The number of organizations and individuals now declaring “No Confidence” in the reported results of the Busby/Bilbray special election to fill the U.S. House seat of the jailed Randy “Duke” Cunningham is now increasing exponentially. The race, as we’ve reported since it was held on June 6th, was run on easily-tamperable Diebold voting machines that were effectively illegal and decertified on both the state and federal level after they were sent home with poll workers for days and weeks prior to the election in contravention of laws, regulations, and of course, common sense.
I’d continue to encourage you to support candidates and organizations who are willing to speak up on these issues! As well as not support those who don’t! And feel free to let them know why!
So far today, joining the burgeoning list of groups and individuals and candidates who have already declared “No Confidence” in the race and who are demanding a manual hand count of the ballots (you can do so yourself via VelvetRevolution.us’ petition here) are the following:
Massachusetts Secretary of State candidate, John Bonifaz — who’s also a Constitutional attorney — joins the “growing number of citizens” in declaring “No Confidence” in the unverified Busby/Bilbray election results. In his statement, he declares, “We face today a crisis in public confidence in the integrity of our elections. This crisis threatens the foundation of our democracy.”
His statement then goes on to add…
As Massachusetts Secretary of State, I will build and lead a coalition of secretaries of state from around the country to stand up to the private voting machine companies that are undermining the public’s trust. I will set a standard for Massachusetts and for the nation: We will not contract with any private voting machine companies that do not guarantee a paper trail and hand-recorded paper ballot, access to the source codes and data within the machines, and opportunity to publicly own the machines in full.
We must reclaim our democracy. Count every vote.
In Maryland, U.S. Senatorial candidate Kevin Zeese calls for a hand count and says in his full statement:
The recently formed Election Defense Alliance, dedicated to bringing together and helping local groups fight for issues of electoral integrity, has also issued a “No Confidence” statement in the Busby/Bilbray election:
The folks above, with more to come as I understand it, join several other notable groups and individuals who have already declared “No Confidence” in the announced results and have demanded a manual hand count of the ballots used in the race. Some of those groups currently include the California Election Protection Network (CEPN), Progressive Democrats of America (PDA), VelvetRevolution.us, Tribune Media columnist Robert Koehler and U.S. House nominee (CA-49) Jeeni Criscenzo.
The election is over … and you liberals lost.
PS > The 2000 and 2004 elections are also over, and BUSH Won !!
lol…
PSS > Get A Life, You Losers !
lmao…
The election isn’t over until the votes are counted!
Imao – what’s that? “In my asinine opinion”?
This is not a liberal thing – this is asking for the end of fraud.
Get with the concept!
Hee haw he he haw haw haw he he haw haw
What a boob
Wonder if he/it drools ?
Just read Rolling Stones article by Robert Kennedy Jr. Amazing, right on information. So, where is the media attention to this article?
If nothing else how about debating the merits? Oh, that’s right, the media is more interested in Nasty Coulter’s insane comments.
Dear God, the lunatics are in charge.
I love it when people notice the difference between a “recount” and what we need in CA-50.
All we need is a count.
We don’t want no stinkin recount … all we want is a human count.
Machines are not that sacred. Humans are.
So what is wrong with letting humans (Americans) count just once? That is the lowest number that can happen … one … once … so give once a chance !!!!
Once democracy is established !!!!
Heres a perfect example of an CNN/IRI phoney poll and story to try and shut out the best candidates, we just got to keep watching all these patterns of deception and expose it
When RAW came out with the story it should say this outright, that it is a Republican inspired poll to drive out the viables link
CNN pulled that same crap the other day when they used Dems and Pukes for the Dem (Gore) poll, and they used Moderate Pukes and crazy Pukes for the Puke (McCain) poll
…Problem is that by NOW…I am sure that enough ballots with BILBRAY chosen will be “found” to show all this hoopla is about nothing…move along…nothing to see here. We are all tin-foil-touched.
…Doncha think?
And Florida Dave…
…how is BushCo working out for you? You doin’ better now? You enjoying being spied on by NSA?
…drop us a line and let us know.
Both the Election’s Supervisor in SD and Kevin McPherson need to be sued for malfeasance and misfeasance of office. We need to draw the line and make it hurt until they live by the rules. If we don’t have verifiable voting, with all votes counted for the intended candidate, we don’t have democracy. It’s as simple as that. For ANY Elections Supervisor, or ANY Secretary of State to allow an election on machines that don’t have paper trails and verifiable counts (and re-counts)they should be charged with a felony and drummed out of office. Until we start making these bastards pay to defend themselves, they wont do a damn thing.
Dredd,.. (C) # 6
Count VS Recount,.. you saw the Kevin Zeese statement here,.. go to the Kevin Zeese unedited statement here,.. Link
This is where the Democratic Party would come in very handy,.. in an instance such as this where the issue can be or become somewhat or very confusing. The
Democratic Party should step out in front of these types of potentially confusing issues,.. and clarify,..
formulate the “political speak” so that we all speak
the same language as we seek remedy. Rather than all over the map language that dilutes the message,.. and exaberated the confusion. The Republicans have this technique of “political speak” down to a science,.. we
should mimic that to a certain degree but within limitations. The Republicans have taken this to the next level. Under no circumstances do I advocate that
they be copied/mimicked by the Demos,.. in this unethical behavior. The Republicans take deception/disinformation,.. carefully hone it into
“political speak”,… box it up into talking points,.. and then broadcast these flagrant lies into the public spheres. It is the technique of propaganda – PAR
EXELLANTE. The cliche in motion,.. “Take a lie and
repeat that lie 1,000 times,.. and that lie transforms it’s self to that accepted as truth. Language,.. political speak,.. getting the message to the masses,..
speaking a message in unison,..the Democratic Party remains in the dark ages. The lack of effective communications skills puts us way behind the 8 Ball.
Another thing that irks me,.. in the bent,.. confusing,.. off message – message. Kennedy/Papantonio
when they vocalize election problem concerns,.. they miss the bulls-eye by a mile. They call the problem
“VOTER FRAUD” not “ELECTION FRAUD”,.. it makes me ill when they utter this.
Voter Fraud,.. means or could be confused to mean,.. or will be twisted to mean by the rethug fascists – FRAUD,.. perpetrated by an unethical individual who seeks to place vote that is not permitted by election rules and laws. That Vote = Criminal Intent. The Republican response is – there is so much fraudulent
voting going on out there,.. it must be stopped,.. so they formulate plans to cleanse the process by way of purging the system of all these fraudulent voters. these purge lists and caging list by the fascists are only a grand ploy to disenfranchise voters who they know were inclined to vote for the Democratic Party.
Voter Fraud is 5 % of the problem that contaminates
of election process. Election Fraud is 95 % of the problem that contaminates the process,.. where the vote counting is tampered with or otherwise tainted.
The rethug fascists choose to ignore these realities.
Why do we allow them to define the debate,.. or hand their talking points to them on a silver platter ?
Voter Fraud – Secondary Issue
Election Fraud – Primary Issue
some how tainted
Oh shit I got a feeling I forgot to close the italic tag,.. I only wanted the word VOTER FRAUD in italics. The whole bottom of the page is in italics,..
it does not look good.
Sorry Brad.
{You did forget, Turk. Don’t make me pull this blog over and revoke your italics and bold using privileges, not-so-young man! Hit CLOSE TAGS before you hit Submit!}
TEST – ONE,.. TWO.
TEST – ONE,.. TWO.
Sweet news… very sweet.
Keep up the good work, Brad!
OT
I am unable to access waynemadsenreport.com today. Are others having the same problem or is AOL blocking me again?
What a great job in dispersing the CA-50 debacle to the four corners of the USA and getting so many officials and candidates to sign on to the no confidence. These up-and-comers are the people we ned to continue to encourage and support as they run for office.
We all know that once the votes anywhere and everywhere are accurately and openly counted, we can make our way back onto the lost path of democracy. Bravo!
On a different note, I came across this quote attributed to a soldier of the Ulster regiment as they marched toward the Somme in WWI. It’s almost a poem.
“We’re not making a sacrifice.
Jesus, you’ve seen this war.
We are the sacrifice.”
Truth Seeker #15
Wayne Madson worked for me just now.
Wayne does not have BradBlog listed in his favorite links. Bummer.
Hey BLUE SHARK,
Why thank you for asking, and life hasn’t been better in the past 3 years. In fact, everyone I know is doing great. I personally don’t know anyone who isn’t doing good.
The only people that are bitching about things are LIBERALS on the internet. If you aren’t prospering in this economy then you are an IDIOT !!!
I guess it sucks to be you…..
lol…
Florida Dave:
Lou Dobbs will tell you five days a week that middle and working class America is struggling to get by, as CEO salaries skyrocket.
Question: Do you consider Lou Dobbs to be a whiny liberal?
… Or you can go here and find out what the rest of America is really thinking…
http://www.pollingreport.com/
Oh, man, Jo-Joy, I coulda gone the rest of my life without following that link. Florida Troll will freak, but, uh, so did I!
Gore/Edwards 2008
I may have missed it but I have to ask, where has Debra Bowen been regarding the CA-50 Election debacle? I haven’t heard anything about/from her since she won her CA Sec. of State primary. She’s not listed by Brad as one of those that has taken a position and declared “No Confidence” in the announced results, demanded a manual hand count of the ballots used in the race and encouraged joining the Velvet Revolution petition. This should be bread and butter for her. No taking safe positions. That’s not to say she has, but I’d like to hear that, not only has she taken a position but that she is helping lead the fight. If she is, she should be doing more of it in the media, both for her benefit as a candidate and for our benefit in trying to fight this voting machine/election corruption nightmare. Brad or anyone, can you tell me where she is and if I’ve missed something from her.
Good question, Steve. I’d like to know that too.
Florida Dave is our newest troll. I think we should welcome him with open arms, because anyone who calls himself “Florida (anything)” while mentioning the 2000 and 2004 elections becomes a walking advertisement for election reform.
Some trolls have at least progressed to the point of discussing the problem. Florida Dave is still using the schoolyard language we heard 18 months ago. Keep it up, Dave…and watch out for gators.
He’s not a very good troll. His command of Republican talking points is limited, and he writes like he might be 15. lol. lmao. imho.
ITMFA.
To Florida Dave – Some of us remember that we are all neighbors and what happens to one happens to all of us.
I guess you haven’t lost a loved one to Bush/Cheney war, and your savings hasn’t gone down the tube with Enron’s stealing, so as long as you are fat and happy to hell with everyone else.
To those who care… try to catch FrontLine on PBS wonderful documentary on what led up to the Iraq debacle. Those involved and those who tried to stop it.
Clean elections are MORE important than border security. Without courageous, honest representatives America is lost.
Hey, FLORIDA DAVE!!
“The only people that are bitching about things are LIBERALS on the internet. If you aren’t prospering in this economy then you are an IDIOT !!!”
Funny, I thought the FACT that the people in my IT group that has dropped by 75% and have only gotten 2 raises in 4 years were “doing good ” in this economy. And, we’re “doing good” to not have our jobs sent to India at this point, which the company keeps mulling over, and telling us we need to “keep at the job until it’s done”, despite that taking 60+ hours a week with the load they are putting on us.
Yeah, SUPER economy that has “upper middle class” working longer and longer hours for less and less pay, just so we can keep a job. And is replacing “good paying jobs” with “low paying service industry jobs”.
Anyone who’s “thriving” in this economy is a theif and a pathetic human being. The rest of us are struggling to hold on to our income brackets. Suffering a NET LOSS of wages as inflation and the cost of living outpaces our raises/promotions because the “very profitable” company isn’t “competitive enough”, so the wages have to go down and Executive bonuses go up.
Until the government tells corporate america that Execs can only make 500% more than the “average salary” for their employees, American workers will continue to get royally screwed. The gap is getting bigger, the richest 2% are pulling away from the lower 40% at faster and faster rates, and the top 8% (under the top 2%) are starting to stagnate too. 50% of America is slipping down fast, and now the Pugs, with their “deficit reduction act” and raising interest rates on student loans, just made it much more costly for “poor people” to become educated and have a chance to get out of poverty?
The “right-wing” is so wrong it’s criminal.
Drive-by trolls never answer questions. What about Republican Rossi dragging Gregoire through court for months? They have zero integrity, because they don’t make sense.
Just wondering, is there going to be a vote-count in the Busby-Bilbray election?
Maybe, we’ll just get to the point where politicians who “know better than us” just place people in office. WAIT! That’s happening now!!!
I was particularly amused by Florida Dave’s comment that anyone not doing well in this economy was an idiot.
In a weird sense, he’s right. All those Enron employees who lost their jobs and their retirement savings are in fact idiots for having trusted Lay and Skilling.
They aren’t the ones Dave was talking about, of course. Nor was he referring to folks who have lost their outsourced jobs to some guy in Bangladesh or Mumbai. Come to think of it, that’s idiotic, too.
I don’t normally pick, RLM.. but “All those Enron employees who lost their jobs and their retirement savings are in fact idiots for having trusted Lay and Skilling” is a bit harsh, don’t you think?
Those guys were lying to everyone.. why are you an “idiot” for not seeing through someone’s lies? Foolish, perhaps, for not diversifying… but then again, the entire stock market thing is a bit over a lot of people’s heads.. which is one of the BIG reasons it’s not acceptable to use it for our “retirement plans” in general (in place of Social Security, I mean).
And, this ties RIGHT back into our Democracy and getting these damn machines OUT of the process. If we can’t trust our vote, how can we trust anything else? The people being selected for office will just keep making it easier and easier for the rich elite to fleece us. If we can’t vote in people who want to protect us, we’re screwed. It doesn’t make us “idiots”, it makes us victims.
It’s time for the victims to stand up and refuse to be abused any more. It starts with taking back our mechanisms of Democracy, that being a fair and transparent electoral system.
ITMFA!!!!
Well, Savantster, you’re right. It’s very harsh. They aren’t idiots, they’re poor unfortunates.
I had hoped to illustrate the absurdity of using a measurement of intelligence (“idiot” refers to I.Q.) to mark one’s place in the job market. I guess I did it poorly.
No worries, RLM.. It’s hard (if not impossible sometimes) to discuss things with Trolls ™.. they go out of their way to introduce fanciful arguments that have no merit.
Someone not being able to find a decent job (where they live, that provides a livable wage) has nothing to do with their intellect.. as you point out. It has to do with the lack of good paying jobs… something absent of possibility in the Troll’s ™ postulation. It’s a no-win position to be put in, and it’s done on purpose.
As an example. I could be a millionare if I wanted to. I know enough about computers to a) hack for money, b) engage in various schemes that are either illegal or marginally legal that could net some serious money, c) steal tons of personal info off the web and use that to transfer funds to private off-shore secret accounts, d) get rich quick with internet porn, e) engage in realestate deals that would net good profits (takes some startup that I don’t “really” have, but that’s not what’s stopping me)… etc etc etc. There is a LOT of money to be made out there.. Problem is, you have to be devious/dirty/shady/dishonest/greedy to get it. Personally, I’d rather work an honest day’s work for an honest day’s pay. Republicans don’t have that work ethic, they want it all, and are perfectly willing to lie, cheat, and steal to get it. I’m not.
Honest people looking for work and not finding decent jobs has nothing to do with their intellect, and everything to do with employers not looking for help. Mostly, they don’t need help because they have moved their base OFF-SHORE and are putting the extra “profits” derived from abusing/extoring labor in 3rd world sweat-shops directly into their pockets. Florida Dave leaves that bit out because he doesn’t want to admit there’s a problem.. kind of like an alcoholic who pisses on the coffee table at 3am because they can’t find the bathroom..
Brad, I know you’re busy, but YOU should have killed Florida Dave’s post right away, substituting simply “stupid troll talking points we’ve all heard and refuted before.”
Personally, we have to remember that “Free Speech” is not what the comment sections of blogs are about. BRAD has the “Free Speech Rights” to say whatever he wants (or assigns to others) in the main message.
We are mere GUESTS of his and have no more “right” to say anything here than I have to go into a private home and spray graffiti on the walls (hmm. Interesting analogy to trolling).
KILL THE TROLLS — we have serious business to conduct.
Charlie L
Portland, OR
In re Hank’s comments (#10)…
Does anybody in California, San Diego or the CA-50th know the rules for RECALLING these two?
I think just STARTING a recall peition initiative would bring additional light. The wording of the initiative could be “for total failure to protect the Constitution of the State of California and the voting integrity of an election…”
Just another way to KEEP THE PRESSURE ON!
Any policy geeks know the rules out there? We don’t even have to get it on the ballot or win, just STARTING the process will scare them and give us publicity.
We’re reaching the TIPPING POINT. Don’t give up now. It’s often the least expected confluence of events that makes for dramatic change.
Thanks again for everything you do BRAD, and I hope you don’t take my comments in #36 as an attack on you — they definitely weren’t.
Charlie L
Portland, OR
Agent BB2 is lobbying CONTROL for a Megaton Troll Blather Blaster Button (MTTBBB) for me — a button where I can nuke troll comments into satisfying little heaps of shrapnelized and smoking phrases and words and letters. 😛
Savantster #35
Your comments at #35 are so true. The level of knowledge and responsibility I have exceed that of my father in his job. In his day his wages were considered upper middle class. My mom didn’t have to work – she stayed home and raised us kids.
Today I make 2 1/4 times what he did in 1964 and it is considered average for my work. But a new car costs 15 times what it did then, gas 12 times, a house 10 times as much, a loaf of bread 8 times as much etc. etc. My wife also works but her income is less than half of mine.
We scrape by from week to week hoping nothing happens to lay us up, because it would do us in.
Agent 99
That’s a Megaton Troll Text Blather Blaster Button. 😉
Have YOU written a letter to your local mainstream press newspaper bringing the issue of CA-50 into a LOCAL context?
I have (and it was harder, as Oregon has 100% mail-in, but still counted by closed-code private [ES&S/Sequoia] companies) though they haven’t printed it.
It’s time to take 30 minutes and 39 cents and do it. If your local tv (i.e. stupidnews) has a “phone in line” for comments or a kiosk in the local mall for your “talk back” then you could do that too.
And if you haven’t bought out (and handed them around to friends and associates who aren’t regular netizens already blogmenting and reading) the local supply of ROLLING STONE ($3.95 per copy) and ARMED MADHOUSE ($24.95 per copy, but discounted at Amazon), then maybe you don’t really CARE as much as you SAY you do.
For those who have, keep up the good work.
Charlie L
Portland, OR
It’s very simple: ANYONE who supports a system that does not provide a paper trail to insure the accurate counting of votes wants to cheat. There’s no getting around that. It’s simple logic. If you don’t want a paper trail, YOU ARE SUSPECT! Your ethics and morals are suspect. You are either for a paper trail, or you are for vote-rigging. There is no in between!
Ed,
I’ll one-up you. Anyone who supports electronic voting wants to cheat. Remember the movie “Hunt for Red October”? Remember when the Joint Chiefs were sat around the table looking at the first pictures of the sub? What did one of the generals/admirals say?
“God damn thing is built to start a war.”
As in, the Red October has only one purpose – pre-emptive/first strike. And so it is with electronic voting machines. They have but one purpose.
“God damn things are built to steal an election.”
ITMFA!!!
I’m happy to see that posted here a few times…I bought a bunch of the buttons & have been giving them out. I’ve gotten mostly very positive responses from people, alot of commiseration, some high fives…but NO ONE so far has disagreed.
ITMFA!!!