Friday, November 19, 2004
Ohio: Vote suppression, vote creation
Ohio voters testified at hearings at an African-American church and a county courthouse to bear witness to intimidation, harassment, deception and extreme inconvenience designed to suppress the heavily Democratic African-American and student vote in Ohio.
Pacifica Radio recorded the church hearings. As I listened, I heard stories of students at Kenyon College waiting up to 12 hours to vote; voters, including the elderly, made to stand in line in the rain for hours; and people falsely being told that they could vote on Nov. 3 because of the long lines on the 2nd. Then there was one particularly tragic case in which a man suffered a medical emergency in his home, and his wife was not home to help him because she had to wait hours to vote; he died.
One particular cause for the extraordinarily long lines was often cited: an insufficient number of voting machines. The normal ratio of one machine per 100 voters in a precinct was routinely ignored in precincts that were expected to vote heavily Democratic. Based on the testimony of the witnesses, it appears that many of those precincts, had fewer than half the machines they needed.
While vote suppression was going on in some Ohio precincts, certain others in Cuyahoga County (Greater Cleveland) had more votes than voters! The article I posted on my web site about these extra votes has drawn fully a third of my hits this month so far. (And my total is on pace to be more than double the total I've had in my best month this year). Clearly, many people are interested in the phantom voters of Cuyahoga County.
Meanwhile, on November 11, the Associated Press reported that lawyers for the Kerry campaign were on a “fact-finding mission” in Ohio. According to the article, lawyer Dan Hoffheimer said the goal is to identify any voting problems and quell doubts about the legitimacy of the Ohio election being raised on the Internet.
Yes, Mr. Hoffheimer, three voting problems emerged in Ohio:
Pacifica Radio recorded the church hearings. As I listened, I heard stories of students at Kenyon College waiting up to 12 hours to vote; voters, including the elderly, made to stand in line in the rain for hours; and people falsely being told that they could vote on Nov. 3 because of the long lines on the 2nd. Then there was one particularly tragic case in which a man suffered a medical emergency in his home, and his wife was not home to help him because she had to wait hours to vote; he died.
One particular cause for the extraordinarily long lines was often cited: an insufficient number of voting machines. The normal ratio of one machine per 100 voters in a precinct was routinely ignored in precincts that were expected to vote heavily Democratic. Based on the testimony of the witnesses, it appears that many of those precincts, had fewer than half the machines they needed.
While vote suppression was going on in some Ohio precincts, certain others in Cuyahoga County (Greater Cleveland) had more votes than voters! The article I posted on my web site about these extra votes has drawn fully a third of my hits this month so far. (And my total is on pace to be more than double the total I've had in my best month this year). Clearly, many people are interested in the phantom voters of Cuyahoga County.
Meanwhile, on November 11, the Associated Press reported that lawyers for the Kerry campaign were on a “fact-finding mission” in Ohio. According to the article, lawyer Dan Hoffheimer said the goal is to identify any voting problems and quell doubts about the legitimacy of the Ohio election being raised on the Internet.
Yes, Mr. Hoffheimer, three voting problems emerged in Ohio:
1) Votes were suppressed;
2) votes were created out of thin air, or shall I say thin pixels; and
3) the apparent losing candidate thinks it's his job to quell doubts about the legitimacy of his opponent's possibly fraudulent victory.
Saturday, November 13, 2004
In Memoriam: Iris Chang, 1968-2004
I note with profound sadness the death of Iris Chang, of an apparent suicide, at the age of 36. Investigative journalist, author, historian, lecturer, activist and whistleblower, Chang is best known for her groundbreaking book, The Rape of Nanking, which called worldwide attention to the massacre, rape and torture of 300,000 Chinese at the hand of the Japanese army in 1937—arguably the worst, and still most unrecognized, war crime in world history.
Her other works include Thread of the Silkworm (chronicling China's missile program), and The Chinese in America (a history). Left unfinished was an investigation of American POWs under Japanese captivity in World War II.
Her legacy, and the heroic spirit evident across the body of her published works, will forever inspire and educate people of Chinese descent all over the world, and galvanize all who oppose tyranny in the struggle for a better world.
I salute you, Iris. Rest in peace.
Her other works include Thread of the Silkworm (chronicling China's missile program), and The Chinese in America (a history). Left unfinished was an investigation of American POWs under Japanese captivity in World War II.
Her legacy, and the heroic spirit evident across the body of her published works, will forever inspire and educate people of Chinese descent all over the world, and galvanize all who oppose tyranny in the struggle for a better world.
I salute you, Iris. Rest in peace.
Tuesday, November 02, 2004
Hell, not "help", is on the way
Following up on my just-published article (See "The 'Make Us Safe Believers: Enabling Their Own March In Fascism"), I must note with alarm how the violence of the Kerry-Edwards and Democratic Party war rhetoric -- not less vicious and murder-filled than what is coming out of Bush-Cheney-Rove -- has become acceptable pop culture and water-cooler conversation.
It is just one more toxic legacy of 9/11 that any president of the United States, or presidential candidate, can shout about how he will "kill" terrorists and not even bother to hide their war crimes and mass murder plans beneath noble language. Dem/Kerrycrats are not blanching in horror, but happily going along.
We hear the Kerry falsehoods repeated all the time now. "The world was united after 9/11". No, it was not. (In shock and ignorance, perhaps.) Nothing in history has been more divisive, more callously so. "Iraq was a diversion from the real 'war on terrorism' -- IN AFGHANISTAN!!" So, the bombing, invasion, occupation and militarization of Afghanistan, and the slaughter of thousands of innocent Afhgans (in the name of a crime committed by operatives of the Bush administration), the installment of a US-CIA puppet regime, anarchy, the seizure of resource reserves, and the re-establishment of the opium/heroin trafficking was "all good"?
In all the worst ways, the neoliberal faction is, under the "anti-Bush" cover, trying to get people -- everyone -- back to the mindset of September 12, 2001: numbed, out of it, enraged about "foreigners", and applauding preemptive, presumptive war.
This morning, Senator Bob Kerrey appeared on two radio programs on the Soros-funded Dem/Kerrycrat stronghold, Air America Radio, to address the latest bin Laden videotape.
It is sickening enough the way this tape has been immediately accepted as authentic, and the bin Laden accepted as both real and true to the "war on terrorism" myth. No questions asked about who or what "bin Laden" really is, al Qaeda/Bin Laden's CIA history, confirmed reports of bin Laden's July 2001 stay in a US hospital in Dubai (where he was visited by CIA agents), or bin Laden's hospitalization in Pakistan (on 9/10/01).
Kerrey, one of the leading cover-up liars of the 9/11 Commission, and a Phoenix Program war criminal, spoke of how "we have to respond violently." Liars, issuing policy statements in response to a possible fabrication featuring a propaganda image. Kerrey also gloated about the success of "globalism" all over the world, promising that a Kerry presidency would deliver it. The Kerrycrats cheered.
In mere hours, we will see about the (s)election. We are in trouble, either way.
What will a lame duck Bush adminstration do in its final two months at the controls? What violent neocon rampage would Bush-Cheney engineer? Who will Bush pardon? Himself and his entire administration?
What hell would Bush, another (s)election stolen, give the world with another four years?
It is just one more toxic legacy of 9/11 that any president of the United States, or presidential candidate, can shout about how he will "kill" terrorists and not even bother to hide their war crimes and mass murder plans beneath noble language. Dem/Kerrycrats are not blanching in horror, but happily going along.
We hear the Kerry falsehoods repeated all the time now. "The world was united after 9/11". No, it was not. (In shock and ignorance, perhaps.) Nothing in history has been more divisive, more callously so. "Iraq was a diversion from the real 'war on terrorism' -- IN AFGHANISTAN!!" So, the bombing, invasion, occupation and militarization of Afghanistan, and the slaughter of thousands of innocent Afhgans (in the name of a crime committed by operatives of the Bush administration), the installment of a US-CIA puppet regime, anarchy, the seizure of resource reserves, and the re-establishment of the opium/heroin trafficking was "all good"?
In all the worst ways, the neoliberal faction is, under the "anti-Bush" cover, trying to get people -- everyone -- back to the mindset of September 12, 2001: numbed, out of it, enraged about "foreigners", and applauding preemptive, presumptive war.
This morning, Senator Bob Kerrey appeared on two radio programs on the Soros-funded Dem/Kerrycrat stronghold, Air America Radio, to address the latest bin Laden videotape.
It is sickening enough the way this tape has been immediately accepted as authentic, and the bin Laden accepted as both real and true to the "war on terrorism" myth. No questions asked about who or what "bin Laden" really is, al Qaeda/Bin Laden's CIA history, confirmed reports of bin Laden's July 2001 stay in a US hospital in Dubai (where he was visited by CIA agents), or bin Laden's hospitalization in Pakistan (on 9/10/01).
Kerrey, one of the leading cover-up liars of the 9/11 Commission, and a Phoenix Program war criminal, spoke of how "we have to respond violently." Liars, issuing policy statements in response to a possible fabrication featuring a propaganda image. Kerrey also gloated about the success of "globalism" all over the world, promising that a Kerry presidency would deliver it. The Kerrycrats cheered.
In mere hours, we will see about the (s)election. We are in trouble, either way.
What will a lame duck Bush adminstration do in its final two months at the controls? What violent neocon rampage would Bush-Cheney engineer? Who will Bush pardon? Himself and his entire administration?
What hell would Bush, another (s)election stolen, give the world with another four years?
Monday, November 01, 2004
Journalist arrested in Palm Beach, Fla., for photographing queue of voters on street
On Friday, outgoing Palm Beach County Elections Supervisor Teresa LePore (she of the infamous 2000 butterfly ballot) issued an edict, in contravention of the First Amendment, decreeing journalists could not interview or photograph voters while they were in lines outside the polls.
Yesterday, well-known investigative journalist James B. Henry was chased, tackled, punched, handcuffed and arrested by Sheriff's Deputy Al Cinque for photographing some voters in a line of about 600 waiting on the street outside the elections headquarters. Henry was charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest without violence, and jailed on $500 bond.
In addition to the early voters, the incident was witnessed by a Palm Beach Post reporter and British reporter Marcus Warren of the London Daily Telegraph.
Upon hearing of the incident, the Post reported that Leon County Elections Supervisor Ion Sancho “called restricting reporters and photographers on public sidewalks outside polling places ‘an outrage. I'm shocked. The First Amendment right to be there is absolute.
"'Outside our early voting place we had Japanese journalists, the BBC, all kinds of reporters and photographers,' added Sancho, who is based in Tallahassee. ‘It's a public place, a public sidewalk. There is no statute, no law that can take away your right to talk to someone who is willing on a public sidewalk as long as no one is obstructing or interfering.'"
According to the Post, “Howard Simon, executive director of the Florida chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, also called Henry's arrest an outrage. ‘Where did Theresa LePore get the authority to criminalize activities protected by the First Amendment?'"
Where, indeed. In case no one has noticed, Florida officials tend to make up laws whenever they wish.
The Post noted that it “and other newspapers and television stations had previously interviewed and photographed voters in line without incident since early voting began Oct. 18. LePore did not mention any new restrictions on interviews and photographs during a meeting with news media representatives Friday.”
Yesterday, well-known investigative journalist James B. Henry was chased, tackled, punched, handcuffed and arrested by Sheriff's Deputy Al Cinque for photographing some voters in a line of about 600 waiting on the street outside the elections headquarters. Henry was charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest without violence, and jailed on $500 bond.
In addition to the early voters, the incident was witnessed by a Palm Beach Post reporter and British reporter Marcus Warren of the London Daily Telegraph.
Upon hearing of the incident, the Post reported that Leon County Elections Supervisor Ion Sancho “called restricting reporters and photographers on public sidewalks outside polling places ‘an outrage. I'm shocked. The First Amendment right to be there is absolute.
"'Outside our early voting place we had Japanese journalists, the BBC, all kinds of reporters and photographers,' added Sancho, who is based in Tallahassee. ‘It's a public place, a public sidewalk. There is no statute, no law that can take away your right to talk to someone who is willing on a public sidewalk as long as no one is obstructing or interfering.'"
According to the Post, “Howard Simon, executive director of the Florida chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, also called Henry's arrest an outrage. ‘Where did Theresa LePore get the authority to criminalize activities protected by the First Amendment?'"
Where, indeed. In case no one has noticed, Florida officials tend to make up laws whenever they wish.
The Post noted that it “and other newspapers and television stations had previously interviewed and photographed voters in line without incident since early voting began Oct. 18. LePore did not mention any new restrictions on interviews and photographs during a meeting with news media representatives Friday.”
Azzam & bin Laden videos exposed?
Clues on "Azzam the American" and the electronic logos
(INN World Report, Oct. 31)
“Why did the CIA not verify the contains the tape's authenticity of Azzam the American, which containes a logo of "an al-Qaida production group", but "approved" Bin Laden's video, which had the same logo?”
Terrorism: Tale of the Tape
(Newsweek. Nov. 8 issue)
“It was the second alarming tape to air within a week. On Thursday, ABC broadcast footage of an angry, fluent-English speaker called Azzam the American threatening that U.S. streets would run with blood. Some investigators think that Azzam could be a Southern Californian named Adam Gadahn, an American convert to Islam, who has been the focus of terror warnings since May. (The tape had an electronic logo burned into the bottom of the image—the same logo that appeared on the bin Laden tape and on other Qaeda videos, NEWSWEEK has learned.)”
(INN World Report, Oct. 31)
“Why did the CIA not verify the contains the tape's authenticity of Azzam the American, which containes a logo of "an al-Qaida production group", but "approved" Bin Laden's video, which had the same logo?”
Terrorism: Tale of the Tape
(Newsweek. Nov. 8 issue)
“It was the second alarming tape to air within a week. On Thursday, ABC broadcast footage of an angry, fluent-English speaker called Azzam the American threatening that U.S. streets would run with blood. Some investigators think that Azzam could be a Southern Californian named Adam Gadahn, an American convert to Islam, who has been the focus of terror warnings since May. (The tape had an electronic logo burned into the bottom of the image—the same logo that appeared on the bin Laden tape and on other Qaeda videos, NEWSWEEK has learned.)”
