This is where I see the ties with what Camp Casey is achieving. We must RESIST in a MASS movement. Aside from that, do you agree with Dr. Loo’s thesis that the elections were stolen? And what about those “A-list bloggers” allegedly blowing off the issue?
“The 2000, 2002 and 2004 elections fraud underscores the critical importance of building a mass movement, a movement of resistance that doesn’t tie itself to the electoral road and electoral parties. In addition, as Robert Parry has eloquently argued, a counterforce to the right-wing media empire must be built by the left and by progressive-minded people. As it stands today, the right can get away with nearly anything because they have talking heads on TV, radio, the Internet and other outlets who set the tone and the political agenda, with mainstream media focusing on sex and sensationalism and taking their political cues to a large extent from the right.”
The concluding paragraph of
“No Paper Trail Left Behind:
The Theft of the 2004 Presidential Election”
By Dennis Loo, Ph.D., Cal Poly Pomona
Published August 2005 at Project Censored
Here’s how Dr. Loo begins the article:
In order to believe that George Bush won the November 2, 2004 presidential election, you must also believe all of the following extremely improbable or outright impossible things. … Read All
Update [2005-8-13 12:42:34 by susanhu]: “80 Million Reasons To Ignore Election Fraud“:
“Forget this election. Plan for the future.” Those words are a large reason why I believe the A-list bloggers have done little to advance the cause of election reform, and why they mostly ignored the work of Congressman Conyers (and many others in the blogosphere) in compiling evidence of possible/probable election fraud and disenfranchisement. …
Thank you to Lisa Pease for sending me this article. Lisa comments here as Real History Lisa, and at Real History Archives Blog: “Is it news or propaganda? How can you tell? Read and learn how Real History informs the present, empowering you to wake up and smell what’s brewing. For more permanent information, check out Real History Archives.”
I remember a couple of activists, before the election, saying electoral politics is over-rated as an avenue of change. Well, they’re stealing elections now, but somehow, I believe, we still have the power…
and please allow me to plug Verified Voting again:
http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2005/8/3/203524/0867
Of the many groups advocating change, I think Verified Voting is one of the best. They recommend supporting specific legislative remedies, including bills introduced in Congress here.
Take a look.
I just posted my comment above, then saw yours.
Susan, I happen to love what this man has to say. What and where is the real reasoning ppl that need to have been out there to see this was taken care of?
Every place except here in America this is challanged and why is that? Cuz this is g w bush we are talking about. this is the right wing of the republican party we are talking about. this is the crooks of all times here we are talking about.
Isn’t it time for the UN to step in and monitor our voting as they do in other countries?
And while they’re at it, they could look into our production of nuclear warheads.
George Bush, unlike Saddam Hussein, does possess WMD.
and they’ll do it again, if you think not, then your dead wrong!
Unless….
unless???? can you go further on that please….:o) I am interested as to your mindthought….bs do you think they might be gator bait????I am ready for that one…..:o)
heavens no, not gator bait, I would’nt do that to…the gators…; )
Unless people find their spine, band together, stick together, and demand a change in the current system of the election process, and IF any more circumstances occur that have in the past…we have another election..this time, our way.
It’s the only way these theiving bastards are gonna be stopped.
Verified Voting is a group that provides good resources on legislation. But the solution to our voting problem may need to go beyond what Verified Voting says. David Dill, who heads Verified Voting, is not pressing for Open Source vote counting code, nor is he pressing for paper ballots a voter can physically handle. He’s only pressing for a minimum paper trail, which includes Diebold’s plan to provide thermal rolls of hard-to-read little ATM-like printouts which the voter cannot verify except through glass and which would be much harder to process in a manual audit or recount.
A better solution has been proposed by the Open Voting Consortium. The proposal, made jointly between activists and the University of California system, proposes using regular pc’s, open source code, and regular printers – all of which can have other uses during non-election periods- would be used to generate and print accessible, hand-holdable, clearly readable paper ballots, which would also have a bar code. The paper would then be fed into another machine, also using open source code, that would read and tally the cast ballots from the bar code.
It sounds complicated, but it’s a much more transparent system than what Diebold, Sequoia, ES&S and other voting vendors are currently doing.
But I want to remind all of Parry’s key point. If we all donate money, time and effort to small grassroots efforts, we’ll never win back the Republic, because the right has realized that if they concentrated first on radio and then on TV, they could control minds. If we don’t fight the right on that battlefield we don’t stand a chance of reclaiming our country.
Lisa, do you have a link to Parry’s full article?
Lisa, that sounds awesome. Can you do a diary on it?
A better solution has been proposed by the Open Voting Consortium. The proposal, made jointly between activists and the University of California system, proposes using regular pc’s, open source code, and regular printers – all of which can have other uses during non-election periods- would be used to generate and print accessible, hand-holdable, clearly readable paper ballots, which would also have a bar code. The paper would then be fed into another machine, also using open source code, that would read and tally the cast ballots from the bar code.
It sounds complicated, but it’s a much more transparent system than what Diebold, Sequoia, ES&S and other voting vendors are currently doing.
A little on some of their efforts:
Who said a real Democratic Republic with real verifyable freedoms would be cheap?
Susan, thanks so much for posting this.
Can we get Jon Stewart to interview this guy?
I tend to agree with the author that only massive protests have ever produced progressive policies in the US. The antiwar demonstrations in 2003 were great, but since then? Evaporation.
The bad guys and their ignoramus tools have us outmaneuvered, folks. Polite discourse will not get it done.
What’s the big difference between Iraq and Vietnam? No draft. The mercenary army means very few Americans are directly affected by the war, and that defuses mass protest. In the end, Americans get what they deserve. Unfortunately, the rest of the world suffers the collateral damage.
Or get Lisa Pease on with Jon Stewart! I know her in “real life” — she is a KICK in the shorts! Very bubbly, evervescent … here’s a photo from 2004:
I hope everyone reads the whole Project Censored article and passes it on as widely as possible. Aside from the stunning evidence of fraud in at least the three most recent national elections, I think the most amazing and ominous statement is this:
When we get beyond the What Happened question to the Why question, we are met with a chilling reality: we have no big allies — not the media, not the Democrats, not even many of the “liberal” organizations in any all-out battle to restore electoral democracy to the United States.
The American Revolution worked because the oppressors were on another continent and the revolutionaries were, in fact, the local powers-that-be. Today established parties and organizations, to say nothing of the big media, are threatened by any spectre of revolutionary electoral/political change.
This is one of those times when I’m highly frustrated by the nature of the blog format. We need an ongoing, intense, and POLITICAL discussion of where and how to begin a revolution for fundamental change in the way this country works, but this diary will scroll away without enabling even this little group to reach any conclusions or practical plans the could win deep democratic reform.
The question the article generates is: how do we work inside or outside the power structure to restore electoral democracy. Part of what’s happened now is simply Democrat hens coming home to roost: the party had the means to reform the electoral process but miserably failed to do so, in large part because the status quo at the time appeared to be favorable to its interests — or at least to the interests of its fatcats and “leaders”.
So where do we turn and how do we form revolutionary alliances now that our democratic hopes lie mortally wounded? It will take a lot of thought and resources and energy. Where and how do we start?
In my mind there have been 4 major “revolutions”, each with one thing in common: the will of the people to change the status quo.
The first, obviously, was the American Revolution circa 1774-76, which given my understanding, was not successful because the proponents were “the powers-that-be”. The study of that period’s history reveals that there were people of stature, both locally and nationally as it were, arguing forcefully against and for those actions. Suffice it to say, the overall sentiment of the population as a whole was pro-independence, hence the outcome.
The second revolution was the Civil War, circa 1860-65, where it was again the will of the people to change the status quo, vis-a vie, reaction to slavery and the Secession Crisis and subsequent creation of the CSA. The first major internal struggle and, to date, the only war fought on American soil by protagonists from within the same country, resulting in the most horrendous bloodshed in our history.
The third was the New Deal, brought about by the excesses of the Robber Barons, pandering politicians, and the gross inequalities that were the consequences of their actions. Again, the majority of the people rose up and demanded change and FDR is considered a hero by many, and rightly so. This was not a bloodless revolution.
The fourth, or in some opinions the fourth and fifth, are the Civil Rights movement of the 1960’s, which in my mind, segued into the Anti War Movement of the late 60’s – early 70’s. Again, not a bloodless struggle between differing ideologies/factions, but with more in common to the New Deal era as it pitted what began as the activism of a minority against the corruption and abuse of the political structure.
That rather compressed overview brings me to this conclusion: it may well take another “revolution” along the lines of the New Deal and the Civil Rights/Anti War Movements to regain the promise and hope that this country once embodied. Without question, many things have been lost sight of by too many people since 2000, but if I did not believe that there is hope, that there is a way to effect change, that evil will not go unpunished and the truth will out, I’d have left last November. It has to start with grassroots involvement, it must demand a verifiable paper trail for all elections, and it must come from the people. I think that the tide may be turning, the Cindy Sheehan’s of the world, our own BT community, and others, can and will make a difference. This will not come easily, nor without additional pain, but having been a part of the 4th and 5th revolutions, I will not go quietly. Do not lightly judge or underestimate the will and resolve of the power of the people, they will wake up and things will change…the sooner the better.
This has rambled well beyond what I had intended, and I hope it makes some sense…thanks for your patience.
Peace
for keeping this story alive when many so-called left wing blogs refuse to consider it anything but tin foil hattery.
I have little doubt that the election was stolen. We have the worst media on the planet, and the worst system to verify votes are countedd accurately, not to mention the highest incentives to stael elections – power over the richest and most powerful government on the planet. Years in the future, if our democracy survives they will call this period the most corrupt in our political history, even more corrupt than the gilded age of the Trusts and Monopolies.
If we agree that the last three elections were stolen then, our democracy is already dead. Its corpse — like a headless chicken — is still staggering and twitching. But, that body will hit the ground with an ominous thud when the Repubs miraculously gain even more of a majority in the upcoming 2006 Congressional elections. They keep acting like they will never be out of power, never be held accountable for their lies and corruption, and I think that behavior tells the tale.
What can we do?! I have an idea: Especially in Diebold counties, we need to start up a “Vote Again on Paper” campaign that educates voters to the possibility that their votes are not being counted and prepares them to participate in the most massive exit polling ever done. Goad Repubs to participate by saying, if you’re so sure elections are fair, help prove us wrong.
On election day, send out groups to every precinct to button hole every voter as they emerge. Because of the advance PR campaign they’ll be willing to take a moment and vote again. This could be made as easy as picking up a red ticket or a blue ticket and dropping it in a box. Afterwards, the paper tickets would be counted and compared to the precinct totals. If that count matches the Diebold count, ah well, we’ll don our tin-foil hats in shame. But, if the tallies are radically different, we do the Ukraine thing — call a strike and go stand in the streets of DC, demand a new government, appeal to the UN.
Of course, events get real ugly after that… And how many of us are really willing to give up our comfy spots in front of our computers and put our lives on the line for liberty.
Thank you, Susan. (Gee, I wonder why it’s not cross posted?:)My bad.)
Thank you, Susan. (Gee, I wonder why it’s not cross posted?:)My bad.)
LMAO
It’s good for different points of view of individuals and groups with the same general goals to be vigorously expressed, with all the evidence and argument they can muster. And there’s so much to do that an individual’s energies often have to be devoted to just one of the many things that need to be done. But…
It’s simple common sense that if Democrats don’t insist on fair elections in our own country, we won’t have them. The voting system is open to manipulation, and the evidence is strong that massive fraud was attempted. I believe the presidency was stolen twice by the same Bush, but in a political sense, what’s also very important is that this is a real issue of major importance to black and minority Democrats. If we’re all in this party together we need to prove it, by honoring this fact and realizing that this is the voting rights fight of this era.
As for the big money people vs. the netroots, it bears watching, but there are weaknesses in both systems that the other system can help to correct.
I can’t help but recall that the growth of the Rabid Right was fostered by a few big money Repubs who recruited young zealots, gave them jobs, built networks, created foundations and political operations, etc. Labor unions used to do some of this for Democrats until their decline. It’s been all rabid right since the 80s.
Rats–I hit the wrong button, I wasn’t ready to post that. Here’s the point I want to add: It’s also common sense that all the political organizing in the world, all the campaign contributions raised, everything that some folks would rather focus on exclusively, won’t mean a thing if the other side can win anyway by manipulating the voting system.
A lot of people gave their hearts to the 2004 campaign. They couldn’t have done any more than they did. I mean people who didn’t usually participate, but cared deeply about the outcome. If there’s a strong possibility the election was stolen, and they don’t see Democrats fighting to find out, and to make the voting system work, why would they come back? Why would anyone?
Thanks to susanhu for keeping the faith on this one.
…There is now way to get election reform before the 2006 mid-terms (or perhaps ever).
…so…what to do? Pretty basic really. Lets all play by the de facto rules that have been in place for 4 election cycles now.. ie. He/she who cheats best wins.
…This is a battle of ones and zeros in the tabulators…make no mistake…that is where the theft is occuring. Well two can play that game…we just have to be prepared.
…Are the modern Dems prepared…I doubt it…but if they are not, you can expect “irregularities” in 2006 that give super-majorities to the Republicans in both chambers of congress. That is the last of the coup de ‘etat, and it will be one party rule for as far as the eye can see.
…This is as serious as a heart attack. If we don’t play to win…we will lose American Democracy if it is not already gone.
Tons of links on court cases past and present, and lots of info on the actual machines, their flaws, and reccommendations to make the voting machines better, more secure, and more easily verifyable.
“The National Committee for Voting Integrity was established to
promote voter-verified balloting and to preserve privacy protections
for elections in the United States. The National Committee is a
non-partisan organization made up of leading technical experts,
lawyers, journalists, and citizens.”
Bev Harris’ group.
“A non-profit, non-partisan organization promoting and applying the
responsible use of technology to improve the democratic process.”
home of several interesting features and info-services
Vote tallies, campaign finance info, and other details about US
legislators.
Will your vote count in the next election?
an electronic
voting system, on issues ranging from global to local. Results are
tallied and reported to Congress, White House and the media.
a non-profit organization dedicated to the development, maintenance,
and delivery of open voting systems for use in public elections.