By Norwood
Chris, a loyal BlogWood reader, sent an email to the Tampa City Council yesterday, just as I suggested in this post on hysterical Christians. Chris also posted the exact same message as a comment on that post. (Scroll all the way down to see the comments)
Today, the SP TImes did an article on reaction to the hateful and repressive actions of the city council members who walked out of a meeting rather than listen to another point of view, and they printed the email that Chris sent. Well, they printed most of it. And they “corrected” a “typo” that was actually meant to be. Here’s both versions:
From the SP Times:
“The behavior of White, Alvarez and Ferlita is typical of hateful Christians. What they can’t understand, they fear. Why are these people on the City Council? And what’s up with White’s statement (that) listening to an atheist even one time could unleash a “snowball effect’ on government? He compared it to having unprotected sex. Very twisted thinking. I’m not even sure you could call that thinking.”
And from BlogWood:
The behavior of White, Alvarez and Ferlita is typical of hateful christians. What they can’t understand they fear. Why are these people on the city council? Isn’t there a separation of church and state. Or do they just get to shove their Judeo-Christian god down everyones throat? And what’s up with White’s statement “Listening to an atheist even one time could unleash a “snowball effect” on government. He compared it to having unprotected sex. Very twisted thinking. I’m not even sure you could call that thinking.
Posted by: Chris at July 30, 2004 07:49 AM
So, why did the Times clean up this email message? Chris assures me that the BlogWood version is exactly the email that was sent to the city council, pasted from the original. Chris intended for several words not to be capitalized. An entire sentence was cut out without any indication.
I guess by calling the reprinted emails a “sample”, the SP Times gave itself blanket permission to edit for content and clarity. Too bad they didn’t make that point a little clearer within the article.
EMails should be reprinted without spell checking or editing. These are not letters to the editor which are often “fixed” before publication. I think a few well placed (sic)s would have made for a better solution than an invisible editing job.
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By Norwood
Remember a few days ago, when we discovered that Miami had lost computer data from the 2002 election - data it should have been backing up and archiving? Officials blamed the loss on a computer crash and said that no backups existed.
Well, now the data has been mysteriously recovered, found backed up on a CD and also on a hard drive. Convenient, eh?
Miami-Dade election officials said Friday that they found electronic records of recent elections that were thought to be lost in computer crashes, but the explanation did little to ease the swirl of controversy that again put the county’s voting process under scrutiny.
……
The records at issue: audits produced by the machines that provide a record of every vote cast and serve as the only reliable backup to check the accuracy of electronic vote counting.
‘’It is the vital record that makes certain that the election was correct,'’ said Lida Rodriguez-Taseff, chairwoman of the Miami-Dade Election Reform Coalition.
The controversy began July 1, when the Reform Coalition made a public-records request for audits of a September 2002 primary. The group wanted to examine how the touch-screen machines functioned.
Two weeks later, they received a troubling response. An e-mail from an election department official said: “The system crashed in May 2003 and again November 2003. As a result we lost most of the data files for the September Primary 2002.'’
……
When the news broke Wednesday, a team of state election officials and employees from the system’s manufacturer, Election Systems & Software, arrived at election headquarters.
They found the audits on a computer, and Kaplan’s secretary discovered a CD with information in a filing cabinet, the supervisor said.
Apparently, the department had been backing up the audit information all along — as county auditors had recommended — to prepare for server crashes.
Kaplan said crashes last year were caused not by technical failure, but by employees moving furniture without shutting the servers down.
Friday’s discovery did little to assuage the fears of reformers worried about the Aug. 31 primary in a state made infamous by voting flaws in the 2000 presidential election.
Rodriguez-Taseff told commissioners the county not only needs to keep the audits, but to evaluate them.
The elections department does not regularly do that, and when an information-technology employee briefly took the task on himself last year, he found a significant glitch.
‘’Not only have we not looked at the audit data, we can’t even find it,'’ Rodriguez-Taseff said.
The coalition is particularly interested in a discovery by the American Civil Liberties Union that 1,544 people signed in at predominantly black precincts during the 2002 primary but never cast a vote.
‘If the department cares about the accuracy of elections, it would have taken the audit data . . . and say, `How did we lose those votes?’ ‘’ Rodriguez-Taseff said.
‘’That is something we could do,'’ Kaplan said. Asked later why the department had not done so yet, after two years with the machines, she said: “We’re not required to do it.'’
……
Ferguson was the most critical. “It’s almost a flip of the coin if we’re going to get through this election without a problem.'’
So, critical data that may be able to shed some light on the reliability of these machines was “lost” and then “found,” but only after representatives of the manufacturer and Jeb!’s office flood the scene. Now, I’m not suggesting that anyone may have tampered with or falsified or even counterfeited this data in order to silence critics and put an end to this inquiry.
I mean, just because Jeb! and the ES&S have everything riding on this election, and just because tons of dirty tricks were used in 2000 in order to steal the White House, and just because Florida’s voter purge list was heavily flawed in favor of Republicans, and just because Democratic leaning black voters continue t not have their votes counted, and just because the Republican party is urging its own constituents to avoid voting on these machines, um…,
Okay, maybe I am suggesting that something more nefarious than this article implies may be at work. Unfortunately, we may never know for sure, but let me point out that as a computer guy, I know that it’s pretty easy for another computer guy to fake a backup data disk and/or change the data just enough to have it reflect whatever reality the customer (Jeb!) wants to see.
Florida’s e-voting machines have no auditable paper trail. if you want your vote to count, you must vote absentee via optical scan ballot. This means requesting and filling out an absentee ballot form your county elections supervisor.
Hillsborough County residents
(More information: General Hillsborough County info)
Here’s a link to all of the Florida county elections supervisors. You need to contact your local county elections supervisor in order to request an absentee ballot.
Follow the “continue…” link to learn more about voting absentee in Florida.
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By Norwood
Monday is the deadline to Register to Vote in the Aug. 31 primary.
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By Norwood
A group of young children were planning a holiday show downtown. They scheduled a series of meetings, and before every meeting began, they invited a different neighborhood kid to invoke the spirit of Santa Clause so that their endeavor would be blessed with good luck.
Then one day a kid rose to give the invocation and proclaimed that Santa Clause was a figment of the collective imagination of the other kids. The speaker believed that Santa Clause was a tool used by parents to maintain control over their children. After all, kids were constantly being told that being naughty would invoke Santa’s wrath and that he would punish bad boys and girls.
The non-believer went on to proclaim that instead of supplicating themselves before this fat old white man that, perhaps, the children could, just this once, consider invoking the inclusive spirit of diversity to bless the coming meeting.
Well, the other kids went apeshit. They weren’t quite ready to consider the idea that Santa was a tool of the oppressor. And besides, if Santa didn’t exist, where were their winter rewards for being nice, not naughty, going to come from?
More importantly, what if Santa really did exist? Would He punish them simply for listening to this non-believer? Would he unleash his wrath upon the group by turning them into a pillar of coal? Uh, maybe!
Best to err on the side of safety and simply run away and hide. After all, if the children let themselves be exposed to people and beliefs that are foreign to them, even once, it could unleash a snowball effect and suddenly open the group up to a whole world of new and exciting ideas.
SPTimes:
The City Council’s opening invocation is usually a quiet moment of peace.
People from all faiths bow heads to hear pastors, rabbis and even poets offer some inspiration.
But Thursday, three council members walked out rather than hear an invocation from a man who doesn’t believe in God.
Council members Kevin White, Mary Alvarez and Rose Ferlita left their seats rather than listen to Michael R. Harvey, a member of Atheists of Florida who had been invited by council member John Dingfelder to offer the invocation.
Even before Harvey began to speak, White was pushing to cancel the invocation. These are sacred moments that refer to a supreme being, White said, and this speaker is an atheist.
“We have never had people of an atheist group represent Americans,” White said. “And I don’t think it is appropriate in this setting.”
White’s motion to cancel the invocation failed 2-4, supported only by him and Alvarez. She called White “very brave” for making the effort.
“I just can’t sit here and listen to someone that does not believe in a supreme being,” she said.
Ferlita voted to allow the invocation go on, but also walked out. “I think this is sending us in the wrong direction,” Ferlita said.
Mayor Pam Iorio, who did not attend the council meeting, said later that the invocation should be reserved for speakers who invoke God. She would not say whether she would have walked out.
“I certainly don’t agree with having an atheist come for the invocation,” she said. “I think the invocation is a time for the council to start their day with an expression of faith.”
Dingfelder said his invitation to Harvey started with a neighborhood talk. He often saw Ed Golly, president of Atheists of Florida, in South Tampa. Golly needled him that the invocation violated the separation of church and state.
“I agree you should have equal time,” Dingfelder told him. “I’ll set it up.”
Usually, clergy members deliver the invocation. But poets, civic leaders and ordinary citizens have been invited to speak, too. Some are nondenominational; others mix politics with prayer. Some invoke Jesus, others are more meditative.
Dingfelder, who attends a Jewish synagogue, has also invited Baptist and Methodist preachers, as well as a chaplain from MacDill Air Force Base.
……
Then, White stepped in. White said he had heard news reports that Harvey planned to make a political statement. Harvey should make his speech during the audience portion of the meeting, he said, when people have three minutes to address the council.
“What you are proposing is a form of censorship,” Dingfelder said. And he said he was not told in advance what Harvey planned to say.
“City Hall belongs to everybody - everybody - regardless of what they believe in or what they don’t believe in,” Dingfelder said, his face getting flushed. “Because that is what our nation was built on. And that is what our soldiers overseas are fighting for.”
With the debate over, council vice chairman Shawn Harrison invited Harvey to begin. Harrison warned him not to make a political statement.
Harvey thanked the council, then spoke about the separation of church and state.
Harrison banged the gavel.
“Sir, you are out of order,” he said. “This is a political statement.”
“I would say what occurred before was more of a political statement,” Harvey said.
Harrison warned Harvey again.
The three council members still in the room lowered their heads.
Harvey continued: “So rather than clasping your hands, bowing your heads and closing your eyes, open your arms to that which truly makes us strong - our diversity.”
Later that day, Harvey said he expected controversy, but not the hostility he faced.
“They did not want an atheist to share in that symbolic gesture to participate in government at that level,” Harvey said. “I think it disturbed them. I think they did not know how to act.”
……
Later, White agreed that he was taking a stand. Listening to an atheist even one time could unleash a “snowball effect” on government. He compared it to having unprotected sex.
By the afternoon, Dingfelder was sounding somber. Asked if he regretted the invitation, he paused.
“I don’t know,” he said.
He paused again. “No, I don’t think so.”
His political career will probably be hurt, he said.
“All I can tell you is I did this because I honestly believed it was the right thing to do.”
Write an email to the Tampa City Council and let them know what you think about their impious little display of hatred.
If you do nothing else, give John Dingfelder a shout of encouragement.
(Click the “continue…” link at the end of this post to see the full text of the invocation.)
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By Norwood
Get Up with MorningWoodGet some Wood in the afternoon! I’ll be hosting WMNF’s Sonic Detour from 4 to 6 PM this afternoon. on 70,000 Watt Community Radio WMNF 88.5 fm, Tampa, and streaming at wmnf.org. 4 to 6 am (eastern) every Tuesday!
Studio line: 813-239- WMNF WOOD
MorningWood Needs Your Vote!
The WMNF listener survey is out, and somehow MorningWood got left off of the list for favorite shows. This sucks.
You can help to rectify this tragic error by filling out the survey online and writing in your vote for MorningWood wherever it may be even remotely appropriate.
Survey hints: The answer “MorningWood” would work nicely for the following questions: (the page numbers correspond to the printed version, in case some of you are following along with a pencil)
Favorite Daily Shows Section: Early Morning Free Form (4 - 6 AM) (Yes - this includes MorningWood, but MorningWood is nowhere mentioned as a unique entity. That is the crux of the problem.)
Page 18, “Listening Preferences” section “One show I would listen to more…”
Page 19, “Weekly Shows” section: This is the one where MorningWood was inexplicably left off of the ballot. If using the printed program guide, please “Write In” MorningWood in this section. Don’t worry - I’ve received firm suggestions from people very low in the station hierarchy that your ballot wont be rejected as an “overvote” just because you write in your vote.
Page 20, “News” section: How ‘bout a plug for BlogWood.com under web sites!
Section 23 (Online): One could, if one were so inclined, type, or even paste the following: “I love to get up with MorningWood!”
Okay - that’s it for the cheat sheet. Good luck. I know you’ll do your best…
THANKS!
Thanks to all the loyal WMNF and MorningWood listeners who called in during last week’s marathon fundraiser for our new building. MorningWood continued a streak of making goal. In fact, MorningWood has never fallen short in any marathon. This time, the goal was shattered, and MorningWood was one of the best performing overnight shows. MorningWood listeners rock.
Blogging on the radio
Mama Cass! Pig tales! Judi Bari! More?!? I’m outa time… I’ll just cut and paste and run. See you on the radio.
This afternoon on Sonic Detour, get your Wood on! I’m Norwood, and I regularly host MorningWood, Tuesdays from 4 to 6 am, every week here on WMNF. I’m sitting in for Nell today on Sonic Detour, and, as fate would have it, circumstances well beyond my control have conspired to essentially plan this show for me.
First, I am in the midst of a 2 week stint of Pig Sitting. I’m hosting the True Majority Pig Mobile, a stunning representation of the enormous financial costs of the war in Iraq.
The “Pig Mobile,” conceived of by Ben Cohen, co-founder of Ben and Jerry’s, consists of three different-sized piggy banks strung together to illustrate just how big a financial disaster the Iraq war has turned out to be.
The largest pig (by far) shows the financial cost ($200 billion) of America’s attack on Iraq, including the projected minimum cost of reconstruction. The smaller pig illustrates how much the federal government spends on K-12 education ($34 billion) . And the third pig, which is a wee little pig, shows America’s dedication to lessening world hunger and poverty ($10 billion).
These piggies, all built out with striking pink fiberglass and featuring an oinking soundtrack, are pulled by a full-sized Chevy van towing a trailer.
For more information on the TrueMajority Pig Mobile and where to see it during it’s last days in the Tampa area, go to BlogWood.com or give me a call in the studio.
Anyway, the Pig Mobile inspired me to do a Pig themed special a few weeks ago on MorningWood, and, by popular demand, I have boiled that special down to a single hour of porcine power. From 5 to 6 PM today, it will be all pig music all the time.
But what about the first hour? Well, if I ever finish talking, you’ll notice that the first hour of this afternoon’s Sonic Detour is dedicated to Mama Cass, who died 30 years ago today with a half eaten HAM sandwich by her side. How’s that for a segue?
Disclaimer: The coroner later determined that this particular ham sandwich had absolutely nothing to do with Mama Cass’s untimely demise.
So, as you can see, I really had no choice in the programming of today’s show: Mama Cass and the Pink Piggies, now to be forever attached deep in the bowels of my faulty memory by the thin strands of a leftover lunch.
And, as I recently found out, unexpected pig references often pop up in the least expected places, so don’t be surprised if there’s a bit of an unforeseen overlap between the sets.
Playlists
Each week, I bring my planned songs in on CD. I usually end up playing most or all of them in the planned order. But sometimes things go askew. Sorry - no guarantees or refunds.
4 - 4:30 planned playlist
4:30 -5 planned playlist
Hour 2 planned playlist
Live playlist
WMNF Community Radio
WMNF is a non-commercial community radio station that celebrates local cultural diversity and is committed to equality, peace and social and economic justice. WMNF provides broadcasts and creates other forums to serve the community by the exposure and sharing of these values.
(Updated at 3:20 PM)
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“It’s an astonishing level of hypocrisy,” said Sharon Lettman-Pacheco of the liberal People for the American Way Foundation, which sued the state seeking to force manual recounts for touch screen machines. “Which one is it: Do the machines work, or do they know something that we don’t?”
Obviously, they know something. Now, I’ve been encouraging people to vote absentee for the same reasons, but I also want a paper trail, and I had nothing to do with bringing these flawed machines into the state in the first place.
A few days ago, I took Howard Troxler to task for calling the paper trail issue a partisan one. I thought that everyone should be concerned about the integrity of the vote. Well, it looks like it is partisan: the Republicans are so sure that they will be able to muster more absentee voters that they are not worried about the lost and miscounted votes that will result from the use of these machines.
In 2000, the Republicans were much better organized than the Democrats in getting their people to request and vote absentee ballots. Republicans fixed flawed applications in one county supervisor’s office so that the votes would count. They had organized absentee voting drives, assisting voters with the forms and with the ballots themselves. This was one of the many small things that helped them to get close enough to steal Florida and the country.
Now, having replaced old-fashioned, but reliable (when properly maintained, which many machines were not) and recountable machines with computer based units whose inner workings are super secret and (increasingly) obviously flawed, the Republicans are telling their own people to leave the electronic voting to the rabble and to vote absentee.
While Gov. Jeb Bush reassures Floridians that touch screen voting machines are reliable, the Republican Party is sending the opposite message to some voters.
The GOP urged some Miami voters to use absentee ballots because touch screens lack a paper trail and cannot “verify your vote.”
That’s the same argument Democrats have made but which Bush, his elections director and Republican legislators have repeatedly rejected.
“The liberal Democrats have already begun their attacks and the new electronic voting machines do not have a paper ballot to verify your vote in case of a recount,” says a glossy mailer, paid for by the Republican Party of Florida and prominently featuring two pictures of President Bush. “Make sure your vote counts. Order your absentee ballot today.”
The GOP tactic is the reverse of what Bush and state elections experts have said as they have repeatedly opposed Democratic moves, in the Legislature and courts, to require a paper trail on the machines.
A coalition of liberal and civil rights groups have filed a lawsuit seeking to force state elections officials to create a system for manual recounts of touch screen results.
Miami-Dade is one of 15 counties that switched from punch-card ballots to touch screens after the 2000 recount. But absentee ballots are filled out on paper and tallied on optical scan machines because the ballot is sent through the mail.
The Republican flier is part of a hard-fought GOP primary for a state House seat in Miami where absentee ballots could make a difference.
The mailing surfaced at the Democratic National Convention Wednesday and stirred outrage by Florida delegates and elected officials.
“I’ve seen that advertisement. It’s appalling,” said Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson. “It is an acknowledgement that there are excessive error rates with touch screens even by the party in power.”
“That is awful. That is disgusting. Despicable,” said state Sen. Ron Klein, D-Delray Beach. “Why use dirty tricks to scare people?”
“It’s unbelievable,” said state Sen. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Weston. “They’re the ones who won’t certify a machine to attach a paper trail.”
A Bush spokeswoman said the governor had not see the flier beforehand and did not approve of the criticism of the touch screen machines.
“The governor certainly does not support that message,” said Bush spokeswoman Jill Bratina. “People need to have confidence in these machines.”
The Republican Party of Florida paid to send the mailing to voters in a House primary in Miami-Dade County, where Rep. Juan-Carlos Zapata, R-Miami, is fighting to win a second term against challenger Frank Artiles in District 119.
The party supports Zapata in the Aug. 31 primary.
The full-color mailer says, “Support our Republican Party” and “every vote counts” and shows a smiling President Bush giving a thumbs-up. A tear-off absentee ballot request form, to be mailed to the Republican Party of Florida’s Miami office, shows the president and Zapata side by side.
Republican Party spokesman Joseph Agostini initially denied that the brochure was the work of the GOP. But after he was shown the flier, he backtracked. He confirmed it was a GOP flier mailed in response to an Artiles flier that used the president’s face without permission.
See below for help voting absentee in Florida in 2004. In a nutshell, anyone can do it, whether or not they plan to be “absent” in election day.
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I got mine. Here’s how to get yours:
Note - In Hillsborough and many other counties, absentee ballots are handled with an optical scan system, a very reliable method that leaves a countable paper trail.
Hillsborough County residents
(More information: General Hillsborough County info)
Here’s a link to all of the Florida county elections supervisors. You need to contact your local county elections supervisor in order to request an absentee ballot.
Voting Absentee in Florida
The following list of frequently asked questions is from the Hillsborough County supervisor’s web iste, and is therefore somewhat specific to county residents, but the rules are the same no matter where you reside in Florida - any registered voter can request and vote an absentee ballot. You do not need to actually be absent on election day. So follow this link and contact your own county supervisor and request an absentee ballot today.
ABSENTEE VOTING
Who is eligible for an absentee ballot?
If you are a qualified registered Hillsborough County voter, you are entitled to vote by absentee ballot.
How do I obtain an absentee ballot?
An absentee ballot may be requested for a specific election or for all elections in the current calendar year. The request can be made in person, by mail, fax, E-mail or by telephone. You can also fill out a request on-line by clicking here. The absentee request must include the voter’s name, address, birthdate and signature if a written request. Only the voter or a designated member of his or her immediate family or legal guardian can request an absentee ballot for the voter. If the voter has designated an immediate family member or legal guardian to request an absentee ballot for him or herself, the designee must provide the required request information for the voter and the designee’s name, address and relationship to the voter.
When are absentee ballots available?
Absentee ballots are mailed approximately 30 days prior to each election to those voters who have requested an absentee ballot. A qualified voter may vote in person at either of the two offices of the Supervisor of Elections during the two weeks prior to an election.
WARNING - In Hillsborough County, this form of in person early voting involves using paperless touch screen machines - the kind that are flawed and leave no paper trail.
For other available early voting sites, please call our office at 813-272-5850 for additional information. Within four days of an election, a designated person may carry out up to two ballots for anyone as long as the required request information is provided and the voter specifically authorizes the person to pick up the ballot in writing. There is no limitation on number of carryouts for immediate family members.
How do I return my absentee ballot?
Absentee ballots must be returned in the envelope provided. The envelope must include the voter’s signature, the witness information and signature. Voted absentee ballots must be received by 5:00 p.m. on Election Day at the County Center office of the Supervisor of Elections or not later than 7 p.m. at the Robert L. Gilder Elections Service Center. A VOTED BALLOT CANNOT BE ACCEPTED AT A POLLING PLACE. If you request and receive an absentee ballot and later decide to vote at the polls, take your absentee ballot with you to be cancelled at your polling place.
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I’ve said it before: no conspiracy is needed. These are mostly Microsoft Windows based machines and they are prone to crash and are very buggy - just like the machines that most of you use at home and work. The errors that make the news are known errors. What else is lurking out there that may be affecting the vote counts? We may never know, because vendors are allowed to keep their systems super-secret.
Herald.com | 07/28/2004 | Computer glitches lost voting data
Two computer crashes last year destroyed most of the electronic records from recent Miami-Dade County elections, raising fears about the touch-screen technology the county bought to prevent a debacle similar to the 2000 presidential election.
Elections officials say they that have since fixed the problem, and that the crashes occurred long after any potential call for a recount passed. For at least 10 days after an election, they say, the votes are kept in a memory device called a “flash card.'’
‘’Immediately after the elections, the flash cards still exist,'’ said Seth Kaplan, a spokesman for the Miami-Dade Department of Elections. “They could have done a recount.'’
Still, the department has no idea what caused the server to crash in May and November 2003 and erase nearly all of the electronic data from the previous year’s gubernatorial primary and general election.
The November incident happened shortly after a major municipal election. The elections department could not say whether the crash could have jeopardized a potential request for a recount. Luckily, no recount was called for.
The Miami-Dade Election Reform Coalition, which discovered the problem, said the loss of data highlights the unreliability of a system that has been wracked with glitches since the county began using it in 2002. More ominously, they say, it shows how ephemeral votes can be in an electronic system with no paper trail to rely on for a recount.
‘’We will never know how good or bad the audit capability because the data is gone,'’ said Lida Rodriguez-Taseff, an attorney and chairwoman of the coalition. “What this shows from a big-picture perspective is that no one knows what’s going on.'’
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I’m fighting an attack of comment spam today - automated comments posted to the site advertising whatever. I’m trying various methods to block and clean up, but in the meantime, I have no time for posting.
Back soon…
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