Is The Voting System Ready? - Mark Crispin Miller on Democracy Now
Part One
Part Two
Tell John McCain to FIRE MIKE CONNELL!
by Mark Crispin Miller
Mike Connell, whom Stephen Spoonamore has named as Karl Rove's top election fixer,has been trying desperately to forestall a deposition in Ohio, using an expensive troika of GOP lawyers to quash the subpoena ordering him to sit down, under oath, and answer questions about how he's helped Bush/Cheney "win" since Florida 2000.
Connell's vigorous resistance only reconfirms what Spoonamore has said: that he's the man who (among other things) built and ran the system whereby Bush & Co. stole Ohio in 2004.
And Connell is now working for McCain, once more putting his peculiar talents at the service of the GOP, so as to force Bush/Cheney 2.0 on a national majority that doesn't want it. Word is that Connell has already set things up in six swing states, and has been tasked with running the subversive work there on Election Day.
Here, below, is a new call from Velvet Revolution, calling for McCain to fire Mike Connell, and to do it now.
Surely this is a no-brainer, since McPalin's team has lately pledged itself to honor an ideal of "honest and open elections," even setting up a sort of board of (seemingly) respectable "advisers," mostly (clueless) academics, to provide themselves (McPlain's team) with what looks like a civic seal of approval.
All kidding aside, it's absolutely crucial that we spread the word, right now, about Mike Connell's work for John McCain--because the Bush Repubs have just launched a big propaganda push to charge the Democrats with planning to steal this election.
Here's a piece on FOX News, re: the (non-existent) threat of "voter fraud" among Ohio's early voters:
http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/10/07/campaign-dynamics-fraud-potential-impacted-early-voting/comments/#AddComments
And here's a good example of the new Republican attempt to cast ACORN as a major perpetrator of such "fraud":
http://www.thebulletin.us/site/index.cfm?newsid=20128338&BRD=2737&PAG=461&dept_id=576361&rfi=8
(As noted yesterday, this effort just got helped along by the Democratic SoS in Nevada, who seems to want to see Obama lose.)
As I've been saying for years (that's no exaggeration, sadly), such pre-emptive and projective jive by the Republicans ought to have been disabled long ago, and would have been, if the Democrats had only told the truth about, and made an effort to confront, the vast election fraud and vote suppression by the Bush machine. But they did not; and so the GOP is trying
now to fill the gap with tons of perfect bullshit.
So let's get out the word about Mike Connell, and McCain's dependence on him for a "victory" next month--and that way we can put McBush's bull about Obama's "voter fraud" plot in its proper context, and thereby completely wipe it out.
MCM
Taken from OpEdNews: http://www.opednews.com/articles/Tell-John-McCain-to-FIRE-M-by-Mark-Crispin-Mille-081009-51.html
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Gore Vidal to Obama: DO NOT CONCEDE!
Gore Vidal et al to Obama: Do Not Concede!
An Open Letter to Senator Obama and the Democratic Leadership:On Election Night, DO NOT CONCEDE!
"Eight years is too much" is how Barack Obama explained why we must win the coming election and begin to restore America. But, even if we receive the most votes, will we win the election?DO NOT CONCEDE!
Both of the last two elections were conceded by the Democratic presidential candidate. The 2004 election was handed to George Bush while votes were still being counted in closely-fought Ohio. While the 2000 election was contested to the Supreme Court, it too was ultimately conceded to Bush "for the good of the country."Some good.
Numerous politicians, investigators and authors, including Robert Kennedy, Jr., agree the 2004 election was stolen, not only in Ohio but in several other battleground states. Tactics included purging of legitimate voters and the use of nefarious voting software--but when even these actions did not yield the required numbers, Republican election officials simply changed the vote tallies in several states, all without a peep from the Democratic Party.DO NOT CONCEDE!
In the time since the last general election the public has learned much about these scandals, which have led some states to reject electronic touchscreen voting (and which caused the infamous Diebold voting machines corporation to hide behind a new corporate name,) yet the Democratic Party seems to have learned nothing.THREE STRIKES AND WE'RE OUT!If we cannot afford another Republican administration, we cannot afford a third concession in the face of election fraud. Already there is evidence of massive fraud such as voter purging and caging of Democratic voters, and "flipping" of votes in early voting on electronic touchscreen machines. It is reasonable to once againexpect further manipulation on election night by some Republican operatives and election officials, as was seen in 2004; should we also expect our Democratic Party leaders and candidates to repeat history, by once again conceding in the face of such blatant fraud?Senator Obama, we need you, our Party and all candidates to stand firm, come what may on election night. You ask us to work for you, contribute to you--and to have your back; we ask that you promise to have our back: We ask that you PLEDGE TO STAND FIRM, AND NOT CONCEDE THE COMING ELECTION in the face of election irregularities, no matter how long it takes to contest such fraud, while there remains any doubt as to any part of the process. Be assured, Democratic voters will be more--not less--energized if we see you promise to stand firm.
Senator Obama, if there is any reason to contest the election, DO NOT CONCEDE!
Signed: (Titles for identification purposes only)
Gore Vidal, Author
Bob Fitrakis, Professor of Political Science, Columbus State Community College, Attorney; Editor of The Free Press (freepress.org)
Harvey Wasserman, Senior Editor, FreePress.org, Author of SOLARTOPIA! Our Green-Powered Earth
Mark Crispin Miller, Professor of Media, Culture and Communication at New York University, Author of Fooled Again, How the Right Stole the 2004 Election
Tim Carpenter, Director, Progressive Democrats of America
Mimi Kennedy, Chair, National Advisory Board, Progressive Democrats of America
David Swanson, Co-Founder, After Downing Street
Eric Bauman, Chair, Los Angeles County Democratic Party
Garry S. Shay, Member, Democratic National Committee (CA) Lead Chair, Rules Committee, California Democratic Party
Jo Olson, MD, Co-Chair, Progressive Caucus, California Democratic Party
Mal Burnstein, Co-Chair, Progressive Caucus, California Democratic Party
Marcy Winograd, Executive Board representative, California Democratic Party, 41st AD, Former Chair, Progressive Democrats of Los Angeles
David Earnhardt, Filmmaker, "Uncounted: The New Math of American Elections"
Don Goldmacher, Chair, Election Integrity, Progressive Caucus, California Democratic Party
Michael Jay, Progressive Democrats of America, Special Projects, Former Delegate, California Democratic Party, 42nd AD
Sheri Myers, Director, "Wake Up and Save Your Country"
Robert A. Feuer, Former Chairman, Stockbridge, MA Town Democratic Committee
Thomas Patrick O'Shaughnessy, Region 3 Vice Chair, Los Angeles County Democratic Party Chair, Irish American Caucus, California Democratic Party
Howard Jennings, PDA-Virginia, State Co-Coordinator
Sarah Stott, Chapter Chair, PDA-Virginia
Lisa Pease, Co-editor, "The Assassinations: Probe Magazine on JFK, MLK, RFK and Malcolm X"
Cindy Asner, Former Delegate, California Democratic Party, Member, National Advisory Board, Progressive Democrats of America
Julie Lopez Dad, President, Santa Monica Democratic Club, Chair, 41st AD Committee, Los Angeles County Democratic Party
Dr. Bill Honigman, PDA California State Coordinator and Orange County Chapter Leader, Delegate, California Democratic Party, 73rd AD
Linda Milazzo, Senior Editor, OpEdNews.com, Blogger, Huffington Post
Rady Ananda, Senior Editor, OpEdNews.com
Jan Baumgartner, Managing Editor, OpEdNews.com
Cheryl Biren-Wright, Managing Editor, OpEdNews.com
Sherry Healy, Co-Founder California Election Protection Network, Coordinator, Election Defense Alliance
Laura Bonham, Summit County, UT Democratic Party Chairperson
Albert E. Fairchild, Retired Foreign Service Officer
Dorathea Peters, Precinct Captain, Alexandria, VA Democratic Committee
Sign the Petition
http://afterdowningstreet.org/donotconcede