tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-84682112879277573122024-03-08T00:51:19.850-08:00Voter Integrity ProjectWe're the land of the free BECAUSE of the brave--so we owe the children of these fallen heroes the hope of free and fair elections.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger19125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8468211287927757312.post-7972322837646439642016-04-09T06:52:00.000-07:002016-04-09T06:52:55.588-07:00Eclipse of Intellect in Wake County<br />
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"Guilt by association" is the propaganda tactic used against families and conservatives in the 2011 School Board elections. For the last two years, the issue on the table has been the failed liberal policy of busing kids for 45 minutes or more, twice a day, when the kids could have walked to a nearby school . But then "Hate Incorporated" rolled into town, pulled out their dog-eared copy of <span style="font-style: italic;">Mein Kamph </span>and changed the subject by smearing the supporters of freedom in education. Suddenly, anybody opposed to forced busing to achieve Educratic goals was associated with the "dangerous, racist" Tea Party. Not having the same kind of Hollywood money that the outsiders brought in, honest people were creamed and the haters made a small plurality of empty-headed voters forget all about the issue of busing and the best interests of the children.<br />
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Assigning "god words" and "devil words" is another technique at play in that same election cycle. God words are terms that the dominant media culture lifts up as laudable and worthy. Devil words are the opposite. A footnote about God words is that as soon as the silent majority gets a clear understanding of the term, the elite will suddenly change it. For example, after 3-4 years of record cold temperatures all over the world and an exposed scandal of massive scientific fraud, the term "global warming" just disappeared from the lexicon. Suddenly, the pundits and news readers in the dominant media culture were talking about "climate change." Their opponents are branded as "deniers." Meanwhile, in Wake County, the God term is "diversity" (queue the harps) and the devil term is "Tea Party" and its unproven (but oft repeated) guilt by association with "racists" and "extremists." Proving the cynical advice of many a Marxist dictator, a lie repeated often enough becomes the truth.<br />
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The single issue on the run-off election for the District 3 in this critical election is freedom. One candidate (Kevin Hill) wants the state to maintain absolute control over where a child attends school and his team will continue to ride rough-shod over any parent wanting to select the school their child attends. While the data shows a negative correlation between busing and academic achievement (i.e. as one goes up, the other goes down) Hill and his shadow organizations don't want to talk about it. Instead, they want to change the subject to an irrelevant abstract concept: the Tea Party is trying to take over Wake County schools!!! Panic! Run those rascals out of town! Forget about busing! It's the Tea Party!!!<br />
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This is a plea to the voters in District Three. Take a deep breath. The parents are beaten down and need your help. If you are undecided, please ignore the hate speech directed at the Tea Party and err on the side of your neighbors who have children and are sick of having them dehumanized by a regime bent on total control. Whatever you do, don't reward the haters by falling for their lies. . . no matter how many times they repeat them.<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8468211287927757312.post-1968891292965790172012-07-07T07:45:00.000-07:002012-07-07T07:45:39.302-07:00Nicholas Riley...our first attacker!Sorry about the length of this post. It's something I won't spend a lot of time doing in the future, but on July 2, 2012, a "fellow" from the New York University School of Law, named <a href="http://www.brennancenter.org/people/nicolas_riley/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Nicolas Riley</a>, published <a href="http://www.brennancenter.org/blog/archives/a_lesson_from_north_carolina_on_challengers/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">the very first formal hit piece</a> we have seen that attacks the great work (by our volunteers) to remove self-confess non-US citizens from the voter roll in Wake County, NC. I'm sure it won't be the last hit we ever take; but even though he ran off half-cocked, Mr. Riley deserves the recognition for being the quickest to shoot at us.<br />
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But before I start, there are some "Forward" remarks to be made: Not to call anybody names or anything; but I was torn by the principles expressed in Proverbs 26:4-5, so it took a while to decide how to address this young ideologue's slanted screed. With apologies to Dr. Michael Graves, for my breaking convention (by editorializing too much), here goes an attempt at something he might call "a close reading"....<br />
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Mr. Riley's hit piece began with a history lesson on the ugly, Democratically controlled history of the South. Note that he suppressed mentioning the Dems by name, but he discussed how a bunch of bigoted racists challenged the voting rights of 150 "<a href="http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84024670/1872-07-29/ed-1/seq-1/print/image_681x432_from_2599%2C3894_to_3580%2C4517/" target="_blank">colored people</a>." Of course, he failed to mention the Republican Party affiliation of those former slaves. After all, such inconvenient truth might obfuscate his race-baiting rhetoric. So, he agitated the emotions of his Southern-hating colleagues and closed the paragraph with the obligatory reference to the "Jim Crow era."<br />
<br />
Mr. Riley's second paragraph bridges to the modern-day activities of some patriots who are "disenfranchised" by the relative ease with which organized criminal <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1319819/posts" target="_blank">groups can steal an election</a>. Those people are fed up with parties stealing victories through <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124640687950076679.html" target="_blank">Franken-style</a> recounts or uncounted ballots suddenly "found" in the trunk of a car in a <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1319819/posts" target="_blank">Washington State Governor's race</a>. Those people are worried about the activities of ACORN-type groups in the "battleground state" we call "home." And those people are my colleagues in an organization I established called, <a href="http://www.voterintegrityproject.com/" target="_blank">Voter Integrity Project of North Carolina</a>. Okay...now that we know the biases of both sides...back to the contextual reading.<br />
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In classic guilt-by-association propaganda fashion, his second paragraph actually began with this glittering jewel: "Last month, it looked like this troubling chapter from North Carolina’s history was about to repeat itself." He then reported some of the facts with a <a href="http://www.raleighpublicrecord.org/news/2012/06/27/wake-rejects-most-voter-challenges/" target="_blank">link to the current status of our challenges</a> and then passed another so-called "fact" without providing any reference to their source.<br />
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The alleged fact, "most of whom were voters of color..." was news to our research volunteers. It surprised us because one of the first steps we used in the process was to strip away irrelevant data like sex, race and party affiliation. We are a non-partisan organization and do not want to give anybody the chance to misuse our research methods for their own pet biases. We would rather report the findings without pressure from either political party and let the chips fall where ever they may. Besides, a data base of six million (plus) voters is big enough without any unnecessary data fields. But before leaving this so-called "fact," we would like for Mr. Riley to explain how he conducted HIS research into that bombshell finding. If he actually performed the analysis, we would like to see his work. We would also like him to quantify his term, "most" as he abused it.<br />
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He then reported the dismal (from our perspective) results of our preliminary hearing: Almost all of our original challenges were dismissed for "lack of evidence." I won't bore the reader with the details of the hearing when scrolling down this blog page would be adequate. The bottom line is that we flew a paper airplane into a dogfight. In other words, we were out-maneuvered by a Board of Election that seems less interested in voter integrity than they are in destroying anybody who dares question their practices. We are appealing, whether or not we can locate a lawyer willing to work for the good of the cause (in lieu of money)...and speaking of legal counsel.<br />
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It might be relevant to point out that Mr. Riley is a bright political hack with all of the WASP credentials that our ruling elite require of its participants. Yes... he even went to Bill Clinton's old law school: Yale. Oh, but apparently he couldn't pass his Bar Exam! His bio includes a footnote beside his title, "Counsel/Fellow," that says, "*Not admitted to practice law." While not a fan of personal attacks, this point is relevant to the next part of his hit piece.<br />
<br />
He uses his "lawerly cred" in the next three paragraphs to recite and summarize NC election law as it relates to voter challenges. While not an exhaustive list, it manipulates our complex law to make it look simple. With all due respect to both Mr. Riley and to the late Andy Griffith, these laws are designed for the Griffith era, when everybody knew anybody who was attempting to vote. Our state's simple-minded challenge process even allows for challenges on election day, right at the polling station--while it studiously prevents citizens from challenging voters who are flooding the system with fictional names and addresses and then voting by absentee ballot. It also prevents citizens from challenging anyone who registers on election day with nothing more than a facsimile of a utility bill to prove residence. (As Ann Coulter might ask, "How hard are THOSE to fabricate?!")<br />
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North Carolina is only one of 13 states stupid enough to allow that practice (called "same-day voting"), but our electoral system is so broken that the criminal organization formerly known as <a href="http://www.stoptheaclu.com/2008/10/10/acorn-fraud-in-north-carolina/" target="_blank">"ACORN" sniffed weakness and moved in to register 5,000 voters</a> in 2008. I should point out that anybody who has ever stood in front of a big-box store, trying to register voters on a Saturday knows how hard it is to register even 20 new voters, so registering 5,000 suggest some rather... innovative... techniques.<br />
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One of my personal heroes, Susan Myrick, is no stranger to the electoral process after working several years at the Wake County Board of Elections before getting replaced in an apparent Leftist putsch. In one of her many articles and blog postings on the fraud-friendly NC election laws, Ms. Myrick said our state's election officials have "<a href="http://www.civitasreview.com/politicians/how-voter-fraud-is-viewed-by-board-of-elections-members/" target="_blank">succeeded in creating a system that makes it virtually impossible to detect fraud</a>." She made that statement in answer to yet another vote-fraud denier who uttered their mantra: "There is no vote fraud in NC." That lie goes right up there with, "these are not the droids you are looking for." So don't fall for their silly "Jedi mind tricks." None??!! Really??!! Well, if that's true, I only need to bring one to disprove their claim. Cool! <a href="http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?section=news/local&id=8301269" target="_blank">Here is one now</a>!<br />
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Back to the text, Mr. Riley ends his article on a high note, calling for "modernization" that amounts to a North Korean style electoral process where everyone gets registered to vote, even if they have no clue what the issues are.<br />
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Looking at the entirety of Mr. Riley's article, it fits into a tired story line that accuses anybody concerned about our fragile, fraud-friendly electoral system as being somehow racist or bigoted. Another recent post at a left-wing site called NC Blue, provided a hotlink (to our website) on the word, "<a href="http://www.bluenc.com/right-wing-gears-voter-intimidation-november" target="_blank">whitebread</a>." Their meme is that anybody wanting to work the polls with a goal of preventing voter fraud is secretly a racist, bent on voter intimidation. We're not talking about the billy-club wielding kind of <a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2010/0924/New-Black-Panther-Party-voter-intimidation-case-Bombshell-for-Obama" target="_blank">violent intimidation favored by the New Black Panthers and condoned by the Eric Holder Justice Department</a> either. We're talking about extreme stuff like taking a picture of the guy who showed up at one early voting site three times in a single day, using a different utility bill to prove his (new) identity each time he voted. Note to citizens: Poll workers were prevented by-law from asking that creep for photo ID.<br />
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But the Leftists in media and government will scoff, "where is the proof of that wild claim?" Well, the truth is that it's a he-said, she-said situation until you have more than a few witnesses. In the past, Republicans have only mustered a smattering of helpers. But this is a call out to those who care more about our Constitution than they care about any particular political party. If you have read this far, you might be interested in helping us gather the "proof" this time around! To be done right, we will need as many as 50,000 North Carolina citizens who are willing to help guard our electoral process this November. The time is long gone when we could go vote and then trust the governing class to serve their office with integrity. If you want to help with this last-ditch effort to save America from a stolen election, please visit our website and give us some contact information...or even some cash!<br />
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Warning: If you join us, you will be called names. But please remember two things: First, we outnumber the Left on this issue no matter how hard their media allies twist the truth. Both <a href="http://www.nccivitas.org/2011/full-december-2010-poll-results/" target="_blank">Civitas</a> and <a href="http://www.elon.edu/docs/e-web/elonpoll/041811_PollMethodology.pdf" target="_blank">an April 2011 Elon University</a> polls show wide public support for REAL voter ID. Second, <b>anybody </b>who suggest you are racist for supporting voter integrity (and real ID) needs to explain with their superior reasoning why <b>they </b>would be okay flying on an airliner that accepted utility bills as a proper form of ID. Join us!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8468211287927757312.post-32524801642037179692012-06-27T05:45:00.000-07:002020-01-27T12:53:38.934-08:00"Pieces of Paper"The Wake County Board of Elections (WBOE) couldn't resist more belittling rhetoric as they refused to call our 553 signed and notarized "challenge forms" by that name. Instead, Board President, Aida Havel, rationalized that since some of our challenges were apparently duplicates, that she (and Gary Sims) would repeatedly refer to the signed, notarized challenge forms as "pieces of paper." If the ploy was designed to anger me, it failed on me, but John Pizzo was peeved enough for the both of us. I viewed it as more indicative of their true attitudes than anything else. In any event, the tone was set for a meeting that went better than expected, but not without some harsh lessons learned.<br />
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First, the big headline: Of the 553 challenges submitted, the WBOE decided that only 18 were worthy of further investigation. This means they will notify the voters in question and hold a "formal hearing" where they must verify their citizenship in order to vote.<br />
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Admin Note...before we peel the onion on this discourse, let's do some public math. Some of our submissions were deemed "duplicates," which we cannot (yet) dispute. For the sake of brevity, I will skip using "approximately" and "like" (as a means to avoiding a warranty on the exact number) and instead will work in round numbers from here on. That said, if the number is exact, I will let you know.<br />
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Now...there are several key headlines here that make this PUBLIC exercise wonderfully productive.<br />
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First, if the NC Department of Motor Vehicles (NCDMV) decides that a person is a citizen, then that's it! Since NCDMV was not at the hearing to defend their declaration that 510 of our challenges were citizens, I must comment on their practices as described through an NCBOE Investigator with some <a href="http://www.civitasreview.com/politicians/board-of-elections-alters-voters-records-to-match-dmv/" target="_blank">questionable past practices</a>, named Veronica Degraffenreid.<br />
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In today's hearing, Ms D explained that the DMV matched the records of the challenged non-citizen voters and found 41 to have something called a "<a href="http://raleighdurham.about.com/od/shoppingandservices/a/How-To-Get-An-Nc-Drivers-License-For-New-Residents.htm" target="_blank">Legal Presence</a>" (LP) driver's license. Fern Shubert, a CPA who has won and lost many elections for office was <a href="http://4fern.com/prel070604a.htm" target="_blank">critical of the LP laws</a>, citing the fuzzy documentation required for LP designation . . . but I digress. According to Ms D, if the DMV did not find the code "LP" beside the driver's name, then they <a href="http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/assume" target="_blank">assumed</a> the driver is a US citizen! (We found this to be a vast leap of faith and were stunned to learn that no DMV representatives were at the hearing.) Based on this assumption, the board dismissed the 510-ish registered voters.<br />
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Of course, nobody could explain what would happen if those 510 drivers had applied for a license before the "Legal Presence" laws came onto the books ( possibly in 2003, but I'm not sure). All I remember was that it happened during the <a href="http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/11/24/822886/easley-convicted-of-felony-state.html" target="_blank">corrupt Mike Easley's</a> control over the NC government. I remember some sort of announcement like, "NC drivers must confirm their immigration status, starting February 1." At the time, one commentator said it was like announcing on the radio, "the BB&T on Six Forks Road has a broken ATM machine that spits out money. It will be fixed this Friday." My point? People who got an earlier <a href="https://www.greensboro.com/driver-s-license-rules-under-fire-critics-call-the-state/article_117bbdc7-c208-5e5e-ae4c-3e043de7ed6c.html" target="_blank">NC driver's license had no requirement for proof of citizenship</a> and no LP designation, so their assumption fails the sniff test.<br />
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Add to this the damaging testimony of Wake County Clerk of Courts, <a href="http://web.co.wake.nc.us/courts/" target="_blank">Lorrin Freeman</a>, and we have a real mess! Ms. Freeman oversaw the process of jury selection and disqualifications. In order for someone to be excused from Wake County jury duty as a non-citizen, she said they had to provide a copy of their Green Card (or other such generally acceptable documentation). So... unless the Clerk's office made a keyboard error, the potential juror had to jump through hoops to confirm that they were NOT a citizen! She testified that in virtually all cases, the prospective jurors were eager to provide the documentation because they were motivated to stay out of trouble. But the DMV disagrees.<br />
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One other gem discovered in this process (that would never have been learned in some back-alley phone call to get rid of these registered voters) was that the Honorable Ms. Freeman, in following NC record-keeping laws, destroyed all of the evidence. I'm tempted to go all John Stewart here and rant about these newfangled inventions called "scanners" that can save any document on a computer for something like...ever. But hey! We're talking about the NC Court system. Note to jury prospects: There is zero chance that you will ever get in trouble if you lie on your jury summons in Wake County because the Clerk's office destroys any physical evidence of your perjury! <a href="http://dailycaller.com/2012/05/14/records-cate-edwards-claimed-she-wasnt-a-u-s-citizen-to-get-out-of-jury-duty/" target="_blank">Note to Cate Edwards: Whew! You get to keep your law license since the evidence of your non-citizenship lie to the court (in Orange County)</a> was destroyed. Anyway, the only actual "proof" the citizens of NC have that 510 prospective jurors are not citizens is a spreadsheet! Really??!! This discovery sparked a lively discussion among the BOE Board over the feasibility of even bothering to turn these names over the Wake County DA, <a href="http://web.co.wake.nc.us/districtattorney/about.htm" target="_blank">Colon Willoughby</a>, to investigate perjury charges against all 510 prospective jurors. <br />
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<b>To recap this madness...</b><br />
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1. 510 people proved to a court of law that they were not US citizens, sometime in the last 4 years.<br />
2. Same 510 people were found to have registered to vote.<br />
3. NC DMV said those people ARE now assumed to be US citizens.<br />
4. We have no idea exactly when these people magically became citizens. <br />
5. Wake BOE "dismissed" 510 people of any sort of election fraud.<br />
6. WBOE turns over names to be investigated for perjury.<br />
7. The NC Court system needs to move into the 1990s and change their record-keeping policies. <br />
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<b>Conclusions and Hanging Chads</b><br />
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First, there is no need to hold out hope that the Wake County DA will enforce the law against these non-citizens lying on a jury summons, because they didn't lie. If Ms Freeman is correct, these 510 people told the truth to the courts when they proved their non-citizen status in accordance with the law...but they didn't bother to keep any of the evidence.<br />
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Second, NC DMV laws need to be examined. There are too many loopholes in this shoddy dismissal by Wake BOE of the 510 people ("assumed" to be citizens) first by the DMV, then by the NC BOE and then by the Wake BOE. We would rather the WBOE have held these names open until a second hearing would bring in a DMV official who could defend their assumptions. Instead, none from DMV were present and their cases were dismissed. We were out lawyered, but learned a harsh lesson.<br />
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Third, our labor (apparently) netted 18 people who are not US citizens and thus, really do appear to be illegally registered to vote! This may be good news, but given the presence at the hearing of a known extreme Leftist, I imagine someone will be able to generate any necessary documents to dismiss all 18 of these cases quicker than you can wave your hand in front of my face (in true Jedi fashion) and monotone drone... "There is no voter fraud in NC!"<br />
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<b>The Way Ahead</b><br />
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We will investigate further on this matter to learn the laws guiding DMV's practices in the area of "Legal Presence" designations. If any laywers (or legislators) are watching, here are a few questions we have:<br />
1. When did the LP laws take effect?<br />
2. What documentation is required for a driver to get an LP on his/her license?<br />
3. What happens if a driver has no documentation but asserts that s/he is a US citizen? <br />
4. What is the legal status of anybody who obtained a NCDL before the LP laws took effect?<br />
5. Does the absence of an "LP" designation "prove" the driver is a US citizen?<br />
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I mentioned this to Board Chair, and will tell my readers too. Depending on the answers we get from the DMV, we reserve the right to challenge these same voters again. My promise to the public is that we will do it better next time. We will summon a DMV official, because, in the immortal words of Ricky Ricardo, "they have some 'splainin' to do."Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8468211287927757312.post-77510662023502473082012-06-05T18:14:00.002-07:002012-06-06T02:43:57.005-07:00Don't drink the kool aid but the TEA is find.Why is Speaker Tillis selling out the Constitution?<br />
<br />
Some say
that voter photo ID is a political issue, but it doesn't take an
advanced degree in government to know the defense of our nation's
borders is already a tragedy and the final wall
preventing a complete takeover of our government is the protecting
the ballot box.In other words, voter photo ID isn't a partisan
issue--it's a constitutional issue. It is bedrock to our national survival and some want to play politics with it. <br />
<br />
Just when I thought the Republicans in the NC Legislature
understood this principle, their caucus leader, Speaker Thom Tillis,
appears to be ready for "<a href="http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/06/05/2113245/house-seeks-softer-approach-to.html" target="_blank">a compromise</a>" on photo ID for voters! Or should we say, "capitulation"?<br />
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Just imagine..."Lose the photo part and we have a deal Mister
Speaker." Never mind that it means getting rid of the single element to
the bill that unified all of the NC Legislature's Democrats in a
mafia-like solidarity. And never mind that patriotic Americans with half
a brain can see that the bill does nothing to improve ballot security.
Yup, the Dems stood thick as thieves on this baby and now they have a
new friend: Speaker Tillis.<br />
Let's see...one side wants to open the vote up to any dead guy or
non-citizen who still has his name on the voter roll and one side
doesn't. <br />
<br />
"Hey everybody! Let's compromise! We will let the people wanting to
destroy our nation have their way this time, but they have to promise to
be our friend when we go out to the playground." <br />
<br />
According to the compromise bill, government-issued ID cards would be
out of the question. Instead, people would be able to walk into the
polling station with a bank statement or a utility bill and use that as
ID. Now, if that's an acceptable form of ID, one must wonder why they
are not being used at airports, banks and the NC Governor's mansion. <br />
<br />
It doesn't take a poly-sci major to imagine what may be motivating
Speaker Tillis. He was politically weakened when two of his staffers
were forced to resign after having...uh..."<a href="http://www.therepublic.com/view/story/605a9a0f905c41da9bf54c042ea8230f/NC-XGR--Speaker-Chief-of-Staff" target="_blank">inappropriate relations</a>" with
some hotties of the opposite sex whose daytime jobs involved lobbying the NC
Legislature on matters important to their clients.So we do the math and
realize that the only way Tillis will retain his cushy job (assuming
Republicans retain control of the Legislature) is to join the Democrats.
I think they call this "deja vu all over again" in NC, but I digress.<br />
<br />
Tillis will need Democrat votes in his next bid for the speaker
position, because a lot of Republicans have lost confidence in him. If this theory is correct, it would
follow the time-honored Republican tradition in North Carolina: when
the going gets tough, betray your party. Let's hope Tillis doesn't go so
far as the last two traitors in the NCGOP, <a href="http://www.carolinajournal.com/exclusives/display_exclusive.html?id=3486" target="_blank">Mike Decker</a>...but I double
digress.<br />
<br />
They say that power is a sweet elixir (and apparently a pretty good
aphrodisiac too) but the book of Proverbs (23:1) warns us that if a
man is given to gluttony over the food at a kings table he should "put a knife to his
throat" (NIV).<br />
<br />
So here is the bottom line: Don't go there, Thom. Any Republicans who agrees to remove the
word "photo" from a voter photo ID bill had better start looking for
some new friends...because he just abandoned his old ones. <br />
<br />
Like the announcer at Woodstock might have said, "we have a warning on the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drinking_the_Kool-Aid" target="_blank">kool aid</a>. People are reporting some bad trips on that stuff... but the TEA is safe!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8468211287927757312.post-62410785887421064622012-06-03T18:27:00.000-07:002012-06-03T18:27:22.296-07:00Gary said "no."Well... you heard the man. The single most partisan non-elected employee in the entire NC government said a lot of things. For one thing, he said that Bev Perdue was cleared of any wrongdoing, when evidence suggested that Gov Bev had done the same thing that had gained her predecessor, Mike Easley, a conviction. In the words of the Charlotte Observer, <a href="http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2011/12/19/2860226/questions-persist-over-unreported.html" target="_blank">"the board's executive director, Gary Bartlett, also cleared the Perdue campaign of wrongdoing before the investigation was completed."</a><br />
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I raise this point not because of Perdue, but because of Bartlett. While he is in charge of the entire election system for this crucial battleground state, he is not accountable to the citizens of NC: He is appointed by the party in power and serves at the whim of the Governor. I don't mean to sound partisan, but it only makes sense that the person who gave him that cushy job would like him to behave like a good lap dog for the party in power.<br />
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Two thoughts before I sign off....<br />
1. I sure hope that the Chairman of the Board of Elections--at both the county and the state levels--one day becomes an elected position. The voters deserve the opportunity to remind those "public servants" who actually writes their paycheck.<br />
2. Gary Bartlett said that "<a href="http://projects.newsobserver.com/node/24622" target="_blank">Our laws are based on honesty and self-policing</a>," but I have a hard time believing him when he acts in such a clearly self-serving way. Next thing we know, he will be telling the public that every single one of the 553 Wake County registered voters who evaded jury duty by claiming they were not citizens actually WERE citizens! Really? All of them?<br />
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I would have a hard time buying that bag of Kool-Aid from him.<br />
<div style="color: black; font: 10pt sans-serif; height: 1px; overflow: hidden; text-align: left; text-transform: none; width: 1px;">
Read more here: http://projects.newsobserver.com/node/24622#storylink=cpy</div>
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<br />Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2011/12/19/2860226/questions-persist-over-unreported.html#storylink=cpy</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8468211287927757312.post-13914135179956498302012-05-30T02:52:00.002-07:002012-05-30T02:52:30.197-07:00<h2>
Spankin' Time!!</h2>
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We knew there would be push back from the Statists all around, but were still taken aback when the Chair of the Wake County Board of Elections lectured us for our 553 voter challenges (of people who opted out of jury duty by claiming to be non-citizens), charging that our public act served to "undermine people's confidence in the system. She (<span class="st"><em><a href="http://www.havellaw.com/about_me.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Aida Doss Havel</a>) </em></span>scolded us to make the quiet phone call next time, so they could fix the problem without... paraphrasing here: arousing public suspicion that there is something deeply wrong with North Carolina's record of registered voters. After all, we don't want to encourage the stupid masses to demand things like...oh...voter ID or anything crazy like that.<br />
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I reminded the Board and Ms. Havel that a public debate actually strengthens the system as people realize that citizens are maintaining the system by means of testing it's security. In the military, we call it "Red Team" when a band of aggressors work against the installation Commander's security measures to see if they can find the vulnerabilities. In the end, the Commander is usually humbled a bit but (s)he is also glad to get the evaluation...in the name of better security...which is exactly what I want for our electoral system. I explained to the room that I lay awake at night, fearing an Iranian-style election with angry citizens marching in the streets, knowing their election was stolen. The majority of powerful people in the front of the room disagreed with my position, but I had to think about their motives in order to figure out why.<br />
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Reasoning never works with people who view you as an existential threat. While my "subtext" is that I want to help make the system more secure, protecting the public from those who would have no qualms about stealing an election and that I mean them no harm personally, they aren't hearing my underlying theme. Instead, a tape is running in their head that says something like, "this guy is threatening my ability to keep this position of power." When that meme is playing in the background, it's hard to hear any reasoned arguments. Instead, one will try to smack down the person making the arguments. In the immortal words of Saul Alinsky, "<span class="st">Pick the target, <em>freeze</em> it, personalize it, and polarize it</span>." To our side, this is an exercise in civics. To many on the Left (but not necessarily to Ms Doss) we are attempting some sort of power grab. <br />
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What next?<br />
Many are asking that question, so here is the run-down. The State Board of Elections (SBOE) has taken our challenges for action, but not as official "challenges" until we individually can supply signed and notarized copies of each page (553 in all). We are working to comply with their demand and should have it this week. Meanwhile, Gary Bartlett (SBOE's Chairman) has already dismissed all but 41 of our challenges, claiming that the people challenged are actually US citizens. I hope he is able to prove that claim at the hearings.<br />
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Which brings us to the next step: Hearings may be held on the 41 questionable voters. No idea what "may" means in this context, but we are pressing ahead toward that eventual outcome. A previous test of the vote list (<a href="http://www.wral.com/news/state/nccapitol/story/11107478/" target="_blank">by a WRAL reporter</a>) found of the 83 names investigated, ALL were exonerated! All of them? Really? I asked him if that seemed a little suspicious.... He said "no."<br />
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With skeptics like that in the dominant media, it's no wonder that NC's voter ID law is facing stiff, unified, opposition in our Legislature. After all, everyone on the Left has their mantra memorized: "There is no voter fraud in North Carolina."<br />
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Right! That goes right up there with "these are not the droids you are looking for."<br />
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<em>...coveting your prayers,</em><br />
<em>jd</em>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8468211287927757312.post-76963042973475884462012-05-24T18:02:00.002-07:002012-05-24T18:02:58.060-07:00Well...it was the best of times and the worst....<br />
Our rag-tag bunch of fraud-sniffing conscripts got "a mention" in the famously left-wing <a href="http://projects.newsobserver.com/node/24694" target="_blank">Raleigh News & Observer</a> AND their sister paper, the <a href="http://www.kansascity.com/2012/05/23/3624695/sting-video-about-north-carolina.html" target="_blank">Kansas City Star</a>, and we weren't even being trashed! But the bad news is that fellow Patriot, James O'Keefe got sliced and diced because of his great work in North Carolina. It turns out that Brother OK didn't have access to the super secret immigration registry; but apparently McClatchy News Service has inside info and is able to report that the two non-citizens featured in O'K's film actually WERE citizens when they voted. The dominant media failed to mention that "Ziggy," one of the "non-ers" had to lie about something according to his own timeline. If he actually was a citizen back in 2003, as was reported at one leftist news site (and picked up by sycophantic state-controlled media), then why did he tell the Wake County Courts that he wasn't a citizen within the past four years? Lying on that jury form is some sort of crime, but not if our DA, Colin Willoughby, refuses to prosecute. Meanwhile, the other non-er, has a better set of facts on his side; but I still want to see the proof that these guys are citizens. Or do I have to take the word of the NC BOE top dog, Gary Bartlett? I don't know Gary, but I sure do hate all the secrecy. If we don't spread a little sunshine on this process pretty soon, NC will be in the same mess as is California: Their voter registration lists are kept away from the little people and their government is about as left-wing as they get. And hardly anyone knows anybody else who votes for the Dems and Reps who gleefully look the other way while thousands of business owners (and tax payers) flee their state every day.<br />
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But, rest assured.... VIP will get slapped around by the same usual media suspects if Gary Bartlett announces that all 553 challenges were found to be unwarranted. Hopefully, that will not be the case, but such a finding would allow him to repeat the leftist mantra heard often in North Carolina: Go back to sleep. There is no vote fraud in North Carolina.<br />
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Our (VIP's) underlying assumption is that there are too many loopholes in the NC election laws for some unethical miscreants to ignore. I assume the bad guys have beta tested their tactics, techniques and procedures in some small county; but in November, every loophole will be exploited and thousands of NC voters will take to the streets in an Iranian style protest, screaming that their election was stolen. Thankfully, that future is not set.<br />
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BUT, that is why we need as many volunteers as possible to join our efforts to scrub out as many dead and non-existent voters now...before the early September cut-off for 2012 election challenges. If you feel the urge to help us clean up this non-partisan mess, please surf over to www.VoterIntegrityProject.com and sign up!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8468211287927757312.post-45134609281777270932012-05-10T06:30:00.000-07:002012-05-10T06:30:39.480-07:00<h2>
Game On!!!</h2>
It all comes down to November. <br />
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This is what motivates me to fight vote fraud: Unless we get these voter rolls cleaned up, the hard work that
ACORN and "Action NC" (the criminal enterprise formerly known as ACORN) have done over the last 5-6 years will result in a
stolen election in the "battleground" state of NC. There is a reason
that Eric Holder is blocking photo ID (in SC and Texas), even though the
Supreme Court has already affirmed almost the exact same laws in
Georgia and Indiana. Also, there was a reason that Bill Clinton's very
first bill signed into law was the motor voter act. When you connect the dots, it gets ugly.<br />
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The Left knows what they are doing and some on our side are beginning to wake up . The fact that they have tried everything they can to
derail this issue (and the people supporting it) tells me that Voter Integrity Project is on
the right track.<br />
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All the Left is doing in NC is trying to freeze out the clock on photo ID. Granted, an ID wouldn't solve every type of election fraud that is possible, but it would help.<br />
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Time is not on our side and we are late to the fight. The convoluted challenge process in NC election
law means that if we cannot finish all of our challenges no later than
60 days before any given election, the fraudulent voter will be allowed
to vote in that election.If these thoughts stir you to action, please surf over to VoterIntegrityProject.com, fill in the "contact" form and "follow" us on Twitter.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8468211287927757312.post-29717668801025991062011-12-25T15:37:00.001-08:002011-12-25T16:08:14.102-08:00Quietly Stealing the 2012 ElectionIt was the night before Christmas Eve, 2011 when the Obama administration's Justice Department used a provision of the 1965 Voting Rights Act to invalidate South Carolina's voter ID law. Never mind that Georgia and Indiana had a similar law affirmed by the Supreme Court of the US. The bottom line in both states' federal trials was that none of the plaintiffs could demonstrate any hardship in getting a state-issued ID card. All the Plaintiffs could do was cite computer projections and academic studies that pointed to hundreds of thousands of people who would be too stupid or too disabled to go get a free state ID card. In both cases, the courts said "enough with the studies! Show me ONE real live person who would be denied the vote." Crickets. Even the reliable liberal Justice <span id="mn_Global"><span id="mn_Article">John Paul Stevens </span></span>had to side against his activists allies on the court for this one because nobody could find any of the theoretical voters who would be shut out of the voting process for lack of an ID card.<br /><br />South Carolina will have to use the courts to override Holder's (mal)administration, but should succeed easily, given the past SCOTUS rulings. Here is a link to a representative article that describes the Christmas Eve announcement: http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/justice-dept-rejects-south-carolina-voter-id-law-calling-it-discriminatory/2011/12/23/gIQAhLJAEP_story.html<br /><br />Here is a link to a story that explains the SCOTUS ruling in support of Indiana's very tough voter ID laws: http://www.mercurynews.com/politics/ci_9083316<br /><br />A great pull quote from the above story is this: <span id="mn_Global"><span id="mn_Article">The law "is amply justified by the valid interest in protecting 'the integrity and reliability of the electoral process,"' Justice John Paul Stevens said in an opinion that was joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and Anthony Kennedy.</span></span><br /><br />Despite that wickedness run amok, please take the time to reflect on the meaning of the season and renew your spirit during this Christmas season. After all, truth is on our side. Requiring honest is good public policy.<br />Blessings,<br />JayUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8468211287927757312.post-61015020247648090062011-12-16T03:13:00.000-08:002011-12-25T16:01:51.009-08:00Same-day votingNC law allows people to walk in to an early-voting booth, register to vote and cast a vote without showing any proof of identification. All they need is something that looks like a utility bill with the voter's name and address on it. In an era where people are regularly using software to forge checks, we can rest assured that NOBODY would fake a utility bill! After all, the process of voting is too sacred for anybody to cheat at it. Please call your legislator and ask him/her why we can't move out of the Jim Crow era and install safeguards that reflect the changes in technology that demand positive voter identification as a simple safeguard. They need to override SB 351 now!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8468211287927757312.post-57451531094808204722011-12-14T18:19:00.001-08:002011-12-14T18:38:48.568-08:00The clock is ticking and the pulse begins to quicken as we start thinking about the battle ahead. North Carolina is in play as a "battle ground" state for the 2012 elections and a small race for control of the local school board served as a trial run for how the billion-dollar Presidential candidate will spend money to win his last election.<br /><br />My sources tell me that the thugs formerly known as ACORN sent 100 canvassers down to one tiny little school district to knock on doors. The race actually was very significant because if the freedom forces had won, school choice would have gained momentum in Wake County (NC's largest school district). Instead, the paid staffers went door-to-door "polling" for citizens who were sympathetic to totalitarian school systems that have complete control over the children's education. If the person answering the door seemed to agree with the People for the (un)American Way types, he or she was handed an absentee ballot application. In the end, the parents lost another school board race and control of the Board reverted to those who value "diversity" more than parental control of their child's education... also known as freedom.<br /><br />Okay, that is a tragic story of liberty taking another hit, but it's also a triumph of an organized band of political activists who worked the streets to make their side win a tough fight. A seasoned NC political veteran tells me that the race was a "beta test for ACORN 2012."<br /><br />While the Voter Integrity Project of NC will do our part to eliminate (or reduce) vote fraud in all elections, the victory is in much bigger hands than ours. I think it was Ben Franklin who advised his peers "to pray as if it all depended on God and work as if it all depended on us."Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8468211287927757312.post-16564744744401013392011-04-16T09:31:00.000-07:002011-04-16T10:59:02.080-07:00Treachery afootIt shouldn't come as a surprise to long-time NC political watchers, but it appears that the Republican leadership in the NC Senate has been undermined from within. <a href="http://ncleg.net/gascripts/members/viewMember.pl?sChamber=S&nUserID=11">Senator Bob Rucho</a> (RINO-Mechlemburg) has hired a Democratic activist, named <a href="http://www.mmdnewswire.com/senate-leadership-hires-la-raza-36725.html">Matty Lazo-Chadderton</a>, to help redraw the state Senate districts as part of the election map reset that happens every ten years. <div><br /></div><div>The last time the district maps were redrawn, a shameless group of politicians in bed with the gambling industry redrew the map to oust long-time opponents of the state lottery. As a result, great conservative legislators (like Russell Capps and Sam Ellis) had their districts diluted with enough Democrats that they were defeated. The only bright spot to that ugly affair was that their ring leader, a RINO named David Miner, was hoist on his own petard in the process. Miner sliced Democratic neighborhoods out of his district and threw them at Capps and Ellis (among others) to make his a super strong Republican district. Then, much to his surprise, the Republicans decided to elect a REAL republican for their district (named Nelson Dollar) and send the little RINO back to the private sector, but not before he was able to get the "stupid tax" (aka state lottery) passed into law. </div><div><br /></div><div>But enough history for one posting. Lazo-Chadderton (L-C) is a present day threat who previously worked for Democratic party boss Marc Basnight as Director of Hispanic/Latino Affairs. She also serves as a Democratic Party precinct chair, according to ALIPAC, a group that supports enforcement of immigration laws. They also report that L-C has serious ties with two Hispanic activists organizations dedicated to open borders: El Pueblo and La Raza.</div><div><br /></div><div>How L-C's hiring by a top RINO lawmaker affects voter ID is a very serious question. First, there is an effort underway (defeated thus far) to allow ID cards issued by the Mexican Consulate to be a legal form of ID in North Carolina. . . even at the voting booth!! Let me set aside (for now) the story of one NC Sheriff who testified at a committee hearing that he arrested one man with five different Consulate identities (suggesting massive welfare fraud). This also raises the question of non-citizens voting in NC elections. If NC's RINO leadership is this brazen toward Conservatives, then we have bigger problems than voter ID, but that is our focus for now. While we need a good voter ID law to reach the Governor's desk, it cannot be diluted with illegal immigration loopholes. The key bill to watch on this issue is <a href="http://ncleg.net/Sessions/2011/Bills/House/PDF/H33v3.pdf">HB 33</a>. It made progress, passing from the House to the Senate, but it got sent to a committee known for killing bills, called the "Committee on Rules and Operations of the Senate," chaired by Senator <a href="http://ncleg.net/gascripts/members/viewMember.pl?sChamber=S&nUserID=83">Tom Apodaca</a> (R-Hendersonville, Buncombe). If you live in this area, it would be a great idea to give his office a call and register your interest in HB 33. </div><div><br /></div><div>The other key bills, which are still moving along well, are both titled, "Restore Confidence in Government," and will require valid ID to be presented at the polling booth before one is allowed to vote. <a href="http://ncleg.net/Sessions/2011/Bills/House/PDF/H351v2.pdf">HB 351</a> and <a href="http://ncleg.net/gascripts/BillLookUp/BillLookUp.pl?Session=2011&BillID=S352">SB 352</a> are the parallel bills headed for approval. Radical Leftists are pulling out all the stops to defeat this bill. <a href="http://www.wral.com/news/state/nccapitol/video/9431392/#/vid9431392">Here is a link to a 42-minute presser the Left recently staged near the Legislature</a>. We should aim for a similar show of force. Please save the date of Thursday, May 5, for just such an event. We need anybody who loves American Exceptionalism to plan to be in Raleigh by noon that day. More to follow.</div><div><br /></div><div>Aim High! </div><div><br /></div><div>Notes:</div><div><a href="http://www.alipac.us//modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=6231">ALIPAC press release</a>.</div><div><a href="http://michellemalkin.com/2010/04/28/police-state-how-mexico-treats-illegal-aliens/">How Mexico treats illegal immigrants</a>.</div><div><a href="http://ncleg.net/">NC Legislature website</a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8468211287927757312.post-65910613948288582482011-04-03T17:18:00.000-07:002011-04-04T03:59:35.252-07:00NC Voter ID bill survives . . . again.North Carolina's HB 33 dodged a bullet this week, when opponents tried to split the bill's Republican voting bloc over the issue of illegal or undocumented workers. The idea was to include Mexican Consulate ID cards in the list of acceptable "state-issued" ID cards! The amendment came during the third and final House reading of the bill, but it failed dismally.<br />-<br />So, the Voter ID bill now crosses over to the NC Senate, where opponents of free and fair elections will--no doubt--scheme up new and innovative ways to promote voter fraud in North Carolina elections.<br />-<br />If it gets through the Senate, it's on to Governor Perdue's desk. Conventional wisdom says that she will veto the bill, but "our guy" on the inside says a Perdue veto won't matter. Despite the gamesmanship going on during the prelims, there are enough scared Democrats in the NC Legislature that the final margin will be veto-proof!<br />-<br />Hey! Here is a good "note to self" for the next time you meet a lawmaker who wanted to allow Mexican ID cards: Ask them why <span style="font-style: italic;">anybody </span>would advocate using a Mexican ID card in order to vote in a NC election? As the politician sputters for an answer, you might also ask if non-US citizens should be allowed to vote?<br />-<br />And please, oh please . . . get their answer on video! Shame is an excellent weapon in the battle for free and fair elections!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8468211287927757312.post-88484289184341938512011-03-15T19:15:00.001-07:002011-03-15T19:33:12.930-07:00V Day in NCWell . . .<br />A day we thought would never get here has finally passed. I wish the same could be said for the actual bill under consideration, but at least we're making progress. I wasn't able to be in NC today and had to sit this one out, but we have eyes. So, I'll post a deeper reaction later.<br /><br />For now, here is my prognosis. The left's main complaint is that requiring a state ID card for voters, "takes us back to the old Jim Crow laws of the KKK south." With such emotional bombast, the Dem governor of NC will self-righteously veto the bill.<br /><br />But don't be discouraged! It took decades to get where the Repubs even had the courage to raise the bill on the Statehouse floor, so we need to focus our frustration if it fails this time without walking away in disgust. This bill WILL become law one day. The fact that you need an ID card in order to apply for welfare benefits kinda undercuts their second favorite complaint about this bill: "It lays an undue burden on the poor" and their third favorite, "it's the return of the poll tax." (All shouted through a bullhorn.)<br /><br />We WILL win this debate at some point in the future, so the only question is this: "What role do you want to play in bringing down the greatest voter fraud law in the history of North Carolina?" Without an ID card, anybody can vote numerous times. All a fraudulent voter need do is walk in to the polling station and claim the identity of someone they know has not already voted. Dead relatives and fictitious characters (registered through the efforts of ACORN types) make for wonderfully safe second and third voters.<br /><br />Now, our job is to do the hard work of documenting how bad people are undermining our electoral system with such fraudulent behavior. If you want to do more than talk about the decline of America, if you want to do something to help prevent that decline, might I suggest that you surf on over to our organizational website and send in your name?! The address is www.VoterIntegrityProject.com<br /><br />Thank you,<br />JayUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8468211287927757312.post-56890511206952704822011-03-04T19:30:00.001-08:002011-03-04T19:47:25.053-08:00Random UpdatesSorry this is . . . terse . . . but it's been quite a few week.<br /><br />I ran my website info over to our ethics lawyer at the JAG office. I need to be sure that doing this "non-partisan activity designed to increase voter participation and integrity" wouldn't somehow paint a big target on my chest and endanger my last six months of service to the Air Force. To coin a phrase. . . the jury is still out.<br /><br />On another point, I finally registered for the National Summit in Houston. It's set for March 25-6. You can learn a little more about it here: http://www.kingstreetpatriots.org/ These guys are straight up people and have already made a great impact on Houston -- home district of Rep Jackson-Lee -- and beyond.<br /><br />Met two great NC volunteers this week who are amazing people. One has registered over 700 voters (legally too!) and the other has been stirring up the Guilford County story about a whole bunch of 110-year-olds who are registered to vote. This story is still developing, but you can google it to see the latest.<br /><br />Please pray for our nation, its leadership and the troops during these dangerous times.<br />Thanks,<br />JayUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8468211287927757312.post-68749724609620890202011-02-20T14:25:00.000-08:002011-02-20T14:35:20.970-08:00New kind of government shakedown?It's sad when government employees can organize and refuse to do their taxpayer-funded jobs until the taxpayers agree to give them more money. I've always taken seriously the advice that Jesus gave the soldiers to "never complain about your wages."<br /><br />A quick look at the entire wage-benefit package the teachers get in Wisconsin shows the enormity of the problem when other public servants don't follow that admonition. Not only do they complain, the boycott their jobs and tell the kids to go away! Imagine the power soldiers would have if we refused to do our jobs until we got more money. Pretty soon, we would be just like those countries where their dictators have the military on their side and nobody else (Egypt comes to mind).<br /><br />Bottom line: If public service is no longer viewed as stewardship, then (quoting Jed Clampett) . . . "we in a heep of trouble."Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8468211287927757312.post-44745856034075631572011-02-19T08:19:00.000-08:002011-02-19T08:33:26.842-08:00Seth Godin is the genius behind Yahoo. He recently wrote on his blog...<br /><h3 style="color: rgb(0, 153, 0);" class="entry-header">Make big plans</h3> <div class="entry-body"> <p style="color: rgb(0, 153, 0);">...that's the best way to make big things happen.</p> <p style="color: rgb(0, 153, 0);">Write down your plans. Share them with trusted colleagues. Seek out team members and accomplices.</p> <p style="color: rgb(0, 153, 0);">Shun the non-believers. They won't be easily convinced, but they can be ignored.</p> <p style="color: rgb(0, 153, 0);">Is there any doubt that making big plans increases the chances that something great will happen?</p> <p style="color: rgb(0, 153, 0);">Is there any doubt that we need your art and your contribution?</p> <p style="color: rgb(0, 153, 0);">Why then, are you hesitating to make big plans?</p><p>-</p><p>I (Jay) ask that you adopt that approach to our effort to turn this nation away from the rocky cliffs of destruction. I've reached the conclusion that some really bad people have used voter fraud to disenfranchise the rational voters (also called "the producers") in our nation.<br /></p><p>-</p><p>While there are many great causes to which we can donate our creative time and talent, I will ask you to consider this one because it is bedrock to our freedom. If we can't protect the integrity of our electoral process, then the Constitution of the United States is lost. Today is not the time to cast blame for who lost the Constitution. Today is the day to pull up our sleeves and get to work rebuilding a nation that has often stood as a shining example to the rest of the world of what freedom can accomplish.<br /></p><p>Check the website, www.voterintegrityproject.com for more info on how to join our effort.</p><p>Blessings,</p><p>Jay<br /></p> </div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8468211287927757312.post-22326545409421959522011-02-09T18:31:00.000-08:002011-02-09T19:01:24.362-08:00<ul><li>Greetings, friends...<br /></li><li>A key to improving the electoral process in the US is getting honest people to participate in the process. While the people we need already vote, many of them have kids at soccer practice or jobs that keep them away from any sort of volunteer activities after a long day at work. As a result, the only participation they have given was the 30 minutes it took for them to vote.</li><li>This speaker (in the video below) explains how great things are happening <span style="font-style: italic;">because </span>people are willing to donate their creative talent for the good of the the community. Some contributions are purely for nonsense (think of LoL Cats) while other efforts are a genuine contribution to society (think of open-source software development). Anyway, because of the greater opportunities in today's entertainment technology, we are no longer destined to veg out in front of the television every night. Now, we can log on and interact with a community to develop something--anything--for the good of others.Some make stuff that is humorous (and kinda dumb) while others create things that will change our world.<br /></li><li>That would be my challenge to you. A group called "True The Vote" (TTV) created a data base management system that we shall use it in NC. Pls pardon the geek speak, but it merges fields of information that is imported from diverse state agencies that track things like voter registrations, death certificates and driver's license addresses. While the local election boards should have been doing this kind of work all along, they don't. After TTV collected the data bases, they ran analysis on the data with volunteers and took their findings to the election board. (Oddly enough, less than a week after the Harris County (TX) election board received the information from TTV, the county election board warehouse burned to the ground and destroyed every single voting machine owned by the county! But I digress. The key is that volunteers used their talents for the good of the community. While LoL Cats does it for cat owners, TTV and USHAHIDI (in the video) did it for a more significant cause.<br /></li><li>This video illustrates one kind of help we will need if we are to right this ship of state. Currently, she is listing heavily and taking on lots of water. If we are to save her, we will need to plug the leaks and start the bilge pumps. I could ramble on for too long with this metaphor, so please take a moment (actually about 13 minutes) to watch this fast-moving and informative video to understand how you, dear reader, might just have a place that you didn't anticipate in this effort to build voter integrity.</li></ul>Blessings,<br />Jay<br /><br /><object width="446" height="326"><param name="movie" value="http://video.ted.com/assets/player/swf/EmbedPlayer.swf"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><param name="bgColor" value="#ffffff"></param> <param name="flashvars" value="vu=http://video.ted.com/talks/dynamic/ClayShirky_2010S-medium.flv&su=http://images.ted.com/images/ted/tedindex/embed-posters/ClayShirky-2010S.embed_thumbnail.jpg&vw=432&vh=240&ap=0&ti=896&introDuration=15330&adDuration=4000&postAdDuration=830&adKeys=talk=clay_shirky_how_cognitive_surplus_will_change_the_world;year=2010;theme=not_business_as_usual;theme=the_rise_of_collaboration;theme=new_on_ted_com;event=TED%40Cannes;&preAdTag=tconf.ted/embed;tile=1;sz=512x288;"><embed src="http://video.ted.com/assets/player/swf/EmbedPlayer.swf" pluginspace="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" bgcolor="#ffffff" width="446" height="326" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" flashvars="vu=http://video.ted.com/talks/dynamic/ClayShirky_2010S-medium.flv&su=http://images.ted.com/images/ted/tedindex/embed-posters/ClayShirky-2010S.embed_thumbnail.jpg&vw=432&vh=240&ap=0&ti=896&introDuration=15330&adDuration=4000&postAdDuration=830&adKeys=talk=clay_shirky_how_cognitive_surplus_will_change_the_world;year=2010;theme=not_business_as_usual;theme=the_rise_of_collaboration;theme=new_on_ted_com;event=TED%40Cannes;"></embed></object>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8468211287927757312.post-52276907794199325392011-01-03T22:37:00.000-08:002011-01-03T22:58:39.724-08:00Why this matters to me. . .The purpose of this blog is to rally people who are interested in protecting the integrity of the electoral process in NC and beyond. Motivated by groups like the King Street Patriots (of Houston, TX) and their "True The Vote" campaign, I want to make sure North Carolina's elected leaders understand that people are waking up to the danger our nation faces when good people do nothing and bad people steal elections by stuffing the ballot box or by abusing the "motor voter" laws to register fictitious voters.<br />--<br />We have taken for granted that our way of electing leaders--while not perfect--was still "good enough" to get the right person elected. That assumption is now changing and people are starting to worry about the numerous reports of voter fraud, but we don't have to sit by and passively wait until our freedoms are gone. Instead, we have an obligation to make sure that the elections are free and fair and that everybody plays by the rules.<br />--<br />As a member of the military for more than 30 years, I'm about to retire; but I'm not setting aside the oath that I swore upon commissioning, which promised to "support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic. . . ."<br />--<br />This will be the next great adventure, so check back and feel free to pull up your sleeves and join the effort!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0