If you are concerned with America, our way of life, our political process, and there is only one book you can read this year, I recommend you make it this one. Using creative colloqualisms that may annoy or amuse you, you cannot get away from the author's facts, statistics, leaked documents and information that prove why we really went into Iraq, how your vote was stolen or not counted, and how you are producing more today and earning less, and how your rights and security are being taken away from you.
In five long chapters, Palast covers a wide range of topics. I began highlighting important portions of the book for this review. In short order there was too much highlighted text to add here.
But it's Chapters 4 and 5 that will really scare the hell out of me because I realize that even if all of us vote, it is not enough. Palast shows:
*how the republican machine kept minorities from voting in 2000, 2004 and will keep them from voting in 2008.
* with statistical evidence how voting machines were too few in minority communities or too far away. Either the lines were too long or the trip back and forth was.
* that Kerry's name didn't even show on the ballot in some places.
* statistical anomalies where Black, Hispanic and American Indian votes where not even counted, or their machines didn't even register a vote for president. In white neighborhoods, such anomalies were almost nonexistent.
* how provisional and absentee ballots were simply discarded, or mailed to the voters too late to be returned and counted.
* how voting machine error and evidence were destroyed even after there were calls for an investigation that secretaries of states ignored.
* how voter reform is nothing but a blatent attempt to perpetuate this fraud rather than fix it e.g. In New Mexico anyone now challenging a vote must put up a $1,000,000 bond first!
* how the Republicans still managed to list thousands of law-abiding, registered voters from voting because they were on felon lists (even in Ohio) where there is no law against that.
* how republicans are clamoring for national ID cards (poll tax)costing $30, which will require that you to produce an ID to get the ID! Palast muses how many people are going to risk jail voting twice when you can barely get many of them to vote even once, or how many felons will risk going back to the jail just so they can vote. (In many states, they may.)
Palast got wind of some of these vote-destroying practices before the election and published and broadcast them to British and European audiences where they received wide attention, everywhere except the US of A. Now that our networks are owned by conglomerate businesses, the chances of receiving such news is nil.
Over three million votes tossed, unrecorded, thrown out, or people kept from voting, and the democrats did nothing! Even I thought more people had voted for Bush, but with Mr. Palast's evidence, Kerry won.
His last chapter is equally disturbing. Americans are producing more, yet taking home less. Power deregulation and higher gas prices have replaced the increased taxes we were not going to have. Both industries have forced black-outs or profit gouging. Companies have reneged on their pension and health care contracts while maintaining those for management. We are now making less wages than we did when Lyndon Johnson was president. Our Department of LABOR actually shows businesses (in public registers) how they can avoid paying overtime to their workers by making them hourly wage earners or simply calling them managers. That's our US Department of Labor!
This book is too important to ignore. This book tells you that you cannot ignore politics simply because you don't trust politicians. They are sapping our earning power, our quality of life, and our rights. The only constituents they have are the ones with the deepest pockets. This book should stir you into action, to make sure "voter reform" does not take your vote away, to ensure that there are voting machines that give you a printed receipt, that secretaries of state do not have conflicts of interest with voting machine companies or work for a presidential campaign at the same time they are counting votes.
This book reminds me a little too much of "Animal Farm." I see the 59,000,000 people who voted for Bush as being the same as the character Thumper, the horse that works hard, looking for his reward in the end. Thinking he is going to the hospital, Thumper is sent off to the glue factory by Napoleon (guess who?)when he is too sick to produce anymore. If you actually believe that this administration or congress actually cares about Americans over business interests, than you really need to read this book.
We could take a page from Equador, Palast insists. They knew their election was rigged. They struck, and took to the streets, and chased the usurper out of the country. We might have to do the same if we don't want to end up in the glue factory.
If you don't believe it, ask the pilots of United Airlines when the company managers reneged on honoring their pensions but kept their own.
Happy Independence Day!
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