Wa. Post: Tea Party “racist” for poll watching in minority neighborhoods (+video)

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If you’re a conservative poll watcher on Election Day, you’re probably a racist! That’s essentially the charge leveled in an August 25 Washington Post-published article by AJ Vicens and Natasha Kahn of the News21 Carnegie-Knight Initiative. Entitled, “True the Vote and other poll watchers motives questioned,” Kahn and Vicens opened their article by noting the paranoia of a Milwaukee voter creeped out at the fact that there were three white poll watchers at her mostly-black polling precinct on the recall election day a few months back:

As Jamila Gatlin waited in line at a northside Milwaukee elementary school to cast her ballot June 5 in the proposed recall of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, she noticed three people in the back of the room. They were watching, taking notes. Officially called ‘election observers,’ they were white. Gatlin, and almost everyone else in line, was black. That’s pretty harassing right there, if you ask me, Gatlin said in the hall outside the gym. Why do we have to be watched while we vote?

Two of the observers were from a Houston-based group called True the Vote, an offshoot of the Houston tea party known as the King Street Patriots. Their stated goal is to prevent voter fraud, which the group and founder Catherine Engelbrecht claims is undermining free and fair elections.

Did I miss the conspiracy here? What is so evil about poll watching? It’s perfectly legal and it’s designed to insure confidence in our electoral process. For example, poll watchers could play a crucial role in preventing and combating the sort of voter intimidation that occurred in Pennsylvania during the 2008 election at the behest of the Black Panther Party.

No, with the legality of poll watching unquestionable, Vicens and Kahn turned to liberal academics to make that case that “white poll watchers in minority areas can have a disenfranchising impact even if there’s no direct interaction.”

“In a community where voter participation is not very high and where folks are not as politically active, any barrier that prevents you from getting to the polls or that discourages you from getting to the polls is potentially a problem,” Vicens and Kahn quoted Nic Riley of New York University’s Brennan Center.

Read more from this story, by Asian-American Matt Vespa, HERE.

And here’s the “Bob the Racist” video attached to Mr. Vespa’s article:

Obama’s Black Law School Classmate, Former Dem Congressman Artur Davis, Fires up GOP in Tampa (+video)

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By The Root. Next to former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, the most widely touted African-American speaker at this week’s Republican National Convention is a man best known on the national stage for his passionate support of President Obama at the 2008 Democratic National Convention.

What a different four years can make.

In 2008, then-congressman and former Obama law-school classmate Artur Davis was one of a handful of black Democratic rising stars, including Newark Mayor Cory Booker, California elected official Kamala Harris and others, credited with ushering in an Obama-era of post civil rights generation political leaders. Since then Davis had his rise up the political ladder abruptly halted by a bruising primary loss in the Alabama governor’s race.

His announcement earlier this year that he had officially left the party he had once represented in Congress and become a registered Republican was met with cheers in conservative circles and skepticism among Democrats who have branded him a “sore loser.” The DNC has even used him as fodder for a campaign ad. Tuesday evening, Davis is slated to address the Republican National Convention. “The Romney campaign engaged me in conversations midsummer about doing activities for them as a surrogate in Virginia and other states, and at some of those conversations they brought up the idea of me speaking at the convention, and I decided to do it,” Davis told The Root. Read more at Root HERE.

Here’s his speech in Tampa last night:

Army Vet Paints “Obama F.U.K. Off” on His Truck, Interrogated by Cops

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An Army veteran who painted “Obama F.U.K. Off” in large letters on his truck was questioned by Wisconsin cops after police dispatchers received a complaint that the profane message was inappropriate “for kids in the area.”

Dennis Hamm contends that he did not misspell the word “f**k” on his truck’s tailgate. Instead, “F.U.K.,” he notes, is actually an acronym for “Fundamentally Useless Kenyan.”

Photo credit: The Smoking Gun

The sheriff’s report is being forwarded for review by the village attorney in Union Grove, where Hamm’s truck was observed outside his home on Main Street.

According to his Facebook page, Hamm, seen at [upper left], served in the Army from 1973-1976. Hamm–who uses the nickname “Wild Boar”–describes himself as “Still fighting for the freedoms I served to protect. Carry a weapon as a means to convince those who have a distorted view of ‘Free Enterprise’ that things must be earned, not taken.”

Read more from this story HERE.

New York Times is a Sinking Ship, Cannot Aid Obama

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Photo credit: Joe Shlabotnik

In a recent Pew poll, the legendary paper of record was voted less “believable” than ABC News, the Wall Street Journal, CNN, NBC news, and CBS News. What a comedown for the Grey Lady.

Not only is the paper considered less trustworthy than most others news organizations, the decline has been sharp. The average believability of the 13 news organizations reviewed was 56%; the Times came in at 49%. (The Wall Street Journal comes in at 58%, by comparison.) Whereas trust in all those outfits has dropped in recent years, the Times has fared worse than most. Since 2010, their rating has sunk from 58 to 49.

For a paper that boasts a proud heritage and certainly a devoted following among liberals, this should be worrisome. Indeed, in his “farewell column” published this past weekend, Public Editor Arthur Brisbane, essentially the paper’s ombudsman, took the Times to task, saying that its “political and cultural progressivism…virtually bleeds through the fabric of The Times.” He describes the paper as a “hive on Eighth Avenue…shaped by a culture of like minds” – a uni-view that he suggests is more visible from the outside than the inside. That may or may not be correct, but for sure, Americans have taken note.

For the Obama White House, this disaffection with our leading newspaper should be something of a heads-up. If the Times acts as a virtual mouthpiece for the administration, and people do not find it credible, what does that say about the president?

It is not only 63% of Republicans that judge the Times lacking in credibility, it is also 56% of independents. Among those same independents, only 45% consider the Wall Street Journal unreliable.

Read more from this story HERE.

Romney: I’m Reluctant to Release Tax Returns Because of Tithing to Mormon Church

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Photo credit: Tim Pearce

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney said in an interview to be published Sunday that one reason he’s reluctant to release his tax returns is that they reveal how much money he and his wife have given to the Mormon church.

In an interview with Parade Magazine, Romney said his church “doesn’t publish how much people have given.”

“This is done entirely privately,” Romney told Parade. “One of the downsides of releasing one’s financial information is that this is now all public, but we had never intended to our contributions to be known.”

Romney said his contributions to his church are “a very personal thing between ourselves and our commitment to our God and to our church.”

Democrats have hammered Romney for refusing to release any tax returns beyond his release of his 2010 return and a summary of last year’s tax information. He has said he plans to release his full 2011 return before the Nov. 6 election.

Read more from this story HERE.

Gingrich Turns Tables on Chris Matthews, Calls him Racist

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In an appearance on MSNBC’s “Hardball” on Monday from the Republican National Convention, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich took on host Chris Matthews, who accused the Republican Party of playing the “race card” throughout the day on MSNBC.

Gingrich turned the tables on Matthews, asking: “Why do you assume ‘food stamp’ refers to black? What kind of racist thinking do you have? Why are you being a racist, because you assume he’s referring to black?”

In a testy exchange, Matthews asked Gingrich why his party was using what he deemed coded racist dog whistles.

“I find your assumption so absurd that it’s hard to answer your question,” Gingrich responded. “Let me take the birther thing for a second — what Mitt Romney did the other day, people say, ‘You ought to relax, you ought to be a little bit lighter’. So he tells a joke. Now, it tends to be a joke that serves him in a totally different way that you’re calculating. It reminds everybody in Michigan that he was born in Michigan.”

But Matthews wouldn’t back down from his premise: “You know, it’s amazing how — you know how African-Americans generally, at least people who have emailed me in the last couple of hours, how they react to this?”

Read more from this story HERE.

Scientists Successfully ‘Hack’ Brain To Obtain Private Data

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Photo credit: ssoosay

It sounds like something out of the movie “Johnny Mnemonic,” but scientists have successfully been able to “hack” a brain with a device that’s easily available on the open market.

Researchers from the University of California and University of Oxford in Geneva figured out a way to pluck sensitive information from a person’s head, such as PIN numbers and bank information.

The scientists took an off-the-shelf Emotiv brain-computer interface, a device that costs around $299, which allows users to interact with their computers by thought.

The scientists then sat their subjects in front of a computer screen and showed them images of banks, people, and PIN numbers. They then tracked the readings coming off of the brain, specifically the P300 signal.

The P300 signal is typically given off when a person recognizes something meaningful, such as someone or something they interact with on a regular basis.

Read more from this story HERE.

DNC Convention to Host Radical Muslims & Their “Jumah” Prayers for 2 Hours (+video)

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By Erica Ritz. The Democratic National Committee is raising a number of eyebrows after announcing that it will be hosting Islamic “Jumah” prayers for two hours on the Friday of its convention, soon after denying a Catholic cardinal’s request to say a prayer at the same event.

Up to 20,000 people are expected to attend the Friday prayers and Jibril Hough, a spokesman for the Bureau of Indigenous Muslim Affairs (BIMA), said the purpose of the event is to hold political parties accountable for the issues faced by Muslim-Americans.

In particular, the event will target the Patriot Act, the NYPD, the National Defense Authorization Act, and anti-Shariah sentiment.

And while Muslim-Americans undeniably face distinct challenges, those who are well-informed on the dangers of radical Islam are expressing their doubts about the event.

Dr. Zuhdi Jasser, a devout Muslim and the Founder and President of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy, wrote: “The leaders of this event – Jibril Hough and Imam Siraj Wahhaj [are not] moderates. They are radicals. These individuals embrace Islamist supremacy and have demonstrated support for radical ideologies.” Read more from this story HERE.

Here a video promoting the “Jumah.” It gets interesting at about the 2 minute mark:

Paul Ryan’s Message to Ron Paul

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Texas Rep. Ron Paul stopped short of endorsing the Mitt Romney-Paul Ryan presidential ticket during his event on Sunday night, but Ryan has a message for Paul and his libertarian supporters.

In an interview that aired on the Fox News Channel, host Bret Baier asked Ryan to address Paul.

“We see eye to eye on a lot of issues,” Ryan said. “We believe in sound money. We believe in economic freedom. We believe in the founding principles. We believe this is a watersheds moment for America, whether we are going to reclaim the American idea or a cradle-to-grave welfare state which is where I think the president is taking us. So, I think in the final analysis Ron, he and his supporters should be comfortable with us.”

“Ron is a friend of mine,” Ryan added.

“I have known him a long time in Congress.”

Read more from this story HERE.

US Military Ends Four Army Officers’ Careers for Accidentally Sending Korans to Burn Pits

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Photo credit: Roel Wijnants

Army officials said that four Army officers and two enlisted soldiers received letters of reprimand for sending boxes of Korans from a prison library to a burn pit at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan. Although an Army investigation that was made public on Monday found that the soldiers did not act out of “malicious intent” to disrespect the Koran or defame Islam, investigators concluded that they did not follow proper procedures, were ignorant of the importance of the Koran to Afghans and got no clear guidance from their leaders in a chain of mistakes.

The Marine Corps said three non-commissioned officers involved in a video that shows four Marines urinating on the body of a dead Taliban fighter received “nonjudicial punishments,” which could include letters of reprimand, a reduction in rank, forfeit of some pay, physical restriction to a military base, extra duties or some combination of those measures.

The Marine Corps did not release the results of its investigation into the episode because, officials said, there were continuing inquiries about higher-ranking officers in the unit involved, which was part of the Third Battalion, Second Marine Regiment, based in Camp Lejeune, N.C.

Military officials said the punishments were not as light as they might seem to the public — letters of reprimand effectively end most military careers — but it was unclear how they would be viewed in Afghanistan, where the Koran burning touched off days of riots across the country and compelled Mr. Karzai to call for a public trial.

American military officials said they were hopeful that Afghans would take the news calmly. “We have conveyed our condolences to the government and the Afghan people,” said Col. Thomas W. Collins, a spokesman for the international military coalition in Afghanistan. “These were both terrible mistakes.”

Read more from this story HERE.