Saturday 2/5 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=203x316720

[MelissaB]

1. Action alerts here:

[MelissaB]

2. Please write Oprah and urge her to devote a show to commemorate the 40th A

Please write Oprah and urge her to devote a show to commemorate the 40th Anniversary of the march from Selma to Montgomery, March 3-12. Ask her to invite John Conyers to address massive voter suppression and his remarkable work on meaningful election reform.

(Thanks to those who have already suggested writing Oprah here; I'm taking it to the next level, tying it with an historical event.)

Oprah
Harpo Studios
1058 W. Washington St.
Chicago, IL 60607

E-MAIL:

www.oprah.com/email/reach/email_showideas

INFORMATION ON THE ANNIVERSARY MARCH:

http://www.crmvet.org/anc/0503selm.htm


Thanks to AtLiberty here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x313677

[dzika]

18. Video & History - Martin Luther King, Jr's march from Selma to Montgomery

After the murder of Jimmie Lee Jackson during the voter registration drive by the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) it was decided to dramatize the need for a federal registration law. With the help of Martin Luther King and Ralph David Abernathy of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), leaders of the SCCC organised a protest march from Selma to the state capitol building in Montgomery, Alabama. The first march on 1st February, 1965, led to the arrest of 770 people. A second march, led by John Lewis and Hosea Williams, on 7th March, was attacked by mounted police. The sight of state troopers using nightsticks and tear gas was filmed by television cameras and the event became known as Bloody Sunday.

Martin Luther King led another march of 1,500 people two days later. After crossing the Pettus Bridge the marchers were faced by a barricade of state troopers. King disappointed many of his younger followers when he decided to turn back in order to avoid a confrontation with the troopers. Soon afterwards, one of white ministers on the march, James J. Reeb, was murdered.

President Lyndon B. Johnson now decided to take action and sent troops, marshals and FBI Agents to protect the protesters. On Thursday, 25th March, King led 25,000 people to the Alabama State Capitol and handed a petition to Governor George Wallace, demanding voting rights for African Americans. That night, the Ku Klux Klan killed Viola Liuzzo while returning from the march.



A rare video of the march from Selma to Montgomery
Real Media (low quality):
http://www.edwardsdavid.com/BushVideos/MarchFromSelma650321-25.rm

Martin Luther King Jr. speech starts about 4 minutes into the video

"How long? Not long"

The threat of the free exercise of the ballot by the Negro
and the white masses alike resulted in the establishing of a segregated society.
They segregated Southern money from the poor whites;
they segregated Southern churches from Christianity;
they segregated Southern minds from honest thinking;
and they segregated the Negro from everything.
...
They told us we wouldn't get here.
There are those that said that we would get here
only over their dead bodies.

All the world today knows that we are here
and we are standing before the forces of power
in the state of Alabama saying
"We ain't gonna let nobody turn us around."

Today I want to tell the city of Selma,
today I want to tell the state of Alabama,
today I want to say to the people of America
and the nations of the world:

We are not about to turn around.
We are on the move now.
Yes, we are on the move and no wave of racism can stop us.

The burning of our churches will not deter us.
The bombing of our homes will not dissuade us.
The beating and killing of our clergymen and young people will not divert us.
The arrest and release of known murderers will not discourage us.

We are on the move now.

Like an idea whose time has come,
not even the marching of mighty armies can halt us.
We are moving to the land of freedom.
...
I know you are asking today, "How long will it take?"

Somebody's asking "How long will presidents blind the visions of men?"

I come to say to you this afternoon
however difficult the moment,
however frustrating the hour,
it will not be long,
because truth pressed to earth will rise again.

How long? Not long,
because no lie can live forever.

How long? Not long,
because you shall reap what you sow.

How long? Not long.
Because the arm of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice.

How long? Not long,
because mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord,
trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored.
He has loosed the fateful lightning of his terrible swift sword.
His truth is marching on.

On 6th August, 1965, Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act. This removed the right of states to impose restrictions on who could vote in elections. Johnson explained how: "Every American citizen must have an equal right to vote. Yet the harsh fact is that in many places in this country men and women are kept from voting simply because they are Negroes." The legislation now empowered the national government to register those whom the states refused to put on the voting list.

[MelissaB]

19. Very powerful, dzika! Thank you!

eom

[dzika]

26. That speech has haunted me since I first heard it.

It's amazing how it rings true now. We are only moments away from a legacy that should be inherited as our mission to become the new history of civil rights reform.

[MelissaB]

3. Calif. SOS Action Plan

Liberty Belle posted this in the LBN related thread.

It's official CA's Secretary of State, Kevin Shelly, has just resigned. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/02/05/shelley05.TMP

Take these actions now to protect fair elections in California!

Schwarzenegger will appoint a replacement that must be approved by the CA Legislature. If he appoints a Republican, we could wind up with rigged elections since the Secretary of State can buy voting machines, withhold machines in minority districts, create cumbersome rules designed to purge Democratic voters off the rolls and make it harder for them to register or have votes counted, thwart recount efforts, etc. -- just like in Ohio and Florida.

URGENT!
Please call, write and e-mail Arnold to say that if he appoints a Republican, you will urge that he be recalled for thwarting our democratic process.
See contact info below.

Call, fax and e-mail your State Senator and State Assembly represesntatives. Insist that they vote AGAINST any Republican Arnold may nominate for Secretary of STate. Make clear that this is a line-in-the-sand vote. Say that a vote for ANY Republican means you will do everything possible to defeat this legislator in the next primary election. Vote NO on this GOP attempt at a coup to rig elections!
Link below to find your legislator.

Call the DNC . Tell Terry McAuliff to get the national party to pressure the CA Dems on this one. Also call Howard Dean ask him to get the DFA moving on this. Call Moveon, Progressive Democrats, and other progressive groups, too. Forward this e-mail everywhere!

Contact info:

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
State Capitol Building
Sacramento, CA 95814
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

To send an Electronic Mail please visit:
http://www.govmail.ca.gov

Link to find your legislators and state legislative leaders:
http://www.legislature.ca.gov/legislators_and_districts/legislators/your_legislator.html

Mail or Phone the DNC
Mailing Address:

Democratic National Committee
430 S. Capitol St. SE
Washington, DC 20003

Main Phone Number:

202-863-8000

Email the DNC www.dnc.org/contact/
If anyone has links for party leaders, other Democratic clubs, DNC members, etc., please post and contact them, too.

LT GOV CRUZ BUSTAMENTE:

Lieutenant Governor Cruz M. Bustamante, please feel free to mail his office at: Capitol Central Valley Los Angeles San Diego
State Capitol,
Room 1114 2550 Mariposa Mall,
Room 5006 300 South Spring Street,
Suite 12702 701 "B" Street,
Suite 376
Sacramento, CA
95814 Fresno, CA
93721 Los Angeles,CA
90013 San Diego, CA
92101
Telephone:
[phone] Telephone:
[phone] Telephone:
[phone] Telephone:
[phone]
Fax:
[phone]
Fax:
[phone] Fax:
[phone] Fax:
[phone]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Howard Dean: You can also contact us by phone at 802.651.3200
www.DemocracyforAmerica.com

Discussion here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x317441

and here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1213365#1213515

[MelissaB]

31. Liberty Belle's Action Alerts: DU these, please!

Click to take action on these important issues, then kick this thread, please, so everyone can help. Thanks!


Send a letter to Governor Schwarzenegger regarding his budget. Tell the Governor you do not want him piling debt onto our grandchildren just so he can pursue the Bush/Rove/Norquist extremist agenda.Click here to Speak Out! http://ga4.org/campaign/Budget05

Senator Kennedy says “It’s time to take the target off our troops.” Sign the petition calling for American troops to come home by the end of 2006. http://action.democraticmajority.com/petition /

• Email your Members of Congress and ask them to strengthen Social Security, not weaken it with private accounts - go to
http://capwiz.com/aarp/mail/oneclick_compose/?alertid=5744286

Write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper to explain why George Bush's plan to cut promised Social Security benefits is wrong. The DNC has made it really easy to do, just go to http://www.democrats.org/action/200501050001.html

• Join AARP's fight to keep Social Security strong at:
http://www.aarp.org/tools/partner?url=http://capwiz.com/aarp/mail/oneclick_compose/?alertid=5744286

Save our National Forests

If influential leaders like California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger stand by silently, President Bush will eliminate the Roadless Area Conservation Rule that protects unspoiled national forest lands from coast to coast. Tell Gov. Schwarzenegger to stand up for California's and all of America's national forests. For what you can do go to http://www.savebiogems.org/takeaction.asp


IMPEACH BUSH!
Ramsey Clark has almost half a million signatures.
Please sign and forward this link to others:
http://www.votetoimpeach.org /

More on how you can help persuade Congress to impeach Bush:
http://www.impeach-bush-now.org /

SAVE OUR RIGHT TO SUE CORPORATIONS!
Tell Congress: Laws Should Protect People, Not Corporations
Petition: http://www.care2.com/go/z/21141
Congress could act soon on the so-called Class Action
Fairness Act, S. 5. This particular piece of legislative
"reform" would limit the rights of citizens to file class
action lawsuits when they are victimized by corporations
that pollute our communities or hide the truth about the
harm their products cause. (HOT--this may be voted on in Senate any day now)


INVESTIGATE PAYOLA PUNDITS
From FreePress.net
Ask your Senators & Congressional member to investigate "payola pundits" (journalists taking taxpayer money to promote Administration propaganda): http://www.freepress.net/action /

PROTECT SOCIAL SECURITY
From Working Families:
Take action to protect Social Security by signing the petition:
http://www.unionvoice.org/ct/171nc991rcrI /

SAVE THE FAIRNESS DOCTRINE
Several media reform groups are pushing forward with plans to eliminate media.
Please sign and forward!
http://www.fairnessdoctrine.com /


SUPPORT THE VOTING INTEGRITY & VERIFICATION ACT OF 2005
Tell Congress: Support real electoral reform:
http://www.commoncause.org/site/notfound.asp?c=dkLNK1MQIwG&from=www%2Ecommoncause%2Eorg%2Fsite%2Fpp%2Easp%3Fc%3DdkLNK1MQIwG%26b%3D&referer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Edemocraticunderground%2Ecom%2Fdiscuss%2Fduboard%2Ephp%3Faz%3Dview_all%26address%3D203x316720


FUND UNITED NATIONS POPULATION FUND
Ask President Bush to stop blocking critical funding to the United Nations Population Fund. These funds could prevent 2 million unwanted pregnancies, 800,000 induced abortions, and 4,700 maternal deaths each year. Act here:
http://www.care2.com/go/z/21143

IMPROVE ACCESS TO MORNING AFTER PILL
Over-the-counter access of the morning-after pill could prevent up to half of all unintended pregnancies, and is critical for victims of sexual assault. Urge the FDA to do the right thing now:
http://www.care2.com/go/z/21145

STRENGTHEN SOCIAL SECURITY
From CARE2: Social Security: Strengthen Protections for Families,
Not Wall Street. Petition: http://www.care2.com/go/z/21147


Thanks to Liberty Belle here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x1567444

[dzika]

35. ACTION - Watch the Movie and Sign the Petition - The devestation must end

Watch the Movie and Sign the Petition

THE STREAMING MOVIE: Wage Peace
A powerful 2 minute movie by The American Friends Service Committee


http://www.afsc.org/iraq//movie.htm

[MelissaB]

4. Roses for Boxer

Heard it on the Randi Rhodes show...a florist is sending three roses to Barbara Boxer for $10 for Valentine's day. Randi encourages everyone to do this for Barbara's recent courage stepping up to the plate for us. This may already have appeared on DU, but I think it bears repeating. Air America has details.

1-888-501-7673

Thanks to tinfoilinfor2005 for the reminder here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x318552

[MelissaB]

5. This should be under action alerts. Sorry!

[MelissaB]

6. Feinstein Gathering Co-Sponsors for Bill to Abolish Electoral College

Feinstein Gathering Co-Sponsors for Bill to Abolish Electoral College

by Matthew Cardinale, 2/03/05
TruthOut

U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) is currently gathering original co-sponsors for her proposed bill to abolish the Electoral College system for the U.S. Presidential Election, and to replace it with a direct vote for the Presidency, according to Feinstein press secretary, Adam Vogt.

The Electoral College has been described by critics as confusing, complicated, alienating, diversionary, unnecessary, undemocratic, and moreover, as hypocritical to the fundamental principles of American governance, which has otherwise been a global leader in democracy.

"A President can be elected without receiving the most popular votes - this is the fundamental flaw of our electoral system," Senator Feinstein said during a press statement on January 6, 2005, the day of the Electoral College certification of George W. Bush.

<http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/020305I.shtml >

Thanks to L. Coyote

Thanks to Wilms here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x318505

[MelissaB]

7. Licking Co., Ohio: Harmon Claims Criminal Acts in Vote

November 2nd Truth

2/3/2005
By Melissa Knific And Erik Johns, Advocate Reporters

Harmon Claims Criminal Acts in Vote by Melissa Knific And Erik Johns,

NEWARK -- After reviewing more than 700 voting machines, Domestic Relations Court Judge candidate Paul Harmon has requested a criminal investigation of the Licking County Board of Elections.

But the county's top prosecutor says Harmon will have to take that up with the proper authorities.

Harmon, a private-practice lawyer, filed his request in a letter to Licking County Prosecutor Robert Becker.

Harmon alleges voting machines used in the Nov. 2 election have been tampered with and ballot booklets removed from them. Harmon finished second in the election behind Craig Baldwin by 214 votes.

Becker, whose office will represent the Board of Elections in the civil election challenge pursued by Harmon, said no criminal investigation is under way in his office -- and furthermore, the prosecutor's office is not the place to initiate one.

"He ought to know by now you initiate a criminal investigation with the police," Becker said, adding: "As far as I know, the sheriff's office is at 155 East Main and the police department is at 40 West Main."

<http://nov2truth.org/article.php?story=2005020310530985... >

Thanks to Wilms and L Coyote here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x318507

[MelissaB]

8. 1st hand accounts & partial transcript of election fraud hearings in FL

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x318161#318306

Thanks to berniew1 here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=203&topic_id=318161#318584

[MelissaB]

9. Shelley announces resignation

Shelley announces resignation
Secretary of State steps down amid investigations
By Jim Wasserman, Associated Press


SACRAMENTO — California's embattled secretary of state resigned Friday amid investigations into his handling of federal election funds, questionable campaign contributions and bad workplace conduct.

At a news conference outside his San Francisco home with his wife at his side, Kevin Shelley reiterated that he believes he has done nothing wrong, but wanted to step down because the investigations had become too much of a distraction.

>>>snip

Schwarzenegger said he talked with Shelley before the announcement and promised "to move quickly to fill this constitutional office and ensure that the important duties of the office of secretary of state be carried out in a manner that instills public trust and confidence."

Shelley has won widespread praise the last two years for how he has run California's election operation, including a gubernatorial recall in 2003 and his push for better safeguards for electronic voting machines.

[MelissaB]

10. Secretary of state successor: Anyone but a politician

Secretary of state successor: Anyone but a politician

Last Updated: February 5, 2005, 06:05:23 AM PST

Kevin Shelley's resignation gives Gov. Schwarzenegger an opportunity to restore competence, integrity and respect to the office of the secretary of state. He must not squander that opportunity.
The 2006 primary will be even more complicated than the presidential balloting was last November. Even now, county registrars are rushing to meet a January deadline to comply with new federal election accessibility rules. The state must have a fraud-resistant voter registration list in place, too.

A seasoned professional will be needed to accomplish these difficult tasks. That's why the governor should look among the professional staff at the secretary of state's office for Shelley's successor. These people performed heroically under extreme pressure during Shelley's disastrous tenure.

John Mott-Smith, the veteran director of the state elections division, would be a good candidate. He has not been implicated in any of the scandals swirling about Shelley, and he has the support of county election officials.

Whomever the governor nominates, this is not a job for a politician. California deserves better.

Link: http://www.modbee.com/opinion/story/9898663p-10742549c.html

[MelissaB]

11. Shelley entangles himself in a cautionary political tale

By Amy Chance / THE SACRAMENTO BEE

SACRAMENTO — Secretary of State Kevin Shelley insisted to the end that he had done nothing illegal, and even his harshest critics had to concede Friday that there's no concrete evidence to contradict that yet.


What he did do, however, had piled up to the point that it crushed both his ability to run his office and preserve his political career.

He created what the State Personnel Board concluded was "an abusive working environment" for his staff, shouting profanely in outbursts that aides described as "humiliating, manipulative and demeaning."

He presided over a group of consultants paid with federal voting act money who operated with an eye toward polishing his profile. Many staff reports read like a summary of political networking, dutifully noting when Shelley's name came up at community events.

He used some of the federal money to pay a law firm to write his speeches, for television ads in which he urged Californians to vote, and to produce pens, T-shirts, balloons and other trinkets bearing his name. Auditors examining how Shelley spent the federal money determined his office violated state regulations requiring competitively bid contracts and spent money without legislative authority. And because Shelley spent federal funds for unauthorized activities, they said, California could be forced to repay the federal government millions of dollars.

More: http://www.fresnobee.com/local/story/9898642p-10742499c.html

[dzika]

12. Right Wing Ralphie - a cartoon the Sec. of Education can approve

Some humor for the weekend...



Requires Flash Player:
http://www.markfiore.com/animation/ralphie.html

[MelissaB]

13. Shelley's job a political plum

POTENTIAL REPLACEMENTS
Shelley's job a political plum
Mid-term appointment gives governor a rare chance to put a Republican in office

Lynda Gledhill, Chronicle Sacramento Bureau

Saturday, February 5, 2005


Sacramento -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is said to be eyeing a list of former Republican lawmakers and at least one member of his Cabinet as he considers filling the now-vacant secretary of state's position.

The resignation of Kevin Shelley represents a rare opportunity for Schwarzenegger to appoint another Republican to statewide office. Any appointee could be rejected by a majority of either the Senate and Assembly, which are controlled by Democrats.

The governor said in a statement that he would move quickly to name a successor, and some political observers said Schwarzenegger might take pains not to appear too partisan when making his choice.

>>>snip

Former state Sen. Ross Johnson is at the top of a list of replacements, which also includes Fred Aguiar, Schwarzenegger's secretary for state and consumer services, and former state Sen. Bruce McPherson.

More names and info here: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2005/02/05/MNG0TB6KPV1.DTL

[MelissaB]

14. Democrats saddened but relieved over Shelley's resignation

John M. Hubbell, Rachel Gordon, Vanessa Hua, Chronicle Staff Writers

Saturday, February 5, 2005

Sacramento -- Top Democrats in San Francisco and the Capitol met the resignation of Secretary of State Kevin Shelley with a mix of guarded relief and pragmatism Friday as they watched the career of a top state officeholder and son of a former city mayor dissolve in public view.

Shelley's final act also left many in both parties wondering whether hearings would still be held and whether Shelley would testify before the Joint Legislative Audit Committee, which is scheduled for Feb. 22.

San Francisco Supervisor Michela Alioto-Pier, who ran against Shelley in the Democratic primary for secretary of state in 2002, heard his emotional resignation speech on the radio. "I certainly do not wish that on anybody," she said afterward.

"But," she added, "we do need to take responsibility for our actions, and resigning was a good thing. It probably was not a great thing for the Democratic Party, but it was the right thing for the state of California.''

More: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2005/02/05/MNG0TB6KQ51.DTL

[MelissaB]

15. Secretaries Deny That Partisanship Effects Elections

Elections officials want to send a message that they conduct fair and impartial elections despite any partisan ties. The effort has been prompted by proposed legislation to ban the officials from political campaigning.

The National Association of Secretaries of State agreed Friday at
its winter meeting to draft a statement that says they administer
elections in nonpartisan manner.

Complaints about the political involvement of secretaries of state started after Florida's disputed presidential election in 2000 and continued last year when Ohio Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell served as an honorary Bush campaign co-chairman in the state that clinched the Republican's re-election.

Lawmakers in both houses of Congress plan to introduce legislation to ban campaigning by state elections officials.

Link: http://www.onnnews.com/Global/story.asp?S=2905806&nav=LQlCW1SU

[MelissaB]

16. County chooses new vote devices

County chooses new vote devices

By Slav Kandyba, [email protected]

Telegraph-Forum staff

BUCYRUS -- Crawford County voting precincts should be equipped with a Diebold-brand computerized voting system in time for the November polls, the four-member board of elections recommended Friday.

Several board members and community members saw a demonstration from a representative of Diebold Election Systems Inc., a Canton-based company whose machines are used in several states and Canada.

>>>>snip

With the approval of Diebold, the selection process appears to be over for Crawford County. Not all parts demonstrated Friday, however, will be functional in time for the general election in November. Only the optical scan that receives ballots will debut then. The computer on which voters will mark their choices will be installed in time for the May 2006 primary, Leuthold said.

The board had until Wednesday to make a choice under state law. A representative from the office of Ohio Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell attended the Diebold demonstration and the board meeting.


More: http://www.bucyrustelegraphforum.com/news/stories/20050205/localnews/1957914.html

[MelissaB]

17. Who was the Iraqi Woman in the balcony?

This was posted on truthout FYI by William Pitt from Kos.


Who was the Iraqi Woman in the balcony?
by mikel1814
Thu Feb 3rd, 2005 at 09:43:01 PST

(From the diaries -- kos. This cursory investigation demands a deeper look into Ms. Sofia Taleb Al Souhail. Held up as a shining example of why we've spent $200 billion and wasted 1,500 lives and counting, it looks upon first glance that she doesn't live in Iraq, has been affiliated with right-wing organizations, her father was killed in Lebanon while planning a coup against Saddam, and her family claims the US was complicit in his assassination.)

I am always interested in finding out who the people are that are chosen to sit with in the "good seats" at the State of The Union.

>>>snip

So, then I went to see who they are, being non-partisan and all. Board of Directors?

Steve Forbes.
Jack Kemp.
Jeanne Kirkpatrick.

OK, so far not so balanced.

Distinguished Advisors?
Newt Gingrich.
R. James Woolsey.

OK, yikes. Still a bit off kilter.

Board of Advisors?
Gary Bauer.
Charles Karuthammer, (yes the columnist)
Bill Kristol.
Zell Miller.
Richard Perle.

wow. OK and then finally we see who represents the other side on that board.

Donna Brazille. (?)
Frank Lautenberg.
Chuck Schumer.

All very interesting, strange, but leading me away from my original question. Who is Safia Taleb Al Souhail?

More here: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/2/3/61911/26777

[dzika]

20. Career-Low Audience for Bush's State of the Union

Thu Feb 3, 2005

Career-Low Audience for Bush's State of the Union

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - President Bush's plan to overhaul Social Security may be a centerpiece of his domestic agenda, but the subject appeared to be turn-off for television viewers, Nielsen Media Research said on Thursday.

Bush's latest State of the Union speech, which dwelled at length on his proposals to revamp the 70-year-old pension system, drew 38.4 million viewers on Wednesday night, the smallest TV audience to watch a president address a joint session of Congress in five years.

The second-most watched U.S. broadcast of the night was Fox television's hit talent show "American Idol," which ran before the speech and averaged more than 26 million viewers -- 12 million fewer than tuned in to see Bush on seven broadcast and cable networks.

The audience for the president's speech was down 5 million from the number who watched last year's address on the major broadcast networks -- ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox -- and three leading cable news outlets, Nielsen Media Research said.

It also marked the least-watched State of the Union address yet delivered by Bush and the smallest audience since nearly 31.5 million viewers saw predecessor Bill Clinton give the last such speech of his presidency in January 2000, Nielsen said.

By comparison, Bush tallied his biggest State of the Union audience -- 62 million viewers -- with the speech he gave in January 2003 as the nation geared up for war in Iraq.



http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=7534373

[dzika]

21. Nation Lolls Into 2nd Bush Term; Statisticians Fighting Over Election

Saturday, February 05, 2005

The Invisible War: As the Nation Lolls Into a Second Bush Presidency, Many Statisticians Are Still Fighting Over Whether He Won the Job or Stole It

By ADVOCATE STAFF

As political junkies the nation over focus their attention on whether Howard Dean will win the position of DNC Chair; whether President Bush will develop a quick exit-strategy in Iraq once the early election returns in that country hit American newsstands (the Bush-backed Allawi Alliance is losing 72% to 18% thus far to an Iran-backed conglomerate; in some areas, Allawi was outpolled by the Communist Party); whether North Korea meant what it said when it threatened to create a "sea of fire" in southeast Asia if the U.S. doesn't back off its aggressive stance: as all these stories dominate the news headlines and attract the attention of smart people with a head for big events, the biggest event of all -- the contest for Most Powerful Man in the World -- is still under scrutiny by some of the best and brightest in this country, and they're slinging the mud at one another at a pretty good clip these days.

This is no "cold" war.

On Sunday, the Advocate released an article detailing the findings of a study by U.S. Count Votes which soundly refuted Edison/Mitofsky's explanation for its erroneous Election Day exit polls, and asserted that there remains a possibility the original vote tallies were corrupted.

On Monday, an Assistant Professor of Law at Ohio State University, Daniel Tokaji, responded with a blistering retort which effectively classified the mathematicians and statisticians (Ph.D. holders, all) of U.S. Count Votes as "conspiracy" nuts.

On Wednesday, this view of affairs was made all the more implausible when the historically-cautious Democratic National Committee announced that it would spend half a million dollars to "open up the machines" in Ohio. Said outgoing DNC Chair Terry McAuliffe to USA Today and Gannett News Service (as reported in the Cincinnati Enquirer by Carl Weiser, see excerpt from article, below) "if there's nothing wrong with the machines, we ought to be able to go in and take a look at them."

Think Republican stalwart and gubernatorial candidate J. Kenneth Blackwell will lie down for that legal battle?


continued at The Nashua Advocate:
http://nashuaadvocate.blogspot.com/2005/02/invisible-war-as-nation-lolls-into.html

[dzika]

22. Congresswoman Tubbs Jones Joins Rep. Conyers in Introducing Voting Reform

NOTE: Andy recommends that we support Senator Ensign's Bill (VIVA 2005) instead of Conyers' and/or Dobbs bill. Of course, Conyers' is a champion of civil rights and we should continue to support his efforts in general.

---

Friday February 4, 2:51 pm ET

Congresswoman Tubbs Jones Joins Rep. Conyers in Introducing Voting Reform Legislation

WASHINGTON, Feb. 4 /PRNewswire/ -- Yesterday, Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones joined Rep. John Conyers in introducing the Voting Opportunity and Technology Enhancement Rights Act, or the VOTER Act of 2005.

"I am pleased to join with Rep. Conyers as we continue our efforts to ensure that every American is afforded their Constitutional right to vote," stated Rep. Tubbs Jones. This legislation seeks to combat the tremendous voting irregularities that plagued both the 2000 and 2004 elections. If in fact we see it is our obligation to secure democracy around the world, to monitor and oversee free and fair elections in other countries, most recently in Iraq, then we must ensure, protect and guarantee the right to vote right here at home."

Provisions of the legislation would:

• Provide for a uniform Federal write-in/absentee ballot;
  
• Require states to provide for a verifiable audit trail; ensure that provisional ballots cast anywhere in a state are counted;
  
• Eliminate disparities in the allocation of voting machines and poll workers among a state's precincts;
  
• Mandate early voting and election day registration procedures;
  
• Protect against improper purging of registration lists in federal elections;
  
• Provide for a study regarding making election day a public holiday; ease voter registration requirements; allow voter identification by written affidavit; study eliminating partisan election officials from administering federal elections; enhance training for election officials;
  
• Require the use of publicly available open source software in voting machines;
  
• Provide uniform standards for vote recounts;
  
• Prohibit voting machine companies from engaging in political
  activities;
  
• Enhance legal protections against voter intimidation and threats.
  

This legislation is supported by the NAACP, the NAACP Voter Fund, the Progressive Democrats of America, the UAW, the Black Leadership Forum, Rainbow Push, and the National Voting Rights Institute. The legislation will be the House counterpart to S. 17, legislation introduced in the Senate by Senator Chris Dodd on behalf of the Senate Democratic Leadership.

Source: Office of Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones

Yahoo: http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/050204/clf025_1.html

[dzika]

23. Ohio - Butler Co. asks AG to block optical-scanner systems

Friday, February 4, 2005

Butler Co. asks AG to block optical-scanner systems

By Janice Morse
Enquirer staff writer


HAMILTON - Butler County elections officials say changing to optical-scanner voting systems would be a waste of money - and they're asking the Ohio Attorney General to block the Secretary of State from forcing local elections boards into using that pencil-and-paper method.

The four-member Butler board today voted unanimously to ask the Attorney General Jim Petro to consider whether Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell has legal authority to impose optical-scanners statewide.

The Butler board also intends to ask Petro to whether Blackwell's directive meets the goals of the Help America Vote Act, which Congress passed to prevent recurrences of Florida's punch-card-voting fiasco in the 2000 presidential election.

To comply with that law, Blackwell has told elections boards in all 88 counties to choose an optical-scan system by next Wednesday - or he will choose the system for them. There are only two suppliers of optical-scanner voting systems that Ohio has certified to meet requirements of a new federal law: Diebold Elections Systems and ES&S of Chicago.

Hamilton County election officials were debating the issue today; Clermont County, which already uses an optical-scanning system from ES&S, decided to purchase an updated system from that same company. Warren County's elections board will meet Tuesday, a day before Blackwell's deadline.

On Friday, Butler County Commissioner Michael A. Fox made an impassioned plea for the Butler board's action.

more
http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050204/NEWS01/502050323

[dzika]

24. Elections officials seek to continue partisan activities

Posted on Fri, Feb. 04, 2005

Elections officials seek to continue partisan activities

WASHINGTON - Elections officials agreed Friday to send a message to voters that they conduct fair and impartial elections despite any partisan ties, prompted by proposed legislation to ban the officials from political campaigning.

The draft position from the National Association of Secretaries of State still must be approved by the full group. It holds no force of law, but comes after legislation to ban campaigning by state elections officials was introduced in Congress and some state legislatures, including Ohio.

Complaints about the political involvement of secretaries of state started after Florida's disputed presidential election in 2000 and continued last year when Ohio Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell served as an honorary Bush campaign co-chairman in the state that clinched the Republican's re-election.

All Ohio Republican officeholders were considered co-chairmen, and previous Ohio secretaries of states of both parties also have held similar positions in past presidential campaigns.

"We've got our own solutions, but let's make a strong statement to Congress so they don't monkey with our business," said Chris Nelson, a Republican secretary of state in South Dakota.

Vermont Secretary of State Deb Markowitz said it hurts democracy for voters to have a perception that elections officials aren't playing fair.

"It's a tricky issue because I'm a partisan. I'm a Democrat. I run on Democratic issues," Markowitz said. "But I do think that we need to address this."

Blackwell wasn't present at Friday's meeting because of scheduling conflicts, spokesman Carlo LoParo said.


http://www.ohio.com/mld/beaconjournal/news/state/10820447.htm

[dzika]

25. 1 vote is big in W. Texas

Web Posted: 02/04/2005 12:00 AM CST

1 vote is big in W. Texas

Charles Reins
Special to the Express-News


ODESSA — Your high school civics teacher was right. One vote does make a difference. If you don't believe it, ask people in Ector County in West Texas.

Three months after the November election, voters still don't know who won the Precinct 3 seat on County Commissioners Court. Before it turned into a lawsuit, the outcome swung like a pendulum — always by a margin of one vote.

Democratic incumbent Barbara Graff continues to hold the seat and a new election is looming with her Republican challenger, David Dunn.

The initial vote count showed Dunn winning, 4,104 to 4,103. Graff paid for a recount that resulted in two absentee ballots for Dunn being disqualified by Elections Administrator Sharon Wilson, leaving Graff the winner by one vote.

Dunn then filed suit against Graff and Wilson, alleging voting irregularities and fraud. It was heard by visiting state District Judge Willie Dubos, who ruled last week that a winner can't be determined.

The judge ordered a new election. No date has been set, and Graff and Dunn could appeal the ruling, but neither seemed to be leaning that way.

"An appeal is only one of several options. Right now Barbara is gearing up for another campaign," said Graff's lawyer, Steve Spurgin of Marfa.


more
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA020405.5B.one_vote.72e822d4.html

[dzika]

27. Alabama Voter fraud group gears up

Friday, February 04, 2005

Alabama Voter fraud group gears up

Voter fraud and abuse of absentee ballots are targets of the Democracy Defense League.

The League boasts 112 plus members so far and is headed up by Ronnie Crawford, Perry Beasley and Beverly Bonds of Greensboro.

Greensboro has recently been a focal point of voter fraud investigations and allegations.

In Greensboro, Vanessa Hill contested the September 14 election of Johnnie B. Washington as mayor. In that runoff election, Hill received 620 votes at the polls and 52 absentee votes. Washington received 511 votes at the polls and 251 absentees, to win 762 to 672.

Later, Hale County residents were concerned when they received absentee ballots marked with a return address private post office box. The concern was magnified by the fact that Gay Nell Tinker, the absentee ballot manager and Hale County Circuit Clerk, is also the wife of then-candidate for the Alabama Senate Bobby Singleton. Tinker’s brother, Marvin Wiggins, is also the circuit judge in Hale County.

In an effort to improve voting policies, the Democracy Defense League (DDL) held its first exploratory meeting last Thursday, Jan. 27. The group plans to meet again in Moundville, tentatively at the town hall. See Perry Beasley’s commentary this edition for contact information. The Democracy Defense League, according to Beasley, is a non-partisan organization dedicated to the elimination of voter fraud.

According to a Tuscaloosa News story, Beasley, a retired investigator with the Alabama Bureau of Investigation, helped build a voter fraud case against former Greensboro City Councilman and police Officer Aaron Evans. He told members of the group they should expect a long fight. Evans spent about two years in prison after being convicted of 15 counts of voter fraud in 1998.

Beasley said he hopes the group can convince the Alabama Legislature to provide stronger laws against voter fraud, more support for law enforcement to pursue voter fraud arrests, more satisfaction for prosecutors who pursue voter fraud convictions and more support for the office of the Attorney General to investigate voter fraud complaints.

The DDL, in fact, plans to travel to Montgomery to meet with Alabama Attorney General Troy King. Beasley said the primary purpose of the visit is to learn what ordinary residents can do to fight voter fraud while supporting state and local efforts to do the same.

Attorney General Troy King said he plans to meet with the Democracy Defense League sometime within the next two weeks.


continued
http://www.recordjournal.net/index.asp?storyid=2130

[dzika]

28. Judge: No revote in WA governor dispute

Saturday, February 5, 2005

Judge: No revote in governor dispute
He says he can't order a special election even if GOP has case

By LEWIS KAMB
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER


WENATCHEE -- There won't be a revote.

At least there won't be one ordered by the judge here who will preside over the Republican lawsuit seeking to overturn the election of Democrat Christine Gregoire as Washington's governor.

Issuing a host of rulings on several contentious pre-trial legal arguments in the court challenge of the governor's election yesterday, Chelan County Superior Court Judge John Bridges ruled that under Washington law, he cannot order a special governor's election -- even if Republicans prove their case that illegal voting and other irregularities occurred during the 2004 governor's contest.

"The court doesn't have the authority," Bridges said.

What exactly the ruling means to the GOP's case -- and to Republican Dino Rossi's chances of one day taking office -- depended largely on political affiliation among the observers and participants who packed Bridges' courtroom yesterday.

Republicans and Rossi supporters played down the decision, saying it was one small victory for Democrats in an otherwise daylong series of victories for the GOP's legal arguments that essentially allow their challenge to Gregoire's victory to stand trial.

"This was a crushing day for Democrats," said Rossi campaign spokeswoman Mary Lane. "Our case is moving forward, and I think they're just grasping for anything."

But Democrats and their attorneys declared that Bridges' anti-revote ruling meant the Republicans' case has become much more difficult -- if not nearly impossible -- to prove.

"The bottom line is, this was a huge decision for Christine Gregoire," said Russell Speidel, a lawyer for the state Democratic Party.


more
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/210906_gov05.html

[dzika]

29. Hamilton Co. pleads for time on voting machines, to no avail

Saturday, February 5, 2005

Hamilton Co. pleads for time on voting machines, to no avail

By Cindi Andrews
Enquirer staff writer


Hamilton County election officials asked Friday for more time and more options to pick a new voting system - a request that Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell immediately rejected.

"February 9 is just unreasonable," county Board of Elections member V. Daniel Radford said. "We don't have the answers."

After almost two years of planning for new electronic voting machines to meet federal voting requirements, Blackwell told Hamilton and dozens of other Ohio counties Jan. 12 that they must instead select one of two optical-scan systems. With those systems, voters use a pencil to fill in ovals next to their choices.

Wednesday's deadline is firm, Blackwell said late Friday.

"I expect that they've had time to assess the different options that the vendors have on very similar equipment, and I would hope that they could make a decision by the 9th," he said. "If not, the process is ratcheted up to Columbus, where I will make the decision."


continued
http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050205/NEWS01/502050384/1056/news01

[dzika]

30. Zogby Survey Finds Deep Divisions in Iraq

Released: January 28, 2005

Survey Finds Deep Divisions in Iraq; Sunni Arabs Overwhelmingly Reject Sunday Elections; Majority of Sunnis, Shiites Favor U.S. Withdrawal, New Abu Dhabi TV / Zogby Poll Reveals

Contact: Christian Peck - 315-624-0200 ext. 248



Iraq’s Sunday elections will be held against a backdrop of deep division between the country’s ethnic groups, with an overwhelming majority of Sunni Arabs refusing to vote in the January 30 elections, a new Abu Dhabi TV/Zogby International poll finds. The poll also finds majorities of both Iraq’s Shiites and Sunnis calling for a rapid withdrawal of U.S. forces from their soil. Zogby International polled 805 Iraqi adults from January 19 to 23, 2005 on behalf of television broadcaster Abu Dhabi TV. The margin of error is +/- 3.6 percentage points.

The survey, to be released at 5 p.m. ET on Abu Dhabi Television, found three-quarters (76%) of Sunni Arabs say they definitely will not vote in the January 30 elections, while just 9% say they are likely to vote. A majority of Shiites (80%) say they are likely to vote or definitely will vote, as are a smaller majority of Kurds (57%).

Majorities of both Sunni Arabs (82%) and Shiites (69%) also favor U.S. forces withdrawing either immediately or after an elected government is in place.

The poll also found that of Iraq’s ethnic and religious groups, only the Kurds believe the U.S. will “help” Iraq over the next five years, while half (49%) of Shiites and a majority (64%) of Sunni Arabs believe the U.S. will “hurt” Iraq.

“There are deep divisions that exist—divisions that are so deep and pronounced that this election, instead of bringing people together, may very well tear them apart,” said Dr. James Zogby, an analyst for Zogby International and host of Abu Dhabi TV’s “Viewpoint”. “The closest thing to this in America isn’t red and blue states. It’s probably the election of 1860.”

The poll also finds that, while a majority of Shiites (84%) and Kurds (64%) wish to hold the elections Sunday as planned, Sunni Arabs overwhelmingly favor delaying the vote (62%).

“What’s truly alarming isn’t the number of Sunni Arabs who want to delay Sunday’s vote,” Zogby said. “What’s alarming is that more than half—53% in this survey—believe that ongoing attacks in Iraq are a legitimate form of resistance. With this group already boycotting the election, this makes for a very violent combination.”
...
The survey also asked Iraqis which nations they believed it was possible to foster improved relations with. While a majority of Iraqis believe relations can be improved between Iraq and neighbors Kuwait, Turkey, and Iran, all ethnic and religious groups overwhelmingly rejected improving relations with the State of Israel.


http://www.zogby.com/news/ReadNews.dbm?ID=957

[MelissaB]

32. Enron Chronology by Carl Brennan

Now that Enron is back in the news:


The liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than their democratic State itself. That, in its essence, IS Fascism--Franklin Delano Roosevelt


Below is a chronology of the Enron Scandal. Please add to, or critique this. Pass along to all interested parties.

Link to thread in GD by Carl Brennan with enough information to keep you busy for a long time: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x3061376

[MelissaB]

33. This is who we are up against (by Milkyway).

(This was posted back in December here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=203&topic_id=98730 .)

It seems that, almost without exception, the voting machine business is operated by companies with strong ties to the republican party, military contractors, hard right wingers, and fundamentalists.

Lynn Landes' web site has an excellent overview of voting machine companies, and I'll add a few bits of information to hers.
http://www.ecotalk.org/VotingMachineCompanies.htm#Other

The largest company, ES&S, was known as American Information Systems (AIS) before 1999. It was founded in 1980 by two brothers, Bob and Todd Urosevich. AIS was largely funded with money from the very wealthy Ahmanson family of California, who also have helped finance The Chalcedon Institute, a dominionist organization that wants to see a return to Biblical Law. Todd Urosevich is still with ES&S, while Bob is currently the President of Diebold. Here's a previous post I made about ES&S with some further info:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x38210

Many people know about Diebold and ES&S, yet even less prominent companies have these same kinds of connections to the right wing. For instance, Danaher Guardian is run by Steven and Mitchell Rales, who each are worth more than a billion dollars. It was a Danaher Guardian machine that "mistakenly" gave george bush a few thousand extra votes in Franklin County, Ohio (why do these computer glitches always bear right?).

A newsmeat.com search of campaign contributions finds that the Rales have given generously to republican politicians.
http://www.newsmeat.com/fec/bystate_detail.php?st=DC&last=Rales

They also have given very generously to an organization called Ameripac. When we visit Ameripac's web site, we are greeted with the smiling faces of tom delay, george w. bush, and bill frist. Also on the front page is a bizarre (and obviously old) headline: "Kerry, The Communist Party's choice, must repudiate endorsement, says AMERIPAC." The press release concludes, “We call on John Kerry to repudiate the Communist Party USA, and walk away from its endorsement,” Gottlieb concluded. “Otherwise, Americans will know that John Kerry’s vision of America has a hammer and sickle waving somewhere over the landscape.”

Also on this sparse web site is a link to "Past Efforts." You would expect to find out about Ameripac's past support for republican politicians. But instead, we're greeted by three photos: Al Gore, Hillary Clinton, and Tom Daschle.

Well, what a fine organization the Rales brothers have helped fund--it's a rightwing smear machine! (Thankfully, the commie John Kerry was defeated--or at least that's what the voting machines told us.)

http://www.ameripac.org /

Another company, Triad GSI of Xenia, Ohio, run by the Rapp family, counts many of the votes in Ohio, including Warren County, which was mysteriously placed under lockdown while the vote counting was done. The father, Tod Rapp, originally wrote the program that counts the votes. He also was a financial supporter of the bush campaign.
http://www.newsmeat.com/fec/bystate_detail.php?city=Xenia&st=OH&last=rapp


There is certainly nothing wrong with donating to political campaigns, even those of republicans, but why do all vote-counting companies seem to be tied to the republican party? And as shown on Lynn Landes' site, many have strong ties to military contractors. Why are military contractors so interested in getting into the vote-counting business? Why not try some other line of business, like manufacturing espresso makers?

In 1988, Ronnie Dugger wrote a landmark article about electronic voting for The New Yorker.
http://www.govsux.com/annals_of_democracy.htm

In the article, he said this about fixing elections:

But who on Earth would do such a thing? In Chicago in 1982, 58 Democratic party bosses were convicted of fraud after they were caught stuffing not the ballot box, but the computer. They had punched out fraudulent cards for falsely registered and nonexistent voters, then run them through the card-reader.

There have been numerous other ambiguous cases. Many of them have involved Berkeley's Computer Election Service (CES)-which recently changed its name to Business Records Corporation Election Service. The company is the dominant force In the American election industry; an estimated 33 to 40 percent of all American votes are cast on and counted by CES systems. CES uses aversion of the punch-card voting system prevalent in California.

In 1985, the National Security Agency (NSA)-the government's most expansive and most secretive intelligence service-took an interest in CES. According to the New York Times, NSA was following a directive from then-President Reagan to improve the security of major non-military computer systems.

Government officials were queasy at the prospect of a top-secret military spy agency-particularly NSA, whose domain is high-tech intelligence gathering-delving into the nation's electoral process. According to the Times, an official of the government's General Accounting Office told a Senate committee that NSA's involvement with CES "raises basic questions concerning the extent to which the defense establishment should be involved in policy formulation within the government's civilian agencies."

Geez, that's enough to make your hair stand on end!

BTW, the company mentioned in the Dugger article, CES, was founded in 1984 by Jack Gerbel. CES went on to have several run-ins with the law. Jack Gerbel is now president of Unilect Corporation, whose machines are used in Carteret County, North Carolina, where 4,500 votes were permanently lost.

http://www.jdnews.com/SiteProcessor.cfm?Template=/GlobalTemplates/Details.cfm&StoryID=27168&Section=News

Isn't it wonderful we live in a democracy?

Thanks to milkyway here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=203&topic_id=98730

Edited to add current discussion here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x318855

[dzika]

34. Killing a Story, Helping to Elect a Corrupt, Lying President

Posted by: davelindorff on Friday, February 04, 2005

Killing a Story, Helping to Elect a Corrupt, Lying President

By Dave Lindorff, ILCA Associate Member

Finally revealed in Extra! magazine: The inside story of how the New York Times and Washington Post both killed the story of Bush’s cheating use of a secret hearing device in the presidential debates, possibly influencing the outcome of the presidential race.
Almost as astonishing as the fact that President Bush cheated and wore a device--most likely a wireless magnetic induction hearing device--during his three presidential debate appearances--is the fact that the nation’s two leading newspapers, the New York Times and the Washington Post, failed to report the story in any serious way.

While both papers did mention the issue once it had appeared in Salon.com, the online magazine, both also treated it as a joke, an "internet conspiracy," which was the line put out by the White House and Bush/Cheney campaign in an intense campaign designed to keep the potentially explosive story from going anywhere.

Now, in an article in Extra!, the media criticism journal published by Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, the inside story of the killing by senior editors of this important story about presidential cheating is exposed.

It all began when Robert Nelson, a leading astronomer and photographic analysis expert at NASA's Jed Propulsion Laboratory who works on the Cassini Saturn project, saw the early stories speculating about a curious "bulge" on Bush's back following the first presidential debate. Nelson decided, out of scientific curiosity, to snap a digital photo of the president's back from a video of the debate, and subject it to the same enhancement process that he routinely uses to enhance photos taken by NASA space probes--primarily enhanced edge definition and enhanced contrast. The results, available on Extra!'s website and also on my own website, This Can't Be Happening! , were dramatic. What looked like a curiously angular bulge in the video is seen clearly to be an elaborate back harness with a wire snaking up over the right shoulder.

Nelson, shocked at what he'd found, immediately tried to notify the media. He first went to two local papers where he had some connection--the Post-Gazette in Pittsburgh, PA, where he had gone to college, and the Star-News in Pasadena, home of JPL and Nelson himself. Neither paper would touch the story, so Nelson went to the Los Angeles Times. There, he says the paper diddled for four days and did nothing. Nelson went next to science writer William Broad at the New York Times, where at least initially he had better luck. Broad passed the story to two Times science writers, Andy Revkin and John Schwartz, who went out and reported further on it.

My own investigation, which included tracking down Revkin's and Schwartz's sources, showed that they had gone to scientists at Cornell (to confirm Nelson's reputation), the Bush campaign, and to spyware experts and makers of devices similar to what Nelson had found under the presidential jacket. It was a major story they developed and on the week before election day, it was ready to run--first on Tuesday, Oct. 26, and then, after being bumped by another Times investigation--the story about the unguarded cache of high-density explosives in Iraq--on Thursday, Oct. 28.

Then something happened. According to Times sources, on Wednesday evening, when the story was typeset and ready to go, senior editors killed it, claiming it was "too close" to the election. The Extra! article includes email messages to Nelson apologizing for the killing of the story.


much more
http://www.ilcaonline.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=1662

[dzika]

36. Advisory committee to EAC stacked with opponents of V-VPB

Advisory committee to EAC stacked with opponents of V-VPB

An open letter to the stopvotefraud group:

Hopefully, someone was more alert than I was when the EAC annual report came out last month, but knowing how busy we've all been, I'm probably not alone in having overlooked a couple of key horrors buried in the 44 page report.

For instance, snipped from the report PDF:
At its June 2004 meeting/, the Board of Advisors elected Doug Lewis, Executive Director of the Election Center, to serve as temporary Chairman while it develops bylaws.

As you probably know all too well, R Doug Lewis is as horrendous a choice for head of the 37-member EAC Board of Advisors as Jim Baker is as co-chair of the newly-minted Baker-Carter Commission on election reforms. (Has that one been formally announced yet?) Both are comparable to naming Tony Gambino as head of the gaming commission.

The Election Center has another representative on the Board as well. He is Ernie Hawkins, who is identified as the former Registrar of Voters of Sacramento County (CA). Does anyone have more info on his background?

In addition, Jim Dickson, the Diebold-connected lobbyist for the American Association of People with Disabilities, is also one of the two members of the Advisory Board, appointed by the Senate Rules and Administration Committee.

Could you all please look at the full list of members in the full 44 page PDF report to see if you can provide background information on any others?

The Board of Advisors is apparently looking for a permanent chair. We need to make sure it's NOT Lewis, Hawkins or one of Lewis' cloned Secretaries of State among other things.

The 110 member Standards Board includes 2 members from each state and territory. As a result, most Secretaries of State and other recognizable figures in state elections are members of this board. The Standards Board list begins on page 38.

Complicating things even more is that Donetta Davidson (CO) and Brit Williams, the GA "technical expert" are both on the Technical Guidelines Development Committee (on page 44). Please check the names on this list, too, to see if you can provide any info on the others.

We all need to read the full report if at all possible.

Joan

Joan Krawitz

Executive Director CASEAmerica
Co-founder, National Ballot Integrity Project http://www.ballotintegrity.org/

[dzika]

37. Focus on real problems in our voting process

Feb. 5, 2005

Focus on real problems in our voting process

As part of a project dubbed Election Protection, scores of volunteers - lawyers, law students and civic-minded residents - fanned out to dozens of polling sites around Milwaukee last election day and watched the action from start to finish.

They saw practices that would set the hair of democrats (small "d") on end. Perhaps equally important is what they did not see: a single instance of fraud.

Yet allegations of fraud have risen like a tsunami, mostly from outside Milwaukee, and threaten to come crashing down on the city. Rick Wiley, executive director of the state Republican Party, was quoted as saying that, were it not for fraud, President Bush might have won Wisconsin. Bush lost this battleground state by 11,000 votes.

For certain, we must overhaul how we run elections - and throughout the state, not just in Milwaukee. But we must focus on real, not imaginary, problems.
...
Strangely, Madison Republicans, who have demanded investigations into the voting irregularities in Milwaukee, are acting cavalierly indifferent to what the probes may show. They refuse to wait for the investigations to conclude, to tailor remedies to the findings.


more
http://www.jsonline.com/news/editorials/feb05/299048.asp

[dzika]

38. THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN ANTI-WORKER RADICALS WIN

THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN ANTI-WORKER RADICALS WIN

By PAI, ILCA Associate Member

COLUMBUS, Ohio (PAI)--Want to hear what occurs when the Radical Right captures a state? Look no further than Ohio.

The GOP-run state legislature--whose leaders were alarmed by large increases in turnout in pro-labor counties last November--met in a special session. GOP Gov. Bob Taft, endorsed by some unions two years ago (!), called it to get them to pass a "paycheck protection" bill, but with a real nasty twist.

This "paycheck deception" bill bans virtually ALL campaign contributions from unionists and doubles the limits for corporate executives. Talk about unfair, especially since unionists gave only 3 percent of the $90 million spent on Ohio campaigns in 2002, the state AFL-CIO said. The Ohio fed tried to petition the law onto this year’s ballot. But Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell (R)--who brought you Ohio’s voting problems in 2004--threw the petition out for "insufficient signatures."

http://www.ilcaonline.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=1705&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0

[dzika]

39. Recount first of many battles for Wash. governor

February 5, 2005

Recount first of many battles for Wash. governor
Gregoire faces deep partisan divisions

By Sandeep Kaushik, Globe Correspondent

OLYMPIA, Wash. -- During Washington's gubernatorial recount battle, the eventual winner, Democrat Christine Gregoire, resisted immense pressure to concede after losing two initial vote tabulations.

Now, she faces an even greater test of her political mettle: governing in an atmosphere in which her Republican opponent has not conceded defeat and the majority of the state's residents question the legitimacy of her victory.

It will not be easy. Over eight weeks of legal challenges and allegations of fraud and hypocrisy, the roller coaster recount struggle devolved into a partisan maelstrom.

Democrats described Gregoire's opponent, Republican Dino Rossi, as ''a thief." Not to be outdone, Republican activists have begun referring to Gregoire as ''Governor Fraudoire."

Nonetheless, Gregoire 57, a three-term attorney-general, has moved forcefully in her first weeks as governor to put her personal stamp on the office -- with great fanfare. She has altered state policies to preserve health coverage for some 19,000 poor children, pushed government accountability reforms, and called this week for the creation of a $1 billion fund to create biotechnology jobs in the state.


more
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2005/02/05/recount_first_of_many_battles_for_wash_governor/

[dzika]

40. Still in court, Westchester Senate race not aging gracefully

February 5, 2005

Still in court, Westchester Senate race not aging gracefully

By JIM FITZGERALD

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. -- This election is getting old _ and it's not aging gracefully.

When a state Senate race in Westchester wound up too close to call, each side accused the other of mischief _ like intimidating old ladies at the polls or importing voters from the Bronx _ and took the case to court.

It's still there.

"We'll probably see democracy in Iraq before this election is done," said longtime incumbent Republican Nicholas Spano.

The first judge was disqualified after lawyers discovered he had contributed to one of the candidates. The next judge had to preside in a Board of Elections basement from behind a folding table, with a little curtain tacked on to hide his legs.

Meanwhile, a recount of voting machines reduced the gap to single digits and ensured that the election _ between Spano and Democrat Andrea Stewart-Cousins _ would be decided by the thousands of absentee and provisional ballots. Such handwritten ballots, it turns out, can be interpreted very subjectively.

Three months later, it is the longest-lasting legislative election in New York history and one of just a few still lingering nationwide. It has outlasted a presidential recount in Ohio, two gubernatorial recounts in Washington and even North Carolina's race for agriculture commissioner, which was settled Friday.


more
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newyork/ny-bc-ny--run-onrecount0205feb05,0,2889502.story?coll=ny-region-apnewyork

[dzika]

41. NC Court rejects out-of-precinct ballots

Saturday, February 5, 2005

NC Court rejects out-of-precinct ballots

Schools race likely to omit 11,310 votes
By MATTHEW EISLEY, Staff Writer


More than 11,000 voters were allowed to vote improperly in the November election for state schools superintendent, the state Supreme Court ruled Friday.

The court sent the case back to a Wake County trial judge to decide how to correct the vote total.

Election workers let 11,310 people vote outside their home precincts, which is against state law, the court ruled 5-0 in a lawsuit filed by Bill Fletcher of Cary, the Republican candidate for superintendent of public instruction.

Fletcher trails Democrat June Atkinson of Raleigh by about 8,500 votes out of more than 3 million cast.

Lawyers on both sides agreed Friday that the trial judge probably will deduct the 11,310 invalid votes from the election total after a county-by-county count.
...
If the recount reduces Atkinson's lead below 4,438 -- the number of ballots lost in coastal Carteret County during the same election -- then a statewide revote might be ordered.


http://newsobserver.com/news/story/2091586p-8470375c.html

[MelissaB]

42. Back in N.H., Edwards Is Mum on 2008 Run

Back in N.H., Edwards Is Mum on 2008 Run

Former Vice Presidential Candidate Says He Is Focusing on His Wife's Health

By Dan Balz
Washington Post Staff Writer


>>>snip

He resisted looking back at the reasons he and Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) lost the election but quibbled with those who have said the Democrats face a values deficit or that Democrats cannot compete in the South and in rural areas. "We didn't run a campaign in the South," he said. "In the future, it's important for us to compete everywhere in the country."

Democrats, he said, do not need to change their positions to become competitive again. "I just think that trying to figure out how to change our position a little bit on this and a little bit on that is dead wrong," he said. "We ought to stand up for what we believe in, we ought to make clear the country knows what we believe in and what it is we want to do, from Day One."

That theme dominated his speech Saturday evening. "You know all these political experts out there question what you and I and the Democratic Party believe in," he said, according to his prepared text. "They say that we don't believe in anything. . . . We believe in hope over despair, possibilities over problems, optimism over cynicism. We believe in doing what is right, even when others say it can't be done. And we believe in fighting desperately for people who don't have a voice."

Edwards's speech echoed the themes of optimism and populism that fueled his rise in the Democratic primaries a year ago, and the enthusiastic reception he received was a reminder of why many Democrats see him as an attractive potential candidate in 2008. But when asked about another possible run for the White House, Edwards demurred.

More: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A1494-2005Feb5.html

edited to add link

[dzika]

43. Ohio's Voting Machines

Ohio's Voting Machines

POSTED: 9:47 p.m. EST February 5, 2005

COLUMBUS, OHIO -- Some Ohio election leaders are concerned about Wednesday's deadline for choosing a company to supply voting machines.

Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell issued an order last month telling counties to move from electronic touch-screen machines to optical-scan devices.


Blackwell says his office will choose a company for counties who fail to pick one by Wednesday.


http://www.whiotv.com/news/4169156/detail.html