From Richard Charnin (whose full summary of the WI recount, with historical background, is at
http://richardcharnin.com/WIVoteCounts

MCM

Mark,

2008 Presidential Election vs. 2011 Wisconsin Supreme Court Election

Prosser leads by 7,000 out of nearly 1.5 million votes.

In 2008, Obama had 56.2% of the recorded vote, a 415,000 vote margin out of nearly 3 million votes.

Considering the heavy union turnout, how did Kloppenburg’s vote share decline by 6.5% from Obama’s?

Kloppenburg did better than Obama in 10 small counties (total 50,000 votes) but worse in 10 large counties (550,000 votes).

In Milwaukee County, Obama had 67.3%, Kloppenburg 56.4% of 229,000 votes. Why the 10.9% decline?

In Waukesha County, Obama had 36.6%, Kloppenburg 26.2% of 125,000 votes. Why the 10.4% decline?

In Waukesha, McCain defeated Obama by 59,813 votes out of 233,435 recorded.

Prosser defeated Kloppenburg by a nearly identical 59,505 votes out of just 125,070.

Quite a gain.

Amazing: 50 Consecutive Prosser Base Hits

A recount observer claimed that there were 50 consecutive ballots for Prosser in Verona, a city in which Kloppenburg had 75%.

If true, it is absolute mathematical proof of fraud.

The simple probability calculation:

Prob = 0.25 ^ 50 or 1 in 1,267,650,600,228,230,000,000,000,000,000 !!!

The probability is the same as that of a baseball player with a .250 BA getting 50 consecutive base hits.

The all-time record for consecutive base hits in major league baseball history is 12. Walt Dropo of the Boston Red Sox did it back in 1950.

There has never been anything close to 50 consecutive base hits. It has never happened – and never will.

The 50 consecutive Prosser ballots could not have happened by accident.

There you go. So what is the explanation? So how did it happen?

Poll: Gov. Kasich Would Lose Do-Over Election By 25 Points
Jon Terbush | May 26, 2011, 8:51AM

Since signing a bill earlier this year to strip public unions of most of their collective bargaining rights, Ohio Gov. John Kasich’s (R) approval rating has plummeted, bottoming out at a new low in a PPP poll released Wednesday. As if that weren’t bad enough, the poll also found Kasich losing a theoretical do-over election — by an enormous 25-point margin.

Kasich narrowly defeated incumbent Gov. Ted Strickland (D) last November, and almost immediately set his sights on rolling back public sector collective bargaining rights through a bill known as S.B. 5. That drive was deeply unpopular with his constituents, prompting large protests and sending the governor’s approval rating into a nosedive.

In the latest poll, only 33% of registered voters said they approve of Kasich’s job performance, compared to 56% who said the disapprove of it. That result ties Kasich with Florida’s Rick Scott (R) as the most unpopular of the 38 governors PPP has surveyed.

Read more.

IRS Grants Nonprofit Status To James O’Keefe’s ‘Project Veritas’
James Okeefe
First Posted: 05/26/11 03:24 PM ET Updated: 05/26/11 03:24 PM ET

An organization founded by conservative filmmaker and self-proclaimed “muckraking journalist” James O’Keefe has been granted nonprofit status by the IRS.

O’Keefe told The Chronicle of Philanthropy that he’s glad he can begin to garner tax-deductible donations for his organization:

“We’re pleased that Project Veritas’ nonprofit status has been approved. Our nonpartisan mission of exposing corruption while training new, investigative journalists can now be fully supported by donors who require a tax-exemption for their generous contributions.”

On its website, Project Veritas describes itself as bringing “transparency into the back-room deals” by using investigative journalism tactics.

Read more.

Questionable Highway Projects Escape Budget Scrutiny in Wisconsin
by Angie Schmitt on May 25, 2011

A $125 million “road to nowhere.” Another $100+ million for a bypass around a town of 2,711. Welcome to the era of “fiscal austerity” in Gov. Scott Walker’s Wisconsin.

Potholes and rough roads cost each Wisconsin driver an additional $281 annually, according to a new report. But they won’t get any relief under Scott Walker’s budget. Instead, they’re getting more highways. Photo: The Daily Reporter

A new report from the Public Interest Research Group examines $1.2 billion in proposed highway projects green-lighted by the Walker administration while the state rolls back funding for transit, education and local communities.

The findings indicate that in all his zeal for cutting public spending, Walker has a blind spot for highways. Despite a $3.6 billion budget deficit, Walker’s Wisconsin is forging ahead with a fortified highway budget. The Walker administration has proposed a 13 percent increase in highway construction. Meanwhile, $10 million in transit cuts have been proposed, in addition to a reduction in $48 million for maintaining local roads.

Read more.

There’s a Secret Patriot Act, Senator Says *
By Spencer Ackerman

You think you understand how the Patriot Act allows the government to spy on its citizens. Sen. Ron Wyden says it’s worse than you know.

Congress is set to reauthorize three controversial provisions of the surveillance law as early as Thursday. Wyden (D-Oregon) says that powers they grant the government on their face, the government applies a far broader legal interpretation — an interpretation that the government has conveniently classified, so it cannot be publicly assessed or challenged. But one prominent Patriot-watcher asserts that the secret interpretation empowers the government to deploy ”dragnets” for massive amounts of information on private citizens; the government portrays its data-collection efforts much differently.

“We’re getting to a gap between what the public thinks the law says and what the American government secretly thinks the law says,” Wyden told Danger Room in an interview in his Senate office. “When you’ve got that kind of a gap, you’re going to have a problem on your hands.”

What exactly does Wyden mean by that? As a member of the intelligence committee, he laments that he can’t precisely explain without disclosing classified information. But one component of the Patriot Act in particular gives him immense pause: the so-called “business-records provision,” which empowers the FBI to get businesses, medical offices, banks and other organizations to turn over any “tangible things” it deems relevant to a security investigation.

Read more.

Disclaimer at the request of Velvet Revolution/Protect Our Elections: The subject line for this post — “How many votes did Prosser steal? We need YOU to help decide if Joanne Kloppenburg should sue!” — is mine alone, not VR/POE’s.

From Emily Levy:

Hi Mark,

As you may know, I’ve been heavily involved in the election integrity work around the WI Supreme Court race. Thanks for all the info you’ve been sending to your list about that!

In the next few days, we need a cadre of people to help with a very specific project: reading the minutes (the official record) of the recount from all 72 counties. Do you think some of your readers would help with this? JoAnne Kloppenburg has until Monday to decide whether or not to seek a judicial review. We need people who can commit at least three hours to this project between now and Saturday, so we can pull together their findings and get them to the campaign in time to inform their decision.

We’re trying to document that enough votes were affected by irregularities to call the outcome of the election into question and indicate the need for judicial review. How are we doing that? By going through the minutes (official record) of the recounts for as many counties as possible, documenting the number of votes affected by each irregularity. There are over 3,500 pages of minutes total and only a few days to do this. And Waukesha’s mountain of minutes hasn’t even been made available yet!

Can you help read some of these minutes? It’s very interesting work, and the instructions are laid out about what to look for and what to do with what you find. If you can spend three hours or more (more is preferable!) between now and Saturday, we need your help. If you know others who can help, that’d be fantastic, too. We’re coordinating the work so that we use the volunteers’ time efficiently.

To sign up, email emily(at)velvetrevolution.us. Tell us approximately how much time you have and we’ll assign you a count and email you the instructions and the spreadsheet to paste your findings into.

Thank you in advance for any help you can offer, whether volunteering yourself or finding others who can volunteer.

Sincerely,

Emily Levy
for Velvet Revolution/Protect Our Elections

BREAKING: Judge Voids Wisconsin Anti-Union Bill
By Scott Bauer and Todd Richmond, Associated Press
26 May 11

Wisconsin’s law taking away nearly all collective bargaining rights from most public workers was struck down Thursday by a circuit court judge but the ruling will not be the final say in the union fight that brought tens of thousands of protesters to the Capitol earlier this year.

The state Supreme Court has scheduled arguments for June 6 to decide whether it will take the case. Republicans who control the Legislature also could pass the law a second time to avoid the open meeting violations that led to the judge’s voiding the law Thursday.

Gov. Scott Walker pushed for the law as a way to help balance the state budget that was projected to be $3.6 billion short when he introduced the proposal in February. His spokesman, Cullen Werwie, said the governor would have no comment on the ruling.

Read more.

State to phase out Wisconsin Covenant aid program
By Katherine Krueger

The state’s highest bipartisan budget committee approved a plan from the governor to begin phasing out a program aimed at encouraging students from low-income backgrounds to begin planning for college before entering high school.

Members of the Joint Finance Committee voted to support Gov. Scott Walker’s proposal to end the Wisconsin Covenant program, despite objections from Democratic representatives.

The program, which enrolls eighth graders from across the state, ensures that students that follow the covenant’s guidelines and maintain a B average in high school will be able to attend a University of Wisconsin System, private or technical college campus in the state.

Read more.

For some background on the Pacific Rim Mining Co., see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Rim_Mining_Corporation.

MCM

***

COHA Memorandum: ‘Death Squads’ Target Salvadoran Journalists
by COHA Research Associate Gabriela Acosta

Death threats targeting journalists were distressingly common during the tumultuous Salvadoran Civil War that took place in the late seventies and eighties. Over the course of the war, a total of twenty-five to thirty journalists fell victim to the various death squads operating in the country. Alarmingly, today in El Salvador, journalists are once again the objects of threats aimed at silencing human rights advocates working within its borders. On May 5th, the International Freedom of Expression Exchange (IFEX) posted an urgent notice stating that death threats have been issued against Radio Victoria journalists.

Radio Victoria, based in the department of Cabañas, provides a critical source of news and information concerning the social, environmental, and controversial labor impacts of The Pacific Rim Mining Company.1 Radio Victoria’s forthright journalistic style and its tenacious anti-mining stance, as well as its vigorous investigative journalism, may have prompted these threats, which were issued undoubtedly in an effort to stifle freedom of expression. Despite national police security officers posted to stand guard outside the station, the anonymous “extermination group” has successfully delivered a series of threats both to the Cabañas office of the radio station and to the journalists’ personal phones via text message.

Journalists Maricela Ramos, Pablo Ayala, Oscar Beltrán and Manuel Navarrete were sent threatening messages that demanded that they must leave the Cabañas community by May 4th or face certain death.2 On that day, journalists received additional text-message intimidations, however, the death squads had not yet chosen to act on their threats by that time. This shadow group is not the only reporters’ group being threatened by a variety of death squads. Anti-free speech groups that have proven that they are prepared to resort to murder to intimidate the free dissemination of information also exist today in Morocco, Colombia, Guatemala, Mexico and Honduras. The Inter-American Press Association has deemed Honduras, a neighboring country of El Salvador, one of the most dangerous nations for journalists in the Americas, seeing that the assassination of approximately 13 journalists has taken place in the last eighteen months.3

Read more.

‘Death Derivatives’: Wall Street’s Latest Ill-Advised Maneuver
by: Keith Fitz-Gerald May 24, 2011

I just spotted the next global “black swan” — but I think it actually looks like a giant Pteranodon. I’m talking about so-called “death derivatives.”

The Lowdown on “Death Derivatives”

After betting trillions on everything from liar loans to mortgages that never should have been issued in the first place, the big banks are back and they’re betting on death — yours and mine.

Read more.