This is the story of a meltdown: a personal “meltdown”—in the form of what might be described as a borderline nervous breakdown (ask my husband, if you don’t believe it--or my colleagues, even my cat could tell you; thank god my physician is not at liberty to disclose the details). But it’s also the story of a national meltdown—perhaps even a global one.
It happened on 3/11: that is, 3. November, 2004: The day most of the world refused to wake up to the reality that a handful of crooks had managed to hijack the presidential election in a country often hailed the “greatest democracy on Earth,” while the rest of us, in many cases, highly credentialed individuals—busted our asses and went out of our minds in a nightmarish campaign to get the rest of the country (and the world) to take our findings seriously. The Internet website “Democratic Underground” quickly became “ground zero” for disseminating information and for collaboration between individuals to document voting irregularities and analyses of the way the electoral process had been hijacked to secure the statistically impossible Republican “victory” that has since led to thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of deaths worldwide. Statisticians, professors, lawyers, editors, students (graduate and undergraduate) and citizens from all walks of life, myself included, got their first introduction to the world of internet message boards, discussion forums and the Blogosphere—with its unique jargon and protocols: task thread, KICK, LTTE, e.o.m., n/t, NGU, MIHOP, LIHOP, tin foil hat, tombstone, and troll.
These individuals were decried as “internet conspiracy theorists,” most notoriously by Tom Zeller, Jr., Ford Fessenden, and John Schwartz in a November 12, 2004 New York Times article titled Vote Fraud Theories, Spread By Blogs, Are Quickly Buried.
The results of those efforts remain available online: here, for example, is a fairly comprehensive listing; here is another—and many of these efforts are, of course, ongoing, because the “voting irregularities” continue unabated, and largely unheeded. The suspense is excruciating: will they just call us Kooks again? Or will they pay attention this time--before the fact, or after?
By March 2005, the “Votergate” story promised to gain traction when conservative columnist and commentator Christopher Hitchens published an article under the illustrious auspices of Vanity Fair, titled Ohio’s Odd Numbers.
Alas, even when the Nonpartisan Government Accountability Office confirmed that the voting irregularities were anything but rumors spread from “blog-to-e-mail-to-blog” in the “twitchy cloak-and-dagger” dagger bowels of the internet (cf. report by
John Conyers, Nonpartisan GAO Confirms Security Flaws in Voting Machines), even after the story received the Robert F. Kennedy-stamp of better-late-than-never approval in a June, 2006 Rolling Stone
report , and the New York Times allowed Bob Herbert to opine about “Those Pesky Voters” on its OpEd page (to the best of my knowledge the only error the Times has admitted to "regretting" with regard to its original off-the-cuff response to the Votergate story was this “Correction: November 13, 2004, Saturday A front-page article yesterday about the rise of conspiracy theories on the Internet regarding the presidential election referred incorrectly to FreePress.org, which carried some of them. It is the Web site for The Free Press, a community newspaper in Columbus, Ohio; it is not a blog.”), the truth of the matter—that a handful of criminals manipulated the election, using every trick in and outside the book, to secure a staged Republican victory in the 2004 election—has yet to resonate with the American public, or the international community, and certainly not with the mainstream media.
So here we are again. Two years have passed and those pesky voters are at it again. This time, armed with the power of YouTube and the imprimatur of Princeton University—all the twitchy, cloak-and-dagger smoke and mirrors of the Ivy League.
Security Analysis of the Diebold AccuVote-TS Voting Machine
A Princeton University Study
by
Ariel J. Feldman, J. Alex Halderman, and Edward W. Felten
Here's a (video enhanced and updated) record of the havoc that the last major election in this country wreaked on my mind, and that of many others...No wonder so many of us are losing our cookies!
Worse than Watergate? Yep. Worse Yet: Worse than Hitler
In an open letter sent to George W. Bush on October 25, 2004, I wrote:
The internets is full of as many quacks as it is frequented by legitimate scholars, publishers, politicians, etc., so you have to take it in with a grain of salt, a healthy dose of skepticism, and a pinch of levity on the side. But, Mr. Bush, what concerns me is that a Google search on the terms “Bush” and “Hitler” produces 586,000 hits: this means that somewhere out there on the wild, wild world of the internets, the President of the United States of America is being discussed in conjunction with Adolf Hitler—the last international statesman before Saddam Hussein to have been unequivocally associated with evil personified. If you do get re-elected, I hope you will get the spin doctors to address this matter, for we certainly can’t have our good name being dragged through the dirt like this—even if it is only on the internets. But if, as a lot of people seem to think, the internets is a pretty good measure of “public consciousness”—we’re in trouble, Mr. Bush, because a lot of people, in this country and abroad, are starting to talk about Americans as though we were fascists. It’s scary stuff, Mr. Bush.
As a postscript, on November 15, 2004, I added:
Mr. Bush, I conducted the same search today, 15.11.04, zero hour, GMT: 1,190, 000 hits. Now I must wonder whether Google is rigged in your favor or whether you are just a phenomenally, indeed, catastrophically lucky guy. I bet you’ve never ego-surfed—at least not on the Net—but you’d be riding one hell of a wave if you started today. If all the statistical analysts in the country weren’t currently preoccupied with more pressing matters—like calculating the odds that you could possibly have won this election ‘fair and square’--I’d ask someone to estimate the odds of any one human individual more than tripling his Google hits in 21 days. The only similar pair of data I have to compare is Elfriede Jelinek who tripled her Google hits overnight by winning the Nobel Prize for Literature with--or perhaps in spite of?--her play Bambiland, a dramatic work chronicling the dastardly deeds of the evilest empire of evildoers in the recorded history of Western man.
A few days ago, I was saying this is worse than Watergate. Now I know, it’s much worse than that. It’s worse than Hitler. The Bush phenomenon is a seismic holocaustal menace to the planet. The Colossus. Celcius 3/11, the Meltdown. It is the world’s worst nightmare. Everyone who knows, that is. Everyone who has reviewed the shitpiles of evidence mounting exponentially by the nanosecond to document but one of myriad felony assaults on humanity--Air Force One slammed into the Statue of Liberty, and into the Hancock Center, and the Sears Tower, the Rocky Mountains, the Great Lakes, the Deserts of Utah and Nevada, and the Sequoia National Park to declare the death of democracy: mission accomplished. Oh how you vilify the Word and violate the World with your crimes. The souls of 100,000 Iraqi civilians murdered on behalf of the American people in the name of freedom cry out to us now, even as you speed off to Fallujah in your getaway war (Donald Rumsfeld: free people are free to commit freedom to commit crimes). I cannot keep track of the dead and the dying. Not of that. I can’t think about any of that. Not now. All I can think about is you. You have invaded my mind. Occupied my consciousness. I cannot put you out of my head. You and your crimes.
Soldiers dead and wounded, murdered civilians, tortured prisoners, lives shattered throughout the world, scatter the corpses, make the pile higher! And let’s not forget Andrew Veal, the guy who put a bullet in his head at Ground Zero in tragic salute to your victory march—onward we march, onward pissed off soldiers, marching on to war. You have littered the planet with lies—but the bigger crime—you have done it in our name and on our dime. And now you seek to cleanup: every scrap of truth shall be destroyed. How vastly you have misunderestimated these seekers of truth. You thought you weren’t leaving a trace. But in your first term, we learned to survive on the scraps, miniscule particles of justice and peace—we have become vigilant vultures, divebombing into the salacious underbelly of the internets to snatch any last morsel of beauty and truth.
Then, in a flash of vigilance, one fleeting moment in time, it appeared. There was one who could not sleep through that nightmarish November night—there’s something amiss here she said, and sounded the alarm! Millions have since answered the call. We have connected the dots. Performing to our utmost in a public display of persistence, pertinacity and prayer—we have said it: the banality of evil shall not prevail. Indeed we have dared to issue the Eleventh command: Thou shalt not prey upon the planet!
In those sparse moments of sanity when I come up for breath, I ask myself just how much of the American taxpayer’s money you and your programmers have squandered to orchestrate this, your most catastrophically successful fiasco to date. Were anyone to invest as much time, energy and ingenuity as it has taken to make the case against you into comparing the millions points of tragic parallel between you and Adolf Hitler, right down to that smug, self-confident smirk, what they would find is that you surpass him by a margin of more than fifty five million to one because Hitler set out to slaughter certain sectors of the population—you want to obliterate everyone and everything. Your aim is total annihilation. Totalitarianism to the tenth degree. A big idea. A new world (dis)order.
I cannot sleep, nor eat, nor speak to the ones that I love: all I can do is write. I have a bag of carrots and some bread, I nibble and chew, longing all the while just to dine, sipping fine wine beside a window to the world. Extra! Extra! Read all about it. I am writing for my life. For the life of the planet and the dignity of humanity. Your violations will be revealed and we will bring you to the most poetic justice the world has ever seen. Our good name shall be redeemed because we, too, write with GOD on our side. But ours is not the god of vengeance, it is the god of justice, of freedom, of peace. We will neither retreat, nor surrender. There will be no white flag. Not this time.
It is a remarkable feat: you have succeeded in dividing this country, not merely along the lines of the Mason Dixon line, but into parallel universes. Those who know the truth, and those who believe the lies. Those who know are glued to their screens: they have gone underground, creeping and crawling, scouring these nefarious bowels to smoke out this craven scourge. Hungry for truth, starving for justice, we have found it. It is here. Indeed, in our search we have discovered it, uncovered it and brought it to light. The others, portent and petrified of the truth, fearing what the million points of light are sure to reveal, go about their business. They have no emails to send, no letters to write. They go to their jobs, teaching the classes, cleaning the carpets, caring for the kids and thank god that they do because otherwise the world would come to an immediate halt—would be sucked into the incendiary backdraft of all you have done.
The lines of communication have broken down: we live worlds, indeed, universes apart. Those on the street wait on bated breath for talking heads on TV to tell them the truth, not knowing how tragically they wait in vain. They watch, uncomprehending, as hapless souls hurl themselves at your gates, bursting into flames at your door. The power of propaganda perfected: if it’s not in the news, it cannot be true. What the fuck? They think to themselves as they fix their perplexed stares on the bombs that cascade as the puppets plunge into this day of infamy: the Powell Purge and the Day Democracy died. What, what is going on? On some level, they know. And that is why they do not dare to join the multitudes who have gone underground, ascending the flaming stairs into purgatory, the blazing inferno of truth: THIS you have done! Dante calls out to us now in the absence of sleep: the hottest spots in hell are reserved for those who remain indifferent in times of great moral crisis.
From your greatest co-conspirator, Osama bin L., you took one vital cue: this towering inferno may not be telecast. Treachery of this magnitude will unleash a hellfire of fury that can’t be contained. The world would swell in revolt, would burst into outrage to reveal every last despicable detail of this your “great” deed.
And so it is: a race against time. America’s dumbest criminal in office with the best brains in the business trying to figure out how he got there. The masses are charged with a countdown to recount. Staunchly, bravely, valiant and true, they heed the call: Reporting for duty, what should I do? Fast and furious, we calculate, collect and compile: a flurry of truth revealed. You struggle to catch us, but you cannot keep up. In a Volkswagen Bug, vintage 1945, you putter, you puff, oh how you whine: It’s hard. Really hard. To keep up with the best in the business in their blue late model BMVs cruising the highways of the internet, hot on your trail.
Indeed we have joined a conspiracy of sorts: we conspire now to keep the peace and to KICK you out (kicketykee). We will pack it tightly in a bottle: our message to the world. Stand up and write! Let’s right the wrong. You do the math, I’ll take the tallies, come on, write it all down. Hurry, we don’t have much time. The clock is still ticking. Tick tick, click click. Zap! It is gone. I have come to love the percussive patter on the keyboard as much as my tattered mouse pad! Our President’s saddened visage, verging on tears urges us on: Come on, Mr. Kerry, we need you now. Eleveneleventwothousandfour! Eleveneleven, zerohour is near! Keep this one kicked! Kick it again! Kick? “WTF is that?”, the casual observer pipes in, stumbling in desperation for answers. (It means keep it up! Now get outta my way! OK, OK, I’m going, going, going. See? I’m already gone.)
We dare not cease nor desist, lest the profound absence of those up above tear us asunder: the price isn’t right. Mr. John Kerry, come on down! Where is our president? Has he gone off to war? Or abandoned this sinking ship of our love? I miss my husband whom I haven’t seen in light years though we share the same house. I am missing in action, there’s a hole in the bed. My friends are afraid: oh. my. god. is she cracking!? They don’t understand what I mean when I say “Yes, I am.” We’re cracking the case now. The moment is near. I’ll be back any second, please can you hold out, I need one more day down here. Critical mass looms on the horizon—we race toward its approach.
And so now it is time: we must send it, this message on a blogspot—rubbadubdub four men in a tub. May this genie come out. Come out come out wherever you are. Pandora Pandora please heed our call. Let it rise to the surface. This scrap heap of history that descended upon the huddled masses tired, the poor, so many hundred years ago—we’ve done our job. And yours. Yes, we’ve done more. We’ve picked up the trash. Widows weep at our weavings. We’ve worked and worked without whining, and we know it’s not much, but it’s the best we could do. Can I give you a hug? Thanks all the same. In the absence of time, an email must do. We must turn to account now the billions squandered in our name.
We know we are winning. Indeed, we have long since won. But no one up there can see it because they’ve buried their heads in “conspiracy theorist” spin.
TASK THREAD: Does anyone have a direct line to the top? We must let them know and we must do it *NOW! Pls. keep this one kicked!
To hell with John Kerry, where’s Paul Revere?
Meanwhile, back at the ranch in the “real” world out there: a press conference. Only two members of the corps fail to appear. The transcript reads:
Mssrs Zeller and Co.: Mr. Bush, what are your plans with regard to the real estate tax code?
W.: Uh, what was the question?
Spare me the answer, Mr. Bush, I already know. And I’m sorry to inform you that we cannot, never, under any circumstances, whatsoever, lend you our support. We ask that you leave. You have no right to remain silent, everything you say can and will be used against you in this court of our law. You do not have the right to an attorney, if you cannot afford one, you will be escorted immediately straight to Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib, with Gonzalez in toe. This is the international tribunal for crimes against humanity, and you will be forced to plead your case without counsel. It’s hard work, Mr. Bush, but the verdict is already in: guilty as sin. This is our country not yours: now love it or leave it. We’re here to stay. Finally, finally we can all go to bed. We will wake up tomorrow and no one will say, “it’s all in your head.” Goodnight, Mr. Chimps, your ass is grass.
My prayers are with you, and, as always, with this country and her people. Today I stand proud despite what you’ve done. Because we’ve made the case, and yes, we have won.
Sincerest regards,
Dr. Lilian Friedberg
Reporting from the Democratic Mandate of the United States of America
Postscript, 2006: In the years since I first published this piece at OpEdNews, I have continued to do periodic searches on Google under the search terms “Bush + Hitler.” Shortly after the Hurricane Katrina fiasco, the search rendered nearly 6 million hits; the same search today produces nearly 12 million.
In March, 2006, Colorado high school teacher Jay Bennish was suspended for pointing out that some people have made the comparison between George Bush and Adolf Hitler, but his students protested the suspension, and he was later reinstated.
Some people?
Like the Holocaust survivor in
this article, Bush-Hitler: A Holocaust Survivor Speaks Out?
Some people?
Like George Soros?
And MoveOn.org?
Some people?
Like former UN weapons inspector, Scott Ritter, as reported by the Telegraph?
Some people?
Like German Minister of Justice Herta Däubler-Gmelin?
Some people?
Like democratically elected president of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez?
Or Harry Belafonte?
I guess some people just never learn:
Me? I’m sticking with 2005 Nobel Laureate Harold Pinter, who said:
The US is really beyond reason now. It is beyond our imagining to know what they are going to do next and what they are prepared to do. There is only one comparison: Nazi Germany.
"Nazi Germany wanted total domination of Europe and they nearly did it. The US wants total domination of the world and is about to consolidate that.
Along with a few other things
The current administration is clearly aware of the prevalence with which its policies and actions are being compared with those of the Nazi regime—and by an ever-increasingly “credentialed” and “legitimate” body of critics—so it is hardly surprising that they have since sought to turn the tables on this truth by appropriating the terminology and turning it on their critics--it's a Goebbels' classic!
MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann recently fired back:
Vote Early and/or Absentee!, people, cause this time, it's in the "news" again: WaPo is reporting
In 2004, some Democrats alleged widespread voting irregularities in Ohio, including questionable vote-counting and problems with machines in Democratic-leaning precincts. Nonpartisan election experts have said the problems were not so severe to call President Bush's victory, by about 119,000 votes, into question.
Some Democrats? I suppose it's better than being passed off as an "internet conspiracy theorist, but last I checked, Christopher Hitchens was not a "Democrat"--and I, for one, certainly have no registered party affiliation or loyalties!
Some Democrats alleged? Try: some concerned citizens demonstrated beyond reasonable doubt that not only the machines were hacked, the entire election was hijacked by every dirty trick in the book in the most horrendous techno-terrorist attack on American democracy since the foundering fathers first "borrowed" it from the Iroquois, and among the "nonpartisan" experts who have since confirmed those findings? The Government Accountability Office--which has its very own FraudNET resource
to facilitate the reporting of allegations of fraud, waste, abuse, or mismanagement of federal funds.
Ah, the twitchy cloak-and-dagger thrust of it all. Yathink we should let 'em know about this?
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