BBC Dropping A Bomb On Shrub Tonight

[Harlan James]

A secret document obtained from inside Bush campaign HQ in Florida suggests a plan - possibly in violation of US law - to disrupt voting in the state's African-American voting districts, a BBC Newsnight investigation reveals.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/default.stm

[ciaobox]

1. Bush is doomed!

DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMED!

[xultar]

7. DOOOOOOOOOOOOMED! (Where was this from MadTV?) n/t

[mr_hat]

9. Dad's Army, long before.

[ciaobox]

14. No. Futurama :)

[Xipe Totec]

16. Farnsworth's Parabox n/t

[The Backlash Cometh]

34. Finian's Rainbow?

[LiberalAndProud]

56. jinx

[The Backlash Cometh]

66. I beat you by three hours!

But now that you're here. How did he say it?

Something like, Dooom, Dooom, Doooom de la loooom! Of course, it was many years ago and I could have seen it dubbed in Spanish.

[LiberalAndProud]

67. Dooom and gloooom! Doooom and gloooom!

[LiberalAndProud]

55. Finnian's Rainbow?

[WCGreen]

77. TVommercial........

[yardwork]

11. Not so fast! This will fire up shrub's base.

A lot of shrub supporters approve of disenfranchising voters of the "wrong" color or political persuasion. They are bigots and pigs.

This is just business as usual for repukes.

[Jack_Dawson]

2. Too Bad only the Foreign Media does itz job

:shrug:

[tomfodw]

3. BBC - who cares what "Limeys" think?

Seriously, I doubt this will get much play in the American media.

[Goldmund]

5. Well, if there's a document it will.

It'll be all over the internets.

[City Lights]

18. It may already be all over the Internet.

Some of the stuff Greg Palast is using in his reporting came from digging through the attachments to the emails sent in error to georgewbush.org.

[sherilocks]

47. It is all over the internets

Two DU links

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x1175925

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x933691

Enjoy

[tsuki]

51. Both of them?

[Bongo Prophet]

75. You think there are only two?

Well, I should tell you...wait. I have said too much.

:evilgrin:

[LiberalAndProud]

58. There are 2 documents.

File names: Caging.xls, Caging-1.xls

These spreadsheets contain names and addresses from the Jacksonville area. Along with "Date Sent" and the final field has such notations as RTS (Return to Sender), ANK (Attempted Not Known). All addresses with these notations have been moved to the bottom of the list.

[RevCheesehead]

44. Greg Palast is an American journalist with integrity.

He follows up everything with documentary evidence. He works out of London because the American media wouldn't touch his stories. This guy has done more for democracy that any other journalist in the US. Who cares? I do, and so do thousands of others.

[SemperEadem]

70. it's already run on MSNBC, so looks like you're wrong on that tip.

and considering:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/3960625.stm

"The 850-strong battle group led by the 1st Battalion The Black Watch is moving into an area south of Baghdad seen as among the most hostile in the country.
(snip)
The UK agreed last week to Washington's request for the redeployment, which has been controversial in Britain.
(snip)

BBC correspondent Ben Brown, in Basra, said the troops were aware of the controversy over the move but remained "proud to have been asked to do this mission, that they see it as a new challenge in a new part of Iraq".

He said: "They have seen quite a lot of action here and although it may be more dangerous where they are going, they say they are fully prepared for it."

The area south of Baghdad where British troops are to begin operating includes towns like Mahmoudia and Latifiya.

From Baghdad, BBC correspondent Paul Wood said: "These are very, very tough places, with a mixture of nationalists, Baathists and Islamists very hostile to any coalition presence.
(snip)
"They have put constant pressure on the American troops who are now leaving those locations to go to take part in the fight for Falluja."

WHO CARES? I CARE.

[PROGRESSIVE1]

4. Bush done for.

If he's going to do this then he must know that the people want him out.

[MADem]

6. This is the CAGING document

THat they found on the dot ORG (Ooooops!) Bush website.

It cannot be ignored. We are talking major violation of campaign law, to say nothing of civil rights law. Denial of voting? They may as well stand in the door of the courthouse with an axe handle.

[Maiden England]

13. This Limey Cares

nt

[Czolgosz]

23. I'm in the middle of a debate. Sorry to pull you in. Is "Limey" considered

racist? If not, at least offensive? Or is it just slang?

By the way, I know that the persin who used the phrase was quoting the Freeper response to the Guardian and I am not trying to get up in anyone's face.

[Wat_Tyler]

31. No-one's insulted by the term.

[mr_hat]

32. Limes kept scurvy at bay during long sea voyages.

I don't think Limey has ever been considered a racial epithet.

[Carni]

54. Maybe I have confused scurvy with rickets

But I heard a similar story!

[Anarcho-Socialist]

41. It's not racist, but it's not exactly flattering either n/t

[Carni]

52. I THINK

Not sure about this...but the term was explained to me as being related to British people getting rickets from lack of Vitamin C when they initially came here to the US--

Where the limes came into the picture, or if this is even true,
I have NO idea!

When I worked with a number of Brits in the 80's they didn't act too enchanted with the handle!

[American Tragedy]

59. Rickets is caused by Vitamin D deficiency actually

Scurvy is the clinical state caused by Vitamin C deficiency, and it was rampant on British vessels, until they started supplying citrus fruit for the crew members.

[tomfodw]

74. I used it ironically

To anticipate what some Bush supporters' reaction would probably be to the notion that the BBC is trying to "interfere" in OUR election.

[Occulus]

40. I already notified one party on that list

Looking at it, you'll immediately notice 1658 King Rd, I think it is, listed multiple times. After a little detective work, I pulled up the name of the address and it was a college (color me stunned- NOT). So, I called the school down there and emailed them a copy of the caging document. The administrator I spoke to, when I mentioned the dates, verified that on campus voter registration was occuring during the dates listed in the caging document.

HHHHhhhhmmmmmmm........

[Dem2theMax]

8. This has been on the home page for two days.

First go here:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/3956129.stm

Then go here:

http://www.georgewbush.org/deadletteroffice/

Then go to home page. Story is about 3/4 way down the page.

I wonder what the BBC is going to say tonight?

[ClintonTyree]

24. It was the feature story on last night's broadcast.........

complete with Greg Palast. They showed private detectives filming everyone going into the Board of Elections, and even interviewed some Reslug woman at their headquarters. Palast asked her if they were going to challenge all of these black voters and her answer was "of course, if they're illegally registered we'll challenge them. The drift I got was that they're going to bring the voting process to a halt in Black precincts to disenfranchise minority voters, again!

[rkc3]

10. Will it covered by US media?

Even though this is a very bold attempt, if it's not covered by anyone here, they'll get away with it.

[Bonhomme Richard]

12. These are Evil, Evil people and frankly are the furthest thing............

from americans. It's as if a generation of fascist came of age 20 years ago intent on taking over the world.

[SemperEadem]

72. that would be on Reagan's watch...

[Hog lover]

15. I will be a poll watcher in Arkansas

I went to the Arkansas Democratic Party poll watcher training last night. We were instructed to make sure everyone gets to vote and that we were NOT there to challenge voters. We were specifically told to watch out for challenges to voters by the Repuke poll watchers. We will be filling out incident reports and calling Dem HQ when we see abuses. Everyone is carrying a cell phone. I will be working in a city with large black population who normally vote majority Democratic.

[funkybutt]

17. Could this be related to the whitehouse.org thing? eom

[ClintonTyree]

27. One in the same................

it's the "caging" file that was on the site. It's a list of names of minority voters that the Reslugs are going to "challenge" on election day. They're trying to keep minority voters from showing up, and if they do they're going to "challenge" them to bring the process to a halt in minority precincts. Scum, frickin' scum.

[Shopaholic]

19. Just got my Countdown newsletter--

it links to the BBC story and apparently Keith will be talking about caging tonight!:bounce:

[fishwax]

50. Dare I Dream?

I sure hope that Keith covers it. This could be a very serious issue, and I've known about it thanks to the DU and others ... I'm extremely grateful for the work of Greg Palast on this, but the bottom line is that if it doesn't play on the telly than most voters who might be swayed are never going to find out about it anyway.

[cliss]

20. I've never seen anyone work so hard for doing

the wrong thing. I've seen photos of Ole Bush -- he's sweaty. His face is dripping with sweat, his skin is pink and blotchy. He even has sweat on his stomach - passionate guy.

He's just knocking himself out -- and for what? All he did was make mistakes. Now he's killing himself for the chance to get in there and REALLY mess things up.

When he could have done it right the first time.

[Democat]

21. We must flood the U.S. media with demands to run this story!

It's urgent that the U.S. media pick up this story and run with it for the next five days!

[liberal_in_GA]

26. list of media contacts in this thread

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x1186175

[ksoze]

22. Here is Repub Response (from ABC's The Note"...

Well, in a response letter obtained by ABC News, the GOP's Mindy Tucker Fletcher said that the entire BBC story was more or less entirely incorrect.

"First, caging is a commonly used term in the political process by which someone opens a large amount of mail and logs it into a database. This is routinely done when an organization receives a great deal of mail from a fundraising appeal or returned mail from a mailing to a large number of people. The reporter was not familiar with this term or this process and did not seem to understand it even after it was explained to him."

"Second, the list was a listing of returned mail that came from a mailing that the Republican National Committee sent to new registrants in Duval County in Florida, encouraging newly registered Republicans, Democrats and Independents to vote Republican. Voter registration has been a heavy concentration of both parties this year and both national and state Republican parties have been reaching out to new registrants for the upcoming election."

"The Duval County list was created to collect the returned mail information from the Republican National Committee mailing and was intended and has been used for no purpose other than that. Palast's insinuation that it was created for and will be used for the purposes of an Election Day challenge is erroneous and frankly illustrates his willingness to twist information to suit his and others' political agenda. Reporting of these types of baseless allegations by the news media comes directly from the Democrats election playbook."

[ciaobox]

25. Bullfuckingshit!

The word "Caging" is a reference to the word "Cage" I.E. to place in a pen or box so that the victim of the "Caging" cannot move. They intend to "Cage" voters. I.E. challenge them at the polls and prevent them from doing what they intend to do: vote. How is this not obvious to every 4th grader?

[ParanoidPat]

60. While it may be 'obvious' to fourth graders......

......those with a higher level of education find other meanings for the word.

http://www.malwarwick.com/direct22.html

A Fundraiser's view of caging and list maintenance
by Deborah Agre

Many nonprofit organizations and political campaigns make the same big mistake when it comes to caging and list maintenance: they set up their own in-house systems.

I'll tell you right now what I think should happen instead: if your organization has an active direct mail fundraising program, and your donor or membership file contains fewer than 100,000 names, I believe you should hire a computer service bureau that specializes in meeting fundraisers' needs.

I've worked with a great many nonprofits and political committees, both as a staff or board member and as a fundraising consultant. The picture looks about the same to me from both sides of the fence.

<More>

[LiberalAndProud]

62. Definitions of CAGING on the Web: (Google)

In fulfillment, the process in which subscription orders and their enclosed payments are separated and then recorded. Traditionally called “caging” because clerks who performed this task were enclosed in wire cages for security purposes. Also referred to as “cashiering.”

www.magazine.org/resources/top_requests/glossary_circulation.html

[T Town Jake]

76. You know, I think we've all had just about enough of your...

...unseemly, arrogant snarkiness here at DU, at least among the "rank-and-file." And if you don't like being told that truth, why don't you run back down to ATA and post another whiny, squealing thread to Skinner about your ongoing dissatisfaction with the way DU works like you did the other day?
We're not all waiting with baited breath to hear ParanoidPat's arrogant take on every issue under the Sun, believe it or not...and since that obviously pisses you off, why don't you find another forum to rant in? Or at least follow the rules.

[ParanoidPat]

80. Sorry if the truth offends you Jake.......

......but the fact is that the poster called "bullshit" and implied that the word "caging" had only 1 possible meaning and that is simply not the case. As I and others have pointed out, caging is a term that is commonly used by tele-marketers to describe fundraising efforts.

Now you and I both know that the Republicans were most likely NOT being straightforward with their excuse that they were merely trying to "welcome" new Democratic registries to the system while soliciting donations. But you didn't question their motive, rather, you made the assumption that the term they used to describe their efforts had but one meaning, and I called you on it.

"unseemly, arrogant snarkiness", Would that be considered a "personal attack"? By my interpretation of the rules it would be, but the proper response is not to "run down to the ATA forum and post a "whiny, squealing thread to Skinner" (another personal attack?) rather, it's to hit the 'alert' button down on the lower left of the offending post. I have not done so as I believe you are entitled to your opinion.

As far as my disappointment that the archives are locked until after the elections is concerned, IMHO, that is a legitimate beef. Hundreds of us have devoted thousands of hours researching a number of topics in the spirit of the sites stated goal of kicking the Bush* administration out of our Whitehouse.

The threads that contain the results of those efforts were put off limits to us without notice forcing us to redo much of that research as the need arises. In many cases, the information we gathered has been moved or scrubbed from the original servers and is now lost to us except for what was saved here.

Skinner and the other Admins have more than made up for it by starting the "Report Election Problems Here" forum. :)

As this site has grown in membership, the hang time that a given post gets on the front page of any given forum has decreased drastically forcing us to waste valuable time searching back through many pages to find topics that we're tracking. Coupled with the loss of the archives, the effectiveness of our efforts to protect this election by getting factual information to those who need it in a timely manner has suffered greatly, just when we need it most, It's frustrating.

I would equate it to preparing for a long trip well in advance, Good spare tire, check, jack, check, lug wrench, check, only to get a flat just before your destination. You unload the trunk only to discover that the spare had a slow leak, the jack is broken and the lug wrench is the wrong size! It's going to slow you down and require extra effort but you know that you are going to eventually make it, and we will.

Placing all of the election problems in one place helps cut the time required to get factual information to those who need it NOW. Searching through 50 separate State forums, GD, LBN, GD Campaign 2004, etc., and then having to search for answers people need is time consuming and labor intensive. Consolidating those requests for help into one forum makes DU much more effective. For that I can only offer thanks and an apology to Skinner for taking my frustrations out on him. He did the right thing.

As far as the "rank and file" of the membership here goes, I have to ask, did you take a poll? If so please PM me the results. I'd love to see them. ;-)

I'll even go so far as to offer that person an apology for the 'snarky' nature of my reply. It was meant to inform, not offend.

If my posts bother you as much as you claim just click on the little sleeping guy on the top of any of them and I'll never darken your screen again. I promise. (Disclaimer: That is unless the 'advanced features' are turned off, in that case you may have to temporarily rely on manual ignore.)

Peace!

ON EDIT: Sorry, I thought the person I was responding to was the same as the one who made the claim. :spank:

[ClintonTyree]

28. See post #24..................

that's not what the Reslug woman they interviewed last night told Greg Palast.

[LizW]

39. So we're supposed to believe that the GOP

just decided to spend a bunch on money sending out fund raising information to a bunch of people who had just registered as Democrats??????

Geez.

It MIGHT be a little easier to swallow this story if the idiots had not already ADMITTED that they plan to challenge new voters in OHIO in a scheme exactly like this one. :eyes:

[Tansy_Gold]

46. If Ms. Fletcher wanted to prove Mr. Palast's lie, all she would

have to do is make sure there are NO impediments to the voting rights of EVERY SINGLE INDIVIDUAL on that list.

No road blocks, no challenges, no nothing.

Otherwise, she's just proving his point.

Was it really returned mail? Well then, let's see it. If those addresses and phone numbers are legit and those people are still residing at those addresses, it's unlikely the mail would have been returned, and then there's no reason for this spreadsheet.

[Virginian]

29. Slightly off topic -- BBC had a film of Bush b4 bombing started.

I remember reading that BBC had a tape of Bush as he was getting prepared to come on TV and announce the Bombing of Iraq had started. There was something about how elated and light hearted he seemed to be over something that should have been stressful and somber.

Was this the part in Michael Moore's film where everyone was primping?
You know, the footage of Woolfie licking the comb to make his hair stay back -- or was that for some other occasion?

I know I wanted to see the BBC tape when I heard about it, and I figured it would have been shown sometime by now.

[Mandate My Ass]

30. I was curious about that too

I heard it was truly appalling. Supposedly he was pumping his fist in the air and saying whooop whoop or something and then he said "It feels good!"

I also heard this was going to be in F9/11 but it never happened. :shrug:

[starroute]

42. Links to the story and some video

There's a story at Buzzflash
http://www.buzzflash.com/analysis/03/03/21_groom.html

And a page with videos at Global Free Press
http://news.globalfreepress.com/images/wonk/VariousMovies2

The biggest (11.3 mg) file show Bush mugging and joking around just before the speach. The smaller ones show him getting his hair combed. (No "feels good," though.)

[Mandate My Ass]

49. Thanks!

I was wondering if I had imagined the whole thing. Happens a lot these days. :evilfrown:

[LiberalAndProud]

63. He did look gleeful ... like a kid who had been waiting to open

that present for a long long time.

[rniel]

33. i won't get excited

Till I see this reported widely on american television. I won't be holding my breath.

[Rainbowreflect]

35. Please, please, please, let the truth come out.

I don't want it to be true, but if it is I want the world to know NOW!

[Catfight]

36. The truth and reality hasn't stopped them yet. They are in full motion

toward complete lies and distortions. They'll go down ugly.

[Harlan James]

37. "They Go Down Ugly"

Hissing and spitting and cursing like the possessed.

[Zorbet55]

38. Republicans don't like democracy

Jeb Bush is as corrupt as any of them and probably more dangerous at election time, in my opinion.

[ogradda]

43. please let the media take this

and shove it straight up karl rove's ass.

[mzmolly]

45. Did anyone catch the Republican spin machine already in action?

"Republican response"

First, caging is a commonly used term in the political process by which someone opens a large amount of mail and logs it into a database.

This is routinely done when an organization receives a great deal of mail from a fundraising appeal or returned mail from a mailing to a large number of people. The reporter was not familiar with this term or this process and did not seem to understand it even after it was explained to him.

Second, the list was a listing of returned mail that came from a mailing that the Republican National Committee sent to new registrants in Duval County in Florida, encouraging newly registered Republicans, Democrats and Independents to vote Republican.

Voter registration has been a heavy concentration of both parties this year and both national and state Republican parties have been reaching out to new registrants for the upcoming election.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/3958475.stm

[DoYouEverWonder]

48. Hey, could this be it? A 'Smoking e-mail' from Jeb?

'Smoking e-mail' implicates Jeb Bush in vote suppression

Oct 23, 2004

The Sarasota Herald Tribune obtained a ?smoking e-mail? proving that Florida Gov. Jeb Bush was ?personally involved? in ramrodding a new voter purge list for the 2004 election, even though the data firm that prepared it warned of its many ?flaws.?

In an exchange of e-mails last May 4, Jeff Long of the Florida Secretary of State?s office wrote that the firm ?recommended to the Gov. that they ?pull the plug? on the CVDB (Central Voter Database) primarily because they weren?t comfortable with the felon matching program? The Gov. rejected the suggestion to pull the plug so they are ?going live? with it this weekend.?

The new evidence of vote suppression by George Bush?s brother and others tied to the Bush-Cheney campaign was presented by Ralph Neas, president of People For the American Way (PFAW), and other leaders of the growing nationwide election protection movement, at an Oct. 19 news conference. (Details are available at www.pfaw.org.)

Thousands of Florida voters falsely identified as ?felons? and removed from voting rolls by Jeb Bush in 2000 are still waiting for their voting rights to be restored, journalist Greg Palast charged. African Americans in Florida, he told reporters, are ?900 percent more likely to have their votes thrown out. There is a huge racial bias and the new computer voting system increases that bias.?

An angry outcry by PFAW and African American leaders in Florida as well as many of the state?s 67 county election supervisors forced Gov. Bush to finally withdraw the new purge list. Yet many right-wing election supervisors are implementing it under the table. Neas demanded that Attorney General John Ashcroft name an independent counsel to investigate this racist vote suppression scheme.


http://www.pww.org/article/articleview/5967/1/237

[renegade000]

53. october SURPRISE!!!

:evilgrin:

[ChloeForKerry]

57. This needs to get out to OUR media

I cannot believe this is happening again. We must NOT allow this to happen again.

[newyawker99]

65. Hi ChloeForKerry!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[Robeson]

61. I'm sure the Ashcroft Justice Department will be all over this...

...not.

[snippy]

64. GOP panic over minority voters explained in this thread started by quaoar

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x1190362

THE MINORITY VOTE....Hmmm. Republican pollster Tony Fabrizio has just finished a survey of 12 battleground states and finds Bush and Kerry tied with 47% of the vote apiece. But when he weights for minority turnout based on the 2000 exit polls, Kerry is ahead 49.2%-45.7%. And when he further updates the weighting to take into account the most recent census results, Kerry is ahead 49.9%-44.7%. http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/20...

These poll results explain the GOP devotion to preventing minorities from voting (except for the extreme racists in the GOP who believe minorities should not have the franchise to begin with).

[Dem2theMax]

68. Keith Olbermann did cover it. Randi Rhodes also covered it

for HOURS on Air America today! Yeah Keith and Randi. Randi said she is going to send it to everyone she knows in ALL of the swing states so they will all be on their toes.

[NAO]

71. How about CNN, MSNBC, and FOX? Will it get "lesbian" level coverage?

Will this story be talked about as much in the news as the "lesbian" comment?

It should be talked about more.

[Dem2theMax]

73. I can't answer that. CNN has been blocked on my TV. I've never

been to FOX, ain't gonna start now. And the ONLY time I watch MSNBC is for Olbermann. :)

On edit, wait, I can answer that. OF course they won't! It's CNN, Fox and MSNBC. MSNBC might talk about it a little bit, but the other two? Nah. :)

[sherilocks]

69. Ohio rethugs are doing already challenging

voters based on a mailing they sent to all new voters. If the mailing was returned to sender, rethug poll workers are challenging the voter. No link on this, I heard the head of Ohio rethugs on TV defending this action.

[Roland99]

78. Is this from the "Caging" spreadsheet posted by georgewbush.org?

[DemBones DemBones]

79. Serious stuff. Too serious for the average person to pay attention to,

probably, but we can hope.

:kick: