Democrats Suppress the Vote

The following is my reply to an editorial in the New York Times, 9 October 2011.  Here I have added a few sentences and corrected a few misspellings. --- HM

Opinion

The Myth of Voter FraudBack to Article »

New restrictions on voting are really intended to keep people who vote Democratic from the polls, particularly the young, the poor, the elderly, and minorities.

28.

Hugh Murray

Milwaukee

October 10th, 2011

10:11 am

Even if it were true that there was no voter fraud in the past (and there has been fraud), should we await until there is massive voter fraud to do something? States are correct in requiring IDs now.

I am one of the elderly, and I want my vote to count and not be voided by illegal aliens voting, or others who vote twice.

The Obama Justice Dept. has refused to demand that states remove the dead from the voter roles, as required by law. Perhaps the Chicago politician hopes to win reelection with the graveyard vote.

The editorial assumes that the Democrats want the number of voters to increase. I recall in Wisconsin in 2004 how the states Democratic Party went to court several times to prevent the name of Ralph Nader appearing on the ballot. (Had the Democrats succeeded, they would have effectively disfranchised some 16,000 Nader voters.  The Democrats failed in their plot in Wisconsin, but did prevent Nader from appearing on ballots in several states.)  In the same election, Democratic operatives, including the son of a Democratic Congressperson, slashed tires of vans meant to transport elderly Republicans to the polls. Democrats seek to curb the vote of those who might vote for other parties. And Democrats use unfair tactics to do so.

The Democrats will stop at nothing to win. To prevent fraud, all good citizens should demand voter ID at the polls.

What Became of the Peace Movement?

WHAT BECAME OF THE PEACE MOVEMENT?

            After the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon Building near Washington, the United States retaliated.  A war in Afghanistan was followed by a war in Iraq.  But many on the Left opposed these wars.  Demonstrations against President Bush, Vice President Cheney, Halliburton Corporation, and the Republicans grew in size and frequency.  One mother of a soldier killed abroad led picketers near Bush’s ranch.  The peace demonstrations were conducted in many cities and participants often held signs equating Bush with fascism, Hitler, and other negatives.  The peace demonstrations were a part of the Left wing and Democratic Party arsenal.

            But with the election of Democratic President Obama, the peace demonstrations evaporated.  The Peace Movement was linked to the Democrats, and the leaders did not want to disrupt the Democratic Administration.  As Obama continued the wars with little change, all the arguments that the Movement had used for several years were just as valid, indeed more so, for the wars were continuing years longer with more casualties.  But there was no visible Peace Movement.  It should not embarrass the Democratic Party and the Obama Administration.

            Yet, how could the Democrats mobilize the base?  If the Peace Movement and peace demonstrations were now an embarrassment, what else could be done?  Worse, the struggle over ObamaCare had brought many anti-Democrats into demonstrations within the amorphous Tea Party rallies.  The elections of 2010 provided some Democratic wins, but overall, it was a massive defeat.

            Then, newly elected Republican Governors in Wisconsin, New Jersey, and a few other states began to reign in the inflated budgets left by outgoing Democratic regimes.  Suddenly, teachers, and government unions and students and the idle Left all began to mobilize in raucous demonstrations.  They occupied the Wisconsin capitol in early 2011, and Democratic municipalities refused to restore order.  Bullying and threats became part of the scene.  Popular democracy was obstructed by Democratic Parties using mob tactics, aided by friendly politically activist judges.  These mobs attempted to shout over, drum over, stamped over, the duly elected representatives of the people.  In the end, they failed.  Despite the obstruction, Republican policies were slowly enacted and implemented.  Unions, feeling threatened by loss of dues and power, became frantic.

            By Autumn 2011 the Democrats had resurrected the Peace Movement demonstrations, but not to demand peace.  Now, the same crew of demonstrators were on the street to demand the end of greed!  Close down Wall Street, attack the banks, raise taxes on the rich!  But this was the same set of people who peopled the peace movement.  The anarchists, the Communists, the Socialists, the Trotskyists, the Left – it was the same group of people, but with a change in cause that would not embarrass Obama.  They simply turned their anti-war signs round and wrote anti-greed screeds.  They met the same friends and heard similar speakers.  They were still anti-war, but that was now backburner, because they want to reelect President Obama.  Peace is less important that a Democratic victory.  If the Republicans should win, then they will start marching again for peace.  But for the moment, for the Movement, today they march against greed.  Against profits.  Oh, and can you donate a few dollars so I can remake my signs?

            Peace?  Greed?  Their only principle is electing Democrats.

  Eugene Kane is a writer for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.  He often presents Black nationalist views in his column.  This describes events in Milwaukee.  My comment follows Kane's article.

A comment re Eugene Kane’s comment in Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 1 October 2011

Eugene Kane | In My Opinion

Scrap yard death is littered with enough blame to go around

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    Perhaps more than anything else, the death of Shelton D. Smith was a lesson about consequences.

    Just 16 years old, Smith lost his life in May when he was shot and killed while attempting to steal from a scrap metal yard. The shooter, 54-year-old David A. Helton, was sentenced to 12 years in prison last week after being found guilty of second-degree reckless homicide.

    Helton was living in a trailer at the H&R Scrap Metals yard at 9000 W. Fond du Lac Ave. when he shot Smith, who had climbed over the fence and into the yard with two other young males and an adult.

    As they were throwing old motor parts over the fence, Helton fired his shotgun, striking Smith and killing him at the scene.

    At the time, I couldn't imagine a more combustible crime story for Milwaukee: a white guy living in a trailer shoots and kills an unarmed young black criminal during a robbery. On the surface, it seemed like a troubling tale about a vigilante shooting involving a good boy gone bad.

    Smith was reportedly a promising athlete and student with dreams of going on to college. His family members were understandably upset at his death and insisted even though he was caught stealing, Smith was essentially a good kid who had followed the wrong crowd.

    It turned out he paid for his bad judgment with his life, which his family felt was way too high a price.

    Helton, a self-described loner who came to live in the scrap metal yard with the permission of the owner, told several different stories to police after the     shooting.

    He was convicted after Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Richard J. Sankovitz decided that Helton's version of the events - that it was an accidental shooting - simply didn't hold water.

    "Many accidents could be avoided if people thought about what could happen," Sankovitz told Helton during sentencing.

    "You didn't think about it, and Mr. Smith didn't think about it, either."

I talked with Johnathan Safran, the attorney representing Smith's mother, Tisha Monique Gardner, who said the family was considering further legal action against Helton and possibly the owner of the scrap metal yard.

    Safran said no decision had been made on a wrongful-death lawsuit yet, although the family wasn't totally satisfied with the judge's 12-year sentence . For his part, Safran said he felt police and the district attorney's office had investigated the shooting well although he also expressed reservation about the length of the sentence.

    "I don't think 12 years is enough for taking somebody's life."

It's a good bet Smith's family will pursue some sort of financial claims from the scrap metal yard owner. Even if the owner didn't consider Helton an official night security guard, his presence in the scrap metal yard suggested some sort of arrangement.

    "He definitely seemed to be a nighttime presence ," said Safran, who noted Helton's living arrangement in a trailer at the scrap yard may have violated city housing ordinances.

    Another messy detail is that, in an unrelated case, Smith's mother faces serious child neglect charges for 11 of her 12 children in a case out of Dane County. Safran is aware of those charges but said Smith wasn't living with his mother at the time of his death.

    It turns out to be a complicated story about a group of people who clearly didn't consider all of their options before acting, with tragic results.

    If Smith had thought twice about riding along with a group of friends who planned to rob the salvage yard, he'd likely be alive today.

    If Helton had a better understanding of gun laws, he would have realized what it meant to open fire on someone who wasn't directly threatening his life.

    Let's not forget the scrap yard owner who probably didn't fully appreciate the consequences of having an armed person living on his property without any training or authority.

    With a lawsuit looming, the search for justice for Smith's family may prove messy, with the release of more embarrassing details about the slain teenager's upbringing. That's another consequence to consider. When children aren't raised properly, they can make poor decisions that can cost them their lives.

    It's a lesson worth learning.

Here is my comment -- Hugh Murray

  Here is a poor white man living in a scrap yard.  Liberals automatically sneer, he is a loser.  The poor man discovers 3 thieves throwing some of the merchandise over the fence to be stolen.  He stops it - about the only why flash mobs and other thieves understand - with violence.  So he killed a thief.  If the guy had not been thieving, he would not have been injured.  It's time to allow store owners to protect their property from those who simply take.  Thieves should be punished, and if they seek to run away, shoot them faster.

   The man is poor.  He lives in a scrap yard.  If he allows thieves to take everything, will he even be allowed that meager existence?  That property is part of his life.  He should defend it with everything possible.  Its loss will mean the loss of his life.  Of course, rich liberals cannot understand the poor.  That is why they are liberal and have such sympathies for criminals and vote Democrat.

   Justice for the poor of all colors means total defense of property from thieves.

   The man should not be sentenced to any time in jail.  The mother of the thief should be charged for raising a criminal.

A comment re Eugene Kane’s comment in Milwaukee Journal Sentinel 1 October 2011

DEMOCRATS INTIMIDATE, EXTORT, AND SUPPRESS FREEDOM

DEMOCRATS INTIMIDATION, EXTORTION, AND SUPPRESSION

OF FREE SPEECH IN WISCONSIN

            Wisconsin State Sen. Lena Taylor, a Democrat, last week called for a boycott of Andy’s Gas Station, located in her district.  The reason for the boycott – the owner of the station has contributed to Republican candidates.  When questioned about her urging of this and other boycotts, like Georgia Pacific, Dixie Cups, etc., she spoke of the need to support democracy. 

Sen. Taylor is really openly advocating extortion.  If the gas station is boycotted, it might go out of business, a bad sign in her district that includes many unemployed.  But if the owner succumbs to her threats, and stops supporting the Republicans, then what?  Will Sen. Taylor not demand that he positively contribute to “democracy” and the Democratic Party, and her campaign in particular.  This is extortion.  Sen. Taylor, is not interested in promoting democracy; on the contrary, she aims to restrict any and all who oppose her political views.  This is how she treats the minority in her district.

And what happened earlier in 2011.  When she and her Democratic colleagues were the minority in the State Legislature, she was among several who fled the state, to prevent a quorum, and thereby obstruct the majority of the people and the majority of the Wisconsin legislature.

Not only did the Democrats induce thousands to occupy much of the Wisconsin State Legislature earlier this year, making democracy almost impossible by shouting, drumming, singing, and at times hurling insults at legislators with whom they disagree or wrestling guards who tried to prevent them pushing inside the building.

The nonsense and intimidation continued even after the Democrats failed to defeat a Wisconsin Supreme Court judge and then failed to win a majority in the State Senate in recall elections.  But even into the night the wackos sit outside the State Capitol building in Madison drumming and shouting and disturbing the peace.

One bully daily drives his car in front of the home of Gov. Walker and honks and flips the finger and hurls insults.  National Rep. Ryan of Wisconsin has been insulted by other crazies while he tries to eat with family in friends in a restaurant.  And last week, while several Republican state legislators were enjoying drinks at a pub across the street from the Capitol, some more unruly nuts poured beer on the head of one, and it spilt onto others.

The Democrats are so certain that their way is the only way, they do not believe in dissent.  And they will bully, intimidate, extort, to get their way.  This is what Acorn used to do to bank executives.  And of course, Obama, the community organizer, probably favored such intimidation.  When Glenn Beck went to a concert in a New York park, a Leftist poured wine down the back of his wife.

In some areas of Wisconsin, union leaders declared that Republicans were not welcome in the Labor Day Parades.  One mayor retorted that if the city paid for the parade, all were welcome.  And if Republicans were excluded, then the city would not pay.

The Democrats are using bullying tactics because they know their policies are unpopular.  They do not believe in free speech and shout down speakers who disagree with them on university campuses.

Last week in Madison, WI, an organization that supports civil rights had sued the U. of Wisconsin Madison because it denies equal opportunity to whites and Asians, and gives favoritism to Hispanics and Blacks.  Naturally, the liberal university sought to hide its methods of discrimination.  The organization sued the university and had to go all the way to the Wisconsin Supreme Court before the university was forced to reveal its methods and the extent of its racist, discriminatory practices.  Last week a spokesman of the organization was to present the results of their efforts to the public.  Leftwing protestors were at first outside the hotel where the event was to occur, but eventually one broke in and then others, people being tackled, and the press conference was disrupted and ended.

Simply, the Democrats do not believe in free speech.  They do not believe in equal opportunity, if that means an equal opportunity for whites and Asians.  They do not believe in allowing people to contribute to the party of their choice, without fear of losing a job or going out of business.  Democrats do believe they have the right to pour wine on opponents, pour beer on opponents, throw pies at opponents, disturb the neighborhoods in which opponents reside, disturb the piece, and use thuggery to advance their narrow views.

Republican should begin to introduce legislation to end the thuggery.  

World Trade Center stairs, 9/11, and Hugh Murray

There are times when we are not always aware of the importance of our own words.  In the early 1980s I worked in New York City in the World Trade Center.  One day, the elevators were broken, and rather than await the repairs, (a huge crowd was already waiting to board the elevators to get to work too), I chose to walk up to the office located on the 38th floor.  After the 9^th floor, there were no more lights in the stairwell.  Around the 11^th floor, I placed y hand before my face, but could not see it.  It was that dark.  One could hear the building sway with the wind, the heavy grinding of the metal so it could be flexible.  Going up, I had to grip the rail, and because employees in the building often did not want to go all the way down to eat lunch, or remain at their desks, some would eat on the stairwell, and leave their empty bottles and other trash.  When lit, it was easy to avoid such impediments.  But in the blackened stairwell, for each step, I had to use my foot as a broom, to push any item on which I might trip away to the side.  I reached my office on the 38^th floor, gripping the handrail at each step in the pitch dark.  When I opened the door on the 38 floor, all the office lights were functioning normally and the early crew was working as usual.  I was stunned that the electricity for the elevators and the lights for the stairs might be on the same circuit, malfunctioning at the same time.  I complained at that time to my union representative, and may have written my complaint to OCEA, a government agency that might handle such problems.  However, shortly thereafter I left the job, and never knew the outcome of my complaint.

With the bombing of the WTC in 1993, I was shocked to see TV reports that the lights were off in the stairs.  This time I complained to the newspapers, and my letter was published in the NY POST, 8 March 1993, “WTC: Dark Stairwells and Other Lapses.”  The same letter was published in the New York DAILY NEWS, 18 March 1993, p. 42.   It was also published in NY NEWSDAY.  I did not think these letters important at the time, though the combined circulation of the three newspapers was about 2 million.  Noteworthy, I did not include these publications in my bibliography.

Then September 11, 2001!  INVESTOR’S DAILY noted the changes in the stairwells.  “In 1993, it took six hours to evacuate most of the Trade Center after terrorists detonated a bomb in an underground garage,…After the bombing, however, batteries were added to every other light fixture in stairwells…Handrails were painted with glow-in-the-dark paint, which was used to mark a continuous stripe down the middle of the staircases.”  The newspaper concluded, “…, despite missteps, evacuation was cut by several hours.”  I am quite proud.  I suspect that my letters may have helped spur these improvements, which on 9-11 may have saved many lives.

We can never be sure of the consequences of our actions, or inactions.  But sometimes we can be proud of what we thought were minor acts.  That is much better than grieving because we failed to do something simple.

History Channel, LBJ and the John Kennedy Assassination

   According to a British newspaper, Jackie Kennedy expressed her suspicions that Lyndon Johnson was involved in the assassination of her husband, John Kennedy, will be revealed when tapes from the era are released next week.  This will be televised on ABC-TV in the US.  Interestingly, the History Channel several years ago ran an hour-long program centering an a mistress of Lyndon who maintained he was responsible for the murder of President Kennedy.  After complaints, probably from the court historians and court politicians, History announced it would no longer telecast that hour for it diminished the high standards of the channel.  So rather than impugn the integrity of former President Johnson, History Channel runs hours of such high-level programs like Ancient Aliens.
   On the other side, the History Channel pulled out of a biographical program on the Kennedys when the family objected.  There was speculation that the writing was too Republican.  Although Katie Holmes and other stars were featured in the film, it was not shown on History Channel.
   It is interesting that at least two riders in the limo in which JFK was killed, his wife and Gov. Connely of Texas, did not believe the official lone-nut story of the assassination.

Jobs Bill for America: Not Obama's

HOW TO CREATE MILLIONS MORE AMERICAN JOBS:

NOT OBAMA’S JOBS BILL

            Tonight President Obama presented his “Jobs Bill” to Congress and the American people.  His proposal exposed that he is not really interested in creating jobs for Americans.

            America has been losing jobs to foreigners for decades.  Obama and the liberal Republicans seem to believe there is nothing, or little, that America can do to stem the tide.  Obama and the liberal Republicans are WRONG.

            There are an estimated 10 to 15 million illegal aliens in the United States.  Either they are working or they are not.  If they are working, they are foreigners who do not belong in the United States.  They should not be working here; they should not be here.  Deport them.  Many of those millions of jobs in construction and factories could then be filled by Americans.

            If the illegals are not working, they may be on welfare of some kind or another.  Deport them.  This will save hospitals, schools, and welfare agencies considerable sums of money.  If they are in jail, when they have served their time, deport them.  They do not belong in the US to break our laws again.

            To provide greater protection for American workers, the government would have to hire more Border Patrollers, more Immigration inspectors, and people to construct a wall where necessary on the border with Mexico.

            The result of my proposal would be millions of more Americans employed, replacing illegal foreign labor.  Furthermore, many welfare agencies would save considerable sums now spent on illegals.  Finally, there would be a safer border to protect Americans from further invasions of illegals who may want out welfare, our jobs, to distort or destroy our culture, or who may simply be terrorists.  America would be safer, and more prosperous with my job proposal.  Can the same be said of Obama’s?

                        Hugh Murray