"Bush Regime working out Procedures for postponing November Election"

[Minstrel Boy]

Bush Regime working out Procedures for postponing November Election
by Webster Griffin Tarpley

July 10

The Bush regime is now working out procedures for postponing the coming November general election. This is totally unprecedented -- even in 1864, in the midst of the Civil War, the Lincoln vs. McClellan presidential contest took place according to the schedule established by the Constitution and relevant statutes. This represents further planning for a cold coup designed to perpetuate the power of the current gaggle of discredited neocon ideologues and their Wall Street backers.

In a shamelessly partisan move, Homeland Secretary Ridge today announced that al Qaeda has advanced its preparation for a terror attack in the US designed to disrupt the Democratic process. One wonders how Ridge is able to know so much about the specific intent of the terror attack he says is coming, in particular the part about the intent to disrupt the election. Ridge said during his press conference that we are now in a "post-Madrid" atmosphere. He also confirmed that planning for postponing the general election is now in full swing.

Ridge's press conference marked a crude new low in the shameless terror demagogy of the Bush regime. Even Democratic politicians and CNN talking heads were able to surmise that this outing was largely aimed at deflating the five-point approval bounce which Kerry had acquired by naming Edwards. It is clear that the Bush campaign will rely on a relentless pounding of the electorate with terror warnings, alerts, and alarms over the next four months -- in the first place as psychological warfare to strengthen the regime. At a deeper level, the option of an actual ABC/WMD terror attack at least one order of magnitude greater than 9-11 must be reckoned with, possibly as an October Surprise, or perhaps sooner.

Finally, the Congress is looking into the June 9 incident in which a small plane lacking a transponder caused the panicked stampeding of the entire US Congress, including Senators, Congressmen, and staff. This was a transparent ploy to terrorize the Congress, where both parties have lately been giving Bush some embarrassing moments over Abu Ghraib, the national debt, the budget, and related issues.

http://globalresearch.ca/articles/TAR407B.html

FYI, another important, recent piece by Tarpley: Rogue Bush Backers prepare Super 9/11 False Flag Terror Attacks
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=1711106

And if you haven't read his decidely unauthorized biography of GHW Bush, it's available online free here: http://www.tarpley.net/bushb.htm

[POed_Ex_Repub]

1. Hmm... but couldn't that REALLY backfire?

Think about how many reports Bushco delayed until "right after the election". If they delayed it, wouldn't all of these come out right before it?

[maggrwaggr]

16. so what? They'd be in power

They don't care if they're unpopular, just as long as they're in power

[Don_G]

2. It Will Have To Pass The Supreme Court First

And I can't see it happening under the "legailty of the law" before November without starting another Civil War.

[havocmom]

3. If they try to prevent the election, all those opposed to them should just

go to DC to state their preference in person! Or, better still, show up at FU's bunker and tell he who actually runs the junta who they want in the WH. I am sure there would be ample military and intel patriots who would be willing to direct the multitudes to the secret location so they could voice their concerns.

[FighttheFuture]

13. Yeah, that's it... let's gather in one place, that'll make it real easy...

..to be rounded up, gunned down or interred in Guatmo D.C.!

I'll take a pass and see which new city state of the Feudal States of America will be nice to live in.

Adios America, it was a nice dream, but human greed and ignorance trumps once again.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

4. We must not let this happen

I don't care if a Code Red is declared and there are Guardsmen on the streets. On Nov. 2, I plan to go to my polling place and cast my ballot for Kerry/Edwards and Jan Judy (D-challenger) for Congress!

[Gman]

5. And there are still people that don't think December 200 was a coup

If they stop the November elections, they will in effect be suspending the constitution. Few things in the constitution are more clear than "the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November".

If they stop the elections, the government will have no legitimacy. In effect, we will not have our government. It will be over, done, finished. A new government will have been established.

You know, just as they thought people would follow them blindly into war in Iraq, they probably figure, "what the hell are they gonna do about it? Overthrow the government of the United States? BWAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!"

That's a damn good question. Just what the hell would we do about it?

[oneighty]

9. It will never happen.

The constitution also protects the rich and powerful people, the religious fanatics; you know those that are most feared of death because they know deep in their black and selfish hearts that there is no everlasting life ever-after and they know that they cannot take their toys with them.

IMHO

180

[Bandit]

6. For them to interfere in the election in such a manner would be a

"Call To Arms" IMHO.

[acmavm]

7. If this is true, this is the number one item Kerry and Edwards need to

jump on. Immediately. And I think they will (if it's true).

What's funny is I posted a thread the other day about this:

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2004/06/26/election2004/21_17_566_25_04.txt

Voting official seeks process for canceling Election Day over terrorism

By: ERICA WERNER - Associated Press

<snip>

WASHINGTON -- The government needs to establish guidelines for canceling or rescheduling elections if terrorists strike the United States again, says the chairman of a new federal voting commission.

Such guidelines do not currently exist, said DeForest B. Soaries, head of the voting panel.

Soaries was appointed to the federal Election Assistance Commission last year by President Bush. Soaries said he wrote to National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice and Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge in April to raise the concerns.

"I am still awaiting their response," he said. "Thus far we have not begun any meaningful discussion." Spokesmen for Rice and Ridge did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Soaries noted that Sept. 11, 2001, fell on Election Day in New York City -- and he said officials there had no rules to follow in making the decision to cancel the election and hold it later.

-MORE-
*********************************************************************
Kerry and Edwards need to head this off at the pass. Jump on it now, tell everyone what they're up to. There is no terrorist attack that can be so sever that it can justify holding up the elections. And if another attack happens of any major severity, then the lying incompetents really have to go.

[faithnotgreed]

10. kerry said other day "terrorists wont decide the election, the american

people will"

so at least there is a response to what * is wanting to pull, and i hope the kerry campaign will continue to say that out loud

[cthrumatrix]

8. didn't we have elections after Pearl Harbor................WTF!!!!!!!!!!!!

[opihimoimoi]

11. What ever happened to the LAND OF THE FREE??? Not free to elect our

Leaders are we?

WTF?

[Minstrel Boy]

12. Newsweek: Homeland Security seeking advice on postponement

Exclusive: Election Day Worries

Michael Isikoff

July 19 issue - American counter-terrorism officials, citing what they call "alarming" intelligence about a possible Qaeda strike inside the United States this fall, are reviewing a proposal that could allow for the postponement of the November presidential election in the event of such an attack, NEWSWEEK has learned.

The prospect that Al Qaeda might seek to disrupt the U.S. election was a major factor behind last week's terror warning by Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge. Ridge and other counterterrorism officials concede they have no intel about any specific plots. But the success of March's Madrid railway bombings in influencing the Spanish elections—as well as intercepted "chatter" among Qaeda operatives—has led analysts to conclude "they want to interfere with the elections," says one official.

As a result, sources tell NEWSWEEK, Ridge's department last week asked the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel to analyze what legal steps would be needed to permit the postponement of the election were an attack to take place. Justice was specifically asked to review a recent letter to Ridge from DeForest B. Soaries Jr., chairman of the newly created U.S. Election Assistance Commission. Soaries noted that, while a primary election in New York on September 11, 2001, was quickly suspended by that state's Board of Elections after the attacks that morning, "the federal government has no agency that has the statutory authority to cancel and reschedule a federal election." Soaries, a Bush appointee who two years ago was an unsuccessful GOP candidate for Congress, wants Ridge to seek emergency legislation from Congress empowering his agency to make such a call. Homeland officials say that as drastic as such proposals sound, they are taking them seriously—along with other possible contingency plans in the event of an election-eve or Election Day attack. "We are reviewing the issue to determine what steps need to be taken to secure the election," says Brian Roehrkasse, a Homeland spokesman.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5411741/site/newsweek /

[Beaker]

14. speaking as an Election Judge-

I don't believe the election should be postponed or cancelled for any fucking reason whatsoever.

[Eloriel]

15. Welllll, you get a little biological bomb in some major city with

the "threat" of the same thing in MANY cities (with the requisite "and we just don't know where or when they're going to strike, but they might strike again," explanation) or some radiological "dirty" bomb, you might feel a little differently about it. If not YOU, then voters.

[AirAmFan]

18. Might this new fearmongering be tied to WH vote suppression plans

for November? Who's going to be especially afraid of getting hassled by uniformed, armed Homeland Security at polling places?

Just as "All the President's Men" taught us to "follow the money" under Nixon, "Bowling for Columbine" has taught us to "follow the fear" under Dubya and Karl Rove. The lead person for the new "homeland ballot security" effort is a former pastor of an African-American congregation and a former NJ Secretary of State. See post #7 here and the bios in Bush_Eats_Beef's thread at http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x1973367 .

Having been Christie Whitman's Secretary of State, Soaries must know how suppressing African-American votes succeeded in squeezing 911 Commission chair Tom Keane into Morven (the Governor's mansion) during the Reagan era. Maybe Rove is coaching him on how to take the "Republican Ballot Securty Task Force" concept nationwide, at taxpayer expense?

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From http://www.prospect.org/print-friendly/print/V13/23/mcdonald-1.html

'Americans might like to think that discrimination against minority voters ended with the civil-rights movement, but it's been going on in many parts of the country ever since. And BALLOT-SECURITY programs have been the usual vehicle. A notorious "anti-fraud" initiative was implemented before the 1981 gubernatorial election in New Jersey. The Republican National Committee formed a National Ballot Security Force.... On election day, the security force dispatched armed off-duty police officers wearing official-looking armbands to heavily black (and Democratic) precincts in Newark, Camden and Trenton. The Republicans also posted signs warning that the polls were being patrolled by security-force members and offering a $1,000 reward for anyone giving information leading to the arrest and conviction of election-law violators....

The Democratic National Committee filed suit against the New Jersey and national Republican parties, and it was eventually settled. The defendants agreed not to post security forces at polling places or allow any other election tactics that targeted minorities or deterred them from voting. Despite the agreement in the New Jersey case, the Republicans resorted to similar maneuvers in Louisiana in the 1986 U.S. senatorial campaign involving Democrat John Breaux and Republican Henson Moore. ... Republicans ... launched still another ballot-security program in North Carolina in 1990, during the heated U.S. Senate contest between Republican Jesse Helms and Democrat Harvey Gantt.... After the election -- which Helms won -- the Justice Department sued the North Carolina Republican Party and the Helms for Senate Committee. The defendants, without admitting any wrongdoing, entered into a consent decree in which they agreed not to undertake similar ballot-security programs in the future
without court approval. Copyright © 2002 by The American Prospect, Inc.'

[Kazak]

17. I must be dreaming this...

I'll wake up here in a minute with drool all over my pillow.

[Warren DeMontague]

19. Dianne Feinstein Quote:

From CNN.com:

"I don't think there's an argument that can be made, for the first time in our history, to delay an election," said Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, a member of the Intelligence Committee.

"We hold elections in the middle of war, in the middle of earthquakes, in the middle of whatever it takes. The election is a statutory election. It should go ahead, on schedule, and we should not change it."

Apparently, there's widespread agreement that they can't do this w/o congress. (The constitution still being technically valid.) Make some f*cking noise!!!!!!!

[Walt Starr]

20. These fuckers need a better researcher. There is already a plan in place

Title 3, Chapter 1, Section 2 of the U.S. code has it all lined out. If an attack happens on election day, the State Legislature of the state where the attack occurs has jurisdiction and the decision rests with them.

There is no federal authority to alter the date from the first Tuesday after the first Monday of November save an act of Congress. That date is set in Title 3, Chapter 1, section 1 of the U.S. code.