Voter Suppression ((Supreme Court Just . . .))

thoughtone

Rising Star
BGOL Investor
Right-Wing Voter Suppression Effort Caught Using Doctored Photo

Fucking right wing liars!

source: Huffington Post

A right-wing group in Houston engaged in a systematic voter suppression and intimidation effort used a doctored photo in its showcase video. Tellingly, a hand-lettered sign carried by an African-American woman at a 2000 Florida, Gore-Lieberman recount rally was changed from, "Don't Mess With Our Vote," to read, "I Only Got to Vote Once."

Huffington Post editors first suspected the photoshopping after I posted "Possible Arson and the Right's Texas Voter Suppression Effort" regarding King Street Patriots' attacks on a nonprofit voter registration effort and the mysterious fire that destroyed all of Harris County's (Houston) voting machines.

In my regular Sunday FireDogLake column, I posted a follow-up piece, "Contempt for Democracy: Attacks on Voting Rights," that included a link to DigitalDupes.org, which had launched an effort to locate the original photo. Within hours, Newshounds found it.

In addition, a Gore/Lieberman sign was altered to read, "I'm With Stupid." Here is the doctored video as presented in King Street Patriots' video, followed by the original photographs.

2010-09-06-TrueTheVoteScreenCapture.jpg


2010-09-06-capt.ballot_confusion_4gl.jpg


2010-09-06-capt.florida_recount_aq1.jpg


The King Street Patriots video has disappeared from their website (soon after the deception was revealed), but it remains on YouTube. Here it is:

<object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/dTbkWo-NY0w?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/dTbkWo-NY0w?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object>

In the video, King Street leader Catherine Engelbrecht says their effort is all about the truth, that they just want true, fair, honest elections. But if they are so committed to the truth, why did they use doctored photos? Why did they lie?

Because their real intent -- as it has been for similar voter suppression efforts for decades -- is to create barriers between the ballot box and the voters. They want to suppress the vote of people they suspect of opposing their agenda. In this case, as in most, that means assaulting the voting rights of the poor and minorities.

Their pious and sanctimonious rhetoric works -- most of the time. Political journalists seldom get beyond the "he said/she said" accusations and counter-accusations in voting controversies. This deception, in a showcase video, puts the lie to King Street Patriots claims to the truth and destroys whatever credibility they might have had.
 

thoughtone

Rising Star
BGOL Investor
‘Voter Caging’ Plot To Suppress Minority Votes In Wisconsin

source: Think Progress

Right Wing Foments Voter Fraud Conspiracies, Hatches ‘Voter Caging’ Plot To Suppress Minority Votes In WI

Documents and audio recordings released yesterday by One Wisconsin Now document an apparent plot by the Wisconsin Republican Party, Koch-funded Americans for Prosperity (aka Fight Back Wisconsin), and various other tea party groups to suppress votes from minorities and students in this year’s elections using a well-documented — and illegal— practice known as “voter caging.” The alleged plot offers fresh evidence that long-discredited right-wing conspiracy theories about massive voter fraud supposedly perpetrated by minorities and others remain alive and well in both the official GOP establishment and its tea party base.

“Voter caging” is a means of voter suppression and intimidation that involves sending mail to a list of voters, compiling a list of mail pieces returned as undeliverable, and then challenging those voters at the polls or otherwise attempting to remove them from the voter rolls. The mere process of challenging voters can intimidate from voting even if they are eligible, cause long lines to form at polling places that will then discourage others from voting, and may result in eligible voters casting provisional ballots which stand a high likelihood of not being counted in the final tally.

In the alleged conspiracy uncovered in Wisconsin, Koch-funded Americans for Prosperity — whose Wisconsin state chair was previously banned from politics in Wisconsin for three years, would finance a test mailing and other costs associated with compiling the caging list and then coordinate with the Wisconsin Republican Party to undertake an elaborate process to remove voters from the rolls ahead of the election, if possible, or at the polls on Election Day. Tea party groups were to provide the volunteer labor and cover for the activity — with all participants signing an extensive non-disclosure agreement under which they agreed to publicly operate in the name of Wisconsin GrandSons for Liberty, who would also provide some funding for the plan. The Wisconsin GOP would also provide additional funds, trainers for the tea party volunteers and would have a team of lawyers “standing by” on Election Day to respond to tea party volunteers and “bring the police” if necessary. As is typically the case in voter caging operations, the plotters appeared intent on targeting minorities, students, and others from heavily-Democratic areas of the state.

Audio recordings of the tea party meeting where the alleged voter suppression plot was discussed include numerous references by presenters to supposed instances of minorities and college students voting illegally. Tim Dake, a prominent tea partier in the state who belongs to Wisconsin GrandSons of Liberty, cited an anecdote about busloads of out-of-state voters voting multiple times in previous elections, then went on to discuss “the racial thing”

“So, the problem is now you see elections being stolen and we have to get these guys fired up about it, which is not happening. The other thing is you run into the racial thing. You have people screaming, ‘Oh, you’re denying the minorities their right to vote.” No, we’re denying their right to vote multiple times.’”

“No, we’re not even denying the minorities anything, we’re denying fraud,” added an unidentified attendee of the meeting.​

Later in the meeting, Dake offered up another anecdote that included a comment implying that individuals with Vietnamese surnames had committed voter fraud. He described how after moving into a “brand new condo” in 2004, he attempted to vote and was told that there were already twelve others registered to vote at his address:

“They said, ‘Wow, you must have a big family.” And I’m looking at names and going, ‘No, there’s nobody named “Nguyen” and “Din” and that sort of thing in my family.”

Considering that the voter rolls used to check voters in at the polls are typically organized by last name, it’s unclear how a poll worker could have immediately discovered this information or why they would have chosen to share it.

Another presenter at the meeting, Shane McVey of the Eau Claire Tea Party, raised the specter of college students voting illegally en masse; however, he then admitted that the one time he had personally challenged a student voter (based on a conversation he says he overheard in line), “[t]he kid turned away and started freaking out and it turned out he was who he said he was, but I challenged him.” He then described using a 6’4”, 300-pound man to challenge voters at the polls, which apparently provoked allegations of voter intimidation from Democratic poll watchers.

Perhaps not coincidentally, the groups chose Wisconsin’s 16th Assembly district — an inner-city Milwaukee district that is heavily Democratic (PVI +35 D) and majority-minority — for their July Americans for Prosperity-financed test run.

Presenters at the meeting also repeatedly blamed ‘quote unquote Republican’ and Democratic district attorneys, the media, and others for consistently failing to pursue purported instances of voter fraud — especially from the 2004 election in Milwaukee. However, a Bush-appointed U.S. Attorney did in fact pursue such an investigation — which some deemed politically-motivated — of the 2004 election and eventually admitted that he couldn’t find any evidence of a “massive conspiracy.”

What’s more, an exhaustive five-year investigation concluded in 2007 by the Bush administration’s Department of Justice, which was quite keen to investigate such cases, “turned up virtually no evidence of any organized effort to skew federal elections.” Indeed, the biggest impact of the Department of Justice investigation seems to have been the subsequent politically-charged removal of several U.S. attorneys the Bush White House deemed to have been insufficiently aggressive in pursuing alleged cases of voter fraud.

The total lack of any clear evidence of voter fraud did not stop the right-wing from hysterically and repeatedly invoking the bogeyman of an ACORN-led plot to ‘steal the election for Obama’ in an effort to justify their numerous attempts to disenfranchise voters in 2008. For example, this “Republican War on voting” led the Wisconsin Attorney General, a McCain campaign co-chair, to sue his state’s election officials in a maneuver that could have potentially disenfranchised all 240,000 people who had registered to vote by mail since 2006.

While ACORN is now defunct thanks to a discredited right-wing smear campaign led by a convicted criminal, that has not even stopped the right-wing from continuing to invoke it to stir fears over minority voter fraud. Just today, Sarah Palin tweeted about the group. A new poll out this week found that 20% of Americans believe that “ACORN will steal the election to keep the Democrats in control of Congress.” Another 40% aren’t sure whether the phantom group will do so or not. Sadly, Slate’s Dave Weigel predicts that with this being the first ACORN-free election since 1970, the myth of ACORN will only grow as Democratic losses are attributed to the lack of a massive fraud by the group.
 

thoughtone

Rising Star
BGOL Investor
Employees Told That Unless Republicans Win, They Won't Get Raises Or Benefits

source: Huffington Post


Voter Intimidation At McDonald's: Employees Told That, Unless Republicans Win, They Won't Get Raises Or Benefits

WASHINGTON -- There may be something rotten at McDonald's -- and it's not a year-old Happy Meal.

The owner of a franchise in Canton, Ohio enclosed a handbill in employees' paychecks that threatened lower wages and benefits if Republicans don't win on Tuesday.

"As the election season is here we wanted you to know which candidates will help our business grow in the future," reads the letter. "As you know, the better our business does it enables us to invest in our people and our restaurants. If the right people are elected we will be able to continue with raises and benefits at or above our present levels. If others are elected, we will not. As always, who you vote for is completely your personal decision and many factors go into your decision."

The note ends with a list of candidates McDonald's believes "will help our business move forward." It names Republicans John Kasich for governor, Rob Portman for Senate, and Jim Renacci for Congress. With the letter was a biography of Renacci.

"The handbill endorses candidates who have in essence pledged to roll back the minimum wage and eviscerate the safety net that protects the most vulnerable members of our workforce," said Attorney Allen Schulman of Canton law firm Schulman Zimmerman & Associates, which received the documents from an employer who stepped forward. "But it's more than that. When a corporation like McDonald's intimidates its employees into voting a specific way, it violates both state and federal election law. It's no surprise to anyone that Ohio is a battleground state in this election, and for a multinational corporation like McDonald's to threaten employees like this is morally and legally wrong. This despicable corporate conduct is the logical extension of the Citizens United decision, which has unleashed corporate arrogance and abuse."

Schulman turned over the documents to local prosecutors, asking them to "investigate this matter for a criminal violation." Ohio election law specifically states that no corporation "shall print or authorize to be print...or post or exhibit in the establishment or anywhere in or about the establishment...handbills containing any threat, notice, or information that if any particular candidate is elected or defeated, work in the establishment will cease in whiole or in part, or other threats expressed or implied, intended to influence the political opinions or votes of...its employees."

On Friday, franchise owner Paul Siegfried apologized in a written statement, saying the communication was "an error of judgment on my part." "Please know it was never my intention to offend anyone," he added. "For those that I have offended, I sincerely apologize."

In a statement to The Huffington Post, Shirley Rogers Reece, general manager of McDonald's Ohio region, said, "We wholeheartedly respect diverse views and opinions, and our employees' right to vote. Our position is that every employee should make his or her own choice. McDonald's had no knowledge of this material being distributed. As independent business owners, our franchisees are responsible for matters regarding their own employees. The content of this material is not reflective of McDonald's position. We remain bipartisan on these matters. That said, while clearly this was poor judgment, we don't believe it was intended to offend anyone."

[PDF]
<OBJECT id=_ds_58777680 name=_ds_58777680 data="http://viewer.docstoc.com/" width=630 height=550 type=application/x-shockwave-flash></OBJECT>
<SCRIPT type=text/javascript>var docstoc_docid="58777680";var docstoc_title="SKMBT_C45110102908110";var docstoc_urltitle="SKMBT_C45110102908110";</SCRIPT><SCRIPT type=text/javascript src="http://i.docstoccdn.com/js/check-flash.js"></SCRIPT>SKMBT_C45110102908110 -

[/PDF]

UPDATE 6:24 p.m.: Renacci's opponent, Rep. Jim Boccieri (D-Ohio) put out a statement about the incident: "Sadly, these voter intimidation tactics by this McDonald's franchise owner is another example of corporations exerting undue influence on our elections -- something we've seen all too often lately, including earlier this year in the Citizen's United decision. To date, big corporate special interests have spent $6 million to remove me from office. I voted to require corporations to disclose their influence in elections, so it's not surprising this franchise supports my opponent."
 

QueEx

Rising Star
Super Moderator
<font size="5"><center>
Inside the Wisconsin Right's
Voter-Suppression Scheme </font size></center>




Sarah Posner
October 29, 2010


From familiar stories about “illegal” electioneering by ACORN and the Black Panthers to Sharron Angle’s recent claim that Harry Reid is trying to steal the election by offering prospective voters free food—the myth of widespread voter fraud is now commonplace among Republicans. In just one example, an unconfirmed assertion that Nevada voting machines already had Reid’s name checked off became a national story, with Rush Limbaugh claiming that the “New Black Panther Party,” with the “imprimatur of the Justice Department,” was “running fraudulent elections” across the country.


<font size="4">Misinformation & Propaganda</font size>

In this swirling storm of misinformation and propaganda, a half-dozen Republican activists met in the community room of the Tri City National Bank in Sturtevant, Wisconsin on October 27, to receive training on how to be an election observer. Lou D’Abbraccio, an official with the Racine County Republican Party, laid out a parade of voter fraud horribles to the assembled men, from fraudulent voter registrations to vans organized by “leftists” ferrying people “incentivized” with money or coupons to cast multiple votes at different polling locations.

“There are polling locations where the election workers are largely Republican, and we have less concern,” said D’Abbraccio, a member of the Racine Tea Party, the local chapter of Koch brothers-funded Americans for Prosperity. “Then there are polling places where, not so much. Historically we have observed things there that are issues.”

This year, the Wisconsin GOP, Americans for Prosperity and Wisconsin tea party groups are working together, through the GOP and the tea party-affiliated website We’re Watching Wisconsin Elections, to combat this alleged scourge on the democratic process.

D’Abbraccio went on to recount “war stories” from previous elections, particularly 2004, which he claimed was “the worst election I’ve experienced in Racine.”

Even though Wisconsin law prohibits photography by anyone but news media inside a polling place, D’Abbraccio counseled his trainees to bring their cell phone cameras just in case. “Theoretically you’re not supposed to take pictures,” he said, but told the group to do it “surreptitiously” if they needed to document anything—and to “be careful.”


<font size="4">The Joint Plan to Suppress the Vote</font size>

The progressive group One Wisconsin Now has asked the US Attorney, the State Attorney General and the state Government Accountability Board to investigate a joint plan by the state Republican Party, Americans for Prosperity and local tea party groups “to engage in voter suppression” during the election, in violation of the Constitution and federal law. In particular, based on documents made available on the We’re Watching Wisconsin Elections and other tea party sites, as well as a recording obtained by One Wisconsin Now at a June meeting at which the coordination was discussed, AFP would pay for mailings to voters so that a list of supposedly ineligible voters could be used by tea party activists to challenge voters at the polls.

The GOP and tea party groups have denied the existence of any plan, in spite of the public documents outlining it. Tim Dake, one of the speakers on the tape One Wisconsin Now obtained and a leading state tea party figure associated with the Wisconsin Grandsons of Liberty, called the charges “ridiculous, reprehensible and could be construed as libel.” But the We’re Watching Wisconsin Elections site continues to publicize meetings organized by the Wisconsin Republican Party to train election observers and to make the training materials available on their site.

At the Racine County training, there was no discussion of using any lists to challenge the eligibility of voters. While D’Abbraccio urged his trainees to be polite, he nonetheless continually elaborated on and reinforced the impression that rampant fraud by “leftist” groups threatened the integrity of the election and that election observers were necessary to report such fraud to party officials and to challenge the eligibility of voters they suspected of fraud.

Even with appropriate training, said Wendy Weiser, Deputy Director of the Democracy Program at the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law, “that doesn’t diminish our concern about what might happen on Election Day” with election observers. The proliferation of unsubstantiated claims of widespread voter fraud, she said, “cements distrust and hostility and lack of confidence and anger, and it’s inaccurate. There’s no basis for this, and stoking anger and mistrust around election time is not a good thing.”

The unsubstantiated claim that ACORN had engaged in widespread fraud in the 2008 election is a well-worn trope in conservative media, along with the implication, and sometimes explicit claim, that the election of Barack Obama was illegitimate. After the conservative-instigated witch hunt led to ACORN closing its doors, additional bogeymen have been added to the mix.

As D’Abbraccio put it, “An organization running around comprised of all the alphabet soup of evil: AFSCME, SEIU, ACLU—every leftist group you can imagine put together some umbrella group called Election Protection. In the city of Racine, it actually took over polling locations [in 2004].” That year, Racine County was a hotbed of charges of voter fraud by conservatives, but an analysis by the Brennan Center found just seven instances of ineligible voters knowingly casting ballots that were counted—just 0.0002 percent of the total votes cast statewide.

In spite of this lack of evidence, D’Abbraccio claimed to be “concerned with wholesale fraud.” He painted a foreboding picture of “knocks and drags,” which he described as vans trolling the streets for random people to pick up. He claimed that “leftist” groups give people campaign literature that was really a “coupon” to redeem at a local establishment. He said these vans “drag people from polling place to polling place and have them vote multiple times.”

“That is a complete fantasy and fiction,” said Scot Ross, executive director of One Wisconsin Now. “There is nothing like that that happened.”

Reid Magney, a spokesman for the state Government Accountability Board, which oversees elections, said that there are “fairly rare instances” of people double-voting, citing one case last year in which a couple was convicted of voting in the polling places of both their primary residence and their vacation home. This was detected not due to a citizen complaint, he said, but because the “we [the GAB] proactively run checks after every election to make sure there is no double voting.”

As far as other types of double-voting or ballot-stuffing, Magney said, “we haven’t seen any kind of evidence of any widespread problem of that.”

Ross added that the groups concerned about voter fraud have a “complete and total delusion that minorities are voting more than once. There’s absolutely not one shred of evidence, no conviction, no charges, no nothing of that nature in the state of Wisconsin. I am aware of absolutely no activity like that.”

About the alleged “knock and drag” efforts, D’Abbraccio said he followed vans around on previous election days and said he would be following vans this Tuesday as well. “We have on occasion followed them from polling place to polling place,” he said. “The fact that they’re looking for someone following them from polling place to polling place is a good indicator that something fishy is going on. I had one guy start pulling evasive maneuvers.”

He speculated—without any basis—that Advancing Wisconsin, a group formed in 2008, may be the culprit this year. “We suspect that if it happens this time,” said D’Abbraccio, “it’s going to be through a group called Advancing Wisconsin, which was funded by George Soros [as] this kind of umbrella group that’s intended to create a permanent election infrastructure for all these groups so they’ve got the know-how and resources on election day, and some of that know-how is how to cheat.”

Meagan Mahaffey, Advancing Wisconsin’s executive director, said her group did no voter registration drives in 2010. Of D’Abbraccio’s statement, Mahaffey said, “I’m pretty shocked by it. It’s a pretty serious allegation he’s making. Nothing to back it up and nothing to show we are doing this. It’s not true, not rooted in anything. Just a guy in a meeting saying whatever he wants to say.”

D’Abbraccio also claimed that there is abuse of the corroboration process for voters who register on election day. Under Wisconsin law, if someone seeking to register on election day lacks the proper verification of their address—either their drivers’ license number, the last four digits of their social security number or other acceptable proof for establishing residence, such as a lease or utility bill, they can have someone “corroborate” their residency. Referring to the process as “vouching,” D’Abbraccio maintained that people are grabbed as they finish voting and asked to “vouch” for a stranger, producing an “endless loop” of people vouching for each other.

Magney, the GAB spokesperson, said that he was not aware of phony corroborations. “I’m not aware of us prosecuting” anyone for that, he said, adding, “I don’t think that that’s an issue.”

“I have never heard such an allegation,” said the Brennan Center’s Weiser. “That is something that is certainly easily observable and easy to get caught” because “it is so elaborate and visible.”

D’Abbraccio also accused the GAB of being derelict in its responsibility to purge 18,000 “invalid” registrations from the voter rolls, based on mail returned as undeliverable to the GAB.

But the reality is quite different. Magney said that as part of a routine check under the Help America Vote Act, the Board sent letters to voters whose details on their voter registrations didn’t match other government records, such as the Department of Motor Vehicles database. Frequently, he said, such lack of a match is caused, for example, by one record bearing the person’s middle initial only, while the other bears the person’s full middle name. What’s more, he said, the lack of a match doesn’t render the person ineligible to vote; the purpose of the database match, he said, is only “to improve data quality.” (The Republican State Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen sued the board in 2008 in an attempt to force it to require a match for a voter to be eligible to vote; the case was dismissed.)

About the 18,000 voters whose letters were returned as undeliverable, and who conservatives are charging should be removed from voter rolls, Magney said, “we didn’t feel comfortable removing [from the voter rolls] them based on one letter coming back, especially because there is no requirement in the law that your information has to match in the first place.” He said the GAB sent a second letter, and 12,431 have come back as undeliverable a second time, in most cases probably because the voter had moved. “Those are the people who we have marked as inactive. If they show up to vote, their names won’t be on the list at their polling place,” although they could do a same-day registration as allowed by Wisconsin law.

Election observers can be perfectly innocuous, but the climate of “misinformation or fear, stoking fear of voter fraud” creates risks, said Weiser. While that has been has been occurring for several election cycles, she said, “what’s different in this cycle is more mobilization of citizens, party activists and political operatives to police the polling places and to take matters in their own hands… if people are overly outraged so they are more likely to cross lines, and that’s a problem.”

http://www.thenation.com/article/155688/inside-wisconsin-rights-voter-suppression-scheme
 

thoughtone

Rising Star
BGOL Investor
source: TPM

voting-flier-abc-sg-cropped-proto-custom_2.jpg

Misleading fliers where passed out at a predominately African-American polling place in Houston.​


Fake Group Hands Out Fliers Meant To Mislead Black Voters In Texas (VIDEO)


Misleading fliers are showing up on the windshields of vehicles at a predominately African-American polling place in Houston that claim to come from a non-existent group called the "Black Democratic Trust of Texas."

The fliers were placed on the windshields of vehicles at and near the Sunnyside Early Voting location and tell voters not to voter straight Democrat, according to Texas Democrats and local news reports.

"Republicans are trying to trick us!" the flier reads. "When you vote straight ticket Democrat, it is actually voting for Republicans and your vote doesn't count. We are urging everyone to VOTE for BILL WHITE. A VOTE for BILL WHITE is a VOTE for the ENTIRE DEMOCRATIC ticket. We have fought too hard to let Republicans use voting machines to deny us our basic rights. We must guard the change and NOT VOTE STRAIGHT TICKET DEMOCRAT!"

"YES WE CAN," the flier reads

Here is a copy of the flyer sent to TPMMuckraker by the Texas Democratic Party:​

black-democratic-trust-of-texas-thumb-600x752.jpg


The flier includes what appears to be an image of Ann Richards, the deceased former Democratic governor of the state. Outside of news reports about this flier, there is no online record of a group called the "Black Democratic Trust of Texas."

"These fliers are part of a coordinated effort between the Tea Party and Houston Republicans to intimidate and misinform voters," Chad W. Dunn, General Counsel for the Texas Democratic Party, told TPMMuckraker.

"Any Republican worthy of serious consideration for election to any office will immediately condemn these tactics and fully cooperate in bringing the wrongdoers to justice," Dunn said. "The Texas Democratic Party will ultimately discover who was behind this effort and we will ensure they bear the full weight of civil and criminal penalties."

"This deliberate attempt to misinform voters is the last ditch effort by the Republican Party that trying to win votes from a public that is skeptical of their failed policies in Texas," Dunn added.

J. Gerald Hebert, Executive Director & Director of Litigation at the Campaign Legal Center, has already alerted the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division about the fliers.

"It bothers me they're coming up with shenanigans, lying to people anonymously. Show your face," Houston City Council Member Jolanda Jones told Houston's KTRK.

Watch the video report from Miya Shay of Houston's KTRK below:

<object id="otvPlayer" width="400" height="268"><param name="movie" value="http://cdn.abclocal.go.com/static/flash/embeddedPlayer/swf/otvEmLoader.swf?version=&station=ktrk&section=&mediaId=7749846&cdnRoot=http://cdn.abclocal.go.com&webRoot=http://abclocal.go.com&configPath=/util/&site=" ></param><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"></param><param name="allowNetworking" value="all"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed id="otvPlayer" width="400" height="268" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allownetworking="all" allowfullscreen="true" src="http://cdn.abclocal.go.com/static/flash/embeddedPlayer/swf/otvEmLoader.swf?version=&station=ktrk&section=&mediaId=7749846&cdnRoot=http://cdn.abclocal.go.com&webRoot=http://abclocal.go.com&configPath=/util/&site="></embed></object>​
</EMBED>
 

thoughtone

Rising Star
BGOL Investor
source: TPM


TPMMuckraker
Mark Kirk Sends Poll Monitors To 'Vulnerable,' Largely African-American Neighborhoods


mark-kirk-1-cropped-proto-custom_2.jpg

Rep. Mark Kirk (R-Ill)



In a private phone conversation that was secretly recorded, Mark Kirk, the Republican U.S. Senate candidate in Illinois, told state Republican leaders last week about his plan to send "voter integrity" squads to two predominately African-American neighborhoods of Chicago and two other urban areas of Illinois with significant minority populations "where the other side might be tempted to jigger the numbers somewhat."


Kirk's campaign confirmed the candidate was secretly taped last week as he was talking about his anti-voter fraud effort.

"These are lawyers and other people that will be deployed in key, vulnerable precincts, for example, South and West sides of Chicago, Rockford, Metro East, where the other side might be tempted to jigger the numbers somewhat," he said in the audio posted on YouTube.

As TPMMuckraker has reported, accusations from conservatives that ineligible voters are fraudulently stealing elections for Democrats have continued to fly in the 2010 campaign cycle, despite the lack of evidence of widespread voter fraud. "Voter fraud" has been the rally cry for conservative groups seeking to make it more difficult to cast ballots and suppress minority voter turnout. In particular this election cycle, Tea Party groups have taken up the issue, and Democratic groups have called for assurances that poll watchers trained by such groups are clear on polling station rules.

Talking Points Memo tried to reach the Kirk campaign when the audio emerged last week on the blog ArchPundit to confirm its authenticity, but we did not hear back. Blogger Larry Handlin told TPM he promised not to give away information about the source, but said it was recorded on Monday or Tuesday of last week.

Here's a local news report:

<EMBED id=otvPlayer height=268 type=application/x-shockwave-flash width=400 src=http://cdn.abclocal.go.com/static/flash/embeddedPlayer/swf/otvEmLoader.swf?version=&station=wls&section=&mediaId=7714801&cdnRoot=http://cdn.abclocal.go.com&webRoot=http://abclocal.go.com&configPath=/util/&site= allowscriptaccess="always" allownetworking="all" allowfullscreen="true">​
</EMBED>

Full coverage on voter fraud here.


[Ed note: This post was edited after publication, as it incorrectly identified Rockford and Metro East as neighborhoods in Chicago.]
 

thoughtone

Rising Star
BGOL Investor
source: TPM


Dick Armey: Many Dems Are Voting Early To Commit Voter Fraud (VIDEO)


After CBS News reported today that Democrats are showing strong numbers at early voting polls, FreedomWorks CEO Dick Armey offered his theory as to why: Those Dems are committing voter fraud.

Appearing on Fox News this afternoon, he told Neil Cavuto that Democrats vote early because there's "less ballot security," creating a "great opportunity" for fraud. He also claimed that such fraudulent early voting is "pinpointed to the major urban areas. The inner city."

Republicans and others on the right, as we've reported extensively, often make high-pitched claims of Democrat-operated voter fraud, arguing that Dems focus on minority areas. Such claims rarely bare out, but the fear of voter fraud can lead to voter suppression.

Here's the video:


<EMBED height=360 type=application/x-shockwave-flash width=480 src=http://www.youtube.com/v/rdpbiXuBDZ0?fs=1&hl=en_US allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true">​
</EMBED>
 

thoughtone

Rising Star
BGOL Investor
From Poll Taxes To Voter ID Laws: A Short History of Conservative Voter Suppression

source: Think Progress



Thursday, ThinkProgress reported that the Ohio House had approved the most restrictive voter id law in the nation — a bill that would exclude 890,000 Ohioans from voting. Earlier this week Texas lawmakers passed a similar bill, and voter id legislation — which would make it significantly more difficult for seniors, students and minorities to vote — is now under consideration in more than 22 states across the country

Conservatives have said voter id laws are necessary to combat mass voter fraud. Yet according to the Brennan Center for Justice, Americans are more likely to be killed by a bolt of lightning than commit voter fraud. And the Bush administration’s five-year national “war on voter fraud” resulted in only 86 convictions of illegal voting out of more than 196 million votes cast. Instead conservatives are employing an old tactic: using the specter of false voting to restrict the voting rights of minorities and the poor.

Below, ThinkProgress examines the history of conservatives anti-voter agenda:
JIM CROW SOUTH: In the Jim Crow South, historian Leon Litwack writes, “respectable” Southern whites justified their support for measures to disenfranchise African-Americans “as a way to reform and purify the electoral process, to root out fraud and bribery.” In North Carolina for example, conservatives insisted that literacy tests and poll taxes — which disenfranchised tens of thousands of African-Americans — were necessary to prevent “voter fraud.”

1981 RNC VOTER CAGING SCANDAL: According to Project Vote, in 1981 the Republican National Committee mailed non-forwardable postcards to majority Hispanic and African-American districts in New Jersey in an effort to accuse those voters of false voting. The 45,000 returned cards were then used to create a list of voters whose residency the GOP could challenge at the polls. The Democratic National Committee sued, winning a consent decree in which the RNC agreed not to engage in practices “where the purpose or significant effect of such activities is to deter qualified voters from voting.” Similar initiatives were undertaken by the Arizona GOP in 1958, the RNC in 1962 and again, despite the decree, in Louisiana in 1986.

RECENT VOTER CAGING EFFORTS: During the 2004 election GOP state parties, along with dozens of unidentified groups, launched similar “voter caging” efforts designed to challenge the eligibility of thousands of minority voters by accusing them of voter fraud. And in 2008, the Obama campaign sued the Michigan Republican Committee for collecting a list of foreclosures in an effort to challenge the residency, and eligibility, of voters who had lost their home in the housing crisis.

US ATTORNEY DAVID IGLESIAS FIRING SCANDAL: In an unprecedented politicization of the Justice Department, in 2006 the Bush White House fired US Attorney David Iglesias for refusing to prosecute voting fraud cases where little evidence existed. The New Mexico political establishment asked for Iglesias’ dismissal after he refused to cooperate with the party’s efforts to make voter id laws “the single greatest wedge issue ever.”

US ATTORNEY TOM HEFFELFINGER DISMISSAL: In Minnesota, US Attorney Tom Heffelfinger lost his position when he ran afoul of GOP activists for “expressing deep concern about the effect of a state directive that could have the effect of discouraging Indians in Minnesota from casting ballots.”

WISCONSIN, THE KOCHS AND THE 2010 ELECTION: Last fall ThinkProgress reported that a coalition of Wisconsin Tea Party and Koch-funded groups, in an effort to stop “voter fraud” and prevent “stolen elections,” was planning a sophisticated voter caging effort that would use GOP lawyers and Tea Party volunteers to challenge the eligibility of voters at polls in the state. Earlier that year, the same groups were instrumental in defeating a voter protection law that would have criminalized any attempt to use force or coercion to “compel any person to refrain from voting.” One prominent Tea Party member behind the voter caging effort that “since the voter law did not get passed this year… we can still do this.”
As statehouses across the country move forward on voter identification bills, ThinkProgress will continue to track conservatives latest efforts to advance their century-old anti-voter agenda.
 

muckraker10021

Superstar *****
BGOL Investor
Re: From Poll Taxes To Voter ID Laws: A Short History of Conservative Voter Suppressi


Voter Suppression , Voter Intimidation, Voter "Special ID Card" requirements, Voter “felony disenfranchisement” scam purges, Voter "provisional ballot" scams, are all the foundation and bedrock of todays RepubliKlan party balloting strategy . This strategy adaptation by a political party is not new.

In the period immediately preceding the US Civil War (1860), the ‘Democratic Party’ was the party of the slave holders & white-male only monopoly capitalists that ruled the south with blood-soaked treachery.

In 1860 there were 32 states in the “United States of America”. The newly formed Republican party Presidential candidate in 1860 was Abraham Lincoln. Although Lincoln at that time didn’t advocate freeing Black slaves he said that slavery was morally wrong, joining the rapidly increasing abolition movement.

Such pronouncements from Lincoln so ‘frightened’ the southern slavocracy that they removed his name entirely from their states ballot. Talk about voter suppression!! Lincoln’s name didn’t appear on 9 states! out of the 32 states that comprised the “United States of America”. Blocked from the ballot in 9 out of 32 states - and Lincoln still won!

Today (2011) the RepubliKlan carcass is faced with the “Teabagger” takeover of their party & the rapidly changing demographics of the United States (the Hispanic explosion).

They have alienated the Hispanic population with their support of the Nazi inspired “papers please” law initiated in Arizona. A plurality of American reject “Tea Bagger” politics.

<s>FOX </s> Fake News owner Rupert Murdoch who owns the Wall Street Journal recently conducted a poll in which 81% of those polled said raising taxes on those who earn over 1MM dollars a year is the best way to start reducing America’s debt.

Despite this recent unsurprising poll result, the RepubliKlans, following the orders of their corporate puppet masters had Paul Ryan today (April 5th 2011) announce that RepubliKlans want to drop the top tax rate for America's richest from 36 percent down to 25 percent while increasing taxes for those who earn as little as $13,000 a year!

The RepubliKlans only play in a 50 state presidential election contest is voter suppression, coupled with “Dog-whistle” racial fear-mongering and a hope that the economy continues its weak recovery into 2012 with President Obama solely being blamed.

Paul Weyrich RepubliKlan conservative political activist and co-founder of the Heritage Foundation, realized in 1980 that RepubliKlan policies were an anathema to the majority of Americans; therefore Voter Suppression had to be a critical pillar for RepubliKlan electoral success. He said:
<blockquote>
"Now many of our Christians have what I call the goo-goo syndrome — good government. They want everybody to vote. I don't want everybody to vote. Elections are not won by a majority of people, they never have been from the beginning of our country and they are not now. As a matter of fact, our leverage in the elections quite candidly goes up as the voting populace goes down."
</blockquote>







imKzbI.jpg
imGapm.jpg



<hr noshade color="#FF0000" size="10"></hr>
 

Gunner

Support BGOL
Registered
Re: From Poll Taxes To Voter ID Laws: A Short History of Conservative Voter Suppressi

source: Think Progress



Thursday, ThinkProgress reported that the Ohio House had approved the most restrictive voter id law in the nation — a bill that would exclude 890,000 Ohioans from voting. Earlier this week Texas lawmakers passed a similar bill, and voter id legislation — which would make it significantly more difficult for seniors, students and minorities to vote — is now under consideration in more than 22 states across the country

Conservatives have said voter id laws are necessary to combat mass voter fraud. Yet according to the Brennan Center for Justice, Americans are more likely to be killed by a bolt of lightning than commit voter fraud. And the Bush administration’s five-year national “war on voter fraud” resulted in only 86 convictions of illegal voting out of more than 196 million votes cast. Instead conservatives are employing an old tactic: using the specter of false voting to restrict the voting rights of minorities and the poor.

Below, ThinkProgress examines the history of conservatives anti-voter agenda:
JIM CROW SOUTH: In the Jim Crow South, historian Leon Litwack writes, “respectable” Southern whites justified their support for measures to disenfranchise African-Americans “as a way to reform and purify the electoral process, to root out fraud and bribery.” In North Carolina for example, conservatives insisted that literacy tests and poll taxes — which disenfranchised tens of thousands of African-Americans — were necessary to prevent “voter fraud.”

1981 RNC VOTER CAGING SCANDAL: According to Project Vote, in 1981 the Republican National Committee mailed non-forwardable postcards to majority Hispanic and African-American districts in New Jersey in an effort to accuse those voters of false voting. The 45,000 returned cards were then used to create a list of voters whose residency the GOP could challenge at the polls. The Democratic National Committee sued, winning a consent decree in which the RNC agreed not to engage in practices “where the purpose or significant effect of such activities is to deter qualified voters from voting.” Similar initiatives were undertaken by the Arizona GOP in 1958, the RNC in 1962 and again, despite the decree, in Louisiana in 1986.

RECENT VOTER CAGING EFFORTS: During the 2004 election GOP state parties, along with dozens of unidentified groups, launched similar “voter caging” efforts designed to challenge the eligibility of thousands of minority voters by accusing them of voter fraud. And in 2008, the Obama campaign sued the Michigan Republican Committee for collecting a list of foreclosures in an effort to challenge the residency, and eligibility, of voters who had lost their home in the housing crisis.

US ATTORNEY DAVID IGLESIAS FIRING SCANDAL: In an unprecedented politicization of the Justice Department, in 2006 the Bush White House fired US Attorney David Iglesias for refusing to prosecute voting fraud cases where little evidence existed. The New Mexico political establishment asked for Iglesias’ dismissal after he refused to cooperate with the party’s efforts to make voter id laws “the single greatest wedge issue ever.”

US ATTORNEY TOM HEFFELFINGER DISMISSAL: In Minnesota, US Attorney Tom Heffelfinger lost his position when he ran afoul of GOP activists for “expressing deep concern about the effect of a state directive that could have the effect of discouraging Indians in Minnesota from casting ballots.”

WISCONSIN, THE KOCHS AND THE 2010 ELECTION: Last fall ThinkProgress reported that a coalition of Wisconsin Tea Party and Koch-funded groups, in an effort to stop “voter fraud” and prevent “stolen elections,” was planning a sophisticated voter caging effort that would use GOP lawyers and Tea Party volunteers to challenge the eligibility of voters at polls in the state. Earlier that year, the same groups were instrumental in defeating a voter protection law that would have criminalized any attempt to use force or coercion to “compel any person to refrain from voting.” One prominent Tea Party member behind the voter caging effort that “since the voter law did not get passed this year… we can still do this.”
As statehouses across the country move forward on voter identification bills, ThinkProgress will continue to track conservatives latest efforts to advance their century-old anti-voter agenda.



blackpanther4_s640x550.jpg


Nothing to see here move along:hmm:

I'll engage your points: Jim Crow south was installed but white demorats! Check your parties history.

In regards to voter fraud in any case, I agree with you. It should not be tolerated on neither side. Serious jail time. Do you agree with the DOJ dropping the case against the black panthers in the above photo?


– US ATTORNEY DAVID IGLESIAS FIRING SCANDAL: In an unprecedented politicization of the Justice Department, in 2006 the Bush White House fired US Attorney David Iglesias for refusing to prosecute voting fraud cases where little evidence existed. The New Mexico political establishment asked for Iglesias’ dismissal after he refused to cooperate with the party’s efforts to make voter id laws “the single greatest wedge issue ever.”


Should Obama fire Holder? Some in his DOJ staff have come out against him.

Why is it that when it comes to military ballots from those serving across seas their is a mix up or problem if said ballots could determine a close race. Many libs don't even want them counted. Could it be that most would go to the GOP?


Seriously a photo ID is needed to board a plane, buy tickets etc.... Why is it a problem to ask for it before you vote? If we want fair elections wouldn't this help eliminate some fraud? Or are you for it due to receiving some of the votes from illegal citizens?

Here in my state, our secretary of state removed thousands from the voter rolls. Democrats bitched and moaned as usual. Rent a mobs everywhere. All of those who were removed have not voted in years...
 

thoughtone

Rising Star
BGOL Investor
Re: From Poll Taxes To Voter ID Laws: A Short History of Conservative Voter Suppressi

blackpanther4_s640x550.jpg


Nothing to see here move along:hmm:

I'll engage your points: Jim Crow south was installed but white demorats! Check your parties history.

In regards to voter fraud in any case, I agree with you. It should not be tolerated on neither side. Serious jail time. Do you agree with the DOJ dropping the case against the black panthers in the above photo?


– US ATTORNEY DAVID IGLESIAS FIRING SCANDAL: In an unprecedented politicization of the Justice Department, in 2006 the Bush White House fired US Attorney David Iglesias for refusing to prosecute voting fraud cases where little evidence existed. The New Mexico political establishment asked for Iglesias’ dismissal after he refused to cooperate with the party’s efforts to make voter id laws “the single greatest wedge issue ever.”


Should Obama fire Holder? Some in his DOJ staff have come out against him.

Why is it that when it comes to military ballots from those serving across seas their is a mix up or problem if said ballots could determine a close race. Many libs don't even want them counted. Could it be that most would go to the GOP?


Seriously a photo ID is needed to board a plane, buy tickets etc.... Why is it a problem to ask for it before you vote? If we want fair elections wouldn't this help eliminate some fraud? Or are you for it due to receiving some of the votes from illegal citizens?

Here in my state, our secretary of state removed thousands from the voter rolls. Democrats bitched and moaned as usual. Rent a mobs everywhere. All of those who were removed have not voted in years...

I'll engage your points:

It's about time. It seems when I check your preposterous posts, you disappear and then post an even more ridiculous post...


I'll engage your points: Jim Crow south was installed but white demorats! Check your parties history.

Check your parties history! Have you forgotten the lesson I gave you on Lincolns views in 1860 vs the GOP of today. Do you deny that the republican party of the 100 years ago is not the republican party of today? You failed my class. Stay after school.

I'm not wedded to the Democrats. In the late 19th century the republicans were better for Black folk. Now the Democrats are better for Black folk. I go with who I think has my interests.



Strom_xlarge.jpeg


Do you agree with the DOJ dropping the case against the black panthers in the above photo?


What, all three of them? You and Faux Snooze, as usual are grasping at straws. By the way, didn't Nixon virtually eliminate the Black Panther party 40 years ago, to what end?


Seriously a photo ID is needed to board a plane, buy tickets etc.... Why is it a problem to ask for it before you vote? If we want fair elections wouldn't this help eliminate some fraud? Or are you for it due to receiving some of the votes from illegal citizens?


Significant voter fraud is a myth. Voter caging is much more of a problem. The GOP uses the myth of voter fraud to cover up their voter intimidation.


Here in my state, our secretary of state removed thousands from the voter rolls.

Of course they did. States where a significant Black or Hispanic population exist to sway a particular demographic from their traditional voter choice are targets for purging of voter rolls. Do you see any voter purging in Utah, Idaho or Montana?


source: MSNBC


Election officials deny illegally purging voters

NEW YORK — A newspaper report Thursday said tens of thousands of eligible voters have been removed from rolls or blocked from registering in at least six swing states, but election officials quickly lined up to defend their registration procedures and said they had done nothing wrong.

The New York Times based its findings on reviews of state records and Social Security data, and said it had identified apparent problems in Colorado, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Nevada and North Carolina.

The Times said voters appear to have been purged by mistake and not because of any intentional violations by election officials or coordinated efforts by any party. It says that some states are improperly using Social Security data to verify new voters' registration applications, and that others might have broken rules that govern removing voters from the rolls within 90 days of a federal election.

Elections officials dispute the report

Elections officials in several states disputed that any voters were illegally removed from rolls. Michigan elections director Chris Thomas said the state removed only people who have died, notified authorities of a move or who were declared unfit to vote, which is well within the parameters of the law. Thomas said only 11,000 voters were removed from Michigan rolls in August — not 33,000, the figure cited in the report.

"There is no illegal purging going on," Thomas told The Associated Press on Thursday.

The New York Times did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Colorado, however, said it would review its practices of "canceling" voters who had moved, died or were deemed otherwise ineligible. Secretary of State Mike Coffman said he asked lawyers to determine if the state's protocols violated a federal ban on "systematic" purging close to an election, but said because people, not computers, were doing the reviews, he believed they were sound. He said nearly 2,500 voters may be restored if the procedure is found to have violated law.

States have been trying to follow the Help America Vote Act of 2002 by removing the names of voters who should no longer be listed. But for every voter added to the rolls in the past two months in some states, election officials have removed two, the Times' review of the records found.
Apparent violations cited

States appear to have violated federal law in one of two ways, according to the newspaper report. Some are removing voters from the rolls within 90 days of a federal election, which is not allowed except when voters die, notify the authorities that they have moved out of state or have been declared unfit to vote, The Times said.

And some of the states are improperly using Social Security data to verify registration applications for new voters, the newspaper reported.

Under the Help America Vote Act, many states have an agreement with the Social Security Administration requiring them to submit the last four digits of a new voter's Social Security number for verification if the person does not have a valid state-issued ID, such as a license.

Last week, amid concerns about an uptick in the number of requests for verification, Social Security Commissioner Michael Astrue sent a letter to officials in Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, Nevada, North Carolina and Ohio seeking to verify that the checks were run only on new voters who don't have acceptable identification. States have said the increase in checks is due partly to a stream of new voters coming in to register.

Efforts to combat fraud

In Georgia, federal officials say some 2 million checks have been completed, but only 406,000 new voters registered. The Department of Justice has questioned the checks, and state officials say they are trying to determine how federal authorities arrived at that figure.

North Carolina elections watchdog Bob Hall, who heads the advocacy group Democracy North Carolina, defended the state's elections board. Hall said he has found that many registration forms are incomplete or partly illegible and that many prospective voters provide Social Security numbers instead of driver's licenses. Because of that, he said it's not surprising that the state would need to run so many verifications.

Indiana also defended its procedures. "Using all available appropriate technology is our best way to combat voter fraud that we know exists in this state and across the country," Indiana Secretary of State Todd Rokita said in a statement Thursday.

If voters were wrongfully removed from rolls, the concern is that on Election Day, voters who have been removed from the rolls could show up and be challenged by political party officials or election workers. And because Democrats have more aggressively registered voters, any discrepancy could disproportionately affect them.
 

Upgrade Dave

Rising Star
Registered
Re: From Poll Taxes To Voter ID Laws: A Short History of Conservative Voter Suppressi

In regards to voter fraud in any case, I agree with you. It should not be tolerated on neither side. Serious jail time. Do you agree with the DOJ dropping the case against the black panthers in the above photo?

I do agree with the Bush DOJ dropping the case. It was a non-issue when they did it and only became an issue when the Black President's Black Attorny General also decided not to pursue it.

– US ATTORNEY DAVID IGLESIAS FIRING SCANDAL: In an unprecedented politicization of the Justice Department, in 2006 the Bush White House fired US Attorney David Iglesias for refusing to prosecute voting fraud cases where little evidence existed. The New Mexico political establishment asked for Iglesias’ dismissal after he refused to cooperate with the party’s efforts to make voter id laws “the single greatest wedge issue ever.”

That sounds like Iglesias got fired for not being a political hack and doing his job. Why would Obama want to emulate that?

Should Obama fire Holder? Some in his DOJ staff have come out against him.

Who, holdover political appointees from Bush?:rolleyes:



Seriously a photo ID is needed to board a plane, buy tickets etc.... Why is it a problem to ask for it before you vote? If we want fair elections wouldn't this help eliminate some fraud? Or are you for it due to receiving some of the votes from illegal citizens?

Even asking this betrays an ignorance of history where voter intimidation and suppression is concerned. You know so much about discrimination from unions from years ago but not how "conservatives" have historically tried to suppress Black votes.
Forcing people to have a photo id wouldn't affect illegals at all. They don't have your legal status on a driver's license/state id.

Here in my state, our secretary of state removed thousands from the voter rolls. Democrats bitched and moaned as usual. Rent a mobs everywhere. All of those who were removed have not voted in years...

So what? Why purge the rolls at all? Just making sure, huh?
 

QueEx

Rising Star
Super Moderator
Re: From Poll Taxes To Voter ID Laws: A Short History of Conservative Voter Suppressi

Nothing to see here move along:hmm:

In regards to voter fraud in any case, I agree with you. It should not be tolerated on neither side. Serious jail time. Do you agree with the DOJ dropping the case against the black panthers in the above photo?

Not familiar with this one. What happened ?


I'll engage your points: Jim Crow south was installed but [sic] [by] white demorats! Check your parties history.

Yep; you're right. Where did those Jim Crow white democrats migrate to? The Nawth? Or, the Republican Party? Maybe you should talk to people knowlegeable on the subject, i,e., Lester Maddox, Trent Lott, Louisiana's David Duke (remember him?) . . .


Seriously a photo ID is needed to board a plane, buy tickets etc.... Why is it a problem to ask for it before you vote? If we want fair elections wouldn't this help eliminate some fraud? Or are you for it due to receiving some of the votes from illegal citizens?

Here in my state, our secretary of state removed thousands from the voter rolls. Democrats bitched and moaned as usual. Rent a mobs everywhere. All of those who were removed have not voted in years...

Yep, you're right again. Louisiana removed some 21,000 from the rolls following Katrina. As I seem to recall, Louisiana was forced to reinstate many of those, no ???

QueEx
 

thoughtone

Rising Star
BGOL Investor
Re: From Poll Taxes To Voter ID Laws: A Short History of Conservative Voter Suppressi

Not familiar with this one. What happened ?

QueEx

It was just a Faux Snooze made up scandal of the moment news cycle scheme.
Holder pretty much ignored it.

source: The Fifth Column

Fox News’ Lies – Bush’s Department Of Justice Dropped Panther Case…Not The Obama DOJ!

<SCRIPT type=text/javascript src="http://s0.wp.com/wp-content/plugins/adverts/adsense.js?m=1253160243g&1"></SCRIPT>Here is a mash-up of Fox News’ constant attack on the New Black Panther Party.


<EMBED height=292 type=application/x-shockwave-flash width=465 src=http://www.youtube.com/v/_OEuK0kWbzQ?version=3&rel=1&fs=1&showsearch=0&showinfo=1&iv_load_policy=1 wmode="opaque" allowfullscreen="true"></EMBED>​


Fox News’ latest celebrity, J. Christian Adams an alleged whistle blower who worked at the Department of Justice under Eric Holder, claims that the Obama justice department dropped the Black Panther case and refuse to re-open the case. There’s one problem:

Atlanta Journal Constitution – Cynthia Tucker

Several of you have clamored for me to say something about the alleged voter intimidation case in Philadelphia, which involves a thuggish group who call themselves the “New Black Panthers.” (While I was no fan of the original Black Panthers, they don’t deserve to have their reputation further befouled by this group. The two groups are in no way related.)

I was loathe to comment since I know that no rational discussion will follow. How could it? It was clear from the beginning that this was not a case of voter intimidation against anyone who might vote for John McCain. As many observers noted on that day, no matter how badly those two New Black Panters were behaving (and the police were called and responded), it’s a HEAVILY DEMOCRATIC PRECINCT. As blogger Ben Smith noted way back then, “You don’t typically intimidate your own voters.”

But solid reporting from Media Matters and Adam Serwer of The American Prospect ought to put this nonsense to rest (it won’t, but it should). The charges against the New Black Panthers were downgraded by the Bush Department of Justice:

The decision not to file a criminal case occurred before Obama was even in office.
This means that the case was downgraded to a civil case 11 days before Obama was inaugurated, 26 days before Eric Holder became attorney general, and about nine months before Thomas Perez was confirmed as head of the Civil Rights Division.
From Media Matters:
# Adams has admitted that he does not have first-hand knowledge of the events, conversations, and decisions that he is citing to advance his accusations;
# The Bush administration’s Justice Department — not the Obama administration — made the decision not to pursue criminal charges against members of the New Black Panther Party for alleged voter intimidation at a polling center in Philadelphia in 2008;

# The Obama administration successfully obtained default judgment against Samir Shabazz, a member of the New Black Panther Party carrying a nightstick outside the Philadelphia polling center on Election Day 2008;

# The Bush administration DOJ chose not to pursue similar charges against members of the Minutemen, one of whom allegedly carried a weapon while harassing Hispanic voters in Arizona in 2006;

# No voters have come forward to claim that they were intimidated from voting on account of the New Black Panthers standing outside the polling center in 2008;
So, no matter how many times J. Christian Adams declares that the Obama administration refuses to protect the rights of white people — and no matter how many times Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh repeat it — it’s not true.
 

QueEx

Rising Star
Super Moderator
Re: From Poll Taxes To Voter ID Laws: A Short History of Conservative Voter Suppressi


C'mon T.O., what kind of sick joke is this man, huh ?

  • Are you telling me that the same poster who started a thread called Naacp bigotry where, in the very first post, he called an upstanding and respectful black woman a racist, i.e., "it takes one to know one"; :yes:


  • Has come again, despite, or shall I say, inspite of the evidence to the contrary, to insinuate that another of our respectable black citizens, the U.S. Attorney General, is racist; and :yes:


  • Again, as if he either can't read, refuses to read or is simply unable to acknowledge the truth, he is fucking wrong ? ? ? :yes:


  • Is that what you're telling me ? ? ? :yes:


. . . cause, thats what I believe :D



 

cthomas0964

Star
Registered
Re: From Poll Taxes To Voter ID Laws: A Short History of Conservative Voter Suppressi

I pretty much agree with most of this but I have 1 question. Whats wrong with requiring an photo ID to vote? You need ID to buy alcohol, write or cash a check, to drive, get in the club, and sometimes to use a credit card. Before anyone starts saying making someone get a ID is a poll tax ID cards are free in GA.
 

QueEx

Rising Star
Super Moderator
Re: From Poll Taxes To Voter ID Laws: A Short History of Conservative Voter Suppressi

I pretty much agree with most of this but I have 1 question. Whats wrong with requiring an photo ID to vote? You need ID to buy alcohol, write or cash a check, to drive, get in the club, and sometimes to use a credit card. Before anyone starts saying making someone get a ID is a poll tax ID cards are free in GA.

Interesting CT. None of those you mention are "rights" -- but are privileges. Reasonable regulations can indeed be placed on or against the exercise of privileges. I'm not saying that some reasonable regulations cannot be placed on the exercise of a "Right" -- but, if it is, it should have some rational basis and reasonably related and narrowly focused to cure a real harm as opposed to something imaginary or perceived problem. That is, if the ID is to prevent fraud, hell, the government ought to be required to demonstrate the fraud -- otherwise, people can make up imaginary, whimsical problems and place hindrances to the exercise of "Rights" every day.
 

QueEx

Rising Star
Super Moderator
Re: From Poll Taxes To Voter ID Laws: A Short History of Conservative Voter Suppressi


Md. robo-call case going to court​


Julius%20Henson_phixr_0.jpg

Julius Henson, indicted last month on charges that he
sought to suppress black voter turnout last year for
Maryland Republican Governor Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.


Washington Post
By Aaron C. Davis
July 17, 2011


When campaign aides to former Maryland Republican governor Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. were indicted last month on charges that they sought to suppress black voter turnout last year, the allegations against Ehrlich’s right-hand man drew the biggest headlines.

But as the case moves to court Monday, the lesser-known defendant and his often controversial, behind-the-scenes work for Maryland political campaigns are poised to take center stage.

Julius Henson, an African American political consultant, has made a specialty out of getting people to the polls, most often black voters and most often for black Democratic candidates. Nearly an entire generation of local and state lawmakers in Prince George’s County and Baltimore owe at least one of their ballot-box successes — or failures — over the past 15 years to his no-holds-barred approach to campaigning.

Henson, 62, has called opposing candidates derogatory names, played on racial tensions and spread sordid details about opposing candidates’ lives. He once enlisted a group of blacks in Baltimore to shout down African American lawmakers as they endorsed a white candidate, Martin O’Malley, who was running for mayor.


And long before he worked for Ehrlich,
Henson worked against him, labeling
him in a previous campaign as “a Nazi.”​

Although Henson’s brazen attacks often have worked, they seem to have backfired more than a few times.

<SPAN style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffff00">Now, to avoid jail for Henson, he and his lawyers will likely have to convince a jury that recorded calls placed last November to many people in the predominantly black jurisdictions of Prince George’s and Baltimore did not cross the line into illegality. Henson and his attorney have maintained that the calls were an above-board attempt to aid his latest, and perhaps most unlikely, employer — a white Republican.</span>

With the polls still open on Election Day, a woman’s recorded voice told tens of thousands of blacks who picked up the phone to “relax” and not to worry about going to vote because O’Malley (D), the incumbent governor, had already been “successful” in his rematch against Ehrlich.

Henson has hired a lawyer, Edward Smith Jr., who shares his client’s panache for the provocative. Smith said the calls were a far cry from notorious attempts to restrict the rights of blacks after the Civil War and before the civil rights movement of the 1960s.

“We’ve come an awful long way from the Black Codes and poll taxes, and we may have gone over the rainbow a little on this,” Smith said. “Political speech isn’t always moral, and it’s not always nice, but it’s political speech. There will be those who agree and those who will not agree, but I really can’t see what the big deal is.”




http://www.washingtonpost.com/local...ing-to-court/2011/07/14/gIQACqcXKI_story.html


 

Upgrade Dave

Rising Star
Registered
Re: From Poll Taxes To Voter ID Laws: A Short History of Conservative Voter Suppressi

blackpanther4_s640x550.jpg


Here in my state, our secretary of state removed thousands from the voter rolls. Democrats bitched and moaned as usual. Rent a mobs everywhere. All of those who were removed have not voted in years...

Never did get a reason for having thousands of voters removed from the rolls.

Interesting CT. None of those you mention are "rights" -- but are privileges. Reasonable regulations can indeed be placed on or against the exercise of privileges. I'm not saying that some reasonable regulations cannot be placed on the exercise of a "Right" -- but, if it is, it should have some rational basis and reasonably related and narrowly focused to cure a real harm as opposed to something imaginary or perceived problem. That is, if the ID is to prevent fraud, hell, the government ought to be required to demonstrate the fraud -- otherwise, people can make up imaginary, whimsical problems and place hindrances to the exercise of "Rights" every day.


There you go.
 

QueEx

Rising Star
Super Moderator
Re: From Poll Taxes To Voter ID Laws: A Short History of Conservative Voter Suppressi

Never did get a reason for having thousands of voters removed from the rolls.

Maybe this will give him the boost he needs to respond:




Keeping some voters from the
polls is part of the game plan




It should be clear to all but the most steadfast of reality deniers that the strategy of the Republican Party for the presidential election next year is to cause another recession and hope the voters blame President Obama.

If the economic outlook is even more dismal and they can pin that on the president, the Republican candidate will probably win. If the economy is improving, he or she will not.


Political wars are not won with a single point of attack, however, and there are other elements in the GOP’s strategy. A recent article in the Wall Street Journal by the man George W. Bush called “turd blossom” lays them out. That term is Texan for a flower that grows from a pile of cow dung and was the nickname given Karl Rove, Bush’s chief political strategist.

In his article, Rove predicted Obama will likely lose in 2012 and offered four reasons for that conclusion —
  1. the very weak economy;

  2. the dissatisfaction of key groups of voters;

  3. Obama’s unpopular policies; and

  4. his bad strategic decisions.

The Bad Economy

Rove explained in detail how a bad economy was good for the Republican candidate:

Corporate CEO’s, who would far prefer the welfare for the wealthy that is the basis of Republican economic policies, are doing their part to help that happen. Their companies are sitting on record amounts of cash and are keeping it idle instead of hiring more workers or investing in new plants and equipment.


Unpopular Policies & Bad Decisions

With regard to unpopular policies and bad decisions, the strategy is to portray everything Obama has done as lacking any popular support and erroneous. A favorite tactic, which Rove employs, is to cite public opinion polls showing how negative the public is on health care reform.

Really? The American people must be desperate to once again be held hostage by insurance companies and to play health care roulette where a serious illness means financial ruin. When asked about specific elements of health care reform, however, public opinion is overwhelmingly positive, so the results of the poll depend on how the question is asked.​


Dissatification of Blacks & Jews

The final point — the dissatisfaction of key groups of voters — is also a key element in the game plan. Rove makes mention of two specific groups, Jews and African Americans, and points out the importance of the former in Florida and the latter in North Carolina.

So how do the Republicans make inroads in two groups that voted 78 percent and 97 percent respectively in 2008 for Obama? No problem.

  • In the first case, they use their sock-puppet pundits in the media to argue he is against Israel. After Obama’s recent speech on the Middle East, Charles Krauthammer, asserted in his column that Obama’s position on the peace process was motivated by an “antipathy toward Israel.” Someone might point out to Krauthammer that a charge of anti-Semitism, that is as thinly disguised as it is baseless, is a scurrilous slur, not an argument.

  • In the case of African Americans, it would be hard even for Rove to argue that Obama is a racist. So another tactic is employed. <SPAN style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffff00">Republican state legislatures around the country are as busy passing voter identification laws as they are dismantling the rights of labor unions</span>. Democratic legislators are trying to block such measures.

    Do Republicans feel passionately about voter fraud while Democrats don’t care? No, but the fact that cases of voter fraud are harder to find than Rockefeller Republicans these days explains why there is such a partisan divide on the issue. <SPAN style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffff00">The real purpose of such laws is to discourage poor and/or black voters from going to the polls and voting for Democrats</span>.

    Rove even provided his calculation for the amount of vote suppression required. He pointedly wrote that <SPAN style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffff00">if the share of the African American turnout “drops just one point in North Carolina, Mr. Obama’s 2008 winning margin there is wiped out two and a half times over.”</span>

Of course, Rove and company would never acknowledge having a deliberate strategy of discouraging targeted groups from voting or of lying about public opinion and the president’s record. But for the man who can make a pile of excrement look like a flower, no spinning of an issue is too shameless and no tactic beyond the pale.



ABOUT THE WRITER

Dennis Jett, a former U.S. ambassador to Mozambique and Peru, is a professor of international affairs at Penn State's School of International Affairs.

McClatchy Newspapers did not subsidize the writing of this column; the opinions are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of McClatchy Newspapers or its editors.




http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2011/07/18/117704/commentary-keeping-some-voters.html
 

thoughtone

Rising Star
BGOL Investor
source:


The Politics Behind New Voter ID Laws

Posted: July 18, 2011
link.gif
Short URL
<SCRIPT type=text/javascript> // <![CDATA[ if ((navigator.userAgent.indexOf('iPhone') != -1) || (navigator.userAgent.indexOf('iPod') != -1) || (navigator.userAgent.indexOf('iPad') != -1)) { document.location = "http://www.ideastream.com/news/npr_mobile/138160440"; } // ]]></SCRIPT>


<OBJECT id=player_api classid=clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000 width="100%" height="100%">
























</OBJECT>
 

thoughtone

Rising Star
BGOL Investor
source: ideastream

The Politics Behind New Voter ID Laws


http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=138160440&m=138462467


Seven states have enacted laws this year requiring voters to show photo ID at the polls. Will the new rules stem voter fraud — or just keep minorities, students and the poor from casting their ballots?

<!-- news lede -->
Voters going to the polls next year — and even some this year — will encounter a lot of new rules. Photo ID requirements and fewer options for early voting are among the biggest changes.

They're part of a wave of new laws enacted by Republican-controlled legislatures this year. Supporters say the rules are needed to ensure honest elections.

But Democrats say it's part of a concerted GOP campaign to suppress the vote. They say minorities, students, the poor and disabled — those most likely to vote Democratic — will be hurt the most.

Seven states so far this year have enacted new laws requiring voters to show photo ID at the polls. Ohio and Pennsylvania are considering similar requirements, and several other states already have them on the books.

Other states have placed restrictions on voter registration drives, imposed new requirements for voters to show proof of citizenship, or reduced the amount of time for early voting.

"This is about putting up obstacles to legal voters being able to exercise the franchise," says Scot Ross, executive director of One Wisconsin Now, an advocacy group that opposes the changes. "That is the scheme that the Republicans have concocted on this."

Ross says tens of thousands of Wisconsin voters lack the photo ID that will now be required in that state. He says many of them will also have difficulty traveling to motor vehicle offices to get free ID cards available under the law.

All this, he adds, was created to solve a problem that doesn't exist.

"The bottom line is, in Wisconsin, there is no evidence of widespread voter impropriety happening at any point in time," Ross says.

But supporters say, in effect, that's beside the point and that the changes won't hurt legitimate voters. They argue that any voter fraud — even the possibility of fraud — is a concern.

"Whether it's one case, a hundred cases or a hundred-thousand cases, making sure we have legislation that protects the integrity for an open, fair and honest election in every single case is important," said Wisconsin's Republican governor, Scott Walker, when he signed the new law this spring.

And Republicans appear to be winning over public opinion. Polls shows that an overwhelming majority of voters back ID requirements.

In Tennessee, the Republican secretary of state, Tre Hargett, is preparing plans and public service announcements to make sure voters in his state adjust smoothly to the new rules. They'll be required to show photo ID at the polls and to provide proof of citizenship when they register to vote.

Hargett rejects opponents' claims that the changes will discourage voter turnout.

"I think that nothing could disenfranchise an eligible voter more than finding out that ineligible voters are voting," he says.

Hargett cited a 2005 special election in Memphis, in which poll workers admitted to faking at least three votes. But opponents of the new restrictions say a photo ID requirement won't stop that kind of fraud.

Doug Chapin, an election expert with the Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota, says one problem with the current debate is that there's little data to back up either side.

Chapin says there's not only no evidence of widespread fraud, but "you really haven't seen, despite the rhetoric to the contrary, a whole lot of evidence that there are large numbers of people who are registered to vote, or want to register to vote, and don't have the kind of ID that would be required."

That's one reason Democrats and voting rights activists will be on high alert over the coming year, as they try to gather examples of harmed voters for potential legal challenges to many of the new state laws.

One civil rights group, the Advancement Project, has already filed suit against a voter ID initiative in Missouri. The ACLU is fighting new voter restrictions in Florida, and there's likely much more to come.
 

thoughtone

Rising Star
BGOL Investor
No difference between the parties? Judge for yourself.

source: HamptonRoads.com


N.C. gov vetoes voter ID bill pushed by Republicans


North Carolina Gov. Beverly Perdue vetoed a Republican-written bill Thursday that would require voters to show photo identification before casting an in-person ballot, agreeing with fellow Democrats that the mandate would discourage participation.

"North Carolinians who are eligible to vote have a constitutionally guaranteed right to cast their ballots, and no one should put up obstacles to citizens exercising that right," the governor said in a statement. "We must always be vigilant in protecting the integrity of our elections. But requiring every voter to present a government-issued photo ID is not the way to do it."

Perdue's veto was expected. Her office said last week the photo ID requirement wasn't something the governor could support in the way it was presented to her.

Republicans have argued the mandate would discourage voter fraud in an era when everyone must show proof of identity to write a check, enter a government building or get on an airplane. Still, Republicans in charge of the Legislature fell short of passing the bill in the House by a margin that would overturn a veto.

The bill got legs after the GOP took charge of the Legislature for the first time in more than 140 years and its leaders are setting its sights on defeating Perdue and President Obama, who won the state's electoral votes by about 14,000 votes in 2008. The victory ended a 32-year winning streak for Republican nominees in North Carolina.

House Speaker Thom Tillis and Senate leader Phil Berger condemned Perdue's decision, saying polls have shown strong support for voter ID and said she used her veto to please her core Democratic supporters.

"A measure that ensures voters are who they say they are is a no-brainer, and most North Carolinians agree," Berger, R-Rockingham, said in a statement. "It's a shame Gov. Perdue is playing politics with the integrity of elections."

Tillis didn't say in his statement whether his chamber would attempt an override vote. The Senate vote last week was veto-proof for that chamber.

Democrats argue the bill was purely partisan and designed to discourage older adults and black residents less likely to have photo ID from voting. They point out that cases of fraud are few thanks to already tough laws and said that placing obstacles to vote is reminiscent of Jim Crow-era laws in the pre-Civil Rights era in the South.

About 147,100 active black voters do not have photo ID, according to the election reform group Democracy North Carolina.

"There are very few voter identification problems in North Carolina and where we do have them it's usually a clerical error or something like that," House Minority Leader Joe Hackney, D-Orange, said in praising Perdue's veto. "If it went into law, it would suppress voting."

The legislation would require a person arriving at a precinct to show one of eight forms of photo ID, including a new voter card available for free from county election boards. Without the ID, people could still cast provisional ballots but would have to prove their identity later.

It would have cost taxpayers $1.4 million next year to carry out the law and issue IDs to thousands of people, according to the nonpartisan North Carolina Center for Voter Education, which backed the veto.

"The measure would have placed undue burdens on law-abiding citizens," said center executive director Damon Circosta.

The veto is the eighth by Perdue this year. No other governor had previously issued more than two in a year since voters made North Carolina the final state to give its chief executive the power in 1997.

The frequent use of the veto stamp reflects the frayed relations between Perdue and legislative Republicans this year. The political fighting was capped by Perdue's veto of the two-year budget bill then its override by the Legislature, when a handful of Democrats defected.

Perdue is working through more than 200 bills on her desk left behind the Legislature when it left town last weekend. Perdue is weighing whether to veto bills on abortion, medical malpractice and the environment. The last of the bills must be acted upon by June 30. Lawmakers could attempt to override any vetoes in a redistricting session slated to begin July 13.
 

QueEx

Rising Star
Super Moderator
N.C. gov vetoes voter ID bill pushed by Republicans

Ya know, I really didn't know how interesting North Carolinians are. The more I read about NC, especially the more I read the sound logic and reasoning of what I presume to be one of its native sons, the more impressed I become.
 

thoughtone

Rising Star
BGOL Investor
I was happy Perdue made this move and I didn't even vote for her (I voted for her Republican opponent for reasons hard to explain to anyone not familiar with NC politics).


So that's why the corpritists have a choke hold in the former Confederate states!
 

thoughtone

Rising Star
BGOL Investor
<iframe width="425" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/8GBAsFwPglw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>​
 

Upgrade Dave

Rising Star
Registered
Do you think any republican in 2010 is not going to walk lock step with the far right?

Ah. That's why I said it would be hard to understand unless you knew NC politics.

In 2008, the Democrats still held the state legislature so I was voting for a Republican because he was the former longtime mayor of Charlotte. In NC, Charlotte sends millions of dollars in revenue to Raleigh but our local priorities are always set aside while Raleigh takes very good care of the Eastern half of the state. Sending a local politician to the state house is just about the only remedy to that situation. We have rail that needs completing and a big outerloop highway (which I was and still am against) that needs completing. We have highways with no lights and state roads that need widening and fixing. But while we wait, areas of much, much less population and population density get highway/transportation money hand over fist. I told as many people as I could to not vote straight ticket and vote for the Republican (Pat McCrory) because under Perdue, Charlotte would continue to be overlooked and ignored and I was right.
Once the GOP took over in 2010, I was glad Pat McCrory didn't win but I didn't know Democrats were just going to stay home and shoot themselves and the rest of us in the foot.
 

muckraker10021

Superstar *****
BGOL Investor

Peeps we have to face the sad reality that Obama and Ag Holder are neutered Black men; when it comes to specifically issues that affect the Black population (notice I didn’t say Black community because WE ARE NOT a community, we are NOT operating as a community). The gay, lesbian population are operating as a community. Their top advocacy groups have been to the Obama white house numerous times and they get their policies pushed hard and they get results. For the Black populace —not so much.

Holder in particular is a sad specimen of a man without a backbone. His former boss Janet Reno has a bigger dick and balls between her legs than Holder. All Holder is concerned with is going back to a private sector law firm and earning millions as a partner.

The “steering” and mortgage fraud directed at the Black populace that I have repeatedly posted about on this board; Holder has decided to prosecute no one. White State attorney generals are doing more to gather evidence & file lawsuits than a Black US Attorney General. Read my other posts about this – or- go out on the web.

The majority of Black people who got sub-prime trick-or-treat mortgages actually qualified for normal non-exploding mortgages. They had equal credit scores of white applicants but were steered into junk mortgages – because the banksters saw them as “mud people”

Now I give Obama and Holder some slack because there is NO unrelenting pressure coming at them from the so-called leadership of the Black populace. NONE! Where is the Black congressional caucus? Timid & Lost. Where are the Urban League & NAACP? Having Remy Martin sponsored parties with clueless figures like Ellis Cose talking about how Black people have Ended their anger about race in America. What a jackass.

The recent Pew figures that were released showing a dramatic disparity in wealth between Black and white households. As Pew and the New York Times both point out, this disparity is so huge due to the bankster induced housing debacle; predatory lending and ”steering” against Black households.

Now this full-court press voter suppression the RepubliKlans are initiating is meet with SILENCE from Holder’s justice department & silence from Obama. We can get Bill Clinton’s voice (a southerner who grew up in the apartheid south) in the media talking about this modern poll tax; but Holder & Obama— silence. The Obama, Valarie Jarret strategy for dealing with the Black populace is to send out Al Sharpton with talking points about how things could be a lot worse if a RepubliKlan were in the white house. That’s their plan.

Watch the Colbert video below about RepubliKlan voter suppression which the corporate media presents as comedy, but the facts he presents should be an one hour 60 Minutes broadcast or a special on CNN. It’s no laughing matter.


<div style="background-color:#000000;width:368px;"><div style="padding:4px;"><embed src="http://media.mtvnservices.com/mgid:cms:video:colbertnation.com:392598" width="360" height="293" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowFullScreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" base="." flashVars=""></embed><p style="text-align:left;background-color:#FFFFFF;padding:4px;margin-top:4px;margin-bottom:0px;font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:12px;"><b><a href="http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/392598/july-20-2011/voter-id-laws">The Colbert Report</a></b><br/>Get More: <a href='http://www.colbertnation.com/full-episodes/'>Colbert Report Full Episodes</a>,<a href='http://www.indecisionforever.com/'>Political Humor & Satire Blog</a>,<a href='http://www.colbertnation.com/video'>Video Archive</a></p></div></div>


The New Jim Crow?

Democrats in Congress urge the Justice Department
to look into new, GOP-authored voter ID laws


July 29, 2011

http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2011/07/29/democrats_decry_voter_id_laws/index.html

This week over 100 House Democrats wrote to the Department of Justice urging an investigation into whether new voter identification laws -- passed in seven states already this year and under consideration in many more -- violate the Voting Rights Act. 16 Democratic senators made the same request of Attorney General Eric Holder earlier this month.

The laws, which marginally differ from state to state, require that voters will have to bring photo ID -- for the most part government issued -- to the polls next year.

Stricter voter ID requirements at the polls have been passed by Republican-controlled state legislatures claiming to promote honest elections. Democrats, alongside groups including the NAACP, have called foul on the new laws, arguing they disenfranchise minorities, students, the poor and disabled (for the most part, groups with Democratic voting tendencies).

As the letter to the DOJ states:


Approximately 11 percent of voting-age citizens in the country -- or more than 20 million individuals -- lack government-issued photo identification. We urge you to protect the voting rights of Americans by using the full power of the Department of Justice to review these voter identification bills and scrutinize their implementation.

The Voting Rights Act vests significant authority in the Department to ensure laws are not implemented in a discriminatory manner... [T]he Department should exercise vigilance in overseeing whether these laws are implemented in a way that discriminates against protected clauses in violation of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.


The Voting Rights Act specifically bans state laws that disproportionately impact minority voters. Democrats and their allies argue that the requirement of stricter forms of voter ID, especially government issued ID, falls well within this category, since the majority of the 11 percent of voting-age individuals who lack such identification are minorities.

NAACP President Benjamin Jealous and former President Bill Clinton have likened the new restrictions to Jim Crow laws.

"There has never been in my lifetime, since we got rid of the poll tax and all the Jim Crow burdens on voting, the determined effort to limit the franchise that we see today," said Clinton earlier this month.

Republicans in favor of the stricter voter ID requirements insist election fraud is their only concern. However, in Wisconsin, for example -- a state where some of the strictest voter requirements have recently been signed into law -- there's evidence of calculated party politics at work.
<SPAN STYLE="background-color:YELLOW"><b>
After signing in a new voter ID law, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker attempted to shut down around 10 DMV offices in the state -- the very sites where required IDs can be procured.</b></span>

<SPAN STYLE="background-color:YELLOW"><b> State Democrats have noted that offices targeted for closure fall within areas with strong Democratic voting bases, while in traditionally Republican areas Walker's administration is pushing to Extend DMV office hours.</b></span>

And voter fraud is not even a big problem: A Brennan Center for Justice study found that 44 one-millionths of one percent of votes are cast by people who commit voter fraud.

imKzbI.jpg
imGapm.jpg

<hr noshade color="#FF0000" size="8"></hr>
 

muckraker10021

Superstar *****
BGOL Investor

Peeps we have to face the sad reality that Obama and Ag Holder are neutered Black men; when it comes to specifically issues that affect the Black population (notice I didn’t say Black community because WE ARE NOT a community, we are NOT operating as a community). The gay, lesbian population are operating as a community. Their top advocacy groups have been to the Obama white house numerous times and they get their policies pushed hard and they get results. For the Black populace —not so much.

Holder in particular is a sad specimen of a man without a backbone. His former boss Janet Reno has a bigger dick and balls between her legs than Holder. All Holder is concerned with is going back to a private sector law firm and earning millions as a partner.

The “steering” and mortgage fraud directed at the Black populace that I have repeatedly posted about on this board; Holder has decided to prosecute no one. White State attorney generals are doing more to gather evidence & file lawsuits than a Black US Attorney General. Read my other posts about this – or- go out on the web.

The majority of Black people who got sub-prime trick-or-treat mortgages actually qualified for normal non-exploding mortgages. They had equal credit scores of white applicants but were steered into junk mortgages – because the banksters saw them as “mud people”

Now I give Obama and Holder some slack because there is NO unrelenting pressure coming at them from the so-called leadership of the Black populace. NONE! Where is the Black congressional caucus? Timid & Lost. Where are the Urban League & NAACP? Having Remy Martin sponsored parties with clueless figures like Ellis Cose talking about how Black people have Ended their anger about race in America. What a jackass.

The recent Pew figures that were released showing a dramatic disparity in wealth between Black and white households. As Pew and the New York Times both point out, this disparity is so huge due to the bankster induced housing debacle; predatory lending and ”steering” against Black households.

Now this full-court press voter suppression the RepubliKlans are initiating is meet with SILENCE from Holder’s justice department & silence from Obama. We can get Bill Clinton’s voice (a southerner who grew up in the apartheid south) in the media talking about this modern poll tax; but Holder & Obama— silence. The Obama, Valarie Jarret strategy for dealing with the Black populace is to send out Al Sharpton with talking points about how things could be a lot worse if a RepubliKlan were in the white house. That’s their plan.

Watch the Colbert video below about RepubliKlan voter suppression which the corporate media presents as comedy, but the facts he presents should be an one hour 60 Minutes broadcast or a special on CNN. It’s no laughing matter.


<div style="background-color:#000000;width:368px;"><div style="padding:4px;"><embed src="http://media.mtvnservices.com/mgid:cms:video:colbertnation.com:392598" width="360" height="293" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowFullScreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" base="." flashVars=""></embed><p style="text-align:left;background-color:#FFFFFF;padding:4px;margin-top:4px;margin-bottom:0px;font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:12px;"><b><a href="http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/392598/july-20-2011/voter-id-laws">The Colbert Report</a></b><br/>Get More: <a href='http://www.colbertnation.com/full-episodes/'>Colbert Report Full Episodes</a>,<a href='http://www.indecisionforever.com/'>Political Humor & Satire Blog</a>,<a href='http://www.colbertnation.com/video'>Video Archive</a></p></div></div>


The New Jim Crow?

Democrats in Congress urge the Justice Department
to look into new, GOP-authored voter ID laws


July 29, 2011

http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2011/07/29/democrats_decry_voter_id_laws/index.html

This week over 100 House Democrats wrote to the Department of Justice urging an investigation into whether new voter identification laws -- passed in seven states already this year and under consideration in many more -- violate the Voting Rights Act. 16 Democratic senators made the same request of Attorney General Eric Holder earlier this month.

The laws, which marginally differ from state to state, require that voters will have to bring photo ID -- for the most part government issued -- to the polls next year.

Stricter voter ID requirements at the polls have been passed by Republican-controlled state legislatures claiming to promote honest elections. Democrats, alongside groups including the NAACP, have called foul on the new laws, arguing they disenfranchise minorities, students, the poor and disabled (for the most part, groups with Democratic voting tendencies).

As the letter to the DOJ states:


Approximately 11 percent of voting-age citizens in the country -- or more than 20 million individuals -- lack government-issued photo identification. We urge you to protect the voting rights of Americans by using the full power of the Department of Justice to review these voter identification bills and scrutinize their implementation.

The Voting Rights Act vests significant authority in the Department to ensure laws are not implemented in a discriminatory manner... [T]he Department should exercise vigilance in overseeing whether these laws are implemented in a way that discriminates against protected clauses in violation of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.


The Voting Rights Act specifically bans state laws that disproportionately impact minority voters. Democrats and their allies argue that the requirement of stricter forms of voter ID, especially government issued ID, falls well within this category, since the majority of the 11 percent of voting-age individuals who lack such identification are minorities.

NAACP President Benjamin Jealous and former President Bill Clinton have likened the new restrictions to Jim Crow laws.

"There has never been in my lifetime, since we got rid of the poll tax and all the Jim Crow burdens on voting, the determined effort to limit the franchise that we see today," said Clinton earlier this month.

Republicans in favor of the stricter voter ID requirements insist election fraud is their only concern. However, in Wisconsin, for example -- a state where some of the strictest voter requirements have recently been signed into law -- there's evidence of calculated party politics at work.
<SPAN STYLE="background-color:YELLOW"><b>
After signing in a new voter ID law, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker attempted to shut down around 10 DMV offices in the state -- the very sites where required IDs can be procured.</b></span>

<SPAN STYLE="background-color:YELLOW"><b> State Democrats have noted that offices targeted for closure fall within areas with strong Democratic voting bases, while in traditionally Republican areas Walker's administration is pushing to Extend DMV office hours.</b></span>

And voter fraud is not even a big problem: A Brennan Center for Justice study found that 44 one-millionths of one percent of votes are cast by people who commit voter fraud.


imKzbI.jpg
imGapm.jpg


<hr noshade color="#FF0000" size="8"></hr>
 
Top