February 29, 2016

I wonder if anyone has taken into consideration this fact:

Paperless Gangstas: The Reliability of South Carolina Voting Machines

From a 2011 article concerning voter machine tampering in South Carolina:

Diligent in his quest for some understanding, Heindel didn’t stop at the SCEC. On September 14, 2010, he sent another FOIA request to the Charleston County Board of Elections asking for the “paper trail” that the machines produced. The spreadsheet he received showed numerous “events” documenting errors with the machines – not quite the spotless record election officials had touted post-primary. Heindel has yet to receive an answer from the Board of Elections on what these events mean and if they could have influenced the outcome of the election. Adding to the foot-dragging, obfuscating, conspiracy-theory feel of the whole incident, the executive director of the Charleston County Board of Elections abruptly resigned after Heindel brought these potential problems to light. However, no mention of Heindel was made in the director’s resignation letter which cited personal reasons for her departure.

So what to make of all this? Heindel is certainly not the first citizen to have qualms with paperless voting machines. Since the 2000 presidential election fiasco, ballot administration has been a hot topic and many states have moved to electronic voting machines because they’re less prone to user-error than other voting systems (remember all those chads Pat Buchanan got pregnant in Florida because of the punch card butterfly ballot?). The tradeoff has been that electronic voting machines, specifically direct record electronic machines known as DRE, don’t have a paper trail and, hypothetically, are vulnerable to hacking, leaving people like Heindel uneasy about the integrity of an election.

http://electls.blogs.wm.edu/2011/02/09/paperless-gangstas-the-reliability-of-south-carolina-voting-machines/

Is this still going on in South Carolina today? When are we going to address our problem with electronic voter machines?

February 27, 2016

Hold Your Breath — Nearly 200 Infrared Videos Expose Methane Pollution All Across the United States

It's not just Aliso Canyon — fugitive, toxic methane gas escaping into the air is a much more widespread problem than anyone could have imagined.

By Earthworks / EcoWatch

This is a very interesting article I read today, follow the link. This is dastrous.

http://www.alternet.org/environment/hold-your-breath-nearly-200-infrared-videos-expose-methane-pollution-all-across-united

February 25, 2016

Unless the Democrats Run Sanders, A Trump Nomination Means a Trump Presidency

Democrats need to seriously and pragmatically assess their strategy for defeating Trump. A Clinton run would be disastrous; Bernie Sanders is their only hope.

by Nathan J. Robinson


With Donald Trump looking increasingly likely to actually be the Republican nominee for President, it’s long past time for the Democrats to start working on a pragmatic strategy to defeat him. Months of complacent, wishful insistences that Trump will disappear have proven false, and with a firm commanding lead in polls and several major primary victories, predictions are increasingly favoring Trump to win the nomination. If Democrats honestly believe, as they say they do, that Trump poses a serious threat to the wellbeing of the country and the lives of minority citizens, that means doing everything possible to keep him out of office. To do that will require them to very quickly unite around a single goal, albeit a counterintuitive one: they must make absolutely sure that Bernie Sanders is the Democratic nominee for President.

The electability question should be at the center of the Democratic primary. After all, elections are about winning, and high-minded liberal principles mean nothing if one has no chance of actually triumphing in a general election. Hillary Clinton has been right to emphasize that the pragmatic achievement of goals should be the central concern of a presidential candidate, and that Bernie Sanders’s supporters often behave as if this is immaterial.

Instinctively, Hillary Clinton has long seemed by far the more electable of the two Democratic candidates. She is, after all, an experienced, pragmatic moderate, whereas Sanders is a raving, arm-flapping elderly Jewish socialist from Vermont. Clinton is simply closer to the American mainstream, thus she is more attractive to a broader swath of voters. Sanders campaigners have grown used to hearing the heavy-hearted lament “I like Bernie, I just don’t think he can win.” And in typical previous American elections, this would be perfectly accurate.

http://static.currentaffairs.org/2016/02/unless-the-democrats-nominate-sanders-a-trump-nomination-means-a-trump-presidency

February 25, 2016

Does this look familiar?

Same tactics... as the old saying goes, I guess you can't teach an old dog new tricks.

February 17, 2016

Thirsty for Democracy...

This program discussing the water problem in Flint Michigan says a lot about our nation:

http://publish.dvlabs.com/democracynow/360/dn2016-0217.mp4

February 15, 2016

Kasich teams up with the Clintons

John Kasich and the Clintons Collaborated on Law That Helped Double Extreme Poverty

In order to understand why I feel so strongly for Bernie Sanders and opposed to Hillary Clinton it is necessary to understand that I am not a millennial, I am a Baby Boomer. I was around during the Clinton Administration in the 90's and was following very closely the incidents that were taking place. I noticed the effort of the Clintons to, on one hand court the AA community and on the other hand do so many things to limit their progress and essentially cause them harm. Perusing the web today I ran across an article and thought it might help to clarify why I feel the way I do. I often hear Hillary Clinton tout her participation with Marian Wright Elderman and the Children's Defense Fund. Yes, she did participate, and did help out in that instance, you can't take that away from her, but that was on the one hand. On the other hand she did the following:

Hillary Clinton was involved with publicly advocating for passage and implementation of welfare reform in her role as first lady. In a Newsweek cover story in 1993, she weighed in on the upcoming welfare reform debate.

“How do we as a society address the 15-year-old mother on welfare? What do we owe her? Can we demand a set of behavioral standards from her?” asked the interviewer. “Sure, I’ve been talking about that since 1973,” replied the first lady. “You know, I am one of the first people who wrote about how rights and responsibilities had to go hand in hand.”

“When you talk about moving someone to work from welfare in two years, what happens to people who don’t want to work? Would you impose sanctions?” followed up the interviewer. “Oh, I think you have to. What happened in Arkansas is that people who refused for whatever reason to participate had their benefits cut,” she replied.

Hillary Clinton continued to defend the welfare cutback over the years. “Too many of those on welfare had known nothing but dependency all their lives, and many would have found it difficult to make the transition to work on their own,” she wrote in a 1999 op-ed. In a 2002 interview she said the policy has resulted in recipients “no longer” being “deadbeats — they’re actually out there being productive.”

Hillary Clinton’s advocacy for welfare reform strained her relationship with her mentor and former boss, Marian Wright Edelman, the head of the Children’s Defense Fund. After the signing of the bill, Edelman wrote that “President Clinton’s signature on this pernicious bill makes a mockery of his pledge not to hurt children.”

During an interview on Democracy Now in 2007, Edelman described her changed relationship with the Clintons, saying, “Hillary Clinton is an old friend, but they are not friends in politics.”

The Clintons are opportunist IMHO and I believe upon further study of the couple AA's will learn they are not now and never have been friends of the community, not really. Needless to say I have no respect for Kasich, I have seen what he has done in Ohio as governor. His tactics and politics are similar to those of the Clintons IMHO.

Link to the article: https://theintercept.com/2016/02/13/john-kasich-and-the-clintons-collaborated-on-law-that-helped-double-extreme-poverty-in-america/

February 13, 2016

This is why President Obama's 2008 win was such at BFD

for African Americans. Our history of course hasn't been told truthfully in this nation, that is why I am elated when I see a TV program such as the following video clip of Thom Hartmann's Great Minds series. I admire Dr. Lusane and have followed him for years. Sit back, relax, and learn about the politics of this nation and if you didn't know, learn why the White House is called the White House:

And:



Have a great day everybody!

February 3, 2016

The TPP: A Corporate Bill of Rights

One common definition of insanity is doing the same thing over again and expecting a different result.


Governments from around the world are gathering in New Zealand on Thursday to sign the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the TPP. People around the world are mobilizing to make sure that the agreement, even if signed, does not get ratified.

Why? It’s just another in a long line of trade deals that are aimed at growing our economies by increasing trade between our countries, right? At least that’s what we’re told.

What we aren’t told by our governments is that these so-called trade deals are really not very much about trade at all. They are international corporate constitutions, aimed at limiting the ability of our governments to control transnational corporate behavior: an international Corporate Bill of Rights.
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As we place our interest in the primaries this is going on behind the scenes. I feel this is as important if not more important than the election. Please read this article and let me know what you think.

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/opinion/The-Trans-Pacific-Partnership--A-Corporate-Bill-of-Rights--20160203-0006.html

January 19, 2016

I have noticed that some of my comments do not appear complete when I view them on the screen

However when I go back to edit them they are complete as I typed them. What is causing this?

November 19, 2015

Shining a Light: A concert for progress on Race in America

Will be on H2 History channel Friday, November 20 at 8:00 pm

This is a benefit concert from the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, this concert is to raise funds for organizations working to create reconciliation and positive change in communities experiencing incidents of racial bias.

Don't have H2 in your TV lineup? Find it streaming here: http://www.history.com/live-stream

Tune in, this should be interesting, the concert also has some really good stars that will be performing.