Two civil rights groups unveiled a mobile phone application called FlyRights that will let travelers file real-time complaints about racial and gender profiling with the Transportation Security Administration.

President Barack Obama used an address to members of building trades unions to slam Republicans in Congress while trying to assure union workers that he wants to put them back on the job – a speech Republicans dismissed as pandering to labor and dodging the issue of a jobs-creating pipeline project that he opposed.

Addressing the AFL-CIO’s Building and Construction Trades Department, Mr. Obama said Monday that Republicans have blocked multiple jobs bills that would have put hundreds of thousands of construction workers back to work repairing crumbling roads, schools and transit systems.

“I’ve said now is the time to do this; interest rates are low, construction workers are out of work… and time after time, the Republicans have gotten together and they’ve said no,” Mr. Obama told a packed ballroom at the Washington Hilton hotel.

Still, he told the group that his administration has taken steps to speed up loans and grants for projects and reverse bans on so-called project labor agreements. His reversals allow federal agencies to require that contractors on large-scale public construction projects agree to union representation for workers.

“As long as I’m your president I’m going to keep it up,” Mr. Obama said to repeated applause and cheers. He told the group that Republicans had set their sights on dismantling “unions like yours” and that he believes collective bargaining strengthens the economy. Another applause-generator: He referred to Republican-backed right-to-work laws as “right to work for less” laws that he said are about politics and not economics.

What President Obama didn’t say is what he intends to do about the Keystone XL Pipeline project, which he rejected early this year for environmental reasons. The pipeline would carry oil from Canada to refineries on the Gulf Coast. Many Republicans and some building trades unions have criticized Mr. Obama’s move, saying the pipeline would generate jobs. At the same time, the project has created a rift between labor groups that support it and others that don’t.

Writing at the Huffington Post Monday,  Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus predicted Mr. Obama would dodge the issue in his speech. “What do you say to a group whose lifeline you destroyed?,” Mr. Priebus said in the posting.

Meantime, the campaign of presumptive GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney said in a statement that Mr. Obama would be meeting with his “well-funded allies in big labor” on Monday. Spokeswoman Andrea Saul said Mr. Obama “panders” to big labor and has put their interests ahead of America’s workers and job creators.

Union members at Monday’s conference who support the pipeline said Mr. Obama’s early rejection of it doesn’t undermine their support for his re-election.

“Any Laborer that votes for Romney should have their head examined,” said James Maravelias, vice president of the Laborers International Union of North America’s local 199 in Wilmington, Del.

The Million Vote March, a project of the Lee Wrights for President campaign, has produced a series of videos to encourage one million Americans to vote Libertarian in November.

The latest video is entitled ?Stop the War on Small Businesses.?

 

To view the videos, visit The Million Vote March website. These, and other videos produced by the Wrights campaign, are offered free of charge to Libertarian Party affiliates and candidates. Each spot can be customized.

Contact Thomas Hill if you are interested in these spots.

Lee Wrights for President
Contact: Brian Irving, press secretary
press@wrights2012.com
919.538.4548

Last week it was Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida at presumptive GOP nominee  Mitt Romney‘s side, and Monday it was Sen. Kelly Ayotte.

Both are considered potential vice presidential picks; Mr. Rubio is seen helping Mr. Romney in pivotal  Florida, while Ms. Ayotte could help draw more women voters to the GOP column, and also help carry New Hampshire — which, while not rich in electoral votes, is considered a toss-up in a solidly blue corner of the country.

Ms. Ayotte introduced Mr. Romney during a Monday morning event at the Portsmouth Commercial Fishing Pier. The soft-spoken, first-term senator campaigned regularly with Mr. Romney, a part-time New Hampshire resident, during the final weeks before the state’s first-in-the-nation primary. But after Monday’s event, she played the part of the self-effacing vice presidential prospect, dismissing speculation that the campaign would even put her through the series of background check required of serious contenders for the job.

“I just don’t see that happening,” she told reporters after the Romney speech.

But as the Romney campaign hones its attention on New Hampshire, the senator said, “I’ll do whatever I can do that the campaign wants me to do to help make sure they win in November. I just think it’s so important for our country.”

• Graphic: Romney’s Possible VP Picks

Judge Jim Gray has officially announced his intention to seek the Vice Presidential nomination of the Libertarian Party at their national convention in Las Vegas, Nevada, this weekend. His statement follows in full:

Dear Convention Delegates:

In 2001 I first met Gary Johnson when he, as a sitting governor of the State of New Mexico, endorsed the original edition of my book, which is entitled ?Why Our Drug Laws Have Failed and What We Can Do About It: A Judicial Indictment of the War on Drugs? (Temple University Press, 2d edition, 2012). At the time when some governors who were ignorant of the issues were speaking nonsense about how we had to continue to put non-violent drug users in jail, and others who understood the issues were keeping silent, Governor Johnson was not only telling the truth, but he had the courage to act upon it.

In 2010 I had the honor to be on a panel about our failing educational system with Governor Johnson at ?Freedom Fest? which, as you know, is a yearly forum in Las Vegas that discusses and promotes Libertarian values. At that time Gary made it clear to me that he understands the critical importance of re-introducing competition into the educational system, just as promoted by my all-time hero Dr. Milton Friedman.

Based upon those experiences, combined with the knowledge that he had actually vetoed more wasteful spending measures while governor than all other state governors combined ? thus leaving New Mexico with a $1 billion surplus upon leaving office ? I have been accurately quoted publicly as saying that Governor Gary Johnson is the most qualified person that I know of to be President of the United States.

Given the wrong-minded direction that our great country is now being taken by the two main political parties, I decided to take his election personally and do whatever I could for him to be elected. So when Gary asked me to be his running mate in this election, I simply had to agree. What an honor; what an opportunity; and what a necessity for our children, grandchildren and country!

I believe my background, experience and values will bring additional credibility and force to our team. I was an elected trial court judge for 25 years, federal prosecutor in Los Angeles, criminal defense attorney in the Navy JAG Corps, and Peace Corps Volunteer in Costa Rica. I formerly held a top secret clearance in the Navy, and was the recipient of National Defense, Vietnam Service and Combat Action awards while serving my country.

In addition, I have received the ?Judge of the Year? award from the business litigation section of the local bar association, honorary degrees from two law schools, and the annual judge of the year award of my county?s chapter of the Constitutional Rights Foundation bears my name. I am married with four children, including one who was adopted from Vietnam while I was in the Navy, and am a member of the United Methodist Church. My Libertarian beliefs have been documented in my book ?A Voter?s Handbook: Effective Solutions to America?s Problems? (The Forum Press, 2010), as have my teachings in a fun way to our children about the importance of ethics, staying in school and making good choices in my musical, which is entitled ?Americans All,? and has been performed by several high schools as well as Vanguard University of Southern California.

So I directly request your invaluable support and vote at the upcoming Libertarian Convention as I seek the nomination to be your candidate for Vice President of the United States. I am committed to do whatever it takes to pursue this goal. But please do not vote for me, or for Governor Johnson, unless you are prepared to take this election personally as well, and help us in the days and months to come. With your help, together we can get this important work done!

Yours ? and Ours ? in Liberty

Judge James P. Gray (Ret.)

Governor Gary Johnson, whose website hosts Judge Gray’s statement, has already endorsed him. That statement can be found here.

Steve Kornacki: "The high-profile help that he's lending Barack Obama -- starring in a campaign video about Osama bin Laden's killing, headlining a fund-raiser in Virginia last night, plotting campaign strategy with top Obama lieutenants -- speaks to Bill Clinton's unique status among former presidents: Not since Theodore Roosevelt a century ago has one managed to remain such a political force after leaving office."

"Clinton is more popular than ever right now, notching a 67-29 percent favorable in one recent poll, which helps explain why Obama is eager to enlist him in what should be a tight general election campaign. There really is no modern precedent for a former president being so actively engaged in a national election so long after leaving the White House."

Democracy 21 and the Campaign Legal Center told the Federal Election Commission that Illinois Representative Aaron Schock's $25,000 solicitation shattered the F.E.C.'s $5,000 limit on such requests.

Press Release

For Immediate Release
Monday, April 30, 2012

Libertarian Party’s National Convention May 3-6 in Las Vegas

 

Cheri Young, the wife of an ex-aide to John Edwards, testified that the former presidential candidate "asked the couple to hide an affair he was having and justified using wealthy donors' money to do it," the AP reports.

On a phone call, Edwards "emphasized the need to preserve his campaign and keep the affair from his wife, Elizabeth" and made the plan sound "as if it was for the good of the country."

The pro-Romney "super PAC" Restore Our Future has scrubbed its YouTube account of all negative ads against Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich.