Tuesday, November 4, 2008

VOTER FRAUD IN NEW JERSEY

I know I promised no more postings but a story came to my attention this morning that has me fuming.

As most of you know my father suffers from macular degeneration - it's a genetic medical condition that slowly takes your vision as you age. As a result, he has trouble seeing and for years has asked my mother to accompany him into the voting booth to read him the questions, candidates and help him to cast his vote.

This morning at the polling place, my mother was stopped from entering the voting booth with my father by a woman who identified herself as a lawyer. This woman stated that my mother could not accompany my father into the voting both and said that she, as a lawyer, would have to accompany him. The woman went into the booth with my father, read him the questions and cast his vote for him. My father, unable to see, was forced to take this poll worker at her word that she cast his vote appropriately.

This did not sit well with my parents who called the board of elections immediately upon returning home. Five minutes of internet research proves that what this woman did was illegal - take a look at this letter from the New Jersey Department of the Public Advocate, which clearly states,

A voter with a disability may have a person of his or her choosing assist them in the voting booth... if a voter asks for help in the voting booth from staff at the polling place, the poll workers may assign one person from each political party to help them... It is the voter's choice if they want help in the voting booth.

I want to give this poll worker the benefit of the doubt - that she cast my father's vote the way he wanted it to be cast but regardless, in refusing my mother admittance to the voting booth with my father, against his wishes, then entering the booth to cast his vote with no oversight, she broke the law.

Developing...

Sunday, November 2, 2008

Vote

No matter what side you're on - it looks like we'll be sweating it out on Tuesday night. The most accurate pollster in the 2004 election, the TechnoMetrica Institute of Policy and Politics (TIPP) has the spread between the two candidates at 2%, well within their 3.4% margin of error. Their poll also indicates that 8.7% of voters are still telling pollsters that they are "undecided." All that's left now is to vote.

You've heard the punditry, the sound-bytes and the campaign ads but how much thought have you given to who you're voting for and why?

Unsurprisingly, I'll be casting my vote for John McCain - why?

I am voting for a man who has been a leader in the realm of Foreign Policy - a man who stood up to his President and his party in calling for the replacement of Donald Rumsfeld and the military strategy that has led to success in Iraq. To leave Iraq, as Senator McCain's opponent has suggested, would have been a disaster. It would have left a power-vacuum in the region, destabilized its security and cost us what now looks to be a powerful ally (the Iraqi's themselves) in a contentious part of the world. I believe we needed to finish what we started, so does John McCain. With his leadership on the issue we have seen success, to quote Barrack Obama, "beyond our wildest dreams". This success has allowed us to begin talks with the Iraqis to negotiate the withdrawal of American troops in victory.

I am voting for a man who has been an unwavering proponent of the Right to Life and, as an adoptive parent himself, a personal advocate of adoption. A man who chose as his running mate a woman who chose life in a circumstance in which 90% of women given the same diagnosis chose abortion. These are two people who have proven their commitment to this incredibly important issue through actions, not just words.

On Health Care I like the flexibility offered by the McCain plan - a $5,000 tax credit to purchase health care seems to me like a great way to kick start our economy while providing Americans with a wider range of choice and keeping us from having to institute a government run health care system.

I am voting for a man who served his country honorably during the Vietnam War though he received little credit for that at the time from his fellow-countrymen. A man who withstood years of torture though he was offered a chance at release. A man who put his life on the line for my freedom. And a man who knows what it is to watch his own
children go to war - John McCain has two sons in active duty - a fact you don't hear about much but one that, in part, explains why members of our armed forces are voting McCain/Palin by a margin of 3-1.

I am voting for a man who has made a career out of working toward bipartisan solutions - a man who, until this election, has been viewed as one who is above the political fray, who can claim friends on either side of the aisle, who is viewed as a statesman - even by the man who would be the Democratic nominee for Vice President

From the Politico - Joe Biden has called McCain a personal hero and proclaimed that he would run on a McCain ticket. Perhaps more substantively, Biden praised McCain's stances on climate change and troop levels in Iraq and has acknowledged that McCain's approach to foreign policy differs from President Bush's.

McCain has also drawn praise from both Clintons and many others from the left. He can bring this country together behind the moderate, conservative principles that have guided him throughout his career.

He has been a staunch advocate of responsible spending and has flatly rejected earmarks - a disgusting political practice that has become all to common in Washington and smacks of socialistic redistribution.

He believes, as I do, that the best way to grow an economy is to keep taxes low while implementing common sense regulations that guide but do not hinder business practices and individual liberties. He knows that raising taxes at a time like this would hurt more than it would help - he knows that because he is a student of this country's history.

He led the charge on campaign finance reform - a bill I admit I do not fully support, yet he saw the need to get special interests out of the election process and took steps to do something about it. His legislation, the result of a bipartisan effort, is not perfect, but it is a start. I respect that.

On energy I support McCain's "all of the above" approach. I see the next entrepreneur who comes up with the solution to our energy crisis as the next billionaire, not a lab coat in the employ of the government. McCain has been pro-nuclear, clean coal, biofuels and oil from day one. He supports drilling offshore and again, his position has not shifted on that claim. I believe that while we explore new technologies we must also ensure that no matter what their timeframe
for implementation that we have a steady and secure supply of fossil fuels to meet our demand.

John McCain has given his life in service to this nation. I am confident that he will be a humble, inspiring and fair leader and an excellent ambassador on this nation's behalf. John McCain is a good man and will make a great President.

On Tuesday, November 4 - the choice is clear - Vote McCain.