Posted on 06/10/2013 2:12:09 PM PDT by nickcarraway
The federal government has betrayed the American people.
The federal government has betrayed the American people on a scale not seen since the civil rights era. In both cases, officials exercising their government-backed powers attempted to intimidate and publicly shame political opponents.
We now know the IRS targeted select groups for increased review on their tax-exempt applications, starting in 2010. Aside from slowing down their applications — some groups waited for up to 18 months just to get a response — the IRS demanded these groups share lists of donors.
State and local community organizers were required to provide donor lists, printouts of Web pages, copies of newsletters, bulletins, fliers and stories or radio transcripts that mentioned certain political candidates. This falls way outside proper IRS authority and is deeply troubling, but we’ve seen it before.
This type of government intimidation hearkens back to the civil rights era and the 1958 Supreme Court case NAACP v. Alabama. In 1956, the state of Alabama demanded the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) turn over its membership list.
The state claimed it needed the list to ensure the organization — which was headquartered in New York — wasn’t operating in the state, a violation of Alabama’s laws requiring foreign businesses to register with the state. The NAACP refused, and the case went to the Supreme Court. In 1958, the court ruled in favor of the NAACP, determining that the First Amendment right to free speech includes the right to private group association.
The IRS’s recent violation of this Supreme Court hearing is outrageous. Whether it’s an organization working to promote race equality or to shrink the size of government, all Americans have a right to join and support groups without fear of reprisal.
Many have attempted to frame the IRS scandal as a political issue: the liberals in power attacking conservatives for their beliefs. But this goes a lot deeper than partisan politics, just as the NAACP case went a lot deeper than the color of people’s skin.
This is, once again, the case of a few powerful insiders violating the constitutional rights of individual Americans. The IRS abused its authority and infringed on the First Amendment rights of hundreds of organizations. While it may have been a case of Obama administration officials misusing their authority against conservatives in this instance, it could happen to any group of Americans the next time around.
This abuse of power cannot go unpunished. The Constitution guarantees freedom of association for all, regardless of personal characteristics such as skin color or political affiliation.
The media backlash against the IRS’s actions proves this issue has deeply touched people from all ideological perspectives. News anchors, reporters and pundits on the left and right have gone after the agency’s abuse of power, calling for justice. Even CNN’s Piers Morgan, an outspoken liberal, said the actions of the IRS were “bordering on tyrannical behavior.”
Lois Lerner, the former head of the Federal Election Commission unit that sued the Christian Coalition and the director of the IRS tax-exempt unit responsible for these abuses, was called to testify at a hearing of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. Instead of helping to shed light on the situation by explaining to the American people what had happened, Lerner refused to speak. How hypocritical that she invoked her constitutional right to remain silent, while the violation of the First Amendment continually occurred under her watch.
Regardless of political affiliation, belief or skin color, we are all Americans. Our rights and liberties are enshrined in our Constitution, not the power brokers of the Beltway. When the government denies certain groups of people their right to join together peaceably, the time has come for action. We’ve seen this before and once again we’re called to fight for our most basic civil rights, not just as people of color, but as Americans.
When Dingle Barry has lost BET he is in pretty dire straits.
Apparently Elijah Cummings didn’t get the word.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3029647/posts
Ummm. Wow. Is this writer a normal part of BET, or a guest op-Ed?
Speaking of Alabama:
Call to Matt Murphy at 100.5 FM
Kelly from Thorsby: Caller Kelly from Thorsby joins Matt to talk about the Checkpoints that were happening on ... http://bit.ly/164XvyI
Matt Murphy’s interview of the St. Clair County sheriff’s deputy
Lt. Freddie Turrentine of the St. Clair County Sheriffs Department joins Matt to talk ... http://bit.ly/12g0LbB
Article from al.com
Deneen Borelli is the Director of Outreach for FreedomWorks and author of “Blacklash: How Obama and the Left Are Driving Americans to the Government Plantation.”
The opinions expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of BET Networks.
Reference post #5:
Why were roadblocks in St. Clair and Bibb counties (Alabama) asking for blood and DNA samples this weekend?
“The opinions expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of BET Networks.”
I noticed that too. But, at least the article was posted on BET.com.
i just said that...huge civil rights scandal
Here is a working link for your story:
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http://blog.al.com/east-alabama/2013/06/why_were_roadblocks_in_st_clai.html
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But it is misplaced and has nothing to do with the article being discussed on this thread.
Thank you for cleaning up the link...
Seems to me it does have to do with the discussion:
Alabama
potential for intimidation by authority figures
potential for trampling of our Bill of Rights
It happens quite frequently - just ask my children :-) - I may be incorrect...
Some Jim Crow Southern States also had two different "tests" for voter registration. The test for blacks was long, difficult and subjective - and was used primarily to stop blacks from being able to vote. The 'test' for whites was 'can you sign your name here...' Somewhat similar to what the IRS was doing with their two standards - one for the chosen - and one for the outcasts. Nice to see BET and Deneen Borelli remember how it really was... and not just the liberal hype.
We gonna get our share of the law suit judgements. We Black, we disadvantaged we need th mony
“”They were here in 2007,” said Turrentine, the supervisor in charge of the roadblocks, “
Wow, Bush must have been blowing out the waters in 2007!
Everything started then!!
*eye rolls*
If it was really 'voluntary' they would NOT have used uniformed off-duty deputies... This sounds a lot more like an experiment in how people respond to authority figures than it does with anything to do with DNA. Maybe Janet and her goons are doing research on checkpoints... Every totalitarian State in the history of the world has had them... lyby - if this hasn't been posted, you should post it.
I didn’t think white people had civil rights? Huh?
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