RAW STORY breaks open the Carter/Baker Election Reform Commission hoodwink!
Frontpage headline screamer:
CONTROVERSY SWIRLS AROUND BAKER-CARTER ELECTORAL REFORM PANEL, STACKED WITH GOP VETERANS; CARTER CENTER DENIES ROLE; SECRET SERVICE QUESTIONS; KERRY CAMP: ‘DISHONEST’
From RAW Reporter Larisa Alexandrovna’s Exclusive:
- Deep GOP, partisan and Voting Machine Company entanglement in formation of Commission!
- Unauthorized use of the Carter Center name by the Commission on all of its literature though Carter Center says they will have no involvement whatsoever with Commission!
- Commission hold hearings in separate room from audience who may only watch via closed-circuit TV!
- Background security checks required for audience members by Commission, denied by Secret Service!
- As well, BRAD BLOG has learned that the Commission has given the reason for separating audience from Commission is due to Secret Service security concerns. However, as of yet, we have been unable to confirm any such Secret Service request that any such directive came from them! (Warren County anyone?)
Velvet Revolution (an organization comprised of nearly 100 real Election Reform and Voting Rights groups and co-founded by BRAD BLOG author, Brad Friedman) issued a press release on March 30th, calling for Baker to immediately step down from this commission.
VR has now launched an action to allow citizens to contact Carter and the rest of the Commission to let them know we’ve had enough boondoggling of our democracy! Click here to send Email to Carter & the Commission! Say no to Baker & his anti-Reform cronies!
For more information on the “non-partisan” tax-exempt ACVR scam and the snakeoil salesmen who invented it, Bush/Cheney ’04 National General Counsel Mark F. “Thor” Hearne and RNC Communications Director Jim Dyke, please see BRAD BLOG’s full Special Coverage of the “American Center for Voting Rights” at https://BradBlog.com/ACVR.
Story is up now!
We want Conyers on the commission … we want Conyers … we want Conyers … we want Conyers … we want Conyers … we want Conyers … we want Conyers … we want Conyers …
Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive!!
we want Conyers, we want Conyers, we want Conyers!!!
I’ve read the story and am still not clear on whether President Carter is participating in the commission, even if the Carter Center isn’t.
Is there any way for ordinary citizens to contact him about this? I would really, really like to know what’s going on . . .
"Baker’s assistant slammed the phone down without comment."
Woo Hooooo! Excellent Larisa!!!
I used this fax number to write to him last week, when news of the "commission" came out.
http://www.democraticundergroun...opic_id=352880
CS –
Still working on an Email Webletter blast to Carter and the rest of the commission. To be launched via VelvetRevolution.us soon! Tonight or tomorrow latest!
Stay tuned…
Let ACVR know what you think of them:
http://www.ac4vr.com/contact/index.html
I told them straight up I think they are frauds and traitors, and we’re not going to take it any more!
James A Baker’s lawyer on the ground in Florida 2000 was none other than UN nominee John Bolton
according to this story John Bolton Vs. Democracy
"I’m with the Bush-Cheney team, and I’m here to stop the count."
JAMES A BAKER (III) Vs. DEMOCRACY
People have to get rid of Baker. He can NOT be on this. He will just descredit all the hard work other groups have done. :angry: They’re using Carter so they can do that. I’m sure Carter means well but trusting BAKER?! BAKER?! I don’t think so. Conyers would be great and if he wants a non-partisan person why not David Cobb or Cliff Arnebeck?
OMG! This is ONE HOT STORY!! Amazing work Brad.
The Raw Story is a little confusing. Are all people going to be pre-screened – including those who just want to be seated in the large auditorium – or is that screening just for those who want to be seated in the Kay Center? Will anyone be able to attend or will it be another "private Republican only" public event?
So, IS Jimmy Carter going to be on the panel or not? Even if he is, what chance does this lone, elderly Democrat have against the ruthless NeoCON gang he’ll be sitting with? NONE.
I don’t know if I found this link (below) here or not (there are so many folks commenting and providing links here on Bradblog :huge grin:, that I may have missed it.) Whatever — I’m pasting it here, because it’s more about the segregation we’re realizing lately.
From New Jersey D-Senator Jon Corzine’s website:
Trying to get a ticket to see VP Cheney @ Burlington County College
By Mitch
Posted on Wed Apr 13, 2005 at 05:18:03 PM EST
Late last night I learned that Vice President Dick Cheney is holding a Town Meeting on Social Security at Burlington County College on Friday. Courier Post Article
Last month, President Bush held a similar Social Security "open forum" in Westfield, where tickets were only distributed to a pre-approved list of supporters through the White House and through Congressman Ferguson’s office.
I wanted to find out if this was more of the same, if Dick Cheney is also going to hand pick his audience, or if there was any possibility getting a ticket so I could ask some of the REAL QUESTIONS about the Social Security Plan.
First, I called Burlington County College to see if the event hosts had information about tickets for the Town Hall Meeting. I was told that the College has nothing to do with ticketing for the event. All that the operator at BCC knew was that it is a CLOSED EVENT that is strictly INVITE ONLY, great concept for an "open forum."
My next step was to contact the White House, surely the Vice President’s office would be able to point me in the right direction. After being transferred around a few times, I reached the press desk of the Vice President where I was told that tickets are only available from a NJ Congressman.
I called Mike Ferguson (R-7) only to reach his voicemail in the middle of the work day. I guess he’s too busy taking money from Tom Delay. So even though he’s not my Representative, I decided to call Frank Pallone’s (D-6) office. At the very least, I know they would take my call. I was told that only Republican members have tickets for this event. That doesn’t seem very democratic. I understand the need for some degree of screening to make sure that the audience does not have any malicious characters trying to disrupt the forum, but isn’t that the reason that we let our US Congressmen hand out the tickets? Pallone’s office told me that they never get any tickets to events with Bush and Cheney. So how does a regular citizen like myself gain access to one of these Town Hall Open Forums?
Back to the phones, I gave Congressman Ferguson’s Washington office a call, only to be redirected to the NJ office. Ring…Ring…Ring… Still no answer from Ferguson’s NJ office. Well it is 4:30pm, maybe they closed up early today? Maybe this is an attempt to readdress the 40 hour work week? One more call into Ferguson’s office at 4:40pm and someone finally picks up the phone… only to have no idea what I was talking about. "Wow, VP Cheney is coming to New Jersey on Friday! This is the first I’ve heard of it." I’m glad to know that communication flows viscously through the Republican party. Maybe this is why "Dump Mike" is catching on in NJ’s 7th Congressional District.
My only other idea was to try to contact the Republican County Organization for Burlington County, with less than 10 minutes left in the work day, I’ve been told that Congressman Jim Saxton (R-3) is the only game in town for tickets to VP Cheney’s Town Hall Meeting. After a snicker about calling their office at 5 minutes to 5:00pm, Congressman Saxton’s representative took my name and address and told me that there are only 200 seats in the room and that Saxton’s constituents would have first access to any tickets delivered to their offices tomorrow afternoon. She said she would cross her fingers for me and hope that I get a ticket to attend VP Cheney’s open forum. I told her my story of searching around all day for the proper channel to get tickets and was told that Congressmen Smith and LoBiondo would also have tickets available for distribution tomorrow. My fingers will remain crossed through the night.
Mitch Manzella
NJ for Democracy
Now that I’ve done the research, try and get your ticket!
Saxton’s Press Release about Cheney’s Visit
Congressman Saxton : (609) 261-5800
Congressman Smith : (609) 585-7878
Congressman LoBiondo : (609) 625-5008
##########
And today — Congressman Rob Andrews, D-1st of Haddon Heights, represents a portion of Burlington County, but he said he has not been offered the chance to distribute any tickets for the BCC event.
"The fact that the president’s plan has little public support shows why Cheney is speaking in front of a biased audience," Andrews said. "The way you make good policy is to ask people who agree with you and people who don’t agree with you."
(Congressman Andrews provided this link to an article published in the Burlington County Times: Cheney schedules second visit to the county
…Although Friday’s meeting is to be held at a taxpayer-funded public college, White House officials said yesterday tickets to the event would be available only from three Republican congressmen.
The three are Jim Saxton, R-3rd of Mount Holly, Chris Smith, R-4th of Robbinsville, and Frank LoBiondo, R-2nd of Vineland.
The same invitation-only access policy for the BCC event has been followed at other meetings held by the administration in its self-proclaimed "60 stops in 60 days" Social Security public-awareness campaign.
##################
Grrrrrrr!
Attention DKos regulars: Rec these 2 diaries covering Brad’s coverage and related issues:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2.../14/16319/6975
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2.../14/19449/8824
Try to get them in the Recommended Diaries section!
Awright BeJammin! There’s a link provided at the DKos site that takes you to Independent Media Source – all set up so you can send emails to 391 National Media contacts to tell them to COVER THE FRAUD STORIES (dammit!!) – expletive mine 😀
Let’s do it!
This is not good news for me, is it?
Absolutely outrageous. Not to mention compounding fraud with fraud and then advertising it fraudulently. These racketeers must NOT escape the consequences of their actions. I was going to say I’d feel more "secure" under Mafia rule, but then it occurred to me that this whole scenario is pure Cosa Nostra…minus the accent.
Banana Republic*cons – You said it Peg C.
And #14 – Shoeless Joe Stalin
Hahah LMAO!
Brad, soon as they pick a new pope I’m gonna ask about getting you canonized.
Soooo…. Who has a VR magnet on her/his car ??
Kira #13, I don’t see the link you mentioned – can you paste it here or describe it some more?
#18 Bejammin
LOL ok, got the hint!
Bejammin #19
Vote Integrity -Independent Media Source
Comment #12… The reason it seems confusing with regard to the Carter Center is because there does seem to be confusion on the part of the players. Carter is attending. The Carter Center is NOT sponsoring it.
As for background checks, only people going into the small room will require a background check. Everyone else need not provide information past what they provided in their application. The reason AU is asking in advance if people wish to attend the small room is because AU wants to be ready in case there are "no shows" and if that happens, they will pull people from the Kay Center into the small room. Hope that clears it up. I think the confusion comes out of so many sides telling a different story, but I hope I have cleared it up.
Thank you, Larisa. No kidding – about so many sides telling different stories. Could eventually be their downfall – one could only hope!
Let’s keep the light focused on this squirming GOP snake pit!
O.K.
OTOTOT, etc. IN THE CRIMINAL ABSENSE OF AN OPEN THREAD:
Remember Wolfowitz’s PNAC analysis – that "we need a ‘Pearl Harbor’ event" to trigger the nationalistic fervor to make going to war acceptable? Well, they manufactured their Pearl Harbor with the invaluable assistance of Mossad. Via "What Really Happened," I came upon this mind-boggler, which the MSM has NEVER reported but the NYPD must be all too aware of (damnation on them for their silence on the matter, no matter who ordered it). Link here.
I apologize for this OT post, but in the absense of an Open Thread, a necessary commodity on an active blog, I must intrude.
There have been other, absolutely spellbinding and galvanizing issues addressed today. Links below to environmental Last Days:
Mark Morford: Earth to Humankind: Back Off
J.H. Kunstler: The Long Emergency
Curses! Carter should distance himself from this travesty. His secular sainthood is in dire jeopardy. Our wondrous "Democrat" has some ‘splainin’ to do.
COMMENT #18 [link]
…Bejammin075 said on 4/14/2005 @ 8:19pm PT…
"Soooo…. Who has a VR magnet on her/his car ?? "
Benjammin:
I put my credit card down for one but never received it.
Filibuster Alert
I am wondering if the filibuster wars will make it relevant only to try election reform at the state level (Ohio and Florida) because the congress will be shut down in judicial/filibuster wars?
For quite a while I have been mentioning that Chief Justice Rhinequist has been concerned about congressional intent to have a major impact on the judiciary. I linked to this article which explains the concern.
He has been aware of the background talk that has led DeLay into comments derogatory to the judiciary and his feigned apology yesterday.
But the neocon movement is so strong that the filibuster (link here) will probably be removed. At least there will be a herculean attempt to change the Senate rules to ban filibusters (link here).
I live outside DC, I went to AU for grad school. If anyone can tell me when and how to attend I will be most interested to do so.
Miss Persistent #32 Attend what … sorry I missed it …
Kira #21 – Thanks!
The site is great – sending 400 emails to the media has never been easier! I encourage everyone to do it.
Dredd #31
They’re not trying to remove the filibuster all together, just for "judicial nominations".. so they can ram the judges in. The Repugnecons know full well they use the filibuster too (look at the GA situation where the Repugs are filibustering there), they just want their religious zelots on the bench ASAP.. At least, based on a post in the comments to one of your links, the charge they are trying to make is Dems just don’t like "people of faith" when the fact of the matter is more "when you state your policy is based on the bible, you show you can’t be trusted to seperate church and state as mandated by our Constitution".. Frist and DeLay also want to repeal laws that prevent Clergy from running for office ..
I’ve been feeling so disillusioned lately (just heard a Washington congressman on a radio interview today, for example, talking about "smoke-filled room" secret meetings between Dick Cheney, et al., and the oil magnates. He gave an example of what came out of this meeting: Exxon, which had an $8.4 BILLION year, is going to be given over 8 billion of our tax dollars, obtensibly for research for new energy sources -they’re already ripping the planet off, and they’re being subsidized for it – this is Fascism, by definition). It’s a hopeless feeling.
When I checked into this blog, and scanned through Brad’s latest entries, I must admit, I felt just glimmer of hope. Maybe, just maybe, this Neofascist propaganda machine is starting to show some cracks.
THANK GOD for the Internet! Where in the hell would we be without it? We’d never have heard of Clint Curtis, and he’d probably be "suicided" by now without it. Brad, you’re exposing some incredibly important stuff here on your blog, and I’m damned grateful for it!
Any election reform commission should be INVESTIGATING James Baker, not have him as a member of it. He can’t partake in bringing about the solution when he’s part of the problem.
Bob #26
On what planet is it reasonable to give the people who do -not- want "renewable energy" and only know "oil" money to find "new energy sources"??????????!??!?!?!!?!??!?!?
does anyone else think that Univiersities, Colleges and other places that do general research ‘might’ be a better place to put tax dollars? instead of in the hands of rich bastards who have no motivation to do the actual research? and who would be ‘branching out to new areas’ compared to what they do now?
This kind of crap makes me sick..
On a good note.. I heard Letterman made some quip about Bush and "grand theft election" or something.. perhaps the MSM will start talking about this a bit more now.
I agree with you Diane (#29), Al Franken is a big disappointment in regards to the vote fraud issue. As is David Corn, Joe Conason, Jon Stewart, Bill Maher, etc. Why are the liberals who have a voice so quiet on this topic?
As for Keith Olbermann, he now blogs on more important issues like steroids in baseball.
Huh….yeah…right…
Why isn’t Air America on this story every hour of every day??? I don’t listen 24/7…but I haven’t heard more than a passing comment. Good God …we finally have a voice…why aren’t we screamimg!!! Voter fraud and fair elections should be the primary topic on Air America…until the Dem "leadership"gets it. We don’t have much time with Ahhnold/Rove trying to pull a fast one in Ca..
I enjoy Al Franken’s show but he and his guests have got to stop talking about how/why we lost the election. Brad should be a regular guest…bumper music and all.
What ever happened to Keith Olbermann?? I guess I was deluding myself to think he really cared ….
Alison, Diane, I agree as well. The Left talks a lot about the cognitive dissonance on the Right, but when it comes to vote fraud, they’ve got their heads in the sand. Thankfully, Randi Rhodes gets it. I haven’t heard a lot on her show lately about it, but she’s not afraid to scream from the rooftops.
Bejammino, Alison et al. I am new to blogging …so forgive my rambling. I am just so damn frustrated!! Where is the advertising for Air America in So. Ca.?! They should have ads painted on buses and on banners towed from airplanes up and down the coast. I live by the beach (the real fake O.C) and see banners all the time. It might be a good way to advertise links to "election reform" sites. I would put $$$ in the pot if it were organized….Hmmm on second thought flying that plane might be a bit risky considering the RW wackos.
I’m thinking of a bumper sticker:
STOP FAKE NEWS. ORG
Democracy Now.org
Progressive Radio
AM 1150 AM 1360
Suggestions???
I can’t be too "in your face" in my neighborhood or it will backfire.
I heard a Marine say he had his Marine Corps sticker and a bumper sticker on his car that says "Support our troops…Not Corporate Fascism"
Love it!!
Diane, I think the Velvet Revolution magnets look spiffy. I don’t have one yet, but I’m going to get one. It doesn’t say exactly what it is about on the sticker, so it’s not in your face. Since VR is an umbrella group, I think it would make sense for as many people as possible to all get VR magnets. If enough people have them, it will get people wondering what it is.
Hi, Diane #29 – Yes, "the status quo has got to go". The "old-timers" have not helped democracy. They are doing the same old, same old, that helped get everyone get into the current mess with Bushco. Time for new faces, new voices (i.e., Brad and the VR coalition), new leaders (i.e., Conyers) and others who are quite capable. People who want to be "politicians" should NOT be holding positions in government. People who want change for the better and have talents and energy to create this change, who want to work with other people with talent, ideas, courage and integrity – these are the people you want running your towns, states and federal government. It’s time for a huge new broom, to sweep out all the old names and faces, who HAVE FAILED the counrty because they are so busy being politicians, instead of intellligent and moral leaders for America. And I mean both parties, Dems. and Repubs. Maybe it’s time for Nader, the Greens. The situation definitely could not be worse with new people running the country.
Hi, Bejammin075 #39 – speaking of VR as an umbrella group, I was thinking it could include two new groups: (a) Bring the troops home, out of Iraq and (b) Environmental groups. It seems to me that all these groups have concerns in common with (1) the Bushco election corporate body and (2) Media reform. VR is the "town hall", where people gather to get informed, get organized and work with like-minded people who refuse to accept what is going on and intend that positive, permanent changes are made for the benefit of America and ultimately, the world. P.S. I’m looking forward to receiving my bumper plate, too. Will "wear" it proudly.
It’s my daughter’s birthday today…think I’ll get her a VR magnet when I order mine. Come to think of it, my sister’s birthday is coming up soon. I bet they make great stocking stuffers too…
Keith Olbermann simply got scared and backed off the story when it became too real. He probably got warned off of it. It was simply too big for him. He’s a lightweight.
Conyers doesn’t need to be on this commission. He needs to announce that it’s worthless!
Thay just need to scratch this commission entirely. It’s another fraud, a sham. Any election reform group that even considers offering a seat to James Baker is, by definition, a neocon propaganda platform.
I love Peg C.’s comments. This administration is really very much like the Mafia. They don’t hear criticism, they seek to eliminate all enemies, and they have no scruples whatsoever.
La Cosa Nostra thrived in Sicily because the enemy was the state, i.e., people who wanted to arrest them for petty crimes. Since the state was seen as more dangerous than the petty criminals, the Mafia grew as an extension of a populist movement.
The situation in our country is altogether different. If George W. Bush is a populist, I’m a snowman. But the tactics his adminstration uses are similar to those of La Cosa Nostra…the "us against them" mind-set in particular.