Wednesday 3/2 Election Fraud, Reform, & Updates Thread

[MelissaB]

In order to organize and document I thought it would be a good idea to have a daily thread to place items related to reform, fraud, protests, and other items. This also make it easier to "catch up" when we are away from the computer for a while.

Please help us. If you see something that isn't here post it with a link to the thread and a thanks to the author. Thanks to everyone who is helping with this project.


Link to the thread from yesterday: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x336310

[MelissaB]

1. Wellstone Action Winning on issues: How to be a successful citizen lobbyis

Winning on issues: How to be a successful citizen lobbyist

In 2004, progressives across the country made their voices heard by organizing, volunteering, giving money, and voting. Working for good candidates and injecting our issues into the electoral debate are essential parts of building the progressive movement. With the election behind us, our next phase of work begins. Now is the time to communicate with those who are in offices – in City councils, state legislatures, and Congress – making key decisions that affect people’s lives. This is an opportunity to articulate our core values, push for the issues we believe in, and win victories in legislative bodies. Search out a group of people or an organization that shares your concerns about an issue and start organizing.


Members in Action
Read about one Wellstone Action member's experience fighting a major national issue campaign.

The Citizen Lobby
Standing up for our values requires being organized and engaging in the public policy debate.

Link: http://www.wellstone.org/organizing_corner/index.aspx?catID=4891

[dzika]

2. Video - Newshour: Will Frist run in 2008? He might cure AIDS instead

Video - Newshour: Will Frist run in 2008? He might cure AIDS instead! - 3/01

Here is the last 2 minutes of the News Hour interview where Frist says that he isn't planning to run for President in 2008 but he might find a cure for HIV AIDS.



Video in Real Media format (2 minutes)

[dzika]

3. Book Review - The grand delusions of the Democratic Party

The Atlantic Monthly | April 2005

Book Review - Thinking of Jackasses
The grand delusions of the Democratic Party

by Marc Cooper

In one of Lenny Bruce's classic routines an agitated Lyndon Johnson—freshly seated in the White House, and in the privacy of the Oval Office—is sweatin', swearin', and cussin' as he tries to say "Ni-Ni-Ni … Ni-groh" but instead keeps returning to a more familiar and vulgar word. Now, at the urging of the UC Berkeley cognitive linguist George Lakoff, liberal America's guru of the moment, progressive Democrats are practicing to get their own reluctant mouths around some magical new vocabulary, in the hope of surviving and eventually overcoming the age of Bush.

In his best-selling manual of progressive political advice, Don't Think of an Elephant!, Lakoff asserts that political consciousness, and therefore voter choice, is determined by deeply wired mental structures—"frames"—that reflect more-general views and values. "The frames," Lakoff writes, "are in the synapses of our brains, physically present in the form of neural circuitry." Notwithstanding this neuroscientific hooey, Lakoff suggests that reframing American politics according to liberal values—in essence rewiring our collective circuitry—is but a matter of simple wordplay. When conservatives invoke "strong defense," liberals, Lakoff says, must reframe the concept by referring to a "stronger America." Instead of "free markets," liberals should speak of "broad prosperity." Likewise, "smaller government" must be recast as "effective government," and "family values" as "mutual responsibility." Those greedy "trial lawyers" excoriated by the right should be reframed and praised as brave and selfless "public-protection attorneys." And perhaps most important, when conservatives start promoting more Bushian "tax relief," liberals should respond by defending taxes as "membership fees" or "investments" in America.

Source

[dzika]

4. Boston Globe reporter used blogs to attack Kerry, support Bush during '04

Tuesday March 1, 2005

Boston Globe reporter used blogs to attack Kerry, support Bush during '04 campaign

While reporting on the 2004 presidential campaign for The Boston Globe, technology reporter Hiawatha Bray apparently wrote posts for several weblogs in which he declared his support for President Bush, attacked Sen. John Kerry, and bolstered discredited allegations by the anti-Kerry group Swift Boat Veterans for Truth (now Swift Vets and POWs for Truth).

...
On August 26, 2004, two weeks after he reported on the hacking of websites selling Unfit for Command, Bray apparently posted a comment to an entry on Dan Gillmor's eJournal, a weblog hosted by SiliconValley.com, a technology news website operated by the San Jose Mercury News. Bray's post attacked Sen. Kerry's "moronic strategy" of publicly discussing his service in Vietnam and bolstered the allegations of discredited Swift Boat Vets' attacks:

...
On September 24, 2004, Bray apparently posted a comment to a conservative blog, A Small Victory, praising an anti-Kerry screed by the blog's author titled "Kerry's Exploding Fuel Tank," which predicted: "As the Kerry campaign goes down in flames, with it will the hopes and dreams of a million desperate people holding 'Bush is Hitler' signs. But they knew what they were getting into. I say, let them crash." Bray responded favorably: "Love the closing reference to one of the funniest moments in the movie Airplane -- 'They knew what they were getting into when they got aboard. I say, let 'em crash!' Loved that!"

On November 4, 2004, Bray apparently posted a message to the moderated electronic mailing list Interesting-People.org. He wrote: "As a Bush supporter, I'm feeling pretty good right now, so maybe I can't quite appreciate some of the bitter commentary I'm reading here." Later in the same e-mail, he delivered a message to those who voted for Kerry:

...
The Boston Globe is owned by The New York Times Company, whose ethics handbook, Ethical Journalism: A Handbook of Values and Practices for the News and Editorial Departments, lays out specific guidelines for the political behavior of its journalists, such as: "Journalists have no place on the playing fields of politics. Staff members are entitled to vote, but they must do nothing that might raise questions about their professional neutrality or that of The Times. In particular, they may not campaign for, demonstrate for, or endorse candidates, ballot causes or efforts to enact legislation."


Contacts:

Hiawatha Bray
[e-mail]

Boston Globe
[e-mail]
617-929-2000

Read more at Media Matters

[understandinglife]

5. Raw Story: Group Launches Divestment Campaign Against Voting Firms

Raw Story link:

http://rawstory.com/news/2005/index.php?p=140

DU link:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=1277000&mesg_id=1277000

Peace.


"NOT ONE LINE OF SOFTWARE BETWEEN A VOTER AND A VALID ELECTION: NOT ONE, EVER AGAIN"

[dzika]

6. Tearing down the press

March 2, 2005

Tearing down the press

The Bush administration has been at war with the media from Day One. Is its real goal to undermine the press itself -- and thereby eliminate inconvenient truths?

By Eric Boehlert

For the last four years the persistent storyline about the White House's relationship with the press has focused on the administration's discipline, denial of access, and ability to stay on message. The Bush administration, according to this account, is expert at managing information, using secrecy, carrots and sticks and carefully-crafted talking points to control the news.

But in the wake of revelations about the aggressive and unprecedented tactics employed by the White House, that relatively benign interpretation is being reexamined. Recent headlines about paid-off pundits, video press releases disguised as news telecasts, and the remarkable press access granted to a right-wing pseudo-journalist working under a phony name, have led many observers to conclude that the White House is not simply aggressively managing the news, but is out to sabotage journalism from within, to undermine the integrity and reputation of the press corps. The White House and its media allies, echoing a deep-rooted conservative antagonism toward the so-called liberal media, say they are simply countering its bias. But critics charge that the White House, along with partners like Fox News and Sinclair Broadcasting, organizations whose allegiance to the Republican Party outweighs their commitment to journalism, is actually trying to weaken the press. Its motivation, they say, is twofold. Weakening the press weakens an institution that's structurally an adversary of the White House. And it eliminates agreed-upon facts, the commonly accepted information that is central to public debate

Subsription required to read article at Salon.com

[dzika]

7. Schwarzenegger 'News Release' Called 'Propaganda Scam' By Critics

February 28, 2005

Schwarzenegger 'News Release' Called 'Propaganda Scam' By Critics

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Is it real or is it fake? That question is at the heart of an accusation that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration is manipulating the media with a video that mimics an actual news story.



Video: "Consequently, employees are often forced to take lunch breaks when they don't want them."

The video looks and sounds like a standard news story. In fact, at least five California TV stations aired the report in its entirety. But it was really a video news release that was distributed by the Schwarzenegger administration earlier this month, promoting controversial rule changes governing a worker's right to a meal break.

Critics call the tape a "propaganda scam."

"This is an attempt to manipulate the media in Bush administration-style," said Assemblyman Paul Koretz, D-West Hollywood.

Source

[dzika]

8. Dean says Democrats 'not going to concede the South'

Wed, Mar. 02, 2005

Dean says Democrats 'not going to concede the South'

EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS
Associated Press

JACKSON, Miss. - Praying for American troops and evoking biblical images of helping the needy, Howard Dean told Mississippi Democrats on Tuesday night that the national party won't give up on socially conservative states.

"We're not going to concede the South," the new chairman of the Democratic National Committee told an overflow crowd of more than 900 people in a dining room that was set up for 800 in the Clarion hotel near downtown Jackson.

"The South will rise again, and when it does, it will have a D after its name," Dean said to applause from the diverse crowd of blacks and whites.

...
"The way we're going to win elections in this country is not to become Republican lite. The way we're going to win elections in this country is to stand up for what we believe in," Dean said.

Read entire article here

[dzika]

9. The story that wouldn't disappear

From The Daily Barometer Online:

The story that wouldn't disappear

by Jim Smith

Well, it seems that the fantastic story of "Jeff Gannon" is finally, reluctantly, being exposed to the light of day at the major media outlets after weeks of stubbornly pretending that it didn't exist. But those of us who've been following this story for nearly a month knew there was no way in hell it could be ignored forever. It's just too good.

...
Blitzer embarrassingly fawned all over Guckert and made the whole thing awfully easy on him. This, of course, was when the right wing was in full "Guckert defense mode," implying that the real story here was not the hypocritical bigoted gay hooker with no credentials in the White House, but that, in fact, poor Mr. Guckert had had his privacy invaded by nasty, mean liberal bloggers who hate freedom.

But the worm turned shortly thereafter. It was revealed that Guckert's sites had indeed had content on them at one time, not so long ago, and that included pictures of Guckert spread eagle and at full mast.

...
Now, bear in mind that none of this was revealed by anyone involved in the mainstream "liberal" media we're always hearing about, who were all apparently stricken brain-dead. Bear in mind also that this is the same media that was falling all over itself to see who could give Clinton the most severe lashing over consensual oral sex, which is not in fact against the law.

No, this digging was done by dedicated individuals working with each other on Internet news blogs. It was the mainstream media that blatantly ignored this story for weeks, hoping against hope that it would just go away so they wouldn't look like a bunch of jackasses when it finally broke and they, the "professionals," had to explain just why it was that their job was now being performed by a bunch of skilled amateurs.

Read the entire article here

[dzika]

10. Rove Uses Campaign Playbook to Mastermind Social Security Fight

Rove Uses Campaign Playbook to Mastermind Social Security Fight

March 2 (Bloomberg) -- As President George W. Bush crisscrosses the U.S. promoting his plan to set up private Social Security accounts, a familiar face from past campaigns is usually close by: political strategist Karl Rove.

Bush has been taking his drive to overhaul the 70-year-old retirement program straight to the voters, and he's relying on Rove, the architect of his 3.5-million-vote victory over Massachusetts Democratic Senator John Kerry in November, to lead the way.

The Social Security fight has all the trappings of a Rove campaign: the targeting of key constituencies; the marshalling of the Republican Party apparatus; the enlistment of allies among Democrats; and the encouragement of well-heeled outside supporters, often to mount attacks on the opposition.

``I don't think there is any question that Karl Rove is masterminding the whole Social Security strategy,'' says Stephen Moore, president of the Washington-based Free Enterprise Fund, which backs private savings accounts. ``The White House feels it can't afford to lose on this.''

Read article here

[dzika]

11. Video - Letterman: Top Ten Changes at CNN - 3/01

Video - Letterman: Top Ten Changes at CNN - 3/01

It's not about election issues but there is a funny line: "#7 Reporters must make quotation marks with fingers when calling Bush President."



Video in Real Media format (1 minute)

[dzika]

12. Legal Filing Highlights Blackwell Hypocrisy in Ohio Recount Case

MARCH 2, 2005

Legal Filing Highlights Blackwell Hypocrisy in Ohio Recount Case

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MARCH 2, 2005
10:59 AM

CONTACT: Green Party of the United States
Blair Bobier, Media Director at 541-929-5755

Legal Filing Highlights Blackwell Hypocrisy in Ohio Recount Case

WASHINGTON -- March 2 -- A spokesman for the Green Party's 2004 presidential campaign, which initiated the Ohio recount, today blasted the suggestion by Ohio's Republican Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell that he would need to take depositions from John Kerry and John Edwards as part of the Ohio recount litigation.

"Mr. Blackwell's contention that he needs to depose Senators Kerry and Edwards is a laughable and blatantly political move. Mr. Blackwell has refused to be deposed himself about the Ohio election, has refused to appear before Congress and has refused to answer questions from members of the House Judiciary Committee who have been investigating allegations of election fraud. To suggest that Kerry and Edwards should be deposed to address a legal technicality while Mr. Blackwell continues to avoid any public scrutiny of his own misconduct in the Ohio election is the height of hypocrisy," said Blair Bobier, Media Director for the 2004 Cobb-LaMarche campaign.

The report by the House Judiciary Committee's Democratic staff on the Ohio election and recount states that "there were massive and unprecedented voter irregularities and anomalies in Ohio. In many cases these irregularities were caused by intentional misconduct and illegal behavior, much of it involving Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell, the co-chair of the Bush-Cheney campaign in Ohio."

Blackwell's intention to depose Kerry and Edwards was made known by Ohio Attorney General Jim Petro in the latest round of legal filings concerning the Ohio recount. In February, Federal Judge Edmund Sargus in Columbus asked the parties in the Ohio recount case to submit filings to his court addressing whether the litigation should be transferred and consolidated with a Toledo case brought last November seeking to expedite the start of the recount. Blackwell's filing was in response to that request.

Attorneys for Green Party presidential candidate David Cobb and Libertarian Party presidential candidate Michael Badnarik, who jointly requested the Ohio recount, have already filed their response to the Judge's question. Kerry and Edwards, through their Ohio attorney, filed a one sentence statement with the Judge supporting the Cobb and Badnarik position. Kerry's lawyer also filed a short, two page summary charting inconsistencies observed by Democratic Party witnesses to the recount.

The matter is pending in the Eastern Division of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, before Judge Sargus.

Conferences, lectures and teach-ins about the Ohio election and electoral reform have been taking place all over the country, most recently in Santa Monica, California on Sunday.

Source

[dzika]

13. Ohio Voters will see new machines in November

Wednesday, March 2, 2005

Ohio Voters will see new machines in November

By Liz Vernon Staff Reporter

CLERMONT COUNTY - November is months away, but the Clermont County Board of Elections already is preparing for that election season.

The board is in the process of updating their voting equipment, said Dan Bare, director of the board of elections, at the Feb. 16 commissioners meeting.

...
Clermont County again will be working with Election Systems & Software (ES&S) in their conversion from a centralized optical scan system to a precinct one, he said. "That's our current supplier, actually."

...
Now that the secretary of state has mandated the system be used, "we are more than willing to do our part," he said. Their concern now is that some money be provided by the state or federal government.

more here

[dzika]

14. Video - MSNBC: Mystery in death of Hunter Thompson - 3/02

Video - MSNBC: Mystery in death of Hunter Thompson - 3/02

Video in Real Media format (30 seconds)

[dzika]

15. USCountVotes' powerpoint presentation used at Teach-in is available

(thanks to Sabine)

USCountVotes' powerpoint presentation used at Teach-in is available

Hello Everyone,

USCountVotes' powerpoint presentation used this weekend at a Berkeley
Teach-in is available. You are all welcome to use it to assist others in
raising awareness if you would like.

http://uscountvotes.org/ucvAnalysis/US/USCVpresentation.ppt (ppt)

I have also posted a presentation which details the privatization of our
voting systems:

http://uscountvotes.org/ucvAnalysis/US/ThePrivatizationoftheVote.ppt (ppt)

FYI, Here is a picture of me at the Teach-In in Berkeley on Saturday.

http://www.openvotingconsortium.org/

The Berkeley Teach-In was terrific because it enabled coordination of
efforts at a dinner for the speakers and organizers that will move our
efforts to investigate the accuracy of elections and ensure fair
accurate democratic elections by 2006 forward.

Please contribute if have not done so already because we need to
purchase and install a backup server at a cost of perhaps $1800
including set up, to automatically take over if we have a problem with
the first one.

http://uscountvotes.org/fairelection/donate.html

USCountVotes' statistical audits of elections will be as important a
measure of election integrity as exit polling. USCountVotes' is going
to make all its detailed precinct level data public however, and will
work with any group that conducts exit polls that plans to make their
detailed data public as well.

Our database design is nearly finished, and we're making concerted
efforts to obtain funding to hire full-time programmers and system
administrators to finish a secure volunteer signup and login system and
other systems needed to begin archiving and normalizing election data.

Best regards,

Kathy Dopp
http://uscountvotes.org

[dzika]

16. Videos - CNN All Politics for 3/2

Senator Byrd compares GOP Senators to Hitler's Germany

Video in Real Media format (2 minutes)

---

Political Bytes - Schwarzengger, Dean, Richardson, Liberal Ad pulled

Video in Real Media format (2 minutes)

---

Interview with Rob Reiner about CA Gov. race and more

Video in Real Media format (5 minutes)

---

Governors are potentials for 2008 Presidential race

Video in Real Media format (2 minutes)

[dzika]

17. WA Task force finds 'unacceptable' flaws in state election

From kitsapsun.com in Bremerton, WA:
March 2, 2005

WA Task force finds 'unacceptable' flaws in state election system; suggests 15 changes

By Rachel La Corte, Associated Press

OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) -- An election reform task force created by Gov. Christine Gregoire in the wake of her razor-thin margin of victory last year found that the public’s trust in the state’s election system was damaged by imperfections and mistakes that "are clearly unacceptable."

In a 23-page report obtained by The Associated Press, the task force suggests 15 specific actions it wants to see the governor and Legislature take, including moving the primary date up and requiring voter identification at the polls. The report will be released at a news conference with Gregoire in Olympia Thursday morning and later that afternoon in Spokane.

The task force, co-chaired by Secretary of State Sam Reed and former state Sen. Betti Sheldon of Bremerton, held five public hearings around the state with a total of more than 455 people in attendance. The task force also received nearly 700 responses to questionnaires that were distributed at the public hearings and available on the secretary of state’s Web site.

The issue of reform jumped quickly to the forefront after Gregoire, a Democrat, won the governor’s race by 129 votes after a hand recount of nearly 2.9 million ballots after the Nov. 2 election.

read more

[dzika]

18. State Wants Judge To Rule On Its Role In Ohio Election

March 2, 2005

State Wants Judge To Rule On Its Role In Ohio Election
Long Voting Lines Spurred Request

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The state has asked a federal judge to determine whether it complied with the law in how it conducted last year's presidential election, saying it needs a precedent for challenges in future elections.

The request grew out of a case originally brought by the Ohio Democratic Party against Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell, a Republican, and two county boards of election on Election Day. The party sought to alleviate long lines at polling places in two counties.

U.S. District Judge Algenon Marbley ordered Blackwell's office and the Knox and Franklin county boards of election to provide alternative methods of voting. The polls remained open past their 7:30 p.m. closing time to accommodate anyone who was in line at that time. Some voters waited in line more than seven hours and the last ballots were cast early on Nov. 3.

...
The state has no standing in the case because it is moot, Kathleen Trafford, an attorney representing the Ohio Democratic Party, argued before Marbley during a hearing on Wednesday.

"Our action expired when the court's order expired," Trafford said. "The election is over. The votes have been counted. The president has been inaugurated. ... The state's counterclaim does present a live controversy."

read more here

[dzika]

19. Video - Countdown: USA Next (Swift Vets) use stolen photo to attack AARP

Video - Countdown: USA Next (Swift Vets) use stolen photo to attack AARP

Video in Real Media format (4 minutes)

[dzika]

20. Kansas Election Machine Stolen

Election Machine Stolen

AP

No one stole the Topeka election last night. But someone did make off with a machine that tabulates votes.

That happened after polls closed at 7:00 p.m. Three election workers, closing up a polling place at a school, left the machine in the trunk of a car. And Shawnee County Election Commissioner Elizabeth Ensley says they found it missing a little later.

The apparent crime did not affect the vote count. Ensley says precinct workers had the ballots from their precinct sealed in a box and a printed tally of the votes.

In Shawnee County, voters mark a ballot with a pen, filling in an oval next to the name of the candidate they prefer or their position on a question. They then feed the ballots into a tabulator.

source

[dzika]

21. You FUCKING Bastards....You Fucking Whore Media Bastards...

From this DU Thread:

You FUCKING Bastards....You Fucking Whore Media Bastards...

A bucket of cold water on me will not work - I AM BEYOND LIVID (and that's after I expected this).I want to make something clear---I have no dog in this Social Security fight because even though I've paid in a fortune, I am not entitled to draw one penny from this system. This is as pure as you're going to get here.

So--tonight I'm out in the kitchen and I hear NBC hyping the evening news with how Republicans are fighting back over Social Security. I knew exactly what this shit was about and flipped into "kill" mode.

I watched and measured every word they said. They told about opposition to Bush's SS and then (on cue) they did a "Swift Boat" routine (and I have something to say here at the end that I know about all of this). They showed a goddamn website ad from these guys (that we already know about)that slammed the AARP as not supporting our troops and being in favor of gay marriage. Of COURSE the point is that by this exposure you have people tonight turning against the AARP and a bunch of goddamn elderly assholes (like me) saying "gee, Clyde, we have to rip up our AARP membership 'cause they are promotin' them gays".

Here's what I mean about what I know. I've posted this in a couple of posts as it became known. First, I said just this afternoon that the news reports were that the Repubs put SS on the backburner when they came back from vacation (they were going to introduce it this last Monday) because they held public meetings on it during vacation in their districts and they were met with total hostility (so they shelved it waiting for Bush to "drum up more support"). Secondly, I posted before that an interview with a CEO on Bloomberg financial news that admitted that Bush is now calling all the CEO's to pressure congress----ahh, like the CEO's THAT FUCKING OWN THE MEDIA!!

And, BINGO, within two days, the media is doing the "SwiftBoat" free advertising on the AARP assault. FOLKS, WE CAN NEVER GET AROUND THIS EXCUSE FOR A FREE PRESS WHICH IS THE PROPAGANDA ARM OF OUR CORPORATIONS". I have no idea how we can even remotely surive. There was no scant mention of Dem opposition--a lame, soft spoken line from Reid. These bastards are promoting for free this internet ad (and I'm sure soon to be main stream media ad) calling the AARP both unpatriotic and favoring gays. Look for it to appear all over the place with NOT ONE, NOT ONE opinion nor ad nor observation from the opposition--including the ads the AARP and others are going to run or are running now. Bottom Line: figure out a way to live 'cause all of us are dead meat and have no future under these Nazis.

DU Disucussion Thread

[Wilms]

22. Milwaukee elections chief resigns

Milwaukee elections chief resigns

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Associated Press

Tue, Mar. 01, 2005

MILWAUKEE - The city's embattled election chief resigned Tuesday after months of complaints about her handling of last year's presidential election.

Lisa Artison resigned her post as executive director of the Milwaukee Election Commission, effectively immediately, after being out sick for the past month.

-snip-

Barrett chief of staff Patrick Curley said a management team will continue to oversee the office, which is preparing for the April 5 election. Curley declined to comment on what prompted Artison's resignation.

Artison did not immediately return a message Tuesday from The Associated Press.

-snip/more-

http://www.duluthsuperior.com/mld/duluthsuperior/11024151.htm