Socialists, Racists and Fraud, Oh My!

Richard Epstein published an insightful Oped in Forbes today, addressing the cloudiness of Obama's true views on economic policy and how he would use the power of the Presidency. Epstein, who knows Obama through his neighborhood and law school, is a well-known libertarian (I've read other pieces by him while working and living in the Chicago area), and as such, is not too likely to be a fan of Obama. Nonetheless, his letter is spot-on. Obama is known for presenting a calm, accessible demeanor without revealing his left-ward leanings. I've written before that I think he associates with radicals because it brings him power, while speaking to his own preferences. If Obama is elected President with a super-majority in Congress, there will be no fetters on those preferences, and a willing Congress to support out-of-control spending, a welfare state, and muzzling of the right. I'm going to have to sharpen my teeth if that happens. Click on the title for the Epstein letter.

After calling his constituents racists last week, Congressman Murtha is now calling them rednecks. He apparently doesn't know that that's the native color of anyone who works hard, and is bitterly clinging to guns and religion waiting for the coming socialist state.

And we return to fraud - this time real voter fraud (not just registration fraud, which apparently, Democrats think is just dandy as long as people vote for Obama). Reports from OH (what a shocker), and multiple other states with early voting are showing, gasp, false registrants are fraudulently voting! Holy cow, who could have foreseen that one? County Prosecutor Joseph Deters (Cincinnati) has subpoenaed records from early voting, and found that a whopping 40% of early votes in his county were from fraudulent registrants, including those recently-discovered Ohio River mermaids (it's a pretty muddy river - I wouldn't want to live in it myself, but I guess some of the local inhabitants like the muck). He's recused himself from the investigation, and turned it over to a special prosecutor who is finding the same thing. Since OH's Sec-State, Jennifer Brunner, and Governor, Ted Strickland, see no problem (maybe they've got river mud in their eyes) other than pesky Republicans trying to strike fear into voters' hearts, there may be no way to get an accurate assessment of what's really happening until six months from now.

And the winner is ... fraud

The Supreme Court has ruled that Ms. Brunner, the OH Sec. State, need not turn over discrepancy information in voter roles to local officials for action on their part. The court apparently was relying on precedence in the application of HAVA that does not permit private parties to have access to voter information. That's well and good - I certainly don't want the Democratic Party have access to my voter registration info. But ... Ms. Brunner has said she has no way of knowing which registrants are fraudulent and which are not, and that she has no intention of sorting through that information. So how is HAVA to be fairly applied? If the local officials have no way of comparing discrepancies in voter roles, and picture IDs can't be used, how are they to know how many times one individual has voted much less who is a valid registered voter? Maybe the county officials should engage in a major suit against the Sec. State since the GOP has been turned down. Click the title to link to the NY Times article on the decision, and on this article, and let me know what you think.