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June 29, 2006

Important Metro Meeting Tonight

From Robin Holzer:

What:           Universities line "scoping" meeting -- open house

When:           Thursday, June 29 from 4:00 to 7:00 pm

Where:  Holiday Inn Select, 2712 Southwest Fwy, Houston, 77098.
                Call (713) 739-4018 for more info.
 
Regards,
Robin Holzer
Chair, Citizens' Transportation Coalition
http://ctchouston.org

About CTC: The Citizens' Transportation Coalition is an all-volunteer grassroots transportation advocacy organization. We envision transportation solutions that improve quality of life. Formed in 2004, we are interested in transportation planning issues and opportunities across the 8-county Houston region.

Posted by Lyn Wall at 09:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

June 28, 2006

STATEMENT BY CHRIS BELL ON SUPREME COURT'S TEXAS REDISTRICTING DECISION

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 28, 2006


Contact: Jason Stanford
(512) 482-0216 or jason@chrisbell.com

*STATEMENT BY CHRIS BELL ON SUPREME COURT'S TEXAS REDISTRICTING DECISION *

*//*

"The Supreme Court's decision clearly shows that Rick Perry and Tom
DeLay's actions were blatant violations of the Voting Rights Act and
politically motivated power grabs against the Hispanic voting population
in South Texas. Instead of fixing schools and health care in Texas,
Rick Perry's only accomplishment as Governor was to give Tom DeLay more
power in Washington.

"The Court's decision highlights the need for new leadership in Texas to
bring communities together rather than drive them apart. We must
protect the Voting Rights Act in Texas and the thousands of Hispanic
voters in South Texas specifically targeted by Rick Perry and Tom
DeLay's redistricting plan. I strongly encourage Congress to renew the
Voting Rights Act. It is imperative to protect the voting rights of all
Americans against such unethical power grabs. I challenge Rick Perry to
seek out an immediate remedy to this situation and restore the Voting
Rights Act to South Texans."

This press release is available online at:
http://www.chrisbell.com/releases/062806_redistricting

###

Posted by Lyn Wall at 12:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Catching VanOs Fever: Following the Second Rule of the Democratic Dozen


If you are a Texas Democrat and you have a pulse, you know who David VanOs is. If you have heard him speak, you will never mistake him for any other living Texas Democrat. David commented on one of my postings a while back. In his patented no nonsense style, he insisted that plain spokeness was the only language a Democratic candidate should speak. Not for him this "framing" stuff, etc. Ironically, I think David is a fine "framer", but that is for another discussion. What David does better than anyone now running for us is lead with his values.

.

The purpose of this series of posts on the "Democratic Dozen" is to help you become an army of one, an agent of change wherever you find yourself. We cannot all be David VanOs, but we can all learn something about being agents of change by paying attention to how he does what he does so well.


Recall the second of what I call the Democratic Dozen:

In communicating our message to the general public the 3 most important things to talk about are : values, values and values. The fourth most important things are factoids that rattle their cages.


Here is vintage David :


“It is time to discard the "avoid polarization at all costs" strategy, the "take no risks" strategy, the "appeal to everybody" strategy, and the "chase the middle" strategy. It is time to remember what Jim Hightower told us 20 years ago, that "there's nothin' in the middle of the road but yellow stripes and dead armadillos." It is time to cease the followership strategies of scripting campaigns on the basis of what people thought yesterday in polls, and assert the leadership strategies of campaigning for what we know to be right based on our deepest convictions of what we want for tomorrow. It is time to stop worrying about whom we might offend if we speak truth to power, and start worrying about what value are our lives if we don't speak truth to power. It is time to cherish partisan Democrats and reject nonpartisan Nothingcrats. It is time to forget "right-left" analysis and install "right-wrong" analysis.
It is time to replace the "liberal-conservative" spectrum with the "liberty-tyranny" spectrum. It is time to stop worrying about how to get money from big donors and start worrying about how to get more money into working people's paychecks. It is time to fight for better lives for voters instead of peddle promises to voters. It is time to treat public office as a duty, not a promotion. We must fight for the people, not in order to win their votes, but in order to win
them justice”
David VanOs

There is not one factoid in this key part of David's stump speech. There is not one policy proposal. There is a passionate attack on those who stand for nothing or everything , which is the same thing finally. (Quick review: this was of course rule one of our dozen: stand for something ). It tells us he wants to fight for his values, values he knows we share: justice, prosperity for working people, truth.

Let's link up what he is saying to our new master narrative:


Democrats have a long and strong record of promoting opportunity for everyone by fighting discrimination and injustice. Indeed, whenever average Americans are protected against corporate greed, against the arrogance of wealth , there is a Democrat doing the heavy lifting.

and here:

Now, arrogant elites are again threatening to destroy our heritage of inclusion and fair play, and our community. They want to destroy the ability of our government to protect the common good against greedy and corrupt interests. In fact , a gang of arrogant pointy headed cultist , in love with Big Business have kidnapped our democracy.

Now why is this important?

First, when what is said is seen to be part of a cohesive narrative, of a clear strong story, it is more effective and more memorable.David of course did not take his ideas from my obscure posting. Nevertheless notice how it can all fits together to reinforce the Democratic brand in the hears of the general public.

Secondly, it does not matter if you are David VanOs, or lightseeker or whoever, when you speak you are first judged on who you are perceived to be! In leading with values, you define yourself to your audience.If you are passionate and clear about what you stand for and what you will not fall for, you stand a better chance of being heard and respected.


You cannot persuade if you cannot get people to begin to trust you. We trust people whose values we share. Ironically, as Americans we share many of the same values. So claim those values when you speak. As David puts it so well it is finally not "liberal-conservative" but "right-wrong". We all want justice, even if we don't define it in the same way. Every meaningful conversation starts with some agreements. In this case David asks us to agree with him that justice and prosperity for the average guy are all worth pursuing. Only a Bushbot or Delay Borgette would not find common ground here. These people you write off anyway. It is reasonable persons of good will who are your real audience.

So when the blowhard at the water cooler says " Those illegal immigrants are taking all our jobs and besides they are criminals and terrorists!" how do you respond? You start with you value . "I believe everybody has a right to provide for their family, that the real criminals are fat cats who export our good jobs and spit on our constitution, not the hard working folks who just want to earn their daily bread." Then you hit'em with a factoid: "Did you know , by the way, that the crime rate for immigrants is lower than the national average and as for terrorist, remember that the 9-11 people had overstayed their legal visas, not sneaked across some border."


If the blowhard is a man of good will a conversation will ensue. If not , more vapid sound bytes will spew out. We will speak about how you deal with these in a later posting. To anticipate, your audience are the onlookers, not the hopeless clone before you.

Posted by Murvin Auzenne at 11:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

SCOTUS Redistricting Decision

From CNN:
U.S. Supreme Court overturns part of a Texas congressional map engineered by former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay.

Details below the fold

From MSNBC

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court on Wednesday threw out part of a Texas congressional map engineered by former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, saying some of the new boundaries failed to protect minority voting rights.

The fractured decision was a small victory for Democratic and minority groups who accused Republicans of an unconstitutional power grab in drawing boundaries that booted four Democratic incumbents out of office.

Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, writing for the majority, said Hispanics do not have a chance to elect a candidate of their choosing under the plan.
Story continues below ↓ advertisement

Republicans picked up six Texas congressional seats two years ago, and the court’s ruling does not seriously threaten those gains. Lawmakers, however, will have to adjust boundary lines to address the court’s concerns.

At issue was the shifting of 100,000 Hispanics out of a district represented by a Republican incumbent and into a new, oddly shaped district. Justices had been told that was an unconstitutional racial gerrymander under the Voting Rights Act, which protects minority voting rights.

Republicans had said the new map better reflected the voting patterns of the state and denied that minority voting rights were violated.

The map in question was steered through the Legislature by DeLay, who left Congress June 9 amid legal and ethical troubles, some stemming from the redistricting fight.

The new map gave Texas its first congressional delegation with a Republican majority since Reconstruction. The delegation has 21 Republicans and 11 Democrats. Under the previous boundaries, Democrats dominated 17-15.

Posted by Lyn Wall at 09:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

June 27, 2006

So Who's Wearing the Tin Foil Hat NOW?

Harris County election judges have possession of Hart InterCivic eSlate System Judge's Booth Controllers (JBCs) for up to 72 hours before elections.

Support David Van Os, your Texas Democratic Party Judicial Candidates and James G. Pierre.

For Immediate Release
Tuesday, June 27, 2006

Contact Information:

Scott Schell, Brennan Center for Justice, 917-226-0237
Kafayat Alli-Balogun, Brennan Center for Justice, 212-998-6735


BRENNAN CENTER TASK FORCE SAYS SOFTWARE ATTACKS
POSE REAL DANGER TO ALL ELECTRONIC VOTING MACHINES


Threat of Hacking Can Be Reduced by Simple Countermeasures --
Random Audits of Paper Records; Ban on Wireless Systems


Top Scientists from Government and Private Sector Unanimous in Assessment

WASHINGTON, DC - The Brennan Center Task Force on Voting System Security, an initiative of the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law, today released a report and policy proposals concluding that all three of the nation’s most commonly purchased electronic voting systems are vulnerable to software attacks that could threaten the integrity of a state or national election.

“As electronic voting machines become the norm on Election Day, voters are more and more concerned that these machines are susceptible to fraud,” said Michael Waldman, the Brennan Center’s Executive Director. “In fact, we’ve learned a lot from our study. These machines are vulnerable to attack. That’s the bad news. The good news is that we know how to reduce the risks and the solutions are within reach.”

“I hope that election officials and lawmakers around the country read this report and take a hard look at adopting these policies in time for the 2006 elections,” said Howard A. Schmidt, former White House Cyber Security Advisor and former Chief Security Officer of Microsoft and eBay.

The government and private sector scientists, voting machine experts, and security professionals on the Task Force worked together for more than a year. The members of the non-partisan panel were drawn from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (“NIST”), the Election Assistance Commission (“EAC”), the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories, leading research universities, and include many of the nation’s foremost security experts.

The Task Force surveyed hundreds of election officials around the country; categorized over 120 security threats; and evaluated countermeasures for repelling attacks. The study examined each of the three most commonly purchased electronic voting systems: electronic machines (“DREs”) with – and without – a voter verified paper trail, and precinct-counted optical scan systems (“PCOS”). The report, The Machinery of Democracy: Protecting Elections in an Electronic World, is the first-ever systematic analysis of security vulnerabilities in each of these systems. The report’s findings include:

* All of the most commonly purchased electronic voting systems have significant security and reliability vulnerabilities. All three systems are equally vulnerable to an attack involving the insertion of corrupt software or other software attack programs designed to take over a voting machine.

* Automatic audits, done randomly and transparently, are necessary if paper records are to enhance security. The report called into question basic assumptions of many election officials by finding that the systems in 14 states using voter-verified paper records but doing so without requiring automatic audits are of “questionable security value.”

* Wireless components on voting machines are particularly vulnerable to attack. The report finds that machines with wireless components could be attacked by “virtually any member of the public with some knowledge of software and a simple device with wireless capabilities, such as a PDA.”

* The vast majority of states have not implemented election procedures or countermeasures to detect a software attack even though the most troubling vulnerabilities of each system can be substantially remedied.

Among the countermeasures advocated by the Task Force are routine audits comparing voter verified paper trails to the electronic record; and bans on wireless components in voting machines. Currently only New York and Minnesota ban wireless components on all machines; California bans wireless components only on DRE machines. The Task Force also advocated the use of “parallel testing”: random, Election Day testing of machines under real world conditions. Parallel testing holds its greatest value for detecting software attacks in jurisdictions with paperless electronic machines, since, with those systems, meaningful audits are not an option.

The Task Force’s report was made public today in the Rayburn House Office Building. Congressmen Rush Holt (D-NJ) and Tom Cole (R-OK) praised the report’s findings and called for enactment of H.R. 550, the Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act, the most comprehensive bill before Congress addressing electronic voting security.

Said Lawrence Norden, Chair of the Brennan Center Task Force on Voting System Security: “The Brennan Center is committed to all our policy recommendations shared today with the public and Members of Congress, and we have not taken a position yet on any pending legislation. We’ll be working closely with Mr. Holt, Mr. Cole, and other lawmakers dedicated to protecting our elections.”

“I see this as an historic report because it’s the first time we’ve systematically examined security concerns presented by all of the electronic voting systems in use,” said Professor Ronald Rivest of MIT, a member of the Technical Guidelines Committee of the federal Election Assistance Commission. “The report will be invaluable for any election official grappling with electronic security and, hopefully, will pave the way for widespread adoption of better safeguards.”

Related Documents

* About the Task Force (June 27, 2006)
* The Machinery of Democracy- Executive Summary (June 27, 2006)
* The Machinery of Democracy- Full Report (June 27, 2006)


Press

* USA Today (USA)- Analysis Finds e-Voting Machines Vulnerable (June 27, 2006)
* Reuters (USA)- Study Shows US Electronic Voting Machines Vulnerable (June 27, 2006)

Posted by Aimee Mobley Turney at 06:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Meet Galleria Area Democrats Thursday

Galleria Area Democrats are organizing! Their first meetup is Thursday 6/29 at Magnolia Bar and Grill on Richmond and Fountainview beginning at 6:30.

Scott Brann (candidate for State Rep. Dist. 136) and a representative from Jim Henley's (candidate forUS Rep. Dist. 7) campaign are among the expected attendees.

Posted by Lyn Wall at 10:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Judicial Candidate LTE on Immigration

Randall Kallinen is a candidate for Judge, Criminal District Court District 185 on the Democratic ballot.

Houston Chronicle

Sunday, June 25, 2006
Cooperation of immigrants

Once again, anti-immigrant zealots led by grandstanding politicians are seeking to harm the citizens of Houston with their short-sighted actions.

Let's get two things straight right off the bat — being an undocumented worker in this country is a federal civil violation — not a crime — and many foreign nationals are deported everyday from Houston who have committed crimes. Houston is not a "sanctuary" city.

Houston police depend on the cooperation of undocumented workers to solve crimes against any resident of Houston. Let's simplify things.

Suppose a resident of any Houston neighborhood is carjacked and the only witnesses are the undocumented construction workers building a house nearby. If the workers are in danger of being sent back to their country of origin at great expense and inconvenience, they will likely take an understandable "I saw nothing" attitude. Regardless of who you are, it is in every law-abiding citizen's interest to increase witness cooperation with police anti-crime efforts. Fear and mistrust of police will counteract the good relations the police have built with the immigrant communities in order to solve crimes.

Immigration laws are complex, and the Houston Police Department should not be burdened with the great time and expense of enforcing immigration laws that take away from solving serious crimes. Both Police Chief Hurtt and the police unions agree on these matters. Already many immigrants are likely wondering if they should report crime while the current debate rages.

Let's ask these anti-immigrant proponents if they want the local police enforcing federal civil rights laws, voting rights laws or the Americans with Disabilities Act. Many leading conservatives oppose local law enforcement of federal immigration laws because of the precedent that may be set for local law enforcement to enforce these other federal laws.

Keeping HPD's current policy on questioning about immigration status will protect the citizens of Houston while demonstrating compassion toward your fellow man. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

RANDALL L. KALLINEN president, Houston ACLU

Posted by Lyn Wall at 10:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

The REAL American Story : A master narrative for Progressives?

Here is my shot at our story, the one we can hang all our positions on....








The history of this country is the history of ever wider opportunity , of the progressive expansion of the rights of all Americans to pursue their dream. Democrats have a long and strong record of promoting opportunity for everyone by fighting discrimination and injustice. Indeed, whenever average Americans are protected against corporate greed, against the arrogance of wealth , there is a Democrat doing the heavy lifting.

All the way back to Revolutionary times, there have been arrogant elites who have worked hard to deny oppurtunity to their "inferiors", using the power of government to keep them in their place. Always, progressives have fought the neverending battle to advance fairness and open oppurtunity for all, through free quality public education and the application of the rule of law to all , corporations and individuals alike.

Americans also have a long history of making communities, of recognizing that we are in this together, that invididual achievement is rooted in the resources that only communities can create and maintain. We understand that America is stronger and more secure when her prosperity is widely and fairly shared, when everyone plays by the same rules.

Now, arrogant elites are again threatening to destroy our hertiage of inclusion and fair play, and our community. They want to destroy the ability of our government to protect the common good against greedy and corrupt interests. In fact , a gang of arrogant pointy headed cultist , in love with Big Business have kidnapped our democracy. They have turned more and more public functions over to the rigged , for profit casino of the mutlinational marketplace, with no provision for public accountability. Thye game our elections, sneer at out Constitution , give away our public treasures and then tell us it is for our own good.

The average American is lead to believe that this means more security, a more economic and efficient government. It doesn't. It has come to mean less security and fewer fundamental rights. It has come to mean obscenely increased comfort for the super-rich, and rapidly disappearing oppurtunity for everybody else. Having made their piles, they have now pulled up the ladder of oppurtunity. Living their isolated lives in their gated communities, they neither know nor care that the rest of America, the mothers and fathers and children , the other 99%, must pay the bill for their blindness and greed.

It is up to us to rally our countrymen to oppose this arrogant gang. For they know no limits, have no respects for our traditions of equity or fairness, have compassion only for the corporations. In the last analysis, their country is not America, their country is Wealth and they serve it with every breathe they take, every decision they make and heaven help the rest of us.

Posted by Murvin Auzenne at 12:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

June 26, 2006

It is about more than suppressing black voters.....

It is about more than suppressing black voters.....

The mission that is really being accomplished in the suppression of the vote is part of the larger task: the destruction of Americans democracy.

Crossposted at Texas Kaos .
A friend of mine who belongs to DFH recently wrote this:

This is just another reason why Harris County residents "must" support the election of James G Pierre over Beverly Kauffman as Harris County Clerk (the woman who sold us out to Hart Intercivics---otherwise known as e-Slate voting). Beverly neither believes in
a "voter verified paper audit trail (VVPAT)" because it serves no purpose, in her estimation, and she is a paid consultant and advocate for the Hart Intercivics e-Slate machines, which she travels the country to promote. (Harris County, being the third or fourth largest county in the country, was bought and paid for by Hart Intercivics in the name of Beverly Kauffman.)

Don’t kid yourself. The Republican Party’s decision yesterday to “delay” the renewal of the Voting Rights Act has not a darn thing to do with objections of the Republican’s White Sheets Caucus.

Complaints by a couple of Good Ol’ Boys to legislation has never stopped the GOP leadership from rolling over dissenters.

This is a strategic stall - meant to de-criminalize the Republican Party’s new game of challenging voters of color by the hundreds of thousands.

In the 2004 Presidential race, the GOP ran a massive multi-state, multi-million-dollar operation to challenge the legitimacy of Black, Hispanic and Native-American voters. The methods used broke the law — the Voting Rights Act. And while the Bush Administration’s Civil Rights Division grinned and looked the other way, civil rights lawyers are circling, preparing to sue to stop the violations of the Act before the 2008 race.

Therefore, Republicans have promised to no longer break the law — not by going legit … but by eliminating the law.

And, when Jim Crow poll-tax efforts do not succeed, Republicans can always turn to non-verifiable voting machine vendors such as Hart Intercivics, and then refusing to add their available "voter verifiable paper audit trail" printers, because she (Beverly Kaufman) feels no need to make voters "feel better", or some such nonsense.

Get rid of this itch, as soon as possible!

True democracy must be open, honest and verified by the public. Beverly Kaufman represents none of these! (and has no intention of doing so). She must go if Harris County is ever to have democracy again!

Michael Fleming

We swallow the bile that rises when we read about the latest outrage from the Republican gang that runs America. Voter suppression and election stealing are only two of a thousand indications that the present gang that runs the once "Grand Old Party" are not really in favor of democracy at all. In many ways Rick Perry, John Culberson, and all the other minions of the Republican gang are able to succeed , at least in part, because they are following the same script.

In my darkest moments, I recall the words of another anti-democrat, "We shall destroy democracy with the weapons of democracy." Unless we see voter suppression and the thousand other tatctical details of the Republican Neo-cultists program as part of a overall strategic effort to literally destroy American democracy and its progressive, people centered roots, we will lose not only the battle over the vote, but we will lose our Demcoracy itself. It is all laid out in the writings of the Godfather of the Neo-culists, Leo Strauss. [See here]

Lest we forget, this anti-democratic elitism is not unprecendented in history. Lenin knew this game as well. Talk democracy, create anti-democracy. [ see here]

As for the current Bin Laden crowd, well they don't even pretend to love democracy. [see here], but are perfectly willing to use it to their purposes. The power given to fundamentalist in Algeria in their last free elections ( which lead to the miliary crackdown) stand evidence of this.



In all these cases, the average citizens had or has little working understanding of popular democracy . They literally didnot know what was happening to them.

But this is America. We know what is happening, don't we? Why are there not riots in the streets over the ongoing, relentless efforts to destroy our Democracy, to steal our children's democratic legacy right before our eyes?

The answer is , of course, like all anti-democrats before them, the Neo-Con gang that stole the Republican Party go about the process of destroying democracy with the incremental weapons of democracy. Americans are not immune to these tactics. If they ever were, consider the cumulative impact of the attack on quality public education which has been systematically attacked and gutted by this crowd. Consider also the fate of our mass media turned into the bread and circuses of "reality" programing.

For example, when the Neo-cultists remove rights and privileges from the majority they do so by taking those of the minority , too small in numbers or too unpopular in the public mind to be able to fight back. As for the assualt on civil liberties, recall that the ever widening violation of mass easedropping and wirte tapping , of bank transaction "mining" is always defended by pointing to the threat posed by demonzied minorities . Willing to do anything, say anything, no matter how outrageous or untrue to achieve their ends, these Neo-cultists could teach the other anti-democrats a few new tricks. Upon this altar of corruption, lies and greed they have sacrificed compromise and moderation, the soul of American politics for over 200+ years. Recall Tom DeLay's observation in his "farewell address", itself given outside of the rules :

LINK "It is not the principled partisan, however obnoxious he may seem to his opponents, who degrades our public debate, but the preening, self-styled statesman who elevates compromise to a first principle.

If you have any illusions as to how serious a threat these Neo-cultists are to our America. Consider this observation , again from Mr. Delay:

LINK “Politics is war conducted by other means. In political warfare you do not fight just to prevail in an argument, but to destroy the enemy’s fighting ability…In political wars, the aggressor usually prevails.”

Like other "military leaders" of the past, these "arm chair warriors" have their strategic plan. Their tatics are forever changing, but the strategic goal is not - destroy mass democrcacy replace it with corporativism and elitism . The soundtrack of this ever accelerating revolution is their master narrative, the story they have been insinuating into mainstream culture and politics for 40 years. It goes something like this:


"After an era of decadence and weakness, strong and righteous Americans stood up for right against wrong. Despite the impediment of liberal apologists and appeasers, they defeated totalitarian communism, then turned their attention to releasing Americans from the shackles of big government and restoring respect for the family. Empowering entrepreneurs and liberating citizens, they cut onerous taxes and regulations, enabling Americans to live freer lives. But at every turn they are hindered by powerful liberal elitists who want to take Americans' money, waste it on programs for the lazy and the sinful, banish God from the nation and tell us all how to live our lives. " [from Being Right is Not Enough , page 162-163

Every argument they make, every scheme to undermine democracy is tied back to this story, even voter suppression, even stolen elections. Consider the "arguments" made against voter verified paper audit trail (VVPAT). It is called unnecessary, economically wasteful. As for the voter suppression, well it is only the lazy and the sinful who will be cut of the vote rolls, so what is the problem here? It all seems to make sense, because all of the details are part of a nice, simple story, told over and over again in the mass media, from right wing pulpits and even , most insidiously around the water coolers and dinner tables of America

Whether we like it or not, that simple story is easier to dissiminate than our "truth" especially when our truth is doled out one isolated issue at a time. The time of the average American worker, father, mother is filled with the simple effort to survive in the Social Darwinian state created by the Neo-cultists. They literally have no time nor energy to read blogs or study 10,000 word political manifestos or ponder expert refutations of Republican pseudo-science.



What is to be done? Well many things. One thing is to create and start spreading a counter narrative. I will propose a tenative first draft of such a story in my next post and also talk about how such a tool might be used.

Posted by Murvin Auzenne at 10:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

June 25, 2006

A Few Photos From Yesterday's Pride Festival

Ellen Cohen vs. Martha Wong

This Log Cabin Republican's Shirt Says it All

Democracy for Houston's Booth

Democracy for Houston's Voter Registration Drive


West Houston Democratic Club Banner

Road Women's Float

Dot Nelson-Turnier Getting Ready to March

Posted by Lyn Wall at 10:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack

Sunday Funnies





More ... --->





Posted by Perry Dorrell at 08:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

June 23, 2006

Pride Parade Tomorrow

PRIDE PARADE ENTRY, SPONSORED BY ROAD WOMEN & MONTROSE AREA DEMOCRATS

Saturday, June 24th, 2006
Parade is expected to last from 8:45 -11:00 pm
Parade entry 068

Line up: 1900 block of Kipling, near Hazard and Kipling
Decorate float: 7:00 pm
Line up: All clubs/banners/walkers must be in place no later 7:30 pm
Water: Bring your own!  It will be hot!

IDEA:   You may consider dropping your car off at the disassembly area at the end of the parade route (Lovett & Montrose).  We will be tired after walking!

NOTE:   There will be no place on the float for riders, so all participants must walk the parade route.

Show Your Pride!  The nationally acclaimed Houston Gay Pride Parade is right around the corner.  HCDP is planning a wonderful entry for this fun NIGHT parade! We need volunteers and resources to make this years entry extra special. HCDP will have a walking entry so all Democratic clubs are encouraged to bring their banners, wear their club t-shirts and glow-in-the-dark necklaces, and have a great time. Our entry will be led by energetic cheerleaders in keeping with the parade them of "Say It Out Loud" and followed by a decorated pick-up truck. Our cheerleaders will lead cheers along the route and we'll be throwing Pride Parade approved items to the assembled throng.

We need your help and valuable ideas to make this year's entry a rousing success. If you can help, please contact Marianna Cline, Montrose Area Democrats, at mcline1227@aol.com or (713) 203-7659.  If your club plans to participate, please RSVP to Marianna.  If each of the 40+ clubs sent 3 members to march in the parade, the HCDP entry would include over 120 Democrats!

Immediate needs include:


Bring Mardi Gras beads to throw.   Many thanks to ROADWOMEN for sponsoring the HCDP entry and Montrose Area Democrats and Max Beauregard for sponsoring the float.

Posted by Lyn Wall at 02:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

June 20, 2006

This was done openly and shamelessly...

Support your Judicial Candidates and James G. Pierre, candidate for Harris County Clerk.

If you only read one article on the 2004 election, read this one!

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.: "Was the 2004 Election Stolen?"
"Republicans prevented more than 350,000 voters in Ohio from casting ballots or having their votes counted -- enough to have put John Kerry in the White House."

Rolling Stone
Issue 1002, June 15, 2006
Article: http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/10432334/was_the_2004_election_stolen
Exclusive documents, sources, charts and commentary: http://rollingstone.com/news/story/10463875

Go to Original

Interview: Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
PR Week

Monday 19 June 2006

This month, Rolling Stone ran an investigative feature claiming that Republicans used a systematic combination of voter disenfranchisement and fraud, centered in Ohio, to rob John Kerry of a win in the 2004 presidential election.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an environmental lawyer and son of liberal icon Bobby Kennedy, wrote the article, available, along with supporting research, at rollingstone.com. Kennedy spoke to PRWeek about the story.

PRWeek: How did you come to write this piece?

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.: I had not paid much attention to this issue. And then a number of books came out, and I read them because I [wanted to use them] to interview people on my radio show. And then I read the [Rep. John] Conyers report, [a 2005 Congressional inquiry into the election], and started talking with people in Ohio. And at one point, I said, "Holy cow, this is real." And then I talked to [RS editor] Jann Wenner about it. I encouraged him to do a piece, and he said "We'll print one if you write it."

PRWeek: Tell me about the process of putting the story together - it obviously took a while.

Kennedy: I read the literature out there, and read the articles. Then I interviewed voters in Ohio, and public officials, and people who were involved in the election from all over the country.

PRWeek: Why do you think this wasn't covered heavily by major media directly after the election?

Kennedy: I think the mainstream media took up the Republican echo chamber, and just echoed the right-wing talking points.

PRWeek: Why didn't the Democrats themselves pursue this?

Kennedy: Well, there was a lot of complaining; there were a lot of lawsuits. But it got very little traction in the media. But you know, the Democrats on this issue have been abysmal as well.

PRWeek: Your story wasn't based on any secret information, correct?

Kennedy: No, that's the whole thing. This was not a secret conspiracy. This was done openly and shamelessly. Across Ohio, there were people who did everything they could to stop this.

PRWeek: Have you had any indication that the national media will take another look at this issue?

Kennedy: I had a good indication [June 7]. The New York Times, as its lead editorial, did a piece on [Ohio secretary of state] Kenneth Blackwell's current efforts to suppress registration drives in Ohio. And the Republicans are doing the same thing in Florida, and the Times talked about that, as well.

PRWeek: What reaction have you seen from the general public?

Kennedy: There's a huge reaction. Rolling Stone told me that it's gotten two and a half times as many e-mails [about this article] as it's ever gotten for any other story in its history. So there's a huge appetite for this story.

PRWeek: This story didn't have a 'smoking gun'; was there one person coordinating this entire operation?

Kennedy: There's never going to be 100% certitude that the election was stolen, because the only way you could get that is by recounting the ballots, and the recount was illegally derailed by Republican operatives. The mastermind behind the efforts in Ohio was Kenneth Blackwell, along with ... [Toledo elections official] Bernadette Noe. But on a national level, it's [Republican National Committee chairman] Kenneth Mehlman and Karl Rove.

PRWeek: Have you gotten any reaction from the Republican Party on this?

Kennedy: I've gotten, certainly, reaction in the blogosphere. But most of the reaction has been supportive.

PRWeek: Is there a next step?

Kennedy: I've been meeting with attorneys ... to devise a litigation strategy. And I would say that very soon we'll be announcing lawsuits against some of the individuals and companies involved.

PRWeek: Who exactly would that litigation be targeting?

Kennedy: I wouldn't say, right now.

PRWeek: The election is over. Is it too late now?

Kennedy: There's another election soon. And as the Times [just] reported, the same people are up to the same shenanigans.

Posted by Aimee Mobley Turney at 05:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

June 18, 2006

Senator Feingold "Absolutely Convinced" NSA Spying Program Is Illegal

Having had an initial briefing on the NSA's massive spying program, Sen. Russell Feingold fired off a letter to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and Director of National Intelligence John Negroponte demanding that they "provide additional information to all the members of the Judiciary Committee so that these Senators can adequately evaluate the legislative proposals regarding FISA and the government's domestic surveillance authorities that are on the Committee's agenda." He also stated, "Based on what information has been provided to me, I remain absolutely convinced that the program is illegal."

On Friday, June 23, EFF will argue before a federal district court in San Francisco that their case against AT&T for colloborating with the program should be allowed to proceed. Please consider donating to EFF and help stop the illegal spying.

Posted by Aimee Mobley Turney at 12:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Sunday Funnies (Father's Day edition)





More ... --->





Posted by Perry Dorrell at 07:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

June 17, 2006

EFF Launches New Animation - Stop Hollywood's Corruptibles!

In 2006 the entertainment industry asked the government to give it incredible new powers -- the broadcast flag, digital radio restrictions, and control over all analog-to-digital devices.

But in the future, those super powers will become the Corruptibles, three villains that invade your home, break your devices, and stop legitimate uses. EFF has launched a new Flash animation today that features exclusive, breaking news footage from the future.

Remember, the Corruptibles aren't real, but the powers that they represent could be. Don't let the entertainment industry try this at home. Find out more about the proposed laws and write your representatives now.

You can also watch The Corruptibles on EFF's MySpace page, Google Video, and YouTube. And if you like it, Digg it.

Posted by Aimee Mobley Turney at 06:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

June 16, 2006

David Van Os Sues Secretary of State and County Clerk in Travis County

Download a copy of the petitions filed.

Progressive Populist Caucus Co-Founder and Attorney-General candidate David Van Os followed up on remarks before the General Caucus and, along with Steering Committee Member Sonia Santana, filed a lawsuit to block further unconstitutional use of direct-recording electronic voting machines and procedures. Please read these petitions. They are not long and easy enough for any member to understand.

The machines and procedures immediately in question -- Hart InterCivics, eSlates are the most widely used in Texas. They have been the subject of numerous complaints by PPC members and a few party officials but have not yet become as notorious as machines from Diebold or ES&S, also "certified" by the Secretary of State and involved in recounts and contests in both parties all across Texas.

The recount problems noted in the suit were also the subject of litigation discussed in the General Caucus by Larry Veselka. The unresolved recounts are devastating to Democratic participation and voter morale.

Democrats in Harris County, including Gerry Birnberg, County Chairman, James Goodwille Pierre, candidate for County Clerk, and others have also seen an urgent need for the sort of injunctive relief requested by the plaintiffs.

John Robert BEHRMAN, Executive Vice-Chair of the Progressive Populist Caucus, said, ...

"For me, the most surprising and important aspect of this lawsuit is direct application of our state constitution. Do they even read the constitution up in the capitol any more? "

"The people and parties conduct elections. They are a check, the ultimate peaceful check, on government. The lawmakers' and the bureaucrats' lack of respect for our constitution are a gross insult to both parties and to the people."

"There is no underestimating the gravity of this matter: Some of us send our children to war in order to uphold our constitution. These two-bit peddlers and bureaucrats should not trifle with it, but they have!"

Posted by Sarah Gonzales at 06:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

African-American Voters Scrubbed by Secret GOP Hit List

Support your Texas Judicial Candidates and James G. Pierre, candidate for Harris County Clerk.

African-American Voters Scrubbed by Secret GOP Hit List
by Greg Palast
Democracy Now!

Friday 16 June 2006

Palast, who first reported this story for BBC Television Newsnight (UK) and Democracy Now! (USA), is author of the New York Times bestseller, Armed Madhouse.

The Republican National Committee has a special offer for African-American soldiers: Go to Baghdad, lose your vote.

A confidential campaign directed by GOP party chiefs in October 2004 sought to challenge the ballots of tens of thousands of voters in the last presidential election, virtually all of them cast by residents of Black-majority precincts.

Files from the secret vote-blocking campaign were obtained by BBC Television Newsnight, London. They were attached to emails accidentally sent by Republican operatives to a non-party website.

One group of voters wrongly identified by the Republicans as registering to vote from false addresses: servicemen and women sent overseas.

[Greg Palast's discussion with broadcaster Amy Goodman on the Black soldier purge of 2004.]

Here's how the scheme worked: The RNC mailed these voters letters in envelopes marked, "Do not forward", to be returned to the sender. These letters were mailed to servicemen and women, some stationed overseas, to their US home addresses. The letters then returned to the Bush-Cheney campaign as "undeliverable."

The lists of soldiers of "undeliverable" letters were transmitted from state headquarters, in this case Florida, to the RNC in Washington. The party could then challenge the voters' registration and thereby prevent their absentee ballot being counted.

One target list was comprised exclusively of voters registered at the Jacksonville, Florida, Naval Air Station. Jacksonville is third largest naval installation in the US, best known as home of the Blue Angels fighting squandron.

[See scrub sheet.]

Our team contacted the homes of several on the caging list, such as Randall Prausa, a serviceman, whose wife said he had been ordered overseas.

A soldier returning home in time to vote in November 2004 could also be challenged on the basis of the returned envelope. Soldiers challenged would be required to vote by "provisional" ballot.

Over one million provisional ballots cast in the 2004 race were never counted; over half a million absentee ballots were also rejected. The extraordinary rise in the number of rejected ballots was the result of the widespread multi-state voter challenge campaign by the Republican Party. The operation, of which the purge of Black soldiers was a small part, was the first mass challenge to voting America had seen in two decades.

The BBC obtained several dozen confidential emails sent by the Republican's national Research Director and Deputy Communications chief, Tim Griffin to GOP Florida campaign chairman Brett Doster and other party leaders. Attached were spreadsheets marked, "Caging.xls." Each of these contained several hundred to a few thousand voters and their addresses.

A check of the demographics of the addresses on the "caging lists," as the GOP leaders called them indicated that most were in African-American majority zip codes.

Ion Sanco, the non-partisan elections supervisor of Leon County (Tallahassee) when shown the lists by this reporter said: "The only thing I can think of - African American voters listed like this - these might be individuals that will be challenged if they attempted to vote on Election Day."

These GOP caging lists were obtained by the same BBC team that first exposed the wrongful purge of African-American "felon" voters in 2000 by then-Secretary of State Katherine Harris. Eliminating the voting rights of those voters - 94,000 were targeted - likely caused Al Gore's defeat in that race.

The Republican National Committee in Washington refused our several requests to respond to the BBC discovery. However, in Tallahassee, the Florida Bush campaign's spokespeople offered several explanations for the list.

Joseph Agostini, speaking for the GOP, suggested the lists were of potential donors to the Bush campaign. Oddly, the supposed donor list included residents of the Sulzbacher Center a shelter for homeless families.

Another spokesperson for the Bush campaign, Mindy Tucker Fletcher, ultimately changed the official response, acknowledging that these were voters, "we mailed to, where the letter came back - bad addresses."

The party has refused to say why it would mark soldiers as having "bad addresses" subject to challenge when they had been assigned abroad.

The apparent challenge campaign was not inexpensive. The GOP mailed the letters first class, at a total cost likely exceeding millions of dollars, so that the addresses would be returned to "cage" workers.

"This is not a challenge list," insisted the Republican spokesmistress. However, she modified that assertion by adding, "That's not what it's set up to be."

Setting up such a challenge list would be a crime under federal law. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 outlaws mass challenges of voters where race is a factor in choosing the targeted group.

While the party insisted the lists were not created for the purpose to challenge Black voters, the GOP ultimately offered no other explanation for the mailings. However, Tucker Fletcher asserted Republicans could still employ the list to deny ballots to those they considered suspect voters. When asked if Republicans would use the list to block voters, Tucker Fletcher replied, "Where it's stated in the law, yeah."

It is not possible at this time to determine how many on the potential blacklist were ultimately challenged and lost their vote. Soldiers sending in their ballot from abroad would not know their vote was lost because of a challenge.

--------

For the full story of caging lists and voter purges of 2004, plus the documents, read Greg Palast's New York Times bestseller, Armed Madhouse: Who's Afraid of Osama Wolf?; China Floats Bush Sinks, The Scheme to Steal '08; No Child's Behind Left and Other Dispatches from the Front Lines of the Class War.

Greg Palast in Houston 6/19 at the River Oaks Theater

Sarah Gonzales
Precinct Chair 395, SD7

Posted by Sarah Gonzales at 01:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Security Breaches for 'Sleepover' Voting Machines Used in Busby/Bilbray Race Invalidated, Decertified Their Use in the Election!

Harris County election judges have possession of Hart InterCivic eSlate System Judge's Booth Controllers (JBCs) for up to 72 hours before elections.

Support your Judicial Candidates and James G. Pierre, candidate for Harris County Clerk.

Go to Original
BradBlog.com

Wednesday 14 June 2006

The electronic Diebold voting systems used in the special run-off election last week for California's 50th U.S. House district were effectively 'decertified' and invalidated for use in the election after massive security breaches in the storage of those systems were sanctioned by the San Diego County Registrar of Voters, The BRAD BLOG can now conclude.

Based on the review of several different very specific state and federal requirements, laws and provisions, the unsecured overnight storage of Diebold voting machines and their memory cards in poll workers houses, cars and garages in the days and weeks prior to the closely watched election between Republican Brian Bilbray and Democrat Francine Busby violated several federal and state provisions which, if not followed, would revoke the certification of use for the voting systems in any California election.

In the wake of discussions yesterday with SD County Registrar Mikel Haas, who admitted to The BRAD BLOG that storage in poll workers' cars could not be considered secure, it has now become clear that several violations of certified provisions of use for Diebold voting machines - which have been found and confirmed in the past several months to be highly tamperable by dozens of methods and by the company's own admissions - occurred in last week's race...

When it was discovered last December, after a security examination of Diebold optical scan systems in Leon County, FL, that both op-scan and touch-screen systems made by Diebold could be hacked via their memory cards - due to the presence of so-called "interpreted code" which is banned by federal voting systems standards - both federal and California officials instituted new security requirements concerning their use in elections. The violation of those requirements, as has clearly occurred in the CA-50 race, would effectively nullify their certification for use in the state of California.

Adding fuel to the concerns of the incredibly cavalier statements about the security issues related to this matter by Registrar Haas (read on below) is the fact that just last week, two different elections in an Iowa Republican primary revealed that the popular incumbents - who had both apparently "lost" their races after paper ballots were optically-scanned - had in fact won their races after a subsequent manual hand-count revealed the scanners were programmed incorrectly. Those revelations, along with the details of CA-50 that we have been reporting here, have led non-partisan election watchdog organization VoteTrustUSA to join us in demanding that SD County prove their reported results are accurate by carrying out a full manual hand-count of all paper ballots and "paper trails" in the race.

The National Association of State Elections Directors (NASED) the national body responsible for qualifying voting systems for use on the federal level, issued a warning about the severe tamperability of memory cards back on March 22nd, 2006, after the issue came to light during the December Leon County tests which revealed that exploitation of this vulnerability could be used to flip an election on a Diebold optical scan system. If exploited, the tampering would not be visible to vote tabulation witnesses and no trace of the hack would be left behind save for counting the paper ballots themselves for accuracy.

In another examination by computer security professionals in Emery County, Utah in March, it was discovered that Diebold's touch-screen systems could have their entire election software, operating system and even computer firmware ("BIOS") overwritten in less than two minutes time - no password necessary - should a sing malicious user have unfettered phyiscal access to the system. Such access could then affect every voting machine used across the entire county.

The result of all of this would be that if there had been malicious tampering with these voting systems, no amount of observations of the tabulation would reveal the tampering that had occured inside the machines. Unfortunately, candidate Francine Busby's own statement in regard to this matter, seems to reveal that she is wholly unaware of the incidiousness and invisibility of the points in question here and, as we'll show, the fact that the voting machines, as used in her own election, were in clear violation of the law.

As a blood sample taken at a crime scene and then stored in someone's garage for a week before delivery to the crime lab would be considered "contaminated" on its face - even if there had been no actual tampering to the sample - so must the world's most easily-hackable voting machines be considered as contaminated when such a massive breach of security in the chain of custody has taken place such as sending machines home, unprotected, with poll workers.

In light of the recently discovered concerns about the Diebold systems, the security memo issued by NASED in regard to the vulnerability of the memory cards, states requirements for use of these systems which are quite clear [emphasis ours]:

1. Throughout the life of the voting system, the election official shall maintain control of all memory cards and keep a perpetual chain of custody record for all of the memory cards used with the system. Programmed memory cards shall be stored securely at all times with logged accesses and transfers.

Failure to comply with this addendum negates the voting system's status as a NASED-qualified voting system.

Since NASED-qualification is just one of the many conditions for certification of use of voting machines in California, the failure described above would decertify the systems concurrently on both the federal and California state levels.

As well, the so-called "conditional certification" of Diebold touch-screen systems in California, as issued by Sec. of State Bruce McPherson on February 17th, 2006 also speaks to the memory cards issues. It spells out quite clearly that the "additional security measures" in regard to those memory cards are "conditions for use in the state of California."

If violated, the systems would no longer be approved for use here. Says McPherson's certification:

Any breach of control over a memory card shall require that its contents be zeroed, in the presence of two election officials, before it can be used again.

While speaking with Haas yesterday, he confirmed once again that indeed both Diebold touch-screen and optical-scan systems, containing their programmed memory cards, were sent home with poll workers in the days and weeks prior to the election.

When asked if storage in garages or cars could be considered as "secure," the SD County Registar responded directly: "No. If kept in the car it would not be considered secure. We would advise them not to do that. No."

And yet, The BRAD BLOG has received, and reported on, several correspondences from nearly half a dozen poll workers who have admitted that they did precisely that.

After reading the special NASED and CA requirements to Haas, and asking him for comment on whether he would therefore confirm that sending these voting machines home with poll workers had nullified their certification for use in the election, he quickly changed his tune.

So I challenged him: "But you admitted that storage in cars could not be considered as 'stored securely at all times,' as the NASED requirements demand," I said.

"No, I didn't," he said.

"Yes, you did," I replied. And after reading back to him his exact quote, he wished to modify his statement to say instead that storage in cars "may be secure, but it's not the most secure."

There are further provisions in California state Elections Code (EC 19251) which require that all voting systems not just be certified by NASED before approval for use in CA, but that they also meet all federal Voting Systems Standards. According to that statute, systems may only be certified if "The system has been both certified by Federal Authorites and meets or exceeds the voluntary standards set by the Federal Election Commission."

But Section 1, paragraph 4.2.2 [WORD] of the FEC Voting System Standards of 2002 specifically ban certification for machines which contain the type of "interpreted code" which Diebold has now been forced to admit is present in all of their electronic voting machines.

"Self-modifying, dynamically loaded, or interpreted code is prohibited" says the pertinent part of those standards which should have been reason enough, upon discovery, for all Diebold systems to have their federal certification immediately revoked by NASED and the Election Assistance Commission (EAC).

After initially hiding the code from federal testers, Diebold officials were forced to admit in a letter to the CA Sec. of State, that their voting machines do contain that type of code, making them easily tamperable by hackers who might gain a short time of unsupervised physical access to the machines.

"As part of contemplating the AccuBasic changes to the various voting system components," the Diebold letter admits, "we have internally discussed changes to include removing the interpreters and interpreted code."

We could go on. CA Election Code section 19205 states that the secretary of state must declare in his/her certification that the system being certified is "safe from fraud or manipulation." McPherson was unable to make that declaration in Diebold's touch-screen certification, unlike he has done in certification for other California-qualified voting systems.

When McPherson signed the so-called "conditional certification" for these system, he issued a press release crowing about the security requirements which must be met for use of the Diebold system in the state. (The very security requirements which seem to now have been violated in the CA-50 race.)

The press release quoted Haas himself saying:

"I appreciate Secretary McPherson's leadership in establishing what must be the most comprehensive and rigorous certification process in the nation. To comply with new federal and state laws regarding elections, we need a new and different set of tools and Secretary McPherson made sure we got those tools."

While stating appreciation for those "tools" it seems, based on Haas' actions in carrying out last week's CA-50 election and my subsequent conversations with him yesterday, that he's not all that concerned about actually using those "tools" in his elections.

Without getting too much further into the weeds on this issue for the moment, I'll just mention that Haas confirmed the touch-screen systems themselves were sent out without plastic security seal tape over either the power switch or the secondary external PCMCIA slot. That security breach alone would allow a would-be hacker to completely overwrite the entire system in less than two minutes with any software of their liking - with no password necessary - as revealed by the recent Emery County, UT analysis. (That full report, slightly redacted for security sake, has been published here by BlackBoxVoting.org). We've previously discussed the implications of that report in some detail in relation to the now-questionable CA-50 election.

But not to fear! When I asked Haas if that vulnerability alone might give him reason to be concerned about the integrity of the voting systems he then used in last week's election, he rejected the suggestion.

Since a PCMCIA card can be inserted with the necesssary files into that unsealed slot and the power button turned on (all that's needed to overwrite the software) doesn't that vulnerability trouble you, I asked him.

"I don't know.... I think it's highly improbable," he said.

"Improbable?" I wondered. "I'm not asking if it's probable or not, but if it's possible ..."

His reply blew me away: "I don't think so, because you'd have to want to commit a felony, which knocks out most of our poll workers."

(Pausing here for effect to let you think about that.)

When I mentioned several cases were poll workers recently have been indicted for election fraud, he stated he was unaware of any such cases. I pointed him towards three officials recently indicted in Cuyahoga County, OH and explained the situation to him. He was unphased and seemingly uninterested.

"I'm sure they could stick something in the system ... Whether it's detectable or not, I'm pretty sure that it is. But again, you're tampering with election equipment, so it seems unlikely."

As well, Haas refused to recognize that there are millions, and perhaps billions of dollars, riding on such elections. If you were a poll worker who had a few machines in your garage (and it takes just one to potentially invalidate and/or flip the entire system for an entire county) and you were told, "Hey, why don't you leave your garage door open for a half hour and go get some lunch - could be a million dollars in it for ya." Would you take such an offer?

After explaining how the optical-scan systems can be so easily flipped, without a trace left behind except for actually counting the paper-ballots, Haas flippantly replied, "It's a good thing we're not gonna use optical scan anymore." A cavalier reference to San Diego County's plans to go "all touch-screen" for this November's general election.

His responses during our conversation alone are enough for any sane citizen who gives a damn about democracy to declare "No Confidence" in any election run under such conditions by Registrar of Voters, Mikel Haas.

You can now share your feelings about that with him, and Busby both, via this petition calling for a full manual hand-count of the ballots and paper trails in the CA-50 race.

Posted by Aimee Mobley Turney at 07:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

June 15, 2006

Rove, Jason and Perry



He's baaaack! Like that other monster, Jason of horror movie fame, Karl Rove won't go. Now that he won't be indicted either, we have to deal with him and more importantly his tactics somehow. Let's talk about it.

Crossposted at Texas Kos. Soon to be renamed!


It seems to me that Rove's most recent blast at Kerry and Murta is an example of one of his standard tactics: attack your opponent's strength. The Democrats have been gaining traction on the Iraq War. Make'em defend themselves on this issue. As the one site I found on the Web that addresses Rove's standard strategies puts it he "Link forces his opponent to back away from the very qualities that makes him/her an attractive candidate."

So what should Democrats do? I say take on the issue, and bridge the discussion to what we want to talk about. That is exactly what a Kerry spokesman did when he replied thusly:

LINK "The closest Karl Rove ever came to combat," said Kerry spokesman David Wade, "was these last months spent worrying his cellmates might rough him up in prison. This porcine political operative can't cut and run from the truth any longer."

Wade continued: "When it came to Iraq, this Administration chose to cut and run from sound intelligence and good diplomacy, cut and run from the best military advice, cut and run from their responsibility to give our troops body armor, and in November Americans will cut and run from this Republican Congress."

This response is a model for how we can handle any number of issues, local and national.

Here is why this it is smart. You can't ignore them, be it Rove or Perry or whoever. No matter how outrageous the lie or the accusation, you must answer back and answer quickly. So, you blast back right away, before their venom becomes the standard talking point on a given issue. That they own the air waves and the press is no help. But, in this case you use the press' laziness against it. They love the phony balance of a "he said, she said." story. You become the "she said".

The second lesson you can take from the Kerry reply is this: use their blast to push your agenda. It is call "bridging". [See here]

Notice how the last paragraph of the reply steals their magic words "cut and run" and links them to issues we want to talk about.

Try it yourselves. For example, Here's Perry's blast:

Gov. Rick Perry today signed into law House Bill 1, which provides the largest tax cut in Texas history, a $2000 across-the-board pay raise for teachers, and major education reforms. “I wholeheartedly believe this is one of the most significant legislative accomplishments for Texas in a generation, because it is one of the most significant steps we have ever taken to improve opportunity for the next generation,” Perry said.

Here is a possible reply, had anybody been paying attention:

Rick Perry's idea of a tax cut is to shuffle the tax deck so that local schools get the heat for raising essential revenue to improve our schools. Typically, his idea of governing is to cut taxes and blovinate about it.

If Rick Perry was serious about education, we would have seen new monies for necessary programs, innovative ways to fund music and art and other programs cut for his lack of leadership. We would have seen new ideas for attracting and keeping first rate teachers. Republicans can't govern, all they can do is dismantle the services and public goods the people of Texas desperately need. Be it CHIPS for children or money for education, their answer is always the same - cut taxes, cut fairness, cut opportunity.

Posted by Murvin Auzenne at 03:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Chris Mooney (author of "The Republican War on Science") speaks here June 22


Science has never been more crucial to deciding the political issues facing the country. On a broad array of issues, however, science and scientists have never had less influence with the federal government than today.

In The Republican War on Science, Chris Mooney ties together the disparate strands of the attack on science into a frightening account of our government’s increasing unwillingness to distinguish between legitimate research and ideologically driven pseudoscience.

Thursday, June 22 | 7 p.m. | Emerson Unitarian Church (1900 Bering Drive)

Mooney's evening lecture will expose the religious right’s dangerous War on Science. Come hear how you can help counter attacks against stem cell research, evolution and sex education. This event is free and open to the public. Mooney will be available after the presentation to sign copies of his book.

The 2006 Faith & Freedom Speaker Series brings discussion of important issues at the intersection of culture, religion and politics to communities across Texas. The Texas Freedom Network is pleased to offer all of these evening lectures free of charge.

Posted by Perry Dorrell at 12:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

1960 Sun Article on Chad Khan - Candidate for State Representative District 126

From http://www.hcnonline.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=16788592&BRD=1574&PAG=461&dept_id=532256&rfi=6


Chad Khan, the Democratic candidate for State Representative District 126, says he'll push for lower property taxes, increased funding for public education, and expanded healthcare for children if elected. In addition, he'll get tough on crime and fight for environmental protections.

Advertisement
Khan was guest speaker at the governmental affairs meeting at the Cy-Fair Houston Chamber of Commerce on June 1. The successful businessman has been very adamant about community activism for the last two decades.
The District 126 race pits Khan against Patricia Harless, who defeated John Devine during the Republican primaries in March. Whoever is elected will represent communities throughout the Spring, Cypress, FM 1960 and IH-45 areas.
Khan has developed a strong community presence serving positions in several organizations such as the Homeowners' Association, Harris County Municipal Utility District, Emergency Medical Services Board and positions within local Democratic groups.
When Wal-Mart's distribution routes ran through his subdivision, he was instrumental in helping the company develop an alternative route. As a result, the distribution center donated $25,000 toward neighborhood improvements.
"It's not that people didn't want Wal-Mart," he said. "It's just that they didn't want those trucks in our subdivision. As a voice of my subdivision, I sat down with them and helped find a common ground for everybody."
Khan held a fund-raising reception at Beso Restaurant near Westheimer where Houston City Councilman Ron Green encouraged Khan's supporters to continue the momentum and help to "take back the House."
When Khan first announced his candidacy, Tom Rowan, president of the 1960 Democrats, took it upon himself to learn more about Khan. After a "pretty vigorous screening," Rowan says he concluded that Khan possessed some of the best political abilities of any candidate and that learning more about him on a personal and political level has been rewarding.
"I'm really pleased to see someone with all of that talent," Rowan said. "I think he has the right temperament relating to middle class and wanting to help people. It's a unique talent to have in Harris County, and I will be pleasantly surprised when they elect him as candidate."

Posted by Lyn Wall at 10:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

"Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?" ("Who watches the watchers?")

Three great articles in the latest issue of Bruce Schneier's Crypto-gram Newsletter:

The Value of Privacy

Diebold Doesn't Understand the Security Threat

Aligning Interest with Capability

Support your Judicial Candidates and James G. Pierre, candidate for Harris County Clerk.

"It is the common fate of the indolent to see their rights become a prey to the active. The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance; which condition if he break, servitude is at once the consequence of his crime and the punishment of his guilt." --John Philpot Curran: Speech upon the Right of Election, 1790.

Posted by Aimee Mobley Turney at 07:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

June 14, 2006

Voters File For Injunction To Prevent State Of Texas From Using Unreliable Electronic Election Machines

Many thanks to the efforts of MANY in Texas including the Texas Civil Rights Project, NAACP, David Van Os, Sonia Santana, PPC Vice Chair of Central TX / Austin and several others, an injunction has been filed to prevent the use of electronic voting machines in Texas.

Voters File For Injunction To Prevent State Of Texas From Using Unreliable Electronic Election Machines

Voters, civil rights groups and a statewide candidate filed a petition Wednesday to prevent the State of Texas from using unreliable electronic voting machines in the November elections.

Travis County voter Sonia Santana, the NAACP of Austin, its president, Nelson Linder, also a Travis County voter, and David Van Os, a candidate for attorney general, filed a petition asking the court to enjoin the county from using voting machines that do not produce a paper ballot. The Texas Civil Rights Project represents the plaintiffs.

"Voters deserve the assurance their voices will be heard," said Jim Harrington, director of the Texas Civil Rights Project. "By using machines that provide no permanent record, the state is failing in its constitutional duty to provide the people with an election in which they can tr