not watching television

Okay, I haven't read The Da Vinci Code

But I don't think it's necessary to get the drift of what David Sirota is saying in his piece at The American Prospect yesterday -- that there are lots of signs in the 2004 election results that voters respond positively to  those issues of economic class the current DLC-dominated party wants to ignore. Across the country there are examples of voters in culturally conservative areas who consistently send progressive Democrats to Congress and elect them to state offices, too. Why? Economic populism, that's why. Conservative voters will vote for progressive candidates, even those who are vocally pro-choice and support gay rights, if those candidates speak for and represent their constituents' very real economic concerns.

Values are important to these folks; it's just that Republicans and DLC Democrats don't want you to know about some of the values they care about -- values like clean government, ethical business practices, economic fairness, good jobs, good schools . . . Yeah, all that stuff we care about? Turns out that given a choice they can trust, folks in conservative rural and small-town America care about them, too.

Please read the article. Then go here to use MoveOn's site to send a message to your state's Democratic Party leaders, who will be meeting this weekend to consider who will be the next chair of the DNC.

The only trustworthy progressive candidate vying for the position is Howard Dean. I told my leaders that if Dean doesn't win the chairmanship I won't be putting my time and money into the Democratic Party anymore. I'll support the Progressive Democrats of America along with minority parties like the Greens and the Working Families Party,  but the DNC can take me off its mailing lists. I've had more than enough of the DLC . . .

Exit Polls graft & corruption: How it was done . . .

Go to Cosmic Iquana and read the post and link about how exit polls were skewed toward Bush late in the game on November 2. I'm behind the recount in Ohio because of the many, many irregularities that denied or attempted to deny voting rights to thousands of citizens. I want this shit exposed, regardless of who comes up the winner in the recount.

But when I read stuff like this I'm more and more swayed that well-planned deliberate fraud took place on Election Day.

Couple o' quickies from my CASE-Ohio group . . .

"For those who have been wondering about the extent of public support for looking further and deeper into the vagaries of Election 2004, I offer the following from a Zogby national survey taken recently (12/1/04 - 12/3/04)* :

"Asked of all likely voter respondents: 

Concerns have been expressed by some observers of the election that problems with counting the votes may have affected the results and deserve further investigation. Do you think these concerns are...?

Very valid                 28.5%
Somewhat valid        14.0%
Mostly invalid          24.2%
Not at all valid          31.2%
Not sure                      2.2%

"What's significant about this is that in spite of the media lockdown/disparagement of the concerns, a very substantial portion of Americans strongly want further investigation and do not believe that the answers to date have been satisfactory. Certainly 42.5% backing takes this well out of the realm of "wild-eyed conspiracy theory" which the media has thus far painted it into.

"Further, among Democratic voters the numbers are: Very valid (59.8%), Somewhat valid (21.8%), for a total of 82% willingness to support ongoing investigations such as the Conyers hearing. This support stands only to increase as more evidence emerges of wrongdoing."

*"These results were taken from a Zogby Interactive survey, and were part of a larger poll on politics and policy. The questions were independently produced by Zogby International and were not commissioned by any individual or organization." This note must be included with any forwarding or other publication of the above-cited results.

And then there's this blistering letter to a reporter at the Columbus Dispatch. also posted to the group:

Dear Mark:

Your article in the Dispatch today quotes Ken Blackwell as saying: "It would have taken the collaberation of hundreds of Democrat leaders with Republicans to have stolen this election for George Bush."

On the contrary, please see the attached affidavit of a former software engineer from Florida who designed software to steal the election. Only a few people would even have to know about it to steal an election through software. That's why many groups such as CASE Ohio, Citizens' Alliance for Secure Elections, www.caseohio.org, have sprung up across the country, to fight the fact that our elections are no longer trustworthy, free, or fair.

All you need is software to steal an election. It is just that unwitting journalists and members of the public are lulled into a false sense of security by blatantly misleading statements from Ohio's Secretary of State, and others, that it would take "hundreds" of people's involvement.

DId you know that Sequoia, one of the big vendors of electronic voting machines in the country (not in Ohio) is owned by The Carlyse group? Did you know that the Carlyse Group has the elder George Bush sitting on its Board of Directors? Did you know that George W. Bush just bought a $ 2.5 million yacht and named it "Sequoia"?* Did you know that the only three vendors that Blackwell has chosen for use in Ohio, Diebold (decertified in California - CEO Wally O'Dell wrote in a fund raising letter, "I pledge to deliver the electoral votes of Ohio to the President in 2004" - and then he did - O'Dell raised over $ 100,000 for the Bush 2004 campaign), ES&S (owned by an Ursevich brother, whose brother owns Diebold) and Hart InterCivic, all have far right-wing origins and ownership? (See, www.blackboxvoting.org )

Did you know that we have privatized our public elections and that over 70% of the country was tabulated by these far-right wing companies with secret software that is not open to public inspection and has no auditable paper trail? Did you know that the software referred to in the attached affidavit, or similar software, was probably utilized across the country to systematically shift votes to Bush?

No wonder a constantly growing number of American people are no longer buying the lies that have been fed to us about the integrity of the voting system. It is inherently flawed and rife with conficts of interests. That is why we had about 1,200 people** (not 400 as reported by AP) attended the CASE Ohio rally on the Statehouse lawn on Saturday to protest Blackwell's involvement and delay of the recount.

You need to write a story about the issues I raise herein. This is the real story - not some calculated lies of a politician on the ropes. I would be happy to talk to you for the purpose of writing that story.

Sincerely,

xxxx

* With the single exception of what the writer says about Bush's new yacht, Sequoia, everything in this letter is factually correct. The USS Sequoia is an historic vessel once owned by the US government and sold off to private interests during Jimmy Carter's administration. The recently passed omnibus budget bill did include an appropriation for repurchasing the Sequoia, I think for the US Naval Academy Museum in Annapolis. It's possible that the proposed purchase will bail out the current owners in some way, but the sale has not gone through, while the amount allotted is a small portion of the vessel's material and historic value. My personal position on the yacht is that it should be part of government collections. I just think the current owners should do their patriotic duty and donate rather than sell it back to the public to which it rightfully belongs.

** The 1200 estimate is, according to my count, close to correct. I counted 100 ralliers in one area close to the side of the stage during a point in the rally when folks were keeping to one place and listening attentively to the speakers. I then estimated the rest of the crowd according the volume in the particular area that I counted. In my previous post I said my estimate was a bit lower -- about 900 -- because I lost my visual place at one point and wanted to err on the conservative side. Either way, the point is that the crowd was without-a-doubt at least twice as large as the AP estimate by the time the rally was well underway.

 

Post-Rally Post . . .

A bunch of stuff has kept me from writing about the rally. Let me just say it was great to feel a part of such a community of positively impassioned people. Everyone needs to understand that this is not primarily a movement of angry people: It is a movement of people who are committed to the democratic principles of justice and equality that are expressed in the right to voteand know all the votes will count.

It is, above all, an extention of the Civil Rights Movement into the 21st century. The overwhelming majority of voting irregularities and possible frauds took place in low-income princincts and those dominated by minority voters and students. Thus, the groups with the strongest progressive traditions -- young people, hispanics and blacks --  waited in the longest lines; voted with the fewest machines; saw their votes flipped to opponents; their provisional ballots rejected, or their punch-card ballots "spoiled".

The afternoon rally took place on a sunny but chilly day, with a strong wind that occasionally played havoc with the sound system set up beneath a statue of William McKinley in front of the  Statehouse. A bit of irony that, since Karl Rove is a McKinley fan and has a lot in common with "Dollar Mark" Hanna, the king-maker behind McKinley's presidency. Every single one of the  speakers was impassioned and articulate, and the crowd (estimated between 400-1,200; my best guess is about 900) was with them through every word. Two speakers in particular stood out for me: Jon Bonifaz of the National Voting Rights Institute, who is serving pro bono as general counsel for David Cobb and Michael Badnarik in the recount; and David Lytel of ReDefeatBush.

And of course, there was Greg Palast, who was high energy and informative with a biting sarcasm earned through all that he's learned in the course of his investigations . . . Unfortunately Jesse Jackson was too ill to attend but talked the the audience by speaker phone at the evening symposium at Columbus's Afrocentric School. However, in his place there was a surprise visit from Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, who is from Barbara Jordon's old district (or whatever gerrymandered form it now takes), and was in her own way as powerful a speaker.

Really, all the speakers at both the rally and symposium were rousingly wonderful. I've been to a lot of political rallies and it's pretty easy to tell when speakers are tired, off their game, just-going-through-the-motions-giving-the-same-old-speech-one-more-time. There was none of that on Saturday. Every word felt fresh . . .

And best of all, the rally served to bring folks together to actually do stuff. I'm most excited about the contact I made with a few Green activists in the rural 'n coal-country county next to mine. In fact, my daughter and I are now tentatively county coordinators for the recount! And yes, we'll be observing the initial 3% recount in a county with punch-card machines -- a land of overvotes, undervotes, dimples and hanging chads . . .

Consequently, I'll probably be slow with postings for the next week or so. But stop by now and again if you can. Whenever I have a free moment I'll try to publish something about the process I'm about to become part of on the ground.

And speaking of the ground, there are still more opportunities to put feet to the street to protest vote fraud in Ohio and around the country. Ray Beckerman, an attorney who was himself "on the ground" in Ohio on Election Day, is posting a running list of actions around the country this week and over the weekend at Ohio Election Fraud (Formerly "Fairness") -- Go scroll around his site and see what you can do.

I can't emphasize strongly enough how important it is to get involved in the real world beyond the virtual one where so many of us spend so much time. It's been awhile since I've had such a pure and promising contact high . . .

Heading out the the Rally . . .

We're about to take off for the vote-recount rally in Columbus. Will report back late tonight or early tomorrow . . . In the meantime, if you want to read the latest from Wayne Madsen on rigging the vote, go here (most recent), here (previous) and here (intial article).

Weird News . . .

This link will probably disappear before long, but while it lasts it's a dream come true . . .

Bush Arrested in Canada for War Crimes.

Kerry gains 17,000 from provisional vote count . . .

Just picked this up from an Ohio commenter over at Atrios's place: With all the votes, including provisional ballots, officially tallied  for the first time, Kerry's total moved 17,000 votes closer to Bush's  here in Ohio. Secretary of State Blackwell will certify this count on Monday.

As I've said all along, at this point I am more interested in drawing national attention to the many voting "irregularities" on display here in Ohio during the recent election than I am in who wins the recount. Still, a 17,000-vote pick up is not to be sneezed at . . . Who knows what we'll discover next?

US ambassador to UN Resigns . . .

From the Financial Times. After just 5 months John Danforth, appointed to replace John Negroponte as the US ambassador to the UN, has reresigned. Go read the entire article for perspective on Bush administration UN dealings you're not likely to get in the American mainstream press, such as:

Republican ill will toward the international body is not new, tracing its roots to Barry Goldwater's 1964 campaign for the White House. But the intensified scrutiny and criticism from some quarters in Washington has raised concerns at the UN that it may again face cuts in US contributions, potentially crippling its operations.

Yep, we're talking an anti-UN agenda that's over 40 years old and has a goal of dismembering the  international organization completely. Back in 1964, when moderate NY Governor Nelson Rockefeller, who's family donated the land for building the UN, was boo'd by delegates at the Republican National Convention, it signaled the vehemence of the party's right-wing revolt. Nominating Barry Goldwater, who went on to lose in a landslide to LBJ, may have seemed foolhardy to observers at the time, but beneath the radar of the turbulent 60s  right-wing extremists pursued a strategy to seize  control of the Republican Party. And now that wing, born of John Birchers, Minutemen, and the likes of Billy James Hargis and The Christian-Anticommunist Crusade -- interwoven later in the 60s with the CIA/Unification Church-linked World Anti-Communist League -- is moving to Carpe Deum mode. There are some very realy fascist undercurrents to the struggles between the US and UN these days . . .

HELP MAKE THE RECOUNT COUNT!!

According to email I received this morning from folks at Stolen Election, John Kerry needs to increase his legal standing in the Ohio recount in order to expedite the process. By filing a recount demand in his own name, Kerry can increase the pressure on Secretary of State Blackwell to stop dragging his heels at every stage in the recount process.

You can use this link to The People's Email Network to write Kerry and ask him:

1. File a suit demanding a recount of the Ohio vote in the name of the Kerry-Edwards campaign.

2. Ask Kerry to publicly call for Secretary of State Blackwell to recuse himself from his tie-breaking role in the recount process. Blackwell has been so tainted by his role as chair of the Bush-Cheney campaign in Ohio, and by his many partisan decisions regarding voting regulations and procedures here, that it will be impossible for many people to accept any recount results unless he recuses himself.

3. Finally, ask Kerry to insist that electors for all presidential candidates on the Ohio ballot be allowed to cast votes in the state elector-balloting on Dec. 13. That way all candidates will have a slate of electors prepared go to Washington and vote in the Electoral College. The final decision about which slate to send would then depend on which candidate wins the recount. (See previous post for more about how Kennedy successfully used this strategy in the 1960 recount in Hawaii).

After you've sent your email to John Kerry, there's still lots of other stuff you can do. Go to Stolen Election for lots of links about upcoming events, and especially links for signing up to help with the recount here. Literally thousands of volunteers are needed to complete the recount on time . . .

Election challenges . . .

Found a couple of good updates on voting issues in the comments at Atrios' site this a.m.

First there's this from Lair of the Dragon, who picked it up from Bradamante3"s Live Journal (scroll down to November 30 entry). B-3 argues that both the Democratic and Republican slate of electors should cast their votes for president here in Ohio on December 13. Then, when the recount is complete, the electors who voted for the candidate that won the popular vote will be sent to Washington to cast their votes in the electoral colllege. He's even sent a letter to Ohio Governor Taft to call for this solution, explaining that two sets of electors were voted in Hawaii after the 1960 presidential election in similar circumstances. Nixon was declared the winner initially, but a recount showed that Kennedy actually won the state's electoral votes. Here's a link to Bradamante3's letter . . . I'm going to make sure the folks at CASE-Ohio know about this.

Meanwhile,  Oklahomans are grappling (well, some of them, anyway) with news that the ES&S voting machines tallied Kerry 's votes backward!  With 70% of the vote tabulated, Kerry had a lead in 57 rural Oklahoma counties. By the time official results were released Kerry had lost in all 77 counties, and with  less votes in those rural counties than he had when 70% of the results were in!

Finally, down Florida way, Bev Harris and Black Box Voting filed a suit against Palm Beach County's elections supervisor, Theresa La Pore, for blocking their access public voting records. LaPore was none too pleased when Bev and gang served her (scroll down) with courtesy notice of the filing while she was preparing to speak on the subject of records retention (!) before a gathering of the state's election supervisors in Orlando.

Whew! It's gettin' hot around here . . .