Accordingly, the restored integrity of the ballot is the sine qua non of the overthrow of the Republican autocracy in November.
Meanwhile, the Democratic Party, those "useful idiots," steadfastly refuse even to recognize that there is a problem with the voting machines and vote compilations.
Nevertheless, the electronic voting scam is beginning to unravel, thanks to the determined efforts of a few dedicated individuals, an uncensored internet, and ad hoc citizen organizations along with all too few maverick politicians (notably John Conyers and Russ Holt), and despite the determined indifference of the Democratic Party and the mainstream media.
More and more e-voting outrages, failures, and statistical impossibilities are coming to light, and even breaking through in the media (most recently in Florida, Texas, Ohio, Chicago, and
California, and the public is beginning to take notice. This awareness accomplished some significant victories, notably in New Mexico and Maryland, where "black box voting" has been abolished by state law. If this trend continues, and if a few available albeit unused modes of verification
are put in play, it is just possible that November's election with be sufficiently (if not totally) honest to put an opposition party in control of at least one, and possibly both, houses of Congress. Then a balance of powers will be restored and the investigations, with subpoena powers and threat of perjury and contempt of Congress in play, may begin to probe the corruption and abuses of power of the Bush regime.
So, once again, opportunity knocks at the door of the Democratic Party. But if the Party persists, with the cooperation of the corporate media, in ignoring this opportunity, then that Party is once again likely to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
Three roads diverge...
How will all this play out? I wouldn't be so bold as to make a prediction. But we might speculate about some alternative futures, so that we might prepare ourselves accordingly.
Worst case - "The 'Z' Scenario:" Final descent into totalitarianism. In Costas Gravas' 1968 film, "Z", a popular movement is on the verge of overthrowing an autocratic regime. Then the leader of the opposition is murdered, and the ruling junta immediately imposes martial law and dictatorship. Could that happen here? As opposition to the Bush regime grows, as evidence of corruption and election fraud becomes widely known, this could lead to a crackdown on dissent, and a roundup and imprisonment of dissenters. Another terrorist "Pearl Harbor" could be the catalyst. Or possibly a new "pre-emptive" war with Iran.
A step too far - Cf. Russia, August, 1991. Is there a limit to how much abuse "the establishment" (the military, Wall Street, the media, the CIA, the courts, the federal bureaucracy, even the Churches), the Democratic Party, and the public at large will tolerate? Is there a point when these institutions turn around, dig in their heels, and say "no more!"? These institutions, along with the public, have the means to bring down the Bushevik regime. There are historical precedents:
When in Russia, the Communist Party attempted "the Z scenario," the people and the military would have none of it. The people resisted, the Army refused to fire on the citizens, and the coup failed, and that was the end of the seventy years of Communist rule and the Soviet Union.
And when the extent of Richard Nixon's villainy was exposed by the media, the courts required him to surrender his evidence, and at last his Republican Party deserted him.
The CIA has been demeaned by the Bushista excuse that the Bush Administration "misled by bad intelligence." Furthermore, the Administration exposed a CIA case officer, Valerie Plame Wilson, in an act of political retaliation, at the cost of compromising a vitally important counter-terrorism operation and possibly the lives of several agents. A top-down revolt at Langley is highly unlikely, given the fact that the top offices have been given to Bush loyalists. But that is not necessary. "Further down," intelligence strategically leaked, and blackmail strategically applied, could have devastating consequences for Bush, Inc.
As for Wall Street (the financial establishment), how much longer can they fail to appreciate that by supporting Bushenomics, they are scuttling the ship they are riding on - that they will not escape the coming Bush economic catastrophe?
Then there's the military. What if Bush attempts to launch an attack on Iran in a desperate attempt to salvage a GOP win in November, and thus prevent those Democratic Congressional subpoenas and investigations? Will the military, having been ordered to fight and die in a meaningless and dishonorable war in Iraq, finally refuse?
I imagine the following scene in the Oval Office, as Bush orders the strike:
Meanwhile, the Democratic Party, those "useful idiots," steadfastly refuse even to recognize that there is a problem with the voting machines and vote compilations.
Nevertheless, the electronic voting scam is beginning to unravel, thanks to the determined efforts of a few dedicated individuals, an uncensored internet, and ad hoc citizen organizations along with all too few maverick politicians (notably John Conyers and Russ Holt), and despite the determined indifference of the Democratic Party and the mainstream media.
More and more e-voting outrages, failures, and statistical impossibilities are coming to light, and even breaking through in the media (most recently in Florida, Texas, Ohio, Chicago, and
California, and the public is beginning to take notice. This awareness accomplished some significant victories, notably in New Mexico and Maryland, where "black box voting" has been abolished by state law. If this trend continues, and if a few available albeit unused modes of verification
So, once again, opportunity knocks at the door of the Democratic Party. But if the Party persists, with the cooperation of the corporate media, in ignoring this opportunity, then that Party is once again likely to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
Three roads diverge...
How will all this play out? I wouldn't be so bold as to make a prediction. But we might speculate about some alternative futures, so that we might prepare ourselves accordingly.
Worst case - "The 'Z' Scenario:" Final descent into totalitarianism. In Costas Gravas' 1968 film, "Z", a popular movement is on the verge of overthrowing an autocratic regime. Then the leader of the opposition is murdered, and the ruling junta immediately imposes martial law and dictatorship. Could that happen here? As opposition to the Bush regime grows, as evidence of corruption and election fraud becomes widely known, this could lead to a crackdown on dissent, and a roundup and imprisonment of dissenters. Another terrorist "Pearl Harbor" could be the catalyst. Or possibly a new "pre-emptive" war with Iran.
A step too far - Cf. Russia, August, 1991. Is there a limit to how much abuse "the establishment" (the military, Wall Street, the media, the CIA, the courts, the federal bureaucracy, even the Churches), the Democratic Party, and the public at large will tolerate? Is there a point when these institutions turn around, dig in their heels, and say "no more!"? These institutions, along with the public, have the means to bring down the Bushevik regime. There are historical precedents:
When in Russia, the Communist Party attempted "the Z scenario," the people and the military would have none of it. The people resisted, the Army refused to fire on the citizens, and the coup failed, and that was the end of the seventy years of Communist rule and the Soviet Union.
And when the extent of Richard Nixon's villainy was exposed by the media, the courts required him to surrender his evidence, and at last his Republican Party deserted him.
The CIA has been demeaned by the Bushista excuse that the Bush Administration "misled by bad intelligence." Furthermore, the Administration exposed a CIA case officer, Valerie Plame Wilson, in an act of political retaliation, at the cost of compromising a vitally important counter-terrorism operation and possibly the lives of several agents. A top-down revolt at Langley is highly unlikely, given the fact that the top offices have been given to Bush loyalists. But that is not necessary. "Further down," intelligence strategically leaked, and blackmail strategically applied, could have devastating consequences for Bush, Inc.
As for Wall Street (the financial establishment), how much longer can they fail to appreciate that by supporting Bushenomics, they are scuttling the ship they are riding on - that they will not escape the coming Bush economic catastrophe?
Then there's the military. What if Bush attempts to launch an attack on Iran in a desperate attempt to salvage a GOP win in November, and thus prevent those Democratic Congressional subpoenas and investigations? Will the military, having been ordered to fight and die in a meaningless and dishonorable war in Iraq, finally refuse?
I imagine the following scene in the Oval Office, as Bush orders the strike:
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