Armed Madhouse: From Baghdad to New Orleans - Sordid Secrets &Strange Tales of a White House Gone Wild By Greg Palast
Book Review by Mark Groubert
At the age of 25 most people were finished. A whole goddamned nation of assholes driving automobiles, eating, having babies, doing everything in the worst way possible, like voting for the presidential candidate who reminded them most of themselves.
Charles Bukowski
Greg Palast clearly hates George Bush and his mafia-like crime family. But he’s also not too fond of Al Gore, Hilary Clinton or John Kerry either. Nor does he particularly like New Mexico governor Bill Richardson for that matter. The former so-called “forensic economist” a kind of socialist Sam Spade who specialized in corporate fraud, is now on the trail of political shenanigans as a TV journalist for the BBC.
Armed Madhouse, which came out in 2006, has been re-released in paperback with a new bonus chapter/afterward entitled Busted …and How to Steal Back Your Vote. It is mandatory reading for anyone interested in how the Republicans are going to steal the next election in 2008. The Chicago Tribune said it is composed of, “stories so relevant they threaten to alter history.” Powerful stuff.
Palast is also the author of The Best Democracy Money Can Buy, a New York Times bestseller and is a frequent guest on Air America Radio with Randi Rhodes and Robert Kennedy, Jr.
As a writer for the British newspaper The Observer the Los Angeles-born muckraker has written extensively about the war on terror. In 2006 Palast himself was charged with violating anti-terror laws by the Department of Homeland Security for filming victims of Katrina caged in a trailer park near Exxon Petroleum’s Baton Rouge refinery. Apparently the DHS was more concerned with the filming of the oil refineries than the downtrodden refugees of Hurricane Katrina. Charges were later dropped when Palast pointed out that anyone with Google can see complete aerial maps of the so-called “critical infrastructure asset.”
Palast believes Exxon finally called off the dogs. Seems he has been nipping at the heels of the oil giant going back to the Exxon Valdez grounding, which Palast reported had less to do with a drunken sea captain and more to do with faulty navigation equipment and cost cutting.
Palast has more recently made his bones specializing in election fraud and the minutia of vote stealing. With the upcoming ’08 presidential elections the bonus chapter/afterward is of enormous current interest. During the past three elections, Palast’s election stories have been effectively blocked by U.S. corporate media. Despite being filmed by BBC Television his work rarely makes it even to PBS here in America.
With the Democrats regaining a mini-swagger in their political strut, Palast lays out the scenario for the Republicans stealing the upcoming presidential election. In fact the longtime swagger of Bush and the smirk of Rove may be grounded in their total confidence in knowing how to steal presidential elections in perpetuity. Palast lays out in detail just how they did it and more importantly, how they plan on doing it again. Can the Democrats stop them is the only question at this point. It’s kind of like facing a football team with a massive offense and your team has a pretty good defense. Can your team stop their offense - in both meanings of the word?
In 2000 it was caging lists. In 2004, it was provisional ballots. In 2008 it will be voter IDs. Palast lays out the case about Florida scrubbing its rolls for ex-felons or anyone who had the same name as a felon or might have known a felon. But there were other scrubbing going on. The overall genius of the National Republican Party is to work with local state officials to eliminate as many ethnic voters, aka Democrats, as possible through a myriad of methods.
For instance, Florida absentee ballots were discarded in record numbers. The ones that came from Republicans actually said so on the outside of the envelope. Nice. Election officials also used methods; such as zip code, race reporting and name recognition to achieve the same goal.
Concerning provisional ballots in 2004, Palast explains how the Republican-controlled Congress, confronted by Jesse Jackson and the Congressional Black Caucus, signed deceptive bipartisan legislation for access to so-called provisional ballots. The one thing carefully omitted was that it wasn’t required by law to actually count those ballots. No accident.
Other methods included leaving the oldest machines in poor neighborhoods and reducing their numbers over all to create 7-hour wait times and thereby crippling the election process. Secretary of State Blackwell did everything he could to reduce the number of ethnic/student/urban voters including challenging the weight of paper used for voter registration forms.
All intentional.
All incrementally effective.
Anti-conspiracy theorists in the media kept demanding a ‘smoking gun’. There is no smoking gun – just thousands of spent rounds of ammunition.
It is not two sided by the way. Republican operatives covered the landscape with various illicit techniques from phone slamming, to hidden party switching petitions that in some cases said they were for marijuana reform on the “cover” sheet.
Regarding black box voting.
Palast insists that while touch screen voting is a real threat, it is really a McGuffin that will not do as much damage as feared. It is the total overall ballot and registration dumping that caused Democrats to lose two elections they actually won with ease.
Now the new boogieman is the voter ID card needed to vote in battleground states. For Democrats, a nightmare in the making. Only 20% of Americans have passports. Not everyone has a driver’s license. And many do not have birth certificates. In many states, the phony threat of voter fraud has permitted legislation for this new method of voter elimination to be ratified. The drama will be played out on Election Day 2008, a little over a year away.
Brilliant.
And that is why they are still smirking.
Check the government’s official numbers in Ohio for the 2004 presidential election:
Spoiled ballots 103,660
Provisional uncounted 33,998
Absentee uncounted 15,519
Ghost & blocked votes 85,950
Total Uncounted 239,127
Bush ‘victory’ margin 118,599
Through careful statistical analysis, Palast demonstrates how inner city Blacks, Latinos, Native Americans, Jews and students were successfully targeted and eliminated by Republican election operatives. All of the above were overwhelmingly Democratic voters.
Palast Prediction: The next battleground will be Nevada in 2008.
Palast suggests Democrats flood the zone with poll workers. He also recommends NEVER voting by absentee or provisional ballot. Also to vote early, weeks before if possible.
Do not wait until Election Day.
It may be too late. This is not a fair fight. It is not a level playing field. We may have the numbers but they have the illicit methods and control numerous state political machines. We may be naïve, laid back and incompetent. But they are organized, devious and Machiavellian. Please do not suggest that both sides are equal in this fight. It doesn’t hold water.
In Germany in 1933, the Social Democrats fought hard against the National Socialists, but only one group started a fire in the Reichstag. Should the Social Democrats be blamed for the political victories of the Third Reich and their candidate? Or were they, like many others around the world, soon to become victims of a brutal regime?
Don’t become a victim.
REGISTER, REGISTER, REGISTER.
You must make sure you are registered. Rolls are purged in the middle of the night now. You may have to register more than once. Don’t be so sure you’re registered. Check and double check. Help others register. It is not about simply getting out the vote any longer. We are way past that, folks. It is about making sure that whatever recording device is supposed to record your vote actually does. Think like a Third Worlder. Be aggressive. Be confrontational. Do not take your vote for granted.
They don’t.
American power elites have tried to stop us from voting since the inception of the United States. Voting has always been seen as the function of the great unwashed. The grubby working class little people. Ever see a wealthy politician vote?
He always looks clueless.
Like old man Bush-buying milk at a supermarket.
Landless couldn’t vote until 1844.
Ex-slaves until 1869
Women – 1920
Poor - 1964
Great grandchildren of ex-slaves - 1965
The new Jim Crow is electronic, non-confrontational and extremely successful. We have fought for our right to vote since the beginning. They have tried to stop us since the beginning.
Reason?
We outnumber them.
It is a worldwide struggle now.
Ohio = Mexico = Poland = Ukraine = Venezuela = Florida.
Nothing can be taken for granted. Polls mean nothing. Predictions mean nothing. Endorsements mean nothing.
Only votes matter.
Make ‘em count.
A screenwriter/producer/journalist based in Hollywood, California, Mark Groubert is the Senior Film and Book Reviewer for CrooksandLiars.com. As a filmmaker he has produced numerous documentaries for HBO. Groubert is also the former editor of National Lampoon Magazine, MTV Magazine and The Weekly World News. In addition, he has written for the L.A. Weekly, L.A. City Beat, Penthouse, High Times and other publications. He is currently at work on his memoirs…or so he says.
One Trackback To “Armed Madhouse: Don’t become a victim of voter fraud in 2008“
Thanks for posting this!
My district uses paperless touch screens for early voting.
Are you getting ready to live under the ‘GOP forever’ plan?
“There’s no smoking gun, just thousands of rounds of spent ammunition.” – I like that one.
Most likely Stalin never said “It’s not the voters who count, it’s the ones who count the votes.”, but the message is clear just the same. Voter fraud has been going on in this country for hundreds of years, it’s just that now they are VERY good at it – and most of it is “legal”.
I spent so many years after RFK and King were gunned down screaming and yelling for all the years afterward it took to get out of Nam that it left me too F-ing cynical to ever want to participate in the process again–But I’ve lately been haunted by two quotes: ” The path to Aschwitz was paved with indifferenc” and Burke’s, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing”. Fuck the bastards–There are too many good men (and women) out there to let this arrogant, greedy scum steal another election.
i consider myself a HUGE palast advocate and supporter.
he has the ability/gift/cajones to distill problems to their nasty little core. he is a friggin pitbull on the pantleg of corruption.
if you haven’t read the best democracy money can buy…. go read it, please
An excellent post. I’ve seen several videos done by Palast and he’s always band on target.
Important post–I just finished reading the first edition of Armed Madhouse about a month back. And look for Palast on Youtube, good stuff!
In June of 2000, a drunk Greenberg Taurig lawyer from Tallahassee was bragging to me about his meeting the day before with dubya jeb & karl and informing me that “Florida was in the bag”. They knew that inferior “chad” making paper was going to be used and that Tampa was caged.
It was a plan then, and in 2004. You know they’re going to keep trying. It’s illegal, but until someone does some time, why would they stop trying?
Hate to say it, but I’m not surprised. Wasn’t it Rove who was quoted as saying that his goal was to institute a “100 year reign” for the Republicans?
The sad part is that after all of this, after years of voter fraud, after years of being lied to, after loosing our homes to fraud mortgages and the companies who gave them out, after getting us into war with no end, the American public *still* won’t do anything after the fraud in 2008. They’ll be too busy listening to iTunes, and arguing over who’s next to get the boot on American Idol.
When Britney Spears fizzling across a stage makes headlines for a solid week, you know that the media will never do it’s job reporting any of this.
The revolution will not be televised, because we can’t be bothered to stop watching Big Brother.
Want your vote counted? Easy. Everyone should switch their registration to Republican. It is easy to hide in plain sight. Besides, it will cost them more in direct mailing.
dead last @ 11:
I like that. Could play into the whole primary process, too. Brilliant!
I’m still (pointlessly, I know) amazed and befuddled by the fact that there are people who want to live that way; cheating, stealing, denying others their rights as citizens and human beings, etc, etc. I ask again: what the hell is wrong with these people? Why is it so important to crush others in pursuit of whatever it is that they think matters….money, power, influence, ego…it just outside the range of my everyday thinking. And I’ll tell you, what really enrages me is that I have had to get into the minds of these scum, think outside the box and HAVE Machiavellian thoughts just in order to understand how they operate. I absolutely resent having my thoughts sullied with the kind of gross cowardess that guides their every move.
I’m just like most decent people:
I want to make a living, eat some ice cream, have a family, a few laughs, and vote very two years on these-and-those measures and placing people who I think represent my best interests in office. All this underhanded scheming is a waste of energy.
Sachem @ 9:
I think it’ll take more than “someone” doing some time. The only instance of voter fraud from ‘04 that ended in jail time was in the case of the republican spamming the phone lines of the democratic center who would get people out to polling places if they couldn’t get there. It ended in like 2 months of jail and a fine, even though there was evidence that the administration was linked directly with the effort.
There are buffer layers in this. Idiots who think that winning is what’s important, regardless of who you’re winning on the behalf of. No, nobody *really* responsible will ever go to jail for acts like this. We either need to come out in such overwhelming numbers that cheating is futile, or we need to consider other options and obligations placed on the public by the constitution.
dead last @ 11:
Haw!
The only way you’re going to steal back the election is this:
Register as a repug. Do it. Encourage as many people you can to do it.
Be sure and indicate openly that you are voting repug.
And then when the day comes, everyone votes enmasse for the dems.
It’s probably the ONLY way you’re going to get democratic votes past their gauntlet.
I realize it’s still likely to fail. Especially since it doesn’t actually matter how you vote. They’ll be deciding for you anyway.
Flatline @ 10:
Rove’s “100 year reign” was derived from “thousand year Reich” after he got the idea from reading Mein Kampf. Looks like they will be about 92 years short.
bmw 528 @ 17:
Oh I know full well where it came from. I really hope you’re right about him being 92 years short…
I see someone already had a similar idea regarding the voting and I apologize for repeating it in my earlier post.
You know, I would simply LOVE it if most of you intelligent democratic liberal folks would think about moving to Canada.
You could help us oust our conservative infection.
We’ve got good food.
And hockey… lots and lots of hockey. :D
Marijuana is almost legal here and same sex partnerships are marriages equal under the law. We’re fairly progressive. But I think we need help. Consider it an alternative if you ever find yourself contemplating a move.
Bonkers @ 13:
You sound like the perfect citizen. Keep your head down, work hard, don’t complain.
Unfortunately, the world you were in (or fantasize) is no longer here. Your rights have been eviscerated and your wealth is being extracted. If it is too much for you to worry about or work for, take a seat on the sidelines and watch. For the rest of us, it is a fight for the lives we want to live.
dead last @ 11:
I couldn’t agree with you more. A brilliant idea!
Great post!
Samson- @ 6:
Samson,
I Just finished “Armed Madhouse”. Now starting into “Nemesis” by Chalmers Johnson. I too am a Palast convert. He is one courageous individual and a great writer. I will be volunteering as a poll worker and going out on registration drives. I suggest everyone here do the same, especially if you live in a borderline state, like Nevada or Ohio.
Is it too late for us to take the day off on 11/04/08? C’mon folks. Let’s take it back before it’s too late.
Only votes matter.
Actually, only *counted* votes matter… Do what you can to make them count.
MargeAggedon @ 19:
I would love to move to Canada! I live in Maine. No near and yet so far! I don’t think it would be easy to move there. My hubby and I are retired and I think Canada wants only working people.
enor @ 20:
I think you totally misunderstood my point. I am refraining from telling you where to shove your condescension on the theory that I have misunderstood you as well.
Point being, I agree with you.
I’m about 1/3 of the way through Armed Madhouse. I’d have finished it by now if it weren’t so infuriating. It’s well written and thorough. I just wish it was fiction.
Well… I’m sold… I’m gonna go out to the book stores tonight and look for this Palast book….. I might just buy all the books he’s published to date if I can find them. Sounds like from what I’m seeing here, his thing is to speak the unvarnished truth, warts and all… I can get behind something like that… I’ve listened to way to much bullshit from all sides. I’m so really ready for the truth and honest appraisal of this mess from someone who doesn’t have a hidden agenda of some kind, I can’t stand it anymore.
On the voting thing??? I WILL end up going to jail if I sense my vote is being manipulated in any way… I don’t know if I will be able to perceive that given my voting district doesn’t use the hated touchscreen computer systems…. Nevertheless if it looks like something hinky is going on, it will get ugly real quick. I’ll make damed sure of that. After two questionable national elections a majority doesn’t trust the results of, and all the rest of the crap that’s been going on, its looking like we’re past the point of respectful disagreement and discourse on this matter.
We’re either going to have honest elections this time out, without the taint of possible corruption, or its going to be bloody fisticuffs anarchy time boys and girls. No more mister niceguy go along to get along bullshit!!!. If the voting system is truly as compromised and corrupted, ‘broken’ so to speak. As has been indicated, then there is no point in pretending its not and going thru the voting motions..There’s just no ligitimate reason to pretend on that anymore….JD
enor @ 20:
I think you totally misunderstood and misrepresented my point. I am refraining from leaving instructions as to just which orifice you can store your condescension in the hope that I have misunderstood you in some way. In other words (to quote our Chimp In Chief): I agree with you.
Greg Palast single-handedly does what the MSM won’t.
to contribute to his investigative fund and get autographed books, go to:
the link didn’t work, apparently - the website is www.palastinvestigativefund.org
For those of us in Ohio, how do we keep our “Vote For” signs in our front yards when they vanish in the middle of the night? No joke! I had to replace my “Vote for Kerry” signs every day ’cause some Republicans would creep in every night and steal them.
Ohio is a tough place to be a Democrat! Much less an anti-war advocate.
I know there is allot that can be done to clean up the elections, but anyone attempting to do so in Ohio RISKS THEIR LIVES!
I’m sorry to mention this, but some of you living out of state may not understand how bad it really is here.
During election time, we DO live in fear.
Che’s Lounge @ 23:
Hey Che,
I definitely need to read Armed Madhouse, so little time sooo many books to read. And, you have double-trumped me, I have not read Nemesis–yet! I think Chalmers Johnson’s Sorrows of Empire was a startling, crucial and fascinating read. anyone with an interest in our roman proconsul-esque strangle hold on the world through our military empire should really do themselves a favor and read Sorrows.
anyone on the east coast (or anywhere really), check out this:
http://www.timeday.org/economyconference/
just finished registering…
Friends, neighbors, family who are Repubs - you can just bet some of them know what has been going on - these people have been busily stealing our votes with impunity and no shame. They probably go to church three times a week to pray for us godless liberals. It really makes me sad for them and sadder for our country. We may not ever find our way back.
Samson- @ 31: