We all remember the election of 2000. Because of faulty and mismanaged election systems, George W. Bush won Florida's electoral votes and the presidency. And now look at the mess we're in.

People demanded improvements, and now states are spending millions to buy new voting machines. So far, so good. But many key states, including Florida, Ohio and other battlegrounds, are installing "black box" voting machines -- computer voting terminals that don't produce a paper ballot.

Without a paper ballot, there's no way to know if our votes are counted correctly. Also, computers are vulnerable to malfunction -- how often does yours freeze up?

It's time to take action to protect our votes. Join our call for Voter-Verified Paper Ballots, at:

http://www.moveon.org/protectourvotes/

If ATMs and gas pumps can print receipts, then voting terminals can print paper ballots. Every voter should be able to make sure that his or her vote will count as it was cast, by verifying a paper ballot that can be audited and re-counted. And wherever electronic voting terminals are used, backup paper ballots should also be available, so no voters will be turned away from the polling place if the terminals aren't working.

Over the past few weeks, MoveOn members have been calling legislators and officials in many states to demand Voter-Verified Paper Ballots. And along with other citizen's groups, large and small, we have won important victories.

A month ago, our side won its biggest victory yet. California Secretary of State Kevin Shelley decertified 14,000 black box voting terminals made by Diebold Inc., and said that this November, every California voter will be able to vote on a paper ballot.

Every voter in every state should have the same right -- to verify that his or her vote was recorded correctly, with full confidence that it will be counted correctly. We shouldn't have to hand our elections over to manufacturers like Diebold and blindly trust them with the results.

This is not about partisan politics. It's about the foundation of our democracy: our votes. There's no reason Americans should have anything less than the most accessible, secure and reliable voting system possible.

Join our campaign by clicking this link:

http://www.moveon.org/protectourvotes/

Thank you, for everything you do.

Sincerely,
--Carrie, Joan, Noah, Peter, and Wes
The MoveOn.org Team
Wednesday, June 2nd, 2004

P.S.: See our website for helpful background information on this issue.

Limbaugh on Torturing Iraqis: U.S Guards Were Just "Having a Good Time"

Media Matters/Paul Joseph Watson | Updated May 7 2004

Hours before President George W. Bush announced plans to address the Arab world to condemn the abuse of Iraqi prisoners by U.S. military personnel at the Abu Ghraib prison, Rush Limbaugh justified the U.S. guards' mistreatment of the Iraqis, stating that they were just "having a good time," and that their actions served as an "emotional release."

From the May 4 Rush Limbaugh Show, titled "It's Not About Us; This Is War!":

CALLER: It was like a college fraternity prank that stacked up naked men --

LIMBAUGH: Exactly. Exactly my point! This is no different than what happens at the Skull and Bones initiation and we're going to ruin people's lives over it and we're going to hamper our military effort, and then we are going to really hammer them because they had a good time. You know, these people are being fired at every day. I'm talking about people having a good time, these people, you ever heard of emotional release? You of heard of need to blow some steam off?

The day before, on his May 3 show, Limbaugh observed that the American troops who mistreated Iraqi prisoners of war were "babes" and that the pictures of the alleged abuse were no worse than "anything you'd see Madonna, or Britney Spears do on stage."

LIMBAUGH: And these American prisoners of war -- have you people noticed who the torturers are? Women! The babes! The babes are meting out the torture.

LIMBAUGH: You know, if you look at -- if you, really, if you look at these pictures, I mean, I don't know if it's just me, but it looks just like anything you'd see Madonna, or Britney Spears do on stage. Maybe I'm -- yeah. And get an NEA grant for something like this. I mean, this is something that you can see on stage at Lincoln Center from an NEA grant, maybe on Sex in the City -- the movie. I mean, I don't -- it's just me.

The official US Army report listed all the abuses committed at the prison. Rush Limbaugh labels the following as 'just having a good time' and 'blowing some steam off'.

a. (U) Breaking chemical lights and pouring the phosphoric liquid on detainees;

b. (U) Threatening detainees with a charged 9mm pistol;

c. (U) Pouring cold water on naked detainees;

d. (U) Beating detainees with a broom handle and a chair;

e. (U) Threatening male detainees with rape;

f. (U) Allowing a military police guard to stitch the wound of a detainee who was injured after being slammed against the wall in his cell;

g. (U) Sodomizing a detainee with a chemical light and perhaps a broom stick.

h. (U) Using military working dogs to frighten and intimidate detainees with threats of attack, and in one instance actually biting a detainee.

.................

a. (S) Punching, slapping, and kicking detainees; jumping on their naked feet;

b. (S) Videotaping and photographing naked male and female detainees;

c. (S) Forcibly arranging detainees in various sexually explicit positions for photographing;

d. (S) Forcing detainees to remove their clothing and keeping them naked for several days at a time;

e. (S) Forcing naked male detainees to wear women’s underwear;

f. (S) Forcing groups of male detainees to masturbate themselves while being photographed and videotaped;

g. (S) Arranging naked male detainees in a pile and then jumping on them;

h. (S) Positioning a naked detainee on a MRE Box, with a sandbag on his head, and attaching wires to his fingers, toes, and penis to simulate electric torture;

i. (S) Writing “I am a Rapest” (sic) on the leg of a detainee alleged to have forcibly raped a 15-year old fellow detainee, and then photographing him naked;

j. (S) Placing a dog chain or strap around a naked detainee’s neck and having a female Soldier pose for a picture;

k. (S) A male MP guard having sex with a female detainee; [FORGET THE DOUBLE SPEAK, THIS IS RAPE]

l. (S) Using military working dogs (without muzzles) to intimidate and frighten detainees, and in at least one case biting and severely injuring a detainee;

m. (S) Taking photographs of dead Iraqi detainees.

ALL OF THE ABOVE ACTIVITIES ARE DESCRIBED BY LIMBAUGH AS 'BLOWING SOME STEAM OFF AND HAVING A GOOD TIME'. SO, ACCORDING TO LIMBAUGH, IF YOU HAVE A BAD DAY AT WORK, JUST GO AND FIND A WOMAN, POUR BATTERY ACID ON HER, RAPE HER AND THEN BEAT HER TO DEATH - YOU'LL JUST BE BLOWING SOME STEAM OFF!

Neo-Con talk show hosts across the country from Limbaugh to Michael Savage are making outbursts on a daily basis that would make Adolph Hitler or Joseph Stalin blush. Savage openly calls for putting anyone who criticizes the government in a forced labor camp.

In an age of increasing regulation of free speech, it's astounding that talk show hosts with tens of millions of listeners can get away with advocating torture, rape and murder. The new definition of 'conservatism' according to Limbaugh is making naked men perform homosexual acts for laughs. The world truely has turned upside down.

http://prisonplanet.tv/articles/may2004/050604limbaughontorturing.htm

Wouldn't it be great if we had a giant sea of red on EVERY FRIDAY!
Maybe even the giant egos of the administration might get the message
that the people are dissatisfied with the bullshit.
******************************************************
Here's a simple idea that could turn big. I am going to do this -
it's ideal - if it works we will feel much better - even if I am the only red
shirt in town -no loss.
******************************************************

My name is Nadia Jensen and I have an idea for a quiet revolution.

Please take 5 minutes to read my email and then help me if
you can: Here's some history behind this idea: When Norway was occupied by
Germany in 1940, Norwegian women began to knit RED caps for children as a
way of letting everyone know that they did not like what was happening in their country, that they didn't like having their freedom taken away by the Nazis.
My great aunt, Karin Knudson Myrstad, was one of the women who knit red caps
for her children and others. Similarly, in Denmark, women knit red-white-and
blue caps (colors of the Allies) for the very same reason.

The result was that whenever Norwegians and Danes left their homes --to go to
the store, to work, etc, they could see that THE MAJORITY opposed what was
going on in their country. As you know, both countries organized effective
Resistance efforts and changed history -- everything that happened began simply by wearing red!!!! (or the colors of the Allies, in Denmark).

I believe, as many of us do, that at the very heart of our
democracy is our right to oppose certain policies of our government.
Increasingly, our Government is redefining "freedom" in ways that make too
many Americans perceive that it is risky to oppose his policies -- and, in particular, current inroads about individual freedoms and policies in the U.S. and abroad.

However, many of us DO oppose what our government is doing to individual
rights--and I have an idea that will allow all of us to recognize each other very easily so we can see that WE ARE THE MAJORITY.
SO... I have been thinking that it's time to take action in a way
that is effective and easy for all of us to do: Just wear red every Friday
between now and election day.

Wear a little or a lot-- just be sure that when you leave your house to go
about your day -- to work, to school, to the store, to the gas station, wherever you go in your daily routine -- that everyone who sees you will
see that you are wearing red because you believe in freedom and you don't
agree with our current administration's policies at home and abroad. I'm
really certain that we'll see that lots of us wearing red for freedom -- because WE ARE THE MAJORITY. We just need a way to show each other who we are!!! Between now and election day, ask everyone you know to wear red for "Freedom Fridays".
I have already spread the word to friends and have had a very enthusiastic
response. This email has been forwarded around the country by many who receive
it - feel free to send in on to your friends and co-workers.

Nadia Jensen

LOS ANGELES — Walt Disney Co. (DIS) is blocking its Miramax Films division from distributing Michael Moore's documentary Fahrenheit 911, which criticizes President Bush, according to a statement on Moore's Web site.

The film is highly critical of Bush's handling of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and his actions leading up the attacks. It links Bush with powerful Saudi families, including that of Osama bin Laden.

"I would have hoped by now that I would be able to put my work out to the public without having to experience the profound censorship obstacles I often seem to encounter," Moore wrote in the statement.

Spokesmen for Miramax and Disney did not return calls early Wednesday.

Moore attributes Disney's decision to concerns that the documentary will endanger tax breaks the company receives from Florida and anger Bush's brother, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.

Disney has a contractual agreement with Miramax principals Bob and Harvey Weinstein allowing it to prevent the company from distributing films under certain circumstances, such as an NC-17 rating, according to The New York Times, which first reported the story.

The Disney edict could herald the bloodiest political battle yet between Miramax's feisty Harvey Weinstein and Disney CEO Michael Eisner, who oversaw the purchase of Miramax a decade ago, Hollywood trade paper Daily Variety said.

"Some people may be afraid of this movie because of what it will show," Moore wrote. "But there's nothing they can do about it now because it's done, it's awesome, and if I have anything to say about it, you'll see it this summer — because, after all, it is a free country."

The often confrontational director won an Oscar for his 2002 documentary Bowling for Columbine, about the Columbine High School shooting and U.S. gun control policy. He's also known for the 1989 film Roger & Me, which explored the effects of General Motors on his hometown of Flint, Mich.

Fahrenheit 911 will be one of 18 films in competition next week at the Cannes Film Festival, Moore wrote.

Rumors had been circulating of a July release date in North America, but the film does not appear on Miramax's summer schedule, Daily Variety said.

It quoted a Miramax spokesman as saying that the company was "looking forward to resolving this amicably."

Tonite the WPB City Commission voted unanimously to approve Ordinance No. 3752-04 banning persons under 21 from attending clubs and venues that serve alcohol in the City of WPB.
Most commisioners did seem to agree that the language of the ordinance would need to be studied in workshop (within 30 days) with industry experts in order to help them come up with appropriate language that would allow exemptions on a case by case basis.

There are still problems with this rush to vote and many questions left unanswered.
Why wasn't the vote postponed until proper language could be inserted?
How long is this workshop going to take and who will be invited?
Local promoter input would be CRITICAL.

Why is the city NOT enforcing current laws? This could solve their problems.
Why pass a blanket ordinance over the entire city?
If certain clubs have been cited repeatedly... WHY are they still open?
If a business gets 3 liquor violations for serving a minor their license is supposed to be suspended!
If they get 5, a petition can be brought forth to revoke it.
Why is the ATF not enforcing any of these laws?
Why is the city not enforcing any of these laws?
Both have the authority to do this, but they are not. Why aren't they?
If this is really the problem, the city has a very easy solution , why won't they pursue it?

Lastly, I have yet to be convinced that persons under 21 are causing most of the crime.
One statistic from a local press associate states that only about 200 of 1500 arrests within the last year were under the age of 21. If accurate, that's just over 10%!
I do not believe the commission has undertaken an honest statistical analysis of the "crime problem".
This should always be done BEFORE any new law or ordinance comes up for a vote!
I would also hazard to guess that the data would NOT support their argument.

This doesn't need to be an adversarial process.
We can and should work together on this.
I wholeheartedly look forward to a round-table discussion to come up with an equitable solution for all involved.

Ordinance No. 3752-04
NOT THE SOLUTION.