Action Point with Cynthia Black 06-08-2008: The Reference Shelf

Today's article and item links:

• NEW WEBSITE: THE SWAY BLOG: Aside from being Action Point's interviewees for today, coauthors of SWAY, Rom and Ori Brafman's excellent The SWAY Blog brings us clear action we can take to help check our all-too-emotional selves.
  

• MINORITY ISSUES: MISOGYNY: Like it or not, misogyny was alive and well in the campaign against Hillary Rodham Clinton's bid for the Democratic nomination. The question of why Obama's subtle “gender card” play was not as vehemently rebuked as Clinton's “race card” play will have to be answered. Skirting that question directly but at least putting the general question in play The Nation starts here: Iron My Skirt:

  Clinton's run has put to rest the myth that we are living in a postfeminist wonderland in which all that stands in women's path is women themselves. Like a magnet--was it the pantsuit?--Clinton drew out the nation's misogyny in all its jeering glory and put it where we could all get a good look at it. "Iron my shirt" hecklers. Wearers of Bros Over Hos T-shirts and buyers of Hillary nutcrackers. Fans of the Citizens United Not Timid website (check the acronym). Vats of sexist nastiness splattered across the Comments section of hundreds of blogs and websites. It's as if every obscene phone caller and every exhibitionist in America decided to become an amateur political pundit.

• NATIONAL SECURITY: IRAN: From Project for a New American Policy on Iran, comes a day of action (Tuesday June 10) in which you can play a role.

  The Campaign for a New American Policy on Iran (CNAPI) is organizing an innovative “Time to Talk with Iran” event and press conference on Capitol Hill. With the U.S. Capitol as a backdrop, Members of Congress, celebrities, former officials, and other citizens will use a row of 60’s-era red “hotline” telephones to talk directly to ordinary Iranian citizens. Concurrently on June 10, the Campaign is organizing a nationwide Call-in to Congress for Diplomacy with Iran so those outside of DC can participate and make their voice heard.

  AND: An interesting observation from Firedoglake : Why Are Democrats Giving Bush a Green Light On Iran?

  Even more troubling, if the Bush Administration is planning to attack Iran, claiming it's necessary to carry out their promise not to allow Iran to develop nuclear weapons, it doesn't appear the Democrats said anything to AIPAC that could be interpreted as demanding the Administration stop. If everyone says, "we won't allow Iran to do this," while adding "we won't rule out military force to make sure they don't," then there's no reason to expect George Bush and Dick Cheney to interpret these statements as anything other than a green light to do as they please. The only thing to decide is the timing.

  AND: 'Unavoidable' attack on Iran looms, says Israeli minister:

  "If Iran continues with its programme for developing nuclear weapons, we will attack it. The sanctions are ineffective," Mofaz, who is also Israel's transport minister, said in comments published today by the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper. "Attacking Iran in order to stop its nuclear plans will be unavoidable."

• NATIONAL SECURITY: IRAQ: US issues threat to Iraq's $50bn foreign reserves in military deal:

  The US is holding hostage some $50bn (£25bn) of Iraq's money in the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to pressure the Iraqi government into signing an agreement seen by many Iraqis as prolonging the US occupation indefinitely, according to information leaked to The Independent.

  AND: America's Medicated Army:

  While the headline-grabbing weapons in this war have been high-tech wonders, like unmanned drones that drop Hellfire missiles on the enemy below, troops like LeJeune are going into battle with a different kind of weapon, one so stealthy that few Americans even know of its deployment. For the first time in history, a sizable and growing number of U.S. combat troops are taking daily doses of antidepressants to calm nerves strained by repeated and lengthy tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. The medicines are intended not only to help troops keep their cool but also to enable the already strapped Army to preserve its most precious resource: soldiers on the front lines. Data contained in the Army's fifth Mental Health Advisory Team report indicate that, according to an anonymous survey of U.S. troops taken last fall, about 12% of combat troops in Iraq and 17% of those in Afghanistan are taking prescription antidepressants or sleeping pills to help them cope. Escalating violence in Afghanistan and the more isolated mission have driven troops to rely more on medication there than in Iraq, military officials say.

• POLITICS: ELECTION 2008: Adviser Says McCain Backs Bush Wiretaps: As we go forward it behooves us to stay on the clear distinctions of the nominee-elect candidates of the party. Here is one are important to those concerned about the expansion of the “imperial presidency”. Let's just say given this, I would think we will not see that expansion collapsed under the hand of McCain:

  In a letter posted online by National Review this week, the adviser, Douglas Holtz-Eakin, said Mr. McCain believed that the Constitution gave Mr. Bush the power to authorize the National Security Agency to monitor Americans’ international phone calls and e-mail without warrants, despite a 1978 federal statute that required court oversight of surveillance.

• PERSONAL SECURITY: THE ANDREW MYERS FILE: As the mercenary firm Blackwater continues to expand into security affairs internationally I think it is just a matter of time before they will be a mainstay of “institutional” government invasion. Somehow, we must find a way to stop it: Blackwater's Private Spies:

  Such an arrangement could find Blackwater operating in an arena with the godfathers of the war industry, such as Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Raytheon. It could also see Blackwater expanding into Latin America, joining other private security companies well established in the region. The massive US security company DynCorp is already deployed in Colombia, Bolivia and other countries as part of the "war on drugs." In Colombia alone, US military contractors are receiving nearly half the $630 million in annual US military aid for the country. Just south of the US border, the United States has launched Plan Mexico, a $1.5 billion counternarcotics program. This and similar plans could provide lucrative business opportunities for Blackwater and other companies. "Blackwater USA's enlistment in the drug war," observed journalist John Ross, would be "a direct challenge to its stiffest competitor, DynCorp--up until now, the Dallas-based corporation has locked up 94 percent of all private drug war security contracts." The New York Times reported that the contract could be Blackwater's "biggest job ever."

• POLITICS: ELECTION INTEGRITY: Does RECOUNT do more harm than good? If you haven't seen the HBO dramatization of the 2000 election race that ended with the SCOTU appointing the worst president in histroy to the position, do so. And afterward, see if you agree with media critic Mark Crispin Miller's thoughtful critique above:

  Now, some might praise the movie for so strong an evocation of that moment some eight years ago, but I would say that, by inducing that old feeling of paralysis, Recount does more harm than good. Indeed, I liked it less and less the more I thought about it, realizing that it could have left us in a very different frame of mind.

Action Point with Cynthia Black 05-25-2008: The Reference Shelf

SPECIAL NOTICE
ENJOY A GREAT MEMORIAL DAY "BEST OF" SHOW and these CURRENT ITEM LINKS!!!

• POLITICS: ELECTION INTEGRITY: No matter how many ways the insiders in election integrity explain that Gore won over Bush n 2000, and retell it, and include charts, graphs and diagrams, it never seems to stick. Even the cable documentaries manage to avoid admitting the fact. So I have to hand it to Brad Friedman of Bradblog,com (please somebody put this guy on broadcast radio) to still be telling this story and making it funny as well (if that's possible): Recounting the Recount and Counting the Uncounted. AND as populist politics gains ground, why not populist publishing?! Check out this offer from Alternet to participate in publishing a compendium of election laws nationally to help any reader get a head start in ensuring his or her vote WILL be counted this November!

• MUST READ: A Different Kind of Democracy: There are quite a few more bits of evidence that good developments are coming our way in the news-stream these days. For example, this from David Sirota:

  ...this week ...ExxonMobil's annual meeting in Dallas....may be...about something that can be more critical than even presidential elections -- something called shareholder democracy...citing their desire to "safeguard long-term shareholder value," a group of shareholders with $5 billion in ExxonMobil stock excoriated company management in 2006 for "not sufficiently preparing for tomorrow's energy" and running "the risk of lagging significantly behind" competitors...are expected to back this year's alternative energy resolution, especially considering the boost from none other than the Rockefellers -- the family that originally founded what would become ExxonMobil.

• PERSONAL SECURITY: THE ANDREW MYERS FILE: New York 8th-Graders Boycott Practice Exam But Teacher May Get Ax: Its been a while since a story I noted seemed to fit the criteria of this file, meaning it cover over-the-top threats to personal liberty and freedom of expression. After you read the article about 8th graders protesting taking (yet another) proficiency test, which for me is much more about the hell the teacher is catching for his role in the boycott advocation. ask yourself this question; what was the last time you heard of a teacher being reprimanded for advocating critical thinking skills and admonished for '...giving them (students) messages that were inappropriate.' Challenging authority = inappropriate?

• MINORITY ISSUES: UNDOCUMENTED WORKERS; Media Matters has a new report and congressional attention for its program Fear & Loathing in Prime Time: Immigration Myths and Cable News.
  

Action Point with Cynthia Black 05-04-2008: The Reference Shelf

This week's article and item links:

• POLITICS: NATIONAL: CAMPAIGN 2008: DCCC to challenge Freedom's Watch status as a non-profit: Democrats pushing back on distorting and even illegal dirty tricks from the RNC and its proxies this year is something we can all be a part of--

  The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is filing a complaint with the IRS today challenging the conservative group Freedom's Watch status as a non-profit. The DCCC says the group has violated its non-profit status by running attack ads in a Louisiana special election targeting Democratic candidate Don Cazayoux. In a letter to the IRS, Wolff asked the agency to reclassify Freedom's Watch, which includes several former officials from the National Republican Congressional Committee, as a 527 organization and to as penalize the group for improperly claiming non-profit status. 501(c)4s and other non-profits do not have to publicly have to publicly disclose their donors, while 527s must report them to the IRS, which becomes public information.

  AND: ELECTION INTEGRITY: HBO'S 'Recount' and What Really Happened in the Florida 2000 Election (Hint: Gore Won): Brad Friedman comments on HBO's upcoming special and even more importantly he includes “... the mind-blowing section of Dan Rather's remarkable HDNet report which aired last summer, but was picked up by absolutely nobody in the CMSM thereafter. If you can't watch the following, the transcript is posted here. But if you've not seen this one yet, please prepare to be amazed, and appalled..."

• ENVIRONMENT: Cooler Climate Could Prevail in Europe and North America Next Decade: Is Global Warming Over?: If humankind ever needed a life-saver and got it, this could be it.

  A natural fluctuation allowing temperatures to stay cool enough for us to develop energy-efficiency BEFORE the planet is thrown into irreversible changes: To put it succinctly: not a chance. Just because I know there are those who will gleefully point to this study as proof that global warming is all a big hoax (*cough* Senator James Inhofe *cough*), let me start off this post by quoting one of the study's authors, Noel Keenlyside: "We want to make very clear that we don't want to say that [anthropogenic] global warming is not here."

• NATIONAL SECURITY: IRAN: Shirin Ebadi: 'Don't Attack Iran': From my favorite IRAN news blog, IRAN NUCLEAR WATCH, this article on just one facet of the news you NEVER see any media cover, rarely even progressive blogs which shame on them, should:

• In regards to ongoing death threats to her person, Dreyfuss writes, "Ebadi is not intimidated, and she continues to represent dissidents and others caught up in the labyrinthine Iranian court system. But she warns that threats and bellicose rhetoric from American leaders and politicians is not helping matters." According to Ebadi, "The most important thing is not to militarily attack Iran, or to threaten to attack Iran militarily. Even the language of some of the candidates in the United States threatens Iran." Ebadi also addressed the regime change slush fund. "When the United States says that it has allocated $70 million for democracy in Iran, whoever speaks about democracy in Iran will be accused of having accepted part of that money, and of being on the US side," she says. "It gives Iran an excuse for what it does." According to Dreyfuss, she said that all credible Iranian activists have refused to accept American funding, and most of the money has been funneled into radio broadcasts and other US propaganda.

• COMMUNICATIONS: MEDIA: Wether or not you agree with this list of the most influential American political pundits, notice that in the top ten, at least half are conservatives and one is a comedian!!

• MUST READ: The Plague of Potomac Fever: From David Sirota;

  But in the land of Potomac told newspapers "it's irrelevant" how many homeowners — if any — are ever helped. According to The Hill newspaper, he is pushing industry-backed legislation that would federally guarantee banks' outstanding mortgages for modest write-downs. The proposal deliberately avoids forcing banks to freeze interest rates.

Action Point with Cynthia Black 04-27-2008: The Reference Shelf

Today's article and item links:

• POLITICS: NATIONAL: CAMPAIGN 2008: Pennsylvania & the Persistence of the Race Chasm: by David Sirota;

  A few weeks ago, I published an article in In These Times showing how Hillary Clinton has been winning states almost exclusively in the Race Chasm - states whose populations are more than 6 percent but less than 17 percent black. The results of the Democratic primary in Pennsylvania - a state whose demographics fall squarely in the Race Chasm - continue the trend.

• FRAMING: ROCKRIDGE INSTITUTE: To Catch a Wolf: How to Stop Conservative Frames in Their Tracks:

  We applaud Senator Obama. Every progressive should refuse to answer such "when-did-you-stop-beating-your-wife" questions. Obama's words: "This is the kind of question that is designed precisely to divide us" could be a polite but effective mantra.

  AND: Why Voters Aren't Motivated by a Laundry List of Positions on Issues:

  There are two kinds of policy: cognitive and material. Material policies are familiar: they outline what is to be done in the world. For example, the details of a health care plan, or a plan for getting out of Iraq. Material policies each have a cognitive dimension, often unconscious and implicit. This includes the ideas, frames, values, and modes of thought that inform the political understanding of the material policy. AND just as a reminder of what you already know

  AND: The Radical Right's Weakness:

  Progressives commonly wring their hands in despair when conservatives use Orwellian language. They shouldn't. The use of Orwellian language signals to us where conservatives are weak. Forget that their deceptiveness is immoral. The point is that they are weak and are revealing their weakness. If they had public support, they could freely call their initiative the Dirty Skies Act.

• ELECTION SECURITY: Clinton's Blind Eye to Voters:

  So, Hillary claims a victory in Pennsylvania. Who could have predicted that? Maybe Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

  AND: FEC Stalemate Leaves McCain Hanging:

  With November's elections a little more than six months away, a Senate stalemate over nominations has left the FEC powerless to act on anything from John McCain's bid for $84 million in public financing to a stay-at-home dad's request to pay himself a small salary from whatever campaign contributions he can raise as an independent candidate for Congress.

• CHRISTIAN NATIONALISM: Alliance Defense Fund: The threat of Christian Nationalism is not waning. On schools and campuses nationwide the radical right agenda to indoctrinate young minds with moral irrationalism in the name of Christianity spreads at an alarming rate. If we are to establish the tolerant values of liberalism as the guiding principles clearly intended by the founders of this nation, it is imperative to shine a brilliant and unflinching light on those who threaten it most. Of the institutions aligned against freethought today I am most concerned about ADF and its mindless commitment to obliterating among others, the ACLU.
  

AND: REIGNDOWN USA:

Honestly, I can't begin to find one section of this website to accurately represent what is being marketed. Flip through it's many pages and just in keep mind only two of those associated with this “cause”: Trent Franks and Strang. And did I mention, the pro-zionist promotion of McCain backer John “The Catholic Church is the Great Whore” Hagee?!

• MUST READ: The Importance of Black Voters, and the Stupidity of Ignoring Them: From David Sirota;

  First and foremost is the idea that black voters are, indeed, treated as less important than white voters. I would even take it a step further: black voters are not only considered unimportant, but are considered only as black voters and nothing else - a very subtly derogatory and dehumanizing characterization in that it implies African Americans are just one dimensional simpletons, rather than multi-dimensional humans.

REPORT VOTING PROBLEMS IN ARIZONA

The ELECTION INTEGRITY community in AZ is WELL aware of election department administration problems requiring provisional ballots in the primary here Tuesday. I am informed by local activists an investigation is already in the works.

AZ residents who have a Super Tuesday primary problem to report should do so:

1-866-OUR VOTE (National and Arizona)

AND

http://www.azadvocacy.org/ (Arizona)

Too-Close-To-Call

Before we all get too crazy about whether Hillary and Barack will battle through the summer (Romney supporter millionaire Rush Limbaugh's wet dream, by the way) and speculate endlessly on how Hillary regained her "groove", take a moment to consider primary results through a different prism, like the arm-long list of election reporter John Gideon's exclusive column featured daily at Brad Friedman's excellent blog:

I said that we seemed to have dodged a bullet. That statement may have been made a little early. Most of the big reports are election administration failures. Administration failures are those failures that cannot be blamed on voting machines or the voters or poll workers. They are those failures that fall directly in the laps of clerks or registrars or boards of elections. Not enough paper ballots at the precinct is an administrative failure. The “decline to state” issues in Los Angeles County and elsewhere in California, is an administrative failure that may cost hundreds of thousands of voters their voice. We are also picking out little pieces in media articles and some first hand reports that machines put in some California precincts for voters with disabilities were not operational and voters with disabilities ended-up losing the privacy of their vote just so they could cast a ballot.

Such an admin failure as a shortage of ballots plagued Arizona's Maricopa County -- leading of course to concerns among the conspiratorially minded; how could the Elections Department ever imagine that this primary turnout might be more robust than those of the past and be under-prepared with ballots? I think it was simple: Department calculation of "criminal" immigrants fleeing the state would result in Democratic turnout vanishing with them! Okay, that's just a partisan jibe but really, where were the ballots?

Beside the under-played media reports of voting problems, in California, LA election watchers report poll workers being so under-prepared that voters were literally wandering around IN TEARS of frustration from being sent precinct to precinct. Were those "Obama" precincts? Is that how Hillary "closed" her margin?

Of course, if you are busted intentionally suppressing votes it IS illegal but as with so many other processes, it is hard to prove one "intentionally miscalculated" printing ballots, or "intentionally under-training" poll workers, yet along with the practice of keeping voter rolls "protected" (wink-wink) by caging, such errors become completely legal "tactics".

I have a friend, with whom I am beginning to agree, on her simple solution for ending all kinds and types of voter intimidation, suppression and election fraud: a Constitutional right to vote.

Possible? Yes. Probable? Too-close-to-call.

Cross-posted on Voice of America.

Action Point with Cynthia Black 01-20-2008 The Reference Shelf

Today's article and item links:

• POLITICAL HISTORY: MLK: I Have a Dream (Speech): From the Guardian series of the best international speeches. Quite moving.

• ELECTION INTEGRITY: Revived Link, SOLAR BUS Election Justice Center: Strong on links and news, minus the commentary.

• BIG BUSINESS: Google: From 'Don't Be Evil' to How to Do Good:

  In one of the most widely watched efforts in corporate giving in years, Google Inc. unveiled yesterday nearly $30 million in new grants and investments, outlining how it will focus a massive philanthropic endeavor that erases the usual boundaries between the for-profit and nonprofit worlds.
  

• CAMPAIGN 2008: Tools: Washington Post Issue Coverage Tracker: A variety of interactive flash tools. Easy to find issue positions etc. AND Where is John Edwards? Regarding the obvious media blackout of Edwards, this page at Edwards '08 lends some insight:

  The traditional media outlets have their blinders on, narrowly focusing on the two $100 million celebrity candidates -- and trying as hard as they can to keep John Edwards out of the picture.

• ENVIRONMENT: Green At Work Magazine Premier Corporate Sustainability Publication: The latest green business website I've discovered.

• MUST READ: Digging In the Right Place: another excellent piece from David Sirota:

  Think about it: The White House can only be won by raising truckloads of cash from moneyed interests looking to preserve the status quo. Likewise, the U.S. Senate's filibuster rules allow 41 lawmakers, representing just 11 percent of the population, to stop anything. These are institutions designed to prevent change, not embrace it.

• PERSONAL SECURITY ALERT: Government sues 9 Arizona landowners over border fence: Those “strict consitutionalists” can take credit for this:

  The U.S. Department of Justice has sued at least nine Arizona landowners, seeking temporary condemnations so it can survey and prepare to build a border fence. The suits, filed in U.S. District Court in Tucson, seek to invoke the government's power of eminent domain to gain access to land along the U.S.-Mexico border.

• IRAN: Iran Diplomatic Accountability Act of 2008: Now this is what Congress is supposed to do!

  On January 17, Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) introduced with six other co-sponsors the "Iran Diplomatic Accountability Act of 2008." The new resolution, H.R. 5056, is the first of its kind to call for the appointment of a high-level United States representative or special envoy for Iran for the purpose of easing tensions and normalizing relations between the United States and Iran.

PAYPAL Halts New Hampshire Primary Recount?!

I don't have time right now to completely investigate what is being reported to me by someone associated with the NH recount effort, so if this is not accurate I will correct later (and note- I am not now nor have I ever been a Conspiracy Nut Enthusiast). Ponder this:

I do not know where to begin with all of this so I will just lay out the basic facts as they are being reported to me:

The state of New Hampshire ballot appeared to have been tampered with.

1. The people of America (and about half of the world too!) pulled together to sign a petition and have their voice heard, across the aisle, in an effort that has seen both Democrats and Republicans call for a recount of the ballots for the state of New Hampshire.
2. The Secretary of State placed a January 15th @ 15:00 deadline for the $55,600 to be handed over to cover the cost of the recount.
3. The money was raised by, again, people from all walks of life who simply wanted to see that every vote was counted.
4. At the very last moment, PayPal froze the Granny Warriors account and refused to release the funds whilst they “investigated” a “suspicious” $1000 donation.
5. The money could not be handed over and thus, at this point in time, it appears that the recount will NOT take place.

So, the following is what we are meant to believe:

1. PayPal have clearly not been paying ANY attention to what has been happening during this campaign and thus have no idea how quickly and in what amounts the Ron Paul Revolution is able to raise funds.
2. PayPal were clearly unaware that Ron Paul supporters were in the majority of those donating to this effort and would likely break the target REGARDLESS of what last minute donations were required.
3. PayPal were so unlucky during the four days that this appeal ran that they managed to:
   1. Crash the original ChipIn at least 3 times making it impossible during this time to donate any money at all.
   2. Destroy the original ChipIn altogether after around $40,000 had been donated requiring the Granny Warriors to start a new ChipIn for the remaining monies.
   3. Crash the new ChipIn for about 2 hours on and off on the final fundraising date.
   4. Stop the recount by denying that all and any funds received are now frozen (note: NOT just the $1000 which, by this point, was no longer needed as we were over the top by then) pending an investigation into where a perfectly decent sized donation came from.
4. The Secretary of State is unable to stretch the deadline or accept that said funds exist regardless of the amount of documented evidence placed on his desk.
5. This entirely calamitous and accidental chain of events was, at no point whatsoever, manipulated by anybody to ensure that this recount never took place.

I am sorry but I do not believe for one second that 1 through 4 could possibly have happened without 5 being false.

I never will either.

Author withheld. I say, follow the money. Who owns or is within PayPal with access allowing such digital manipulation as to disrupt this fund collection? Inquiry time...

UPDATE: Today from election transparency advocate Nancy Tobi (co-founder of Democracy for New Hampshire) whose piece from which the following was snipped can be found on Mark Crispin Miller's blog here and begins after the title "HOW DOES NEW HAMPSHIRE'S RECOUNT CULTURE FACILITATE RATHER THAN DETER ELECTION RIGGING?"

I understand that Howard is going ahead with the Repub recount after Gardner backed off a challenge to his interpretation of the law that all the cash had to be paid up front. I also understand there are operatives working on Howard to only do a partial recount. The Kucinich team has already decided to only do a partial recount. Below is a little piece I wrote to explain why a partial recount, just like a random audit, does not have any statistical merit in detecting fraud.

Action Point with Cynthia Black 01-13-2008 The Reference Shelf

Today's article and item links:

• ENTERTAINMENT: Tom Hanks Tells Hollywood Whopper in 'Charlie Wilson's War':

  Charlie Wilson's War purports to be the true story of a hard-partying U.S. congressman from Texas who engineered the defeat of the Soviet Union by the Afghan Mujahiddin. Now there are true stories, and there are true-ish stories. It is a given that, in creating a film narrative, sometimes the truth gets a little bent, but it's against the rules to change facts that change the outcome of history. When telling the story of Antony and Cleopatra, they gotta die at the end, n'est-ce pas? It's inappropriate, for example, to tell the story of World War II and pretend that, because the United States might have given a box of guns to the French Underground, there was no Holocaust. That's a pretty good analogy for what's been done in Charlie Wilson's War.

• ELECTION INTEGRITY: We need to eliminate secret vote counting, not a recount:

  It's pretty easy to see what happened in New Hampshire: We had an election in which 81% of our ballots were counted in secret by a private corporation, and this resulted in an outcome that is called into question. That's what happened. No recount is going to change this. What will change this is to get rid of corporate controlled secret vote counting in our elections.

  And, What's Sexist and What's Fair Game When It Comes to Hillary Clinton?

  I decided to give some somewhat random examples in my own mind of the difference between inappropriate standard white-male chauvinism and actual candidate "fair game" issues.

• THE ANDREW MYERS FILE (UPDATES FROM A POST 9-11 WORLD): At Taser party, it's shock and awe:

  Before she lets them shoot her little pink stun gun, Dana Shafman ushers her new friends to the living room sofa for a serious chat about the fears she believes they all share. "The worst nightmare for me is, while I'm sleeping, someone coming in my home," Shafman said, drawing a few solemn nods from the gathered women. Shafman, 34, of Phoenix, says she knows how they feel and tells how she used to stash knives under her pillow for protection. Welcome, she says, to the Taser party.

• Campaign 2008: U.S. corporate elite fear candidate Edwards:

  Edwards suffered a blow on Thursday when Massachusetts Democratic Sen. John Kerry snubbed him and endorsed Obama. Edwards was Kerry's vice-presidential running mate in Kerry's failed Democratic bid for the White House in 2004. BUSINESS'S FAVORITE UNCLEAR: Asked which candidate their clients most support, corporate lobbyists were unsure. Clinton has cautious backing within the corporate jet set, as do Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain and former Republican Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, they said.

• ENVIRONMENT: Green At Work Magazine Premier Corporate Sustainability Publication: The latest green business website I've discovered.

• MUST READ: Stay Classy, Mike Huckabee: another excellent piece from David Sirota:

  "The uncool subject is class," author Bell Hooks once wrote. "It's the subject that makes us all tense." What an understatement, considering the two leading "change" candidates in the latest presidential polls.

• "I Just Want to Tear Out My Hair" Darfur peacekeeping set back by 6 months: If only Darfur had strategic oil reserves.

  U.N. peacekeeping forces lack the troops and equipment necessary to improve the situation in violence-wracked Darfur and will continue to be ineffective until mid-2008, the U.N. peacekeeping chief cautioned Wednesday.

• INTERNATIONAL: Voices on Recording May Not Have Been From Iranian Speedboats:

  The Iranians have denied using the threatening language and are saying U.S.-released video is fabricated. Today, the Iranian government aired its own video of the event on state-run TV there.

• NO COMMENT: Suspicious Minds, How a ragtag group of conspiracy nuts is changing public perception of 9/11.

• Personal Safety Alert: World's Top Surveillance Societies:

  Experienced air traffic controllers are retiring faster this year than the government projected and their union said Wednesday the remaining veterans can no longer safely handle peak volumes in Atlanta, Chicago, New York and Southern California.

From Black Box Voting:

THE CAT THAT CONTROLS NEW HAMPSHIRE ELECTION PROGRAMMING

John Silvestro and his small private business, LHS Associates, has exclusive programming contracts for ALL New Hampshire voting machines, which combined will count about 81 percent of the vote in the primary. And as to Super Tuesday and beyond: Silvestro also has the programming contracts for the states of Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Vermont.

Silvestro IS the New Hampshire chain of custody in New England -- Or at least, a very large component in it.

Last fall, with the help of citizens like you, Black Box Voting began working on "Chain of Custody" projects, in which we identified some of the areas of concern that might affect many jurisdictions at once. First on the list for the Northeast U.S. is LHS Associates, a vendor with inside access to every memory card, as well as to the chips containing the "brain" of the Diebold optical scan machines.

RARE VIDEO FOOTAGE

In an unusual confluence of available video, we obtained footage of Silvestro grappling with Harri Hursti, the master hacker who had his way with the Diebold optical scans in Leon County, Florida in the famous exploit that was showcased in the film Hacking Democracy.

The exact same make, model and version hacked in the Black Box Voting project in Leon County is used throughout New Hampshire, where about 45 percent of elections administrators hand count paper ballots at the polling place, with the remaining locations all using the Diebold version 1.94w optical scan machine. Because the voting machine locations tend to be urban, this represents about 81 percent of the New Hampshire voters.

The video shows Harri Hursti testifying on Sept. 19 before the New Hampshire legislature, attempting to explain significant vulnerabilities requiring urgent mitigations; throughout his testimony, Silvestro inserted his own comments, opinions, misstatements and speculations.

Action Point with Cynthia Black 01-06-2008 The Reference Shelf

Today's article and item links:

• HEALTH ALERT: What if Congress passed a law that made the price of your groceries go up by 900 percent?

  There would be an instant uproar, and you can bet the problem would be fixed, immediately. Last year, Congress made a technical error. As a result, the cost of birth control in many clinics is rising to almost 900 percent what it was just months ago. Women who were paying $5 to $10 per month are now paying $40 to $50 for birth control. For the college students and low-income women affected by this cost hike, that’s no small matter. Congress has had more than 11 months to fix the mistake — needlessly jeopardizing women’s health. Congress must restore birth control to affordable levels this year.

• ELECTION INTEGRITY: Student Voters Supressed in Iowa:

  We've all seen the cry of "voter fraud" being used for political purposes in recent years, but this latest example would be amusing if it weren't so pernicious: David Yepsen, a leading political reporter for The Des Moines Register, has suggested that Senator Obama's encouragement of college students to vote in the Iowa caucuses amounts to "fraud."

  And, Legal voters thrown off rolls:

  Five years after passage of a federal law to create electronic registration databases to deter voter fraud, the new technology is posing hurdles that could disenfranchise thousands of legal voters, a USA TODAY examination finds. From Florida to Washington, voters have been challenged because names or numbers on their registration forms did not exactly match other government databases, such as Social Security and motor vehicle agencies. "We know that eligible people have been thrown off the rolls," says Justin Levitt, a lawyer with the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law.

  AND, Exclusive: Scary 'New York Times' story on faulty voting machines this Sunday.

• SPEECHLESS: Sordid Tales Of Clinton-hater:

  After noting that his first marriage also ended with an affair, Scaife told VF he no longer believes in monogamy: "I don't want people throwing rocks at me in the street. But I believe in open marriage."

• Campaign 2008: The Return of the SwiftBoaters:

  Research by The Nation into Federal Election Commission records of the group's top twenty donors reveals that they've been remarkably active in this cycle, contributing and bundling nearly $200,000 to presidential candidates. This does not bode well. During the last presidential campaign, the wealthy backers of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth--now rebranded as Swift Vets and POWs for Truth--didn't do their real dirty work until the general election, where as a tax-exempt 527 group they operated outside the restraints of direct campaign contributions. We may wish we were done with the Swift Boaters, but they aren't done with us.

• ENVIRONMENT: How Green are Obama and Huckabee?

• MUST READ: As Predicted, Populism Is On the Rise - Who's Laughing Now? another excellent piece from David Sirota:

  Back in August, I wrote an article for the Huffington Post entitled "An Economic Populist Is Rising In the GOP Presidential Primary." In that article, I predicted that Republican Mike Huckabee would rise and potentially win the Iowa caucuses based on his relentless focus on economic inequality and class-based populism. I chided the media and Democrats for ignoring him, and when I wrote this article, I was laughed at by many reporters, pundits and readers alike.

• "I Just Want to Tear Out My Hair" UPDATES: Bush Admin Slow to Respond on KBR Sex Assault Questions

• INTERNATIONAL: Bush Issues Signing Statement Undermining Sudan Accountability And Divestment Act:

  Yesterday, President Bush signed the Sudan Accountability and Divestment Act, which makes it easier for “states, local governments and private investors to cut investment ties with Sudan as a way to pressure the Khartoum government into ending violence in the country’s Darfur region.” Both the House and the Senate passed the bill unanimously.

• Personal Security Alert: World's Top Surveillance Societies:

  Privacy International, a UK privacy group, and the U.S.-based Electronic Privacy Information Center have put together a world map of surveillance societies, rating various nations for their civil liberties records. Both the U.S. and the UK are colored black for "endemic surveillance," as are Thailand, Taiwan, Singapore, Russia, China and Malaysia. Among the trends that the two organizations have tracked: The 2007 rankings indicate an overall worsening of privacy protection across the world, reflecting an increase in surveillance and a declining performance on privacy safeguards.

Action Point with Cynthia Black 12-23-2007: The Reference Shelf

Today's article and item links:

• ELECTION INTEGRITY: Pima County Election Integrity Trial Home: Attorney Michael Bryan posts this latest development:

  Judge Michael Miller has issued his ruling granting the plaintiffs access to the final databases for the 2006 Primary and General elections, but denying without prejudice wider access to all database files for the election in the possession of Pima County until and unless they are able to demonstrate the wider access will not compromise election security. This means that the mid-year RTA election and the backups made during the multi-day process of counting ballots remain out of reach for now.

• Campaign Issue 2008: Phoenix furniture store becomes center of immigration debate: Thanks to Nativists, racists and yes, average concerned moderates, this year the Immigration of workers who seem to be mostly Hispanic will likely come to be the wedge issue “gays” were for Republicans in 2004. In Phoenix Arizona a living tableaux of the polarized biases on both sides plays out weekly. Stay tuned to Action Point for updates:

  Salvador Reza started bringing protesters here to pressure the store's owner to stop paying off-duty Maricopa County sheriff's deputies to patrol his parking lot. Sheriff's deputies, some of whom are trained as immigration officers, are a special affront to the Hispanic community that surrounds the furniture store. Reza said the off-duty deputies have arrested and deported 65 illegal immigrants in the area so far.

• ENVIRONMENT: A website I am so far enjoying, TreeHugger.com routinely presents products wedding international modern design with sustainability. Along those lines a recent French development reflects not only French whimsy but health and green practicality. Oh, were Americans such cultural funlovers:

  Parisians curious about the quality of the air they're breathing will soon be able to get their daily fill by looking to the sky. A balloon that's been floating above the city's André-Citroën park since 1999 will be modified by its creators, Aérophile, to monitor the level of air pollution on an hourly basis starting in early 2008.

  And there's also some Good News: Japan Halts Humpback Hunt:

  Giving in to U.S. pressure and worldwide criticism, Japan's government on Friday announced a whaling fleet now in the Southern Ocean for its annual hunt will not kill the threatened species as originally planned. The fleet will, however, kill some 935 minke whales, a smaller, more plentiful species, and 50 fin whales (ed- *sigh*).

• BIG MEDIA: The FCC Vote: from The Bill Moyers Journal and PBS.org it is just one of many decrying the FCC's decision to ignore the majority of Americans desires for multi-cultural ownership in lieu of a multi-ownership culture! The question is, what are we going to do about it?

• MUST READ: Fear, Loathing & the Crisis of Confidence: another excellent piece from David Sirota:

  Just a few weeks ago, Scripps Howard News Service and Ohio University released a little-noticed study showing that one-third of Americans now "believe in a broad smorgasbord of conspiracy theories" revolving around government complicity in everything from the 9/11 attacks to the Kennedy assassination. The same survey last year found that "anger against the federal government is at record levels."

  It would be easy to chalk up these troubling findings to the unending propaganda of fear. America has been experiencing the searing blast of politicized terror warnings and breaking news graphics for the better part of six years now, and populations living under such constant government and media shock treatment can go a wee bit berserk.

  But while many of these conspiracy theories are offensive and factually unsupported, the underlying paranoia and loathing are not surprising, and the feelings are not motivated merely by a fear of the next bogeyman around the corner. The sentiments are symptoms of a deep crisis of confidence in our public institutions — a crisis that is a predictable reaction to a government that now all but admits it breaks laws, hides information and disregards the public.

• INCOMING Meets THE ANDREW MYERS FILE (aka police over-reactions in a post 911 World): FBI prepares vast database of biometrics:

  Digital images of faces, fingerprints and palm patterns are already flowing into FBI systems in a climate-controlled, secure basement here. Next month, the FBI intends to award a 10-year contract that would significantly expand the amount and kinds of biometric information it receives. And in the coming years, law enforcement authorities around the world will be able to rely on iris patterns, face-shape data, scars and perhaps even the unique ways people walk and talk, to solve crimes and identify criminals and terrorists. SNIP The increasing use of biometrics for identification is raising questions about the ability of Americans to avoid unwanted scrutiny. It is drawing criticism from those who worry that people's bodies will become de facto national identification cards. Critics say that such government initiatives should not proceed without proof that the technology really can pick a criminal out of a crowd.

• "I Just Want to Tear Out My Hair" NEWS UPDATE: CIA COVER-UP OF TORTURE TAPES, JAMIE LEIGH JONES CONTRACTOR RAPE, SIEGELMAN PURGE including these unbelievable Siegelman video files.

• JOE ARPAIO WATCH: I never did find out who paid for the weird contest sting he ran in the fall (I'll update that for you next week) but this at least should keep you "amused" Inhumanity Has a Price: Corpses, a flesh-eating virus, the most-sued sheriff in America. Lawsuits against Joe Arpaio have cost us $41 million, so far:

  Maricopa County law enforcement violated the constitutional rights of this newspaper's readers in October. Using secret grand jury subpoenas, County Attorney Andrew Thomas sought records that would reveal the identity of anyone who'd looked at New Times online in the past four years. When the paper's leaders revealed the grand jury probe in a cover story, sheriff's deputies arrested them.

  Little wonder Arizona spends half its budget on education but still ends up in the bottom three nationally for educational scoring. Joe is sucking it up to pay for his weird-ass stings to keep the PR machine humming-- as long as Idjit news writers keep touting him as "tough" the Idjits from the educational system that can't tell any better (i.e. can't think critically) will keep putting him in office.

Action Point with Cynthia Black 12-16-2007: The Reference Shelf

Today's article and item links:

• THE DOJ FILE (was THE MUKASAY FILE): Now that Mukasey rules the DOJ roost, it seems like Bush Business as usual: deflect, dodge, delay. Newsweek asks: How will the new attorney general respond to the CIA's destruction of interrogation videotapes? Myself, I think I've already posited the answer. As my evidence I submit: CIA's Rodriguez Lawyers Up.

• KARL %#@$*&! ROVE FILE: Lawmakers vote to hold Bush aides in contempt: Yea, like I'm holding my breath on this.

• CAMPAIGN 2008: Predicting Iowa: This week Jeffrey Feldman predicts the Iowa winner. Do you agree?

  And then there's this: Arizona Is Split Over Hard Line on Immigrants: As a wedge issue Mexican immigration will split voters in 2008 like guns and gays have in the past. The article above lays out the arguments and territory most likely to be replayed throughout the election season ad nauseum so you might as well learn all about it now.

• ELECTION INTEGRITY: If you're interested in ongoing election integrity coverage the “Daily Voting News” report posted on BradBlog is a great resource. Here's an example from December 13.

• CHENEY WATCH: Reps. Wexler, Gutierrez, and Baldwin Call for Cheney Impeachment Hearings: Since the Main Stream Media thinks it too dangerous to report, these congress people have taken their fight to impeach the Vice-Troll to the last outpost of free speech, the Internets.

• MUST READ: When Barbarians Take Hostages: another excellent piece from David Sirota:

“As a central villain in the famous book “Barbarians at the Gate, Henry Kravis has become one of the world’s richest mavens of private equity—the Wall Street sector that buys up companies, breaks them apart and sells their assets. In 2006, Kravis made $450 million, or more per hour ($51,000) than the average American household makes in a year. Incredibly, his wealth puts him right within the average for executives in this largely unregulated industry that oversees about $400 billion in annual business.”

• ENVIRONMENT: Amory Lovins: We must win the oil endgame: from TED, an amazing website of 21^st century thinkers: “Energy guru Amory Lovins lays out his plan for weaning the US off oil and revitalizing the economy in the process. It's the subject of his book Winning the Oil Endgame, and he makes it sound fairly simple: On one hand, the deadly risks of continued dependency, and on the other, some win-win solutions.” Be sitting when you listen.

Action Point with Cynthia Black 12-09-2007: The Reference Shelf

Today's article and item links:

• ELECTION INTEGRITY: Pima County Election Integrity Trial Home: Attorney Michael Bryan's blog, from where you can read his first-hand reporting on a trial that could turn out to be “The People's Elections” trial of the year (at least)! He has some good suggestions as well: "Consider giving the cost of one tank of gas to fuel a Democratic take-over.”

• INTERNATIONAL: New Intelligence Estimate on Iran Shows Options Beyond 'War Versus Capitulation': is just one of many great items available on the The Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation's fantastic website. Also, as mentioned last week by Action point guest Carah Ong, the National Iranian American Council publishes memos. Their latest, NIAC Memo: Is the Iran NIE a Blessing in Disguise for Israel? Is a must-read.

• ENVIRONMENT: Last week Action Point's own environmentally conscious “Compacter” Sandy Clark reported from his home of Springfield Missouri (he's a contributor to both the SBJ and the Springfield News Leader) on “localvorism” which you found very appealing. Following up on his invitation to check out his contributions to the paper, I came across this response from a less-than supportive columnist from the “dark side”. Funny isn't it, how regardless where you live, their winger “locals” sound just like ours?

  You get the idea of who these folks are. They're the save-the-planet gang. Many of them believe a looming food crisis will hit about 2020 when the entire food distribution system will collapse due to energy shortages. Truthfully, between their pessimistic outlook on the future and their bleak options for a good meal, I don't see how they muster enough enthusiasm to get out of bed in the morning.
  

Action Point with Cynthia Black 9-16-2007: The Reference Shelf

Today's article and item links:

• War and Peace: The Two Words That Can Bring Our Troops Home: from Frameshop editor and weekly contributor Jeffrey Feldman.

• (Christian-backed) Mega Media Tries to Stop Community Radio Nationwide: STOP MEGA MEDIA: You can stop this.

• Republican Preparing to Steal Electoral Votes in California: California voters can't change the 2008 election rules on their own: Now that we are onto their election fraud, they have to find other ways to steal 2008!

• IF THIS WOMAN WAS WHITE THE MSM WOULD BE THERE: Hate Crimes Decision Causes Stir: Williams, 20, was held captive for more than a week at a ramshackle trailer in Logan County, where she was tortured, sexually assaulted and forced to eat animal droppings, according to criminal complaints. Her captors choked her with a cable cord, stabbed her in the leg while calling her a racial epithet, poured hot water over her, made her drink from a toilet and beat her, according to the complaints.

• National to Local-- From Democracy for America Night School: DFA NIGHTSCHOOL: Every Tuesday Night this month DFA Night School will cover a different aspect of precinct organizing during a free conference call you can join from the convenience of your own home. The call is accompanied by a slideshow that you can download or view in your web browser while on the call. Just RSVP today to get the free conference call number and be ready next Tuesday, September 11.

• (Really) Winning The Peace: Secure America Tour: A group of foreign policy, security and defense experts are actively engaged in studying and developing alternative approaches to current U.S. foreign policy and defense strategies. Several of them will participate in The Secure America Tour 2007 including today's Action Point guest --Senior Fellow, Joan B. Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies --George A. Lopez.
  

Action Point with Cynthia Black 9-02-2007: The Reference Shelf

Today's article and item links:

• Entertainment (?): A new film about the killing of 14-year-old Iraqi girl, Abeer Qasim Hamza al-Janabi-- gang raped and burnt by American soldiers in March 2006-- is the subject of "Redacted" U.S. director Brian De Palma's new film. "Redacted ...spares the audience no brutality to get its message across."

• Local News: Bacteria that causes Legionnaires’ disease found in Phoenix. Not much to add to that!

• Frameshop: Dems Should Walk Away: Supplemental reading.

• Hold My Hair Please, I'm About to Puke: Reid Opens Door To Pact With Antiwar Republicans: Why does this weeny-whiney rhetoric remind me of Rumsfeld?
  

  "I don't think we have to think that our way is the only way," Reid said of specific dates during an interview in his office here. "I'm not saying, 'Republicans, do what we want to do.' Just give me something that you think you would like to do, that accomplishes some or all of what I want to do."

INCOMING: In the Election Integrity community we thought Holt HR 811 was a mostly dead issue. We were wrong. How wrong?

Michelle Mulder, counsel to Rep. Rush Holt, has just informed supporters of HR 811 that the bill will come up for a vote on the House floor next week.

The following are links to info you need BEFORE calling your representative THIS Tuesday!

• Mark Crispin Miller: Exposé: Holt bill was revised by Microsoft, Diebold and ES&S

• Brad Friedman: People for the American Way (PFAW) Continues Dishonest Lobbying Campaign for Holt Election Bill

• Vicki Karp: Ask your rep to vote NO on HR 811 NOW!

• Steven Rosenfeld: Pending Election Reform in Congress Doesn't Give Citizens Right to Sue
  

• Steve Rosenfeld: Will Electronic Voting Reform Create New Ways to Steal Elections?

• Nancy Tobi: Rebuttal to Dill's support of the HR 811 Trojan Horse
  

CONGRESS CONTACT INFO

Hat Tip: Mark Crispin Miller

Action Point with Cynthia Black 8-12-2007: The Reference Shelf

Today's article and item links:

• IMPEACHMENT: Whose Legacy Is It, Anyway?: By yours truly, on why it matters NOW.

• They'll Call Us Crazy: The Downside of Diversity: A Harvard political scientist finds that diversity hurts civic life. What happens when a liberal scholar unearths an inconvenient truth? Be prepared. This is bound to be the Hot Topick on hawk radio and 'round a few water-coolers.

• From the Silver Lining File: All Rupert, All The Time: Could “5%'ers” eating their own, work this time for us?

• Economy: Why Economists Are Jittery about the Stock Market: On the other hand Wingers will tell you it is going to be fine. And there are WMD in Iraq.

• Local Election Protection: Radical leftist group AZ Advocacy Network stirring up trouble with voter registration: RedState is to conservative blogs what Daily Kos or MyDD is to liberal blogs. Their local wing-nuttiest off-shoot writes in part:

“...Network's goal is to register as many people to vote as possible, in fact they'd love to make voting a requirement, because it would benefit liberals. Since conservatives are more likely than Dems to make the effort to vote on their own initiative, groups like this know the surefire way to pick up more liberal votes is to practically require people to vote, because that drags in the people who don't care - who will vote liberal. "If you rob Peter to pay Paul, you can always count on the support of Paul.”

Just for fun, someone should point out their summarizing quote is attributed to the infamous Irish literary elitist, homosexual Oscar Wilde!

Defending the Freedoms of July 4, 1776: America's Hope for the World

The entire post from election integrity "super-attorney" Paul Lehto, from which this is excerpted, is long but well-worth the read...

You gotta stand for something,

Or you’re gonna fall, for anything.

--John Cougar Mellencamp

Those who stand for nothing fall for anything.

--Tom Van Meurs

If a nation values anything more than freedom, it will lose its freedom; and the irony of it is that if it is comfort or money that it values more, it will lose that too.

–William Somerset Maugham

All Power, Freedom, and Democracy comes from rights. Starting on July 4, 1776, the Declaration of Independence changed forever how the world thinks of rights, and thereby became one of the most important political documents in the history of the world.

The Declaration of Independence especially was intended not just for Americans, it was declared for the benefit of all of humanity. Benjamin Franklin wrote: “Our cause is the cause of all mankind, and…we are fighting for their liberty in defending our own.”

The American Declaration of Independence boldly declared Independence from King George III as a matter of inalienable human rights, and rejected kingly tyranny under claim of divine right. By shifting the idea of who holds rights away from the king, the government and the British East India Corporation and instead in favor of the human beings in We the People, it was as though the Founders had diverted a Nile River of rights. Instead of the blessings of the Creator fertilizing the king’s divine rule, the Founders declared that all people were born with rights, and endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, and created “self-government” by We the People.

Election Integrity Events in the Lone Star Sate

Contact: Abbe Waldman DeLozier 512/736-5802
Vickie Karp 512/775-3737

TECHNOLOGY SECURITY EXPERT CONCURS
ELECTRONIC VOTING "UNSAFE FOR VOTERS"
plus
TEXAS HAND-COUNTED PAPER BALLOT BILL OF 2007, HB 3894
INTRODUCED BY REP. LON BURNAM

FOUR EVENTS

Wednesday, April 4th, 2pm CST, Austin Capitol, Rm. E2.028, Texas House Committee on Elections hearing:

Bruce O’Dell, an award-winning software designer specializing in software security for American Express, General Motors, and other Fortune 100 companies, will deliver a 20 minute presentation to the Committee on why electronic voting is neither secure nor reliable and should be banned for use in Texas.

Thursday, April 5th, Austin Capitol, Rm E2.002, Legislative Conference Room, 11:15 am CST: Press Conference:

Rep Lon Burnam, Texas House District 90, will make the announcement of new HB 3894, mandating paper ballots, hand-counted in public view with citizen oversight, with totals posted at the precinct level.

David Rogers, assistant general counsel of the Texas Legal Foundation and former campaign manager for Republican Texas Supreme Court Justice Candidate Steve Smith, will make a statement about his experience in the Texas 2006 primary regarding e-voting disaster and huge cost of recounts that do not even reflect voter intent. Rogers is a longtime conservative Republican activist.

Bruce O’Dell, (mentioned above), will give a statement about why electronic voting is unsafe and can not technically be made "easier, faster, nor secure…"

Sputnik, Founder and State Chairman of the Texas Motorcycle Bikers’ Association, member of the National Legislation Task Force and a member of the Texas Chapter of the Lawmakers Club. Sputnik will speak in support of HB 3894.

Vickie Karp, PR Director, Vote Rescue and Board Member, Black Box Voting, will address why "voter verifiable paper audit trails" won’t solve e-voting fraud, and introduce VoteRescue’s Cost Analysis of E-Voting Elections vs. Hand-Counted Paper Ballots. Joni Ashbrook of VoteRescue will present a short summary of the astronomical costs of electronically held elections as reported through interviews with Texas county election officials.

Karen Renick, Founder and Director of VoteRescue, Austin election integrity group supporting HB 3894, will introduce the "Vote-PAD", the non-electronic voting system which allows the disabled to vote without assistance, fulfilling the mandate of the Help America Vote Act of 2002.

Thursday, April 5th, Austin Capitol, Rm. E2.002, Legislative Conference Room, Noon CST – 1:30 pm:

A video presentation of a hacking of real Diebold electronic voting equipment (a vendor used in Texas), and a presentation by Bruce O’Dell on the acute security issues with electronic voting in Texas. Lunch, plus three repeat presentations: Noon – 12:30pm; 12:30pm – 1pm; and 1pm – 1:30 pm. All Texas Representatives, Senators, and their Legislative Staff have been personally invited. The media is welcome to attend.

Thursday, April 5th, First Unitarian Universalist Church, 4700 Grover, Austin, Texas, 7-10 pm:

Showing of the startling and revealing HBO documentary, "Hacking Democracy", featuring the electronic vote fraud research of Bev Harris of Black Box Voting and ending with the hacking of real Diebold electronic Optical Scan voting equipment in a sanctioned setting in Leon County, Florida under direct supervision of the Superviser of Elections, Ion Sancho on certified election equipment; and presentation and follow up explanation by Bruce O’Dell. Media welcome.