Monday

Whew.



Maybe Patrick was right. Maybe the election is a lock after all.... Isn't this convenient? You don't have to compete if there's no competition.



The King of America is planning to eliminate democratic elections:



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The Boston Herald

Feds plan for disruption of elections

By Andrew Miga

Monday, July 12, 2004



WASHINGTON - Two Bay State congressmen yesterday scoffed at emergency plans under review by Homeland Security to postpone the November election should al-Qaeda launch a major strike to disrupt it.



``That would be the ultimate surrender to terrorism for a democracy,'' said U.S. Rep. William Delahunt [related, bio] (D-Quincy) in a Herald interview. ``It just creates more fear, if you will. I can't imagine postponing an election like that.''



The presidential election delay contingency planning, first reported by Newsweek, comes in the wake of public warnings last week by Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge that al-Qaeda may seek to influence the Nov. 2 election with a ``large-scale'' attack.



``I find it difficult to believe that al-Qaeda could attack the country in such a way that the election would have to be postponed,'' said U.S. Rep. Michael Capuano [related, bio] (D-Somerville). ``It seems pretty extreme to me, but we live in a new world after 9/11.



Capuano has been a leading critic of the Homeland Security Department, which he said has focused on the wrong types of anti-terror measures.



Homeland Security officials last week asked the Justice Department what legal steps would be needed for the federal government to postpone a national election in the event of a terrorist attack on the day before or the day of the election, Newsweek reported.



Officials believe such authority could require constitutional changes as well as new election laws on the state and local levels.



``I hope they don't spend a lot of time on this election postponement (proposal),'' said Capuano. ``I'd rather have them figure out how to handle the Democratic National Convention more smoothly.''



U.S. Rep. Edward Markey (D-Malden), a member of the House Homeland Security Committee, was less critical, saying emergency election plans would be a ``drastic step'' that could pay dividends.



``The best answer to this threat is prevention - don't let an attack succeed in the first place,'' said Markey. ``Unfortunately, there are too many gaps in our homeland defenses to say with any confidence that we are ready to thwart any threat.''



Homeland Security sought legal advice from the Justice Department after receiving a letter from DeForest B. Soaries Jr., the chairman of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, which helps localities conduct federal elections.



Soaries urged Ridge to press Congress for emergency legislation that would permit the Election Assistance Commission to postpone federal elections should catastrophes such as a terrorist strike occur near the voting.



Numerous intelligence sources suggest senior al-Qaeda officials are behind the planning to sabotage the U.S. presidential election, Ridge said last week.



The Madrid railway bombings by al-Qaeda in March helped spur the ouster of Spain's prime minister, who had backed President Bush [related, bio] in the war in Iraq.



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All hail!
at Monday, July 12, 2004