Briefs: Pitt researcher gets cancer grantStaff and wire reports
Sunday, October 29, 2006
Dr. J. Peter Rubin of the University of Pittsburgh has received a three-year, $885,000 grant from the National Cancer Institute to demonstrate in an animal model that stem cells isolated from fat could be used to regenerate breast tissue in women who undergo mastectomy.
"The use of adipose or fat-derived stem cells may represent a better solution for soft tissue reconstruction in breast cancer patients," said Rubin, assistant professor of plastic and reconstructive surgery at Pitt.
Preliminary results showed that these cells formed a mound of tissue when they were seeded onto microscopic scaffolding injected under the skin of rats. If this approach is tried in breast reconstruction, Rubin said, surgeons could harvest the cells from a patients' abdominal fat. One pound of fat removed by a tummy tuck can yield as much as 200 million stem cells, which can be transformed into specialized cell types such as blood, muscle and cartilage, he said.
Monday, October 30, 2006
Today's Voting and Election Watch Highlights ...
If Harris is ok with digital scanners (paper ballot based) which take a digital photograph of the "ballot" why isn't Harris ok with the DRE machines, which take a digital photograph of the ballot? The only thing missing in many states is the Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail. Why isn't it good enough to observe a paper printout of your ballot, compare the printout to what is on the screen display of your ballot, and then watch your paper ballot dropped into a clear-view lock box?
What has puzzled me since 1999, after studying election issues: were we ever assured that our actual ballot would be counted "as cast?" Even with a paper ballot, hand counted, as we saw in Florida 2000, there are errors in hand-counting, human errors.
More at Vote Fix
Bev Harris interviewed on Fox 'n Friends...
Harris: ...In most states, machines are taken home for sleepovers, in many cases, for two weeks...
In Louisiana, footage in film, of voting machine pushing the vote to another candidate's machine.
Gretchen: new movie American President, focus on elections... what is most secure way for Americans to vote.
Harris: Hand count paper ballots. New scanners take digital photograph of the vote, and those could be put on the web...
(The group mentioned Chavez ties to voting company)
U.S. Investigates Voting Machines’ Venezuela Ties
Bev Harris website Blackbox Voting
Forum hand-counting
Interviewed on C-Span
Alan Abramowitz, Emory University, Political Science Professor
... we haven't seen the kind of problems here with the electronic machines... we have a Democrat as a Secretary of State... some of the conspiratorial theories are simply overblown, don't believe there is a vast conspiracy out there to steal the elections... there are still problems with the voting systems, we're talking about going from a voting system that had lots of problems to one that has a lot of problems...
C-Span Schedule
More
Law to help purge voter rolls
By Alison Hawkes, For the Herald-Standard
10/29/2006
HARRISBURG -
More
Absent Without Leave
Early voting may result in late election results. John Fund on the Trail (opinionjournal)
Monday, October 30, 2006
http://www.opinionjournal.com/diary/?id=110009167
What has puzzled me since 1999, after studying election issues: were we ever assured that our actual ballot would be counted "as cast?" Even with a paper ballot, hand counted, as we saw in Florida 2000, there are errors in hand-counting, human errors.
More at Vote Fix
Bev Harris interviewed on Fox 'n Friends...
Harris: ...In most states, machines are taken home for sleepovers, in many cases, for two weeks...
In Louisiana, footage in film, of voting machine pushing the vote to another candidate's machine.
Gretchen: new movie American President, focus on elections... what is most secure way for Americans to vote.
Harris: Hand count paper ballots. New scanners take digital photograph of the vote, and those could be put on the web...
(The group mentioned Chavez ties to voting company)
U.S. Investigates Voting Machines’ Venezuela Ties
Bev Harris website Blackbox Voting
Forum hand-counting
Interviewed on C-Span
Alan Abramowitz, Emory University, Political Science Professor
... we haven't seen the kind of problems here with the electronic machines... we have a Democrat as a Secretary of State... some of the conspiratorial theories are simply overblown, don't believe there is a vast conspiracy out there to steal the elections... there are still problems with the voting systems, we're talking about going from a voting system that had lots of problems to one that has a lot of problems...
C-Span Schedule
More
Law to help purge voter rolls
By Alison Hawkes, For the Herald-Standard
10/29/2006
HARRISBURG -
The names of the dead will be more easily purged from voter rolls under legislation the governor signed into Pennsylvania law on Friday.
Bucks County Sen. Robert Wonderling's bill requires local registrars to now send copies of death certificates to county board of elections for the purposes of updating voter registration lists.
Wonderling, who's been working to get the language into law for two years, said the change would help eliminate voter fraud.
"If you have duplicates or deceased individuals on voter rolls, it creates the potential for election fraud," he said. "What Pennsylvanians want, especially before an election, is an election with integrity."
The measure will go into effect in 60 days, and so will not impact the Nov. 7 election. Wonderling said in most cases it's simply a matter of transferring the certificates from one area of county government to another.
"Increasingly, this is nothing more than a data management issue," he said.
In 2004, Republicans did a survey they said showed 15 percent of Philadelphia's voter rolls were dead individuals...
More
Absent Without Leave
Early voting may result in late election results. John Fund on the Trail (opinionjournal)
Monday, October 30, 2006
This year more voters than ever will cast ballots early. The result may be that we get the final election results late. It's possible we won't know which party controls either house of Congress for days or even weeks because of all the disputes and delays caused by absentee ballots.
Thirty states now allow anybody to cast an absentee ballot without having to give an excuse for missing Election Day. That's up from just 20 states six years ago. Several other states also allow early voting at government buildings or even grocery stores. This year, it's expected that over one in four Americans will vote before Election Day.
In states such as Washington, California and Arizona, more than half the ballots are likely to be absentee. In California, more than 1 in 5 voters have signed up to receive absentee ballots for every election. Oregon has gone even further. In 2000 it abolished polling places, and everyone votes by mail.
If control of Congress hinges on a few close races, don't expect to know the final outcome on Election Night. While early votes cast on electronic machines are easily integrated into the totals from traditional polling places, paper absentee ballots are typically counted only after the others. In Florida, Pennsylvania and some other states, ballots will come in for days because if they are legal if postmarked on or before Election Day. Provisional votes, which are cast when a voter doesn't show up on registration rolls, can also slow down the process. Generally, officials have up to 14 days to determine if a vote is valid. Maryland officials barely met that deadline after snafus with electronic voting machines dramatically increased the number of provisional votes cast in its primary last month.
In some supertight races, a flood of absentee ballots could delay the results for weeks. "Anytime you have more paper ballots cast outside polling places, the more mistakes and delays you're likely to have," Bill Gardner, New Hampshire's Democratic secretary of state, told me.
Mistakes are certainly possible. In 2004, a worker at a Toledo, Ohio, election office found 300 completed absentee ballots in a storage room more than a month after the vote. At least half hadn't been counted, and they affected the result of at least one local contest. In Washington state, absentee ballots were the main reason that two recent statewide contests, for Senate in 2000 and governor in 2004, went into overtime. "Washington state has regressed in being able to declare a winner since absentee voting now makes up a majority of votes," says John Carlson, a Seattle talk-show host. In 2000, Democrat Maria Cantwell had to wait weeks to learn she had squeaked out a 2,200 vote plurality at a time when control of the U.S. Senate was in doubt. "Can anyone say it was a good thing the country had to wait until Dec. 1 to learn the U.S. Senate would be tied?" asks Mr. Carlson.
Supporters of absentee voting insist that it increases turnout. But that's simply not the case. Curtis Gans, the director of the Committee for the Study of the American Electorate, says that "academic studies all show that easy absentee voting decreases or has no effect on turnout," with the 2004 election a slight exception. This is because "you are diffusing the mobilizing focus away from a single day and having to mobilize voters over a period of time." Mr. Gans notes that the people who really are helped by absentee voting are those who cast ballots anyway.
It's certainly true that voters like no-excuses absentee voting for its convenience. "Forcing voters to go to the polls to cast their ballots is an antiquated, outdated, absurd practice," says Oren Spiegler, a Pennsylvania voter. But it comes at a price. Simply put, absentee voting makes it easier to commit election fraud, because the ballots are cast outside the supervision of election officials. "By loosening up the restrictions on absentee voting they have opened up more chances for fraud," Damon Stone, a former West Virginia election fraud investigator, told the New York Times.
It's so easy to cheat you'd be surprised who's been caught at it. In 1998, former congressman Austin Murphy of Pennsylvania, a Democrat, was convicted of absentee-ballot fraud in a nursing home, where residents' failing mental capacities make them an easy mark. "In this area there's a pattern of nursing home administrators frequently forging ballots under residents' names," Sean Cavanagh, a former Democratic county supervisor from the area, told me. He says that many nursing home owners rely on regular "bounties" from candidates whom they allow to enter their facilities and harvest votes.
Absentee voting also corrupts the secret ballot. Because an absentee ballot is "potentially available for anyone to see, the perpetrator of coercion can ensure it is cast 'properly,' unlike a polling place, where a voter can promise he will vote one way but then go behind the privacy curtain and vote his conscience," notes John Fortier, a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, in his new book, "Absentee and Early Voting."
The 2001 National Commission on Federal Election Reform, a bipartisan group co-chaired by Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter, found that local election officials have grown sloppy in handling absentee ballots. "Most states do not routinely check signatures either on applications or on returned ballots, just as most states do not verify signatures or require proof of identity at the polls," noted John Mark Hansen, the director of research for the commission's report.
The commission concluded that absentee ballots do not satisfy five essential criteria for sound and honest elections:
Assure the privacy of the secret ballot and protection against coerced voting.
Verify that only duly registered voters cast ballots.
Safeguard ballots against loss or alteration.
Assure their prompt counting.
Foster the communal aspect of citizens voting together.
The AEI's Mr. Fortier has some suggestions on how to retain the convenience of pre-Election Day voting but with a lower risk of fraud and intimidation. He suggests that states expand hours at polling places for early voting, but only during the 10 days before the election. New computer software can be used to match signatures on absentee ballots with registration records and flag those that raise concerns. States could require that every voter enclose a fingerprint or photocopy of some form of identification, not necessarily a photo ID. States should hire independent investigators to interview a sample of voters about potential coercion or intimidation.
http://www.opinionjournal.com/diary/?id=110009167
Sunday, October 29, 2006
Voting machine firms confirm U.S. probe
By HOPE YEN, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - A U.S. manufacturer of touch-screen voting machines confirmed Sunday it was being investigated by the federal government for alleged ties to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez but flatly denied any connection.
Sequoia Voting Systems Inc., based in Oakland, Calif., said the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, or CFIUS, was conducting the formal inquiry into it as well as its parent software company, the Smartmatic Corp., at the firms' request after news articles suggested improper ties.
The inquiry was focusing on last year's acquisition of Sequoia by Boca Raton, Fla.-based Smartmatic, which is owned by three Venezuelans, and whether Chavez's leftist government has any influence over their operations.
Chavez is a longtime foe of the Bush administration who drew criticism from lawmakers of both U.S. parties last month after he called President Bush "the devil" in a speech at the United Nations.
"Sequoia and Smartmatic are not connected, owned or controlled by the Venezuelan government whatsoever," Jeff Bialos, a Washington attorney representing the two firms, said in a telephone interview.
...
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061029/ap_on_go_ot/voting_machines_probe
By HOPE YEN, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - A U.S. manufacturer of touch-screen voting machines confirmed Sunday it was being investigated by the federal government for alleged ties to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez but flatly denied any connection.
Sequoia Voting Systems Inc., based in Oakland, Calif., said the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, or CFIUS, was conducting the formal inquiry into it as well as its parent software company, the Smartmatic Corp., at the firms' request after news articles suggested improper ties.
The inquiry was focusing on last year's acquisition of Sequoia by Boca Raton, Fla.-based Smartmatic, which is owned by three Venezuelans, and whether Chavez's leftist government has any influence over their operations.
Chavez is a longtime foe of the Bush administration who drew criticism from lawmakers of both U.S. parties last month after he called President Bush "the devil" in a speech at the United Nations.
"Sequoia and Smartmatic are not connected, owned or controlled by the Venezuelan government whatsoever," Jeff Bialos, a Washington attorney representing the two firms, said in a telephone interview.
...
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061029/ap_on_go_ot/voting_machines_probe
The Illinois Ballot Integrity Project information is not accurate.
The presidential election of 2000 highlighted problems with punch-card balloting systems. "Hanging chad" became a part of the American lexicon. What the
discussion ignored was that the Florida counties involved in the controvery had been using old, poorly designed and inadequately maintained punch card systems that were long outmoded.
http://ballot-integrity.org/
In one county, the ballot was poorly designed as voters had to flip to a second page. Unfortunately, many did not do so.
Florid had been using old... punch card systems that were long outmoded, says Illinois Ballot Integrity Project.
Refuted by Year 2000 article
Voting-machine errors discovered 4 years ago
By George Bennett and Marc Caputo, Palm Beach Post Staff Writers
Friday, December 8, 2000
Elections officials were alarmed by an "unusually high" number of voters who had trouble punching their ballots for president on Palm Beach County's newest type of voting machine.
Another chapter in the dimpled chad drama surrounding this year's contested presidential election?
Actually, it happened four years ago.
Former Elections Supervisor Jackie Winchester said in a memo to state elections officials after the 1996 presidential election that the county had registered an unusual number of under-votes in 10 precincts that used new Data Punch machines.
A Palm Beach Post analysis last month found that precincts using Data Punch machines in this election had a 4.4 percent under-vote rate, compared with a 1.5 percent rate on older, more expensive Votomatic machines used elsewhere in the county. The Data Punch machines accounted for nearly half of all 10,311 under-votes in this year's election.
An under-vote is recorded when a voter skips a race or when the perforated "chad" next to a candidate's name isn't detached thoroughly enough to be read by a tabulating machine. Under-votes and attempts to count them have become key issues in Florida's close presidential race.
Winchester's memo doesn't name the 10 precincts, but she said Thursday she believed they were the precincts with the highest number of under-votes that year. Those precincts had a 16 percent under-vote rate in 1996.
The under-vote rate was 2.3 percent for the rest of the county in that year's presidential race between President Clinton and Bob Dole.
The 10 problem precincts used new Data Punch machines, Winchester's memo said.
http://dirtline.tripod.com/votefix/id13.html
The presidential election of 2000 highlighted problems with punch-card balloting systems. "Hanging chad" became a part of the American lexicon. What the
discussion ignored was that the Florida counties involved in the controvery had been using old, poorly designed and inadequately maintained punch card systems that were long outmoded.
http://ballot-integrity.org/
In one county, the ballot was poorly designed as voters had to flip to a second page. Unfortunately, many did not do so.
Florid had been using old... punch card systems that were long outmoded, says Illinois Ballot Integrity Project.
Refuted by Year 2000 article
Voting-machine errors discovered 4 years ago
By George Bennett and Marc Caputo, Palm Beach Post Staff Writers
Friday, December 8, 2000
Elections officials were alarmed by an "unusually high" number of voters who had trouble punching their ballots for president on Palm Beach County's newest type of voting machine.
Another chapter in the dimpled chad drama surrounding this year's contested presidential election?
Actually, it happened four years ago.
Former Elections Supervisor Jackie Winchester said in a memo to state elections officials after the 1996 presidential election that the county had registered an unusual number of under-votes in 10 precincts that used new Data Punch machines.
A Palm Beach Post analysis last month found that precincts using Data Punch machines in this election had a 4.4 percent under-vote rate, compared with a 1.5 percent rate on older, more expensive Votomatic machines used elsewhere in the county. The Data Punch machines accounted for nearly half of all 10,311 under-votes in this year's election.
An under-vote is recorded when a voter skips a race or when the perforated "chad" next to a candidate's name isn't detached thoroughly enough to be read by a tabulating machine. Under-votes and attempts to count them have become key issues in Florida's close presidential race.
Winchester's memo doesn't name the 10 precincts, but she said Thursday she believed they were the precincts with the highest number of under-votes that year. Those precincts had a 16 percent under-vote rate in 1996.
The under-vote rate was 2.3 percent for the rest of the county in that year's presidential race between President Clinton and Bob Dole.
The 10 problem precincts used new Data Punch machines, Winchester's memo said.
http://dirtline.tripod.com/votefix/id13.html
Friday, October 27, 2006
New voting machines spur battle over write-ins
Thursday, October 26, 2006
BY SHARON SMITH
Of The Patriot-News
Dauphin County is ready to battle the state over when voters should be allowed to write in candidates' names rather than touch a screen.
Dauphin County has allowed residents for years to cast write-in votes for candidates whose names are on the ballot, and the county does not want to give up the practice.
But the Pennsylvania Department of State is warning Dauphin County and the rest of the state that the practice violates the election code, which requires voters to use the machine rather than write in a candidate's name if the name is on the ballot...
The Department of State is advising voters to cast their votes electronically rather than write them in if a candidate's name is on the ballot.
"If they write it in, any ballot cast would be void," Amoros said, adding that if it's a close election a judge will end up deciding whether those votes count.
The Department of State has been reminding counties of the provision, Amoros said. She wasn't sure if Dauphin County is alone in disagreeing with it...
Page 2 of 2
"This is a sticky situation," Chiavetta said. "Maybe it will end up in court."
NOTA-PA.org -- 'None Of The Above' -- sent out a news release and posted an advisory on PaCleanSweep's Web site asking voters to write in the names of candidates to ensure their votes count.
The group took the advisory off the Web site this week after learning voters would be disenfranchised if they did that...
http://www.pennlive.com/news/patriotnews/index.ssf?/base/news/1161830407181840.xml&coll=1
Thursday, October 26, 2006
BY SHARON SMITH
Of The Patriot-News
Dauphin County is ready to battle the state over when voters should be allowed to write in candidates' names rather than touch a screen.
Dauphin County has allowed residents for years to cast write-in votes for candidates whose names are on the ballot, and the county does not want to give up the practice.
But the Pennsylvania Department of State is warning Dauphin County and the rest of the state that the practice violates the election code, which requires voters to use the machine rather than write in a candidate's name if the name is on the ballot...
The Department of State is advising voters to cast their votes electronically rather than write them in if a candidate's name is on the ballot.
"If they write it in, any ballot cast would be void," Amoros said, adding that if it's a close election a judge will end up deciding whether those votes count.
The Department of State has been reminding counties of the provision, Amoros said. She wasn't sure if Dauphin County is alone in disagreeing with it...
Page 2 of 2
"This is a sticky situation," Chiavetta said. "Maybe it will end up in court."
NOTA-PA.org -- 'None Of The Above' -- sent out a news release and posted an advisory on PaCleanSweep's Web site asking voters to write in the names of candidates to ensure their votes count.
The group took the advisory off the Web site this week after learning voters would be disenfranchised if they did that...
http://www.pennlive.com/news/patriotnews/index.ssf?/base/news/1161830407181840.xml&coll=1
Thursday, October 26, 2006
Roll Call seer predictions; PA cleansweep founder lawsuit dismissed
Judge dismisses libel lawsuit filed by PACleanSweep founder
27 days ago Judge dismisses libel lawsuit filed by PACleanSweep founder
Printer Friendly | PDF | Email | digg
By MARK SCOLFORO, The Associated Press
Oct 26, 2006 11:06 AM (27 days ago)
Current rank: Not ranked
http://www.examiner.com/a-363653~Judge_dismisses_libel_lawsuit_filed_by_PACleanSweep_founder.html
search results
Appearing on C-span, Stuart Rothenberg, columnist for Roll Call, emphatically stated the Democrats would win the House of Representatives; they might take the Senate, he predicted.
Rothenberg went on and on without noting the basis of his predictions are polls which at best are only indicators of "feelings" of potential voters on a given day before the election.
History has shown, however, once in the voting booth, on Election Day, alone, in private, a voter may make a different choice than even he or she believed the previous day.
Guess we'll have to await the official election results from each state.
C-Span Caller (8:20 a.m.)
See Net the Truth Online's Trail of Treachery found on Vote Fix
We were the only site across the Internet to prove chad fraud occurred during the Florida re-counting of so-called "undervoted" ballots! And more...
Thursday, October 26, 2006
How High the Wave? Don’t Just Think 1994; Think 1974, 1958, 1982
By Stuart Rothenberg
With only a couple of weeks until Election Day, we know there will be a Democratic wave on Nov. 7. And we can be fairly certain that by historical standards it will be high - possibly very high. But we still don’t know how many Republicans once considered safe will be swept out of office.
The national political environment currently is worse than it was in 1994, when the Democrats lost 52 House seats, eight Senate seats and 10 governorships, and when Republicans won GOP control of the House for the first time in decades.
You heard me right: It’s worse this year than it was in 1994, when voters were dissatisfied with the first two years of the Bill Clinton presidency...
http://rothenbergpoliticalreport.blogspot.com/2006_10_01_rothenbergpoliticalreport_archive.html
27 days ago Judge dismisses libel lawsuit filed by PACleanSweep founder
Printer Friendly | PDF | Email | digg
By MARK SCOLFORO, The Associated Press
Oct 26, 2006 11:06 AM (27 days ago)
Current rank: Not ranked
HARRISBURG, Pa. - A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit by a political activist who claimed he was defamed by a Web site that compared him to former Enron Corp. head Ken Lay and accused him of pocketing supporters' donations....
Russ Diamond, founder of the anti-incumbent group PACleanSweep and a former gubernatorial candidate, had sued a Republican employee of the state House of Representatives, Bob Nye, over the content of Nye's site.
"After talking to my lawyer last night, he said our only recourse would be to go through the state courts, and I really don't think we're going to do that," Diamond said Thursday. "I don't have a lot of faith in our state courts."
U.S. District Judge Sylvia H. Rambo dismissed the case Oct. 19, saying Diamond did not establish a basis for his federal civil-rights and conspiracy claims, and that she lacked jurisdiction over his state-law defamation claim.
"Plaintiff attempts to establish that defendant worked on the Web site from a computer located at his place of employment, an office located in the state House of Representatives," Rambo wrote. "At most, however, plaintiff's allegations establish only that http://www.uncleansweep.com was accessed from computers located at state buildings."
Nye told the court he worked on the site exclusively from his personal computer at his home in Elizabethtown, but Diamond said he remains convinced Nye worked on the site using state equipment.
Mathieu J. Shapiro, a lawyer for Nye and unnamed "John Doe" co-defendants, had no immediate comment Thursday.
PACleanSweep organized political opposition to last year's governmental pay raise and was instrumental in defeating 17 incumbent lawmakers in the May primary. The group was later riven by internal conflict and was dissolved by a Lebanon County court order in August.
Diamond abandoned his independent campaign for governor on July 31 after failing to gather enough signatures to make it onto the fall ballot
http://www.examiner.com/a-363653~Judge_dismisses_libel_lawsuit_filed_by_PACleanSweep_founder.html
search results
Appearing on C-span, Stuart Rothenberg, columnist for Roll Call, emphatically stated the Democrats would win the House of Representatives; they might take the Senate, he predicted.
Rothenberg went on and on without noting the basis of his predictions are polls which at best are only indicators of "feelings" of potential voters on a given day before the election.
History has shown, however, once in the voting booth, on Election Day, alone, in private, a voter may make a different choice than even he or she believed the previous day.
Guess we'll have to await the official election results from each state.
C-Span Caller (8:20 a.m.)
Caller, why is it when Republicans win the election, the election is stolen; when Democrats win, it's ok... we all know that Kennedy stole the election from Nixon... that isn't mentioned... when the Democrats win, it's ok...
Response by Rothenberg (paraphrasing and incomplete)... we saw that after the 2000 election, the Democrats said it was stolen; we saw that in 2004... over the last 8 years, we've heard a lot of complaining from Democrats that Bush stole the last two elections... the woman is right, but that's just Bush won the last two elections...
See Net the Truth Online's Trail of Treachery found on Vote Fix
We were the only site across the Internet to prove chad fraud occurred during the Florida re-counting of so-called "undervoted" ballots! And more...
Thursday, October 26, 2006
How High the Wave? Don’t Just Think 1994; Think 1974, 1958, 1982
By Stuart Rothenberg
With only a couple of weeks until Election Day, we know there will be a Democratic wave on Nov. 7. And we can be fairly certain that by historical standards it will be high - possibly very high. But we still don’t know how many Republicans once considered safe will be swept out of office.
The national political environment currently is worse than it was in 1994, when the Democrats lost 52 House seats, eight Senate seats and 10 governorships, and when Republicans won GOP control of the House for the first time in decades.
You heard me right: It’s worse this year than it was in 1994, when voters were dissatisfied with the first two years of the Bill Clinton presidency...
http://rothenbergpoliticalreport.blogspot.com/2006_10_01_rothenbergpoliticalreport_archive.html
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
American Mourning
'American Mourning' authors prepare to defend book
Anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan issues threat to sue over claims in publication
Posted: October 24, 2006
1:20 p.m. Eastern
© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com
"American Mourning" co-author Melanie Morgan says she is prepared to defend the book against allegations of slander or libel, but she hopes it won't go to that because she wants to spare the family of fallen hero Casey Sheehan any further pain.
It was his mother, anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan, who told a nationally syndicated radio show by Stephanie Miller that she was preparing for possible litigation over allegations in the book that she became addicted to "online chat rooms of a pornographic nature" after her son died in Iraq.
"I am totally confident in my level of documentation," Morgan told WND today. "It's locked in a bank vault, and we are prepared to use it should Ms. Sheehan proceed to litigation.
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=52591
Inspiring best seller 'American Mourning' only $4.95!
This week only – save $18 on controversial blockbuster
Posted: October 23, 2006
1:00 a.m. Eastern © 2006 WorldNetDaily.com
"American Mourning" is the story of two families – the Johnsons and the Sheehans – that lost sons in the war against terror. Their sons were buddies – best friends since they first met at Fort Hood in Texas – but the two families have little else in common.
Joe Johnson knew he would have to go to Iraq to see where his son spent his last days on earth. As he slugged through open sewers, he gagged at the stench that smothered the Iraqi slum. It was here that his son Justin died, a roadside bomb ripping through his patrol truck and killing him. Here Joe would avenge Justin's death.
Like Joe, Cindy Sheehan lost her son in the same Iraqi slums, but she wanted another kind of revenge. Blaming President Bush for Casey's death, she called the Muslim radicals who killed him "freedom fighters." As the suffocating summer humidity reached its peak in Texas, Cindy posted herself outside President Bush's Crawford ranch, demanding that he meet with her. She became a media phenomenon...
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=52558
Anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan issues threat to sue over claims in publication
Posted: October 24, 2006
1:20 p.m. Eastern
© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com
"American Mourning" co-author Melanie Morgan says she is prepared to defend the book against allegations of slander or libel, but she hopes it won't go to that because she wants to spare the family of fallen hero Casey Sheehan any further pain.
It was his mother, anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan, who told a nationally syndicated radio show by Stephanie Miller that she was preparing for possible litigation over allegations in the book that she became addicted to "online chat rooms of a pornographic nature" after her son died in Iraq.
"I am totally confident in my level of documentation," Morgan told WND today. "It's locked in a bank vault, and we are prepared to use it should Ms. Sheehan proceed to litigation.
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=52591
Inspiring best seller 'American Mourning' only $4.95!
This week only – save $18 on controversial blockbuster
Posted: October 23, 2006
1:00 a.m. Eastern © 2006 WorldNetDaily.com
"American Mourning" is the story of two families – the Johnsons and the Sheehans – that lost sons in the war against terror. Their sons were buddies – best friends since they first met at Fort Hood in Texas – but the two families have little else in common.
Joe Johnson knew he would have to go to Iraq to see where his son spent his last days on earth. As he slugged through open sewers, he gagged at the stench that smothered the Iraqi slum. It was here that his son Justin died, a roadside bomb ripping through his patrol truck and killing him. Here Joe would avenge Justin's death.
Like Joe, Cindy Sheehan lost her son in the same Iraqi slums, but she wanted another kind of revenge. Blaming President Bush for Casey's death, she called the Muslim radicals who killed him "freedom fighters." As the suffocating summer humidity reached its peak in Texas, Cindy posted herself outside President Bush's Crawford ranch, demanding that he meet with her. She became a media phenomenon...
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=52558
Michael J. Fox ad shows extent politics corrupts
On his The Factor program last night Bill O'Reilly played the Michael J. Fox political ad supporting senatorial candidate, Claire McCaskill, for his guest conservative commentator, Sandy Rios, who calmly and with much decorum, didn't just allege M. Fox lied in the ad, she specifically stated M. Fox lied in the ad.
Youtube
Catching up with Sandy Rios and Concerned Women for America
Janet Chismar
Senior Editor, News & Culture
http://www.crosswalk.com/1143304.html
Here's the Michael J. Fox ad transcript
"As you might know, I care deeply about stem cell research. In Missouri, you can elect Claire McCaskill who shares my hope for cures. Unfortunately, Senator Jim Talent opposes expanding stem cell research. Senator Talent even wants to criminalize the science that gives us a chance for hope. They say all politics is local, but it's not always the case. What you do in Missouri matters to millions of Americans. Americans like me."
Michael J. Fox Makes Stem Cell Vote Push Wednesday, October 25, 2006 By JAKE COYLE, AP Entertainment Writer
http://www.foxnews.com/wires/2006Oct25/0,4670,MichaelJFoxCampaignAds,00.html
On the O'Reilly Factor, after watching the ad, Ms. Sandy Rios commented the M. Fox ad was misleading in that M. Fox generalized about all stem cell research and lied flat out when he said Senator Jim Talent opposed stem cell research. It is embryonic research Talent opposes. She said they don't distinguish between embryonic research and adult stem cell or cord research and use. Rios said the ad is misleading also in the prospects for cure for Parkinson's, using embryonic stem cells. Those have been tested, not much, and findings show embryonic stem cells cause tumors...
More...
Fox News site search results
Sean Hannity, appearing on Fox 'n Friends, Wednesday, said he believes the M. Fox ad is going to backfire this close to the election, 13 days out, charging Republican candidates' opposition to all stem cell research, isn't fair... it'll backfire on them...
More
M. Fox's political push flies in the face of findings, Stem cells might cause brain tumors, and one has to question, does he just not want to know about a potential for a cure that kills?
Stem cells might cause brain tumors, study finds Sunday, October 22, 2006
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061022/sc_nm/stemcells_dc
Actor Michael J. Fox Endorses Maryland U.S. Senate Democratic Hopeful
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
...Douglas Stiegler, executive director of Maryland's Family Protection Lobby, which opposes embryonic stem cell research, said he felt it "is a shame that they're exploiting someone like Michael J. Fox for something that the scientists say is not going to do anything."...
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,224339,00.html
Actor Michael J. Fox Endorses Maryland U.S. Senate Democratic Hopeful
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,224339,00.html
Michael J. Fox Records TV Ad for Cardin Actor Questions Steele's Stance on Funding for Stem Cell Research By Matthew Mosk Washington Post Staff Writer Tuesday, October 24, 2006; Page B01
READ FINAL PARAGRAPHS
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/23/AR2006102301173.html
Actor Michael J. Fox Ad Touts McCaskill
Monday, October 23, 2006 By SAM HANANEL, Associated Press Writer
http://www.foxnews.com/wires/2006Oct25/0,4670,MichaelJFoxCampaignAds,00.html
Note: Jamieson doesn't highlight another effect of M. Fox lying about embryonic stem cell research promise and merit. Once the "thinking" public takes off the Hollywood sunglasses and catches on, his message will be discredited, and will be seen as purely "political," having little to do with a true and honest search for a cure for debilitating diseases such as Parkinson's.
AP MISLEADS IN STORY
Actor Michael J. Fox Ad Touts McCaskill
Monday, October 23, 2006 By SAM HANANEL, Associated Press Writer
http://www.foxnews.com/wires/2006Oct23/0,4670,MissouriSenateAd,00.html
Monday, October 23, 2006
On That Michael J. Fox Ad
Posted by Dean Barnett | 11:58 AM
There’s a new Michael J. Fox ad on stem cell research that supports Claire McCaskill’s campaign. Click over and watch it. It will take you only 30 seconds, and I promise I’ll still be here when you get back.
By way of response, let me first say that I think almost any kind of ad in support of a political campaign is fair game. If a candidate goes too far, the public will punish him or her. So while I find the Michael J. Fox ad crass, tasteless, exploitative and absurd, I fully support Claire McCaskill’s right to shoot herself in the foot.
http://hughhewitt.townhall.com/g/9122f441-323f-434e-b75e-aee847d224c7
Rob Schneider Rips L.A. Times James Hirsen
Tuesday, Feb. 8, 2005
Michael J. Fox: Stem Cell Research Not 'Frankenstinian'
Michael J. Fox has become a national spokesman of sorts for embryonic stem cell research...
Apparently, the actor has yet to be educated on the distinction between adult stem cell research, which has hundreds of thousands of positive results to its credit, and so-called therapeutic cloning, which, when it comes to positive results, has an uncloned goose egg.
The public has been misled by press reports that have failed to convey info about the two types of stem cells - one that takes life, the other that saves it.
In embryonic stem cell research, human life is actually created through cloning, only to be destroyed. The dirty little secret is that certain scientists and biotech firms want to get taxpayers to "assist" them in obtaining profitable cloning patents.
Under the guise of finding cures for diseases, taxpayers are duped into funding research on cloning.
"There's nothing Frankenstinian happening here," Fox said after his tour. "It's good science and it's for the benefit of all people."
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2005/2/11/144255.shtml
Stem cells might cause brain tumors, study finds
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Injecting human embryonic stem cells into the brains of Parkinson's disease patients may cause tumors to form, U.S. researchers reported on Sunday...
stem cells might cause tumors
Youtube
Catching up with Sandy Rios and Concerned Women for America
Janet Chismar
Senior Editor, News & Culture
As a voice for women who embrace biblical principles, Concerned Women for America (CWA) promotes public policy that strengthens women and the family. Founded in 1979, CWA is the nation's largest public policy women's organization, with well over 500,000 members nationwide....
Much of Concerned Women for America's success lies in its dedication to educating members on issues, legislation and policy debates. Armed with facts and information, CWA members present a powerful voice in their communities-and in the nation's capital.
Sandy Rios, the current president of CWA, leads the organization with a bold resolve to challenge the corruption of the American culture with a call to morality and truth. A pro-life advocate, she speaks with authority after raising her severely handicapped daughter, Sasha.
For eight years Rios hosted a cutting-edge, drive-time news and talk program, The Sandy Rios Show, on WYLL-FM in Chicago, the nation's third largest market. Described as a passionate conservative, Rios has been called upon to speak at conferences for Americans United for Life, Youth for Christ, African American Family Association, and the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability.
http://www.crosswalk.com/1143304.html
Here's the Michael J. Fox ad transcript
"As you might know, I care deeply about stem cell research. In Missouri, you can elect Claire McCaskill who shares my hope for cures. Unfortunately, Senator Jim Talent opposes expanding stem cell research. Senator Talent even wants to criminalize the science that gives us a chance for hope. They say all politics is local, but it's not always the case. What you do in Missouri matters to millions of Americans. Americans like me."
Michael J. Fox Makes Stem Cell Vote Push Wednesday, October 25, 2006 By JAKE COYLE, AP Entertainment Writer
NEW YORK — The symptoms of Parkinson's disease that all but ended Michael J. Fox's acting career are making him a powerfully vulnerable campaign pitchman for five Democrats who support stem cell research.
In 30-second TV ads for Rep. Benjamin L. Cardin, who is running for the Senate in Maryland, Senate candidate Claire McCaskill in Missouri and Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle, Fox shakes and rocks as he directly addresses the camera, making no effort to hide the effects of his disease.
In the McCaskill ad, which has been viewed by more than 1 million people on YouTube.com, Fox tells voters,"What you do in Missouri matters to millions of Americans. Americans like me."
He also was planning to appear at events for Sen. Robert Menendez of New Jersey and Tammy Duckworth, a candidate for Congress from Illinois.
http://www.foxnews.com/wires/2006Oct25/0,4670,MichaelJFoxCampaignAds,00.html
On the O'Reilly Factor, after watching the ad, Ms. Sandy Rios commented the M. Fox ad was misleading in that M. Fox generalized about all stem cell research and lied flat out when he said Senator Jim Talent opposed stem cell research. It is embryonic research Talent opposes. She said they don't distinguish between embryonic research and adult stem cell or cord research and use. Rios said the ad is misleading also in the prospects for cure for Parkinson's, using embryonic stem cells. Those have been tested, not much, and findings show embryonic stem cells cause tumors...
More...
Fox News site search results
Sean Hannity, appearing on Fox 'n Friends, Wednesday, said he believes the M. Fox ad is going to backfire this close to the election, 13 days out, charging Republican candidates' opposition to all stem cell research, isn't fair... it'll backfire on them...
More
M. Fox's political push flies in the face of findings, Stem cells might cause brain tumors, and one has to question, does he just not want to know about a potential for a cure that kills?
Stem cells might cause brain tumors, study finds Sunday, October 22, 2006
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Injecting human embryonic stem cells into the brains of Parkinson's disease patients may cause tumors to form, U.S. researchers reported on Sunday.
Steven Goldman and colleagues at the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York said human stem cells injected into rat brains turned into cells that looked like early tumors.
Writing in the journal Nature Medicine, the researchers said the transplants clearly helped the rats, but some of the cells started growing in a way that could eventually lead to a tumor.
Various types of cell transplants are being tried to treat Parkinson's disease, caused when dopamine-releasing cells die in the brain.
This key neurotransmitter, or message-carrying chemical, is involved in movement and Parkinson's patients suffer muscle dysfunction that can often lead to paralysis. Drugs can slow the process for a while but there is no cure.
The idea behind brain cell transplants is to replace the dead cells. Stem cells are considered particularly promising as they can be directed to form the precise desired tissue and do not trigger an immune response.
Goldman's team used human embryonic stem cells. Taken from days-old embryos, these cells can form any kind of cell in the body. This batch had been cultured in substances aimed at making them become brain cells.
Previous groups have tried to coax stem cells into becoming dopamine-releasing cells.
Goldman's team apparently succeeded and transplanted them into the rats with an equivalent of Parkinson's damage. The animals did get better.
But the grafted cells started to show areas that no longer consisted of dopamine-releasing neurons, but of dividing cells that had the potential to give rise to tumors.
The researchers killed the animals before they could know for sure, and said any experiments in humans would have to be done very cautiously.
Scientists have long feared that human embryonic stem cells could turn into tumors, because of their pliability.
Opponents of embryonic stem cell research cite such threats...
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061022/sc_nm/stemcells_dc
Actor Michael J. Fox Endorses Maryland U.S. Senate Democratic Hopeful
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
...Douglas Stiegler, executive director of Maryland's Family Protection Lobby, which opposes embryonic stem cell research, said he felt it "is a shame that they're exploiting someone like Michael J. Fox for something that the scientists say is not going to do anything."...
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,224339,00.html
Actor Michael J. Fox Endorses Maryland U.S. Senate Democratic Hopeful
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
Michael J. Fox endorses Rep. Benjamin Cardin's U.S. Senate bid in a new ad in which the actor, visibly affected by his battle with Parkinson's disease, criticizes Republican candidate Michael Steele's stance on stem cell research.
The spot is the latest in a series of ads by the actor in support of senate candidates who support stem cell research, which many say hold the promise for providing treatments or cures for many diseases and conditions. Many social conservatives oppose embryonic stem cell research because human embryos are destroyed in the process of obtaining the stem cells.
Steele, Maryland's lieutenant governor, supports research on adult stem cells and umbilical cord blood, but not research that requires destroying an embryo to secure stem cells.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,224339,00.html
Michael J. Fox Records TV Ad for Cardin Actor Questions Steele's Stance on Funding for Stem Cell Research By Matthew Mosk Washington Post Staff Writer Tuesday, October 24, 2006; Page B01
Appearing grimly unsteady from his long bout with Parkinson's disease, actor Michael J. Fox is inserting his halting voice into the campaign for the U.S. Senate in a new television commercial about the importance of stem cell research.
The ad, endorsing Democrat Benjamin L. Cardin in his race against Republican Michael S. Steele, bears witness to the actor's unmistakable decline and harnesses that physical degeneration into a political message.
READ FINAL PARAGRAPHS
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/23/AR2006102301173.html
Actor Michael J. Fox Ad Touts McCaskill
Monday, October 23, 2006 By SAM HANANEL, Associated Press Writer
...Jamieson notes that the issue of stem cell research has the potential to be an advantage to Democrats in the upcoming midterm elections since polls have shown the majority of Americans favor some form of stem cell research. The risk, she adds, is that the ads could appear as using Fox's hopes for a cure for political gain, as some claimed was the case when the paralyzed actor Christopher Reeve lobbied for stem cell research before his death in 2004...
http://www.foxnews.com/wires/2006Oct25/0,4670,MichaelJFoxCampaignAds,00.html
Note: Jamieson doesn't highlight another effect of M. Fox lying about embryonic stem cell research promise and merit. Once the "thinking" public takes off the Hollywood sunglasses and catches on, his message will be discredited, and will be seen as purely "political," having little to do with a true and honest search for a cure for debilitating diseases such as Parkinson's.
AP MISLEADS IN STORY
Actor Michael J. Fox Ad Touts McCaskill
Monday, October 23, 2006 By SAM HANANEL, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON — His body visibly wracked by tremors, actor Michael J. Fox speaks out for Missouri Democratic Senate candidate Claire McCaskill in a television ad that promotes her support for embryonic stem cell research.
"As you might know I care deeply about stem cell research,"says 45-year-old actor, who has struggled with Parkinson's disease for more than a decade."In Missouri you can elect Claire McCaskill, who shares my hope for cures."
McCaskill has made support for the research a key part of her campaign to unseat Sen. Jim Talent. The Republican incumbent opposes the research as unethical, saying it destroys human embryos.
The new ad debuted prominently Saturday night during Game 1 of the World Series between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Detroit Tigers and will continue airing statewide this week, a campaign spokeswoman said.
Debate over stem cell research looms large in Missouri, where voters are considering a ballot measure that would amend the state constitution to protect all federally allowed forms of the research, including embryonic stem cell research. The scientific study holds promise in the search to cure diseases like Parkinson's and Alzheimer's...
http://www.foxnews.com/wires/2006Oct23/0,4670,MissouriSenateAd,00.html
Monday, October 23, 2006
On That Michael J. Fox Ad
Posted by Dean Barnett | 11:58 AM
There’s a new Michael J. Fox ad on stem cell research that supports Claire McCaskill’s campaign. Click over and watch it. It will take you only 30 seconds, and I promise I’ll still be here when you get back.
By way of response, let me first say that I think almost any kind of ad in support of a political campaign is fair game. If a candidate goes too far, the public will punish him or her. So while I find the Michael J. Fox ad crass, tasteless, exploitative and absurd, I fully support Claire McCaskill’s right to shoot herself in the foot.
http://hughhewitt.townhall.com/g/9122f441-323f-434e-b75e-aee847d224c7
Rob Schneider Rips L.A. Times James Hirsen
Tuesday, Feb. 8, 2005
Michael J. Fox: Stem Cell Research Not 'Frankenstinian'
Michael J. Fox has become a national spokesman of sorts for embryonic stem cell research...
Apparently, the actor has yet to be educated on the distinction between adult stem cell research, which has hundreds of thousands of positive results to its credit, and so-called therapeutic cloning, which, when it comes to positive results, has an uncloned goose egg.
The public has been misled by press reports that have failed to convey info about the two types of stem cells - one that takes life, the other that saves it.
In embryonic stem cell research, human life is actually created through cloning, only to be destroyed. The dirty little secret is that certain scientists and biotech firms want to get taxpayers to "assist" them in obtaining profitable cloning patents.
Under the guise of finding cures for diseases, taxpayers are duped into funding research on cloning.
"There's nothing Frankenstinian happening here," Fox said after his tour. "It's good science and it's for the benefit of all people."
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2005/2/11/144255.shtml
Stem cells might cause brain tumors, study finds
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Injecting human embryonic stem cells into the brains of Parkinson's disease patients may cause tumors to form, U.S. researchers reported on Sunday...
stem cells might cause tumors
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
Evidence of slant in ABC NEWS article Chicago Voter Database Hacked
Articles like Chicago Voter Database Hacked by ABC NEWS Jake Tapper and Rebecca Abrahams, October 23, 2006 make me cringe. These types of articles are the reason Net the Truth Online is here and persists in the search for truth, no matter what the truth reveals.
The ABC NEWS title of the piece is just wrong as reading further into the Tapper/Abrahams article clearly shows. The Chicago voter database was not hacked, according to Tom Leach, what was hacked into was the website file which is a "copy" file, not the original file.
Most readers won't read beyond the initial couple of paragraphs of most articles, and mostly what will stick in their minds is the title.
Fox News Live's E.D. Hill is interviewing Bob Wilson (Illinois Ballot Integrity Project) at 10:30 a.m.
E.D. HILL ... an organization found out more than one million voters in a Chicago voter database could be hacked, says E.D. Hill... we're concerned... (there is a bad connection with Wilson and Hill says they will return to him.)
Fox News Live Ticker tape reads
security gltitch found in Chicago Voter Database!
We're on our way to set the record straight. Done on the submit News form. More.
Check electionline.org for this date and weekly report recap
electionline.org
Illinois
Voter information open to hackers
After tracking the story, Net the Truth Online must also question who found the "programming error," "security flaw."?
Was it a candidate for election as noted in the Chicago Tribune's October 24, 2006 report Voter security glitch fixed by John McCormick
and as identified (Peter Zelchenko, a 43rd Ward aldermanic candidate and computer expert)in the Chicago Sun-Times October 24, 2006 report Hack Cracked Board of Elections Web site leaves Social Security numbers vulnerable by Art Golab
or
Was it the not-for-profit civic organization, Illinois Ballot Integrity Project
as noted in
ABC7Chicago Apparent security flaw in board of elections website Not-for-profit group claims it accessed sensitive voter info by John Garcia
ABC NEWS Chicago Voter Database Hacked Civic Group Claims It Could Have Tampered With Voter Roles, by Jake Tapper and Rebecca Abrahams?
AP (Boston Herald) Watchdog group finds security flaw in Chicago elections Web site, Associated Press, Tuesday October 24, 2006
And who is responsible for the misspelling of the word "rolls" in the ABC NEWS subtitle?
Meanwhile, versions of the same news which are dramatically more accurate in titles than ABC NEWS Spin Cycle Headline:
ABC7Chicago
Apparent security flaw in board of elections website Not-for-profit group claims it accessed sensitive voter info by John Garcia
http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=local&id=4688529
Chicago Tribune
Voter security glitch fixed by John McCormick
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/chi-0610240029oct24,1,1602608.story?coll=chi-news-hed&ctrack=1&cset=true
Chicago Sun Times
Hack Cracked Board of Elections Web site leaves Social Security numbers vulnerable by Art Golab
http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/108366,CST-NWS-hack24.article
AP Report Boston Herald
Watchdog group finds security flaw in Chicago elections Web site
By Associated Press Tuesday, October 24, 2006 - Updated: 09:40 AM EST
http://news.bostonherald.com/national/view.bg?articleid=163915
Notice the difference? It's more accurate to refer to "election website" than to "voter database."
A total so far of four other articles use more accurate headliners.
COMPARE THE ARTICLES WHICH FOLLOW and track the hype which will flow from the ABC NEWS Spin Cycle Headline
Note: 11:10 a.m. FOX NEWS LIVE E.D. Hill report did not include a retake with Illinois Ballot Integrity Project's Bob Wilson. Instead, Hill appeared to alter the wording from database of voters... to more general terminology, and appeared to have either spoken to Illinois and Chicago election officials directly, or, maybe, just maybe they received our email.
ABC7Chicago
Apparent security flaw in board of elections website Not-for-profit group claims it accessed sensitive voter info by John Garcia
October 23, 2006 - There is an apparent security flaw in the computers that contain personal information on hundreds of thousands of voters in Chicago. A non-partisan organization claims it gained access to sensitive personal information including Social Security numbers.
http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=local&id=4688529
Associated Press (Boston Herald)
Watchdog group finds security flaw in Chicago elections Web site
By Associated Press Tuesday, October 24, 2006 - Updated: 09:40 AM EST
http://news.bostonherald.com/national/view.bg?articleid=163915
Chicago Sun Times
Hack cracked Board of Elections Web site leaves Social Security numbers vulnerable
October 24, 2006 by ART GOLAB Staff Reporter
http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/108366,CST-NWS-hack24.article
Chicago Tribune
Voter security glitch fixed by John McCormick
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/chi-0610240029oct24,1,1602608.story?coll=chi-news-hed&ctrack=1&cset=true
ABC NEWS SPIN CYCLE
ABC NEWS Chicago Voter Database Hacked by Jake Tapper and Rebecca Abrahams
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=2601085&page=1
Just what we thought would be portrayed... do they want to show you there is a difference between an official voter database and a website file?
Chicago's 43rd Ward Peter Zelchenko, candidate
Monday, October 23, 2006
Board of Elections database vulnerability
Read statement on the Board of Elections database vulnerability.
Go to Illinois Ballot Integrity Project Web site.
http://ward43.blogspot.com/
The ABC NEWS title of the piece is just wrong as reading further into the Tapper/Abrahams article clearly shows. The Chicago voter database was not hacked, according to Tom Leach, what was hacked into was the website file which is a "copy" file, not the original file.
Most readers won't read beyond the initial couple of paragraphs of most articles, and mostly what will stick in their minds is the title.
Fox News Live's E.D. Hill is interviewing Bob Wilson (Illinois Ballot Integrity Project) at 10:30 a.m.
E.D. HILL ... an organization found out more than one million voters in a Chicago voter database could be hacked, says E.D. Hill... we're concerned... (there is a bad connection with Wilson and Hill says they will return to him.)
Fox News Live Ticker tape reads
security gltitch found in Chicago Voter Database!
We're on our way to set the record straight. Done on the submit News form. More.
Check electionline.org for this date and weekly report recap
Election Reform news this week:
Election officials in Chicago were forced to patch a security flaw in their Web site this week after a candidate discovered a programming error that made private voter information vulnerable to theft. The information has been available for at least five years. “We don’t have any evidence that there was any theft,” Tom Leach, spokesman for the Chicago Board of Elections told the Chicago Tribune. “But we don’t want to be in a position where someone has their Social Security and date of birth stolen.” The error was fixed late last week and the Cook County state’s attorney was informed about the potential for identity theft. Leach told the paper that the Board of Elections plans to hire a computer forensics expert to determine if personal information was stolen.
electionline.org
Illinois
Voter information open to hackers
After tracking the story, Net the Truth Online must also question who found the "programming error," "security flaw."?
Was it a candidate for election as noted in the Chicago Tribune's October 24, 2006 report Voter security glitch fixed by John McCormick
Chicago election officials said Monday they were forced to patch a security flaw on their Web site after a candidate found a programming error that had made private voter information vulnerable to theft for at least five years.
and as identified (Peter Zelchenko, a 43rd Ward aldermanic candidate and computer expert)in the Chicago Sun-Times October 24, 2006 report Hack Cracked Board of Elections Web site leaves Social Security numbers vulnerable by Art Golab
The glitch was pointed out to the Sun-Times by Peter Zelchenko, a 43rd Ward aldermanic candidate and computer expert, who also informed the board of the problem Friday.
or
Was it the not-for-profit civic organization, Illinois Ballot Integrity Project
as noted in
ABC7Chicago Apparent security flaw in board of elections website Not-for-profit group claims it accessed sensitive voter info by John Garcia
ABC NEWS Chicago Voter Database Hacked Civic Group Claims It Could Have Tampered With Voter Roles, by Jake Tapper and Rebecca Abrahams?
AP (Boston Herald) Watchdog group finds security flaw in Chicago elections Web site, Associated Press, Tuesday October 24, 2006
And who is responsible for the misspelling of the word "rolls" in the ABC NEWS subtitle?
Meanwhile, versions of the same news which are dramatically more accurate in titles than ABC NEWS Spin Cycle Headline:
ABC7Chicago
Apparent security flaw in board of elections website Not-for-profit group claims it accessed sensitive voter info by John Garcia
http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=local&id=4688529
Chicago Tribune
Voter security glitch fixed by John McCormick
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/chi-0610240029oct24,1,1602608.story?coll=chi-news-hed&ctrack=1&cset=true
Chicago Sun Times
Hack Cracked Board of Elections Web site leaves Social Security numbers vulnerable by Art Golab
http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/108366,CST-NWS-hack24.article
AP Report Boston Herald
Watchdog group finds security flaw in Chicago elections Web site
By Associated Press Tuesday, October 24, 2006 - Updated: 09:40 AM EST
http://news.bostonherald.com/national/view.bg?articleid=163915
Notice the difference? It's more accurate to refer to "election website" than to "voter database."
A total so far of four other articles use more accurate headliners.
COMPARE THE ARTICLES WHICH FOLLOW and track the hype which will flow from the ABC NEWS Spin Cycle Headline
Note: 11:10 a.m. FOX NEWS LIVE E.D. Hill report did not include a retake with Illinois Ballot Integrity Project's Bob Wilson. Instead, Hill appeared to alter the wording from database of voters... to more general terminology, and appeared to have either spoken to Illinois and Chicago election officials directly, or, maybe, just maybe they received our email.
ABC7Chicago
Apparent security flaw in board of elections website Not-for-profit group claims it accessed sensitive voter info by John Garcia
October 23, 2006 - There is an apparent security flaw in the computers that contain personal information on hundreds of thousands of voters in Chicago. A non-partisan organization claims it gained access to sensitive personal information including Social Security numbers.
http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=local&id=4688529
Associated Press (Boston Herald)
Watchdog group finds security flaw in Chicago elections Web site
By Associated Press Tuesday, October 24, 2006 - Updated: 09:40 AM EST
CHICAGO - The city is investigating a security glitch in its elections Web site that hackers could have used to swipe Social Security numbers and the personal information of about 1.3 million voters, officials said.
It wasn’t immediately clear if anyone actually stole or misused any of the information, Chicago Board of Elections spokesman Tom Leach said.
He said the problem had been fixed and a forensic computer expert would be brought in to examine the site’s logs for any signs of illegal access.
“Obviously, we are very concerned,” Leach said Monday. “We have no reason to believe there was (theft), but we want to be able to assure people there wasn’t.”
A watchdog group, the Illinois Ballot Integrity Project, exposed the vulnerability and alerted officials last week, Leach said...
http://news.bostonherald.com/national/view.bg?articleid=163915
Chicago Sun Times
Hack cracked Board of Elections Web site leaves Social Security numbers vulnerable
October 24, 2006 by ART GOLAB Staff Reporter
For at least the last six years, a loophole in the Chicago Board of Elections Web site has exposed the Social Security numbers and birth dates of more than 1 million registered voters to anyone with a computer, a Web connection and rudimentary programming knowledge.
Until Saturday, this data -- all that is necessary for an identity thief to apply for a credit card, mortgage or even acquire an arrest record in someone else's name -- has been available through a Web site intended to tell voters their registration status.
The glitch was pointed out to the Sun-Times by Peter Zelchenko, a 43rd Ward aldermanic candidate and computer expert, who also informed the board of the problem Friday.
The board immediately closed the loophole, and board chairman Langdon Neal ordered his staff Monday to hire an outside forensic computer consultant to "look at the security of the system and also look at computer logs to determine if there has been any hacking or wholesale downloading," according to board spokesman Tom Leach...
http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/108366,CST-NWS-hack24.article
Chicago Tribune
Voter security glitch fixed by John McCormick
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/chi-0610240029oct24,1,1602608.story?coll=chi-news-hed&ctrack=1&cset=true
ABC NEWS SPIN CYCLE
ABC NEWS Chicago Voter Database Hacked by Jake Tapper and Rebecca Abrahams
Oct. 23, 2006 — As if there weren't enough concerns about the integrity of the vote, a non-partisan civic organization today claimed it had hacked into the voter database for the 1.35 million voters in the city of Chicago....
Bob Wilson, an official with the Illinois Ballot Integrity Project — which bills itself as a not-for-profit civic organization dedicated to the correction of election system deficiencies — tells ABC News that last week his organization hacked the database, which contains detailed information about hundreds of thousands of Chicago voters, including their Social Security numbers, and dates of birth.
"It was a serious identity theft problem, but also a problem that could potentially create problems with the election," Wilson said.
A nefarious hacker could have changed every voter's status from active to inactive, which would have prevented them from voting, he said.
"Or we could've changed the information on what precinct you were in or what polling place you were supposed to go to," he said. "So there were ways that we could potentially change the entire online data base and disenfranchise voters throughout the entire city of Chicago."
"If we'd wanted to, we could've wiped the entire database out," Wilson claimed.
Tom Leach, a spokesman for the Chicago Election Board, tells ABC News that the problem seems to have arisen because the city's database allowing voters to locate their voting precinct once asked voters for detailed information such as Social Security numbers.
Approximately six years ago, Leach said, when the website was updated — requiring only name and address — city computer experts "never cut the links to the Social Security numbers and the dates of birth."
Leach said he doubted the Illinois Ballot Integrity Project could have disenfranchised voters or wiped out the database, but he and the Election Board were very concerned and had taken steps to remedy whatever problems exist, including bringing in an outside computer forensic expert to verify that the database is secure and to ensure no one had already hacked the database.
"We're also making arrangements to remove the Social Security numbers," he added, and the Election Board was also alerting law enforcement to the problem as pointed out to them.
"Even though they could hack into the Web site, they couldn't hack into the voter file," Leach said. "The Web site feeds into a copy file, not the actual original file."
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=2601085&page=1
Just what we thought would be portrayed... do they want to show you there is a difference between an official voter database and a website file?
Chicago's 43rd Ward Peter Zelchenko, candidate
Monday, October 23, 2006
Board of Elections database vulnerability
Read statement on the Board of Elections database vulnerability.
Go to Illinois Ballot Integrity Project Web site.
http://ward43.blogspot.com/
Monday, October 23, 2006
"America Alone"
Mark Steyn, C-Span guest today, author of AMERICA ALONE, received a comment from a caller that the liberal Democrats were imported from Europe, over there and are missing a reality gene concerning the War on Terror.
Steyn offered he wasn't sure about the statements by the caller, and President Bush has been thinking ahead, is being farsighted, often, those in his Administration are not.
http://www.steynonline.com/
"There's a huge market in fake IDs, coming across the Mexican border" says Steyn.
4 of Sept. 11 guys got their fake IDs that way... America still won't take illegal immigration seriously... if that won't get America going nothing will...
in the days after Sept. 11, FBI arrested about 150 Pakistanis... the effect was to drive huge amounts of Pakistanis out of the US... Thousands chose to leave to Canada, closed bank accounts because they thought they'd be frozen... so you don't have to "deport" large numbers of people to get illegal immigrants to leave...
(COMMENT: Isn't that interesting. What Steyn is saying: deport a few hundred illegal immigrants, watch the withdrawing of bank accounts across the country, and watch the census numbers go way down in 4 years!)
Steyn writes:
It's the Demography, Stupid
The real reason the West is in danger of extinction.
BY MARK STEYN
Wednesday, January 4, 2006 12:01 a.m. EST
...Yet while Islamism is the enemy, it's not what this thing's about. Radical Islam is an opportunistic infection, like AIDS: It's not the HIV that kills you, it's the pneumonia you get when your body's too weak to fight it off. When the jihadists engage with the U.S. military, they lose--as they did in Afghanistan and Iraq. If this were like World War I with those fellows in one trench and us in ours facing them over some boggy piece of terrain, it would be over very quickly. Which the smarter Islamists have figured out. They know they can never win on the battlefield, but they figure there's an excellent chance they can drag things out until Western civilization collapses in on itself and Islam inherits by default.
That's what the war's about: our lack of civilizational confidence. As a famous Arnold Toynbee quote puts it: "Civilizations die from suicide, not murder"--as can be seen throughout much of "the Western world" right now. The progressive agenda--lavish social welfare, abortion, secularism, multiculturalism--is collectively the real suicide bomb. Take multiculturalism. The great thing about multiculturalism is that it doesn't involve knowing anything about other cultures--the capital of Bhutan, the principal exports of Malawi, who cares? All it requires is feeling good about other cultures. It's fundamentally a fraud, and I would argue was subliminally accepted on that basis. Most adherents to the idea that all cultures are equal don't want to live in anything but an advanced Western society. Multiculturalism means your kid has to learn some wretched native dirge for the school holiday concert instead of getting to sing "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" or that your holistic masseuse uses techniques developed from Native American spirituality, but not that you or anyone you care about should have to live in an African or Native American society. It's a quintessential piece of progressive humbug.
Then September 11 happened. And bizarrely the reaction of just about every prominent Western leader was to visit a mosque: President Bush did, the prince of Wales did, the prime minister of the United Kingdom did, the prime minister of Canada did . . . The premier of Ontario didn't, and so 20 Muslim community leaders had a big summit to denounce him for failing to visit a mosque. I don't know why he didn't. Maybe there was a big backlog, it was mosque drive time, prime ministers in gridlock up and down the freeway trying to get to the Sword of the Infidel-Slayer Mosque on Elm Street. But for whatever reason he couldn't fit it into his hectic schedule. Ontario's citizenship minister did show up at a mosque, but the imams took that as a great insult, like the Queen sending Fergie to open the Commonwealth Games. So the premier of Ontario had to hold a big meeting with the aggrieved imams to apologize for not going to a mosque and, as the Toronto Star's reported it, "to provide them with reassurance that the provincial government does not see them as the enemy."
Anyway, the get-me-to-the-mosque-on-time fever died down, but it set the tone for our general approach to these atrocities. The old definition of a nanosecond was the gap between the traffic light changing in New York and the first honk from a car behind. The new definition is the gap between a terrorist bombing and the press release from an Islamic lobby group warning of a backlash against Muslims. In most circumstances, it would be considered appallingly bad taste to deflect attention from an actual "hate crime" by scaremongering about a purely hypothetical one. Needless to say, there is no campaign of Islamophobic hate crimes. If anything, the West is awash in an epidemic of self-hate crimes. A commenter on Tim Blair's Web site in Australia summed it up in a note-perfect parody of a Guardian headline: "Muslim Community Leaders Warn of Backlash from Tomorrow Morning's Terrorist Attack." Those community leaders have the measure of us.
Radical Islam is what multiculturalism has been waiting for all along. In "The Survival of Culture," I quoted the eminent British barrister Helena Kennedy, Queen's Counsel. Shortly after September 11, Baroness Kennedy argued on a BBC show that it was too easy to disparage "Islamic fundamentalists." "We as Western liberals too often are fundamentalist ourselves," she complained. "We don't look at our own fundamentalisms."
Well, said the interviewer, what exactly would those Western liberal fundamentalisms be? "One of the things that we are too ready to insist upon is that we are the tolerant people and that the intolerance is something that belongs to other countries like Islam. And I'm not sure that's true."
Hmm. Lady Kennedy was arguing that our tolerance of our own tolerance is making us intolerant of other people's intolerance, which is intolerable. And, unlikely as it sounds, this has now become the highest, most rarefied form of multiculturalism. So you're nice to gays and the Inuit? Big deal. Anyone can be tolerant of fellows like that, but tolerance of intolerance gives an even more intense frisson of pleasure to the multiculti masochists. In other words, just as the AIDS pandemic greatly facilitated societal surrender to the gay agenda, so 9/11 is greatly facilitating our surrender to the most extreme aspects of the multicultural agenda.
http://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110007760
Steyn offered he wasn't sure about the statements by the caller, and President Bush has been thinking ahead, is being farsighted, often, those in his Administration are not.
http://www.steynonline.com/
"There's a huge market in fake IDs, coming across the Mexican border" says Steyn.
4 of Sept. 11 guys got their fake IDs that way... America still won't take illegal immigration seriously... if that won't get America going nothing will...
in the days after Sept. 11, FBI arrested about 150 Pakistanis... the effect was to drive huge amounts of Pakistanis out of the US... Thousands chose to leave to Canada, closed bank accounts because they thought they'd be frozen... so you don't have to "deport" large numbers of people to get illegal immigrants to leave...
(COMMENT: Isn't that interesting. What Steyn is saying: deport a few hundred illegal immigrants, watch the withdrawing of bank accounts across the country, and watch the census numbers go way down in 4 years!)
Steyn writes:
It's the Demography, Stupid
The real reason the West is in danger of extinction.
BY MARK STEYN
Wednesday, January 4, 2006 12:01 a.m. EST
...Yet while Islamism is the enemy, it's not what this thing's about. Radical Islam is an opportunistic infection, like AIDS: It's not the HIV that kills you, it's the pneumonia you get when your body's too weak to fight it off. When the jihadists engage with the U.S. military, they lose--as they did in Afghanistan and Iraq. If this were like World War I with those fellows in one trench and us in ours facing them over some boggy piece of terrain, it would be over very quickly. Which the smarter Islamists have figured out. They know they can never win on the battlefield, but they figure there's an excellent chance they can drag things out until Western civilization collapses in on itself and Islam inherits by default.
That's what the war's about: our lack of civilizational confidence. As a famous Arnold Toynbee quote puts it: "Civilizations die from suicide, not murder"--as can be seen throughout much of "the Western world" right now. The progressive agenda--lavish social welfare, abortion, secularism, multiculturalism--is collectively the real suicide bomb. Take multiculturalism. The great thing about multiculturalism is that it doesn't involve knowing anything about other cultures--the capital of Bhutan, the principal exports of Malawi, who cares? All it requires is feeling good about other cultures. It's fundamentally a fraud, and I would argue was subliminally accepted on that basis. Most adherents to the idea that all cultures are equal don't want to live in anything but an advanced Western society. Multiculturalism means your kid has to learn some wretched native dirge for the school holiday concert instead of getting to sing "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" or that your holistic masseuse uses techniques developed from Native American spirituality, but not that you or anyone you care about should have to live in an African or Native American society. It's a quintessential piece of progressive humbug.
Then September 11 happened. And bizarrely the reaction of just about every prominent Western leader was to visit a mosque: President Bush did, the prince of Wales did, the prime minister of the United Kingdom did, the prime minister of Canada did . . . The premier of Ontario didn't, and so 20 Muslim community leaders had a big summit to denounce him for failing to visit a mosque. I don't know why he didn't. Maybe there was a big backlog, it was mosque drive time, prime ministers in gridlock up and down the freeway trying to get to the Sword of the Infidel-Slayer Mosque on Elm Street. But for whatever reason he couldn't fit it into his hectic schedule. Ontario's citizenship minister did show up at a mosque, but the imams took that as a great insult, like the Queen sending Fergie to open the Commonwealth Games. So the premier of Ontario had to hold a big meeting with the aggrieved imams to apologize for not going to a mosque and, as the Toronto Star's reported it, "to provide them with reassurance that the provincial government does not see them as the enemy."
Anyway, the get-me-to-the-mosque-on-time fever died down, but it set the tone for our general approach to these atrocities. The old definition of a nanosecond was the gap between the traffic light changing in New York and the first honk from a car behind. The new definition is the gap between a terrorist bombing and the press release from an Islamic lobby group warning of a backlash against Muslims. In most circumstances, it would be considered appallingly bad taste to deflect attention from an actual "hate crime" by scaremongering about a purely hypothetical one. Needless to say, there is no campaign of Islamophobic hate crimes. If anything, the West is awash in an epidemic of self-hate crimes. A commenter on Tim Blair's Web site in Australia summed it up in a note-perfect parody of a Guardian headline: "Muslim Community Leaders Warn of Backlash from Tomorrow Morning's Terrorist Attack." Those community leaders have the measure of us.
Radical Islam is what multiculturalism has been waiting for all along. In "The Survival of Culture," I quoted the eminent British barrister Helena Kennedy, Queen's Counsel. Shortly after September 11, Baroness Kennedy argued on a BBC show that it was too easy to disparage "Islamic fundamentalists." "We as Western liberals too often are fundamentalist ourselves," she complained. "We don't look at our own fundamentalisms."
Well, said the interviewer, what exactly would those Western liberal fundamentalisms be? "One of the things that we are too ready to insist upon is that we are the tolerant people and that the intolerance is something that belongs to other countries like Islam. And I'm not sure that's true."
Hmm. Lady Kennedy was arguing that our tolerance of our own tolerance is making us intolerant of other people's intolerance, which is intolerable. And, unlikely as it sounds, this has now become the highest, most rarefied form of multiculturalism. So you're nice to gays and the Inuit? Big deal. Anyone can be tolerant of fellows like that, but tolerance of intolerance gives an even more intense frisson of pleasure to the multiculti masochists. In other words, just as the AIDS pandemic greatly facilitated societal surrender to the gay agenda, so 9/11 is greatly facilitating our surrender to the most extreme aspects of the multicultural agenda.
http://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110007760
Thursday, October 19, 2006
outsourcing of U.S. jobs? When, Where, Who Knows What?
Watching the debate between Senate candidates Rick Santorum Robert Casey, Jr., first-hand, I couldn't help noticing Mr. Casey's absolutely arrogant refusal to answer a question posed to him concerning Pennsylvania Public School Employees' Retirement System's stock-investments and such investments being placed in companies which outsource PA/USA jobs.
The Post-Gazette notes the question asked, and Casey's refusal to answer this question. They also post the link to video of the debate.
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06286/729698-177.stm
Granted, the (Pennsylvania Public School Employees' Retirement System )outsourcing issue isn't the only hot issue in the senatorial race between Santorum and Casey.
However, it is indicative of Casey not believing he is indeed accountable for knowing "who, what, when, where, and how" concerning millions upon millions of Pennsylvania taxpayers' monies.
Not only that, but Mr. Casey has attempted to raise the outsourcing of jobs issue against Santorum, but nothing has panned out on that front.
P-G
Both candidates were evasive to varying degrees, but Mr. Casey more so. That was partly because, at least twice, Mr. Santorum asked questions designed to trip him up -- first, he wanted to know if Mr. Casey remembered the name of former Iranian president Mohammad Khatami; second, he asked Mr. Casey if he knew precisely what percentage of the Pennsylvania Public School Employees' Retirement System's assets is invested in companies that are notorious for outsourcing jobs (he said the answer was 25 percent).
Casey Accomplishments Touted
http://www.patreasury.org/accomplishments.htm
Investigation sought into shipyard agreement
http://www.constitutional.net/Luksik/trib-kv3.html
But no investigation about PA monies invested in firms "notorious for outsourcing jobs."
More
Rendell delivers taxpayers' monies roundabout to:
Vertex Outsourcing LLC
Fayette reaps state funding during Rendell's tenure
By Amy Zalar, Herald-Standard
10/19/2006
...The projects are mostly concentrated around Uniontown and Connellsville, but include nearly every municipality throughout the county. Fayette County's lead development agency, Fay-Penn Economic Development Council, received $3.7 million for nine projects, including the largest allocation of $900,000 for a loan for Vertex Outsourcing LLC in Georges Township...
(see Herald Standard,
Workers being hired at Smithfield call center
By Tribune-Review News Service
Wednesday, June 29, 2005
Employees at NiSource Inc.'s call center in Smithfield, Fayette County, who days ago were sweating possible job losses, now will be gaining more work and workers.
Vertex Outsourcing LLC, the English company that IBM hired to operate the Smithfield call center, is looking for roughly 150 employees at its new facility, according to advertisements placed at the Pennsylvania CareerLink office in Uniontown. Vertex also is sponsoring a two-day career fair at the CareerLink Uniontown location ending today. Roughly 170 employees now work at Smithfield and are expected to become Vertex employees on July 1.
"This agreement between NiSource and IBM will mean the closing of call centers in Lexington (Ky.) and Marble Cliff (a suburb of Columbus, Ohio)," said NiSource spokesman Rob Boulware, who would not comment further.
IBM and NiSource last week announced a $1.6 billion support service contract, under which some 572 NiSource employees would join IBM or its designated subcontractor, with an additional 445 positions eliminated by year-end 2006. The deal is expected to save Merrillville, Ind.-based NiSource, the parent of Columbia Gas of Pennsylvania, $530 million over the life of the 10-year deal.
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/s_348555.html
By Marsha Forys
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Monday, July 25, 2005
Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell on Sunday continued his four-day trek through western Pennsylvania, doling out grants, tax credits and low-interest loans aimed at spurring the local economy and creating jobs.
The most significant announcement, according to Dave Yeager, a member of the Governor's Action Team, was one made in Smithfield, Fayette County.
There Rendell presented a check totaling $5.5 million to NiSource Inc., parent of Columbia Gas, and the third largest natural gas distribution company in the United States.
The financial package includes a $1.5 million Opportunity Grant, $500,000 in job training assistance, $1.5 million in job creation tax credits and a $2 million Pennsylvania Industrial Development Authority loan.
Yeager said the development package will allow NiSource to consolidate its customer service operations from Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana and Massachusetts to Fayette County.
NiSource has entered into a 10-year agreement with IBM to operate the consolidated center, helping to retain 170 jobs while creating an additional 330...
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/s_356762.html
What is not clear to the general public, the location in Smithfield, PA is in a tax-free Keystone Opportunity Zone, so the owners get out of paying most state taxes, and local property taxes, etc. for a period of some 10 to 12 to 15 years. (KOZ legislation continually changes and expands for longer periods of tax-abatement.) In addition, of course the large (taxpayers' monies) grants given to the company, and as well, low interest loans, and so forth and so on.
Fayette KOZ areas - numerous
Fayette Business Park
http://www.faypenn.org/tax_sites_detail.jsp?restrictids=Id&restrictvalues=S-2
Meanwhile...
AMC report: Offshoring computing jobs not a real threat to US economy and job situation
There has been a near-panic situation because of the outsourcing of computing positions from the US. However, according to a study published in the New York Times, this fear is largely unfounded.
http://www.blogsource.org/2006/02/amc_report_offs.html
The Post-Gazette notes the question asked, and Casey's refusal to answer this question. They also post the link to video of the debate.
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06286/729698-177.stm
Granted, the (Pennsylvania Public School Employees' Retirement System )outsourcing issue isn't the only hot issue in the senatorial race between Santorum and Casey.
However, it is indicative of Casey not believing he is indeed accountable for knowing "who, what, when, where, and how" concerning millions upon millions of Pennsylvania taxpayers' monies.
Not only that, but Mr. Casey has attempted to raise the outsourcing of jobs issue against Santorum, but nothing has panned out on that front.
P-G
Both candidates were evasive to varying degrees, but Mr. Casey more so. That was partly because, at least twice, Mr. Santorum asked questions designed to trip him up -- first, he wanted to know if Mr. Casey remembered the name of former Iranian president Mohammad Khatami; second, he asked Mr. Casey if he knew precisely what percentage of the Pennsylvania Public School Employees' Retirement System's assets is invested in companies that are notorious for outsourcing jobs (he said the answer was 25 percent).
Casey Accomplishments Touted
http://www.patreasury.org/accomplishments.htm
Investigation sought into shipyard agreement
http://www.constitutional.net/Luksik/trib-kv3.html
But no investigation about PA monies invested in firms "notorious for outsourcing jobs."
More
Rendell delivers taxpayers' monies roundabout to:
Vertex Outsourcing LLC
Fayette reaps state funding during Rendell's tenure
By Amy Zalar, Herald-Standard
10/19/2006
...The projects are mostly concentrated around Uniontown and Connellsville, but include nearly every municipality throughout the county. Fayette County's lead development agency, Fay-Penn Economic Development Council, received $3.7 million for nine projects, including the largest allocation of $900,000 for a loan for Vertex Outsourcing LLC in Georges Township...
(see Herald Standard,
Workers being hired at Smithfield call center
By Tribune-Review News Service
Wednesday, June 29, 2005
Employees at NiSource Inc.'s call center in Smithfield, Fayette County, who days ago were sweating possible job losses, now will be gaining more work and workers.
Vertex Outsourcing LLC, the English company that IBM hired to operate the Smithfield call center, is looking for roughly 150 employees at its new facility, according to advertisements placed at the Pennsylvania CareerLink office in Uniontown. Vertex also is sponsoring a two-day career fair at the CareerLink Uniontown location ending today. Roughly 170 employees now work at Smithfield and are expected to become Vertex employees on July 1.
"This agreement between NiSource and IBM will mean the closing of call centers in Lexington (Ky.) and Marble Cliff (a suburb of Columbus, Ohio)," said NiSource spokesman Rob Boulware, who would not comment further.
IBM and NiSource last week announced a $1.6 billion support service contract, under which some 572 NiSource employees would join IBM or its designated subcontractor, with an additional 445 positions eliminated by year-end 2006. The deal is expected to save Merrillville, Ind.-based NiSource, the parent of Columbia Gas of Pennsylvania, $530 million over the life of the 10-year deal.
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/s_348555.html
By Marsha Forys
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Monday, July 25, 2005
Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell on Sunday continued his four-day trek through western Pennsylvania, doling out grants, tax credits and low-interest loans aimed at spurring the local economy and creating jobs.
The most significant announcement, according to Dave Yeager, a member of the Governor's Action Team, was one made in Smithfield, Fayette County.
There Rendell presented a check totaling $5.5 million to NiSource Inc., parent of Columbia Gas, and the third largest natural gas distribution company in the United States.
The financial package includes a $1.5 million Opportunity Grant, $500,000 in job training assistance, $1.5 million in job creation tax credits and a $2 million Pennsylvania Industrial Development Authority loan.
Yeager said the development package will allow NiSource to consolidate its customer service operations from Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana and Massachusetts to Fayette County.
NiSource has entered into a 10-year agreement with IBM to operate the consolidated center, helping to retain 170 jobs while creating an additional 330...
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/s_356762.html
What is not clear to the general public, the location in Smithfield, PA is in a tax-free Keystone Opportunity Zone, so the owners get out of paying most state taxes, and local property taxes, etc. for a period of some 10 to 12 to 15 years. (KOZ legislation continually changes and expands for longer periods of tax-abatement.) In addition, of course the large (taxpayers' monies) grants given to the company, and as well, low interest loans, and so forth and so on.
Fayette KOZ areas - numerous
Fayette Business Park
http://www.faypenn.org/tax_sites_detail.jsp?restrictids=Id&restrictvalues=S-2
Meanwhile...
AMC report: Offshoring computing jobs not a real threat to US economy and job situation
There has been a near-panic situation because of the outsourcing of computing positions from the US. However, according to a study published in the New York Times, this fear is largely unfounded.
http://www.blogsource.org/2006/02/amc_report_offs.html
Monday, October 16, 2006
Sad day when candidates send stand-ins to debates
Why send your spouse, brother, sister to a debate among candidates for political office when you can't attend? Doesn't make sense. By the time the stand-in is finished, attendees may change their minds about the actual candidate, possibly even wondering why the spouse, brother, sister ISN'T THE ONE RUNNING for the office!
State reps won't attend NAACP candidate forum
By Richard Robbins
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Monday, October 16, 2006
It turns out that tonight's NAACP candidate forum will not include incumbent state representatives.
They will be in Harrisburg attending a long-planned session of the House, said state Reps. Tom Tangretti and John Pallone.
Tangretti, a Greensburg Democrat, said his office informed NAACP officials several weeks ago that members of the Westmoreland County delegation would be out of town. He said an aide asked if the forum might be postponed to another date. He said his office was told that moving the date would be impossible since Gov. Ed Rendell had agreed to come.
Tangretti said he spoke Saturday with Greensburg-Jeannette NAACP Branch president E. Jeff Holmes about the matter.
"They both had to go vote in Harrisburg. If you have to go vote, you have to go vote," said Holmes Sunday.
The forum is slated for 7 tonight at the Human Services Center, 1011 Old Salem Road, in Greensburg.
"I'd love to be there, but it conflicts with official business," said Pallone, a Democrat from New Kensington. "I can't be in two places at one time."
The forum was billed in the Tribune-Review as "the first and possibly only major gathering of candidates in Westmoreland County" before the Nov. 7 election.
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/tribunereview/news/westmoreland/s_475238.html
Sending another in the place of the candidate is not the way to go. Best to look like statement-in-a-question, call-marines-murderers-of-the-innocent-without-facts, alienate-your-own-colleagues, self-promoter, spread-around-the-tax dollars-far-and-wide-just-before-the-election, John Murtha, who won't even take an hour or two to show up at a forum to debate with Diane Irey. His absence can be spun by his opponent, giving ABSCAM new meaning. By showing up at least voters won't wish he were replaced by his wife.
Irey wants debate
By Robin Acton
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Friday, October 13, 2006
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/election/s_474814.html
Rendell expected at NAACP forum
By Rich Cholodofsky
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Saturday, October 14, 2006
With just a little more than three weeks remaining until the Nov. 7 election, the first and possibly only major gathering of candidates in Westmoreland County will occur next week.
Bolstered by a planned appearance by Gov. Ed Rendell, a candidates' forum sponsored by the Greensburg-Jeannette Branch of the NAACP is expected to bring out most of the local candidates running for office next month.
The forum is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. Monday at the Human Service Center, 1011 Old Salem Road, in Greensburg.
A similar event scheduled earlier this month that was sponsored by the League of Women Voters was canceled because of a lack of participation by many of the incumbents.
E. Jeff Holmes, political action chairman for the local NAACP, said Rendell's commitment to the event has attracted far greater interest in what was initially expected to be a small gathering.
"We had to move it to a larger room," Holmes said.
Organizers are still hoping Republican gubernatorial nominee Lynn Swann will attend, although they have yet to receive a commitment from his campaign. The Swann campaign on Friday did not respond to a request for comment.
Swann's lack of participation, especially in campaign events targeting African-American voters, has baffled some political observers.
"The Swann case is a little mystifying," said G. Terry Madonna, a political science professor at Franklin & Marshall College. "I'm surprised he's not doing more in the African-American community. Rendell is not doing any more than what is usual for a Democratic candidate."
Most candidates running for state House seats in Westmoreland County have agreed to attend, Holmes said. Only James Casorio, D-Irwin, who is facing a challenge from Republican Joel Reiter, and Republican Pete McConnell, who is trying to unseat Democrat Ted Harhai, D-Monessen, have yet to respond to the NAACP's invitation. Reiter and Harhai are expected to attend.
Holmes said other candidates who have agreed to appear at the forum are: state Rep. Tom Tangretti, D-Greensburg, and his opponent, Republican Steve Schaefer; state Rep. John Pallone, D-New Kensington, and his GOP opponent, Scott Witon.
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/tribunereview/news/westmoreland/s_475023.html
State reps won't attend NAACP candidate forum
By Richard Robbins
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Monday, October 16, 2006
It turns out that tonight's NAACP candidate forum will not include incumbent state representatives.
They will be in Harrisburg attending a long-planned session of the House, said state Reps. Tom Tangretti and John Pallone.
Tangretti, a Greensburg Democrat, said his office informed NAACP officials several weeks ago that members of the Westmoreland County delegation would be out of town. He said an aide asked if the forum might be postponed to another date. He said his office was told that moving the date would be impossible since Gov. Ed Rendell had agreed to come.
Tangretti said he spoke Saturday with Greensburg-Jeannette NAACP Branch president E. Jeff Holmes about the matter.
"They both had to go vote in Harrisburg. If you have to go vote, you have to go vote," said Holmes Sunday.
The forum is slated for 7 tonight at the Human Services Center, 1011 Old Salem Road, in Greensburg.
"I'd love to be there, but it conflicts with official business," said Pallone, a Democrat from New Kensington. "I can't be in two places at one time."
The forum was billed in the Tribune-Review as "the first and possibly only major gathering of candidates in Westmoreland County" before the Nov. 7 election.
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/tribunereview/news/westmoreland/s_475238.html
Sending another in the place of the candidate is not the way to go. Best to look like statement-in-a-question, call-marines-murderers-of-the-innocent-without-facts, alienate-your-own-colleagues, self-promoter, spread-around-the-tax dollars-far-and-wide-just-before-the-election, John Murtha, who won't even take an hour or two to show up at a forum to debate with Diane Irey. His absence can be spun by his opponent, giving ABSCAM new meaning. By showing up at least voters won't wish he were replaced by his wife.
Irey wants debate
By Robin Acton
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Friday, October 13, 2006
Republican nominee Diana Irey has challenged U.S. Rep. John P. Murtha, D-Johnstown, to debate her on issues important to the 12th Congressional District.
"Jack Murtha is scared to debate me," Irey said, calling his refusal "a disservice to voters."
Irey, 44, of Carroll Township, Washington County, held a five-minute news conference in her Johnstown campaign office Thursday during which she attacked the incumbent's record and personal character. Although the focal point of her campaign thus far has been the war in Iraq, she insisted he owes district voters the chance to hear them debate significant issues such as taxes, immigration and Social Security.
But Murtha, 74, who has represented the district since 1974, isn't biting...
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/election/s_474814.html
Rendell expected at NAACP forum
By Rich Cholodofsky
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Saturday, October 14, 2006
With just a little more than three weeks remaining until the Nov. 7 election, the first and possibly only major gathering of candidates in Westmoreland County will occur next week.
Bolstered by a planned appearance by Gov. Ed Rendell, a candidates' forum sponsored by the Greensburg-Jeannette Branch of the NAACP is expected to bring out most of the local candidates running for office next month.
The forum is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. Monday at the Human Service Center, 1011 Old Salem Road, in Greensburg.
A similar event scheduled earlier this month that was sponsored by the League of Women Voters was canceled because of a lack of participation by many of the incumbents.
E. Jeff Holmes, political action chairman for the local NAACP, said Rendell's commitment to the event has attracted far greater interest in what was initially expected to be a small gathering.
"We had to move it to a larger room," Holmes said.
Organizers are still hoping Republican gubernatorial nominee Lynn Swann will attend, although they have yet to receive a commitment from his campaign. The Swann campaign on Friday did not respond to a request for comment.
Swann's lack of participation, especially in campaign events targeting African-American voters, has baffled some political observers.
"The Swann case is a little mystifying," said G. Terry Madonna, a political science professor at Franklin & Marshall College. "I'm surprised he's not doing more in the African-American community. Rendell is not doing any more than what is usual for a Democratic candidate."
Most candidates running for state House seats in Westmoreland County have agreed to attend, Holmes said. Only James Casorio, D-Irwin, who is facing a challenge from Republican Joel Reiter, and Republican Pete McConnell, who is trying to unseat Democrat Ted Harhai, D-Monessen, have yet to respond to the NAACP's invitation. Reiter and Harhai are expected to attend.
Holmes said other candidates who have agreed to appear at the forum are: state Rep. Tom Tangretti, D-Greensburg, and his opponent, Republican Steve Schaefer; state Rep. John Pallone, D-New Kensington, and his GOP opponent, Scott Witon.
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/tribunereview/news/westmoreland/s_475023.html
Friday, October 13, 2006
O'Reilly on 9/11 conspiracy theorists
Ranting O'Reilly, lumping 9/11 truth-seekers as conspiracy theorists based on the so-called Scholars for 9/11 Truth and in particular Kevin Barrett.
Too bad Big O can't do even minor research and when he has the "scholars" on his program, zap them with questions about their statements and research resources.
He's just solidifying the supporters of Scholars for 9/11 Truth.
Keep checking Net the Truth Online.
More finds:See Error: the Pentagon Attack Left Only a Small Impact Hole
The most common argument advanced to support the no-757-impact theory is that, on the one hand, there was almost no aircraft debris outside the Pentagon, but on the other, the hole in the building's facade was much too small to have admitted the plane into the building. The conclusion that no jetliner crashed there seems simple and inescapable when presented with certain photographs. However, analysis of the available photographs shows that the debris outside the building is difficult to quantify, and the dimensions of the impact hole (or more accurately, holes) are frequently underestimated.
Hole Dimensions
Some of the most prominent advocates of the no-757-impact theory have radically mis-characterized the dimensions of the impact "hole". Thierry Meyssan describes the hole as 15 to 17 feet wide, apparently on the basis of photographs, such as the one to the right, in which the spray from the fire suppression efforts obscures the first floor, which had far more extensive damage.
http://www.911review.com/errors/pentagon/smallhole.html
'Only A Small Plane or Missile Could Have Caused Pentagon Damage'
The idea that a small plane (rather than a 757 jetliner) crashed into the Pentagon first rose to prominence in early 2002, following the release of five frames of video from a Pentagon security camera, which appear to show a plane much smaller than a jetliner approaching the Pentagon's west wall and then exploding on impact. Photographic evidence of the attack scene seemed to corroborate the small plane theory by showing a paucity of debris on the lawn in front of the damaged facade (which showed no signs of passengers, seats, luggage, or large aircraft parts), and an entry hole that was too small to accomodate the entire profile of a 757 jetliner. Many skeptics found it difficult or impossible to reconcile such evidence with the crash of a jetliner, failing to appreciate the degree to which a high-speed crash can shred an aircraft and parcitularly one's extremities -- into small debris.
http://www.911review.com/errors/pentagon/crashdebris.html
http://www.911review.com/errors/pentagon/smallplane.html
ERROR: 'The Pentagon Attack Left No Aircraft Debris'
http://www.911review.com/errors/pentagon/nodebris.html
911Review.org and Michael Elliot
http://911research.wtc7.net/re911/adhominem.html
Too bad Big O can't do even minor research and when he has the "scholars" on his program, zap them with questions about their statements and research resources.
He's just solidifying the supporters of Scholars for 9/11 Truth.
Keep checking Net the Truth Online.
More finds:See Error: the Pentagon Attack Left Only a Small Impact Hole
The most common argument advanced to support the no-757-impact theory is that, on the one hand, there was almost no aircraft debris outside the Pentagon, but on the other, the hole in the building's facade was much too small to have admitted the plane into the building. The conclusion that no jetliner crashed there seems simple and inescapable when presented with certain photographs. However, analysis of the available photographs shows that the debris outside the building is difficult to quantify, and the dimensions of the impact hole (or more accurately, holes) are frequently underestimated.
Hole Dimensions
Some of the most prominent advocates of the no-757-impact theory have radically mis-characterized the dimensions of the impact "hole". Thierry Meyssan describes the hole as 15 to 17 feet wide, apparently on the basis of photographs, such as the one to the right, in which the spray from the fire suppression efforts obscures the first floor, which had far more extensive damage.
http://www.911review.com/errors/pentagon/smallhole.html
'Only A Small Plane or Missile Could Have Caused Pentagon Damage'
The idea that a small plane (rather than a 757 jetliner) crashed into the Pentagon first rose to prominence in early 2002, following the release of five frames of video from a Pentagon security camera, which appear to show a plane much smaller than a jetliner approaching the Pentagon's west wall and then exploding on impact. Photographic evidence of the attack scene seemed to corroborate the small plane theory by showing a paucity of debris on the lawn in front of the damaged facade (which showed no signs of passengers, seats, luggage, or large aircraft parts), and an entry hole that was too small to accomodate the entire profile of a 757 jetliner. Many skeptics found it difficult or impossible to reconcile such evidence with the crash of a jetliner, failing to appreciate the degree to which a high-speed crash can shred an aircraft and parcitularly one's extremities -- into small debris.
http://www.911review.com/errors/pentagon/crashdebris.html
http://www.911review.com/errors/pentagon/smallplane.html
ERROR: 'The Pentagon Attack Left No Aircraft Debris'
http://www.911review.com/errors/pentagon/nodebris.html
911Review.org and Michael Elliot
http://911research.wtc7.net/re911/adhominem.html
Attack Ads Are Good for You!
In praise of negative campaigning
Absenteeism and Hypocrisy in Pennsylvania
Like Mollohan and Michael Steele, Republican Sen. Rick Santorum has tried to turn his opponent's negative campaigning against him. He has not had much success. Santorum has faced persistent questions about whether he and his family reside in Pennsylvania, as he claims. Actually, it would be more accurate to say he has persistently ducked those questions, declaring that such matters are not worth discussing...
http://www.reason.com/0611/fe.dm.attack.shtml
In praise of negative campaigning
Absenteeism and Hypocrisy in Pennsylvania
Like Mollohan and Michael Steele, Republican Sen. Rick Santorum has tried to turn his opponent's negative campaigning against him. He has not had much success. Santorum has faced persistent questions about whether he and his family reside in Pennsylvania, as he claims. Actually, it would be more accurate to say he has persistently ducked those questions, declaring that such matters are not worth discussing...
http://www.reason.com/0611/fe.dm.attack.shtml
Snow in New York & Detroit confirms global-warming theory reality, or hype? You decide.
The evidence speaks, but global-warming enthusiasts won't hear it, or see it with their own eyes. Now if the month of February turns out to be one degree warmer than in past years, they'll say that confirms global warming.
First Snow of Season Hits Western New York, Leaves 155,000 Without Electricity
Friday, October 13, 2006
BUFFALO, N.Y. — A rare early October snowstorm left parts of western New York blanketed with 2 feet of snow Friday morning, prompting widespread blackouts, closing schools and halting traffic.
The snow downed scores of tree limbs and toppled power lines, leaving more than 155,000 customers without electricity.
By early Friday, 14 inches of snow had been recorded at the Buffalo Niagara International Airport, with reports of 2 feet elsewhere, said Tom Paone, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. The snowfall was expected to continue throughout the morning, he said.
On Thursday, 8.3 inches of heavy snow set the record for the "snowiest" October day in Buffalo in the 137-year history of the weather service, said meteorologist Tom Niziol. The previous record of 6 inches was set Oct. 31, 1917.
"This is an extremely rare event for this early in the season," Niziol said.
The Buffalo Police Department received more than 3,000 calls late Thursday and about two-thirds were related to the weather, Lt. James Watkins said.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,220458,00.html
via the drudge report
http://vortex.plymouth.edu/uschill.gif
SNOW BLAST, NEW YORK...Detroit sets record for its earliest snow, breaking mark set in 1909...Chicago, too...Chill Map...
Weather watch
Fastballs and ... snowballs? Frosty forecast for ALCS
Posted: Thursday October 12, 2006 8:42PM;
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/baseball/mlb/specials/playoffs/2006/10/12/alcs.weather.ap/
DETROIT (AP) -- Nick Swisher trotted out to right field and, with freak October flurries swirling at Comerica Park, plopped onto his back and began making mock snow angels.
Only for a minute, though. Shivering, the Oakland first baseman put on his ski cap and retreated to the dugout Thursday, when Detroit was hit with its earliest snowfall ever.
Welcome to baseball's winter wonderland, a.k.a. Game 3 of the AL championship series, where the forecast is calling for fastballs, curveballs and ... snowballs...
"I'm used to playing in this from when I was growing up," said Tigers leadoff man Curtis Granderson, originally from Chicago. "I have pictures from high school of us playing with jackets on in the snow. But when it is this cold and the wind is blowing, it doesn't matter if you are used to it or not, you still feel it."
Said Tigers manager Jim Leyland: "I'm sure it's going to affect both teams somewhat."
Leyland has experience in these conditions. He managed Florida in 1997 and, with many experts predicting his Marlins would become frozen fish in the World Series, they won a key game in the snow at Cleveland.
"I've been through this situation before," he said.
The Arctic blast actually seemed to provide a cute diversion for the A's. They picked through the parkas, turtlenecks, gloves and long johns -- thin and thick versions -- that equipment manager Steve Vucinich packed for the trip.
"Are we taking snowmobiles to the game tomorrow?" backup first baseman Dan Johnson joshed.
Vucinich, who's worked for the Athletics since 1968, said he didn't need to buy anything special to combat the cold.
"We had it all already," he said. "Only it's been a while since we've had to use it..."
More
Spinach E. coli Source Traced to Cattle Ranch
Thursday, October 12, 2006
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,220338,00.html
First Snow of Season Hits Western New York, Leaves 155,000 Without Electricity
Friday, October 13, 2006
BUFFALO, N.Y. — A rare early October snowstorm left parts of western New York blanketed with 2 feet of snow Friday morning, prompting widespread blackouts, closing schools and halting traffic.
The snow downed scores of tree limbs and toppled power lines, leaving more than 155,000 customers without electricity.
By early Friday, 14 inches of snow had been recorded at the Buffalo Niagara International Airport, with reports of 2 feet elsewhere, said Tom Paone, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. The snowfall was expected to continue throughout the morning, he said.
On Thursday, 8.3 inches of heavy snow set the record for the "snowiest" October day in Buffalo in the 137-year history of the weather service, said meteorologist Tom Niziol. The previous record of 6 inches was set Oct. 31, 1917.
"This is an extremely rare event for this early in the season," Niziol said.
The Buffalo Police Department received more than 3,000 calls late Thursday and about two-thirds were related to the weather, Lt. James Watkins said.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,220458,00.html
via the drudge report
http://vortex.plymouth.edu/uschill.gif
SNOW BLAST, NEW YORK...Detroit sets record for its earliest snow, breaking mark set in 1909...Chicago, too...Chill Map...
Weather watch
Fastballs and ... snowballs? Frosty forecast for ALCS
Posted: Thursday October 12, 2006 8:42PM;
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/baseball/mlb/specials/playoffs/2006/10/12/alcs.weather.ap/
DETROIT (AP) -- Nick Swisher trotted out to right field and, with freak October flurries swirling at Comerica Park, plopped onto his back and began making mock snow angels.
Only for a minute, though. Shivering, the Oakland first baseman put on his ski cap and retreated to the dugout Thursday, when Detroit was hit with its earliest snowfall ever.
Welcome to baseball's winter wonderland, a.k.a. Game 3 of the AL championship series, where the forecast is calling for fastballs, curveballs and ... snowballs...
"I'm used to playing in this from when I was growing up," said Tigers leadoff man Curtis Granderson, originally from Chicago. "I have pictures from high school of us playing with jackets on in the snow. But when it is this cold and the wind is blowing, it doesn't matter if you are used to it or not, you still feel it."
Said Tigers manager Jim Leyland: "I'm sure it's going to affect both teams somewhat."
Leyland has experience in these conditions. He managed Florida in 1997 and, with many experts predicting his Marlins would become frozen fish in the World Series, they won a key game in the snow at Cleveland.
"I've been through this situation before," he said.
The Arctic blast actually seemed to provide a cute diversion for the A's. They picked through the parkas, turtlenecks, gloves and long johns -- thin and thick versions -- that equipment manager Steve Vucinich packed for the trip.
"Are we taking snowmobiles to the game tomorrow?" backup first baseman Dan Johnson joshed.
Vucinich, who's worked for the Athletics since 1968, said he didn't need to buy anything special to combat the cold.
"We had it all already," he said. "Only it's been a while since we've had to use it..."
More
Spinach E. coli Source Traced to Cattle Ranch
Thursday, October 12, 2006
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,220338,00.html
Thursday, October 12, 2006
O'Reilly's opportunity-missed to debunk a 9/11 debunker already debunked
O'Reilly calls 9/11 disbeliever a nut, and unfortunately is too emotional to engage in actual truth-seeking for our benefit.
O'Reilly wouldn't even let his guest, Jim Fetzer, speak about anything.
See 'Grossly Irresponsible'
Watch the fiery debate as O'Reilly takes on 9/11 conspiracy theorist
http://www.foxnews.com/oreilly/index.html
Fetzer, friend of Wisconsin instructor Kevin Barrett, according to the blipping informational stream. O'Reilly didn't note Fetzer founded Scholars for 9/11 Truth.
Fetzer tried to get a word past Bill O'Reilly on the Factor.
O'Reilly wouldn't let Fetzer speak about the poorported findings of a number of academics, around the country, on the subject of September 11, 2001.
O'Reilly dodges and deflects instead of keying in on the "facts" and statements presented on Fetzer's site.
Scholars for 9/11 Truth
http://www.st911.org/
O'Reilly just didn't want to listen to one word from Fetzer. He just bashed and badgered, so no/few words were able to be spoken.
Had O'Reilly let the man speak, Fetzer's facts would have been out there, with the potential to either be challenged, or not.
O'Reilly didn't want the "or not." So he refrained from using reason to challenge Fetzer.
He missed an opportunity, and did all of us a disservice.
See my This is Not a Conspiracy Theory
http://dirtline.tripod.com/talkacrosstown/
I focus on the facts related to the reaction of President George W. Bush upon learning from his Chief of Staff Andrew Card that a second plane had crashed on September 11, 2001 in New York - into the World Trade Center.
A couple of years ago, I called into the Honsberger Live program to respond to a question Honz asked about President George W. Bush. What could the president have done, viewers were asked.
Hons was not only disrespectful, he immediately tagged me as a Bush basher, Bush hater.
Honz was confusing the facts about President Bush's learning of the first plane crash into the World Trade Center prior to entering the second grade classroom. Honz led viewers to believe Andrew Card whispered that a plane had just crashed into the World Trade Center.
I tried to set the official record straight from my own research. So I do know what it is like to be summarily dismissed.
For myself, I would not join in with 9/11 scholars since the site has this statement.
The Pentagon's own videotape does not show a Boeing 757 hitting the building, as even Bill O'Reilly admitted when it was shown on "The Factor"; but at 155 feet, the plane was more than twice as long as the 71-foot Pentagon is high and should have been present and visible; it was not, which means that the building was not hit by a Boeing 757!
http://www.st911.org/
By that one listing, 9/11 scholars for truth is discredited as a reputable outfit. That line is simply not using logical thinking. A videotape may not capture everything and just because time-stamped images don't show the Boeing hitting the building doesn't mean the Boeing didn't hit the building. and oh my goodness comparing length to height, well who wrote that?
So because the Pentagon is less than double in height than the plane is long, well that proves the building was not hit by a Boeing 757?
Maybe there is more explanatory material on the Scholars for 9/11 Truth site, but it doesn't matter - that is simply shoddy and easily refuted on its face.
911 a Hoax? Scholar for 911 Truth versus American Thinker
September 18th, 2006
Editor’s Note: Following publication last Friday of J.R. Dunn’s article “Conspiracy Theories and Media Ignorance”, American Thinker received a response from one of the principal advocates of a theory debunked in that article, James H. Fetzer, Distinguished McKnight University Professor Emeritus, University of Minnesota Duluth. One of the distinguished professor’s fields of expertise is listed by that university as “The assassination of JFK”.
We present Professor Fetzer’s letter in its entirety, along with a response from Mr. Dunn. Professor Fetzer was offered an opportunity for a rejoinder, but as of the time of publication Monday morning, we have not received one from him.
http://www.americanthinker.com/articles.php?article_id=5865
No More Games (apparently, nmg, believes nothing about 9/11, so the site is difficult to assess)
http://nomoregames.net/index.php?page=911&subpage1=unity_card
ScholarsFor911Truth.org
The website ScholarsFor911Truth.org illustrates, perhaps better than any website, how disinformation both exploits and neutralizes some of the best work of 9/11 Truth researchers and activists. The website presents several potent assets:
The scholarly and meticulous work of members Steven Jones and David Griffin.
The impressive list of Scholars For 9/11 Truth members, including such distinguished contributors to the 9/11 Truth cause as Kevin Ryan, Don Paul, Andreas Von Buelow, Robert M. Bowman, Kevin Barrett, Ian Woods, and Victoria Ashley.
The concept of a group of scholars bringing together their expertise to challenge the government's account -- a first in the history of the 9/11 Truth Movement.
However, through the energetic spokespersonship of James Fetzer, ScholarsFor911Truth.org exploits these assets to increase its profile and thereby promote the Pentagon no-jetliner theory featured on its "Resources" page.
The association of the junk science typified by the ScholarsFor911Truth.org's resources page with the competent work of Jones and Griffin featured on the home page functions both to advance the former, and discredit the latter through association. In an essay examining ScholarsFor911Truth.org, Jim Hoffman concludes that the website may sabotage the work of Steven Jones.
http://www.911review.com/disinfo/sites.html
More
Reason's Weekly Dispatch
By Jeff A. Taylor and the Reason staff
October 3, 2006
Vol. 9, No. 40
Replaying 9/11 -- Again
Bob Woodward has kicked off another firestorm in Washington with one of his books recreating conversations no one else can exactly recall. This time, however, the story appears to breaking Woodward's way. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, claimed to be unable to recall a July 2001 meeting with former CIA chief George Tenet, but the White House has now confirmed that the meeting took place.
Woodward recalls former Tenet aide J. Cofer Black saying that the CIA was unable to get Rice's attention on fears of an impending terrorist strike to come sometime in the summer of 2001. The really good part is that this July 10, 2001 meeting did not make it into the 9/11 Commission's report (at least not in a way anybody could identify), although transcripts show that Tenet told the 9/11 commission about it and even provided the PowerPoint slides that he showed Rice that day.
There has always been a pall hanging over the 9/11 Commission's work. Many conspiracy theorists have viewed its work as stage-managed to such a degree that its conclusions are largely worthless. With this weird omission of a meeting of key intelligence principals, the tin-foil hat crowd has a whole new lease on life...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/02/AR2006100200187.html
http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/15662664.htm
http://www.reason.com/re/100306.shtml
O'Reilly wouldn't even let his guest, Jim Fetzer, speak about anything.
See 'Grossly Irresponsible'
Watch the fiery debate as O'Reilly takes on 9/11 conspiracy theorist
http://www.foxnews.com/oreilly/index.html
Fetzer, friend of Wisconsin instructor Kevin Barrett, according to the blipping informational stream. O'Reilly didn't note Fetzer founded Scholars for 9/11 Truth.
Fetzer tried to get a word past Bill O'Reilly on the Factor.
O'Reilly wouldn't let Fetzer speak about the poorported findings of a number of academics, around the country, on the subject of September 11, 2001.
O'Reilly dodges and deflects instead of keying in on the "facts" and statements presented on Fetzer's site.
Scholars for 9/11 Truth
http://www.st911.org/
O'Reilly just didn't want to listen to one word from Fetzer. He just bashed and badgered, so no/few words were able to be spoken.
Had O'Reilly let the man speak, Fetzer's facts would have been out there, with the potential to either be challenged, or not.
O'Reilly didn't want the "or not." So he refrained from using reason to challenge Fetzer.
He missed an opportunity, and did all of us a disservice.
See my This is Not a Conspiracy Theory
http://dirtline.tripod.com/talkacrosstown/
I focus on the facts related to the reaction of President George W. Bush upon learning from his Chief of Staff Andrew Card that a second plane had crashed on September 11, 2001 in New York - into the World Trade Center.
A couple of years ago, I called into the Honsberger Live program to respond to a question Honz asked about President George W. Bush. What could the president have done, viewers were asked.
Hons was not only disrespectful, he immediately tagged me as a Bush basher, Bush hater.
Honz was confusing the facts about President Bush's learning of the first plane crash into the World Trade Center prior to entering the second grade classroom. Honz led viewers to believe Andrew Card whispered that a plane had just crashed into the World Trade Center.
I tried to set the official record straight from my own research. So I do know what it is like to be summarily dismissed.
For myself, I would not join in with 9/11 scholars since the site has this statement.
The Pentagon's own videotape does not show a Boeing 757 hitting the building, as even Bill O'Reilly admitted when it was shown on "The Factor"; but at 155 feet, the plane was more than twice as long as the 71-foot Pentagon is high and should have been present and visible; it was not, which means that the building was not hit by a Boeing 757!
http://www.st911.org/
By that one listing, 9/11 scholars for truth is discredited as a reputable outfit. That line is simply not using logical thinking. A videotape may not capture everything and just because time-stamped images don't show the Boeing hitting the building doesn't mean the Boeing didn't hit the building. and oh my goodness comparing length to height, well who wrote that?
So because the Pentagon is less than double in height than the plane is long, well that proves the building was not hit by a Boeing 757?
Maybe there is more explanatory material on the Scholars for 9/11 Truth site, but it doesn't matter - that is simply shoddy and easily refuted on its face.
911 a Hoax? Scholar for 911 Truth versus American Thinker
September 18th, 2006
Editor’s Note: Following publication last Friday of J.R. Dunn’s article “Conspiracy Theories and Media Ignorance”, American Thinker received a response from one of the principal advocates of a theory debunked in that article, James H. Fetzer, Distinguished McKnight University Professor Emeritus, University of Minnesota Duluth. One of the distinguished professor’s fields of expertise is listed by that university as “The assassination of JFK”.
We present Professor Fetzer’s letter in its entirety, along with a response from Mr. Dunn. Professor Fetzer was offered an opportunity for a rejoinder, but as of the time of publication Monday morning, we have not received one from him.
http://www.americanthinker.com/articles.php?article_id=5865
No More Games (apparently, nmg, believes nothing about 9/11, so the site is difficult to assess)
http://nomoregames.net/index.php?page=911&subpage1=unity_card
ScholarsFor911Truth.org
The website ScholarsFor911Truth.org illustrates, perhaps better than any website, how disinformation both exploits and neutralizes some of the best work of 9/11 Truth researchers and activists. The website presents several potent assets:
The scholarly and meticulous work of members Steven Jones and David Griffin.
The impressive list of Scholars For 9/11 Truth members, including such distinguished contributors to the 9/11 Truth cause as Kevin Ryan, Don Paul, Andreas Von Buelow, Robert M. Bowman, Kevin Barrett, Ian Woods, and Victoria Ashley.
The concept of a group of scholars bringing together their expertise to challenge the government's account -- a first in the history of the 9/11 Truth Movement.
However, through the energetic spokespersonship of James Fetzer, ScholarsFor911Truth.org exploits these assets to increase its profile and thereby promote the Pentagon no-jetliner theory featured on its "Resources" page.
The association of the junk science typified by the ScholarsFor911Truth.org's resources page with the competent work of Jones and Griffin featured on the home page functions both to advance the former, and discredit the latter through association. In an essay examining ScholarsFor911Truth.org, Jim Hoffman concludes that the website may sabotage the work of Steven Jones.
http://www.911review.com/disinfo/sites.html
More
Reason's Weekly Dispatch
By Jeff A. Taylor and the Reason staff
October 3, 2006
Vol. 9, No. 40
Replaying 9/11 -- Again
Bob Woodward has kicked off another firestorm in Washington with one of his books recreating conversations no one else can exactly recall. This time, however, the story appears to breaking Woodward's way. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, claimed to be unable to recall a July 2001 meeting with former CIA chief George Tenet, but the White House has now confirmed that the meeting took place.
Woodward recalls former Tenet aide J. Cofer Black saying that the CIA was unable to get Rice's attention on fears of an impending terrorist strike to come sometime in the summer of 2001. The really good part is that this July 10, 2001 meeting did not make it into the 9/11 Commission's report (at least not in a way anybody could identify), although transcripts show that Tenet told the 9/11 commission about it and even provided the PowerPoint slides that he showed Rice that day.
There has always been a pall hanging over the 9/11 Commission's work. Many conspiracy theorists have viewed its work as stage-managed to such a degree that its conclusions are largely worthless. With this weird omission of a meeting of key intelligence principals, the tin-foil hat crowd has a whole new lease on life...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/02/AR2006100200187.html
http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/15662664.htm
http://www.reason.com/re/100306.shtml
Friday, October 06, 2006
New Media Political Weapon
Exactly, and we all must put on our thinking caps and look deeper at what are purported facts presented possibly through biased reporting.
New Media A Weapon in New World Of Politics
By John F. Harris
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, October 6, 2006; A01
At first glance, three uproars that buffeted American politics in recent weeks have little in common.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/05/AR2006100501811_pf.html
New Media A Weapon in New World Of Politics
By John F. Harris
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, October 6, 2006; A01
At first glance, three uproars that buffeted American politics in recent weeks have little in common.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/05/AR2006100501811_pf.html
Ballot Access in Pennsylvania
PCN TV CALL-IN TOPIC "Ballot Access" with guests Tom Martin, Russ Diamond, Carl Romanelli.
Fascinating.
The trio presents a lot of food for thought.
Get the streaming video.
The following is just a snippet, as I found Diamond's comments about the database of registered voters, SURE, extremely interesting. I have had experience with SURE, minimal, yet hands-on.
Tom Martin: ... voters should write in our names as candidates...
Russ Diamond: ... what was found with sure system way they enter in address was different from the next county over... there was no protocol from entering the data into the SURE system. When you are given only two tries to find it, you are not going to be able to find it at all."
Carl Romanelli
romanelli2006.com
PA Supreme Court to Decide Fate of the World
http://www.pacleansweep.com/oped083006.html
http://www.politicspa.com/temp/in_the_commonwealth_court_of_pen4.htm
Democrats Disenfranchise PA VotersPosted by: Blyden on Sep 05, 2006 - 08:51 PM partynews
http://www.gpofpa.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=52
Tom Martin, Libertarian candidate
Fascinating.
The trio presents a lot of food for thought.
Get the streaming video.
The following is just a snippet, as I found Diamond's comments about the database of registered voters, SURE, extremely interesting. I have had experience with SURE, minimal, yet hands-on.
Tom Martin: ... voters should write in our names as candidates...
Russ Diamond: ... what was found with sure system way they enter in address was different from the next county over... there was no protocol from entering the data into the SURE system. When you are given only two tries to find it, you are not going to be able to find it at all."
Carl Romanelli
romanelli2006.com
PA Supreme Court to Decide Fate of the World
http://www.pacleansweep.com/oped083006.html
http://www.politicspa.com/temp/in_the_commonwealth_court_of_pen4.htm
Democrats Disenfranchise PA VotersPosted by: Blyden on Sep 05, 2006 - 08:51 PM partynews
http://www.gpofpa.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=52
Tom Martin, Libertarian candidate
Stop Turning-Over Please (STOP)
C-Span asks now: Should the Page Program be Eliminated?
Yes. Absolutely. The Page program can now be easily infiltrated by youthful plants of Democrat operatives posing as Republicans. I can see it now.
Come the November 2006 Election, Republicans manage to hang on to their slim holds in Congress and remain the majority.
George Soros forms yet another 557 organization, one that trains 15 or so young Democrats how to speak and act like a Repubican Page who accepts dicey emails from Republican representatives and senators and when he tells his parents they tell him it's no big deal, you are working for a greater cause and it's God's will anyway or it wouldn't happen to you. The really Democrat Republican Pages whose backgrounds have been fully checked by the FBI workers who were all hired by the former Democrat director of the FBI will fan out to the 15 or so remaining Republican representatives and senators who the Democrats have found by targeted opposition-research have been um, "left behind" in the wake of the Mark Foley sex-page scandal. Come the 2008 Presidential election, what pops up but emails, dvds, cell phone records, etc. from these 15 or so Republicans in Congress that the FBI missed in its massive sex-watch operations.
A nation stunned by the outing of one Republican who was really a former Democrat back in the days before he was chosen to run for public office (just check out the voter registrations and re-registrations and subsequent big donations to him from former Democrats turned Republican back then) re-register to vote in massive numbers through the combined Russ Diamond United We Clean Sweep organization and the George Soros Switch to Republican to Clean Sweep America foundation.
The Republicans see the handwriting on the new re-registrations when mere days before the Primariies in many states, prominent Democrats re-register as Republicans.
Republicans mount an effort called Stop Turning Over Please (STOP) but that organization gets little play in the media and an organization from Pennsylvania with the same acronym sues and a gag order is ordered over the use of STOP.
In near-hysteria at losing to a groundswell of Republicans who are really Democrats in the Primary elections all across the nation the Republicans implement quick middle of the night legislation that requires all voters to present their voter-registration card from 2006 rather than any current updated photo-id registration cards at the polls. If the two registration cards don't match as to Democrat-Democrat Party affiliation, the former Democrat registration card will take precedence, and poll workers are instructed to set the new touch-screen voting machines to the 2006 Party affiliation for the voter.
If the Republican voter complains that his, or her, touch-screen computer screen is not set for the Republican Party the voter is registered in, the judge of election is instructed (by previous training that was rapidly funded by Congress) to inform the voter that his, or her, previous Party affiliation for the 2006 Election takes precedence over the changed registration to Republican and the voter can either vote Democratically, or face a blank touch-screen.
It is your choice, the judge of election is instructed to repeat so the Democrat turned Republican for only this election and no other understands.
Even though the Republican legislation was designed to forestall a Primary clean sweep of only Republicans, the United We Clean Sweep and Switch to Republican to Clean Sweep America foundation managed to plant enough Democrat turned Republican judges of election who don't switch the computer monitors and so the coalition effort does clean sweep all 15 or so Republicans in Congress in the Primary Elections all across America.
The fact that Hilary Clinton and Harry Reid and Chuck Shumer and other Democrats switched Party affiliation for the Primaries in their respective states and voted Republican and the next day switched back to Democrat is discussed on C-Span with the question being asked: Should America have No Petty Elections?
Several callers answer No, then the screen switches to No Party Elections and a couple of callers answer Yes.
Web news outlets such as The Drudge Report post the results for No Petty Elections on their sites. The mainstream media picks up the reports and rush to be the first to print special editions showing more people want to maintain the status-quo of Political Party elections than not.
C-Span doesn't make any corrections nor set the record straight concerning the blow-up of results and host Brian Lamb refuses to respond to emails requesting an interview by Net the Truth Online. Supporters of whatreallyhappened.com take out a billboard ad which says 'It's the Republicraps, stupid."
XXXXX DRUDGE REPORT XXXXX THU OCT 5 2006 22:01:25 ET XXXXX CLAIM: FILTHY FOLEY ONLINE CHATS WERE PAGE 'PRANK GONE AWRY'**Update**
According to two people close to former congressional page Jordan Edmund, the now famous lurid AOL Instant Message exchanges that led to the resignation of Mark Foley were part of an online prank that by mistake got into the hands of enemy political operatives, the DRUDGE REPORT can reveal. According to one Oklahoma source who knows the former page very well, Edmund, a conservative Republican, said he goaded an unwitting Foley to type embarrassing comments that were then shared with a small group of young Hill politicos. The prank went awry when the saved IM sessions got into the hands of political operatives favorable to Democrats. ...
http://www.drudgereport.com/page.htm
ABC mistakenly releases ID in page probe
Thu Oct 5, 3:32 PM ET
NEW YORK - ABC News' fleeting, inadvertent publishing of a computer screen name enabled a blogger to track down and make public the supposed identity of a former congressional page who traded salacious messages with former Rep. Mark Foley...
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061005/ap_on_go_co/abc_pages_2
Watchdog Group Disputes FBI's Claims on E-Mails
By Dan EggenWashington Post Staff WriterFriday, October 6, 2006; Page A04
The watchdog group that first provided the FBI with suspicious e-mails from then-Rep. Mark Foley (R-Fla.) said yesterday that FBI and Justice Department officials are attempting to cover up their inaction in the case by making false claims about the group.
Law enforcement officials said the allegations by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) are without merit, and they stood by allegations that the group had refused to provide some information to the FBI...
The dispute is the latest controversy this week for CREW, a liberal-leaning group that has come under attack from House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) and other Republicans because it has received money from a foundation funded by liberal financier George Soros.
CREW held a news conference Monday to announce that in July it had provided the FBI suspicious e-mails between Foley and a former House page. The group criticized the bureau for not taking more aggressive action and asked Justice Department Inspector General Glenn A. Fine to investigate the FBI's handling of the case.
Law enforcement officials said then that the e-mails did not provide enough evidence of a possible crime to warrant a full investigation. In the e-mails, Foley praises the physical attributes of one page and asks another teenager for his picture.
In subsequent days, unidentified Justice and FBI officials told reporters that the e-mails provided by CREW were heavily redacted and that the group refused to provide unedited versions to the FBI. One law enforcement official -- speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation -- also told The Washington Post the FBI believed that CREW may have received the e-mails as early as April and that the group refused to tell the FBI how they were obtained.
Melanie Sloan, CREW's executive director, said copies of the original e-mails she sent to an FBI agent show those assertions to be wrong. Sloan said the agent called to confirm receipt of the e-mails and to ask if one of the parties was Foley....
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/05/AR2006100501657.html
Yes. Absolutely. The Page program can now be easily infiltrated by youthful plants of Democrat operatives posing as Republicans. I can see it now.
Come the November 2006 Election, Republicans manage to hang on to their slim holds in Congress and remain the majority.
George Soros forms yet another 557 organization, one that trains 15 or so young Democrats how to speak and act like a Repubican Page who accepts dicey emails from Republican representatives and senators and when he tells his parents they tell him it's no big deal, you are working for a greater cause and it's God's will anyway or it wouldn't happen to you. The really Democrat Republican Pages whose backgrounds have been fully checked by the FBI workers who were all hired by the former Democrat director of the FBI will fan out to the 15 or so remaining Republican representatives and senators who the Democrats have found by targeted opposition-research have been um, "left behind" in the wake of the Mark Foley sex-page scandal. Come the 2008 Presidential election, what pops up but emails, dvds, cell phone records, etc. from these 15 or so Republicans in Congress that the FBI missed in its massive sex-watch operations.
A nation stunned by the outing of one Republican who was really a former Democrat back in the days before he was chosen to run for public office (just check out the voter registrations and re-registrations and subsequent big donations to him from former Democrats turned Republican back then) re-register to vote in massive numbers through the combined Russ Diamond United We Clean Sweep organization and the George Soros Switch to Republican to Clean Sweep America foundation.
The Republicans see the handwriting on the new re-registrations when mere days before the Primariies in many states, prominent Democrats re-register as Republicans.
Republicans mount an effort called Stop Turning Over Please (STOP) but that organization gets little play in the media and an organization from Pennsylvania with the same acronym sues and a gag order is ordered over the use of STOP.
In near-hysteria at losing to a groundswell of Republicans who are really Democrats in the Primary elections all across the nation the Republicans implement quick middle of the night legislation that requires all voters to present their voter-registration card from 2006 rather than any current updated photo-id registration cards at the polls. If the two registration cards don't match as to Democrat-Democrat Party affiliation, the former Democrat registration card will take precedence, and poll workers are instructed to set the new touch-screen voting machines to the 2006 Party affiliation for the voter.
If the Republican voter complains that his, or her, touch-screen computer screen is not set for the Republican Party the voter is registered in, the judge of election is instructed (by previous training that was rapidly funded by Congress) to inform the voter that his, or her, previous Party affiliation for the 2006 Election takes precedence over the changed registration to Republican and the voter can either vote Democratically, or face a blank touch-screen.
It is your choice, the judge of election is instructed to repeat so the Democrat turned Republican for only this election and no other understands.
Even though the Republican legislation was designed to forestall a Primary clean sweep of only Republicans, the United We Clean Sweep and Switch to Republican to Clean Sweep America foundation managed to plant enough Democrat turned Republican judges of election who don't switch the computer monitors and so the coalition effort does clean sweep all 15 or so Republicans in Congress in the Primary Elections all across America.
The fact that Hilary Clinton and Harry Reid and Chuck Shumer and other Democrats switched Party affiliation for the Primaries in their respective states and voted Republican and the next day switched back to Democrat is discussed on C-Span with the question being asked: Should America have No Petty Elections?
Several callers answer No, then the screen switches to No Party Elections and a couple of callers answer Yes.
Web news outlets such as The Drudge Report post the results for No Petty Elections on their sites. The mainstream media picks up the reports and rush to be the first to print special editions showing more people want to maintain the status-quo of Political Party elections than not.
C-Span doesn't make any corrections nor set the record straight concerning the blow-up of results and host Brian Lamb refuses to respond to emails requesting an interview by Net the Truth Online. Supporters of whatreallyhappened.com take out a billboard ad which says 'It's the Republicraps, stupid."
XXXXX DRUDGE REPORT XXXXX THU OCT 5 2006 22:01:25 ET XXXXX CLAIM: FILTHY FOLEY ONLINE CHATS WERE PAGE 'PRANK GONE AWRY'**Update**
According to two people close to former congressional page Jordan Edmund, the now famous lurid AOL Instant Message exchanges that led to the resignation of Mark Foley were part of an online prank that by mistake got into the hands of enemy political operatives, the DRUDGE REPORT can reveal. According to one Oklahoma source who knows the former page very well, Edmund, a conservative Republican, said he goaded an unwitting Foley to type embarrassing comments that were then shared with a small group of young Hill politicos. The prank went awry when the saved IM sessions got into the hands of political operatives favorable to Democrats. ...
http://www.drudgereport.com/page.htm
ABC mistakenly releases ID in page probe
Thu Oct 5, 3:32 PM ET
NEW YORK - ABC News' fleeting, inadvertent publishing of a computer screen name enabled a blogger to track down and make public the supposed identity of a former congressional page who traded salacious messages with former Rep. Mark Foley...
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061005/ap_on_go_co/abc_pages_2
Watchdog Group Disputes FBI's Claims on E-Mails
By Dan EggenWashington Post Staff WriterFriday, October 6, 2006; Page A04
The watchdog group that first provided the FBI with suspicious e-mails from then-Rep. Mark Foley (R-Fla.) said yesterday that FBI and Justice Department officials are attempting to cover up their inaction in the case by making false claims about the group.
Law enforcement officials said the allegations by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) are without merit, and they stood by allegations that the group had refused to provide some information to the FBI...
The dispute is the latest controversy this week for CREW, a liberal-leaning group that has come under attack from House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) and other Republicans because it has received money from a foundation funded by liberal financier George Soros.
CREW held a news conference Monday to announce that in July it had provided the FBI suspicious e-mails between Foley and a former House page. The group criticized the bureau for not taking more aggressive action and asked Justice Department Inspector General Glenn A. Fine to investigate the FBI's handling of the case.
Law enforcement officials said then that the e-mails did not provide enough evidence of a possible crime to warrant a full investigation. In the e-mails, Foley praises the physical attributes of one page and asks another teenager for his picture.
In subsequent days, unidentified Justice and FBI officials told reporters that the e-mails provided by CREW were heavily redacted and that the group refused to provide unedited versions to the FBI. One law enforcement official -- speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation -- also told The Washington Post the FBI believed that CREW may have received the e-mails as early as April and that the group refused to tell the FBI how they were obtained.
Melanie Sloan, CREW's executive director, said copies of the original e-mails she sent to an FBI agent show those assertions to be wrong. Sloan said the agent called to confirm receipt of the e-mails and to ask if one of the parties was Foley....
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/05/AR2006100501657.html
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