jakit

Investigate the Vote

MoveOn.org is conducting an email campaign in an effort to motivate Congress to act on the possible election fraud.

Here's what I wrote:

One of the reasons the Progressives in this country have lost influence is because of our inability to stand up and fight for what we believe in. I thought we had learned this lesson and that this election would be different. Unfortunately, so far, we have only seen the same cowardice from our Representatives in Congress that we saw in the lead up to the unlawful and immoral invasion of Iraq.

Please, now is the most important time to take a stand. Make sure our election has not been stolen and if it has, make sure justice is served.

The Relative Merits of Hardware Stores

I'm gonna get off the politics thing for a minute here and talk about... plumbing.

The holding tank on our toilet had been leaking for awhile and since our landlords never get around to fixing anything, I finally decided to take on the job myself.

Since I'm not much of a fix-it guy, I just did the obvious and headed down to the local Home Depot. I didn't know what piece or pieces I needed to buy, so I asked a couple different employees for some help. Alas, no one that worked there was able to answer my questions.

I considered buying a complete replacement set for $10, but that seemed too wasteful. Eventually, after contemplating my situation while walking through the aisles and checking out the fridges and washing machines, I decided I'd go home and see if I couldn't jimmy-rig the thing.

Well, as you can probably guess, things soon got worse. The leak became fierce and I couldn't stop it without turning off the water completely. I had to go to work soon and I didn't have time to go back to Home Depot so I hopped in my car and jammed to the local hardware store.

I quickly found the complete replacement set. Yikes! It was a whopping $23. Crap, shoulda' bought the thing at Home Depot.

But then some dude that worked there walked up and asked me if I needed any help. I described the situation to him and he informed me that all I needed was a little piece of rubber that cost $1.97. He also showed me exactly how to go about fixing it.

I bought the little piece, raced home and, sure enough, fixed the leak right away.

How cool is that? The local shop was way more expensive than Home Depot, but because of their great service, it actually cost me way less.

Score one for the little guy!

Blue State Superiority

A recent email I sent in reply to an email concerning Blue State feelings of moral superiority and lack of compassion for Red States.

Although I agree that it is overly simplistic to divide the country up so easily into Red and Blue States, I still have extremely strong feelings about the people that voted for Bush.

The plain truth is... they ARE ignorant.

A new study out from the University of Maryland finds: "Even after the final report of Charles Duelfer to Congress saying that Iraq did not have a significant WMD program, 72% of Bush supporters continue to believe that Iraq had actual WMD (47%) or a major program for developing them (25%). Fifty-six percent assume that most experts believe Iraq had actual WMD and 57% also assume, incorrectly, that Duelfer concluded Iraq had at least a major WMD program. Kerry supporters hold opposite beliefs on all these points.

"Similarly, 75% of Bush supporters continue to believe that Iraq was providing substantial support to al Qaeda, and 63% believe that clear evidence of this support has been found. Sixty percent of Bush supporters assume that this is also the conclusion of most experts, and 55% assume, incorrectly, that this was the conclusion of the 9/11 Commission. Here again, large majorities of Kerry supporters have exactly opposite perceptions."

These might be "good" people, I don't know. But if they are "good", it somewhat changes the meaning of the word for me. If you're going to vote for the President of the United States of America and thereby have an impact on the lives of the entire population of the world, you'd better damn-well know what the hell you're voting about.

George Bush is a religious zealot working in cahoots with NeoFascists in his administration. They are eroding our Civil Liberties here at home and slaughtering people abroad. Anybody that votes for him is either an idiot or they subscribe to NeoFascism and Religious Zealotry.

This is not a matter of personal taste; we're not talking about the relative merits of California cuisine versus Texas barbecue here. This is a life and death struggle.

Yes, I think I'm right and they're wrong. Yes, I think that makes me superior when it comes to knowing how to Govern our country. And yes, I will stick to my beliefs and fight the good fight.

I refuse to embrace intolerance and corruption just to see someone from my party get elected into office.

There are good people in the Red States; they voted for Kerry.

Don't Believe the Hype

Here is a nice summary of what we as a populace are asked to believe concerning the November 2 election. It was written by a poster named TruthIsAll on the DemocraticUnderground forums:

To believe that Bush won the election, you must also believe: That the exit polls were wrong; that Zogby's 5pm election day calls for Kerry winning Ohio and Florida were wrong (he was exactly right in his 2000 final poll); that Harris' last-minute polling for Kerry was wrong (he was exactly right in his 2000 final poll); that incumbent rule #1 - undecideds break for the challenger - was wrong; That the 50% rule - an incumbent doesn't do better than his final polling - was wrong; That the approval rating rule - an incumbent with less than 50% approval will most likely lose the election - was wrong; that it was just a coincidence that the exit polls were correct where there was a paper trail and incorrect (+5% for Bush) where there was no paper trail; that the surge in new young voters had no positive effect for Kerry; that Kerry did worse than Gore against an opponent who lost the support of scores of Republican newspapers who were for Bush in 2000; that voting machines made by Republicans with no paper trail and with no software publication, which have been proven by thousands of computer scientists to be vulnerable in scores of ways, were not tampered with in this election."

And yet we are asked to believe all that. And why? What possible reason could there be for us to accept such ludicrousy? Two words; moral values.

Apparently, although there was this huge new turnout by the left, there was, miraculously, an even greater new turnout by the right. I guess these Evangelical folks were so distraught at the idea of gay marriage and so enamoured with Bush's values that they did what they've never done before; they voted.

I don't think so.

Where were all these people before? Are we to assume that they didn't have any problems with Clinton or Gore? I can't imagine anything rousing the Christians more than the hedonist Bill and the feminist Hilary. And yet John Kerry is supposedly the guy that finally brings them out of their slumber?

Don't forget, George Bush said he supports civil unions and John Kerry said he was against gay marriage. They essentially took the same stand on the issue. We might guess that deep down they felt differently, but is that enough to galvanize millions of people to get out and vote?

And how do we know that this is why the people came out to vote in the first place? Two more words; exit polls.

That's right, the same exit polls that were not to be believed when it came to predicting the outcome of our election were entireley accurate enough to provide the primary topic of converstation in all the media for several days.

Cheaters never win.

Focus on the Fraud

I'm going to have to echo my buddy Alex Smith here. I don't want to hear any more crap about values, red states and what's wrong with the Democratic party. Every single progressive article should be written about and focused on what appears to be a stolen election. What's the point in debating why we lost, if we actually won?

For those who aren't following the stories, here is a good article on the voting machines being hacked in Florida.

Also, here is an interesting piece on exit polls differing from final results , normally a cause for alarm.

BlackBoxVoting and WikiPedia are also good resources for now.

This needs to be pursued with all the strength the left has. It's currently the major topic on Air America and Nader has requested an examination in New Hampshire, but we're gonna need Howard Dean and eventually Kerry and Edwards to join the fight.

This is the only story that truly matters right now.

Be Afraid

Be very, very afraid.

Bobbie Jensen's Wisdom

Apparently, some poor fellow from Georgia killed himself at ground zero in New York because he was distraught over Bush's election.

More than three years after the Sept. 11 terror attacks, Ground Zero remains a top tourist attraction, the site rife with symbolism.

Visitors there yesterday reacted in different ways to news of Veal's suicide. Bobbie Jensen, 54, a Republican from Arizona, said that while she understood how Bush's victory disturbed those who dislike him, Ground Zero is not the place to act on those emotions.

"You can be upset about the war, about Bush, but this is a sacred place," she said.

Wow, I really don't know where to begin Bobbie. But let me try;

First off, he 's dead. How about holding off on the criticism for awhile?

Second, he was suicidal. Somehow, I don't think not-offending-Bobbie-Jensen-of-Pheonix was one of his top concerns at the moment.

Third, where the hell do you get off deciding what's sacred in New York? Go back to your own stinkin' desert sprawl, turn on the A/C and TV and return to living your pathetic and disgusting life in a bubble.

God, I hate Republicans.

Abolish the Presidency

I'm sick of people always judging a candidate based upon their character. One can never really know a candidate's true colors. All you get is the song and dance that they display for you, therefore giving the advantage to the more scurrilous fellow.

All that should really matter is how they feel on the issues. We can judge this by their voting records. If voters went into the booths on Tuesday and voted on the top 10 or 20 issues and that vote was then assigned to the approriate candidate, then Kerry would have won in a landslide.

It should be that simple.

I don't care if a guy has three wives, cheats on all of them and smokes crack in the bathroom; if he's the guy with the better health care plan, he's got my vote. Likewise, ya'll can go to church five days a week and be in bed before ten, but if you're gonna invade oil-rich nations and slaughter innocents, no way.

Alas, that's not how it works. People vote on charm, which they interpret as character. And I don't see this changing because as long as we look at our government as being represented by one person, the President, then the cult of personality will prevail.

So I suggest we abolish the Presidency altogether. Just chuck it in the Constitutional wastebin, next to the 18th Amendment. We can have some sort of a rotating Head of State for cermonial duties. Other than that, all governing should be done by the House of Representatives (the Senate needs to go as well... but that's another blog.)

The Global What?

I wonder if one of the problems here is that maybe we were caught a little off-gaurd. We were busy sitting around thinking about organic farming and SUVs and feeling pretty groovy, when in fact we never should have taken our eyes off war and freedom of the press.

That, of course, is the saddest possible explanation.

But I can't help but remember those commercials that came out in the late 90's. You know, people all over the planet smiling and passing around a laptop or a cell phone or something. Some farmer in Africa gets on the internet and figures out a new way to rotate his crop and thereby finally grows enough food for his village. Or maybe some monk in Tibet sets up a web-site to sell the teacups his monastery makes in their spare time and, lo and behold, they fund a school and education reaches the dispossed. Or some crap like that.

They were ads for different technologies or whatever, but they all shared this common idea that the world was coming together and through new methods of communication we would find true and lasting peace. The Global Village.

Whoa! What the fuck happened?

I actually believed that shit. I think most of us did, otherwise we would've been hip to the very real threat of NeoConservatism and Evangelicalism that was creeping up inbetween us (us being East and West coasters.)

I guess maybe we got suckered into the oldest possible trick of the modern era; don't believe anything you see on TV! It's all lies!

Before She Sleeps in the Sand?

Blowin' in the Wind by Bob Dylan.

I wonder if he knew when he wrote that song that we'd still be asking the same questions 40 years later. Alas, maybe we're never supposed to win. Perhaps it's like the Holy Grail, where the true answer is in the journey itself. At least we can die knowing that we fought the good fight.

Anyway, no one ever said it like Bob.

The Independent Republic of California

We have only one person to blame. Not George Bush, not John Kerry. Not Osama bin Laden, not Ralph Nader. Not even ourselves. Nope, the one person that all of us American progressives can blame is Abraham Lincoln.

Lincoln had the opportunity and he blew it. He could have let the South go. He could have let them go and become their own country. Instead, he forcibly retained them as members of the United States and thereby gave the Southerners the ability to influence our policies.

If the South were an independent country today, they would be nothing more than a poor, agrarian, fundamentalist nation with very little power over global affairs. Yet, as part of the greater America, they have been able to put their ideologues into the highest levels of government and have thusly influenced the entire world.

If we look at the breakdown of the 2004 Presidential election, John Kerry won the popular vote in the the East, the Midwest and the West. George Bush won only the South, but he won it by such a gigantic majority that he was able to win the popular vote overall.

As we break down the demographics further we only see more unfairness. The blue states are far better educated and compromise a much larger portion of the national economy. Nevertheless, the red states control all three branches of the Government.

We may have won the War 150 years ago, but it appears the South has had the last laugh. Californians and New Yorkers can only sit and watch as the wealth and influence we have brought to this country are used against our will to wreck havoc on the world.

America has become two countries; one of secular progress and one of religious empire. The America of empire now controls and abuses the America of progress. We, who celebrate liberalism, education and creativity, have become the tools of those that cherish intolerance, power and religion. Any system that can be manipulated in such a perverse fashion is most obviously broken.

But I cannot speak for New Yorkers or any of the other blue states. I can only speak for my native home of California where the balance is particularly skewed.

Like the early American colonists, we Californians are being taxed without representation. Though we supply more revenue to the country than any other state, our values have no such corresponding influence. We, in California, will never truly be heard in America. The system is broken.

How much longer will we financially support a nation dedicated to ideals that we do not share?

Maybe it's time we stopped lamenting the direction our nation is going and took control of our own destiny. Maybe it's time California seceeded from the Union.

Guns of Oakland

In order to get properly amped-up for the impending Revolution (which will need to occur if Bush wins) I've decided to spend the final remaining hours before the election listening to London Calling by The Clash.

And day one of the Revolution should be spent making plans for getting California the fuck out of the Union. I know everyone in the O' agrees on this.

Dang, wouldn't that be fun?