Political Harassment

[Julie]

Would you say that this is political harassment?

See video here; https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=589797007761126

[Parihaka]

Yes

[JAD_333]

There are two parts to this story. One we know and one we don't, at least not completely.

First off, the harassment by four federal government agencies happened pretty much the way she, Catherine Engelbrecht, describes it. Yes, OSHA has the legal right to inspect any job site in the US for violations of safety rules. Those rules are sometimes excessive in the extreme, but that is another matter. That OSHA would show up in a small metal plant on the outskirts of Houston is odd, except in this case it was responding to a complaint. So, who complained? OSHA can't tell you that. The IRS has the power to audit anyone's tax returns. After the IRS finished, Catherine Engelbrecht got a small refund. Someone in the government told the IRS to audit her tax returns. Who? We don't know. Then comes the FBI looking for what? A terrorist? Then the ATF, which has the right to inspect any concern with a license to make gun parts. Her company has such a license, but doesn't make gun parts. Even a state agency went over her company's compliance records and found it needed another license. All this after she applied for a standard tax exempt status that is routinely approved for many organizations, except her organization has ties to the Tea Party.

The second part of the story, unrelated to the first, is that her organization, 'True the Vote', may be more than what she said in her testimony. According to her the group aims only to educate voters and does not recruit people as poll watchers, That's splitting hairs. Her group may not recruit people, but from what I've read, it does urge people to act as poll watchers. It did encourage people to act as poll watchers in an all-black precinct in Houston during the last election. It also expends a lot of energy challenging voting lists, but that is a citizen right. Still, none of that excuses such an usual concentration of government harassment. All in all, Mrs.Engelbrecht appears to mean well. I admire her spunk, and she's not bad to look at either. I'll wager she'll run for office one of these day.

[Julie]

I'll wager she'll run for office one of these day.

Yes, she needs to.

I have stumbled upon a few more of these similar instances and will post them later. This particular video has gone viral on the internet and someone forwarded it to me and I wanted to share.

[JAD_333]

Julie:

Two things the push for voting purity has done, one politically advantageous for conservatives and one not so advantageous: Itt casts the dems as opposing voting purity while it makes the conservatives appear to be trying to suppress racial minority voting. Both are inaccurate themes largely a media creation, and as usual one can find crazies in each camp to taint each side. Personally, I'd rather see both sides join in a sensible, nonpartisan approach to the issue.

[Julie]

Julie:

Two things the push for voting purity has done, one politically advantageous for conservatives and one not so advantageous: Itt casts the dems as opposing voting purity while it makes the conservatives appear to be trying to suppress racial minority voting. Both are inaccurate themes largely a media creation, and as usual one can find crazies in each camp to taint each side. Personally, I'd rather see both sides join in a sensible, nonpartisan approach to the issue.

Conservatives do not suppress voting, they just feel it isn't fair for a non-citizen (illegal) to determine who runs our country. I feel the same way. People coming here, staying illegal, getting free food, education, and medical care is one thing. Determining our President is entirely another.

My state requires you to present an ID to vote, and I do not mind it at all.

[JAD_333]

Conservatives do not suppress voting, they just feel it isn't fair for a non-citizen (illegal) to determine who runs our country. I feel the same way. People coming here, staying illegal, getting free food, education, and medical care is one thing. Determining our President is entirely another.

My state requires you to present an ID to vote, and I do not mind it at all.

I was not saying conservatives try to suppress voting, just that it appears to many that they do. No citizen should feel comfortable that someone ineligible gets to vote. How we go about preventing it from happening is the issue, with dems generally opposed to any law that makes voting 1% more difficult, if you call pulling out an ID card 'difficult'. Conservatives want an ID system and an end to day-of-election registration, which is not unreasonable, but studies show the people most likely to be affected are teenagers, the uneducated, and the poor. Affected how, I ask, because if someone in that category can get to the polls on election day, they surely should be able to go to city hall or the DOT a month before to get an ID. The dems seem to think that if the dufasses of the world don't vote, they'll lose elections. No comment.