Kyacking in Manhatten--Not So Funny After All

Ross Ice Shelf could 'collapse quickly': "SCIENTISTS working in Antarctica fear the Ross Ice Shelf, an ice platform the size of France, could collapse quickly and trigger a rapid rise in sea levels.

A research team drilling in the frozen continent has recovered three million years of climate history, New Zealand newspaper The Press reported today.

An analysis of sea floor samples near Scott Base suggested the Ross Ice Shelf had collapsed before, probably suddenly.

Scientist Tim Naish said the sediment record gave crucial evidence about how the Ross Ice Shelf would react to climate change.

'If the past is any indication of the future, then the ice shelf will collapse,' he told the newspaper.

'If the ice shelf goes, then what about the West Antarctic Ice Sheet? What we've learnt from the Antarctic Peninsula is when once buttressing ice sheets go, the glaciers feeding them move faster and that's the thing that isn't so cheery.'

Antarctica stores 90 per cent of the world's water, with the the West Antarctic Ice Sheet holding an estimated 30 million cu km.

In January, British Antarctic Survey researchers predicted that its collapse would make sea levels rise by at least 5m, with other estimates predicting a rise of up to 17m.

Mr Naish, a sedimentologist with the Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences, said the team was retrieving a detailed history of the ice shelf.

'We know from the Larsen Ice Shelf (which collapsed on the Antarctic Peninsula in 2002) that they go extremely quickly,' he said."

BTW, 17m is about 40 feet!?

What Would Jesus Do? RESIGN!

Oh, this is so, so sad--and so what I thought 'all along': Christians were being used by politicians for their agenda, not getting the Christian agenda served:

Christian Coalition leader resigns: "ORLANDO, FLA. — The Florida pastor tapped to lead the Christian Coalition of America resigned his position in a dispute about conservative philosophy - more than a month before he was to fully assume his post, he said this week.

The Rev. Joel Hunter, of Northland, A Church Distributed, in Longwood, Fla., said he quit as president-elect of the group founded by evangelist Pat Robertson because he realized he would be unable to broaden the organization's agenda beyond opposing abortion and gay marriage.

He hoped to include issues such as easing poverty and saving the environment.

'These are issues that Jesus would want us to care about,' Hunter said.

The resignation took place Tuesday during an organization board meeting. Hunter said he was not asked to leave.

'They pretty much said, 'These issues are fine, but they're not our issues; that's not our base,' ' Hunter said of his conversation with the group's leadership."

David Sirota: Embracing Populism -- In These Times

Ah, David Sirota. Now why isn't he President? Oh yeah, he's for People Before Profits:

Embracing Populism: "This is a difficult time for Beltway lobbyists and corporate front-groups like the Democratic Leadership Council. It hurts them to see how populism was the Democrats’ ticket. But the elite are not contrite, rather they babble—”Vital dynamic center! Vital dynamic center!” We can understand their outbursts—it hurts to be rejected—but they are just going to have to deal. As winning candidates from Virginia to Kansas to Montana proved, the strategy of repeating lobbyist-written talking points to win red states belongs in the historical scrap heap. It’s the Era of Populism now."

Feds to Toughen E-Voting Standards?

Feds to Toughen E-Voting Standards?: "A federal agency is set to recommend significant changes to specifications for electronic-voting machines next week, internetnews.com has learned.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is recommending that the 2007 version of the Voluntary Voting Systems Guidelines (VVSG) decertify direct record electronic (DRE) machines.

DREs are currently used by more than 30 percent of jurisdictions across the U.S. and are the exclusive voting technology in Delaware, Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland and South Carolina.

According to an NIST paper to be discussed at a meeting of election regulators at NIST headquarters in Gaithersburg, Md., on Dec. 4 and 5, DRE vote totals cannot be audited because the machines are not software independent.

In other words, there is no means of verifying vote tallies other than by relying on the software that tabulated the results to begin with."
HT: Brad Friedman

FYI: Rumsfeld Signed Off On (At Least Some) Abu Graihb "Torture"

Rumsfeld okayed abuses says former U.S. general�|�Politics News�|�Reuters.com: "Outgoing Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld authorized the mistreatment of detainees at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, the prison's former U.S. commander said in an interview on Saturday.

Former U.S. Army Brigadier General Janis Karpinski told Spain's El Pais newspaper she had seen a letter apparently signed by Rumsfeld which allowed civilian contractors to use techniques such as sleep deprivation during interrogation."

How Does "Democracy Activist" Paul Lehto See America?

IDEALISM: THE SOUL OF AMERICA

by Paul R Lehto, Attorney at Law
lehtolawyer@gmail.com

Speaking at an Ohio State University commencement ceremony, President George W. Bush reminded graduating seniors that "idealism is needed in America." Walter Lippman defined it: "Ideals are an imaginative understanding of that which is desirable within that which is possible." Given America's idealism and its focus on imaginative possibilities, it follows that Americans of all parties are focused on an optimistic view of the future; things that are possible and desirable and thus constitute ideals are generally not contained in the present, but instead are realized in the future.

America is distinguished as the first country in the history of the world ever founded upon a cause or an ideal. Great Americans celebrate their own ideals, and American ideals. President Woodrow Wilson said "Sometimes people call me an idealist. Well, that is the way I know I am an American. … America is the only idealist nation in the world."

Americans are called to progressively achieve our ideals: Indeed, "the American," as President John F. Kennedy said, "builds best when called upon to build greatly." We started by building a great Declaration of Independence and Constitution, intended, as Founder Henry Clay put it, "for endless perpetual posterity."

This legal heritage of individual rights was not only considered a gift to perpetuity, it was consciously intended as a gift to the entire world. Ben Franklin observed it was not unusual but a "common observation here that our cause is the cause of mankind, and that we are fighting for their liberty in securing our own." Thomas Paine, the author of "Common Sense" and the most important American of that era according to both Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, wrote confidently to the Colonists: "We have it in our power to begin the world anew." The ethical approach of the Founders extended not only to the present location and time, but was for the entire world and for all time, all of which was a fit subject for moral consideration.

Considering the highest of political moralities, President George H.W. Bush (Sr.) wrote: "I sometimes wonder if we've forgotten who we are. But we're the people who sundered a nation rather than allow a sin called slavery, and we're the people who rose from the ghettoes and the deserts." He also wrote: "America is never wholly herself unless she is engaged in high moral principle. We as a people have such a purpose today. It is to make kinder the face of the nation, and gentler the face of the world."

American ideals have always been geared towards the creation of a progressively more just society that increasingly serves We the People. Vice President Nelson Rockefeller said during the 1970s: "America is not just a power, it is a promise. It is not enough for our country to be extraordinary in might, it must be exemplary in meaning. Our honor and our role in the world finally depend on the living proof that we are a just society." President Woodrow Wilson: "Our greatness is built upon our freedom, it is moral, not material. We have a great ardor for gain, but we have a deep passion for the rights of man."

Concerning the rights of man or humanity, the Founders could think of their purpose in no other way. President John Adams asked incredulously: "If we do not lay out ourselves in the service of mankind, whom should we serve?" America was not a selfish project, it was an intervention in world history designed not only for freedom, but to rid the New World of European class system and aristocracy and the dangers of absolutism in all of its forms.

Absolutism, whether it is absolutism of power or absolutism of claims to truth, is defeated entirely by the concept of inalienable individual rights, set forth in our Declaration of Independence. Through these rights, the individual becomes a center of power, not just the government. The prohibitions in the Bill of Rights against the government taking sides via censorship, in favor of the freedom of the press, and the prohibition against government endorsements of ultimate religious truth via the separation of church and state, all of these are profoundly influenced by this nonabsolutist perspective: no one has a lock or a monopoly on truth; it is always better to keep the marketplace of ideas wide open, together with the various doors of religious worship.

The linkages of rights and American values form a perfect circle that reinforces over time and pushes America forward with continually reinforced idealism, whenever these principles are remembered:

1. First, governments are founded, wrote Thomas Jefferson, for the purpose of protecting (not granting) Individual Rights.

2. Protecting Individual Rights unleashes the energies and potentials of every Citizen, maximizing them.

3. The resulting supremacy of Individual Human Rights, as FDR observed, is the very definition of Freedom.

4. From the unleashed energies of Freedom of the citizens springs an inherent Idealism

5. Out of Idealism springs both a Future focus and the proverbial American Optimism

6. Out of a Future focus and American Optimism springs the inevitability of Change, usually for the better, which is Progress

7. With Progress, we are asked in each generation to enlarge the sphere of Individual Rights, via Progressivism. (if successful, repeat from Step 1, above).

The celebration and the future of this country is going to be wherever folks are arguing DEMOCRACY and FREEDOM and WE THE PEOPLE.
Just (1) Don't diss the idealism of America and (2) don't doubt it, either. Although ideals may never be realized fully, they are like guidestars, without ideals to reckon by, individuals and nations get lost.

If any President of the United States wants to accomplish something in our country, for better or for worse, he will invoke this power of American idealism:

"Americans, of all people, should never be surprised by the power of our ideals. Eventually, the call of freedom comes to every mind and every soul." --George W. Bush, 2d Inaugural address.

So, Yes, I'm an Idealist, a believer in the power of American Ideals. Like the architect of the American Revolution Thomas Paine, who said " My country is the world, my religion is to do good " I'm sometimes a "do-gooder." These ideals for me, like President Woodrow Wilson, are "how I know that I'm an American."

Regarding those who just can't handle idealists and do-gooders, I quote the immortal Mr. T. from the A-Team: "Pity the Fool." Nevertheless, we're still hoping they can make it to the American Party, because there is still a power and a magic there that makes us remember where we came from, where we're going, and what direction to take to get back on track.

This magic is on behalf of all humanity, and it's for all time. It's power for human rights, which are then maximized to create Freedom, which in turn spawns Possibilities, leading to more Faith in the Future, breeding new Optimism, fueling the processes of Change, pushing toward historic Progress, and knowing no bounds, continually expanding the sphere of human rights, all of which is connected to the single force in the American soul that alone has the power to begin the world anew: Idealism.

Barney Frank Has a Deal for You (And It Ain't "New")

When I read this (Barney Frank - The Boston Globe) my blood ran hot AND cold--all at the same time!!

First COLD (as in "who is this freak in my party and how the Hell do I get rid of his kind of thinking?"):

"Frank casts his proposal as a way for capitalists to quell some of the populist fervor that was expressed in last week's election, when many Democrats vowed to crack down on companies moving jobs overseas.

Then HOT (as in "capitalism, by definition, means no such thing!"):

'I'm a capitalist, and that means I'm for inequality,' Frank told Boston business leaders on the morning after Election Day, in a speech about his grand bargain. 'But you reach a point where you get more inequality than is healthy, and I believe we're at that point.

So this statement:

'What we want to do is to look at public policies that'll get some bigger share of the increased wealth into wages, and in return you'll see Democrats as internationalists. . .. I really urge the business community to join us.'"

...needs to be checked, its thinker needs to be examined--is this one of those "K Street" types?--and some action taken right quick to put a strong reverse action on any deals from this kind of thinker before they ship away the farm!

"CLINTON RULES": If It's A Democrat It Must Be Stupid Day...

I thought the sense that Dems were getting seriously piled-up on was just the impression I always get from listening too much to "Rushbo" (whom I have been doggedly monitoring since the election day wingers now term "Black Tuesday"--which BTW, brings a smile to my face every time I hear it). I guess in fact Big Media owners have kick-started their interior 2008 Republican campaigns with an already transparent poison-the-well strategy?!

Hullabaloo:

Man are these catty little MSNBC snots enjoying their full-on Demo bitch fest. They are partying like it's 1999. Norah O'Donnell, Lawrence O'Donnell, Mary Ann Akers and some other person I don't know have just spent half an hour discussing the fact that Nancy Pelosi ruined her own honeymoon and now it is really quesionable whether she can lead. Meanwhile, the dirty netroots and Howard Dean must have done something wrong because James Carville is hanging out all the Democratic dirty laundry (while his wife cackles with glee, no doubt) and he wouldn't do that unless there was something to it.

--snip--

It's worth noting that the last time the House turned over, in 1994, Tom Delay beat Newt Gingrich's handpicked choice for majority leader and somehow the whole town didn't interpret that as Newtie's waterloo. As a matter of fact, the press was giving him such wet slurpy blowjobs they could hardly come up for air.

Man, are they desperate--how Kewl is that?!

HT-Mark Crispin Miller

Gates Another Policy "Fixer": Grass-Roots, Start Your Engines!

Anyone who believes that overnight George Bush has become "flexible", or that he was just a dupe of the Neocons--at least as it goes to his desire to keep oil and his daddy's revenge at the top of his "to-do" list--is (still) asleep at the wheel (a valid fear given that over 60% who voted to stop his power did so thanks to Iraq, not a general understanding of Bush's dangerous anti-populist policies).

The nightmare of a rubber-stamp Congress may be over, but getting the American electorate back to a deep sleep has just begun:

TomPaine.com - The Cheney-Gates Cabal:

"In 1991, when President George H. W. Bush nominated Robert Gates for the post of Director of Central Intelligence, there was a virtual insurrection among CIA analysts who had suffered under his penchant for cooking intelligence. The stakes for integrity of analysis were so high that many still employed at the agency summoned the courage to testify against the nomination. But the fix was in, thanksto then-chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, David Boren and his staff director, George Tenet. The issue was considered so important, however, that 31 senators voted against Gates when the committee forwarded his nomination. Never before or since has a CIA director nominee received so many nay votes.

Gates is the one most responsible for institutionalizing the politicization of intelligence analysis by setting the example and promoting malleable managers more interested in career advancement than the ethos of speaking truth to power. In 2002, it was those managers who then-CIA Director George Tenet ordered to prepare what has become known as the “Whore of Babylon”—the October 1 National Intelligence Mis-Estimate on weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. He instructed them to adhere to the guidelines set by Vice President Dick Cheney in his infamous, preemptive speech of August 26, 2002, and complete it in three weeks—in order to force a congressional vote before the mid-term election. To their discredit, the managers complied and issued the worst NIE in the history of American intelligence.

All those quoted in the press yesterday and this morning regarding the Gates nomination seem blissfully unaware of this history—all, that is, but Rep. Rush Holt, D-N.J., who sits on the House Intelligence Committee. Pointing out Gates’ reputation for putting pressure on analysts to shape their conclusions to fit administration policies, Holt told the press yesterday that the nomination is “deeply troubling,” and stressed that the confirmation hearings “should be thorough and probing.”

Newt Gingrich: "...the integrity of the (election) process itself is more important than the outcome." Huh?!

Beside being among the winger faction setting groundwork for challenging close races citing electronic voting glitches (even though almost ALL cases of said "glitches" FAVOR Republicans) Newt has gone the extra step of declaring that it really doesn't matter whether or not the winner is actually declared the winner and takes his or her deserved seat!

Well that explains a lot!!!

Just 36 Hours Until We Know Who Wins Election '06 -- Or Will It Take Longer?

Campaign '06 is down to its final hours. And already there are signs that we may not know the results of some of the most hotly contested races until Wednesday or even later.

In some cases, the races are just that close. But in any case, liberal activist groups are planning on challenging in court the election results they don't like.

Liberal Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is seemingly already laying the groundwork for challenging an outcome she does not favor. She told the San Francisco Chronicle yesterday that "the only variable in this" is "will we have an honest count?"

Yet at the same time, in states such as Indiana, Missouri, Georgia and Ohio that have passed laws requiring photo identification to vote, liberal interest groups have challenged these laws in the courts. In some places such as Missouri, they've been successful in getting the courts to reverse the expressed desire of citizens to require photo identification, even while newspapers are full of stories of voter fraud on the part of other liberal activist groups. Does that sound honest to you?

Liberal groups are also setting the stage to discredit elections that conservatives win by challenging the accuracy of voting equipment itself.

This cannot be allowed to happen. We've seen how liberals have succeeded in short-circuiting our democracy by turning to the courts to overturn laws they don't like. We cannot allow the same thing to happen to our elections. Win or lose on Tuesday, Americans should keep in mind that the integrity of the process itself is more important than the outcome of any individual race.

Attorney Paul Lehto Says "Patience" is This Voting Day's Operative Word

A truism says that we prepare to fight the last war, not the next one. Tuesday morning, we are now figuring out the nature of the next war. The apparent attacks are in part revealed below, and they mean that election results will NOT be known tonight in most jurisdictions, and media pressure or interpretation of those numbers will be more pro-Republican than necessary. The republican advantages will be of two types: one type never shows up in the numbers at any time (suppression) and they don't show up in exit polls either (voter suppression) and the other types do eventually show up in totals, but only if they are properly counted (slow counting paper, and forcing into provisional ballots, more on that below). Watch for all of this to be blamed on partisan Democrats and progressive groups, even though we've kept our principles all along and they are nonpartisan, even though our votes personally may not be.

The ultimate problem of our elections system is the perverse incentives all incumbents of all parties have regarding the redesign of elections systems: not only do they favor incumbents, leading to 98% re-election rates for incumbents, but if they REALLY screw them up, in the worst case scenario in which invalid elections are produced, the incumbents can't be replaced!! Keep that in mind when you contemplate the passage of the Help America Vote Act (HAVA).

Late Monday morning November 6, Judge Vargas in San Diego Superior Court ruled that he saw no legal bar to delaying the count of emergency paper ballots obtained at the polls pursuant to the order of the CA Secretary of State requiring those ballots to be available upon request. In essence counting the emergency paper ballots starting only on Thursday, two full days after the election, did not violate due process, equal protection, the CA elections statutes or the CA constitution, all because it will eventually get counted and included in final totals. Since the judge alluded to the risk of early swearing in rendering the rest of the votes irrelevant as well as the fact that election night results will be artificially increased in favor of republicans, this is a curious conclusion to come to.

Thus, as applied in San Diego County, there are the following possible types of ballots: absentee ballots obtained outside the polls, Diebold touch screen early voting, Diebold touch screen poll voting, emergency paper ballots at polls, and provisional ballots. A record number of absentee ballots were already requested such that the Registrar's office completely ran out of them and started sending out regular photocopies of ballots, then transferring the voters votes manually to card stock when the completed ballot was received back. Most photocopy machines of any sophistication can copy onto card thickness stock (I used to own a small photocopy business) so this is a curious procedure indeed.

There are additional forms of damage to counting on different days: (1) if the race is close, the DRE votes come in automatically on election night while the paper votes can get scrutinized later on and have opscan settings set to be more strict, etc., or loose, either way it's a problem (2) it gives parties time to run into court to stop the counting entirely (3) we have had to purchase an exit poll to compensate in part for the fact that we won't get intelligence information or results about our paper votes on election night.

Oh yeah, the Registrar's office won't even bother to DECIDE when a precinct breakdown of results will be released until Wednesday morning, even though the precinct breakdown shows polling place and absentee votes separately, and thus as soon as the DRE results cartridges are uploaded the numbers for polling place results will be final and should not change. It is useful forensically to have these snapshots as we go along, and having the final DRE results isolated before we add in those emergency paper ballots on Thursday would allow us to see how the numbers are different between those different types of ballots. The ROV appears to be committed to obfuscating the data. Since I co-published a scientific study that made much light shine on situations of "parallel voting systems" because it allows for interesting comparisons, the ROVs office is wise to do this, but only from the standpoint of hiding the ball.

An emergency appeal will be filed this morning to the Court of Appeals. Unless the Court of Appeals is prepared to endorse the totally discredited concept of "separate but equal" like Judge Vargas did (in effect, without using those exact words), we should fare better on appeal, subject only to the risk of time running out. We have till perhaps Wednesday noon to get a rule to accelerate things.

Bush v. Gore means that Equal Protection has to be applied to ballots. Can you even imagine a ruling whereby a court upholds counting African American ballots starting on Thursday and counts white votes first on Tuesday?? This starkly reveals the utter moral and legal corruption of the ROVs approach to democracy together with the court's misunderstanding of the law.

Be aware that jurisdictions around the country that DO make emergency ballots available will likely engage in slow counting, slow reporting and other tactics. MEDIA MUST REALIZE that because paper ballots will be heavily Dem since Dems are more interested right now in election integrity overall, that Republican numbers will be enhanced on election night and PATIENCE MUST BE THE WATCHWORD.

In a close race, with any paper ballots mixed with electronic ballots, we will most likely NOT know the results even late on Election night, it will likely be days. In the meantime, let's fight against "separate but equal." It's not equal, but even if it were, that whole notion was completely rejected by Brown v. Board of Education, and we refuse to roll back that clock, especially as applied to democracy.

Paul Lehto
Attorney at Law
lehtolawyer@gmail.com
425-422-1387

INCOMING: Widespread Voter Suppression Tricks in Virginia

Someone should tell the RNC that when Democrats are elected these will stop--and the perpetrators will be tried and if convicted sentenced--these "tricks" are criminal and they ARE going to stop:

Sec. of Virginia State Board of Elections Finds Widespread Incidents of Voter Suppression: "Threats of Incarceration, Changed Polling Locations, and Fliers to “Skip the Election.”

Over the past several days, voters throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia have filed complaints of incidents aimed at suppressing voter turn out in heavily Democratic and African American neighborhoods. Today, the Secretary of the Virginia State Board of Elections Jean Jensen concluded that the incidents appear widespread and deliberate.

“There are now credible reports from multiple jurisdictions around the Commonwealth that establish a pattern of dirty tricks being employed to confuse and frustrate Virginia's voters from exercising their right to vote tomorrow. In addition to reports that have been received by the Democratic Party of Virginia, these local election officials have been receiving reports from concerned voters,” said Jack Young, co-chair of Promote the Vote.

Jay Myerson, General Counsel of the Democratic Party of Virginia noted the irony that our troops are fighting to create democracy in Iraq at a time when those very rights are being tested here at home. Myerson and Young urged voters to recognize that voting precincts are not changed by telephone calls and called upon the U.S. Department of Justice to vigorously investigate these matters."

Print Your Own Democratic Message Postcards!

Democratic Vision Cards:

"We're sending Democratic Vision postcards to state parties, but we encourage you to take the initiative to print and distribute your own. An English, Spanish/English, Chinese/English, Korean/English, and Vietnamese/English versions are available. The postcard design is downloadable in 3 formats to accomodate every budget. A Microsoft Word label template is also available so you can easily print mailing addresses and the postage location on the reverse side of your postcards."

Voter Protection Cards:

We're sending doorhangers to state parties, but we encourage you to take the initiative to print and distribute your own. Both an English and a Spanish/English version are available. The doorhanger design is downloadable in both high-quality format for professional printing and a low-quality format for home or office printing.

INCOMING: GOP Dirty-Tricks Robocalls in AZ Tight CD5 Mitchell/Hayworth Race!

Special Alert!

Dear Friends,
We have just received word about a dirty tactic being used against our campaign.
There have been several reports that someone is barraging homes in the 5th Congressional District with repeated recorded phone calls that give the appearance of being from the Harry Mitchell campaign. These calls happen late at night and occur several times in a row. The intent is to appear as if Harry is the one repeatedly disturbing these voters.Let me say for the record that these calls are NOT coming from us.

Although we do not know for sure, we believe these calls are part of the Hayworth campaign's efforts to suppress Democratic and Independent turnout by making people so angry about the number of recorded calls they're receiving that they simply don't vote. Furthermore, these calls make voters angry at Harry because they think he is the one responsible for them. It is a dirty trick, and we want to make sure you're aware of it.

What You Should Do if You Receive These Calls

If you receive these calls, we request that you do the following:

1. If you receive the call(s) on voice mail, don't erase it. Write a transcript of the call or share the recording with us.

2. If you pick-up the phone and receive one of these calls, don't hang-up. Take notes of what the call says, paying special attention to the disclaimer at the end
of the call.

3. If you have caller ID, take a picture of the information you receive or write it down.

4. If it is a live call, hit "*69" on your keypad to record the source.

5. Contact us as quickly as possible at 480-755-3343 or email us at info@harry2006.com.

6. Warn your friends and neighbors about these calls, and assure them that the calls are not coming from the Harry Mitchell campaign.

With your help, we can capture the information we need to take proper legal action against these imposters.

In the meantime, I'll apologize on behalf of Hayworth since something tells me he never will.
That's because after 12 years in Congress, the best J.D. Hayworth can do is pull cheap political stunts and run sleazy, false, negative TV ads. He has nothing else to offer. And that's exactly why we need a change.

As our most trusted volunteers and supporters, thank you for all the support you have given to this campaign since the very beginning. We could not have come this far without you, and we cherish your friendship and support. That's why we thought it was so important to make sure you knew about these calls right away and could help us set the record straight.

And that's why, with your continued hard work and support, Harry Mitchell is going to be the next Member of Congress from Arizona's 5th District!

Sincerely,
Kelly Ward
Campaign Manager

INCOMING: CA Voter Guide Targeting Dems is Big-Oil Fraud!!

Don't Be Fooled.

Big Oil paid for
this bogus voting guide.

Spread the word.

Dear MoveOn member,

I just received an election ballot slate card in the mail called "Information Guide for Democrats." I'll bet you have too. Look for it. Then throw it away. It's pure deception. And then get mad. Pretending to be a Democratic slate, this mailer recommends against Propositions 87 and 89, the Clean Energy and Clean Money Initiatives. There's a picture of this mailer in the sidebar to the right, so you can identify it.

Corporate interests are spending tens of millions of dollars to defeat these two initiatives. And they don't mind lying and cheating to get what they want. We have to fight this with the simple truth. And with word of mouth. Please pass this email on to all your friends and relatives in California. We've got to get out to vote and defeat these guys.

Here's the slate of endorsements made by MoveOn members themselves:

MOVEON MEMBERS
CALIFORNIA ENDORSEMENTS
(based on member votes)

NO on Proposition 85:
Parental Notification for Abortion
http://www.noon85.com/
YES on Proposition 86:
Fund Health Care / Cigarette Tax
http://www.yesprop86.com/
YES on Proposition 87:
Clean Energy
http://www.yeson87.com/
YES on Proposition 89:
Clean Money / Public Financing
http://www.cleanmoneyelections.org/
NO on Proposition 90:
Regulatory Takings
http://www.noprop90.com/

This is a REAL progressive slate. We've included a copy of this slate designed for printing and taking to the polls, after this email below. Or go online and check out the endorsements of any public interest organization.

The fact is, the Democratic Party, every major Democratic leader in the state, and the most prominent Democrats nationally including President Clinton and Vice President Gore all strongly support the Clean Energy Initiative, Proposition 87. Of course, big oil is absolutely determined to kill it.

And every major civic organization supports the Clean Money initiative, Proposition 89, including Common Cause and the League of Women Voters. You can check out the endorsements in the links for each proposition above.

Why are big oil and other big money interests working so hard to defeat these progressive initiatives? Because if the truth gets out, they lose. Because if the Clean Money initiative, Proposition 89, passes, they won't be able to do deceptive mailers like this one. So they're pulling out all the stops.

We have to counter their lying with truth. We have to counter their money with passion and word of mouth.

Please pass this email on to everyone you know.

And please vote on November 7th.

Thanks,

-Wes Boyd and Joan Blades
November 5, 2006

P.S. Speak Out California has produced an excellent progressive voter guide that summarizes the initiatives and key endorsements:

http://speakoutca.org/now/2006general.php

For a copy of the MoveOn endorsements slate that's easy to print and take to the polls, you can get a PDF here.

Neocon PNAC Architect Richard Perle Admits Iraq a Mistake

And now Richard Perle:

"A one-time Pentagon adviser, staunch neoconservative and one of the original architects of the war on Iraq, admitted that the Bush administration has turned the situation in the war-ravaged country and U.S. policy on Iraq into a disaster.

Richard Perle, who in the early days of the Bush administration chaired a Pentagon advisory committee that was instrumental in convincing the president for the need to invade Iraq, told Vanity Fair magazine if he had been able to see how the war would turn out, he probably would not have pushed for the removal of Saddam Hussein.

'I think if I had been delphic, and had seen where we are today, and people had said, 'Should we go into Iraq?,' I think now I probably would have said, 'No, let's consider other strategies for dealing with the thing that concerns us most, which is Saddam supplying weapons of mass destruction to terrorists,' Perle is quoted by David Rose in the Vanity Fair article. Also interviewed are two other former Bush insiders, Kenneth Adelman and David Frum.

These accusations by former administration insiders greatly contradict the White House's mantra that all is well in Iraq and that the situation is constantly improving. The former insiders single out the president as the number one cause of the current mess, stating that the lack of a clearly defined policy is to blame.

Perle says: 'The decisions did not get made that should have been. They didn't get made in a timely fashion, and the differences were argued out endlessly.'

And here is the coup de grace from a former insider in what was until recently believed to be an administration built on solid loyalty and a Bush White House practically immune to leaks. 'At the end of the day, you have to hold the president responsible,' said Perle. 'I don't think he realized the extent of the opposition within his own administration, and the disloyalty.'

Responding to the magazine's accusations, a White House spokesman said, 'The president has a plan to succeed in Iraq...'"

Oversight--the job of an opposition party--was denied Americans thanks to the pathology of power among fringe Republican idealogues and enabled by the one-party-rule strategies of Karl Rove.

INCOMING: GOP Calling Hispanics in New Mexico With Wrong Polling Place Information!!

My winger visitors of good conscience; if you find this morally corrupt, what are you willing to do about it?

New Mexico Dirty Tricks: GOP Targets Voters With Hispanic Surnames

Phone Calls From State Republican Party Tell Voters Of Non-Existent Changes To Polling Place Locations
State GOP Injoined To Stop Calls To Non-Republican Voters

Blogged by John Gideon

The following email has been sent to various listservs by the party who received these phone calls. It is only one complaint from one party but it is probably indicative of phone calls made to hundreds of voters in the state of New Mexico. Everyone needs to be wary of any phone calls alerting them to last minute changes of polling places. Call your county to find out if there are any changes and then call 1-866-Our-Vote and report the incident:

Yesterday (11/04), about 1pm MST, I rec'd a phone message from the Republican Party of NM telling me that my polling location was John Adams Middle School. My polling place is usually Longfellow Elementary about 1 block away. John Adams is about 7 1/2 miles away. In my horror and disgust I quickly deleted the message.

Thinking that maybe my polling place changed, I then called the **Republican Party** here and simply asked if they could tell me my polling place. They asked my address only, I told them, and they said, "You vote at Longfellow." This is correct and I hung up.

About 5pm MST, the Republican Party of NM called AGAIN and left a message telling me that my election day polling place was West Mesa High School, even further away than John Adams. They gave the full address and zip code. My Caller ID shows "REPUBLICAN PART." I DID NOT DELETE THIS MESSAGE.

Then around 7pm MST, the same thing happened. The Republican Party of NM called and left a message telling me that my election day polling place was back to John Adams Middle School. My Caller ID shows "NEW MEXICO VICT." I did a Google search on the phone number and this entry came up:

New Mexico Republican Party :: CalendarSummary:,
Contact your local county party or call the Victory Office
at (505) XXX-XXXX to find out what you can do to
help our 2006 Republican candidates.

I DID NOT DELETE THIS MESSAGE.

If you want the actual phone numbers, I can give them to you.

I've heard that this has been happening in other parts of the country, and I want to help get the word out that it's happening in NM. I called TV news stations, contacted the newspapers, and progressive talk show hosts. I'm warning people to be on the lookout. Please help me spread the word.

Follow-up: The aggrieved party contacted DNC attorneys who got an injunction against the state Republican party to stop them from giving polling location information to non-Republican voters. There is thought that voters with Hispanic surnames were targeted.

The judge who issued the injunction via cell-phone while she was at a basketball game, has scheduled a hearing for tomorrow. The Dems need to have more voters who will step forward and join in the lawsuit.

NOTE: We will follow-up with contact information for the attorneys just as soon as we can get it.
John Gideon
Executive Director www.votersunite.org and
Member www.votetrustusa.org

December Surprise: Bush Plans Post-Election Call Up Of National Guard And Reserves

December Surprise: Bush Plans Post-Election Call Up Of National Guard And Reserves: "American commanders in Iraq have privately told the President that additional troops will be needed in Iraq to maintain the current policy.

Plans are secretly underway for a suprise new call up of National Guard and Reserves to be announced sometime after the election.

The Washington Post has now reported that plamning that is now classified, being kept secret from voters and military families until the election is over, could well include what the Post calls a policy change forcing a new wave of involuntary call ups.

With violence and chaos escalating in Iraq, with Iraqi police infiltrated by murderous pro-Iranian militia, with more than 20% of the Iraqi army on leave at any given time, the fact is: American troops are doing even more of the work that Iraqis should do and more will be sent to Iraq unless the policy changes.

The American people should demand full and complete disclosure, prior to the election, of any plans for new recalls of our Guard and Reserve units."

Good luck with that "full disclosure".

INCOMING: Voter "Purge" Alert in Pennsylvania!!!

Disseminate widely throughout Pennsylvania:

We have received several reports, including from the news media, that misinformation about voting is circulating in Pennsylvania.

Citizens are being told that the best way to ensure their vote is counted is to "write in" every choice.

This is absolutely incorrect! If a candidate's name is on the ballot, you can not write it in.

"Write-ins" are strictly for names not appearing on ballot.

Even though PA lacks Voter Verified Paper Ballots, a write-in is not a solution but rather a loss of your vote

If you have any questions now thru election day, please call 1-866-OUR-VOTE , the Election Protection hotline

Also the Coalition for Voting Integrity will be manning a hotline on election day for Pennsylvania, collecting data on poll problems or questions: 215-589-1925. Data that you supply can help us improve the voting system. Please provide complete description of issue, polling place and where we may contact you

Thank you
Mary Ann Gould
http://www.coalitionforvotingintegrity.com/
http://saveourvote.com/

The government you save may be your own!

What's Funnier, Kerry's Botched Joke or Republicans' Lame Attack?

The actual language of the "joke" Kerry botched:

"Do you know where you end up if you don't study, if you aren't smart, if you're intellectually lazy? You end up getting us stuck in a war in Iraq. Just ask President Bush."

In his delivery he dropped the word, "us."

No, not funny, but worse, the ONLY *dirt* on which Republicans can get any traction; that IS funny!

Al-Qaeda Wants Republicans to Win

Will everyone please send this to Hannity, Limbaugh, Savage, Coulter, et al? Please?

Robert Parry | Al-Qaeda Wants Republicans to Win: " Al-Qaeda Wants Republicans to Win
By Robert Parry
Consortium News

Tuesday 31 October 2006

George W. Bush's blunt assertion that a Democratic victory in the Nov. 7 elections means 'the terrorists win and America loses' misses the point that Osama bin Laden stands to advance his strategic goals much faster with a Republican victory.

Indeed, as U.S. intelligence analysts have come to understand, there is a symbiotic relationship between Bush's blunderbuss 'war on terror' and bin Laden's ruthless strategy of terrorist violence - one helping the other.

Last April, a National Intelligence Estimate, representing the consensus view of the U.S. intelligence community, concluded that Bush's Iraq War had become the 'cause celebre' that had helped spread Islamic extremism around the globe.

In June, U.S. intelligence also learned from an intercepted al-Qaeda communiqu�that bin Laden's terrorist band wants to keep U.S. soldiers bogged down in Iraq as the best way to maintain and expand al-Qaeda's influence.

'Prolonging the war is in our interest,' wrote 'Atiyah,' one of bin Laden's top lieutenants."

Columnist Coulter Votes Illegally--and Then Runs!

Is this from a woman who agrees with folks that casting a ballot is so simple only liberals could screw it up?

Columnist Coulter in hot water over voting: "Conservative columnist Ann Coulter has refused to cooperate in an investigation into whether she voted in the wrong precinct, so the case will probably be turned over to prosecutors, Palm Beach County's elections chief said Wednesday.

Elections Supervisor Arthur Anderson said his office has been looking into the matter for nearly nine months, and he would turn over the case to the state attorney's office by Friday.

Coulter's attorney did not immediately return a call Wednesday. Nor did her publicist at her publisher, Crown Publishing.

Knowingly voting in the wrong precinct is a felony punishable by up to five years in prison."

BREAKING: US Attorney Sitting on Renzi Indictment Until After Election!

No corruption problem here...nah:

US Attorney Sitting on Renzi Indictment Until After Election!: "Remember that Phoenix New Times article about the land deal that Rick Renzi was involved in?

Well we have learned that Rick Renzi was wiretapped presumably by the FBI soliciting a bribe in exchange for introducing a bill for a landswap in Cochise County.

An AP reporter discovered that Rick Renzi may be indicted for income tax fraud and a related charge to the bribery.

Rick Renzi has been interviewed by the FBI.

The U.S. Attorney for Arizona Paul Charlton has decided not to indict Renzi until after the election. The prosecutor assigned to the case is Howard Sukenic. He along with the spokesman for the U.S. Attorneys office is refusing to comment."