Progress Now Action

Michael Collins: Election Fraud and Tyranny - Part 2

From image: "I can't believe you morons actually buy this sh..."
They don't. They're just following the script. That's why Miller calls them
"the servile press." Banksy

"Loser Taker All: Election Fraud and The
Subversion of Democracy, 2000-2008"
Edited by Mark Crispin Miller
Ig Publishing

Michael Collins
"Scoop" Independent News
Washington, D.C.
Also see Part 1

How did we reach our current state of decline in just eight excruciating years? Aren't we working hard enough? Was there some millennial shift in consciousness and morality? How could we elect leaders like Bush and Cheney and their minions on Capitol Hill?

Mark Crispin Miller's latest book, "Loser Take All," provides an explanation that precedes any other: election fraud. In his collection of essays, Miller shows that the losers took everything in both the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections. That made all the difference.

Michael Collins: Election Fraud and Tyranny: Part 1

Banksy

"Loser Take All: Election Fraud and The Subversion of Democracy, 2000 - 2008"
Mark Crispin Miller (Ed.),
Ig Publishing, Brooklyn, NY

Michael Collins
"Scoop" Independent News
Washington, D.C.

Mark Crispin Miller's new book, "Loser Take All," identifies and analyzes election fraud, the foundation of extremist power in the United States since 2000. Manipulated elections have enabled everything we've experienced from the Iraq war to the current economic meltdown. None of that would have been possible without the ongoing series of "surprise" wins for extremists and their enablers following the outright theft of the 2000 presidential election.

From the People Who Brought Us
Judith Miller & George Bush

Former New York New York Times reporter, Judith Miller, who wrongly
claimed Iraq had weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and her president.
(Images left, right)

The New York Times "Covers" the Susan Lindauer Hearing

Michael Collins
"Scoop" Independent News
Washington, DC

The New York Times disgraced itself and betrayed the citizens of the United States when it repeatedly headlined misleading stories by reporter Judith Miller that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction (WMD). The paper issued a meandering apology well after the 2003invasion prompted by the inaccurate reporting of Miller, the self-styled "Miss Run Amok" reporter, and others. But it was too little and too late to correct the damage. And it seems the Times is still running amok at the expense of what's in the public interest.

Where's the Case?

(Left to right) Brian Shaughnessy, attorney; Susan Lindauer,
defendant; and Parke Godfrey, Ph.D., a key defense witness.
(Michael Collins, copyleft)

911 Prediction Revealed at Lindauer
Competency Hearing in New York City

Michael Collins
"Scoop" Independent News
Washington, D.C.

(June 17, NYC). A surprise development occurred at today's hearing in the case of Susan Lindauer versus the United States. A long time associate of the accused, associate professor of computer science at Toronto's York University, Parke Godfrey, Ph.D., testified that Susan Lindauer predicted an attack on the United States in the southern part of Manhattan. According to his testimony, she said that the attack would be very similar to the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center. Godfrey said that Lindauer made the prediction on several occasions, one as late as August 2001.

Texas Supreme Court Challenges Incest Taboo

Justices of the Texas Supreme Court Link

Court Contra Culture?

Michael Collins
Washington, D.C.

The Texas Supreme Court just struck a blow at the foundation of civilized society - the incest taboo. On April 28, 2008, the Court overturned a Texas Department of Family and Protective Services finding that removed 130 children from a religious cult compound set up by a convicted sexual abuser. The court found that child protective authorities had not shown a sufficient danger to prohibit the children residing with their parents at the "Yearn for Zion" facility founded by Warren Jeffs, "prophet" and leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (FLDS). The Court argued that there were a number of options (counseling, etc.) available to protective services before separation could be justified.

Bending Over For Bush

21 War Loving Senate Democrats
Give Bush $165 Billion for More War

Michael Collins
Washington, D.C.

It is now their war. Iraq has been and will be the war of every Senator and Representative who funds the madness.

Over four thousand U.S. troops have been killed in battle in Iraq. Ten times that number have major injuries. Sixty thousand have post traumatic stress disorder. Suicides among veterans are at an epidemic rate, 18 per day, particularly for those who have served in combat. Over a million Iraqis have died as a result of the lawlessness and unrest due to the Bush-Cheney invasion. There are five million Iraqi orphans. "Before it's over," the war will cost three trillion dollars, but there's no end in sight.

Yet each of these Democrats cast that all aside and voted to provide the very worst president in our history, a blatant incompetent, with $165 billion dollars to continue the war.

ANOTHER SUPREME OUTRAGE

Justices Stevens, Kennedy, and Roberts combined with Scalia, Alito, and Thomas to take voting rights back to1898. Image (left), Image (right)

POLITE FASCISM CONTRACTS THE

RIGHT TO VOTE

William Crawford, et al, Petitioners 07-21 v.
Marion County Elections Board et al.

Indiana Democratic Party, et al., Petitioners 07-25 v. Todd Rokita,
Indiana Secretary of State, et al.
U. S. ____ ( 2008 ) Opinion of STEVENS, J.

Michael Collins
"Scoop" Independent News
Washington, D.C.

They wear their robes but leave the hoods off, the polite justices of the Supreme Court. They write decisions then issue them in a formal setting, behind the columns of a capitol monument, with a history that confers a dignity not deserved. The Court embodies the dilemma of our modern culture. The most awful acts are committed with bland justification by polite people who hide behind institutional trappings; for the sake of the few, at the expense of the many.

Election Fraud in Pennsylvania?

(Image Source - Diebold Variations)

They've got a Secret

Michael Collins
"Scoop" Independent News
Washington, D.C.

The Pennsylvania primary could lock up the Democratic nomination process once and for all. The campaign that Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean asked to be finished by July 1 could be over this Tuesday. Regardless of your candidate or party, you're probably like the vast majority of citizens who insist on fair elections that are open to the public for examination.

Citizens want to know that the candidate taking office is the same candidate who won a majority or a plurality of the votes. A 2006 Zogby poll of 1018 registered voters nationwide found that 92% believed that they, as citizens, have the right to witness vote counting for the election of their paid public servants.

That will not be the case in Pennsylvania any more than it was the case in Florida, Ohio, California, South Carolina, and most other primary states. Almost all states bar any real inspection of vote counting, the process that determines the election result. Even if they did allow you to watch the count, all you would see is a whirring third-rate computer system run by a private company that won't allow anyone to take a comprehensive look inside.

Zubaydah, Bush and the Bureaucracy of Torture

Michael Collins
Washington, D.C.

The devastating attack of 9/11 conferred unprecedented popularity on the Bush administration. This was more a reflection of the strong desire for national unity in the wake of a tragedy than an endorsement of Bush policies.

After the attack, there was a frantic effort inside the administration to show a major success in their newly proclaimed war on terror. The administration knew what the public didn't: Far from being surprised by airplanes used as weapons, they'd had a series of warnings from intelligence sources that commercial airplanes were indeed the next weapon of choice by terrorists. Once that information became public, the Bush administration would need something more to boost its image.

M.Collins: The Money Party (5)

"Us versus Them"

Michael Collins
"Scoop" Independent News
Washington, D.C.

We have been warned again and again that seeing the world as an "us versus them" proposition is a fatal error. It's polarizing. It leads to "class warfare." It absolves "us" of the collective responsibility we all have in a democracy. Can't have it, not allowed.

Well, here's some news for "them". It is precisely an "us versus them" world. We live in a nation where tremendous wealth calls the shots without respect or regard for the public will, fails miserably again and again, and then hides behind "collective responsibility." We're supposed to believe that somehow "we all allowed this to happen."

The Massive Multiplayer Political Game (MMPG)

Scene at the End of the World El Profe CC

"Now what" asked the boy? "You are my son," responded his master. "Go do my work. I will be there for you."

Michael Collins
"Scoop" Independent News
Washington, DC

Fantasy encircles the U.S. presidential race. We have an urgent responsibility to address climate change and other environmental problems that imperil the 6.6 billion people on the planet. Anyone hear about that from the candidates? We have a health care crisis in the United States with over 40 million uninsured and premium rates skyrocketing for those with insurance. Any real solutions for that problem? Our economic system is on its last legs and our infrastructure, bridges, etc., crumbles as you read this. Zero real solutions, right, other than solutions that line the pockets of political donor's.

This is a time for intense focus, serious discussions, and open debate on policies and programs. It's the entire human species at risk. Have we heard anything about that in the presidential primaries? Not even close.

Democrats Pass on Challenge to

Secret Vote Counting in South Carolina

This is the place to affix the STAMP. Link

Michael Collins
"Scoop" Independent News
Washington, DC

South Carolinians mounted a serious protest to the onerous "Stamp Act" imposed on the colonies by British rulers. The act levied a tax to pay for the "Seven Years War" which established Great Britain as the world's dominant colonial power. South Carolinians resisted funding their own domination through payment of the tax.

Today, the Palmetto state faces a challenge beyond the Stamp Act. Their state constitution is clear, if not elegant, in its definition of the basic elements of elections:

All elections by the people shall be by secret ballot,

but the ballots shall not be counted in secret.

Touch screen voting machines like those used throughout South Carolina are inherently private. Citizens and officials are barred form accessing the fundamentals of the voting machines. As a result, meaningful information on errors or fraud is off the table.

"...these ballots shall not be counted in secret."

South Carolina Constitution

An Appeal to John Edwards to Take a Stand for Voting Rights

Michael Collins
"Scoop" Independent News
Washington, DC

Media, election, and judicial reform advocate Mark Adams, JD, MBA of Tampa, Florida discovered something very important in the South Carolina Constitution. It provides for secret voting but bans secret vote counting.

All elections by the people shall be by secret ballot, but the ballots shall not be counted in secret. The right of suffrage, as regulated in this Constitution, shall be protected by laws regulating elections and prohibiting, under adequate penalties, all undue influence from power, bribery, tumult, or improper conduct. South Carolina Constitution, Article II, Section 1

It's the New Hampshire Primary

Image Credit

"1st in the Nation" with Corporate Controlled,
Secret Vote Counting

By Nancy Tobi
Democracy for
New Hampshire

Introduction. The more things stay the same, the worse they smell

By Michael Collins
"Scoop" Independent News
Washington, D.C.

Tomorrow's New Hampshire primary represents a major turning point in the presidential primaries. We've got the rising star of Obama, the stunned Clinton camp, and the populist efforts of the fast moving Democrat, John Edwards, just off a 9% increase in the national polls. At this juncture, the Republican race is less compelling unless you happen to be John McCain or Mitt Romney.

Does Obama's highly favorable corporate media image stack up against reality? Is this the end of Hillary, or at least the beginning of the end? Can Edwards kick in the door with a strong showing and demand coverage? Will Ron Paul embarrass Giuliani by edging him out for fourth?

We'll never know for sure.

M. Collins: Forget the Torture Tapes

Caravaggio

Michael Collins
"Scoop" Independent News
Washington, D.C.

There's a reflexive tendency to think the worst of the Bush-Cheney administration when scandals like the torture tapes emerge. This tendency is well justified.

This administration's defining moment was the Iraq invasion. Over time, it caused death to 1.2 million civilians and the injuries of 1.1 million noncombatants. Just last week we found out that there are now five million orphans in Iraq.

How can the administration and their enablers ever top that? Why shouldn't we expect the worst immediately when we hear yet another accusation of criminal or unethical conduct?

Destroying torture tapes pales by comparison to these tragedies, all a result of the illegal invasion:

House Committee Dismisses Criticisms of
Internet Thought Control Bill - H.R. 1995

By Michael Collins
Washington, D.C.
Part 2 (Part 1)

On Monday, Dec. 17, the House Committee on Homeland Security posted this document in response to the many criticisms of House Resolution 1955, The Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007. Part 1 of this series examined the dangers that this bill posed to citizens and political groups using the Internet.

Based on the bill contents and the witnesses called to elaborate on the supposed problem of "homegrown terrorism," it appears that House bill and the Senate look alike (S.1959) pose a significant threat to political expression and free speech, particularly on the Internet (see part 1 of this series Thought Control on the Internet  and this collection for more detail).

By an Overwhelming Majority

Congress Brings You…

Image

Thought Control on the Internet

By Michael Collins
Washington, D.C. - Part 1

Cracking the Code – Who's to Blame for "Violent Radicalization"?

The Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007 passed the U.S. House of Representatives by a 404 to 6 vote on Oct. 23. Not since the Iraq War Resolution have Democrats and Republicans found such a unifying cause. We're told that House Resolution 1955 (H.R. 1955) will be an essential tool enabling law enforcement to peg the sources of "homegrown terrorism" on the Internet.

Minister of Death

Wikimedia

Mike Huckabee – "Surging" Republican

By Michael Collins
"Scoop" Independent News
(Original Article)
Washington, D.C.

Mike Huckabee is the "surging" candidate to watch in the Republican presidential primaries, at least for the moment. The former Arkansas governor is an ordained Southern Baptist minister and a believer in the "inerrancy" doctrine of Biblical scripture. Inerrancy means, quite simply, that the believer accepts every bit of the Bible as literal truth (Adam & Eve, an earth just 6,000 years old, etc.)

As governor, Huckabee was an enthusiastic death penalty supporter. He now supports World War III against Muslim "fascists" and he's taking his message of death on the road.

Where are the Headlines?

Michael Collins
Scoop Independent Media
Washington, D.C.

Former Bush press secretary Scott McClellan accused George W. Bush and Dick Cheney of deceiving the public about a devastating blow to the national security and safety of United States. The revelation concerns the leak of Valerie Plame's identity as one of the government's top intelligence agents. Revealed in the Chicago Sun Times on July 14, 2003, this breach of national security was the topic of intense coverage in the mainstream print and television news media.