gave easy access to venture capitalists with stakes in some of the companies backed by the administration, the records show. Many of those investors had given to Obama’s 2008 campaign. Some took jobs in the administration and helped manage the clean-
energy program.
Documents show that senior officials pushed career bureaucrats to rush their decision on the loan so Vice President Biden could announce it during a trip to California. The records do not establish that anyone pressured the Energy Department to approve the Solyndra loan to benefit political contributors, but they suggest that there was an unwavering focus on promoting Solyndra and clean energy. Officials with the company and the administration have said that nothing untoward occurred and that the loan was granted on its merits.
Most documents that have been made public in connection with a congressional investigation relate to the period after the loan was granted. The process began in the George W. Bush administration but resulted in the first loan in the program being granted under Obama. As a result, many factors that led to Solyndra winning a half-billion-dollar federal loan remain unknown.
White House officials said that all key records regarding Solyndra’s loan approval have been released.
Officials acknowledged that some of the records provide an unvarnished view that they might have preferred to keep private – such as a senior energy adviser’s reference to a conference call about Solyndra as a “[expletive] show,” or a company investor writing that when Solyndra was mentioned in a meeting, Biden’s office “about had an orgasm.”
Officials said those unflattering disclosures reinforce their position that they are not hiding their actions and that, despite the blemishes, nothing suggests political considerations affected the original decision to extend the loan to Solyndra. They stressed that the administration disregarded advice to avoid political problems by replacing senior Energy Department managers and moving to abort Obama’s visit to Solyndra.
“Everything disclosed… affirms what we said on day one: This was a merit-based decision made by expert staffers at the Department of Energy,” White House spokesman Eric Schultz said in a statement.
Officials said that concern for workers was reflected in the administration’s decision to allow Solyndra employees to receive aid under a program for workers displaced by foreign competition.
“When Solyndra’s liquidity crisis became clear, the Department of Energy underwent a robust effort to find a viable path forward for the company,” the White House’s prepared statement said. “This administration is one that will fiercely fight to protect jobs even when it’s not the popular thing to do.”
Star power in D.C.
Like most presidential appearances, Obama’s May 2010 stop at Solyndra’s headquarters was closely managed political theater.
Obama’s handlers had lengthy e-mail discussions about how solar panels should be displayed (from a robotic arm, it was decided). They cautioned the company’s chief executive against wearing a suit (he opted for an open-neck shirt and black slacks) and asked another executive to wear a hard hat and white smock. They instructed blue-collar employees to wear everyday work clothes, to preserve what they called “the construction-worker feel.”
White House e-mails suggest that the original idea for “POTUS involvement” originated with then-Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel. Emanuel, now mayor of Chicago, did not respond to a request for comment from The Post.
Well beyond the details of the factory photo op, raw political considerations surfaced repeatedly in conversations among many in the administration.
Just two days before the visit, Obama fundraiser Steve Westly warned senior presidential adviser Valerie Jarrett that an appearance could be problematic. Westly, an investment fund manager with stakes in green-energy companies, said he was speaking for a number of Obama supporters in asking the president to postpone the visit because Solyndra’s financial prospects were dim and the company’s failure could generate negative media attention.
“The president should be careful about unrealistic/optimistic forecasts that could haunt him in the next 18 months if Solyndra hits the wall,” Westly wrote. Westly did not respond to a request for comment from The Post.
Similar concerns arose repeatedly among officials inside the White House. One staffer at the Office of Management and Budget suggested to a colleague that the visit could “prove embarrassing to the administration in the not too distant future.” Even Ron Klain, Biden’s chief of staff, acknowledged “risk” in the trip.
But administration officials ultimately waved off the jitters, after assurances from Energy Department officials that their policy was sound and that Solyndra’s troubles would be fleeting. After Obama’s trip, the administration hung a photo from his visit on a wall in the West Wing, to underscore good things to come.
Solyndra’s financial picture did not improve, however, and by year’s end the company was crumbling. Its investors pitched bailout plans, seeking help from what a Solyndra executive referred to as the “Bank of Washington” – his apparent term for U.S. taxpayers. The Energy Department rebuffed the plans, at least initially.
In late 2010, Solyndra board member Steve Mitchell told his associates that Energy Department officials had conceded that additional financing was necessary yet said in private meetings that they lacked the political muscle to deliver it. “The DOE really thinks politically before it thinks economically,” Mitchell concluded. A spokesman for Mitchell said he would have no comment for this article. An Energy Department spokesman said that all decisions regarding the loan were based on merit.
Solyndra eventually realized that it had to lay off workers to stay afloat – no small step for a company that the president had backed to create jobs in a recession. But records indicate that the Energy Department urged company officials to delay the move until after the contentious November 2010 midterm elections, which imperiled Democratic control of Congress.
Despite the effect that timing might have on workers, one e-mail among company investors ended the discussion by asserting: “No announcement till after elections at doe request.” An Energy Department spokesman did not respond to requests for comment for this article.
More than once, investors wrote that the administration appeared to be making particular decisions to avoid looking “bad.” A December 2010 e-mail between administration officials’ staffers seemed to confirm the suspicions, concluding that “a meltdown” at Solyndra “would likely be very embarrassing for DOE and the Administration.”
An outside energy adviser foresaw serious political damage, writing to senior West Wing officials in February to warn that because federal loans went to companies linked to Obama donors, a wave of Republican attacks “are surely coming.” He recommended that Obama consider replacing Energy Secretary Steven Chu and his deputies, perhaps with a bipartisan management team.
A Solyndra board member, in a memo, described at length mistakes he thought that company founder Christian Gronet had made, saying that some of the stories about his actions “border on moronic” and that Gronet’s missteps had sparked an executive mutiny. Gronet survived, the board member suggested, only because of his close relationship with Energy Department leaders and because he had “star power in D.C.”
Gronet’s attorney, Miles Ehrlich, said in a statement last week that Gronet did his best but acknowledged that there had been internal debate about the business strategies he chose.
Political calculus was especially on display in an e-mail early this year between administration staffers who calibrated the damage that could result from pushing back Solyndra’s collapse by a few months at a time.
“The optics of a Solyndra default will be bad whenever it occurs,” an OMB staff member wrote to a colleague. “If Solyndra defaults down the road, the optics will arguably be worse later than they would be today… In addition, the timing will likely coincide with the 2012 campaign season heating up.”
Solyndra executives and investors were attuned to the value of playing politics. Memos from Solyndra’s lobbying firm, McBee Strategic Consulting, stressed the need to “socialize” with leaders in Washington and to mobilize a lobbying effort described variously as quiet, surgical and aggressive.
Dinner in Vegas
Beyond the West Wing, the documents provide a vivid glimpse into high-level machinations inside the world of clean-energy entrepreneurs.
Solyndra’s strongest political connection was to George Kaiser, a Democratic fundraiser and oil industry billionaire who had once hosted Obama at his home in Oklahoma. Kaiser’s family foundation owned more than a third of the solar panel company, and Kaiser took a direct interest in its operations.
With the 2010 midterm elections just days away, Kaiser flew to Las Vegas to help the party cause. He was a guest at a private fundraising dinner for Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (Nev.), but the real attraction at the event was its headliner – Obama. Realizing he might have an opportunity to talk with the president, Kaiser’s staff prepped him with talking points about Solyndra.
Kaiser did not have to angle for Obama’s attention. Organizers seated him next to the world’s most powerful man – for two hours.
“OK, I’ll admit it. It was pretty intoxicating,” Kaiser effused in an e-mail to an associate at 5:30 the next morning. “Charming and incisive as always. Casual conversation; not speechifying.”
Kaiser did not squander his time. While he avoided the use of the word “Solyndra,” according to the account he later gave to colleagues, he complained to the president about Chinese manufacturers dumping cheap solar panels on the U.S. market and pressed Obama’s deputy chief of staff about the need for a Buy American Act for federal agencies. The company was intent on making the federal government a major customer – part of what a Solyndra investment adviser called the “Uncle Sam” strategy – and the new act would give Solyndra an advantage.
Kaiser, who has declined interview requests, said through spokesman Renzi Stone that he has not discussed Solyndra’s loan “with the U.S. government.” Other e-mails show that he rejected requests to take a more forceful role in advocating for the company.
Nonetheless, records show that Kaiser, a frequent visitor to the White House, was in contact with officials at Solyndra and its biggest investors, and advised them on leveraging the power of the West Wing.
“Why don’t you pursue your contacts with the WH?” Kaiser advised a Solyndra board member in October 2010.
Nonprofit law specialists said that Kaiser’s focus on Solyndra was striking, because he had no official role at the company and had no personal investment in the corporation. After amassing a fortune in the oil and banking industries, Kaiser had endowed a nonprofit corporation that bore his name, but he did not sit on its board.
The nonprofit corporation, known as the George Kaiser Family Foundation, had its own investment fund, which owned a third of Solyndra. Mitchell, a Solyndra board member, was the fund’s manager.
Despite those walls between Kaiser and Solyndra, e-mail exchanges show that Mitchell repeatedly sought Kaiser’s counsel and in one instance requested “authority” to make a major move.
Nonprofit experts stressed that once Kaiser donated his money to charity – and thereby qualified for millions of dollars in tax breaks – the money was no longer his under federal law.
Kaiser arrived in Las Vegas on the Friday night of the fundraiser, carrying a photo of himself and the president, which Obama signed for him. Over the evening, the oilman’s conversation moved from social chatter to business.
“I talked in general about the Chinese and solar but didn’t want to get too specific with him,” Kaiser told associates. “I did talk to him about the Chinese subsidy over the past nine months and the effect it was having on U.S. solar and wind manufacturers… I thought that a more aggressive trade policy with the Chinese was essential… [Obama] said that these issues would be addressed aggressively at the G-20.”
As for majority leader Reid, Kaiser confided in his e-mails: “Harry was mushy nice… Barack said privately that Harry would win by a small margin. I hope he’s right.”
Stone said last week that the dinner was only the second time Kaiser had met the president and that there was nothing wrong with Kaiser taking an interest in the foundation and its investments. While the foundation’s board respected Kaiser’s advice, its members made all the financial decisions, he said.
Packing up
Today, a handful of Solyndra employees remain at its Silicon Valley factory, helping wind down operations. Of the 1,100 workers who lost their jobs, an estimated 90 percent remain unemployed, such as Sterio. She’s relying on help from relatives to make payments on her home, where she lives with her ailing husband and four grandchildren.
Solyndra has failed to attract a buyer who would keep the plant operating, so it is trying to unload its assets piecemeal to pay off its debts. The first $75 million recovered is expected to go to Kaiser’s nonprofit organization and other investors; it is unclear how much will be left for taxpayers.
Along with selling its microscopes and industrial robots, the company in November auctioned off the 30-foot-long blue banner that served as a backdrop for Obama’s factory visit.
Winning bidder Scott Logsdon, a laid-off Solyndra worker who’s been lucky enough to land a new job, snapped up the sign for $400. He’s hoping that with all of the political attention Solyndra’s failure has received, the value of the sign will appreciate by Election Day.
It reads: “Solyndra… Made in the USA.”
Daily Benefactor News – Most Corrupt U.S. Attorney General In History Blocks South Carolina Voter ID For Racial Reasons
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Eric Holder has been on a racialist bender the last few weeks. Last week, he said his skin color is responsible for the fury of criticism over his Justice Department allowing thousands of guns to flood Mexico. Friday, he blocked South Carolina from implementing a voter ID law under the Voting Rights Act saying it was racially discriminatory.
Sixteen states, including South Carolina, must submit all election law changes to the United States Justice Department for approval. States also have the option of bypassing DOJ and going straight to court for approval, an option they should readily choose. This law, unlike so many federal laws, actually has a legitimate Constitutional basis – the Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which bars racial discrimination in voting. Passed in 1965, it was designed to prevent states from drifting toward renewed discrimination. It is now being challenged as unconstitutionally outdated by Arizona and Shelby County (AL) in federal court.
Eric Holder’s Voting Section, where I used to work, interposed an objection late in the day today. These Christmas Eve gifts are becoming tiresome. In 2009 it was Obamacare. Today, it was blocking Voter ID.
In the objection letter, DOJ said that South Carolina did not meet its burden to prove that photo identification laws did not have any discriminatory effect. Notice the word “any,” more on that later. The data show, according to DOJ, that 1.6 percentage points more voting blacks don’t have a driver’s license than whites. Roughly 10 percent of blacks registered to vote don’t have a photo ID, and 8.6 percent of whites don’t. That represents a “discriminatory effect” under the statute.
There are several problems with the objection. But some law first:
Those on the right like to say that the Supreme Court already upheld voter ID as constitutional. Wrong. In the Crawford vs. Marion County case the Supreme Court merely held that voter ID was not per se unconstitutional. It did not say it was per se constitutional, there is a big difference and proponents of voter ID should not argue bad law. Plus, under Section 5, the burden is on the state to prove a negative, an absence of discrimination. Crawford was brought under a different law and the burden was on the plaintiff to prove that Indiana discriminated.
Now the problems with the objection. The DOJ summarily rejected all of the mitigating provisions of the South Carolina voter ID law. For example, if you didn’t have an ID, you could still vote by filling out an affidavit, and later show evidence of your identity. Extraordinary steps were taken to ensure everyone could get a free ID. Governor Nikki Haley even offered rides.
DOJ turned their nose up at these mitigating facts, because personnel is policy, and the personnel reviewing the change have philosophical objections to voter ID.
DOJ also turned their nose up at the late breaking development that the data were wrong. South Carolina discovered that the state election commission sent data that probably included tens of thousands of people on the voter rolls who moved out of state. That explains why they had no driver’s licenses but were still on the voter rolls. Instead of waiting to review the new data, DOJ rushed the objection out the door. A credible operation, not interested in scoring political points, would have waited to review the correct data.
DOJ Attorney Catherine Meza was one of the lawyers on the case. If you’ve read my book Injustice, you know I provide the biographies of many of the new radicals hired by Eric Holder who will be in charge of federal election laws for the 2012 elections. Meza is one. Her biography:
Catherine Meza. Ms. Meza, who contributed $450 to Barack Obama’s presidential campaign before getting hired by the Voting Section, has a rich history of liberal advocacy. During law school at Berkeley, she interned for (i) the NAACP LDF, where she worked on voting rights and “economic justice” issues, (ii) Bay Area Legal Aid, (iii) the ACLU of Northern California, (iv) the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF), (v) Centro Legal de la Raza, and (vi) the East Bay Community Law Center Workers’ Rights Clinic. She also worked as a legislative intern for Democratic Rep. (now Sen.) Robert Menendez of New Jersey as part of a fellowship with the liberal National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials. On her resume, Meza proudly proclaims her membership in the American Constitution Society and her role as an Advisory Board Member of the Thelton Henderson Center for Social Justice. Talk about filling the whole bingo card! Meanwhile, while working a brief stint at the Fried Frank law firm after law graduation, she assisted on a pro bono case seeking to preserve the confidentiality of ID cards issued to illegal aliens by the city of New Haven, Connecticut, an effort to help illegal aliens avoid being prosecuted for violating federal law. She also helped draft a report for the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination in which she suggested that the U.S. “government’s programs and policies continue to perpetuate segregation and concentrate poverty in communities of color.”
Lexington County (SC) GOP Chairman Richard Bolen wrote a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder asking for Meza to be removed from the review based on her partial background. Bolen, who recently announced a run for South Carolina Senate and is a zealous advocate for Voter ID, received a reply back that can best be characterized as a joke. Despite Bolen’s request, Meza stayed on the case.
The voter ID objection letter also plays fast and loose with phony statistics. Naturally, Charlie Savage at the New York Times published these numbers prominently. Whenever the government has talking points, Eric Holder can always count on his loveable pup.
The letter says “minority registered voters were nearly 20% more likely to… be effectively disenfranchised.” A difference of 1.6 percent between black and white is now 20%. This statistical sleight of hand was necessary because the actual difference of 1.6 percent (10% vs 8.6%) was laughable to the public. Like a puffer fish that bloats its size to scare predators, the DOJ did the same thing with a 1.6% point difference to scare off critics.
Of course, Savage prominently features the 20% statistical puffery in his piece.
The Voting Rights Act says that states must prove an absence of “any” discriminatory effect. Simply, they must prove a negative. Since 1.6% is greater than zero, Holder objected.
The word “any” was inserted in 2006 at the urging of Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner and his staff. Some Republicans, particularly in Congress, see Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act only through the lens of redistricting. Republicans love it because it creates more republican seats in Congress and in state legislatures.
Unfortunately adding “any” also undermines election integrity efforts. House Republicans failed to anticipate its future use in striking down voter integrity efforts like photo ID. In 2009 and 2010, the word “any” was also used to block Georgia’s citizenship verification law to ensure that only American citizens were registering to vote.
Georgia’s law was only approved when Georgia went to federal court and challenged the constitutionality of Section 5. DOJ backed down because they didn’t want the law overturned.
Arizona’s challenge to Section 5 will be hampered by today’s objection. DOJ will introduce the objection as evidence that discrimination still exists justifying the preservation of Section 5. Lots of well paying jobs are part of Section 5 enforcement at the DOJ.
Here is the best part – the DOJ staffers who recommended the Section 5 objection helped preserve their own jobs by doing so. Because Holder objected to South Carolina voter ID, it will make it harder to strike down Section 5 in the Arizona case, and thus lay off all those people who recommended the objection in the first place. Worst of all, the objection memo used to support the objection, and ultimately these jobs, will remain secret and free from scrutiny.
Finally, don’t fall into the silly and constitutional incorrect argument that you have to show ID to cash a check and get on a plane. Flimsy arguments like that are what the left wants from you. The 15th Amendment is in play when it comes to voting. It prohibits racial discrimination in voting, and Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act is passed to enforce that part of the Constitution. Cashing a check isn’t found in the Constitution, and people who love the Constitution shouldn’t equate a plane trip with the right to vote free from racial discrimination.
The better course of action, at least if you live in Texas, is to urge your Attorney General and Secretary of State to withdraw the Texas Voter ID submission and go straight to court before Eric Holder wrecks your law too.
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Newt: “Was it over when the Virginia bombed Pearl Harbor?”
Newt, known for his penchant for dramatic speech, went a tad over board yesterday. Comparing being left off the Virginia ballot with Pearl Harbor? Good grief!
Coming off the news that Newt Gingrich’s name will not be on the Virginia primary ballot, Gingrich’s campaign director compared the “unexpected setback” to Pearl Harbor.
“Newt and I agreed that the analogy is December 1941: We have experienced an unexpected set-back, but we will re-group and re-focus with increased determination, commitment and positive action,” Michael Krull wrote on Gingrich’s Facebook page Saturday.
Here is a salute to Newt
The next time a Liberal says that they are looking out for the working man……..
You can safely call them a liar, and remind them that rather than being true “Progressives” they are in fact Regressives
The liberal 10th Circuit Court of Appeals decided this week to allow mining at a national forest in Montana – But only if you use pick axes and only if your mules are fed weed-free hay.
Townhall reported:Last week environmental groups hailed a decision from the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals that upheld a law prohibiting roads on nearly 50 million acres of national forest. Lawyers for the Colorado and Wyoming Mining Associations contend that the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule violated the law. Previous conflicting federal court rulings have both upheld and overturned the road-building ban.
Jane Danowitz, director of the Pew Environmental Group’s U.S. public lands program acknowledges that the roadless rule blocks “logging, drilling and industrial development.”
Expressing disappointment with the decision, Stuart Sanderson, President of the Colorado Mining Association said, “The decision does not reflect a practical understanding of the impact that the rule will have upon mining jobs or access to needed minerals here in Colorado and the U.S. It is important to develop high quality coal and other mineral reserves, both to ensure our nation’s energy security and reduce our dependence on minerals produced in other countries.”
How does this roadless decision impact mining and jobs?
In Montana’s Finley Basin there are known tungsten deposits. An Australian company wanted to bring revenue and jobs to the state by developing the resource. While the property was successfully drilled and recognized by Union Carbide in the seventies, it is now about 200 yards inside a roadless study area. The Forest Service was willing to offer a conditional drilling permit. Among the conditions were these requirements:
- The drill sites must be cleared using hand tools,
- The drilling equipment and fuel must be transported to the site by a team of pack mules,
- The mules must be fed certified weed-free hay, and
- Drill site and trail reclamation must be done using hand tools.
The company gave up.
Look, I love the outdoors, and I cherish our national parks and our national forests. Anyone with a lick of sense knows how important conservation is. But, the fact is we can have both environmental responsibility AND business friendly policies at the same time.
A bit of caption fun
Let us see who can come up with a catchy caption for this photo. Mine is at the bottom
See, Mr. President, the problem is, you have the economic common sense of a two-year-old
Justice Department rules that ID’s are racist!
OK, actually they ruled that making people prove who they are, and that they actually have a right to vote is racist somehow. Now you might be thinking how could THAT be racist? Well, because it might discriminate against Democrats trying to steal elections silly!
Details at The Lonely Conservative
The Washington Post reported that Eric Holder and the Department of Justice have nixed South Carolina’s voter ID law. Therefore, the state will either have to re-write the law, or take it to court.
Under the 1965 Voting Rights Act, several of the states that enacted voter-identification laws are required to receive federal “pre-clearance” to ensure that the changes don’t affect minority political power.
In its first decision on one of those new measures, the Justice Department said Friday that South Carolina’s law will discriminate against minority voters, though the department declined to take a position on whether the alleged discrimination was intentional. The law, passed in May and signed by Gov. Nikki Haley (R), requires voters to show a driver’s license or one of several other forms of photo identification.
Officials in South Carolina could not immediately be reached for comment Friday afternoon. The rejection leaves the state with the option of trying to get the law approved by a federal court or passing another law and submitting it to the Justice Department. (Read More)
If it’s discriminatory to require people to show ID to vote, why is it not discriminatory to require identification when flying, driving a vehicle, purchasing alcohol or cigarettes, entering a state or federal building or cashing a check?
Obama’s Justice Department acting in a politically partisan fashion? Imagine that
Gatordoug
darcprynce
Dave C
