Well… Kinda. Bill Dennis over at Peoria Pundit had me on his radio show to talk about the Illinois Constitutional Convention and some of the reforms that could take place. You can listen to the show below.
originally posted at Illinois Review
Yesterday, I filed a complaint with the Michigan Attorney General against Daily Kos’ blogger Markos Moulitsas, requesting an investigation into whether Moulitsas is encouraging voter fraud in next week’s Michigan GOP primary.
The idea of the freedom to vote is part of the bedrock foundation of this nation. Vote fraud is not a new concept; likely it reaches back even to the time of the founders. However, once vote fraud is discovered, it should be prosecuted aggressively like all flagrant violations of the law. Daily Kos’ call, under the direction of Markos Moulitsas himself, for a conspiracy to commit massive vote fraud during the Michigan primaries may be one of those serious attempts to circumvent election law.
In Daily Kos’ January 10 posting entitled "Let’s have fun in Michigan," Moulitsas called on Democrats to cross party lines and vote in the Republican primary for the express purpose of helping Mitt Romney win. Romney, he says, will be a "weak" opponent for the Democrats in November. Daily Kos makes no attempt to hide the fact they are influencing Republican primaries as Democrats to benefit Democrats.
Moulitsas’ call could be felonious. Michigan state law clearly indicates that unqualified electors voting in elections is a felony. It also specifies that counseling or aiding someone to vote in an election they are unqualified for is also a felony. Election law clearly specifies that to vote in a party’s primary, one must actually belong to that party.
Compromising the power of the vote in this country is a direct attack on the very foundation of our freedom. While much can be said about the closed primary system of which I am no fan, it is the law of the land and undermining that system for partisan gain is an invidious attempt to disenfranchise voters, and simply cannot be allowed to stand.
The parties do have free association rights which allow them the constitutional right to declare who are and are not members and, by extension, those who cannot interfere in the workings of that political organization. Republicans alone should choose Republican candidates. Democrats alone should choose Democrat candidates. The same goes for third parties.
Markos, posting under his own name, may have engaged in a conspiracy to commit vote fraud by counseling Democrats to vote in the Republican primary for Mitt Romney. The motto for this campaign is "Democrats for Romney: Because the Republicans Deserve the Very Worst."
That motto says something about those who claim to love America as they so frequently display their hatred for other Americans. More importantly, it advertises the fact that Democrats — who have no intention of changing parties — may attempt to interfere with the Republican Party’s internal workings.
While appearing to encourage vote fraud, the Daily Kos may also be encouraging an attempt to subvert Republicans’ constitutional right of free association and, at the same time, could be perpetuating a conspiracy to disenfranchise Republican voters and dilute their votes.
Vote fraud happens, and living in Illinois, I am no stranger to it. Make no mistake, the Daily Kos’ posting could be a direct attack on the democratic elements of our Republic, which is exactly why I have filed a criminal complaint in the matter.
Such public and flagrant disregard for not only Michigan’s election laws, but the rights of fellow citizens cannot be overlooked or tolerated. Doing so will simply encourages a state of lawlessness in our election system. While monikers such as "they can’t cheat if it’s not close" may be emotionally satisfying, any such alleged attack against our Republic and its laws should not be shrugged off.
If you agree that the integrity of the vote should be protected and that every vote should count, please contact the Michigan Attorney General, Mike Cox, at miag@michigan.gov and encourage him to look into these allegations. Cox’s office may also be contacted at (877) 765-8388. Additional contact information may be found here.
What is domain reflection you ask? First, you take a humorous phrase about a person, company or idea and register that as a domain. You then create a page on that domain that has two frames, the top being some tag line of criticism, satire or wit, and the bottom being the content of the website that you are targeting. For instance, one could register webouncechecks.com and point it to almost any government agency in the country.
Being underwhelmed by the current crop of Presidential candidates for 2008, I decided to have a little fun. Below are a few domain reflectors I created for most of the candidates and a few other agencies of the United States. Enjoy! If you are interesting in purchasing one of these domains, contact me.
http://www.ForSaleHighestBidder.com – The White House
http://www.TotalSecurityApathy.com – The Transportation Security Agency (TSA)
http://www.NationalGuildOfThieves.com – The House of Representatives
http://www.HesGotMyVote.com – Stephen Colbert
http://www.ActuallyHesADemocrat.com – Rudy Giuliani
http://www.NotAnotherBActor.com – Fred Thompson
http://www.SenatorFootInMouth.com – John McCain
http://www.CultOfRonPaul.com – Ron Paul
http://www.TheUtahAgenda.com – Mitt Romney
http://www.ChicomsDonateHere.com – Hillary Clinton
http://www.AnotherEmptySuit.com – Barack Obama
http://www.NotAProBaseballPlayer.com – Bill Richardson
http://www.DirtyAmbulanceChaser.com – John Edwards
The latest Zogby poll shows that only 11 percent of Americans approve of the job Congress is doing. This is contrasted with Bush's underwhelming 29% approval rating. These polls show that Americans of all political stripes are losing faith in their government. Congress' all time low (prior to this poll) is 18% approval. Do we get to disband the government and write a new Constitution if it falls below 10%? For comparison, most foreign governments suffer a coup at these approval ratings.
The partisans on both sides will likely use this poll to show how the other party is ruining America. That's what they do and most people have adopted this approach. It doesn't matter who has the most coherent policy, it just matters how you can spin things to show the other party as a moral evil. This line of thinking misses the point.
The poll shows that the average American and the average politician are simply disconnected. The concerns of the average American aren't represented inside the Beltway and it shows that what's huge news on the cable news channels and in the latest partisan shouting matches isn't what matters most to Americans. And America is fed up.
It's not about a single issue, it's about the sum total of all the issues that America cares about that go ignored or are actively worked against by our politicians. Our candidates are pre-selected by party insiders where people who aren't "team players" (i.e. party hacks) are actively discouraged from running. Sure, they'll take your money but they want yes men in office.
We have representatives from every corner of this country in D.C. Yet all issues are effectively nationalized. How does a representative vote on a particular bill? With his caucus, not with the intentions of his constituents. There are rare exceptions, some of those are honest principled men, many are just media whores who like the press image of being a "maverick". And America is fed up.
This poll shows a population that is conditioned to think that the government will fix the big problems. The sub-prime mortgage fallout (which hasn't begun fully to set in) is a great example. Sure, we had banks with overly liberal lending habits that gave money away to people not likely to repay it. They should know better considering most every economic crisis in history was started by bad lending practices. However, the people taking out those loans aren't even on the radar. People don't think that the average citizen should be responsible for making bad economic decisions, it's the government's job to bail them out. Yet, the government consistently fails at doing so.
Katrina is another great example. Governmental failures abounded at every layer of government. The mayor did not use all the assets he had to protect his people. Over two-thirds of the police department walked off the job (and got free vacations to Vegas). Gov. Blanco and the Louisiana state government were more interested in embezzling disaster money than buying the equipment they needed. When it all came to a head because the governor and mayor did everything wrong, FEMA wasn't up to the task to clean up after them. The government told the people they would protect them, but it was the people who took care of themselves who came out of Katrina unscathed.
In every direction one looks, one can find a promise of government to help and that promise being broken. Corruption is rampant in both parties and the talking points that one party is more corrupt than another are simply absurd. Looking at the field of 2008 presidential contenders, it looks like it'll be more of the same. How much lower do approval ratings need to fall until Americans insist that things change?
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The Federal Election Commission has recently ruled on the complaint filed against Kos Media (of DailyKos.com fame) that alleged it was running a political committee and did not file the required disclosures. The case was MUR 5928 and the documents are available via the Commission's Enforcement Query System (put 5928 in the case field). The interesting point of the dismissal is how it avoided answering the complaint.
The FEC, in their ruling said "First, the complaint does not allege, nor does publicly available information indicate, that Kos Media is owned or controlled by a political party, committee, or candidate." (Page 5, lines 17-18). They state this because if there was such an allegation or if Kos Media was a political committee, the media exemption doesn't apply. The problem is the entire complaint's sole focus is the fact that Kos Media is a political committee. That was exactly what I alleged. They simply ignored that, pretended I was alleging something else, and dismissed the complaint. This means with about a two-page long pleading and a $350 filing fee, this decision could be overturned trivially on appeal.
The more important issue, however, is the idea that FEC regulation is censorship. This is indefensibly false and every single blogger who claimed that it was goes to show that most bloggers aren't about facts; they are about hysteria and fear-mongering. It simply is not reasoned commentary but rants coming straight from the black helicopter crowd. To prove this answer the following questions:
Are the RNC and DNC political committees?Do they have hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of members?
Are they regulated by the FEC?
How, in the decades of such regulation, have those hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of people been silenced?
The fact is, they haven't. Disclosure is not censorship by a long shot. We could argue about McCain-Feingold, but even if this complaint succeeds that law doesn't apply in this case anyway. FEC regulation has not shut down the RNC and DNC, I certainly get enough of their mailings. People still talk about politics even though they are members of a party. Western civilization as we know it has not collapsed. For an organization like Kos Media to whine on one hand about censorship, but on the other call for actual censorship in saying FOX News doesn't have a right to be on the air is the pinnacle of hypocrisy. Apparently they believe the government shouldn't control who has the right to be on the air… they believe they should have that editorial control.
In between posting agitprop worthy of a Michael Moore movie and posting the victimologies about how a well-funded, well-connected multi-million dollar corporation is oppressed because a private citizen legally petitioned his government, there are some other interesting facts. Namely, Kos' attorney keeps issuing sometimes overt, sometimes vague threats. If they're so right, why do they need to keep threatening to file SLAPP suits when they know full well there is absolutely no cause of action. It's likely because they have something to hide.
At the end of the day, the issue is still not about regulation of blogs. It's about regulation of political committees who organize online. If Kos Media wants to be in the business of electing Democrats, that's fine. They just have to register like every other political committee doing the same thing.
There’s a lot of different regulations to keep track of as a business. That’s why it’s important to have a business
lawyer who can take care of any legal issues that come up. You can also find a corporate lawyer who work for larger businesses and a banking lawyer can help with financial issues.
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With carpet come the issues of carpet cleaning. Earlier, they used to be washed and placed on window sill for drying. With time , as a replacement window went out and carpet maintenance control came on the scene. The outdoor carpet still has the dilemma of carpet beetles though.
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The conventional political wisdom is not to respond to candidate questionnaires from “hostile” political organizations. It just doesn’t sit well with me not telling voters or political groups where I stand though. So this is what I sent Planned Parenthood in response to whether I would support a standardized comprehensive sex ed program for Unit 4.
The question of sexuality, particularly sex education, is invariably tied into a question of values and value systems. As such, any discussion immediately becomes polarized between right and left. The options are either abstinence-only or comprehensive-only sex education. This is a false dichotomy, but also makes a dangerous assumption about the role of schools and government.
The United States is a values-pluralistic society. With rare exceptions (e.g. crime) all values should be respected and the government should not try to mandate one set of values over another. Many players in this debate are encouraging exactly that: a mandating of a particular set of values.
It is my belief that parents present the value system of their choice to their children, and the schools and government should respect that. I do not support a standardized sexual health curriculum for Unit 4 because that would entail me making a decision on what values are important for someone else’s child, a decision I would not want imposed on myself as a parent.
I believe the policy of the Board should be to, as far as practical, handle the issue as the parents decide they want it handled. If they wish to have comprehensive sex education taught to their child, that is there choice and it should be available to them. If they wish only abstinence education be presented, that is likewise their choice. If they wish to handle the matter themselves in private with no interference from the schools, that should also be respected.
It is my firm and unwavering belief that the schools are not a tool to be used by government to prescribe value systems to our children aside of what is necessary to be a good citizen. The diversity of our nation and community requires that governmental leaders allow these value system choices be made by individuals and parents, not by elected officials.
No matter what your views are on sex education everyone can agree that education is an important part of modern life. That’s why there’s a great online college out there for you. There are many benefits to doing your bachelors degree but the best part is the flexibility to do what you want! Find a great online university today!
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 5, 2007
Contact: John Bambenek
217-493-0760 / jcb.unit4@gmail.com
http://www.parttimepundit.com
Champaign, IL - - On January 5th, 2007, Champaign resident John Bambenek declared his intention to run for the Champaign Community Unit School District #4 school board. The election is being held on April 17th to fill the four seats and one special election that is currently up for election. He is running for one of the four open seats for a full four year term.
Mr. Bambenek currently works as a research programmer for the University of Illinois at the Coordinated Science Lab. His duties include system and network administration as well as a small amount of information security research. He recently gave a presentation in Washington DC on information security and identity theft.
Before joining the University, he worked for Ernst & Young and Capgemini Ernst & Young as a project manager and senior consultant. He worked with many of the top Fortune 500 companies. He is also a freelance columnist and blogger writing on political and cultural issues.
In explaining why he is running for the school board, Bambenek said, “Unit 4 has been a frequent target of my criticism both in my columns and on my blog. I could either continue to complain or roll up my sleeves and try to fix it. I choose the later.” Mr. Bambenek is currently scheduling meetings with various community groups and individuals to gather input on the school system. He hopes to restore trust in the school system that was lost in recent years due to actions surrounding the consent decree and other problems.
Mr. Bambenek currently serves as the executive director of the Tumaini Foundation, a Champaign-based not-for-profit. The Tumaini Foundation is a charity that supports rural Tanzania schools by sending them much needed school supplies, medical supplies and computers.
For more information please contact John Bambenek at 217-493-0760 or via email at jcb.unit4@gmail.com.
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