To California: So You Like Drowning in a Bathtub

[radhika]

(Cross-posted on Dialykos.com and Radhikasrealm.com, LA Times)

Glug, Glug: So You Like Drowning in a Bathtub?

Good, because you are. And your children are going under too. California 2009 is a glorious monument to Greed, Gerrymandering and lack of Civic Engagement.

Bias Alert: I am a Progressive. I believe cultures thrive or die according to their Social Contracts. These are agreements that define the obligations among families, groups, and generations. Far as I can see, today’s California Contract has devolved into a patchwork of codes and winks that connect the political set to single-agenda lobbyists, factions and donors. Chances are, you aren’t invited to the party.

California is being rolled over by the Conservative Message Mill. If the Mill grinds us down, it will take years to restore the state to a decent quality of life. In my opinion, Governor Schwarzenegger is misrepresenting the May 19th election by saying that Voters don’t want tax increases to retain important public services. That is surely not true among my friends and neighbors. Most of us opposed those toxic measures due to their lack of merit and relevancy. We also disliked having elected officials slough off their duties of office. We want them to re-think and re-structure that mess from scratch.

The Governor’s tactic allows the wealthy to hold onto their property and business interests while the poor are allowed to starve or die. Non-majority representatives are insulated behind a rule requiring a two-thirds majority on all budget bills; they sit fat and secure while vulnerable majorities are forced to do without. June 15th is the last date to finalize the budget. If you believe the direction of the state is not working to the advantage of the people who live here, you may wish to suggest some alternatives.

 AS A FIRST STEP, ask your Elected Official to refuse to participate in any and all budget discussions unless conducted on a 50%+1 basis. Democracy cannot tolerate system where one-third vetoes the whole.

 As a SECOND STEP, demand that your Elected Official vote PRESENT ONLY and refuse to conduct further business.

The THIRD STEP will be up to the citizens of California. As we grow sicker, hungrier, poorer and more landless our suntanned smiles could fade.

[diva77]

1. I cringe when you refer to the "Elected Official" - The Recall election was the

first election in CA in which the paperless DREs were deployed in all of the large counties, with many installing uncertified software at the 11th hour. Therefore, if California is to revive itself, it must clean up the elections process. Handcounted paper ballots at the precinct level with public oversight. No computers. Period.

With the advent of computerized tabulation and now computerized vote recording, all elections became suspect, except for massive landslides - not sure actual year they started using punch cards in CA - the 60s or 70s I believe.

There may be some things overlooked in the following - such as giving credibility to non-diebold computerized voting machines, but still, the study is interesting:

An analysis by David Bayer found the following

CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR RACE

MACHINE ANALYSIS FOR RECALL ELECTION OCTOBER 2003

EVIDENCE THAT THE ELECTION WAS FIXED


STATE RESULTS:
Cruz Bustamante (CB)= 32 %
Arnold Schwarzenegger (AS)= 49 %
Ratio AS / CB = 1.5

A- Mark Sense Ballot Card using Diebold- Accuvote OS machines:

County CB % AS % Ratio AS/CB
________ _______ ________ ________

1-Fresno 28 52 1.9

2-Humboldt 36 42 1.2

3-Kern 19 62 3.3

4-Lassen 15 61 4

5-Marin 48 32 .7

6-Modoc 14 61 4.4

7-Placer 17 63 3.7

8-San Joaquin 27 49 1.8

9-San Luis Obispo 26 50 1.9

10- Santa Barbara 31 47 1.5

11-Siskiyou 20 59 3

12-Trinity 22 53 2.4
13-Tulare 23 56 2.4

B- Touch Screen machines:

1- Diebold Accu-Vote :

14-Alameda 54 26 .5


15-Plumas 20 55 2.8

2- Sequoia Pacific AVC Edge:

16-Riverside 22 61 2.8


17-Shasta 17 58 3.4

TOTAL 41.7

TOTAL MUST BE DIVIDED BY 17 TO GET AVERAGE = 2.5

ANALYSIS:
1- Schwarzenegger got 2.5 times as many votes as Bustamante from the DRE and Diebold machines on the average.

2- Schwarzenegger got 5/10 of as many votes as Bustamante from all the other non-DRE and non-Diebold machines used. That is, on the average, Bustamante beat Schwarzenegger on all the other machines.

.5 S/B + 2.5 S/B
--------------------------- = 1.5 S/B
2
where 1.5 is the State ratio of Schwarzenegger's votes to Bustamante's.

3- The DRE and Diebold machines produced the victory for Schwarzenegger, producing five times (5) as many votes for him relative to what the non-DREs produced for Bustamonte: 2.5 divided by .5 = 5 .

DRE= Direct Recording Electronic (paperless) voting machines. All the percentages come from the California Secretary of State Data Base.

[Peace Patriot]

2. I totally agree, Diva77! "Elected Official" is a misnomer, when you have private, rightwing

corporations tallying all the votes with 'TRADE SECRET,' PROPRIETARY programming code!

The truth is that, even with optiscans and a paper ballot backup, we cannot know who won any given election, since 99% of those paper ballots never see the light of day. We still have only a 1% audit (automatic handcount) in California, with 'TRADE SECRET' code in all the voting machines and central tabulators. Contrast with Venezuela, which uses OPEN SOURCE CODE programming in their voting machines--anyone may review the code by which votes are counted--AND handcounts a whopping 55% of the votes, as a check on machine fraud. That's why Venezuelans have universal health care, and free education through college, and we do not. That's why Venezuelans are enjoying a leftist revolution, and we are not.

It's very, very simple, in this respect. Transparent, publicly witnessed vote counting is THE bottom-line condition for democracy. That is why the corpo/fascists who rule over us removed the counting of our votes behind a veil of secrecy. There is no other reason for non-transparent vote counting except stealing elections.

And we shouldn't fooled that DRE's (no paper trail) are the only problem. DRE's are just the avant garde of the fascist coup we have suffered; optiscans are the corpo/fascist fallback position--slightly less riggable, but still riggable.

Of course there had to be a lot of corruption, over the last few decades, to reach this point of audacious, corpo/fascist-rigged elections. The 'TRADE SECRET' code coup happened quickly, during the 2002 to 2004 period--spurred by a $3.9 billion electronic voting boondoggle from the Anthrax Congress--but there was a blatantly stolen election just prior to that (the 2000 Supreme Court crowning of Bush/Cheney) and a long history of money/lobbying corruption, which emboldened our Corporate Rulers. We as a People have been less than vigilant over our democracy. To be sure, great effort has been expended to confuse and brainwash us, and it is rather amazing how in tact our democratic ideals and progressive views still are, under such assault. But we do need to wake up from all that brainwashing and take back our country--as the people of Latin American are doing.

I support leftist political activism on all fronts, on all issues. But I'm with you that the most fundamental change we need--the change that enables all other change--is a return to vote counting that everyone can see and understand. Until we achieve this--and it is a fight that must be won at the state/local level (Congress ain't gonna do it!)--we will continue to be looted and oppressed.

[musette_sf]

3. + 1!

yep, first and last time we had touch screens in Alameda County.

i am proud to see, however, that Alameda really, really hated Arnold, even when the system was gamed:

14-Alameda 54 26 .5

54% Bustamante
26% Ahhhnahhhld

we did even better than Marin vs. that POS!!!