Simple Questions

Just how many fraudulent registrations need to be submitted in order for the media and election officials to realize that ACORN's fraudulently submitted votes are significant? How many fraudulent votes need to be cast before alarm bells go off?

Why is there not a zero tolerance for fraudulently submitted registrations, since that reduces the chances for fraudulently cast votes?

Why is there not zero tolerance for fraudulently cast votes?

Instead, we get election officials and media elites trying to downplay ACORN's nationwide efforts in pushing fraudulent registrations. How exactly does that ensure that all votes are cast legitimately, accurately, and protects the rights of legitimate voters to cast ballots secure in the knowledge that each person gets one vote?

Meanwhile, you've got the Obama campaign pushing to get a special investigation going into Republican claims of ACORN's voter fraud. The campaign wants to investigate the investigators into ACORN's dubious tactics. That's despite all the ties between ACORN and the Obama campaign, up to and including ACORN outlets in parts of the country publicly running ads for people to sign up to get the vote out for Obama and canvassing for Obama, despite ACORN's claims that they are a nonpartisan outlet.

Feeding at the Trough in New Jersey

You want to know how government works in New Jersey? Here's a hint. Think of your local representatives in Trenton as pigs, and your hard earned money as food at the trough. Though state officials want you to believe that this system has been overhauled and no longer reflects the way business is done, don't believe it for a moment - the pork is still spread around heavily:

Much of the documents released Friday outline an old system of political spoils that has since been reformed, Codey said, and could have been withheld from release if he cited executive privilege. Lawmakers are now required to make all budget requests public and to file disclosure forms, he said.

“That system is gone,” Codey said in an interview Friday night, adding that he re formed the budget process. “The best reform in the nation, including Congress.”

State Sen. Paul Sarlo, D-Wood-Ridge, was one of the legislators who worked to get grants for pet projects in his district, which covers Bergen, Essex and Passaic counties, according to the records.

But Sarlo’s name was also attached to funding applications for sidewalks in Wood-Ridge, where he serves as mayor, and for the fire department in Carlstadt, where he is the borough engineer, according to the records.

Like Sarlo, former state Sen. Joseph Coniglio, D-Paramus, was also one of the more active grant-seekers.

Coniglio also sought money for his employer at the time, Hackensack University Medical Center, according to the records. He is now facing federal corruption charges.

The records show U.S. Rep. Donald Payne, D-Newark, also tried to influence the state grant process, submitting requests for funding directly to Codey.

One file of grant applications was named for George Norcross, a South Jersey Democratic powerbroker and fund-raiser with access to Governor Corzine and other top state officials.

Codey defended how the legislators distributed the grant money, saying they chose projects based on merits. He conceded some lawmakers, such as Sarlo, may have been more aggressive than others in seeking grants, but said many projects also went unfunded.

The new system merely requires that the porkfest be done in public, as opposed to the more secretive system in place previously. It hasn't exactly resulted in a reduction in state spending on these projects nor has it changed the power structure in Trenton either.

And let's be blunt; Democrats controlled the funds at issue, and they're the ones who have been pushing the state to spend more and more year after year.

Ohio GOP Files New Suit Against Ohio Sec. State. Brunner

The Ohio GOP has filed a new suit against Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, a Democrat, to compel compliance with state election law mandating the state share database information with local election boards to determine eligibility of voter registrants. This comes one day after the US Supreme Court reversed a federal court decision on grounds that the Ohio GOP lacked standing to address the issue:

Specifically, the lawsuit asks the Ohio Supreme Court to require Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner to order county elections boards not to count any absentee ballot from voters registered after Jan. 1 without first checking the statewide voter registration database to ensure there is no mismatch.

If there is a mismatch, the boards would be required to determine whether the person is an eligible voter.

"This action seeks this (Ohio Supreme Court's) urgent intervention to remedy the secretary of state's steadfast refusal to fully implement the Statewide Voter Registration Database (SWVRD) in a manner required by both federal and state law -- in essence, to share 'mismatch' information regarding a registrant's driver's license or Social Security information with county boards of elections in a manner that gives those boards a meaningful opportunity to investigate the mismatches," the lawsuit says.

The court ordered that arguments by both sides must be filed by next Friday, only 10 days before the Nov. 4 election.

2008 Pre-Election Voter Registration Mess Continues

Who said that Chicago politics was boring (vote early, vote often, and bring out yer dead)? Six Alabama counties voter rolls exceed populations. How exactly is that possible?

Six Alabama counties have more people registered to vote than adults of voting age.

The Birmingham News compared the state's voter registration numbers with the Census Bureau's population estimates and found more registered voters than voting-age adults in Conecuh, Greene, Lowndes, Perry, Washington and Wilcox counties.

Statewide, the voter registration rolls equal 85% of Alabama's voting age population.

The News reported that the biggest variations were in Greene and Perry counties.

Greene County had 7,540 people on its voter rolls at the end of September, but the Census Bureau estimates its adult population at 6,834.

It's a mystery. At least the local papers there are trying to track down what's going on, and doing what the state election officials haven't - checking to see whether the numbers make sense. The Birmingham Press has an interesting observation:

The counties with 100 percent registration are some of Alabama's least populous, so an error in the population estimate or a few extra voters on the rolls would have a bigger impact statistically than in larger counties.

And that spells potential trouble.

Rinse and repeat around the nation and you get the idea of just how badly the election officials and politicians have failed voters since 2000. All of their claims that they would fix the broken system are empty promises - they've fixed the problem alright.

Ohio's Secretary of State managed to avoid statutory obligations to check voter rolls to ensure that they are valid because the Ohio GOP didn't have standing to sue. The Supreme Court ruling didn't address the question of whether Ohio's Secretary of State was fulfilling her obligations under the federal law because they adduced that only the Attorney General can bring suit (which begs the question as to why no one at the Justice Department has taken action).

The New York Times claims that six states, including Colorado, are not complying with that federal law - the 2002 HAVA, by trimming voter rolls within 90 days of the election.

States have been trying to follow the Help America Vote Act of 2002 and remove the names of voters who should no longer be listed; but for every voter added to the rolls in the past two months in some states, election officials have removed two, a review of the records shows.

The six states seem to be in violation of federal law in two ways. Some are removing voters from the rolls within 90 days of a federal election, which is not allowed except when voters die, notify the authorities that they have moved out of state, or have been declared unfit to vote.

Some of the states are improperly using Social Security data to verify registration applications for new voters.

In addition to the six swing states, three more states appear to be violating federal law. Alabama and Georgia seem to be improperly using Social Security information to screen registration applications from new voters. And Louisiana appears to have removed thousands of voters after the federal deadline for taking such action.

Under federal law, election officials are supposed to use the Social Security database to check a registration application only as a last resort, if no record of the applicant is found on state databases, like those for driver's licenses or identification cards.

The requirement exists because using the federal database is less reliable than the state lists, and is more likely to incorrectly flag applications as invalid. Many state officials seem to be using the Social Security lists first.

It's rather telling that even federal law admits that the Social Security lists are inaccurate. What does that say about the federal program when you can't rely on its databases? Did anyone consider that the state databases are themselves a source of concern and inaccuracy and may be no more accurate than the federal databases?

This is a mess of huge proportions, and the Times is more concerned about states who are actively trying to cull the rolls of those who are disallowed from voting (dead, felons, illegal aliens, etc.) than the efforts of groups like ACORN who put such individuals on voter registrations overwhelming election officials who have to put time and effort into sorting through registrations.

As I previously noted, all the problems open up ample opportunities for fraud, as in New Jersey, where if you are not on the voter rolls, you can not only get a provisional ballot, but you can insist on getting a judge to allow you to cast a ballot directly (with no way to check after the fact whether the person was actually legally able to vote).

Caring Understanding Leftist of the Day

A woman had the audacity to go out on a major New York City street and promote John McCain and Sarah Palin as per her right under the First Amendment to engage in political speech. Someone was nice enough to straighten the poor woman out.

By assaulting her.

A spokeswoman for the Manhattan District Attorney confirms the authenticity of a story circulating on conservative blogs: that during a (rare, and small) McCain rally on Lexington Avenue and 51st Street in Manhattan last month, a hostile local grabbed a woman's sign, broke it and hit her in the face.

One blog posted a redacted version of the complaint, which the spokeswoman, Jennifer Kushner, said is authentic. She gave the defendant's name as Bernard Feuerman, said he'd been charged with second-degree assault, and that he's got a Jan. 23 court date.

The comments at that link are even more depraved, but it's symptomatic of just how unhinged the Left is these days. You can't express a contrary viewpoint or expose a central truth about Sen. Barack Obama without having your life turned upside down. You get assaulted. Your property gets attacked. It's an endless stream of caring, understanding, and warm feelings emanating from the Left. What happened to all that hope, compassion and understanding?

Just remember folks, the media keeps trying to remind you that it's supposed to be the GOPers who are the rabid and violent types. Sadly, they can't find any and have to invent them. The assault of this woman will get nowhere near as much play as the bogus claims that someone yelled Kill Him (meaning Obama) at a Palin rally, which the paper and its reporter still stands behind, despite a US Secret Service investigation that found no evidence anyone said anything of the sort. The only person claiming to hear the statement was the reporter who wrote about it. Since then, it was picked up by media outlets across the country and repeated as fact.

UPDATE 10/18/2008:
As Ace points out, the assault of the woman in Manhattan took place last month. It didn't even break into the media attention until now. Lovely.

Mahoney Mess: Admission of Multiple Affairs

Rep. Tim Mahoney (D-FL16) admits that he had multiple affairs while serving as Representative of the 16th Congressional District in Florida.

Let me just be explicit that I am admitting to it...to having affairs," Mahoney said in an interview this afternoon with reporter Terri Parker at WPBF News 25, ABC News' affiliate in West Palm Beach. "My personal behavior has been unacceptable."

How nice of him to make that admission. How about a follow up question from ABC News (or anyone else): where did the money come from that was used to silence those women involved in the affairs. What about the FEMA funds? His personal behavior extended into the public conduct of his office as a public servant. He's an absolute disgrace and should be tossed from his seat.

Sadly, no one has bothered to question Rep. Rahm Emanuel who pushed to get Mahoney elected from this district. What else did he know, and when did he know it?

Meanwhile, Mark Foley could not be reached for comment.

Friday Afternoon Video

Working Man by Rush.



This post will also serve as my call for the best and brightest from around the web.

AP In the Tank For Obama

The AP conducted a poll with Yahoo! courtesy of Knowledge Networks. The polling internals are here. What the AP wrote about the poll and what the poll says are two different things. They're not even in the same ballpark. It's not even the same sport.

When it comes to the public's image of John McCain, it's as if somebody dialed the electricity down in the past month. For Barack Obama, the juice is still flowing.

People's regard for the Republican presidential nominee has deteriorated across the board since September, an Associated Press-Yahoo News poll showed Friday, with McCain losing ground in how favorably he's seen and in a long list of personal qualities voters seek in White House contenders.

Perceptions of Obama have improved or remained steady. Beyond views of the two rivals' character traits, McCain faces another problem — Obama is more trusted on the economy, the contest's commanding issue, including a 15 percentage-point edge for better grasping how the raging financial crisis is affecting people.

Obama's image has been sturdy even as voters' views of the overall campaign have tumbled since September. The portion of people saying the contest excites them has sunk to 32 percent while those calling it frustrating have grown to 41 percent — and in both cases, six in 10 of those whose feelings have worsened are McCain backers.

What the poll actually says: McCain is behind Obama by 2 points despite the oversampling of Democrats by 873 to 650 margin. Including leaners, and this is a statistical dead heat. In other words, the poll doesn't mean much to begin with, and it gets worse with how the AP twists its own results.

This is yet another example of why the polls are meaningless, and further brings into question the accuracy of the polls, the samples used, and methodologies to massage the numbers. The polls aren't just being used to explain how the public feels, but to shape public opinion, and the AP is trying to beat down McCain with a poll of dubious merit.

Undeniable Proof of ACORN Voter Fraud in New Mexico?

For those who think that all those fraudulent ballot registrations submitted by ACORN and caught doesn't mean anything, or that the fraud doesn't extend to actual votes cast, you've got another thing coming.

New Mexico Republicans have discovered that dozens of votes cast in the primaries were bogus.

The GOP's review was conducted in House District 13 and only included 92 ballots. That means roughly a third of the ballots examined were fraudulent.

“This is a bombshell. We now have undeniable proof that a significant number of fraudulent voters were cast in Democrat primary races for the New Mexico state legislature as a result of ACORN’s voter registration fraud,” said State Representative Justine Fox Young (R.-Albuquerque). “No longer can ACORN argue that their phony voter registration forms don’t translate into fraudulent votes. They do and today we can prove it.”

Conservatives are calling on Congress to defund ACORN of their federal funding. With increasing evidence ACORN is involved in voter registration fraud and voter fraud, as shown in Albuquerque, it become more important ACORN be stripped of their federal assistance.

The ACORN office in Albuquerque has been a beneficiary of generous federal tax dollars. Information from House Minority Leader John Boehner's office shows that Albuquerque's ACORN branch has received $349,253 in federal tax dollars since 1998.

ACORN fraud will cost taxpayers countless more dollars, in Albuquerque and elsewhere, as local election officials are forced to spend hundreds of hours investigating the thousands of fraudulent voter applications ACORN has submitted across the nation.

ACORN's criminality is being investigated across the country with state and federal investigators looking at how the organization operates its voter drives.

Of course, the left screeches back that these claims of fraud are themselves bogus and that there's no evidence of fraud and that any such attempts to ensure that only those who are lawfully allowed to vote is somehow disenfranchising. Or, consider that Rolling Stone and other leftists are claiming that the GOP is stealing the election (where have we heard that one before).

Meanwhile, Georgia's Democrats are busy trying to thwart (HT: DaddyG at LGF) the Georgia's attempts to check identifications prior to voting to ensure that only those who are registered to vote do so. The Georgia Secretary of State fired back hard, noting that checking for proper identification is an assurance that people are who they say they are when they vote and that there's absolutely no evidence that anyone has been disenfranchised by that process.

UPDATE:
It figures that the New York Times is covering for ACORN. They think that the issues are overblown. Then again, the Times didn't quite take much of an interest in election fraud in New Jersey, including dead voters, so live voter fraud isn't going to get their dander up. However, the moment someone asks for identification before going into the polling booth to ensure that people are who they say they are - that's cause for concern

Corzine Plots Economic Recovery Plan

It's a mixed bag. He says that he's going to increase state spending in some places, and cut it elsewhere. He says that he's going to push forward with building the new rail tunnels to New York (memo to Corzine - the Port Authority and feds were already funding that one and the state's share was minimal).

Governor Jon Corzine (D-NJ) is pushing an economic stimulus package in New Jersey that doesn't actually stimulate the economy and just shifts money around from one group to another without addressing underlying problems with the state's finances or the economic situation.

The governor, the former head of Wall Street’s Goldman Sachs investment firm, says his programs will cost $150 million.

Lawmakers must act, he said.

“We do have a say about our economic destiny. Being a bystander… standing idly by… is not an option. Initiative and hard work is the only path,” Corzine said.

To pay for it, he will use new federal funds in combination with state government cuts. State tax revenues, however, are dropping and officials expect to see $400 million less than planned.

“We will undoubtedly need more cuts. We may have to take more drastic steps in the months ahead,” Corzine said. “The one certain principle the public can count on is that spending will match revenues. At the end of this fiscal year spending will be less than the $32.9 billion approved in June.”

Corzine told a joint session of the Legislature that he wants to pay businesses $3,000 for every full-time job created. The state will push forward with massive public works projects, like a new tunnel under the Hudson River, to boost employment.

He also told lawmakers that the state should spend $150 million on programs to keep people in their homes. About 50,000 homeowners a year now face foreclosure in an economic collapse.

“Our efforts will include broadened financial counseling, mortgage restructuring, and house and mortgage acquisition,” Corzine said.

More money should go to food banks and to programs that help homeowners deal with rising heating costs, Corzine said.

Legal aid services for the poor, especially those facing home foreclosure, also need money, Corzine said.

The state will also help small banks by depositing some of its cash reserves into their accounts, Corzine said.

Let's focus on the foreclosure issue. Corzine claims 50,000 homeowners face foreclosure this year. How much of that is due to obscene property taxes? Job losses in New Jersey because of the obscene tax burden on companies doing business in New Jersey? How much is due to the turmoil on Wall Street and the financial crisis due to toxic paper created by subprime borrowing?

More to the point, what is the percentage of these foreclosures in relation to the overall real estate market statewide? Where is the problem most acute? Well, according to this story, we're talking about one out of every 200 homes is facing a foreclosure. That's 0.5% - one half of one percent of homes in the state. I know it's a crisis for someone who actually is facing a foreclosure, but does this really constitute a statewide crisis?

Corzine thinks saving those who are entering foreclosure is helpful to the real estate market? Hardly. It continues to prop up real estate prices in areas that are overheated and could be far more affordable to those who actually have the capacity to pay. Since much of this crisis is the result of pushing for affordable housing, the correction in the housing market is past due. I suspect areas that have been a mess for years, like Paterson, Newark, and Camden will see a disproportionate number of foreclosure filings, and that's directly attributed to subprime borrowing and the banks pressured into lending to those who lacked the ability to repay. Those areas will suffer more than the rest of the state, but the solution isn't to save those individuals who made those bad decisions - it's to let the prices sort themselves out and let the foreclosure process work so that those homes go back on the market at prices that are more affordable. Banks should not be pressured into lending to those who are subprime borrowers - that's how this crisis was started.

What Corzine must do is get costs under control, which means tackling the unions and state spending. It's something he's been reluctant to do for years, and state spending remains out of control.

Consider that he's calling for a new expanded jobs credit to entice businesses. How about providing a permanent corporate income tax cut which will affect all businesses, and the increased economic activity will bring in additional corporate, sales, and personal income tax revenues. Companies that are more secure in knowing that the tax burden is reduced are more likely to remain in New Jersey and expand existing operations here.

The Left: Joe Must Go

It began not long after the video surfaced showing Joe Wurzelbacher question Sen. Barack Obama on his tax and spend schemes to which Obama responded that he wanted to share and spread the wealth - clear indications of his socialist intentions.



The media and the leftists online began a concerted attempt to try and destroy the man who outed Obama on the most important issue of the day - economics.

Now, the story isn't about Obama's socialism, but whether Joe is a licensed plumber, whether he's paid his taxes, say that it's not his real name (he's going by his middle name), question whether he's registered to vote (he is), and it all points to how anyone can dare question Obama's intentions or expose that he's a socialist in word and deed.

Joe is now being vetted by the media in ways that they haven't done to Obama or his staffers.

After all, how is it that one of Obama's staffers has tax liens in multiple states? The media isn't nearly as curious as to Obama's ties to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, despite calling on Raines and Johnson - and Johnson was on his VP search selection committee.

As I noted immediately after the video surfaced, a plumber shall lead the charge against Obama's socialism, and now Obama's friends in the media and online are doing all they can to destroy the person who revealed Obama's intentions.

Leftist loons are publishing Joe's address online - all in the name of what? They want to destroy this man's life. It's an explicit display of the left's intolerance and thuggish behavior, which has been present all along, but has found new life because of the manner and timing in which Joe exposed Obama for who he is and what he stands for.

This strategy will absolutely backfire on Obama and the left. The stifling of dissent, of mere questioning Obama on his policies, is not going to resonate with most Americans. They will see it as bullying and intimidation to get people to avoid asking tough questions of their elected leaders and prospective politicians. Most Americans actually relate to Joe, which makes the attacks on him appear as attacks on all hard-working Americans.

To riff on a theme that Instapundit is often fond of saying: they said that when Bush was elected, those who question politician's motives would be crushed - and they were right - only that it is the media and left that is trying to crush those who have the audacity to ask pointed questions of elected leaders and those who wish to be President of the US.

Ed Morrissey notes that there is a stench of desperation to all this. He is right; the left knows that people in this country have a serious distrust of socialism and redistribution of their hard earned wealth. Obama has tried to hide his intentions and a compliant media that does not question his policies aids and abets Obama in seeking the office of the Presidency. How is it that no one in the media could ask the question that Joe did, along with the follow up that resulted when Obama revealed that he was intent upon spreading the wealth - code for socialism?

Others weighing in on the media's actions and the left's insistence that Joe must be destroyed: The Anchoress, Jammie, and Sister Toldjah.

Mahoney Mess: FBI Investigates Salacious Details, Local Democrats Bitter

As I suspected yesterday, the FBI is looking at whether federal funds were involved in the payoffs of Rep. Tim Mahoney (D-FL) to keep two affairs out of sight. However, I wasn't thinking big enough. It's even juicier than I thought. The FBI is looking at two salacious lines of inquiry:

Federal agents also are examining whether a second affair Mahoney was having with a high-level official in his Florida district was the reason behind his decision to push for federal emergency funds for her county, the official said.

The person spoke to The Associated Press only on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the investigation.

The FBI is looking into whether Mahoney hired the first mistress—and put her on the federal payroll—so she would not reveal their affair, the person said. The woman, Patricia Allen, has not returned calls for comment.

The agency also wants to know whether any sexual favors were exchanged for Mahoney helping Martin County secure a $3.4 million reimbursement from the Federal Emergency Management Agency for hurricane damage there while having a second affair with a high-level county manager.

So, even with what would appear to be on its face a blatant abuse of federal funds, abuse of his position as Congressman, and the salaciousness of the scandal, it barely cracks the headlines.

This is the same district that saw Mark Foley, a Republican, have a sex scandal of his own - if you count salacious emails as a sex scandal. That scandal, and the subsequent bungling by GOP leaders, helped cost the GOP their majority in 2006. Of course, the media was more than happy to assist in that endeavor.

Now, we're watching as real federal funds were involved to buy silence, sexual favors exchanged for federal funds, and a federal job offered to keep silent.

The Democrat leadership knew, or had reason to know of the affairs and sat on it. The media isn't willing to dig deeper and find out just what the Democrat leaders knew - and I suspect it's because the media knows what they'll find out - that they knew and did nothing except hope that the issue blows past the election and that they did all they could to keep it from breaking in the news. ABC News broke both the Foley story and the Mahoney story - and should be commended for that fact. However, they and none of the other big media outlets are doing anyone any favors by avoiding the 800 pound gorilla of what the leadership knew and did to keep this story out of the press.

That this story isn't plastered in the headlines like the Foley story is a testament to the bias within the media to avoid running stories detrimental to Democrats, especially at election time.

After all, this story has everything - a compelling story line, sex, money, and power.

Some Democrats are questioning how the DCCC pushed Mahoney on the district because he was a multimillionaire, overlooking other candidates. That may be sour grapes from David Lutrin, but he's getting to say I told you so because the DCCC didn't bother to vet Mahoney nearly as well as they should; and Mahoney's more closely tied to Rahm Emanuel than the media is letting on. The Democrats were chasing the money and former GOPers to run for office over established Democrats. In more conservative leaning districts, the crossover appeal is definitely a plus, but it looks real bad for Emanuel for backing Mahoney without doing his due diligence.

I'll give the AP credit for their story above for including Mahoney's political affiliation up front. Mighty charitable of them. I can't say the same of other outlets.

And speaking of the subject of name that party and media bias, why exactly is the non-affair story involving John McCain back in the news? Someone decided that this was the only way to divert attention from the active and festering Mahoney mess?

Media Already Going After Joe The Plumber

Opposition researchers were already on the case yesterday when Joe the Plumber, Joe Wurzelbacher, called Sen. Barack Obama out on his socialist dream of massive redistribution of wealth.

So, what have the opposition researchers (and the media) found? Well, Politico claims that Joe isn't registered to vote.

I'm sorry to hear that.

How does that detract from Joe's cogent observation that Obama's policies are repackaged socialism? It doesn't. You don't have to be a voter to know what socialism will do to your business, your paychecks, and life in general. It will destroy businesses, put a serious crimp in your paycheck, and reduce the quality of life all around you as other businesses suffer similar fates to your own.

While it would be nice for Joe to be a registered voter (and it's possible that he is [update = via Jim Treacher, he is registered but there was a typo involved]), and that he'll vote (and still could with a provisional ballot), it doesn't take a rocket scientist (or a plumber) to see that Obama's policies are wrong for America - we don't need socialist answers to our problems. We don't need redistribution of wealth. Socialism isn't the answer, and that's all that Obama is peddling. His taxing scheme is nothing more than taking money from the middle class and above and giving it to the poor - calling refundable tax credits a tax cut is a blatant lie and misrepresentation of what he's doing. That's redistribution of wealth on a massive scale and will not help the middle class.

It will not help Joe, nor will it help anyone else, even the 40% who already pay no taxes and would see federal payments increase as a result of the tax credits Obama proposes - because the economy will continue to sag under the weight of ever higher taxes.

Further, I don't seem to recall that the media had nearly the same reaction when learning that Obama girl didn't even bother to vote in the primary elections for her man.

UPDATE:
Joe Wurzelbacher better take Ace's advice. Ace also notes that the media is more curious about Wurzelbacher's tax situation than it was about Al Franken, who failed to pay tens of thousands owed to New York, California, and 17 other states (see here for my coverage of Franken's tax mess).

It's already getting ugly, as the Left will do what it must to protect Obama. It must try and destroy Wurzelbacher for exposing Obama as the socialist he is.

Brunner Appeals Voter Registration Checks To Supreme Court

Democrat Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner is a piece of work, and it's going to cost Ohio dearly. She's refusing to carry out state and federal law requiring that she check voter registrations to ensure that they're accurate. Instead, she's appealing the Sixth Circuit's decision requiring that she comply with state law and taking the case to the US Supreme Court.

A spokesman for Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner said Thursday that an appeal has been filed with the high court.

On Tuesday, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati sided with the Ohio Republican Party and ordered Brunner to set up a system that provides names of newly registered voters whose driver's license numbers or Social Security numbers don't match records in other government databases.

The GOP contends the information will help prevent fraud.

She's already admitted that there are more than 200,000 mismatched registrations, and given how ACORN has flooded the zone with bogus registrations across the country, there's no telling just how many of the Ohio registrations are legitimate and which ones are bogus.

It opens the door to all kinds of chicanery. Consider the situation in New Jersey. The last day to register was Tuesday. Election boards across the state are swamped and some think that they might not be able to process all the registrations in time for election day. This ordinarily isn't a problem because such individuals would be able to obtain provisional ballots.

The problem arises because you're going to get people who demand to cast ballots directly into the machines without having the verifications. They will get a judge to agree to let them vote.

Voters whose names do not appear in the books are entitled to use paper provisional ballots. The provisional ballots are counted after officials verify the voters are registered.

Voters can also go to a judge on duty in each county on Election Day to ask for an order that would allow them vote on a machine. Lawyers from the state, political parties and the American Civil Liberties Union will be on hand to help resolve disputes over whether people are registered.

In many counties, some new voters’ forms will not be processed in time to get them in the main books, but they will be included in supplemental listings. County officials will be able to confirm they are registered through these listings and allow them to vote in the booth.

I suspect that this process is similar to what happens around the country, and it opens the door to fraud and abuse.

The Brunner Situation

I don't think people quite understand the seriousness of the Brunner situation. Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, a Democrat, has been forced by the Sixth Circuit to do her job and cull the voter rolls of discrepancies.

She had claimed that doing so would violate the law and disenfranchise people. That's total nonsense since the only people disenfranchised by such actions would be those trying to vote fraudulently, dead people, or felons. Legitimate voters have nothing to worry about and clearing the rolls of the fraudulent registrations protects our right to vote and ensure that the results are not gamed by those who seek an outcome.

She had claimed that there wasn't enough time to act to clear the rolls. That she sat on this huge stinking pile for so long and fought with Republicans to do her job means that there's little time to verify the legitimate voters from those bogus registrations.

How many are we talking about?

200,000 registrations.

Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner estimated that an initial review found that about 200,000 newly registered voters reported information that did not match motor-vehicle or Social Security records, Brunner spokesman Kevin Kidder said. Some discrepancies could be as simple as a misspelling, while others could be more significant.

The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati sided with the Ohio Republican Party on Tuesday and ordered Brunner to set up a system that provides those names to county elections boards. The GOP contends the information will help prevent fraud.

"Things already are in motion to comply," Kidder said. "We're working to establish these processes on how we can make this work. The computer work actually began last week."

About 666,000 Ohioans have registered to vote since January.

Brunner previously cross-checked new-voter registrations with databases run by the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicle and the Social Security Administration and made the results available online, but the 6th Circuit said the information was not accessible in a way that would help county election boards ferret out mismatches.

Nearly 1/3 of all registrations submitted have some kind of problem. How exactly does that work?

Those discrepancies could be anything from misspelled names to failing to provide change of address forms to outright fraud and misrepresentation of information on registration information to get a chance to vote multiple times.

We just don't know how many fall into each column.

Brunner was never going to let anyone find out.

She was jeopardizing the trust in the system to count the legitimate votes and prevent those who should not be voting from being able to cast ballots.

No one would be disenfranchised by any of this. People who are not found to be on voter rolls would still be able to cast provisional ballots, and those votes would be counted once they are verified.

Ace weighs in and goes postal on Brunner for her incompetence and facilitation of voter fraud by not clearing voter rolls of those who do not belong. He also points out that Michelle Malkin has uncovered a website dedicated to facilitating election fraud by getting Obama supporters in contact with each other to register in swing states and providing addresses (sometimes 50 in one house) so that they can cast absentee ballots.

Law enforcement has been slow to react to this criminal enterprise as well.

Allahpundit also weighs in. How many of the mismatched registrations are ACORN related?

Project Promise Launched

I've been a longtime supporter of the Project Valour-IT/Soldier's Angels charitable fundraising drives to help raise money to assist in the purchase of voice controlled laptops for soldiers, sailors, Marines, and airmen injured in the line of duty. Now, there's a new effort to expand fundraising in the form of Project Promise:

Project Promise Soldier is a new non-profit dedicated to helping soldiers. The group is simple in mission and broad in scope. Project Promise recognizes that there is an unspoken promise we, as citizens, make to care for our veterans and their families. Project Promise’s mission is to be part of the network of organizations that care for our wounded soldiers; to give something back to those who serve and protect our country and our citizens and to keep that unspoken promise.

Project Promise is a non-profit organization formed to collect money to aid several agencies that work with wounded soldiers. Beneficiaries of Project Promise will be: The Rhode Island VA, Soldier’s Angels/ValourIT, The New England Homeless Veteran’s Shelter and The Wounded Warrior Project.

As the organization grows, it is Project Promise’s intention to fund individual grants to soldiers and their families to help them get back on their feet when they return home.

All donations made to Project Promise are tax deductible.

The group is having a kick off event, November 7th – November 12th—to coincide with Veterans' Day. Donations raised during that period will go to Soldiers' Angels/Valour IT, the Rhode Island VA and the NE Homeless Veteran's Shelter.

It looks like a worthy cause, so if you are so inclined, check them out.

Democrats Propose Socializing 401(k) Plans By Eliminating Investment Tax Breaks

How could we have missed this?

House Education and Labor Committee Chairman George Miller, D-Calif., and Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wash., chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee's Subcommittee on Income Security and Family Support, are looking at redirecting those tax breaks to a new system of guaranteed retirement accounts to which all workers would be obliged to contribute.

A plan by Teresa Ghilarducci, professor of economic-policy analysis at The New School for Social Research in New York, contains elements that are being considered. She testified last week before Mr. Miller's Education and Labor Committee on her proposal.

At that hearing, the director of the Congressional Budget Office, Peter Orszag, testified that some $2 trillion in retirement savings has been lost over the past 15 months.

Under Ms. Ghilarducci's plan, all workers would receive a $600 annual inflation-adjusted subsidy from the U.S. government but would be required to invest 5% of their pay into a guaranteed retirement account administered by the Social Security Administration. The money in turn would be invested in special government bonds that would pay 3% a year, adjusted for inflation.

I have seen my 401(k) plan hit just as hard as many other people, but there's no way that I'm going to get more money by giving it to the federal government to invest than if I invested it myself.

The idea proffered by the Democrats would eliminate the tax breaks enjoyed under 401(k) retirement tax plans. Employees often have company matches on income put into the funds (dollar for dollar up to 4% or 50% of contribution up to 6%, etc.). All that would go by the wayside, and people investing for retirement would be forced to contribute to this new scheme.

It's curious that no one was complaining much about tremendous growth of 401(k) assets when the stock market was doing gangbusters. Now, that it's in a period of decline, we need to torch the same system? Hardly.

It's a recipe for disaster.

An Obama Legislative Achievement Sighting

I think we've found a legislative "achievement" for Sen. Barack Obama, but I'm not sure that he'd want people to know about it though, especially with all the law enforcement investigations into ACORN throwing tens of thousands of fraudulent voter registrations into the system.

Obama co-sponsored legislation called the “Helping Families Save their Homes in Bankruptcy Act of 2007”-- that was supported by ACORN and protects them.

Helping Families Save their Homes in Bankruptcy Act, S.2136, was introduced in the Senate by Illinois Senator Richard Durbin over a year ago, on October 3, 2007. It was co-sponsored, by Obama and 12 other Democrats, including Vice Presidential hopeful, Joe Biden, and Chairman of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, Senator Christopher Dodd.

According to a Senate transcript, Durbin stated: “It is true that some families knowingly stretched a bit to buy more house than they should have. But many families were sold mortgages they couldn’t afford by unscrupulous brokers... This bill is supported by the AARP, ACORN, AFL-CIO and SEIU, the Center for Responsible Lending, the Consumer Federation of America, NAACP and La Raza, the National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys, the National Community Reinvestment Coalition…”

The bill is currently sitting in committee.

There's a reason that these organizations support the bill; it absolves them of liability at bankruptcy proceedings. The bill amends 11 USC 502(b), by adding the following provision:

[it would prohibit the inclusion of amounts]... subject to any remedy for damages or rescission due to failure to comply with any applicable requirement under the Truth in Lending Act (15 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.), or any other provision of applicable State or Federal consumer protection law that was in force when the noncompliance took place, notwithstanding the prior entry of a foreclosure judgment.'.

It's a get out of penalty card for groups like La Raza, ACORN and others who pushed subprime loans and watched as the borrowers defaulted. And Obama supported this bill as a cosponsor along with other architects of the toxic paper crisis.

And a Plumber Shall Lead The Charge Against Obama

Plumbers are a vital part of our infrastructure and if you've ever had a busted water heater, a leaking heating pipe or two, or any number of typical plumbing issues you know what a lifesaver they can be. Sure, many of them charge as much as a lawyer can pull in, but unlike a lawyer, they make house calls. Many of these plumbers are self employed or work for small firms that, if successful, can grow into chains.

Sen. Barack Obama's socialist economic policies would hit these hard working folks quite hard. And Obama's socialist tax and spend redistribution of wealth politics came into full view yesterday during an exchange with a plumber, Joe Wurzelbacher. Here's the exchange:

The New York Post puts a bow on this.

An unscripted moment with an Ohio plumber produced a startling confession from Barack Obama Sunday: The Democrat's "middle-class tax cut" is in fact a scheme to "spread the wealth around."

Obama dropped the mask long enough to tell the truth to Toledo plumber Joe Wurzelbacher - who had asked the Democratic nominee why he wanted to jack up his taxes just for "fulfilling the American dream."

"I'm getting ready to buy a company that makes $250,000 to $280,000 a year," Wurzelbacher had told Obama. "Your new tax plan is going to tax me more, isn't it?"

"It's not that I want to punish your success," Obama replied. "I just want to make sure that everybody who is behind you, that they've got a chance for success, too . . . When you spread the wealth around, it's good for everybody."

At last! The truth outs!

This is socialism. Pure and simple.

It isn't about tax cuts for the middle class. It's about taking money from those who make it to give to those who don't have money. It is class warfare in disguise and Obama shows utter disdain for the entrepreneurial spirit that this nation is founded on.

Obama's idea of tax cuts aren't actually cuts at all, but refundable tax credits that would be paid to people who paid no income tax at all. Consider the laundry list of tax credits involved: $1,000 "make work pay" credit; a $4,000 college-tuition credit; a $6,000 child-care credit; and a $1,100 bump in the earned-income tax credit.

If these were in the form of income tax deductions, it wouldn't apply to those who paid no taxes - the poor who already don't pay any tax (which is part of the chicanery to claim that 95% of the people under Obama's tax plan would see tax cuts - you can't cut taxes for people who already aren't paying any tax). These are little more than handouts to try and guarantee a win in the election and doesn't encourage economic growth.

If Sen. McCain and his advisers are paying attention and smart (and on both counts I have had to wonder if that were the case), they would hammer away on this point at tonight's debate.

Florida Democrat Tim Mahoney Had Two Ongoing Affairs?

As if being married wasn't enough, Tim Mahoney had not only one affair with someone working in his office, Patricia Allen, but had a second affair at the same time. If he had all this time on his hands to juggle his affairs, where did his constituents fit in?

Hours after a married congressman addressed a report that he had an affair with a former aide and paid her to keep quiet about, details of a purported tryst with a second woman surfaced.

Though Democratic U.S. Rep. Tim Mahoney did not directly mention allegations first reported by ABC News, that he had been involved with the former aide, he issued a statement apologizing to his family but denying he'd done anything illegal.

Later Tuesday, a person close to his campaign told The Associated Press that Mahoney also was having an affair with a second woman around the same time.

Mahoney, 52, won his seat in 2006 while promising to return morals and family values to Washington in the aftermath of the resignation of former Republican U.S. Rep. Mark Foley. Foley stepped down when it was revealed he sent lurid Internet messages to male teenage pages who had worked on Capitol Hill. Foley was later cleared of criminal wrongdoing by state and federal authorities.

Democrat leaders in the House ought to be pressed on when they learned of the affair, and what they did. It is apparent that Rahm Emanuel knew and if that's the case, this situation isn't all that different from how the GOP handled the Mark Foley mess. Democrats used the failure of the GOP leadership to catapult into control of the House.

Given the way that the Democrats under Speaker Pelosi have run Congress into the ground with never before seen low approval ratings and no accomplishments to speak of, the GOP should be pouncing on this as a way to gain back many of the seats lost in 2006. However, they have to overcome a media that is quite reluctant to press home the point.

UPDATE:
The FBI is now taking a serious interest in Mahoney's actions.

FBI agents have reportedly contacted members of Mahoney's staff and Tuesday sought legal files surrounding the secret settlement, according to current and former Mahoney Congressional and campaign staff workers.

A spokesperson for the FBI said she had been instructed to say "no comment" to press inquiries.

It would be unusual but not unprecedented for the FBI to open an investigation into a member of Congress three weeks before the election.

If the Democrats had their way, news of Mahoney's affair wouldn't have come out until after the election, and they were trying quite hard to ensure that. ABC News broke the news on the affair, just as they did with the Foley mess.

UPDATE:
Still more details about that second affair, and it's just as damning as the first affair and subsequent coverup:

On Tuesday night, a person close to the Mahoney campaign told the AP that Mahoney also was having a relationship with a high-ranking official in Martin County in his Florida district around the same time of the purported affair with Allen.

The person close to the campaign spoke only on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to openly discuss Mahoney's private life.

The person said Mahoney was having the relationship with the official in 2007 while he also was lobbying the Federal Emergency Management Agency for a $3.4 million reimbursement for Martin County for damage caused by hurricanes in 2004. FEMA approved the money late last year.

Mahoney's congressional staff declined to comment on this alleged tryst, but noted Mahoney lobbies for FEMA funding throughout his district, and that Martin County has received $43 million from FEMA since 2004. Mahoney didn't take office until 2006.

I think I see the FBI's potential line of inquiry - who got FEMA money via Mahoney and whether favors were done to obtain such funds.

UPDATE:
Copious Dissent notes that some reports on Mahoney's actions are avoiding mention of his political affiliation. Why am I not surprised. It's time to play name that party!

UPDATE:
Gay Patriot notes the media discrepancy between the Foley coverage and Mahoney coverage. I'm not surprised, it's what the media does. Heck, Rahm Emanuel, who knew of the affair, wasn't even questioned by Chris Matthews. The media isn't even bothering asking the questions they asked of GOP leadership despite evidence that federal funds may have been involved in silencing one of the two women Mahoney had an extramarital affair with.

Meanwhile, it appears that Mahoney is considering quitting the race. He's probably being pressured by Pelosi and the other Democrat leadership to quit to avoid this story spiraling out of control, but I'm still curious as to what the leadership knew, when they knew, and the steps they took to keep it out of the press - particularly the part about how federal funds may be involved.

UPDATE:
The quip of the day has to come from Don Surber, who caught the Palm Beach Post's endorsement of Mahoney:

Mahoney has delivered.”

On Sunday, the PBP endorsed Democratic Congressman Tim Mahoney: “Tim Mahoney has had a productive two years in Congress, and on Nov. 4 voters should give him two more years.”

Chicago's Mayor Daley Suggests Shutting City Offices To Save Money

This is the grand idea to save money in Chicago. Mayor Richard Daley, a Democrat, thinks that shutting non-essential offices for six days over two years will help save the city some $20 million.

The City of Chicago has a budget hole of $500 million.

CBS 2 Political Editor Mike Flannery reports that Mayor Daley says he's facing a budget shortfall of nearly a half-billion dollars. He's already moved to cut 2,500 jobs from city hall's payroll. Now he's going to shut it down - along with other non-essential facilities on the day after Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve. That will save $20 million.

The mayor's announcement Tuesday followed behind the scenes bargaining in which labor unions rejected the idea of taking unpaid days off while city services continued as normal. So Daley made an end run around them. He said all but the most essential city functions would shut down - and city workers would not be paid - on three days during the upcoming holiday season.

"The economic crisis in this country is getting worse and worse every day, and that's what you see in every headline in any major newspaper – locally, nationally and internationally," Mayor Daley said. "And it's gonna get worse next year."

It's time that the City of Chicago, and cities around the nation realize that spending money hand over fist for nonessential programs and that unions are a big reason that the costs for governance have spiraled out of control. Union demands and rich contract deals tie municipality hands and limit where they can cut their budgets in lean times.

Obama Now Advertising on Video Games

This surely has to be a first for a politician, let alone a Presidential candidate. Sen. Barack Obama has bought advertising space on video games to spread his message.

The candidate has been placing in-game adverts in the Xbox 360 game ‘Burnout Paradise’, featuring a billboard with Obama’s image and a message that players should make sure they register to vote.
Advertisement

"I can confirm that the Obama campaign has paid for in-game advertising in Burnout," Holly Rockwood, director of corporate communications at Electronic Arts said.

"Like most television, radio and print outlets, we accept advertising from credible political candidates. Like political spots on the television networks, these ads do not reflect the political policies of EA or the opinions of its development teams."

Obama may be the first politician to use in-game advertising but the practice is becoming increasingly common for businesses.

Analyst firm Yankee Group reported recently that the worldwide in-game advertising industry is expected to be worth around $971.3m by 2011.

Businesses are increasingly involved in placements inside video games because the video game business targets specific age groups and demographics quite succinctly.

I'm not sure that Obama is going to get his money's worth here, but it certainly is a novel approach.

The Mask Slips on Obama's Intentions Regarding Israel

Leave it to Jesse Jackson to tip Sen. Barack Obama's hand on how he intends to deal with Israel. Let's just say that Obama isn't exactly going to bend over backwards to protect Israel. As Jackson says:

PREPARE for a new America: That’s the message that the Rev. Jesse Jackson conveyed to participants in the first World Policy Forum, held at this French lakeside resort last week.

He promised “fundamental changes” in US foreign policy - saying America must “heal wounds” it has caused to other nations, revive its alliances and apologize for the “arrogance of the Bush administration.”

The most important change would occur in the Middle East, where “decades of putting Israel’s interests first” would end.

Jackson believes that, although “Zionists who have controlled American policy for decades” remain strong, they’ll lose a great deal of their clout when Barack Obama enters the White House.

“Obama is about change,” Jackson told me in a wide-ranging conversation. “And the change that Obama promises is not limited to what we do in America itself. It is a change of the way America looks at the world and its place in it.”

If pro-Israel supporters lose clout under an Obama Administration, how exactly does that improve Israel's security or close ties with the US? It doesn't. Israel is an ally in the region precisely because it is a democracy and isn't a thugocracy or dictatorship that is opposed to the West on religious and ideological grounds.

Of course, you've got folks like Democrat Rep. Steve Rothman trotting out Ed Koch and an Israeli Ambassador to make the case that Obama is better for Israel than McCain, but they've got pretty thin gruel when the evidence is pretty strong that Obama will follow in the footsteps of former President Carter and sell out Israel at the first opportunity. Obama already counts on Carter's foreign policy team for guidance, and Carter himself has repeatedly met with Hamas and would like Israel to make still more concessions and giveaways before even making it to the negotiating table to carve up Israel for the Islamists and terrorists who would love to have Israel dismembered and thrown on the dustbin of history. All that came even as Hamas was busy pulling the rug out from under Carter.

Carter is no friend of Israel and he repeatedly makes anti-Semitics statements and sickening moral equivalence between a nation defending itself from terrorists who fire indiscriminately at Israeli civilians and those terrorists engaging in such violence.

Consider too that Obama counts on former national security advisors Zbigniew Brzezinski. He helped fashion the disastrous policy towards Iran and the refusal to take action directly against the Iranian mullahs following the 1979 embassy takeover, giving rise to a festering terrorist-sponsoring Iranian regime that sees the US as weak and incapable of defending its interests in the region.

Obama is no friend to Israel, and has already made numerous gaffes on his position regarding Israel, the status of Jerusalem, and will say different things about Israel depending on the crowd he talks to.

Keep that in mind as you hear Obama's supporters try and claim that Obama is going to support Israel.

The ACORN Business

How does ACORN operate? I have some knowledge of how they work after spending several years working for the New York legislature in Albany. ACORN would bus up hundreds of people in NYC to lobby legislators to get them to vote for their pet projects - namely affordable housing. It's the kind of thing that those working in the legislature figured out - and those in ACORN likewise had the system figured out. They would arrange conferences and meetings with legislators from both parties, since they knew that it would require getting Senate Republicans to sign off on deals just as surely as it required Assembly Democrats (that's a situation that remains to this day as both chambers have been controlled by the same entrenched political parties for decades).

A few of the more professional types would lead around a group of seniors (since the legislature usually meets Monday through Wednesday (sometimes Thursdays) from January through July, you aren't going to get many younger folks unless they're taking the day off from school) from office to office. The professionals would do the introductions, make a few comments, and let a few of the seniors talk about how they're being squeezed on housing and other basics. The legislators or those legislative staffers filling in while the legislators were in chambers or otherwise unavailable would listen in, say a few words, and they'd be on their way. You would get 20, 30, or 40 people trying to stuff into the offices, and it could be overwhelming.

It would happen every year - like the swallows at San Juan Capistrano or the migration of Canadian geese or .. heck, you get the idea.

It was a ritual.

And other union groups and lobbyists would employ the same tactics.

SEIU, UFT, Local 1100, etc.

They'd use the same tactics because they worked.

Thus, it wouldn't be all that surprising that Sen. John McCain was seen at one of the ACORN meetings, or that he's pushed for his amnesty immigration package with ACORN backing since ACORN will often work across the aisle to get their leftist agenda passed. It's what they do, and their ultimate goal is to institute a leftist agenda. Amnesty is a leftist project, and it disturbs me to no end that McCain supports a process by which illegal aliens get to circumvent the legal immigration and naturalization process.

Cramming the voter rolls with bogus votes is one way they accomplish the task and they overwhelm election boards across the country, especially in urban areas. They'll even try and get Mickey Mouse on registered to vote. They tried to get thousands of registrations entered in Indiana, but out of the first 2,100 registrations, 100% were rejected for being fraudulent.

You want a complete guide to ACORN fraud? Here you go.

However, there's a difference between being at a conference and publicly backing and supporting this corrupt organization with hundreds of thousands of dollars as the Obama campaign has done.

They also cavalierly dismiss Obama's undeniable connection to ACORN, as detailed by Mark Levin at "The Corner" blog on National Review Online. Obama worked for and represented ACORN and has given $800,000 to it from his campaign. Remember how Democrats were ready to hang Republican politicians who might have gone to lunch with lobbyist pariah Jack Abramoff? You want to talk to me about guilt by association? But Obama's deep associations with corrupt people and organizations don't so much as flicker the liberal eyebrow.

We now know about the investigations of ACORN-related voter registration fraud in 10 states. But have you heard some of the particulars about its nefarious activities in Pennsylvania?

The American Spectator's Jeffrey Lord reports: "'Between March 23rd and October 1st, various groups, including ACORN, submitted over 252,595 registrations to the Philadelphia County Election Board' with 57,435 rejected for faulty information. 'Most of these registrations were submitted by ACORN, and rejected due to fake social security numbers, incorrect dates of birth, clearly fraudulent signatures, addresses that do not exist, and duplicate registrations. In one case, a man was registered to vote more than 15 times since the Primary election.'"

There's no innocent explanation for any of this in Pennsylvania or for similar ACORN activities in other states. Why aren't honest Democrats joining Republicans in crying foul? How can they be so willfully blind to these threats to our system? I guarantee that if you ask, they'll give you their favorite liberal dodge, "Both sides are doing it." Dream on.

There is no innocent explanation for the $800,000 to ACORN; Obama and ACORN are tied at the hip.

Jim Hoft notes that ACORN, which claims to be nonpartisan, is openly running advertising calling for people to canvass for Obama in Ohio.

GOTV for Obama! Ohio ACORN is doing a Get Out The Vote project with the OBAMA Campaign. Ohio ACORN is hiring canvassers to go door to door encouraging voters to vote for Barak Obama.

ACORN is hiring in Cleveland (216)431-3905 , Columbus (614)425-9491, Cincinnati (513)221-1737, for Dayton (call Cincinnati), and for Toledo call Cleveland. Or email polnatoh@acorn.org and your inquiry will be routed to the appropriate person in each of these cities. Intake and training will be held daily at local ACORN offices. Canvass begins on Wednesday Feb. 27th and will work through election day. Please, only persons wishing to work all or most of these days (Saturday and Sunday included) should inquire.

Please do not contact the Obama campaign directly regarding this post as they are not the organization doing the hiring and it will only distract their staff and volunteers from the other important work they are doing on behalf of Senator Obama.

This reeks, but it's part and parcel of the ACORN business.

UPDATE:
Still more fraud courtesy of ACORN in Ohio. Thousands of bogus voters added to the rolls, and some have already voted:

The vote of Darnell Nash, one of four people subpoenaed in a Cuyahoga County probe of ACORN's voter-registration activities, was canceled and his case was turned over to local prosecutors and law enforcement, Board of Elections officials said yesterday.

Nash had registered to vote repeatedly from an address that belonged to a legitimately registered voter, officials said during a hearing at which the subpoenaed voters were to testify.

Board officials had contacted Nash this summer, questioned his address and told him to stop repeat registering.

But still, he breezed into Ohio election offices - the state allows early voting for president - reregistered with a fake address and cast a paper ballot, officials said.

"He came in on 9/30 and Mr. Nash again registered to vote at [someone else's] address, and he cast a ballot," said board official Jane Platten.

Nash did not turn up for the hearing.

How many hundreds, or thousands, of people have done what Nash did? We'll never know, because groups like ACORN have purposefully flooded election boards across the country so as to overwhelm them with ballots that they simply can't verify in time.

It gives new life to the quip - vote early and often.

Wizbang notes that the same thing is going on in Pennsylvania.

The Cleveland Leader reports that 5% of ACORN registrations in the Cleveland area are bogus. That's another 3,000+ registrations. With razor thin margins likely deciding this election, these bogus voter registrations that slip through the cracks are going to be sufficient to turn the election.

UPDATE:
Speaking of overwhelming the system, consider what Mark Steyn notes about how Democrat community organizers (ACORN?) went onto college campuses and to get people to polling places to overwhelm officials who had limited provisional ballots on hand, and auto-magically Democrat election lawyers arrived to demand that these people be allowed to vote directly onto ballot machines "to preserve the right to vote" despite their absence from the voter rolls. Watch for this to happen yet again.

49% of New Jerseyeans Want To Leave New Jersey?

I don't consider this to be all that surprising as I've long railed against the high tax burden here in the New York metro region. (HT: Hot Air, who discusses the ramifications of the choice of moving out of the state versus attempting to change the political situation here.) The political situation here is so entrenched that it would confound even Hercules. People are giving up rather than trying to fight for lower taxes and lower spending. I'm not one of them.

New Jersey has the highest tax burden in the nation, with crushing property, income, and sales taxes. Many people move to New Jersey to escape the high tax burdens and cost of living in New York (especially New York City, which tacks on additional taxes on top of the already high New York State taxes), while maintaining jobs in New York City.

Even New Jerseyans can't stand living in New Jersey, according to a new poll that said nearly half of adults residing in the Garden State want to pull up stakes.

The Monmouth University/Gannett New Jersey Poll, released Wednesday, found 49 percent of those polled would rather live somewhere else.

New Jersey already is suffering from an image problem and bears the brunt of jokes because of its corruption and pollution problems. But 58 percent of those residents polled said the heavy financial burden of just living in the state is no laughing matter, and that's why they want to leave.

Poll participants cited high property taxes (28 percent), the cost of living (19 percent), state taxes (5 percent) and housing costs (6 percent) as the main reasons they want out. The poll also found that 51 percent of those who expressed a desire to leave planned to do so, with adults under the age of 50 making between $50,000 and $100,000 the most likely to flee.

"If you have the ability to leave and you don't see any possibility for change with the way the state is run — and that's the No. 1 issue here — you have to vote with your feet," said Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute.

There is some rumblings in Trenton that GOP legislators want to move for a sales tax holiday to help people during these troubling financial times. It would be a 3.5% rate (1.75% in enterprise zones) through the holiday season.

Republican leaders planned to announce the proposal today at an afternoon news conference.

Two Republican officials familiar with the plan said it would jump-start the economy by allowing customers to pay less for merchandise and increasing retail sales.

The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because legislation to enact the plan was still being prepared for introduction in the Assembly on Thursday, said most of the estimated $500 million in lost tax revenue would be offset by the increased business activity. They said the rest could be recouped through budget cuts.

The Republicans seem to understand that high taxes deter people from spending their own money since more of it ends up in government coffers, but have never had the numbers to get the state to spend less money for a sustained period. I don't see the sales tax holiday happening because of the property tax burden and poor fiscal shape of the state. Gov. Corzine and the Democrats will complain that the state can't afford the reduction in sales tax revenues, even though it would help consumers greatly. The GOP will claim that the increased sales revenues will spur higher tax collections across the board - as businesses do better business. However, if they wanted to make the state more competitive and spur economic development, they should make the reductions permanent, rather than hold it for a limited time. The state would get increased traffic from Pennsylvania and New York as consumers there flock to New Jersey stores to spend more on goods and services in the state. It would be a boost for the local economy, especially at places the Route 17-4 shopping corridor, Woodbridge, and the outlets in Jackson and Flemington, among others.

I think it's instructive to see how Trenton has handled the property tax burden in the past. The state and municipalities are heavily dependent on property taxes to fashion their budgets. Taxpayers want property relief, so Trenton passes a temporary gross income tax (personal income tax). 30 years later, and that tax is still with us, but it doesn't provide sufficient revenues to cover property tax relief, so along comes Gov. Jon Corzine who increases the sales and use tax by a percentage point to provide property tax relief. Don't expect any property tax relief as a result since municipalities continue getting waivers to increase their taxes above the mandated caps.

State spending in New Jersey is out of control, and no one in Trenton appears willing or capable of taking on the unions or the state workforce to control costs, reduce featherbedding, waste, graft, corruption, or properly allocate resources to what is essential. Instead, the state spends hundreds of millions on pet projects that the state could do without. Corzine and the Democrats are preparing plans to cut state spending by $500 million, which is a drop in the bucket, especially considering the billions spent every year on debt financing for out of control spending done in years past. Corzine added to that with billions in new debt for school construction this year, and watch for his to call for more state spending on infrastructure projects as a way to spur the economy (shades of the New Deal).

The problems with the high tax burden get increased as those who are most capable of leaving are also those who have among the highest incomes - they're not sticking around while their saving accounts get drained by insatiable taxing authorities.

Bloomberg Strikes Again: Cab Shortage Due To Fuel Economy Mandates

Next time you're in New York City and you try to hail a cab and think to yourself why you're having a difficult time of it, you can thank Mayor Mike Bloomberg.

You see, he's decided that the city's cabs must be more fuel efficient. The City imposed fuel economy standards on all new cabs, which means that if you want a new taxi medallion, you've got to pony up for a new hybrid vehicle or another vehicle that meets the fuel economy standards.

That is to say, you're stuck with limited options.

You get a Ford Escape hybrid, a Prius, a Chevy Malibu hybrid, and that's about it. Everything is pretty much sold out, and if you're looking for the ubiquitous Ford Crown Victoria, you're out of luck since they're no longer in production.

Oh, and did I mention that there are insufficient hybrids to cover the taxi industry's needs?

And although fleet owners are being allowed to buy more of the gas-guzzling Crown Victorias as they battle Bloomberg's green-taxi rule in court, they're still in a jam because Ford has already stopped making that model due to the mayor's edict.

Even the biggest car dealerships catering to New York cabbies simply have no cars to sell.

"You could walk in with a check for $100,000, and I would have to tell you hopefully within the next month I might supply you with a car," said Lee Komitor of Manhattan Taxi Center.

Best Ford Taxi in The Bronx had no taxi-suitable cars last week. City World Auto Group, also in The Bronx, had some Chevy Malibu hybrids but nothing else.

Panagiotis Papadopoulis of Checker Management in Long Island City hasn't been able to replace any of his fleet's 165 yellow taxis.

"I called a few dealers, and they say they are going to have cars in the middle or end of November, maybe," he said.

About 2,000 to 2,500 yellow taxis in the city's fleet of 13,000 are replaced every year.

It's not clear when the shortage will ease. Ford says that after its routine summer factory slowdown, it's ramping up production of the Escape hybrids and expects to ship 200 to New York in the coming weeks.

Under the green taxi push, the city has relaxed some of its standards on passenger comfort, effectively opening the market to more manufacturers.

How is the City going to make up the difference? They're relaxing passenger comfort standards to bring more hybrid vehicles into the mix. I'm sure that you'll appreciate the cramped conditions when trying to get around town or go to the airport from Midtown with your luggage.

This all comes at a time when Mayor Bloomberg is positing that he must be allowed to run for a third term since he knows best how to deal with financial difficulties and the Wall Street slowdown. He's been pushing the City Council to pass a law enabling current city council members and the mayor to run for a third term despite a term limits referendum passed by voters. Bloomberg thinks he's above that law.

I'd suggest that this shows that Bloomberg isn't the financial wizard he's cracked up to be - and that he's proffered an unfunded mandate that screws consumers who rely on cabs to get around the city. It's just another in a long line of misguided nanny state tactics that do little to improve the quality of life, but which increase government intrusion into daily life.

Fraudulent Voter Registrations in Indiana; ACORN Involved (Again)

It's another day, another report of fraudulent voter registrations. The leftists want people to think that the GOP makes this stuff up and that finding fraudulent voter registrations is somehow suppressing the vote, but the sad fact is that 40% of the latest voter registrations collected by ACORN in Lake County, Indiana were fraudulent. ACORN turned in 5,000 new registrations.

2,100 were fraudulent.

Actually, it's even worse than that. Indiana officials looked through the first 2,100 registrations and every last one of them were bogus. That was a 100% rejection rate.



Rinse and repeat across the country.

That's what ACORN has been doing for years on end. Don't think that they've all been caught before hand.

They haven't.

We'll find out that dead people voted again this year. We'll find out that kids under the age of 18 voted. Felons will have voted. Some people will have voted more than once - and in more than one jurisdiction.

Each and every instance is an affront to what should be our most cherished possession - the right to vote and determine who will govern. Instead, most people shrug off this kind of criminal enterprise as though it's expected or tolerated.

It shouldn't be. It can't be. And if the 2000 elections should have taught people anything, it's that when elections are decided by razor thin margins, every vote has to be counted and every bogus vote that gets thrown in will determine who governs.

Do you really want to leave it up to a felon or a bogus voter to determine who governs?

I certainly don't.

There's a reason that 15 states are investigating ACORN's activities, and Ace suspects that investigators will bring RICO charges against ACORN within days.

The biggest question is why this has not been done sooner given that ACORN has been engaging in these activities for years on end. Has it gotten to the point where the illegalities are so blatant and obvious that investigators have to take action to be seen as at least credible?

I have an idea of what one defense will be - and it's based on my recollection of past instances where ACORN was involved in bogus registrations. They'll claim that individual canvassers saw a profit motive in adding to the numbers of registrations, so they engaged in a bit of creative accounting - adding dead people, multiple names signed by the same individual, etc.

UPDATE:
A deeper look at ACORN reveals a longstanding pattern of flooding voter rolls, welfare rolls, and creates front groups including political parties to camouflage the extent of their operations.

As for my recollection above, it's born out by the fact that such a scheme was concocted in Washington state.

Photo Trickery From North Korea?

Questions are being raised over photos released by the North Korean government showing Kim Il Jung strolling about. The photos are undated, but show Kim in the presence of other military officials and lush verdant green foliage.

Kim has been suspected of undergoing brain surgery, and yet the photos show no signs of any procedures done. The green foliage also suggests that the photos were taken months ago as North Korea is in the midst of its fall season, so the leaves are turning.

In other words, it's quite possible that the photos are misleading to give a false sense of who is in charge. We've seen this before - from Fidel Castro and the Iranian mullahs among other dictators and thugs.

North Korea is in the midst of trying to wrest concessions on dismantling its nuclear program and was taken off the US terror watch list in the hopes of moving that process forward. It remains to be seen whether the North Koreans will hold up to their end of the bargain, but it is still a huge question as to who exactly is running the show in Pyongang.

Florida Congressman Pays $121,000 To Former Mistress?

Florida Congressman Tim Mahoney has been trying very hard to keep this news from going public, but it's now being reported that he apparently paid $121,000 to a former mistress and promised much more.

Mahoney, who is married, also promised the woman, Patricia Allen, a $50,000 a year job for two years at the agency that handles his campaign advertising, the staffers said.

A Mahoney spokesperson would not answer questions about the alleged affair or the settlement, but said Allen resigned of her own accord and "has not received any special payment from campaign funds."

Senior Democratic leaders in the House of Representatives, including Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-IL), the chair of the Democratic Caucus, have been working with Mahoney to keep the matter from hurting his re-election campaign, the Mahoney staffers said.

So, who is this Democrat Tim Mahoney?

He's the guy who replaced disgraced Republican Mark Foley who was forced to resign over the page scandal (and for which no criminal charges were ever brought). (HT: Florida Lady at LGF)

What is it with Florida?

UPDATE:
As Ace notes, don't expect the media to take this up as a sign that the Democrats are thoroughly involved in a culture of corruption that protects their own from "indiscretions" and demands that the Democrats lose power in Congress.

There will be no such calls. The media will simply note this as an isolated instance, and not the reason for sweeping the Democrats from power, which in part is what happened in 2006.

UPDATE:
I think someone ought to investigate and see whether this is true. Speaker Pelosi claims that she just learned about this growing scandal. I don't quite believe her given that Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-IL) and the Democratic caucus have been working to keep this matter hushed up.

You wouldn't want to spoil the "most ethical Congress ever" with yet another scandal not with the November elections fast approaching.

Throw in the fact that Emanuel was on the forefront of those Democrats screaming for Foley's head on a platter and you get the idea of the stench of hypocrisy emanating from Congress these days.

Paul Krugman Wins Nobel Prize For Economics

As Tigerhawk perceptively notes, there are at least two personas to Paul Krugman. I'd count at least three. The first is the one in which Krugman was a very good economist and came up with some interesting theories. He was well regarded in international trade law circles.

Then, Krugman went to work for Enron.

He also became a columnist for the New York Times in which he spews nonsensical ravings showcasing a lunatic mind that focuses endlessly on President Bush almost pathologically.

Krugman won the Nobel Prize for his earlier works, though one has to wonder just how his later anti-Bush writings at the Times influenced the voters.

Many folks are incredulous at Krugman winning, mostly because of Krugman's incessant and inane rants in the Times, including Don Surber, Jammie, Sister Toldjah, and memeorandum has the run down.

Thousands of Florida Felons Still Have Voting Rights

Convicted felons in Florida are stripped of their right to vote. So how is it that tens of thousands of Florida felons who have done their time are on voter rolls and thousands turned out to cast votes in the last statewide election?

More than 30,000 Florida felons who by law should have been stripped of their right to vote remain registered to cast ballots in this presidential battleground state, a Sun Sentinel investigation has found.

Many are faithful voters, with at least 4,900 turning out in past elections.

Another 5,600 are not likely to vote Nov. 4 — they're still in prison.

Of the felons who registered with a party, Democrats outnumber Republicans more than two to one.

Keep that in mind when you wonder how close national elections can get, and how Florida was at the heart of the 2000 election kerfuffle that was decided by just over 500 votes. That's more than 10,000 votes that should have never been cast because they were in violation of state election law and the state's penal code.

In the last eight years, Florida hasn't managed to do what it needs to do to keep the voter rolls current, eliminating fraudulent voters and those who are ineligible to vote. That diminishes the rights that other legitimate voters take for granted - and that's part of the bigger problem. All too many people take the right to vote for granted that they overlook all the problems with the election system - focusing on the ballot design and electronic ballots because they can serve as backdrops for news conferences and press releases by state officials who can trot out new electronic ballot machines - rather than the more mundane tasks of clearing the rolls of dead people and felons who are ineligible to vote.

Note too that this problem isn't confined to Florida. It's nationwide.

Oh, and watch for the ongoing claims that taking such measures to protect your right to vote are nothing more than suppression of voting rights. The left claims that the GOP is engaging in a ceaseless drumbeat of suppression of votes, ignoring the rampant election fraud engaged by groups like ACORN. So far, at least 15 states are investigating ACORN for voter fraud and pushing bogus registrations.