Election Reform & Related News, Friday 3/30/07 The RNC Silent Coup

[rumpel]

What we are witnessing now is nothing less than the unraveling of a "coup"

Definition:

A coup d’état (pronounced ), or simply coup, is the sudden overthrow of a government through unconstitutional means by a part of the state establishment — mostly replacing just the high-level figures. It is also an example of political engineering. It may or may not be violent in nature. It is different from a revolution, which is staged by a larger group and radically changes the political system through unconstitutional means.

Tactically, a coup usually involves control of some active portion of the military while neutralizing the remainder of a country's armed services. This active group captures or expels leaders, seizes physical control of important government offices, means of communication, and the physical infrastructure, such as streets and power plants. The coup succeeds if its opponents fail to dislodge the plotters, allowing them to consolidate their position, obtain the surrender or acquiescence of the populace and surviving armed forces, and claim legitimacy.
http://www.reference.com/search?q=putsch

"The constitution is just a piece of paper" G.W Bush

As the hearings underway reveals, it is quite amazing to witness how the RNC and multi-national corporations managed possibly over 20 years to trample on the Constitution behind a veil of secrecy, and effect this coup. The discovery of the RNC e-mail servers utilized by the operatives implies to be the infrastructure of this plot.

The founders of this country must be twisting in their graves.

Here is an interesting comment on then Governor of Texas Bush and his legacy, a glimpse into his objectives, then and now. The snip below does not do justice, I recommend reading the entire comment.

"Texas Governor George W. Bush's Record on Taxes"
Fellow Oil Men Get a Break

As the 1999 legislative session started, the oil industry, bemoaning low oil prices, was hunting for a tax break. Specifically, they wanted an exemption from Texas's oil production tax for wells that produce less than 15 barrels a day ( "stripper wells"). In order for the Texas Legislature to consider legislation in the first 60 days of the session, the governor must declare the subject to be an emergency. Governor Bush declared the emergency and the oil industry got its tax break.
2000
http://ctj.org/html/bush.htm

Another article from memory lane, indicate the players - the facilitators of this coup:

Who are these people, anyway?

We could go on for a week on this, and probably will. We've collected over 58 pages of information and there's more to come. But we might as well get started:

Election Systems & Software was formed by a merger of American Information Systems (AIS), a huge election company featuring several Republican owners, and Business Records Corp., part of Cronus Industries, in turn partially owned by a member of the Hunt oil family of Texas.

World Companies, Inc.: This is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Omaha World-Herald. It is a holding company with substantial ownership in Election Systems & Software, and it also controls World Marketing Inc., which operates gigantic databases and mammoth direct marketing companies. Election Systems & Software is also involved in voter registration services, and no one has questioned whether there is a conflict of interest with voter registration activity and access to the nation's largest databases containing race, political affiliations and other demographics.

snip

And, should you have any doubt about the objectivity of the Omaha World-Herald, just look at its archive article publicizing stock picks (01/01/1989): the newspaper cites analyst's recommendations for about 20 stocks, among them: Valmont (whose chairman and CEO, William F. Welsh II, is now chairman and CEO and shareholder of Election Systems & Software, whose part-owner is the Omaha World-Herald); FirsTier Financial, whose CEO, P. E. Esping went down to Texas to become chairman and CEO of Business Records Corp, which later merged into Election Systems & Software. The paper cites another recommendation of FirsTier based on the involvement of Walter Scott, chairman of Peter Kiewit & Sons, but fails to mention that Peter Kiewit was the publisher and major shareholder of the Omaha World-Herald for two decades; the article recommends Val-Com, Inc, owned by Valmont, run by the CEO who is now the Election Systems & Software CEO; it goes on to recommend Cronus Industries (who owned Business Records Corp., which was purchased by the Omaha World-Herald's subsidiary and merged into Election Systems & Software); and for good measure, a plug is thrown in for Parker Drilling, a subsidiary of The Williams Companies that shared directors with the CIA, The George Bush School of Government, and Halliburton. The article cites no good reason to buy Parker Drilling, endorsing it simply as a good "speculative buy."

M. Gene Aldridge, the president and CEO of Omaha World-Herald subsidiary World Marketing, Inc. (the one that runs all those databases — he knows if you've been black or white, he knows if you are poor; he knows if you've been good or bad so behave for goodness sake!) is part of a conservative think tank, the New Mexico Independence Research Institute, and when he's not busy running the jumbo-sized database and direct marketing company, he is writing letters to Congress advocating that we take the huge future tax cuts and give them to the rich right now.
Scoop 2002
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0210/S00044.htm

We suspected as much, but the GSA hearings revealed the reality, that this administration has no hesitation as to utilize government agencies, which by definition are to serve, regulate and protect the public at large, as a tool to usurp powers from We The People and it's representatives, solely for the benefit of a few - namely the 1% that control much of everything.

By the way, as I understand it, under Texas Law, the Governor appoints the Secretary of State. Gonzales was installed by Bush in 1997, furthermore, their Secretary of State has sole authority to make decisions on what election systems are used.

The Rove PowerPoint presentation of the Election results at the GSA asserts data, which in itself is quite puzzling. Kudos to Henry Waxman, Conyers, Leahy and others, we may yet learn what really transpired in our elections.

"Dems Won Corruption, Econ.,Iraq Voters" on page 7, claims the following:

(As these are in red reasonably presuming to mean GOP winning points)

Values +18
Terrorism + 7
Immigration + 6
Saddam Verdict + 2

The blue, possibly loss to Dems
Economy - 20
Corruption - 20
Iraq -21

So, what are these Bush operatives inside these agencies asked to accomplish with these presentations?

The presentation also boasts Party Registration "Not Yet an Ideological Shift" on page 10

"States where GOP registration margin Increased (16 states) since last cycle:
AZ,CA,CT,FL,KY,LA,NC,NE
Net Increase: +554,402

"States where GOP registration margin Decreased (8 states) since last cycle:
CO,DE,IA,KS,MD,NH,NY,PA
Net decrease: -140,529

This implies a roughly 400,000 net increase of Bush & GOP supporters throughout the country...Hmmm, last I heard in pre-election polls of the public at large - people were not so particularly in love with this administration. Something smells -

Considering the Dieboldization of the Los Angeles voter registration database, as I have written before, I smell a big fat rat in every voter registration database "proprietary software".

Oh, no - we will not sit idly by and let you perfect this coup!

rumpel


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[rumpel]

1. NC: House Approves Instant Voter Registration

11 Eyewitness News (ABC)

AP

(3/30/07 -- RALEIGH) - State House members continue to argue about a bill that would allow North Carolinians to register and immediately cast a ballot at one-stop voting sites.

With a vote that followed party lines, the measure passed yesterday and now goes to the Senate.

The dissident lawmakers have maintained that the bill sets the bar too low for proof of identification. They proposed amendments yesterday that would require the State Board of Elections to make additional checks on a registrant's I-D. But the proposals were rejected on the urging of bill sponsor Deborah Ross, who said the elections board should have an opportunity to review the proposals. She said there will be time to do that as the bill goes through the Senate.

http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?section=central&id=5166685

[rumpel]

2. CT: Lowering Voting Age Met With Mixed Reaction

Fairfield Citizen News

By KIRK LANG

Article Launched: 03/30/2007 11:14:09 AM EDT

Connecticut's voting age could get lowered by early 2009.

Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz; state Rep. James Spallone, D-36; educators; and teens from across Connecticut joined together at a news conference at the State Capitol on March 15 to support a proposed constitutional amendment that would give thousands of 17-year-olds in the Nutmeg State the right to vote.

Four days later, the Government Administration and Elections Commmittee, voted unanimously to approve House Joint Resolution No. 11, which would allow 17-year-olds to vote in a primary election as long as they turn 18 before the general election.

http://www.fairfieldcitizen-news.com/local/ci_5557069

[rumpel]

3. CA: Hacker discusses voting machine vulnerability

Staff Reports
The Desert Sun
March 30, 2007

A Finnish scientist and voting hacker, Harri Hursti, will testify today before a ``blue ribbon'' elections review committee at Palm Desert City Hall on the reliability of the county's electronic voting system.

In an exclusive interview with The Desert Sun, Hursti said there's really won't be a security solution to the electronic voting system for the next three to five years.

"The silver bullet has to be a system where you don't have to trust anyone," Hursti said.

http://www.thedesertsun.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070330/UPDATE/70330001

Voting machines topic at hearing
Programmer will discuss vulnerabilities of electronic system
Nicole C. Brambila
The Desert Sun
March 30, 2007

Finnish computer programmer Harri Hursti has not attempted to hack into the county's voting machines, but he will share at a public hearing today how vulnerable electronic systems can be.

"Upon an in-depth review, we believe that electronic systems can never be made transparent enough or secure enough so that voters can have complete confidence that the vote is counted as cast," said Tom Courbat, executive director of SAVE R VOTE, a watchdog group that oversees Riverside County elections and orchestrated Hursti's visit.

Last year, Hursti hacked into a Diebold voting system on the HBO documentary "Hacking Democracy."

Today's blue ribbon committee meeting is the third and final public hearing. It will be at 9 a.m. at Palm Desert City Hall council chambers.

The handpicked committee is expected to give a report to supervisors in late April. Although originally appointed by supervisors to look into election problems, the committee has chiefly fielded security complaints about electronic voting.

http://www.thedesertsun.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070330/NEWS0301/703300362/1006&GID=Jz7nHzuIYLBmpsOTQzjmrLmi6W/XUeO9+A/E8rc/wAg%3D

[rumpel]

4. CA: Early primary squeezes review of voting systems

Registrars warn secretary of state that August deadline for fixes is unrealistic

John Wildermuth, Chronicle Political Writer

Friday, March 30, 2007

A planned "top-to-bottom review" of California's electronic voting systems could cause chaos for county officials preparing for next year's Feb. 5 presidential primary, local election officials warn.

"Time is not our friend here," said Steve Weir, Contra Costa County's clerk-recorder and president of the California Association of Clerks and Election Officials. "If we're looking at a wholesale change in voting systems, we're sunk."

From the day she was elected in November, Secretary of State Debra Bowen has promised to look closely at the wide variety of electronic voting machines used in California's 58 counties. While all the systems already have been reviewed and approved for use by the state, a growing number of opponents has complained that the new electronic systems are subject to breakdowns, may not count votes reliably and can be vulnerable to hackers seeking to change election results.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/03/30/BAG4NOUOVG1.DTL

[rumpel]

5. Group Claims "Voter Fraud" Indictments Used To Chisel Away At Minority Voting Rights

AHN

March 30, 2007 8:16 a.m. EST

Ayinde O. Chase - All Headline News Staff

Washington, D.C. (AHN) - According to widely held beliefs fraudulent voting rarely occurs in America, however recently the Bush administration fired at least two U.S. attorneys for failing to bring "voter-fraud" indictments. In a new report produced by Project Vote titled "The Politics of Voter Fraud," the report reveals most claims of fraudulent voting are baseless allegations made by partisan groups for electoral advantage. According to some political analysts the group's goal is to build political support for laws and procedures that disenfranchise specific groups.

The Republican backed Bush administration's firing of U.S. attorneys McKay and Iglesias came on the heels of six legislatures using claims of voter fraud - later proven to be groundless - to justify support for new laws that hurt minority voting.

Columbia University political scientist Lorraine Mitte who authored Project Vote report found that as of 2004, voter-registration drives were responsible for registering at least 12 million Americans (8.5 percent of all registered voters). They were especially important for minority voters: 15 percent of African-American and Latino voters registered through voter-registration drives compared to 10 percent of white voters.

http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7006901060

[rumpel]

6. CO: Groups blast plan to purge voter rolls

By Daniel Chacon, Rocky Mountain News
March 30, 2007

A plan to remove more than 117,000 Denver voters from active voter files because they didn't cast ballots in November or January is coming under fire.

Four nonprofits are urging the Denver Election Commission not to "scrub" voter files because voters listed as "inactive" won't receive a ballot in the mail for the May 1 municipal election.

The groups are calling on the City Council to pass an ordinance allowing the commission to use voter files that predate the troubled November election.

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5452854,00.html

[rumpel]

7. FL: Democrats press on with voting probe

Herald-Tribune

By JEREMY WALLACE

[email protected]
With or without Republicans, Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives are pushing ahead with a congressional investigation into the voting dispute in Sarasota County.

On Thursday, the chairman of the House task force charged with reviewing the disputed 13th Congressional District battle set the first meeting of the new group for April 17, even though Republicans have refused to appoint a member to the panel.

U.S. Rep. Charles Gonzalez, D-Texas, said he has done everything he can to encourage Republicans to put someone on the panel. But, he said, he needs to get moving on setting up the organizational structure of the task force.

http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070330/NEWS/703300510

[rumpel]

8. WI: Let issue ads be, lobby group says

The Badger Herald

by Keegan Kyle
Friday, March 30, 2007

One of Wisconsin’s most powerful lobbying organizations said Thursday it would strongly oppose any effort by the Legislature to reform “issue advertising” prior to elections.

Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, one of the state’s first organizations to produce issue ads, opposes the proposed regulation, saying it would violate the constitutional freedoms of speech and association.

“What they’re really talking about is censorship,” said Jim Pugh, a spokesperson for WMC. “Many, many thousands of voices would be silenced.”

WMC, which reported spending more money lobbying the Capitol than any other organization last year, has argued before state and U.S. Supreme Courts over regulations forced upon issue advertising.

http://badgerherald.com/news/2007/03/30/let_issue_ads_be_lob.php

[rumpel]

9. OH: More potential 2004 election illegalities rock Ohio's Hocking County as Cleveland braces for a

legal firestorm

The Free Press

by Bob Fitrakis & Harvey Wasserman
March 30, 2007

As the third of four members of the Cuyahoga (Cleveland) County Board of Elections resigns under pressure from Ohio's new Secretary of State, additional potential illegalities in Hocking County have resurfaced with new weight against a GOP executive director already under serious fire.

The four members of the Cuyahoga BOE have been asked to resign by Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, a Democrat elected in November, 2006. Brunner has issued a stinging five-point complaint, much of which derives from the report done by U.S. Congressman John Conyers in the wake of the 2004 presidential election, and on reporting done at http://www.freepress.org/ and research by grassroots election protection activists.

The two Democratic members of the board have already resigned. On March 27, Sally D. Florkiewicz, a Republican, became the third to depart the board. Her departure leaves just Robert Bennett, the BOE chair, clinging to his position. Bennett also chairs the Ohio Republican Party, and has long been one of the state's most powerful politicians, with close ties to the White House. Many believe Bennett was the key point person, along with then-Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell, in the theft of Ohio's 2004 presidential election. Karl Rove is widely believed to have personally persuaded Bennett to stay on at the Cleveland-area BOE through the election.

http://www.freepress.org/departments/display/19/2007/2521

[rumpel]

10. IL: Elected officials caught in loophole

The Daily Herald

Why some towns won’t be able to swear them in

By Jake Griffin
Daily Herald Staff Writer
Posted Friday, March 30, 2007


The anarchists may have finally won.

Because of an oversight in state election guidelines, some Illinois municipalities may be without elected leadership for the first part of May.

After the April 17 election, most municipalities plan to swear in their newly elected, or re-elected, officers during the first week in May.

But because county election officials throughout the state probably won’t be done certifying the results of the election until May 8, it may be impossible to swear anyone in during that first week.

And most towns don’t have provisions for keeping city councils or village boards intact until new members take their oaths.

The problem has sent state legislators scrambling to close the loophole and city officials scampering to figure out what to do.

http://www.dailyherald.com/news/dupagestory.asp?id=296269&cc=d&tc=&t

[rumpel]

11. White House: Gonzales can survive

Chandler News-Dispatch

03/30/2007 14:57:45

By LAURIE KELLMAN, Associated Press Writer Fri Mar 30, 3:17 AM ET

WASHINGTON - President Bush isn‘t rushing to the rescue of his old Texas friend, Alberto Gonzales, after the attorney general‘s one-time lieutenant undercut his old boss‘ account of the firings of eight federal prosecutors.

"I don‘t think the attorney general‘s statement that he was not involved in any discussions of U.S. attorney removals was accurate," Kyle Sampson told a Senate Judiciary Committee inquiry Thursday into whether the dismissals were politically motivated.

Sampson also told the panel that the White House had a large role in the firings, with one-time presidential counsel Harriet Miers joining Gonzales in approving them. And under questioning from Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., Sampson said that looking back, he should not have advocated the firing of one prosecutor in particular, New Mexico‘s David Iglesias.

http://www.onelocalnews.com/chandlernews-dispatch/ViewArticle.aspx?id=10536&source=2

[rumpel]

12. CBS: Poisoning The Presidency

The New Republic: Bush's Norm-Violating Ways May Create Dangerous Precedents For The Future

March 30, 2007

(The New Republic) This column was written by the editors of The New Republic.

In the historical race to the bottom that is Nixon v. Bush, the late trickster would seem to have the edge: He was an unimpeachable lawbreaker — actually, an impeachable one — a claim that doesn't quite stick to Bush. But, in the last month, Bush has been closing fast. While he may not have any second-rate burglaries under his belt, his record now includes his very own version of the Saturday Night Massacre, thanks to the purging of eight U.S. attorneys. It's true that his behavior in this episode may not run up the score in compulsory categories like obstruction of justice or lying under oath. But the fact that he has inflicted massive damage on the American system without apparently breaking many laws should earn Bush major style points.

The Bush administration has exacted such damage because it has poisoned a fragile ecosystem. It turns out that, for generations, presidential power has been checked by an unwritten set of customs and norms as much as by laws and rules. Take the Justice Department. U.S. attorneys serve at the pleasure of the president. But, until now, presidents almost never fired prosecutors they appointed in the middle of their terms — perhaps only two of the 486 appointed in the last 25 years have been canned in this fashion. This is in part because presidents from both parties have implicitly conceded that these attorneys have a higher loyalty to the law than to political patrons — an understanding never enshrined in the U.S. Code but deeply ingrained in the culture of Washington.

Then along came Karl Rove, Alberto Gonzales, Harriet Miers, and the reductio ad absurdum of unthinking Bush loyalism, Kyle Sampson. In their memos, they conflate the competence of prosecutors with fealty to the Republican Party. Thus, they judge David Iglesias to be underperforming for his failure to prosecute New Mexico Democrats on tenuous charges on the eve of the 2006 election, and they concoct post-hoc rationales for displeasure with Carol Lam, who indicted the corrupt GOP representative Randy "Duke" Cunningham and began scouring the dealings of his seemingly venal colleagues and their co-conspirators in the Defense Department. And, in a flash, by purging these attorneys, the Bushies have subverted a set of norms that had long ensured federal prosecutors would deploy the law without partisan favor.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/03/30/opinion/main2628550.shtml

[Peace Patriot]

13. Thanks, Rumpel, for keeping us apprised of what's going on all over, in these roiling

times. It's very important to know that the restoration of American democracy is a project of the American people, and it is happening all over, in towns and states, with challenges to fraudulent election systems, resolutions of impeachment, and all manner of activism. We may be at times riveted by what is going on in Washington DC, but the real story is out here, where the people outvoted the machines, in an effort to get themselves a half-decent Congress, and where Absentee Ballot voting got up to 50% in some places, as voters tried to get around the rigged electronics.

I was thinking--with regard to the last post, the New Republic article, and its over-polite language (in my opinion)--that we hardly have a word for what the Bush regime has done, it is so foreign to American democracy. Junta (Spanish). Putsch (Russian). Coup de etat (French). Fascist coup (Italian/French). The closest thing we have is usurpation (British--in reference to the throne, and "legitimate"--that is, blood--succession to power; hardly an American idea). What am I missing? Do we have a word for it that I'm not thinking of?

I've taken to using Junta--the Bush Junta--in honor of the great democracy movement now occurring in Latin America, and in hope that the ignored half of the western hemisphere may show us the way back.

Leftist (majorityist) governments elected in Ecuador, Bolivia, Venezuela, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay and Nicaragua, and big leftist movements in Peru, Paraguay and Mexico--and even in Guatemala--and something even happening in Colombia, with the Uribe regime (Bush's pals) engulfed in scandal, re: rightwing paramilitary drug trafficking, mass murder of leftists, unionists and peasants, and an assassination plot against Hugo Chavez. The fascists are in disgrace!

Junta seems pretty accurate to me, to describe the Bushcons.

How are the South Americans doing it? Here are the three lessons I've gleaned so far:

1. Transparent elections (!).
2. Grass roots organization.
3. Think big.

If the Latin Americans can do it--after all they've suffered from fascist juntas (often US-backed)--so can we, the people of the north, who never thought that we would end up being a "Banana Republic."

Viva la revolución!

[rumpel]

17. Viva la revolucion

:)

Looking at the average voter turnout in the Nation one can only say it is a crying shame - we must seek more citizen participation..


bush junta

[Kurovski]

14. K&R.

thank you so much, rumpel. An excellent thread.

[nicknameless]

15. K&R

[kimpossible]

16. K&R for the evening crowd

[Name removed]

18. Deleted message

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