Can You Say Big Stinking Lying Incompetent Repugnant Republican Pedophile HYPOCRITES?

These are the what morally superior 'Values Voters' crowd have to offer, among the homophobes, racists, sexists, misogynists, lying incompetent war-mongering innocent Iraqi citizens-child-bombers...

As everyone knows by now (from ABC News):

Congressman Mark Foley, Republican from Florida, resigned today just hours after ABC news questioned him about a series of sexually explicit instant messages involving current and former underage male Congressional pages. Foley used the login name Maf54.

Maf54: Do I make you a little horny?
Teen: A little.
Maf54: Cool.

Foley was the chairman of the house caucus on missing and exploited children and has long crusaded for tough laws against those who use the Internet for sexual exploitation of children.

Good riddance. Wake up America.

Foley resigned resignation congress Florida

Something the macho men of small-town law enforcement still can't seem to comprehend

After reading the account of the most recent tragic gunman-hostage standoff in Colorado, I was especially dumbstruck by this quote from Sheriff Fred Wegener: "We had to do what we had to do....I don't know why he wanted to do this."

How is it these guys have never heard of keeping them talking in order to humanize the hostages, reduce the stress level and decrease violent outcomes? These guys never watch TV or film?

They successfully got four of the six released -- that was an extremely positive sign that the situation could be resolved without harm to the others. What the hell happened? They got tired? Outrageous. They must take their cues from our cowboy prez and v-effing-p.

So I did a search on best practices of hostage and crisis negotiations -- here's one result:

This course provides an overview of hostage negotiations and crisis intervention from the perspectives of law enforcement and intervention organizations.

Since the early 1970s, law enforcement agencies from across America have recognized the need to reexamine their actions in hostage and crisis situations.

Law enforcement along with other intervention organizations have long recognized that in

many family or individual crisis situations the use of certain intervention skills combined
with good negotiation techniques often lead to safer outcomes.

-- from a course description for "Hostage Negotiation and Crisis Intervention" by Eric Jackson at the University of North Texas in Fort Worth.

Apparently these macho guys don't take classes either.

Still not convinced? Here's a tidbit from The Elements of Police Hostage and Crisis Negotiations by James Lynn Greenstone, EdD, JD who is also Crisis Negotiation Co-Chair and Editor of the Police Journal of Crisis Negotiations:

• General procedure will be to contain and isolate the subject, evaluate the situation, and negotiate as long as practical to assure a safe outcome for all concerned.

The text lists some training requirements too (partial list):

The hostage negotiations team will receive a minimum of 100 hours training per year to include the following:

• Forty hours formal classroom training(statutory requirement)
• Sixty hours teamtraining to include both total in service and combined tactical
• One hundred hours training each quarter

Doesn't sound like they followed procedure nor took classes/training in order to learn how to follow procedure and save lives -- not be stormtroopers.

Sincerest sympathies and deepest condolences to the family and loved ones of Emily Keyes, a junior at Platte Canyon High School in Bailey, Coloardo.

Hostage Training, hostage negotiations, colorado shooting, high school shooting, hostage crisis, law enforcement

Consequences of Short-term Thinking, Easy Racist Scapegoating

Get ready for higher grocery prices on the already squeezed middle- and working-class.Pickers Are Few, and Growers Blame Congress

Stepped-up border enforcement has exacerbated a labor shortage for California's agriculture industry. Toni Scully's pear-packing company rejected tons of fruit that was picked too late.

Story by Max Whittaker for The New York Times here.

What the U.S. Invasion has Accomplished in Iraq

From the Los Angeles Times on September 20, 2006.

Because this account of daily life in Baghdad reveals where the writer lives, his name is not being used to protect his safety. He is a 54-year-old Iraqi reporter in The Times' Baghdad Bureau.

No One Dares to Help

As people lie dying on Baghdad streets, stunned neighbors walk on past. To do anything more is to risk death, an Iraqi reporter writes.

BAGHDAD ? On a recent Sunday, I was buying groceries in my beloved Amariya neighborhood in western Baghdad when I heard the sound of an AK-47 for about three seconds. It was close but not very close, so I continued shopping.

As I took a right turn on Munadhama Street, I saw a man lying on the ground in a small pool of blood. He wasn't dead.

The idea of stopping to help or to take him to a hospital crossed my mind, but I didn't dare. Cars passed without stopping. Pedestrians and shop owners kept doing what they were doing, pretending nothing had happened.

I was still looking at the wounded man and blaming myself for not stopping to help. Other shoppers peered at him from a distance, sorrowful and compassionate, but did nothing.

I went on to another grocery store, staying for about five minutes while shopping for tomatoes, onions and other vegetables. During that time, the man managed to sit up and wave to passing cars. No one stopped. Then, a white Volkswagen pulled up. A passenger stepped out with a gun, walked steadily to the wounded man and shot him three times. The car took off down a side road and vanished.

No one did anything. No one lifted a finger. The only reaction came from a woman in the grocery store. In a low voice, she said, "My God, bless his soul."

I went home and didn't dare tell my wife. I did not want to frighten her.

---

I've lived in my neighborhood for 25 years. My daughters went to kindergarten and elementary school here. I'm a Christian. My neighbors are mostly Sunni Arabs. We had always lived in harmony. Before the U.S.-led invasion, we would visit for tea and a chat. On summer afternoons, we would meet on the corner to joke and talk politics.

It used to be a nice upper-middle-class neighborhood, bustling with commerce and traffic. On the main street, ice cream parlors, hamburger stands and take-away restaurants competed for space. We would rent videos and buy household appliances.

Until 2005, we were mostly unaffected by violence. We would hear shootings and explosions now and again, but compared with other places in Baghdad, it was relatively peaceful.

Then, late in 2005, someone blew up three supermarkets in the area. Shops started closing. Most of the small number of Shiite Muslim families moved out. The commercial street became a ghost road.

On Christmas Day last year, we visited ? as always ? our local church, St. Thomas, in Mansour. It was half-empty. Some members of the congregation had left the country; others feared coming to church after a series of attacks against Christians.

American troops, who patrol the neighborhood in Humvees, have also become edgy. Get too close, and they'll shoot. A colleague ? an interpreter and physician ? was shot and killed by soldiers last year on his way home from a shopping trip. He hadn't noticed the Humvees parked on the street.

By early this year, living in my neighborhood had become a nightmare. In addition to anti-American graffiti, there were fliers telling women to wear conservative clothes and to cover their hair. Men were told not to wear shorts or jeans.

For me, as a Christian, it was unacceptable that someone would tell my wife and daughters what to wear. What's the use of freedom if someone is telling you what to wear, how to behave or what to do in your life?

But coming home one day, I saw my wife on the street. I didn't recognize her. She had covered up.

---

After the attack on the Shiite shrine of the Golden Dome in Samarra in February, Shiite gunmen tried to raid Sunni mosques in my neighborhood. One night, against the backdrop of heavy shooting, we heard the cleric calling for help through the mosque's loudspeakers. We stayed up all night, listening as they battled for the mosque. It made me feel unsafe. If a Muslim would shoot another Muslim, what would they do to a Christian?

Fear dictates everything we do.

I see my neighbors less and less. When I go out, I say hello and that's it. I fear someone will ask questions about my job working for Americans, which could put me in danger. Even if he had no ill will toward me, he might talk and reveal an identifying detail. We're afraid of an enemy among us. Someone we don't know. It's a cancer.

In March, assassinations started in our neighborhood. Early one evening, I was sitting in my garden with my wife when we heard several gunshots. I rushed to the gate to see what was going on, despite my wife's pleas to stay inside. My neighbors told me that gunmen had dropped three men from a car and shot them in the street before driving off. No one dared approach the victims to find out who they were.

The bodies remained there until the next morning. The police or the American military probably picked them up, but I don't know. They simply disappeared.

The sounds of shootings and explosions are now commonplace. We don't know who is shooting whom, or who has been targeted. We don't know why, and we're afraid to ask or help. We too could get shot. Bringing someone to the hospital or to the police is out of the question. Nobody trusts the police, and nobody wants to answer questions.

I feel sad, bitter and frustrated ? sad because a human life is now worth nothing in this country; bitter because people no longer help each other; and frustrated because I can't help either. If I'm targeted one day, I'm sure no one will help me.

I was very happy when my eldest daughter married an American. First, because there was love between them, but also because she would be able to leave Iraq, and I wouldn't have to worry about her safety day after day. She left last year.

If you had asked me a year ago whether I would consider leaving Iraq, I would have said maybe, but without enthusiasm. Now it's a definite yes. Things are going from bad to worse, and I can't see any light at the end of the tunnel.

Four weeks ago, I came home from work. As I reached my street, I saw a man lying in a pool of blood. Someone had covered him with bits of cardboard. This was the best they could do. No one dared move him.

I drove on.

---

What a devastating indictment of American hubris. While we had no business going in the first place, how can we possibly undertake the moral responsibilities we owe the people of this nation by doing no further harm.

Which victors will write the history of this fiasco?

The neocons want democracy everywhere but here.

9.17.06 UPDATE of earlier story: Washington Post Article: Major Problems Feared at Polls. Yep. The neocons want democracy everywhere but here.

We SHOULD be worried.

In Jacksonville, Florida: Practicing for the upcoming November elections? "Accidental" incompetence? Intentional disenfranchisement? Forced choice of "too few ballots" in order to manipulate electronic tallies?

Any way you slice it, it doesn't say much for the people in control of elections in both the state of Florida and Duval County that the polling places in the 'Westside' and Northwest Jacksonville (primarily African-American neighborhoods) were severely shorted when it came to the supply of Democratic ballots. But, hey, they had a major surplus of Republican ballots.

OR (democratic-only) ballot-deprived voters could take a major chance and vote at one of the DIEBOLD electronic machines which have no paper trail, no audits, are completely hackable, and are/were taken home by election officials before and after the elections.

During an interview one worker stated that many polling places were competely out of Democratic primary ballots by noon.

Here's how the local Jacksonville paper, The Times-Union whose editorial pages are to the right of John Birch, described the problem:

Voting difficulties in Northeast Florida ranged from slightly inconvenient to major headaches for some voters in Tuesday's primary election.

Some voters found a precinct without electricity while others found no paper ballots available.

The biggest problem was the shortage of Democratic ballots in predominantly African-American precincts on the city's Westside and in Northwest Jacksonville, said Supervisor of Elections Jerry Holland.

He said the manager of the information technology department inadvertently confused the amount of Democratic and Republican ballots needed at four polling places: Long Branch Senior Center on Franklin Street, Clanzel T. Brown Community Center on Moncrief Road, Emanuel Missionary Baptist Church near Division Street and St. Paul AME Church on New Kings Road.

Poll workers received more Republican ballots than Democratic, Holland said.

Inadvertently my butt. When things happen repeatedly, they start to become a pattern. In point of fact, this is a pattern in our nation -- especially in the South -- which has never completely been rooted out. It's merely ebbed and flowed. I know I've seen a major resurgence since 2001 -- and in Florida that tsunami was especially thanks to wacka-doo Katherine Harris who with the support of the Supreme Fascist Court, annointed Shrub Bush the Royal Holy President. It's been downhill since. But have 'we' the citizens of the United States of America learned any lessons?

No wonder the repugnacons don't want African Americans and democrats to vote (or have paper trails) in Duval County and Northeast Florida:

Duval County Registered Voters as of 09/06/2006 total 534,041 and break down this way:

• Republican: 197,027
• Democrat: 241,605
• Other: 95,409 ( independents in other parts of the country are trending toward the dems but I have no idea what's happening in Florida)
  

From the Voters Rights and Responsibilities provided in Florida Statute; Section 101.031(2):

Voter's Rights

Each registered voter in this state has the right to:

• Vote and have his or her vote accurately counted
• Cast a vote if he or she is in line at the official closing of the polls in that county
• Ask for and receive assistance in voting
• Receive up to two replacement ballots if he or she makes a mistake prior to the ballot being cast
• An explanation if his or her registration is in question
• If his or her registration is in question, cast a provisional ballot
• Written instructions to use when voting, and, upon request, oral instructions in voting from election officers
• Vote free from coercion or intimidation by elections officers or any other person
• Vote on a voting system that is in working condition and that will allow votes to be accurately cast

Well, guess that doesn't apply to African Americans in Duval County -- again, and the loyal opposition isn't very oppositional:

Attorney Reggie Mitchell said he'll have to take election officials at their word about what caused the problem, but it concerns him that some voters left without casting their ballots. He said he's concerned that African-American precincts were affected and he worried that some voters may never have gotten the word that they could return to vote.

Other voters showed up at what they thought was their polling place only to find no poll workers there.

Judy Johnson, on the Northside, said when she turned up at her regular polling place on Dunn Avenue to vote, she found out her precinct had changed to Bethesda Park on Key Haven Boulevard. She said she never received notification of the change and several other voters expressed the same concern.

Holland said his office sent out new voter registration cards, sample ballots with new voting locations and a separate card for those people who live in areas with new polling places. He said there were also advertisements in the newspaper.

But Holland said he can't rule out that some people didn't receive notice of polling place changes.

More incompetence. More excuses. ZERO accountability.

I only hope this latest affront energizes another community that has put up with as much crap from these crackers and geezers than anyone should ever have to tolerate -- historically, much less NOW. The New South is the Old South all over again.

I understand and agree the African-American community has the right and responsibility to analyze and decide the solutions to its own problems while we white folks who stand in solidarity provide support and access to resources where possible. It's not up to me to prescribe or proscribe the 'solutions' but I can stand and work in solidarity (and challenge the ignorance, hate, intolerance, bigotry of other white folks -- and there are more than ample opportunities to do that, especially in the South, indeed, many of them in my own family, unfortunately).

One middle-aged white guy (I won't use the term gentleman) recently told me that there was no more racism in the south, certainly not in Florida -- that "all those people who did that stuff are dead now." We don't have to worry about that anymore. Wow. Wouldn't that be nice?

Like many non-dominant groups and communities (in terms of power, not necessarily population), resistance to oppression manifests in both healthful, proactive, productive ways and also self-destructive ones (in which lack of what Paolo Freire termed 'critical consciousness' usually plays a major role).

I also know -- as Attorney Reggie Mitchell proved above -- that southern culture places a high premium on 'deference to authority' through 'politeness' and 'manners' and imposes a harsh punishment on those who do not defer, especially anyone whose skin is not white, whose bank account is not filled, whose beliefs are not fundamentalist, evangelical christian, whose family is not 'acceptable' -- the list goes on.

Jacksonville, like many impoverished and historically devastated communities, has the highest murder rate in the state of Florida, one of the highest in the country -- escalating rates of murders and violence which occur primarily among and by young african american males. Imagine if we as a nation were now investing $300 billion per month toward uplifting, educating, training, healing, clothing, housing, feeding babies, families, children, moms, dads, the elderly, the ill, infirm, disabled and communities in need instead of figuring out the latest and greatest ways to demolish other human beings. Yes, some people deserve to be in jail or prison; that is a fact. Some people (black white etc) are beyond redemption. Many, however are not. Certainly children do not deserve to be neglected into a life without hope or possibilities.

I also can't imagine an attorney in New York or Los Angeles or Chicago saying he/she would 'accept' whatever the powers that be told him/her about the 'whoopsie' of too few ballots.

Another example of no one holding those in power accountable nor insisting upon transparency: The Duval County 'sample ballot' online seems woefully inadequate, cumbersome and incomplete. They have apparently already removed 'sample' ballots for the September 5 primaries (if they were actually ever there) and the site now shows the 2006 General Election Information for November. However, it's just text from a database -- they don't provide pdfs or images of the actual paper ballot nor digital images of the 'electronic' ones either.

The current 'ballot' is a bare minimum searchable (only by address) database, broken into bits and pieces, not the whole picture, not the whole ballot. It only shows a bare minimum of information for the smallest precinct/geographic information possible; currently only county commissioners. There are no statewide or congressional district candidates provided online. There are no party affiliations. Maybe it's just because the election just took place. I'll concede that possibility.

BUT: Where are all the archives of the paper and electronic ballots -- not just the results -- for the elections that took place not only yesterday but all prior elections? There should be comprehensive archives, a historical trail of solid documentation as any reputable, honest, trustworthy election clerk would attempt to do. The site as a whole is not transparent. Google searches reveal nothing historical or current, for example > a google search for 2004 OR PDF 'did not match any documents.' Not a good sign for a government that is supposed to be 'by and for the people' from my way of thinking.

The system that I am viewing now forces a voter to 'hunt and peck' one tiny chunk of information at a time (again, based on what is online at this moment, perhaps there will be changes soon -- if so, I'll update this). But for now you have to navigate, search, click multiple links to try to find one set of information relevant to your district or precinct if you are a voter. Truly a confusing mishmash.

Additionally, Duval County Election staff (and Florida election officials) can LEGALLY take Diebold electronic voting machines home before and after elections. Voters should have zero confidence in in Jerry Holland, in the Duval County Election Systems and in the state of Florida. Holland and most of the sate of Florida seems to follow the Katherine Harris school of election records. The (republican) legislators in Florida have made sure that voters can be screwed.

Holland's track record of non-disclosure also includes failure to fully notify the public about proposed changes in 'early voting' and local elections:

Changing the date of elections also would affect the candidates, council President Michael Corrigan said. Well-funded candidates probably would not mind, but grass-roots candidates might need that time to mount a campaign.

"You're going to lose 30 days of knocking on doors. That could be the difference in a race," said Corrigan, who is running unopposed for re-election to his District 14 seat this spring.

Linda Whipple, chairwoman of the Duval Democratic Party, said she had not heard about the changes.

"Shame on Mr. Holland for not contacting the two political parties on this and getting our input," she said.

The change could hurt candidates in the first election, she said, but any candidates facing off in the second election would have more time to raise money.

Elections officials defended the changes.

"It's not a matter of convenience. It's a matter of logistics," said Robert Phillips, senior elections officer. "The amount of requirements have changed. The hours in a day have not.

The republican big-tent is a myth. That's a fact that ought to be pretty obvious by now. And you know what? I'll concede: the Democrats, especially those who occupy the rungs at the top haven't been been a whole lot better. And when folks like Ray Nagin support candidates like George Bush (true fact), then you know we're all in a big mess that deserves our focused attention and intentions to make some changes. Time to throw the bums out.

One hopeful note that a serious, real, actual (external) investigation will possibly ensue (and be concluded prior to the November elections):

An attorney for the People for the American Way Foundation traveled from Tallahassee to Jacksonville Tuesday afternoon to investigate the issue. The foundation works to protect the rights of all voters.

But I'm not holding my breath.

Footnote: Today's Diane Rehm show is about the vulnerability, lies and corruptibility of electronic ballots with computer IT expert and professor Aviel Rubin author of "Brave New Ballot" The Battle to Safeguard Democracy in the Age of Electronic Ballots (Morgan Road Books). The author, who has been attacked and threatened repeatedly by Diebold, discusses his 2003 report on serious security flaws in electronic voting machines, the controversy it stirred up, and the state of electronic voting security as elections approach.

primaries elections voting rights voter's rights florida elections Florida florida primary Jacksonville Florida Katherine Harris democrats republicans ballots racism oppression electronic ballots electronic voting Diane Rehm NPR

Ohio Republican Congressman Pleads Guilty: Abramoff DeLay Lobbying Scandal Dominoes Tumbling Down

NYTimes article here; Washington Post here and here.

Bob Ney pleads Guilty , Bob Ney , Bob Ney Ohio , corrupt republicans , Ohio elections , democrats republicans elections

Take Harry Reid....PuhLeeeeeeease! Somebody?

Maybe he's a brilliant strategist. No wait. He's definitely not that, not for the dems as a whole. Maybe he's brilliant when it comes to winning in the state of Nevada. Maybe he can raise funds. Great. Keep him doing that.

But for gawd's sake. Until after the elections: Somebody keep him out of the public eye, off of future news interviews or PR encounters where more than five people will hear him -- like tonight on the News Hour with Jim Lehrer on PBS. Pathetic. Pitiful. Poop-like.

If Reid represents the 'leadership' wing of the Democratic party (and I don't mean Howard dimwit Dean or Nancy pitiful Pelosi!!!!!!! ...if they can't humbly send somebody who is more direct, articulate and 'leader-like' -- Dianne Feinstein anybody? Barbara Boxer? Jack Murtha -- HELLO????????? instead of giving us more of Reid who sounds like a combination of a damn equivocating fearful hazy clueless CPA and typical smarmy snake oil pol ...) OMG!!!!!!

NBC/Wall Street Journal's poll released today indicated that 42% of repondents think it's troubling that the dems don't have a 'plan' to win or change things in Iraq. Only 37% were concerned that the lying sneaking thieving Republicans don't have a plan!

The Dems don't have a plan or a message or a clue apparently.

Just simply more ineptness from the party who can't shoot 'straight' (so-to-speak) or speak like they mean it, or believe what they're saying, or even know what one consistent PRO-ACTIVE leader-like message is -- fricking-A. They no longer know what leadership is. They deserve to lose again if they continue to simply be 'not the republicans.'
I say to both parties: Go to hell. Hurry.

PBS News Hour Jim Lehrer democrats republicans elections senate US Senate senators Harry Reid

Can't Accuse University of Utah of Being a Bunch of Liberal Bleeding Hearts

No sirree! Rules are rules, after all.

Randee Willard, mother of two boys under the age of 3, is learning how to speak, walk and live her life again.

The Daily Utah Chronicle -- the student newspaper at the University of Utah -- not exactly an area of the country known for student activism -- reports in yesterday's paper with this Headline & subhead, followed by the story:

Healthcare catastrophe
U staff member fired after taking time off to recover from brain surgery

Randee Willard, a worker in the University's billing department, who was fired after having brain surgery due to a strict policy that denies health-care benefits and sick leave to new employees.

Diagnosed with a brain tumor four months ago, Willard had to choose between keeping her job and saving her life. After working in the U's billing department for only five months before being diagnosed, she did not qualify for health-care benefits and time off.

The U has a strict policy for new employees, requiring a six-month probationary period to pass before an employee can receive paid vacation and time off, healthcare benefits or request a certain number days off without pay.

When news spread of Willard's condition, fellow employees volunteered to donate their paid-vacation and sick leave so she could take the time she needed to recover.

But because of the strict policy, their requests to help her were denied.

oncerned about being terminated after the surgery, Willard spoke to the U's human resources department, and said employees there reassured her that her position would remain open for her after the surgery.

On June 2, Willard came out of the brain surgery, which was deemed a success, and doctors told her she was well on her way to recovery.

But when doctors removed the tumor, they took out much of the surrounding tissue, cutting out vital parts of Willard's brain. When she woke up, she discovered that she had to learn everything over again.

"Everything I've ever learned is gone," she said.

Willard had previously studied criminal psychology at the College of Eastern Utah, but now had to begin relearning everything, including parts of her past, such as her birthday.

Two weeks into her recovery period, Randee Willard's husband, Casey Willard, received a phone call from her boss-if Randee Willard couldn't come to work the following Monday, her employment at the U would be terminated.

Randee Willard's condition at the time, though, prevented her from going to work, and she was terminated June 20, fewer than three weeks after her brain surgery.

The news was a tremendous blow to her and her family, which depended on her and her husband's incomes to get by.

As a former U employee, Randee Willard was offered a continuation of health coverage known as the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA). The supplementary insurance provides former employees and their families with coverage at group rates. She and her family are currently using COBRA to help cover costs. The drawback, though, is that users typically pay the entire premium themselves, plus administrative fees-102 percent.

Randee Willard's condition requires her to see doctors monthly, in addition to frequent therapy appointments. Money to cover the premiums is thin and assistance from outside sources has been insufficient.

Casey Willard said in a written statement that he feels this is an important moral issue that the U needs to deal with.

"We believe that there is something the university could have done so that we would not be left without Randee's income and family insurance," Casey Willard said.

The U issued a statement that said if Randee Willard would like to return to work for the U, she is welcome to reapply.

The story also stated that Willard faces "the repossession of her truck, eviction from her home and the prospect of filing for bankruptcy."

One more indication of how our post-industrial nation is ever more rapidly becoming a third world nation, having long been in the unique position of being the only industrialized nation without universal health care for its citizens. It's only going to get worse.

Meanwhile, let's see what we can do to help this young woman and her family? I will try to find out where donations can be made on Ms. Willard's behalf. Kudos to the reporter, Natalie Hale; the entire story is here.

University of Utah Employee fired brain surgery Healthcare Crisis Health care Crisis no health insurance Randee Willard University of Utah Employee

George Carlin: "It's called the American Dream because you have to be asleep to believe it."

Tom Toles' Clear Headed Political Cartoon: Bush Ginning up Fear for Elections

Tom Toles' nail-on-the-head cartoon today in the WP.

Obvious to him and everyone else (with a modicum of intelligent comprehension) what is happening. Unfortunately, the dems will probably be caught flat-footed and deer-in-headlights again.

Tom Toles editorial cartoon political cartoons Washington Post primaries elections bush republicans democrats

Florida Determined to Deny Black Voters Access--Again

Practicing for the upcoming November elections? "Accidental" incompetence? Intentional disenfranchisement? Forced choice in order to manipulate electronic tallies?

Any way you slice it, it doesn't say much for the people in control of elections in both the state of Florida and Duval County that the polling places in the 'Westside' and Northwest Jacksonville (primarily African-American neighborhoods) were severely shorted when it came to the supply of Democratic ballots. But, hey, they had a major surplus of Republican ballots.

OR (democratic-only) ballot-deprived voters could take a major chance and vote at one of the DIEBOLD electronic machines which have no paper trail, no audits, are completely hackable, and are/were taken home by election officials before and after the elections.

During an interview one worker stated that many polling places were competely out of Democratic primary ballots by noon.

Here's how the local Jacksonville paper, The Times-Union whose editorial pages are to the right of John Birch, described the problem:

Voting difficulties in Northeast Florida ranged from slightly inconvenient to major headaches for some voters in Tuesday's primary election.

Some voters found a precinct without electricity while others found no paper ballots available.

The biggest problem was the shortage of Democratic ballots in predominantly African-American precincts on the city's Westside and in Northwest Jacksonville, said Supervisor of Elections Jerry Holland.

He said the manager of the information technology department inadvertently confused the amount of Democratic and Republican ballots needed at four polling places: Long Branch Senior Center on Franklin Street, Clanzel T. Brown Community Center on Moncrief Road, Emanuel Missionary Baptist Church near Division Street and St. Paul AME Church on New Kings Road.

Poll workers received more Republican ballots than Democratic, Holland said.

Inadvertently my butt. When things happen repeatedly, they start to become a pattern. In point of fact, this is a pattern in our nation -- especially in the South -- which has never completely been rooted out. It's merely ebbed and flowed. I know I've seen a major resurgence since 2001 -- and in Florida that tsunami was especially thanks to wacka-doo Katherine Harris who with the support of the Supreme Fascist Court, annointed Shrub Bush the Royal Holy President. It's been downhill since. But have 'we' the citizens of the United States of America learned any lessons?

No wonder the repugnacons don't want African Americans and democrats to vote (or have paper trails) in Duval County and Northeast Florida:

Duval County Registered Voters as of 09/06/2006 total 534,041 and break down this way:

• Republican: 197,027
• Democrat: 241,605
• Other: 95,409 ( independents in other parts of the country are trending toward the dems but I have no idea what's happening in Florida)
  

From the Voters Rights and Responsibilities provided in Florida Statute; Section 101.031(2):

Voter's Rights

Each registered voter in this state has the right to:

• Vote and have his or her vote accurately counted
• Cast a vote if he or she is in line at the official closing of the polls in that county
• Ask for and receive assistance in voting
• Receive up to two replacement ballots if he or she makes a mistake prior to the ballot being cast
• An explanation if his or her registration is in question
• If his or her registration is in question, cast a provisional ballot
• Written instructions to use when voting, and, upon request, oral instructions in voting from election officers
• Vote free from coercion or intimidation by elections officers or any other person
• Vote on a voting system that is in working condition and that will allow votes to be accurately cast

Well, guess that doesn't apply to African Americans in Duval County -- again, and the loyal opposition isn't very oppositional:

Attorney Reggie Mitchell said he'll have to take election officials at their word about what caused the problem, but it concerns him that some voters left without casting their ballots. He said he's concerned that African-American precincts were affected and he worried that some voters may never have gotten the word that they could return to vote.

Other voters showed up at what they thought was their polling place only to find no poll workers there.

Judy Johnson, on the Northside, said when she turned up at her regular polling place on Dunn Avenue to vote, she found out her precinct had changed to Bethesda Park on Key Haven Boulevard. She said she never received notification of the change and several other voters expressed the same concern.

Holland said his office sent out new voter registration cards, sample ballots with new voting locations and a separate card for those people who live in areas with new polling places. He said there were also advertisements in the newspaper.

But Holland said he can't rule out that some people didn't receive notice of polling place changes.

More incompetence. More excuses. ZERO accountability.

I only hope this latest affront energizes another community that has put up with as much crap from these crackers and geezers than anyone should ever have to tolerate -- historically, much less NOW. The New South is the Old South all over again.

I understand and agree the African-American community has the right and responsibility to analyze and decide the solutions to its own problems while we white folks who stand in solidarity provide support and access to resources where possible. It's not up to me to prescribe or proscribe the 'solutions' but I can stand and work in solidarity (and challenge the ignorance, hate, intolerance, bigotry of other white folks -- and there are more than ample opportunities to do that, especially in the South, indeed, many of them in my own family, unfortunately).

One middle-aged white guy (I won't use the term gentleman) recently told me that there was no more racism in the south, certainly not in Florida -- that "all those people who did that stuff are dead now." We don't have to worry about that anymore. Wow. Wouldn't that be nice?

Like many non-dominant groups and communities (in terms of power, not necessarily population), resistance to oppression manifests in both healthful, proactive, productive ways and also self-destructive ones (in which lack of what Paolo Freire termed 'critical consciousness' usually plays a major role).

I also know -- as Attorney Reggie Mitchell proved above -- that southern culture places a high premium on 'deference to authority' through 'politeness' and 'manners' and imposes a harsh punishment on those who do not defer, especially anyone whose skin is not white, whose bank account is not filled, whose beliefs are not fundamentalist, evangelical christian, whose family is not 'acceptable' -- the list goes on.

Jacksonville, like many impoverished and historically devastated communities, has the highest murder rate in the state of Florida, one of the highest in the country -- escalating rates of murders and violence which occur primarily among and by young african american males. Imagine if we as a nation were now investing $300 billion per month toward uplifting, educating, training, healing, clothing, housing, feeding babies, families, children, moms, dads, the elderly, the ill, infirm, disabled and communities in need instead of figuring out the latest and greatest ways to demolish other human beings. Yes, some people deserve to be in jail or prison; that is a fact. Some people (black white etc) are beyond redemption. Many, however are not. Certainly children do not deserve to be neglected into a life without hope or possibilities.

I also can't imagine an attorney in New York or Los Angeles or Chicago saying he/she would 'accept' whatever the powers that be told him/her about the 'whoopsie' of too few ballots.

Another example of no one holding those in power accountable nor insisting upon transparency: The Duval County 'sample ballot' online seems woefully inadequate, cumbersome and incomplete. They have apparently already removed 'sample' ballots for the September 5 primaries (if they were actually ever there) and the site now shows the 2006 General Election Information for November. However, it's just text from a database -- they don't provide pdfs or images of the actual paper ballot nor digital images of the 'electronic' ones either.

The current 'ballot' is a bare minimum searchable (only by address) database, broken into bits and pieces, not the whole picture, not the whole ballot. It only shows a bare minimum of information for the smallest precinct/geographic information possible; currently only county commissioners. There are no statewide or congressional district candidates provided online. There are no party affiliations. Maybe it's just because the election just took place. I'll concede that possibility.

BUT: Where are all the archives of the paper and electronic ballots -- not just the results -- for the elections that took place not only yesterday but all prior elections? There should be comprehensive archives, a historical trail of solid documentation as any reputable, honest, trustworthy election clerk would attempt to do. The site as a whole is not transparent. Google searches reveal nothing historical or current, for example > a google search for 2004 OR PDF 'did not match any documents.' Not a good sign for a government that is supposed to be 'by and for the people' from my way of thinking.

The system that I am viewing now forces a voter to 'hunt and peck' one tiny chunk of information at a time (again, based on what is online at this moment, perhaps there will be changes soon -- if so, I'll update this). But for now you have to navigate, search, click multiple links to try to find one set of information relevant to your district or precinct if you are a voter. Truly a confusing mishmash.

Additionally, Duval County Election staff (and Florida election officials) can LEGALLY take Diebold electronic voting machines home before and after elections. Voters should have zero confidence in in Jerry Holland, in the Duval County Election Systems and in the state of Florida. Holland and most of the sate of Florida seems to follow the Katherine Harris school of election records. The (republican) legislators in Florida have made sure that voters can be screwed.

Holland's track record of non-disclosure also includes failure to fully notify the public about proposed changes in 'early voting' and local elections:

Changing the date of elections also would affect the candidates, council President Michael Corrigan said. Well-funded candidates probably would not mind, but grass-roots candidates might need that time to mount a campaign.

"You're going to lose 30 days of knocking on doors. That could be the difference in a race," said Corrigan, who is running unopposed for re-election to his District 14 seat this spring.

Linda Whipple, chairwoman of the Duval Democratic Party, said she had not heard about the changes.

"Shame on Mr. Holland for not contacting the two political parties on this and getting our input," she said.

The change could hurt candidates in the first election, she said, but any candidates facing off in the second election would have more time to raise money.

Elections officials defended the changes.

"It's not a matter of convenience. It's a matter of logistics," said Robert Phillips, senior elections officer. "The amount of requirements have changed. The hours in a day have not.

The republican big-tent is a myth. That's a fact that ought to be pretty obvious by now. And you know what? I'll concede: the Democrats, especially those who occupy the rungs at the top haven't been been a whole lot better. And when folks like Ray Nagin support candidates like George Bush (true fact), then you know we're all in a big mess that deserves our focused attention and intentions to make some changes. Time to throw the bums out.

One hopeful note that a serious, real, actual (external) investigation will possibly ensue (and be concluded prior to the November elections):

An attorney for the People for the American Way Foundation traveled from Tallahassee to Jacksonville Tuesday afternoon to investigate the issue. The foundation works to protect the rights of all voters.

But I'm not holding my breath.

Footnote: Today's Diane Rehm show is about the vulnerability, lies and corruptibility of electronic ballots with computer IT expert and professor Aviel Rubin author of "Brave New Ballot" The Battle to Safeguard Democracy in the Age of Electronic Ballots (Morgan Road Books). The author, who has been attacked and threatened repeatedly by Diebold, discusses his 2003 report on serious security flaws in electronic voting machines, the controversy it stirred up, and the state of electronic voting security as elections approach.

primaries elections voting rights voter's rights florida elections Florida florida primary Jacksonville Florida Katherine Harris democrats republicans ballots racism oppression electronic ballots electronic voting Diane Rehm NPR

Continuing Stenography by Dumbed-down Dumbasses of the USA Press

Great stuff by Joe Conason and David Corn this week with special emphasis on critiquing the bovine-sluglike, spin-regurgitating, crowd following media (see end of post for context, exceptions).

David Corn writes for The Nation about "What Valerie Plame Really Did at the CIA":

Valerie Wilson was no analyst or paper-pusher. She was an operations officer working on a top priority of the Bush Administration. Armitage, Rove and Libby had revealed information about a CIA officer who had searched for proof of the President's case. In doing so, they harmed her career and put at risk operations she had worked on and foreign agents and sources she had handled. ...

Valerie Plame was recruited into the CIA in 1985, straight out of Pennsylvania State University. After two years of training to be a covert case officer, she served a stint on the Greece desk, according to Fred Rustmann, a former CIA official who supervised her then. Next she was posted to Athens and posed as a State Department employee. Her job was to spot and recruit agents for the agency. In the early 1990s, she became what's known as a nonofficial cover officer. NOCs are the most clandestine of the CIA's frontline officers. They do not pretend to work for the US government; they do not have the protection of diplomatic immunity. They might claim to be a businessperson. She told people she was with an energy firm. Her main mission remained the same: to gather agents for the CIA.

Joe Conason writes for the New York Observer in an article entitled "Media Misses the Point On C.I.A. Leak Story":

According to an article published by Mr. Corn in The Nation on Sept. 5, the available evidence also proves that Valerie Wilson was not only a genuine C.I.A. undercover officer, but that she was in charge of agency operations seeking proof of Iraq?s weapons-of-mass-destruction programs. Specifically, she ran the Joint Task Force on Iraq, which was part of the Counterproliferation Division of the C.I.A.?s Directorate of Operations. She worked overseas, including trips to Jordan and other theatres of operations, using a ?nonofficial cover.? By disclosing her identity, the Bush officials ruined her career and endangered the sources and methods she had used in the President?s service. Hubris also suggests strongly that her alleged role in dispatching her husband to Niger has been exaggerated.

All this is quite contrary to the dominant right-wing perspective in Washington. So now we will see whether those who were so thrilled by the Armitage scoop are honest enough to confront more significant and embarrassing facts. But the fundamental issues have not changed.

Rather than confront Mr. Wilson?s accusations directly, the White House went after him and his wife?and then lied about the involvement of its senior officials in disclosing her identity. The perpetrators of these unpatriotic partisan acts have yet to be punished, and the President, as usual, has failed to uphold his own professed ethical standards. It is a simple matter, and yet still too challenging for the national press to understand.

While there are more examples of print journalists (as above) doing excellent critical reporting, the biggest problem is most 'merikuns get their news from TV, not newspapers and other in-depth magazines like the Atlantic Journal. And mainstream media, CNN included, is practically almost total crap.

A couple of exceptions:

• the stunning and amazingly brave, brains + beauty Lara Logan of CBS News, who reported last night on the disturbing resurgence of the Taliban in Afghanistan (and other similar Bush-Rummy-Cheney TOTAL FAILURES in Iraq); and
• David Schuster of NBC and MSNBC whose work is more nuanced, but consistently analytical, balanced, as in-depth as brief on-air reports can be, (and therefore equally exposing and damning of the Repugnacon failures and fiascoes on all levels for anyone with a brain).

Corn's piece in the Nation, here; Conason's here.

Buy David Corn's New Book Hubris: The inside Story of Spin, Scandal, and the Selling of the Iraq War

Buy Joe Conason's book How the Bush Republicans Plan to Destroy Social Security and the Legacy of the New Deal

David Corn Joe Conason Valerie Plame The Nation CIA Spy Lara Logan CBS News NBC MSM Print Media TV News Journalism Journalists

Blogger / blogspot is FULL of coding CRAP

Example of what blogger automatically does to the html code after switching from 'compose' to 'edit html' and vice versa. CLICK to enlarge. They've been aware of the problem for at least a year. This is using firefox. Nope, can't use IE. Using OS X.

Rumsfeld's Nazis

Rumsfeld's Nazis
by FRANK RICH
September 3, 2006
Op-Ed Columnist NY Times

PRESIDENT BUSH came to Washington vowing to be a uniter, not a divider. Well, you win some and you lose some. But there is one member of his administration who has not broken that promise: Donald Rumsfeld. With indefatigable brio, he has long since united Democrats, Republicans, generals and civilians alike in calling for his scalp.

Last week the man who gave us "stuff happens" and "you go to war with the Army you have" outdid himself. In an instantly infamous address to the American Legion, he likened critics of the Iraq debacle to those who "ridiculed or ignored" the rise of the Nazis in the 1930's and tried to appease Hitler. Such Americans, he said, suffer from a "moral or intellectual confusion" and fail to recognize the "new type of fascism" represented by terrorists. Presumably he was not only describing the usual array of "Defeatocrats" but also the first President Bush, who had already been implicitly tarred as an appeaser by Tony Snow last month for failing to knock out Saddam in 1991.

What made Mr. Rumsfeld's speech noteworthy wasn't its toxic effort to impugn the patriotism of administration critics by conflating dissent on Iraq with cut-and-run surrender and incipient treason. That's old news. No, what made Mr. Rumsfeld's performance special was the preview it offered of the ambitious propaganda campaign planned between now and Election Day. An on-the-ropes White House plans to stop at nothing when rewriting its record of defeat (not to be confused with defeatism) in a war that has now lasted longer than America's fight against the actual Nazis in World War II.

Here's how brazen Mr. Rumsfeld was when he invoked Hitler's appeasers to score his cheap points: Since Hitler was photographed warmly shaking Neville Chamberlain's hand at Munich in 1938, the only image that comes close to matching it in epochal obsequiousness is the December 1983 photograph of Mr. Rumsfeld himself in Baghdad, warmly shaking the hand of Saddam Hussein in full fascist regalia. Is the defense secretary so self-deluded that he thought no one would remember a picture so easily Googled on the Web? Or worse, is he just too shameless to care?

All Fascism All the Time

Mr. Rumsfeld didn't go to Baghdad in 1983 to tour the museum. Then a private citizen, he had been dispatched as an emissary by the Reagan administration, which sought to align itself with Iraq in the Iran-Iraq war. Saddam was already a notorious thug. Well before Mr. Rumsfeld's trip, Amnesty International had reported the dictator's use of torture -- "beating, burning, sexual abuse and the infliction of electric shocks" -- on hundreds of political prisoners. Dozens more had been summarily executed or had "disappeared." American intelligence agencies knew that Saddam had used chemical weapons to gas both Iraqi Kurds and Iranians.

According to declassified State Department memos detailing Mr. Rumsfeld's Baghdad meetings, the American visitor never raised the subject of these crimes with his host. (Mr. Rumsfeld has since claimed otherwise, but that is not supported by the documents, which can be viewed online at George Washington University's National Security Archive.) Within a year of his visit, the American mission was accomplished: Iraq and the United States resumed diplomatic relations for the first time since Iraq had severed them in 1967 in protest of American backing of Israel in the Six-Day War.

In his speech last week, Mr. Rumsfeld paraphrased Winston Churchill: Appeasing tyrants is "a bit like feeding a crocodile, hoping it would eat you last." He can quote Churchill all he wants, but if he wants to self-righteously use that argument to smear others, the record shows that Mr. Rumsfeld cozied up to the crocodile of Baghdad as smarmily as anyone. To borrow the defense secretary's own formulation, he suffers from moral confusion about Saddam.

Mr. Rumsfeld also suffers from intellectual confusion about terrorism. He might not have appeased Al Qaeda but he certainly enabled it. Like Chamberlain, he didn't recognize the severity of the looming threat until it was too late. Had he done so, maybe his boss would not have blown off intelligence about imminent Qaeda attacks while on siesta in Crawford.

For further proof, read the address Mr. Rumsfeld gave to Pentagon workers on Sept. 10, 2001 -- a policy manifesto he regarded as sufficiently important, James Bamford reminds us in his book "A Pretext to War," that it was disseminated to the press. "The topic today is an adversary that poses a threat, a serious threat, to the security of the United States of America" is how the defense secretary began. He then went on to explain that this adversary "crushes new ideas" with "brutal consistency" and "disrupts the defense of the United States." It is a foe "more subtle and implacable" than the former Soviet Union, he continued, stronger and larger and "closer to home" than "the last decrepit dictators of the world."

And who might this ominous enemy be? Of that, Mr. Rumsfeld was as certain as he would later be about troop strength in Iraq: "the Pentagon bureaucracy." In love with the sound of his own voice, he blathered on for almost 4,000 words while Mohamed Atta and the 18 other hijackers fanned out to American airports.

Three months later, Mr. Rumsfeld would still be asleep at the switch, as his war command refused to heed the urgent request by American officers on the ground for the additional troops needed to capture Osama bin Laden when he was cornered in Tora Bora. What would follow in Iraq was also more Chamberlain than Churchill. By failing to secure and rebuild the country after the invasion, he created a terrorist haven where none had been before.

That last story is seeping out in ever more incriminating detail, thanks to well-sourced chronicles like "Fiasco," "Cobra II" and "Blood Money," T. Christian Miller's new account of the billions of dollars squandered and stolen in Iraq reconstruction. Still, Americans have notoriously short memories. The White House hopes that by Election Day it can induce amnesia about its failures in the Middle East as deftly as Mr. Rumsfeld (with an assist from John Mark Karr) helped upstage first-anniversary remembrances of Katrina.

One obstacle is that White House allies, not just Democrats, are sounding the alarm about Iraq. In recent weeks, prominent conservatives, some still war supporters and some not, have steadily broached the dread word Vietnam: Chuck Hagel, William F. Buckley Jr. and the columnists Rich Lowry and Max Boot. A George Will column critical of the war so rattled the White House that it had a flunky release a public 2,400-word response notable for its incoherence.

If even some conservatives are making accurate analogies between Vietnam and Iraq, one way for the administration to drown them out is to step up false historical analogies of its own, like Mr. Rumsfeld's. In the past the administration has been big on comparisons between Iraq and the American Revolution -- the defense secretary once likened "the snows of Valley Forge" to "the sandstorms of central Iraq" -- but lately the White House vogue has been for "Islamo-fascism," which it sees as another rhetorical means to retrofit Iraq to the more salable template of World War II.

"Islamo-fascism" certainly sounds more impressive than such tired buzzwords as "Plan for Victory" or "Stay the Course." And it serves as a handy substitute for "As the Iraqis stand up, we'll stand down." That slogan had to be retired abruptly last month after The New York Times reported that violence in Baghdad has statistically increased rather than decreased as American troops handed over responsibilities to Iraqis. Yet the term "Islamo-fascists," like the bygone "evildoers," is less telling as a description of the enemy than as a window into the administration's continued confusion about exactly who the enemy is. As the writer Katha Pollitt asks in The Nation, "Who are the 'Islamo-fascists' in Saudi Arabia -- the current regime or its religious-fanatical opponents?"

Next up is the parade of presidential speeches culminating in what The Washington Post describes as "a whirlwind tour of the Sept. 11 attack sites": All Fascism All the Time. In his opening salvo, delivered on Thursday to the same American Legion convention that cheered Mr. Rumsfeld, Mr. Bush worked in the Nazis and Communists and compared battles in Iraq to Omaha Beach and Guadalcanal. He once more interchanged the terrorists who struck the World Trade Center with car bombers in Baghdad, calling them all part of the same epic "ideological struggle of the 21st century." One more drop in the polls, and he may yet rebrand this mess War of the Worlds.

"Iraq is not overwhelmed by foreign terrorists," said the congressman John Murtha in succinct rebuttal to the president's speech. "It is overwhelmed by Iraqis fighting Iraqis." And with Americans caught in the middle. If we owe anything to those who died on 9/11, it is that we not forget how the administration diverted our blood and treasure from the battle against bin Laden and other stateless Islamic terrorists, fascist or whatever, to this quagmire in a country that did not attack us on 9/11. The number of American dead in Iraq -- now more than 2,600 -- is inexorably approaching the death toll of that Tuesday morning five years ago.

Frank Rich NYTimes Rumsfeld appeasers Rummy Islamo Fascists fascists Bush republicans politics news Saddam Hussein Iraq War Osama Bin Laden 2006 election op-ed writer