Monday, October 08, 2007

How to avoid wasting your vote in a Bush dictatorship

I recently blamed "pundtry" for much of what is wong with this country. Everyone's a frickin' pundit and no one, it seems, is prepared to take a stand unless they've checked a poll first. Not wealth, but "punditry" and modern sophistry has trickled down. Instead of weighing the merits of various candidates, voters read the polls and columns and make calculations. Would John Edwards beat Guiliani? Can Hillary Clinton win the center? Can Obama keep the black vote while courting a "white" center?

When was the last time a "major" candidate said anything that had not first been vetted or parsed by a focus group, a consultant, or an entire PR firm? No one, its seems, does what's right because it's right! Mr. Smith never got to Washington. Except perhaps once in the person of Mike Gravel, remembered for his efforts to end the Viet Nam war, to end the draft, and for having put the Pentagon Papers into the public record in 1971.

For twenty years this nation has been at war in Indochina. Tens of thousands of Americans have been killed, half a million have been wounded, a million Asians have died, and millions more have been maimed or have become refugees in their own land. Meanwhile, the greatest representative democracy the world has even seen, the nation of Washington, Jefferson, and Lincoln, has had its nose rubbed in the swamp by petty war lords, jealous generals, black marketeers, and grand-scale dope pushers.

And the war still goes on. People are still dying, arms and legs are being severed, metal is crashing through human bodies, as a direct result of policy deecisions conceived in secret and still kept from the American people.

H. G. Wells, the English novelist and historian, once wrote:

The true strength of rulers and empires lies not in armies or emotions, but in the belief of men that they are inflexibly open and truthful and legal. As soon as a government departs from that standard, it ceases to be anything more than “the gang in possession,” and its days are numbered.
This is nowhere more true than in the conduct of a representative democracy. Free and informed public debate is the source of our strength. Remove it and our democratic institutions become a sham. Perceiving this, our forefathers included with our Constitution a Bill of Rights guaranteeing the maximum competition in the marketplace of ideas, and insuring the widest opportunity for the active and full participation of an enlightened electorate.

--Sen Mike Gravel, History of US Decision Making on Viet Nam

Mike Gravel was absolutely correct about Viet Nam and he is just as correct now about Iraq. Every war fought by the US since WWII has been ruinous and immoral, wars fought --not for defense --but in order to enrich the Military/Industrial complex.

I have no illusions. Even before the GOP figured out how to use computers to steal elections, elections had become mere window dressing. The fix was in because the Military/Inustrial complex hedges its bets. As the GOP was fond of pointing out in numerous campaign manuals, the candidate spending the most money usually won the race. An "Axis of Evil" --the MIC, the GOP and the CIA --has manipulated every election outcome in recent memory.

The time has come to draw a line in the sand. Just as I never play carny games, I refuse to play the election game as its been designed by the major parties and the GOP in particular. I am not going to compromise my conscience voting for someone based upon a pundit's view of his chances in a general election.

I will support Gravel's candidacy because Gravel is right, one of only two candidates who still has integrity, who has a complete program based upon what is right for this country. I would support a Gravel/Kucinich ticket or even the other way 'round.

Many will object that I will have wasted my vote. When Diebold can change the outcome of an election with a few lines of code, my vote is wasted already. When the US Supreme Court can set aside an election by passing off transparent bullshit as "law", my vote is wasted. When Tom DeLay's gerrymadered districts are still "stealing" votes in Texas, my vote is wasted. As long as candidates are bought and paid for by corporations, my vote is wasted. If I try to game an evil system, my vote is wasted. But --not this time! Gravel for President.

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36 comments:

Anonymous said...

Here's why I think you are wasting your vote. Two reasons. One, what we need in America is a second party, a real opposition party. Voting for any Democrat is wasting a vote. It's the same as a vote for the GOP.

Second, Gravel's tax notions are, in my opinion, insane. We need to back to the tax system we had before Reagan shifted the tax burden directly and indirectly to the middle class.

Gravel is right about the Iraq war and the drug war and bless him for speaking out on those things.

SadButTrue said...

"When Diebold can change the outcome of an election with a few lines of code, my vote is wasted already."

We're having a Provincial election here in Ontario. It will be cast on paper ballots, which will then be counted by hand. There's nothing difficult about this process, it doesn't take that long, and everyone trusts the results. What reason could compel anyone to change such a system? (other than enabling cheaters, of course) If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

We're also having a referendum which will if passed provide us with a mixed member proportional system, which will benefit smaller parties like the Greens, who get about 20% of the vote but usually none of the seats, because their support isn't concentrated into a few ridings. I think that will be an improvement.

Anonymous said...

www.TrueWorldHistory.info

hizzoner said...

I can't bring myself to do it...

I admire Gravel and Kuchinich but I still (naively perhaps) believe that my vote actually will count, and, unfortunately, neither of the two men with integrity will prevail therefore I must choose to influence only at the margins by voting for one of the MSM-picked "Mainstream Candidates".

sigh...

I think it was Jefferson who lamented, "By the time a man does all that is necessary to attain public office, he is no longer worthy of it."

How true, how true, how true.....

Anonymous said...

weisse/wiesseharre...paulimorph...124c41+...noteverymansays, whatever; i'm up 4't,i'm yo, man

Unknown said...

fillip said...

Here's why I think you are wasting your vote. Two reasons. One, what we need in America is a second party, a real opposition party. Voting for any Democrat is wasting a vote. It's the same as a vote for the GOP.

Fillip your comments are well-taken. Indeed, we need "real" second party. But also --a third and a fourth. This might come about if we could but create some simple adjustments: 1) an immediate end to the Electoral College; 2) an end to corporate "person-hood" and corporate contributions of any sort to politcal campaign; 3) an end to the absurd and interminable series of stupid, boring primaries in which nothing is truly debated; 4) a preference or "range" voting system by which the President is DIRECTLY elected; 6) a computerized DE-Gerrymader machine that will, in effect, undo Tom DeLay's legacy.

Until we get any movement toward those reforms, my vote is wasted! So ---why not vote my conscience? My vote "don't" matter anyway. The "establishment" doesn't give a shit; the fix is in. They own the best politicians money can buy. And , lately, money buys them all.

SadButTrue said...

We're having a Provincial election here in Ontario. It will be cast on paper ballots, which will then be counted by hand. There's nothing difficult about this process, it doesn't take that long, and everyone trusts the results.

Indeed! Stones in a basket beats Diebold. It is easy enough to design a system by which votes may be cast by a computer which would generate two paper "receipts" which are both "man readable" and "computer readable". One "receipt" is for the voter and one is fed directly into a redundant computer counting system ONLY when the voter confirms that his paper receipt matches his/her vote.

I don't think the GOP could game that system. As in accounting, the books should balance. If the numbers don't jive, it means that the GOP has stolen another election.

I suppose that we should be glad the GOP, of late, is only stealing elections and not assassinating people as they used to do.

hizzoner said...

I can't bring myself to do it...

Having had my bellyful of stupid conversations with almost every GOP politcian in Houston ---my own Congressman especialy --I cannot bring myself to pull the lever knowing that my vote will make absolutely no difference until AFTER the revolution.

I am where Che Guevara and Thomas Jefferson were when Che wrote about that time in the history of any "state" in which "the peace is already considered to be broken" and when Jefferson wrote about the only legitimate ends of government.

The US government has been at odds with both principles for quite some time now. Thanks to gerrymandering, my vote has been a total waste of time for a period of at least 20 years. And government has NEVER been worse than it is now.

I plan to sit the next one out. I will, however, show up --well prepared --for the revolution.

Nelson said...

Here, here, EC!

I will vote Kucinich, although I also like Gravel.

If Hillary wins, I will not vote for her, period. I'll vote my conscience and write in Dennis' name.

Unknown said...

liberal journal man said...

If Hillary wins, I will not vote for her, period.

Nor me! Hillary makes my skin crawl. She has NO spontaneity, no passion, no convictions. I doubt she's ever said anything without having first polled it to study the demographics.

Obama is a black Hillary...and may be male. He is superficially intelligent and ambitious but every shred of humanity seems to have been coached out of him.

The GOP, of course, is even worse. Of the entire party, only Chuck Hagel is worthy of the term --HUMAN.

Unknown said...

We were waged war on by the Republicans and now betrayed by the Democrats.

Anonymous said...

I certainly agree with forming a true opposition party, or parties...problem is, the money men of the existing parties will never allow any viable competition to form, just "third party" spoilers now and then. As you said Len, the existing parties control the "process", and it has been the GOP calling the shots for some time.

On a semi-related subject, it is amusing to watch the Dem leadership get in a twist over their primary poll position with the DNC. I would have hoped that Senator Bill Nelson would have shown half as much gumption in protecting his party when the the Goppers marginalized and fraudulently stole votes two years in a row from Nelson's electorate in both the 2000 & 2004 presidential races.

Not to mention the once House incumbent Karen Thurman, current Fl Dem party leader, ignored the fact that her GOP opponent Ginny Waite-Brown, in the seat run-off in 2000, got away with her campaign managers theft of Thurman's signs. Brown's husband and campaign manager (retired state police officer from NY) was caught red handed with Thurman's signs stacked up in the bed of his pick-up truck, at night. Thurman did nothing, yet she attacks her own party like a pit bull.

Not to mention that the Fl Dem party thinks it should be apart of early primaries ...because they continue to help fill the state and national houses with Goppers, or enabled conservatives as Reagan two elections in a row...there has not been a Dem party in Fl for over forty years, who the hell do they think they are kidding.

One last note, not that you have heard more then you care to, the only politician that can get away with looking "liberalish" is a Gopper...note current governor, C. Crist...just another twisted idiotic Fl irony. I run this by you Len, merely as you are someone who could recognize what I am speaking of, I believe you have been watching the Dems for some time, and it seems the national party is trending as the southern Dems, openly to the right.

benmerc

Anonymous said...

"On a semi-related subject, it is amusing to watch the Dem leadership get in a twist over their primary poll position with the DNC"

That should read:

"On a semi-related subject, it is amusing to watch the Florida Dem leadership get in a twist over their primary poll position with the DNC"

benmerc

Unknown said...

Benmerc, it would appear that the upshot of it all is simply this: there is NO "left" or "liberal" wing in the US at all. That, of course, is one of the primary characteristics of fascism.

Lately, I despair that the US will long survive. The Constitution is often trotted out among winks and nods, a sop to the "rule of law". The emperor, in fact, is naked and the "rule of law" is only cited when it is convenient for authority.

Infrastructure is neglected, children are not educated, "privatization" is a code word for welfare for the wealthy, special treatment for corporations, license to power brokers, big banks, and, of course, "law enforcement".

Under Bush, the transition from government to gang has been completed. The "federal" govt in Washington is illegitimate. And there is no debate on this from the candidates --most of whom are part of the problem.

Unknown said...

It seems to me to be the height of irony that so many of the elites argue that America is a republic and not a democracy...so why did they choose to lie about spreading democracy all over the world? And on nuclear proliferation, weren't there a bunch of catholics who became martrys protesting nuclear weapons? No wonder they went into the 'Jesus' business....they had to go in and break their will, change their priorities so that it fit their agenda.....bloody hell. Have a great week. Zena

Unknown said...

Zena said...

It seems to me to be the height of irony that so many of the elites argue that America is a republic and not a democracy...so why did they choose to lie about spreading democracy all over the world?

You're right. It is at least ironic and most certainly hypocritical. Moreover, the distinction drawn puts too fine a point on it. Of course, "Democracy" may be used to denote only "direct Democracy" after the Athenian model. But, as only various Cantons in Switzerland come near the Athenian model, the distinction always seemed absurd to me. In the purest sense of the word, Democracy is government, literally, of the people and that is precisely what we have been guaranteed in the US Constitution, i.e. the "people" are sovereign. This is not a mere platitude. It's law.

And on nuclear proliferation, weren't there a bunch of catholics who became martrys protesting nuclear weapons? No wonder they went into the 'Jesus' business....they had to go in and break their will, change their priorities so that it fit their agenda.

Yep! wage war to make peace and it's all done for Jesus! American "Christianity" is a dangerous cult.

....bloody hell. Have a great week.

And yourself and thanks for your comments.

Unknown said...

filip raised a point that I had intended to address...but, alas, in haste, I moved on.

Filip, you are correct about taxation. I would hope Gravel might consider addressing the HUGE income and wealth inequities that have resulted over soem 30 years of "Reaganomic" tax cuts for the wealthy. They are at the very root of this nation's malaise. They are at the very root of declining productivity, the decline of the dollar, as well as the "Wal-Martization" of America.

I cut Wal-Mart, responsible for the loss of some 200,000 America jobs, NO SLACK. Nevertheless, American workers faced with declining employment commisserate with skills PLUS declining wages cannot be blamed for trying to find a bargain ---even if it should come from China by way of Wal-Mart. Sadly, however, purchases at Wal-Mart rob Americans of their own jobs in the long run. It's a death cycle begun when Bush Sr ate dog lips in the Fobidden City. His visit laid the ground work for Nixon's famous, historic visit to China in the '70's. It marked the beginning of the end of the American century.

Jesus Reyes said...

Oh my God!! If you don't vote for Tweedledee then Tweedledum will get elected.

Gore Vidal: There is only one party in the US and that is the Property Party. It has a right wing and another right wing.

Huey P Long: Congress is a restaurant and there is only one meal on the menu and that meal is prepared by Wall Street. There are two sets of waiters however and you can choose which set will bring you your meal.

The political, economic and foreign policy elites own both parties and they all support the Iraqi project and the Patriot Act project.

Now that the Iraqi project is in the ditch, there is an argument amongst them - between the Neoconservatives and the Realists - over how to prosecute the Iraqi project (no disagreement on the Patriot Act project) but that is none of your concern.

You have a choice. Don't waste your vote. I'm voting for Tweedledee.

P.S. Voter suppression is probably more the mechanism than the voting machine. Actually, voting machines might only be noise covering the signal.

Unknown said...

At this point, labels don't mean a thing and any vote for the "mainstream" candidates of either party is a wasted vote --unless, of course, you want more of same old shit!

Think outside the box ---a whole new party can be built around the likes of Gravel and possibly Kucinich.

I would as soon vote for Guiliani as Hillary or McCain as Obama.

Anonymous said...

Just for your interest Len, there's some new details on the impossible phone calls of 9/11.

Unknown said...

Great link, Damien. The point now seems to be the fact that there NO LONGER is an "official theory" --Bush defenders have changed their stories so often that there is nothing left to defend. Griffen and many others should declare victory but KEEP THE HEAT ON!

If there is ANY justice, those who perpetrated 911 --we and "they" know who they are --will hang for having perpetrated one of the most heinous crimes in history. Let the bastard swing! A firing squad is entirely too honorable.

Anonymous said...

America is still sleeping on their credit cards, driving their cocoon/SUV, watching the police chasing OJ, Paris Hilton and Britney Spears, Barely moved by these far away wars that do not concern us, because it is fought to protect or create private interests of a few; even though, our media masquerade it as if they are waged for the sake of the very survival of our nation.

We are living a truly sad time indeed. Because, the day when American citizens will wake up, it will be because their respective wallet will got pinched so hard as to finally get someone jump out of bed and scream loud enough and good enough that everybody will follow him or her, marching into reclaiming our old capitalism and our cherish democracy. Like they did in Iran, in 1979, in order to oust a corrupt and mean dictator they called the Shah. And looked what they gained after that!

Because, that is the real problem, you see: By the time we will have waited to long for action the deluge will be truly on, the pain will be so great, the noise so deafening, the crop will be so dried and miserable, history has demonstrated time and time again that we will invariably chose to believe anyone with the promise to stop it. And by that time, we will just have added the very last nail into the coffin which lay the remains of our democracy.

Unknown said...

dante lee said...

America is still sleeping on their credit cards... our media masquerade it as if they are waged for the sake of the very survival of our nation.

The media will get a wake up call at about the same time the last consumer maxes out his last in a series of "no credit check" credit cards. The media gets paid last. I wanna be around when there is nothing left to pay with and FOX is left holding an empty bag.

Like they did in Iran, in 1979, in order to oust a corrupt and mean dictator they called the Shah.

I was annoyed because they tied up traffic, but the Iranian students who descended upon downtown Houston in the 70's were absolutely correct about the Shad. He WAS a US puppet.

And by that time, we will just have added the very last nail into the coffin which lay the remains of our democracy.

There is a ray of hope. The House overwhelmingly passed the Anti-war profiteering bill. GOPPERS were most surely afraid to oppose it but too late to save their sorry hides. I had never thought myself vindictive but I had never before witnessed an evil gang of Nazis, with proven connections to Adolf Hitler, murder some 3000 Americans in order to take control of the country.

Anonymous said...

Someone called Blackwater, the Bush administration's personal private army.

Scary. That reminds me how the Nazi started...

Anonymous said...

jesus-f****-christ!!!!!!

Here's Bush truly revealing answer about Blackwater status before the law:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6Z1tevub9I

Spectacularly fuck-up, isn't it?

Anonymous said...

....Hi, Dante Lee. Nice to hear from you.

I haven't been updating my blog for a while, Len. It just seems beyond a joke. I've got bookmarks on about 100 damning 9/11 articles that I could write up and link to but, aside from finding the time, it hardly seems worth it. If people aren't convinced that a new 9/11 inquiry is needed then I'm never going to convince them. When people accuse me of being a 'conspiracy theorist' I say fine, just tell me which foreign government assisted the 9/11 terrorists? Or why is it that the 9/11 Commissioners wanted to bring perjury charges against NORAD officials and US Generals? etc etc (seriously, I've a hundred questions I could ask them). What can people say when you tell them that James Quintiere, former Head of NIST fire investigative services, has the rejected the NIST findings and methodology. It's beyond debate, the results are in and the official explanation is just a fairy tale.

You may recall Daniel Hopsicker's story about a drug plane carrying 5.5 tons of cocaine that was captured in Mexico in April 2006. Brent C. Kovar was one of the two owners who just happened to have been appointed by Tom Delay in 1993 to the Business Advisory Council of the National Republican Congressional Committee. The plane's registered owner, a Florida air charter company called Royal Sons, was run from a hanger at the Venice Fl. Airport owned by flight school Huffman Aviation of 9/11 fame. The plane carried an official looking US govt insignia. According to Hopsicker, Royal Sons is part of a cluster of related air charter firms that are dummy CIA companies - and has connections to Bush backer, Richard Rainwater.

Well, now there's another drug plane with 3.7 tons of cocaine which crashed in Yucatan a few weeks ago. The owner is a dodgy Florida company that gives all the signs of being a CIA front. And, according to records of the European Parliament, the plane had been involved in CIA rendition flights to Guantanamo(!) Hopsicker has previously tied Florida based drug and rendition flights to Agape Flights, a Right wing, evangelical group that has been working with the CIA.

The GOP is a crime syndicate that has appropriated the organs of the State for criminal purposes. US democracy has been disconnected from decency, the law and accountability for some time now. It's free-wheeling downhill and we just have to see where it all piles up.

Vierotchka said...

Dante Lee! Great to see you again! :)

You could have linked to that video which I had posted at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FD7BDP3XMG0, and left a comment if you're registered with YouTube! :)

SadButTrue said...

What a comeback from Dante Lee! Great stuff, especially the timely link to the Johns Hopkins video from back in April, '06. (Of course if I should post it, it will be to Vierotchka's upload.)

I did a little background on the facts behind Little Georgie's squirming, smirking non-answer. "..I don't mean to be dodging the question, although it's kind of convenient in this case.." heh heh

The facts:
The Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act doesn't apply to these employees, (because they were hired by the interior department to dodge the law that applies to the DOD) some of whom were notorious in the recent torture scandal. Thanks to an order by Paul Bremer, civilian employees were granted immunity to Iraqi law. This order was extended by Bremer's last act in office - until a new government [was] elected [the next]January. (source)

HuffPo's Michael Shaw also picked up on the significance of this exchange (what a brilliant first year student, BTW,) and posted this article on Yahoo news.

And this, "the day when American citizens will wake up, it will be because their respective wallet will got pinched so hard.."

I certainly hope the American public wakes up soon enough. The moment to respond to a jackboot is before it is pressing on your prostrate neck. If you can smell the polish, it's already too late.

Vierotchka said...

Hey everyone - please go to the Blogger's Choice Awards, register with them, and nominate and vote for the Existentialist Cowboy as best political blog (and for my blog as best video blog too, while you're at it!).

I have nominated both blogs, but the more nominations and votes they get, the better chance they have. I can count on you, I'm sure. :)

Dante - would you like me to nominate your blogs too?

Vierotchka said...

Here is my post at Crooks and Liars - use those links to go and register and vote:

Hurry up and go to the Blogger's Choice Awards, sign up, and start voting for Crooks and Liars, because Michelle Malkin's pit of horrors has more votes than C&L. While you're there, do also vote for The Existentialist Cowboy (political blog), for Athos99 (foreign language blog which is in fact a fabulous photoraphy blog), and if you're in the mood, for my blog. :)

Unknown said...

damien said...

I haven't been updating my blog for a while, Len. It just seems beyond a joke. I've got bookmarks on about 100 damning 9/11 articles that I could write up and link to

I understand. Early on, I learned that I could not keep up with it. Cowboy regulars owe you a big thank you, however. You've been a one man think tank. Kudos and thanks.

The GOP is a crime syndicate that has appropriated the organs of the State for criminal purposes. US democracy has been disconnected from decency, the law and accountability for some time now. It's free-wheeling downhill and we just have to see where it all piles up.

You are right and I've even proposed the GOP leadership be investigated under RICO statutes. That may be a first in US politics. Free Speech does not protect or immunize organized corruption.

SadButTrue said...

What a comeback from Dante Lee! Great stuff, especially the timely link to the Johns Hopkins video from back in April, '06. ...The Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act doesn't apply to these employees, (because they were hired by the interior department to dodge the law that applies to the DOD) some of whom were notorious in the recent torture scandal. Thanks to an order by Paul Bremer, civilian employees were granted immunity to Iraqi law.

Agreed! Great link. Hat tip to Dante and Vierotchka. I had a similar debate with an aid to my congressman. My position was that the Uniform Code of Military Justice cannot trump treaties ratified by Congress. The issue of whether or not Blackwater can be placed above Iraq law seems irrelevant. The question is whether or not "contracts" or "agreements" under the Uniform Code of Military Justice can place private contractors above Iraqi law seems irrelevant for several reasons.

1) Existing Iraqi laws are of questionable legitimacy to be begin with. In any words, is any contract legitimate?

2) As I understand it, the "contracts" in question are between the US and Blackwater --not between Iraq and Blackwater. Iraq, even if it has "authority" to absolve violations of Iraqi laws, it cannot absolve violations of US law.

2) In law, any contract requiring of any party a violation of any applicable law(s) is de facto invalid. I find absurd any notion that any contract at any time can in any way put parties to the contract above applicable law!
The applicable laws, in this case, are US Codes, US Constitution --not Iraqi "codes, not Iraqi Constitution.

Hitler's Nazis have done all this already and apparently America's right wing learned nothing from the experience or never bothered to read the history. I suggest Bush first learn to read. Then he should read the memo of Heydrich's meeting at Wannsee, in which a gang of business-suited Nazis tried to figure out a way to put the Third Reich and his various contractors (most notably I. G. Farben) above the law, specifically, how to make legal the extermination of not merely Europe's jewish population! I hope never to meet David Irving. I will punch the bastard.

The moment to respond to a jackboot is before it is pressing on your prostrate neck. If you can smell the polish, it's already too late.

I have some advice to the GOP: if goppers don't like comparisions to Nazis they should stop behaving like Nazis. If it walks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it's a duck. The GOP, meanwhile, are to be considered Nazis. A thing is what it does.

Unknown said...

Damien said...

You may recall Daniel Hopsicker's story about a drug plane carrying 5.5 tons of cocaine that was captured in Mexico in April 2006. Brent C. Kovar was one of the two owners who just happened to have been appointed by Tom Delay in 1993 to the Business Advisory Council of the National Republican Congressional Committee. The plane's registered owner, a Florida air charter company called Royal Sons, was run from a hanger at the Venice Fl. Airport owned by flight school Huffman Aviation of 9/11 fame. The plane carried an official looking US govt insignia. According to Hopsicker, Royal Sons is part of a cluster of related air charter firms that are dummy CIA companies - and has connections to Bush backer, Richard Rainwater.

Gee...you don't suppose 911 was a CIA operation, do you?

I am being facetious...but if Americans had been thinking clearly, the clues would have been all too obvious. Sometimes, I think these guys (CIA) are not half as smart as they think they are. It is, in fact, a criminal enterprise doing its dirty work in the name of the state. The significance of Nuremberg is that the state itself is often a criminal enterprise. Neither "presidents" nor "Kings" are above the law.

Anonymous said...

I think it's that small part of the CIA that goes back to Iran-Contra, the October Surprise, drug trafficking through Mena, the CIA group personally loyal to Bush Snr who worked against Clinton while he was in office etc.These guys have been off the books, under the radar and up to their neck in it for thirty years. (Along with their BCCI criminal buddies).

I am reminded how far back these people go by a story from Chris Floyd about how in 1975 Rumsfeld (Gerald Ford's Chief of Staff) and Dick Cheney (a White House aide) worked together to cover up the CIA killing of anthrax scientist Frank Olsen. These guys really do know where the CIA bodies are buried.

5.5 tons of cocaine valued at half a billion dollars on the streets...a plane owned by Brent Kovar... no US media coverage. Says it all really, doesn't it? You gotta laugh or you'd just go crazy.

Anonymous said...

Cowboy regulars owe you a big thank you, however. You've been a one man think tank. Kudos and thanks.

It's very much my pleasure, Len, to drag so many dead cats into your otherwise pristine and intelligent blog. Many thanks. :)

Unknown said...

damien said...

It's very much my pleasure, Len, to drag so many dead cats into your otherwise pristine and intelligent blog. Many thanks. :)

Rather, you honor this blog and keep up the great work.

Unknown said...

I just found, on the net, an article that I had read in Discover Magazine back in the year 2000. The article is: May The Best Man Lose, DISCOVER, Vol. 21 No. 11.

Here's an excerpt:

The news media loved McCain, and so did the voters. In a February 7 CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll, more Americans thought favorably of him than of any other candidate. When the poll was repeated on February 28, his lead had widened: 66 percent had a favorable opinion of him compared with 59 percent for Al Gore, 57 percent for George W. Bush, and 54 percent for Bill Bradley. Yet nine days later, McCain was out of the race.

What happened?

The short answer is Super Tuesday. McCain was wiped out in the delegate-rich states of California and New York, while winning only a few small states in New England. The loss in California, a winner-take-all primary, hurt most. An exit poll by the Sacramento Bee suggested that McCain had been too critical of right-wing religious leaders. The poll also showed that voters believed Bush was more likely to beat Gore in November than McCain was. Yet the same voters, in the same exit poll, said they would vote for Gore over Bush (51 to 43 percent), and they would vote for McCain over Gore (48 to 43 percent).


Without getting into the "niceties" of Condorcet, Borda Counts, Range Voting, Preference Voting et al, that single paragraph from the article sums up what happens when voters try to "game" a crooked system.

I despise the primaries but also the interminably long campaigns and simple majority voting. For a number of purely mathematical reasons (as well as the crooked ones) the decks are stacked against US elections selecting the candidates that are most representative of the people's wishes. I'll have another on this soon.

Anonymous said...

Hey Len I agree with you. I wince when I hear people tell me how X cannot win, Mike Gravel in this case. The only case of interest at the moment.

Yeah, if you don't vote for X s/he can't win. It's as simple as that.

The information content of your message is "I'm not voting for X, even though X is the best candidate, because the 'smart money' says X can't win. And I don't wanna hang around where the 'smart money' don't."

I came to your site from 'New Hampshire for Gravel', where there's a link to this article. I don't know if that site has anything to do with Gregory V Chase, but Chase is a 20-something hedge-fund multi-millionaire who offered to pay NBC $1 million to counteract the influence of the DNC and their 'smart money' in their choice of "debate" candidates.

What Gregory Chase did, in my opinion, is worth more than a million bucks. He stood up for what makes sense to him, not for what the Zeitgeist told him was possible. And he's a poster boy for the 'smart money'.

Belief, analysis, then action come first.

Then the results of the election.

You folks being led around by your noses by the Top-Down-Media, who have told you how you're going to vote more than a full-year before the elction ought to be ashamed of yourselves.

I know that I'm ashamed of you.

Unknown said...

Re: John Francis Lee:

Thanks for your infromative post and the heads up about New Hampshire. Here's a link to a story about Gravel's "angel": Mike Gravel finds an angel in New Hampshire campaign

I have not found the New Hampshire site that you've mentioned. If you could place a link here, that would be great.

Of course, it doesn't help Mike in this election, but reforms to abolish the primaries and effect the direct popular election of the US President concurrent with a verifiable system [see my previous comment] to make GOP election theft an impossibility will do much to reform, perhaps, SAVE this nation.