So much for checks and balances, welcome to absolute power

[GuvWurld]

http://wedonotconsent.blogspot.com/2006/08/so-much-for-checks-and-balances.html

So much for checks and balances, welcome to absolute power

By Dave Berman
8/30/06

Judge Yuri Hofmann on Tuesday afternoon dismissed the lawsuit brought by San Diego voters contesting the June 6 election of Brian Bilbray to California's 50th Congressional district seat. Bilbray was sworn in to Congress while his election was not yet certified and the vote count was not yet complete. These are but some of the many grounds cited for the election challenge. But no matter how damning the evidence, it would not get its day in court.

(snip)

In the simplest of terms, this is a new low for America. Yes, I know, it seems like we've bottomed out thousands of times already in recent years. I have to account for the paradigm shift this news has brought me. Consider, for the past two and a half years I've been writing and saying to all who can read and hear that there is no basis for confidence in the reported results of American elections. In a quote featured on the back cover of my book, We Do Not Consent (free .pdf download), Lehto says the "no basis for confidence...formulation approaches scientific certainty." When votes are counted in secret, the conditions of the election guarantee inconclusive outcomes that will not meet unanimous public acceptance.

(snip)

The dismissal of the CA-50 lawsuit has changed my entire view of how I've framed this work for so long. Election reforms are each an uphill marathon to introduce and ultimately implement. What I realized today is that conclusive election results are no longer a viable indicator of the existence of Democracy. For just like the above example of the false alternative, what good would it do to ensure conclusive outcomes if Congress is still equally entitled to pre-empt any such results in favor of appointing new members at will?

(snip)

Peaceful revolution is necessary, NOW!

(snip)

* * *

A revolution never come with a warning
A revolution never send you an omen
A revolution just arrive like the morning
Ring the alarm we come to wake up the snorin'

--Lyrics to YELL FIRE! by Michael Franti and Spearhead

http://www.anti.com/download.php?id=313 (.mp3)

[Einsteinia]

1. very perplexing. . . .

thank you!

[emlev]

2. I agree this decision calls for some new strategies. K&R!

[SnoopDog]

3. k&r...!

[EFerrari]

4. Thank you, Guv. K&R

[Kurovski]

5. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens' quote from his dissent

in the case of Bush v. Gore: "Although we may never know with complete certainty the identity of the winner of this year's presidential election, the identity of the loser is perfectly clear. It is the nation's confidence in (this Court) as the impartial guardian of the rule of law."

[GuvWurld]

6. A great reminder

Thank you Kurovski

:hi:

[Richard Steele]

7. If this stands, they can 'win' every election in November this way.

A: All Repub CongressCritters and Repub candidates
gather in Washington DC on election day.

B: All Repub candidates are sworn in by Repub Congress
the moment the polls close.

C: Repeat A & B every 2 years.

[Joanne98]

8. And the Dem leadership says? silence

[ThomCat]

9. I think the republicans are going to get even more blatant

in stealing power as it slips out of their grasps. They're going to keep stealing elections, giving offices to the people who lost the elections, and pulling every dirty trick they can get away with.

We are not a democracy, and never really have been. The idealistic view that we are a democracy is part of your national mythology that is used to keep people docile.

[Kurovski]

12. Yes, the Electoral College absolutely sucks it. (nt)

[ThomCat]

13. I was thinking of the more serious issue

of people being prohibited, restricted and prevented from voting throughout our entire history.

But, yes, the electoral college is definitey the biggest problem we have with elections in the US.
:eyes:

[Kurovski]

14. Just offering another example of why exactly

"We are not a democracy, and never really have been."

[Straight Shooter]

10. Democracy in America has become a parody of the Cheshire Cat.

It's fading away, with nothing left but the grin of bush as he and his cronies count their millions and snicker at the people who still trust them.

[PATRICK]

11. A wake up, but not new

The circle that people opposing fraud keep running in is that in fact the entire system is woefully inadequate in its foundation to protect the vote and it is degrading according into a tighter and tighter circle of incumbent legislators not responding to the voters' will but removing that will from any check upon themselves.

The courts can't hold very high standards if the legislator does not make them. They set the priorities and they certainly are not those of the people who by and large easily support campaign finance form and voting integrity much more than the supposed representatives of the people.

So the bar for a recount is very high in a tally where there is no solid record unless it IS verified. So the bar is higher in large populations where the fraud is both more tempting and itself a more important concern. So the courts have their hands tied by absence of law and not so strangely the degrading vote systems produce reps who are loathe to make law to protect the vote. And every "check and balance" becomes a self-justifying fascist, unresponsive to democracy in the name of its black hole system. And the spiral will continue without a massive effort of the people, many votes expected to be lost casualties, to break that circle and make the nation face the terrible situation we actually have.

Other nations may have worse systems, but the problem is that ours is becoming steadily worse under pressure from representatives in place that are intent on making it so with transparent sophistication and 19th Century thuggery. Every popular and political resource must be brought to be bear.

[GuvWurld]

15. Full version of OP now at OpEdNews.com

This article originally appeared in the We Do Not Consent blog:

http://wedonotconsent.blogspot.com/2006/08/so-much-for-checks-and-balances.html


And now also appears at OpEdNews.com

http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_dave_ber_060830_so_much_for_checks_a.htm

[annabanana]

16. Velvet Revolution will appeal!

They need some bucks..

Earmark your donation for the following cause:
enter 'CA50' to donate for the 'LEGAL EFFORTS TO ENSURE ACCURACY AND ACCOUNTABILITY IN THE SPECIAL BUSBY/BILBRAY U.S. HOUSE ELECTION!'


http://velvetrevolution.us/donate.php

[Kurovski]

17. Kick

:kick:

[understandinglife]

18. Recommended.

Peace.

[Rex]

19. We've been in a constitutional crisis since 2000.

We've been 'at war' since 2001.
We went 'to war' in 2003.
The country fell apart in 2005.

It is possible to get elected and sworn in to office in America, before all the votes are counted. Just happened.

[EFerrari]

20. kick

[Kip Humphrey]

21. Who is this judge, Yuri Hofmann, anyway?

...and why aren't the state attorneys all over this case in defense of the State's Rights to administer elections of its federal representatives and to certify the results of those elections?

...and WHERE IS THE NATIONAL PRESS??? There should be screaming headlines about this ruling by now. (pssst MSM...our most populous state just lost its rights in a court ruling).

...and where is the DEMOCRATIC PARTY????

[GuvWurld]

22. Damn good questions, Kip

Let's get a dozen or so DUers to send a copy of this OP to Olbermann. Who has his contact info?

[JimDandy]

23. Nice write-up Guv!

For me, stewing and ruminating over CA-50 on the Internet was feeling really unproductive this morning. So I've been out most of the day at anti-war/anti B*** protests here in SLC, UT (Bush is in town.) After yesterday's ruling, it felt good to be out in the real world DOING something physical and positive. But I'm back and, after that peaceful protest, I'm ready for a PEACEFUL REVOLUTION!!

[Wilms]

24. This case really highlights a question for Americans:

Have you had enough of the Republican administration of the three branches of gov't?

[DemReadingDU]

25. seems like only 1 branch - executive

Bush gets his way on just about everything