Holder looking to require Texas to get federal approval before changing voting laws, citing a history of racism

In response to the Supreme Court’s recent decision that states are innocent of institutional racism until proven guilty, Attorney General Eric Holder is arguing that Texas’ “history of pervasive voting-related discrimination against racial minorities” should make its voting laws subject to the Department of Justice’s oversight indefinitely.

While speaking before the National Urban League in Philadelphia on Thursday, Holder said his agency would ask a federal judge to require Texas to submit all its voting laws to the DOJ for review before they can be legally enacted because the state has a supposed history of discrimination and racism.

“And today I am announcing that the Justice Department will ask a federal court in Texas to subject the State of Texas to a pre-clearance regime similar to the one required by Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act,” Holder said at the organization’s annual conference.

The Attorney General cited “evidence of intentional racial discrimination” found following the case Texas v. Holder, in addition to a ”history of pervasive voting-related discrimination against racial minorities.” He continued, saying the state would need to acquire “pre-approval” from either the Department of Justice or a federal court before implementing any future changes in voting laws.

In the case Shelby County v. Holder, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Section 4b of the Voting Rights Act, which defined a formula to single out states to undergo a pre-clearance for voting laws based on previous discriminatory practices — much like that alleged in the case Texas v. Holder — was unconstitutional. Without this provision, Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act — which Holder referenced in his remarks — becomes near impossible to implement until Congress outlines a new formula, which it has yet to do.

Via: Red Alert

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Obamacare Under Fire From Conservative Activist Groups

TIME TO STOP THIS GIGANTIC TRAIN  WRECK FROM EVER SEEING THE LIGHT OF DAY 

Conservative groups are ramping up a campaign against Obamacare as the administration mounts a vigorous public outreach effort to bolster support for the law.

The Obama administration is spending hundreds of millions of dollars in a marketing campaign to educate people about the law and encourage eligible people to sign up for insurance, a campaign run directly out of the White House by top Obama aides using election-style targeting tactics. The White House is even appealing to Hollywood stars to help push the law.

Conservative groups are mounting their own counter-campaign on multiple fronts, appealing to the grassroots while also lobbying the legislative branch to cut funding for the health care overhaul officially known as the Affordable Care Act.

The campaigns come as President Barack Obama’s approval rating has fallen to its lowest level since 2011 and only 34 percent of Americans believe Obamacare to be good policy, according to a poll released Wednesday.

“I don’t think there’s an issue that has galvanized the conservative movement like this since cut, cap, and balance,” said Andy Roth, vice president for government affairs at the Club for Growth, in reference to the Republican proposal for the budget during the 2011 debt ceiling debate.

Via: WFB

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Republicans' Latest Attack on Obamacare Involves IRS

(CNSNews.com) - The effort to derail Obamacare may run through the Internal Revenue Service, House Republican leaders say.

Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) says, "Republicans are really gearing up for one big week next week," when they plan to introduce a bill -- one of 11 -- that would remove the IRS as the enforcer of Obamacare. 

"We know what's going on at the IRS," Cantor told Fox News's Greta Van Susteren Wednesday night. "We know there (is) a lot of evidence...to demonstrate there is a political witch hunt going on in the tax enforcement agency, and yet that agency now is going to be into your healthcare records and help implement Obamacare. That's not something we want."

The Treasury Department inspector general recently reported that the IRS gave inappropriate scrutiny to conservative groups filing applications for tax-exempt status, delaying many of those applications for months -- in some cases, beyond the 2012 presidential election.

Via: CNS News

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Plastic bag ban leads to nationwide increase in shoplifting rates

This was not a good idea after all

On Friday, New Jersey Democratic operative James Devine was arrested for attempting to snatch $22 worth of merchandise from a local ShopRite pharmacy. Devine tried to smuggle lettuce, shampoo and protein powder out of the store, perhaps trying to hide the fact that he was about to make the world’s most disgusting salad.  To avoid detection, he stashed the goods in a reusable grocery bag.

What seems to be just another edition of Democrats doing dumb deeds actually represents a nationwide problem.  Thanks to laws in several major cities banning the use of plastic carryout bags in retail stores, there has been a spike in shoplifting incidents over the past couple years, a trend that business owners, law enforcement officials and customers have duly noted.

In 2011, Washington D.C. enforced a reusable bag tax and officials became steadily more suspicious of shoppers’ activities.

 

Via: The Daily Caller

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When Did Obama Decide That The Scandals He Once Thought Were Serious Are Now ‘Phony?’

On Wednesday, President Barack Obama set the tone for the debate surrounding the many controversies that have plagued his administration since the spring. The president called those scandals “phony” and denigrated those who find any worth in their investigation. But, as one prominent conservative opinion writer noted yesterday, it was not long ago that the White House was acknowledging the seriousness of the scandals he now derides as contrived. 

“With an endless parade of distractions, political posturing and phony scandals, Washington has taken its eye off the ball,” Obama said during a marathon speech in Illinois.

During a panel segment on Fox News Channel’s Special Report, The Weekly Standard editorStephen F. Hayes asked a pointed question about these so-called “phony scandals”: “Which of the scandals is phony?”

“The president has already acknowledged the seriousness of two of them – three of them, in one way or another,” Hayes added.

“This is part of the plan to set up an argument for the fall,” he said, identifying how Democrats will counter Republican charges of malfeasance by administration officials ahead of the 2014 midterms. In essence, Hayes implied, Obama and his supporters will accuse the opponents of his administration of a pathological desire to cling to already discredited conspiracy theories.

Via: Mediaite

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How Detroit Almost Killed My Business

Of all the depressing facts about the once great City of Detroit, this to me is the most upsetting:  In 1950, there were about 296,000 manufacturing jobs in Detroit.  Today, there are less than 27,000 (Hat tip Zero Hedge Blog).

Government -- federal, state, and local -- made this happen. I know this from experience. Government corrupted the Detroit work force. That corruption drove away my company too.

Until 1984, I was a business owner in the city, employing about 20.  I moved my business 60 miles away.  I didn't want to leave, but I was, in effect, forced to. 

Many think that crime spurred the exodus of business out of Detroit.  Not in my case.  To combat crime we would build a stronger "fort." We called it "fort building" because if my neighbor put heavy wire screen on his windows, the thieves would break into my shop.  If I bricked up my windows in response, my neighbor might be broken into.  This escalated to the point where many businesses eventually put fencing topped with barbed wire around their buildings.  Still, although "fort building" was expensive, it was far cheaper than moving. 

Detroit's abysmal educational system did not drive me away either. As it happens, my particular business did not require highly educated people. So I could hire high school graduates not literate enough to fill out an application form.

Via: American Thinker

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