There are 30 days to go until the national referendum
on the CHARACTER, CREDIBILITY and COMPETENCE of the
increasingly unhinged and incredibly shrinking
_resident...Sen. John Edwards (D-NC) and the VICE
_resident debate on Tuesday night, Sen. John F. Kerry
(D-Mekong Delta) and Bush debate again Friday night.
The race could look a lot different Saturday morning.
Expect a great diversion this week. Expect an October
Surprise this week. The electoral uprising is coming.
The perfect political storm is growing ever more
powerful and getting closer to hitting land on
November 2. If they do not do something to us all very
soon, it will be over for them. Forget about asking
your fellow citizens if they are better off than four
years ago? The answer, of course, is NO. Forget about
even asking your fellow citizens if they are safer
than they were four years ago. Again, the answer, of
course, is NO. Now you should ask "Can you really
afford four more years of the Bush abomination? Can
you really afford four more years of the most
illegitimate, corrupt and incompetent regime in modern
American history? Can the republic afford four more
years of this failed regime -- economically,
environmentally, strategically, militarily? Can the
world afford four more years of the Bush abomination?"
Here are four stories that should dominate the
airwaves and capture headlines above the fold, but
they won't. The Triad ( i.e. the Bush cabal itself,
its
wholly-owned-subsidiary-formerly-known-as-the-Republican-Party
and their sponsors, in the US regimestream news media)
will make sure that they don't. Consider how
desperately they have struggled to minimize the impact
of the increasingly unhinged and incredibly shrinking
_resident's collapse in the first debate. Please read
them and share them with others. Please vote and
encourage others to vote. And, please, remember that
the USregimestream news media does not want to inform
you about this presidential campaign, it wants to
DISinform you…There is an electoral uprising
coming...FRODO LIVES!
Jon Pareles, New York Times: For the next 10 days,
million-selling musicians including Mr. Springsteen,
Dave Matthews, the Dixie Chicks, Pearl Jam, Bonnie
Raitt and John Mellencamp will be headlining concerts
in closely contested states. The tour features rock
musicians, but the lineups also encompass blues,
country and hip-hop.
The tour will reach 11 states and 33 cities, winding
up with a concert by 13 of the headliners on Oct. 11
at the MCI Center in Washington. That show, to be
televised live on the Sundance cable channel, will
also include John Fogerty, Jackson Browne, James
Taylor, Keb Mo', Kenneth Edmonds and the hip-hop group
Jurassic 5.
The concerts are benefits for America Coming Together,
a voter-mobilization effort, and they are presented by
the liberal MoveOn political action committee. Some
performers, including Pearl Jam and Ms. Raitt, have
done benefits for political candidates through the
years. But this tour is the first time in his
three-decade career that Mr. Springsteen has made a
partisan stand.
"These are people who are the best experts at
connecting with the American public, people who have
had an emotional connection with millions of people
for years,'' said Eli Pariser, the executive director
of MoveOn PAC. "Politics is a part of that, and I
think it just extends what they do, their art.''
"It does take some courage in this climate to stand up
and do what they're doing,'' he continued. "A lot of
them have been galvanized by the kind of extremist
repressive response that they've seen. They're not
going to be silenced.''
The Dixie Chicks, who started their part of the tour
in Pittsburgh, faced radio-station boycotts and a
talk-show furor last year after their lead singer,
Natalie Maines, disparaged President Bush onstage.
"We have nothing to lose at this point, so any sort of
fear or inhibition is out the window,'' Ms. Maines
said by telephone this week. "We definitely want a
regime change, and now that we're getting down to the
wire I'm even less afraid to speak out. I just think
things are absolutely life or death right now.''
"We sort of weeded out the people who apparently
didn't know who we were, though we never felt like we
were trying to hide what we thought,'' she added.
"Free speech is not free: we paid dearly. But we're
more determined and stronger now. And from this point
on, what fans we have will be our true fans.''
Editors & Publishers: As E&P has reported on numerous
occasions, several newspapers have issued orders to
all or some staffers barring them from attending the
just-beginning Vote for Change concert tour, featuring
star acts such as Bruce Sprignsteen, Pearl Jam, James
Taylor, the Dixie Chicks, and much more. Newspapers
are concerned attendance at these pro-Kerry concerts
may conflict with ethical rules against donating to
candidates.
Today, employees at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch
received one of the dreaded memos -- as had staffers
The Washington Post, the Star Tribune of Minneapolis,
Denver's Rocky Mountain News, and several other papers
in recent weeks.
Post-Dispatch staffers were reminded that the
newspaper's ethics policy severely restricts political
involvement, including campaign contributions. But it
did not entirely drop the hammer, encouraging staffers
to "stay away" from the local concerts on Oct. 5 and
Oct. 6 but "not making an absolute ban on all newsroom
staff."
But executives added: "If you do attend, however,
understand this: You cannot participate in local or
national election coverage in any way -- whether it's
writing stories, editing copy, writing headlines,
taking photographs, or designing pages. If you attend,
we expect you to tell your supervisor so we don't
inadvertently put you in an unacceptable position.
National Organization for Women: For example, a Gallup
poll conducted Sept. 13-15 reported that Bush leads
among likely voters by 13 points -- 55% to Kerry?s
42%. Despite the fact that Democrats voted at 39% in
the last two presidential elections, Gallup assumed
that only 33% of those turning out to vote will be
Democrats.
The result? Democrats were under-sampled by six
points.
Gallup also assumed that 40% of November voters will
be Republicans -- yet Republicans only voted at 35% in
2000 and 34% in 1996, the last two elections.
The result? Republicans were over-sampled by five to
six points.
Furthermore, Gallup under-sampled women, who are more
likely to support the Democratic candidate.
Cumulatively, these errors created a double-digit lead
for George W. Bush out of thin air.
George Gallup, Jr., is an evangelical Christian who
said in a speech earlier this year: "The most profound
purpose of polls is to see how people are responding
to God" and "When I ask a question on these subjects,
what I'm always trying to find out is: 'Are we doing
the will of God?'"
Americans Coming Together (ACT): With only a few days
left before the registration deadline in Ohio,
Secretary of State Ken Blackwell is trying re-instate
selective voting. His controls on the voting process
will prohibit thousands of Ohioans from voting in the
upcoming election.
He will not allow people to cast votes on provisional
ballots if they go to the incorrect polling place,
even if the voter is not at fault.
Citing an arcane ruling that requires voter
registration cards be printed on 80 pound stock paper,
Blackwell is threatening to void registrations
submitted on a lighter weight paper, demanding they
re-apply. There is no time to reapply and thousands
of voters could be left off the rolls.
This is not only unethical, it’s illegal. The 14th
Amendment grants every citizen the right to
vote—regardless of race, gender, creed—or polling
location or paper stock.
Republicans in Ohio are scared—with good reason—ACT’s
Get-Out-the-Vote effort is working --in Ohio we’re
out-registering Republicans by 10 to 1.
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/02/arts/music/02pare.html?ei=1&en=456b20409de6b739&ex=1097707192&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1096823124-QpIamtPbbBehskVBt9L4SQ
Support Our Troops, Save the US Constitution,
Repudiate the 9/11 Cover-Up and the Iraq War Lies,
Restore Fiscal Responsibility in the White House,
Thwart the Theft of a Second Presidential Election,
Save the Environment, Break the Corporatist
Stranglehold on the US Mainstream News Media, Rescue
the US Supreme Court from Right-Wing Radicals, Cleanse
the White House of the Chicken Hawk Coup and Its
War-Profiteering Cronies, Show Up for Democracy in
2004: Defeat the Triad, Defeat Bush (again!)
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/02/arts/music/02pare.html?ei=1&en=456b20409de6b739&ex=1097707192&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1096823124-QpIamtPbbBehskVBt9L4SQ
Rockers Open Tour in Support of Kerry
By JON PARELES
Published: October 2, 2004
HILADELPHIA, Oct. 1 - Bruce Springsteen began stumping
the swing states here tonight to support Senator John
Kerry. "We're here tonight to fight for a government
that is open, rational, forward-looking and humane,
and we plan to rock the joint while doing so," he said
at the beginning of the concert he was headlining at
the Wachovia Center. The concert, which also featured
R.E.M., was one of six simultaneous concerts in
Pennsylvania for the Vote for Change tour, a week of
benefit concerts in battleground states.
For the next 10 days, million-selling musicians
including Mr. Springsteen, Dave Matthews, the Dixie
Chicks, Pearl Jam, Bonnie Raitt and John Mellencamp
will be headlining concerts in closely contested
states. The tour features rock musicians, but the
lineups also encompass blues, country and hip-hop.
The tour will reach 11 states and 33 cities, winding
up with a concert by 13 of the headliners on Oct. 11
at the MCI Center in Washington. That show, to be
televised live on the Sundance cable channel, will
also include John Fogerty, Jackson Browne, James
Taylor, Keb Mo', Kenneth Edmonds and the hip-hop group
Jurassic 5.
The concerts are benefits for America Coming Together,
a voter-mobilization effort, and they are presented by
the liberal MoveOn political action committee. Some
performers, including Pearl Jam and Ms. Raitt, have
done benefits for political candidates through the
years. But this tour is the first time in his
three-decade career that Mr. Springsteen has made a
partisan stand.
"These are people who are the best experts at
connecting with the American public, people who have
had an emotional connection with millions of people
for years,'' said Eli Pariser, the executive director
of MoveOn PAC. "Politics is a part of that, and I
think it just extends what they do, their art.''
"It does take some courage in this climate to stand up
and do what they're doing,'' he continued. "A lot of
them have been galvanized by the kind of extremist
repressive response that they've seen. They're not
going to be silenced.''
The Dixie Chicks, who started their part of the tour
in Pittsburgh, faced radio-station boycotts and a
talk-show furor last year after their lead singer,
Natalie Maines, disparaged President Bush onstage.
"We have nothing to lose at this point, so any sort of
fear or inhibition is out the window,'' Ms. Maines
said by telephone this week. "We definitely want a
regime change, and now that we're getting down to the
wire I'm even less afraid to speak out. I just think
things are absolutely life or death right now.''
"We sort of weeded out the people who apparently
didn't know who we were, though we never felt like we
were trying to hide what we thought,'' she added.
"Free speech is not free: we paid dearly. But we're
more determined and stronger now. And from this point
on, what fans we have will be our true fans.''
It is a complex enough undertaking to gather rock
stars for a one-day event like Live Aid or Mr.
Mellencamp's annual Farm Aid. Arranging six
simultaneous weeklong benefit tours by such popular
musicians is probably unprecedented. There is no
comparable undertaking on the Republican side. The
musicians are not playing their standard sets; they
are including more political songs and collaborating
with the others on the bill. The Dixie Chicks sing
backup for Mr. Taylor; Ms. Raitt harmonizes with Mr.
Browne.
All shows on the tour go to Ohio on Saturday, Michigan
on Sunday and Florida on Friday; shows on Tuesday and
Wednesday are in Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin and
Missouri. The tour's first show, featuring Ms. Raitt
and Mr. Browne, took place on Monday night in Seattle.
"It was a very energized, responsive audience,'' Ms.
Raitt said by telephone after that concert. "When we
sang Little Steven's 'I Am a Patriot' and the whole
audience was standing up, it just brought me to tears.
It's more fun to do this than it is to do my own
shows. It's just so inspirational, and there's so much
at stake.''
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000652114
Another Brick in the Wall Keeping Journos from
Political Concerts
By E&P Staff
Published: October 01, 2004 5:00 PM EDT
NEW YORK Another memo was issued today in the ongoing
Right to Attend a Political Fundraiser saga now
running in select newsrooms.
As E&P has reported on numerous occasions, several
newspapers have issued orders to all or some staffers
barring them from attending the just-beginning Vote
for Change concert tour, featuring star acts such as
Bruce Sprignsteen, Pearl Jam, James Taylor, the Dixie
Chicks, and much more. Newspapers are concerned
attendance at these pro-Kerry concerts may conflict
with ethical rules against donating to candidates.
Today, employees at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch
received one of the dreaded memos -- as had staffers
The Washington Post, the Star Tribune of Minneapolis,
Denver's Rocky Mountain News, and several other papers
in recent weeks.
Post-Dispatch staffers were reminded that the
newspaper's ethics policy severely restricts political
involvement, including campaign contributions. But it
did not entirely drop the hammer, encouraging staffers
to "stay away" from the local concerts on Oct. 5 and
Oct. 6 but "not making an absolute ban on all newsroom
staff."
But executives added: "If you do attend, however,
understand this: You cannot participate in local or
national election coverage in any way -- whether it's
writing stories, editing copy, writing headlines,
taking photographs, or designing pages. If you attend,
we expect you to tell your supervisor so we don't
inadvertently put you in an unacceptable position.
"In effect, some staff members are banned: those of us
directing political coverage and/or involved in
political coverage this year. News reporters,
columnists, photographers, graphics journalists,
editorial writers, news copy editors and designers,
wire editors, mid-level and senior editors throughout
the division, and all news assignment editors
absolutely should not attend these concerts. Reporters
or photographers covering or reviewing the concert may
attend as part of normal news coverage.
"Basically, the issue is this: We cannot compromise
our journalistic integrity."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
E&P Staff
http://www.now.org/lists/now-action-list/msg00155.html
Tell Time/CNN and USA Today to Reject Biased Polling
Data!
Action Needed:
Recent polls of likely voters conducted by The Gallup
Organization have substantially over-sampled
Republicans and under-sampled Democrats and women --
overestimating the support for Bush.
Time/CNN and USA Today -- two of the country?s most
prominent news organizations ? routinely commission
and report (and thus legitimize) Gallup?s poll
results.
Please send messages to Time/CNN and USA Today to
protest their use of The Gallup Organization?s
election campaign polling data until Gallup can prove
it has eliminated such biases from its data sampling.
Background:
If you are having a difficult time believing some
recent polls that show George W. Bush leading John
Kerry by a double-digit margin, especially since other
polls indicate the race is a dead heat -- trust your
instincts! A number of reports indicate that recent
Gallup polls commissioned and reported by major news
organizations such as Time/CNN and USA Today have
substantially over-sampled Republicans and
under-sampled Democrats and women, erroneously
creating a double-digit lead for Bush.
For example, a Gallup poll conducted Sept. 13-15
reported that Bush leads among likely voters by 13
points -- 55% to Kerry?s 42%. Despite the fact that
Democrats voted at 39% in the last two presidential
elections, Gallup assumed that only 33% of those
turning out to vote will be Democrats.
The result? Democrats were under-sampled by six
points.
Gallup also assumed that 40% of November voters will
be Republicans -- yet Republicans only voted at 35% in
2000 and 34% in 1996, the last two elections.
The result? Republicans were over-sampled by five to
six points.
Furthermore, Gallup under-sampled women, who are more
likely to support the Democratic candidate.
Cumulatively, these errors created a double-digit lead
for George W. Bush out of thin air.
George Gallup, Jr., is an evangelical Christian who
said in a speech earlier this year: "The most profound
purpose of polls is to see how people are responding
to God" and "When I ask a question on these subjects,
what I'm always trying to find out is: 'Are we doing
the will of God?'"
It is the media?s responsibility to provide accurate
data to the public, and to reveal any biases in the
data collection or sampling. By reporting biased
polling data, Time/CNN and USA Today have failed in
this obligation and need to hear from people who care
about accurate reporting and polling.
Again, please send messages to Time/CNN and USA Today
to protest their use of The Gallup Organization?s
election campaign polling data until Gallup can prove
it has eliminated such biases from its data sampling.
For more information, see Women Hold the Key to the
2004 Elections.
http://actforvictory.org/ohiofraud.php
ACT Home »
Desperation and 80 Pound Paper Stock in Ohio
With only a few days left before the registration
deadline in Ohio, Secretary of State Ken Blackwell is
trying re-instate selective voting. His controls on
the voting process will prohibit thousands of Ohioans
from voting in the upcoming election.
He will not allow people to cast votes on provisional
ballots if they go to the incorrect polling place,
even if the voter is not at fault.
Citing an arcane ruling that requires voter
registration cards be printed on 80 pound stock paper,
Blackwell is threatening to void registrations
submitted on a lighter weight paper, demanding they
re-apply. There is no time to reapply and thousands
of voters could be left off the rolls.
This is not only unethical, it’s illegal. The 14th
Amendment grants every citizen the right to
vote—regardless of race, gender, creed—or polling
location or paper stock.
Republicans in Ohio are scared—with good reason—ACT’s
Get-Out-the-Vote effort is working --in Ohio we’re
out-registering Republicans by 10 to 1.
Sign the petition, and then sign up to volunteer with
ACT in a swing state. Be part of the winning strategy.
Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell
Members of the Ohio Controlling Board
Columbus, Ohio
We, the undersigned, in the name of democracy, demand
that you immediately revoke your controls to limit
voting in Ohio. We demand you allow Ohioans to make
use of provisional ballots, and we demand you accept
applications printed on all types of paper. Your rules
are a flagrant violation of US Code, and
disenfranchise thousands of newly registered voters.
In accordance with Title 42 Chapter 20 Subchapter I
Section 1971 of US Code, “No person acting under color
of law shall...deny the right of any individual to
vote in any election because of an error or omission
on any record or paper relating to any application,
registration, or other act requisite to voting, if
such error or omission is not material in determining
whether such individual is qualified under State law
to vote in such election.”
[NOTE: To sign this petition, go to
http://actforvictory.org/ohiofraud.php]