Hi. I know voting machines are today's headlines but I want to emphasize how fortunate we are to have such a briliant, dedicated public servant who somehow is able to formulate and effect critical public policy. Also, the AP report is the shortest and most straightforward I've read. -Ed
Date: Sat, 4 Aug 2007 01:20:43 -0400 From: All the News That Doesn't Fit <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Star Tribune - August 02, 2007 http://www.startribune.com/10204/story/1339911.html Why the Minneapolis bridge collapsed "A trillion spent in Iraq, while schools crumble, there aren't enough cops on the street and bridges decay while our leaders cross their fingers and ignore the rising chances of disaster." [And a good part of the trillion spent in Iraq has been to privatize even that ultimate national involvement - and 'they' intend much more. - Ed] By Nick Coleman The cloud of dust above the Mississippi that rose after the Interstate 35W bridge collapsed Wednesday evening has dissipated. But there are other dark clouds still hanging over Minneapolis and Minnesota. The fear of falling is a primal one, along with the fear of being trapped or of drowning. Minneapolis suffered a perfect storm of nightmares Wednesday evening, as anyone who couldn't sleep last night can tell you. Including the parents who clench their jaws and tighten their hands on the wheel every time they drive a carload of strapped-in kids across a steep chasm or a rushing river. Don't panic, you tell yourself. The people in charge of this know what they are doing. They make sure that the bridges stay standing. And if there were a problem, they would tell us. Wouldn't they? What if they didn't? The death bridge was "structurally deficient," we now learn, and had a rating of just 50 percent, the threshold for replacement. But no one appears to have erred on the side of public safety. The errors were all the other way. Would you drive your kids or let your spouse drive over a bridge that had a sign saying, "CAUTION: Fifty-Percent Bridge Ahead"? No, you wouldn't. But there wasn't any warning on the Half Chance Bridge. There was nothing that told you that you might be sitting in your over-heated car, bumper to bumper, on a hot summer day, thinking of dinner with your wife or of going to see the Twins game or taking your kids for a walk to Dairy Queen later when, in a rumble and a roar, the world you knew would pancake into the river. There isn't any bigger metaphor for a society in trouble than a bridge falling, its concrete lanes pointing brokenly at the sky, its crumpled cars pointing down at the deep waters where people disappeared. Only this isn't a metaphor. The focus at the moment is on the lives lost and injured and the heroic efforts of rescuers and first-responders - good Samaritans and uniformed public servants. Minnesotans can be proud of themselves, and of their emergency workers who answered the call. But when you have a tragedy on this scale, it isn't just concrete and steel that has failed us. So far, we are told that it wasn't terrorists or tornados that brought the bridge down. But those assurances are not reassuring. They are troubling. If it wasn't an act of God or the hand of hate, and it proves not to be just a lousy accident - a girder mistakenly cut, a train that hit a support - then we are left to conclude that it was worse than any of those things, because it was more mundane and more insidious: This death and destruction was the result of incompetence or indifference. In a word, it was avoidable. That means it should never have happened. And that means that public anger will follow our sorrow as sure as night descended on the missing. For half a dozen years, the motto of state government and particularly that of Gov. Tim Pawlenty has been No New Taxes. It's been popular with a lot of voters and it has mostly prevailed. So much so that Pawlenty vetoed a 5-cent gas tax increase - the first in 20 years - last spring and millions were lost that might have gone to road repair. And yes, it would have fallen even if the gas tax had gone through, because we are years behind a dangerous curve when it comes to the replacement of infrastructure that everyone but wingnuts in coonskin caps agree is one of the basic duties of government. I'm not just pointing fingers at Pawlenty. The outrage here is not partisan. It is general. Both political parties have tried to govern on the cheap, and both have dithered and dallied and spent public wealth on stadiums while scrimping on the basics. How ironic is it that tonight's scheduled groundbreaking for a new Twins ballpark has been postponed? Even the stadium barkers realize it is in poor taste to celebrate the spending of half a billion on ballparks when your bridges are falling down. Perhaps this is a sign of shame. If so, it is welcome. Shame is overdue. At the federal level, the parsimony is worse, and so is the negligence. A trillion spent in Iraq, while schools crumble, there aren't enough cops on the street and bridges decay while our leaders cross their fingers and ignore the rising chances of disaster. And now, one has fallen, to our great sorrow, and people died losing a gamble they didn't even know they had taken. They believed someone was guarding the bridge. We need a new slogan and we needed it yesterday: "No More Collapses." === Op-Ed: Two Bridges Collapse... One in Minneapolis, the other with global humanity by Joan M. St. Paul, Minnesota St. Paul, Aug 4, 2007 (NY Transfer)--As I read Nick Coleman's Aug 2 article* in the Minneapolis Star Tribune ("Why the Minneapolis Bridge Collapsed") my mind kept making comparisons to the terrorism against the people of Iraq. Think of the bridges and/or other essential infrastructure (for example that which supports the water system) we have blown up, not only in Iraq but dozens of other countries. Think of the people who are shot and killed just trying to get past a checkpoint in Iraq and Palestine. These Iraqis and Palestinians are not just doing what Nick Coleman envisions of the Minneapolis victims: "thinking of dinner with your wife or of going to see the Twins game or taking your kids for a walk to Dairy Queen later when, in a rumble and a roar, the world you knew would pancake into the river." These Iraqis and Palestinians are thinking about how they will survive another day, how they will feed their children, how they will get clean water, whether their home will be invaded by the US terrorists or their puppets. If only the Iraqis and Palestinians, as well as other victims of imperialism, could take a few minutes to think about a ball game or a walk with the kid to buy ice cream, they would have a few minutes of hope. So, in my opinion, the collapse of the Minneapolis bridge is symbolic of not just the apathy and the willful ignorance of the people of Minnesota. It is also symbolic of the apathy and willful ignorance of the people of the US--willing themselves NOT to know that the US is following its well-worn path of destroying the infrastructure and lives of millions of innocents around the world for the purpose of profit for the few. The people were warned: Ralph Nader in 2000 especially spoke over and over about the deteriorating infrastructure in the US. The response of the Democrats and the majority of the so-called progressives was to do everything they could to shut him up, so he did not make Gore look bad. Ditto for 2004 with Kerry. Yes, indeed, the majority of progressives did everything possible to shut out truth and reality for the purpose of making sure one of the moneyed interest-chosen candidates was elected. Folks, forget electoral politics. Boycott the vote until big money is out of our electoral system. Establish a shadow government of which you can be proud. No moral human being can be proud of the State nor the US political moneyed-interest elected "leaders" whose path is to hell. There is no such thing as the "lesser evil" when the moneyed interests are the evil controllers. -JM *** California Restricts Voting Machines By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Published: August 4, 2007 Filed at 10:55 a.m. ET <http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Voting-Machines.html?_r=2&hp&oref=slogin&oref=slogin#secondParagraph>Skip to next paragraph Related <http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/28/us/28vote.html>Scientists' Tests Hack Into Electronic Voting Machines in California and Elsewhere (July 28, 2007) SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) -- California's top elections official placed rigorous security conditions on voting equipment used in dozens of counties and limited the use of two of the most widely used machines statewide. Secretary of State Debra Bowen announced the measures minutes before midnight Friday, making good on a promise to tell counties at least six months before California's Feb. 5 presidential primary if their voting equipment would be decertified. The announcement leaves the most affected counties with little time to find alternate equipment in time for the primary. The decision follows an eight-week security review of voting systems used in all but a few of California's 58 counties. <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/u/university_of_california/index.html?inline=nyt-org>University of California computer experts found that voting machines sold by three companies -- Diebold Election Systems, Hart InterCivic and Sequoia Voting Systems -- were vulnerable to hackers and that voting results could be altered. Bowen said she had decertified the machines, then recertified them on the condition they meet her new security standards. She also limited the Diebold and Sequoia machines to one per polling place. That will force some counties to find replacement equipment on a tight schedule. Bowen ordered the review, which was released last week, to ensure California would not face the same doubts about the accuracy of its voting systems that hit Florida after the 2000 election and Ohio in 2004. The additional requirements she imposed included banning all modem or wireless connections to the machines to prevent them from being linked to an outside computer or the Internet. She also required a full manual count of all votes cast on Diebold or Sequoia machines to ensure accuracy. Bowen said the study revealed some vulnerabilities that would allow hackers to manipulate the systems ''with little chance of detection and with dire consequences.'' Her review also found that the machines posed problems for disabled voters. Company officials have downplayed the results of Bowen's review, saying they reflected unrealistic, worst-case scenarios that would be counteracted by security measures taken by the companies and local election officials. Officials with Sequoia said they were disappointed with Bowen's withdrawal of the company's certification but would make necessary improvements. They said their equipment is accurate and secure. Hart InterCivic issued a news release defending its equipment and promising to comply with Bowen's requirements. A message left with Diebold early Saturday was not immediately returned. Machines made by a fourth company, Election Systems & Software, were not included in the review because it was late providing information the secretary of state's office needed, said Nicole Winger, a spokeswoman for Bowen. The secretary of state launched a separate review of that company's Inkavote Plus system, which is used only in Los Angeles County. On Friday, Bowen said she had decertified that equipment but would review and reconsider it. === Date: Sat, 4 Aug 2007 01:32:39 -0400 From: All the News That Doesn't Fit <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> sent by David Swanson - Aug 3, 2007 http://afterdowningstreet.org/node/25399 41 Congress Members Publicly for Impeachment By David Swanson Forty-one Congress Members now stand in one manner or another for impeachment. Seventeen have signed on as cosponsors of H. Res. 333, a bill proposing articles of impeachment against Vice President Dick Cheney. H Res 333 cosponsors include: Dennis Kucinich, Jan Schakowsky, Maxine Waters, Hank Johnson, Keith Ellison, Lynn Woolsey, Barbara Lee, Albert Wynn, William Lacy Clay, Yvette Clarke, Jim McDermott, Jim Moran, Bob Filner, Sam Farr, Robert Brady, Tammy Baldwin, Donald Payne. Twenty-five have signed onto H Res. 589, a bill proposing the impeachment of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. The cosponsors are Jay Inslee, Xavier Becerra, Michael Arcuri, Ben Chandler, Dennis Moore, Bruce Braley, Tom Udall, Earl Blumenauer, Peter DeFazio, Hank Johnson, Steve Cohen, Keith Ellison, David Wu, Yvette Clarke, Darlene Hooley, Betty McCollum, Timothy Bishop, Barney Frank, Carolyn Maloney, Ed Perlmutter, Tammy Baldwin, Shelley Berkley, Raul Grijalva, Ed Pastor, Ellen Tauscher. Only Johnson, Ellison, Clarke, and Baldwin have signed onto both bills. (17 + 25 -4 = 38) Congressmen Jesse Jackson Jr. and Maurice Hinchey have recently said that they support the impeachment of Cheney and Bush, but have not yet signed onto any bills. (38 + 2 = 40) Other Congress Members have said privately that they favor impeachment but not these bills, even that they would only support impeachment if it included Bush. The lack of cross-over support between the two existing bills is an indication of the importance of petty personal politics within Congress, and the extent to which Congress Members will sign onto a bill based on who the sponsor and cosponsors are and who asks them, and whether anyone asks them, to sign on. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has opposed impeachment since May 2006, but this week said that if she were not the Speaker she would probably be backing impeachment, and that impeachment of Gonzales is clearly merited. (40 + 1 = 41) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- LAAMN: Los Angeles Alternative Media Network --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Unsubscribe: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Digest: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Help: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Post: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive1: <http://www.egroups.com/messages/laamn> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive2: <http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yahoo! 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