Bademus's Weblog

The Theft of 2008

bademus — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 05:32:21 +0000

Please watch this report from the BBC Newsnight journalist Greg Palast titled The Theft of 2008. At the beginning of the video a BBC anchor states that he was told by a Republican campaign staffer that it is “inevitable that his people would contest any Democratic victory”. In the video Palast reports on the voter fraud/voter suppression claims of both parties as the 2008 election enters it’s last two weeks. Part 1 examines both side’s claims of voter fraud and voter suppression along with a report on voters in NM finding out they were purged from the rolls and voters in MI that may be challenged at the polls based on their receiving foreclosure notices.

Part 2 takes a look at the king of the Michigan foreclosure business, Trott & Trott, and notes that the McCain campaign shares office space with their foreclosure operation. It also examines a bi-partisan report on election practices in the 2004 election. The report found the GOP fears of voter fraud were unfounded and that qualified voters were denied their vote by suppression tactics, but those findings were altered by the Bush administration prior to release. There is also a statement from a US attorney who was fired by the Bush administration for not finding any prosecutable cases of voter fraud. Voter fraud claims are used as justification to implement suppression methods that can disenfranchise voters in large numbers.

Members of the Republican party are waging a campaign of misinformation regarding voter registration fraud and it’s effect on our elections as they did in 2004. We know that some paid staff of various organizations turned in fake registrations to plump the results of their efforts, but these registrations won’t be verified and will not wind up on the rolls as registered voters. By raising alarm over this the Republicans are setting the stage to challenge the registrations of American citizens by the thousands, denying many their right to vote. At last weeks debate John McCain stated that Acorn, who reported that some of the registrations they collected were probably fake, “is now on the verge of maybe perpetrating one of the greatest frauds in voter history … maybe destroying the fabric of democracy.” To date cases of fraudulent voter registrations have rarely been followed by evidence of people actually casting an illegal vote. In reality what could destroy the fabric of democracy is denying the right to vote to portions of the citizenry. These efforts are focused heavily on poor and minority areas, those which tend to vote democratic. If we continue to disenfranchise enough of them to swing elections to the GOP and that party also stacks the Justice Department with prosecutors that favor their agenda we will no longer be a full democracy. We must turn out in large enough numbers to counteract any suppression efforts that await us. Please encourage all you know to get to the polls!

Voter Suppression Efforts 2008

bademus — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 06:58:07 +0000

Recently there have been numerous efforts by the GOP to disqualify/confuse/delay voters in many states, particularly swing states and focusing on areas known to vote heavily democratic. Here is a new one to add to the list. The McCain campaign co-Chair in Wisconsin, WI Attorney General JB Van Hollen, has filed a suit to go back and cross-check all voters registered since Jan 1, 2006 in the county that includes Madison. There is an article about it here http://www.madison.com/tct/news/304606. It would be one thing if this was requested a few months ago but to have it happen now will create a great deal of confusion amongst voters and delays at the polls. There is also a comment by a WI resident mentioning mail he and his wife received asking for them to verify their birth date for voter registration rolls even though they’ve been registered for 25 years and lived in the same place for 15. That could be a separate caging effort which is also taking place in many states.

Caging is when you send a first class mailer to residents requesting return to sender. Recipients of those that get returned for any reason are added to a list and those voters are challenged at the polls to prove their address. This dissuades voters and backs up lines. It has been done increasingly in recent elections by Republicans. It’s how close elections are stolen. There is a massive effort going on in Ohio that looks like caging:
http://www.truthout.org/article/nearly-600000-voters-subject-possible-caging-ohio.

In Michigan a GOP member admitted to gathering lists of people foreclosed upon to challenge them at the polls, even though it can take months to actually move after foreclosure and it may never go through. Even if people in MI move after being foreclosed upon they can still vote for 60 days at their old precinct. But all those people will be challenged at the polls by the GOP. The efforts are targeted at areas that are known to vote heavily Democratic like minority neighborhoods. So if you’ve lost your home you may loose your vote too. http://www.michiganmessenger.com/4076/lose-your-house-lose-your-vote

In Virginia the county that contains Virginia Tech has erroneously warned students that if they register to vote at their current residences they may be denied their benefits:
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2008/09/03/voting

The McCain camp is sending out intentionally confusing absentee ballot request forms in several states, not just Ohio. The forms are intentionally confusing and in some cases the return address is incorrect. It seems the intent is to get the recipients to cast their votes such that they can be invalidated by sending them off to the wrong district or even the wrong state. This is now happening in 11 states http://blackboxvoting.com/s9/index.php?/archives/280-McCains-Absentee-Ballot-Mailer-Fiasco-Spreads-Could-Disqualify-Some-Voters.html

People must be aware that these things are taking place.

Is McCain a Warmonger?

bademus — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 06:47:41 +0000

Bush & McCain, Aren’t They Cute Together?

bademus — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 07:32:09 +0000

The Brooks Article: Point by Point Rebuttal

bademus — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 07:29:18 +0000

Perhaps I’m a day or two late with this but since I just received a link to the David Brooks article from a friend and wrote up a rebuttal in reply I thought I’d post it here as well. In response to David Brooks I say:

- On voting present: This is something that is an option in IL but not
most other states. It is a common practice to vote present on a bill
that you think is ultimately unconstitutional or in general is OK but
has specific provisions that you don’t agree with. For example if the
main point is something you agree with but the writing of the bill
pushes in some added provision that is objectionable then the strategy
is to vote present because you don’t agree with it on a whole but don’t
want to vote against it since the major aspect of it is a position you
agree with. In 8 years he voted present 128 times, out of thousands of
votes. It’s a criticism that is always waged against an IL politician
because they always have present votes on their record since its the
way they do it there.

- On throwing Rev. Wright under the bus: Ridiculous. He went on the
national stage during the height of the Rev. Wright continuous coverage
and explicitly did not throw him under the bus even though it was very
risky to do that. It was only until later, when Rev. Wright came out
and in a display of extreme narcissism held a press conference where he
totally embarrassed himself and Obama. It was an act that appeared
intended to hurt Obama and was arranged by a devout Clinton
supporter. I’d have done the same thing – he was dissed big time after
going out on a limb.

- Could have been a workhorse senator: Why stay in the senate if you
have a serious shot at the presidency? His time is now and because of that he won the
nomination. He will get more done in the Whitehouse than he can as one
member of the senate.

- On townhall meetings: Obama has expressed an interest in doing them
and may well do some open debates like that with McCain. He won’t do
it on McCain’s timetable and shouldn’t. He shouldn’t let McCain
dictate the way Obama’s campaign will go. McCain wanted to do 10 of
them in 10 weeks – Obama shouldn’t just jump on and say OK dude,
whatever you say.

- On public financing: Obama’s campaign is financed in large part by
ordinary citizens contributing small amounts, he is financed by the
public in that sense. Also how much support does public financing
enjoy amongst the American people? Only about 1% check that little box
on their tax return to contribute to presidential races. Obama does
have a fundraising advantage and doesn’t want to give that up. I am
100% certain that McCain would do the same. McCain has flip-flopped on
this issue in the past. Personally I enjoy the
opportunity to contribute to the Obama campaign and feel like my small
contribution actually means something.

Another point on the financing is that currently Obama is at a
disadvantage with media coverage. The media is very hard on Obama yet
we hardly hear about these sorts of things:

-McCain’s long list of flip-flops (torture, abortion rights, offshore drilling, ethanol, gay marriage, 100 years in Iraq)

-His direct misrepresentations with regard to how things are in Iraq
(e.g. the “flack jacket” lie – on video and worse that Hillary’s Tuzla
yet unexamined).

-Nobody asks McCain why he won’t release his military record.

-Nobody asks why they won’t release Cindy’s tax returns even though it
is the vast majority of their income, could there be conflicts of
interest?,

-Why did he intervene and support the Pentagon’s awarding the air
tanker contract to a foreign firm as opposed to Boeing which will send
many jobs oversees and outsource the building of our military
equipment? BTW the man who lobbied for Northrop Grumman, the firm that
won the contract was the director of McCain’s campaign finance committee
until that was exposed and he had to get rid of him.

Obama needs to use his funds just to compete with the unbalanced media coverage.

Cross posted here

Trotta’s Assasination Comment Outrage: Stand Up And Be Heard

bademus — Mon, 26 May 2008 16:42:23 +0000

On Fox News this weekend contributor Liz Trotta openly and laughingly wished for the assassination of US Sen. Barack Obama. In discussing Hillary’s Friday remarks referencing the assassination of RFK in June Trotta says

And now we have what, uh, some are reading as a suggestion that somebody knock off Osama, um uh, Obama, well both if we could (laughs)

Where am I living? How is this in any way acceptable in our country? This is our mainstream media, albeit with a right-wing bias, and they are publicly musing about the murder of a high ranking member of the US Government and a presidential front runner. Exactly what empowers these people to assume that a statement like this in any way or under any circumstance appropriate?

I am outraged that anyone would assume that they have a significant audience for airing this type of thought on television. I cannot even imagine hearing that in someone’s living room. This is way beyond unacceptable and it’s way beyond just complaining to Fox News. I strongly urge you to file a complaint with the FCC. You can go to the form for a general media complaint by clicking here. It is a brief form and will only take a minute or two to fill out. We have to speak out and let it be known that as a people we have standards and we will not stand for this type of callous and sinister message to be perpetuated over our media channels. Here also is a petition to sign calling for Ms. Trotta’s resignation. I also urge you to sign the petition. You can make a complaint to Fox News at here and/or by calling 888-369-4762. To send a comment to the US Secret Service Office of Government and Public Affairs go to here. I suggested she be questioned and that they should investigate to determine whether any criminal negligence took place. Our media should be held to even higher standards than our citizens based upon the audience they have and their ability to influence them.

Enough with this already. It’s time for us to stand up and be heard.

Cross posted at TPM

Obama Girl’s Got Competition

bademus — Sun, 25 May 2008 19:40:34 +0000

The Bush McCain Challenge

bademus — Thu, 22 May 2008 06:44:52 +0000

Coke, or Pepsi?

Meet Brian Schweitzer

bademus — Mon, 19 May 2008 08:00:52 +0000

Like many Obama supporters I’ve been entertaining myself by tossing around VP ideas. The person Obama runs with should bring qualities to the table that serve to round out his candidacy. Things like executive and/or military experience come to mind. Also an appeal to the regular, working class folks would help counter the “elitist” misnomer. A woman candidate would appeal to the die hard Hillary feminists. Several names are being thrown around as VP hopefuls, all of which have some of the qualities above. Upon looking a little closer a firecracker of a guy popped out at me.

Gov. Schweitzer (D. MT) is an intriguing character. Although the state doesn’t bring much for electoral votes Schweitzer is popular in the mountain west and represents a new breed of Democrat that is rising there. He has a folksy and authentic appeal. Mark Sundeen writes for NYT in 2006:

As soon as Schweitzer was elected in 2004 — the same night that George W. Bush carried Montana by 20 percentage points — pundits began declaring him the future of the Democratic Party…………No fewer than four recent books by Democratic strategists have mentioned Schweitzer as the kind of guy Democrats need to win back rural America.

Several of Gov. Schweitzer’s positions dovetail nicely with Obama’s. He didn’t take any PAC money for his campaign and enjoys going toe-to-toe with lobbyists. He also spoke out against the war from the start. Other qualities round out the package. He’s more of a centrist and as an executive has a track record of lowering taxes while building a surplus. He opposes gun control while being a strong proponent of alternate fuel sources. And he reached across the isle by choosing a Republican as his running mate.

And then there’s the intangible. He’s just plain likeable, campaigns well and doesn’t take any crap. He cut’s to the chase and speaks in terms the sound bite crowd responds to.

“Schweitzer has the ability to reduce a complicated issue to a few sharp lines, reframing it with themes of patriotism and underdog know-how” says Sundeen. When asked if he was sufficiently tested in his first session Schweitzer told the reporter

It was my first day on the job, and I was working with lobbyists and legislators who’d been there for years. We had a State Assembly that was deadlocked. But I pushed through the most progressive legislative agenda in the country. It was not easy. I took on the lobbyists. I wrestled them to the ground, and now I’m kicking them in the ribs.

There’s another quality he has that brings to mind Obama. From the article:

“I’m just a rancher who ended up governor of Montana,” he likes to say. But Schweitzer is not a politician only in the sense that the young Cassius Clay was not a boxer; by the time his opponent realized he’d been hit, he was already on the mat.

Take a look for yourself, I think your gonna like this guy.

Cross posted here