"Libertarians" On The March

[prole]

 

[video:youtube]

[kevbone]

That is messed up.

[billcoe]

Shite, that sucks but in my hood that don't qualify as a "beat down". You need tazers, plungers, police, 9mm's, a curb stomping or 2 and pit bulls before anyone notices.

 

We've come a long way since the tar and feather days of Colonial times. What's the blond wig thing that just randomly pops in there in the video? What's that about? I don't have any sound, so I'm just looking at the picture.

[JayB]

They must have been inspired by watching footage of the Teamsters.

 

 

[prole]

 

More "Liberty" Brigade activity...

 

Tea Party Vow to Deter Voter Fraud Is Called Scare Tactic

 

WASHINGTON — In 2006, conservative activists repeatedly claimed that the problem of people casting fraudulent votes was so widespread that it was corrupting the political process and possibly costing their candidates victories.

 

The accusations turned out to be largely false, but they led to a heated debate, with voting rights groups claiming that the accusations were crippling voter registration drives and squelching turnout.

 

That debate is flaring up anew.

 

Tea Party members have started challenging voter registration applications and have announced plans to question any individual voters at the polls whom they suspect of being ineligible.

 

In response, liberal groups and voting rights advocates are sounding the alarm, claiming that such strategies are scare tactics intended to suppress minority and poor voters.

 

In St. Paul, organizers from the Tea Party and related groups announced this week that they were offering a $500 reward for anyone who turns in someone who is successfully prosecuted for voter fraud.

 

The group is also organizing volunteer “surveillance squads” to photograph and videotape suspected irregularities, and in some cases to follow buses that take voters to the polls.

 

In Milwaukee last week, several community groups protested the posting of large billboards throughout the city that show pictures of people behind jail bars under the words “We Voted Illegally.” The protesters said that the posters — it was not clear who paid for them — were intended to intimidate people into staying away from voting booths.

 

In Houston, a Tea Party group called the King Street Patriots recently accused a voter registration group, Houston Votes, of turning in fraudulent voter registration applications and of being tied to the New Black Panther Party. (The registration group denies the accusations.)

 

Voting rights advocates say they are worried.

 

“Private efforts to police the polls create a real risk of vote suppression, regardless of their intent,” said Wendy R. Weiser, director of the Voting Rights and Elections Project at the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University. “People need to know that any form of discrimination, intimidation, or challenge to voters without adequate basis is illegal or improper.”

 

Voter fraud and voter registration fraud are, of course, different.

 

While many states have voter registration records riddled with names of dead people, out-of-date addresses and other erroneous information, there is little evidence that such errors lead to fraudulent votes, many experts note.

 

A report by the public integrity section of the Justice Department found that from October 2002 to September 2005, the Justice Department charged 95 people with “election fraud”; 55 were convicted.

 

Among those, fewer than 20 people were convicted of casting fraudulent ballots, and only five were convicted of registration fraud. Most of the rest were charged with a range of other voting violations, including a scheme meant to help Republicans by blocking the phone lines used by two voting groups that were arranging rides to get voters to the polls.

 

Even so, the fear of stolen votes remains, as does the fear of missing votes — particularly in light of a decrease, compared with 2006, in voter registration applications in swing states.

 

About 43 percent fewer new voters have registered in Wisconsin this year than in 2006, while in Indiana, the falloff has been about 35 percent. Significant drops have also been seen in Ohio (25 percent), North Carolina (28 percent), Florida (27 percent) and Maryland (21 percent), according to state election data collected by the Brennan Center.

 

Voting experts say a range of factors explain the trend.

 

Voter enthusiasm is low now, and fewer groups like the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or Acorn, are engaged in drives to sign people up.

 

Acorn collected about 550,000 voter-registration applications across the country in 2006, mostly from low-income and minority Americans, and 1.3 million in 2008.

 

But in March, the organization closed down after accusations by two conservative activists that low-level Acorn employees had advised them on how to hide prostitution activities and avoid taxes. The group was also battered by conservatives for having submitted some voter registration cards with incorrect, duplicate or false information.

 

The housing crisis may also have dampened voter registration. More than three million properties were foreclosed on this year, a 30 percent increase from 2008, and people who have been forced out of their homes may be not be able establish residency to vote.

 

Many states have also passed laws in recent years that make voter registration drives more difficult, with stricter reporting and filing deadlines for voter registration groups.

 

“It has been an uphill fight in a lot of states to register people this year,” said Elisabeth MacNamara, national president of the League of Women Voters.

 

Ms. MacNamara said the group’s Georgia chapter faced an additional burden because of a new state law requiring voters to prove citizenship. The chapter does not have a copier machine, so the expense of duplicating documents like birth certificates or driver’s licenses falls to unpaid volunteers.

 

Most of the new barriers to voter registration are likely to hurt Democrats more than Republicans. Historically, these registration drives have focused on voters in poorer areas and minority communities, which tend to vote Democratic.

 

The Obama administration has tried to take some steps to lessen the dependence on independent voter registration groups, while also broadening voter participation among poorer and minority voters.

 

In June, the Justice Department released new guidelines for the “motor voter” law, emphasizing that all public-assistance applicants must be given the opportunity to register to vote, and state employees must offer to help them.

 

Recent legal settlements between voting rights advocates and state election officials have led some states to take steps in this direction.

 

A settlement in Ohio has led to more than 155,000 people being added to the registration rolls this year. In Missouri a legal settlement led to more than 200,000 voter registration applications from welfare offices in less than two years.

 

Still, independent voter registration groups say that they still play an important role, and that scare tactics are making their work harder.

 

“There is an intentional effort here to suppress participation,” said Jim George, a lawyer for Texans Together Education Fund, the parent organization of Houston Votes.

 

Houston Votes, whose registration drive has mostly focused on Latino neighborhoods, did find at least one paid canvasser submitting fraudulent applications, Mr. George said, and that person was immediately fired.

 

He added that the groups’ financing for voter registration work had dried up because of the accusations by the King Street Patriots that Houston Votes was tied to the New Black Panther Party.

 

“Houston Votes has nothing whatsoever to do with the Black Panthers,” Mr. George said. “But you make a claim like that, and funding dries up even if the claim isn’t true.”

 

A request for comment from the King Street Patriots was not returned.

 

Leo Vasquez, the tax assessor-collector and voter registrar in Harris County, said that of about 25,640 registration applications submitted by Houston Votes, about 5,500 had problems.

 

During a news conference held by Mr. Vasquez on Aug. 26, members of the King Street Patriots sat in the audience, and afterward announced that they had discovered multiple cases of people in the voter registration database whose registered addresses traced back to empty lots.

 

Because of the continuing investigation, Mr. Vasquez, a Republican, declined to say how many of the problem applications were discarded.

 

The Texas Democratic Party has filed a lawsuit against Mr. Vasquez, accusing him and the Republican-led voter registration office of illegally rejecting voter applications.

 

The fight occurs against the backdrop of a competitive contest for governor in which a large turnout in Harris County would be vital to the effort by the Democratic candidate, Bill White, to defeat Gov. Rick Perry, a Republican. - from NYT 10/26/10

[Hugh Conway]

They must have been inspired by watching footage of the Teamsters.

 

 

the pinkertons

[JayB]

Might as well invoke the praetorian guards.

[prole]

When exactly did the statute of limitations for right-wing thuggery in the service of capital expire?

[JayB]

When exactly did the statute of limitations for right-wing thuggery in the service of capital expire?

 

July 16, 1978. 4:03PM.

[prole]

Is that when Reagan was nominated and the "free market" could take over a lot of the dirty work?

[prole]

Or Strom Thurmond had his third stroke?

[Nitrox]

I heard Rand Paul had actually issued orders to stomp all women.

 

 

 

 

[prole]

Did he hire racist paramilitaries like the Teabagger candidate in Alaska?

[Mal_Con]

 

Here is the stomper with his mentor.

[Nitrox]

Did he hire racist paramilitaries like the Teabagger candidate in Alaska?

 

Actually I think he hired Sandinistas with machetes.

 

 

[prole]

Might as well invoke Spartacus.

[Crux]

 

Bagger press: "His partner in the assault, tea party activist Mike Pezzano...

actually wore a "Don't Tread on Me" sticker as Proffit stomped the woman's head."

 

[Hugh Conway]

Might as well invoke the praetorian guards.

 

Because the Praetorian guard spent lots of time beating the crap out of union members?

 

Oh, no, they didn't. The Pinkertons did.

[Fairweather]

[video:youtube]

 

...and reported on a FoxNews affiliate, no less! How does this square with your (very limited) worldview?

[Crux]

 

Fox News Runs Damage Control For Rand Paul Re Assault On MoveOn.org Activist

[JayB]

Might as well invoke the praetorian guards.

 

Because the Praetorian guard spent lots of time beating the crap out of union members?

 

Oh, no, they didn't. The Pinkertons did.

 

Neither has been seen in person for quite some time. There's a much more contemporary anthology of violence committed by members of organizations that still exist here:

 

"Since 1975, the National Institute for Labor Relations Research has collected more than 9,000 reports of union violence. These incidents are recorded and electronically maintained in the Institute’s Violent Event Data File."

 

"West Virginia miner shot dead for working during a strike

On the orders of the United Mine Workers (UMW), 16,000 miners went on strike in 1993. One subcontractor, Eddie York (who was not a UMW member), decided it was important to support his wife and three children and crossed picket lines to get to his job. He was shot in the head as he left the job site to go home. UMW President Richard Trumka (now Secretary-Treasurer at the AFL-CIO) told The Washington Times that "if you strike a match and put your finger in, common sense tells you you're going to burn your finger." UMW strike captain Jerry Dale Lowe was found guilty of weapons charges and conspiracy in York's death, and York's widow Wanda sued the union for her husband's wrongful death. The UMW fought the lawsuit for four years, but settled with Wanda York only two days after federal prosecutors announced that they would share evidence from the criminal trial with York's attorneys"

 

Etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc...

 

Yes - dainty little things always on the side of the angels, those unions.

 

 

 

 

 

[Hugh Conway]

Neither has been seen in person for quite some time.

 

http://www.pgs-usa.com/

 

There's plenty of anti-union violence in the world currently, usually by "defenders of freedom"

[prole]

Might as well invoke the praetorian guards.

 

Because the Praetorian guard spent lots of time beating the crap out of union members?

 

Oh, no, they didn't. The Pinkertons did.

 

Neither has been seen in person for quite some time. There's a much more contemporary anthology of violence committed by members of organizations that still exist here:

 

"Since 1975, the National Institute for Labor Relations Research has collected more than 9,000 reports of union violence. These incidents are recorded and electronically maintained in the Institute’s Violent Event Data File."

 

"West Virginia miner shot dead for working during a strike

On the orders of the United Mine Workers (UMW), 16,000 miners went on strike in 1993. One subcontractor, Eddie York (who was not a UMW member), decided it was important to support his wife and three children and crossed picket lines to get to his job. He was shot in the head as he left the job site to go home. UMW President Richard Trumka (now Secretary-Treasurer at the AFL-CIO) told The Washington Times that "if you strike a match and put your finger in, common sense tells you you're going to burn your finger." UMW strike captain Jerry Dale Lowe was found guilty of weapons charges and conspiracy in York's death, and York's widow Wanda sued the union for her husband's wrongful death. The UMW fought the lawsuit for four years, but settled with Wanda York only two days after federal prosecutors announced that they would share evidence from the criminal trial with York's attorneys"

 

Etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc...

 

Yes - dainty little things always on the side of the angels, those unions.

 

Why don't you have a nice lie down.

Edited October 27, 2010 by prole

[prole]

...and reported on a FoxNews affiliate, no less! How does this square with your (very limited) worldview?

 

One can only assume that they're trying to incite more violence!

[billcoe]

Shit, Dr Martin Luther King gets executed by the US Government with CIA and FBI involvement and you think this attention whore getting pushed to the ground is front page news. It's probably cause he's black I bet, and she's white.

 

Nothing to see here, LOOK, an attention whore! Over there, Look! OMG! an attention whore! Hope she's OK! Does she climb? NO?

 

It's OK, shes white, lets all do a drum circle and protest this act of extreme violence. OMG!