Daily Show Interview With Chuck Schumer (D) New York

This is from the November 3, 2004 program.

Interview with Chuck Schumer – Part 1 of 2 (9 MB)

Interview with Chuck Schumer – Part 2 of 2 (7 MB)

The Daily Show (The best news on television.)

Nader Requests A Recount In New Hampshire

Even though I personally feel that Nader should have dropped out of the election the day before, at least he has the guts to ask for a recount.
No word yet on any response from the GAO to the letter sent on Friday by three Democratic congressmen requesting a formal investigation.
The complete letter is included below (underneath the quote that goes with this story).

Nader requests N.H. vote recount
By Kevin Landrigan for the Telegraph Online.

Independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader requested a hand recount of ballots in New Hampshire after getting seven-tenths of 1 percent of the vote.

Video Of 60 Minutes II Interview With National Guardsman Who Got Brain Damage While Posing As A Prisoner During Guantanamo “Drill”

This is from the November 3, 2004 program of 60 Minutes II. This post goes with this one.
Here’s the story on Sean Baker from the 60 Minutes II website.
This Administration doesn’t give a damn about anybody.
Here’s how the Administration treats the most patriotic of its soldiers.
(Sorry for the sound quality. My 60 minutes broadcasts are almost always distorted on my cable system now. Not sure what I can do about it…)

Interview with Sean Baker – Part 1 of 2 (17 MB)

Interview with Sean Baker – Part 2 of 2 (16 MB)
Baker makes the point that if a real detainee was trying to explain himself to the interrogators in a foreign language, he would undoubtedly have no chance at all:
“What does he think would have happened if he had been a real detainee? “I think they would have busted him up,” says Baker. “I’ve seen detainees come outta there with blood on ’em.

Bev Harris and Aviel Rubin Interview On Democracy NOW!

This is from the November 8, 2004 program.

Amy Goodman’s Interview With Bev Harris from blackboxvoting.org and Aviel Rubin from Johns Hopkins University (Real Stream) (Ogg (50 MB), MP3 28MB)
Bev Harris is the creator of blackboxvoting.org and the one spearheading a huge Freedom Of Information Act request for election information.
Aviel Rubin of John Hopkins University is the one who wrote the highly respected and virtually unchallenged white paper,
Analysis of an Electronic Voting System, which detailed the insecurities of electronic voting machines.
(Thanks, Joel!)

This Isn’t What The Supreme Court Had In Mind: Hasty Military Tribunals For Guantanamo Prisoners

A makeshift double-wide trailer is the “court,” and three anonymous military officers constitute the “judge and jury.”
Prisoners are not allowed proper representation by attorneys.
Translators seem to be provided, but they are not doing an adequate job. Prisoners who refuse to attend their tribunal hearing are sentenced in absentia.
But no one’s listening to what the prisoners have to say anyway. They are not allowed to know the names of anyone on the panel or see any of the “evidence” against them, because it’s classified.
The U.S. used to set the bar for humanitarian treatment of P.O.W.’s, now it’s setting the standard for modern day fascism.
This is not what the Supreme Court meant when it declared that “a state of war is not a blank check for the president,” and said that “enemy combatants” must be allowed to challenge their detention before a “judge” or “other neutral decision maker.” (Does anyone have the link to the decision itself?)
The Shrub Administration is arguing that the Supreme Court should reject the numerous petitions filed on behalf of Guantanamo prisoners because these military tribunals satisfy the Supreme Court’s requirements. But this quote from Guantanamo’s Captain Jamison proves beyond a reasonable doubt that these “administrative procedures” do not qualify as criminal courts:

Captain Jamison said the tribunals were administrative procedures and thus did not have to meet standards of regular criminal proceedings.

These are the kinds of conditions you used to hear about happening in third world countries — to Americans. These are the situations that the Geneva Convention was created to address. This is a travesty of Justice, to say the least.

Guant

Me On BBC Radio From April 2003

I was interviewed by BBC’s Maggie Shiels in April 2003 about being a peace blogger, amidst all of the “War Bloggers.” She had no way of telling me at the time when the piece was going to air, but she did give me a clip that I could play for my parents — but I couldn’t publish it on my blog or anything.
Well, now that so much time has passed, I wrote to see if it was OK, and she said it was.

Here it is. (Real File)
(Here’s a link to its directory if you need that for some reason.)
Also interviewed are UC Berkeley School of Journalism Professor Paul Grabowitz and blogger Chris Perillo. (Will somebody let them know about this for me? I don’t have their emails.)
That’s me reading from Salam Pax’s weblog too.
The story is about bloggers taking over as reliable sources of news.

Shrub On The Next Four Years Of Bloodshed Abroad And Economic Hardship/Loss Of Loved Ones Here At Home: “Gosh, We’re Going To Have A Lot Of Fun”

I found the “Political Capital” Shrub speech I and others were looking for (Thanks Hetty).
There are Windows and Real clips available, but nothing you can download.
I’d still prefer a copy from one of you so keep looking everybody, ok?
There’s also a transcription available (“More” below).
It’s even more frightening to read it in print.
Apparently, he’s enjoying himself madly. (Emphasis on madly.)
How can he laugh and crack jokes when he’s going Roman on Fallujah, killing thousands of innocents, and sending 10,000 of our troops to their death in the process?
He’s also decided that our “Free Press” only needs to have one question answered at a time now.
He also hasn’t bothered to figure out how much the war will cost, or how many troops it’s going to take to do the job.
Incredible that he hasn’t felt the need to do President work while campaigning while we’re casually at War on the other side of the globe. The War’s like a back drop to him. Like “Made In America.”
He’s also lying about when he says that he hasn’t heard from anyone in the army that they need more troops. They’ve been saying that since before we made our first attack. The estimates were 200-300,000 soldiers would be needed to do the jjob. (It’s all in the Rumsfeld’s War program on PBS’s Frontline.

Q Would you like it? Now that the political volatility is off the issue because the election is over, I’d like to ask you about troop levels in Iraq in the next couple of months leading up to elections. The Pentagon already has a plan to extend tours of duty for some 6,500 U.S. troops. How many more will be needed to provide security in Iraq for elections, seeing as how the Iraqi troops that you’re trying to train up are pretty slow coming on line?
THE PRESIDENT: Yes, first of all, the — we are making good progress in training the Iraqi troops. There will be 125,000 of them trained by election time. Secondly, I have yet to — I have not sat down with our Secretary of Defense talking about troop levels. I read some reports during the course of the campaign where some were speculating in the press corps about the number of troops needed to protect elections. That has not been brought to my attention yet.
And so I would caution you that what you have either read about or reported was pure speculation thus far. These elections are important, and we will respond, John, to requests of our commanders on the ground. And I have yet to hear from our commanders on the ground that they need more troops…
Q Do you feel more free, sir?
THE PRESIDENT: Oh, in terms of feeling free, well, I don’t think you’ll let me be too free. There’s accountability and there are constraints on the presidency, as there should be in any system. I feel — I feel it is necessary to move an agenda that I told the American people I would move. Something refreshing about coming off an election, even more refreshing since we all got some sleep last night, but there’s — you go out and you make your case, and you tell the people this is what I intend to do. And after hundreds of speeches and three debates and interviews and the whole process, where you keep basically saying the same thing over and over again, that when you win, there is a feeling that the people have spoken and embraced your point of view, and that’s what I intend to tell the Congress, that I made it clear what I intend to do as the President, now let’s work to — and the people made it clear what they wanted, now let’s work together.
And it’s one of the wonderful — it’s like earning capital. You asked, do I feel free. Let me put it to you this way: I earned capital in the campaign, political capital, and now I intend to spend it. It is my style. That’s what happened in the — after the 2000 election, I earned some capital. I’ve earned capital in this election — and I’m going to spend it for what I told the people I’d spend it on, which is — you’ve heard the agenda: Social Security and tax reform, moving this economy forward, education, fighting and winning the war on terror…
Listen, thank you all. I look forward to working with you. I’ve got a question for you. How many of you are going to be here for a second term? Please raise your hand. (Laughter.)
Good. Gosh, we’re going to have a lot of fun, then. Thank you all.

Continue reading →

Letter by Conyers, Nadler and Wexler To The GAO Office Requesting An Investigation Into Election 2004’s Voting Irregularities

Thanks to William Rivers Pitt for including this in his latest article.
Here’s a Wired News article explaining more of the details behind the letter.

Representatives John Conyers, Jerrold Nadler and Robert Wexler, all members of the House Judiciary Committee, posted a letter on November 5th to David Walker, Comptroller General of the United States. In the letter, they asked for an investigation into the efficacy of these electronic voting machines. The letter reads as follows:
November 5, 2004
The Honorable David M. Walker
Comptroller General of the United States
U.S. General Accountability Office
441 G Street, NW
Washington, DC 20548
Dear Mr. Walker:
We write with an urgent request that the Government Accountability Office immediately undertake an investigation of the efficacy of voting machines and new technologies used in the 2004 election, how election officials responded to difficulties they encountered and what we can do in the future to improve our election systems and administration.
In particular, we are extremely troubled by the following reports, which we would also request that you review and evaluate for us:
In Columbus, Ohio, an electronic voting system gave President Bush nearly 4,000 extra votes. (“Machine Error Gives Bush Extra Ohio Votes,” Associated Press, November 5)
An electronic tally of a South Florida gambling ballot initiative failed to record thousands of votes. “South Florida OKs Slot Machines Proposal,” (Id.)
In one North Carolina county, more than 4,500 votes were lost because officials mistakenly believed a computer that stored ballots could hold more data that it did. “Machine Error Gives Bush Extra Ohio Votes,” (Id.)
In San Francisco, a glitch occurred with voting machines software that resulted in some votes being left uncounted. (Id.)
In Florida, there was a substantial drop off in Democratic votes in proportion to voter registration in counties utilizing optical scan machines that was apparently not present in counties using other mechanisms.
The House Judiciary Committee Democratic staff has received numerous reports from Youngstown, Ohio that voters who attempted to cast a vote for John Kerry on electronic voting machines saw that their votes were instead recorded as votes for George W. Bush. In South Florida, Congressman Wexler’s staff received numerous reports from voters in Palm Beach, Broward and Dade Counties that they attempted to select John Kerry but George Bush appeared on the screen. CNN has reported that a dozen voters in six states, particularly Democrats in Florida, reported similar problems. This was among over one thousand such problems reported. (“Touchscreen Voting Problems Reported,” Associated Press, November 5)
Excessively long lines were a frequent problem throughout the nation in Democratic precincts, particularly in Florida and Ohio. In one Ohio voting precinct serving students from Kenyon College, some voters were required to wait more than eight hours to vote. (“All Eyes on Ohio,” Dan Lothian, CNN, November 3)
We are literally receiving additional reports every minute and will transmit additional information as it comes available. The essence of democracy is the confidence of the electorate in the accuracy of voting methods and the fairness of voting procedures. In 2000, that confidence suffered terribly, and we fear that such a blow to our democracy may have occurred in 2004.
Thank you for your prompt attention to this inquiry.
Sincerely,
John Conyers, Jr., Jerrold Nadler, Robert Wexler
Ranking Member, Ranking Member, Member of Congress
House Judiciary Committee, Subcommittee on the Constitution
cc: Hon. F. James Sensenbrenner, Chairman

William Rivers Pitt: This Election Was Even More Of A Disaster Than 2000

Worse Than 2000: Tuesday’s Electoral Disaster
By William Rivers Pitt for Truthout.
Another point of interest included in this article is the actual letter sent out by John Conyers, Jerrold Nadler and Robert Wexler (all members of the House Judiciary Committee) that was sent last friday to the GAO office asking for an investigation of several voter irregularities.

Four years later, and none of the Florida problems were fixed. In fact, by all appearances, they spread from Florida to Ohio, New Mexico, Michigan and elsewhere. Worse, these problems only scratch the surface of what appears to have happened in Tuesday’s election. The fix that was put in place to solve these problems – the Help America Vote Act passed in 2002 after the Florida debacle – appears to have gone a long way towards making things worse by orders of magnitude, for it was the Help America Vote Act which introduced paperless electronic touch-screen voting machines to millions of voters across the country.