From Democracy Now!

Amy Goodman interview video online with transcript;

http://tinyurl.com/yfpojs  

Freepress article follows;

by Bob Fitrakis & Harvey Wasserman
October 30, 2006

COLUMBUS—With a major GOP federal court victory, the Ohio 2006 election has descended into the calculated chaos that has become the trademark of a Karl Rove election theft, and that could help keep the Congress in Republican hands nationwide.

Through a complex series of legal maneuvers, and now a shocking new decision from the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, the GOP has thrown Ohio’s entire process of voting and vote counting into serious disarray. The mess is perfectly designed to suppress voter turnout, make election monitoring and a recount impossible, and allow the Republican Party to emerge with a victory despite overwhelming evidence the electorate wants exactly the opposite.

The disaster in Ohio began immediately after the theft of the presidential election here in 2004. Though the majority of Ohioans are registered Democrats, the gerrymandered state legislature is overwhelmingly Republican. Soon after John Kerry conceded, it passed House Bill 3, a draconian assault on voter registration drives, voting rights and the ability to secure reliable recounts of federal-level elections.

In brief, HB3 stacked a virtually impossible set of requirements onto the voter registration process. As elsewhere nationwide, voting has traditionally involved citizens coming to the polls and signing a poll book. Upon a signature check from a poll worker, a ballot has been given. A similar process has been in effect for absentee ballots. There is no recent evidence this method has encouraged significant voter fraud. Read more

 

victoria_parks_mth.jpg

Hot off the Press a new song from Victoria Parks 

Bye Bye Blackwell

Fighting electoral fraud in song. Victoria inspires from the heart.

 

Submitted by Moderator

7877-rove.jpgPLEASE WATCH ONN

OHIO NEWS NETWORK TV

Time:
SUNDAY 10-29-06 AT NOON AND 7 PM,

ALSO MONDAY 10-30-06 AT 3 PM.

DR BOB WILL BE ON TV. TELL YOUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS

Moderator

bob_fitrakis020_mth.jpg

For The Greene County Dailies (Beavercreek News-Current, Fairborn Daily Herald, Xenia Daily Gazette)

CANDIDATE QUESTIONAIRE

1. Family – are you married? children? How important is family to you and what kind of life to you try to provide for your family? In what kind of home were you raised and how did that affect you?

Married. No children. I spend as much time as possible with my wife. We work at the same college. There were 8 children in my family and we attended the Missionary Church. This taught me to be truthful and true to God’s will even if my viewpoints are unpopular.

2. What are your hobbies or ways you relax?

I like to work out at the YMCA, walk in local parks and hike in Hocking Hills or Yellow Springs, and watch movies all with my wife. I also like to watch the History Channel and sports, and read.3. Education and professional background? Personal passion? Life goal?

Ph.D. political science and J.D. I have taught political science for 26 years, the last 21 at Columbus State Community College. I have written eleven books. I edit the Columbus Free Press and my passion is for social justice. Goal to afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted.4. Influences- is there a certain person that influenced you, a circumstance you faced or other experiences that helped shape your life?

My father, who stood strong at our church against racial discrimination and, after being laid off from the auto industry, took a job as a sanitation worker to support our family. The Detroit riots of 1967 shaped my life and I vowed never to allow racial prejudices to divide people.

5. Do you have a personal motto or set of guidelines you try to live by?

I believe in Jefferson’s motto, that the price of freedom is eternal vigilance. I try to treat my neighbors as I would have them treat me and I believe on should never fear speaking truth to power. My guidelines are teachings of Jesus, Gandhi and King.

6. The biggest personal challenge you’ve faced so far?

My biggest personal challenge was completing my Ph.D. and J.D. I came from a family where my mother and father both dropped out of school before finishing the 10th grade, as did my older brother and sister.

7. The accomplishment that makes you most proud? The best thing about life so far?

An accomplishment I am proud of is winning the Distinguished Teaching Award at Columbus State in 1991. I love the challenge of getting college students to think in a world where ideas and books are often not valued.

8. Most difficult and best thing about being involved in politics?

The most difficult thing is the time involved. The best thing is the feeling that you are contributing to the marketplace of ideas and improving the dialogue in the community.

9. What are you looking forward to? Something you’ve always wanted to do but haven’t yet? Something you have yet to accomplish?

I look forward to working fulltime with my wife, traveling the country and writing about the great events of the day. I love to go to Greece and visit my grandfather’s home. I’d like to write an autobiography focusing on my family history.

10. Anything you wish we’d asked but didn’t? A quirk people might not know about you? Anything else you’d like people to know (this could be anything from your favorite food to your biggest fear or love of

turtles)

I raised two Vietnamese pot-bellied pigs and they taught me a lot about politics and diplomacy.

 

 

 

 

walkleft1.gifWill Ken Blackwell find the ways to steal Ohio 2006 as he did in 2004?
by Bob Fitrakis and Harvey Wasserman
October 26, 2006

The man who stole Ohio for George W. Bush in 2004 is now trying to steal it for himself in 2006. The question is: who will stop him, and will he also affect the balance of power in the U.S. Congress?

As election day approaches, Blackwell’s dirty tricks sink ever deeper.

Blackwell is now using “push polls” made infamous by Karl Rove. True to form, child molestation charges are front and center. He has also escalated the mass disenfranchisement of Ohio voters, trashing the ballots of some ten percent of absentee voters. He has eliminated the state-wide ballot initiative meant to save workers rights and wages. He’s even tried to strike the Democratic gubernatorial nominee from the ballot altogether. All of which could affect not only his race for governor, but key U.S. Senate and House races as well.

Blackwell is using Rove’s notoriously deceptive push poll device to spread an unsubstantiated smear against his Democratic gubernatorial opponent, Ted Strickland. Push polls were rendered infamous when Rove used them in South Carolina to falsely suggest that Senator John McCain had fathered a mixed-race child. Often the impact of push polls is magnified by callers to talk shows that spread additional street rumors, as in the lie that McCain impregnated a black hooker. The reality in McCain’s case: he had adopted a child from one of Mother Teresa’s orphanages and prominently displayed her in his campaign literature. Read more

From Daily Kos

original @ http://tinyurl.com/y3va5e 
by robkallopednews

Sat Oct 21, 2006 at 12:23:40 PM PDT

This article will recap the the evolution of the last few days of news regarding voter roll purging in Ohio, with an update from Bob Fitrakis, since he has seen and had reports of several vote purge related letters and uncovered more information on statewide vote purge activities, including private, vendor control of the voter rolls.

After an initial report that letters were sent out to many Ohio voters, particularly in Democratic voting areas, questions have been raised as to whether inappropriate voter purging, particularly of young, student voters and apartment dwelling, city African American voters occurred.
robkallopednews’s diary :: ::
Two days ago, OpEdNews reported in an article,Ohio Lawsuit to Reinstate hundreds of thousands of Purged Democratic Voters to be Filed Fri or Monday  that Robert Fitrakis intended to file a suit blocking inappropriate purges of young or minority voters. One kos blogger posted a diary disputing the voter roll purge on dailykos. The article was titled No truth to Ohio “purge” letters

The diarist, in the opinion of some readers, suggested that things were all safe and comfy, perhaps persuading some to let their guard down. The title along suggested factual proof, when all the diarist reported was failure to find evidence.
OpEdNews received calls and emails from a number of people.

Some said that they’d heard the whole story of voter purging in Ohio was false.
Others wrote or said in phone calls that Markos Moulitsas and the Dailykos site are reputed to oppose discussion of the theft of the 2000 and 2004 elections, vote theft and risks of vote problems in the 2006 elections. Frankly, on this count, I don’t know enough to comment. But several people did report this to me. 

Others reported that the Democratic leadership wanted to downplay discussions of threats to the vote because they feared it would discourage a strong voter turnout. Most of these people disagreed, saying people have the right to know the truth.

Just to clear things up, my first conversation with Bob Fitrakis was about the report of purging and letters sent out that the senders didn’t want recipients to answer.

Early in our Wednesday evening conversation, I asked him, referring to the report of Blackwell’s vote purging, “What do you know about what’s been reported on Kos and by Hartmann?”

   He replied: “It’s very similar to the stuff we reported after ’04. We’ve already reported that they had purged half a million voters in the major democratic cities– Cincinatti, Cleveland, Columbus and Toledo since the 2000 elections and this is the same pattern.”

This was not a conversation about other problems. It was a discussion directly in response to the original posting, linked to above, on dkos.

But, in response to the counter-claiming diary mentioned above, I called Fitrakis to follow up. I asked if he had any problem with my first article and he replied that he did NOT. Then he started telling what he was up to and what he was doing.

He has had a ton of experience with the multitude of assaults on vote integrity in OHio, so he knows how to “play the Game,” fighting back and making sure the vote and voter rights are protected.

I asked him if he agreed that there was “no truth to the Ohio Purge Letters.”

He replied, “WE are not satisfied at this moment that this purging did not occur.
WE don’t know yet.”

Since we last spoke Fitrakis reports he has seen or had read to him letters from two different counties.

“Letters were sent out on or about August first, (in Miami county August 6th.) We talked to one person who read us the letter and told us what was in it. And we got a change of address letter that was sent about that time.”

Fitrakis reports that, though some basic elements were required by the state, different counties created different letters. That means there could have been as many as 88 different letters sent out. He determined that in Ohio’s Miami county, the letters did not require a response which, failing, would cause a purge. The vendor managing the registered voter roll was instructed not to purge voters. But Fitrakis added that all registered voter databases created at the county level are sent up to the Ken Blackwell’s central state voter databank, and that it is possible they were purged there, in spite of the local county official’s instructions to the vendor managing the records at the local level.

To ascertain just what has been going on with letters to voters, Fitrakis says, “This weekend, we are requesting the letters of all 88 counties.”

Fitrakis says, as he reported to OpEdNews earlier, “If we find after our due diligence invstigation there was any inappropriate purging– if mistreatment for minorities or young people, we will move for an injunction.

“What we’re trying to do now is to examine the letters and also, compare the data bases, electronically, from all 88 counties, with the secretary of state’s office (database.) But there is the possibility that exists that the private companies that have been contracted to run the voter registration may have taken action, unless otherwise authorized (instructed) not to by the board of elections. And the possiblity remains that the secretary of state’s office could have taken action (purged voter names from rolls) and this is still under investigation. It’s not a settled issue.”
OpEdNews asked, “With the history you already know of, do you have serious concerns that this happened?”

Fitrakis replies,

“This is the exact same pattern of purges that occurred in three key democratic areas in 2004– Toledo, Cleveland and Cincinatti.”

“We believe that past abuses have occurred and these initial reports would be directly in line with the past abuses. The potential that these abuses occurred still exists.

“We are pursuing it. We are gathering information and if that information suggests any of these purges targetted young people or minorities, we are in fact, going into federal court.

“We are not satisfied at this moment that this did not occur. In fact, the evidence suggests the clear possibility that the system would allow such a purge.”

 

OpEdNews replied, “Thanks, because there was a posting on Dailykos, which was titled, No truth to Ohio “purge” letters  

Fitrakis replied, “We’re going to get to the bottom of this.

“WE don’t know yet. We really don’t want to be lulled into– I mean, we  should be checking these rolls every week and right before the election, every day.”

OpEdNews asked; “Do you advise that people check in with their voting board to see if they’re registered or not?”

“Yes, they have to.”Fitrakis replied.

OpEdNews; “Ahead of time?”

Fitrakis: “Eight to ten thousand people disappeared off the Deibold electronic  (records) system in 2004.”

OpEdNews: “What’s the connection between Diebold and the record system of the voting rolls?”

Fitrakis: “They have a “D.I.M.” system– electronic voter registration system– and a lot of the counties have this computerized system.  People are on it one day, then suddenly there’s a computer glitch and eight to ten thousand people are gone the next day.

“ES&S has a system, Triad has a system. All the manufacturers have computerized voter registration software.”

OpEdNews “So there’s a very good possiblity not only that there have been purges but that Diebold could have been involved in doing the purges?”

Fitrakis “Diebold and Triad at the county level. We know they inadvertently purged eight to ten thousand people in ’04.”

“Thats the key question that’s been raised in all of this –who is controlling the voter registration rolls– the vendors, the secretary of state or the county? And we don’t know yet. All we know is that people have raised the possibility of purges.”
Botom line– Ohio is generally recognized as one of most at-risk states in the nation, in terms of vote theft, manipulation and voter disenfranchisement. Now is the time to be vigilant, to turn over every rock, to scrutinize every potential whiff of possible vote integrity threat. In the past, Democrats failed to take the threat seriously. John Kerry minimized or ignored the reports of problems in Ohio and failed to use the reputed $20 million war chest that was raised specifically to investigate and fight vote theft and corruption efforts.

Bob Fitrakis is a voting integrity hero, committing enormous amounts of time, energy and resources to fighting the good fight, forcing the actions of nefarious Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell to see the light of day. He needs and deserves support from the net roots You can make a contribution to help support his efforts to evaluate actions in all 88 Ohio counties by going here.

Since people asked in the last post, here’s a bit of info on OpEdnews.com is ranked in the top 300 “blogs” by technorati. Our articles (about 900 published last monthare generally, picked up by google news. We also have blogging– diaries and personal diaries. 

Tags: ohio, voter roll purging, ken blackwell, fitrakis (all tags)

October 18, 2006 at 21:57:37 

Ohio Lawsuit to Reinstate hundreds of thousands of Purged Democratic Voters to be Filed Fri or Monday

by Rob Kall

http://www.opednews.com

Ohio voting rights activist and attorney, Bob Fitrakis, says the Ohio elections may have already been won, responding to reports of massive voter purges in Democratic precincts.Dr. Fitrakis, told OpEdNews, “Essentially, by purging these rolls, the Republicans, by shrinking the electorate, have already won in Ohio. If they can’t win, which is what the polls show among registered voters, the way to win is to use their nuclear option– to target black voters, young voters and the working poor– by purging them so they can’t vote.

Reports indicate that starting as early as shortly after the 2004 presidential elections, but particularly recently, hundreds of thousands of voters– mostly urban apartment dwellers (likely black) and students– who are primarily Democratic– were sent notifications that they would be purged from the eligible voter lists if they did not respond the letter. But, reportedly, the letter was designed to be easily overlooked, perhaps treated as junk mail. Failure to send in a response caused the voter to be removed from the voting roll.

Fitrakis observes, “They aren’t challenging voter eligibility in Republican areas. This is coming from the republican party. They’re not targeting their own base.

“If it follows the pattern from 2004, they will have purged heavily Democratic areas.THey will challenge high performance democratic precincts.”

According to Fitrakis, HAVA, the Help America Vote Act, requires centrally maintained voter records, which would probably have been kept by secretary of state Ken Blackwell. Fitrack theorizes, that the voter records were “probably purged from the secretary of state’s office, because HAVA mandates a centrally located database. But the letters would have gone out from the separate county boards of election.”

This is part of the challenge. It may be necessary to actually deal with each of the 88 counties.

Fitrakis says, “We’re up against 88 county prosecutors. That’s what they’ve been doing for two years. it’s been killing us. They say we have to get the records from the county– you literally have to fax phone or show up to literally demand these records.”

OpEdNews asked Bob Fitrakis, “What can be done?” “What can voting integrity activists do?” What can the Democratic party do?

Fitrakis replied, “We’re going to try desperately to get to the bottom of this and try on Friday to get an injuction– Monday, at the latest.

We asked, “Is there any chance that this can be turned around.”

“Yes, A federal judge can issue an order to reinstate all the purged voters.” says Fitrakis.

What can readers and activists do to help? They can tell the DNC, tell the Ohio state democratic party to either file a suit separately or in cooperation with Fitrakis and the ongoing suit he’s had filed since the 2004 election.

Fitrakis says, “”Put pressure on the democrats to bring suit.

“I would urge the DNC– the party can’t let this stand. They could proceed to Federal court and argue that this is a civil rights case– against blacks and young people. They could file their own suit. They could join our suit. There are a lot of ways they could do it procedurally. They could intervene as an independent party. They could join our lawsuit I would welcome any action by them.

“They have to realize the election might have been decided by these purges. My book, that I wrote with Harvey Wasserman, reported that in 2004, the only reason the race was even close was because of the purging done in 2004 in the Democratic counties.

“When we go, we’ll ask for an injunction, amending this to our existing, arguing that this irreparable harm to the civil rights of hundreds of thousands of Ohio voters, that they’re being targetted because of their race and age.”

According to Fitrakis, the letters were sent out and purges timed, so voters could not get their voting eligibility status reinstated, because the voting registration period just ended. Worse, there was no reason to purge the voters, which is usually reserved for people who have died or moved out of state. They should have been moved to inactive status.

Fitrakis explained, “They were probably purged because they moved. If they were registered to vote, they were eligible to vote simply by going to the board of electioin. They should have been moved to inactive status. There was no reason to purge these people.”

We suspect it’s probably going on a number of other battleground states. Fitrakis speculated.

There are considerable costs in filing suit and serving papers and subpoenas. If you want to support Fitrakis’ courageous efforts, donations can be submitted at
freepress.org then click on the election protection project.

Another way YOU might be able to make a difference is to ask your local daily paper and your legislators to push for investigation of these abuses of democracy.

Contact your favorite national media anchors (Dobbs, Olbermann) talk show hosts– Hartmann, Rhodes, Shultz, Franken…

And use this action page to

 

Take action — click here to contact your local newspaper or congress people:
Insist the Illegal Ohio Voter Purge is Exposed, Investigated and Voters Reinstated.

Click here to see the most recent messages sent to congressional reps and local newspapers

Rob Kall is executive editor and publisher of OpEdNews.com, President of Futurehealth, Inc, and organizer of several conferences, including StoryCon, the Summit Meeting on the Art, Science and Application of Story and The Winter Brain Meeting on neurofeedback, biofeedback, Optimal Functioning and Positive Psychology. He is a frequent Speaker on Politics, The art, science and power of story, Positive Psychology, Stress, Biofeedback and a wide range of subjects. See more of his articles here and, older ones, here.

Moderator

BandW.bmp

Ohio Gubernatorial Debate in Cincinatti, Ohio

The Cincinnati Beacon
1 hr 7 min 27 sec – Oct 14, 2006

 http://tinyurl.com/ya9krt

See also:

Fitrakis, Live! Greens in Cincinnati

The Cincinnati Beacon
44 min 59 sec – Jul 31, 2006

http://tinyurl.com/ychrdq

And lastly

Bob Fitrakis Speaks

The Cincinnati Beacon
15 min 15 sec – Mar 5, 2006

http://tinyurl.com/ymhtwr

Thanks to:
www.cincinnatibeacon.com

Moderator

bob_fitrakis020_mth.jpgDr. Fitrakis will air on 610 WTVN radio in Columbus tonight at 7:!5 Wednesday, October 18, 2006 on the Joel Riley show.

There is also an 8:00 P.M. appearence.

More details forth coming as they are received.

There is also a new Freepress article.

A loaves & fishes/Holy Ghost victory for the GOP in November?
by Bob Fitrakis & Harvey Wasserman
October 17, 2006

The polls all point to a Democratic sweep in November. The news pours in
about pedophile Republicans and Team Bush contempt for their fundamentalist
bedmates. Iraq implodes. Deficits soar. Katrina lingers. Scandal is everywhere.

Read more:
https://freepress.org/departments/display/19/2006/2181

Moderator

We Do Not ConcedeRecent Zogby polls show that 92% of all Americans believe in full transparency for our democratic system. Since the vast majority of all Americans believe in the principles of democracy, let me recommend the following Election Protection conference at Columbus State Community College this weekend. I hope to see you there. It is free and open to the public.

For more details, go to: https://freepress.org/vrrc Voting Rights Revival Conference
Columbus State Community College, Columbus, Ohio 

October 13, 14 and 15, 2006

Long lines….provisional ballots…intimidation at the polls…
 Don’t let what happened on Election Day in 2004 happen again in Ohio!
 Get involved!
 Come to the Voting Rights Revival conference
 Become an Election Protection volunteer! 

The VRRC focuses on concrete solutions that will empower Ohio voters this November 7, 2006. Free and open to the public, the VRRC will inspire and inform with renowned speakers and hands-on workshops. Workshops will cover the changes in the new laws, basic voting procedures, how to make sure your vote is counted, how to work with Boards of Elections, Election Protection videography, the voting rights of people with disabilities, and post-election audits, to name a few.

Our Mission Statement:
To focus on the election process in Ohio, with the goal of sharing information that enfranchises all voters in Ohio; to encourage civic participation at the local and state level, including the ongoing facilitation of emerging local and student leaders and organizers: the commencement of a public sphere.

Highlights:

Speakers:

  • Steve Freeman, Penn University professor, author of “Was the 2004 Presidential Election Stolen? Exit Polls, Election Fraud, and the Official Count”
  • Bob Fitrakis, author, journalist, political science professor, attorney for Moss v. Bush, co-editor “Did George W. Bush Steal America’s 2004 Election? Essential Documents”
  • Harvey Wasserman, author, journalist, Senior Free Press Editor, co-editor “How the GOP Stole America’s 2004 Election & Is Rigging 2008”
  • Cliff Arnebeck, attorney for post-2004 election challenge
  • Ruth Colker, law professor, OSU Moritz College of Law
  • Greg Moore, civil rights leader, director, Voting Rights Institute of the Democratic National Committee
  • Doris D. “Granny D” Haddock, clean elections activist

Workshops:

  • Voting 101 (Guaranteeing your voter registration, new ID rules, how to use voting machines)
  • Disabilities and Voting
  • Election Day Election Protection Activities: parallel elections, legal, video, observation
  • Post-election Auditing
  • More

Entertainment:

  • “American Blackout,” documentary on e-voting fraud, producer Ian Inaba Guerrilla News Network
  • Eternal Vigilance
  • “Help America Vote on Paper,” video, produced by Ecological Options Network
  • Victoria Parks, singer-songwriter “This is Our Democracy”
  • Tom Neilson
  • Granny D
  • Connie Harris, singer-songwriter, Cultural Creatives
  • Marvin the Robot
  • Miaka Carter
  • Mas Bagua
  • Drum circle