- Written by Mark Crispin Miller
Our Rigged Elections: The Elephant in the Polling Booth
To say that this election could go
either way is not to say that the Republicans have any chance of
winning it. As a civic entity responsive to the voters' will, the
party's over, there bein
g
no American majority that backs it, or that ever would. Bush has left
the GOP in much the same condition as Iraq, Afghanistan, the global
climate, New Orleans, the Bill of Rights, our military, our economy and
our national reputation. Thus the regime is reviled as hotly by
conservatives as by liberals, nor do any moderates support it.
So slight is Bush's popularity that his own party's candidates for
Congress are afraid to speak his name or to be seen with him (although
their numbers, in the aggregate, are even lower than his). It seems the
only citizens who still have any faith in him are those who think God
wants us to burn witches and drive SUVs. For all their zeal, such
theocratic types are not in the majority, not even close, and thus
there's no chance that the GOP can get the necessary votes.
And so the Democrats are feeling good, and calling for a giant drive to
get the vote out on Election Day. Such an effort is essential—and not
just to the Democrats but to the very survival of this foundering
Republic. However, such a drive will do the Democrats, and all the rest
of us, more harm than good if it fails to note a certain fact about our
current situation: i.e., that the Democrats are going to lose the
contest in November, even though the people will (again) be voting for
them. The Bush Republicans are likely to remain in power despite the
fact that only a minority will vote to have them there. That, at any
rate, is what will happen if we don't start working to pre-empt it now.
Add a comment
About 2 weeks ago, 10 Soviet-era tanks clanked-along the main thoroughfare in downtown Bangkok and stopped in front of the Presidential Palace. Once the palace had been completely surrounded it was stormed by a contingent of fully-armed Thai regulars who secured the grounds while the Thai generals looked on impassively. General Sonthi Tinsulanond took control of the country, with the tacit approval of the King, and quickly repealed the constitution, dismissed the parliament, and forbid any public demonstrations of support for the former regime. In less than an hour, the government of Prime Minister Thanskin Shinawatra was toppled in a perfectly executed, bloodless coup.
Behold and bear witness to what has become of America, in this era
of uncertainty and bewilderment, in this time of fear and intimidation,
that since towers were brought down and demolished has methodically
fallen into the viper pit of neocon decadence, becoming, as it stands
today, an authoritarian’s heaven and a corporatist’s promised land, its
people ignorant, as always, to the barrage of waves systemically
eroding centuries of rights, freedoms and liberties. From sea to
shining sea, despotism is what today those who pay attention see. 
Branch Warfare and the Evolution of Aggression
Civilised (adjective): cultured, educated, refined, enlightened, polite, elegant, sophisticated, urbane
There’s nothing more disturbing than knowing that an alcohol-addled
megalomaniac has his sweaty fingers on the Big Red Switch and that with
one little tug he could ignite the world like a Roman candle. 
Most of us know David Brooks as the balding goofball on “The Jim Lehrer
News Hour†who shrugs his shoulders and giggles gleefully whenever he’s
asked a question. He’s actually a political pundit whose far-right
analysis of culture and politics appears regularly on the op-ed page of
the New York Times. Like fellow-traveler Tom Friedman, Brooks loves to
offer his sage advice to Muslims about how they can improve themselves
in the eyes of westerners and, thus, limit the relentless bombing and
massacres brought on by a belligerent American foreign policy.
Eager, as always, to make both first call at the bar and an early
getaway, the bicameral two ring circus of embezzlers, extortionists,
buffoons, car dealers, and lawyers known as the US Congress stirred
itself last week to raise its right arm and wield its mighty rubber
stamp.
It was another bad week in Iraq. While
bodies were piling up in the Baghdad morgue and the militia
fighting steadily intensified, the Bush administration was hit
with a rash of PR scandals that are bound to erode public
support for the war. The worst of these is the National
Intelligence Estimate (NIE) which was leaked to the New York
Times and which stated that “the American invasion and
occupation of Iraq has helped spawn a new generation of Islamic
radicalism and that the overall terrorist threat has grown since
the 9-11 attacks.â€
I’m a big fan of Robin Hood, the 12th century noble highwayman who, from his lurk in Sherwood Forest would prey upon the fatted courtiers of an evil, usurper king and bedevil acolytes of the pretender’s enablers, Guy of Gisbourne and the wicked Sheriff of Nottingham; all in the name of good King Richard Coeur de Lion, engaged as he was in crusading to free and defend the distant Holy land. So it was with heavy heart I heard this week of the death of all Robin engendered, and the end to the dreams he and his merry men held for an eternal abolishment of the tyranny and despotism King John represented.
“Imagine what it's like
to be a young person living in a country that is not moving toward reform.
You're 21 years old, and while your peers in other parts of the world
are casting their ballots for the first time,
you are powerless to change the course of your government.