Category Archives: Uncategorized

Tennessee Election Offices clear up concerns over photo IDs in town halls across the state

At the links here and here.  Election administrators across the Volunteer State provided a preview to voters Tuesday night at special town hall meetings. The events, which took place in all 95 counties yesterday, provided answers about the new voting laws that will require voters to present identification before they cast a vote in all future elections.

NYT and Politico tag team to criticize FEC independence

NyTimes: Having the Watchdogs to Tea and Politico: Agency Nullification at the FEC.

The newspaper representing New York City is upset again and resorts to calling Federal Election Commission (FEC) Commissioners “party hacks” for their refusal to chill political speech.  Instead, they want the FEC to undermine the law by bureaucratic regulations and President Obama to unilaterally clean out the place and replace everyone of them with so-called reformists.

While the media and reform community have a right to voice their opinion, they are now pushing a federal agency to undermine the dictates of the Supreme Court by their rule-making power.  The role of an FEC commissioner is not to sit as a potted plant and rubber-stamp the recommendations by staff bureaucrats and other outside “reform” groups.  The FEC should not be about pushing reforms, rather the equal application of the law. 

Democratic Senators introduce constitutional amendment limiting campaign funds

At the link, Democrats propose an amendment to the U.S Constitution reversing the Citizens United case, in what would be the rare case of the Congress amending the Constitution to restrict free speech. 


The proposed amendment, which was co-sponsored by fellow Democratic Sens. Tom Harkin of Iowa, Dick Durbin of Illinois, Chuck Schumer of New York, Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island and Jeff Merkley of Oregon, states that both Congress and individual states will have the power to regulate and limit the amount of campaign contributions to candidates running for elected office. It would also regulate and limit independent expenditures — such as those from Super PACs — made in support or opposition of candidates and would allow Congress to pass campaign finance reform legislation that withstands constitutional challenges.

Artur Davis on the road to excommunication

At the link.  Former U.S. Rep. Artur Davis, D-Birmingham, increasingly appears to be a man without a party. Davis recently roiled Democrats — and delighted Republicans — by declaring his support for the stricter voter identification laws passed this year by Alabama’s newly empowered GOP Legislature.

and this:

The barbs were even sharper back home. Davis was panned as a “fraud,” a “traitor” and a “closet Republican” on Alabama online message boards.

Davis’ response:

Davis told me he still considers himself a Democrat — but a disillusioned one. “My views are in the political center and don’t neatly fit either party,” he said. “So I count myself as a Democrat, who is disappointed by the forces and personalities who have run the party into the ground in Alabama.”



 

Appearing at Restoration Weekend 2011

I will be at David Horowitz’s Restoration Weekend in Florida which runs from November 17-20.  I will be speaking Saturday morning November 19.  There is quite a line up of announced speakers and I cannot be more excited that Apollo 17 moonwalker Harrison Schmitt is one. It is a great weekend with vibrant discussion of issues.  I will never forget last year watching Senator Jeff Session attend every panel and studiously take notes. A splendid time is guaranteed for all.

About Harrison Schmitt – only 9 moonwalkers are still alive.  They represent the pinnacle of human exploration.  Schmidt alone makes the Weekend a great event.  But also appearing are John Fund, Pat Caddell, Rep. Allen West, Ann Coulter, Dick Morris, Rep. Ed Royce and more to be announced later.