The State of Bushamerica, Inc.

Live from Washington---

Instead of a State of the Union, this year I thought I'd just read you highlights from our Annual Report. It's a nice document, with great illustrations and glossy paper, and I recommend it to all right thinking Americans.

Here's the cover. Pretty nice, huh? For our Spanish-speaking friends it says, BUSHAMERICA INC. And here's the list of our officers: Chairman of the Board of Directors and President-G.W. Bush, that's me. Vice-President and CEO-Dick Cheney. Vice-President of Operations--- Don Rumsfeld. Director of Marketing-Karl Rove. And so on.

So let me read you some of the highlights.

The state of Bushamerica Inc. is pretty darn good.

We're returning stockholder investment and building a future for ourselves. Our brand identity has never been stronger.

9-11

Our 9-11 Line continues to out-perform expectations. As everyone in our business knows, the secret of ultimate performance is in thinking big, which means being willing to take and manage big risks.

The key to selling products is keep it simple, and link it to strong emotions. Most products have to make do with simple anxiety, which is okay if you're selling mouthwash, but not war. For that you need the big smell of fear.

Of course we didn't know when and where a terrorist attack would come. Though we encouraged the illusion that we didn't expect it, we were ready to seize the opportunity. That it was larger and hit closer to home than we anticipated only made our response stronger. And actually made our job easier.

There are many ways to position a terrorist attack, and we chose imagery consistent with our goals and philosophy. We made it a very simple case of good against evil, and we made sure to stress that the triumph of good was no certainty. By painting the enemy as mysterious, inscrutable and very powerful, we ensured that our "us or them" polarity would enable us to exert control.

This formula of course matched the worldview imagery of our core customer, comfortable with the good v evil scenario. It's clear, it's definite, and those are two wonderful attributes for a product that sells itself. Benefit to the customer? That's easy.

Our product we called Freedom, but in essence it meant the continuing of the mindless work-and-spend lifestyle everyone loves. For our core constituency, it's work, worship and spend, and we made sure to integrate their lifestyles into our program.

To the fear we linked to terrorism, we added economic anxieties to increase dependence on our leadership. It's a delicate balance to maintain anxiety without widespread feelings of deprivation, so our outsourcing to China kept low-cost consumer products flowing in. Our Wal-Mart subsidiary in particular helped us keep their eyes off the ball out there in consumerland.

We have to acknowledge that we couldn't have had this year of success without the softening up work of the 1980s into the 90s, when it became clear to everybody that to be poor or sick and need help from the government is not only shameful, it is immoral. So Bushamerica could thrive, while millions of our non-partners worked 2 and 3 jobs for slave wages and never complained, except about liberals and foreigners and know-it-all traitors who don't support Bushamerica.

The underlying product support we utilized is the time-tested need for the king, especially in time of "invasion." There is nothing like fear to ensure loyalty, and nothing like the feeling of being in mortal danger to inspire both fear and "loyalty to the royalty."

Patriotism can be a powerful ally when you are in power, and we're happy to report that it still works great, even after the previous eight years when we didn't use it, for obvious reasons.

We want to particularly thank our media partners for their help in creating optimum conditions.


Iraq Inc.

Our returns on Iraq this year were strong. Through the smokescreen of "bad news" we saw the sunlight of a robust arms technology industry, and record profits for many of our contractors. We used the full federal borrowing and spending power for our short-term stimulus, as well as our long-term investment in that oil-rich region.

Stimulus from Iraq Inc. and even more from Homeland Security (our "stealth" profit center!) kept the national economy vibrant enough to offset tax revenue losses, which of course accrued as gains to our stockholders.

Contract Renewal

Of course the big news, and the big triumph of the year was our contract renewal for another four years. Our marketing team outdid themselves again this time, but we really must thank that peerless combination of our stockholders and contractors, plus our core constituency of consumers, for putting us over the top. Diebold, Sinclair,Fox---hey, you know who you are.

Forecast

Our strategic goals continue to be: 1. maximize immediate value for stockholders. 2. commit longterm federal investment to benefit stockholders, subsidiaries and contractors regardless of who runs the federal government in the future. New foreign markets are expensive to develop but we've invested a lot of taxpayer money in them, so Bushamerica will be in position to reap whatever profit opportunities may result. And if none do, well, it wasn't our money.

We're all justly proud that in the 90s, even without the White House, we were able to turn a citizenry angrily demanding affordable health care into wary consumers who preferred insurance instruments designed by our corporate partners. We're hopeful that we can work our magic again on an even tougher product: Social Security. But we will need all our partners help on this one. It has immense longterm potential for financing options, but even if we don't get there this time, the controversy should be sufficiently distracting that we can close any number of other deals without opposition.

Summary and Corporate Overview

Bushamerica has never been a stronger, more integrated corporation with a clear identity and clear mission for the future. In four short years we have transformed the country we took over, and by the end of four more years we hope that transformation will be complete, so that in brand terms, the difference between America and Bushamerica will be zero.

Of course by then, Bushamerica will be considerably more profitable, but that's for our stockholders to know, and our customers never to find out.

Gosh, maybe I wasn't supposed to read that part.

Good night and may God bless Bushamerica.

Gonzales Debate: Say No to Dictatorial Power

While we didn't watch it all, we caught some of the Senate debate on the Gonzales nomination. It seemed that Democrats succeeded in making torture the main issue, beginning with an impassioned statement by Senator Ted Kennedy, linked here.

KENNEDY URGES SENATE TO DENY GONZALES NOMINATION OVER TORTURE POLICIES

But we heard another compelling and important argument from Senator Debbie Stabenow of Michigan. She emphasized that Gonzales insisted in his memos and testimony that the President has the power and right to override law as passed by Congress and interpreted by courts. This is nothing less than a recipe for state fascism and dictatorship. Her statement, which at this moment is not yet available, was eloquent on the subject of the danger of making Gonzales the chief law enforcement officer of the country. She emphasized that his main qualification is as the private lawyer for George Bush, but this isn't the constitutional job description of the Attorney General.

Say No to Torture: Vote No on Gonzales

American Dash is one of more than 500 blogs on record opposing Alberto Gonzales for U.S. attorney-general. The Senate opens debate on his nomination today, and there may even be a vote. We urge our U.S. readers to contact their Senators and urge them to vote no. Torture is ineffective and therefore unnecessary, but more than that it is inhuman and immoral.

If he is confirmed, Gonzales' problems will not go away. His torture memos, which he has never clearly repudiated, will haunt the U.S. for a generation, and will keep the Iraqi prison photos alive around the world. But he also faces legal questions, including possible perjury and other crimes and improprieties in Texas, and now he has been named as a defendant in a suit alleging complicity in war crimes (link below), namely the torture of Iraqi prisoners and prisoners at Guantanamo.

CCR

Questions continue on 04 vote

Earlier this month the company that owned the 2004 election exit poll statistics issued its report on why exit polls showed Kerry with a 3% advantage but Bush apparently won with a 2.5% advantage. The reason given was basically that Kerry voters were more willing to talk to the people doing the exit polls.

Now academic statisticians have had the time to study the figures and this interpretation, and find it wanting. Specifically this group, from several prominent universities, doesn't accept this explanation, and says that widespread fraud is still an open possibility. They call for more investigation. Here's the press release with links to the full reports:

Prominent Statisticians Urge Investigation of 2004 U.S. Presidential Election Results - USCountVotes.org

He's back

Looking rested though not so tanned, John Kerry was the only interview guest on NBC's "Meet the Press" Sunday. His answers were clear, sharp and pointed. (He had a slight flub once, which was probably due to not hearing the question correctly, and it was a dumb question anyway.)

On the campaign and its outcome, Kerry said that post-election analysis suggests that 9-11 was the paramount issue, and that voters were reluctant to change presidents in the middle of a war, which they've never done in the past. When host Tim Russert quoted him as telling an audience in November that it was the Osama bin Laden tape, magically appearing a few days before the vote, that sunk him, he didn't disagree. He said that until the last weekend he was rising in the polls (one assumes he meant his campaign's polling), then flattened out on Sunday when the tape was played, and went down on Monday, the day before the election.

Even so, he said, he won the popular vote in the battleground states, and if distributedly a little differently, he would be president. He took responsibility for the campaign's mistakes, specifically for not coming out sooner and more strongly in his own defense against the Swift Boat liars (though that's in hindsight; at the time, many others came to his defense, and it didn't seem necessary.)

He said he "wasn't thinking about" either the presidential election or his own senatorial election in 2008, but about the issues of today. He mentioned several times the legislation that he has already introduced to finance health care for American children. But his strongest moments came when talking about Social Security, and countering a Russert characterization for his plan to rollback Bush tax cuts as "a tax increase," he called those tax cuts "irresponsible," and whipped out the Financial News article (linked from this site several posts back) stating that European central banks are losing confidence in the U.S. dollar.

The bottom line for us is that this appearance solidifies Kerry as the leader of the Democratic party, and most specifically of the party in Congress. This is very important, especially in light of the post-2000 election period, in which Al Gore refused to stay involved, and the party wandered leaderless into the disastrous 2002 congressional elections.

Although Kerry would not back Senator Kennedy's call for immediate troop withdrawls and a date certain for U.S. troops to leave Iraq, he endorsed Kennedy's analysis that the presence of U.S. troops is a major cause of problems, and the goal of proceeding to train Iraqis as quickly as possible so U.S. troops can leave as soon as possible. On other matters, however, Kerry is taking bold stands: he voted against Condi Rice, he said he would vote against Scalia if he is nominated for chief justice.

This is what the Democrats need to be an effective opposition party: boldness, spine, intelligence, a sophisticated grasp of the issues, and Kerry's battle-tested stature and the crispness he learned for the debates. When Russert asked him "The most important thing you learned running for president?" He answered, "How great, how unbelievable the American people themselves are. They are just--the courage of the American people day to day blew me away. And I think that, you know, this is an amazing country, and I came to love it even
more."

We aren't thinking about 2008 either. But it would be another shame if the experiences of such an incredible campaign were lost, when they could inform the political process of now.

Here's the transcript link:

MSNBC - Transcript for Jan. 30

Throwing the First Stone

Sharon Stone is an actor, most famous for sexy movie roles. She's a blond, too, so we know all about her, right?

Recently Sharon Stone stood up in a crowd and pledged a $10,000 donation. Nobody asked her to, it wasn't a fund-raising event. But she made it one--she challenged others in the audience to pony up. And oddly enough, they did. In five minutes, Sharon Stone raised one million dollars.

For what? you might well ask. Not her Oscar dress. Not even for a currently fashionable charity, however worthy, like the upteenth solicitation/benefit/etc/ for tsunami victims.

For mosquito nets. For African children.

It seems Sharon Stone was in the audience for a panel discussion on poverty in Africa at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland. One of the panelists mentioned that 150,000 children in Africa die each and every month of malaria, principally because they don't have mosquito nets for their beds.

So Sharon Stone disrupts the tsk tsk panel discussion, and finances a way to address the problem. Which is one important thing. But here's the other important thing.

One million dollars buys time for a 30 second campaign commercial. One million dollars pays for one one-thousandth of one week's military spending the U.S. devotes to Iraq.

But those mosquito nets cost $7 each. They last for five years. One million dollars buys nearly 150,000 mosquito nets. That's the lives of 150,000 children. The Grim Reaper gets a whole month off.

One blond. Five minutes.

She puts the leaders of the world to shame.

And with one week's worth of what the U.S. is spending in Iraq, which is one billion dollars, which is one thousand times a million dollars, the children of Africa would sleep in safety.

BBC NEWS Entertainment Film Actress Stone raises fast million

enhanced photo of surface of Titan, where scientists say there is no intelligent life either

The Only Thing We Have to Fear is Bush Himself

Further evidence that the Bushheads have been manipulating fear for political gain, in a British TV documentary series on international terrorism shown on the BBC but still not shown anywhere in the U.S. The director:

"The United States is the most powerful, confident and in many ways, the freest civilization ever in the history of the world. It is extraordinary that it has become so paralyzed by the fear of radical Islamist terrorism--it really is a lion quaking in the face of a mouse. Radical Islamists do represent a serious threat and will use terror against civilians, but when you look at them historically, as the series does, you come to see that they are not some new force with a unique power to bring the strongest nation in the world to its knees. "

More from The Nation:
Editor's Cut

It's not just Red v. Blue, it's Red v. Black (or in this case, Green)

Out of Iraqnam

Senator Ted Kennedy became the first U.S. Senator to call for beginning withdrawl of U.S. troops from Iraqnam after that country's "elections." Republicans immediately castigated one of their favorite targets for ridicule and vituperation, but in fact we heard exactly the same analysis of the situation (that the presence of U.S. troops is itself causing many of the problems) and same solution (UN peacekeepers) from a Shia Muslim candidate interviewed on The News Hour yesterday.

Kennedy's speech follows a proposal for phased withdrawl from the U.S. House, and the deadliest day of the war so far for American soldiers.

Boston.com / News / Nation / Washington / Kennedy calls on US to begin troop pullout

The Irony Is...

that instead of irony being slain by 9-11, it has been given rebirth in realities created by the Bushies. The story linked below is dripping with irony. It seems the Christian Coaltion is accusing all Democrats who voted against Condi Rice for Secretary of State of "prejudice." They don't say racial prejudice--just prejudice against conservatives--but they note the high level African Americans appointed by Bush.

If this story is any indication, the irony is that the Coalition charges are giving new prominence to the charges made by Rice's opponents, that the Bushies engaged in systematic lying.

This story rather coyly notes another irony, that by "minorities" the Coalition apparently does not mean homosexuals.

Yes, irony is alive and well. Of course it may not be irony at all. It may just be insanity.


religious right accuses democrat senators of 'prejudice' - news from ekklesia

Lettuce for Pundits Is Tip of the Iceberg

Another right wing pundit got caught taking money from the Bushies, and his Bushness had to himself confront the issue at his press conference.
The Globe and Mail: Won't pay columnists to promote policies, Bush vows

Right. Both situations that have come to light seem to skirt the law, this one by paying a columnist for other work--ghostwriting, brochures, etc.---that she nevertheless aped in her columns. But the whole rabid right system is pay-for-play, beginning with "training" at rabid right institutes rather than real newspapers, and then employment with rabid right organizations, or graduation to rabid right papers, magazines, TV, radio shows. Then once rabid right stardom is achievement, in however small a measure, there are "fellowships" and lavish speaking fees from corporations.

The media has itself to blame as well, with its advertorials and reliance on celebrities with tenuous if any relationship to actual journalism, as well as the consultants who comment. The whole system, which taints the entire political spectrum (although lefties don't get paid nearly as well) has made this kind of practice eminently possible. It's not even surprising that this person didn't realize she should have disclosed.

But many suspect that the Bushies are involved in direct pay for play arrangements that are much more common and at a much higher level than has so far been revealed. Why should we believe this? Hey, it's more like, why shouldn't we?

The Big Shoe Drops

Faster than a speeding stock ticker, the other shoe---the Big Shoe--drops, and with it may go the dollar and the U.S. economy, etc. According to a Chinese economist, China has "lost faith" in the U.S. dollar.

For what that might mean, see the following (meaning the previous) several posts.

Economist: China Loses Faith in Dollar

World Revolt Against Bushamerica
This My Ydd blog thread is one of several items emerging to warn of a revolt against Bushamerica by other major nations of the world, particularly the European Union countries. Seymour Hersh in the speech linked below is also very harsh on this subject. He says that when the dollar falls, the suppressed emotion in Europe against Bushamerica will surface in a pretty ugly way.

This thread is interesting for the links to other news and essays on the web, as well as personal observations by Europeans and the poster on his experiences in England this year. We added our two cents in noting that Americans who had been abroad in recent years seemed invariably to be Kerry voters when they came back.

Tired of Bushies intransigence on the climate crisis and other issues, the EU is going its own way, forging alliances with other nations. The idea that the U.S. is "the leader of the free world" may be myopia, which wouldn't be surprising. The key issue however is Iraq, and since other countries have a better idea of what is really going on there, they see the ruinous consequences whereas the U.S. only senses it, due to our media blindness.

But since it is the U.S. and its economy making this war, and because efforts to deal with the climate crisis will be less successful without major changes in the world's greatest pollutor, when the EU and Japan are in position to dictate terms, the U.S. awakening is apt to be quite rude.

MyDD :: A Multi-Polar World - The Financial Times Weighs In

UPDATE: Further evidence of the above: Yesterday four British subjects, suspects in the war on terror that the U.S. has held at Guantamo for three years, were returned to Britian for investigation. Today they were all released without charges.

And so with that thumb in the Busheye, it begins.

Iraqnam Naked

Transcript of a talk given by veteran journalist Seymour Hersh, an absolutely devastating description of the macro and micro catastrophe that is Iraqnam. This is killing the future writ large, and tragedy writ very large for the very small, in Iraq, in West Virgina, in the wards of Americans reduced to vegetables because of brain injuries sustained in a war continued by what Hersh describes as a neocon cult.

Index

Killing the Future

The Iraqnam war is now costing the U.S. one billion dollars a day. Today the Bushwarriors requested an additional $80 billion for the war. Other reports indicate that the U.S. expects to keep 120,000 troops in Iraqnam for another two years.

The new estimate of the U.S. budget deficit for this year is $437 billion. Yesterday, a British newspaper reported that European central banks plan to buy fewer dollars, as the U.S. dollar sinks in value, due in large part to the growing deficit.

The debt is financed to an increasingly degree by central banks in Japan and China, and so the fate of the U.S. economy rests largely in two individuals who make the decisions for those banks. A sudden and substantial fall in the dollar would have unforeseeable consequences for everyone in the U.S.

The budget deficit will be used by the Bushies to deny funding to programs that have already been stripped, adding to the ongoing crisis in health care and education.

As if this isn't enough, we are haunted by the highly damaging hurricanes and floods of 2004, and the already damaging floods and snowstorms of 2005, all of which require heavy government support for recovery and even survival. The frequency and ferocity of storms and other weather-related catastrophes will only increase, as yesterday's report on the climate crisis indicates. We will need government resources, as well as a healthy National Guard, more than ever.

The Vietnam war was very damaging, with consequences that still deform our national life. But in its power to kill the future, the Iraqnam war may be even worse.


Latest News and Financial Information | Reuters.com

More important than Gay Marriage?

"An ecological time-bomb is ticking away," said Stephen Byers, who co-chaired the task force with U.S. Republican Senator Olympia Snowe, and is a close confidant of British Prime Minister Tony Blair. "World leaders need to recognize that climate change is the single most important long term issue that the planet faces."

This report, issued today, appears to be the most politically high-powered scientific report so far, stating bluntly that we're getting close to the point of no return.

CNN.com - Report: Global warming approaching critical point - Jan 24, 2005

Yet Another Effect of Torture

The torture photos, the White House memos by the attorney general designate, the international Red Cross reports alleging U.S. torture in Iraq and Guantanamo: besides besmirching the name of America around the world, inflaming the Islamic cultures, and making it difficult for American military to insist on Geneva convention treatment for U.S. servicepeople, and now one more effect: the Iraqis now in power, who are likely to be the ones in power after the "election," are accused of rampant torture of their prisoners. And exactly what can the U.S. say about it? That anybody will believe?

Don't look now, but the Bushies are going to have to revise their reason for invading Iraq once again, because "to get rid of the tyrant who tortured his own people" doesn't look so good right now. Unless they want to add, "and replace him with another tyrant who tortures his own people, and the folks at Halliburton."

There's very little they can credibly say, when the Secretary of State designate refuses repeated opportunities to condemn torture, and the Attorney General designate is one of the architects of U.S. permissiveness and policy of torture. Neither should be confirmed, but we join in the movement to deny AG designate Alberto Gonzales confirmation by the Senate.

Yahoo! News - Torture Still Routine in Iraqi Jails, Report Says

A Wretched Start

Just a few days after coronation, a new poll out today shows GW Bush's job approval rating at 44%, with 54% disapproving. Unaffiliated voters give him a 37% approval. Only a 78% rating by GOPers inflates his numbers.
Bush Job Approval

In other news...

Of interest mainly to the North Coast of California, two new blogs officially launch today:
This North Coast Place and North Coast Texts. Readers interested in Native affairs may find the current content of Texts worthwhile.

Elsewhere, Gabriel has taken to writing sestinas, among the new verses on his blog. And there's cat blogging at Blue Voice.

Next year.

Congratulations to the New England Patriots.

the Bus is coming... 

AFC TITLE GAME / Patriots vs. Steelers, 3:30 p.m. Sunday, Channel: 5, Channel: 13, Channel: 36 / Loyalty drove Bus back to Pittsburgh / Bettis has strong ties with city and its fans

The Kerry Inaugural

A Stoical Kerry on Bush's Day (washingtonpost.com)

Let Freedom Thud

Before we pull up our socks and bring freedom to the world, let's review how we're taking freedom to Iraq. We bombed them, to the tune of four Hiroshimas. We made several hundred thousand homeless. Then we invaded them, and occupy their country. We killed a hundred thousand people, put most of the formerly employed out of work, destroyed their electricity and water supplies. We completely leveled one of their cities, starting with the hospitals, until it was a stinking pile of rubble and rotting corpses. The capital city is now a free-fire zone, and the most powerful military in the world can't even protect the highway to the airport.

We rounded up people randomly, put them in prison without charge, and tortured them in the most specifically humilating ways for Islamic cultures, and circulated photos of the torture around the world. We invaded a country with no terrorists to speak of, and transformed it into the most popular terrorist recruiting and training center in the world.

Our armed forces are depleted, our reserves are in a shambles, and nobody in their right mind will sign up for the National Guard anymore. U.S. deaths in Iraq approach 1500, with thousands more wounded, and thanks to modern medicine a lot of them will be maimed for life. Our few allies in Iraq are getting out as fast as they can, and even some of the contractors making billions from pretending to repair what we destroyed are leaving.

But we're holding free elections just like we said we would, though six months late. Parts of the country are so hostile that polling won't even be attempted, polling places in the rest of the country are being kept secret, as are the names of candidates. Election rallies are held in secret, and the people who appear on the stage refuse to admit whether they are candidates or not. Election monitors aren't even in the country. They're going to monitor from somewhere else. Government officials are being blown up, and the country may or may not already be in a civil and/or religious war, depends on your definition.

The march of freedom in Iraq is so clear that a clear majority in the U.S. think the whole thing was a mistake, and the rest of the world is convinced U.S. policy and leadership are dangerous.

In the meantime, the climate crisis is becoming increasingly obvious, and millions of children are dying of easily preventable diseases or vitamin deficiences. We've in hock to China, the health care situation is so dire than even major corporations and insurance companies are calling for some kind of government program before the economy implodes.

That's how the eagle is soaring. So our course is clear: let's do it again real soon in as many other places as possible.

While obscene decadence rules in Washington, there are some who won't be invited to the parties.  

four more years, dude 

Boxer Rebellion Continues, Condi Must Wait Until After Coronation

In the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Wednesday, Senator Barbara Boxer voted against confirmation of Condi Rice for Secretary of State, and her forceful request for full Senate debate was granted.

The only other Senator to vote against Rice was John Kerry. The SF Chronicle:
Kerry voted not to confirm Rice on the grounds that she is "the principal architect, implementer and defender of a series of administration policies that have not made our country as secure as we should be and have alienated much-needed allies in our common cause of winning the war against terrorism."

Dems seek Senate debate on Rice / Panel votes approval, but Boxer pushes to extend discussion

Our Quadrennial Day of Mourning

According to the results of the latest U.S. polls on GW as Prez, January 20 should be Why the Hell Did They Vote For Him Day.

Add to that the following unsurprising finding of the BBC survey: "On average across all countries, 58% of people - and 16 out of 21 countries polled - said they believed Mr Bush's re-election to the White House made the world more dangerous."

So while the Bushies spend their millions on their apocalyptic festivities, opposition organizations are holding rallies and marches, and a Counter-Inaugural Ball. Haven't heard much about the stealth plan for thousands of people to stand up during Bush's address and turn their backs, but then it wouldn't be very stealthy if we had. For more information on Washington doings, try the ReDefeat Bush site.

January 20 is also NOT ONE DAMN DIME DAY, a consumer boycott "to remind the people in power that the war in Iraq is immoral and illegal... and they are responsible for stopping it."

We're not sure who is sponsoring this, but an email on the subject came from a trusted source. The idea is action without going to Washington. Let your non-spending do the protesting.

Bad Barbara Boxer Blisters Contradictory Condi

Though the brand new Senator from Illinois, Barack Obama was especially impressive at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearings on the nomination of Condi Rice for Secretary of State, it was Senator Barbara Boxer who was the most aggressive in questioning Rice's actions, statements and credibility.

Boxer went after Rice principally on Iraq and torture. She blistered Rice on her contradictory statements on weapons of mass destruction, such as saying that no one had suggested that Saddam could use a nuclear weapon in a year's time, just nine months after President Bush had said exactly that.

Particularly effective was the way Boxer zeroed in on the Bushie pre-war hype as a product roll-out, using chief of staff Andy Card's words that you don't roll out a new product in summer, as a rationale for how they were scheduling Iraq. This is an image that people immediately understand, and it explains in a single image why the Bushies offered all those rationales that weren't true. Everybody understands a sales job.

Boxer was passionate on the effects of the war, pointing out that a quarter of the American casualties in Iraq were soldiers from California. She caught Rice in an obvious contradiction over her action in getting removed from a bill on intelligence agencies a statement forbidding such agencies from using torture that contravened the Constitution and international laws to which the U.S. is a party. Rice said the statement was unnecessary because intelligence agencies were covered by a similar statement in the Defense authorization bill, yet she also claimed that the statement would allow terrorists protections they weren't entitled to.

Though media coverage of Boxer's questioning and anti-war stance was to treat it as an embarrassment (just as anti-war talk was treated in the Vietnam era, although with more disdain then and in a more dismissively patronizing tone today) it was a much better image for the cameras to catch this face-off between two women rather than old white men browbeating the small woman of color.

But Rice of course knew that all she had to do was survive the day without saying something soundbiteable and embarrassing, while providing a couple of positive sound bites for the news. Still, the minority is there to make noise and trouble, while defining themselves and their issues, letting the American people see what they believe in. If Democrats show up for only fights they can win in this Congress, they'll be spending a lot of time at home.

All those emails and calls generated by the Internet that Senator Boxer received on the vote fraud issue are still having an effect. She solicited and got thousands of signatures on a petition in support of her questioning today, and granted interviews to a couple of prominent bloggers for their report on dkos.

Senator Obama engaged in questioning with a calm demeanor---Condi even looked a little smitten at times---and with his easy grasp of foreign policy issues, he seemed to have been on the Foreign Relations committee for years. Everyone knows he gives a great speech, but his questioning showed the same precision of language and attention to the essentials. He honed in immediately on two words in Rice's opening statement (terrorism and tyranny) and used them to frame his probing inquiries on a coherent policy for deciding when the U.S. will use its military---why in Irag and not the Sudan?

John Kerry returned to the cameras for his questioning as a committee member. We missed his first round, but his afternoon round was relatively detailed on nuclear proliferation issues. However, Kerry also issued a call to supporters via email to sign his petition in favor of demanding the resignation or firing of Donald Rumsfeld as Secretary of Defense.

what to wear for the inaugural

Eat, Drink and be Merry, for Tomorrow...

A few numbers for Bushies to chew on while they choke on their champagne at their obscene Inaugural parties, courtesy of the latest Washington Post-ABC News poll:

GW Bush has the lowest approval rating of any returning president since Nixon.

Only 44% believe his invasion of Iraq was a good idea.

They DISAPPROVE
on Bushies handling of Iraq 58%
of the economy 52%
of budget deficit 58%
of health care 51%
of social security 55%


Political Divisions Persist After Election (washingtonpost.com)

In other news...

Books on work and a Marquez memoir reviewed at Books In Heat

Notes on the Future of Star Trek at Soul of Star Trek

MLK

The Big Liars

To emphasize the quote in the post below about the Bushies going "all out," this New York Times story says they are enlisting the Social Security administration itself in their disinformation campaign. Ignoring the objections of people within the agency, they are politicizing the information function of an important program's administration to spread their lies about the imminent demise of Social Security benefits, unless the Bush plan to destroy Social Security saves it.

So not only are they trying to destroy Social Security in order to save it, they are forcing the Social Security administration to lie about their own program by saying they are failing when they aren't, so they can promote its destruction.

This needs to be an issue, because it seems like it should be illegal, and if it is, Social Security beneficiaries and payers into the system (which means just about all of us) may have standing to take the Bushies to court.

The New York Times > Washington > Social Security Enlisted to Push Its Own Revision

The New Big Lie

Two items stacked nicely today on T. Goddard's political wire:

President Bush "plans to reactivate his reelection campaign's network of donors and activists to build pressure on lawmakers" to pass his Social Security plan, the Washington Post reports."The campaign will use Bush's campaign-honed techniques of mass repetition, never deviating from the script and using the politics of fear to build support -- contending that a Social Security financial crisis is imminent when even Republican figures show it is decades away."

Bonus Quote of the Day"George Bush and the Republicans are going for broke. They know that a second-term president has no more than eighteen months to force his agenda through -- and they won't waste a minute." -- James Carville, quoted by the Washington Times.

From the folks who brought you WMD in Iraq, Saddam masterminding 9-11 and the Swift Boat Liars for Slander and ReElection, the drumbeat is going to be Social Security is going to hell, and the way to fix it is to destroy it. Sort of the Drill in the Alaskan Wildlife sanctuary philosophy on a grand scale.

It is a lie. There is no crisis, just a problem caused mostly by the fact that presidents like the Bushes have robbed the social security trust fund for such critical items as Star Wars and to line the pockets of their contributors. They are the real thieves and cheaters damaging social security.

So far the Bushie push isn't working. But it's no time to relax, as we learned in November. The Dems smell blood in the water but we all have to resist this Big Lie.

Steeler fan in London with the other Big Ben. If you don't know what that means you've never had a Roethlisburger. Hint: Go Steelers vs. Jets tomorrow. 

Bill Moyers 

The Bill Moyers Factor
by Morgan Dash

It's Friday, and there will be no Bill Moyers tonight.

I was reading the list of Bushie statements on the certainty of WMD in Iraq and wondering where I had seen a similar collection---then quickly remembered it was on the PBS program NOW with Bill Moyers, not once, but twice.

Bill Moyers retired from that program and from broadcast journalism in mid December. I faithfully taped nearly all of his programs, but of course I screwed up and missed his last one. There was a lot to preoccupy us then, but still, it remains sad to me that so little was said about the remarkable career and the remarkable service rendered by this remarkable man.

In this Washington Post column of that day, Tom Schales was already expressing regret at not supporting and praising Moyers more as a strong and steadfast liberal voice.

But Moyers was even more than an increasingly trenchant commentator and a fascinating "reality-based" journalist within the weekly TV magazine format. For one thing, he and his wife, Judith Davidson Moyers, and their team, produced some wonderful news documentaries, which has become a lost art on television. If I were teaching documentary film, I would start with the hour on environmental issues they did just before NOW started.

But Moyers was unique because he regularly and comfortably went beyond news. There simply has not been a TV reporter or program producer who was perfectly comfortable interviewing philosopher Martha Nussbaum, Jonas Salk and August Wilson, then hosting scathing documentaries on campaign finance and global warming, after multiple hours exploring American poetry and medical, religious and economic points of view on death and dying.

His effect on the culture has been unique. He jump-started a health revolution with his series on the relationship of mind and body in medicine. His interviews with Robert Bly put the men's movement on the cultural radar screen. He made Joseph Campbell into an unlikely TV star, at the very end of his life.

From "Listening to America" to "A World of Ideas" and finally to "Now," he has successfully defied labels and survived controversy. Others have been suggested as television's Renaissance Man, but Moyers is the one who comes closest to deserving the title.

There was no interviewer like him for his knowledgeable ease with people in such a wide variety of fields. Yet he always seemed to be, not the celebrity interviewer among celebrity guests, but our stand-in, bringing his curiosity and his experience.

I know his interviews and the books they generated opened doors for me to places I am still exploring, and in the numbing dumbed-down noise of a loudly deteriorating culture, he and his guests were often the company I most needed to keep. I still re-read and re-watch those World of Ideas hours.

Now he's gone from NOW, which has been shrunken to a half hour, followed by an hour of right wing babble. I can't believe that I'm the only one who will miss the Moyers voice and the Moyers touch.

On the bright side, he's probably going to be writing more. His book, MOYERS ON AMERICA, is worth getting and keeping around to read and savor. It is funny, passionate, trenchant and at times inspiring. It often transcends its antecedents in speeches and commentaries. So when he sits down to write pure books, I have high hopes for the results.

Escape from Iraqnam

In another little echo sure to stir memories for many---cousin Lemmuel for example---this report of American Army soldiers fleeing to Canada rather than be sent to Iraqnam. The story mentions 5500 "deserters," which is likely an "at least" figure.


Telegraph | News | US deserters flee to Canada to avoid service in Iraq

Iraqmire

History presents a tragedy, and repeats it as farce, except when a horrible folly becomes both simultaneously. The rampaging procession of assassinations, the brutal, senseless and painful deaths and irreversible injuries, the mindless, brutalizing destruction all continue to spread like an occult plague, the "insurgents" taunt and tempt American soldiers on video, the upcoming "elections" appear more and more surreal, more "coalition" countries, NGOs and for-profit companies are getting out while they have someone left alive, flare through the news so fast no one could keep up and remain sane. So what can you say about today's report that the search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq is over? Laugh while you weep, or sneer while you throw up?

And to think we're just starting to see the brutalization all this causes here at "home." Iraq veterans already homeless on city streets, another partisan corporate-friendly Homeland Security chief appointed in a hail of toughness adjectives to preside over stamping out dissent and privacy while enriching corporate friends, while another generation gets destroyed, including families of servicepeople, which is yet another innovation of the neocon regime and their ageold philosophy of attrition of poor suckers to benefit the rich.

It's so bad that elements of the Iraqnam coalition in Washington are turning on each other. Politicians of course, but also within the "national security" apparatus: the FBI turning on the CIA turning on the Pentagon turning on itself:

This story from the Center for American Progress, a few days old but not widely reported, quotes the head of the Army reserve as saying the reserve and National Guard are being destroyed by the "dysfunctional policies" of the Bushie Pentagon.

So when a tsunami hits American shores, whose national guard will be turn to for help? Iraq's?

Blue Alert!

According to the Washington Post:

"As President Bush prepares for his second term, Democrats in Washington and around the country are organizing for a year of confrontation and resistance, saying they are determined to block Bush's major initiatives and thereby deny him the mandate he has claimed from his reelection victory last November."

While Bush repeats his earnest desire for bipartisanship that snookered them in the past, the Dems aren't falling for it this time.

...." saying they do not believe Bush is genuinely interested in cooperation or compromise with the opposition.

"The president's idea of bipartisanship is, 'Here's what I want to do, join me,' " said Rep. Robert Menendez (N.J.), chairman of the House Democratic Caucus. "It isn't about negotiating. It isn't about compromise. It's almost this belief that they have the monopoly on what's best for the country."

To which we say, what do you mean almost?

Democrats Are United in Plans To Block Top Bush Initiatives (washingtonpost.com)

AdverMedia

You may have heard about the conservative "journalist" and talk show host who admitted taking $250,000 from the Bushies to push their "No Child Left Behind" program. If not, here's the story:

The New York Times > National > TV Host Says U.S. Paid Him to Back Policy

Among the vocally outraged are conservative "journalists" so the whole thing is pretty funny. Mr. Armstrong is a "journalist" and a PR executive of a small and not terribly successful firm, and the two jobs involve pretty much the same kind of work: talking and writing on behalf of Bushies and evangelicals, for pay or pray. And since the "No Child Left Behind" act is itself a PR campaign, an act in every sense, with lots of money for PR (The Ed Dept pays one big PR firm a cool million a year) but not very much for children or education, it must have seemed like a logical move at the Bushie end, too.

The outrage is just as empty when it comes from the big timers who in one way or another (and usually several) are taking care of their business in ways that would scandalize ethical journalists of a generation ago. The Berlin Wall was not the only wall to fall in recent decades: the Wall that stood between editorial and advertising in print publications and almost made it over to TV, is now so porous that it's like the equator, you know, an imaginary line.

Bush the King

The Guardian on Bush's $50 million Inaugural.

His comment? "You don't like it? So tsuanmi."

Kerry On

Internet provider problems here at Dashville (we're currently cadging offices in the secret mountaintop base of Captain Midnight and the Secret Squadron) as well as other activities are limiting our blogability, but here is yet another final word on the electoral debate of January 6. This is Senator John Kerry's statement as recorded in the Congressional Record:

Mr. KERRY. "Mr. President, free and fair elections are the foundation of our democracy. Thanks to the efforts of tens of thousands of citizens, millions more Americans registered and went to the pools this year. But despite this dramatic expansion in public participation, many voters faced barriers to casting their ballot. Disenfranchisement and barriers to voting are fundamentally undemocratic and should be unacceptable in the freest nation in the world.

On November 3, I conceded the Presidential election to George Bush and also expressed my commitment to ensuring that every vote in this election is counted. The questions being raised by my colleagues in Congress about the vote in Ohio are important. As evidenced by the media and Congressman JOHN CONYERS' report of the vote in Ohio, there were many voting irregularities in the November election that led to the disenfranchisement of voters. These included long lines at predominantly minority polling places resulting from the failure to provide sufficient number of voting machines; voter intimidation and misinformation; the restriction of provisional ballots in a fashion that likely disenfranchised voters; and instances in which malfunctioning voting machines transferred Kerry votes to Bush.

I strongly believe that we need to investigate this election and reform our system. However, while I am deeply concerned about the issues the questions and issues being raised by this objection and think they are very important, I do not believe that there is sufficient evidence to support the objection and change the outcome of the election and I am not joining their protest of the Ohio electors.

Despite widespread reports of irregularities, questionable practices by some election officials and instances of lawful voters being denied the right to vote, our legal teams on the ground have found no evidence that would change the outcome of the election.

It is critical that we investigate and understand any and every voting irregularity anywhere in our country, not because it would change the outcome of the election but because Americans have to believe that their votes are counted in our democracy.

We must take action this Congress to make sure that the problems voters encountered in Ohio and elsewhere never happen again. We must make sure there are no questions or doubts in future elections. It is critical to our democracy that we investigate and act to prevent voting irregularities and voter intimidation across the country.

I strongly support the efforts of the civil rights and voting rights groups across the country that continue to investigate what happened in 2004 and how we can ensure it will never happen again. A Presidential election is a national Federal election but we have different standards in different States for casting and counting votes. We must have a national Federal standard to solve the problems that occurred in the 2004 election.

I am calling on my Republican colleagues to put election reform on the congressional agenda this year. The Republican leadership in the House and Senate must commit to make protecting voting rights a priority and commit to adding election reform legislation to the legislative calendar this year. One goal must be to eliminate barriers to voting, to encourage the greatest level of civic participation possible, and to restore confidence in the notion that every eligible voter will have the opportunity to vote and to have their vote counted.

I have spoken with Democratic Senate Leader Harry Reid and my colleagues in the House and Senate about my intention to introduce legislation this year to ensure transparency and accountability in our voting system and the need for the Democratic Caucus to make voting rights and electoral reform one of our top priority pieces of legislation. Election reform will be one of my top agenda items.

I will be meeting in coming weeks with key leaders on both sides of the aisle and from civil rights and voting rights groups across the Nation. I plan to use the information gathered by Representative Conyers in his report, and information from other investigations underway, to guide my legislation.

We must invest resources in our country to help State and local communities purchase modern voting machines and do research and development on safe and secure forms of voting. We must ensure that our voting machines enable voters to verify their vote.

No American citizen should wake up the morning after the election and worry their vote wasn't counted. No citizen should be denied at the polls if they are eligible to vote. As the greatest, wealthiest nation on Earth, our citizens should not have to be forced to vote on old unaccountable voting machines. And, as the greatest, wealthiest Nation on Earth, our citizens should never be forced to vote on old, unaccountable and nontransparent voting machines from companies controlled by partisan activists.

Together we can put the critical issue of electoral reform on the front burner in Washington and across the country."

Reflections on January 6

January 6 was a day that the Democratic party was saved to fight another day.

Senator Barbara Boxer saved the Democratic party today from losing one of its core constituencies, African-Americans. It's no accident that several black Representatives mentioned Michael Moore today. They told us that everyone---the media and their own party---ignored their concerns in 2000, and not until Michael Moore put their objections in his movie did many of us even realize they had made them.

If it had happened again, the rift would have been fatal. Some would abandon the party completely, others would lose enthusiasm, and some would find the right moment for payback.

In this connection, it is relevant to suggest that the media largely ignoring the substance of what happened today in Congress, and completely ignoring the Selma 1965 to Washington 2005 march and rally, was not only acting in Republican interests, it was de facto racism.

On the day this took place, George Bush was formally declared the winner of the 2004 election, with the lowest approval rate for a newly reelected president in memory, and under the cloud of a contested election outcome.

On the day this took place, John Kerry was in Iraq, being cheered by U.S. troops. Maybe they didn't get the memo about his "mixed messages." Maybe they didn't appreciate the Swift Boat liars attempting to question the medals and reputation of one of their own.

It was on this day that the Cameron Kerry oped appeared (see link below) which was interesting timing. It did not appear when it could have disrupted the efforts to get a Senator to make the objections in Congress. But it appeared in time to make Kerry's position---and the reasons for his absence-clearer.

Many believe that Kerry did win the election, but those in public office must maintain a standard of proof to preserve their integrity. So in the debate today Barack Obama and even Bernie Sanders announced they believed Kerry lost, though they also believed the election system needs to be fixed. They may suspect otherwise on the real outcome, but they can't say so.

We all have our parts to play. Those of us not in public office can act on preponderance of evidence, or even our intuitions. We can take to the streets, and make our case, and urge real investigation. That's what we must continue to do.

The seeds of a progressive coalition were planted in Ohio during this process. It largely went unnoticed, but organized labor joined the protest, and sent buses from Columbus to Washington for the march and rally today. Those seeds were given some nourishment today, thanks to Barbara Boxer. We will see if they grow and bear fruit.

What happens now? The people alive to this moment must continue to pay attention to the progress of court cases in Ohio and elsewhere, because frankly not many others will. We need to support these court cases to force investigations, and eventually get indictments and put some folks in jail. Then there will be reform.

We must support reform bills as proposed by Kerry, Boxer and others, assuming we agree with them. We don't have any illusions that they will become law. We should use them to continue to build coalitions for the future, and rebuild trust.

We can hope that out there somewhere is a news organization or more likely a foundation or two with deep pockets willing to finance a dozen or so ambitious reporters to dig into the election story, and produce a book or a documentary or both.

But basically this issue now gets folded into the attempts of the Democratic party to revive itself, and become again a truly progressive party. It may take a very long time. The Republicans may very well be able to cheat their way to victories in the next few elections. But we can hope that Americans are made of stuff as stern as Ukrainians, Czechs and Slovaks, and don't forget Poland---if any of you out there are old enough to remember Solidarity. Or, for that matter, Selma.

Senator Barbara Boxer objected to the counting of Ohio's electoral votes because of irregularities, forcing an historic debate in the U.S. Congress, reported around the world.

Senator Barbara Boxer's Statement On Her Objection To The Certification Of Ohio's Electoral Votes
January 6, 2005
"For most of us in the Senate and the House, we have spent our lives fighting for things we believe in - always fighting to make our nation better.

We have fought for social justice. We have fought for economic justice. We have fought for environmental justice. We have fought for criminal justice.

Now we must add a new fight - the fight for electoral justice.

Every citizen of this country who is registered to vote should be guaranteed that their vote matters, that their vote is counted, and that in the voting booth of their community, their vote has as much weight as the vote of any Senator, any Congressperson, any President, any cabinet member, or any CEO of any Fortune 500 Corporation.

I am sure that every one of my colleagues - Democrat, Republican, and Independent - agrees with that statement. That in the voting booth, every one is equal.

So now it seems to me that under the Constitution of the United States, which guarantees the right to vote, we must ask:

Why did voters in Ohio wait hours in the rain to vote? Why were voters at Kenyan College, for example, made to wait in line until nearly 4 a.m. to vote because there were only two machines for 1300 voters?

Why did poor and predominantly African-American communities have disproportionately long waits?

Why in Franklin County did election officials only use 2,798 machines when they said they needed 5,000? Why did they hold back 68 machines in warehouses? Why were 42 of those machines in predominantly African-American districts?

Why did, in Columbus area alone, an estimated 5,000 to 10,000 voters leave polling places, out of frustration, without having voted? How many more never bothered to vote after they heard about this?

Why is it when 638 people voted at a precinct in Franklin County, a voting machine awarded 4,258 extra votes to George Bush. Thankfully, they fixed it - but how many other votes did the computers get wrong?

Why did Franklin County officials reduce the number of electronic voting machines in downtown precincts, while adding them in the suburbs? This also led to long lines.

In Cleveland, why were there thousands of provisional ballots disqualified after poll workers gave faulty instructions to voters?

Because of this, and voting irregularities in so many other places, I am joining with Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones to cast the light of truth on a flawed system which must be fixed now.

Our democracy is the centerpiece of who we are as a nation. And it is the fondest hope of all Americans that we can help bring democracy to every corner of the world.

As we try to do that, and as we are shedding the blood of our military to this end, we must realize that we lose so much credibility when our own electoral system needs so much improvement.

Yet, in the past four years, this Congress has not done everything it should to give confidence to all of our people their votes matter.

After passing the Help America Vote Act, nothing more was done.

A year ago, Senators Graham, Clinton and I introduced legislation that would have required that electronic voting systems provide a paper record to verify a vote. That paper trail would be stored in a secure ballot box and invaluable in case of a recount.

There is no reason why the Senate should not have taken up and passed that bill. At the very least, a hearing should have been held. But it never happened.

Before I close, I want to thank my colleague from the House, Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones.

Her letter to me asking for my intervention was substantive and compelling.

As I wrote to her, I was particularly moved by her point that it is virtually impossible to get official House consideration of the whole issue of election reform, including these irregularities.
The Congresswoman has tremendous respect in her state of Ohio, which is at the center of this fight.

Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones was a judge for 10 years. She was a prosecutor for 8 years. She was inducted into the Women's Hall of Fame in 2002.

I am proud to stand with her in filing this objection. "

Debating the Vote

A few quick comments on today's historic debate:

Senator Barbara Boxer stood alone among Senators in objecting to the Ohio vote, which was sufficent to force this debate. A handful of other Senators, including Sen. Hillary Clinton, spoke in support of those who are deeply troubled by the chicanery, the cheating that has been established and that is suspected with cause in the 2004 presidential election. These Senators had their reasons for not joining Boxer in voting against the validation of the Ohio electors, but once again Democrats leave themselves open to the charge of trying to have it both ways.

The speeches in the House and even the calls on C-Span demonstrated the deep, deep feeling among voters that there was cheating in this election, and that it may have been rigged.

The U.S.media, that institution of shame and sham, continued to ignore this crucial issue. The media failed to report fully the outrages on election day, and they remain complicit with Republicans in covering up what happened, so that whatever evidence remains will disappear. Only when ANY threat to the integrity of voting, and every voters right to vote and have it counted, is given prominence and reported as a major story, will the sanctity of elections be more than a sanctimonious if not cynical lie.

If people around the world, and even their fellow Democrats, didn't understand what voting rights mean to African Americans, perhaps today will leave a more accurate impression.

The challenge gave the White House the opportunity to support efforts to correct deficiencies in the electoral process, even as it denied there was grounds for contesting the election. To no one's surprise, they passed on that opportunity to be conciliatory and recognize that elections are at the core of American democracy. Clearly, among the things that Republicans hold sacred, voting does not qualify.

Finally, this observation: can't anyone pronounce "electoral"? There is no "i" in it. It doesn't rhyme with editorial. Somebody should do a study on GOPer mispronunciation patterns and their psycho-social significance.

Keep On Objecting

John Nichols column in The Nation

The Online Beat

Every Vote

Cameron Kerry, John Kerry's brother, has a commentary in the Boston Globe which for the first time lays out the reasons that the Kerry campaign did not more aggressively challenge the outcome of the election, especially in Ohio.

The commentary ends with a strong endorsement of electoral reform, and ends with this specific proposal:

"It is time to make vote suppression a violation of civil rights laws and adopt national standards that ensure that all voters have equal access to voting machines and ballots without the kinds of technical obstacles that call to mind Jim Crow laws. And trust in the system requires that it be transparent; whether inside local election board offices or inside the code of electronic voting machines, the counting of votes has to be public and nonpartisan."

Next time the electoral votes are tallied, every American citizen should be able to know that his or vote has counted."

Boston.com / News / Politics / Presidential candidates / Counting every vote

To which we add, it is past time to make vote suppression a violation of civil rights laws. We assume that this will be part of the legislation Senator Kerry will introduce.

Selma March 1965 

Challenge Supported by Organized Labor

Link to a message in support of Congressional challenge to the 2004 vote. Several unions are participating in the Selma to Washington march, including buses from Columbus, Ohio. This is the 40th anniversary year of the Selma, Alabama march that was instrumental in gaining support for the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963 was organized by a coalition of black Civil Rights groups, organized labor, churches and political organizations.

In 1965 African Americans marching to get voting rights were met with billy clubs and tear gas. In 2005, African Americans marching to protest violation of their voting rights are so far being ignored.

Why the Vote Count Challenge Matters :: ILCA Online :: Making Labor Media a Force to Be Reckoned With

Challenge the Vote

march poster

How It’s Shaping Up: Congress January 6

A little more than twelve hours before Congress convenes to accept or reject the presidential electors, here’s how it looks:

Keith Olberman has reported that up to six Senators may object to accepting the Ohio electors, joining at least several House members who have announced that they will do so. It takes just one member of each house to force debates. The debate may only be for two hours, but it could be a crucial two hours to the credibility of democracy in America.

A diary on Daily Kos by a woman who called 45 Senators on Wednesday---all the Democrats plus Jeffords the independent and a sympathetic Republican--reports that several of them have received tens of thousands of phone calls on Ohio, and their staff members were on the verge of nervous breakdowns. Among those whose staff told callers were actively considering objecting were Barbara Boxer of CA, Ted Kennedy and Hillary Clinton, who had lawyers going over the evidence. Others report after-hours message boxes full for a number of other Senators.

John Kerry emailed the 3 million supporters on his lists to urge them to support election reform and investigation, saying he will introduce legislation, but to say he would not join those contesting the 04 results. He is currently on a fact-finding tour of the Middle East.

So what do the Dash brothers make of this?

1. If one Senator objects, more than one will. And it may be that only if more than one will, any will. Either this is being coordinated right now, or staff for several senators are preparing remarks in case some other Senator objects, and their boss decides to join.

2. If no Senator objects, Kerry's absense will hurt him politically. If at least one Senator objects, and even better the six that are rumored, Kerry's absense will help him politically. So it's possible he knows what's going to happen. Note that his email said he wasn't going to join the objectors---this could mean the House members who've announced they will object, or it could mean that he knows someone will in the Senate. The fact of his email can be read either way: being with them without being there, or making the best of a bad situation.

It is even possible that Kerry was told that other Senators would not object unless he didn’t, because they don’t want to be seen as simply sore losers.

In any case, if other Senators do object, his absence will actually help keep the focus where it should be: on the credibility and integrity of the vote, and on the need to hold accountable those who violate it.

At this point, the moment is bound to get some air time even on our timid befuddled news media (currently exploring whether the tsunami is evidence that God is angry---we’re not kidding, it’s on Scarborough right now), and it will get a more serious airing if it is an historic moment, when the debate is mandated by objections from both houses of Congress.

Up until now the demonstrations in various cities haven’t gotten any coverage to speak of. Perhaps if there are Senators objecting and the debate happens, larger and more visible demonstrations will occur afterwards. It's one thing--and a very dramatic thing---for members of congress to engage, but also very important for ordinary people to do so, VISIBLY. TV can't show people writing emails and making phone calls, as crucial as these are. And make no mistake---if any Senators object, it won't be primarily because of the evidence but because voters are upset.

photo by Pgh independent media center: Save the Vote demonstration, downtown Pittsburgh, PA

Credibility, Integrity and January 6

This is a version of something I posted on the daily kos site. Partisans of this blog are familiar with the sentiments but maybe I’ve got a new point or two in here somewhere.

The debate at kos, while mostly of sociological interest (or blogological) does reflect a larger issue bearing on the question of why more prominent Democrats, and more of the media, aren’t paying much attention to the questions of the integrity of the 2004 election, and the possibility that the Bushies self-selected the president yet again. The issue is credibility. Just as Marcos, the owner of Daily Kos, doesn’t want to associate himself or his site with weirdos making wild accusations, establishment Democrats are loathe to do so for the same reason---the people whose opinions they care about will laugh at them and roll their eyes. Here is my rejoinder:

Is one's credibility damaged by being associated with incorrect assertions, and the people making them? Maybe. But in the case of questioning the integrity of the 2004 presidential election, I believe there is a more important credibility issue.

No one wants to be associated with the pathological and dishonest. But what of excessive assertions weak on proof and wild in speculation, perhaps clouded by feeling? Where do they cause damage? Who are the keepers of credibility we are worried about? The major media, eager to single out weirdness in the threatening blogosphere? Political professionals and others who make a tidy living off the Zeitgeist?

In certain arenas, this kind of credibility matters. But in the larger arena of America, there is a question of credibility that trumps these concerns: the credibility of the integrity of the voting process.

What the past two months have shown is that many people---many voters--- have found enough reason to seriously question the integrity of the 2004 election.

The overwhelming majority of them are Democrats and those who voted for Kerry, although there are Republicans actively asserting that the integrity of the vote was seriously violated, and something should be done about it.

While this partisanship weakens their claim to national attention in an objective sense, it is unavoidable. Partisans of the declared losers are just more likely to be upset than partisans of the declared winner, be it in the Ukraine or the U.S. People upset about the credibility of the vote are upset about the integrity of their vote, not just in general, but because of who they voted for.

Those of us who talked to voters before the election know how passionate many were about its importance. We saw them stand in line for hours in the rain in Florida in the week before November 2, and for many hours in Ohio and elsewhere.

Those of us who have talked to voters since the election know how passionately they believe the election was not conducted fairly, that it was manipulated beyond the bounds of the law by Bush partisans.

The integrity of the vote is the most basic element of not only our form of government and our whole political life, but our identity as a society.

I won't repeat the issues, except to say that in my view there is pretty solid evidence of voter intimidation and vote suppression, enough evidence to investigate fraud in particular places and enough circumstantial evidence to investigate the possibility of fraud and conspiracy on a larger scale.

There are a number of scholars who don't wear tin hats who have raised significant questions about the integrity of the 04 vote, including the count.

The control of voting machines by partisans of the party in power is itself such an obvious threat to that integrity and credibility that few in major media or politics would consider an election in another country as legitimate under the same circumstances.

The credibility of the vote comes down to this: what kind of dummy is going to stand for hours in the rain to vote in 2008?

Of course, evangelical Rabid Right Republicans will.

There is another level of credibility to consider. The strongest voices calling the integrity of the election into question are those of African Americans and their leaders. They consider this a voting rights and Civil Rights issue. This will be symbolized in many ways in the coming days, from Columbus to Washington, D.C.

They have the right to define it as such, and there is enough evidence, especially from black precincts, that their definition is credible. The question is, does the Democratic party have any credibility with this community, with other minority communities, and with its own conscience, if it does not support them?

Black members of Congress protested the 2000 vote and no Senator joined them, as we all saw in Michael Moore's film (many of us for the first time.) This shameful lack of support repeated in 2004 would be devastating to the Democratic party.

The Senator who objects will instantly become a party leader.

Credibility of the vote for everyone requires investigation. It is also a matter of justice. When wrongdoing goes uninvestigated and with no trial or accountability, credibility in the system is undermined, if not overtly shattered.

I believe we also need to be aware of the dangers of factionalizing. It's one thing to want to distinguish oneself from apocalyptic evangelicals and professional liars, but perhaps more care is in order in purging those who vote the reality based ticket but have beliefs and points of view that seem odd or threatening.

At a certain point, timidity in making the assertions mostly for the reason of appearances may suggest vanity, in being afraid to be seen to be excessive, or wrong. We are all plagued by self-importance and vanity. We all need to keep an eye on ourselves.

But instead of factionalizing and purging people with excessive views, or choosing up which front page leaders we are going to call our daddy or mommy, shouldn't we be supporting the people who are outraged by attacks on the integrity of their votes?

Besides, we aren't talking just about ourselves. People questioning the vote include members of Congress and electors from several states. There have been or will be demonstrations in Pittsburgh, Nashville, Columbus, San Diego,Boston, San Francisco, and a symbolic march from outside Baltimore to Washington, D.C.

I should not be spending time on this. I don't make a living from politics and I'm neglecting other work. I will post this tonight and by the time I check in sometime tomorrow, it will have disappeared. But I am writing this now for one reason: January 6.

Like it or not, the only significant opportunity for voters to express their outrage at any credible suggestion that the integrity of the vote---which means their votes---will be today, tomorrow and January 6. In this particularly, I endorse the points made in the latest diary by boo: the integrity of the vote must be addressed in the 2004 election, and people held accountable for violating it; and January 6 is crucial to this.

I differ in that for me and I suspect for a lot of voters, the issue does includes voter intimidation, suppression and local fraud. It all bears on the credibility of this election, and the integrity of future elections.

A strong challenge must be made to the outcome of the 2004 election in Congress, and in the streets. In the streets, the issue of who should be there and who shouldn't becomes one of behavior, not credibility. Nobody cares or should care that the crowd includes people who think local Republicans cheated, and those who think there was a national conspiracy, and those who believe that Kerry really won, or in a fair election, had the votes to win.

The issue is focused on the credibility of the vote, based on the lack of integrity in the 2004 election.

For the reality based, let me remind you of the reality of passion, and of pain, and of the uses of intuition along with arguments based on facts, statistics and precedents.

I speak as, in a small way, a veteran of the Civil Rights and antiwar movements. I remember the Chicago Seven: the intellectual Tom Hayden, the Black Panther Bobby Seale, the Yippie leaders Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin, among the young lawyers and veteran activists. It was a remarkable crosssection of the times, especially since it was selected by hostile prosecutors. But it represented the kind of coalition that was needed, and in fact reflected reality: they were all really against the war and racism.

For what they are worth in this debate, I recall the words, many years later, of Abbie Hoffman: "We were reckless, we were headstrong, we were impatient, we were excessive. But goddammit we were right."

The Morality is Save the Most Powerful

What is the operative definition of morality for this Bushie administration? Be santimonious about issues which seem to protect the innocent, but come down hard on the powerless without knowing or caring if they are innocent or not. It is a morality of exquisite cynicism, designed to appeal to the worst in everyone: selfishness masked by denial.

There is so much that is basically immoral about the Iraqnam debacle that to single out the worst is difficult. But high on the list must be the utter disregard for people whose only crime might well be that they are powerless. Not only has the Bushie government indiscriminately swept up people into prisons in Iraq and Cuba (along with suspects who might be legitimate if they worked a little to prove it), and kept them imprisoned without trial or even charges, but now they apparently want to make permnanent incarceration without charge a policy. There hasn't been a greater threat to basic human rights in the democratic West for more than a century.

The idea that you keep some bad guys from doing harm while the odds are you are unjustly imprisoning a lot of innocent but powerless people is the mark of cowardice, as well as the injustice of totalitarianism. All for dubious political insurance, and out of sheer arrogance, fear, contempt and laziness.

In effect you are declaring war against your own people in order to protect them. But of equal importance, you are affirming the terrorist analysis that in America only the powerful matter, and the way to challenge American power is to go after it with equally effective violence. That's the inevitable effect of a policy that says that justice and rules of conduct come a distant second to naked power of the most powerful and arrogant but apparently most cowardly.

With a policy like this, stated or unstated, it's time to call Guantanamo by its correct name: an American concentration camp.

Top News Article Reuters.com

For those with a Washington Post subscription, the original article is here.

New blogifying:

our friend at Blue Voice has posted a couple of year end pieces. Nice pictures, too.

one of a growing number of protests of voting fraud leading up to January 6 

The Baltimore to Washington March

Save Our Votes March
"From SELMA to WASHINGTON: 40 Years Marching For Our Voting Rights"
Jan. 4th, 2005 through Jan. 6th, 2005
Savage MD to Washington DC
Begins Tuesday at 10AM, January 4th, Arrives Thursday January 6th at the Rally to Defend Democracy at the Federal Capitol in Washington DC.
Ohio Election Fraud (Formerly "Fairness")

Other events: Rally for the Republic events at 7 p. in Boston on Jan. 3 (there is an ongoing vigil outside Senator Kerry's house in Boston right now), rallies in San Diego and Nashville on January 2, and in addition to the rally in SF noted below, a Rally for the Republic in SF on January 4. The above link is probably a good source for ongoing info as this gains momentum.

And San Francisco!

On January 3, a rally and press conference at noon to urge
U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer to join House members in challenging the 2004 presidential election results. Petitions with thousands of signatures will be presented to a Boxer deputy. Several civic organization leaders will speak at the rally.

JANUARY 3 NOON 1700 MONTGOMERY ST. SAN FRANCISCO
or meet at Embarcadero transit stop at 11 a. and walk together
For more details:

Wellstone Democratic Renewal Club

This is the same day as the rally in Columbus, Ohio, which is shaping up to a big gathering, with union participation. Also in Columbus on the 3rd and 4th, the launching of the Freedom Winter project, which will climax on the 4th as buses leave Columbus for the rally in DC.

"We are not whining for a lost election, we are crying out for a fair one!" Rev. Jesse Jackson

Let Them Eat PR

The Bush administration has dispatched a major official---well, at least they hope he will be in 2009--Jeb Bush, plus a promise for a geometrically increased pot of money to aid tsunami victims in Asia, which the media is in the process of dutifully reporting.

Let's hope they also report on whether this amount of aid actually gets there. Usually the Bushies count on them not to. So they could announce their sweeping "No Child Left Behind Act" and then quietly de-fund it, or their tremendous aid against AIDS in Africa in a Rose Garden lovefest, and then neglect to allocate the bucks.

Their record in general is pretty poor, as reported by the This Modern World blog:

"According to a poll, most Americans believe the United States spends 24 percent of its budget on aid to poor countries; it actually spends well under a quarter of 1 percent.

Bush administration officials help create that perception gap. Fuming at the charge of stinginess, Mr. Powell pointed to disaster relief and said the United States "has given more aid in the last four years than any other nation or combination of nations in the world." But for development aid, America gave $16.2 billion in 2003; the European Union gave $37.1 billion. In 2002, those numbers were $13.2 billion for America, and $29.9 billion for Europe.

Making things worse, we often pledge more money than we actually deliver. Victims of the earthquake in Bam, Iran, a year ago are still living in tents because aid, including ours, has not materialized in the amounts pledged. And back in 2002, Mr. Bush announced his Millennium Challenge account to give African countries development assistance of up to $5 billion a year, but the account has yet to disperse a single dollar."

This Modern World

D-Day the Sixth of January

Representative John Conyers has formally announced that he will object to the counting of Ohio's electors:

As you know," writes Rep. John Conyers in his public letter, "on January 6, 2005, at 1:00 P.M, the electoral votes for the election of the president are to be opened and counted in a joint session of Congress. I and a number of House Members are planning to object to the counting of the Ohio votes, due to numerous unexplained irregularities in the Ohio presidential vote, many of which appear to violate both federal and state law."

In an interview quoted in the following report, which summarizes many of the problems with the 2004 vote, Conyers says he is "confident" that Senators will join in the objection. Stay tuned.

San Francisco Bay View - National Black Newspaper of the Year

It's Not Just Ohio Anymore

More than 80% of the presidential votes in 2004 were made on or counted by machines owned and operated by two companies run by Republicans with strong ties to GW Bush. That's the U.S. presidential election.

Among the conclusions of a new study of exit polling and voting in 2004 conducted by two professors at the Institute of Government and Public Affairs at University of Illinois at Chicago:
"In an accurate count of a free and fair election, the strong likelihood is that Kerry
would have been the winner of the popular vote."

That's the POPULAR vote for the entire country. Details of this study can be found in the daily kos diary linked below:

Daily Kos :: The 2004 Election Was Stolen