[Mb-civic] US Election: Democracy in Question + some Inspiration

[ean at sbcglobal.net]

Read to the bottom, past this latest report on electoral 
shennanigans, for the inspiration....


Published on Thursday, November 18, 2004 by Inter Press Service  
US Election: Democracy in Question  
by Ritt Goldstein 
  http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/1118-11.htm
STOCKHOLM - John Zogby, president of the polling firm Zogby 
International, told IPS he has been calling it "the Armageddon 
election" for about a year. Independent presidential candidate Ralph 
Nader believes the Republican Party was able to "steal it before 
election day." 

Facts suggest something went very wrong on Nov. 2. 

Speculation focuses upon a number of questions -- purposeful 
miscounts, anomalies surrounding electronic voting (e-voting) 
machines, particularly the optical scan types; and numerous reports 
of voting "irregularities" in heavily Democratic areas. 

"What they 'do' is minorities," Nader said, highlighting the thrust of 
Republican efforts, "and make sure that there aren't enough voting 
machines for the minority areas. They have to wait in line ... for 
hours, and most of them don't. There are all kinds of ways, and 
that's why I was quoted as saying, "this election was hijacked from 
A to Z," Nader told IPS. 

Zogby was concerned about the difference between some of the 
exit polls (surveys of individuals who have just cast ballots) and the 
official vote counts. "We're talking about the Free World here," he 
pointedly noted. 

On Nov. 10, University of Pennsylvania Professor Steven F 
Freeman, whose expertise includes "research methods," compiled 
an analysis entitled 'The Unexplained Exit Poll Discrepancy'. The 
document was prepared in view of the unusually large differences 
between what exit polls had predicted and the recorded vote tallies. 

His findings suggest Democratic challenger Senator John Kerry 
should have received far more votes than he did. 

In three of the key battleground states -- Florida, Ohio and 
Pennsylvania -- Freeman's analysis states the odds of Kerry 
receiving the percentage of votes recorded, given the exit poll 
findings, were less than three in one thousand, per state. 

Freeman also determined that the odds of any two of these states 
simultaneously reaching their stated vote tallies were "on the order 
of one-in-a-million," and the odds of all three states arriving at the 
vote counts they did "are 250 million to one." 

"Something is definitely wrong," said Zogby. 

Highlighting both the expected accuracy of exit polls and the 
significant disparity that Kerry's defeat illustrated, Republican 
consultant, commentator and Fox-TV News regular Dick Morris 
wrote an article, 'Those Faulty Exit Polls Were Sabotage', 
suggesting a pollster conspiracy to swing the election for Kerry. 

In doing so he, perhaps inadvertently, provided ammunition for 
arguments from the opposite side -- that the exit polls were correct 
but the final results were fudged. "Exit polls are almost never 
wrong," argued Morris, and in 10 of the 11 key states they had 
predicted significantly fewer votes for Republican President George 
W Bush than he was eventually credited with. 

In New Hampshire, Bush tallied a surprising 9.5 percent more votes 
than predicted, the most significant difference in any of the key 
states. 

Morris observed that outside the United States, exit polls are often 
used to provide a check on official vote counts, in his words, "to 
foreclose the possibility of finagling with the returns." 

Among the most cited exit polls were those conducted by Mitofsky 
International, whose founder, Warren Mitofsky, is widely credited 
with having invented exit polling. Zogby, whose firm was not among 
those that provided network TV coverage of the Nov. 2 election, 
described the possibility of either incompetence or fraud causing the 
controversial deviation as "impossible." 

According to Zogby, it would have required "wrong sampling in 
wrong areas throughout the country," or the purposeful manipulation 
of data to obtain exit poll results so significantly different from the 
official totals. He viewed neither as a possibility. 

When asked what exactly had happened then, Zogby replied, "a 
problem, but I don't know where it is ... something's wrong here, 
though." 

On Nov. 5, Nader requested a hand recount of New Hampshire 
ballots, subsequently telling IPS he had "reports of irregularities 
there, and we have the cooperation of the state government ... the 
state attorney-general and secretary of state." 

Nader also said his headquarters had been flooded with requests 
for assistance from a number of states. 

On Thursday, five of the 11 New Hampshire voting wards where 
Nader requested a recount will undertake new tallies. According to 
his staff, all 11 wards had their votes counted with optical scan 
machines, primarily the AccuVote models made by Diebold. 

"If there are irregularities, it may have broader applications in other 
states," Nader said, adding that the current recount -- a 45,000-vote 
sample -- is expected to be completed within a week. 

Allegations regarding optical scan machines' potentially allowing the 
manipulation of Florida's vote have been widely reported. In Ohio, 
the Green and Libertarian parties are pursuing a recount, numerous 
instances of voting irregularities having been reported there. 

"As far as I'm concerned, this election was clearly stolen. What they 
did in Ohio was systematically deny thousands of African 
Americans, and other suspected Democrats, the vote," charged 
progressive author, commentator and activist Harvey Wasserman 
of Franklin County, Ohio. 

"It was like Mississippi in the fifties, and it was deliberate ... had 
there been enough (voting) machines, and had people equal access 
to the polls with a reliable vote count, there is no doubt that John 
Kerry would have carried Ohio," he told IPS. 

The Nov. 14 'Cleveland Plain Dealer', one of the country's top 50 
broadsheets, reported a Nov. 13 voter hearing where: "For three 
hours, burdened voters, one after another, offered sworn testimony 
about election day voter suppression and irregularities that they 
believe are threatening democracy." 

"People are deeply concerned that this is the end of American 
democracy, that we cannot get a fair election," Wasserman said, 
poignantly adding, "there was no question of apathy in this election -
- we had more volunteers than could be used ... thousands and 
thousands of grass-roots volunteers." 

If Kerry had taken Ohio, he would have taken the presidency. 

"In the end, what Nader is doing in New Hampshire is the best 
answer. And if there's a recount in Ohio," that is also important, said 
Charles Franklin, a University of Wisconsin-Madison political 
scientist who specializes in statistical methods, elections and public 
opinion. 

Somewhat concerned about the possible manipulation of e-voting 
machines, Franklin was more concerned over "the ordinary 
administration of elections," citing the simple logistical problems that 
had plagued voters. 

He pointedly noted that the last two presidential elections 
highlighted "how the decisions of local people (officials) ... can have 
a considerable influence over who gets to vote, what rules govern." 

When asked if he was aware of any parallels to the present election, 
Zogby replied, "I'm certainly aware of the election of 1960." 

"It's been discussed, overtly, the roll that Richard Daley, and the roll 
that Lyndon Johnson played, separately," Zogby said, referring to an 
episode where the John F Kennedy campaign had supposedly 
asked, "How many votes do you have?", the reply allegedly being, 
"How many votes do you need?" 

Of course, such examples also serve to highlight the influence "local 
people" can exert on an election's outcome. 

In the end, many people speculated that the 1960 incidents were 
not part of a grand conspiracy per se, but the cumulative effects of 
the actions of a number of individuals who shared a similar 
perspective, acted semi-independently, and did whatever it took to 
win. 

Political "dirty tricks" culminated in the Watergate scandal, forcing 
then President Richard Nixon (1969-1974) to resign, ushering in a 
long era without similar illicit activity, until questions raised by the 
election of 2000. 

With American democracy, until now, providing an effective model 
for many, as Zogby said, "we're talking about the Free World here." 

© 2004 IPS - Inter Press Service

###
 
Inspiration

by Clarissa Pinkola Estes  (author of "Women Who 
Run with the Wolves")

My friends, do not lose heart. We were made for 
these times. I have heard from so many recently 
who are deeply and properly bewildered.

They are concerned about the state of affairs in 
our world right now.

Ours is a time of almost daily astonishment and 
often righteous rage over the latest degradations 
of what matters most to civilized, visionary 
people.

You are right in your assessments. The lustre and 
hubris some have aspired to while endorsing acts 
so heinous against children, elders, everyday 
people, the poor, the unguarded, the helpless, is 
breathtaking. Yet, I urge you, ask you, gentle 
you, to please not spend your spirit dry by 
bewailing these difficult times. Especially do not 
lose hope. Most particularly because, the fact is 
that we were made for these times.

Yes. For years, we have been learning, practicing, 
been in training for and just waiting to meet on 
this exact plain of engagement...

I grew up on the Great Lakes and recognize a 
seaworthy vessel when I see one. Regarding 
awakened souls, there have never been more able 
vessels in the waters than there are right now 
across the world. And they are fully provisioned 
and able to signal one another as never before in 
the history of humankind... Look out over the 
prow; there are millions of boats of righteous 
souls on the waters with you. Even though your 
veneers may shiver from every wave in this stormy 
world, I assure you that the long timbers 
composing your prow and rudder come from a greater 
forest. That long-grained lumber is known to 
withstand storms, to hold together, to hold its 
own, and to advance, regardless.

In any dark time, there is a tendency to veer 
toward fainting over how much is wrong or unmended 
in the world. Do not focus on that. There is a 
tendency too to fall into being weakened by 
dwelling on what is outside your reach, by what 
cannot yet be. Do not focus there. That is 
spending the wind without raising the sails. We 
are needed, that is all we can know. And though we 
meet resistance, we more so will meet great souls 
who will hail us, love us and guide us, and we 
will know them when they appear.

Didn't you say you were a believer? Didn't you say 
you pledged to listen to a voice greater? Didn't 
you ask for grace? Don't you remember that to be 
in grace means to submit to the voice greater?

Ours is not the task of fixing the entire world 
all at once, but of stretching out to mend the 
part of the world that is within our reach.

Any small, calm thing that one soul can do to help 
another soul, to assist some portion of this poor 
suffering world, will help immensely.

It is not given to us to know which acts or by 
whom, will cause the critical mass to tip toward 
an enduring good. What is needed for dramatic 
change is an accumulation of acts, adding, adding 
to, adding more, continuing.

We know that it does not take "everyone on Earth" 
to bring justice and peace, but only a small, 
determined group who will not give up during the 
first, second, or hundredth gale.

One of the most calming and powerful actions you 
can do to intervene in a stormy world is to stand 
up and show your soul. Soul on deck shines like 
gold in dark times. The light of the soul throws 
sparks, can send up flares, builds signal fires, 
causes proper matters to catch fire. To display 
the lantern of soul in shadowy times like these - 
to be fierce and to show mercy toward others, 
both, are acts of immense bravery and greatest 
necessity.

Struggling souls catch light from other souls who 
are fully lit and willing to show it. If you would 
help to calm the tumult, this is one of the 
strongest things you can do.

There will always be times when you feel 
discouraged. I too have felt despair many times in 
my life, but I do not keep a chair for it; I will 
not entertain it. It is not allowed to eat from my 
plate.

The reason is this: In my uttermost bones I know 
something, as do you. It is that there can be no 
despair when you remember why you came to Earth, 
what you serve, and what brought you here. The 
good words we say and the good deeds we do are not 
ours: They are the words and deeds of that which 
brought us here. In that spirit, I hope you will 
write this on your wall:

When a great ship is in harbor and moored, it is 
safe, there can be no doubt. But that is not what 
great ships are built for. 

This comes with much love and a prayer that you 
remember who you came from, and why you came to 
this beautiful, needful Earth.

----



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Action is the antidote to despair.  ----Joan Baez
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