Monday 1/10/05 Election/Fraud/Recount Thread

[dzika]

In order to organize and document I thought it would be a good idea to have a daily thread to place items related to the recounts/fraud. 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=203x271939

[dzika]

1. New Election Assistance Commission Chair

(thanks to Ojai Person)


United States
Election Assistance Commission
1225 New York Avenue N.W.
Washington, DC 20005

--Press Release--

HILLMAN ASSUMES CHAIR POSITION AT U.S. ELECTION ASSISTANCE COMMISSION
For Immediate Release Contact: Kay Stimson
January 3, 2005 [phone]

- In a ceremony led by Members of Congress, the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) today installed the Hon. Gracia Hillman as chair of the agency. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) participated in the installation along with Congressman Elijah Cummings (D-MD) and Congressman Bob Ney (R-OH), chair of the U.S. House Administration Committee. Congressman John Larson (D-CT), ranking member of the House Administration Committee, emceed the proceedings.

Hillman, a former executive director of the League of Women Voters of the U.S., will hold the EAC leadership position for one year. She is a Democratic appointee who served as EAC vice chair during 2004, its first year in existence.

“2004 was a watershed year for election reform in America,” remarked Hillman. “It is my privilege to serve on the U.S. Election Assistance Commission with such a distinguished group of Commissioners. Our first year in office was challenging, but we constructed a solid foundation for our ongoing work. New standards for election systems and statewide voter registration databases top our list of priorities for 2005.”

A Massachusetts native who first entered community service in 1970, Hillman has effectively handled both domestic and international issues throughout her career. Her areas of expertise include nonprofit management, public policy and program development, and the interests and rights of women and minorities, including voting rights.

Prior to her appointment with EAC, Hillman served as president and CEO of WorldSpace Foundation (now First Voice International), a nonprofit organization that uses digital satellite technology to deliver educational programming to Africa and Asia. She also served as the U.S. Department of State’s first senior coordinator for International Women’s Issues, developing agency-wide strategies to ensure that U.S. foreign policy promoted and protected women’s rights.

Her work experience includes having served as executive director of the League of Women Voters of the U.S., the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation and the National Coalition on Black Voter Participation. She also held positions as executive consultant to the Council on Foundations and coordinator of the Voter Law Policy Project for the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies.

Throughout the 1980's, Hillman championed many nonpartisan and bi-partisan efforts to ensure open access to the voting process for all citizens and the continued voting rights of minority Americans, including work on the historic twenty-five year extension of the national Voting Rights Act. Her political experience includes paid and volunteer positions on numerous campaigns, including a role as senior advisor on congressional and constituent relations for the 1988 Dukakis for President Campaign.

Congress created the U.S. Election Assistance Commission under the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA), which authorizes $3.9 billion for states to enact a variety of election reforms. The agency was not formally established until December 2003, when Congress confirmed the appointments of the four Commissioners.

Outgoing EAC Chairman DeForest Soaries, Jr., nominated Hillman for the 2005 chair position. The motion was approved unanimously by her fellow Commissioners. The Honorable Paul DeGregorio will serve as vice chair. In addition to Hillman, Soaries and DeGregorio, the Honorable Ray Martinez is also a member.

Federal law requires EAC to carry out research studies and produce voluntary guidance on a range of topics in 2005. EAC is working with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to develop updated voluntary voting systems standards and recommendations for making e-voting equipment more secure. EAC also plans to issue voluntary guidance for states on provisional ballots, voter identification requirements for first-time voters, statewide voter registration databases and voter information materials.

http://www.eac.gov/news_010305_b.asp

DU Thread: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x275011

[dzika]

2. Solarbus - Brian K. Hicks: Ohio's Karl Rove

(thanks to ChicanoPwr and garybeck)

Brian K. Hicks: Ohio's Karl Rove

by Amaury E. Nora

January 9, 2005

What did Wally O'Dell mean when he was caught saying he was going to deliver Ohio to Bush? In a careful investigation of the Ohio election fraud, certain information was found and can be used to connect the dots between Wally O'Dell and Kenneth Blackwell. To answer this election riddle, one would only need to look to see who is serving on The Ohio State University Board of Trustees.

Here are the Major Players:

Hon. Robert M. Duncan - he was elected to the Ohio Supreme Court. Judge Duncan wrote the landmark order ending segregation in the Columbus Public Schools. Other judgeships — he was Judge of the Franklin County Municipal Court, Justice of the Supreme Court of Ohio, Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, and Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio. He also provides his judicial expertise by contributing to The Campaign Legal Center, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization which works in the areas of campaign finance, communications and government ethics.

Walden W. (Wally) O'Dell - was appointed to the Board of Trustees by Governor Taft in 2003. O'Dell is the well known chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Diebold, Incorporated, the leading global provider of integrated financial self-service delivery systems, security and services. Diebold currently employs more than 13,000 associates and is headquartered in Canton, Ohio. O'Dell also serves on the other boards These include Federal Signal Corporation of Oak Brook, Ill., and Lennox International Inc. of Richardson, Texas. He also serves as a member of the board of the United Way of Greater Stark County, a member of the Board of Trustees of the Ohio Foundation of Independent Colleges (OFIC), a member of the Ohio Business Roundtable.

Brian K. Hicks - was appointed to the board of trustees by Governor Bob Taft in 2004. Hicks' appoint is the link between Wally O'Dell and Ken Blackwell.

more
http://www.solarbus.org/stealyourelection/articles/0109-hicks.html

DU Thread: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x274974

[dzika]

3. Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) to Fox's Big Story: We Got What We Wanted

January 06, 2005

Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA): We Got What We Wanted

Reported by Marie Therese


Yet another California Democrat appeared on Big Story with John Gibson. Unlike the usual run of “warm beer” Democrats that haunt the halls of FOX News, this fiery woman don’t take nothin’ from nobody! Her name is Maxine Waters and she was interviewed by substitute host Judge Andrew Napolitano along with her colleague Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL). The topic, of course, was the Democratic challenge to the Electoral College vote from the State of Ohio led by two women, Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-OH) and Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA).

DIAZ-BALART: Everybody in the world has accepted it except for a small group of RADICALS in the Congress and a couple of anti-American activists around the country, such as Michael Moore who said the American people are dumb. Those are the people that don’t want to accept the reality. Now, let me tell you what the problem is ‘cause this wouldn’t be that bad except for the fact that the only thing it does is to undermine the credibility, the legitimacy, of the President of the United States, of the Commander-in-Chief while our troops are in harm’s way...This is not a laughing matter. This is a very serious affront to the institutions of democracy. So when Congressman Delay said that this was not a laughing matter he was absolutely right.

NAPOLITANO: How about it, Congresswoman Walters? You just heard - Waters, excuse me - you just ...

WATERS: My name is Waters.

NAPOLITANO: I’m sorry.

WATERS: Yes.

NAPOLITANO: He says that you and your colleagues are attempting to undermine the legitimacy of President Bush. Congressman Delay says its an assault on our institutions and a threat to our ideals. What do you say about that?

WATERS: Oh, I think that kind of language is less than any member of Congress should want to use. They have no credibility when they go over the top with that kind of radical language. What they are trying to do is fire up people to think that somehow there are no problems in our voting. I don’t care where you are in the United States of America. You want your vote to count.

Judge Napolitano went on to enumerate the bipartisan recount that took place in Ohio which was controlled by equal numbers of Democrats and Republicans. All 88 counties were recounted and there was no protest from either side.

NAPOLITANO:... Do you think it’s worth making a big deal and delaying the President’s reelection over this?

WATERS: You missed the whole point. Would you like to stand in line for ten hours in order to vote? Would you like to have your vote discarded? Would you not like to be able to cast an absentee ballot? Would you not like to have a provisional voting system? I don’t know why some of you who claim to care about democracy don’t understand that the vote is the underpinning of a democracy...

NAPOLITANO (trying to cut her off): Congressman Balart ..

WATERS: ... and we ought to be concerned about it...

NAPOLITANO: Congressman Balart, there are two guys ...

BALART: Yes, Judge.

NAPOLITANO: Congressman Balart, there were two guys on a statewide ballot who were both Democrats in the Senate - John Kerry and John Edwards. Did THEY join in today’s protest?

BALART: They did not. It’s very interesting. You know the Congresswoman talked about credibility. Let’s look at that. Let’s look at how much her own colleagues thought this was a credible effort. There’s 435 members of the House and - what? Only 30 - less than 30 - voted for this measure. That speaks volumes for credibility.

WATERS (interrupts): OK. That doesn’t mean...

BALART: Those are the facts ...

WATERS: That doesn’t ...

BALART: Excuse me Congresswoman. Speaking!

WATERS: That doesn’t mean anything ...

BALARY: Well, I guess if she says it, she wants the votes counted, but she doesn’t want the votes counted for credibility’s sake on the House floor ...

NAPOLITANO: If you had your way, Congresswoman Waters, what would you have had happen today?

WATERS: Oh, we had what we wanted happen. I’m talkin’ to you on national television about a debate that took place in Congress about making every vote count. I have what I want.

NAPOLITANO: You didn’t really ..

WATERS: I have created a forum. I’ve created the opportunity for a debate. All of those members who joined in have radio stations and television stations all over the country talking about how we can make people’s vote count. How we can have ...

NAPOLITANO (overtalks, interrupts): Didn’t the leadership of your own party try and talk you out of this?

WATERS: No. Absolutely not. I don’t know where you got that from. Nancy Pelosi, who is our leader, the minority leader of the House, spoke to this issue.

NAPOLITANO: OK.

WATERS: Did you see her?

NAPOLITANO: ... and voted against it, by the way.

COMMENT

I noticed throughout the day little asides about the “delay” in the vote for something that was inevitable with an emphasis on the fact that the vote wasn’t certified until late afternoon. Call it woman’s intuition, but it wouldn’t surprise me if FOX had worked out a Presidential photo op to coincide with the end of the vote certification. If so, they would have been really miffed when a few Democrats led by a couple of uppity dames ruined it.

link
http://www.newshounds.us/2005/01/06/rep_maxine_waters_dca_we_got_what_we_wanted.php#comments

[dzika]

4. Fox News to Barbara Boxer: "How Ridiculous is This?"

January 06, 2005

Fox News to Barbara Boxer: "How Ridiculous is This?"

Reported by Melanie


Poor Neil Cavuto. He tries so hard to make his show (Your World w/Neil Cavuto) look like a business show. Today (January 6, 2005) his attempt to tie the stock market to Barbara Boxer's and Stephanie Tubbs Jones' challenge to the Ohio electoral vote fell flat on its face but Cavuto and Fox employee Brenda Buttner succeeded in getting the Fox message out anyway.


After showing a clip of Barbara Boxer saying: "This is not about Senator Kerry or President Bush. It's about election irregularities and the fact that we are sort of saying today this is a wake-up call for the House and Senate," Cavuto opened with:

"Well, it wasn't much of a wake-up call because it's not likely to overturn the Presidential election but it's already dragging out the nastiness. California Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer formally objecting to the Electoral College results. Enough to force a rare recess and debate on the issue but again, it was a moot point. Most say nothing ultimately comes of it but will this rattle investors? Now, it did not today, but will it tomorrow if this bad blood continues?"

Evidently Fox's bookers didn't warn the guests that they'd be asked to comment on this "only on Fox" sort of senario because the segment didn't appear to go as planned.

Cavuto first turned to guest Kari Pinkernell of Merrill Lynch who said that she "didn't think that that has major implications on the stock market."

Next came Buttner who delivered the message that I'd bet the segment was created to send: "Well, Neil, I mean, allow me to drip with sarcasm for a moment because you know, Barbara Boxer is really doing the right thing. I mean, Congress doesn't have much to deal with. There's only the deficit, Social Security, a war in Iraq. I mean, how ridiculous is this? What sore losers basically to grandstand and take this kind of attention away from the real problems that our country faces."

Leigh Gallagher of SmartMoney said "I think that this really doesn't have much of a link to Wall Street."

Cavuto again tried to stir things up when he told guest Charles Payne of Wall Street Strategies that his "crack theory" was "this notion that Wall Street hates any, either party, making in-roads or progress on some big programs, government spending, what have you, and that this stops that in its tracks, all the better?" (I know. It doesn't make any sense to me either.)

Payne said that a lot of things are coming up like Social Security reform "which Wall Street would love to see," but which won't get done without bi-partisan cooperation "but Boxer she's so far off the map that I, again, I'm kind of disagreeing with you a little bit, I tried to make a link." Cavuto interrupted: "We knew this was a scary segment." Payne continued on, talking for a few more seconds about the "very scary" job fears.

COMMENT: Never mind that the "greatest democracy on the planet" might not be a democracy after all. Three guests, two Fox News employees. The two people who should have been objective, the employees of the news organization, alleged journalists, were the ones to slap Democrats in the face with Fox's ever present American flag.


link
http://www.newshounds.us/2005/01/06/fox_news_to_barbara_boxer_how_ridiculous_is_this.php#more

[dzika]

5. Area representatives lead election challenge

January 10, 2005

Area representatives lead election challenge

By Dawson Bell

WASHINGTON, DC


The play itself may have been a farce, but at least our people had leading roles.

Bytes refers, of course, to last week's electoral college follies and the challenged legitimacy of the vote in Ohio.

The challenge was led by U.S. Rep. John Conyers, the Detroit Democrat whose efforts have won him the admiration of what detractors affectionately call the loony left.

He was joined by U.S. Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, D-Detroit, who decried the alleged intimidation of Detroit voters and vote counters by "men in suits" (what this had to do with the vote in Ohio was not clear from the report available to Bytes).


http://www.freep.com/news/politics/bytes10e_20050110.htm

[dzika]

6. Old election ballots taking up space in town offices

January 10, 2005

Old election ballots taking up space in town offices

DOVER, N.H. -- Old election ballots are taking up space in town and city halls across New England.

-snip-

In New Hampshire, state law requires clerks to hold onto state and local election ballots for two months. In Maine, clerks must keep all ballots for the full 22 months.

Belmont's clerk is storing five large boxes full of ballots from the presidential primaries alone. Dover's city clerk is storing nearly 20,000 ballots from the November elections.

Town officials reported different plans for disposing of the ballots. Some will be shredded, others incinerated. Many ballots will go straight to the dump.


http://www.boston.com/news/local/maine/articles/2005/01/10/old_election_ballots_taking_up_space_in_town_offices/

[dzika]

7. CNN - Republicans challenge Washington vote

(Why is it that the GOP is 100% behind a vote challenge in Washington State but the DNC is virtually absent, if not working against, the vote challenge in Ohio?)

Monday, January 10, 2005

Republicans challenge Washington vote

BELLEVUE, Washington (AP) -- More than two months after Washington voters cast their ballots, Republican Dino Rossi is hoping the courts will give them another chance to pick their next governor.

Rossi and the state GOP announced Friday they will contest the gubernatorial election that gave Rossi's Democratic foe, Christine Gregoire, a 129-vote victory.

Republicans have been building a case over the past few weeks, gathering evidence of voting irregularities, including illegal provisional ballots and a handful of votes cast by dead people. They are pushing for a revote, an unprecedented step in a statewide election.


link
http://www.cnn.com/2005/ALLPOLITICS/01/10/washington.governor.ap/index.html

[dzika]

8. Black Caucus Led House Debate On Disputed Ohio Votes - Boxer Key

Jan 10, 2005

Black Caucus Led House Debate On Disputed Ohio Votes

CA Senator Boxer Key

Black America Web.com, News Report,
H.R. Harris


WASHINGTON – On the day when Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill were supposed to give President Bush’s re-election a rubber stamp, members of the Congressional Black Caucus used the floor of the House of Representatives to criticize alleged disparities in the federal election system and the 2004 results.

From U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., D-Ill., to Stephanie Tubbs Jones, D-Ohio, members of the CBC offered passionate oration during a two-hour floor debate in the House that was made possible because of Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif. Approval from at least one senator was needed open debate by House members. In 2000, no senator stepped forward, and that denial made for a chilling scene in the box office hit “Fahrenheit 9-11.”

“This was an historic event,” Jackson told Black America Web.com. “This was not just about the 2004 election, but what happened in Florida in 2000, Ohio in 2004 and no telling what in the future unless we are willing to establish a unified system of voting, and only Congress can do that.”

While Jackson, Jones and members of the CBC argued that it is time for Congress to overhaul the federal election system, Republican members of Congress countered that CBC members and their Democratic colleagues were making one final effort to rain on Bush’s inaugural parade that is less than two weeks away.

link
http://news.ncmonline.com/news/view_article.html?article_id=ba731275f65c8bc9196e9152d748c1e9

[dzika]

9. Many Americans refuse to concede 'stolen election'

Sunday, January 09, 2005

Many Americans refuse to concede 'stolen election'

On eve of Bush's inauguration, challenges continue

Leila Atassi
Plain Dealer Reporter


While a two-hour debate raged on the floors of the U.S. House and Senate over the certification of the presidential election, more than 400 activists waited outside to learn which of their leaders would join their cause.

Under an overcast sky, the Rev. Jesse Jackson told the activists - still refusing to accept the results of the November election - not to be bitter.

As he spoke, many of them wept, because for some, the anger over what they refer to as "the stolen election" is precisely what won't let them let go.

It has been more than two months since President Bush declared victory. But the activists who assembled Thursday in Washington, D.C., and countless others across the country say they refuse to concede and have made investigating voter irregularities in Ohio their top priority - sometimes forsaking their livelihood or former selves.


more
http://www.cleveland.com/printer/printer.ssf?/base/medina/110526668478510.xml

[dzika]

10. WaPo: Inaugural Excess - This Is the Wrong Time for a Lavish Celebration

Sunday, January 9, 2005; Page B07

Inaugural Excess

This Is the Wrong Time for a Lavish Celebration

By Bernard Ries


The Presidential Inauguration Committee intends to forge ahead with its resplendent plans for the second Bush inaugural. At the risk of sounding like a Grand Old Party pooper, I'm not thrilled.

What gives me pause is the decision to spend some $40 million-plus at this moment in history. When I first began mulling over this expenditure, I thought it quite unseemly that, at a time when so many Americans and countless Iraqis have been and will be killed and maimed, we should be mounting a spectacle said to celebrate our troops, replete with nine official balls, many unofficial affairs, a youth concert, a parade, a fireworks display, etc. (and, at the Ritz-Carlton, white chocolate cowboy boots). But now, with the appalling misery in Southeast Asia added to the scene, it seems even more obvious that an extravaganza is wholly inappropriate.

Previous presidents have chosen to continue the festive inauguration tradition during wartime. Lincoln was one, although he most certainly didn't spend the 1865 equivalent of $40 million. But I prefer the example of moderation set by Franklin Roosevelt in wartime 1945: a short speech at the White House, a buffet luncheon featuring chicken salad and pound cake -- and that was it. No parade, not a single ball. FDR knew something about propriety.

President Bush, of course, has already had a big inaugural party; in 2001 he enjoyed a four-day, $40 million inauguration. How many $40 million fetes is one man entitled to, I wonder, particularly since we're only transitioning from Bush to Bush. Bill Clinton spent less on his second inauguration ($23.7 million) than on his first ($33 million), and that was, moreover, in a very different context: The economy sparkled, Clinton had won a rousing election victory, we weren't at war -- and a sizable portion of the world had not just fallen apart.

link
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A57877-2005Jan7.html

[dzika]

11. The Beltway Boys: Faux Debate Over the Issues

January 10, 2005

The Beltway Boys: Faux Debate Over the Issues

On this Saturday's edition of The Beltway Boys, commentators Mort Kondracke and Fred Barnes discussed the "Hot Story" - that it would be "No Honeymoon" for Bush in his second term.


BARNES: "First there was this challenge by some Democrats led by Barbara Boxer, the California Senator, of Bush's obvious election in the electoral college in Washington. To watch her and then Mike Dewine of Ohio responding."

Right from the get-go by using the phrase "Bush's obvious election" Barnes is making it clear that he didn't see a reason for a recount in Ohio and feels there's no problem with our election system and no need for reform.

FOX then aired two clips, one of Barbara Boxer and then Mike Dewine.

Clip of BOXER: "Our people are dying all over the world - a lot from my state. For what reason? - to bring democracy to the far corners of the world. Let's fix it here."

Clip of DEWINE: "The election horse is dead. You can stop beating it now. Not one ounce of political flesh remains on that carcass. Ohio has counted and recounted. President George W. Bush received 118,775 more votes than your man Senator John Kerry."

No mention/discussion between Barnes and Kondracke occurs about the facts that there were serious flaws with the Ohio election, for example, the ratio of voting machines to the number of voters in districts that were predominately urban black neighborhoods as opposed to plenty of voting machines accessible to those in white suburban neighborhoods. This disparity of voting machines was responsible for the voters in the urban areas having to wait as much as 10 or more hours in line, which caused many to become discouraged and go home. Neither commentator mentioned that that was a key part of Boxer's speech on the issue and that election reform is urgently needed so it will not happen again in four years time. The FOX bias is clearly in favor of promoting and siding with Dewine's simplistic "neh-neh-neh-neh-neh" message which is basically "get over it democrats! You lost!"

continued
http://www.newshounds.us/2005/01/10/the_beltway_boys_faux_debate_over_the_issues.php

[Darknyte7]

12. What Happened in Ohio - Columnist William Raspberry

Monday, January 10, 2005; Page A17

I don't usually let other people do my thinking for me, but I confess I'd been waiting for Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) to tell me what to think about the voting irregularities that marred the November elections in Ohio.

Bloggers have been burning up the Internet with tales of manipulation and fraud. A representative of the company that supplied some of the voting machines (and whose corporate chief had promised to deliver the state for President Bush) supposedly was caught fiddling with some of the machines. Heavily Democratic -- but not heavily Republican -- precincts were plagued by a shortage of voting machines. Votes cast for challenger John Kerry showed up on the screen as votes for Bush. Black and poor voters -- likely Democratic voters -- were harassed and otherwise discouraged. And there were scores of similar allegations.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A61930-2005Jan9.html

[dzika]

13. If you're pro-choice, pray for Gregoire

Monday, January 10, 2005

If you're pro-choice, pray for Gregoire

Pro-choice leaders in this decidedly pro-choice state have been holding on to the gubernatorial recount roller coaster with white knuckles, crossed fingers and the breathless hope that Christine Gregoire's 129-vote lead will hold.

It really doesn't matter that he supports severe restrictions on a woman's right to abortion, candidate Dino Rossi assured them during the race -- on those few occasions when he could be pressed to discuss a subject he smoothly managed to largely avoid.

-snip-

And, when it came to the issue of abortion, much of the media pretty much gave him a pass. "We did manage to get the message out to newspapers about his voting record on reproductive health, sex education and other issues," says Karen Cooper of NARAL Pro-Choice Washington." But she added that it was a message that didn't fit into TV sound bites.

-snip-

Well, for one thing, the governor does control a powerful bully pulpit. And, once elected, the cloak of moderation can easily slip off to reveal a naked agenda.

Then there's veto power. And budget power. And the fact that Rossi still may be inches from plopping into the governor's chair at a chilling time for choice nationwide.


more
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/paynter/207025_paynter10.html?source=rss

[dzika]

14. $50,000,000 Inaguration Under Cloud of Iraq Deaths

$50,000,000 Inaguration Under Cloud of Iraq Deaths

...P Harris
by wali at 04:08AM (PST) on January 10, 2005


It will be one of the biggest parties in American history, but half of the country will be left out. With a price tag of up to $50 million, President George W Bush's inauguration in 11 days' time will be an unashamed celebration of Red America's victory over Blue America in last November's election.

It is going to be the most expensive, most security-obsessed event in the history of Washington DC. An army of 10,000 police, secret service officers and FBI agents will patrol the capital for four days of massive celebrations that some critics have derided as reminiscent of the lavish shindigs thrown by Louis XIV, France's extravagant Sun King.

More than 150,000 people, nearly all Republicans whose tickets are a reward for election work, will pack the Mall to hear Bush take his oath of office on 20 January. There will be nine official balls, countless unofficial ones, parades and a concert hosted by Bush's daughters, Jenna and Barbara.

Many observers say it is all too much. 'We have elected a President who seems to have quite a monarchical role. It is a bit of a coronation,' said Larry Haas, a former official in Bill Clinton's White House.

Certainly, Bush's inauguration will be an orgy of gladhanding and partying by the Republican faithful from all over the country. One Washington hotel, the Mandarin Oriental, is offering visitors four nights in its Presidential Suite for $200,000. The price tag includes a 24-hour butler, a chauffeur-driven Rolls-Royce or Humvee, daily champagne and caviar and a flight to the hotel in a private jet.

One highlight of the bonanza is the Black Tie and Boots Ball organised by Bush's home state of Texas, with the President as star guest. Ten thousand tickets sold out in less than 50 minutes, and are now trading privately at $1,300 each. Another is the Commander-in-Chief's Ball where Bush will honour American soldiers fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. This is billed as the centrepiece of the inauguration, which itself has a theme tinged with the idea of military service.

All the partying is being condemned by many commentators as in poor taste for a nation fighting a bloody war.


continued
http://somagcc.blogharbor.com/blog/_archives/2005/1/10/236557.html

[dzika]

15. WaPo - What Happened in Ohio

Monday, January 10, 2005; Page A17

What Happened in Ohio

By William Raspberry


I don't usually let other people do my thinking for me, but I confess I'd been waiting for Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) to tell me what to think about the voting irregularities that marred the November elections in Ohio.

Bloggers have been burning up the Internet with tales of manipulation and fraud. A representative of the company that supplied some of the voting machines (and whose corporate chief had promised to deliver the state for President Bush) supposedly was caught fiddling with some of the machines. Heavily Democratic -- but not heavily Republican -- precincts were plagued by a shortage of voting machines. Votes cast for challenger John Kerry showed up on the screen as votes for Bush. Black and poor voters -- likely Democratic voters -- were harassed and otherwise discouraged. And there were scores of similar allegations.

Stories in the mainstream media weren't much help. They pretty much agreed that, while there were irregularities in Ohio and elsewhere, there always are irregularities. Nothing particularly unusual -- or outcome-changing -- happened in Ohio.

Political reporters, mainstream editors and most of Congress seemed utterly unalarmed. Were they asleep at the switch? Were they afraid of discovering a truth that the country couldn't handle? Or was there simply not much of a story?


continued
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A61930-2005Jan9.html

[dzika]

16. Wonkette - Controversy at the People's Choice Awards

Controversy at the People's Choice Awards

Michael Moore's "Farenheit 9/11" won the People's Choice award last night for "Favorite Motion Picture," amid -- not making this up -- accusations of voter fraud, since changes in how the winners are selected "has led to a less scientific determination of the people's favorites, as overzealous fans could vote for their personal preferences more than once." (We're very curious about the "scientific determination" of people's favorites and imagine that it involves an electro-psychometer.) Strangely, Mel Gibson totally swept the Iraqi People's Choice Awards...

People's Choice: "9/11," "Passion"


link
http://www.wonkette.com/politics/media/controversy-at-the-peoples-choice-awards-029333.php

[EFerrari]

22. (Maybe they should handle 2008? :) n/t

[EFerrari]

23. kick

[texpatriot2004]

17. Kick

[dzika]

18. Quotes...guess who said it?

01/10/2005 12:29pm

Quotes...guess who said it?

by grhino


Try to guess who said the following quotes..

“Despite Widespread Reports Of Irregularities, Questionable Practices By Some Election Officials And Instances Of Lawful Voters Being Denied The Right To Vote, Our Legal Teams On The Ground Have Found No Evidence That Would Change The Outcome Of The Election.”

“None Of These Problems (In Ohio) So Far Adds Up To Conspiracy Or Fraud Or Enough Votes To Change The Outcome…”

“No Evidence Of Confirmed Fraud” And “It Would Have To Be A Virtual Miracle” For Kerry To Win.

“We Haven’t Seen Any Evidence To Suggest That The Outcome Of The Election Would Change…”

Fraud Accusers “A Band Of Conspiracy Theorists” And Asked “Why Would I … Disenfranchise Voters In My Own Community.”

“We Do Not Necessarily Expect The Results Of The Election To Change.”

Overall Election Results “Undisputed.”

“George W. Bush Did Win This Election And I Don’t Think The Recount Is Going To Change The Impact Of This Vote.”

“The Simple Fact Of The Matter Is That Republicans Received More Votes Than Democrats, And We’re Not Contesting This Election.”


hmm..George Bush...Dick Cheney? ..no, must have been that evil "Nazi" Karl Rove....hmm..or one of those extreme right wing senators, Rick Santorum..or maybe Antonin Scalia, or Thomas...


read more
http://blog.democrats.com/node/2485

[dzika]

19. From Union County for Democracy - We the People Do Not Concede

From Union County for Democracy

[dzika]

20. Florida Recount antiques - SOS Hood says laws requiring recount nullified

Monday, January 10, 2005

Recount antiques

The media circus at Florida's Supreme Court, circa 2000.

Voting in Florida is often a full-contact sport. With memories of the 2000 debacle fresh in everybody's minds, the fear of disenfranchisement lingers even in the bright sunshine of full disclose.

Unless there's nothing to disclose.

Such is life in the digital world. This blog is here today, but tomorrow it may vanish into the online ether of the Internet netherworld. That's one of the reasons why Florida's voting machines need a paper count. Even now, especially now, Rep. Robert Wexler's paper-trail fight must continue. He is a brave soul, and support for his crusade has gained momentum from diverse groups who want to see the sanctity of Florida's ballot preserved from the rapacious negligence of Secretary of State Glenda Hood.

Secretary Hood has taken the dubious position that state laws requiring a recount in certain circumstances have been nullified by the perfection of the electronic voting machines used in select counties. She makes this argument in spite of the United States Supreme Court's directive in Gore v. Bush that the state needs a unified system of voting (and, by implication, recounting), a goal that she did nothing to achieve. The elections supervisors in the touch-screen counties, who specifically chose the machines to avoid the possibility of ever participating in another recount, have taken the path of least resistance. But, even though it was paved with good intentions, it led to the hell that Floridians now face: jeopardized enfranchisement.

The conquistador remembers being in a room with Hood when she made the astounding argument that Florida recount law didn't apply anymore because the machines couldn't do a recount. The conquistador asked the secretary how she could possibly certify the vote, which is her legal obligation, if it did not conform to state laws requiring a recount. Her dangerously naive argument that the perfection of the machines superseded the law was so dumbfounding that the conquistador worked mightily from laughing in her face.

Here's the logic she's trying to foist upon voters: Your right to a recount isn't necessary because the machines are infallible. Anyone whose computer has ever crashed knows the obvious fallacies inherent in such a claim. And yet here is our secretary, boldly pronouncing this malarkey in your name.

In a world where public officials are held responsible for their actions, Secretary Hood would be impeached for gross negligence. Her unwillingness to see the laws of Florida upheld is a high crime, and the misdemeanor of assuming that recounts are a relic of the past is a crime for which the conquistador wishes for some old-fashioned justice.

link
http://blogdeleon.blogspot.com/2005/01/recount-antiques.html

[dzika]

21. GOP Hypocrisy: The Washington Revote

Monday, January 10, 2005

GOP Hypocrisy: The Washington Revote

Today, CNN reported that Republican gubernatorial candidate in Washington state, Dino Rossi and the Washington GOP is trying to hold a revote of the entire state after loosing to Democratic candidate Christine Gregoire by 129 votes. This is quite hypocritical considering Barbara Boxer's attempt to challenge the accuracy of the Ohio voting was forced down by the republicans in the House and Senate during a joint session to confirm the electoral votes. Boxer's intent was not even to alter the outcome of the election. In a letter to Representative Tubbs Jones she said she had "concluded that objecting to the electoral votes from Ohio is the only immediate way to bring these issues to light by allowing you to have a two-hour debate to let the American people know the facts surrounding Ohio’s election."

On the flip side, Republican Dino Rossi feels that the votes in Washington should be contested not only to make a point about voter irregularities but to attempt to change the outcome of the elections. Despite two months of recounting ballots, Rossi feels that "You cannot tell who won. The only way for us to get out of this problem is for us to have a revote."

A statewide revote is unprecedented, for a good reason. The controversy over the first vote in conglomeration with the GOP's uncanny knack for disenfranchising voters will cause a miracles swing in voter feelings despite Democratic Party attorney Jenny A. Durkan's feelings that "it would not change the outcome of the election."

Republicans shoot down people who even mention voter fraud and irregularities calling them conspiracy theorists. Popular talk radio host Rush Limbaugh said on his show that there was absolutely no evidence of voter irregularities or fraud in Ohio, saying "there wasn't any in this election and there wasn't any in 2000 either, for that matter." Aberrantly he didn't read the 101 page report on suspicious occurrences and irregularities in Ohio put out by the House Judiciary committee sighting several instances of more votes than registered voters, electronic pollers transferring hundreds of Kerry votes into the Bush column, eight and ten hour lines at polling places and pre election intimidation to deter democratic voters from showing up at the polls.

The most fantastic sighting was of Ohio Secretary of State and Ohio GOP leader Kenneth Blackwell rejecting thousands of provisionary ballots on the grounds that the paper on which they were printed were not the proper weight. Then, when his office was asked to provide the appropriate weight they failed to come up with an answer.

For fear of being labeled as evil liberals or conspiracy theorists, senate democrats (except for Barbara Boxer) whimpped out and voted to certify the election results in Ohio. If they hadn't, the GOP would launch their propaganda machine, sending everyone from John McCain to the Governator out to beat down the Democrats on every Sunday morning talk show for the rest of eternity.

But why then are the republicans setting a double standard in Washington? Because their REPUBLICANS, its what they do. They criticize their foes for actions they too facilitate. How much heat did Clinton get for Kosovo? A lot more than Bush is getting for Iraq from today's Democratic "leaders". Shame.

In any event, my thoughts and prayers go out to Christine Gregoire. Good luck, and let the true winner win.

link
http://liberalyouth.blogspot.com/2005/01/gop-hypocrisy-washington-revote.html

[dzika]

24. Will Pitt - Interview from Camp Kerry - my talk with Cam

(thanks to WilliamPitt)

Interview from Camp Kerry - my talk with Cam

http://www.truthout.org/docs_05/011105W.shtml

Interview from Camp Kerry
By William Rivers Pitt
t r u t h o u t | Interview

Monday 10 January 2005

I spent some time today with Cameron Kerry, the younger brother of Senator John Kerry. A May 04 2004 Boston Herald article on Cam Kerry described him this way: "He doesn't draw screaming headlines or grab face time on the political talk show circuit, but low-key Cameron Kerry has emerged as one of U.S. Sen. John F. Kerry's most powerful and trusted campaign advisers this election season. The senator's younger brother, known as Cam, is playing the same pivotal role that the late Robert F. Kennedy played for his older brother back in 1960: confidant, adviser and powerful inside player. It's a mission that stretches far beyond simple family loyalty and brotherhood...'Cam Kerry is a force in the campaign, make no mistake about that,' said one veteran political strategist with strong ties to Kerry. 'He's at the core of Kerry's inner circle.'"

The interview dealt mostly with the ongoing debate over election reform, but touched as well upon Senator Kerry's recent trip to Iraq.


Read the interview
http://www.truthout.org/docs_05/011105W.shtml


DU Thread
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x275470

[dzika]

25. AN OPEN LETTER FROM JOHN CONYERS, JR.

kevin_pdamerica (206 posts) Mon Jan-10-05 10:01 PM
Original message
Conyers Staff asked me to post this Thank You to DU'ers

AN OPEN LETTER FROM JOHN CONYERS, JR.

January 10, 2004


Dear Friend:

I want to thank you for the time and energy you have already given to help me in my pursuit of the truth about the 2004 Presidential election, particularly the truth about what happened in Ohio. I also want to let you know what I will be working on in the coming months.

I believe what we achieved on January 6 will be a seminal event in the history of progressive politics, and significantly advance the cause of electoral reform. For this challenge to Ohio’s electors to have occurred, I owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to the internet activists, who spread the story of my efforts and supported me in every way possible. I am also thankful to the alternative media, including talk radio and blogs that gave substantial attention and investigation to these matters when all but a handful in the mainstream media refused to examine the facts. I cannot thank all of you personally, but you know who you are.

With the exigency of January 6 behind us, I wanted to let you know what I will be doing in the coming months. First, my investigation of Ohio voting irregularities is not over. In an effort to get as much information confirmed and circulated in advance of January 6, many valuable leads still need to be pursued and I pledge to do so. Substantial irregularities have come to light in other states during the course of this investigation and I will also pursue those leads. While there has been powerful opposition to my efforts and personal attacks against me as a result of my efforts, I want to assure you I remain steadfast.

Second, there are other matters involving wrongdoing by Administration officials that I will continue to pursue. Among other things, I will continue to seek answers about the role of senior Bush Administration officials in outing an undercover Central Intelligence Agency operative. I will also continue to examine the sources of the fraudulent case for the Iraq war, which intersects with the outing of this operative.

Third, I intend to develop and introduce legislation in a number of areas. Most importantly, I intend to introduce comprehensive election reform legislation in the coming weeks, and I will fight for its passage at the earliest possible moment. I intend to hold further hearings on this issue. I will also continue to fight the job loss and the loss of retirement security that has so negatively impacted working families in my district, and I will fight the economic policies of this Administration that are the cause of these serious problems. Finally, the Judiciary Committee will also be at the center of the efforts to oversee the U.S.A. Patriot Act and ascertain which, if any, provisions should be renewed. I expect to lead the fight against a number of provisions that I believe compromise our civil liberties.

Again, thank you for all you have done. I look forward to working with you on these and other important matters in the weeks and months ahead.

Sincerely,




John Conyers, Jr.

DU Thread:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x275577

[dzika]

26. Startling Report on NM Election Points to Widespread Problems and Irregula

Monday, January 10, 2005

Startling Report on NM Election Points to Widespread Problems and Irregularities

Did you know that 1 out of 20 votes for President in New Mexico was "lost"?

Did you know that 1 out of 11 votes of Hispanic citizens in Bernalillo county was "lost"?

Did you know that 1 out of 16 Native American votes for President was lost in New Mexico?

Did you know that research shows that the different voting machine types used in New Mexico precincts are correlated with different kinds of voting errors and that New Mexico is planning on spending tens of thousands of dollars to buy new machines before 2006?

All this and more is included in the detailed and well-documented "A Summary Report on New Mexico State Election Data," prepared by Ellen Theisen and Warren Steward for www.HelpAmericaRecount.org . The report, dated 1/4/95, was released last week at press conferences in Santa Fe and Albuquerque, along with a brief summary of its findings. Click for a pdf file of this amazing and disturbing 12-page report.

According to the brief summary report

Analysis of the official New Mexico State election data reveals a pattern of stunning errors and severe irregularities in the election data. Until the paper ballots are examined and the electronic voting data verified, the canvass report certified by the State of New Mexico cannot be regarded as an accurate reflection of the will of the people.

Other findings include:

Excessively high numbers of undervotes (ballots with no vote recorded for president) suggest that thousands of votes may not have been counted. For example, none of Dona Ana County's 207 overseas absentee ballots reported a presidential vote.

Although only 41% of the state's voters cast their ballots on push-button electronic voting machines (Shouptronic and Advantage), these machines accounted for 77% of the presidential undervotes, raising doubts about their accuracy.

Although NM Secretary of State Rebecca Vigil-Giron has stated that the auditor they hired to review the election results found nothing amiss, the auditor's letter says they found 233 errors in the data provided for absentee precincts and that the data compiled by Dona Ana County contained 222 errors. Click for a copy of the Audit letter from Robert J. Rivera, CPA.

The Green and LIbertarian presidential candidates have filed with the Appeals Court in NM to allow their requested recount to proceed. No action has yet been taken by the court and there has been no word on when they will consider hearing the case.

Thanks to Sonja Elison for information used in this report, which was presented at the DFA-DFNM Meetup on January 5th. Her organization, New Mexico Democratic Friends, will be spearheading an effort to push for real election reform at the upcoming NM Legislative Session. DFNM will be working with them on this, so keep on eye out on this blog for more information on this effort.

link
http://www.democracyfornewmexico.com/democracy_for_new_mexico/2005/01/reports_on_nm_e.html

[dzika]

27. National Review - The Florida Myth Spreads (negative)

(This is a negative story. It struck me because the author, Peter Kirsanow, is a member of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights)

January 10, 2005, 7:42 a.m.

The Florida Myth Spreads

Another “stolen election.”

By Peter Kirsanow

Last Thursday's challenge by certain congressional Democrats to the certification of the 2004 presidential election was but the latest chapter in the urban legend that began four years ago in Florida.

Back then, activists claimed that dogs and hoses were used to keep black voters from the polls. Claims that thousands of blacks were disenfranchised, harassed, and intimidated from voting ran rampant. The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights conducted a six-month investigation of the charges and found absolutely no evidence of systematic disenfranchisement of black voters. The civil-rights division of the Department of Justice also found no credible evidence that any Floridians were intentionally denied the right to vote.

-snip-

Since the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights is specifically charged with investigating deprivations of voting rights, its staff had been instructed to monitor the election and report back to the commission at its meeting the following week. The commission dispatched observers to battleground locations.

Given that distortions of the Commission's Florida 2000 report formed much of the basis for the disenfranchisement myth, several commissioners were concerned that any irregularities reported by staff, however minor, would be hyped into yet another "stolen election." But at the commission's November 12, 2004, meeting, the staff reported . . . absolutely nothing.


continued
http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/kirsanow200501100742.asp

[dzika]

28. Ukraine & Georgia Rejected Dictatorship. Why Didn't We?

Ukraine & Georgia Rejected Dictatorship. Why Didn't We?

When they had their election in the former Soviet republic of Georgia a little more than a year ago, and in the Ukraine a little more than a month ago, all their election exit polls showed that the official version of the election results contradicted reality and therefore they deduced that the government version was a flawed version, so the people of those countries responded by taking to the streets and protesting in large numbers and in no uncertain terms, they demanded democracy and they demanded the truth, so they got it.

But when the same thing happened here in the United States of America, when all of our own exit polls showed that the official version of the election results contradicted reality and then it became clear that the official version has been a flawed version, we did not respond with the same outrage that the Georgians and the Ukrainians did, we did not take to the streets in large numbers to demand the truth and democracy, as a result, we won't get it.

The people of Georgia and the Ukraine refused to accept the official tallies, the protested vigorously, they got international support and their rigged elections were overturned. But the American voter, unfortunately, has passively accepted this very dangerous broach to our democracy and gone back to business as usual.

John Kerry was projected to win the national popular vote by 2% to 3% margin, and he was ahead in nearly every closely contested State. Of course, the official result showed an exact mirror image of this reality, the same way that the Georgian and Ukrainian election did. A 5% shift in a poll like this is extra-ordinary, so when there are serious questions about how elections are conducted, these exit polls should be examined closely and discussed, but they haven't been, not by our main stream media.

What has been happening in all 3 cases, obviously, is that incumbent parties have been controlling and disrupting the election achineries.

Investigations conducted by the House Judiciary Committee, limited to Ohio alone has come up with these criminal irregularities:

#1. The deliberate vote suppressions of Democrats, consisting of what is obviously a lot of unmailed and lost absentee ballots specifically affecting Democratic voters.

#2. The deliberate vote suppressions of Democrats, consisting of obstacles to voter registration, such as rejection of forms over all sorts of silly little technicalities, again, only targetting Democrats.

#3. The deliberate creation of a massive shortage of voting machines in Democratic strongholds, resulting in waits of more than 8 hours, while Republican areas had surplus machines, deliberately so.

#4. The misuse of government offices to diseminate widespread misinformation about polling places

#5. The overuse of provisional ballots which were subsequently not even counted.

#6. The deliberate fraudulent practice of undercounting the votes in
Democratic precincts. There were undercounts in Democratic precincts where supposedly 25% of the voters did not even vote for President.

#7. Secret counts and recounts. In Warren County, for example, theylocked out the count observers because of a supposed terrorist threat that they claim the FBI issued, but the FBI says it did not issue any such thing. Recounts were conducted in the absence of observers, violating State laws. There is testimony that representatives of a voting system supplier improperly and illegally participated in vote re-counts that gave Bush the lead.

#8. The introduction of electronic voting machines, a system that allows mass and undetectable manipulation. 30% of Americans in this election used electronic voting machines which produce no confirmation that votes are recorded as case, in other words, with no "paper trail" (a Computer Scientist said this is akin to telling a man behind a curtain to register who you want to vote for and trusting him to record it faithfully, meaning that voters who use electronic voting machines that have no paper trail are literally blindly trusting that the programmer has written code that can and will record their votes cast).

#9. The voting system we presently have consists of a concentrated electronic voting machine industry that is overtly partisan, with conflicts of interests and a complete lack of transparency in every aspect of their operation.


We want to believe that "it can't happen here": After all, we are not only a democracy, but THE democracy.

Other countries do not take democracy for granted. They know, as the founders of our country did, how vulnerable it is, and that the price of freedom is, as my signature says, eternal vigilance. If only my own country's people would feel the same way.

Abel Malcolm

[dzika]

29. Rossi supporters create ReVoteWA.com - AND IT"S ORANGE

I didn't add the URL to this post because I really don't want these people to see any DU referrers in their logs. If you want to go there, just type it in yourself.

I tried to look up the name on the account and got a box at Mail Boxes Etc. The site just says "Authorized and paid for by ReVote Washington". They don't want you to know who they are but they want donations!

[dzika]

30. Scoop - The Last Man To Concede...

Tuesday, 11 January 2005, 4:13 pm

The Last Man To Concede...

By Sheila Samples


On November 3, just hours after Democratic vice-presidential hopeful John Edwards made a national announcement that he and John Kerry were not going to concede until all the votes were counted, Kerry grabbed the spotlight and conceded -- before all the votes were counted.

Kerry took the money and ran. Seems he couldn't stick around because he and the missus were spending Christmas at a holiday extravaganza in Sun Valley as personal guests of California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who just weeks before had fired up the Republican Convention at Madison Square Garden by declaring that "America is safer with George W. Bush as president."

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, "The former candidate, largely AWOL post-election, was seen in intense conversation with Dennis Miller."

It would be another two months before Kerry got around to emailing his millions of stunned, exhausted, and much poorer supporters to let them know that, although he was committed to "ensuring that every vote in this election is counted," alas, he wouldn't be joining the protest of the Ohio Electors.

continued
http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0501/S00056.htm

[dzika]

31. Electoral challenge forced needed debate

Jan. 10, 2005

Electoral challenge forced needed debate

by Rick Harle


Accusations by Republican lawmakers that their colleagues who objected to certification of Ohio's electoral votes are sore losers are off-base and disingenuous.

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and the other lawmakers who spoke up stated repeatedly they weren't challenging the results of the election or Bush's victory. They rightfully objected to problems with the process.

Despite claims to the contrary by Republicans, these problems have been documented and need to be thoroughly investigated. If we are to be a model for democracies across the world, we must have lawmakers who are willing to seriously investigate reports of voting irregularities and voter disenfranchisement and correct them where they exist.

Unlike in 2000, when every senator stood silent, Boxer's courageous act brought national attention to this crisis in our democracy and forced a much needed two-hour debate on voting and elections.


http://onlineathens.com/stories/011105/let_20050111020.shtml

[Wilms]

32. kick n/t

[dzika]

33. Is Frist's 'Political Paranoia' Bill Real or Disinfo?

Prison Planet | January 10, 2005

Is Frist's 'Political Paranoia' Bill Real or Disinfo?

A story that’s been circulating for the last few days centers around Senator Bill Frist and a proposed plan to introduce a bill that would define political paranoia as a mental disorder.

What does that mean? If you think raping Iraqi children is wrong, you’re insane, if you think making Iraqis jump off a bridge for breaking a curfew is wrong you’re insane, if you think people being arrested under the Patriot Act for playing with toy lasers is wrong you’re insane, if you think pregnant women being beaten and arrested for talking too loudly on a cellphone is wrong you’re insane. If you think people in wheelchairs being tasered is wrong you’re insane.

Even without such a bill the attitudes and labels being thrown around by the establishment media and shock-jock Neo-Con, Neo-Fascist talk show hosts have created an Orwellian double standard whereby we should support the government because they are spreading 'freedom' while taking our freedom away.

Is the propoed bill real? The only source we can find on this at the moment is a left-wing website called the Swift Report, which seemingly carries some serious stories and some which look like satire. If anyone can dig out either way whether this is accurate or not we would appreciate the help. Calling Frist's office in Tennessee is probably going to be of little value. We called earlier today and all you get is an automated system asking you to leave a message (how's that for representative government!)

However, if this is true just think of the implications. This is what the Soviets did, they defined opposition to the government as mental instability and then imprisoned people on that basis. In the United Kingdom similar legislation is already being passed. The Mental Capacity Bill defines mental illness as the inability to make a decision even if that’s temporary. So if you’ve had one too many whiskies, they can burst in your home, call you mentally incapacitated, grab you and imprison you indefinitely.


link
http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/january2005/100105realordisinfo.htm

[dzika]

34. The VELVET REVOLUTION has begun!

(thanks to BradBlog)

The Velvet Revolution Begins...

A New Home for the New American Patriot!
It's been a long time coming...

It was Velvet Revolutions that so effectively overturned despotic regimes through peaceful civil disobedience in places like the former Soviet Union, East Germany, Czchekoslovakia, Poland, South Africa, and of course...most recently...Ukraine.

In all of those places, the citizenry rose up to take matters into their own hands to demand that their governments be held responsible. Now it is our turn to learn from those countries what it really means to have a government of the people, by the people, and for the people!

Grab your pitchfork and light your torches! The Velvet Revolution has begun...

More info: http://www.VelvetRevolution.us
Media contact & Orgs interested in coming onboard as Affiliates: [e-mail]

Without You, We're Nothing...

DU Thread:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x276569

[dzika]

35. The Nashua Advocate: The Election Reform Movement Blasts Off

thanks to nashuaadvocate (73 posts)
Tue Jan-11-05 06:25 AM

The Nashua Advocate: The Election Reform Movement Blasts Off

Find it here --

http://www.nashuaadvocate.blogspot.com /

An excerpt:

"On November 3rd, 2004, who would have thought it possible for a reporter from The Washington Post (in this case, William Raspberry) to write the following words?

'I would like to know if public officials and private citizens did engage in significant and concerted effort to steal the election in the event the wrong person seemed to be winning it. And if so, I'd like to know who the miscreants were, what they did, and what heads are going to roll. Because if all we get are a few hearings and empty promises, it's a safe bet it'll happen again.'"

The News Editor
The Nashua Advocate
http://www.nashuaadvocate.blogspot.com/


DU Thread: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x277049

[dzika]

36. MISTRUTH: Alternet Lowers American Investigative Journalism to a New Low

Monday, January 10, 2005

HUGE MISTRUTH: Alternet Lowers American Investigative Journalism to a New Low

WARNING: The following blog-post contains crude uncensored angy words to emphasize the obscene nature of the article reported on here.

You know journalism in America is in dire straits when the non-mainstream alternative so-called "left-wing" sites are churning out utter crap like the stuff I discovered today. This Alternet piece has inspired me to take what free time I have today and dedicate it to exposing it's glaring non-sequiturs. There is a problem, though. I don't know where to begin. The ol' "so much to write about, so little time" axiom comes into play here. So what I will do here is expose the mistruth in one section of the story and let you (and other bloggers) comment about the others. The section of the article I will cover is on a particular topic Newsclip Autopsy has been following closely since November 2. Russ Baker, the so-called "investigative journalist" of this report calls this particular subject "the central issue".

The exit polls.

Election 2004: Stolen or Lost

By Russ Baker, TomPaine.com. Posted January 10, 2005.

Charge: Exit poll results were more accurate than actual ballots
Finding: False Explanation of Problem: Imperfect nature of polls

Now to the central issue: the claim that exit polls, which never lie, showed Kerry winning. Our understanding of this – and the argumentation in the Contest – is based largely on an analysis by Steven F. Freeman, Ph.D. But Freeman is not an expert in polling. According to his affidavit, he is a visiting scholar in the Graduate Division, School of Arts and Sciences, University of Pennsylvania Center for Organizational Dynamics.

O.k. First off, Baker tries to discredit the exit polling analyses based on Freeman's credentials. Notice he does not mention the fact that no "expert" has ever disputed his conclusions since the report first came out in mid-November. He also conveniently neglects to mention the most recent analyses by STATITICIAN Ron Baiman who Freeman's findings.

To get some insight into this issue, I spoke with a source who, in the common parlance, is "familiar with the thinking of" Warren Mitofsky, the "father" of the exit poll.

Baker's UN-NAMED source is "familiar with Mitofsky's thinking"! How's that for covering one's journalistic back!! Well done, Baker!!!

Asked about Freeman's analysis, my source told me that it is "all wrong." We spent several hours going through Freeman's specific claims, and reviewed how exit polls – and Mitofsky's in particular – work.

Much of the belief that the election was stolen was based on "screen shots" of raw numbers provided by CNN. In exit polling, raw numbers mean almost nothing – since the essence of a successful exit poll is to interview a sampling of voters, and then apply a variety of methods in order to adjust to the most probable accurate assessment. "To say you want the raw data is ludicrous," said the source. "You can't use it until you do something with it. You're talking about a bunch of naïve people that had the first course in statistics."

Forgive my extreme bluntness here, but that is COMPLETE AND UTTER BULLSHIT, HORSESHIT, PIGSHIT -- WHATEVER -- THIS IS THE MOST VILE EXTREMENT THAT I HAVE EVER COME ACCROSS DURING THE POST-ANALYSIS OF THIS ELECTION. Raw numbers don't mean anything?????!!!!! Is this guy on crack????!!!! "You can't use it until you do something with it????!!!" NO FREAKIN' SHIIIIIIIIIT!!!! Both Freeman and Baiman both adjusted the sample to compensate for gender bias, etc. In fact, it is the final numbers produced by the networks which bear no resemblance to reality. These "final" numbers were adjusted so that they would agree more with the actual results. It's the statistical equivalent to "adjusting the bell curve" when a professor finds that the majority of the students did poorly on their mid-terms. And Baker has the gall to smear Freeman's name a second time by calling him "naive". This is incredible!!!

Bill Leonard, a former CBS News VP who was a polling pioneer, has called exit polls "blunt instruments." The widely circulated notion that they are always right is dead wrong.

BULLSHIT, HORSESHIT, PIGSHIT....MORE UTTER VILE EXCREMENT!!! Exit polls are used by UN organizations all over the world to determine whether an election is fair. The most recent and a most obvious example was the exit polling done in the Ukraine. This exit polling, by the way, was managed by the U.S.!!!! It was also the number one reason why the U.S. disputed the first Ukraine election results, immediately following the outcome. Furthermore, NOONE IS POSTULATING THAT THE EXIT POLLS CAN NEVER BE WRONG!!!! Freeman et al. are merely pointing out that THERE IS A SIGNIFICANT DISCREPANCY -- which cannot be explained by sampling error. PERIOD

The notion that a single definitive number showing Kerry winning ever existed is also wrong. "We never had unadjusted unofficial totals," said the source. "As we get more data, we're always adjusting."

In this case, what most likely happened was that more Bush supporters failed to complete exit poll surveys than Kerry backers. The reason for that can be as trivial as a sampler skipping someone who looks unfriendly or voters not liking the race or demeanor of the sampler.

Nowhere in this putrid piece of journalistic bunk has it been mentioned that Mitofsky -- "THE FATHER OF THE EXIT POLL" -- is doing an investigation into this discrepancy. In fact, Mitofsky was first reported to be doing an investigation into his exit polling in November. I have not heard whether he has reported any findings yet or indeed, whether his investigation is continuing (perhaps someone can provide me with more information about that?). Mitofsky's hypothesis -- which is mentioned above -- is what blogger Joseph Cannon calls "the chatty democrat" theory. Although, the explanation painted above throws a twist on it. Baker mentions that the one doing the sampling could be skipping unfriendly looking voters -- which all happen to be Republicans, of course!!!! Not only is this a politically racist comment (is that a term?) -- it is highly unlikely. In order for this particular theory to hold water it would have to be SYSTEMIC. That is, a significant number of the exit poll personnel would have to have been not only judging the way people look in a similar fashion -- they would all have to be breaking the rules of the "random sample" procedure. The random sample procedure implemented in this exit polling selected people based on a certain number (eg. every 10th person is chosen).

(For what it is worth, I learned that Mitofsky is a lifelong liberal and apparently holds no brief for Bush. But a job's a job, and a professional is a professional.)

Yes, and you, Russ Baker, are doing nothing to strengthen the integrity of your profession in your country.

I will state it again as I stated it before. Freeman and Baiman's analyses state that either:

1. There is a systematic bias (not statistical error) which has skewed the exit polling.

or

2. There was counting error (benign, malicious, or both)

It should be duly noted (which Baker has not) that THERE IS NO EVIDENCE TO SUPPORT number 1. The same can also be said for number 2, however, there was not a proper complete random and fair recount done in Ohio.

Mr. Baker -- if there was a journalistic equivalent of being "disbarred" -- you should be be a prime candidate for this dishonour!! Shame on you!!!

Now, does anyone else have any comments about the rest of the crap found in this article??!!

ADDENDUM:

I picked up this little excerpt from www.russbaker.com:

"...Baker is involved in the development of the Fourth Estate Society, a new not-for-profit organization dedicated to revitalizing investigative journalism in America..."

Good luck, America!


link
http://newsclipautopsy.blogspot.com/2005/01/huge-mistruth-alternet-lowers-american.html

[dzika]

37. Take Action: Demand Paper Ballots, Hand Counted!

(thanks to Carolab)

Take Action: Demand Paper Ballots, Hand Counted!

http://www.votersunite.org/takeaction/handcounted.asp

Take Action: Demand Paper Ballots, Hand Counted!
We are preparing a press release announcing the groups who are calling for paper ballots and other essential election protection measures for the November 2004 election and beyond. If your group agrees with the statements below and would like to be included in the press release, please email us your endorsement.


- The "central finding" of a 2001 CalTech/MIT study was that, of all voting systems used in the United States, hand counted paper ballots have the lowest average incidence of spoiled, uncounted, and unmarked ballots.
- Errors in the software, firmware, and election-specific ballot programming of both paperless electronic voting machines (DREs) and optical scan tabulation machines have caused hundreds of election problems in recent years, including high levels of uncounted and unmarked ballots. It is unreasonable to believe that all such errors have been detected.

- Manual recounts of optical-scan ballots have overturned initial, inaccurate machine results in many such cases. It is only reasonable to believe that the outcomes of many other elections (both DRE and optical scan) have been inaccurate, and the inaccuracies were not detected.

- Computer-counting errors have a much greater potential impact than hand-counting errors.

- The electronic voting systems used in the United States, both optical scan and DRE, have severe and unresolved security and accuracy flaws that are not being remedied by election procedures.

- While we advocate the use of computers to assist people in marking their ballots, computers cannot count those ballots reliably.

Therefore, in order to protect the accuracy of our election outcomes, we demand the following:

- All ballots shall be paper ballots and hand counted.

- Every voting system using automated or electronic means of recording and/or counting votes shall provide a paper ballot whose accuracy can be verified by the voter, and that paper ballot shall be the legal ballot used for the official canvass, audit, recount, and final record.

- Ballot counts shall be done by precinct with public oversight.

- Ballot-count results shall be made public immediately at each precinct.

- Media outlets shall wait until all polling places close before reporting any election results or outcome predictions.


http://www.votersunite.org/takeaction/handcounted.asp



DU Thread: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x270786

[dzika]

38. Report on Washington DC, January 6, 2005 - What you DIDN'T see

helderheid (1000+ posts) Mon Jan-10-05 08:41 PM
Original message

Report on Washington DC, January 6, 2005 - What you DIDN'T see

*Note - I didn't write this - just received it.*

Friends,

This is the news report you did NOT see last night on CNN, FOX, NBC, CBS, or hear on NPR or read in the NY Times, Washington Post, LA Times, Columbus Dispatch, The Raleigh News and Observer or the Asheville Citizen-Times.

On Wednesday, January 5th I made a last minute decision to ride with three friends, Michael, Patty, and Sonnie, from the Asheville NC area to Washington DC to participate in a protest march the following day at the Capitol to coincide with the certification of the Electoral College vote by a joint session of Congress. I can't logically explain what compelled me in this direction except that there is a powerful inner force, similar in nature, I'm sure, to what made thousands drive to Devils Tower, Wyoming in "Close Encounters of the Third Kind." I had to go.

We drove all night and arrived at Alexandria Virginia at about 7:30 in the morning where we parked Michael's truck, checked our backpacks into a motel room and had just enough time to eat a quick breakfast, create a few hand-held signs from poster board and permanent markers, then catch the metro into downtown for the first leg of protest at the FBI building. There was no sleep involved.

On the train people looked curiously at the signs we were carrying. Most were apparently unaware that history was being made on this day and appeared puzzled, perhaps annoyed, not that they were necessarily opposed to what we were doing, but that their perception of reality was being tweaked a little bit. Wasn't the election over? What's this about? The American public is clueless.

We entered the city from the Metro onto Pennsylvania Avenue where the grandstands had already been placed along the street for the anticipated inauguration on January 20. This struck me as rather presumptuous, given the fact that the Electoral College vote had not been certified yet, like building the gallows before the jury comes back with the verdict. At about 9 AM there was just a handful of people in front of the FBI building holding a large banner that read "FBI: INVESTIGATE THE ELECTION". This group mainly consisted of people from the New York City area. We joined them with our orange signs reading, "RECOUNT, RE-VOTE or REVOLT", "REJECT THE ELECTION FRAUD" and such. More people began to arrive. Morning traffic was light on Pennsylvania Avenue. There was some curiousity, but not much reaction. We were not discouraged. Toward 10 AM we began to migrate as a group of about 25-30 people toward Lafayette Park next to the White House, where a rally had been scheduled by the Greens, Libertarians and Progressive Democrats.

There we found about five hundred people of a most diversified nature milling around, setting up a speakers platform, handing out literature, preparing for events to follow. Police stood around the periphery of the park, unthreateningly, but there presence was noticeable. There were people from all over the country who travelled all night to be there (as if to Devil's Tower), people of color, well, we were all people of color. The crowd grew steadily as the migration continued from all directions. Speakers began to speak...inspiringly. Green Party candidate David Cobb, US Representative Maxine Waters, Hip-Hop poets-amazingly eloquent, coherent in-sync lyrics that captured the moment with uncanny accuracy and set the tone and rythm of the event, the profound series of events that were to take place in the next few hours. Then Jesse Jackson was introduced and spoke. It was Selma Alabama again. It was the march on Washington. The spirits of Goodman, Schwerner and Cheney, Medgar Evans, Martin Luther King were invoked and became part of us. And then Jackson announced that he had some very good news. Senator Barbara Boxer of California informed him that she as well as five other senators would stand with the members of the House in objecting to certification of the Ohio slate of Electors forcing the joint session of Congress to Constitutionally disband, for only the second time since 1867, to separately debate the legitamacy of a state's election process. The shameful and painful scene, in 2000, of Black Caucus members pleading for help from at least one senator to force debate over voter disenfranchisement would not be repeated. A huge cheer, a cry of joy reverberated through the streets of the nation's Capitol. Undoubtedly the occupants of the White House had to perk up their ears at that moment and wonder what was going on outside.

The spell had been broken. Bush would not ascend to his second term in office without at least some measure of irregularity questioning the legitimacy of the process. The emporer's new clothes would receive some public exposure, if only for a brief moment. But, that moment may become a reference point in history that will mark the beginning of the second American Revolution.

As Jesse Jackson ended his time at the podium, the crowd, now exceeding a thousand people, began to form into a moving mass of humanity as the march toward the capitol materialized. Led by Jackson, followed by a huge, fifteen-foot cardboard puppet hoisted into the air, accompanied by a corps of drummers and then the masses, we proceeded down Pennsylvania Avenue, without a permit. Police informed us that we had to remain on the sidewalk and not block traffic. But, the crowd could not be contained on the sidewalk and spilled out, blocking one lane of traffic entirely. The police seemed respectful and did not interfere as the steady, dramatic drumbeat became accompanied by the repetitive chant, "COUNT-ALL-THE VOTES, COUNT-ALL-THE VOTES, COUNT-ALL-THE VOTES, COUNT-ALL-THE VOTES, oh yes sir, COUNT-ALL-THE VOTES, I hear you, COUNT-ALL-THE VOTES, for the children, COUNT-ALL-THE VOTES, what's that now?, COUNT-ALL-THE VOTES," rocking the streets, reverberating through the city, a thousand voices and loud, perfect drums beats in perfect unison. Office building windows became lined with people looking to see what was happening down there on the street. Crowds began to accumulate on the street on the periphery of the march. Cars honked their horns in solidarity with the signs, banners, chanting and drumbeat. The chant changed to, "THIS-IS-WHAT DEMOCRACY-LOOKS LIKE", "THIS-IS-WHAT-DEMOCRACY-LOOKS LIKE", "THIS-IS-WHAT-DEMOCRACY-LOOKS LIKE". We were a thousand Hip-Hop artists marching. We were King and Goodman, Shwerner and Cheney and Medgar Evers in Hip-Hop, dancing and marching. Solemn yet joyous. Profound beyond the description of words. The sight and sounds brought enlightened smiles to the faces of those who witnessed it from their buildings and on the sidewalks, as if the welcome realization had reached them, "Ah, there still is hope. Democracy does still resides in the streets of America, after all. I had thought it had died." The march was a half-hour of perfect synchronicity. With each step of progress toward the Capitol Building it seemed as if we were turning the grey, lonely cityscape back into a place where the full spectrum of light and color once more resides. The thousands who witnessed the event understood, now, for the first time, that this election was being challenged. It was not business as usual. There is an organized effort to resist the illegal takeover of our government. It is growing.

As the march progressed and came to within a block of the Capitol building, we were met by mounted police who herded us around to the park on the northeast corner. We would remain there all day in a rally that lasted until about 5 PM. Here there were more speakers and some musical artists who performed. Also we were regularly informed of news reported from the proceedings in Congress. When it was reported that Representative Stephanie Tubbs Jones of Ohio officially submitted her written objection to the certification of the Ohio electors and was joined by Senator Boxer forcing a halt to the proceedings of the Joint Congressional session, a huge, amplified cheer arose. The Republican leadership was furious. Their perfect day of triumph had been spoiled by the "sore losers", as if the Presidential election were a college competition that requires good sportmanship once the victor manages to win by whatever means. World shaping issues are rendered irrelevant and subserviant to the etiquette of knowing how to lose when out-maneuvered. Not defeated in a fair election, but out-maneuvered. Thousands dead in Iraq, trillions of dollars of debt, "Clear Skies", "Healthy Forests", torture in prisons, flagrant continual violations of the Geneva Convention protocols, drilling in the Arctic Wildlife Refuge, reporters arrested for not revealing news sources, regressive tax reform. Sore losers. "Get over it," we are chastised by the self-righteous hoodlums in power. What is not realized is that the mainstream news media blackout of the election challenge movement is a double-edged sword. If they had been able to witness the spirit, depth and commitment of today's march and rally on the evening news, the Republican leadership would have known that we will never "get over it." But, we will overcome it, overwhelm it and take back our country through demonstration, marching, investigating, exposing, indicting, convicting, forcing resignation, and impeaching.

"The Revolution Will Not Be Televised...The Revolution Will Be Live", Gil Scott-Heron

By blacking out and over-controlling their own news media, the Republican leadership has cut itself off from the reality of what is happening out on the streets more than it has stemmed the growth of the election challenge movement. This movement has developed alternative means of communicating and organizing vast networks for spreading the word quickly and efficiently without the help of the mainstream media. These information networks are going to do nothing but grow and get better, rapidly. If your only source of information was the evening news and the morning newspaper, you wouldn't even have known that there was an historic protest march and rally in Washington on Thursday, January 6, 2005. But, you do know. The Second American Revolution may not be televised, but that will not prevent it from happening. Here are some pictures of Thursday's events. http://www.canarycoalition.org/050106.htm

Avram Friedman
[e-mail]

DU Thread: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x275353

[dzika]

39. Bush, Kerry don't return calls from Ohio anymore

January 11, 2005

Bush, Kerry don't return our calls

By Matt Sussman
OPINION EDITOR


There's nothing more disheartening than when people you thought were your friends never come around to hang out anymore. They always tell you they're "too busy," or "had something come up," or that "the election is over."

Remember when President Bush and John Kerry always used to come over to Ohio? It seemed as if they made a surprise visit to some Ohio town every other day. Bush mosied over to Toledo, and said he cared about us, and thought we were cool cats. He visited historic Fort Meigs State Memorial in Perrysburg. He even made a surprise visit to a Cleveland Browns practice, at which point he and Dick Cheney beat them in a scrimmage, 28-14.

Kerry one-upped him and brought the bus to Bowling Green back in August. He even invited notable Ohioans -- John Glenn, the astronaut/senator, and Dennis Kucinich, the lovable Martian captured by Glenn in space.

-snip-

Sadly, our popularity peaked on the eve of Nov. 2. Everyone tuned in to Brokaw, Rather and Jennings to hear the million dollar question: "What does Ohio think?"

Once the nation knew what we thought, nobody cared about us anymore. That is, nobody important -- just those adorable little third parties.

Before the election, we were rubbing elbows with the Democratic and Republican candidates: Bush the party animal and Kerry the jock. Now, we're being bugged by the Green Party's David Cobb and the Libertarian Party's Michael Badnarik -- the Milhouse Van Houtens of American politics. Badnarik is a former computer programmer, and Cobb looks like someone we could easily hassle for some lunch money.

In short, Ohio is now infested with nerds. Pushy nerds, at that.

-snip-

We don't have anything in common with Bush or Kerry. They're all about fiscal responsibility in Washington and keeping America safe from terrorists and bogeymen. All we do is get drunk on the weekends and play Halo 2 while eating pizza.

Maybe the politician who runs on that platform should stop by, and we can just chillax or something.


This column is Matt's cry for help, as he has no cool friends. If you're cool, e-mail him at [e-mail].

http://www.bgnews.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2005/01/11/41e3670e88a4d

[dzika]

40. The lingering stench in Ohio

Tuesday, January 11, 2005 - Page updated at 12:00 A.M.

The lingering stench in Ohio

William Raspberry / Syndicated columnist

WASHINGTON — I don't usually let other people do my thinking for me, but I confess I'd been waiting for Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., to tell me what to think about the voting irregularities that marred the November elections in Ohio.

Bloggers have been burning up the Internet with tales of manipulation and fraud....

-snip-

Political reporters, mainstream editors and most of Congress seemed utterly unalarmed. Were they asleep at the switch? Were they afraid of discovering a truth that the country couldn't handle? Or was there simply not much of a story?

But then I learned that Conyers, the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, was holding hearings on the matter. And if there was an alarm that needed to be sounded, Conyers would sound it.

Well, he sounded it last Thursday, in a 100-page report titled "Preserving Democracy: What Went Wrong in Ohio" — and I still don't know whether to run for the hills or just be a bit more careful next time.


continued
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2002147273_raspberry11.html

[dzika]

41. Eminem regrets not releasing anti-Bush track earlier

11/01/2005 - 08:35:27

Eminem regrets not releasing anti-Bush track earlier

Eminem fears he may have cost US presidential wannabe John Kerry vital votes last November because he didn't get his emotive single Mosh out sooner.

The rapper released the anti-George W Bush single and accompanying video just before the election, but he fears he could have swung the vote against the President if the track was released two weeks earlier.

He says: "I do got a little bit of regrets about that. We got it out there as soon as we could. It was one of the first songs we mixed.

"We were trying to get Just Lose It out there. We didn't want to get Mosh out there and come off too political. Eminem's never been too political. I never been the militant-type political rapper.

"We did our best to get it out as soon as we could. But do I wish it could have come out two weeks earlier? Yes."


link
http://breakingnews.iol.ie/entertainment/story.asp?j=130007782&p=y3xxx8488

[dzika]

42. Propaganda for WA Revote - Feds threatened to sue over military ballots

Tuesday, January 11, 2005

Feds threatened to sue over military ballots in October

By The Associated Press


OLYMPIA, Wash. — The U.S. Department of Justice threatened to sue the state about a month before the November election, saying Washington was moving too slowly in mailing military ballots overseas.

State Elections Director Nick Handy sent all county auditors an urgent e-mail about the threat on Oct. 7. At the time, Washington was the only state in the country that had not yet mailed its overseas ballots.

"They just put their foot down,'' Handy told The Seattle Times for a story in Monday editions. "When you get a call from them and they say, ‘You're doing something by tomorrow or we're filing a lawsuit,' it really gets your attention.''

-snip-

In an e-mail from Fallujah, Marine Cpl. Led Lester of Snohomish County told The Times the mail system in Iraq "is a joke,'' noting that one mail truck was blown up a week before the election.

"As far as I know, I would be willing to bet a large amount of money that 95 percent of the people in my platoon, company and battalion did not receive a ballot,'' Lester wrote. "The other 5 percent did, but they received them burned beyond recognition and about 4-5 weeks too late.''

Lester said he never got his ballot.

Last week Secretary of State Sam Reed unveiled a package of election reforms that included moving the primary from September to June, in part to give election workers more time to address close races, and get ballots to and from military and overseas voters.

link
http://www.gazettetimes.com/articles/2005/01/11/news/the_west/tuewst02.txt

[dzika]

43. GOP bid to stall Gregoire is turned back

Tuesday, January 11, 2005

GOP bid to stall Gregoire is turned back

Democrats foil move for delay in confirmation

By CHRIS McGANN
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER CAPITOL CORRESPONDENT


OLYMPIA -- On the first day of the legislative session, Senate Republicans made a rushed attempt to persuade lawmakers to put off Democrat Christine Gregoire's gubernatorial confirmation for two weeks while a court challenge to her slim victory is heard.

They failed, but the Republican Party said its case for nullifying the election and getting a revote gets stronger by the day. GOP Chairman Chris Vance said yesterday King County Elections officials had exaggerated the extent to which they could explain discrepancies between the number of votes counted and people credited with voting -- a key component of the Republicans' legal challenge.

Vance said the actual gap was 2,400, double what county election officials reported Friday. King County Elections officials said Vance was the one exaggerating, but acknowledged that the number was greater than the figure of about 1,200 they gave on Friday.

Republicans are contesting in court the election that Gregoire won by 129 votes in a hand recount over Dino Rossi. The first hearing in the case is scheduled Friday in front of Chelan County Superior Court Judge T.W. "Chip" Small.

While arguing the issue on the Senate floor yesterday, Republicans relied heavily on the points Rossi outlined in his court challenge.


more
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/207376_governor11.html

[dzika]

44. Accurate voting requires four-step verifications

Tuesday, Jan 11, 2005

Accurate voting requires four-step verifications

CHANDLER HARRISON STEVENS


When U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer challenged Ohio's electoral votes last week, the debate began on how to save our democracy from fraud, error, bad technologies and obsolete procedures. The answer to electoral reforms is found in one word: verify. At four levels. Verify, verify, verify and verify.

The oldest form of voter fraud is to "Vote early and often." Thumbprint scans that verify voter identities can prevent most types of voting fraud. Homeland security on airline flights, etc., may soon make such technology inexpensive and commonplace. Due to objections by civil libertarians, thumbprint scanning could be optional at the polls, but most would use it anyway to assure fairer and more honest elections.

Once voters' identities are verified, the second reform needed is for voters themselves to verify the votes they cast. In 2000, badly designed butterfly punched card ballots in Florida led to votes meant for Al Gore going to Pat Buchanan, as Buchanan himself admitted. In 2004 there was no paper trail in Georgia touch-screen voting. For 2008, imagine a reformed voting process. First, you indicate for whom you are voting and then you verify that the result is as you intended. Perhaps on a touch screen or even on an Internet screen, you mark your ballot with all votes you want to cast. Then a printout must be produced for you to carefully review. You verify that the printout is correct by re-submitting it in a scanner. Until that scanned paper ballot matches what you entered previously, each verified vote is NOT yet cast.

The third needed reform is to verify voting tallies. The scanned paper ballot, as envisioned above, when matching electronically entered votes, would amount to an immediate verification of running tallies. All paper ballots, whether of the above sort or more traditional ballot forms, would be retained for additional recounting if needed in the closest races. Whenever any manual recount does not match the initial verified tallies, then re-voting, as just occurred in Ukraine, could be required. There are other lessons to learn from Ukraine and other newer democracies. For example, voting on Sundays, or over an entire weekend, could avoid conflicts with religious traditions as well as with work. Commissions formed nationally and internationally should recommend more democratic standards for local and state elections.

These three reforms would verify voter identification, accuracy in casting votes, and in tallying votes. The fourth needed reform would verify election outcomes by introducing runoffs of the sort that became familiar in Ukraine's recent election crisis.


continued
http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/news/editorial/10612161.htm