Podunk, Dogpatch, Politics

I puzzled for a long time about why the Democrats were not publicizing defective voting machines nor discussing the stolen elections of 2000 and 2004.

Were they afraid such knowledge would discourage voters from coming to the polls? Were they afraid to be branded as defeatist?

Were they secretly in league with the Repugs? Why did they not behave like her majesty's loyal opposition?

So I asked a Labour Party Minister -- a great friend for many years. She reminded me of the fact that negativity does not win elections.

Voters tend to kill the messenger. Just blurt out that our voting machines are rigged and the electorate will think you're unpatriotic. Elections are rigged in Zimbabwe, Russia, Belarus, Georgia (not our Georgia), Congo, Sudan, and Sri Lanka. But not in the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Voters like to be stroked. They like to hear "We're the greatest Country in the World" -- even when we're torturing someone's poor driver in Guantanamo.

Running for public office is like a speaking gig. You never go wrong starting your lecture with "I'm thrilled to be back here in beautiful Podunk (Dogpatch). Your people are so friendly, so intelligent, so welcoming. I love your food -- those dried hamburgers on Kaiser rolls, that aged coleslaw, that apple pie with the deliciously soggy crust and the congealed cool whip on top. And your Podunk wines -- Pinot Noir grown in your swamp, Chardonnay with just a hint of PCBs, Fume Blanc cultivated in the town dump. Now that's what I call green. You guys have really got recycling down!"

And I love your Podunk Notel with the magic fingers on the bed and the porn channels and the born again preachers on all channels asking for donations in the name of Jesus! (If Jesus was a real live person, he was clearly a socialist and feminist. Read the Gnostic Gospels by the brilliant Elaine Pagels).

But -- if our election system is rigged, mustn't we fix it? I worry a lot about those servers hacked by the Repugnicans. You can't even see the vote switching.

Cheney/Bush has destroyed our country -- drained the treasury, left us helpless against natural disasters, made us all criminals -- on the telephone, at the airports, in our own homes, at meetings of the causes we believe it -- like peace, ecology and saving our America the Beautiful. (It would be our National Anthem if a Jew hadn't written it!)

Our economy is in meltdown. Our children are illiterate and innumerate compared to the Chinese children, the Indian children, the children of the EU. Our schools, bridges, roads, trains, and airports are crumbling.

Not to mention all our soldiers who have died and the uncounted millions of refugees and dead children, mothers and fathers -- Iraqis, Afghans, Iranians, Lebanese, Israelis. Some were running shops, eating lunch, driving cars, going to school, making food for their families when hit by the Pentagon's finest cluster bombs, tasers, bunker busters, and nukes (teeny weenie nukes -- they say -- but still nukes).

Now, here we are less than one week before the election and the problem remains.

My husband, Ken Burrows, went to Florida in 2004 with a group of lawyers for fair elections. Waiting outside the polls, he and other legal colleagues were told to look for "disturbances" -- whatever they were. If there were electronic machines flipping from KERRY to BUSH, they could not see them. If there were servers changing DEMOCRATIC votes to REPUGNICAN, they could not see them either.

THEY WERE OUTSIDE THE POLLS WATCHING AND WAITING. It seemed like an empty exercise. The vote stealing was going full steam ahead in OHIO.

WHAT IS TO BE DONE? -- as LEO TOLSTOY once wrote.

Here are some suggestions.

PLEASE VOTE EARLY!

VOTE ON PAPER if possible.

MARK DOWN IN YOUR NOTEBOOK OR BLACKBERRY OR IPHONE OR NOKIA OR WHATEVER, WHERE YOU VOTED AND AT WHAT TIME.

BRING A CAMERA PHONE OR MIDGET CAMERA AND PHOTOGRAPH YOUR BALLOT AND THE VOTING SUPERVISOR IF POSSIBLE.

GET THE CARD OF THE VOTING SUPERVISOR. (I voted in Weston, CT yesterday and Donna M. Anastasia, Town Clerk, TOOK MY BALLOT. I have her email and phone #). WESTON is a Republican town which is why I vote there rather than NYC. I THINK MY VOTES DOES MORE GOOD IN WESTON (where I have had a house for 31 years).

IF YOU CAN GET THE CARD OF THE CLERK, DO SO. IF YOU CAN SNAP HER PICTURE (AS A TENDER MEMENTO OF AN HISTORIC ELECTION), DO SO.

IF YOU PRESS OBAMA AND MCCAIN LIGHTS UP, TAKE A PICTURE. IF YOU COMPLAIN TO A SUPERVISOR AND SHE OR HE SAYS YOU JUST DIDN'T PRESS HARD ENOUGH, DON'T DO IT AGAIN AND GIVE MCPALIN A SECOND VOTE. JUST GET ALL THE INFO, THE PHOTO, THE NAME AND ADDRESS AND EMAIL AND TELEPHONE # OF THE VOTING CLERK.

THERE WILL SURELY BE LAWSUITS SO HOLD ON TO THE EVIDENCE.

IF YOU CAN PHOTOGRAPH WITNESSES, DO SO. IF YOU CAN GET THEIR NAMES AND ADDRESSES AND EMAILS AND TELEPHONE # s, DO SO.

PLEASE SEND ME OTHER SUGGESTIONS I CAN DISSEMINATE WIDELY.

I fear we are going to have a Tuesday bloody Tuesday. Be prepared -- that's the boy scouts' marching song -- as Tom Lehrer wrote.

Comments

[richardvjohnson]

Wonderful, wonderful. But wasn't it Lenin, not Tolstoy, who wrote 'What Is To Be Done?'
Hopefully they're just not smart enough to steal this one ;) If they do, the answer is not Revolution but something like Atlas Shrugged. If all the smart people who make the US economy run suddenly got together and said 'no more' there would be no more.

[Lemeritus]

EARLY VOTING IN LOS ANGELES CA (if there are other voting sites, I'm not aware of them and would be happy if other So. Californians could add to this):

County of Los Angeles Registrar-Recorder County Clerk
12400 Imperial Hwy Norwalk, CA 90650
[phone]
For more information: http://www.lavote.net/

Hours:

Saturday, November 1 - 8 to 8
Sunday, November 2 - 8 to 4
Monday, November 3 - 8 to 5

[Discomustachio]

I often laugh at people who talk about the "election". As if everybody who profits from the American Empire is going to let that all end. As I said to a friend yesterday when he asked me "So do you think this thing is basically over"? I said,

"Sure. The Neo-Con hackers have set up their laptops, vulnerable machines have been identified, and satelite access has been granted. GOP voter disenfrnachisers have gotten their hotel rooms and their suits are pressed. The media has done (unwittingly) it's work planting the seeds of "accepting" the "upset" by establishing the swing states for the hackers to target and keeping the "Bradley Effect" in the publics mind. John McCain has been briefed on the next military strikes and Sara Palin has been promised the world to keep it all quiet. Yeah-this thing has always been over. It's been over since 1/20/00-when the Neo-Con Republican coup took power." You guys might want to start making some molotov cocktails-we are not winning this thing.

[santamonica39]

the democrats blew it by not making this a signature issue after '04 and then pushing for reform when they took over Congress. Even if it didn't pass they could have been raising the issue for years. If the republicans steal this election I will blame the democratic leadership for not doing a thing about it. If Obama wins, we MUST push HARD for massive election reform that goes back to paper ballots and transparency (no secret counting by corporations who maintain proprietary control over secret software that no one else knows how to operate). This madness must end. And voter supression must be prosecuted and people need to go to jail for intentionally preventing Americans from exercising their right to vote.

[Mugzi]

You are so right, regardless of who wins. With a Democratic congress, our misson should be election reform and repealing HAVA (Help America Vote Act), isn't that a kick!! HAVA has disenfranchised more voters. A voter who can't vote because their registration doesn't show their middle initial, is not the intent of the our fore fathers and seriously wrong. That is not the intent of the law. No eligible voter should have to go through the gauntlet to vote, regardless of who they are, how much money they make, or where they live. No one should be in fear of voting, this isn't some third world country, although just having this conversation right now seems like it! Our election system should not be in the hands of private companies with voting machines deciding the outcome of our elections.

[hallelujahanyway]

Thanks, Ms. Jong--

I too have wondered why we might be letting the election be stolen again by failing to address last election's fraud.

Here's a graph detailing the situation:

[Pdubya]

thats right erica, only republicans on the Hill cheat.....

how do you explain New Hampshire?

[brody4bho]

I wanna believe there are too many states in play for a steal. I wanna believe that the infighting on the part of the Repubs is indicative of the election not being fixed, this time. I fear what a loss will mean to the electorate and to the concept of democracy.

[Puzes]

we all want to believe ... but, reality is what it is! they are gearing up to steal the election and we all know but, how do we stop them????????

[USA1776]

I agree, take pictures. MSNBC is posting shots of West Virginia voting machines switching D votes to R. Get the proof.

[Puzes]

will getting the proof help? in 1972 we didn't have electronic voting machines ... they simply dumped registered dems from the registered rolls!

[Mugzi]

That's why we need strong legislation to prevent any political party from doing this. What about homeless people? They may be registered, eligible voters and maybe can't vote for whatever reason. This is wrong!

[comatoast]

Hopefully, putting these fears in print won't make them more likely to come true. I think everyone realizes that the opinion polls are flawed, and the actual fact is that Obama will win by a landslide equal to the one that defeated the last Arizona senator to be the Repugnican nominee (Goldwater). Should that not occur, and the SCOTUS (or anyone else, like the Ohio Secretary of State) steals the election (as in 2000 and 2004), I predict there will be blood in the streets- we simply can't allow the will of the people to be thwarted again, no matter what must be done. Four more years of despotic rule will mean the end of this country, and we must prevent it at all costs.

[wrylass]

Agreed.

This time the Republicans have to know we are mobilized as never before to fight back if necessary. We are fired up to win this election ... if they try to steal another one, we will burst into flames.

And I agree that we must address this problem in the next 4 years.

[23000Days]

Here's a system that would work well:
Use markable paper ballots and an optical scanner that then prints a reciept stating who you voted for in each race, time and date, and the vote tally in your precinct for each candidate as of your vote. The tally would advance with each added vote.

That way, we would have a verifiable number to use in case of suspected fraud, and your ballot would still be on paper for verification as well.

[tangie]

Thank you. I was wondering what I could do, and you've made some really good suggestions.

[aHamilton]

More conspiracy theory, completely ridiculous!! All I have to say is ACORN and that Dem's have been paying people to vote for years, so please. And now Obama's promise of checks to people making up to $70k a year or so is nothing more than another proposal to buy votes. I am sure the republicans have also had some questionable practices but to say its only republicans is crazy.

You say "Cheney/Bush has destroyed our country -- drained the treasury"...last I checked the democrats passed this with much greater expediency than the dreaded republicans. And this whole issue can largely be atributed to poor democratic regulation not the vulgar free market capitalism. Please read about the "community reinvestment act" if you care about how the democratic party manipulates capitalism to buy votes!

The US economy will parallel that of Democrat led Michigan if Obama is elected.

[SilentShout]

Michigan was destroyed by unregulated trade and union disenfranchisement! The economy of Michigan is where we're all headed if we can't wrench back control of our gov't.

[aHamilton]

The unions fleeced the automakers making them uncompetitive - I am sure some lousy management was a contributing factor as well. Then the democrats taxed the heck out of all businesses in Michigan causing companies and their j-o-b-s to leave to a lower tax state...lowering property values for all those union workers that voted for the democrats in the first place, thus making things real horrible.

All under democratic control, high taxes, no businesses or jobs left. Not the plan for america!

[Puzes]

Alexander H ... You are obviously in denial. Please get a reality check. Check the facts Missouri in 1972 - the repubs dumped thousands af registered dems off the rolls ... people never got a chance to mark the paper ballots.

[Gary50]

"Last I checked the Democrats passed this......" Well you'd better check again! The Republicans were in control of every Branch of the Government from 2000 to 2006, and since they had the veto power over Congress from 2006-2008 they essentially were completely in charge for the last eight years. And they doubled the national defecit from 5 to 10 trillion, just like their hero Ronnie Raygun did. And just what did that five billion on the national credit card buy? Did you see anything improve? Are the bridges and roads fixed? Did the economy boom? No, it was all poured into useless wars where outrageous charges for goods and services would be paid to the Republican supporters.
"All I have to say is Acorn..." Yes that is all you have to say to prove the point that you are clueless. Acorn registers voters. They pay poor people low wages to do this. Some of these people try to get paid without doing any work and make up phony names. Acorn is required by law to send these phony registrations in but they flag them as being questionable. None of these phony names ends up voting. There is no election fraud resulting from Acorns actions. The Republican liars try to convince dim witted people that this equals election fraud. Meanwhile the Republicans have dozens of schemes such as caging to commit real election fraud .John McCains mentioning Acorn in the debate was a breathtaking example of outrageous hypocrisy.

[GuyRC]

Paying people to vote? Prove it. There have been studies and investigations and there is absolutely nothing out there to back up that claim.

[Fetchcat]

Several factors point to a possibly rigged election. Most telling is John McCain's insistance that HIS private polls have him almost tied with Obama. He is setting up a "close race" scenario to support the electronic theft. Also, some MSM has been reporting that early voting is much softer than anticipated and that the minority voters are not turning out in droves. These reports have been refuted by those actually at the polls, but the MSM stories again set up the specter of a close race. Every poll I've seen from a variety of sources (discounting McCain's Double Secret GOP Poll) has Obama leading, by 3 pts to 14 pts. THIS IS NOT A CLOSE RACE, regardless of what conservative pundits and media keep repeating. If Obama loses by even a whisper, patriotic Americans need to demand a reckoning. Just as a high tide raises all boats, a low tide (or fraudulent election) scuttles all boats, blue and red alike.

[wrylass]

Exactly. 5 points nationally = a landslide. Close would have been polls back and forth. Instead Obama has been leading the entire time, with the exception of McCain's convention bounce. This isn't close, and never has been.

[Mugzi]

I thought that 1 poll where jm was almost ahead was mainly polling evangelicals...isn't that part of his base! No this is not a close race, although I had hoped the youth vote had made a stronger showing, but hopefully they will on the 4th.

[Arion]

Ms, J; Was it with tongue in cheek you attributed "What is to be done?" to Tolstoy? it was the other Roosian, V I Lenin who got off that one. What Tolstoy said was "Every happy family is really unhappy underneath, but they do a good job of hiding it." Or something.

[harveyr2]

If Senator Obama is such a wonderful leader then why isn't his lead in the polls substantial?

Senator Obama has spent more money on campaign ads than any candidate in the history of the USA and he still can not close the deal.

The answer is simple: less than a majority of Americans want the most liberal Senator to be the President of the United States of America. Not to mention the fact that he has spent more time campaigning for the Presidency than he has spent in the US Senate building.

[gdcb1128]

What in the world does your post have to do with this article?

[boophus]

Harveyr2 is Spreading the fertilizer. LMAO

The polls are off because they aren't giving him enough of a lead. They rely on polling past voters by landline phones. But the young, minorities and new registrants favor Obama and they are not capturing those votes. They haven't a clue by how much, so hence pollsters are unsure how good thier polls are. Not that pollsters think they are missing a McCain lead even though you do hear the BS about Bradley effect. Well the Bradley effect had more to do with the fact that there was a gun measure on the ballot and the the NRA went Berserk and got out the gun huggers vote who also wouldn't vote for a black man even to save their lives.

[pegbo]

There is still a lot of racism in this country. You know it, I know it and he knows it.

[GuyRC]

The same could be said for Bush and he claimed he had a mandate when he won. And more importantly, Obama is higher in the polls than McCain.

The answer is simple: more Americans want the most liberal Senator to be the President of the United States of America. Not to mention the fact that he has spent more time communicating his vision of a new America than he has spent calling McCain bigoted names.

[wrylass]

Nice to see you here, Karl.

Hello ... his lead in the polls IS substantial. In which solar system are you reading polls?

[theplaintrutho1]

So Many tr00ls, soooo Many tr00000ls.
I'd like to call these people sooo many names, but would only highlight an immature side of my nature wishing to burst-out.

Instead, lets talk about your post harveyr2.

Your post is broken into 3 1/2 parts, so let's take them one at a time.

1) "If Senator Obama is such a wonderful leader then why isn't his lead...?"
The polls are just like the networks and pundits. No farther explanation needed.

2) "...has spent more money on campaign ads than any candidate in the history of the USA and he still can not close the deal."
So you and the same racist say. If Mac wins, He will have stolen it, with the help of the GOP.

3) " less than a majority of Americans want the most liberal Senator to be the President of the United States of America."
You don't even believe that lie, you are using GOP talking points to the wrong crowd, if what you say were true, why is the GOP spending so much time, money and energy, trying to suppress the VOTE, along with grinning-faces of Fix-Noise polls?

4) "Not to mention the fact that he has spent more time campaigning for the Presidency than he has spent in the US Senate building."

As Mac?

Get a life, go preach to the choir.
I don't even know why I'm wasting my time replying to your stupid post?!?