Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News Wed 11/23/06 Happy Thanksgiving

[EFerrari]

Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News Thursday, 11/23/06. Happy Thanksgiving Day, DU

Turkey Dinner George W. Bush

Talking Presidents� newest commemorative doll celebrates George W. Bush's surprise Thanksgiving visit to our troops in Iraq. This figure does not talk, but comes dressed in an Army jacket nearly identical to the one he wore on that historic day. The figure comes complete with a turkey dinner platter similar to the centerpiece he carried while visiting our troops on Thanksgiving day 2003.

The secret Thanksgiving trip was the first visit by an American President to Iraq. It was heralded by many as a great patriotic moment, and scoffed at by many others who saw the visit as merely a photo opportunity or a cowardly act due to the secrecy of the trip itself.

Regardless of how the trip was viewed politically, it will become a piece of our nation's history. It spurred a wave of patriotism here at home among many on Thanksgiving Day 2003. His appearance before the troops boosted the morale of many of our soldiers. Bush's sense of humor was clearly visible as he said, "I was just looking for a warm meal somewhere." Then he showed his appreciation for our soldiers saying, "Thanks for inviting me to dinner...I can't think of a finer group of folks to have Thanksgiving dinner with than you all."

Production of this figure will be limited to 5,000 dolls.
http://www.talkingpresidents.com/products-af-bush-td.shtml

Hey! I hear the food is good here, Junior!


All members welcome and encouraged to participate.

Please post Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News on this thread.
1. Post stories and announcements you find on the web.

2. Post stories using the "Election Fraud and Reform News Sources" listed here:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x407240

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

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

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

[EFerrari]

1. (Okay, everybody can go home!) Voting machines �proved reliable

Voting machines �proved reliable
Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 11/22/06

We've got some pretty smart cookies watching the elections in Ocean County, Republicans and Democrats who are anxious for every partisan edge to be sure, but dedicated to seeing that the process of counting the votes is accurate.

Our hats are off to those in Barnegat, the Ocean County Clerk's Office, and the county Board of Elections who spotted a problem with this year's tally.

It was discovered election night that votes cast in a district in Barnegat were recorded there, and in a district in Lakewood.

Was it proof that the electronic voting machines were so defective they were stealing elections? Had the brief Venezuelan connection to the Sequoia ownership poisoned the well of democracy?

http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061122/OPINION/61122008/1029

[EFerrari]

2. David Benjamin: Pseudo-events define six years of the Bush regime

David Benjamin: Pseudo-events define six years of the Bush regime
By David Benjamin

Now that the overthrow of Congress has launched President Bush into a two-year slough of lame-duck limbo (or, in NBA terms, "garbage time"), it's appropriate to ponder what has befallen America in the Bush era. My guiding light, throughout the ordeal, has been Daniel Boorstin's 1961 book, "The Image."

Boorstin grew alarmed by the ability of Sen. Joseph McCarthy to titillate the press with slanders and fabrications about fictional commies in the government. In "The Image," Boorstin noted that McCarthy got press because he always scheduled his bombshells conveniently for reporters' deadlines. Boorstin referred to McCarthy's strategic incursions into the news cycle as "pseudo-events."

Boorstin defined a pseudo-event as having four qualities: not spontaneous, planted primarily (not always exclusively) for the purpose of being reported or reproduced, having an ambiguous relation to the underlying reality of the situation, and usually intended to be a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Boorstin wrote, "We are haunted, not by reality, but by those images we have put in place of reality."

http://www.madison.com/tct/opinion/column/index.php?ntid=108536&ntpid=1

[EFerrari]

3. Colombia Indy Media: EVA GOLINGER'S NEW BOOK - BUSH VS. CHAVEZ

EVA GOLINGER'S NEW BOOK - BUSH VS. CHAVEZ
por Stephen Lendman Thursday, Nov. 23, 2006 at 8:15 AM
[e-mail]

HOW THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION IS TRYING TO UNDERMINE HUGO CHAVEZ

Eva Golinger's New Book - Bush vs. Chavez - by Stephen Lendman

Eva Golinger's eagerly awaited new book is now out - but only for those able to read and understand Spanish as it's not yet available in English. It's appropriately called Bush vs. Chavez - Washington's War Against against Venezuela published by Monte Avila Editores in Caracas. Hopefully it will soon be available in English as well.

Golinger is a Venezuelan-American attorney specializing in international human rights and immigration law. She wrote her first blockbuster book published in 2005 called The Chavez Code - Cracking US Intervention in Venezuela that documented the events surrounding the 2002 US-directed failed coup against Hugo Chavez that ousted him for two days and that the people of Venezuela through their mass outrage reversed. In her first book, Golinger obtained top-secret documents from the CIA and State Department through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests showing the Bush administration had prior knowledge of and was complicit in the 2002 coup against President Chavez and had provided over $30 million in funding aid to opposition groups to help pull it off. It failed because they hadn't expected the kind of people-power that's likely to arise again in the face of trouble and support the president they love and won't give up without a fight.

Golinger also showed how the US government funded the so-called National Endowment for Democracy (NED) that functions to subvert the democratic process to help oust leaders more concerned with serving their own people than the interests of wealth and power. Also involved in the coup plot was the international arm of the Republican party, the International Republican Institute (IRI), the National Democratic Institute, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the AFL-CIO that has a long and disturbing record of acting as an instrument of US foreign policy instead of sticking to what it's mandated to do - representing the interests of American working people it falls far short of much too often in its policy of selling out to the interests of capital for the personal gain of the union's leadership.

In the Chavez Code, Golinger showed how these agencies funded and worked with the Chavez opposition beginning in 2001 cooking up schemes that led to mass-staged street protests leading up to the day of the coup. It was done with the full knowledge and approval of the Bush White House that mounted a full-scale effort post-9/11 to oust Hugo Chavez and has now tried and failed three times to do it.

http://colombia.indymedia.org/news/2006/11/53055.php

[EFerrari]

4. Chavez rival gains momentum, still faces long odds

Chavez rival gains momentum, still faces long odds

By Steven Dudley

McClatchy Newspapers

(MCT)

BARQUISIMETO, Venezuela - At first glance, Manuel Rosales seems like a strange choice for a presidential candidate to take on the powerful and charismatic incumbent, President Hugo Chavez.

The 53-year-old Rosales dresses and talks like a cattle rancher and has traditional political roots. He's not a particularly charming man in person or on stage, and has been caught on more than one occasion fumbling his words.

But Rosales' straight talk and his gumption to face up to Chavez - who has won the last two elections, survived a coup and a recall referendum - seems to have won him some fans and rejuvenated a moribund opposition.

On a recent campaign stop in this northwestern city, Rosales lifted his 7-month-old daughter, Alejandra, high above his head, while a surprisingly large crowd of supporters chanted a slogan befitting a man who is putting his political neck on the line: "Risk it! Risk it! Risk it!"

http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/montereyherald/news/world/16083546.htm

[EFerrari]

5. Rob Kall: Wow, Do We Have a Lot to Be Thankful for This Year. Now , About 2007....

November 23, 2006 at 09:53:36

Wow, Do We Have a Lot to Be Thankful for This Year. Now , About 2007....

by Rob Kall

We could have faced a dark thanksgiving where the elections were totally stolen instead of just partially stolen.

WE could have faced a dark thanksgiving where right wing extremists had consolidated their power, probably permanently, taking the US inevitably down the path to fascism.

We could have faced a dark thanksgiving where corporatists had finally broken the will of the American voter.

But instead, we now face a hopeful future, not a sure one, not one that we can be certain is rosy for the USA and its great masses of regular people.

http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_rob_kall_061123_wow_2c_do_we_have_a_lo.htm

[EFerrari]

6. SC: Platt concedes House Dist. 115 race

Platt concedes House Dist. 115 race
Scarborough maps House goals as Democrat poetically bows out

BY ROBERT BEHRE


The contest for the state House District 115 seat had a bit of everything: gunfire, erotic poetry, an arrest, one candidate divorcing his wife and another dedicating his campaign to his late wife - even occasional debates on the issues. And now, 16 days after the election, it has an undisputed winner.

Democrat Eugene Platt, who lost by only 40 votes out of more than 10,000 cast, announced Wednesday that he has conceded the race to Republican incumbent Wallace Scarborough.

"I accepted the inevitable yesterday, a day on which the Lowcountry saw a rare snowfall," Platt said in a statement. "Somehow, such a day, dismal with cold and biting wind, seemed poetically appropriate for the end of what many considered to be a quixotic campaign by a Democratic challenger to unseat a three-term Republican incumbent in what is, statistically, a Republican district."

Many observers didn't expect the race to be close, but that view began to change as Scarborough made headlines this summer for firing a pistol near utility workers behind his parents' West Ashley home. Charges were later dropped, but the case drew attention to his personal life, which included a pending divorce and allegations of him having an affair with a Beaufort lawmaker.

http://www.charleston.net/assets/webPages/departmental/news/Stories.aspx?section=localnews&tableId=119787&pubDate=11/23/2006

[EFerrari]

7. AR: Election problems, federal requirements challenge commissioners

Election problems, federal requirements challenge commissioners
Benton County officials assess voting difficulties
This article was published on Wednesday, November 22, 2006 6:52 PM CST in News
By Robin Mero

BENTONVILLE -- John Brown remembers a time -- just three years ago -- when elections were simple.

Ballots were generic, and they slid right into the books. You packed them in suitcases, and poll workers loaded them in the back of their cars. Setup was easy.

"You could run 1,000 cards per minute, and we had no problems with hanging chads," said Brown, a Benton County election commissioner.

Now, trying to meet federal requirements designed to modernize voting, Benton County seems to be falling two steps back for each step forward, he said.

After the Nov. 7 general election, misplaced electronic ballots, software glitches and mistakes with data entry marred the process of counting 48,862 ballots. The Benton County Election Commission released four different totals over nearly two weeks before certifying final numbers Tuesday.

http://www.nwaonline.net/articles/2006/11/23/news/12306bzelexcomm.txt

[EFerrari]

8. Stephen Hill: Democrats can build trust by working for election fairness

Guest Opinion: Democrats can build trust by working for election fairness
STEVEN HILL and ROB RICHIE
Tucson Citizen

With Democrats now in control of Congress for the first time in a dozen years, one way for them to build faith with all Americans would be to pursue policies designed to increase fairness within Congress, as well as improve democracy in the United States.

Change is certainly needed. The reality is that U.S. House elections now provide no more competition or choice to most voters than the former Soviet Union's elections to the Politburo.

Even with Congress changing hands, 95 percent of incumbents still won re-election and 86 percent of seats were won by noncompetitive margins. No wonder voter turnout nationwide was only an anemic 40 percent of eligible voters, despite the high stakes.

It's high time to modernize our elections and establish a more vital and fair democracy. Consider these five proposals:

http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/daily/opinion/33560.php

[EFerrari]

9. Capitol Weekly: A pro-Democracy agenda for a new Congress

A pro-Democracy agenda for a new Congress
By Anonymous

(published November 23rd, 2006)
With Democrats now in control of Congress for the first time in a dozen years, one way for Democrats to build faith with all Americans would be to pursue policies designed to increase fairness within Congress, as well as improve democracy in the United States.

Change is certainly needed. The reality is that U.S. House elections now provide no more competition or choice to most voters than the former Soviet Union's elections to the Politburo. Even with Congress changing hands, 95 percent of incumbents still won re-election and 86 percent of seats were won by noncompetitive margins. No wonder voter turnout nationwide was only an anemic 40 percent of eligible voters, despite the high stakes.

It's high time to modernize our elections and establish a more vital and fair democracy. Consider these five proposals:

(snip)

2. Run better elections. Nonpartisan, accountable election officials and a national elections commission are essential for elections that are accurate and secure. The U.S. leaves election administration to a hodgepodge of over 3,000 counties and nearly 10,000 municipalities scattered across the nation, with too few standards or uniformity to guide them. Election administrators should be highly trained civil servants who have a demonstrated proficiency with technology, running elections and making the electoral process transparent and secure. A national commission should establish minimum standards and partner with state and local election officials to ensure accountability for their performance, and prevent poor decisions like purchasing glitzy voting machines that lack adequate security features.

http://www.capitolweekly.net/opinion/article.html?article_id=1129

[EFerrari]

10. CO: Voter-registration checks triggered Denver�s election disaster

Voter-registration checks triggered Denver�s election disaster

By Alan Gathright, Rocky Mountain News
November 22, 2006

Witnesses recounted today how the failure of Denver�s voter-registration system triggered an Election Day "tidal wave" that swamped officials and forced tens of thousand of voters to stand in line for hours, including many who left without voting.

That�s the grim image election officials, voter advocates and political party officials painted on the second day of hearings by Mayor John Hickenlooper�s Election Commission Investigative Panel.

"The poll book problems were essentially a tidal wave that overwhelmed the election commission and its capacity to deal with all the other miscellaneous problems," said John Walsh, a Colorado Democratic Party official.

If the Denver Election Commission had heeded advanced warnings about poor poll judge training, agency miscommunication and problems with the voter-registration system during early voting, the Nov. 7 election disaster might have been averted, several witnesses said.

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/elections/article/0,2808,DRMN_24736_5163831,00.html

[EFerrari]

11. Diebold Ballot Programming Errors and Election Corruption in Utah

Diebold Ballot Programming Errors and Election Corruption in Utah

In Utah's November 2006 election, Diebold made ballot definition programming errors that may have occurred in some precincts state-wide. Errors have been discovered in Weber and Utah counties thus far in both electronic and paper ballots programmed by Diebold.

Diebold seems to have caused ballot definition errors in Utah's ballots by making changes to the database of precincts, districts, and ballot types it was given by counties. These problems were caught quickly on Election Day in Utah County, and not elsewhere, due to a decision made by Utah County's election official to configure its Diebold software on its ballot encoder and voting machines in a particular way using the correct database on one system that immediately detected and caught the error.

Ballot definition errors mean that voters are given the wrong ballot - allowed to vote in races they should not be allowed to vote in, and not able to vote in races that they should be allowed to vote in. The extent of the problem in Utah is not known yet.

It seems to have been Diebold programmers, not county officials, who messed up their database copy.

http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_kathy_do_061122_diebold_ballot_progr.htm

[EFerrari]

12. Flashback: Mexico Vote Fraud's Death by a Thousand Videotapes; Obrador reveals tapes, audio, photos

Mexico Vote Fraud's Death by a Thousand Videotapes; Obrador reveals tapes, audio, photos
Mexico Splits in Half: the Election Hits the Streets

A full week after the most viciously contested presidential election in its modern history, a Florida-sized fraud looms over the Mexican landscape and the nation has been divided almost exactly in half along political, economic, geographical and racial lines.

Video, audio and photographic evidence of election fraud surges daily. It is the dominant news story in Mexico. Obrador released a similar video of election officials in PAN-controlled Quer?taro changing the vote tallies to create more votes for its candidate. The PAN does not deny the facts. It simply claims that those cases amounted to normal, allowed, functions by election officials. The public temper rises with every such justification. Moreover, the disputed election pits an indignant Indian and mestizo underclass that believes AMLO was swindled out of the presidency by electoral fraud against a wealthy white conservative minority that controls the nation's media, its banks, and apparently, the Federal Electoral Institute (IFE), Mexico's maximum electoral authorities. Lopez Obrador charges the IFE and its president Luis Carlos Ugalde with orchestrating Calderon's uncertain triumph.

http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2006/07/342567.shtml

[EFerrari]

13. (Wtf?) Schmidt clinches re-election to House

Schmidt clinches re-election to House
By DAN SEWELL
Associated Press Writer

LEBANON - Republican U.S. Rep. Jean Schmidt has survived another close call.

Two years after a heartbreaking recount loss in a state Senate primary left her future in doubt, Schmidt has gained re-election to Ohio's 2nd District by again holding off a fast-closing Democratic challenger. This time, her race went into overtime, but absentee and provisional ballots counted Tuesday in Warren County gave her a clinching lead.

Schmidt's lead was at nearly 3,100 votes Wednesday after Scioto County reported results. In Scioto, which Democrat Victoria Wulsin carried with 63 percent of the vote, Wulsin had 247 votes to Schmidt's 134 in provisional ballots counted Tuesday evening.
Schmidt, who gained national attention last year with her harsh House floor attack on a Democratic veteran, had 51 percent of the overall vote compared with 49 percent for Wulsin, according to unofficial results.

http://www.centralohio.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/B8/20061123/NEWS01/611230305/1002

:wtf:

[EFerrari]

14. FL: Voting machines in dispute to be tested

Voting machines in dispute to be tested

Sarasota devices same as those used in S. Florida

By Bill Kaczor
The Associated Press
Posted November 23 2006

TALLAHASSEE � Ten touch-screen voting machines, including five used in a congressional election decided by only 369 votes, will be tested next week, a state spokeswoman said Wednesday.

Five backup machines prepared for the Nov. 7 election in Sarasota County but not deployed will be tested Tuesday. Five more actually used will be tested Friday, said Jenny Nash of the Department of State.

Republican Vern Buchanan has been declared the winner of the race to succeed Rep. Katherine Harris in Florida's 13th Congressional District. Democrat Christine Jennings is contesting the election in a lawsuit, contending the iVotronic machines malfunctioned. The voting machines were also used in South Florida.

The state test is aimed at finding out why no votes were recorded in the congressional race on about 18,000 ballots cast in Sarasota County. That resulted in an undervote rate about six times greater than in the district's other four counties.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/florida/sfl-fvoting23nov23,0,1467433.story?coll=sfla-news-florida

[EFerrari]

15. Angola: Glitches mar voter registration

Glitches mar voter registration
22/11/2006 22:14 - (SA)

Luanda - A week into a high-tech voter registration programme for Angola's first elections since 1992, opposition leaders complained on Wednesday of irregularities and technical glitches.

But ruling party officials said that while there were a few teething problems, registration was proceeding smoothly overall.

"The process is going very well. After only one week it's not fair to talk of problems, it's premature," said Mpla spokesperson Kwata Kanawa.

(snip)

The registration process involves the use of kits, which include cameras, computers, generators, printers and scanners, and officials have been trained in how to use them.

http://www.news24.com/News24/Africa/News/0,9294,2-11-1447_2034370,00.html

[EFerrari]

16. CA: Probe launched after close vote (San Benito Co)

Probe launched after close vote
By Julia Prodis Sulek
Mercury News
Posted on Thu, Nov. 23, 2006

San Benito County's district attorney launched an investigation Wednesday into a county supervisor's election after a voter reported that a faulty voting machine wouldn't let him cast his ballot for former newspaper publisher Tracie Cone, who lost by a narrow margin.

District Attorney John Sarsfield said he has sent a letter to the county elections department ordering it to preserve ``everything,'' including the voting machine in question.

Cone, former publisher of Hollister's weekly Pinnacle newspaper and a slow-growth advocate, lost by 60 votes to incumbent Reb Monaco, who is backed by pro-growth interests, in the Nov. 7 election, according to unofficial results.

Sarsfield said he would ask a grand jury to review the allegations brought to his attention by Cone's lawyer.

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/states/california/the_valley/16082796.htm?source=rss

[EFerrari]

17. Sacramento anti-war leader accuses federal government of withholding surveillance info (Talon Db)

Sacramento anti-war leader accuses federal government of withholding surveillance information of his group

Posted 11/22/06
BAKERSFIELD - The leader of an anti-war protest group in Sacramento accused the federal government of withholding surveillance information of his group.

The Pentagon issued a report on its surveillance following a Freedom of Information Act request filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

The report confirms the National Security Agency collected information on the Sacramento chapter of Veterans for Peace for five months in 2005.

The information was collected in an anti-terrorist database called Talon.

http://www.kget.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=42DAD4EF-23D1-4DC7-B064-99EF95BF882D

[EFerrari]

18. Discussion:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2627698

[rumpel]

19. Happy Thanksgiving!

I feel sorry for those people, who have an urge to buy those dolls...


:)

[EFerrari]

20. Unless they practice Santeria or Voodoo.

:evilgrin:

[rumpel]

22. .....

:rofl:

[bleever]

21. I am thankful for ERD members like sfexpat2000!

And to all my compatriots here, I wish you a day that finds you grateful for good company, and for the success of breaking the stranglehold that the BFEE has held on our three branches of government.

:toast:

[rumpel]

23. Cheers!

:toast:

[EFerrari]

25. Happy Thanksgiving, bleever!

I was off trying not to poison my family.

I'm grateful for you, neighbor, and for our friends in the ERD, for their diligence and humor.

:toast:

[Patsy Stone]

24. Happy Thanksgiving!

A hale and hearty :toast: to Election Reform!

[EFerrari]

26. Happy Thanksgiving, Patsy!

:hi: