Posts (page 2)
Browsing through the campaign finance reports for Nebraskans United, you come up with some very interesting information. Of the approximately quarter million dollars NU has spent trying to prevent the NCRI petition from going on the ballot, $200 K has come from four individuals, all Omaha millionaires — Warren Buffett, Wallace Weitz, Diane Lozier, and Richard Holland. Buffett, of course, is a prominent Democrat contributor who contributed the maximum early on to Obama. Weitz, also a Democrat, pledged $50 K on the same day Buffett did; his other contributions this year are to Obama for America (early in the primary season) and to the Nebraska Democratic State Central Committee. Lozier is also maxed out as a contributor to Obama for America and has given tens of thousands to other Democratic causes. And finally, so did Richard Holland. The three others are all associates of Buffett, and it's likely this was a coordinated campaign.
I had a good time collecting signatures today. I got a picture of my blockers; I figured if they get nasty, the cops can use it for ID. But they seemed harmless enough. They were telling lies, of course, and they knew they were telling lies. That's a shame. There may be causes worth lying for, but lying to sustain inequality is just bad karma.
I will be collecting signatures tomorrow, Thursday June 26, 2008, from 12 noon to 1 p.m., at the Broyhill Fountain, outside the UNL Student Union (north side). If you are a registered Nebraska voter, and haven't already signed the NCRI petition yet, please stop by and do so.
A recent poll shows that 71% of Nebraskans, including majorities of men and women, whites, blacks and hispanics, and Democrats and Republicans, support the NCRI, which is well on the way to collecting enough singatures to get on the ballot (email me if you want to sign the petition!). The left-wing nutcases from Nebraskans United, meanwhile, are saying they will sue to overturn the will of the people if the petition succeeds. Remember in November, folks: if you vote for people like triple-DUI offender Danielle Nantkes or Scott Kleeb, you are voting to have a judge remove your democratic right to vote.
From the minutes of the UNL Committee for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Concerns.
- a. Chancellor Perlman noted that there will likely be a Ward Connerly initiative to prohibit race as being used a factor in making decisions at universities in Nebraska
- b. Given the conservative nature of Nebraska, he thinks they will get enough signatures to get it on the ballot and that it will pass
Yesterday, two days before a legislative hearing at which several people, some from as far afield as California, were scheduled to testify, Senator Mark Christensen pulled the plug on LR233CA, a constitutional amendment that would have implemented the basic text of the Nebraska Civil Rights Initiative.
Sen. Mark Christensen of Imperial said Monday he was forced to abandon the measure (LR233CA) in part because fellow lawmakers had threatened not to support his other bills if he did not do so.
Because those other bills — including his priority bill, which would allow natural resources districts in the Republican River basin to borrow money from the state to pay irrigators — are critical to his district, Christensen said he was left with no choice but to withdraw the affirmative-action measure.
He wouldn’t name the senators who threatened not to support his bills, but said they numbered “more than a handful,” and that they had surprised and disappointed him by “selling out” politically.
This is the level of political thuggery that, unfortunately, we've come to expect from so-called liberal politicians both locally and nationally. They know they can't afford for the NCRI to be voted on on its merits, so they threaten its supporters. Of course, they can't do a darn thing about the petition drive, and so the entire enterprise merely reinforces the poor reputation of the Nebraska Unicameral legislature.
At the same time, having spent several hours preparing to testify, I can't help feeling let down by Senator Christensen. If he didn't know going in that this would happen, he's too naive to be in the legislature.
This will be my personal blog devoted to passing the Nebraska Civil Rights Initiative. Check back for a personal, idiosyncratic view of a drive to change the Nebraska State Constitution.
