MAY 23, 2006 NEWS
By Dawn Kopecki
Intelligence Czar Can Waive SEC Rules

Now, the White House’s top spymaster can cite national security to exempt businesses from reporting requirements

President George W. Bush has bestowed on his intelligence czar, John Negroponte, broad authority, in the name of national security, to excuse publicly traded companies from their usual accounting and securities-disclosure obligations. Notice of the development came in a brief entry in the Federal Register, dated May 5, 2006, that was opaque to the untrained eye.

Unbeknownst to almost all of Washington and the financial world, Bush and every other President since Jimmy Carter have had the authority to exempt companies working on certain top-secret defense projects from portions of the 1934 Securities Exchange Act. Administration officials told BusinessWeek that they believe this is the first time a President has ever delegated the authority to someone outside the Oval Office. It couldn’t be immediately determined whether any company has received a waiver under this provision.

Read more.

denver & the west | election 2006
Lawsuit over electronic voting threatened
By George Merritt
Denver Post Staff Writer

A local law firm announced Tuesday it is planning a lawsuit to block nine counties and the state from using electronic voting machines.

Counties across the state have spent the past year scrambling to purchase new voting machines in order to comply with state and federal laws.

The federal Help America Vote Act requires every polling place to be accessible for people with disabilities.

Read more.

Here is a first-class example of how not to serve the public interest. Note how the reporter frames the struggle over DRE machines: as an “already-cantankerous debate” between Two Sides, equally respectable. On one side, there’s “a coalition of voting rights activists and prominent computer scientists,” arguing against the use of the machines. On the other side, we have…. the manufacturers of said machines, “and many election officials.” In between the two are “state officials” trying earnestly “to strike a middle ground.”

God forbid the Post reporter should “take sides,” as that would violate the Golden Rule of “balance,” and the “debate” might turn still more “cantankerous”–or maybe it would get a bit more edifying, as real debate should be. A real debate would duly note the mammoth qualitative difference between that coalition and those interests pushing the machines on an electorate that doesn’t want them. (According to a recent Zogby poll, over 80% of the American people would much prefer going back to paper ballots.) That is, a real debate would not equate those “sides,” as only one of them, that “coalition” of reformers and computer scientists, is expert, disinterested and patriotic, while the other has only a vested interest in imposing the machines on us. Diebold and its corporate peers are not just out to make a buck, but also share a whopping partisan agenda, having long since been in bed with the Republicans. For their part, those “election officials” clamoring for DRE machines are, by and large, either agents of the GOP, or Dems who have been purchased by Diebold et al., and/or county bureaucrats who want their lives made easier. They like the DRE machinery primarily because it frees them from the tiresome chore of having to count paper ballots, just as their counterparts in Canada and Germany and France routinely do without complaint.

That isn’t a good reason for adopting those machines. In fact, there’s no good reason to adopt them, as they keep breaking down, cannot be audited, are easily hacked and cost (at least) about three times as much as other kinds of voting system. Add to all that the vendors’ partisan connection, and you have a system no-one wants, except for those who stand to profit from it. That the Post would treat such corporate flacks and party hacks as righteous witnesses, comparable to scientists and civic activists, tells us that democracy and journalism are both ailing badly here in these United States.

MCM

Debating the Bugs of High-Tech Voting
Test of Software in Machines Renews Security Concerns

By Zachary A. Goldfarb
Special to The Washington Post
Tuesday, May 30, 2006; A15

The already-cantankerous debate over high-tech voting machines, which have been installed in great numbers in recent years, is growing more intense and convoluted as primaries get underway and the midterm election nears.

A coalition of voting rights activists and prominent computer scientists argues that some of the machines are not sufficiently secure against tampering and could result in disputed elections, while voting machine vendors and many election officials say that view is exaggerated.

The latest dispute occurred several weeks ago after it was discovered at a test in Utah that someone with a reasonable knowledge of computer code could gain access to and tamper with the system software on a popular brand of voting machine manufactured by Diebold Election Systems. The developments prompted California and Pennsylvania to send urgent warnings to counties that use Diebold’s touch-screen voting systems to take additional steps to secure them.

Read more.

Mega-church minister linked to paramilitary video game (Updated)
by jhutson
Mon May 29, 2006

Imagine: you are a foot soldier in a paramilitary group whose purpose is to remake America as a Christian theocracy, and establish its worldly vision of the dominion of Christ over all aspects of life. You are issued high-tech military weaponry, and instructed to engage the infidel on the streets of New York City. You are on a mission – both a religious mission and a military mission — to convert or kill Catholics, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, gays, and anyone who advocates the separation of church and state – especially moderate, mainstream Christians. Your mission is “to conduct physical and spiritual warfare”; all who resist must be taken out with extreme prejudice. You have never felt so powerful, so driven by a purpose: you are 13 years old. You are playing a real-time strategy video game whose creators are linked to the empire of mega-church pastor Rick Warren, best selling author of The Purpose Driven Life.

Read more.

Bloody Scenes Haunt a Marine

He’s running to replace Mary Ann Kiffmeyer, the crackpot Bushevik who’s now the Secretary of State in Minnesota–where she did a lot to “re-elect” Bush/Cheney in ‘04.

MCM

NOW IS THE TIME!!!

The convention is less than two weeks away and 30% of the delegates are still undecided, now is the time to get involved, volunteer some time, and help us ensure that Mark wins the DFL endorsement!

WE NEED YOUR HELP!!!

With a strong volunteer effort these last two weeks and an exciting and aggressive convention plan we will win this race. But we need your help, at phone banks, calling from home, door knocking, and joining us at the convention in Rochester.

JOIN US!!!

To make phone calls: We’re calling every day the next two weeks from phone banks in Minneapolis and St. Paul. You can also make calls from home! Contact Mary B at volunteer[at]markritchie06[dot]net or 612-414-6899 for details

To doorknock: We’ll be knocking on doors on both Saturday and Sunday this coming weekend, we’d love for you to join us! Contact James at info[at]markritchie06[dot]net or 612-229-1962 for details.

In Rochester: We’ll be doing sign wars and visibility on Thursday the 8th from 5-9pm. Our race will be decided Sunday morning the 11th and we need help that day from 8am-12pm. Please join us. Contact James at info[at]markritchie06[dot]net or 612-229-1962 for details.

YOU WILL MAKE THE DIFFERENCE!!!

With so many undecideds your help is crucial, please join us for a shift on the phones, some door knocking in the beautiful weather, or putting up some signs in Rochester.

NOW IS THE TIME!!!

Will Your Vote Count in 2006?
by Denis Wright [Subscribe] [Edit Diary]
Tue May 30, 2006

‘When you’re using a paperless voting system, there is no security,’
says Stanford’s David Dill.

Denis Wright’s diary :: ::

FINALLY, a legitimate question from our MSM, this from Newsweek about the fraudulent nature and hackability of these DRE voting machines. So far the queries have only come from academics, bloggers, and foreign journalists like Greg Palast and Andrew Gumbel of London’s The Independent. Why has our own “media” failed to report on this important story for so very long?

Read more.

Read more.

The performance of
Straight Up with a Twist

to benefit the Stephen Heller Legal Defense Fund is

JUST THREE DAYS AWAY
This Friday Night at 8:00 at
GTC BURBANK
(1111b W Olive Blvd, Burbank, CA 91506)

We are about 1/3 sold, and would LOVE to sell it out, as
100% of ticket sales go to the Heller Legal Defense Fund.

CLICK_HERE_FOR_TICKETS_TO_HELLER_BENEFIT

TICKETS FOR THE BENEFIT ARE $50.00*
(Anyone who has had to retain an attorney knows why)

*We will also have complimentary wine, cheese and chocolates,

available before and after the show.

And remember, every cent from every ticket sale goes
directly to Steve’s Legal Defense Fund.

If you can’t attend, please share this e-mail with friends and family
to help the cause. Let us not forget the gravity of this situation:

Steve is indicted on THREE FELONY COUNTS, and his legal bills are staggering. A sell out of this performance

of Straight Up with a Twist would put $5,000 in his legal defense fund!

So for everyone who has wondered:

“What can I do to help Steve?”

Here’s your chance!

CLICK_HERE_FOR_TICKETS_TO_HELLER_BENEFIT

Non-benefit news:

If you are busy this Friday, but would still like to see the final local performances of Straight Up with a Twist,

1/2 PRICE REGULAR RUN TICKETS ($15.00) ARE BEING OFFERED
THROUGH THE LA STAGE ALLIANCE

for the four remaining shows.

CLICK_HERE_FOR_HALF_PRICE_TICKETS_TO_STRAIGHT_UP

We look forward to seeing you there!

Directions and everything else you’ll need is available below:

www.Straight-Up.com

www.gtc.org

www.hellerlegaldefensefund.com

Lead figure in phone jam to advise GOP contenders Charles McGee back to work after prison

By DAVID A. FAHRENTHOLD AND ZACHARY A. GOLDFARB
The Washington Post
May 29. 2006 8:00AM

A major figure in the Election Day phone-jamming scandal that embarrassed and nearly bankrupted the New Hampshire GOP is out of prison and back in the political game.

Charles McGee, the former executive director of the state Republican Party, pleaded guilty to conspiracy and served seven months for his part in the scheme to have a telemarketer tie up Democratic and union phone lines in 2002.

He’s back at his old job with a Republican political marketing firm, Spectrum Monthly & Printing Inc., and will be helping out at the firm’s “GOP campaign school” for candidates. Richard Pease, the firm’s co-president, said McGee would be available to advise candidates at the two-day event, planned for next weekend in Manchester. McGee’s role at the school was reported Thursday by the New Hampshire Union Leader.

Read more.