election 2006

Ohio Election Fraud

Um, yeah – a really interesting tidbit of information from Slashdot:

goombah99 writes:
“Netcraft is showing that an event happened in the Ohio 2004 election that is difficult to explain. The Secretary of State’s website, which handles election reporting, normally is directed to an Ohio-based IP address hosted by the Ohio Supercomputer Center. On Nov. 3 2004, Netcraft shows the website pointing out of state to a server owned by Smartech Corp. According to the American Registry on Internet Numbers, Smartech’s block of IP addresses 64.203.96.0 – 64.203.111.255 encompasses the entire range of addresses owned by the Republican National Committee. Smartech hosted the recently notorious gbw43.com domain used from the White House in apparent violation of the Presidential Records Act, from which thousands of White House emails vanished.”

Update: 04/25 01:24 GMT by KD : ePluribus Media published a piece called Ken Blackwell Outsources Ohio Election Results to GOP Internet Operatives, Again on election eve 2006, when a similar DNS switch to Smartech occurred. They have been investigating the larger story of IT on Capitol Hill and elsewhere for two years.

We can’t get these things investigated sooner than this? What the hell?

Continue ReadingOhio Election Fraud

Note to the Media: The Democrats haven’t even taken power yet

Apparently the right-wing biased mainstream media is busy chortling and high-fiving because soon to be Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi had some tough leadership elections. Here’s what the Washington Post is saying:

The new House speaker, Rep. Nancy Pelosi, had a disastrous post-election week in which her first priority seemed to be settling scores rather than solving these big problems. Shame on her!

While at CNN, they’re putting up graphics in their “Situation Room” (um, that sounds kinda dirty for a news organization, doesn’t it? It means something in the White House, but on TV, not so much) that say “Is Nancy Pelosi Damaged Goods?”

Here’s a newsflash — the new Congress doesn’t get sworn in until January. You dumbasses. What “big problems” could they possibly solve? If big problems aren’t getting solved, it’s still the Republicans failing to solve them for at least two more months.

And there’s the little fact that the leadership elections on the Republican side of Congress were more cut-throat than the Democrats. But that’s an inconvenient fact that the right-biased mainstream media doesn’t want to mention.

At least part of the reason why the American people were duped by Bush for so long before they finally got fed up can be attributed to the media, who’ve been cheerleadering the Republicans since before Bush took power. Don’t think that had changed now that our government has. Er, will.

Continue ReadingNote to the Media: The Democrats haven’t even taken power yet

House District 97 Vote Recounts

Taking Down Words gives a nice run-down of what’s going on in my district with the “still-up-in-the-air-due-to-polling-screw-ups” race between Mahern and Elrod, who are just 65 votes apart.

Seems that the touch-screen voting stations available at each of the polling places weren’t counted, and the state has just now decided to turn them on and get the votes from them. The touch screens were in place for disabled voters, but were available for use by anyone. Why did someone decide not to count the touch-screen votes? Who knows.
Turns out in some precincts, voters weren’t given a choice and were told to use them. Why? Good question. No one has an answer.

There are over 500 of these machines, and with a difference of just 65 votes between the two candidates, this could mean a lot.

Continue ReadingHouse District 97 Vote Recounts

Four Indianapolis Races Affected by Missing Votes

According to the Indianapolis Star:

Sadler said vote tally cards from 66 precincts remain out or have been misplaced with other election material. Election workers are searching for those documents this morning. She said the initial emphasis is on the 27 precincts that are involved in the four tight races.

Sadler said that voting machines that had to be disabled at about 500 precincts also must be returned to election headquarters to confirm the votes cast on those machines before they were shut down. She said the total votes involved is likely less than 500.

My district — Elrod vs. Mahern — is one of those close races. I’d be interested to find out if my precinct is one of the 27. I wish they clarified which ones in the story.

Continue ReadingFour Indianapolis Races Affected by Missing Votes

On the subject of gloating

Keep in mind what the GOP said after the 2004 elections (hat tip to several blogs for pointing this out):

DeLay himself drew the line sharply the day after the 2004 elections. “The Republican Party is a permanent majority for the future of this country,” DeLay declared. “We’re going to be able to lead this country in the direction we’ve been dreaming of for years.”
Grover Norquist, the president of Americans for Tax Reform and a leading figure in both the DeLay and Bush political operations, chose more colorful post-election language to describe the future. “Once the minority of House and Senate are comfortable in their minority status, they will have no problem socializing with the Republicans,” he told Richard Leiby of The Post. “Any farmer will tell you that certain animals run around and are unpleasant. But when they’ve been ‘fixed,’ then they are happy and sedate. They are contented and cheerful.”

yep, that was the GOP back when they won. As Shakespeare’s Sister said this morning:

… This morning, I’m laughing. Why? Well, a lot of it is schadenfreude. I’m going to gloat, and I don’t care. I’ve been told I’m a traitor, a terrorist sympathizer, and every other nasty thing in the book for the last six years. So bite me, wingnuts.

Continue ReadingOn the subject of gloating

I voted

First time I’ve voted in the new neighborhood – at the Old Centrum church on 12th and Central. It’s a bit easier to get into and park than the firestation I used to vote at.

Jon Elrod was there, as well as one of Mahern’s nephews, handing out campaign literature. I forgot to wear my Democrats baseball cap today.

Oh, and I should report that I had not trouble voting even though I didn’t update my address on my driver’s license. The poll workers did note that it didn’t matter that my address was different — all that was needed was my picture and name.

Looks like others around the country are not having such luck, however, as compiled by Shakespeare’s Sister…

I voted
I voted
Continue ReadingI voted

Tomorrow is Election Day

Please remember – The polls close at 6 p.m. in Indiana, so vote early! Try to vote before work or at lunch. People often skip voting in mid-term elections, which is unfortunate since they tend to have a much greater impact on your daily life than the national elections. If you don’t know who your candidates are, Vote Smart is always helpful in figuring that out.

Where to vote: Indianapolis has a polling locator website. Unfortunately it seems to prefer Internet Explorer to Firefox, where the form to enter your address into is completely hosed. The screen is better in Safari for the Mac; at least you can enter your info. Way to be accessible, people. Incidentally I’ve noticed lots of the city website is only useable in IE.

If you live in Indianapolis (especially downtown) and are concerned about GLBT issues, here’s a great rundown of the candidates on that issue from Mark St. John of the Indiana Equality PAC. I should clarify I grabbed this information from an email list from our neighborhood where people were asking Mark directly what he thought about candidates, so some of his personal preferences might be included with official positions of IE.

In Marion County the House of Representatives candidates with which IEPAC has been working in support include Susan Fuldauer (D) in House District 88 (running against Representative Brian Bosma), Representative David Orentlicher (D) in House District 86 (running against Kathryn Densborn), and John Barnes (D) in House District 89 (running against Larry Buell). All three – Orentlicher, Fuldauer, and Barnes – have stated positions in opposition to the marriage amendment and in favor of the inclusion of sexual orientation and gender identity in the state’s civil rights laws.

As for House District 97 (which includes most of downtown Indianapolis, including the Old Northside, Chatham Arch, etc.), the candidates are the incumbent, Representative Ed Mahern (D), and the Republican candidate John Elrod. Mahern is a strong supporter of LGBT civil rights issues, and voted in opposition to the proposed marriage amendment. He has a gay brother, and his entire family is highly supportive of the LGBT community. Elrod has stated his opposition to the marriage amendment, although mostly in private, one-on-one conversations. He has put out some pretty nasty mailings during the campaign, twisting around votes made by Mahern regarding illegal immigrants and child abuse so as to make Ed appear to be the Devil incarnate. Just a few minutes ago I received a killer call on behalf of Elrod, stating that Mahern is a career politician who is only worried about taking care of himself. Please be aware that Elrod is an attorney, and serves on the advisory board of Center Township. Elrod is in opposition the proposed consolidation of Marion County fire departments – hence, Elrod is busy protecting his political friends in township government and his own bottom line. For me, the real bottom line – Elrod is a Republican who will vote for Brian Bosma to be Speaker of the Indiana House of Representatives – something that is very dangerous to the future for the LGBT community.
In other races, both prosecutor candidates, Melinda Kennedy (D) and Carl Brizzi (R) have expressed support for hate crimes legislation (to include sexual orientation and gender identity). Melinda appears to be far stronger than Brizzi on domestic violence issues. Brizzi has included sexual orientation (and gender identity, I believe) in his office’s non-discrimination policies. My vote is for Melinda.

In the Senate District 31 race the challenger, Russell Brown (D) has announced his opposition to the marriage amendment and in favor of LGBT civil rights protections. The incumbent, Jim Merritt, voted in favor of the marriage amendment in both 2004 and 2005. Pretty simple choice here.

In Congressional District 7, what can I say? Julia Carson has been with the LGBT community through thick and thin. Her support of the changes to the Indianapolis Human Rights Ordinance were key to the enactment of local protections for the LGBT community. It’s essential that we remember our friends.
Mark St. John

Continue ReadingTomorrow is Election Day

Blogger Forum with Progressive Candidates

I attended a blogger forum at lunch to day, where three local progressive candidates for office met with local bloggers to answer questions and talk about their political issues and campaigns.
The candidates were:

Russell Brown ( Democratic candidate, Senate District 31)

Dr. David Orentlicher (Democratic Representative, House District 86)

John Barnes (Democratic candidate, House District 89)

And the other bloggers:
Taking Down Words
Stallio’s Way
Resisting Inertia
ManfredEye
Confessions of a Hoosier Democrat
bilerico.com
Advance Indiana

I took some pretty extensive notes, so I have to look them over and take a little bit of time to write up some of the discussion.

Continue ReadingBlogger Forum with Progressive Candidates

Friends of Tom Delay plan attack ads on behalf of Indiana’s Chris Chocola

Associates of disgraced former house majority leader Tom Delay are funding attack ads under the name “Americans for Honesty” for nine Republican congressional candidates in embattled districts, including on behalf of Representative Chris Chocola of Indiana, according to the New York Times.

A previously unknown group led by a Republican political consultant in Houston is financing television advertisements against nine Democratic House candidates from North Carolina to Arizona.
The group, Americans for Honesty on Issues, is spending more than $1 million on the advertisements, which accuse Democratic candidates of carpetbagging, coddling illegal immigrants, being soft on crime and advocating cutting off money for troops in Iraq.
The television spots appear to be the first wave of a boatload of negative political advertising that will appear in the weeks before the Nov. 7 election. Many of the advertisements will be produced by independent organizations known as 527 groups, after the provision in the tax code that allows such groups to spend virtually unlimited sums on political activity as long as it is not formally coordinated with parties or candidates.
…
The leader of Americans for Honesty on Issues is Sue Walden, a close ally of Tom DeLay, the former House majority leader who left Congress amid questions on ethics and fund-raising. Ms. Walden has also raised money for President Bush and served as an adviser to Kenneth L. Lay, the former chief executive of Enron who died in July.

Americans for “Honesty” — I’m surprised that lightning hasn’t struck them already.

Continue ReadingFriends of Tom Delay plan attack ads on behalf of Indiana’s Chris Chocola

Drive In Upset by Daylight Saving Time

A photo from a northern Indiana Drive-in, passed along by (original link, no longer active -http://www.takingdownwords.com/taking_down_words/2006/10/sign_of_the_tim.html) Taking Down Words. That’s an aspect of the Daylight Savings debate that I never took into account before — how it affects Drive Ins, who now have to start movies an hour later than before.

Drive-In Opposing DST
Drive-In Opposing DST
2022-03-16 Update:
Looks like Drive-Ins jobs just got tougher. CNN – Senate passes bill that would make Daylight Saving Time permanent
Continue ReadingDrive In Upset by Daylight Saving Time