BREAKING NEWS: NYC Indymedia volunteer Brad Will killed in attack by Paramilitaries in Oaxaca

For more information about this tragedy, please visit: http://www.indymedia.org/ en/2006/ 10/849305.shtml

Severe election problems seen in ten states

A nonpartisan organization tracking election reform across the United States released a report Wednesday warning that 10 states are likely to experience severe problems on November 7 because of electronic voting machines and new voter identification laws that could call into question the results of some races.

"The November 7 election promises to bring more of what voters have come to expect since the 2000 election - a divided body politic, an election system in flux and the possibility - if not certainty - of problems at polls nationwide," the report says.

Electionline.org issued a 75-page report, "Election Preview 2006: What's Changed, What Hasn't, and Why," which claims that a handful of the midterm election's hotly contested campaigns in states such as Ohio, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Florida and Indiana may face particular trouble because of the transition to electronic voting machines. The machines have been proven unreliable in choosing the right candidate, as demonstrated by numerous tests cases in the years that the machines have replaced paper ballots.

Congress needs commitment to renewable energy

To the Editor:

Over 100,000 households woke up to the snow this week without any heat.  They have been disconnected by their utility or have empty propane or fuel oil tanks.  Ohio can do better.

There are many reasons why people are without essential utility service.  They have lost a good job, had a health emergency, or are simply poor, working in jobs that don’t pay enough for them to pay their bills.  But, there are things we can do.

We can require utilities to fund weatherization programs for their customers.  Many utilities provide some funding for low-income customer, but the waiting lists for assistance are over a year.  Other states require utilities to help all customers become more efficient in how they use energy so the bills are lower.  Ohio needs to follow their lead.

Ohio can also require the use of more renewable energy.  Wind, solar and biomass power would all produce jobs here in Ohio while reducing the cost of energy over the long term.  This state needs to make these investments and stop sending our energy dollars to out of state.

Rumsfeld and Saddam: partners in crimes against humanity

The White House has arranged to announce two days before the November 7, 2006, elections a guilty verdict for Saddam Hussein and, no doubt, plans to finally murder him. Meanwhile an appeals process is delaying until at least five days after the elections release of photos of members of the U.S. military and its contractors raping and murdering children and adults at Abu Ghraib.

While use of the death penalty is one of many American practices that much of the world views as barbaric, there can be little doubt that Saddam Hussein is guilty of major crimes stretching far beyond those he's been tried for, and including many in which the United States has been complicit.

A talk with Mark Crispin Miller about what voters can do to prevent another stolen election

Mark Crispin Miller is a very serious guy. We met recently over coffee at a quaint little cafe near New York University, where he teaches communications and media. Mark's been sounding the alarm on election fraud for years, convinced that both Al Gore and John Kerry were robbed of the presidency in 2000 and 2004. And he's afraid, very afraid, that the problem these days is worse, not better. Listening to him talk, watching his gestures, hearing his doomsday scenarios, it's easy to get caught up in it. And it makes you angry to think he's right. We vowed to riot in the streets should Democrats lose again in November. What I love about Mark is that you get the feeling he'd actually do it.

Direct material proof of massive election fraud in Ohio in the 2004 U.S. presidential election

The following is a pdf of Ron Baiman's presentation at the We Count Conference in Cleveland, Ohio from September 30, 2006.

View the presentation

Will Ken Blackwell find the ways to steal Ohio 2006 as he did in 2004?

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.

Health care crisis

We have a big health care crisis in Ohio and in the U.S. Costs are skyrocketing, 46 million people are uninsured (1.2 million in Ohio), and we aren’t as healthy as nations that spend a lot less. The facts are astounding:

  • 80% of the uninsured are in working families but don’t receive work-based coverage
  • $847 of the average yearly Ohio family health insurance premium goes toward paying the cost of caring for the uninsured
  • The US is spending way more than any other country on health care, yet we rank 37th in the world on health care performance


  • $1500 of very General Motors car manufactured in the U.S. pays for employee and retiree health benefits; GM now makes more cars in Canada and Mexico.


    • The politics of hope

    At its most basic, politics is about hope.

    Power, greed, narrow interests, and, too uncommonly, large ideas – yes, politics is about these things as well. Politics is the means that serve so many different ends, every now and again including the common good.

    Yet even while scarce few yellow brick political roads end at cities agleam with emeralds and good men, the journey down none of them begins until the first step and each thereafter is launched by hope. Hope is the journey, you see, though so few anymore venture to take it.

    Too many in this country today are instead indifferent to politics. Tyrannized by their overscheduled lives, distracted by money and possessions, celebrity and sport, or preoccupied with simply keeping their heads and those of their children above water, too many Americans live believing the state of the world does not concern them.

    Wal-Mart expands

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