Monday 3/21 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=203x346607

[dzika]

1. Video - SNL spoofs Hardball interview with Jose Canseco; Zell Miller

March 19, 2005

Video - SNL spoofs Hardball interview with Jose Canseco; Zell Miller - 3/19

It's worth watching just for the Zell Miller bit.



Video in Real Media format (5 minutes)

[smartvoter]

19. I have tears in my eyes this was so damned funny. nt

[dzika]

2. Videos - Selected clips from this weekend's news

March 19, 2005

Video - Fox News Watch: Kerry says "sub-media" contributed to loss - 3/19

Fox News Watch host admits that Fox News is part of the "sub-media".



Video in Real Media format (4 minutes)

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March 20, 2005

Video - Meet the Press: Republicans use Schiavo for political gain - 3/20

Video in Real Media format (3 minutes)

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March 20, 2005

Video - CNN Reliable Sources: Media ignores DeLay ethics scandal - 3/20

Video in Real Media format (3 minutes)

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March 20, 2005

Video - MSNBC: Anti-war protests in US and around the World - 3/20

MSNBC reports that there are over 700 marches, rallies and protests in the U.S. and many more around the world.



Video in Real Media format (2 minutes)

[dzika]

3. The Benefits Of A Deep Message, Er, Massage

March 21, 2005

The Benefits Of A Deep Message, Er, Massage

By Mark Drolette

...
The moral of her comment is, of course: If we're lucky, we find what fulfills us and spend as much time as possible doing it. Obviously, this is not revolutionary, but is something I've often pondered lately, especially since November 2.

...
But penning political essays satisfies something deep within me. In fact, my composing articles about Dubya's doings could even be couched in love/hate terms: love writing, hate Bush.

People's strengths crossed my mind again during a recent e-mail exchange with an ex-governor's wife. I told her I'm convinced the November "election" was rigged, and so have chosen to no longer vote; I won't perpetuate the myth, and thus provide cover for the fascists in power, that we citizens can ultimately right our society's sunken ship via the ballot box. She replied she hasn't lost faith in the political system, and added that whenever one of us drops out of it, the ones who benefit are the scum-sucking, sewer-dwelling, soul-squishing, cloven-hoofed, fetid-breathed, baby-eating Bushmonsters.

Well, she didn't exactly put it quite that way (her actual quote was, "they win"), but I'm pretty sure that's what she meant.

...
However, even if things were on the up-and-up last November, how much does that improve the situation, really? Does it leave America any better off under the Bushies and the doormat Democrats?

...
She didn't just win, either; she killed 'em, with around 110% of the vote. (Um, that estimate seems a mite high; perhaps I'd better take my J. Kenneth Blackwell "Ohio Special" calculator in for servicing.) I'm assuming, though, her overwhelming victory margin is kosher, because I am not daft enough to believe Karl Rove and gang have rigged every single election across the country. (Besides, until the Republicans' takeover of the country is complete which won't happen until they have total control of the courts, keeping a few completely ineffective Dems for cover seems like a sound fascist approach.) This means, then, that voters who still believe in the power of the ballot chose to perpetuate the same tired, corrupt system instead of infusing it with new blood.

more here

[Al-CIAda]

4. Blackwell To Testify On Ohio Elections Before Committee

Blackwell To Testify On Ohio Elections Before Committee


Testimony To Begin At Noon

UPDATED: 9:15 am EST March 21, 2005

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The state's chief elections official has a message for those who say Ohio's Nov. 2 election was fraught with unpreparedness, mistakes and fraud: Take a closer look.

Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell was scheduled to testify at a field hearing of the U.S. House Administration Committee on Monday, more than a month after failing to appear at the panel's first post-election hearing in Washington.

The hearing is scheduled to begin at about noon, NBC 4 reported.

U.S. Rep. Bob Ney, an Ohio Republican and the committee's chairman, took Blackwell's absence as a snub, especially because Blackwell was in Washington the same day to lead a meeting of the nonpartisan Campaign Finance Institute.

more: http://www.nbc4i.com/politics/4302664/detail.html

[dzika]

5. Off to a Running Start, How Far Can GOP Go?

March 21, 2005

Off to a Running Start, How Far Can GOP Go?

By Janet Hook, Times Staff Writer

WASHINGTON — Less than three months after starting their new terms, President Bush and GOP leaders have scored a remarkable series of legislative victories, many involving measures that Republicans had been trying to move through Congress for years.

Even while spending a huge amount of time and political capital to keep his Social Security plan alive, Bush and congressional leaders have managed to whisk through business-backed legislation to crack down on class-action lawsuits and consumer bankruptcy filings. The Senate has cleared the way for Bush's plan to expand oil and gas drilling in Alaska. Antiabortion forces have won their first test of strength in the Senate.

And even though the president's effort to overhaul Social Security has gotten off to a halting start, the fact that this once-verboten topic has been thrust to the forefront is a measure of how much the winners of the 2004 elections have redirected the nation's public policy priorities.

The open question is whether their achievements so far mark just the start of what the GOP majority can achieve — or whether their efforts will soon run out of steam. Still on the Republican agenda are more contentious issues, including changes to medical malpractice suit laws and tax laws and, if Bush can persuade lawmakers to consider it, a major and divisive change to Social Security.

more here

[dzika]

6. Sign off, Mr. Bush - Faking the news has another, uglier name: Propaganda

March 21, 2005

Sign off, Mr. Bush

Faking the news has another, uglier name: Propaganda

As reported in the New York Times, at least 20 government agencies are spending millions each year to produce "reports" that lull undiscerning TV watchers into believing they are seeing real news delivered by real reporters.

But they are not.

Regardless of what the Bush administration (and the Clinton administration before it, the pioneers of the noxious practice) would have you believe, they are propaganda tools produced by public relations firms hired by various federal agencies to promote their policies and programs.

...
Mainstream media in recent years have come under much criticism - plenty of it well-earned - for slackening the principles of objective journalism.

But the fast-evolving government intrusion into the media business gives viewers and readers something else entirely. And it can only come under the heading of "propaganda."

more here

[dzika]

7. Ari Fleischer's latest book scolds the press, but muddles the facts

March 21, 2005

Fleshing Out the Truth

Ari Fleischer's latest book scolds the press, but muddles the facts

When Ari Fleischer was press secretary for the Bush administration, he had a measurable effect on the behavior of the White House press corps. Not just on what we wrote—that was his job of course. But you could see it in the actions of the correspondents after a briefing: Lots of kicking of trash cans or spontaneous verbal eruptions to no one in particular. The Bush team promised to crimp the flow of information from the White House and Fleischer executed that policy masterfully.

In December 2002, I had a spell of the Ari Agitation. We were returning on Air Force One from St. Petersburg, Russia. I was trying to get Fleischer to explain how the President's hope that Saddam Hussein would peaceably disarm was consistent with his earlier view that the Iraqi leader should be removed from office. Fleischer insisted that Bush's policy was "regime change," a term the Administration used to muddle the less diplomatic but real goal of removing Saddam from office. It was a familiar dodge, but a little clarity from the plainspoken Texan's administration about going to war seemed a reasonable request. The President had said in private that he wanted to remove Saddam. Oh, and he'd said it in public too. With Britain's Tony Blair on April 6th, Bush declared: "I explained to the prime minister that the policy of my government is the removal of Saddam."

Couldn't the press secretary help us reconcile the President's public comments? Fleischer would not acknowledge what the President had said, but repeatedly retreated to the safety and meaninglessness of the "regime change" language. We talked in circles in the aisle of the press cabin. He didn't budge. I soon felt like hurling myself through any opening I could find in the fuselage.

...
Beyond the shoddy examples, there is the rickety logic. After decrying how the press and partisans in Washington reflexively think the worst of the other side—President Bush floats above, according to Fleischer—he then quotes, without irony, the President talking about the Florida recount. "If they're going to steal the election, they're going to steal it," Bush serenely said to me at his ranch the day I left Texas." "Stealing" is not, by most people, considered a value-neutral term.

more here

[dzika]

8. OUR OPINION: GOVERNMENT SHOULD END COVERT EFFORTS AIMED AT U.S. VIEWERS

March 20, 2005

When the news isn't the news

OUR OPINION: GOVERNMENT SHOULD END COVERT EFFORTS AIMED AT U.S. VIEWERS

Considering that more Americans get their news from TV than from any other source, it's important to know the following: That happy news about Medicaid reform or progress in Iraq may look like news and sound like news, but it could be propaganda instead of the real thing. If you think you can tell the difference, think again.

The practice of having government agencies provide ''free'' video reports to TV stations has been around at least since the Clinton years, but it is vastly more widespread and insidious today, according to a recent report in The New York Times. At least 20 federal agencies distribute hundreds of ''video messages'' each year that wind up in TV news programs, often with no hint of their origin.


Doing a 'marvelous' job

These videos, which reach tens of millions of viewers, may be free to the TV stations, but they're paid for with tax dollars. The Agriculture Department's Broadcast Media and Technology Center alone has a budget of $3.2 million producing 90 ''mission messages'' each year that are delivered to local stations. They report the marvelous job that the department is doing, with many stations failing to identify the reporter as a government employee and editing out the fact that the segment was not of their making.

...
This is wrong, and the Radio-Television News Directors Association says so plainly in its Code of Ethics: ''Clearly disclose the origin of information and label all material provided by outsiders.'' Unfortunately, some stations don't live up to this code, and the association has no power of enforcement. At the very least, the Federal Communications Commission should require that stations identify government-produced reports.

more here

[dzika]

9. Beware half-baked journalism

March 21, 2005

Beware half-baked journalism

by Manning Pynn

We've all heard recently of the federal government's attempts to sway public thought by paying commentators to parrot a party line rather than express their own opinions. The government also has been producing propaganda tapes that TV stations in small markets have aired as news, presumably because the segments cost nothing to produce.

When the pundit payola became public knowledge, President George W. Bush denounced the practice, saying, "There needs to be a nice independent relationship between the White House and the press."

Federal press officers, though, since have said that Bush's statement did not apply to "video news releases," because they are factual, politically neutral and useful.

...
Yes, language in the federal budget for decades has outlawed using taxpayers' money for such covert propaganda. Yes, the Government Accountability Office has made clear that such releases must identify the source agency.

...
In the midst of an insidious, self-serving campaign to discredit the news media by those who want to avoid scrutiny, the public is ill-served by news organizations that succumb to greed and taint not only their own reputations but also undermine confidence in journalists that find such practice reprehensible.

more here

[dzika]

10. LTTE - The Timid Media Mix News and Propaganda

March 21, 2005

The Timid Media Mix News and Propaganda

LETTERS TO THE TIMES

Re "Truth Is, Bush's Propaganda Hurts the U.S.," Commentary, March 16: The White House is producing so much propaganda these days that news channels may have to start labeling their product with tags such as, "This report was NOT paid for by the Bush administration."

Rob Schmidt

Culver City

When are you, along with the broadcast "news" networks, going to do a special edition on Bush administration propaganda? Perhaps you could title it "Pravda." That seems to be an appropriate name for today's American "news" media.

Then again, you could decide to look in the mirror and ask yourself if you have had it with Bush propaganda. You could stop it altogether without needing a new section. The only problem would be: Will the public ever trust your reporting again?

Tom Wieliczka

Windsor Locks, Conn.

I am amazed at the lack of information being published regarding the control of the flow of news. The issue of our government controlling the news is the most frightening affront to freedom of the press.

Day after day there are more violations of honest information flow, and the refusal of the press and the major networks to investigate and condemn these policies is disappointing to say the least.

Here we are fighting a war in Iraq for democracy and freedom, and yet many of our freedoms are being slowly diminished through the use of scare tactics and a willing press to stay on the sidelines. I dare say that the current timidity of the press would probably never have uncovered the Watergate mess.

Our newspapers and television information flow are vital to a real democracy, but I do not have the faith in the media that I had 20 or 30 years ago. A little introspection and courage are indeed warranted.

Ronald Siegel

Palm Springs

source

[dzika]

11. King County Republicans call for election of vote chief

March 21, 2005

King County Republicans call for election of vote chief

By KATHY GEORGE
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

BELLEVUE -- King County would have an elected auditor oversee elections under a proposal by Republicans on the King County Council.

King County Elections Director Dean Logan is under fire for mistakes his department made in counting hundreds of ballots in the historically close governor's election last fall.

...
Hague said Saturday that if the proposal does not make it through the Democrat-dominated council, "I will personally be leading an initiative campaign" to get the proposal on the ballot.

Sims said, "It sounds more promising than it actually delivers in results." He said adding an elected position contradicts the message from voters who approved a 2004 charter amendment reducing the King County Council from 13 to nine members. "People want fewer elected officials," he said.

more here

[dzika]

12. Democrats have misgivings as Kerry tests waters for '08

March 20, 2005

Democrats have misgivings as Kerry tests waters for '08

Some backers won't count him out.
Others don't want a "shopworn" candidate.

By Dick Polman
Inquirer Political Analyst

And don't be shocked if he launches another presidential candidacy in 2008, despite the fact that no U.S. senator has ever run, lost, and won a subsequent nomination. History notwithstanding, however, it may not be easy for Kerry to simply walk away, not after winning 59 million votes - although there are plenty of Democrats who wish that he would.

...
Jenny Backus, a party strategist who helped launch Kerry's PAC, said later: "It sounds corny, but last year he met a lot of people who invested their hopes in him. Those stories are real, even if the national press corps is sometimes cynical about them. You create a movement, and you have a responsibility to keep it going... His job is to be a national Democratic figure. That job is open."

...
And he's been dogged by bloggers who want him to authorize the release of all his military records, to clear up questions raised in 2004. He told NBC on Jan. 30 that he would sign military form SF-180 to do so, but he hasn't yet. Most of the heat has come from conservatives, but Democratic blogger Mickey Kaus also is on the case, urging party brethren to "remove this increasingly pathetic figure from our national stage." (The word in Washington is that Kerry will sign the form soon.)

Kerry also seems compelled to defend his 2004 record; he boasts these days that he won 10 million more votes than Bill Clinton did in 1996 (omitting the fact that President Bush won 23 million more votes than Clinton opponent Bob Dole). And on Feb. 28 in Boston, he noted that he beat Bush among young voters and unmarried women (omitting the fact that he lost every age group over 30, and lost the biggest female category, white married women).

more here

[dzika]

13. Twenty-Three U.S. House Members Sign On to Voting Machine Company Letter!

March 21, 2005

Twenty-Three U.S. House Members Sign On to Voting Machine Company Letter!

State "very strong position" that companies must
adopt standards or government funding should be withheld!

Sending a clear signal to the nation's voting machine companies, 23 U.S. House of Representative members signed on to a letter authored by Rep. Maxine Waters and Rep. John Conyers demanding transparency and accountability from the private companies which now run the public function of America's electoral system.

The letter, which was sent to colleagues last Thursday, was signed and sent late last Friday. It outlines -- in no uncertain terms -- the position of the 23 members of the U.S. House who signed on that all government funding via the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) should be withheld from the companies that do not comply with the standards originally set forth in VR's February 21 letter to the companies.

From Friday's congressional letter:

"For the sake of our democracy, we believe you have a moral and patriotic duty to help eligible voters participate in and trust our electoral process. That is why we are urging you to adopt these common sense principles as expeditiously as possible.

"It is our very strong position and belief that only firms that abide by these principles deserve funding under the Help America Vote Act. We will do everything in our power to see that non-complying firms do not receive such funding."

The letter was signed by the following U.S. House members:

John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI), Maxine Waters (D-CA), Jim McDermott (D-WA), Marcy Kaptur (D-OH), Sam Farr (D-CA), Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX), Rick Boucher (D-VA), Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-OH), William D. Delahunt (D-MA), Lynn Woolsey (D-CA), Barbara Lee (D-CA), Corrine Brown (D-FL), Bennie Thompson (D-MS), Robert Wexler (D-FL), James Oberstar (D-MN), Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ), Elijah Cummings (D-MD), Donald M. Payne (D-NJ), Barney Frank (D-MA), Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), George Miller (D-CA), Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D-IL) and Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ).

more here

[dzika]

14. The road back to power is paved with strategy

March 21, 2005

The road back to power is paved with strategy

By HERB JACKSON

Dick Kamin, the former co-chairman of the Republican State Committee, is a die-hard conservative. Howard Dean, the former presidential candidate who was recently named chairman of the Democratic National Committee, is not.

These two men would not agree on much when it comes to policy. But in Trenton last week, they were voicing the exact same strategy just a few hours apart about how to win elections: Build political parties that stand for something, and make sure voters know what it is.

"If we want to win as Democrats again, we need to stand up for what we believe in," Dean told a fund-raiser at the Marriott hotel on Monday night.

Dean applauded Trenton Democrats for passing a bill to increase the minimum wage in both houses of the Legislature earlier in the day. He said Democrats nationwide can push their way back into power by focusing on similar issues that have a real connection with the working people long considered to be the core of the party.

...
Dean also said the focus on "moral values" in the wake of the 2004 election can work for Democrats rather than against them if they convince voters that taking a moral position means advocating for social justice, not social conservatism. It's a moral value, he argued, to try to prevent children from going to bed hungry, and to fund medical care for the poor.

more here

[dzika]

15. November Election Under Scrutiny

March 21, 2005

November Election Under Scrutiny

Ohio secretary of state called to testify before congressional committee

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - Ohio's chief election officer is set to address a group of Congressmen today about Ohio's November Second election.

Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell is due before a field hearing of the U.S. House Administration Committee in Columbus.

The secretary of state has prepared testimony meant to refute allegations of unpreparedness, mistakes and fraud in the November election.

Blackwell was expected to tell the committee that most of the complaints about counting provisional ballots, long lines at polling places and ballots thrown out because of voting irregularities were groundless.

more here

[dzika]

16. Republicans attempt to spin the fraud issue in Ohio - THIS STINKS

The "American Center for Voting Rights" claims to be a non-partisan organization but the contact, Jim Dyke, was the RNC Communications Director during the 2004 election and is currently a "Republican Strategist" for FOX News.

Thor Hearne, lawyer for the ACVR, is a member of the Republican National Lawyers Association and is currently counsel for Bush-Cheney '04 Inc.


Bush-Cheney '04 Inc. Counsel Thor Hearne (center) with RNLA Members D. Michael
Grodhaus, Kurt Tunnell, Bill Todd and Rick Siehl (left to right) at the Ohio RNLA Chapter
Reception March 9, 2005. (Source)


This release coincidentally comes the same day as J. Kenneth Blackwell is scheduled to testify before a House committee. This is clearly a Republican attempt to spin the fraud issue in Ohio.

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March 21, 2005

ACVR Refers Voter Fraud Investigation To Deptartment
of Justice, Congressional Oversight Panel

Report Shows Third Party Effort to Circumvent Law and Register Illegal Voters

Contact: Jim Dyke, 843/722-9670

COLUMBUS, OHIO – Today the American Center for Voting Rights (ACVR) referred a compendium of preliminary findings of registration fraud, intimidation, vote fraud and litigation to the U.S. Department of Justice. The report was previously made available to the House Administration Committee who will hold a field hearing on election fraud in Columbus today.

The Ohio report states, “Third party organizations, especially ACT, ACORN and NAACP engaged in a coordinated “Get Out the Vote” effort. A significant component of this effort appears to be registering individuals who would cast ballots for the candidate supported by these organizations. This voter registration effort was not limited to the registration of legal voters but, criminal investigations and news reports suggest, that this voter registration effort also involved the registration of thousands of fictional voters such as the now infamous Jive F. Turkey, Sr., Dick Tracy and Mary Poppins. Those individuals registering these fictional voters were reportedly paid not just money to do so but were, in at least one instance, paid in crack cocaine.

After giving the report to the Department of Justice, ACVR General Counsel Thor Hearne stated in testimony prepared for delivery before the House Administration Committee, “there can be no doubt that election safeguards are critical to protecting our elections. When Dick Tracy’s fraudulent vote is counted, an honest Ohio voter is disenfranchised. So I find it is beyond the pale that the same organizations who unsuccessfully sought to remove election safeguards by judicial fiat during the election are once again seeking to eliminate these safeguards by state and federal legislation while continuing their battle in the courts.”

Hearne will testify on this issue today before the House Administration Committee.

ACVR is a non-partisan 501(c)(3) legal and education center committed to defending the rights of voters and working to increase public confidence in the fairness and outcome of elections. The group is compiling similar reports for the states of Florida, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin which will be released in the coming weeks.

more here

---

Domain Registration info for American Center for Voting Rights:

Registrant:
American Center For Voting Rights (DEPEKXYITD)
   8409 Pickwick Lane #299
   Dallas, TX 75225
   US

   Domain Name: AC4VR.COM
   Administrative Contact, Technical Contact:
      American Center For Voting Rights  (39239964O)		[e-mail]
      8409 Pickwick Lane #299
      Dallas, TX 75225
      US
      2143693141


   Record expires on 17-Mar-2006.
   Record created on 17-Mar-2005.
   Database last updated on 21-Mar-2005 15:33:11 EST.

Note that this domain was registered on March 17th, 2005. Just one business day prior to the testimony before the House committee.

[Wilms]

17. Understanding the difference between paper ballots and paper audit trails

The Columbus Free Press

Understanding the difference between paper ballots and paper audit trails

by Gary Beckwith
March 20, 2005

With all the pending legislation in Congress designed to fix our electoral system, it is important for concerned citizens to learn and understand just what the bills would require and what they wouldn't.

One key issue is how the various bills attempt to prevent fraud by requiring a "paper trail" on computerized voting machines. In order to understand just how the bills accomplish this, and judge whether or not they solve the problem, it is important to recognize the difference between a Voter-Verified Paper Ballot (VVPB) and a Voter-Verifield Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT).

All the current legislation calls for VVPAT, not VVPB. But does it make a difference?

-snip/more-

http://www.freepress.org/departments/display/19/2005/1201

Discussion Thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x346974

[Wilms]

18. SF Gate: Congress should leave elections to the states

SF Gate

OPEN FORUM
Congress should leave elections to the states
Rebecca Vigil-Giron

Monday, March 21, 2005

It has become quite fashionable to introduce federal legislation that changes the way we administer elections in this country. Members of this Congress have sponsored 10 election-reform bills since January. The problem with the new legislation, however, is that it has already been done.

After the disputed 2000 election, Congress passed a landmark election- reform law called the Help America Vote Act (HAVA), which was designed to improve election administration and modernize voting equipment. The law has already had a positive impact, even though it has not been fully funded and has been only partially implemented. According to a Cal Tech/MIT study released in February, the number of votes lost through administrative errors dropped by 42 percent in 2004 compared to the 2000 election. HAVA is working because it is the result of a truly bipartisan, balanced compromise that respects states' inveterate rights to regulate elections.

To a striking degree, the legislation introduced in the 109th Congress would undercut states' rights and nationalize elections. It would require states to adhere to national standards for everything from poll workers to provisional ballots. In this case, uniformity does not equal the best possible election.

-snip/more-

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2005/03/21/EDG7QBRKUP1.DTL

Discussion Thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x346982

[Wilms]

20. Strategies in governor's contest now clearer

Strategies in governor's contest now clearer
'Proportional analysis' may be key argument in court

By GREGORY ROBERTS

SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER 21 March 2005

Dead people voted. Some felons cast ballots although their rights were not restored. And then there were legal votes possibly not counted.

Who? How many? What difference does it make?

As Democrats and Republicans argue in the court of public opinion, the real answers are pending in Washington's courts of law, which will decide Republican Dino Rossi's challenge to the 129-vote victory by his opponent in the governor's race, Democrat Christine Gregoire.

And while GOP lawyers won't say exactly what they will argue before Chelan County Superior Court Judge John Bridges in the trial that could start late next month, possible strategies outlined so far include "proportional analysis" striking illegal votes in the same proportion as Gregoire received legal votes.

-snip/more-

http://www.votersunite.org/article.asp?id=5036

[Wilms]

21. (Volusia County ) Paperless voting pushed

Paperless voting pushed
State deadline looms for disabled access

By By JAMES MILLER
Staff Writer
Last update: 10:05 a.m.

DELAND — When the political oven of the 2000 presidential recount was at its hottest, Volusia County elections officials stayed relatively cool, scouring paper ballots with marked ovals.

Paper has been local officials’ ballot of choice -- even for disabled voters who can use touch screen systems with relative ease — partly to allay public fears about the security of the vote. And Volusia has mostly steered clear of the touch screen vs. paper debate.

-snip-

"I don’t want to say it’s silly or ridiculous, but the fact is there’s never been a factual case of a security issue with a touch screen," said David Bear, a spokesman for Diebold Elections Systems.

-snip/more-

http://www.news-journalonline.com/NewsJournalOnline/News/Headlines/03NewsHEAD04POL032105.htm

Discussion Thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x346990

[MelissaB]

22. GOP talking points on Schiavo revealed

3/21/2005

GOP talking points on Schiavo revealed

GOP Schiavo ‘talking points’ leaked in full

An insider liberal Capitol Hill blog has printed the alleged Republican Party talking points on Terri Schiavo referenced by ABC News, RAW STORY has learned.

The blog, D.C. Inside Scoop, has been at the forefront of revealing details about the Republican congressional caucus, and has been referenced in the Capitol Hill daily, Roll Call.

#
S. 529., The Incapacitated Person’s Legal Protection Act

Teri Schiavo is subject to an order that her feeding tubes will be disconnected on March 18, 2005 at 1p.m.

The Senate needs to act this week before the Budget Act is pending business, or Teri’s family will not have a remedy in federal court.

This is an important moral issue and the pro-life base will be excited that the Senate is debating this important issue.

This is a great political issue, because Senator Nelson of Florida - has already refused to become a cosponsor and this is a tough issue for Democrats.

More: http://rawstory.com/news/2005/index.php?p=201

[MelissaB]

26. Raw Story gets a copy of the actual memo!

3/21/2005

Exclusive: Print document of Republican Schiavo talking points leaked to Raw Story

A source on Capitol Hill has leaked the print version of the Republicans’ “talking points” on the Florida woman who Congress is attempting to keep alive to RAW STORY late Monday afternoon. The document appears below, followed by the print version of the talking points.

The document was not printed on any letterhead or attributed to any specific Republican office, and has been rebuked by Republicans on the Hill despite its apparent authenticity. Click the below image to enlarge to view full screen.



More: http://rawstory.com/news/2005/index.php?p=202

[MelissaB]

23. Protest Stories (Media buries stories aboukt global protests)

Protest Stories
By WilliamPitt,

Mon Mar 21st, 2005 at 09:46:06 AM EST :: Activism :: (35 comments, 253 words in story)

I went down to Boston Common yesterday to join the protest marking the second anniversary of the Iraq invasion. There were thousands of people there, a great many of them young people. The speakers were excellent, the music inspirational.



(Walter Ducharmarme, of Cambridge, Mass., stands beside a row of symbolic coffins as demonstrators gather on Boston Commmon, Sunday, March 20, 2005, to mark the second anniversary of the war in Iraq. - AP Photo/Josh Reynolds)

A fact to consider: The mainstream news media all but buried stories about the global protests this weekend. CNN.com even ran an online poll at one point asking if it was time to have the Iraq protests stopped. Yet consider that last year, to mark the first anniversary, there were 319 protests all across the country. This year, there were 765 protests all across the country.

There's something happening here.

More: http://forum.truthout.org/blog/

[MelissaB]

24. A wonderful idea on William Pitt's blog from Erdajean

protests
A friend went to the rally in Fayetteville, NC and sent back pictures that showed a huge crowd. A local estimate was 5,000 of us, and about 75 of THEM, with their idiot "W Still the President" signs and T-shirts. The media grudgingly numbered us at 2,500 and them at 200. I understand that in New York, the Times looked out the window and counted 350 in Times Square, ignoring thousands marching in Central Park.
We need a newspaper, friends. We need something like Midnight, or The National Inquirer, that goes in a rack by beer-boxes and grocery check-outs in all the "Red" states. We should use it to print the truth. Naaahhh. Better, we would run pictures of salacious space-queens cavorting with Bush. We could lead with big art of the twins weeping, a la the insulting and ubiquitous "candids" of Chelsea Clinton that still appear. The captions would say things like, "We Begged Mom and Dad Not To Abort Us!"

More: http://forum.truthout.org/blog/story/2005/3/21/9466/08728



by Erdajean (Meanoldheifer) on Mon Mar 21st, 2005 at 12:29:30 PM EST

[MelissaB]

25. Conyersblog

For DU'ers, a sneak preview of the not quite yet fully functional Conyersblog (the conyersblog link on the main site does not go to the new blog yet).




Comments section is now live. Go to www.Conyersblog.us .

Should be fully integrated into main site in the next day or so.

Thanks to teddyk23 here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x1675727

and these are for John Conyers: :loveya: :loveya: :loveya: :loveya:

[Wilms]

27. AP: Blackwell to testify before committee

Blackwell to testify before committee

Associated Press 21 March 2005

COLUMBUS, Ohio - The state's chief elections official has a message for those who say Ohio's Nov. 2 election was fraught with unpreparedness, mistakes and fraud: Take a closer look.

Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell was scheduled to testify at a field hearing of the U.S. House Administration Committee on Monday, more than a month after failing to appear at the panel's first post-election hearing in Washington.

-snip-

It was a stunning and disgraceful display demonstrating that there are those in Congress who are very willing to cast aside the Constitution and the lawfully certified vote of the people to wage a nasty and disingenuous partisan attack," Blackwell said in his testimony.

-snip/more-

http://www.votersunite.org/article.asp?id=5033

[Wilms]

28. (CO) Election report on horizon

Monday, March 21, 2005

Election report on horizon
By RICHARD VALENTY Colorado Daily Staff Writer

-snip-

Boulder's Evan Ravitz worked as a programmer for Xerox in the 1970s. Ravitz asked the ERC Friday to consider recommending 100-percent hand counting in the next election in part to eliminate any doubt of digital mistakes - especially since digital mistakes are not always apparent to human observers.

Ralph Shnelvar, a Boulder software programmer, said he heard Ravitz call for hand-counting many months ago and recalled his immediate response.

"At that time, I thought Evan Ravitz was an idiot and a flake," said Shnelvar.

Shnelvar said he has since changed his tune about both Ravitz and hand-counting, calling the practice cheaper and faster than the arduous process Boulder County went through in 2004.

-snip/more-

http://www.coloradodaily.com/articles/2005/03/20/news/news02.txt

[Wilms]

29. (MO) St. Louis County lags behind in shift from punch card voting

St. Louis County lags behind in shift from punch card voting

By Jo Mannies
Of the Post-Dispatch
03/21/2005

-snip-

Jefferson County already is shifting to an optical-scan system, and soon so will St. Charles County. Kansas City is expected to follow suit, says Missouri Secretary of State Robin Carnahan.

Such changes would put most of Missouri's urban and suburban counties in line with the bulk of rural counties, which switched to optical scan years ago.

The one holdout: St. Louis County.

The reason: Money.

-snip/more-

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/columnists.nsf/jomannies/story/439676C497BCC2B786256FCB00147D0A?OpenDocument

[Wilms]

30. (MI) Audit: State voter system left information vulnerable

Saturday, March 19, 2005

Audit: State voter system left information vulnerable

By Amy F. Bailey / Associated Press

LANSING -- State databases with confidential information from registered voters and driver's licenses in Michigan were not adequately secure and were vulnerable to computer hackers, state auditors said in a report released Friday.

The state elections and technology departments agreed that the systems were vulnerable, but they told the Office of the Auditor General they are not aware of any time information in the Digital Driver's License System and the Qualified Voter File was compromised. The departments also say many of the vulnerabilites have been addressed since the time of the audit.

State auditors said the departments of state and information technology did not ensure that an outside contractor effectively secured the Digital Driver's License System, which may lead to identity theft. The system included information from about 7.2 million driver's licenses and 1 million personal identification cards in January 2004.

-snip-

"We made a lot of the corrections," he said. "You can't ever say that a system is 100 percent secure. People are out there every day trying to figure out how to hack" into computer systems.

On the Net:

Michigan Office of the Auditor General: http://audgen.michigan.gov

--more-

http://www.detnews.com/2005/politics/0503/19/polit-121704.htm

[Wilms]

31. (Louisiana) Q&A: New machines to replace 'outdated' ones

Q&A: New machines to replace 'outdated' ones

Originally published March 14, 2005

The Louisiana Secretary of State's office is reviewing voting machines from three companies to decide which will receive the contract to replace all of the state's existing voting machines. Reporter Richard Burgess spoke with Lafayette Parish Clerk of Court Louis Perret about why this is happening and what it means for area voters.

-snip-

Q: Do you foresee any problems in the changeover to new machines?

A: It has already been proven that computerized voting machines might fail in high-humidity, high-heat situations. A lot of voting takes place in school gymnasiums and fire houses that are not air conditioned. The state is going to have to address where voting takes place and the climate control of machine storage facilities.

-snip/more-

http://www.acadiananow.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050314/NEWS01/503140318&SearchID=73202573531271

[dzika]

32. Special election for Orlando mayor set for May 3

March 21, 2005

Special election for Orlando mayor set for May 3

Associated Press

ORLANDO -- Orlando voters will choose a temporary replacement for suspended Mayor Buddy Dyer on May 3, while he fights a charge that he violated state elections law.

The City Council voted 4-2 on Monday to hold the special election.

If Dyer is acquitted, he could return to the office _ but at least one attorney said he planned to file a court challenge to the election's validity.

Steven Mason, who represents the Orange County Democratic Party, disputed an interpretation of the city charter and state law that said a special election was required.

...
City commissioner Patty Sheehan voted against holding the special election because there hadn't been a public hearing on the matter.

``I think that is an incredibly sad day for us,'' Sheehan said.

more here

[dzika]

33. US Supreme Court Refuses to Hear Nader Texas Case

March 21, 2005

US Supreme Court Refuses to Hear Nader Texas Case

This morning, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear Nader v Connor, 04-918. The issues were whether it is constitutional for Texas to require more signatures for an independent presidential candidate than are needed for a new party or a statewide non-presidential independent; and whether it is constitutional for the state to require an independent presidential candidate to submit signatures two weeks before new party petitions are due. The lower courts had upheld these discriminatory ballot access laws.

source

[dzika]

34. Your Vote: Worthless in the Eyes of Media

From American Street:
March 21, 2005

Your Vote: Worthless in the Eyes of Media

Judging from the lack of news media coverage, you probably haven’t heard about today’s House Committee hearing

“There’s reason to suspect that our 2004 election was stolen.”

That’s a strong accusation. Daring to utter such a statement has gained citizens little more than a label of “paranoid conspiracy theorist”. The news media has shied away from talking about it, apparently afraid to be seen as “liberal media” and having a massive advertising-boycott campaign mounted against them by right-wing activists.

In January, Senator Barbara Boxer (D CA) stood up to vote against the certification of the Ohio Electors. In the House, Republican Representatives accused her of aiding terrorism and betraying our troops in Iraq.

Recent developments will show you that this is not a matter which revolves around delusion, nor does it indicate antiAmericanism.

A House Administration Committee field hearing will be held today in Columbus, Ohio. You can access information about it online: “Committee to Continue Oversight on Election Reform with a Field Hearing in Ohio on Monday.”

The committee is chaired by Rep. Bob Ney, Republican of Ohio. I have my doubts about the progress that will be made by this committee, having already read Rep. Ney’s comments about the 2004 election:

“Despite the formidable challenges faced by election administrators and notwithstanding the predictions of the skeptics, the 2004 election was a tremendous success and there is growing evidence that this was due in large part to the bipartisan Help America Vote Act. To paraphrase Mark Twain, the rumors of the demise of the American election system were greatly exaggerated and those who still continue to insist otherwise are not only wrong on the facts, but their baseless criticisms are a disservice to the thousands of state and local election workers who did a very good job..”

read the entire article

[dzika]

35. Indiana House to Decide on Voter Identification Issue

March 21, 2005

Indiana House to Decide on Voter Identification Issue

House lawmakers are expected to cast a final vote on Senate Bill 483 on Monday.

It would require Indiana voters to show a photo ID when they go to the ballot box. Republicans say it will cut back on voter fraud.

But Democrats think it will make it harder for senior citizens and African Americans to vote.

Former Congressman Andy Jacobs says voting rights should not be tampered with. He helped write the landmark national voting rights act in 1965.

“A week after Lyndon Johnson signed the 65 Voting Rights Act into law, I saw Southern racist Congresspeople from both parties entertaining African constituents in the grand dining room at the United States House of Representatives and I said, ‘Yes!

more here

[Wilms]

36. (NY) Editorial: Optical scanners should be wave of the future

Editorial

Optical scanners should be wave of the future

The lever voting machine should become a thing of the past, the League of Women Voters of New York contends.

03/20/2005

-snip-

The Legislature has been leaning toward touch-screen voting, which the League notes can be more expensive and easier to alter.
In contrast, with optical scanners, votes are marked by hand or with an accessible ballot marking device and then inserted into an optical scanner, to be counted at the polling place at the end of the voting period.

Optical scanners are used in 25 percent of all precincts in the U.S.
The paper ballots produce a permanent paper record that can be manually audited.

In fact, the states of Arizona, Michigan, Ohio, and Minnesota will be using optical scanners to comply with the Help America Vote Act.

We realize that change can't happen overnight, because it takes money and time to convert to new, high-tech machines. But as the Legislature considers alternatives to levers, it ought to be looking at optical scanners.

-snip/more-

http://www.troyrecord.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=14184126&BRD=1170&PAG=461&dept_id=7018&rfi=6

[dzika]

37. Internet election rules could be blocked

March 21, 2005

Internet election rules could be blocked

By Declan McCullagh
Staff Writer, CNET News.com

The Internet would be immune from campaign finance laws that could restrict freewheeling political discourse, according to a new proposal in Congress.

Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., has introduced legislation that would effectively overturn a federal judge's decision from last year that brought Internet politicking under the ambit of a controversial campaign finance law.

The Federal Election Commission is expected to vote on the topic Thursday.

"Regulation of the Internet at this time would blunt its tremendous potential, discourage broad political involvement in our nation and diminish our representative democracy," Reid said in an e-mail message. "We should avoid silencing this new and important form of political speech."

Bradley Smith, a Republican FEC commissioner, recently alarmed bloggers and political activists by warning that online activities such as creating hyperlinks or forwarding campaign press releases could be regulated in the near future. "If someone else doesn't take action, for instance in Congress, we're running a real possibility of serious Internet regulation," Smith said in an interview with CNET News.com.

Reid's proposal is straightforward; it amends existing law to say the Internet is not included in the definition of what is regulated by the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, better known as the McCain-Feingold Act.

more here

[Wilms]

38. (OH) Blackwell Tells Panel Election Went Smoothly

Blackwell tells panel election went smoothly

JOHN McCARTHY

Associated Press 21 March 2005

-snip-

The exchanges Monday became heated at times, especially between Blackwell and U.S. Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, a Cleveland Democrat who is not a committee member but sat in with the panel.

Tubbs Jones questioned Blackwell about a telephone message delivered to thousands of voters just before the election to make sure they voted in the correct precinct, especially if they had not changed their registration and needed a provisional ballot. Tubbs Jones wondered why he didn't say in the message that voters had the option to use provisional ballots at their local boards of elections.

Blackwell said, "It worked," several times, his voice rising as Tubbs Jones continued the question. Ohio ranked fourth nationwide in the number of provisional ballots that were validated. Ten days before the election, a judge upheld Blackwell's directive that voters must cast provisional ballots in the correct precinct.

Blackwell also said directives he issued on provisional ballots and voter registration cards that led to complaints about their timeliness were forced by court rulings made just weeks or days before the election.

-snip/more-

http://wireservice.wired.com/wired/story.asp?section=Breaking&storyId=1007889&tw=wn_wire_story

Discussion:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=203&topic_id=347321#

[dzika]

39. Filter Tips

March 22, 2005

Filter Tips

By Chris Floyd

U.S. President George W. Bush often complains about the "media filter" that distorts the true picture of his administration's accomplishments in Iraq. And he's right. For regardless of where you stand on Bush's policies in the region, it's undeniable that the political and commercial biases of the American press have consistently misrepresented the reality of the situation.

Here's an excellent example. Earlier this month, the American media completely ignored an important announcement from an official of the Iraqi government concerning the oft-maligned U.S. operation to clear insurgents from the city of Fallujah last November. Although the press conference of Health Ministry investigator Dr. Khalid ash-Shaykhli was attended by representatives from The Washington Post, Knight-Ridder and more than 20 other international news outlets, nary a word of his team's thorough investigation into the truth about the battle made it through the filter's dense mesh. Once again, the American public was denied the full story of one of President Bush's remarkable triumphs.

Dr. ash-Shaykhli's findings provided confirmation of earlier reports by many other Iraqis - reports that were also ignored by the arrogant filterers, who seem more interested in hearing from terrorists or anti-occupation extremists than ordinary Iraqis and those like Dr. ash-Shaykhli, who serve in the U.S.-backed interim government vetted and approved by President Bush. But while the media elite turn up their noses at such riffraff, the testimony of these common folk and diligent public servants gives ample evidence of Bush's innovative method of liberating innocent Iraqis from tyranny:

He burns them to death with chemical weapons.

Dr. ash-Shaykhli was sent by the pro-American Baghdad government to assess health conditions in Fallujah, a city of 300,000 that was razed to the ground by a U.S. assault on a few hundred insurgents, most of whom slipped away long before the attack. The ruin of the city was complete: Every single house was either destroyed (from 75 to 80 percent of the total) or heavily damaged. The city's entire infrastructure - water, electricity, food, transport, and medicine - was obliterated. Indeed, the city's hospitals were among the first targets, in order to prevent medical workers from spreading "propaganda" about civilian casualties, U.S. officials said at the time.

continued here

[dzika]

40. If Jesus returns, Karl Rove will kill him

March 21, 2005

If Jesus returns, Karl Rove will kill him

by Harvey Wasserman

As we enter another Easter Season, it's become all too obvious that if Christ returns, those who hate in Jesus's name will have him slimed, then killed.

...
Such hippie-radical ideals are the "Christian" right wing's worst nightmare. The GOP would never tolerate an upstart like Jesus gathering a following in the face of their corporate-fundamentalist crusade. These are Christians who love power but would despise the actual Christ, just as they love a Zionist Israel but can't tolerate actual Jews.

In the wake of Jesus's exemplary life of non-violent rebellion, a perverse liturgy weighted by twenty centuries of intolerant bloodthirsty bigotry has erupted in his name. Attacks on people of color, on nations with oil, on humans of the same gender who love each other, on youth who enjoy sex….all have become enemies of a new fundamentalist crusade doing in Christ's name things that would have left him sickened and horrified.

...
Karl Rove, Tom DeLay and their ilk believe George Bush and his corporate-fundamentalist minions speak to and for a very different kind of God, one with characteristics at war with those described by Christ.

Bush-Rove's Divinity is a nasty dictator, defined by hate and greed, intolerance and hypocrisy.

Christ kicked the moneychangers out of the temple. Rove-DeLay's Republicans have enshrined them.

continued

[Wilms]

41. November 2004 Elections Do Not Represent a Full and Fair Vote Tally

November 2004 Elections Do Not Represent a Full and Fair Vote Tally

Report from the Voter Integrity Project of the Evergreen Foundation, Washington State

By Bob Williams and Lynn Harsh, 3/21/2005 10:22:00 AM

Those who cast the votes decide nothing. Those who count the votes decide everything. -- Joseph Stalin, Communist dictator of the Soviet Union from 1922 to 1953


Free and fair elections are indispensable to political freedom. Unfortunately, the election process in our state has been badly compromised, beginning a number of years ago according to some reports.

The uncorrected problems grew exponentially, and a few more were added to the pile in 2004. By the time our November 2004 election came around, conditions for the perfect storm were at hand—and it occurred.

As a result of the significant abuses, ranging from fraud to incompetence, we must conclude that our November 2004 elections do not represent a full and fair vote tally of lawfully cast ballots.

-snip/more-

http://www.hawaiireporter.com/story.aspx?6977be9b-88bc-428e-a7f5-088e2628752f

[dzika]

42. Power abused, democracy corrupted

March 21, 2005

Power abused, democracy corrupted

By HOWARD TROXLER, Times Columnist

The end justifies the means.

When you have enough power, you can tell the courts to get lost, you can overrule the self-government of an entire state, you can obliterate the rule of law.

It does not matter that Florida's courts ruled that Terri Schiavo expressed the wish not to kept alive artificially. We are entitled to ignore court rulings.

Neither does it matter that the doctors say that her brain has largely turned to fluid. We may dismiss these facts with a wave of the hand, or a sound bite on CNN.

Congress knows all. The federal government knows all. The strutting Tom DeLay and the unctuous Bill Frist know more than all the judges and doctors combined.

They are cynically armed with their internal memo about how many votes they are going to get out of the Christians. Some members of Congress speechified without knowing how to pronounce Terri Schiavo's name, or the most basic facts.

more here

[Wilms]

43. INTERVIEW: AMELIA BOYNTON ROBINSON

This interview appears in the March 18, 2005 issue of Executive Intelligence Review.

INTERVIEW: AMELIA BOYNTON ROBINSON

`A Vote-Less People Is a Hopeless People'

Mrs. Robinson, a fighter for civil rights for nearly a century, is Vice Chairwoman of the Schiller Institute in the United States.

Katherine Notley interviewed her on Feb. 15, shortly before Mrs. Robinson returned to Selma, Alabama to celebrate the 40th anniversary of a keystone battle for the right to vote—the 1965 Selma to Montgomery march, which had its baptism by fire on Bloody Sunday, March 7, 1965.

She and her late husband S.W. Boynton had been fighting for voting rights for 30 years in Dallas County, Alabama, before the Selma march. Mrs. Robinson's autobiography is titled Bridge Across Jordan.

-snip-

EIR: Like Kenneth Blackwell, the state registrar in Ohio.

Robinson: Yes! It's the same thing: He's a Jim Clark and he's a George Wallace!

EIR: And he's the one that certified the election in Ohio. And he would not hold the position he has, if you had not fought for the right to vote—that's the horrible irony.

Robinson: And yet he's there trying to keep other people from voting? I can't understand that. I'd like to talk to him! I'd really like to talk to him.

-snip/more-

http://www.larouchepub.com/other/interviews/2005/3211amelia.html

[Wilms]

44. .