 |
| (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
From Denny: As an Independent and a liberal I rarely take the Louisiana newspapers seriously. Most of their red state conclusions from the news are flawed thinking at best and so opinionated the facts get lost in the shuffle. Most, like my Baton Rouge paper, The Advocate, are too busy advancing the promotion of scare tactics from the Republican propaganda machine.
However, the facts remain to be seen clearly from the latest DOJ's suspect and downright sinister wrongdoing. You know it's really bad when I finally write about it. The DOJ is claiming their need for private information of almost 3 million Louisiana voters - and thousands of journalists in that database - as necessary to protect the voting rights of the possibly disenfranchised, primarily African-Americans and Hispanics. And what ever happened to my rights: my civil rights, my constitutional right to vote unhindered, both as a journalist and as a liberal voter?
The rights of the many are getting trampled in the aggressive effort "claiming" to protect the rights of the few. It is becoming more and more evident the DOJ actions are not truly about helping disenfranchised voters but something else...
NSA Watching makes fun of the Big Brother craziness.
Visit Denny Lyon Gifts @ CafePress.com - see what's new!
Stop and consider how this is really playing out, Mr. President. You are going to be losing the liberal voting base just as surely as losing the conservative one. Do you really think I am the only one to quit voting because I have to worry about what the government is doing with my private information? I never gave any of you permission to just bandy about my private information so cavalierly.
This federal government has not demonstrated a mature capacity to secure this private information or do right with it. Besides, as a journalist, it is increasingly and abundantly clear the Fourth Estate is no longer free in America as evidenced by the recent disclosure from AT & T of government noses into phone call records of private citizens going back decades just to name one example. Nor are journalists respected by President Obama and his thug DOJ. After all, why would the crooked want publicized their crimes?
The Republican Party is spinning this DOJ overreach as an aggressive attempt to turn the red state of Louisiana into a blue or purple state politically. Maybe true; maybe not. But there is much more to this DOJ thuggish act. These guys over at the Justice Department are not known for being honest, transparent or trustworthy. They let off the true crooks with immunity while creating out of thin air untrue charges in order to prosecute people they don't like: Sen. John Edwards (D-NC) (found not guilty) and tech guru Aaron Swartz (driven to suicide by the thug tactics of this DOJ and Eric Holder).
From Louisiana Sec. of State Tom Shedler, a Republican: "As part of the suit, Holder's office requested that data on 2.9 million Louisiana voters be sent to the federal government as part of the discovery process. The requested information included social security numbers, dates of birth and mothers' maiden names." Come on; really? What does the government need with that private information on almost 3 million people for "discovery" in one DOJ lawsuit? Answer: they don't.
An investigation should be opened by Congress and the FBI into this bizarre overreach by the DOJ, requesting such information on 2.9 million people that could be used for data mining, resulting in identity theft and financial ruin. If the DOJ is doing it in Louisiana then they are doing it in other Southern states like Texas utilizing the same pretext. On the surface it looks like - and can be a political spin by this White House - as an attempt to secure voting rights for all, especially African-Americans. It's a weak argument.
I used to think the states that wanted to secede from the Union were a bunch of nut jobs. Now I'm beginning to wonder if the crazies don't have a valid point considering just how much our rights have eroded under President Obama and get trampled every day from the militarization of our police - all from the mind of a once constitutional law professor is absolutely astounding. After all, if the entire Southeast seceded we would take the majority of the country's resources with us: natural gas, oil refineries, agriculture and more. It's a tempting thought though not likely. Yet bad government like this White House and their pals at the thug DOJ really give a rational person pause to actually consider thinking about it.
Dexter is in the house! More dog and cat names available in many products!
Visit Denny Lyon Gifts @ CafePress.com - see what's new!
What is troubling is there is absolutely no need for the DOJ to request this information for their lawsuit discovery process against the state of Louisiana. There is no need to know the mother's maiden name, the Social Security number and date of birth from voting rolls in order to press their case. All they have to do is discover who was dropped from the rolls and who voted how and when. The private information they are demanding is unnecessary and suspicious.
What the rest of America should be paying attention to is that once the DOJ is successful at procuring this personal information from all the Southern states' voter databases, they will find new excuses to probe the blue and purple states as well. Then they will finally possess their dream of the entire information of every person in the country at their whim and disposal.
It is clear this Obama administration does not accept the sentiment "No! Stay the F Out of my personal life!" The anti-government demonstrations will only build in momentum, scope and intensity. The Wall Street protests were just the beginning of a restless angry America. The American people are fed up with the current state of our government and the ruthless tactics of their cozy Big Business Buddies always taking advantage of and selling us out from every angle. (Think mortgage scandals, NSA and business data mining and health insurance sky high costs.)
Perhaps the DOJ and the federal government are finding yet another way to secure private information on all American citizens from another route since the NSA is on the hot seat for violating our civil rights and our constitutional rights? Perhaps it's "just" the Obama political hacks looking for actionable political intelligence in order to drill down into the voter database to better manipulate people into voting for them and sideline those who do not agree with them? Perhaps this President and his political hacks want this very personal information for their OFA political group (Organizing For America) in order to control election outcomes while in and after Obama leaves office? Who knows? What is the most likely scenario is that all these reasons are true. And that is the most sinister of all.
"A cantankerous press, an obstinate press, a ubiquitous press must be suffered by those in authority in order to preserve the even greater values of freedom of expression and the right of the people to know.” - Judge Murray Gurfein, Pentagon Papers case, 17 June 1971
Gray Peace Sign Frameless Wall Clock
Whenever I have written to my Senator her office has always responded. The following is the letter to Louisiana Senator, Mary Landrieu (D-LA):
Dear Senator Landrieu,
In light of the DOJ demanding our private information from
the Louisiana voter database, my husband and I can no longer vote for you in
any upcoming election. We are removing
our names – and private information at risk of identity theft – from the
Louisiana voting rolls. We have proudly
supported you from your first election to the Senate and regret we are no
longer able to do so. It was wonderful
to support a woman in high office.
Since President Obama took office, he and his DOJ and the
NSA have infringed upon the constitutional rights of all Americans. We left the Democratic Party and went
Independent in our affiliation, still voting for Democrat, liberal and progressive
candidates. We find that with the recent
court case from the DOJ demanding our mothers’ maiden names, birth dates and Social Security
numbers along with other private information that we can no longer continue to
exercise our right to vote. It’s a sad
day when a constitutional law professor becomes President and then proceeds to
remove our constitutional rights, especially for searches and voting.
I am a journalist and do not appreciate being hassled and
prevented from doing my job by the DOJ probing my private information just
because I wish to vote. If it is
possible for you to do anything about this overreach by this President and his
thuggish DOJ then please do. If you are
successful we will re-register and vote again for you. Until then we cannot choose between fighting
identity theft with financial ruin or voting.
President Obama has made this Voting Rights Act pursuit too
personal. I once supported his
efforts. Now I no longer support
him. I also am requesting you open an
investigation into this odd demand from the DOJ to uncover what they really
plan to do with the information. I
suspect this is more about his political machine, the OFA, wanting to mine a
huge database, in an effort to control elections while he is still in and after he is out of office. Please investigate.
We thank you for your service to Louisiana as you have
brought billions of dollars into the state from coastal restoration to hurricane
recovery. We sincerely hope you are
re-elected.
* * * Please support Warriors Pearl Foundation - contributing to fund efforts to help homeless female military veterans come home. Visit Denny Lyon Gifts @ CafePress.com - see what's new! And a special thanks to those of you supporting this effort! You rock!
Subscribe to A Truth Journal* Check out Dennys News Politics Comedy Science Arts & Food - a place where all my 24 blogs link so you can choose from among the latest posts all in one place. A free to read online newspaper from independent journalist blogger Denny Lyon. *
*** THANKS for visiting, feel welcome to drop a comment or opinion, enjoy bookmarking this post on your favorite social site, a big shout out to awesome current subscribers – and if you are new to this blog, please subscribe in a reader or by email updates!
