Easy action on a number of issues here!

You can easily take action on a number of important issues by going to this link: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x3853152

Personally, I especially hope you will take action on the Downing St. Memo, the Voting Rights Act, Guantanamo, human rights abuses, campaign finance limits, and protecting Internet access; but there are links for a variety of other worthy issues, too.

Easy Way to Tell Your Reps to Support Paper Trail!

Here's a great, easy way to tell your federal representatives to support H.R. 550, which would require all voting machines to provide an auditable paper trail. Just go here and click on "Click here to tell your member of Congress to support HR 550!":

http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/archives/cat_evoting_lobby_days.php

Thanks!

Take Buy Blue on the road!

I'm pleased to announce today that we have a pretty cool addition to the web site. If you are an iPod owner then you are in luck - now you can take BuyBlue wherever you go on your iPod. If you don't have an iPod fear not, we do plan to offer this information in other portable formats such as for PDAs and wireless phones. However, it is worth nothing that Apple is 99% Blue (profile), so you could make your purchase knowing you are supporting a blue company. Additionally, in response to environmental concerns Apple has launched an iPod recycling program.

Buy Blue's misison:
"You may have voted blue, but every day you unknowingly help dump millions of dollars into the conservative war chest. By purchasing products and services from companies that donate heavily to conservatives, we have been compromising our own interests as liberals and progressives. BuyBlue.org is a concerted effort to lift the veil of corporate patronage, so consumers can make informed buying decisions that coincide with their principles."

Hooray for America!

A reminder of our super awesomeness, courtesy of Matt:

Tobacco Escapes Huge Penalty

US official edited warming, emission link

URGENT--PLS HELP CALIFORNIA KEEP DIEBOLD OUT!

The info below comes courtesy of a friend on the Democratic Underground site.

Californians and ALL AMERICANS AND ALL CITIZENS OF THE WORLD have an opportunity to comment on Diebold and ES&S's inherently fraudulent voting systems, which are being proposed for California, currently the most anti-Bush state in the union . . .

DEADLINE FOR WRITTEN COMMENT: This Thursday, June 9, by 5:00 pm
HEARING IN SACRAMENTO: Next Thursday, June 16, 10:00 am.

The California Secretary of State Voting Systems and Procedures Panel (VSPP) is meeting June 16 to consider the following agenda:

1. Diebold Election Systems

a. GEMS central tabulation software
b. AccuVote TSx (touchscreen) DRE system
c. Spyrus voter card encoder
d. Key Card Tool software
e. VC Programmer software
f. AccuVote-OS optical scan system (& AccuFeed)

2. Election Systems & Software

a. Unity election management system
b. Model 100 precinct scanner
c. Model 550 central scanner
d. Model 650 central scanner
e. AutoMARK Voter Assist Terminal
f. AutoMARK Information Management System

3. Federal Qualification Process Report

-------

This hearing is CRITICALLY IMPORTANT! As California goes, so goes the nation! STOP DIEBOLD AND ES&S IN CALIFORNIA!

-------

Send written comments to:

Voting Systems and Procedures Panel (VSPP)
Office of the California Secretary of State
Attn. Bruce McDannold
FAX (916) 653-3214 - Tel. (916) 657-2166,
or mail to: 1500 11th St, 5th Floor, Sacramento, CA 95814
or email to: Bruce McDannold at bmcdanno@ss.ca.gov

Notify VSPP of intention to speak or present information, call Bruce McDannold, at (916) 657-2166, or email bmcdanno@ss.ca.gov

--------

For pointers for your letters and more information/discussion, go to http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x374848

For info on CITIZEN RALLY and updates on VSPP agenda:

Marc Keenberg: hiway61abe@hotmail.com
Sherry Healy: sherry@califelectprotect.net

The California Election Protection Network (CEPN) has information in pdf form at:

http://www.dfa-marin.org/June16HearingPressRelease.pdf

-------

FLOOD THE VSPP WITH LETTERS saying NO to these Bush-installing companies with their secret, proprietary programming code, their lobbying for paperless voting, their central electronic tabulators, their donations to Bush-Cheney, and their utter corruption of U.S. elections!

CEPN has a detailed list of demands for verifiable electronic voting systems at the pdf listed above--helpful in composing letters to the VSPP--but I believe in also addressing the heart of the problem: WHO these companies are, WHO they want to put into office (and HAVE put into office), and WHY we had an UNVERIFIABLE election in 2004.

These companies should be BANISHED from California--and from ALL U.S. elections!

------

ANOTHER REASON WHY THIS HEARING IS SO IMPORTANT:

The Bush admin. drove CA's vigilant, popularly elected, Democratic Secretary of State Kevin Shelley out of office (Shelley fought Diebold, sued them, and decertified their election fraud machines), and have replaced him with a Schwarzenegger patsy appointee!

So, CA needs all the help it can get to rid us of Diebold & co. and to help insure honest, transparent, verifiable elections in California. A flood of letters may at least make them cautious about undoing Shelley's reforms. The state legislature passed a law requiring a Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT), for instance--but I believe that an assault on that law (or exemptions or delays of implementation) may be planned. (Diebold shills have lobbied for delays that would prevent VVPAT from kicking in before the Schwarzenegger Special Election this fall! They want to be able to fiddle that election! With Schwarzenegger "re-districting" the state, and overriding the Democratic legislature on budget cuts, via an untimely and expensive Special Election, it will be all over for the Democratic majority power in California.)

Public sentiment is vitally important. Help put the pressure on!

Pls Help: We May Be About to Lose the BBC as We Know It

Pending changes at the BBC would, among other things, replace the BBC's governing board in charge of assessing BBC "performance" with a group of trustees selected by Tony Blair. I hope we all understand how crucial the BBC has been in bringing to light David Kelly's allegations, the Downing St. memo, etc. etc., and how much Tony Blair might like to suppress such reporting. Also pending are cuts of 3,800 - 4,000 jobs and privatization of parts of BBC operations. It appears to me that the pending changes have the potential to destroy the BBC as we know it. More details are set out below.

I'm not sure what we can do about this, but I think it's extremely important that folks the world over who care about news should at least understand the implications of what's happening and raise an outcry.

My review of the attack on the BBC has been superficial, but still better than what I've seen in any reports. I looked at the BBC "Green Paper", the most detailed description I've found on the 'net of government plans for job cutbacks (3,800 - 4,000) and privatization of portions of BBC operations. The Green Paper can be downloaded here.

I noted a number of features that raise troubling questions for me:

1. The BBC's current governing body is to be replaced by a Trust. The trust members are to be recommended by the Prime Minister. The reason given for establishing the Trust as the BBC's governing body is supposedly that the old Board was both the management and the body in charge of assessing BBC performance, and that this involved a conflict of interest.

This sounds reasonable, until you consider that the Prime Minister has been in direct conflict with the BBC over its reporting on him; so putting him in charge of selecting its trustees would seem merely to be replacing one conflict of interest with another one of much more serious import.

2. The Trust is supposed to be made more responsive to the desires of the public. (Nevermind that 3/4 of the public were perfectly happy with the BBC sans any of these changes.) The public's wishes are to be assessed through research. The paper doesn't address who does the research or how.

3. The justification for the staff cutbacks is that funds are needed in order for the BBC to take the lead in bringing about a "digital switch-over" accessible to "have-nots" as well as "haves". I'm no geek, but off-hand, it seems arguable that this means cutting back on news staffing in order to ensure future HDTV sales, or something like that. But someone who knows better than I can perhaps explain.

4. More programming is to be privatized. C.f. the U.S. use of private contractors in Iraq, or in electronic election technology--by no means perfectly similar, but illustrates the dangers. To me, looks like maybe they don't trust BBC staff to make programs that suit them, so by outsourcing to their buddies, they can both enrich them and ensure coverage that's more favorable, conservative, or at least innocuous to them. (Would some reporter pls look at how many new little production companies are being formed in the U.K. right now and by whom?)

I simply don't have the time or expertise to do the kind of analysis that needs to be done, but I am truly horrified that no one else seems to be noticing what's going on. (The unions affected by the job cuts have been striking, but last time I checked their sites, perhaps understandably, the focus was entirely on those cuts--whether they're justified, how remaining staff will be stretched, etc.)

You can express your objection to the changes at the BBC website here.

However, I feel it's important that we try to raise awareness of this issue through other outlets. I've blasted the U.S. media with this info, and also tried sending a general comment to the Noam Chomsky site.

Obviously, the bigger the outcry, the better. Please help spread the word in every way you can think of!

Thanks.

PLEASE Sign Conyers' Ltr Re- Downing St. Memo

Some believe this cd be a prelude to impeachment. From THIS LINK:

"Congressman John Conyers (D-MI) seeks to amass 100,000 signatures from U.S. citizens calling on President Bush for more answers about a 2002 meeting during which a senior British official said intelligence was 'being fixed' to present a case for the Iraq war, RAW STORY has learned."

SIGN to endorse Conyers' letter requesting answers, at: www.johnconyers.com

(Click on the link "Letter to President Bush Concerning the Downing Street Memo" at the bottom to sign the letter.)

THEN, GO HERE, where, with a few clicks, you can (1) download the memo itself if you like, (2) e-mail all your fed gov'l reps to urge investigation, and (3) e-mail a press release to all your local media outlets (find some of the links to do these things on the right-hand side of the page).

Thanks!

P.S. -- If you can help Conyers by providing an accurate translation of the Downing St. memo for publication in other countries, please GO HERE.

[This post was edited on 5/28 to add everything following, "THEN, GO HERE".]

Link to site that makes action re- elections easy

Here's the link: http://www.votersunite.org/

You can purchase a "Mythbreakers" book that explains the issues re- black box voting, check to see whether anyone else has already delivered it to your local county election officials, and if not, sign up to do so.

(No one has yet signed up for the NY counties of Bronx, Queens, New York, Kings, or Richmond. I just signed up for Dallas, TX.)

Then, click on "Take Action" for a number of other fairly easy steps you can take.

Good quote on the site: "The most common way people give up their power
is by thinking they don't have any." ~ Alice Walker

Pls forward this info to others.

Every little bit helps.

FYI --Dead Messengers

Newspaper union leader: U.S. military targets journalists

May 24, 2005

BY THOMAS LIPSCOMB

A public statement by Newspaper Guild President Linda Foley is reviving questions about the intentional targeting of journalists in Iraq by the U.S. armed forces.

At a May 13 meeting in St. Louis, Foley said: "Journalists, by the way, are not just being targeted verbally or politically. They are also being targeted for real in places like Iraq. What outrages me as a representative of journalists is that there's not more outrage about the number, and the brutality, and the cavalier nature of the U.S. military toward the killing of journalists in Iraq."

The Newspaper Guild that Foley heads represents 35,000 media workers in the United States and Canada. The Guild is the largest journalists union in North America.

Candice Johnson, a spokeswoman for the Guild's parent union, the Communications Workers of America, said the comments, made at the National Conference for Media Reform, should be taken in context.

..more..
==========
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/022405A.shtml


Dead Messengers:
How the U.S. Military Threatens Journalists
By Steve Weissman
t r u t h o u t | Investigation

Part I: Hearing What Eason Jordan Said

Thursday 24 February 2005

Do American soldiers purposely kill journalists, as CNN's Eason Jordan supposedly said? Or, could the problem be even worse


This is part one of a four-part series.
Part II | Army Failed to Probe Its Attack on Palestine Hotel
Part III | Targeting the Media the American Way
Part IV | But What About Al-Jazeera?

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/022405A.shtml

Don't read their lips; and re- the media . . .

Just look at what they do:

among other things, they are

building 14 permanent military bases in Iraq; and

planning execution chambers at Guantanamo. (For people who have never received a meaningful trial
and whose identities haven't even been revealed--like, not even their families know where to find
them; or even if they do, they're unable to help them. Like, if you turned out to be innocent, as
many surely were, since they were rounded up in a not-exactly-scientific process, and you, unluckily, now
happen to be a big fat embarassment for the Fourth Reich, esp. if they happen already to have tortured you . . . )

And here's what you can expect from CNN, from one of its co-founders:

"SCHONFELD: Abu Ghraib is the greatest foul up of all time. Those pictures were on the internet. The problem is not that we were - we - I only wish the Pentagon could have been able to deny that story, to be able to li - that's the right of the Pentagon to lie, when it is in the country's best interest to lie, you do lie. And when I made that statement in my book, an undersecretary - well - at Defense told me I don't have it quite right, the - uh - Rumsfeld, the Secretary can never lie but any, anybody under him can, that you have to do it when it's in the public, in the government interest."

(From THIS LINK.)

Say No to NEW Patriot Act Spying Powers

“Say No to New PATRIOT Spying Powers

“The Senate Intelligence Committee is about to consider, behind closed doors, a bill that would not only renew the USA PATRIOT Act's most dangerous provisions, but would also expand the government's power to secretly demand the private records of people who aren't suspected of any crime - without a judge's approval. . . .”

If you are a resident of Kansas, Utah, Ohio, Missouri, Maine, Nebraska, Georgia, Virginia, West Virginia, Michigan, California, Oregon, Indiana, Maryland, or New Jersey, your senator is on the Senate Intelligence Committee.

Pls GO HERE to sign petition and for more info.

And pls forward this to others who might be interested. Thanks!

BBC & NPR under simultaneous attack!

I assume we agree that without independent news coverage, we’re f----d.

Like NPR, the BBC is also under attack from the top down (what a coincidence)--see my earlier post, “Hands Off NPR and PBS”. The BBC board wants to cut 3,800 jobs and to privatize parts of the corp. The employees’ unions are striking. Please go to the bbc site and express your support for the strikers!

Pls also spread the word about what's happening both here and in the U.K.

You can submit your comments at the BBC site, and read a bit more info, here:

From THIS LINK

Pls sign petition re- FEC rules on blogs

Sorry, it’s just one darn thing after another . . . . Please sign this petition re- internet regulation — you can reach the link to sign the petition here.

For more info about the proposed rules and how to submit specific comments, GO HERE. Below is some info from the same link, (edited for brevity). (Note it’s now LESS than 10 days.) And pls forward this to others you think might sign the petition -- thanks!

"Everybody from across the spectrum is getting into it now: Krempasky's got the right side of the blogosphere worked up, InstaGlenn sent out his InstaSignal, and it's up to you to spread the word across our part of the blogosphere and add your thoughts. . . .

"Whether you believe that all campaign finance regulation is bad, or whether you believe that political activity on the Internet does need some regulation, it's important that you educate the FEC as to its regulatory task and limits. Even if they mean well, that doesn't mean they understand the impact of seemingly innocuous regulations on what we're doing out here. as Judge Stewart Dalzell wrote of the Communications Decency Act, "no matter how benign the purpose, [they] could burn the global village to roast the pig."

I think we "won!"

Filibust THIS, motherfuckers!!

Pls help stop dismantling of Senate rules

(Edited to provide corrected Senator contact info.)

Friends:

The media have described the battle in the U.S. Senate re- the use of the filibuster to block votes on extreme judicial nominees as just a “process” matter. Similarly, many of our most cherished rights under the Constitution are mere “process” matters.

The effort to block the “nuclear option” is important. Please write the following senators a.s.a.p.: Arlen Specter, Chuck Hagel, Susan Collins, Olympia Snowe, Lincoln Chafee, Mike DeWine, Lindsey Graham, John Warner, Lisa Murkowski, Gordon Smith, plus your own senators. You can reach these senators through THIS LINK.



Here’s a form I used, but of course feel free to write your own:

Dear Senator ____________:

The right to filibuster judicial nominees is an important part of the checks and balances that have evolved as part of the government of our democratic society. The the far right seems intent on dismantling as many such checks and balances as possible. We the people have watched and seen as each capitulation has simply set the stage for the next incursion on the freedoms our forefathers died to protect.

It’s time for the line to be drawn. Please OPPOSE the nuclear option.

Thank you.

(Include your name and street address)

Citgo "Buy-Cott"

According to this article, Citgo is your best bet for buying gasoline. Citgo's revenues go to Venezuela, where Chavez uses the oil profits for things like health care, education, and subsidized food. Pretty cool, for dinosaur juice.

http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0516-25.htm

Creating an Independent Ethics Commission

From the very smart folks at movingideas.org (via Tapped - the first-rate blog from the equally on the ball staff of The American Prospect):

"The current stalemate in the House [ethics committee] illustrates the problems with an ethics process that is partisan. It is important to take partisanship out of the ethics process so that members of Congress are held accountable for unethical behavior regardless of which party is in power. Urge Speaker Hastert to appoint an independent investigator to resolve ethics complaints against House Majority Leader Tom DeLay and support the implementation of an independent ethics commission to replace the current partisan House Ethics Committee proces"

Follow the link below and click on the "Take Action" button to make your voice heard on this:

http://www.movingideas.org/content/en/on_the_hill/ethics.htm

Hands Off NPR and PBS

Please consider signing this Common Cause petition (if you haven’t done so already) (Common Cause's msg has been edited for brevity). Thx! -- C.

------ Forwarded Message

At stake is our right to know the truth from sources who don't have to pay homage to the bottom line . . . . Just yesterday, we learned in the New York Times1 that the board of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), along with its chairman, Kenneth Tomlinson, told its staff that it should redirect money for NPR away from national newscasts and public affairs programming towards music programs. . . .

Sign the Petition:

http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?ID=M68888737003843014274865

Tomlinson has decided that "Big Bird" leans left, despite evidence from two CPB-funded polls2 that suggest that an overwhelming number of Americans are happy with NPR and PBS programming. http://www.commoncause.org/ProtectPublicBroadcasting

Please sign our petition to protect NPR and PBS from partisan meddling and preserve what many Common Cause members consider to be a highly valued source of news and public affairs coverage:
http://www.commoncause.org/protectpublicbroadcasting ; http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?ID=M68888737003843014274865

[O]ver the past several months, Tomlinson and his Republican colleagues on the CPB have betrayed their duty to protect public broadcasting by:

Hiring Partisans. Tomlinson is pushing the CPB board to replace outgoing CPB President Katherine Cox with Patricia Harrison, a former co-chairwoman of the Republican National Committee.3

Directly Seeking to Influence Programming Decisions. . . .

Working with the White House to sabotage efforts at reform. . . .

Targeting Journalists. Tomlinson hired a consultant to track the political ideology of guests on the PBS program NOW with Bill Moyers. The Moyers program was singled out without informing the public, members of the CPB Board, or Mr. Moyers.6

This past Sunday . . . . [Bill] Moyers . . . . said the following: [O]ne reason I'm in hot water is because my colleagues and I at NOW didn't play by the conventional rules of Beltway journalism.[…]
Those rules permit Washington officials to set the agenda … leaving the press to simply recount what officials say instead of subjecting their words and deeds to critical scrutiny. Instead of . . . sifting the truth from the propaganda, reporters and anchors attentively transcribe both sides of spin invariably failing to provide . . . any sense of which claims hold up and which are misleading.7

Pls sign the petition:

http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?ID=M68888737003843014274865

We said no more terrorism, right?

Patterns of Global Terrorism is a Congressionally-mandated report from the U.S. Department of State intended to provide a full and complete record for those countries and groups involved in international terrorism. This publication is updated annually by the Office of the Coordinator for Counterterrorism. MIPT has digitized and made available here the entire collection from 1985 to the present.

But no more. Bush administration eliminating 19-year-old international terrorism report.

The State Department decided to stop publishing an annual report on international terrorism after the government's top terrorism center concluded that there were more terrorist attacks in 2004 than in any year since 1985, the first year the publication covered...

the all new kittenpants action site

I can't update this all by myself. So I'm enlisting you.