Senator Obama said earlier today that I haven’t been paying attention to his campaign.
Actually, I have.
And it’s clear from Senator Obama’s campaign that he is not willing to tackle the white power structure - whether in the form of the corporate power structure or many of the super-rich - who are taking advantage of 100 million low income Americans who are suffering in poverty or near poverty.
Senator Obama is opposed to single payer national health insurance.
Why?
Because he favors the health insurance giants over the millions of Americans in poverty or near poverty who are uninsured or under-insured. Eighteen thousand Americans die every year because they cannot afford health insurance, according to the Institute of Medicine.
Senator Obama wants to expand the military budget which is loaded with waste, fraud and abuse - instead of cutting it and investing the long ignored peace dividend in the inner cities with good jobs and public works - including schools, clinics, and libraries.
Why?
Because he fears and favors those thousands of lobbyists in charge of enlarging the military industrial complex that President Eisenhower warned us against.
Senator Obama says he favors a living wage. But he doesn’t say he would immediately increase the minimum wage to $10 an hour, which is the equivalent of the 1968 minimum wage adjusted for inflation - because by doing so he would offend the big corporations who exploit labor in places like Wal-Mart and fast food chains. (The minimum wage needs to be increased immediately, not phased in over a number of years, as Senator Obama would have it.)
So Senator Obama, let’s get specific.
We’re looking for deeds, not, as Shakespeare put it, words, words, mere words.
Your public career, which I have also been paying attention to, is long on words, and short on action when it comes to consumer protection, cracking down on corporate crime, curbing the violence of toxic environmental racism, and extending clean, affordable public transit, among other issues.
For the purposes of the here and now, three things:
One, why don’t you support single payer national health insurance, which is supported by a majority of doctors and the American people?
Two, why do you favor expanding the military budget which is replete with waste, fraud and abuse?
And three, why don’t you come out and support an immediate increase of the minimum wage to $10 an hour?
When can we expect the authenticity of hope and change? Your contribution could be doubled. Public campaign financing may match your contribution total up to $250.
Do you think Ralph Nader should run? If so, let him know now with your contribution. (Your contribution could be doubled. Public campaign financing may match your contribution total up to $250.) - The Nader Team
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I was at my Princeton reunion the other day, and a young alumnus came up to me - he was very kind - and he said “You know, I really like what you’re doing - I like what you did - but please don’t run.”
I said “Do you realize what you are saying?”
And he said “Yes, I said please don’t run.”
I said “You’re telling me not to use my First Amendment rights of speech, assembly, and petition inside the electoral arena. You’re telling me to shut up. Are you aware of what you’re saying?”
He said “I understand, I understand, I like what you’re doing, but please don’t run.”
So I went through and I said “Well, would you tell those voters instead of trying to determine which one was worse between the Democrats and the Whigs, the two major parties in the 19th century, and instead cut out and voted for the Liberty Party, which was the anti-slavery party - would you say to those candidates, ‘Don’t run’?”
And he sort of paused.
And I said “How about the people who refused to go least-worst between the Republicans and Democrats on women’s suffrage? Would you tell those candidates ‘don’t run’? What do you say to that?”
And he paused.
And I took it up to date and I said “Would you tell Buchanan not to run?”
And he said “I understand what you are saying, but please don’t run.”
And I said “You know, unwittingly, you are engaging in a politically bigoted statement. Because you can oppose, and you can support, any candidates you want. But when you are saying to someone ‘don’t run’ you are saying to someone ‘do not speak, do not petition, do not assemble inside the electoral arena.’”
Now I’m saying this because I’m sure you’ve had these conversations with people. Look at the word spoiler. Spoiler is a contemptuous word of political bigotry. They do not accuse George W. Bush of being the spoiler in 2000, and last I heard he got more votes than I did, vis-a-vis Al Gore. It’s only the independent and third parties that are called spoilers.
And think of the hubris here - these two parties have spoiled our elections, they’ve spoiled our government, they’ve spoiled our politics - and to have the temerity to say to someone who wants to reform the process that they are spoilers - they have no sense of humor - I mean, how do you satire satire?
The Ultimate Liar is the one who can say what he says and without regard to film or direct quotes, can firm-faced deny words that are recorded for history to review. Not many people can do this. It takes a certain narcissistic personality trait to do so.
What baffles me even more is the insane people who are feverishly backing this “Straight Talk Express” towards the pits of hell. There is one thing that I cannot stand in my relationships (and would call the president/citizen thingy a “relationship”) is lying. If a person feels like they must lie to me, then they are not considerate of my feelings, but are purposefully trying to get me to agree or submit to something against my better judgment.
I asked the “Old Soldier” (my dad) about this once… “Is it ok for our president to lie to us, for ANY reason?”
The answer was, “I do not believe that my president has or would lie, so the question is bogus.”
The proverbial finger in the ear response, that, even after these 6 years since the conversation took place, I still cannot fathom the attitude. I’m sure he feels the same way today.
But, when I can show McInsane’s own words, proving that he simply bald-face lies… with abandon, how can his supporter’s still deny it or defend him?
How can a person’s own integrity allow such a thing? I cannot get it? I do not understand how someone can lie to themselves and believe it. Amazing!
Ariana Huffington has a post up this morning which goes in to some detail on this subject. Some people like her, others don’t. But, it is foolish to try and parse one’s words now-a-days (with the video media 24/7) and try to say you meant something totally different than your plain meaning when you said it. McInsane said in response, “Consider the source”, as if Ms Huffington’s words are lies. But this isn’t about Ms Huffington’s words, it is McCain’s words, so easily regurgitated for all to see (and recognize the lying asshole for what he is):
At a dinner party in Los Angeles not long after the 2000 election, I was talking to a man and his wife, both prominent Republicans. The conversation soon turned to the new president. “I didn’t vote for George Bush” the man confessed. “I didn’t either,” his wife added. Their names: John and Cindy McCain (Cindy told me she had cast a write-in vote for her husband).
The fact that this man was so angry at what George Bush had done to him, and at what Bush represented for their party, that he did not even vote for him in 2000 shows just how far he has fallen since then in his hunger for the presidency. By abandoning his core principles and embracing Bush — both literally and metaphorically — he has morphed into an older and crankier version of the man he couldn’t stomach voting for in 2000.
McCain’s fall has been Shakespearean — and really hard to watch for those, like myself, who so admired and even loved him. His nobility and his true reformer years have given way to pandering in the service of ambition.
But a large portion of the electorate hasn’t noticed the Shakespearean fall. How else to explain The 28/48 Disconnect — wherein only a die-hard 28 percent of voters still approve of Bush, but 48 percent say they’d vote for McCain, who is running on the “more of the same” platform?
The thing is, these voters clearly still think of McCain as the maverick of 2000, a straight shooter who would never seek the embrace of a man he couldn’t bring himself to vote for, nor accept the regular counsel of Karl Rove, the man behind the vile, race-baiting attacks on him during the 2000 campaign.
And the main reason for The 28/48 Disconnect is the mainstream media’s ongoing membership in the John McCain Protection Society. They too continue to party — and report on McCain — like it’s 1999.
I heard Scarborough chastise Maddow over this issue, insisting that everyone already “knows” McCain, so the concentration SHOULD be on Obama and Clinton. They are intentionally protecting him from his past, when it is quite clear that IF he were actually running on the issues of his past, he may have a chance. He has sidled up to George after the butt invasion Karl put on him in 2000 and it is despicable to me.
Every time McCain screws up, the media jump all over themselves to make it better, as if grandpa had said something embarrassing at the dinner table and it needed to be smoothed over as quickly as possible.
The latest example came late last week when the Straight Talk Express hit an oil slick and skidded off the road. Click here for the blow by blow, but, in short, McCain implied that Iraq is essentially a war for oil, then tried to take it back, explaining that he was actually talking about the first Gulf War, then, when pressed, denied that he was actually talking about the first Gulf War.
And, by and large, the media gave him a pass. Chris Matthews called the original war for oil comment “an astounding development,” but most everyone else was too busy picking over the bones of the Wright/Obama carcass to give it much play.
The media is doing everything in its power to make this a horse-race, when it is clearly evident that it is them (the MSM media) who wants McCain as the Rep contender. The majority of Americans do NOT want more Bush. The MSM KNOWS this, but do not think they are going to tell you this… they do make money off of these horse-races, don’tcha know?
What will it take for the Swift Boat Media to realize that John McCain jumped the shark a long, long time ago?
Oh, Arianna. They know it. But their handlers must continue the meme that their owners want pushed on this gullible electorate. It is up to you (and me) to continue our efforts to wake these sheeple up.
As a Mississippian for the vast majority of my life and having known what an elitist crook this cheerleading dickhead has always been, is it any wonder that he has made THIS kind of money in the first quarter of this year (since starting his new crooked business)?
Less than four months after he left office, former Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.) has already scored a major payday downtown. The firm he founded with former Sen. John Breaux (D-La.) earned at least $945,000 during its first quarter in business, according to House filings.
I have received a comment and emails (regarding this post) and comments on YouTube from the Gravel Campaign on David Fleetwood’s channel taking exception to my bitch (having had “enough of this bullshit”). Now, from my experience this year, the secondary candidates have had poor campaigns (I think that only one from the campaign might disagree). Whenever I went to any of the straw poll sites or sites where you select your issues and compare them to the candidates, I was always very close between my #1 and #2 (Kucinich and Gravel).
This obviously means that I am liberal and a progressive, for both of those Democratic candidates matched me almost perfectly.
But it is obvious that the Dem Party doesn’t want either of these candidates and Mike was smart enough to bail on the Republican Lite Party.
I like Mike. A Lot. I saw this video from BrassCheckTV (had seen portions previously) this morning and thought it important that I share it… not to persuade any campaign dweeb that I agree with Mike, but to show readers here that his message is straight up. As ineffectual as his campaign has been, it is not totally their fault. They are playing against a stacked deck and everyone knows it. This is the catalyst for their anger and striking out.
Notice at around the 8 minute mark that Real News interviews him and he basically stresses what I have been saying since day one about the Big 3 (especially about the Clintbama Campaign). They are all part of the same party. They want the same shit, just slightly less evilly presented than McInsane’s stances… but little difference when you scrape back the bullshit.
So, for my desires of this country, Mike seems to match me pretty well.
But, even though the message is right, his campaign stands no chance without major reform in this election process. Nor will it help for the campaign to go out of its way to bullshit little blogs like this, knee jerk reactions when they are complicit. Don’t even try to push the blame totally on this little group, when we know better. It makes the campaign seem even pettier than I do. (But I am not running for president).
So, believe me, I like Mike. I think his message is excellent and his desires for this country wonderful. But explain to me how the hell he will ever get elected if people can’t get their shit together.
All roads lead to Rove. That was the message scrawled as an afterthought in the lower left-hand corner of the envelope I received in yesterday’s mail. It contained a letter from an old and dear friend of mine. His name is Don Siegelman. He is the former governor of Alabama and he is being held as a political prisoner of the Bush administration in a Federal prison in Louisiana.
They don’t allow Don the luxury of stationary so he must write his letters on whatever he can find. He wrote me on a xeroxed article he wanted me to see. [..]
When I first heard of Don being prosecuted for corruption my heart sank. I didn’t know what to think. It had been years since we’d spoken and the press made it sound awful for Don (what else?). Of course I had no idea what was really going on. Now that I do I am horrified…and furious.
Don is a formidable force in Alabama politics. His friends are loyal and his supporters enthusiastic. They re-elected him Governor in the midst of a bogus corruption trial engineered by the Bush Justice Department at the behest of Karl Rove who takes orders from you-know-who. Don campaigned for re-election throughout the early phases of the trial. On election night he was declared the winner, but Karl Rove’s minions stole the election overnight by manipulating the ballots in Baldwin County. It was classic Rovian/Republican election theft. They did it with computers and electronic voting machines. Don went to bed the re-elected Governor of Alabama, and woke up an unemployed defendant. [..]
Something that has not been reported is that they have been physically beating Don. I don’t know the extent of his injuries or exactly how many times it has happened – but it has been multiple times.
There are no words for the fury I feel. This is an outrage. And it is the most un-American thing I have ever heard. I cry bitter tears of frustration and rage.
Please everyone. We have to help Don, and we have to crush these thugs and put them out of the business of perverting our democracy. We must investigate and prosecute the responsible parties, not for political reasons, but to actually serve the interest of justice. The cause of justice calls upon us to hold these criminals accountable. We must bring them to justice and stop such travesties from ever again happening in our United States of America.
You can contact Rep. John Conyers and Sen. Patrick Leahy, Judiciary committee chairmen, and ask them to appoint an Independent Investigator so the complicit Bush Justice Dept (his personal law firm, as it were) is forced to stay out of it. To donate, go to Siegelman’s Defense Fund.
We are truly at a crossroads in this country. There are few ways to change the direction or heal the pain that the neocons have ravaged America with. If rednecks will wise up and begin to vote for those that are FOR their needs and desires and AGAINST those who use and abuse you, by lying to you and stealing from you, then we can avoid the only other way of taking America back (it is much more painful and damaging to this country).
In the case where that ReTHUGlican Dennis (its my gavel and I’m shutting down this meeting) Hastert resigned after losing his “position” of power due to the outrageous and ill-gotten defensive positions of Bush and the “War on Terror” the foolish Republican party signed its death knell with, people who had voted Republican for decades pulled their heads out of the THUG ass and finally voted someone in that inspires real “hope” in me. Someone who ran on getting out of Iraq and holding the Telecoms responsible (along with the Bush Admin) in their law breaking. The “hope” isn’t in the man (Bill Foster), but in the people who seem to have somehow snapped out of their brainwashing. It gives me hope, because I want the rednecks to snap ot of it, too.
The hope is that Bill won’t change and become “one of them”. This is the problem with our politics… it is SOOO very enticing for good people to become enamored with power and especially money, then become one of them. With campaign finance as it is (corporately fed), this doesn’t change unless you just so happen to find an honest, real, constitutionally patriotic “wealthy” person (for if you do not receive the corporate funding, such as Dennis Kucinich and a few others, then public financing cannot compete). Until the system is changed, all we have is hope in another rich person. Good luck with that, but it isn’t impossible. (I hope that the system changes and we don’t have to rely on rich people or corporations)
IF (a big “if”) Bill and others like him get elected… don’t change… and then actually honor their campaign commitments (I said it was a BIG IF), then we stand a chance at changing America’s political/military driven identity back into what it was once… honorable and loved by the world. That doesn’t mean that we can’t be strong militarily, but surely we can keep it in perspective with the rest of the world and find other ways to bring us back economically (manufacturing, etc).
This entire scenario will be much harder to achieve in the SE because so many are simply not interested, misled by their religion, too busy or more than likely, life is too hard to take the time to catch their breath, much less be “involved”. We MUST change that, IF we are going to restore America to greatness and honor.
Nonetheless, I cannot express how important and significant this win is… in this particular district that has been dominated by Republicans for so long. The GOP is trying to play it down, but the truth is that they POURED money into this race (and lost). Now, if Bill just won’t become one of them, and we can elect even more (and that WILL include getting rid of the Blue Dog Bush-lites and other Democratic Party Bush enablers such as Pelosi, Reid, and as many of the Dem Iraq War funding enablers as possible), we may stand a chnce at actually making America the great country it once was.
Talking about a large order… but we must start somewhere.
Name Party Votes Vote %
Foster, Bill Dem 50,947 52%
Oberweis, Jim GOP 46,125 48%
Put it this way: if I told you in the middle of 2006 that Democrats would control Tom DeLay AND Dennis Hastert’s seats in Congress within two years, would you believe me?
Now, Foster needs to be watched. He ran strongly on ending the war in Iraq and stopping retroactive immunity for the telecoms. He needs to be held to those campaign promises. I can’t guarantee that we won’t be putting him on Bush Dog lists before too long. But clearly, this is a big victory for a new Democratic coalition that can win in erstwhile red districts and red states, that can capitalize on this uniquely horrible President and the trashed Republican brand. The NRCC spent a MILLION dollars, one out of every three dollars they have in their account, to save this seat, and they came up short. Foster’s win is a road map for how to win in these districts; run strong against the war and George Bush’s lawbreaking, and offer a real contrast.
This is also a big victory for Barack Obama, who cut an ad that ran all week to help Foster. John McCain came in here to help Jim Oberweis and it didn’t matter. Obama’s reputation as a map changer is very enhanced by this. In a way it’s bigger than his win in Wyoming today.
Oberweis was unique in his dickishness, too, so just seeing him lose is a victory.
There are now DOZENS more seats in play than anybody thinks. This is going to throw the NRCC into total disarray. Tom Cole, their chairman, might have to resign. Money may dry up even more than it already has. This is awesome.
So, I must ask you readers, do you know what a duck looks, sounds and tastes like? Then call it a DUCK, dammit.
The Anti-Lobbyist, Advised by Lobbyists
Michael D. Shear and Jeffrey H. Birnbaum
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, February 22, 2008
For years, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has railed against lobbyists and the influence of “special interests” in Washington, touting on his campaign Web site his fight against “the ‘revolving door’ by which lawmakers and other influential officials leave their posts and become lobbyists for the special interests they have aided.”
But when McCain huddled with his closest advisers at his rustic Arizona cabin last weekend to map out his presidential campaign, virtually every one was part of the Washington lobbying culture he has long decried. His campaign manager, Rick Davis, co-founded a lobbying firm whose clients have included Verizon and SBC Telecommunications. His chief political adviser, Charles R. Black Jr., is chairman of one of Washington’s lobbying powerhouses, BKSH and Associates, which has represented AT&T, Alcoa, JPMorgan and U.S. Airways.Senior advisers Steve Schmidt and Mark McKinnon work for firms that have lobbied for Land O’ Lakes, UST Public Affairs, Dell and Fannie Mae.
McCain’s relationship with lobbyists became an issue this week after it was reported that his aides asked Vicki Iseman, a telecom lobbyist, to distance herself from his 2000 presidential campaign because it would threaten McCain’s reputation for independence. An angry and defiant McCain denounced the stories yesterday, declaring: “At no time have I ever done anything that would betray the public trust.”
Even before McCain finished his news conference, uber-lobbyist Black made the rounds of television networks to defend McCain against charges that he has been tainted by his relationship with a lobbyist. Black’s current clients include General Motors, United Technologies, JPMorgan and AT&T.
Black said he is still being paid by his firm and does work for clients in his “spare time,” recusing himself from lobbying McCain: “I not only do not lobby him [McCain], but if an issue comes up that I have a client on, I will tell him that and stay out of the discussion.”
A common career path for political operatives is a lucrative job at a Washington lobbying firm that allows them to continue campaign work, and McCain is hardly the first candidate to draw on that talent pool. The campaign of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) has been aided by lobbyists Harold Ickes and Mark Penn, who heads Burson Marsteller Worldwide. Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) has been advised by former senator Thomas A. Daschle (D-S.D.), who is not a registered lobbyist but advises clients about Washington.
In McCain’s case, the fact that lobbyists are essentially running his presidential campaign — most of them as volunteers — seems to some people to be at odds with his anti-lobbying rhetoric. “He has a closer relationship with lobbyists than he lets on,” said Melanie Sloan of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. “The problem for McCain being so closely associated with lobbyists is that he’s the candidate most closely associated with attacking lobbyists.”
Davis did not respond to requests for an interview. Black, acting as a campaign spokesman, said that Davis is being paid neither by his firm nor by the McCain campaign, and has not been a registered lobbyist for three years.
Schmidt and McKinnon said they remain with their firms, but are not lobbyists and have recused themselves from the issues of their clients in the McCain campaign. “I’ve never discussed a client issue with the candidate or his staff,” McKinnon said in an e-mail.
Campaign finance experts said employees of a company are allowed to volunteer for a campaign as long as they do so on their own time, or continue to perform the functions for which their employers are paying them…
The Senate has voted 31-67 on Dodd/Feingold’s amendment which means they will allow retroactive immunity to the Big Money Communication Companies that broke the law by wire-tapping us for Herr W. This was done by a Democratically led Senate even after a Republican led Senate dared not even try. That should tell you a lot about the scum who have been bought and now are leading the way to hide the criminality and enable even more, while lining their pockets for the next election to screw you over.
Democratic “Bought and Paid For” Senators:
Evan Bayh (IA), Tom Carper (DE), Kent Conrad (ND), Dianne Feinstein (CA), Daniel Inouye (HI), Tim Johnson (SD), Herb Kohl (WI), Mary Landrieu (LA), Blanche Lincoln (AR), Claire McCaskill (MO), Barbara Mikulski (MD), Ben Nelson (NE), Bill Nelson (FL), Mark Pryor (AR), Jay Rockefeller (WV), Ken Salazar (CO), Debbie Stabenow (MI), and Jim Webb (VA)
Remember them when it comes time to vote for either these Bush law-breaking enablers or real patriots. I am most surprised and dismayed by that last name.
Also note that Barack Obama took time off to vote against retroactive immunity, but the Big Money Gal, Hillary, dared not bother to vote against her coffers.
I hope she goes down in flames. Then we may end up with truly the least of all the offered evils.
My buddy Manila Ryce’s blog at The Largest Minority had a post by peacelf that mimcs how I feel about Mr Obama and his message of “change”.
What is different about him? Other than the flashy wording that Americans are want to hear. Is it really truth? Does he mean it?
America may be better off with Obama than any of the rest now participating, but not by much. And I agree with peacelf that America is likely in for a huge let down.
By peacelf
Published Tuesday, February 5th, 2008, 8:21 pm
Right now I’m going to challenge one of the sacred relics of the sixties. Here goes. I am not impressed with Maria Shriver, Caroline Kennedy, or Ted Kennedy’s support of Barack Obama. JFK is no hero.
The tragic death of JFK, notwithstanding, does not make a great president. JFK’s “greatness” is based on ‘could haves’ and ‘would haves,’ not on any real changes he proposed or made. Yes, he utilized lofty language in his speeches, but when it came right down to it, he balked at implementing the changes of the civil rights movement, he introduced [a]merica to a tiny nation in Southeast Asia called Vietnam and, oh yeah, saved us from the evil Soviet empire. Other than getting killed in front of a camera in a somewhat suspicious manner, JFK was still a sayer and not a doer. I can level that same charge against Barack Obama.
Obama’s lofty language of “change” and “working together” coupled with his popularity only suggests to me that the American people want to be hopeful, want to be inspired, want a leader who will listen to The People; but again, I’m afraid they will be sadly disappointed when that change does not occur. And, it will compound American anger, cynicism, and ultimately, their feelings of powerlessness about politicians making any significant changes.
Moreover, it won’t be because Obama lied to us. No, it’s clearly stated on his web site that he is part of the status quo in politics, that his ideas for change are no different than Hillary’s, McCain’s, and Romney’s. In other words, if people would look at Obama’s campaign issues with even a modicum of critical thinking, they would understand my point here: Obama is still part of the problem, not the solution for genuine progressive change.
Yet, this is the state of America-in-denial. We love the luxury of living in an empire, but feel guilty enough to select leaders who use moral and lofty language as a political expediency, as a way to assuage that guilt we all feel for shopping at Wal-Mart and living in relative luxury thanks to poor people around the world who work for us in sweat shops, rather than making the difficult choices to support candidates who will challenge who we are fundamentally as a nation and a people.
Yet, I have hope that someday love, compassion, and justice will prevail, not just in american politics, but in the will of the people. However, first, it must begin with so-called progressives and liberals who continually support the status quo encapsulated in candidates like Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.
If I were totally fiscally conservative, without many socially liberal attitudes I now have, I would like what Ron Paul says. Apparently many Americans agree.
But as I complain about how various outlets not normally considered as unbiased as Fox (CNN, MSNBC, etc) when they squash Dennis’ message and shield the public from truths they should be hearing… the right (Fox) does exactly the same…
There are anti-war messages from both sides that are intentionally being shut up. It couldn’t be more obvious.
From Black Box Voting Forum Bev Harris gives us an update on suspicious activity with the recount. Does one have to be a conspiracy theorist to look at these things and see discrepancy and problems and be suspicious to motive? Am I some “super-sleuth” to suspect wrong-doing?
No worries, say New Hampshire officials when cuts up to eight inches long are spotted in newly delivered ballot boxes. “The only seal that counts is the one on top.”
Except the seal on top can be peeled off without leaving a trace, then reaffixed.
Black Box Voting has been doing a chain of custody exam for the New Hampshire Primary’s recount. On Wednesday night, Election Defense Alliance’s Sally Castleman mentioned a troubling observation: After following the ballots back to the ballot vault following Wednesday’s recount, she had the opportunity to enter the ballot vault, and noticed what looked like cuts, or slits, in the side of many ballot boxes. New Hampshire officials assured us that these cuts, which slice through the tape and seals do not permit access to the uncounted ballots, pointing to a label on the boxtop which they call a seal.
But the “seal” can be removed, like a Post-it, and reaffixed. So it’s not a seal all!
We wanted to know if the ballot boxes were slit while in the vault, in the transport van, or came from the towns with slits in them.
I confirmed this morning that many if not most of the boxes scheduled to be counted today had slits in them. I went out when a vanload of ballots arrived, and saw that they were slit at the time they arrived by van. Susan Pynchon and I drove to two nearby towns and watched as they handed over their ballot boxes to “Butch and Hoppy”, the two men who drive around in the state in a van picking the ballots up. We observed as they loaded boxes of ballots into the van with no slits at all in them. We videotaped each of these up close. They arrived at the destination without slits. The label on the top was affixed, but in some cases was crumpled, or also damaged.
Of cource, the label affixed to the top can be removed and reattached without telltale signs.
No vault tonight
A significant departure from the normal chain of custody path occurred tonight. They decided not to use the vault to store the ballots.
NASHVILLE - On a bipartisan basis, the state House approved Thursday a resolution honoring Al Gore Jr. and his efforts to curb global warming.“We’re glad that Republicans have realized global warming is a real problem and we appreciate their support of our former vice president, Al Gore,” said House Majority Leader Gary Odom, D-Nashville, after the 97-0 vote.But House Republican Leader Jason Mumpower said he doesn’t see it that way. And, besides, it’s part of a deal because Odom agreed to go along with a similar resolution praising the late President Ronald Reagan when it is filed.“Let’s be honest about it. What is a resolution but a piece of paper with flowery words on it,” said Mumpower.
Contrary to resolutions that make a “position statement,” Mumpower said the Gore resolution “has no real meaning other than whatever meaning it has to him when he hangs it on his wall.”
“I don’t think our members are petty enough to nitpick about some resolution,” he said. “Whether you agree with him or disagree with him, Al Gore is a Tennessean who has achieved a level of success.”…
… The Gore resolution, HJR712, lavishes praise on the former vice president for three pages, then concludes with this statement:
“We hereby honor and congratulate vice president Albert Arnold ‘Al’ Gore Jr. on his receipt of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for his exemplary efforts to inform and educate the public and promote understanding of the threats posed by global warming and the measures needed to counteract such change.”…
(cont.)
Can you feel the love the ReTHUGlicans have for Mr Gore and his lifelong efforts?
I see that bipartisanship can never be with the neocon, hide-your-head-in-the-sand, bow to every Big Money directed party that has hijacked the Republicans. They are THUGS < no doubt.
Whether you like Mr Gore or not, to trivialize him with such statements is beyond bogus and may be petty, but certainly is politically motivated to lesson any significance or acknowledge (to any real degree) that there even MAY be a problem with the environment.
For when they do, they begin to lose their Big Money providers.
People, we MUST change the election system to ever be heard. Maybe we could even salvage some of the scum that now hold these offices, if they didn’t feel like they had to do what their coffers wanted… avoiding loss of contributions.
buelahman
lrose48
And it’s clear from Senator Obama’s campaign that he is not willing to tackle the white power structure - whether in the form of the corporate power structure or many of the super-rich - who are taking advantage of 100 million low income Americans who are suffering in poverty or near poverty.
