Russia’s Central Election Commission chief has ranked the American electoral system among the “worst in the world.”
One of the main problems with the US electoral system is the lack of transparency, Vladimir Churov argues in an article published in Wednesday’s issue of Rossiyskaya Gazeta.
According to US law, international observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) are only granted access to polling stations in a handful of US states, including in Missouri, South Dakota, North Dakota, New Mexico, and the District of Columbia.
In the other states, US Governors have the final say over the question of allowing international observers to monitor the election process.
According to Churov, however, the dark side of the American election process is that “OSCE monitors have been barred from entering polling stations even in the states where they may do so under US law.”
This lack of transparency opens the door to numerous possibilities for corruption and manipulation of the system, he added.
Churov then discussed a perennial problem with American elections: electronic voting machines that do not provide voters with a receipt for their vote, and which are highly vulnerable to manipulation.
“American voting machines have not been designed to provide any documentary evidence of citizen participation in the electoral process,” the Russian observer noted. “Moreover, operators [of the machinery] are technically capable of adding or dropping votes in favor of one candidate or another, leaving behind no evidence of violations.”
In October’s issue of Harper’s Magazine, Victoria Collier shows that with the advent of modern technology, “a brave new world of election rigging emerged,” which emerged with the “mass adoption of computerized voting technology and the outsourcing of our elections to a handful of corporations that operate in the shadows, with little oversight or accountability.”
Collier called the “privatization of our elections…one of the most dangerous and least understood crisis in the history of American democracy.”
Meanwhile, another study demonstrated that a person armed with about 10 bucks and a limited knowledge of technology could hack the vote.
“Voting machines used by as many as a quarter of American voters heading to the polls in 2012 can be hacked with just $10.50 in parts and an eighth grade science education, according to computer science and security experts at the Vulnerability Assessment Team at Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois,” reported Salon.
The analysts showed that the “newly developed hack” could manipulate voting results while leaving “absolutely no trace” of the crime behind.
CARACAS, Venezuela — Fighting for his political life, President Hugo Chavez overcame a vigorous challenge by Henrique Capriles in Sunday’s presidential election, receiving another six-year term that will give the populist firebrand the opportunity to complete the consolidation of what he calls 21st century socialism in one of the world’s great oil powers.
The victory, announced by the National Electoral Council late Sunday, gave Chavez the win with 54.4 percent of the vote, while Capriles took 44.9 percent. In winning his fourth presidential election since 1998, Chavez captured just over 7.4 million votes to 6.1 million for his adversary, turning back what had been a determined battle by Capriles, a 40-year-old former governor.
“I congratulate the opposition and the directors of the opposition, because they recognize the victory of the people,” Chavez told throngs of supporters gathered outside the presidential palace. “That’s why I send them this salute and put out my arms to them, because we are all brothers in the fatherland of Bolivar.”
Half an hour later, Capriles conceded at his campaign headquarters. But he signaled that the support of millions of Venezuelans showed that his proposals had struck a chord. And he asked that Chavez, who often mocks his foes as oligarchs and lackeys of U.S. imperialism, take the opposition’s needs into account.
“I’m convinced that this country can be better,” Capriles said in a halting, emotional speech. “Being a good president means working for all Venezuelans.”
Chavez’s victory touched off wild celebrations in the capital, where crowds of the president’s red-shirted supporters — the “Chavistas” from the poorest barrios who have been the backbone of his movement — set off fireworks and blew horns.
“You can’t do better than this president,” said Miguel Guevara, 77, who sells books in the streets and voted in a poor barrio whose support helped bring Chavez to power. “The only one who has helped the country is named Hugo Chavez.”
The president of the electoral council, Tibisay Lucena, said more than 80 percent of the country’s nearly 19 million registered voters participated in the election.
“To the participants who didn’t get victory, consider yourselves victors, too,” she said in making her announcement to loud cheers among Chavez’s supporters. “To participate in an electoral process like this one, in democracy, is a victory for the whole people of Venezuela. The entire country has won.”
Chavez still faces a host of challenges that were highlighted by Capriles’s focused, well-organized campaign, in which the youthful lawyer — known as “Skinny” to his followers — hammered the government daily for the country’s decaying infrastructure, increasing dependence on oil exports and inability to control one of the world’s highest homicide rates.
Ron Paul is reminding Americans that the lies that led us to war in 2003 with Iraq are being recycled again to prime the pump for a war with Iran in 2012. Our advice: don’t be fooled again.
The stark reality about the Ron Paul revolution is that the power elites could not survive in a society based upon individual liberty. Nevertheless, this statement does not imply that a Paul presidency would guarantee the elimination of the oligarchy.
The faint memory of what a free nation could be or even what our country once was, could be revived under certain circumstances. Imagine the abolishment of the Federal Reserve and the fractional debt created money system. Consider a non-interventionist foreign policy that allows for actual national defense and secures the borders. Or, best of all, a limited government culture that is based upon the principle that government exists to serve citizens in their pursuit of freedom. Thomas Jefferson’s soul lives within the Ron Paul generation.
THE LAST HONEST PLAYER: The establishment fear Ron Paul because he is not on the take and cannot be bought.
The barons of media exclusion, that spread a confederacy of silence around Ron Paul, are descendants of the same cabal that sent Jefferson to France during the drafting and debating at the Constitutional Convention. These latest cohorts want to continue the same dominance over the spirit of the revolution. This eternal battle is presently waged under an invigorant new awakening. The old game no longer works. Swept away are their lies, because their pseudo propaganda all point to the oz cult behind the curtain, and the destructive reality of their plots are visible for all to see.
No wonder, since he does not play their game, Ron Paul is such a threat to their control. Consider the insight of our long time friend and courageous advocate of an American First foreign policy, Mark Dankof. He gets to the core reason why the (FCM) Fawning Corporate Media wants to prevent Ron Paul from winning the GOP nomination.
“Israel, the Jewish Lobby worldwide, the Central Bankers, and the energy/gas consortiums, are the driving force behind making this war happen. Jay Solomon’s story (WSJ – Senators Press Obama On Iran’s Central Bank) indeed notes that Senator Mark Kirk (R., Illinois) and Senator Charles Schumer (D., New York), are the co-sponsors of the letter, in a “sign of bipartisan support for tougher financial measures against Iran. . . .“ What the Wall Street Journal omits, of course, is that Kirk received more Israeli/Jewish PAC money for his initial election to the Senate, than any other candidate in the last election cycle, and that Schumer’s pockets have been lined historically with reams of the same levels of financial largesse for doing the bidding of the Zionist State. We might also draw the legitimate and documentable conclusion that Kirk, Schumer, and their colleagues in both houses of Congress, demonstrate the stranglehold that Israel has on both major political parties, as demonstrated each year by Hugh Galford and Janet McMahon of the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs in Washington. The numbers provided annually by Galford and McMahon provide the quantitative proof of what President Obama told Ha’aretz in his last trip to Israel: that Obama himself could not possibly have been elected to the U. S. Senate in Illinois (the seat now held by Kirk, by the way), or the American Presidency, without the amount of Jewish money and political support that came his way. Presumably, the President is saying something about the larger political system and the way it works systemically. Follow the money trail. And the Bankers. And the number of Israeli assets in the GOP Presidential sweepstakes (the exception is Ron Paul) who have never met a surrogate war they didn’t like, including the one on the drawing board now they will assiduously promote if The Masters should decide that Mr. Obama needs replacing in 2012 for insufficient sycophancy.”
Sadly, many Tea Party conservatives still accept the Neocon foreign policy deception. Ron Paul is a non-interventionist, not an isolationist. Watch the thinking man’s version of a strong leader in the video, Ron Paul Speaks Out: Media Blackout, Economic Freedom, Intellectual Revolution. Go beyond the sound bites and ads, then ask the hard questions.
Once the presidential campaign heats up after Labor Day, the cast of characters will keep shucking out the phony common man populism, while cavorting with the same money interests, corporatists and banksters that select every other nominee. Have you forgotten the Skull and Bones ticket of 2004? Surely, the progressive McCain was no choice over the “bomber” Obama general.
Now the Ron Paul generation understands that liberty and genuine national security is never advanced under the military-industrial-homeland war party. Yet, usually the only candidates you get to vote for out of the duel party wag the dog parade is a kosher toady. The unremitting plans to eradicate Iran, drives the banking internationalists for the same reason that Libya became a bombing range target. No nation is allowed to challenge the money monopoly. Gaddafi’s gold and Ahmadinejad’s economic independence as cited in an IMF report, cannot stand the risk of any unorthodox ruler. How dare the Zionist controlled press make a rare slip up and reveal, “The IMF said it has revised its previous figures on Iran’s economy after a brief visit to the country, expressing admiration for some of the controversial plans introduced by the hardline president.”
The entrenched GOP party facilitators want to marginalize Ron Paul as dangerous because he resists tribe orders and refuses to waste another generation of youth in the service of zealots. Liberty demands that our sons and daughters no longer be consumed as cannon fodder. Translate the “ON BEHALF OF A GRATEFUL NATION” sympathy statement to read – The defense department regrets to inform you that your sons are dead because they were stupid.
Now even the disappointed left have figured out that warmonger Barry Soetoro AKA Barack Obama, is no different from George W. Bush. So when will the Republican faithful come to grips, that Bachmann and Cain are IRS and Federal Reserve cronies, respectively?
SHOWING HIS BUSH CREDENTIALS: In the end, Obama merely expanded and finished the Bush Jr agenda.
As for Romney, anyone who is willing to champion person status for corporations deserves to file chapter 7 on his own campaign aspirations. New World Order Perry is the puppet of choice. His rhetoric will ring home to many, because he lifts it directly from the Ron Paul journal. However, Rick Perry is the next incarnate plastic doll, which will read the script from the banksters’ ledger sheet, once elected.
When was the last time you heard another Republican presidential candidate utter the words civil liberties? Or name another public figure that actually made his life’s work synonymous with LIBERTY? Only Ron Paul stands the test of performance.
So how can Paul win in the GOP primaries? The New York Times offers a salient chart and states, “On the Republican side, partisan self-identification peaked in the early 1990s – as did the percent of the electorate voting in Republican primaries – before declining.” Decrying the GOP hacks, every liberty Republican patriot needs to organize their universe of friends and acquaintances to get the vote out at the ballot box on primary day. Just a minimum increase and return to the 33% 1990 levels with Ron Paul voters will result is his victory for the nomination. The caveat does require a verifiable monitoring of any enhanced electronic voting count against liberty-minded voters or the sabotage by the party of the delegate certification process.
Presidents are selected well before the general election. Ron Paul will generate significant support and votes from independents. Even disgruntled Democrats will rally in a general election; however, the Republican registered primary voter must resist the perennial Neocon treachery.
The frustration of discussing politics in an era of denial needs to be overcome. Enrolling a Republican voter into the cause of Liberty can be a daunting task. Those who believe that the party of Lincoln champions a proper conservative defense of liberty are wholly confused. Tea Party proponents must reject the GOP establishment and their – hijack express. Do not believe the hype. Accurate public Tea Party approval sentiment is not in decline. Simply, the only drink that Rick Perry partakes is an imported Camellia sinensis brew, while he worships another lord in the Bilderberg temple.
Lastly, those critics of Ron Paul’s Austrian economics usually oppose a return to a resurrection of a modified gold standard. Yet if you dig deeper, those same detractors maintain an apologist attitude for keeping a central banking system. Few disparagers view the preservation of liberty on the same scale as their return from compound interest.
The money elite may soon conduct another false flag to scare the uninformed and redirect one more staged diversion. The rush of enthusiasm for retaking our liberty is the essence of the Ron Paul message. The generation that tasted the joy in the establishment’s fear during the 1960’s appreciates just how a government can be broken, from conducting an exhausted and immoral war.
Today everyone needs to learn this lesson, apply traditional conservative populist principles, and eliminate the central banking tyranny that is the prime destroyer of our economy. The fascist state that follows orders and reports to this private bank-ruling cartel is the foremost enemy. Is Liberty more important to you or do you think a looser fit of your governance chains is achievable with your continued apathy?
This oldie but goodie YouTube tune is still relevant today. Break out the band and get your neighbor to join in and sing the lyrics. Most important – get out the Republican Ron Paul primary vote.
In a bid to ‘squash negative stories’ about Barack Obama that appear on the Internet, the White House has hired a dedicated propagandist whose role will be to savage people who tell “lies” about the President, in a chilling reminder of how prosecutors threatened people with jail time during the 2008 campaign if they criticized Obama.
“The Obama administration has created and staffed a new position tucked inside their communications shop for helping coordinate rapid response to unfavorable stories and fostering and improving relations with the progressive online community,” reports the Huffington Post.
NIXON TENDENCIES: Obama will play dirty in the 2012 Election. (Image: Wikimedia Commons)
The man tasked with the role of “disseminating push back” against Obama’s online critics by direct order of the White House will be Jesse Lee, a blogger who has previously put out White House spin in response to claims made by Glenn Beck.
“The post is a new one for this White House. Rapid response has been the purview of the Democratic National Committee (and will continue to be). Lee’s hire, however, suggests that a portion of it will now be handled from within the administration. It also signals that the White House will be adopting a more aggressive engagement in the online world in the months ahead.”
Lee’s first Tweet as an official mouthpiece for White House propaganda and the Obama administration’s move to launch an “aggressive defense of the president and his policies” gives us some indication of what we can expect – the post includes a picture of the Terminator robot.
“If you’re going to post something online about Obama that isn’t true, Lee is going to be the one to handle you,” reports Chris O’Shea, noting that the move is about “squashing any negative stories” that could derail Obama’s re-election bid.
Whether the media establishments want to admit it or not, and believe me they don’t, Ron Paul IS the ‘front runner’ for the republican primary.
Despite voracious denials and vitriolic arguments from almost every quarter to the contrary, he is the only one with a chance of shutting out Obama for the presidency in 2012. He appeals to all sides of the aisle, and is attracting the much sought after independent swing vote almost as fast as he has the youth of the nation.
The Internet is indisputably Ron Paul country as countless polls and google trends have repeatedly shown. The gradual change in political rhetoric flowing out of Washington, D.C. over the last 3 years reflects an explosion of interest in the freedom message he spreads so tirelessly. The continuous growth in popularity of talk and news shows focusing on freedom and the Constitution broadcasts loud and clear the rising prominence of issues he has brought to the debate. For anyone with any powers of discernment, it’s a no-brainer.
NOT FOR SALE: Lobbyists have been unable to rent Ron Paul vote in Congress, a rare feat for Washington politicians.
So why do media pundits, dime a dozen politicians, and innumerable experts of self-aggrandized consequence spend great swathes of time, effort, and someone’s money working so hard to convince the people otherwise? You can’t turn on a TV, pick up a paper or surf the Internet without encountering the words “He can’t win,” or some other lame variation repeated ad nauseam with great gusto. According to all the most acclaimed talking heads, that mythical beast “The Front Runner” has yet to be seen on the horizon and is still to arise from some unknown lair, “blazing a new trail” of GOP fame and success across political skies sometime in the not too distant future. Their blind adherence to this tired refrain boggles the mind. Personally, I can find only one reason for the constant repudiation…fear. Fear of the known…Ron Paul, and fear of the unknown…future largess. The status-quo is cornered and its biggest backers are flailing in desperation through media and political mouthpieces.
With decades of consistency on record as proof, it is well known by all in Washington that Ron Paul will not compromise his principles for money, power or personal gain. Ron Paul is simply…not for sale. Lobbyists for special interests have never been able to rent his vote…
Washington’s running serial thriller, The Assassination of Osama bin Laden continued this week, as the Pentagon’s department of media and information released its latest chapter, still hoping to plug some of the remaining major holes in their fracturing fable.
Their latest effort suggests that the CIA may have had a mole inside the alleged Pakistani bin Laden hide out, and that US Navy SEALs who supposedly killed Osama bin Laden were carrying a handy CIA “a pocket guide” to the occupants of his compound.
This latest strategic public relations release to The Sunday Times was in response to massive public skepticism about the validity of the raid brought on by the White House’s earlier admission that they had no actual confirmation beforehand that bin Laden was in fact in the compound.
An easier way to translate this situation is that their was no real intelligence regarding the existence of bin Laden at the compound, and that the whole story of the brave US military operation was a fabrication, similar to previous PR stunts like the rescue of Private Jessica Lynch in 2003 and the death of Pat Tillman in 2004- both were massive Hollywood-scripted, nationally celebrated events used to bolster support for increasingly unpopular wars. In both cases, blatant misinformation via US government-issued propaganda were employed to market war and militarism overseas.
The US government created a Rambo-style mythology around Jessica Lynch.
There was a cover-up surrounding the death of NFL star and soldier Pat Tillman.
Amazingly, this latest supposed secret leaked document was magically left behind in bin Laden’s compound and later obtained by The Sunday Times, lists the names and ages of all the occupants there, including bin Laden’s wives, children and grandchildren. But the document raises many more questions than answers about what President Barack Obama has labelled “one of the greatest intelligence successes in American history”. During the media circus that followed the announcement of the fabled US mission, Obama said he had been “only 45 per cent to 55 per cent sure that bin Laden was even in the compound”. The document, which is said by an “unnamed source” to have been carried by all the SEALs on the mission, indicates US intelligence was certain of his presence.
Back pedalling in this fashion, Washington attempts to repair a major gaffe by Obama during his post-mission interview with CBS television on May 8, 2011, plugging a large gap in the credibility of this fantastic staged event.
CONFUSED: Obama's recollection of how the bin Laden operation went down forced spin doctors to rewrite their script.
In addition to this, Washington is also able to insert a new footnote which suggests that the CIA is ever-competent, possibly having placed a “mole” into the bin Laden compound which fed them relevant intelligence. Amazingly, a Pakistani official has come forward to say this briefing does in fact indicate the presence of a mole in the compound.
“I think someone from inside may have given information,” says Rehman Malik, Interior Minister and former head of Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency. “If the Americans didn’t have definitive information, they couldn’t have gone straight to the room where bin Laden was.”
STAGED PHOTO: The White House released a reenactment of an event which never actually happened.
From the beginning, Washington PR operatives have chosen to work under the cloak of deception, initially staging their first photo release from the White House’s famed “Bin Laden Situation Room”. It’s also worth noting here that publishing such photos in this way goes against the National Press Photographers Association Code of Ethics, which includes this relevant passage: “Resist being manipulated by staged photo opportunities.”
One of the White House’s biggest problems with pulling off this latest media caper was that during his famous 60 Minutes bin Laden wrap-up interview, because of the interview format, the US President was forced to ad-lib without a teleprompter to read off of. A brilliant orator, normally Obama is able to deliver near perfect statements, every line written by his staff and communications team. When he told 60 Minutes that “we could not say definitively that bin Laden was there”, it naturally created a storm amongst his handlers and spin doctors as the President inadvertently threw a curve ball into what was meant to be a carefully crafted story. Following his gaffe, Obama can be seen going over the top- in grand fashion, in order to gloss over his lines, by showering the Special Forces Troops and his own advisory team with glowing glory and praise.
Obama fumbles through Washington’s scripted ‘Hunt for Osama bin Laden’ plot.
Members of the Pakistani military and intelligence network have also done their part to clean up loose ends. Lieutenant General Asad Durrani, former head of the ISI, Pakistan’s intelligence service claims his country was forced to deny any knowledge of the raid in order to “avoid a domestic backlash”. His official line has been that Osama bin Laden’s compound had “slipped off our radar” after it raided the building in 2003 while hunting for another senior al-Qaeda operative and they were completely unaware that he was hiding there. It’s worth noting here also that Pakistan has received some $1 Billion USD per year since 2002 from the US to help Washington “fight terrorism”, so it goes without saying that key Pakistani officials have a financial incentive to coordinate with the White House on any joint operation that is drawn up.
In this case, it was a PR operation, not an actual military one, but the value to Washington was seen as even greater than any physical military victory on the field.
Never before in history have lies been so powerful and pervasive, and worth so much in terms short-term of political capital. There is little doubt that before its finally discarded, the war on terror will go down in history as one of the most expensive and damaging fables in human history.
US Congressman Ron Paul formally announced his bid for the 2012 Presidential election this week in New Hampshire.
Following a surprisingly successful run in 2008, Dr Paul will be riding a wave of support that has seen his grassroots numbers double from four years ago. Listen to his speech below, detailing a list of problems which currently effect the people of the United States. There is little doubt that he already has the most well-formed and consistent message in the current field of candidates. Time will tell if he can translate his support into votes. Watch this space…
“Maybe they had some guy there that looked like Bin Laden and did him in,” said Jesse Ventura.
Appearing on the Alex Jones Show today, the former governor of Minnesota Jesse Ventura said he is skeptical of the government claim it killed Osama bin Laden. Ventura told Alex Jones and his audience he will have to do more research before he declares the story a fabrication.
LONG TIME DEAD: Keeping in character, the official story of Bin Laden's death remains unbelievable.
However, due primarily to repeated government lies – from the Gulf of Tonkin to WMDs in Iraq – Jesse said he questions the official version of events. He also said the mainstream media is in bed with the government and also cannot be trusted to tell the truth.
Ventura specifically mentioned government lies and propaganda in the case of Pat Tillman and Jessica Lynch who were shamelessly exploited as war heroes by Pentagon neocons and the Bush administration. In 2007, U.S. House committee announced it would hold hearings on misleading military statements that followed the death of Pat Tillman in Afghanistan and the rescue of Pfc. Jessica Lynch in Iraq.
Lynch gave testimony before a House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform in 2007 that the Pentagon had erroneously portrayed her as a “Rambo from the hills of West Virginia.” It was later discovered she never fired a shot after her truck was ambushed by Iraqi insurgents.
The Army at first reported that Tillman had been killed by enemy fire, but later said his death was the result of friendly fire. Medical evidence, however, did not match up with the government’s scenario. It revealed that the Army Ranger was cut down by an M-16 fired from approximately 10 yards away, leading many to conclude the former NFL star wasassassinated to prevent him from going public with his anti-war political views.
Ventura said he cannot fathom Navy SEALs participating in the Osama bin Laden assassination fraud, although he did admit that as soldiers they would likely follow orders if instructed.
Jesse also questioned the claim that Osama bin Laden was still alive. The Saudi suffered renal failure and was undergoing dialysis prior to the attacks of September 11, 2011. In addition, he mentioned a statement made by the late Benazir Bhutto in an interview with David Frost in 2007 where she said Osama Bin Laden had been murdered by Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, who is one of the men convicted of kidnapping and killing U.S. journalist Daniel Pearl.
Numerous others over the years have stated Osama suffered from severe health problems. On December 26, 2001, the Egyptian newspaper al-Wafd reported that Bin Laden had died in mid-December of that year, according to Taliban officials.
21st Century Wire 