60% of All Union Members Disagree With Their Unions’ Political Expenditures

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Photo credit: SEIU Local 1

This election year, millions of Americans will donate to the political candidates and initiatives of their choice at the local, state, and federal levels. But for unionized workers, union dues come out of their paychecks and go to political causes—and they aren’t consulted on where that money will go.

In July, The Wall Street Journal’s Tom McGinty and Brody Mullins published an eye-opening report that “Organized labor spends about four times as much on politics and lobbying as generally thought.”

They broke down the unions’ political spending from 2005 to 2011: $1.1 billion “supporting federal candidates through their political-action committees, which are funded with voluntary contributions, and lobbying Washington, which is a cost borne by the unions’ own coffers.”

But that was only the beginning. Add to that another $3.3 billion for political activity from “polling fees, to money spent persuading union members to vote a certain way, to bratwursts to feed Wisconsin workers protesting at the state capitol last year.” Who pays for this? The workers, McGinty and Mullins report: “Much of this kind of spending comes not from members’ contributions to a PAC but directly from unions’ dues-funded coffers.”

Despite findings that 60 percent of union members object to their dues being spent on political causes, this practice continues. Why?

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Democrat Federal Judge Rules In Favor of Obama’s Demand to Have More Hours to Bus In Democrat Voters

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United States District Court judge Peter Economus, a registered Democrat appointed by President Clinton, ruled in favor of President Barack Obama’s reelection campaign today, instructing Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted to allow early in-person voting the weekend before the November election.

Ohio’s early in-person absentee voting hours begin in less than a month, and all registered voters in Ohio will be mailed absentee ballot applications. The federal court ruling will allow counties to hold weekend in-person voting hours, but only on the weekend immediately prior to Election Day.

Absent Economus’s ruling, the early voting schedule was set to allow military voters to cast early ballots through the day before the election, while non-military voters would be able to cast early ballots until 6:00 PM on Friday, November 2.

“‘In-person early voting’ is a voting term that had included the right to vote in person through the Monday before Election Day, and, now, thousands of voters who would have voted during those three days will not be able to exercise their right to cast a vote in person,” Economus wrote in his decision.

In July, Obama for America, the Ohio Democratic Party, and the Democratic National Committee sued Husted and Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine – who are both Republicans – demanding that all Ohioans have the same weekend voting privileges as military voters. Early in-person voting was a key component of Obama’s 2008 election strategy.

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30,000 Dead North Carolinians Registered to Vote

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Photo credit: Mr. T in DC

A Raleigh-based group devoted to reducing the potential for voter fraud presented the N.C. Board of Elections on Friday with a list of nearly 30,000 names of dead people statewide who are still registered to vote.

The Voter Integrity Project compiled the list after obtaining death records from the state Department of Public Health from 2002 to March 31 and comparing them to the voter rolls.

“Mainly, what we’re concerned about is the potential [for fraud],” said project director Jay DeLancy. “Since there is no voter ID law in North Carolina, anybody can walk in and claim to be anyone else.”

DeLancy said his group has found evidence to suggest voter fraud in these numbers, but will not quantify how much until he is able to do more analysis. Most cases of what look like a dead person voting are likely just administrative errors, such as a son named Junior voting in his father’s name instead of his own.

The rolls of registered voters are updated every month when the state Department of Health and Human Services gives a list of all death certificates received that month to the state Board of Elections.

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FBI Investigates Threats on Akin’s Life while Karl Rove Jokes about his Murder

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Photo credit: Todd Akin US Senate

Political operative Karl Rove apologized Friday for a joke he purportedly made about murdering U.S. Senate candidate Todd Akin.

Bloomberg Businessweek reported Friday morning that Rove made a joke that alluded to killing Akin as he briefed about 70 influential Republican donors on the last day of the GOP convention in Florida.

“We should sink Todd Akin. If he’s found mysteriously murdered, don’t look for my whereabouts,” Rove reportedly told the Tampa Club as he explained how his super PAC, Crossroads GPS, planned to beat President Barack Obama this fall.

Rove apologized for the remark after it drew a sharp reaction from Steve Taylor, Akin’s district director, who was upset that the comment came as authorities are investigating threats against the St. Louis area congressman’s life.

Akin campaign spokesman Ryan Hite said Rove personally phoned the Senate candidate late Friday afternoon to apologize.

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Bernanke Pursuing Failed Policies of the Past, Pushing For Yet Another “Stimulus”

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Photo Credit: DerFussi

The Federal Reserve chairman, Ben S. Bernanke, delivered a detailed and forceful argument on Friday for new steps to stimulate the economy, reinforcing earlier indications that the Fed is on the verge of action.

Calling the persistently high rate of unemployment a “grave concern,” language that several experts described as unusually strong, Mr. Bernanke made clear that a recent run of tepid rather than terrible economic data had not altered the Fed’s will to act, because the pace of growth remained too slow to reduce the number of people who lack jobs.

The federal government said on Wednesday that the economy expanded at an annual rate of 1.7 percent in the second quarter, slightly higher than its initial estimate of 1.5 percent but lackluster in normal times. A measure of consumer confidence hit a three-month high on Friday, but that, too, was impressive only in comparison with the immediate past. The government will release a preliminary estimate of August job growth next week; it is expected to show that the unemployment rate remains above 8 percent.

Mr. Bernanke said that the Fed’s efforts over the last several years had helped to hasten economic recovery, that there was a clear need for additional action and that the likely benefits of new steps to stimulate growth outweighed the potential costs.

“It is important to achieve further progress, particularly in the labor market,” Mr. Bernanke said. “Taking due account of the uncertainties and limits of its policy tools, the Federal Reserve will provide additional policy accommodation as needed to promote a stronger economic recovery and sustained improvement in labor market conditions in a context of price stability.”

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Sheriff Joe Arpaio sees an ally in Mitt Romney

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Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio told Arizona delegates at a luncheon Thursday that he’s confident Mitt Romney would work with Arizona to increase border enforcement—something he said President Barack Obama has failed to do.

“Something has to be done, and I’m very well convinced that Mitt Romney, when he gets to the White House, will look at the problem,” he said. “I fully believe that he’s not just talking. I’m convinced that in the first year at the White House, he will bring this issue up.”

Gov. Jan Brewer was also present but did not speak at the luncheon that took place at Tampa’s Lowry Park Zoo. At least five protesters attempted to make their way into the event, which was in connection to the Republican National Convention, but were asked to leave.

The Sheriff , Brewer and other Republicans from Arizona have long criticized Obama, saying the president has failed to secure the United States-Mexico border. Their criticism comes even after Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has repeatedly said that the border has never been more secure.

Though Arpaio endorsed Rick Perry for president over Romney, the Sheriff said he still supports Romney’s stance on immigration, saying it is in line with his. They both favor ramping up enforcement at the U.S.-Mexico border, implementing an employment verification system and they are both against in-state tuition for undocumented youth.

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9 Hilarious Quotes From Clint Eastwood’s ‘Invisible Obama’ RNC Speech

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Even if you’re liberal and you feel like you have to “hate” Clint Eastwood for aligning with the enemy and speaking at the Republican National Convention, you can’t. All that Twitter talk about him sounding crazy and senile last night is ludicrous. That’s just people reacting to the message, not the man. Eastwood was adorable and funny, got his main points across simply but with that endearing edge, like your dad might have if you were debating politics with him. And talk to me when YOU are 82 years old and aren’t slurring at least a few words here and there, K? The “invisible Obama” set-up was a little awkward, granted. But the man pulled it off. The audience laughed and cheered. I laughed and cheered … at these in particular:

[Explaining that there ARE Republicans in Hollywood] “Conservative people by nature of the definition play it a little closer to the vest, they don’t go around hot-dogging it. But they are there.”

“I remember 3-and-a-half years ago, when Mr. Obama won the election, and though I wasn’t a supporter I was watching that thing. And there were talking about ‘hope and change’ and ‘yes we can’ … I thought it was great. Everyone’s crying. Oprah’s crying. Even I was crying. I haven’t cried so hard since I found out there are 23 million unemployed people in this country. That is a national disgrace.”

[Talking to Invisible Obama, who is “sitting” in an empty chair next to the mic] “What do you want me to tell Romney? I can’t tell him to do that. He can’t do that to himself. Your’re absolutely crazy. You’re getting as bad as Biden. Course, we all know Biden is the intellect of the Democratic party. Kind of a grin with a body behind it.”

“I never thought it was a good idea for attorneys to be President anyway. They are always taught to argue everything … and they are devil’s advocating this and bifurcating this and bifurcating that. It’s maybe time for a businessman. How about that? A stellar businessman.”

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The words “Tea Party” banned from GOP Convention?

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Tuesday’s theme at the Republican National Convention was “We Built It,” but the night’s speakers did not reference or mention the Tea Party movement that built the current Republican majority in the House during the 2010 midterm elections and infused a party that seemed all but moribund after the 2008 elections and the latter part of George W. Bush’s presidency with enthusiasm, life, confidence, money, manpower, purpose, and a little swagger.

On Wednesday, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), who, like his father, Ron, is one of the most prominent symbols of the Tea Party movement that revolted in part against the spending habits of Republicans and Democrats during the last decade, addressed the RNC.

But even Paul did not explicitly mention or make note, by name, of the Tea Party movement.

This has left many Tea Partiers to wonder if the Romney campaign and the RNC are deliberately trying to disassociate the Republican and Romney brands on the national stage from the Tea Party brand that has given them momentum against Obama. Tea Party members were also perturbed, to say the least, that the RNC passed rules concerning delegate selection and convention rules that stripped power away from the grassroots on Tuesday.
“Their words and their actions speak for themselves,” Jenny Beth Martin, co-founder of the influential Tea Party Patriots wrote. “The term ‘tea party’ appears to have been banned from the convention.”

The strategy is risky for Romney and Republicans . . .

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Romney working toward a landslide?

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Photo Credit: davelawrence8 Creative Commons

At time of writing, polls show the race for the presidency to be tight. General consensus seems to be that whoever wins, the 2012 election will be won by a bat squeak.

Yet to many, especially those of us on the right, it seems peculiar that Obama is still remotely in the race. With high unemployment, minimal GDP growth, a 100% increase in food stamp costs, and out-of-control spending, many conservatives are asking how just under half of the American population can possibly want more of the same.

While it is not possible now to get into the many reasons certain people will vote Democrat in November, I propose that all polls, not just left-leaning polls, may be being strongly misled by their data, and Romney/Ryan may actually have a huge lead not seen in polls.

It is my contention that this is due to a mix of the infamous Bradley effect and what is known in Britain as “the Shy Tory Factor,” with both coming together to exaggerate just how popular Obama is in America.

The Bradley effect is a much-debated polling distortion that is easy to demonstrate but difficult to prove. The idea that when a black or minority candidate is on the ticket against a white candidate, certain voters may lie under pressure from a pollster, worried about being seen as a racist for choosing the white candidate over the minority, sounds highly plausible. The consequence, should the Bradley effect be in play, would be a skewed poll indicating that the minority candidate is in better political shape than his or her opponent.

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Political Correctness Running Amok: State Department Says “Holding Down the Fort” is Racist

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John M. Robinson, the Chief Diversity Officer at the U.S. Department of State, wants America’s diplomats to know that common phrases and idioms like “holding down the fort” are, in fact, deeply racist.

Robinson, who also serves as director of the Department’s Office of Civil Rights, used his “Diversity Notes” feature in the July/August issue of the official “State Magazine” to examine the hateful roots of everyday sayings. In one recent public relations kerfuffle at Nike, Inc., he wrote, the company torpedoed a sneaker called the “Black and Tan.”

“What a wonderful celebratory gesture and appreciation for Irish culture. Not!” wrote Robinson, an adult.

Robinson notes that “Black and Tan,” in addition to being an enjoyably robust alcoholic concoction, can refer to the brutal Protestant militiamen who ravaged the Irish countryside in the early 20th century — which is why Irish bartenders always get so upset when you order one.

In an effort to avoid offending those notoriously fragile Irish sensibilities, Nike pulled the shoe from stores.

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