New Civilization News: Need Some Cheer? Here's Dennis!

Need Some Cheer? Here's Dennis!

6 Dec 2007 @ 14:13, by Richard Carlson

Man's main task in life is to give birth to himself.

---Erich Fromm

A thing long expected takes the form of the unexpected when at last it comes.

---Mark Twain

And this our life, exempt from public haunt,
finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks.
Sermons in stones, and good in everything.

---William Shakespeare

Everyone likes him. People even smile at the mere mention of his name. Those I talk to, both liberal and conservative, say he seems to be right about everything. He has years and years of political experience. He started out even poorer than Lincoln, but as inspired and dedicated. So why doesn't he have a snowball's chance of a Presidential nomination? The rightwingnuts call him a socialist and crazy, not to be taken seriously. Maybe he's too short to be President. Maybe we're too frightened to have the courage of our convictions.

The breath of fresh air on AM talk radio named Ed Schultz put out an invitation to all the candidates, both parties, to come on his show for the entire 3 hours and answer phone calls. Kucinich showed up right away---and the show is in North Dakota! Nobody else has. The program was a revelation of serious discussion on every issue you or I could think of...and Dennis had answers. Maybe you can stream it somehow at Ed's site...and he rebroadcast it once. [link] If you're reading this today, you may notice Kucinich will be on again this afternoon...and so will Barack Obama. It's on from 3 until 6 in the Athens area...770 AM.

But fairly quickly into that 3 hour interview, it became clear Dennis was not alone in the studio with Big Eddie. Elizabeth Kucinich was there too, as she usually is wherever he goes. A couple days before the show I got a phonecall from a friend in The Queens, who still does her reading in books instead of here. She said, "Have you SEEN Dennis Kucinich's wife?!" No, I said, I'm not sure I knew whether or not he was married. My friend said---and if you can say this with a Queens dialect it sounds better---"She's absolutely gorgeous!! She must be 7 feet tall with this long red hair down to her waist!" That was enough to nearly blind my imagination, but I persevered. I had seen Dennis Kucinich once in person, when he still was mayor of Cleveland...and while he seemed kind of cute then, I couldn't imagine him attracting someone so statuesquely beautiful. "And she's about 30 years younger," Belle said. Oh oh.

So on this interview, Eddie---also a redhead---couldn't seem to resist trying to get a word or 2 out of this curious creature by the candidate's side. Finally she said something...in a riveting English accent. She's from the UK? With all the distinguished bravado the Brits can muster, whenever they talk about anything, Elizabeth began to give her views on the topics. Soon the couple was talking as a team. I said to myself, "This would be the most perfect First Lady in the nation's history." Folks, she is positively brilliant!

But of course I don't want to be sexist. I've tried to stifle my interest in a potential First Lady, and continue only to talk about Dennis Kucinich. Like a lot of us, I suppose I secretly support Kucinich, but John Edwards is there too...and hasn't Biden been wonderful lately? So it's getting interesting...but here comes the cheer part: in yesterday's Washington Post is a long article about the Kuciniches, how they met, fell in love, and what's it all about. I wouldn't recommend this reading to you, except that I found it absolutely delightful. My congratulations to Libby Copeland, who seems to have gotten caught up in their energy and writes it for us just perfectly. This is a political article about falling in love~~~

WashingtonPost.com
The Love Song of Dennis J. Kucinich
No Wonder the Candidate Saw a UFO. He's Been Up There on Cloud Nine.
By Libby Copeland
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, December 5, 2007

HART'S LOCATION, N.H. One day last spring, Rep. Dennis Kucinich, the Ohio Democrat and long-shot presidential candidate, and his young British wife, Elizabeth, were sitting in an Italian restaurant in Dupont Circle.

They were by the window. They were holding hands. Elizabeth Kucinich was looking lovely, as usual -- the red hair, the luminous skin, the green eyes, the fine cheekbones. Dennis was looking, as usual, like Dennis Kucinich.

This guy passed by the window. He stopped. He stared at Elizabeth through the glass. Then he came into the restaurant and walked right up to their table.

"Doesn't even look at me!" Dennis is saying, grinning, as he retells this story between campaign stops. "He looks at her and he says, 'You are the most incredibly beautiful woman I have ever seen in my life!' I'm sitting right there, you know?"

"We're holding hands!" Elizabeth exclaims, in her elegant accent. She's lounging in front of the inn's fireplace, all six feet of her, looking like Botticelli's Venus, only with clothes on.

"He says, 'I've never done this before, but what are you doing for dinner?' " Dennis says.

"I just said, 'I'm sorry, I'm with my husband.' " Elizabeth says.

And the guy got all embarrassed and apologized and walked away.

"He was such a sweet soul," Elizabeth says tenderly. "I hate breaking hearts!"

Dennis Kucinich wears the look of a man who's just won the sweepstakes. He says a colleague from the House told him it didn't matter how he did in the presidential race because he'd already won.

He'd won Elizabeth.

"I responded, 'Now you know why I think I can be president?' " Dennis says. "If I can marry this incredibly brilliant, beautiful woman, I mean, why wouldn't I think I can be president of the United States?"

* * *

Dennis Kucinich is the happiest candidate in this race. True, he is polling in the low single digits, doing about as well as he did during his 2004 presidential run. True, he was recently the butt of jokes for admitting in a presidential debate that he once saw a UFO.

But he has Elizabeth, whom he met 2 1/2 years ago. It was love at first sight, during a meeting on monetary reform. "Soul recognition," they both call it. Less than four months later, they were married. He is 61. She is 30. He is short, at 5-7, and she is -- wow, she just keeps on going. And they are happy, so happy, that to see them together holding hands, grinning wildly, is to understand why they talk as if the universe has a plan for them.

So if the six-term liberal congressman is nearly invisible during his second presidential run, if his tall, elegant, improbable wife receives most of the press, if cameras cut to her face during a presidential debate, and rival candidate Sen. Joe Biden says, "Dennis, the thing I like best about you is your wife," and reporters schedule interviews to ask about her tongue stud, and "The Daily Show" does a segment about how hot she is . . . if she is the reason people stop and stare -- well, so be it.

He is just as wowed by her.

The story of Dennis and Elizabeth Kucinich involves: Indian nuns, a bust of Gandhi, a portrait of "conscious light," a mystical opal ring, congressional legislation, an Indian guru and the meeting of souls. Also: Dennis's good friend for decades, Shirley MacLaine, the actress and New Age author, who played host to the couple's second date.

But let us begin here on the couch, the day after Thanksgiving, 2007. The happiest presidential candidate and his wife are relaxing at an inn two hours north of Manchester that happens to be located in the smallest town in New Hampshire. (This is symbolically appropriate, given that Kucinich -- a high school football player -- is used to being the smallest guy on the field.)

They are as close as can be without lap-sitting. Dennis is holding Elizabeth's hand in both of his. Elizabeth's other hand is snaked around Dennis's back. She says to him: "You start."

He says: It was an ordinary day in May 2005. There he was, Dennis Kucinich, congressman, twice divorced, looking for love, as always. He was on the floor of the House, doing ordinary congressman things.

"Tell her about the morning," Elizabeth says helpfully.

"Ooh! That's right!" Kucinich says. Here's the amazing part. (Things involving Elizabeth generally tend to be amazing.) That very morning, believe it or not, guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, who teaches peace through meditation and rhythmic breathing, had come to town. Dennis and Ravi have known each other for a long time. Ravi asked about Dennis's love life. Dennis said he was still looking for that special someone.

"And his response was, 'Stop looking and then she will appear,' " Dennis says. "And I said, 'Okay, I'm going to stop looking.' I said that. And that afternoon -- "

"I walked through the office door," Elizabeth finishes.

She was Elizabeth Harper then. She'd grown up in a village in the county of Essex, outside London. Her dad ran a security fencing firm. Her mom was a New Age healer who practiced aromatherapy and reflexology.

By the age of 27, Elizabeth had: Been known as the "Jolly Green Giant" in high school for her height and her love of environmental causes. Ministered to orphans and the poor at one of Mother Teresa's charity homes in India. Worked in Tanzania for 16 months with a British organization similar to the Peace Corps. Volunteered as a refugee caseworker for the British Red Cross. Become pen pals with a prisoner on death row in Texas. Earned a master's degree in international conflict analysis from the University of Kent, in England. Worked as a fundraiser for a pastoral service and as a care assistant for an accident victim who couldn't speak or walk. Sold gas and electricity contracts door-to-door.

And finally, Elizabeth had moved to America to take a job as assistant to Stephen Zarlenga, who runs an obscure New York-based organization called the American Monetary Institute. (Zarlenga advocates a sweeping overhaul of the banking system and has written a book purporting to expose those who've been "embezzling from society" and using "economic theory as a tool of class war.")

So, anyway, Elizabeth traveled to Washington with her new boss for a meeting with a congressman. She didn't know anything about Dennis Kucinich. She didn't know he was a lefty who had opposed the Iraq war and the USA Patriot Act from the beginning. She didn't know he had divorced for the second time in 1987, or that he had a daughter four years younger than her, or that during his last presidential run there was actually an Internet contest to find him a girlfriend. (It didn't work.)

She didn't know that he was attuned to the mystical, like her, or that he is vegan and has consulted a woman who teaches "expanded consciousness," and generally carries a tea bag in his suit pocket.

Her first inkling that Kucinich might be different from the run-of-the-mill congressman was the presence of two Indian nuns from the Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University in Kucinich's reception room. She chatted with the nuns about India and felt herself being "opened" up by the conversation.

Then she and Zarlenga were called into Kucinich's office.

Dennis watched the young woman's eyes. First they went to a bust of Gandhi sitting on his bookshelf. Then they went to a picture given to him by the Hindu nuns -- a burst of brightness against an orange background meant to depict "conscious light." Then her eyes went to his.

"That was it," Dennis says now. "One, two, three." He knew.

"As soon as I met him I knew my life had changed," Elizabeth says. "I knew that he was my husband."

On the couch, they lean in for a kiss.

So Elizabeth's boss and Dennis discussed monetary policy for about eight minutes. As Dennis later told his buddy Shirley MacLaine, he had to stop looking at Elizabeth for fear he'd declare his love for her right then and there.

"Did I give the slightest indication?" Kucinich asks his wife on the couch. "Tell me -- I didn't."

"Maybe not consciously," Elizabeth says, "but I did walk out and I phoned my grandmother and said, 'I've met a congressman and he's fallen in love with me.' "

Dennis gives a deep belly laugh. He seems amazed once again. Elizabeth caresses the spot above his ear where the black hair is turning gray. "I'd fallen in love with him, too, but I didn't tell her that bit," she says.

Kucinich gave the redhead and her boss copies of a bill proposing a U.S. Department of Peace. And he gave them his e-mail address, hoping she'd get the hint. They left.

He ran down to the floor of the House beaming.

He told his friends: "I met her." He didn't say who. He didn't explain what. He just said, simply: "I met her."

"I said, 'Well, Dennis, this is deep,' " recalls Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-Ohio).

"I didn't know what he was talking about," recalls Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.).

Against the Odds

The improbable journey of Dennis Kucinich:

Oldest of seven. Grew up so poor in working-class Cleveland that the family sometimes had to sleep in the car. As a kid, he scrubbed floors and shined shoes. He and his siblings lived briefly in an orphanage. He was short, he stuttered, he had asthma, and he had Crohn's disease, a chronic and painful inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract. In high school, he played varsity football at 4-foot-9 and 89 pounds. (His teammates tossed him into a garbage can.) When he was 21, doctors removed eight feet of his small bowel and colon.

He worked his way through college and a master's degree in speech communications, and then he worked his way through the Cleveland City Council and the city post of clerk of the courts. In 1977, at age 31, he was elected "boy mayor" of the city.

His term was tumultuous, and the city slid into default when Kucinich refused to sell off the municipal electric system. He lost his reelection bid. For years, he worked in consulting and in various business ventures while trying for a political comeback. In time, many came to conclude that his decision not to sell the electric system had saved customers money and Kucinich claimed vindication. He was elected to the state Senate in 1994 (slogan: "Because He Was Right") and to Congress in 1996.

A feisty and combative populist, Kucinich is comfortable as an underdog, which may explain why he sees that flap about his UFO sighting in David-and-Goliath terms. He's still thinking of things he should've said in response to Tim Russert, the moderator who asked him about it during an October debate. He's convinced Russert was trying to "smear" him out of pressure from his corporate bosses at NBC and NBC's owner, GE, who fear his antiwar stance. (He believes this also explains why Russert hasn't invited him on "Meet the Press" in years.)

(Here's his account of the UFO: Twenty-five years ago, he saw three objects in the sky over MacLaine's house in Graham, Wash. He says he doesn't know what they were. MacLaine, who believes in alien visitations and has claimed that in a past life she was emperor Charlemagne's lover, recently wrote a book saying that when Dennis saw the UFO he "heard directions in his mind." Kucinich says that part isn't true.)

But Kucinich believes that, despite the UFO issue and the long odds, the people of New Hampshire are responding to his message. Indeed, he says, his challenge is to make sure he can manage all the new recruits.

"People are starting to move into our campaign at a rather fast clip," he says.

"The question," for many people, "isn't whether Dennis is the right person," Elizabeth says. "Everyone knows that Dennis is the right person. The question is whether they have the courage to vote for what it is they want."

Dennis Kucinich is for reducing the country's carbon footprint, ending the war, establishing a universal not-for-profit health-care system, withdrawing from the World Trade Organization and impeaching Vice President Dick Cheney. In front of a group of 100 in the tiny village of Center Sandwich, he speaks of "human unity," invokes Wordsworth and reads from his pocket-size Constitution. Elizabeth watches from the front row with a beatific smile.

He's in the midst of a long, wayward answer to an audience member's question about environmental stewardship when Elizabeth raises her hand to help him out. Dennis lets her take the floor. Elizabeth has been campaigning full time for her husband; she considers America her cause these days. She has the ability -- rare even among practiced politicians -- to speak extemporaneously in full paragraphs, without rambling or backtracking. Now she gives a succinct, eloquent speech about the need for new environmentally friendly technologies and sustainable architecture.

The crowd applauds.

"As you can see, I'll have help," Dennis says, grinning. A few moments later, they share a long kiss. More applause.

All of this is invisible to most of America, who know Mrs. Dennis Kucinich (if they know her at all) via caricature: the wife of that wacky UFO candidate, the hot redhead who -- oooh, a tongue stud!

Television interviewer: "Can we see it?"

Elizabeth: "No, you can't. Sorry."

Dennis: "That's my privilege."

Falling Into Place

After their first meeting that day in his office -- that Dennis hoped was soul recognition, but feared was wishful thinking -- Elizabeth walked out of the Longworth Building, found a place to sit and read the paper he had given her. It was his proposed billto establish a Department of Peace. She thought it was amazing. Dennis understood the "interconnectedness and interdependence" of humanity.

"I didn't expect the bill should actually be so . . . conscious," she says.

Days passed.

"I was still thinking about Elizabeth about two weeks later, sitting, working late in my office as I'm wont to do," Dennis says. (We're back in the tiniest town in New Hampshire, and Dennis and Elizabeth are on the couch at the inn, sitting close as always.) "It was about 7:30 at night and I was just sending a message out to the universe saying, 'Where is this woman? If there's anything to be done here, I need a sign.' "

And at that moment --

"At that exact moment, I get an e-mail."

It was from Elizabeth. A sign. Her automatic signature included a quote, something about her heart being as open as the sky. Another sign. They began exchanging e-mails. They discovered they were both scheduled to be in New Mexico shortly. Dennis was going to visit MacLaine and Elizabeth was accompanying her boss, who was giving a lecture. They arranged to meet. In the meantime, Elizabeth, propelled by a feeling that she should buy herself a blue ring, found one in a store and bought it. She called it her "Dennis ring."

Why?

"I really don't know," she says. "I just saw it and called it my Dennis ring."

They met up in Albuquerque. They stayed up all night talking in the lobby of her hotel.

After that, everything fell into place. Dennis invited Elizabeth and her boss to have lunch with him and MacLaine the next day in Sante Fe, and then MacLaine asked everyone back to her Sante Fe home. Elizabeth's mom called and got on the phone with MacLaine to thank her for putting her on the path towards complementary medicine in the '80s through one of her books -- which, as it happens, is a book Dennis helped edit. ("Amazing," says Elizabeth.) Elizabeth and Dennis stayed up all night again talking at MacLaine's, at which point Dennis told Elizabeth he loved her, and the next morning, upon leaving, Elizabeth said she loved him.

None of which surprised Shirley MacLaine.

"They were basically spiritual soul mates; that was very clear," MacLaine says.

And after leaving, Elizabeth looked down at her Dennis ring and realized that the silver design inscribed on her blue opal, which had previously looked like just an abstract pattern of triangles, was in fact -- if one looked hard enough -- two K's, back to back.

"Kucinich and Kucinich," she says. "I thought, 'Okay! So I bought myself my own engagement ring!' "

And when she moved into his place in Cleveland, the two-story frame house he'd bought in 1971 for $22,500, Dennis was cleaning out the closets and discovered a cardboard tube he'd never opened before. What he saw inside stunned them both. It was a handmade banner that supporters had given him during his 2004 run for the presidency, with all sorts of figures painted on it, and in the middle was a redheaded woman --

"Long, straight red hair, standing in the middle, head and shoulders above everybody else, under the word 'imagine,' " Elizabeth says.

"I mean, you can't make this stuff up," Dennis says.

Their days are filled with these sorts of moments, as when they go out for Chinese food and the fortune in Dennis's cookie tells him he has "integrity and consistency." ("Isn't that amazing?" Elizabeth says.) And then they turn the fortune over, and Dennis's Chinese word is "hat," and amazingly, Elizabeth just bought a hat before lunch.

And even the three-decade age difference, which could theoretically be an issue, doesn't register for the Kuciniches -- "I've never seen myself as time-bound," Dennis has said -- and that's why Elizabeth's father, who is three years younger than Dennis, calls Dennis "Son," and Dennis calls Elizabeth's father "Dad."

(Though the Kuciniches do have different tastes in music. "He really likes polka," she says.)

"I never really understood 'love at first sight,' " Dennis says. But when he met Elizabeth, he became a believer. And as he's talking, it suddenly occurs to him what pithy riposte he should have thrown back at Tim Russert: " 'I don't know about those UFOs, but let me tell you about love at first sight.' "

The world can be cynical, which is all the more reason why a long-shot presidential candidate must be pure and unwavering in his faith, must be unmoved by the vagaries of the public and the media -- by its interest in the superficial, in things like height and tongue studs.

"It's pathetic," Elizabeth says of the nation's fascination with her piercing. "I really wish people would -- "

She stops.

"Actually, it works okay with the young people," she says. She says some time back she was out in Los Angeles, visiting an organization that works with at-risk youth and former gang members.

"This young lad was taking me around, Hispanic chap. And he was really nervous," she says. "We just, like, chatted initially, and at some point I laughed and he said, 'Oh my God, you've got a tongue ring! That's so cool! I'm going to get everyone to vote for your husband!' "

"Ha!" says Dennis Kucinich, looking amazed.

The happiest presidential candidate laughs and laughs.

© 2007 The Washington Post Company
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Category: Relationships

26 comments

6 Dec 2007 @ 19:16 by vaxen : Right person?
"The question," for many people, "isn't whether Dennis is the right person," Elizabeth says. "Everyone knows that Dennis is the right person. The question is whether they have the courage to vote for what it is they want."

Wrong! Not everyone "Knows (Big assumption on her part)" that Dennis the menace is the 'right' person (Hidden [from you] office of State). In fact I think he's Redder than Red. But there is an old saying one hears round about this time every year: "Rudolph with your nose so bright, won't you guide my sleigh tonight!"

Koos in itch mode. (I shan't bother translating the Hebrew word Koos (Arabs use it too), for you, as it may get me booted upstairs - if I do. Use your imagination. Neither one of them have 'the look.' Besides, a Goth for first lady? Pshaw! ;) ROTFL

Rep. Dennis Kucinich Acknowledges UFO Sighting
October 31, 2007, FOX News
{http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,306616,00.html}

http://m1.2mdn.net/viewad/1289772/oscar_gimenez300x250.jpg

At the "Outback" tonight...

For a concise summary of UFO evidence from highly-respected former US government and military officials...
Klik Har: http://wanttoknow.info/ufocover-up

PS: Looks like the 'photo-op' was taken in Chi town?

6 Dec 2007 @ 19:28 by vaxen : Couldn't resist...
Wonkette on the Koos in itch (Elizabeth Jane Harper)

Kucinich Loves His Hot Wife

"Yes, yes, the Washington Post has a fawning profile of the Kucinich marriage in its Style section written by Libby Copeland. Snark, snark, snark. We apologize profusely, but the Wonketteer officially covering all short, dark politicians was apparently a little hormonal this morning and totally had something in her eye that she had to get out, okay?"

http://m1.2mdn.net/viewad/1289772/1-Adam_Stennett300x250-2.jpg

TMI: Elizabeth and Dennis Kucinich
"Dennis Kucinich, who’s on a weird streak even by his standards, appeared on CBS’ Early Show this morning with UFO mail-order bride Elizabeth to discuss politics or scenic Lake Erie or something. CBS Interviewer Hannah Storm had different talking points prepared, however, mostly involving Elizabeth’s tongue stud, clothes, jewelry, maybe how fucking hot she is, et cetera and so forth."

http://wonkette.com/politics/elizabeth-kucinich/

And this is, sort of, priceless. It's one of the comments at the last link and refs the 'tongue stud.':

"Yes, well; but.

"It's all well and good for us here at Wonkette to ogle the Amazonian Elizabeth and snicker about her tongue stud; after all, immature and proudly so. But one would think that Hannah Storm should be serving CBS News and not Wonkette readers. Dennis should've bitch-slapped her with a "Hannah, we have troops in a war that 70% of America disapproves of and you want to discuss tongue studs?" That would've looked Presidential.

"Oh, wait: It's Dennis Kucinich, who's genetically incapable of looking Presidential. Never mind."

And this one is really funny:

"I'd be guessing she has more pierced than just her tongue. Perhaps there is lead in the thing and it caused her to desire short, greasy dudes that grin a lot."

Félicitations, le Napoleon de mon coeur!

6 Dec 2007 @ 21:17 by jerryvest : My wife and I are both going
to vote for Kucinich, not because of his wife, though she is beautiful and bright, but because we share his values about America. He has long fought against corporate America and is standing up for us and our country. He is the only one who has consistently opposed this war and voted against it. He want to see Bush & Cheney impeached and made a great presentation in Congress offering the Impeachment resolution. As short as he is physically, he is the tallest when it relates to ethics, values and progressive ideas.

Thanks for introducing his partner, Jazzo.

Jerry

6 Dec 2007 @ 23:03 by vaxen : Actually...
you might be interested in the Ron Paul platform. But...I know the term 'Republican' probably frightens you. Kuci won't get it but...all's fair in love and war, eh? Thanks for the laughs, anyway, jazzo...you might be interested in what 'BlackBox Voting' has to say about 'elections' in Amerika. Rather nonexistent. Are you going to run for precinct captain this year?

7 Dec 2007 @ 05:59 by vaxen : A Toddy:
Excerpts from:

An Open Letter to American Muslims on Behalf of Ron Paul

by Hussein Ali

I write this open letter today, in behalf of Congressman and Presidential candidate Dr. Ron Paul, to the American Muslim community. The spirit is similar to letters (here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here; also see here) written to other religious and nonreligious communities in behalf of Dr. Paul. In fact, the spirit is identical to all the other ones; they all were about freedom. Freedom is the source of all of Dr. Paul’s positions on the issues that matter to Americans in general and American Muslims in particular.

Dr. Paul has voted "no" on the Patriot Act and wiretapping of Americans. Dr. Paul wants government out of our businesses, out of our homes, out of our wallets, out of our bedrooms and out of our places of worship. Other than Dr. Paul and Congressman Dennis Kucinich, no other candidate has voted or even come out against the Patriot Act. He describes himself as the defender of our birthright liberties and freedoms as reaffirmed in the US Constitution.

Dr. Paul has voted "no" on the authorization to go to war with Iraq. Dr. Paul would also eliminate federal income taxes, which disallows us from spending our hard-earned money on humanitarian causes that are just and worthwhile. Dr. Paul promises an immediate end to the IRS.

Madeline Albright, when asked by a reporter if the sanctions that killed half a million Iraqi children were worth it, answered in the affirmative.

In very sharp contrast, Dr. Paul consistently voted against sanctions on pre-war Iraq.

Dr. Paul has consistently voted in favor of non-interventionism in the Middle East issue.

Here are some of the other issues that matter to American Muslims, and Dr. Paul’s position on these issues:

Abortion: As Muslims we believe that the unborn have a right to freedom and a right to life as an individual. As an OB/GYN doctor, Dr. Paul has delivered over 4,000 babies. In 40 years of medical practice, he has never considered performing an abortion, nor did he ever find abortion necessary to save the life of a pregnant woman. His professional and legislative record demonstrates his strong commitment to this pro-life principle.

Health Freedom: Muslims are generally concerned over the government’s escalating rejection of the freedom to choose how citizens take care of their health. Many Muslims have concerns over obligatory health insurance plans that are based on an enforced universal health care system. Dr. Paul stands strongly against government intervention in health care choices.
Racism and Islamophobia: We are all aware of the recent tide of increased (mostly verbal, with frequent physical) attacks on Muslims based on ignorance: Islamophobia. This has recently been heightened as a direct result of the use of such terms as "Islamofascism" and "Islamic Terrorism." Dr. Paul's position on racism and bigotry is very clear. Dr. Paul says (from his campaign website):

"A nation that once prided itself on a sense of rugged individualism has become uncomfortably obsessed with racial group identities.

"The collectivist mindset is at the heart of racism.

"Government as an institution is particularly ill-suited to combat bigotry. Bigotry at its essence is a problem of the heart, and we cannot change people's hearts by passing more laws and regulations."

I know that many of you would bring up the fact (and very strange coincidence) that Dr. Paul is a Republican from Texas. Last time American Muslims overwhelmingly voted for a Republican from Texas has turned out to be, to say the least, not quite the right choice. Well, to this concern I have two straightforward answers:

Dr. Paul's record is consistent and solid. This can be verified by checking his voting record over the last 30 years as a Congressman. I also recommend his books Freedom under Siege and A Foreign Policy of Freedom.

The second reason to choose Dr. Paul is inspired by a lesson we read frequently in the Qur’an: "The noblest among you in God's sight is the one who best performs his duty." And I believe that, among all the candidates, Dr. Paul is the one with the best and most consistent record to assume the very crucial duty of the US presidency.

http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig8/ali1.html

Hussein Ali [ husseinali.lrc@gmail.com ] teaches science.

7 Dec 2007 @ 10:36 by jazzolog : Kucinich And Paul
I had occasion to hear both candidates coincidentally yesterday---as we sat home another day from work, the bus drivers who actually run the American education system (along with the secretaries) being cowed by an inch of snow and ice. Ron Paul was a call-in on Stephanie Miller's show http://www.stephaniemiller.com/home.php?PageId=85&PageSubId= and we mentioned above Dennis Kucinich would be talking with Ed Schultz again. I like both men but just can't go down the Libertarian road...to say nothing of Dr. Paul's views on the legal rights of fetuses, which Stephanie asked him about. I'm immediately sympathetic to anyone in America who gets called a Red...ever since my first boss, a shriveled up piece of penis in the Bronx (1963), called me a "Kennedy pinko." Before that actually, back to Pete Seeger. Anyway the Wonkette is always hilarious and of course I realize Cloud 9 will have to meet the test of the first huge fight, and ensuing negotiation. However, I think Elizabeth's the one with mind control gifts, not Dennis. (I once lived with a redhead for 3 years. At the beginning she asked me had I ever been with a redhead before. After I said no, she replied, "You're never going to forget this." I never even tried.) By the way, Stephanie Miller is running for Vice President on a ticket with Barry Goldwater's granddaughter, CC. Seems her father was Goldwater's vice-presidential candidate in '64. Major plank in their platform: twice the cleavage of Hillary.

http://goldwatermiller08.com/uploads/images/Supporter%20Pics/Goldwater%20Miller.JPG

You may peruse the whole thing here~~~

http://www.goldwatermiller08.com/

7 Dec 2007 @ 16:14 by jazzolog : Ohio's Peculiar Elections
One of the distinct benefits in Ohio is the Moritz College of Law at Ohio State in Columbus. I began haunting its site and in particular the blog of one of its star professors, Dan Tokaji, after the 2000 presidential election. He smelled a rat but couldn't prove it, and remained undaunted no matter how many of us tried to push and shove him to cry, "FOUL." I mean, he's had Bob Fitrakis up there banging on his door too.

On Tuesday, the Columbus Dispatch said Moritz had issued a report on Ohio's election system and those of 4 other Midwestern states. It says Ohio's system is structurally problematic. http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2007/12/04/BAD_CHILD.ART_ART_12-04-07_B1_4D8LT14.html?sid=101 At the same time Fitrakis published 50 recommendations about reforming Ohio's system at his site. http://www.freepress.org/columns/display/3/2007/1617 By Wednesday the Associated Press had picked up the story, and the other newspapers of Ohio were printing that, under headlines like Elections Flawed. Tokaji was quoted in it. http://news.cincypost.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071205/NEWS01/712050356

I combed the Moritz site looking for even a mention of this report. If it wasn't online anywhere, where could I find a copy. At last it's posted, and it involves a ton of reading. The college has done an exhaustive study of these election systems, "from registration to recounts." If you're snowed in, here ya go~~~

http://moritzlaw.osu.edu/electionlaw/joyce/index.php

That link is not a hefty download, but instead just the table of contents. Each chapter has its own PDF.

This morning, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports the Ohio Secretary of State, who you remember runs our election system---for better or ill---wants a new system, at least for Cuyahoga pronto. I doubt this is a direct reaction to the report, but it starts the ball rolling!

"Ohio's elections chief has no confidence in Cuyahoga County's current voting system and has suggested dumping the more than $20 million touch-screen voting system before the March 4 presidential primary.
"Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner is pushing the Board of Elections for a quick decision because of the time needed to roll out a new system."

http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/cuyahoga/1197019941287340.xml&coll=2

7 Dec 2007 @ 16:45 by a-d : and what's wrong with
being a "Hot Chick"???? Anybody???..... She really IS! which means she has SELF CONFIDENCE; she TRUSTS herself -and why not???? Do you think Kissinger, W, Giuliani & "the rest" TRUST/S him/self/themselves ???? hell no! They ONLY trust the Organization(/s TRADITIONAL "Party Line" = covered up CRUELTY) to keep all (of us ) in line!...
Thumbs up for a good looking Gal with good confidence in herself (THAT, btw, is why she is Good Looking!... ( for those of you who never saw the connection between those two aspects : ) ))

7 Dec 2007 @ 21:18 by jazzolog : A-D You Are
absolutely spot on, as they say these days. All that I have learned in my interactions these creative years lead me to the same conclusions as you express so brilliantly. Thank you.

9 Dec 2007 @ 02:59 by vaxen : Yes!
In line! On black fridays...and, in deed, all year long. You will serve! And you WILL like it! And...there is absolutely nothing that you can do about it. Doesn't that make you feel all so warm and fuzzy inside at 'Xrist-Mass.' Mass? The point? Hadit.

EFF? Electronic Freedom Foundation (Not so free after all). Phrack? My favorite hackers magazine. And...

Some free MP3's that I hope you'll download and enjoy...

http://www.musicfromouterspace.com/images/adhdboylogo.jpg

{http://www.musicfromouterspace.com/mp3page.php?page=MP3S}

Merry 'X' mass. X, of course, is the ancient Rune Gyfu meaning Gift, gifter, gifted and the 'act' of giving all in one neat, and tidy, little Runa (Mystery/Mysterion).

It (X) is also the ancient way of writing Tav the Hebrew 'T' last letter in the Phoenician Alef Beit and the Proto Sinaitic script as well. ;) Viva Sapato!

The point? Hadit.

Vax

PS: Pink, jazzo? Was it the wrist or the lithp?

9 Dec 2007 @ 16:12 by jerryvest : Hey, Vax....thanks for passing on
the MP3's. They are really fine and send some good thoughts with beautiful music. I posted them for my participants on my Forum - {Link:http://forums.delphiforums.com/stressout}

9 Dec 2007 @ 18:47 by vaxen : Yes sir!
And thankyou, jerry, for the link to your forum and the honorable mention. Wow, you mean there is hope? Hope is from the word hoop which means, of course, hoop. A circle whose circumferance is nowhere whose center is everywhere!

Very inspiring work you, and your hoop, are doing.

"The public debt is $9.1 trillion, and interest increases that debt by $1.4 billion per day. That alone will do us in if we fail to confront it. As for war, we can't even afford the two we are in." - Craig

Yes, but as Cheney knows, the whole system is based on...trust. Thus, deficits don't reallymatter. And by trust I do not mean trust. Your votes don't count in the world of Commerce which is the world 'governing' you. Let's make the best of it. Though Commerce is very strict (Equity law as an example) it is also fair...once you know the law, the 'rules' of the game.

Have a very Merry X Mass and please, by all means, reach out and 'touch' someone lovingly, gently, caringly...

Dashing through the snow, in a one horse open sleigh, over the fields we go, laughing all the way...

http://www.edge.org/images/edge_banner.gif

http://www.edge.org/

10 Dec 2007 @ 13:32 by jerryvest : Have a very Merry X Mass and please, by
by all means, reach out and 'touch'someone lovingly, gently, caringly..." Right on target, Vax. 'You are the man" for advancing the use of nourishing touch with your Christmas message. And, thanks for your kind and thoughtful comments about our "StressOut Forum." This room that you suggest in the EDGE, could well be a great meditation by inviting all of these great beings to join us in our Mind and begin interacting with them about improving our relations with our planet and nature, don't you think?

10 Dec 2007 @ 17:08 by vaxen : Heh, heh!
Yes I think so. Abolutely! Maybe a little touch from them, one unto another, and who knows might might result! Minds need touching too and, of course, intertouch revelations. See ya jerry san...

To arrive at the edge of the worlds knowledge,
seek out the most complex and sophisticated minds,
put them in a room together, and have them
touch one another in kindness.

You bet! The next revolution!

11 Dec 2007 @ 20:37 by vaxen : Washoi!
And when she moved into his place in Cleveland, the two-story frame house he'd bought in 1971 for $22,500, Dennis was cleaning out the closets and discovered a cardboard tube he'd never opened before. What he saw inside stunned them both. It was a handmade banner that supporters had given him during his 2004 run for the presidency, with all sorts of figures painted on it, and in the middle was a redheaded woman --

"Long, straight red hair, standing in the middle, head and shoulders above everybody else, under the word 'imagine,' " Elizabeth says.

Welcome! The Freecycle Network is made up of 4,188 groups with 4,177,000 members across the globe. It’s a grassroots and entirely nonprofit movement of people who are giving (& getting) stuff for free in their own towns. It’s all about reuse and keeping good stuff out of landfills. Each local group is moderated by a local volunteer (them’s good people). Membership is free. To sign up, find your community by entering it into the search box above or by clicking on “Browse Groups” above the search box. Have fun!

http://www.freecycle.org/

12 Dec 2007 @ 21:28 by vaxen : Imagine...
Yes, Antiwar Movement, There Is a Santa Claus

by Donna Volatile

You may not like the gift wrapping but the contents are what you wrote on your wish list: End the War, Bring the Troops Home Now, No War For Oil, or for Israel, Do Not Attack Iran, Restore The Constitution and The Rule of Law, No to The Patriot, Homeland Security, Military Commissions Acts and No to The Homegrown Terrorism Act, No To Torture, Rendition and Illegal Military Prisons and there's even some extras that most of us wouldn't mind seeing like putting an end to the Illegal Federal Reserve and doing away with the illegal personal income tax on wages.

That all of these goodies happen to be the essence of Congressman Ron Paul's, Republican Presidential candidate from Texas, campaign platform is surely a shock to any leftist's/progressive's system.

Ah be careful what you wish for, you just might get it...

The only question is will you accept this gift?

Perhaps the wrapping paper isn't right, perhaps there are some extra things in the box that don't fit your political criteria but hey, it's the thought that counts, isn't it?

Even Dennis Kucinich seems to think so, there is so much buzz in cyberspace about the possibility of a Dennis Kucinich/Ron Paul ticket, it is stunning. Dennis has even raised the prospect himself as has his wife Elisabeth. Who ever thought we'd see the day?!

There is a larger point to be made here and perhaps the most important one and that is there isn't a whole lot of difference between the wants, needs and desires of the anti-war traditional conservatives and the anti-war leftists and progressives. We just all need to get over ourselves. If Dennis Kucinich would consider Ron Paul as a running mate isn't it time for the anti-war movement to dig a little deeper to see what is going on here?...

http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig8/volatile1.html

15 Dec 2007 @ 10:38 by jazzolog : The Integrity Of Elections
I've felt like a voice in the wilderness for the past 7 years shouting about the mucking around with US elections. From hanging chads to the Supreme Court shrug-off to touchscreen fraud to Blackwell assurances Ohio elections are 100% pure, I've feared Americans just would give up their real freedom out of cynicism and despair. They'd allow themselves to be herded into the nearest box mall and Let Consumerism Reign! This morning I see a flicker of hope as The New York Times is picking up on last week's story from Ohio~~~

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/15/us/15ohio.html?th=&adxnnl=1&emc=th&adxnnlx=1197712840-q9LkGfWspPzN9vgGcwPgow

The Times neglects to mention Ohio's Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner announced the results of her investigation at a news conference yesterday. All the Ohio papers are carrying the story, many of them in the Associated Press version, which hopefully will get the word out far and wide~~~

Report: Ohio Needs New Voting Machines
By JULIE CARR SMYTH – 7 hours ago

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The state's top elections official recommended Friday that Ohio counties replace their touch-screen voting machines because the devices — in use for roughly two years — are vulnerable to manipulation.

A report released by Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner found a host of ways in which the machines could be manipulated: When empty, a portal in the electronic machines can be manipulated with a magnet or personal digital assistant; ballot-creation programs are either not password-protected or use a universal password; and invasive computer messages could be introduced by a voter and spread easily.

Touch-screen machines have been purchased across the nation to comply with the federal Help America Vote Act. Nationally, $3 billion was spent to replace the punch-card voting system that faltered in the 2000 election.

In the 2004 race between President Bush and Democrat John Kerry, Ohio bore the brunt of claims of voting problems. Complaints included limited access to voting machines, difficulties finding proper voting precincts and the accuracy of vote totals in precincts using electronic machines.

Kerry conceded the election after narrowly losing Ohio and its 20 electoral votes.

The state's review involved touch-screen machines built by Election Systems & Software, Hart Intercivic and Diebold Inc.'s Premier Election Solutions. Some Ohio counties started using them in November 2005, and the rest in May 2006.

Hart InterCivic said its voting systems are already being updated to be more secure and they would be improved more based on the Ohio review. Premier and ES&S also both issued statements defending their technology and committing to safe, secure elections. Premier noted that there has never been a documented case of the sort of tampering the Ohio study portends.

Brunner said she will not force Cuyahoga County — the state's most populous and one plagued with electronic voting problems — to replace its machines for the primary election in March, but she said she would be disappointed if they don't.

The Cuyahoga County elections board meets Monday to discuss its options. If the county switches to an optical-scan system, it would be the third voting system the county has used in three years.

Brunner, a Democrat, initiated the review when she took office, and state House Speaker Jon Husted, a Republican, joined her at the report's release to signal that its findings were not partisan.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5h6y0nVXefzLWXOImRcDXQxW8LPxQD8THJNS00

Forbes also is carrying the story, but probably the best coverage of all is at BradBlog. The last few years Brad Friedman has worked tirelessly to expose the rampant corruption of American elections...and was the first reporter of any kind to warn how easily a computer programmer can shift the results. Here's his entry about Ohio~~~

http://www.bradblog.com/?p=5443

15 Dec 2007 @ 13:58 by vaxen : Oh Christ!
You need NO VOTING MACHINES at all! Hand count the ballots and that isn't a guarantee that the same old political chicanery won't win the next "election" for the bandits in chief! Or at the very least... Oh, to hell with it. Was going to say voting machines with paper trails but screw this whole trip. It's corrupt and always will be. The people are idiots and that just won't change. See ya...

"If you can't protect the integrity of the system,
there is no system."

D.) The Ritalin Generation -- The extensive use of Ritalin and related drugs has caused great damage to the current generation. Why are so many children now diagnosed as ADD, ADHD, oppositional, or attachment disordered? These amphetamine-based drugs also came from the MK Ultra program. Approximately only 25% of the military age population even meets standards for induction in the Armed Forces. Congress has failed to take action.

Activists have been intimidated into leaving the country. Another solution that may have offered a convenient way to treat hyperactivity, etc. has backfired in a massive way.

E.) L. Ron Hubbard's Scientology has become a fashionable method of coping with life throughout the world but especially in Hollywood. Many famous stars are important advocates including Tom Cruise. The origins and implications of Dianetics are discussed in relation to its mind control origins.

L. Ron Hubbard was a Naval Intelligence Officer based in Silver Spring, MD. Similarly Carl Schleicher was a former Naval Intelligence Officer based in the
same city a decade later. An interesting coincidence, if nothing more! But then many intel agencies are based in the area.

F.) Where mind control technology is headed is not well known, but it has gone wireless. Implants are no longer necessary. Perhaps many of those UFO abductees are actually MK victims. The near future will include Direct Brain/Computer Interface (BCI).

We can only assume the real programs are held very tightly by the US Government. The hideous effects, which many of the programs have caused, cannot be over-emphasized. Reportedly, both MIT and The University of Michigan are strongholds for Tavistock influence in the USA.

THE ULTIMATE POWER TRIP: Cold warriors, wizards, professors collaborate, not to make the world safe for democracy, but for control of your mind and the mass of humanity.

PSYCHIC WARFARE, INFORMATION WARFARE, PSYCHOLOGICAL WARFARE, BIOLOGICAL WARFARE
DEW Weapons, Scalar Weapons, Ionospheric Holography, Ion cyclotron resonance, more...

http://ionatopia.50megs.com/

17 Dec 2007 @ 10:34 by jazzolog : Ohio's Elections Part 2
I tried to post this here yesterday, but couldn't access the site over the hours I had for computing~~~

****************************

I'm somewhat surprised this morning that Google News hasn't found any Sunday editorial writers tackling Ohio Secretary of State Brunner's announcement Friday of a report condemning our election practices---in my opinion covered most thoroughly by BradBlog http://www.bradblog.com/?p=5443 . Brad Friedman went on yesterday to post Diebold's response. A major contributor to and vocal supporter of George Bush Inc, Diebold makes machines the country uses to vote as mandated by Congressional legislation. (I'm still surprised it wasn't a no-bid contract.) Brad's entry reveals Diebold has changed its corporate name to Premier (as in Premier Khrushchev?) which I didn't know. Gee, I wonder why they would do that. {link:http://www.bradblog.com/?p=5446#more-5446}

There are 2 comments at the original BradBlog article by Bev Harris which are worth reading. You know her as founder of Black Box Voting, and among the first to raise questions about the easy corruptibility of the compulsory system. As yet her site doesn't have a column on these Ohio findings though. http://www.blackboxvoting.org/

Dan Tokaji's does though. If you're in Ohio, your newspaper article may have been the Associated Press version that quoted him and his concerns. Professor Tokaji teaches election law in the Moritz College of Law at Ohio State. He expanded yesterday morning on how he would amend Secretary Brunner's proposals for change. http://moritzlaw.osu.edu/blogs/tokaji/index.html

Raw Story also picked up the report but adds little. However the comments are volatile. http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Report_Ohio_voting_machines_have_critical_1215.html

Hopefully there will be more response through the day. Vaxen responded above with ridicule and disdain. Like most eligible Americans, he doesn't vote anymore...out of hopelessness. Isn't that state of mind a sign of defeat?

17 Dec 2007 @ 11:02 by jazzolog : Day 3 In Election Reform
Very little editorial or blogger comment out there today about Ohio's SOS and her concerns regarding our flawed (or flaw-able) election system. A couple newspaper editors tell us they'll wait and see what happens. Thanks a lot, courageous journalists.

Something known as the ohiogop.blogs.com/state_of_the_union/ did post on the topic. It tells us "Election officials call Brunner's report biased," and leads off with this statement: "Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner found some (left-wing activists) academics to issue an expensive taxpayer-funded 'study' criticizing Ohio's election system." Oooh, hello! Some exciting Fox language here. The entry concludes, "Obviously, Jennifer Brunner cooked up this report to appease the fringe conspiracy groups who still think - despite dozens of investigations - that Ohio's 2004 presidential election was stolen.
"The only thing stolen was $1.6 million of our tax dollars used to fund this colossal waste of paper."
http://ohiogop.blogs.com/state_of_the_union/2007/12/election-offici.html
BradBlog decided to take it on, and Bev Harris commented with some research as to who runs that blog. http://www.bradblog.com/?p=5448

Susan Gwinn, Chair of the Athens County Democratic Party, replied to yesterday's post with a polite reminder that our particular area is using "optical scan and also the automark which Brunner is recommending over using DRE’s for the handicapped." It's good to know some areas have had the best that's been available.

Speaking of courageous journalists, the transcript and video of Bill Moyers' interview with Keith Olbermann is online now. It's interesting to me that it's sports people, like Olbermann and Ed Schultz, who seem to be leading the way in exposing the chicanery that has been the Bush Administration. Moyers asks Olbermann why that is...and Keith's answer is worth looking at~~~
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/12142007/transcript1.html

17 Dec 2007 @ 19:58 by vaxen : Olberman...
welcomes himself?

KEITH OLBERMANN: "I accuse you, Mr. Bush, of lying this country into war. I accuse you of fabricating in the minds of your own people a false implied link between Saddam Hussein and 9/11... BILL MOYERS Rolling Stone calls Keith Olberman "the most honest man in news." Critics accuse him of extended polemics, and national review calls him, "shameless". Olberman shrugs it off. After years of knocking around broadcasting mainly as a sportscaster. He's found his place and his voice. His nightly countdown on MSNBC is the fastest-growing news show on cable television. To find out more about what's on Keith Olbermann's mind read his new book, Truth and Consequences. Keith Olbermann, welcome to the Journal.

KEITH OLBERMANN: My pleasure, sir. Good to be here.

Oi, and in the meanwhile nothing happens. All the accepted as authoritative ('Authored' a few 'books.) "Talking heads," Olberman included, go on and on and on...much ado about nothing!

Maybe these pundits should take a look at what happened during Alexander Hamiltons time? Central Banking? Boy do I have a time line for you! Includes the machinations of the Warbergs and the Rothchilds and the Perez Diaspora...

I'll save that for a select few, though, for the times ahead when these polemecists get knocked off their hoary pedestals one by one...

You really could benefit from reading Bev's 'Moonshine Voting' article...if you haven't already done so.

{http://www.newciv.org/mem/persnewslog.php?did=308&vid=308&xmode=show_article&artid=000308-000368&amode=standard&aoffset=0&time=1197921565}

The rumormill is cranking out a Hillary and Obama ticket. Fidel says: "Unbeatable!" The plutocrats laugh and the 'dish' runs away with the spoon.

Vissarionavich Dzughashvili changes his name so no one will know he's a Jew. Holosonic Research Labs wins the day. Lev Davidovich Bronstein returns from his exile in Siberia and immigrates to Neo Yisrael by way of Trotskyite China all the while dancing an Irish jig, laughing all the way...

In a one horse open sleigh he stole from the Brits. Filled to the brim with Gold he capped from the Russian people. Degel Ha Adom. Sela Ha Adom!

It's a brave new world and idiot savants rule the day. We, however, rule the night.

Magick Theatre
Delusional Democracy
Sonic Advertising -
Hillary and Obama '08
- Sound in a narrow beam.

http://www.occult-underground.com/

17 Dec 2007 @ 22:53 by vaxen : Getting out of trouble...
“Pulling Out the Bottom Card”

SAIC is a pillar of the Military Industrial Complex and is deeply intertwined in the intelligence community. SAIC is known as “The shadow ruling-class within the Pentagon.” Over 5,000 of their employees have security clearances. Some having the highest top-secret clearances possible. SAIC’s board is virtually a Who’s Who of the Military Industrial Complex old guard. Other than Gates and Owens; another ex-CIA director Bobby Ray Inman, who was director of the National Security Agency, and vice director of the Defense Intelligence Agency; and Retired Army Gen. Wayne Downing, who served as chief counter-terrorism expert on the National Security Council. SAIC also has joint ventures with Bechtel.

As Keith Nightingale, one of Gates and Owens’ operatives said, “We are a stealth company. We’re everywhere, but almost never seen.”

Almost never seen… For a publicly known example of how SAIC operates, check Diebold lobbyist Gilbert J. Glenn. He was trying to get Maryland to buy new Diebold voting machines. The Maryland legislatures were hesitatant to purchase the machines fearing security issues. So the state decided, after Gilbert J. Glenn suggested it, to hire SAIC to test the security of the systems. Essentially, they had the people who possibly provided the security to the machines to begin with coming in to audit and verify the security of the machines. And the icing on the cake, it later turned out that Gilbert J. Glenn was not only a lobbyist for Diebold, he was also a lobbyist for SAIC. So now we have SAIC people working for VoteHere and Diebold. I would be very interested to uncover other employees that interconnect with voting machine companies and SAIC.

VoteHere has erased any mention of Gates and Owens from their website and filled the board of the company with more legit looking executives with programming backgrounds. As I previously mentioned, they even recently changed their name, which is standard operating procedure for intelligence front companies and all the major electronic voting machine companies. It is a simplistic and outdated move, but it does provide minor difficulties in trying to research them. My source believes that VoteHere is essentially a SAIC shell company and they together secretly control the “security” of the entire US election system.

It is phenomenal (although not surprising) that Congress let Gates’ Secretary of Defense confirmation pass in congress without ever mentioning or questioning his ties to SAIC, VoteHere, HAVA and the electronic voting machine industry.

Having privately controlled companies running our elections is bad enough, but having the most secretive elements of the military industrial complex controlling them makes President Eisenhower’s warning of “unwarranted influence sought by the military industrial complex” look naïve in comparison. They’ve come a long way since then.

I’m sure many will try to dismiss these facts as conspiracy theory, but as someone who has spent significant time researching intelligence activities and covert operations, you learn that as crazy as all this sounds, based on what we do know for fact, you would have to be stunningly naïve to think that our elections have produced legitimate results.

As military budgets continue to grow and as trillions of dollars vanish without a trace, we are left, as citizens of this country, with the heavy burden of getting to the bottom of this.

If we don’t, who will?

“The right of voting for representatives is the primary right by which all other rights are protected. To take away this right is to reduce a man to slavery.”
- Thomas Paine, Dissertation on the First Principles of Government

** By David Vincent, http://ArtofMentalWarfare.com/ . This article is an adapted excerpt from the upcoming edition of the book The Art of Mental Warfare. **
Additional thoughts:

Ok, so now that we are beginning to see how power really works in this country, let’s stop playing the political checkers that the mainstream media feeds us. Let’s begin to have a real discussion of power politics. It’s time for us as citizens to start acting like citizens in the world’s most powerful superpower. I phrase it this way because most US “citizens” have been conditioned by the mainstream media to be horribly naïve to the fact that if you can manipulate the US political process, you will truly be the most powerful people to have ever walked the face of this earth. It may sound grandiose, but, hey, it is very fucking grandiose! Let me repeat myself, to make myself clear, and for dramatic effect… If you can manipulate the US political process, you will truly be the most powerful people to have ever walked the face of this earth! And we, as citizens of this supposed democracy, need to start playing political chess. So, in closing, I am adding some speculative thoughts.

My first thought is:

Why did Democrats win the House and Senate in the ‘06 mid-term elections?

http://artofmentalwarfare.com/pog/who-is-going-to-steal-the-08-presidential-election/

There is an old Chinese Proverb that says: "Of all 36 ways to get out of trouble, the best way is - leave."

19 Jan 2008 @ 12:23 by jazzolog : For Athens, Ohio---and hopefully others

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/01/16/us/ohio01600.jpg

Photo by Damon Winter/The New York Times
Jeffrey Evans, 49, who moved in with his mother, Shirley Sheline, 73, after losing his job in an automotive factory, said, “I lost everything I worked for all my life.”

Mr. Evans lives in Jackson, just a bit of a scenic drive west of Athens. The economic conditions described in Wednesday's New York Times of course apply here too, although we "have" the University---or the University has us....for housekeeping, grounds, and maintenance. Undoubtedly the story is typical of all Appalachia and maybe much of the rest of America too, as we teeter on the brink of another "Bush Recession." (In 1992, Bill Clinton campaigned for economic renewal using that term in reference to Bush, the father. Remember "It's the economy, stupid?") Thanks for the heads-up to online friend Mike Maloney, over in Cincinnati, Appalachian historian and advocate particularly for country folks forced off the land and into the big cities. The Times story starts out like this~~~

January 16, 2008
Blue-Collar Jobs Disappear, Taking Families’ Way of Life Along
By ERIK ECKHOLM
JACKSON, Ohio — After 30 years at a factory making truck parts, Jeffrey Evans was earning $14.55 an hour in what he called “one of the better-paying jobs in the area.”

Wearing a Harley-Davidson cap, a bittersweet reminder of crushed dreams, he recently described how astonished and betrayed he felt when the plant was shut down in August after a labor dispute. Despite sporadic construction work, Mr. Evans has seen his income reduced by half.

So he was astonished yet again to find himself, at age 49, selling off his cherished Harley and most of his apartment furniture and moving in with his mother.

Middle-aged men moving in with parents, wives taking two jobs, veteran workers taking overnight shifts at half their former pay, families moving West — these are signs of the turmoil and stresses emerging in the little towns and backwoods mobile homes of southeast Ohio, where dozens of factories and several coal mines have closed over the last decade, and small businesses are giving way to big-box retailers and fast-food outlets.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/16/us/16ohio.html?ei=5070&en=685267e36a45954c&ex=1201323600&adxnnl=1&emc=eta1&pagewanted=all&adxnnlx=1200741037-HzfiNkbLJ2yugsvVN5J8dw

Then there is the matter of native son Dennis Kucinich and General Electric this week. GE owns NBC and MSNBC which hosted the Democratic candidate debate Tuesday. This is how I understand it: MSNBC invited the "top four" candidates to answer questions posed by Brian Williams and Tim Russert, the 4 being winners of primaries and such and maybe outstanding in polls. That would have been Clinton, Obama, Edwards and Bill Richardson...but a few days before the debate Richardson withdrew his candidacy. That put Kucinich as the 4th participant...and NBC formally invited him. The Ohio representative rearranged his schedule (he's also trying to run for re-election here) to get him to Vegas, but suddenly GE/NBC uninvited him. Kucinich smelled a rat and sued...and lost. So what was the rat, and why the fuss?

In the days that have followed, the answer emerges. On Wednesday, the increasingly popular Democracy Now! invited Dennis Kucinich onto the program to view parts of the debate, with host Amy Goodman, and offer rebuttal to what the other candidates had to say. The transcript of the show makes interesting reading...and of course you also can stream audio and video. http://www.democracynow.org/2008/1/16/breaking_the_sound_barrier_democracy_now Of particular interest to the issue at hand is a peculiar question asked by Russert~~~

TIM RUSSERT: The volunteer army, many believe, disproportionate in terms of poor and minority who participate in our armed forces. There’s a federal statute on the books, which says that if a college or university does not provide space for military recruiters or provide a ROTC program for its students, it can lose its federal funding. Will you vigorously enforce that statute?

After Clinton, Obama, and Edwards all affirm they think military recruiters should be provided office space and access to university students, Goodman asks Kucinich if he would do that~~~

AMY GOODMAN: Congressmember Kucinich, would you?

REP. DENNIS KUCINICH: Absolutely not. Our society is being militarized. And part of the problem is NBC, which is a partner defense contractor through the ownership of General Electric of both NBC and Raytheon. So NBC is really promoting war here.
The truth of the matter is that we need to make it possible for our young people, if they desire to go in the military, they can go to a recruiter’s office, instead of telling campuses that if you don’t let recruiters on campus, you’re going to lose your money. That, to me, is antithetical to a democratic society.

At BestSyndication.com we learn "MSNBC’s parent company, General Electric (GE), and other corporate interests have been accused of trying to squelch Kucinich’s voice in the primary. Kucinich is the only remaining Democratic Presidential candidate who voted against the original Iraq War. He consistently votes against funding for the war as well.
"The Center for Public Integrity reports 'that GE has or had post-war business dealings in Iraq.' The company supplies temporary electrical generators to the U.S. military in Iraq. 'The company (GE) refused to divulge the value of the contract,' the watch dog group reported." http://www.bestsyndication.com/?q=011508_dennis_kucinich_excluded_msnbc_debates_las_vegas.htm

Amy Goodman's column yesterday also reviewed the situation. http://www.hattiesburgamerican.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080117/OPINION01/801170353 There are a few aggressive comments following the Hattiesburg version of the column, and I must say it's good to see discussion like this in Mississippi...or anywhere.

So if it's true, how could GE get away with something like this? Could be its double digit profit figures this last quarter have something to do with it. Here's a transcript of the company's conference call to investors yesterday morning: http://seekingalpha.com/article/60735-general-electric-company-q4-2007-earnings-call-transcript?source=homepage_transcripts_sidebar

Ah yes, how well I remember the host and occasional star of General Electric Theater, back in 1954, smiling and assuring us in his warm voice, "At GE Progress Is Our Most Important Product." http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/G/htmlG/generalelect/generalelect.htm And then somehow that host became a governor and eventually President Reagan.

Speaking of Free Election, the third story has to do with the continuing effort by Ohio Governor Strickland's administration to remove dubious elements from our election system. Despite all kinds of protest, mocking and roadblocks, new Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner is sticking to her guns on this. According to the Associated Press this morning, she is compromising on her idea to have votes counted as central locations, a suggestion that drew fire from all sides. http://www.ohio.com/news/top_stories/13914922.html Things are getting interesting folks, and hopefully we're rolling up our sleeves for the hard work ahead!

25 Jan 2008 @ 10:35 by jazzolog : Any Questions?
So Dennis is gone...even though everybody seemed to think he was right about most stuff. But maybe some kind of attitude problem? And he must have been a Communist, things like that. Not the kind of guy like Bush was, somebody to sit around and have beers with.

Bush today~~~

http://hosted.ap.org/photos/1/1dcf82ba-124e-48c0-8473-71482564798c-small.jpg

Why? Could it be that new study?

Jan 23, 6:43 AM EST

Study: False statements preceded war
By DOUGLASS K. DANIEL
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A study by two nonprofit journalism organizations found that President Bush and top administration officials issued hundreds of false statements about the national security threat from Iraq in the two years following the 2001 terrorist attacks.

The study concluded that the statements "were part of an orchestrated campaign that effectively galvanized public opinion and, in the process, led the nation to war under decidedly false pretenses."

The study was posted Tuesday on the Web site of the Center for Public Integrity, which worked with the Fund for Independence in Journalism.

White House spokesman Scott Stanzel did not comment on the merits of the study Tuesday night but reiterated the administration's position that the world community viewed Iraq's leader, Saddam Hussein, as a threat.

"The actions taken in 2003 were based on the collective judgment of intelligence agencies around the world," Stanzel said.

The study counted 935 false statements in the two-year period. It found that in speeches, briefings, interviews and other venues, Bush and administration officials stated unequivocally on at least 532 occasions that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction or was trying to produce or obtain them or had links to al-Qaida or both.

"It is now beyond dispute that Iraq did not possess any weapons of mass destruction or have meaningful ties to al-Qaida," according to Charles Lewis and Mark Reading-Smith of the Fund for Independence in Journalism staff members, writing an overview of the study. "In short, the Bush administration led the nation to war on the basis of erroneous information that it methodically propagated and that culminated in military action against Iraq on March 19, 2003."

Named in the study along with Bush were top officials of the administration during the period studied: Vice President Dick Cheney, national security adviser Condoleezza Rice, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, Secretary of State Colin Powell, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz and White House press secretaries Ari Fleischer and Scott McClellan.

Bush led with 259 false statements, 231 about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and 28 about Iraq's links to al-Qaida, the study found. That was second only to Powell's 244 false statements about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and 10 about Iraq and al-Qaida.

The center said the study was based on a database created with public statements over the two years beginning on Sept. 11, 2001, and information from more than 25 government reports, books, articles, speeches and interviews.

"The cumulative effect of these false statements - amplified by thousands of news stories and broadcasts - was massive, with the media coverage creating an almost impenetrable din for several critical months in the run-up to war," the study concluded.

"Some journalists - indeed, even some entire news organizations - have since acknowledged that their coverage during those prewar months was far too deferential and uncritical. These mea culpas notwithstanding, much of the wall-to-wall media coverage provided additional, 'independent' validation of the Bush administration's false statements about Iraq," it said.

---

On the Net:

Center For Public Integrity: http://www.publicintegrity.org/default.aspx

Fund For Independence in Journalism: http://www.tfij.org/

© 2008 The Associated Press.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/MISINFORMATION_STUDY?SITE=KING&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

6 Mar 2008 @ 10:02 by jazzolog @207.69.137.24 : Kucinich Update
Somehow the Common Dreams reprint of the Plain Dealer article is more friendly. Lots of comments too~~~

Published on Wednesday, March 5, 2008 by The Cleveland Plain Dealer
Dennis Kucinich Appears Headed to General Election in 10th District Congressional Race
by Molly Kavanaugh

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/wp-content/photos/0305_03.jpg

Despite a well-financed, aggressive opposition campaign and the distractions of a failed presidential bid, U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich appears to have survived a strong primary challenge.

The 10th District Democratic congressman was facing his first threat of losing the seat he has held for 12 years. Kucinich spent thousands of dollars on television ads and agreed to debate his opponents - chief rival Cleveland Councilman Joe Cimperman and three other candidates.

The 61-year-old former Cleveland mayor said he was encouraged by the results. “I am also encouraged because I know of all the hard work you have all put in,” he told supporters at the North Shore AFL-CIO Federation of Labor union hall.

Cimperman hammered away at Kucinich’s second long-shot presidential bid, constantly citing votes he missed in Congress while running for the White House and the financial support he received from Hollywood stars like Sean Penn.

Cimperman, 37, spent at least $500,000 trying to win the seat and gained the endorsement of Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson.

“We took someone who ignored the district for 12 years and made him pay attention,” said Cimperman, speaking from Around the Corner in Lakewood.

Cimperman, who lives outside the district, said it was too early to say whether he would consider another run for the 10th District seat. The district encompasses Cleveland’s West Side and Cuyahoga County’s western suburbs.

While Cimperman said he always considered the campaign a two-way race, the crowded field did not help his chances.

Rosemary Palmer, campaigning in the HopeMobile bus, entered the race after her son, Marine Lance Cpl. Edward “Augie” Schroeder, was killed in Iraq.

Barbara Ferris, president and founder of the International Women’s Democracy Center, was trying for a third time to unseat Kucinich.

During the campaign, North Olmsted Mayor Thomas O’Grady cited his military career and blasted Cimperman.

Kucinich probably will face Republican Jim Trakas, a former state representative from Independence who had to give up his seat because of term limits.
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/03/05/7478/

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