American Conspiracies: on Government Reform
Jesse Ventura:
Require paper ballots & hand-counting
All votes should still be paper ballots and hand-counted. Minnesota is still that way, and I hope this never changes.Would you use an ATM machine that didn't give you a receipt? These electric voting machines don't do that. There's no way to keep a
record of whom you voted for, so there can't be a valid recount. When computers can be used to change votes, it challenges the legality of our system. The only way to change that is to go back and make it as primitive as you can, one person one vote.
Source: American Conspiracies, by Jesse Ventura, p.130
Mar 9, 2010
Jesse Ventura:
Electronic voting machines are a GOP conflict of interest
It's obvious that, to avoid the specter of vote fraud always hanging over our elections, we've got to outlaw the electronic voting machines and return to a system where there's a "paper trail."
How can we not see the blatant conflict of interest that currently exists, with the computer companies and the vote-counters being dominated by the Republican Party? Give the
Democrats enough years in power, and you can bet they'd follow the same pattern. While we're after real reform, let's finally abolish the antiquated Electoral College and allow the popular vote to prevail.
And let's open the ballot and the debates to legitimate third-party candidates, and break the stranglehold that big money has on the two-party system.
Source: American Conspiracies, by Jesse Ventura, p.141
Mar 9, 2010
Ronald Reagan:
OpEd: Reagan staff made a deal for 1981 Iran hostage release
The Incident:
On the same day that Ronald Reagan was inaugurated as president, January 20, 1981, Iran released the American hostages it had been holding in our embassy there for 444 days.
The Official Word:
The timing was coincidental.
My Take:
Reagan's people had cut a deal with Iran to keep the hostages beyond the presidential election, to ensure that President Carter's negotiations with Iran failed and that he lost to Reagan.
Source: American Conspiracies, by Jesse Ventura, p.104
Mar 9, 2010
Jesse Ventura:
CIA operatives in every state government
Shortly after becoming Governor, I found out something and it stunned me. There is a CIA operative inside every state government. They are not in executive positions--in other words, not appointed by the governor--but permanent state employees. While
governors come and go, they keep working, holding down legitimate jobs but with a dual identity.I wasn't sworn to secrecy about this, but only my chief of staff and I were allowed to know his identity. I still have no idea what they're doing there.
Are they spying? Checking out the state government and reporting back to someone at headquarters? But who and for what purpose? I mean, are they trying to ferret out traitors in the various states? (Or maybe just dissidents--like me!)
Anyhow, I wasn't
told the reason and was simply left to ponder how come our Constitution is being violated. And that's another reason why I am writing this book, because I believe it's vital to our democracy to see the hidden pattern that's been undermining this country.
Source: American Conspiracies, by Jesse Ventura, p. xiii
Mar 8, 2010
Jesse Ventura:
Kennedy assassination involved CIA, Pentagon, & 2nd gunman
The Incident:
The assassination of President John F, Kennedy, riding in his limousine in Dallas, on November 22, 1963.
The Official Word:
Lee Harvey Oswald, an ex-Marine and Communist sympathizer, shot the
president twice from behind, firing a rifle from the sixth-story window of the Texas School Book Depository. He was captured later that day in a theater, and killed two days later by Jack Ruby.
My Take:
The cover-up of what really
happened to JFK starts with the Warren Commission's "lone assassin" conclusion, and continues to this day with the help of the big media. A second gunman assassinated the president from the grassy knoll, while Oswald was set up as the fall guy.
The perpetrators behind Oswald are tied into the CIA, the Pentagon, and the Mob, along with right-wing extremists who tried to make it look like Cuba was behind it. Oswald himself was part of an intelligence operation that involved a look-alike "double."
Source: American Conspiracies, by Jesse Ventura, p. 22&43
Mar 8, 2010
Jesse Ventura:
Get rid of the antiquated Electoral College
Gore won the 2000 national popular vote from the get-go. How can you get a half million more votes that the other guy & lose? The presidential is the only election where we allow that to happen. We should have gotten rid of the Electoral College long ago
It was fine back in the days when everybody was still on horseback. It's time to leave an antiquated system behind. Who's profiting from keeping it going? As a third-party guy, I was hoping 2004 would bring the opposite result: Bush would win the popular
vote and Kerry would take the Electoral College. Maybe that would have brought them to the table to abolish the whole thing.But 2004, it turned out, was even more blatant election theft than in 2000. The exit polls were predicting a huge victory for
Kerry. But somehow Bush had taken a decisive lead and Kerry conceded on the day after. There is no evidence of vote theft or errors on a large scale, the NY Times "informed" us. The Washington Post called any talk of vote fraud "conspiracy theories."
Source: American Conspiracies, by Jesse Ventura, p.132
Mar 8, 2010
Jesse Ventura:
Government cites "national security" for too many secrets
vote and Kerry would take the Electoral College. Maybe that would have brought them to the table to abolish the whole thing.But 2004, it turned out, was even more blatant election theft than in 2000. The exit polls were predicting a huge victory for
Kerry. But somehow Bush had taken a decisive lead and Kerry conceded on the day after. There is no evidence of vote theft or errors on a large scale, the NY Times "informed" us. The Washington Post called any talk of vote fraud "conspiracy theories."
Do you ever think that maybe our country needs a Truth Commission, to understand the crimes that were committed "in our name" over these recent decades? My hope is that some of you will stand with me in calling for accountability.
The only way we can truly move forward is to come to grips with a recent past that's brought us to the brink of losing it all.
Source: American Conspiracies, by Jesse Ventura, p.202-203
Mar 8, 2010
Jesse Ventura:
Release 10,000 documents held under "national security"
We've got to have a more open government. Why can't those 10,000 documents on Able Danger be released? The old excuse of "national security"? Shouldn't there be some elected board that would say, "Okay, tell us why this falls under national security and
we'll make the determination whether it truly does, or is this simply a political cover-up?" When the government starts keeping too many secrets for us, that's a big step on the road to losing more of our liberties.
Do you ever think that maybe our country needs a Truth Commission, to understand the crimes that were committed "in our name" over these recent decades?
My hope is that some of you will stand with me in calling for accountability. The only way we can truly move forward is to come to grips with a recent past that's brought us to the brink of losing it all.
Source: American Conspiracies, by Jesse Ventura, p.202-203
Mar 8, 2010
Page last updated: Dec 12, 2018