May 15
I've been having an e-mail conversation with a friend of mine about election fraud. If you've been reading this blog or if you go back, you'll see that I'm of the opinion the election was stolen, mainly by means I wrote about before the election. The e-mail conversation fits what I've noticed about this issue. Either people are very knowledgeable or know very little. I gather several things. One is confirmation that this has received little media coverage. It's hard for us news junkies to know since we tend to absorb a lot, and don't always know what gets through to those absorbing something more like the average amount. The people who've had utterly no idea that the issue was even raised confirm that while some media covered it intensely, the fraud mostly passed without notice. I've yet to see anyone who is knowledgeable on the controversy who isn't of the opinion the election was stolen. Then why so little attention? Because of the media custom of regarding nothing as news if the politicians don't care to raise it. Some Democrats raised it, though with great care since the repercussions of charging fraud and being wrong are obviously bad, and some issues can be technical and tricky to understand. However, most media defer to the ruling party in determining what gets to be an issue (yes, this explains Iraq War II also). Bill Moyers talked about this today, including an admission by Jim Lehrer that unless an official says something is so, it isn't news. Therefore, the Republicans have refused to investigate the fraud charges, which should be damning but they get away with it. They can call this disputed win a "mandate" and the press runs with it. It's like how the "nuclear option" on filibusters changed from a Republican plan to a Democratic one.
May 13
A thought strikes me about the lost Cessna over DC: when it first flew where it wasn't supposed to, wouldn't someone think that if there was a possible attack and planes being scrambled, that might be a good time to get the acting president under cover? I can imagine Bush's people saying, "Oh no, there's a plane over Washington. Fighters are scrambling and the Capitol is being evacuated. No one knows if an attack is in progress. At this time, we need someone who can think clearly under pressure and asses a difficult situation. Don't anyone tell Bush!"
May 12
This is one of those Take the Red Pill Awards I hesitate to give because people were killed. Muslim fundamentalists in Jalalabad rioted with four people being killed. The cause was Guantanamo, but not the torture, nor the deaths of detainees, even though many detainees are Afghan. Those things probably helped set the stage but apparently weren't riot-worthy. What was? Reports that copies of the Koran were desecrated. They objected to copies being placed on toilets, and no doubt that was intended as an insult. I'm skeptical copies were flushed down toilets because books and plumbing don't go together, but there have been enough other reports to believe that guards or interrogators tried to deliberately insult Islam. Still, because they rioted over a book on a toilet and not over torture and illegal detention, these rioters get the award.
Getting to home grown fundamentalism, conservatives are proving successful in convincing Minnesotans the state needs an amendment to ban gay marriage. What's aggravating is they have no arguments to use. They just keep repeating that it's immoral and a threat to families. A majority aren't asking how gay marriage is a threat. Conservatives have never explained how it is, and why should they when their statements are taken on face value? So, someone want to explain to me how it would hurt anyone?
May 11
It's good that Congress included a restriction on torture in the emergency spending bill for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. What Bush and his supporters should be ashamed about is that such a restriction was necessary.
The vote by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on John Bolton is tomorrow. Minnesotans, our senator Coleman is on the committee. Tell him this obnoxious, dishonest man is grossly unqualified to be a diplomat.
An entry by Jim Lampley on The Huffington Post has drawn quite a bit of attention on the left side of the blogosphere, because if nothing else it shows the fraud of the last election has become apparent to more people than lefty bloggers and talk radio hosts:
People who have lived in the sports world as I have, bettors in particular, have a feel for what I am about to say about this: these people are extremely scientific in their assessments. These people understand which information to trust and which indicators to consult in determining where to place a dividing line to influence bets, and they are not in the business of being completely wrong. Oddsmakers consulted exit polling and knew what it meant and acknowledged in their oddsmaking at that moment that John Kerry was winning the election.One could understandably ask if oddsmakers know anything about exit polls. The basic logic he used is what we have to use to get the point across about this election. Exit polls have never been wrong, and are regularly used to check the veracity of polls, yet they were grossly wrong in swing states Bush needed, and consistently in Bush's favor. Every other problem, whether with the machines, long lines, registration, or attempts to deceive and intimidate voters, benefitted Bush. What are the odds of that? Wouldn't honest mistakes and technical glitches affect both sides more or less equally? As astronomical as the odds against it be in one election, everything benefitted the Republicans in 2002 also. All most of us know about 2000 was Florida, where again the weirdness helped Bush. It's nuts to think this is a coincidence. Look especially at how the Republicans refuse to investigate. That's not proof, but it is the expected behavior of a coverup.And he most certainly was, at least if the votes had been fairly and legally counted. What happened instead was the biggest crime in the history of the nation, and the collective media silence which has followed is the greatest fourth-estate failure ever on our soil.
If there's good news, it's that some of the grassroots has realized the election was stolen. My wife and I went to a local DFL meetup last night, and there was a consensus that if we don't solve the problem of the touchscreen machines, nothing else will matter. The official vote count will be for the Republicans every time. Fortunately, here in Minnesota we don't have touchscreen machines, so there isn't much we can do locally unless someone tries to bring them here. I'm a big fan of the optical scanners we use. There's the paper trail, spoiled ballots are rejected immediately so voters can fix them, booths aren't required so there are no long lines, and the tabulators can't be hacked remotely because they aren't online.
May 7
Sad to say, I found winners of the Take the Red Pill Award right here in the Twin Cities. The Archdiocese of St. Paul has banned anyone wearing a rainbow sash from receiving communion, because the sashes are symbol of a group of gay Catholics. The Rainbow Sash Alliance USA has been wearing the sashes to the Pentecost mass since 1998. Last year, a group of bigots called Ushers of the Eucharist got in the aisle to block it. I wonder if they remembered their "God Hates Fags" signs? Apparently Jesus loves everyone except those who think an unpopular group of human beings should be treated like --- human beings. The unsolved question is whether the award goes to the bigots in the aisle, Archbishop Harry Flynn who ordered the sash-wearers to stay away, or whoever issued the Vatican directive, apparently thinking equality under God is the biggest problem their church faces.
And another winner for you today, Pastor Chan Chandler of East Waynesville Baptist Church, who booted out church members who didn't support the acting president. That's right, it doesn't just seem Christian conservatives have turned support of Bush into a religious duty, this pharisee has actually done it. In some redemption for the Baptists, some members walked out over the expulsions. A bunch, however, cheered, and apparently haven't left or tossed the pastor. There was a more extensive report last night on Countdown, and the transcript should be up on Monday. A former member interviewed said Chandler was quite upfront that the church was political and it had to be his politics. As a bonus, Pastor Chandler should get not only a Take the Red Pill Award, but also a loss of his church's tax exemption.
If you need proof of the need to turn congressional Republicans into a minority, look at the British memo that leaked and is a smoking gun that Bush decided upon war at least by summer 2002, when he was still saying it was only a possibility. There's the revelation that already, the intelligence was being fixed around the policy. It doesn't change what we had already figured out, but provides the strongest proof to date that Bush was lying to trick the country into going to war. If the Democrats were in control of the House, impeachment would at least be getting serious consideration. The Republicans however have grown so corrupt that they won't investigate their president, even with evidence like this. The mainstream media, which persists in taking its cues from the ruling party, has given this memo scant attention. If Clinton has lied about anyone of his military actions and a memo like this came out, even Michael Jackson would be getting pushed off the air. Not to say no Democrats are speaking up, because John Conyers, who investigated the fraud in Ohio, has written a letter to Bush asking some tough questions. Anyone want to bet he receives no answer?
May 6
There's been a scandal in the public schools in Houston in which teachers and administrators have been fired for faking test results. There are some things to connect to this story. First, though the firings are new, the rampant cheating in Houston has been reported before. Second, the superintendent who pulled this off, Rod Paige, was made Secretary of Education by the acting president for his efforts. Third, the supposed success in Texas schools (the cheating spread beyond Houston) was part of Bush's campaign in 2000. Fourth, this fraudulent policy was adapted at the federal level to become No Child Left Behind. Yes, one of Bush's biggest domestic initiatives was based on fraud, and that's without even counting the money paid to Armstrong Williams.
May 5
There's an article liberals need to see in a recent Rolling Stone. Journalist Matt Taibbi wrote about his time as a Bush campaign volunteer. There's naturally an ethical question about whether he was right to pretend he wasn't a journalist. I'm not blowing it off, I just don't know and it isn't the point I'm making. The point is that Taibbi had the right idea in getting to know grassroots Republicans rather than making assumptions about them. Too few Americans get to know well people on the other side. Some of what he reports confirm our assumptions, but some contradicts, and he had an interesting take on the idea that conservative faith is blind:
"The problem not only with fundamentalist Christians but with Republicans in general is not that they act on blind faith, without thinking. The problem is that they are incorrigible doubters with an insatiable appetite for Evidence. What they get off on is not Believing, but in having their beliefs tested. That's why their conversations and their media are so completely dominated by implacable bogeymen: marrying gays, liberals, the ACLU, Sean Penn, Europeans and so on. Their faith both in God and in their political convictions is too weak to survive without an unceasing string of real and imaginary confrontations with those people -- and for those confrontations, they are constantly assembling evidence and facts to make their case.So they're in such doubt that they need constant reinforcement, thus the bad reaction to media that don't parrot their point of view. It explains how on our side we will show the Swift Boat Vets were lying, Iraq War II is based on lies, the screw ups before 911, etc., and it doesn't matter. The facts are wrong but the point of view is right, and liberals argue the facts. Conservatives think they argue facts too and some do. Sometimes it is the same information interpreted differently. However, that isn't true of the grassroots, and GOP leaders appear to know it.But here's the twist. They are not looking for facts with which to defeat opponents. They are looking for facts that ensure them an ever-expanding roster of opponents. They can be correct facts, incorrect facts, irrelevant facts, it doesn't matter. The point is not to win the argument, the point is to make sure the argument never stops. Permanent war isn't a policy imposed from above; it's an emotional imperative that rises from the bottom. In a way, it actually helps if the fact is dubious or untrue (like the Swift-boat business), because that guarantees an argument. You're arguing the particulars, where you're right, while they're arguing the underlying generalities, where they are."
Something we should pay attention to is what Taibbi wrote about how much easier is was for volunteers to feel included in that campaign office than in some Democratic campaigns. They attracted some people liberals would think are rather nutty, but they went to find some inclusion. Taibbi actually found Democratic campaigns more top down and less welcoming. That wasn't my experience, but what Taibbi reports may help explain reports the the GOP had the better GOTV operation. That wasn't true in Minnesota, but apparently was the case elsewhere.
Some things were as expected, even shockingly so, like the token use of a black Republican for media purposes. It wasn't in the article, but Taibbi mentioned on the Al Franken Show that they made a point of sending volunteers to "Klan country" because that was their base. Even if they're not racist themselves, they had no problems using racism, which has been true at least since Nixon and his "southern strategy". Christian fundamentalists were easily bamboozled by someone who claimed to hold their beliefs. However, as crazy as it seems that Christians feel persecuted in a majority Christian country, which fundamentalists describe as a "Christian country" in both the sense of an idealized past and hoped for future, they do feel persecuted. They really do think the secular world is out to get them. Back when I was a Christian conservative, I was taught this too. I never bought it, but many really feel that way. It's how they can buy that gay marriage somehow threatens their marriage, or that it's OK to have organized Christian prayers as part of a school day.
The one thing I wish Taibbi had gone into is what to do about it. On the liberal side, we focus on debunking myths and lies in hopes the revelation (forgive the biblical sounding term) of the truth will turn people against Bush et al. That's necessary and indeed mostly what I do, but not enough. I strongly believe we have to address these 3G issues instead of blowing them off, which is what we've tended to do, me included. That's why in this blog I try to address these things, like my Take the Red Pill Award, blog entries on evolution, and seeing global warming as partly a religious issue. Maybe election campaigns are too top down and unresponsive, which was a complaint with the Kerry campaign, which aggravated the Democratic grassroots by making mistakes they'd been warned about. We know what we face --- lies, greed, and theocrats. I suppose for now that's the big question for our side --- what do we do about it?
May 3
We had snow flurries in the Twin Cities on May Day, but at least no one suggested it disproved global warming. At least not in my earshot. So getting back to Iraq...
It's not a surprise at this point that a leaked memo from the Blair government shows that war was decided upon before the case was made. At least it should be no surprise, but for those poor benighted souls who still think the war was about what the public was told it was about, maybe it will finally sink in that they were gulled. The memos show both the UK and US governments knew they would have to create the case for war. They even hoped Saddam would refuse to allow new inspections so as to provide the pretext. Saddam cooperated however, and the UN inspectors found nothing. The invasion went ahead without waiting for the inspectors to finish, and we must now guess part of the timing was to prevent the inspectors from showing the charges of WMD were wrong. The important thing to understand is that the war was sold using whatever would sell best, regardless of the real reasons. The move from WMD and Al Qaida ties to building democracy was just another ploy as they stated reasons fell apart. What I wish Americans would finally learn is that the government will lie to start a war, and that presidents will take advantage of the innocent belief that the president must be supported in war no matter what. I say "finally" because this isn't the first time. Lies, demonization of opponents, and energized patriotism have been used repeatedly. My hope for this war is that enough of us learn to stop it next time.
I recently spoke to a new young Army enlistee who expressed the opinion that things in Iraq aren't like we're told. It's sad to see someone put himself in harm's way while parroting conservative propaganda, especially when that one line is true, but in the opposite of the way it's intended. One reason we aren't being told everything is Iraqi authorities are suppressing the Iraqi press. They're destroying cameras, detaining journalists, and in at least one case imprisoning them for insulting a politician. Presumably they're not suppressing stories about rebuilt schools and improved safety. They are however able to move around better than foreign journalists, so if we're not hearing the whole story, what we're missing is probably bad.
See the archives for earlier entries.
