Free Republic

January 5, 2005 | Recently Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chávez gave Aljazeera TV an interview in which he openly disclosed his plans to lead a global "offensive war" against U.S. "colonialism and imperialism." The interview was one of those prepared events in which the questions are carefully designed to invite the answers. Not journalism but impudent advertisement. The presenter, Mr. Faysal Al-Quaim, starts by telling Chávez that he is so popular in the Arab world that, if he ran in an Arab presidential election he would "win by more than 90% of the votes" and hastened to add: "I mean a...

The Governor of the State of Cojedes announced yesterday that on Saturday they will begin the “intervention” of the Hato El Charcote farm, owned by British company Vestey, under the decree issued by that Governor in mid-December. The concept of “intervention” does not exist in Venezuelan jurisprudence, so that it is unclear exactly what it means. According to the Governor: “The intervention will be performed with all of the machinery of the State to establish the first beachhead of the “Free land and Men Mission…With the aid of all of the Armed Forces and police forces and the authorities of...

A cattle ranch that Venezuela’s government has targeted for expropriation under a land reform programme. Agroflora, a Vestey Venezuelan subsidiary, said it can prove rightful ownership of the El Charcote ranch in western Venezuela. Under a Land Law enacted by President Hugo Chavez in 2001, the government can seize land if it deems property is not being used productively for agriculture or was obtained illegally. Eliezer Otaiza, director of the National Land Institute, said the ranch sits on land previously owned by the government and Vestey has failed to prove it legally acquired all the land.

"El Charcote," a cattle ranch owned by the British Vestey Group, is to be seized on Saturday "with state machinery, to settle a first group of men participating in the Mission Land and Mission Free Men," said Alexis Ortiz, solicitor general of rich farmland Cojedes State. After a meeting at the Executive Vice President's Office, he explained that the move is to be supported by "the National Armed Force and local police corps, as well as officials from Governor Johnny Yánez Rangel's Office."

Many thought there would at least be political calm after Chavez’ victory in the recall vote and the regional elections. No such luck, that is simply not the style. Chavez thrives on conflict, on pushing people to see how far he may go. When the Governor of Cojedes decreed the intervention of some farms in that state, many thought it was another footnote in the revolution, something even reasonable. I didn’t. That is simply not the style, Chavez was in China when this happened, but few of these Governors act alone or even have a mind of their own, they...

Jesus Bermudez, called “Fat (Gordo) Bermudez”, former Vice-Minister of Finance with Tobias Nóbrega, has been detained in Miami and is going to be subject to a trial for a number of violations of the law, among them, attempting to introduce as contraband forty thousand dollars in cash into the US. But things are not as simple as Jose Vicente (the VP) attempted to make it look, when he denied that the plane in which the “Gordo” traveled belonged to CVG. Let’s see. In order to be free on bail, one hundred thousand dollars were paid in a flash. Who paid?...

NEW YORK - Bev Harris, the Blackbox lady, was apparently quoted in a number of venues during the day Monday as having written “I was tipped off by a person very high up in TV that the news has been locked down tight, and there will be no TV coverage of the real problems with voting on Nov. 2… My source said they’ve also been forbidden to talk about it even on their own time.” I didn’t get the memo. We were able to put together a reasonably solid 15 minutes or so on the voting irregularities in Florida and...

Does the U.S. Justice Dept. have the proper jurisdiction to investigate charges of vote fraud in federal elections on Indian reservations? This question has become increasingly important the last two federal elections in states like New Mexico, South Dakota, and Nevada. If the U.S. Justice Dept. has the proper jurisdiction, why are investigations of vote fraud on Indian reservations not happening? If the U.S. Justice Dept. doesn't have the proper jurisdiction: 1) Should votes be counted as valid if they were cast on an Indian reservation? (Are Indian reservations officially considered to be part of the U.S. territory? If not,...

RAPPER Eminem’s new album Encore has been leaked on to the internet. The Real Slim Shady star’s hotly-anticipated fourth album was stolen nearly two weeks before its release date. The theft has sparked panic at his record label Interscope who have brought forward the worldwide release date. An illegal website called RNS put the entire album on the net two days ago. Thousands of fans instantly downloaded it and could pass it on to countless others. It could lose the 32-year-old rapper MILLIONS of pounds in royalties from CD sales. Interscope bosses were locked in meetings all day yesterday. They...

I have been reading several comments where people have stated that they've already mailed their absentee ballots. I can understand that if you are out of your state, in a body cast etc. However, if you are voting absentee out of convenience, a desire to vote early or because, even though you are in-town now you will be out-of-town on election day, PLEASE DO NOT MAIL YOUR BALLOTS!!!!! With all the reports of voter fraud and missing absentee ballots, we can't afford to take any chances. Either hand-deliver your ballot to your polling station on election day (you won't have...

The Broward County Supervisor of Elections Office pointed a finger at the U.S. Postal Service on Tuesday for nearly 60,000 missing absentee ballots, but took the blame for having a phone system that was being overwhelmed by calls from frustrated voters. While the post office denied responsibility for the missing ballots, Broward County commissioners, anxious to void another failed election, offered to send county employees to help with the phones. Dozens of employees could begin assisting the elections office today to answer telephone calls and to process voters at the 14 early voting sites. "What we are seeing is unprecedented,...

Voters found on both N.C., S.C. rolls Miscount, fraud possible as election officials not cross-checking lists SCOTT DODD AND TED MELLNIK Staff Writers As many as 60,000 voters may be registered to cast ballots in both Carolinas -- and officials aren't checking. That's one of the flaws discovered by a Charlotte Observer/WCNC 6News investigation of voter registration records in both states that could lead to miscounting or even voter fraud. After the razor-tight 2000 election that was ultimately decided by the U.S. Supreme Court, both presidential campaigns are keeping a close watch for voting irregularities this year. The parties have...

DETROIT - A judge's order requiring some provisional ballots in Michigan to be counted even if they are cast in the wrong precinct was put on hold Sunday, the second time in as many days that a federal appeals court dealt a setback to Democrats who wanted to ease voting restrictions. A 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals (news - web sites) panel in Cincinnati issued a stay of a lower court ruling that had reversed Michigan's policy for counting provisional ballots, saying it will hear an appeal of the issue quickly. On Saturday, the same three-judge panel had rejected...

NEW YORK -- Hip-hop mogul Sean "P. Diddy" Combs is following the lead of President Bush and Sen. John Kerry by taking his get-out-the-vote campaign to the swing states. "If you are going to play the game, you need to play it all the way," Combs said in a telephone interview Saturday. "And if you talking about flexing your power, and you ain't flexing in the swing states, then you ain't flexing your power." Combs' Citizen Change initiative will launch a three-day get-out-the-vote drive starting Tuesday in Milwaukee and Detroit, followed by rallies in Cleveland, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Miami. Combs...

Frédéric Desagneaux, consul general of France for San Francisco, is not happy with the light being shown on his country’s involvement with U.N. corruption in Iraq. Poor thing. Yesterday, the independent committee investigating corruption in the U.N.’s “oil-for-food” program for Iraq made public the names of 3,545 companies that sold goods to Saddam. Also published were the names of 248 companies which received Iraqi oil under the program. Through oil-for-food, Saddam stole “$10.1 billion through oil smuggling and kickbacks from suppliers.” Leave it to the U.N. to pull off one of the biggest scandals in world history. Evidence is emerging...

DEMOCRAT PLANS IN FLORIDA It appears that Democrats are fully prepared to violate the law if that's what it takes to win Florida for The Poodle. You've already heard about those election manuals that the Democrats are passing out. Last week we learned that Democrats are urging party officials in the states to complain about voter intimidation even when there is no evidence that voter intimidation exists. Democrats are instructed to go find some local civil rights leaders to make statements for press releases about voter intimidation that the local newspapers will eagerly print. Well .. there's an additional Democratic...

Florida secretary of state faces shower of election-related lawsuits By David Damron Orlando Sentinel Posted October 8 2004 Florida Secretary of State Glenda Hood is fending off more than a half-dozen legal challenges over the upcoming 2004 Election, and with less than a month before voters go to the polls her office expects even more lawsuits to arise. Unlike 2000, where Florida's presidential election ended up resolved in court, this year's pivotal vote may start out before a judge or judges. The pending lawsuits deal with a gamut of issues, from ballot initiatives and how to handle recounts on electronic...

Lawyer urges snowbirds to cast their votes in Florida By Mary McLachlin Palm Beach Post Staff Writer Sunday, September 19, 2004 BOCA RATON— In the muddled aftermath of Election 2000, Lawrence Caplan lost a legal fight and learned an important political lesson at the hands of none other than Vice President Dick Cheney: You can live in one state and vote in another. Caplan, a tax and corporate lawyer, has turned that lesson into Operation: Snowbird, an Internet tool designed to make a difference in the election of 2004 — if Democratic voters in New York and New Jersey respond...

What are most effective things we can do to prevent/mitigate massive DemocRATic voter fraud this election? Battleground states like Pennsylvania, Florida, Wisconsin, etc. need to be proactively, pre-emptively defended from this. What should we do NOW and ON election day, Nov. 2?

Some of you may remember me from the 2000 election - on this forum, I was the person who first broke the news, in the form of a prediction, that Gore was going to try to win (i.e. steal) the election in Florida by challenging in highly democratic counties and asking for manual recounts. I will now go on record again with a prediction - Kerry is at this very moment heading a team of lawyers, investigators, reporters and operatives who are engaged in the following activities: 1) Planting the seeds for claims of voter fraud in swing states 2)...