Dean is first~

Howdy there sunlight.  good to see you!

Excellent topic, I say!  May he be prosecuted to the fullest extent.  And all the rest right along with him.

I'm sure that the GOP is busy shredding away.  I hope that someone has gone in with a thumbdrive and downloaded each of their computers.  All emails and other documents.  Would that be sweet!

Never Mind the 'Results,' Election 2006 Was a Disaster for E-Voting Systems Across the Nation

(Will Someone Please Tell the Headline Writers at the New York Times and the Associated Press?)

Democrats can walk and chew gum. Set up the Constitutional challenge to executive privilege on the Energy Task Force and start the great unraveling.

Talk nice and send Bush the agenda to veto if he dare.

but first stop any lame duck session mischief on taxes or they will slip something into the supplemental

Can't Bush appoint Bolton during the break?

http://www.jwharrison.com/blog/2006/11/07/bill-maher-interviews-robert-greenwald/

 Cheryl, the electronic voting at the polling center I worked at went smooth as silk.  There was a paper trail, three DSX (touchscreen) machines, and about a dozen paper ballot stations.   The reason we went to touchscreen is because the optical scanners are 30 years old, very expensive to repair, and not adequate anymore.  

There were so many security precautions, cross checking, and careful scrutiny of the process that I felt very good about it.  However, a large city like Denver may be an entirely different story.

As for me, we voted absentee, which was easy, comfortable, and efficient.  There was one proposition we had questions about, so put aside the ballot for a day, talked about it, and then voted.  Maybe mail in is the way to go.

Isn't the possible prosecution of people like Rummey, Cheney, even Bush one of the reasons Bush was so intent on the Military Commissions Act?  Frankly, I have my doubts that we'd ever turn them over to another country, but I want them out of office, out of government, and whatever punishment we can meet out (poverty, disgrace, etc.) is fine with me.  I just want them to stop the harm.

I want to feel pride in this country again, feel bigger than the mean spirited, pugnacious arrogance that this administration and its supporters have characterized us as.  Ideology never works as a substitute for reality.  

How can they sleep at night having used the military, our national treasury, our international reputation as blunt instruments of their ideology?  They are murderers, and there's no way this isn't going to haunt us for generations.  

Hour long tribute to Ed Bradley tonight on 60 Minutes.

how about chartering a plane to germany?

***********

salon.com came through again, debunking the assumption that the freshman class is composed of conservatives who will swing the dems to the right.  nonsense!  on core values, they hold true, the one real divergence being reproductive rights--five of the newbies are not pro-choice.  no false conflicts, please, msm.

**************

MUST READ......the washington spectator [nov 1, 2006 edition] has an outstanding piece, entitled 'maxed-out families and the fading american dream,' by perry l weed, a retired washington economist and lawyer.  here are some highlights:

*the u.s. is now the most unequal of rich nations

*adjusted for inflation, the earnings of u.s. men were lower in 2005 than in 1973; as a result, most women work out of necessity to supplement household income [go take a flying f*ck, rick santorum!]

*almost two-thirds of americans report they live paycheck to paycheck

*the ratio of income for CEOs to production workers is 431:1 [$11.8 million : $27,460]

*the ownership society?  two-thirds of total stock market wealth is held by only 5%; median stock holding for all stockholding households is only $24,300

*the 'death tax' affects only the wealthiest 2% of families

*the top 5%of the wealthiest american families now receive 20% of the total u.s. income

*the average cost of a public college education has risen 25% since 2001

*personal savings rate in 2005 dropped to minus 0.4%, the first time since 1933 that the average american's spending has exceeded disposable income

*costs of housing, health care, education, energy, property taxes, and child and elder care have grown at 2-3 times the inflation rate

*business, contributing $1.4 billion in the 2004 election, outspent labor unions 10:1

perry warns, "[a]n expanding, vital middle class is both the engine for a sound economy and the avenue by which citizens participate in their country's progress and promise.  Without it, not only our economy but our very democracy is at risk."

[tip:  start requesting the statistical median and statistical mode whenever averages are given.  the median and the mode will give a truer picture of the middle class experience. also, ask for the range.]

 "Can't Bush appoint Bolton during the break?  "

 I don't think so.  I've been following Steve Clemons on the Bolton nomination:

...many have queried on whether there is a chance that Bolton would get through the Senate -- despite Senator Lincoln Chafee's formal declaration of opposition to Bolton.

The answer is NO.

The reason that the Bolton nomination was sent BACK to the Senate yesterday in a formal exchange of letters between the legislative and executive branches is that the Senate Foreign Relations Committee returned the nomination back to the Executive branch when his nomination failed to pass in September.

To keep Bolton's nomination alive in this Congressional session and potentially considered during next week's lame duck session, Bolton's nomination had to be sent back to the Senate.

There are only two ways in which the Bolton nomination can make its way from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to the Senate floor:

1. The nomination can be voted out -- and requires 10 votes.

2. The nomination can be "discharged" from the Committee to the Senate floor without bias by the unanimous consent of all members of the U.S. Senate.

Neither of these options will occur. Chafee has closed down option one -- and many Senators will shut down option two.

Senior staff at the Department of State have told me that the juice behind Bolton's nomination is "100% political and 0% from the State Department."

The question people should ask is not whether this push on Bolton will get him confirmed by the Senate -- it is why the White House continues to push this pugnacious Ambassador after the elections that took place and what they think they "gain" from losing this battle in the Senate.

Remember, it is not the Democrats who have sunk Bolton -- it has always been Republicans who have provided the tipping point leverage in undermining his confirmation.

The White House can't blame the Democratic-controlled Senate for failing to get Bolton in place.

It's time to drop him -- and to give up fantasies of appointing Bolton "Deputy Ambassador" in a recess appointment and then made "Acting Ambassador."

It's time to consider alternatives who can manage America's interests well at the United Nations and continue to try to reform that institution and to organize global collective action against international security threats.

Lincoln Chafee should be on that list -- he'd make an incredible Ambassador. But I also support outgoing Congressman Jim Leach, who has served for many years on the House International Relations Committee. I also think current Under Secretary of State for Global Affairs Paula Dobriansky would also do a very good job at the UN.

But Bolton? No.

 --Steve Clemons

Meredith Adam

\

Please dont post things like this anymore.  It makes the blog look silly.

The only dark days ahead for Rummy are weather or not he gets 25 or 50 K a pop on the lecture circuit and which board to sit on collecting his fees, not to mention the book that will come out.

This has as much chance of going anywhere as the stuff Phil is always claiming he is working on.  Meaning it is going NOWHERE.

Robert

Isn't the possible prosecution of people like Rummey, Cheney, even Bush one of the reasons Bush was so intent on the Military Commissions Act?  ///

 oh my stars....NO absolutly NO.  Please learn something about various Acts before you comment on them.

I am very proud of our country.  I dont care if you feel proud or not.

You are not in the field fighting for it

Robert

Pat, I am glad yours went smoothly...but across the nation it did not. Denver was a nightmare. And the DRE's are so easy to hack that no one would ever know if votes were flipped or not...no paper trail. So it could appear it went smooth but didn't in a lot of elections. That is why we pushed hard against our Diebold DREs. We already use Diebold Optical scan. Both are bad.

The Brad Blog article is long but he details a lot of races like the CA, OH ones that are still a toss up and it all depends on the voting machines. I don't think our democracy ever should.

Having worked for a computer software company and having many computer programmers in our Election Integrity group, every one of us agrees electronic machines are a bad idea.

We did an open house for the community and our presenter from Black Box voting showed us how to hack the machine in 15 minutes for a neophite, 5 minutes or less for an expert.

Scary stuff and a lot of work to do before 2008. 

"On Election Day, the Electronic Frontier Foundation had received about 17,000 complaints on its toll-free hot line by 8 p.m. Common Cause received 14,000 calls by 4 p.m. John Gideon at VotersUnite.org performed the herculean task of logging as many news reports as he could in a searchable online database of reported election problems that day.

The nation dodged a significant bullet when George Allen conceded in his Virginia Senate race Thursday. Had he not chosen to do so, America would have found itself smack-dab in the middle of another Florida 2000 crisis with the balance of Congress depending on voting machines that offer absolutely no way to recount ballots to achieve any form of accuracy or clarity in the race. The battle of the forensic computer scientists trying to figure out what happened would have been another long national nightmare.

But that didn't happen, so everything's cool. Right?

We dodged another bullet when Sen. Rick Santorum conceded."

Imagine, by the way, if Democrats had taken such a responsible position to impound machines every time votes were reported to have flipped from Democrat to Republican -- certainly the more commonly reported occurrence on Tuesday. There wouldn't be a voting machine left in the country. It's a pity the Democrats haven't figured that out. Yet.

They're so delighted to have won anything they haven't stopped to realize they might have taken 40 seats in the House instead of just 30 had they bothered to fight for an accountable, secure, transparent electoral system and instructed their candidates to concede nothing until every vote was counted, verified and audited for accuracy.

18,000 votes seems to have vanished into thin air via ES&S iVotronic touch-screen machines (no paper "trails," much less countable paper ballots ) in Sarasota County, site of Florida's 13th U.S. Congressional District contest between Vern Buchanan and Christine Jennings. There's currently a 368-vote difference between them, but there's no paper to to examine to figure out what may have gone wrong and explain how a 13% undervote rate was found in only in that race.

Victoria Wulsin currently trails Jean Schmidt by less than half a percentage point in their Ohio 2nd Congressional District race for the U.S. House. Wulsin has also appropriately refused to concede until every vote is counted, accounted for and verified. But a recount will rely on both the same hackable Diebold AccuVote TSx touch-screen machines used in San Diego and the same ES&S optical scan machines that were found to have mistabulated at least nine Republican primary races in Pottawatomie County, Iowa, last June.

Ten other House races still remain "too close to call." Many of them will rely on "results" reported by inaccurate, unreliable, untested electronic voting machines.

Prediction:  within the next 60-90 days Cheney's "heart condition" requires that he leave office.

Betcha. 

cC ~~ it does look like he could do it again. . . .

Of course, Bolton wouldn't get paid, so maybe he'd turn it down himself. . . .  

Minnesota probably has one of the better system, the Automark, and procedures to be able to do ballot recounts (hard copy). Paper ballots and counts are still best.

To my knowledge, Colorado does not have that with their electronic machines so all the procedures in the world do not help if you don't have the hard copy ballot to recount and the state legislation to automatically trigger the recount. Do you know what your statewide laws are, and how they vary by county? The Denver thing is really bad because it is your biggest population center, like Maricopa county is ours in Arizona.

Arizona defeated the mail in ballot measure, which I am glad about. Until a state has full legal and procedural integrity, mail in ballots are not a good idea.

I think the state of Washington or Oregon (can't remember which) has all mail-in. They have pretty good procedures in place but not fool proof for hacking. Certainly better than a lot of places though. 

You are not in the field fighting for it

Robert
-------------
So it appears that if one is not *fighting in the field* then one is not patriotic or worthy. Bad form and it sounds like a Republican talking point.

If Bush is impeached during his term and Darth Cheney becomes prez, does Pelosi automatically become VP or does Cheney get to choose, even tho it's not an election?...

14 year olds know the answer to these questions.

It amazes me how you can pretend to comment on political matter and yet repeatdly display not even a high school level of American governance. 

A President who is impeached is not removed from office.  I would give you a pass on this one as the "impeachment" is rare but since you must be older then 10 it has happened in your lifetime.  You need to do some research.

No one "automatically" becomes VP.   If you had Read THE CONSTUTITION then you would know the answer to this.

Isnt it a bit "putzish" to not know things that people in 7th grade know and yet claim to comment on them intellegently?    However I am beginning to belive that you represent the state of knowledge of "The Beloved".

Sad

Robert

Seashell-
Sorry for response here rather than last thread (took a short nap) ...
I really don't have a url, but just google "Bohemian Grove" and as you know, it's almost unbelievable.

... Not happy about Feingold's announcement. Fingers crossed for Gore now, or if he says no maybe a surprise progressive candidate (someone Dean-like).

So it appears that if one is not *fighting in the field* then one is not patriotic or worthy..

Does it appear that way to you?  I never said that.

Robert

Denver wins ugly.

and a win next week by Jr. gives him the cup

I just wore out a clicker.

and don't worry Robert, just like Charlie you will get a fair hearing

Hi Cheryl,

The issue is way beyond my expertise.  My husband is a techie, and he says anything that goes through a wire can be tampered with.  I agree that we should not subject voting to such vulneratibilities.  I'm glad for all the attention, criticism, and scrutiny that's occurred.  It's important.

 I read an article in the New Yorker maybe four months ago.  The Secretary of the Navy warned the Bush Administration that they could be liable for torture.  Rumsfield set up a separate committee to undermine the committee the Sec. of the Navy was on to write a clear policy on the Geneva Conventions and the rejection of torture.  The Rumsfield policy, as you might guess, undermined this.  

Where it all went from there, I don't know, but I do know there was a real scurrying about to make sure that those who engaged in torture couldn't be prosecuted.  The particulars I've forgotten, but the concern on the part of the White House I remember very clearly.

 Robert, why don't you go to the McCain blog!  I think your many talents would be put to better use.  Also, be sure and contribute lots and lots of money  and your advice to his campaign.  You won't be missed here. We've been most tolerant and indulgent, but you are such an unpleasant, deluded, and supercilious character, that it will be a relief should you decide to leave us.

Here are the races still too close to call...all House races.

 Were no other Senate races close? I am wondering if we would have more than our 49 and 2 independents?

Prediction:  within the next 60-90 days Cheney's "heart condition" requires that he leave office...

What would be the point?  Why would this be something Bush would consider?

Robert

Pat,

Isn't the possible prosecution of people like Rummey, Cheney, even Bush one of the reasons Bush was so intent on the Military Commissions Act? "

The repugs did push something thru that protects the whole crime family. I'm not sure it was a rider on something or a separate bill...they've been ramming things thru so quickly it's hard to keep up.

Cheryl, 

The DSX touchscreens all have a paper trail.  The voter can check to see that the paper reflects his/her vote and then touches the screen to have the vote accepted. The paper never comes out of the machine, and the roll is sealed and sent to the Secretary of State.  When there is a discrepancy, the paper is what counts.

 We have paper ballots as well, though they are read by the optical scanners.  You fill in the ovals with black ink.  

Pat, I think Robert is too far to the right of McCain, lol.

My fear on the voting thing is Democrats will let it take a back seat again and we will have the 2000 and 2004 debacles all over again.

I hope not.

I know Arizona, Georgia and Florida are still a complete mess when it comes to election integrity and accuracy and I am hoping we get some focus on the GA and FL especially for the 2008 because we cannot afford to lose those electorial votes.

Of course if our nominee is someone like Hillary, then who cares. ha, ha! Just kidding. I care regardless. 

cC, who do you think will replace him...my guess is Condi. My prediction is that she's gonna be on the ticket, one way or another.
Putz's *wife* you know.

Mr. M., thank you!!!

Pat in Colorado
Sun, 11/12/06
7:05 pm..

McNasty runs for POTUS I intend to contribute the maximium legal limit...

I love "our" community.  Where else can you find people who pretend to be experts and yet dont know basic questions of American governance.  I come here for entertainment and political discussion. 

It is hard to believe that there are people on political blogs who have "knowledge" at the level of Seashell's statement.  14 year olds in Houston Clear Lake know what she is rambling on about.

Robert

Need to get something to eat.  Will check back.  It's cold here and overcast. It will get down into the teens no doubt.

Bohemian Grove:

"Bohemian Grove Fact Sheet

What is the Bohemian Grove? The Bohemian Grove is a 2700 acre redwood forest, located in Monte Rio, CA. It contains accommodation for 2000 people to "camp" in luxury. It is owned by the Bohemian Club.

What is the Bohemian Club? The Bohemian Club is a private. all male club, which is headquartered in the Bohemian building in San Francisco. It was formed in 1872 by men who sought shelter from the frontier culture (or lack of culture).

Who are the present members? The Club has evolved into an association of rich and powerful men, mostly of this country (there are similar organizations in other countries). Some artists are allowed to join (often at reduced rates), because of their social status and entertainment value. The membership list has included every Republican U.S. president (as well as some Democrats) since 1923, many cabinet officials, and director; & CEO's of large corporations, including major financial institutions.

What industries are represented among the members? Major military contractors, oil companies, banks (including the Federal Reserve), utilities (including nuclear power), and national media (broadcast and print) have high-ranking officials as club members or guests. Many members are, or have been, on the board of directors of several of these corporations. You should note that most of the above industries depend heavily on a relationship with government for their profitability. 

The members stay in different camps at the Grove, which have varying status levels. Members & frequent guests of the most prestigious camp (Mandalay) include: Henry Kissinger, George Shultz, S. D. Bechtel, Jr., Thomas Watson Jr. (IBM), Phillip Hawley (B of A), William Casey (CIA). and Ralph Bailey (Dupont). George Bush resides in a less prestigious camp (Hillbillies) with A. W. Clausen (World Bank), Walter Cronkite, and William F. Buckley.  

What activities take place at the grove? The grove is the site of a two week retreat every July (as well as other smaller get-togethers throughout the year). At these retreats, the members commune with nature in a truly original way. They drink heavily from morning through the night, bask in their freedom to urinate on the redwoods, and perform pagan rituals (including the "Cremation of Care", in which the members wearing red-hooded robes, cremate a coffin effigy of "Dull Care" at the base of a 40 foot owl altar). Some (20%) engage in homosexual activity (but few of them support gay rights or AIDS research). They watch (and participate in) plays and comedy shows in which women are portrayed by male actors. Although women are not allowed in the Grove, members often leave at night to enjoy the company of the many prostitutes who come from around the world for this event. Is any of this hard to believe? Employees of the Grove have said that no verbal description can accurately portray the bizarre behavior of the Grove's inhabitants."

http://www.sonomacountyfreepress.com/boh...  

Riverbend ~~

  When All Else Fails...
… Execute the dictator. It’s that simple. When American troops are being killed by the dozen, when the country you are occupying is threatening to break up into smaller countries, when you have militias and death squads roaming the streets and you’ve put a group of Mullahs in power- execute the dictator.

Everyone expected this verdict from the very first day of the trial. There was a brief interlude when, with the first judge, it was thought that it might actually be a coherent trial where Iraqis could hear explanations and see what happened. That was soon over with the prosecution’s first false witness. Events that followed were so ridiculous; it’s difficult to believe them even now.

The sound would suddenly disappear when the defense or one of the defendants got up to speak. We would hear the witnesses but no one could see them- hidden behind a curtain, their voices were changed. People who were supposed to have been dead in the Dujail incident were found to be very alive.

Judge after judge was brought in because the ones in court were seen as too fair. They didn’t instantly condemn the defendants (even if only for the sake of the media). The piece de resistance was the final judge they brought in. His reputation vies only that of Chalabi- a well-known thief and murderer who ran away to Iran to escape not political condemnation, but his father’s wrath after he stole from the restaurant his father ran.

So we all knew the outcome upfront (Maliki was on television 24 hours before the verdict telling people not to ‘rejoice too much’). I think what surprises me right now is the utter stupidity of the current Iraqi government. The timing is ridiculous- immediately before the congressional elections? How very convenient for Bush. Iraq, today, is at its very worst since the invasion and the beginning occupation. April 2003 is looking like a honeymoon month today. Is it really the time to execute Saddam?

I’m more than a little worried. This is Bush’s final card. The elections came and went and a group of extremists and thieves were put into power (no, no- I meant in Baghdad, not Washington). The constitution which seems to have drowned in the river of Iraqi blood since its elections has been forgotten. It is only dug up when one of the Puppets wants to break apart the country. Reconstruction is an aspiration from another lifetime: I swear we no longer want buildings and bridges, security and an undivided Iraq are more than enough. Things must be deteriorating beyond imagination if Bush needs to use the ‘Execute the Dictator’ card.

Iraq has not been this bad in decades. The occupation is a failure. The various pro-American, pro-Iranian Iraqi governments are failures. The new Iraqi army is a deadly joke. Is it really time to turn Saddam into a martyr? Things are so bad that even pro-occupation Iraqis are going back on their initial ‘WE LOVE AMERICA’ frenzy. Laith Kubba (a.k.a. Mr. Catfish for his big mouth and constant look of stupidity) was recently on the BBC saying that this was just the beginning of justice, that people responsible for the taking of lives today should also be brought to justice. He seems to have forgotten he was one of the supporters of the war and occupation, and an important member of one of the murderous pro-American governments. But history shall not forget Mr. Kubba.

Riverbend ~~

  When All Else Fails...
… Execute the dictator. It’s that simple. ...

The Saddam apologist speaks.  You bet we are going to kill Saddam...Kill him deader then a knob.

Riverbend is a Saddam flunky, has been for ages. 

Saddam killed hundreds of thousands, he feed people to animals, hung them at parties, put their hands down disposals while their children watched.

And anyone would shed a tear for that guy.  NO STONES no ability to tell right from wrong or stand for anything, wait I have described the anti war left

Robert

# 28

Pat, how do you know what the machine tabulates as the vote on the paper is the same as what the voter cast? Does every single voter get to see the paper itself through a window as they vote and is the paper durable?

See, that is the basic problem. You could vote for Gore and the screen tells you Gore, and the paper inside tabulates Bush OR can be switched out after the fact. Plus, if it is thermal paper, they degrade after a certain amount of time, just like a grocery receipt.

And if you have a corrupt elections director or SOS or any key person, the paper could be switched out and resealed and no one would know the difference. We have had broken seals before and evidence of "resealing" but nothing gets done.

That is why actually having a durable paper ballot where your physically marked off your choices in pen is essential. Similar to your optical scan where  you at least have the ballot you mark off in pen. Those votes can be easily stolen, so it all depends on your state law and if they require a hand count and at what point. Our state has horrible recount laws so even having paper back-up doesn't do a lot of good if you have a margin over 2%...which most elections do.

In Arizona, we have a paper too that is in the machine that you can look at in a glass window when you cast your vote. However, it is not a "durable paper trail" which is a big difference. The paper in the machine can be tampered with and we did demos on how to do it.

Don't mean to sound so gloomy but this has been my main focus for about 9 months now and I learned a lot (depressingly so). 

What brand of Optical scanner do you have and what brand of DSX? I could find out more from the techinical experts I work with who specifically work with voting machines. 

so easy, sigh

leave the poor guy alone

he spent the day in a dung heap and no one came by

"cC, who do you think will replace him...my guess is Condi."

Honestly I'm not sure, sea, but I think they would move away from people associated with the war in Iraq.  Condi is certainly part of *that* effort.

Direct Democracy Lost in Florida and Colorado
by Joel S. Hirschhorn | Nov 12 2006 - 3:24pm |  permalink
article tools: email | print | read more Joel S. Hirschhorn

"With all the hoopla about the big Democratic win, little attention has been given to the assault on direct democracy. Sadly, Florida voters caved in and passed Amendment 3 that requires 60 percent to pass ballot initiatives instead of the present simple majority. What should be viewed as one of the great ironies of all times is that this amendment passed by a statewide vote of 57.8 percent to 42.2 percent. That’s right; this terrible amendment would not have passed under the new rule that now has become law!

Michael Mayo, writing in the Sun-Sentinel before the election, noted: “Florida's amendment system has its faults, but it provides a necessary and powerful counterbalance to an aloof, insulated Legislature. Raising the amendment bar would only make it harder for citizens to flex their muscle. And that's exactly what the politicians and big businesses want. This amendment was put on the ballot by the Legislature, not a petition drive. … If [Amendment 3] passes, democracy in Florida loses.”

Libertarian, liberal and conservative groups and the Democratic and Republican candidates for governor opposed the amendment, but were no match for corporate money.

Some $3.2 million was spent by corporate interests to deceive the public and put a major dent in direct democracy. The sole purpose of making it more difficult to pass ballot initiatives - that in the soggy state of Florida amend the constitution – was to maintain the influence of lobbyists on a largely corrupt state legislature. Big land development, agriculture and insurance companies wanted to retain the status quo when it comes to throwing money at legislators to get what they want. Their thinking was that citizen groups would be less inclined to launch ballot initiatives with the higher requirement for passage. In the past, citizen driven ballot measures were used to correct bad state laws or to pass ones that the corrupt legislature refused to pass.

....Presently, there are close to 50 ballot measures in the pipeline for the 2008 ballot. Corporate interests hope that many will now be abandoned because of the new requirement.

Interestingly, in 2002 two important ballot measures passed by just 59 percent; one put a cap on school class size and the other required universal pre-kindergarten classes. The 2004 amendment that raised the minimum wage also did not get 60 percent. Since 1992, only 10 of 18 citizen initiatives have passed with more than a 60 percent margin.

the few and most potent forms of direct democracy in the nation. Indeed, proof that expanding direct democracy faces increasing opposition is that Colorado voters just rejected Petition Rights Amendment 38 by a vote of 69 percent to 31 percent.

It would have expanded and simplified citizens' ability to put proposed changes in state and local laws on the ballot. Proponents of the amendment raised less than $1,000. Opponents raised over $300,000 for TV ads; much of the money came from home builders and other corporate interests. "

more

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/2940...

Just an FYI, I just looked up Colorado election integrity groups and you have a few in your state:

 Colorado

Can't vouch for how good they are but might be interesting to check them out. The CAMBER one has some info but it has not been updated recently.

Colorado did not certify AutoMark which is not good. Means there is an issue with your SOS.

In Arizona they certified it, however, our county voted it down as an option. Not a perfect solution but much better than optical scanners and electronic machines with the inside paper. 

This is interesting on mail in ballots:

March 10, 2003

Linda Salas

Boulder County Clerk

Via e-mail

Dear Linda,

As our new Clerk, we trust that you will consider it a high priority to investigate the many unresolved mail ballot election issues left behind unresolved by your predecessor.  These issues have built up over a period of time, but are still relevant and demand resolution.  Voters are losing confidence in election results.

It is my understanding that you are seeking input on the question of future mandatory mail ballot elections.  There is no need to seek further input.  The input was clearly delivered by the voters when they rejected Amendment 28 by an overwhelming majority with 59,305 against, and only 38,851 for the measure.  This defeat is in the same range as your impressive victory with 63,856 votes.  I assume that you concur that the function of the Clerk's office is to serve the people.

As you will discover when you examine the open items to which I refer, the Boulder County mail ballot election of November 2001 proved conclusively that mail ballot elections are filled with error, fraud, and intimidation, and deprived voters of a secret ballot and disenfranchised hundreds of voters.

If you do not have the file of unresolved issues, we are happy to help reconstruct them for you.

We hope that you will cease any evaluation of mail ballot elections.  The issue is closed.  We hope that you are not planning to subvert the will of the voters of Boulder County by attempting to force voters to vote by mail ballot.  This would be wrong.

Sincerely,

Al Kolwicz

Executive Director, CAMBER

That was too long again,wasn't it?

news flash from myDD - Pelosi to back Murtha for Majority Leader.

http://www.mydd.com/

Fire, OR has paper mail ins and WA is almost there completely.

13. Rocky Jones"Miss" Bobbie Gayle for Blog Nanny.

Good CO election info.

 Anyone who wants to find your state, the left column lists activists groups and the right (page down) lists state pages where discussions on election problems take place.

Good move on Pelosi's part. Now we need to replace Reid.

*
cChalfonte*
Sun, 11/12/06
7:23 pm

Why do you think they are going to replace Cheney?

I cant think of a single reason to replace Cheney and a LOT OF WHY it would be dumb.  I'll list a few.

1.  IT would set off a fight as to who suceeds Cheney.  IN less then 6 months the GOP (and Dem for that matter) field will be full of people who are running for POTUS.  Replacing Cheney would pull all the O2 from that effort and it would set off a cat fight as to which wing of the party one picked from.

2.  He would have to be confirmed.  The SEnate and House have both changed hands, the confirmation process would be a venue for a political blood bath, why bring that on?

3.  It would make the administration look like it was chosing sides in teh fight for 08 (OK out of order but yet another reason).

4.  Why would anyone want the job?  IN 6 months the election cycle will be in full swing.  That would be 18 months to be VP.

WHAT ARE YOUR REASONS THAT IT IS GOING TO HAPPEN?

Robert

Pat, have you all changed your machines since 2004? Because I found the list broken down by county. Diebold, Sequoia and ES&S are the ones listed...all are ones we use too and have huge issues.

I do see some of your counties have manual count. Good for them!

Pat brought up a good point of maintaining machines and the cost involved. Another reason to go paper. 

jc, I'd like a* thank you Howard Dean* and a *re-elect Gore.* I love the Gore/Dean sticker but I think the guv will keep his word and not run.
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