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President Bush said Saturday that Alberto Gonzales is “honorable and honest” and has his full support, despite contradictory statements about the embattled attorney general’s role in the firing of federal prosecutors.
Filed under: General — shadow @ 10:02 pm
White House backs plan that would grant work visas to undocumented immigrants but require them to return home and pay fines to become legal U.S. residents. Full Story
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March 28, 2007
To Whom This Concerns and Will Listen,
Washington, D.C.
Ref: H.R. 811 and SB 559
Howdy from Texas,
I am just a rural County Clerk from Jackson County, Texas, but oversee
the Election held in our County. We just have a little over 9,000
registered voters so my voice may not speak as load as the urban
counties and more populated area. VOTE NO, CONCERNING H.R. 811 and S.B.
559. I have not heard any complaints from our County Voters on using the
DRE’s purchased last year under the HAVA grant funds. The voters
individually have been shown to review the summary page at the end of
ballot on how their vote will be cast prior to touching the Cast Ballot
Button. The voter is responsible how they marked the old paper ballot
and now using the DRE’s.
To retrofit our current machines in this rural area most likely will not
happen in time you intend, thus making us out of compliance. Thus Vote
No.
The federal government via state officials certified the machines we Full Story
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Colorado Republican Rep. Tom Tancredo to announce bid to run for president in 2008 on Monday. Full Story
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March 29, 2007
To: U.S. House of Representatives Committee on House Administration
Re: Amending HR. 811, Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act
From: Judy Alter, Director of Protect California Ballots
Dear Committee Members:
Please amend HR. 811.
1. Make the EAC a Legislative Branch Commission, not an Executive Branch Commission where the president could cancel elections.
2. Make audits meaningful by requiring election officials to hand count entire contests if any anomalies are found. Conduct these audits at the precincts to prevent the FIRST COUNT from remaining inaccurate.
3. Consider outlawing DREs: direct electronic recording devices, because:
DEMOCRATIC ELECTIONS REQUIRE THAT VOTES GET COUNTED IN PUBLIC.
NO COUNT DONE ON SOFTWARE IS PUBLIC.
PLEASE KEEP OUR ELECTIONS DEMOCRATIC!
Software that is proprietary for counting votes is absurd. Counting votes only requires ADDITION. Addition is not secret, proprietary.
4. The newly required equipment in this bill is a huge and unreasonable unfunded mandate for states and counties. Full Story
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Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich equates bilingual education teaches ‘language of living in a ghetto.’ Full Story
Filed under: General — shadow @ 8:00 pm
03/29/2007
Representative Millender-McDonald
Chairwoman of the House Administration Committee
I am psychologist married to a software engineer. My husband and I have
been accumulating files of research documenting serious problems with
electronic voting technology since 2003. We are alarmed by the threat
posed to our democracy by expensive, insecure, unreliable, direct
recording electronic (DRE) voting machines. We appreciate the many
provisions in Congressman Holt’s bill that address election integrity
risks at the margins.
Regrettably HR 811 does not address the elephant in the room. HR 811
does not outlaw the continued widespread use of a method of vote
tabulation that is so fundamentally and irretrievably flawed that at its
worst might only give the appearance of an election. Touch screen (DRE)
voting machines are convenient, pleasant and alluring but nearly
impossible to implement with adequate security. Computer experts who
know the limitations of the technology, readily acknowledge the inherent Full Story
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Undersecretary of state says U.S. will ’seek clarification’ after Saudi King Abdullah tells Arab League that U.S. is illegally occupying Iraq.
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The showing of “Sir. No, sir” at the Town of Lee Democratic Committee movie night was well received. Much of the information in the documentary about military resistance during the Viet Nam war was new and most of the audience (about 25) were struck that it took seven years to bring that misadventure to a halt. The similarities with iraq are striking.
Though, it seems, considering all the stock news footage available from the Viet Nam era, that there’s a lot less objective coverage this time around. If the Pentagon learned anything, it was that the public should be kept in the dark about what was/is going on.
We’re scheduled to view a short video, “Kilowatt Ours,” at our regular meeting next Wednesday as well. Meet, as usual, at Gepetto’s in Newmarket and come a little early, if you’re planning to eat. Any candidates for public office are, of course, always welcome. If they get in touch, I can put them at the head of the agenda.
Both Obama and Kucinich were represented at the Lee meeting, btw, and left literature to pass around.
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White House backs plan that would grant work visas to undocumented immigrants but require them to return home and pay fines to become legal U.S. residents. Full Story