Former US Atty says goal of Bush's DOJ was to fix elections.

[Hamlette]

THE SCANDAL unfolding around the firing of eight U.S. attorneys compels the conclusion that the Bush administration has rewarded loyalty over all else. A destructive pattern of partisan political actions at the Justice Department started long before this incident, however, as those of us who worked in its civil rights division can attest.

I spent more than 35 years in the department enforcing federal civil rights laws — particularly voting rights. Before leaving in 2005, I worked for attorneys general with dramatically different political philosophies — from John Mitchell to Ed Meese to Janet Reno. Regardless of the administration, the political appointees had respect for the experience and judgment of longtime civil servants.

Under the Bush administration, however, all that changed. Over the last six years, this Justice Department has ignored the advice of its staff and skewed aspects of law enforcement in ways that clearly were intended to influence the outcome of elections.

It has notably shirked its legal responsibility to protect voting rights. From 2001 to 2006, no voting discrimination cases were brought on behalf of African American or Native American voters. U.S. attorneys were told instead to give priority to voter fraud cases, which, when coupled with the strong support for voter ID laws, indicated an intent to depress voter turnout in minority and poor communities.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-rich29mar29,0,3371050.story?coll=la-opinion-rightrail

It was all about fixing the elections. Maybe that is what Karl was talking about when he said he had "the" math. Rigging the elections. I'm starting to think this could be more like Watergate than we originally thought.

[Erika]

1. No one any longer trusts our judicial system

Thanks to GW Bush, and as his DOj stooge said, "his loyal Bushies".

[WinkyDink]

66. Which is the result they want. They've corrupted the major media, for the same purpose.

The purpose? To have the people turn to Bushco as the only source of "reality" and "truth".

[truedelphi]

150. That is So-o true!

Watching CNN yesterday, I was amazed at how the "news" is constantly editorialized by the talking heads.

CNN and the other main stream media - they are all running scared. We have a man in the White House who is not only opposed by the Five Star Generals in his handling of a War, we have someone that now the Republicans in Congress are deciding to "timeline" - get the War in better shape BY AUGUST or we'll push to end the funding.

So how is this spun? Why, the President will be addressing the Nation tomorrow - said in reverent tones as if "Now, boys and girls, Daddy will tell us the Truth!"

And they went on to say that if Bush did not have meaningful truths to offer to counter the bad press about Iraq, then they would not be letting him address the nation. It never occurred tot he Talking Head how clunky this sounds - I mean, who is this "they" and how are they in charge of whether Bush speaks or not?

[Flying Dream Blues]

113. or the electoral system. nt

[Gregorian]

2. Good stuff. I don't know how you prove it though.

I'll hand it to this administration. They're pros. They know how the law works, so well that they have managed to work around it.

We're going to need some real evidence. I wonder what it'll be. I think it's pretty difficult to prove without evidence they surely wouldn't allow to survive.

But it's getting hotter in here. Keep it up. I love this kind of news.

[ComerPerro]

9. good thing for them is, you really can't prove it. Everyone gives them benefit of the doubt

with the pundits, its always, "yeah, but do you really think the adminstraiton would want to do this?"

[Gregorian]

14. It's one more step towards impeachment.

And on that note, it's goodnight from this side of the planet.

Sweet dreams y'all.

To the best of my recollection. _{To the best of my recollection. To the best of my recollection.} ZZZZZZzzzzzzz.

[blm]

85. It proves they KNEW their opponents would win in a fair election, so they HAD

to find other ways to secure the count.

The Dem PARTY should have had election lawyers working for FOUR YEARS to COUNTER these type of tactics by making an issue out of them and challenging these tactics of vote suppression and stealing, many of which had been revealed in the hearings on 2000 election fraud.

[Why Syzygy]

17. They didn't really 'work around it'.

They broke a BUNCH of laws and enacted new ones to legitimize their reign of terror.
Accountability must come. Do we believe in Justice?

[NJCher]

25. r u serious?

I'll hand it to this administration. They're pros. They know how the law works, so well that they have managed to work around it.

I don't see it as "they know how the law works."

In fact, what they did here was in response to NOT knowing how the law works. Rove viewed the scandals over Duke Cunningham, Abramoff and the like as what lost them the Senate and the House. This is why they stepped in and tried to tamper with AGs who were either investigating political scandal or NOT investigating political scandal (with Democrats).

This is their ham handed way of dealing with losing power. Not smooth. Not clever. Full of mistakes and miscalculations that will add considerably to their downfall.



Cher

[WinkyDink]

71. Permit me to take a leetle issue with this phrase: "NOT investigating political scandal (with

Democrats)."

The Atty's weren't fired for that, re: Democrats. Bushco was pushing them to pursue PHONY accusations of Democratic "voter fraud", where zero reason to so pursue existed.

[Gregorian]

104. Well that's reassuring. I was beginning to think they would never be caught.

At this point I have begun assuming they know exactly what they're doing.

To be honest, I still do to an extent. And one reason why is this statement keeps going around in my head- "Hey guys, pardons all around".

They still accomplished their mission. Even Cunningham gets a reduced sentence.

[Joe Chi Minh]

36. What do you mean REAL EVIDENCE! Thats how consipracies are

proved. A concurrence of circumstantial evidence - in this case, vast. This has been a conspiracy to defraud the American electorate - hence the private e-mail server.

My, it doesn't take you naysayers long to come out, does it?

[Joe Chi Minh]

37. See last sentence above.

[Gregorian]

106. Aha. I see.

Edit- Thanks for your reply. It took me a while to realize that with the proper evidence, conspiracy can be proven like any other case. It's not some vague notion. And so this might just be another nail in their coffin, finally. I'm slow. But that's why I'm here. I want to find out.







I'm still wondering how long it will take, if ever, before we get to the "beyond a reasonable doubt" phrase being used with respect to these criminals.

I'm not a naysayer, I just don't see how on earth any of the things they've done will be proven. But then I'll be thrilled to find out.

I knew I was sticking my neck out when I posted that last night. I've known since the day this group showed up. But proving it? I don't know.

[cassiepriam]

41. Yep, they are good. Criminals take over the US Govt.

They have the entire country, govt, and tresury at their disposal
to help them commit their crimes.

Has to be a sociopath's dream come true.

[yardwork]

123. They have the media, too.

the corporate-owned television, radio, and cable channels benefit greatly from bushco's policies, so they continue to brainwash the masses into believing that all is well. Up is down, day is night, it's all newspeak in bushworld.

[cassiepriam]

128. Imagine what would have happened if Dems had not won the election.

Rove would have pulled this whole thing off successfully.

[mod mom]

101. Archived at Freepress.org and supplied to Conyers office (House Judiciary)

we have signed affidavitts, analyses of machine allocation, cagings lists (ie now USA Tim Griffin's email + Palast's Investigation) and mountain of other evidence!

[mod mom]

103. Some evidence from Ohio:

4 STEPS TO HOW THE GOP STOLE THE '04 ELECTION (and will repeat again)

I have attempted to define how the GOP stole the '04 election in the most simplistic terms and provided links to support the premises:

1. MISALLOCATION OF MACHINES (and less reliable machines) in high Dem Precincts.
2. MANIPULATION OF VOTER REGISTRATIONS and PURGES
3. UNCOUNTED VOTES
4. GOP DIRTY TRICKS

I believe we are heading for a train wreck with the upcoming election, and hope this will help define areas to concentrate our efforts in the future. The use of electronic voting machines will allow more methods for stealing. I am an advocate of Hand-counted paper ballots (with strict procedures) and public witnessed counting at the precinct level.


1. MISALLOCATION OF MACHINES (and less reliable machines) in high Dem Precincts:

Fixing America's Broken Elections
Rep. John Conyers, Jr.
February 08, 2005

My staff reviewed thousands of pages of primary source materials, including copies of actual ballots, voter registration databases, and poll books. They also met with several individuals having firsthand knowledge of irregularities. What they found indicated problems in multiple areas, from machine tampering and malfunction, to the intimidation and caging of minority voters in urban and rural areas, to the purposeful misallocation of voting machines and the unjustifiable restrictions that were placed on the use of provisional ballots.

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/fixing_am...






Ohio 2004 election thief grabs Gov nod while (surprise! surprise!) voting machines malfunction
by Bob Fitrakis and Harvey Wasserman
May 5, 2006

Ohio's Republican Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell has grabbed the GOP nomination for governor in a vote count riddled with machine breakdowns. In Franklin and Delaware Counties, election officials had to "shut down and recalibrate throughout the day," according to the Columbus Dispatch. Election officials use recalibration as a code word when machines are malfunctioning including the recording of votes for wrong candidates.
<snip>
http://www.freepress.org/departments/displ...



2. MANIPULATION OF VOTER REGISTRATIONS and PURGES:


Did 308,000 cancelled Ohio voter registrations put Bush back in the White House?
by Bob Fitrakis and Harvey Wasserman
February 28, 2006

<snip>

It turns out, we missed more than a few of the dirty tricks Karl Rove, Ken Blackwell and their GOP used to get themselves four more years. In an election won with death by a thousand cuts, some that are still hidden go very deep. Over the next few weeks we will list them as they are verified.

One of them has just surfaced to the staggering tune of 175,000 purged voters in Cuyahoga County (Cleveland), the traditional stronghold of the Ohio Democratic Party. An additional 10,000 that registered to vote there for the 2004 election were lost due to "clerical error."

As we reported more than a year ago, some 133,000 voters were purged from the registration rolls in Hamilton County (Cincinnati) and Lucas County (Toledo) between 2000 and 2004. The 105,000 from Cincinnati and 28,000 from Toledo exceeded Bush's official alleged margin of victory---just under 119,000 votes out of some 5.6 million the Republican Secretary of State. J. Kenneth Blackwell, deemed worth counting.

<snip>
http://www.freepress.org/departments/displ...





“Finally on Voter Registration Mr. Chairman, as the Committee is well aware, there were innumerable political parties and 537’s spending tens of millions of dollars on voter registration drives. In Franklin County alone, we processed more than a quarter of a million voter registration forms between January 1, 2004 and the close of registration in early October. This was twice the registration activity as compared to the same period in 2000.”

Bill Anthony testimony on March 21 2005
http://cha.house.gov/hearings/Testimony.as...

Mr Anthony’s testimony stated that in Franklin County alone, more than a quarter million voter registrations forms were processed between Jan. 1 2004 and the close of registration in early October. Yet when the registered voter numbers are compared from 2003 to 2004, we see a change of 120,869.

google: Ohio voter registration historical data
http://elections.ssrc.org/data/voterreg /

Ohio Election Data - Registered Voters before Certification
The Feminist Majority Foundation
Detailed chart of annual changes in Ohio voter registration numbers from 2000 to 2004. The data demonstrates a large voter roll purging in 2002 and relatively high numbers of new registrants from 2002-2004.
voters in 2004 = 845,720
voters in 2003 = 724,851
# Changed
from 03-04 = 120,869

http://www.feminist.org/pdfs/OH_election_p...




-October 4, 2004 was filing deadline for new voter registrations. At that point there were approximately 20,000 unprocessed voter registration applications with less than a month before the election. One mail tray containing 4,500-7,000 (estimates vary) unprocessed “Project Voter” registrations were discovered on or about October 18,2004.
SOURCE: SOS Investigation pg 10

***Of interest here is information obtained from the SOS website entitled ElectionsVoter/results 2003 and 2004 which show the # of registered voters number change from ‘03-’04 was 11,947 in Lucas County: reg voters 2003 in Lucas=288,190 ; registered voter in 2004=300,137.

http://www.sos.state.oh.us/sos/elections/l...




3. UNCOUNTED VOTES:

Cranks and Kooks: Kerry won in '04
by Greg Palast
May 11, 2006

Answer: The Uncounted.

In Ohio, there were 153,237 ballots simply thrown away, more than the Bush "victory" margin. In New Mexico the uncounted vote was fives times the Bush alleged victory margin of 5,988. In Iowa, Bush's triumph of 13,498 was overwhelmed by 36,811 votes rejected. In all, over three million votes were cast but never counted in the 2004 presidential election. The official number is bad enough-1,855,827 ballots cast not counted, reported to the federal government's Election's Assistance Commission. But the feds are missing data from several cities and entire states too embarrassed to report the votes they failed to count. Correcting for the under-reporting of the undercount, the number of ballots cast but never counted goes to 3,600,380. And there are certainly more we couldn't locate to tote up.

Why doesn't your government tell you this? Hey, they do. It's right there in black-and-white on a U.S. Census Bureau announcement released seven months after the election -- in a footnote to the report on voter turn -- out. The Census tabulation of voters voting "differs," from ballots tallied by the Clerk of the House of Representatives for the 2004 presidential race by 3.4 million votes.

This is the hidden presidential count which, excepting the Census' whispered footnote, has not been reported.

Unfortunately, that's not all. In addition to the 3 million ballots uncounted due to technical "glitches," millions more were lost because the voters were prevented from casting their ballots in the first place. This group of un-votes includes voters illegally denied registration or wrongly purged from the registries.

http://www.freepress.org/departments/displ...




November 2, 2004 Election

Iowa New Mexico Ohio

Ballots “spoiled” 18,847 21,084 103,660

Provisional Ballots Uncounted 7,368 6,593 33,998

Absentee Ballots Uncounted 10,596 4,217 15,519

Ghost Votes & blocked votes unknown 2,087 85,950

Total Uncounted* 36,811 33,981 239,127

Bush “Victory” Margin 10,059 5,988 118,599

*Totals here include ghost vote only for New Mexico and machine shortage only for Ohio. Registry purges etc., would increase these totals.



-U.S. Civil Rights Commission reports that ballots of “non-black” voters were rejected: 1.6% (1 in 63 did not count); while black voter ballots were rejected 14.4% or 1 in 7 African American votes went uncounted.

-The rejection of provisional ballots were cast over-whelmingly in Democratic precincts.

-In New Mexico, 9 out of 10 votes uncounted were cast by non-Anglo voters. (90% of this population vote Democratic.

-Nationally, the total numver of voters voting provisionally was 3,107,490 and the rejection rate was 1,090,729.

SOURCE: Greg Palast "Armed Madhouse"




1,597 Provisional Ballots from Franklin Co categorized as Status 200-”Not Registered”, yet voters were registered

http://my.core.com/~rhh/index.htm



Study of Provisionals in Cleveland


From a recent Cleveland study on ‘04:
Almost 1,000 provisional ballots may have been wrongfully rejected because of registration problems alone. At least 944 rejected provisional ballots, mostly classified as “not registered”, were apparently mistakenly purged from the registration lists. Since this error was detected by only one type of search, which did not detect other voters who claimed similar errors, the true number of provisional ballots wrongfully rejected is likely to be higher.
We estimate that 2 out of every 5 provisional ballots that were rejected should have been accepted as legitimate. If we combine incorrectly purged provisional votes, projected votes rejected because of initial registration errors, provisional ballots lost through polling place misinformation and innocent errors filling out the provisional application, it appears that over 41% of rejected provisional ballots (or 14% of all provisional votes) may have been unnecessarily rejected.
We estimate that simply changing residence exposes voters to a 6% chance of being disenfranchised. Youth, the poor, and minorities are disproportionately affected. In fact, with respect to just provisional ballots, we found a two-fold increase in rejection rate in predominantly African-American compared to predominantly Caucasian precincts.
Full text: http://www.clevelandvotes.org/news/reports...
from Feb 2005-but important, in case you missed it.




Wednesday, December 14, 2005; Page A28:


A Defense Department survey on military voting found that 79 percent of military personnel tried to vote in the 2004 presidential election and that 73 percent of those actually voted .

But the survey obscured an important fact: Disenfranchisement of military and overseas absentee voters remains high. Between 30 and 45 percent of these potential voters failed to receive their absentee ballots or received them too late to matter, according to surveys by the National Defense Committee and the Overseas Vote Foundation.

About 1.4 million active-duty members of the uniformed services and 1 million spouses and family members are eligible for absentee voting. In addition, an estimated 4 million U.S. civilians who live abroad are eligible. Yet most states still conduct absentee voting through U.S. mail via a cumbersome three-step process.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...


4. GOP DIRTY TRICKS:

Busheviks connected to New Hampshire phone-jamming scheme
by The Ostroy Report
April 14, 2006

Every day brings new surprises in the wild and wacky world of the Bush Monarchy. One day its WMD lies, the next day illegal wiretappings, the next day leaks of classified data, and now news that the Busheviks and the GOP may be central figures in the 2002 phone-jamming scheme that kept New Hampshire Democrats from voting in that year's midterm elections, according to court documents.

Phone records show that Bush campaign operative James Tobin made dozens of calls to the White House in the immediate days leading up to New Hampshire's election for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Robert C. Smith. Tobin and two others were convicted in December 2005 of hiring Virginia-based GOP Marketplace on behalf of the New Hampshire GOP to jam another phone bank being used by the state Democratic Party and the firefighters' union to get-out-the-vote for then-governor Jeanne Shaheen. John E. Sununu, the Republican candidate, won 51% to 46%. The phone records show that most calls to the White House were from Tobin, who became Bush's presidential campaign chairman for the New England region in 2004.

<snip>
http://www.freepress.org/departments/displ...







GOP SUPPRESSION FLYERS
http://www.solarbus.org/stealyourelection/...





Rep. John Conyers, Jr.
February 08, 2005

My staff found substantial evidence, admitted by a Triad voting machine company employee—in public, videotaped testimony— that he developed documents and manipulated voting machines for the purposes of allowing county officials to forgo a legally required full hand recount of ballots. Other instances of inappropriate political advocacy by voting machine company officials are well known.

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/fixing_am...



Free Press uncovers evidence of ballot tampering in Warren County, Ohio
April 19, 2006

After locking out all media observers and declaring a Level 10 Homeland Security Alert, the Republican-dominated Warren County, Ohio reported the vote tally in the wee hours of the morning on November 3, 2004 -- and gave George W. Bush a surprising 14,000 vote boost. Two election workers told the Free Press that the ballots had been diverted to an unauthorized warehouse where they had been possibly stuffed. That is, punched for Bush only. Maps were supplied to the Free Press showing the locations of the warehouse and the Board of Elections.

Warren County officials refused to allow the Columbus Institute for Contemporary Journalism to handle the ballots, but they did allow us to photograph a few. Richard Hayes Phillips, Ph.D., has analyzed the ballots for the Free Press and concluded that there is evidence of fraud in Warren County. The ballots as photographed with Dr. Phillips' commentary below each ballot are included here for the first time.

The Free Press predicted early on that the ballots would be found punched only for Bush in Warren County. The Moss v. Bush lawsuit pointed to Warren, Butler and Clermont Counties as the three counties that provided more than Bush's entire margin in the Buckeye State: Bush won Ohio by 118,000, and 132,000 votes were supplied in these three southwestern Republican counties.

Now, for the first time, the Free Press is releasing images of the obvious election fraud in Warren County. The Free Press will continue its ongoing investigation in Ohio despite stonewalling by Republican state officials. See the images by clicking on the link below.

<snip>
http://www.freepress.org/columns/display/3...


Ohio GOP Challenges 35,000 Voters
Saturday, October 23, 2004; Page A09



The Ohio Republican Party challenged the eligibility of 35,000 newly registered voters yesterday, an action that party officials said was unprecedented but necessary to prevent election fraud in a state where polls show President Bush and John F. Kerry in a statistical tie.

Most of the 35,000 voters live in urban, Democratic areas, party spokesman Jason Mauk said. Local party officials, joined by Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie at a news conference, said the voters were mainly registered by "shadowy" Democratic-leaning groups and were chosen after the GOP sent them mail that was returned as undeliverable.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/artic...

[Gregorian]

108. Thanks. I'm catching on.

I see it's not such a vague thing after all. Conspiring can have it's evidence. I always thought it was far more difficult if not impossible to prove.

So we're closing in. And finally I'm beginning to remove my pessimism.

[FatDave]

130. Gregorian, you're not wrong to be pessimistic

These are some slippery bastards, and most of the very crimes they've committed serve to stack the deck in their favor. And just look at the things they've gotten out of in the past.

That being said, I've never been more optimistic than I am now. It does feel like we're making some headway, oversight is beginning to happen, but I think we've only scratched the surface. It'll probably be decades before we know everything that went on, if ever.

[Gregorian]

141. Yes. The unburying has begun.

I AM getting optimistic. And partly because I know we have people like John Hall in the House. You know the musician from that silly 70's band. But boy does he sound solid. And many others. I mean, the pool we are beginning to chose from (Al Franken) is starting to look very good.

There is accountability. They know they can't get away now. Rove knew where the cracks were.

And thanks. We're all at different speeds. I can't believe how far I've progressed socially and politically since 2000.

That's another day for me. My sore body is falling off the chair! :)

[19jet54]

135. Hatch Act - Violation of Law!

http://www.osc.gov/ha_fed.htm

Agencies/Employees Prohibited From Engaging in Partisan Political Activity

Employees of the following agencies (or agency components), or in the following categories, are subject to more extensive restrictions on their political activities than employees in other Departments and agencies:

Administrative Law Judges (positions described at 5 U.S.C. § 5372)
Central Imagery Office
Central Intelligence Agency
Contract Appeals Boards (positions described at 5 U.S.C. § 5372a)
Criminal Division (Department of Justice)
Defense Intelligence Agency
Federal Bureau of Investigation
Federal Elections Commission
Merit Systems Protection Board
National Security Agency
National Security Council
Office of Criminal Investigation (Internal Revenue Service)
Office of Investigative Programs (Customs Service)
Office of Law Enforcement (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms)
Office of Special Counsel
Secret Service
Senior Executive Service (career positions described at 5 U.S.C. § 3132(a)(4))

Penalties for Violating the Hatch Act

An employee who violates the Hatch Act shall be removed from their position, and funds appropriated for the position from which removed thereafter may not be used to pay the employee or individual. However, if the Merit Systems Protection Board finds by unanimous vote that the violation does not warrant removal, a penalty of not less than 30 days' suspension without pay shall be imposed by direction of the Board.

[Bluestar]

3. Lift up any rock in this administration

and you will uncover any number of scandals bigger than Watergate. They have had complete unbridled power for 6 years and spent all of their time screwing the American people. Nixon was an amateur compared to this crowd. I think this is only the first of many Watergates to be uncovered.

[Erika]

5. And they had a GOP congress who rubber stamped

and hid their illegal activities.

[Wednesdays]

61. And a whore media

who cheerleaded them all the way from the beginning.

[peacetalksforall]

77. Not only did they give the WH blank checks, they ridiculed Dems

by laughing at and lashing out at Dems. They ordered non-support and non-attendance and relegated them to indefinite meeting spaces and basement rooms. A little like the lies told to voters about where to go and road blocks set up with the help of police.

Brought to you by 'the rapper'.

[cassiepriam]

42. I agree totally. We have only scratched the surface. There is much more to come.

[juno jones]

117. Nixon

just wanted to increase the odds of getting re-elected. These guys want to turn the US into a one party totalitarian government. Yeah, poor Nixon, totally outclassed again...

[KaryninMiami]

4. It's about time someone noticed- thank you LA Times. When will America learn

that these monsters were NEVER ELECTED and came into power by hijacking our elections (and our judicial system)? Watergate doesn't hold a candle to what has gone on with this team of fascist fundamentalists- it's worse then anything any of us can imagine and I for one, am fuming that it's taken this long for America to wake up. The problem is however, that most of America is still asleep. Sure some are beginning to see bits and pieces of who they are and Iraq has been a bit of a wake up call as has the reality of Gonzalez and the attorney firings which thank goodness, are in the mainstream press (when there's not a more sensational story to cover that is). But in my travels and conversations with strangers, I find most people still oblivious to much of this for the most part and still not believing that anyone would "get away with" rigging elections without being caught. Drives me crazy and has for years.

[shance]

21. It's really not "America's" fault. If you have been deliberately excluded from knowing the truth

how can you know what you don't know? Sure its time for us to know now. I've been active on election reform since essentially its inception. People can no longer feign ignorance.

But there has been so much information deliberately kept from Americans - vital information that would of course change the entire guard in Washington and turn our country upside down. That is, if most Americans knew more of the truth of our history and how we got to where we are today.

That is one reason why power abusers/corporations are keeping the average American working so many long hours. Keep everyone busy and distracted while many in Washington try and dismantle our Democracy.

[WinkyDink]

72. So what makes us here so special, that other Americans don't know what we do?

The answer: NOTHING.
Libraries, books, newspapers, the Internet, TV, education---most of these avenues to info are available to most Americans in some measure.

[Ghost in the Machine]

94. what makes us different and special here is that we *want* to learn,

*want* to know, and *want* to make a difference. Everyone else just wants to keep their heads buried in the sand and follow along with the status quo. They have no desire to learn the inner workings of our government... of our Country... and "don't get involved in politics.

We need to reframe this issue... it's not getting involved with politics, it's getting involved with saving our Country from thugs and despot dictators.

PEACE!

Ghost

[Irishonly]

98. Exactly

I have been saying for years that the Bush administration, when and if all illegal activity comes out, would make Nixon's look like Romper Room. It also appears they interfered with a tobacco settlement.

I tell Fox viewers to turn off the TV and READ. The lack of knowledge appalls me. The fact I watch CSpan appalls them but very slowly, there are some coming around.

[cassiepriam]

44. I agree, there was wide spread complicity by the American people.

[EFerrari]

6. They have to fix federal elections because they can't win them. n/t

[cassiepriam]

45. Bingo. All the rigging of elections is a full admission they cannot win them honestly.

[Morgana LaFey]

138. Of course they can't win elections honestly. Here's why

The country is LIBERAL. Again and again polls show support for Democratic issues and initiatives, NOT Republican positions on important issues. Education, Healthcare, Taxes (nobody but the rich wanted tax cuts when Bush came into office!), the war now, etc., etc. This has been true for years. It's one reason the Republicans have to keep tap dancing and distracting from the Dem agenda, and mischaracterizing what does slip through. Democrats keep forgetting it.

The demographics of the country keeps slipping ever further to the left. More minorities who overwhelmingly vote Democratic. The UNEDUCATED don't so much, so that's why the Republicans have to wreck education if they want to survive. And these days, the military is mostly ours too.
:toast:

They have to cheat, lie and steal. Because their ideas, positions and agendas are NOT those favored by the public, they have to lie about themselves as candidates, along with their ideas, their proposed and actual legislation (those Orwellian names, modeled on things we'd actually DO, such as Clear Skies Initiative or the Patriot Act, etc.). And they have to steal elections.

Sure seems like it would be a LOT less work - - although the perks (aka: power and corruption) aren't so great -- if they'd just become what IS popular with the public. But you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear, can ya now?

[cassiepriam]

143. Further more their agenda hurts the middle and lower classes, so the repugs have to lie

to convince us to vote against our own self interests.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

7. oh wow

do ya'll feel validated? I sure in the hell do.

Everything we've been digging up for years is finally coming to light, gift wrapped and with a shiny bow even.

:bounce:

[Hamlette]

11. Yes, Josh Marshall and Glenn Greenwald have been saying it was about

fixing elections all along and now we've got a guy who worked inside the DOJ under Bush who supports that.

If this really was about fixing elections (the whole DOJ including these firings...remember most of the fired attorneys were from swing states, remember too this BS about voter fraud is just that, BS) this could be big. I'm not getting my hopes up and recognize it will be a bloody battle if true but hey, if we can prove one tenth of what we suspect, it could get very ugly.

[EVDebs]

8. But besides elections the Lam investigations into 'Hookergate' threatens the CIA/GOP money pipeline

FBI probes Watergate prostitution allegations
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12634250/

"It's all part of a growing ongoing investigation into corruption in defense and intelligence contracts, which already has sent former Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham to prison and, legal sources say, may threaten others in Congress and the CIA. "

What's this ? MAY threaten others in Congress and the CIA ?

And not just elections...but ongoing investigations...are threatened with obstruction of justice by this administration. Their spin will 'legitimize' but the intended effect is to shut down investigations that would result in spotlighting the GOP's CIA money pipeline.

[cassiepriam]

47. They have more than one money pipeline for sure. Not a major problem to close one down.

The system is looking much more complex than we realized.

[EVDebs]

116. Sorry, the drug/CIA pipeline is HUGE

just read Alfred McCoy's The Politics of Heroin: CIA complicity in the Global Drug Trade

or Tim Weiner's Blank Check: The Pentagon's Black Budget. Congress is supposed to have oversight but with these guys EVERYTHING is off the books.

[cassiepriam]

131. They will just get another huge one going. They control the world remember?

[EVDebs]

136. Heroin ? What next ? nt

[pberq]

79. Not only that

Did anyone else hear Diane Feinstein's questioning yesterday regarding Carol Lam's indictments of two drug cartel leaders? Lam was also getting close to another CIA money pipeline - drugs.

(edited for grammar)

[EVDebs]

114. The Octopus, that killed Casolaro and Webb, has now claimed the career of Lam...nt

[bonito]

10. A hundred votes no less

my bet.

[Bluedogvoter]

12. I disagree with the attorney.

I'd go a step further and say its good they were giving voter fraud cases attention.

[Hamlette]

16. well, gee, Bluedog, problem is, the allegations of voter fraud by the GOP are bunk

we know that. And the allegations by the dems are legit and are not investigated or prosecuted.

I'm not saying that because I'm a partisan, I'm saying it because there is abundant evidence to support my position. Surf a bit. Join us in the fact based world.

[Bluedogvoter]

18. You'll have to be a bit more specific.

What is bunk and what is fact?

I stand by my statement I'm glad voter fraud is being investigated. Two elections ago I went to vote and someone had already voted for me. I complained and nothing happened and I didn't get to vote.

[LiberalFighter]

64. Did you contact the local DA's office? the State Attorney's Office? the Secretary of State's office?

Did you call the newspaper? Did you write a letter to the editor explaining what happened? Did you call the local Democratic Party?

[Cobalt Violet]

34. So voting wasn't suppressed?

8hr. lines in poor dem. districts isn't a case of voter suppression? Caging lists aren't voter suppression?

[PVnRT]

39. Individual voter fraud is an overblown myth

How do you feel about problems with electronic voting? Kicking people off of registration lists simply because they share a last name and a first initial with a convicted felon? Or the dozens of other problems with our voting system?

[cassiepriam]

48. "Voter fraud" was the cover for disenfranchising dem voters.

[RestoreGore]

58. And by doing that they even disenfranchised their own

By not upholding the Constitution. The fools...and that's being mild.

[cassiepriam]

70. They only care about power and money. Nothing else means anything to them.

[RestoreGore]

75. Well, we can then still hope they meet the same fate as those empires down through history

that bit the dust for their power and greed.

[cassiepriam]

129. Let's hope they don't last a thousand years like some empires.

[WinkyDink]

76. It's a PHONY ISSUE, designed to suppress the Democratic vote AND HIDE

the issue of RIGGED machine votes; ILLEGAL deletion of legitimate voters from voter rolls; "coincidental" police "random" stopping of cars to check drivers for intoxication and/or license possession; phone calls to minority Democrats telling them that they were to vote on a different day; etc.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-10-10-poll-fraud-report_x.htm

[The Backlash Cometh]

13. Yes, hello. And why don't you go back to their Republican stomping

grounds to find where they picked up this method of operation.

Why is everyone so shocked? Some of us live with this shit every day.

[19jet54]

19. I agree Batman...

... the bat-cave has always been dark - Robin

And what you somewhat suggest is the saving grace here; there are so many public servants, professionals not willing to sell their soul, devout to the Constitution, totally pissed off, ready to undermine the current dictator, not by evil desires but simply by not helping them when they need it the very most. I have seen it a hundred thousand times. Most of whom I speak have served many, many presidents & politicians as career civil servants. Most are veterans, are very loyal to America and are independent survivors. Like the old saying; 'Washington is like herding cats', they mostly herd themselves with a copy of the constitution in their back pockets.

There is more to this than fixing votes; Today's testimony brought up 'gun control enforcement' US Attorney statistics regarding convictions. Hitler used these very methods too; seize power somehow, militarize, disarm the people, become a total tyrant. These are dangerous times if it were not for Democracy?

[The Backlash Cometh]

62. Did you take a peek at my sig line?

I am the daughter of a civil servant, I have done nothing but promote civil servants as a solution to our current political corruption problem. In fact, when this whole Republican strategy of destroying government began, they first came for the civil servants. And I have also said, time and time again, that these corrupt new breed of politicos have systemically removed the boy scouts from the system.

So, going back to my post, I restate: none of what we're uncovering about the Bush Administration's method of operation surprises me. Why? Because all politics are local. You follow the Texas Mafia (as someone else coined them) back to their stomping ground and see what they were doing in Texas and how they were doing it, and you will understand why they had the brass balls to apply that shit on a national level.

You can say that about any corrupt network. Follow it back to their local beginnings. They are getting away with the same things all over this nation, in a fiefdom sort of way.

[Enthusiast]

92. In Ohio!

They pulled the same garbage in Ohio.

I remember during the Florida recount in 2,000 all my Republican friends kept sending me hanging Chad e-mail jokes. Like I would find Chad jokes funny while I watched our democracy drain away before my eyes.

My big question is this: Just what kind of a country do Bush supporters wish to live in? Certainly not a democracy.

[The Backlash Cometh]

97. Yup. Exactly. Ohio and Florida are very similar.

What kind of country do the Bush supporters want to live in? I'll tell you what kind. Where rules apply to other people, but not them. Where they won't spend a penny to help someone else's kid, but will pay $5000 for a cocktail party which will give them access to someone who can get them around some pesky rule that is impeding them from taking over public resources, or some rule which is cutting into their profit margins because it involves installing some safety feature to protect their workers or consumers.

Basically, they want an "in" group and they want the public masses kept out of their mentally gated community.

And the thing that they have going in their favor is that the public masses moves like molasses because the media is dismissive in educating them.

Just for instance, take property rights. Property rights is an individual right versus public interest issue, yet, the property right proponents (mostly developers) have the public believing that property rights is as American as freedom of speech and is a pro-public issue. So the ignorant masses keep supporting the property rights changes in the local areas, then can't fucking figure out why the golf course property suddenly got replaced with a Wal Mart and high density condos.

And liberal judges are not helping the cause because they go overboard with the eminent domain interpretation, so the Democrats are left holding their gob in their hands.

Damn. If there is a lawyer out there who is willing to cover my back, I have a beautiful story which will at least match Uncle Tom's Cabin in bringing on social change.

[skooooo]

15. holy shit!

[autorank]

20. What a surprise. I'm truly shocked!!! K&R

Fired Federal Prosecutors and Election Fraud 12 Mar 2007

U.S. Attorney Firings Exposes Rough Justice: Voter Fraud Prevention Equals Voter Suppression 27 March 2007

Protecting the Democratic Vote. Analysis: A Formula for Catching Election Fraud Nov. 7, 2006

TruthIsAllNet

Election Fraud News

[leftofthedial]

22. it should be illegal to be a repuke

it is an organized criminal enterprise

[cassiepriam]

49. Yes, the bushafia should be outlawed forever. The whole lot of them.

[peacetalksforall]

80. It's the WASHINGTON-TEXAS MAFIA with numbers and powers

VASTLY multiplied. They learned and borrowed from the Mafia, Hitler, Mussolini, Lenin and reverted to colonialism, imperialism, slavery.

They manipulated Native Americans, tortured Moslems, and made fools of all of us.

The circles within circles and overlapping circles is unending.

They managed to find thousands and thousands of minds who could be in sync with 'the rapper', little George, big Dick, PNACers and the Barons.

Have you ever contemplated how many people are in the circle who know about and participated in the vote thefts and obstructions? Starting with the smarmy little election board masters and mistresses and the ones who helped by their utter ignorance, then by utter refusal to acknowledge.

[leftofthedial]

93. it is now undeniable that the repuke party itself

is an organized criminal enterprise

[tblue]

23. K&R Randi Rhodes called it. It's all about the '08 election and screwing black voters. Damn GOP.

[MagickMuffin]

24. This paragraph stuck out to me:

It has notably shirked its legal responsibility to protect voting rights. From 2001 to 2006, no voting discrimination cases were brought on behalf of African American or Native American voters. U.S. attorneys were told instead to give priority to voter fraud cases, which, when coupled with the strong support for voter ID laws, indicated an intent to depress voter turnout in minority and poor communities.

I seemed to remember way way back in the 2000 (S)election that The US Commission Civil Rights held hearings about the disenfranchisement of African Americans. I watched the hearings and the testimonies of the voters who had their testimonies recorded into the record.

So, I did a search before posting to confirm my past recollections, and here is what I found a Nine chapter booklet entitled:


Voting Irregularities in Florida During the 2000 Presidential Election
http://www.usccr.gov/pubs/vote2000/report/ch1.htm



http://www.answers.com/topic/florida-central-voter-file
In June 2001, The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights released a report and statements <7> arguing that Florida was, on numerous counts, in violation of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and recommending:

On 1 count that "The U.S. Department of Justice should immediately initiate the litigation process against the governor, secretary of state, director of the Division of Elections, specific supervisors of elections, and other state and local officials responsible for the execution of election laws, practices, and procedures..."
On 1 count that "The U.S. Department of Justice should initiate the litigation process against the governor..."
On 1 count that "The U.S. Department of Justice should initiate the litigation process against the secretary of State..."
On 12 counts that "The U.S. Department of Justice and the Civil Rights Division in the Office of the Florida Attorney General should initiate the litigation process against state election officials..."
...And so on, totaling 20 recommendations involving the phrase "should initiate the litigation process" or "should immediately initiate the litigation process"





Another article
http://cnnstudentnews.cnn.com/2001/ALLPOLITICS/stories/01/10/naacp.suit/index.html

This is an article on the voter suppression tactics in Georgia where a complaint was filed for purging his name from the rolls
http://www.naacpldf.org/content.aspx?article=758


So, while I appreciate Mr. Rich coming forward, however, he must not have realized that these complaints went straight into FILE 13....

[RaleighNCDUer]

83. Isn't that exactly his point?

Wherever there were recommendations made to the DOJ, they were just ignored. Few, if any, cases proceeded out of any investigations. The facts were out there, but they were not acted upon.

[MagickMuffin]

132. Well Then This NEEDS to be part of the INVESTIGATIONS....

It needs to be EXPOSED to remind the American people that the Republicons have been STEALING ELECTIONS for a long long time, and that is the only way they can WIN is by RIGGING the System.

The lack of a REAL informed public has not been served by the Corporate Media either. Instead of doing their jobs like say, interviewing people who were disenfranchised instead of running over people in parking lots like Shepard Smith did, then how is the TRUTH going to be covered, apparently by ignoring the voters, and instead make fun of them, and not covering the news at ALL. It was more of a COVER UP by the GOP/RNC controlled Corporate Media!

I watched all of this at the time (unemployed) watched all the court proceedings (Glued to C-SPAN) and all the testimonies of the Civil Rights hearings, and this was a (S)election that was planned for years. Mad king Boy George heading up big ol Texas and little Jebbie in control of Florida. Adds up to a LOT of electrol votes.

Poppy Bush called his ole Spook buddy Charles Kane on the golf course to take action, which he did taking absentee ballots out of offices to who knows where so they could alter the ballots, and of course the famous Republicons coming down from Washington to protest the Counting of the Votes, and STOPPING Democracy.

That is when I TRULY lost ALL RESPECT in the Corporate Media. They have NOT earned it back yet either. Until they quit going to the Cocktail parties so they can report on "off record" gossip I will never respect them. To think they would SELL themselves out for a bottle of Booze (probably cheap booze at that) tells us all we need to know about that, doesn't IT?

So, I guess what I'm trying to say by all of this is: WE need the Congress to investigate along side the rest of us fighting in the trenches to expose this so the Media has to COVER it, and not make it seem like it's not that big a Deal when it comes to our Democracy and the Dirty Tricks the GOP/RNC will go to WINNING.
And with the '08 elections bearing down on us, the sooner WE can expose the Dirty Tricks of the GOP/RNC then it will make it harder on them to continue along their path.
WE have years of Research that WE can help provide to Congress to help get the EXPOSURE this Needs....

I would like to FINALLY have the 2000 disenfranchised voter issue investigated since it got lost along the way.

I hope this makes sense, haven't been up very long:eyes:

[tavalon]

26. No way!

Way.

And another "Duh" moment brought to us by the corporate media machine.

[NJCher]

27. sad

It's sad, reading these paragraphs from the LA Times piece:

I was told to include critical comments about those whose recommendations ran counter to the political will of the administration and to improve evaluations of those who were politically favored.

Morale plummeted, resulting in an alarming exodus of career attorneys. In the last two years, 55% to 60% of attorneys in the voting section have transferred to other departments or left the Justice Department entirely.

At the same time, career staff were nearly cut out of the process of hiring lawyers. Control of hiring went to political appointees, so an applicant's fidelity to GOP interests replaced civil rights experience as the most important factor in hiring decisions.

I can appreciate what it must have been like to be a legal professional and having these oafs and thugs come in and politicize the workplace.

It's very, very sad. It's evident that this man has seen enough of this for a lifetime.

This reeks of Soviet-style politics.



Cher

[PADemD]

28. Link does not work

[MelissaB]

32. Works for me.

:hi:

[Stevepol]

29. K&R!

[Disturbed]

30. Rove wants a one party domination of America.

The new party of Neo Fascists.

[cassiepriam]

50. Yes and he was well on his way to accomplishing it. He still may do it yet.

[RestoreGore]

60. Wasn't Rove at a Yankee game after 9.11...

And commented that the cheers of the crowd for the commemoration was like being at a Nazi rally? I was sure I read that somewhere.


Edit:

Yes, Rove is quoted in Bob Woodward's Bush At War as comparing the reaction of a New York Yankee crowd to an appearance by Bush as being "like a nazi rally."

[Botany]

31. For these crooks the voting is just for show .... the real work is in fixing 'em.

And then getting a plausible story as to why the vote went that way.

In 2006 in Ohio the repugs led by state Rep David Hughes passed
HB 3 which was a voter I.D. bill along with stopping recounts and
looking voting machines hardware & software. It was sold as needed
to stop all the vote fraud in Ohio by democrats .... we had 4 cases in 2004.

This is just part of the minority acting as the majority through cheating.

[Cobalt Violet]

And indeed, the fix is already in.

:nuke:

[cassiepriam]

51. Yes I think it is a done deal.

[Cobalt Violet]

33. Dupe

:nuke:

[JHB]

35. Another point to throw at doubters that * stole 2000 & 2004

So much for the notion that "they wouldn't go that far"...

[cassiepriam]

52. LOL any idiot who still believes that, I have a bridge to sell them.

[RestoreGore]

38. And of course this all comes out when it is too late to do anything about it

And nothing will be done about it just like always.

[Just-plain-Kathy]

43. Yes but if the truth comes out, it would stop any other Bushes from getting into the WH.. n/t

[RestoreGore]

54. But that doesn't kill this cancer at the source

Bush is just a waterboy for the big guns.

[bearfan454]

144. That's right. He's only a front man nt

[peacetalksforall]

84. A p.s. to your post - a theory last night on DU - Run Jeb for VP

under Romney and then switch roles.

[Just-plain-Kathy]

107. So they'll kill off Romney like they tried to do with Reagan.

When see Jeb Bush on the ticket, America will finally realize we lost our democracy a long time ago.
:(

[Enthusiast]

146. America won't realize shit............

They would elect Jeb and smile doing it. The American electorate wouldn't know a fascist if it bit 'em on the ass. In 2004 Kerry should have won in a landslide. There had never been a better reason to fear our government, yet, to turn on NBC, ABC, CBS or the cable news networks you would never know a thing about this threat. I've about lost all hope. When I see them drag monkey boy before the Senate I might change my mind. I would love to see that self righteous asshole on the stand.

[Just-plain-Kathy]

148. Hi Enthusiast...Welcome the DU...I think your'e right...

I hope Pelosi drags money boy before the Senate. The other day some RW talking head said something like, 'Democrats are busy investigating, while republicans are busy trying to legislate.

:banghead:

[cassiepriam]

53. Bingo, just because it is all coming out does not mean it will stop.

And they can always find another way.
Close down one crime, they just commit another one.
I don't really trust the American people to do the right thing.

[RestoreGore]

55. Unfortunately, I don't either

We allowed the coup in 2000 that started this all to go unpunished, and this is what it has snowballed into and they aren't done yet. Actually, I think we could go back even further to the coup that brought us JFK's murder...the same bastards are still in power! What does that say about the American people?!

[cassiepriam]

69. Not much :(

[Just-plain-Kathy]

109. I'll get flamed for this but, Hillary Clinton was our First Lady,

she wants to be our president...why hasn't she fought harder to bring truth and justice to our elections?

The Bush machine kicked the Clintons for years, she knows how ruthless they are.

Why doesn't she feel the need to straighten out the mess we have concerning our elections?

[Peace Patriot]

121. The only fact I know about Hillary that might be in her favor: She was one of only TWO

U.S. Senators who voted against the "Help America Vote For Bush Act" of 2002 (the rigged electronics voting act) (--the actual fascist coup). Her and Charles Schumer. I kid you not. ALL the other Dems voted FOR it. Could be just that New Yorkers love their old, funky, and virtually unriggable, lever voting machines, and Clinton/Schumer didn't want to offend NY voters. But still....could Hillary actually believe in democracy, deep down in her little Corporate Predator heart? Probably not.

[cassiepriam]

40. What else has Rove been up to? This is only a piece of rigging the 08 elections.

[RestoreGore]

57. Amazing isn't it? That as we sit and talk, Rove is also still able to plot

So again, what will all this talk come to in the end? What scandal breaks the camel's back? I should think stealing our president from us would have been enough...how sad to see how wrong I was.

[cassiepriam]

68. Oh yes, they all continue to be above the law. They are the law as they like to say.

I still do not count them out for 08.
They have a good chance of winning.

[The Doctor.]

46. "More like Watergate'?

Watergate had nowhere near as much raw ambition.

[ourvoicescount]

56. Great to hear that people are discussing it "from the inside".

[DiverDave]

59. This is just the start

the "liberal media" will finally get a spine and start uncovering all the crap the repukes have done.
The constitution WILL win out, I'm gonna love seeing these criminals doing the perp walk, I just cant wait.

Dave

[warren pease]

110. The "liberal media" will NOT get a spine

They will continue to make ever more ridiculous excuses for BushCo because that's their job description. And they want to keep their prestigious, well-paying jobs after the possible/inevitable BushCo meltdown.

So they seek to demonstrate their worth to the puppet masters by both continuing to cheerlead for any and all administration lies, no matter how ludicrous, and give them the gloss of credibility as the lies are repackaged and delivered by some youngish featherhead with the appearance of honesty and integrity and the soul of a viper.

Or, in the case of a meltdown so severe that even the DC press sluts can't spike it, they'll suddenly morph into righteous muckrakers, intent on uncovering the complete extent of the outrages perpetrated by the white house and helping bring the Bush cartel to justice --all in an effort to position themselves as supporters of the winning team, which they hope will improve their access to key players in the next administration.

And what do you expect after decades of sluttish behavior? They got their jobs because they possess the exact right skill set: brilliant teeth, perfect hair, a good profile, sympathetic eyes, the look of sincerity, and the willingness to crush what little remains of their ethics and conscience. Journalistic skills don't even make the top 20 on "must be able to..." list. Instead, they have to have the ability to read from a Teleprompter, and respond quickly to cues from the micro-receiver in their ear as it suggests questions an actual journalist might ask.

Worse yet, poll after poll reveals the depressing fact that around 93 percent of Americans say TV news is their sole or primary source of information. So the deck's stacked, all the bases are covered, and it only remains for the beltway spin machine to decide on the truth du jour which will, as per instructions, focus all the blame on Clinton. That they can continue to do this after all these years without bursting out in uncontrollable laughter is absolutely amazing. But that's why they get the big bucks.

wp

[truth2power]

63. It occurs to me that

people are sitting on death-row on the basis of less evidence than has already come out against this administration.

Guess it just goes to show, in America you get the best justice money can buy. :evilfrown:

[rosesaylavee]

65. Get this out to your email list this am!

The average person is exposed more to the publican talking points that this scandal is just political maneuvering by the DEMS. Send this out to your email lists with a link and ask them to pass along.

This is our future here - without the ability to vote, returning our country to the rule of law is not going to happen!

Word of this needs to be spread as it will not necessarily be communicated by the M$M.

[HootieMcBoob]

67. Worse Than Watergate!

:kick: and Rec!

[OneGrassRoot]

78. Love your name, HootieMcBoob (just wanted to type it out...lol) n/t

[MissMillie]

73. they *had* to mess with upcoming elections

after the fiasco that has been George W. Bush and the Congress that gave him a blank check, they knew it would be a long time before they saw power again--unless they could fix the elections.

[mod mom]

74. Author was Chief of Voting Sec in DOJ's Civil Rights Division ('99-2005)

By Joseph D. Rich, JOSEPH D. RICH was chief of the voting section in the Justice Department's civil right division from 1999 to 2005. He now works for the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.


Just for the record.

Thanks for posting

[ProSense]

81. It's all comming out:

"But the biggest clue about what they were up to came in 2000 with the Florida recount."

Fired prosecutors scandal shines suspicion on 2004 election, and it's not voter fraud

So SMARTECH, company that hosts gwb43.com (owned by RNC), ALSO hosted the OHIO ELECTION RETURNS???

[ProSense]

115. Oops, "coming." n/t

[glitch]

82. Uh oh, opinions like this in corporate media are going to bring this topic mainstream

that'll make it harder to nitpick the minutia. K & R

[peacetalksforall]

89. Yes, this man gave us a gift and the LAT (ungh?) facilitated the

gift. Thanks for big blessings.

What's the LAT balance sheet look like?
I'd say they have a long way to go for the damage they've done to our country over the past 15 years.

I believe they were one of the papers participating in the recount - which I believe was the last voting hoax in 2001 that really cheated us.

[glitch]

100. The LAT is still very far in the red as far as I am concerned. It's a baby step.

Which I guess needs encouraging. I believe they were part of the papers contributing to the recount of the 2000 eleciton. I don't know if the paper's recount was a hoax, but the limited hangout utterly biased quick burial reporting on it certainly was.

Maybe now they'll feel safe enough to actually report on it thoroughly. Ok, I actually wrote that in all seriousness but on review I feel compelled to add: :rofl:

[raccoon]

86. K&R nt

[Blackhatjack]

87. When People Attempt To Fix Election Outcomes, There Must Be Lengthy Sentences. Period.

It is so hard to prove that individuals have engaged in activities to 'fix' election outcomes, there must be sentences imposed that include long periods of incarceration and huge financial fines, and there must be 'substantial truthful cooperation' with prosecutors to be considered for any reduction in sentence.

[Marie26]

88. Yeah, I agree

This ties into the GSA scandal, when they asked loyal Bushies to use their agencies to elect more Republicans in 2008. Both scandals occured about the same time - Nov. - Jan. 2007. It sounds like Rove panicked after losing the 2006 election, and he was going to assure that never, ever happened again.

[Beetwasher]

90. BOOYA!!!!!!!!!!! This is HUGE!!!!! It's A MAJOR Bullwark Against Election Fraud!!

It needed to be said. Now it's out there and it will MUCH harder for them to actually rig elections. By merely having this acknowledged like this is a big, big step.

This is HUGE.

[Enthusiast]

145. Huge yes, out there, no.

Sorry, I don't see it as "out there". I wish it was out there but the American public, in general, has no idea that two elections were stolen. Just like a banana republic. I suspect we will see the same thing next time. The neo-cons rely on the ignorance of the electorate. They know exactly how far they can go. There doesn't appear to be any limit to how far they can go, they demonstrated that by stealing two presidential elections. We need to keep this thread going and expand it to every forum on the net. The country is still in the hands of fascists.

[merh]

91. Good place to repost this

-snip-

In the last few days we’ve also learned that Republican members of Congress called prosecutors to pressure them on politically charged cases, even though doing so seems unethical and possibly illegal. The bigger scandal, however, almost surely involves prosecutors still in office. The Gonzales Eight were fired because they wouldn’t go along with the Bush administration’s politicization of justice. But statistical evidence suggests that many other prosecutors decided to protect their jobs or further their careers by doing what the administration wanted them to do: harass Democrats while turning a blind eye to Republican malfeasance.

Donald Shields and John Cragan, two professors of communication, have compiled a database of investigations and/or indictments of candidates and elected officials by U.S. attorneys since the Bush administration came to power. Of the 375 cases they identified, 10 involved independents, 67 involved Republicans, and 298 involved Democrats. The main source of this partisan tilt was a huge disparity in investigations of local politicians, in which Democrats were seven times as likely as Republicans to face Justice Department scrutiny.

How can this have been happening without a national uproar? The authors explain: “We believe that this tremendous disparity is politically motivated and it occurs because the local (non-statewide and non-Congressional) investigations occur under the radar of a diligent national press. Each instance is treated by a local beat reporter as an isolated case that is only of local interest.”

And let’s not forget that Karl Rove’s candidates have a history of benefiting from conveniently timed federal investigations. Last year Molly Ivins reminded her readers of a curious pattern during Mr. Rove’s time in Texas: “In election years, there always seemed to be an F.B.I. investigation of some sitting Democrat either announced or leaked to the press. After the election was over, the allegations often vanished.”

-snip-

scroll down to Krugman's March 9, 2007 entry at this link http://mgpaquin.blogspot.com/search/label/Krugman

The Donald C. Shields and John F. Cragan preview of their study, complete with the statistical data/charts can be found at this link http://www.epluribusmedia.org/columns/2007/20070212_political_profiling.html
(look at the end of the article for the charts)

[troubleinwinter]

95. Mehr, the charts alone deserve their own thread!!!!!

[merh]

96. check your pmail

I've posted and reposted this, the only thing I can think to do it keep including it in threads of this nature - folks don't read journals that much. ;)

:hug:

[myrna minx]

99. Thanks for posting this. n/t

[DuaneBidoux]

102. Human sewage. I would need a shower after standing in the same room as these "people."

It is worse than Watergate. Watergate used a small number of Nixon administration insiders to break into Democratic HQ and then cover it up.

Here they are completely hijacking a major branch of government to fix elections.

If Dems gain full control of government in '08 I wonder if this can be repaired. The damage in the morale and attitude of the career civil service in the justice department may take years to undo (like all the other damage Bush has wrought on the world and the US). I had turned my flag right side up when the Dems took Congress. I am tempted to turn it back upside down.

[donkeyotay]

105. It goes back to basics. Liberals believed in the public sphere and the role of govt.

Conservatives believed in the individual and that the role of government should be as small as possible. Well, join us on the warpath, because this gang isn't about small government is it? It's about gaining power in order to exploit the government for personal gain. The debt has skyrocketed as the various crime schemes have added up to one of the most spectacular bankruptcies in history. The world's greatest democracy has been turned into the world's biggest banana republic. Gangsterism has replaced the rule of law, and we can thank, above all, the Republican Revolution that set out to destroy the public good and replace it with this, it's ideological spawn. So glad the government doesn't even try to work for us anymore.

[Peace Patriot]

111. Voting Rights Act/Ohio is key to understanding '04 election results nationwide.

In reviewing two broad categories of Bushcon election fraud in '04...

1. The fast-track conversion of the country to electronic voting machines run on 'TRADE SECRET,' PROPRIETARY programming code, owned and controlled by rightwing Bushite corporations, with virtually no audit/recount controls, with strong evidence (such as the exit poll discrepancies) of an overall electronic flip to Bush...

and...

2. Massive suppression of the votes of black citizens (and other minorities, the poor, and students), most dramatic in Ohio but also in other states, in blatant, open violation of the Voting Rights Act of 1965...

...I found myself very puzzled. Why, with the ability to flip the election to Bush, in the electronic voting machines and central tabulators, without detection, did they risk so many blatant violations of the Voting Rights Act?

Possible explanations....

Bush lost to Kerry by a mega-landslide, and they had to pull out all the stops to reverse it.

Or, the smashing of black voters was gratuitous--just a little extra fun and games for the bloodyminded Bushcons (with the extra giggle for these psychotics of their operative in Ohio--Kenneth Blackwell--being himself black). They ENJOY beating up on black people. That was their reason.

Or, an explanation somewhere in the middle--perhaps that the old pols like Rove didn't really trust the promises of the bright young Bushcon techies at Diebold/ES&S, and set up the vote suppression machine in Ohio just in case (also Florida and some other places). Electronic election theft on a nationwide scale was untested in 2004. Such theft had worked in Georgia in '02 (Cleland's loss), but would all go as planned on a nationwide scale? Too much at stake. Best to have a backup.

Analyzing what the plan was, what the methods were, and how it was implemented is also complicated by their need to secure both the national popular majority AND the Electoral Vote count. The electronic rigging may have had more to do with the manufacture of Bush's national popular majority, and the vote suppression more to do with securing enough swing states for the Electoral College vote. For instance, why steal votes from Kerry in California (which I'm pretty sure they did, and only in Republicon counties, with the central tabulators being the likely means)? The answer: to help manufacture and pad Bush's national popular majority. They were stealing a few %'s here, a few %'s there, all over the country, for that purpose (with the worst of it being on the east coast). But the Electoral Vote required the flipping of entire states from Kerry to Bush. And that needed both methods, in order to HIDE too much blatancy in the electronic rigging (to preserve that capability for the future--not expose it too much). Also, Ohio was not fully Diebolded by 11/04. The full conversion had been halted by skeptics and activists. That was a glitch in the plan, and required outright vote suppression (as well as some tricky vote stealing with the punchcards).

I'm still not sure what the answer is, as to why they violated the Voting Rights Act so openly. I'm favoring the mega-landslide against Bush these days. (They needed all methods of vote stealing to keep Bush/Cheney in power in '04.)

But, most of all, what I grokked from a comparison of these two forms of election theft was that the crime of suppression of the black vote in Ohio was committed IN THE CONFIDENCE THAT there would be no repercussions--that is, that the nationwide Diebold/ES&S electronic theft insured that Bush would win and that there WOULD BE a Bushcon Attorney General who would view the suppression of black voters as a virtuous act, worthy of a medal and great rewards, and not as the most heinous of political crimes. And, little did we know then that the very worst of the worst of Bushville--a Bush Cartel toady, Alberto Gonzales--would be appointed as AG. We could count on a bad appointment. It was appalling to have the WORST appointment possible. In any case, operatives like Blackwell could count on impunity. There was no way that Bush was not going to "win" in '04. A Bush AG was guaranteed, because Bushite corporations had the undetectable ability to steal the election, and could, in fact, flip it over to ANY degree, if necessary. The bigger the flip, the bigger the risk of suspicion and detection by inference of other statistics. But whatever the flip had to be, to keep Bush/Cheney if office, it WOULD BE done--and would then be covered up, by whatever means necessary.** Ohio was extra--an insurance policy against tech failure, or gratuitous bigotry, or part of the Electoral Vote plan. But what was guaranteed was that no one would go to jail for any of it.

I first heard about this election fraud angle to the US Attorneys scandal yesterday--Ted Kennedy gave a speech about it. I knew that US Attorneys had been pressured to prosecute so-called "voter fraud" (anti-black, anti-poor, anti-Democratic) cases for which there was no evidence. But I didn't really see the centrality of it--as to the potential exposure of past Bushite election fraud, and continued Bushite election fraud. This scandal helps fill in the overall picture of illegitimate Bushcon rule. AG at the top, purging honest US Attorneys who were holding some Bushcons responsible for their crimes, and might hold Bushcons responsible for election fraud, and putting Bushcon US Attorneys in place, to protect Bushcon crime and provide cover for future election fraud with phony cases of "voter fraud" (and who knows what else?). The thrust of Kennedy's speech was a warning about '08, and it was quite remarkable for a major Democratic leader to finally be saying this--that election fraud IS intended. The US Attorney purge was/is intended to cover it up.

CRITICAL to an understanding of this warning, I think--although Kennedy didn't say this--is that the voters in the '06 elections OUTVOTED THE MACHINES. It's not so much that the Corporate Rulers PERMITTED some Democrats to win. It was that the voters were in revolt--and perhaps the Corporate Predators pulled back a bit, as well, in order to preserve their electronic theft capability for the future. But I think it's more the former. The voters have had it. Look at the polls! 75% of the American people opposed to this war and wanting it ended! Also, something I picked up on--there was a huge increase in Absentee Ballot voting in '06--which I am convinced was a voter boycott of the machines, and an effort to get around the rigged electronics. (It got up to 50% in some places--which I think is a strong constituency for local/state action, to get the AB votes handcounted and their results posted BEFORE any electronics are used--a sort of backdoor strategy to get transparent vote counting, in at least some significant portion of the vote.)

My guestimate (and that of statistical experts like Dr. Ron Baiman and TruthIsAll) is that Diebold/ES&S is placing a 5% to 10% "thumb on the scales" in favor of Bushcons, warmongers and corporatists (and I think that includes in the primaries). In '06, the voters OVERCAME this handicap, in many cases--in an effort to get themselves a half-decent Congress. We still have the discrepancy of 75% of the people against the war, but they are only able to achieve a 50/50 Congress. But it is a remarkable achievement. And what it means overall is that the mandate that the voters TRIED to give the true representatives of the people in Congress (those who were truly elected), to end the war, is much bigger than the numbers reflect.

And the Bushcon US Attorney purge-- implemented just AFTER this demonstration of the power of the people in '06--points to this being THEIR assessment of what occurred in '06 as well. People are really getting on to them. The voters KNOW. Their electronic voting scam is failing. And they now need more systematic enforcement of their election theft by corrupt US Attorneys.

The pressure on US Attorneys to NOT enforce the Voting Rights Act--revealed by this former DoJ civil rights attorney--is the most visible and disgusting aspect of illegitimate Bushcon rule. The Diebold/ES&S part of the picture is, as designed, much more invisible--although, with the FL-13 scandal*, its basic components (such as the "trade secret" code) are finally getting exposed to the withering light of day. And THAT may be the MAIN reason for the US Attorney purge. The Voting Rights Act violations have always been illegal, and they have been much more visible than the stealthy stealing of %'s of votes here and there. How to attack "trade secret" code--with Corporate Predator US Attorneys (not to mention judges) in place all over the country?

-----------------------------


*(ES&S voting machines 'disappeared' 18,000 Democratic votes for Congress, in an '06 election decided (in favor of the Bushcon, of course) by some 300 votes. When Democrat Christine Jennings' lawyers took the matter to court, and asked to see ES&S's "trade secret" vote counting code, to try to figure out what happened to those votes, ES&S REFUSED, and maintained that their "right" to profit from our election system (protect their "trade secrets") trumps the right of the voters to know how their votes were counted. And, inexcusably, the judge agreed with ES&S! A totally outrageous ruling. One can only presume that the judge is a coward or a Bushcon. And this may be the exemplar of what will happen to our right to vote at the hands of Bushcon US Attorneys as well--their defense of Corporate Predator "rights" against the rest of us.)

**(And we know how--from the "Iron Curtain" that came down over all news of election fraud on 11/3/04, placed by the war profiteering corporate news monopolies, aided and abetted by our corrupt Democratic Party leadership (Terry McAuliffe et al). Even some leftist blogs brought the lid down. DU was just about the only refuge for those of us who wanted to pursue the evidence. I will never forget the appalling cloud of obscurity that descended upon the country during that period, and the collusion in it of our own party leaders that I soon realized was occurring. My God, what dark days those were! At least we're seeing some light today--the first condition needed for reform. In any case, this Bushcon capability of massive deception would have been used to cover up any amount of needed vote stealing. So those guilty of the visible vote suppression in Ohio and other places were proceeding with assured impunity. That's the thesis. If the visible vote stealing had failed, we would have had another "glitch" in the election reporting apparatus that night, and even more fantastic figures presented as the "official result.")

------------------------------

We may just have to go back to American Revolution Plan A, and dump the goddamned 'tea' into the goddamned 'harbor,' forthwith. (--the Absentee Ballot voting plan--boycott the machines, and pummel corrupt local/state election officials into counting the goddamned votes.)

[mark414]

112. so...another concerted effort to violate the Constitution

that this administration swore to uphold...is impeachment still off the table?!?!?!

[pat_k]

118. Election thief Acosta (Asst. Atty Gen. Civil Rights '03-'05)

It's an appropriate time to highlight R. Alexander Acosta's Role in Stealing the 2004 Election

Acosta was put in place at Assistant Attorny General of the Civil Rights Division in June 2003. He was a central player in the theft of the 2004 Presidential electon. Once that job was done, we was moved to Florida, where he is now US Attorney for the Southern District.

Back in December of '05, I looked into Acosta's involvement in the theft of the 2004 election. The timeline of his actions tells a very damning story. Here it is:

http://january6th.org/acosta.html

[Peace Patriot]

126. Wow! Thanks for all your amazing work on this important story, pat_k!

Here's a gem from your timeline page:

"Misc. on (Ralph) Boyd (toward the bottom):

"According to November 13, 2005 Post article The Bush administration has filed only three lawsuits -- all of them this year -- under the section of the Voting Rights Act that prohibits discrimination against minority voters, and none of them involves discrimination against blacks. The initial case was the Justice Department's first reverse-discrimination lawsuit, accusing a majority-black county in Mississippi of discriminating against white voters."

"Where is Boyd now? Since February 2005, at FREDDIE MAC "

(Note: The timeline mostly focuses on Ass't US Attorney General for Civil Rights, R. Alexander Acosta (a Miami Cuban), theft of the 2004 election and the Texas Redistricting plan.)

http://january6th.org/acosta.html

--------------------------------

After 200 years of slavery, beatings, lynchings, jailings, murders, rapes, segregation, "whites only" drinking fountains, "whites only" schools, "whites only" doctor's offices, "whites only" office holders, and dire impoverishment against African-Americans--some of it in living memory--and after the murders of Martin Luther King and civil rights workers in the struggle for the Voting Rights Act of 1965, they dare to use that Act against black voters in MISSISSIPPI--for discriminating against the MINORITY (white voters!). Jesus! And this was the first of only three Voting Rights Act lawsuits filed by these criminals?!

The Bushcons' use of ambitious Bushcon blacks (Boyd is black) to oppress other blacks--and to oppress us all--is surely one of the bitterest ironies of the Civil Rights movement. Kenneth Blackwell. Ralph Boyd. Condi Rice. Colin Powell. Clarence Thomas. Andy Young (oh, weep, my heart, at that one!). As with women's liberation, a sad artifact of equality is that the oppressed can so easily become the oppressors. Maybe that's what happened in Mississippi. I don't know that story. Likely it didn't (if Bushcon lies and deceit prevailed there, as they have everywhere else, on every issue). But even if it did, it was surely nothing compared to the massive, mind-boggling suppression of black voters, and massive election fraud, that the Bushcons have been guilty of in two national elections and in numerous by-elections and states, going back at least six years (and, indeed, going back to the Nixon era). Florida alone. Ohio alone. Mindboggling violations, completely ignored. And they pick on blacks in Mississippi. As with everything Bushconish, the question is: what's wrong with this picture?

[pat_k]

134. Decided to post as an OP . . .

. . . in case you'd like to give it a kick:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=541003&mesg_id=541003

BTW, as predicted when I pulled this together back in Dec. '05, when SCOTUS couldn't stonewall on TX any more, they did overturn the map. (They may have reported it as "http://www.truthout.org/cgi-bin/artman/exec/view.cgi/61/20799">partially overturned", but it's not easy to "fix" just one part of a district map w/o touching others.)

[The Wizard]

119. Shocking

to learn anyone related to this Administration would have anything to do with rigging an election. Yeah right. "Yeah right" is an example of a double positive equaling a negative. So much for a tortured English lesson. That's it, the language Bush speaks is somewhere between Esperanto and Remulak known as Tortured English. Now, back to work.

[SoCalDem]

120. Follow those bread crumbs all the way back in time.. to FL '00

These people have a PLAN.. the plan is to rig close elections just enough to agree with the bogus polls they tweak just before elections...

and to pump up the vote "big-time" in "safe" areas, so the total looks great on paper.

the '04 election only needed 110K "extra" votes in each of the 31 states *² "won", to get his 341M "mandate".. Not every state could absorb all 110K, but the extras were no doubt made up in places like Texas..Utah..Alabama..etc. Who would dare to question those places..

[jaybeat]

122. Congress MUST call this man to testify!

Stick his 35-year career, working for the likes of John Mitchell and Ed Meese, no less, in front of the cameras, telling everyone how Bushco has perverted the Justice Dept. into their own Dirty Tricks Dept.

And highlight how he compares to Kyle, the pasty-faced brownshirt who had the nerve to assert that USAs *should* be fired if they won't do the President's political dirty-word.

K&R'd

[Hamlette]

125. I'll bet there are more where he came from...the 55-60% who have quit or transferred. n/t

[glitch]

139. I think the tipping point has finally been reached. No one except the exceptionally brave

like Sybil Edmonds and Scott Ritter, and a few more, wanted to be hanging out there alone telling their experiences before. Now I think we're going to see floodgates finally opening. Hey, that would make a good gate name for the all bush scandals: FloodGate, cuz there's just so damn many of them.

[randycrow]

124. Makes sense

Karl Rove is always looking for an illegal un American method to rig elections. Logic dictates Chuck Hagel's ties to ES&S and rigged elections would be looked upon favorably by the communi$t$ so he should be a strong presidential 2008 candidate before all is said and done.

[hunter]

127. An ordinary coup d'état would have made us look like the banana republic we are.

So they relied upon the distractions of clowns, choosing George W. Bush to be their crown prince of clowns.

Swamp Rat's got the true face of these Lizard People who've taken over the political machinary of this nation.

[Hamlette]

133. they tried the coup d'etat with Clinton...didn't work.

There is a great book, A Coup Attempt in Washington which is about how Euorpe and the rest of the world saw the trial against Clinton. Lots of articles, opinion pieces etc. They saw it as a GOP coup.

Here we go again.

(I would argue they not only picked the crown prince of fools, Bush, they picked a bunch of kids and people with no experience. At first I thought that was cronyism or incompetence but now it looks planned. No adult would carry out Rove's bidding and fire US attys with real credentials. Get some star struck kid and promise him that he too can be god to his own planet (or run the WH....same diff). (Mormons believe after they die, and do a lot of social climbing in heave, they will become a god and get their own planet.))

[Morgana LaFey]

137. Here's proof of what Karl was talking about re "THE Math"

Karl Rove on "vote flipping".
“Karl the other night said that a switch of 77,000 votes would have kept the House and a switch of 3000 votes would have kept the Senate.”
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x461782#461783

The DUer who first posted this thought the term "switch" instructive. I rather do as well.

Edit: And yes, of COURSE we're talking about election rigging.

[Hamlette]

140. electronic rigging or suppression with the help of US atty office et al. n/t

[nam78_two]

142. K&R.nt

[Cha]

147. Of course, that's what the

bushits "goal" is for the DOJ! Thanks for clearly stating it, Joseph D Rich!

"Schlozman, for instance, was part of the team of political appointees that approved then-House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's plan to redraw congressional districts in Texas, which in 2004 increased the number of Republicans elected to the House. Similarly, Schlozman was acting assistant attorney general in charge of the division when the Justice Department OKd a Georgia law requiring voters to show photo IDs at the polls. These decisions went against the recommendations of career staff, who asserted that such rulings discriminated against minority voters. The warnings were prescient: Both proposals were struck down by federal courts."

They can fookin' put as many crooks, thieves, and liars in there as they want but it's going to come down to the People rising up and changing what they have the Power to do ..which is infinite.

The clever little Machiavellians are so drunk on power they're blind to the big picture. All bush sees is his smirk.

[L. Coyote]

149. Cross post: Email-Gate FACTS: Felons, georgewbush.com, gwb43.com , et. al.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x523978