Arc of Darkness

For eight years, the American people have been held hostage on a roller-coaster ride from Hell commandeered by their rogue Commander-In-Chief, "W.", and his senior sidekick, Dick Cheney.

Careening from the chaos of the Florida fiasco of 2000, when the winner of the presidential election was shunted aside and the loser was inaugurated following a controversial finding by the Supreme Court under William Rehnquist, the American roller-coaster has taken its captive passengers and the rest of the world through a series of dizzying loop-the-loops. Half-way through the eight-year ride an interim election took place, and its results were just as troubling.

After a lengthy campaign, John Kerry led "W." in the polls, but the official results reported another "upset" election anointing America's rogue president for an undeserved second term. Robert Francis Kennedy Jr. and other experts performed a forensic autopsy on the 2004 election and pronounced their collective diagnosis -- the American electoral process was deeply traumatized, chronically dysfunctional and susceptible to covert abuse by computerized criminals. After his tearful concession the morning after the traumatic night, John Kerry told investigators that the election had been stolen.

Last week, Amy Goodman interviewed Mark Crispin Miller who addressed the issue of the troubling vote in the state of Ohio in 2004. Miller identified an evangelical anti-abortion activist named Mike Connell as the operative who infiltrated the computerized results in Ohio and re-calibrated them in order to deliver the presidency unto George W. Bush. Miller described Connell as, "Karl Rove's computer guru." According to Miller, Connell had been involved in cyber-hacking more than one major US election.

In the aftermath of the 2004 election, the world's leading watchdog over global democratic procedures, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) examined the US elections. In their official report, the OSCE stated that the colloquial voting procedures in America failed to achieve the desired standard for democratic elections as defined by the 1990 Copenhagen Document. Citing recurrent problems with voter registration, partisan election officials, gerrymandering, inconsistencies with provisional ballots and the flagrant circumvention of spending limits by independent "527" organizations, the OSCE published a lacerating report on the US presidential election of 2004.

Following 2004, the USA quickly dropped to 17th on the Economist's Democracy Index falling far behind more advanced democracies that include: Sweden, Iceland, Canada and Malta whose elections are held to higher standards. It is a sad fact that no major presidential candidate has called for meaningful voting and electoral reform.

After the troubling election of 2000, former presidents Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford led a commission to reform America's creaking electoral infrastructure. The Help America Vote Act (HAVA) became law, but its provisions were not fully implemented by 2004, thus permitting another electoral debacle to mar the face of American history.

After the second soiled election, former president Carter and former Secretary of State James Baker led a commission to re-enforce America's voting and electoral infrastructure. In 2006, the election results appeared to be less controversial than in 2000 and 2004, and there were hopes that this year's presidential election would be less compromised than those of 2000 and 2004.

Today, Barack Obama is leading John McCain by a larger margin than John Kerry led George W. Bush, so it is only prudent to pose the question: "Will the vote in the 2008 American presidential election restore credibility to our status as a 'democracy?'" However, the answer is already clear -- "No."

Unfortunately, the initial reports for the early voting period are discouraging. Although Barack Obama and the Democrats are doing very well in the early voting, the internet is inundated with reports of serious flaws marring this year's vote. In Colorado, election officials removed a Diebold voting machine that was flipping votes from one candidate to another in what may have been a first step in the right direction. While this development is welcome, other more serious flaws in the US electoral system are now endemic and will require new legislation.

Anticipating that the preponderant majority of America's voters would reject their party this year, Republican officials ordered vast purges of voting rolls deleting 19% of the registered voters in battleground states. RFK, Jr. and Greg Palast have drawn attention to the troubling record of Donetta Davidson the former Colorado Secretary of State who purged 19.4% of the registered voters. After that aggressive purge of low-income and minority voters who were overwhelmingly registered as Democrats, George W. Bush elevated Donetta Davidson to head the federal agency ominously titled, the Election Assistance Commission (EAC). Following Donetta Davidson's arrival at EAC, her staff noticed a partisan slant to her policies that tarnished America's reputation as a democracy that resulted in critical international publicity on the BBC, (see below).

Realizing that their moves to truncate the bloc of eligible voters would not go un-noticed, shrewd supporters of John McCain and Sarah Palin have repeatedly called attention to the case of ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. ACORN is a charity that registers America's poorest citizens to vote that has benefited from financial contributions provided by the Obama-Biden campaign. After registering over one million new voters who are largely poor, minorities, women and young, ACORN's officials revealed that a minute proportion of the new registration forms were deeply flawed. However, US law requires that all voter registration forms including incomplete or questionable applications must to be turned in to local officials.

This bureaucratic procedure, the verification of voter registration forms by local election officials, is now the subject of an investigation by the FBI, an agency already over-stretched by the massive number of financial cases boiling out of the meltdown on Wall Street. The background is illuminating for it has been reported that fewer than 100 instances of vote fraud are committed in any given year, but the MSM have been transfixed by the case of ACORN even though it does not represent one single solitary case of vote fraud. Why the FBI is concentrating on this case at this time remains obscure other than theories of partisan political influence.

With their audiences transfixed by the case of ACORN, Americans learned that Republican operatives supporting McCain-Palin had organized lists of foreclosures to challenge thousands of voters on Election Day as ineligible due to their lack of a current physical address on their registration forms. This dubious procedure is termed, "voter caging." In Ohio, Republicans filed a lawsuit to require the Democratic Secretary of State to purge thousands of newly registered voters from the lists if there were slight inconsistencies in their registration documentation. Robert Francis Kennedy, Jr. focused on this desperate voter-suppression operation during his recent interview with Rachel Maddow.

To counter this legal but elitist ploy, supporters of Obama-Biden filed a lawsuit that was swiftly elevated to the US Supreme Court that ruled against the caging of voters in what is deemed to be a serious setback to the McCain-Palin campaign's attempt to expunge the poor from the voter rolls. While this is a positive development, an aura of suspicion is beginning to descend over the election.

Another positive development for the Obama-Biden ticket is unfolding in Florida. Due to the overwhelming success of early voting, Governor Crist and his Secretary of State have extended the polling times four hours per day in order to assure working people, the young and the poor the opportunity to vote. Governor Charles Crist had been a favorite for the Republican Vice-Presidential nomination, but John McCain passed him over in favor of the Governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin.

In Florida, massive teams of lawyers are assembling under the leadership of Charles Lichtman who is in command of the Democratic squad, while his old friend, Ed Pozzuoli is heading the Republican legal eagles. Both parties are braced for post-election litigation as the polls remain close and within the margin of error.

It must be observed that the MSM have refrained from providing adequate coverage of America's crumbling reputation as a viable democracy. However, America's declining status as a democracy is routinely reported in the international press and media. The BBC is regarded as the most authoritative news agency in the world. Earlier this month, the BBC broadcast a lengthy report on its premier program, Newsnight, analyzing the egregious flaws in America's voting system that could have an impact on the outcome of the presidential election. The world is enthralled as Barack Obama and Joe Biden confront the two-headed dragon of John McCain and Sarah Palin who are blatantly directing a campaign to restrict voting in the presidential election at the expense of the democratic ideals enshrined in the Constitution.

The international audience is keenly aware that McCain and Palin will not merely continue the horrible roller-coaster ride -- they will accelerate it. McCain's promise to bomb Iran and Palin's strident threats of doom to America's enemies have not gone un-noticed by the global audience who now fear the continuation of the rabidly neoconservative theocracy in America.

An arc of darkness is sweeping across the face of America, and the only ray of hope that will overwhelm flagrant attempts to render democracy cold, dead and inert forever in the USA is for a pro-democratic revolution at the polls in a massive turnout of Americans demanding their right to vote.

Comments

[tbone99]

I hope when Obama gets in , that ensuring fair voting is high on his to - do list. We definitely need some kind of fifty state consistency , especially given the mobility of our population.

[paulfree17]

I would like to recommend a new voting machine...... The number 2 pencil.

It has worked on millions of SAT tests. They are readable by machine and by the human eye if necessary. A small sample can be read by hand and a larger sample by optical scanner. If they are consistent then the whole batch could be read by scanner. If there are claims or expectation of fraud then they can all be read by hand.

This is the only true voting method that cannot be manipulated.

[ConcernedAboutRFuture]

Katherine Harris and Jeb fixed the elections. There is no doubt in my mind.

Because of the increased property values in FL in the past few years, the red necks are far and few in between..... and those that are around, are probably gonne be too drunk to vote anyway.

The BLUE Florida is there though.... and maybe, this time it'll work..... if it's not rigged again.

[OrganizersWin]

The insanity of the American voting process makes me sad.

We should be embarrassed. Election fraud is just over the top these days. There are homeless villagers in Bangladesh that are laughing at us right now. We grew up on video games, and now this cartoon election format seems reliable to anyone?

We can't even organize enough to keep democrats accountable to their base, so no surprise we live in the land of torture and lies now.

I say.... LOWER the voting age to at most 14 years of age, and let 14-18 year olds monitor vote tallying using basic paper and pencil. This isn't rocket science. It is a sick cartoon!

[Dianekkdi]

Let's not give an inch! You know they'll try to take the mile! I'm keeping my optimism up by volunteering. We can do it. Yes, we can. We have to make it too blinding, too big, too huge to allow for cheating. Not an inch.....

Got a little time today? Can you make just 25 phone calls? I've made 35 phone calls so far and now have my cell phone charging up again while I take a break. Let's go for it! We want the win!

You may volunteer for Getting out the Vote phone banking at http://my.barackobama.com/modules/votercontact/login_signup.php

You may do it on your cell phone. :) It's Sunday. Weekend minutes. :)

[MarkInEugene]

Here in Oregon, I voted calmly and slowly reading all the ballot measures. I voted in my home like all Oregonians do. Oregon uses a sturdy card stock ballot that opens to 11x17 so it's easy to read and all we have to do is draw a line between two arrows to cast a vote. We then mail the cards in a double envelope with our signature on it. The large voting cards are sent through several reading devices that independently tally the votes and verify the count. The entire system has a solid paper trail.

What we need to do is get the FBI into those states that alwasy seem to cause the problems and force them to get their act together or start throwing people in jail.

[SENATORCALLENBOWE]

THANKS 4 BREAKIN 4 THE CLASS OF THE NEW GENERATION :)

[progpro1]

We need to be prepared for the worst on Tuesday night. If they steal another election, this nation is finished as a functioning democratic republic. The oligarchs will consolidate their power like never before. The Supreme Court appointments will lock in neo-conservative fascist ideology as the new governing set of principles in America. And the partnership of the neocons and theocrats of the so-called "Christian" Right will be fully realized.

This time - dont just sit at your computer and complain via blogging. TAKE ACTION! Form a small group of friends and family and protest at your local Federal Building and local RNC office. If you can make it to Washington, protest in front of Congress, the national RNC offices and the White House. We need national Days of Resistance on November 6 and 7 - dont go to work and dont buy anything on those two days. Flood your congressional rep and senators with phone calls. January 20 is another national day of Resistance. Go to DC and do what you can in the streets to show the entire the world that we will not tolerate another illegitimate presidency. EIGHT YEARS OF BUSH IS ENOUGH! Be willing to risk arrest and imprisonment for that is what it will take for us to restore our democracy. Your grand kids will thank you for it!

[Dianekkdi]

Agreed

[TheIndependenceParty]

The beginning of the reclamation of American Democracy will come with a wholesale rejection of the Republicans at the ballot box. The litany of crimes and misdemeanors committed in the last eight years should be a permanent source of shame to this dying, desperate party. Having lived from the Eisenhower Administration to the Bush Regime, both under the monicker "Republican", it is not out of reason to say that a Coup has occurred in the Party of Lincoln, and that conservatives have been replaced by thieves and thugs.

Our votes and words must be so overwhelming in number for Obama, that the Republicans are cast into an ice age of their own making, and not heard again in my remaining lifetime.

[checksixb17]

You nailed it. I waited for 3 hours to vote for Senator Obama. We are all very excited.

[Brian Ross - Huffpost Blogger]

Florida will be a mess again. Read my previous posts at Off the Bus on it, including the fiasco of opening day of early voting, where I was parked for 2.25 hours to let 86 people vote. The system has been rigged, by its sheer complexity, to run up lines, which can go from 45 minutes to 3 hours. That has been a bucket of cold water on many voters who simply don't have the 3 hours to spend. Governor Crist, sensing a shift away from his party's neo con base, extended the polling hours, but the bad advertising from early voting will drive many away from the polls.

[ConcernedAboutRFuture]

I agree. Florida will, no doubt, pull its dirtiest tricks.... those gool 'ol boys hate to lose.

My friend in Orlando voted early. She said the turnout was HUGE, especially among African-Americans. She said she was so energized by the place, and everyone was so hopeful...... and no one minded waiting as long as it took... to make the change happen.

[ConcernedJoe]

I am Obama all the way and to me it seems Kerry might have really won!!!

But can you please tell me what poll (aggregate of polls) showed Kerry besting Bush around election time. I think Busk was on average up about 1.5% for about 6 weeks going into election ... MOE stuff - and I think polls favor R's anyway -- so I'd say Kerry probably was really up with the voters - but officially Bush looked ahead in the polls before election.

Where am I wrong? Thanks

[McFlipFlop]

This is very statistical and mathematical, but the conclusions are in English. Exit polls in certain districts did not match voting results. The stats show that the voting results would have been impossible in some cases.

http://uscountvotes.org/ucvAnalysis/US/Exit_Polls_2004_Edison-Mitofsky.pdf

[tbone99]

Yes but why did Kerry not challenge the vote .? This was the pitiful part. He had 15 million dollars left over !

Hopefully Obama is not going just walk away saying "oh well"

[MizLiz]

No one should trust a voting machine. Everyone has the right to get an absentee ballot, or sign up for vote-by-mail. Diebold, who makes most of the voting machines, is a huge republican contributor. For more information, check out this website:

http://blackboxvoting.org/

[McFlipFlop]

There are states where there is no right to an absentee ballot. You have to be unable to vote on Nov. 4th to get one. PA and VA are like this. Also, here in Texas, this is the only way to get an absentee ballot:

.going to be away from your county on Election Day and during early voting;
.sick or disabled;
.65 years of age or older on Election Day; or
.confined in jail, but eligible to vote.

So, we are stuck with early voting on machines with no paper backup.

[dfinlen]

Perversion, The truth twisted.

Who do you choose, in time of crisis. A man who has suffered for you and your children's future for 5+ years, or an untested, unqualified control freek./

4 years from now, when America's soul is lost, we will ask why we choose this child for a president.

4 years from now we will be a stronger people for facing life head on. In four years, again their will be those who complain that life is unfair, like the michael moores. Have some pride, do wha'ts right and grow up.

[TheIndependenceParty]

Thanks for asking, ... I'll be voting for Obama. I find the prospect of a failing hothead with a foul mouth more than we could survive. McCain is wrong for America, shore to shore!

Obama has the following of wise and temperate leaders in their own right, a reflection on his wisdom and temperament. We need thebest minds at our disposal to fix what the Republicans have ruined.

Four years from now we will have made a good start at correcting 40 years of Republican crimes and abuses, once Obama becomes our president.

[sarchasm]

Child? .. Grow up? ... Please! .. Consider the following:

What if John McCain was a former president of the Harvard Law Review?

What if Barack Obama finished fifth from the bottom of his graduating class?

What if McCain had only married once, and Obama was a divorcee?

What if Obama was the candidate who left his first wife after a severe disfiguring car accident?

What if Obama was the one who had military experience that included discipline problems and a record of crashing seven planes?

What if Obama was the one who was known to display publicly, on many occasions, a serious anger management problem?

Educational Background:

Barack Obama:
Columbia University - B.A. Political Science with a Specialization in International Relations.
Harvard - Juris Doctor (J.D.) Magna Cum Laude

Joseph Biden:
University of Delaware - B.A. in History and B.A. in Political Science. Syracuse University College of Law - Juris Doctor (J.D.)

vs.

John McCain:
United States Naval Academy - Class rank: 894 of 899

Sarah Palin:

Hawaii Pacific University - 1 semester
North Idaho College - 2 semesters - general study
University of Idaho - 2 semesters - journalism
Matanuska-Susitna College - 1 semester
University of Idaho - 3 semesters - B.A. in Journalism

Education isn't everything, but this is about the two highest offices in the land as well as our standing in the world.

[RockyMtns]

nothing like doom and gloom to make me feel gloomy and doomed.