Prosecutions I Would Like to See After This Election Is Over!

[McCamy Taylor]

It has been way too long since election fraud was prosecuted in this country. The GOP is acting as if Bush Presidential Counsel Alberto Gonzales still runs the DOJ. They are so sure that they are not going to jail for any of their Watergate style dirty tricks----


1. It is against the law to tell a lie if that lie is intended to encourage people to buy your product or service.

§ 52. Dissemination of false advertisements
(a) Unlawfulness
It shall be unlawful for any person, partnership, or corporation to disseminate, or cause to be disseminated, any false advertisement—
(1) By United States mails, or in or having an effect upon commerce, by any means, for the purpose of inducing, or which is likely to induce, directly or indirectly the purchase of food, drugs, devices, services, or cosmetics; or
(2) By any means, for the purpose of inducing, or which is likely to induce, directly or indirectly, the purchase in or having an effect upon commerce, of food, drugs, devices, services, or cosmetics.
(b) Unfair or deceptive act or practice
The dissemination or the causing to be disseminated of any false advertisement within the provisions of subsection (a) of this section shall be an unfair or deceptive act or practice in or affecting commerce within the meaning of section 45 of this title.

http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/15/usc_sec_15_00000052----000-.html

We have all seen the lies. The GOP will claim that these “untruths” are ok, because they are protected political speech, not advertising for the sake of making a business profit.

Bullshit. When Texas oilmen run ads in California telling lies about climate control, they are trying to sell more gasoline for gas guzzling cars. When health insurers tell voters that their fate will be decided by federal “death panels” they are trying to sell more private insurance policies.

Any businessman who donates money to fund advertising that tells a lie for the sake of increasing his business profits should go to jail. This is what they got Martha Stewart on. If it was crime for a Democrat, it is a crime for a Republican.

II. The Supreme Court’s Ruling in Citizens United v. The FEC Has Been Interpreted to Mean There is No Limit to How Much Money Foreigners Can Spend on U.S. Elections.

However, if faced with a federal case against a foreign national, does the Supreme Court Gang of Five have the nerve to rule that a terrorist supporter has a right to interfere with U.S. elections? I don’t think so.

Here is a list of organizations which have been declared terrorist by our government.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._State_Department_list_of_Foreign_Terrorist_Organizations

Now, I don't like the Patriot Act and warrantless wiretapping any more than you do. But, if Gonzo got away with using it to blackmail Gov. Eliot Spitzer into staying silent about the Bush administration's involvement in the mortgage crisis, I think that a Democratic administration should be able to use it to go after people who actually break the law and threaten our system of government.

With the expanded powers of the federal government to monitor communications---emails, phone calls, banking transactions---it will be a piece of cake to find out which foreigners have donated money both to HAMAS and to Rove’s Super PAC. Forget privacy. Terrorists do not have privacy. Thanks to the Bush administration, safety from terrorism trumps all other protections. Once foreign businessmen and companies have been identified as funding terrorists organizations, that makes them terrorists, too. And any political group at home which takes their money and promises them something in return is also funding terrorists.

Come on. I would just love to see Roberts, Scalia, Kennedy, Alito and Thomas rule in favor of some family which buys weapons used to blow up U.S. citizens. And maybe if the Patriot Act was used against a few big corporations, Congress might get around to repealing it.

III. Establish Contact/Coordination of Efforts Between the Super PACs and the RNC and Republican Candidates

While looking for contact between terrorist supporters and SuperPACs, the DOJ is going to stumble across other evidence of crimes. All this unlimited spending is legal only if no one from the U.S. Chambers talks to anyone from candidate Joe Blow’s staff. If there is a single instance of coordination of efforts, that makes all that SuperPAC money campaign spending---subject to campaign regulations. A candidate who knowingly accepts corporate donations has broken the law. A candidate who does not disclose such donations has also broken the law. During Watergate, we were not afraid to send crooked politicians to jail.

We all know that every single phone call made in this country, every email or text that is sent gets routed through a special room at AT&T. I am betting that quite a few contacts were made---VIP donors are not going to hand over millions of dollars without some assurance that they will make a profit on their investment.

IV. Rethink "The Fairness Doctrine."

There is no law enforcing (or prohibiting) the FCC from having a Fairness Doctrine. The FCC decided to get rid of it during the Reagan administration and the FCC can decide to bring it back. Obama, the candidate, claimed he opposed it. Obama, the president ought to reconsider. Even with its dwindling viewership, Fox News is a dangerous propaganda tool of domestic---and foreign---businessmen, who want us to guzzle more gas, level more mountains, burn more coal and smoke more tobacco. Essentially, the network is one big informerical designed to sell America products it absolutely does not need. And since the radio airwaves in this country belong to the people, radio stations should be fair, too.

The next one goes without saying, but I will say it anyway.

V. Enforce the Voting Rights Act, PLEASE!

For eight years, the Bush DOJ under Ashcroft and Gonzales encouraged systematic voter suppression. Now, the press acts as if voter caging operations like the one recently uncovered in Wisconsin are just a normal election strategy. When the GOP threatens to send armies of poll watchers into Democratic precincts in Texas, this is just "politics" are usual.

Bullshit, bullshit and more bullshit.

The voting rights act does not say that you are entitled to vote if you can make it through an obstacle course. It does not say that every citizen has a one in two chance of having his vote counted.

No person, whether acting under color of law or otherwise, shall intimidate, threaten, coerce, or attempt to intimidate, threaten, or coerce any other person for the purpose of interfering with the right of such other person to vote or to vote as he may choose, or of causing such other person to vote for, or not to vote for, any candidate for the office of President, Vice President, presidential elector, Member of the Senate, or Member of the House of Representatives, Delegates or Commissioners from the Territories or possessions, at any general, special, or primary election held solely or in part for the purpose of selecting or electing any such candidate.

http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/42/1971.html

In recent years, the press has come to treat illegal disenfranchisement as part of the normal lot of poor, aged and minority Americans. It is only news if young, affluent whites are denied a vote. Everyone else is expected to wade through a mine field in order to cast their ballot. The press is going to be mighty surprised when a bunch of grey haired Tea Bagger grannies get hauled into federal court for interfering with other folks' right to vote. Some people will claim that Obama is prejudiced against white folks. They will pressure him to let it go---

But how much more of our democratic process can we afford to give away just to keep the press from putting the words "angry" and "Democrat" in the same headlines?

http://www.grandtheftelectionohio.com/060705.htm

McCamy Taylor, angry Democrat and proud of it!

[midnight]

1. K&R.

[molly77]

2. McCamy Taylor

I'm with you . Excellent post. Esp. glad to see the Fairness Doctrine included in your list. MSM is in the toilet. The American people will not tolerate boring. MSM personifies boring.At least viewers and newspaper subscriptions are way way down. But could that be the intention ?

I live close to the Canadian border. Used to watch Canadian TV a lot. Much more open than US , spontaneous and funny. After Stephen Harper became PM , the same thing happened there that happened in the US. Boring. News was right wing. Talk shows either went off the air or were boring.Makes you go HMMMM All of a sudden Canada didn't have enough money for their social programs and they started building up their military.

Seems to have been a plan that did not work out well for most of US.

[midnight]

3. I agree to. The Fairness Doctrine would go along way to giving some

transparency to these stories being feed to us.....