Here’s the study, commissioned by the NCRI and conducted by Wilson Research Strategies of Washington, D.C., that points to a wide base of support among Nebraskans for the Civil Rights Initiative. In a nutshell, 71 percent of Nebraskans support ending preferential treatment for certain groups of citizens. That includes 73 percent of Republicans, 65 percent of Democrats and 82 percent of independents. Additionally, 72 percent of whites, 64 percent of Hispanics and 76 percent of blacks support ending preferences. That’s from a survey sample of 500 likely voters, a significant and fair size by any measure.

Opponents of NCRI can make all the claims they like, but can no longer say the NCRI is something Nebraskans aren’t ready for.

Read more here and here .

The McCook Daily Gazette in Nebraska on June 24 titled an article “Anti-affirmative action signatures collected.”

BUT:

The article admits that the proposed law will still allow affirmative action with regard to economic classes and geographic areas.

Data suggests 71 percent of Nebraskans support the NCRI (link to follow).

It’s clear that “anti-affirmative action” is the same as “anti-discrimination.” See the post below: it you support affirmative action, go ahead and say so – but don’t pretend that gathering signatures for equal rights is the same as moving minorities to the back of the bus.

The campaign to recall Speaker Dillon in Michigan faced many of the same blocking tactics, but it didn’t face nearly as many misleading stories in the media and on the Web. But the signature drive drives on, and since citizens want to sign, there’s not much opponents of any type can do to stop it.

BAMN, By All Mean Necessary, an extremist grassroots group that engages in voter fraud themselves has oddly enough created a website called Fraud Finder

The page features several videos of nonsense and edited images of fake license plates. The videos actually make them look bad, as they follow, harass, and instigate drama with peaceful circulators.

Watch the video below, it shows free speech blockers engaging in very threatening tactics.

Remember, the whole purpose for their intrusion on a circulator’s First Amendment right to petition is to take time away from their signature gathering job.

Blogs opposed to Leon Drolet’s tried and failed recall effort in Michigan are having a field day remarking over his venture’s demise. But is seems they should slow down, and let some logic catch up to the happily chattering keyboards. Here’s two selections from the “Sarcastic Cynic” blog of Detroit, along with my commentary:

- “Their attempt to disrupt the state legislature would have been harmful to Michigan, especially at a time when we need constructve progress , not chaos from some angry extremists who don’t understand how taxes or economies operate.”

It’s silly to say Drolet and his “ilk” don’t understand taxes, or how they work: they just want fewer of them. Economies tend to “work” when there are fewer taxes in play; that’s the view held by business owners, economists, job creators, entrepreneurs, and realistic politicians. I’m beginning to wonder if the only people who don’t know this are politicians desperate for votes, and riled-up bloggers desperate for page-views.

- “All they have to offer is exactly the kind of minimalist, ineffective government we saw respond to Katrina.”

Government response to Katrina was certainly ineffective (except for the Coast Guard!). But would anyone describe our high-tax government as “minimalist?”

Anyone?

Government size has grown massively in the past years, even under those Republican policies that helped flub Katrina. Perhaps Cynic should make the connection between “taxes” and “ineffective.”

TV station KETV7 of Omaha, Neb. did a story on the Nebraska Civil Rights Initiative June 17. A “big story” on “misleading” information from petition-gatherers.

Or, not.

Read the story and watch the video here. At no point does the gatherer say anything false about her cause. And it would be inaccurate to say the initiative would end affirmative action; KETV7 admits the “initiative would permit affirmative action based on economic status and geographic location.”

In a world where opposing sides in the abortion debate spin their causes by labeling each other “anti-choice” or “pro-death,” the Nebraska petitioners’ spiel is pretty reasonable, and certainly not misleading.

“Discrimination” is not a dirty word. This morning, I discriminated against going for a run in favor of lying in bed. At lunch, I discriminated against a burger in favor of a salad (to make up for missing that run). Discrimination is the choice or favoring of one option or person over another, and voters should be able to realize, after a few seconds of rational thought, that affirmative action is exactly that: a choice, often subjective, to favor one over another.

That doesn’t mean a citizen can’t support affirmative action. That doesn’t mean these “misled” Nebraskans have to sign the petition. It does mean they have to decide for themselves, rather than be spoon-fed the dirty phrase “affirmative action,” thereby enabling a knee-jerk reaction so intense their patella fractures their skull.

Of all these petition-drives, the Michigan Taxpayer’s Alliance’s effort to recall Michigan Speaker of the House Andy Dillon has been the most contentious and most remarkable. The initiative, led by Leon Drolet, has been beset by blockers nearly from the start.

Now Michigan Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land has thrown out the petition, saying it lacks valid signatures. Anyone observing this fiasco can take a few lessons from it.

- Land declared 49.49 percent of the MTA’s signatures invalid. Some have alleged that a few signers were from outside the district, or even dead. No matter how oppressive the blocking efforts, or how desperate the struggle for voters, that’s simply sloppy signature-gathering. The Taxpayers have admirable goals, but messy work like theirs’ damages the credibility of small-government petitioners across the country.

- Drolet et al. are now trying to get Land or the Michigan Supreme Court to validate some of the signatures. He says certain decisions allow organizations like his to use out-of-state petition gatherers. Michigan and other states owe it to their citizens to have clearly established laws that won’t give rise to so much legal wrangling.

- This site and others show evidence of blockers’ egregious violations during the Michigan campaign. The petitioners failed, but they shouldn’t have worry about opponents screaming and lying to obstruct their efforts.

When I was a debater, I learned quickly that whichever team making a proposal is at a distinct disadvantage, because they face both the attacks of their opponents, and the reluctant-to-change status quo. Blockers aren’t going to stop, so our efforts have to be tight and they have to be valid.

Colorado Media Matters, is a “progressive” web-based group dedicated to “correcting” “conservative misinformation.” Here’s their latest heroic catch.

A June 8 Denver Post article identified Jessica PeckCorry as “executive director of the Colorado Civil Rights Initiative," failing to mention that she was also a policy analyst for the free-market Independence Institute , and a contributor for the for the Post’s PoliticsWest.com blog site.

So?

Whether you like who Peck-Corry works for, or not, the Post didn’t misrepresent her positions or affiliations. The Independence Institute hasn’t done much work on the Colorado Civil Rights Initiative, and what they have has been done by Peck Corry herself.

As for PoliticsWest.com , it’s just another newspaper blog site, albeit one that’s openly partisan: in both directions. The site contains a blogroll of sites, titled “nonpartisan,” “To the Left,” “To the Right” and so on. Peck-Corry’s not a reporter – lots of people contribute.

Peck Corry is a well-know public supporter of the CRI. She’s been to lots of schools, has had lots of fellowships, and writes for a lot of publications. She even ran for the Colorado Senate. She and the Post are too well-known to fool Colorado citizens about her background . But Colorado Media Matters is trying pretty hard to worry them.