Original Post: Washington Examiner
My comments: I want you liberals to keep telling me there is no voter fraud and keep complaining about President Bush's election.
By: Mark Hemingway
Commentary Staff Writer
10/26/10 6:12 PM EDT
Clark County is where three quarters of Nevada's residents and live and where Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's son Rory is a county commissioner. Rory is also a Democratic candidate for governor.
Since early voting started, there have been credible reports that voting machines in Clark County, Nevada are automatically checking Harry Reid's name on the ballot:
Voter Joyce Ferrara said when they went to vote for Republican Sharron Angle, her Democratic opponent, Sen. Harry Reid's name was already checked.
Ferrara said she wasn't alone in her voting experience. She said her husband and several others voting at the same time all had the same thing happen.
"Something's not right," Ferrara said. "One person that's a fluke. Two, that's strange. But several within a five minute period of time -- that's wrong."
Clark County Registrar of Voters Larry Lomax said there is no voter fraud, although the issues do come up because the touch-screens are sensitive. For that reason, a person may not want to have their fingers linger too long on the screen after they make a selection at any time.
Now there's absolutely no independently verified evidence of chicanery with the voting machines (yet), but it is worth noting that the voting machine technicians in Clark County are members of the Service Employees International Union. The SEIU spent $63 million in elections in 2008 and is planning on spending $44 million more this election cycle -- nearly all of that on Democrats. White House political director Patrick Gaspard is formerly the SEIU's top lobbyist, and former SEIU president Andy Stern was the most frequent visitor to the White House last year.
Just in Nevada, the SEIU has given a lot to groups that are heavily vested in the state -- in just one prominent example, the SEIU gave $500,000 to the Patriot Majority PAC, which has spent $1.3 million against Reid's opponent Sharron Angle. They've and have dropped large sums directly on candidates:
NV-3
Joe Heck (R)
Oppose
$140,000.00
NV-3
Dina Titus (D)
Support
$344,984.00
NV-Senate
Sharron E. Angle (R)
Oppose
$225,000.00
Now the county voting technicians aren't unique here -- many of Clark County's employees are also represented by the SEIU. But it is worth mentioning, the SEIU is hyperpoliticized and has seen its fair share of corruption. (It certainly seems more questionable than Diebold, the voting machine manufacturer with Republican ties that was at the center of many conspiracy theories on the left during the Bush administration.)
Unions increasingly have a major financial stake in election outcomes, both as a matter of their own election expenditures, and as a function of what they stand to gain if their legislative agenda is enacted. Should they really be responsible for tabulating the votes? That's certainly something voters ought to think long and hard about.
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Scientists Find 'Liberal Gene'
Original Post: NBC Sandeigo
My Comments: I find this highly unlikely.
Study conducted by researchers at UCSD, Harvard
By ERIC S. PAGE
Updated 6:28 AM PDT, Thu, Oct 28, 2010
Researchers have determined that genetics could matter when it comes to some adults' political leanings.
According to scientists at UC San Diego and Harvard University, "ideology is affected not just by social factors, but also by a dopamine receptor gene called DRD4." That and how many friends you had during high school.
The study was led by UCSD's James Fowler and focused on 2,000 subjects from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. Scientists matched the subjects' genetic information with "maps" of their social networks. According to researchers, they determined that people "with a specific variant of the DRD4 gene were more likely to be liberal as adults." However, the, subjects were only more likely to have leanings to the left if they were also socially active during adolescence.
"It is the crucial interaction of two factors -- the genetic predisposition and the environmental condition of having many friends in adolescence -- that is associated with being more liberal,” according to the study.
"These findings suggest that political affiliation is not based solely on the kind of social environment people experience,” said Fowler, who is a professor of political science and medical genetics.
The researchers also said their findings held true no matter what the ethnicity, culture, sex or age of the subjects were.
My Comments: I find this highly unlikely.
Study conducted by researchers at UCSD, Harvard
By ERIC S. PAGE
Updated 6:28 AM PDT, Thu, Oct 28, 2010
Researchers have determined that genetics could matter when it comes to some adults' political leanings.
According to scientists at UC San Diego and Harvard University, "ideology is affected not just by social factors, but also by a dopamine receptor gene called DRD4." That and how many friends you had during high school.
The study was led by UCSD's James Fowler and focused on 2,000 subjects from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. Scientists matched the subjects' genetic information with "maps" of their social networks. According to researchers, they determined that people "with a specific variant of the DRD4 gene were more likely to be liberal as adults." However, the, subjects were only more likely to have leanings to the left if they were also socially active during adolescence.
"It is the crucial interaction of two factors -- the genetic predisposition and the environmental condition of having many friends in adolescence -- that is associated with being more liberal,” according to the study.
"These findings suggest that political affiliation is not based solely on the kind of social environment people experience,” said Fowler, who is a professor of political science and medical genetics.
The researchers also said their findings held true no matter what the ethnicity, culture, sex or age of the subjects were.
Voting security
Last Friday I went to Buffalo Wild Wings with my friends, ordered some wings and a beer. I was carded when I ordered the beer.
Why is this significant you ask? Good question astute reader.
It's significant because a handful of hours earlier I early voted. When I early voted THEY DIDN'T EVEN ASK MY NAME.
Buffalo Wild Wings has tighter security on their beers that our government has on the election of our leaders which is a travesty.
Why is this significant you ask? Good question astute reader.
It's significant because a handful of hours earlier I early voted. When I early voted THEY DIDN'T EVEN ASK MY NAME.
Buffalo Wild Wings has tighter security on their beers that our government has on the election of our leaders which is a travesty.
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Liberal bites off dissenting finger
Man accused in T.O. finger-biting incident sought
Original Post: VC Star
An altercation begins between William Rice, right, in khaki shirt and olive shorts, and an unidentified man wearing black, who authorities say bit off Rice’s little finger. Anyone with information about the biting incident is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS.
An opponent of government healthcare programs had part of a finger bit off during a fight at a pro-healthcare-reform rally this week in Thousand Oaks.
William Rice, 65, of Newbury Park was with a small group of counter-protesters at a vigil Wednesday night organized by Moveon.org when a man bit off part of his left pinky finger during a scuffle, authorities said. Doctors were unable to reattach Rice’s finger.
Sheriff’s detectives Thursday were still looking for the man who bit Rice. Investigators also were sifting through conflicting accounts of the incident, but Rice acknowledged that he threw the first punch.
“When he got in my personal space, I popped him in the nose,” Rice said in a phone interview Thursday. “I felt like I had no choice other than to defend myself.”
The incident was reported at 7:26 p.m. Wednesday at Lynn Road and Hillcrest Drive, where more than 100 people gathered for the pro-healthcare-reform vigil.
About 15 people opposed to President Obama’s healthcare reform stood across the street from Moveon.org’s group. Members of Code Pink: Women for Peace also were there, authorities said.
Rice got involved in a heated discussion with a member of Code Pink, said sheriff’s Capt. Ross Bonfiglio, a department spokesman. After the argument, Rice returned to where his group was standing. An unidentified man then walked from Moveon.org’s area toward the opponents and verbally confronted Rice, allegedly calling him names and acting aggressively, Bonfiglio said.
Rice told investigators he felt threatened by the man and punched him in the nose, Bonfiglio said. A fight ensued, during which part of Rice’s finger was bitten off, Bonfiglio said.
Rice drove himself to Los Robles Hospital & Medical Center in Thousand Oaks. Another man found the bitten-off portion of the finger and took it to Rice at the hospital, Bonfiglio said.
Doctors told Rice the pinky, severed near the second knuckle, could not be reattached because of high bacteria levels from a human bite, he told the Ventura County Star.
Rice said he did not initially plan to participate in any demonstration Wednesday. He was driving by when he spotted Code Pink members, and he stopped to see if they were protesting the military, he said. Rice has a son who is an officer in the Marine Corps.
After a brief exchange with Code Pink members, Rice said, he was satisfied they were not protesting the military. He was leaving when a man who seemed “deranged” approached and called him an “idiot,” he said.
Rice said he felt like the man had singled him out because he was the “easiest target.” But the incident happened quickly, he said, and he doesn’t clearly remember everything that preceded the altercation.
Scott Bush, 43, of Thousand Oaks said he was standing with Rice in the group opposed to healthcare reform when the man walked over from the Moveon.org group. Bush said the man asked the group if it supported a public health insurer option, and members responded “no.” The man then singled out Rice and asked him why, according to Bush. When Rice responded that he didn’t want the government involved in anything, the man moved toward Rice and yelled, “You’re an idiot,” Bush said.
Bush said Rice then hit the man in a defensive move. The man then pulled Rice into the street, according to Bush.
After a fight that lasted only a few seconds, Bush said, he heard Rice say, “He bit my finger off,” and he saw a stump.
Several witnesses said Rice’s shirt was ripped during the scuffle.
Bush said he later found the roughly 1-inch piece of finger about 20 feet away and took it to Los Robles Hospital.
The suspect left before police arrived, authorities said. He was described as a short man with a medium build, wearing a blue cap, black shirt and black shorts.
Detectives were still trying to determine much about the incident, including whether the man intended to bite off Rice’s finger, sheriff’s Detective Eric Buschow said.
Rice said he thinks the man intended to harm him but not bite off his finger.
Authorities did not consider the man a criminal suspect Thursday and were not looking to arrest him, Buschow said. “We want him to come forward so we can talk to him. We want to hear his side,” Buschow said. “He’s part of the puzzle.”
The man did give an account of the incident to people at the Moveon.org gathering before he disappeared, said Joanie McClellan of Thousand Oaks, an organizer of the vigil. The man was visibly shaken, with his glasses askew and a lens missing, she said.
McClellan said no one at the gathering knew the man, who never gave his name and said he wasn’t on the Moveon.org list. McClellan, also involved with Code Pink in Ventura County, said she did not see the altercation.
The man told McClellan he was on his way to the healthcare vigil when Rice heckled and then hit him, she said. The man acknowledged he had bitten Rice’s finger, she said.
“We had asked him to go and sit on the grass so he could calm down, and I never saw him again,” she said.
Although he did not plan to protest Wednesday, Rice said, he’s opposed to government involvement in general, except for mail service and the military.
“It doesn’t have any business in anybody’s healthcare,” he said.
Rice acknowledged he used the Medicare he gets as a senior when he went to the hospital Wednesday. He said it was the first time he used the program, to which he remains adamantly opposed.
“If I had any other options, I would not have used it, even though I pay for it,” he said.
Emily Kryer, spokeswoman for U.S. Rep. Lois Capps, said the incident will not affect plans for a healthcare forum Friday night in Oxnard. The congresswoman will co-host a community information session at 6 p.m. at Bethel AME Church. Kryder said Oxnard police officers will provide security.
Anyone with information about the biting incident is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS.
Friday, October 22, 2010
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Cross Lutheran Church, One Wisconsin Now, League of Young Voters support vote fraud
Original Post: JS Online
Groups protest voter fraud ads
Community leaders gather Tuesday in front of a billboard at W. Morgan Ave. and S. 22nd St. to protest billboards that they say are meant to suppress the minority vote.
Billboards aim to keep minorities from polls, they say
Several community groups Tuesday condemned billboards throughout Milwaukee that warn "Voter Fraud is a Felony," saying they are an attempt by right-wing sources to intimidate and suppress minority voting.
At a press conference in front of one of the billboards at S. 22nd St. and W. Morgan Ave., the groups called on Clear Channel Outdoor, the owner of the billboards, to take down the ads and disclose who paid for them.
The bottom of the billboards, which show people behind jail bars, the words "We Voted Illegally" and the penalty for voting illegally, disclose only that the billboards were paid for "by a private family foundation."
"We're tired of these tactics and signs like these that keep various groups from participating," said Jayme Montgomery-Baker, state director of the League of Young Voters. "There are so many other issues we should be talking about, like jobs, education and health care."
The Rev. Ken Wheeler, pastor of Cross Lutheran Church and a member of the Milwaukee Innercity Congregations Allied for Hope, or MICAH, said: "The message is offensive and implicitly and explicitly creates a climate of fear in the African-American community that was historically denied justice and discouraged from voting."
Scot Ross, director of the liberal One Wisconsin Now, said that after a 20-month investigation the state attorney general prosecuted only 11 people for voter fraud. He said the issue of voter fraud had been used by Republicans and the right wing to discourage college students and minorities from voting.
"This is not the Republican Party of Wisconsin, and we have no idea who or what group is behind these billboards, or what their intentions are," said Andrew Welhouse, communications director for the Republican Party in Madison.
Although he hadn't seen the billboards, Welhouse said it appeared to him that the message was clear: When a vote is illegally or fraudulently cast, it takes away a legal vote, and that can be important in a close election.
"We want to make it easy to vote and hard to cheat, especially in this election when so many are fired up," he said.
Mark Rausch, vice president of real estate and public affairs for Clear Channel Outdoor in Pewaukee, said the 12-by-25-foot billboards are placed primarily along surface streets and the Milwaukee area.
The first purchase of 50 were put up Sept. 13 and ran for four weeks.
The second purchase of 25 started running Oct. 4 and will run until election day, he said.
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