Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News, Wednesday 04/30/08

[Melissa G]

Cow Dung! aka Bullshit... That is what this garbage of Voter ID promulgation amounts to... a big steaming pile of Cow Patty as we say down here in Texas. There are gonna be a whole mess of posts on the the topic and the first one is gonna come from the Lone Star Project which will distribute some facts about this pile of crap (voter ID laws) that is being shoveled our way. See post 6 for details...

Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News, Wednesday 04/30/08


Esteemed DUer's, please consider taking a moment (or more)
to graciously participate by posting Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News on this thread.



If you can:
1. Post stories and announcements you find on the web.


2. Post stories using the Spring 2006 Edition of "Election Fraud and Reform News Directory" listed here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x407240

3. Re-post stories and announcements you find on DU, providing a link to the original thread with thanks to the Original Poster, too.


4. Start a discussion thread by re-posting a story you see on this thread.




Please "Recommend" for the Greatest Page (it's the link just below).
Thank You!

[Melissa G]

1. States n/t

[Melissa G]

6. TX- Election Integrity???

Election Integrity???

Ed note- This is the longer reference for PDittie's more recent post that follows.

November 30, 2007
Contact: Matt Angle
On the web at http://www.lonestarproject.net/

Texas Republicans Launch New Vote Suppression Scheme

Craddick committee directive and GOP vote suppression think tank will attempt to
justify denying Texans access to the ballot

Academic studies, media reports and fact based voter analysis consistently demonstrate
that systematic, widespread or frequent voter fraud in Texas, or anywhere else in the
United States, simply does not exist. Texas House Speaker Tom Craddick, however, has
directed a State House committee to conduct an interim study on voter fraud with the clear
intention of recommending legislation to limit the ability of thousands of eligible Texans to
vote. snip

At the same time, former Tom
DeLay aide and current Tom
Craddick ally, John Colyandro,
who remains under felony
indictment for money laundering
and other charges, has formed a
"think tank" that is already using
faulty data and illogical statistics
to justify vote suppression tactics.

more...
http://www.lonestarproject.net/archive/2007-11-30VoteSuppress.pdf

[Melissa G]

7. Distribute the facts

Distribute the facts

Thanks to DU's Pdittie for his Journal entry that links to the above article and quotes from it.
http://journals.democraticunderground.com/PDittie/255

Adjunct Brains
Distribute the facts
Posted by PDittie in Texas
Mon Apr 28th 2008, 08:39 PM
Republican Claim: Voter Fraud is an "Epidemic" in Texas

FACT CHECK: Even fiercely partisan Republican Attorney General Abbott has admitted that after spending millions of Texas and federal taxpayer dollars investigating, "there have been few prosecutions in Texas." The Austin American Statesman editorialized: "Voter fraud is not an issue because Texas is not being flooded with unregistered voters and illegal immigrants flocking to the polls. That just isn't happening." (Source: Austin American-Statesman, April 26, 2007)

Republican Claim: Non-citizens voting is a major problem throughout the U.S.

FACT CHECK: The Department of Justice’s Ballot Access and Voting Integrity Initiative has resulted in just 14 convictions of non-citizens voting in the entire United States between 2002 and 2005. That is less then 5 noncitizens voting a year. (Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Criminal Division, Public Integrity Section, Election Fraud Prosecutions & Convictions, Ballot Access & Voting Integrity Initiative, October 2002 – September 2005; The Politics of Voter Fraud, Minnite, Ph.D. Columbia University)

Republican Claim: Everyone has an ID

FACT CHECK: Even the Texas Conservative Coalition Research Institute admitted that 37% of Texas residents over the age of 80 did not have a driver's license. (TCCRI Commentary, May 1, 2007)

more...
http://journals.democraticunderground.com/PDittie/255
http://www.lonestarproject.net/archive/2007-11-30VoteSuppress.pdf

[Melissa G]

9. OK- Voter ID bill runs into trouble in Senate

Voter ID bill runs into trouble in Senate

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - Sen. John Ford, after facing hostile questioning from Democrats, pulled back his voter identification bill on Tuesday just as it was heading for a final vote in the Senate.

Ford, R-Bartlesville, said the tone of the questions led him to believe "I didn't have the votes" to win final approval.

"You don't want a bill to die when you truly believe in it," he said.

It takes 25 votes to pass a bill in the 48-member Senate, the only evenly split legislative body in the country, with 24 Republicans and 24 Democrats.

Ford said he will attempt to gauge support for the measure and try to pass it at a later date.

He said the legislation is less intrusive than an Indiana law upheld this week by the Supreme Court. The Indiana law permits voters to cast ballots only if they have a photo ID.

http://www.kjrh.com/news/state/story.aspx?content_id=2f806d15-6007-406e-9fbe-8254b3480d2d

[Melissa G]

14. IN- BMV To Extend Hours For Election

BMV To Extend Hours For Election
Move Gives Voters More Chances To Get Needed ID Cards

POSTED: 5:03 pm EDT April 30, 2008


INDIANAPOLIS -- The Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles will offer extended hours on Monday and Tuesday for voters needing government-issued identification cards or driver's licenses.

The new hours follow this week's U.S. Supreme Court ruling upholding Indiana's voter identification law that requires most voters to show photo IDs issued by the state or federal government before casting ballots. Indiana's primary is Tuesday.

Full service license branches, normally closed on Mondays, will be open the day before the primary from 8:30 a.m. to 8 p.m., local time. On the day of the primary, branches will be open from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. Normal Tuesday hours are 8:30 a.m. to 7 p.m.

BMV Commissioner Ron Stiver said Wednesday the bureau would give priority to people seeking ID cards or licenses, and state law requires the BMV to offer free IDs to voters who don't already have acceptable identification for voting purposes.

Applicants must provide a primary document, such as a birth certificate or passport; a secondary document, such as a pay check stub or a signed credit card; and proof of residency, such as a utility bill.

http://www.theindychannel.com/politics/16089751/detail.html

[Melissa G]

16. FL-After Records Reveal E-Voting Glitches, Election Official Jokes She'll Stop Keeping Records

Wired

After Records Reveal E-Voting Glitches, Election Official Jokes She'll Stop Keeping Records
By Kim Zetter April 29, 2008
Video included...
http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/04/florida-electio.html

Kathy Dent, the election director in Sarasota County, Florida, was the target of controversy after the 2006 election when more than 18,000 ballots cast on ES&S touch-screen voting machines in her county showed no vote cast in the 13th congressional district race. The so-called undervote rate in that race was five times what is considered normal and resulted in two lawsuits filed by voters and the defeated candidate, Christine Jennings, who lost the congressional seat by fewer than 400 votes.

Documents that Wired.com obtained through a records request last year showed that voters in 19 precincts reported problems with the machines on Election Day, complaining that they had to press the ES&S screens repeatedly to cast their vote or that even after a machine registered their vote for Jennings on the ballot page, the vote had disappeared by the time they reached the review screen at the end of the ballot. Throughout the day, poll workers called in the complaints to Dent's office, where staff recorded the problems on the forms that Wired.com obtained.

Yet a video has emerged (above), which shows Dent telling an audience of election officials last year at the Pacific Northwest Election Conference that her office received no calls complaining about problems with the machines on Election Day. In the video, Dent says that voters came forward to complain about machines only after the election was over and their candidate had lost, suggesting that their motives were less than pure.

"It was only after the results were in and the 18,000 undervotes were revealed that all of a sudden there were all of these folks that started saying well they couldn't touch the machines . . . and their vote wasn't registering," she says in the video. "But they were all after the fact, and there were no phone calls coming into my office. So it's a little bit of an indication that there may have been some politics involved in this."

Below are some of the complaints called into her office during the election, which contradict Dent's assertion.
http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/04/florida-electio.html

[Melissa G]

18. IN- How to Cast a Ballot in Indiana if You Don't Have State-Issued Photo ID...

BLOGGED BY Brad Friedman ON 4/29/2008 11:39AM
How to Cast a Ballot in Indiana if You Don't Have State-Issued Photo ID...
For those wondering what a legally registered voter needs to do to successfully cast a ballot in Indiana --- now that their draconian polling place Photo ID restrictions have been upheld by the Supreme Court --- so that it might be counted, in the event the voter doesn't currently own a state-issued photo ID (no, military ID is not acceptable) we thought we'd offer a handy quick guide.

Note: It doesn't matter if you've voted in every single election for the last 40 or 50 years at the same polling place. Nor does it matter, as Justice Souter pointed out his dissent yesterday, "that the State has not come across a single instance of in-person voter impersonation fraud in all of Indiana’s history." You'll still need to do the following if you don't happen to have an IN drivers license!

Also note: Given the SCOTUS decision, and the nation-wide GOP effort (anywhere they can get away with it) to deny legal, Democratic-leaning voters from being able to even cast a ballot, folks in other states may wish to read the following to get an idea what's likely to be coming your way, as the Republican War on Voting successfully rages on. Please try not to be a causality.

How to cast a ballot in Indiana, if you don't currently have a state-issued ID:

Find your birth certificate or passport. If you don't have either, you might be able to apply to the state to get a copy of your birth certificate, if you happened to have been born there, for just $12. A passport may cost you $100 (I can't help you get to the place where you'll need to get your photo taken for that.)
Get yourself to a Bureau of Motor Vehicles. Don't let the fact that you don't drive, or have a car, or have access to public transportation, as in many counties in Indiana, stop you from getting to the BMV before Election Day.
Do the above every four years, without fail, or risk not being able to vote like everyone else at the polls in Indiana on Election Day.
If you fail in any step above, don't have the money to afford the necessary documents, or have a religious objection to having your photo taken, do not to worry. Indiana has you covered...

more good stuff from Brad here...
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=5934

[Melissa G]

19. MD- Attorney General’s Task Force on Voting Irregularities

Attorney General’s Task Force on Voting Irregularities
Submits First Report
Includes 13 Recommendations for Policy Changes

BALTIMORE, MD (April 29, 2008) –Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler’s Task Force on Voting Irregularities today released the first of two reports to the Attorney General containing 13 recommendations for improving the voting process in Maryland. Attorney General Gansler created the Task Force in May 2007 to examine election irregularities and obstacles to voting in recent elections and to make recommendations for policy changes. Co-chaired by Professor Sherrilyn Iffil and Orlan Johnson, Esq., the Task Force held public hearings over the last year across Maryland to hear first hand from citizens the problems they encountered when they attempted to cast their vote.

The Task Force found that many of the issues brought to its attention will require long-term solutions and changes. However, given the urgency of the 2008 General Election, the Task Force decided to issue its report in two parts. The first report is limited to identifying and addressing problems that can be addressed in time for the General Election this year. Later this year, the Task Force will issue a second report describing some of the long-term solutions that should be taken up by legislative, administrative and executive officers in the State to improve the conduct of elections.

The list of 13 recommendations made by the Task Force in the first report are:

A review of governance and key election management practices;
Increased transparency of election board processes and public access;
Uniformity of and improved training for local election officials on election procedures;
An assessment and public release by local boards of planned allocation of voting machines and technicians for each polling place;
Increased efforts by the Attorney General in promoting voter education and election protection efforts, and provisions of election day hotlines services by the Attorney General to address misleading campaign ads and voter questions;
Ensuring compliance with voter registration requirements of the federal National Voter Registration Act (“NVRA”) in public agencies;
Enforcement of procedures for physical layout of election machines at polling places to increase voter privacy;
A review of procedures for informing judges at polling places and the public of court decisions mandating extended voting hours on election day;
The creation of more effective signage and information on ballot questions provided to voters on election day;
Improved voter registration efforts for ex-offender population;
Provisions made for voting of eligible pre-trial detainees;
Address organized voter suppression efforts and review of rationale for police presence at local polling places; and,
Review of and attention to proper procedures mandated for meaningful access to voting for disabled voters.
“The health of our democratic system depends on our ability to ensure that all citizens entitled to vote may do so,” said Attorney General Gansler. “I am appreciative of the hard work and expertise of the members of the Task Force as they committed to completing this report over the last year. It is my hope that as elected officials we take these recommendations and put them into practice to improve the voting process across Maryland.”

http://www.oag.state.md.us/Press/2008/043008.htm

[Melissa G]

20. NJ- Evidence presented in New Jersey e-voting discrepancies

Evidence presented in New Jersey e-voting discrepancies
Posted by Robert Vamosi | 1 comment
Despite the threat of legal action by one voting machine vendor, Princeton University professor Ed Felten is continuing his independent investigation of perceived irregularities in New Jersey's February 5, 2008 presidential primary election. On Friday, a New Jersey state judge ruled that voting rights activists will also have the right to have their own independent expert examine the state's electronic voting machines.

The question is integrity. What Felten has found so far isn't enough to change the election results, but evidence presented on his blog site suggests there might be enough to undermine our confidence in the electronic system as it stands. Various county clerks in New Jersey who perceive the February counts as being off have supplied Felten with voting machines and paper audits. Sequoia Voting Systems, which produces most of the voting machines in New Jersey, has threatened legal action against Felten and his team if they pursue an independent investigation. Sequoia has said it would appoint its own team of investigators.

The threats haven't stopped Felten.

On March 19, Felten wrote that the "opinion switch," meaning the number of times the ballot was changed to Democrat or Republican, didn't add up to the total votes cast for each party. In this case, there was always one extra vote.

http://www.news.com/8301-10789_3-9931593-57.html

[Melissa G]

22. MA- Rep. pushes for voter ID in Massachusetts

Rep. pushes for voter ID in Massachusetts
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Lindsey Parietti/Daily News staff
MetroWest Daily News
Posted Apr 30, 2008 @ 07:23 PM

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
State Rep. Karyn Polito, R-Shrewsbury, is hoping a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision upholding photo identification requirements for voters will push Massachusetts to strengthen its own voter laws.

After the Supreme Court ruled Monday that a 2005 Indiana law designed to prevent voter fraud was constitutional, Polito is renewing her call for the state Legislature to reconsider a similar bill she filed this session.

Indiana, Florida and Georgia are the only states that do not allow voters without photo identification to cast a regular ballot, according to the Pew Center on the States, a nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization.

Instead, voters in those states are offered provisional ballots, which are only counted if election officials can later verify their identity.

http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/news/x2124114021

[Melissa G]

2. National n/t

[Melissa G]

10. 2008 Election -- Already Stolen With Supreme Court Assist?

2008 Election -- Already Stolen With Supreme Court Assist?
Submitted by BuzzFlash on Wed, 04/30/2008 - 4:25pm. Analysis

A BUZZFLASH NEWS ANALYSIS
by Christine Bowman

From a BuzzFlash Interview, 5/17/07:

People ask me: Are they going to steal the 2008 election? No, they’ve already stolen the 2008 election. -- Greg Palast, author of Armed Madhouse


Investigative reporter Greg Palast broke the story in Florida in 2000 about the purge of so-called "felons" whose votes were denied. His book Armed Madhouse documents extensive voting problems in the U.S. elections of 2000 - 2006. The 2007 update of the book also includes a chapter called "Busted" on "voter ID" laws that make it easier for local election officials to hand elections to whomever they please.

Turns out the prescient Greg Palast was right on the money with his seemingly cynical projection. The Supreme Court of the United States has just intervened, once again, to make it harder to vote and be counted. They ruled Monday to uphold Indiana's new Voter ID law requiring that voters show a state-issued picture ID in order to vote.

As Bob Fitrakis and Harvey Wasserman of The Free Press note:

Voting rights activists have long argued that since photo ID can cost money, or may demand expensive trips to government agencies, the requirement constitutes a "poll tax." Taxes on the right to vote were used for a century to prevent blacks and others from voting in the south and elsewhere. They were specifically banned by the 24th Amendment to the Constitution, ratified in 1964.

Did the US Supreme Court Just Elect John McCain? (The Free Press)more...
http://www.buzzflash.com/articles/analysis/287

[Melissa G]

11. Thom Hartmann interviews Alabama Governor Don Siegelman on April 29

Thom Hartmann interviews Alabama Governor Don Siegelman on April 29
Submitted by BuzzFlash on Wed, 04/30/2008 - 2:18pm. Alerts
A BUZZFLASH NEWS ALERT


Thom Hartmann interviews Governor Don Siegelman, 29 April 2008

Editor's note: We want to send a huge thanks to Thom Hartmann for letting us publish the entire transcript of his interview with Alabama Governor Don Siegelman about Republican partisan prosecutions and the theft of his re-election. This was transcribed by Sue Nethercott from Thom's Air America program of April 29.


: Joe Wilson, the husband of Valerie Plame, the former US ambassador once issued, once laid out a sentiment that I think many of us share: "At the end of the day, it's of keen interest to me to see whether or not we can get Karl Rove frog-marched out of the White House in handcuffs. And trust me, when I use that name, I measure my words." 1

In other words, he knew something was up. He knew something was up. And the evidence is mounting. Don Siegelman is with us. Donald Eugene Siegelman, he was the only person in the history of Alabama to be elected to serve in all four of Alabama's top state wide elected offices; Secretary of State, Attorney General, Lieutenant Governor and Governor. And Don Siegelman, welcome to the program.

: I'm glad to be with you, Thom, thank you.

: Thank you, governor. You, first of all I want to say, you're one of my political heroes. You ran a campaign in which from, looking at it from the outside it, it looked to me like the election was stolen from you, you pushed back afterwards, you carried on a good fight, the Karl Rove machine came after you and you continued to stand up and I just, we have been talking about you on this show for months and months and I am just frankly honored to have you with us.

http://www.buzzflash.com/articles/alerts/350

[Melissa G]

13. Brian Williams Hates Puff Pieces, Unless Topless 15-Year-Olds Are Involved

( Really, this is about voter ID... :evilgrin: )

Brian Williams has discovered the downside of blogging in your spare time. Blogs let you run your mouth, and then everyone holds you accountable for what you say when you go back to your real job. Yesterday, in a blog post titled “What Times Is It?,” Williams blasted the New York Times for running puff pieces on sex chairs and travel destinations for nudists. Then hours later he turned around and devoted an NBC "Nightly News" segment to Miley Cyrus’s racy photos in Vanity Fair.
MediaBloodhound points out that he spent even less time covering a significantly weightier story, the Supreme Court ruling on voter I.D.'s in Indiana. He allocated only 80 seconds to the case (as opposed to the two minutes spent on Miley), at one point asking correspondent Pete Williams, “In a nation where, in the post-9/11 era, we need a photo I.D. to fly, why was it a big story today, this court ruling that we need it to vote?”

Presumably, he was just setting up the reporter’s response and already knew the answer: because more than 20 percent of black voters in Indiana do not have access to a valid photo I.D., which could drastically affect the outcome of the primary. But still, it’s lucky he didn’t throw out the “Why was this a big story today?” question for the Hannah Montana piece, resulting in the answer, “Um, I don’t really know, Brian,” followed by rampant cricket chirping.

more...
http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2008/04/brian_williams_hates_puff_piec_1.html

[Melissa G]

15. Decision Is Likely to Spur Voter ID Laws in More States

Decision Is Likely to Spur Voter ID Laws in More States

By IAN URBINA
Published: April 29, 2008
WASHINGTON — Far from settling the debate over voter identification, the Supreme Court ruling on Monday upholding Indiana’s voter ID law is likely to lead to more laws and litigation, voting experts said.

Lawmakers in at least four states may seek to pass stricter regulations in the next year or so, the experts said. In response, voting rights groups might sue on behalf of individuals or groups in an effort to exempt them.

“The court’s opinion is likely to perform the same function for the photo ID debate as the Pennsylvania primary did for the Democratic presidential nomination — hardening positions while doing little if anything to illuminate a path to resolving the conflict,” said Doug Chapin, director of the Pew Center on the States Web site, electionline.org.

Voting experts said the decision would have limited effects on voting in the primaries and presidential election because most state legislatures were not in session, could not call emergency sessions or did not have the makeup to pass ID bills.

Voting experts predict legislative movement this year or next, especially in states with Republican legislative majorities and Republican governors.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/29/us/29states.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

[Melissa G]

24. Source of robo-calls identified ( Clinton Link in comments)

A Washington D.C. based non-profit organization is taking responsibility for robo-calls with bad information about registering to vote that went out to North Carolinians.

"Women's Voices, Women Vote" says they mailed voter registration applications and sent out the calls to encourage people to register to vote. On their website, they said they "understand North Carolina's primary registration effort deadline was April 11" and they "apologize for any confusion" from the calls.

Democracy North Carolina says the calls, reportedly from someone named Lamont Williams, target black neighborhoods and are designed to suppress black voter turnout.


Check out comments here...
http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?section=news/local&id=6113377

[Melissa G]

3. International n/t

[Melissa G]

12. India- Poll panel to launch voter ID helpline

By OUR CORRESPONDENT

Bangalore, April 30: The Election Commission will shortly launch a six-digit helpline, where voters can access their voting details instantly.

This IVRS-based toll-free helpline — 155212 — will be launched state-wide three or four days before the first phase of the elections, chief electoral officer Mr M.N. Vidyashankar said here on Wednesday.

He said that the number has been sourced from Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) and that anybody can call on this number at any point in time. He also said that voters can exercise their franchise without the Epic, provided one of the family members has the voters-ID card. The voter can also produce any one of the 17 documents specified by the commission for casting his vote. The commission has also extended the date of the issue of Epic from May 5 to 7. So far, only 32 per cent of Epic’s have been issued in Bangalore urban and BBMP areas.

"Since we will not be able to cover all segments before May 7, we have given complete concession to non Epic holders," he added. Mr Vidyashankar also said that parties could observe the May Day.
http://howrah.org/india_news/10916.html

[Melissa G]

23. France- Bizarre Undervote on iVotronic in France

Bizarre Undervote on iVotronic in France
April 30th, 2008 by Andrew Appel

In France, most municipalities use paper ballots in elections, but a few places have begun using DRE (direct-recording electornic) machines. Pierre Muller, a French computer scientist, has recently sent me a report of a malfunction by an ES&S iVotronic machine in a recent municipal election.

In this spring’s elections (and he believes this also happened last year), there have been some unexplained “undervotes” on iVotronic machines. Below is a printout from an iVotronic machine. There’s a line “UnderVotes For Above Contest: 1″. Since the voter is required by the user-interface to choose between a candidate and the choice “vote blanc” , undervotes should not be possible.

This event is similar in some ways to the Sequoia AVC Advantage bug observed in New Jersey on February 5, 2008. In both cases it appears that the machine is producing results that should not be possible, and in both cases local election officials are unable to explain how these results could legitimately be obtained.

Here is the relevant portion of the printout:

I’ve also prepared a larger image of the full printout, annotated with my English translation.

http://www.freedom-to-tinker.com/?p=1284

[Melissa G]

4. Editorial n/t

[Melissa G]

8. Partisan Supreme Court errs on strict voter ID laws

Partisan Supreme Court errs on strict voter ID laws
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 04/30/08
There will be no apologies from this precinct. I have long argued that harsh voter ID laws are unfair, unconstitutional and un-American, and I will continue to say so.

The fact that a group of wealthy male jurists favors suppression of the franchise hardly makes it right. After all, the Founding Fathers believed that only white men should have the vote. They weren't right, either.

CYNTHIA TUCKER
MY OPINION

On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a wrongheaded ruling that upholds Indiana's voter ID law, widely believed the harshest in the nation. For now, the decision validates similar laws in several other states, including Georgia.

It's no coincidence that Republicans rule in most state Legislatures that have pushed through these laws. For decades — since the civil rights movement enabled black voting rights, in fact — Republicans have used the guise of protecting against "voter fraud" to justify laws that harass, intimidate and invalidate voters of color. Having given up trying to woo black and brown voters with progressive politics, the GOP has resorted to procedures that suppress their vote.

The late Chief Justice William Rehnquist, then a young Arizona attorney active in Republican politics and an adviser to Barry Goldwater, was accused of harassing black and Latino voters at the polls in Phoenix in 1962. Testifying before the Senate in 1986, after Rehnquist had been nominated as chief justice, James Brosnahan, a former assistant U.S. attorney, said that he had investigated complaints about behavior by Rehnquist and others that "was designed to reduce the number of black and Hispanic voters by confrontation and intimidation." (Rehnquist denied the charge and was confirmed.)

http://www.ajc.com/opinion/content/opinion/tucker/stories/2008/04/30/tuckered_0430.html

[Melissa G]

21. The Art of Pointless Polemic Politics

The Art of Pointless Polemic Politics
Submitted by BuzzFlash on Wed, 04/30/2008 - 5:30pm. Shirley Smith
MS. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON

BuzzFlash,

A better term would be polecat (skunk) polemic politics because, up to now, they have had a strong and lasting smell to them . . . we Americans have an illegal and treasonous Bush GOP invasion/war/occupation going on where people are dying every day and we have to listen to the constant barrage of he said/she said Clinton/McCain politics in their hoping that this small talk will be enough to take the American eyes off of our real problems . . . death, debt, and destruction of Afghanistan, Iraq, and the US way of life.

snip
House Democratic leaders are putting together the largest Iraq war spending bill yet, a measure that is expected to fund the war through the end of the Bush presidency and for nearly six months into the next president's term

snip
Now, this so-called Republican Supreme Court is going along with trying to keep people from their right to vote, because many Americans will not have a picture ID . . . yet, how many people paid for their criminal actions with the election fraud, and that fraud was real, unlike these stories of voter fraud. Again, we don't hear anything from the candidates on this, and why do we need a Supreme Court to take away the one right of power for every American to participate in government? Of course, pay notice to what this article says about states rights . . . that's not what happened in Florida when our so-called Supreme Court put their own guy into the White House, overriding states' rights, and there should be accountability for that . . . no one, even those lifetime members of the Supreme Court should be above US law, especially when they use it to sell out this country . . . a more detailed explanation of this is found in "The Betrayal of America" by Vincent Bugliosi with forwards by Molly Ivins and Gerry Spencer, 2001 . . . somehow, again, no accountability after eight long years, and look what their betrayal has cost this country in debt and the deaths of hundreds of thousands of innocent lives, including American lives.

The court ruled 6-3 that the requirements enacted by Indiana's legislature were not enough of a burden to invoke constitutional protections. Because the state's law is generally regarded as the nation's strictest, the ruling bodes well for other states that have required photo ID

snip

When are we Americans going to stop swallowing the swill of polecat polemic politics and demand answers to the real problems facing this country today, along with the accountability according to US law?

http://www.buzzflash.com/articles/smith/269

[Melissa G]

5. Action n/t

[Melissa G]

17. We Still need ER Daily News Editors! Esp Thursday!!!

It's Fun! It's Easy! PM me for Details!
Thank You!!! :kick: