Wonderful New Olbermann Blog, if you haven't seen it yet!

[WiseFawn]

One of my favorite parts...

"Logic must suggest to the more sober of the Republicans that this needs to be addressed now. A party trumpeting the already-exaggerated claims that its vote majority owes largely to the “Moral Values” issues has got to be aware of the potential for long-term damage that continuing a stonewall answer to those 34 questions (and others) can wreak. I only have to look away from this screen for a second, to my small collection of political campaign buttons, to underscore the wisdom of this warning. One of mine reads “The ‘I’ in Nixon stands for integrity.”

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6210240

[ewagner]

1. That was a good read

thank you for posting......

I was impressed with the point he made about Bush* seeking to secure his legacy during a second term. No matter how Ohio eventually settles, there are a large number of people who will always barand Bush's* presidency with stolen elections. Eventually, it will become his legacy The Illegitimate President. Actually, I'm quite happy to assist in establishing that as his legacy.

It also appears that Keith is trying to SHAME Blackwell and some other repub...ANY OTHER REPUB into jumping in to the recount process to eliminate any question of fraud in the Ohio vote....FAT CHANCE.

[IndyOp]

15. I think you are right about FAT CHANCE and still...

I am wondering whether we ought to be banging on McCain's door. I believe that McCain is an old-fashioned, fiscally conservative Republican who might, just might with time and some work speak out. Why? I believe that McCain has been "Roved" before. Rumors were started about McCain having fathered an illegitimate 'brown' child. The child that appeared in the McCain family pictures was adopted by John & Cindy McCain from Mother Teresa's orphanage.

:shrug:

[spotbird]

40. McCain campaigned for Jeb in 2002

he talks the talk but he will never walk the walk

[RaulVB]

71. Great read!

Olbermann puts it in historical perspective.

The Republicans are going to pay a costly prize if they try get their fraud going further and further.

Democracy is on the way!

[JoMama49]

23. I say Shame away

If Shame is the only thing they respond to, I say keep up the pressure! As for Bush's presidency, I think his legacy should be as the Michael Moore coined "FIctitious President" because that's exactly what he is!

[bunny planet]

38. I have always referred to * as His Fraudulency, and I always will.

[Clark2008]

31. Shame or...

...keep up the pressure.

Either way, we've got to help Keith do that.

I've been gone all weekend (and away from a computer, by choice). What are we doing? Or rather, what are Ohioans, New Mexicans, Floridians...etc. doing?

There's not much evidence here in Tennessee that anything was extraordinarily out of whack - with the exception that we're one of the 30 states that get counted by GEMS. I've been running my mouth and my friend, who I stayed with and who is a former pre-Bush Republican, already knew about the problems, so I didn't have to explain it to yet another Faux News watcher.

[txindy]

2. Wow. This is the day for good reading.

First, 'The Lone Star Iconoclast's' coverage of the problems in Ohio and now Keith's blog. Both issue very strong warnings about the possible consequences of inaction.

This is a very good day!

[troubleinwinter]

17. Txindy... I was unaware if Lone Star Iconoclast's editorial

until you mentioned it. WOWZIE. Folks, read it here and send em a thanks.

---
The spirit of freedom is essential to the American character.
Some experience it with but a mere twinkle in the eye, while others wear it like a chip on their shoulders.

Yet there are those who choose to reject the spirit of democracy for myopic greedier pastures. They would discard the creation of Washington, Jefferson, and Franklin as immaterial and no longer relevant in a world being redefined by a neo-conservative mold in which Americans act according to government policy, speak according to government propaganda, and think as the government dictates.

During the month of December, Ohio has become ground zero, where rests the survival of democracy as we know it, for this will be the test of whether America will stand for an election riddled with irregularities.

The test will determine if the true spirit of honest elections will continue to exist in America or if honesty, like respect and cooperation, has become a dinosaur.

more:
http://www.iconoclast-texas.com/Columns/Editorial/editorial48.htm

[txindy]

21. Junior's 'hometown' paper writing about "treason" is rather startling

Sorry, I did mean to link to that editorial in my previous post, but got distracted.

'The Lone Star Iconoclast' wrote an exceptionally brave and direct piece. "We encourage others to pitch in and help, to be heard, to take back what has been stolen, for this theft carries the stain of treason." That is amazing. Now, let's hope they get the national and international coverage they received back when they endorsed John Kerry.

[bleever]

45. I sent it to Buzzflash.

Now we're seeing some more progress on the national conversation. We went from no one even talking about it -- at all -- to a few mentions of possible glitches, and so on until we get to this point where the whole process is so indicted so that Shrub cannot escape the taint unless the whole dang thing is taken apart, cleaned, and put back together.

That's a way better footing to be on than either coming up with irrefutable proof that JK won, or shutting our big yaps.

Not that we were ever gonna shut our big yaps, of course.

Monkey not looking so happy these days. Reminds me of the banking baron from Dickens's "Little Dorrit" (I think) who had a medical complaint that he couldn't get relief from. In the end, it turns out the doctors could not be of assistance because the source of his distress was that he was, in fact, a forger.

Someone once told me that you could catch a monkey by putting some rice in a hollow coconut, tied to a tree, with a hole only big enough for the monkey to just get his hand in. When he grabbed the rice, his fist would be too big to get out. But the monkey just wouldn't let go of the rice, and hence was captured.

And if we know anything about Junior, it's that he's "steadfast".

Stay the course, Junior.

[Patsy Stone]

56. BTW...

after re-reading, you could have let me clean up my grammar and typos first! :) Peace

[txindy]

57. Great, I sent it out, too.

To Keef, that is. I don't know if he'll get it or not. Not only does he get a boatload of emails, but I made a mistake, I think, by sending the story via the 'Email Bloggermann' comment box. Oh, well!

And, no, it's unlikely we were ever gonna shut our big yaps. If we did, the admin. would probably feel slightly less compelled to 'manage' the Internet - but only slightly. They have every intention of shutting down all avenues of unrestricted information reaching the American people. For our "safety," you know. That won't happen, but they'll do their best to accomplish it. It's far too late for that to work, however. Technology is too advanced and too widespread.

I think your method of catching monkeys is very apt. It certainly sounds like the perfect trap for a well-known monkey to me. I'll bet his first word was "Mine." His second was probably "Gimme." Your trap is far too subtle for him to puzzle out. He'd be captured for sure. Actively plan ways to catch monkeys with coconuts often, do you? LOL!

[eowyn_of_rohan]

64. Thanks for the nice bedtime story

I might sleep well now ;)

[thjay]

69. Buzzflash posted KO blog

as the headline story. Pretty cool.

[Eric J in MN]

3. Email C-Span to broadcast the hearings Olbermann talks about.

Please contact C-Span to cover the Dec. 8 Voting Problem hearings led by Rep. John Conyers by emailing:

[e-mail]

Please contact your Senators and Congressperson and ask them to attend by calling:

1-800-839-5276

and saying, "Hello, can you connect me to Senator ____'s office?" or "Hello, can you connect me to Representative ____'s office?"

Then leave a message for the Senator or Congressmen to attend Representative John Conyers' hearing on voting problems on Wednesday December 8, 2004 10:00 AM Eastern in the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington DC.

If you don't know the names of your Senators or Rep., find the names by entering your zipcode on the top-right of www.vote-smart.org.

[KatieB]

4. Done

[senegal1]

6. Please email the UU Churches in DC to attend the Dec 8th hearings

Below are the emails and a sample letter: Please be polite and don't swamp their emails. The UUs are a liberal church into social action and these churches worked on voter registration driver.

*******************
[e-mail],[e-mail],[e-mail],[e-mail],[e-mail],[e-mail],[e-mail],[e-mail],[e-mail],[e-mail],[e-mail],[e-mail],[e-mail],[e-mail],[e-mail],[e-mail],[e-mail],[e-mail],[e-mail],[e-mail],[e-mail],[e-mail],[e-mail],[e-mail],[e-mail],[e-mail],[e-mail],[e-mail],[e-mail],[e-mail],[e-mail],[e-mail],[e-mail],[e-mail],[e-mail],[e-mail],[e-mail],[e-mail],[e-mail],[e-mail],[e-mail],[e-mail],[e-mail],[e-mail],[e-mail],[e-mail],[e-mail],[e-mail],[e-mail],[e-mail],[e-mail],[e-mail],[e-mail],[e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail],[e-mail],[e-mail],[e-mail],[e-mail],[e-mail],[e-mail],[e-mail],[e-mail],[e-mail],[e-mail],[e-mail],[e-mail],[e-mail],[e-mail],[e-mail],[e-mail],[e-mail],[e-mail],[e-mail],[e-mail],[e-mail],[e-mail],[e-mail],[e-mail],[e-mail],[e-mail],[e-mail],[e-mail],[e-mail],[e-mail],[e-mail]



Title:
URGENT CALL TO ACTION: UUs Needed to Help Make the Votes Count!

Letter:
I am writing to you today on behalf of all Americans. We can’t be there but you can attend on our behalf! On December 8th at 10:00 EST, Representative John Conyers, (Dem) Ranking Minority Member of the House Judiciary Committee will hold Ad Hoc hearings into election irregularities in Ohio. This is an unprecedented hearing will hear evidence on consistent and widespread errors and action which served to disenfranchise Ohio Voters. UUs NEED TO PACK THE HOUSE TO LET CONGRESS KNOW THAT WE CARE ABOUT MAKING SURE EVERY VOTE IS COUNTED AND UUs NEED TO INSIST THE MEDIA COVER THE EVENT! Voter complaints in Ohio constitute a troubled portrait of altered votes and suppressed votes. Regardless of the outcome of the election, the U.S. Government needs to examine any and all factors that may have led to these significant voting irregularities. Why have UUs been silent on this central challenge to the integrity of our voting system? Please attend on behalf of all Americans who can’t be there!
ACTION REQUEST:
Organize a phone tree to UUs in your church and in other like minded churches to get out as many people as possible for the hearing and to call and email the media insisting they cover the event. Also UUs need to call their Senator and their House Representatives and urge them to attend this hearing. THIS IS URGENT!
MEDIA:
C-Span: Main number – 202 737 3220, Viewer Services 765 464 3080; emails: [e-mail],[e-mail]
National Public Radio: Listener Services, [phone], NPR Communications, [phone]; emails:[e-mail],[e-mail],[e-mail],[e-mail], [e-mail]

WETA 90.9 FM, 775 South Quincy St, Arlington, VA 22206 Phone: [phone], Fax: [phone], email:
WAMU 88.5 American University Radio, 4000 Brandywine Street, NW Washington, D.C. 20016-8082; Main Directory: 202-885-1200, Comment Line: 202-885-1213, email: [e-mail]
WYPR 88.1 FM, 2216 North Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21218 ,Phone: [phone], Fax: [phone] Programming, email: [e-mail],[e-mail],[e-mail],[e-mail]
WEAA 88.9 FM Studio Line: 410-319-8888, Business Offices: 443-885-3564, Fax: [phone], Address: WEAA, 1700 E. Coldspring Lane, Benjamin Banneker building room 401, Baltimore MD, 21251 ; Email: [e-mail]

Washington Post: email: [e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail],[e-mail] or call 202-334-7582.

CONGRESSIONAL CONTACTS:
Can be found at www.house.gov and www.senate.gov or Monday morning, call the U.S. capitol switchboard three times (1-800-839-5276). Ask for your Representative, then both your Senators, and request that they attend this hearing.

BACKGROUND: Democratic Representative John Conyers, Jr. of Michigan, ranking Minority member of the House Judiciary Committee, will hold a hearing on Wednesday 08 December 2004 to investigate allegations of vote fraud and irregularities in Ohio during the 2004 Presidential election. The hearing is slated to begin at 10:00 a.m. EST in the 2138 Rayburn House Office Building in Washington DC.
Democratic Representatives Melvin Watt and Robert Scott will also be centrally involved with the hearing. Rev. Jesse Jackson will be in attendance, along with Ralph Neas (President, People for the American Way), Jon Greenbaum (Director, Voting Rights Project, Lawyers Committee For Civil Rights Under Law), Ellie Smeal (Executive Director, The Feminist Majority), Bob Fitrakis ( The Free Press), Cliff Arnebeck (Arnebeck Associates), John Bonifaz (General Counsel, National Voting Institute), Steve Rosenfeld (Producer, Air America Radio), and Shawnta Walcott (Communications Director, Zogby International). Ohio Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell has been invited to attend.
The term ‘hearing’ is technically not accurate in this matter, as Conyers and his fellow Representatives will be holding this forum without the blessing of the Republican Majority leader of the Judiciary Committee. Staffers from the Minority office at the Judiciary Committee describe the event as a ‘Members Briefing.’ That having been said, this event will be a hearing by every meaningful definition of the word. Expert testimony will be offered, and a good deal of data on potential fraud previously unreported to the public will be discussed and examined at length.
The core of what Conyers and his fellow Minority members will be discussing at this hearing can be found in the letter below, which was sent by the Minority office to Ohio Secretary of State Blackwell on 02 December. In the letter, Conyers, along with Reps. Watt, Nadler and Baldwin, outline a broad and detailed series of questions and concerns about the manner in which the Ohio election took place.
Please read the original letter sent to Kenneth Blackwell at this link:
http://www.house.gov/judiciary_democrats/ohblackwellltr12204.pdf

[rodeodance]

39. done--thanks for the email address!!

[Eric J in MN]

46. You're welcome (NT)

NT

[MelissaB]

35. emailed C-Span

done

[Eloriel]

5. Very, very nice.

Thanks!

[pilgrimsoul]

13. I was really excited about this article...

until I got to the line where he said that it was unlikely this would go anywhere with the Judiciary Committee. WTF? So is all of Conyers' investigative work just an exercise in futility with the end result being only a bit of mild embarrassment for the guilty? I can't believe he's actually trying to appeal to these guys' consciences. They don't give a rat's ass about posterity!

I'm grateful that Keith is brave enough to cover this issue at all, believe me. But I find myself coming away a little more dissatisfied with each new article because I'm tired of all the pussyfooting. It's time to shoot from the hip, dammit!!!

[crispini]

19. I think it's his strongest one yet.

Bear in mind he can't be a firebrand like David Van Os, come out all ripping and snorting and ready to roast someone. He's a JOURNALIST and he has to maintain his objectivit.

:loveya: KO! The rampant girly crush continues unabated!

[Clark2008]

37. Right there with ya, crispini

Girlie crushes on smart and handsome men RULE!

:loveya:

Now, girlie crushes on hateful, unattractive idiots make me wonder... :shrug:

[Shopaholic]

49. Charter member of the KO fan club right here. . .

the man is a great broadcaster and a damn fine writer. And he's pretty easy on the eye too.

[rehema]

62. Amen! to Keith O being easy on the eyes ..woof..woof n/t

[anamandujano]

73. Conyers should call a huge press conf for the foreign press

since none of ours will be interested.

"I can't believe he's actually trying to appeal to these guys' consciences. They don't give a rat's ass about posterity!"

I agree with this.

[jsamuel]

7. Wow

Great!

Red Hands? Red Gloves?

http://redhandsmovement.com/march/

[Dem2theMax]

72. OT. Every time I see that red hand,

I think of 'Wilson' in the Tom Hanks film Castaway. lol.

[KayLaw]

75. Not me

It reminds me of the Blair Witch Project.

[skids]

8. I was JUST thinking two days ago...

That, at least when coming from a perspective of one who has confidence that the facts support the theft of 2004, we have already won the long-term victory. History will remember the election as stolen.

That victory is still awaiting certification, to be sure, but I myself am confident we have gained at least that. Hopefully, our continued push will get us more.

[savistocate]

22. UU elect their reps to cover U.N.

so I'd bet they are planning attendance. Very active Social Justice Committees.

[IndyOp]

9. With Keith's ratings up 128%

imagine how fast the news about Conyers hearings and all of the charges in the letter to Katherine Blackwell are traveling!

GO KEITH and GO KEITH'S FANTASTIC STAFF!

:kick:

[HeyManThatsCool]

10. You have to love

Keith!! He is awesome


Anyone else concur that in this blog he is basically saying he doesnt believe for a second that Bush won? He's very direct this time

[NVMojo]

11. Excellent

I hadn't read through the 34 questions until just now. Incredible. It sure looks like Blackwell and Pals were working closely with the Bush regime to "feck up" the election in Ohio to go to Bush in any manner possible...

[s-cubed]

33. They really did their homework for the letter. n/t

[nmoliver]

12. I don't think it's a great piece

Here is why. It assumes Bush cares about his legacy or his reputation, or how history views him; or that that will make one bit of difference to the Republicans in any way at all.

I'd like to quote from Michael Ruppert's new book, Crossing the Rubicon (p. 473):

<<The Empire no longer cares about how it is viewed, whether its actions are legal or not, or whether the world might rise up in political, military, or economic opposition to it. It no longer cares whether the American people rise up and take to the streets by the millions. It doesn't care whether civil disobedience or even a real revolution begins at home. It arrogantly believes it has prepared for every contingency. Among its most elastic mandates for procedure omnipotence is George W. Bush's ~National Security Strategy of the United States~. That document enshires two shocking de facto powers of the Empire: to launch, without provocation, pre-emptive strikes anywhere it wishes and against any nation that might someday be a threat; and to create artificial terrorist activity where it wishes to deploy troops, with an avowed policy of lying to the world through unprecedented manipulation of the corporate media with which it colludes. The Empire has thus defined the scope of conflict at the end of the age of oil: a no-holds-barred, no-rules, and no-quarter race for global domination.>>

- Nina

[pilgrimsoul]

14. Sorry - please ignore --

I had problems with getting my earlier post to register and accidentally reposted. Mea culpa.

[KoKo]

18. Do you remember Woodward quoting Chimp? "Who Cares! We'll all be Dead?

I've seen many interviews of Woodward (before my ban on TV) and Woody always mentions that quote. I think even in his "PsyOp's" Brain that quote is so BIZARRE than even Woody has nightmares over Chimp saying that.

Because...our "Whore Media" believes in the Consitution and America even though they've sold their "souls to the Devil Bush." So when he says about how he will be remembered in "History" to Woodward: "Who Cares? We'll all be dead!" It would give pause to even the more corrupt of our media whores who don't want their record of reporting (such as it is) to be tied to this dim wit, lame brain who doesn't give a s*it about "HISTORY." They love to feel they are all working for their claim to fame in the Journalistic "Halls of Fame." That this Idiot in the WH" doesn't verify their existence must give them all a huge "pause and break in their heartbeat rhythms." :shrug:

[Niche]

26. I REMEMBER that on an interview * had. We were shocked...

This is not exact but it was - "How do you want to be remembered in the future?" "Who care's I'll/we'll be dead." And snuff just put his arms in the air. :shrug: Can't remember who the interview was with - we were so shocked. The leader of the freeworld??? Would have been great to put that on a PSA spot. Just that alone. Did anyone else see this? What program was it?

[KoKo]

29. It was what Woodward talks about whenever he's interviewed about his

books on the Chimp....:shrug: It would freak me out, too. And, it has.

[NVMojo]

25. it could also be a play on what little conscience is left inside the

Repuke party ...you know the Values Party?

[txindy]

30. I don't see that assumption, at all

What I read was a warning to the GOP, not B*sh. Keith is right when he says that this election will be scrutinized, judged, and written about by many people over many years. Junior doesn't care about his legacy or his reputation, but others in the GOP certainly do and even those not associated with his election manipulations will be diminished by the conclusions of such scrutiny - even if they are not directly involved. If they don't speak up for fairness, now, they risk everything they've ever worked for. History won't remember them for anything they've accomplished, only for their seeming complicity in this great stain on democracy, itself.

The neocons are a reality unto themselves, but the general GOP (and it does still exist) has a choice about its future. Decision time is imminent. That's what I took away from Keith's blog, anyway. It's also exactly what I believe.

[flyarm]

61. you are right..about what keith says

the reason keith brought up the american association in baseball is because he is making an anaology of the entire league was deemed insignificant, with no historical significance and even their world series have no significant bearing in the history of baseball..because of a few, the entire entity were made insignificant...and all were placed in the same boat as a few..

unfortunately with santori and delay , and frist...they don't give a crap...but how about susan collins, and mccain, and arlin spector, there are a few left with consience...but will they take the chance and will they stand for their oath to protect the constitution...will they?? will they fear for their lives more than their country?? too many have died ( ie, car wrecks, suicided, plane crashes) with a little help from close to this white house...who will have the guts???
because to go against these pigs in this white house would be very frightening!! indeed!

it will take serious soul searching by republicans in this government, i pray there are any left with a soul!!!

[Patsy Stone]

16. That was beautiful...“not exactly 'J’Accuse'.”

Also...on a Sunday. Thanks!

[KoKo]

20. Much "Ado" about Sports analogies and light on "Election Coverage."

One only hopes that his readers will compute the two and make the necessary transition to "How Bush Stole Election 2000!"

Since I'm definitely NOT one of his "sports statistics/morality and consequences thereof" readers this report sort of left me cold.

However, given that "Sports" in America and especially in the "Red States" of America is a given and all anyone cares about, I hope that the white males, black males and females with dreams of being ESPN hirees really "got off" on Olberma's Blog, tonight.

I'm probably really out of touch with what folks read today, being a non-professional sports viewer...so whatever...

Thanks Keith...you probably know more about what appeals to "Mainstream America" today, than I do...so I guess I give you a :thumbsup: for this?????

[flyarm]

63. considering...the sports anaolgies...

saturday night i was listening to pacifica radio for the ohio forum after the ohio rally, my husband was sitting in the same room and i did everything i could to have him listen..well in the matter of one hour, he had turned on at least 4 football games and was flipping back and forth from game to game...while i sat listening to pacifica
begging him to listen...his mental attention span flipped as quick as the remote could change football games!!

yes there are men out there who are into this political stuff..but there are many more who can't get past the last ball game..what ever game that is..so yes i think some mens attention will be grabbed by keiths blog tonight!!
if not..they are hopeless!!

[dogindia]

24. look of Bush

Thank you, KO.

I am struck by how Bush is looking since the election. He countenance seems dark. His face is different. The cockiness seems replaced by a troubled look. Perhaps he is as worried about being elected as being found out as being not found out. Something is wrong. You can see it in his face. He is not happy. He looks really older since Nov 2.

[Patsy Stone]

27. Have you and I discussed this already?

Because I can't help but see that, too. It's as if he knows he'll get caught. Someone on another post suggested he's worried because he crossed another Skull and Bones man. I don't know, but you're not crazy.

[dogindia]

32. no Patsy we haven't but I am happy

you have noticed this as well. This is a big thing. If the election was stolen and it has been so hidden by the msm and the power of the corporations to control....everything is in such crisis...not just Iraq but global warming....the economy.

Perhaps the office has affected him. Perhaps he understands that it must be won honestly. This might help everything.

Thank you P.

[Patsy Stone]

48. There are many of us here who believe that...

Seek and ye shall find. :)

[Clark2008]

41. Maybe Satan is taking over

You know, the anti-Christ isn't exactly "born," Satan inhabits the spirit of the Chosen upon his "re-birth" after he is slain.

:tinfoilhat:

On a serious note, yes... he does look darker and more beliegerent. I think he's just evil. I don't think he's the anti-Christ because there simply aren't enough people in the world who are fooled by him.

Personally, I doubt he gives one wit about this investigation. He probably doesn't even know that 20 percent of the voting population think he's a fraud and he certainly can't tell from the freeper sites his myna bird-staff frequents that anyone even cares.

I think he just looks darker because he's a mean, spiteful, evil man with no common sense and fore-thought, other than to his own pocketbook. His dark behavior is caused by the fact that he doesn't think he owes anything to anyone except his rich friends and he thinks he's getting away with it.

[Patsy Stone]

43. How were the fishies?

Wasn't it nice to get away? :)

[Clark2008]

55. The fishies were fine...

:)

But the boys (my son and my friend's son) liked the 3-D Dinosaur movie at the I-MAX theater better. LOL! Of course, they're 5 and 4, respectively, so they WOULD find 100 million-year-old non-living creatures more interesting than real, funky-looking fishies.

:D

[Patsy Stone]

58. glad you had fun! n/t

[Oak2004]

59. Worried about getting caught is one; the economy crashing after intl

pressure has been another one of my hypotheses. If you've been paying attention, China has begun to show signs they're willing to throw their weight around. The GOP fantasy empire is, of course, impossibly vulnerable in the economic sphere, and I'm thinking he knows the game is just about over.

Of course it could be both, and then some. It's not like the forces of the Empire are actually winning their war of aggression, for instance.

[bunny planet]

44. It's because he knows he's about to get PUNKED soon.

[dogindia]

47. i hope so.n/t

[txindy]

50. I think this is why his admin. is talking about controlling the Internet

It has nothing to do with regulations and computer security, it has everything to do with the dissemination of information. The people are generally being controlled through limited info. from the MSM. The people who are aware of the fraud get their info. from the Internet. That's a trend that is not going to change other than to grow exponentially larger. When that happens, Junior's control over the population is severely limited.

Bummer. :evilgrin:

Meanwhile, B*sh is looking more worried every day as the threads of this fraud start to unravel faster and faster. Even he can understand the implications. This isn't going to result in 'only' a flipped election result. This is going to destroy the BFEE forever.

[New Earth]

52. i love your thinking

and your christmas version of I believe. hehe

[Nothing Without Hope]

60. I wonder if it's partly simple fear for his life

I really don't think * has a conscience as we would understand it. However, the level of world-wide hate toward him, the widely voiced belief that he leads a corrupt and dangerous administration, has risen to such a level that even in his reinforced bubble he must be aware of it. Wasn't there already some kind of assassination plot uncovered? Even with his carefully selected and choreographed "public" encounters and the cordon of brave secret service people, don't you think the man must feel some real fear? Regardless of a hypothetical conscience, that's got to wear a person down. Strutting around playing Great Leader isn't so much fun when you are watching every face and wondering. And Shrub has never shown any sign of courage even at the best of times. "Bring it on" was always intended to mean to OTHER people.

[mdb]

28. Blackwell needs to stop stonewalling and answer some simple questions. n/t

[Straight Shooter]

34. Let's all write the man.

[e-mail]

The "U" in bush stands for "Unethical." And I'm being too kind, I know.

[KoKo]

36. Keith Forgets: "Victors Write the History ...Not the Vanquished.

and the Blackwell's Bushes and Ken Starr's may have "rewritten it all" by the time "History" is looking at our past. That's why we MUST do SOMETHING about this last "SELECTION!" F*ck History...I want it NOW...I want it FIXED NOW!

[bunny planet]

42. I just wrote to tell him

'There aren't enough o's in smooooooooth for you' Mr. Olberman!:loveya:

[ClintCooper2003]

51. His best blog yet!

[Hobbes199]

53. >> to my small collection of political campaign buttons

I know what I'm getting Keith for the holidays!

[understandinglife]

54. Email to Mr Olbermann: "neat blog: but, what they'll be studying....

is something some of us intend to have considerable impact.

If you go to:

https://voteprotect.org/index.php?display=EIRMapNation

and check 'election day 2004' you will find 26611 incident reports.

While some may be content to leave that resource as a treasure chest for graduate students and others, for decades, to use to build their careers analyzing the past, we hope to give them something much more exciting and consequential than a historical record that showed a Nation that just sat and watched it's franchise get trashed.

Peace.
xxxxx

"Did Bush Know?"

[Clark2008]

65. Some interesting historical comparisons

1. Like Hitler, President Bush was not elected by a majority, but was forced to engage in political maneuvering in order to gain office.

2. Like Hitler, Bush began to curtail civil liberties in response to a well-publicized national outrage, in Hitler's case the Reichstag fire, in Bush's case the 9-11 catastrophe.

3. Like Hitler, Bush went on to pursue a reckless ultra-nationalist foreign policy without the mandate of the electorate.

4. Like Hitler, Bush has accordingly improved his popularity ratings, especially with veterans and conservative Republicans, by mounting an aggressive public relations campaign against foreign enemies. Just as Hitler cited international communism to justify Germany's military buildup, Bush uses Al Qaeda and the Axis of Evil to justify our current military buildup.

5. Like Hitler, Bush promotes militarism while in the midst of a major economic recession (or depression). He uses war preparations to help subsidize defense industries (Halliburton, Bechtel, etc.) and presumably the rest of the economy on a trickle-down basis.

6. Like Hitler, Bush glorifies patriotism to stir up public support. He treats our nation's unique historic destiny almost as a religious cause sanctioned by God.

7. Like Hitler, Bush quickly makes and breaks diplomatic ties, and he makes generous promises that he soon abandons, as in the case of Mexico, Russia, Afghanistan, and even New York City.

8. Like Hitler, Bush envisages a future world order that guarantees his own nation's hegemonic supremacy rather than cooperative harmony under the authority of the United Nations (or League of Nations). He is willing to break the U.N. Charter in promoting this end.

9. Like Hitler, Bush scraps international treaties, most notably the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, the Biological Weapons Convention, the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, the Convention on the Prohibition of Land Mines, the Chemical Weapons Convention, the Kyoto Global Warming Accord, and the International Criminal Court.

10. Like Hitler, Bush depends on an axis of collaborative allies, which he describes as a "coalition of the willing," to give the impression of having a broad popular alliance. These include the U.K. as compared to Mussolini's Italy, and Spain and Bulgaria as compared to, well, Spain and Bulgaria, both of which were aligned with Germany during the thirties and World War II.

11. Like Hitler, Bush possesses a war machine much bigger and more effective than the military capabilities of other nations. Today, Bush depends on a "defense" budget roughly equivalent to the combined military expenditures of the rest of the world.

12. Like Hitler, Bush is willing to invade other nations despite the opposition of the U.N. (League of Nations). He also has no qualms about bribing (through legal forgiving of debts or otherwise), bullying and insulting its members.

13. Like Hitler, Bush pursues war without cutting back on the peacetime economy. He actually seeks to reduce taxes while conducting an expensive invasion and occupation of an "undesirable" nation.

14. Like Hitler, Bush launches unilateral invasions on a supposedly preemptive basis. Just as Hitler convinced the German public to think of Poland as a threat to Germany in 1939, Bush wanted Americans to think of Iraq as a "potential" threat to our national security.

15. Like Hitler, Bush is willing to inflict high levels of bloodshed, with many thousands of casualties in Iraq.

16. Like Hitler, Bush depends on a military strategy that features a "shock and awe" blitzkrieg beginning with devastating air strikes, then an invasion led by heavy armor columns. However, there is no exit plans from the Bush Administration. One wonders if, like Hitler, Bush doesn't plan to exit.

17. Like Hitler, Bush is perfectly willing to sacrifice life as part of his official duty, as indicated by his unique record as a governor of Texas who was reluctant to commute death sentences.

18. Like Hitler Bush began warfare on a single front (Al Qaeda quartered in Afghanistan), but then expanded it to a second front with Iraq, only to be confronted with North Korea as a potential third front. Much the same thing happened when Hitler expanded German military operations from Spain to Poland and France, then was distracted by Yugoslavia before invading the USSR in 1941.

19. Like Hitler, Bush has no qualms about imposing "regime change" by installing Quisling-style client governments reinforced by full-scale military occupation under a military governor.

20. Like Hitler, Bush curtails civil liberties and depends on detention centers (i.e. concentration camps) such as Guantanamo Bay and Abu-Ghraib.

21. Like Hitler, Bush repeats lies often enough that they come to be accepted as the truth. Bush and his spokesmen argue, for example that every measure has been taken to avoid war (hardly true), that an invasion of Iraq will diminish (not intensify) the terrorist threat to the world, and that the U.S. is staging an invasion because the risks of inaction would be greater (not less). All of this is highly debatable. They likewise argue that Iraq is linked with Al Qaeda (which has yet to be proven), and that nothing whatsoever has been achieved by U.N. inspectors to warrant the postponement of U.S. war plans (which simply isn't true). They insisted that Iraq had hidden numerous WMDs it does not possess, as well as can be determined by U.N. inspectors, and they refuse to acknowledge the total absence of any nuclear weapons program in Iraq since the late nineties. As perhaps to be expected, they indignantly accuse everybody else of deception and evasiveness.

22. Like Hitler, Bush incessantly finds new excuses to justify war—from Iraq's WMD threat to the elimination of Saddam Hussein, to his supposed Al Qaeda connection, to the creation of democracy in the Middle East as a model for neighboring states, and back again to the WMD threat. As soon as one excuse for war is challenged, Bush shifts to another, but only to shift back again at another time.

23. Like Hitler, Bush and his cohorts exaggerate ruthlessness by their enemies in order to justify their own (Rummy is forever talking about the terrorists beheading people but fails to mention that we are bombing children, for example).

24. Like Hitler, Bush's Messianic ambition to bring about America's hegemonic dominance in the world makes him perhaps the most dangerous President in our nation's history, a rogue chief executive capable of waging any number of illegal preemptive wars.

25. Like Hitler, Bush has become so obsessed with his vision of a Manichaean conflict between good (U.S. patriotism) and evil (the anti-patriotic "other") that for many in contact with the White House he is beginning to seem as if he has lost touch with reality.

26. Like Hitler, Bush takes pleasure in the mythology of frontier justice. As a youth Hitler read and memorized the western novels of Karl May, and Bush retains into his adulthood his fascination with simplistic cowboy values. He also exaggerates a cowboy twang despite his elitist education at Andover, Yale and Harvard.

27. Like Hitler, Bush misconstrues evolutionary theory, in Hitler's case by treating the Aryan race as being superior, in Bush's case by rejecting science for fundamentalist creationism.

Of course countless differences may be listed between Hitler and President Bush, most of which are to the credit of Bush. Nevertheless, the resemblances listed here are striking.

[Straight Shooter]

66. Don't forget the "God's favored son" factor

The text reads "Long live Germany."

[understandinglife]

68. Oh yes....one of the things we all need to remember...

...and remember to teach all our children -- when a person, even just a little bit, tries to tell you 'god sent them; god speaks through them; god wants them to take out the garbage.....god, whatever' it's time to stop listening and most definitely 'move on.'

Totalitarian megalomaniacs are always lurking. They all have one remarkable and dangerous feature -- 'they say what people (at least some) want to hear and they say it in ways that those who do want to hear it respond in rigid, hateful, and violent ways to anyone who disagrees.'

Only way to deal with them is to be unrelenting in educating, nurturing and respect for diversity coupled with rapid, robust discrediting of anyone who threatens it and intolerance of any effort to usurp each individuals right to participate in a fair and valid process of choosing their government.

Peace.

"Did Bush Know?"

[Patsy Stone]

67. And

a complicitous press.

[Donailin]

74. Thom Hartman's Piece

Published on Sunday, March 16, 2003 by CommonDreams.org
When Democracy Failed: The Warnings of History
by Thom Hartmann

The 70th anniversary wasn't noticed in the United States, and was barely reported in the corporate media. But the Germans remembered well that fateful day seventy years ago - February 27, 1933. They commemorated the anniversary by joining in demonstrations for peace that mobilized citizens all across the world.

It started when the government, in the midst of a worldwide economic crisis, received reports of an imminent terrorist attack. A foreign ideologue had launched feeble attacks on a few famous buildings, but the media largely ignored his relatively small efforts. The intelligence services knew, however, that the odds were he would eventually succeed. (Historians are still arguing whether or not rogue elements in the intelligence service helped the terrorist; the most recent research implies they did not.)

But the warnings of investigators were ignored at the highest levels, in part because the government was distracted; the man who claimed to be the nation's leader had not been elected by a majority vote and the majority of citizens claimed he had no right to the powers he coveted. He was a simpleton, some said, a cartoon character of a man who saw things in black-and-white terms and didn't have the intellect to understand the subtleties of running a nation in a complex and internationalist world. His coarse use of language - reflecting his political roots in a southernmost state - and his simplistic and often-inflammatory nationalistic rhetoric offended the aristocrats, foreign leaders, and the well-educated elite in the government and media. And, as a young man, he'd joined a secret society with an occult-sounding name and bizarre initiation rituals that involved skulls and human bones.

Nonetheless, he knew the terrorist was going to strike (although he didn't know where or when), and he had already considered his response. When an aide brought him word that the nation's most prestigious building was ablaze, he verified it was the terrorist who had struck and then rushed to the scene and called a press conference.

"You are now witnessing the beginning of a great epoch in history," he proclaimed, standing in front of the burned-out building, surrounded by national media. "This fire," he said, his voice trembling with emotion, "is the beginning." He used the occasion - "a sign from God," he called it - to declare an all-out war on terrorism and its ideological sponsors, a people, he said, who traced their origins to the Middle East and found motivation for their evil deeds in their religion.

Two weeks later, the first detention center for terrorists was built in Oranianberg to hold the first suspected allies of the infamous terrorist. In a national outburst of patriotism, the leader's flag was everywhere, even printed large in newspapers suitable for window display.

Within four weeks of the terrorist attack, the nation's now-popular leader had pushed through legislation - in the name of combating terrorism and fighting the philosophy he said spawned it - that suspended constitutional guarantees of free speech, privacy, and habeas corpus. Police could now intercept mail and wiretap phones; suspected terrorists could be imprisoned without specific charges and without access to their lawyers; police could sneak into people's homes without warrants if the cases involved terrorism.

To get his patriotic "Decree on the Protection of People and State" passed over the objections of concerned legislators and civil libertarians, he agreed to put a 4-year sunset provision on it: if the national emergency provoked by the terrorist attack was over by then, the freedoms and rights would be returned to the people, and the police agencies would be re-restrained. Legislators would later say they hadn't had time to read the bill before voting on it.

Immediately after passage of the anti-terrorism act, his federal police agencies stepped up their program of arresting suspicious persons and holding them without access to lawyers or courts. In the first year only a few hundred were interred, and those who objected were largely ignored by the mainstream press, which was afraid to offend and thus lose access to a leader with such high popularity ratings. Citizens who protested the leader in public - and there were many - quickly found themselves confronting the newly empowered police's batons, gas, and jail cells, or fenced off in protest zones safely out of earshot of the leader's public speeches. (In the meantime, he was taking almost daily lessons in public speaking, learning to control his tonality, gestures, and facial expressions. He became a very competent orator.)

Within the first months after that terrorist attack, at the suggestion of a political advisor, he brought a formerly obscure word into common usage. He wanted to stir a "racial pride" among his countrymen, so, instead of referring to the nation by its name, he began to refer to it as "The Homeland," a phrase publicly promoted in the introduction to a 1934 speech recorded in Leni Riefenstahl's famous propaganda movie "Triumph Of The Will." As hoped, people's hearts swelled with pride, and the beginning of an us-versus-them mentality was sewn. Our land was "the" homeland, citizens thought: all others were simply foreign lands. We are the "true people," he suggested, the only ones worthy of our nation's concern; if bombs fall on others, or human rights are violated in other nations and it makes our lives better, it's of little concern to us.

Playing on this new nationalism, and exploiting a disagreement with the French over his increasing militarism, he argued that any international body that didn't act first and foremost in the best interest of his own nation was neither relevant nor useful. He thus withdrew his country from the League Of Nations in October, 1933, and then negotiated a separate naval armaments agreement with Anthony Eden of The United Kingdom to create a worldwide military ruling elite.

His propaganda minister orchestrated a campaign to ensure the people that he was a deeply religious man and that his motivations were rooted in Christianity. He even proclaimed the need for a revival of the Christian faith across his nation, what he called a "New Christianity." Every man in his rapidly growing army wore a belt buckle that declared "Gott Mit Uns" - God Is With Us - and most of them fervently believed it was true.

Within a year of the terrorist attack, the nation's leader determined that the various local police and federal agencies around the nation were lacking the clear communication and overall coordinated administration necessary to deal with the terrorist threat facing the nation, particularly those citizens who were of Middle Eastern ancestry and thus probably terrorist and communist sympathizers, and various troublesome "intellectuals" and "liberals." He proposed a single new national agency to protect the security of the homeland, consolidating the actions of dozens of previously independent police, border, and investigative agencies under a single leader.

He appointed one of his most trusted associates to be leader of this new agency, the Central Security Office for the homeland, and gave it a role in the government equal to the other major departments.

His assistant who dealt with the press noted that, since the terrorist attack, "Radio and press are at out disposal." Those voices questioning the legitimacy of their nation's leader, or raising questions about his checkered past, had by now faded from the public's recollection as his central security office began advertising a program encouraging people to phone in tips about suspicious neighbors. This program was so successful that the names of some of the people "denounced" were soon being broadcast on radio stations. Those denounced often included opposition politicians and celebrities who dared speak out - a favorite target of his regime and the media he now controlled through intimidation and ownership by corporate allies.

To consolidate his power, he concluded that government alone wasn't enough. He reached out to industry and forged an alliance, bringing former executives of the nation's largest corporations into high government positions. A flood of government money poured into corporate coffers to fight the war against the Middle Eastern ancestry terrorists lurking within the homeland, and to prepare for wars overseas. He encouraged large corporations friendly to him to acquire media outlets and other industrial concerns across the nation, particularly those previously owned by suspicious people of Middle Eastern ancestry. He built powerful alliances with industry; one corporate ally got the lucrative contract worth millions to build the first large-scale detention center for enemies of the state. Soon more would follow. Industry flourished.

But after an interval of peace following the terrorist attack, voices of dissent again arose within and without the government. Students had started an active program opposing him (later known as the White Rose Society), and leaders of nearby nations were speaking out against his bellicose rhetoric. He needed a diversion, something to direct people away from the corporate cronyism being exposed in his own government, questions of his possibly illegitimate rise to power, and the oft-voiced concerns of civil libertarians about the people being held in detention without due process or access to attorneys or family.

With his number two man - a master at manipulating the media - he began a campaign to convince the people of the nation that a small, limited war was necessary. Another nation was harboring many of the suspicious Middle Eastern people, and even though its connection with the terrorist who had set afire the nation's most important building was tenuous at best, it held resources their nation badly needed if they were to have room to live and maintain their prosperity. He called a press conference and publicly delivered an ultimatum to the leader of the other nation, provoking an international uproar. He claimed the right to strike preemptively in self-defense, and nations across Europe - at first - denounced him for it, pointing out that it was a doctrine only claimed in the past by nations seeking worldwide empire, like Caesar's Rome or Alexander's Greece.

It took a few months, and intense international debate and lobbying with European nations, but, after he personally met with the leader of the United Kingdom, finally a deal was struck. After the military action began, Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain told the nervous British people that giving in to this leader's new first-strike doctrine would bring "peace for our time." Thus Hitler annexed Austria in a lightning move, riding a wave of popular support as leaders so often do in times of war. The Austrian government was unseated and replaced by a new leadership friendly to Germany, and German corporations began to take over Austrian resources.

In a speech responding to critics of the invasion, Hitler said, "Certain foreign newspapers have said that we fell on Austria with brutal methods. I can only say; even in death they cannot stop lying. I have in the course of my political struggle won much love from my people, but when I crossed the former frontier there met me such a stream of love as I have never experienced. Not as tyrants have we come, but as liberators."

To deal with those who dissented from his policies, at the advice of his politically savvy advisors, he and his handmaidens in the press began a campaign to equate him and his policies with patriotism and the nation itself. National unity was essential, they said, to ensure that the terrorists or their sponsors didn't think they'd succeeded in splitting the nation or weakening its will. In times of war, they said, there could be only "one people, one nation, and one commander-in-chief" ("Ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Fuhrer"), and so his advocates in the media began a nationwide campaign charging that critics of his policies were attacking the nation itself. Those questioning him were labeled "anti-German" or "not good Germans," and it was suggested they were aiding the enemies of the state by failing in the patriotic necessity of supporting the nation's valiant men in uniform. It was one of his most effective ways to stifle dissent and pit wage-earning people (from whom most of the army came) against the "intellectuals and liberals" who were critical of his policies.

Nonetheless, once the "small war" annexation of Austria was successfully and quickly completed, and peace returned, voices of opposition were again raised in the Homeland. The almost-daily release of news bulletins about the dangers of terrorist communist cells wasn't enough to rouse the populace and totally suppress dissent. A full-out war was necessary to divert public attention from the growing rumbles within the country about disappearing dissidents; violence against liberals, Jews, and union leaders; and the epidemic of crony capitalism that was producing empires of wealth in the corporate sector but threatening the middle class's way of life.

A year later, to the week, Hitler invaded Czechoslovakia; the nation was now fully at war, and all internal dissent was suppressed in the name of national security. It was the end of Germany's first experiment with democracy.

As we conclude this review of history, there are a few milestones worth remembering.

February 27, 2003, was the 70th anniversary of Dutch terrorist Marinus van der Lubbe's successful firebombing of the German Parliament (Reichstag) building, the terrorist act that catapulted Hitler to legitimacy and reshaped the German constitution. By the time of his successful and brief action to seize Austria, in which almost no German blood was shed, Hitler was the most beloved and popular leader in the history of his nation. Hailed around the world, he was later Time magazine's "Man Of The Year."

Most Americans remember his office for the security of the homeland, known as the Reichssicherheitshauptamt and its SchutzStaffel, simply by its most famous agency's initials: the SS.

We also remember that the Germans developed a new form of highly violent warfare they named "lightning war" or blitzkrieg, which, while generating devastating civilian losses, also produced a highly desirable "shock and awe" among the nation's leadership according to the authors of the 1996 book "Shock And Awe" published by the National Defense University Press.

Reflecting on that time, The American Heritage Dictionary (Houghton Mifflin Company, 1983) left us this definition of the form of government the German democracy had become through Hitler's close alliance with the largest German corporations and his policy of using war as a tool to keep power: "fas-cism (fbsh'iz'em) n. A system of government that exercises a dictatorship of the extreme right, typically through the merging of state and business leadership, together with belligerent nationalism."

Today, as we face financial and political crises, it's useful to remember that the ravages of the Great Depression hit Germany and the United States alike. Through the 1930s, however, Hitler and Roosevelt chose very different courses to bring their nations back to power and prosperity.

Germany's response was to use government to empower corporations and reward the society's richest individuals, privatize much of the commons, stifle dissent, strip people of constitutional rights, and create an illusion of prosperity through continual and ever-expanding war. America passed minimum wage laws to raise the middle class, enforced anti-trust laws to diminish the power of corporations, increased taxes on corporations and the wealthiest individuals, created Social Security, and became the employer of last resort through programs to build national infrastructure, promote the arts, and replant forests.

To the extent that our Constitution is still intact, the choice is again ours.

Thom Hartmann lived and worked in Germany during the 1980s, and is the author of over a dozen books, including "Unequal Protection" and "The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight." This article is copyright by Thom Hartmann, but permission is granted for reprint in print, email, blog, or web media so long as this credit is attached.

###

[ebayfool]

76. Donailin - do you have a link for this? I've never seen it laid ...

out like this, chilling - scarey. There are some people (GOP family members that are just learning) that I'm feeding bits & pieces to that REALLY need to read it!

[understandinglife]

77. Here it is...

...Link:

http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0316-08.htm

Peace.

"Did Bush Know?"

[ebayfool]

78. Thank you! I have to show this to a few people - stunning! n/t

[jayctravis]

70. Everyone should print a copy of the document Olbermann links to

and make sure someone else reads it. George W. Bush should also get it, but I can imagine 15 pages of essay questions might get the fish-eye.

Bravo House Represenatives.