What’s disturbing about this picture?
Posted on TimesUnion.com-By BOB GARDINIER, Staff writer-On December 21, 2011:
“TROY — The City Council president, a councilman and two others were arrested Tuesday and charged with felonies for allegedly forging absentee ballots in the 2009 primary to benefit Democratic candidates.
Those arrested early Tuesday included City Council President Clement Campana, Councilman John Brown and political operatives Anthony Renna and Anthony DeFiglio.
So far seven elected or appointed officials and operatives have been charged in the two-year probe into allegations that scores of absentee ballots were forged to benefit Democratic candidates in the 2009 Working Families Party primary. Most voters targeted lived in Troy Housing Authority apartments and rarely, if ever, voted. They were allegedly targeted because they were unfamiliar with the process.
Campana appeared with his attorney, E. Stewart Jones, and was arraigned on an indictment charging him with first-degree falsifying business records and four counts of illegal voting, all felonies; and a count of conspiracy to promote or prevent election, a misdemeanor.
He could face up to seven years on the charges.
Campana appeared before visiting Supreme Court Justice George J. Pulver Jr. and pleaded not guilty and was released on his own recognizance pending further court action. Campana, who refused comment, did not seek re-election so he will be council president only until the end of the year.
“Clem has been waiting a long time for his day in court and will be found not guilty,” Jones said following the court session.
Brown, a Democratic councilman, also appeared before Pulver and decided to forgo indictment and plead guilty to a felony count of second-degree criminal possession of a forged instrument lodged against him by Special Prosecutor Trey Smith.
“I knowingly submitted a forged ballot before the election was final,” Brown told Pulver when ask to explain what he did.
Brown will be sentenced to six months in jail and five years of probation.
Brown did not seek re-election and will be off the council by year’s end.
Also entering pleas Tuesday were Democratic operatives Anthony Renna and Anthony DeFiglio.
Renna pleaded guilty to second-degree forgery and will be sentenced to community service.
“I forged a ballot on Sept. 14, 2009 in the name of voter Peter Testa,” Renna admitted to Pulver.
DeFiglio, a former Troy Housing Authority clerk, pleaded guilty to first-degree falsifying business records.
“I solicited an absentee ballot vote from Elizabeth Montalvo and had her leave some fields blank,” DeFiglio told Pulver.
“You purposely left fields blank so you could falsify the vote?” Smith asked DeFiglio.
“Yes, that’s right,” DeFiglio replied.
DeFiglio’s sentence is yet to be determined but Pulver told him it would not involve jail or prison time.
All were released on their own recognizance and none of the men commented after the court session. Sentencing dates have not been set.
Brown’s brother Dan Brown, a political operative, was also named as a target early on in the investigation and recently testified before the grand jury. Brown’s attorney, Phil Steck, has said his client received immunity from prosecution for his testimony.
Renna, a City Council aide and former city marshal, appeared Dec. 6 before the grand jury without counsel. Renna is a fixture in city Democratic campaign circles.
John Brown spent most of the day Oct. 27 in front of the special grand jury. Campana previously said he refused to testify before the grand jury.
DeFiglio, who in a statement to investigators said that absentee ballot rigging in the city was a “normal political tactic,” testified before the first grand jury on Dec. 8, 2010.
Last year, the first grand jury indicted Councilman Michael LoPorto and Democratic County Elections Commissioner Edward McDonough on numerous felony forgery charges. They face trial next month.
Smith also entered a decision Tuesday dropping 13 of the 42 counts against LoPorto because a handwriting expert concluded that former city clerk William McInerney forged the ballots and not LoPorto.
In August, McInerney pleaded guilty to a charge that he signed a voter’s signature to an absentee primary ballot in 2009. His sentencing is pending.
Councilmen Kevin McGrath and Gary Galuski have testified before the grand juries, as have several voters and board of elections workers.
McGrath cooperated and was granted immunity, but Smith said Tuesday that grand jurors failed to hear enough evidence to charge Galuski.
“I would like the public to know that if there is anyone out there who can provide information on Mr. Galuski forging any ballots to call State Police Investigator John Ogden at 279-4427,” Smith said.”
- Reach Bob Gardinier at 454-5696 or bgardinier@timesunion.com.
Source:
Note: The following articles and/or blog posts and videos relate to this disturbing issue-You Decide:
II. Video: South Carolina Seeks Voter Fraud Probe, Holder Says No!-Posted on ExposeObama.com-On January 12, 2012:
http://www.exposeobama.com/2012/01/12/video-south-carolina-seeks-voter-fraud-probe-holder-says-no/
III. Voter ID Prevents Election Fraud!-Posted on The Heritage Foundation-By Mike Brownfield-On January 4, 2012:
IV. Holder’s war on voter-ID laws is racially motivated!-Posted on The Daily Caller-By Ken Blackwell & Ken Klukowski-On December 30, 2011:
http://dailycaller.com/2011/12/30/holders-war-on-voter-id-laws-is-racially-motivated/#ixzz1iVpZYREb
V. ACORN leaders ramp up White House visitations: ‘Strategy developing to tilt elections to Democrats’-Posted on WND.com-On December 24, 2011:
http://www.wnd.com/?pageId=379041
VI. Video: Eric Holder Refuses to Investigate Obama Voter Fraud!-Posted on ExposeObama.com-By Ben Johnson, The White House Watch-On December 20, 2011:
http://www.exposeobama.com/2011/12/20/video-eric-holder-refuses-to-investigate-obama-voter-fraud/
VII. Not a Race Card!-Posted on National Review Online-By Hans A. von Spakovsky-On August 29, 2011:
VIII. Without Proof: The Unpersuasive Case Against Voter Identification!-Posed on The Heritage Foundation-By Hans von Spakovsky and Alex Ingram-On August 24, 2011:
IX. Video: Ex-CIA Contractor Says IT'S OVER! - There Will Be No 45th President!!-Posted on YouTube.com-By ppsimmons-On July 19, 2011:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGpiA7tL1PU
X. Poll: Americans, 2-1, Fear Obama’s Reelection!-Posted on USNews.com-By Paul Bedard-On January 9, 2012:
Note: I know that most of you have already seen the following information before, but bare with me for taking the liberty of sharing it with you again to make sure that we are all on the same page when it comes to knowing what we face in our next Presidential election:
The following websites reveal that George Soros’ Open Society Institute (OSI) — has dispensed more than $5 billion to a multitude of organizations whose objectives are consistent with those of Soros and one of those organizations is Project Vote, which is the voter-mobilization arm of the notoriously corrupt ACORN, whose voter-registration drives and get-out-the-vote initiatives have been marred by massive levels of fraud and corruption, along President Obama’s ties to this voter fraud machine-You Decide:
Guide to the George Soros Network:
http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/viewSubCategory.asp?id=589
Project Vote:
http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/groupProfile.asp?grpid=6966
Obama’s ties with voter fraud!-Posted on OneNewsNow.com-By Russ Jones, OneNewsNow-On December 1, 2011:
http://www.onenewsnow.com/Politics/Default.aspx?id=1487470
The following websites and article and/or blog post reveal George Soros’s Secretary State Project (SOSP) and an education fund run by progressive labor leaders tasked with naturalizing new citizens and register new voters by using the 2010 Census as a redistributive mechanism, along with how he is using his money to help tip the elections to Democrats (Progressives) in all 50 states-You Decide:
George Soros’s Secretary Of State Project (SOSP)!-Posted on DiscoverTheNetworks.org:
http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/groupProfile.asp?grpid=7487
Mi Familia Vota Education Fund (MFVEF)!-Posted on DiscoverTheNetworks.org:
http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/groupProfile.asp?grpid=7538
George Soros’ Money Could Tip Elections in All 50 States!-Posted on Floyd Reports-By Michael Oberndorf-On July 1, 2011:
http://floydreports.com/george-soros-money-could-tip-elections-in-all-50-states/
The following website and article and/or blog post reveal that George Soros funds Leftist foundations, litigators and organizations that dominate Election Laws and crusaders that enable massive voter fraud while the DOJ turns a blind eye-You Decide:
George Soros Funds Leftist Foundations, Litigators and OrganizationsThatDominate Field of Election Laws!-Posted on DiscoverTheNetworks.org:
http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/viewSubCategory.asp?id=1431
The Left Owns the Election Law Industry!-Posted on FrontPage Magazine-By J. Christian Adams-On August 12, 2011:
I, like many of you, have little or no faith in polls due to our bad experiences during the final days of the 2008 Presidential Election, as substantiated by this NewsMax article that revealed that almost every major pollster, to include the main stream media, had egg on their faces after the election because most of them predicted a double-digit win for then Senator Obama, but only two pollsters were accurate and critics say that the inflated numbers helped Senator Obama by reducing enthusiasm and support for Senator McCain. Also included are other articles and/or blog posts that revealed that the same thing occurred during the 2010 mid-term elections-You Decide:
2008 Presidential Election Polls:
Pollsters Inflated Senator Obama’s Lead?
2010 Mid-Term Election Polls:
Don’t Believe the State-Run Polls!-Posted by Rush Limbaugh-On October 22, 2010:
http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_102210/content/01125108.guest.html
About That New Poll in Alaska . . .-Posted on National Review-By Jim Geraghty-On October 28, 2010:
http://www.nationalreview.com/campaign-spot/251296/about-new-poll-alaska
Note: If the above information does not make you question our electoral system, what follows are videos that expose the hacking of voting machines across our country as a means of tilting the elections, which has been ongoing for some time now-You Decide:
Video: Proof of voter fraud in the USA - from the horse's mouth!-Posted on YouTube.com-By TheTruthPusher-On April 18, 2010:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_Zz5LW4WmE
Video: Vote Fraud - Diebold Whistleblower Speaks Out!-Posted on YouTube.com-By TheRealNews-On June 9, 2010:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_rMpQKqZhM&feature=related
VOTE FRAUD: WHAT THEY AREN'T TELLING YOU!-Posted on NewsWithViews.com-By Devvy Kidd-On October 22, 2004:
http://www.newswithviews.com/Devvy/kidd72.htm
Video: Vote Fraud - What They Aren't Telling You (Part 2 of 3)-Posted on YouTube.com-By ConstitutionStudies-On May 20, 2009:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=ZHfjwiRgKqA
Video: Vote Fraud - What They Aren't Telling You (Part 3 of 3)-Posted on YouTube.com-By Posted on YouTube.com-By ConstitutionStudies-On May 20, 2009:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWOwObyTnfo
Video: Vote Fraud Smoking Gun Banned From CNN, FOX & NBC!-Posted on YouTube.com-By YouTubReptilian-On June 10, 2008:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdzlnwWsAAU&feature=related
Video: Diebold Electronic Vote Fraud Confirmed!-Posted on YouTube.com-By DrRonPaul4President-On February 1, 2008:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&v=u4FPuLNjvAc&NR=1
Continue Reading More On This Disturbing Issue:
http://weroinnm.wordpress.com/2010/10/25/massive-voter-fraud-again/
Question: After taking the time to read and/or view the above articles and/or blog posts and videos, how safe and secure do you feel about our overall electoral system or, even more important, the fate of our country?
Before you attempt to answer this question, please take the time to read the following article and/or blog post that was published over the Christmas holiday:
Faith in America!
Posted on The Heritage Foundation-By Matt Spalding-On December 26, 2011:
“The God who gave us life, gave us liberty at the same time,” Thomas Jefferson once wrote. “The hand of force may destroy, but cannot disjoin them.” Among the American Founders, there was a profound sense that faith and freedom were deeply intertwined.
Nowadays, we are often told that religion is divisive and ought to kept away from politics for the sake of liberty. Religion somehow is opposed to liberty, and so liberty requires a diminution of religion in the public square.
The view long consistent with our historical practice, though, is that of America’s Founders, who advanced religious liberty so as to strengthen religious faith and its influence on American self-government. All had a natural right to worship God as they chose, according to the dictates of their consciences. At the same time, the Founders upheld religion and morality–to paraphrase Washington’s Farewell Address–as indispensable supports of good habits, the firmest props of the duties of citizens, and the great pillars of human happiness.
Religious liberty neither settles nor dismisses the claims of reason and revelation to teach the most important things for human beings to know. But it does create a practical solution–after thousands of years of failed attempts–at the level of politics and political morality. It established a form of government that is sanctioned by human nature and open to moral reasoning, the legitimacy of which does not depend on the truth of any particular religious denomination.
This solution is possible because the American Founders recognized general moral precepts that are understandable by human reason and no less agreeable to faith in the form of a general revelation of creation. This morality common to both natural reason and divine revelation, usually termed natural law, is the philosophical ground of the American Founding.
We can see this agreement of reason and revelation in the Declaration of Independence. The liberties recognized in it are deduced from a higher law to which all human laws are answerable and by which they are limited. This higher law can be understood by man’s practical reason–the truths of the Declaration are held to be “self-evident”–but also by the revealed word of God. There are four references to God in the document: to “the Laws of Nature and Nature’s God”; to all men being “created equal” and “endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights”; to “the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions”; and to “the protection of divine Providence.” The first term suggests a deity that is knowable by human reason, but the others–God as creator, as judge, and as providence–are more biblical, and add (and were assuredly intended to add) a theological context to the document.
From the perspective of religious faith, the basic principles of the Founding, at the level of political principles, were understood to be in essential agreement with the core precepts of the Bible. That this is the case can be seen throughout the many church sermons published from the founding era. While we have never been and should not try to become a nation defined by a particular or official religious denomination, we must never forget that, as the Supreme Court said in 1952 (and reiterated in 1963, and again in 1984), “We are a religious people whose institutions presuppose a Supreme Being.”
The health and strength of liberty depend on the principles, standards, and morals shared by nearly all religions. What the “separation of church and state” does is liberate America’s religions–in respect to their moral forms and teachings–to exercise unprecedented influence over private and public opinion by shaping citizens’ mores, cultivating their virtues, and in general, providing a pure and independent source of moral reasoning and authority. This is what Alexis de Tocqueville meant when he observed that even though religion “never mixes directly in the government of society,” it nevertheless determines the “habits of the heart” and is “the first of their political institutions.”
As we gather with our families to celebrate Christmas and Hanukkah, let us remember that our greatest blessing as Americans is the freedom to pursue our eternal duties to God and of religion to pursue freely its divine mission among men on earth.
As George Washington wrote to the Hebrew Congregation at Newport in 1790, so all of us at The Heritage Foundation proclaim to our friends and fellow citizens: “May the father of all mercies scatter light, and not darkness, upon our paths, and make us all in our several vocations useful here, and in His own due time and way everlastingly happy.”
- Matthew Spalding, Ph.D., is Vice President of American Studies and Director, B. Kenneth Simon Center for Principles and Politics
Source:
Continue Reading:
http://weroinnm.wordpress.com/2010/05/09/faith-of-our-forefathers/
“Food For Thought”
God Bless the U.S.A.!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q65KZIqay4E&feature=related
Semper Fi!
Jake
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