Obama Threatens Florida over Purging Non-Citizen ‘Voters

Last Thursday, the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) reached a new low in its efforts to prevent individual states from combating vote fraud. The state of Florida was ordered to halt its efforts to identify and purge its voter rolls of non-citizens. “Our records do not reflect that these changes affecting voting have been submitted to the United States District Court for the District of Columbia for judicial review or to the Attorney General for administrative review as required by Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act,” wrote T. Christian Herren Jr., the DOJ’s lead civil rights lawyer. “Accordingly, it is necessary that they either be brought before that court or submitted to the Attorney General for a determination that they neither have the purpose nor will have the effect of discriminating on account of race, color, or membership in a language minority group under Section 5.”

Florida is not backing down. Despite being given until Wednesday to decide whether or not to comply with the DOJ’s order, it took state officials only one day to reach a decision. “We have an obligation to make sure the voter rolls are accurate and we are going to continue forward and do everything that we can legally do to make sure than ineligible voters cannot vote,” said Chris Cate, a spokesman for Florida Secretary of State Ken Detzner on Friday. “We are firmly committed to doing the right thing and preventing ineligible voters from being able to cast a ballot. We are not going to give up our efforts to make sure the voter rolls are accurate.”

Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act requires the DOJ or or a three-judge panel of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia to “preclear” changes in “any voting qualification or prerequisite to voting, or standard, practice, or procedure with respect to voting different from that in force or effect on November 1, 1964,” in order to prevent “denying or abridging the right to vote on account of race or color.” Florida is one of a handful of states, predominantly in the South, covered by Section 5, due to its historical efforts to suppress minority voting. Critics contend Section 5 continues to stigmatize states that have long abandoned tactics such as requiring non-white voters to pay a poll tax or pass a literacy test. The Act contains a bailout provision for states that can demonstrate a record of good behavior, yet many counties within those states consider the cost of doing so prohibitive.

http://frontpagemag.com/2012/06/04/obama-threatens-florida-over-purging-non-citizen-voters/

Dumbing Down of America Exposed in Florida Schools

Canada Free Press

It has been no secret that we are having an educational crisis in the United States. Public schools are doing worse and worse, unable to compete with private schools, homeschooled children, and for that matter the rest of the world. Some suggest that this is on purpose. By dumbing down our children we are preparing the future generations for more easily accepting authoritarian control by leftist systems of governance.



We are raising young people in our public schools that are illiterate. We are cramming them with bad information from experimental teaching techniques, political correctness, and liberal philosophies so that they will be good, obedient citizens. Informed voters think for themselves, and seek freedom. A dumbed down population is always eager to depend on the government overlords. Mind-numbed followers don’t ask questions.

History is our students’ worst subject. They can’t even answer the simplest questions about history in regards to the Revolutionary War, World War II, or the Korean War. The fault partly lies in the fact that history textbooks are poorly written, and partly because they are not being taught the information in the first place. I remember when my nephew came to me upset because in his History Class they skipped the chapter about the U.S. Constitution. When he inquired why, the teacher explained to him that the class was limited in time and had to skip unnecessary lessons.



In addition to skipping over important parts of history, new history uses political correctness, and caters to pop culture and particular groups in an effort to appease the same groups the leftist political wing-nuts are also trying to appease. As a result, the generations of students that come out of our schools don’t know our past, and as the old dictum goes, he who forgets the past is doomed to repeat it.

Educational malpractice in the public schools is not only a problem presented by liberal democrats and Marxists that have infiltrated our educational system, but is also the fault of bone-headed, and unconstitutional, legislation like the “No Child Left Behind” Act. The law that was Bush 43’s baby, despite its good intentions, worsened our education system, took the emphasis away from knowing our history, and of course was unconstitutional just like the Education Department. The federal government has no authority over education in this country. That is a local issue, and for good reason.

The problem is, the local systems have been so influenced by federal dictate that they have also become a part of the madness that is dumbing down America. An example revealed itself recently in Florida schools where, because only 27% of the students were able to pass a fourth grade state written exam, the Florida Department of Education lowered the performance level standard. The decision was made by a four-three vote, reasoning that the kids did so poorly because the test was too hard.

Yes, I just defended that our schools belong in local hands, and here we are with a state board doing stupid things too. Understand, though, that is because of the federal, and hard left, influence.

If our public schools are to succeed, they need to change their models, right down to the curriculum, to models that work. In the United States, those models are home-schooling and private schools (largely the ones of the Christian nature). Discipline, a strict curriculum based on un-revised history, phonetics, traditional math techniques, and a strict moral structure, all contribute to the success of these models, and they do it on budgets much smaller than those of the public schools.

While Florida’s public school system is arguing that a state test is too hard when it expects a fourth grader to know what a camel is, at the private school and home school level kids are aware of the entire animal kingdom. . . and the details of why, and how, we fought for our independence during the Revolutionary War.

It is time for a change back to the more traditional methods, or there will never be improvement, and the next generation will be lost to the authoritarian dictates of a worsening progressive and authoritarian government system.

Breaking: Florida Will Defy Eric Holder On Foreign Voters

PJ Media

It looks like Florida plans to defy Eric Holder’s order (sent through radical DOJ lawyer Elise Shore) that the state stop purging Florida voter rolls of ineligible foreigners.  More:

Despite a Justice Department letter, objections from county elections officials and evidence that a disproportionate number are voters of color, Florida Secretary of State Ken Detzner’s office planned to continue scrubbing the election rolls, a spokesman said Friday. Gov. Rick Scott (R) ordered the search for potentially ineligible voters.

“We have an obligation to make sure the voter rolls are accurate and we are going to continue forward and do everything that we can legally do to make sure than ineligible voters cannot vote,” said Chris Cate, a spokesman for Detzner. “We are firmly committed to doing the right thing and preventing ineligible voters from being able to cast a ballot. We are not going to give up our efforts to make sure the voter rolls are accurate.”

Justice Department officials declined to comment on Florida’s plans.

Will Florida stand fast, or cave in?  Florida has a winning case here.  Firstly, the statutes allowing the purge have already been precleared. DOJ will have to climb onto the far limbs of Presley vs. Etowah County in claiming the way Florida conducted the foreign voter purge must be submitted to DOJ for approval.  Second, if Section 5 allows the Attorney General to stop states from ensuring that citizens of foreign countries don’t vote for President, I doubt Holder will find much support on the Supreme Court.

Third, if Florida stands fast, expect wide popular support against an unpopular Attorney General, but only if Floridians call their Secretary of State and support him.  Also expect citizens groups to intervene on behalf of Florida and election integrity.

Holder faces another danger.  The more he appears to assert unconstitutional federal power, the more states will push back against his overreach – including increasing defiance.  The Voting Section only has so many lawyers.  At some point, it can pick only so many fights.  Worse yet, if you are a supporter of Section 5 as a protection against genuine racial discrimination, the stupid fights Holder is picking to placate his radical lawless base may unravel the statute. Even supporters of Section 5 should urge Holder to stand down and let Florida clean up their voter rolls of dead people and foreigners.

SEE THE LETTER THE DOJ SENT TO FLORIDA DEMANDING IT STOP PURGING NON-CITIZENS FROM VOTER ROLLS

The Blaze

On Thursday, the Department of Justice (DOJ) demanded the state of Florida stop its efforts to purge non-citizens from its voting rolls. A letter sent to Florida Secretary of State Ken Detzner alleges the process violates the 1965 Voting Rights Act and the 1993 National Voter Registration Act.

The major charge of the letter reads:

Talking Points Memo (TPM) breaks it down:

The Justice Department sent a letter to Florida Secretary of State Ken Detzner Thursday evening demanding the state cease purging its voting rolls because the process it is using has not been cleared under the Voting Rights Act, TPM has learned.

DOJ also said that Florida’s voter roll purge violated the National Voter Registration Act, which stipulates that voter roll maintenance should have ceased 90 days before an election, which given Florida’s August 14 primary, meant May 16.

The Miami Herald further explains that “Under the Voting Rights Act, Florida needs federal approval before it makes changes to voting because five Florida counties – Monroe, Hillsborough, Collier, Hardee and Hendry – had minority-voting troubles decades ago.” It also notes what has been done so far:

So far, Florida has flagged 2,700 potential noncitizen voters and sent the list to county elections supervisors, who have found the data and methodology to be flawed and problematic. The list of potential noncitizen voters – many of whom have turned out to be lawful citizens and voters – disproportionately hits minorities, especially Hispanics.

About 58 percent of those flagged as potential noncitizens are Hispanics, Florida’s largest ethnic immigrant population, a Miami Herald analysis found. Hispanics make up 13 percent of the overall 11.3 million active registered voters.

Independent voters and Democrats are the most likely to face being purged from the rolls. Republicans and non-Hispanic whites are the least likely.

“We are firmly committed to doing the right thing and preventing ineligible voters from being able to cast a ballot,” said Chris Cate, spokesman for Secretary of State Ken Detzner, responded to the Herald.

TPM Docs: DOJ Demands Florida Stop Voter Purge