Local farmers’ markets fun, and doing great

Standing in line, I counted eight people ahead of me. We were patiently waiting to purchase vegetables, especially tomatoes, from a vendor at the Newport Farmers’ Market on a recent Friday afternoon. The woman behind me said the vendor had sold his 125 pounds of tomatoes the prior week in an hour and fifteen minutes. Business was sure brisk while I was there.

Last Thursday, the Greater Chamber of Commerce had a business after hours event at the Claremont Farmers’ Market. I picked up some old fashioned, freshly made biscuits. The lady from Beryl Mt. View Farm in South Acworth told me how long I could keep them if I did not want to freeze them. The farmers’ markets are fun to visit and to buy from people who have produced the products.

I called Lorraine Merrill, our Commissioner of the Department of Agriculture, Markets and Food, on Friday to get her take on how New Hampshire’s farmers’ markets are doing. Her response, “they are doing great.” Governor Lynch, in fact, has proclaimed this week to be New Hampshire Eat Local Week. His proclamation notes that “eating more New Hampshire grown foods helps preserve the New Hampshire way of life we cherish” as well as encourages growth of local businesses and workforces, generates added income. He also stated that “knowing where your food comes from and the farmer who grew it adds to our eating pleasure and contributes to better personal health.”

SOURCE: www.scoop.co.nz...

Impeachment: Bush Accused of Tyranny and Murder, Saturday, 26 July 2008, 4:41 pmby Michael Collins

Star witnesses, legal scholar Bruce Fein and former LA District Attorney Vincent Bugliosi.
Image: M. Collins cc

House Justice Committee Hears Kucinich Resolution

Direct from the hearing

Today's hearing on the abuse of presidential powers before the House Committee on the Judiciary turned into a devastating political ambush by Chairman John Conyers (D-MI), committee Democrats, and the extraordinary panel of witnesses.. At least 12 Democratic Committee members were present plus the Chairman while only four Republicans bothered to show up.

Citizen Funk, unfortunately, is a rare bird. But imagine if he wasn't? Imagine if every county clerk and election commissioner followed his lead and made the integrity of our elections their number one priority. Imagine if they all realized that asking pertinent and thorough questions about the security of our voting equipment is part of the awesome responsiblity that is their job. Imagine if they didn't consider the fallout from doing the right thing.

Ex-Emory County, Utah County Clerk, Bruce Funk, is the kind of man you wish was your grandfather - soft-spoken, kind, and able to recognize what has been called "the nuclear bomb of security flaws" in Diebold's electronic voting machines.

Unfortunately, even though he blew the whistle in time to make a significant difference in the 2006 election, he was still treated as a pariah instead of a hero and removed from his office.

Bruce Funk has every right to be a bitter man. Instead, he can't think of anything more important to do with his life than to continue to work to save our democracy.

See? Just like your grandfather...

SOURCE:

Arizona Activists Outline Evidence of 2006 Electronic Vote Theft, By Bill Risner, Election Defense Alliance, Posted on July 22, 2008

Editor's Note: Electronic vote count fraud is very hard to prove. Yet for several years, a group of election integrity activists and Democratic Party officials in Tuscon, Arizona, have made as much progress as anyone in the country. At issue was a 2006 regional transit bond vote that was behind in pre-election polls but won on Election Day. Attorney Bill Risner, the Pima County Democratic Party, and AuditAZ, an election integrity group, sued and won the release of the vote's electronic records. That established for the first time in the country that such data was a public record. Now Risner and the activists have a sworn confession from a whistleblower who says he was told the transit bond vote count was altered and much related evidence. In this recent letter to Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard, Risner asks the state to reopen its own investigation and recount the 2006 ballots.

NOTE: The NH Ballot Law Commission, Department of State, and Legislature have all been provided the reports containing the following information regarding the Diebold vote counting technology they have unconditionally approved for use in NH elections. Despite being fully aware of the dangers and risks in the technology they have unconditionally approved, these three governmental bodies responsible for the integrity of NH elections have also refused to practice any oversight whatsoever on this technology or the company and its employees who are providing, programming, and maintaining it.

SOURCE:OpEdNews

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July 19, 2008 , Warning: This Product Is Hazardous To Your Freedom , By Rady Ananda and Andi Novick

'04 OH Election Case Revived: Expert Alleges Massive Fraud, Rove Named at Press Conference! - Ohio Attorney Files to Lift Stay on '04 Election Case, Cites Allegations, Evidence of Massive Fraud by a Number of GOP Operatives

SOURCE: bradblog.com

Leading Data Security Expert Joins Press Conference, Case, Notes Fraudulent Patterns That Should Have Triggered Investigation

Motion to Proceed with Targeted Discovery in Case Explained as Effort to Help Protect Integrity of '08 Election.

-- Special to The BRAD BLOG (1) by Steve Heller of Velvet Revolution (2)

At a press conference this morning in Columbus, Ohio, Cliff Arnebeck, lead attorney for the plaintiffs in the case of King Lincoln Bronzeville v. Blackwell (3), announced that he is filing a motion to "lift the stay in the case (and) proceed with targeted discovery in order to help protect the integrity of the 2008 election."

http://www.scoop.co.nz

Michael Collins: Election Fraud and Tyranny (2), Thursday, 17 July 2008, 10:44 pm

From image: "I can't believe you morons actually buy this sh..."
They don't. They're just following the script. That's why Miller calls them
"the servile press." Banksy

"Loser Taker All: Election Fraud and The Subversion of Democracy, 2000-2008", Edited by Mark Crispin Miller, Ig Publishing

Michael Collins, " Scoop" Independent News
Washington, D.C.
Also see Part 1

Hello Friends,

On behalf of Velvet Revolution and The BRAD BLOG, I covered via phone a press conference that was held in Columbus, Ohio on Thursday, July 17. Attorney Cliff Arnebeck, lead counsel for the plaintiffs in King Lincoln Bronzeville v. Blackwell, announced he has filed a motion to "lift the stay in the case (and) proceed with targeted discovery in order to help protect the integrity of the 2008 election."

Arnebeck will also "be providing copies of document hold notices to the U.S .Chamber Institute for Legal Reform and the U.S. Justice Department for Karl Rove emails from the White House." He believes this case has the potential to put some of the most powerful people in the country in jail. Said Arnebeck, "(W)e anticipate Mr. Rove will be identified as having engaged in a corrupt, ongoing pattern of corrupt activities specifically affecting the situation here in Ohio."

Michael Collins: Election Fraud & Tyranny: Part 1, Monday, 14 July 2008, 5:06 pm

Michael Collins: Election Fraud and Tyranny: Part 1

Banksy

"Loser Take All: Election Fraud and The Subversion of Democracy, 2000 - 2008"
Mark Crispin Miller (Ed.),
Ig Publishing, Brooklyn, NY

SOURCE: Michael Collins " Scoop" Independent News, Washington, D.C.

Mark Crispin Miller's new book, "Loser Take All," identifies and analyzes election fraud, the foundation of extremist power in the United States since 2000. Manipulated elections have enabled everything we've experienced from the Iraq war to the current economic meltdown. None of that would have been possible without the ongoing series of "surprise" wins for extremists and their enablers following the outright theft of the 2000 presidential election.

Four Democrats retiring from New Hampshire State Senate

The Senate will not be the same when it returns in December. Four Senators are retiring as two others leave to run for higher office. A few months ago I did some research and reported that the pattern is long established that Senators usually run for re-election. In the other chamber in each election about one quarter of the 400 members of the House do not seek re-election.

Of the four Senators retiring, all are Democrats and three are lawyers. This week I am briefly profiling two departing Senators and will complete the report next week. The non attorney is Iris Estabrook (Durham). She has served three terms in the Senate after three terms in the House. She is a passionate supporter of public education. And thus it was natural that she would chair the Senate Education Committee for the past two years after her party won a majority in the 2006 election. But, she was also named chair of the Health and Human Services Committee. Both of these committees are extremely important and the work is often very complex.

Vietnam Wall offers an opportunity for healing

Within seconds of the end of the ceremony at the Wall of Healing on Thursday, two people approached me and at the same time said they “hadn’t expected to be so moved” by the wall and the speakers at the ceremony.

The Vietnam War was central to daily life for my generation in the 1960’s and 1970’s. Many of my generation served in Vietnam. Many protested. But most watched as the daily drama of a war thousands of miles away played out through television in every neighborhood in America. Everyone’s life was impacted. And the nation was changed forever.

Thursday’s ceremony was well attended with all generations represented. Upon arriving it was clear just by the greetings of friends that it was to be an important event. The Chair of the Newport Board of Selectmen, Virginia Irwin, brought home how close Newport was to the war. Five local men lost their lives in Vietnam.

So much has been said and unsaid over the last 40 years. It was obvious that participating in the ceremony brought out the emotions of many of us who lost friends in a war that had polarized our nation. With the wall as a focus, the ceremony gave each person their opportunity to reflect and be part of an enduring healing process.

Week ahead promises Committees of Conference

This week will be the “once a year week of committees of conference.” For all but one bill, the Speaker will appoint four House members and the Senate President three Senate members to form a committee of conference. Each committee will try to hammer out compromises between the differing House and Senate positions on the same bill.

Some of the bills reflect years of study and preparation. That would be true of the two versions of the retirement bill. After years of concern, months of study and legislative wrangling since January, HB 1645 will have a major impact on current public employees including school teachers, retirees and state and local budgets. It is so important, for example, this committee of conference has been enlarged to five House members and four Senators with two Senate alternates. Area legislators Senator Peter Burling (Cornish) and Representative Patricia McMahon (Sutton) will be on the committee. Rough estimates suggest that if nothing is done, the increase in the base cost for retirement benefits for local communities could go up over 50%. If either the Senate or House version of the retirement bill passes, the cost increase will be closer to 15%.

Here is the truth about what happened in the Rules and Bylaws Committee meeting when the members of that committee voted to take away the delegates for Florida and Michigan to the convention. I was there, and so was Sarah John and she can verify the accuracy of this very long report. The meeting I am referring to took place on 1 December 2007 and it finalized what had been voted on during the August meeting in Chicago in 2006. Here now is what happened.

First of all the representatives from Florida and Michigan were once more told that they could change their primary and caucus dates and move them up to 5 Frbruary 2008 (Superduper Tuesday), but by vote of all the Committee members that took place in August of 2006 in Chicago it was agreed that only Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina would be permitted I to vote in the January calendar. Michigan and Florida were reminded that they AGREED TO THE RULES.

Then Michigan and Florida representatives were given a chance to argue just why they felt they should be able to move into the January time frame. Michigan wanted to move, I believe, to 15 January…AHEAD of the established date for New Hampshire, and Florida wanted to move to 23 January the EXACT SAME DAY as the South Carolina sanctioned date. The committee ruled against them and said that they thereby would forfeit their delegates if they insisted to moving to those dates.

STATEMENT OF PAUL TWOMEY TO SUBCOMMITTEE ON COMMERCIAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE LAW & SUBCOMMITTEE ON CRIME, TERRORISM AND HOMELAND SECURITY

Hearing on “Allegations of Selective Prosecution Part II: The Erosion of Public Confidence in our Federal Justice System”

May 14, 2008

”No right is more precious in a free country than that of having a vote in the election of those who make the laws under which, as good citizens, we must live. Other rights, even the most basic, are illusory if the right to vote is undermined ...Competition and ideas in governmental policies is as the core of our electoral process and in the First Amendment freedom. (Justice Hugo Black, Williams v. Rhodes, 393 US 23, 30-31 (1968).

On November 4, 2002, over 2,000 volunteers and staff of the New Hampshire Democratic Party went to sleep with the hope and expectation that the next day they would take part in a fair and free election in which they would be allowed an equal chance to present the citizens of the state of New Hampshire with their policies and candidates for consideration. They expected to exercise their precious constitutional rights to vote, to freedom of association and to freedom of speech without interference or constraint. The staff and volunteers had spent thousands of hours preparing for the day when they thought they would partake in a fair and equal election. The New Hampshire Democratic Party and its candidates had spent in excess of 20 million dollars in order to present their positions to the electorate. (The Republicans spent a similar amount). Given the closeness of the polling results, both parties recognized that the key to success would lie in their ability to identify sympathetic voters and ensure that those voters went to the polls.

  http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0805/S00179.htm

Polite Fascism Contracts The Right To Vote - Tuesday, 13 May 2008, 8:45 pm Column: Michael Collins

Another Supreme Outrage

Justices Stevens, Kennedy, and Roberts combined with Scalia, Alito, and
Thomas to take voting rights back to1898. Image (left), Image (right)

William Crawford, et al, Petitioners 07-21 v.
Marion County Elections Board et al.

Indiana Democratic Party, et al., Petitioners 07-25 v. Todd Rokita,
Indiana Secretary of State, et al.
U. S. ____ (2008) Opinion of STEVENS, J.

Sunapee’s winning French team visits the State Senate

My schedule for Friday shows three hours set aside for presentation of the House Bill of Address 1 (HA 1) by the sponsor and co-sponsors (I am a co-sponsor) to remove Superior Court Judge Priscilla Coffey from the bench. Three additional hours are set aside for the public to make their comments on HA 1 on Friday afternoon. Judge Coffey will have three hours to present her defense at a later date. This is an historic case as bills of address to remove office holders have come up only a couple of times. House sponsors of HA 1, including Representative Lucy Weber (Walpole), an attorney herself, have been putting in long hours of work researching and planning the presentation of the case for ousting Judge Coffey.

Last Friday the New Hampshire Supreme Court suspended Judge Coffey for three years without pay. Public officials from John Lynch on down want Judge Coffey removed from the bench. She has said the accusations against her are true. They dealt with helping her husband, who has been disbarred, to hide assets so they could not be recovered to pay for an investigation of charges against him.

SOURCE: http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0804/S00288.htm

BY Michael Collins: Election Fraud in Pennsylvania? Sunday, 20 April 2008, 8:59 pm

(Image Source - Diebold Variations)

They've got a Secret:

The Pennsylvania primary could lock up the Democratic nomination process once and for all. The campaign that Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean asked to be finished by July 1 could be over this Tuesday. Regardless of your candidate or party, you're probably like the vast majority of citizens who insist on fair elections that are open to the public for examination.

Greetings!

You may have read that the Council had a very successful Public Hearing on the nomination of George Campbell to lead the Department of Transportation. After the Hearing, I felt very comfortable voting in favor of Mr. Campbell’s nomination. I believe that he will be an excellent Commissioner – fair, and will listen to all points of view before making up his mind. Thank you to my constituents who talked to me about this important nomination.

Debora
NEWS RELEASE FOR DISTRICT FIVE April 9, 2008 FROM DEBORA B. PIGNATELLI, Executive Councilor

April 9, 2008, Concord, NH - Listed below are some of the items that were approved at the Governor and Council Meeting, April 9, 2008, that might be of interest to District Five constituents.

The next Governor and Council Meeting will be held Wednesday,

April 23, 2008 in the Governor and Council Chamber, State House, Concord, NH.

SOURCE: http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0804/S00239.htm

Zubaydah, Bush and the Bureaucracy of Torture, Wednesday, 16 April 2008, 1:18 pm, BY Michael Collins

"certifiable, insane"

"The United States does not torture." - Pres. Bush, Sept. 6, 2006

The devastating attack of 9/11 conferred unprecedented popularity on the Bush administration. This was more a reflection of the strong desire for national unity in the wake of a tragedy than an endorsement of Bush policies.

After the attack, there was a frantic effort inside the administration to show a major success in their newly proclaimed war on terror. The administration knew what the public didn't: Far from being surprised by airplanes used as weapons, they'd had a series of warnings from intelligence sources that commercial airplanes were indeed the next weapon of choice by terrorists. Once that information became public, the Bush administration would need something more to boost its image.

BY Nancy Tobi

Printer Friendly version

For the published version of this article and more about elections in 21st century America, read the newly released Loser Take All, edited by Mark Crispin Miller.

The Myth of Verified Voting: How GOP strategists and Jack Abramoff transformed America’s elections and the election reform movement itself

K Street Lobbyists and Election Reform

In 1995, House Majority Leader Tom DeLay and Republican strategist Grover Norquist launched the “K Street Project.” (i) Named for the Capital Hill street housing many lobbying firms, the Project gave lobbyists direct access to Washington lawmakers through weekly policy and strategy meetings. The most infamous K Street lobbyist was Jack Abramoff, who worked for the firm Greenberg Traurig. Abramoff, now in prison, took money from his American Indian tribe clients, and laundered it to Congressional Representatives in return for legislative and policy favors aligned with the Project’s political agenda.

But this was not just any money laundering enterprise. Abramoff’s dry cleaner was converting money to election fraud.