"...If these efforts are intentional, politically motivated and widespread across multiple states, they could amount to a criminal conspiracy to deny legitimate voters their constitutional rights." -- Congressman Elijah Cummings, Democrat of Maryland.
Cumming sent a (lengthy, footnoted) letter last week to Tea Party vote-challenge group True the Vote. He is calling for an investigation into the group, which has been challenging thousands of registered voters in swing states.
True the Vote's founder says it's too bad that Rep. Cummings doesn't understand her group's methods. She writes:
"It is both obvious and unfortunate that you are not familiar with all of the details of the mission or methods of True the Vote. This letter serves as an effort to coordinate a convenient meeting time in your Washington, D.C. office, during which I can brief you and your staff about our program and help dispel any misconceptions you may have.”
Oh, to be a fly on that wall. Cummings told Melissa Harris-Perry he'll bring True the Vote in this week.
"First of all, I believe that voting is a fundamental right, and it's not to be denied people who are eligible voters," Cummings told MHP on Saturday. "Any effort to deny that right, I consider to be criminal, in some instances. As a matter of fact, it's very offensive, and certainly unpatriotic."
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At some point? Where would that place be? Will we get to that point after the election has been stolen? Will we watch our country slide into a theocracy controlled by a handful of zealots who are the only ones allowed to vote?Will we sit and watch as we lose all the gains our fathers fathers fought for in hopes that we would not suffer as they did?
Ahhh, have another cup of coffee as the fanatics and crazies use financing from the aristocracy to turn back the clock. Teach your children how to survive on slave wages and pretend to believe in the god that their government chooses for them.
Yeah I know , it sounds insane. Then again-have you actually listened to your neighbors?
I think the media (inclduing MSNBC) is failing to report on one of; if not the key issue's of this election. With the acception of Bloomberg, Slate, Rolling Stone and Current TV; there have been very few indepth stories on Mitt Romney's connections within the Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. * Lawrence ODonnell is the only journalist at MSNBC with guts enought to at least try to bring this issue to the public.
Because of religious freedom concern's; I understand the media's reluctance to tackle this aspect of Romney's campaign. But there are questions that need to be investigated that would shed a light on Mitt Romney's personal financial connections with the LDS -beyond his much acclaimed tithing. (which ought to raise questions as well).
The LDS is more than a simple church- it is a multi -level financial institution-which has resisted almost any scrutinization of it serpenitine tentacles in this country and in many other's- China being one of them Brazil, Great Britain etc .
* By law Mormons are not allowed to "recruit" Chinese citizens for religious purposes; but they are allowed to maintain businesses in China- including Mitt Romney. What are those businesses, do he pay American or Chinese taxes?
Some Mormons (some of whom have been ex-communicated by the LDS) have been trying for years to get them to divulge how they spend tithing money. The LDS claims it does report it's for profit to the IRS- and it pays taxes. Shouldn't the public know more about how the church gets around separation of church and state.
How is it possible that Bain Capital and the LDS own share's of stock in some of the same companies and nobody ask questions or report on this. The LDS maintains a slew of lawyers and it's own investment management company to oversee many of it's for profit venture's. Mitt Romney owned stock in Goldman Sachs- when he and GS fliiped those properties for profit - people lost homes in Florida and Caifornia.
How do we know whether or not Mitt Romney isn't mixed up in some of this stuff. Does the LDS maintain bank accounts in the Caymen Islands. Shouldn't somebody be asking the question. If Mitt Romney wants to believe Mormon doctrine -like Jesus coming back to Missouri and geting your own planet-who care's. But the American people should have all the facts about Romneys' business venture's.
I also might add that during the 2008 election- romney. Palin; Hannity and the Foxer's crucified Barack Obama over the Rev Wright stuff-why is Romney getting a pass? Barack has only one crazy preacher-Romney has 12 highly connected apostles who run one of the biggest corporations in the world.
And Mitt Romney IS NOT John Kennedy- Kennedy wasn't a sitting Bishop of one of the most powerful churches in the world. It is well know that Romney exersized his auhtority in Massachusette while he was Governor- even threatening to ex-communicate on woman because she wouldn't give up her un wed- baby for adoption. Someone should engage Romey in a conversation about this stuff. or the "aristocrasy won't be the only thing "turning back the clock"
GREAT COMMENT
What people fail to understand about Mormontology is that it's the only "religion" that makes it specifically OK for a person to lie, if they're "doing it for a higher purpose." This is why Romney can lie to your face without the slightest tinge of guilt. Every other religion - and all non-religious ethical systems - condemn lying, which is why most people feel guilty when they lie and it eventually comes out (unless they are sociopaths). Interestingly enough, only the Scientology cult also allows and promotes this.
Carolyn has some food for thought there. Are we about to see a battle royale twixt Mormons and evangelists for control of the world?
Bet you didn’t know this Carolyn... something to consider.
Polygamy remains a central doctrine of the church. Men can have multiple women sealed to them in the temple, meaning that the marriages will exist after death. Women, however, can be sealed to one man only. That's what members know -- not what the church tells outsiders.
>>> Mormon Scripture: Doctrines and Covenants, Section 132:44 And if she hath not committed adultery, but is innocent and hath not broken her vow, and she knoweth it, and I reveal it unto you, my servant Joseph, then shall you have power, by the power of my Holy Priesthood, to take her and give her unto him that hath not committed adultery but hath been faithful; for he shall be made ruler over many.
61 And again, as pertaining to the law of the priesthood—if any man espouse a virgin, and desire to espouse another, and the first give her consent, and if he espouse the second, and they are virgins, and have vowed to no other man, then is he justified; he cannot commit adultery for they are given unto him; for he cannot commit adultery with that that belongeth unto him and to no one else.
62 And if he have ten virgins given unto him by this law, he cannot commit adultery, for they belong to him, and they are given unto him; therefore is he justified.
http://www.lds.org/scriptures/dc-testament/dc/132?lang=eng
Some Mormons don’t even know this...
Hitting the nail right on the head Paul.
So hypocritical of the Tea Party after the bashing of ACORN four years ago. It's about time the voter prevention actions were given a legal challenge, especially since we have proof positive that it is intentional (thank you PA House Leader Mike Turzai for putting this on the videotaped record) to help Romney win.
Yes, Catherine Engelbrecht we all want to know more about your organization. If ACORN was bad for our democracy, is your organization any different? True The Vote needs a bit more scrutiny from our dear friends in the press.
The onus is on Catherine Engelbrecht and her organization to show us the level of decency it takes to guarantee the dignity of the vote for all Americans who wish to participate in our democracy !
If she and her group work to disrupt the vote, constrain the vote, or deny the vote to eligible voters, she and her group need to be called out on it! I noticed her group says it is "nonpartisan" so I expect it will be out in force in the suburbs and estate-like rural areas of our beloved country on election day!
The Romney disease: I say it is so, therefore it is so! -Kevo
So, when does an Acorn become a mighty oak?
After it switches political parties. . .
The Tea Party doesn't want Big Government...unless it's by them..This group serves no purpose except to intimidate, like some electoral 'vigilante' posse..WE have people in place for this, it is redundant, unofficial and most likely illegal for true the vote to invade on the rights of other Americans...Third world tactics by a reincarnation of the inquisition..These people are dangerous..all they're missing is torches, pitchforks and the ubiquitous 'noose'.
James, well said!
Congressman Cummings should also invite some of the people who have had their registrations challenged to join that meeting.
yes oh to be a fly on that wall. Puzzled why this hadn't been investigated months ago. President Obama 4 More years.
I have a question please.
What is the difference between having the right to vote and
the responsibility to vote.
I always thought that I had the responsibility to vote. I always thought it was required of me to be a good citizen. I had an obligation to my family, my friends, my community and my nation to vote what I believed to be the best for all of us, and those that would follow. It was up to me to leave a space better than I found it. As a nation, we must invest our children with this responsibility. I am concerned that we may be losing our democracy. There is widespread voter repression throughout the nation, led mostly by one party, fueled by the money of just a few, to make it harder for some demographic of the population to vote. If you don’t watch Fox News, you may have
heard about the billionaires trying to buy the election. And with electronic cheating with the ballots, they may just do it. Now, denying someone the “right” to vote, is supposed to be against the law. Isn’t it? Or am I wrong? Is this what we are trying to invest in our children about the responsibility of voting? That just a few will have the “right” to vote only if they are in the correct demographic part of the population. How can anyone stand in the way of someone’s right and responsibility to vote? This
is insane. How have we come so far with civil rights to end up like this? One
party demanding that they will never relinquish power and stand in the way of
growth by just saying no and stomping their foot while akimbo. Well, I always wondered where four-year-olds learned that.
With that said, this election is foremost for the survival of our democracy. All of us, who truly believe in democracy, must take the responsibility to exercise our “right” to
vote. The majority of us must protect our democracy. We must protect the
responsibility of every citizen who have had suppressions of one form or another to keep them from voting, the “right” to voice their opinion. Be it left or right or somewhere inbetween, all voices must be heard and all citizens must take up their responsibility to vote.
If it takes a village to raise a child, then it takes all citizens to raise a nation.
There was an article on The National Memo site and the article was called "War on 21st Century Jim Crow" http://www.nationalmemo.com/war-on-21st-century-jim-crow
Here is what two people had said in response to this article and seems to apply here as well:
Dominick Vila: Voter intimidation may be the tip of the iceberg. Little things are starting to happen that make me wonder about the civility and values of some of our fellow Americans. I am a Democrat, I support Barack Obama, and I don't mind making
that known. During the last two weeks someone has been driving over my lawn and
tearing it up. It may seem like a trivial or unrelated incident, but since this is the first time it happened since I had my house built 11 years ago I really have to wonder if it is so.
In any case, if I was determined to vote for Obama before this happened, and I
am now determined to be in front of the line when the polls open for early
voting!
BDD1951: I wonder why republicans became so mean and vicious. My friend went on the local papers blog 4 years ago. Somehow reps found out who she was and where she lived. They picketed in front of her house. She couldn't do anything because they stayed on public property the sidewalk. They run around stealing our signs out of our yards. What is going on in America that people don't have a right to free expression. Crazy people stand on the sidewalks on Sunday morning with homemade signs of aborted babies. People going to church are subjected to such profanity. Litltle kids going to church see this. How mean can you get?
A friend of mine who travels through the Wingnutosphere notes that over the past six weeks or so, there has been a rising tide of serious (as in threats of violence) intolerance of any post on one of their sites that is not "far right wing." Posts like "I'll hunt you down," threats of violence if the election is "stolen" (i.e., Obama is re-elected), etc.
The nutbag Right is now at the point of simmering danger to the rest of the country. These people really could start a second civil war.
What right has someone to stand in my voting location, staring at every person who walks through the door and making a value judgment on that person's right to be there? Are these people somehow a higher class of citizen than I am? Does their opinion of my looks, my manner of dress, my not-so-common name make my legally registered voter status eligible for questions by just some stranger who has decided to form his/her own voter police force?
What right does someone have to look at my voter registration at all? That is between me and my Board of Elections. If it was good enough for them, then it should be good enough for some self-important and self-appointed stranger.
Tactics like this are why I vote by mail. I fear what my reaction would be if someone were to question my right to cast a ballot on election day.
Voter fraud is so miniscule in this country and these tactics are so blatantly anti-Democrat that it should be a joke; but the Republican party seems to believe that no one should lead but them, and if they can't win fairly, then cheating is fair.
Thank you for this! I wonder the same thing. Why isn't this activity illegal, or is it and True The Vote is just counting on people not knowing the law? No one is supposed to be allowed to campaign closer than Xyards to the polling place, yet someone can come in and attempt to intimidate me? (re True The Vote's declared intent is to make the voter feel like a policeman has just came up behind them on the road.) And these people have declared their goal is to have coverage of every polling site in the entire country.
Virtually every cell phone has the ability to record videos nowadays. We all need to make sure we have our phones with us and to record any kind of intimidation we encounter on election day!
It is enough that the people know there was an election. The people who cast the votes decide nothing. The people who count the votes decide everything.
Joseph Stalin
Here we go again, this Koch for you.
I think people are missing something in all of this. There are two things at work here.
First this is about definitely about race and class but not in the way you might think. This isn't overt personal racism as much as it is cultural racism. You are largely talking about a demographic (older rural whites) who people of color simply make feel "uncomfortable"and they just don't trust them. These are people who remember the 70's The rise of the Nation of Islam, Wounded Knee, Cesar Chavez, etc. and the stereotypes that were so present in those days (remember Sanford and Son and all the shows like it?) and now they have a not only a mixed race president but they keep hearing about how Latinos are the fastest growing voting block and they feel themselves loosing the political influence they have been accustomed to. You can't just give one speech on race and expect all of those feelings that go back generations (legitimate or not) to disappear they have to be listened to and discussed. The President has deliberately stayed away from the issue since he was elected and the consequence of that is that it has allowed this issue to bubble up to the surface in a way that is easily twisted politically.
Second, this is about power. This is the party of Lee Atwater, Tom DeLay, and Karl Rove. These are men who openly dreamt of a permanent Republican majority and would do anything to get it including eating their own. Remember the stunt that got pulled on John McCain back in the 2000 Primary about his daughter. These are experts at turning racial fears into political action from those same rural whites and when you couple that to the Tea Party mob mentality you are going to very easily create situations like this.
the Congressman is right this is a conspiracy but it is one that is being alowed to flourish because the left has fallen into a bit of a mental trap. Just pecause your cause is right and just does not mean everyone will see it that way. You can't assume that everyone sees the Cival Rights movment in the same light you do and you definately can't afford to dismiss those who don't as being unimportant.
Part of the job description for President of the United States is to be a social councelor, and moderator of cultural debate and change. Obama hasn't done that very well and I think it's because he didn't think he had to and now we are seeing the result of why he should have.
Nice analysis. Well done.
The opposing view is that if the President had tried to bring this into the fore, the reaction would have been even worse.
These people who are so rabid about him had already been well prepared about his being "muslim", "the anti-christ", a foreigner, a socialist, an inferior being, etc, etc, etc. that his even commenting on the issue would have been another nail in his coffin. You cannot discuss prejudice, lies, hatred or sanity with these people. They have been armed with the "any disagreement with your stance is a liberal talking point." They have been frightened by "if they disagree with you they will be coming after you to kill you." (Glen Beck's response to the Occupy Movement? "They are coming for you and will drag you out of your home and kill you!!!!!!")
I value free speech as much as anyone and am as proud of our stance as anyone, but in my opinion, anyone who preaches hatred, murder, vilification of any group of people due to their "difference" is committing a hate crime and should be stopped. Pull their ability to air their hatred to the world. They are entitled to their opinion, but they are not entitled to spread their hatred on people who are not capable of understanding the impact of that hatred or to discern the fear-mongering.
I am old and I am ashamed of the older generation that is so tied to the new conservative party just because "they have always been conservative." When did they stop thinking on their own? Some where, some when they have to look at their moral values and compare them with what they are seeing and hearing from that party, and what they themselves are promoting. Some where, some when they have to check the facts with the evidence of what they actually see the President doing as opposed to the threats expounded of what he "will do".
Some where, some when they have to wake up and take off the hatred glasses and see our real world. We can only hope.
An excellent analysis Dragoon, with one change: it's not just "rural" Whites. You find the people you're talking about here in Los Angeles, right up the street from me in Porter Ranch. Probably also right around the corner from me. And everywhere else. You are very right though that it is not KKK-style or merely "southern-style" racism, it's a racism that is so ingrained that "white is right" is considered the norm to some degree by probably a majority of American whites. And I say that as a white person myself.
grama
I have to disagree with you in the strongest terms. Saying "You cannot discuss prejudice, lies, hatred or sanity with these people." is admitting defeat and allowing bigotry and hatred to not only win but to go uncontested. These things have to be discussed openly, honestly and most importantly publicly.
They way you get people to go beyond their fear of "what you will do" is to show them what you "Do" do.
Look at South Africa, the world honestly expected massive violence and reprisals for decades of systemic racial hatred, and it didn't happen. You can't allow other peoples fears to decide your actions you have to actually "Do" what is right and show them they are wrong, but along with that you have to keep saying "See this isn't what you were told to be afraid of" so that they can recognize their errors themselves and change.
it is only when you write people off as unchangable they truly are
TC Having lived in LA myself I know you are right. When I said "rural" I was referring more to the density and concentration of these ideas as opposed to their prevalence nationaly. All you have to do is look at the "red" states on a political map to see it manifested geographically. LA for all it's flaws (and they are many)is more diverse and cosmopolitan just by virtue of it's shear size as a city. That said I do think LA could stand a good talking to all on its own about ethnic tensions and preconceptions.
In the interest of full disclosure I am white as well but if I have to give an answer about my race I personally prefer "Human"
Dragoon I would say the names you brought up are the bag men , not the designers of this hate. They are nio the billionaires that fund and buy opinion. Don't forget that there are grassroots that stop things like segregation in our public schools. Caastles with weak foundations fall with time and a coonstant reminding of what is morally right No where have i ever read that my brother needed to be a cetain demographic and surley not if i have to share the foxhole with him. Don't forget to aim.
I don't think those men are the designers of this as much as the exploiters of it and I wouldn't classify it so much as hate as much as fear and that it's not justified isn't the issue. It's that these people feel it and to them it's real.
I do agree that changes to attitudes like this have to begin at the grassroots but sometimes they need to be helped from the top down. Remember desegregation had to be enforced by the national guard and not the local police (who were part of the problem).
No one needs to be part of a certain demographic but we definitely aren't all the same either. In a lot of ways we aren't so much 50 states as we are 50 countries and we don't all speak the same language (metaphorically) and it's important to remember that.
Their beliefs have been confirmed and justified by GOP TV. Credibility of their insanity and prejudice was given them by Beck's shows and daily by GOP TV or FOX so called news and an array of misinformation from hate radio (all republican).
The monster these GOPers have cultivated will not be controllable and sooner or later will turn on them as well. Right now the 'moderate' republicans are wishing they had spoken out against the extremists of their party before this tea party took control of the rhetoric.
I want to call on the people in those States where True the Vote plans to operate, that believe in democracy to go to the polls and challenge the challengers. Don't let them do their dirty work unchecked. It's been said that the worst evil of all is when good people do nothing.
The Republicans and Tea Baggers and whoever else that thinks fixing the game is justified for the sake of their righteousness needs to be thrown against the wall and called out on their betrayal of the pact we Americans made with each other over 2 hundred years ago.
Yes. Voters have the right to be treated as innocent till proven guilty and first off given the benefit of the doubt since there is no evidence of voter fraud to begin with and most have voted before without incident.
""It is both obvious and unfortunate that you are not familiar with all of the details of the mission or methods of True the Vote"
LOL i am betting Rep. Cummings all to well knows about voter suppression and methods used.
hoping Rep. Cummings has the video of true the vote in NM, tell them how to suppresses voters or challenge them.
Ms. Engelbrecht speaks with the smugness of someone who thinks her right to vote will never be challenged.
Wake up, Catherine . . . the party that thinks you aren't smart enough to have control over your own body may one day decide you're not smart enough to vote.
There's already a whole movement of Republican/fundamentalist women who are in favor of rescinding the 19th Amendment. There's a popular book on the Right, "The 1872 Husband" that advocates Men take back the kind of role they had then, including "disciplining" wives who get "uppity."
"True the Vote" is a strange grammatical construction. Except when I'm thinking half in Norwegian, where to "true" = to threaten.
It is easy to slip into thinking that the President is charged with raising this Nation. We are adults, and should conduct ourselves thus. Our little problem is that every four years we remember our causes and how important they are to us. The Republicans remember them every day, and they plan for the "long con". They have been writing little things into law and getting these laws on the books very quietly over many years. Roe v. Wade they have been busy quietly making inroads so that they can get that law abolished, and birth control made illegal. Science out of schools, thereby making our children ignorant, and compliant. This is a frightful return to the feudal system, an oligarchical few who will rule with an iron fist under the guise of a church. It will be the crusades all over again if these people get their way. Romney is the perfect puppet for them, he doesn't have a mind strong enough to really have an opinion, therefore, easy enough to point him in a direction like a gun and fire, the target? Our freedoms . our constitution, our children and our money. Stepping on the necks of those who he and his wife consider beneath them, they believe themselves to be our "betters". They say that we should never elect someone to the Presidency who wants it as badly as he does, they are right. Let the President finish his job, please don't let them back in to destroy what little we have left of our Democracy. From now on, let's not put off until Election year, what we need to be fighting for each and every day, the right to vote, have a fair wage, the right to choose, and the rights to get laws through that govern the majority of the populace, not the "Entitled few"!!
Vote Obama/Biden 2012!
I agree that we are all adults and should behave that way but my argument is that sometimes we need someone to stand up and remind us that the Declaration of Independence that Romney was quoting from the other night also says "that all men are created equal". Someone needs to say to us broadly and as a nation that "This" is what we believe in and remind us why.
The DEMs ROCK The VOTE
The GOP BLOCKS The VOTE
We, who believe in a true democracy, where everyone has the right to vote need to make our presence felt at the polling places where "observers" are going to be to ensure that all voters feel safe and secure to cast their votes and do not feel intimidated.
No poll taxes, no intimidation of voters, no changes in ID requirements. We have NOT had a serious issue with voter fraud. They are trying to steal the election (AGAIN). Dirty tricks. How can they sleep at night.
Voter suppression is high treason against our nation. And naturally therefore, the America-hating T-Baggers support it as well as their brown shirt tactics designed to harass and threaten voters of color. Go to the polls, march proudly past these thrice damned fascists, ignore their shouts and taunts, do not cooperate with them, engage them, or answer them, call the police if these thugs touch you or your children, and VOTE! VOTE as though our democratic republic depends on it! (And it does!).
"True the Vote's founder says it's too bad that Rep. Cummings doesn't understand her group's methods."
No, Ms. Engelbrecht, your problem is that Rep. Cummings understands your group's methods only too well.
We have a legal system ... why can't we use a class-action suite to sue these people?
I find it fasciating that these people who would judge my eligibility to vote think they are the only ones with guns. I have some very powerful guns, and I know how to use them. And I will if anyone tries to get in the way of me exercising my right.