October 25, 2011

BULLOCKS!  UNFATHOMABLE RUBBISH!

This Voting Rights Decision Must Not Be Allowed To Stand

A federal government judge ruled he has no power under the Constitution of the United States of America to hear a constitutional challenge to the government’s system of counting votes in secret.

This, in spite of the plain language of Article III of the Constitution:

 “The judicial Power of the United States, shall be vested in one supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish... The judicial Power shall extend to all Cases, in Law and Equity, arising under this Constitution, the Laws of the United States, and Treaties….”

The case was brought against the two major political parties, also known as the New York State Board of Elections.

The case is being pursued by two citizen voters - Bob Schulz and John Liggett, who charged voting systems being used to count their votes in secret violate the letter and the spirit of our Constitution.

What reason did the Judge give to justify his “I have no power to hear this case” ruling?

He held Schulz and Liggett had no Right to stand before his court any longer.  Coming in October of 2011, this is a most peculiar decision. The case was filed in 2007, survived an early motion to dismiss for “lack of standing,” was scheduled for jury trial and had been nearing the end of a long discovery phase that produced damning evidence against the government.

Why did the Judge issue such a ruling?

The two major political parties (read State Board of Elections) asked him to do so.

What reason was given to justify his “lack of standing” conclusion?

He held the constitutional injury to Schulz and Liggett, by not having their votes counted in public and, therefore, not knowing if their votes were being accurately counted, was no different from the injury being suffered by all other voters so the matter is a political question that should be settled by Congress.

Congress? Our Rights are individual Rights, guaranteed by the letter and spirit of our Constitution, not the will of a majority of a group of men and women.

Congress?  Those whose loyalties flow not to the Constitution, but to political parties, at the risk of not being designated for the ballot for the next electoral cycle?

Congress? Whose political parties are bought and paid for by lobbyists?

Congress? Whose lobbyists include the purveyors of the very secret vote counting machines that are at the heart of the case before the Court?

Balderdash!

In telling Schulz and Liggett to turn to Congress for a remedy to their grievance, the Judge turned a blind eye and a deaf ear not only to common sense, reason and justice, but to the intelligent, rational and professionally crafted arguments presented by Schulz and Liggett that were directed at the need to correct a clear error of law and the need to prevent manifest injustice.

See, for instance the Court's Decision and Order of July7, 2011, Schulz and Liggett’s Motion for Reconsideration , the State’s Response , Schulz and Liggett’s Reply and the Court’s Decision and Order of October 13, 2011.
 

Fanning the Flames of Discontent

Our government (read political parties and their servile followers) has been an overachiever in terms of promoting itself despite its problem of growing civil and human rights violations and the economic imbalance.

The Judge’s decision is but another example in a growing list of failures of the government (read two major political parties) to comply with their constitutional mandates and their constitutional obligation to listen and respond to the People’s legitimate grievances.

The international community, the media and observers might go on being fooled by the rhetoric of America’s success story, but the People are waking up to the problems of constitutional violations and the resultant economic and other devastating effects. 

Government’s refusal to respond to the merits of petitions to remedy the violations and infringements is to squelch public dissent.

To squelch public dissent is to breed public discontent.

This Judge did more than squelch public dissent, he crushed and trampled it.

Tyranny and oppression with all its trappings are on the rise in America.

Resentment at government is seething. 

People are protesting in the streets of America, openly complaining of their suffering, corruption, impunity of those in power and lack of accountability.

Unless the major political parties and their abjectly submissive minions on or off the bench begin to respect and honor the People and their Constitution, regardless of the level of practical difficulty and their political futures, tensions between the People and the government will continue to rise to the breaking point.  And then what? 

On December 17, 2010, with no official willing to hear his legitimate grievances against government tyranny and oppression, twenty-six year old Mohamed Bouazizi brought paint fuel, returned to the street outside a government building in Tunisia, and set himself on fire, sparking the Arab Spring and rise of freedom loving people in Tunisia and elsewhere. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEKwU_B_n_M

Human life is precious.  This was a tragic event, though it sparked a revolt by the People against their Form of Government, exercising their Right, “to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”

A recent story on BBC Worldwide News showed the people of Tunisia voting in a Clean Election for the first time, using hand counted paper ballots in a process that is open, transparent and verifiable by all, with the results of the count announced and posted on the wall at the end of the voting period at each polling station –the very voting system now used in almost all the industrialized countries in the western hemisphere (except the United States). This is worth watching. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-15426257

The Tunisians were voting to establish a 217 seat Assembly that will write a Constitution, then disband. There were 11100 candidates from 110 political parties vying for those 217 seats (so much for “complicated ballots”)

We watch from America grateful to see the People of Tunisia Rise to such heights, but tortured that we have allowed electronic voting machines to move in across our country, casting a dark cloud over our entire electoral process.  Awake Thou that Sleepest, before it is too late!

Self-immolation has long flowed from government violation of civil rights and its refusal to respond to the People’s Petitions for Redress. As was the case in Tunisia, it, and its political consequences are difficult for government to deal with: the person hasn’t hurt anyone else or destroyed government property.

Self-immolation need not come to America. Here the People already have a Constitution and its Bill of Rights guarantees the Right of each one of us to Petition the government to remedy its violations and government’s obligation to respond, including our judges.

In the name of Mohamed Bouazizi, we intend to appeal District Court’s decision to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, where we will immediately file a Motion to expedite the appeal in order to achieve a favorable decision before the 2012 primaries and general elections, banning the use of electronic vote counting systems.

Granted, the government has already taxed the People and paid for the secret vote counting machines it has installed across New York State and America in recent years (machines that have their genesis in the touch screen gaming industry in Las Vegas), but it must be stopped from continuing to tax Freedom by its continued use of those machines.

In the interest of democracy and election integrity the further use of those machines should have been prohibited by the District Court.

Germany’s high Court did just that in 2009, at the request of two of its citizens, banning all the electronic vote counting machines in Germany, returning Germany to paper ballots, hand marked in private, but hand counted in public, with the results announced and posted at each polling place. It’s profound that Germany’s “supreme court” is officially named, “CONSTITUTION COURT.”

For more information about the NCEL lawsuit and to access all recent NCEL related legal pleadings, court orders and WTP updates, please click here.

Mounting the People’s Campaign

Everything possible must be done to put America back on course and prevent further unrest.

Virtually every objective sought by the election integrity community, and the whole of the Free People of America, to ensure the true outcomes of all future elections rides on this single lawsuit. A reversal in the appellate court will, by Federal Court Order, not only prohibit ALL voting machines in the State of New York from that day forward, it will establish a legal and judicial beachhead for every subsequent state and federal case challenging voting systems that are repugnant to the individual’s voting rights. 

Our plan therefore, is to not give up and accept this decision.  We will file a Notice of Appeal before November 13^th.  

If we should win on appeal and have the NCEL case reinstated, we will need to quickly re-engage in full-out preparation for an historic jury trial, including completion of evidence discovery. 

From our view, we don't need any more election challenges or recounts, we don't need more studies or videos documenting machine failures, we don't need blogs reporting more election fraud, we don't need more lawsuits nibbling at the edges of the problem.  THOSE WHO COUNT THE VOTES, CONTROL THE ELECTIONS. PERIOD. 

This case was originally scheduled to go to trial this November. There will be delays if reinstated, but given the coming Primaries and 2012 Presidential election, the Courts will be expected to expedite the case. The same is also true regarding the velocity of all appeal(s). 

For those who stand with us and want to help with the costs associated with this case, the immediate fee for filing the Notice of Appeal to the 2nd Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals is $450.00.  We so appreciate your support.  There are also costs for legal research, hard-copy reproduction, binding/printing costs for the documents and more to come should a trial ensue.

Thank you for your donation for the NCEL lawsuit. 

 

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