Rep. Conyers Says Justice Dept. Unprepared For Election

[babylonsister]

I'd say there's plenty of blame to go around here...


Justice Dept called uncooperative on voting rights

House Judiciary chairman concerned about federal efforts to ensure fair presidential election

LARA JAKES JORDAN
AP News

Jul 23, 2008 12:14 EST


The House Judiciary Committee chairman on Wednesday said the Justice Department is stonewalling efforts to make sure this year's presidential voting operates fairly.

Chairman John Conyers told Attorney General Michael Mukasey there hasn't been enough cooperation with Congress on voting rights issues. Conyers also said the work that has been done hasn't been effective.

"As we sit here today, probably 100 days before the election, we don't know specifically how our government will respond to the problems that made the elections of 2000 and 2004 so problematic and so controversial," Conyers told Mukasey at the start of the panel's oversight hearing — likely the last House appearance for the attorney general.

Conyers, D-Mich., said it's unclear whether voting machines will be fairly allocated and how federal election monitors will be deployed across the country.

Mukasey responded that making sure the Nov. 4 elections run smoothly is one of his top priorities.

He said the Justice Department plans to work with civil rights groups and state and local officials to solve any problems that might arise. Hundreds of election observers and monitors will be dispatched as well, he said.

"We anticipate much higher turnout this year, and we're doing what we can," Mukasey told Rep. Mel Watt, D-N.C.

The Justice Department has briefed lawmakers on voting rights issues twice this year and plans to again before the election. It recently held a training session for lawyers and agents who will be working on ballot access and other voting matters throughout the election season.


http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/2008/07/justice_dept_called_uncooperat.php

[Parche]

1. They Have Had 7Years To Correct This

:grr: :grr: :hi:

[babylonsister]

3. My thoughts exactly; now they're placing blame? nt

[Hydra]

2. Anyone surprised?

I told people here that "Get out the vote" wasn't going to get Obama in. Fixing Mukasey's vote stealing operation might help, though.

Man, the GE is gonna be a circus. I bet we'll be treated to a "This is too close to count!" race while in reality it will be 80/20 for Obama.

[Golden Raisin]

4. I'm so reassured to hear Mukasey is

"doing what we can". :sarcasm:

Mukasey's involvement only makes me more nervous.

[EFerrari]

5. I wish they were unprepared. They've had years now to do their best

to rig it. The Justice Department is just another arm of the RNC and they shouldn't be anywhere near the election.

[warren pease]

6. "...we're doing what we can," Mukasey told Rep..."

Did anybody bother to ask him exactly what that means? Like specific steps the DoJ is taking to "...respond to the problems that made the elections of 2000 and 2004 so problematic and so controversial..." as Conyers wondered aloud.

I guess "problematic and controversial" is beltway-speak for blatant, overt election theft supported and enabled by the usual elements any good coup d'état needs to succeed, starting with complete control of mass media.

As always, though, dealing with those kinds of issues is a quick ticket to the land of the three monkeys, where deafness, blindness and inability are valuable attributes that keep people out of trouble should they utter something unorthodox that's overheard by any of the 20 million or so snoops who make their livings by ratting out their countrymen.

One step they could take would be to arrest and imprison KKKarl Rove until such time as he's ready to discuss, under oath, his role in stealing the past two presidential elections, and the 2002 and 2006 mid-terms as well.

They could round up this guy Mike Connell, the rabid wingnut fundie and techie who apparently figured out most of the necessary technical steps. An added attraction: Connell is now working as John McCain's IT developer.

Another step might be immediate decertification of all voting machines that don't kick out a receipt, don't publish their source code for scrutiny by the OSF and FSF and anybody else who wants to have a look. Same fate for any machines that don't prevent vote flipping. And same fate for the equally secret electronic vote counters, which also don't verify anything at all.

Another step might include impeaching the two swine who profited the most, politically, from these election thefts -- the president and his marionette. And there's more than enough blame and guilty behavior to go around. There are at least a couple hundred administration flunkies, DoJ policy makers, covert ops planners and regulatory agency plants put appointed specifically to avoid any enforcement or oversight that could diminish corporate profits.

But John's not going to have any of that nonsense; after all, somebody might say bad things about him on Fux Nudes. And bipartisanship is so important.

Just watch how the GOP encourages it: Any democratic behavior that suggests partisanship results in severe beatings and the insertion of sharpened metal rods into their sigmoid colons, with no attempt to minimize the pain. Bipartisanship, on the other hand, comes with a personalized tube of K-Y Jelly. No wonder it's so easy to keep these invertebrate co-conspirators and accomplices so docile and cooperative.

I'm beyond sick of these lying, complicit enablers who sneaked into office on promises of evacuating Iraq and providing real opposition to the Bushies' epic criminality and fascist leanings. And as soon as all us gullible idiots elected them, they hustled back to D.C. for power lunches and dinners with their corporate employers, who gave them their marching orders for the next two years -- none of which included anything remotely beneficial to the people who elected them.

Now we have another chance to fire them all in November, assuming elections are allowed to take place and that the machines and other RNC vote suppression tactics haven't made voting a purely ceremonial act. With few exceptions, I can't imagine how ridding the political landscape of these liars and enemies of the people could be a bad idea.

Even if their replacements are mainly politically naive fools, better an awestruck rookie than a conniving corporatist whose already high on the "will deliver vote for money" list.

Amazing, but this is one case where the dense concentration of numbskulls in the general American population can actually be an asset. Of course, if they weren't such gullible dumb fucks to start with, we would never have had a Bush "presidency" because voters would have been at least aware enough to avoid anyone affiliated with the republican party.


wp

[babylonsister]

7. I rec'd your post, warren pease!

:thumbsup:

[checks-n-balances]

8. WRONG- you can bet the are VERY prepared, just like before

This should have been task #1 for the House in 2006.

[defendandprotect]

9. We're relying on the "DOJ" to fix the problems of 2000 and 2004 . . .??!!!

They probably helped create them . . .!!

[SalmonChantedEvening]

10. It's supposed to be that way Congressman Conyers

If there is anything they can still steal this fall, they will.

You have 100 days to make this something To Get Done.

Starting...





















Last year. January.

Do something.

[burythehatchet]

11. Mr. Conyers - I realize that spending your life in Washingotn DC

makes one appreciate the sound of their own voice, and the aroma of their own farts. But Sir, please, shut the fuck up. If you can't get off your ass and do something besides talk, it is far better that you just go take a nap.