Posted at 1:36 AM   -   Permalink

Seize the Time

An essay by Cynthia McKinney
September 19, 2008

We the people must now seize the time! We have always had the capability of determining our own destiny, but for various reasons, the people failed to elect the leaders who provided the correct political will.

There was always some corporate or private special interest that stood in the way of the public good. And they always seemed to have the power of the purse to throw around and influence public opinion or our elected officials.

The very foundation of the U.S. economy is crumbling underneath our feet. This represents a unique moment in U.S. history and we must now seize the time for self-determination--for health care, education, ecological wisdom, justice, and all the policies that will make a difference in the lives of the people including an end to all wars, including the drug war!

The crisis was staved off for a time for some of our major finance engines when they were able to obtain bridge funding from certain sovereign wealth funds. That option grows increasingly dim as The Federal Reserve is becoming the lender of last resort. This means that the people are becoming the owners of the primary instruments of U.S. capital and finance.

This now means that the people have a say in how these instruments are to be used and what their priorities ought to be. The people should now have more say in how their tax dollars are spent and what the priorities of government an the public sector must be. We the people must now set our demands to ensure and promote the public good.

Now, as we ponder the importance of this moment to do good and serve the needs of the people, some politicians have already figured out their answer for us: win or steal the next election, prepare for more war, and leave it to others to try and figure out what to do next.

While banks are failing all around us and the U.S. taxpayer is drenched with news of billion dollar bailouts for *selected* companies, the Congress, which has utterly failed in its twin responsibilities of setting policy and Executive Branch oversight, plans to adjourn instead of setting new policies; lessening the impact of the economic freefall on innocent victims; or stopping war, expansion of war, new war, and occupation.

In a dizzying turn of recent events, we have all witnessed the collapse of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgage providers, investment banks Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns, and insurer American International Group (AIG), and other companies. So far, at least eleven banks have filed for bankruptcy this year. The case of the AIG bailout is particularly curious as Merrill Lynch was denied taxpayer largesse. I wonder if AIG was the selected company for bailout because of its relationship to the U.S. intelligence community and what others would discover if AIG's books were opened in an audit. The last person to get close to AIG and its shady operations was Eliott Spitzer.

But some more fundamental issues must be explored here, relating to the underlying assumptions that have guided U.S. political and economic activity, particularly over the last eight years.

The Bush Administration's "anything goes, just don't get caught" attitude has set the tone for what we are witnessing today. To be sure these problems didn't start in January of 2001, but they sure were allowed to accelerate during the George W. Bush Administration. For example, what tone was set when the Administration shipped $12 billion to Paul Bremer's provisional
government in Iraq in cash on wooden pallets for Iraq reconstruction? No wonder $9 billion of it was "lost." What I'm constantly reminded of is that the money didn't just vanish, somebody got it. Now it's up to us to find out who!

However, the Administration's blatant disregard for good governance, the rule of law, standards of moral and ethical conduct, and even etiquette, when coupled with a laissez-faire, "go-along-to-get-along" attitude from Congress meant that no holes were barred and no hands were on the deck--a sure prescription for disaster.

In my reading over the course of the last few years, I had to become somewhat conversant with the language of the new economy: bundled mortgages, securitization, SPEs, SIVs, derivatives. But in addition to the old concepts that always seemed to be with us--predatory lending, redlining, no affordable housing amid "the housing bubble,"-- it soon became clear that basically folks had figured out a way to make money off of a ticking time bomb. Kind of like prisons for profit.

And even though the Enron scandal was supposed to have cleaned up a lot of this, unfortunately, even Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac regularly engaged in some of these practices and that's why you and I own them today. I believe it is true that the very foundations of the U.S. economy and conventional political behavior have been shaken. Now is not the time for business as usual.

And although this is by no ways exhaustive, here are a few things that I think the Democratic-led Congress could work on now instead of adjourning:

1. enactment of a foreclosure moratorium now before the next phase of ARM interest rate increases take effect;

2. elimination of all ARM mortgages and their renegotiation into 30- or 40-year loans;

3. establishment of new mortgage lending practices to end predatory and discriminatory practices;

4. establishment of criteria and construction goals for affordable housing;

5. redefinition of credit and regulation of the credit industry so that discriminatory practices are completely eliminated;

6. full funding for initiatives that eliminate racial and ethnic disparities in home ownership;

7. recognition of shelter as a right according to the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights to which the U.S. is a signatory so that no one sleeps on U.S. streets;

8. full funding of a fund designed to cushion the job loss and provide for retraining of those at the bottom of the income scale as the economy transitions;

9. close all tax loopholes and repeal of the Bush tax cuts for the top 1% of income earners;

10. fairly tax corporations, denying federal subsidies to those who relocate jobs overseas repeal NAFTA.

And since the Congress plans to adjourn early and leave these problems to The Federal Reserve, The Federal Reserve should operate in the interests of the U.S. taxpayer and not the interests of the private, international bankers that it currently represents. This, of course means that The Federal Reserve, too, must undergo a fundamental ownership and mission change.

This crisis does not have to be treated as merely a "market correction," or the result of a few rotten apples in an otherwise pristine barrel. This crisis truly represents the opportunity to introduce fundamental changes in the way the U.S. economy and its political stewards operate.

Responsible political leadership demands that the pain and suffering being experienced by the innocent today not be revisited upon them or the next generation tomorrow. But sadly, instead of affirmative action being taken in this direction, the Bush Administration ratchets up the drumbeat for war, Republican Party operatives busily remove duly-registered voters from the voter rolls, and our elected leaders in the Congress go home to campaign while leaving all of us to fend for ourselves. For the Administration and the Democrat-led Congress, I declare: MISSION UNACCOMPLISHED.

For the public whose moment this is, I say:

Power to the People!

Please visit www.runcynthiarun.org and read our platform.

If you like it, please make a donation so we can spread the news and seize the time!

Posted at 3:52 PM   -   Permalink

September 25, 2008

What We Can Do by Cindy Sheehan

Tax Revolt

*"Desperate times call for drastic measures*."
*Unknown

**But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

Declaration of Independence*

*There are a thousand striking at the branches of evil, to one who is striking at the root.
Henry David Thoreau

How long is the "train of abuses and usurpations" that has been coupled together by the Bush regime with the consent, or active participation of Congress? In the *Declaration of Independence,* our fore-parents listed the train of abuses that King "George" III (the king of Great Britain at the time) perpetrated on the American colonies. The differences between our "Mad King George," and the one that reigned over these states, 232 years ago are slim. If you "google" the Declaration, or pull one out of your pocket/purse and read it, you can see the abuses are practically identical. I am not going to list the abuses, because you can read them. The current one that is going to hit each and every American, though, whether unborn or one foot in the grave, is:

**For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent.*

In a recent Rasmussen poll only 7% of Americans approved of a bail out of Wall Street...gee, I wonder which ones those were? The CEO's of Goldman-Sachs and their families? And former CEO of Goldman-Sachs: US Treasury Secretary: Henry (Hammerin' Hank) Paulson?

There is one major difference between Past Mad King George and Present Mad King George, though. Our fore-parents had the courage and integrity to say "enough is enough, George" and they kicked an occupying force in the ass and booted them off our continent. We Present Americans are so passive in the face of, and cowed into submission by, the current state of fascist affairs in our country.

Now the evil "powers that be" in an incestuous collusion are collaborating to steal 2300.00 per American to give to Wall Street to pay for worthless paper transactions that will make our paper dollar worth even less. Mad King George and his obedient Court Jesters (Congress) are asking us to pony up our hard earned money from our hard-worked labor to keep the Wall Street Barbary Coast Pirates in the style to which they have become accustomed. I would like to call "HORSESHIT" on that! Before my son, Casey, was killed in Iraq, I was like these Americans. I dutifully obeyed stupid laws and paid my taxes like a good, properly propagandized American.

As I wrote the checks, I never considered what my money was financing. After Casey was killed, I became deeply ashamed that I had in some small part funded the very thing that killed him: greedy and rampant US imperialism. I have not paid my taxes since. I won't pay my taxes until our money is used for positive projects: health insurance, affordable housing, credits for green development, jobs programs to rebuild our compromised infrastructure, education, etc. I can hold my head up and say that I feel that I have taken a principled stand against this US Corporate Empire.

This out of control system needs to be overthrown and even though we still retain a modicum of the 2nd Amendment, we do not have the firepower it would take to militarily overthrow our Mad King George and his Jesters. More importantly, I fear armed revolutions for the very reason that they always install violent regimes, so I am proposing another solution: a tax revolt.

Over the past 7+ years, our taxes have gone to pay for: killing innocent people, torturing and detaining without due process other people (innocent or guilty is no matter), increasing Police State America, bailing out other finance companies, paying for private mercenary soldiers in New Orleans, Iraq and Afghanistan and the very ephemeral notion of a "War on Terror." Most of us have continued to pay for these crimes against humanity. Some haven't and some have done so with a nagging feeling in the back of the place that is called a "conscience."

It is time to with hold your support from this criminally insane institution of Government/Wall Street. DO NOT allow your money to be used to bail out the fat cats. I propose:

*If employed, change your withholding to M-9, (married with 9 dependents) so no taxes are withheld from your paycheck and do not file next April 15th.

*If possible, limit your income to so you do not have to file.

*Or this is the best scenario: file your taxes and deduct 2300.00 for each member of your family and request a refund from Uncle Sam. (and still change your withholding).

*Withhold a partial amount of your taxes to make a statement.

There are many ways that this government finances its schemes, but a massive tax revolt will send reverberations throughout the rotten system.

Before Congress approves this Crime of the Century bail out, call your House Representative and Senators (toll free: 1-877-851-6437) and tell them that if they collude with the Bush Regime to do this, you won't be paying your 2008 income taxes.

Tax protest is a time honored and very courageous form of protest (ie: Boston Tea Party, Henry David Thoreau, Gandhi). I am not calling for a "protest" though...we have had many of those, I am calling for you to have the courage and integrity to join me in nothing less than a Revolution. It won't be easy, but neither will the resultant collapse of our economic system if this "trickle down" plan goes through. I am tired of being trickled on...it is time for action, not complaints or whining.

This is the only way we can stand up to power in this country and if we stand together, they cannot divide and conquer us. Let's reverse the trend and have thousands "striking at the root."

www.CindyforCongress.org

Posted at 9:30 PM   -   Permalink

October 3, 2008

What You Are Not Being Told

read article here

Posted at 1:45 PM   -   Permalink

"Small People" Bailing Out Wall Street

"Small People" Bailing Out Wall Street by Selling Out Main Street

by Cindy Sheehan

I am watching the debate on CSPAN over HR 1424 the "Emergency Economic Stabilization Act." As you can imagine there is empty rhetoric on both sides of the issue and there is bi-partisan support and opposition. If anything, it's a little more interesting than usual. Rep Gary Miller (R-Ca), in a rare lapse of guarded "poli-speak" said that this bill would help the "Small People." Meaning, you and I. Fundamentally, that's what we are to the Congressional-Wall Street Cabal---the "Small People."

But, watching the proceedings, I am underwhelmed how these people are all of a sudden worried about we "Small People."

Congress, under the failed leadership of Nancy Pelosi, has passed laws to undermine our 4th Amendment rights to be safe and secure in our personal correspondence, phone calls and emails. Nancy Pelosi's Congress has given George Bush over 500,000,000,000.00 dollars to age his insane wars in Iraq and now they are going to give his Secretary of the Treasure, Henry Paulson, (Former CEO of Goldman-Sachs), 850,000,000,000. 00. That's a lot of zeros!

Congressperson after Congressperson has risen to say that we must hand over billions of "Small People" tax dollars so "Small People" will not "lose their jobs" or "lose their homes." We "Small People" have been losing our jobs and our homes at record paces only rivaled in the 1930's, and not one Bill was passed to help the "Small People" keep our jobs and homes. Tent cities are arising all over the country and Congress is going to bailout an industry that caused these cities and not only that, but use our money to help keep the CEO's in the style to which they have become accustomed.

Congressperson after Congressperson have also risen to say that their constituents, we "Small People" are overwhelmingly against the bailout of corporate piracy and pillaging, but he/she will vote for the Bill anyway, because he/she knows better what is good for us "Small People." We will eat our spinach and like it, because our REPRESENTATIVES have become mini-dictators in the shadow of the Fuhrers who are exercising fascistic control over every aspect of our lives.

I would like to remind everyone that at the beginning of the year, Congress passed another "emergency" bill that gave we "Small People" a few hundred dollars that did nothing to stimulate the economy. The solution to the crisis may cost billions of dollars, but not to hand to Wall Street. The bill failed on Monday, but Wall Street did not crash.

The solution is to put our economy to work for we "Small People." Federal Jobs programs that pay living wages to repair our crumbling infrastructure and rebuild the Gulf States so "Small People" can return to their homes.

Put a moratorium on foreclosures until the housing bubble can adjust to reasonable levels and restructure loans with fixed interest rates so "Small People" can pay their mortgages and the economy will "Gurgle Up" to the Congressional-Wall Street Cabal. We need to extend food stamp and unemployment benefits to pump money directly into the "Small People" economy.

Taxes need to be raised on the top one percent of wealthy people in this country that own more wealth than the bottom ninety percent combined. Taxes need to be reduced dramatically for the bottom 99%. A .25 transaction fee for the people who gamble on Wall Street must also be levied and put into the "Small People" economy for such programs as education and energy.

Regardless, if HR1424 passes or fails, every Congressperson, Democratic or Republican, who voted to sell out the "Small" Person needs to be retired and not sent back to Congress in January.

Reject fear-based politics. We "Small People" need courageous REPRESENTATIVES that will work on real solutions for us, because, as a matter of fact, we are not the "Small People," we are the sovereigns in this Republic and we need to reassert our sovereignty and show our employees in DC that we mean business.

Help me replace Nancy Pelosi in January, she has been the biggest Bush enabler of them all. She sent a very obsequious letter to George Bush this week promising him that Congress would pass a Bill for him. Not only did she not hold him accountable for the crimes he has committed while in office, she is giving him one last victory (at the expense of we "Small People") before he shamefully rides into the sunset while our Republic is burning and Nancy Pelosi plays her fiddle, obediently. George Bush is going to leave quite a mess, and this Congress has proven that they not only do not know how to clean up his messes, but they have collaborated in the orgy that made the mess.

*Update: HR 1424 just passed and Congress applauded the marauding of our Republic. We "Small People" have been given a significant defeat. 237-153 Democrats: 154 yes; 58 nays Republicans: 86 yeas; 103 nays 31 Reps not voting *

There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root--- Henry David Thoreau

www.CindyforCongress.org

Posted at 1:59 PM   -   Permalink

October 13, 2008

The Big Boys Got Their Bailout

By Cynthia McKinney

"Where's Kenny Rogers When You Need Him?:

The Big Boys Got Their Bailout, But the Elected Leadership and the Voters Meet at the Election Day Showdown"

October 6, 2008

At the precise moment when we couldn't imagine it getting worse, it does. After all, the Democrats, since they acquired majority status in the Congress, delivered funding for George Bush's wars several times. They authorized retroactive immunity for telecoms that helped Bush's Administration illegally spy on us. And they never really considered any alternatives to the basic bailout wish list given to them by Bush and his Treasury Secretary, Henry Paulson.

Sadly, I must say that this failure on the part of the Democratic leadership is by far the greatest perfidy of the Democrats yet. I shudder to think what betrayal of the Constitution and the people of this country yet awaits us. I am forced to ask, "What do they stand for?"

I think they have shown us time and time again what they stand for, what their values are, and that they are willing to leave the people behind in their quest to acquiesce to what Bush's base asks for. And remember, Bush told us that his base were the haves and the have mores! So, if the Democratic leadership is more loyal to them than they are to the working people in this country, then a new political alignment of historical proportions is taking effect that the working people of this country must recognize. By their policy choices, it should now be clear that the Democratic leadership in Congress must be removed and a political party that reflects the people's values must be built. Not only do the people need a party of their own, it should now be clear to a vast number of people that the people in this country need a movement that places our values on the political agenda. This was what I said in my remarks accepting the Green Party's nomination as their candidate for President of the United States.

In 2000, when there was clear evidence that the election had been tampered with, and that particularly, black voters had been disfranchised, the Democratic leadership did nothing to recognize and correct this fact. Criminal behavior was met with de facto acceptance, a failure to investigate, and ultimate acquiescence by the Democratic leadership.

Through my Congressional office, on my own initiative, I investigated and discovered one of the mechanisms used to disfranchise voters and put my findings on the Congressional Record. Sadly, because of inaction by the Democratic Congress, the basic mechanism used by the Republicans to steal the vote in 2000 could, in fact, be used today to further disfranchise voters. Further, one million black votes across our country were not even counted, 78,000 of them in Florida alone.

What kind of election is it when the votes don't get counted!

In addition, in the late 1990s, electronic voting machines were introduced into the U.S. election architecture. From that time until today, where they are used, voters and inexperienced or untrained election staff have had to cope with machine meltdowns; screen freezes; dead and dying batteries in the middle of the voting process; deployment of untested machines, particularly in the South, that failed repeatedly due to heat; vote flipping (usually in only one direction); ballots that don't list all the candidates without manipulation of the machine—which could be problematic for some voters; incorrect ballots being displayed on the machines so that voters are allowed to vote in elections for which they are not eligible; machine sleepovers in insecure places where they could be tampered with; meaningless recounts in the absence of a paper trail where only bits and bytes previously entered can be counted; and the absence of a paper ballot that allows for accountability and transparency during and after an election.

Later, it was learned that these machines were not only hackable, but that the instrument used by the voter, the PCMCIA card, could be programmed to change the outcome of the election! Some of the machines were found to have wireless adaptations that opened the election to an additional level of insecurity due to wireless capabilities in everyday blackberries, treos, and other handheld devices.

With all of these defects known, electronic pollbooks were allowed to become an additional part of the election architecture and they produced an additional layer of disfranchisement when incorrect voter information was loaded into them and voters had no means to contest it. In too many cases that took place in my own 2006 election, voters were turned away from the polls only because the pollbooks contained incorrect information!

Elections in this country are now firmly in the grips of electronic voting machine technicians, inexperienced and poorly trained official poll workers, and computer companies using secret software. Sadly, the Democratic leadership has done nothing to eliminate this potential source of fraud, even in this—an election year!

In 2004, the Democratic nominee, John Kerry, promised that the black vote was not going to be disfranchised as it had been in 2000. John Kerry conceded the election the day after Election Day, even as reports were coming in of massive black voter disfranchisement. It was the Green Party and the Libertarian Party that went to Ohio and sorted out exactly what happened and pressed for criminal prosecution of those guilty of election fraud. Sadly, in 2004, after the experience of 2000, an estimated three million votes were not counted.

The Green Party's Bob Fitrakis in Ohio is sounding the alarm again for this year's election. Some blogs like Bradblog, and organizations like Black Box Voting continue to sound the alarm now, even morergently, and press for election integrity.

Last week I became the first Presidential candidate to sign the StandingForVoters.org pledge to not concede the election unless all votes are counted, and all challenges to the results have been adequately made. We really need the Democrats to sign such a pledge because they have caved in the past two Presidential elections.

In addition to that, the Democrats now have the power of the majority. They are in control of the Congress. And the way the Constitution is written, power flows up from Capitol Hill to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue—not the other way around. But even while in control, the Democrat leadership has done nothing to prepare the way for election integrity in this election. Even in the face of massive preparations for theft again by the Republicans through the use of the same techniques used in 2000 and in 2004 and adding to them voter caging (removing targeted voters from the voter rolls) and enforcement of new voter ID laws. Even judges appointed by Democrats have helped to thwart citizen legal action on behalf of election integrity!

It should be clear that even in an election year, there are serious issues that should be on the table; the Democrats control the Congress and can make public policy to their liking—reflecting their values.

And that's where I want to begin my discussion of the bailout.

Nancy Pelosi is the third most powerful individual in the United States government as Speaker of the House—third in line for the Presidency of the United States. She controls when bills are scheduled for consideration in the House of Representatives, or even whether they are considered or not. The people of this country and her colleagues in the House gave her this position because the people hunger for change and they thought that the Democratic Party would deliver that change to them.

The people of this country want peace, not war and occupation; justice, not fraud; community, not hooliganism. And so, the people of this country voted the Democratic Party into majority status to attain all of that, public policy that reflects their values. Nancy Pelosi, by virtue of her position, has been dealt a royal flush.

By now, Nancy Pelosi could have used that winning hand to stop the funding for war and occupation--$720 million every day—and decided, instead, to subsidize education so no university student graduates one hundred thousand dollars in debt just because he or she wanted an education.

Pelosi could have insisted on reflecting the people's values and our Constitution by repealing the Patriot Acts, the Secret Evidence Act, and the Military Commissions Act. But she did not.

She could have used that royal flush to provide a single–payer, Medicare-for-all, type of health care system for this country, consistent with the wishes of the Democratic Party's base, particularly organized labor and an increasing number of health care professionals. But she did not.

In light of the tremendously important election this year, she could have insisted on enacting some measure of election integrity to prevent another election being held where the announced outcome is truly in doubt. But she did not.

She could have taken her seat at the table as the one player in the room with the winning hand, but she did not.

Instead, she assumed the position of the beautiful girl in the short skirt holding the platter of drinks, serving the men at the table. She could have been the leader and spokesperson for us all, but she is not.

It is clear that our country is at a financial crossroad, and the times call for courageous, daring acts on behalf of the people from those gifted with leadership positions. That, too, is not happening.

From the myriad writings that I have read, including those of former Comptroller General David Walker, it is clear that the financial status of our country is subject to get worse before it gets better. The Bush-Pelosi-Reid bailout exacerbates the situation because the fundamentals of the economy were not dealt with in what is perhaps the most massive transfer of wealth in our modern history. And while the money could have gone to people in need and for programs contributing to the public good, preparing our country for the future, it did not.

I published two papers outlining fourteen points that the Congress could have implemented even without a bailout, but most certainly should have implemented with one. The second paper, written on my son's birthday, was entitled, "A Birthday Gift for a Generation: A U.S. Financial System of Our Own."

Taken in conjunction with the Power to the People Committee's platform available here on the campaign website. Those fourteen points are as follows:

1. Enactment of a foreclosure moratorium now before the next phase of ARM interest rate increases take effect;

2. elimination of all ARM mortgages and their renegotiation into 30- or 40-year loans;

3. establishment of new mortgage lending practices to end predatory and discriminatory practices;

4. establishment of criteria and construction goals for affordable housing;

5. redefinition of credit and regulation of the credit industry so that discriminatory practices are completely eliminated;

6. full funding for initiatives that eliminate racial and ethnic disparities in home ownership;

7. recognition of shelter as a right according to the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights to which the U.S. is a signatory so that no one sleeps on U.S. streets;

8. full funding of a fund designed to cushion the job loss and provide for retraining of those at the bottom of the income scale as the economy transitions;

9. close all tax loopholes and repeal of the Bush tax cuts for the top 1% of income earners; and

10. fairly tax corporations, denying federal subsidies to those who relocate jobs overseas repeal NAFTA;

11. Appointment of former Comptroller General David Walker to fully audit all recipients of taxpayer cash infusions, including JP Morgan, Bear Stearns, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and AIG, and to monitor their trading activities into the future;

12. elimination of all derivatives trading;

13. nationalization of the Federal Reserve and the establishment of a federally-owned, public banking system that makes credit available for small businesses, homeowners, manufacturing operations, renewable energy and infrastructure investments; and

14. criminal prosecution of any activities that violated the law, including conflicts of interest that led to the current> crisis.

Michael Ruppert recently wrote on his blog (http://www.mikeruppert.blogspot.com/):

"There is no victory until the paradigm is broken. Until we change the way money works, we change nothing. Right now, the entire economic paradigm of infinite growth is vulnerable, weak, and exposed. The dribble being offered by Obama and McCain only exposes the fact that everything is broken; that the system itself is the enemy."

Everyone can see that the system is broken: a system that was not created to serve the people of this country. It was totally within Pelosi's purview and that of the Democratic Party to change all of that, but they didn't. In fact, I'm shocked by some of my former colleagues who voted for this bill, particularly the Members of the Congressional Black Caucus who supported this. With this vote, and the failures of the Democratic Party up to now, it should be patently clear that the Democratic Party cannot reflect our values because it is in complete obeisance to someone else's.

The elected leadership of both the Democratic and Republican parties should resign.

That's why I can hear Kenny Rogers's sweet voice wafting through the air now:

"You got to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em, Know when to walk away and know when to run. You never count your money when you're sittin' at the table. There'll be time enough for countin' when the dealin's done.

Now ev'ry gambler knows that the secret to survivin' Is knowin' what to throw away and knowing what to keep. Cause ev'ry hand's a winner and ev'ry hand's a loser, And the best that you can hope for is to die in your sleep."

However strong the Big Boys might appear after the October 3rd bailout vote, they still have a "leak" in their game: the people get to vote on November 4th. And that's the biggest "scare card" in the entire deck!

Power to the People!

"And advanced forms of biological warfare that can 'target' specific genotypes may transform biological warfare from the realm of terror to a politically useful tool." PNAC, Rebuilding America's Defenses, p. 60

The argument that the two parties should represent opposed ideals and policies, one, perhaps, of the Right and the other of the Left, is a foolish idea acceptable only to doctrinaire and academic thinkers. Instead, the two parties should be almost identical, so that the American people can "throw the rascals out" at any election without leading to any profound or extensive shifts in policy. -- Carroll Quigley, Tragedy and Hope: A History of the World in our Time.

Posted at 3:40 PM   -   Permalink

The Truth About ACORN

The Truth About ACORN's Voter Registration Drive...

Election Day is less than a month away, and our efforts to make sure that low-income and minority voters have a voice and vote on November 4th are in full swing. Unfortunately, just as we've seen in previous election cycles, the more success we have in empowering these voters, the more attacks we have to fend off from partisan forces making unfounded accusations to disparage our work and help maintain the status quo of an unbalanced electorate. We want to take this opportunity to separate the facts of our successes from the falsehoods of our attackers.

On Monday, October 6, as voter registration deadlines passed in most states, ACORN completed the largest, most successful nonpartisan voter registration drive in history. In partnership with the nonpartisan organization Project Vote, we helped register over 1.3 million low-income, minority, and young voters in a total of 21 states. Highlights of this success include:

* We collected over 151,000 registrations in Florida, 153,000 in Pennsylvania, 215,000 in Michigan, and nearly 250,000 in Ohio.
* An estimated 60-70 percent of our applicants are people of color.
* At least HALF of all are registrations are from young people between 18-29.
We are proud of this unprecedented success, and grateful to everyone who supported us in this massive effort, from our funders and partners to the literally thousands of hardworking individuals across the country who dedicated themselves to the cause and conducted the difficult work of registering 1.3 million Americans, one voter at a time.

And this work is far from over: now begins our effort mobilize these new voters around local and national issues, getting them to the polls and helping to channel their commitment and conviction into an ongoing movement for change in our communities.

As The Nation pointed out recently, ACORN's success in registering millions of low-income and minority voters has made it "something of a right-wing bogeyman." Though ACORN believes that the right to vote is not, and should never be, a partisan issue, attacks from groups threatened by our historic success continue to come, motivated by partisan politics and often perpetuated by the media without full investigation of the facts. As a result, there have been a few recent stories about investigations of former ACORN workers for turning in incomplete, erroneous, or fraudulent voter registration applications. Predictably, partisan forces have tried to use these isolated incidents to incite fear of the "bogeyman" of "widespread voter fraud." But we want to take this opportunity to set the record straight and tell you a few facts to show how these incidents really exemplify everything that ACORN is doing right:
Fact: ACORN has implemented the most sophisticated quality-control system in the voter engagement field, but in almost every state we are required to turn in ALL completed applications, even the ones we know to be problematic.

Fact: ACORN flags incomplete, problem, or suspicious cards when we turn them in, but these warnings are often ignored by election officials. Often these same officials then come back weeks or months later and accuse us of deliberately turning in phony cards.

Fact: Our canvassers are paid by the hour, not by the card, so there is NO incentive for them to falsify cards. ACORN has a zero-tolerance policy for deliberately falsifying registrations, and in the relatively rare cases where our internal quality controls have identified this happening we have fired the workers involved and turned them in to election officials and law-enforcement.

Fact: No charges have ever been brought against ACORN itself. Convictions against individual former ACORN workers have been accomplished with our full cooperation, using the evidence obtained through our quality control and verification processes.

Fact: Voter fraud by individuals is extremely rare, and incredibly difficult. There has never been a single proven case of anyone, anywhere, casting an illegal vote as a result of a phony voter registration. Even if someone wanted to influence the election this way, it would not work.

Fact: Most election officials have recognized ACORN's good work and praised our quality control systems. Even in the cities where election officials have complained about ACORN, the applications in question represent less than 1% of the thousands and thousands of registrations ACORN has collected.

Fact: Our accusers not only fail to provide any evidence, they fail to suggest a motive: there is virtually no chance anyone would be able to vote fraudulently, so there is no reason to deliberately submit phony registrations. ACORN is committed to ensuring that the greatest possible numbers of people are registered and allowed to vote, so there is also NO incentive to "disrupt the system" with phony cards.

Fact: Similar accusations were made, and attacks launched, against ACORN and other voter registration organizations in 2004 and 2006. These attacks were not only groundless, they have since been exposed as part of the U.S. Attorneygate scandal and revealed to be part of a systematic partisan agenda of voter suppression.

These are the facts, and the truth is that a relatively small group of political operatives are trying to orchestrate hysteria about "voter fraud" and manufacture public outrage that they can use to further suppress the votes of millions of low-income and minority Americans.

These tactics are nothing new, and history has shown that they will come to nothing. We'll continue to weather the storm, as we've done for years, and we'll continue to share the truth about our work and express pride about our accomplishments.

Most importantly, we want to assure you that this good work continues, unabated and undeterred. ACORN will not be intimidated, we will not be provoked, and in this important moment in history we will not allow anyone to distract us from these vital efforts to empower our constituencies and our communities to speak for themselves. If the partisan political machines are afraid of low-income and minority voters, they're going to have to do a lot better than coming after ACORN.

After all, there are now at least 1.3 million more of them, and they will not be silenced. They’re taking an interest, and taking a stand, and they'll be taking their concerns to the voting booth in November.

And ACORN will be here, to make sure that the voices of these Americans are heard, on Election Day and for every day to come.

Posted at 7:31 PM   -   Permalink