Several of the group have recently posted to the list. Mark Smith, Rady, John Ervin, Nancy, Paul, Kathleen, and others, have caused me to make a mental note "I want to reply to that!... just as soon as I finish this task".
Now that I have finished setting up a Yahoogroup, focused on Missouri, I find it easier to take a deep breath and just post, in general, and take subjects as I recall them.
First of all, the Yahoo group is titled ShowMeTheVote@Yahoogroups.com. The mission statement of the group is clearly an advocacy of HCPBs and a "people's democracy". Any, and all, here who would care to join this invitation only forum, please write to me and I will send an invitation.
The first post that I (as fintan16, an alter ego) chose to make concerns the petition which Mark Smith offered to the group last week. The petition is directed at Dennis Kucinich, and is titled "Remove ALL machines from elections", and is most appropriate, as we all seem to be expecting a modified HR 550 to be driven down the throats of "We the Dreamers", shortly.
It is, I think, appropriate that we let Mr. Kucinich know our feelings.
I signed on quickly last week and watched as the petition inched along. I used the "personalized message appeal" at the petition site to notify a number of acquaintances. And it was gratifying to see familiar names appear as the week progressed. So today, I have a suggestion for all of us, if you will entertain it.
As our "ranks are thinned", and we prepare for the task at hand, we each cast about for those things which we can do to forward the effort. The effort to return this nation to "simply, a simple democracy". One unencumbered and unendangered by corporate electronic machinations. I think signing Mark's petition is one thing that we could all join in doing, a "peoplecount" group effort, if you will.
The signatures on the petition now stand above two hundred. I have no idea whether any others here have attempted to spur those numbers higher, but it matters little. What matters is, perhaps, a precedent.
That precedent is the petition to John Conyers which, roughly two years ago, was a first step in our movement. Important in that, when I signed it, the numbers were in the low hundreds. I never expected that the numbers would rise to over half a million.
It showed what we could do when we set our minds to a task. And it was that drive which earned Rep. Conyers his Spartan accommodations, grudgingly allowed by the GOP, in the basement of a government building where he held hearings on the 2004 Ohio electoral disaster.
Consequently, I propose that each one of us take the small amount of time necessary, to fish into our contacts, and turn Mark's petition into a "Cyber Shout" to Dennis Kucinich.
Let us pour gasoline onto this sputtering fire. Turn those flames into an inferno, one that will light up the skies, in order that all may see the flame of democracy that burns in our hearts. The fire that cannot, and will not, be extinguished while we live!
Reach out to that 92% who believe, but have not yet seen, the democracy we and they believe in. Will you join me?
I would ask you to visit the ShowMeTheVote site, read the mission statement, and the inaugural post.
My hope is to see this happen in my lifetime. Hopefully by
the 2008 elections. Am I a dreamer??? What can we do, other than write letters, and sign petitions? I'll soon be eighty, so I'm not much of a door knocker any longer.
by
Pat Herrick (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 154 comments)
on Friday, December 1, 2006 at 10:10:18 AM
If you haven't already done so, you might go to blackboxvoting.org and look at their "Citizens' Tool-Kit" to see if there is anything there that you might enjoy doing. Check their forum section for your state and see if there are local groups you can join.
Make a note of the evidence you find most convincing with regard to the insecurity of voting machines, and bring the subject up with everyone you talk to. I talk about it with people at the bus stop, on the bus and trolley, standing in line at the grocery store and post office, and everywhere else I happen to be.
If you feel up to it, make an appointment by phone to visit the offices of your Senators and Representative and speak with the aide in charge of legislative matters. Bring some documents with you that you can leave with them (you can download many at the blackboxvoting site) and use the time to explain the problems to them. Be sure to tell them if you know others who feel the same way. Most people don't even bother to email or phone their legislators, so those who make appointnments to speak with the appropriate aides are taken very seriously.
And don't stop dreaming! Little more than two centuries ago, American itself was nothing more than an impossible dream.
--Mark
by
Mark E. Smith (21 articles, 30 quicklinks, 100 diaries, 1325 comments)
on Friday, December 1, 2006 at 5:25:26 PM
3 comments
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