http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0907/S001...

NOTE: If you think these issues are worthy of discussion please rec and kick. And to those of you so inclined please don't unrec.... debate instead.... suppression as a method of response to progressive debate sucks big time.

Althecat.

Alastair's Prescription for Healthy US Elections

US Election Integrity IV with Scoop's Alastair Thompson - Part 4

By Joan Brunwasser
Election Integrity Ed., OpEdNews
First Published at OpEdNews - July 14, 2009

Q: We resume our conversation with Scoop's Alastair Thompson. You may be far away (New Zealand) but you get it about election fraud, stolen elections, and broken election systems. We in America who are working towards meaningful election reform feel like we've essentially been banging our heads against the wall for the last five years. Any advice for us?

A: Having watched this process now for seven years, I have some strong views on this.

Q: Okay, Alastair. Take it away.

A: Firstly, there is the question of what you should be seeking.

Since the beginning of this debate, there have been arguments about what technology is acceptable. In particular voter verified paper ballots , paper trails and optical scan systems. And then there are arguments about audits and recounts.

We now know that none of these systems can protect actual election integrity.

Optical scanning machines are hackable - Harri Hursti showed that conclusively.Paper supplements to voting machines simply do not work - the printing machines jam, the paper records get lost and most importantly it is impossible to get a proper recount performed.

For the same reason - the human and legal problem of recounting - I have no confidence in audit systems used around optical scan ballots though this would be much better than what you have now.

Basically, in order to function an election system must deliver a reliable result on the night or shortly thereafter. The result should not be capable of being manipulated except through a massive conspiracy. If you set the bar high for the fraudsters then they will stop.

In terms of understanding the solution to the problem, you need to also consider the problem from a cautionary perspective.meaning, the solution to the problem needs to deter an active criminal conspiracy from its evil ways. If you simply assume that the system is vulnerable but not actually under attack you will find the wrong answer.

On the basis of this analysis, I have come to the conclusion that the only method of voting and vote counting that works is: hand counted paper ballots, counted at the place of voting on the night of voting.

Yes, this requires thousands of poll workers but it works perfectly well everywhere else in the world - why not the USA?

And to make it easier to vote I would also suggest you make election day a public holiday.

So that is where I think you need to go - next question is how to get there. And here is where it gets horribly difficult.

The first problem: Not understanding the enemy.

Because there are so many people who do not believe elections have been hacked, and perhaps simply as a defense mechanism against the enormity of realization that democracy is being attacked at its very core, even staunch election integrity activists sometimes miss the wood for the trees.

The ability to control who is elected at a micro level is the ultimate form of political control. It makes Jim Crow, ballot stuffing intimidation and other forms of election fraud pale into insignificance.

It is an enormously profitable venture and one which will be being extremely well organized and it will have its tentacles into everything. It will be growing more powerful and more sophisticated with every electoral cycle and it will be growing ever harder to detect.

The solution:

Do not buy into the bullshit about whether this is a real or imaginary threat. If the system is as vulnerable, as we know it to be - and if we have criminal conspiracies of the kind that occurred in Ohio in 2004 preventing recounts then you know that this is real. Act on that knowledge. Assume that everything you do is being actively undermined by sophisticated vested interests - a criminal conspiracy - and be very determined about sticking to your game and ignoring distractions and disruptions. Defeating this enemy will be hard and it will require a massive political will from the grassroots up; the political superstructure is already unreliable.

The second problem: Lack of common purpose

Meanwhile what we actually have is an election reform movement is unfortunately somewhat riven with internal arguments - many of them around the issues raised above. And people have dug themselves into trenches around these points. Hand counted paper ballots are impractical and impossible. Auditing is the answer, etc.

As long as there is no clarity of demand from the public it is astonishingly easy for the politicians and corporate cowards to dodge the issue. Recall what happened with the Holt Bill.

Clearly some kind of unity of purpose is required. This means discipline and compromise.

The solution:

Hold a national meet-up of election reform outfits and hammer out a consensus - it may not be one everybody agrees to but that's what politics is about. And progress is better than no progress.

The third problem: A cycle of interest

We have all seen what happens in this movement. Around an election, and especially in the weeks immediately after it, everybody gets upset and excited.

Months pass and interest wanes people get frustrated and by the time the next election comes around it is too late to do anything about it.

The solution:

As a movement, aim for a realistic timetable for change and then pursue that doggedly. 2010 is probably too early for real change to be implemented, so aim for 2012; aim to pass a bill which fixes the 2012 presidential election in 2010. That way, the "there is not enough time" tossers can jump in a lake.

And I have more thoughts, but those are the biggies.


Q: Well, this certainly gives us a lot to think about. When we return for the last installment of our interview, Alastair will talk about the fourth estate, and the role of independent online media.

--

Part One of my interview with Alastair (also at Scoop here)
Part Two of my interview with Alastair (also at Scoop here)
Part Three of my interview with Alastair (also at Scoop here)

*************

Author's Bio: 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. Her articles also appear at RepublicMedia.TV and Scoop.co.nz.

From: http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0907/S001...
&
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Interview...

US Election Integrity IV with Scoop's Alastair Thompson - Part 1

By Joan Brunwasser

Election Integrity Ed., OpEdNews

First Published at OpEdNews - July 7, 2009

Welcome to OpEdNews, Alastair. You're an unknown quantity to many of our American readers. Yet your creation, Scoop.co.nz, been around for over ten years. Can you describe what Scoop is and what you do?

Joan, it's a pleasure to be answering questions about Scoop here on OpEdNews. We have watched this site grow over several years to occupy a similar place to that which Scoop started to stake out when we launched in 1999

… snip …

And, (and this will be the bit that your readers are most interested in) we also publish free and frank commentary and some press releases from around the world. In this area of publication, we concentrate on stories which are either being ignored in the mainstream or which are receiveing insufficient attention. Our US coverage for example has concentrated on subjects like: the lies that started the Iraq war, corporate malfeasance and criminality, impeachment, unanswered questions in the official 911 narrative, and the weaknesses in the US election system - particularly in relation to electronic voting machine vulnerablities.

…snip …

How did you become interested in examining the underbelly of American elections?

Through 2002, we had been following the drumbeats to war and publishing dissident views on the subject. Perhaps because of our coverage of that and issues like Unanswered Questions we were added to the press release distribution list of BlackBoxVoting.org founder and director Bev Harris.

In October 2002, we published a press release "Republicans Make the US Elections Voting Machines" from Bev Harris.

On the eve of the 2002 midterm elections, ES&S demanded removal of the article "Voting Machine Company Demands Removal Of Articles". We did not comply and instead published several more releases from Bev Harris.

On 12 November a week after the midterms, I personally decided to look a bit deeper into the record and published "American Coup: Mid-Term Election Polls vs Actuals" a report which found a pattern of inconsistencies around the critical senate and gubernatorial races which occurred in that election round.

That article, and several of the Bev Harris releases, were picked up by several big US websites - notably by Mark Karlin at Buzzflash.com and achieved very high levels of traffic. Little did we realize what was to come next.

Don't stop there, Alastair.

Well, the first thing that happened is that the story was hard to get traction around. Not only was it hard to get anyone to report anything about the subject, but criticism for us daring to attack the credibility of election results came thick and fast. But there was also considerable support. It was a fun time.

William Rivers Pitt was one of the first off the blocks to touch on the subject and Faun Otter had already written on it. Scoop started following the story closely and publishing anything we could find.

Then, in February 2003, we had a breakthrough - Bev Harris found an open FTP site with all the source code to the Diebold voting machines. These reports were closely followed by a report in the Guardian Newspaper and this fantastic report out of Baltimore. Salon's Farhad Manjoo joined the beat a few days later.

Scoop was rapidly becoming a clearing house for information on this new and fascinating area of inquiry. Bev Harris was telling me she was onto some really big material, (she rang to tell me) but then went a bit quiet. In March, elements of the Democratic Party finally woke up to what was going on.

But the big break was still ahead - it was to do with the breakthrough in February and the cache of Diebold source files.

Let's pause here, Alastair. Our readers are invited to join us shortly for the second part of this interview.

*************

PART 2

From: http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0907/S001...
&
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Interview...

At the end of part one of our interview, you left off with Bev Harris's breakthrough discovery about Diebold. Please don't leave us hanging, Alastair!

In June 2003, (after the war started) Bev contacted me by phone. She had been trying valiantly to get computer scientists to look at the source code she had uncovered with no success. She was also becoming a little concerned for her own safety. Her own inquiries into the source code had confirmed that the machines and tabulators were foolishly hackable but getting someone official on the record to say so was proving impossible. Most scientists were afraid that if they broke the easily cracked zip passwords on some of the files they would be opening themselves up to felony prosecution under the DMCA .

We decided to proceed to publish Bev's findings as they stood.

On July 8 2003 we did so in a one-two punch. First up was my commentary on Bev's findings "Bigger Than Watergate" and then, seven minutes later, Bev's expose report "Inside a US Election Vote Counting Program" which explained in detail just how easy it is to hack a US election without being detected, if you have access to the tabulation computer.

In the first story, a link was also published to a copy of the cache of Diebold source files data.

Over the next few days, the story went ballistic. It was linked off of Slashdot.org and copies of both stories were posted on hundreds of websites across the US and the world - including Buzzflash.com and Whatreallyhappened.org. It was even translated into German and Robert Cringely of PBS picked it up.

Meanwhile, the cache of data files was downloaded hundreds of times - often by military computers - but most importantly by a group of scientists at Johns Hopkins University. And on July 25, they published their report, "Analysis of an Electronic Voting System."The source of the files they used is acknowledged in the footnotes.

The academic paper which examined the vulnerabilities of Diebold's touchscreen software was reported in the New York Times, "Computer Voting is Open to Easy Fraud, Experts Say" and suddenly it was game on . (You can see just how widely the NYT story was picked up here.)

I then introduced myself to the election reform crew at the Democratic Underground which was then the clubhouse for the team researching this stuff, and we prepared to do battle to get something done about this mess.

Well, having worked the election integrity beat since 2005, I'm not so confident that we've actually made much progress over the years. Media exposure is an important first step. But we're still working toward getting widespread recognition of the dangers of computerized voting to democratic values. What progress can you point to?

Precisely.

Actually, knowledge is only a small part of the solution, and, since 2002, we have seen three sets of compromised elections.

And probably most sad of all - nothing concrete is being done even now - and given the track record of the election fraudsters, I would fully expect the 2010 midterms to be compromised.

And when you realise that the corrupt election system is also being used to run primary races, you may quickly figure out why even with control of the House and the Senate, Obama is finding it tough going getting his agenda in place.

In the aftermath of the original revelations of 2003, I expected there to be significant and rapid moves to fix the problems. But precisely the opposite happened - election officials dug in and defended their machines - they called the election integrity movement names and attempted to sideline us.

Meanwhile, the media were little better, and even after the 2004 election, they were poking the borax - though at least then they did in fact report the idea of stolen elections on the front pages.

Unfortunately, politicians and naysayers have persistently maintained the view that unless there is a smoking gun they will not believe what they want not to believe.

The tragedy is that there is a smoking gun - one that emerged in the aftermath of the events described above.

After the source code leak, two more sets of leaks followed in the summer of 2003. First, the Diebold memos (made famous by the Swarthmore College civil disobedience action). These memos contained some interesting additional information about the Volusia County incident in the 2000 election.

In October 2003, I published my version of this story "Diebold Memos Disclose Florida 2000 E-Voting Fraud" based on information provided by Bev Harris. Bev's version of the same story can be found in her book on the subject.

This story proves election fraud has happened.

The timing, scale and nature of the discrepancy is such that it unquestionably played a part in the premature award of the 2000 election to George Bush by network news anchors on election night. It cannot be explained by any other credible explanation except computer hacking. It is the smoking gun.

Thank you, Alastair. We'll pause here with the smoking gun. When we come back, we'll talk about the 2004 presidential election, online independents, Scoop's mission statement, and the stable of Americans that write for Scoop. I hope you'll join us.

*****

Interview Continuing at OPED News Over The Next Few Days….

See..
http://www.opednews.com /

NOTE: The interview has three more parts to come and features a few more well known names from around here and the Election Reform Discussion Forum.

From: http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0903/S001...

Jubilee - Halve The Debt!

By C.D. Sludge

In this edition:
1 - Jubilee
2 - The Debt Bubble
3 - The Beauty Of Simplicity - Lets Just Halve The Debt
4 - What The Bursting Of A Debt Bubble Means
5 - So Why Not Just Halve The Debt? The Paradox Of Money Supply
6 - How To Halve The Debt
7 - The Folly Of Picking Winners
8 - Resolving The Crisis Of Confidence
9 - The New Zealand Situation - We Don't Really Need This Solution - Yet
10 - The Global Perspective - This Would Need To Be Global
11 - And Finally… A Developing World Perspective On Jubilee

**** # # # ****

Jubilee

In ancient Babylon the concept of Jubilee involved the regular cancellation of debt - Wikipedia explains it thus:

"The concept of the Jubilee is a special year of remission of sins and universal pardon. In the Biblical book of Leviticus, a Jubilee year is mentioned to occur every fifty years, in which slaves and prisoners would be freed, debts would be forgiven and the mercies of God would be particularly manifest.

..and…

These Babylonian kings occasionally issued decrees for the cancellation of debts and/or the return of the people to the lands they had sold. Such "clean slate" decrees were intended to redress the tendency of debtors, in ancient societies, to become hopelessly in debt to their creditors, thus accumulating most of the arable land into the control of a wealthy few.

Sound at all familiar?

**** # # # ****

The Debt Bubble

The current debt crisis is often referred to as a debt bubble. The trouble with bubbles of course being that they burst, as this one has now.

Several thousand years ago they had a solution to this - to burst the bubble regularly in a manner which was predictable. These days however we seem to think that when the bubble builds and then bursts we should just accept that it is now a time for universal suffering. Perhaps we even think that we deserve it.

With the benefit of hindsight clearly this crisis has been caused by a failure of both the system and of human behaviour. Personal greed (particularly by the property owning baby boomers) and a willingness to believe that it will always be jam today (especially in the developed world) are indeed partly to blame.

However we should also not forget that the economic system is a product of human ingenuity. We created it and we are its masters. It ought not be our master. How can something entirely of human construct be so much more destructive than the worst hurricane.

For now however we appear to be completely in its thrall.

All the kings horses and all the kings men cannot stick the banking system together again.

So far as the global crisis is concerned nothing that has been done over the past six months appears to be having any effect.

**** # # # ****

The Beauty Of Simplicity - Lets Just Halve The Debt

The beauty of the idea of Jubilee debt cancellation is that it is very simple.

And money is also relatively simple - even if not well understood.

Money is created when it is borrowed. Money is then destroyed when it is paid back or when debt is written off.

So if we were to collectively cancel a very large amount of debt - by way of a Jubilee - we would simply destroy a lot of money a great deal faster than the current (very painful and unmanageable) process does.

Importantly we would also do so in a manner which is transparent, fair and comprehensible. These characteristics are of course the opposite of the characteristics of the current machinations of central banks and Government treasuries.

**** # # # ****

What The Bursting Of A Debt Bubble Means

The problem we face at present with the bursting debt bubble is that the amount of debt owed to our banks now exceeds the value of the assets it has been lent against - our houses, our businesses and our countries.

And in the case of the present crisis - i.e. the bursting of a debt bubble of monumental size - a 50% debt cancellation would effectively just turn back the clock to the 1990s.

Which is not even very far.

Think about your personal situation for a minute.

Many houses and companies and countries are now worth less than 50% of what they were only a few months ago. However many of those same assets are now worth previsely what they were just 10 years ago.

Halving the debt would simply give all of these households, companies and countries a fighting chance again. It would be like turning back the clock.

Personally in the 1990s I had a mortgage of $120,000, now I have a mortgage of $260,000. While I am earning more than I was back then, I am not earning that much more and the minimum wage has barely moved.

The balance sheets of a huge number of households, companies, and countries around the world are exactly the same. Halving the debt would not actually be that big a move.

So what would be the economic effect of such a measure?

Or put another way - is there a reason that this superficially attractive solution is actually a dopey idea with no merit at all?

**** # # # ****

So Why Not Just Halve The Debt? The Paradox Of Money Supply

In answer to this question the first thing you need to do is be wary of the language of debt.

Currently if you read the newspaper, listen to the radio, listen to politicians on the TV or read the economist everybody is telling you the same paradoxically stupid thing.

UK PM Gordon Brown tells his people that his government should not let its industry crumble - rather the Government should "borrow" to get themselves through the crisis.

In the Economist you read that several Eastern European countries are facing the need to borrow up to 20% of their GDP in order to finance their expected fiscal deficits.

Here in New Zealand Dr Alan Bollard told us only yesterday that New Zealand is an "externally financed country" and hence has to keep international bankers happy.

Of course there is an element of truth to all of this. Banking is international and for some reason we have for most of the past five decades out-sourced much of the credit creation in the world to the Americans, The Japanese, The Chinese and the Germans.

However borrowing when talked about by banks and borrowing when talked about by humans is not the same thing.

And right now when all of the major economies (and all of their banks) are also screwed the idea of "borrowing" more money from them makes not a great deal of sense.

If there is someone out there with a few $trillion to lend us all then how come nobody knows where he lives? Why haven't we asked him to bail us out already?

This is not to say that bank debt creation through lending is a bad thing. Nor that this is not what would immediately start happening again once half the debt gets cancelled. That is precisely what would happen and that is why we would do it.

However lets hope that on the way to understanding how we can halve the debt without making the sky fall on our heads we may more widely understand that it is wrong to think - as many people do - that they have borrowed the money for their overseas trip from some Chinese peasants savings scheme.

The truth is that this is not the way the money system works.

How exactly it does work is a question that everybody should be asking their bankers and not one which is worth explaining right now.

However it is worth explaining how a debt cancellation programme might work and what its effects would be.

**** # # # ****

How To Halve The Debt

Well for starters you would concentrate on bank created debt and bank created and issued paper.

It would not be desirable to halve the debts owed by banks to their retail depositors nor to halve the debts owed to truly deposit financed institutions like credit unions and finance companies. Some special mechanism might be required for these kinds of debt - however as they are such a tiny fraction of total debt this would not be too difficult.

Superannuation fund owned commercial paper however could be halved as could all bank paper and all debts owed to banks including mortgages, personal loans and credit card balances.

Super funds might think this disastrous but on the flip side while their paper debt holdings would be halved - the likelihood of this paper turning into paper would be a great deal less. And their investments in equities - now completely illiquid and rapidly looking like vapourware - would suddenly have growth potential.

You might also think that halving bank debt would inevitably require a halving of deposits - but it would not do so.

Deposits are not equal to bank lending (hence the reference above to Chinese peasant savings). Under the fractional reserve banking system banks are allowed to lend 10 times (and often even more) what they take in in deposits.

This is why some banks in NZ are currently offering 6% on term deposits while the official cash interest rate is 3%.

Right now deposits are like gold.

And when it comes to a halving of bank debt - maintaining the value of both deposits, bank capital and bank equity is the trump card.

The reason banks are currently falling over like flies and shifting all their risk to us taxpayers is that their "debt financed lending" - i.e. the money they created and lent to the guy in the string vest in the everglades is being written off. And when it is written off bank reserve rations fall and they are prevented from lending new money. And this is precisely what they are currently doing.

This is a vicious cycle which further damages the economy, asset values and ultimately leads to further writeoffs.

However if banks and bank depositors are allowed to keep their deposits and their capital (and their shareholders equity - which is presently heading towards zero) - but have their debt halved instantaneously - then their balance sheets suddenly improve dramatically.

Suddenly the 50% drop in the value of some of the securities they have lent against is manageable. The unimaginable writeoffs that they cannot imagine have been implemented (through the halving of the debt) and they can get back into the business of lending again.

In the meantime there is suddenly no more need for us taxpayers to take both the risk and the responsibility of trying to put the smashed credit machine back together again.

Some banks may still fail. But these will only be the truly stupid ones. Healthy businesses, families and countries will be back in business.

And this leads to one of two particularly attractive aspects around the idea of halving the debt.

**** # # # ****

The Folly Of Picking Winners

As previously mentioned the current response to the credit crisis is being driven by on the one hand central bankers, and on the other hand Government treasury departments.

These institutions are full of economically literate people who know that one of the worst possible things that can happen in a crisis like this is for them to be given the responsibility for deciding which businesses to support and which to allow to fail.

The reasons for this are well understood.

Adam Smith's invisible hand is obviously not always effective - but it is certainly better than Stalin's or Mao's or Hitler's or Kim Jong Il's, or Pharaoh's.

Central control of investment allocation and decisions carries with it moral hazards which we know from painful historical lessons that we do not want to repeat.

But how can a treasury department spending 3 trillion dollars - like the US Treasury has just done - do so in a way that does not pick winners? How can Barack Obama avoid becoming Pharaoh?

At present the institutions are trying to accomplish this by keeping themselves at arms length.

They talk about creating bad banks, about taking over ownership of banks, but of still allowing them to operate independently. They are trying their best not to take over decision making - but it is very very hard. And also very very frustrating as unsurprisingly many good bankers do not want to lend to anyone in the current situation.

But then there is avarice, greed and opportunity, and rewarding failure.

When faced with a system which effectively involves writing government cheques with lots and lots and lots of zeros on them - how can any government run system possibly stop the money being stolen.

When the US invaded Iraq organised criminals - corporate ones - stole millions from the US Treasury. What do we think is happening now when 10 times the sum of money is up for grabs.

And this aspect of the problem of bailouts has a very nasty twist in its tail.

As taxpayers we are financing a bailout architecture which is inevitably rewarding the very same financial criminals and fraudsters who made so much money as the balloon went up. Now they are making even more as it falls.

Sure some very smart people lost a bundle in all of this - but some even smarter ones are making a fortune as Rome burns. This is how humanity works.

And this is the opposite of Jubilee.

Rather than returning society close to some equilibrium - even more power and wealth is being concentrated into an even smaller number of individuals.

By contrast simply halving the debt as a global response to the crisis would simply eliminate all of the above problem. No real decisions need be made except to proceed. What then happens happens.

Some individuals, businesses, banks and countries would still be too indebted after having their debt halved to survive.

The market would be allowed to go back to doing what it does best, finding the places where resources ought to be invested.

Meanwhile the central bankers and treasurers would get back to what they really need to do after this crisis - establish a new order in banking which prevents the catastrophic misallocation of resources which has occurred over the past decade.

**** # # # ****

Resolving The Crisis Of Confidence

The second arm to the current crisis, the first being the broken banking system, is a crisis in business and consumer confidence.

Unsurprisingly everyone the world over is feeling like shit. Even if people understand what is going on they see no way out.

How many people really believe that the bankers, politicians and economics boffins know a way out of this crisis? Do you?

Faced with these conditions everybody is choosing to dig in, hunker down. We are all saving our pennies. Putting off the TV, car, fridge, holiday purchase and instead planting vege gardens and scooters.

Now some of this stuff is good - and hopefully we will keep doing it after things improve.

But some of it is not so good - a contracting economy in which nobody is spending will die from lack of oxygen. In addition to putting off TV purchases people are not going to the dentist, not insulating their houses and eating cheap junk food.

In order for this crisis to be resolved we need to fix the banking system and also re-inject confidence into the body politics.

Given the current state of morale something big is required. Something bold. Something which people can understand and something which genuinely will get them out spending again - even if it's just on a new rotary hoe for an urban artichoke farm.

Again speaking personally I can think of nothing more confidence enhancing than having my mortgage payments and credit card bills halved.

**** # # # ****

The New Zealand Situation - We Don't Really Need This Solution - Yet

NZ;s Reserve Bank Governor Dr Alan Bollard informed us at yesterday's economic briefing that the NZ economy is expected to only spend six quarters in recession.

Since this recession started at the beginning of 2008 - this means NZ could be growing again by June.

Which would be great. And I sincerely hope it is true.

It is true that New Zealand is not suffering this global crisis as hard as most of the rest of the world. Here in godzone we are missing three things that most of our wealthy trading partners possess 1) a manufacturing industry and 2) a financial services industry and 3) any real savings base.

Meanwhile most of our sharemarket is owned offshore so even those punishing losses have not been felt at home.

NZ basically lives off of tourism, the cow's udder and other parts of natures bounty - agricultural exports. At present the one thing which is (so far) surviving the credit crisis intact is commodity prices. NZ in-bound tourism is also holding up remarkably well - so far.

However if we in NZ believe that because everybody needs to eat then they will always want to pay good $$$ for our meat and dairy we may find ourselves mistaken.

In the end it depends how bad things get and prices of food can fall a lot further. And with a catastrophic collapse in global trade, lending and falls in asset values of an order not seen since 1929 we would be very foolish to rest on our laurels.

Ultimately NZ prosperity is dependent on global prosperity and global prosperity is not looking too rosy.

**** # # # ****

The Global Perspective - This Would Need To Be Global

The idea of halving the debt is not a domestic policy. Clearly the banking system is now global and the solution of halving the debt is one which also - by definition - would have to be global.

It is unlikely however that a solution like this will be embraced by the global financial institutions who are controlled and run by bankers. While this idea is arguably in their interests they may not see it that way.

Rather this is a political solution and if it is to fly then it will need wide dissemination.

So get emailing your friends in foreign places. Twitter the idea. Talk about it around the canteen.

Note also that this article is not copyright and is free to be taken, rehashed, translated, misused and abused in any manner anyone likes anywhere they choose.

**** # # # ****

And Finally… A Developing World Perspective On Jubilee

The developing world has been calling out for debt forgiveness for decades. The cry of the poor has fallen on deaf ears in the banks of the West and the North.

An obscene proportion of the world's people live on less than one US Dollar a day and that number is now climbing rapidly.

While we in the developed world fear for our jobs and watch our paychecks being cut we at least still have some hope.

Our children may not be able to get jobs, but they can go to school while we all wait for things to get better. For many of us a worst case scenario means fewer fancy electronics, no foreign holidays s and more time in the garden.

And so for us halving the debt may seem a step too far.

But inevitably in an economic crisis of the kind that is currently hitting the world - those who are most affected are those at the bottom of the heap.

Aid agencies are already talking of donations drying up. Government aid budgets are being cut or redirected towards domestic demands - and what is already a catastrophe for half of the world's population is rapidly getting worse.

And ultimately a combination of hungry starving people and climate change will have very unpleasant consequences for us all, deteriorating security, environmental degradation, plague, war.

As the crisis deepens the sense of powerlessness we have begun to feel will take a hold of what remains of our ability to determine our own destiny.

And so for the sake of the weakest among us - as well as for ourselves - we need to find a solution to this crisis, and we need to do so fast.

Anti©opyright C.D. Sludge 2009 - Post Freely - Please Credit

Please KnR this thread if you agree with these organisations....

Is it time to end the US punishment of Cuba? If it is then let us send President Elect Obama a message.

regards
Althecat


From: http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0812/S002...

13 US Organizations Ask President-Elect Obama to Lift Policies Against Cuba

HAVANA, Cuba, Dec 10 (acn) Thirteen organizations including academic, business, humanitarian, and advocacy groups in the United States joined to send a letter to President-elect Obama asking him to lift policies toward Cuba that limit people-to-people exchanges, family travel, and remittances.

A report posted at the Association of International Educators's website (NAFSA), (www.nafsa.org/cubaletter ) which is one the signatories of the letter, says the organizations asked the president-elect to take actions that send a "clear and welcome signal of change and reverse actions that have proven counterproductive to our shared goal of assisting the Cuban people."

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http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0812/S002...

Source…

Worldnews/ycr/13:31

Organizaciones Estadounidenses Solicitan Fin de Restricciones de Viajes a Cuba

Cuban News Agency
www.cubanews.ain.cu
ainnews@ain.cu

****************

www.nafsa.org/cubaletter

American Association of State Colleges and Universities
Latin America Working Group
Social Science Research Council
American Friends Service Committee
Latin American Studies Association
Unitarian Universalist Service Committee
Church World Service
NAFSA: Association of International Educators
USA*Engage
Fund for Reconciliation and Development
National Foreign Trade Council
Washington Office on Latin America
Operation USA

December 8, 2008

President-elect Barack Obama
233 N. Michigan Avenue, #1720
Chicago, IL 60601

Dear President-elect Obama:

We congratulate you on your historic election victory and look forward to working with you and your administration next year.

We are writing on an issue of great concern to members of our various communities – U.S. policy towards Cuba. We believe that changes made by the Bush administration in 2003 and 2004 have not had their intended effect and have been counterproductive in terms of helping the Cuban people.

In particular we ask you to address at an early date certain executive branch amendments to the Cuban Assets Control Regulations (CACR) and strongly urge you to consider their early repeal. The amendments were published in the Federal Register on March 24, 2003 (FR Doc. 03–6808), and June 16, 2004 (FR Doc. 04-13630). The provisions of concern imposed new restrictions on academic and family travel, and on remittances, to Cuba. Repeal of these regulations would restore travel and remittances to the island and reverse policies that isolate American students and other citizens from the Cuban people.

Specifically, academic and people-to-people exchange with Cuba has been decimated by the prohibition of the following activities. We recommend restoring the availability of licenses for:

- short-term study and teaching in Cuba;

- study in Cuba under third-party programs—i.e., programs other than those of degree-granting higher education institutions;

- study in Cuba under programs other than those of the institution in which the student is enrolled;

- academic travel to Cuba by any bona fide professor or researcher, including adjunct faculty;

- people-to-people, cultural and sports exchanges unrelated to academic coursework; and

- programs of secondary schools for study in Cuba.

As well, we ask that you rescind the 2004 restrictions on family visits to Cuba, on the amount of money that family visitors can spend while in Cuba, on cash remittances to Cuba, and on the personal baggage of travelers to Cuba.

An important parallel move is to again make visas available for Cuban scholars, religious leaders, cultural and sports figures, and others to participate in academic conferences and events, religious and cultural activities, and other forms of people-to-people exchange, and to conduct research in the United States.

In making the above changes, we hope you consider minor amendments to the CACR to permit travel to Cuba by all eligible persons via a general license rather than requiring specific license applications. This would allow the Treasury Department to focus on keeping the United States safe rather than on administering routine licenses to Cuban Americans, academic institutions, church groups, athletes, and members of the press who wish to travel there legally.

Finally, we urge you and your administration to work with Congress to reexamine U.S. policy more broadly. Complete repeal of travel restrictions would allow all U.S. citizens to engage with the Cuban people. Repeal would also take a burden off of the Departments of the Treasury and Homeland Security, which could put the resources that are now used to administer and enforce prohibitions on travel by U.S. citizens toward investigating transactions that actually endanger U.S. security.

By immediately taking steps to rescind the 2003-2004 regulations, you will send a clear and welcome signal of change and reverse actions that have proven counterproductive to our shared goal of assisting the Cuban people. Thank you for your consideration of these comments.

Sincerely,

American Association of State Colleges and Universities
Latin America Working Group
Social Science Research Council
American Friends Service Committee
Latin American Studies Association
Unitarian Universalist Service Committee
Church World Service
NAFSA: Association of International Educators
USA*Engage
Fund for Reconciliation and Development
National Foreign Trade Council
Washington Office on Latin America

He was a great bloke. I spoke to him a couple of times by phone..... was a shame what happened at the end but he has become something of a rallying point for us all and he would be very proud about that.

al

Dear DU GDP,

Gordon Campbell - Scoop's political editor and a leading NZ political journalist weighs in on the US Vote casting and counting issue in the run up to the NZ election - which is being held November 8th.

We are leading with this on Scoop Independent News now..

NZ VERSIONS
http://www.scoop.co.nz /
http://election08.scoop.co.nz /

US VERSION
http://usacoup.scoop.co.nz /

This is a story of some significance in the NZ news environment.

kind regards
Althecat

p.s. Please Knr this if you like it..... it means a lot....

Dear DU,

Today the greatest list has several entries relating to Greg Palast and RFK Jnrs article with the headline "ITS STOLEN ALREADY". In many of those threads DUers have popped up complaining that Palast has gone too far - that such talk is demoralising - some have even gone so far as to accuse Palast of wanting Obama to lose.

What follows is a response to that sentiment. It is needed because even after six long years of talking about this stuff some people still seem to think this is tinfoil.

Obvioysly it is alarming what Greg Palast and RFK Jnr is saying and I hope everybody is alarmed. It is time to open your eyes.

The very same media that has been telling you that the voting machine story is oveblown since 2003 has also been telling you - since 2003 - that the housing bubble was sustainable and that selling variable rate mortgages to poor people was a good idea. It is high time that people woke up and realised that they are being lied to by the people that they trust.

Palast and RFK Jnrs story is a warning.

It is one which is being delivered as clearly as it possibly can by two of the smartest people in the room in one of the best magazines in the world. They are not just telling people whats going on. They comic is all about empowering people to do something about it.

This story is being told somewhat shrilly perhaps - but it needs to be. And hopefully THIS TIME the election integrity movement has finally got the ear of the US Public. Because this is a message that needs to be heard. In the past the likes of Daily Kos has banned discussion of election fraud, hopefully those days are now over.

ANYONE WHO THINKS THAT ELECTION STEALING IS NOT AN ISSUE THIS ELECTION BECAUSE THE PUBLIC WILL IS CERTAIN TO OVERCOME ANY THEFT EFFORT IS A FOOL

Harsh words. Yes.

Intended to arouse strong emotions. Yes.

THIS MESSAGE IS LOUD BECAUSE IT NEEDS TO BE LOUD
MANY PEOPLE HERE HAVE BEEN YELLING ABOUT THIS FOR YEARS
AT LEAST 4 ELECTIONS 2000-2002-2004 & 2006 HAVE ALREADY BEEN STOLEN
STEALING ELECTIONS IS NOT DIFFICULT IT HAS HAPPENED
AND IT WILL HAPPEN AGAIN

Even leaving aside electronic vote fraud altogether the last 2 presidential elections were stolen by Secretaries of States and corrupt disgraceful courts and partisan officials. Greg Palast and RFK Jnrs investigations have shown this conclusively.

And yet still we have the reaction of numerous DUers denigrating these men and their supporters.

Several of those who have been making snarky remarks about Palast and RFK are known disrupters - some of these people seem to be making a career out of denigrating election integrity activists. They do not usually emerge into the light of this forum however and it will be interesting if they turn up in this post.

And then there is electronic democracy.

AT PRESENT THERE IS NO WAY TO VERIFY A US ELECTION..... IPSO FACTO THE US IS NOT A DEMOCRACY?

And the answer is probably not anymore. Certainly not a functional democracy.

The 2000 Election was hacked electronically...
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0310/S002... - Diebold Memos Disclose Florida 2000 E-Voting Fraud

The machines used to count the 2002 election were completely hackable - both the optical scans and the touchscreens - see the movie
http://www.hackingdemocracy.com /

See also reams of research.... moch of which was conducted here at DU.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0307/S000... - Bigger Than Watergate (by me)
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0307/S000... - Inside A U.S. Election Vote Counting Program
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discu...

The 2004 Election was hacked
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0411/S001... - 47 State Exit Poll Analysis Confirms Swing Anomaly
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0706/S001... - Bigger Than Watergate II (George On The Block & The White Ghosts Of NYC)
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0706/S001... - Election 2004: The Urban Legend

The primaries were hacked
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0806/S001... - CLINTON BEATS EXIT POLLS BY WIDE MARGIN IN EVERY STATE - The Democratic Primaries 2008:

And now the Media and Exit Pollsters are preparing to lie to you...
http://usacoup.scoop.co.nz/?p=664



Yes it is alarming.

Very.

So be alarmed. And don't shoot the messengers. We are doing you all a favour.

Dear DU ERD (the heart of DU )

Hello from Saturday. It has been a long week in the NZ election too. But out here across the Pacific our team has been busy this week reporting on the real news from over there in a manner which we think is pretty cool. Below is our weekend edition of the Scoop Electronic Election Campaign Website http://usacoup.scoop.co.nz .

Please KnR...

And if you feel inclined to do more to help this project - or know anyone doing good stuff who would like some FREE ADVERTISING check out This link

Kia Kaha (Stand Tall)
Althecat
Co-Editor Scoop Independent News

Please KNR the thread here ----> http://www.democraticunderground.com/discu...
"A Cool Million For StealBackYourVote.Org from Scoop Independent News"




Please KNR the thread here ----> http://www.democraticunderground.com/discu...

regards to ERD and all who lurk and post here.

al

http://usacoup.scoop.co.nz

Scoop Donates USD$100k Of Advertising Towards Protecting US Democracy

Press Release Saturday, October 11, 2008
Scoop Independent News
Wellington New Zealand
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0810/S001...

While global markets squirm in the midst of the financial crisis, Scoop scoffs at funds and cheerfully donates its pro-bono services to covering an equally pressing crisis that threatens the very heart of democracy: election fraud during the 2008 USA presidential election. Realizing that protecting democracy is more important than getting paid for it, Scoop forgoes the fancy cars and high-price dinners. Instead, our tireless staff spends long nights eating muesli while pouring through the latest news about vote-suppressing tactics on both sides of the political spectrum.

From October to January, usacoup.scoop.co.nz will host to-the-minute updates on vote-tampering issues, as they will undoubtedly arise in the aftermath of the November election. This vital information, along with the adjacent advertising space, will reach an estimated audience of 800,000 United States viewers through an estimated 5,000,0000 advertising impressions which Scoop is donating to this cause.

While mainstream media outlets wince at the mere thought of voter disenfranchisement, rigged electronic voting machines and stolen elections, Scoop, New Zealand's No. 1 independent online news network, refuses to be on the list of those who cower to political and corporate interests. Over the past six years Scoop has been at the forefront of the independent media mission to bring knowledge about the truth of the failure of US Democracy to its public.

As a foreign outlet, Scoop remains free from the constricting tentacles of overseas censorship. Scoop stands stalwartly with election reform news websites, documentary makers, authors and activist groups working to preserve election integrity and ensure that each person's voice is heard. It may cost us a lot to run this campaign for free, but the cost of losing the vote – and thus the foundation of democracy – is much greater.

Despite our charitable disposition, Scoop is requesting donations to help offset the cost of this undertaking. Scoop is also looking for creative people to help develop advertisements for related websites and activities. If you are willing to assist in this area, e-mail usacoup@scoop.co.nz .

See the Scoop contact page for details on how to contact Scoop to arrange interviews, etc.

Dear ERD

http://usacoup.scoop.co.nz

regards
Althecat

From: http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0810/S000...

Sludge Report #185: The iDeal

By Alastair Thompson & Jim Cousins
October 1, 2008

5 Weeks

Make no mistake. The next five weeks is the greatest opportunity since man first used an object as a tool, to reshape our destiny.

To think that this predicament is a surprise is preposterous. And to think that any amount of ransom money, will fix it is ludicrous. Here’s the real scoop: $700 billion is only intended to be enough to get the U.S. through the election without all hell breaking loose. And that is clearly what’s on the horizon. Nobody in the press wants to say panic, and neither do we want to say it:

However panicing is what we are all doing nevertheless. It is understandable. It is rational. What was once "money in the bank" is not anymore. Up is down. Down is up.

And you are in a rowboat merrily, merrily, merrily rowing gently down the stream.

But you’re not on a stream, you’re in the middle of a boundless sea and an ocean liner is bearing down on you.

So take control of your boat and for God’s sake, change course!

Change Course

There are three clear options:

1. Full steam ahead. Put your faith in markets, a human concept that nobody in the world can understand or predict. That’s why they call it faith. And if you can’t go full steam ahead, why are you going in that direction?

Many “free market” economists are saying it’s your own fault for not looking at a map and now just ride it out and the wisdom of the markets will save you. They’ve got the market religion all right, like good old Jim Jones. But where do you put your faith, in a faceless human-created entity of markets or in mankind?

2. Starboard. Put your trust in the institutions that got us here.
The “expensive market” economists are saying that $700 billion will put our faith back in the markets. Hmmm… not feeling the religion over that? This is a problem created over 20 years of deregulation and this is exactly what the markets provide. And $700 billion is going to fix it…. Really? It’s that simple?

The reason they haven’t sold this plan to the American people is that they haven’t actually developed a plan. Like Vegas odds placers, they simply calculated a bet: How much do I have to commit (of your money mind you) to get us through the election? There is no thoughtful long-term plan. This $700 billion is an expensive Band-Aid, but will do little to change the fundamental of our economic system that brought us to this point

3. Port. Put your faith in the human potential and your feet back in the real world. Get back to grounded economic fundamentals that everyday people can understand and discuss around their kitchen tables.

Or Consider And Develop The iDeal

We have 5 weeks to make this happen. It’s an historic opportunity for democracy to really shine, for an informed citizenry to elect people intent on making a better life possible for everybody. This is the time for sweeping change, of electing the candidates who subscribe under the mandate to reshape The USA. If this doesn’t occur, the world will have its next brink of financial crisis by February, 2009.

As a starting point to talking of a solution we offer the following.

What about people creating a web2.0 wiki-legislation for the new congress/president to enact? What say the campaign for the election of President becomes the well spring of a new source of hope.

We do not know the answers at present. But here’s a short list of things which are worth thinking about:

• An additional Bill Of Rights (communication, transportation, education, housing, food and energy). Those things that increase individual success and therefore the success of the broader community and economy to survive;


• Abolish the Federal Reserve Act of 1913 and rewrite a system that the people/government own, not private individuals, a system of currency based on consent not coercion;


• Local banks/local currency, it is not an insane idea in a crazy world. If the alternative is no commerce then locally made commerce is a lot better;


• Revoke charters of incorporation of companies that do no act in the interest of the public good and allow communities to redirect the private failure to public good.


• Wiki based legislation writing, speeding the capacity to reform;


• Executive pay based on 5-year performance not on instant gratification;


• An open source economy, one in which the generators of wealth share in the benefits of its creation;


• Finally fix electronic voting system manipulation by outlawing electronic vote counting and doing it the old-fashioned way, by hand. This is one simple objective which is neither expensive nor difficult to achieve. It is also one which at the very least may allow communities to reliable conclude that they are governed by those they have chosen and not those that have been chosen for them;


• Publicly Financed political campaigns would help in the next round of elections assuming it is too late for 2008;


• Replace the overt globalisation goals of super-capital with a community driven global network of strong, sustainable communities;


• A real green economy, not sophistry and green posturing;


• Redefine GDP so it only includes positive contributions and calculates pollution and destruction (war) as a negative;


• Introduce morality into capitalism. Provide value in outputs other than simply profit.

The above list of thoughts is just a starting point. The objective ought to be to harness our creativity to find a set of solutions which work for us.

Money is at its most basic level a confidence trick.

When Lehman Bros. and Merill Lynch fell the confidence was smashed into a myriad of pieces. To quote from the tale of humpty dumpty:

"All the kings horses and all the kings men cannot put Humpty Dumpty together again."

The Federal Reserve has tried to do so over the past two weeks and failed. The illusion that the US banking system can create an unbreakable chain of liquidity to the market cannot be remade. The spell has been broken.

And so it is time for us all to consider our alternatives.

The time has come for a poetic revolution. Let us not fear the future, but rather, embrace a new promise.

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0810/S000...
Anti©opyright Sludge 2008

My dad died 2 weeks and 2 days ago today - I just posted this video tribute to Scoop News.

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0808/S001...



... *** ...

At the URL

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0808/S001...

you will find the order of service of Dad's funeral plus full video of the service with eulogies by me and others - and a performance of Yesterday by the beatles, dad's lullaby for us kids.

It would be fair to say that Scoop would not exist but for my father. He supported Scoop Independent News when it was in its infancy and when it was publishing some of its most important work. Dad was always very proud of the role Scoop played over the past 5 years in US election reform issues and in a sense he played a role in the political process over there across the great ocean. That is why I am posting this tribute to DU in case you are wondering.

Regards from me and my family to all DUers and DUer fathers.

Alastair Thompson
Scoop Independent News
Co-editor & General Manager
New Zealand

Source... http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0807/S001...

Scoop Independent news is proud to present....

Michael Collins: Election Fraud and Tyranny - Part 2

From image: "I can't believe you morons actually buy this sh..."
They don't. They're just following the script. That's why Miller calls them
"the servile press." Banksy

''Loser Taker All: Election Fraud and The Subversion of Democracy, 2000-2008''

Edited by Mark Crispin Miller
Ig Publishing

Michael Collins

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0807/S001...
"Scoop" Independent News
Washington, D.C.
Also see Part 1

How did we reach our current state of decline in just eight excruciating years? Aren't we working hard enough? Was there some millennial shift in consciousness and morality? How could we elect leaders like Bush and Cheney and their minions on Capitol Hill?

Mark Crispin Miller's latest book, "Loser Take All," provides an explanation that precedes any other: election fraud. In his collection of essays, Miller shows that the losers took everything in both the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections. That made all the difference.

We're working harder than ever. Citizens are no less concerned and compassionate than they were in 1999. But as Miller demonstrates, the way we elect leaders is inherently unreliable and corrupt. He shows how the current group of extremists who dominate public policy used a loosely regulated, unwatched election system to create the results they willed in order to achieve the power they craved.

Part 1 of this review of "Loser Take All" discussed how Miller's theme showed up in the 2000, 2002, and 2004 elections. In Part II, we'll take a look at Miller's explanation of events in 2006 and the system in place for the November 2008 elections.

2006 - Landslide Denied

The Big Picture - the U.S. House of Representatives

The 2006 election resulted in major pickups for the Democratic Party in the House, enough to return them to power with a significant but not overwhelming margin. Senate seats were a tougher fight but the Democrats managed to gain a one seat majority in the Senate with surprise wins in Virginia and Montana. But that's wasn't the whole story.

Election Defense Alliance researchers Jonathan Simon and Bruce O'Dell studied the 2006 results and found that there was a net shift of at least three million votes away from the Democratic candidates in the 2006 elections for the House of Representatives. The Democratic victory margin was shaved by 4% according this highly persuasive analysis.

Simon and O'Dell conclude:

"there was gross vote count manipulation had a great impact on the results of E2006, significantly decreasing the magnitude of what would have been, accurately tabulated, a landslide of epic proportions." (Emphasis added)

How do we know that a landslide was denied? Simon and O'Dell persuade us in two rather simple steps. First, they show that the 2006 Election Night national exit poll sample gave the Democrats a victory margin at least 3 million votes greater nationwide than that tabulated by the vote-counting computers. Then they examine the exit poll sample itself and very simply and persuasively refute the charge that it over-sampled Democrats. This is the excuse that corporate media used to dismiss the obvious signs of election fraud and justify their own silence. Their analysis is based not on a general assertion of the reliability of exit polls, but on the specific and publicly available evidence that this particular exit poll was highly reliable.

Their thorough handling of these necessary and logical steps builds a strong foundation of credibility for their analysis. By the end of this process, which turns into an engaging narrative, they've established these remarkable findings regarding vote manipulation.

A 12% victory margin measured on Election Day 2006 was reduced to 7.6% through the vote counting process. This meant 3 million less votes for Democrats in House races.

In a separate paper, "Fingerprints of Election Theft," Simon, O'Dell, et al established a clear pattern indicating that certain competitive races were targeted for manipulation. Adding that information, a 3 million vote shift nationwide would likely determine the outcome of dozens of targeted competitive races.

Simon and O'Dell are a quantitative version of Holmes and Watson and like those two sleuths, they're right. Election 2006 was a "landslide denied."

A 14 Point Lead Vanishes at the Last Minute

This meticulous high level analysis was brought into reality in Jean Kaczmarek's chapter on "Fighting Dem" Tammy Duckworth's race for the U.S. House of Representatives, centered in DuPage County, Illinois. In addition to strong civic credentials, Duckworth served in Iraq with her National Guard unit. She lost both legs when her helicopter was attacked.

This looked like a sure Democratic win of the seat formerly held by Henry Hyde. Duckworth was ahead of her opponent. 54% to 40% right before the election Somehow, Republican Peter Roskam pulled a win out right at the last minute.

Kaczmarek and her partner Melisa Urda had been looking at election problems in DuPage for some time. They'd discovered the improper destruction of public records; cronyism and political bias in contract awards; tens of thousands of purged voters; and "Suspiciously large voter turnout in many elections, affecting the outcomes in local and state races." An observer reported that a representative of Robis, DuPage's election manager in 2006, was in the tabulation room and appeared to have access to memory cards and the tabulator. Robis also was in charge of election night web hosting.

Does all of this add up to a fair out come for Tammy Duckworth? Does it help us understand how a 14 point lead turns into a 2 point loss?

More Trials for Don Siegelman

2006 also saw the return of Don Siegelman to the political scene after losing the governor's race in a dead of night recount in 2002. Larisa Alexandrovna's chapter tells this story with revelations that should have created a national scandal and mandated an investigation. In 2005, the Bush Department of Justice ended Seligman's attempt to retake the governorship by indicting Siegelman and gaining a conviction in October 2006 amidst rumors of jury tampering.

This was a death sentence for this once popular governor's political comeback. With help from the extremist establishment, Siegelman has gone from a broad majority win of 57% in 2002 to a seven year sentence in a federal prison.

Alexandrovna reports on the subsequent deposition and testimony by Dana Jill Simpson, an Alabama lawyer and opposition researcher who targeted Siegelman in 2002. Simpson told of White House involvement in the 2002 election and 2006 prosecution. She offered information on threats of federal prosecution in 2002 if Siegelman chose to contest the highly questionable recount that cost him the election. There was more. Simpson's car was run off the road and her home burned down before her testimony given to the House Judiciary Committee.

Siegelman has been freed from jail and the investigation continues with Karl Rove traveling overseas instead of honoring a House subpoena to testify on this matter. This series of attacks on Siegelman has turned him into a real world political version of Job.

2008 And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

Given this sorry decline of elections since 2000, what can we anticipate in 2008?

Activists Nancy Tobi and Paul Lehto outline the regulatory and legal hurdles facing us.

Tobi has been a fierce advocate for clean elections for years. Her assessment of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA) and the nearly dictatorial powers of the federal Election Assistance Commission (EAC) have favorably influenced national policy. In her chapter, she shows the connection between the lobbyist friendly HAVA, the politically appointed EAC, and the series of election disasters experienced under the rule of partisans with little regard for democracy. Her solution is both simple and practical, a return to citizen run elections with hand counted paper ballots.

Paul Lehto presents an engaging analysis of the Bush v. Gore Supreme Court decision. The court claimed it was a one time only decision and not to be used as a precedent. This decision effectively terminated the 2000 recounts in Florida. Lehto sees bigger things coming out of that ruling and questions the court's ability to resist the political power offered by expanding that precedent. He sees a malevolent future for the court and argues that by re-animating Bush v. Gore, the court will assume a new function -- "election termination."

Attorney, journalist and college professor Bob Fitrakis has been in the trenches opposing election fraud well before the 2004 Ohio travesty. During that post election controversy, he faced down threats of contempt of court for even speaking of a stolen election. Fitrakis summarizes the sad history of Ohio before, during and after 2004 from a position of real authority and uses it to anticipate what we can expect in the future.

By skillfully illustrating the latest outrage, Fitrakis tells us why Ohio's election problems continue. In 2007, we discovered that 56 of 88 Ohio counties destroyed 2004 ballots; evidence in a federal law suit on election fraud. Ballot preservation was ordered by a federal court and required by both Ohio and federal law. The same people in the 56 counties who wrongfully destroyed ballots from 2004 are in charge of running the elections in 2008. This is not a comforting situation.

What should we anticipate in 2008? We'll have at least more of the same according to journalist Steven Rosenfeld. He reminds us that election fraud almost always begins with the race-based strategy of contracting the vote of minority citizens. This is accomplished through voter suppression tactics like voter identification laws, active campaigning to restrict the right to vote by the Bush Department of Justice, and the ever present, unreliable, and always secret voting machines.

Rosenfeld reveals that the U.S. Department of Justice has made proactive requests for a number of states to "purge" their voting roles. This is exceptionally bad news since "purges" are inherently biased against poor and minority citizens. It was the Florida pre-election "purge" that got us into our current troubles.

Election 2008 will have all of the effective voter suppression tactics from the past and the lock step support of corporate media. There will, no doubt, be some new tricks to dazzle and amaze all of us in the multilevel, three dimensional magic show that passes for open and fair elections.

Mark Crispin Miller's Contributions

Without any doubt, Mark Crispin Miller is one of our most astute, accurate, and prolific critics of the Bush administration. He provided a dire warning in 2001 and two critical analyses of the 2004 election. Combined, these explain the shift from human rights to torture as the defining feature of our approach to the world and the relentless diminishment of the vast majority in order to subsidize the decadent elements of the corporate elite.

The Bush Dyslexicon by Miller was an early roadmap to the little explored territory of the Bush mind. Miller knew what few would admit. We had a president who could barely speak the English language when dealing with just about any topic other than war and revenge. On those topics, the brain fog cleared and Bush became alarmingly coherent.

Miller's compilation of Bush distortions was a source of humor for many. At the same time, it served as one of the great warnings for the next seven years: Bush and his cabal were extremists with a radical plan that would bring the nation to its knees.

Bush had won by losing in 2000. He did it again in 2004 but with better planning and support. Miller had no illusions about the "integrity" of the 2004 election. His efforts gave broad credibility to the notion of a stolen presidential election. He wrote a ground breaking article for the respected Harpers Magazine in August 2005, "None dare call it stolen: Ohio, the election, and America's servile press."

After showing the rampant fraud and irregularities in Ohio, all readily available to those who chose to look, Miller concluded that "the press has unilaterally disarmed" in the battle to maintain our very best national values.

Miller followed up with one of the great exposes of modern political commentary, "Fooled Again: The Case for Electoral Reform." He documented and analyzed the connection between the Republican extremists, corporate interests, and the political-religious factions that chose to serve as foot soldiers for a world view characterized by violence abroad and greed everywhere.

Miller's latest effort, Loser Take All, documents this sorry but powerful chapter of election fraud that started with the 2000 election. The carefully chosen articles and cogent narrative provided by Miller form a whole that is required reading for those interested in the restoration of our lost rights and the mobilization needed to put citizens in charge of their fate. Elections are the point at which capital, greed, and personal ambition dominate the field. It's not all about elections, but that's where it starts.

END

Permission granted to reproduce in whole or part with attribution of authorship, a link to this article, and acknowledgement of images.


* Disclosure: I received no payment for the use of "Urban Legend: The 2004 Election" in "Loser Take All" and I do not receive any financial benefit from book sales or other uses of the material provided.

"Loser Take All" contributors:

Larisa Alexandrovna * Michael Collins * Lance deHaven-Smith *
Bob Fitrakis * Brad Friedman * David L. Griscom *
James H. Gundlach * Jean Kaczmarek * Robert F. Kennedy Jr *
Paul Lehto * David W. Moore * Bruce O'Dell *
Michael Richardson * Steven Rosenfeld * Jonathan Simon *
Nancy Tobi *


Source... http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0807/S001...

If you like this post please KnR it so it gets the attention of others....

kind regards to DUGD

Alastair Thompson (Althecat)
Scoop.co.nz