Selection 2004: Tracking the Fraud So YOU Don't Have To!

Note: There are now too many problems to track. A good place to begin would be at Voters Unite. Good luck to everyone and may the Deity(ies) of your choice watch over all of us.

I don't see how the election will possibly be decided anytime in the month of November given all of the information below. Wait, there are a couple of ways. First, the elections could simply be cancelled. I've been surprised we haven't had a vicious trrrrssst attack already.

Secondly, if the Republicans win, and the Dems even think about challenging, you will see some of the most vicious political maneuvering (and a few assassinations, I imagine) we've ever seen. The Dems will be painted as unAmerican, as subverting Democracy or, worse, as SORE LOSERS. I see nothing in Kerry or the current Democratic leadership that would be able to withstand such a barrage.

There will be plenty of evidence of fraud. It's already going on, especially in Florida and Ohio. In fact, a lot of that stuff should be challenged now, before the election. I don't know if such challenges are happening.

Here are the several common themes:

1. Absentee ballots disappearing or absentee voters being challenged.

2. Plans for so many challenges in heavily Democratic areas that voting will be slowed and voters discouraged from voting.

3. Fake voter registration companies (Sproul and Associates) registering Dems and then tossing the forms.

4. Confusing ballots (see last entry in Ohio section for example).

5. Last minute changes of voting precincts.

7. Pre-election challenges by race. Yep. See Georgia for an example. If your name is Hernandez, you might want to bring a passport along. Unless you are in Florida. For some reason, Hispanic voters in Florida were not affected by the fake "felon purges" that so many African-Americans have fallen victim to. I guess Florida is simply sensitive to the rights of Latinos, or maybe it's because the Cuban American community in Florida is extremely rightwing and votes Republican. No, that couldn't be it. Must be sensitivity.

6. And, of course, electronic voting machines that, despite the advice of every human ever consulted on the matter, have no backup paper trail in the event of a recount. That's right, in the tightest race since, well 2000, many, many precincts will not be able to do a recount. Oh sure, they can ask the computer to spit out another report, but there's no way to make sure that the button pushed by the voter was the one recorded by the machine.

Wheeeee, what fun!

Overall Picture

Good report from the NAACP. link

Attempts at voter suppression are summarized. here It's mostly Florida, but scroll down for other states.

Krugman on Sproule and Associates' multi-state effort to screw non-Republican voters. link

Gonna be a looooong night on Nov. 2. link

Slate comes up with five handy ways the '04 elections could be a total disaster. link

General problems noted in swing states. link

More on Sproule and Associates voter registration eating drive. link

The Art of Stealing Elections. THE REPUBLICANS are out to steal the 2004 election -- before, during, and after Election Day. Before Election Day, they are employing such dirty tricks as improper purges of voter rolls, use of dummy registration groups that tear up Democratic registrations, and the suppression of Democratic efforts to sign up voters, especially blacks and students. link

Early problems with early voting. link

Summary of incompetence/abuse in several states. link

Why are the best overall articles on the elections in the U.S. in the FOREIGN press. UK Independent on a country bordering on a nervous breakdown. link

Alabama

Let me start this first state by saying I'm posting twice a day. So far, I've yet to do any of my own research...these are just the ones I'm finding on a few common websites and I'm still having trouble keeping up.

Now, on to Alabama. Things are so bad there, no one knows HOW MANY people are actually registered to vote and the director of the state election office resigned complaining of "harrassment". link

Colorado

Colarado a huge mess. link

Florida

Just because there are 58,000 missing absentee ballots doesn't mean...oh, yeah, it probably does mean..... link

Gore remembers to fight back, this time! Warns of "epidemic" voter suppression efforts in Florida. Too bad you didn't think of this tactic four years ago. link


UK Guardian examines sad state of affairs in Florida. A note to unwary voters, you can't vote by telephone, so have a nice loud whistle ready and when someone calls to say you CAN vote by phone, blow it REAL LOUD! link

Guardian on Florida again. How DARE you live in a precinct that changed! link

Computer voting problems in Broward County...go figure. link

Jeb, tell me again, exactly WHY you don't want a paper trail when people vote? That way, if there is a recount, you could simply go back and count the...oh nevermind. link

Oh, you'll take my absentee ballot for me? That is so nice of you, dear. link

Private investigation firm hired to videotape early voters in a heavily black voting district. link

Mass effort to challenge (intimidate) voters in Florida. Investigative stud Greg Palast. You can watch the BBC Newsnight story on this starting Oct. 27, or so the website says. link

Georgia

GOP tries to outlaw VWH...Voting While Hispanic. This is a radio report. The basic idea is that in a town in Georgia, a Republican challenged virtually every Hispanic voter's eligibility to vote. All are ordered to attend a meeting on Oct. 28th or lose their voting right. link

Hawaii

ES&S fights to control Hawaii vote. Note: Hawaii will be the last state to complete voting...possibly deciding a tie. link

Iowa

Better call to see if you are actually registered, Iowans! link

North Carolina

Not many details yet, but fairly large numbers involved in these registration "irregularities". link

Ohio

Voters receive phone calls informing them that their polling place has been changed. Obviously, it's a scam. link

Republican Brownshirts to intimidate voters. Okay, that's not how THEY put it....they are just protecting the integrity of the vote, which, we learned four years ago, means making sure they don't count. Keep in mind that higher turnouts are expected to benefit Democrats, so efforts to suppress that turnout make sense if you are a Republican. link

Those of you who have home versions of the game can go ahead and color Ohio red for Bush. The fraud there is extremely thorough. link

Nevada

Judge: Just because Dems have their voter registrations torn up is no reason to reopen voter registration. link

Pennsylvania

Sproul and Associates strike again. Workers told to dump voter registration forms from Democrats. link

GOP challenges validity of 35,000 newly registered voters. link

GOP strategy in Philly? Keep (Black) voter turnout low. link

People for the American Way warn of GOP intimidation tactics for election day. link

South Dakota

Several notaries indicted for signing off on absentee ballots without seeing the voter actually sign them. The notaries were all Republicans. link

Tennessee

This is a summary and has links to our local media about an obvious Republican dirty trick. They put out inflammatory and offensive "anti-Bush" flyers and tried to pin it on a local candidate. link

Wisconsin

Milwaukee denied enough ballots to handle expected number of newly registered voters. Voters can register on the same day they vote in Wisconsin (communists!), so the need for enough extra ballots is clear in this hotly contested Presidential election. link

Please don't kill me, Mike Ruppert.

Sure, he wants input from "religious leaders." And sure, he wants the plan arrived at through a democratic process that would make Jefferson proud. But should we not be somewhat disturbed the Mike Ruppert wants the plan in question to be a process of "population reduction."

Now before you read this, which I have copied in its entirety from his site, so that in the unlikely event he reads this site he can't complain about lack of context, please understand this. When Ruppert talks about population reduction he's not talking about aggressive birth control. Note that he does not deny the premise of the question, that he is talking about eradicating segments of the population, only that he has a specific plan to do so. Are his readers aware of this aspect of his thinking? My only suggestion is that he put himself at the top of the eradication list. After he's gone, we'll all engage in a democratic process to see if we want to continue or just call it a day. Here's the segment that discusses genocide as salvation and here is the linkto the full article.

1) POPULATION REDUCTION: "You are quoted as saying that you would like "to stop global population growth and to arrive at the best possible and most ethical program of population reduction."

Question: Do you have a specific program in mind to achieve this goal? Who do you feel should be in charge of it - someone like the Rockefeller family, who has a history of such endeavors via their eugenics programs? In your opinion, how many people should be eliminated? And finally, what "ethical" criteria do you suggest using to determine who is eradicated?"

ANSWER: No I do not. But I am certain that the Neocons and Neolibs do have a plan. That's what frightens me so much.

If there is a man who sees a horrible train wreck about to happen, and attempts with all his energy to warn people that the train wreck is coming and many lives may be lost (more than need be), does that mean that he is responsible for causing the train wreck? Does it mean that he likes or enjoys train wrecks; that he wants the train wreck to happen?

I have no list of people who should be in charge of this. Everyone should have a say. I have suggested that such an endeavor might best include people of more humane vocations than those of the economists, politicians, and financiers who are currently in charge of most domestic and international institutions. I have never said anywhere that there was a specific group of organizations or people who should run this. I have listed philosophies and disciplines that ought to be included in an effort to avoid the sort of draconian disaster that now seems likely.

In my view, people like the Rockefellers (with whose appalling research on eugenics I am quite familiar), should not have a say, nor should the lunatics currently running the country.

To be ethical in the face of an inevitable disaster, the entire human community will have to share useful information as equably as is humanly possible. I believe that is called democracy. Fully feasible or not, it seems to me the only ideal worthy of pursuit, whether in times of relative stability or of unprecedented danger.

I have never had any other position.

Here is just one example of what is happening as Peak Oil makes itself known. It is a good model for many of the other decisions now being made by some members of powerful elite circles, without the knowledge or assent of the non-elite majority (who depend for our survival upon the same scarce resources).

In Nantucket, home to some of the wealthiest families on the planet, including Martha's Vineyard, a taxpayer-funded wind farm is being constructed with funding from the poorer tax bases surrounding this ultra-wealthy enclave. The problem is (and FTW has just begun an in-depth investigation of developments like this around the country), the wind farm itself will supply only enough energy for the rich folks while being paid for with middle and lower-class tax dollars. Roughly translated, the rich folks will be warm and have electricity while the middle and lower classes freeze and go dark after losing financial resources they needed to protect themselves. (Source: Boston.com, 9/27). We have already begun our investigation and come up with very some disturbing answers on these developments. We will be doing a large investigative series on this sometime in the next few months.

My point is, as it is with any proposed solution to the planetary carrying-capacity train wreck, is that everyone should have a fully-informed say in the discussions and, let us hope, in their outcomes. Ultimately, this will involve spiritual questions; hence I think that spiritual leaders chosen by various peoples should have input because that is how you get real ethics inserted into the discussions. Or do you advocate making these tough decisions solely on the basis of money, property and prestige? I advocate no particular religion of any kind (never have). But spiritual leaders, chosen by the people affected should be involved in the discussions and solutions so that broader ethical and moral considerations will be included.

Of course, history is rife with episodes in which clerical leaders - whether in the red robes of a cardinal, the black robes of an Imam, or the white lab coat of a scientist - abused their authority and their charisma, escalating the harm they were called upon to diminish. The present moment is at least as burdened with such characters as previous centuries have been. But the particular possibility we all deplore - a repetition of the professionalized, bureaucratic, technologically efficient horror of the Nazi period - is surely more likely to occur under the advisory leadership of, say, Dick Cheney, Paul Wolfowitz, Ariel Sharon, and Porter Goss than that of, say, Helen Caldecott, Ramsey Clark, the Dalai Lama, and Dick Gregory. These are just names plucked from the air, chosen to illustrate the point.

I do not have an answer or a plan. I want all the people to come up with a plan, the way Thom Paine and Jefferson would have wanted.

I agree with Matt Simmons: "There is no (public) Plan B." It is the "secret" Plan B which scares the bejeesus out of me and should also scare you; especially since the secret plan appears to involve the development and deployment of gene-specific bioweapons, enforced starvation, and possibly nuclear war.

I don't advocate any of these options. I am trying to prevent them.

Any reader of my publication From The Wilderness or my book Crossing the Rubicon will see that clearly. The book is my fullest answer on this point.

If one advocates a policy of genocide, I'm not sure why these options listed at the end are any worse than any others. Nuclear war would be somewhat democratic. In fact, it's the best option, because the rich nations would bomb each other and maybe, just maybe, the poorer, non-nuclear nations might survive.

But I think a better idea might be to COME UP WITH A PLAN THAT DOES NOT INVOLVE DEMOCRATIC GENOCIDE, WHATEVER THE HELL THAT MIGHT BE. I don't know, maybe I'm just old fashioned.

Meanwhile, please warn anyone you know that this guy is dangerous, deranged or both. I'm not qualified to address the idea of peak oil, but I'm pretty sure, as a human who might come out on the short end of the democratic stick when it comes time to pick the sacrifice victims, that I have some expertise in opposing genocide. Please don't kill me, Mr. Ruppert, even if the majority thinks it's a good idea. Thanks.

Saddam will be with him soon

This is a news report saying Saddam Hussein's former right-hand man Tariq Aziz has died in custody. No details so far, but I'm pretty sure Saddam himself will follow. I can't imagine they would let him come to trial. They are incompetent, but not THAT incompetent. The preliminary trial for Saddam was tightly controlled but a long drawn out affair will surely be full of leaks, allowing the embarrassing story of the real U.S. relationship to Saddam pre-1991 to come to light.

Terrrrrrssts right here in Nashville!

The following article from our local paper details the arrest of Ahmed al-Uqaily, an Iraqi born man active in the local peace movement here. First, the article:

Suspect planned to 'go jihad,' friend said

By ROB JOHNSON
Staff Writer

Tip leads to Iraqi native's arrest here in weapons sting

For almost three months, law-enforcement agents have kept a close eye on an Iraqi-born man they say was scheming to purchase machine guns, hand grenades and anti-tank missiles as part of a plan to ''go jihad'' in Nashville.

Ahmed Hassan Al-Uqaily, 33, made his initial appearance yesterday before U.S. Magistrate Clifton Knowles to face federal charges of illegal possession of machine guns. He was taken into custody Thursday after allegedly accepting the guns from someone he thought was a weapons dealer. Knowles ordered him held in custody.

An undercover agent posed as the dealer, according to U.S. Attorney Jim Vines.

Al-Uqaily came to the government's attention in early August with a tip from ''a vigilant individual,'' an old acquaintance of the suspect who was startled by Al-Uqaily's angry tone, Vines said.

That chance encounter took place Aug. 4, when ''Al-Uqaily expressed anger about the state of affairs in Iraq and stated that he was 'going jihad' and he was going to blow up something,'' a federal affidavit says.

The worried acquaintance alerted members of the local FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force the next day. Soon Metro police, the TBI, the Tennessee Highway Patrol and state Homeland Security officials were all participating with the FBI in the investigation, according to Vines.

Federal authorities said Al-Uqaily did not come to their attention until Aug. 5 when the friend told them about the threats.

Al-Uqaily had been in the public spotlight before.

In May, while standing hooded on Lower Broadway in a public re-enactment of one of the infamous pictures taken at Iraq's Abu-Ghraib prison, Al-Uqaily told The Tennessean that his brothers and mother had been killed during the 1991 Persian Gulf War and that his father had been jailed.

His family, he said then, was from the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah.

In September the acquaintance updated agents about Al-Uqaily's intent, court records state. Al-Uqaily told the acquaintance that he wanted to purchase four grenades and two handguns. The acquaintance, acting with the agents' knowledge, told Al-Uqaily that he knew of a weapons dealer, affidavits show.

The government says it has recordings of Al-Uqaily making arrangements Sept. 10 to purchase the hardware for $1,000.

Eight days later, he said he also wanted two or three machine guns, ammunition and ''missiles.'' He also said he needed more time before buying the weapons, court records show.

On Oct. 4, in another recorded conversation described in an FBI affidavit, Al-Uqaily talked about wanting an anti-tank weapon, and he discussed getting the acquaintance's help to go on his ''mission.'' The acquaintance asked where.

''Al-Uqaily responded by expressing animosity towards the Jewish community,'' states the affidavit. ''Discussion ensued about two Jewish facilities in the Nashville area, but Al-Uqaily gave no indication of specific plans in connection with those facilities.''

The next day, the acquaintance and an undercover agent who was posing as the weapons dealer discussed terms for a deal involving grenades and machine guns.

The planned transaction did not go through as expected Wednesday, when the suspect expressed worries that he was under law-enforcement surveillance.

They decided to make the cash-for-weapons exchange at a southeast Nashville food business on Thursday, according to Vines. After the exchange, Al-Uqaily was arrested in the parking lot. Vines would not name the business, but Uqaily was wearing a Krispy Kreme doughnut shirt at his court appearance Friday.

A manager at the Krispy Kreme store on Thompson Lane said yesterday that he was aware of the circumstances but could not comment.

Last night, at 1923B Laurinda Drive — Al-Uqaily's most recent address, according to an Internet records service — a hand-painted van sat parked.

Nearby were the remnants of crime-scene tape from a recent search. Inside the van was a plainly visible utility bill addressed to Al-Uqaily.

Painted in black letters across splotches of bright colors on the van were a series of slogans that echoed Al-Uqaily's Lower Broadway demonstration in May: ''I pray all soldiers lay down their guns.'' ''War won't work.'' ''Stop killing kids for oil.'' And, ''Moses, Jesus & Mohammed all talk peace.''

I've never met the man personally, so I can't say anything about him or his mental health if he, indeed, actually wanted to buy "anti-tank weapons" as the FBI claims. He did lose family members in the first Gulf Massacre, so I suppose he could have had a post traumatic stress freak-out that would allow him to be manipulated into such a bizarre scenario. Why I say manipulated and why the whole story is suspicious is what follows.

First, I have to ask. Is anyone else bothered by the description of the snitch in this story as a "vigilant individual" (v.i. from here on.)? Kinda 1984ish if you ask me.

V.I. is an "old acquaintance" who was disturbed by al-Uqaily's angry tone. Spare me such acquaintances. V.I. brought al-Uqaili to the FBI's attention and they began to monitor him three months ago. I got news for you, folks. Any Iraqi born person who is publicly protesting the war to "liberate" his home country has been under surveillance since the war started or since their activism started, whichever came first.

Then we are asked to believe that this man had a shopping list of items, including anti-tank weapons, which he wanted to purchase from the agent posing as an arms dealer and actually purchased some "hardware" for a thousand bucks. Please re-read the article. The man worked at Krispy Kreme Donuts. He's gonna buy himself some missiles on 8 bucks an hour? There are a lot cheaper way for evildoers to do their evil. Most of which are available at Walmart. (Is it only in the south you can buy guns from Walmart?)

Speaking of anti-tank weapons, we don't have a lot of tanks in the streets of Nashville. Admittedly, we do have a lot of hummers, but those usually contain arrogant and wealthy suburbanites, not military folks. What, exactly, was he going to need anti-tank weapons for? This is one part of the story that made it clear that this whole thing was either a frame-up or al Uqaily is mentally ill.

So now they've got him. In a rare nod to the document formerly known as the Constitution, he was actually arraigned in a courtroom! In his Krispy Kreme uniform! However, I don't assume they will go the trial route. As anyone who reads this site knows, they could simply declare him an "enemy combatant" and poof, he's off playing checkers with Jose Padilla. Ideas like due process are so quaint, no?

Why would they frame up such a man? I can only think of about 12 reasons but I'll list a few here.

1. He was Iraqi and against the war publicly. Bad form.

2. His arrest discredits the local anti-war movement.

3. Now that he is a suspect, anyone in his circle of acquaintances is subject to investigation.

4. The local anti-war group is put into the uncomfortable position of "defending a terrorist" or allowing this injustice to transpire uncontested.

5. His labelling as a terrorist reminds all of us that Muslims, particularly of the Arab kind, and particularly of the Iraqi Arab kind, hate us and want to kill us. This position, of course, directly conflicts with the U.S. stated goal of "liberating" those selfsame Iraqi Arabs, but such contradictions do not bother the American people, some of whom have told me quite recently that Saddam was a threat and that we ought to just "bomb them all." Americans are known for many things, but subtlty is not one of them.

You get the idea. The motive is there. There have been several big terrorist cases launched by the government only to be dropped due to lack of evidence and I hope this is the case here, though the damage has once again been done. Damage to the reputation of Muslims and Arabs and to al-Uqaily himself. The damage to him could be quite severe. You see, if you reread the article, you see the helpfully included his home address.

Nice.