CHOMSKY Subscribers:
We have touched on this issue, however why was it so difficult to get one
(1) Senator to signoff on the challenge to the Florida vote?
Isn't Joseph Lieberman a Senator?
Comments on the artical below?
F. Leon
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Mon, 8 Jan 2001 07:37:54 EST
From: [log in to unmask]
From the Black World Today: <http://www.tbwt.com>
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Jan. 05, 2000
Dear Editors,
Florida Suffrage And Legal Sham
<http://www.tbwt.com/site/letters.asp>
What the world & United States citizens witnessed last month in Florida
was no illusion. A domestic coup d' e-tat unfolded right in our face. It
started from the initial announcement that Al Gore had won Florida, around
7:50 p.m., 11-7-00. The announcement was made by exit poll experts who
have a long history of accurately predicting elections: They did not know
however, that over 185,000 cast ballots would be discarded throughout
Florida. Including 27,000 in Duval County of which 40% were from African
American districts.
They did not know that over 19,000 cast ballots would be discarded in Palm
Beach County due to the infamous "Butterfly" ballot, not including an
additional 3,000 that were mistakenly cast for Pat Buchanan. They did not
know that Reverend Clyde Judson of the Good News Little River Missionary
Church in Miami, would have to call the Police, before his 1,400 African
American cast ballots were picked up 4 days after the election. They did
not know that 2 abrupt hand counts would occur & ballots slightly showing
the voters intent would not be counted. They did not know that of the over
185,000 discarded ballots, over 80% would be from African American
communities, according to Reverend Jesse Jackson. They did not know that
10,500 ballots from the Miami-Dade Democratic stronghold would not be
counted. And certainly they did not know that the US Supreme Court would
be called on 2 occasions by George Bush to stop recounts which ultimately
resulted in Bush's favor thus saving him & the country from further
embarrassment.
Moreover, Judge Nikki Clark admitted that the 1998 Florida Election Law
was broken when Republican operatives were allowed to alter absentee
ballot request in Seminole County. The same crime happened in Martins
County.
Regardless, the altered ballots were not discarded and no one went to
jail. Meanwhile, all over the US jails are filled with a disproportionate
number of first offense inmates doing time for victimless crimes.
Doctoring absentee ballot request are very serious & are not victimless
crimes. If Judge Clark is as lenient with victimless crime defendants that
come before her, as she was with those Republican operatives, her decision
is at least consistent. If not, she contributed to the coup by letting the
Republican operatives get away.
Kweisi Mfume, NAACP President, held hearings which also revealed that
hundreds of college students from Florida A&M & Bethune Cookman were not
allowed to vote. Hundreds of other African Americans were illegally purged
from the eligible voting list. These & other voting irregularities were
reported to the US Justice department during & after the election.
But according to Jesse, the US Justice Department failed to do its job.
Jesse said that "There are counties in Florida under the protection of the
1965 Voting Rights Act. The Department fought diligently for Elian. But it
did very little for disenfranchised voters."
The Newsweek magazine recently reported that Supreme Court Justice Sandra
O'Connor was visibly upset when it was announced that Gore had won
Florida. She had planned to retire & move back to Arizona, but said that
she could not retire and allow Gore to appoint a Democrat. The wife of
Justice Clarence Thomas & the sons of Justice Scalia all worked for the
Republican Party. In spite of their conflict of interest, they voted to
stop the recount rather than recusing themselves. As a result, their votes
were politically biased, weakening the credibility of the US Supreme Court
& the legitimacy of Bush's election.
I put my life on the line during the Vietnam era like other veterans. Many
others lost their lives fighting for Democracy in foreign countries.
However, after what we witnessed in Florida during the past election, we
need not look no further than our own borders to see how Democracy needs
to be respected & fought for. When the US Supreme Court awarded the
Presidency to Bush, it disrespected all who risked & gave their lives for
Democracy. In addition, "Fighting for every American vote to count is an
act of patriotism as great as any soldier who ever fought on a foreign
battlefield for Democracy," according to Jesse. And according to Supreme
Court Justice Stevens, we will never know who really won the election
until we count all of the votes. Jesse said that the Bush Presidency has
legal merit based on the Supreme Court & Congress. But Bush's legitimacy
is questioned because that can only be determined in a Democracy by the
voters, when all of the votes are counted. Bush lost the popular vote by
over 500,000 votes. He only won Florida because the US Supreme Court
stopped the recount, thereby disenfranchising the will of thousands of
voters.
It is important to note moreover, that the recount that is being done by
the major news firms may reveal that the loser won & the winner lost,
according to Jesse. Meanwhile, don't be surprised by the Bush camp's
attempt to even stop this recount. And don't be fooled when Bush says that
"I trust the people." In essence, during the 2000 Presidential election,
Florida violated the 1965 Voting Right Act & the US Supreme Court rendered
a legal sham in crowning the wrong man as the 43rd President of the US.
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