Many here have commented on my posts to some of the threads and how economics have played in the different situations contained in those threads. I think you all remember Dr. Henry Louis Gates Jr., the same professor who was arrested for breaking into his own domicile because some white woman saw a black man attempting to break into a neighbor's house; and the cops didn't believe him when Dr. Gates told him it was his house. Dr. Gates has produced a quite amazing documentary covering the 500 years of the African American in this country called The African Americans: Many Rivers To Cross. It took him 5 years to create and it won a Peabody Award.

Five hundred years of how the African American has played in the economics of this country right up to today and how the Tea/Republican party, the same party which at one time was the greatest supporter of civil rights, are now engaging in mass voter suppression of the same people they once supported to such great extent.

If you're truly interested in this part of american history, you can find more about it on the web, You tube does have one or two videos in episodic form, or you can purchase the documentary either in book form or as a DVD set via several web sites.

Even though free speech is inherently given as a right to all here, because there will be snide remarks, I do ask that the responses be kept in a respectful way on this very serious manner.

Here is the first episode:
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/african-americans-many-rivers-to-cross/video/

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I don't buy computers, I build them!!

Five hundred years of how the African American has played in the economics of this country right up to today and how the Tea/Republican party, the same party which at one time was the greatest supporter of civil rights, are now engaging in mass voter suppression of the same people they once supported to such great extent.

ID yourself, before voting, is 'voter suppression'.

Why shouldn't a potential voter have to show they are eligible to vote, and are not voting multiple times, at different locations?

Because those ID laws make it harder for mainly African Americans to go out and vote and because those rules are specifically designed to do just that. Sure, the Republicans behind those rules will say its to combat fraud, but when you press them on the issue and call out the BS behind that argument (voter fraud is nearly non existent), a number of them have openly admitted that its there to prevent African Americans from voting because African Americans tend to vote for Democrats.

Vote Early, Vote Often, Vote Dead, the Chicago politician and Ballot Box 13 way.

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Vote Early, Vote Often, Vote Dead, the Chicago politician and Ballot Box 13 way.

Ballot box 13. ROFL. Good old LBJ. Not content to merely copy his predecessors and have the dead vote (and other forms of voter fraud), LBJ one-ups them ALL!!

LBJ doesn't just invent 'voters', he invents an entire voting location (and proceeds to stuff it with votes for him, of course!).

As an interesting aside that fits in with another thread, Box 13 was supposedly in Jim Wells county of Texas. That county's county seat is Alice Texas. A primate lab just outside Alice Texas was the site of both the 1990 and 1996 Ebola Reston outbreaks.

Ballot box 13. ROFL.

Glad to be of service.

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Can somebody explain how stricter voter ID rules would have prevented Box 13?

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Five hundred years of how the African American has played in the economics of this country right up to today and how the Tea/Republican party, the same party which at one time was the greatest supporter of civil rights, are now engaging in mass voter suppression of the same people they once supported to such great extent.

ID yourself, before voting, is 'voter suppression'.

Why shouldn't a potential voter have to show they are eligible to vote, and are not voting multiple times, at different locations?

Up until the election of President Obama in 2008, the requirements for voter registration, whatever they were/are as set forth in the full 1965 Voter's Rights Act, was never in doubt. In fact history and statistics have shown that in-person voter fraud has been and is still currently almost nonexistent. With the voter registration drives leading up to the election focusing particularly in the deep south which is traditionally Tea/Republican based massive numbers of minorities, and younger voters regardless of race, compared against previous years, not only registered to vote but in fact did vote for the first Democratic African-American president into office; not once but twice. The first time, it was able to be accomplished only via the full Voter Rights Act of 1965, and if it or some other similar law had not been in place then this would not have happened at the time of its occurrence; and I probably would not have seen it in my life time. The second time with voter registration/suppression in place.

This so ticked off the Tea/Republican party so much that the first thing they did was cry voter fraud, as in there was no way that President Obama could get all of those votes without voter fraud, and they're still crying about it even now. They were so outraged that they filed suit against the strongest part, Section V, of the Voters Rights Act from a small back water place, and successfully took it all of the way to the right-wing leaning Supreme Court and got their way. Within an hour almost every Tea/Republican controlled state put into place all of these outlandish voter restrictions (pole tax) that we see today, some of which have already been taken to court and have been proved to be unconstitutional. Thankfully, Pennsylvania was one such state.

I guess this calls for another brief lesson in American history as it plays into the African-American's right to vote, especially in the southern states. One of the ways of keeping African-Americans from voting was the pole tax. A pole tax was an additional way to prove that someone was qualified to vote beyond the normal requirements, and it did not necessarily include money. This pole tax took many forms including such things as determining how many marbles was in a jar. If one was able to correctly tell that number, he/she was able to vote. The thing is, that there was no way to substantiate the correct number of marbles, as the person attempting to register to vote had to rely on the person giving this test to give a correct answer. The Voter Rights Act of 1965 declared that these methods were unconstitutional and certain laws and regulations were put into place to alleviate this.

Normally, once a person has registered to vote he/she does not have to register again if they continue living/voting at the same place/district. If they move to a different location in the same local, he/she simply contacts the local voters registration office of their new location and they should be able to vote in their new precinct. If they move to a different local outside of this jurisdiction, then they must register in that local. Now with Section V of the voter's rights act gone, you see the revival of the pole tax. Usually only something as a birth certificate, driver's license, or something proving that person's residence is the only proof that is required to establish residency for the purpose of registering to vote, anything extra is considered a pole tax. These added requirements, affect not only minorities, but the poor and seniors as well, the same ones that history has shown to vote Democratic. You have many elderly, particularly in the south, who were not born in a hospital, but at home by a midwife who do not have a birth certificate, or haven't driven in years for some reason or another, who have voted for years; now have to come up with some other form of current identification in order to qualify to vote. It has been determined that the cost of obtaining these additional forms of identification and the burden placed on those who have to obtain them is in fact a pole tax.

Shortening the established number of hours for early voting, or the number and times of polling places, not allowing students to vote where they normally go to school, both are forms of a pole tax. Pole taxes are an attempt to successfully suppress not only voter registration, but by extension voting itself. It is not the matter of providing identification in order to register to vote, but rather the obstacles being placed on someone that they must overcome in order to register and to actually vote. In all of the places that I've ever voted in, there is a book that contains your name, address and most importantly your signature, from the time of your first/last registration in that precinct/district, that you must countersign at the time that you vote, and normally that was enough; and the majority of the time the polling place workers know you. This was true even in Louisiana during the late 60s when I was based there.

Now you have places where you must present additional verification that you are who you say you are in order to do the same thing. That is a form of a pole tax, and that is voter suppression of a single voter. Now expand that out up to several hundred thousand persons, that you are sure will vote in any particular way, and you have mass voter suppression. It's the effect that this will have on a large demographic of the population that's the problem and which courts have found to be unconstitutional.

I may be mistaken, but in the intervening years since 2008, the only proven documented cases of fraud were not perpetuated by Democrats, but by Tea/Republican supporters during voter registration, in which these same supporters were either only registering Tea/Republicans or registering Democrats and throwing the forms in the trash. The idea of voter fraud and attacking it with such restrictions and voter suppression is trying to solve a problem where there is no problem. Its the old saying of - If you shout a lie loud enough and long enough someone is going to start to believe you.

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I don't buy computers, I build them!!

Cliff it is not just blacks who are being disenfranchised, it is any demographic group who might not back the conservatives. These include college students, the poor, and the elderly. As the income gap grows the number of the disenfranchised will continue to grow, the long term trajectory is some form of a fudal system. We are already seeing some physical signs of this with the growth of gated communities, these people know who their enemies are but don't realize that their actions are a major factor in creating them.

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Cliff:

I have seen about equal amounts of confirmed voter fraud by each party since 2008. The total is miniscule. However miniscule it is, with the terrible low turnout we have in the USA, it has been enough to alter some local elections. But those games have been going on since well before Ballot Box 13, which put the man who signed the voting rights act into office.

What to do about it? Whatever must be free and easy for the voter. Perhaps bring a card sent with the sample ballot? Although that might disenfranchise those homeless who don't have a permanent address.



by the way: Strippers use a pole, voters are questioned in a poll.

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Although that might disenfranchise those homeless who don't have a permanent address.

That is an important element in creating the fudal system.

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Cliff it is not just blacks who are being disenfranchised, it is any demographic group who might not back the conservatives. These include college students, the poor, and the elderly. As the income gap grows the number of the disenfranchised will continue to grow, the long term trajectory is some form of a fudal system. We are already seeing some physical signs of this with the growth of gated communities, these people know who their enemies are but don't realize that their actions are a major factor in creating them.

If you truly read the post, you'll have noticed that I included all that you have mentioned above. BTW, we both didn't mention the woman's vote, because that was/is a major demographic and I stand remise for not including them in the post.

I based the logic of it on the African-American life experience because that, was/is believe it or not, is what all of this is about. If you go back to the beginning of it all, it was and still is to keep the black man in his place. In its current evolution, in order for it to appear not to be entirely racial in being, others had/have to be included in the disenfranchisement. Over 86% of African-Americans voted for the man in his first election. Do you remember the shock and outrage that went through the Tea/Republican party, they just couldn't believe that that many black people voted for him, and forget about the whites that voted for him. And, the temper tantrum that the Tea/Republican party threw, it was worse than a 2-year old that didn't get his way. Folks, until 1965 a poor non-black person had a better chance of voting then a black person of any financial level in the south.

I see several mentions of ballot box 13 and unfortunately I never heard of it. I did some research and it was one of a miniscule confirmed cases of fraud; granted - by a Democrat in a primary state election for a federal office in Texas, a state that is as corrupt now as it was back in 1948. We can all do a Google search and come up with an example or two.

I try to be very inclusive in my posts with a general point of view, but I must also include the African-American historical view because that is what and who I am. And, it is this view most here are not accustomed to. In the beginning I urged those that were/are truly interested to invest in a few dollars to either read the documentary of view the DVDs, and I urge it again, because then you will have gained a better understanding of what I'm attempting to say and the context of having said it.

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I don't buy computers, I build them!!

We are already seeing some physical signs of this with the growth of gated communities, these people know who their enemies are but don't realize that their actions are a major factor in creating them.

The Un-Gated are People of Many Stripes and There are Many Hungry Predators Amongst Them, and Very Few taking Their Marching Orders or Cues from The Gated Ones. 'It' is A Natural Thing for Them To Eat Their Own.

The Un-Gated are More Fearful of Their Own and Always will be.

' '

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May we All have a METAMORPHOSIS. REASON. GOoD JUDGEMENT and LOVE and ORDER!!!!!

We have ascertained Clyde has drunk the tea.

Funny how Clyde mentions Social Security and the card says right on it:
FOR SOCIAL SECURITY AND TAX PURPOSES - NOT FOR IDENTIFICATION
Last time I checked identification documents had biographical data, name, height, weight, eye color, hair color, sex, DOB, address and usually a picture. None of the ID he "ascertain" has all this.

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+ a lot

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The Skid Row Voting Bloc; The 80 to 110 Year Old Voting Bloc; The Poor, Huddled Masses Voting Bloc, is A Force for Hope, Change and Transparency.

Dey Don't Need No I.D., Everyone Knows who Dey Are.

They Only Need to Be Transported from The 'Gates' of Hell, to The Voting Booth.

Be Counted. Vote.

' '

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May we All have a METAMORPHOSIS. REASON. GOoD JUDGEMENT and LOVE and ORDER!!!!!

I try to be very inclusive in my posts with a general point of view, but I must also include the African-American historical view because that is what and who I am. And, it is this view most here are not accustomed to. In the beginning I urged those that were/are truly interested to invest in a few dollars to either read the documentary of view the DVDs, and I urge it again, because then you will have gained a better understanding of what I'm attempting to say and the context of having said it.

I'd love to see it, but since I'm not an American I can't access it on the link you provided :( If you know of any other means, do let me know.

If Wisconsin chooses to violate Federal law, that is Wisconsin's choice.

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We have ascertained Clyde has drunk the tea.

Funny how Clyde mentions Social Security and the card says right on it:
FOR SOCIAL SECURITY AND TAX PURPOSES - NOT FOR IDENTIFICATION
Last time I checked identification documents had biographical data, name, height, weight, eye color, hair color, sex, DOB, address and usually a picture. None of the ID he "ascertain" has all this.

On Wednesday, the Wisconsin State Division of Motor Vehicles responded to the ruling by announcing its new system for issuing IDs. People who do not have birth certificates or certain other documents will be able to apply for IDs by filling out paperwork that includes their names, date and city of birth and parent's names. State officials will then search databases to confirm the person's identity and review other documents if necessary. While people will not have to show birth certificates, they will have to produce documents proving residency, such as utility bills, and proving identity, such as Social Security cards (which are available for free).

Gary... The above, and your non-response to Students, and The Poor, shows the Anti-Voter Fraud Democrats are getting desperate.

Gary... Love the 'we have lost the argument - let's go to the personal attacks' posts. Always make's my point. Keep it up.

The first Social Security cards were issued starting in 1936, did not have this legend. Beginning with the sixth design version of the card, issued starting in 1946, SSA added a legend to the bottom of the card reading "FOR SOCIAL SECURITY PURPOSES -- NOT FOR IDENTIFICATION."

The legend has not been on any new cards issued since 1972

The use of the SSN for identification purposes started in 1961 when the Civil Service Commission adopted it as an official Federal employee identifier. I seem to remember a big uproar throughout IT about the problems bringing about the changes that had to be done to effect the change. It was still a BFD when I first started in IT in 1969 about this. For those of us that served in the military, this change over began in the mid-60s when our military ID number was replaced by the SSN. Do any of you still remember it? Mine was AF22019156.

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I don't buy computers, I build them!!

I try to be very inclusive in my posts with a general point of view, but I must also include the African-American historical view because that is what and who I am. And, it is this view most here are not accustomed to. In the beginning I urged those that were/are truly interested to invest in a few dollars to either read the documentary of view the DVDs, and I urge it again, because then you will have gained a better understanding of what I'm attempting to say and the context of having said it.

I'd love to see it, but since I'm not an American I can't access it on the link you provided :( If you know of any other means, do let me know.

I've pm'd you with a couple of ideas, then thought to put them here for anyone else who might be interested. Barnes & Noble http://www.bn.com does have both the book and DVD set available on their web site. You should be able to search the web, using the title as the search object to find something in your locale. BTW, I don't know it the DVDs are permanently locked on region 1 or not, so be aware if you are not in the region.

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I don't buy computers, I build them!!

The Book, The History of White People, delves into Slav [e] Based Economics in The U S A nicely.

Written by A Non-White.

I Did Not Know So Many White People were Slaves In This Country and So Many Died, doing Work for The Owners, mostly between 1620 and 1750. 'It' continued after, along with Africans.

Amazing.

' '

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May we All have a METAMORPHOSIS. REASON. GOoD JUDGEMENT and LOVE and ORDER!!!!!