Counter Carter-Baker Hearing in Houston June 29 - Who will help?

[Kip Humphrey]

Its time to stand up and speak truth to power.

On June 30th, the Faux Carter-Baker Commission will hold their second and final hearing at Rice University in Houston.

On June 29th, will we hold a Real Election Justice Hearing covering those things the Carter-Baker Commission refuses to address?

I say YES! (of coarse I live here and am always up for a party!)

What I need:
Help with letters of invitation, press releases, and developing a press kit.

Suggestions for topics to cover

Suggestions and connections to subject matter experts to testify and people to invite

Suggestions for June 30th actions

Be the media ideas to spread the word and garner press attention

Activists and Activist organizations willing to lend their name to the effort and event

Volunteers to vet documents, prepared testimony, list of presenters, panel members.

Volunteers to spread the word across the movement

I have received sufficient interest and support from USE and ProDemocracy members to move forward with this and would like the help of DUers. IF you want to help, please post here and email me at [e-mail]

Oh, and any suggestions for a hearing name would be greatly appreciated.

[DesEtoiles]

1. Read about Press Kits (a how-to) here:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/5/9/231125/4518

and

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/5/9/202824/5172

[Kip Humphrey]

10. Bookmarked! Thanks!

[DesEtoiles]

2. Contact Houston Indy Media here:

http://houston.indymedia.org/

[Kip Humphrey]

9. Thanks. I will!

[DesEtoiles]

3. Make sure you post this on the Texas forum

and -- contact this group, Bay Area New Democrats:

http://www.bayareanewdemocrats.org/

[Kip Humphrey]

7. Done. Thanks!

[Fly by night]

14. Kip, if TN volunteers can help Texas (again), just let us know ...

... what we can do. It's likely that I won't be able to come (my ex-wife, from whom I have been divorced for 18 years, is coming for a visit then (?!?!?!*).) But we're happy to do what we can from here.

[DesEtoiles]

4. longshot - but try to get Congresman Sheila Jackson Lee

[Kip Humphrey]

8. Good idea... and I have a contact in her office too

[AtLiberty]

5. Letters of invitation to the media?

[Kip Humphrey]

6. To the media (Palast, Hightower, Pokey Anderson, etc.), to politicos

like Conyers, Boxer, etc.

[Peace Patriot]

11. Off the top of my head...

Title: "The REAL National Election Reform Commission."

Come out fighting (like George Galloway today).

1. The fraudulent election system

Upfront, big stress, before anything else hits them in the eye:

A DESCRIPTION OF THE 2004 ELECTION **SYSTEM**

Because it sets the context for the fraud. It points to INTENT. (New electronic voting system, untested nationwide; no paper trail in a third of the country; Bush partisans owning and controlling the secret, proprietary software that counted the votes. One hacker, a couple of minutes. Not a lot of people needed. Insecure, fraud-prone election system. The conditions for a valid election were not present.)

If the Bush regime had wanted a transparent election, why didn't we have one?

2. The falsified exit polls

Secondly, why were the real exit polls kept from the American people? Most people don't know that they were. They NEED to know. Again, intent. No transparency. Manipulations. Illusions. The news monopolies lied to us about Iraq WMDs and propagandized for the war. Then they lied to us about major evidence of election fraud.

3. Where was the Justice Department?

Thirdly, why were egregious violations of the Voting Rights Act in Ohio, Florida and other places IGNORED by the Justice Department?

In a fair and just and decent country, the threat of Justice Dept. intervention would likely have prevented such violations. Their silence and inaction, and White House silence, is complicity.

4. The overwhelming case for an invalid election and for a wrong outcome

Why don't we have "firm, solid, slam dunk, smoking gun" evidence of fraud (as some put it)? Face this queston up front. Because the perps planned for there to be no "firm, solid, slam dun, smoking gun" evidence--secret, proprietary source code; no paper trail. Deliberate action to prevent a verifiable election--the deliberation and intent underpinned by massive illegal vote suppression against Dems by Repub election officials in Ohio, failure of Dept. of Justice enforcement; and other gauges of intent.

So we are forced to use inferential evidence, such as the exit polls (used worldwide to verify elections and detect fraud), and reasonable estimates of Kerry's advantages going in (such as the Dems' blowout success in new voter registration in 2004 (nearly 60/40)).

(Lots more about all this--much evidence. Maybe break down in sections. Did Kerry win Ohio? Did Kerry win the national popular vote? What is the evidence that Bush won? Is that evidence reliable? Can anybody prove that Bush won?)

-----

Like I said--off the top of my head--this is how I would organize the presentation of the evidence--for filling in speakers' slots and choosing speakers; for bullets points in press releases; etc.

CAVEAT: The more successful we are, the more likely they will try to federalize elections under Bush Cartel control. So we must be careful to stress that the SOLUTION should be left to the states, closest to the people--and that the best thing Congress could do would be HANDS OFF--no more HAVA's. They won't do the right thing, so they should do nothing--and should back off, on pushing electronic voting.

Maybe we should have some stuff on how corrupt and corrupting electronic voting is ("revolving door" employment, public service vs. private electronic voting companies; states trying to get HAVA money, precipitous rush to buy unreliable systems...).

Another thought: Exit poll analysis is very compelling. It just about sews up the election fraud all by itself. But it needs to be presented in plain English for the statistically challenged--as well as dealing with this most recent Edison-Mitofsky nonsense. Just thinking out loud here. Big colorful charts. Humorous analogies. Maybe a little cartoon figure (an "Uncle Sam" cat?) pointing out the obvious--the impossibility of a Bush win.

Got to go now. Be back later. I volunteer to help with prep--but cannot go to Houston. I am not attached to any of these ideas.

[tommcintyre]

12. Kip, great idea, but I still don't think we should give up on the C/B comm

I would like to see this event be used in part to embarrass the Carter Baker Commission into giving people from USCV, for example, a chance to testify.

If that doesn't happen, a good old-fashioned protest/picket, with a dash of civil disobedience would be nice as an "event" on the 30th.

I will be glad to help you with the media blaster as the time grows near.

Who to invite:
USCV people
Bob Fitrakis
Brad
Andy
Clint Curtis
Lampley
Koehler
Greg Palast
Gore Vidal
Al Franken (is he coming around?)
Since you're in Texas, Jim Hightower and Molly Ivins would be fun.

Go for the fences:
Boxer
Conyers
The Black Caucus who led the 1-6 revolt
Rev. Jackson
Rep McKinney

More Texas Connection:
"Although she isn't scheduled to speak at the convention, Texas Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson will call on prominent Democrats to help raise voter awareness about the challenges facing the security, reliability and integrity of electronic voting systems, a spokesman for her office said.

"I can't imagine it not being an issue at the convention. But if it's not, Rep. Johnson certainly plans to make it one," said John B. Townsend, a spokesman for the congresswoman".
http://www.computerworld.com/governmenttopics/government/story/0,10801,94751,00.html

James Moore
Co-Author "Bush's Brain" (Wiley 2003)
Author of "Bush's War for Reelection" (Wiley 2004)
Jim is an Emmy award-winning TV news correspondent with more than a quarter century of print and broadcast experience. He has traveled extensively on every Presidential campaign since 1976. His reports have appeared on CNN, NBC, and CBS. His professional honors include: an Emmy from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, the Edward R. Murrow Award from the Radio Television News Director's Association, and the Individual Broadcast Achievement Award from the Texas Headliners' Foundation.

Wayne Slater
Co-Author "Bush's Brain" (Wiley 2003)
Wayne is the bureau chief of the Dallas Morning News in Austin, Texas. He has traveled extensively, covering national and state politics for the newspaper. Mr. Slater traveled full-time for eighteen months covering the presidential campaign of George W. Bush. He has covered every Republican and Democratic national convention since 1988, six sessions of the Texas Legislature, and the administrations of Texas Governors Bill Clements, Ann Richards, and George W. Bush. Mr. Slater is a frequent guest on numerous network and cable political programs.

Elizabeth Reeder
Co-Producer
Elizabeth was a senior executive with Oliver Productions (THE MCLAUGHLIN GROUP, MCLAUGHLIN ONE ON ONE) and New River Media (THINK TANK WITH BEN WATTENBERG). A practicing attorney and artist manager, she is the producer of UNCONSCIOUS, a new feature film, and is currently developing two television series (TAKING ON JAKE and REALITY WATCH) as well as the romantic adventure feature film THE BONEYARD. She has consulted on numerous television, film and live event projects, and her television commentary website was recently named as on of the “Top Thirty Television Websites” by TV Guide.
http://www.bushsbrain.com/about.htm

Texas Iconoclast
Crashing The Party? Mystery Surrounds ‘American Center For Voting Rights’ Group
http://www.iconoclast-texas.com/News/13news02.htm
Green Party Presidential Candidate Joins ‘Divestiture for Democracy’
http://www.iconoclast-texas.com/News/12news10.htm
Ohio — Ground Zero
http://www.iconoclast-texas.com/Columns/Editorial/editorial48.htm



The name:

"The "Alamo" of election fraud/reform: Here we make our stand!" (nice Texas theme) ;)

Good luck!

[emlev]

13. Alamo =

ALArming Modus Operandi

[Peace Patriot]

15. What I was trying to address in my outline of the presentation of...

evidence, above, is information overload. A couple of simple concepts and facts need to be emphasized. 1. The fraudulent election SYSTEM. 2. The falsified exit poll data (creating the illusion that Bush won with no evidence to the contrary), and what the real exit poll data shows. 3. This and other evidence that Kerry won. 4. The solution.

To me the election fraud story is fairly simple...

--fraudulent election system
--no one can prove Bush won
--intent: previous stolen election, Repubs in Congress blocking no-brainer controls like paper trail; voting machine companies run by Bush partisans, lobbied for no controls
--falsified exit poll data on TV, quieted dissent, stifled investigation
--Kerry should have won--the numbers show it
--he won Ohio and the Electoral vote
--he won the popular majority
--suspect: electronic voting

The solution

--return to paper ballot, hand count, unless and until these electronic systems can be made 100% secure and verifiable, and everybody understands them, including voters
--to properly audit and verify electronic elections is very difficult
--electronic voting systems are expensive with high services costs, as well as insecure and hackable; the states rush to purchase them was unwise
--many election officials DON'T UNDERSTAND how they work, are NOT techies--and most voters don't either
--the partisan conflicts of interest, "revolving door" employment, lobbying, dependence on experts with esoteric skills, privatization of voting data and tabulation, and large amounts of money involved in electronic voting systems have created a whole new level corruption in our political system--this must be eliminated.

-----

I like the Alamo idea.

----

The counter-commission materials should emphasize STORY, PLOT and RIVETING MOMENTS, as opposed to information overload (a real problem when you have so much evidence).

For instance, what happened with the exit polls on election day? All day they said Kerry was winning. Everybody believed Kerry was winning. That was a RIVETING MOMENT for the nation. Then, suddenly, late on election day...Bush won. Most people, including most reporters (and maybe even most politicians) DON'T KNOW that the TV networks CHANGED the exit polls--ALTERED the data--to fit the official result, and that the exit polls actually continued to show a Kerry win. People DON'T KNOW that this information--a Kerry win of the exit polls; strong evidence of fraud--was kept from them.

This fact opens peoples' eyes. It gets an "aha!" response. They begin to understand how little they can trust the news monopolies and the election system.

Perhaps counter-commission materials could put this in the form of a question--and create a list of compelling questions to be addressed by speakers and presenters:

Why were the exit polls that showed a Kerry win kept from the American people?

Why has the raw exit poll data not yet been released to USCV doctorates in statistics, and Congressional investigator John Conyers, who requested it?

What do the exit polls tells us about a wrong and/or fraudulent vote count?

How verifiable was the election? Can it be proven that Bush won?

If the Bush regime had wanted a verifiable election, why didn't we have one?

What does the massive vote suppression against minority and Democratic voters in Ohio, Florida and other places tell us about the Bush regime's intentions, and about their Justice Department's vigilance in enforcing the Voting Rights Act?

What is the evidence that electronic voting machine "malfunctions"--such as changing Kerry votes to Bush votes in 86 out of 88 reported incidents--could not be random chance, and point to the insertion of malicious code? And why is that code not available for inspection (how can it be secret, proprietary information)?

------

There are complicated elements within this plot--especially with the perps acting beforehand to insure that solid evidence would be hard to come by. But it nevertheless contains BIG, EYE-OPENING facts and moments, that help people overcome the illusion of a Bush win that has been created.

If the counter-commission itself has a narrative in mind--in creating materials and press releases, and organizing the presentation--this will greatly help the uninformed to plug in. I'm NOT saying this is WHY the news monopolies have not covered this incredible news story. I don't think that. I think they are very corrupt. I'm talking about the non-corrupt--and ordinary people--and helping them to grasp the main facts and put them in context.

We need some good graphic artists, too.

[emlev]

16. Great post! n/t

[Kip Humphrey]

18. Would like one panel of presenters on evoting threats and failures

Bev Harris, Chuck Herrin, Clint Curtis, and?

Suggestions for a 4th presenter (please no hoots and cat calls over BH, OK?)?

Since we have but one day, let's see about developing a schedule. Two sessions, morning & afternoon. 2 panels per session each with 4 presenters, each panel has 1-1/2 hours (10 minute presentations per presenter, 40 minute Q & A with 10 minutes break between panels)

MORNING SESSION
9:00am to 10:30am - Election 2004 Report Out

presenter #1: voter suppression
presenter #2: vote switching
presenter #3: exit poll timeline
presenter #4: recount problems

10:30am - 12:00pm - evoting threats and failures
(see top)

AFTERNOON SESSION
1:00pm to 2:30pm - Real Election Reform

presenter #1: VVPB
presenter #2: Voter Bill of Rights
presenter #3: Litigating Election Reform
presenter #4: Legislating Election Reform

2:30pm - 4:00pm - Reforms State by State
presenter #1: Oregon
presenter #2: California
presenter #3: Georgia
presenter #4: North Carolina

4:00pm - 5:00pm - keynote address
5:00pm - 5:30pm - press conference

6:00pm - 8:00pm - dinner
8:00pm - 11:00pm - entertainment

[cyberpj]

22. KICK this for more attention... nt.

[emlev]

17. A compilation of the evidence re: Ohio

There's a team working on this. I'll email you the contact info.

[Kip Humphrey]

19. Thanks emily!

[starmaker]

20. IS IT ON ?

LET ME KNOW

[Kip Humphrey]

21. Yes... Working on it

[Kip Humphrey]

23. Name ideas...

How about:

The American Democracy Movement Election Assessment Hearing

or

Defenders of Democracy Election Assessment Hearing

[starmaker]

24. houston hearing

three part harmony

a hearing
a presentation
a celebration

There comes a time in the course of altered events
to show up and inform our fellow man of what we know
to be true. It's pretty simple and easy to understand
our vote count has been taken from us and given to a few

[Peace Patriot]

26. Re: Name ideas. We need something simpler and bolder, Kip.

The Something Is Rotten in the State of Democracy Hearing?

(kind of kidding)

The Citizens Commission on Transparent Elections? (a bit dry)

------

Remember the "Winter Soldier" hearings? Very resonant title; great history to it.

------

I'll put my poetic mind to work on it. We need a symbol, a story.

The Citizens Commission on the Emperor's New Clothes?

(har, har)

-----

Citizens Commission on Election Theft

The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere: Election 2004

The Paul Revere Commission on 2004 Election Fraud

From Ohio to Iraq: Election Fraud 2004

The Citizens Commission on Shuckin Jive Elections

(...just thinking out loud here--we'll get it...)

-----

I'm liking the "Emperor's New Clothes" one. It's got resonance. (So does "Shuckin Jive Elections," but the "Emperor's New Clothes" is more polite.)

[starmaker]

27. The State of Elections

We Will Count Inquiry

Isu Hearings

a citizens call to return
the vote count to the people

citizens testimony

kl

[Zan_of_Texas]

33. How about "The Not-Half Baked Commission"

Or

Unfixing American Elections

[emlev]

29. let's look for a name that conveys

honesty, truth, trustworthiness, and hope in an atmosphere of excitement

Anybody out there in advertising, or know someone who is, who could help us with our "branding?"

Oh, it makes me nauseous to try to think like this...

[Time for change]

25. I would be interested in

writing responses to false and misleading statements which propose that election fraud wasn't a big issue in 2004, or which otherwise hurt the cause of re-establishing fair elections in this country.

Please let me know if you might be able to use me for that purpose.

[Stevepol]

28. How about OH FATE?

OH FATE: Open Hearings for Fair and Transparent Elections

Or maybe Citizens FATE, i.e. Citizens for Fair and Transparent Elections.

Or maybe: Hearings For American Voting Enlightenment (HAVE)

Possibly adding: (HAVE A FATE)

And Fair and Transparent Elections. (A FATE)

The whole spritz would be: Hearings for American Voting Enlightenment and Fair and Transparent Elections.

[Kip Humphrey]

30. Name: DEMOCRACY'S F.A.T.E. Election Assessment Hearing?

Comments?

[Melissa G]

31. kick!

[starmaker]

32. Maybe a ? mark after

free and transparent elections ????

[Zan_of_Texas]

34. I don't like the acronym F A T E. It implies something has already

been decided. Lack of choice, lack of free will.

That's what we're battling, folks -- elections have already been decided before we even go vote.

Okay, here ya go:

The Honest Tally Rally!

[Chicago1]

35. This is an excellent idea

This is a wonderful idea. Great thinking.

America's Work Stories
http://usaworkstories.blogspot.com
[e-mail]

[AtLiberty]

36. Don't forget the local media in Houston...

...within a radius of 100 miles.

The local media is our friend. ;)