Friday, June 16, 2006

Hard Rain Journal 6-16-06: Murtha, Schakowsky, the New Tyranny, and Remember the Reichstag Fire...

There is a story about George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. They were debating the need for two houses of Congress. Jefferson felt a second house (i.e. the US Senate) was unnecessary. Jefferson poured some tea into a saucer. Washington said "You, yourself, have proved the excellence of two houses this very moment.'' Jefferson, said, "How is that, General?'' And Washington replied, "You have turned your hot tea from the cup into the saucer, to get it cool. It is the same thing we desire of the two houses.'' (The Senate as Saucer, Thomas, US Library of Congress, 4-24-06)

Well, there are many people in the USA who want the Beltwayistan establishment to get scalded over the way that the country has been dragged backward into the 19th Century, economically, geopolitically, and culturally over the last six years.

There are rumblings in the People's House. If the seemingly insurmountable odds of rigged elections and a complicit mainstream news media can be overcome, and control over the House of Representatives changes hands, there may be a rebellion against the new tyranny (instead of taxation without representation, we have tax cuts without representation).

Investigations into the manipulation of intelligence prior to the invasion and occupation of Iraq, and other outrages, including the theft of the 2000 and 2004 elections, should be the highest priorities of the new majority. But its first act should be to significantly increase both the physical security and cyber security of the Representatives, their families, their offices, and the Capitol Dome itself (remember the Reichstag fire).

Here are two recent statements from US Representatives that are worthy of note.

Rep. John Murtha (D-PA), a decorated veteran and retired US Marine Corp Colonel, in debate on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives: "There's less than 1,000 al Qaeda in Iraq but we're caught in this civil war between 100,000 Shias and 20,000 Sunnis fighting with each other...You know who wants us to stay in Iraq right now? Al Qaeda wants us there because it recruits people for them. China wants us there. North Korea wants us there. Russia wants us there. Stay and we'll pay, not only pay in dollars. . . . I figure it took us through the Reagan administration to pay for the Vietnam War." House debates Iraq war, Scripps-Howard, 6-14-06

The only problem with Jack Murtha's heroic stand is that there are not enough members of either the House or the Senate, on either side of the aisle, who have his courage or his clarity of mind on the Mega-Mogadishu in Iraq.

Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), speaking for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, at the Take Back America conference in Washington, D.C.: "I apologize for not taking seriously enough the allegations that the 2004 election was stolen. After reading Bobby Kennedy's article in Rolling Stone, 'Was the 2004 Election Stolen?', I am convinced that the only answer is yes. He documents how 357,000 Ohio voters, the vast majority Democrats, 'were prevented from casting ballots or did not have their votes counted…more than enough to shift the results.' Watch for the DCCC to take some very public steps in the near future to ward off a repeat performance. In the meantime, there needs to be a citizens' effort starting now to assess the machines, the ballots, the registration process within each and every election jurisdiction in each and every swing district and state, in the case of Senate races. Where the situation looks perilous, go to the media, raise a stink, demand changes. This is a great project for the many of you who have been diligently working to guarantee fair and accurate elections." Congresswoman 'Apologizes' for Not Taking Allegations of Stolen 2004 Election Seriously!, Brad Blog, 6-14-06

OK, if she is serious, and not just paying lip service to the disenchanted (don't forget Kerry's false promise), Rep. Schakowsky and her colleagues in the DCCC should start in the special election in San Diego, where Busby "lost" to Bilbray in a race that has been tainted by revelations that poll workers took vulnerable Diebold electronic voting machines home with them for extended period of time prior to the election: Based on the review of several different very specific state and federal requirements, the unsecured overnight storage of Diebold voting machines and their memory cards in poll workers houses, cars and garages in the days and weeks prior to the closely watched U.S. House election between Republican Brian Bilbray and Democrat Francine Busby violated several federal and state provisions which, if not followed, would revoke the certification of use the voting systems in any California election. EXPOSÉ: Security Breaches for 'Sleepover' Voting Machines Used in Busby/Bilbray Race Invalidated, Decertified Their Use in the Election!

This revelation was brought out by citizen activists and alternate media, not by the Democratic Party or the mainstream news media. Words of Power will keep you abreast of major developments, but you can follow this citizen investigation closely at Brad Blog and Mark Crispin Miller's Notes from The Underground.

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