. He did a marvelous schtick on
and how to solve it.
presentation is hard to reade since the formating is messed up so here it is cleaned up and re-presented.
Below the fold: "Curing Electile Dysfunction: It's Time to Take 'Emerge 'n See' Measures" by Steve Bhaerman/swamibe.
"Swami on Electile Dysfunction
Steve Bhaerman AKA Swami Beyondananda is always a player of words to en-lighten the load.
Vicky Peltz"
See this related DVD from Steve Bhaerman's website:
"Electile Dysfunction"
"Curing Electile Dysfunction: It's Time to Take 'Emerge 'n See' Measures"
By Steve Bhaerman
'No matter what the awful truth is about vote count this time, we have the awesome opportunity to make sure every vote is counted next time.'
Maybe we progressive voters aren't sore losers, after all. Maybe the recount currently going on in secret (at least secret as far as mainstream media is concerned) will prove we're sore winners instead.
Yes, with all of the lamenting about how the Democrats could have reached out to more voters, it just might be that the key to victory was 'reaching in' to those optical scam (oops, I mean optical scan) voting machines and just creating more voters that way.
If you read the newspapers and watch TV news, you may have heard vague rumors that a few extreme nutcase 'flat-earthers' subscribe to the laughable notion that voters were intimidated in Ohio and Florida, and voting machines and tallies were tampered with. These 'conspiracy nuts' include Green Party Presidential candidate David Cobb, Libertarian Party candidate Michael Badnarik, and the public interest advocacy group, Common Cause. A few fearless journalists like Greg Palast, William Rivers Pitt, Thom Hartmann, MSNBC's Keith Olbermann and Air America's Randi Rhodes have joined in.
Along with Cobb and Badnarik, Common Cause has raised the funds to conduct a complete recount in Ohio. If evidence of voting fraud is found, this may lead to a more widespread recount. And in fact, a committee of 100 prominent Americans is being formed right now to speak out in unison in support of a completely transparent recount. With the exception of online news sources and Air America radio, the media has treated folks who say the vote has been tampered with as if they just announced they were taken aboard a spacecraft and are pregnant with an alien love child.
But if television won't cover the story, then 'tell a person' must.
Therefore we are inviting you to take 'emerge 'n see' measures -- to emerge from frustration and despair and see that this is a battle that cannot be won from the top down, but must be won from the ground up. And time to extend that state of 'emerge n' see' to all of our friends, family and neighbors who have fallen prey to the 'not-see' mentality -- i.e., insisted on not seeing what the current ruling cadre is capable of doing, and in fact has done.
'Not-seeism' is understandable in this sense: No American really wants to believe that our government is their enemy, and what is passing for 'news' is Orwellian 'newspeak.' There is an old saying: 'The truth shall set you free, but first it will piss you off.' Those of us willing to emerge from fear and see the truth must therefore act as 'midwives' to others who are ready to peek above the wall of illusion and 'impropaganda' and help them see the 'awful truth' and the 'awesome opportunity' at the same time.
In some ways, it's easier to accept the awful truth than to see the awesome opportunity, but consider that in this election, the electorate was way, way ahead of the Democratic candidate. In light of the obvious need for regime change, the progressives gave their all for John Kerry. And once again, like Lucy pulling away the football just as the hapless Charlie Brown is about to kick it, the Democratic National Committee conceded quicker than you could say, 'Karl Rover, Karl Rover make Kerry roll over!'
The Swami has said that the prime cause of disillusionment is illusionment. So now that we the people have been disabused of our illusions, it's time to stop abusing ourselves with further illusions. The Democratic Party has proven to us that they will stop at nothing to win, for indeed ... they stopped at nothing. The awesome opportunity is for we the people to take the lead in restoring -- if not establishing -- democracy in this country.
There were (at least) 55 million Americans who cast their vote for regime change earlier this month. The good news is, those people still want regime change. The better news is, in taking the lead for honest and transparent election, we the people embody that regime change and establish our democracy at a higher level. No matter what the awful truth is about vote count this time, we have the awesome opportunity to make sure every vote is counted next time.
So, what is to be done? We recommend a 3-Step Program for Recovering our Democracy because frankly we have no time for all 12-Steps.
Step One. Educate Ourselves.
Step Two. Tell A Person.
Step Three. Press the Press.
Step One. Educate Ourselves. Fortunately, there are several clearinghouses for up-to-date and congruent information on election recount issues. Websites are listed below. Here are several key talking points, with links back to deeper source material.
1. Voting 'Irregularities' Block the Vote in Ohio. In many Democratic areas (particularly African-American communities), people had to wait hours to vote, thanks to an unexplained 'shortage' of voting machines. Meanwhile, Republicans 'challenged' voters' rights to vote, forcing them to fill out a provisional ballot instead of a real ballot. The provisional ballots were not counted on election day and we may never know how many of them there were, or what rules will be used to qualify them. Flyers were sent to Democratic areas with an array of false information on them. People were told their voting precinct had changed, that their voter registration was not valid, even that they would go to jail of they tried to vote.
http://www.freepress.org/columns/display/7/2004/991
2. In Some Ohio Counties, There Were More Votes for Bush Than Registered Voters. Maybe Pat Robertson was right and God did have His Thumb on the scales for Dubya, because in a 'miraculous' occurrence not unlike the multiplying loaves and fishes, votes for George Bush in certain Ohio counties exceeded by 93,000 the number of voters actually registered in those counties. Considering that Bush won Ohio by a mere 136,000 votes, this could be significant.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/111404z.shtml
3. Odds of Mismatch in Exit Polls and Election Results Being Coincidental: 250 Million to One. According to University of Pennsylvania statistician Dr. Stephen Freeman, 'As much as we can say in social science that something is impossible, it is impossible that the discrepancies between predicted and actual vote counts in the three critical battleground states [Ohio, Florida, and Pennsylvania] of the 2004 election could have been due to chance or random error... The likelihood of any two of these statistical anomalies occurring together is on the order of one-in-a-million. The odds against all three occurring together are 250 million to one.' Dr. Freeman's contention, by the way, is backed by the respected pollster, John Zogby.
http://truthout.org/unexplainedexitpoll.pdf
Complete US Exit Poll Data Confirms Net Suspicions
http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/hl0411/s00227.htm
http://www.freezerbox.com/archive/article.asp?id=321
http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/112004x.shtml
4. Mass Media Seems to Be Covering Up the Story By Not Covering It. Actor / activist Peter Coyote says he received a call from a producer friend at CBS who told her, there is a 'media lock-down' on the election fraud issue and 'there is to be no TV coverage of the real problems with voting on November 2nd.' His source also said they've also been forbidden to talk about it even on their own time. With the exception of MSNBC's Keith Olbermann and Air America, the only articles or reports on the issue have been those 'reassuring' Americans that all of the anomalies are easily explainable (but not really explaining them).
Resources for Accurate Information
http://www.blackboxvoting.org
http://www.verifiedvoting.org
http://www.nov2truth.org
http://www.commondreams.org
http://www.truthout.org
Step Two. Tell A Person. While emails can be effective in communicating to large numbers of people quickly, there are limitations.
First of all, many people suffer from information overload and often delete messages before they read them. Secondly and more important, the very people we want to reach are the ones who don't go online for their news sources. Can you think of ten friends, relatives and associates who may have voted for Kerry but probably don't know much about the recount activities? Time -- and money -- are of the essence. Could you call these people, concisely make your case (see questions below), and send them where they can get more information? Writer Lilian Friedberg has actually put together flyers that she hands to neighbors, co-workers, associates and strangers. You can go to this website to find some sample flyers.
http://www.bigpath.net/politics/home/home.html
In communicating with others about this volatile issue, it's important to lead with questions, not answers. Your tone should evoke curiosity and then concern, but without paranoia or panic. As communicators we must hold the good news and bad news in our consciousness simultaneously: Our power has been taken from us, and here is how we will take our power back. Remember, invoking fear is a short-term strategy with diminishing returns. Invoke encouragement, and you evoke power.
Here are some key questions to lead with as you 'tell a person':
- Did you know there is an official recount effort in Ohio?
- Did you know that in certain Ohio counties, George Bush got 93,000 more votes than there are registered voters?
- Did you know that some voters in African-American precincts in Ohio were sent official-looking flyers telling them to vote on Wednesday, not Tuesday?
- Do you wonder why you haven't seen this in your newspapers or on TV?
- Are you aware that all the companies that make the electronic voting machines are Republicans who supported Bush?
- In the light ot this information, what are you willing to do about it?
a. Educate yourself further, and speak with ten others?
b. Contact your Representative and Senators asking them to support recount efforts?
c. Call your local newspaper and TV station and ask them why they aren't covering this news?
Step Three. Press the Press. Mainstream media has been silent and dismissive about the issue. Even the 'liberal' San Francisco Chronicle has printed hatchet pieces on 'those sore loser liberals' and a few longer articles which 'disprove' any major fraud. Few if any letters to the editor have been printed. So ... how do we press the press? This is clearly an area which requires some thinking, and broad concerted action. Of course, you can write letters to the editor, but those are too easily ignored. So here are a few ideas to develop and adapt:
- Mass phone calls to local and national newspapers. Find the national news editors, and call them directly. Using some of the talking points above and questions below, clearly and concisely demand they cover the story.
- In a more in-your-face press-the-press press, have a group (including a prominent citizen or citizens) stand outside the local or national news outlet and confront the executives, editors and anchors directly with a camcorder and mike, Michael Moore-style. These clips can be broadcast on Indy or foreign press.
- Create local actions or petitions in front of city council asking for solidarity with recount efforts. This was a successful strategy in getting local governments to come out against the Patriot Act. Even if the resolutions aren't passed, they will be covered by local news.
- Create other newsworthy actions. A good example is the November 3rd committee that, in Martin Luther style, nailed their 'theses' to the door of the Democratic National Committee, and are encouraging others around the country to do the same. http://www.3nov.com
- Mass phone calls to mainstream media cancelling subscriptions in protest. If just a fraction of the 55 million who voted for regime change shifted their money from mainstream to alternative media, we could actually create the financial resource for a truth-telling network. As Swami says, 'If you get your news online, put your money where your mouse is.'