In a Wall Street Journal op-ed this morning, Kobach demonstrates that requiring positive photo ID at the polls and when originally registering can’t depress turnout, because, contrary to critics’ absurd assertions, virtually everybody has one (bolds are mine):

Critics of these laws nevertheless make outrageous arguments against them. New York University’s Brennan Center, which stridently opposes all photo ID laws, claims that a whopping 11% of the American voting-age public—that means tens of millions of people—don’t possess a photo ID. It bases this number on a survey it conducted in 2006.

However, we don’t have to rely on implausible estimates when the actual numbers are readily available. In Kansas, my office obtained the statistics, and they tell a very different story. According to the 2010 census, there are 2,126,179 Kansans of voting age. According to the Kansas Department of Motor Vehicles, 2,156,446 Kansans already have a driver’s license or a non-driver ID. In other words, there are more photo IDs in circulation than there are eligible voters. The notion that there are hundreds of thousands of voters in Kansas (or any other state) without photo IDs is a myth.

Carrying a photo ID has become a part of American life. You can’t cash a check, board a plane, or even buy full-strength Sudafed over the counter without one. That’s why it’s not unreasonable to require one in order to protect our most important privilege of citizenship. But just in case any person lacks a photo ID, Kansas’s law provides a free state ID to anyone who needs one. Other states have included similar provisions in their photo-ID laws.

Some opponents of election security laws also declare that they are part of a sinister plot to depress voter registration and turnout, especially among minority voters who are more likely to vote Democrat. Here too the facts do not support the claim. Georgia’s photo ID requirement was in place for both the 2008 and 2010 elections, when turnout among minority voters was higher than average. Likewise, Arizona’s proof-of-citizenship requirement for registration has not impeded minority voters from registering.

So there’s still a danger, but it’s that there are people out there with multiple IDs who might vote more than once. The danger is certainly not that there are hundreds of thousands or millions of people who don’t have one in the first place — and if they don’t, as noted, they can get one for free.

Read the whole thing.

The only conclusion one can reach is about many of the opponents of voter ID laws is that they are not only unconcerned about the integrity of elections, but they are also interested in rigging their results.

From Peoria, Arizona:

May 20, 5:25 PM EDT

Harmon Killebrew’s Hall of Fame career as one of the most powerful sluggers baseball has known was merely a subplot to his story as family and friends gathered to say goodbye.

What they recalled most was Killebrew the gentle, caring man who treated all those he encountered with respect.

Several hundred mourners, including past and present members of the Minnesota Twins, attended Killebrew’s funeral service at a suburban north Phoenix church on a gorgeous sunny Friday morning.

Killebrew, who hit 573 home runs in his long major league career, died Tuesday at his home in Scottsdale, Ariz., of esophageal cancer at 74.

Former teammate and fellow Hall of Famer Bert Blyleven had those in attendance stand and cheer Killebrew for an imagined home run No. 574 near the end of the service, and the crowd responded with a rousing effort.

But it was Killebrew the man who was celebrated far more than Killebrew the baseball player.

The nickname “Killer” didn’t seem to fit a man so kind, his grandson Eric Queathem said.

“In his modest and caring way, he always tried to make people feel good about themselves,” Queathem said.

Son Cam spoke of the outpouring of support his father had received in recent months as he fought the deadly disease.

“I don’t think he really realized how much he was loved,” he said. “That’s the kind of man he was. He was so humble. He got a lot of things but I’m not sure he really got that, and it was just beautiful.”

A private burial is planned Monday in Killebrew’s hometown of Payette, Idaho. A memorial service is scheduled next Thursday night at Target Field in Minneapolis.

The Twins, in a twist of fate, were in Arizona to begin a three-game interleague series against the Diamondbacks on Friday night, so the entire squad was on hand.

Current Twins Joe Nathan, Michael Cuddyer and Justin Morneau, as well as manager Ron Gardenhire, were pall bearers, along with ex-Twin Paul Molitor and Killebrew’s former teammates Rod Carew, Tony Oliva and Frank Quilici. Hall of Famers Robin Yount and Frank Robinson also attended the service, which was open to the public.

Afterward, Cuddyer said it is his goal to “strive to be Harmon Killebrew.”

“Strive to treat people the way he treated people,” he said, “and make everybody feel comfortable, make everybody feel like they’re special. For one of the biggest names in a sport to be able to make every single person he came into contact with feel special, that’s a pretty big achievement.”

A lone bagpiper played “Amazing Grace” as the casket was rolled into the giant auditorium, followed by the members of Killebrew’s large family.

Go here for the rest of the story.

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UPDATE, May 30: At Twin Cities-based Powerline — “Remembering Harmon“

Before I reveal the answers, a few points and cautions:

• It’s only four months, and April is still subject to revision.
• The comparisons had to be done on seasonally adjusted figures, because seasonal factors differ between states. Seasonally adjusted figures have been known to be quirky, especially as volatile as employment figures have been, mostly in the wrong direction, the past few years.
• Numbers 1, 2, 3, and 4 are relatively small states.
• Number 5 isn’t Texas.
• Did I remember to say it’s only four months?

The complete list of employment growth by state is after the jump if you’re on the home page:
(more…)

As noted very early this morning, the Associated Press, in its coverage of Herman Cain’s announcement that he is a presidential candidate, ignored most of the stellar elements of Cain’s business resume by limiting its description to the following sentence:

He worked at Coca-Cola, Pillsbury and Burger King before taking the helm of the failing Godfather’s Pizza franchise, which he rescued by shuttering hundreds of restaurants.

In doing so, AP:

• Limited its description of Cain’s as CEO of Godfather’s Pizza into one sentence about cost-cutting, when (as shown last night) the chain also resumed its growth and did so using innovative means.
• Ignoring Cain’s time served as board member and Chairman of the Board of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City.
• Failed to mention his tenure as head of the National Restaurant Association.

In addition, the one sentence the AP did use vastly understates Cain’s influence at Burger King, where he turned a money-losing region into the chain’s leading performer.

So let’s fill in the holes and demonstrate how easy it would have been for AP (besides visiting Cain’s web site, which would have been even easier) to get info about Cain’s time at the Fed and Restaurant Association.

Here is a picture followed by a lineup identification of the KC Fed’s Board from its Annual Report (link here):

One will also find Mr. Cain pictured as KC Fed Chairman on Page 14 of the 1996 Annual Report (go to the same link to find that report).

As to the National Restaurant Association, an October 20, 1993 item in the New York Times on blacks in the restaurant industry noted that “The first black president of the restaurant association, Herman Cain, takes office next year. He is also the chief executive of the Godfather’s Pizza chain.”

Cain was still involved in Godfather’s AND President of the National Restaurant Association when he had his famous encounter with Bill Clinton over the consequences of statist health care in 1994.

Total elapsed time of related searches (obviously, more time was involved in documentation): maybe 10 minutes.

A question for AP: Was it laziness, or do you want to make Cain look like a guy who “just” ran some restaurants (which in your smug ignorance you might somehow see as “easy”), when it’s clear that the man is a high-powered, very accomplished guy in a variety of venues?

From Triangle, Virginia:

May 20, 2011 / 02:35 am (CNA).- Servant of God Fr. Vincent Capodanno, a chaplain who was killed in action while protecting U.S. soldiers during the Vietnam War, was honored with a permanent tribute at the National Museum of the Marine Corps.

“The Marines who served with Chaplain Capodanno remember him as the Chaplain who went wherever his Marines needed his comfort and guidance, no matter the personal danger,” said Lt. Gen. Ron Christmas, president of the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation.

“From the foxholes to the front lines, Chaplain Capodanno was there.”

The Marine Corps Heritage Foundation dedicated the “Sacrifice Window” in the Semper Fidelis Memorial Chapel at the National Museum of the Marine Corps on May 11 to honor the late priest. Each window in the chapel is titled with a word that describes the ethos of the Marine Corps.

The private ceremony in Triangle, Virginia remembered Chaplain Capodanno for his support of Marines in combat and his recognition as the only chaplain to receive the Medal of Honor for service in the corps.

Foundation members said they established the permanent tribute in Chaplain Capodanno’s name in “recognition of his dedicated service to Marines and the ultimate sacrifice he made in Vietnam, in an effort to save a Marine’s life.”

Fr. Capodanno was born on Staten Island in New York City to Italian immigrant parents. In 1957 he was ordained a Catholic priest by Cardinal Francis Spellman, then vicar of the U.S. Military Ordinariate.

He entered the Maryknoll religious order and served as a missionary in Taiwan and Hong Kong from 1958 to 1965. Having successfully petitioned his Maryknoll superiors to release him to serve as a U.S. Navy chaplain, he arrived in Vietnam during Holy Week of 1966.

Holding the rank of Lieutenant, Fr. Capodanno participated in seven combat operations. He became known for putting the well-being of Marines above his personal safety, moving among those wounded and dying on the battlefield in order to provide medical aid, comfort, and Last Rites.

… Fred Smith, head of FedEx Corporation, who served with Fr. Capodanno, recalled during the May 11 ceremony how the chaplain nearly lost his hand to shrapnel as he tended to the wounded, but refused care so that medical supplies could go to his injured Marines.

… As he sought to administer aid to one particular marine, he placed his own body between the wounded man and an enemy machine gunner and was killed.

In 2006, the Catholic Church declared Fr. Capodanno a Servant of God, which is the first step towards being officially recognized as a saint.

Go here for the entire story.

Go here if you’re interested in learning about an offensive CNNMoney.com headline which has been up since shortly after noon on Saturday, if not longer, which uses a word I’ve never allowed at this blog in the form employed or in other variations (except in a few very rare instances when directly quoting other people).

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UPDATE, May 22, 5 p.m.: As seen in an update at NB, the comments at a cached CNN Political Ticker tease for the story go back to May 20 at 4:21 p.m., over 48 hours ago.

In their coverage of Herman Cain’s official announcement that he is a candidate for the Republican nomination for President of the United States, Associated Press reporters Shannon McCaffrey and Greg Bluestein limited their description of Cain’s tenure as chief executive of Godfather’s Pizza to the following:

He worked at Coca-Cola, Pillsbury and Burger King before taking the helm of the failing Godfather’s Pizza franchise, which he rescued by shuttering hundreds of restaurants.

That’s all he did, eh? Guys, if that’s all you could cobble together about Cain’s time at Godfather’s, you should have ended the excerpted sentence after “franchise” (for which a better word would have been “chain”).

The AP pair also omitted a couple of key elements of Cain’s resume, specifically his tenure as head of the National Restaurant Association and his involvement as a director of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, where he ultimately was elected chairman.

Here is a description of Cain’s tenure at Godfather’s found at a site called PizzaDominoes.com:

… in 1986, several franchises of Godfathers Pizza plummeted. And the pizza chain struggled to beat its competitors. So, Pillsbury selected Herman Cain to be the new president of Godfather’s. Cain had previously rescued some Burger King chains from bankruptcy; thereby earning him a remarkable reputation. And with his leading abilities, he managed to settle some lawsuits, eliminated non-profitable units, introduced more products, and arranged for delivery services. As a result, the pizza chain gradually went back to its feet. Plus, newer pizzas attracted more customers. The mouthwatering bacon cheeseburger pizza and fruit-filled cherry and apple dessert pizzas were introduced.

Moreover, Godfather’s Pizza focused on a one-number delivery system to compete with other pizza chains’ home delivery systems. Fortunately, this system had worked and Godfather’s eventually expanded. Furthermore, several humorous commercials were aired. This was the pizza chain’s attempt to increase public awareness of its products and add a fun concept. Godfathers Pizza also introduced products to pubic schools. It developed fun games that were related to pizzas. So, teachers used these games to encourage young students to master mathematical basics. And the students who performed well were given rewards.

So you see, Ms. McCaffrey and Mr. Bluestein, Cain’s success at Godfather’s wasn’t just about shutting down restaurants and (wink, wink) sending people to the unemployment line. It was about growth and innovation.

Here’s what Cain’s web site says about his Godfather’s experience and the two significant resume items the AP reporters ignored, plus the 1994 encounter with Bill Clinton that first brought him to the nation’s attention (and which the AP did mention):

I could have been content with my executive role with one of America’s biggest corporations. Instead, after consulting with my wife, we decided to take one of the biggest risks of our marriage: picking up our young family, relocating yet again and accepting the call to become CEO and President of Godfather’s Pizza, a company teetering on the edge of bankruptcy.

In 14 months, we turned the company around and returned it to profitability, and I ultimately led my management team to a buyout of Godfather’s Pizza. The company never went bankrupt, and today, there are still hundreds of locations across the U.S.

My success at turning around Godfather’s got the attention of fellow restaurateurs around the nation who invited me to join the Board of Directors of the National Restaurant Association and later elected me its chairman. In 1996, they retained me as the full-time President and the CEO of the National Restaurant Association, working on behalf of thousands of small businesses and entrepreneurs.

… In 1994, as chairman of the National Restaurant Association, I had the opportunity to speak with President Clinton during a nationally televised town hall meeting. Here, I challenged the President regarding the impact on businesses if his health care overhaul proposal were passed.

President Clinton attempted to assure me and the millions of viewers watching at home that his legislation would not harm American business owners and their employees.

I was skeptical. “Quite honestly Mr. President, your calculations are incorrect,” I said. “In the competitive marketplace, it simply doesn’t work that way.”

Through these and other appearances on behalf of the National Restaurant Association, I began working with business leaders across all sectors of the American economy. This led to my acceptance of a position on the Board of Directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, and I was subsequently elected their chairman.

Cain’s official announcement speech is at his campaign’s home page.

Back in January, the Politico’s Ben Smith characterized Cain’s candidacy as “quixotic.” In the same item, here’s how he described the Godfather’s chain: “Godfather’s still exists, mostly attached to convenience stores.” Uh, Ben, the chain has 620 stores, and “still exists” as the eighth-largest in the country (as of 2009). Though there aren’t any Godfather’s locations in Ohio, where yours truly resides, I tend to doubt that most of the chain’s location are “attached to convenience stores.” And even if they are, being Number 8 hardly qualifies as “still exists.”

One gets the sense that Smith’s description of Herman Cain’s prospects is as inaccurate as his breezy putdown of Cain’s former company.

Cross-posted at NewsBusters.org.

Obama’s declaration is right out of the dog-eared playbook of the Israel-hating European Left.

– Investors Business Daily, in an editorial on President Obama’s
position that Israel should return to its 1967 borders

Further, per IBD:

… as both Islamist terrorists and leftist haters of Israel know only too well, full “peace” in the Middle East is likely to come only from either the de facto end of Israel or the unlikely acceptance by Arabs of Israel’s right to exist.

The former is a lot more likely than the latter — and more likely still thanks to President Obama’s naivete.

Not to detract from the seriousness of the sellout, but for comic relief, check this out, from Dan Friedman at BigPeace: “Netanyahu Urges U.S. Return To 1845 Borders.”

_________________________________________________

Obama wants to reward “democratic Egypt” with $1 billion in debt relief. Only, “democratic” Egypt is torching churches and slaughtering Christians left and right.

– Investors Business Daily, in a Friday evening editorial
entitled “‘Arab Spring,’ Christian Winter”

No elaboration necessary, beyond the observation that the establishment press is predictably failing to note what’s really happening.

_________________________________________________

The arrest of a mediocre international civil servant in the first-class cabin of his jet isn’t just a sex story: It’s a glimpse of the widening gulf between the government class and their subjects in a post-prosperity West.

Mark Steyn, in his latest Orange County Register column

Steyn properly points out that before we get all high and mighty about how the French press and elites have dived headlong into rabidly defending Dominique Strauss-Kahn, we should recall that our press and elites gave Ted Kennedy a 40-year pass after Mary Jo Kopechne’s death, and then disgracefully eulogized him as the equivalent of American nobility.

_________________________________________________

So let’s just remember — in the birthplace of progressive unionism, the unions went all-in on a judicial election and lost.

Instapundit’s Glenn Reynolds, on the Wisconsin recount in Kloppenburg v.
Prosser predictably ending with a Prosser win

Ann Althouse believes that sore loser Kloppenburg may not be done. She may decide to file a frivolous and quixotic challenge to the recount with a broader agenda:

So Kloppenburg failed to win a seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court in an election that focused on the budget-repair bill, but she could try, by initiating a futile lawsuit about the election, to affect the way the Wisconsin Supreme Court decides the budget case and to affect it in a way that is contrary to what the voters voted for. And, if she does that, expect to hear her say lofty-sounding things about protecting the interests of the voters.

In other words, the purpose of the lawsuit would be to prevent Prosser from being seated, and (hopefully in her mind) having the Wisconsin Supreme Court split 3-3 after a lower court initially throws out Wisconsin’s collective-bargaining reform law.

From Steve at No Runny Eggs: “Kloppenburg penned an op-ed in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel where she denied having made up her mind on whether to challenge the inevitable recount defeat in court, then proceeded to spend the remainder of the op-ed outlining why many, including both myself and the majority of the Journal Sentinel editorial board, believe she has already made up her mind to do so.”

From Dana Point, California:

updated 5/6/2011 9:57:32 AM ET

How does it feel to become an Internet sensation and international phenom when you’re 90 years old?
How about when you’re 100 years old?

Answer: Exhilarating — and exhausting.

Just ask Rose Pollard Lunsway, 90, and Forrest Lunsway, 100. The California couple of nearly 30 years have been making headlines because they just got around to tying the knot — on Forrest’s 100th birthday. Media outlets call the pair every day, and congratulatory notes have been pouring in from all over the world. Even President Barack Obama sent one, along with a birthday card for the groom.

“My husband keeps saying, ‘What in the world is all the fuss about??’” Rose said, laughing. “It is getting to be exhausting, and I’m getting a bit confused. I’m wondering if details are going to get crossed in all these stories because I just can’t keep every detail straight.”

That said, Rose is happy to be sharing their story because she knows how unusual it is. With a combined age of 190, the pair is apparently on track to secure a Guinness World Record for being the oldest couple to marry. They’ve surpassed the aggregate age of the most recent record holders, Francois Frenandez and Madeleine Francineau of France.

Go here for the rest of the story.

It’s been 60 days since America’s “kinetic military action” in Libya commenced.

The War Powers Act is relevant in certain circumstances, including (Section 1543) “in any case in which United States Armed Forces are introduced … into the territory, airspace or waters of a foreign nation, while equipped for combat.” This would clearly apply to the Libyan situation.

The Act requires timely presidential notification of the commencement of such operations. Though of dubious constitutionality, the Act further requires that (Section 1544) “Within sixty calendar days … the President shall terminate any use of United States Armed Forces” unless Congress has declared war or has enacted a specific authorization …”

We’re at Day 60, and the Obama administration isn’t going to comply with any of this. Here is how the Associated Press is headlining and describing Obama’s failure to comply (copied in full for future reference, fair use and discussion purposes):

Those who care about such things (i.e., people who don’t want to see the press continually corrupt the English language) should note that the dictionary meanings of “skip” as a verb do not include “to fail to comply with a legal requirement.”

Nobody can possibly believe that the AP would have engaged in such an obvious dodge if a Republican or conservative in the White House has even considered such an option, let alone gone with the “You wouldn’t dare do something about this, would you?” strategy Team Obama is employing.

Cross-posted at NewsBusters.org.

Earlier today, Tim Graham at NewsBusters noted that the establishment press has given the silent treatment to a study by Timothy Conley of the University of Western Ontario and Bill Dupor of Ohio State University showing that the stimulus plan passed in February 2009 was a major net economic loser. In the first paragraph of the study, the authors revealed their core estimate that  the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act “created/saved 450 thousand government-sector jobs and destroyed/forestalled one million private sector jobs.” That’s a net loss of 550,000 jobs “destroyed/forestalled.”

To test Tim’s contention that “Our media only cites studies which estimate the number of jobs Team Obama ‘saved or created,’” I did searches on Dupor’s last name at the Associated Press, New York Times, Washington Post, and Los Angeles Times, and got back the following results:

• AP: Nothing
• NYT (advanced search): Nothing relevant
• WaPo: Nothing
• LA Times: Nothing

Finally, a Google News search on Dupor’s last name at 10:30 p.m. (sorted by date, with duplicates) returned 16 results (it looks like 22, but it’s really 16), none of which are establishment press outlets.

Ignorance of published results can have consequences. In a report on how the “AFL-CIO may reduce support to Democrats,” Associated Press reported Sam Hananel relays what is apparently one of labor’s objections to how the Obama administration has failed to sufficiently do its bidding:

Unions have been disappointed that Congress has not passed a more ambitious stimulus plan to create jobs, that health care reform didn’t go far enough and that Democrats – when they held a majority in Congress – couldn’t muster enough votes to pass a bill that would make it easier to organize unions.

So I guess the union guys would have preferred a stimulus plan twice the legislated size, so that the economy could suffer 1.1 million jobs “destroyed/forestalled.”

On a more observant note, maybe someone in the union movement will figure out that by artificially preserving many of their state and local jobs for a year or two, the stimulus plan put off the day of reckoning for their governments and worsened their financial situations in the meantime. If the Obama administration and the Pelosi-Reid Congress had done nothing, states would have had to face hard but somewhat more manageable choices in early 2009 instead of even tougher ones in 2011 after the stimulus money was used up.

In other words, the stimulus plan’s clear intent and documented success at briefly preserving public-sector jobs led to dire situations such as those which were dumped on governors, many newly-elected, in Wisconsin, Ohio, and elsewhere. These dreadful fiscal circumstances were ripe for serious collective-bargaining reforms which may never have been undertaken by the likes of Badger State Governor Scott Walker or Buckeye State Governor John Kasich in less difficult conditions.

Put more bluntly: The Obama stimulus plan created the conditions which allowed Walker and Kasich to push through legislation altering the union-management playing field. With “friends” like Obama, who needs enemies?

Do I think the union guys will ever figure this out? Nah.

Cross-posted at NewsBusters.org.

Through the first four months of John Kasich’s first term, Ohio’s economy has added 62,300 seasonally adjusted (SA) jobs, and 4,000 actual (NSA, or not seasonally adjusted) jobs.

As seen in the graphic which follows, this performance wipes the floor with the results achieved under Ted Strickland in good economies or bad from 2007 through 2010 — and it’s hard to make a case that the economy in which Kasich and Ohio are operating is being managed well at the national level:

Strickland’s 2010 did gain a bit on Kasich in April, but it’s difficult to imagine why that should be worrisome, given that Ohio’s economy in all of 2010 only added seasonally adjusted 31,000 jobs. Ohio’s economy has added twice that many seasonally adjusted jobs under Kasich already.

As to April’s unemployment rate, it fell to 8.6% SA (lowest since January 2009) and 8.4% NSA (1.9% lower than April 2010).

As I noted a month ago, absent contrary information, Kasich’s electoral win, the GOP’s re-taking of the House, and their combined actions in office this year get the presumptive credit for the improvements noted, unless someone can name something Ted Strickland did that might have had some kind of carryover effect. Good luck with that.