Caffeinated Thoughts

The Ron Paul Party of Iowa
The Obama Justice Department Takes Another Stand for Voter Fraud
Latham: Federal Agencies Shouldn’t Treat Iowa Farmers Like the Taliban

Posted: 12 Jun 2012 06:15 PM PDT

After reading Kevin Hall's piece yesterday at The Iowa Republican about the staffing changes at the Republican Party of Iowa, and his preview on this Saturday's State Convention I have to ask, "why does Kevin hate liberty?"

I don't think Kevin hates liberty, but that is a common response by some Ron Paul supporters when you speak in opposition about some of the happenings going on in Iowa. I encourage you to read Kevin's pieces, but here is a recap of the changes that have taken place.

Eight of the State Central Committee Members are Ron Paul backers.
The State Chair, A.J. Spiker, is a former Iowa co-chair for Ron Paul's campaign.
The majority of the national convention delegates will be Ron Paul backers.
The rules committee, comprised of a majority of Ron Paul backers, changed the rules allowing a simple majority vote for the National Committeewoman and National Committeeman positions. It used to be the winner had to receive 50%. This makes it highly likely that outgoing State Representative and Ron Paul supporter, Kim Pearson, will become the next Republican National Committeewoman for Iowa since the non-Ron Paul vote will be split four ways. If there had to be a run-off that likely wouldn't be the case. I personally like Kim and consider her a friend and we many shared values, convictions and a shared faith. I just can't see her in this role however. That's why I endorsed Tamara Scott she can unite the party, while at the same time advance conservative principles. If the non-Ron Paul supporters don't coalesce around one candidate with it's Tamara, Scott County GOP Chair Judy Davidson or Montgomery County GOP Chair Margaret Stoldorf it will be Pearson who wins. Somebody who can't garner 50% of the delegate vote shouldn't represent the state party within the Republican National Committee.
Kevin pointed out platform changes that have been made by a, you guessed it, a platform committee loaded with Ron Paul backers… "And our platform preamble will be plagiarized from the Libertarian Party, while platform planks will change from supporting Israel to not providing any foreign aid to anyone (11.8), changing Iowa to a recall state like Wisconsin (7.9), and allowing the Mike Gronstal-controlled legislature to pick our U.S. Senators (7.6) …" Why in the world would we want to become a recall state? I understand the desire to repeal the 17th Amendment, but frankly it isn't going to happen. A federal personhood amendment or marriage amendment has a better chance of passing out of Congress and being ratified than what they suggest. Their position on Israel goes against what a clear majority of the Republican Party believes.
A.J. Spiker's hires. I gave him the benefit of the doubt, but his actions prove that I was wrong to do that. All three hires (Megan Stiles as the Communications Director, Steve Bierfeldt as the new executive director, and John Ferland as the organization director) had to be Ron Paul backers? That isn't to speak against their qualifications, but if there was an area where Spiker could have showed some good will this was it. With most of what I listed above the rest of the party only has itself to blame. They were out-hustled by the Paul campaign as they were better organized. Spiker mishandled Bierfeldt's hiring by non consulting all of the State Central Committee and not announcing the hire until 10 days before the state convention when he will have a new state central committee that will rubber stamp it.

They can certainly ramrod all of this through on Saturday, which I'm sure they will. But what they have likely done is prepared the way for a backlash. It makes me think of the saying, "fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice then shame on me." I'm sure that will come into play next time around. In the meantime it will be interesting to see what kind of financial backlash the ~~Republican~~ Ron Paul Party of Iowa will face.

The Obama Justice Department Takes Another Stand for Voter Fraud

Posted: 12 Jun 2012 01:30 PM PDT

If you are a science fiction fan you know that a popular story line in science fiction stories is the alternative universe theory. From Star Trek to Lord of the Rings fiction writers have advanced the idea that there are multiple alternative universes in various time frames that allow for all sorts of fantastic storylines and otherwise implausible and illogical outcomes. In Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, Peregrin Took (Pippin) finds the allure of Saruman's crystal (palantir) to be irresistible. When he takes it from Gandalf he is treated to a vision of what Middle Earth will be like if Sauron's forces are successful. It is an alternative universe that happily for the Hobbits never comes to pass. In Star Trek The Next Generation it seems the crew of the Enterprise is always messing with the "space/time continuum" creating all kinds of rifts in time that allow those pesky alternative universes to pop up.

I had always assumed these alternative universes were bogus but when I read that the Attorney General of the United States was going to address a council of African American church leaders I immediately thought we must have slipped into one. Can you imagine what would happen in the real universe if a Republican Attorney General addressed a group of Evangelical pastors with tips on how to get their parishioners to turn out on election day? The time/space continuum would rupture and every liberal, leftwing politician and member of the media would spontaneously combust. But Democrat Eric Holder can call a confab with the Council of Black Churches and announce that, "some of the achievements that defined the civil rights movement now hang in the balance" and the media watchdogs refuse to bark.

My knowledge of history may be a little fuzzy but I think I would have remembered if the civil rights movement was threatened by legitimate investigations into voter irregularity. State Legislatures in South Carolina, Georgia, Texas, Arizona, Florida, and a host of other states have tried to tighten up loose voter laws that have allowed the dead to rise on Election Day. In South Carolina, 953 people who had passed on were listed as having voted in the 2010 election. The South Carolina Election Commission investigated 207 cases and declared all but ten to be the result of "clerical errors, bad data matching, errors in assigning voter participation, or voters dying after being issued an absentee ballot." Immediately, left wing websites and talk shows published the fiction that "95 percent of the cases" were attributable to something other than fraud. What they don't say is that it was 95 percent of the 207 cases investigated, not 95 percent of the total number. That leaves us with 746 cases yet to be reviewed.

A strong but fair voter ID law like the one passed in South Carolina that would provide free picture ID's to all who could not afford one would put to rest most questions of voter irregularity and would pose no unreasonable burden on any voter. If a person were not willing or able to go to the DMV to get a free legitimate picture ID why would they be willing or able to show up at the polls on Election Day?

According to Fox News Attorney General Eric Holder has ordered Florida to "halt its push to remove ineligible voters from the voter rolls." An initial search by election officials in Florida suggested up to 182,000 voters may be ineligible to vote because they are not American citizens. According to the same Fox News story, "Earlier this year state officials sent to local election officials a much smaller list of more than 2,600 voters and asked supervisors to start the process to remove them from the rolls." Responding to criticism from the Holder Justice Department Florida Department of State spokesperson Chris Cate said, "Bottom line we are firmly committed to doing the right thing and preventing ineligible voters from being able to cast a ballot."

If would be nice if the Federal Justice Department would make the same commitment to enforcing existing voting laws instead of sending Attorney General Eric Holder out to accuse Republican led states of attacking civil rights laws.

Joel Gehrke, a staff writer for The Examiner (washingtonexaminer.com) reports that the chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus sponsored event for pastors, Emanuel Cleaver said the event was "designed to educate pastors on what they're allowed to say about politics in church while encouraging them to keep black turnout high."

I can only imagine what would happen if those words had come from a conservative republican encouraging Christians to turn out and vote their conscience. Maybe we are in an alternate universe after all.

Latham: Federal Agencies Shouldn’t Treat Iowa Farmers Like the Taliban

Posted: 12 Jun 2012 10:15 AM PDT

By Congressman Tom Latham (R-IA)

Few developments in the news in recent weeks have disturbed me more than what we're learning about the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) using unmanned drone aircraft to monitor Iowa farms. In some cases, we're learning that the EPA has used the aircraft to gather information on agricultural operations. The simple truth is that no government agency should be able to treat Iowa farmers like the Taliban.

Alarm is growing among many farmers in the Midwest regarding this surveillance operation. They're justifiably concerned that a government agency may be gathering information on them or their property without their consent or knowledge. Much of this alarm stems from the scarcity of facts we have about these flights. In response, I sent a letter this week to the EPA administrator to get to the bottom of what this aerial surveillance is all about. In my letter, I demanded responses from the EPA on what sort of information is being gathered, how that information is being used, how much these surveillance flights cost and what legal justification they have for conducting them.

In my letter, I asked the EPA to respond to my questions by June 29. Once I have the agency's response, I'll make that information public so Iowans can have all the available facts about the surveillance flights. Farmers deserve full disclosure and accountability from the EPA, especially when the agency is busy collecting information on them.

Iowa farmers understand that their livelihood depends on their stewardship of our natural resources. Farmers take great care to comply with clean water and clean air regulations. So a federal agency spending tax dollars to fly aircraft over farms to gather information on regulatory compliance is far beyond what's necessary to enforce environmental regulations.

If the EPA refuses to fully answer my questions, or if the answers are inadequate, I'll pursue legislative action to make sure the EPA respects the privacy of all U.S. citizens. I've also reached out to leadership in the U.S. House of Representatives and to my colleagues in nearby farm states who are also concerned with the surveillance flights to work with me on behalf of the American farmer. The American people deserve answers to some fundamental questions about the EPA's surveillance procedures.

Everyone agrees that we have to take care of our natural resources. Farmers understand that more than most because they depend on clean water and healthy soil to do their jobs. But we can't allow a government agency to trample the privacy of citizens in its efforts to enforce environmental regulations. The Environmental Protection Agency has left too many questions unanswered concerning these surveillance flights. It's time to get some answers.

HT: Gateway Pundit for the picture

Tom Latham currently represents Iowa's 4th Congressional District, due to redistricting he is running for reelection in the newly drawn Iowa 3rd Congressional District against Congressman Leonard Boswell (D-IA).

Horoscop

miercuri, 13 iunie 2012

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