Thursday 3/24 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=show_topic&forum=203&topic_id=347767#348113

[dzika]

1. Speaker addresses media biases

From The Observer Online:
(Independent Newspaper Serving Notre Dame and Saint Mary's)
March 23, 2005

Speaker addresses media biases

By Megan O'Neil

Jennifer Pozner, founder and director of Women In Media & News (WIMN), spoke to a crowd at Saint Mary's Tuesday about the exclusion of women from the news arena and about the American public being fed bias and sometimes false war coverage.

...
Pozner also cited the media blitz surrounding the capture and homecoming of U.S. army Pvt. Jessica Lynch. According to Pozner, Lynch made for great news coverage for the American press because of her blue-eyed, blonde-haired girl next door image. Army Specialist Shoshana Johnson, a black woman who endured the same trauma as Lynch, received virtually no attention when she returned to the United States.

Lynch was celebrated as an American hero, Pozner said, and the negative details of the women's story were purposely left out. "While the media used Jessica ... to whip up support, what we didn't know was that Jessica was raped," Pozner said.

...
Mass media, Pozner said, aided the Bush administration in its public relations campaign for the invasion of Afghanistan in the months following Sept. 11 and later in Iraq.

...
In Iraq, she continued, news programs continually picked up sound bites and news clips of the president indirectly associating the perpetrators of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks with Saddam Hussein.

"What is most disturbing, though, is the more people paid attention to broadcast news ... the less they knew, the more misinformed they were," Pozner said.

more here

[dzika]

2. Hinchey to form congressional caucus to fight news 'manipulation'

March 24, 2005

Hinchey to form congressional caucus to fight news 'manipulation'

BINGHAMTON, N.Y. An upstate congressman is preparing to take another step in his battle against what he says has been an ongoing effort by the Bush administration to manipulate the news media.

Maurice Hinchey -- an Ulster County Democrat -- says Americans should be concerned about what they're getting in news reports and whether it's the truth or -- in his words -- "just political propaganda."

Hinchey told Binghamton radio station W-N-B-F that he's about to form a congressional media caucus to deal with concerns regarding news management by the White House and federal agencies.

Hinchey said he's lining up colleagues in the House who are interested in calling attention to what he describes as "media abuses that have been carried out for political purposes."

In recent months, congressional Democrats have lashed out at the Bush administration's payments to columnists to promote certain policies. They've also criticized the distribution of video news releases with actors posing as reporters.

source

[dzika]

3. New Jersey Taps Covansys To Build E-Voter System

March 23, 2005

New Jersey Taps Covansys To Build E-Voter System

The $14.8 million project will help the state comply with the Help America Vote Act.

By Paul McDougall

Outsourcing vendor Covansys Corp. has won a $14.8 million contract to build an electronic voter-registration system for the state of New Jersey, the company said Wednesday.

Covansys will create the system--intended to help the state comply with the federal Help America Vote Act--along with subcontractors PCC Technology Group and Aradyme Corp. Covansys says the system will be online by January.

The Help America Vote Act stipulates in part that all states must create and maintain an electronic, interactive voter-registration system. President Bush signed it into law in 2002 following election irregularities in Florida and other states. The law is intended to help states prevent voting snafus by replacing paper ballots and punch cards with electronic systems.

Covansys says the new system will allow New Jersey election officials to access, search, and scan lists of registered voters in real time. It will also let them more quickly identify duplicate registrations and instances of possible voter fraud. Covansys recently won similar contracts with Maine and Nevada.

more here

[dzika]

4. Capital Letters: Kerry on Kerry

March 23, 2005

Capital Letters: Kerry on Kerry

By PERRY BACON JR

Last week John Kerry took a trip to Florida and Georgia as part of "thank you" tours he is taking around the country to visit past supporters and also attend fundraisers to help out Democrat candidates for 2006, such as Bill Nelson of Florida, who is running to keep his Senate seat. Riding through Atlanta in a nondescript blue van accompanied by a handful of aides and two writers, Kerry sounded at times like he was thrilled to be done campaigning ("this is the first time in Georgia in four years I'm not asking anybody for money" he joked at one stop) but at others like he was still trying to make his case to be President. He returned to President Bush's dismissal of his plan to cover the 11 million children as a government boondoggle, insisting repeatedly "it's not a government plan."

...
Here is Kerry in his own words on some of the key subjects of the day:

• On the role of faith in politics: "The values reflected in a broad array of religious faiths are being hijacked and it's important for us to take it head on. It's a very difficult thing to do in two or three months of the campaign, the atmospheres are not right for it, but now is the time for that. . . . I know that I was never taught that faith was a one-issue event. I've spent a lot of time rereading things to make sure I'm clear on it all. While we all have powerful beliefs about life and when it begins, the fact that one supports Roe v. Wade doesn't mean you're pro-abortion by any sense of the imagination. If you go back and read the New Testament and the Teaching of the Lord, nowhere in those teaching do I find Jesus talking about abortion or gays or intolerance. I find forgiveness and embracement."
  
  
• On the changing America media: "A whole bunch of folks don't get news from anybody. 80% of Americans get 100% of their news from television, some of them get their news literally from Jon Stewart or from Jay Leno, David Letterman, Bill Maher, Saturday Night live or they get it from Fox. News has become entertainment and not necessarily an arbiter for what's true and I learned this first hand in the campaign. 77% of people who voted for George Bush believe that weapons of mass destruction have been found in Iraq. So that's the challenge."
  
  
• On what Democrats must do to win: ''This is the real challenge. I became the nominee of our party in March and had 5 months to put together a national structure. Karl Rove and the Republicans had 6 years before that, two years running against Al Gore and 4 years (in the White House). And they spent 150 million dollars a year doing major analyses. They had time to analyze how people live and how their lives affect the choices people make. We haven't and we have to get our party on the same page. I'm convinced we can turn around and reclaim our leadership."
  
  
• On the problem with politics today: " The real issues of concern to people have been shunted aside and a bunch of phony choices have been put in front of people. I love the fact that we're exporting democracy, it's a great hallmark of America, but we've got to practice democracy better right here at home."

more here

[dzika]

5. Chuckman Cartoon: Bush Errs On The Side Of Life

March 24, 2005

Chuckman Cartoon: Bush Errs On The Side Of Life

John Chuckman

large image

source

[dzika]

6. Tubbs-Jones Accuses Blackwell Of Refusing To Shake Her Hand (with video)

March 23, 2005

Congresswoman, Secretary Of State Duke It Out At Election Hearing

Tubbs-Jones Accuses Blackwell Of Refusing To Shake Her Hand

Video - Tubbs-Jones vs Blackwell
(Real Media format)


CLEVELAND -- It was the showdown people have been waiting for -- the vocal critic of Ohio's election process, Democratic Rep. Stephanie Tubbs-Jones, engaged in a war of words with Secretary of State Ken Blackwell.

...
It began with Tubbs-Jones accusing Blackwell of refusing to shake her hand before the hearing. Blackwell didn't deny it, saying, "I chose not to shake your hand until I saw how you can put yourself in this setting."

Tubbs-Jones explained to NewsChannel5 what happened during the confrontation in question.

"Mr. Blackwell was in the office, and he comes strutting out, and I stick out my hand, and say, 'Hello, Mr. Secretary,' he brushed me off ... and I said, 'OK, I know what kind of day this is going to be.'"

The exchange only got more heated from there. At the center of this verbal showdown is the $2.5 million voter education ad campaign starring Blackwell.

Critics accuse Blackwell of withholding information in the ads.

more here

[dzika]

7. Inside the media propaganda mill

March 25, 2005

Inside the media propaganda mill

From fake news to Fox News to the New York Times...

NICOLE COLSON and ALAN MAASS explain the dismal state of the mainstream media in the U.S. today--and argue for the importance of an independent alternative.

IT’S THE media news equivalent of a TV dinner--pre-packaged, and not very good for you. The Bush administration has been sending out “video news releases” designed to resemble independently reported broadcast news stories--so that local TV stations can run them without editing.

According to a report by the New York Times, at least 20 federal agencies have churned out hundreds of such segments since Bush first came into office--in apparent violation of provisions in annual appropriations laws that ban “covert propaganda.”

They are like government infomercials--only instead of hawking rotisserie ovens or exercise machines, they sell the administration’s latest policies on the “war on drugs,” “regime change” in Iraq, or the relaxation of environmental regulations.

...
In three separate rulings over the past year, the General Accounting Office (GAO) declared that the segments qualify as unlawful “covert propaganda,” since most viewers are never made aware that the prepackaged reports come from the government. Yet the Justice Department and Office of Management and Budget sent a memo instructing all executive branch agencies to ignore the GAO findings.

more here

[dzika]

8. In our view: Propaganda from President Bush

March 23, 2005

In our view: Propaganda from President Bush

It's no secret that presidents use their office to get their agenda before the public. Teddy Roosevelt referred to the White House as a "bully pulpit" because the president can speak directly to the people and twist political arms in the process.

...
First, they are legally dubious. The Government Accountability Office, an investigative arm of Congress, said the VNRs may constitute "covert propaganda," which is prohibited by law. Federal law forbids the broadcast of government propaganda or government-produced "news" to the American people.

...
The VNRs also raise ethical issues. By creating the appearance of a legitimate news report -- and by failing to disclose the source -- the government is engaging in deception. If they were clearly labeled, like infomercials or campaign advertising, people could judge their merits.

...
The Bush administration has many legitimate avenues for getting out its message, such as press conferences, town meetings, the president's weekly radio address and televised speeches. It should not be co-opting journalism. And neither legitimate journalists nor the public should let the administration get away with it.

more here

[dzika]

9. FEC Signals Light Hand On Internet Campaigning

March 24, 2005

FEC Signals Light Hand On Internet Campaigning

By Brian Faler

The Federal Election Commission revealed yesterday that it plans to take what one of its commissioners termed a "relatively nonintrusive" approach to regulating political campaigns on the Internet.

...
Its "notice of proposed rulemaking," as it is known, indicates that the FEC is focusing much of its attention on whether to apply federal contribution limits on online political advertising campaigns. It also indicates that the six-member panel has not decided to impose, but is leaning against imposing, restrictions on independent bloggers or bloggers who work for political campaigns.

"I think that we're trying to use this document as some sort of broad hint that, at least at this stage, we don't plan to regulate the vast majority of what individuals do and the vast majority of what bloggers do," said FEC Chairman Scott E. Thomas (D).

"It is designed to give people a pretty clear signal that the FEC never did have any intent to overregulate citizens who want to use Internet technology for communicating in the area of politics," he added.

more here

[dzika]

10. Party Chiefs Disinvite GOP's Potts

Can the GOP revoke party membership from an Republican that they don't agree with?


March 24, 2005

Party Chiefs Disinvite GOP's Potts

Governor Hopeful Pushed to Resign

By Rosalind S. Helderman

Everyone in Virginia politics agrees about certain things concerning H. Russell Potts Jr.: He's from Winchester, he's a sports promoter, he's a state senator and he's running for governor.

...
Potts has said that "only God and myself" can decide whether he is a Republican. Some people say he's got a point -- at least on some level. Virginia doesn't register voters by political affiliation. Republicans form the state's dominant political organization, but for most who identify with the party, it's not like being part of an exclusive club with dues and a blood oath.

The party's leaders, who are trying to regain the governorship and retain control of the House of Delegates, find Potts's attitude more than a little annoying.

"I can stand in front you and say I'm purple all day long. That doesn't make me purple," said Sen. Ken Cuccinelli (R-Fairfax). "Saying it's so doesn't make it so. When you oppose the Republican Party nominee for the top office in the state, you are not a Republican."

The state central committee of the Republican Party of Virginia weighed in on the matter over the weekend, adopting a resolution stating that Potts is no longer recognized as a party member and urging him to resign his Senate seat.

more here

[dzika]

11. Reopening Government

March 24, 2005

Reopening Government

OPENNESS IN government has diminished during the Bush administration. Classification actions rose 75 percent between 2001 and 2004. Immigration authorities kept secret the names of hundreds of detainees rounded up after Sept. 11, as did military authorities for detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Legal memorandums authorizing key tactics in the war on terrorism were needlessly kept secret. The administration has stiffed Congress on oversight requests across a wide range of areas, and it has aggressively sought to withhold material -- even such obviously nonsensitive data as aggregate intelligence spending from the late 1940s -- under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Some secrecy is inevitable during wartime, but that's not the whole story; too often the Bush administration has viewed it as a positive value.

It is, consequently, encouraging to see a bipartisan consensus slowly emerging that open government needs a helping hand. A Senate Judiciary subcommittee held a hearing last week on a bill by Sens. John Cornyn (R-Tex.) and Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) to bolster FOIA. The act creates a presumption that government documents are available to the public on request, subject to a limited number of exemptions. But over time, because of congressional amendments and judicial interpretations, the exemptions have sometimes seemed to swallow up the presumption.

The Cornyn-Leahy bill would not fix that problem, but it would make useful improvements. It would clarify timetables for agencies to respond to requests, create penalties for capricious denials, authorize the payment of attorneys' fees for people who prevail in litigation under the law and modernize agency processing of requests. Another bill that Mr. Cornyn and Mr. Leahy have introduced would establish a commission to study the FOIA delays and make recommendations for improvements. An important separate bill introduced by Mr. Leahy would close a major loophole in the law Congress created when it formed the Department of Homeland Security. These bills are encouraging if they signal new bipartisan attention to the erosion of FOIA and of openness more generally.

more here

[Wilms]

12. Free Press: As Blackwell Says, Ohio’s in 2004 was a National Model

As Blackwell Says, Ohio’s in 2004 was a National Model

by Steve Rosenfeld, Bob Fitrakis, and Harvey Wasserman
March 24, 2005
The Free Press

Ohio Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell finally testified – something he had refused to do in the Moss v. Bush Ohio election challenge before the State Supreme Court and refused to do in Washington, D.C. His testimony proved so contentious that at one point Rep. Stephanie Tubbs-Jones, D-OH, told him to “haul butt” if he was unwilling to answer questions about irregularities in the 2004 election.

Blackwell vigorously defended his role in last fall’s presidential election at a congressional hearing on Monday, March 21, at the Ohio Statehouse, claiming critics have smeared his state as if it were a “third world country” rather than the national model of election administration that Blackwell said it was. In December, Republican state senators blocked a similar Democrat-sponsored forum from using the Statehouse, forcing testimony to be taken at the Democrat-controlled Columbus City Council chambers. Meanwhile, hundreds of disenfranchised voters testified under oath in Columbus, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Toledo and Warren concerning their voting day hardships.

“We had a good election in the state of Ohio. Not a perfect election – elections are human endeavors,” Blackwell, a Republican gubernatorial candidate and co-chair of the Bush-Cheney campaign, told the House Committee on Administration in Columbus. In opening remarks, he also noted Ohio coped with a million new voters and tremendous efforts by both political parties to exploit legal tactics to their advantage.

“While much has been written by the conspiracy theorists, I would like to point out that there has only been one complaint filed by the HAVA process,” Blackwell said, referring to the Help America Vote Act, which was enacted by Congress after Florida’s 2000 election debacle. “I am interested in clean, fair and transparent elections.”

For full article, click:

http://www.freepress.org/departments/display/19/2005/1208


Thanks to AtLiberty for posting the Discussion:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x348181

[dzika]

13. Bush-swarming media duck DeGette's "chick" chat

March 24, 2005

Bush-swarming media duck DeGette's "chick" chat

It happened again on Wednesday at the roundtable discussion on Social Security conducted by U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette at the University of Denver. Everybody was talking lockboxes and private accounts, and I found myself wondering: Why have the same media hordes that swarmed President Bush on Monday ignored this event completely?

Are they dismissive of a viewpoint that challenges the administration? Or is it something more insidious?

...
The event with DeGette, a fifth-term Denver Democrat, featured three retirees and three college students who object to privatizing Social Security.

It's hardly a fringe group. A Gallup poll this week found 53 percent of Americans disapprove of the Bush proposal to cut benefits and create private retirement accounts.

About 100 people attended the DeGette event - no tickets or prescreening by party goons required.

...
So why was it ignored, especially after the fawning coverage of the tedious, stage-managed Bush event two days earlier?

more here

[dzika]

14. Ensuring Voting Rights - By Rev. Jesse L. Jackson Sr.

March 24, 2005

Ensuring Voting Rights

By Rev. Jesse L. Jackson Sr.

As our nation has witnessed in the democracy debacle of the last two American presidential elections—in which the loser won and the winner lost—the right to vote preserves all other rights.

Officials elected by the citizens or ones appointed by elected officials set public policy in all spheres of American life. Accordingly, how election rules are set, who is permitted to cast votes, and by what means votes are counted determine public policy—domestically and internationally.

On March 6, Americans observed the 40-year anniversary of the historic “Bloody Sunday” march, which resulted in the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. This act implemented non-discriminatory voting rights provisions for people of color, particularly in Southern states where race-conscious election practices were rampant. Because celebration without substance is superstition, we must call on the government to reauthorize the 1965 Voting Rights Act and fill the gaping hole in our democracy by enacting a constitutional amendment for the individual and federally protected right to vote for all citizens.

Rainbow/PUSH Coalition is working with a coalition of civil, labor and women’s rights organizations, along with church denominations, to launch a national campaign to secure 1 million signatures in support of this reauthorization, including enforcement provisions such as Section 203 (which provides language and other assistance) and Section 5 (pre-clearance of state voting plans by the U.S. Department of Justice). The deadline for collecting signatures will be August 6, 2005, the 40th anniversary of President Lyndon Johnson’s signing of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, after which this petition would be delivered to the White House and Congress.

read the entire article here

[Wilms]

15. Conyers Blog: Preserving Democracy Continued

Conyers Blog
Blogged by JC on 03.23.05 @ 06:32 PM ET

Preserving Democracy Continued
Blackwell Resurfaces - Testifies Before House Administration Committee

The indefatigible Brad Friedman of BradBlog has the story about Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell's appearance before the House Administration Committee field hearing in Columbus. As most readers of this blog probably know, I repeatedly invited Mr. Blackwell to answer questions about Ohio's Presidential election, either verbally or in writing, and never heard back (despite his assurances, through his spokesman, that he would be happy to "fill in the blanks" for me).

While I await a transcript of his testimony, I am not encouraged by press or other accounts I have heard, which make clear that Blackwell has yet to come clean about what happened in Ohio. Indeed, Mr. Blackwell reportedly still clings to the notion that "Ohio...had one of the best Election Administration performances in the country." If by that he means that he was the best Secretary of State in the nation at weighing the paper that registration forms were printed on, well...I wholeheartedly agree. If, however, he means treating voters fairly, I don't know who to believe: him or my lying eyes?

LARGE MOV FILE:

http://www.oriondems.com/images/footage.mov


Original Link:

http://www.conyersblog.us/archives/00000033.htm


Election Reform Discussion Thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x348196


GD-P Discussion Thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x1684101#top

[dzika]

16. Anti-gay GOP chairman Mehlman popped the question in Akron: Are you gay

March 24, 2005

Anti-gay GOP chairman Ken Mehlman popped the question in Akron: Are you gay?

Mehlman blasts question on his sexuality

The Cleveland Gay People’s Chronicle Eric Resnick popped the question on the minds of politicos in Washington at an Akron Lincoln Day Dinner and will splash the article in this week’s edition, RAW STORY has learned.

The question: Are you gay?

...
Resnick notes that Mehlman encouraged the chairman of Ohio’s election campaign (and chief election official in the state) Kenneth Blackwell to fuel anti-gay activism to put an amendment banning gay marriage on the Ohio books. The amendment passed.

“During his Akron remarks,” Resnick reports, “Mehlman put forth political and policy statements often viewed as anti-gay.

...
In an exclusive earlier this week, RAW STORY reported that current and former staff members of the nation’s largest gay newspaper chain said the company’s top editor thwarted efforts to run a story reporting now-Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman was gay. The editor denies killing the story.

more here

[dzika]

17. The Schiavo Blowback Gets Serious

March 24, 2005

The Schiavo Blowback Gets Serious

A new CBS News poll has Congress enjoying an anemic 34% approval rate, the lowest since 1997. Mr. Bush's approval rate sits at 43%. A full 82% of the public thing George and the boys should have stayed out of this, and only 13% of those polled think George and the boys actually care about Ms. Schiavo. The rest, a whopping 74%, see this as the gross political ploy it has been.

Polls like this restore my faith in the ultimate wisdom of the American people. We can be led by the nose, we can swallow lies, we can studiously enter our polling places and vote against our own best interests. But wrong is wrong, and I am glad to see the people are still able to separate the wheat from the chaff.

As for the perpetrators of this farce, I offer a bit of wisdom from Muad'Dib:

"You cannot avoid the interplay of politics within an orthodox religion. This power struggle permeates the training, educating and disciplining of the orthodox community. Because of this pressure, the leaders of such a community inevitably must face that ultimate internal question: to succumb to complete oportunism as the price of maintaining their rule, or risk sacrificing themselves for the sake of the orthodox ethic."

- From "Muad'Dib: The Religious Issues" by the Princess Irulan

It seems clear at this time that the leaders of the orthodoxy we know as American Christian fundamentalism have succumbed to complete oportunism in this Schiavo matter as the price of maintaining their rule. It is as embarassing a spectacle as any of us are likely to see.

more here

[Wilms]

18. Carter and Baker to Co-Chair Bi-Partisan Commission on Election Reform

Carter and Baker to Co-Chair Bi-Partisan Commission on Federal Election Reform
24 March 2005

It appears that the calls for election reform have not gone unnoticed. In a press release, “Former President Jimmy Carter and former Secretary of State James A. Baker, III, announced today that they will co-chair a Commission on Federal Election Reform.” The newly formed bi-partisan commission will “examine the state of America's federal elections and recommend improvements.”

Carter and Baker have assembled a private, bi-partisan commission whose membership includes former Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, former House Minority Leader Bob Michel, former U.S. Representatives Lee Hamilton and Susan Molinari, university presidents, scholars and community leaders.

http://www.lightupthedarkness.org/blog/default.asp?view=plink&id=617

Thanks to KerryGoddess for posting the discussion:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x1683890#top

[MelissaB]

27. More

"I am concerned about the state of our electoral system and believe we need to improve it," Carter said in a statement. He said the group will assess "issues of inclusion" in federal voting and propose recommendations to improve the process.

"We will try to define an electoral system for the 21st century that will make Americans proud again," he said.

Though disputes over recounts and voter eligibility marred the 2000 U.S. presidential election, international monitors in place in November 2004 reported the polls were mostly fair.

[dzika]

19. ACTION - Help Wes Clark stop FCC censorship

March 24, 2005

ACTION - Help Wes Clark stop FCC censorship

Respect the Sacrifice -- Protect the Freedom -- Stop Government Censorship Today

This past Veterans Day, ABC honored America's vets for a third straight year by airing "Saving Private Ryan." But 66 local ABC affiliates, bullied by a small group of right-wing zealots who objected to the realistic violence and language in the film, asked the Federal Communications Commission for a ruling to protect themselves before proceeding.

How did the FCC respond? Silence. They left the stations hanging out to dry. And these 66 affiliates, fearing hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines, chose not to air "Saving Private Ryan," depriving one-third of the country from watching it.

This kind of de facto censorship is wholly unacceptable. We deserve a government that will stand up to these extremist groups, leaving the decision about whether or not to watch these programs up to us. That's our right as Americans. That right was secured by the sacrifice of the fighting men and women portrayed in "Saving Private Ryan" and by all of us who have served in America's armed forces.

I urge you to email FCC Chairman Kevin Martin by signing my petition and demand that he end this de facto censorship. Tell Chairman Martin that we will not stand idly by as the government enables the erosion of one of our most precious freedoms.

sign the petition

[dzika]

20. Video - Daily Show: Bush's Fake News Scandal

March 22, 2005

Video - Daily Show: Bush's Fake News Scandal

Video in Real Media format (8 minutes)

[Wilms]

21. (MA) Groups Urge More Absentee Voting

Groups urge more absentee voting

By Erik Arvidson
Eagle Boston Bureau

Thursday, March 24, 2005

BOSTON -- Hoping to boost turnout in future elections, voter-rights groups are urging state lawmakers to pass a constitutional amendment that would allow every registered voter to cast their vote via absentee ballot.

The Massachusetts League of Women Voters is sponsoring the proposed constitutional amendment, which would make Massachusetts one of 26 states that allow absentee voting for everyone, regardless of their circumstances.

Supporters argue that more voters are using absentee ballots to avoid long lines at the polls and that many adults' personal commitments, such as work or child care, make it difficult for them to make it to their poll site.

Lynn Cohen of Westford, who is vice president of the Massachusetts League of Women Voters, said the current law is confusing and excludes caretakers of small children and seniors from voting absentee.

"The laws are totally unenforceable," Cohen said. "There is no way to know when somebody comes into the town clerk's office whether the reason that they need to vote absentee is true. Many city and town clerks don't ask the question."

-snip/more-

http://www.berkshireeagle.com/Stories/0,1413,101~6283~2779217,00.html

[Wilms]

22. (CO) Denver Post: Voting reforms set to be proposed

Voting reforms set to be proposed

A group impaneled by the state secretary of state will suggest such changes as paper trails for e-voting.

March 24, 2005

By Mark P. Couch
Denver Post Staff Writer

A blue-ribbon panel convened by the state's top elections official plans to call for a series of reforms in the voting process today.

Rep. Al White, R-Winter Park, said the group will propose that all new electronic voting machines purchased after 2006 be required to have a paper trail.

By 2010, counties will need to retrofit existing electronic machines to provide a paper trail.

Sen. Ron Tupa, D-Boulder, said the panel will also recommend that citizens get a receipt when they sign up at voter-registration drives.

-snip/more-

http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36~33999~2778825,00.html

[eomer]

23. State records show Bush re-election concerns played part in FEMA aid

State records show Bush re-election concerns played part in FEMA aid

Consultant predicted a `huge mess'

By Megan O'Matz & Sally Kestin
Staff Writers
Posted March 23 2005

As the second hurricane in less than a month bore down on Florida last fall, a federal consultant predicted a "huge mess" that could reflect poorly on President Bush and suggested that his re-election staff be brought in to minimize any political liability, records show.

Two weeks later, a Florida official summarizing the hurricane response wrote that the Federal Emergency Management Agency was handing out housing assistance "to everyone who needs it without asking for much information of any kind."

The records are contained in hundreds of pages of Gov. Jeb Bush's storm-related e-mails initially requested by the South Florida Sun-Sentinel Oct. 13.

The governor's office finally released the documents Friday, after threat of a lawsuit by the newspaper.

more here

[MelissaB]

24. Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney speaks at the Chicago anti-war rally Saturd

Two years ago we gathered all across America to say no to war. We were joined by people all over the planet who know that there is an alternative to war.

But war is about the only option available when the real motive is to steal natural resources that belong to someone else.

>>>snip

They tell us we’re at war for democracy, but that’s a joke. George Bush came to power by stopping democracy at home – denying the opportunity to vote to Blacks and Latinos in Florida.

They built on that fine record last year with hackable voting machines that don’t accurately tally our votes.

More: http://www.sfbayview.com/032305/thetruth032305.shtml

[MelissaB]

25. Ms. Politics Getting Old

This is from the National Review, but at least the message is getting out. :)


March 24, 2005, 7:57 a.m.

Ms. Politics Getting Old

Liberal feminists don’t care about women.

And the rest, as they say, is history. Yet much of the Left is still stuck with an old template. (Could they believe, like Teresa Heinz (Kerry , that two Republican brothers stole the election from the real women's choice, Kerry-Edwards?)

Link: http://www.nationalreview.com/lopez/lopez200503240757.asp

[MelissaB]

26. Voting Activists to Gather for National Election Reform Conference

Independent Media Center

Voting Activists to Gather for National Election Reform Conference

by Bernie Ellis

On April 8-10, 2005, a National Election Reform Conference will occur in Nashville, Tennessee to focus on the 2004 election and the need for election reform.. The conference is supported by over 40 local, state and national election reform organizations and it will include plenary sessions as well as pre- and post-conference discussion groups on a host of important topics. This conference will bring persons of all political persuasions together to discuss current threats to our democratic process and ways to achieve meaningful election reform and election justice. The speakers we have assembled are among the most notable in the election research, election reform and election justice movements; including researchers and voting rights activists from Ohio, Florida, New Mexico, Georgia, North Carolina, Arizona, California, Washington, Pennsylvania, Oregon, Maine, New Hampshire, Kansas, Maryland, Texas, Tennessee, Massachusetts, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky and many other states.

Since November 3, 2004, there has been a groundswell of concern, and a plethora of evidence, that the conduct of the 2004 election was highly problematic. the evidence of voter intimidation and disenfranchisement, potential manipulation of electronically cast votes and other instances of election fraud was sufficient to have stimulated the Government Accountability Office and U.S. Representative John Conyers and other national leaders to begin to investigate the evidence of voter disenfranchisement and election fraud. This evidence also caused the U.S. Congress to suspend their routine business and to debate the merits of accepting Ohio’s electoral votes on January 6, 2005, a historic occasion that highlighted the many problems in Ohio and also served to shed light on similar problems in other states. With this Congressional debate, the American people’s responsibility to protect and maintain our democratic process was enumerated and enjoined. To date, there have been few opportunities for concerned citizens and researchers to meet to review the mounting evidence of threats to our democratic processes that the 2004 election revealed and to discuss the urgent need for election reform. This National Election Reform Conference is intended to provide a broad forum for the exchange of information, ideas and concerns about our election process.

The conference plenary sessions will take place at the Jefferson Street Missionary Baptist Church, 2708 Jefferson Street, with pre- and post-conference discussion groups to be held at nearby Tennessee State, Vanderbilt and Fisk universities. On Friday evening, we will hear from 1960s civil rights veterans about what it took to obtain voting rights and what it will take to hold onto them. We will also hear detailed update reports from five states involved in post-election investigations of election fraud: Ohio, Florida, New Mexico, Washington and North Carolina. We will also hear brief reports from other states with similar problems: Pennsylvania, Arizona, Georgia, New Hampshire and other states. On Saturday, we will hear updates from national researchers on the 2004 election, we will listen to a discussion among representatives of both mainstream and alternate media on the media’s role in the post-election period and we will review the many national and local strategies that are being planned and implemented to achieve election reform and election justice in this country.

The on-line link to obtain more conference information and registration is: www.freepress.org/conf.php . Registration is encouraged to attend the conference and for media representatives to let us know you are coming. The registration fee is a $30 tax-deductible donation, but the media are encouraged to register and attend without paying the donation. (Space permitting, persons who are interested in election reform and election justice but who cannot pay this donation are being encouraged to register and attend the conference. We look forward to drawing a large audience for the plenary sessions, and encourage any interested persons to attend.

For more information on the National Election Reform Conference, for lists of speakers and supporting organizations, and for a copy of the conference agenda, please visit the web-link ( www.freepress.org/conf.php ) or contact Bernie Ellis ( 931/682-2864; tracevu (at) bellsouth.net ) or Glenda Keef gkeef (at) umpublishing.org , 615/641-5568. We encourage you to consider doing a story before the conference and we certainly hope that you will join us for this historic and timely event. We will arrange individual interviews with conference speakers/attendees before, during or after the conference upon request.

Link: http://www.tnimc.org/feature/display/4823/index.php


Go Bernie! :yourock:

[MelissaB]

28. Phil Donahue: "We Have an Emergency in the Media and We Have to Fix It"

Phil Donahue: "We Have an Emergency in the Media and We Have to Fix It"

Phil Donahue - one of the best-known talk show hosts in the history of television in the United States - joins us in our firehouse studio to discuss the state of the media in this country. Donahue's show was on the air for more than 29 years. In 2003, he was fired by MSNBC because he was allowing antiwar voices on the air.

>>>snip

PHIL DONAHUE: Yes, and others. We had some wonderful – for a peaceful tomorrow. I mean, I came back to television and ran right into a wall of widows. I mean, that shocked me. I just somehow wasn't anticipating this. 9/11 widows. The New Jersey girls and these wonderful people, people who came on -- mothers, wives said, “Not in my name. Don't kill more innocent people to avenge the death of my loved one.” We just were very excited about what we were doing. Along the way, it became clear that they were really very nervous about us, and the rule was laid down, we had to have two conservatives for every liberal. I was counted as two liberals. I mean, this is the truth. So I was very, very naive, you know, for a veteran guy, I can't get over – and there’s probably some vanity involved here, too. I thought I was going to be a place where dissent could be heard. I really believed that that was going to happen. And it was very naive of me to think that. It made them very, very nervous.

Much more: http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/03/24/1446244

Video: http://play.rbn.com/?url=demnow/demnow/demand/2005/march/video/dnB20050324a.rm&proto=rtsp&start=28:49

[Wilms]

29. Link to Donahue Discussion Thread

DU Discussion Thread:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x348406

[dzika]

30. What really happened in Ohio?

March 26, 2005

What really happened in Ohio?

Author: Judy Johnson

There are some things we can say for certain happened in Ohio and the U.S. in November 2004.

One, as everyone knows, Ohio’s electoral votes handed George W. Bush the number necessary to clinch the Electoral College vote and secure a second term as president of the United States.

Two, the election didn’t pass the “smell test.” That is, there were so many flaws in the election process — from registration through recount — that many have concluded that democracy lost in Ohio. Vote suppression was most frequent in communities of color, where the longest lines occurred and the greatest number of machines malfunctioned.

Three, the lack of uniform national and statewide standards for how we conduct elections became grossly apparent throughout the state. The need for electoral reform in Ohio and elsewhere is both urgent and compelling, so that future elections will be honest and secure, and the outcome will without doubt reflect the will of the voters.

...
We don’t know how many people registered to vote properly and in good faith but were never entered onto the voting rolls, or were entered incorrectly. We know that many people became discouraged or had other responsibilities and had to leave long lines, after standing and waiting for hours to vote, but we don’t know how many. We know some ballots were already marked for Bush before voters got them, and that some Kerry supporters voted on these ballots for Kerry and their ballots were then rejected as “overvotes.” We know some votes cast on touch-screen machines “hopped over” to Bush after the voter voted for Kerry, but again, we can’t say how many. We don’t know how many African American and Latino voters stayed away from the polls because of intimidating rumors of the possibility of arrest or deportation. We don’t know how many people were misdirected by poll workers to the wrong polling location, and then had their votes thrown out because of a ruling by Ohio’s very partisan Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell. We don’t know how many vote counts were manipulated and how many votes were stolen. What we can say is that all of these things happened, and thousands of Kerry votes were “lost” in Ohio. How many will probably never be known for sure.

more here

[Wilms]

31. COMMENTARY: Confirmation of Secretary of State Takes on Partisan Tone

Monday, March 21, 2005

COMMENTARY: Confirmation of secretary of state takes on partisan tone

Dan Walters, SacBee Writer

-snip-

But rejecting McPherson at this particular moment would also have a downside. Schwarzenegger has been accusing the Democratic Legislature of being overly partisan and ineffective, and dumping McPherson would have given the governor some additional ammunition as he seeks voter approval of ballot measures aimed at Democratic legislators and their major interest groups, especially unions.

-snip-

The Senate's easy confirmation of McPherson after a brief Rules Committee hearing and an even briefer discussion on the floor was not unexpected. The Senate is a more collegial and somewhat less partisan body than the Assembly, and McPherson is a member of the club by dint of his eight years in the house.
Don Perata, the president pro tem of the Senate, hailed McPherson as "a solid appointment (and) a good man" and he even garnered confirmation votes in the committee and on the floor from Debra Bowen, a Democratic senator who has already declared that she'll run for secretary of state in 2006.

-snip-

Democratic members of the committee put McPherson through his paces with a series of questions about policies on elections -- especially implementation of the federal Help America Vote Act (HAVA) -- that were more repetitious than hostile. Shelley's questionable handling of HAVA funds was one of several matters that led to his resignation. McPherson answered them with assurances that, as he said at one point, he would continued to be "my own man, an independent, nonpartisan problem-solver."

-snip-

Ever so politely, McPherson and Republican members of the committee also reminded the Democrats of the political risks of blocking confirmation. Until he is confirmed, McPherson told the committee, he couldn't implement HAVA's strict deadlines for improving election procedures, thus jeopardizing upwards of $100 million in federal funds that have been suspended because of investigations into Shelley's actions.

-snip/more-

http://www.desertdispatch.com/2005/111141448417748.html

Discussion Thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x348446

[Wilms]

32. (FL) No voter verification - Too many questions about touch-screens

Editorial

No voter verification
Too many questions about touch-screens

March 24, 2005

-snip-

State elections officials across the nation are being pressed to change to touch-screen voting machines, allegedly to conform with the federal Help America Vote Act of 2002. But the touch-screen machines do not offer a voter-verified paper record. Voters have no assurance that their choices are accurately recorded. Some question whether that meets the federal law, which says "the voting system shall permit the voter to verify the votes selected by the voter on the ballot before the ballot is cast and counted." Critics of touch-screen voting also note correctly that there have been numerous reports of malfunctions in the machines.

-snip-

In Florida, county elections supervisors are being led to believe that state law will require them to buy touch-screen machines for disabled voters before July 1. Yet the state law appears to be unclear about the July 1 deadline. The federal law calls for a Jan. 1, 2006 deadline for providing special equipment for the disabled.

The Volusia County Council has wisely tabled a request from Elections Supervisor Ann McFall to buy touch-screen machines for disabled voters. McFall, to her credit, also is wary of the lack of a paper trail but says she believes the department must meet the July 1 deadline. She also says that the state Elections Division tells her that the machines have to be certified, and the AutoMark system the county considered last year -- which allows the disabled to use optical scan ballots -- is not certified. There are legitimate questions, however, about whether AutoMark needs certification because it does not record or tally votes; rather it provides technical means for disabled voters to mark optical-scan ballots.

Clearly the state law -- and the Election Division's interpretation of it -- should be reviewed and clarified.

Meanwhile, Diebold Elections Systems, the manufacturer of the machines Volusia County might buy, claims there are no security issues. But security is what the manufacturer says it is. A government agency doesn't test the machines. Instead, Diebold and other touch-screen makers hire outside companies to test and certify machines, and those tests are secret. "When it comes to ensuring accuracy and accountability," The Economist noted last fall, "casino slot machines in Atlantic City, New Jersey get more government supervision than federal election voting machines."

-snip/more-

http://www.news-journalonline.com/NewsJournalOnline/Opinion/Editorials/03OpOPN38032405.htm

[Wilms]

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[Wilms]

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