Saturday 2/12 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=203x324054#325002

[MelissaB]

1. Video: The Battle For America

http://www.thebattleforamerica.com/

Thanks to demodonkey here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=203&topic_id=325063

[L. Coyote]

2. Too many large images slow this thread for modem users. n/t

[MelissaB]

5. I forget people use dial-up and how frustrating it can be.

Sorry!

[dzika]

8. If this were a discussion thread....

If it were a discussion thread that required reloading often then I'm sure it would be very annoying.

Every time you reload, only images that are in new posts should have to be loaded by your browser. Previously loaded images should be cached by your browser.



After there have been 20 posts, you will have a choice between clicking on the link for this thread or the "View All" link for this thread.

If you find that using the "View all" link is too slow then try just clicking on the link for the thread. You will not see any images and you will be able to read the posts individually. Load times for individual posts should be pretty fast.

If a post is titled something like "Video - CNN reports on..." then you probably don't want to view that thread anyway because almost all videos are too slow for dial-up.



You also have the option of turning off images in your browser before viewing the thread.



So, for dial-up users that are having problems with the speed, consider the following options:

1. Your browser should cache images the first time you load the page, subsequent views should only load the new images.
   
   
2. After there have been 20 posts, do not choose to "View all". Click the link for the thread and select the individual posts that interest you.
   
   
3. If all else fails, turn off the loading of images in your browser before viewing this thread.

I believe that many Internet Services Providers also offer solutions to make images load faster for dial-up users. Consider checking with your provider.

I hope that makes things easier for you. If more people express concerns about load times then I will be happy to discontinue posting as it is my posts that most often have larger images.

If you would like to continue to discuss this issue then you can PM me or start a new discussion thread and post a link to it in this thread so others can participate in the discussion.

Thanks for your comments.

[L. Coyote]

35. The images sometimes contribute nothing. Lose them.

I don't need to see a logo for a newspaper. Be judicious. Make thia thread more useable for everyone. Keep load time down.

[skids]

3. "Open Source" Press Association formed

rawstory announcement:

http://rawstory.com/news/2005/index.php?p=63

DU thread

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x324363

[L. Coyote]

4. House Judiciary Democrats to ask for special prosecutor ... OHIO

House Judiciary Democrats to ask for special prosecutor to investigate Ohio election chief

House members want criminal investigation into Ohio’s Blackwell

By John Byrne

Four Democratic members of the House Judiciary Committee asked the Department of Justice to begin a criminal investigation into Ohio’s Republican Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell today, RAW STORY has learned.

The members–Robert Scott, John Conyers, Jr., Sheila Jackson Lee, and Jerrold Nadler–filed a criminal referral with Attorney General John Ashcroft.

Among other matters, the referral is to request an investigation into voter intimidation, improper voter purging, perjury, possible misuse of Help America Vote Act funds, tampering with voting machines during Ohio’s recount and Blackwell’s misuse of the Great Seal of the United States in a campaign letter.

http://www.bluelemur.com/index.php?p=552

[MelissaB]

6. Democrats elect Howard Dean as chairman

Democrats elect Howard Dean as chairman

2/12/2005, 10:16 a.m. CT
By WILL LESTER
The Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats elected Howard Dean chairman of their national party on Saturday, casting their lot with a skilled fund-raiser and organizer whose sometimes caustic, blunt comments can lead to controversy.

The 447-member Democratic National Committee chose Dean on a voice vote to replace outgoing party chief Terry McAuliffe. The former Vermont governor and presidential candidate had promised to rebuild the state parties, take the offensive against Republicans, and better explain party positions on issues.

Democrats are eager to renew their campaign to regain political power, though some admit to a bit of anxiety. President Bush just won his second term. Republicans are firmly in control of the House and the Senate. And the GOP is gaining strength in conservative states in the South and West.

>>>snip

"We are trying so hard to be like Republicans and we're not. I think Howard Dean says clearly that we are different," Cusack said. "We are the party of ordinary citizens and not the elite, we are everyday working folk."

More: http://www.nola.com/newsflash/national/index.ssf?/base/national-39/1108218368221190.xml&storylist=national

[MelissaB]

7. Howard Dean Bio Box

Howard Dean Bio Box

Associated Press


NAME: Howard Dean.

AGE-BIRTH DATE: 56; Nov. 17, 1948.

EDUCATION: Bachelor's degree, Yale University, 1971; Medical degree, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, 1978.

EXPERIENCE: Democratic presidential candidate, 2003-2004; governor of Vermont, 1991-2002; lieutenant governor of Vermont, 1986-91; member of the Vermont House of Representatives, 1983-1986; physician in private practice specializing in internal medicine, 1978-91.

FAMILY: Wife, Judy; two children.

POLITICAL HEROES: President Washington, because he established the precedent that the office is greater than the person who occupies it, and Truman, because he made tough decisions and didn't base them on polls.

QUOTE: "We don't need to apologize for our principles. We need to talk about them in a different way." - Dean telling Democrats on Friday how they can do a better job of explaining their positions to voters.

Link: http://www.kansas.com/mld/kansas/10885710.htm

[dzika]

9. Jeff Gannon's alma mater: The Leadership Institute

Friday February 11, 2005

Jeff Gannon's alma mater: The Leadership Institute

The only journalism-related credential listed on former Talon News Washington bureau chief and White House correspondent Jeff Gannon's Talon News bio -- which was removed from Talon's website after Media Matters for America drew attention to Gannon and Talon News -- was The Leadership Institute Broadcast School of Journalism. While Talon News appears to be more of a Republican political advocacy group than a media outlet, The Leadership Institute Broadcast School of Journalism appears to be more of a training ground for Republican advocacy in the media than a school of journalism.

The Leadership Institute's president and founder, Morton C. Blackwell, told The Washington Post in 1992 that the Institute is "conservative, but not partisan." A review of the Institute's leadership and programming indicates otherwise.


The Institute

The Leadership Institute is classified a 501(c)(3) non-profit, non-partisan educational foundation (view its 2003 form 990 here). It works "to increase the number and effectiveness of conservative public policy leaders" by offering a number of seminars on journalism and public policy nationwide and at its F.M. Kirby National Training Center in Arlington, Virginia. The Institute claims to have graduated more than 40,000 students.

According to its website, The Leadership Institute Broadcast School of Journalism is "n intense two-day seminar ... designed to give aspiring journalists the skills necessary to bring balance to the media and succeed in this highly competitive field." It costs $50, for which attendees receive "two days of instruction, meals on Saturday and Sunday and all course materials," as well as free housing "on a first-come, first-served basis."

The Leadership Institute's annual budget of $8 million has been financed by contributions from wealthy conservatives -- including major conservative financier Joseph Coors, a June 2001 New York Times article reported. Numerous conservative foundations, such as the Coors-funded Castle Rock Foundation, the F.M. Kirby Foundation, the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, and the Richard and Helen DeVos Foundation, have also provided funding to the Institute.


more here: http://mediamatters.org/items/200502120002

[dzika]

10. Video Clip - Dean Elected to DNC Chaiman - 2/12 @ 12:00 PM

Video Clip - Dean Elected to DNC Chaiman - 2/12 @ 12:00 PM



Video in Real Media format (256k stream / 1 minute):
http://www.edwardsdavid.com/BushVideos/cnn_dean_elected_dnc_050212-02.rm

[dzika]

11. Vote Depreciation

This article is worth reading...

---

2.10.2005

Vote Depreciation

When the highest percentage of eligible voters since 1968 turned out in the recent presidential election, one could have been forgiven for feeling bullish about the electoral process. Of course, trading volume is not a true indicator of a market's health. In fact, the value of the vote has been dragged down like a branch by a bear who then strips it clean.
...
The third stressor on the voting market is voting fraud, allegations of which have broken out in far-flung pockets like a contagious disease long thought wiped out. While, it seems that Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, as it were, have not always been used to tally votes, the yawns you hear from an issue dismissed as "wonkish" come not only from the public but the media.

A statistical study like "The Effect of Election Voting Machines or Support for Bush in the 2004 Florida Elections" by the Survey Research Center at the University of California at Berkeley sends reporters heading for the hills. That's according to MSNBC's Keith Olbermann, who may be the only member of the mainstream media who hasn't presented with symptoms of attention deficit disorder in the face of voter fraud. However, simply by virtue of its lack of a paper trail, e-voting--is that "e" for "ether," as in "into the"?--invites investigation.

When Johns Hopkins' Dr. Avi Rubin put his students to work poring over the code--all 48,609 lines worth--of the Diebold voting software he'd gotten hold of, they responded by locating a key in Diebold's obsolete encryption system to unlock all the machines, thus declaring a field day for backdoor programming. Incidentally, any defense of equipment failure is out of the question because Diebold also makes ATM machines. Does a publicly used machine exist that works with fewer flaws?

Then there were reports that, backed by part Saudi-financed entity Five Star Trust, Florida congressman Tom Feeney commissioned a customized, Windows-based, e-voting program to reduce votes in Democratic counties. Whether or not these investigations are followed up, the prospect of tens of thousands of votes lost at a time to collusion and sabotage only contributes to the perception that the vote is of little more value than the contents of one of those fabled Weimar wheelbarrows.


more: http://www.freezerbox.com/archive/article.asp?id=333

[dzika]

12. Election mania in NC

From the The Robesonian in Lumberton, NC

Friday, February 11, 2005

Election mania in NC

We can't usher forward the evidence, but our belief is the rash of elections too close to call is not a recent phenomenum, but seems that way only because of 24-hour news that keeps the elections in our collective consciousness.

We all remember the 2000 presidential election. The 2004 election imposed upon us a Washington state gubernatorial race and two North Carolina races - one for Agriculture commissioner and the other for superintendent of the Department of Public Instruction - that remained in dispute long after the ballots were cast and supposedly counted.
...
That certainly strikes a popular chord, but is it the best way to determine the winner of an election? It seems to us that allowing partisan politicians to determine the outcome of a statewide race will only undermine efforts to validate the eventual outcome.
...
Call us cynical, but we simply don't trust partisan politicians to look dispassionately at these elections. Nor would the public.


source: http://www.robesonian.com/articles/2005/02/11/news/editorials/editorial01.txt

[dzika]

13. Voting irregularities are much too regular in Texas

From The Houston Chronicle
Feb. 11, 2005, 9:01PM

Voting irregularities are much too regular in Texas

Lessons to be learned in Heflin-Vo election challenge
By ANDY TAYLOR


If I take $10 out of my checking account at an airport cash machine and fly half way around the world I'll find another cash machine reflecting $10 less in my account. But cast an illegal ballot in Texas and chances are, it will be counted.

Why, in this day and age, do we have a voting system that cannot determine whether a voter is eligible to vote, keep close track of all ballots and report results quickly on Election Night?

This is entirely a matter of antiquated voting procedures, inadequate legal safeguards and inadequate resources. Every time there is a close election in Texas, the abysmal state of our voting procedures becomes more painfully obvious.

Much has been said in recent months about the election challenge by my client, state Rep. Talmadge Heflin, R-Houston, but too little has been written about flaws in election practices that skew the results for good candidates of both parties who find themselves in close contests. Although Heflin accepted the findings of the special master appointed to oversee this challenge and indeed warmly and sincerely congratulated Hubert Vo, there are still lessons to be learned from this challenge that may help us improve our election process.

source: http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/editorial/outlook/3035766

[dzika]

14. Bush, Kerry media advisers speak at UA in Ohio

Posted on Sat, Feb. 12, 2005

Bush, Kerry media advisers speak at UA

Both agree GOP won Ohio vote due to Dems' missteps in campaign
By Carl Chancellor

``August was a black hole for us,'' said Tad Devine, who served as the Kerry campaign's chief media adviser.

He said for five weeks immediately following the Democratic convention, the Kerry camp made a calculated decision not to air any commercials, in part to conserve money for a major ad push in the last two months leading up to the general election.

``It was a mistake,'' Devine said on Friday.

Devine and his counterpart, Mark McKinnon, the chief media adviser for the Bush-Cheney campaign, were featured at a program at the University of Akron that looked at the television advertisement strategy of the 2004 presidential election.

Devine said the decision not to air commercials in August was as costly a decision as the one made by the Al Gore campaign to pull out of Ohio three weeks prior to the 2000 general election. Gore ended up losing Ohio to Bush by less than 4 percentage points.


more: http://www.ohio.com/mld/ohio/living/community/10883892.htm

[Joe Chi Minh]

28. When are these

Democratic grandees going to stop pretending they don't know that both elections were stolen?

I wonder if maybe they feel they have to act this way, because an atypical post-election silence concerning failed strategy, gives the game away, thereby adding to the embarrassment of knowing they've been bullied out power yet again.

Or maybe I'm just becoming impatient, and fail to see that such implicit disclaimers provide the perfect background for the impending prosecutions and posssible impeachment - bearing in mind the media pornocracy in both our countries.

[dzika]

15. Ohio A.G. Petro has good points about voting machines

Saturday, February 12, 2005

Ohio A.G. Petro has good points about voting machines

EDITORIAL


The issue:

Ohio Attorney General Jim Petro said counties can't be ordered to use one type of voting machine.


Our opinion:

Petro, who is seeking the nomination for governor in 2006, should take care not to appear to be politicking.

It's difficult to tell if Attorney General Jim Petro's charges that Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell did not have authority to order counties to use one type of voting machine has credence or if it's just political posturing.

Petro on Tuesday made the assertion a day before counties must make their choice.

"The ultimate discretion is really the county boards' and not the state and that's the law," Petro said.


more: http://www.mansfieldnewsjournal.com/news/stories/20050212/opinion/1982682.html

[dzika]

16. Cuyahoga County Ohio wins voting-reform delay

Saturday, February 12, 2005

Cuyahoga County Ohio wins voting-reform delay

Court blocks Blackwell order to choose an optical-scan system maker
Mark Naymik


Cuyahoga County's elections officials threw a legal jab Friday at Secretary of State Ken Blackwell in their escalating fight over voting reform.

Following the lead of Franklin and Portage counties, Cuyahoga officials sought and received a court order allowing them more time to decide how to upgrade the county's punch-card voting system.

Blackwell gave all of the state's 88 counties until 5 p.m. Wednesday to choose one of two companies that make optical-scan voting systems, which rely on pencil and paper to tally election results.

Cuyahoga and four other counties ignored that deadline, set in a surprise directive from Blackwell on Jan. 12. The court order blocks Blackwell -- who threatened to pick a company for the county on Friday -- from acting until Feb. 23.


more: http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/cuyahoga/110820447538472.xml

[dzika]

17. Was it the Serbian-American vote?

Saturday, February 12, 2005

Was it the Serbian-American vote?

By TV Weber


...
Yet, only a few short months ago, many of those “in the know” were planning for, and counting on, a Kerry presidency. Pundits were divided as to which way the stream of American history would flow. By now, those prognostications are only a vague memory.

But what was responsible for tipping the balance of the electoral vote in Bush’s favor? The answer never appeared in the mainstream media, and might not be obvious without further analysis.


Voting Blocs

Pundits look to a number of so-called “voting blocs” to predict the outcomes of elections. They watch the African-American vote, the Hispanic vote, the women’s vote, the union vote, the rural vote, the gay vote, the Christian right vote, and any other vote for which someone has bothered to conduct a poll.
...
Even so, there are times when the behavior of certain voting blocs, particularly ethnic blocs, can tell an interesting story about what people in that particular community have on their minds.


more: http://www.serbianna.com/columns/weber/017.shtml

[MelissaB]

18. DNC Donations: How to support Howard Dean and give a little credit to DU

If you want to show your support to Chairman Howard Dean, now is a good time to send a donation to the DNC.

I was just looking around the DNC website, and I realized that they have a special "epatriots" system that lets us track donations from DU. If you want to give a little credit to DU, click this link before you donate: https://www.democrats.org/epatriots/give.html?sourcecode=E007928



Thanks to Skinner here: https://www.democrats.org/epatriots/give.html?sourcecode=E007928

[MelissaB]

19. New media power to help further the cause

Finally a challenge to be thrown at the lack of news we're getting. State sponsored media is in full effect and thank heavens there are institutions being formulated to fill the glaring vacuum of blatant propaganda that is being shoveled down America's throats. Pass it on...
Yours in the battle,
Feel the breeze
The winds of change are blowing... do you feel the breeze?

http://rawstory.com/news/2005/index.php?p=63
2/11/2005
Writers, publications to launch open source alternative press association

Writers and Progressive Publications to Launch Alternative Press Association

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Larisa Alexandrovna | Associate News Editor – Raw Story
http://www.rawstory.com | [e-mail]

February 10, 2005 – Raw Story editors, along with several other independent progressive journalists and publications, will be launching the Open Source Press Association (OSPA) as an alternative to media agencies such as the Associated Press.

The OSPA will function on four levels: ethics in journalism, alternative press membership, networking and projects, resources, anti-smear council, and resources and distribution.

The Ethics in Journalism Board will vet journalists, publications, freelance writers and organizations for free membership, monitor unethical reporting, and present annual excellence in writing, reporting and publication awards. The board will be made up of founding publications, journalists, blogs, and organizational representatives that run the gamut of progressive press.

The alternative press, including publications, journalists, writers, and organizations, will allow for members to share resources, funding and act as a more inclusive fourth estate. This body will not be a corporate; it will not be beholden to anyone to report on certain topics. The ethics board will provide stringent reporting standards for journalists, publication, etc., and various other standards to be followed by other writers writing in different sub-genres of journalism.

-SNIP-

is designed so that journalists like the late Gary Webb are able to find work; so that publications working hard to get the truth out are not silenced by financial burdens or smear campaigns. It is designed to allow for the true fourth estate – the media – to be reborn in truth and founded in ethical principles, not corporate bottom lines.

Journalists, publications, and reporting organizations are welcome to submit statements of interest. OSPA hopes to begin credentialing membership organizations soon.

Contact Larisa Alexandrovna at [e-mail] to express interest. The group will be setting up an autonomous website soon.



Thanks to feelthebreeze here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x324363

[dzika]

20. The News Is Broken - William Pitt on the Gannon-Gate scandal

"An avowed conservative partisan managed to boll weevil his way into the White House Briefing Room"

How often do you get to read a political article using the term: boll weevil?

---

Friday 11 February 2005

The News Is Broken

By William Rivers Pitt

Once upon a time, working the White House Press Briefing Room was the crown jewel of mainstream political journalism beats. That was it; short of reporting live from under the President's desk or nailing down an interview with the ghost of Abraham Lincoln, you weren't going to get a better gig if you were a political reporter.
...
And therein lies the rub. If "Gannon" were getting zapped for simply being a conservative reporter who filed boilerplate GOP talking points as news, one could possibly have some sympathy for him even if you find his views repugnant and his hypocrisy intolerable. Yet the real issue at hand here has to do with the name Blitzer failed to bring into the conversation: Valerie Plame.

Plame, you will recall, was the deep-cover CIA agent tasked to track the sale and delivery of weapons of mass destruction to terrorists. Plame was outed by two Bush administration officials, who leaked word of Plame's secret career to Bob Novak and several other journalists. They torpedoed her career deliberately as an act of revenge against her husband, Joseph Wilson, who a week prior had exposed Bush's claims of uranium from Niger being used to make bombs in Iraq as a whole lot of smoke and nonsense. The breaking of Plame was also a none-too-subtle warning to any other administration insiders who might have been getting happy feet and were thinking of calling a reporter.
...
"Gannon" wasn't just some gomer who got a day pass. He had serious access, as displayed by his knowledge of a CIA memo that no one else had ever heard of or seen. He bragged publicly about playing a key role in an act of treason perpetrated by members of this administration, something he would not have been able to do had he not had friends inside the Bush White House. Scott McClellan claims to not know him. I, for one, think that is a bald-faced lie.


more: http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/021105A.shtml

[dzika]

21. Dial-up users

don't have to choose "View all" to view this thread if it loading slow due to excessive graphics.

You can also click the icon of the little guy sleeping (zzz) on the header of one of my posts and all of my post will be invisible for you. :)

[MelissaB]

22. Boxer Delivers Major Speech On Social Security

Boxer Delivers Major Speech On Social Security

Speech Addresses Real Motivation Behind Privatization


February 11, 2005


San Francisco, CA - U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) delivered a major speech on Social Security today at the San Francisco Senior Center. Boxer’s speech addressed efforts to privatize social security and the real motivation behind privatization.


Following is the text of Boxer’s speech:

Peace of Mind vs. a Gamble: The Social Security Debate


The White House has embarked on a mission to convince the people of our country that Social Security is in dire need of drastic change in order to save it for all workers.


In order to convince the American people of the urgency to privatize Social Security, the president has used words such as “crisis,” “bankruptcy,” and “collapse.”


Let’s look at the definition of these three words, according to the Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary.


Crisis: “a situation that has reached a critical phase.”


Bankruptcy: “utter failure or impoverishment.”


Collapse: “to break down completely.”


Is it true that Social Security is in crisis? Is bankrupt? Is collapsing?


The answer is a resounding NO. According to the most conservative estimates, Social Security will be able to pay full benefits for 38 years. In other words, a 37-year-old worker today will get full benefits until he or she is 75 years old if we do nothing to make adjustments to the Trust Fund. A 47-year old worker today will get full benefits until he or she is 85 years old if nothing is done.


So clearly, Social Security is not in crisis, is not bankrupt, and is not collapsing.

>>>snip

So a message I have for the American people is this: beware of scare tactics and false information.

Much more here: http://boxer.senate.gov/news/record.cfm?id=232056


Thanks to Steve_DeShazer here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x1590447

[dzika]

23. Michael Rectenwald, Ph.D. replies to a reader who asks, 'DONT YOU GET IT?'

Michael Rectenwald, Ph.D. replies to a reader who asks,
'DONT YOU GET IT?'

Michael Rectenwald, Ph.D. replies, February 11, 2005

No, they don't share the same agenda. One is run, as Seymour Hersh aptly put it, by a fascist "cult" known as the Neo-cons The other, the Democrats, are a pack of spineless abdicators and concessionists. The Republican Party is filled with menacing monsters with the worst intentions for "the people," whom they despise, and whose causes they consider a trifling annoyance or a demotic threat. They are neo-Nietzschean wannabe uber menschean haters of the 'mob.' The Democrats, afraid of their own shadows and unawares of who they really are dealing with, are completely powerless and inarticulate idiots. In between these, we have the likes of Ralph Nader (a.k.a. Barf Nadir), who is on the take from the Republicans and is used as a subterfuge to disperse and confuse the crowd. What we really lack is a true working class politics. We ought to bury the Democratic Party in the ground so deep that they cannot ever come up for air. Then, we need to create a real party of the people. The Democrats have successfully misappropriated all the grass roots energy that has been fostered since the coup in 2000. We need to get rid of them as soon as possible.

But, to say that the two parties are the same is really reductionistic, historically inaccurate, and politically irresponsible, not to say utterly wrong. Nevertheless, your sentiments are correct.

Thanks,

Michael Rectenwald, Ph.D.
Founder and Chair,
Citizens for Legitimate Government

Letter CLG received, February 11, 2005:

From: 'Beverly'
To: CLG
Sent: Friday, February 11, 2005 3:22 PM
Subject: DONT YOU GET IT?

Yes, Gore DID Win!

for the longest time the 2 party regime is only a shift to whitch devides america?.

what is wrong with you people...they both work for the same people.

It didnt matter who wone..their agenda is the same..

either your for the people and dont know...or...your on the side of those proposing disinfo to try to keep the people devided...

whitch is it?..

*****

Writings of Michael Rectenwald
Additional writings of Michael Rectenwald

source: http://www.legitgov.org/mike_replyto_dont_you_get_it_021105.html

[dzika]

24. CNN News Chief Quits Following Controversial Remarks

This article isn't directly about election results but it speaks to the way that the Bush Administration has worked to control the media and the freedom of information.

This CNN employee was forced to resign after he told the truth about Journalists being killed in Iraq!

---

February 11, 2005

CNN News Chief Quits Following Controversial Remarks

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS


NEW YORK (AP) -- CNN chief news executive Eason Jordan quit Friday amidst a furor over remarks he made in Switzerland last month about journalists killed by the U.S. military in Iraq.

Jordan said he was quitting to avoid CNN being "unfairly tarnished" by the controversy.

During a panel discussion at the World Economic Forum last month, Jordan said he believed that several journalists who were killed by coalition forces in Iraq had been targeted.

He quickly backed off the remarks, explaining that he meant to distinguish between journalists killed because they were in the wrong place where a bomb fell, for example, and those killed because they were shot at by American forces who mistook them for the enemy.
...
But the damage had been done, compounded by the fact that no transcript of his actual remarks has turned up. There was an online petition calling on CNN to find a transcript, and fire Jordan if he said the military had intentionally killed journalists.


source: http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/business/11WIRE-CNN.html?ei=5094&en=aadf7b2b9d19b393&hp=&ex=1108184400&partner=homepage&pagewanted=print&position

[dzika]

25. Bush & the Rise of 'Managed-Democracy'

OK... so maybe there is a correlation between the resignation of the CNN employee and elections.

To reform the elections in this country, we must also understand how the media is being transformed into a vehicle for the neocon agenda. The new RNC Chairman, Ken Mehlman, recently outlined a media plan to create a "durable Republican majority". This article uses the term "Managed-Democracy".

Please consider reading this article.

---

February 12, 2005

Bush & the Rise of 'Managed-Democracy'

By Robert Parry


When conservatives talk of George W. Bush’s “transformational” role in American politics, they are referring to a fundamental change they seek in the U.S. system of government in which the Republican Party will dominate for years to come and power will not really be up for grabs in general elections.

Under this vision of a “managed-democracy,” elections will still be held but a variety of techniques will ensure that no Democrat has a reasonable chance to win. Most important will be the use of sophisticated propaganda and smear tactics amplified through a vast conservative media infrastructure, aided and abetted by a compliant mainstream press.
...
In the United States, the conservative/Republican consolidation of power is not yet complete. But it appears clear that the traditional checks and balances, including the national press corps, are now so weak and compromised that they won’t present any meaningful resistance. That means new strategies must be devised and new institutions must be created if this one-party-state future is to be averted.

The rapidly expanding conservative news media already is an extraordinary powerhouse, extending from TV to newspapers to talk radio to magazines to the Internet. Nothing of a similar size exists on the left side of the U.S. political spectrum.

So mainstream U.S. journalists intuitively understand that their careers require that they not get in the way of the conservative juggernaut. CNN’s chief news executive Eason Jordan, who resigned Friday night after coming under attack from right-wing bloggers for an off-hand comment blaming U.S. soldiers for killing some journalists in Iraq, is only the latest to learn this hard lesson.


much more: http://www.consortiumnews.com/2005/021205.html

[dzika]

26. Video - BBC reports that Dean has been elected party chairman - 2/12

Video - BBC reports that Dean has been elected party chairman - 2/12



Video in Real Media format (256k stream / 1 minute):
http://www.edwardsdavid.com/BushVideos/bbc_dean17_dnc_050212-01.rm

[dzika]

27. Franklin County Ohio pinpoints cause of inflated Bush numbers

Posted on Sat, Feb. 12, 2005

Franklin County Ohio pinpoints cause of inflated Bush numbers

Associated Press


COLUMBUS, Ohio - The maker of Franklin County's election machines has pinpointed the error that made a laptop computer give thousands of extra votes to President Bush on election night: Just like any overworked and distracted human, the machine was trying to do too much at once.

The mistake, caught several days after the election, had Bush receiving 4,258 votes in a precinct in the Columbus suburb of Gahanna where only 638 voters cast ballots. The corrected official count showed 365 votes for bush.
...
Danaher Controls, the voting machine manufacturer based in Gurnee, Ill., inspected the counting system from beginning to end and agreed that was when the error occurred, then figured out how.

Technicians concluded the laptop was busy completing another task just as numbers from that precinct were being fed into it.

"As a result, the laptop did not receive the data as fast as it was sent," said an elections board report on the probe. "Consequently, data was lost."


http://www.ohio.com/mld/beaconjournal/news/state/10885923.htm

[dzika]

29. Statement by RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman on Dean's Election as DNC Chair

2/12/2005 1:30:00 PM

Statement by RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman on Howard Dean's Election as DNC Chairman

To: National Desk

Contact: Tracey Schmitt of Republican National Committee Communications, 202-863-8614, Web: http://www.gop.com

WASHINGTON, Feb. 12 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman today issued the following statement on Howard Dean's election as Democratic National Committee Chairman:

"I congratulate Howard Dean on his election as DNC Chairman and look forward to engaging in a constructive dialogue with him about the major issues facing our nation. Howard Dean's energy and passion will add to the political discourse in this country, and he will be a strong leader for his party."

---

http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=43063

[dzika]

30. Iraq election results due tonight

February 13, 2005

Iraq election results due tonight

THE final results of Iraq's historic January 30 general elections will be announced tonight.

Electoral commission member Farid Ayar announced the plan this morning (Saturday night Iraqi time).
"We will announce the final results tomorrow," he said, giving a time of 4pm Sunday in Iraq (midnight AEDT).

"These will be the uncertified results," he said. "We will wait for three days for possible claims by political entities. If there are none, then the results will be certified."

The results had been expected earlier, but a recount of some 300 ballot boxes delayed the announcement.

Based on partial results announced so far, the main Shiite coalition, the United Iraqi Alliance, is leading, followed by the main Kurdish list.


Source: http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,12234511-23109,00.html


Note: Time reported for release is in Austrialian timezone. Results will be released tomorrow morning (2/13) in US timezones.

[dzika]

31. AP Poll: Older Americans Concerned About Direction, Disenchanted With Bush

February 10, 2005

AP/Ipsos Poll: Older Americans Concerned About Direction Of Country, Disenchanted With Bush

   




Entire poll in PDF format:
http://www.ipsos-na.com/news/client/act_dsp_pdf.cfm?name=mr050210-3tbAP.pdf&id=2552

[MelissaB]

32. Video

not election related, but I wanted to document it here. It involves PNAC and war.

http://www.knife-party.net/flash/barry.html

[Wilms]

33. BradBlog: Mystery of Thousands of Extra Bush Votes in OH County 'Solved'

Mystery of Thousands of Extra Bush Votes in OH County 'Solved'

Mystery of Thousands of Extra Bush Votes in OH County 'Solved'
4,258 votes for Bush out of 638 cast, nothing to worry about.
Franklin County Board of Elections and E-Vote Manufacturer Agree it Was Just a Computer 'Error'.

Blogged by Brad
2/12/2005 @ 6:56pm PT...

Despite having spent a fair portion of our adult life as a computer programmer and having read the following AP story some four times, we still fail to discern what...

Despite having spent a fair portion of our adult life as a computer programmer and having read the following AP story some four times, we still fail to discern what the hell they are talking about or how the following error could have occurred. Perhaps a computer whiz who is whizzier than us can explain it all for us in comments...

-snip-

The good news, at least, is that both the Board of Elections in Franklin County, Ohio and the manufacturer that sold them the machines both agree that it wasn't their fault in any way, and was just a computer error, and we have nothing to be worried about.

Glad that's been cleared up.

-snip/more-

<http://www.bradblog.com/archives/00001184.htm>

[Wilms]

34. Journal Sentinel: Voter logbooks out of whack

Voter logbooks out of whack

Election day records reveal big discrepancies in 24 Milwaukee wards
By GREG J. BOROWSKI and STACY FORSTER

[e-mail]
Posted: Feb. 9, 2005

A review of Milwaukee polling-place logbooks by the Journal Sentinel shows vote-to-voter discrepancies at dozens of wards, meaning gaps found earlier run deeper than a problem with post-election recordkeeping cited by officials.

-snip-

On election day, each voter given a ballot is assigned a number that corresponds to the person's place in line. At the end of the day, this number - which should match the ballots cast - is recorded in the logbooks. This functions as a safeguard against any future adjustments to the books or ballots.

But the newspaper's review found 24 cases where there is a discrepancy of at least 5%, with more ballots than voters listed in a ward. Logbooks for another 20 wards showed no entry for the last voter counted.

-snip/more-

[http://www.jsonline.com/news/metro/feb05/300449.asp}

[GuvWurld]

36. No Confidence Resolution Endorsed By Green Party of Humboldt County, CA

http://guvwurld.blogspot.com/2005/02/no-confidence-resolution-endorsed-by.html