Thursday, December 30, 2004
Notes on a Patriot.
I'm going to revisite this topic again and again. Here are some notes I wrote last night, not very cleaned up:
I feel compelled to delve into this subject because there has been a great deal of chest beating over this issue recently. It's used like a political football.
I wonder sometimes the percentage of the population who don't even believe in the existence of patriots any longer.
How many of those who use the issue like a political football, really understand their heart's definition of a patriot? The truth shall set you free.
It is an outmoded term to some, quaint even, charming in a way, whose definition, is easily dismissed, usually for the convenience of aiding in the aquisition of more power, or more wealth, or more...stuff.
The putting aside of principle for personal gain, is antithetical to the definition of patriot. The putting aside of principle for personal gain has now become a threat to our republic, indeed, to our world.
Can one be a patriot while aquiring power, wealth and stuff?
A corporation can be composed of one individual, or two, or three, but it exists because of the individuals who compose it.
As a patriot defends the rights of the individual, the corporation can therefore, never be stronger than the patriot, than the individual.
There are those like myself, and many of my friends, who really do want to live a life as close to their ideal as possible, and are miserable right now because of the evolving political landscape.
"Negative" events are driving a wedge between, we believe, our dreams and a quality future, and the potential to realize our dreams.
The United States doesn't know it yet, but it is in a state of emergency.
The young feel their dreams threatened, wether by economic catastrophe, the war and a potential draft, or tired and discouraged from the constant, national hyped threat of danger that sits like a guest in the living room now. You wish it were time for them to go away, but they have actually just arrived.
Terror threats are here to stay as long as we invest in the mis-understanding of other nations and peoples.
What is a patriot? Someone who realizes that the structure of the United States Government was designed to address the individual need for freedom and the pursuit of its own happiness. A patriot understands, that if the quality of life of the individual human beings is damaged and decayed, then the republic is threatened.
A patriot recognizes that if the practice of an economy allows the aggrandizement of a corporate state, over and above the individual in laws and practice, then the republic is threatened.
A patriot is not necessarily bound to any political party, stands for its individual, self-understood beliefs that are flexible to aquired awareness and knowledge. The individual joins the political party for its own reasons, often to share in a community of interests, but the individual does not need the party for existence. The party however, needs the individual, for its own existence. It is nothing without the thought, awareness and actions of individuals.
It is my judgement, that the political parties' need for individuals has aquired the monstrous proportions of unfettered greed for power and money. The political parties urge towards self-preservation has superceded the needs of the individual it purports to represent. The party wants devotion and loyalty from you. How devoted to your principles is the party?
The elected official, we tell ourselves, is the servant of the people, at least, that is the ideal, is it not?
It is my judgement, that the people have become the servants of the elected official. The elected official benefits from a multi-pronged attack in the quest for power: government involvement and corporate involvement, in one lifetime, and sometimes at the same time.
It is my judgement that this corporate involvement, distorts and changes the viewpoint of the elected official, and affects decision that are made with the public's interest at heart. The role as defined for poiticians in modern America, is for the elected official to "balance" the interests of corporate, and the individual. But it is not working.
The climate of corporate America has become one of convenience and excuse. The tremendous outsourcing of jobs from the modern hubs of America does not benefit the individual, yet guaruntees a growing crisis, manifested in the growing numbers of those in poverty.
The corporation, though legally classified as an "individual", is a structure created by individuals. As much as the individual sublimates it's own sense of individual identity into the corporation, surrenders its individuality, to that extent, the individual begins to self-identify with the corporation, and so its primary purpose becomes one of corporate-preservation.
The individual becomes dependent on identity with the corporation, and begins to believe that the individual needs the corporation for self-preservation. Many have this sense of identity though they don't necessarily work for a corporation. How many people really believe it would be best to destroy the corporate structure and replace it with an organic model of individuals organizing for the common good? This is not necessarily a subject much talked about widely.
We take the need for the existence of corporations for granted. We have come to believe that it is the only viable option with which to organize individuals around, though we fail to see that the corporation, because it has no soul, does not benevolently open its arms to the individual to address the true needs of the individual.
The corporation creates needs, from which it prospers as individuals convince themselves that these needs must be fullfilled, satisfied. The corporation creates its reason for existence, (needs for the individual), and convinces through PR work, the "true" existence of those needs for the individual. The corporation, through profit, is primarily concerned with self-preservation.
See the documentary, "The Corporation", and you will begin to understand that the corporation "legally" has taken on identity as though it were an individual. The corporation is nothing though, without the individual that composes it. We can demand that the corporation reflect what brings quality to the life of the individual.
If the corporation harms the individual, then it is a threat to the republic, as the republic is composed of individuals, and a patriot is concerned with the rights of individuals.
America is asleep. The patriot is asleep. Will she awaken in time to save her republic?
I feel compelled to delve into this subject because there has been a great deal of chest beating over this issue recently. It's used like a political football.
I wonder sometimes the percentage of the population who don't even believe in the existence of patriots any longer.
How many of those who use the issue like a political football, really understand their heart's definition of a patriot? The truth shall set you free.
It is an outmoded term to some, quaint even, charming in a way, whose definition, is easily dismissed, usually for the convenience of aiding in the aquisition of more power, or more wealth, or more...stuff.
The putting aside of principle for personal gain, is antithetical to the definition of patriot. The putting aside of principle for personal gain has now become a threat to our republic, indeed, to our world.
Can one be a patriot while aquiring power, wealth and stuff?
A corporation can be composed of one individual, or two, or three, but it exists because of the individuals who compose it.
As a patriot defends the rights of the individual, the corporation can therefore, never be stronger than the patriot, than the individual.
There are those like myself, and many of my friends, who really do want to live a life as close to their ideal as possible, and are miserable right now because of the evolving political landscape.
"Negative" events are driving a wedge between, we believe, our dreams and a quality future, and the potential to realize our dreams.
The United States doesn't know it yet, but it is in a state of emergency.
The young feel their dreams threatened, wether by economic catastrophe, the war and a potential draft, or tired and discouraged from the constant, national hyped threat of danger that sits like a guest in the living room now. You wish it were time for them to go away, but they have actually just arrived.
Terror threats are here to stay as long as we invest in the mis-understanding of other nations and peoples.
What is a patriot? Someone who realizes that the structure of the United States Government was designed to address the individual need for freedom and the pursuit of its own happiness. A patriot understands, that if the quality of life of the individual human beings is damaged and decayed, then the republic is threatened.
A patriot recognizes that if the practice of an economy allows the aggrandizement of a corporate state, over and above the individual in laws and practice, then the republic is threatened.
A patriot is not necessarily bound to any political party, stands for its individual, self-understood beliefs that are flexible to aquired awareness and knowledge. The individual joins the political party for its own reasons, often to share in a community of interests, but the individual does not need the party for existence. The party however, needs the individual, for its own existence. It is nothing without the thought, awareness and actions of individuals.
It is my judgement, that the political parties' need for individuals has aquired the monstrous proportions of unfettered greed for power and money. The political parties urge towards self-preservation has superceded the needs of the individual it purports to represent. The party wants devotion and loyalty from you. How devoted to your principles is the party?
The elected official, we tell ourselves, is the servant of the people, at least, that is the ideal, is it not?
It is my judgement, that the people have become the servants of the elected official. The elected official benefits from a multi-pronged attack in the quest for power: government involvement and corporate involvement, in one lifetime, and sometimes at the same time.
It is my judgement that this corporate involvement, distorts and changes the viewpoint of the elected official, and affects decision that are made with the public's interest at heart. The role as defined for poiticians in modern America, is for the elected official to "balance" the interests of corporate, and the individual. But it is not working.
The climate of corporate America has become one of convenience and excuse. The tremendous outsourcing of jobs from the modern hubs of America does not benefit the individual, yet guaruntees a growing crisis, manifested in the growing numbers of those in poverty.
The corporation, though legally classified as an "individual", is a structure created by individuals. As much as the individual sublimates it's own sense of individual identity into the corporation, surrenders its individuality, to that extent, the individual begins to self-identify with the corporation, and so its primary purpose becomes one of corporate-preservation.
The individual becomes dependent on identity with the corporation, and begins to believe that the individual needs the corporation for self-preservation. Many have this sense of identity though they don't necessarily work for a corporation. How many people really believe it would be best to destroy the corporate structure and replace it with an organic model of individuals organizing for the common good? This is not necessarily a subject much talked about widely.
We take the need for the existence of corporations for granted. We have come to believe that it is the only viable option with which to organize individuals around, though we fail to see that the corporation, because it has no soul, does not benevolently open its arms to the individual to address the true needs of the individual.
The corporation creates needs, from which it prospers as individuals convince themselves that these needs must be fullfilled, satisfied. The corporation creates its reason for existence, (needs for the individual), and convinces through PR work, the "true" existence of those needs for the individual. The corporation, through profit, is primarily concerned with self-preservation.
See the documentary, "The Corporation", and you will begin to understand that the corporation "legally" has taken on identity as though it were an individual. The corporation is nothing though, without the individual that composes it. We can demand that the corporation reflect what brings quality to the life of the individual.
If the corporation harms the individual, then it is a threat to the republic, as the republic is composed of individuals, and a patriot is concerned with the rights of individuals.
America is asleep. The patriot is asleep. Will she awaken in time to save her republic?
# posted by scorpiorising : 5:11 AM |
Monday, December 20, 2004
Wanted: Activists to help take back our country.
Strategy is a new one for me. It is imperative to develop, and coordinate strategy, to take back our country.
It is imperative that many of us cooperate for certain goals, in order to accomplish this. It is imperative that we agree on a sound foundation of principle from which to idealogically move from.
I think I've found such a group. The question is: will it hold together? We're just getting off the ground (and during the holiday season at that). Two people have already threatened to quit, and I am realizing groups have to deal with childish tendenies in adults to quit the game if it isn't going their way. Another fellow in a committee meeting threatened to quite if we didn't include, eventually, the running of our own candidates under a reformed democratic ticket, or a third party ticket.
Putting aside his childish threat, this suggestion challened myself and a few others to think big. Think success. Think possibilities.
In terms of a group holding together, not so easy in a subjective universe. You've got to constantly remind people of what brought us together in the first place. Our love of the earth. Our love of each other. Our love of principled interactions with each other.
We, all of us exist in a subjective universe, and we pass judgement on others, on groups. These judgements form a solid, kryptonite wall, around our own functioning in this subjective universe, and we no longer see the other.
We must learn to transcend our internally created limitations and reach out to other groups to find the common ground.
You see, I happen to think it is possible even to cooperate with some republicans on certain issues. But that's a whole other story.
First we have to learn how to cooperate with each other.
One woman who wanted to quit our group, came into our coffeeshop yesterday and stated she was thinking of dropping out, because the group is all bread and no meat. I said simply, don't drop out, give it a chance.
It takes time to cook, to bake, the meat and bread of any organization. She's feeling frustrated like many of us are feeling. Many of us don't understand the dedication and commitment it takes to launch a group such as this.
We're in uncharted territory, many of us. We're not sure of our navigation skills, but we are going to have to apply all that we have learned in our lives to this task. Not only is this necessary, it is imperative that we organize now, and that organization take place on a local, state, then national level.
My favorite word of the day: imperative.
Dire straits is another phrase that pops into my head every now and then. It is much harder now to ignore the dire straits this country finds itself, and the world for that matter. So much in the world seems predicated on our behavior it seems. You don't need to look any further than Europe for examples of corruption in the capitalist market place; for as in Europe, as in most places in the world now, it is capitalist hegemony that determines and influences the behavior of the people, of the government. It is as though we have all been hypnotized that this is the only way.....I have news for you: the free market doesn't exist, because, in the vernacular of Janis Joplin, there ain't nothin' free my friend.
I digress. When so obviously the extremes of capitalism are showing their true, ugly face, now is the time to organize, because there will be opportunities. We must understand what will be required of us, in order to take advantage of those opportunities.
For example, there is an opportunity now to galvanize democratic supporters around the issue of election reform. Particularly African Americans. Here in New Orleans, there is quite possibly a chance to galvanize people against a new stadium for the Saints football team.
At times, we might find ourselves adopting some of the republican tactics. Actually, more like a "version" of those tactics. One tactic that we can make benign and make our own is the tactic of creating groups, with a name, around certain issues, and make them public, and gather supporters who gell on that particular issue.
For example, the new stadium that is like a shadow over this city right now. Supposedly, this idea has been all but ditched in favor of renovation of the super dome, which is costly enough in and of itself. However, the big pimple is ours and we need to keep it up. It will create jobs. However, I don't trust that these business men have given up on a new stadium.
We need to trump them. We need to form a group to oppose a new stadium. We need to discuss wether or not we support the renovation of the dome.
A new stadium though, will literally take food out of the mouths of hungry children. Public funds will pay for this stadium. The NFL isn't willing to put their money on the line for a city as poor as our's. Ironically, this means this poor city will have to pay for their own new stadium.
Guess what? We can't afford it.
And, we can't afford to not organize at this time in our personal, national and world history.
It is imperative that many of us cooperate for certain goals, in order to accomplish this. It is imperative that we agree on a sound foundation of principle from which to idealogically move from.
I think I've found such a group. The question is: will it hold together? We're just getting off the ground (and during the holiday season at that). Two people have already threatened to quit, and I am realizing groups have to deal with childish tendenies in adults to quit the game if it isn't going their way. Another fellow in a committee meeting threatened to quite if we didn't include, eventually, the running of our own candidates under a reformed democratic ticket, or a third party ticket.
Putting aside his childish threat, this suggestion challened myself and a few others to think big. Think success. Think possibilities.
In terms of a group holding together, not so easy in a subjective universe. You've got to constantly remind people of what brought us together in the first place. Our love of the earth. Our love of each other. Our love of principled interactions with each other.
We, all of us exist in a subjective universe, and we pass judgement on others, on groups. These judgements form a solid, kryptonite wall, around our own functioning in this subjective universe, and we no longer see the other.
We must learn to transcend our internally created limitations and reach out to other groups to find the common ground.
You see, I happen to think it is possible even to cooperate with some republicans on certain issues. But that's a whole other story.
First we have to learn how to cooperate with each other.
One woman who wanted to quit our group, came into our coffeeshop yesterday and stated she was thinking of dropping out, because the group is all bread and no meat. I said simply, don't drop out, give it a chance.
It takes time to cook, to bake, the meat and bread of any organization. She's feeling frustrated like many of us are feeling. Many of us don't understand the dedication and commitment it takes to launch a group such as this.
We're in uncharted territory, many of us. We're not sure of our navigation skills, but we are going to have to apply all that we have learned in our lives to this task. Not only is this necessary, it is imperative that we organize now, and that organization take place on a local, state, then national level.
My favorite word of the day: imperative.
Dire straits is another phrase that pops into my head every now and then. It is much harder now to ignore the dire straits this country finds itself, and the world for that matter. So much in the world seems predicated on our behavior it seems. You don't need to look any further than Europe for examples of corruption in the capitalist market place; for as in Europe, as in most places in the world now, it is capitalist hegemony that determines and influences the behavior of the people, of the government. It is as though we have all been hypnotized that this is the only way.....I have news for you: the free market doesn't exist, because, in the vernacular of Janis Joplin, there ain't nothin' free my friend.
I digress. When so obviously the extremes of capitalism are showing their true, ugly face, now is the time to organize, because there will be opportunities. We must understand what will be required of us, in order to take advantage of those opportunities.
For example, there is an opportunity now to galvanize democratic supporters around the issue of election reform. Particularly African Americans. Here in New Orleans, there is quite possibly a chance to galvanize people against a new stadium for the Saints football team.
At times, we might find ourselves adopting some of the republican tactics. Actually, more like a "version" of those tactics. One tactic that we can make benign and make our own is the tactic of creating groups, with a name, around certain issues, and make them public, and gather supporters who gell on that particular issue.
For example, the new stadium that is like a shadow over this city right now. Supposedly, this idea has been all but ditched in favor of renovation of the super dome, which is costly enough in and of itself. However, the big pimple is ours and we need to keep it up. It will create jobs. However, I don't trust that these business men have given up on a new stadium.
We need to trump them. We need to form a group to oppose a new stadium. We need to discuss wether or not we support the renovation of the dome.
A new stadium though, will literally take food out of the mouths of hungry children. Public funds will pay for this stadium. The NFL isn't willing to put their money on the line for a city as poor as our's. Ironically, this means this poor city will have to pay for their own new stadium.
Guess what? We can't afford it.
And, we can't afford to not organize at this time in our personal, national and world history.
# posted by scorpiorising : 4:20 AM |
Tuesday, December 07, 2004
Direction of the Party
From Salon.com...
I think the need for the direction of our party is crystal clear:
On the night after John Kerry lost to George W. Bush, Dean told supporters on a Meetup conference call that the Democratic National Committee is "at a crossroads" and that DNC members "have questions to ask themselves." But now, as Dean prepares for his Bush II coming out and weighs a bid to replace Terry McAuliffe as the head of the DNC, it's the DNC members who have questions for Dean: Where does he want the party to go, and is he willing to put aside his own presidential aspirations to help take it there?
Dean will address the first of those questions Wednesday. He'll argue that the Democratic Party should be rebuilt from the grass roots up, that it should be driven by millions of Americans who make small contributions rather than by a handful of moneyed interests, and that the party should focus not just on presidential politics in swing states like Ohio and Florida but also on down-ballot races even in the reddest of states. On matters of substance, Dean may not resurrect his borrowed line about representing the "Democratic wing of the Democratic Party," but you can count on him to make it clear he isn't joining the "go along to get along" wing of the party, either.
I think the need for the direction of our party is crystal clear:
On the night after John Kerry lost to George W. Bush, Dean told supporters on a Meetup conference call that the Democratic National Committee is "at a crossroads" and that DNC members "have questions to ask themselves." But now, as Dean prepares for his Bush II coming out and weighs a bid to replace Terry McAuliffe as the head of the DNC, it's the DNC members who have questions for Dean: Where does he want the party to go, and is he willing to put aside his own presidential aspirations to help take it there?
Dean will address the first of those questions Wednesday. He'll argue that the Democratic Party should be rebuilt from the grass roots up, that it should be driven by millions of Americans who make small contributions rather than by a handful of moneyed interests, and that the party should focus not just on presidential politics in swing states like Ohio and Florida but also on down-ballot races even in the reddest of states. On matters of substance, Dean may not resurrect his borrowed line about representing the "Democratic wing of the Democratic Party," but you can count on him to make it clear he isn't joining the "go along to get along" wing of the party, either.
# posted by scorpiorising : 8:39 AM |
Monday, December 06, 2004
Falluja Gulag
From http://www.boston.com/news/world/articles/2004/12/05/returning_fallujans_will_face_clampdown?pg=full
By Anne Barnard, Globe Staff December 5, 2004
FALLUJAH, Iraq -- The US military is drawing up plans to keep insurgents from regaining control of this battle-scarred city, but returning residents may find that the measures make Fallujah look more like a police state than the democracy they have been promised.Under the plans, troops would funnel Fallujans to so-called citizen processing centers on the outskirts of the city to compile a database of their identities through DNA testing and retina scans. Residents would receive badges displaying their home addresses that they must wear at all times. Buses would ferry them into the city, where cars, the deadliest tool of suicide bombers, would be banned.
Marine commanders working in unheated, war-damaged downtown buildings are hammering out the details of their paradoxical task: Bring back the 300,000 residents in
time for January elections without letting in insurgents, even though many Fallujans were among the fighters who ruled the city until the US assault drove them out in November, and many others cooperated with fighters out of conviction or fear.
One idea that has stirred debate among Marine officers would require all men to work, for pay, in military-style battalions. Depending on their skills, they would be assigned jobs in construction, waterworks, or rubble-clearing platoons.
"You have to say, 'Here are the rules,' and you are firm and fair. That radiates stability," said Lieutenant Colonel Dave Bellon, intelligence officer for the First Regimental Combat Team, the Marine regiment that took the western half of Fallujah during the US assault and expects to be based downtown for some time.
Bellon asserted that previous attempts to win trust from Iraqis suspicious of US intentions had telegraphed weakness by asking, " 'What are your needs? What are your emotional needs?' All this Oprah [stuff]," he said. "They want to figure out who the dominant tribe is and say, 'I'm with you.' We need to be the benevolent, dominant tribe.
"They're never going to like us," he added, echoing other Marine commanders who cautioned against raising hopes that Fallujans would warmly welcome troops when they return to ruined houses and rubble-strewn streets. The goal, Bellon said, is "mutual respect
By Anne Barnard, Globe Staff December 5, 2004
FALLUJAH, Iraq -- The US military is drawing up plans to keep insurgents from regaining control of this battle-scarred city, but returning residents may find that the measures make Fallujah look more like a police state than the democracy they have been promised.Under the plans, troops would funnel Fallujans to so-called citizen processing centers on the outskirts of the city to compile a database of their identities through DNA testing and retina scans. Residents would receive badges displaying their home addresses that they must wear at all times. Buses would ferry them into the city, where cars, the deadliest tool of suicide bombers, would be banned.
Marine commanders working in unheated, war-damaged downtown buildings are hammering out the details of their paradoxical task: Bring back the 300,000 residents in
time for January elections without letting in insurgents, even though many Fallujans were among the fighters who ruled the city until the US assault drove them out in November, and many others cooperated with fighters out of conviction or fear.
One idea that has stirred debate among Marine officers would require all men to work, for pay, in military-style battalions. Depending on their skills, they would be assigned jobs in construction, waterworks, or rubble-clearing platoons.
"You have to say, 'Here are the rules,' and you are firm and fair. That radiates stability," said Lieutenant Colonel Dave Bellon, intelligence officer for the First Regimental Combat Team, the Marine regiment that took the western half of Fallujah during the US assault and expects to be based downtown for some time.
Bellon asserted that previous attempts to win trust from Iraqis suspicious of US intentions had telegraphed weakness by asking, " 'What are your needs? What are your emotional needs?' All this Oprah [stuff]," he said. "They want to figure out who the dominant tribe is and say, 'I'm with you.' We need to be the benevolent, dominant tribe.
"They're never going to like us," he added, echoing other Marine commanders who cautioned against raising hopes that Fallujans would warmly welcome troops when they return to ruined houses and rubble-strewn streets. The goal, Bellon said, is "mutual respect
# posted by scorpiorising : 9:34 AM |
How do I know?
How do I know that we have the numbers on our side? Because our policies and beliefs support the enhancement of humanity, the improvement of the quality of life for everyone. And, we must continue to examine every one of our proposed policies and laws, that they are supportive of the quality of life, and not degenerative.
The numbers are on our side, yes, even those who don't participate in politics, consider them as part of our community, as well as republicans and renegades from the republican party. They are ultimately with us, because we possess the power of reason and love for humanity and the ecology of the earth.
This is no small matter. We empower ourselves through the affirmative belief in our own principals. So examine them closely and examine them well.
We have most of the world on our side, and some of you might scoff at this, but this is extremely important. We have the power of the press in other nations. Ironic, isn't it, but significant. Because if, and when the true movement begins to take back our country, we will have a sympathetic foreign press, arousing, as in the Ukraine election crisis, international outrage and interest. Rember, also, that this foreign press represents the intent of the world's people, for intelligent, compassionate leadership to emanate from this country. We haven't yet lived up to our own ideal, but this is a subject for another day.
Our democratic leaders in Congress have not yet realized that they don't have to suck up to broken policies and soul-sucking beliefs as a method of appeasement, or support war as a method of diplomacy, as a replacement of diplomacy. And appeasement as a form of co-existence is ultimately soul-killing. Our democratic leaders have not yet realized that if they raise their voices in support of their true beliefs, support will come, fast and ravenous like the true, hungry beasts we are, starving for quality in public discourse.
We are smart people. Some of us are brilliant. We are all geniuses in some measure, waiting for recognition. We must, first of all, recognize ourselves. So put down your cloaks and your veils, there is nothing to hide from, except eventual success and quality of life.
The numbers are on our side, yes, even those who don't participate in politics, consider them as part of our community, as well as republicans and renegades from the republican party. They are ultimately with us, because we possess the power of reason and love for humanity and the ecology of the earth.
This is no small matter. We empower ourselves through the affirmative belief in our own principals. So examine them closely and examine them well.
We have most of the world on our side, and some of you might scoff at this, but this is extremely important. We have the power of the press in other nations. Ironic, isn't it, but significant. Because if, and when the true movement begins to take back our country, we will have a sympathetic foreign press, arousing, as in the Ukraine election crisis, international outrage and interest. Rember, also, that this foreign press represents the intent of the world's people, for intelligent, compassionate leadership to emanate from this country. We haven't yet lived up to our own ideal, but this is a subject for another day.
Our democratic leaders in Congress have not yet realized that they don't have to suck up to broken policies and soul-sucking beliefs as a method of appeasement, or support war as a method of diplomacy, as a replacement of diplomacy. And appeasement as a form of co-existence is ultimately soul-killing. Our democratic leaders have not yet realized that if they raise their voices in support of their true beliefs, support will come, fast and ravenous like the true, hungry beasts we are, starving for quality in public discourse.
We are smart people. Some of us are brilliant. We are all geniuses in some measure, waiting for recognition. We must, first of all, recognize ourselves. So put down your cloaks and your veils, there is nothing to hide from, except eventual success and quality of life.
# posted by scorpiorising : 8:24 AM |
A New Dawn Coming
After waking up so many mornings with a post election hangover, and going to bed so many nights with a post election soul-searching angst, this morning was positively golden in comparison. Nothing has changed really; I mean, my income is where it was yesterday, earning far enough above poverty to plan a vacation, and close enough to see the trail of tears all the way to the free food line.
I'm still single and too old for the young people I work with and too young for the old fart that made a pass at me the other day in the bar...middle aged life is good, ain't it?
Actually, it ain't that bad...I'm developing tolerance for my post 40's moods and emotional peccadillos; I look at thoughts posted online and realize I've got more than enough share of good sense and intelligent responsiveness to my environment. I look at the fucked up lives of my friends, the various shades of denial we all engage in, and I feel a sense of companionship, at least.
Yesterday, and now today, though, I feel a noticeable difference. I'm feeling, empowered. God, yes, empowered. I'm coming down with a cold, and I feel empowered. I live in a swamp surrounded by water, where it's difficult to get a really good look at the sky, and I feel empowered.
Brown-shirt fascist types are taking over our country, and I feel empowered.
I feel empowered, because we have the numbers game up on them 200 percent. And Bush didn't even get all of the votes he claims to have gotten. You may wonder how I figure we have the numbers game won.
Because we have a monopoly on good decent values and common sense. The only thing keeping us from taking our country back, is a lack of aggressiveness.
There is an epidemic of passivity. People love to flap their jaws though. Just go over to the DailyKos for a day. There is an awful lot of talking going on over there; we're in the middle of a stolen election that hasn't been certified yet, and everyone is dancing around the goddamned elephant in the bathtub. And, they throw shit at Beverly Harris to complete the process of dancing in one's own feces, like monkeys without a clue.
I'm going to forsake the ineptitude of progressive paralysis; the wringing of the hands, oh my god ain't it awful; we already know how awful it is and how awful it's going to get. What are we going to do about it for God's sakes?
I'm still single and too old for the young people I work with and too young for the old fart that made a pass at me the other day in the bar...middle aged life is good, ain't it?
Actually, it ain't that bad...I'm developing tolerance for my post 40's moods and emotional peccadillos; I look at thoughts posted online and realize I've got more than enough share of good sense and intelligent responsiveness to my environment. I look at the fucked up lives of my friends, the various shades of denial we all engage in, and I feel a sense of companionship, at least.
Yesterday, and now today, though, I feel a noticeable difference. I'm feeling, empowered. God, yes, empowered. I'm coming down with a cold, and I feel empowered. I live in a swamp surrounded by water, where it's difficult to get a really good look at the sky, and I feel empowered.
Brown-shirt fascist types are taking over our country, and I feel empowered.
I feel empowered, because we have the numbers game up on them 200 percent. And Bush didn't even get all of the votes he claims to have gotten. You may wonder how I figure we have the numbers game won.
Because we have a monopoly on good decent values and common sense. The only thing keeping us from taking our country back, is a lack of aggressiveness.
There is an epidemic of passivity. People love to flap their jaws though. Just go over to the DailyKos for a day. There is an awful lot of talking going on over there; we're in the middle of a stolen election that hasn't been certified yet, and everyone is dancing around the goddamned elephant in the bathtub. And, they throw shit at Beverly Harris to complete the process of dancing in one's own feces, like monkeys without a clue.
I'm going to forsake the ineptitude of progressive paralysis; the wringing of the hands, oh my god ain't it awful; we already know how awful it is and how awful it's going to get. What are we going to do about it for God's sakes?
# posted by scorpiorising : 7:53 AM |
Sunday, December 05, 2004
Fear and Politics and the Political Body
From my post on the Daily Kos today:
More importantly...
how do our current leaders help construct and build walls between people within our own borders? Fear is the primary weapon of choice now for one political party. It is an effective weapon and it is used well and the use of it has created divisions within our communities that need not be there.
Fear of the other. Fear of what is different from us.
Not to mention the use of fear in Iraq. Some of the overkill in the tactics of the Pentagon, such as the destruction of Falluja, are prized not for the numbers of insurgents killed, but the fear and terror they strike in the people. It seems our primary weapon now is to induce obedience through fear.
Madness, madness
Madness tight on the heads of the rebels
The bitterness erup's like a heart blas'
Broke glass, ritual of blood an' a-burnin'
Served by a cruelin' fighting
5 nights of horror and of bleeding
Broke glass, cold blades as sharp as the eyes of hate
And the stabbin', it's
War amongs' the rebels
Madness, madness, war
I love Linton Kwesi Johnson. I have Dread Beat An' Blood. Thank you for making note of him and bringing up the issue of the use of fear in politics. A subject much in the need of discussion, and how to counteract it.
More importantly...
how do our current leaders help construct and build walls between people within our own borders? Fear is the primary weapon of choice now for one political party. It is an effective weapon and it is used well and the use of it has created divisions within our communities that need not be there.
Fear of the other. Fear of what is different from us.
Not to mention the use of fear in Iraq. Some of the overkill in the tactics of the Pentagon, such as the destruction of Falluja, are prized not for the numbers of insurgents killed, but the fear and terror they strike in the people. It seems our primary weapon now is to induce obedience through fear.
Madness, madness
Madness tight on the heads of the rebels
The bitterness erup's like a heart blas'
Broke glass, ritual of blood an' a-burnin'
Served by a cruelin' fighting
5 nights of horror and of bleeding
Broke glass, cold blades as sharp as the eyes of hate
And the stabbin', it's
War amongs' the rebels
Madness, madness, war
I love Linton Kwesi Johnson. I have Dread Beat An' Blood. Thank you for making note of him and bringing up the issue of the use of fear in politics. A subject much in the need of discussion, and how to counteract it.
# posted by scorpiorising : 6:18 PM |
Monday, November 29, 2004
Hitler and Bush comparisons
My comment, from the Dailykos, in response to this:
Hitler killed millions in Europe...Bush has killed tens of thousands in Iraq. The comparisons between the two have nothing to do with numbers alone. In that regard, Hitler trumps all fascist dictators. No argument.
But there is an argument that Bush is leading us down the path to a totalitarian state, with his current philosophy and policies, not the least of which is the trumped up nationalism at several decibals too high.
The loyalty oaths, the quashing of dissent, the attacks on our right to vote (evidenced the Ohio hearings),the economic de-struction of the middle class, attacks on social security are next...
I'm not crying tears for all of this...at the moment...though I've shed a few over images in Iraq. I'm feeling a bit queasy though...in that anxious, uneasy "what does the future hold" kind of way.
The fear is, that the killing will go on...and we will find new reasons to attack other nations. There is evidence of this in our national media.
If it were ever about degree, the Hitler comparisons would have never been made.
And let us remember the one great lesson of Hitler:
We ignore millennia of history demonstrating that powerpaths will pursue whatever schemes necessary to maintain power. Indeed, they typically usurp power incrementally, pushing the envelope and testing the boundaries. As George Soros has observed, when those boundary tests are successfully passed, the dominant paradigm (and associated behavior) is further reinforced and perpetuated.
Bush is pushing the envelope right now, further and further...
to·tal·i·tar·i·an ( P ) Pronunciation Key (t-tl-târ-n)adj. Of, relating to, being, or imposing a form of government in which the political authority exercises absolute and centralized control over all aspects of life, the individual is subordinated to the state, and opposing political and cultural expression is suppressed: "A totalitarian regime crushes all autonomous institutions in its drive to seize the human soul" (Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.).
Hitler killed millions in Europe...Bush has killed tens of thousands in Iraq. The comparisons between the two have nothing to do with numbers alone. In that regard, Hitler trumps all fascist dictators. No argument.
But there is an argument that Bush is leading us down the path to a totalitarian state, with his current philosophy and policies, not the least of which is the trumped up nationalism at several decibals too high.
The loyalty oaths, the quashing of dissent, the attacks on our right to vote (evidenced the Ohio hearings),the economic de-struction of the middle class, attacks on social security are next...
I'm not crying tears for all of this...at the moment...though I've shed a few over images in Iraq. I'm feeling a bit queasy though...in that anxious, uneasy "what does the future hold" kind of way.
The fear is, that the killing will go on...and we will find new reasons to attack other nations. There is evidence of this in our national media.
If it were ever about degree, the Hitler comparisons would have never been made.
And let us remember the one great lesson of Hitler:
We ignore millennia of history demonstrating that powerpaths will pursue whatever schemes necessary to maintain power. Indeed, they typically usurp power incrementally, pushing the envelope and testing the boundaries. As George Soros has observed, when those boundary tests are successfully passed, the dominant paradigm (and associated behavior) is further reinforced and perpetuated.
Bush is pushing the envelope right now, further and further...
to·tal·i·tar·i·an ( P ) Pronunciation Key (t-tl-târ-n)adj. Of, relating to, being, or imposing a form of government in which the political authority exercises absolute and centralized control over all aspects of life, the individual is subordinated to the state, and opposing political and cultural expression is suppressed: "A totalitarian regime crushes all autonomous institutions in its drive to seize the human soul" (Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.).
# posted by scorpiorising : 7:14 AM |
Saturday, November 27, 2004
Pushing the Envelope
It's time for progressives to push the envelope for our issues, instead of having it pushed at us:
Progressives should take note and take heart from the actions of the Ukrainians. Over 50 million Americans opposed Bush at the polls. It's not necessary to stage a March on Washington tomorrow in order to make a contribution. We can initiate or join any number of efforts, from local to national, forming coalitions, pooling money and human resources toward legal challenges on every level. We can donate or get involved in organizations like blackboxvoting.org. We can inundate Congress with demands for investigations. We can pressure news media to stop marginalizing election reform efforts by telling us to move on. We can educate the general public about what's at stake and what they can do about it. We can (and must) launch relentless, full-scale, legal assaults on the usurpation of our voting systems by unscrupulous corporations and upon the flagrant conflicts of interest presented by secretaries of state working for the campaigns of candidates who are running in the elections they oversee. Proprietary trade secrets of Diebold and ES&S must be smashed in the courts and the legislatures lest democracy be smashed in the wake of the incestuous marriage of right-wing government and corporate power. Meanwhile we must remember that the movement is not for or about John Kerry. Its purpose is to demonstrate to the powerpaths who continue wresting away control of our country that they will be relentlessly challenged. Progressive Americans must, at a minimum, demand uncompromising reforms to our electoral system before it becomes irrelevant. It would be an abandonment of principles and duties to country if we didn't. Indeed, it would be unpatriotic.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
James A. Nickel is a psychologist, social scientist, writer and founder of SolutionSociety.org. He may be contacted at jimnickel@solutionsociety.org.
Progressives should take note and take heart from the actions of the Ukrainians. Over 50 million Americans opposed Bush at the polls. It's not necessary to stage a March on Washington tomorrow in order to make a contribution. We can initiate or join any number of efforts, from local to national, forming coalitions, pooling money and human resources toward legal challenges on every level. We can donate or get involved in organizations like blackboxvoting.org. We can inundate Congress with demands for investigations. We can pressure news media to stop marginalizing election reform efforts by telling us to move on. We can educate the general public about what's at stake and what they can do about it. We can (and must) launch relentless, full-scale, legal assaults on the usurpation of our voting systems by unscrupulous corporations and upon the flagrant conflicts of interest presented by secretaries of state working for the campaigns of candidates who are running in the elections they oversee. Proprietary trade secrets of Diebold and ES&S must be smashed in the courts and the legislatures lest democracy be smashed in the wake of the incestuous marriage of right-wing government and corporate power. Meanwhile we must remember that the movement is not for or about John Kerry. Its purpose is to demonstrate to the powerpaths who continue wresting away control of our country that they will be relentlessly challenged. Progressive Americans must, at a minimum, demand uncompromising reforms to our electoral system before it becomes irrelevant. It would be an abandonment of principles and duties to country if we didn't. Indeed, it would be unpatriotic.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
James A. Nickel is a psychologist, social scientist, writer and founder of SolutionSociety.org. He may be contacted at jimnickel@solutionsociety.org.
# posted by scorpiorising : 1:48 PM |
Take with a grain of salt.
Take the Wayne Madsen articles I posted below with a huge grain of salt, until further proof emerges.
# posted by scorpiorising : 1:46 PM |
More on How the Vote was Rigged
More on the buying of electoral fraud by the Bush campaign
By Wayne Madsen
Online Journal Contributing Writer
November 26, 2004—Additional information on the buying of vote riggers with Saudi and former Enron funds has been obtained. The epicenter for the vote rigging operation is Dallas, Texas, and the operation may involve retired FBI agents who used a well-established "good ole boy" network to arrange for access to polling precincts by electronic voting machine technicians who took advantage of various November 2 security "lockdowns" to illegally alter the tabulation of votes in favor of Bush. Some of the retired agents may have used courtesy credentials issued upon retirement to fool unsuspecting polling place workers.
The cost of the operation was estimated at $29 million with the money sent via a circuitous network of offshore trust companies and shell activities. This reporter has obtained a copy of a bank check for $29,600,000 that was allegedly sent to cover the cost of the Texas-based vote rigging operation. The check is dated October 22, 2004, and was made payable to "Five Star Investment Ltd.," a trust said to have long connections to Saudi-funded operations in Texas and around the world. The payer is identified as "Equity Financial Trust," a Houston-based "brass plate" and post office box entity tied to offshore Cook Islands "folding tent" accounts used to hide away profits amassed by the former Enron as well as Saudi financiers.
On October 6, 2004, some two weeks before Equity Financial Trust transferred the money to Five Star Investment Ltd., the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions for Canada listed Equity Financial Trust, along with Bankers Financial and Security Trust, Falcon Financial and Trust, and Unity Virtual Trust Group as "unauthorized financial institutions." In fact, the check for $29.6 million, which is marked "Not to exceed fifty million dollars," is drawn on the Laurentian Bank of Canada's Toronto branch. Its serial number is 317675450 3 and the bank number is 23-97/1020. The bank instrument is issued by Integrated Payment Systems, Inc. of Englewood, Colorado, and Bank One, NA, Denver, Colorado.
It is noteworthy that a number of companies operated by past Bush campaign contributor Pierre Falcone, under criminal investigation in France for weapons smuggling in Angola, are called "Falcon." Several non-governmental organizations, including Global Witness, have tied Falcone to questionable Halliburton activities when Vice President Dick Cheney headed the firm.
Some of the vote riggers who were guaranteed a minimum payment for their services have started talking about the operation because they did not receive the money they were promised.
Wayne Madsen is a Washington, DC-based investigative journalist, author and syndicated columnist who previously served in the National Security Agency during the Reagan administration. He concentrates on national security and intelligence issues.
By Wayne Madsen
Online Journal Contributing Writer
November 26, 2004—Additional information on the buying of vote riggers with Saudi and former Enron funds has been obtained. The epicenter for the vote rigging operation is Dallas, Texas, and the operation may involve retired FBI agents who used a well-established "good ole boy" network to arrange for access to polling precincts by electronic voting machine technicians who took advantage of various November 2 security "lockdowns" to illegally alter the tabulation of votes in favor of Bush. Some of the retired agents may have used courtesy credentials issued upon retirement to fool unsuspecting polling place workers.
The cost of the operation was estimated at $29 million with the money sent via a circuitous network of offshore trust companies and shell activities. This reporter has obtained a copy of a bank check for $29,600,000 that was allegedly sent to cover the cost of the Texas-based vote rigging operation. The check is dated October 22, 2004, and was made payable to "Five Star Investment Ltd.," a trust said to have long connections to Saudi-funded operations in Texas and around the world. The payer is identified as "Equity Financial Trust," a Houston-based "brass plate" and post office box entity tied to offshore Cook Islands "folding tent" accounts used to hide away profits amassed by the former Enron as well as Saudi financiers.
On October 6, 2004, some two weeks before Equity Financial Trust transferred the money to Five Star Investment Ltd., the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions for Canada listed Equity Financial Trust, along with Bankers Financial and Security Trust, Falcon Financial and Trust, and Unity Virtual Trust Group as "unauthorized financial institutions." In fact, the check for $29.6 million, which is marked "Not to exceed fifty million dollars," is drawn on the Laurentian Bank of Canada's Toronto branch. Its serial number is 317675450 3 and the bank number is 23-97/1020. The bank instrument is issued by Integrated Payment Systems, Inc. of Englewood, Colorado, and Bank One, NA, Denver, Colorado.
It is noteworthy that a number of companies operated by past Bush campaign contributor Pierre Falcone, under criminal investigation in France for weapons smuggling in Angola, are called "Falcon." Several non-governmental organizations, including Global Witness, have tied Falcone to questionable Halliburton activities when Vice President Dick Cheney headed the firm.
Some of the vote riggers who were guaranteed a minimum payment for their services have started talking about the operation because they did not receive the money they were promised.
Wayne Madsen is a Washington, DC-based investigative journalist, author and syndicated columnist who previously served in the National Security Agency during the Reagan administration. He concentrates on national security and intelligence issues.
# posted by scorpiorising : 7:34 AM |
Friday, November 26, 2004
protest for reform of election process
We need more of this...but we need more of it for different reasons as well. I didn't watch the Frontline special on credit cards the other night, but I've heard horror stories from friends. I have this belief, that if enough people cut up their credit cards, then the real revolution would begin. But refusing to charge for the Christman holidays will not only help your finances, it's a good way to protest the lack of fair elections. From Atrios today:
All I Want for Xmas Is Fair and Verifiable Elections So it’s black Friday, the day when retailers plan on making really big bucks selling people Xmas presents. Lately, I’ve been thinking quite a bit about our consumerist society and wondering to what extent the pervasive nature of consumerism may have influenced the recent election. Clearly, the fact that the news is now simply a way to sell product has harmed our society and, as Jon Stewart so eloquently explained to Tucker Carlson, the pitch to the lowest common denominator, where even political discourse is sold as a form of TV wrestling, has hurt America. Even war is sold to Americans as a product and, if the ad campaign constantly changes with new and different rationales for why we should buy this product, well, we’re all used to that from frequently-changing commercials for everything from heartburn medicine to SUVs. Do Americans really need or even want all the crap that they’ll buy over the next few weeks?I’ve also been thinking about the role of protests in a situation such as the current one in America. I grew up on protest marches; my dad took me to some of the great Viet Nam war protests and just this past April I marched with friends and family in the March for Women’s Lives. Watching what’s been happening in Ukraine, I wonder why Americans haven’t taken to the streets, as well. And yet, I wonder if large protests are still effective in America. The March for Women’s Lives was huge -- over a million people. The protests at the Republican convention in NYC this summer were huge, too. Both got a fair amount of news coverage. Neither seemed to help -- Roe’s dead within the next year and Lame Duckie has proclaimed himself the winner of the election. Finally, I doubt Lame Duckie will allow much of any protest at his coronation -- protestors will be kept out for "security" reasons. If he didn’t need to allow protestors in when he was ostensibly running for re-election, he sure doesn’t need to allow them now.So, if there’s a big protest march, I’ll be there, just because I like to put my body where it may do some good and be counted. But I also think we need to consider other ways to make our displeasure known. And that’s where economics come in.I don’t know for sure if this last election was stolen, although I know what my gut tells me. This study certainly gives me pause. However, the point of this thread isn’t to restart the why-did-Kerry-concede-why-isn’t-Atrios-screaming-about-Diebold debate. Here’s what I do know for sure and think everyone can agree upon: it’s important for all Americans, including those whose candidate didn’t prevail, to be able to have faith that our elections are carried out fairly and honestly. And the current situation doesn’t allow us to have that faith. Instead, what we have is a patchwork of fallible systems that appears designed more for the purpose of allowing skullduggery than for the purpose of ensuring fair elections. And that, I believe, is worth an economic protest.This year, I’m urging everyone I know to refuse to spend money for Xmas as a protest. Stay out of the stores. For Goddess sake, don’t run up credit card debt. Give your family and friends the gift of your time and attention rather than a new sweater that they won’t wear or some object to clutter-up an already over-cluttered life. But just not buying isn’t enough. You’ve got to contact the retailers and credit card companies and tell them: I’m not going to be buying Xmas stuff and I’m not going to be charging Xmas stuff until this country has a system in place that ensures fair and verifiable elections. Reader Kate has done the research and discovered that The National Retail Federation “is the world’s largest retail trade association . . . .” Write to Their Vice President for Legislative and Political Affairs, Katherine Lugar. Here’s her contact info:National Retail Federation325 7th Street, N.W.Suite 1100Washington, D.C. 20004Phone: 1-800-NRF-HOW2Fax (202) 727-2849Write to your credit card companies and tell them the same thing. You can find the address on the back of your latest bill. And, heck if you’re really angry about this last election, write to the large department stores that you patronize, or at least cc them on your letter to the National Retail Federation. CC your Senators and Congressman or Congresswoman as well.Do it for my friend Arlo, who reminded us that there’s strength in numbers:You know, if one person, just one person does it they may think he's really sick and they won't take him. And if two people, two people do it, in harmony, they may think they're both faggots and they won't take either of them. And three people do it, three, can you imagine, three people walking in singin a bar of Alice's Restaurant and walking out. They may think it's an organization. And can you, can you imagine fifty people a day, I said fifty people a day walking in singin a bar of Alice's Restaurant and walking out. And friends they may think it's a movement. And that's what it is, the Alice's Restaurant Anti-Massacre Movement, and all you got to do to join is sing it the next time it comes around on the guitar.And pass the idea on to everyone you know. Merry Xmas.Thanks, Kate!
All I Want for Xmas Is Fair and Verifiable Elections So it’s black Friday, the day when retailers plan on making really big bucks selling people Xmas presents. Lately, I’ve been thinking quite a bit about our consumerist society and wondering to what extent the pervasive nature of consumerism may have influenced the recent election. Clearly, the fact that the news is now simply a way to sell product has harmed our society and, as Jon Stewart so eloquently explained to Tucker Carlson, the pitch to the lowest common denominator, where even political discourse is sold as a form of TV wrestling, has hurt America. Even war is sold to Americans as a product and, if the ad campaign constantly changes with new and different rationales for why we should buy this product, well, we’re all used to that from frequently-changing commercials for everything from heartburn medicine to SUVs. Do Americans really need or even want all the crap that they’ll buy over the next few weeks?I’ve also been thinking about the role of protests in a situation such as the current one in America. I grew up on protest marches; my dad took me to some of the great Viet Nam war protests and just this past April I marched with friends and family in the March for Women’s Lives. Watching what’s been happening in Ukraine, I wonder why Americans haven’t taken to the streets, as well. And yet, I wonder if large protests are still effective in America. The March for Women’s Lives was huge -- over a million people. The protests at the Republican convention in NYC this summer were huge, too. Both got a fair amount of news coverage. Neither seemed to help -- Roe’s dead within the next year and Lame Duckie has proclaimed himself the winner of the election. Finally, I doubt Lame Duckie will allow much of any protest at his coronation -- protestors will be kept out for "security" reasons. If he didn’t need to allow protestors in when he was ostensibly running for re-election, he sure doesn’t need to allow them now.So, if there’s a big protest march, I’ll be there, just because I like to put my body where it may do some good and be counted. But I also think we need to consider other ways to make our displeasure known. And that’s where economics come in.I don’t know for sure if this last election was stolen, although I know what my gut tells me. This study certainly gives me pause. However, the point of this thread isn’t to restart the why-did-Kerry-concede-why-isn’t-Atrios-screaming-about-Diebold debate. Here’s what I do know for sure and think everyone can agree upon: it’s important for all Americans, including those whose candidate didn’t prevail, to be able to have faith that our elections are carried out fairly and honestly. And the current situation doesn’t allow us to have that faith. Instead, what we have is a patchwork of fallible systems that appears designed more for the purpose of allowing skullduggery than for the purpose of ensuring fair elections. And that, I believe, is worth an economic protest.This year, I’m urging everyone I know to refuse to spend money for Xmas as a protest. Stay out of the stores. For Goddess sake, don’t run up credit card debt. Give your family and friends the gift of your time and attention rather than a new sweater that they won’t wear or some object to clutter-up an already over-cluttered life. But just not buying isn’t enough. You’ve got to contact the retailers and credit card companies and tell them: I’m not going to be buying Xmas stuff and I’m not going to be charging Xmas stuff until this country has a system in place that ensures fair and verifiable elections. Reader Kate has done the research and discovered that The National Retail Federation “is the world’s largest retail trade association . . . .” Write to Their Vice President for Legislative and Political Affairs, Katherine Lugar. Here’s her contact info:National Retail Federation325 7th Street, N.W.Suite 1100Washington, D.C. 20004Phone: 1-800-NRF-HOW2Fax (202) 727-2849Write to your credit card companies and tell them the same thing. You can find the address on the back of your latest bill. And, heck if you’re really angry about this last election, write to the large department stores that you patronize, or at least cc them on your letter to the National Retail Federation. CC your Senators and Congressman or Congresswoman as well.Do it for my friend Arlo, who reminded us that there’s strength in numbers:You know, if one person, just one person does it they may think he's really sick and they won't take him. And if two people, two people do it, in harmony, they may think they're both faggots and they won't take either of them. And three people do it, three, can you imagine, three people walking in singin a bar of Alice's Restaurant and walking out. They may think it's an organization. And can you, can you imagine fifty people a day, I said fifty people a day walking in singin a bar of Alice's Restaurant and walking out. And friends they may think it's a movement. And that's what it is, the Alice's Restaurant Anti-Massacre Movement, and all you got to do to join is sing it the next time it comes around on the guitar.And pass the idea on to everyone you know. Merry Xmas.Thanks, Kate!
# posted by scorpiorising : 11:41 AM |
Thursday, November 25, 2004
A story on how the vote was rigged
From this democracy underground forum thread:
Google the author, Wayne Madsen, before passing judgement...he has credentials:
Special Report
Saudis, Enron money helped pay for US rigged election
By Wayne Madsen
Online Journal Contributing Writer
Download a .pdf file for printing.
Adobe Acrobat Reader required.
Click here to download a free copy.
November 25, 2004—According to informed sources in Washington and Houston, the Bush campaign spent some $29 million to pay polling place operatives around the country to rig the election for Bush. The operatives were posing as Homeland Security and FBI agents but were actually technicians familiar with Diebold, Sequoia, ES&S, Triad, Unilect, and Danaher Controls voting machines. These technicians reportedly hacked the systems to skew the results in favor of Bush.
The leak about the money and the rigged election apparently came from technicians who were promised to be paid a certain amount for their work but the Bush campaign interlocutors reneged and some of the technicians are revealing the nature of the vote rigging program.
There have been media reports from around the country concerning the locking down of precincts while votes were being tallied. In one unprecedented action in Warren County, Ohio, election officials locked down the facility where votes were being counted. The officials said this was in response to a Level 10 high-threat terrorist warning being issued by the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI for Warren County. George Bush won 72 percent of the vote in Warren County, much larger than his percentage of victory statewide.
The money to rig the election in favor of Bush reportedly came from an entity called Five Star Trust, largely based in Houston but a worldwide entity that is directly tied to the Saudi Royal Family. Five Star Trust was termed "a well-protected vehicle" that has been used to support both Bush and Osama bin Laden in the US and around the world.
Other money used to fund the election rigging was from siphoned Enron money stored away in accounts in the Cook Islands, which was once the base of one of the more questionable and Saudi-linked BCCI subsidiaries. Cook Islands banks also handled some of the weapons smuggling financing of the Iran-Contra scandal. A former Justice Department attorney who helped prosecute the BCCI case said the use of the Cook Islands by the Bush reelection team indicates they wanted the bank arrangements to be a "quick folding tent" operation that would cease to exist when the election was over. He said the Cook Islands was notorious for not requiring any documentation for such operations.
In fact, the Cook Islands has been a favorite location for various covert intelligence activities. This most recent use of the islands is a continuation of a scandal discovered in New Zealand in the early '90s called the "Winebox Affair." In 1992, a computer dealer named Paul White bought some secondhand computers and floppy disks from the Citibank office in Auckland, New Zealand, that had earlier sold them to a scrap dealer.
White later discovered the floppies (and 10 paper files) detailed a scheme to use the European Pacific Bank in the Cook Islands to bilk foreign governments and banks for a phony 15 percent tax bill assessed on various transactions by the Cook Islands government (at the time run by Tom Davis, a former US Army and NASA research scientist who was allegedly on the payroll of the CIA). European Pacific reaped millions of illegal dollars from the New Zealand Treasury and a number of Japanese banks, including Mitsubishi Bank. Paul White later died in a suspicious auto accident.
As detailed in the book "The Paradise Conspiracy" by New Zealand journalist Ian Wishart, the Cook Islands scheme also involved several CIA operatives, including Lawrence John Fahey, who had an interest in InterAir of Nevada, one of the airlines used by Ollie North to funnel arms to Iran. It also involved William Raupe, a CIA officer stationed under cover as a USAID employee at the US embassy in Suva. Raupe had once worked for Air America in South East Asia. Another CIA agent active in the Cooks was Robert C. Allen, known to New Zealand authorities as a US agent who was formerly with the CIA proprietary firm Bishop, Baldwin, Dillingham, Wong Ltd. In addition, along with the late former Treasury Secretary William Simon, Gerald Parsky was also involved in the European Pacific Bank's Cook Islands operations. Parsky is George W. Bush's chief fundraiser and adviser in California (he led Bush's 2000 California campaign) and supported Simon's son's unsuccessful bid for the governorship of California against Gray Davis and then again in the recall of Davis. Enron was involved early on with Arnold Schwarzenegger at a meeting in 2001 at the Beverly Hills Hotel at the same time Enron was bilking California utility customers with increases as high as 1000 percent This scheme eventually led to Davis's recall and his replacement by Schwarzenegger.
The Cook Islands-Citibank-European Pacific fraud appeared to have been cooked up to take the place of other "outed" CIA banking activities, including Nugan Hand Bank in Australia. European Pacific also involved assets of BCCI, in particular the Commercial Bank of Commerce in Rarotonga, Cook Islands, a BCCI subsidiary. MIchael Hand, a former Green Beret who reportedly served with Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage in Laos (and whose partner, Frank Nugan, was found shot to death in 1980 in Australia) later turned up associated with Euromac (European Manufacturing Center) Ltd., a British company that tried to sell nuclear trigger krytrons to Saddam Hussein before the first Gulf War. Nugan Hand's chief counsel, William Colby, a former CIA Director, was found floating in the Chesapeake in 1996.
The sale of nuclear material to Iraq was funded through Saudi operations in Houston, including those associated with George H. W. Bush, George W. Bush, James R. Bath, and Saudis Abdullah Taha Baksh, and Kamal Adham, as well as Lebanese businessman Ghaith Pharaon (who was also involved in the collapse of Miami's CenTrust S&L, a bank that had ties to Jeb Bush). This gang, along with Salem Bin Laden, the older brother of Osama, funneled over $1 million into failed Bush ventures, including Arbusto, Spectrum 7, and Harken Energy. Some of the Saudi money also financed Enron Oil and Gas Resources (later EOG Resources) in the Belspec Fusselman Field in Midland, Texas, a deal in which George W. Bush had a financial stake. In fact, Saudi planes in the 1980s landed in Houston with mountains of cash used to buy nuclear material for Saddam to possibly use against the Iranians. The money was laundered through Houston's Main Bank, a bank close to the Bush family. Skyway Aircraft of Houston, owned by Bath, was invested in by Abu Dhabi's ruler (the main owner of BCCI) and whose parent company in the Cayman Islands was used by Ollie North to collect foreign money for his Iran-contra enterprise.
Another person involved in the Cook Islands bank defrauding scheme was a Lebanese-American named Samir Bashout (alias Dr. Khalaf B. Bashout) who set up Midland International Bank and Trust Ltd in the Cook Islands with no real capital. Bashout's Midland had nothing to do with Midland Bank of the UK but may have been named for Midland, Texas, of George W. Bush fame. Bashout was later convicted of beating his wife in Rancho Park, Calif., amid a nasty divorce. She claimed he secreted away much of his money. Bashout's Metro Bank (Philippines) account in Los Angeles was found to contain only $10,000, not the $10 million he claimed to Cook Islands' authorities. US Treasury agent John Shockey alerted the Cook Islands internal auditor to Bashout's repeated attempts to bounce a check for $5 million. In January 2002, Hamilton Bank failed after it lost $500 million due to loan scandals and money laundering charges. The recipient of a $5.5 million loan was Metro Bank International, headquartered in Vanuatu, an offshore banking location similar to the Cook Islands. Metro Bank was thought to contain some of the billions of dollars laundered by the CIA and the Cook Islands International Trust Corp. on behalf of Ferdinand Marcos. Marcos's CIA intermediaries in the Cooks were Eldon William Morris, James Centers, and Dante Dominigo Agdeppa. Morris was under investigation by the Queensland Special Branch and the FBI in Hawaii and California.
Bashout was also involved in the defunct World Arabic Television News (WATN), an Arabic television network that attracted the attention of the Houston-based Arab Times newspaper as not delivering on its promises and defrauding investors.
Wayne Madsen is a Washington, DC-based investigative reporter. He was also the Operations Officer at Naval Facility Coos Head, Oregon from 1980 to 1982 and assisted the FBI and NIS in the investigation as a temporary special agent.
The views expressed herein are the writers' own and do not necessarily reflect those of Online Journal.
Email editor@onlinejournal.com
Google the author, Wayne Madsen, before passing judgement...he has credentials:
Special Report
Saudis, Enron money helped pay for US rigged election
By Wayne Madsen
Online Journal Contributing Writer
Download a .pdf file for printing.
Adobe Acrobat Reader required.
Click here to download a free copy.
November 25, 2004—According to informed sources in Washington and Houston, the Bush campaign spent some $29 million to pay polling place operatives around the country to rig the election for Bush. The operatives were posing as Homeland Security and FBI agents but were actually technicians familiar with Diebold, Sequoia, ES&S, Triad, Unilect, and Danaher Controls voting machines. These technicians reportedly hacked the systems to skew the results in favor of Bush.
The leak about the money and the rigged election apparently came from technicians who were promised to be paid a certain amount for their work but the Bush campaign interlocutors reneged and some of the technicians are revealing the nature of the vote rigging program.
There have been media reports from around the country concerning the locking down of precincts while votes were being tallied. In one unprecedented action in Warren County, Ohio, election officials locked down the facility where votes were being counted. The officials said this was in response to a Level 10 high-threat terrorist warning being issued by the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI for Warren County. George Bush won 72 percent of the vote in Warren County, much larger than his percentage of victory statewide.
The money to rig the election in favor of Bush reportedly came from an entity called Five Star Trust, largely based in Houston but a worldwide entity that is directly tied to the Saudi Royal Family. Five Star Trust was termed "a well-protected vehicle" that has been used to support both Bush and Osama bin Laden in the US and around the world.
Other money used to fund the election rigging was from siphoned Enron money stored away in accounts in the Cook Islands, which was once the base of one of the more questionable and Saudi-linked BCCI subsidiaries. Cook Islands banks also handled some of the weapons smuggling financing of the Iran-Contra scandal. A former Justice Department attorney who helped prosecute the BCCI case said the use of the Cook Islands by the Bush reelection team indicates they wanted the bank arrangements to be a "quick folding tent" operation that would cease to exist when the election was over. He said the Cook Islands was notorious for not requiring any documentation for such operations.
In fact, the Cook Islands has been a favorite location for various covert intelligence activities. This most recent use of the islands is a continuation of a scandal discovered in New Zealand in the early '90s called the "Winebox Affair." In 1992, a computer dealer named Paul White bought some secondhand computers and floppy disks from the Citibank office in Auckland, New Zealand, that had earlier sold them to a scrap dealer.
White later discovered the floppies (and 10 paper files) detailed a scheme to use the European Pacific Bank in the Cook Islands to bilk foreign governments and banks for a phony 15 percent tax bill assessed on various transactions by the Cook Islands government (at the time run by Tom Davis, a former US Army and NASA research scientist who was allegedly on the payroll of the CIA). European Pacific reaped millions of illegal dollars from the New Zealand Treasury and a number of Japanese banks, including Mitsubishi Bank. Paul White later died in a suspicious auto accident.
As detailed in the book "The Paradise Conspiracy" by New Zealand journalist Ian Wishart, the Cook Islands scheme also involved several CIA operatives, including Lawrence John Fahey, who had an interest in InterAir of Nevada, one of the airlines used by Ollie North to funnel arms to Iran. It also involved William Raupe, a CIA officer stationed under cover as a USAID employee at the US embassy in Suva. Raupe had once worked for Air America in South East Asia. Another CIA agent active in the Cooks was Robert C. Allen, known to New Zealand authorities as a US agent who was formerly with the CIA proprietary firm Bishop, Baldwin, Dillingham, Wong Ltd. In addition, along with the late former Treasury Secretary William Simon, Gerald Parsky was also involved in the European Pacific Bank's Cook Islands operations. Parsky is George W. Bush's chief fundraiser and adviser in California (he led Bush's 2000 California campaign) and supported Simon's son's unsuccessful bid for the governorship of California against Gray Davis and then again in the recall of Davis. Enron was involved early on with Arnold Schwarzenegger at a meeting in 2001 at the Beverly Hills Hotel at the same time Enron was bilking California utility customers with increases as high as 1000 percent This scheme eventually led to Davis's recall and his replacement by Schwarzenegger.
The Cook Islands-Citibank-European Pacific fraud appeared to have been cooked up to take the place of other "outed" CIA banking activities, including Nugan Hand Bank in Australia. European Pacific also involved assets of BCCI, in particular the Commercial Bank of Commerce in Rarotonga, Cook Islands, a BCCI subsidiary. MIchael Hand, a former Green Beret who reportedly served with Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage in Laos (and whose partner, Frank Nugan, was found shot to death in 1980 in Australia) later turned up associated with Euromac (European Manufacturing Center) Ltd., a British company that tried to sell nuclear trigger krytrons to Saddam Hussein before the first Gulf War. Nugan Hand's chief counsel, William Colby, a former CIA Director, was found floating in the Chesapeake in 1996.
The sale of nuclear material to Iraq was funded through Saudi operations in Houston, including those associated with George H. W. Bush, George W. Bush, James R. Bath, and Saudis Abdullah Taha Baksh, and Kamal Adham, as well as Lebanese businessman Ghaith Pharaon (who was also involved in the collapse of Miami's CenTrust S&L, a bank that had ties to Jeb Bush). This gang, along with Salem Bin Laden, the older brother of Osama, funneled over $1 million into failed Bush ventures, including Arbusto, Spectrum 7, and Harken Energy. Some of the Saudi money also financed Enron Oil and Gas Resources (later EOG Resources) in the Belspec Fusselman Field in Midland, Texas, a deal in which George W. Bush had a financial stake. In fact, Saudi planes in the 1980s landed in Houston with mountains of cash used to buy nuclear material for Saddam to possibly use against the Iranians. The money was laundered through Houston's Main Bank, a bank close to the Bush family. Skyway Aircraft of Houston, owned by Bath, was invested in by Abu Dhabi's ruler (the main owner of BCCI) and whose parent company in the Cayman Islands was used by Ollie North to collect foreign money for his Iran-contra enterprise.
Another person involved in the Cook Islands bank defrauding scheme was a Lebanese-American named Samir Bashout (alias Dr. Khalaf B. Bashout) who set up Midland International Bank and Trust Ltd in the Cook Islands with no real capital. Bashout's Midland had nothing to do with Midland Bank of the UK but may have been named for Midland, Texas, of George W. Bush fame. Bashout was later convicted of beating his wife in Rancho Park, Calif., amid a nasty divorce. She claimed he secreted away much of his money. Bashout's Metro Bank (Philippines) account in Los Angeles was found to contain only $10,000, not the $10 million he claimed to Cook Islands' authorities. US Treasury agent John Shockey alerted the Cook Islands internal auditor to Bashout's repeated attempts to bounce a check for $5 million. In January 2002, Hamilton Bank failed after it lost $500 million due to loan scandals and money laundering charges. The recipient of a $5.5 million loan was Metro Bank International, headquartered in Vanuatu, an offshore banking location similar to the Cook Islands. Metro Bank was thought to contain some of the billions of dollars laundered by the CIA and the Cook Islands International Trust Corp. on behalf of Ferdinand Marcos. Marcos's CIA intermediaries in the Cooks were Eldon William Morris, James Centers, and Dante Dominigo Agdeppa. Morris was under investigation by the Queensland Special Branch and the FBI in Hawaii and California.
Bashout was also involved in the defunct World Arabic Television News (WATN), an Arabic television network that attracted the attention of the Houston-based Arab Times newspaper as not delivering on its promises and defrauding investors.
Wayne Madsen is a Washington, DC-based investigative reporter. He was also the Operations Officer at Naval Facility Coos Head, Oregon from 1980 to 1982 and assisted the FBI and NIS in the investigation as a temporary special agent.
The views expressed herein are the writers' own and do not necessarily reflect those of Online Journal.
Email editor@onlinejournal.com
# posted by scorpiorising : 6:34 AM |
Tuesday, November 23, 2004
More analysis of North Carolina
More analysis of North Carolina on democracy underground:
BeFree asked me a few days ago to look over the North Carolina election returns. Things looked funny. They were way out of sync with the exit polls and no one could believe that Erskine Bowles had lost in the Senate race. The deeper I looked at the figures, the more things began to look disturbing. I downloaded the precinct data and began to pour through it for clues. Then I saw that the absentee vote (which apparently also includes the early voting data) was huge, comprising more than *a million votes* and nearly a full third of the total vote (30%). It offered the chance to compare an unadulterated voting pattern against the strange results of election day. I reasoned with an early vote that large, it is no longer a sample but a benchmark. The nearer one approaches 100%, the more accurate the picture of the whole. At one third, any inconsistencies should even out -- even if more white suburban Republicans voted by absentee (as has been charged in the past with smaller samples) or if the Democratic GOTV pushed our early numbers (as has been assumed for this election).
In that respect, I was lucky to have looked at North Carolina -- it's not as crazed as the battleground states and the electorate is nicely split between parties. Any inconsistencies of one side dominating the early vote would have showed up in the data -- they didn't.With that in mind, I began an informal review of the NC absentee vote. What I found was stunning, and I believe it should have national implications. I have little doubt that we will find the same thing elsewhere by using benchmark absentee data against election day returns.
It not only reflects the pattern of exit poll discrepancy we saw throughout the country, but it also makes a compelling case for purposeful tampering with the electronic data. I also think it reveals the three objectives of the Bush re-election campaign: 1) re-election 2) mandate 3) strong Senate majority.
BeFree asked me a few days ago to look over the North Carolina election returns. Things looked funny. They were way out of sync with the exit polls and no one could believe that Erskine Bowles had lost in the Senate race. The deeper I looked at the figures, the more things began to look disturbing. I downloaded the precinct data and began to pour through it for clues. Then I saw that the absentee vote (which apparently also includes the early voting data) was huge, comprising more than *a million votes* and nearly a full third of the total vote (30%). It offered the chance to compare an unadulterated voting pattern against the strange results of election day. I reasoned with an early vote that large, it is no longer a sample but a benchmark. The nearer one approaches 100%, the more accurate the picture of the whole. At one third, any inconsistencies should even out -- even if more white suburban Republicans voted by absentee (as has been charged in the past with smaller samples) or if the Democratic GOTV pushed our early numbers (as has been assumed for this election).
In that respect, I was lucky to have looked at North Carolina -- it's not as crazed as the battleground states and the electorate is nicely split between parties. Any inconsistencies of one side dominating the early vote would have showed up in the data -- they didn't.With that in mind, I began an informal review of the NC absentee vote. What I found was stunning, and I believe it should have national implications. I have little doubt that we will find the same thing elsewhere by using benchmark absentee data against election day returns.
It not only reflects the pattern of exit poll discrepancy we saw throughout the country, but it also makes a compelling case for purposeful tampering with the electronic data. I also think it reveals the three objectives of the Bush re-election campaign: 1) re-election 2) mandate 3) strong Senate majority.
# posted by scorpiorising : 7:58 AM |
Corruption in N.C. e-voting?
The democracy underground forum member found these anomalies in North Carolina. Click on the link for the full statistical analysis:
In part one of my analysis of the North Carolina General Election, I identified a discrepancy in voting patterns between the first third of the election via absentee/early vote and the other two-thirds of the election at the November 2nd polls. In the follow-up, I look deep into the county data to try to locate the source of the discrepancy and ask whether or not a solid case can be made for a modified election. The conclusions I've reached are as follows:
I. Most of the discrepancy can be attributed to optical scan and punch card counties. A large question remains as to how much of the discrepancy is the result of central tabulating computers, "spoiled ballots," or higher Republican turnout. The evidence shows that punch cards and certain optical scan vendors had a much lower percentage of their votes cast in the early vote than were cast by other voting systems. Why?
II. Older, manual systems (hand counted paper ballots & levers) showed a precise correlation in the early and election day votes AND with the exit polls.
III. While the DRE electronic voting systems had only a two percent disparity between the early vote and election day, there is stunning evidence to suggest they corrupted BOTH sides of the election.
In part one of my analysis of the North Carolina General Election, I identified a discrepancy in voting patterns between the first third of the election via absentee/early vote and the other two-thirds of the election at the November 2nd polls. In the follow-up, I look deep into the county data to try to locate the source of the discrepancy and ask whether or not a solid case can be made for a modified election. The conclusions I've reached are as follows:
I. Most of the discrepancy can be attributed to optical scan and punch card counties. A large question remains as to how much of the discrepancy is the result of central tabulating computers, "spoiled ballots," or higher Republican turnout. The evidence shows that punch cards and certain optical scan vendors had a much lower percentage of their votes cast in the early vote than were cast by other voting systems. Why?
II. Older, manual systems (hand counted paper ballots & levers) showed a precise correlation in the early and election day votes AND with the exit polls.
III. While the DRE electronic voting systems had only a two percent disparity between the early vote and election day, there is stunning evidence to suggest they corrupted BOTH sides of the election.
# posted by scorpiorising : 7:50 AM |
Bush's 8 million votes found
From democracy underground forum. Click on the link for the statistical analysis. Also, click on this link for the location, state by state, of the voting machines in question :
FINDINGS
1. Bush did not pick up any vote at all on the West Coast.. in fact he lost ground in both Washington and California. This is interesting as this is arguably where the BBV machine manufacturers have been receiving the most heat. However it could reflect a relative lack of interest in so-called "moral issues" out west.
2. The five states I picked on the basis that they are known to have lots of voting machines (and particularly Diebold machines) had a significantly higher percentage increase in bush voters than average… 25% compared to 17% nationally.
3. Likewise the swing states also had a higher average rate of new bush voters at 21%. This however might be expected as they also had much more active campaigns.
4. Among the 31 states I examined were three big democratic states NY, NJ and IL. I selected them on a hunch because a) they are unlikely to be suspected of being used in a vote rigging exercise, but b) necessary to include if you want to achieve a large across the board popular vote gain that does not look too suspicious. These three states averaged a 21% vote gains for Bush and NJ and NY achieved around 25%. However between them they contributed 1.7 million new bush votes, or nearly 20% of Bush's total vote gain.
5. The remainder of my selection of states is broadly defined as "red states", they averaged 20% in terms of voting gain for bush. Notably both Kansas and Utah achieved % gains for bush below the national average. I am guessing here but I would have thought both states were "moral issue" based voter heavy.DISTRIBUTION OF THE VOTES
6. In sheer numeric terms Bush gained far and away the most votes in Texas and Florida, 900k and 700k respectively.
7. 60% of all Bushes new votes, 5.2 million votes, were gained in just 11 states…FL, TX. NY, OH, PA, GA, MI, NJ, TN, NC, IL
8. Add in another 8 states and you get to 82% of all bush's new votes or 7.1 million… the states are WI MN IND AL OK KY AZ LOU & MD
9. Put another way 7.1 million votes or 82% of bushes gain was achieved in states totalling 65% of the popular vote. Within these states he achieved an average vote gain of an astonishing 23%.
10. 92% of the vote gain is found in the 31 states I selected data for.
11. The rate of bush vote growth in the remaining 20 states was just 5% on average.
12. In percentage terms Florida and Georgia (both heavily Diebold equipment using states) were the standouts with 32% gains respectively.
13. In percentage terms five other states showed more than 25% growth in the bush vote, in ascending order they were Arizona, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Tennessee. Of these AZ, NM and OK both recently upgraded their machines to new tech machines. NJ and TN also both use computerised voting machines, albeit older models.
FINDINGS
1. Bush did not pick up any vote at all on the West Coast.. in fact he lost ground in both Washington and California. This is interesting as this is arguably where the BBV machine manufacturers have been receiving the most heat. However it could reflect a relative lack of interest in so-called "moral issues" out west.
2. The five states I picked on the basis that they are known to have lots of voting machines (and particularly Diebold machines) had a significantly higher percentage increase in bush voters than average… 25% compared to 17% nationally.
3. Likewise the swing states also had a higher average rate of new bush voters at 21%. This however might be expected as they also had much more active campaigns.
4. Among the 31 states I examined were three big democratic states NY, NJ and IL. I selected them on a hunch because a) they are unlikely to be suspected of being used in a vote rigging exercise, but b) necessary to include if you want to achieve a large across the board popular vote gain that does not look too suspicious. These three states averaged a 21% vote gains for Bush and NJ and NY achieved around 25%. However between them they contributed 1.7 million new bush votes, or nearly 20% of Bush's total vote gain.
5. The remainder of my selection of states is broadly defined as "red states", they averaged 20% in terms of voting gain for bush. Notably both Kansas and Utah achieved % gains for bush below the national average. I am guessing here but I would have thought both states were "moral issue" based voter heavy.DISTRIBUTION OF THE VOTES
6. In sheer numeric terms Bush gained far and away the most votes in Texas and Florida, 900k and 700k respectively.
7. 60% of all Bushes new votes, 5.2 million votes, were gained in just 11 states…FL, TX. NY, OH, PA, GA, MI, NJ, TN, NC, IL
8. Add in another 8 states and you get to 82% of all bush's new votes or 7.1 million… the states are WI MN IND AL OK KY AZ LOU & MD
9. Put another way 7.1 million votes or 82% of bushes gain was achieved in states totalling 65% of the popular vote. Within these states he achieved an average vote gain of an astonishing 23%.
10. 92% of the vote gain is found in the 31 states I selected data for.
11. The rate of bush vote growth in the remaining 20 states was just 5% on average.
12. In percentage terms Florida and Georgia (both heavily Diebold equipment using states) were the standouts with 32% gains respectively.
13. In percentage terms five other states showed more than 25% growth in the bush vote, in ascending order they were Arizona, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Tennessee. Of these AZ, NM and OK both recently upgraded their machines to new tech machines. NJ and TN also both use computerised voting machines, albeit older models.
# posted by scorpiorising : 7:03 AM |
Monday, November 22, 2004
Ohio Democratic Party joins the Recount Battle
I just spoke to Dan Trevas with the Ohio Democratic Party. He said, the Kerry/Edwards camp is indeed endorsing the recount effort, but not to read too much into it, in this sense: this was an inevitable outcome of what has transpired since election day, and also what took place on election day. However, it is an effort orchestrated by Ohio, not by the Kerry/Edwards campaign itself, though they have endorsed the effort, as I stated. Trevas said their attorneys spoke to Kerry/Edwards attorneys, and now the ball is rolling to recruit volunteers for the recount effort, and money.
Right now, no financing explicitly stated from the Kerry campaign, but, remember that army of lawyers? Some of them are participating in Ohio on this effort, and have been on this from the beginning. They are likely local lawyers, I am guessing.
Trevas said this effort was inevitable, in that they all knew there was going to be a heavy turnout, and, given that the Ohio state house is republican controlled, and funding for the election, in essence, republican controlled, Trevas had publicly warned that a recount would likely be sought if things weren't on the up and up.
Press Release:
Monday, November 22, 2004
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 22, 2004
Kerry/Edwards Campaign Participates Ohio Recount Ohio Democratic Party Seeks Volunteers to Help Recount.
COLUMBUS – Assuring Ohioans receive an accurate count of all votes cast for president has prompted the Democratic Party to participate in the initiative to recount the results of the Nov. 2 presidential election.
“As Senator Kerry stated in his concession speech in Boston, we do not necessarily expect the results of the election to change, however, we believe it necessary to make sure everyone's vote is counted fairly and accurately,” said Dennis White, Ohio Democratic Party chair.
Columbus Attorney Donald McTigue will lead the recount effort on behalf of Ohio Democrats. The party will be recruiting volunteer witnesses to assist in the recount process in all 88 counties.
On Election Day and throughout the month of November, angry Ohio citizens have expressed frustration with long lines, malfunctioning voting machines and undelivered absentee ballots. There have been inconsistencies in the unofficial reports of the election, including an error in one Franklin County precinct that gave George Bush 3,893 more votes than actually cast for him.
The recount can begin after the official results are certified, which likely will be in the first week of December. The Democratic Party wants to be fully prepared to begin a recount immediately.
Volunteers can sign up at the Ohio Democratic Party website: www.ohiodems.org and the party will also accept contributions to help offset the cost of completing a recount.
“We are proud to stand up for Democrats all over the world who have asked us to make sure every vote gets counted. And we want to demonstrate that Ohio can do better in the future to guarantee every voters who wants to vote, has a chance to vote,” White said.
Right now, no financing explicitly stated from the Kerry campaign, but, remember that army of lawyers? Some of them are participating in Ohio on this effort, and have been on this from the beginning. They are likely local lawyers, I am guessing.
Trevas said this effort was inevitable, in that they all knew there was going to be a heavy turnout, and, given that the Ohio state house is republican controlled, and funding for the election, in essence, republican controlled, Trevas had publicly warned that a recount would likely be sought if things weren't on the up and up.
Press Release:
Monday, November 22, 2004
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 22, 2004
Kerry/Edwards Campaign Participates Ohio Recount Ohio Democratic Party Seeks Volunteers to Help Recount.
COLUMBUS – Assuring Ohioans receive an accurate count of all votes cast for president has prompted the Democratic Party to participate in the initiative to recount the results of the Nov. 2 presidential election.
“As Senator Kerry stated in his concession speech in Boston, we do not necessarily expect the results of the election to change, however, we believe it necessary to make sure everyone's vote is counted fairly and accurately,” said Dennis White, Ohio Democratic Party chair.
Columbus Attorney Donald McTigue will lead the recount effort on behalf of Ohio Democrats. The party will be recruiting volunteer witnesses to assist in the recount process in all 88 counties.
On Election Day and throughout the month of November, angry Ohio citizens have expressed frustration with long lines, malfunctioning voting machines and undelivered absentee ballots. There have been inconsistencies in the unofficial reports of the election, including an error in one Franklin County precinct that gave George Bush 3,893 more votes than actually cast for him.
The recount can begin after the official results are certified, which likely will be in the first week of December. The Democratic Party wants to be fully prepared to begin a recount immediately.
Volunteers can sign up at the Ohio Democratic Party website: www.ohiodems.org and the party will also accept contributions to help offset the cost of completing a recount.
“We are proud to stand up for Democrats all over the world who have asked us to make sure every vote gets counted. And we want to demonstrate that Ohio can do better in the future to guarantee every voters who wants to vote, has a chance to vote,” White said.
# posted by scorpiorising : 6:14 PM |
Beverly Harris "interviewed" by the Secret Service this past April, 2004
Beverly Harris was interviewed by the Secret Service, she revealed in a democratic underground forum in April, of 2004, and, this is what they wanted from her:
Under the Patriot Act, "hacking" crimes were turned over to a new division, called the CyberCrimes division, and placed under the auspices of the Secret Service. And let me tell you what they want from me now: They want the logs of my web site with all the forum messages, and the IP addresses. That's right. All of them. A giant fishing expedition for every communication of everyone interested in the voting issue.
This has nothing to do with a VoteHere "hack" investigation, and I have refused to turn it over.So, yesterday, they call me up and tell me they are going to subpeona me and put me in front of a grand jury. Well, let 'em. They still aren't getting the list of members of BlackBoxVoting.org unless they seize my computer -- which my attorney tells me might be what they have in mind.Also, Agent Mike told me he just "happened" to be on the plane with me a couple weeks ago. What's that supposed to do? Scare me? "You were going to Oakland," he said. Yeah, and Diebold lawyer's memos appeared in the Oakland Tribune, but guess what, Mike: That was the first hop of three on my way to Dallas. I left that morning for a speech at the Dallas Democratic Forum that evening. Never even got off the plane. Better luck next time.
They show up at interviews with printouts of DemocraticUnderground posts (not even mine -- the ones they showed me were from other DU members). And if they were really investigating what they said -- a VoteHere "hack" can someone explain why they want the logs from the web site BlackBoxVoting.org -- the "hack" occured in early October, but BlackBoxVoting.org was shut down, triggered by a Diebold cease & desist, from Sept 23 to Oct 23.
And (you know who you are) -- consider this a heads up: If you start bumbling around in my house with U.S. marshalls, the very first thing that will happen is mainstream news coverage that you are misusing the Patriot Act to get at membership lists and private correspondence for a fishing expedition on stuff that isn't even the subject of a legitimate investigation.
By the way. I need to pick up a few things so that, in the event my computer gets seized, I don't lose a whole lot of time being unable to get my work done. I've been advised what backup systems to get, need to buy them, and will head elsewhere until all systems are backed up. So, if you see fit for a small donation (info at http://www.blackboxvoting.org ) this would help me very much with my temporary relocation and purchasing the backup computer stuff. Yeah, I'm pissed.
Taking the pulse of our democracy nowadays, it doesn't feel very healthy, does it?
Bev Harris
Under the Patriot Act, "hacking" crimes were turned over to a new division, called the CyberCrimes division, and placed under the auspices of the Secret Service. And let me tell you what they want from me now: They want the logs of my web site with all the forum messages, and the IP addresses. That's right. All of them. A giant fishing expedition for every communication of everyone interested in the voting issue.
This has nothing to do with a VoteHere "hack" investigation, and I have refused to turn it over.So, yesterday, they call me up and tell me they are going to subpeona me and put me in front of a grand jury. Well, let 'em. They still aren't getting the list of members of BlackBoxVoting.org unless they seize my computer -- which my attorney tells me might be what they have in mind.Also, Agent Mike told me he just "happened" to be on the plane with me a couple weeks ago. What's that supposed to do? Scare me? "You were going to Oakland," he said. Yeah, and Diebold lawyer's memos appeared in the Oakland Tribune, but guess what, Mike: That was the first hop of three on my way to Dallas. I left that morning for a speech at the Dallas Democratic Forum that evening. Never even got off the plane. Better luck next time.
They show up at interviews with printouts of DemocraticUnderground posts (not even mine -- the ones they showed me were from other DU members). And if they were really investigating what they said -- a VoteHere "hack" can someone explain why they want the logs from the web site BlackBoxVoting.org -- the "hack" occured in early October, but BlackBoxVoting.org was shut down, triggered by a Diebold cease & desist, from Sept 23 to Oct 23.
And (you know who you are) -- consider this a heads up: If you start bumbling around in my house with U.S. marshalls, the very first thing that will happen is mainstream news coverage that you are misusing the Patriot Act to get at membership lists and private correspondence for a fishing expedition on stuff that isn't even the subject of a legitimate investigation.
By the way. I need to pick up a few things so that, in the event my computer gets seized, I don't lose a whole lot of time being unable to get my work done. I've been advised what backup systems to get, need to buy them, and will head elsewhere until all systems are backed up. So, if you see fit for a small donation (info at http://www.blackboxvoting.org ) this would help me very much with my temporary relocation and purchasing the backup computer stuff. Yeah, I'm pissed.
Taking the pulse of our democracy nowadays, it doesn't feel very healthy, does it?
Bev Harris
# posted by scorpiorising : 11:32 AM |
How Ohio was rigged for Bush
This diary from DailyKos says it all, and I am going to print it in its entirety.:
How Ohio was Rigged For Bush
Mon Nov 22nd, 2004 at 06:37:04 PST
Bob Fitrakis of freepress.org is doing yeoman work in investigating what the hell went on in Ohio. He is also an attorney and is co-counsel in the lawsuit that was recently filed in Ohio, which I have diaried about previously. Today he has a new column out that puts it all together, and shows how they rigged the game in Ohio to ensure that Bush would squeak it out - which is exactly what happened.
Please note that I have spoken to Mr. Fitrakis over the phone and he has encouraged me to re-post his items here. He wants the information out. I do encourage everyone who is interested in this issue to check out freepress.org, they may well be the single best source for information about the election in Ohio.
Also, please note that there have been a lot of questions raised by kossacks as to HOW the under-allocation of machines to heavily democratic precincts happened. There are answers to those questions in this piece as well.
So, without further ado, here it is. Sickening, ain't it?
http://www.freepress.org/columns/display/3/2004/995
How the Ohio election was rigged for BushNovember 22, 2004
Following four community public hearings in Ohio about election irregularities and voter suppression - two in the capitol, Columbus, and one each in Cincinnati and Cleveland - a clear pattern and practice of voter disenfranchisement is emerging.
In order to understand the extent of the voter suppression in the inner city of Columbus and Franklin County, overwhelmingly Democratic wards, start with the phrase: "Machines Placed By Close Of Polls" on the last page of the county's 17-page voting machine allocation report.
This phrase at the end of the spreadsheet may be the key in unraveling a deliberate and unprecedented plan to repress African American and poor central city voters. In statistics, when you see a bizarre definition or measurement, it sends up red flags. Why doesn't the Franklin County Board of Elections have a number for "Machines Placed By Opening Of Polls"?
It now appears that the Franklin County BOE placed scores of machines too late in the day to alleviate the long lines of voters who gathered to vote before work and at lunchtime.
To better understand what the BOE did on Election Day, consider the following analogy. The near east side of Columbus needs four buses to move the population to the downtown business district. Each bus will move 100 people. At the start of the business day at 6:30am, there are only two buses running and another one with a dead battery. After a few hours, the third bus is put into use. Finally, towards the close of the work day at 6pm, a fourth bus is deployed. The Central Ohio Transit Authority then reports it had four buses operating by the end of the business day. What matters is not how many buses, or voting machines, were operating at the end of the day, but rather how many were there to service the people during the morning and noon rush hours.
Questions remain as to where these machines were placed and who had access to them during the day.
Pacifica reporter Evan Davis reported that a county purchasing official who was on the line with Ward Moving and Storage Company, documented only 2,741 voting machines delivered through the November 2 election day. The county's own documents reveal that they had 2,866 "Machines Available" on Election Day. This would mean that amid the two to seven hour waits in the inner city of Columbus, at least 125 machines remained unused on Election Day. Ward holds the exclusive three-year contract to deliver voting machines in Franklin County.
If the BOE only had 2,741 placed initially, this would explain the long lines in Columbus and voters leaving the polls during the morning voting rush. According to the Franklin County Board of Elections (BOE), in the city of Columbus, where voters waited in the heavily Democratic wards between 2-7 hours to cast the vast majority of their votes for John Kerry, voter turnout was 52.7%. In the affluent white suburbs of Columbus, with far more voting machines available, the turnout figure was 76.15%.
By contrast, 66.31% of registered voters went to the polls in Cincinnati and turnout was 76.82% in the suburbs. In Cincinnati, where more voting machines were available, the difference between the city and suburbs was only 10.5% compared to 23.45% in the Columbus area. Cincinnati and Columbus have similar demographics.
The Franklin County Board of Elections reported that 68 voting machines were never placed on Election Day. In addition, Franklin County BOE Director Matt Damschroder admitted on Friday, November 19, that 77 machines malfunctioned on Election Day.
Franklin County Commissioner Mary Jo Kilroy criticized Damschroder for calling the elections "well-funded and well-planned and that problems could not have been averted, . . ." according to the Columbus Dispatch.
Damschroder, the former Executive Director of the Franklin County Republican Party, told the Franklin County Commissioners, "From our perspective, this election was a success."
Despite an increased registration of more than 167,253 new voters, Damschroder admits he ran the election with a "fixed and exhausted" pool of voting machines, the Dispatch reported. Kilroy pointed out that Damschroder and Franklin County election officials told her "We're fine, we're fine" and never requested additional money over the initial allocation.
The Washington Post reported "Franklin is the only Ohio county to use Danaher Control's ELECTronic 1242, an older-style touchscreen voting system." Franklin County's voting machine allocation report shows that Damschroder deployed his Danaher (formerly Shooptronics) voting machines, which have been in use since 1992, in a formula that favored Bush over Kerry.
In precinct 55-B on Columbus' near east side, there were 1,338 registered voters and, according to Franklin County Board of Elections estimates, 956 active voters who had voted in the last two federal elections. Despite voter registration being up 17%, and by the BOE's own guidelines the polling place requiring ten machines (one per 100 voters), the polling site had only three machines, one less than for the 2000 elections.
The Election Protection Coalition that visited the voting site between 7:30-8:30 a.m. documented a dozen people leaving the polls, six to go to work and six who were either elderly or handicapped. But things were worse in other areas of Columbus.
In precinct 1-B where there were 1,620 registered voters, a 27% increase in voter registration, the precinct had five voting machines in 2000 and only three in 2004. Where did they go? Out to Republican enclaves like Canal Winchester, where two machines were added since 2000, for a total of five to service 1,255 registered voters? Or were they re-routed to Dublin 2-G where 1,656 registered voters apparently needed six machines, twice the number of Columbus' 1-B?
Nearby in Dublin precinct 3-C, 910 registered voters were allocated four voting machines. No doubt machines were shifted from precincts like Columbus 44-G with 1,620 voters and registration up 25%, which lost one machine from the 2000 elections to 2004.
In Cleveland, where a public hearing was held on Saturday, November 20, there was a different pattern of voting irregularities. These include heavily Democratic wards with abnormally low reported rates of voter turnout, three under 20%. In Precinct 6-C where Kerry beat Bush 45 votes to one, allegedly only 7.1% of the registered voters cast ballots. In precinct 13-D where Kerry received 83.8% of the vote, only 13.05% reportedly voted. In precinct 13-F where Kerry received 97.5%, the turnout was reported to be only 19.6%.
One explanation comes from Irma Olmedo, who provided the Free Press with a written statement of her activities in the heavily Hispanic ward 13, which contained the three low voter turnout precincts.
"Ohio does not have bilingual ballots and this disenfranchises many Latino voters who are not totally fluent in English . . . there were 13 poll workers at the school and none knew Spanish. Some could not even find the names of the people on the list because they couldn't understand well when people said their names. . . . Some people put their punch card ballots in backwards when they voted and discovered that they couldn't punch out the holes. They had not read the instructions which were in English, that they had to turn the card around in order to vote," Olmedo stated.
Olmedo translated at precinct 13-O, where 90% of the votes were for Kerry and only 53 votes were counted. The turnout of 21% was due to the lack of Spanish instructions and the misspelling of names: "I noticed that one named Nieves was misspelled as Nieues and the pollworkers were not able to find his name, these people were told to complete a provisional ballot because their names were not on the list."
In Cuyahoga County, according to the Secretary of State's website there are 24,788 provisional ballots, most of them from the city of Cleveland, not its surrounding suburbs. Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell served as Co-Chair of the Bush/Cheney Ohio reelection committee.
There also seems to be an abnormally high vote count for third party candidates who received less than one-half of one percent of the statewide vote total combined. For example, in precinct 4-F, the right-wing Constitutional Law candidate Peroutka received 215 votes to Bush's 21 and Kerry's 290. In this precinct, Kerry received 55% of the vote where Gore received 91% of the vote in the year 200. These numbers suggest that Kerry's votes were inadvertently or intentionally shifted to Peroutka.
In Cincinnati, sworn testimony was taken on vote buying, the lack of machines in African American neighborhoods and the deliberate destruction of new voter registration cards by a private company hired to process the forms.
Exit polls on Election Day from both the polling firm Zogby International and CNN projected John Kerry winning the state of Ohio. University of Pennsylvania Professor Steven Freeman calculated the odds that the exit polls in Ohio, Florida and Pennsylvania all being wrong are 250,000,000 to one. Pollster John Zogby, President of Zogby International, is quoted as telling the Inter Press Service of Stockholm that "something is definitely wrong."
Zogby commented that he was concerned about the discrepancy between the exit polls and the official vote tallies stating "We're talking about the free world here."
The Alliance for Democracy-Ohio is preparing a lawsuit challenging the outcome of Ohio's election results due to the massive voting irregularities that have emerged in sworn testimony and affidavits.
--
has a Ph.D in Political Science and a J.D. He is a lawyer working with the Alliance for Democracy-Ohio and the Editor of the Columbus Free Press. Reporting in this article also came from Richard Hayes Phillips, Ph.D and Joe Knapp (http://copperas.com/fcelection/wardbubble.jpg). For additional documentation, visit http://freepress.org/departments/display/19/2004/900.
How Ohio was Rigged For Bush
Mon Nov 22nd, 2004 at 06:37:04 PST
Bob Fitrakis of freepress.org is doing yeoman work in investigating what the hell went on in Ohio. He is also an attorney and is co-counsel in the lawsuit that was recently filed in Ohio, which I have diaried about previously. Today he has a new column out that puts it all together, and shows how they rigged the game in Ohio to ensure that Bush would squeak it out - which is exactly what happened.
Please note that I have spoken to Mr. Fitrakis over the phone and he has encouraged me to re-post his items here. He wants the information out. I do encourage everyone who is interested in this issue to check out freepress.org, they may well be the single best source for information about the election in Ohio.
Also, please note that there have been a lot of questions raised by kossacks as to HOW the under-allocation of machines to heavily democratic precincts happened. There are answers to those questions in this piece as well.
So, without further ado, here it is. Sickening, ain't it?
http://www.freepress.org/columns/display/3/2004/995
How the Ohio election was rigged for BushNovember 22, 2004
Following four community public hearings in Ohio about election irregularities and voter suppression - two in the capitol, Columbus, and one each in Cincinnati and Cleveland - a clear pattern and practice of voter disenfranchisement is emerging.
In order to understand the extent of the voter suppression in the inner city of Columbus and Franklin County, overwhelmingly Democratic wards, start with the phrase: "Machines Placed By Close Of Polls" on the last page of the county's 17-page voting machine allocation report.
This phrase at the end of the spreadsheet may be the key in unraveling a deliberate and unprecedented plan to repress African American and poor central city voters. In statistics, when you see a bizarre definition or measurement, it sends up red flags. Why doesn't the Franklin County Board of Elections have a number for "Machines Placed By Opening Of Polls"?
It now appears that the Franklin County BOE placed scores of machines too late in the day to alleviate the long lines of voters who gathered to vote before work and at lunchtime.
To better understand what the BOE did on Election Day, consider the following analogy. The near east side of Columbus needs four buses to move the population to the downtown business district. Each bus will move 100 people. At the start of the business day at 6:30am, there are only two buses running and another one with a dead battery. After a few hours, the third bus is put into use. Finally, towards the close of the work day at 6pm, a fourth bus is deployed. The Central Ohio Transit Authority then reports it had four buses operating by the end of the business day. What matters is not how many buses, or voting machines, were operating at the end of the day, but rather how many were there to service the people during the morning and noon rush hours.
Questions remain as to where these machines were placed and who had access to them during the day.
Pacifica reporter Evan Davis reported that a county purchasing official who was on the line with Ward Moving and Storage Company, documented only 2,741 voting machines delivered through the November 2 election day. The county's own documents reveal that they had 2,866 "Machines Available" on Election Day. This would mean that amid the two to seven hour waits in the inner city of Columbus, at least 125 machines remained unused on Election Day. Ward holds the exclusive three-year contract to deliver voting machines in Franklin County.
If the BOE only had 2,741 placed initially, this would explain the long lines in Columbus and voters leaving the polls during the morning voting rush. According to the Franklin County Board of Elections (BOE), in the city of Columbus, where voters waited in the heavily Democratic wards between 2-7 hours to cast the vast majority of their votes for John Kerry, voter turnout was 52.7%. In the affluent white suburbs of Columbus, with far more voting machines available, the turnout figure was 76.15%.
By contrast, 66.31% of registered voters went to the polls in Cincinnati and turnout was 76.82% in the suburbs. In Cincinnati, where more voting machines were available, the difference between the city and suburbs was only 10.5% compared to 23.45% in the Columbus area. Cincinnati and Columbus have similar demographics.
The Franklin County Board of Elections reported that 68 voting machines were never placed on Election Day. In addition, Franklin County BOE Director Matt Damschroder admitted on Friday, November 19, that 77 machines malfunctioned on Election Day.
Franklin County Commissioner Mary Jo Kilroy criticized Damschroder for calling the elections "well-funded and well-planned and that problems could not have been averted, . . ." according to the Columbus Dispatch.
Damschroder, the former Executive Director of the Franklin County Republican Party, told the Franklin County Commissioners, "From our perspective, this election was a success."
Despite an increased registration of more than 167,253 new voters, Damschroder admits he ran the election with a "fixed and exhausted" pool of voting machines, the Dispatch reported. Kilroy pointed out that Damschroder and Franklin County election officials told her "We're fine, we're fine" and never requested additional money over the initial allocation.
The Washington Post reported "Franklin is the only Ohio county to use Danaher Control's ELECTronic 1242, an older-style touchscreen voting system." Franklin County's voting machine allocation report shows that Damschroder deployed his Danaher (formerly Shooptronics) voting machines, which have been in use since 1992, in a formula that favored Bush over Kerry.
In precinct 55-B on Columbus' near east side, there were 1,338 registered voters and, according to Franklin County Board of Elections estimates, 956 active voters who had voted in the last two federal elections. Despite voter registration being up 17%, and by the BOE's own guidelines the polling place requiring ten machines (one per 100 voters), the polling site had only three machines, one less than for the 2000 elections.
The Election Protection Coalition that visited the voting site between 7:30-8:30 a.m. documented a dozen people leaving the polls, six to go to work and six who were either elderly or handicapped. But things were worse in other areas of Columbus.
In precinct 1-B where there were 1,620 registered voters, a 27% increase in voter registration, the precinct had five voting machines in 2000 and only three in 2004. Where did they go? Out to Republican enclaves like Canal Winchester, where two machines were added since 2000, for a total of five to service 1,255 registered voters? Or were they re-routed to Dublin 2-G where 1,656 registered voters apparently needed six machines, twice the number of Columbus' 1-B?
Nearby in Dublin precinct 3-C, 910 registered voters were allocated four voting machines. No doubt machines were shifted from precincts like Columbus 44-G with 1,620 voters and registration up 25%, which lost one machine from the 2000 elections to 2004.
In Cleveland, where a public hearing was held on Saturday, November 20, there was a different pattern of voting irregularities. These include heavily Democratic wards with abnormally low reported rates of voter turnout, three under 20%. In Precinct 6-C where Kerry beat Bush 45 votes to one, allegedly only 7.1% of the registered voters cast ballots. In precinct 13-D where Kerry received 83.8% of the vote, only 13.05% reportedly voted. In precinct 13-F where Kerry received 97.5%, the turnout was reported to be only 19.6%.
One explanation comes from Irma Olmedo, who provided the Free Press with a written statement of her activities in the heavily Hispanic ward 13, which contained the three low voter turnout precincts.
"Ohio does not have bilingual ballots and this disenfranchises many Latino voters who are not totally fluent in English . . . there were 13 poll workers at the school and none knew Spanish. Some could not even find the names of the people on the list because they couldn't understand well when people said their names. . . . Some people put their punch card ballots in backwards when they voted and discovered that they couldn't punch out the holes. They had not read the instructions which were in English, that they had to turn the card around in order to vote," Olmedo stated.
Olmedo translated at precinct 13-O, where 90% of the votes were for Kerry and only 53 votes were counted. The turnout of 21% was due to the lack of Spanish instructions and the misspelling of names: "I noticed that one named Nieves was misspelled as Nieues and the pollworkers were not able to find his name, these people were told to complete a provisional ballot because their names were not on the list."
In Cuyahoga County, according to the Secretary of State's website there are 24,788 provisional ballots, most of them from the city of Cleveland, not its surrounding suburbs. Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell served as Co-Chair of the Bush/Cheney Ohio reelection committee.
There also seems to be an abnormally high vote count for third party candidates who received less than one-half of one percent of the statewide vote total combined. For example, in precinct 4-F, the right-wing Constitutional Law candidate Peroutka received 215 votes to Bush's 21 and Kerry's 290. In this precinct, Kerry received 55% of the vote where Gore received 91% of the vote in the year 200. These numbers suggest that Kerry's votes were inadvertently or intentionally shifted to Peroutka.
In Cincinnati, sworn testimony was taken on vote buying, the lack of machines in African American neighborhoods and the deliberate destruction of new voter registration cards by a private company hired to process the forms.
Exit polls on Election Day from both the polling firm Zogby International and CNN projected John Kerry winning the state of Ohio. University of Pennsylvania Professor Steven Freeman calculated the odds that the exit polls in Ohio, Florida and Pennsylvania all being wrong are 250,000,000 to one. Pollster John Zogby, President of Zogby International, is quoted as telling the Inter Press Service of Stockholm that "something is definitely wrong."
Zogby commented that he was concerned about the discrepancy between the exit polls and the official vote tallies stating "We're talking about the free world here."
The Alliance for Democracy-Ohio is preparing a lawsuit challenging the outcome of Ohio's election results due to the massive voting irregularities that have emerged in sworn testimony and affidavits.
--
has a Ph.D in Political Science and a J.D. He is a lawyer working with the Alliance for Democracy-Ohio and the Editor of the Columbus Free Press. Reporting in this article also came from Richard Hayes Phillips, Ph.D and Joe Knapp (http://copperas.com/fcelection/wardbubble.jpg). For additional documentation, visit http://freepress.org/departments/display/19/2004/900.
# posted by scorpiorising : 9:38 AM |
The Politics of Victimization
Read it and weep, and then shout, "I'm not going to take it anymore", very loudly. From Mathew Gross:
The Politics of Victimization
[Mel Gilles, who has worked for many years as an advocate for victims of domestic abuse, draws some parallels between her work and the reaction of many Democrats to the election.-- Mathew Gross]
Watch Dan Rather apologize for not getting his facts straight, humiliated before the eyes of America, voluntarily undermining his credibility and career of over thirty years. Observe Donna Brazille squirm as she is ridiculed by Bay Buchanan, and pronounced irrelevant and nearly non-existent. Listen as Donna and Nancy Pelosi and Senator Charles Schumer take to the airwaves saying that they have to go back to the drawing board and learn from their mistakes and try to be better, more likable, more appealing, have a stronger message, speak to morality. Watch them awkwardly quote the bible, trying to speak the new language of America. Surf the blogs, and read the comments of dismayed, discombobulated, confused individuals trying to figure out what they did wrong. Hear the cacophony of voices, crying out, “Why did they beat me?”
And then ask anyone who has ever worked in a domestic violence shelter if they have heard this before.
They will tell you, every single day.
The answer is quite simple. They beat us because they are abusers. We can call it hate. We can call it fear. We can say it is unfair. But we are looped into the cycle of violence, and we need to start calling the dominating side what they are: abusive. And we need to recognize that we are the victims of verbal, mental, and even, in the case of Iraq, physical violence.
As victims we can’t stop asking ourselves what we did wrong. We can’t seem to grasp that they will keep hitting us and beating us as long as we keep sticking around and asking ourselves what we are doing to deserve the beating.
Listen to George Bush say that the will of God excuses his behavior. Listen, as he refuses to take responsibility, or express remorse, or even once, admit a mistake. Watch him strut, and tell us that he will only work with those who agree with him, and that each of us is only allowed one question (soon, it will be none at all; abusers hit hard when questioned; the press corps can tell you that). See him surround himself with only those who pledge oaths of allegiance. Hear him tell us that if we will only listen and do as he says and agree with his every utterance, all will go well for us (it won’t; we will never be worthy).
And watch the Democratic Party leadership walk on eggshells, try to meet him, please him, wash the windows better, get out that spot, distance themselves from gays and civil rights. See them cry for the attention and affection and approval of the President and his followers. Watch us squirm. Watch us descend into a world of crazy-making, where logic does not work and the other side tells us we are nuts when we rely on facts. A world where, worst of all, we begin to believe we are crazy.
How to break free? Again, the answer is quite simple.
First, you must admit you are a victim. Then, you must declare the state of affairs unacceptable. Next, you must promise to protect yourself and everyone around you that is being victimized. You don’t do this by responding to their demands, or becoming more like them, or engaging in logical conversation, or trying to persuade them that you are right. You also don’t do this by going catatonic and resigned, by closing up your ears and eyes and covering your head and submitting to the blows, figuring its over faster and hurts less is you don’t resist and fight back. Instead, you walk away. You find other folks like yourself, 56 million of them, who are hurting, broken, and beating themselves up. You tell them what you’ve learned, and that you aren’t going to take it anymore. You stand tall, with 56 million people at your side and behind you, and you look right into the eyes of the abuser and you tell him to go to hell. Then you walk out the door, taking the kids and gays and minorities with you, and you start a new life. The new life is hard. But it’s better than the abuse.
We have a mandate to be as radical and liberal and steadfast as we need to be. The progressive beliefs and social justice we stand for, our core, must not be altered. We are 56 million strong. We are building from the bottom up. We are meeting, on the net, in church basements, at work, in small groups, and right now, we are crying, because we are trying to break free and we don’t know how.
Any battered woman in America, any oppressed person around the globe who has defied her oppressor will tell you this: There is nothing wrong with you. You are in good company. You are safe. You are not alone. You are strong. You must change only one thing: stop responding to the abuser. Don’t let him dictate the terms or frame the debate (he’ll win, not because he’s right, but because force works). Sure, we can build a better grassroots campaign, cultivate and raise up better leaders, reform the election system to make it failproof, stick to our message, learn from the strategy of the other side. But we absolutely must dispense with the notion that we are weak, godless, cowardly, disorganized, crazy, too liberal, naive, amoral, “loose”, irrelevant, outmoded, stupid and soon to be extinct. We have the mandate of the world to back us, and the legacy of oppressed people throughout history.
Even if you do everything right, they’ll hit you anyway. Look at the poor souls who voted for this nonsense. They are working for six dollars an hour if they are working at all, their children are dying overseas and suffering from lack of health care and a depleted environment and a shoddy education. And they don’t even know they are being hit.
The Politics of Victimization
[Mel Gilles, who has worked for many years as an advocate for victims of domestic abuse, draws some parallels between her work and the reaction of many Democrats to the election.-- Mathew Gross]
Watch Dan Rather apologize for not getting his facts straight, humiliated before the eyes of America, voluntarily undermining his credibility and career of over thirty years. Observe Donna Brazille squirm as she is ridiculed by Bay Buchanan, and pronounced irrelevant and nearly non-existent. Listen as Donna and Nancy Pelosi and Senator Charles Schumer take to the airwaves saying that they have to go back to the drawing board and learn from their mistakes and try to be better, more likable, more appealing, have a stronger message, speak to morality. Watch them awkwardly quote the bible, trying to speak the new language of America. Surf the blogs, and read the comments of dismayed, discombobulated, confused individuals trying to figure out what they did wrong. Hear the cacophony of voices, crying out, “Why did they beat me?”
And then ask anyone who has ever worked in a domestic violence shelter if they have heard this before.
They will tell you, every single day.
The answer is quite simple. They beat us because they are abusers. We can call it hate. We can call it fear. We can say it is unfair. But we are looped into the cycle of violence, and we need to start calling the dominating side what they are: abusive. And we need to recognize that we are the victims of verbal, mental, and even, in the case of Iraq, physical violence.
As victims we can’t stop asking ourselves what we did wrong. We can’t seem to grasp that they will keep hitting us and beating us as long as we keep sticking around and asking ourselves what we are doing to deserve the beating.
Listen to George Bush say that the will of God excuses his behavior. Listen, as he refuses to take responsibility, or express remorse, or even once, admit a mistake. Watch him strut, and tell us that he will only work with those who agree with him, and that each of us is only allowed one question (soon, it will be none at all; abusers hit hard when questioned; the press corps can tell you that). See him surround himself with only those who pledge oaths of allegiance. Hear him tell us that if we will only listen and do as he says and agree with his every utterance, all will go well for us (it won’t; we will never be worthy).
And watch the Democratic Party leadership walk on eggshells, try to meet him, please him, wash the windows better, get out that spot, distance themselves from gays and civil rights. See them cry for the attention and affection and approval of the President and his followers. Watch us squirm. Watch us descend into a world of crazy-making, where logic does not work and the other side tells us we are nuts when we rely on facts. A world where, worst of all, we begin to believe we are crazy.
How to break free? Again, the answer is quite simple.
First, you must admit you are a victim. Then, you must declare the state of affairs unacceptable. Next, you must promise to protect yourself and everyone around you that is being victimized. You don’t do this by responding to their demands, or becoming more like them, or engaging in logical conversation, or trying to persuade them that you are right. You also don’t do this by going catatonic and resigned, by closing up your ears and eyes and covering your head and submitting to the blows, figuring its over faster and hurts less is you don’t resist and fight back. Instead, you walk away. You find other folks like yourself, 56 million of them, who are hurting, broken, and beating themselves up. You tell them what you’ve learned, and that you aren’t going to take it anymore. You stand tall, with 56 million people at your side and behind you, and you look right into the eyes of the abuser and you tell him to go to hell. Then you walk out the door, taking the kids and gays and minorities with you, and you start a new life. The new life is hard. But it’s better than the abuse.
We have a mandate to be as radical and liberal and steadfast as we need to be. The progressive beliefs and social justice we stand for, our core, must not be altered. We are 56 million strong. We are building from the bottom up. We are meeting, on the net, in church basements, at work, in small groups, and right now, we are crying, because we are trying to break free and we don’t know how.
Any battered woman in America, any oppressed person around the globe who has defied her oppressor will tell you this: There is nothing wrong with you. You are in good company. You are safe. You are not alone. You are strong. You must change only one thing: stop responding to the abuser. Don’t let him dictate the terms or frame the debate (he’ll win, not because he’s right, but because force works). Sure, we can build a better grassroots campaign, cultivate and raise up better leaders, reform the election system to make it failproof, stick to our message, learn from the strategy of the other side. But we absolutely must dispense with the notion that we are weak, godless, cowardly, disorganized, crazy, too liberal, naive, amoral, “loose”, irrelevant, outmoded, stupid and soon to be extinct. We have the mandate of the world to back us, and the legacy of oppressed people throughout history.
Even if you do everything right, they’ll hit you anyway. Look at the poor souls who voted for this nonsense. They are working for six dollars an hour if they are working at all, their children are dying overseas and suffering from lack of health care and a depleted environment and a shoddy education. And they don’t even know they are being hit.
# posted by scorpiorising : 6:34 AM |
Sunday, November 21, 2004
Recipe for Fascism
Patriot Act 2, the sequal, will essentially create a police state. Here is a sampling of the act, and analysis of it, from this site:
I challenge all Americans to study the new Patriot Act and to compare it to the Constitution, Bill of Rights and Declaration of Independence. Ninety percent of the act has nothing to do with terrorism and is instead a giant Federal power-grab with tentacles reaching into every facet of our society. It strips American citizens of all of their rights and grants the government and its private agents total immunity. Here is a quick thumbnail sketch of just some of the draconian measures encapsulated within this tyrannical legislation...Alex Jones
SECTION 501 (Expatriation of Terrorists) expands the Bush administration's "enemy combatant" definition to all American citizens who "may" have violated any provision of Section 802 of the first Patriot Act. (Section 802 is the new definition of domestic terrorism, and the definition is "any action that endangers human life that is a violation of any Federal or State law.") Section 501 of the second Patriot Act directly connects to Section 125 of the same act. The Justice Department boldly claims that the incredibly broad Section 802 of the First USA Patriot Act isn't broad enough and that a new, unlimited definition of terrorism is needed.
Under Section 501 a US citizen engaging in lawful activities can be grabbed off the street and thrown into a van never to be seen again. The Justice Department states that they can do this because the person "had inferred from conduct" that they were not a US citizen. Remember Section 802 of the First USA Patriot Act states that any violation of Federal or State law can result in the "enemy combatant" terrorist designation.
SECTION 201 of the second Patriot Act makes it a criminal act for any member of the government or any citizen to release any information concerning the incarceration or whereabouts of detainees. It also states that law enforcement does not even have to tell the press who they have arrested and they never have to release the names.
SECTION 301 and 306 (Terrorist Identification Database) set up a national database of "suspected terrorists" and radically expand the database to include anyone associated with suspected terrorist groups and anyone involved in crimes or having supported any group designated as "terrorist." These sections also set up a national DNA database for anyone on probation or who has been on probation for any crime, and orders State governments to collect the DNA for the Federal government.
SECTION 312 gives immunity to law enforcement engaging in spying operations against the American people and would place substantial restrictions on court injunctions against Federal violations of civil rights across the board.
SECTION 101 will designate individual terrorists as foreign powers and again strip them of all rights under the "enemy combatant" designation.
SECTION 102 states clearly that any information gathering, regardless of whether or not those activities are illegal, can be considered to be clandestine intelligence activities for a foreign power. This makes news gathering illegal.
I challenge all Americans to study the new Patriot Act and to compare it to the Constitution, Bill of Rights and Declaration of Independence. Ninety percent of the act has nothing to do with terrorism and is instead a giant Federal power-grab with tentacles reaching into every facet of our society. It strips American citizens of all of their rights and grants the government and its private agents total immunity. Here is a quick thumbnail sketch of just some of the draconian measures encapsulated within this tyrannical legislation...Alex Jones
SECTION 501 (Expatriation of Terrorists) expands the Bush administration's "enemy combatant" definition to all American citizens who "may" have violated any provision of Section 802 of the first Patriot Act. (Section 802 is the new definition of domestic terrorism, and the definition is "any action that endangers human life that is a violation of any Federal or State law.") Section 501 of the second Patriot Act directly connects to Section 125 of the same act. The Justice Department boldly claims that the incredibly broad Section 802 of the First USA Patriot Act isn't broad enough and that a new, unlimited definition of terrorism is needed.
Under Section 501 a US citizen engaging in lawful activities can be grabbed off the street and thrown into a van never to be seen again. The Justice Department states that they can do this because the person "had inferred from conduct" that they were not a US citizen. Remember Section 802 of the First USA Patriot Act states that any violation of Federal or State law can result in the "enemy combatant" terrorist designation.
SECTION 201 of the second Patriot Act makes it a criminal act for any member of the government or any citizen to release any information concerning the incarceration or whereabouts of detainees. It also states that law enforcement does not even have to tell the press who they have arrested and they never have to release the names.
SECTION 301 and 306 (Terrorist Identification Database) set up a national database of "suspected terrorists" and radically expand the database to include anyone associated with suspected terrorist groups and anyone involved in crimes or having supported any group designated as "terrorist." These sections also set up a national DNA database for anyone on probation or who has been on probation for any crime, and orders State governments to collect the DNA for the Federal government.
SECTION 312 gives immunity to law enforcement engaging in spying operations against the American people and would place substantial restrictions on court injunctions against Federal violations of civil rights across the board.
SECTION 101 will designate individual terrorists as foreign powers and again strip them of all rights under the "enemy combatant" designation.
SECTION 102 states clearly that any information gathering, regardless of whether or not those activities are illegal, can be considered to be clandestine intelligence activities for a foreign power. This makes news gathering illegal.
# posted by scorpiorising : 6:05 PM |
Napalm in Falluja?
This article purports the use of napalm in falluja, and a mass grave containing the bodies of women and children burned to death, just outside of Falluja:
Falluja Women, Children in Mass Grave
Residents of a village neighbouring Falluja have told Aljazeera that they helped bury the bodies of 73 women and children who were burnt to death by a US bombing attack.
"We buried them here, but we could not identify them because they were charred by the use of napalm bombs used by the Americans," said one resident of Saqlawiya in footage aired on Aljazeera on Sunday.
There have been no reports of the US military using napalm in Falluja and no independent verification of the claims.
The resident told Aljazeera all the bodies were buried in a single grave.
Late last week, US troops in Falluja called on some residents who had fled the fighting to return and help bury the dead.
However, according to other residents who managed to flee the fighting after US forces entered the city, hundreds more bodies still lay in the streets and were being fed on by packs of wild dogs.
Danger zone
Meanwhile, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said Falluja remained too dangerous to secure proper retrieval and burial of corpses.
The ICRC and other relief groups
are unable to enter the city
"We could not enter Falluja city so far due to the security measures and the continuing battles," Muain Qasis, ICRC spokesman in Jordan, told Aljazeera.
When asked about the security measures, Qasis said: "In order to carry out an independent and acceptable humanitarian action, we must have guarantees ensuring the safety of the humanitarian staff.
"The humanitarian situation in Falluja city is very difficult.
"The city is still suffering shortage of public services. There is no water or electricity. There is no way to offer medical treatment for the injured families still surrounded inside the city," he added.
Detained civilians released
In related news, the US military in Falluja announced that it had released 400 of the 1450 men it had detained in the war-ravaged city.
"More than 400 detainees have since been released after being deemed non-combatants," the military said, adding that 100 more were due to be released on Sunday.
Falluja Women, Children in Mass Grave
Residents of a village neighbouring Falluja have told Aljazeera that they helped bury the bodies of 73 women and children who were burnt to death by a US bombing attack.
"We buried them here, but we could not identify them because they were charred by the use of napalm bombs used by the Americans," said one resident of Saqlawiya in footage aired on Aljazeera on Sunday.
There have been no reports of the US military using napalm in Falluja and no independent verification of the claims.
The resident told Aljazeera all the bodies were buried in a single grave.
Late last week, US troops in Falluja called on some residents who had fled the fighting to return and help bury the dead.
However, according to other residents who managed to flee the fighting after US forces entered the city, hundreds more bodies still lay in the streets and were being fed on by packs of wild dogs.
Danger zone
Meanwhile, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said Falluja remained too dangerous to secure proper retrieval and burial of corpses.
The ICRC and other relief groups
are unable to enter the city
"We could not enter Falluja city so far due to the security measures and the continuing battles," Muain Qasis, ICRC spokesman in Jordan, told Aljazeera.
When asked about the security measures, Qasis said: "In order to carry out an independent and acceptable humanitarian action, we must have guarantees ensuring the safety of the humanitarian staff.
"The humanitarian situation in Falluja city is very difficult.
"The city is still suffering shortage of public services. There is no water or electricity. There is no way to offer medical treatment for the injured families still surrounded inside the city," he added.
Detained civilians released
In related news, the US military in Falluja announced that it had released 400 of the 1450 men it had detained in the war-ravaged city.
"More than 400 detainees have since been released after being deemed non-combatants," the military said, adding that 100 more were due to be released on Sunday.
# posted by scorpiorising : 5:34 PM |
Saturday, November 20, 2004
A letter to John Kerry
For what it's worth:
Dear Mr. Kerry, I supported you for president of the United States. However, I am deeply disappointed with your actions post election. In your video statement posted on your campaign web site regarding health care for children , you make reference to the post election vote count, when you say, and I quote, "...once all of the votes are counted, and believe me they will be counted" This is a bizarre statement in and of itself, given that you have done little to make sure every vote is being counted. Ken Blackwell, Secretary of State of Ohio, has had his way in terms of delaying the recount with not a peep from you on this, Mr. Kerry. Besides, I never trust anyone who says, "Believe me..." Why should I believe you Mr. Kerry? If you were actually doing the work, you wouldn't have to ask us to believe you; you would be doing the work. I don't hear Beverly Harris asking, "Believe me". She simply does the work, and reports it to us.
So yes, the video and memo appear self-serving. It is a no lose issue for you, Mr. Kerry. You will introduce the legislation on health care for children, and it will likely fail, but you will look like a hero fighting for it. You appear to be moving to consolidate your support for another run. In the meantime...Mr. Kerry, are the votes being counted? Really? You make a statement in the video in support of a reformed election process. If you believe in this post election, Mr. Kerry, why not indicate what exactly is bothering you about this election, Mr. Kerry? Here is your statement from the video: Regardless of the outcome of this election, once all of the votes are counted, and believe me, they will be counted, we will continue to challenge this administration. This is not a time for democrats to retreat and accomodate extremists on critical principals. It is time to stand firm. I'm going to fight for national standards for federal elections, standards that have both transparency and accountability in our voting system. It is unacceptable in the U.S.of A. that people still don't have full confidence in the integrity of the voting process. I ask you to join me in this cause. It is time to stand firm now, and commit your resources to making sure all of the votes are counted, Mr. Kerry, in Ohio, and insure that anomalies are investigated in Florida and elsewhere. If not now when, Mr. Kerry? You know, when you introduce legislation to reform the election process, Mr. Kerry, "they" are going to ask you why you didn't challenge the process directly, if you think it needs reforming, when you had a chance. One the one hand, you ask us to stand firm against extremists, yet what happened to your army of lawyers on the day after the election? Did you turn your boat to face the "enemy"? In what must be a period of evaluation for you, are you realizing just how smart your "enemy" is? Time is running out Mr. Kerry. We only have our democracy to lose.
Dear Mr. Kerry, I supported you for president of the United States. However, I am deeply disappointed with your actions post election. In your video statement posted on your campaign web site regarding health care for children , you make reference to the post election vote count, when you say, and I quote, "...once all of the votes are counted, and believe me they will be counted" This is a bizarre statement in and of itself, given that you have done little to make sure every vote is being counted. Ken Blackwell, Secretary of State of Ohio, has had his way in terms of delaying the recount with not a peep from you on this, Mr. Kerry. Besides, I never trust anyone who says, "Believe me..." Why should I believe you Mr. Kerry? If you were actually doing the work, you wouldn't have to ask us to believe you; you would be doing the work. I don't hear Beverly Harris asking, "Believe me". She simply does the work, and reports it to us.
So yes, the video and memo appear self-serving. It is a no lose issue for you, Mr. Kerry. You will introduce the legislation on health care for children, and it will likely fail, but you will look like a hero fighting for it. You appear to be moving to consolidate your support for another run. In the meantime...Mr. Kerry, are the votes being counted? Really? You make a statement in the video in support of a reformed election process. If you believe in this post election, Mr. Kerry, why not indicate what exactly is bothering you about this election, Mr. Kerry? Here is your statement from the video: Regardless of the outcome of this election, once all of the votes are counted, and believe me, they will be counted, we will continue to challenge this administration. This is not a time for democrats to retreat and accomodate extremists on critical principals. It is time to stand firm. I'm going to fight for national standards for federal elections, standards that have both transparency and accountability in our voting system. It is unacceptable in the U.S.of A. that people still don't have full confidence in the integrity of the voting process. I ask you to join me in this cause. It is time to stand firm now, and commit your resources to making sure all of the votes are counted, Mr. Kerry, in Ohio, and insure that anomalies are investigated in Florida and elsewhere. If not now when, Mr. Kerry? You know, when you introduce legislation to reform the election process, Mr. Kerry, "they" are going to ask you why you didn't challenge the process directly, if you think it needs reforming, when you had a chance. One the one hand, you ask us to stand firm against extremists, yet what happened to your army of lawyers on the day after the election? Did you turn your boat to face the "enemy"? In what must be a period of evaluation for you, are you realizing just how smart your "enemy" is? Time is running out Mr. Kerry. We only have our democracy to lose.
# posted by scorpiorising : 6:23 PM |
Lawyers to file suit in Ohio
From www.freepress.org:
Ohio Presidential Results to be Challenged
by Steven Rosenfeld
November 20, 2004
Ohio’s 2004 presidential vote will be challenged as soon as next week in the state Supreme Court, a coalition of public-interest lawyers announced Friday.
The lawyers have taken sworn testimony from hundreds of people in hearings in Columbus and Cincinnati, and will use excerpts as well as documents obtained from county election officials and Election Day exit polls to make a case that thousands of votes were incorrectly counted or not counted on Election Day.
“The objective is to get to the truth,” said Columbus Ohio lawyer Cliff Arnebeck, coordinator of the Ohio Honest Elections Campaign. “What’s critically important, whether it’s President Bush or Sen. Kerry, whoever’s been elected actually elected, is to know you won by an honest election. So it’s in the interest of both sides as American citizens to know the truth and have this answered.”
The challenge comes as the Green Party has plans to file for a recount of the state’s 2004 presidential vote. The Green Party and the Ohio Honest Elections Campaign both believe the unofficial results announced on Election Day were wrong. Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell has not yet certified the Nov. 2 vote. The state’s election law says an election challenge must show the wrong candidate was been declared the winner, or it can be dismissed without a hearing. The state Supreme Court’s chief justice hears the case.
The Ohio Republican Party dismissed the challenge on Friday, the Associated Press reported, but the coalition announcing it said they were ready to litigate.
“
Ohio Presidential Results to be Challenged
by Steven Rosenfeld
November 20, 2004
Ohio’s 2004 presidential vote will be challenged as soon as next week in the state Supreme Court, a coalition of public-interest lawyers announced Friday.
The lawyers have taken sworn testimony from hundreds of people in hearings in Columbus and Cincinnati, and will use excerpts as well as documents obtained from county election officials and Election Day exit polls to make a case that thousands of votes were incorrectly counted or not counted on Election Day.
“The objective is to get to the truth,” said Columbus Ohio lawyer Cliff Arnebeck, coordinator of the Ohio Honest Elections Campaign. “What’s critically important, whether it’s President Bush or Sen. Kerry, whoever’s been elected actually elected, is to know you won by an honest election. So it’s in the interest of both sides as American citizens to know the truth and have this answered.”
The challenge comes as the Green Party has plans to file for a recount of the state’s 2004 presidential vote. The Green Party and the Ohio Honest Elections Campaign both believe the unofficial results announced on Election Day were wrong. Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell has not yet certified the Nov. 2 vote. The state’s election law says an election challenge must show the wrong candidate was been declared the winner, or it can be dismissed without a hearing. The state Supreme Court’s chief justice hears the case.
The Ohio Republican Party dismissed the challenge on Friday, the Associated Press reported, but the coalition announcing it said they were ready to litigate.
“
# posted by scorpiorising : 6:21 PM |
Black Commentator hits home.
The black commentator has some of the hardest hitting commentary around, regarding the disenfranchisement of possibly millions of voters in the election, and John Kerry Missing In Action from this battle:
The Greens, who don’t stand to win anything except the respect and admiration of all decent people, raised nearly $150,000 in only four days to challenge George Bush’s unofficial 136,000 vote margin in each of Ohio’s poll precincts. Kerry had the same option and plenty of cash on hand ($15 million in unspent campaign funds), but took the Skull and Bones path, fearing a contested outcome might damage the legitimacy of a system that he values just as dearly as his erstwhile opponent, George Bush – Black voters be damned. There is no law against making a concession speech and getting a recount, but oligarchs like Kerry treasure stability above all else – it keeps them on top.
There was a small brouhaha today on Dailykos over an email sent out by Kerry, first with his campaign letterhead, then the same email sent out with his senatorial letterhead. The author of that particular diary on dailykos questioned the legality of using campaign funds for senatorial legislation pr. Valid point. The memo and video, posted on Kerry's campaign web site, promotes Kerry's "sign a pledge" petition to back-up legislation he says he will introduce when the new session starts next year, to provide health care in the U.S. for all children.
The video is a must see for anyone deigning to fathom the mind and soul of John Kerry post-election. In the video, Kerry makes reference to the post election vote count, when he says, and I quote, "...once all of the votes are counted, and believe me they will be counted" This is a bizaar statement in and of itself, given that Kerry has done little to make sure every vote is being counted, and Ken Blackwell, Secretary of State of Ohio, has had his way in terms of delaying the recount with not a peep from Kerry on this.
Besides, I never trust anyone who says, "Believe me..." Why should I believe you Mr. Kerry? If you were actually doing the work, you wouldn't have to ask us to believe you; you would be doing the work. I don't hear Beverly Harris asking, "Believe me". She simply does the work, and reports it to us.
So yes, the video and memo appear self-serving. It is a no lose issue for Kerry. He will introduce the legislation, and it will likely fail, but he will look like a hero fighting for it. He is moving to consolidate his support for another run. In the meantime...Mr. Kerry, are the votes being counted? Really?
He makes a statement in the video in support of a reformed election process. If he believes in this post election, why not indicate what exactly is bothering you about this election, Mr. Kerry?
Here is his statement from the video:
Regardless of the outcome of this election, once all of the votes are counted, and believe me, they will be counted, we will continue to challenge this administration. This is not a time for democrats to retreat and accomodate extremists on critical principals. It is time to stand firm. I'm going to fight for national standards for federal elections, standards that have both transparency and accountability in our voting system. It is unacceptable in the U.S.of A. that people still don't have full confidence in the integrity of the voting process. I ask you to join me in this cause.
It is time to stand firm now, and commit your resources to making sure all of the votes are counted, Mr. Kerry, in Ohio, and anomolies are investigated in Florida and elsewhere. If not now when, Mr. Kerry? You know, when you introduce legislation to reform the election process, Mr. Kerry, "they" are going to ask you why you didn't challenge the process directly, if you think it needs reforming, when you had a chance. Time is running out Mr. Kerry. We only have our democracy to lose.
The Greens, who don’t stand to win anything except the respect and admiration of all decent people, raised nearly $150,000 in only four days to challenge George Bush’s unofficial 136,000 vote margin in each of Ohio’s poll precincts. Kerry had the same option and plenty of cash on hand ($15 million in unspent campaign funds), but took the Skull and Bones path, fearing a contested outcome might damage the legitimacy of a system that he values just as dearly as his erstwhile opponent, George Bush – Black voters be damned. There is no law against making a concession speech and getting a recount, but oligarchs like Kerry treasure stability above all else – it keeps them on top.
There was a small brouhaha today on Dailykos over an email sent out by Kerry, first with his campaign letterhead, then the same email sent out with his senatorial letterhead. The author of that particular diary on dailykos questioned the legality of using campaign funds for senatorial legislation pr. Valid point. The memo and video, posted on Kerry's campaign web site, promotes Kerry's "sign a pledge" petition to back-up legislation he says he will introduce when the new session starts next year, to provide health care in the U.S. for all children.
The video is a must see for anyone deigning to fathom the mind and soul of John Kerry post-election. In the video, Kerry makes reference to the post election vote count, when he says, and I quote, "...once all of the votes are counted, and believe me they will be counted" This is a bizaar statement in and of itself, given that Kerry has done little to make sure every vote is being counted, and Ken Blackwell, Secretary of State of Ohio, has had his way in terms of delaying the recount with not a peep from Kerry on this.
Besides, I never trust anyone who says, "Believe me..." Why should I believe you Mr. Kerry? If you were actually doing the work, you wouldn't have to ask us to believe you; you would be doing the work. I don't hear Beverly Harris asking, "Believe me". She simply does the work, and reports it to us.
So yes, the video and memo appear self-serving. It is a no lose issue for Kerry. He will introduce the legislation, and it will likely fail, but he will look like a hero fighting for it. He is moving to consolidate his support for another run. In the meantime...Mr. Kerry, are the votes being counted? Really?
He makes a statement in the video in support of a reformed election process. If he believes in this post election, why not indicate what exactly is bothering you about this election, Mr. Kerry?
Here is his statement from the video:
Regardless of the outcome of this election, once all of the votes are counted, and believe me, they will be counted, we will continue to challenge this administration. This is not a time for democrats to retreat and accomodate extremists on critical principals. It is time to stand firm. I'm going to fight for national standards for federal elections, standards that have both transparency and accountability in our voting system. It is unacceptable in the U.S.of A. that people still don't have full confidence in the integrity of the voting process. I ask you to join me in this cause.
It is time to stand firm now, and commit your resources to making sure all of the votes are counted, Mr. Kerry, in Ohio, and anomolies are investigated in Florida and elsewhere. If not now when, Mr. Kerry? You know, when you introduce legislation to reform the election process, Mr. Kerry, "they" are going to ask you why you didn't challenge the process directly, if you think it needs reforming, when you had a chance. Time is running out Mr. Kerry. We only have our democracy to lose.
# posted by scorpiorising : 9:16 AM |
Destroying evidence in Florida
Thom Hartmann, in this article, shares a remarkable account regarding Beverly Harris's efforts, www.blackboxvoting.org, in Volusia County, Florida. She found garbage bags full of original computer tapes from the evoting machines:
Bev showed up bright and early the morning of Wednesday the 17th - well before the scheduled meeting - and discovered three of the elections officials in the Elections Warehouse standing over a table covered with what looked like poll tapes. When they saw Bev and her friends, Bev told me in a telephone interview less than an hour later, "They immediately shoved us out and slammed the door."
In a way, that was a blessing, because it led to the stinking evidence.
"On the porch was a garbage bag," Bev said, "and so I looked in it and, and lo and behold, there were public record tapes."
Thrown away. Discarded. Waiting to be hauled off.
"It was technically stinking, in fact," Bev added, "because what they had done was to have thrown some of their polling tapes, which are the official records of the election, into the garbage. These were the ones signed by the poll workers. These are something we had done an official public records request for."
When the elections officials inside realized that the people outside were going through the trash, they called the police and one came out to challenge Bev.
Kathleen Wynne, a www.blackboxvoting.org investigator, was there.
"We caught the whole thing on videotape," she said. "I don't think you'll ever see anything like this - Bev Harris having a tug of war with an election worker over a bag of garbage, and he held onto it and she pulled on it, and it split right open, spilling out those poll tapes. They were throwing away our democracy, and Bev wasn't going to let them do it."
...and local news in Volusia county is beginning to take notice of Beverly Harris:
Watchdog Group Focuses on Optical Scan Voting
By CINDY F. CRAWFORD
Staff Writer
Last update: November 19, 2004
After finding voting documents from Nov. 2 in trash cans behind two county buildings, a national watchdog group has named Volusia County one of its top priorities for investigation in the country.
Bev Harris, founder of Black Box Voting, a Seattle-based organization of elections activists, said Thursday her group is forming a team of investigators and attorneys to look into possible voting irregularities in Volusia County.
Their interest was piqued when representatives found polling place tapes, which show a printed record of ballots fed into optical scanning machines, in the garbage at the Department of Elections' warehouse on State Road 44 in DeLand and at the office behind the county administration building in downtown DeLand.
"Finding the tape in the garbage was beyond comical," Harris said in a phone interview. "The American people want an answer."
Elections Supervisor Deanie Lowe said the tapes were duplicates and the originals are still available for anyone to see. She said the duplicates provide a backup voting record as a safeguard.
Today, Black Box Voting representatives plan to officially request a hand-count in Volusia County to see the ballots in at least 50 precincts. That could involve election officials holding up thousands of ballots individually for those in the audience to see.
The exact precincts have not been listed, so the number counted could vary.
Black Box Voting has requested voting records from election offices in every county in the country, but has focused on the counties that use a specific type of optical scanning machine, Harris said. Thousands of volunteers have signed up to audit those records and make sure election totals match voter tallies on polling place tapes.
Representatives picked up 1,115 copies of Volusia County's receipt-like tapes late Wednesday. They paid $127 for the documents.
Black Box Voting could use the information to challenge an election, Harris said.
cindy.crawford@news-jrnl.com
Bev showed up bright and early the morning of Wednesday the 17th - well before the scheduled meeting - and discovered three of the elections officials in the Elections Warehouse standing over a table covered with what looked like poll tapes. When they saw Bev and her friends, Bev told me in a telephone interview less than an hour later, "They immediately shoved us out and slammed the door."
In a way, that was a blessing, because it led to the stinking evidence.
"On the porch was a garbage bag," Bev said, "and so I looked in it and, and lo and behold, there were public record tapes."
Thrown away. Discarded. Waiting to be hauled off.
"It was technically stinking, in fact," Bev added, "because what they had done was to have thrown some of their polling tapes, which are the official records of the election, into the garbage. These were the ones signed by the poll workers. These are something we had done an official public records request for."
When the elections officials inside realized that the people outside were going through the trash, they called the police and one came out to challenge Bev.
Kathleen Wynne, a www.blackboxvoting.org investigator, was there.
"We caught the whole thing on videotape," she said. "I don't think you'll ever see anything like this - Bev Harris having a tug of war with an election worker over a bag of garbage, and he held onto it and she pulled on it, and it split right open, spilling out those poll tapes. They were throwing away our democracy, and Bev wasn't going to let them do it."
...and local news in Volusia county is beginning to take notice of Beverly Harris:
Watchdog Group Focuses on Optical Scan Voting
By CINDY F. CRAWFORD
Staff Writer
Last update: November 19, 2004
After finding voting documents from Nov. 2 in trash cans behind two county buildings, a national watchdog group has named Volusia County one of its top priorities for investigation in the country.
Bev Harris, founder of Black Box Voting, a Seattle-based organization of elections activists, said Thursday her group is forming a team of investigators and attorneys to look into possible voting irregularities in Volusia County.
Their interest was piqued when representatives found polling place tapes, which show a printed record of ballots fed into optical scanning machines, in the garbage at the Department of Elections' warehouse on State Road 44 in DeLand and at the office behind the county administration building in downtown DeLand.
"Finding the tape in the garbage was beyond comical," Harris said in a phone interview. "The American people want an answer."
Elections Supervisor Deanie Lowe said the tapes were duplicates and the originals are still available for anyone to see. She said the duplicates provide a backup voting record as a safeguard.
Today, Black Box Voting representatives plan to officially request a hand-count in Volusia County to see the ballots in at least 50 precincts. That could involve election officials holding up thousands of ballots individually for those in the audience to see.
The exact precincts have not been listed, so the number counted could vary.
Black Box Voting has requested voting records from election offices in every county in the country, but has focused on the counties that use a specific type of optical scanning machine, Harris said. Thousands of volunteers have signed up to audit those records and make sure election totals match voter tallies on polling place tapes.
Representatives picked up 1,115 copies of Volusia County's receipt-like tapes late Wednesday. They paid $127 for the documents.
Black Box Voting could use the information to challenge an election, Harris said.
cindy.crawford@news-jrnl.com
# posted by scorpiorising : 7:22 AM |
Friday, November 19, 2004
"Someone must investigate..."
Yesterday and today are busy days for election fraud news. First, this study was published yesterday by University of California at Berkley:
http://www.commondreams.org/news2004/1118-14.htm
The three counties where the voting anomalies were most prevalent were also the most heavily Democratic: Broward, Palm Beach and Miami-Dade, respectively. Statistical patterns in counties that did not have e-touch voting machines predict a 28,000 vote decrease in President Bush's support in Broward County; machines tallied an increase of 51,000 votes - a net gain of 81,000 for the incumbent. President Bush should have lost 8,900 votes in Palm Beach County, but instead gained 41,000 - a difference of 49,900. He should have gained only 18,400 votes in Miami-Dade County but saw a gain of 37,000 - a difference of 19,300 votes.
"For the sake of all future elections involving electronic voting - someone must investigate and explain the statistical anomalies in Florida," says Professor Michael Hout. "We're calling on voting officials in Florida to take action."
The research team is comprised of doctoral students and faculty in the UC Berkeley sociology department, and led by Sociology Professor Michael Hout, a nationally-known expert on statistical methods and a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the UC Berkeley Survey Research Center.
Here, Keith Olbermann weighs in on the study:
Without attempting to crack the methodology, it’s clear the researchers claim they’ve compensated for all the bugaboos that hampered the usefulness of previous studies of the county voting results in Florida. They’ve weighted the thing to allow for an individual county’s voting record in both the 2000 and 1996 elections (throwing out the ‘Dixiecrat’ effect), to wash out issues like the varying Hispanic populations, median income, voter turnout change, and the different numbers of people voting in each county.
And they say that when you calculate all that, you are forced to conclude that compared to the Florida counties that used paper ballots, the ones that used electronic voting machines were much more likely to show “excessive votes” for Mr. Bush, and that the statistical odds of this happening organically are less than one in 1,000.
They also say that these “excessives” occurred most prominently in counties where Senator Kerry beat the President most handily. In the Democratic bastion of Broward, where Kerry won by roughly 105,000, they suggest the touch-screens “gave” the President 72,000 more votes than statistical consistency should have allowed. In Miami-Dade (Kerry by 55,000) they saw 19,300 more votes for Bush than expected. In Palm Beach (Kerry by 115,000) they claim Bush got 50,000 more votes than possible.
Hout and his research team consistently insisted they were not alleging that voting was rigged, nor even that what they’ve found actually affected the direction of Florida’s 27 Electoral Votes. They point out that in a worst-case scenario, they see 260,000 “excessives” - and Bush took the state by 350,000 votes. But they insist that based on Florida’s voting patterns in 1996 and 2000, the margin cannot be explained by successful get-out-the-vote campaigns, or income variables, or anything but something rotten in the touch screens.
It’s deep-woods mathematics, and it cries out for people who speak the language and can refute or confirm its value. Kim Zetter, who did an excellent work-up for "Wired News,"got the responses you’d expect from both sides. She quotes Susan Van Houten of Palm Beach’s Coalition for Election Reform as saying “I’ve believed the same thing for a while, that the numbers are screwy, and it looks like they proved it.” She quotes Jill Friedman-Wilson of the touch-screen manufacturer Election Systems & Software (their machines were in use in Broward and Miami-Dade) as responding “If you consider real-world experience, we know that ES&S’ touch-screen voting system has been proven in thousands of elections throughout the country.”
More news later.
http://www.commondreams.org/news2004/1118-14.htm
The three counties where the voting anomalies were most prevalent were also the most heavily Democratic: Broward, Palm Beach and Miami-Dade, respectively. Statistical patterns in counties that did not have e-touch voting machines predict a 28,000 vote decrease in President Bush's support in Broward County; machines tallied an increase of 51,000 votes - a net gain of 81,000 for the incumbent. President Bush should have lost 8,900 votes in Palm Beach County, but instead gained 41,000 - a difference of 49,900. He should have gained only 18,400 votes in Miami-Dade County but saw a gain of 37,000 - a difference of 19,300 votes.
"For the sake of all future elections involving electronic voting - someone must investigate and explain the statistical anomalies in Florida," says Professor Michael Hout. "We're calling on voting officials in Florida to take action."
The research team is comprised of doctoral students and faculty in the UC Berkeley sociology department, and led by Sociology Professor Michael Hout, a nationally-known expert on statistical methods and a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the UC Berkeley Survey Research Center.
Here, Keith Olbermann weighs in on the study:
Without attempting to crack the methodology, it’s clear the researchers claim they’ve compensated for all the bugaboos that hampered the usefulness of previous studies of the county voting results in Florida. They’ve weighted the thing to allow for an individual county’s voting record in both the 2000 and 1996 elections (throwing out the ‘Dixiecrat’ effect), to wash out issues like the varying Hispanic populations, median income, voter turnout change, and the different numbers of people voting in each county.
And they say that when you calculate all that, you are forced to conclude that compared to the Florida counties that used paper ballots, the ones that used electronic voting machines were much more likely to show “excessive votes” for Mr. Bush, and that the statistical odds of this happening organically are less than one in 1,000.
They also say that these “excessives” occurred most prominently in counties where Senator Kerry beat the President most handily. In the Democratic bastion of Broward, where Kerry won by roughly 105,000, they suggest the touch-screens “gave” the President 72,000 more votes than statistical consistency should have allowed. In Miami-Dade (Kerry by 55,000) they saw 19,300 more votes for Bush than expected. In Palm Beach (Kerry by 115,000) they claim Bush got 50,000 more votes than possible.
Hout and his research team consistently insisted they were not alleging that voting was rigged, nor even that what they’ve found actually affected the direction of Florida’s 27 Electoral Votes. They point out that in a worst-case scenario, they see 260,000 “excessives” - and Bush took the state by 350,000 votes. But they insist that based on Florida’s voting patterns in 1996 and 2000, the margin cannot be explained by successful get-out-the-vote campaigns, or income variables, or anything but something rotten in the touch screens.
It’s deep-woods mathematics, and it cries out for people who speak the language and can refute or confirm its value. Kim Zetter, who did an excellent work-up for "Wired News,"got the responses you’d expect from both sides. She quotes Susan Van Houten of Palm Beach’s Coalition for Election Reform as saying “I’ve believed the same thing for a while, that the numbers are screwy, and it looks like they proved it.” She quotes Jill Friedman-Wilson of the touch-screen manufacturer Election Systems & Software (their machines were in use in Broward and Miami-Dade) as responding “If you consider real-world experience, we know that ES&S’ touch-screen voting system has been proven in thousands of elections throughout the country.”
More news later.
# posted by scorpiorising : 8:00 AM |
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