How Extreme Is North Carolina’s New Voter Law?

By William Teach August 15, 2013 – 7:50 am

Since the new NC voter law, which includes requiring voter ID, shortens the number of early voting days, eliminates same day registration, and does away with straight party voting, liberals have been doing their typical freakout dance. They’re typical headline and/or article pushes the “voter suppression” and “disenfranchisement” memes. Here’s the Raleigh N&O Editorial Board a few days ago

And he of course didn’t linger on the other parts of the legislation clearly designed to give Republicans an advantage in future elections, blatantly political maneuvers: no more straight-ticket voting, which is favored by more Democrats than Republicans; no more same-day registration and voting, again something shown to be used more by Democrats; early voting periods will be shorter, and early voting also tends to draw more Democrats; no more pre-registration for students younger than 18, as the young tend to lean Democratic.

They’re very worried that Dems will have trouble following the law in order to vote. Do they have trouble with Liberals voting in Hawaii, Illinois, and Delaware? Because they have voter ID laws, too. Sure, the NC law allows gun registrations as ID but not student ID. Because NC doesn’t have a ton of out-of-state students. I mentioned in that link that over 30 states have voter ID laws. Now, via the John Locke Foundation we see just how super evil the updated voter laws are

  • 14 states allow straight party voting. North Carolina now joins the 36 other states that do not.
  • 15 states allow NO early voting or no-excuse absentee voting. (Those include NY and Mass)
  • 32 states allow early voting ranging from 4 days prior to election day to 45 days with an average 19 days. North Carolina allows 10 days but requires the same number of hours of early voting that was available in 2012 and 2010 when the early voting period was 17 days.
  • Only 1 state allows same day registration during early voting. NC was the only other state to allow this and has now joined 49 states in not allowing same day registration during early voting.
  • 11 states allow same day registration on Election Day. North Carolina does not.
  • 5 states allow 16 and 17 year olds to pre-register to vote. 45 states do not, including now, North Carolina.

The lawyers for North Carolina will have these facts readily available as they fight of the Democrat led suits. When Pennsylvania was sued for their voter ID law, the judge upheld the law because most of the claims of the liberal organizations were found to be mule fritters. It’d be nice if (supposed) news organizations like the News and Observer, NY Times, Washington Post, and others, especially in North Carolina, would give the actual details.

Crossed at Right Wing News and Stop The ACLU.

Read: How Extreme Is North Carolina’s New Voter Law? »

Posted in Election Fraud, Elections, NC News | 3 Comments | Trackback URL

NY Times: Mostly Unnamed North Carolinians Fear Something

By William Teach August 14, 2013 – 4:29 pm

I’d like to know what the NY Times actually knows about “the middle way”, considering they operate out of a heavily Progressive city in a pretty heavily left voting state

North Carolinians Fear the End of a Middle Way

When Pat McCrory, a Republican former mayor of Charlotte, was elected governor last year, he pledged to “bring this state together,” and to focus on bread-and-butter issues amid an ailing economy.

But with Republicans controlling all branches of the state government for the first time in more than a century, the legislature pushed through a wide range of conservative change. The Republicans not only cut taxes and business regulations, as many had expected, but also allowed stricter regulations on abortion clinics, ended teacher tenure, blocked the expansion of Medicaid, cut unemployment benefits, removed obstacles to the death penalty, allowed concealed guns in bars and restaurants, and mandated the teaching of cursive writing.

And some whining about voter ID. But, what is this really about?

But the agenda that did pass was unquestionably a right turn for a state that only five years ago voted for Barack Obama, the first Democratic presidential candidate to win here since Jimmy Carter. With a run of Democratic governors stretching back to 1993, North Carolina was considered such a promising state for the Democrats that they held their convention in Charlotte in 2012.

Progressives/Liberals are afraid of losing the momentum they made in the South, replacing Blue Dog Democrats, and competent ones too boot, with hard left Progressives like Bev Perdue (governor from 2008-2012, and so incompetent that she refused to run for a 2nd term) and Mike Easley, who preceded Perdue.

In fact, other than liberals, most North Carolinian’s are happy with the way things are going.

Read: NY Times: Mostly Unnamed North Carolinians Fear Something »

Posted in Democrats, Wonky Media | 2 Comments | Trackback URL

If All You See…

By William Teach August 14, 2013 – 1:00 pm

…is a horrible canine using up all of Gaia’s resources and dooming the planet to boil, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Scared Monkeys, with a post about Hooters telling Bob Filner he’s banned.

Read: If All You See… »

Posted in If All You See | 1 Comment | Trackback URL

Grist Is PIST Or Something

By William Teach August 14, 2013 – 12:43 pm

No, really

(Grist) Here at Grist we’re PIST, and we want you to be, too.

PIST is People in Support of Tomorrow. We’re people just like you, coping with the prospect of a frying planet.

Once we were irked. Peeved. Irritated. Now, we’re just PIST. And we want you to join us and share your PISTness.

We need 250 — at least — of you to show your support by helping us spread more PISTaciousness on Twitter.

Warmists have been “spreading awareness” since 1988, yet their belief sets are so weak that they refuse to practice what they preach.

..a mass effort to coordinate tweets that’s super easy to sign up for, and that will surely shake the rafters of the Twittersphere.

Yeah, about 20 tweets. Several by the same people.

Read: Grist Is PIST Or Something »

Posted in AGW Idiocy, Global Warming | 1 Comment | Trackback URL

Bummer: AGW So Bad That A Grand Solar Minimum Would Barely Make A Dent

By William Teach August 14, 2013 – 10:05 am

Why? Because you refuse to give up your fossil fueled travel, still have a fridge with an ice maker, and dare to use hair spray before work

(UK Guardian) Recent articles in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten (translation available here) and in the Irish Times both ran headlines claiming that another grand solar minimum could potentially trigger an “ice age” or “mini ice age” this century. These articles actually refer to the Little Ice Age (LIA) – a period about 500 to 150 years ago when global surface temperatures were approximately 1°C colder than they are today. This is quite different from an ice age, which are more like 5°C colder than today. The LIA was not actually very cold on a global scale.

Oh, really?

Of course, the idea is to say that the LIA was simply a localized incident, mostly in Europe (it was worldwide), while also attempting to erase much of the deep cold of the LIA.

So, in order to trigger another LIA, a new grand solar minimum would have to cause about 1°C cooling, plus it would have to offset the continued human-caused global warming of 1 to 5°C by 2100, depending on how our greenhouse gas emissions change over the next century.

And boom, science just went out the window in favor of reading tea leaves and looking into crystal balls. The Warmists models have failed spectacularly, as they did not predict this current pause in warming, which has increased a statistically insignificant .14F since 1997. Most of that warming came during the El Nino years. Other data shows a 0.0F increase since 2000. But, since 1999 some data shows a decrease of 2.4F per century for the US lower 48. Climate models really are complete disasters.

Of course, the same Guardian article also trots out the notion that all the warmth is doing a Where’s Waldo? in the deep oceans, which Warmists are expanding on ever-more. The article ends thusly

The science is quite clear that the human influence on climate change has become bigger than the sun’s. At this point, speculation about another mini ice age is pure fantasy.

Yup, cult. Yet the members of the cult refuse to modify their own behavior to comply with their pronouncements, which should tell you all you need to know about their true motives, namely that they are political, creating bigger and bigger government with more control over people and private entities, and not about science.

Crossed at Right Wing News and Stop The ACLU.

Read: Bummer: AGW So Bad That A Grand Solar Minimum Would Barely Make A Dent »

Posted in AGW Idiocy, Climahypocrites, Collapsing Science, Global Warming, New Climate Deniers | 3 Comments | Trackback URL

97% Of Federal Workers Overwhelmingly Prefer To Keep Their Own Insurance

By William Teach August 14, 2013 – 9:33 am

That’s what a real 97% consensus looks like, but, it can’t be that bad, can it? One would think that those who work in the federal workforce are overwhelmingly Democrat. In fact “35.1% of those who participated identified themselves as a Republican. 30.8% identified themselves as independents and 30.7% identified themselves as a Democrat.” A 2008 survey found that Obama was preferred by 7%. For 2012, 58.2% said they did not want Obama re-elected.

(Daily Caller) Less than 3 percent of U.S. federal workers want to give up their current health plans and join Obamacare, according to a new poll.

92.3 percent of federal workers think that they should continue with their current health insurance program, the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP), while just 2.8 percent think they should be required to join Obamacare exchanges and 4.9 percent are not sure, according to an August survey conducted by FedSmith.com, a website for federal employees.

“There is apparently little debate among the federal workforce. Federal employees do not want to be part of the new system… Employees who are already retired have a much stronger negative reaction to being moved to a new system,” FedSmith.com noted.

Let’s consider that federal workers tend to have a pretty sweet deal with their government provided healthcare. Also, federal workers, other than Congress and their staffs, do not actually have to enroll in Obamacare. But, will the plans last? The plans are actually very cost friendly, with the government pitching in around $5,000 per consumer (2010 costs were $40 billion, with approx 8 million enrollees, which includes spouses and dependents). I usually hate to cite Wikipedia, but

Over time, however, the FEHB program has outperformed original Medicare not only in cost control, but also in benefit improvement, enrollee service, fraud prevention, and avoidance of “pork barrel” spending and earmarks.

Then there’s this

One of the most prominent features of the FEHB program is the choices it allows. There are three broad types of plans: fee-for-service and preferred provider organization (PPO), usually offered in combination; HMOs; and high-deductible health plans and other consumer-driven plans.

Ah, but consider that Obamacare does away with many of these plans, ones that do not include all the massive out of control coverages, ones that are basic, and most high deductible ones. The legislation establishing the FEHB is only a few dozen pages long. Federal employees have lots and lots of choices. Costs tend to be controlled, even as federal unions attempt to pull more and more during contract negotiations.

If Obama and the Dems were going to push a national health plan, why couldn’t they model it on one that works? But, no, the idea was to have the federal government control everything about one’s health insurance and care, moving towards single payer.

Read: 97% Of Federal Workers Overwhelmingly Prefer To Keep Their Own Insurance »

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What If Obama’s OFA Gave A “Climate Change” Rally And No One Came?

By William Teach August 13, 2013 – 6:44 pm

OFA tweeted this out yesterday

Today was supposed to be the BIG DAY for OFA’s “climate change” rally. How’d that go?

(Free Beacon) Not a single person showed up at the Georgetown waterfront Tuesday for a climate change agenda event put on by Organizing for Action, the shadowy nonprofit advocacy group born out of President Obama’s 2012 campaign, the NRCC wrote in its blog.

The event page for the “Climate Change Day of Action Rally” disappeared after rainy weather appeared to drive away whatever people planned to attend. The embarrassing showing follows the news that only one volunteer stayed for an OFA Obamacare event in Centreville, Va., last week to work the phones:

Take a look at OFA’s Twitter feed: not one photo of the day. But, they gave us this.

Sad, really. And, hey, the best way to garner support is to equate them to Holocaust deniers.

Read: What If Obama’s OFA Gave A “Climate Change” Rally And No One Came? »

Posted in Barry Obama, Democrats, Global Warming, New Climate Deniers | 2 Comments | Trackback URL

Yet Another Obama-Backed “Green” Company Close To Bankruptcy

By William Teach August 13, 2013 – 6:05 pm

Obamanomics

(The Hill) ECOtality Inc., an Energy Department-backed maker of electric car charging systems, is facing a major cash crunch and could file for bankruptcy.

The company, which has been awarded nearly $100 million in grant funding under the 2009 stimulus law, disclosed Monday that it’s weighing a restructuring or sale as it seeks more outside capital.

ECOtality, in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing, listed several “adverse developments” that together “significantly impact its ability to meet its ongoing obligations and to fund anticipated operating losses.”

But, somehow, according to the DOE, ECOtality was a success!!!!

But an Energy Department spokesman said Monday that the funding for an electric vehicle project by ECOtality achieved its goal.

“The Energy Department’s grant to ECOtality was used for the installation and data collection of charging stations in cities across America where sales of plug-in electric cars are on the rise. Meant to establish the seeds of infrastructure needed to support a growing market for advanced vehicles, the company installed more than 12,500 charging stations in 18 U.S. cities — or approximately 97 percent of their goal,” spokesman Bill Gibbons said.

But it still wasn’t enough to make the company any money in order to continue operating. But, then, in Liberal World, Other People’s companies (not their own, of course) should operate at a loss. The company was pissing away money for products with little demand. Private companies are refusing to dump their own money into ECOtality, now that the taxpayer money is being cut off. They’re having lots of problems with being forced to pay certain employees and contractors under FLSA regulations (weird: liberals involved in poor pay practices????) Oh, and then, from the SEC filing

Further, the Company is facing some uncertainty regarding the resolution of a phenomenon occurring in some of the Company’s previously installed EVSEs which causes overheating, and in certain rare cases melting, of the connector plug that connects the EVSE to the electric vehicle when charging. The Company, along with certain automotive original equipment manufacturers (“OEMs”) and equipment suppliers, has been actively evaluating the issue in an attempt to determine the cause and to address the problem.

So, some of these charging stations, which were supposedly a success!!!!!!! cause melting, and they have no idea why. ECOtality may be forced to sell of assets or perhaps even the whole company.

Read: Yet Another Obama-Backed “Green” Company Close To Bankruptcy »

Posted in Barry Obama, Economy, Energy | 10 Comments | Trackback URL

If All You See…

By William Teach August 13, 2013 – 1:00 pm

…is a horrible fur hat that is needed because greenhouse gases cause very cold and snowy temperatures, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Maggie’s Notebook, with a post on Muslim Truthers planning to march on D.C. on September 11.

Read: If All You See… »

Posted in If All You See | 1 Comment | Trackback URL

Add Caps On Out-Of-Pocket Insurance Costs To Long List Of Obamacare Delays

By William Teach August 13, 2013 – 8:57 am

Who would have thought that such a huge bill with 20,000 pages (and growing) of regulations would be so hard to implement? (via The Blaze)

(NY Times) In another setback for President Obama’s health care initiative, the administration has delayed until 2015 a significant consumer protection in the law that limits how much people may have to spend on their own health care.

The limit on out-of-pocket costs, including deductibles and co-payments, was not supposed to exceed $6,350 for an individual and $12,700 for a family. But under a little-noticed ruling, federal officials have granted a one-year grace period to some insurers, allowing them to set higher limits, or no limit at all on some costs, in 2014.

The grace period has been outlined on the Labor Department’s Web site since February, but was obscured in a maze of legal and bureaucratic language that went largely unnoticed. When asked in recent days about the language — which appeared as an answer to one of 137 “frequently asked questions about Affordable Care Act implementation” — department officials confirmed the policy.

Looks like they were trying to hide this.

Last month the White House announced a one-year delay in enforcement of another major provision of the law, which requires larger employers to offer health coverage to full-time employees. Valerie Jarrett, Mr. Obama’s senior adviser, said that the delay of the employer mandate showed “we are listening” to businesses, which had complained about the complexity of federal reporting requirements.

Although the two delays are unrelated, together they underscore the difficulties the Obama administration is facing as it rolls out the health care law.

Yet, it’s not just those two

First, there was the delay of Obamacare’s Medicare cuts until after the election. Then there was the delay of the law’s employer mandate. Then there was the announcement, buried in the Federal Register, that the administration would delay enforcement of a number of key eligibility requirements for the law’s health insurance subsidies, relying on the “honor system” instead. Now comes word that another costly provision of the health law—its caps on out-of-pocket insurance costs—will be delayed for one more year.

Unsurprisingly, the provisions are all scheduled to kick in after the 2014 elections. Whether Republicans will take advantage of this remains to be seen.

Read: Add Caps On Out-Of-Pocket Insurance Costs To Long List Of Obamacare Delays »

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