Our democracy's last gasp

From here.

You will be going to the polls on Tuesday for far more than what you think. You think that this "Change" advocated by Obama for years is change that will benefit you. In some ways, you could be right. If you are willing to have someone buy your vote with benefits, perhaps you have come to the right place.

But benefits are not what they are made out to be. This is a man who prefers to provide entitlements to blacks, and whose view of balance is one that tilts in favor of one race above all others. You claim he has never said this. But he has. Repeatedly. Through his Philadelphia speech and elsewhere. Through his private meeting with minorities allegedly representing the Black Liberation theology. And through his life, which promoted Black Liberation theology until he left Reverend Wright's church, a church he had his wife and children attend and which he attended for twenty years or so.

The facts remain generally obfuscated or totally avoided through lies exposed that none of you care about. His lie that he never heard Wright rant against the US. His wife's view, supported by him, that she was properly not proud of America until it began to appear that Obama could win obfuscated with Obama-like comments that seem to be what they are not. His lies about Ayres, a relationship he has never explained other than to lie about its extent.

We face a momentous situation today. Our children are being indoctrinated in our schools about politics. Grade school children told about matters that belong in the home, such as who is the better candidate. High schools busing their children to voting booths, making videos favoring one candidate, studying one candidate.

I found myself at a crossroads months ago. Seeing what had been said and the use of race during Obama's campaign, watching the "Democratic" Party wrest control or lose control over its candidacy, realizing that majority votes were not what Obama was seeking, I found myself rehashing the claims of conservatives that the media was biased. Looking at the evidence of what was happening. And realizing that our ranting loons of the far right were more sane than I thought. That Reverend Wright and Bill Ayres and Bernadette Dohrn do matter.

That Ayres is lauded as a person to follow educationally, with prominent people speaking on his behalf and lauding him, should make you hesitate. For the backbone of our country, our youth, is being captured by ideologues who used to advocate violent overthrow of our government. They now are using time-tested methods in indoctrinating our youth and you, the voting public.

Their education is two-pronged.

First, they are exploding in schools, with their advocates used to "community" organizing wresting control over message. They are writing the textbooks, making certain that contrary views are not heard, and squashing dissent. The textbooks that make no mention of McCain in an election year. The teachers who have their students doing pro-Obama videos and then allowing them to be posted on UTube. Assisted by sites in which students feel they must belong, they are providing a veritable smorgasbord of views promoting suppression and conformity that will reap benefits into at least a generation unable to hear or see anything different.

Second, they are in our media, pouncing on everything they do not believe in and promoting their candidate and his deceptions. Obama's ability to avoid tough questions about himself, his plans and his views is staged by the media. And enforced by Obama and his media hooligans who target anyone with the temerity to speak fact. People like Corsi, against whom Unfit for Publication was a lie-filled lawyer defense based on a media without conscience to whom questions were asked or answers offered that Corsi was a liar and his book a complete lie. Nothing more untruthful was ever stated in this election.

But you will rely on Unfit for Publication as you rely on every small change and huge lie told to you, without analysis and with those who are designed to target those who dare to speak the truth. The truth and the questions that should make this election a landslide for McCain.

You turn around and say that this is all the fault of Republicans, but all of you mean Bush. You know that our legislature is dominated by Democrats, whose ways have move you toward bankruptcy. Exactly where Obama hopes you end up. For the good of his new New Deal. For his stupid, uneducated approach to our economy which will send us into depression. For Obama, an untested man who has squashed his opponents like that pumpkin from which you tore out innards and made it into a mask just days ago.

There are no brave people left. My daughter came back the other day in astonishment, telling me that one block where she went was filled with McCain signs. Our block has no signs at all.

Are we all so scared of saying who we are for that we hide in the anonymity of the private vote? Not so for you who are union people if you intend to keep working. You will soon have no choice, if you elect Obama. You will be known and subject to horrible harassment, the type of harassment that occurred repeatedly in this election against anyone speaking out against Obama. The public votes required by the Democrats will end any semblance of fairness in union activities. The leaders will be permanent, your vote known, and your job dependent on who you support. Much like Hoffa's unions, you will be subject to any request and demand, which fills union coffers while giving you less and less.

There are many things we can write about on the eve of this election.

But the most important by far is presaged by the public vote. The masses of people moved to vote, whether legal or not, in order to have their will done. The way in which this election has been conducted and will be conducted. The indoctrination of the spirit and soul of this country. By a will unseen on this world since Hitler.

There are many parallels with Hitler and Stalin and Lenin and Mao. You need be concerned only with one.

Once dissent ends, once issues, ideas and facts are not tested, the organ of information is the State. And the State in each of these settings is the person at the top. Lenin, Stalin, Hitler and Mao took the stage and silenced the media. They controlled the facts. They were able to refuse publication of facts like Obama's aunt illegally in the US even after deportation, willing printing and saying that he just did not know she was here.

And you believe this. Each of you. Who are part of the indoctrination. Who work hard to make certain that any fact not useful to the State is simply distorted or completely changed.

There is no doubt but that the most essential part of our government is you, the people. That Rush Limbaugh, as hated as he used to be to me, is someone we need to cherish and ensure continues. For without him, and the even more disgusting Gordon Liddy, we would be without some essential dissent. Like the dissent of the black music and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, we all need every voice. Even Bill Ayres and Bernadette Dohrn.

But we will see what happens as the polls close and what is said by the massive fraud already reported in various states. Are we lemmings? Do we want a man whose very birthplace is in question, who might not be even qualified for office, permitted to lead this country because a citizen does not have standing to challenge his credentials? What other rights are going to be foreclosed by Obama, who will wield the FISA rights he voted for and his planned national police force in order to create his brave new world?

Perhaps the title of this article is too extreme. Perhaps this is all nonsense, and Obama really believes in equality for all, will govern without preference, and will invite everyone to participate. Perhaps he will be in favor of textbooks teaching what creationism is. Perhaps he will consider all sides of the abortion issue.

There is nothing to indicate this in his record, and his record is so hidden that we know little about the true Obama.

It is just that what we have seen could easily move us toward totalitarianism and away from democracy. Like Ayres wanted. Like his wife wanted. And like Rezko wanted. The supporter and friend with whom Obama had a twelve or more year relationship. A man who was convicted of peddling influence in corrupt ways. A man who, like ACORN, was more interested in getting the votes than in how he got them. ACORN, an organization that is being sued under the Ohio Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Practices Act as an illegal organization acting fraudulently with our votes in order to get the man who pays them and who is paid back through votes for him.

The words of the ACORN complaint are as follows:

Beginning no later than 2003, and continuing until the present day, Defendant ACORN has engaged, by and through its agents, in a scheme to obtain, prepare and file fraudulent voter registrations throughout the state of Ohio by means of numerous violations of R. C. 2913.31(A)(l), R.C. 2913 .31(A)(2), and R.C, 2913.3 I (A)(3) ("Forgery" and "Uttering Forged Documents"); R.C. 2913.42(A)(l) and R.C. 2913.42(A)(2) ("Tampering with Writings and Records" and "Uttering Tampered Writings or Records") with a purpose to, or with reckless disregard as to whether it will, inter alia, injure or threaten to injure Plaintiffs and other similarly situated citizens by diluting and/or threatening to dilute their vote, by depriving or threatening to deprive them of their rights to participate in an honest and effective election process, by impairing and/or threatening to impair Plaintiffs' rights to have government officials chosen and other ballot measures approved or disapproved by means of a fair and accurate election process.

There are many of you who claim, without reading anything, that voter suppression is rampant, that wanting photo IDs is a way to stop democracy, and even (ala Alan Colmes) that voter fraud is less important than voter suppression. Voter suppression is a myth. Here are the facts of voter fraud (which some claim is "just registration fraud" as if this is perfectly acceptable) as outlined in the Ohio complaint. And remember that so many of you have said that this is just a Republican effort to suppress the vote. And that many more may put their twist on these facts. Remember also that these are just the tip of the iceberg. Mickey Mouse easy to find. Media lies. Belittle this huge fraud and what is left for fair elections? Democracy's last gasp is to reject these efforts for the Democrats to buy this election and vote against your party for the good of democracy.

The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN, has turned in at least 65,000 cards to the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections in the last year. At an October 8, 2008 Cuyahoga County Board of Elections hearing related to ACORN voter fraud, two Ohio voters, including Christopher Barkley, claimed that they were hounded by the community-activist group ACORN to register to vote several times, even though they made it clear they'd already signed up. Barkley estimated he'd registered to vote "10 to 15" times after canvassers for ACORN relentlessly pursued him and others. "I kept getting approached by folks who asked me to register," Barkley said. "They'd ask me if I was registered. I'd say yes, and they'd ask me to do it [register] again. Some of them were getting paid to collect names. That was their sob story, and 1 bought it," he said. Another witness subpoenaed to testify at the same October 8, 2008 hearing, Lateala Goins, 21, stated "[y]ou can tell them you're registered as many times as you want - they do not care, ... they will follow you to the buses, they will follow you home, it does not matter." She added that she never put down an address on any of the registration forms, just her name. ACORN admitted to the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections that the group engages in fraudulent voter registration activity. Ohio ACORN officials "blamed the elections board for not scrutinizing ACORN's suspicious cards," claiming the group "can't be expected to catch everything." Local representatives of the organization told Cuyahoga board members that they don't have the resources to identify fraudulent cards turned in by paid canvassers. ACORN bribed and/or pressured Freddie Johnson of Cleveland to register to vote 72 times. Johnson filled out 72 separate voter- registration cards over an 18-month period at the behest of ACORN. Johnson stated "[s]ometimes, they come up and bribe me with a cigarette, or they'll give me a dollar to sign up, ... The ACORN people are everywhere, looking to sign people up. I tell them I am already registered. The girl said, 'You are?' I say, 'Yup,' and then they say, 'Can you just sign up again?'" He'd collected 10 to 20 cigarettes and anywhere from $10 to $15, he said. In Columbus, Ohio, several Columbus citizens have acknowledged to reporter Shelby Holliday, on video tape, that ACORN's voter registration efforts include harassing and begging voters to register more than once, even when the voter tells the ACORN's agent that he or she is already registered, and offering favors in exchange for voting. In Greene County, Ohio ACORN's fraudulent registration efforts have induced involvement from the County Sherriff and Prosecutor. On May 8, 2007, a Reynoldsburg, Ohio (Franklin County) man was indicted for voting twice in the November election .... [An attorney] said the man, a Mr Gilbert was registered in both counties by ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, a nonprofit agency that has come under fire in 12 states for voter fraud. On or about September 19,2006, the mother of a 16-year-old has told the Summit County elections board that her daughter was registered to vote, just two months after a 10-year-old boy was summoned for jury duty because he was on the county's voter rolls. The person who filed the voter registration application was Prentice McNary of Akron, a circulator paid by Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN, according to Board of Elections Director Bryan Williams. On or about September I, 2006, Franklin County Elections Board staffers questioned the validity of hundreds of names on registration forms and petitions for a proposed constitutional amendment to boost Ohio's minimum wage. Most of the disputed names came from lists provided by paid solicitors working for ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. On or about August II, 2006, and according to Matt Damschroder, director of the Franklin County Board of Elections, 500 voter registration cards, all collected between March and July of2006 by ACORN, were turned over to County Prosecutor Ron O'Brien to determine if a crime had been committed. Between Fall 2003 and June 2004, ACORN submitted approximately 23,000 voter registration cards in Franklin County, Ohio. The Franklin County Board of Elections discovered that voter registration cards submitted by ACORN included cards for people who did not exist. Franklin County Board of Elections Director Matthew Damschroeder characterized many of the registrations as "blatantly false," while the manager of Franklin County Voter Services confirmed that the submission of false voter registration forms has resulted in the issuance of voter identification cards that could have been used, and can be used in the future, to cast fraudulent votes in the November 2004, November 2006, and November 2008 elections. On or near June 3, 2004, two ACORN agents submitted fraudulent voter registration cards forms to the Franklin County Board of Elections. On or about October 8, 2004 ACORN submitted 19 false voter registration cards to the Franklin County Board of Elections, including cards identifying people who did not exist. On or about October 8, 2004 ACORN submitted 19 voter registrations to the Hamilton County Board of Elections for people who could not be located by the sheriffs department after similar handwriting and false addresses raised the suspicions of elections workers. These registration cards were fraudulent and contained forged signatures. On or about September 7, 2004, ACORN employee andlor agent Kevin Eugene Dooley submitted a fraudulent voter registration card to the Franklin County Board of Elections that resulted in Mr. Dooley being charged with a felony offense for forging the voter registration card in question. In September 22, 2004, the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation confirmed that it was investigating over 800 fraudulent voter registration cards submitted in Summit County. Numerous, perhaps thousands, of fraudulent voter registration cards have been submitted in Ohio by Defendant ACORN. (Out-of-State Predicate Acts) On October 7, 2008, Nevada state authorities representing the Nevada Secretary of State Nevada Attorney General seized records and computers from ACORN's Las Vegas office, after fielding complaints of voter fraud Bob Walsh. spokesman for the Nevada secretary of state's office, told FOXNews.com the raid was prompted by ongoing complaints about "endless" registration information being submitted by the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, also called ACORN. The group was submitting the information through a voter sign-up drive known as Project Vote. "Some of them used nonexistent names, some of them used false addresses and some of them were duplicates of previously filed applications," Walsh said, describing the complaints, which largely came from the registrar in Clark County, Nevada. Secretary of State Ross Miller said the fraudulent registrations included forms for the starting lineup of the Dallas Cowboys football team. Mr. Miller likened ACORN to a "bank robber," while another Nevada official indicated that ACORN made a "pathetic attempt at quality control." On or about October 3, 2008, in Crown Point Indiana, ACORN submitted a pile of suspected fraudulent voter registration applications to Lake County election officials, said. Lake County election workers discovered dozens of ACORN-delivered registration forms they believe contain inaccurate voter information, including one in which a dead man from Gary was listed as the applicant. None of those applications was processed. Of the 5,000 voter registrations, at least half have been found to be fraudulent, registered to dead people, or feature signatures that all look exactly the same. Sally Lasota, a member of the Democrat party, and Director of County Elections Board stated, with respect to ACORN's submission, "it is fraud," and further noted that, "due to the volume of ACORN submissions, it amounts to less time to review all registrations." In 2003, ACORN employees in Missouri turned in more than a thousand suspicious voter registration cards, with one witness indicating that a card was turned in under the name of her infant. Following Colorado's 2004 election, two ex-ACORN employees were convicted of perjury for submitting false voter registration forms; one ex-ACORN employee admitted to registering her friends 40 times. In 2004, police arrested a former ACORN employee who had more than 300 completed voter registration cards in the trunk of his car, many of which had not been turned in within the legal time limit. In 2005, Virginia authorities found that, of a sample of Project Vote-gathered registrations, 83% were rejected for using false or questionable information. In 2007, King County, Washington officials announced the indictment of seven workers ACORN had hired to register voters, calling the episode the "worst case of voter registration fraud in the history of the state." At least three of those individuals have pleaded guilty and ACORN was forced to pay a $25,000 settlement. King County concluded that it "may have valid administrative, civil, and criminal cause of actions against ACORN stemming from ACORN's actions during a voter registration operation in King County," but agreed to forebear from prosecution. The settlement agreement limited ACORN activities, and imposed management and quality control mandates on ACORN. In 2006, ACORN also committed what Washington Secretary of State Sam Reed called the "worse case of election fraud" in the state's history. In the case, ACORN submitted just over 1,800 new voter registration forms, and all but six of the 1,800 names were fake. In April 2008, federal prosecutors announced guilty pleas for federal election fraud by eight former ACORN employees in Missouri, based on their activities in the 2006 election. They submitted false addresses and names, as well as forged signatures. At least one former ACORN employee was sentenced to 15 months in prison. In 2008 alone, ACORN's activities have prompted calls for investigations in nearly a dozen states: Louisiana, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, New Mexico, Texas, Nevada, Ohio, Wisconsin, Michigan and North Carolina, with new investigations developing regularly. In June, 2008, the New York Times reported that "Louisiana Election officials have expressed concern that large numbers of people who believe they are registered will show up at the polls in November, only to find that they cannot vote because their application had been improperly submitted." An ACORN spokesman said that it's typical for 30 percent of their cards to be duplicates or incomplete. That is a troublingly high rate of error. In July, 2008, Pennsylvania officials charged a former ACORN employee with 19 counts of perjury, making false statements, forgery and identity theft in connection with the voter registration forms in connection with more than 100 suspect cards. In August, 2008, the Connecticut Post reported that state officials began asking for an investigation into ACORN's registration activities, in which there were errors in 20 percent of the thousands of registration forms the group turned in. Referencing the large amount of incomplete, incorrect, or improperly filed [forms], one registrar said, "Some of my staff has been here for 15 years and when they see ACORN come in, they start crying." In August, 200S, ACORN was forced to announce that it would begin running background checks on its signature gatherers in New Mexico after it was learned that nine employees had felony criminal records ranging from forgery to identity theft to child rape. It is unclear how many of the thousands of voter registration cards containing personal information were handled by the nine felons. Bernalillo County officials are investigating 1,100 possibly fraudulent cards. In one case, a series of nine cards appear to have been filled out using the phone book. ACORN's voter registration fraud in New Mexico has been a recurring theme since 2003, including its 2004 attempt to register a 13-year-old boy. In 2005 the organizations employees were accused of filing as many as 3,000 false signatures on a ballot initiative. In Texas, where ACORN's affiliate, Citizens Services Inc., has provided contract work on behalf of Senator Barack Obama's presidential campaign, the Houston Chronicle reported on August 17, 2008 that "About 40 percent of the 27,000 registration cards gathered by ACORN from January through July have been rejected or placed in limbo pending the gathering of more information, according to the county" while "about 6,600 were filled out by people already registered, and many others contained insufficient information." Nevada and federal officials announced in August that they would form a task force to aggressively pursue allegations of election fraud, with the Las Vegas Review-Journal specifically noting "Clark County officials have said they suspect fraud is occurring in the thousands of voter registrations being submitted by [ACORN]." In Wisconsin, ACORN has allegedly offered to bribe citizens with pre-paid gasoline cards or restaurant gift cards to induce them to register. Further voter registration problems include apparently falsified drivers license numbers, Social Security numbers, and similar personal information. By the end of August, 2008, Milwaukee's Election Commission Executive Director had referred over 49 individuals to prosecutors for suspected voter registration fraud - of them, 37 were ACORN employees. An August 20 report from the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel noted that of the 35 ACORN employees referred for investigation, seventeen apparently filled out voter applications and then signed the cards themselves. That involved two to four cards in each case; twelve submitted cards for individuals who later told ACORN they never filled out an application (that involved one card in each case); one submitted a card for a dead voter, which was the second such case; a Voters Project worker previously submitted a card for a deceased voter; one was apparently making up driver's license numbers for an unknown number of voters; one submitted about a half-dozen applications for already-registered voters; and one woman reportedly complained that a voter registration card was submitted for her husband, who had been dead for 10 years. In Michigan, A Secretary of State spokesperson recently (Summer-Fall, 2008) said "There appears to be a sizeable number of duplicate and fraudulent applications ... and it appears to be widespread." In Pontiac, Michigan, the clerk's office has found numerous applications filed for a given name. In Oak Park, Michigan, the clerk has been seeing "lots of duplication" from ACORN in recent months. Another official from the Michigan Secretary of State's office has acknowledged that because ACORN pays their workers per voter application collected, there is an incentive for fraud, and that ACORN tends to hold applications, many of which are false and duplicate, for months and dump them on our election officials at the registration deadline. In September, 2008, Durham County, North Carolina's elections officials have asked for an investigation of dozens of cards submitted by ACORN. One was for a fourteen-year old boy.

Where is Jimmy Carter, who used properly to claim that our voting systems are worse than most third world country systems? Lying with the rest of the Democrats too interested in winning that they are willing to lie, cheat and steal an election.

Democracy's last gasp? I see that as highly likely.

Depression because of a man who has no financial background but who has been in the wealthiest part of American society for a decade or more? I see this as an almost certainty.

So what if I am proved wrong as to results. You think that this vote is worth that gamble? You think that the ends justify the means? You think that lying is more important than the truth?

I clearly do not.

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	Republican Politico Admits No Proof of Voter Fraud from Fraudulent Registrations	Wired News	Mon Nov 3	1
	McCain Advisor Says Voter Fraud is a "Perception" that "Plants Seeds of Doubt"	ProPublica: Articles and Investigations	Sun Nov 2	10
	McCain Advisor Says Voter Fraud is a "Perception" that "Plants Seeds of Doubt"	ProPublica: Articles and Investigations	Mon Nov 3	5
	Fox News Goes Apoplectic Over the Success of Working Families and ACORN	AlterNet.org	Sun Nov 2	0