Tuesday 1/11/05 Election/Fraud/Recount Thread

[MelissaB]

In order to organize and document I thought it would be a good idea to have a daily thread to place items related to 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=203x275168

[MelissaB]

1. A Title Worthy: "The Lingering Stench In Ohio"

Right title. Too bad his own paper lamely called it "What Happened in Ohio" Jerks.





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. 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 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?


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


Thanks to EMunster here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x277262

[dzika]

2. January 20th, 2005 -- Anti-Inauguration Call-to-Action

MORE DIVERSE LINKS AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS PAGE...

Please forward this along! Inauguration protest information --
January 20th, 2005 -- Anti-Inauguration Call-to-Action

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: www.inaugurationmedia.org Radio
Coordinator: Selina; 202-250-4939;

---

General Strike - USA author: Fed Up General Strike Thursday January 20, 2005 Inauguration Day

Show George II, "The W", how much we support his reign, by supporting a General Strike on Thursday, January 20, 2005.

We must show the world that we are not satisfied with "black box" voting, where there is no paper trail of the votes cast. Over 8,000 votes in precincts of less than 700, voting machines counting backwards, misallocating the votes from Kerry to Bush. Dozens and dozens of instances of unquestionable vote fraud aided and abetted
by Republicans both in the Corporate world and the Political.

We must show that "We the People of the united States of America" are out here, are sovereign, and that we will no longer stand by while our basic rights and liberties are ripped away from us like bloody swatches of skin.

A "General Strike" means:

No Economic Activity Whatsoever for examples (list not all inclusive):

No buying gas. No buying food. No fast food. No paying bills. No use of US Postal Service. No movies, Pay-Per-View, or video game rentals. No taking public transportation. No paying of tolls (bridge, turnpike, etc.)

If we all, those who do NOT support the regime of George W. Bush (et al), stay away from any economic activity on Inauguration Day, we will hurt his supporters in the most significant way - in their pocket books!

Imagine, millions and millions of folks missing work, holding rallies, and not spending a dime that day (!!!). OhMyGod, the sky will fall!

Repooplicans mobbing DC for the festivities, depending on the 'plebes' to be there serving them, and on Inauguration Day, everyone is marching to a different drum! Who will wipe their - - noses? Or gather laurels for them to rest upon?

Of course, a person needing medical attention, or ongoing care (i.e. dialysis) is exempted.

Otherwise, we need to Shut the Country Down on Inauguration Day!

Get your family, your friends, your co-workers - women, men, black, brown, WHATEVER! It doesn't matter your background; if you value your freedom, and want to resist the fascists who are taking control, STRIKE!

Strike! Strike! Strike! Strike! Strike! Strike! Strike! Strike!

reposted from Portland Indymedia J20 FLASHMOBS .1 Bush Contributor Exxon/Mobil 01.Jan.2005 20:01

Depending on the number of participants in your city, two or more flashmobs could descend on various locations and then converge with the main counter-inaugural protest (before moving elsewhere).

Esso/Exxon/Mobil provides an internationally unifying group of landmarks and could provide a clear link between Bush, corporations, oil, war, and the system in general.

Flashmobs could be a great way to rally the troops. It may not be easy but it's also not to late (and might be fun) -- so get busy, get active, get revolting!

http://www.flashmob.com/faq.html http://xflashmobs.com/faq.asp
http://www.pacificenvironment.org/stopexxonmobil

===== NUREMBERG CHARTER, Section 2, Article 6:

. . . (a) CRIMES AGAINST PEACE: namely, planning, preparation, initiation or waging of a war of aggression, or a war in violation of international treaties, agreements or assurances, or participation in a common plan or conspiracy for the accomplishment of any of the foregoing;

(b) WAR CRIMES . . . Such violations shall include, but not be limited to . . . murder or ill-treatment of prisoners of war . . . , killing of hostages, plunder of public or private property, wanton destruction of cities, towns or villages, or devastation not justified by military necessity . . .

. . . AND TO THINK HANS BLIX ASKED FOR TWO MORE MONTHS. . .

Iraq Body Count:
http://www.iraqbodycount.net/

Iraq Coalition Body Count:
http://icasualties.org/oif/

GEORGE BUSH AND MEMBERS OF HIS GOVERNMENT ARE WAR CRIMINALS! IMPEACH BUSH NOW! STOP THE NEO-CON WAR MACHINE! RESIST WAR TAXATION!

http://www.nwtrcc.org HAUL BUSH AND HIS PROFITEERS BEFORE THE ICC!


link
http://grassrootsamerica.blogspot.com/2005/01/inauguration-strike.html

[dzika]

3. NLPC Welcomes Cut-Off of Jesse Jackson Support by New York Stock Exchange

(Geez.. Does this sound like an attack on Jesse?)

1/11/2005 8:11:00 AM

NLPC Welcomes Cut-Off of Jesse Jackson Support by New York Stock Exchange

To: National Desk, Legal Reporter

Contact: Peter Flaherty of National Legal and Policy Center, 703-237-1970; Web: http://www.nlpc.org

WASHINGTON, Jan. 1 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Peter Flaherty, president of the National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC), today reacted to the New York Stock Exchange's decision not to provide funds for Jesse Jackson's 2005 Wall Street Conference, opening today in New York City. The NYSE had helped underwrite the event in previous years.

The NYSE action is in apparent response to requests made by NLPC, and is reported by CNSNews.com today

Flaherty commented, "I am encouraged that the NYSE has now apparently met our request to cut off Jackson. It looks like the Exchange takes corporate ethics seriously. One of the last vestiges of Richard Grasso's failed legacy has been swept away."

On September 29, 2003, NLPC urged then-interim NYSE Chairman John Reed to "cease and desist" from further NYSE support for Jackson. On October 23, 2003, media reports indicated that the NYSE had denied Jackson use of the Exchange floor for a fundraising gala connected to the 2004 Wall Street Conference, but that it would remain a financial supporter.

On January 12, 2004, Flaherty wrote incoming NYSE CEO John Thain applauding the denial of Jackson's use of the Exchange floor, but stating that continued financial support of Jackson's groups was "unacceptable."

Flaherty continued, "This move is significant because once an institution has been successfully shaken down by Jackson, it is difficult to escape him in future years. Jackson can never really be bought, only rented."

"Jesse Jackson has made repeated trips to Ohio in an attempt to overturn the results of the presidential election. He led a march on the Ohio Supreme Court and demand it award Ohio's electoral votes to John Kerry. These are the actions of a demagogue. It is inappropriate to force the customers and shareholders of American corporations to subsidize these activities."

"The NYSE cut-off is a dramatic step that puts the individual companies that bankroll Jackson on the spot. It is a lot harder for the Verizons and PepsiCos to argue that there's nothing wrong with supporting Jackson's groups. We plan to intensify our campaign against these companies and several others."

In recent weeks, NLPC has filed shareholder resolutions with Verizon, PepsiCo and Fannie Mae to end their support of Jackson's groups. Verizon and PepsiCo have appealed to the Securities and Exchange Commission to exclude NLPC's proposals.

In 2001, NLPC filed a formal IRS Complaint against the so- called Citizenship Education Fund (CEF), Jesse Jackson's largest nonprofit group. The Complaint alleges that Jackson, his family and friends have become wealthy through the operation of the CEF. The Complaint cites news articles detailing Jackson's "opulent lifestyle."

In 2003, NLPC organized and led a widely publicized protest of NASCAR's support for Jesse Jackson's organizations. NASCAR acknowledged on its own website that it was the most heated protest it had ever faced.

NLPC promotes ethics in public life, and sponsors the Corporate Integrity Project.


link:
http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=41495

[dzika]

4. Perry Co. auditor suit goes forward in Ohio

Tuesday, January 11, 2005

Perry Co. auditor suit goes forward in Ohio

By Kathy Thompson, [e-mail]
Staff Writer


NEW LEXINGTON -- With only a week under his belt as the new Perry County auditor, former Speaker of the House Larry Householder finds himself embroiled in controversy.

After beating his Democratic opponent Bill Crane by only 277 votes in the Nov. 2 election, Householder and the Perry County Board of Elections are being sued over "defective" votes and voting procedures.

((snip))

Court proceedings plowed ahead, even though an investigation conducted by the office of Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell found no evidence of fraud. Blackwell's office found technical problems and a need for more training for poll workers. None of the problems would affect Householder's win over Crane though.

Testimony began in Perry County on Monday morning in front of retired Fairfield County Common Pleas Judge J. Martin, who is presiding over the case after Perry County Common Pleas Judge Linton Lewis recused himself from the case. He felt proceedings would be more impartial with a visiting judge.

((snip))

The case will continue at 9 a.m. today at the Perry County Courthouse.

more
http://www.zanesvilletimesrecorder.com/news/stories/20050111/localnews/1853057.html

[dzika]

5. John Nichols: On Ohio vote, Congress shirked its duty

January 11, 2005

John Nichols: On Ohio vote, Congress shirked its duty

By John Nichols


David Cobb, the Green Party presidential candidate who has devoted the past two months to the arduous task of pressing for a full review of the mess that Ohio officials made of the election in that state, called Friday afternoon to proclaim a sort of victory.


"I think we've finally got a movement going for election reform in this country," he said.

To an extent, he's right.

At the grass-roots level, there appears to be growing support for a count-every-vote, eliminate-every-opportunity-for-fraud standard that would radically alter the way in which the United States runs elections.

And to some small extent, this enthusiasm for election reform has been communicated to those members of Congress who are still interested in what their constituents say - as was evidenced by Thursday's decision on the part of U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., to support the objection by members of the House to the certification of Ohio's electoral votes.The objection, and the congressional debates that followed, were decried by the usual suspects - White House spokesman Scott McClellan, who has the distinction of having never told the truth in his official capacity, dismissed evidence of disenfranchisement of minority voters as "conspiracy theories." But the objection also drew enough thoughtful coverage and editorial comment from mainstream media to suggest that the fight was worth it.


continued
http://www.madison.com/captimes/opinion/index.php?ntid=24073&ntpid=1

[texpatriot2004]

6. kick

[dzika]

7. CNN Video - Dean Expected to Announce Bid for DNC Chair

CNN - Dean Expected to Announce Bid for DNC Chair



Real Media
http://www.edwardsdavid.com/BushVideos/cnn_dean_050111-01.rm

Also, Bush nominates Michael Chertoff as head of Homeland Security. Homeland Security Officials are "flabbergasted".

[dzika]

9. More Information on HS Nomination - Michael Chertoll

News Update from Citizens for Legitimate Government

Breaking: Bush picks judge to head homeland security --Chertoff is 2nd pick after Kerik withdrew nomination --Michael Chertoff, ultraconservative lawyer/prosecutor, is the Bush nominee for Homeland Security Secretary. He helped with nation's 'legal response' to 9-11 attacks. He was a chief investigator during the Whitewater witch-hunts. Chertoff had a hand in shaping the USA Patriot Act. <*See: [b>Michael Chertoff: Ashcroft's Top Gremlin --Spreading Mischief from DoJ to the Federal Bench --by Elaine Cassel, June 11, 2003]


http://legitgov.org/index.html#breaking_news

[dzika]

8. Lead in Movement to Challenge Ohio's Votes Plans Summit - "What's Next"

Lead Group in Movement to Challenge Ohio's Electoral Votes Plans Summit to Address "What's Next"

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
JANUARY 11, 2005
9:40 AM
CONTACT: Progressive Democrats of America
Kevin Spidel, 602-373-6990

---

Lead Group in Movement to Challenge Ohio's Electoral Votes Plans Summit to Address "What's Next"

WASHINGTON -- January 11 -- Progressive Democrats of America (PDA) will meet with hundreds of activists from across the country in Washington DC on January 21 -23, 2005 to discuss election reform and other progressive plans for 2005 and beyond. Key leaders of the movement to contest the 2004 Presidential vote will convene a panel to discuss the lessons learned. In the audience will be hundreds of activists committed to PDA’s 9-point electoral reform package, which calls for:

1) A Constitutional amendment confirming the right to vote, as advocated by Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D-IL)

2) Required paper reports for all electronic and electronically tabulated voting systems

3) Same-day registration for all Americans

4) The creation of unified federal standards for national elections

5) Meaningful equal protection of voting rights by such means as equal voting systems, equal numbers of machines, and equal time to vote

6) An end to partisan oversight of the electoral process

7) Extended voting periods to allow all voters a meaningful opportunity to vote

8) Instant Run-off Voting, Proportional Representation and Fusion

9) Publicly financed elections for federal offices


Panelists include Gregory Moore (NAACP National Voter Fund), David Cobb (Green Party Presidential Candidate), Gary Flowers (Policy Director Rainbow PUSH/Coalition) and others. The election reform panel, one of dozens scheduled during the Summit, will convene at 2:00 P.M. on Sunday, January 23rd at the David A. Clarke School of Law Auditorium, 4200 Connecticut Ave., NW, Washington, D.C. as part of a larger program to advance and bolster the Progressive movement within the Democratic Party and alliances between progressive Democrats and other progressive organizations.

Tim Carpenter, Director of PDA, says of the Summit, "The Progressive Democratic Summit in Washington, DC on January 21 -23, 2005 is an historic gathering where progressive grassroots activists and progressive allies from across the country will strengthen our collaborative ties and efforts, lay concrete plans to end the war in Iraq, to unite in our call for single payer health care, and challenge the Bush administration in it's short sighted avaricious views and practices, whether of social security or the environment."

The Summit is an active "working weekend" with hands on action panels and small group meetings on regional issues and alliances. Already confirmed participants include Amy Goodman, Tom Hayden, Medea Benjamin, William Rivers Pitt and dozens of other respected activists. Planners hope to leave the Summit with a synchronized time line of how to take back the heart and soul of the political process and the Democratic Party and of our economy and our institutions from the moneyed interests and the military-industrial complex now controlling them.

More information about the summit agenda and registration is available at www.pdamerica.org

Progressive Democrats of America (PDA) was a leading organization in the movement to contest the Ohio electors on January 6th, 2005. PDA mobilized over 100,000 activists to lobby Senator Boxer and Representative Stephanie Tubbs-Jones to stand and contest the Ohio Electors based on evidence of election fraud and helped lobby for Congressional Forums with Representative John Conyers (D-MI) both inside the Judiciary Committee and in Ohio.



link
http://www.commondreams.org/news2005/0111-03.htm

[dzika]

10. ELECTION DECEPTION DOLLAR

Help Support TvNews LIES.org. Make a donation and receive this very special ELECTION DECEPTION DOLLAR




http://www.tvnewslies.org/cart/view_product.php?product=ELEALCSC5

[dzika]

11. WA Democrats override GOP’s attempt to halt certification of election

Tacoma, WA - January 11, 2005

Session opens on partisan note
Democrats override GOP’s attempt to halt certification of election

KENNETH P. VOGEL; The News Tribune



During a debate on a Republican motion Monday in Olympia
to delay certification of the election results, Sen. Dave Schmidt
(R-Mill Creek) makes an impassioned appeal for the delay. “If I was
in Iraq and I got my ballot late, would you count my vote?” the
22-year Washington Army National Guardsman asked colleagues.



The pomp typical of the first day of the legislative session was partially overshadowed Monday by lingering fallout over the state’s governor’s race.

((snip))

The suit alleges that the election, in which Rossi won the first two counts before Gregoire won an unprecedented hand recount, was so flawed as to be illegitimate. It’ll begin working its way through the courts Friday, with a process hearing in Chelan County Superior Court.

((snip))

In the meantime, a joint session of the state House and Senate is set today to issue certificates of election to all statewide elected officials, including Gregoire. In most years, it’s a perfunctory move that goes unnoticed.

But there’s expected to be another vigorous debate today and supporters of both candidates are planning demonstrations outside the domed Legislative Building.


continued
http://www.thenewstribune.com/front/topphoto/story/4433676p-4192795c.html

[dzika]

12. Poll indicates Few U.S. Voters Undecided Before Election

January 11, 2005

Few U.S. Voters Undecided Before Election

(Angus Reid - CPOD Global Scan) – Most voters in the United States picked a presidential candidate last year and never changed their minds, according to the National Annenberg Election Survey released by the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania. 84 per cent of respondents say they did not consider voting for another contender.

In American elections, candidates require 270 votes in the Electoral College to win the White House. On Nov. 2, Republican incumbent George W. Bush earned a second term after securing 286 electoral votes from 31 states. Democratic nominee John Kerry earned 252 electoral votes from 19 states and the District of Columbia. 84 per cent of Bush supporters—and 85 per cent of Kerry backers—say they never thought they would vote for another candidate.

On Jan. 5, the results of the Electoral College were certified during a joint session of Congress. The process was delayed after several Democratic congressmen objected to the counting of Ohio’s 20 votes, alleging irregularities. The challenge was defeated in the House of Representatives after a 267 to 31 vote, and in the Senate by a 74 to 1 vote.

Bush will be sworn in for his second four-year term on Jan. 20.

Polling Data

Did you ever think you would vote for other candidate?

All Bush (R) Kerry (D)

Yes 15% 16% 15%

Never 84% 84% 85%


Source: National Annenberg Election Survey / Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania
Methodology: Telephone interviews to 8,664 American adults, conducted from Nov. 4 to Dec. 28, 2004. Margin of error is 2 per cent.

link
http://www.cpod.ca/polls/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewItem&itemID=5519

[dzika]

13. Covering Elections There, Miscovering Them Here

January 11, 2005

Covering Elections There, Miscovering Them Here

by Danny Schechter


NEW YORK, January 10, 2005 -- Elections are breaking out all over. The Palestinians voted yesterday in a irregularity-plagued day of balloting. In the Ukraine, they needed two elections to get it right. And at month's end Iraqis will go to the polls whether it makes any sense or not, or whether they want to or not.

Relentlessly pushing this "demonstration election" on in the name of the big "D" (democracy) has been President Bush even as he concedes it is "hard." ("Hard" is a favorite Bushism first introduced in the Presidential Debate.)

Maureen Dowd commented on his comment in the New York Times on an op-ed page dominated by a pro-election feature by a former flack for the "Coalition" Provisional Authority. (Another CPA propagandist Dan Senor has just been hired by Fox News as an election analyst.)

"I know it's hard, but it's hard for a reason," Mr. Bush said on Friday, a day after seven G.I.'s and two marines died. "And the reason it's hard is because there are a handful of folks who fear freedom." If it's just a handful, how come it's so hard?

"Then the president added: "And I look at the elections as a -- as a -- you know, as a -- as -- as a historical marker for our Iraq policy."

Unremarked upon was how the President's comments Friday came a day after the Congress debated major flaws in our own election, failings that most of our media brushed off as a "delay." Others dismissed the evidence presented as "conspiracy theories" even as Congress member Maxine Waters of California noted correctly that voting rights are not and should not be "outcome determinative."


continued
http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=21&ItemID=7001

[dzika]

14. Kerry Parties with Arnold instead of counting the votes

(thanks to Botany)

Tuesday, January 11

Sheila Samples: '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.

more
http://www.smirkingchimp.com/article.php?sid=19452&mode=&order=0

DU Thread: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x277549

[dzika]

15. All Eyes on Ohio, Few on Florida, Brother Jeb President in 2008

McCamy Taylor (679 posts) Tue Jan-11-05 02:24 PM
Original message

All Eyes on Ohio, Few on Florida, Brother Jeb President in 2008

After the 2000 Election, if the Bushes had suggested running brother Jeh for Prez, even the GOP would have laughed. At that time, it wasnt even certain he would be able to hold onto his current job when it came up for re-election in 2002. Everyone saw how he twisted and perverted the law to help * steal Florida's electoral votes. He was the third most hated person in that fiasco after Katherine Harris and the collective Supreme Court.

This time it is different. This time, the GOP SOS and * Campaign Chair of another state very far from Florida has captured all the limelight by his flaggrant, arrogant, dare one say DRAMATICALLY partisan behavior.

OK, Ill stop beating around the Bush (no pun intended). What if the Bush family is using their favorite ploy of lighting one fire to create one scandal to use as a smokescreen to obscure the smoke from another scandal which they do not want the public to notice. In this case, the fact that the same partisan crap went down in Florida, and that Brother Jeb may have been up to his eyeballs in it this time just as he was last time?

While we are all tarring and feathering Kenneth Blackwell, plotting ways to get him indicted and sent to Club Fed, the Bush Cabal is grooming Brother Jeb to be King Bush the III. This must stop

I suggest that the Investigate Election Fraud Movement widen its scope to include anything and everything Florida, including 2002, maybe even 2000---that one never really got investigated, did it? The MSM will probably declare that 2000 is water under the bridge so 2002 may be the best we can do, but there is plenty from that one that needs to be dealt with, and there sure is a lot from 2004 in Florida that needs to be uncovered.

PUT BROTHER JEB IN THE LIMELIGHT, TOO!


DU Thread: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x277391

[dzika]

16. Feds Tell D.C. to Pay Inaugural Expenses

(thanks to FLDem5)

Tuesday, January 11, 2005; Page A01

U.S. Tells D.C. to Pay Inaugural Expenses
Other Security Projects Would Lose $11.9 Million

By Spencer S. Hsu
Washington Post Staff Writer


D.C. officials said yesterday that the Bush administration is refusing to reimburse the District for most of the costs associated with next week's inauguration, breaking with precedent and forcing the city to divert $11.9 million from homeland security projects.

Federal officials have told the District that it should cover the expenses by using some of the $240 million in federal homeland security grants it has received in the past three years -- money awarded to the city because it is among the places at highest risk of a terrorist attack.

((snip))

"It's an unfunded mandate of the most odious kind. How can the District be asked to take funds from important homeland security projects to pay for this instead?" said Davis spokesman David Marin.


link
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A63896-2005Jan10?language=printer

DU Thread: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x277458

[dzika]

17. Widows peek - Recount Ohio! Now, before it's too late.

Tuesday, January 11, 2005

Widows peek

Gaze into the eyes of the enemy in Iraq.

Kill her with bombs and guns and knives,

Makes sure that she doesn't remain alive,

Don't let any of her kin survive or else she will,

An hijacked plane, or bombmobile drive,

And upon the White House lawn arrive,

And a message for the fraud inscribe,

Upon that green expanse outside,

Where all the neo-cowards hide,

A great big swastika might just do,

To maybe get her message through,

A nice round divot, or an empty hole,

To symbolize the land we stole,

Like Texas, the moon, and the south pole.

How about a star, upon a blue field,

As soon as the rebels are forced to yield,

And sham elections doth conceal,

The limitless victims of the deadly weal,

George Bush has committed in our name,

And for which we all must share the blame,

For allowing him to win the game,

George W.Bush must be curbed,

If ever we are to seek redemption,

For our sloth,

Bush must be driven back into the hole,

He slithered out of.

Now, before it's too late.

Recount Ohio!


link: http://blogs.salon.com/0001827/2005/01/11.html#a167

[dzika]

18. Voters Challenging Election Results Drop Lawsuit - Case is Moot

(thanks to TruthBeTold22 )

January 11, 2005

Voters Challenging Election Results Drop Lawsuit

Congressional Certification Makes Case Moot
Wow...how about this?

http://www.nbc4i.com/politics/4071567/detail.html

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The voters challenging the presidential election results in the Ohio Supreme Court asked to drop their lawsuit Tuesday, saying congressional certification of the electoral votes last week and the upcoming inauguration render the case moot.

Citing fraud, lawyers representing 37 voters on Nov. 2 had asked the court to examine several problems with voting procedures in the hopes of overturning President Bush's victory in the state.

The election turned on Ohio's 20 electoral college votes, and not until preliminary results were finally available early on the morning of Nov. 3 did Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry concede.

Chief Justice Thomas Moyer of the state Supreme Court must still rule on the motion to dismiss the case, although he is expected to go along with the request.

Without giving specifics, attorney Cliff Arnebeck said challenges of the results would continue in state or federal courts. But he conceded that there was nothing available now to try to prevent Bush's inauguration.

"We are not quitting, we are going on to any other forum that's available and we intend to pursue those avenues aggressively," Arnebeck said.

link:
http://www.nbc4i.com/politics/4071567/detail.html

DU Thread: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x277732

[bj2110]

35. self deleted.

[MelissaB]

19. Kick to front page

I'll be out of town and away from the computer. :(

[dzika]

20. Blackwell speaks on "Ethics In Leadership" Weds 1/12

(thanks to mod mom)

Upper Arlington Chamber of Commerce presents:

"Ethics in Leadership" (KID YOU NOT!)

SPEAKER: Kenneth Blackwell


Weds Jan 12 11:30-1pm
Scioto Country Club
Cost: $ 30 non members
info: 614/481-5710


Du Thread: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x277733

[dzika]

21. Florida citizens' recount going on

emcguffie (207 posts) Tue Jan-11-05 05:58 PM
Original message

Florida citizens' recount going on


In Florida, apparently, because of the sunshine law, citizens can do a recount on their own.

So over at blackboxvoting.org, someone is spearheading such a recount, and says he's finding interesting things. This is in the "Florida" topic,. I have no idea how complete it will end up being, and how far they are taking the auditing, etc.

But it looks like they want people in Florida to work on it.

Thought some folks might be interested.



DU Thread: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x277717

[dzika]

22. Purging of rolls, confusion anger voters

(thanks to pbartch

Purging of rolls, confusion anger voters

41% of Nov. 2 provisional ballots axed in Lucas County

By FRITZ WENZEL
BLADE POLITICAL WRITER


Ralph and Barbara George are lifelong Democrats who first registered to vote for John F. Kennedy in 1960 and have lived in the same East Toledo house for 44 years. They called the Lucas County Board of Elections early last year to make sure they still were registered to vote.

Informed that they were, they went on with life, including helping their son, just home from military service, to purchase a new home. Then, last fall, they applied for absentee ballots.

It was then that they were surprised to discover - too late to do anything about it - that they were somehow no longer registered and wouldn't be allowed to vote in the general election.

At the last minute, they learned that they could cast provisional ballots, so they hustled down to their polling place and did so.
It was a waste of time. Their votes were thrown out.

more
http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050109/NEWS09/501090334&SearchID=73195662517954

DU Thread: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x277766

[dzika]

23. Please Use and Disseminate: My Letter to the Republican Leadership

Bill Bored (400 posts) Tue Jan-11-05 06:35 PM
Original message

Please Use and Disseminate: My Letter to the Republican Leadership

Please USE this! I will send it to the Republican representatives indicated below who lead the Senate, the House, the House Judiciary Committee, the House Administration Committee and the Senate Rules Committee. From what I've been able to glean, these are the culprits who have obstructed verified voting legislation and, through the lack of Republican participation, Conyers' investigation as well. While these two issues should not be overly conflated, they are tied together by the historic Electoral Vote Objection of Jan 6 and by the Republicans who have brought this on themselves.

We need to move on this right away. (Sorry it took me so long to write this!)

The important thing is to let them know that we know -- and that we are watching! And this needs to be repeated to the MEDIA ad infinitum until they also "get it." So write some letters to the editor, etc. and steal as much as you want from this. That's why it's posted here!

If anyone wants to correct me on any facts, please do so now. Otherwise, I will send this letter and also post the final version in this thread, including the addresses of the intended recipients:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x264034

If you want to send it to others who "deserve" it, please do.

I hope others will join me in this effort, whether you edit the letter or not. Please post on other forums, blogs, etc. to spread the word. I would like to see these guys and the media deluged with similar letters.

Note that I've tried to make it sound as bi-partisan as possible, although this is difficult.

Comments please.

Thanks!

Subject: Election Reform -- You’ve Brought it on Yourselves

Dear Doctor Frist, Speaker Hastert, Messrs. Ney, Lott, Sensenbrenner and DeLay:

As a patriotic American and a perennial voter, on various occasions I have voted for members of both major parties. For some time now I have been following the issues of verifiable voting and the voting irregularities in the state of Ohio and elsewhere in 2004.

I am sorry to say, with respect to the objection of the Electoral Votes from Ohio on Jan 6, 2005, that you and the other Republicans in the House Judiciary Committee have clearly brought this on yourselves.

Since May 2003, members of the House and Senate from both parties have attempted to bring no less than five (5) bills to the floor to require a voter-verified paper ballot in all states. They are: HR2239, HR4187, S1980, S2313 and S2437. Each time however, the Republican leadership has refused to allow these bills to come to a vote.

Meanwhile, the People’s vote has become unverifiable in many states of our nation; you know it and I know it. And soon, everyone will know it. To any impartial observer, it would appear that as leaders of the majority party, you simply intend to keep it that way.

Due to your obstruction of this urgently needed legislation, no conspiracy theory, allegation of fraud, or evidence of voter disenfranchisement is necessary to cast severe doubt in our electoral process in the mind of any informed voter -– and slowly but surely, whether you like it or not, they are going to become informed.

It is your very refusal to allow verified voting legislation to move forward in either the Senate or the House that has given rise to the uncertainty, conspiracy theories, and the loss of faith in the system expressed by your Democratic colleagues on behalf of their constituents on January 6. Once the truth -- that the vote can no longer be verified with any reasonable degree of certainty -- is widely disseminated and accepted by the vast majority of voters in our republic, their doubts about the results of future elections will become commonplace regardless of their party affiliation, political ideology, or the margin of victory in any particular race. So much so in fact, that our democracy will be nothing more than an illusion in the minds of the few remaining voters who will continue to have blind faith in the system. This is what will inevitably occur without verified voting -- and you will have brought this on yourselves too.

But you can fix this in this 109th Congress, if you have the will to do so. It’s not that difficult. As Ronald Reagan once said, we must “Trust but verify.”

Work to pass legislation to mandate the voter-verified paper ballot and the mandatory random audits to use it now, before it’s too late. It is important to note that without such random audits, the effect of the paper ballot may be little more than that of a placebo for the American voter, not unlike the highly touted provisional ballots we have now. You must therefore insist on truly random, statistically significant auditing of all election results.

Now, despite allegations of election fraud, violations of equal protection and other irregularities in the State of Ohio, and public hearings held by Representative Conyers and the Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee to document this, their Republican colleagues serving on that committee have simply chosen to look the other way, presumably because their party’s candidates happen to have won the election. For Republicans to have accused Democrats of unpatriotic or partisan behavior in these matters on Jan. 6, is therefore the height of hypocrisy.

Republicans must join with the House Democrats to investigate the irregularities in Ohio and other states in a bi-partisan manner, regardless of where such investigations may ultimately lead. It’s perfectly clear to anyone who knows the facts that as of this writing, every vote in Ohio has still NOT been counted, much less recounted or verified. To suggest that this is not the case is simply disingenuous.

Sincerely,

DU Thread: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x277831

[dzika]

24. Contact List of Republicans that spoke in Ohio Electoral Challenge debate:

(thanks to greenmutha)

Contact List of Republicans that spoke in Ohio Electoral Challenge debate:

As promised! (here):
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=203&topic_id=264605&mesg_id=264605

Sorry it took me so long!

Here is the list of the Republicans (and one Democrat!) who stood up and basically spewed a lot of CRAP during the Ohio Electoral Challenge.

THOSE WHO STOOD IN OPPOSITION TO DEMOCRACY!

IN THE SENATE:
For each Senator’s specific comments, see the Congressional Record online (PDF doc):
http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getpage.cgi?dbname=2005_record&page=S35&position=all

Sen. Mike DeWine R-OH
140 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
[phone]

Sen. George Voinovich R-OH
317 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
[phone]

Sen. Trent Lott R-MS
487 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
[phone]

Sen. Mark Dayton D-MN (He WAS NOT very supportive!)
346 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
[phone]



IN THE HOUSE:
For each Representatives’ specific comments, see the Congressional Record online (PDF doc):
http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getpage.cgi?dbname=2005_record&page=H81&position=all

Deborah Pryce R-OH
204 Cannon HOB
Washington, DC 20515-3515
Phone: [phone]

David L. Hobson R-OH
2346 Rayburn HOB
Washington, DC 20515-3507
Phone: [phone]

Roy Blunt R-MO (Majority Whip)
217 Cannon HOB
Washington, DC 20515-2507
Phone: [phone]

Ric Keller R-FL
419 Cannon HOB
Washington, DC 20515-0908
Phone: [phone]

Robert W. Ney R-OH
2438 Rayburn HOB
Washington, DC 20515-3518
Phone: [phone]

Steven C. LaTourette R-OH
2453 Rayburn HOB
Washington, DC 20515-3514
Phone: [phone]

Thomas M. Reynolds R-NY
332 Cannon HOB
Washington, DC 20515-3226
Phone: [phone]

Ralph Regula R-OH
2306 Rayburn HOB
Washington, DC 20515-3516
Phone: [phone]

J.D. Hayworth R-AZ
2434 Rayburn HOB
Washington, DC 20515-0305
Phone: [phone]

Candice S. Miller R-MI
228 Cannon HOB
Washington, DC 20515-2210
Phone: [phone]

Michael R. Turner R-OH
1740 Longworth HOB
Washington, DC 20515-3503
Phone: [phone]

David Dreier R-CA
233 Cannon HOB
Washington, DC 20515-0526
Phone: [phone]

Thelma Drake R-VA
1208 Longworth HOB
Washington, DC 20515-4602
Phone: [phone]

Bobby Jindal R-LA
1205 Longworth HOB
Washington, DC 20515-1801
Phone: [phone]

Patrick J. Tiberi R-OH
113 Cannon HOB
Washington, DC 20515-3512
Phone: [phone]

Jack Kingston R-GA
2242 Rayburn HOB
Washington, DC 20515-1001
Phone: [phone]

John A. Boehner R-OH
1011 Longworth HOB
Washington, DC 20515-3508
Phone: [phone]

Michael G. Oxley R-OH
2308 Rayburn HOB
Washington, DC 20515-3504
Phone: [phone]

Rob Portman R-OH
238 Cannon HOB
Washington, DC 20515-3502
Phone: [phone]

Steve Chabot R-OH
129 Cannon HOB
Washington, DC 20515-3501
Phone: [phone]

Tom DeLay R-TX (Majority Leader)
242 Cannon HOB
Washington, DC 20515-4322
Phone: [phone]


Let's educate these uneducated Congress members!





DU Thread: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x272719

[dzika]

25. Gregoire certified as governor of Washington

Tuesday, January 11, 2005 · Last updated 2:16 p.m. PT

Gregoire certified as governor of Washington

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS


OLYMPIA, Wash. -- Christine Gregoire was certified as the governor of Washington state Tuesday after a joint session of the Legislature turned down a Republican motion seeking a postponement.

The vote to delay failed on a 65-80 vote, with 80 members of the 147-member Legislature opposing the action.

Gregoire will be sworn in Wednesday at the state Capitol even as a Republican court challenge is pending.

((snip))

Republicans say there were enough problems with ballots to change the outcome of the race and Rossi, who wants a re-vote, filed a lawsuit challenging the results. A court hearing was set for Friday in Wenatchee.

Wednesday morning, about 1,000 Rossi supporters rallied outside the Capitol chanting "re-vote!" About 200 Democrats gathered in a counter-demonstration, calling Rossi a "sore loser."


http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/aplocal_story.asp?category=6420&slug=WA%20XGR%20Washington%20Governor

[dzika]

26. I'm Running by Gov. Howard Dean

Tuesday January11, 2005

I'm Running

by Gov. Howard Dean
published by Democracy for America

I'm Running

As I have traveled across our country, I have talked to thousands of people who are working for change in their own communities about the power of politics to make a difference in their own lives and in the lives of others. Every group I have spoken to, I encouraged them to stand up for what they believe and to get involved in the electoral process -- because the only sure way to make difference is to step up and run for office yourself.

Today, I'm announcing my candidacy for the Chairmanship of the Democratic National Committee.

The Democratic Party needs a vibrant, forward-thinking, long-term presence in every single state and we must be willing to contest every race at every level. We will only win when we show up and fight for the issues important to all of us.

Another integral part of our strategy must be cultivating the party's grassroots. Our long term success depends on all of us taking an active role in our party and in the political process, by volunteering, going door to door and taking the Democratic message into every community, and by organizing at the local level. After all, new ideas and new leaders don't come from consultants; they come from communities.

As important as organization is, it alone can no longer win us elections. Offering a new choice means making Democrats the party of reform -- reforming America's financial situation, reforming our electoral process, reforming health care, reforming education and putting morality back in our foreign policy. The Democratic Party will not win elections or build a lasting majority solely by changing its rhetoric, nor will we win by adopting the other side's positions. We must say what we mean -- and mean real change when we say it.

But most of all, together, we have to rebuild the American community. We will never succeed by treating our nation as a collection of separate regions or separate groups. There are no red states or blues states, only American states. And we must talk to the people in all of these states as members of one community.

That word -- 'values' -- has lately become a codeword for appeasement of the right-wing fringe. But when political calculations make us soften our opposition to bigotry, or sign on to policies that add to the burden of ordinary Americans, we have abandoned our true values.

We cannot let that happen. And we cannot just mouth the words. Our party must speak plainly and our agenda must clearly reflect the socially progressive, fiscally responsible values that bring our party -- and the vast majority of Americans -- together.

All of this will require both national perspective and local experience. I know what it's like to lead hands-on at the state level and I know what it's like to run for national office.

With your help, this past election season, Democracy for America, already started creating the kind of organization the Democratic Party can be. This past election cycle, we endorsed over 100 candidates at all levels of government -- from school board to U.S. Senate. We contributed almost a million dollars to nearly 750 candidates around the country and raised millions of dollars for many more candidates.

Together, we helped elect a Democratic governor in Montana, a Democratic mayor of Salt Lake County, Utah and an African American woman to the bench in Alabama. Fifteen of the candidates we endorsed had never run for office before -- and won.

I also have experience building and managing a local party organization. My career started as Democratic Party chair in Chittenden County, Vermont. I then ran successful campaigns: for state legislature, lieutenant governor and then governor. In my 11-year tenure as governor, I balanced the state's budget every year.

I served as chair of both the National Governors' Association and the Democratic Governors' Association (DGA). And as chair of the DGA, I helped recruit nearly 20 governors that won -- even in states like Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Mississippi.

All of these experiences have only reaffirmed what I know to be true. There is only one party that speaks to the hopes and dreams of all Americans. It is the party you have already given so much to. It is the Democratic Party.

We can win elections only by standing up for what we believe.

Thank you and I look forward to listening to your concerns in the weeks ahead.

Governor Howard Dean, M.D.

http://progressivetrail.org/articles/050111Gov.HowardDean.shtml

[dzika]

27. "We the People Do Not Concede"- Election Stolen by Network of Fraud

Tuesday 11th January 2005 (18h08) :

"We the People Do Not Concede"- Election Stolen by Network of Fraud

Election Crime Scene-2004 "We the People Do Not Concede" By Carol Sterritt

John Kerry did not lose the electoral votes in Florida. They were stolen.

Nor did he lose the electoral votes in Ohio. They were stolen as well.

And with these two states being a rigged game, suspicions multiply. Suspicion falls especially hard upon the supposed three and a half million votes that Bush now claims as the popular vote margin. Across the nation, at least 400,000 people used voter hotlines to report the difficulties noticed on election day. Among those complaints, a full 50,000 instances were outright malfunctioning voting machinery. And in each of these 50,000 instances the vote went to Bush. If election day machine malfunctions were random, then logic dictates that Kerry must receive the benefit of the machine failures at least a few times. Unless the breakdowns were not random. And if not random, then they must be considered part of a network of fraud.

This indicates one thing: a major crime was committed. Perhaps like Richard Nixon’s Watergate, the process may take more than a year-but in the end, the trail will lead back to the White House. Election 2004 looks, walks, talks and smells like racketeering. There is evidence of criminal conspiracy, evidence of obstruction of justice, forgery of government documents, misuse of the Postal Service and crime committed through and across wires. Also one instance of intimidation demands justice, when late at night on a dark Ohio highway, a young voting activist was run off the road by a gang of thugs. So this is not your simple voting fraud case with several election officials being over- zealous for their party or candidate. This is fraud -carefully coordinated and plotted out. The threads of this particular spider web lead back to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. We stand in the midst of a nightmare whose ending will either be the destruction of this country, or else through our citizenry proving a case of Presidential racketeering, the dissolution of this ill-begotten Presidency.


continued
http://bellaciao.org/en/article.php3?id_article=5017

[dzika]

28. Election Challenge: Dem vs. Repub arguments & facts

Tuesday 11th January 2005

The first two arguments in the Senate over the vote challenge highlight the arguments perfectly: while the Democrats have facts, all that the Republicans have is name calling. Didn’t we learn better than that...in Kindergarten? They call us conspiracy theorists insisting their was no evidence of manipulation, however had they done their homework and read Conyer’s report they would know better.

From the Excecutive Summary of Conyer’s link:www.house.gov/judiciary_democrats/ohiostatusrept1505.pdf|102 page report (pdf)] on Ohio:

"We have found numerous, serious election irregularities in the Ohio presidential election, which resulted in a significant disenfranchisement of voters. Cumulatively, these irregularities, which affected hundreds of thousand of votes and voters in Ohio, raise grave doubts...

"We find that there were massive and unprecedented voter irregularities and anomalies in Ohio. In many cases these irregularities were caused by intentional misconduct and illegal behavior, much of it involving Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell, the co-chair of the Bush-Cheney campaign in Ohio."

Read that again, ’massive irregularities’ affecting ’hundreds of thousands of voters’, and ’intentional misconduct and illegal behavior’ by Blackwell .... this is significant and worthy of investigation. Now compare the opening arguments, Ms. Boxer’s statement vs her Repubican counterpart Mr. DeWine.


read it all: http://bellaciao.org/en/article.php3?id_article=5019

[dzika]

29. Texas Voters subpoenaed in Vo-Heflin flap

Jan. 10, 2005, 10:30PM

Voters subpoenaed in Vo-Heflin flap
Democrat will be seated, but panel still has final say

By JOE STINEBAKER and KRISTEN MACK



The state House has subpoenaed scores of Houston-area voters who cast contested ballots in the November election that gave Democratic newcomer Hubert Vo a narrow victory over veteran Republican state Rep. Talmadge Heflin.


Vo will be sworn in and seated as the state Legislature convenes today but still faces Heflin's challenge of the election results before a special House committee.

The committee ordered the voters to fill out questionnaires or give depositions to lawyers representing Heflin and Vo.

The subpoenas came as an unwelcome surprise to some of the more than 100 voters whose ballots are in question.

Aledigna Staats said she and her husband, Michael Staats, moved from Harris County to Fort Bend County in October 2003 but were told at the Harris County polling place that they could vote there as long as they filled out a change of address form for the future.

"I didn't think twice about it," Aledigna Staats said. "Then we got subpoenaed and had to give depositions. We were kind of upset by the whole thing. This is ridiculous."

Heflin, an 11-term legislator from Houston, lost to Vo by 33 votes of the more than 40,000 cast in the November general election. House Speaker Tom Craddick appointed the special committee to investigate Heflin's allegations of voting irregularities.

Staats said she and her husband voted straight Republican tickets — meaning they voted for Heflin — but now believe that he should accept the election results.


continued
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/metropolitan/2986820

[dzika]

30. Welcome back, Saddam! - From:[e-mail]

Tuesday, January 11 2005 @ 04:39 PM PST

Welcome back, Saddam!

---

From: [e-mail]

Sent: Wednesday, January 10, 2005 4:49 PM
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Welcome Back

---

Howdy, partner, it's your old friend George W. here in Washington, D.C.

I thought I would write with the hope of learning you are being treated well in your undisclosed location. I see you have a new haircut and are getting a bit grayer; so am I.

Sorry about the Uday and Qusay misunderstanding. Like they said in The Godfather (which I know is your favorite movie), "it's business, not personal." I hope both your sons made it to paradise and found their 72 virgins. As a devoted father, you have to be happy about that! Perhaps they’ll find multiple wives and settle down in paradise, and "I hope their first child is a masculine child."

It was a good year for me. You'll be quite proud to hear that I managed to steal another election! My brother, Jeb, came through once again in Florida, and Diebold rigged the Ohio vote count.

((snip))

I've instructed Karl Rove to be your campaign manager, so together we can steal the January 30th Iraqi elections, get you back in power and get me the hell out of this mess. My "brain" Karl has already begun to work and has come up with some creative slogans for your campaign. Check these out and let me know what you think:


"Saddam Hussein: Four More Decades"

"Tyranny Beats Anarchy"

"Vote Baath or Get Hosed "

"Marriage is Between a Man and a Woman... or a Goat"

"Shias will Export Jobs to Iran"

"OJ Killed More Americans than I Did on 9/11"


and my personal favorite


"Are You Better off Today Than You Were Four Years Ago?"


continued
http://www.infoshop.org/inews/article.php?story=20050111125132454

[dzika]

31. How activists and a senator from the CA forced Congress to discuss voting

Jan. 12 - Jan. 18 2005

Boxer's rebellion

How activists and a senator from the Bay Area forced Congress to discuss voting rights

By Rachel Brahinsky


Speaking about his boss's move to force a congressional debate over the November election, David Sandretti wasn't just serving up the usual politico spin. "We made history last week," Sandretti, spokesperson for Sen. Barbara Boxer, told the Bay Guardian. "Voting rights haven't gotten this much attention since the 1960s."

Boxer was savaged by Republicans and some journalists for her Jan. 6 decision to join members of the U.S. House of Representatives in challenging the certification of Ohio's Electoral College vote. They called it pointless and politically divisive. But to her supporters, it seemed to be just a matter of common sense: reporters and congressional investigators had found major problems with the election, and those problems needed to be discussed before it was certified.

Yet Boxer was the only senator willing to step forward and bring about a kind of debate that has occurred only once before in the past century. Four years ago, members of the House tried to mount a similar challenge to the electoral vote count. Their effort was documented in Michael Moore's film Fahrenheit 9/11 in a chilling scene in which, one by one, black members of Congress walked to the podium and demanded a debate on the legitimacy of Florida's balloting. They needed one senator – just one – to join the protest. But none would join, the debate never happened, and most Americans never knew that anyone even tried to make it happen until the film came out last year.

Since then, as more information emerged about voter disenfranchisement in the Sunshine State in 2000, activists slowly began to wake up. This time they didn't leave it up to chance and generated thousands of phone calls to senators around the country. The intense lobbying effort, which included hundreds of Bay Area activists, must have given Boxer the backing she needed to follow Ohio representative Stephanie Tubbs Jones's lead in calling for the vote challenge, which forced a two-hour debate in both houses on the irregularities in Ohio. (Since the debate, Boxer's office has reported receiving thousands more phone calls thanking her.)


continued
http://www.sfbg.com/39/15/news_boxer.html

[dzika]

32. PDA Supports Dean for DNC Chair

Dear Friend of PDA,

Today, Howard Dean announced his candidacy for Chair of the Democratic National Committee. The PDA Leadership believes this is a critical moment for the progressive reform community, a chance to take the energy and idealism stoked by the Kucinich & Dean campaigns, and use them to energize the entire party on behalf of progressive values.

There is a new essay, "Dean for DNC", discussing some of the history of the growing PDA relationship with the Dean movement, and making a case for Dean's election. Ultimately, we believe we can help elect as Chair a leader who will stand up for "the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party," as Paul Wellstone used to say.

As stated in the essay:
"This will be a victory for reform, for the internet, for small donor fundraising, for volunteer action, for antiwar politics, for standing up and fighting back, and for progressive values.
Howard Dean is the only one running who is a reformer, opposed the war in Iraq, has raised millions and millions from small donors, has held both executive office and practiced internet-based 'netroots' activism in his campaign, and believes in change from the grassroots/netroots up."

While Howard Dean has not been as progressive on a number of issues as we hope he will become in time, we believe that supporting him for DNC Chair in February is in the interests of the Democratic progressive movement. PDA will be advocating useful and strategic steps that its members can take to help this cause over the coming month.

In the meantime, if you live in the St. Louis area, you might want to attend the Midwest Regional Caucus this Saturday, 1/15, in St. Louis, MO (at the Airport Marriott, as posted by Jerome Armstrong at http://www.mydd.com/; the contact is [e-mail]). On Saturday the 22nd, the Western Regional Caucus will be held in Sacramento, CA; and the Eastern Regional Caucus follows after that, on 1/29, in New York City. (The Southern Regional Caucus was held in Atlanta last weekend.)

PDA believes that grassroots action (gentle but firm personal and email contact of key decision-makers) will play a large role in helping the 447 DNC Members, who make the decision, to choose Dr. Dean next month. Stay tuned-we're ready to roll.

Keep Hope Alive,

Tim Carpenter

[dzika]

33. The Augusta Free Press - A Dem's view of the Dems

Published 01-12-05

A Dem's view of the Dems

by Michael Frend
Special to The Augusta Free Press


The votes have been counted. The vote has been certified. The Electoral College has spoken. The game is over. It is no secret that I have been a lifelong Democrat and loyal to my party. It should also be no secret that President Bush really did not beat the Democrats this election; we beat ourselves.

Sen. John Kerry did a horrible job at best letting the American people know just where he stood on the issues. We all got to know about his war record, but even now I really do not know just where he stood on the issues that faced us in this country. I despised President Bush for over and over again using the phrase "flip-flopping Kerry," but for the first time I really have to agree with Bush. Just last week Kerry said he was not taking part in the objection to the certification of the Ohio vote count. In the same paragraph he also said but we should make sure "every vote is counted." Well, were they or not?

Kerry did right to concede when he did because, truth be known, he lost, as we all know, including him. We did not need another 2000 election fiasco. Terry McAuliffe has really failed the party the last few years with very bad and faulty plans. The Kerry campaign was one of the worst run that I have seen in 20-plus years. I found it so hard to believe that one could have such a hard time telling us what his plans where to correct the failures of President Bush. He would tell you what you wanted to hear without telling any plans or details of what he would do as president. He sure was able to tell us about his war record and how he saved others. In fact, that is about all I remember him talking about except for maybe Cheney's lesbian daughter.

OK, you get my point. Now, why am I, a former city chairman of the Waynesboro Democratic Committee, pounding on us Democrats so harshly? Because our party has left us out in the cold, and it appears it will get much worse before it gets better. The Democratic Party is so out of touch with reality at this point that it is not far from crash-and-burn stage. We have no real focus, no real plan and no way to implement a plan because we have no structure left in the party.

I can only hope that McAuliffe's replacement will scrap the party powerful and elite and start anew. With new realistic plans, the means to meet those plans and the leadership to implement them. For the first time in a long time, I really cannot say just what my party plans to do. They really do not know. For the last five years, we have been beaten, weakened and embarrassed many times. It is one thing to lose, but we continue to blame the Republicans for dirty politics, to blame states for not counting all the votes, to blame unfair contributions, everything has been blamed except ourselves.


continued
http://www.augustafreepress.com/stories/storyReader$30543

[dzika]

34. Dems Meet LaRouche's Challenge; Debate Shreds Bush 'Mandate'

This article appears in the January 14, 2005 issue of Executive Intelligence Review.

Dems Meet LaRouche's Challenge;
Debate Shreds Bush 'Mandate'

by Jeffrey Steinberg


For the first time since 1877, the two houses of the U.S. Congress went into separate sessions on Jan. 6, to debate a challenge to the outcome of the Electoral College vote for the Presidency of the United States. Unlike the 2000 elections, when leading members of the House of Representatives challenged the Florida outcome, but failed to win the needed endorsement of a U.S. Senator, this time, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) joined with Ohio Rep. Stephanie Tubbs-Jones (D) in challenging the Electoral College vote in Ohio, on the grounds of massive evidence of voter suppression and other forms of willful fraud.

As a result, the Joint Session of Congress, convened to ratify the Electoral College vote, was dismissed, so that the House and the Senate could hold two hours of separate debate on the evidence of vote suppression and fraud, before voting whether or not to certify the outcome of the Nov. 2, 2004 Presidential election.

As an apoplectic Vice President Dick Cheney, presiding over the joint session as President Pro Tem of the Senate, graphically attested, the courageous action by the Congressional Democrats, and the vigorous debate that followed, have erased any delusions that George W. Bush has any kind of electoral mandate to rule.

The LaRouche Factor
Twenty-four hours before the historic Joint Session of Congress, Lyndon LaRouche delivered an international webcast address, by satellite link, to a standing-room-only crowd in Washington, D.C. (see Feature). In response to the first question, LaRouche issued unambiguous marching orders to the Congressional Democrats, that they had to take the most tenacious approach possible to the issue of the Electoral College certification.


continued
http://www.larouchepub.com/other/2005/3202ohio_jan6_fight.html

[dzika]

36. Election Crime Scene-2004

January, 2005

Election Crime Scene-2004
"We the People Do Not Concede"

By Carol Sterritt


John Kerry did not lose the electoral votes in Florida. They were stolen.

Nor did he lose the electoral votes in Ohio. They were stolen as well.

And with these two states being a rigged game, suspicions multiply. Suspicion falls especially hard upon the supposed three and a half million votes that Bush now claims as the popular vote margin. Across the nation, at least 400,000 people used voter hotlines to report the difficulties noticed on election day. Among those complaints, a full 50,000 instances were outright malfunctioning voting machinery. And in each of these 50,000 instances the vote went to Bush. If election day machine malfunctions were random, then logic dictates that Kerry must receive the benefit of the machine failures at least a few times. Unless the breakdowns were not random. And if not random, then they must be considered part of a network of fraud.

This indicates one thing: a major crime was committed. Perhaps like Richard Nixon's Watergate, the process may take more than a year-but in the end, the trail will lead back to the White House. Election 2004 looks, walks, talks and smells like racketeering. There is evidence of criminal conspiracy, evidence of obstruction of justice, forgery of government documents, misuse of the Postal Service and crime committed through and across wires. Also one instance of intimidation demands justice, when late at night on a dark Ohio highway, a young voting activist was run off the road by a gang of thugs. So this is not your simple voting fraud case with several election officials being over- zealous for their party or candidate. This is fraud -carefully coordinated and plotted out. The threads of this particular spider web lead back to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. We stand in the midst of a nightmare whose ending will either be the destruction of this country, or else through our citizenry proving a case of Presidential racketeering, the dissolution of this ill-begotten Presidency.

Sixty one million votes were counted on machines that would allow for no paper trail. The existence of these machines made the crime of the century possible. Andrew Card, Chief of Staff to President George W Bush, may well live to regret his announcements at 5 AM on Nov. 3rd. But at the time he was exultant at what the voting machines had wrought. His voice rang out resonant and a tad bit festive, happily victorious, "I'm Andy Card. I am President Bush's chief of staff. We are convinced that President Bush has won re-election with at least 286 electoral college votes. And he also had a margin of more than three and a half million votes. President Bush's decisive margin of victory makes this the first Presidential election since 1988 in which the winner received a majority of the popular vote. And that in this election, President Bush received more votes than any other presidential candidate in the history of our countryÉ In Ohio, the President has a lead of at least 136,000 votes. The Secretary of State's office has informed us that this margin is statistically insurmountableÉ So President Bush has won the state of Ohio."

What did Andrew Card know that John Kerry did not? Card knew who Kerry's real opponent was. Kerry thought his opponent in this election was George W. Bush. His real opponent was the rigged voting machines. If we the people of the United States possessed an election system with the integrity of Canada's paper ballot and pencil system, Kerry would be President. He was defeated by a modern technology so tamper friendly that major alterations to any district's vote tally could be made within 90 seconds and without leaving a trace.


continued
http://www.coastalpost.com/05/01/01.htm

[dzika]

37. Justices Rule Action Isn't Necessary to Prove Conspiracy

(the threshold to prosecute a conspiracy has been lowered a bit)

Justices Rule Action Isn't Necessary to Prove Conspiracy

By LINDA GREENHOUSE

Published: January 12, 2005


WASHINGTON, Jan. 11 - The Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that the government can obtain a conviction for a money-laundering conspiracy without the need to prove that any of the conspirators did anything concrete to carry out the scheme.

The unanimous decision resolved, in the government's favor, a dispute among the lower federal courts over the meaning of a 1992 amendment that added a conspiracy provision to the federal law against money laundering.


The amendment omitted the requirement, contained in many federal conspiracy laws, that the government prove an "overt act in furtherance of the conspiracy," beyond the act of conspiring. The question was whether, despite this omission, the provision should nonetheless be interpreted to include the requirement of an overt act.

The case was an appeal by two men who were members of the board of the Greater Ministries International Church, which raised more than $400 million from 1996 to 1999. Investors were told that they would double their money in short order if they provided the church with "gifts" that would be invested overseas in gold, diamonds and commodities, with profits going in part to charity.


"Most of these claims were false," Justice Sandra Day O'Connor observed dryly in recounting the facts of the case in her opinion for the court. She added, referring to the church by its initials, that the "investments indeed largely turned out to be 'gifts' to GMIC representatives." The two men, David Whitfield and Haywood E. Hall, received more than $1 million in commissions.


A federal grand jury in Tampa, Fla., indicted the two for a variety of offenses, including conspiring to launder money. At the trial, the judge explained the elements of that offense to the jury: "that two or more people came to a mutual understanding to try to accomplish a common and unlawful plan" and that the defendant "knowingly and willfully became a member of such conspiracy."


continued
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/12/national/12scotus.html?ex=1263272400&en=a2b3f86cd798c36a&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt

[dzika]

38. GOP ignores problems with election

GOP ignores problems with election

January 12, 2005


JIM MELANSON ("Give up, Democrats, you lost," letter, Jan. 10), like nearly every congressman last week, completely missed, or chose to miss, the point.

Last week the Democrats challenged Ohio's electoral vote count. Every Democratic speaker during the congressional debate made pains to say it wasn't their aim to overturn the election, but to call attention to the undeniable problems with the Nov. 2 vote.

As Senator Barbara Boxer said, the centerpiece of democracy is ensuring the right to vote. By any objective standard, the vote in Ohio was outrageously flawed. George W. Bush won Ohio, but he didn't win it fairly.

If you read the transcripts, you'll notice it's the Republicans spinning outrageous claims. It's Michael Moore's fault. Or, in the words of the ethically-challenged Tom Delay, the charges of election irregularities are mere ravings from the X-Files wing of the Democratic Party.


continued
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles/2005/01/12/gop_ignores_problems_with_election/

[dzika]

39. We're no longer model of democracy

We're no longer model of democracy

January 12, 2005

REPRESENTATIVE Stephanie Tubbs Jones, Senator Barbara Boxer, and others who spoke out at the joint session of Congress last week are owed the deepest debt by not only the many Ohioans and the other Americans whose votes were not counted correctly in the Nov. 2 election, but also by those of us whose future votes are now in jeopardy.

Unlike in 2000, when every senator stood silent, Senator Boxer courageously refused to certify the flawed Ohio count in the face of a patronizing, hostile, and disrespectful Republican majority. This is not about trying to change the result of the 2004 election. Those who raised objections did so based on numerous reports of irregularities and voter disenfranchisement. They concluded that they could not in good conscience certify that the election was conducted fairly and properly.

On top of the disturbing patterns of voter disenfranchisement, Ohio Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell conducted the recount in a partisan manner.

The Republican majority in Congress acted shamefully. All Americans should wish for a return to the bygone days when our nation could serve as a model for democracies abroad.


link
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/letters/articles/2005/01/12/were_no_longer_model_of_democracy/

[Wilms]

40. kick n/t