Who Hijacked Our Country

Sunday, October 15, 2006

International Monitoring of American Elections

Should there be an international committee to monitor American elections? What an insult! How humiliating. Come on, that’s only for countries whose governments invade other countries, hold suspects without trial and then torture them. That’s only for those primitive oligarchies where one third of the wealth is owned by one percent of the population. Oh wait…

Several months ago, Susan Sarandon got a rise out of the Black Helicopter crowd when she suggested that our 2006 election needs to be monitored, “just like Haiti and Iraq.”

During the summer of 2004 thirteen members of the House of Representatives signed a letter to the UN requesting that they monitor the upcoming presidential election. The press secretary for one of the House members said “We bill ourselves as the greatest democracy, so therefore we should have applied to our own situation what we send out and promote and claim that we are to the rest of the world. There clearly was a demonstrated, systematic effort to ensure that the votes of certain people were not counted in the last election.” Later that summer, the U.S. State Department invited an Austrian human rights group to monitor the election. The Neocons went berserk. A rightwing think tank called the idea “frightening” and “an absolute threat” to America’s independence and sovereignty.

The bottom line is: Don’t let your vote get stolen. If your voting precinct doesn’t provide a verifiable way of tracking your vote, please vote Absentee.

Senator Barbara Boxer introduced the Confidence in Voting Act shortly before Congress adjourned this year. This bill would request (but not mandate) that all voting precincts make paper ballots available. The federal government would reimburse local jurisdictions for the cost of providing paper ballots.

I haven’t been able to find out what happened to the bill. I got an e-mail saying the bill was voted down on party lines, but I deleted it. I read somewhere else that the bill is still stuck in committee somewhere, which won’t help anybody this November.

This is NOT a partisan issue, and the Democrats haven’t exactly been knights in shining armor. Why the F#$&!#! did they wait until the last minute to introduce this bill?? For almost two years there have been rumors and accusations about Diebold stealing the 2004 election. Twenty-three months later the Democrats introduce a bill to correct this problem? Glad they’re on top of things.

Here and here are two excellent sources of information on voting scandals and how you can protect yourself against being disenfranchised.

cross-posted at Bring It On!

11 Comments:

Blogger Jolly Roger said...

How about, while we're at it, hiring a few babysitters to monitor the spoiled brat children running amok in the Executive Branch?

Strong disciplinary skills will be a must, as well as an iron constitution-when these brats fill up a diaper, the shit REALLYstinks.

October 16, 2006 at 6:29 AM  
Blogger Dustin said...

Nicely said! Not enough people understand what's really going on.

October 16, 2006 at 9:09 AM  
Blogger Tom Harper said...

Jolly Roger: Eewww, babysitting the brats in the Executive Branch? That would definitely take an iron constitution. I have a pretty strong constitution but I don't think I'd be up for that.

Dustin: Thanks. You're right, there's a lot at stake here and more people need to understand this.

October 16, 2006 at 11:53 AM  
Blogger jmsjoin said...

I am afraid that no matter who monitors our elections these underhanded Repubs are going to do something lowlife, underhanded, and clandestine, in order to keep their corruptive power.
As for who hijacked America? You know that it was Unbridled, perverted Christianity led by Bushie who also hijacked our democracy.
Bush has done to Christianity and America what he accuses the Islamists of doing to Islam.
With perverted, unbridled, religiosity on both sides of this so called war against terror this is going to be the longest and the dirtiest.
Worse is that this is just starting and will get a lot worse. I have a son in EOD in Afghanistan and another somewhere flying in the middle east so I am very concerned as to what Bush will do next? Attack Iram? October Surprise?

October 16, 2006 at 3:09 PM  
Blogger Ignatius M. Dedd said...

seriously, I am soooo concerned about this. the election (particulary in the Senate) is so close. Just like in 2004, they only need to steal the elections in a few choice places.

October 16, 2006 at 3:40 PM  
Blogger Tom Harper said...

An Average Patriot: Yup, the parallels are overwhelming between the Islamic maniacs and their Christian counterparts in this country. Our democratic secular government (for how much longer?) is the only thing that prevents the Falwells and Dobsons from massacring thousands of American infidels.

I don't know what Bush's October Surprise will be, but it won't be pretty.

Sorry to hear you have a son in Afghanistan and another in the Middle East. My thoughts and prayers are with them.

I.M. Dedd: At least this election will be harder for them to steal than the one in 2004. They have to steal just enough votes to win but not enough to cause suspicion. That won't be easy with everyone predicting a Democratic landslide this November. But I'm sure they'll try.

October 16, 2006 at 4:38 PM  
Blogger Tom Harper said...

Kvatch: I think during the 2002 midterm elections Russia and Albania sent observers to Florida. That was the first time in our history that any outside parties observed our electoral process. But if the shoe fits...

October 16, 2006 at 8:17 PM  
Blogger yellowdoggranny said...

lucky for me i live in a small enough town that we have paper ballots..if they change im kicking someones ass..

October 17, 2006 at 2:49 AM  
Blogger Tom Harper said...

Yellowdog Granny: I'm lucky too. The county where I live handles all voting through the mail. Now, if we can just trust the post office ("Newman!")...

October 17, 2006 at 1:14 PM  
Blogger Snave said...

In Oregon, the "vote by mail" thing is statewide. I feel a bit more secure this way... it is still a paper ballot system, at least.

I am all for having international monitors for our elections, especially since Diebold has possibly come to have much more influence than necessary over our voting process.

As for an October Surprise, the crooks are beginning to run out of time... slightly less than three weeks left until the election... Of course some may end up saying it was the Democrats who were successful with the October Surprise this time, i.e. with the Foley Scandal, and with Bob Woodward's book, etc.? To that I say NO, the GOP has done it to itself. There isn't evidence that the left produced the Foley scandal... Foley did what he did, and it was kept secret for fear of losing right-wing power in DC and right-wing sway over evangelical voters, and Woodward is reporting what happened, as lots of authors have done and are continuing to do.

October 18, 2006 at 11:48 AM  
Blogger Tom Harper said...

Snave: You’re lucky. That’s what we have too in Clallam County. I know the mail isn’t foolproof but I’d rather trust the post office than rely on voting machines with no paper trail. Washington is totally paper ballots; I don’t know if other counties use the mail or in-person voting. At least Diebold can’t fuck with the Northwest.

I think our elections should be monitored. Republicans always say “whaddya mean you don’t want the FBI spying on you? You must be hiding something.” So using that same approach, people who don’t want the UN monitoring our elections must have something to hide. They’re obviously guilty of something.

October 18, 2006 at 12:39 PM  

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