Monday, September 18, 2006

TONIGHT: Palo Alto City Council Considers Voter Confidence Resolution

This is a reminder of tonight's potentially historic Palo Alto City Council meeting, starting at 7pm. If you are anywhere in the Bay Area, please consider attending (map) to speak in favor of the Council adopting the Voter Confidence Resolution (VCR). This version of the VCR to be considered tonight was recently adopted by the Human Relations Commission to address the Council's concerns over a previous version. The Palo Alto language is derived from the Voter Confidence Resolution adopted by the Arcata City Council on July 20, 2005. That language was developed on my previous blog, GuvWurld.

The bigger picture plan has always called for a series of City Councils to adopt the VCR. The idea is to repeatedly challenge the assumption that the Consent of the Governed exists or is even sought. While the City Council front has progressed slowly, nonetheless there are many great examples of the VCR's tenets being adopted and embraced by election integrity groups across the country. Click here for a recap of organizations who declared no confidence in the CA-50 race back in June. Notice even attorney Paul Lehto used language from the VCR in his pleading and oral arguments before the San Diego judge.

Look for WDNC exclusive reports this evening from correspondents at Palo Alto City Hall.

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Posted by Dave Berman - 10:11 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