Article on vote challenge in Ekstra Bladet, Denmark

[Danish Reporter]

Dear DU'ers

My piece on the vote challenge for Ekstra Bladet tomorrow. It's short, I know, but I couldn't get much space, due to our coverage of the Tsunami disaster.

Yours
Bo Elkjaer, Denmark


Black eye for Bush

Thursday, jan. 6, 2005 has become part of the US history. For the first time since 1877 an entire states vote for the US election was formally objected to by congressmen and senators.
From now on history books forever will have a parenthesis next to the name of president George W. Bush's name: (elected under a formal challenge under suspicions of election fraud)
The challenge occurred during the joint session counting the electoral votes and ending last Novembers presidential election.
The formal challenge was delivered by representative Stephanie Tubbs-Jones from Ohio and the Californian democratic senator Barbara Boxer who signed the challenge.
Several other senators and members of congress stepped forward with charges against the election.
It was in vain, naturally. Both houses have republican majorities, so at no time there was any doubt that the election would be approved and Mr. George W. Bush elected president.
But it is with a big, fat, black stain in his grade book that George W. Bush now starts his second term.

Ghost votes
The senators asked the same questions that Ekstra Bladet - largely alone among main stream media, both in Europe and the USA - has asked in several articles.
How was it that Bush could receive 4.258 votes in a precinct with only 638 voters?
Why was the election performed on computers easily manipulated and why is there no paper trail, rendering it impossible to audit the election?
One of the senators standing and speaking in protest was the former first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton:
- We supported and admired the people of Ukraine for their protests. In a few weeks we'll see an election in Iraq and we know that people literally are dying for their right to vote. I worry that if the congress won't stand and fight for peoples right to vote in this country it will weaken our moral authority in the world.

[Goldeneye]

1. You're great! Thanks for posting this

and for having articles published about our...troubles. As an outsider, what is your take on what happened today?

[Danish Reporter]

6. My take

Well, my take is that today we were witnessing history in the making.

It would be naive to expect both houses to declare the election invalid. But as I can see it, it's equally naive to expect this to just whither away. In my view that would be impossible now.

Anyway.

I'm amazed that you as a country are unable to practice even the most simple form of democracy - and still you're roaming the globe, demanding - and fighting impossible wars - for the very thing that you're unable to do yourself.

It's so simple. It takes three easy steps:
1: Hand people a piece of paper.
2: Let them put X'es at their prefered candidate.
3: Count.

Third world countries do this all the time. You don't. What happened today go beyond the election of Bush as president. This could be the first step of the restoration of the US democracy.

This is only just beginning. But it's going to be a long - a very long - haul.

Yours

I don't know yet if the article will be put on our website. I suspect not, but I will keep you posted. It's on page 13 in the paper version tomorrow.

This post originally came out as somewhat of a US-bashing. It's not meant to be. I think what happened today was extremely significant in so many ways.

[flpoljunkie]

16. Thank you for posting this, Danish Report. Our media has minimiized this

history, so far today--but this is what is to be expected for our very largely compromised, corrupt and cowardly media.

[magellan]

23. Great article, Danish Reporter

And I wouldn't have minded if you'd included this thought of yours in it:

I'm amazed that you as a country are unable to practice even the most simple form of democracy - and still you're roaming the globe, demanding - and fighting impossible wars - for the very thing that you're unable to do yourself.

We're amazed too. But you only have to hear the Republican comments made during the challenge to understand how that could happen. The Dems were talking about protecting our basic right to vote, and a few even reached across the aisle to enlist aid from the majority. But all the Repugs could answer with was their usual hateful distortions and arrogant rhetoric. The Republicans gave a truly dazzling display of the "unity" Bush** has spent four long years instilling in his party.

[thanatonautos]

27. Mange tak, Bo.

This post originally came out as somewhat of a
US-bashing.

Not at all ... stating simple facts cannot, by
any definition, be considered US-bashing.

Although, one might well question exactly why we
are fighting this war in Iraq. I know what is being said
now about what must be done, but it is not at all
what was said before. If it would have been said,
`We must fight this war to bring democracy to Iraq,'
it would have been quite another matter. It should
have required an entirely different kind of war
plan, and I believe that there could have been no
rush about implementing it.

It's so simple. It takes three easy steps:
1: Hand people a piece of paper.
2: Let them put X'es at their prefered candidate.
3: Count.

Yes. The mechanics are indeed very simple. The
politics, unfortunately, are not.

I think that it was well known at the beginning of
the Republic that this was how to vote. The founders
were, all of them, influenced to a greater or
lesser extent by the Scottish enlightenment: as
a group, they certainly knew their Greek, Roman and
European history.

Nevertheless there were serious flaws built in
to the constitution, the lack of any affirmative
right to vote in federal elections being only
one.

Circumstances in early America were such that the
initial great compromise virtually ensured the
emergence of a robust two party system. Once such
a bipolar system existed, it was in the interests of
both major parties to build and maintain independent
political machines by means of and through iron-fisted
control of local electoral apparatus, and so, in
turn to perpetuate their own existence.

When mechanical voting machines were first introduced in
the US, at the turn of the nineteenth century, it was an
age of rapid technological advancement world-wide. Many
objected to their introduction at first, but the majority
eventually had their suspicions allayed, the naysayers
were labelled Luddites, and their perfectly valid
objections have practically vanished in the mists of
time.

What could be more natural than that a country which
wanted to see itself as, and which was in the vanguard
of the industrial revolution, would apply the most
modern methods available to the business of voting?
And in a country whose entire economic philosophy still
revolved, fin de siecle, around some version of
laissez-faire market capitalism, what was more natural
than that entrepeneurs should profit from the manufacture
and sale of their ingenious voting machines to the local
politicos? This was, after all, the American way in
everything, not just in the counting of votes.

So the voting system was allowed to deteriorate.
Nobody saw it as a deterioration, when punch cards
were introduced, and even many of those who have
been in the forefront of the fight for the universal
franchise, do not see the electronic machines we
have now introduced as an intrinsically inferior system
to paper ballots.

Then simply consider that the two party system and
the political machines are still very much alive on a
local level, and to some extent functioning in the US,
but that, on a national level, the parliamentary
rules in the US are such that the minority party has
only so much power as the majority party is willing
to grant to it, and that the controlling group in the
majority is not inclined to grant any power at all
to the minority, and you will begin to understand why
so many of us feel that US democracy is in very great
peril at the moment.

Well, my take is that today we were witnessing history
in the making.

I agree. It was not clear at all to me, yesterday, that
any Senator would stand and join Stephanie Tubbs-Jones,
John Conyers, and the other House Democrats who made
formal objections.

But one did -- a thousand thanks to Barbara Boxer for her
courageous stand. And while I can't help but be very
disappointed that no others voted with her, nevertheless, a
number of others did speak positively.

I know that many people express the feeling that this
is empty rhetoric, without the accompanying vote.

But I still feel that it cannot be other than a positive
and a historic result, to have put the objections to the
serious problems in the last two national elections
permanently into the public record.

The comments by members of the majority party, to me
at least, had an excessively aggrieved tone, bordering
at times on hysteria. It was not the sober response I
would expect from a group of leaders entirely comfortable
in their own skins.

That gives me hope at least that today may have been a
beginning, rather than an end.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

2. It's Good!

Thank you!

[katinmn]

3. Great article! Thanks for sharing it!

:yourock:

[DireStrike]

4. Thank you, I find this heartening.

The rest of the world cares about what actually happens these days, instead of trying to hide everything relevant like the media in our ocuntry.

[FreepFryer]

5. My family is part Danish. This makes me very proud.

And so do you. Good job! When it's ready, will you post the link please?

[floridadem30]

7. Thanks for the post.

[latteromden]

8. Thanks! Will there be a Danish copy available for our reading, on the

website or otherwise? :)

[Snap]

9. Thanks to the Danes

I'm Danish American, from a little Danish town in Minnesota, and we spend summers sailing out of Aarhus throughout Danish waters.
Over and over I hear Danes wonder, "What are Americans thinking?".
I don't have a good answer, but I reply that we are depending on progressive Europeans to hold the mirror up to the U.S., perhaps to help turn the tide against these dark forces of Bush and Co. I Think your writing in Ekstra Bladet is very important. Thankyou.

[renate]

10. Thank you, Bo!

Thanks for covering our national news infinitely better than our national news channels do.

[Old Mouse]

11. Thank you!

[AirAmFan]

12. "First time since 1877" or second? What happened in 1969?

I haven't researched this, but several stories I read today said "SECOND time since 1877" and a talking head mentioned 1969 as the last time there was an objection. Did that objection deal only with part of a state's electoral vote, in one of the few states where there is no "winner take all" rule for electoral votes?

[Danish Reporter]

14. In 1969...

one electorial vote that was supposed to be designated for Nixon went to George Wallace (I believe. Correct me if I'm wrong.). There was a formal objection, but after a short debate the single vote for Wallace was allowed. Didn't change the outcome anyway.

[AirAmFan]

17. Thank you. I've been wondering about this all day. The US media gave

today's challenge so little coverage, I had to learn an important historical fact from a reporter in Denmark!

[AirAmFan]

18. I just remembered the term "faithless elector". If you google

"'faithless elector' 1969 Nixon Wallace" you get hits on academic sites that chronicle all the occasions when this obscure electoral phenomenon has occurred.

[babylonsister]

13. Thanks for getting the word out to your country

that not everyone in the US is willing to roll over for Bush and his crooked cronies. I'm glad you are aware of what's happening over here! And yes, you're giving this issue more visibility than most of the mainstream media over here, despite how historic today was.

[Quakerfriend]

15. Dear Danish Reporter

Thank you for answering our plea for help!

We are in a struggle for the very heart and soul of our country! The warmth and assistance from afar means more than you can know!!

Kind Regards to you.

[ohtransplant]

19. Another thank you!

Sadly we have to rely on media outlets outside our shores to shine a light on our government. The US MSM should be ashamed of themselves.

The truth comes out somehow. No matter how long it takes. Better sooner than later! Thanks again.

Welcome to DU! :yourock:

[bear425]

20. Hello Danish Reporter, will you please PM me the link so

I can forward it to my Danish friend in Ibiza? She will be very happy to see Democracy is still alive here in the U.S. Thanks in advance!

[BernieBear]

21. Thank you Thank you Thank you

[BanzaiBonnie]

25. It is heartening to see someone notice

Thank you so much Danish Reporter.

I am elated at today's events. At the same tiem I know there is so much work to do I am already exhausted.

I am part of a Coast to Coast group traveling to the January 20th inauguration. I feel it is morw important than ever that as many as possible get to DC to let Bush know WE DO NOT APPROVE of his actions in this country and around the world.

We will not let those who, by hook and crook have taken over our country get away with it.

[danostuporstar]

31. Coast2CoastCaravan ??

hey, if this is "Cheri's Bonnie" send me an IM or something. =)

[Helga Scow Stern]

22. Thank you, Bo! n/t

[Carolab]

24. Be sure to keep on reporting as we uncover the evidence!

And any help you can give us internationally in that regard, please do!

[No Exit]

26. THANK YOU, DANISH REPORTER!

I remember seeing you on DU very early in the election fraud movement, back when people were REALLY feeling the media blackout here in the U.S., and there you were, making this business BIG NEWS in Denmark. THANK YOU!

I also like that part where you said: "But it is with a big fat black stain in his grade book that George W. Bush now starts his second term."

Maybe we should make up some posters of Bush with a black eye drawn on his face! It would make a good T-shirt or bumper sticker. Maybe the slogan on that T-shirt could be: "This time he got hurt, it wasn't a pretzel... it was a patriot!"

[Paintedlady]

28. Please post a link to the article

My Danish isn't good enough to figure out how to search for it, but I like for all my Scandinavian relatives to read it.

[Danish Reporter]

30. Article in danish. No link, I'm afraid

Dear DU'ers

Here's the article in danish. I'm afraid I can't post a link. The article was never published online - only in the paper version.

I'll be in Washington for the inauguration. Would be great to meet some of you people IRL.

Yours
Bo Elkjaer, Denmark


Begmand til Bush


Ekstra Bladet 7. januar 2005, 1. sektion, side 13







Af Bo Elkjær

Torsdag 6. januar 2005 er blevet indskrevet i den amerikanske historie. For første gang siden 1877 er der formelt blevet protesteret mod resultatet af et amerikansk præsidentvalg.
Der vil nu for altid stå en lille parantes efter præsident George W. Bushs navn i historiebøgerne: (Valgt under formel protest for valgsvindel).
Protesten fandt sted ved den fælles samling, hvor valgmandsstemmerne skulle tælles op, og november måneds præsidentvalg endeligt godkendes.
Den formelle protest blev afleveret af kongresmedlem Stephanie Tubbs-Jones fra Ohio og den californiske, demokratiske senator Barbara Boxer, der formelt har underskrevet protesten.
Derudover trådte en lang række senatorer og kongresmedlemmer frem med anklager mod valget.
Den formelle protest var naturligvis forgæves. Der er republikansk flertal i begge parlamenter, og derfor var der ikke på noget tidspunkt tvivl om, at valget ville blive godkendt og præsident George W. Bush valgt til præsident igen.
Men det er med en stor, fed, sort plet i sin karakterbog, at George W. Bush kan indlede sin anden præsidentperiode.
Spøgelsesstemmer
Senatorerne stillede de samme spørgsmål, som Ekstra Bladet -stort set alene blandt etablerede medier, både i Europa og USA -har gjort i en lang række artikler:
Hvordan kunne det ske, at Bush fik 4258 stemmer i en valgkreds, hvor der kun er 638 vælgere?
Hvorfor afgøres valget på computersystemer, der er lette at manipulere med, og hvorfor bliver stemmerne ikke printet ud på papir, så det er muligt at kontrollere dem?
En af de senatorer, der rejste sig og talte i protest, var den tidligere demokratiske præsidentfrue, Hillary Rodham Clinton:
- Vi støttede og beundrede folket i Ukraine i deres protester. Om få uger skal vi overvære et valg i Irak og vi ved, at folk bogstaveligt talt dør for deres ret til at stemme. Jeg er bekymret for, at hvis kongressen ikke vil kæmpe for retten til at stemme her i landet, så vil vores moralske autoritet i verden blive svækket.
[e-mail]



Billedtekst:
Kongresmedlem Stephanie Tubbs-Jones fra Ohio (tv.) og den californiske, demokratiske senator Barbara Boxer, der formelt har underskrevet protesten. (Foto: AP)

[icehenge]

29. Kick - Interesting article

[danostuporstar]

32. this made my day!

"From now on history books forever will have a parenthesis next to the name of president George W. Bush's name: (elected under a formal challenge under suspicions of election fraud)"

i'd never thought about it that way...it makes me smile!

[Wilms]

33. Tak for that DK Reporter.

Send help!!!!!