Kudos to Jill Stein, the Green Party’s presidential candidate. I would vote for her if Instant Runoff Voting (IRV) were available. You can be certain that Romney will approve Keystone on Day One for the benefit of his oil backers and not to the nation’s benefit at all. mjh

Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein charged with trespassing in Keystone XL protest – The Washington Post

By Steven Mufson, Oct 31, 2012 04:24 PM EDT

Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein was arrested Wednesday morning in east Texas while attempting to bring food and Halloween candy to protesters camping out in trees to oppose the Keystone XL pipeline, according to anti-pipeline activists.

Stein was taken to the Wood County jail and charged with criminal trespassing, a class B misdemeanor ….

Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein charged with trespassing in Keystone XL protest – The Washington Post

ABQJournal Online » Instant Runoff Voting Could Run Off ‘Spoilers’ By John B. Anderson / Independent Candidate for President in 1980 on Thu, Nov 1, 2012

It’s time for major party leaders to stop playing chicken with voters and instead to uphold majority rule with a straightforward reform. Instant runoff voting (IRV) would allow Americans to achieve the basic goal of representative democracy – electing the candidate with the most support – while ending the concept of “spoiler.”

With IRV, voters get to rank candidates in order of choice: first, second and third. A candidate can win with a majority of first choices. If there’s no majority winner, the last place candidate is eliminated, and that candidate’s backers have their votes added to the totals of their compromise choice. This process continues until there’s a majority winner.

IRV is a proven voting method. It’s used to elect Ireland’s president, London’s mayor and Australia’s House of Representatives. American cities using IRV include Oakland, Calif.; San Francisco; Minneapolis; St. Paul, Minn.; and Portland, Maine. New voting machines are making IRV all the easier to implement.

ABQJournal Online » Instant Runoff Voting Could Run Off ‘Spoilers’

Before you dig into the details of which old white guy gave what to whom, just consider the differences in totals. Five guys gave Romney nearly $100 Million, whereas five different guys gave Obama less than 20% of that amount. So, who has more clout with whom? mjh

Money men: Who are top 5 donors to Romney? > $94 Million total

Donors with dollars: Top 5 fundraisers for Obama  < $15 Million total

I’m particularly irritated by the presumption that Republicans are pro-business. How so, if they are against fair wages for workers?

ABQJournal Online » Talk of the Town

Small Businesses Support Living Wage

RAISING ALBUQUERQUE’S minimum wage would help small businesses like my own compete with the large, national retail and restaurant chains that pay rock-bottom wages to their workers. I pay significantly more than the minimum wage — even to my lowest-level employees, and many other small-business owners in Albuquerque, pay above the minimum wage as well.

Our responsible, living-wage business model is good for our bottom lines and for Albuquerque’s economy, and raising the minimum wage will ensure that profitable national restaurant and retail chains play by the same rules.

Critics like David Foster (“Higher Minimum Wage a Threat to Economy”) neglect to mention that small businesses cannot survive without a strong consumer base, and when big box retailers and other chains — the same big businesses that I suspect are leading the opposition to the minimum wage increase — pay low wages to pad their profits, they are taking money out of the community and denying their workers the income needed to shop at local businesses and to support the local economy.

Given the profits that large chains like McDonald’s and Walmart bring in, they can easily afford to pay their employees $1 more an hour. In turn, raising the minimum wage would boost consumer spending in Albuquerque and support job growth as businesses expand to meet increasing customer demand.

Workers and many business owners like myself support raising the minimum wage to bring fairness and growth to Albuquerque’s economy. Trickle-down economies don’t work when the faucet is closed tight.

TRAVIS PARKIN

Albuquerque

ABQJournal Online » Talk of the Town

ABQJournal Online » Letter: And Poor Mitt Has Only 3 Homes

Without considering the royalties from his two books, his wage as president is $400,000 per year, an amount adequate to qualify for an 80 percent mortgage, if he needed it. Forbes recently estimated the Obamas’ net worth at $6 million, most from book sales.

In contrast, Forbes estimates the Romney family to be worth $230 million. It is clear that offshore accounts and financial legerdemain are much more profitable than writing books, unless you’ve written the “Harry Potter” series.

So there, Mr. Shaut, there is nothing to worry you any longer. You have a choice between a Midwest writer and law professor, or else a Wall Street leveraged buy-out artist.

CRITZ GEORGE

Albuquerque

ABQJournal Online » Letter: And Poor Mitt Has Only 3 Homes

Not that there’s anything wrong with wealth. Oh, wait, there is something wrong with robber baron wealth. mjh

Barack Obama for Re-Election – NYTimes.com

Mr. Romney’s campaign Web site says he will “nominate judges in the mold of Chief Justice Roberts and Justices Scalia, Thomas and Alito,” among the most conservative justices in the past 75 years. There is no doubt that he would appoint justices who would seek to overturn Roe v. Wade.

Barack Obama for Re-Election – NYTimes.com

Barack Obama for Re-Election – NYTimes.com

The Supreme Court

The future of the nation’s highest court hangs in the balance in this election — and along with it, reproductive freedom for American women and voting rights for all, to name just two issues. Whoever is president after the election will make at least one appointment to the court, and many more to federal appeals courts and district courts.

Mr. Obama, who appointed the impressive Justices Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor, understands how severely damaging conservative activism has been in areas like campaign spending. He would appoint justices and judges who understand that landmarks of equality like the Voting Rights Act must be defended against the steady attack from the right.

Mr. Romney’s campaign Web site says he will “nominate judges in the mold of Chief Justice Roberts and Justices Scalia, Thomas and Alito,” among the most conservative justices in the past 75 years. There is no doubt that he would appoint justices who would seek to overturn Roe v. Wade.

Barack Obama for Re-Election – NYTimes.com