Palast's new book says NSA spying is all about election theft

[linazelle]

He was just interviewed by Amy Goodman on Democracy Now.

Palast validated that 3.6 million votes were cast but never counted in '04--they were relegated to the provisional ballot pile. The telling thing was that the percentages of blacks votes not being counted was 900% higher than whites; hispanics votes were rejected 500% higher than whites; native americans votes were rejected 2000% higher than whites. Palast says Kerry won New Mexico and Ohio--150,000+ votes thrown away in Ohio alone.

NOTE: This issue is not just about voting machines: it's about putting too few machines in target communities; putting inoperable machines in suspect communities; throwing votes away; challenging and relegating votes to the provisional pile and, of course, the voting machines.

Palast says there has not been a fix to the past problems so the Repubicans are emboldened and will definitely do it again. They targeted people in '04 based on suspect addresses--many of them black soldiers sent to Iraq. Their next target is the Hispanic vote. Palast says there will be a massive increase in voting challenges in the future to suppress the vote and that the NSA effort is primarily about their efforts to "mine" and "troll"* to root out undesirable voters.

He also explained the oil/gas situation. Palast said Hugo Chavez is offering to sell Bush gas at $50 a barrel but Bush won't buy it because Chavez won't return the money Venezuela makes from the oil--he wants to build up his own country with it--but Bush wants the money reinvested for his war machine that has run up $2 trillion in debt. Chavez just withdrew $20 billion from the Federal Reserve which really angered the neocons. Palast says that's the reason Pat Robertson was advocating Chavez's assasination.

Said oil in Iraq is not reason for war. Said back in '20's big oil sat around and redlined Iraq to keep oil from flowing there because it was a threat to Saudi oil. Iraq, apparently, is not a team player with OPEC.

Chavez has more oil than Saudi Arabia according to the Dept. of Energy and that will be announced soon.

Clinton made a deal with Chavez. Bush came in and spat on Chavez's hand--even had Chavez kidnapped in 2002. Bush has drove up the price of oil from $18 a gallon to the current price while in office as a result. He says Bush's ties/loyalty lie with the Saudis and OPEC.

Palast says that he obtained three hundred pages of documents from the closed door energy meetings with Cheney and Ken Lay. Said that they rushed into Iraq not to take the oil but to control Hussein because he was jerking the market around with supply, causing prices to fluctuate wildly.


His book's title: Armed Madhouse

*-"mine" and "troll" Bush's words--not Palast's

[upi402]

1. He's a hero of mine -kick/recommend

:toast:

[linazelle]

2. Mine too. I met him at a lecture on his "Best Democracy.." book. nt

[Fridays Child]

3. k/r

[Bushknew]

4. K&R

[IthinkThereforeIAM]

5. Great...

...but what about NSA "eavesdropping" and all those computers Karl Rove had in the White House conference room (nine of them?) to "monitor and respond" to news coming in on the state by state elections?

[linazelle]

7. I'm not familiar with that story. Please fill me in...

[linazelle]

6. Palast's assertion that Hispanics w/be targeted in coming elections

makes the current immigration issue althemore suspect to me. They are building a climate of fear among immigrants to scare them away from voting more than anything else.

[Benhurst]

8. Recommended

[SupplyConcerns]

9. Sounds a little too eager to blame the oil prices on Bush

Instead of agknowledging the reality of peaking global production. Also, how can it be said oil was "not the reason for war" in Iraq while also saying that Saddam jerking the oil markets around was the true reason. That's directly related to oil. When most people say the war was about oil, they don't simply mean we were trying to "steal" all of Iraq's supply.

[linazelle]

10. Most people think we were trying to take Iraq's oil--Palast is

saying that's not so. The rest is explained in the post.

[petgoat]

14. Another issue was that Saddam was planning to switch over

his oil sales to a euro-denominated market, which would depress the value of the dollar.
Now Iran is talking about the same thing.

[upi402]

15. Yep, the bourse and Iran's attack on the dollar

we're screwed
the rich can invest in foreign currencies and foreign firms, we are stuck here on this dirt.

[xxqqqzme]

27. my thoughts as well...

if the reason was to keep saddam from 'jerking' the markets around; then the neo-cons wanted 2 control/stabilize the market - THAT'S about oil.

[Raster]

40. Peak Oil will eventually be a cause of higher oil prices, but it is NOT

now. Supplies to refineries are still constant. This is bush*'s doing, and of course, the American Petroleum Party and their wholly-owned subsidiary the rethuglican party.

[cosmicdot]

11. Here's the link to read the transcript or stream interview

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/05/15/1334249&mode=thread&tid=25
http://makeashorterlink.com/?R18C36D1D

[nicknameless]

12. Day-um!

And yet, almost no Dem leaders will breathe a word about election rigging.

:grr:

[pnorman]

13. Here's the website:

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/05/15/1334249&mode=thread&tid=25

The video & text is there. His new book sounds interesting!

pnorman

[Judi Lynn]

18. Thanks for the link. Palast is heroic. Patriotic. Brave beyond words. n/t

[NJCher]

16. applause for Greg Palast and Democracy Now

They both do such good work.

Looks to me like we'll have another stolen election. Pretty amazing: the repukes will have been able to rule for 12 years just because they've figured out how to steal elections.

It's so sickening that they do this on the backs of minorities: people who have fought long and hard for their rights. There is nothing more despicable, nothing lower.




Cher

[SoCalDemGrrl]

17. Kick For Palast!!

[Warren Stupidity]

19. "not to take the oil"

Right - no shit. Like we were going to pump it all out of the ground and move it to the strategic reserve? "but to control Hussein because he was jerking the market around" No to control the oil. Hussein was not important. You or Palast are downplaying the role of oil here. Oil was and is the whole focus of this nonsense.

[Gregorian]

26. Yes, but it's the price of the oil he is talking about.

Mission Accomplished means $3 per gallon.

And the same goes for Chavez. That's what the kidnap was about. And we can bet it's not over. Chavez is totally screwing the Bush family adminitration's goal of high gas prices.

It does seem odd. But it makes the most sense of anything I've heard yet. No post war planning. Going in and totally messing up a country. The code of Hammerabai (totally wrong spelling) was destroyed, all while the US army guards stood at the doors of the Ministry of Oil.

But I believe the operation was all designed to slow the flow.

[joeunderdog]

20. I couldn't finish The Best Democracy Money Can Buy.

I got so PISSED reading it at night that I had trouble sleeping. Really. Reading DU can do that too, with all the bad news articles, but at least you don't feel all alone when you hear the bad news. Palast is THE BEST investigative news journalist on the planet.

[The Backlash Cometh]

21. This will never go away. The more this country moves forward,

the more people are convinced that Bush stole those two elections. And this isn't going to be like Kennedy's "magic bullet" theories which were left to conjecture because only a few were allowed to know what was going on and it was kept a secret. The truth is, that it took many, many people to steal those elections and someone will talk, and someone has evidence. And as soon as the Republican dynasty dies, we're going to hear all about it.

[Chomp]

22. The truth about Iraq

Palast is 100% correct about oil & Iraq and I wish more people would understand it.

The US doesn't mind PAYING for oil. They don't need or want to "steal" it in a literal sense. After all, they pay the Saudis for it no problem.

No, what they want is a STEADY, UNCOMPLICATED, UINTERRUPTED supply of oil, and Saddam (and Chavez) was a threat to that.

If one thinks about the US policy on Iraq with this in mind, it makes more sense. They are not stealing the oil, merely seeking to control the supply.


....


On voting: why are people wasting time pondering central tabulating machines (or whatever) stealing elections under Rove's control, when there is a REAL - and shocking, shocking, shocking - conspiracy right here:

"it's about putting too few machines in target communities; putting inoperable machines in suspect communities; throwing votes away; challenging and relegating votes to the provisional pile"


Erm...that is fraud! You don't need any more of a CT than that.

[wildeyed]

23. I am also glad he pointed out that security flaws

with the voting machines are only a small part of the problem. Many have become so focused on that problem that they ignore the fact that it is easier to disenfranchise voters in other ways, and the pubs are very aggressive in that pursuit. It is a big picture thing.

[BlueEyedSon]

24. It's about controlling reporters, silencing whistle-blowers and suppressin

dissent

[EVDebs]

25. I wish SOMEONE would make the obvious connection ChoicePoint &

Global Information Group, Ltd., headed by Ben H. Bell, IIIrd, offshored to the Bahamas.

Even the WashPost's Robert O'Harrow comes close but doesn't follow the cookie crumbs to their inevitable destination

Bahamas Firm Screens Personal Data To Assess Risk
Operation Avoids U.S. Privacy Rules

by Robert O'Harrow Jr.
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, October 16, 2004; Page A01

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A36853-2004Oct15.html

Simply read O'Harrow's article and combine the Palast article on ChoicePoint and VOILA !, you have the TIA offshore, privatized, and out of oversight and DOJ jurisdiction. The Republican company then has your records and the ability to terrorize domestic 'enemies of the state' (read progressives, Greens, Democrats, who speak up about this administration) AND the ability to suppress whistleblowers and the media from the inside.

Worse than Watergate...worse than the SS.

[mojowork_n]

28. All on the same page on this?

I've been following the reports of election fraud in 2004, since the first discrepancies between the exit polls, and the 'actual totals'(?)

Besides Greg Palast, these guys in Ohio:

http://www.freepress.org/index2.php

and Brad:

http://www.bradblog.com/

have been the most dogged in pursuing the truth.

Am I missing anybody?

Is there more?

[EVDebs]

29. ....Global Information Group Ltd, in the Bahamas...?

NSA and TIA, offshore, outsourced. Did Congress approve and fund ? Constitution... anyone ?

[EVDebs]

30. Total Information Awareness...and election theft. Q.E.D.

[mojowork_n]

36. Quo Est Demonstratum?

I think you won't have any trouble at all convincing those
folks who love a good conspiracy every time the topic is
brought up:

http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/november2004/031104votefraud.htm

But true, or not, it's going to take a Blogger Avalanche of
Rather-gate proportions to bring this to the public's
attention, let along 'prove' it.

...Then again, Rather-gate was something initially starteed by
right-tard, wing-nut freepers, unwilling to believe ill of their
Dim-witted Dubya. Then it was picked up by Fox News, and echhoed
by the chorus of Usual Media Suspects, who held their collective
breath and turned blue until Rather resigned.

So, how's about kicking this topic around for a while?

People, link to other reports. Anybody, everybody. Get
something going here.


Like this:

www.waynemadsenreport.com

Wayne covered this at the end of last week.

[EVDebs]

41. Palast in "Khan Job" article mentions NSA Pre 9-11 'policy shift'

and at simultaneous time the NSA begins an Operation FirstFruits internal investigation program...hmmm. Then the domestic spying begins in earnest. I ain't got to show you no stinking badges.

Khan Job
www.gregpalast.com/detail.cfm?artid=312&row=0

and this from Wayne Madsen

""December 28, 2005 --
The journalist surveillance program, code named "Firstfruits," was part of a Director of Central Intelligence (DCI) program that was maintained at least until October 2004 and was authorized by then-DCI Porter Goss. Firstfruits was authorized as part of a DCI "Countering Denial and Deception" program responsible to an entity known as the Foreign Denial and Deception Committee (FDDC). Since the intelligence community's reorganization, the DCI has been replaced by the Director of National Intelligence headed by John Negroponte and his deputy, former NSA director Gen. Michael Hayden.
Firstfruits was a database that contained both the articles and the transcripts of telephone and other communications of particular Washington journalists known to report on sensitive U.S. intelligence activities, particularly those involving NSA. According to NSA sources, the targeted journalists included author James Bamford, the New York Times' James Risen, the Washington Post's Vernon Loeb, the New Yorker's Seymour Hersh, the Washington Times' Bill Gertz, UPI's John C. K. Daly, and this editor , who has written about NSA for The Village Voice, CAQ, Intelligence Online, and the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC).
In addition, beginning in 2001 but before the 9-11 attacks, NSA began to target anyone in the U.S. intelligence community who was deemed a "disgruntled employee."" ...

http://www.oilempire.us/nsa.html

""More on Firstfruits. The organization partly involved in directing the National Security Agency program to collect intelligence on journalists -- Firstfruits -- is the Foreign Denial and Deception Committee (FDDC), a component of the National Intelligence Council. The last reported chairman of the inter-intelligence agency group was Dr. Larry Gershwin, the CIA's adviser on science and technology matters, a former national intelligence officer for strategic programs, and one of the primary promoters of the Iraqi disinformation con man and alcoholic who was code named "Curveball." Gershwin was also in charge of the biological weapons portfolio at the National Intelligence Council where he worked closely with John Bolton and the CIA's Alan Foley -- director of the CIA's Office of Weapons Intelligence, Nonproliferation, and Arms Control (WINPAC) -- and Frederick Fleitz -- who Foley sent from WINPAC to work in Bolton's State Department office -- in helping to cook Iraqi WMD "intelligence" on behalf of Vice President Dick Cheney and Scooter Libby. In addition to surveilling journalists who were writing about operations at NSA, Firstfruits particularly targeted State Department and CIA insiders who were leaking information about the "cooking" of pre-war WMD intelligence to particular journalists, including those at the New York Times, Washington Post, and CBS 60 Minutes.

The vice chairman of the FDDC, James B. Bruce, wrote an article in Studies in Intelligence in 2003, "This committee represents an inter­agency effort to understand how foreign adversaries learn about, then try to defeat, our secret intelligence collection activities." In a speech to the Institute of World Politics, Bruce, a CIA veteran was also quoted as saying, "We've got to do whatever it takes -- if it takes sending SWAT teams into journalists' homes -- to stop these leaks." He also urged, "stiff new penalties to crack down on leaks, including prosecutions of journalists that publish classified information." The FDDC appears to be a follow-on to the old Director of Central Intelligence's Unauthorized Disclosure Analysis Center (UDAC). ""

http://www.waynemadsenreport.com/2005_12181231.php

[Kurovski]

31. Kick(nt)

[raysr]

32. I read that and it makes perfect sense!

[warrens]

33. This is how Rehnquist made his bones

As some sort of young punk judge, he would sit at polling booths and challenge every single Hispanic voter, but no white ones.

[BrklynLiberal]

34. Absolutely. Everything BushCO does is to hold onto power!

[file83]

35. Can somebody PLEASE impeach Bush now?

I'm want him impeached noowwwwwww!

[Media_Lies_Daily]

37. Answers my questions....thanks. K & R.

[mod mom]

38. Here are some stats from Armed Madhouse:

-Nine out of 10 uncounted votes in New Mexico were cast by non-Anglo voters.

-In NM precincts with a population of more than 75% Hispanic, the vote loss was 900% higher than in 75% white precincts.

-7.1% of high majority Hispanic Precincts recorded "NO-VOTES" for president in NM

[Joanne98]

39. Palast is 100% credible! K&R

[linazelle]

42. kick for anybody who missed it/ nt