They're nuts. They're all nuts.

[jrandom]

"American counterterrorism officials, citing what they call "alarming" intelligence about a possible Qaeda strike inside the United States this fall, are reviewing a proposal that could allow for the postponement of the November presidential election in the event of such an attack..."

http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2004/7/11/221525/810

For some reason, many of the Americans I've met have had a penchant for taking everything far too seriously, and putting enormous weight on stuff that, let's be frank, most people would just shrug about. Good things *and* bad.

Is that why their society has descended into mass hysteria?

Now, I've heard the recent comments about the not-so-documentary nature of Mr Moore's 'documentaries', and the counter-argument of the need for left-wing propaganda to balance the right-wing propaganda. Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera (Yul Brynner stylee). But is there anything coming out of that place that ISN'T propaganda?

Is there any sanity and harmony left? Or is it just an endless cacophony of randomly changing Terror Alert Levels overlaying the crunching sound of a handful of giant conglomerates gradually converting the country to a corporate dictatorship?

[James Deuce]

"American counterterrorism officials, citing what they call "alarming" intelligence about a possible Qaeda strike inside the United States this fall, are reviewing a proposal that could allow for the postponement of the November presidential election in the event of such an attack..."

http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2004/7/11/221525/810

For some reason, many of the Americans I've met have had a penchant for taking everything far too seriously, and putting enormous weight on stuff that, let's be frank, most people would just shrug about. Good things *and* bad.

Is that why their society has descended into mass hysteria?

Now, I've heard the recent comments about the not-so-documentary nature of Mr Moore's 'documentaries', and the counter-argument of the need for left-wing propaganda to balance the right-wing propaganda. Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera (Yul Brynner stylee). But is there anything coming out of that place that ISN'T propaganda?

Is there any sanity and harmony left? Or is it just an endless cacophony of randomly changing Terror Alert Levels overlaying the crunching sound of a handful of giant conglomerates gradually converting the country to a corporate dictatorship?

Bahahahahahaaaa

I was waiting for the first hints of an excuse for the US Government to descend into full-on Fascist Dictator mode.

Ever four years: "There might be a terrorist attack so we can't have elections. Everyone back to work at the local arms factory please."

[riffer]

Bahahahahahaaaa

I was waiting for the first hints of an excuse for the US Government to descend into full-on Fascist Dictator mode.

Ever four years: "There might be a terrorist attack so we can't have elections. Everyone back to work at the local arms factory please."
This exact scenario was predicted way back in February by Jeff Rense http://www.rense.com and he was afforded about as much respectability as John Titor is now.

Why am I so not surprised this is happening?

[jrandom]

Why am I so not surprised this is happening?

Probably for the same reason that I'm not surprised that I'm not surprised this is happening. I just wish I *could* be surprised that I wasn't surprised. I'm way past hoping that I'd be surprised that it was happening.

[Jackrat]

King Bush the first,
How's that sound?? :blink:

[duckman]

King Bush the first,
How's that sound?? :blink:
No he'd need a kingdom to be king ....
He's got a country, so that makes him ahhhhh..... :whistle:

[riffer]

No he'd need a kingdom to be king ....
He's got a country, so that makes him ahhhhh..... :whistle:
Emperor George...

[Paul in NZ]

I wonder what they would consider a threat?

George W not winning maybe?? The man got in by trickery, why not stay there using the same?

[Mongoose]

Emperor George...

Close, but sorry, no cigar

[jrandom]

Emperor George...

The last time the Americans had a King George, it didn't go too well.

[Bandito]

I wonder what they would consider a threat?

George W not winning maybe?? The man got in by trickery, why not stay there using the same?
Sometimes and noyt, too often you read something that you wish you saidm first, well written Paui in NZ :niceone:

[Coldkiwi]

i was fairly cynical when i first read that but they do have a point. given the last voting cockups, pretty much the last thing the US needs is ot have the next vote an even bigger debarcle because some nutcase flew another plane into a building. Think about it, if 9-11 happend again, there would be 1000's of people who wouldn't end up voting which would totally root the results.
what they are suggesting is a temporary postponement IF an attacked happened on the day before or day of the election, not a blanket ' we think that cloud a bit like a terrorist so no elections this year'... well, at least thats how I read the proposal... it could well be something much more sinister but the concept of it has some merit

[Hitcher]

This exact scenario was predicted way back in February by Jeff Rense http://www.rense.com and he was afforded about as much respectability as John Titor is now.

Why am I so not surprised this is happening?

John Titor!! I was wondering how long it would take before somebody brought that up!! Woo hoo, bring it on!

[Hitcher]

i was fairly cynical when i first read that but they do have a point. given the last voting cockups, pretty much the last thing the US needs is ot have the next vote an even bigger debarcle because some nutcase flew another plane into a building. Think about it, if 9-11 happend again, there would be 1000's of people who wouldn't end up voting which would totally root the results.
what they are suggesting is a temporary postponement IF an attacked happened on the day before or day of the election, not a blanket ' we think that cloud a bit like a terrorist so no elections this year'... well, at least thats how I read the proposal... it could well be something much more sinister but the concept of it has some merit

Worth noting that if the last US presidential election fiasco had happened anywhere else in the world, the UN would probably have intervened...

[Posh Tourer :P]

Worth noting that if the last US presidential election fiasco had happened anywhere else in the world, the UN would probably have intervened...

ummm not really.... there would have to be evidence of serious breaches of democracy by the government, which the UN could then say was trying to hold on to power, or by a desperate opposition. What happened in the US was a result of poor planning and a two-tiered electoral system - which everyone knew about, and obviously offered the opportunity to be elected with less than 50% of the vote - but no-one complained until it looked like their man might be done out of office, and AFAIK neither of the major parties had a hand in rigging the vote....

[riffer]

ummm not really.... there would have to be evidence of serious breaches of democracy by the government ... AFAIK neither of the major parties had a hand in rigging the vote....
We sell the voting machines, we program the voting machines, and we count the votes. You can trust us. We are the Republicans.
By Mick Youther


http://www.interventionmag.com/cms/img/slot4.jpg One thing we learned from the 2000 election is that our voting system is a mess. Have things gotten any better? The government seems to think that the answer to all our voting problems is paperless electronic voting machines, and it is using our tax dollars to entice states to buy these new machines. So far, things are not looking too good.

• “, an electronic system initially recorded more than 144,000 votes in an election with fewer than 19,000 registered voters…”--[i]NY Times, 1/31/04

• “In the 2002 election, brand new computer voting systems used in Florida lost over 100,000 votes due to a software error. Errors and irregularities were also reported in New Jersey, Missouri, Georgia, Texas, and at least 10 other states.”-- Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ), press release, January, 2003

• “Incorrect software programming has now been identified in over 100 elections, often flipping the race to the wrong candidate, even when the election was not close. No one knows how many elections have actually been misprogrammed, and as we eliminate paper ballots, no one will ever know.” --Bev Harris, author of “Black Box Voting: Ballot-Tampering in the 21st Century”, BuzzFlash Interview, 10/1/03

Electronic voting machines breaking down or making random mistakes is bad enough, but there is something even more ominous about this rush to paperless, electronic voting.

• “There is a long history of election irregularities that suggests that vote fraud using voting machines has been occurring. Republicans appear to be the main beneficiaries. In the 2002 election 74% of upset elections went to Republicans by as much as 9-14% outside of the margin of error, according to reporter Alastair Thompson of Scoop.”-- The Baltimore Chronicle, 8/15/03

• “It appears that voting technology is a topic that the Republican leadership wants to tightly control. It is without doubt that Republicans own most of the companies that manufacture, sell, and service voting machines. And President Bush and the Republican Congress appear determined to control and limit oversight of the elections industry.” -- Lynn Landes, dissidentvoice.org, 4/13/04

• “…in 2004, most votes will be 'counted' by paperless, unverifiable, eminently hackable computer systems, privately owned and secretly programmed by Bush supporters from the Religious Right and the military-intelligence complex.”-- Chris Floyd, Moscow Times, 9/12/03

• “The 2004 election rests in the private hands of the Urosevich brothers [Bob and Todd], who are financed by the far-out right wing and top donors to the Republican Party.”-- Lynn Landes, EcoTalk.org, 4/27/04 (Their companies, Diebold and ES&S, will count about 80% of all votes cast in the upcoming U.S. presidential election.)

• “The voting industry is spending literally millions of dollars, and going through amazing feats of contorted logic that can best be described as marketing gymnastics, to convince us that we should discontinue proper auditing. They want us to eliminate the ballot which you verify, and trust the secret system instead.”-- Bev Harris, author of “Black Box Voting: Ballot-Tampering in the 21st Century”, BuzzFlash Interview, 10/1/03

• “Using these machines is tantamount to handing complete control of vote counting to a private company, with no independent checks or audits. These machines represent a serious threat to democracy.”-- Professor David Dill, Stanford University, [infernalpress.com], 6/20/03

Would Republicans really stoop to rigging voting machines to win? Judging from what they did in Florida’s 2000 election, the answer is yes—Absolutely. The Republicans learned that, no matter how many laws and rules they have to break to win an election, once they’ve won, it’s all over but the crying. Nobody will do anything about it. President Bush is their proof of that.

There are Democratic bills in Congress trying to assure a verifiable election, but they are being held up by you-know-who. Let your Congressperson know what you think about casting your vote on Republican machines with no verifiable record, and visit these sites to see what else you can do to assure a fair election.

[Skyryder]

Short of a catostophic terror attack I do not believe that the US would allow the dusruption of their elections. It would be tantamount to saying we have lost and Al Quada have won the first round.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uselections2004/story/0,13918,1259873,00.html

Skyryder

[SPman]

Short of a catostophic terror attack I do not believe that the US would allow the dusruption of their elections. It would be tantamount to saying we have lost and Al Quada have won the first round.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uselections2004/story/0,13918,1259873,00.html

SkyryderI think their excuse is, it might influence the election, the way the neocons think the bombing in Spain influenced their election. Trouble is, the Spanish election would have gone the same way, regardless of the bombing, as the Spanish populace didnt want to be in Iraq to start with and were pretty pissed with the government for going in with C***t George!
Stupid f**kin yanks refused to see that, seeing as how they are so obsessed with terrorists under every stone!