Democrats & Black Pastors in Cleveland Misleading Voters on Early Voting in Ohio

Well they say there is always a first!  

This must be the first time we have ever agreed with the one time chief mouthpiece & propagandist of the limousine liberals running Cuyahoga County - former Plain Dealer Editorial Director Brett Larkin.

Below Larkin rightfully takes the Democrats, the black Pastors, U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown and State Senator & OH SoS candidate Nina Turner, Cuyahoga County Executive & Democrat candidate for Governor Ed FitzGerald to task for their crocodile tears regarding the changes to early voting in Ohio and the removal of Sunday voting. 

Larkin points out some of the facts that are getting washed out by the river of crocodile tears they are crying....

• 32 states have early absentee voting with an average starting time of 22 days before the election.  LESS days than Ohio's 28 days of voting before the election.

• 20 states require an excuse for absentee voting. A registered voter in Ohio can vote absentee with no excuse required.

• Removing Sunday Voting: In five days of early voting in Cuyahoga County prior to the 2012 presidential election, fewer people voted on Sunday than any other day. Early voting turnout was 46 percent higher on Friday and 23 percent higher on Saturday than it was Sunday.

• Of the 32 states that allow it, the length of the in-person early voting period varies by state from four days to 45. The average is 19 days. Ohio has 20 days of in-person voting.

• Ohio Democrat Rep. Marci Kaptur and civil rights leaders Rep. John Lewis, are promoting a bill that would require all states only offer 15 days of early voting and would not mandate early voting the Sunday before the election.

Also adding to what Larkin points out above is the fact that a voting bill that removed the "Golden Week" and reduced early voting to 21 days passed the Democrat controlled OH House in 2009.

While it is to be expected that political party machine's and politicians will put a "spin" on issues.  And it is pretty much a given that politicians like those listed above will knowingly & willfully misrepresent the truth (lie) to fire up their base.  

But one has to ask about the black pastors!?!? 

At best, the black pastors participating in this misleading political charade of half-truths either refuse to educate themselves with the whole truth & facts, or at worse - they are willing participants in sowing discord by spreading lies & deception regarding early voting in Ohio.  

Either way these black pastors should be ashamed as they are doing a great disservice and owe more to their congregation.  Maybe a quick read of Proverbs 6:16-19 and a review of the Ninth Commandment (Thou shall not lie) is in order for these pastors. 

From The PD --

Democrats have lots of legitimate issues to raise in this year’s election for governor and other statewide offices.

Early voting isn’t one of them.

Noisemaking about voter suppression is, for the most part, utter nonsense.

Access to the ballot in Ohio is better than the national average and light years better than it is in the bluest states in nation. In fact, many Democratic states have laws governing voting so archaic one would think they were drafted by Fox News.

But Jim Crow-type voting laws in places like New York, Massachusetts and Connecticut never seem to get the attention of MSNBC and the Huffington Post. And when Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted adopted the early voting recommendations of a 20-member panel of elections officials that consists of 10 Democratic loyalists, the Husted-bashing returned with a vengeance.

Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald, the presumptive Democratic nominee for governor, advocated defying state law by having the county send out its own absentee ballot applications.

State Sen. Nina Turner, Husted’s Democratic challenger in this year’s election for secretary of state, declared herself “absolutely disgusted” with Husted’s early voting schedule.

And Sen. Sherrod Brown, Ohio’s leading Democrat, described (to MSNBC) the early voting edict as more evidence of Republican “mean spiritedness.”

The 2014 election in Ohio offers an ideal opportunity for meaningful debate on the policies of Gov. John Kasich and the Republican-run legislature.

Any partial list of those policies should include tax policy, job creation, educational attainment, deep cuts made to local governments in 2011 and laws aimed at women.

But angry rhetoric about early voting has a better chance of riling up the base than a thoughtful discussion of Ohio’s future.

For a moment, however, it’s worth tuning out the noise and considering, courtesy of the National Conference of State Legislatures and other sources, some of those stubborn little facts that get in the way of the voter suppression argument.

Thirty-two states have various forms of early absentee voting. The average starting time for early voting is 22 days before the election. Early absentee voting in Ohio this year starts 28 days before the election.

Twenty states require an excuse for absentee voting, including the three Democratic states I listed earlier and the all-important swing states of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Virginia. In Ohio, a registered voter can cast a ballot from the comfort of home, any time, day or night, nearly a month before the election — no excuse required.

Democrats, black ministers and other critics focus particularly on the lack of Sunday voting in Husted’s schedule (there will be Sunday voting in the 2016 presidential election).

But in five days of early voting in Cuyahoga County prior to the 2012 presidential election, fewer people voted on Sunday than any other day. Early voting turnout was 46 percent higher on Friday and 23 percent higher on Saturday than it was Sunday.

Of the 32 states that allow it, the length of the in-person early voting period varies by state from four days to 45. The average is 19 days.

There will be 20 days of in-person early voting in Ohio this year.

For more than a year some of the most prominent and liberal members of the U.S. House, including Rep. Marci Kaptur and civil rights leaders such as Rep. John Lewis, have been promoting a bill that would require every state to offer early voting. The bill would require only 15 days of early voting and would not mandate early voting the Sunday before the election.

Again, there will, be 20 days of early voting in Ohio this year.

For the last half-century,the Akron Beacon Journal has been the state’s most consistently Democratic big-city newspaper.

In a Feb. 26 editorial headlined “Ample Time,” the Beacon Journal labeled Husted’s early voting edict “the product of Democrats and Republicans crafting a worthy compromise, putting aside the calculated outrage and hollow claims, finding a middle ground that works for all counties.”

FitzGerald and his colleagues face gale-force political headwinds in this campaign, not the least of which are a Democratic president with declining popularity and a gigantic Republican advantage in fundraising.

History doesn’t offer them much hope, either.

In the two decades beginning in 1970, Democrats won 81.5 percent of the elections for statewide executive offices. In the six statewide elections since 1990, they’ve won an abysmal 25.8 percent.

If Democrats think voter suppression claims can lead them to victory in 2014, that losing streak will get even longer.

Larkin was The Plain Dealer’s editorial director from 1991 until his retirement in 2009.

Cuyahoga County Executive candidates will debate

From Cleveland.com Northeast Ohio Media Group:

CLEVELAND, Ohio – It's official: all six Democratic candidates for Cuyahoga County Executive have committed to appearing at a debate organized by the City Club of Cleveland.

State Rep. Armond Budish, the race's frontrunner, was the final candidate to commit – he did so on Monday, City Club CEO Dan Moulthrop said. The event will take place at noon on April 7, and will be moderated by WVIZ/PBS IdeaStream’s Rick Jackson.

Also scheduled to appear are: former North Olmsted Mayor Thomas O’Grady, former Cuyahoga County Sheriff Bob Reid, artist Walter Allen Rogers, Jr.,unemployed political consultant Tim Russo and Ohio Sen. Shirley Smith. 

County Councilman Jack Schron, the presumptive Republican candidate for Cuyahoga County Executive, will get his own City Club event on April 2.

. . .

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Very bad news: USA ceding Internet authority to the UN

Art credit: anunews.com

The US is starting to relinquish its sovereignty. Politico reports:

The U.S. Commerce Department is relinquishing its hold over the group that manages the Internet’s architecture amid pressure to globalize its functions in the wake of reports about NSA surveillance.

The National Telecommunications & Information Administration, a Commerce Department agency, said Friday it is transitioning the function to the “global Internet community.” The decision marks a dramatic change. Since the Internet’s inception, the United States has played a leading role in the management of critical back-end Web work, including management of .com and other domain names. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has performed those functions under U.S. Commerce contract since 2000.

. . .

Some U.S. officials have warned about the dangers of ceding ICANN’s authority to the International Telecommunication Union, a United Nations agency, fearing countries like Russia and China could use it to allow online censorship. Congress unanimously passed a resolution ahead of a 2012 ITU meeting, highlighting the U.S. commitment to keeping the Internet free from government control.

Daniel Castro, a senior analyst at the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, disputed the connection between NSA revelations and Internet governance in an op-ed Friday, and he warned that ICANN would not be held accountable without U.S. control.

“If the Obama Administration gives away its oversight of the Internet,” he said, “it will be gone forever.”

Some criticism of the decision immediately started popping up on Twitter.

“Every American should worry about Obama giving up control of the internet to an undefined group,” former House Speaker Newt Gingrich tweeted shortly after the announcement. “This is very, very dangerous.”

Read the rest here. 

Update: Health Care Compact

Art credit: granitegrok.com

An update from Jamie Story Kohlmann, Managing Director, Health Care Compact

. . . the Health Care Compact has gained two more co-sponsors in Congressmen Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma and Tom Graves of Georgia. That's two more members of Congress who agree that states should have the option to manage health care themselves and the freedom to opt out of Obamacare and other failed federal programs.

The latest two signers join our lead sponsor, James Lankford (OK), and existing co-sponsors Rob Bishop (UT), Jeff Duncan (SC), and Lynn Westmoreland (GA), all of whom come from states that have already joined the Compact. These six House members are effectively representing their constituents and state legislatures, which have clearly declared that they want freedom from Obamacare.

We have news from the states too. The Health Care Compact is awaiting a House vote in Ohio, and we're hopeful the bill will soon be filed in North Carolina.

But for now, the main story is in Kansas, where the Compact is on the House Floor awaiting debate and approval. Once through the House it will go to the Senate, which has a freedom-loving majority that will likely pass it quickly. If you or any of your friends live in Kansas, please have them reach out to their state legislators to urge passage of the Health Care Compact next week. 

Finally - if you haven't seen it yet, please check out this National Review Online story from Karen Lugo at the Texas Public Policy Foundation. It's one of the best articles I've seen about the Health Care Compact. Once you've read it, please share with your friends and encourage them to learn more at www.healthcarecompact.org. 

Remember - the Health Care Compact does not prescribe a solution, but lets each member state design health care solutions that best fit its unique citizens. Just like we don't appreciate the federal government telling states what to do, the Compact doesn't tell member states what to do either. The Compact merely gives states the opportunity to choose health care solutions that are designed closer to home - not in Washington, D.C.

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Follow ObamaCare Delays at Your Peril

Photo credit: wisegeek.com

Anthony Ciani has some good advice at AmericanThinker:

Despite being “the law of the land”, President Obama is telling a lot of people to ignore ObamaCare; but does that absolve you from following it?  The Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as ObamaCare, is now in full effect, or it is supposed to be.  To avert certain political disaster for the Democratic Party, Obama has issued, as of March 5, 2014, 20 unilateral executive actions to “delay” ObamaCare mandates and taxes.

The President has the authority to pardon, but he cannot pre-pardon your crimes, just as a priest cannot pre-absolve your uncommitted sins; and just as a priest cannot change the list of sins, Obama cannot change the taxes you owe or the benefits you must provide.  So what could happen if you follow Obama’s “delays” and “waivers” in lieu of the law?

. . .  One of Obama’s unilateral changes was to allow people to keep their existing, non-qualifying insurance plans, but those who do will still owe the taxes, regardless of what Obama says or leads you to believe.

So what might happen if you keep your insurance and forgo your 2014 ObamaCare tax?  Regardless of reason, whether you believed Obama or were civilly disobedient, you failed to pay your taxes; however, the ObamaCare tax is special.  The IRS can neither criminally prosecute you nor seize your property for refusing to pay the mandate tax, but it can place liens on your property and assess penalties, and the IRS can criminally prosecute you and seize your property for failing to pay the penalties for evading the ObamaCare mandate.

These are potentially serious consequences, so if your 2014 tax preparation software omits the ObamaCare tax, complain to the manufacturer.  Find software or a preparer that includes the tax, or prepare the forms yourself.  If the official IRS forms omit the ObamaCare tax, complain to or sue the IRS, and then figure it out on your own.  Whatever you do, determine if you comply, and pay if you do not.

. . . Only the law is meaningful to the courts; they care nothing about unlawful executive decrees.[emphasis added]

Read more here. 

Libertarian candidate for governor bounced from primary

Photo credit: ohiocitizen.org

The Plain Dealer online / Cleveland.com is reporting :

Libertarian candidate for governor, Charlie Earl, 

bounced from primary

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Secretary of State Jon Husted on Friday ruled that signatures on nominating petitions for Libertarian gubernatorial candidate Charlie Earl and his running mate Sherry Clark were invalid and struck their names from the May primary ballot.

Husted also upheld a challenge to the Libertarian’s candidate for attorney general, Stephen Linnabarry, removing him from the ballot.

The decision means the Libertarian Party of Ohio will not have any candidates appearing on the primary ballot in May, although write in candidates for auditor and secretary of state successfully qualified as write-in candidates.

More here.

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CPAC, Phyllis Schlafly, and Immigration

Art credit: libertymusings.com

Katherine Connell at NRO’s The Corner reports alarming disagreement over GOP immigration and amnesty policy:

Two participants in a panel on immigration at CPAC today expressed confidence in their closing statements that Hispanic immigrants will be a source of future votes for the Republican party. “Latino voters are the Reagan Democrats of today,” said Alfonso Aguilar, the executive director of the Latino Partnership for Conservative Principles. “I believe that the majority of them can actually be members of CPAC in the future,” concurred the Reverend Luis Cortés Jr.​

The panel was supposed to answer the question: “Can there be meaningful immigration reform without citizenship?”

Derrick Morgan, vice president of domestic policy at the Heritage Foundation, was the only one of four panelists to basically reject the premise of the question, saying that he wasn’t the best person to say whether legalization should include a path to citizenship since he didn’t think that Republicans should be pursuing a policy of comprehensive immigration reform at all right now: “I respectfully disagree with the policy of legalization with or without citizenship,” he said, instead favoring a piecemeal approach, beginning with enforcement. He noted that the current laws are not being enforced so “why would you trust this current administration” to implement a deal?

Aguilar vehemently disagreed: “Conservatives need to address immigration, and they need to do it now,” he said, adding that “our conservative base wants us to lead and legislate” on the issue. Alfonso said that in addition to immigrants doing the “jobs that Americans don’t want,” immigration “creates good-paying jobs for working-class Americans.”

Read the rest here.

Good timing: Here is Phyllis Schlafly warning that “Republicans are ‘fools’ to back ‘any kind of amnesty’.”  Katie McHugh at The Daily Caller reports: 

Eagle Forum president and conservative author Phyllis Schlafly condemned GOP leadership efforts to compromise with Democrats on immigration, telling her audience that Republicans are “fools” to back any kind of deal that includes citizenship for illegal immigrants.

“Republicans are fools to to support any kind of amnesty, or to import foreigners who will support big government and big spending,” she said during a blunt speech at The National Security Action in Washington, D.C. “Why is anyone surprised that three fourths of Hispanics and Asians voted for Obama during the 2012 election? … Sixty-nine percent of immigrants support Obamacare.”

Schlafly cited a battery of polls that drew stark contrasts between Americans and naturalized immigrants — which didn’t include recent legal or illegal immigrants. While 67 percent of native-born Americans cited the Constitution as a higher legal authority than international law, only one third of naturalized citizens believed the same, a Harris poll found.

Immigrants tend to vote Democratic not because they’re withdrawing their support from Republicans until the GOP works with Democrats on immigration reform, but because they benefit from generous social programs, she added. (RELATED: Oregon shifts 4,000 illegal immigrants into Obamacare)

“They’re not for amnesty,” she said. “They’re for the goody handouts of Democratic party… [A]mnesty is suicide for the conservative movement and the Republican party.”

Efforts to grant millions of illegal immigrants citizenship will dilute the pool of labor and drive down wages, hurting recent immigrants and Americans alike, Schlafly said.

“Bringing in more cheap labor is a direct attack on the people they’re amnestying and bringing in,” she said. “Amnesty is a complete betrayal of the people we let in the last few years.”

But Schlafly saved her most scathing remarks for Republican supporters of immigration reform: “Everything they’re saying is just a complete lie.”

Requiring illegals to repay back taxes is “the laugh of the day — a complete farce.”

“Of course the aliens will never learn English before they get amnesty,” while their background checks will be as thorough “as the Boston bombers,’” she added heatedly.

“The immigration bill is a disaster for unemployed, a disaster for people with low wages,” she said. “It’s a disaster that the people coming in will not vote the way we want them to vote, to cut overspending.”

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