Hart Intercivic EVM vendor can thank Bob Ney for this wonderful HAVA legislation,.. if they would be so kind please send the political graft and corruption kickback check to Bob Ney,.. Federal Penitentiary,.. Campus J-001,.. Wing B,... Inmate Cell # 206.

Thank you,.. this will permit him to keep well supplied with personal sundries,.. cigarettes,.. toothpaste,.. and his well stocked library of porno-magazines.

Old Turk - They let toothpaste in prisons but not on airplanes?

Surely you jest!

I mean - won't they mix that with the mouthwash and blow their way out?!

New Barriers to Voting

By Mike Slater, Laura Kyser and Jo-Anne Chasnow

(from the league of women voters website)
http://www.lwv.org/AM/Te...?Section=Election_Reform

"Many states have developed laws, rules or procedures that limit access to the ballot box. And this has happened while countless citizens are working to engage their neighbors in democracy."

"Elections officials should encourage people to register others to vote, not deter them."

http://www.lwv.org/AM/Te...E=/CM/ContentDisplay.cfm

I'm surprised there's no mention of this week's NOW with David Brancaccio. I strongly suggest a listen-in via podcast. It's all about the effect of the voter ID cards in such states as Georgia. Very good. Next week they tackle voting machines.

As for me, I'll be writing Mr. Brancaccio to point out Bruce Funk, his courage and punishment from Diebold and the state of Utah, hopefully in time for some national coverage for this behavior. Even Mother Jones magazine covered Ian Sancho, but missed Bruce Funk, though it was Funk who was the catalyst for the Hursti report on the Touch Screen machines.

Meanwhile I did post the following response to the NOW question, "Is the government doing enough for Voter Reform?"

Our federal government is being run by an administration that got into office without being properly elected --- twice. Naturally, George W. Bush and his cronies have no interest in letting the people decide with a fair voting system.

They have further proven this by their treatment of the Palestinians after Bush didn't like the results of their election, as well as the Iraqis when he didn't like their choice of Prime Minister.

Consequently, Bush appointed the 2005 Election Reform Panel with Jimmy Carter as the highly publicized leader, but Bush also appointed a co-chair, James Baker III, the Bush family lawyer who organized Bush's 2000 election legal response.

And testifying before the panel was the new and questionable voting reform organization, the American Center for Voting Rights (see https://bradblog.com/ACVR for the investigative reporting we should have seen in the mainstream press).

The AC4VR was created days before there was finally a hearing regarding the 2004 Ohio vote irregularities before the Committee for House Administration. Out of nowhere there was suddenly this group with a report on Voter Fraud, countering and distracting from the real problems that Rep. John Conyers, Jr. investigated and reported. Brad Friedman discovered the new organization amounts to two people and a mailbox. One is Mark F. Hearne, National Counsel to Bush/Cheney 2004 and the other is Jim Dyke, Communications Director for the Republican National Committee. Oh, and the Chair of that Committee, who invited the AC4VR? Congressman Bob Ney, under investigation for his dealings with Jack Abramoff. At the time Ney was writing what came to be known as the Help America Vote Act, Diebold gave Abramoff $275,000 to use to influence the language of the bill.

Knowing this, I was disappointed to see that NOW listed the AC4VR as a Reference link. Is this because the people at NOW don't know the story on AC4VR? That would be a rare irony at the most excellent seeker-of-truth news show. Either that, or Tomlinson's successor at the CPB is forcing Rove's version of "fair and balanced" (as if lies balance truth). SAY IT ISN'T SO!!!

So, no, the government won't be solving the voting issue soon --- unless we make it happen. I highly recommend blackboxvoting.org and bradblog.com for further information and advise. Meanwhile, TALK ABOUT THE PROBLEM. If the press won't cover it, then we have to.

Barbara Bellows-TerraNova #4

I thought their coverage was very good, but was disappointed when they only gave 15 minutes to the issue. It is encouraging, though, that they are taking up the machine issue next week.

Their website has many good links and they also have a good list of resources for getting involved.

Bluebear2 #5

Sadly, NOW is no longer a 60 minute show thanks to Rove friend Kenneth Tomlinson and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, but in that short time, I understood the horrendous effect of this Voter ID push.

Of course, the remaining time was still well spent as well, covering the whole concept that we're missing the stories if we don't access such story finders as Brad, truthout, and alternet. I also find that Google Alerts are great to tell you whenever something comes up about something or someone you know you have to watch. Personally, I've had Google Alerts in place for a long time for "Curtis +Feeney +software" and "Conyers +Ohio +election" and "Carter +Baker +election" --- as well as "Halliburton +asbestos" and "Baker +Carlyle" AND "Bill Moyers". I want to know anytime that Bill Moyers says anything. When he and Kevin Phillips used to review the news, I learned sooooo much. The transcripts of those shows are amazing.

Thank God for that website. Let's keep posting what we know and raise that level of awareness. It's the way to straighten out the mess.

The NOW program is simply the best resourse for people who don't have enough money for cable or a computer with modem. It is a travesty they forced Moyers off the show when "we the people" pull money out of our own pockets to finance programing that isn't tied to consumerism.

Most people probably don't remember or are too young to remember, but PBS didn't even used to have fund drives before Ronald Reagan was in office.

That was a good story they had about the League of Women Voters having to scrap their registration efforts to avoid $5000 penalties, but I'm anxious to see next weeks program. They previewed it with a story about a PAPER JAM. Please don't tell me they're going to prop up Linda Lamones arguments for DRE's.

HELP!