His shrill voice pains sensitive ears. In the red states of the South and West, he ramps up his Texas twang as he brags on his war and hurls insults and lies about those who don't share his views. President George W. Bush says he's "pleased with the progress in Iraq," Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is doing a "fantastic job," and those who support Democrats "want the terrorists to win."

Published by Greg Palast November 6th, 2006 in Articles

by Greg Palast

Steal Back Your Vote
A lot of advice we’re getting from our progressive friends is to take photos of your ballot and silly stuff like that. Well, that’s all about how to complain after they steal it. I have a better idea: Win, don’t whine.

The regime’s sneak attack via vote suppression [see, “How They Stole the Mid-Term Election”] will only net them about 4.5 million votes. You should be able to beat that blindfolded. As that will cost about 5% of the vote. That means you can’t win with 51% of the vote anymore. So just get over it. If you can’t get the 55% you need for regime change, then you’re just a bunch of crybaby pussycats who don’t deserve to take charge.

#1: Vote Early, Vote Often

Vote today — at early voting stations — so you can spend tomorrow bringing out others to vote. Also, if you’re challenged, you’ve got another day to bring in more ID or scream bloody murder to your county elections board about your missing registration.

#2: Gang Vote

Arrive with five! Never go bowling, make love or vote alone. And volunteer at get-out-the-vote operations. It’s worth it just for the stale donuts, cold coffee and hot democracy.

#3: Tell Them to Take Their Provisional Ballot and …

If they try to hand you a “provisional ballot,” scream bloody murder. If there’s a problem with your ID or registration, demand adjudication from a poll monitor, come back with proper ID, or demand appeal to the county supervisor of elections.

But don’t just walk away. If it’s provisional or nothing, take it — then return for the count to defend it.

#4: Get to Work

Volunteer to bring out the vote. Or watch a poll — to challenge the challengers. Get credentials; don’t freelance — you’ll likely get thrown out. Either get credentials from the parties or get information on how you can slay vote-eating dragons in your area from the National Campaign for Fair Elections the umbrella group including NAACP, Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under the Law and People for the American Way (NationalCampaignForFairElections.org).

By Nicola Nasser: Avigdor Lieberman’s ascent to a strategic executive role in Israel has unmasked the artificial divide between left and right and revealed the mainstream ruling elite as still in consensus on the Zionist goals, a fact that rules out any credible peace process in the foreseeable future and dooms peace and left as wishful thinking as they have been ever since the creation of the Jewish state, until a forcible outside intervention could enforce a de-Zionization of peace-making.

The Republicans' superior ground operation — they spend more on targeting voters and getting out the vote — has received some attention in the press. But far more ominous is the organized effort to suppress voter turnout, directed entirely against groups likely to vote for Democrats.

An exhaustive report, "Voting in 2006: Have We Solved the Problems of 2004?" by the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, the Century Foundation, and Common Cause, catalogs new, sickening assaults on our democracy…

NEW YORK – In next week's midterm contests, as in previous elections, discussion of each party's prospects has focused partly on the so-called ground war and the importance of the grass roots. But what, exactly, are the grass roots, and why do they matter?

Put simply, the grass roots are you and me and every other citizen in America. Living and working in communities across the country, our support drives issues, and our votes put politicians in office.

ST. LOUIS - A surge in violence made St. Louis the most dangerous city in the country, leading a trend of violent crimes rising much faster in the Midwest than in the rest of nation, according to an annual list.

The city has long fared poorly in the rankings of the safest and most dangerous American cities compiled by Morgan Quitno Press. Violent crime surged nearly 20 percent in St. Louis from 2004 to last year, when the rate of such crimes rose most dramatically in the Midwest, according to
FBI figures released in June.

"It's just sad the way this city is," resident Sam Dawson said. "On the news you hear killings, someone's been shot."

[And here folks are getting upset about copper thieves - sheesh.]

Scientists studying samples of soil thrown up by Israeli bombing in Lebanon have shown high radiation levels, suggesting uranium-based munitions were used, a British newspaper reports.

The samples were taken from two bomb craters in Khiam and At-Tiri and have been sent for further analysis to the Harwell laboratory in Oxfordshire, southern England, for mass spectrometry used by the Ministry of Defence, The Independent said.

The samples thrown up by Israeli heavy or guided bombs showed "elevated radiation signatures," Chris Busby, the British scientific secretary of the European Committee on Radiation Risk, was quoted as saying.

Britain's Ministry of Defence has confirmed the concentration of uranium isotopes in the samples, the newspaper said.

In his initial report, Busby said there were two possible reasons for the contamination.

"The first is that the weapon was some novel small experimental nuclear fission device or experimental weapon (eg. a thermobaric weapon) based on the high temperature of a uranium oxidation flash," it said.

"The second is that the weapon was a bunker-busting conventional uranium penetrator weapon employing enriched uranium rather than depleted uranium," Busby was quoted as saying.

A photograph of the explosion of the first bomb shows large clouds of black smoke that might result from burning uranium, the newspaper said.
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/061028/1/44dii.html

also see
robert fisk: Mystery of Israel's secret uranium bomb
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/fisk/article1935945.ece

Israel has a poor reputation for telling the truth about its use of weapons in Lebanon. In 1982, it denied using phosphorous munitions on civilian areas - until journalists discovered dying and dead civilians whose wounds caught fire when exposed to air.

I saw two dead babies who, when taken from a mortuary drawer in West Beirut during the Israeli siege of the city, suddenly burst back into flames.

By Nicola Nasser: The absence of a proportionate Palestinian reaction to the ascendancy of Israel’s far right leader, Avigdor Lieberman, into the mainstream strategic decision-making in Tel Aviv has indicated of how dangerously the inter-Palestinian divide is overshadowing the Israeli threats and encouraged the visiting European Union's foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, to legitimize with a public meeting the only man who could abort not only the mission of his visit but all prospects of regional peace.