2008 - the fix is in...

In 2000, Jeb Bush and Katharine Harris got a company called ChoicePoint to purge voter rolls in Florida. The company was paid several million dollars and part of the reason they were paid so much money was to ensure that only genuine criminals were purged from the rolls.

However, in a secret memo, the company TOOK OUT the safeguards in a deliberate attempt to make the purge as wide as possible. If you had the same name as, or even a similar name to a convicted criminal, you were unable to vote.

In 2004, the election was stolen using a backdoor into the software of voting machines that leave no paper trail. These machines, made by a handful of companies with strong connections to the Republican party, were installed across the country in an attempt, supposedly, to ensure that 'anomalies' like the hanging chads fiasco did not recur. The Act concerned, in a wonderful Orwellian use of language, was called the Help America Vote Act. In early trials of the new paperless voting machines (no paper, no recount, remember), for the first time, there were discrepancies between the exit polls and the evental results. These were written off by compliant media as no more than unusual.

Now Greg Palast, who broke the Choicepoint story - at least outside the US where he's well-known and respected as an investigative reporter - has shown how the 2008 election will be rigged and brought new facts to light about the '04 election.

He has already revealed the real story behind the phone tapping scandal, and now in this interview he gives details of a new and even more blatant vote-rigging scandal.

AMY GOODMAN: You broke this on BBC.

GREG PALAST: Yeah, I broke this on BBC, and to get in the United States, we got Michael Moore to put on a chicken suit and report it here as a joke... By the way, all of these stories are stories developed out of BBC and Guardian that basically are blacked out, except for here on Democracy Now! That's very important, because these are the stories that they don't want you to have for good reason... I then followed up with 2004. Now, it’s accepted 2000 pretty much was fixed. Well, there’s a chapter, “Kerry won.” 2004 was fixed. And the way it was done is that 3.6 million votes were cast and never counted in the United States. That's very important to know.

AMY GOODMAN: Say the number again.

GREG PALAST: 3.6 million ballots cast, never counted. And that's because they call these spoiled votes or rejected provisional ballots, 1.9 million so-called provisional ballots, and then, most of those don't get counted. And so, whose votes don't get counted? If it was random, it wouldn’t matter. In other words, if these were votes where the machine doesn't record it properly, hanging chads, extra marks on a paper ballot, you had the wrong address on your absentee ballot, etc.

3m ballots. Whose ballots? If you're a black person, the chance your ballot will be technically invalidated is 900% higher than if you're a white voter. Hispanic voter, 500% higher than if you're a white voter. Native Americans, it’s like 2,000% higher than if you're a white voter. The overwhelming majority -- and I went to the state of New Mexico, which supposedly Bush won by 5,000 votes, 89% of the ballots were cast out of minority precincts that were thrown away. Kerry won New Mexico. You go into the dumpster, and it’s black votes, 155,000 black votes that were chucked away in Ohio. Kerry won those votes. He won Ohio.

AMY GOODMAN: ’08?

GREG PALAST: And ‘08, so what's happening is there is no fix of the system. In other words, just like black folk get bad schools and bad hospitals, they get the bad voting machines, which are going to kill those votes... one of the things I discovered is the Republican Party has something called “caging lists,” which came to our -- you know, ... the way the Yes Men capture material by using false websites, so through a false website we were able to capture Republican Party internal missives, through georgebush.org.

And so, what happened was is that they sent us ... lists of literally tens of thousands of names of voters and addresses. We were wondering what the heck this was. It turns out these were almost all African American voters, who they were prepared to challenge in 2004, and they did, to say that these people shouldn't vote, because their addresses are suspect. And you'll see in the book that in the lists of thousands of black voters that they were challenging over their address were thousands of black soldiers who were sent to Iraq; go to Baghdad, and the Republican Party challenges your vote.

And the next thing that they’re going after is the Hispanic vote. So when we saw 2m votes cast/not counted in 2000, nearly 4 votes cast/not counted in 2004, you're going see that number massively increase in 2008.

It ain't easy trying to save a country full of fools from themselves, is it?
Sometimes a man has to do what a man has to do.

The people won't rise up and defend freedom, and if you are being framed for everything because you are being 9/11 and anthraxed and blackmailed, what do you suggest? surrender!

It's not up to me to suggest anything - I just want to get the information out there.

I meant to edit a spelling error - sorry.

[edit on 21-5-2006 by rich23]

And you'll see in the book

I always have red flags go up when I realize there is profit to be made by the person supplying the information.

I am not saying this person is wrong, only that they have a personal stake in what they are trying to pass off.

I would not doubt this being true, I just wish the source didn't have a profit motive behind the story.

Just my thoughts,

wupy

[edit on 21-5-2006 by mrwupy]

Thanx rich23. First I'd heard of this particular story concerning '08. You know what? I'm not an American (Canadian) but I wouldn't bet the farm on there being an election in 2008. So much could happen between now and then. If WW3 breaks out (if it hasn't already by the time I finish this) all bets are off or so one might reasonably think. Can a US President suspend elections by an Executive Order? I'd be interested know how that'd be handled.

Thanx,

Victor K.

[edit on 21-5-2006 by V Kaminski]

Originally posted by mrwupy

I always have red flags go up when I realize there is profit to be made by the person supplying the information.

I am not saying this person is wrong, only that they have a personal stake in what they are trying to pass off.

I would not doubt this being true, I just wish the source didn't have a profit motive behind the story.

Just my thoughts,

wupy

[edit on 21-5-2006 by mrwupy]

Sorry to be blunt, but...

He's a journalist. Get over it. Journalists make their living through writing books. What makes Palast stand out is the quality of his work, which speaks for itself.

just to add my 2 cents

original qoute by:V Kaminski
Thanx rich23. First I'd heard of this particular story concerning '08. You know what? I'm not an American (Canadian) but I wouldn't bet the farm on there being an election in 2008. So much could happen between now and then. If WW3 breaks out (if it hasn't already by the time I finish this) all bets are off or so one might reasonably think. Can a US President suspend elections by an Executive Order? I'd be interested know how that'd be handled.

I have said something similar V, and even started a thread asking this very question:if there were another 911 would elections be suspended

But as far as the voting machines go, Its not a suprise if 08 machines are screwed from the start.. IMHO those in power and those that support them will do whatever it takes to keep said power.

First off, Id like to know why its an international journalist's business to be so concerned over american politics? what right does a foreign national have to influence by opinion who he thinks should be the american president, and thats all this is..... "I wanted kerry!" well, no big surprise most europeans did, but you know what? they arent americans.

So, here we are.....making fraudulent claims elections were "stolen" that minority votes are cast out. ya know if ya get the miniority vote doesnt that entail the minority OF THE vote? doesnt that mean you will lose?

Had kerry won there would be no fighting, all opinions about the elections being rigged would be dismissed out of hand etc. If the democratic candidate doesnt win, there is usually fighting for 8 months over retarded things like paper hanging on the ballot

If any votes are thrown out, that probably means they had no right to vote.....remember felons (the majority of which ARE minorities) have no right to vote.

original qoute by:xphilesphan
Had kerry won there would be no fighting, all opinions about the elections being rigged would be dismissed out of hand etc. If the democratic candidate doesnt win, there is usually fighting for 8 months over retarded things like paper hanging on the ballot

Your right on this point.. noone would have been complaining. And, of course most of the mainstream doesnt know or care that both bush and kerry are bonesman for life and that they are in fact related(way down in the tree)

original qoute by:xphilesphan
First off, Id like to know why its an international journalist's business to be so concerned over american politics? what right does a foreign national have to influence by opinion who he thinks should be the american president, and thats all this is..... "I wanted kerry!" well, no big surprise most europeans did, but you know what? they arent americans.

Unfortunately American politics has an enourmous effect on the rest of the world.
Which gives people of other countries.. IMHO a valid reason to voice their ideas and concerns over what happens here. They DO NOT, however, have the right to actively influence our political system..aka through lobbyism(look at AIPAC) or through manipulation of our voting.

Originally posted by XphilesPhan
First off, Id like to know why its an international journalist's business to be so concerned over american politics? what right does a foreign national have to influence by opinion who he thinks should be the american president...

Palast is American. As a resident of the UK, I'm glad when anyone keeps an eye on the dodgy doings of our lot. On the other hand, presumably you feel absolutely fine about the genuine interference by the US in the democratic process of other sovereign nations, like Venezuela or Haiti to give two recent examples?

So, here we are.....making fraudulent claims elections were "stolen" that minority votes are cast out. ya know if ya get the miniority vote doesnt that entail the minority OF THE vote? doesnt that mean you will lose?

I can only suggest you watch the movie "Unprecedented" which gives chapter and verse on how the Florida elections were stolen. There is nothing fraudulent about these claims. There is something about the relationship between the Florida Republican Party and Choicepoint/DBT - that's why their spokesman HID IN HIS OFFICE while Palast was outside with not one, but two TV crews.

And I am not interested in one party over another. As far as the rest of the world is concerned, it's strictly the lesser of two evils. Mind you, since the PNAC crew came along, the stakes have been raised.

Had kerry won there would be no fighting, all opinions about the elections being rigged would be dismissed out of hand etc.

Considering that the riot in the Florida recounts was conducted exclusively by Republican staffers, that's a ludicrous assertion.

If any votes are thrown out, that probably means they had no right to vote.....remember felons (the majority of which ARE minorities) have no right to vote.

You just don't understand the mechanism of this, do you? I'll explain this again, for the last time. Anyone whose name was even a vague match to that of a felon had their name struck from the electoral roll. The company was paid several million dollars (as opposed to about half a million) to produce a computer program that would ensure that date of birth and name were an exact match: yet those safeguards were, quite deliberately, NOT implemented with the result that around 55,000 legitimate voters were struck off the rolls.

I can't make it any simpler than that.

New Fears of Security Risks in Electronic Voting Systems
May 12, 2006, New York Times
www.nytimes.com...

With primary election dates fast approaching in many states, officials in Pennsylvania and California issued urgent directives in recent days about a potential security risk in their Diebold Election Systems touch-screen voting machines, while other states with similar equipment hurried to assess the seriousness of the problem. "It's the most severe security flaw ever discovered in a voting system," said Michael I. Shamos, a professor of computer science at Carnegie Mellon University.

Seems the machines are malfunctioning at an alarming rate. No need for concern, however, they are FIXING it now.www.wanttoknow.info/060517newsarticles

Let's just elect officials by exit polls. We know they are very trustworthy, especially coming from the democrat propoganda wing ie the main stream media. You have zero proof for your claims that republicans rigged voting machines. If helps you to sleep at night to think an election was stolen, then go ahead. It is the most numbskull, head-in-sand rationalization ever.

The fact is DEMS are the ones that steal and rig elections by cheat voting, fighting against voter ID cards, and discounting military ballots over text technicalities.

www.hooverdigest.org...

According to your source a total of 788 ballots were rejected in a legal dispute. Roughly 55,000 people were disenfranchised by DBT's purging of th polls.

It hardly compares.

I'm aware that election fraud has been rife in your country (which presumes to lecture others about the nature of democracy) for tears. But paperless voting machines represent a threat on a new scale. It's a real pity that the people who recognise thi are so few.

Whatever helps you sleep better at night! Just admit yo lost and get on with it! Everything has to be a conspiracy with you lefties!

Originally posted by powerage78
Whatever helps you sleep better at night! Just admit yo lost and get on with it! Everything has to be a conspiracy with you lefties!

not to do the job of the mods or anything but you might want to read Effective IMMIDIATELY before continuing this particular line of posting. so as not to draw their ire.

Also, I am NOT a "lefty." So your broad generalization has failed you in the case good sir. You must take off the political biased approach when dealing with these matters lest you become too emotionally attached to your arguement and you lose all objectivity.

The reason people such as myself are interested in this is, NOT to turn back the clock but rather, to help insure that we do not have "questionable" practices and doings in the future. How can we ever learn from our mistakes; if we never admit we made them?
whether maliciously or by pure accident there ARE flaws in the voting machines and they need to be addressed for the benefit of ALL parties. Not just ONE of the BIG two, but rather for ALL parties(even though the smaller parties get almost no representation at all)

I apologize MODS if I am out of line here:

[edit on 29-5-2006 by TONE23]

So, what about the "elected" governor of Washington (state). The election was over and she had lost. Then, mysteriously a couple of thousand votes mysteriously appeared for her. 300 of which all had the address of the county courthouse in Seattle (my numbers may be off, but the jist is true). Then there is the issue of the illegal immigrant voting (with stolen SSNs). Saying Republicans stole any election is indeed the pot calling the kettle black.

Election fraud has been around for quite some time, it seems the last two elections, in which the Democrats LOST POWER in the House, Senate, and Oval office, it has become a source of interest, HOWEVER, prior to that, over the years, as the Democrats enjoyed their hold on political power, it was more or less a non issue......hence the terminology Sore/Loserman.

You really expect Chicago to be an honest political atmosphere?

Originally posted by powerage78
Whatever helps you sleep better at night! Just admit yo lost and get on with it! Everything has to be a conspiracy with you lefties!

Aren't we precious, though. I wouldnt be surprised, Rich. It seems we are going to be stuck with the Republican party, by golly, wheather we want it or not.
Anyone we can trust again?? Or will it be one of Bush's ambitious appointees to the White House already???

Well dg, as we both know there are no fewer than THREE separate threads (I think we each started one!) suggesting JEB ("There is no constituency for the truth") BUSH for PRESIDENT in '08! The upside would be awesome - Jeb would be there to ensure that no proper enquiries were opened into, oh... Enron, 9/11, JFK, .... a whole bunch of stuff. Plus the PNAC programme could just roll on uninterrupted.

After that, they could maybe get Marvin to give it a go. Or would that look suspicious?

The downside... well, from their point of view, obviously, there isn't one.

Maybe the Schwarzenegger Amendment to the Constitution will have been passed by then so that the yearning masses can have their own real Aryan Strongman?

Scary world, innit?