Freedom Rider

Fascism Watch

"The subject's expression should be neutral (non-smiling) with both eyes open, and mouth closed. A smile with a closed jaw is allowed but is not preferred."

If you smile too much you can't get a visa to enter the United States. Not only are our activities and movements controlled, but now our very facial expressions have been deemed dangerous.

Domestic Violence

It recently occurred to me that Democrats are like children in a dysfunctional family. They see dad drunk and passed out on the floor but mom assures them that he is only lying on the floor because he is tired from working so hard for them all.

Dems have to start saying that the Democratic National Committee is drunk on the floor. It isn't tired from working hard for us, it is just a no good drunk. It doesn't value its family, it won't even defend it. The Greens and Libertarians demand vote counts while the Dems insist there is no reason to do so.

Now we are told to admire our drunk parent and everything will be fine. The only problem is that it never works out, as pointed out in the blog, Deride and Conquer.

And watch the Democratic Party leadership walk on eggshells, try to meet him, please him, wash the windows better, get out that spot, distance themselves from gays and civil rights. See them cry for the attention and affection and approval of the President and his followers. Watch us squirm. Watch us descend into a world of crazy-making, where logic does not work and the other side tells us we are nuts when we rely on facts. A world where, worst of all, we begin to believe we are crazy.

While the author is talking about Republicans, I think that the description works for the Democratic party as well. Democrats are the victims of Democratic party abuse before the Republicans even have a chance to lay a hand on us. The people who run our party don't care about us at all. Our lousy nominee even squirreled away money that could have been used to prevent vote fraud or help Congressional candidates.

Sorry, I forgot. He was just working hard for us.

Happy Thanksgiving

But Thanksgiving is not just a twisted fable, and the mythology it nurtures is itself inherently evil. The real-life events – subsequently revised – were perfectly understood at the time as the first, definitive triumphs of the genocidal European project in New England. The near-erasure of Native Americans in Massachusetts and, soon thereafter, from most of the remainder of the northern English colonial seaboard was the true mission of the Pilgrim enterprise – Act One of the American Dream. African Slavery commenced contemporaneously – an overlapping and ultimately inseparable Act Two.
Black Commentator

"But for the natives in these parts, God hath so pursued them, as for 300 miles space the greatest part of them are swept away by smallpox which still continues among them. So as God hath thereby cleared our title to this place, those who remain in these parts, being in all not 50, have put themselves under our protection."
John Winthrop founder of the Massachusetts Bay Colony

I always enjoy Thanksgiving. I like to eat good food, spend time with family and friends and think about what I am grateful for in my life. The history behind the holiday is an ugly and evil one, however. When the Pilgrims thanked God in those days they were thankful that their efforts to eradicate of the Native American population were moving along as planned.

Have a happy Thanksgiving, but skip the genocidal thoughts as you enjoy your turkey.

I Won, Your Team Lost, Ha, Ha, I Go Through the Door First

Fascism Watch

"And at the last minute, Republican leaders tried to slip in a provision that would give certain committee chairman and their staffers unlimited access to any American's tax return, with none of the standard privacy protections applying. "

The World Hates America

I have never seen U.S. Secret Service agents get into a fight, literally, with security from another nation's government, until now. Bush had to intervene, literally, and extricate one of his agents from a shoving match with Chilean security. It sounds like the recent Pistons NBA fracas.

Of course, bad feelings ensued and the APEC conference dinner that Bush was scheduled to attend was cancelled. According to the Guardian, "The dinner planned for Bush and 200 others by Chilean President Ricardo Lagos was reportedly scrapped after Chile was unwilling to accept security measures sought by the U.S. Secret Service, including a demand that all guests pass through metal detectors."

I guess foreign diplomats don't want to be treated badly. They have some nerve. The world hates the U.S. and it is only going to get worse.

Proof of Vote Fraud

"What are these polling place tapes doing in your dumpster?"

God bless Bev Harris. While Terry McAuliffe says there is no need to count the vote and John Kerry reveals that he was squirreling away campaign money that should have spent, Bev went mano a mano, literally, with the Volusia County, Florida Board of Elections.

Meanwhile back in Ohio, Dennis Kucinich supports the Green party effort to count every vote. Yes, I said Green party. Black Commentator says more about the shame of Democrats lagging behind while the Greens do the work.

Who is the Terrorist?

"The enemy has got a face. He's called Satan. He's in Fallujah and we're going to destroy him."
Col. Gary Brandl

Satan is in Fallujah, but of course Satan is everywhere. He may even be in the U.S. army, the White House, the halls of Congress and the Attorney General's office.

Black Men and Blondes

ABC used images of a naked white woman seducing a black man to advertise both football and a prime time soap opera. Does this mean we have true equality in America? No, but we have to enjoy the phony outrage while it lasts.


Speaking of Interracial Relationships

Doesn't she look giddy and girlish? How will she live without being down the hall from him?

No, You Can't Run Again

No, no, one thousand times no. John Kerry should not be allowed to think about running again. Senator Waffler suddenly became decisive, but about the wrong issue. He couldn't come up with a coherent message on Iraq, but he was coherent about throwing in the towel without demanding a vote count.

It is real simple. Tell him no. If you hosted a Moveon party, tell him no. If you left your home state to canvas door to door in Ohio or Pennsylvania, tell him no. If you helped register voters, tell him no. Kerry and the Democratic party left you in the lurch. They were just not worthy of your time, passion and commitment and you must tell them so.

Call his Washington office at (202) 224-2742 or fax at (202) 224-8525. Keep it short and sweet. "There is no way in hell I will do anything to help you lose again. Forget about it."

Who is demanding vote recounts? Terry McAuliffe said no, but the Libertarians and Greens have said yes. We spent four years villifying the Greens and they demand what Democrats will not. Ain't that a kick in the ass.

Why indeed Colin? It certainly didn't help you keep your job. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha! It couldn't have happened to a more deserving guy. Powell lied to the U.N. about Iraq, he lied to the Congressional Black Caucus about Haiti. So long! Don't let the door hit you.

Colin and Condi in the News

Colin is out, Condi is in. Who cares? They are just two of the administration evil doers. I don't make excuses for them because they are colored. I said it all in Black Commentator a few months ago.

Fallujah in Pictures, War is All Hell



John Moore, AP

President Arnold Schwarzenegger

Before November 2nd I made the terrible prediction that Arnold Schwarzenegger can be elected president. If the idiots who run the Democratic party can't beat Bush, they can't beat anyone else either, including a former actor. Get used to it. Say it over and over again, President Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Little Change in Latino Vote

Don't believe everything you read. There has been a lot of hot air about Bush showing increased support among Latinos. There is just one small problem. It isn't true. Read all about it.

Why We Lost

Kerry himself mused as late as April, “What is our message?” If Kerry didn’t know his own message he should never have run in the first place. Bush had a message. “Stay the course.” The course can be crooked, it can be broken, but if a candidate acts like he knows where he is going, millions will follow.

Who wrote these brilliant words? I did. Check out this week's Black Commentator to get the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

Arianna Huffington has a better grasp on the inside scoop than I do. She tells us why Carville, Begala, Shrum and company should be shown the door. Curiously, Salon readers tore into her when she criticized the Kerry campaign last week. I don't get it.

Democrats have written and spoken endlessly since last week about what went wrong and where we should go from here. Very few have been willing to say that Kerry himself was a large part of the problem. Gore was immediately treated like an outcast and he actually beat Bush. This time around no one wants to say that we had a bad candidate. If the disconnect makes sense to anyone out there please explain it all to me.

Don't Even Think of Running Again

After a year of lack luster campaigning, an unclear message, and a premature concession, John Kerry is now "fired up." Gee John, it is a bit late for that. We are told that he is even considering another run in 2008. No way. No way in hell.

Anyone who had anything to do with the Kerry campaign must disappear. Unnamed aides point out that Reagan ran for president twice before he won. They neglect to point out that his failures were in getting his party's nomination, but once he got it he won. That is a very big difference.

Reports of election fraud are still coming out and yet we must also admit that Kerry was the wrong candidate in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Democrats can't win until we get rid of the idiots who run our party. They don't have a clue about much of anything. As Slate pointed out, Democrats don't even know how to frame the social security debate.

As spin doctors, Democrats kill vigorous patients. Meanwhile, Karl Rove can nurse a relic back to health. For example, the Democrats' version of "tough talk" is to accuse Bush of proposing to "privatize" Social Security. But "privatize" is a dirty word only to hard core liberals: For everyone else, it's a way to make the public sector more responsive and efficient. Bush doesn't propose to "privatize" Social Security. He proposes to eliminate it and replace it with glorified 401(k) plans—the same plans that have kept so many senior citizens working into their golden years after the stock market tanked in 2001. He plans to eliminate Social Security—still the most popular federal program in American history. George Bush wants to eliminate Social Security. Say this three times. Now say it every time you speak to the press, no matter what question the reporter asks you.

The same man who couldn't frame easy issues can't run again. Period.

Fascism Watch

Who snatched Indymedia's computers? Salon tells the story.

Thanks for Nothing Kerry

We can add Iraqi doctors to the long list of people who want to kick Kerry's ass for conceding too quickly. Your eyes do not deceive you. Iraqi doctors, nurses, and patients were searched, hand cuffed and otherwise humiliated in Fallujah. They were the lucky ones. They weren't killed. The Bushmen were waiting until after the election to attack the people of that city. If the election were still in limbo, and it should be, this would not have happened.

Florida Voting Machines Count Backwards

Fuzzy math in Broward County.

Blue is Better

Funny, but everything that conservatives rail against is worse in the red states. Divorce rates are highest in the bible belt, ditto crime and infant mortality. This graphic doesn't show it, but Massachusetts, that ultra-liberal spot, has the nation's lowest divorce rates.

Fallujah

The Muslims are right. We are the infidels. What will the bible thumpers and the Catholic bishops say about this photo?

Jerry Falwell has already declared that God is pro war, so he won't have any problem defending this desecration. The bishops should deny communion to whomever used the symbol of the Christian God to celebrate an instrument of death. On the other hand, I'm not holding my breath.

Et tu MSNBC?

It has been less than a week since the gutless wonder, aka John Kerry, conceded way too soon. The truth is starting to come out, but who would have thought that MSNBC would have been part of the investigation?

MSNBC lags in cable news ratings because it keeps trying to be a poor conservative's Fox. Why watch? If you like Fox you'll watch Fox, not a pale imitation.

Keith Olbermann is breaking with his lame brethren and declaring that he smells a rat. The rat in this case is Warren County, Ohio, where the county elections building is under lock down while the vote count is underway. Olbermann is still partly in denial, asking silly questions like, "Who fixed the exit polls?" They weren't fixed. They were right, as exit polls almost always are. Voters said they voted for Kerry because they did.

In short, the Bushmen cheated again and the truth is beginning to come out.

Kerry Punked Out

I was both wrong and right about Kerry. I didn't think he could win. I was wrong about that. He won, but I always thought he was a gutless empty suit. I was right about that.

I thought Kerry was going to fight for every vote. A lot of us were under this misapprehension and some of us are very, very angry. Thanks for nothing JFK.

The Election was Hacked. Which U.S. Senator Will Stop Another Theft of Democracy?

In Common Dreams Thom Hartmann explains that an ordinary PC can alter votes in electronic voting machines and that it happened in Florida.

One of the most memorable scenes in Fahrenheit 9/11 is the official verification of the electoral college vote that could have been stopped if just one United States Senator had stepped forward and said, "No." Who will step forward? Can one Senator be persuaded to stop the Bush vote theft?

The Big Steal of 2004

"Black Box Voting has taken the position that fraud took place in the 2004 election through electronic voting machines. We base this on hard evidence, documents obtained in public records requests, inside information, and other data indicative of manipulation of electronic voting systems. What we do not know is the specific scope of the fraud. We are working now to compile the proof, based not on soft evidence -- red flags, exit polls -- but core documents obtained by Black Box Voting in the most massive Freedom of Information action in history."

Black Box Voting needs your help. They need money, $50,000 to be exact, to file Freedom of Information requests. They need lawyers, they need computer experts willing to go public with proof of fraud. The DNC had an army of lawyers, or so we were told. They weren't willing to deploy them in Ohio, so it was all meaningless.

Corporate control endangers every aspect of our lives already. Now Diebold "We will deliver Ohio's electoral votes to President Bush" and others are truly stealing our democracy. We need to draw a line in the sand to maintain our voting rights.


Do We Need a Bible Thumper?

It is always dangerous to ascribe causes and effects, especially where clueless Democratic pundits and politicians are concerned. Ever since Tuesday an erroneous consensus has formed about the power of the religious right. Andrew Kohut of the Pew Research Center spoke these words of caution in today's New York Times.

But Andrew Kohut, president of the Pew Research Center, warned against placing too much emphasis on "values voters.''

He noted that the percentages of voters who said they attended church once a week or opposed abortion were no greater than four years ago. In addition, a surprising 60 percent of voters said they favored some kind of legal recognition for same-sex couples, with 25 percent favoring marriage rights, and 35 percent favoring civil unions. Thirty-seven percent told pollsters that same-sex couples should not be granted any form of legal recognition.

Mr. Kohut also questioned whether the anti-gay-marriage initiatives that were on the ballot in 11 states helped galvanize conservative religious voters to vote for the president. After all, he said, Mr. Kerry won both Michigan and Oregon, two swing states where gay marriage propositions were on the ballot.

"After reading the newspapers this morning, we're getting a little carried away with the cultural and religious interpretation of this election," Mr. Kohut said. "It was a vote to some extent on values, but it was also a vote on John Kerry and how the American public felt about the way President Bush handled the war on terrorism."

"God is pro war."
Jerry Falwell

"Blessed [are] the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God."
Jesus
Matthew 5:9

Timidity Loses

We have all had to listen to bad analysis of the election results. We need a red stater. We need a bible thumper. We need a red state bible thumper. Actually we just needed a decent candidate. As you can see from the previous post I don't agree with her first sentence, but I think that
Arianna Huffington does a good job of explaining why it was so close. They stole it again, but if we had had a better candidate, it would have been much harder for them to cheat.

I don't think that religions is the source of Democratic party problems, but this made me laugh anyway.

Did Kerry Win in Ohio?

Greg Palast says that he did. I seem to remember John Edwards saying that the Democrats would fight for every ballot. What a bunch of punks.

Post Mortem

I don't know quite what to say this afternoon. This year has been very hard for me politically, and being the kind of person I am it has therefore taken an emotional toll as well.

As the presidential campaign began in 2003 I frankly was not very engaged. I didn't believe that the Democratic party knew how to beat Bush and I didn't see any of the Democratic candidates being able to take him. But I am a believer in the old adage, the enemy of my enemy is my friend. When the mainstream media and mainstream politicians began attacking Howard Dean I took a second look at him and I liked what I saw.

I thought that Dean could beat Bush. I believed that we needed a candidate who wasn't afraid to define the GOP, instead of waiting for them to define Democrats. I thought we needed an anti-war candidate. We needed someone who would say that the occupation of Iraq was a huge mistake. Despite Kerry's vote in favor, Bush's lies would have made it easy for him to say that he based his vote on a belief in the existence of WMD. Instead he insisted that he still would have supported the occupation. Doug Ireland tells us why this was a fatal error.

When the Dean campaign was destroyed by the corporate media and the DNC and DLC I was very, very angry, but I realized I had to accept it and move on to the probable nominee, John Kerry. I then got my second kick in the stomach as I watched Kerry campaign. He was clearly an empty suit. He allowed himself to be framed as a flip flopper and the most liberal Democrat in the Senate. Because there was no response from him or the DNC the words stuck. Just one week ago I heard someone who said he wanted Kerry to win refer to him as the most liberal Senator.

In the past month I became more optimistic about Kerry's chances. The increases in new voters made me think that Kerry could pull it off. Unfortunately, I was right the first time. I was right when I decided to miss most of the Democratic convention. I didn't see the Dems having a clue, not even a tiny clue, about how to convey a message that voters needed to hear in order to vote for them.

Rather than repeat myself I will refer you to what I have said already in my Black Commentator column. In my September 9th column, The Unthinkable, Bush Wins I spoke of my frustration that Kerry and the Dems continued to dismiss the Democratic base, especially the peace movement. How is it possible for a sitting president to have 400,000 people take to the streets against him at his convention while the opposition acts as though nothing happened?

On September 30th I talked about what we should do today. In the November 3rd Movement I said the following.

"The clumsiness of John Kerry on the campaign trial is not only a reflection of Kerry the man, but of the dysfunction promoted by the hapless Democratic National Committee and the Democratic Leadership Conference. The only outcome worse than a Kerry defeat, would be continued deference to the people who made it happen. "

My friends, it is time to act on my long standing fantasy and give Terry McAuliffe a good old fashioned beat down. Bill Clinton needs a few licks as well. I held off linking to this Counter Punch piece about the true corruption of Terry McAuliffe, Bill Clinton's boy, and the entire party apparatus as well. The time has come to lay it all on the line. Our party is run by hacks and crooks, and the sooner we acknowledge it the sooner we can begin to change things.

We have to become the leadership. We have to run for office. The Democrats who let us down have to face primary challenges. If you say you want a revolution, and you ought to, now is the time to act like it.

Reasons for Optimism

Ohio shenanigans notwithstanding, I still say Kerry will win, although I am concerned about problems with provisional voting and electronic machines.

First the good news.

1. Polls are skewed towards Republicans. Let's not forget that 4 years ago polls showed Bush beating Gore. If polls show a dead heat, that means Kerry is actually ahead.
2. Newly registered voters are anti-Bush. Even if only half of them vote, there are enough of them to put Kerry over the top.
3. Because Kerry will win by a wider margin, the GOP needs to cheat a lot in order to win. They will need more than poll challengers in Ohio.
4. Only the worst of the warmongers still support the occupation of Iraq. This election is the first opportunity for Americans to vote on the war, and they are voting no.
5. Turn out will be much higher than last time. That helps Kerry.

Now the bad news.

1. There are reports of voters choosing Kerry on electronic machines (scroll down) that instead show a vote for Bush.
2. The rules for counting provisional ballots vary widely. Some states will count them right away, others have two weeks.

I should also add that high turn out means long lines, and that means that voting will go one past the time of official poll closings. We may not know the winner tonight or tomorrow, but I still say that all signs point to a Kerry win.

Facial Poll

I know it is unscientific, but I think we can tell who is going to win by looking at this man's face. George W. Bush has the real poll numbers and this is what he looks like on Election Day? Kerry will win and no one knows it better than George W. Bush.

I am sure that I'm not the only one who has noticed that Bush has aged, a lot, in just the past month. I think that his lack of qualifications for the office has taken its toll. Also, let us not forget that Bush skipped his August physical this year, with no plans to take it until after today.
I believe that he is physically ill, but I am not going to make any predictions about whether we will ever hear the truth about his condition.

Bad News from Ohio

In a 2 to 1 decision, an Ohio appellate court has ruled that Republicans can challenge voter eligibility in polling places. The ruling reversed two others made just yesterday.

Quotes of the Day

"I mean, look, we’re up against despotism. And whatever rhetoric they want to use and say, oh, we’re not despots, we’re good Americans -- well, everybody says that. But they’re not. They are the enemy. And they have targeted the American people. They don’t like them. They don’t care anything about them. They’re interested in corporate America. They’re interested in Halliburton and their companies. They’re interested in making money. And they hate the people who stand for the old republic. They just don’t like them."
Gore Vidal


"I don't really care about the electorate. . ."
Ann Coulter

Vote Theft Watch

First the good news. In Ohio two federal judges have ruled that only poll workers can decide voter eligibility. Republican thuggery gets the boot.

Now the bad news. According to Greg Palast, because of voter roll purges, missing absentee ballots and vote "spoilage", Kerry starts out with a deficit of nearly one million votes.

It is important to tell the story of another Republican attempt to steal an election, but I say this much. They are going to have to steal much bigger to win this time around. Kerry will win all of the blue states and a couple more for good measure. The results may not be known tomorrow night, but I believe that the huge increases in voter participation will put him over the top.

The Republicans will challenge the results, but in the end it probably won't matter. At the end of last year I didn't think Kerry would be the nominee and I said so on numerous occasions. But I gladly take it all back.

Now, take deep breaths, and get up early tomorrow and vote.

Vote Theft in Wisconsin


It is clear that Kerry is ahead in Wisconsin. Otherwise, flyers like these wouldn't be around.

There also wouldn't be attempts to disenfranchise voters like this one at the University of Wisconsin. Of course, the Republican wails of voter fraud are false. The vast majority of supposedly "bad" addresses do in fact exist.