Posted on 08/09/2004 12:13:06 PM PDT by truthandlife
The State Department's invitation for an Austrian human rights group to monitor this year's U.S. presidential election is a "frightening" development and "an absolute threat" to America's independence and sovereignty, according to the head of a conservative think tank in Washington, D.C.
Tom DeWeese, president of the American Policy Center, said he's especially angry that the Bush administration would reach out to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which is based in Vienna, Austria.
"Bush continues to give conservatives the rhetoric of sovereignty, independence and strength of the United States, and he continues to give the [opposite] actions," DeWeese told CNSNews.com. "It's just outrageous this administration would allow this to happen," DeWeese added.
The spokesman for U.S. Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) was equally critical of the State Department's reported invitation. "It's exactly the type of entanglement that results from our continued insistence on being a member of the U.N. and having an interventionist foreign policy," said Jeff Deist, press secretary for Paul, a Republican who once ran for president as a libertarian candidate.
Paul believes that the United Nations and other international organizations are illegitimate and threaten American sovereignty.
"We're all supposed to accept this growing notion of world government ... that's obviously the opposite of sovereignty," Deist said, adding that "a lot of Americans are going to take offense" with the decision.
OSCE is "the largest regional security organization in the world with 55 participating States from Europe, Central Asia and North America," according to the group's website. "It is active in early warning, conflict prevention, crisis management and post-conflict rehabilitation" the website states.
OSCE observers will arrive in the U.S. from its Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights. It will be the first time such a team has been present for a U.S. presidential election, though the OSCE monitored mid-term elections in 2002, and the California gubernatorial election last year.
An official with the State Department said on background that the OSCE mission is "more of an assessment" designed to verify election results. "The OSCE-participating states all agreed, including the U.S., in 1990 to allow each other to observe elections," the official said.
However, the State Department's invitation coincides with lingering Democratic charges that George W. Bush and Florida Republicans stole the 2000 presidential race by preventing many African Americans from casting ballots. Bush's eventual 537 vote winning margin in Florida allowed him to gain the state's 25 electoral votes and the presidency.
Earlier this summer, 13 Democratic members of the U.S. House sent a letter to United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan, requesting that the agency monitor this year's presidential election between Bush and Democrat John Kerry.
The spokesman for Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), who was among those who signed the letter to Annan, said the State Department's invitation to the OSCE "represents a good first step."
Stuart Chapman, press secretary for Lee, said the U.S. should set an example for other countries by allowing an independent group to monitor the balloting.
"We bill ourselves as the greatest democracy, so therefore, we should have applied to our own situation what we send out and promote and claim that we are to the rest of the world," Chapman said. "There clearly was a demonstrated, systematic effort to ensure that the votes of certain people were not counted in the last election," Chapman asserted.
Nonsense. It's errosive!
How are they going to monitor the process, now that it is a done deal? What are the observers going to do 50' from the polling place?... Bon Jour, madam, zee voting booth iz zees way? There aren't any more chads to knock off... are they going to check every voter to see if they are legitamate? Are they going to give the Palm Beach elders a lesson in electronic voting...They keep everything else from us...and push stuff through without our knowledge... how are we supposed to know what they do behind the scenes?
This whole affair reeks.
I had someone tell me the "amusing" story of how as a NYC union employee, durring the elections, him and his fellow workers were required to pick-up the lever-type voting machines (when they still used them) and deliver them to the place where the votes placed in them could be counted.
The trucks could hold multiple machines and him and his fellow employees were "afraid they might tipover".They also drove VERY SLOWLY AND CAREFULLY as they delivered the machines to the place where they would be tallied.
So to avoid any "damage" durring transit,EVERY machine had at least ONE OR MORE people per machine in the back of the truck, to make sure the machines got there safely.
He said by the time they dropped off the voting machines at their destination to be counted,the folks who rode in the back "securing" the machines could be counted on to complain
of "sore arms" for a few days afterwards from pulling the voting handles as many times as they could while in transit.
We can't accede to these things because it gives credibility to people like Lee, Chapman and all the other progressives. Do you think we're going to go back from this point. I recognize that this organization is no true threat to our sovereignty but giving up the point is the strategic loss. Forever more "progressives" will be working day and night to exploit something established here and now. Was there anything happening in FL other than standard error in 2000? (The answer is no, in case you didn't know.) But how many people recognize that even on FR? Why? Because of the endless bleating of the professional victims.
Perhaps it's because you've been promoting the hog swill that the Constitution is more of a "guideline" than an actual "ruling document."
And that is only one point against a narrow view of the constitution as a *ruling* vs a *guiding* document. The Constitution has been changed many times. Which version do you want the USA to hold to? There is a ream of additional SCOTUS decisions that are considered when Constitutionality is debated. Which ones are you willing to accept? Why?
Poohbah will undoubtedly find your views to be intellectually stimulating (anyone who can dismiss the effect the 2000 election debacle has had on Pres. Bush's tenure and confidence in our government in general with a wave of the hand is capable of entertaining any notion that floats by) but you will find a few hardheads around here who find your suggestion that "The Constitution is our GUIDING document" (and not really a ruling document) is not only belittling of our opinions but just plain insulting to the memories of all those who have died for it.
Did they really fail? Or do they just want to drive the stake in deeper this time. I think it's about more than deligitimizing their political opponents it's about deligitimizing our electoral process. Expect to hear Hitlery and others raise the "eliminate the Electoral College" banner again. Expect to hear challenges to the election results and expect to hear that the USSC illegitimately decided the 2000 election and can not be allowed to make any rulings on elections again. Who would this UN org suggest to arbitrate a disputed election then? An international court perhaps?
One should not question the UN power and its raison d'être, but more likely its effectiveness and the political will of its Member States to entrust it with necessary powers. These are the issues we need to address, which could also benefit from taking into account the ever-expanding UN global agenda, already so difficult to deal with, and the growing importance of regional organizations, which are not only " protecting" and enforcing the principles of the UN Charter but also providing an added value to the Organization. To that effect, Chapter VIII of the Charter (on regional arrangements) is not only the source of legitimacy but also of inspiration and incentive to the work of many international organizations, including the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
Poohbah: The latter. It's more fun to overreact to a strawman than to actually apply thought.
From the article: An official with the State Department said on background that the OSCE mission is "more of an assessment" designed to verify election results.
"designed to verify election results." To what end? Who will they give the "assessment" to? You're obviously having more fun than I am, Poohbah.
See post #69.
Yeah, I guess it would. No need to call 'em if they're coming.
I will be nice to have some civilized people here to watch over us. Look at the company we are in: OSCE Field Missions We need watchin'.
I will not be nice. ; )
Except for that Roe v. Wade ruling.
Your own words do you more damage than anything I can say.
"And that is only one point against a narrow view of the constitution as a *ruling* vs a *guiding* document."
Geoffrey would be proud that you think his pirate picture is nasty. ; )
Geoffrey Rush is an actor. He played a pirate (see pic) in Pirates of the Caribbean. An immensely successful, funny and enjoyable movie.
At one point in the movie the femme lead trys to hold him to the "pirate's code." He responds "The code is more actual guidelines than rules." Then he renigs on their deal and has his henchmen hold her prisoner.
Don't ask me why but your comments on the Constitution being "more guidelines than actual rules" (or words to that effect) reminded me of it. So do unConstitutional SCOTUS rulings. They don't change the intent of the Constitution which was to be the LAW of the land. Perhaps we should consider SCOTUS rulings as mere guidelines rather than actual rules.
This is a "win/win" situation for the Demo Party.
They are in league with the UN. I'm sure that these observers will turn a blind eye to Democrat transgression and spotlight ANY LITTLE THING they might find that slants toward the Repubs.
Remember, Dems can swallow a horse (Dem-dirty-deeds), but choke on the flys (Repub-dirty-deeds).
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