Friday, June 09, 2006

BradBlog Bangs No Confidence Drum

With language familiar to readers of We Do Not Consent and its antecedent, GuvWurld Blog, ace investigative journalist Brad Friedman has gotten a serious lather on about the circumstances of Tuesday's election in San Diego. In particular, Friedman outlines the conditions of the equipment used to cast and "count" votes, and details the predictable litany of irregularities in the Busby/Bilbray race to fill the 50th District Congressional seat vacated by the recently convicted Randy "Duke" Cunningham.

Friedman states, "There is NO BASIS for Confidence in the Reported Election Results. Period." He then quotes a seemingly ordinary AP article that presents Bilbray as the conclusive winner, commenting, "Okay, AP. Prove it. I dare you. You can't."

No basis for confidence has been the position I've taken for more than two years now, most notably with the Voter Confidence Resolution adopted by Arcata, CA. There is also a strong connection with the media challenge I laid down at Tuesday's VCC press conference. Friedman creates yet another parallel by referring to the scientific certainty of his argument ("airtight"), a tremendous accolade offered by attorney Paul Lehto in the testimonials of my book We Do Not Consent.

What distinguishes this particular contest is Busby's premature concession. A significant letter writing campaign has begun to encourage Busby to fight for an investigation and complete hand count. Of course, I've also been calling for a hand count here in Humboldt too. Friday's Eureka Reporter describes some of our own election night mishaps, including failed memory cards and precincts unable to submit their optical scan data to the central tabulator. Friedman heavily emphasizes the security risks of San Diego having sent voting machines home with poll workers. Humboldt has the same can of worms though it is thus far unopened. So much for "it can't happen here."

Finally, since the VCC post-election day demonstration didn't really come off beyond about 10 of us questioning elections manager Lindsey McWilliams, I will end on this high note of media coverage. We have had some surprisingly receptive responses to Tuesday's press conference. Tom Sebourn at KGOE ran a two minute election special devoted entirely to our message (.mp3). Wednesday's Eureka Reporter had a decent article that saw some good play at Democratic Underground and which was just added at BuzzFlash. I'm also pretty pleased with how my first appearance on the Peter B. Collins show sounded. I should be able to get the excerpt in the GuvWurld News Archive pretty soon but for now you can download this .mp3 and forward in to exactly 2:23:00 to catch the start of the six minute chat.

Plus Mike Dronkers at KHUM just floored me on Wednesday. I mentioned previously that Dronkers seemed to have an epiphany during our election night interview when I suggested the media shouldn't broadcast or publish what it can't prove. He rebroadcast that clip the following day and then aired my call live when I dialed in to say thanks. Hopefully I'll have that audio soon too. More importantly, I think we have seen significant encouragement to continue pressing this button. I need to find time to seek out private sit downs with local newspaper editors. Coincidentally, I understand the Times-Standard editor, Charles Winkler, will begin holding coffee klatches, starting June 15 at 8am at Sacred Grounds in Arcata.

Posted by Dave Berman - 1:22 AM | Permalink
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We Do Not Consent, Volume 1 (left) and Volume 2 (right), feature essays from Dave Berman's previous blogs, GuvWurld and We Do Not Consent, respectively. Click the covers for FREE e-book versions (.pdf). As of April 2010, paperbacks are temporarily out of print. Click here for the author's bio.

Back Page Quotes

"Give a damn about the world you live in? Give a damn about what you and I both know is one of the most shameful and destructive periods in American history? If so, do something about it. You can start by reading We Do Not Consent."

— Brad Friedman, Creator/Editor, BradBlog.com; Co-Founder, VelvetRevolution.us


"If in the future we have vital elections, the "no basis for confidence" formulation that GuvWurld is popularizing will have been a historically important development. This is true because by implicitly insisting on verification and checks and balances instead of faith or trust in elections officials or machines as a basis for legitimacy, it encourages healthy transparent elections. It’s also rare that a political formulation approaches scientific certainty, but this formulation is backed up by scientific principles that teach that if you can’t repeat something (such as an election) and verify it by independent means, it doesn’t exist within the realm of what science will accept as established or proven truth."

— Paul Lehto, Attorney at Law, Everett, WA


"Dave Berman has been candid and confrontational in challenging all of us to be "ruthlessly honest" in answering his question, "What would be better?" He encourages us to build consensus definitions of "better," and to match our words with actions every day, even if we do only "the least we can do." Cumulatively and collectively, our actions will bring truth to light."

— Nezzie Wade, Sociology Professor, Humboldt State University and College of the Redwoods


"Dave Berman's work is quietly brilliant and powerfully utilitarian. His Voter Confidence Resolution provides a fine, flexible tool whereby any community can reclaim and affirm a right relation to its franchise as a community of voters."

— Elizabeth Ferrari, San Francisco, Green Party of California


"This is an important collection of essays with a strong unitary theme: if you can't prove that you were elected, we can't take you seriously as elected officials. Simple, logical, comprehensive. 'Management' (aka, the 'powers that be') needs to get the message. 'The machines' are not legitimizers, they're an artful dodge and a path to deception. We've had enough...and we most certainly DO NOT consent."

— Michael Collins covers the election fraud beat for "Scoop" Independent Media


"What's special about this book (and it fits because there's nothing more fundamental to Democracy than our vote) is the raising of consciousness. Someone recognizing they have no basis for trusting elections may well ask what else is being taken for granted."

— Eddie Ajamian, Los Angeles, CA


"I urge everyone to read "We Do Not Consent", and distribute it as widely as possible."

— B Robert Franza MD, author of We the People ... Have No Clothes: A Pamphlet for every American