Justice Department to monitor Tennessee elections

When I read this all can think about are the DNC's statements before the '04 election that they had set aside great gobs of money and retained lawyers to make sure that '02 did not happen again. What did they actually do? Absolutely nothing' - say it again.

'00 did not happen again in '04 ... '04 was far more corrupt, and they knew they could not rely on the Supreme Court to appoint Bush again ... and they did things no one on that crew believed (still?) can happen in America.

Do not look for a repeat this time either ... it will be different ... these are not idiots we are dealing with ... skilled criminals is a better description.

There are a thousand ways to hack the vote, so they do not need to repeat the same thing ... which would make it easier to track.

I started to read this DNC statement, had to shoot up some meth, still couldn't stay awake... Why doesn't the DNC hire some Republicans to write simple messages for them? Kee-rist!

I have to believe that things will be different this time. This article brings to mind the movie Grapes of Wrath, where the troublemakers were quietly dispensed with while the decent people carried on. The bushies have gotten away with their criminal acts because, for one thing, people just couldn't believe what was going on. Besides, criminals are no smarter than any other group of professionals and now that people are all "feeling the pain" they are not going to put up with it. Furthermore, if this election is anywhere near the political tsunami that is being predicted, none of their tactics that rely on "close" elections will work. On the other hand, if they manage to steal the election again, I would start watching for an American insurgency that this kind of overt corruption will undoubtedly foment. Not that that is a desirable thing ... it's just inevitable. Surely some of our smarter leaders can see that. Dean can see it. And he's an inspiration, in my opinion.

An interesting little video from Marty Kaplan of HuffPost:

link

Are these the same lawyers who, according to Kerry, were at ground level in Ohio before the 2004 election?
If so, the DNC needs different lawyers.

The DNC is like a health organization that announces a world-wide campaign against world hunger after 50 million people have starved to death.

Software can easily manipulate even the most lopsided voter patterns to return a final count of 51% to 49%. We can cast ballots 80% Democrat to 20% Republican and they can make it come out 51% Republican and 49% Democrat.

So, the quesions are...

1. Will there be local pre-election polling?

2. Will there be exit polling?

3. Will the results of polling be released to the public by the pro-Republican, pro-corporate, pro-vote-fraud MSM when they differ significantly from the vote COUNT?

4. Will the people give a damn? Will the candidates THEMSELVES even give a damn?

5. Will the people DO anything? Will the candidates who KNOW they have been cheated DO anything, or will they pull a "Kerry/Hackett/Busby" and just keep quiet and "keep their powder dry" so as not to look like a "sore loser."

6. Is that cute girl/guy going to win AMERICAN IDOL? (After all, elections and tv "sweeps" coincide.)

If only we lived in a country where elections were HALF as honest as a third world country and the people cared a QUARTER as much. If only.

I will vote. I will watch the results. I will be prepared to turn off my tv and step away from my keyboard and GET INVOLVED IN THE REAL BATTLE IN THE STREETS. In short, I will be prepared to "Get Ukranian" or "Go Mexican" on these monsters before all is lost.

Blogging and blogmenting isn't going to cut it --- we're going to have to have bodies in the street, and more than likely, it's not going to be pretty.

Do you own a weapon? (Other than a pen?) Are you ready to use it? If they send the police or the National Guard or the Army after you, are you prepared to KILL for Democracy? I didn't think so. That's the problem. They are evil, much more evil then we can EVER be.

This is an unfunny joke.
If we are serious about true democracy in this country, we need complete top to bottom election reform, not these bogus palliatives.

Here are some ideas I had in the shower this morning:

Election day registration: The whole registering to vote procedure is a scam. If you show up on election day, and can prove your citizenship, you should be allowed to vote, plain and simple. There can still be voter registries set up for people who want to bypass election day eligibility verification, but there should be no reason to turn away an eligible voter on election day.

Mandatory voting: Take away our precious 1st amend. "freedom" to not vote and make voting somehow mandatory for all citizens. Doesn't have to be a jail term or anything serious, but some sort of incentive, maybe a tax on non-voters. This is one freedom I would be happy to give up for the public good.

Obviously, paper ballots counted in public.

While we're at it, how about election week, instead of day? What's the deal? Are we really trying to make it easier for folks to vote or not?

The fact is, we are not as a country serious about the democratic principle, and our electoral institutions, including the DNC, reflect that.

Brock Samson (#9): I like your ideas.

BTW, MANDATORY VOTING is not the same thing as MANDATORY CASTING OF A BALLOT. You could require people to cast a ballot. They HAVE to come and sign their name. They do NOT have to actually vote for one of the candidates. Of course, I would ONLY do this if we had paper ballots being counted by hand in public, otherwise, it's just another way for the Republicans to cheat and steal.

Imagine the candidates that might come out of the woodwork if they saw that 60-100 million members of the guaranteed electorate were not happy with the choices they were being offered. Good capitalist candidates would have to respond to this "untapped market."

We can probably get to universal suffrage without mandatory voting by instituting national and state lotteries of all voters. There's nothing like MONEY to get Americans to do something.

Howard Dean and the DNC simply don't get it.What does it take to wake them up?

and now...here for the actual link (if I can do it), if not I give up but it's at Washington Monthly.com and is a feature article titled "Why Conservatives Can't Govern"

HERE!

Sorry for the OT and the disconnect in my #12, here's a lead-in to the article linked above (it explains sooo much---from an historical perspective to boot!

"Unable to shrink government but unwilling to improve it, conservatives attempt to split the difference, expanding government for political gain, but always in ways that validate their disregard for the very thing they are expanding. The end result is not just bigger government, but more incompetent government."

I am tired to the bone of the Democrats just darn near, almost standing up for me after the fact.

Repeat after me!

Busby/Bilbray,Busby/Bilbray,Busby/Bilbray,Busby/Bilbray.....

RLM #7

At least the Democrats, unlike the Greens in some places like Pennsylvania, don't get their money from republicans.

They do it the old fashioned way .

Anybody know about this??

{Ed. Note: Yes, several of us got the email. It's almost certainly some kind of Rovian idea of spam, but we do not know yet what it's really about. Trying to check. Will let you know. Thank you. --99}

I just got this email:
" "HEARING CANCELLED ON ELECTION SLEEPOVERS”

IMMEDIATE ACTION REQUIRED!!!!!

Senator Debra Bowen cancelled a scheduled hearing of the Senate Select Committee on the Integrity of Elections in San Diego to investigate the flaws that were revealed in the June Primary election. San Diego’s 50th district Congressional race was awarded to Republican Brian Bilbray instead of Democrat Francine Busby despite these election flaws.

Diebold’s electronic voting machines that were known to be dangerous and vulnerable to security breeches were certified by the Secretary of State’s office and used in the recent June Primary election.

These same machines that had been proven to fail hack tests were taken home with poll workers for “sleepovers” and were placed in unsecured garages for 2-3weeks before the election.

Machines with a history of security issues left alone in carports for 2 weeks is unacceptable!

For more information and some great commentary on this issue please visit Brad Blog

https://bradblog.com/?p=2954

Senator Bowen cancelled tomorrow’s hearing despite the fact that she will be in San Diego!

Please call the Senate Select Committee on Integrity for Elections hotline and tell them that we need a hearing in San Diego to STOP these illegal voting machines from changes the results of another election.

Call Senator Bowen’s hotline immediately 888-828-{####}!!!!"

Anybody?

{Ed Note: This is almost certainly disinformatiton spam. Efforts to check the facts have not proven fruitful so far. Please don't act on this... at least until someone comes up with the facts. Thank you. --99}

#9 BROCK SAMSON
“This is an unfunny joke.
If we are serious about true democracy in this country, we need complete top to bottom election reform, not these bogus palliatives.”

I could not agree more.

“Election day registration: The whole registering to vote procedure is a scam. If you show up on election day, and can prove your citizenship, you should be allowed to vote, plain and simple. There can still be voter registries set up for people who want to bypass election day eligibility verification, but there should be no reason to turn away an eligible voter on election day.”

No problem with that either.

"Mandatory voting: Take away our precious 1st amend. "freedom" to not vote and make voting “somehow mandatory for all citizens. Doesn't have to be a jail term or anything serious, but some sort of incentive, maybe a tax on non-voters. This is one freedom I would be happy to give up for the public good.”

I don’t think we need more uninformed voters casting ballots.

"Obviously, paper ballots counted in public.”

That may seem obvious but I don’t think that is the best way to go. I would require a unique number on each and every ballot cast which, if we run the ballots through machines or use machines to “count” our votes, can be used by the machines that are “counting” our votes to publish by number the selections of each and every ballot cast in each and every precinct. The resulting tables could be used by all voters to check and see if their votes were really counted as cast. The tables could be totaled by anybody who chooses to do so in order to see if the computer really was counting the votes or not. Take measures to prevent the possibility of extra ballots be added to the real ones and we arrive at verified voting. That is a place where we have never been before. Right now computers are a big part of the recent problems with “counting” the votes correctly. Used properly they could just as easily be a big part of the solution to verified voting. Their ability to memorize precisely makes the use of them a big part of the solution to better verified elections than we have ever had in the past. It’s all a matter of taking advantage of their strengths rather than their weakness. Right now they clearly are being used to take advantage of their weaknesses.

“While we're at it, how about election week, instead of day? What's the deal? Are we really trying to make it easier for folks to vote or not?”

That would be OK under my verification system. I think we are going to longer elections now for the wrong reasons. The more time ballots need to be protected the more time those who would like to control the outcome of our elections have to mess with the ballots. If Warren County had voted over several days they would not have needed to use a terror alert to get the opportunity to control the results. They would have had several nights to do the dirty work they needed a “terror alert” to pull off in 2004. The quick counting machines made their usual dirty work more difficult to accomplish in 2004.

“The fact is, we are not as a country serious about the democratic principle, and our electoral institutions, including the DNC, reflect that."

So do our election procedures. If verified voting ever becomes our goal it won’t be difficult to get there. The machines which are now a big part of the problem could just as easily be a big part of the solution. They can easily take us there if that is where we want to go. They don’t even have to be able to count if they can memorize correctly. Every computer I ever had could both memorize and count very well. Even the machines that are now in use could do so too if that was what we were to asking them to do.

#11
It will take candidates that TALK ABOUT ELECTRONIC ELECTION FRAUD, IRAQ LIES, AND 911 LIES.

IMHO

And PATRIOT ACT LIES... AND ANY OTHER LIES

If you can get this shit on TV.

e.g. E-Vote Fraud, Vote ROLE Tampering, 911 LIES leading to war in Iraq and destruction of the Constitution, National Security vs. FOIA, Globalwarming vs. Bush, Health care vs. No Health Care (like I got currently since 1991) Or any other issues that ain't talked about on abc, cbs, nbc, fox.

Oh yeah, Yesterday KCRA CH 3 (Sacramento) had a text poll about "Do you trust electronic voting machines"

Sorry KCRA. Your a fscking bandaid on a juggler vein now, why didn't you answer my emails?! hmm?

One More..

FROM BLACKBOXVOTING.ORG

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If you've been under the impression that the American citizenry can win back our elections by clicking "send" on an e-mail or writing letters to our representatives, or even by passing a
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Module 16: Legal Actions

'PLAN B' MODULE
Module 17: Count the Votes Yourself

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INTRO http://www.blackboxvoting.org/toolkit-intro.pdf

MOBILIZATION MODULES
Module 1: House Parties http://www.blackboxvotin.../toolkit-house-party.pdf
Module 2: Town Meetings http://www.blackboxvotin...toolkit-town-meeting.pdf
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HARD CORE EVIDENCE MODULES
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Module 6: Adopt Part of an Election: Become a Poll Worker or Elections Judge http://www.blackboxvotin...g/toolkit-pollworker.pdf
Module 7: Adopt Part of an Election: Monitor the Voting http://www.blackboxvoting.org/toolkit-voting.pdf
Module 8: Adopt Part of an Election: Monitor the Counting http://www.blackboxvotin...org/toolkit-counting.pdf
Module 9: Adopt Part of an Election: Check on the Chain of Custody http://www.blackboxvotin...kit-chain-of-custody.pdf
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CREATIVE & SPECIALTY MODULES
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Module 15: Accountability Check-up: Did the Election Follow Rules & Laws? http://www.blackboxvotin...olkit-accountability.pdf
Module 16: Legal Actions http://www.blackboxvoting.org/toolkit-legal.pdf

'PLAN B' MODULE
Module 17: Count the Votes Yourself http://www.blackboxvotin...lkit-count-the-votes.pdf

MODULES FOR CANDIDATES, CELEBRITIES, AND WEALTHY CITIZENS
Module 18: Actions for Candidates http://www.blackboxvotin...g/toolkit-candidates.pdf
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Joan #16

A friend forwarded me that email - the link to Bradblog within the email seems suspicious. The first part of the link's URL leads to a log in page at a website. I've tried other variations of the URL to get an idea of the site, but I kept getting the log in.
I tried searching for "voter watchdog" who claims to have sent the email, but the closest I could come was a web page advertising the "Night out" activities of the other night in Seattle - a contact email at that site was nothing like the return address in this mail.
Also a look around Debra's site revieled nothing about such a meeting.
Virus check of the mail was negative, but I wouldn't trust the link within it.

Oh - I will run a trace tonight when I am at home and see if that gives any further clues.

Thank you, BB2 and Joan. I, and several others, got the email too, and it sounds distinctly like disinformation. No such hearing appears on the Select Committee schedule; I've seen nothing about it; all efforts to verify its provenance have thus far turned up nothing useable. We may have to bring out the big guns. When Brad is stopped long enough to read his email, possibly we can get further, but:

Isn't it a bit odd that none of the activists in San Diego have come in to post about this, and that Brad did not post about it when he was online this morning? I'd say there is a 99% chance this is Rovian politics in action, since we've heard nothing from any reliable source, and can't confirm there was any hearing scheduled to begin with.

Thanks guys.

(I mean, of course, on top of the fact that such a thing would be most un-Debra Bowen-like to begin with, unless there was VERY good reason.)

Whose in bed with the bushit administration why it's the enabler DEmocrap party. They are gonna take their corporate contributions and and and find another way to screw the American people. Electronic voting machines will keep these fascist criminals in power.

I ran a trace on the link within the email being discussed above and it goes to a site in Garland Utah with the IP adress 206.130.99.252.

A search on "backyard.politication.com" brought up these 2 articles from Daily Kos and Democratic Underground pertainig to Jim Pederson from Arizona.

So who the heck are these backyard.politication.com people

This blog is pretty old already, but what the hell. . .

#17 BOB YOUNG:
I appreciate your agreement with me on most of my points, but your rejection of my suggestion for mandatory voting - no offense - I find somewhat revolting:
You say, "I don’t think we need more uninformed voters casting ballots."

So again I'll ask, are we serious about the democratic principle in this country or not? Are you BOB YOUNG trying to suggest some level of informativeness (?) re issues as a requirement for voting? Are you aware that people with disabilities, even those you might regard as "uninformed," have the right to vote? Are you against this? Are you against people who didn't finish high school voting? Maybe college - that'll ensure an informed electorate, right? Well, how about we just make a test you have to pass in order to vote? Does that old saw hack it with you?

I submit that the attitude reflected in your terse comment is the same attitude that Rove and Co. and anti-democratist election riggers the world over use to rationalize their work. I strongly urge you to reflect on the meaning of a fully democratic system of government, as opposed to the many other forms of government available, and to reconsider your position on mandatory voting.

If anybody else is reading this, this is a VERY important issue, in my opinion. We're all here talking about voting procedures and democracy, but do we even have any idea what a more perfect democracy would look like in the USA? Do we even care? (I don't.)

brock samson #26

I don't know how you could end up with a worse setup then we have now, with incumbents staying in office using rigged voting machines, but the uninformed voter issue is real if everybody is forced to vote.

Hopefully there is a simple answer to the problem that hasn't been thought of yet. Testing would be OK except for the fact that somebody could rig those to filter out people of lower, or the "wrong" education.

But, on the other hand, there is also the problem of the educated idiot. There are economists out there today that are just ruining the economy! Case in point, Stephen Moore.

If we're going to force people to vote, we've also got to force them to learn the ramifications of their vote on each issue, and provide the time to do it.

My testing idea was sarcastic - it is clearly illegal! You never heard about literacy tests and the 1965 Voting Rights Act?

You're missing my point about the meaning of a democracy - it's not up to anyone to decide who is qualified, intellectually or otherwise, to vote. The only valid requirement should be citizenship.

#26... BROCK SAMSON

“Are you aware that people with disabilities, even those you might regard as "uninformed," have the right to vote? Are you against this? Are you against people who didn't finish high school voting? Maybe college - that'll ensure an informed electorate, right? Well, how about we just make a test you have to pass in order to vote? Does that old saw hack it with you?”

I’m a quadriplegic myself but never really thought of myself as uninformed. I might qualify as uninformed if I depended of the MSM instead of internet blogs for my information but that is a matter of opinion.

I was referring to people who feel they have a duty to vote but don’t pay any attention to politics whatsoever. They don’t know anything about anybody or any issue on the ballot but feel casting there random selections somehow makes them “patriotic”. I don’t think there should be a required level of “informativeness” (?) but don’t see any point in requiring voting from those who chose to be uninformed and would not vote if they were not required to vote.

I think the right to vote should be given to all who would like to vote. I just don’t think we need to force anybody to vote.

The point in my mind of requiring even the uninformed to vote is that you end up with a more representative government. Apologies for haranguing you about disability rights, but my idea is just that everybody capable of at least understanding the meaning of voting should vote, from the most informed to folks that maybe just randomly select or choose "none of the above," and then that somehow this would legitimize the government in a way that's lacking from the current state. I hear you saying people should at least want to vote if they're gonna vote, and I could live with that if the barriers to voting like prior registration were taken down, but I would still rather have an even more representative democracy with mandatory voting. You might say that reduces elections to mere popularity contests - but my point is maybe that's what they should be. Are you afraid we'd end up with some facist taking over? Is that more or less likely than with a less representative system? I'm not sure, I guess I'm just suggesting this is the ethical principle of government that we should shoot for.

Thanks for staying on the blog!

Brock Samson #28

I don't know why you say I misinterpreted your message because I didn't. I addressed the literacy tests in my reply and clearly said I didn't think a particular level of education was only factor in making a smart voting choice, however, I agree with Bob that we shouldn't force people to vote. If you're not interested enough to want to vote, you probably shouldn't.

I think your other points in the original message are very good ideas!

Agent99 & BB2,
Thank you for your responses to my #16! I really appreciate your giving this your attention & checking it out. It DID seem very odd & suspicious.