It's time to take to the streets nationwide

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

we need marches across this country. not just in DC. solidarity ones in every town-like when moveon did the event with cindy sheehan.

we need something to get people out and to rally behind to get the momentum back on our side and away from the liars and warmongers.

one huge event in Dc-maybe one in NY and coordinated satellite ones throughout the country, that's what we need.

[Terran1212]

1. I thought we should've marched today and yesterday

To counter a Republican congress calling us cowards and 'cut and runners" we should've filled a million people into the streets to say NO to warmongers.

[PWRinNY]

2. Excellent idea

Time to storm the gates and show everyone the power of the people. We ought to be out marching in the streets already.

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

3. is anyone coordinating such an action?

i get som much from UFP and codepink that i never know when thery have a major event going.

we've got some media on our side-air america could help cordinate this if we could get the various hosts signed on, promote it through left websites, etc

by 'we' i mean whoever we work with to do such a thing. i'm in wv. not exactly the organizing capital of the world.

[zeemike]

4. Perhaps people will be ready after November

Unless the MSM is not opposed and they convince us that it was all on the up and up and people once again voted against there own interest because of Gay marriage or their fear of terrorism.

[kittenpants]

19. that's what I hoped two novembers ago!

Even when there are huge marches, no one knows about it. I'm not trying to be a nay sayer because the op is right & something is better than nothing, but between public apathy & lack of MSM coverage, I don't know if a march is what it used to be.

[zeemike]

23. Then perhaps we shall have to lear civil disobedience again.

Marches have been marginalized by the Medea and they always have a n excuse why they are not covered.
Non violent civil disobedience like what Gandhi and MLK used with the sit-ins and such is what works

[WHEN CRABS ROAR]

5. Just pick up the phone and tell them what you want.

All your Reps.and Sens. over and over again. Pass this on to everyone you know. TIE UP THE PHONES! This really works! They get the message when the phones load up. DO IT !

[newyawker99]

12. Hi WHEN CRABS ROAR!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[Peace Patriot]

6. I'd rather see crowds at Boards of Election meetings, demanding

TRANSPARENT elections, and pressuring election officials at the state/local level (where pressure from ordinary people still has some influence) to throw Diebold, ES&S and all Bushite-corporate controlled, "trade secretly" programmed, election theft machines into 'Boston Harbor' NOW!

I would never dis street protests. Street protests are good. People need to vent, and need to be with each other. But the bad guys have all the guns and all the power to quell any serious threat that might actually, say, shut down the government. They will be no more influenced by a million people in the streets than they are by a million letters or phone calls. Because they are not beholden to us for their power. They are beholden to Diebold and ES&S. It just seems so obvious to me! And we need to get smart and pay attention to our main MECHANISM OF POWER as the sovereign people of this democracy: TRANSPARENT VOTE COUNTING.

Anyway, people are hurting. They don't have the money, they don't have the energy, they don't have the time, to organize or attend big demos--and why do them, if the powers-that-be just ignore it all, and use military force to keep us away from the halls of government, if we come in numbers. We need to restore the MECHANISM OF OUR POWER. It is still feasible and doable, to get rid of these voting machines. We need to be practical and strategic and methodical. We need to restore the fundamental condition of democracy: our right to vote.

Once again, I have to say this: I am not dissing this idea--and would never dis street protests, large or small. If a big protest coincides with the steady, hard, on the ground activism that demands change on specific issues at the local level--as was the case with Martin Luther King's famous March on Washington--it can be very effective.

But bear in mind that we had a Democratic administration at that time (JFK, 1963) which supported civil rights. Today we have a fascist coup in the White House--a junta of thieves and criminals, who care nothing for the opinion of the people in this country. How do we change that? By big demos, or by getting rid of the election theft machinery by which they have maintained their illegitimate power?

MLK knew this. Voting rights was one of the two main planks of the civil rights movement (the other, ending desegregation). The systematic denial of voting rights prevented black citizens from ever gaining a foothold in power. And the same thing is being done to us now, by means of NON-TRANSPARENT electronic voting systems, owned and controlled by Bushite corporations (a coup that occurred recently, during the 2002-2004 period). It is still changeable at the state/local level. And we MUST change it. Without the right to vote, we have NO power to change anything else.

You can't demand rights or reasonableness from fascists--or, you can demand them until you're blue in the face (or they hose you away with tear gas and pepper spray), but it won't influence them. They don't care what you think. So you have to DISLODGE them. You have to take away their power. And if you have a peaceful, democratic, legal route to accomplishing that, that's what you must do. We have a peaceful, democratic, legal way to dislodge them--and that is to take away their election theft machinery. We have a right to transparent elections. It is outrageous that don't have transparent elections. This right is assertable at the state/local level--through political pressure on local officials, lawsuits, public education and protest. A big and widespread grass roots movement has already started to accomplish this. I think that's where activist energy should go.

[malaise]

10. 100% correct

Focus on the elections.

[leftofthedial]

7. it's time to march on the repuke neighborhoods

and start taking our country back

[Peace Patriot]

9. Hey, Leftofthedial, you have a job? You have kids? What are you

going to do about your job and your kids, or other responsibilities, while you're marching "on the repuke neighborhoods"? Besides, you should never presume who is for or against Bushite thieves and warmongers, from where they live? You'd be surprised how many people in "repuke neighborhoods" are on your side. (Their votes were stolen, too!--maybe even moreso than ours!) And, even if there are some "repuke" strongholds, where the privileged fatcat chickenhawks are holed up together, what's the use of marching there? They'll just call on their police force to bust your heads. Much better to go down to the Board of Elections and fight to destroy the unfair advantage they are receiving from Bushite-controlled secret vote counting machines! Go for the power! Don't get distracted and misdirected by anger. Focus on the mechanism of power: our right to vote in transparent elections.

[librechik]

17. don't worry, Peace--pretty soon there will be huge #s of unemployed

if the Pugly party and their corporate outsourcers get their way. Like in the Great Depression we won't lack for motivated marchers: homeless, "weather refugees," amputees from Iraq, you name it--the Pukkkes are making their own demise. Their future, as they compose it, is hungry, bloody and mad. It might not be before 08, but it is coming.

[leftofthedial]

21. I haven't had a job for over a year.

I have kids, though, and responsibilities. This is one of them.

Focus on the problem, not the Potemkin-village game they use to hide what they are doing.

Our right to vote for the corporate schill of their choosing is endangered? Gasp!

[Peace Patriot]

8. SOME RESOURCES FOR AMERICAN REVOLUTION II: Election Reform

OVERVIEW: AMERICAN REVOLUTION II

What we now have --in addition to outright illegal suppression of Democratic votes by Bushite election officials and other operatives--is several big electronic voting corporations with very close ties to the Republican Party and rightwing causes--Diebold, ES&S and Sequoia-- 'counting' all our votes with 'TRADE SECRET,' PROPRIETARY programming code--code so secret that not even our secretaries of state are permitted to review it--with virtually no audit/recount controls. This is the result of the infamous "Help America Vote Act" of 2002, a $4 billion electronic voting boondoggle engineered by the biggest crooks in Congress, Tom Delay and Bob Ney (and abetted by Bilderberg 'Democrat' Christopher Dodd).

Our elections are now NON-TRANSPARENT and UNVERIFIABLE, and under the control of partisan corporations. The $4 billion--and also millions in lavish lobbying--were used to corrupt election officials from one end of our country to the other. And those they have not been able to corrupt, they have driven from office (Kevin Shelly in California), or sought to intimidate (Ion Sancho in Florida, and others). This pervasive corruption, and bullying by the Bushite Feds, has resulted in the widespread purchase, by states and counties, of extremely insecure, unreliable and hackable--and very expensive--election theft machinery, including both voting machines and central tabulators. Most votes--even paper ballot votes (such as absentee ballots)--end up as electrons that can easily be manipulated by "trade secret" programming code. Given the culture of secrecy that has been fostered among election officials, and the financial corruption (big money contracts, lavish lobbying, etc.) that is now pervasive in our election system, no vote is safe and secure. Transparent elections are NOT difficult: people vote and the votes are counted in public view. But that is not what we have; we have something more like the vote counting in Stalinist Russia. In current conditions, we must PRESUME an inaccurate count that favors those in power.

Restoring TRANSPARENT elections is a MUST DO, PRIORITY ONE, MATTER, if we want our country back. Without the right to vote, we can do little or nothing to restore lawful government. We can protest. We can be appalled. But if the will of the majority--for peace and justice, and good government, as evidenced in ALL the issue polls over the last six years--cannot be enforced, then we might as well be shouting to the wind.

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

SOME RESOURCES FOR AMERICAN REVOLUTION II:

Practical suggestions for the immediate future:

1. ABSENTEE BALLOT VOTING. Voting by absentee or other paper ballot options is not the ultimate solution, by any means, but they at least provides a tangible paper record for challenging suspicious election results, and for recounts and investigations. (Absentee ballots were a great help to investigators in 2004.) Absentee ballot voting is also a form of protest against the machines. 50% of Californians are now requesting Absentee Ballots. If enough people do it, the machines will be obsolete; then we can work on getting rid of the central tabulators.

2a. MONITOR THE ELECTIONS: Statistical, chain of custody and transparency issues. Join with others to closely monitor the coming elections and gather and document evidence. Many volunteers are needed. See www.UScountvotes.org, and other activist groups, below. (UScountvotes.org needs donations!) In addition to statistical monitoring, a close watch should be kept on chain of custody issues (of the machines and any paper ballots or receipts; in the recent Bilbray-Busby election in San Diego, Diebold voting machines were apparently kept at election workers' HOMES just before the election--an incredible breach of security with regard to already very hackable machines.) Demand openness and transparency. Challenge the culture of secrecy that has grown around elections with the onset of secret corporate control of the vote counts.

2b. MONITOR THE ELECTIONS: Racial and class justice issues. Black voters, other minorities and the poor have been the victims of extraordinary harassment and disenfranchisement by Bushite election officials, at the polls and in voter registration purges. This was blatant in Ohio, Florida and New Mexico in '04. One investigator (Greg Palast) estimates that a million black voters were purged from the rolls prior to the 2004 election. Special vigilance is needed in these precincts and in opposing discriminatory rules and practices before and during the election. Are we to let the Bushites spit on one of our finest achievements as a people--the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965?

3. DEMAND INDEPENDENT EXIT POLLS. Demand that the Democratic Party fund INDEPENDENT EXIT POLLS. Exit polls are used worldwide to verify elections and check for fraud. The war profiteering corporate news monopoly exit polls cannot be trusted (they are doctored to match the results from the voting machines' secret programming code; rather than being used to verify elections, they are used to confirm NON-TRANSPARENT "official results"). The Democratic Party owes us, big time, for their lack of vigilance--and in some cases corruption--on electronic voting. This is something they can do to make it up to us.

4. THINK LONG TERM. Saving our democracy promises to be a long hard struggle. We obviously can't get rid of these machines before the '06 elections, so focus on doing our best with the Diebold/ES&S handicap (a 5% to 10% "thumb on the scales" for Bushites and warmongers), and getting rid of these machines afterward, for '08 and beyond.

5. TELL PEOPLE THE TRUTH. They NEED to know it. Engage them in the fight. Bumper sticker: "Help Us Beat the Machines--VOTE!" There is nothing more demoralizing and disempowering than constantly losing and not knowing WHY. There is evidence that the machines CAN be beaten by massive turnout. Get people involved! Help them to SEE what's happening! THEY will solve the problem, ultimately--if they can only IDENTIFY what it is!

6. PRESSURE LOCAL/STATE ELECTION OFFICIALS. Right now, the best place to fight this fight is at the state/local level, where ordinary people still have some influence. Bush's Congress is NOT going to give us back our right to vote--they are the ones who took it away (with the collusion of some corrupt Dems). Don't look to the Feds--look to your local county registrar, your state election boards, your secretaries of state. Demand TRANSPARENT and FAIR elections. Also educate and mobilize your local Democratic Party and other political party groups.

The first priority in this historic fight for American democracy is restoring our right to vote--the mechanism by which we exercise our sovereignty as a people. Without it, we have no power. We MUST change this.

Never give up on our right to vote! NEVER!

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

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES FOR AMERICAN REVOLUTION II:

Hopeful signs - latest news:

California voters sue the state over Diebold:
www.VoterAction.org is suing the state of California and 18 Calif county registrars on behalf of 25 California voter/plaintiffs, on the illegal Diebold "certification" by Schwarzenegger appointee Bruce McPherson.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2180496
Seven of these counties have promised the judge they would use PAPER BALLOTS, and were dismissed from this lawsuit (4/27/06).
http://kcbs.com/pages/29285.php
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2249205

Maryland rejects Diebold:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x418263

Florida - anti-trust accusations against Diebold, ES&S and Sequoia, re: heroic Florida election official Ion Sancho:
(FLA AG subpoenas the companies)
http://www.computerworld.com/governmenttopics/government/legalissues/story/0,10801,110192,00.html
http://www.tbo.com/news/politics/MGBKSY8W8LE.html
(info & discussion)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2183630

Utah county clerk fights back!
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x419226

(Tide turning?) New York Times: "New Fears of Security Risks in Electronic Voting Systems" (5/12/06)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2278829

-----

INFORMATION AND ACTIVIST RESOURCES for American Revolution II:

www.votersunite.org (MythBreakers - easy primer on electronic voting--one of the myths is that HAVA requires electronic voting; it does not.)
www.UScountvotes.org (statistical monitoring of '06 and '08 elections--they need donations)

(Activist sites with links to state activist groups or info)

www.votersunited.org (good general info, and state links)
www.verifiedvoting.org (great activist site)
www.solarbus.org/election/index.shtml (fab compendium of all election info)
www.votetrustusa.org (news of the movement from around the country--caveat: $$$ connections to Choicepoint)

www.freepress.org (devoted to election reform)
www.bradblog.com (also great, and devoted to election reform)
www.TruthIsAll.net (analysis of the 2004 election)* :patriot: :applause: :patriot:
www.votepa.us (well-organized local group of citizen activists in Pennsylvania, where important legal issues are at stake, including state's rights over election systems)
Provisions of the PA lawsuit:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x423739

The Voter Confidence Resolution
http://tinyurl.com/rlnr2 (“We Do Not Consent”)
http://guvwurld.blogspot.com (GuvWurld blog main page)
http://tinyurl.com/amryg (Voter Confidence Resolution

www.debrabowen.com (Calif Senator running for Sec of State to reform election system)
www.johnbonifaz.com (running for Massachusetts Sec of State on strong election reform and antiwar platform)

*Some tributes to TruthIsAll, who is very ill:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x417007
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x417231
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x675477

Congressional bills:

Russ Holt's HR 550 requires a real paper ballot, bans secret software in "voting machines", and has more than 170 co-sponsors, but the audit required is too weak, it promotes electronic voting and centralized power, and the secret software might be permitted to continue in the central tabulators (the bill is not clear). At lot of discussion at DU of the loopholes/pitfalls in HR 550 (many DUers support the bill):
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x422926
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x421136
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=203&topic_id=422967&mesg_id=422967
To sign the HR 550 petition: http://www.rushholt.com/petition.html

(Note: Senate Bill-SB 330 and House-HR704 simply require a "voter verified paper audit trail" (VVPAT), which may be best for the moment.)


Also of interest:

Michael Collins (Autorank)'s searing election reform article for New Zealand's Scoop.com
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x971363

Bob Koehler (-- four recent election reform initiatives in Ohio, predicted to win by 60/40 votes, flipped over, on election day, into 60/40 LOSSES!--the biggest flipover we've seen yet; the election theft machines and their masters are now dictating election policy! Title: "Poll Shock" 11/24/05)
http://commonwonders.com/archives/col321.htm

Bob Koehler's latest: "Trust us: Take this box and stuff it" (3/16/06)
http://commonwonders.com/archives/col337.htm
More Koehler:
www.tmsfeatures.com/tmsfeatures/subcategory.jsp?file=20051124ctnbk-a.txt&catid=1824&code=ctnbk

Amaryllis (Diebold, ES&S, Sequoia lavish lobbying of election officials - Beverly Hilton, Aug. '05)
www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x380340

HOWARD DEAN remarks on electronic voting machines 04/06
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x994507

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

Throw Diebold, ES&S and ALL election theft machines into 'Boston Harbor' NOW!

:think: :patriot: :woohoo: :patriot: :think:

-----------

"That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it." --Thomas Jefferson, The Declaration of Independence

[Lars39]

15. Thank you, Peace Patriot!

Sometimes it's hard to know where to start; your post will surely help. :thumbsup:

[peacebuzzard]

11. there are a few labor groups in small numbers working on this.

http://wcbs880.com/pages/47333.php

and in another story:



but I am all for mobilization....I agree it is time.

on edit: however, the old saying goes...."The pen is mightier than the sword" rings true once again. But in my book, anything to get the issues out, networking, meetups w/ the community, all of that is valid. whatever you can do in your limited time left among your 2 jobs, home, commutes, housework, kids, pets, .....that is, if your aren't totally wasted depleted and in a zombie state by the time you have a few moments to reflect on the moment and issues at hand. (sigh) :web:

[Jeffersons Ghost]

13. Kicked and Recommended HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!! n/t

[dogday]

14. How about a Capitol Cities March?

Every single Capitol City of the State Of The Union. It would be easier for everyone to get to their own capitol and it would send a hell of a statement that all 50 states were participating....

[jerry611]

16. The democrats are too divided

Some Democrats want to continue the war the way it is now. Some Democrats want to do what Murtha wants to do, retreat and redeploy. Some Democrats want to withdrawl and give up the war.

This has turned into three major divisions in the Democratic party. Those 42 democrats that voted with the Republicans yesturday proves that there is not enough votes, even with a Democratic-controlled house to stop the war.

[otherlander]

18. The huge D.C. event....could we try to get it to last a week?

Maybe we could use Camp Casey as a model. What buildings would we need to surround to really jam the system? Would it be enough to block entrances the White House, or are there other D.C. buildings in which the government could operate? It might not stop people from getting in or out- they do have helicopters- but being surrounded might strike some unease into the powers that be, no? They're terrified already. They shut down the capitol because of a hammer that sounded like a gun.

Satellite protests- two possibilities I'm thinking of. Focusing protests on Halliburton office buildings, or shutting down recruiting stations across America. Does either of those sound doable?

[zeemike]

24. Marches have been marginalized by the media

So they are basically a way to waste time and energy.
Civil disobedience however has not And so the use of sit ins to shut down the government or interfere with it's operation is what must be done.
I would like to se a Tienanmen Square type of sit in on the capital with specific demands, like legislation to make officials get 50% of the vote to serve and making the right to vote a constitutional right, the demand of the demonstrators.

[Jed Dilligan]

20. It suddenly hit me

The interstates and suburbanization weren't just for nuclear defense--they were also anti-insurrection measures.

In the old days of urban America we could have just poured out into the streets. Now we're miles apart with freepers in between.

[burythehatchet]

22. I've been thinking about this for a while.

Obviously people have responsibilities, but with proper planning we may be able to pull this off. I would like to see a number of marches, three or four, converge on Washington on the day after the mid-term elections. Personally, I'm quite certain that a fair election would yield a Dem sweep, but that won't happen because the Fascists simply cannot give up power.

We want to time the marches to land in DC the day after and demand fair elections.

The marches would be staged 15 or 20 miles outside DC, coming from directions. If this, or someting similar gets traction, I would march from Atlanta. I would march 20 miles a day and hopefully be joined by others along the way.

I think the only way change is going to happen is to tie up the capital until change happens.