LONG DELAYED SON OF REVENGE OF AROUND THE INTERNETS: THE QUICKENING

March 6

LONG DELAYED SON OF REVENGE OF AROUND THE INTERNETS: THE QUICKENING

Here's more minor news on your stolen election front. Turns out that there were more than 300000 voters purged from the rolls in Ohio in the 2004 presidential election...would you like to guess where? Go ahead I dare you. Yes, that's right. Democratic Party strongholds. I know. Shocking. Holding my breath here waiting for the Democrats to make an issue of this. That's what a real opposition party would do by the way. Just sayin'. Take it away Bob and Harvey:

It turns out, we missed more than a few of the dirty tricks Karl Rove, Ken Blackwell and their GOP used to get themselves four more years. In an election won with death by a thousand cuts, some that are still hidden go very deep. Over the next few weeks we will list them as they are verified.

One of them has just surfaced to the staggering tune of 175,000 purged voters in Cuyahoga County (Cleveland), the traditional stronghold of the Ohio Democratic Party. An additional 10,000 that registered to vote there for the 2004 election were lost due to "clerical error."

As we reported more than a year ago, some 133,000 voters were purged from the registration rolls in Hamilton County (Cincinnati) and Lucas County (Toledo) between 2000 and 2004. The 105,000 from Cincinnati and 28,000 from Toledo exceeded Bush's official alleged margin of victory---just under 119,000 votes out of some 5.6 million the Republican Secretary of State. J. Kenneth Blackwell, deemed worth counting.

Exit polls flashed worldwide on CNN at 12:20 am Wednesday morning, November 3, showed John Kerry winning Ohio by 4.2% of the popular vote, probably about 250,000 votes. We believe this is an accurate reflection of what really happened here.

Wait, there's more:

Ohio election history would indicate that the elimination of 175,000 voters in heavily Democratic Cleveland must almost certainly spell doom for any state-wide Democratic campaign. These 175,000 pre-2004 election eliminations must now be added to the 105,000 from Cincinnati and the 28,000 from Toledo.

Therefore, to put it simply: at least 308,000 voters, most of them likely Democrats, were eliminated from the registration rolls prior to an election allegedly won by less than 119,000 votes, where more than 106,000 votes still remain uncounted, and where the GOP Secretary of State continues to successfully fight off a meaningful recount.

There are more than 80 other Ohio counties where additional pre-November, 2004 mass eliminations by GOP-controlled boards of elections may have occurred. Further "anomalies" in the Ohio 2004 vote count continue to surface.

In addition, it seems evident that the Democratic Party will now enter Ohio's 2006 gubernatorial and US Senate races, and its 2008 presidential contest, with close to a half-million voters having been eliminated from the registration rolls, the vast majority of them from traditional Democratic strongholds, and with serious legislative barriers having been erected against new voter registration drives.

Stay tuned.

Stay tuned for what exactly? I wish this was a show I could turn off but I can't...Horrifying.

And now for some links I can't comment more about because my undisclosed location is about to close:

Steven Barnes, one of the world's most dangerous men and prolific science fiction writer, has a new blog out. (I highly recommend his novels Lion's Blood and Charisma...)

Philly kids build incredible soybean based car. Love this quote on why Big Auto can't do what they did:

"We made this work," says Hauger. "We're not geniuses. So why aren't they doing it?"

Kosi thinks he knows why. The answer, he says, is the big oil companies.

"They're making billions upon billions of dollars," he says. "And when this car sells, that'll go down — to low billions upon billions."

Interesting Article on Self Publishing
Interesting Online Video Viewer
Very Good Robot Blog That I'll be Permalinking Soon
This is old, but this Dean Kamen idea sounds a lot better than the Segway. It looks like he's building a water purifier and a cheap energy device. Could use that here in the states by the way.
The most beautiful computer generated girls in the world...And as computing power increases they're looking better. They seem to express levels of emotion.
Nice roundup of battery advances by Worldchanging.
Rob, now that he's retired I guess, is giving Wordsmith a run as most literate, wideranging Pittsburgh blogger. Look at how vast and deep his quick links are.

It's A Conspiracy...Those Fiends!

March 5

Sorry for the long delay in posts. My cable modem and cable, and subsequently my cable phone service went out about four days ago. I now post from an undisclosed location. If I was the paranoid type then I might assume it had something to do with this, but only if it happens a third or fourth time. I'm just like the Democratic Party: You'll have to steal three or four presidential elections to get my attention. And just for the record: Preznit Bush: still worse president, ever. Iraq War: still monumental folly and as ethically sound as invading Poland. And: if you can't change the direction of the US by way of the ballot and nonviolence, then you need to ask if methods of violence would achieve the ends you're looking for. I kind of like the sound of "systems disruption" myself. You would be killing "things" as opposed to people. Come and get me coppers...Update: Now my archive site, Mirror Universe, is showing an error message. Yet another coincidence no doubt...fiends.

Octavia Butler Obit of Sorts

Feb. 27

Science fiction writer Octavia Butler passed away several days ago. She was prominent because she was one of the few black women who wrote and published science fiction. I regret that I didn't read a lot of her work even though I enjoyed the one novella of hers that I had read. You can find more of a wrap up at Boing Boing. She was also featured a few months ago on Democracy Now, probably her last interview. Check out these quotes from her work. Sounds like someone we know who really is buying the rope to hang ourselves so to speak...Here's the late Ms. Butler:

OCTAVIA BUTLER: I'm going to read a verse or two. And keep in mind these were written early in the 1990s. But I think they apply forever, actually. This first one, I have a character in the books who is, well, someone who is taking the country fascist and who manages to get elected President and, who oddly enough, comes from Texas. And here is one of the things that my character is inspired to write about, this sort of situation. She says:

"Choose your leaders with wisdom and forethought. To be led by a coward is to be controlled by all that the coward fears. To be led by a fool is to be led by the opportunists who control the fool. To be led by a thief is to offer up your most precious treasures to be stolen. To be led by a liar is to ask to be lied to. To be led by a tyrant is to sell yourself and those you love into slavery." (Ed: Reminds me of someone..)

And there's one other that I thought I should read, because I see it happening so much. I got the idea for it when I heard someone answer a political question with a political slogan. And he didn't seem to realize that he was quoting somebody. He seemed to have thought that he had a creative thought there. And I wrote this verse:

"Beware, all too often we say what we hear others say. We think what we are told that we think. We see what we are permitted to see. Worse, we see what we are told that we see. Repetition and pride are the keys to this. To hear and to see even an obvious lie again and again and again, maybe to say it almost by reflex, and then to defend it because we have said it, and at last to embrace it because we've defended it."

AMY GOODMAN: On that note we'll have to leave it there, but we'll continue it online at Democracy Now.org. Octavia Butler.

Speaking of Democracy Now, if you want to depress yourself check out today's and Friday's episodes. It really is as bad as you think.

The Atheist Frederick Douglas, the Kathy Dopp Challenge and Miracle Fuel Source

Feb. 22

Copped freely from Doc Menlo: Atheist Pinups.. Frederick Douglas, a badass in any time, (where's the biopic with Morgan Freeman doing the stirring voiceover: "And one day I got tired of them beatings and I raised my strong black hand against the white slavemaster and I beat him down like the dawg he was. Hit him again and again. My fist turned into a bloody, scabby goo. And it was good. Kicked his cracker ass 500 yards. Why, that's the length of five football fields.."...Spike, what have you been doing lately...) was also an outspoken Atheist. Here's some quotes:

I prayed for twenty years but received no answer until I prayed with my legs.
-- Frederick Douglass (He Was An Escaped Slave)

"I assert most unhesitatingly, that the religion of the South is a mere covering for the most horrid crimes-- a justifier of the most appalling barbarity, a sanctifier of the most hateful frauds, and a dark shelter under which the darkest, foulest, grossest, and most infernal deeds of slaveholders find the strongest protection. Where I to be again reduced to the chains of slavery, next to that enslavement, I should regard being the slave of a religious master the greatest calamity that could befall me...I...hate the corrupt, slaveholding, women-whipping, cradle-plundering, partial and hypocritical Christianity of this land."
[Frederick Douglass, "After the Escape"]

"Once, in a heated controversy over the wisdom of giving the
Bible to slaves, he asserted that it would be 'infinitely
better to send them a pocket compass and a pistol.'"
[Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass]

This just in! Breakin' news on your stolen election front! Covered here first! Because the corporate media doesn't think this stolen presidential thing is all that important despite unrebuted books here, here and here....That's life in your fucked up excuse for a Democracy. So, here's the scoop from Kathy Dopp, originally covered here and only here, in the Free Press. She's pretty certain that she can prove, with this thing that they call "Math", that the votes were altered in Ohio.

In June 2005 The Election Science Institute (ESI) and pollster Mitofsky issued a paper “Ohio 2004 Exit Polls: Explaining the Discrepancy” which asserts that an exit poll error explanation “is much more likely than the fraud accusation theory to account for most, if not all, of the observed discrepancy between the exit polls and the actual results.” Precinct-level exit poll data released with ESI’s report shows that the overall average discrepancy between Ohio’s exit poll and certified vote count margins between Kerry and Bush was 11.7 percentage points. However, In October, 2005, the National Election Archive released a paper which gives counterexamples to show that the Election Science Institute’s analysis is based on an invalid premise. On January 17, 2006 the National Election Archive released its own scientific Ohio exit poll discrepancy analysis, “The Gun Is Smoking: 2004 Ohio Precinct-level Exit Poll Data Show Virtually Irrefutable Evidence of Vote Miscount” . This analysis concludes that Ohio’s exit poll discrepancy pattern is consistent with outcome-altering errors in vote counts.

Two things are certain in this controversy about U.S. exit poll accuracy:
1. The Election Science Institute and the National Election Archive cannot both be correct, and
2. Any university mathematics department in America could evaluate the two conflicting studies and decide which analysis is mathematically correct.

The National Election Archive challenges every journalist interested in discovering if outcome-altering vote miscounts or exit poll error is the more probable cause of Ohio’s exit poll discrepancy; to help resolve this critical question. The answer may make the difference as to whether Americans take steps to ensure vote count accuracy in future elections or not. The National Election Archive urges the National Election Pool media consortium to accept this “math challenge” by sharing these two conflicting election studies with mathematics faculty at any university to determine which analysis is mathematically correct.

http://electionarchive.org/ucvAnalysis/OH/Ohio-Exit-Polls-2004.pdf and http://electionscience.org/reports/view_reports.org

http://electionscience.org/Members/stevenhertzberg/report. 2005-07-19.7420722886/report_contents_file/

The survival of democracy and the future of our civilization may depend on taking steps to ensure the accuracy of elections. As the Election Science Institute said, “The public has a right to know exactly how elections work and to verify for themselves that the voting and the counting is done right.”

If this is true, then this would mean that we didn't have to kill 30000 to 100000 Iraqis for their oil, or plunge that country into a possible civil war (which, if the United States was Kissinger evil, we would like because that weakens the Iraqi resistance overall. Leaves us free and clear to steal their oil. Which is great. If you're evil that is...Know who you are.) which will kill thousands more.

Here's an excerpt from this big solar story:

In a scientific breakthrough that has stunned the world, a team of South African scientists has developed a revolutionary new, highly efficient solar power technology that will enable homes to obtain all their electricity from the sun.

This means high electricity bills and frequent power failures could soon be a thing of the past.

The unique South African-developed solar panels will make it possible for houses to become completely self-sufficient for energy supplies.

The panels are able to generate enough energy to run stoves, geysers, lights, TVs, fridges, computers - in short all the mod-cons of the modern house.

Nothing else comes close to the effectiveness of the SA invention

The new technology should be available in South Africa within a year and through a special converter, energy can be fed directly into the wiring of existing houses. New powerful storage units will allow energy storage to meet demands even in winter. The panels are so efficient they can operate through a Cape Town winter. while direct sunlight is ideal for high-energy generation, other daytime light also generates energy via the panels.

One of the things that always annoyed me about the USS Clueless crowd who insisted that you could never replace delicious tasty oil is they refused to think scientists could come up with something better. We live in an age when half the world is science fictional. Of course, you could do better if you wanted to. And, now, as the rest of the world watches as the US tries to put a noose around the energy supply they're not just going to watch. They're going to do something better and smarter. Then there's the problem with the noose...Gee, I sure hope these devices are legal in the United States. Where's my copy of the Water Engine...?

By the way, I ran this by Randall Parker (see comment 22 or thereabouts) of the pro nuke not sure about global warming crowd but knowledgeable, and he wasn't able to punch holes in this story. So I'm feeling hopeful...

Cheney Pictures and Talented Internets Artist

Feb. 16

Item: Two Good Cheney Pics, from 2 Political Junkies and Steve Gilliard respectively:

The second pic alludes to what may be the more serious scandal: Scooter Libby is squealing like those really really guilty and oddly self-incrimination prone perps in every episode I've ever seen on Law and Order: Criminal Intent. Actually, I kind of have an off opinion about the stop snitchin' trend in the black community. If its clear that the main plan they have for black citizens is imprisonment for nonviolent offenses (it certainly isn't massive investment in the public schools), then I don't have a problem with it. Its silly to keep playing by the rules when the game is stacked against you. I mean, if you're a black person who shoots another person then I'll guess I'll snitch. But if its drugs like grass or dvds, I see nothin'. I'm just like a Republican looking at all those Gitmo pics: nothing to see here move along. If there was a real black press that spoke with one voice, then Jury Nullification would be a more popular concept. And no Oprah doesn't count as the black press, or at least a conscious one.

Item: Speaking of Oprah, I see that the Boondocks characters tried to kidnap her last week. The Boondocks, while uneven, is one of the most interesting shows on television. So, of course, Al Sharpton wants to kill the show, written and conceived by one of the most interesting black writers in the country. Meanwhile, he's still silent about Soul Plane, worst movie ever...Fuckin' idiot. Personally, I don't think he's mad about the depiction of MLK (best episode so far..he even threw in an alt timeline riff.) but the line about "hustlin preachers" He should know...If you ever wanted to know what was wrong with black leadership...And watch the Boondocks...

Item: Really talented artist I discovered on the Internets...

Older Depressing Piece I Wrote About Why the Democratic Party Doesn't Fight

Feb. 14

I wrote this about five years ago. It answers a question I've long had: why doesn't the Democratic Party fight for its base?

5-6-01

Months after the coup, I’m still debating the merits of the Ralph Nader presidential run. On the Ralph screwed us big time side is Katha Pollitt at the Nation and Todd Gitlin and Sean Wilentz at Dissent. On the other side supporting Saint Ralph is Mike Moore and Ellen Willis over at Dissent. (Dissent, allegedly a “left” outfit, makes it very difficult for me to link directly to the very fine Gitlin/Wilentz vs. Willis debate over there. So you have to go to the main page and search it out for yourselves.) Personally, I took a pragmatic view and voted for Gore, although I’m a huge Nader fan and in fact probably owe him my life in that I have survived a number of car crashes and breathe much better without second hand smoke.

After reading through all the briefs I have come to the conclusion that perhaps there was merit to the Nader run. Willis points out that as a leftist I’m playing a losing game that I have to watch being played in front of my horrified eyes. She makes the point that when the Republicans win, they fight relentlessly and ruthlessly for their loathsome, swinelike base. That, by the way, makes tactical sense. You want to give your base a reason to go to the polls. Where, during the long eight year reign of the DLC Clintonistas the left got nothing or we got stuff that we really didn’t want. He didn’t even do little things like fully funding public television. We got welfare reform, aspiring trillionaires and NAFTA, which might as well be called a corporation rights bill. I might add that all of these things undermine the Democratic Party base. Clinton didn’t even fight for the courts. We’ve seen where that led us. Tactically, this makes no sense. Why would you pursue policies that undermines your base? But there’s a point in the Willis argument that sheds some light on this where she states:

“Conservative Republicans hang together, stand up for their beliefs, and police the “moderates” in their ranks, while the Democrats’ every impulse is toward compromise and appeasement. If anything, their behavior suggests that they are threatened by the potential power of such mass constituencies as labor, blacks, and women, and would rather lose than risk unleashing it.”

This brings up a point that no one has thought about or at least brought up in public, but that someone should bring up: If you were a white man and you represented a party whose constituency represented parties that for better or worse believed in a future that lessens the power of the white man, would you enthusiastically support that party? Especially if it turns out that your opposition party foes are for the white man’s privilege, the whole white man’s privilege and nothing but the white man’s privilege. You might say that you’re open minded about sharing power consciously, but what about unconsciously? Maybe, secretly, you really want the other side to win.

Right now, the last remnants of the Great Society are in the hands of the 50 or so Dem senators, many of whom like Breaux and Miller seem to be Republicans in drag, in the US Senate. So far, they haven’t used the filibuster once. If the situation was reversed, the Republicans would be using their filibuster powers every, oh, four seconds or so. I can only conclude, being that they’ve totally “bought” into the Tony Coelho We Can Be Republicans To Big Money mantra, that they want the other side to win. Let’s give Bush a big tax cut. Let’s rollover on those judges. I think Willis uses the word “supine”. How appropriate. (Actually, the Dems haven’t rolled over just yet. I sure hope they get some spine…)

Yet another salient point that Willis brings up is that we’re kind of in a no-win situation. We lose slowly with Gore and quicker with Bush. And even though I agree with many of the practical points put forth by Gitlin/Wilentz everything revolves around globalization, which Gore supports. He would have been better than Bush on many issues, but economically those trade agreements undermine the union base, arguably the most powerful arm of the Dems, and everything else we stand for. Again, why do that unless you want the other side to win.

Just to add to that, I might point out that it’s the structure of the winner take all system that makes any kind of progressive change almost impossible. The lack of a progressive, left-wing media makes this difficult as well. Part of the problem revolves around the conundrum presented by the old Orwell quote: “They can’t be conscious until they’re free and they can’t be free until they’re conscious.” Likewise, we can’t have freedom until we have modern working democratic institutions, but you can’t have working democratic institutions until you have freedom. I don’t see how we win the puzzle.

Frankly, I don’t think the left will win in the United States. In fact, we might not even win on Earth. That’s why I think I’m the only leftist on Earth who is not only pro technology, but pro space exploration. Instead of playing this game on Earth, where the Casino has decided for us to lose, we should think about playing some new games here, in either artificially created nations like Sealand or offworld. My personal preference is Mars. More on this when I finally complete A Left Argument for Technology.

Feb. 9

Toon from Bill Boichel and Initial Reaction to the Film Kinsey

Feb. 9

Revenge of Around the Internets

Item: Bill Boichel, a man who should be forced by some merciless Kafkaesque regime (or the United States) to blog, sent me this cool toon:

Item: Here's some animation that features the late Seth Fisher's work in Will World. Here's Seth's personal web page by the way..

Item: Evil Telcos Want To End Internets As We Know Them. Or turn Internets into that high quality commodity known as "Cable". This would screw Google, but Google can fight back, and it should, by becoming a telco themselves, or so I prays to the all powerful flying spaghetti monster (the one true God or else) in my mind...

Item: Comparison between South Africa and Israel... Related: The difference between anti-semitism and anti-zionism.

Item: I will be permalinking the science activist.

Item: I can't stop thinking about Million Dollar Baby....probably because HBO keeps rerunning it every hour or so. Here's one guy's depressing assessment of the gal's fight game. I actually disagree with him. I've seen some very skilled female fighters. They used to show female fighters every week on some off off cable channel I used to get. No more. Actually, I think women should skip boxing and go right toward mixed martial arts...which, in theory, would allow them to compete with men...

(Also was very impressed with the film Kinsey, a man who didn't just run the company but was a client.... More on that later when I have time....)

Eulogy (of a sort) For Seth Fisher

Feb. 3

Item: I wrote a review for Locus Online where I gave Seth some outrageous praise. I stand by what I wrote.

Green Lantern: Will World
Writer: J.M. DeMatteis
Artist: Seth Fisher
Price: $24.95
Publisher: DC Comics, ISBN Number: 1-56389-782-2

Now if you’re looking for a comic that’s worth 25 dollars, then I highly recommend picking up the Green Lantern graphic novel Will World.

The story involves a spectacularly surreal rite of passage that Green Lanterns (Hal Jordan here) have to go through in order to more effectively wield the power of the ring. He also recites the Alfred Bester penned Green Lantern oath at least once or twice. But the star of this show isn’t the story but the incredible pencils of Seth Fisher. The only thing I might compare it to is that New York gallery level Dr. Strange annual that P. Craig Russell drew those many years ago. There are out and out homages/thefts of Man Ray, Escher, Magritte and Dali that burst from the page, not to mention the continuous suggestive ooze of Bill Plympton's animated mutations. It features a squealing zoo of bizarre images, such as: Giant Floating Heads, tiny people, people with six arms, flying carpets, flying saucers, architecture gone mad (Indian palaces mixed in with future organic skyscrapers mixed with Chinese houses standing beside a rundown tenement building, etc.) pipe smoking gorillas, zeppelins and of course Alien Grays. It has just a small touch of Moebius dappled with the sensibility of the Beatles Yellow Submarine Cartoon. It’s the kind of thing that would make Windsor McKay fume with jealous anger. And that’s just the first splash spread on pages 8 and 9 of this 96 page epic.

Stunning stuff. Not unlike walking through a living, acid tinged dream. I mean, I don’t do drugs, but there are times when you’re reading or listening to something where you get the faint sense that you’re missing out by not being under the influence of, well, something. Every panel screams jarring and disorienting: a floating pixie here, giant levitating heads, a Joker card that features the Joker, towering 20 story clowns with lamprey-like arms, not to mention Green Lantern’s head occasionally exploding into figures of people or a great twisted swirling cacophony of alien faces and organic vinelike strands…

Highly recommended. In fact, when computer pundit Robert Cringley's predicted cheap foldable plastic displays are a reality, this is the kind of art that I’d like to upload on my walls.

(On hold) This week (or weeks) we celebrate the work V for Vendetta. Here's an explanation of the very complicated comic..

Why Was Atrios Surprised When Casey Backed Alito (Jan. 26)

Jan. 26

Item: I guess I should be shocked that Bob Jr. backs Alito, even though as Atrios points out he really didn't have to. And I see that Fast Eddie has given me a reason to not vote for him as well. Actually, Atrios makes kind of a funny point: he would have preferred that Bob Jr. lie to him and then sell him out later in the Senate. I mean, you didn't see this coming? Of course, if the leaders of Pennsylvania's labor movement are pro life then these are good positions all around for the Powers That Be. Then there's my Crazy Conspiracy Theory that Jewish American Democrats have sold out the party for Israel. If you were Jewish, as Schumer and Rendell are, and you wanted to reward the Republicans for murdering for Israel, then rolling over on judges and supporting either a weak nominee against Santorum (or someone with very little differences with him) might be something that you would do. Of course, I'm hoping that's just a crazy conspiracy theory. My eyes and head are telling me something else.

I might also note that if the courts are ruined then I have very little reason to vote Democrat. If you guys are just going to roll over on Bork II then there's very little reason to keep working for or with you guys. I'm kind of glad ACT is out of business right now. I can't imagine registering voters for Bob Casey Jr., Christ. I might also note that half the population (or gals) will be extremely angry about being transported to 12th century Iran. And it won't just be abortion, it will be contraception as well. Those crazy fuckin' theocrats...we need science heroes and we need them now.

Item: If you're looking at the future of American Civil Liberties under Alito, then please check out this comic by Joe Sacco.

Item: Yet another note for Atrios: if you really wanted to rebel against Bob Casey Jr., then you would tell your zillions of readers to give money to Chuck Penn's candidacy. He just doesn't need a lot of money to be competitive against Casey Jr., but he needs some. Atrios could help.

Item: I’m adding Technovelgy, Truthdig and Steve Gilliard to the links and plan a full link overhaul when I get some time.

Test Post

Test post.

And now for something completely different: The Get Your War On Players.

And now for something completely different: The Get Your War On Players.

Item: Well, I'm certainly very frightened about our government trying to access our Google records. I see that Yahoo and Microsoft have already turned me in, so, thanks fellas. Good thing I never used your services. I'm confident that Google will prevail and my evil NSA minders will never find this, or this or even this. Damn You NSA. my fist shaking in the air Jon Stewart stylee, Damn You.

More Old Links and Some Of My Best Friends are Jewish...

Jan. 16

Item: So, anyway, I've made the argument that the seven or eight Jewish democratic senators have essentially killed the filibuster (See Feinstein refusal to filibuster Alito). I think the argument I've made (somewhat conspiratorial but makes sense on the face of it) is that Jewish reps have traded the Democratic Party base for Israel. I might note that a lot of these same politicians are also DLC members--the calling card for sellout Democrats. I think this is why the Democratic Party doesn't act or even faintly resemble an opposition party. If this is true, then we have to rethink--and by "we" I mean people who are progressive and don't think using American troops to fight a proxy war for Israel is a good thing (especially for Israel and Jews)--participation and goals within the DNC. I find this an extremely uncomfortable argument to make and get no joy out of it. But that's what the Internets are for.
A long time ago, when it hadn't even occurred to me that being against the war was anti Israel or anti Semitic, I got some fan mail over at another blog that I used to write for called Warblogger Watch. I answered him this way:


Well, I just wanted to post this in response to Fascist Nazi Mark Konrad, who is one of the few people who at least proudly owns up to the title. I was amused by the fascist nazi's defense over at Dr. Weevil—a defense which actually made sense but more on that later--but be warned: I’m not a white European, at least not mostly. In fact, it could be stated plainly that you would find my ethnicity as appalling as that of the Jews that you hate so much. I also want to state this: As an American writer—at war with GOP Jingoists and Science Racists and Despicable Dogs—that I’m not only inspired and enlightened by the work of Allen Ginsberg, but: Joe Haldeman, Robert Silverberg, Woody Allen, Harlan Ellison, Marv Wolfman, Stan Lee, Steve Gerber, Noam Chomsky, Albert Einstein, Stephen Speilberg, Cory Doctorow, Cyril Kornbluth, Isaac Asimov, William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, Paul Auster, Robert Bloch, Jules Feiffer, David Mamet, Norman Mailer, Susan Sontag, Darren Aronofsky, J.D. Sallinger, Art Spiegelman, Don Byron, Lenny Kravitz, Stan Getz, Avishai Cohen, Bob Dylan, Eugene Levy, Winona Ryder, Buck Henry, Mort Sahl, Jerry Seinfeld and last, but not least, local Pittsburgh writer Mike Chabon. I might note, that it’s a certainty that not all of these people—the ones who are alive—may agree with what is written at American Samizdat or here, especially about Israel. But the disagreements should be based on argument, not ethnicity. Furthermore: all our lives would be the lesser without their bright, gleaming lights.Oh, by the way, Mark, assuming that you're real and not some kind of counterprop plant, I highly endorse Gene Expression for your viewing pleasure. Post often. They're your kind of people, all dressed up for the future.
Item: I also posted this defense of the film V for Vendetta, already being attacked by the usual suspects.
. First, I think movies with a political bent--be it Passion of the Christ or the newest Mike Moore movie-can sell. You just have to accept that the Mike Moore audience isn't the same as the Passion audience. From what I've seen of the V for Vendetta film it looks to be outstanding but I must admit that I'm a Mike Moore fan.Two, I think Alan has some right to complain about how his adaptations have turned out. But I sort of blame him for signing away ownership of his books to begin with! That's not something that the world's smartest writer should be doing. For the life of me, I don't know why Tom Strong, Promethea and Top Ten aren't the newest series by HBO or Showtime. He could get excellent directors like Terry Gilliam, and he must have Frank Miller's phone number somewheres. I think he's right in thinking that a 2 hour visual medium couldn't do his work right. But you give me 14 hours on HBO/Showtime, with Terry Gilliam or the Sin City crew producing, and I'll give you some great great art, period. Alan: Let me be your manager. Just once.Philip Shropshirewww.threeriversonline.comPS: If you don't like V for Vendetta, then don't watch it. I'm going to be first in line. I think terrorists are made, not born, in films and in real life, whether it's a fictional future England or Iraq...

Posting Some Old Links Involving Conspiracy and Hyperdrives

Jan 13
Here are some links at long last. Yes I’m trying to do this and negotiate a new job. Not easy. (Fun facts about my new job: the guy in the cubicle next to me plays Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh all day. Two: the 22 year old guy who’s been teaching me my new job is thinking about joining the military. (Asked him why and he tells me a lot of his friends have Served…We gotta liberate Poland I guess.. I think he said that…) Yeah, they’re both white guys. Could you guess?) (Yeah, I lost that job by the way...got a new one though...)

Item: What good are the Democrats if they can’t filibuster Alito? If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times, literally—and I mean that—I thought the Ralph Nader runs were big mistakes but I know why he ran. Let’s review why he ran: He said that there was no major difference between the major parties. I haven’t seen one filibuster yet. Not a one. I’d like at least one. Of course, dipping into my conspiracy theory bag, what if the Jewish Democratic Senators have sold out the party in order to support the proxy war for Israel? The truth of the matter is that you can’t have a filibuster in the senate without Jewish senators. I just see the deal in the back of my mind: You want us to fight a proxy war for Israel in order to stop even the hint of hostile Mid East powers getting the bomb?—
--By the way, I don’t think that’s a minor reason. What would you do for your tribe? Would you kill 58 million Iranians and 20 million Iraqis to possibly save 3 million of your tribe…I think the math is bad but what if it’s your tribe…?--
--Well, here’s what we want: We want to overturn the New Deal and annex the oil fields and no we don’t care if that sets the stage for World War 3 or yet a very silly conflict over imaginary gods that will cost the lives of millions…One other note: I don’t think this helps Israel or creates safety for the Jewish people. (I don’t want to live like the Israelis.) And yes there are Jewish people who agree with this assessment. I just think that’s the deal and its being played out everyday. And to take us back to the Nader position there are lots of Democrats who don’t mind those outcomes.

Item: And what of Arlen? Here’s a tale of what I’m finding to be very disturbing about Pennsylvania: I think the leaders of labor in this state are pro life. (And, of course, if you buy into the argument what more important issue can there be?) That would mean, in practice, that you support the Republican Party, whether it’s Arlen or creating a situation where there are two pro life candidates vying for the office. That usually works out for the Republicans. I suppose I should hope that Atrios is right and that Arlen doesn’t want to affirm the man who would overturn Roe, but I keep thinking that deal is in place…

Item: Quick movie reviews. I enjoyed Syriana although I agree with Max Sawicky that you would need to show Israel playing some role. Glad Doc Bashir got a great movie role. I just don’t think Firefly is that interesting and the fact that the lead reminds me of a confederate guy…not so cool. I thought the South was wrong. There I said it. Perhaps it’s my cultural bias. Who knew. Need to know a little bit more about what he was fighting for…God what a heartbreaking yet brilliant movie Million Dollar Baby is. The Morgan Freeman voiceover is a guarantee of a level of excellence. Really is. Don’t let Morgan approach you with that one Yellow Glove…One thing though: I wouldn’t have chosen death. Despite that South Korean hack there will be some promising therapies at the end of this year, but I guess the point of the movie is that there are no happy decisions in this particular reality. Choose between the two bad draws…I respected her choice.

Item: I’m adding Technovelgy, Truthdig and Steve Gilliard to the links and plan a full link overhaul when I get some time.

Item: I found out about Kaki King’s sexual preference and I’m disappointed. Damn this sexual evolution…I drown my sorrows with an update over at Red Light. By the way, some of those erotic pics rise to the level of Great Art. Look at that water…

Item: My disturbing yet brilliant (really) short story, “The Science Fiction Story as Life Metaphor” will be published this weekend by the Front, imaginary God a willin’…It’s about time someone alluded to Richard Wright, Henry Miller and William Gibson in a science fiction story. I’m not sure if that someone is me but you never know…Ya never know.

Item: This story about the possible space drive is very cool. Looks like the guy might have done some good work even though he blew off his arms working for the Nazis. He lived in Germany, right? Accident happened during the 40s…He’s probably a Nazi…did his work in German and wanted Father Germany to benefit from the find (?)…But hey William Shockley did some good work…Hate the scientist love the science…

What it means, if it works, is Mars in an hour and 11 light years in 80 days. Wow. It’s more like hyperspace than a warp drive but I’ll take it. More later on this.

Old link alert: Vote Pa Still Best Site

Dec. 29


Item: Bev Harris, the woman behind the hack of Diebold in Florida, tells us some disturbing things about what's happening here in Pennsylvania. Our old friend Mike Shamos, introduced to us by Kathy Dopp, seems to be playing a helpful role in advising our Sec. of State, who I think is a democrat, on which machines to buy. Dopp informed us that Mike thinks its okay if voting machines return false results, if I understood her correctly. Bev makes the suggestion that Mike Shamos shouldn't be advising the state. I agree.

Item: VotePa is the official statewide resource for your voting paranoia needs.

Item: Bradblog roundup of all the voting news this year.

Yes Virginia, There is an Atheist Christmas...

Item: Now, what is an Atheist supposed to do on Christmas? I would imagine that I would get some work done. So, here's a xmas-y update at the Red Light District. In related news, I promised not to link to this story featuring nude women photo shopped in superhero clothes. I must show some restraint despite my cultural proclivities. Must. Not. Link. Yes, it combines comics and soft core erotica...but...Ack! I am not strong...

Around the Internets: Reason Beats Flying Spaghetti Monster! And: a fifth column?

Reason beats Flying Spaghetti Monster. Hooray. More mainstream coverage here. More from the Evolution Blog, where they are absolutely giddy with joy. Cocky even. Remember: The judge is a Republican who was nominated by President Bush, which makes it even sweeter. I'm waiting for Chris Mooney to gloat but he's on his way to New Orleans to see the ruins of his mother's flood ravaged home. But Chris got some good news: Morgan Spurlock (of Supersize Me fame) wants to turn "The Republican War Against Science" into a documentary.

More Around the Nets:

Two Interesting Porn Blogs Softr and Sexoteric. And from Sexoteric: This is hilarious. It reads like a funny SNL Skit. For the record, I agree with the girl. They probably were just peaceful farmers.

More gals I agree with. Once people find out Casey Jr. is pro life his numbers go down. Are pro war Jewish Dems selling out the party for Israel? You would do that by either backing a loser against the Republican guy who will fight the proxy war for Israel or by making sure you nominate a Democrat who will fight the proxy war for Israel...Please tell me I'm wrong about this.
List of online graphic novels.

Canadian Patricia Barber, out lesbian Jazz torch singer who's probably more interesting than her compatriot Diana krall, has a new jazz video out which sounds very very cool.

And I wrote a column for The Front but its not online yet. Actually, its an older column but very few people saw it and its still a good idea

The Art of Brendan McCarthy

NOT USING HALOSCAN ANYMORE. PLACE COMMENTS HERE.

More Minor News About Your Stolen Elections

First up, election round up:

The very minor story of how your election machines have been compromised has reached the corporate media. It’s mostly in Florida but it’s a start. Just to recap: if you’re a democrat or if you’re just interested in a functioning democracy this is the most important issue, ever. All policy debates about Iraq or the Patriot Act and or the latest criminal activity by our president and how to play these issues politically means nothing if the Republicans can add 100000 of their votes and take away 100000 of your votes at will. So, we have to fix the machines and to do that you have to start about talking about fixing the machines.

Nice Sum Up by Techdirt , which I think has the best analysis of tech issues that I’ve seen on the Internet. Here’s the money shot:

Of course, if you have even the slightest respect for the integrity of our voting system, the results of the test and Diebold's response should scare you silly. It raises serious questions about why we would ever trust any Diebold machine without also hand counting a paper trail. The fact that their touchscreen machines don't include a secondary paper trail means those machines should never be used at all.

Also, within the comments section there’s this comment by Ernest Partridge to Howard Dean which sums up things pretty well.

Every week I get dozens of solicitations from the Democratic National Committee, from the Democratic Senate and Congressional Campaign Committees, or from various Democratic candidates and office-holders, each of them asking for contributions. "You can help us achieve victory next November," I am told.

If by "victory" is meant a majority vote cast at the polls, then the Democrats achieved "victory" in 2000, 2002 and 2004. And yet, the Republicans remain in control of the Congress and the White House.

Small wonder! Republicans build the voting machines, Republicans write the secret software, Republicans count and compile the totals. The Republican machines allow no auditing of the vote totals they report. So Republicans have the ability to "win" elections, regardless of the will of the voters. There is compelling evidence that they have done just that.

And so, if nothing is done to end the privatization of our elections and to introduce reliable verification, the Republicans will "win" again in November 2006 and then in 2008. Today, eleven months before the mid-term election, the outcome is fore-ordained – as certain as Soviet elections under Stalin, and Iraqi elections under Saddam. For, as Stalin said, "Those who cast the votes decide nothing, those who count the votes decide everything."

In the United States today, the GOP counts most of the votes, and there are no means to verify up to 80% of those votes.

In view of this dreadful situation, when the Democrats ask me for a contribution I must reply: "What's the point? It's already been settled! What remains is an empty charade." Admittedly, with total GOP control of the executive and congressional branches in Washington, federal investigation and legislation are, for the moment, out of the question. But elections are administered on the state and municipal levels where, in many cases, the Democrats are in control. So I ask again:

Where are the criminal investigations?

Where are the civil lawsuits, e.g., by Max Cleland in Georgia, Walter Mondale in Minnesota, Al Gore in Florida, John Kerry in Ohio?

Why is appropriate state-level legislation not proposed and enacted by Democratic majorities?

Why is the national Democratic Party not publicizing the GAO report?

I am told that some Democratic politicians are concerned that if the Party raises a ruckus about voting fraud, the Democratic base will be discouraged and will stay at home on election day.

Well, so what? If the fix is in on election day, what does it matter if the voters go to the polls? Why try to close the gate if the horse has been stolen?


NOT USING HALOSCAN ANYMORE. PLACE COMMENTS HERE.

Zero 7 Tune

There's a new site that allows you to post videos on your site. I'm trying to see if it works with Blogger. I picked a zero7 tune at random. Update: It doesn't seem to work. But the links are there and you're welcome to try it.

Music Video Codes by VideoCodeWeb.com

Big News: Diebold Machines are Hackable and Yes Virginia, There Are Stolen Elections

MORE INCONSEQUENTIAL NEWS ABOUT YOUR STOLEN ELECTION PROCESS
Okay, now this is what we Roswell-like stolen election conspiracy theorists have been looking for. This is the equal to filmed footage of an Alien Gray sitting down with the President and having a smoke. Did you know that there was a county in Florida that allowed Black Box Voting to test hack the Diebold machines? Did you know that Finnish Hacker Harri Hursti and BBV were able to change the results? Did you know that no current canvassing method would have detected these changes? Did you know that those machines were thrown out? Do you understand that Diebold is run by partisan Republicans and builds most of the machines that the nation uses? By the way, this doesn’t mean just shocking presidential or referendum results, this might mean the odd inability to gain house and senate seats when an opposing party holds the presidency, or, worse yet, making sure that the worst candidates get the nomination so that the Dems would be more likely to lose…We’re officially in an Oliver Stone film now. Donald Sutherland is asking you who had the most to gain from a stolen election? He’s rattling off a number of bullet points about how those Ohio referendums couldn’t have been reversed that dramatically, about how the exit polling in Ohio couldn’t have been that far off, about how clear it is that the executive branch and the oil lobby are one and the same…You ask yourself, as you run down winding infinite black and white Hitchcock era streets, would the most corrupt administration ever steal an American election—after clearly fixing the results in Iraq, Afghanistan and encouraging a coup in Venezuela—and you know the question answers itself.
Here’s a snippet of the Black Box story and here’s a quiz: isn’t it time for the DNC to make this a national issue?

FLORIDA TEST FINDS DIEBOLD VOTE MACHINE EASY TO HACK BLACK BOX VOTING - Due to contractual non-performance and security design issues, Leon County (Florida) supervisor of elections Ion Sancho told Black Box Voting that he will never again use Diebold in an election. He has requested funds to replace the Diebold system from the county. He will issue a formal announcement to this effect shortly. A test election was run in Leon County today with a total of eight ballots - six ballots voted "no" on a ballot question as to whether Diebold voting machines can be hacked or not.


Two ballots, cast by Dr. Herbert Thompson and by Harri Hursti voted "yes" indicating a belief that the Diebold machines could be hacked. At the beginning of the test election the memory card programmed by Harri Hursti was inserted into an Optical Scan Diebold voting machine. A "zero report" was run indicating zero votes on the memory card. In fact, however, Hursti had pre-loaded the memory card with plus and minus votes. The eight ballots were run through the optical scan machine. The standard Diebold-supplied "ender card" was run through as is normal procedure ending the election. A results tape was run from the voting machine. Correct results should have been: Yes:2 No:6


However, just as Hursti had planned, the results tape read:

Yes:7 No:1 The results were then uploaded from the optical scan voting machine into the GEMS central tabulator. The central tabulator is the "mother ship" that pulls in all votes from voting machines.

The results in the central tabulator read: Yes:7 No:1

This exploit, accomplished without being given any password and with the same level of access given thousands of poll workers across the USA, showed that the votes themselves were changed in a one-step process. This hack would not be detected in any normal canvassing procedure, and it required only a single a credit-card sized memory card.

One final note: it looks like California, and that state's GOP Sec. of State, is working to avoid this same test. Black Box Voting might be able to force this issue and I hope that they do.

More Pics of Nekkid Girls (And forbidden GIF animation)

Really. I'm not kidding.

NOT USING HALOSCAN ANYMORE. PLACE COMMENTS HERE.

Praise For Showtime's Transparently Anti-Bush Homecoming

NOT USING HALOSCAN ANYMORE. PLACE COMMENTS HERE.

How fitting that the most pungent artistic response to a regime famed for its crass fear-mongering would be a cheap horror movie. Jaw-dropping in its sheer directness, Homecoming is a righteous blast of liberal-left fury (it was greeted with a five-minute ovation in Turin, the most vocal appreciation seeming to come from the American filmmakers and writers in attendance).
--from Village Voice review

Showtime is apparently the new HBO. First, they blew me away with Weeds—which struck me as being much more interesting than Rome. And this Showtime episode of “Homecoming” is one of the most all encompassing attacks on the right that I’ve ever seen. I’m glad that Chuck Penn’s staff (Chuck’s doing great at fundraising by the way. Perhaps people have seen Bob Casey Jr. speak and it occurs to them that someone with the principles of Gray Davis yet none of the charisma wouldn’t pose the best challenge to lil Ricky but I digress…) agrees about the quality. The Ann Coulter clone sounded a lot like Ann Coulter. Those horrible things that Cleaver says are on a par with the horrible things Coulter says all of the time. I think Sam Hamm, interviewed here, compares it to “Atrios greatest hits”, but I would disagree with one thing. As far as I know, Atrios has never brought up the possible theft of the 2004 election or even more recently the incredible turnaround on the Ohio referendum issues. The last minutes where our hack right wing host notes the wonderful turnaround in Ohio and Florida despite exit polling and when our Karen Hughes clone notes that we “count the votes” is actually closer to the Brad Blog or Free Press…but it’s the thought that counts. Of course, the horrible thing is that this isn’t fiction. And there are no patriotic zombies coming to our aid. That's our real horror show.


MORE UNIMPORTANT NEWS ON THE YOUR STOLEN ELECTIONS IN PERPETUITY FRONT
Well, there were three things that have happened over the last week on the voting rights front. Two of them were quite disturbing and one of them offered just a tiny shard of hope and light—probably to be snuffed out by the appeals process. That’s because the Big Thinkers in the Democratic Party thought it was a good tactic not to fight over court appointments in the 90s. So, every time we want to fight without resorting to blood we’ll lose.
One, when it looked like we were winning in California, it looks like the Republican secretary of state (will the DNC ever detect a pattern?) has decided to put a Diebold purchase back into play. He’s proposing what looks like a mock approval process—which I suppose would be fitting for what looks like our increasing mockery of an election process.

Two, I thought we had definitely won in North Carolina, kind of a Republican state last time I looked. But the North Carolina folks simply ignored their own law—it’s a law that states that you have to open up your source code to make sure that its valid—and approved the Diebold machines anyway. Its being called the “immaculate certification”. Well, let’s see, there’s the 2000 election, the 2004 election, and now we have Republicans in a hurry to certify these machines—that always result in fantastic victories for Republicans and Republicans only I might add. Is there an American opposition party? I mean, really now. Of course, someone decent who understands the law should appeal the decision. And that will be decided by the Republican courts—remember the Clintons never thought that was worth fighting for—and we’ll lose yet again. Thanks DLC.

Three, it looks like we might have won one in Ohio. That’s where there are a number of groups suing the state over the 2004 election. The judge ruled that the suit can go on. However, that decision will probably be appealed and we’ll lose again because the DNC/DLC thought it was just a great idea to give up the courts. Thanks fellas, again. It’s a great feeling to know that I can’t do anything within the law to change the United States.

Notable Quotes From Around the Internets

NOTABLE QUOTES FROM AROUND THE INTERNETS
First Up: Patricia Goldsmith from Dissident Voice:
When it comes to e-voting, the corporate media have put out a couple of narrative frames that have been successful in throwing even voting reform advocates off the track. The most obvious is the conspiracy frame. Stephen Pizzo, who ultimately advocates the abolition of e-voting in order to restore voter confidence, nevertheless believes “[t]he party caught fixing a major race would be out of power for a generation. Also, if I learned anything from a quarter century of unraveling real and alleged conspiracies it’s that getting caught is always in the cards.” In this, he finds himself in substantial agreement with conservative columnist and former Reagan administration official James Pinkerton. It seems to me their argument would be a lot stronger if the GOP hadn’t already been “caught” attempting to fix every single election since 2000. Hell, they do it out in the open, proudly. People like Katherine Harris, Glenda Hood, and Ken Blackwell have made whole careers out of purge lists, voter intimidation, and aggressive partisanship in the administration of elections.

That’s because what we are seeing in operation is not a conspiracy, but unchecked monopolies and corporate combinations, and there is nothing fanciful or farfetched about it. The concentration of wealth and power is the ultimate point toward which all capitalist systems tend. The last 70 years of (relatively) regulated corporations are the exception, not the rule. Privatized voting is a perfect example of how the undermining of government regulatory mechanisms leads to one-party rule and further deregulation, in a self-perpetuating cycle. We see the same thing with the highly-consolidated corporate media. Neither is a “conspiracy” required in order for the various corporate entities to act in concert. Combination is in their best interests, and successful corporations are all about finding and pursuing their own best interests, as single-mindedly as sharks. Which explains why the corporate media have virtually ignored a recent GAO report detailing serious e-voting failures in 2004.

Read the whole thing here.

Second up, my cousin Leonce (who now has permalinks for some of his links):

Open Letter to Colin Powell 01/11/05 13:14

Like you, my father was a career Army officer. Like you, he felt honored to serve in the US military. Like you, he entered the military when racism was overt. Like you, he rose to officer status (he retired a Colonel) despite the obstacles placed in his path. You receive the benefit of the doubt, General Powell. You receive it because black people admire the heights you attained in your career, and because you have never become a sock puppet for the right. You never acquiesced to the Faustian bargain that men like Clarence Thomas or Armstrong Williams seem to accept. You never agreed to forget you were black--in exchange for white handlers rewarding you as if you were white. You never felt you had to do as Thomas Sowell does and deny the existence of racism today or yesterday. You aligned yourself with causes you felt right, despite their lack of popularity in the Republican party to which you belonged. You have deserved the benefit of the doubt. However, to date, over 2000 Americans are dead, over ten thousand wounded; hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis are dead. The US standing in the world continues to plummet. Terrorist activity is on the rise. The Iraq war has caused these things, and you presented the evidence to the world that made that war happen. We now know that the evidence you presented was based on lies. You insist that you did not know that, and I, and most others, believe you. However, apologies are no longer enough. As this administration continues to damage US security, attempts to strip citizens of hard-won rights through packing the Supreme Court with extremists--as this occurs, you no longer have the luxury of remaining silent. Loyalty is valuable, but "just following orders" is a coward's excuse. When, General Powell, does the former morph into the latter? I think that time is now. It's when the blood runs so thick, that only the blind or the morally corrupt cannot see it, and only the ideologically crippled refuse to acknowledge it. That time is now.
(Scroll down and read the rest...)

NOT USING HALOSCAN ANYMORE. PLACE COMMENTS HERE.

5 PM Pgh Press Conference Against PA Voter ID Proposal

Wednesday 12/7/05 at 5pm in front of the Pittsburgh State Office Building, 300 Liberty Avenue in downtown Pittsburgh!

The State Senate of Pennsylvania is preparing to vote on House Bill 1318 next week!

HOUSE BILL 1318 THREATENS TO DISENFRANCHISE THOUSANDS OF PENNSYLVANIA VOTERS WHO CURRENTLY HAVE THE RIGHT TO VOTE BY DENYING THOSE ON PAROLE AND PROBATION THE RIGHT TO VOTE!

It will also force Pennsylvanian's to bring a photo ID to the polls!

This bill will disproportionately hurt:

Senior voters

Young Voters

College Voters

Low-Income Voters

There will be a press conference in front of the Pittsburgh State Office Building Wednesday 12/7/05 at 5pm in front of the Pittsburgh State Office Building, 300 Liberty Avenue in downtown Pittsburgh!

Scheduled Speakers:

Laura Staniland: Freshman Student, Duquesne University

Taili Thompson: Community Coordinator, One Vision One Life

George Moses: Sothwestern PA Alliance of HUD Tenants/Housing Alliance of PA

Khari Mosley: Pittsburgh League of Young Voters

Tim Stevens: President, Black Political Empowerment Project

For more information contact the Pittsburgh League of Young Voters at pittsburgh@indyvoter.org

www.pittsburgh.indyvoter.org

Debate Between Mystery Pollster and Brad blog Plus Pandora

Nov. 24

Happy Holidays or Bah Humbug. I’m a latter kinda guy these days.

Coupla items:

The cavalier way in which Blumenthal seems to marginalize those of us "obsessing over the Dispatch poll," as he describes it, would seem to indicate that Blumenthal simply doesn't understand the problem here to even the smallest extent. Either that, or he just doesn't give much of a damn about the validity -- and/or the importance of confidence by the electorate -- in the most basic element of our American democracy: The right to vote and to have that voted counted accurately.

--from Brad Blog

Item: There’s an interesting debate between the Mystery Pollster (Champion finger wagger against us or “your elections are continuously stolen crowd”) and the Brad Blog. Read the whole thing and especially the long post by Brad. Short version: It’s not that we’re not capable of losing elections, it’s that we can’t check the results in time in order to make changes in the results. And, quite frankly, the word of the Republicans—especially at Corruption Central at either Ohio or Washington DC headquarters—telling me that everything is legit and there are wmds doesn’t carry a lot of water with me. Actually, the scary thing is that the Republicans really aren’t making that claim. They don’t give a fuck about Democracy, at least in this country.

Item: I just discovered a really interesting music site called Pandora, where you type in a particular artist and you get back similar results. Overall, it’s pretty decent. I typed in some real ringers of course. I got a pretty good response with Alan Holdsworth. I was introduced to a bass playing Hendrix called Brian Bromberg (he uses a piccolo bass to sound like an electric guitarist…oddly enough I was watching BET On Jazz’s Studio Jams today and Living Colour’s Doug Wimbush can do the same thing…it’s all in the pedals man, all in the pedals…)and this guy called Nels Cline. Both very interesting. I soon will try Kaki King. I’ll probably get a lot of Mike Hedges or Stanley Jordan back...However, my Portishead search got me back Bette Midler.Go figure.

Item: There is also a new and beautiful video featuring Cat Power and its crazy yet attractive lead singer Chan Marshall.) There is also a second Broadcast video, even though there are many songs that are better on the album—almost all of them in fact, such as America’s Boy, Corporeal and Black Cat.

Nov. 14th: Still More News About the Stolen Election

Nov. 14th

STILL MORE NEWS ABOUT THE MINOR THEFT OF US ELECTIONs

There were several big stories that "broke" over the last several days on the very minor story about how your vote is being stolen.

One, the folks at the Free Press are claiming that the initiatives to reform ohio now (whose website has seemingly gone into a catatonic shock and not commented on the bad results) were shot down because of manipulation. By the way, these arguments have left the realm of science fiction because of the recent GAO report which pointed out that these new electronic machines were and are easily compromised. Or as Bob phrases it:

But none of the on-the-ground glitches can begin to explain the impossible numbers surrounding the alleged defeat of Issues Two through Five. The Dispatch polling has long been a source of public pride for the powerful, conservative newspaper, which endorsed Bush in 2004.

The Dispatch was somehow dead accurate on Issue One, and then staggeringly wrong on Issues Two through Five. Sadly, this impossible inconsistency between Ohio's most prestigious polling operation and these final official referendum vote counts have drawn virtually no public scrutiny.

Though there were glitches, this year's voting lacked the massive irregularities and open manipulations that poisoned Ohio 2004. The only major difference would appear to be the new installation of touchscreen machines in those additional 41 counties.

And thus the possible explanations for the staggering defeats of Issues Two through Five boil down to two: either the Dispatch polling---dead accurate for Issue One---was wildly wrong beyond all possible statistical margin of error for Issues 2-5, or the electronic machines on which Ohio and much of the nation conduct their elections were hacked by someone wanting to change the vote count.

If the latter is true, it can and will be done again, and we can forget forever about the state that has been essential to the election of every Republican presidential candidate since Lincoln.

And we can also, for all intents and purposes, forget about the future of American democracy.

Now, there is a chance that the initiatives were badly written and that the Reform Now organizers blew it by flying toxic Arnold in to endorse the measure days before the vote, but, I mean, if you could hack the machines, these are the measures you would kill.

By the way, in case you're wondering what this all means, it means the Democrats will lose all the really important elections until these machines are fixed. Don't be too hopeful that you can win either the senate or the house back until we get the machines fixed. You'll lose by improbably large margins or frustratingly small ones but you'll still lose. Or until our side gets better hackers--I thought our side (libertarian/anarchist) had the best hackers in the world. I'm very disappointed by you 2600 people...

The second big story had to do with one of the lawsuits making its way through the courts. There's one in Ohio and there's another one in New Mexico. Now, if you were a real opposition party, what would you do if you had heard this:

Yesterday, VoterAction.org sent out an email about some roadblocks that the plaintiffs are suddenly facing in the discovery phase of the trial. They were supposed to have been allowed to have experts inspect -- for the first time -- the Electronic Voting Machines that were used in the '04 Election, along with the actual results that they gave.

All of a sudden, Voter Action says, the county clerks have flat-out refused to permit the inspections by the plaintiffs' experts. That, after some interesting evidence has already been found by the experts during discovery, like tests where they were able to see votes for one candidate being registered for their opponent (as has been so widely reported as happening in so many elections of late!) and ballots being confirmed with NO choice for President at all, which wasn't supposed to have been possible on at least one of the machine types being looked at.

Well, if this happened to the Republicans they would force the Democrats to defend themselves and would probably take a decidedly correct obstructionist stance until (no judges for example. They wouldn't let judges be affirmed for life by a fraudulent government...) We can't even get the Democrats to admit that there's a problem.

Story three, by the way, is Democrat John Kerry, refusing to admit there was a problem. Even though he had the money to investigate and solve this problem. Incredible. He's like the guy who probably beat Hitler but he doesn't want to raise a "ruckus". Un fuckin' believable.

Weekend Edition of Around the Internets

10-30

Down and Out in Wilkinsburg

I finally completed my move and once I unpack things and get my bookcases in order I should be back to a normal postings schedule. Meanwhile, I've found these points to be of interest or:

Weekend Edition of Around the Internets

Item: Nice update about the Reform Ohio movement. Please donate money if you can. Good ad here. Of course, I'm still holding out hope that Democrats use the V for Vendetta trailer as a campaign commercial.

(By the way, for those of you keeping score at home on the voting fraud issue, keep in mind that the Ohio reforms are fairly innocuous. It allows voting by mail, cuts down on big money giving, creates a bi partisan commission on redistricting and robs Ken Blackwell of his power to influence an election. Note that the Republicans, with the help of their Christian fundie lackeys (proud and shameless promoters of backwardness and ignorance...of course, it takes a kind of conscious stupidity for the deliberate bliss station fulfillment of religion to actually work (Santa will love me in Heaven...Bah.)...not to mention that they're itching for direct government funding. Corporate theocracy. Has a nice ring to it.) oppose these measures vigorously. You know what makes me know the fix is in? Its the Republican response to these issues. If someone says "Phil stole the election and furthermore he weighs less than 150 pounds and is less than four feet tall..." I would respond, if I was in the right, by saying "Bring on the verified voter audits, the mail ballots, the satellite GPS measuring data, the certified scales and whatnot...And then when you lose again this will show the American people that we do have a real mandate." That hasn't been the Republican response. In fact, the Republicans are acting like thieves caught in the night and seem intent on declaring that exits polls and tools of measurement be declared unconstitutional. And, of course, why can't the Democrats figures this out? They're either inept interpreters of human nature or they're on the take. Paid well to remain in minority status and they're good at it...Thus endeth the rant.)

Item: Video game that stresses nonviolent solutions to problems that I'm guessing kids will hate. Actually, if you've ever done any kind of organizing these questions sound familiar:

"You have to worry about your organization," he continued. "Do you set up a hierarchal organization, or a cell-based one? Who is the best figurehead for the media? What kind of training do people need? And if you march on the capital without proper controls, things may turn violent, which will harm your cause. These are the things people can learn."

Item: A fund that donates money to progressive causes. I just wish they would bring back ACT.

Item: Science Fiction Podcasts.

Item: Older Salon story on why US Broadband sucks. Older Free Press (the "other" Free Press run by noted press critic Robert McChesney.) backgrounder on broadband. It's actually the same old story. We don't get decent healthcare because insurance lobbyists have bought off congress. We don't get decent environmental protections because polluters have bought off congress. We don't get decent jobs because outsourcers like Walmart have bought off congress. And we don't get decent broadband because telcos have bought off congress. And so it goes. Other countries can provide their citizens with protections and benefits because they don't allow multinationals to game the system. Here, we have a system of congress that allows predatory capitalists to periodically rape us. It's not a good system.

Item: Three full length tunes from rediscovered Monk/Coltrane collaboration of the late 50s. Thelonious, my old friend, is such a distinctive composer....