U.S. HOUSE JUDICIARY DEMS TO ANNOUNCE HEARING ON VOTER IRREGULARITIES (REPUBS REFUSE TO JOIN IN!)

The Brad Blog (Puke liberal Blog site!) ^ | 12/3/04

[areafiftyone]

U.S. House Judiciary Dems to Announce Hearings on Voter Irregularities!

** A BRAD BLOG EXCLUSIVE! **

A source inside the House Judiciary Committee has informed The BRAD BLOG that Democratic members of the committee will be announcing public hearings in Washington to begin next Wednesday on Voting Irregularities in Election 2004.

Scheduling is currently under way and the hearings are "99% certain" according to the source, who hopes the official announcement will be made tomorrow.

The hearings will be held by the Democratic members only at this time since all Republican members of the committee have refused to take part in the investigation so far.

The House Democrats hope to hear testimony from a number of witnesses concerning the thousands of reported cases of mistabulated votes, voter suppression and other concerns about electronic voting on Nov. 2nd.

Witnesses being scheduled to testify include Attny. Cliff Arnebeck, who is leading a group of attorneys filing litigation in Ohio to have the election results set aside, Bill Fitrakis, reporter and editor of the Columbus Free Press whose continuing detailed reports cataloging voter suppression and other related matters on the ground in Ohio have set the standard for what real investigative journalism looks like, and possibly Jesse Jackson who has been outspoken of late on all of these matters.

As well, the House Judiciary committee Democrats have today sent a detailed letter [PDF] to Ohio Sec. of State (and Co-Chair of Ohio's Bush/Cheney Re-Elect Committee), J. Kenneth Blackwell, requesting his assistance in responding to some 15 pages of documented allegations and concerns that the committee has compiled to date in regards to Ohio's election.

VERY LATE UPDATE: If you get the chance, read that PDF letter to Blackwell! It's loaded with terrific investigative information and tough questions for the Ohio Sec. of State/Co-Chair Bush-Cheney Re-Elect Committee. Will try to pull out some specifics in a fresh post tomorrow. But read it if you haven't yet! And pass it on!

UPDATE 12/3/04: The Judiciary Committee Hearings on now CONFIRMED! See this update for details! Also, for detailed excerpts from the 15-page PDF letter to Blackwell, see this update!

[gov_bean_ counter]

I bet none of these accusations is supported by affidavits. Stuff like this disappears when a sworn statement is required.

[Chad Fairbanks]

Uhhh... By what authority do the minority party members of the Judiciary Committee do this? Can't the Chairman and/or the majority of the committee block this? Or are the Repubs just saying "Go ahead, knock yourselves out. You'll be the ones looking like idiots."?

[TexasAg1996]

Yawn... Let them investigate all they want. From what I've seen, Ohio has one of the best-run elections. Local boards with equal numbers of Democrats and Republicans. Plus, nothing they can do about the election once the safe-harbor deadline for electors passes (Dec. 6, I think).

Plus, this now attaches the Dem party to the efforts to overturn the election results in Ohio. I bet Ohio 2008 is like Florida 2004 - the folks there will get fed up with people saying the Ohio election was stolen and will give the Republican an even greater lead in 2008.

[areafiftyone]

Looks like only 12 signed the letter. Seems like no one is interested in this at all! Of what I could read of the signature - Conyers, Nadler, Waters, Watt, Wexler, etc. I can't read most of the other ones.

[horizondb]

Wow the DUmmie FUmmies come to Washington. DUer's aren't the only ones making fools of themselves.

[areafiftyone]

LOL The Dems are always making fools of themselves. They did it in 2000 and are doing it again in 2004. They never learn!

[horizondb]

OH, don't I know it. I live in Palm Beach Co. Teresa LaPore is a good friend. My father was a city attorney for a small town in Palm Beach county. I got the behind the scenes view of many election. Two even went to the USSC. The 2000 festival of idiots was something to watch.

[areafiftyone]

Oh wow you were right in the thick of things! Must have been fun! I just got on board Free Republic that November of 2000 and had a ball with just reading the play by play on Free Republic every day.

[sydneycarton]

In answer to that goofball Cliff Arenback. (Maybe someone could post this at DU. I'm all out of viable email addresses.)

http://politicalities.typepad.com/politicalities/2004/11/election_fraud_.html

[cgbg]

I read on your page that you weren't sure of the exact psychological condition that had afflicted the Dummies who refused to accept W's victory.

Here it is:

n. pl. psy·cho·ses (-sz) A severe mental disorder, with or without organic damage, characterized by derangement of personality and loss of contact with reality and causing deterioration of normal social functioning.

If you read the Dummie threads about the folks with messy apartments who have become too depressed to go to holiday celebrations and who spend all their time on DU waiting for the latest Black Box Voting revelation all will become clear.... :-)

[queenkathy]

Isn't Theresa LaPore a democrat? Why are they saying she is akin to an voting irregularities in Floriday?

[sydneycarton]

That's not my page. Sorry about the confusion.

Mike

[horizondb]

Yes, she was until 2000. She changed to independent. She was hung out to dry because of her conception of the butterfly ballot. The retired north east democrats complained loudly in the prior two elections that there where so many candidate on the ballot that when printed on one page the print was too small. So she devised the butterfly ballot. She put up booths in shopping malls, at retirement centers, a lot of places to show how the ballot would work. The leading political candidates DEM, REP, LIB, GREEN and so forth would be on the left side of the ballot. The secondary, (if you will), would be on the right. Each alternating positions on the ballot.

She just lost her reelection bid to a bozo named Anderson. Teresa started in the election office over 20 years ago as a clerk. Worked her way up to department head. Then ran and won when her predecessor retied. She is now looking at taking a position with the Florida State Department heading up the, get this, fraud department. A position she actually has a great deal of experience with. Not in perpetrating but in prosecuting. Like I said before she has been in two cases that have gone before the USSC and won both.

[Politicalities]

Thanks for the ping :)

[Politicalities]

I read on your page that you weren't sure of the exact psychological condition that had afflicted the Dummies who refused to accept W's victory.

I think psychosis is a little too general and can refer to any of a number of conditions. No doubt many of the DU posters are psychotic, but I'm wondering if there's a name for their more specific condition: that of holding rigidly to a specific belief and inventing outlandish theories in order to dismiss any evidence to the contrary.

[cgbg]

name for their specific condition

I believe the specific condition is what is called "immunity to falsification" and is primarily found among religious and political cults (including Communism). That is not treated by the psychiatric profession as a specific mental disease or defect--though perhaps it should be.

Since on-line groups are relatively new I have not seen a good description of cult-like behaviors without physical constraints among the members.

Features that DU shares with many cults include:

(1) Tendency to worship their leaders--and to break into schisms when their leaders have spats.

(2) The group is the center of their lives. We have seen the many DU posts about how the election and DU discussion of it is so critical to their existence.

(3) A lack of sense of humor about themselves and their beliefs and activities.

(4) A flurry of volunteer activities to keep the members busy. If they act out their beliefs their beliefs become stronger. (Cognitive dissonance theory addresses this issue.)

(5) Wacky and repeated predictions about the future. They become impossible to falsify, however, because of claims of conspiracy after the events don't happen.



Cult members, like DUers, appear to be incomplete adults, stuck somewhere in childhood in their emotional development.

As you can tell this is a subject that interests me. :-)