forgottenliberty.com

The Obama administration, via the Department of Justice (DOJ), may be attempting to lessen the number of service men and women who vote using absentee ballots.  Last October, Congress passed the MOVE (Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment) act.  The MOVE act helps ensure that members of the military serving overseas will have their votes counted.  Some of the key elements of the Move act are,

• elimination of notarization requirements for overseas ballots in the states that still require this, as well as other registration requirements imposed specifically on overseas and military voters.
• all states must make voter registration and absentee ballot applications available electronically, as well as General Election information. MOVE also requires that all states make a Federal Write-In Absentee Ballot, matching the design and functionality launched last year by the Overseas Vote Foundation, available online for when official ballots don’t arrive in time.
• all states must plan, as of this year, for a 45-day window for the ballot “round-trip”.

The MOVE act will definitely increase the amount of military votes in subsequent elections… which is bad news for Democrats.  The military vote is historically conservative and I’m sure Democrats would love to minimize a block of voters who usually vote Republican.  It appears the Obama administration is doing just that.  The Department of Justice is actively helping states file waivers to avoid having to follow the new law.  I may be wrong but I thought the Department of Justice was supposed to enforce the law, not teach people how to avoid following it, right?

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), a cosponsor of the MOVE act, sent a letter to Attorney General Holder stating his concern that the DOJ is not enforcing the law.  In the letter Sen. Cornyn mentions comments made by a DOJ official that the MOVE act was “unclear” and that enforcing it was the “last resort.”  Cornyn then asked Holder to make sure states are obeying the law.  It really says something when a Senator has to ask the Attorney General of the United States to enforce the law.

Recently, the DOJ dropped the voter intimidation case involving the New Black Panthers because they evidently don’t investigate claims of black on white voter intimidation.  Now, the DOJ is trying to minimize the military vote by not enforcing the new law.  What is going on in the DOJ and the Executive Branch in general?  Is this still the United States of America where we believe that everyone’s vote should be counted?  I’m not sure anymore.

Democrat Representative Maxine Waters has inserted a provision in to the financial “reform” bill currently before the house that would take us backwards in terms of racial equality and civil rights.  This provision will create diversity czars to promote racial and gender hiring in federal agencies.  I guess getting hired because of your abilities, education, and experience is out the window.  Now the color of your skin and your genitalia will become something employers will be forced to consider.  According to Fox News,

The bill would establish an Office of Minority and Women Inclusion at each federal agency to “ensure equal employment opportunity and the racial, ethnic and gender diversity” of the work force and senior management.

The diversity czars would also aim to “increase the participation of minority-owned and women-owned businesses in the programs and contracts” of each agency and conduct “an assessment” of those goals.

If this remains in the bill and the bill passes, instead of segregated water fountains, bathrooms, and restaurants, we will have segregated job applications.  Instead of signs proclaiming “Irish need not apply” we will see signs saying “White males need not apply”.  How can people in good conscience support something that goes against the very essence of having a color blind society?  I thought skin color was not supposed to matter anymore!  Now we will have an office at every federal agency whose sole purpose is to get people of a certain race or gender hired.  How is it right to have a federal office that will treat people differently because of the color of their skin?

In his “I Have A Dream” speech, Dr. King said “I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.“  If this provision passes, we will be moving farther away from Dr. Kings dream.  The color of ones skin, not the content of their character, will be what is judged if they apply for a federal job.

As a side note, how much will it cost the taxpayers to have a new Office of Minority and Women Inclusion for every federal department?

What do we celebrate on the 4th of July?  If you ask this question to the average person on the street, you will likely get a response similar to “It’s America’s birthday” or “It’s Independence Day”.  This seems to be the extent of most Americans knowledge of the 4th of July.  This saddens me because the 4th of July is not only America’s birthday or Independence Day, but is so much more than that.  What we are really celebrating on the 4th of July is how 56 men, representing the citizens of the United States, changed the course of human history by declaring that men are and should be free and that they have been given rights by their Creator that no king or government can take away.

This was a fairly radical concept in 1776.  Up until this point in history (with only a few exceptions) rights were granted to a citizenry by their rulers.  Those same rulers could also take away rights.  The idea of men being free and having God given rights was totally foreign.  This new concept meant that there were limits to government power and control.  It meant that a man could shape his own destiny without worrying about the government or a king.  A man no longer lived at the service of his king but at the service of himself and his Creator.  Man was free.

The communist regime of North Korea, following in the foot steps of China, was forced to abandon it’s planned, centralized, government controlled economy in favor of a free market in order to keep it’s citizens from starving to death.  The economic policies of communism/socialism/Marxism have shown themselves once again to be unsustainable.  The Washington Post has the story,

Bowing to reality, the North Korean government has lifted all restrictions on private markets — a last-resort option for a leadership desperate to prevent its people from starving.  In recent weeks, according to North Korea observers and defector groups with sources in the country, Kim Jong Il’s government admitted its inability to solve the current food shortage and encouraged its people to rely on private markets for the purchase of goods. (emphasis mine)

In essence, the communist government of North Korea has realized it is unable to ration food and control the economy in a sustainable way and has given up trying.  Food has always been in short supply in North Korea.  Because of this, a large black market developed over the years that provided much of the Communist citizenry with food.  However, many of the merchants involved in the black market food trade began to acquire some degree (by North Korean standards) of wealth.  This was understandably an outrage to any self respecting communist/socialist/Marxist regime.  It’s just downright evil for someone to make a buck by selling food to hungry comrades, right?

In order to stick it to the ‘greedy’ black market capitalist who were feeding the nation,

On this day and every day may we honor and never forget the sacrifices made by so many Americans in the preservation of our liberty.  Our rights and liberty are given to us by God, but the free exercise of them is preserved by the men and women of our military.  Thank you soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines. Those who have made the ultimate sacrifice for us are not forgotten.

Please remember to pray for the names on the Forgotten Liberty Military Prayer List and for all the men and women serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.

PS  Those of you who are regular readers have probably noticed that I have not been posting much for the last 2 months.  We are currently in the process of buying and moving in to a new house and we recently took a vacation to Rome so I have not had much time to post anything.  I hope to be back on a regular posting schedule soon.

This video is something most Americans thought they would never see –  American, British, and French troops peacefully marching through Red Square in Moscow.  This event was to commemorate the 65th anniversary of Victory in Europe day.  It is truly an amazing sight.