Thursday, July 31, 2008

The Ongoing Diebold Saga

There is fresh evidence that has come to light with regards to the rigging of Diebold voting machines. These machines, which are used nationwide have come to the attention of critics for the surprising results they yielded which contradicted in many cases, the polls held just a few weeks earlier.

A whistle blower has come forward with a claim that a patch was fitted to Diebold machines specifically in Georgia, where Georgia Secretary of State Cathy Cox requested information from Diebold about an ‘0808 patch’ that was installed on Diebold machines prior to voting in 2002.

Cox did not know that a patch had been installed and The Raw Story’s source says that Diebold workers were told to keep the information from Cox. The most astonishing thing:

What initially raised questions, according to the source, was the behavior of then-Diebold CEO, Bob Urosevich, who personally flew in from Texas and applied the patch in just two counties, DeKalb and Fulton, both Democratic strongholds.

For those who have forgotten the upsets in Georgia: Incumbent Democratic Sen. Max Cleland, who was five percentage points ahead of Republican challenger Saxby Chambliss in polls taken only a week before the voting, lost 53 percent to 46 percent. Roy Barnes, the incumbent Democratic Governor, who had been leading challenger Sonny Perdue by a fairly wide margin of eleven points, lost 51 percent to 46 percent.

Voter Fraud by Republicans?

Yes Sir.

Monday, July 28, 2008

The Record Setter

He has set another new record: George W. Bush has obliterated past deficits, except his own personal best of 2004 which still stands at $512 billion. The budget deficit for 2009 will be a whopping $482 billion, dwarfing the records to date held by none other than Ronald Let’s-Spend-All-Our-Money-And-Only-Tax-The-Poor Reagan, which topped out at a paltry $116 billion in 2003.

Still, the Bushies are scrambling and say that in the overall scheme of things, Ronald is still king, having managed to overspend by a blistering 6.8% whilst Bush’s overdraft stands at only 3.3% of GDP.

Nevertheless, CNN reports that Dan Perino defends the stimulus package (or was it The Surge) which cost the government $170 billion and which the Democrats did blindly sign off on for fear of being hated.

"I remember that back when we were discussing the stimulus package, both parties recognized that the deficit would increase, and that would be the price that we pay in order to help improve the economy," Says Perino.

Improve the economy? Hello? Last time I was at Best Buy people were lined up virtually with their stimulus package checks in hand, waiting to buy the latest flat screen HD 50” Plasma TV from Toshiba, Sanyo, Sharp or Sony. A small percentage of that money may actually end up in the USA I agree. But most of it, designed to give Average Joe a small adrenal boost, a quick pecuniary handjob to make us feel better whilst the United States economy plunges downwards at an unstoppable rate, will travel overseas to feed the countries manufacturing the toys that people buy here as a temporary relief against the deppressing fact that this economy, our economy is in tatters.

Not satisfied with that of course, the Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae $300 billion Social Help Package has been approved by Congress and will probably be signed off by Bush so that Freddie Mac Chairman and Chief Executive Richard Syron and Daniel Mudd, president and chief executive of Fannie Mae can continue to pocket their monstrous benefit bonus packages of $20 million and $13 million respectively.

Bush needs to get fired and the current Democratic leadership needs to be canned. This country is so ready for something new or it will go to the dogs. The existential threat the current Administration represents for this country far outweighs anthing any terrorist can think up.

Monday, July 21, 2008

Why I don't live in Oklahoma...

And why I dislike Republicans, version II.

I’d like to introduce you to Brent Rinehart who is running for reelection as Commissioner for Oklahoma City.

Brent’s campaign pivots on a simple fact that he has represented in cartoon form. The devil tries to lure young kids into becoming homosexual while Brent Rinehart and the right can stop from happening as The Raw Story reports..

When asked about the comic, Rinehart replied:“I believe the homosexual agenda is an issue in this campaign. ... I thought that it was a very good campaign piece.

"It’s 2008. It seems amazing to me that someone is still arguing about the normality of being gay.

The Compassionate Conservative

Or: why I hate republicans, version I.

Self-appointed "Compassionate-Conservative" radio host Michael savage grabbed my eye with this piece of wisdom as reported in Media Matters:

I'll tell you what autism is. In 99 percent of the cases, it's a brat who hasn't been told to cut the act out. That's what autism is. What do you mean they scream and they're silent? They don't have a father around to tell them, 'Don't act like a moron. You'll get nowhere in life. Stop acting like a putz. Straighten up. Act like a man. Don't sit there crying and screaming, idiot.' "

It's evident that Savage has no fucking idea what autism is, has probably never been in contact with an autistic kid and, if he met one, would probably think this kid was faking it. This is brought to you from the man that decided that asthma was a money-making scam by minority families:

"[W]hy was there an asthma epidemic amongst minority children? Because I'll tell you why: The children got extra welfare if they were disabled, and they got extra help in school. It was a money racket. Everyone went in and was told [fake cough], 'When the nurse looks at you, you go [fake cough], "I don't know, the dust got me." ' See, everyone had asthma from the minority community."

If that's compassionate, I don't want to know what rates as hard core conservative.

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Plumbing The Depths

One of the reasons I thought it would be good to have Hillary win the nomination is that she knows how to fight dirty. Dirty is how the Democrats are going to have to learn to fight to stoop to the incredible barrel scraping depths that Republicans are willing to crouch to.

With their latest effort, Florida Republicans are below sewer level – they are at the bottom of the cess pit. Their new poster, “Don’t vote for a Democrat” sports a picture of the twin towers burning with obvious implicative suggestion, as reported by The Raw Story.

The political scumbag party really has reached new depths in its effort to out-do itself in terms of bad taste and this one may take the biscuit. In a country where ignorance is rife, this poster just may have the desired effect with the desired people.

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

The End of Bushisms?

For those of you who are sad that 'Bushisms', those inane non-sensical utterances made by the Idiot in Chief, are soon coming to an end, there is hope yet.

John McCain, the 187 year-old presidential candidate could conceivably make it into the White House and his inane utterances are almost as funny as George's, as CNN reports:

For the second time in two days, John McCain has referred to current events in “Czechoslovakia” – a country that officially ceased to exist in January of 1993.

I keep reading posts of conservatives ragging on Obama but I wonder just how they actually manage to keep a straight face whilst rambling on about obscure Obama conspiracy theories, when their own candidate is mentally still living in 1990.

Monday, July 14, 2008

Torture Approver in Chief

A new book due to be released next week will publish findings of a Red Cross report that states categorically that the United States used and approved methods of interrogation that constitute torture. Full Stop.

I wrote ‘full stop’ because the idea has been disseminated by the Bush Administration that the methods used are in debate as to whether they constitute torture or not. The Bush Administration along with hacks like Supreme Court Justice Scalia have successfully infused the American public with the idea that waterboarding and other torture methods are “perhaps in some cases, but not necessarily always” torture.

This is wrong. The International Committee of The Red Cross is the world's pre-eminent institution on the subject and they leave no doubt as to the fact that the interrogation tactics used by the CIA in Guantanamo and elsewhere constitute torture.

The book entitled "The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned Into a War on American Ideals," is written by Jane Meyer and cites sources which have read the report which was released last year. These sources say "that the abuse constituted war crimes, placing the highest officials in the U.S. government in jeopardy of being prosecuted.

MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow, who called Bush a "torture-approver-in-chief who has yet to be held to account for anything" interviewed law expert Johnathan Turley about these developments. Turley replied: "I'd never thought I would say this, but I think it might in fact be time for the United States to be held internationally to a tribunal. I never thought in my lifetime I would say that," as The Raw Story reports where the accompanying video can be viewed.

Thursday, July 3, 2008

Beyond All Reasonable Doubt



After spending 15 years in a jail cell, where he’d been incarcerated on a life sentence, Patrick Waller was freed. He was exonerated of the aggravated robbery and rape which he had been accused of and he became a free man as reported by CNN.

Why this is of special significance is obvious to anyone. But what makes Waller’s story even more special is that he was convicted by the Dallas District Court after being identified in a line up three times, including a live line up. He was identified by three separate people.

Waller, who had always maintained his innocence, requested DNA testing several times and it was denied on all previous occasions by the DA’s office. The judges and District Attorneys responsible for denying him DNA testing I am sure slept soundly in the comfy beds for the past fifteen years. I’m sure they ate well and I’m sure they tut-tutted about how terrible criminals are as they chomped on fois gras and sipped their Pinot Noir.

What makes this all the more special is that Waller was so definitely a criminal that no one thought it worthwhile to challenge his sentence despite him insisting he was not guilty. What makes this all the more special is that had one of the people in the robbery died, Waller would almost certainly have been charged with murder and would almost certainly have been put to death in the State that executes more people than any other. It is special because it is an absolute statement that the death penalty should be abolished because it deters no one and people make mistakes.

No one can give Waller back his life. The DA and the judges should serve at least a year just for being such pig-headed idiots, but they won’t. They will continue clinking their wine glasses, smiling and nodding at each other knowingly and believing themselves to be the ones that contribute to making this a free society.

Patrick Waller was the 19th person freed under the DNA programme since 1992. Collectively, the men who have been freed have served over 400 years of prison time without having done anything to deserve it.

How many have been put to death, we shall never know.