Democrat Goon Charged with Snooping on Joe the Plumber

I see justice really moves swiftly out there in Ohio. Gee, it's only been a year now since 'Joe the Plumber' burst onto the national scene when he dared to question The One.

A year ago tonight, "Joe the Plumber" entered America's political consciousness.

Republican Sen. John McCain's mention of the Toledo-area man during a presidential debate ultimately led to the downfall of an Ohio cabinet director for snooping in state computers for confidential information on "Joe."

Nearly a year later, a former contractor for the Ohio Association of Chiefs of Police has been charged with rummaging through a police computer network to retrieve personal information about Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher.

Brett A. Gerke, 52, of 2329 Woodcreek Place on the Far North Side, is charged with attempted unauthorized use of property, a first-degree misdemeanor.

Gerke entered a diversion program Oct. 2, which typically results in the dismissal of a criminal charge. He has not entered a plea.

The State Highway Patrol says that Gerke used a law-enforcement computer network Oct. 16, 2008, to search for information on Wurzelbacher.

The man was popularized as "Joe the Plumber" by McCain in a debate with Democratic Sen. Barack Obama on Oct. 15. Wurzelbacher had been videotaped earlier questioning Obama about his policies.

Gerke was project manager in the development of the Ohio Local Law Enforcement Information Sharing Network, working on the project between 2004 and 2008 as a contractor for the police chiefs' association.

Gerke used a test account and password he received to work on the project to search for information on Wurzelbacher and others, authorities say.

He was working as a contractor for the Ohio Department of Insurance at the time of the computer checks. Gerke's attorney, Joseph Scott of Columbus, would not comment on the case.

The Dispatch revealed several questionable checks of state computer systems for confidential information about Wurzelbacher.

In the end nobody will pay a price for the invasion into Wurzelbacher's privacy, which is ridiculous. Just imagine if Republicans unleashed the hounds against private citizens like Obama and his thugs do?

Verizon Employees Spied on Obama Records: Hey, Now He Knows How Joe the Plumber Feels

You can guarantee the folks who did this will probably be fired and prosecuted. After all, we have a double standard at work in this country.

Verizon Wireless employees gained unauthorized access to President-elect Barack Obama's personal cellphone account and viewed his records, the company revealed yesterday.

An Obama aide said his voice-mail messages and e-mails were not breached in the incident.

"We were notified yesterday that employees had accessed the records of an old cellphone no longer in use," the aide said. "No voice or e-mails were listened to or read."

The company said the device in question was a simple voice phone, not a BlackBerry or other unit designed for e-mail or other data services.

See, if you're Joe the Plumber, every facet of your life was spied on, yet nothing will happen. Oh wait, check that. Someone gets suspended for a month.

Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland is standing by an agency director who OK'd improper computer checks for confidential information on "Joe the Plumber" and used state e-mails for political fundraising.

Strickland announced today that Helen Jones-Kelley, director of the Department of Job and Family Services, will be placed on unpaid leave for one month in response to an inspector general's investigation.

The investigation found Jones-Kelley had no legitimate reasons to check on Toledo-area resident Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher, who was popularized as "Joe the Plumber" by Republican presidential candidate John McCain. It also confirmed she improperly used her state e-mail account to raise campaign money for President-elect Barack Obama.

Some Republican leaders, who cited the report's findings to call on Democrat Strickland to fire Jones-Kelley, were stunned that she will remain on the job.

"The actions described in this report cross the line of what you can do and lead a state agency. She violated the public trust," said House Speaker Jon Husted, R-Kettering.

"The governor's lack of firm action here sends a message he is going to be tolerant of a state government that acts in inappropriate ways. He promised a higher standard and this is a lower standard."

Husted needs to get with the program. Rules don't apply to Democrats. Doesn't he realize this yet?

'Rejecting the Equality of the Socialist Ant Heap'

I wish I could say I was as optimistic as Salim Mansur about the outcome of the election November 4.

Let's hope he's right.

Polls have piled up like falling autumn leaves informing American voters the election is practically over and only the matter of procedure remains for Sen. Barack Hussein Obama to be sworn in as the 44th president of the United States.

The mainstream media and the big establishment it represents have worked hard to generate the impression of inevitability on behalf of Obama for a year now.

But like the shoe that pinches, the awkward reality for media and the big establishment remains the uncertainty of the actual vote count. Any attentive student of human affairs will remain skeptical of those predicting the future with certainty.

The only thing certain about the 2008 election, as with previous ones, is its close finish and the vote from Middle America again will be decisive.

Middle America is the last redoubt of freedom, protective of the first two amendments to the U.S. constitution, and egalitarian while rejecting the equality of the socialist ant heap.

Here Americans instinctively understand the words Thucydides put in the mouth of Pericles, the great Athenian hero, "Happiness depends on being free, and freedom depends on being courageous."

Middle America in this 2008 election has the face of Joe the Plumber alongside Sarah Palin. Joe the Plumber has become the everyman of American politics and with his simple question to Obama he unmasked the Democratic nominee's hidden Marxian economic policy -- from each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs -- to "spread the wealth around."

Middle America is the flyover country for the coastal left liberals. Here resides the vast silent majority that has witnessed for the past 40 years radical Americans such as the unrepentant terrorist and self-confessed anarcho-communist Bill Ayers trash their country. The New York Times on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001 quoted Ayers, an associate of Obama, saying "I don't regret setting bombs. I feel we didn't do enough." Middle America on its part has voted for the Republican ticket in seven of the past 10 presidential elections.

Joe the Plumber representing Middle America will not vote for Obama and his far left liberal views. He understands without prompting Obama's foreign policy is what the late Daniel Patrick Moynihan -- the highly respected Democratic senator from New York and a great patriot -- noted in referring to president Jimmy Carter's foreign policy, "Unable to distinguish between our friends and our enemies, he has essentially adopted our enemies' view of the world."Read the rest. Refreshing to see such wisdom from a member of the media.

Middle America watched the collapse of Soviet Communism in 1991 while extending the frontiers of freedom in distant lands.

Poll Finds Republicans Like Joe the Plumber, Democrats Hate Him

I figure this must be the first time in American history a presidential poll has been taken on someone nobody had heard of a week ago.

To no surprise, feelings about Joe the Plumber split along party lines. Whodathunkit?

Sixty-one percent (61%) of voters have been following news stories of Joe the Plumber somewhat or very closely. Among those following the news story, just 40% agree with Obama’s statement, and 47% disagree.

Forty-four percent (44%) of voters have a favorable opinion of Joe the Plumber, while another 41% have an unfavorable opinion and 15% are not sure. Among those following the story, the numbers for Joe are 58% favorable and 37% unfavorable.

As with just about everything touched by the presidential campaign, the responses divide sharply along partisan lines. Seventy-one percent (71%) of Republicans have a favorable opinion of Joe while 64% of Democrats express an unfavorable view.

The surprising star of the Presidential debate is a hit with middle income voters. Among those earning $40,000 a year to $100,000, 52% have a favorable opinion of Joe the Plumber while 33% offer an unfavorable assessment.

Those who earn less than $40,000 a year are less impressed—just 39% have a favorable opinion of him while 44% provide an unfavorable review.

Those with a higher income have an even lower opinion of Joe—35% favorable, 52% Unfavorable.

Condescending elitists.

I wonder what his ratings would have been had he not been mercilessly savaged by the leftist media the past few days?

There may be a small window for McCain to exploit his relative popularity among middle-class voters. He better act fast.

Update: Joe strikes back at the media morons.

"You know, when you can't ask a question of your leaders anymore, that gets scary," he said.

Thanks to Hot Air for the link.

I Am Joe

Thanks to Iowahawk for the inspiration.

I am Joe because I handle my own business and don't wait for the government to take care of all my needs.

I am Joe because hard work and sacrifice mean more to me than being on the government dole.

I am Joe because love of country comes before love of self.

I am Joe because I can spot a Marxist fraud when he speaks of spreading the wealth.

I am Joe because without millions of other Joes we would be France.

Tell me why you are Joe.

'It's Pretty Surreal, Man, My Name Being Mentioned in a Presidential Campaign'

This dude may have his own show by the end of the week. It's too bad The Shield is going off the air. The guy could be a body double for Vic Mackey.

McCain referred repeatedly to that voter, Joe Wurzelbacher, a plumber from Toledo, Ohio.

Wurzelbacher watched Wednesday night's debate and said he still thinks Obama's plan would keep him from buying the small business that employs him.

About McCain: "He's got it right as far as I go."

Even so, Wurzelbacher declined to say who was getting his vote.

He said he was surprised that he was called "Joe the Plumber" repeatedly during the debate.

"It's pretty surreal, man, my name being mentioned in a presidential campaign."

Joe, play your cards right and vote against socialism. You'll be a hero to millions.

In case you're one of the five people who hasn't seen this by now, here you go.