Filibuster!

From 01/26/2006

If you’d like to see the imperial presidency further insulated from accountability, your rights further trampled, and a possible decades-long right wing lock on the Supreme Court, then you’re for Alito. If not—and there’s still time to act—contact your senators, and call Harry Reid especially, to tell them to grow a spine and filibuster. Here’s an easy way to get the right number to call: http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/

We should never "get over" election fraud

From 01/18/2006

The US Government Accountability Office (GAO) is one of the chief investigative arms of government, absolutely non-partisan, producing reports almost breathtaking in their refusal to engage in conjecture of any kind. They report their findings, period. They’re not going to lead you, no matter what the facts might indicate, and what one concludes from a given report is entirely beyond their purview. I mention the GAO, prior to commenting on the single most important issue of our time, because their findings are totally damning. Free and fair elections are key to every aspect of our lives, yet the massive evidence of widespread election fraud—beginning in 2000 and reiterated in 2002 and 2004—has gone almost totally unreported. Sadly, those with the most to gain, as well as the most to lose, have also treated the topic as too hot to touch. Denial of the fact that our government was overthrown in 2000, with subsequent illegal elections in 2002 and 2004, has got to stop. And if our elected leaders won’t address the subject, and virtually no media outlet will report it, it’s up to citizens—that means you and me—to speak up, and never stop, until free and fair voting is restored. As Bush asserts his kingly powers and we move closer to an out and out police state, it might offer hope to remind ourselves that we did not elect him, but only if we take the appropriate steps to regain verifiably legal elections. GAO reports are available for anyone, absolutely free for the taking; just type gao.gov to access their site. The September 2005 report, # GAO-05-956, addresses the sorry state of our elections process, and I urge you to order it and read it. Unsure about the importance of a dry government report? Here are a few sentences that should do the trick: "However…a series of recent reports…have raised significant concerns about the security and reliability of electronic voting systems, citing instances of weak security controls, system design flaws, inadequate system version control, inadequate security testing, incorrect system configuration, poor security management, and vague or incomplete standards, among other issues." Read it again, then consider this question: what kind of standards does the good old US of A have to provide for fair elections? The answer: damned few. It may surprise you that the GAO reports that, depending on the type of certification standards you’re looking at, either 20 or 35 states have no required voting standards. Zero. I’m saving the bulk of my commentary on election fraud for my book, but here’s a little food for thought: Given just the brief comments by the GAO that I’ve mentioned, what kind of idiots would allow private corporations, with a strong partisan leaning—and no, it’s not Democratic (either in party or intent)—to control the vote? With no oversight or regulation? With machines that have been proved easily hackable? With proprietary code that no outsiders are allowed to see? With the president of the chief company promising to do "all in his power" to "deliver the vote" in Ohio (his home state) for the Republicans, in 2004? Our government is illegitimate. When one party controls the means to count your vote, your vote is susceptible to change, never mind the likelihood that, in most instances it’s still fairly recorded. Given our shoddy electoral system, fraud need only be practiced on a large scale in a few key states, as both Florida and Ohio attest. Raise some hell.

New Work

From 01/17/2006

As regular visitors no doubt know, I haven’t put much effort into the site for some time, as I’ve been directing my energies elsewhere. However, look for newly posted paintings in the next day or two, as I finish updating images. To inquire about prices, just email me at info@donaldclegg.com. Thanks for visiting!

Al Gore's MLK Day speech

From 01/17/2006

Al Gore’s Martin Luther King Day speech was one of the most powerful of our time, if largely unreported by the mainstream media. For an impassioned, articulate, clear-voiced expression of the current state of the union, get his speech through the links provided by, for instance, BuzzFlash and BushWatch. (Thanks to them, and CSPAN, who aired it.)