"We, literally, just saved our country from fascism, yesterday..." Randi Rhodes, The Randi Rhodes Show, Air America Radio, 11-8-06
Hard Rain Journal 11-8-06: "We, literally, just saved our country from fascism..."
By Richard Power
Yes, yesterday, the majority of voters in the USA thwarted the solidification of the corporatist (i.e., fascist) takeover we have been struggling against since 2000 -- at least temporarily.
Election Day 2006 started with a black op tantamount to a electoral terrorist attack on the US body politic, but this time it was not just African Americans in Florida or Ohio who were harried and harrassed, it was also white Americans in places like Denver, Utah and Orange County. And yet, because of the courage and perserverance of people like Mark Crispin Miller, Brad Friedman, Bev Harris, Avi Rubin and yes, Lou Dobbs, there was a nationwide level of awareness and response that overcome this attempt to intimidate the populace.
The new Congress must be sworn in, and that won't happen until January 2007. The interim will be a dangerous time for all of us. But the Bush-Cheney regime has been severely weakend. Its psychological hold has been broken. Its enablers in the political establishment and the mainstream news media must ponder their futures.
Three powerful forces converged to save the country from its evil twin:
1) Citizen journalism, alternative media, the blogosphere and a burgeoning, domestic pro-democracy movement.
2) Professionals in law enforcement, intelligence and the military who resisted and revolted simply by doing their jobs, e.g., defending the US Constitution and rooting out corruption in high places.
3) The forces of Nature and History, which are driving the human race toward green power, multilateralism and the rule of international law.
Be fierce. Be vigilant. Make election reform, campaign finance reform and media reform your highest priorities. Do not let them get up off the floor (politically), finish them (constitutionally).
Here is some more excellent reporting from Truthout's Jason Leopold:
Despite widespread problems with electronic voting machines, long lines that stretched several city blocks in some states, hours-long waiting at the polls, and GOP intimidation tactics aimed to drive away predominantly Democratic and minority voters, the public turned out en masse Tuesday and helped shift the balance of power in Washington, DC, to Democrats for the first time in 12 years.
Tuesday's election will go down in history for its record voter turnout - an unprecedented feat for a midterm election - as well as being one of the nastiest campaigns in modern American politics....
Election day started out Tuesday with reports that electronic voting machines malfunctioned at tens of dozens of polling precincts throughout the country. The breakdown resulted in a chaotic scene in one state, in Denver County, Colorado, where voters waited as long as three hours to cast their votes. A spokesman for Diebold Elections Systems, the manufacturer of a majority of those electronic voting machines, did not return numerous calls for comment. The company has long maintained that their equipment is reliable despite documented evidence to the contrary.
In other states, reports of voter intimidation by GOP-hired operatives were rampant. The FBI sent undercover agents to Virginia to monitor the situation, according to the state's board of elections. In Tucson, Arizona, three men were reportedly harassing Latino voters as they made their way to the polls. One of the men reportedly had a handgun in a side holster. Nina Perales, a senior poll watcher, said her organization contacted the Department of Justice. Jason Leopold, Historic Democratic Victory, Truthout, 11-8-06
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Words of Power #23: A Reality Check, What A Real World War on Terrorism Would Look Like, and a US Mid-Term Election Strategy
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Richard Power is the founder of GS(3) Intelligence and http://www.wordsofpower.net. His work focuses on the inter-related issues of security, sustainability and spirit, and how to overcome the challenges of terrorism, cyber crime, global warming, health emergencies, natural disasters, etc. You can reach him via e-mail: richardpower@wordsofpower.net. For more information, go to www.wordsofpower.net
Randi Rhodes, Brad Friedman, Avi Rubin,Bev Harris,Lou Dobbs, Mark Crsipin Miller,Bush, Cheney,Elections, Voting, Election Fraud,Jason Leopold, Richard Power, Words of Power
