It can’t happen here? Think again (Herald Bulletin / Anderson IN)

[struggle4progress]

ByStephen Dick
THE HERALD BULLETIN (ANDERSON, Ind.)

ANDERSON, Ind. — Last week’s USA Today story that the Bush administration is tracking phone calls from millions of U.S. citizens ought to serve as a wake-up call to anyone whoever defended the criminality now rampant within the Beltway. Actually, it’s the umpteenth wake-up call and still we slumber.

The National Security Agency has been collecting phone records from three big-time telecommunications outfits — AT&T, BellSouth and Verizon — which accounts for most calls made in the U.S. Only Qwest told the government to take a hike and decided there were legal issues the company didn’t want to traipse on. A company with a conscience? Maybe, it can let the profits roll in while the other three are sued silly for violating their customers’ privacy rights.

The NSA program has been going on since shortly after the attacks of Sept. 11. Back then Adm. John Poindexter, the disgraced Iran-contra conspirator, had the idea of the Pentagon developing a data base for everyone in the U.S. under the mask of ferreting out terrorists. There was such an outcry, even among Republicans, that the idea was scrapped. Or so we thought.

The government decided to do it anyway, just keep it under wraps. The story broke by the New York Times last December, shamelessly held for a year by that newspaper, said the Bush administration had authorized the NSA to wiretap international calls and e-mails without warrants. Now we know it was much more widespread than that ..

http://www.cushingdaily.com/opinion/cnhinsall_story_138133544.html?keyword=topstory

[bdamomma]

1. what's next letting them come into your house without

a warrant?

[EC]

2. with the Patriot Act

they can already do that, we don't even have to be home, and they don't need to tell you...

[Paul Revere]

3. What's Next ? Camera's In Your Home

Camera's in your home will be next. So 'they' can "PROTECT" us from terrorist.
You know what the other side sezs:
"If You Don't Have Anything TO Hide You Shouldn't Mind"
"If You Are Not WITH US, You're AGAINST US"

This has gone way,way, way too far.
And we're putting the fox (Hayden) in charge of the hen house now. He's already proved to have no regard for the Constitution and now we are going to give him the keys to the kingdom.

[Joe Fields]

5. How about RFID chips imlanted in all of us?

[Peace Patriot]

4. "...and still we slumber." Actually, I don't think we do, but rather than

just being appalled all the time, we need to address ourselves to the mechanism of power by which we exercise our sovereignty as a people--our right to vote--which has been essentially taken away.

Restoring TRANSPARENT elections is still possible by pressure and activism at the state/local level, where ordinary people still have some influence. And it is a MUST DO, priority #1 item, if we want our country back.

What we now have is Bushite electronic voting corporations 'counting' all our votes with 'TRADE SECRET,' PROPRIETARY programming code and virtually no audit/recount controls--the result of the $4 billion electronic voting boondoggle engineered by the biggest crooks in Congress, Tom Delay and Bob Ney, in 2002--the infamous "Help America Vote Act."

WHAT do we expect from these egregiously NON-TRANSPARENT, insecure, hackable voting machines, controlled by corporations with very close ties to the Bush junta? Fair elections? Proper representation in Congress and the White House?

We MUST change this, and the most feasible road to change is in the local and state election venues. Without the right to vote, we can do little or nothing to restore lawful government. We can protest. We can be appalled. But if the will of the majority--which has always been for peace and justice, and good government, consistently over the last six years, in ALL the issue polls--cannot be enforced, then we might as well be shouting to the wind.

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Practical suggestions:

1. Request absentee ballots. At least they provide a tangible paper record for challenges, recounts and investigatiions. (Absentee ballots were a great help to investigators in 2004.) Absentee ballot voting is a form of protest against the machines. It is burgeoning phenomenon. If enough people do it, the machines will be obsolete, and then we can work on getting rid of the central tabulators.

2. Join with others to closely monitor the elections and gather and document evidence. See UScountvotes.org, below. They need donations!

3. Demand that the Democratic Party fund INDEPENDENT EXIT POLLS. Exit polls are used worldwide to verify elections and check for fraud. The war profiteering corporate news monopoly exit polls cannot be trusted (they are doctored to match the results from the voting machines' secret programming code; rather than being used to verify elections, they are used to confirm NON-TRANSPARENT results). The Democratic Party owes us, big time, for their lack of vigilance--and in some cases corruption--on electronic voting. This is one critically needed thing that they can do to help. Demand it!

4. Think long term. Saving our democracy promises be a long hard struggle. We obviously can't get rid of these machines before the '06 elections, so focus on doing our best with the Diebold/ES&S handicap (a 5% to 10% "thumb on the scales" for Bushites and warmongers), and getting rid of them afterward, for '08. These machines are DEATH to our democracy. They ARE the problem. Without them, Bush and his "pod people" Congress would be long gone.

5. Tell people the truth. They NEED to know it. Engage them in the fight. Bumper sticker: "Help Us Beat the Machines--VOTE!" There is nothing more demoralizing or disempowering than constantly losing and not knowing WHY. The machines CAN be beaten by massive turnout--and can be heaped with ridicule, for their fraudulence, by massive absentee ballot voting.

Never give up on our right to vote! NEVER!

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SOME RESOURCES FOR AMERICAN REVOLUTION II:

Hopeful signs - latest news:

California voters sue the state over Diebold:
www.VoterAction.org is suing the state of California and 18 Calif county registrars on behalf of 25 California voter/plaintiffs, on the illegal Diebold "certification" by Schwarzenegger appointee Bruce McPherson.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2180496
Seven of these counties just promised the judge they would use PAPER BALLOTS, and were dismissed from this lawsuit (4/27/06).
http://kcbs.com/pages/29285.php
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2249205

Maryland rejects Diebold:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x418263

Florida - anti-trust accusations against Diebold, ES&S and Sequoia, re: heroic Florida election official Ion Sancho:
(FLA AG subpoenas the companies)
http://www.computerworld.com/governmenttopics/government/legalissues/story/0,10801,110192,00.html
http://www.tbo.com/news/politics/MGBKSY8W8LE.html
(info & discussion)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2183630

Utah county clerk fights back!
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x419226

(Tide turning?) New York Times: "New Fears of Security Risks in Electronic Voting Systems" (5/12/06)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2278829

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More resources for American Revolution II:

www.votersunite.org (MythBreakers - easy primer on electronic voting--one of the myths is that HAVA requires electronic voting; it does not.)
www.UScountvotes.org (statistical monitoring of '06 and '08 elections--they need donations)


(Activist sites with links to state activist groups or info)
www.votetrustusa.org (news of this great movement from around the country)
www.votersunited.org (good general info, and state links)
www.verifiedvoting.org (great activist site)
www.solarbus.org/election/index.shtml (fab compendium of all election info)

www.freepress.org (devoted to election reform)
www.bradblog.com (also great, and devoted to election reform)
www.TruthIsAll.net (analysis of the 2004 election)* :patriot: :applause: :patriot:
www.votepa.us (well-organized local group of citizen activists in Pennsylvania, where important legal issues are at stake, including state's rights over election systems)
Provisions of the PA lawsuit:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x423739

The Voter Confidence Resolution
http://tinyurl.com/rlnr2 (“We Do Not Consent”)
http://guvwurld.blogspot.com (GuvWurld blog main page)
http://tinyurl.com/amryg (Voter Confidence Resolution

www.debrabowen.com (Calif Senator running for Sec of State to reform election system)
www.johnbonifaz.com (running for Massachusetts Sec of State on strong election reform and antiwar platform)

*Some tributes to TruthIsAll, who is very ill:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x417007
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x417231
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x675477

Congressional bills:

Russ Holt's HR 550 requires a real paper ballot, bans secret software in "voting machines", and has more than 170 co-sponsors, but the audit required is too weak, it promotes electronic voting and centralized power, and the secret software might be permitted to continue in the central tabulators (the bill is not clear). To sign the HR 550 petition: http://www.rushholt.com/petition.html
At lot of discussion at DU of the loopholes/pitfalls in HR 550:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x422926
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x421136
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=203&topic_id=422967&mesg_id=422967
(Note: Senate Bill-SB 330 and House-HR704 simply require a "voter verified paper audit trail" (VVPAT), which may be best for the moment.)


Also of interest:

Michael Collins (Autorank)'s searing election reform article for New Zealand's Scoop.com
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x971363

Bob Koehler (-- four recent election reform initiatives in Ohio, predicted to win by 60/40 votes, flipped over, on election day, into 60/40 LOSSES!--the biggest flipover we've seen yet; the election theft machines and their masters are now dictating election policy! Title: "Poll Shock" 11/24/05)
http://commonwonders.com/archives/col321.htm

Bob Koehler's latest: "Trust us: Take this box and stuff it" (3/16/06)
http://commonwonders.com/archives/col337.htm
More Koehler:
www.tmsfeatures.com/tmsfeatures/subcategory.jsp?file=20051124ctnbk-a.txt&catid=1824&code=ctnbk

Amaryllis (Diebold, ES&S, Sequoia lavish lobbying of election officials - Beverly Hilton, Aug. '05)
www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x380340

HOWARD DEAN remarks on electronic voting machines 04/06
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x994507

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Throw Diebold, ES&S and ALL election theft machines into 'Boston Harbor' NOW!

:think: :patriot: :woohoo: :patriot: :think:

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"That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it." --Thomas Jefferson, The Declaration of Independence