Massive election fraud is not a pretty thing to contemplate. But aren't we obligated to explore the possibility if nothing else makes sense? What's our alternative, to put our faith in these machines that have consistently proven inadequate, inaccurate, insecure (and extraordinarily expensive) in all studies as well as in the elections themselves? Not only can these machines be easily hacked, they can be infected with a virus that will change the hard evidence to agree with false results and then self-destructs, leaving no trace behind. Additionally, the machines consistently break down or malfunction. What is there, exactly, to recommend this system?
Which brings me back to the news of the day. Hundreds of sworn affidavits from legitimate voters lent their voices to the clamor in favor of at least reexamining the Curtis-Feeney race (FL-24). And yet, for inexplicable and unacceptable reasons, the House Committee unanimously rejected his election challenge on the basis of insufficient evidence. What kind of evidence does Congress propose that we supply in order to prove fraud? And, with paperless electronic voting machines, how would we go about obtaining that evidence?
Exit polls, which, over the years, have been used successfully in thousands of elections here and abroad, suddenly no longer work here. Sworn affidavits are deemed insufficient. We have entered an Orwellian world where oil corporations write energy bills and health care is hostage to insurance companies. Our votes have gone down the rabbit hole of the ubiquitous black box and it will be a hard and long fight to get them back. Are you mad yet? What are you prepared to do about it? And, if you're not mad enough yet to do something, have you seriously considered the possibility that by the time you get motivated, it might be too late?
Commander 'N Thief covers a topic that should be on every citizen's mind. It should be the focus of conversation at dinner tables, web forums, coffee klatches, grocery store lines, everywhere and anywhere. Buy a copy of this film. Pass it around. Arrange a showing for friends and neighbors. Examine the evidence. Dispute it, if you can. And spread the word. As Brad "BradBlog" Friedman has so often said, we need to "be the media." Someone's got to do it.
Democracy depends on freedom of speech. The more full-bodied the debate, the more robust our system of government. Dissent, debate, checks and balances – all of these were part and parcel of the American way for the last 200 years. But, the gross abdication of responsibility by the press to inform the public, the erosion of free speech, and the outsourcing of our voting to private corporations spell nothing less than the abandonment of "government of the people, by the people, for the people".
While I have never considered myself a Republican, I no longer consider myself a Democrat either. I have become, simply, a concerned citizen who prizes true democracy above all partisan divisions. Any person, particularly any elected official, who opposes or does not act to restore transparent elections – where we vote in private, with the votes counted in public with full citizen oversight – is standing in the way of democratic principles. No "faith-based voting"!* No "faith- based counting"!** If we are all in agreement on that, then we should be doing everything in our power to remove these officials from office and disentangle ourselves from the tentacles of democracy-devouring electronic voting machines. Our battered elections and the national psyche have reached the breaking point.
The evidence provided here and elsewhere points to a Republican Party leadership that seems to have decided that it can no longer win elections based on its merits or the popularity of its platform. It is willing to do whatever it takes to assure success. Since 2000, a few of those deadly strategies have included creative gerrymandering, as well as voter intimidation, purging, challenges and lockdowns at the precincts barring citizen oversight. All you Republicans out there, are you committed to victory at any cost?
Anything that purposely keeps legitimate voters from voting and their votes from being counted is vote fraud and totally unacceptable. Anyone who is guilty of this should be prosecuted and jailed. Democracy is too fragile to withstand sustained attacks of this nature and voters need confidence that their votes are secure and safeguarded. We are about as far from that as it is possible to be and the foundation of our freedom is being seriously undermined. Our votes are our voices and ignoring them renders us mute and democracy missing in action.
"DUTCH hackers who last week breached the security of electronic-voting machines say they can detect which way a person has voted from 25 metres away. Using a receiver the hackers say they can pick up "accidental" radio transmissions from the machines that provide a unique fingerprint for each candidate."
If you feel 100% confident that such a thing could not occur on this side of the Atlantic, you simply haven't been paying attention. In that case, I have some intriguing investment opportunities to discuss with you.
***
*Bob Fitrakis, as seen in Commander 'N Thief **Cliff Arnebeck, as seen in Commander 'N Thief
Joan Brunwasser is a co-founder of Citizens for Election Reform (CER) which exists for the sole purpose of raising the public awareness of the critical need for election reform. We aim to restore fair, accurate, transparent, secure elections where votes are cast in private and counted in public. Electronic (computerized) voting systems are simply antithetical to democratic principles.
CER set up a lending library to achieve the widespread distribution of the DVD Invisible Ballots: A temptation for electronic vote fraud. Within eighteen months, the project had distributed over 3200 copies across the country and beyond. CER now concentrates on group showings, OpEd pieces, articles, reviews, interviews, discussion sessions, networking, conferences, anything that promotes awareness of this critical problem. Joan has been Election Integrity Editor for OpEdNews since December, 2005.
Excellent Article Needs Widest Internet Distribution
Thank you for this excellent article. Can you arrange through Bob Dahl or some other way to have a campaign to distribute this article widely on the Internet? I know having it on OpEd is wide distribution--I mean make it ubiquitous. I will send emails with a link to some other Sites hoping that will help. Christie Mayo
by
Christie (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 143 comments)
on Sunday, May 20, 2007 at 4:44:42 AM
Call it "election fraud," not "voting fraud." The difference is crucial.
"Voting fraud," alleged voting by ineligible individuals, is the smokescreen issue that Rove and the GOP is stirring up. It is an excuse to keep democratic voters from the ballot box -- the scam that's behind the US Attorney firings.
"Election fraud" is "wholesale" fraud, via DRE voting machines, compilers, etc. -- the sort of thing that you are dealing with here. I.e., the reason that the GOP won in 2000, 2002, and 2004.
Rove, etc., are counting on the public confusing the two.
So be sure to note the difference and keep the labels straight.
by
Ernest Partridge (101 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 12 comments)
on Sunday, May 20, 2007 at 7:10:22 AM
the way it was explained to me is that VOTER fraud (dead people voting, people voting twice) is what Rove and Co. have alleged in order to ram through restrictive measures like voter ID. it is actually extremely rare and there have been few prosecutions despite Administration zeal. All people have to do is scratch the surface of the current US Attorney firings to see fake voter fraud (and its fallout) running the engine of the Department of Justice.
VOTE fraud (or election fraud) is what's really going on with voters being disenfranchised - either kept from the polls or having their votes thrown out or 'miscounted' - in large numbers to achieve a partisan voting result.
in either case, "Commander 'N Thief" deals with the latter, widespread phenomenon, as opposed to the former tactic, used largely as distraction and as an excuse for restrictions on voting that unduly affect minorities, the poor, the elderly.
Joan
by
Joan Brunwasser (164 articles, 3538 quicklinks, 3 diaries, 634 comments)
on Sunday, May 20, 2007 at 8:12:42 AM
I don't know what more proof one needs that our elections are a farce and that those in power want anything but fair elections other than the fact that since the disaster of the 2000 elections we still don't have a uniformed, verifiable, tamper-proof system of voting. Third-World countries have better systems than this so-called cradle of democracy.
Pundits tell us who we're voting for as they marginalize those candidates that truly resonate by calling them "far this or that", "fringe", "kooks" and such. The fact that the evidence Palast has isn't in the MSM is another example of the smoke-screen put up by the powers that be to keep the public in the dark about the farce.
The solutions are there but they also come with peril. Those that have had the strangle-hold on power are not likely to let the people take it away without many casualties being inflicted. This isn't just a fight to get our country back, it's a fight for our lives.
by
Mr M (4 articles, 0 quicklinks, 18 diaries, 1762 comments)
on Sunday, May 20, 2007 at 10:17:14 AM
"I don't think John Kerry won. I know he won..." Greg Palast is a liar and a crackpot. His arguments were destroyed from the get-go. No wonder he usually hides his tuckus outside the country most of the time.
by
Scott (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 585 comments)
on Sunday, May 20, 2007 at 6:31:53 PM
You are so far off base on this one. I've been reading Greg Palast for a few years. He proves what he says. He has copies of documents and pictures that have never been refuted. I'd guess that you are one who's crawled out from under a rovian butt, somewhere. Read the paperback and find out about 500 of the 'missing' rove-to-doj e-mails. They were inadvertently sent to a "progressive" site. TOO funny, as well as pretty stupid on the part of some rove people, maybe even Karl himself. The world as well as the American people need to wake up to what Greg Palast says. Stop listening to those from "right-wing-nutsylvania." Did you tick me off?? YOU bet!
by
Pat Herrick (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 166 comments)
on Monday, May 21, 2007 at 12:22:02 PM
Greg Palast, investigative journalist and author, who baldly states, "I don't think John Kerry won. I know he won... and that they did not count the votes... This is not conspiracy theory..."
Joan: Professor Emeritus Peter Bagnolo, here. In my lifetime I have learned one thing, From long before David's conspiracy to to abandon Uriah so he could marry Uriah's wife Bathsheba, to Jesus' prosecution, to Kennedy's murder by the CIA funded by the Arms and oil industries because he would not agree to attack Viet Nam, to The Bushite decision in 1999 to attack Iraq if Bush won, and verified in 2000 February, as attested by everyone associated with them including Paul O'Neil-Everything under the Sun which ever has happened on Planet Earth except Acts of God, have been planned and therefore conspired. Anyone who thinks otherwise is an unenlightened, tool or dupe of the Tripartites. The Bushite family business, The Carlyle Group made up of Neo-cons military/oil, and former dictators and the Bin Ladin's and other Saudi's has profied $15,000,000,000 since the war began, at least in reportable income.
On second thought, the Creation was no accident as Einstein attested and I as a cultural anthropologist, in all of my studies, can firmly concur with, so even Acts of the Good God are well planned. As Einstein said to Niels Bohr, concerning the quantum as Chaos, "God ,Does not Shoot Dice with The Universe!" Nor does man with anything he touches.
You are on target, and to repeat Woody Allen's comment, I also, "...am busy writing the non-fiction version of the Warren Report..."
In that case it was the Dems, demurring from further investigation because they still had the presidency and the Military Industrial Complex would have it's war, as they planned all along. Blaming on the "Mafia" killed two stones with one bird.
How do I get a copy? Also where do I order "Invisible Ballots?"
Great article, by the way. I left a comment to one who called Greg a liar, and was so incensed that I forgot the kudos to you. Sorry.
Patricia Herrick
Gold Creek, Montana
an 80 year old activist
by
Pat Herrick (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 166 comments)
on Monday, May 21, 2007 at 12:35:01 PM
IF YOU DENY THIS IS A FREE COUNTRY, I'LL BEAT YOU UP!
Damail, where is your evidence? Don't you realize you haven't proved anything if you just call someone a liar without evidence?
This is typical of you neocons. I remember your ilk from the Joe McCarthy movement of the 1950's. You claim to be the most fervent supporters of democracy and freedom while desecrating their very essence. Your position is "This is a free country and if you say it's not, or anything else I don't like, I'll beat your up and throw you in jail. That, plus verbal abuse in place of any evidence, pretty much sums up what your ilk is like!
Robert Halfhill, 66 year old activist
by
rhalfhill (3 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 310 comments)
on Monday, May 21, 2007 at 4:01:37 PM
If Kerry won, why did not he fight for his victory? Election fraud was and is obvious, but it cannot be proven or disproven. It has to be USED. Kerry was aimed to lose. From the start, from those unfortunate staged debates, from pampering Bush, from avoiding the issue of Catholicism, from the Dem Party Convention where Clintoninans dominated, it went on and on until he quickly conceded without a fight. He knew the machine but he did not care. It was his part of the bargain and he abandoned the US people the same way Gore abandoned them in the Y2001. It is a pattern.
It is said that even to die with honor is easier than to live with one. Kerry sold his honor. He also sold us. Being a smart man he does not have a luxury or proclaiming innocence. He is a sellout. We need to know that. No matter what Bush team did ( and we only can envy such vehemence and efficiency in the service of a master), Bush did not win. Kerry lost.
by
Mark Sashine (54 articles, 19 quicklinks, 250 diaries, 3597 comments)
on Tuesday, May 22, 2007 at 7:04:40 AM
Thank you so much, that is a very nice review and I have received a lot of good feedback from it.
I was intervied on KPFT-FM in Houston on Sunday night and one of the co-hosts read a portion of your review.
I really appreciate all the nice things you said about Commander 'N Thief. One week ago Today(well Monday) I signed with a producers rep. named Page Ostrow, of Ostrow and Company in LA, and I sent a link to her office and asked that it be forwarded to her in Cannes. She is there now with 4 or 5 projects, including Commander 'N Thief, and working the foreign distribution market for my project.
Again and again Thank you!
Take Care, Tom
Joan,
Please feel free to use my comments if you would like. Yes I have had several people order DVD's starting very shortly after your review came out. I am, of course, glad people are buying it (as will be my land lord at the beginning of next month) and I hope they share it around. I am also hopeful that Page Ostrow will have success with the distribution, it seems that when people realize what is going on from whatever source they get mad enough to do something. When I started this I never thought I ended up with a producers rep or...I don't know--I was hoping someone like move-on would sell it, but this is kinda wild.
Take Care, Tom
by
Joan Brunwasser (164 articles, 3538 quicklinks, 3 diaries, 634 comments)
on Tuesday, May 22, 2007 at 2:11:47 PM
It would be interesting to have a listing/summary review of the many documentaries you have seen, or at any rate the best of them, together with running times.
My friends in the 911 movement in Edinburgh have just compressed 8 and a half hours onto one dvd (including 25 mins from BBC world service announcing 22 minutes early that Building 7 had come down!!).
Maybe I could ask them to prepare a compilation of VoteTheft films if you could provide a guide, their URLs??
Just a thought for when you have the time,
all for now, cheers,
Keith
[Incidentally a woman activist in the Electoral Reform Society is challenging the Executive's desire to organise the Council elections on the Internet, saying that is ultra vires of their mandate to organise by postal vote. ]
by
Joan Brunwasser (164 articles, 3538 quicklinks, 3 diaries, 634 comments)
on Tuesday, May 22, 2007 at 6:30:15 PM
"'I'll beat you up and throw you in jail...'" Halfhill, there's another lie. I never said anything about beating you up if you don't agree with my opinion. Palast's assertions are based on little snippets of info that are stretched into laughable conclusions. He thinks all the examples of "spoilage" are Kerry votes that are tossed for no good reason, and he offers no proof whatsoever that anchors that into place. He tried to prove these ridiculous theories on the Michael Medved show two weeks after the 2004 election, and Medved cleaned his clock without even breaking a sweat.
My favorite moment: Palast mumbled something about how not all the military ballots for Ohio were counted. When Medved pointed out that military voters favored Bush over Kerry 70-30 and that would have increased Bush's lead, Palast had no comeback. It was delicious.
by
Scott (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 585 comments)
on Tuesday, May 22, 2007 at 11:24:15 PM
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