Since officials don’t listen here, we don’t bother to vote.

So it’s all good . . .

Right on target.

Check this link for probably the best overview of the e-voting fraud in Florida.

A negative 16,000 votes were recorded for Gore at 2 a.m. How does a voter cast a “negative” vote? This was clearly vote tampering and it was only noticed because it was so obvious. We have no idea of how much this was going on in smaller ways.

Would you get money out of an ATM that didn’t give you a receipt? Would you write a check from a bank that threw your check away so you had no proof that the 50 dollar check you wrote wasn’t really 50 thousand dollars?

This is what we do every time we vote on an electronic voting machine. We have no record that our vote counted or what we voted for.

If that doesn’t bother you, you’re not paying attention.

Hey Joe, I know it’s a bit, well, ‘reality-based’ and all, but the GAO (General Accounting Office) agrees with me, and not with you, that serious issues of fairness and credibility are associated with Diebold voting machines in particular, and with the American system of free and fair elections generally.

http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d05956.pdf

I know it’s going to be hard for you to slog through, since it has, you know, words and facts and stuff. But do try, if for no other reason than to prove me wrong when I call you ‘willfully ignorant.’

The other issue has to do with the 2005 election in Ohio. Three ballot measures intended to reform the state’s election system, Issues 2-5, were headed for comfortable victories on Election Day, according to pre-election polling by the Columbus Dispatch, whose accuracy in such polling has been described as ‘uncanny’.

Two of them were defeated by statistically impossible margins: the third was defeated by margin that was merely statistically ‘highly improbable.’ Here is the link:

http://www.freepress.org/departments/display/19/2005/1559

The takeaway line from the story is worth including here:

“And thus the possible explanations for the staggering defeats of Issues Two through Five boil down to two: either the Dispatch polling—dead accurate for Issue One—was wildly wrong beyond all possible statistical margin of error for Issues 2-5, or the electronic machines on which Ohio and much of the nation conduct their elections were hacked by someone wanting to change the vote count.”

If one has eyes to see, or the stomach to face it, it’s pretty clear that the validity of American elections is seriously in doubt. Two elections have now been stolen in Ohio.

Not that Joe Blow cares. The idea of freedom makes him so anxious that he can’t surrender it to the fascist GOP quickly enough.

And that goes for the rest of you who, because your party benefits from stealing elections, turn a blind eye or attack Democrats as does Joe Blow. Where fair elections are concerned, all Americans of good will ought to be able to move beyond partisanship.

Those who can’t aren’t good Americans. They’re ‘Good Germans.’

Agreed. Why should it matter to us, at all, what our adversaries say about us? Considering the pack of liars, thieves, and killers they’ve turned out to be, any criticisms from them counts as praise. And considering that it was Bush the Elder who created Karl Rove, and who perfected and benefitted from the attack politics of Rove and Lee Atwater, he’s as much to blame as anyone.

Moreover, considering that W’s poll numbers are so in the toilet that the administration is floating a 2006 Iraq withdrawal date, the idea that DEMOCRATS are the ones with everything to lose is laughable. Just laughable. I think a lot of folks want to see Democrats stand up and take the initiative. I know I do. You don’t win anyone over playing defense.

That said, my idea for the rally is to implore Papa Bush to exercise some fatherly wisdom/restraint over Junior: you know, kind of a Bush family ‘intervention.’ And if not that, then a bit of familial shame: “Poppy Bush, he’s YOUR son–do something!”

“One question worth asking though is why the Chamber of Commerce invites big name speakers as long as they are Republican.”

A one word answer should suffice: Duh!

One question worth asking though is why the Chamber of Commerce invites big name speakers as long as they are Republican.

To ‘win’ elections nowadays, evidently one has to own the Diebold machines.