October November Surprise
At first I was thinking there'd be some momentous event to bolster BushCo's numbers going into the election; or, if that didn't work well enough, it could serve as an excuse to call a state-of-emergency and "postpone" the upcoming election. Maybe something like an(other) anthrax attack in the House or Senate. (Such an attack, in this specific case, would have the added benefit of punishing an increasingly refractory legislature (or the semblance thereof), and serve as a great tool for further power grabs, providing a glittering stage for a cornucopia of vengeful and sanctimonious pomp and despotic fiats. They got away with their little warning test shortly after they took office, didn't they?)
But now I'm thinking, along with some commentators, that they don't need to go to such obvious ends. They could just simply steal the next one without a problem, using the black boxes installed by their pals around the country. (Plus, this election isn't as important as the next one, so why waste the big surprise now?)
After all, what's to stop them? Unlike Mexico, there won't be all that much civil disobedience to get in the way of things. BushCo obviously doesn't care what anybody thinks of them, nor how transparent they are in committing their various criminal deeds. What they do care about is the appearance of legitimacy and legality, and that is easily enough provided to them by using rigged voting boxes made by cronies, with vote tallies enforced by their fuck-buddies in judicial drag.
Oh, there will be some pissed off people who might raise a bit of a fuss — maybe some candlelight vigils, a few angry letters to the editor. If the fuss becomes bothersome then what better time to unleash some distraction or other, get people's minds off the election. Perhaps, say, an outbreak of the Biblical Avian Flu?
The point is, why have a messy and uncontrollable October Surprise before the election, when a nice clean November one afterwards will do?
In the end, though, I suppose it really doesn't matter what happens in the election. Even if BushCo loses control of the House and Senate they'll still do whatever they want and get away with it — just increase their pile of signing statements, for instance. The Dems certainly won't do much different, other than shift the careening car down a gear maybe. As Jello Biafra says, "Democrats are on the inside what Republicans are on the outside." (He also reminds us that "If voting really changed anything it would be illegal.") It's Democrats, after all, who handed a drunk-on-power BushCo the keys to the car for their criminal joyride; whether the inevitable fatal collision is going to be a head-on with the world, or into a solitary concrete abutment, is still to be determined... My money's on the former.
Update 10/31/06:
But now I'm thinking, along with some commentators, that they don't need to go to such obvious ends. They could just simply steal the next one without a problem, using the black boxes installed by their pals around the country. (Plus, this election isn't as important as the next one, so why waste the big surprise now?)
After all, what's to stop them? Unlike Mexico, there won't be all that much civil disobedience to get in the way of things. BushCo obviously doesn't care what anybody thinks of them, nor how transparent they are in committing their various criminal deeds. What they do care about is the appearance of legitimacy and legality, and that is easily enough provided to them by using rigged voting boxes made by cronies, with vote tallies enforced by their fuck-buddies in judicial drag.
Oh, there will be some pissed off people who might raise a bit of a fuss — maybe some candlelight vigils, a few angry letters to the editor. If the fuss becomes bothersome then what better time to unleash some distraction or other, get people's minds off the election. Perhaps, say, an outbreak of the Biblical Avian Flu?
The point is, why have a messy and uncontrollable October Surprise before the election, when a nice clean November one afterwards will do?
In the end, though, I suppose it really doesn't matter what happens in the election. Even if BushCo loses control of the House and Senate they'll still do whatever they want and get away with it — just increase their pile of signing statements, for instance. The Dems certainly won't do much different, other than shift the careening car down a gear maybe. As Jello Biafra says, "Democrats are on the inside what Republicans are on the outside." (He also reminds us that "If voting really changed anything it would be illegal.") It's Democrats, after all, who handed a drunk-on-power BushCo the keys to the car for their criminal joyride; whether the inevitable fatal collision is going to be a head-on with the world, or into a solitary concrete abutment, is still to be determined... My money's on the former.
Update 10/31/06:
Could a New GOP Court Victory and Karl Rove's Attack on Ohio 2006 Doom the Democrats Nationwide?
Through a complex series of legal maneuvers, and now a shocking new 2-1 decision from the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, the GOP has thrown Ohio's entire process of voting and vote counting into serious disarray. The mess is perfectly designed to suppress voter turnout, make election monitoring and a recount impossible, and allow the Republican Party to emerge with a victory despite overwhelming evidence the electorate wants exactly the opposite.
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The tactics being tested and used here in Ohio are certain to surface in various forms around the U.S. HB3, for example, has quintupled the fees charged by the state for a recount. In Ohio 2004, the Green and Libertarian Parties obtained a flawed and ultimately worthless recount for about $120,000. A similar statewide recount for the 2006 U.S. Senate race would cost about $600,000.
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Based on reports from the Conyers Congressional Committee, the Government Accountability Office, the Brennan Center, Princeton University and the Carter-Baker Commission among others, the vote count reported by Ohio's voting machines could be flipped by J. Kenneth Blackwell or other election official---or even amateur hackers---in a matter of moments, with a few simple keystrokes.
In sum: there is no way such a manipulation could be definitively stopped, monitored, proven or reversed.