Greetings, fellow Freedom Fighters™ and Defenders of Democracy™!
We have another jam-packed edition this week--so much injustice and outrage; so little time! Here are this week’s top stories:
-- From VoteTrustUSA: the voting machine makers tell Congress “all your votes are belong to us.”
-- From A.N.S.W.E.R.: the FBI illegally interrogated anti-war activists. No crime was alleged or committed; the detention and interrogation proceeded solely based on the activists' suspected political beliefs. This ugly precedent establishes the all-too-frightening fact that ANY of US could be detained and interrogated at any time SOLELY FOR OUR POLITICAL BELIEFS.
-- From AlterNet:
... ... Americans who fall through the slashed social safety net turn to our public libraries as homeless shelters
... ... Corporate-backed Korean “free” trade deal robs poor Americans to enrich Big Pharma
... ... Hillary Clinton loves labor AND the enemies of labor
... ... Our middle class drowns as debts and costs soar while incomes plod sedately along
... ... The EPA eschewed Bush's attempts to ignore global warming at our peril
... ... Restoring felon voting rights in Vermont shows us how progressives can win huge victories
... ... The My Sweet Lord chocolate savior sculpture controversy (“Maybe Jesus didn't have a penis?”)
... ... The prosecutor scandal is the beginning of Bush's end
... ... America cannot afford leave decisions about how digital content is paid for and distributed just to Google and its ever-growing list of corporate competitors
... ... In Texas, Bible class bill pushed by "Evolution=Kabbalism" Rep. Chisum
... ... The most vicious mortgage entrapment ever to hit American society
... ... Congress MUST investigate Bush's ties to Osama bin Laden's family
... ... Learn to live the low energy lifestyle
... ... The MLK you DON'T see on TV
... ... Pelosi shows Bush how an ADULT behaves in Syria
... ... How OUR TAX DOLLARS SUPPORT the Swiftboaters for Abstinence
... ... Chomsky tells how to stop the war on Iran
... ... Wal-Mart and Target SPY on their employees
... ... Christian Right lawyers are waging war on our Constitution
... ... American ghosts of Abu Ghraib
... ... Behind the denials: the Brits and Iranians traded prisoners to end the recent stand-off
... ... The Christian right is teaching that liberals are evil and that America is ruled by evil, clandestine organizations disguised as liberal groups
... ... Ethanol will only lead to more world starvation if we opt to use it to fill our SUVs
... ... WaPo and our so-called "liberal" media: so eager to attack Dems that they're reinventing government.
... ... A word to Don Imus, hater: being racist, sexist, and disrespectful towards women and others isn't cool, hip, or a revolutionary act of politically incorrect subversion; it's plain wrong.
-- Pope JPII is on Benedict's fast track toward being canonized as a saint. Yay, let's reward the hypocrite for all of the crimes and injustices against innocent women and children that he encouraged and condoned, like the clergy sexual abuse scandal and preaching AGAINST using condoms to prevent AIDS in Africa!
-- CNN's Lou Dobbs: we're on the fast track to bad trade policy. Summary to ordinary working Americans: you're screwed.
-- From the Center for American Progress
... ... Drudge LIED when he said that a CNN reporter heckled McCain and others in Baghdad.
... ... Washington Times LIED when it said that Bush harshly upbraided Congress for leaving for Easter break before finishing their work—the TRUTH is that Bush left for his VACATION at CRAWFORD before CONGRESS left on its break!
... ... Wal-Mart promises nationwide that its customers will receive EC without delay, discrimination, or judgment (whew!!).
-- From DN!
... ... The global climate change divide will affect rich and poor people and nations very differently
... ... The sub-prime lending vultures have created a housing lending market that has resulted in a NET LOSS of home-ownership in America
... ... In Debt We Trust: America before the bubble burst, and how modern serfdom will affect us all
... ... Exclusive interview: independent journalist Josh Wolf released
... ... On the anniversary of MLK, Jr.'s assassination, his description of the U.S. as the world's leading purveyor of violence continues to ring eerily true
... ... DN! presents in-depth information regarding the FBI's detention and interrogation of anti-war protesters
... ... Outsourced Gitmo: the U.S. is now using jails in Ethiopia for torturing and disappearing political and other enemies of the state
... ... War Photographer Chris Hondros Witnesses U.S. Shooting of Iraqi Parents in
Car With Six Children
-- More about state propaganda, media control, censorship, and hypocrisy from Media Savvy
-- From HuffPo:
... ... White House Counselor Dan Bartlett told Bob Schieffer on CBS's Face the Nation that the cause of longtime senior Bush strategist Matthew Dowd's break with the President was the "personal turmoil" in Dowd's life. In recent years, Dowd has lost a child and a marriage, and now his son is being deployed to Iraq. No wonder, says his good friend Bartlett, Dowd no longer toes the Bush line; emotions can cloud your thinking.
... ... Arianna also reminds us that, when it comes to the Clintons and other political animals, we MUST FOLLOW THE MONEY.
... ... John McCain recently walked through a Baghdad market where he had tea and afterward declared that America wasn't getting the full story on all the good stuff that was happening in Iraq. One of the reasons for that is probably that it's not safe for journalists to leave their hotels. And also, many educated Iraqis have left Iraq. But what was really absurd, as everyone knows at this point, is that McCain traveled with 100 heavily armed soldiers, attack helicopters circling overhead. So yeah, the world's a safer place when you have your own mobile Green Zone. Every foot he walked in Baghdad (wearing a bullet proof vest) probably cost Americans $10,000 for security. Or more. If you need that much security, and a bullet proof vest, then things probably aren't going so well where you are.
-- Be sure to read this post all the way to the bottom because there are some real goodies awaiting you there. We offer links to two articles from our cousin, The Onion: “Bush refuses to set timetable for extracting head from banister” and “Christ getting in shape for second coming.” We also present a link to Doonesbury's rant on Republican Governor Mitt Romney's FLIP-FLOP from Reason to right-wing “principles.”
Keep the faith and keep fighting: together, we WILL win our nation back!
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From the mailbag
Reader K.R. quotes MLK Jr., who said, “Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.” K.R. Remarks, “Too bad Chimpco supporters can't and won't accept that.” We of The Scallion couldn't agree more.
K.R. also sent in a sad-but-true article by Joe Klein in Time:
The first three months of the new Democratic Congress have been neither terrible nor transcendent. A Pew poll had it about right: a substantial majority of the public remains happy the Democrats won in 2006, but neither Nancy Pelosi nor Harry Reid has dominated the public consciousness as Newt Gingrich did when the Republicans came to power in 1995. There is a reason for that. A much bigger story is unfolding: the epic collapse of the Bush Administration.
The three big Bush stories of 2007--the decision to "surge" in Iraq, the scandalous treatment of wounded veterans at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center and the firing of eight U.S. Attorneys for tawdry political reasons--precisely illuminate the three qualities that make this Administration one of the worst in American history: arrogance (the surge), incompetence (Walter Reed) and cynicism (the U.S. Attorneys).
Iraq comes first, as always. From the start, it has been obvious that personal motives have skewed the President's judgment about the war. Saddam tried to kill his dad; his dad didn't try hard enough to kill Saddam. There was payback to be had. But never was Bush's adolescent petulance more obvious than in his decision to ignore the Baker-Hamilton report and move in the exact opposite direction: adding troops and employing counterinsurgency tactics inappropriate to the situation on the ground. "There was no way he was going to accept [its findings] once the press began to portray the report as Daddy's friends coming to the rescue," a member of the Baker-Hamilton commission told me. As with Bush's invasion of Iraq, the decision to surge was made unilaterally, without adequate respect for history or military doctrine. Iraq was invaded with insufficient troops and planning; the surge was attempted with too few troops (especially non-Kurdish, Arabic-speaking Iraqis), a purposely misleading time line ("progress" by September) and, most important, the absence of a reliable Iraqi government.
General David Petraeus has repeatedly said, "A military solution to Iraq is not possible." Translation: This thing fails unless there is a political deal among the Shi'ites, Sunnis and Kurds. There is no such deal on the horizon, largely because of the President's aversion to talking to people he doesn't like. And while some Baghdad neighborhoods may be more peaceful--temporarily--as a result of the increased U.S. military presence, the story two years from now is likely to resemble the recent headlines from Tall 'Afar: dueling Sunni and Shi'ite massacres have destroyed order in a city famously pacified by counterinsurgency tactics in 2005. Bush's indifference to reality in Iraq is not an isolated case. It is the modus operandi of his Administration. The indifference of his Environmental Protection Agency to the dangers of carbon dioxide emissions was rejected by the Supreme Court on April 2.
On April 3, the President again accused Democrats of being "more interested in fighting political battles in Washington than providing our troops what they need." Such demagoguery is particularly outrageous given the Administration's inability to provide our troops "what they need" at the nation's premier hospital for veterans. The mold and decrepitude at Walter Reed are likely to be only the beginning of the tragedy, the latest example of incompetence in this Administration. "This is yet another aspect of war planning that wasn't done properly," says Paul Rieckhoff of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. "The entire VA hospital system is unprepared for the casualties of Iraq, especially the psychiatric casualties. A lot of vets are saying, 'This is our Katrina moment.' And they're right: this Administration governs badly because it doesn't care very much about governing."
Compared with Iraq and Walter Reed, the firing of the U.S. Attorneys is a relatively minor matter. It is true that U.S. Attorneys serve at the pleasure of the President, but they are political appointees of a special sort. They are partisans, obviously, but must appear to be above politics--not working to influence elections, for example--if public faith in the impartiality of the justice system is to be maintained. Once again Karl Rove's operation has corrupted a policy area--like national security--that should be off-limits to political operators.
When Bush came to office--installed by the Supreme Court after receiving fewer votes than Al Gore--I speculated that the new President would have to govern in a bipartisan manner to be successful. He chose the opposite path, and his hyper-partisanship has proved to be a travesty of governance and a comprehensive failure. I've tried to be respectful of the man and the office, but the three defining sins of the Bush Administration--arrogance, incompetence, cynicism--are congenital: they're part of his personality. They're not likely to change. And it is increasingly difficult to imagine yet another two years of slow bleed with a leader so clearly unfit to lead.
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Interesting things we found in our travels
NASA is worried that, because of four-year gaps between space flights, the U.S. stands to fall behind Russia and China:
http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/space/03/30/space.flight.gap.ap/index.html
Pope John Paul II is on Pope Benedict's fast track to canonization as a saint:
http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/europe/04/02/pope.sainthood.reut/index.html
From CNN's Lou Dobbs: America's fast track to bad trade policy:
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/04/03/dobbs.april4/index.html
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From our information clearinghouse
These are items we receive from the countless mailing lists to which The Scallion collectively subscribes. They are worth the effort of at least a good skim.
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From the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition
FBI illegally interrogated anti-war activists
Washington Post article reveals flagrant civil liberties violations
Defend free speech rights!
*Please forward this email widely*
We encourage everyone to read and circulate this email that features a Washington Post story from April 3, 2007. The article reports on information uncovered from a lawsuit filed by the Partnership for Civil Justice (PCJ) in defense of anti-war protesters who were arrested in Washington DC on April 20, 2002 and then illegally interrogated by an FBI Intelligence Unit. The ANSWER Coalition had organized a mass demonstration of over 100,000 people that day in support of the Palestinian people. Those arrested were simply participating in a mass assembly protest and were detained and interrogated by the FBI when they went back to the parking garage where their vehicles were parked. The demonstrators were young and "dressed in black" which made them the target of this now exposed FBI secret police tactic.
The Partnership for Civil Justice is a member group of the ANSWER Coalition Steering Committee. PCJ attorneys have filed a number of groundbreaking legal actions on behalf of wrongfully arrested demonstrators, in support of the right to use Central Park for mass assembly protests in New York City, the right of anti-war protestors to demonstrate along the parade route at the Inauguration of George W. Bush, and in a host of other major Free Speech battles. To get more information and regular email updates about this and other legal actions in defense of the Bill of Rights you can go to http://www.justiceonline.org/ and sign up for email updates. Only the aggressive action of the people, in the courts and in the streets, can serve as defense against the repressive actions of the government.
Police Log Confirms FBI Role In Arrests
Group Detained, Questioned During D.C. War Protest
Click to see the article on the Washington Post website
By Carol D. Leonnig
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, April 3, 2007; B01
A secret FBI intelligence unit helped detain a group of war protesters in a downtown Washington parking garage in April 2002 and interrogated some of them on videotape about their political and religious beliefs, newly uncovered documents and interviews show.
"The revelations, combined with protester accounts, provide the first public evidence that Washington-based FBI personnel used their intelligence-gathering powers in the District to collect purely political intelligence. "
Washington Post,
April 3, 2007
For years, law enforcement authorities suggested it never happened. The FBI and D.C. police said they had no records of such an incident. And police told a federal court that no FBI agents were present when officers arrested more than 20 protesters that afternoon for trespassing; police viewed them as suspicious for milling around the parking garage entrance.
But a civil lawsuit, filed by the protesters, recently unearthed D.C. police logs that confirm the FBI's role in the incident. Lawyers for the demonstrators said the logs, which police say they just found, bolster their allegations of civil rights violations.
The probable cause to arrest the protesters as they retrieved food from their parked van? They were wearing black -- a color choice the FBI and police associated with anarchists, according to the police records.
FBI agents dressed in street clothes separated members to question them one by one about protests they attended, whom they had spent time with recently, what political views they espoused and the significance of their tattoos and slogans, according to interviews and court records.
Ultimately, the protesters were not prosecuted because there wasn't sufficient evidence of trespassing, and their arrest records were expunged.
Similar intelligence-gathering operations have been reported in New York, where a local police intelligence unit tried to infiltrate groups planning to protest at the Republican National Convention in 2004, and in Colorado, where records surfaced showing that the FBI collected names and license plates of people protesting timber industry practices at a 2002 industry convention.
Several federal courts have ruled that intelligence agencies can monitor domestic groups only when there is reason to believe the group is engaged in criminal activity. Experts in police conduct say it is hard to imagine how asking questions about a person's political views would be appropriate in a trespassing case.
The Washington case centers on activities that took place April 20, 2002 -- a day of three cacophonic but generally orderly rallies that drew an estimated 75,000 people to the Mall. They included groups demonstrating against the prospect of war in Iraq, numerous supporters of the war, and Palestinians and others rallying for an end to U.S. aid to Israel and for peace in the Middle East.
The police logs for that day show how events developed: Secret Service agents had some concern about a group near the JBG Co. building's garage at 1275 K St. NW just after 5 p.m.
"Intell 53 advises that five members of the anarchist group have entered a parking garage," reads an entry from 5:12 p.m.
Ten minutes later, an entry notes the FBI's role.
"FBI, JOCC advises that an FBI intell team is responding to area of 13th and K/L Streets regarding a report of alleged anarchists in the vicinity," it reads. "There are reportedly 15 anarchists at 13th and K being interviewed. The subjects reportedly had a passkey to a building, but it's unknown how they came to be in possession of it."
The entry notes that D.C. police also were at the site. The protesters were detained at the garage for more than an hour, logs show, until police decided to arrest them for alleged unlawful entry.
D.C. police officials acknowledged in 2003 that the department had a secret intelligence unit that infiltrated and monitored protest groups in the Washington area, even if authorities had no evidence of criminal activity. The practice drew complaints from the D.C. Council, and police promised to develop guidelines.
The Partnership for Civil Justice, a civil liberties group, helped 11 protesters sue D.C. police in 2003 and the FBI last year, alleging that the questioning and detentions violated their civil rights.
In response to the suit, D.C. police at first said that no police intelligence officials were involved in the arrests. Last year, city officials revealed under additional questioning that five members of the police intelligence unit were present.
The plaintiffs argue that the newly released police logs make clear that the FBI, working hand in hand with local police, is engaged in a concerted effort to spy on and intimidate U.S. citizens who are lawfully exercising their free-speech rights. They contend that this is a national effort that abuses the FBI's broad counterterrorism powers and equates political speech with a risk to national security.
"It really is a secret police: This is an effort to suppress political dissent," said Mara Verheyden-Hilliard of the Partnership for Civil Justice. "If this was happening in another country that the U.S. was targeting, U.S. officials at the highest levels would be decrying this as a violation of human rights,"
FBI spokeswoman Debbie Weierman said the agency stands by its assertion in court filings that it maintains no records of the incident.
A law enforcement official familiar with joint operations during protests said it would be typical for the FBI to hand over records of questioning to the lead agency -- in this case, the D.C. police.
D.C. police said authorities only recently found the logs of police responses to that day's events. That discovery came after three years of police assurances in federal court that no such records or logs existed showing the FBI's role.
The records turned up on the eve of a deposition in which a police records technician was to be questioned about the existence of a routine log that his office is responsible for maintaining during any mass protest in Washington.
Sgt. Joe Gentile, a D.C. police spokesman, referred questions to the D.C. attorney general's office.
Traci Hughes, a spokeswoman for the attorney general's office, said the city's lawyers never intentionally misrepresent evidence to the court and come forward when discrepancies turn up.
"We have to rely upon information that the client gives us," Hughes said, adding that police turned over the log as soon as they learned it existed.
In November, as the Partnership for Civil Justice continued to try to get police records of the event, the FBI officials argued that the lawsuit against the agency should be dismissed. They said that the bureau had no relevant records and that if the FBI ever had any records, they had been disposed of when protesters' arrest records were expunged, or "they remain unidentifiable for other reasons." Justice Department attorneys noted, however, that questioning people in a criminal investigation was not improper.
In their lawsuit, the partnership and protesters said the FBI's political and religious questioning was "wholly unrelated to any legitimate activities of law enforcement" and violated their free speech rights under the First Amendment. They noted that some of the protesters had parked their van in the garage and were merely retrieving food.
Staff researcher Meg Smith contributed to this report.
A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition
http://www.answercoalition.org/
dc@internationalanswer.org
National Office in Washington DC: 202-544-3389
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From AlterNet
America Gone Wrong: A Slashed Safety Net Turns Libraries into Homeless Shelters
By Chip Ward, Tomdispatch.com
A dirty little secret about America is that public libraries have become de facto daytime shelters for the nation's street people while librarians are increasingly our unofficial social workers for the homeless and mentally disturbed. Read more
It's Time for the Congressional Black Caucus to Cut Ties with Fox News
Color of Change
Editorial: Fox News doesn't care about Black people, does the Congressional Black Caucus?
The Crisis Over 15 British Prisoners in Iran Leads to Anywhere But Diplomacy
By Trita Parsi, IPS News
As both the UK and Iran increase the stakes in an effort to gain the upper hand in the negotiations over the 15 captured British soldiers, both sides are closing the chance for diplomacy.
On Barack: An Open Letter and Invitation to Thoughtful Brothers and Sisters In America
By Bacardi L. Jackson, AlterNet
A widely circulated email among the Black community warns that Black leaders shouldn't demand that Barack Obama's record be scrutinized more closely and meet a higher standard than his white counterparts simply out of jealousy.
Corporate-Backed Trade Deal Would Directly Hurt Poor Americans
By Sharon Treat, Sean Flynn, AlterNet
The Korea-U.S. "free" trade deal is proceeding apace, and Big Pharma is pleased. But do state lawmakers, healthcare providers and low-income patients know what's being negotiated on their behalf?
Evangelist Chuck Missler Disproves Evolution With Jar Of Peanut Butter [VIDEO]
By Bruce Wilson
Was that "smooth or crunchy"?
Hillary Clinton -- friend of Labor, friend of Labor's foes
By David Sirota
The enemy of a Clinton enemy is probably a political contributor.
Trillions in Debt, Can the Middle Class Hang On?
By James Scurlock, AlterNet
How do we stop the credit industry's predatory business model and get Americans out of debt when incomes aren't rising as fast as the costs of healthcare and housing? Read more
Will Vermont Secede from the Union?
By Ian Baldwin, Frank Bryan, The Washington Post
The winds of secession are blowing in the Green Mountain State: Vermont was once an independent republic, and it can be one again.
Can Wal-Mart Ever Be 'Green'?
By Stacy Mitchell, Grist Magazine
Wal-Mart's commitments to become more energy efficient are not without substance, but what can't be ignored is that big-box retailing is intrinsically unsustainable.
Roadmap of a Progressive Victory
By Nancy Scola, AlterNet
Why a humble campaign for felon voting rights in Rhode Island ended up being a tremendous win for all progressives.
Sweet (chocolate) Jesus controversy [VIDEO]
By Evan Derkacz
Maybe Jesus didn't have a penis?
Kennedy Swings, Roberts Strikes Out, Bush Loses, Earth Wins
By Bill Scher
Chief Justice Roberts tried to use conservative judicial activism to help Bush's EPA ignore global warming ...
Prosecutor Scandal Is the Beginning of Bush's End
By Larry Beinhart, BuzzFlash
The trail of breadcrumbs in the US attorney scandal starts at the Department of Justice, goes into the White House and heads right down the halls into the Oval Office.
We Must Imagine a Future Without Cars
By James Howard Kunstler, AlterNet
Kunstler argues that the coming age of energy scarcity will change everything about how we live in this country -- most of all our dependency on automobiles.
How the Right Uses People of Color to Foster Racism
By Margaret Kimberly, Black Agenda Report
White supremacy, sensing the need to repackage itself for consumption in polite company, partially fills the demand for racist bile by outsourcing to mercenary writers of color.
The War Against Google
By Jeffrey Chester, TheNation.com
We should not leave decisions about how digital content is paid for and distributed just to Google and its ever-growing list of corporate competitors.
Bush f**k-up commemorative plates [VIDEO]
By Evan Derkacz
The gift that keeps on giving...
Rachel Maddow on the Orrin Hatch/Alberto Gonzales dilemma [VIDEO]
How to show loyalty to Bush while dumping on the guy whose job you seek...
TX Mulls Bills On Fake History Bible Classes & Fake Reproductive Medicine
By Bruce Wilson
Bible class bill pushed by "Evolution=Kabbalism" Rep. Chisum.
Attack of the Mortgage Vultures
By Matthew Rothschild, The Progressive
Over the last decade, we have been witnessing some of the most brazen acts of mortgage entrapment ever to hit the American housing market. Read more
The Evidence Is There: It's Time for Congress to Investigate the Ties Between the Bush Family and Osama bin Laden
By Lucy Komisar, Berrett-Koehler Publishing
How the Bush family's private connection to a dirty offshore bank is the only link between Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein.
Breaking Out of the Art World's Sexism
By Jeanine Plant, AlterNet
Heavy-hitting shows dedicated to feminist art are happening now on both coasts. But they stand in stark contrast to a past deeply in thrall to man-made art.
How to Live a Low-Energy Lifestyle
By Kelpie Wilson, TruthOut.org
Americans can cut consumption and keep their affluence -- but it will take a change in priorities.
Israelis and Palestinians Raise Another Bloody Generation
By Uri Avnery, Media Monitors Network
Once again, Palestinian textbooks are being blamed for "indoctrinating" youth into hatred towards Israel. But it's not the books; it's the occupation.
Supreme Court Puts the Pressure On
By Bill McKibben, Grist Magazine
The Supreme Court's decision this week that global warming is a problem the EPA can't ignore any longer should be an incentive for the rest of us to keep up the political pressure.
The Martin Luther King You Don't See on TV
By Norman Solomon, Jeff Cohen, AlterNet
Every year on April 4, as Americans commemorate MLK's death, we get perfunctory news reports that fail to account for the last several years of his life -- and for good reason.
Feingold on Bush: It's incredible that he's vetoing funds he wants... [VIDEO]
By Evan Derkacz
On Olbermann, the Dem rips Bush's conference.
Pelosi simply being a good parent to Bush
By Bob Geiger
House Speaker shows how an adult behaves in Syria.
Swiftboaters recruited to push abstinence
Scott Swenson: And your tax dollars support them...
Chomsky: Preventing War with Iran
By Noam Chomsky, Tomdispatch.com
Stopping a war with Iran requires a strong organized popular opposition. Read more
Wal-Mart and Target Spy on Their Employees
By Barbara Ehrenreich, AlterNet
With Target and Wal-Mart acting as though they are entitled to spy on, stalk and imprison their own employees, we are on the road to a full-scale workplace dictatorship.
An Army of Christian Right Lawyers Is Waging War on the Constitution
By Sarah Posner, Washington Spectator
A look at the Christian Right's legal muscle leading the fight to end the separation of church and state.
The American Ghosts of Abu Ghraib
By Sam Provance, Consortium News
In this first-person account, former Army Sgt. Sam Provance -- one of the heroes of the Abu Ghraib scandal -- describes what he learned when he attended a special screening of the documentary "Ghosts of Abu Ghraib."
Behind the Denials: Iranians and Brits Traded Prisoners
By Patrick Cockburn, CounterPunch
The stand-off over the 15 British sailors and marines captured by Iran ended with a de facto prisoner exchange, despite denials by Britain and Iran that a swap was intended.
Chocolate Jesus charlatan Lampooned on South Park [VIDEO x 3]
By Evan Derkacz
Bill Donohue's bullying Catholic League v. Jesus
Democratic Senators on cutting off Bush's funds: Just say "Yea"
By Bob Geiger
Time for Democrats to end the Iraq war
Radical Christian Right Preaches Liberal Evil
By Chris Hedges, Truthdig
Members of the radical Christian End Times movement are being taught to believe that America is ruled by evil, clandestine organizations disguised as liberal groups. As a result, the fearful are hoping for the end. Read more
Ethanol Will Not Be Our Clean, Green Savior!
By Murray Dobbin, The Tyee
As much as we may hope to the contrary, ethanol will not save us. Instead it will lead to more food and water shortages, and feed our unchecked consumption.
Circuit City Slaughter: Seniority Means a Pink Slip
By Barbara Ehrenreich, AlterNet
Not so long ago seniority was rewarded with higher pay and other perks. But that higher pay now carries a lethal risk, as Circuit City has just demonstrated.
More Uninsured Means More Healthcare Corporate Profits
By Adrianne Appel, IPS News
The U.S. is said to offer gold-standard health care, but as the most expensive health system in the world, only people with a pot of gold can get that care.
Strong Women Are Scaring the Pants Off of the Right
By Paul Waldman, TomPaine.com
As a group, conservative media figures are not exactly secure in their masculinity. It's no wonder they are so easily persuaded by political campaigns from Alpha males and fear seeing women strip them of their power.
Is Digital Racial Profiling on Tap?
By Annalee Newitz, AlterNet
The next digital divide could introduce a new era in racial profiling.
Money Grubbing Pols Have the Nerve to Say it Doesn't Matter
By Arianna Huffington, HuffingtonPost.com
The oil industry spills gobs of cash all around Washington, and politicians return the favor with mega-billion dollar thank you notes, then have the gall to pretend that all that money doesn't affect their decision-making.
The Washington Post's Constitutional revisionism
By Joshua Holland
Your so-called "liberal" media: so eager to attack Dems that they're reinventing government.
Moqtada al-Sadr calls for attacks on US Soldiers, protest... [VIDEO]
By Evan Derkacz
The Young Turks: We cannot handle attacks from both Sunnis and Shi'a...
Don Imus, hater
By Jill Nelson
Word up, Don: being racist, sexist, and disrespectful towards women and others isn't cool, hip, or a revolutionary act of politically incorrect subversion; it's plain wrong.
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From the Center for American Progress
In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court yesterday issued a "stunning rebuke" to the Bush administration and "ruled that the federal government does indeed have authority to regulate greenhouse gases linked to global warming."
STATE WATCH
NEW YORK: State agrees to generously fund stem cell research.
IOWA: On Sunday, Iowa's minimum wage increased from $5.15 to $6.20 an hour, the first raise in a decade.
FLORIDA: Gov. Charlie Crist (R) hopes to "persuade members of the Florida cabinet this week to end the practice of stripping convicted felons of their right to vote."
CALIFORNIA: An increasing portion of the state's baby boomers are being forced to put off retirement.
BLOG WATCH
THINK PROGRESS: The K Street Project lives.
CLIMATE PROGRESS: "Bush Administration vs. Everyone Else."
MEDIA MATTERS: "CNN's Malveaux parroted White House criticism of Pelosi's Syria visit, but ignored GOP-led trip."
DAILY GRILL
"During a live press conference in Baghdad, Senators McCain and Graham were heckled by CNN reporter Michael Ware."
-- The Drudge Report, 4/1/07
VERSUS
"I did not heckle the senator. Indeed, I didn't say a word. I didn't even ask a question. In fact, when I raised my hand to ask a question, the press conference abruptly ended."
-- CNN Reporter Michael Ware, 4/2/07
"Iran's President said today he would immediately release 15 British sailors and marines who have been held captive in Iran since March 23."
STATE WATCH
ARKANSAS: State Senate committee defeats bill that would criminalize harboring or transporting undocumented immigrants.
WISCONSIN: Gov. Jim Doyle (D) defends the state's commitment to stem cell research after a U.S. patent office revoked three Wisconsin research patents.
NEW JERSEY: "New Jersey has been diverting billions of dollars from its pension fund for state and local workers into other government purposes over the last 15 years."
BLOG WATCH
THINK PROGRESS: Memo to President Bush: 57 days < 119 days.
TAPPED: Where President Bush leads, conservative base will follow.
FEMINISTING: Washington Post article debunks Washington Post column on wage gap "bargain."
NO MORE MISTER NICE BLOG: Where was the right-wing outrage when journalists actually heckled Al Gore?
DAILY GRILL
"Using his harshest language to date, the president upbraided the Democrat-controlled Congress for leaving on 'spring break' without completing work on the bill."
-- Washington Times, 4/4/07
VERSUS
We should mention President Bush is heading to his ranch in Crawford, Texas tomorrow to begin his own Easter weekend break.
-- CNN, 4/3/07
GOOD NEWS
Wal-Mart promises that its customers will receive emergency contraception without discrimination, delay, or judgment.
STATE WATCH
FLORIDA: Insurance rates are predicted to rise as global warming intensifies.
NEW HAMPSHIRE: State House votes "to give same-sex couples the same rights, responsibilities, and obligations as married couples."
NORTH CAROLINA: State House apologizes for North Carolina's role in slavery.
GEORGIA: Georgia joins "a growing number of states restricting journalists' access to lawmakers while legislative bodies are in session."
BLOG WATCH
THINK PROGRESS: Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) to RNC: turn over your emails.
EZRA KLEIN: The right-wing appropriates feminism to attack Islam and liberals.
ANDREW SULLIVAN: Fox News host Bill O'Reilly "loses it" over the Geneva Conventions.
DAILY GRILL
"I told reporters afterward that it was just like any open-air market in Indiana in the summertime. ... I just meant that that was what it looked and felt like...lots of people, lots of booths and a friendly relaxed atmosphere."
-- Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN), 4/3/07, on the Shorja market in Baghdad
VERSUS
"'There've been no shootings or car bombings' at that market since it opened a few years ago, said Robin Gibson, assistant metro editor of the Star Press in Muncie [Indiana]. ... 'Maybe some overeager dogs jumping at people.'"
-- Washington Post, 4/4/07
-----
From “Democracy Now!”
* Supreme Court Rules EPA Can Regulate Greenhouse Gases Linked to Global
Warming in Defeat For Bush Administration *
The Supreme Court has ruled that the Environmental Protection Agency has the
authority to regulate the emission of "greenhouse gases" linked to global
warming. In a 5-4 decision, the court ruled that the EPA violated the Clean
Air Act by improperly declining to regulate new-vehicle emissions standards
to control the pollutants that scientists say contribute to global warming.
We speak with New York Times environmental reporter, Andrew Revkin.
Listen/Watch/Read
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/04/03/1346216
* Report: Global "Climate Divide" Growing Between Rich and Poor Countries *
The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is set to release a report
this Friday that is expected to underline that while global warming is
changing physical and biological systems on every continent, Western
countries must take extra steps to address the growing "Climate Divide." We
speak with New York Times environmental reporter, Andrew Revkin.
Listen/Watch/Read
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/04/03/1346227
* 400 Die in Mogadishu's Worst Fighting in 15 years *
Nearly 400 people have been killed in Somalia since Thursday in what has
been described as the worst fighting in the capital of Mogadishu in 15
years. Most of the fighting has been between U.S.-backed Ethiopian troops
and Somali fighters allied to the Somali Council of Islamic Courts. The UN
is estimating more than 47,000 people have fled Mogadishu since March 21. We
speak with Salim Lone, a columnist for the Daily Nation in Kenya and a
former spokesperson for the UN mission in Iraq.
Listen/Watch/Read
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/04/03/1346233
* Headlines for April 3, 2007 *
- Supreme Court Rules EPA Has Power To Regulate Greenhouse Gases
- Pentagon Prepares to Send 9,000 More Troops to Iraq
- Study: Suicide Bombings on the Rise in Iraq
- UK Paper: Botched U.S. Raid in Iraq Led to Hostage Crisis
- Report: U.S. Launches Campaign to Destabilize Syria
- 400 Killed in Somalia; Deadliest Fighting in 15 Years
- Texas Releases Teenager Jailed for Shoving School Aide
- City of Seattle Agrees to Pay WTO Protesters $1 Million
Listen/Watch/Read
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/04/03/1346209
* Subprime Lending Crisis: Millions of Families Face Losing Their Homes to
Foreclosure *
Subprime loans have led to one million American families losing their homes
in the past decade, a new study by the Center for Responsible Lending has
found. In the last ten years, the subprime loan industry has emerged as a
major, and controversial, player in the housing market. We speak with an
attorney at the Center for Responsible Lending.
Listen/Watch/Read
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/04/04/1343214
* In Debt We Trust: America Before the Bubble Burst *
We take a look at a new documentary by veteran journalist and media critic
Danny Schechter called "In Debt We Trust: America Before the Bubble Burst."
The film shows how "the mall replaced the factory as America's dominant
economic engine and how big banks and credit card companies buy our Congress
and drive us into what a former major bank economist calls modern serfdom."
Listen/Watch/Read
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/04/04/1343218
* Imprisoned Journalist Josh Wolf Released After Record 225 Days in Jail *
Independent journalist Josh Wolf has been released from prison after
spending over 225 days behind bars. The 24-year-old Wolf spent more time in
jail than any journalist in US history for protecting his sources. In the
first broadcast interview since his release, Wolf joins us from San
Francisco.
Listen/Watch/Read
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/04/04/1343227
* Beyond Vietnam: 40th Anniversary of King's Landmark Antiwar Speech *
Forty years ago today, Dr. Martin Luther King gave the speech "Beyond
Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence." It was April 4, 1967 -- a year to the day
before he was murdered. He was speaking at the Riverside Church here in New
York. King billed the speech as a declaration of independence from the war
and called the United States: "the greatest purveyor of violence in the
world today."
Listen/Watch/Read
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/04/04/1343231
* Headlines for April 4, 2007 *
- ABC: U.S. Engaged in Secret War With Iran
- Report: 2,800 Iraqis Killed In March
- Independent Journalist Josh Wolf Released From Jail
- Secret FBI Unit Detained War Protesters In 2002
- FBI & CIA Interrogating Detainees in Secret Ethiopian Jails
- Poll: Americans Least Concerned About Global Warming
Listen/Watch/Read
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/04/04/1343204
* Secret FBI Unit Detained War Protesters In 2002 *
Recently unearthed police logs reveal a secret FBI intelligence unit helped
detain a group of war protesters in a downtown Washington parking garage in
April 2002 and interrogated some of them on videotape about their political
and religious beliefs. The protesters were targeted largely because they
were wearing the color black and perceived by police to be anarchists. We
speak with one of the protesters and an attorney filing suit against the FBI
and DC police.
Listen/Watch/Read
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/04/05/141252
* 'Outsourced Guantanamo' - FBI & CIA Interrogating Detainees in Secret
Ethiopian Jails, U.S. Citizen Among Those Held *
The CIA and FBI agents have been interrogating hundreds of detainees at
secret prisons in Ethiopia. Many of the prisoners were recently transferred
there secretly and illegally from Kenya and Somalia. They are being held
without charge or access to counsel. One of those held is 24 year-old U.S.
citizen, Amir Mohamed Meshal. We speak with an attorney working on Meshal's
case, Human Rights Watch and a reporter in Nairobi who covered the story.
Listen/Watch/Read
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/04/05/141256
* War Photographer Chris Hondros Witnesses U.S. Shooting of Iraqi Parents in
Car With Six Children *
We speak with Pulitzer Prize-nominated photojournalist Chris Hondros. He is
best known for graphic photographs he took in the northwestern Iraqi city of
Tal Afar in 2005 when U.S. troops opened fire on a family of eight
approaching a checkpoint in a car. Both parents were killed while the six
children in the backseat looked on.
Listen/Watch/Read
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/04/05/142201
* Headlines for April 5, 2007 *
- Freed British Sailors and Marines Return Home
- Four UK Soldiers Killed in Iraq; U.S. Helicopter Shot Down
- Wal-Mart Accused of Infiltrating Anti-Wal-Mart Group; Spied on Critics
- Britain Introduces Surveillance Cameras Equipped With Loudspeakers
- Bush Appoints Swift Boat Donor To Ambassadorship
- Report: Census Bureau Helped Track Japanese-Americans During WWII
- 10 Anti-War Protesters in Vermont Arrested At Sen. Leahy's Office
Listen/Watch/Read
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/04/05/141245
-----
From Media Savvy
Bill Moyers Journal: Buying the War
How the administration marketed the war to the American people has been well covered, but critical questions remain: How and why did the press buy it, and what does it say about the role of journalists in helping the public sort out fact from propaganda? Watch Here
Sy Hersh: US Imposes Collective Censorship On World
The Peninsula
Pulitzer prize-winning journalist addresses Third Al Jazeera Media Forum.
An Academic Look At Fake TV News
By PR Watch
In his paper "Loath to admit: Pressures on ethical disclosure of news release sources," Australian academic Peter Simmons analyzes issues around video news releases (VNRs), or fake TV news.
Memo To The Media: How To Cover The Debt Crisis
By Danny Schechter
We need to educate the public about the deeper forces at work and the need for structural changes, urgent reforms and regulations and new consumer protections. We need to stop restating problems and start exploring solutions.
Verizon, AT&T And The Manipulation Of Public Opinion
By Bruce Kushnick, Nieman Watchdog
The public voice needs to be on equal footing with the deceptive organizations that are using ethnic diversity or disabilities as 'marketing', putting corporate initiatives over the public interest.
Cheney's Nemesis
By Matt Taibbi, Rolling Stone
For forty years, Seymour Hersh has been America's leading investigative reporter. His latest scoop? The White House's secret plan to bomb Iran.
Reporter Recalls The Layers Of Truth Told In Iraq
By Borzou Daragahi, LA Times
After 4 1/2 years 'in country,' The Times' Borzou Daragahi looks back on what it took each day to get to the story and get out alive.
Demands Unmet, The Taliban Take An Afghan Journalist's Life
By Dan Goldberg, CJR Daily
After a little more than a month in captivity, Ajmal Naqshbandi was killed.
-----
From VoteTrustUSA
Click Hear To Download Testimony from The House Elections Subcommittee Hearings
In this issue ...
National Stories
Testimony on Source Code Disclosure for the House Administration Elections Subcommittee
Rep. Gonzalez to Chair Committee on House Administration's Task Force
Protect E-Voting - Support H.R. 811
Voting Machine Companies to Congress - All Your Votes Are Belong to Us!
Rep. Susan Davis Introduces Bill to Track Mail-In Ballots
Whose Election Fraud?
Hacking Democracy DVD Released
Federal Election Agency Plays Politics with Voter ID Study
News From Around the States
California Secretary of State Releases Draft Criteria for Top-to-Bottom Voting Machine Review
Smooth Undervoting In Sarasota County
Florida: Source Says Second ES&S Letter Tried to Dictate What Florida Test Reports Could Say
Georgia: GAVV Complaint Referred to the Attorney General for Investigation
Maryland: Voting Rights Advocates Appalud House Passage of Paper Trail Bill
Massachusetts: ACLU and Disability Law Center Applaud Secretary Galvin's Decision on New Voting Technology
Report of Minnesota's Post Election Audit Released
Ohio: Secretary of State Brunner Issues Complaint Against Cuyahoga Board of Elections
___________________________
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One Year Ago: The April 4, 2006 Issue of Election Integrity News
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Why Audits Are Necessary
by Ion Sancho, Supervisor of Elections, Leon County, Florida
The following testimony was submitted to the Elections Subcommittee of the Committee on House Administration on March 20, 2007.
In my testimony today I will focus on the problems Florida has encountered over the past six years and how audits, or more accurately, the lack of audits, have contributed to the current crisis in confidence Floridians have in their electoral system.
What are audits? One dictionary definition refers to an official examination and verification of accounts and records. Merriam-Webster includes a methodical examination and review . Audits are essential to validate the accuracy truth of a whole range of activities, in private as well as public entities and financial institutions. The financial transactions of every branch of government are subject to audits. It is these audits which verify the correctness and accuracy of the actions taken by the organization and without a complex overlay of audits, whole sections of our economy and government could be open to attack and criticism as to the validity or propriety of policy and actions, unless confirmed through the process of auditing. But we don t require audits of votes.
Which leads me directly to Florida and the 2000 elections. In Florida, audits for any election are not required. The word audit is mentioned only six times in our election code, and before last year, the State of Florida, the Division of Elections had never conducted an audit of any election in history! The closest thing to an audit in Florida law was our pre-2000 recount provisions, in Chapter 102, which depending upon the closeness of the contest could mean that every ballot had to be manually examined.
Recounts are generally rare events. In my almost 20 year career, I have overseen four recounts and only one of these the Presidential election of 2000 involved a Federal race, and that recount, the only audit we could use was terminated by the U.S. Supreme court. The embarrassment suffered by Floridians, including election officials, arising from that unfortunate event, forced our Legislature to act.
The Governor ordered a bi-partisan task force, which held hearings across the State and produced 35 excellent recommendations including audits. But audits, recounts, voter intent all were discarded in 2001 and substituted our current statutory framework which abolished complete manual recounts and thus, the only complete and real audit that could be done to determine the accuracy of our elections in a close election contest.
If the 2008 election in Florida were to end up in a statistical tie, less than 1% of the ballots would be examined. Why? Because in Florida it is presumed that the voting machines are always 100% accurate thus in a recount, only ballots not read by a voting machine overvotes and undervotes would be examined. In Leon County this past November, approximately 500 ballots out of over 92,000 cast would be manually examined in a recount only because these ballots could not be read by any machine.
Ladies and gentlemen of this committee, let me repeat this if I were sample or audit a portion of my county s machine read ballots to audit or recount them, I could be removed from public office. Our laws in Florida are preposterous.
(continued below)
Despite what our policy-makes believe, election officials must routinely perform audits if we are to confirm the accuracy of the election. The pre- and post-election tests that we do to confirm our machines can count correctly are no substitute for a real audit of a portion of the voters ballots cast in an election. I leave it to the statisticians to determine what is the proper audit percentage to achieve an acceptable confidence level, but common sense and my own training convinces me that a tiered approach to auditing elections, in which more votes are audited the narrower the margin of victory, is reasonable.Opponents to mandatory audits may cite increased costs and a lack of time as reasons against mandating audits. All I can tell the critics is look at Florida. Today, the lack of trust in our election procedures, the lack of trust in our election administration is too high a price to pay.
In 2005 I put my professional career on the line by allowing independent security tests on our county s voting machines. I was shocked by our findings, which can be seen on the documentary film Hacking Democracy . Those tests revealed that someone with insider access could alter the outcome of an election and not be detected using traditional canvassing procedures. Other panelists will address the serious security concerns by the current generation of voting systems, but my own experience confirms that only post-election audits of every voters vote can ensure the integrity of the American voting process.
In closing I urge this body to amend the Help America Vote Act to require mandatory random manual post-elections audits. Our citizens deserve no less. Permalink
National Stories
Testimony on Source Code Disclosure for the House Administration Elections Subcommittee
by David Wagner, Computer Science Division, University of California, Berkeley - March 15, 2007
The following written testimony was submiitted for the public hearing of the Election Subcommittee of the Committee on House Administration on March 15, 2007.
In my testimony today, I will address source code disclosure, the problems it is intended to solve, and its benefits and risks. There are peculiarities in the voting system market and regulatory process that complicate the transition to the disclosure of the voting system source code. While these peculiarities require that such a transition be carefully considered and managed, it is a transition that I view as important for sound elections, for three reasons: (1) security and reliability; (2) public confidence and transparency; and (3) oversight and accountability.
A primer on source code and its the role in elections
What is source code? Source code is the human-readable representation of the instructions that control the operation of a computer. Computers are composed of hardware (the physical devices themselves) and software (which controls the operation of the hardware). The software instructs the computer how to operate; without software, the computer is useless. Source code is the human readable form in which software is written by computer programmers. Source code is usually written in a programming language that is arcane and incomprehensible to non-specialists but, to a computer programmer, the source code is the master blueprint that reveals and determines how the machine will behave.
Source code could be compared to a recipe: just as a cook follows the instructions in a recipe step-by-step, so a computer executes the sequence of instructions found in the software source code. This is a reasonable analogy, but it is also imperfect. While a good cook will use her discretion and common sense in following a recipe, a computer follows the instructions in the source code in a mechanical and unfailingly literal way; thus, while errors in a recipe might be noticed and corrected by the cook, errors in source code can be disastrous, because the code is executed by the computer exactly as written, whether that was what the programmer intended or not. Also, computer software is vastly more complex than most recipes: while a typical recipe may contain perhaps a dozen steps and fits onto a single 3x5 index card, computer source code often contains hundreds of thousands of steps which, if printed, would fill up thousands of single-spaced 8.5x11 sheets of paper. Read the Entire Statement
Rep. Gonzalez to Chair Committee on House Administration's Task Force
Rep. Charles Gonzalez Press Release - March 23, 2007
On March 22, Congresswoman Juanita Millender-McDonald, Chairwoman of the Committee on House Administration, formally announced the creation of a three member task force to address matters concerning the November 2006 elections in Florida s 13th Congressional District. Members of the task force will examine factors surrounding the under-vote of approximately 18,000 votes, including issues with election procedures, administration processes, voting machines, and ballots.
Conducting oversight of federal elections falls under the jurisdiction of the Committee on House Administration. While awaiting Ranking Member Vernon Ehlers (R-MI) to appoint a member of the Minority party to serve, Chairwoman Millender-McDonald named the following members to the task force: Congressman Charles Gonzalez (pictured at right) Chair (D-TX) and Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren (D-CA).
Gonzalez issued the following statement on his appointment to chair this task force:
The right to vote is the very foundation of our nation s democracy. Voters throughout our nation must be assured that their right to cast a ballot and have that vote counted is protected without compromise.
This task force will establish a transparent and fair process to address substantive concerns relating to different aspects of the November 7, 2006 election for United States Representative from the 13th Congressional District of Florida. Recognizing that the Constitution of the United States bestows the responsibility upon each House of Congress as the final judge of the elections and returns of its own Members, the task force will present its findings to the full Committee on House Administration after a careful and thorough review of all relevant facts.
Protect E-Voting - Support H.R. 811
by Edward W. Felten, Professor, Department of Comouter Science, Princeton University - March 12, 2007
This article was posted on Prefessor Felten's blog Freedom to Tinker and is reposted here with permission of the author.
After a long fight, we have reached the point where a major e-voting reform bill has a chance to become U.S. law. I'm referring to HR 811, sponsored by my Congressman, Rush Holt, and co-sponsored by many others. After reading the bill carefully, and discussing with students and colleagues the arguments of its supporters and critics, I am convinced that it is a very good bill that deserves our support.
The main provisions of the bill would require e-voting technologies to have a paper ballot that is (a) voter-verified, (b) privacy-preserving, and (c) durable. Paper ballots would be hand-recounted, and compared to the electronic count, at randomly-selected precincts after every election.
The most important decision in writing such a bill is which technologies should be categorically banned. The bill would allow (properly designed) optical scan systems, touch-screen systems with a suitable paper trail, and all-paper systems. Paperless touchscreens and lever machines would be banned. Read the Entire Article
Voting Machine Companies to Congress - All Your Votes Are Belong to Us!
by Joyce McCloy, North Carolina Coalition for Verified Voting - March 27, 2007
Election Technology Council Comments on Help America Vote Act Amendments
The ITAA-Rlection Technology Council Document Can Be Downloaded Here (PDF)
The Election Technology Council (ETC) consists of companies that offer voting system technology hardware products, software and services to support the electoral process. They recently issued a document in response to proposed amendments to the Help America Vote Act. Some highlights with comments:
- ...this paper is intended to provide informative responses from the ETC to proposed federal legislation regarding voting system technology requirements....
Listen to us, not those un-informed computer scientists and citizen activists!
- The 2006 general election demonstrated the effective utilization of electronic voting stations (many with voter-verifiable paper audit trail printers) and optical scanners...
The 2006 election went well??? Someone tell Christine Jennings.
- The members of the ETC are committed to continuing to serve as partners with election officials to ensure that the mandates of HAVA are complied with in full. To achieve that goal, we wish to offer a number of observations and recommendations concerning key items that have been proposed in various items of legislation designed to amend HAVA.
The voting machine lobby has paid good money (on cruises and dinners) to get election officials to listen to them, and wants Congress to listen too.
- Voters have also expressed their support of early voting and the trend today is to expand this service as well as the concept of vote centers whereby an individual is not locked into voting at a certain precinct but rather may vote at a more convenient location.
Vote Centers were pushed by The Election Center, another lobbying arm of the voting machine companies. Vote centers help sell DRE/touch-screens and Electronic Poll Books.
- If the requirements placed on electronic voting become too onerous, many jurisdictions will simply replace their existing electronic voting equipment with optical scan ballots.
- While optical scan technology presents a perfectly acceptable form of voting, in many instances it makes early voting impractical and expensive for many jurisdictions, as the need to have all ballot styles on hand in a paper form and in sufficient quantities for all required languages required in the jurisdiction for an early voting location is not always feasible.
The vendor lobby wants congress to think we need early voting (it doesn't increase turnout) and that we need DRE/touch-screens to perform early voting. (We don't, NC, NM and Florida use optical scan for early voting). They also throw the "language" card, to divide and conquer advocacy groups. Read the Entire Article
Rep. Susan Davis Introduces Bill to Track Mail-In Ballots
Rep. Susan Davis Press Release - March 22, 2007
Voters could check on incoming and outgoing mail-in ballots
Any voters who have worried whether the local election office has received their mail-in ballots would be able to track the status their ballots under a bill introduced by Congresswoman Susan Davis (D-CA, pictured at left). The Mail-In Ballot Tracking Act would require states to implement procedures for tracking, via the telephone and Internet, the growing number of mail-in ballots.
"Although voters across the nation are increasingly choosing to cast their ballots by mail because it is more convenient and they have more time to study their choices, many voters have been hesitant to do so because they fear their ballots would get "lost" in the system," said Davis. "Implementing ballot tracking systems will bring voters peace of mind and reduce the burden on elections offices which are often barraged with phone calls from voters trying to determine the status of their ballots."
In California's San Mateo County, mail-in ballots are tracked with great success. The process of tracking overnight packages by using the Internet and the telephone has been available for years. Davis sees no reason why ballots cannot be tracked using similar technology.
The United States Postal Service is currently introducing an "Intelligent Mail" system which, if applied to election mail, will allow voters to find out via the internet or the telephone which postal processing facility last handled their ballots and when they were handled there.
"Mail ballot tracking is a win-win for all," added Davis. "I believe it will increase voter participation as it increases peace of mind."
In January, Davis introduced the Universal Right to Vote by Mail Act (HR 281) to allow voters to vote by mail for any reason. Depending on the state, restrictions limit mail voting to various categories of people, including the elderly, individuals with disabilities or illness, members of the military, or students.
Whose Election Fraud?
by Barbara Burt and Joanh Goldman - March 31, 2007
The following article appeared on tompaine.com and is reposted here with permission of the authors.
The scandal involving Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and the firing of eight U.S. attorneys, some for alleged lack of vigor in pursuing voter fraud, provides us with a peek into the machinations of politicians who attempt to manipulate the election system for their own benefit. The rapidly unfolding facts highlight how unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud are used as a proxy for political decision-making designed to disenfranchise eligible Americans. It is a shame that some in the Justice Department, an agency with a noble history of defending the rights of all Americans to cast a ballot, are focusing instead on strategies to remove politically undesirable voters from the process.
Unfortunately, it is not just the Department of Justice that is taking advantage of this nefarious strategy. In the past few years, legislation requiring voters to show photo identification or even proof of citizenship has appeared on the docket in two-thirds of our state legislatures. Last year, the U.S. House passed a voter ID law, the justification for which was rampant voter fraud.
The problem is that there is no evidence that voter fraud affects our election outcomes. Do a few voters perpetrate fraud? Yes. But despite its insistence that voter fraud is enough of a problem to embroil otherwise high-performing United States attorneys in a scandal that may bring down the attorney general, the Department of Justice has convicted fewer than 100 people of voter fraud out of more than 275 million votes cast during the past five years.
The number of federal prosecutions is not the only evidence undermining the voter fraud argument. Read the Entire Article
Hacking Democracy DVD Released
by Susan Pynchon, Florida Fair Elections Coalition - March 27, 2007
"It is hard to imagine...a documentary this season that is more important to the civic life of the nation--let alone one that is so compelling and ultimately moving." Baltimore Sun
The documentary film "Hacking Democracy", originally broadcast on HBO, is being released today on DVD. The film takes a nonpartisan, clear-eyed look at the secrecy, cronyism, and incompetence of elections in present-day America as it captures a citizen's movement intent on taking back elections--and democracy itself.
For me personally, I know that talking to legislators who have seen this movie is like night and day compared to those who haven't seen it. The film definitely makes the "light bulb" go on as far as the vulnerability of electronic voting systems. I wish I could afford to send a copy to every legislator in the U.S.
Christine Jennings (Florida CD-13 contested race) has said, for example, that she has seen the movie twice. A local candidate in Volusia County who saw the film demanded a ballot inspection of her race (full manual recounts aren't allowed in Florida) and did public records requests to our supervisor of elections to get information on the memory cards used, something a typical candidate would normally not think of doing.
The DVD, available at HackingDemocracy.com, contains "extra" segements not included in the original film, including great footage from Riverside California (Michelle Townsend); Cuyahoga County, Ohio; Volusia County, Florida; Glades County, Florida; and more.
On the website, you can also see fascinating TV footage of the trial and sentencing of the Ohio election workers in Cuyahoga County. Russ Michaels, one of the directors and producers of "Hacking Democracy," says the website will be adding more footage all the time from their vast store of film segments from elections around the country.
Federal Election Agency Plays Politics with Voter ID Study
by Project Vote Press Release - April 3, 2007
Download the Eagleton Voter ID Report
A federal agency tasked with serving as a clearinghouse for election research played politics today when it released but declined to endorse a study documenting the impact of voter identification requirements on voting. The study, conducted jointly by the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University and the Moritz College of Law at Ohio State University for the US Election Assistance Commission (EAC), found that documentary ID requirements lower voter turnout, particularly for minority voters. Researchers examined voting in the 2004 election. Several states have adopted more stringent voter ID requirements since 2004.
The study found a statistically significant correlation between identification requirements and reduced voter turnout: These correlations translated into reduced probabilities of voting of about 3 to 4 percent for the entire sample, with larger differences for specific subgroups. For example, the predicted probability that Hispanics would vote in states that required non-photo identification was about 10 percentage points lower than in states where Hispanic voters gave their names. The difference was about 6 percent for African- Americans and Asian-Americans, and about 2 percent for white voters. Read the Entire Article
From Around the States
California Secretary of State Releases Draft Criteria for Top-to-Bottom Voting Machine Review
by California Secretary of State Debra Bowen - March 22, 2007
Secretary of State Debra Bowen today unveiled her proposed draft criteria that will be used to conduct a thorough top-to-bottom review of the voting machines certified for use in California.
The review is designed to restore people s confidence in the integrity of our electoral process, said Secretary Bowen, the state s chief elections officer. Every California voter has the right to have their vote counted as it was cast. This first-of-its-kind top-to-bottom review is designed to ensure that California voters are being asked to cast their ballots on machines that are secure, accurate, accessible, and auditable.
The draft criteria, available on the Secretary of State s website, cover system security issues, access for voters with disabilities, access for minority language voters, and usability for elections officials and poll workers in a variety of situations. Public comments may be submitted to the Secretary of State s Office through March 30 by e-mail to votingsystems@sos.ca.gov or by mail to Secretary Debra Bowen, 1500 11th Street, Sacramento, CA 95814, ATTN: Voting Systems Review, 6th Floor. Read the Entire Press Release
See also: California: E-voting Machines Face Tough New Standards
Smooth Undervoting In Sarasota County
by John Washburn, VoteTrustUSA Voting Technology Task Force - March 15, 2007
It turns out there may be an explanation as to why Florida congressional district 13 (FL CD-13) in Sarasota Florida received so many under-votes relative to other races on the iVotronic terminal.
Page 23 of the FSU security analysis of the iVotronic firmware states: (emphasis mine)
6.2.1.1 Investigate Reports that the Display Was Slow to Respond to Touch.
Overview. We consider a scenario in which technical impacts from slow touch screen response may unintentionally prevent the voter's selection from registering during the vote selection process, but not during the review cycle.
Hypothesis. If a voter is able to interact with the touch screen in a sequence that causes the screen to display a candidate selection that does not match their most recent touch, it may cause the voter to misinterpret their selection for that race. Specifically, consider a situation where a voter touches a vote box twice in rapid succession. If the software delays updating the display in response to the second touch for some reason, after a very short period the voter may accept the first display response as conclusive, and due to the delay (if it exists) the voter might not notice the delayed update in response to the second touch. It is also possible that the second touch would cause the candidate to be deselected after having been selected.
Similarly, we consider a situation where a voter touches a vote box and waits patiently for her vote to display for a few moments before assuming her touch was not detected and touching the screen again. If the first touch is recorded and if the display is updated only after the second touch, the voter may accept the first display response as conclusive, while a delay (if it exists) could cause later display of the second recorded touch that the voter may not notice.
These scenarios are consistent with reports by some voters that they voted for a candidate, but noticed their vote was not registered when they reviewed their selections on the summary screen.
The remainder of the section goes on to dismiss this as a possible cause of the under-votes for 2 reasons; no support for such delay could be found in the inspected source code and such delays would have been present in other races.
The reason for the FSU team to dismiss this hypothesis as a cause has now been refuted by ES&S itself. The vendor of the iVotronic acknowledges delays in displaying selection are indeed a known defect of the iVotronics software. Read the Entire Article
Florida: Source Says Second ES&S Letter Tried to Dictate What Florida Test Reports Could Say
by Kim Zetter - March 26, 2007
In the article below, originally posted at Informed Consent and posted here with the author's permission, Kim Zetter discusses a letter that has been uncovered in which ES&S attempted to dictate the terms of the source review undertaken under the authority of Florida State University. There are links to the letter from ES&S at the end of the article. The FSU review team has posted a following statement in response to the release of the ES&S letter that is available for download on their website.
After my story about the ES&S memo posted yesterday I heard from someone in Florida who sent me a copy of a second ES&S letter, this one sent to David Drury, who oversees voting system certifications for the state's Division of Elections. ES&S sent the correspondence on December 15 as state officials and Florida State University's SAIT Lab were preparing to conduct two examinations to test voting systems used in Sarasota county last November and do a source code review of the software. The testing was done to try to determine the reason that some 18,000 ballots didn't have any vote cast in the 13th Congressional District race.
The letter is a detailed list stating what the testing reports should and should not say. In the letter, ES&S refers to its list as "guidelines," but the instructions are extensive -- running a page and a half -- and make some pretty strong demands. Among them, that the report should make (the quotes are ES&S's):
- * No statements about possible "vulnerabilities"
- * No statements about the "style" of the source code
- * No statements commenting on the use of less desirable techniques, instructions, or constructs
- * No statements regarding conformance to source code standards of any type or kind
- * No statements regarding ES&S hardware or software engineering practices or design methods
- * No statements regarding the use of preferred or non-preferred data structures, data types, data formats, databases, storage methods
- * No statements rendering opinions on security techniques employed or not employed
- * No statements discussing presence or absence of cryptography or other security methods and techniques
The part about security techniques appears several times. Read the Entire Article
Georgia: GAVV Complaint Referred to the Attorney General for Investigation
by Georgians for Verified Voting - March 14, 2007
The Georgia State Election Board on March 13, 2007 voted unanimously (with one abstention) to refer a complaint filed on December 13, 2006 by Georgians for Verified Voting (GAVV) to the state Attorney General for investigation. GAVV is a nonprofit, nonpartisan citizens' action group that advocates for voting systems and processes in Georgia that are transparent, verifiable and secure.
The complaint raises questions about the electronic voting system used in the 2006 primary and general elections: whether key rules and procedures related to system certification were followed by the former Secretary of State Cathy Cox, Election Director Kathy Rogers, Britain Williams, consultant to the state's voting system certifying agent, Kennesaw Center for Elections, and Diebold Election Systems.
Bob Barr, former member of the U.S. Congress (1995-2003) and president of Liberty Strategies, presented the complaint to the Board.
In his statement Barr said: "When there are credible questions raised about touch-screen electronic voting, the state must confirm the source, identify the problem, and put into action a plan to correct the problem or to credibly assure the public that the perceived problems were not in fact extant. The state of Georgia has a profound interest in taking all reasonable steps to investigate such concerns...."
"We have every confidence that the Attorney General will conduct a thorough and complete investigation into this matter," said Donna Price, director of GAVV, "and we applaud the State Election Board for their decision. Full Complaint
Maryland: Voting Rights Advocates Appalud House Passage of Paper Trail Bill
by SaveOurVotes.org - March 24, 2007
Senate Urged To Pass the Same Bill
On March 21, the Maryland House unanimously passed for the second year in a row, legislation to meet voters demands to replace the state s current unreliable electronic voting system with a secure system that provides for a voter-verified paper audit trail (VVPAT) and optical scanning. Unfortunately, the Senate s now considering amending its version (SB 392) to remove all the protections the House bill requires.
Polls show two of every three Maryland voters are troubled and want a paper trail, said Shelley Fudge of Save Our Votes. The House deserves high praise for again listening to the voters. Now the voters are counting on our Senators to do the same.
As introduced by Sen. Edward Kasemeyer with an impressive 37 co-sponsors, SB-392 had virtually the same vital provisions as HB-18 (sponsored by Del. Sheila Hixson and passed unanimously March 21). But the EHEA Committee is considering amendments to remove those very requirements that proponents and experts, including Dr. Avi Rubin of Johns Hopkins, have testified are absolutely necessary to detect and recover from vote fraud, security breaches, and technical failures. Such incidents have shaken voters confidence and plagued recent elections in Maryland and the nation. For example, the U.S. Congress seat remains undecided for Sarasota, Fla., where 18,000 votes were not recorded in November 2006. Read the Entire Article
Massachusetts: ACLU and Disability Law Center Applaud Secretary Galvin's Decision on New Voting Technology
by ACLU Massachusetts and Disability Law Center - March 15, 2007
The American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts and the Disability Law Center have again joined forces to applaud Secretary of State William F. Galvin's decision to approve the use in Massachusetts elections of a ballot marking voting machine that is both accessible and secure.
Voting equipment that is both accessible and secure is essential to ensuring the integrity of the entire elections system in the Commonwealth, said Carol Rose, Executive Director of the ACLU of Massachusetts. The Secretary s decision to fund an automatic ballot marking system best ensures that Massachusetts voters with disabilities and thus all voters are guaranteed equal access to a secure ballot.
Stanley J. Eichner, Executive Director of the Disability Law Center, also welcomed the Secretary s decision. The automatic ballot marking device has consistently received the highest overall ratings from the disability community, he said. Providing secure voting machines for voters with disabilities is part and parcel of protecting their rights to equal access to the ballot and to having their votes reliably counted. Read the Entire Article
Report of Minnesota's Post Election Audit Released
by Citizens for Election Integrity Minnesota - April 4, 2007
Click Here to Download the CEIMN Audit Report
Citizens for Election Integrity Minnesota (CEIMN) have released their report and analysis of Minnesota's first post election audit. The purpose of the audit was to assess the accuracy of the state's optical scan voting machines. Working with the League of Women Voters Minnesota, CEIMN organized 208 volunteers in 70 counties to observe Minnesota's first post election audit - the nation's first statewide citizen observation of a post election audit.
Among the report's findings:
- - post election audits are a viable and cost effective way to verify election outcomes
- - the voting machines audited were very accurate in counting the ballots
- - volunteer observers' reports provide useful feedback to improve audit protocols
- - Minnesota has a compelling model to offer other states
According to CEIMN director, Mark Halvorson, "Having a front row seat in observing the audit provided us with valuable information in the shaping of the report's recommendations, such as counting methods and how the audit data was recorded. We are convinced that post election audits are key to ensuring accurate and verifiable elections. This report will not only help improve the audit protocols in Minnesota, but will help other states as they consider similar audit legislation."
Citizens for Election Integrity Minnesota is a non-profit, non-partisan organization that advocates for accurate and verifiable elections. The League of Women Voters, a non-profit, non-partisan organization, encourages informed and active participation in government and influences public plicy through education and advocacy. For more information visit the Citizens for Election Integrity Minnesota website.
Ohio: Secretary of State Brunner Issues Complaint Against Cuyahoga Board of Elections
by Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner Press Release - March 26, 2007
Complaint For Summary Removal (PDF document)
Hearing Notice (PDF document)
Notice of Appearance of Counsel (PDF document)
Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner issued a complaint Thursday against Cuyahoga County Board of Elections members Robert T. Bennett and Sally Florkiewicz alleging five specific areas of cause for removal from office.
Brunner, the state's chief election officer, said she intends to pursue removal of the members to help restore the public's trust and confidence in the embattled board.
"This is a first step to improving Cuyahoga County elections and restoring voters' trust in our elections system," Brunner said.
Brunner noted the late, emerging decision of elections board member Loree Soggs, who issued his resignation from the panel earlier Thursday. "Mr. Soggs has done the right thing and has shown his dedication to a fair process in which Cuyahoga County voters will have new confidence," Brunner said. "Mr. Soggs is to be commended." Read the Entire Article
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Election Integrity News Editor: Warren Stewart
VoteTrustUSA Statement of Principles
Please forward Election Integrity News to your friends!
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From HuffPo
Marty Kaplan: Donate Your Personal Tragedy To The White House
AP
Excerpted from Marty Kaplan's Blog:
Is there a family tragedy you can loan to White House Counselor Dan Bartlett and his colleagues?
Bartlett told Bob Schieffer on CBS's Face the Nation that the cause of longtime senior Bush strategist Matthew Dowd's break with the President was the "personal turmoil" in Dowd's life. In recent years, Dowd has lost a child and a marriage, and now his son is being deployed to Iraq.
No wonder, says his good friend Bartlett, Dowd no longer toes the Bush line; emotions can cloud your thinking...
Click here to read more.
ON THE BLOG TODAY
E.A. Hanks: Spying on the American Lives of Others
Steven Weber: Eunuchs Regenerate Testicular Matter!
James Moore: More Craven Than Karl
Michael Fauntroy, Ph. D: Giuliani and Romney Stiff-Arm Urban League
Arianna Huffington: Follow The Real Money
AP
Excerpted from Arianna Huffington's Blog:
What is it with the media and the Clintons? Something about Bill and Hillary just seems to throw off the instrumentation of reporters. It's not that the reporting is consistently too negative, or consistently too positive, just that it's so often not the truth -- or at least, not the whole truth.
For instance, I can see why Hillary's camp would want to trumpet the $36 million that appeared in many of the campaign fundraising stories. But I can't understand why anyone in the media would lead a report with this number. The real story is that Obama's take for the primary may be staggeringly close to Hillary's, despite the fact that he is a newcomer competing against the most powerful money machine in American politics. We'll know just how close after the Obama campaign releases its own report and the Clinton campaign discloses how much of its first quarter take is earmarked for the general campaign.
Click here to read more.
ON THE BLOG TODAY
Larry Schwartztol: DOJ's War on Competence
Aziz Huq: Supreme Court Rewards Administration's Delay and Obfuscation Strategy On Guantánamo
Robert Shrum: The Leaked GOP Memos: Brownback, Huckabee and Gingrich
John Neffinger: Democrats vs. Science: Why We're So Damn Good at Losing Elections
Stephen Elliott: John McCain Logic In Real Life
From nytimes.com
Excerpted from Stephen Elliott's Blog:
John McCain recently walked through a Baghdad market where he had tea and afterward declared that America wasn't getting the full story on all the good stuff that was happening in Iraq. One of the reasons for that is probably that it's not safe for journalists to leave their hotels. And also, many educated Iraqis have left Iraq...
...But what was really absurd, as everyone knows at this point, is that McCain traveled with 100 heavily armed soldiers, attack helicopters circling overhead. So yeah, the world's a safer place when you have your own mobile Green Zone. Every foot he walked in Baghdad (wearing a bullet proof vest) probably cost Americans $10,000 for security. Or more. If you need that much security, and a bullet proof vest, then things probably aren't going so well where you are. Hence, all the bad news out of Iraq.
Click here to read more.
ON THE BLOG TODAY
Amitai Etzioni: Is Secularism the Best Antidote to Islamism?
Nathan Gardels: On Iraq, Bush Should Follow Charles de Gaulle's "l'heroisme de l'abandon"
Jeffrey Feldman: Newt Needs Night School
Raymond J. Learsy: Hallelujah! Saudi King Abdullah a No-Show at White House State Dinner
Nora Ephron: What Did You Do In The War?
AP
Excerpted From Nora Ephron's Blog:
...Guantanamo Prison is now more than five years old, five years of our holding and torturing prisoners without bail and without the rights of habeus corpus. Of the 385 men detained at Guantanamo, only ten have been charged. How is this possible? In the United States of America? You can blame Bush/Cheney if you want; you can blame our justice system, which moves sluggishly through the Guantanamo cases, deferring to the legislative branch, which then does nothing. But what about us? What are we doing about Guantanamo? Nothing, just as my parents did nothing about the injustices they knew about. And why not? It's simple. We're too busy...
Click here to read more.
ON THE BLOG TODAY
Laurie David and Sheryl Crow: No Turning Back Now
Marty Kaplan: MSM Voluntary Code of Conduct and Badges of Approval
John McQuaid: Chiding Liberals on Iraq?
Max Blumenthal: The Press Discovers Pat Robertson's Real Influence (Thanks to the Other Monica)
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And now for something you'll really like!
From our cousin, The Onion:
Bush refuses to set timetable for extracting head from banister
http://www.theonion.com/content/news/bush_refuses_to_set_timetable_for
Christ getting in shape for second coming
http://www.theonion.com/content/news/christ_getting_in_shape_for_second
Doonesbury has been taking presidential hopeful Gov. Mitt Romney (R) to task for FLIP-FLOPPING his principles from reasonable to right-wing. G.B. Trudeau's sad but funny rant starts here and follows throughout the next several strips (keep reading—it's worth it!):
http://www.doonesbury.com/strip/dailydose/index.html?uc_full_date=20070402
Don't forget to check out The Dilbert Blog:
http://dilbertblog.typepad.com/
Scott Adams's April 7 post, “I wish I had a government,” is a poignant but funny summary of our nation's current predicament in terms of where we are and how we got here. We of The Scallion also highly recommend today's post, “Things that shouldn't make me happy.” If you are new to Scott's discussions of the non-existence of free will, please just suspend your disbelief and keep reading. You may find that you don't agree with a single word, that you do agree with every word, or just that your sense of certainty relaxes just from reading about Scott's doubts anent so many things that most Americans (especially Christians) probably take for granted.
posted by The Scallion @ 10:43 AM
