The Republican spin doctors have done a bang up job clouding the issues surrounding Provisional Ballots.
Provisional Ballots are a good thing, not a bad one. They are the last fail safe to protect rightfully-registered voters from not having their votes counted.
The point is, if you show up for the wrong precinct, you can still be given a provisional ballot if you ask for one, that should be counted when voting administrators confirm your registration after closing time. (Yeah, the jury’s still out on how well these will be counted. Browne addresses this issue in the video clip.
There are some things you need to know about Provisional Ballots, Here’s a really great piece from Bill Moyers which explains all about Provisional Ballots. (I’ve also included the whole interview with Judith Browne, Senior Attorney for the Advancement Project. She explains the other forms of voter intimidation that her organization has filed lawsuits over.)
Judith Browne Explains Provisional Ballots
This is from the October 17, 2004 program of Bill Moyers NOW!
(I know the directory says Oct 29, but I just realized it now, and I don’t want to break the other links. So I’ll have to fix it later.)
Category Archives: Bill Moyers Archive
Democrats vs. The Repubs On Raising The Minimum Wage
This is from the October 29, 2004 program of Bill Moyers NOW!
This clip goes with this one.
This is part of a larger piece about single women and the low wages they’re paid and how that affects their voting patterns, ultimately.
The Democrats are all for a raise in the minimum wage. John Kerry has stated more than once during countless speeches and, I believe, during all three debates, that raising the minimum wage would be one of the first things he does in office.
The Republicans, as usual, choose to blame the victim — and have been fighting a minimum wage increase for quite some time now.
Democrats vs. Repubs On Raising The Minimum Wage (6 MB)
Single Women — Especially Single Moms – If You Turn Out In Numbers, You Will Decide This Election
This is from the October 29,2004 program of Bill Moyers NOW!
This clip goes with this one.
This is only the opening clip. You can see the whole thing on the NOW website if you’re interested. But I wanted to make sure you saw this part of it. It explains how single women are not only the largest demographic of potential voters, they are the largest demographic of people who don’t vote.
Bill Moyers Now On Single Women Voters
Bill Moyers On The 911 Commission Report
This is the September 10, 2004 program of Bill Moyers NOW!
911/For The Record (Parts 1-6) (Files are 20-25 MB each)
This program is riveting from beginning to end. Moyers recounts the events of 911 in chronological order, using testimony, video footage, taped conversations, transcripts, etc.
He then reminds us what the report concludes: the Administration had been warned repeatedly by their own counterterrorism experts that Al Qaeda was determined to attack within the United States. (Richard Clark sent his first memo just five days after Bush’s inauguration in January 2001.)
And yet the Shrub Administration did nothing to try to prevent it.
They did everything to use it to their advantage after it happened, however.
The Frontline episode on “Rumsfeld’s War” I’m about to put up illustrates this fact nicely.
Bill Moyers On Relevance Of Shrub Administration’s Policy Of Rejecting The Geneva Convention
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Michael Isikoff discovered
this Shrub Administration memo which outlines a policy of rejecting the Geneva Convention for War On Terror prisoners.
Here’s the Newsweek story that got this all started:
Double Standard?.
This is a big deal guys, and Bill Moyers and Brian Brancaccio do their usual great job of explaining exactly why — and within a historical context. Then Brian interviews Columbia Law School Professor Scott Horton about the frighting implications of this policy.
This is from the May 21, 2004 program of Bill Moyers Now.
Want to mirror these clips?? Let me know! (
Mirror 1 of the complete version.)
This first clip provides details of the memo and some historical context:
Moyers On The Shrub’s Geneva-Rejection Policy – Part 1 of 3 (Small – 10 MB)
These next two clips contain an interview with Scott Horton where he analyses the Shrub’s justifaction for a Geneva Convention “double standard”:
Moyers On The Shrub’s Geneva-Rejection Policy – Part 2 of 3
(Small – 14 MB)
Moyers On The Shrub’s Geneva-Rejection Policy – Part 3 of 3
(Small – 14 MB)
Here’s the whole thing in a huge 37 MB file
David Brancaccio talks to Scott Horton, President of the International League for Human Rights. Horton will discuss the legal basis for the global war on terror and the U.S. government classified memo that puts forth what NEWSWEEK described as “a legal framework to justify a secret system of detention and interrogation that sidesteps the historical safeguards of the Geneva Convention.” Mr. Horton also recently spearheaded a Bar Association of New York report: “
Human rights standards applicable to the United States’ interrogation of detainees.”
More about Scott from his website:
Mr. Horton has been a lifelong activist in the human rights area, having served as counsel to Andrei Sakharov, Elena Bonner, Sergei Kovalev and other leaders of the Russian human rights and democracy movements for over twenty years and having worked with the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights and the International League for Human Rights, among other organizations. He is currently president of the International League and a director of the Moscow-based Andrei Sakharov Foundation. Mr. Horton is also an advisor of the Open Society Institute’s Central Eurasia Project, and a director of the International Center for Not-for-Profit Law, the Council on Foreign Relations’s Center for Preventive Action and numerous other NGO organizations.
Mr. Horton is an adjunct professor at the Columbia University School of Law and the author of over 200 articles and monographs on legal developments in nations in transition.
Bill Moyers Goes Off On The Shrub
…very politely, of course.
This is from the March 25, 2004 program of Bill Moyers NOW.
Wish I had more time to comment, but I think this one speaks for itself. (Like most stuff from Bill.)
Bill Moyers:
Mr. Bush clearly believes what he said: The War On Terror is an in escapable calling of the generation now in charge. Like many of you, I want to support him in that work. I want to do my part. But the President makes it hard. He confused us by going after Sadaam Hussein when villian behind the mass murder of 911 was Osama Bin Ladin. He seems not to realize how his credibility has been shredded by all the false and misleading reasons to put forth to justify invading Iraq.
Lyndon Johnson never recovered from using the dubious events at the Gulf of Tonkin as an excuse to go to war in Vietnam, and even if Mr. Bush wins reelection this November, he too will eventually be dragged down by the powerful undertow that inevitably accompanies public deception.
The public will grow intolerant of partisan predators and cronie capitalists indulging in a frenzy of feeding at the troughs in Baghdad and Washington, and there will come a time when the President will have no one to rely on except his most rabid allies in the right wing media. He will discover too late that you cannot win the hearts and minds of the public at large in a nation polarized and pulvarized by endless propaganda in defiance of reality.
Bill Moyers: What Now? (Small – 11 MB)
Bill Moyers On How The FBI And Local Police Have Been Spying On Protesters
This is from the March 5, 2004 program of Bill Moyers NOW.
Here’s the directory where movies of the show are located. I have it as a complete “all” file and in three parts (title “1of3” etc.).
There’s also a nice little history lesson which explains how, after J. Edgar Hoover infringed upon so many civil rights in the 50s and 60s, legislation was passed in the 70s (headed up by Walter Mondale) that restricted using undercover operations for the investigation of criminal activity.
Ashcroft re-wrote those rules after 911. It shows footage demonstrating that even Republicans like Representative James Sensenbrenner (Chair of the Judiciary Committee) say the new rules go too far in restricting our civil liberties.
Bill Moyers On The Shrub Administration’s Unprecedented Veil Of Secrecy
This is from the December 12, 2003 program of NOW With Bill Moyers.
Bill Moyers:
Everywhere you look today, or try to look, our right to know is under assault. In the name of fighting terrorists, the government is pulling a veil of secrecy around itself. Information that used to be readily accessible is now kept out of sight.
To cover this story, NOW is collaborating with U.S. News and World Report. Their five month investigation finds that, although the government regularly cites 911 as the basis for secrecy, the true reasons, in many cases, have nothing to do with the War On Terror.
INVESTIGATIVE REPORT: The untold story of the Bush administration’s penchant for secrecy
How the public’s business gets done out of the public eye
Here’s the t r u t h o u t archive of the complete U.S. News and World Report article: Keeping Secrets, written by Christopher H. Schmitt and Edward T. Pound.
This segment was produced by David Brancaccio and Peter Meryash.
Veil of Secrecy – Complete (Small – 40 MB)
Veil of Secrecy – Part 1 of 3 (Small – 11 MB)
Veil of Secrecy – Part 2 of 3 (Small – 16 MB)
Veil of Secrecy – Part 3 of 3 (Small – 13 MB)
Here’s some technical information about getting quicktime going to watch these movies.
A Few Words About The Last Few Posts And Life In General
Bill Moyers and friends have been outdoing themselves lately on NOW With Bill Moyers.
The last two programs on November 7 and November 14, 2003 have been so shocking and relevant that I find myself saying “damn” out loud over and over again with my mouth hanging open.
I really am going to have to ease up on my blogging over the next few weeks so I can concentrate on my graduate work (which, ironically, I will also be blogging about shortly). However, before I take that plunge, I decided I had to get this stuff up first so the ball could get rolling on properly exposing this stuff. (Stuff = Mistreatment of Shrub War Vets and The Connecton Between Certain Shrub Administration Officials and “Gold Rush” Iraqi reconstruction contracts.)
I don’t know what exactly can be done about these situations, and I’m certainly in no position to do anything personally about them anytime soon. But I have to believe that somehow, some way, there’s someone out there that has the power to help fix things, if only they knew about them.
Maybe now they will know.
Have a great day everybody!
Bill Moyers On The Insider Business Deals Between Shrub Administration Officials And Iraqi Reconstruction Companies
Specifically, between Douglas Feith, the Undersecretary of Defense and several companies (many related to his “former” business associate Marc Zell), including: Zell, Goldberg and Company, Diligence, New Bridge Strategies, Barber, Griffith and Rogers, SAIC (courtesy of current Shrub Administration Official and former SAIC Senior Vice President Ryan Henry), and The Iraqi International Law Group.
This story aired on NOW With Bill Moyers on November 14, 2003.
This story, “Cash and Carry,” was Produced by Katie Pitra, features correspondent Roberta Baskin, and was Edited by Alison Amron.
This incredible segment documents the direct connections between the Shrub Administration and the main two or three companies that are profiting directly from the Iraqi reconstruction.
Join them as they connect the dots and talk to several of these people first hand. (Many would not return their phone calls, but others were very up front and matter-of-fact about it.)
I’ve taken screen grabs of many of the diagrams and things and transcribed information straight from the program for your convenience.
Here’s some technical information about getting quicktime going to watch these movies.
Bill Moyers – Cash and Carry – Complete (Small – 36 MB)
Bill Moyers – Cash and Carry – Part 1 of 3 (Small – 12 MB)
Bill Moyers – Cash and Carry – Part 2 of 3 (Small – 14 MB)
Bill Moyers – Cash and Carry – Part 3 of 3 (Small – 11 MB)
Below: Roberta Baskin
Here’s Bill Moyers’ Introduction:
“Welcome to NOW. The news from Iraq just keeps coming. A secret CIA report this week warns that ‘more and more Iraqis believe the U.S. could actually lose the war.’ American troops have started using Vietnam-like tactics, hitting back at suspected enclaves without proof that they’re harboring insurgents. And American authorities are now limiting press access to both troops and independent contractors in Iraq…
As you know, there’s a big debate over those billion dollar contracts being handed out to rebuild Iraq. Some Democratic Presidential candidates say the government is playing favorites. Defenders of the process, however, say “nonsense.”…
..it’s not easy to sort out the facts because the whole process in shrouded in buracracy and secrecy. One thing is certain, a lot of people in Washington and Baghdad look upon what’s happening as a modern equivalent of a gold rush. They’re not shy about promoting their political connections to get to the front of the line.”
Here’s Roberta Baskin’s opening:
“Here beneath Iraq’s landscape lies a vast ocean of oil. The second largest oil reserve in the world with over 100 billion barrels of crude ready to be tapped. When America invaded Iraq last March, troops raced first to secure the rich fields of Kier Cook (sp). So with vast reserves just waiting, why is the U.S. Government paying the Halliburton Corporation $2.65 per gallon to ship gasoline into Iraq from Kuwait, when one investigation discovered it could be done for less than a dollar a gallon.
The price difference alone is costing tax payers as much as a 100 million dollars. When we asked Halliburton about this discrepancy, they wouldn’t tell us. And even a United States Congressman (Henry Waxman D-CA) can’t find out why.
‘Why are we paying $1.65 a gallon more? Is it because Halliburton is gouging the public? Is it because the Kuwaitis are overcharging Halliburton? Is it because there’s a culture where they don’t care what they pay because the tax payers are going to pay the bill so there’s no reason for them to want to hold down the costs?’ (Waxman) …
‘If the evidence of what Halliburton has been charging for gasoline to be brought into Iraq is emblematic of anything, it’s emblematic of no oversight, no transparency, and fleecing of the tax payers.’ (Waxman)…
Just as the war started, Halliburton was awarded a no bid 7 billion dollar contract to repair Iraq’s oil industry…Halliburton proved itself after the first Gulf war, putting out the fires in the oil fields. The Pentagon has said it didn’t want to waste time finding someone new if Saddam burned the oil fields again, but Waxman says it’s a prime example of what’s wrong with the secrecy surrounding the government’s contracts, because in the initial 87 billion dollar Iraq aid package there was another 2 billion dollars for Halliburton. And when Waxman started asking, he says neither the goverment nor the company seemed to know whay the 2 billion dollars was there or what it was for.
‘We’ve got billions here, billions there. As one senator once said “A billion here, a billion there, it starts adding up into real money.” ‘ (Waxman)…
Who is Mark Zell?
Mark Zell is the principal of “Zell, Goldberg and Company,” which assists American companies in connection with Iraqi reconstruction projects.
From Roberta Baskin:
“And just who at the firm can connect you to the American Government? None other than Marc Zell. A former law partner of Douglas Feith. Who’s Douglas Feith? Undersecretary of Defense. One of the handful of advisors who, long before September 11, championed the campaign to get rid of Saddam Hussein. Now Douglas Feith is the man in charge of the Pentagon’s reconstruction of Iraq.
To sum up, Marc Zell is one well connected middleman standing right between the people to give the contracts and the people who want them. We asked to interview him about all this, but our calls were not returned.”
More from Roberta Baskin:
“But even at the war’s front lines, middlemen are busy making their deals. Marc Zell also works with a different firm called “The Iraqi International Law Group,” which very much wants to be “your professional gateway to the new Iraq.” Who’s in charge of that gateway? A man named Salem Chalabi.
He has a famous uncle, Ahmed Chalabi. You see him there in Iraq, but before the war, this exile was hand picked by the planners in the Pentagon to shape the new government. When the war started, they air lifted Chalabi into the country with his own 700 man militia. At the center of all that planning, Undersecretary of Defense Douglas Feith. Whose old law partner, Marc Zell, now works with Ahmed Chalabi’s nephew, providing that gateway to the new Iraq.”
More from Roberta Baskin:
“And Chalabi isn’t the only member of the Iraqi leadership with close relatives lining up for those rebuilding contracts. The son of one Chalabi aid runs a phone company that is part of the group that won the contract to provide cell service to southern Iraq. Chalabi’s aid told the Los Angeles Times that he doesn’t understand what all the fuss over his son’s inside connections. Comparing his son to the Americans, he said “It didn’t stop Cheney from becoming the Vice President.”
More from Roberta Baskin:
“But these aren’t the only friends of government promoting their inside influence in what’s being called The Iraq Gold Rush. One firm was established just for that purpose: New Bridge Strategies…If you can’t find your way around Baghdad, Mike Baker will lend you a hand. He’s a former CIA officer and part of the management team [its CEO] for New Bridge Strategies Strategies and its sister company Diligence, a security firm. Both are staffed by old Washington hands and both are headquartered in the offices of Barber, Griffith and Rogers. The “Barber” in that title is Haley Barber, a former chairman of the Republican party and one of the highest paid lobbyists in Washington. He’s now the Governer-elect of Missippi.”
‘Newbridge Strategies is staffed by people that have a great deal of experience in Washington. Everyone from Joe Albot to Ed Rogers. They understand how the administration thinks.’ (Mark Baker)
“They should understand how the administration thinks. They used to be in it. Joe Albot ran George W. Bush’s campaign for President, and was then put in charge of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Mike Baker’s other collegue is this man, Ed Rogers. He served as a deputy assistant to the first President Bush. Here he is in Iraq with Mike Baker, posing in front of a tank outfitted in flak jackets and sporting a semi-automatic rifle.”
The Center For The Public Integrity has been trying to find out information about the nature of the work specified in some of these contracts, and is getting a lot of resistance.
More from Roberta Baskin:
“No one has tried harder to get at those details [of the deals] than the watchdog group the Center For The Public Integrity. In a six month investigation, the Center found that cozy insider relationships have become an accepted way of doing business in the fight against terrorism.”…
But skeptics might be more easily persuaded if the government didn’t shroud all this in so much secrecy. That secrecy makes it practically impossible to find out if those close to the administration are profiting off their inside information. And it makes it equally hard to find out if tax payers are getting their money’s worth…
For example, in the name of secrecy, the Pentagon redacted almost every page of this contract. They have made it impossible to answer questions about fees being charged, or the work being done, or even the total cost of the job. Just look at the blacked out sections of this deal with the defense contractor SAIC…
All we know for certain about the contractor SAIC is that the top people of this privately held Fortune 500 company are wired into the Pentagon. On the board are a retired general and a former Assistant Secretary of Defense. And then there’s Ryan Henry, he was SAIC’s Senior Vice President. Until, that is, he went through that revolving door into the Pentagon. Into the very office that now supervises his former company’s contract.”
Below: The blacked out numbers of the SAIC contract.
Below: Some Members Of Congress Are Trying To Get To The Bottom Of This
Below: Some Iraqi Native Businessmen Are Complaining They Can’t Compete With American Companies
