Liberation News Service: LNS Post Coup II Supplement (12/30/04)

December 30, 2004

LNS Post Coup II Supplement (12/30/04)

Next week, it all comes down. John Conyers (D-MI) will be holding hearings, Jesse Jackson will be leading protests, and Maxine Waters (D-CA)will stand up and challenge the Ohio electors, IF the US Senate Democrats capitulate as they did in 2000, IF they refuse to sign on with the Congressional Black Caucus, they might as well embrace the "Pro-Life" movement, Creationism and Neo-Con National Insecurity, because their role as a progressive force in US politics will be utterly FORFEIT...

Here is another supplement, please review the news items and op-ed pieces, and share them with those who care...

Theft of the 2004 Election & Complicity of the Corporatist News Media

Bob Fertik, www.democrats.com: January 6 is fast approaching, and we need to convince one Senator to support Maxine Waters and other House Democrats in their challenge to Ohio's electors. Call your Democratic Senators today! Cite the Moss v. Bush lawsuit as the basis for the challenge.
Activists will be coming to DC from across the nation. ReDefeatBush.com is helping local activists arrange transportation. ReDefeatBush has also compiled a target list of 77 Members of the U.S. House of Representatives who should be core supporters.
To set the stage for the January 6 protest, Rev. Jesse Jackson will lead a "Pro Democracy Count Every Vote Rally" in Columbus Ohio on January 3, which is co-sponsored by Ohio Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs-Jones, MoveOn.org, Progressive Democrats of America, the anti-war coalition United for Peace and Justice, Ohio State Senator Joyce Beatty, CASE Ohio and others. According to Rev. Jackson, this rally will mark the beginning of a mass movement:
“The vote recount in Ohio is underway. The election challenge lawsuit has been filed. Subpoenas are being prepared. Depositions are being planned. Hearings spearheaded by Cong. John Conyers are bringing forth new evidence of voter machine manipulation. And now Sen. John Kerry has joined in the recount fight. We must have a thorough investigation of voter irregularities and the voter machines before Congress certifies the Electoral College vote on January 6,” Rev. Jackson said. “January 3rd will be the beginning of a new Pro-Democracy Movement in America. Forty years ago, the Voting Rights Act was passed as a result of an independent, mass civil rights movement. We will carry forward that tradition in 2005, and continue the fight to count every vote and make sure every vote counts.”

Gary Beckwith, http://election.solarbus.org: For those watching the growing body of evidence concerning election fraud in our past presidential election, one question has remained: Why don't we hear about this on the evening news?
As of yet it's been hard to explain why the controversies in Ukraine make the headlines, but when similar problems are discovered at home, you have to scour the Internet to find the information.
It certainly isn't for lack of events on which to report. Members of The House Judiciary Committee have been meeting regularly reviewing evidence of systematic voter suppression and voting machine tampering. A coalition of lawyers have filed a lawsuit against the Bush campaign citing deliberate manipulation of votes. Sworn testimony and signed affidavits have implicated companies, individuals, and a Florida congressman…
While it's frustrating that we still can't see the exit polls, let's thank the media for at least resolving one thing for us today. Now we know why we don't see stories about the election on the evening news. Their refusal to release the exit polls shows us categorically that there is a concerted effort on behalf of the major media outlets to consciously prevent the information from getting out. It's not simple oversight, and it's not because they don't think it's newsworthy. Now we know. They are withholding information from us.
Now that that's been resolved, we can move on to the next question: What are they hiding, and why?

www.bradblog.com: Congressman Tom Feeney's (R-FL) attorneys have sent a letter threatening the editors of Florida's Seminole Chronicle intimating possible legal action in light of the news report filed by Editor Alex Babcock last week concerning allegations made in a sworn affidavit [PDF] and in sworn public testimony before members of the U.S. House Judiciary committee by software programmer Clint Curtis.
The story of Curtis' allegations and affidavit was originally reported by The BRAD BLOG several weeks ago. Curtis has alleged, among other things, that Feeney conspired, in an October 2000 meeting, to have a "vote-rigging software prototype" built by Yang Enterprises, Inc. -- a company for which Feeney at the time served as corporate counsel and registered lobbyist even while he concurrently served as Legislator, and eventually Speaker of the Florida House. Feeney was the running mate to Jeb Bush during his first failed bid for Governor of Florida, and is now a U.S. Congressman from Florida's newly created 24th Congressional District. He also now sits on the U.S. House's Judiciary Committee.

Jesse Jackson, Chicago Tribune: Claiming Ohio’s 2004 election results were more troubling than Florida’s four years ago, the Rev. Jesse Jackson yesterday said Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry called it quits too soon.
"Kerry conceded much too quickly, before the facts were in," Jackson said in a conference call with reporters to discuss an ongoing challenge to Ohio’s election results.
"When he pulled the plug, the national media left as well," Jackson said of Kerry’s concession on Nov. 3, the day after the election.

Bush Abomination’s #1 Failure: National Security

Associated Press: One of the captors from the group calling itself the Islamic Army in Iraq said Bush's re-election would boost their cause, Malbrunot wrote in Friday's edition of Le Figaro, the French daily he works for.
"We want Bush because with him the American troops will stay in Iraq and that way we will be able to develop," Malbrunot cited the captor as saying…
Another captor, who described himself as the group's head of internal intelligence, told the men that the Islamic Army has four enemies: American and coalition troops, "their collaborators, that is to say Italian businessmen, or even French," as well Iraqi police and spies.

Reuters: A French judge has widened a probe into the financial network surrounding the family of Osama bin Laden after questioning his half-brother and learning of a E241 million ($425.7million) transfer to Pakistan.
Investigating magistrate Renaud Van Ruymbeke received court authorisation to extend his investigation after Yeslam bin Laden was questioned over allegations of links with the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the US.
As a result, Mr Van Ruymbeke was adding "other instances of money laundering" to the probe already under way, Le Monde newspaper reported on the weekend.
On December 5, 2001, French authorities opened an investigation into financial transfers carried out through Paris between firms grouped within the Saudi Investment Company (SICO) run by Yeslam bin Laden…
Although he denied having had any contact with his half-brother for the past 20 years, the paper said, documents held by Swiss banking authorities suggest that Yeslam and Osama bin Laden held a joint account in Switzerland between 1990 and 1997, according to Jean-Charles Brisard – a private investigator hired by families of the victims of the September 11 attacks.

Bush Abomination’s #2 Failure: Economic Security

BOB GRAHAM, St Petersburg Times: During my lifetime, five events have most affected Florida and its prosperity: mosquito control; air conditioning; jet air travel; Fidel Castro; and the creation of Social Security and other retirement income programs.
The first three are deeply entrenched in our society, and I look forward to Castro passing from the scene. Social Security, however, is at a crossroads. President Bush and his Republican allies in Congress seem determined to unravel the most important social safety net in this nation's - and Florida's - history...
In his 1998 State of the Union address, President Clinton proposed saving Social Security first. There was wisdom in that statement. This led to budget surpluses, a booming economy and the opportunity to pay off America's public debt. President Bush rejected that opportunity - he opted for tax cuts for the rich first. We now need to defeat ideas that would kill Social Security as we have known it, especially when it is sold under the banner of salvation.

Rachel Katz, Bloomberg: Kmart Holding Corp. and Sears, Roebuck & Co. are among the U.S. retailers offering discounts of as much as 75 percent to lure last-minute shoppers and salvage what's been a sluggish holiday season.
Sales gains in the first three weeks of December averaged 3.1 percent, compared with 5.2 percent in the same period last year, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers- UBS weekly index. The markdowns may not be enough to spur consumers to spend more on holiday gifts, said investors including David Keuler at Mason Street Advisors.

Bush Abomination’s #3 Failure: Environmental Security

Geoffrey Lean, Independent/UK: George Bush's two closest allies in his attempt to sabotage international action to combat global warning last week dramatically distanced themselves from him. Saudi Arabia announced that it had approved the Kyoto Protocol, the treaty on climate change which President Bush has been trying to kill. And Australia, while still rejecting it, parted company from the United States by saying that it was prepared to negotiate its successor.
The moves follow a tense international negotiating session in Buenos Aires where, as The Independent on Sunday reported last week, the US brought the talks to the brink of collapse by obstructing even anodyne proposals. This breached an assurance given by President Bush in 2001, when he pulled out of the protocol, that America would not try to stop other countries reaching agreement.
New negotiations are due to begin next year on a successor to Kyoto, which will come into force in February, following Russia's decision to ratify it last autumn. Tony Blair regards progress on climate change as one of the top priorities of Britain's presidency of the G8 group of the world's most powerful nations.

Gavin Schmidt, Earth Institute News: In a departure from normal practice on the RealClimate.org site, this post is a commentary on a piece of out-and-out fiction (unlike most of the other posts which deal with a more subtle kind). Michael Crichton’s new novel “State of Fear” is about a self-important NGO hyping the science of the global warming to further the ends of evil eco-terrorists. The inevitable conclusion of the book is that global warming is a non-problem. A lesson for our times maybe? Unfortunately, I think not…
At the end of the book, Crichton gives us an author’s message. In it, he re-iterates the main points of his thesis, that there are some who go too far to drum up support (and I have some sympathy with this), and that because we don’t know everything, we actually know nothing (here, I beg to differ). He also gives us his estimate, ~0.8 C for the global warming that will occur over the next century and claims that, since models differ by 400% in their estimates, his guess is as good as theirs. This is not true. The current batch of models have a mean climate sensitivity of about 3 C to doubled CO2 (and range between 2.5 and 4.0 degrees) (Paris meeting of IPCC, July 2004) , i.e an uncertainty of about 30%. As discussed above, the biggest uncertainties about the future are the economics, technology and rate of development going forward. The main cause of the spread in the widely quoted 1.5 to 5.8 C range of temperature projections for 2100 in IPCC is actually the different scenarios used. For lack of better information, if we (incorrectly) assume all the scenarios are equally probable, the error around the mean of 3.6 degrees is about 60%, not 400%. Crichton also suggests that most of his 0.8 C warming will be due to land use changes. That is actually extremely unlikely since land use change globally is a cooling effect (as discussed above). Physically-based simulations are actually better than just guessing.
Finally, in an appendix, Crichton uses a rather curious train of logic to compare global warming to the 19th Century eugenics movement. He argues, that since eugenics was studied in prestigious universities and supported by charitable foundations, and now, so is global warming, they must somehow be related. Presumably, the author doesn’t actually believe that foundation-supported academic research ipso facto is evil and mis-guided, but that is an impression that is left.
In summary, I am a little disappointed, not least because while researching this book, Crichton actually visited our lab and discussed some of these issues with me and a few of my colleagues…
More on the Complicity of the Corporatist Media

Danny Schecter, www.mediachannel.org: Since when did the American Civil Liberties Union become a media organization? Or put another way: why have so much of our press fallen down on the job of pushing the Bush Administration to disclose information about its war-related practices, ranging from how it provides for our troops to detailing military abuse of prisoners and detainees?
Documents pried from the government by the ACLU under the Freedom of Information Act , and disclosed this week, suggest that the abuse of detainees was more systematic than we knew and ordered from on high. One email even indicates that President Bush signed off on the policy. While the administration disputes the document, that famous question raised during the Watergate investigation comes around again in a different form: What did the President know and when did he forget he knew it?
The ACLU's success at breaking news also raises the question of how aggressive our press has been in challenging military rationales and White House message points.

Illegitimate, Incompetent & Corrupt

Washington Post Editorial: THANKS TO a lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union and other human rights groups, thousands of pages of government documents released this month have confirmed some of the painful truths about the abuse of foreign detainees by the U.S. military and the CIA -- truths the Bush administration implacably has refused to acknowledge…The new documents establish beyond any doubt that every part of this cover story is false…
The record of the past few months suggests that the administration will neither hold any senior official accountable nor change the policies that have produced this shameful record. Congress, too, has abdicated its responsibility under its Republican leadership: It has been nearly four months since the last hearing on prisoner abuse.

John P. O’Neill Wall of Heroes

Editors & Publishers: In a column noting the high number of U.S. military personnel in Iraq who will be far from home on Christmas, USA Today founder Al Neuharth declared today that if he were eligible to serve in Iraq, "I would do all I could to avoid it." He also wrote in his weekly column for the paper that America's New Year's resolution should be to bring the troops home "sooner rather than later."

Reuters: A portrait of President Bush using monkeys to form his image that was banished from a New York art show last week amid charges of censorship was projected on a giant billboard in Manhattan on Tuesday.
Animal Magazine, a quarterly arts publication that had organized the month-long show, said anonymous donors had paid for the picture to be posted on a giant digital billboard over the entrance to the Holland Tunnel, used by thousands of commuters traveling between Manhattan and New Jersey.
The original picture will be auctioned on eBay, with part of the proceeds donated to parents of U.S. soldiers wishing to supply their sons and daughters with body armor in Iraq.

Kulchur War

Michael Powell, Washington Post: Lark Myers, a blond, 45-year-old gift shop owner, frames the question and answers it. "I definitely would prefer to believe that God created me than that I'm 50th cousin to a silverback ape," she said. "What's wrong with wanting our children to hear about all the holes in the theory of evolution?"
Board members have been less guarded, and their comments go well beyond intelligent design theory. William Buckingham, the board's curriculum chairman, explained at a meeting last June that Jesus died on the cross and "someone has to take a stand" for him. Other board members say they believe that God created Earth and mankind sometime in the past ten thousand years or so.
"If the Bible is right, God created us," said John Rowand, an Assemblies of God pastor and a newly appointed school board member. "If God did it, it's history and it's also science."
This strikes some parents and teachers, not to mention most evolutionary biologists, as loopy science…
"It's not science; it's a theocratic idea," Bryan Rehm, a former science teacher in Dover and a father of four. "We don't have enough time for science in the classroom as it is - this is just inappropriate."

Gareth Cook, Boston Globe: Stem cells have become famous for their ability to heal, spurring hopes that they might one day cure Parkinson's disease, spinal cord injuries, and a wide variety of ailments. But now a growing number of researchers are concluding that stem cells are also the hidden force behind one of nature's most feared killers: cancer.
Within each tumor, they believe, lurks a small population of elusive, highly potent cells that drive the tumor's growth. Under a microscope they appear identical to other cancer cells, but these cancer stem cells hold the power to produce cancerous tumors in much the same way that normal stem cells can regenerate the body's healthy tissues. They also seem to resist traditional cancer drugs, explaining why patients can be seemingly cured of some cancers only to see the disease return.
In the past two years, cancer stem cells have gone from a theory on the fringes of biology to an idea that is attracting money and talent in cancer research. Last year a scientist at the University of Michigan announced the discovery of stem cells in breast tumors. In the past few months, a form of leukemia and two types of brain cancer were both linked to cancer stem cells, and scientists familiar with unpublished studies said more cancers are likely to follow. The first test in patients of a therapy targeting these stem cells is now getting underway.

Restore the Republic in 2005!

Theft of the 2004 Election & Complicity of the
Corporatist News Media

http://www.freepress.org/departments/display/19/2004/1046

Ohio GOP election officials ducking subpoenas as Kerry enters stolen vote fray
by Bob Fitrakis, Steve Rosenfeld and Harvey Wasserman
December 28, 2004

COLUMBUS -- Ohio Republican election officials thumbed their noses at a subpoena Monday, December 27, as Republican Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell refused to appear at a deposition in an election challenge lawsuit filed at the Ohio Supreme Court. Meanwhile John Kerry is reported to have filed a federal legal action aimed at preserving crucial recount evidence, which has been under GOP assault throughout the state.

Richard Congianese, Ohio Assistant Attorney General, is seeking a court order to protect Blackwell from testifying under oath about how the election was run. Blackwell, who administered Ohio's November 2 balloting, served as co-chair of the Bush-Cheney campaign.

James R. Dicks, Miami County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney, also filed a motion to block subpoenas in ten key Ohio counties. Other local election officials slated to be deposed, such as in Claremont County, have also refused to answer attorney questions.

President George Bush, Vice-President Richard Cheney and White House Political Advisor Karl Rove received notice that they will be deposed Tuesday and Wednesday, December 28 and 29. The trio’s Ohio attorney, Kurt Tunnell, so far claims his clients have not been properly served. Under Ohio law, the Republican-dominated Ohio Supreme Court is responsible for serving the three with subpoenas.

Meanwhile, the Election Protection legal team has collected new statements under oath describing more voting and vote-counting problems on November 2.

Voters in Trumbull County have testified that on Election Day they received punch-card ballots where holes were already punched for Bush. Meanwhile, a notarized affidavit signed by Angela Greene, who voted at Whitehall Yearling High School in central Ohio's Franklin County, stated that one of the malfunctioning electronic voting machines at her polling place was delivered without a cartridge – meaning votes cast might have gone uncounted.

In Miami County, Blackwell certified a 98.5% turnout in the Concord Southwest precinct, comprised of 520 votes for Bush and 157 for Kerry. This statistically improbable turnout has all but 10 of the 689 registered voters casting their ballots on Election Day. A preliminary canvas by The Free Press of less than half the precinct found 25 registered voters admitting they had not voted, meaning the official tally was almost certainly fraudulent.

The nearby Concord South precinct certified a 94.27% voter turnout, with 468 alleged votes for Bush versus 182 for Kerry. Miami County is included in the election challenge since it somehow reported nearly 19,000 additional votes after 100% of the precincts had reported on Election Day.

In Madison County, where public records requests were filed to obtain voting records, the voting results provided by the Madison County Board of Elections came directly from a private company, Triad Governmental Systems, Inc. An email dated November 29, 2004 from Brandon Sandlin of Triad reads as follows: “Hello to all in Madison County! Attached you will find the cumulative report (oh49unov.pdf) with over and under votes reported as well as the official abstract (oh49abs.pdf). These reports may be printed for your records and then mailed to the state along with your other certification reports.” Coming from a private corporation, Triad's letter underscores the barriers to making a reliable independent public assessment and recount of Ohio's presidential tally.

In Mahoning County, the Washington Post reported new affidavits documenting electronic "vote hopping" from Kerry to Bush. This means voting machines highlighted the choice for Bush before the voter recorded a choice of his or her own. The legal team has been told by a computer expert that this may mean the machines were pre-set on a Bush vote as a default. The Free Press has obtained dozens such sworn statements of vote hopping.

The legal team is also exploring new evidence that in Coshocton, Ohio, write-in votes wrongly defaulted to Bush when run through the voting machine.

On December 23, U.S. Representative John Conyers, Jr. of the House Judiciary Committee, wrote a letter to Triad President Brett A. Rapp inquiring whether or not Triad possessed remote access capabilities for any of the 41 counties where its election tabulation software or computers are in use.

Attorneys for the election challenge team are also exploring ties between Triad and the Tennessee-based company Datamaxx. Ohio public safety and police agencies use the Datamaxx DMPP2020 software for its LEADS computer systems. Datamaxx makes numerous remote access products that law enforcement can access with mobile and handheld computers.

The Free Press has also obtained a list of all voting machines assigned in Franklin County, including serial numbers. The list contains at least 42 machines originally assigned to predominantly African-American and inner city wards that voted 80% for Kerry, and where voters waited in line for three hours and more on Election Day. These 42 machines were blacked out on the list, raising the question of whether these were among the 68 machines the Franklin County Board of Elections has admitted holding back in the warehouse despite obvious shortages at certain polling places. Affidavits from poll workers confirm that numerous requests for more machines were made through election day, but that few if any were delivered.

Franklin County Board of Elections Chair Bill Anthony claims that low-level poll workers refused to accept the machines assigned by high-ranking election officials. But he has yet to provide specific details. Anthony has repeatedly claimed that he was a watchdog for Democratic interests in the election, but he was a political appointee of the Republican Secretary of State.

Under Ohio election law, the members, directors and deputy directors of all boards of elections are assigned by the Secretary of State. They hold these paying jobs at his discretion regardless of whether they are Democrat or Republican. A major argument of those who claim Ohio’s 2004 presidential election was fraud-free centers on the myth that local precincts are run as bipartisan operations, deflecting charges of partisan interference while failing to account for the fact that the principles all owe their jobs to the Secretary of State, who in this case served as co-chair of the state's Bush-Cheney campaign.

These problems add to the established pattern of problems that favored Bush at Kerry’s expense.

Despite the legal stonewalling, lawyers directing the election challenge case are still pursuing evidence-gathering efforts. Three expert witnesses are scheduled to be deposed on Thursday and Friday, including specialists in statistics and vote counting irregularities.

The challengers are seeking a January 4th hearing before the Ohio Supreme Court. Members of Congress meet in Washington on January 6 to evaluate the Electoral College vote. Led by Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), it is virtually certain numerous members of the Congressional Black Caucus will challenge that vote. But the assent of a Senator is required for the challenge to go forward, and thus far none has definitively confirmed.

Despite ducking depositions, Blackwell is escalating his public appearances in hopes of becoming Ohio’s next governor. On January 12, 2005, Blackwell is scheduled to speak at the exclusive Scioto Country Club on the topic of “Ethics in Leadership.” Blackwell became nationally known after disenfranchising voters who had not registered on 80-pound bond paper stock under an archaic Ohio law. He reversed longstanding Ohio tradition that allowed voters to cast provisional votes by county by ruling that none of these votes would be counted unless the voter was in the right precinct. He also was recently censured for running a “get out the vote” campaign for Issue One, a Constitutional amendment banning gay marriage and spousal benefits.

Meanwhile, Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) was reported to be filing a brief in federal court in relation to the activities of Triad and events in Hocking County, where serious questions have arisen as to the integrity of the recount. Kerry previously circulated a letter to all 88 counties requesting information on how the vote was conducted. The Kerry campaign raised millions of dollars from grassroots supporters with the promise that "all votes would be counted." But the Democrats are not known to have helped fund the legal work of the Green and Libertarian Parties and their grassroots Election Protection supporters, who have raised the money for the shoestring campaign that has kept the legal challenges alive thus far.

An Election Protection rally in downtown Columbus has been set by Rev. Jesse Jackson for 2pm Monday, January 3. It will be followed by a national gathering in Washington January 6, to take place as Congress evaluates the Electoral College and the Ohio votes, which have allegedly given George W. Bush another term in the White House.

--
Bob Fitrakis, Steve Rosenfeld and Harvey Wasserman are co-authors of the upcoming OHIO'S STOLEN ELECTION: VOICES OF THE DISENFRANCHISED, 2004, a book and film project from http://freepress.org. Support is welcome via http://freepress.org/store.php#don_pub or by sending a check to The “Columbus Institute for Contemporary Journalism”, 1240 Bryden Rd., Columbus, Ohio 43205.

http://blog.democrats.com/node/2172
Stolen Election 2004: Monday Update
by Bob Fertik on 12/26/2004 8:08pm. - revised 12/27/2004 10:33am
January 6 is fast approaching, and we need to convince one Senator to support Maxine Waters and other House Democrats in their challenge to Ohio's electors. Call your Democratic Senators today! Cite the Moss v. Bush lawsuit as the basis for the challenge.
Activists will be coming to DC from across the nation. ReDefeatBush.com is helping local activists arrange transportation. ReDefeatBush has also compiled a target list of 77 Members of the U.S. House of Representatives who should be core supporters.
To set the stage for the January 6 protest, Rev. Jesse Jackson will lead a "Pro Democracy Count Every Vote Rally" in Columbus Ohio on January 3, which is co-sponsored by Ohio Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs-Jones, MoveOn.org, Progressive Democrats of America, the anti-war coalition United for Peace and Justice, Ohio State Senator Joyce Beatty, CASE Ohio and others. According to Rev. Jackson, this rally will mark the beginning of a mass movement:
“The vote recount in Ohio is underway. The election challenge lawsuit has been filed. Subpoenas are being prepared. Depositions are being planned. Hearings spearheaded by Cong. John Conyers are bringing forth new evidence of voter machine manipulation. And now Sen. John Kerry has joined in the recount fight. We must have a thorough investigation of voter irregularities and the voter machines before Congress certifies the Electoral College vote on January 6,” Rev. Jackson said. “January 3rd will be the beginning of a new Pro-Democracy Movement in America. Forty years ago, the Voting Rights Act was passed as a result of an independent, mass civil rights movement. We will carry forward that tradition in 2005, and continue the fight to count every vote and make sure every vote counts.”
The power of a popular mass movement was proved in Ukarine, where street protests forced the corrupt government to conduct a nationwide re-vote that appears to have elected Yushchenko. Amazingly, Sunday's network headlines about Ukraine trumpeted the exit polls showing challenger Yushchenko beating Yanukovych. Yet those same networks refuse to release the raw exit poll data showing challenger Kerry beating Bush. If Bush really won, you can bet the exit poll data would have been released immediately.
Of course, Yuschenko led massive protests against the Stolen Election in Ukraine. Here in the U.S., John Kerry has been invisible since he conceded on November 3. But his lawyers have been increasingly active in challenging Ohio's election fraud. Fintan Dunne says Kerry will intervene in the Triad recount fraud case on Monday, and this case could have decisive consequences.
If the recount was fraudulent, does that have implications for the validity of the first count in Ohio? The Kerry campaign knows full well that it does. That's why their latest statement questions the "integrity" of the "entire" electoral process. And the election of Bush/Cheney.
For Kerry, a fraudulent recount in Ohio could be an open door into to the Oval Office.
To get from here to there, Democrats would have to challenge Ohio's fraudulent Electors - and that requires Just One Senator. To help convince your Senators, Ray Beckerman compiled an excellent set of Ohio links on (a) fraud, (b) disenfranchisment, (c) voter suppression, (d) recount obstruction, and (e) vote machine tampering.
Don't believe Beckerman, whose is meticulously documenting every credible news item? Then how about the non-partisan National Research Commission on Elections and Voting (courtesy of the Nashua Advocate), which issued an interim report on Dec 22 and declared itself unable to make a "conclusive statement regarding the accuracy or fairness of specific [2004 election] results at this time." Why not? They offer about 2 dozen important reasons.
Meanwhile, new evidence of fraud keeps accumulating. Last Thursday, David Cobb asked a Federal Court to preserve a wide range of evidence, including voting machines and election records, to ensure the integrity of the Ohio presidential recount.
"It is time for the federal judiciary to step in and ensure the integrity of the recount in Ohio, something which Ohio's blatantly partisan Secretary of State is either unwilling or thoroughly incapable of doing," said Cobb. Papers filed with the court state that "voting machines in multiple counties may have been tampered with during the recount by an employee of Triad Governmental Systems, Inc.-the company whose computer program tallied the punch-card votes cast in 41" of Ohio's 88 counties. The most widely reported of these instances took place on December 10, in Hocking County, Ohio, when a Triad representative reprogrammed a computer used for tabulating votes and instructed the county's Deputy Director of Elections to create a "cheat sheet" so "the count would come out perfect and we wouldn't have to do a full hand recount of the county."
Last Tuesday, voters in the Mahoning Valley (including Youngstown) testified for 3 hours at a hearing organized by Rev. Rick Judy of Mahoning County; Rev. Werner Lange of Trumbull County; Ray Nakley, an officer of the Arab-American Community Center in Youngstown; and Russ Buckbee, Green Party coordinator for NE Ohio. They testified about
Pre-punched ballots; touch-screen vote switching; more absentee votes than absentee voters; unfair provisional voter deletions; change of voting sites on Election Day. voter suppression; voter intimidation; double voting; malfunctioning machines; recalibrated machines; evidently rigged machines; and even 25 million negative votes registered in some races in Mahoning County!...
“One pattern that has been documented based on the experience of voters in Florida, New Mexico, Ohio, and elsewhere (especially in swing states) is the machines appear to have been set with a default to Bush. Then if the voter successfully punched the ballot for another candidate, Bush was replaced by that candidate.”
The exact number of votes officially given to Bush and stolen from Kerry by such means is unknown. No explanation has, to date, been given and no serious investigation into this outrage against democracy has been launched.
Nor has there been any defensible explanation provided for the documented absentee vote inflation in Trumbull County. A careful review by Werner Lange and Maggie Hagan of nearly 200 precincts in Trumbull County revealed a considerable discrepancy between the number of certified absentee votes and the number of registered absentee voters identified in the poll books. The poll books are to contain not only the name of every registered voter, but also clearly identify who voted (either by regular, absentee or provisional means) and who did not. The Trumbull County investigation showed some 650 more absentee votes than there were absentee voters identified in the poll books examined. If the absentee vote inflation rate there were consistent statewide, then over 63,000 votes were up for grabs in Ohio.
After 7 weeks of protests, hearings, investigations, recounts, and lawsuits, the NY Times finally sent 3 reporters (James Dao, Ford Fessenden and Tom Zeller Jr.) to Ohio to cover the second theft of the Presidency. Their first report is a completely superficial review of the most obvious problems - 155,000 provisional ballots, of which 23% were rejected; 93,000 overvotes and undervotes, all of which were rejected; and long lines. But the reporters didn't do any investigations - or even talk to any investigators! - they just accepted denials from Ken Blackwell. E-mail public@nytimes.com and demand a real investigation of Ohio election fraud!

http://www.solarbus.org/stealyourelection/articles/1222-media.html
TV Networks Officially Refuse to Release Exit Poll Raw Data
Mainstream media finally displays true colors

by Gary Beckwith
the Solar Bus http://election.solarbus.org
December 22, 2004
For those watching the growing body of evidence concerning election fraud in our past presidential election, one question has remained: Why don't we hear about this on the evening news?
As of yet it's been hard to explain why the controversies in Ukraine make the headlines, but when similar problems are discovered at home, you have to scour the Internet to find the information.
It certainly isn't for lack of events on which to report. Members of The House Judiciary Committee have been meeting regularly reviewing evidence of systematic voter suppression and voting machine tampering. A coalition of lawyers have filed a lawsuit against the Bush campaign citing deliberate manipulation of votes. Sworn testimony and signed affidavits have implicated companies, individuals, and a Florida congressman.
This developing story could eventually turn out to be more explosive than Watergate. But it's rarely mentioned on the major networks, and when it is, there's almost always a chiding remark about the "conspiracy nuts" and obscure "internet bloggers" who are behind it all.
The truth is, it's not just conspiracy nuts, or bloggers, or even just Democratic supporters of Kerry. It's a growing number of people who want to know what really happened on Novermber 2nd. It's teachers, doctors, lawyers, all kinds of people who care about their Democracy just as much as the people in Ukraine do. And a recent survey showed that even without the media coverage, 20% of Americans believe the election was stolen.
For these people it's been a difficult task to spread the word, and to tell the uninformed about the election problems. That's because for many, if it's not on the evening news, it isn't happening. And as soon as you start telling someone about it, their first question is always, "Why aren't I hearing about this on the news?".
That's a question we'd all like to see answered.
Until now, we've only been able to speculate. Perhaps the media is just tired of a long drawn out election season. Perhaps reporters don't want to "stick their neck out" until more evidence is uncovered. Perhaps the reporters just haven't seen the evidence that already exists. And one possibility of many is that the mainstream media has been purposely withholding this story from the American people. Emails have floated around, purportedly written by reporters, saying that they've been instructed not to write about the problems with the election or they'll lose their job.
It's hard to believe that the media would cover up something like this, considering that many reporters probably voted for Kerry and would want the people to know if the election was stolen. But there's already enough of a story that it should be getting attention - the Congressional hearings, lawsuits filed, and sworn testimony are newsworthy of themselves, regardless of their outcomes. The lack of coverage of already existing events forces us to wonder why.
Attempts to get an explanation from the media have been met with cold and evasive responses. Local media outlets say it's not their duty to report the national news. National media people say there's not enough evidence yet, and they're waiting to see how it pans out before they give it the spotlight. This begs the question: Do we wait until the Superbowl is over to report on it? Did they wait until the OJ trial was over to report on it?
But as the story develops, no one has been able to explain why the media is avoiding it like the plague.
Until today.
Yesterday Representative John Conyers called their bluff. He's the one leading the investigation in the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee. After weeks of investigation he's become more and more interested in seeing the raw data of the exit polls. Exit polls were a red flag in Ukraine, and many statistical experts have used the exit polls from our election to demonstrate a high likelihood that there was some funny business on November 2nd.
Like most people trying to get to the bottom of the matter, Mr. Conyers first came to the realization that the exit poll data has mysteriously not been released yet. We only have the preliminary exit poll data, which showed Kerry winning Ohio by several points. But about half way through election day, the networks started "mixing in" the "real" numbers with the exit poll data, and from that point on, the raw exit poll data has been locked up.
So, Conyers wrote to Warren Mitofsky, who owns the exit poll data, asking for the complete raw data, without the "real" numbers mixed in. Mitofsky balked, saying that the TV Networks actually own it and he was not able to release it without their permission. Conyers then took his inquiry to the leaders of ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, and Fox.
And they promptly laid an egg. Through a spokesperson who spoke on behalf of all the media companies together, they said they are still analyzing the data and don't want to release it until they're done.
The egg they laid is frustrating for those who want to know the truth and want to see the raw exit poll numbers. But it does answer one question for us once and for all. It finally shows us that the media is not avoiding the election controversy because they're tired of the election, or they want more evidence. They are purposefully preventing the information from getting out and they are hiding the information they have.
Any objective investigator, or any concerned citizen for that matter, simply cannot accept their answer to Conyers. The media has had over 6 weeks to "analyze" the exit polls and releasing the numbers would not prevent them from continuing their analysis in any way.
The data is just that - raw data. By itself it is not obscured by "analysis." The networks can evaluate and analyze it all they want, but they should also give others a chance to look at the same numbers and draw their own conclusions. There is absolutely no precedent or moral ground for withholding this information from the American public. The bottom line is that raw data does not need to be analyzed. Conyers and the American people are not asking for the analysis. We're asking for the data.
We're not talking about proprietary trade secrets, or a "secret source" that they're trying to protect. We're talking about information about us, the American people who voted on Election Day. It's like having your doctor refuse to let you see your own medical records.
The media is supposed to report the facts, whatever they are, not withhold them. When the media stops reporting and starts withholding, it ceases to be the media.
While it's frustrating that we still can't see the exit polls, let's thank the media for at least resolving one thing for us today. Now we know why we don't see stories about the election on the evening news. Their refusal to release the exit polls shows us categorically that there is a concerted effort on behalf of the major media outlets to consciously prevent the information from getting out. It's not simple oversight, and it's not because they don't think it's newsworthy. Now we know. They are withholding information from us.
Now that that's been resolved, we can move on to the next question: What are they hiding, and why?
For more information on election fraud, see election.solarbus.org

http://www.bradblog.com/archives/00001076.htm

Blogged by Brad on 12/24/2004 @ 6:24pm PT...

FEENEY ATTORNEY THREATENS HOMETOWN PAPER WITH LEGAL ACTION!
Intimidating Letter Faxed to Seminole Chronicle Charges Story on Feeney was 'False and Defamatory'
Feeney Attorney Uses Unrelated and Questionable 'Ethics Investigation' as Sole Basis for Claims

Congressman Tom Feeney's (R-FL) attorneys have sent a letter threatening the editors of Florida's Seminole Chronicle intimating possible legal action in light of the news report filed by Editor Alex Babcock last week concerning allegations made in a sworn affidavit [PDF] and in sworn public testimony before members of the U.S. House Judiciary committee by software programmer Clint Curtis.

The story of Curtis' allegations and affidavit was originally reported by The BRAD BLOG several weeks ago. Curtis has alleged, among other things, that Feeney conspired, in an October 2000 meeting, to have a "vote-rigging software prototype" built by Yang Enterprises, Inc. -- a company for which Feeney at the time served as corporate counsel and registered lobbyist even while he concurrently served as Legislator, and eventually Speaker of the Florida House. Feeney was the running mate to Jeb Bush during his first failed bid for Governor of Florida, and is now a U.S. Congressman from Florida's newly created 24th Congressional District. He also now sits on the U.S. House's Judiciary Committee.

The letter from John P. Horan of "Foley and Lardner, attorneys at law", was faxed to Babcock at the Seminole Chronicle office earlier this week. It alleges the newspaper's report "constitute[d] a serious departure from accepted journalism standards and a breach of the Chronicle’s fair reporting privilege."

Horan goes on to accuse Babcock of reporting "in a sensational, reckless and unfair manner," and claims that "This conduct exceeds all known bounds of bias and constitutes a reckless disregard for the truth."

According to the letter, Horan's charges on behalf of Feeney, stem from his claim that "These assertions were fully investigated by the State of Florida Commission on Ethics which found that 'there was no probable cause' to believe the assertions and dismissed each complaint."

However, BRAD BLOG research into those ethics charges filed against Feeney, and their supposed "investigation", has revealed that the commission referred to, and the investigation itself, appear to have had serious flaws and conflicts of interest involved. Many of which were reported at the time of the commission's findings by a number of Florida newspapers.

For a start, six of the eight members of the "Commission on Ethics" which Horan's letter refers to, were appointed to the commission by and/or have direct ties to either Tom Feeney or his old running-mate and then Governor, Jeb Bush!

On October 17, 2002, the Daytona Beach News-Journal reported on the "Commission on Ethics" findings that Horan uses as the only basis for criticism of the Seminole Chronicle's article.

The News-Journal reported on those findings by revealing that neither the investigator looking into the ethics complaint nor the two key witnesses in the case were ever even interviewed by the commission! Despite a state law that requires them to do so!

As well, public documents in the case -- including Email which directly contradicted statements made by Feeney to the commission during the "investigation" -- were similarly never investigated, also in apparent violation of state law, according to the paper.

From just one of several articles on this from the Daytona Beach News-Journal...

Feeney ethics probe ignored key elements

An investigator looking into an ethics complaint against House Speaker Tom Feeney failed to examine public documents or interview key witnesses as required by state law.

Records show the investigation by the Florida Commission on Ethics into whether Feeney improperly used his position to benefit one of his legal clients consisted only of denials of wrongdoing by the Oviedo Republican and other state officials. State law requires the investigation to include all evidence, including documents and inter- views with people related to the complaint.

The public records the investigator failed to collect include e-mails that conflict with state- ments Feeney has made about the role he played in gaining special favors for his client, Yang Enterprises, an Oviedo computer firm, including arranging meetings with state officials who have the most say over state technology contracts.

Feeney told the ethics investigator he never spoke to anyone at the State Technology Office about Yang. Records show Feeney arranged a meeting in his legislative office in Oviedo for Yang with State Technology Of fice head Roy Cales in July 2000.

The commission investigator also did not interview two former state employees who claimed Yang submitted false invoices in its $8 million contract with the Florida Department of Transportation and that Feeney pressured DOT in the matter. The employees were subsequently fired by DOT.

(The full article is available for purchase only, via the News-Journal's Print Archives.)

Of the "two former state employees" referred to in the News-Journal's article, one was Clint Curtis who has confirmed with The BRAD BLOG that he was never interviewed by the commission during their "investigation", despite having been one of the two individuals who made the initial complaint!

The other state employee, who has requested that we do not publish their name at this time, has also confirmed in interviews with The BRAD BLOG that they were similarly never interviewed by the commission.

Furthermore, the allegations made by Curtis that Feeney conspired to commit vote-fraud, and which Babcock reported on in his article, were not even the charges that the "Commission on Ethics" was supposedly looking into via their questionable investigation!

In all of this, the power of Tom Feeney in Florida should not be overlooked or underestimated. Despite a comment to the contrary made by Feeney to MSNBC producer. As reported by Keith Olbermann earlier this week, Feeney said in regard to these charges “I’m very amused by it. I wish I had some of the power that he suggests.”

As it turns out, Feeney does have that power.

In a Time Magazine article from November 26, 2000, Feeney is described as perhaps being "the only man more influential in Florida than football king Bobby Bowden."

And on November 20, 2001, The Orlando Sentinel described Feeney, who had by then become Florida House Speaker for at least a full year, as "one of Florida's most powerful elected officials".

In regards to the letter from Feeney's attorney, The BRAD BLOG recognizes such an obvious, thuggish and ham-fisted attempt to intimidate a responsible member of the press at Feeney's small hometown paper for exactly what it is: An attempt to suppress the growing scandal that has emerged during our continuing investigation, and that of other reporters like Babcock, into these very troubling matters.

The intent of such a letter is little more than an effort to send a chilling message to all such reporters who would dare look into these charges.

We commend Babcock's courage in standing up to such a reprehensible tactic and for his apparent vows to continue his paper's investigation and reporting on a story of great national and local importance and newsworthiness.

In an unbylined opinion piece from yesterday's Chronicle (which Babcock confirms that he wrote for the paper after having received the letter from Feeney's attorney), Babcock remained both defiant and, fortunately, clear-headed about his journalistic responsibilities to the people: [emphasis added]

In reporting on the charges made by Clint Curtis against Feeney, our goal was to inform you, our readers, of serious charges made in a public forum before members of Congress investigating voting irregularities.

It is this role that all news organizations should play, to keep a watchful eye over the government that serves us. It's your business as voters to know what your elected representatives are doing, and what they have been accused of doing.
...
We attempted and failed to contact Feeney prior to publication, but went ahead with the article because the forum in which the claims were presented was so high-profile, and the charges so incendiary, that to ignore them would have been irresponsible. Continued attempts by the Chronicle to interview Feeney on the record have been denied by his office.

Michigan Congressman John Conyers, who presided over the forum that heard Curtis' allegations, found Curtis credible enough to allow him to address a group of Feeney's peers. Because Conyers felt the testimony was valid, we thought you should know about it, too.

In an interview today with The BRAD BLOG, Babcock confirmed that attempts to contact Feeney prior to publication were unsuccessful.

While all such attempts to contact Feeney prior to publication of the original article went unanswered, it seems that once the article was published things changed very quickly. Babcock received both phone calls and email from a representative of Feeney's office the very next day.

He told us that he spoke for a while with a member of Feeney's staff, and during that call it was "made clear that their policy is to stay off record."

Babcock added, "We would be happy to speak with Tom Feeney if he would like to tell his side of the story."

Babcock's statements are consistent with the even-handedness of his article, as well as previous discussions we've had with him over the past week concerning this matter.

While others in the media have shown some reluctance to report these troubling charges concerning our elected public officials, Babcock is to be congratulated for refusing to turn away from difficult issues merely on the grounds that they contain explosive allegations and several very powerful elected officials.

He is doing the job of journalist and, so far, he has been doing it with fairness, honesty and transparency.

The Clint Curtis allegations about Tom Feeney were indeed made in public, under penalty of perjury, and specified detailed charges of wrong-doing and potential felonies. These were not allegations made in the dark, by unnamed persons or shadowy figures, but rather out in the open, by a man who has invited scrutiny, skepticism and has been willing to answer the questions of just about anyone who would like to talk to him about these matters.

The public has the right to know about such issues and the press has the responsibility to inform the public. Both sides deserved to be aired and investigated, and Babcock seems to have made every attempt to do precisely that in a responsible fashion.

The BRAD BLOG has reviewed the entire faxed letter from Horan, and we will be happy to publish it in it's entirety if permission is granted by Babcock or the Seminole Chronicle publishers (Knight Newspapers) to do so. Babcock has said his publishers are currently reviewing the letter from Feeney's attorney and are considering their reply.

...CONTACTS...

Tom Feeney
Website: Congressman Tom Feeney (R-FL)
Email: unknown
DC Phone: 202-225-2706
DC Fax: 202-226-6299

Tom Feeney, Campaign Headquarters, FL
1420 Alafaya Trail, Suite 103
Oviedo, Florida 32765
(407) 366-2212
Email: Todd Sykes, Campaign Coordinator
NOTE: The above address is in the Yang Enterprises, Inc. (YEI) building.
Feeney ran unopposed in 2004.

Seminole Chronicle
Email: Alex Babcock, Editor (Include Name, Address and Phone if you wish letter to be considered for publication.)
Website: www.SeminoleChronicle.com

http://www.columbiatribune.com/2004/Dec/20041224News016.asp

Kerry bowed out too soon, Jackson says

Chicago Tribune
Published Friday, December 24, 2004
Claiming Ohio’s 2004 election results were more troubling than Florida’s four years ago, the Rev. Jesse Jackson yesterday said Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry called it quits too soon.

"Kerry conceded much too quickly, before the facts were in," Jackson said in a conference call with reporters to discuss an ongoing challenge to Ohio’s election results.

"When he pulled the plug, the national media left as well," Jackson said of Kerry’s concession on Nov. 3, the day after the election.

Since then, a Jackson-led group claims to have uncovered a wide range of voting irregularities in the Buckeye State, including tabulations that contradicted early exit polls pointing to a Kerry victory, voting machine errors, absentee ballot counting errors and inaccurate directions given to voters trying to get to polling places.

The concerns are detailed in a 41-page petition contesting the election before the Ohio Supreme Court.

Jackson’s Rainbow/PUSH Coalition plans a "Pro Democracy - Count Every Vote Rally" on Jan. 3 in Columbus, Ohio.

Presidential candidates of the Green and Libertarian parties funded a statewide recount of the Ohio vote. The recount gave an additional 346 votes to Bush and 494 more votes to Kerry. Earlier this month, Ohio Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell certified Bush as the winner of the state, with 2.86 million votes, compared with Kerry’s 2.74 million votes.

Bush Abomination’s #1 Failure: National Security

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/1224-01.htm

Published on Friday, December 24, 2004 by the Associated Press
Ex-Hostage: Rebels Wanted Bush Re-Elected

PARIS - French journalists held hostage for four months in Iraq said their militant captors told them they wanted President Bush to win re-election.

REBELS WANTED BUSH RE-ELECTED
French journalists and former hostages in Iraq Georges Malbrunot (R) and Christian Chesnot talk to newsmen moments after landing at Villacoublay military airbase, near Paris, December 22, 2004. REUTERS/Charles Platiau

In a four-page account of their ordeal, one of the reporters, Georges Malbrunot, also wrote that they saw several other hostages who were later decapitated. The journalists said their captors viewed foreign businessmen working in Iraq as their enemies.

One of the captors from the group calling itself the Islamic Army in Iraq said Bush's re-election would boost their cause, Malbrunot wrote in Friday's edition of Le Figaro, the French daily he works for.

"We want Bush because with him the American troops will stay in Iraq and that way we will be able to develop," Malbrunot cited the captor as saying.

Bush beat Democrat John Kerry to win the presidency last month.

Another captor, who described himself as the group's head of internal intelligence, told the men that the Islamic Army has four enemies: American and coalition troops, "their collaborators, that is to say Italian businessmen, or even French," as well Iraqi police and spies.

Malbrunot wrote that the Islamic Army has 15,000 to 17,000 members and that its hostage-takings are carefully organized.

"There are those who stop people on the roads, those that carry out interrogations, those that keep guard and those that judge," he wrote.

He and fellow French reporter Christian Chesnot feared at times that they would be killed, he said.

Others hostages they saw who were later decapitated included two Macedonians, an Iraqi power station executive and a bodyguard for Ahmad Chalabi, a candidate in next month's Iraqi elections and a one-time Pentagon favorite, he recounted.

Malbrunot, 41, and Chesnot, 38, were released Tuesday.

In a separate interview on RTL radio, Malbrunot said it would take time to recover from their ordeal. "Sleeping, for example, is hard," he said.

"But the life of a free man is far easier than that of a hostage," he added.

###
http://feeds.bignewsnetwork.com/redir.php?jid=cdaf1f0fdb423957

Bin Laden inquiry to widen
Reuters
December 27, 2004
PARIS: A French judge has widened a probe into the financial network surrounding the family of Osama bin Laden after questioning his half-brother and learning of a E241 million ($425.7million) transfer to Pakistan.

Investigating magistrate Renaud Van Ruymbeke received court authorisation to extend his investigation after Yeslam bin Laden was questioned over allegations of links with the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the US.
As a result, Mr Van Ruymbeke was adding "other instances of money laundering" to the probe already under way, Le Monde newspaper reported on the weekend.
On December 5, 2001, French authorities opened an investigation into financial transfers carried out through Paris between firms grouped within the Saudi Investment Company (SICO) run by Yeslam bin Laden.
Yeslam was questioned by the French judge in 2002, and has handed over a copy of documents detailing the distribution of the bin Laden family wealth to 54 brothers and sisters after the death of their father in 1967, the paper said.

Although he denied having had any contact with his half-brother for the past 20 years, the paper said, documents held by Swiss banking authorities suggest that Yeslam and Osama bin Laden held a joint account in Switzerland between 1990 and 1997, according to Jean-Charles Brisard – a private investigator hired by families of the victims of the September 11 attacks.
Yeslam told French investigators on September 27 this year that he had omitted to mention the existence of that account, while still insisting he had not mixed with his half-brother, Le Monde said.
Contacted by Le Monde, Yeslam's Swiss-based lawyer, Pierre de Preux, said his client simply acted as a relay for the rest of the family wishing to deposit their inheritance in Switzerland, since Yeslam was resident in Geneva.
Reuters

Bush Abomination’s #2 Failure: Economic Security

http://www.sptimes.com/2004/12/26/Perspective/Save_Social_Security_.shtml

Save Social Security from White House
By BOB GRAHAM
Published December 26, 2004

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

During my lifetime, five events have most affected Florida and its prosperity: mosquito control; air conditioning; jet air travel; Fidel Castro; and the creation of Social Security and other retirement income programs.

The first three are deeply entrenched in our society, and I look forward to Castro passing from the scene. Social Security, however, is at a crossroads. President Bush and his Republican allies in Congress seem determined to unravel the most important social safety net in this nation's - and Florida's - history.

The strength of the current Social Security program is that it gives workers a guaranteed, inflation-protected retirement income for as long as they live. No one gets rich from Social Security - the average monthly benefit per Floridian is $900. But for many Americans, it serves as their principal protection from poverty. This is particularly true for the nearly 7-million Americans who receive benefits much earlier than retirement as a result of becoming disabled.

The president wants to change the current program by allowing some workers to direct a portion of their payroll taxes into an individual account. The president has not presented the details of his proposal. Based on the work of the president's Social Security commission and comments from the White House, it appears that the president is likely to propose no change in the benefits for current retirees or workers who are 55 or older. For the under-55 worker, there will be gradual changes in the benefit structure until the benefits are actuarially supportable by the current Social Security tax. Using 2004 policies and value of the dollar, when fully implemented this benefit change is estimated to reduce the current average of $900 a month to about $700 in guaranteed benefits. The under-55-year-old worker would also be able to further reduce the guarantee to about $525 in exchange for the establishment of an individual retirement account. The hope would be that the earnings on the individual account return the total monthly Social Security benefit to at least $900.

Floridians should pay close attention to this effort. Florida has a higher proportion of seniors than any other state, with nearly one in five residents age 65 or older. One dollar out of every $14 in benefits paid by the Social Security Administration goes to a resident of Florida. Perhaps more than any other state, Florida's economy has benefited from seniors having a stable and adequate income in retirement. The nearly $3-billion in monthly Social Security benefits paid to Floridians in 2002 represented 6.5 percent of total personal income received in Florida in that year and contributed more to Florida's economy than did all of the state's manufacturing activity.

The president's proposal raises three concerns. First, it increases the uncertainty that workers face as they plan for their retirement. Most Americans now retire to a chair that has three legs: an employer-provided pension, personal savings and Social Security. The potential for higher retirement income that proponents of privatization herald comes with significantly greater risk. This is in addition to the increased risk that workers bear when employers shift from traditional pension plans to defined contribution plans such as 401(k)s. Under defined contribution plans, employers commit only to contribute a set amount into a worker's retirement account. Typically, a substantial amount of the worker's personal savings are committed to matching or supplementing the employer's contribution. Whether these funds accumulate to an amount that will provide an adequate income in retirement is up to the worker's investment acumen. Now the president believes that workers should shoulder this risk as part of Social Security as well.

Those who elect for individual accounts will have all three of the legs dependent on their skill and luck and the market's swings. This violates a fundamental rule of investment: diversify, diversify, diversify.

The second concern is that the president is using "fuzzy math" to sell his plan. He is exaggerating the problems facing the current program by suggesting that it is underfunded by $10-trillion. To be sure, Social Security faces a funding challenge, and each year of delay makes fixing the program more difficult. But according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, the Social Security Trust Fund will remain solvent through 2052, with the ability to pay 80 percent of benefits after that. But exaggerating the challenges facing the program is not necessary.

From its beginning in the 1930s, Social Security has been funded by current workers paying the cost of current retirees. The estimated cost of breaking this intergenerational social contract is $1-trillion over 10 years. There is no hard or fuzzy math as to how to pay for this transitional cost. There is one preposterous idea not to pay for it at all, just add it to the already burgeoning national debt. Let our grandchildren pay. This is immoral.

The final concern with the president's plan is that he refuses to consider other viable options for shoring up the program. According to the Congressional Budget Office, Social Security's revenue shortfall is less than one-half of 1 percent of the nation's economy. The entire Social Security shortfall over the next 75 years is about one-fourth the cost of the Bush tax cuts if made permanent. The revenue loss from the president's proposal to repeal the estate tax would cover nearly two-thirds of the shortfall.

In his 1998 State of the Union address, President Clinton proposed saving Social Security first. There was wisdom in that statement. This led to budget surpluses, a booming economy and the opportunity to pay off America's public debt. President Bush rejected that opportunity - he opted for tax cuts for the rich first. We now need to defeat ideas that would kill Social Security as we have known it, especially when it is sold under the banner of salvation.

Sen. Bob Graham, D-Fla., is retiring after 18 years in the Senate.

http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=a__JizFrCnn0&refer=news_index

Kmart, Sears Slash Prices to Salvage Sluggish Sales (Correct)
Kmart, Sears Slash Prices to Salvage Sluggish Sales (Correct)

(Adds dropped letter in 13th paragraph.)

By Rachel Katz

Dec. 24 (Bloomberg) -- Kmart Holding Corp. and Sears, Roebuck & Co. are among the U.S. retailers offering discounts of as much as 75 percent to lure last-minute shoppers and salvage what's been a sluggish holiday season.

Sales gains in the first three weeks of December averaged 3.1 percent, compared with 5.2 percent in the same period last year, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers- UBS weekly index. The markdowns may not be enough to spur consumers to spend more on holiday gifts, said investors including David Keuler at Mason Street Advisors.

``I don't know if it's going to be enough for what appears to have been a very slow 2 1/2 weeks,'' said Keuler, who helps manage about $60 billion at the Milwaukee-based firm, including shares of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. ``We needed less weakness during the middle of the month.''

The November-December period can account for almost 25 percent of retailers' annual sales. A slowdown in consumer spending, which accounts for about two-thirds of U.S. economic activity, may signal a decline in economic growth.

The last time Christmas Eve fell on a Friday was in 1999, when Dec. 24 was the sixth biggest day of the season in terms of sales, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers, a New York-based trade association.

Kmart, which is open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m., cut prices on fragrance gift sets by 25 percent and is selling 1/3-carat diamond earrings for $59.99, down from $263. Sears is offering discounts of as much as 50 percent on some sweaters and coats and 60 percent on jewelry. A J.C. Penney Co. coupon gives customers $10 off any purchase of $50 or more.

The discounts are similar to offers last week, when sales rose 3.5 percent, the largest gain in a month, according to ICSC. Retailers who slashed prices last week may not have been willing to further drop prices to draw shoppers, said ICSC economist Michael Niemira.

`Mostly Men'

Traffic at the Mall of America is ``very hectic,'' said Maureen Bausch, vice president of business development for the Bloomington, Minnesota, shopping center, the largest in the U.S with more than 520 stores, including Nordstrom Inc. and Williams- Sonoma Inc.

``It's mostly men, which is very typical this time of year,'' Bausch said in an interview. ``It's not a time to browse. It's a time to buy.''

The day before Christmas may be more important this year than usual because many employers are giving workers the day off. That helps shoppers who have procrastinated, said Todd Jones, an analyst at PNC Advisors in Philadelphia, whose $48 billion in assets include Federated Department Stores Inc., owner of Macy's and Bloomingdale's.

Yet To Shop

``Most people have a full day to shop in the stores,'' said Jones, who is based in Philadelphia. ``I'm not saying it's going to be a panacea. Maybe that can help us get to a more respectable increase of 3 percent to 4 percent.''

Shares of Wal-Mart fell 42 cents to $52.55 yesterday in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. Dallas-based Neiman Marcus declined 27 cents to $72.55, while Plano, Texas-based J.C. Penney fell 90 cents to $40.

About 70 percent of shoppers hadn't completed their holiday shopping as of Dec. 19, according to ICSC. Sales in the November- December holiday period are expected to increase 2.5 percent to 3 percent this year after November sales rose a less-than-expected 1.8 percent.

``It's good, but nothing you're going to celebrate over,'' said David Abella, an analyst at New York-based Rochdale Investment Management, whose $1.2 billion in assets include Wal- Mart shares.

Luxury Chains

Sales gains at luxury retailers such as Neiman Marcus Group Inc. have outpaced those at department stores such as Federated, Deutsche Bank analyst Bill Dreher wrote in a report. Poor results at Federated and May Department Stores Co. may hurt fourth- quarter profit as the chains boost discounts, he wrote.

Wal-Mart's December sales are rising within its forecast for a gain of 1 percent to 3 percent, less than the 4.3 percent increase a year ago, as low-income shoppers pare budgets amid higher food and energy prices.

The average price for a gallon of regular gasoline was $1.82 in the week ended Dec. 20, about 22 percent higher than a year earlier, according to the U.S. Energy Department. Natural gas for January delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange is 8.5 percent higher.

Wal-Mart, based in Bentonville, Arkansas, said Dec. 18 that sales of winter merchandise such as coats, sweaters and shovels last week picked up after sluggish results earlier in the month.

Department stores are discounting coats as much as 50 percent as racks remained ``heavily stocked,'' UBS analyst Linda Kristiansen wrote in a report. Better inventory control has helped the chains limit the need for discounts on other merchandise, she wrote.

Clothing Glut

Some clothing sales may have been damped by increasing demand for electronics such as digital cameras and music players including Apple Computer Inc.'s iPod, PNC's Jones said.

``There's only so many places you can spend it,'' Jones said in an interview.

Unsold goods will probably be discounted heavily next week, hurting margins, said Jennifer Hanson, an analyst at Cortina Asset Management.

``They will want to be clean so they can start bringing in the new merchandise,'' Hanson said. The Milwaukee-based firm's more than $200 million in assets include Men's Wearhouse Inc. and AnnTaylor Stores Corp. shares. ``The longer they wait to sell inventory, the deeper the discount they have to put out.''

Stores may see a boost starting Sunday when customers seek out post-holiday discounts and redeem gift cards. Purchases of gift cards, which aren't counted by retailers until recipients redeem them, may increase by $100 million to $17.3 billion this year, according to the National Retail Federation.

Shoppers also are buying more over the Internet. Sales at U.S. Internet retailers surged 57 percent to $2.45 billion in the week ended Dec. 19 from a year earlier, according to Reston, Virginia-based Web-research company ComScore Networks Inc.

Bush Abomination’s #3 Failure: Environmental Security

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/1226-01.htm

Published on Sunday, December 26, 2004 by the lndependent/UK

Bush Left in the Cold by Climate Allies
by Geoffrey Lean

George Bush's two closest allies in his attempt to sabotage international action to combat global warning last week dramatically distanced themselves from him.
Saudi Arabia announced that it had approved the Kyoto Protocol, the treaty on climate change which President Bush has been trying to kill. And Australia, while still rejecting it, parted company from the United States by saying that it was prepared to negotiate its successor.
The moves follow a tense international negotiating session in Buenos Aires where, as The Independent on Sunday reported last week, the US brought the talks to the brink of collapse by obstructing even anodyne proposals. This breached an assurance given by President Bush in 2001, when he pulled out of the protocol, that America would not try to stop other countries reaching agreement.
New negotiations are due to begin next year on a successor to Kyoto, which will come into force in February, following Russia's decision to ratify it last autumn. Tony Blair regards progress on climate change as one of the top priorities of Britain's presidency of the G8 group of the world's most powerful nations.
US opposition endangers both initiatives, but Mr Bush suffered a blow on Tuesday when the Saudi cabinet approved the treaty. A royal decree is being prepared to endorse it officially. The decision is significant, since the Saudis worked closely with the US in Buenos Aires, but the Australian initiative is more important, as it has so far marched in step with the US to try to kill negotiations.
Ian Campbell, Australia's environment minister, said it would be prepared to enter an agreement to combat global warming. He warned that unless it was reached, the world would be "in jeopardy", adding: "The difference between the US and Australia is that we are prepared to engage in a new agreement, so long as it is comprehensive."
Meanwhile, the official European Environment Agency has announced that the EU nations were on track to exceed the pollution cuts they have promised under Kyoto, so long as they implement all their policies and measures.
© Copyright 2004 Independent Digital (UK) Ltd
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http://www.earthinstitute.columbia.edu/news/2004/story12-13-04b.html

Earth Institute News

posted 12/17/04

Contact: Mary Tobin
845-365-8607 or mtobin@ldeo.columbia.edu

Michael Crichton’s State of Confusion
by Gavin Schmidt, Earth Institute climate scientist and RealClimate.org contributor

In a departure from normal practice on the RealClimate.org site, this post is a commentary on a piece of out-and-out fiction (unlike most of the other posts which deal with a more subtle kind). Michael Crichton’s new novel “State of Fear” is about a self-important NGO hyping the science of the global warming to further the ends of evil eco-terrorists. The inevitable conclusion of the book is that global warming is a non-problem. A lesson for our times maybe? Unfortunately, I think not.

Like the recent movie “The Day After Tomorrow", the novel addresses real scientific issues and controversies, but is similarly selective (and occasionally mistaken) about the basic science. I will discuss a selection of the global warming-related issues that are raised in between the car chases, shoot-outs, cannibalistic rites and assorted derring-do. The champion of Crichton’s scientific view is a MIT academic-turned-undercover operative who clearly runs intellectual rings around other characters. The issues are raised as conversations and Q and A sessions between him (and other ‘good guys’) and two characters; an actor (not a very clever chap) and a lawyer (a previously duped innocent), neither of whom know much about the science.

So for actors and lawyers everywhere, I will try and help out.

The issues Crichton raises are familiar to those of us in the field, and come up often in discussions. Some are real and well appreciated while some are red herrings and are used to confuse rather than enlighten.

The first set of comments relate to the attribution of the recent warming trend to increasing CO2. One character suggests that “if CO2 didn’t cause the global cooling between 1940 and 1970, how can you be sure it is responsible for the recent warming?” (paraphrased from p86) . Northern Hemisphere mean temperatures do appear to have cooled over that period, and that contrasts with a continuing increase in CO2, which if all else had been equal, should have led to warming. But were all things equal? Actually no. In the real world, there is both internal variability and other factors that affect climate (i.e. other than CO2). Some of those other forcings (sulphate and nitrate aerosols, land use changes, solar irradiance, volcanic aerosols, for instance) can cause cooling. Matching up the real world with what we might expect to have happened depends on including ALL of the forcings (as best as we can). Even then any discrepancy might be due to internal variability (related principally to the ocean on multi-decadal time scales). Our current ‘best guess’ is that the global mean changes in temperature (including the 1940-1970 cooling) are actually quite closely related to the forcings. Regional patterns of change appear to be linked more closely to internal variability (particularly the 1930’s warming in the North Atlantic). However, in no case has anyone managed to show that the recent warming can be matched without the increases in CO2 (and other GHGs like CH4).

Secondly, through the copious use of station weather data, a number of single station records with long term cooling trends are shown. In particular, the characters visit Punta Arenas (at the tip of South America), where (very pleasingly to my host institution) they have the GISTEMP station record posted on the wall which shows a long-term cooling trend (although slight warming since the 1970’s). “There’s your global warming” one of the good guys declares. I have to disagree. Global warming is defined by the global mean surface temperature. It does not imply that the whole globe is warming uniformly (which of course it isn’t). (But that doesn’t stop one character later on (p381) declaring that “..it’s effect is presumably the same everywhere in the world. That’s why it’s called global warming"). Had the characters visited the nearby station of Santa Barbara Aeropuerto, the poster on the wall would have shown a positive trend. Would that have been proof of global warming? No. Only by amalgamating all of the records we have (after correcting for known problems, such as discussed below) can we have an idea what the regional, hemispheric or global means are doing. That is what is meant by global warming.

Crichton next raises the apparently unrecognised (by the lawyer character at least) fact that the interior of Antarctica is cooling (p196), an issue discussed in another post (Antarctica cooling, global warming?). This is more or less correct (given the obvious uncertainties in long term data from the continental interior), but analogously to the example above, local cooling does not contradict global warming.

Next, and slightly more troubling, we have some rather misleading and selective recollection regarding Jim Hansen’s testimony to congress in 1988. “Dr. Hansen overestimated [global warming] by 300 percent” (p247). Hansen’s testimony did indeed lead to a big increase in awareness of global warming as a issue, but not because he exaggerated the problem by 300%. In a paper published soon after that testimony, Hansen et al, 1988 presented three model simulations for different scenarios for the growth in trace gases and other forcings (see figure). Scenario A had exponentially increasing CO2, Scenario B had a more modest Business-as-usual assumption, and Scenario C had no further increases in CO2 after the year 2000. Both scenarios B and C assumed a large volcanic eruptio

Posted by richard at December 30, 2004 12:13 PM