As mentioned yesterday, the Tribune Syndicate’s Robert Koehler has dropped a killer column on Election 2004 and the National Election Reform Conference which we attended, and spoke at, last weekend in Nashville.
Koehler was the one member of the MSM brave enough to show up in Nashville and to share a stage with both ourselves and Free Press’ Bob Fitrakis (editor, writer and attorney who joined the lawsuit in Ohio to have its vote count set aside).
As it turns out, Koehler is one of the good guys still fighting the good fight in the MSM, and his column today — which out and out declares the 2004 election to have been stolen — hits on so many pistons it’s virtually impossible to pull out just the money quotes. So we strongly recommend you read the whole thing. Here’s the first and last few grafs to whet your appetite…
The 2004 election was stolen — will someone please tell the media?
As they slowly hack democracy to death, we’re as alone — we citizens — as we’ve ever been, protected only by the dust-covered clichés of the nation’s founding: “Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.”
It’s time to blow off the dust and start paying the price.
The media are not on our side. The politicians are not on our side. It’s just us, connecting the dots, fitting the fragments together, crunching the numbers, wanting to know why there were so many irregularities in the last election and why these glitches and dirty tricks and wacko numbers had not just an anti-Kerry but a racist tinge. This is not about partisan politics. It’s more like: “Oh no, this can’t be true.”
I just got back from what was officially called the National Election Reform Conference, in Nashville, Tenn., an extraordinary pulling together of disparate voting-rights activists — 30 states were represented, 15 red and 15 blue — sponsored by a Nashville group called Gathering To Save Our Democracy. It had the feel of 1775: citizen patriots taking matters into their own hands to reclaim the republic. This was the level of its urgency.
…
In contrast to the deathly silence of the media is the silent scream of the numbers. The more you ponder these numbers, and all the accompanying data, the louder that scream grows. Did the people’s choice get thwarted? Were thousands disenfranchised by chaos in the precincts, spurious challenges and uncounted provisional ballots? Were millions disenfranchised by electronic voting fraud on insecure, easily hacked computers? And who is authorized to act if this is so? Who is authorized to care?
No one, apparently, except average Americans, who want to be able to trust the voting process again, and who want their country back.
Additionally, there was some coverage of the event during and after, by Laura Luxor of The Tennessean. Her two — much appreciated pieces — are here and (from their front page) here.
As to a few other random and personal thoughts, and photos (and even a bit of video) from the event…
What an incredible weekend.
I’ll not soon forget the outpouring of support and appreciation from those in attendance throughout the three-day patriot-fest. For those reading BRAD BLOG today fresh from their participation in Nashville…thank you from the very bottom of my heart for your incredible generosity, strength of spirit, words of kindness and your tireless service towards the good of your country.
I was moved beyond description by the words of support, compliment and praise for the work of the BRAD BLOG from American Heroes such as David Cobb (the only American Presidential Candidate who’s ever addressed me at all, much less by first name on and off-stage, on and off camera), the delightful and beautiful Rep. Cynthia McKinney (who was similarly generous both on and off-stage), Cliff Arnebeck (legal eagle patriot of Ohio lawsuit fame) and grand master Bob Fitrakis (of Free Press and Ohio truth-to-power fame).
One personal highlight, among too many to list: The standing ovation given to Clint Curtis after he did nothing more than introduce himself by name to the assembled crowd.
I suspect some audio and video will emerge in the next few days and weeks as there was an often uncountable number of cameras and documentarians on hand for the proceedings from beginning to end. I will try to share links with you to any of that material as it becomes available so those who could not be there might get just a sense of the remarkable gathering of compatriots.
And a special word of thanks to Bernie Ellis, who selflessly and singularly brought the weekend about. All in the name of a better world.
Democracy is alive and well, even if a bit bruised and battered. The folks who gathered in Nashville this weekend demonstrated — in no uncertain terms — the indomitable spirit and yearning for true freedom and justice. Their continuing and tireless efforts on behalf of this country has renewed my belief that we shall, indeed, overcome.
Now, I need some rest. But ain’t gonna get any for a while. Oh, well…
Here’s a few personal pictures and even a cellphone-snapped video clip from the event, with more photos and video of the actual speeches etc, to come on the web in the near future…
There should be more “official” video appearing shortly, but here’s a quickie video clip (self-promotional, of course!) from a cellphone of Cobb and myself…what a crazy weekend…Keeping hope alive…
Standing ovation from here as well! I’m so glad I’m on the side that can stand tall and proud.
This is a really well-rounded article!
🙂
Jewels are the rare ones. Unfortunately there are precious few jewels in control of or even in the MSM.
Personally I am very happy that some are still there and that some of them have the intestinal fortitude to bring it to the people.
Kudos to Brad, the bloggers here, and the MSM true blues who will swim upstream in honor of their sacred duty to tell it like it is!
Robert Koehler is a jewel.
This is all gonna be worth it. You’ll see why we had to have these people in power. They’ve provided the focal point for the people to rally around, unite and find a new voice. I always believed this would happen, and I think the increased participation in the political process is permanent.
I feel power in Bradville. Brad knows how many people are visiting. It’s a beautiful thing for me to witness. Brad out there in the front lines, while we soldiers work to learn and uplift from here.
The results are forthcoming.
Kudos to Brad is right. He is our modern day Woodward/Bernstein.
The cracks have definitley started Brad. Keep up the good work. We’re all onboard to pass this information on to others.
So much is happening lately. I didn’t think the post-election era would have this much vote reform activity. But it does. And it grows.
"Washington, D.C. – Saying the federal government has gone the way of The Daily Show’s fake newscasts, Senators John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) today introduced an amendment to require every prepackaged “video news release” paid for by the federal government at taxpayer expense to run a disclaimer"
“In the greatest democracy in the world, the government shouldn’t be writing and paying for the news. It runs counter to everything we believe in. It’s unfortunate we even have to introduce legislation to stop any administration from doing this. In a time of record-budget deficits, American taxpayers have a right to know not only that they’re watching fake newscasts, but they paid for them. It’s one thing to watch Jon Stewart on television. It’s another to imitate him with Americans’ hard-earned tax dollars," Kerry said. “I am very grateful to Chairman Stevens for giving us the opportunity to address this abuse of the public trust and waste of taxpayer dollars.”
“The administration’s propaganda mill needs to be shut down. The government’s policies should be strong enough to stand on its own legs, without the help of fake news stories. The administration should get out of the fake news business, and leave that task to Jon Stewart. I am hopeful our legislation will pass Congress quickly,” Senator Lautenberg said."
Thanks to Brad for the energy and persistence to continue with this story. If there is to be any chance we can get our democracy back, it will be thanks to people like Brad who have kept asking questions in the face of the lazy MSM who accuse them of being conspiracy-mongers. And thanks as well to Robert Koehler, for taking the questions into the mainstream. It’s very good to know that there are a few real journalists left working in the MSM.
The FCC has ruled against the Bush administrations use of prepackaged video news releases, stating that television broadcasters must reveal the source.
How to respond to the charge "conspiracy theorist":
If people say to you, "Are you a conspiracy theorist?"
You say to them "Are you a coincidence theorist" and go into the long list of amazing coincidences, like that the voting machines owned by republicans only error in favor of republicans.
Brad,
thank you for having the courage to not let go-
Teresa #7
The administration should get out of the fake news business, and leave that task to Jon Stewart.
Ummm – why call out Jon Stewart when he has been one of our ONLY sources of REAL news – even though he tells it with a touch of HUMOR. Hey – shouldn’t Kerry have said "The administration should get out of the fake news business and leave that task to Rush Limbaugh – Sean Hannity – Ann Coulter – etc. ad nauseam??? IMHO
Right, Bejammino. "Conspiracy theorist" is nothing but a facile pejorative, designed to shift the burden of proof to people who know the game was rigged, but might not have all the specifics.
And why not? Because of hidden source codes inside computerized voting machines, that’s why. If a machine is programmed in advance by a Republican crook to flip votes, nobody is standing there when it happens, except possibly a Democrat election worker who hasn’t a clue about what’s happening. Then the Republicans say, "It would take a bi-partisan conspiracy to fix an election."
Nope. Not when the dirty work is done secretly, and in advance.
The truth is emerging. It’s taken a while, but it’s happening. Christopher Hitchens is no friend of Democrats, but he realized (and wrote) a couple of months ago that it was a myth to assume that a massive conspiracy was required to flip several hundred thousand votes. All it takes is one clever programmer.
It’s even possible most Republicans don’t know what happened in Ohio, and in Florida in 2000. If someone’s computer is bugged, how many outside people know it? If a teenager in South Dakota can plant a worm and affect several hundred thousand computers nationwide (this has happened often), who is to say an election can’t be fixed?
The exit polls tell the story, folks. A 5-1/2% differential between exit polls and tabulated vote simply cannot be explained away except by fraud. That’s isn’t a conspiracy theory, it’s probabilities. The laws of mathematics are immutable, and no Lucy Morgan or Ken Blackwell or Jim Baker or Joe Scarborough or Karl Rove can overturn them.
Hallelujah, Brad. The credit is all yours for this. We’re almost there. Oh, if anyone owns blue-chip stocks at this point, take the advice of a broker who was fired by Janney Montgomery Scott for blowing the whistle on a Wall Street scandal…SELL!
Here ya go – Chuck Herrin, lifelong Republican, professional white hat hacker with a string of professional credentials:
(For those who haven’t studied Chuck’s site, or maybe never heard of him – this site is a MUST)
How to Hack the Vote
11/10/2004 rev. 12/04/2004
Chuck Herrin, CISSP, CISA, MCSE, CEH
Enron was a conspiracy theory, too. Were their whistleblowers "Crackpots"?
Were the people who lost their retirements to those corporate criminals just "sore losers"?
I’ve never been part of the "Tin Foil Hat" conspiracy theory crowd. I’m just a voter who happens to be a Professional IT Auditor.
Kira-#12
Hahaha…exactly! Jon Stewart is one of the few who tell the truth, while (wink wink) calling his show ‘fake news’. It’s amazing, really, how he can sit there time after time with conservative guests, be polite & charming, and still manage to gently & deftly discredit their agendas.
and #14
I agree, Chuck Herrin seems like the kind of Republican–good & decent, intelligent & articulate–with whom we can stand shoulder-to-shoulder against all this insanity.
Kira # 12
I think they were trying to ridicule the administration be comparing them to a comedy show.
"It’s one thing to watch Jon Stewart on television. It’s another to imitate him with Americans’ hard-earned tax dollars," Kerry said.
Get the insult? saying he is an imitation of JS. That JS is superior to the president. It’s clever.
I am wondering if all the efforts at voting reform and media reform are going to be lost to the "filibuster wars" (link here)?
Speaking of tin foil hats, I received in the mail a flyer touting some seminar that will explain everything you want to know about "the end" using an expert interpretation of the bible.
This led me to the think of "tin foil halos" how about that?! That’s funny!!!!! Let’s use it!!
How many tin foil haloists are there out there?
Wow Brad, way to go. The wall is starting to crumble. Once the cracks appear and the holes in their stories found, they will eventually run out of scape goats to throw to the public and the truth will be found. I wish I could have been there. It can be electrifying being in a group like that. But more importantly – we need more groups like that. Groups not willing to accept the lies and smoke screens that the presidency is throwing about. Kudos and hugs to you. Thank you for fighiting for our freedoms. Peace
Well, this is slightly off-topic, but I thought it important to post it here. Cat Stevens has been deported. Author and singer of "Peace Train" became a Muslim and is no longer allowed in the United States due to terroristic connections. See CNN’s story coverage here. about it. It’s kinda scary that they can deport anyone they wish without supplying proof. Because supplying proof would mean that they would "endanger national security". Okay, so maybe Cat Stevens is now a terrorist, but let’s have some proof before we go throwing people out of our country. But as long as there are people like This who believe our government is on the right track, how can we expect any change. There are still people out there willing to accept anything our govt. does in the name of "national security" and feel that we should lock down our boarders. Just another drop in the bucket to me – but I thought some people here might be interested in the story.
I would SO love to simply send them all off on the B ark. If only it were that easy. I love how they blame it on poor spelling. That really says a lot for our education system too. No child shall be left behind….unless of course their faith belongs in the axis of evil. :confused: :plain: :angry: Or their last name is more complex to read than S-m-i-t-h. :plain:
What amazes me is, we hear how terrible people of Islam are, but they are doing exactly the SAME thing as the people of Isreal today.. and the reason the people of Islam (the fanatics who are killing people, that is) are attacking the U.S. is because we keep putting our nose in a religious fight that’s been going on for a very long time, and officially with Isreal in ’43? ’49? whenever it was that they took independance and decided the "holy land" was "theirs by right"..
Perhaps the worst part of all this is, the "christian leaders" of this country (and their christian/jewish friends/supporters) are content to continue to engage in this "holy war" only Shrubman et. al. are using the term "terrorism" instead of "crusade".. And what’s worse, a lot of this is over OIL because the people in power are too damn greedy, ignorant, pathetic, evil, vile, disgusting, and any other nasty word you want to put in.. to bother -really- trying to get away from oil. We -need- other sources of energy, soon, before it’s too late. But these morons are content to kill 100s of thousands of people in pathetic wars set to protect their profits and military might. When will we wake up from this insanity?
When we, the people, stop demanding this endless supply of corporate made cheap commodities.
2004 Election Stolen!
Irish Times breaks silence about Bush fraud 2004.
You go Irish Times! Love the Liberty Bell summary.
It will eventually come out that the vote was hacked via computerized voting machines and optical scanners. When this come out, the Republican Party will never recover.
😀
Brad, thank you so much for all you do and have done to keep the movement to capture back our Democracy; I have hope again, and a new place to come to try and do my part.
I am so excited about the response you got and others of truth got at the Conference. Their wounds are starting to bleed…keep up the good work, and also thank you for giving us a voice and a place to put it all into action.
Thank you, Torqued, for the news about the Irish Times.
They’re pretty close to the 2004 election story over there. Closer, in fact, than the New York Times is.
Ireland is home to Intrade, the futures market that somehow "miraculously" called every single state correctly in November. This fact was reported in an editorial by John Tierney in the Times, but without any recognition of its implications…that the "smart money" had known the fix was in, and that the people who stole the election for Bush weren’t content to simply steal it, but decided to make a bundle on the side in the process.
After commenting on Intrade’s "remarkable" feat of predicting the election outcome, Tierney segued into a discussion of the Papal election, and lamented that Intrade’s uncanny ability to "predict" events might compromise the press in its efforts to cover important stories. What a bloody shame.
Is Democracy being used as A Weapon of Mass Destruciton:
CRUCIFIXION OF DISPOSABLE PEOPLE
Democracy, traditionally nailed to the cross
The economic military, the surreptitious boss
No public employment just deployment, the cost
Human-Life, the unforgivable loss
New-Age feudalism fosters economic deprivation, the
Contemporary peasant, the pheasant under glass,
served to the royal-ruling class
The Political-Papacy makes love to the gold jewel
Prostitutes, The Golden Rule
The military tool enshrouded in
Hear, come Santa Claus, hear, come Santa Claus with gifts
Weapons of Mass-Destruction
Merry-Crucifixion, Merry-Crucifixion
Poverty, economical and societal sabotage
Maintained by the struggle for world-power, the facade
Of genocide’s judiciary-legislative-executive entourage
Poverty, the parochial purveyor of democracy
The unilateral collateral for the aristocracy
The Holy Political Empire, the squire and page
Remnant from the patriotic, Dark Age
The poverty-police practitioners petitioning pander
People are prisoners to propagandized slander
Starved into surrender, all for legal-tender
People, the glorious labor-force for globalization
The justification for human immolation
The auspices of world-domination
The Tradition of Perdition, the crusades, the holy wars,
The war cry, the warhead, the welfare of warfare
Is war-fair, Is war-fair. Is war-fair
The war game, the war horse, the warmonger
The war like citadel, protecting vassals, slavery and the
Kingdom of serfdom, the Christian infidel
Secret societies, the pantheon of political hell
The new and improved Code of Silence, knell
Intellectual enterprise is merchandise in disguise as a
Global, culture-vulture, feasting on underdeveloped humanity
COPYRIGHT 2003
JOSEPHINE DIXON-BANKS
Weaponized Freedom
Wholesale democracy sold as retail
Freedom is incapacitated locked in jail
Liberty in the layaway without bail
War is the prostitute on the campaign trail
Democracy for sale—Democracy for sale
Weaponized free-enterprise, impeached democratized
Imperialism to no avail
Bi-partisan politicians pimping people’s entrails
Democracy for sale—Democracy for sale
Terrorism merchandised to the highest bidder
Political policy a bi-partisan stripper
Free-trade gets paid to get laid
Open door policy is the capitalist’s charade
Civil-War ain’t civil, just barbaric
Collateral casualties are esoteric
Crimes against humanity all so generic
Warmongers copulate war but never bemoan
They pledged alliance to the scull and bones
Democracy for sale—Democracy for sale
Weaponized free-enterprise, impeached democratized
Imperialism to no avail
Bi-partisan politicians pimping people’s entrails
COPYRIGHT 2004
JOSEPHINE DIXON-BANKS