Simultaneous System Failures
(1) The failure of the election system
(voters turned back in St. Louis, Nashville, and Florida)
(2) The failure of the election coverage
(reliance of three networks on one system)
(3) The failure of the Supreme Court to allow vote counts
(20 thousand votes uncounted.)
(4) The failure of the power system.
(rolling brownouts)
Some of these failures were expected to occur a year before, in a scenario called "Y2K". The predictions were off by a year.
The things we can do to deal with these developments are the same as those proposed to deal with the expected Y2K breakdowns:
(a) Community support groups. (b) Alternative and backup energy sources. (c) Don't expect help from the federal level. (d) Personal networking and alternative information sources. ex cathedra, post facto <.pre>
Spontaneous' Mob Violence
In Florida, the Bush campaign quietly organized "rent-a-rioters" and flew them to Florida from all over the country. While disingenuously portraying the protests as "spontaneous grass-roots efforts," the Bush campaign sent special squads of GOP Congressional staffers who, in several instances, led violent attacks on Democratic observers, smashed windows, and tried to force their way into vote-counting rooms. This was not civil disobedience intended to show disagreement, but a concerted attack designed to threaten and intimidate. 38
Shortly after the election, the Bush campaign began a two-pronged program to import as many protesters into Florida as they could. The first prong was done openly: phone-trees reached out across the country to coax party loyalists to head down and fight Al Gore's "theft" of the election. This much is standard political fare. What was unusual was the more discreet second prong.
Under the direction of House Republican Whip Tom DeLay (of Texas, mind you), staff members of GOP Congressmen were quietly approached with offers of all-expenses-paid trips to Florida, "all paid for by the Bush campaign." 39 In addition to staying in swanky beach-side hotels, part of their reward would be an exclusive Thanksgiving Day party in Ft. Lauderdale.
from Coup2k By John Dee
Now it's unofficial: Gore did win Florida
from the Observer
Ed Vulliamy in New York Sunday December 24, 2000
As George W. Bush handed further key government posts to hardline Republican right-wingers, an unofficial recount of votes in Florida appeared to confirm that Bush lost the US presidential election. Despite the decision by the US Supreme Court to halt the Florida recount in the contested counties, American media organisations, includ ing Knight Ridder - owner of the Miami Herald - have commissioned their own counts, gaining access to the ballots under Freedom of Information legislation. The result so far, with the recounting of so-called 'undervotes' in only one county completed by Friday night, indicates that Al Gore is ahead by 140 votes.
Florida's 25 electoral college votes won Bush the presidency by two seats last Monday after the Supreme Court refused to allow the counting of 45,000 discarded votes. But as the media recount was suspended for Christmas, the votes so far tallied in Lake and Broward counties have Gore ahead in the race for the pivotal state, and hence the White House.
Gore's lead is expected to soar when counting resumes in the New Year and Miami votes are counted. In a separate exercise, the Miami Herald commissioned a team of political analysts and pollsters to make a statistical calculation based on projections of votes by county, concluding that Gore won the state by 23,000.
The media initiative is likely to bedevil Bush in the weeks to come, thickening the pall of illegitimacy that will hang over his inauguration on 20 January.
It has already led to a face-off between almost all the news media organisations in the state and Bush's presidential team. In the most extreme example of the Bush camp's desperation to avoid a recount, the new director of the Environment Protection Agency, Christine Todd Whitman, has proposed that the Florida ballots be sealed for 10 years.
media is content to report on fluff I foind an article on the net that reflects my view that the fake "survivor" show should not hve more coverage than global warming: Bill Clinton: lazy media is content to report on fluff Posted on Wednesday, February 28 @ 12:27:17 EST ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- By Dan Cox, Variety NEW YORK -- Former President Bill Clinton, in a relaxed speech to the Variety Front Row conference Tuesday, assailed the media's excessive coverage of popular gameshows and reality skeins over stories of political issues and social ills around the world. Clinton also disabused Hollywood of any notions that he would board the DreamWorks bus. ... ... He clearly indicated that he planned to focus his post-presidential energies on global political and social issues. .. In his speech, the former chief executive quickly hammered home the need for the media to go after stories of substance rather than fluff. "The American people need to know, care and understand more about what happens beyond our borders, and it simply can't happen without the press," Clinton said. He cited 24,520 news stories he found about the ABC show "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire," while he could point to only 8,335 pieces on the money being saved by his Global Debt Relief Initiative. Clinton noted that 12,476 stories were done on the hit show "Survivor" last year in the U.S. media, while only 2,567 articles appeared on the spread of AIDS in the former Soviet Union. Clinton complained that editors and news stations showed little interest in exploring social and political issues behind the obvious one of war. "I gave speeches while president on topics like climate change until I was blue in the face, but they were not deemed newsworthy by you," Clinton said. At times, Clinton sounded as though he were addressing a room full of journalists, even though the Front Row confab audience is more heavily populated with Wall Street analysts and investors. A relatively subdued Clinton pointed to the need for the media to cover critical subjects such as global warming, the AIDS epidemic, poverty, illiteracy and education around the world -- and to make those stories relevant to the American people. He cited a New York Times piece about Brazil's success in lowering the HIV infection rate in that country as an example of how journalism can work to inform Americans and give them the tools necessary to change policy. Clinton did say he understood that making public service profitable is not an easy task, but he urged the audience to shift their thinking enough to affect policy. "I can't answer for the pressures you're under, and believe it or not, I can sympathize," he said. "There may be more tools to entertain, but you also have more tools to inform than ever before." Clinton opened his speech by citing Thomas Jefferson's view that newspapers without a government are better than a government without newspapers. In the Jeffersonian age, he said, competition among newspapers was just as cutthroat as it is now, but they still managed to cover politics in an aggressive fashion. "When I was a boy growing up in the South, it took real bravery for journalists to tell the truth about civil rights issues," an almost wistful Clinton remembered. He then pointed to other acts of journalistic bravery in such diverse areas as Bosnia, the Middle East and Africa. Reprinted from Variety: http://www.variety.com/body.asp?HbkId=11809280&subcat=-1&ArticleId=111779445 4Bush's spokesman Tucker Eskew dismissed the recount as 'mischief-making' and 'inflaming public passions' while his brother, Florida governor Jeb Bush, accused the papers of 'trying to rewrite history'.
Meanwhile, Bush made his boldest ideological statement yet with the appointment of John Ashcroft as Attorney General.
Ashcroft lost his Missouri Senate seat to the widow of the state's popular Democrat governor, Mel Carnahan. From the family of a Pentacostal minister, he is an outspoken social conservative and an ally of the extremist Pat Robertson.
Ashcroft represents a host of militant committees and activist groups, of which the Christian Coalition is most prominent. He is an opponent not only of abortion but even - as he said in one speech - of dancing.
Herald sues to review Duval ballots BY LILA ARZUA larzua@herald.com SEE ALSO Elections panel: Use scanners in 2002 Previous coverage* The Herald has filed suit against Duval County Supervisor of Elections John L. Stafford Jr. to gain access to ballots from the Nov. 7 election. Under Florida's public records law, The Herald and other media organizations have already gained access to nearly all the undervoted ballots in Florida. Despite* ongoing efforts, Duval -- the county that includes Jacksonville -- has not provided such access. ``For many weeks we've tried to get access to the ballots,'' Herald Executive Editor Martin Baron said. ``We've been prevented by the supervisor of elections' unwillingness to segregate those ballots*. These are public records, and we have the right under the law to inspect them.'' http://www.herald.com/thispage.htm?content/archive/news/elect2000/decision/069214.htm
From the API reports:
"Some Democrats raised alarms Monday because two sons of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia work for law firms connected to the case. John Scalia accepted a position with the Miami-based firm Greenberg Traurig on November 7. The next day, Barry Richard, a partner in the firm, said he was called about representing Bush in Florida. A second son, Eugene Scalia, is a partner in the Washington office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher -- the firm representing Bush in the Supreme Court arguments. He is not involved in the case. "
Judge Merritt urges Justice Thomas to remove himself
..a federal judge in Nashville said Justice Thomas faced a serious conflict of interest as a result of his wife's work for the Heritage Foundation. The foundation has close ties to the Republican Party and would probably have a say in the hiring of key government officials if Gov. George W. Bush assumed the presidency. In e-mail distributed on Capitol Hill earlier this month, Mrs. Thomas solicited résumés "for transition purposes" from the government oversight committees of Congress. "The spouse has obviously got a substantial interest that could be affected by the outcome," [federal appellate judge, Gilbert S. Merritt of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit] said in an interview from his home in Nashville. "You should disqualify yourself. I think he'd be subject to some kind of investigation in the Senate." ...He urged Justice Thomas to remove himself from the case in order to prevent any violation of a federal law - he cited Section 455 of Title 28 of the United States Code, "Disqualification of Justices, Judges or Magistrates" - that requires court officers to excuse themselves if a spouse has "an interest that could be substantially affected by the outcome of the proceeding."--New York Times, 12/12/00>
repeal of ethics rules Republicans want repeal of ethics rules for government contractors August 10 @ 09:39:37 EDT ------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------- By April Fulton, Government Executive Magazine Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., and Senate Minority Whip Don Nickles, R-Okla., are urging the General Services Administration to move forward with repeal of the Clinton administration regulation allowing government procurement officers to deny private contractors federal contracts if the contractors* have been the subject of complaints for violating federal laws. "The contractor responsibility regulation radically changes federal procurement law and impedes the legislative authority of the Congress," Lott and Nickles said in a letter last week to GSA Administrator Stephen Perry. ... According to the AFL-CIO's Web site, the proposed regulation is needed to expand government officials' current authority to review contract candidates and close legal loopholes in the current* regulation that have allowed hundreds of thousands of dollars to go to companies that violate environmental and civil rights laws. The Federal Acquisition Regulation Council--which consists of representatives from the Defense Department, NASA, GSA, and the Office of Federal Procurement Policy and sets federal* procurement* policy- -proposed a repeal of the contractor responsibility* regulation* April 3, citing cost concerns. ... Reprinted from Government* Executive* Magazine: http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0801/081001cd1.htm ___________________________________________________________________ Bush's own lawyer says Supreme Court was wrong to stop the Florida recount Friday, August 10 @ 09:32:41 EDT ----------------------------------------- By Abdon M. Pallasch, Chicago Sun Times The infamous Florida election recount and all the lawyering it involved has taught Americans at least one valuable lesson, said Kendall Coffey, one of Al Gore's Florida lawyers: "You can now officially litigate anything in America--something as sacred as the outcome of the Super Bowl may now be fair game," he told American Bar Association conventioneers in Chicago Monday. Americans largely accepted the U.S. Supreme Court's extraordinary action in stopping the recounts and declaring President Bush the winner because they were tired of court battles, he said. "There's just so much appetite for lawyers that any public can have," he said. The election battle is the subject of seminars and hallway conversations here. More than any other legal issue in the past year, this one captivated Americans and shaped their thinking about the U.S. legal system, lawyers here say. In his opening address to the convention, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer said, "These cases have produced less public comment about their most remarkable characteristic: the fact that losers as well as winners will abide by the result, and so will the public." Lawyers for both sides said Monday they hope the experience proves a valuable "civics lesson" for Americans. But Coffey said he fears long-term damage to the Supreme Court's reputation for their abrupt decision to stop the recount before issuing their ruling. "When they said 'stop counting votes,' we believed Gore was a few hours away from pulling ahead," Coffey said. Surprisingly, Bush's attorney Barry Richard agreed with Coffey that the Supreme Court should not have stopped the voting--though unlike Coffey, Richard supported the court's ultimate decision. "I think that stay did more damage to the U.S. Supreme Court than anything they did," Richard said. "They wanted to protect themselves [against having a recount declare Gore the winner before they invalidated the recount*]. I think it was a mistake." Each side praised the other's handling of the cases, saying opposing lawyers got along better behind the scenes than they appeared to in court. Reprinted from The Chicago Sun-Times: http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-vote07.html ________________________________________________________________ Democrats say Harris should resign By ALISA ULFERTS © St. Petersburg Times, published August 9, 2001 --------------------------------- TALLAHASSEE -- Florida Democrats urged Secretary of State Katherine Harris to resign Wednesday, the day after media groups found Republican political documents on her office computers. Democrats are especially puzzled about a query someone in Harris' office ran on Supreme* Court Justice* Barbara Pariente a week after the election. The record came off the Secretary of State Web site and notes Pariente's campaign qualifications and treasurer. "We don't know what it means but it raises questions," said Democratic Party spokesman Tony Welch. One of those questions is whether it marked an early attempt to glean information about the justices who ultimately heard the cases challenging the outcome of the disputed election. "It makes you wonder," Welch said. Harris spokesman David Host said Harris didn't know who ran that query or why. The St. Petersburg Times found no indication whether that query represented official business in her office or unofficial political scrutiny. The record was one of tens of thousands of records unearthed during a review by a Minneapolis company of hard drives in Harris' office. Those records included a political speech and talking points prepared for Harris that supported then-candidate George W. Bush. One speech prepared for Harris said: "I am a bit biased -- after all - - I co-chair the campaign effort of Georrge W. Bush." Someone, it was not immediately clear who, used Harris' computers to send e-mail under the name "gopspinner." All of that is enough to convince Democrats that Harris should resign. Democratic Party Chairman Bob Poe accused her of illegally using her office to call November's contested election* for George W. Bush. "Katherine Harris has violated the public trust with the Florida* voters and proven she is not capable of being an impartial Secretary of State. It's time for her to end the charade and the nightmare of her tenure and simply resign," Poe said in a statement. ... http://www.stpetersburgtimes.com/News/080901/State/Democrats_say_Harris_.sht mlWhen I met Winthop I first met Winthrop Rockerfeller in my grandfathers barber shop. I worked there on weekends in the sixties shining shoes and fixing things. We had a repair shop for radios and TVs, a shoe repair shop, small engine repair, and plumbing supplies. We also has a wood burning stove in the center of the front room, and two barber chairs. When Winthrop came in campaigning against Faubus I was so suprised I neglected to stand up when he shook my hand. I had been sitting on the dry-goods counter and I would sort of climb down when a customer came in. Winthrop ws very tall, and travelled with two bodyguards in dark suits. It was probably the suits that startled me, because most of the customers we saw in Moro did not dress that way. After he left I wondered if he noticed the small picture of Faubus on the mirror behind the barber chair. (He was probably a better governor than the "southern democrats*" we had before that time.) I saw him again when I was at a thing called "Boy's State". He reviewed the "troops" at Boy's State by driving by in a jeep and dressed like a South American dictator. (Clinton got to meet JFK when he was in the Boy's State program a few years before.) Later, Winthrop's brother got to be Vice President through mysterious circumstances. I don't think he was elected. "The people who own the country ought to govern it" may have been their slogan.Freud and Maslow An Analysis of Political Parties With Reference to Freud and Maslow by Eldon E. New, B.A. The lowwsest level of Maslow's hierarcy of needs is the survival level. This corresponds to Freuds anal retentive level. People operating on this level like guns and violence better than sex and pleasure, and tend to be authoritarian and conservative, and even feel proud of their backwards outlook. Freud would say they need more therapy. The next level on Maslow's hierarcy of needs corresponds with Freud's "genital" personality type. This type of person tends to like sex and pleasure. They tend to avoid military service, and hold liberal political views. Freud would say they are healthy. There are other types: The Oedipus complex personality type who wants to destroy the system that older people have set up. The paranoid type who studies UFO and conspiracy theories. The delusional type who believes in "Master Race" theories, or literal interpretations of some ancient book. Freud would not be able to help most of them. They need either medication, or drug treatment programs.stolen
Supreme.htm... ... Court Scandals ... Election ... Injustice ... will be allowed to impound the ballots in Florida for at least four ... ... five conservatives justices hit the trifecta of ignominy with their ruling ... election results that have the public acceptance democratic stability ... the party's Executive Committee
Election.htm... Gore did win Florida ... 25 electoral college votes won Bush the ... federal judge in Nashville said Justice Thomas faced a ... without a government are better than a government without ... Election Scandal ... contractor responsibility regulation radically changes federal ... a team of political analysts and ... the Florida recount in ... Merritt urges Justice Thomas to remove himself ... Supreme Court Scandals
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