Thursday 3/10 Election Fraud, Reform, & Updates Thread

[MelissaB]

In order to organize and document I thought it would be a good idea to have a daily thread to place items related to reform, fraud, protests, and other items. This also make it easier to "catch up" when we are away from the computer for a while.

Please help us. If you see something that isn't here post it with a link to the thread and a thanks to the author. Thanks to everyone who is helping with this project.


Link to the thread from yesterday: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x340828

[MelissaB]

1. GATHERING TO SAVE OUR DEMOCRACY

GATHERING TO SAVE OUR DEMOCRACY
A NATIONAL CONFERENCE
NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE, APRIL 8-10, 2005

Background

Since November 3, 2004, there has been a groundswell of concern, and a plethora of evidence, that the conduct of the 2004 Presidential election in the United States was highly problematic. These concerns have been belittled by many and ignored by the corporate media in this country. However, the weight of the evidence is overwhelming that a multi-faceted strategy of voter intimidation and disenfranchisement, potential manipulation of electronically cast votes in many states, and other instances of election fraud and theft improperly influenced the will of the American people and may have subverted the “consent of the governed”.

This evidence was sufficient to have stimulated the Government Accountability Office and U.S. Representative John Conyers and other national leaders to investigate the evidence of wrong-doing. This evidence also caused the U.S. Congress to suspend their routine business and to debate the merits of accepting Ohio’s electoral votes on January 6, 2005, a historic occasion that highlighted the many problems in Ohio and also served to shed light on similar problems in other states. With this Congressional debate, the American people’s responsibility to win back our democratic process was enumerated and enjoined.

To date, most of the discussion and information sharing on the problems with the 2004 election have occurred in the virtual world of the Internet. While there have been some local gatherings and regional and national protests focused on this issue, there has been no opportunity for concerned citizens, researchers, activists and elected officials to meet under one roof to review the wealth of evidence for the many threats to our democratic processes which the 2004 election revealed and to discuss the urgent need for election reform. While some panels on this topic have been added to several national meetings, these panels are not nearly sufficient to present all of the evidence for the 2004 election problems. It is also insufficient to fully inform the American people enough to motivate them to seek redress for the violations of our voting rights which occurred with this past election and to coalesce sentiment around an election reform agenda.

For these reasons, this three day Gathering To Save Our Democracy – A National Conference will provide the appropriate forum for expanding public awareness, for congregating the accumulated knowledge under one roof and for providing a platform for mobilizing support for election reform and justice

Nashville, Tennessee is the setting of this conference. Nashville has a proud history of early successes in the 1960s civil rights movement, we are in a Southern and supposedly “red” state (we prefer to consider ourselves an Orange State, in deference to the Ukrainian example), we are centrally located within a day’s drive of 60% of the U.S. population, we have an international airport serviced by a dozen major airlines, and we have several locations tentatively identified as appropriate and historic venues for hosting the conference. But most importantly, we have an energetic (and growing) band of citizen-activists for election reform in Tennessee who would insure the successful implementation of this conference.

This conference will be a comprehensive and historic event that will bring together the “major players” who have surfaced in the dialogue over the problems with the 2004 election and the need for election reform. We also anticipate that the conference will be a gathering place for the many concerned citizens throughout the nation and the world who are intent on preserving democracies. We hope that this conference will help break the media silence about the problems with the 2004 election within our country and provide a forum for increasing the world’s attention to our threatened democratic principles. In addition, we will hold discussion sessions before and after the conference to exchange ideas and build coalitions to pursue the necessary elements of election reform and to redress our concerns with the 2004 election

The conference registration fee is $30 (with exceptions for hardships), and will cover all conference-related activities. Registration details will be posted later re: registering at www.freepress.org . People who cannot attend but who would like to support the conference by making a donation will be able to do that also. We will work to provide copies of the written materials and/or videotapes of the conference for these supporters.

Thank you for supporting the conference and for promoting the preservation of democracy in America.
--------------
NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON THE 2004 ELECTION AND THE NEED FOR ELECTION REFORM CONFIRMED SPEAKERS (in order of appearance)

Bernard Ellis, Gathering To Save Our Democracy
Civil rights leaders: Dr. Tommie Morton-Young, Dr. Sonnye Dixon, Dr. Charles Kimbrough
Cliff Arnebeck, Moss v. Bush
Bob Fitrakis, Moss v. Bush, www.freepress.org
R.H. Phillips, Ohio election fraud researcher
Joanne Roush, Ohio recount volunteer from Wisconsin
Bernard Windham, Election Incident Reporting System
Judith Alter, New Mexico
Paul Lehto, Washington state
John Gideon, votersunite.org
Kathy Dopp, USCountVotes
Jonathan Simon, exit poll researcher
Brad Friedman, BradBlog/Velvet Revolution
Democratic Underground spokesman
David Cobb, Presidential candidate, Green Party
Lara Schaffer, Verified Voting Consortium
Susan Truitt, CASE-America
Phil Fry, CASE-Ohio
Larry Quick, National Ballot Integrity Project
Teresa Hommel, Where’s The Paper
Larry English, Information Impact Intl
David Lytel, Honest Elections Campaign
Clinton Curtis, Whistle-Blower
(and many more)
-------------------
The conference itself will run in Nashville from 5:30 pm Friday, April 8 until 6:00 pm, Saturday, April 9. However, we are also scheduling pre-conference (early Friday afternoon) and post-conference (Sunday morning) discussion groups on topics of interest to the election reform and election justice movement. Topics will include:

1. Worthy (or emerging) state-level election reform models
2. Conducting an election audit: what is required?
3. Be the media: Strategies for increasing public awareness of election reform
4. A status report on Tennessee’s election reform legislation
5. Essential elements of a free, fair and verifiable election
6. Thinking & Acting for the Country: National Election Reform Strategies & Movements
7. Election Statistics 301 – An even more detailed review of the “data”
8. Electronic voting – the good, the bad and the really bad (and what to do about it)
-----------

So, once again, DUers. If you can, try to join us in Nashville. We'll work to find housing for as many of you as possible. It will be well worth it for this chance for so many of us to get together. Besides, Steve Earle's playing in town on Saturday night, so anything's possible....

Stay tuned, and keep this thread kicked. And thanks to all of you for your encouragement and support for this idea that we've talked about here (and everywhere else) for a while. In great part, it's the DUers' spirit that really made this Nashville conference happen.

Hope to see all of you soon. The dogwoods and the democrats will be in bloom.

Thanks to Fly by night here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x339433

[dzika]

2. Videos - Selected news clips for 3/9

CBS News: Dan Rather's final sign-off message - 3/9
(re-post)

Video in Real Media format (3 minutes)

---

Olbermann: Dan Rather signs off - 3/9

Video in Real Media format (1 minute)

---

News Hour: Labor Unions struggle for future of membership and politics - 3/9

Video in Real Media format (8 minutes)

---

Daily Show: Bush "spreads irony" to Lebanon's revolution - 3/9

Video in Real Media format (6 minutes)

---

CNN: FishBowlDC.com blogger admitted to White House briefing - 3/10

Video in Real Media format (4 minutes)

[dzika]

3. Gay Marriage Law Raises U.S. Hackles

2005-03-11 00:09 KST

Gay Marriage Law Raises U.S. Hackles

Fresh from successfully subverting the 2004 American presidential election, the radical religious right in the United States is now trying to whip Canada into shape.

On Nov. 4 last year a coalition of evangelical churches was amazingly effective in getting the vote out for George W. Bush and against John Kerry, fomenting and riding a wave of revulsion against allowing homosexual couples to legally join together in civil marriage. Using this issue they turned most right-leaning Christians -- white and black -- against the Democratic Party and they organized referenda in several key states to bring out Republican voters in overwhelming numbers.

Now, having secured Bush the Younger another four years in the White House they've turned their attention north of their border and are watching in horror as the Canadian government prepares to pass legislation that will guarantee the rights of gays and lesbians to marry whomever they wish.

In what is unfortunately not an unprecedented example of sticking-your-nose-where-it's-not-wanted, these right wing moralists are sending a flood of letters to Canadian Members of Parliament, demanding that they vote against Bill C-38, the proposed Civil Marriage Act.

These American letter-writers see the act as a threat against them and their way of life because, as Prime Minister Paul Martin said when the bill was introduced in February, it is designed to uphold the Canadian Charter of Rights by recognizing same-sex marriage and by not forcing any church, synagogue, mosque, or temple to perform them.

"Put simply, we must always remember that 'separate but equal' is not equal," Martin said

more here

[dzika]

4. You Want Lies With That? Just an Average Week in Bush’s America

March 10, 2005

You Want Lies With That? Just an Average Week in Bush’s America, Protections for the Rich, Police States for the Poor and McMedia for All

By Anthony Wade

...
Lastly, in Bush’s America, the news is processed, not reported. This past week saw the return of the poster child of the Bush media, Jeff “I can’t pronounce Jim” Gannon. The professional gay hooker-turned-faux journalist has gone back online, begging for donations to his cause and lying with impunity. His irrelevance has been well established but he is truly representative of the superciliousness Bush treats all media with. From day one of this administration, the press was punished for asking tough questions and rewarded for asking fluff. What we have seen in latter-day America is the packaging of news, the framing of news, and the creation of news. The GOP has a massive news operation. When there is a need to push a particular talking point, let’s say the social security scam, the GOP noise machine gets in gear. First you will hear on the talk radio circuit how bold Bush is for his vision. Rush Limbaugh will bemoan the lefty democrats who would stand by and do nothing while Bush at least wants to try and let younger wage earners “invest.” Mind you, the facts in the talking points are skewed and often inaccurate, but that does not stop the assault on your opinions. Soon the machine starts up at night during the cable news barrage. Sean Hannity and Joe Scarborough will pontificate about this scam, using the exact same talking points as their radio counterparts. Chris Matthews will have a stacked panel where GOP shills are there to sell you on privatization and the moderates are there to have a fair debate. The coup de grace is delivered in the White House press pool the next day when a GOP plant asks a completely rhetorical question, entirely supporting the same talking points the machine has already hammered home, to the president or his representative, for the sole purpose of finalizing the talking points and having the print press report on it is if it were fact.

Make no mistake about it; we live in an era of packaged media. News is created, weighted and put into a cardboard carton for us to swallow at dinner time. It is McMedia for all. It is representative of all that is inherently lazy about us as Americans. It is what makes us sit back and not care that the reasons we went to war, were wrong. When Katie Couric shouting “Navy seals rock!” passes for investigative journalism, we are headed for deep trouble. When Jim Guckert can lie about who he is, who he works for, and pretend to be a journalist, and then be celebrated for it, we are in the age of McMedia. The arrogance of this administration filters down to folks like Jeff/Jim who claim that somehow the “gay card” is being played on him. Mind you, this is a man who lied in his interview with Wolf Blitzer about the “gay-sounding” websites he paid for. When he was exposed, it turned out that he had over 40 naked pictures of himself online and was still selling his sexual services as a gay hooker but somehow someone else is playing the gay card on him?

No, Jeff Gannon/Jim Guckert is simply a microcosm of the McMedia this administration is selling you every night. They just assume you will be too lazy to check the facts. Even if the truth comes out one day, Bush has proven that he can make the ends justify the means and have everyone swallow it. Every night there is another whopper for you to buy. If Bush gets in real trouble with your testy public opinion, he can just send out an emissary onto Fox News, call it an “exclusive” and be granted unfettered minutes to finalize the sale to you, under the guise of journalism. The sad part is that we keep coming back for it. Just like when we know that Big Mac is no good for us, but we order it anyway for lunch.

more here

[dzika]

5. Cheney: Re-election was mandate for reform:

March 9, 2005

Cheney: Re-election was mandate for reform:

World News: MILWAUKEE, March 9 : Vice President Dick Cheney said the 2004 U.S. election results provided a mandate for President Bush's Social Security reform plan.

Cheney warned Democrats who oppose personal retirement accounts would find their opposition politically costly, especially among younger voters, The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported Wednesday."The American people will reward public officials who address serious issues," like Social Security, Cheney said, rejecting the idea that private accounts would be dead politically if they're not approved soon. Without reform, he said, the system is headed for "a train wreck."

"We want to do everything we can to move it as soon as we can. But we're going to be here for four years. And this president's very tenacious," Cheney said. "He's not a man who takes no for an answer."

The vice president has assumed a major role in the debate and is part of a team of senior Bush administration officials, including the president, who plan to cross the nation over the next two months, making the case for reform and personal accounts directly to the American people.

source

[dzika]

6. Governor Dean Statement on the Election of Doris Matsui

From noticias.info:
March 10, 2005

Governor Dean Statement on the Election of Doris Matsui

Washington, DC - DNC Chairman, Governor Howard Dean, issued the following statement today congratulating Doris Matsui on her victory in the special election in California's fifth district:

"I congratulate Congresswoman-elect Doris Matsui on her victory in yesterday's special election. Once again the people of California's fifth district have a strong advocate in Congress.

"During the campaign, Doris echoed the concerns of most Americans and strongly opposed President Bush's plan to privatize Social Security. The President's plan would add trillions of dollars to the deficit and drastically cut benefits. Doris will take these concerns to Washington and fight for the people of her district.

"Mrs. Matsui is not new to Washington or the issues that affect her constituents. In Congress, she will continue her work to expand access to health care and education, especially for children. And she'll fight for stem-cell research, with its potential to one day cure countless diseases, including the one that took her husband, Bob Matsui."

source

[dzika]

7. Dan Rather stands down as public confidence in US media declines

From ABC Australia Online:
Thursday, 10 March , 2005

Dan Rather stands down as public confidence in US media declines

by Leigh Sales

ELEANOR HALL: The mainstream media in the United States is going through something of a crisis of confidence at the moment. One of the three big television news anchors, Dan Rather, stood down today, after 24 years reading the news for the American network, CBS.

...
LEIGH SALES: Rather's departure is part of a broader crisis confronting the mainstream media in the United States. New figures by the Pew Research Centre show that audiences are drastically dropping off for network news, papers and radio, because they're increasingly turning to online news, blogs, talk radio and cable TV.

The new sources of news coincide with a growing public distaste for the perceived bias and inaccuracy of the traditional media. According to Pew, a staggering 45 per cent of people say they can believe little or nothing of what they read in their newspaper.

...
LEIGH SALES: Dan Rather's undoing has contributed greatly to the crisis of confidence inside American newsrooms. Very few colleagues have been willing to publicly defend him.

His predecessor, the legendary Walter Cronkite, is still on CBS's payroll, and he gave an extraordinarily harsh interview to CNN earlier this week. Presenter Wolf Blitzer asked him what he thought of Rather's temporary replacement, Bob Schieffer.

more here

[dzika]

8. Brad Pitt for president 2008 - Democratic party needs big-name candidate

Thursday, March 10, 2005

Brad Pitt for president 2008
Democratic party needs big-name candidate to recover

By Josh Nelson

I want to see Brad Pitt as the Democratic presidential candidate in 2008. Oh, and by the way, I'm not crazy. There is a method to my madness. There are a few reasons why I think this could work in the Democrats' favor.

One reason is that people often tend to vote on image instead of substance. Look at 2000 and 2004; both Al Gore and John Kerry were way more qualified on the issues than George W. Bush.

However, it is safe to say neither person is the most exiting campaigner in the world, and both admittedly do not come off as someone the average person can relate to. Bush was able to do this, however, even though he represents a very elite set of values.

Now, if you're going to vote on an image, what better image to vote on than Pitt. I mean, come on, I am straight, but have to admit that he is a very sexy dude; seriously, did you see him in "Troy?" Damn. I know this statement will come back to haunt me some day by starting a gay rumor, so let me just say that if they get back together, I would love to see Jennifer Aniston as first lady. Pitt would definitely restore some of the women's vote that Bush took in 2004. And he is in his 40s, so he actually would be old enough to be president.

more here

[dzika]

9. Blackwell criticized for tax-pledge letter

Thursday, March 10, 2005

Blackwell criticized for tax-pledge letter

The Associated Press

COLUMBUS - The Ohio Democratic Party chairman accused the state's chief elections official of violating campaign law when he wrote Legislature candidates last year asking them to sign a no-tax pledge.

Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell, in his role as chairman of a group that wanted a vote to repeal a two-year, penny-per-dollar sales tax increase, sent a letter in May to legislative candidates asking them to pledge "to oppose any and all efforts to extend the 20 percent sales-tax increase set to expire on June 30, 2005." The letter promised their refusal to do so would be publicized.

Democratic state chairman Denny White said Tuesday the letter violated a campaign law that states "no person, firm or corporation shall demand of any candidate for the General Assembly any pledge concerning his vote on any legislation, question or proposition that may come before the General Assembly; provided that this shall not be understood to prohibit a reasonable inquiry as to such candidate's views on such question or legislation."

A violation is a misdemeanor punishable by a $500 to $1,000 fine.

more here

[dzika]

10. Butt Prints In The Sand

Thursday, 10 March 2005, 10:48 am

Butt Prints In The Sand

By Sheila Samples

Because in life, there comes a time,
When one must fight, and one must climb,
When we must rise and take a stand,
Or leave our butt prints in the sand.
           ~~author unknown

...
It's time we told the media it's either them -- or us. We need to pass them by, boycott their advertisers, protest them -- shake them until their teeth rattle. It's time we realized there is no entity more to blame for the mess we're in nor for the needless loss of life than our shameless and treasonous media. The media is even more obscene than Bush and the glowering, power-mad warmongers who surround him in both his administration and in his Congress.

Face it. Bush gets away with murder for just one reason -- because the media allows it, encourages it, and spends big bucks producing it. Bush's war-on-evildoers-turned-war-on-terror-turned-regime-change-turned-crusade- for-freedom-and-democracy is a media-orchestrated production, complete with banners, flag backdrops, bells and whistles. In case you haven't noticed what the rest of the world knew at the outset -- the illusion of Bush as a strong, principled leader is also a media creation. Totally.

It is folly to think we can continue to sit on our butts and there will be no day of reckoning for the total breakdown of fundamental journalistic principles. I hate to keep dragging poor Walter Williams, the first University of Missouri Journalism dean, across these pages like some old worn-out "Weekend at Bernie's" skit, but the Journalist's Creed Williams wrote a century ago still applies today, and is a clear statement of journalistic ethics. Williams fervently believed that journalists were totally -- and only -- trustees for the public, and that anything less than accuracy and fairness in reporting the news was betrayal. He believed that suppressing or ignoring news that might embarrass the powerbrokers is indefensible.

Betrayal. Indefensible betrayal.

more here

[Dancing_Dave]

26. Thanks for bringing that up, dzika!

There is indeed no reason whatsoever to believe one word the U.S. media says anymore. Some people are to cowardly to even stand up and say that the whole U.S. media totally lied to us about 9/11. If the majority of Americans are now such stupid cowards, this country will soon come to the bad end such intellectual cowardice deserves.

I'm still trying to do what I can here, but I'm also getting ready to leave these this decaying self-deluded country unless people wake up and start turning things around here real fast. We don't have much time left.

[dzika]

11. RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman Announces African-American Advisory Committee

3/10/2005 9:28:00 AM

RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman Announces African-American Advisory Committee

To: Assignment Desk and Daybook Editor

Contact: Tara Wall of the Republican National Committee, 202-863-8614

WASHINGTON, March 10 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Republican National Committee Chairman (RNC), Ken Mehlman, today announced the formation of an African-American Advisory Committee. The purpose of the committee is to bring together respected community leaders, who meet regularly with the RNC leadership and provide a sounding board to assist in strategy implementation of the RNC's outreach efforts in the black community.

"This is an endeavor I take very seriously and I look forward to working with this outstanding group of individuals to share ideas, grow our party and continue to achieve progress for all Americans," Mehlman said.

The distinguished group represents members of the business, faith and grassroots sector. They include:

Harry C. Alford - National Black Chamber of Commerce (DC); Renee Amoore - The Amoore Group (Pa.); Rev. Vivian Berryhill - National Coalition of Pastor's Spouses (Miss.); The Honorable Kenneth Blackwell - Ohio Secretary of State (Ohio); The Honorable Lynette Boggs-McDonald - Nevada Board of Commissioners (Nev.); Bishop Keith Butler - Pastor, Word of Faith International Christian Center (Mich.); John Colon - Florida Federation of Black Republicans (Fla.); Rep. Jennifer Carroll - Florida State Representative (Fla.); Christopher Garrett - Impact Strategies, LLC (DC); Ed Gillespie - Quinn Gillespie & Associates (DC); The Honorable Alphonso Jackson - HUD Secretary (DC); Kay Cole James - Former OPM Director (DC); Dorsey Miller - Florida Federation of Black Republicans (Fla.); Robert Shumake - CEO, Inheritance Investment Group (Mich.); The Honorable Michael Steele - Maryland Lieutenant Governor (Md.); Rev. Joe Watkins - Pastor, Evangelical Lutheran Church (Pa.); JC Watts - CEO, The J.C. Watts Companies (DC); The Honorable Michael Williams - Texas Railroad Commissioner (Texas); Winston Wilkinson - National Committeeman (Utah); Bob Wright - CEO, Deminisions International (Va.)

The Advisory Committee will meet monthly with Chairman Ken Mehlman.

source

[dzika]

12. Board of Elections still waiting for decision on new voting machines in Oh

From The Athens News of Athens, Ohio:
2005-03-10

Board of Elections still waiting for decision on new voting machines in Ohio

By Nick Claussen

In a case of true irony, the decision on new voting machines for Athens County could be delayed because the Athens County Board of Elections may have voted improperly.

...
Ohio Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell said every county in Ohio has to switch to the optical-scan machines, and that each county can pick either machines offered by Diebold Election Systems or machines sold by Election Systems and Software.

...
On Feb. 9, the Athens County Board of Elections voted 2-2, along party lines, with Democrats Susan Gwinn and William Lavelle voting for the Elections Systems and Software machines, and Republicans Howard Stevens and Dick Mottl voting for the Diebold Election Systems machines.

The board members said at the time that because they could not reach a decision, they believed Blackwell would choose a system for the county by drawing a name out of a hat.

...
"We still don't know," Gwinn said. She explained that apparently only one or two other counties in Ohio had not been able to make a decision on voting machines and had forwarded the decision to Blackwell. She added that the decision on Athens County's voting machines might have been delayed because of legal issues.

more here

[MelissaB]

13. Teresa Heinz Kerry - Hacking the "Mother Machine"? by Thom Hartmann

Published on Thursday, March 10, 2005 by CommonDreams.org

Teresa Heinz Kerry - Hacking the "Mother Machine"?

by Thom Hartmann


"Two brothers own 80 percent of the machines used in the United States," Teresa Heinz Kerry told a group of Seattle guests at a March 7, 2005 lunch for Representative Adam Smith, according to reporter Joel Connelly in an article in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Connelly noted Heinz Kerry added that it is "very easy to hack into the mother machines."

The two brothers Mrs. Kerry is referencing are, according to voting machine expert (and founder of www.BanVotingMachines.org Lynn Landes in an article for the Online Journal, Bob Urosevich, president of Diebold Election Systems, and Todd Urosevich, who was vice president for customer support of Chuck Hagel's old company, now known as ES&S.

Presumably the "mother machines" Teresa was talking about are the "central tabulator" computers, like the Windows-based Diebold central tabulator PC that Howard Dean hacked into and untraceably changed an election on - in 90 seconds - live on the "Topic A With Tina Brown" CNBC TV show late last year.

As Dean noted while hacking the Diebold machine on national television, "In 1998, only 7% of all U.S. counties used electronic voting machines." But, Dean noted of the 2004 race, "in the next presidential election, roughly 1 in 3 of us will use one."

<snip>

More here:

http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0310-32.htm


Thanks to helderheid here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x341693

[MelissaB]

14. Progressive candidate for Penn. Senate race says Democrats have stifled hi

Progressive candidate for Penn. Senate race says Democrats have stifled his campaign

2005
Progressive candidate for Penn. Senate race says Democrats have stifled his campaign
Filed under: General— site admin @ 1:04 pm


Progessive candidate says Democrats sideline him

By Matthew Cardinale | RAW STORY Staff

The Pennsylvania State Democratic Party has seemingly pre-empted the primaries by mobilizing its energies on behalf of centrist Bob Casey, Jr. for the 2006 U.S. Senate race to unseat Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA), RAW STORY has learned.

An Associated Press writer also did not mention the existence of a progressive Democratic candidate in the race.

Chuck Pennacchio, a more liberal candidate running for Santorum’s seat, has been largely ignored by both the mainstream press and the state Democratic Party, even though he is Casey’s only opponent for the primaries. Pennacchio, unlike Casey, is pro-choice.

Two other Democratic candidates for the race, former Republican Barbara Hafer, and progressive Joe Hoeffel, dropped out of the race after Governor Rendell (D-PA) endorsed Bob Casey, who is pro-life.

More: http://rawstory.com/news/2005/index.php?p=168

[MelissaB]

15. Protesters Greet President During Visit To Tout Social Security

Protesters Greet President During Visit To Tout Social Security

(LOUISVILLE) -- President Bush promoted his overhaul of Social Security to a mostly friendly audience on Thursday while protesters a few blocks away railed against the central part of his plan -- allowing workers to create private investment accounts.

>>>snip

Meanwhile, protesters in a downtown square waved signs and shouted slogans while denouncing Bush's plan as a "risky scheme" that would saddle the nation with trillions of dollars in additional debt without fixing Social Security's long term financial problems.

>>>snip

The president was interrupted four times by people yelling protests of his Social Security plans. Outside the arena, protesters shouted "No more lies, don't privatize!" and some held signs that read "Hands off my Social Security." Demonstrators inside the arena were drowned out by either Bush talking over them or the crowd's cheers, or both.

"There are different points of view on the issue," Bush finally acknowledged, after the fourth interruption. "We don't need a Band-Aid solution."

More: http://www.wave3.com/Global/story.asp?S=3059408&nav=0RZEXL1q

[MelissaB]

16. Another protest!

President Bush (news - web sites) pauses as a heckler briefly disrupts his remarks on Social Security (news - web sites) reform at the Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts in Louisville, Ky., Thursday, March 10, 2005. Bush is traveling around the nation selling his proposals for a system of private accounts which would enable younger workers to divert a portion of their payroll taxes from Social Security deductions and into stock market investments to bankroll their retirement. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Link: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/050310/480/kysa11003102105

[MelissaB]

17. and another...

Democrats, labor rally in Montgomery against Bush's plan

MONTGOMERY, Ala. -- Democrats and labor rallied against President Bush's Social Security plan Thursday and predicted it will become the issue that reverses Republican gains in the South.

The Alabama Democratic Party and the Alabama AFL-CIO organized the rally on the Capitol lawn in response to Bush's visit to Montgomery to promote his Social Security proposals. The rally attracted about 400 people who chanted, "We'll remember in 2006."

"We're here today to preserve our heritage _ the heritage that was given to us by organized labor, the Democratic Party and our grandparents' generation. We are not going to let them take it away from us," state Democratic Party Chairman Redding Pitt told the crowd.

Joe Reed, vice chairman of the Alabama Democratic Party, said, "This could be the issue that turns around the South for the Democratic Party. Economic issues always tied the South to the Democratic Party."

Shortly before the rally began, the Alabama Senate voted along party lines to pass a resolution opposing Bush's plan to allow Americans under 55 to divert part of their Social Security taxes into personal investment accounts. The Alabama House passed a similar resolution earlier.

More: http://www.wkyt.com/Global/story.asp?S=3060357

[MelissaB]

18. and another...

President greeted by protests

"I believe that this president's policies are bad for America and his view is skewed by money," said Kevin McDonald of West Orange as he hoisted a sign proclaiming his opposition to the president's policies. "His Social Security plan is a payback for Wall Street, not for the benefit of the middle class."

McDonald was one of 500 protesters who took to the streets of Westfield during President Bush's visit to the town Friday.
A group of senior citizens arrived on buses chartered by Rep. Frank Pallone, D-6, to protest changes in the Social Security program. BlueWaveNJ, a Montclair-based organization, also attended, as did members of NJ Citizen Action and a variety of other groups and individuals.
While some were there to protest about Social Security, others carried signs about a multitude of issues and views. Gay rights rainbows, anti-war messages, and environmental statements were visible on signs and buttons.
Westfield resident Jackie Engler said she found many reasons to attend the protests.
"I feel like so many things about this president are wrong," she said. "This privatization is more to benefit his cronies than people."
Engler listed what she termed the fraudulent election, educational policy and the No Child Left Behind Act, and media coverage of the president's actions as among her concerns.
Originally, protesters were scheduled to gather at Mindowaskin Park, about half a mile away from the armory.
After the planned rally, protesters walked up residential streets to get closer to the armory, where they were met by police from 19 county and municipal agencies.
Nine people were arrested, five of them juveniles, on disorderly conduct charges, according to Westfield Police Capt. John Parizeau.
When asked why Mindowaskin Park was chosen for the protest location, Parizeau responded, "It was the closest piece of municipal property to the armory, and it was on the county road, so they would have greater visibility."
Parizeau's department oversaw the security effort, coordinating police from as far away as Rahway and Berkeley Heights. The Union County police and sheriff's departments, along with the county's SWAT and Community Emergency Response teams, were also involved.
The Union County Police Department lent Westfield 15 officers to man intersections, as well as a few transport vehicles for those detained, according to Undersheriff Gerald B. Green Jr.
"We pulled them from some of their daily routines for this detail," said Green, adding that they were not overtime staff. "The Westfield police chief asked us to lend him some manpower for the event."
"One of the reasons we needed so many was for the motorcade," said Parizeau, stating that there were 34 intersections that needed to be secured for the event.
While the police presence and location did draw some complaints from protesters, who were told by law enforcement to move away from the armory and residences, most were responsible, said Parizeau.
Virginia Brown of South Orange stood at an intersection holding her sign as the event was ending and both attendees and protesters climbed into their cars to leave, the streets rapidly clearing after the show.
"Social Security as an insurance plan works," she said. "I think the problem with Bush's plan is that it will dismantle insurance and make it investment."

Link: http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?BRD=1847&dept_id=359925&newsid=14123346&PAG=461&rfi=9

[MelissaB]

19. RENEW VOTING RIGHTS!

RENEW VOTING RIGHTS!

Author: Tim Wheeler and Joyce Wheeler
People's Weekly World Newspaper, 03/10/05 11:13


40 years after Bloody Sunday, 10,000 march in Selma

SELMA, Ala. — Singing “Ain’t going to let nobody turn me round,” 10,000 marchers crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge here March 6 to protest Bush-Cheney voter suppression tactics and to demand renewal of the 1965 Voting Rights Act set to expire in 2007.

The multiracial throng, men and women, young and old, retraced the steps of voting rights marchers who were clubbed and tear-gassed by Alabama troopers on “Bloody Sunday,” March 7, 1965. That brutal attack galvanized the nation to enact the Voting Rights Act a few months later.

Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), then a Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) organizer, was clubbed nearly to death that long-ago day. He led 40 of his U.S. House and Senate colleagues at this 40th anniversary “Bridge Crossing Jubilee.”

Lewis was engulfed by admiring youth. “It is good to see young people out here making some noise,” he told the World as he marched. “A lot of people are too quiet. If you don’t like the direction the country is going, you have the responsibility to stand up, to protest nonviolently.”

More: http://www.pww.org/article/articleview/6597/1/257/

[MelissaB]

20. Also,

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) and other Republican lawmakers joined the march. “They are welcome to join us. But we have to be clear that their agenda is not our agenda,” said Ron Daniels, president of the Center for Constitutional Rights, which has defended victims of Bush administration torture in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Guantanamo, Cuba.

[MelissaB]

21. More Republican propaganda

Aides Concede More Mock News Videos

Tapes praise governor's proposals on nurse staffing, teachers.
By Dan Morain, Times Staff Writer


SACRAMENTO — A week after Democratic legislators faulted Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger for using taxpayer money to produce "propaganda" in the form of a mock news video, the administration on Wednesday acknowledged making several others to advance its policies.

A state senator intends to question officials today about the funding and distribution of the videos.

Initially, legislators focused on one tape extolling an administration proposal to end mandatory lunch breaks for hourly workers. But additional videos have surfaced in which the administration is promoting a cut in the number of nurses required on duty in hospitals, pay for teachers based on merit rather than seniority and a more stringent tenure track.

A video was also produced on Schwarzenegger's plan to lower prescription drug prices, but it has not been released. Officials said it was a draft.

More: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-video10mar10,1,4427658.story?coll=la-headlines-california&ctrack=1&cset=true

[MelissaB]

22. Conyers blogs

about Civil Rights Under the Bush Administration -- The Unmet Promise, the Raw Story interview, and much more. Here is what he said about freedom of speech.

3/9/2005 4:30 pm

Freedom of Speech in the Blogosphere

The basis of our government being the opinion of the people, the very first object should be to keep that right; and were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate for a moment to prefer the latter.

Thomas Jefferson was privileged to observe the beginnings of American print media; in our lifetimes, we have witnessed the birth of electronic journalism. In modern parlance, then, it is our obligation to ask whether we should have government regulation without the alternative media, or the alternative media without government regulation. I believe a healthy balance can be achieved but, given the choice, I like to think that I would side with President Jefferson and choose public opinion over outright censorship.

The fight to extend the full implications of the First Amendment to the electronic media is not going to be easy. This week, two legal proceedings threaten to stunt the growth of blogs as a legitimate source of public information.

The first involves the Federal Election Commission and campaign finance reform. In 2002, the FEC issued a blanket exemption of the Internet from the Bipartisan Campaign Finance Reform Act; in 2004, a U.S. district court overturned that exemption. The judge cited Americans’ increasing reliance on the World Wide Web for political information. This week, I was advised that the FEC is about to begin a rulemaking process to determine how McCain-Feingold will apply to the Internet.

The second issue compounds the first. The New York Times reports that, sometime this week, a Santa Clara County judge will rule on whether bloggers and online publishers can be considered journalists. Apple Computer Inc. has filed suit against three websites, demanding that the sites reveal the sources used to report inside information about unreleased Apple products. Attorneys defending the sites have argued that the First Amendment ought to apply to e-journalists–like any traditional reporter, a blogger should not ever have to compromise his sources.

First Amendment law must be ushered into the twenty-first century. The alternative media must be afforded the same protections we extend to the mainstream press I have written the FEC to express these sentiments, and I am encouraged by the dozen House colleagues who are adding their signatures to the letter. Unless a website receives funding from a candidate or political party, a blogger ought to be free to post unrestricted cultural and political discourse without being subject to invasive government regulations. And as long as Americans continue to turn to the alternative media for information, the law ought to protect the voices of the bloggers and online journalists who supply the commentary.

Link: http://www.johnconyers.com/index.asp?Type=B_BASIC&SEC={B166974A-C132-4EC3-9682-FE6E08C1A584}

[Wilms]

23. Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Add voting machine paper trail

Add voting machine paper trail

Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Opinion
03/10/05

Despite some criticism, Georgia's standardized electronic voting machines have proved a major improvement over the hodgepodge of obsolete methods that sometimes produced unreliable results in past elections. But the time is nearing when the state's 24,500 touch-screen machines can — and should — be made even better by equipping them with printers that crank out a tangible record of every ballot cast.

-snip/more-

http://www.votersunite.org/article.asp?id=4969

[Wilms]

24. Adviser Is Being Paid to Lobby the (NY) Legislature Against Paper Ballots

This article is as confusing as Election Reform, but it's good to note the millions that are probably being spent undermining Paper Ballots.


Ferrer Adviser Is Being Paid to Lobby the Legislature Against Paper Ballots

By MICHAEL SLACKMAN
New York Times
March 10, 2005

The chief political adviser for Fernando Ferrer accepted a $120,000-a-year contract last month to lobby state lawmakers to block passage of legislation in New York that would require voters to use paper ballots.

-snip-

Businesses, like the company Mr. Ramirez is representing, are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to push the State Legislature to allow for computer-based touch-screen voting machines. Other groups, like the League of Women Voters of New York State, have called for using optical scanners, which would require voters to first fill out a paper ballot, a system that would be less lucrative for the manufacturers of these products.

In his contract with VoteHere, Mr. Ramirez is called on to help persuade state lawmakers to push for legislation "requiring or permitting receipt-based verification," which would allow for voting machines that operate like a bank A.T.M., providing a receipt after a transaction.

Mr. Ferrer's spokesman, Chad Clanton, said yesterday that Mr. Ferrer wanted to see "paper backup on every vote cast on electronic voting machines," though he did not say whether that meant a ballot or a receipt.

-snip/more-

http://www.votersunite.org/article.asp?id=4971

VoteHere Website:

http://www.votehere.net/default.htm


DU Discussion:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x342009

[Wilms]

25. New York Daily News: Put polling machines to a vote

Put polling machines to a vote

Opinion
New York Daily News
09 March 2005

ALBANY - Like pushy car dealers, industry reps for voting machines are hawking top-of-the-line cream puffs with lots of bells and whistles here while keeping their economy models under wraps. Unless lawmakers smarten up in a hurry, voters across the state could get stuck with expensive lemons.

With the state facing a federal deadline to modernize its polling booths, the manufacturers are touting ATM-like machines with push-buttons and "touch screens." These devices are easy to use and 100% accurate - if you trust them, that is.

-snip/more-

http://www.votersunite.org/article.asp?id=4964