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Blogmanac team
Jeannine Wilson (USA)
Veralynne Pepper (USA)
Pip Wilson (Australia)
Carpe diem!
Seize the day with more than 150 articles at Wilson's articles department
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Saturday, February 14, 2004
*Ø* Blogmanac February 14 | Valentine's Day
 This year for Valentine's Day, why not dump the sentimental cards and the dozen red roses, and do something really traditional, something that harks back to the origins of this ancient commemoration?
If you want to get right into the ancient spirit of Valentine's Day, try these party tricks. First, go with your friends to a local cave and sacrifice some goats and a dog. Find two young men of good breeding and smear their foreheads with your bloody knife, then wipe the blood off with wool soaked in milk. The youths must laugh during this.
Next, your whole party should run licentiously around town wearing the skins of said goats, and infertile townsfolk will come out on the streets to be belted by you with straps of goat-skin. This will help them have children.
At some appropriate juncture of your evening, arrange to have the names of all the females written on billets, put in a container and drawn out one at a time by the males. This will enable the sexes to pair off as lovers.
 Yes, the modern practice of celebrating Valentine's Day most likely has its roots in the ancient Roman celebration of the Lupercalia, when all these weird customs were indulged in. The ceremonies started in the cave where it was said Romulus and Remus, the legendary twin founders of Rome, were suckled by a she-wolf. Scholars are uncertain, but it could be from the Latin word for wolf, lupus, that the festival got its name ...
This is just a snippet of today's stories. Read all about today in folklore, historical oddities, inspiration and alternatives at the Wilson's Almanac Book of Days, every day. Click today's date when you're there.
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*Ø* Blogmanac | ''A tit is just a tit''
By Emily Reinhardt
YellowTimes.org Guest Columnist (United States)
 "Last Sunday, between commercials selling erection-enhancing medication, beer, horse farts and other glories of capitalism, a tit was shown. Between Vaseline-smeared, sparkling cheerleaders, orgies of celebrity and a game brutally violent, sadomasochistic and testosterone-laden, a bare black breast managed to sneak out from a bustier. And it is the scandal of January.
"'Indecent!' The moral tongues wag. 'Shocking!' Grandmothers across America cry. 'Classless, crass and deplorable!' The head of the FCC, Michael Powell, declares. The perps, Janet Jackson, Justin Timberlake, CBS, Viacom, MTV and the NFL, all stand to be fined millions of dollars for a nipple. And no doubt America's children will be scarred for, oh, about five minutes over this.
"Powell has said there will be an investigation. Nobody is investigating Cheney's energy meetings. We can't get a hearing on whether Bush lied to us about the war. There's going to be an investigation on WMDs and intelligence, but it sounds lukewarm at best. Global warming, corporate shanghais, illegal detainees, abuses of power. let's just ignore all those. What we really need is an investigation into Janet Jackson's breast ..."
Continue (it's worth it) here
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Blogroll Us Friday, February 13, 2004
*Ø* Blogmanac | Where's Willy?
Friends, I'm sorry I've been scarce this week. I have a close friend who is very ill and my help has been needed, and also (if you're wondering where Wilson's Almanac ezine is), I have been unable to access emails for three days. Now weekend is coming on and I doubt that my ISP's support desk will be open.
Gods willing, the Book of Days will be up to date by tomorrow, if not already by the time you read this. I'm not sure when the ezine will be out, but by Monday, I expect. My apologies. I trust I will be here at the Blogmanac from time to time over the weekend.
And thanks Nora and Vee for keeping the posts coming. This is such a great engine to be a cog in.
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*Ø* Blogmanac | Delicious election food for thought
Bush, Kerry, or World 5.0?
by Stephen Dinan
stephen@radicalspirit.org
As the mainstream media and voting public increasingly focus on Kerry as the man to beat Bush, I want to ask a provocative question, one whose answer is typically assumed rather than addressed.
Would a Kerry administration for the next four years ACTUALLY be better for the long-term health of our world than a Bush administration?
Many Democrats, blinded by disgust for Bush and his henchmen, proudly wear the badge of ABB -- Anyone But Bush. Their assumption is that Bush is the absolute worst president we can have and we need to rally behind whomever seems likely to defeat him.
The Bush administration has done a lot of disturbing things, from getting us involved in an expensive, deceptive, and largely unjustified war, to rolling back privacy and civil rights, to creating a secretive, corporate-ruled, debt-ridden culture in Washington, to accelerating the decline of our planetary ecosystems. America has begun seeming like an arrogant empire to many countries in the world.
All of which seems very bad. Unless it turns out not to be. The reason I say this is that the most fundamental need we have as a planet is to move our structures of power and governance to a new level, rather like installing a new operating system in a computer. We need to become world-centric rather than nation-centric. We need to build the structures of international peace, cooperation, and justice. We need to address our massive global ecological crises. I am convinced that we need an evolutionary step up rather than slight modifications. Instead of going from the World 4.0 operating system to World 4.1, we need to do a full upgrade to World 5.0. Since America dominates the planet, our government and leadership are major determinants of how quickly that shift happens.
As dangerous as the Bush administration appears, it has also been acting to galvanize and mobilize the forces that actually CAN lead us to World 5.0. The problems of the current operating system are becoming much more obvious and much more painful. This pain and frustration can drive us to create another level of planetary health for the long term. The Bush administration arrived with a World 4.0 platform and has been heading steadily downwards toward World 3.0 in such a way that the forces of World 5.0 have gotten much more active, focused, and engaged.
This can result in a slingshot effect, allowing a powerful launch in the opposite direction, all the way up to World 5.0. To use another metaphor, an addict typically needs to bottom out before getting into treatment and getting clean. Bush is helping us to bottom out as a country with the current operating system.
This brings us back to the question of whether a Bush or a Kerry administration for four years would be better for the long-term health of the planet. For me, this boils down to how quickly and effectively either administration would catalyze the emergence of World 5.0, which is the only system that can address the issues we currently face. Is it better to have four more years of World 4.0 with regressive elements of 3.0? Or do we want 4.1, with a few minor improvements to the basic operating system?
My answer, which will likely infuriate many ABB Democrats, is that we are probably better served in the long term by four more years of Bush than Kerry because I think that would build the passionate, revolutionary fire necessary to make the great leap.
The reason is this: Kerry speaks the language of change but he doesn't have the track record of a change agent. He's only passed seven bills in his time in the Senate, if one Internet source can be trusted, and four of those were largely symbolic. He has voted for key parts of the Bush program -- the Iraq war and Patriot Act for example -- and is committed to continuing the war and even increasing the size of our army. He has taken more special interest money in the last fifteen years than any other Senator. He is one of the wealthiest members of Congress via marriage. A man who can pay cash for a $750K speedboat is going to be a bit out of touch with the needs of the working class. If we dig deeper, it turns out he's even a member of the same secret society as Bush, the Skull and Bones society of Yale. Finally, he's getting heavy financial backing from the executive levels of various media conglomerates.
In short, he is a World 4.1 politician -- an establishment insider who is positioning himself as enough of a populist and "winner" to get the nomination. And it appears to be working.
My honest read is that if we elect Kerry as our president, he will do a mediocre job and more or less perpetuate the status quo. Given party power dynamics, though, he would still be running in 2008 as the incumbent. The Democratic party machine would not seriously entertain another contender. And then we would have two options: four more years of World 4.1 or a swing back to World 4.0 with a new Republican challenger. It would be 2012 and possibly 2016 at the earliest before we would have another chance for a president of the United States who is leading us to World 5.0.
I don't know about you, but that seems like a long time to wait if you are committed to creating World 5.0 and aware of the pain and suffering caused by the current operating system.
One alternative, then, is four more years of Bush. If we can get past our visceral reactions to the man and examine this through the lens of shifting to World 5.0, Bush is actually a great catalyst -- the last hurrah of a declining paradigm, the ultimate foe for the forces of 5.0 to triumph over. He's almost a caricature of the last worldview. There's every reason to bet that if he's in office for another four years, we'll have a great revolutionary leap to authentic World 5.0 leadership for America rather than a compromise formation of World 4.1. Sometimes things need to get worse before they get better.
I probably won't be able to bring myself to vote for Bush this fall, if for no other reason than I would feel guilty admitting it. But in a funny way I'd be cheering for him if Kerry ends up with the nomination. I want to live in the World 5.0 system as soon as possible and I think Kerry would actually decelerate that process rather than help it. I feel similarly about Dean and Edwards: both talk the talk of change but neither is really dedicated to the fundamental shifts necessary to launch World 5.0. Dean and Edwards are World 4.1 or 4.2, although both have worked rhetorical magic with their followers to give the impression that they are true agents of change.
There is, of course, one other option, which is what I've been putting all my energy into for the last six months: nominate Dennis Kucinich. I believe he's the leader we need for the new operating system. On all fronts, he is a champion for World 5.0 and he's got the specific platforms, experience, intelligence, and heart to pull it off.
The main problem has been a psychological one. Democrats have been so entranced by the ABB rhetoric and so afraid of Bush's war chest that even the most progressive factions have been stuck thinking we can't have 5.0 this round. We need to settle for someone who can beat Bush, they say, which means sticking as close to 4.0 as possible with a few phrases about change thrown in to appease the progressive wing of the party.
The problem with this logic is that anyone who is authentically, legitimately, and actively working for the emergence of 5.0 is going to run out of steam working for a candidate that is 4.1 or 4.2. They will get bored and lose interest. The youth won't get animated. The non-voting populace will grumble and return to non-participation. And the election will come down to a fight over the voting citizens who want something between 4.0 and 4.1. Those who are champions of the new operating system will be bored by the election and many will believe their time is better spent on local projects and initiatives.
I have been a passionate champion and campaigner for Dennis Kucinich and I continue to believe that we do have a window of opportunity to elect him as our president. However, that window will close in the next three weeks unless the trance is broken and the forces for World 5.0 rally fast around Dennis. I've been making peace in the last two days with the idea that if we don't have what it takes this time, we'll have a better shot at World 5.0 with four more years of Bush than with four years of World 4.1. It's grim but I think it's true.
There could, however, still be a major breakthrough of momentum. It's got to come from the youth. The gray haired change agents of the sixties aren't going to produce the breakthrough by themselves although we should honor them for continuing to carry the torch. It's people in their twenties and thirties who will have to add their rocket fuel. I also believe this burst of momentum can only effectively happen in California before the March 2nd election and that it would have to lead to a win. A second-place finish will not cut it. America only takes winners seriously and California is really the last hope for an actual win before it is too late. Without a win, Kucinich cannot build enough momentum to take the nomination from Kerry. With a win in CA, things could turn around quickly. So, we find ourselves with 18 days and long-shot hopes. But we can turn it around if the full vigor, passion, and power of the next generation of torchbearers blazes forth.
I have honestly done everything I know how to make the leap possible. It's now up to a lot of other people getting sparked and lighting wildfires everywhere they can in service to the transition to 5.0.
Otherwise, I'm going to plan for four more years of Bush and lay the groundwork for the connections, momentum, and energy to make the leap that we really need to happen in four more years. But I would accept that conclusion only with a heavy heart. We've got one last hurrah, torchbearers. Are you willing to go for it?
Information about the Kucinich campaign
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*Ø* Blogmanac | The last wall dividing East and West comes down
Peter Popham in Rome
13 February
"The last wall dividing Eastern and Western Europe is coming down. On the stroke of 10.30 yesterday morning, the mayors of Gorizia in Italy and Nova Gorica in Slovenia, divided since 1947, met at the border and in a brief ceremony inaugurated the wall's demolition.
"This is the far north-eastern corner of Italy, fought over for centuries by Italians, Austrians and Slovenes, invaded by Romans, Huns, Goths, Lombards, Nazis and even (in a little-known alliance with the Nazis) Cossacks. As long as Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union remained intact, Italy feared that Gorizia could become the entry point of a Soviet invasion.
"But now Slovenia is entering the EU, and on the eve of that event, at midnight on 30 April, the president of the European Commission, Romano Prodi, will strike a symbolic blow to the wall with a pickaxe, to mark the beginning of a new era."
Continue here
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*Ø* Blogmanac | The Computer Ate My Vote
TrueMajority is launching a campaign to protect the integrity of America's elections and avoid a replay of the embarrassing Florida election fiasco in 2000. Our goal is to raise $50,000 to run a grassroots campaign urging state election officials to prohibit the use of computerized voting machines until we know they are safe and have a way to run reliable recounts. Can you help?
America's elections should be sterling examples of representative government. But the Florida fiasco in 2000 was just the opposite, an embarrassment to our country. Unless we act now, we could see an even worse election disaster.
After the disputed presidential election, Congress allocated billions of dollars through the Help Americans Vote Act (HAVA) to improve America's voting machines.
Trouble is, many election officials are installing voting systems with touch-screen computerized voting machines that are vulnerable to the same problems as other computer technology, including crashes, power outages, viruses and hacking. Simple question: Has your computer ever crashed and lost important data? Now apply that lesson to our democracy.
The fledgling technology already has failed widely publicized tests. One hacker was able to open a locked machine and start changing votes. It took him less than a minute. Another hacker was able to intercept and change vote totals being sent to headquarters. Still other experts analyzed a computer voting software program and found serious problems.
Fortunately there's a simple, cost-effective, two-part solution:
All voting machines should produce a printout of each vote that could be used to audit the computer count, conduct recounts when necessary and otherwise serve as the backup system. You've heard "store a hard copy?" Voters are shown the printout of his or her vote for review before leaving the polling place, and the papers are saved by election officials. "Voter verified paper trail" is the fancy name for this simple safeguard.
Public election officials and their trusted technicians must be given full access to the touch-screen software and hardware to verify the sanctity of the voting process, prevent fraud and eliminate unintentional errors.
Last year, legislation was introduced to get Congress and President Bush to fix the obvious problems before the 2004 election. TrueMajority members sent 63,268 faxes supporting these bills, but the Congressional leadership refuses to grant even a hearing on the bills by Rep. Holt (D-NJ) and Senators Graham (D-FL) and Boxer (D-CA).
So, TrueMajority is directing a campaign at the elected officials who have the power to stop the use of computer voting machines this year or demand a verified paper trail: secretaries of state, who typically are in charge of state elections.
Showing the way, the secretaries of state of California, Washington and Nevada have protected their citizens by requiring touch-screen computer voting in their states to include a voter verified paper trail. Excellent start; now onto the rest of us.
We believe other secretaries of state, who are not used to hearing from citizens, will follow suit under grassroots pressure. And as each state signs on to these higher standards, the pressure will build on those secretaries of state who refuse. No one will want to be the last chief state election officer to protect his or her constituents.
All the secretaries of state will be in Washington, DC, on February 17 at a meeting, so we'll kickoff the campaign then with a press conference calling on them to protect their constituents. We've hired two organizers who'll then move the campaign into the states, targeting a handful at a time for local news conferences, op-eds, letters to the editor and meetings with the election officers. As more and more states sign on and the pressure builds, we'll move the campaign around the country until everyone is covered.
To wage this campaign, we need $50,000 by Friday, February 13.
Please help us create elections we can all be proud of. [All emphasis above, mine. -v]
Here's some background on this issue:
The companies that perfected touch-screen voting technology refuse to share it with anyone, including election officials. This prevents quality control, audits or just plain monitoring of the system to ensure it's working as planned. It also makes fraud easier to perpetrate by private-sector technicians and hard, if not impossible, to investigate. This is particularly troublesome because some of the corporations that make these machines, such as Diebold, have links to the Republican Party.
Taking the simple step of demanding a voter verified paper trail is both affordable and practical-and will allow our nation to use touch-screen voting for the benefits of easy accommodation of multiple languages, arrangements for people with disabilities and more. But currently, computer voting systems are too vulnerable to tampering and failure to risk using them in this year's elections.
TrueMajority is waging an organizing campaign because that's what we do. It's based on great substantive work by experts in computer technology and democracy protection. To learn more, check out target="_blank">www.verifiedvoting.org or target="_blank">www.calvoter.org/votingtechnology.html#resources
Thanks for helping to make this campaign possible,
Ben Cohen
President, TrueMajority.org
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Blogroll Us Wednesday, February 11, 2004
*Ø* Blogmanac | Ireland's Shakespeare?
John Sutherland responds to Roddy Doyle's criticism of James Joyce's Ulysses
 "'Ulysses could have done with a good editor'. A neat put-down, Mr Doyle, but less memorable than that of Mrs Joyce, the author's (very cut-him-down-to-size) wife: 'I guess the man's a genius, but what a 'dirty' mind he has, hasn't he?'
"Dirty it was. Most readers of Ulysses (and it's not 'quite' as gruelling or off-putting as Roddy Doyle suggests) rush with mounting excitement through the final, unpunctuated Penelope section (what, one wonders, would a good editor have done?) as Molly Bloom drifts into slumber, the events of her life swirling around her like snowflakes.
"Her stream of semi-consciousness rises to that sleepily orgasmic 'yes'. But what did Joyce 'mean'? What, in his (dirty) genius way, was he getting at? He explained his intentions to a friend, Frank Budgen (who may not have been much enlightened): ... "
Continue here
- Roddy Doyle slams Joyce
- Ireland gears up to mark 'Bloomsday' centenary with breakfast for 10,000 people on Dublin's historic O'Connell Street
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*Ø* Blogmanac | Three Fairly Sagacious Persons
By Paul Majendie
 London (Reuters) -- "The Three Wise Men who followed the star to Bethlehem bearing gifts for the baby Jesus may not have been all that wise -- or even men. The traditional infant Nativity play scene could be in for a drastic rewrite after the Church of England indulged in some academic gender-swapping over the three Magi at its General Synod in London this week.
"A committee revising the latest prayer book said the term 'Magi' was a transliteration of the name used by officials at the Persian court, and that they could well have been women. 'Magi is a word which discloses nothing about numbers, wisdom or gender embodied in the term,' a Synod spokesman said on Tuesday after the revision was agreed by the Church of England's parliament which meets twice a year ...
"Synod officials denied that the Church of England, a pillar of the Establishment in Britain, was being seized by an attack of political correctness and pandering to feminists. The decision was greeted by mocking newspaper headlines like 'The Three Fairly Sagacious Persons' and 'Is it unwise to call the Magi men?'"
Full text
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Blogroll Us Tuesday, February 10, 2004
*Ø* Blogmanac February 10, 1890 | Boris Pasternak
 1890 Boris Leonidovich Pasternak (d. 1960), Russian poet whose novel Doctor Zhivago helped win him the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1958 but aroused so much opposition in the Soviet Union that he declined the honour. He died on May 30, 1960, quite possibly starved to death because of having been banned by the state from working.
Did the Communists starve the Nobel-laureate author of Dr Zhivago?
Boris Pasternak, Russian winner of the 1958 Nobel Prize for Literature, in the years leading up to his death on May 30, 1968, suffered appalling persecution by his own government. He had won the Nobel Prize, but, like Alexander Solzhenitsyn after him, was told that if he left the USSR to attend the awards ceremony he would not be permitted to return. He was even expelled from the union of Soviet writers.
Evidence that the Communist regime of the Soviet Union might have wilfully starved Boris Pasternak to death emerged in a book, Moscow: Under the Skin, written by an Italian journalist, Viro Roberti.
Roberti interviewed the great author of Dr Zhivago several times during the ordeal. On March 15, 1960, Roberti met Pasternak, who was emaciated and sickly looking. The novelist told the interviewer, "I have been expelled from the Union of Soviet Writers so that I shall starve. No one publishes my poetry or my translations anymore, which was my daily bread. The first payments from my editor have been confiscated by order of the authorities …” Pasternak died ten weeks later, on May 30, 1960. The monopoly State, it seems, had exercised the full logic of its power, disallowing a genius, who had been but mildly critical of communism in Dr Zhivago, the right even to eat.
“In a February 21, 1966 newsletter, I wrote,“Communism may be defined as government by potential starvation. I have frequently tried to illustrate this power by the case of Boris Pasternak … I have repeatedly raised the question of whether he starved to death … I have never stated that the communists did starve him to death but have insisted that their system gave them the power to starve him and have questioned whether they did so. The same power controls all employment, all banks, all stores, all law courts, and all communications. The plight of an individual who falls foul of this power is obvious. Once dismissed from his job, he cannot secure another; if he has savings in the bank, he cannot withdraw them; he has no prospect of legal redress; he cannot sell his possessions; and he has no free press to publicize his condition. He retains the freedom to starve.”
"There is now evidence from his own statements that Pasternak himself was vitally concerned with this possibility. This evidence is presented in a book, Moscow Under the Skin, written by an Italian journalist, Viro Roberti, who interviewed Pasternak several times during his ordeal.”
Schwarz, Dr Fred, The Three Faces of Revolution, Prospect House, Washington, USA, 1972, pp 43-48
"Suddenly (Pasternak’s) eyes lit up and in a harsh voice he exclaimed: 'They have taken away this money in the hope that I will go down on my knees and disown my novel and my poetry. But nothing will ever make me yield ... I yield only to death!'
"Two days later the same friend, whose name I cannot reveal, came to see me at the Central Telegraph Office and told me that Boris Pasternak was 'gol kak sokol' (hungry as a hawk), extremely poor and had to borrow money to exist. 'All his works have been ostracised. Boris Leonidovich is unaware that his brother Alexander helps him and seeks help for him from his friends. If he knew this he would rather starve to death. He is also very ill!'"
Viro, Roberti, Moscow: Under the Skin (Geoffrey Bles, London, 1961), pp. 212-216
This is just a snippet of today's stories. Read all about today in folklore, historical oddities, inspiration and alternatives at the Wilson's Almanac Book of Days, every day. Click today's date when you're there.
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*Ø* Blogmanac | How Global Warming May Cause the Next Ice Age
 New research on the Great Ocean conveyor belt and climatology show How Global Warming May Cause the Next Ice Age.
A report in The Independent claims new research also suggests Britain is likely to be plunged into an ice age within our lifetime by global warming. Some reports claim Climate Collapse is The Pentagon's Weather Nightmare. Current models of climate change assume a gradual process, but some geoscientists say Sudden Climate Change is the historical norm. While there is a vigorous debate in scientific circles over whether global warming matters, Tony Blair's chief scientist has launched a withering attack on President George Bush for failing to tackle climate change, which he says is more serious than terrorism. While Bush dithers on climate change for the benefit of corporations, New England states confront Bush with climate change plans. The World Health Organisation recently said 150,000 people died due to global warming in 2000, and the death toll could double again in the next 30 years if current trends are not reversed. Another scientific paper predicted Global Warming to Kill Off 10 per cent of Species by 2050. Global Warming is likely to trigger a potential water crisis globally, and Hotter summers, fewer frosts for Australia. Debates and Actions around and outside the Climate Conference in Milan in December 2003 highlighted the root cause of climate change, the fossil fuel economy. According to a recent report to US Dept. of Energy on Peak Oil, "Peaking will be catastrophic". The lack of action by the United Nations, should make people around the world aware not to depend on states and corporations, but instead to create social-ecological alternatives in our daily lives. Or maybe its time to start preparing for Life after the Oil Crash. Rising Tide climate Justice Network | Vital Climate Graphics | The discovering of Global Warming
Read more
Source: Indymedia
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Blogroll Us Sunday, February 08, 2004
*Ø* Blogmanac February 8 | Prešeren Day, Slovenia (Slovenija)
My presence here has been sparse for a few days due to the ill health of a friend. I'm grateful that the other Blogmanac team members held the fort.
I'm back with a little bit of Slovenian culture. Happy Prešeren Day to our Slovenian readers! How admirable that one of your main national holidays is in honour of a poet. Australia is light years behind you.
 Prešeren Day, is the Republic of Slovenia’s national cultural holiday that commemorates the death of the national poet, France Prešeren. Today is a public holiday, and there will be plays, poetry recitations and other commemorative cultural events.
The romantic poet, Prešeren, who was an alcoholic, published in 1846 his great poetic collection, Poezije. The quality of Poezij put Slovenian literature on an equal footing with all the European nations.
Prešeren translated into the native tongue foreign poets, such as Lord Byron, Buerger and Poland’s Mickiewicz. He died on this day in 1849 and was buried in Kranj.
* Ø * Ø * Ø *
How the Slovenes got their piece of land
It was at the eighth day after God created the universe. That day he decided to give away land to different nations so they could live on their own in peace.
There were representatives of many big nations as France, Germany, Italy and among them were Slovenians. However, as the people of Slovenia (who had not yet been granted a homeland) were small in number, all the members of the large groups pushed them away from God, so he could not heard their pleas for a piece of land.
When God had disbursed all the land, and all the peoples of the earth had gone to their allotted land, only the Slovene people remained, begging God for a place to live. God told them that there was no land left to give away, but the Slovenians asked him again, and God said, "Well, there is a small piece of land that I left for myself as a place to live. It is small but my most beautiful creation. This pocket of land I shall give to your nation, so you may have a place to live forever!"
This is just a snippet of today's stories. Read all about today in folklore, historical oddities, inspiration and alternatives at the Wilson's Almanac Book of Days, every day. Click today's date when you're there.
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*Ø* Blogmanac | So it comes to THIS?!
CITIZENS FOR LEGITIMATE GOVERNMENT http://www.legitgov.org
Launches B.Y.O.B., Bring Your Own “paper” Ballot, Campaign for “Election” 2004
CLG Founder and Honorary Chair, Michael D. Rectenwald, announced the CLG's inauguration of the B.Y.O.B., Bring Your Own “paper” Ballot, campaign. The group calls for voters in the 2004 presidential contest to print, fill-out, and notarize their own copy of the CLG paper ballot receipt, as a safeguard against the known flaws and vulnerabilities of touch-screen voting and the recent history of discarding votes and overthrowing election results.
With the ruling against paper voting trails in touch-and-go touch-screen states like Florida, the coming national Presidential “election” for 2004 is in jeopardy. Touch-screen voting is notorious for the many flaws and software insecurities. Furthermore, as the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported, Wally O’Dell, the CEO of Diebold, one of the leading suppliers of touch-screen voting machines, has pledged his support of G.W. Bush, held fund-raisers, and contributed greatly to his re-selection campaign.
Since America cannot afford a repeat of coup 2000, the CLG is designing a paper ballot receipt, and calling for all voters, of whatever political persuasion, to print and bring their own paper ballot receipts with them to the polls, and to retain them for verification purposes.
The CLG has begun the design of such a paper ballot receipt and will have it ready when the Democratic nominee and other candidates are in place. “It’s a sad statement for American electoral politics that we have to ask citizens to bring their own ballots to verify their votes, but given the abysmal history of this nation in discarding the democratic elections process, we feel such an action is in order,” said Lori Price, CLG General Manager.
The CLG is an admittedly anti-Bush group: "The Bush coup has eventuated a continuous onslaught of anti-democratic, anti-worker, anti-women, anti-majority, anti-environmental, anti-other-than-Big Business policies that have gravely eroded our personal rights, handed the nation's treasury over to Bush-friendly looters, ruined our economy, run up deficits, turned the US into imperialist conquistadors in Afghanistan and Iraq, rejected the world criminal court and the Kyoto protocol, and gravely injured our moral and political standing in the court of world opinion,” said Rectenwald.
“But our main objective is a fair and legitimate election of a legitimate President.”
SOURCE
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