The Syracuse-area Congressional seat is one of those 5 or 6 House races still to be decided. Mary Ann Buerkle, a staunchly Anti-Tax/Pro-Defense Republican has expanded her lead slightly in post-election absentee ballot counts.
Kate Lacey, Cayuga County’s Democratic elections commissioner, said the audit found no problems. The recanvassing, as previously reported, showed that some votes were mistakenly counted from outside of the 25th District to both Maffei and Buerkle. In the end, the correction of the mistake resulted in a net gain of 25 votes for Buerkle, giving her a 684-vote lead over Maffei heading into this week.
Maffei’s campaign declined to discuss specifics of its legal maneuvers on Monday. Dan McNally, Maffei’s campaign manager, said in a brief statement: “The election law provides a process, to insure the integrity of the vote, that every valid vote is counted. We are availing ourselves of that process.”
Buerkle, in an interview Monday, agreed. “All we want is to get all of these eligible votes counted,” she said.
The Democrat County elections commissioner reports that "machine problems" have led to the delayed counting according to MSNBC. The count is likely not to be resolved by Thanksgiving.
Newly-elected Republican Cong. Kristi Noem of South Dakota
Stuart Varney peppers the freshman Rep. with questions on a variety of topics including leadership posts, and soon-to-be Speaker John Boehner. Varney, smiling widely, comments "you seem to be performing remarkably well..."
Fox News is reporting that newly-elected Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia may come over to the GOP. Manchin fiercely opposes Cap and Trade, and other big items on the Obama agenda.
Republicans are making some big promises to try to lure West Virginia Senator-elect Joe Manchin to cross the aisle.
Aside from his pick of committee assignments (likely the Energy and Natural Resources Committee), Manchin might get support for one of his pet projects - a plant to convert coal to diesel fuel that has stalled under Democratic leadership in Washington.
It's one of Manchin's pet projects and could mean big money for the state's coal producers.
"Republicans believe in an ‘all of the above' approach to energy," one top Senate aide told Power Play. "And coal-to-diesel could certainly be part of that."
Manchin's switch could mean Republican support for not just $1 billion in seed money for the project but also a deal, much sought in coal country, to require the armed forces to use converted coal for fuel.
Republicans believe Manchin is particularly susceptible to the overture because he is up for reelection in 2012 and will have to be on the ticket with President Obama, who is direly unpopular in West Virginia.
In the final two weeks of the election John McCain campaigining in WV asserted half-jokingly, that Manchin should just join the Republican Party.
The New York Libertarian Party fell short of the 50,000 votes required for official ballot status again in this years Governor's race as a direct result of the thuggish and undemocratic tactics used to strong-arm the nomination of Albany Lawyer and perennial candidate Warren Redlich, a non-libertarian, and former Green Party Candidate and egomaniac at the Parties convention last spring.
Kristin Davis who ran a libertarian, issues-based campaign had a serious interest in the Libertarian nomination back in April but pro-Redlich thugs Eric Sundwall, Mark Axinn and Chris Edes conspired to deprive any candidate but Redlich access to a list of those "delegates" eligible to vote, exclude from any influence those New York voters who has actually taken the time to register as Libertarians and required a poll tax to vote. Scott Lieberman, an affable National Libertarian Party leader tried to broker a fair convention to no avail. Redlich was thus nominated and the seeds of his defeat were sown.
Davis petitioned her way onto the ballot anyway and ran a positive campaign based on a true libertarian agenda; legalization of marijuana, legalization of gay marriage, legalization of casino gambling and decriminalization of Prostitution. Redlich's response was to call Davis a "whore" in the Albany Times Union.
In the closing days of the race a First Amendment group People for Safer New York exposed Redlich's weird writing. People for a Safer New York reportedly mailed 150,000 households the notice. Did the revelations cost Redlich the roughly 5000 votes he fell short by? Most likely.
Additionlally, Buffalo Tea Party leader Rus Thompson who writes a widely read blog Albany Insanity, blasted Redlich accurately for trying to practice law before a Town Court while he was on the Town Board overseeing the Court and owning and profiting from a website CristineO'Donnellnude. O'Donnell was the Tea Party candidate in Delaware. Thompson's readership is 158,000 subscribers on the right.
Kristin Davis did offer one criticism of Redlich's proposal to raise gas taxes to "discourage consumption" a classic case of accepting the liberal argument that we should punish free behavior though taxation and without regard to the current price of gas.
Davis scored a respectable 22,000 votes- considering the "draw" of the Board of Elections placed her in a different row on the ballot than all but one of the other candidates for Governor. She will be back.
The Libertarians scored 44,761 votes. Just short of the magic 50,000. Pity. Paybacks are a bitch.
Editor's note - Roger Stone is a famed Republican political consultant, having worked in Ronald Reagan's campaigns, and for Bob Dole in 1996. He is a longtime self-described libertarian Republican. We welcome this submission from our friend Roger Stone. However, the editors and writers for Libertarian Republican do not necessarily agree with the sentiments expressed.
Upper Delaware establishment GOP vs. Downstater grass roots battle continues
From Eric Dondero:
Downstate Delaware Republicans are furious with State Party Chairman Tom Ross for his treatment of Christine O'Donnell during the general election. A meeting was held Monday night in Sussex County to pass a resolution of censure of the Chairman.
Ross had said during the campaign, that O'Donnell "couldn't be elected dog catcher," and made other similar derogatory remarks about the Tea Party favorite.
Taking part in the censure effort, at least one Libertarian Party member.
After a rancorous debate Monday night at a Sussex County Republican Party meeting in Georgetown, a vote was taken by voice, and it appeared the majority was in favor of censuring Ross, said county GOP Chairman Ron Sams. But Sams said he was unsure whether there was a quorum of election district committee chairmen, who are the only ones who have voting power in the county party's central committee.
Sams said nearly 200 people attended the meeting -- about double the turnout for a regular meeting -- at the Sussex County Association of Realtors building. "I'm not sure if everybody there were Republicans. I know one was a Libertarian," Sams said.
One Muslim rapist repeatedly called the girls "White Bitches"
From Eric Dondero:
Five Pakistani men continually assaulted young girls at playgrounds and near schoolyards in Britain, over a period of a few months. They have been just been convicted on multiple counts of rape and sexual abuse.
Note this politically correct headline from the UK Daily Mail which neglects to identify the perpetrators as Muslim Pakistanis.
'Sexual predators': Gang of Asian men weep as they are jailed for total of 32 years for abusing white girls as young as 12
A gang of Asian ‘sexual predators’ were jailed yesterday for abusing white girls as young as 12.
The five men preyed on their victims over several months and threatened them with violence if they refused their advances.
One of the men branded his victim a ‘white bitch’ when she resisted, while a second smirked: ‘I’ve used you and abused you.'
Editor's comment - the Daily Mail does not even use "South Asian," to describe the perpetrators. But rather gives the impression that the rapists were Koreans, Chinese, or Japanese.
Tonight at 8:00 pm cst, newly-elected United States Senator Mike Lee of Utah will be a guest on Libertarian Republicans' radio show "Libertarian Politics Live." The show is hosted by Andre Traversa of Chicago, and produced by Jim "Right Guy" Lagnese.
The Senator will be discussing Republican victories across the US, as well as new legislation he plans to introduce to protect Constitutional principles.
For the second half hour Congressman Steve King of Iowa will be the guest.
We reported the day after the elections last Tuesday on the overwhelming win of Oklahoma conservatives and libertarians over those wanting to bring Sharia Law to US courts. The measure to block Sharia, originally introduced by a libertarian Republican State Rep., passed with 70% of the vote.
Now, an activist judge has stepped in to block its implementation.
A federal judge blocked Oklahoma officials Monday from implementing a voter-approved referendum that singles out Islamic religious law, or Shariah, as a threat to the state.
Chief Judge Vicki Miles-LaGrange, of U.S. District Court in Oklahoma City, set a Nov. 22 hearing to consider whether the Save Our State Amendment violates the U.S. Constitution. Until then, she issued a temporary restraining order preventing the state Election Board from certifying State Question 755, which passed by 70% on Nov. 2.
The measure directs state courts to ignore "legal precepts of other nations or cultures" and specifically forbids consideration of "international law or Sharia Law."
A Muslim activist in Oklahoma City, Muneer Awad, filed suit last week, alleging the measure violated the First Amendment, which forbids government from promoting an "establishment of religion" or interfering with "free exercise" of religion.
As Election Night early returns rolled in, Libertarian Party of Indiana State Chair Sam Goldstein commented on the numbers- thus far, the highest seen for Libertarian candidates in the history of the LPIN. Listen Here: LPIN State Chair Sam Goldstein
The Libertarian Party of Indiana will maintain ballot access for four more years because of their achievement of six percent in the Secretary of State race. Libertarian Mike Wherry earned 100,847 votes which is the highest number of votes cast for a single candidate in the LPIN’s history. Automatic Ballot access is granted to a [...]
A snap shot of the numbers from past cycles versus the numbers in the 2010 election (as of 11-4-10). SOS: Sink-Burris 2002: 60,937; 4.1% Kole 2006: 54,381; 3.3% Wherry 2010: 100,847; 5.9% Auditor: Parisi 2002: 49,030; 3.4% Knipe 2010: 78,098; 4.6% US Senate: Hager 2000: 33,992; 1.6% Barger 2004: 27,334; 1.1% Osborn 2006: 168,820; 12.6% [...]
The economy, foreign policy, and social issues… This video was embedded using the YouTuber plugin by Roy Tanck. Adobe Flash Player is required to view the video.
Did you notice that gas has gone up to $3 a gallon, or that cereal and other food is now more expensive? It’s not big business out to gouge you. It’s the actions of a group of bankers (the Federal Reserve) that do not answer to Congress (or you) when they increase prices (or tax [...]
Tip O’Neil is famous for the phrase, “All Politics is Local!” He wrote a book with the same title, and in it he tells the story of why asking people for their vote is so important. In the story, he tells of his first campaign where one of his neighbors, Mrs. Elizabeth O’Brien, stopped him [...]
Many Election night parties are planned around the state to celebrate the hard work of Libertarians in this past cycle. All are welcomed to attend any of these functions. The State Party will have it’s election night gathering at the Antelope Club in downtown Indianapolis. Come congratulate Rebecca Sink-Burris, Mike Wherry, and many other candidates [...]
Conversations with Rebecca Sink-Burris: Big Government and Why it Doesn’t Work This video was embedded using the YouTuber plugin by Roy Tanck. Adobe Flash Player is required to view the video.
The Libertarian Party and their candidates are looking for volunteers tomorrow! If you are willing to stand at polling places and ask for votes, please contact one of the people below and we will make every attempt to get you materials. We have plenty of materials, but we need more liberty lovers! Here is a [...]
Mike Kole isn’t the only Libertarian in this series of podcast ‘conversion stories’ to go from the Democrats to the LP, but he was the first to mention Ayn Rand her influential novel ‘Atlas Shrugged’. That book wasn’t the only influence- betrayal by Democrats on free speech issues was huge, and the book brought Kole [...]
Hubble's look at Abell 1689, just WOW! A larger version is linked below. Credit: : NASA, ESA, D. Coe (NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory/California Institute of Technology, and Space Telescope Science Institute), N. Benitez (Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia, Spain), T. Broadhurst (University of the Basque Country, Spain), and H. Ford (Johns Hopkins University)
This is an amazing Hubble dark matter map in Abell 1689. Yes dark matter IS invisible it can be inferred as you will read below. Still the image is really something, do yourself a favor, grab a cup of coffee or your favorite beverage and spend a few minutes looking at a larger version (~366k), you will see numerous galaxies and evidence of gravitational lensing.
Here’s the short version from Hubblesite:
Astronomers using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope received a boost from a cosmic magnifying glass to construct one of the sharpest maps of dark matter in the universe. They used Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys to chart the invisible matter in the massive galaxy cluster Abell 1689, located 2.2 billion light-years away. The cluster contains about 1,000 galaxies and trillions of stars. Dark matter is an invisible form of matter that accounts for most of the universe’s mass. Hubble cannot see the dark matter directly. Astronomers inferred its location by analyzing the effect of gravitational lensing, where light from galaxies behind Abell 1689 is distorted by intervening matter within the cluster.
Researchers used the observed positions of 135 lensed images of 42 background galaxies to calculate the location and amount of dark matter in the cluster. They superimposed a map of these inferred dark matter concentrations, tinted blue, on a Hubble image of the cluster. The new dark matter observations may yield new insights into the role of dark energy in the universe’s early formative years.
Go over to Hubblesite for the full story AND a zoomable version of the image. Good stuff.
The Syracuse-area Congressional seat is one of those 5 or 6 House races still to be decided. Mary Ann Buerkle, a staunchly Anti-Tax/Pro-Defense Republican has expanded her lead slightly in post-election absentee ballot counts.
