I Showed Up -- Reflections on the "Nash-ional" Conference

[Fly by night]

It is twenty minutes 'til Sunday midnight, here in my Tennessee holler home. It is quiet and dark and I'm not keeping track of timing any more presentations. The "Nash-ional" has come and gone, and yet it still resonates (down deep, and with what feels like forever).

I will post more tomorrow, but speaking for us Orange Staters, we are very pleased. It was all good.

So, who showed up?

People from 30 states showed up.
The Nashville paper showed up (and stayed for two days).
The NBC affiliate showed up (and broadcast stories on the conference at noon, 4:00, 5:00, 6:00 and 10:00 pm on Friday).
The speakers showed up early and stayed late. And they gave us a remarkable post-graduate course in election fraud and the needed remedies.
David Cobb showed up (as did R. Lee Wrights, the Vice-Chair for the Libertarian National Committee) and they received a standing ovation before they reached the stage.
Civil rights leaders showed up, and shared.
High school girls with voices of sweetness and strength showed up.
And more musicians showed up, at every break.
The warriors from Ohio and Florida and Alabama and Pennsylvania and Arizona and Oregon and Washington and Georgia and California and New Jersey -- from all those places where warriors must now come together -- showed up.
The documentarians and videographers showed up (in spades).
Patriots with smarts and skill and stamina and soul showed up.
The "early innovators" in this Second American Revolution showed up.
Brad and Mary Beth and Clint and Judith and berniew1 and Kat and Cliff and Lara and Bob and Joanne and Josh and Kathy and R.H. showed up.
Dancers and physicians and truck drivers and astrophysicists, election fraud-busters all, showed up.
Nine political parties showed up.
Common Cause and the People for the American Way Foundation showed up.
Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney showed up.
So many proud and patriotic people showed up.
Fifteen year olds and 70+ year olds showed up.
A Pacifica radio producer showed up (after driving non-stop from Arizona to join us just for the Sunday discussion groups only.)
And many of you showed up.

While I try to get some sleep (having had 9 1/2 hours in the past 100+), I'll be forever thankful to everyone who showed up. And for those of you here on DU who have impatiently waited for word. I look forward to hearing what others will have to say about the past three days -- about spring-time in the South, talking election reform and demanding election justice. Putting faces with names, aligning hearts and minds.

Five pieces of news for those of you following the "Nash-ional" conference from afar:

1) This Tennessee Independent Media Center article is a good one, and shows the first pictures of our group shot with Congresswoman McKinney.

http://www.tnimc.org/feature/display/4960/index.php

2) The Nashville Tennessean (whose reporter stayed 15+ hours at the conference, and who we arranged to join us for the ride in from the airport with the Congresswoman) plans to do a "long" story that will appear tomorrow.

3) Robert Koehler (of the Chicago Tribune Media Services syndicate) plans to do his next nationally syndicated column on the conference. It will be released on Wednesday.

4) Brad Friedman plans to blog his impressions shortly on BradBlog.

5) Our late-arriving Pacifica producer will send the entirety of the plenary audio to all 84 Pacifica affiliates (in one hour segments) as soon as we get him the audio. And he will help us in posting the entire 14 hours of the plenary sessions soon on the internet -- probably within a week or two. And will help us create CDs to distribute to anyone who wants to "show up" in cyberspace or in a CD player, our conference suspended in time, waiting for them.

We all showed up, and wish more of you could have too. But don't despair -- we may just Gather together again in Philadelphia sometime soon. Seems to us that re-visiting Independence Hall to start re-taking our country with another (larger) national rally for democracy might be a good chance for more of us to suit up and "show up" next time. After all, why wait any longer?

We are the ones we have been waiting for.

Now Karyn and Kat and Kathy; Kip and berniew1 and Dan and Andy -- and all you other DU-gooders who attended or supported our Gathering. Check in and share your reflections of the "Nash-ional" conference. I'll write more tomorrow. But for now ....

I'm going to bed.

[emlev]

1. Thank you flybynight, for your work and your early (late) report

An inspiring teaser. Looking forward to more words...

[garybeck]

2. Philadelphia. YES. The Solar Bus is taking riders.

[Fly by night]

3. Early PMs from the conference

Here are some emails I've received even before going to bed.

Impressions of the first seven people to write me:

Deborah: " Thank you for validating the belief I have had for some time that something wasn't right about this whole election/voting thing. I was starting to wonder about my sanity.

"I really enjoyed the conference. You did a fantastic job of keeping things moving and keeping volatile personalities under control so the message could get out. It was great.

"The mantra/prayer reading you did for the closing was so beautiful and powerful. Thank You for sharing that with us,too.

"Debbie and our friend Beth who came with us all got up in church today and talked about how much we enjoyed the conference and what a wakeup call it was for us. You're gonna save us all!

"P.S. Everyone loved the buttons--especially the 'I showed up' one."
--------------------

Richard: "To keep it short, CONGRATULATIONS, and THANK YOU."
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Dawn: "I love the Hopi prayer and so believe we are the ones. Let's get together and talk about these times, our journeys and VOTE. I'd like to have you on "Wake Up and Live" the WRFN talk show I'm co-hosting. You can hear it on-line at radiofreenashville.org . So please keep in touch and also pass my email along to the guy who asked permission yesterday so we can start a movement."
--------------------
Bill: "I want to congratulate you on the fantastic conference. Look forward to the group pic email!"
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Neeld: "WOW!!! Thank you for such a great event!!! On a scale of 1-10, it was an 11. Could not have been better. What an impressive large array of speakers. Truly wonderful event.

"Kitty and I enjoyed both Fri and Sat. The wine and cheese idea after was super, too. Our daughter Katie, 19 at MTSU, really enjoyed joining us for the final speaker, getting Rep. McKinney's autograph in one of her college books and an invitation for interning that she is excited about following up on."
-------------------
Juliana: "I'm still amazed at what you guys did to create this past weekend! It was beyond words!!!! And it was right here in Nashville!! I'm absolutely blown away!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR TENACITY AND COMPASSION!!! 'Joy is Peace dancing...Peace is Joy resting.' -anonymous"
-------------------
Martha: "Fantastic conference! I've never been to a better one on any topic!

"I would like to help strategize about what to say to the (Tennessee legislative) committee. For instance, I think it would be useful to ask if any of them would buy a book written in a language they don't know with a warning on the cover that it can only be opened by a representative of the publisher. That's what the machine companies want them to do. I don't know if I would be able to be present because I have access problems in Legislative Plaza, but I would dearly love to be there!

"Unfortunately, I seem to have left my registration packet and a clipboard with a legal pad full of notes at TSU this morning--didn't realize it until I wanted to type up my notes this afternoon. I guess that's what I get for hitting Lower Broadway with out-of-towners last night. Incidentally, they say it's rowdier than Bourbon Street!

"P.S. I plan to have another talk with our registrar tomorrow."

[liberalla]

5. Thank you for sharing your experience of the conference,

Thank you for sharing your experience of the conference, and these wonderful emails with us.
I was moved to tears and filled with hope.

We are the ones we have been waiting for.

I'm looking forward to reading more. Thank you again!

[LeahD]

4. My heartfelt thanks to everyone who showed up!

and........:kick:

[Helga Scow Stern]

6. Thank you for "showing up" for us.

I look forward to hearing all about it.

[MelissaB]

7. Thank You! Thank You!

Thank you for the report.

[Wiley50]

8. reposted from other thread at Bernie's request

One small thing that I remember best was Clint Curtis' appearance. Perhaps because it was very short.

Clint was clearly not comfortable with public speaking. He acted like he was ready to sit back down, when he received a standing ovation before he had ever said a word. He kept glancing pleadingly at Brad.

I will try to paraphrase what he had to say to my best ability:

" I'm a republican, myself. But I want to tell you Democrats what you need to do."
" Democrats are people who care. Republicans only care about winning. and they've won. They have the ball and can do what they want to do"
" My best advice is for all you caring people to put all of the things that you care about on the back burner for awhile. Get together and play to win. It won't take long. Maybe two months."
" Put the environment, the whales, all of your collective projects aside and kick their ass"
" Then you've won. And you can do what you want."

Makes sense to me.

[Fly by night]

9. It's 10:00 am and I just got out of bed ...

... and thanks to DU, I didn't even have to go to the general store to read what the Nashville Tennessean had to say about the "Nash-ional" conference. (Thanks, MelissaB). I will post any more links that surface and share other PM reactions to the conference that I receive.


http://www.tennessean.com/local/archives/05/03/68078488.shtml?Element_ID=68078488

[KaryninMiami]

10. Please send thank you emails to the reporter!

Don't forget after reading the story to please send a thank you note to the reporter (Laura)for the great work on the story and for the hours of extra effort she devoted to it. She promised to write more and is going to need our help in the weeks ahead (once she settles in to her new job in NM), on researching facts for the next few stories. She "got it" alright- and that's a great thing!


[e-mail]

[Fly by night]

11. More follow-up gifts from the Nash-ional" conference

Here is the followup email I just sent to our speakers (and will send momentarily to everyone who attended the conference.) It puts several links in one place and also invites folks to come play with us here on DU. I will post more later on the conference but I'm looking forward to the reactions of other DUers to sprintgtime in the South.
----------------

To our speakers -- the backbones and the brains of the "Nash-ional" conference:

I hope your trips home (no matter how long) were pleasant and uneventful. After a GOOD night's sleep, I want to send all of you several going away gifts from the Orange State:

1) WE ARE THE ONES WE HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR. The Hopi Elders prayer is attached in MS Word and WordPerfect. Pray it every day, live like you believe it and share it with others.

2) A link to the Nashville Tennessean article that appeared on the front page of the "local" section of the paper in today's (Monday's) edition, below the fold. Here is Laura Luxor's email address: [e-mail] . Please (all of you) write her a thank-you note. She is moving to New Mexico and will have lots of election fraud stuff to cover out there and we (all of us) helped get her up to good speed on the topic. Just to push the envelope, you might also want to go on to www.tennessean.com and post a "letter to the editor" about our "Nash-ional" conference. (I think their limit is 250 words. The shorter, the better. But with out-of-city addresses, some of your letters might just get printed. We'll watch for them.)

http://www.tennessean.com/local/archives/05/03/68078488.shtml?Element_ID=68078488

3) A link to the first article on the Tennessee Independent Media Center web-site about the conference. Folks, they got an excellent two page article out of just the first 30 minutes of the conference and did an exceptional job with the piece. When you visit this link, I really encourage you to post your comments about the conference below the article. Please do so -- this might be one good internet place for us to share our thoughts with each other about the conference.

http://www.tnimc.org/feature/display/4960/index.php

4) This is a link to the primary thread I established on "Democratic Underground to comment on the conference. For the DUers among us, please use this thread to share your fellings and reactions to the conference. Share with others what you learned and what was most valuable (and memorable) about 2-3 days in Nashville. For the non-DUers among us, you need to go on-line to this site and register. (It takes a minute.) You can then post to this thread also.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x355167

Alright, that's enough for now. We will be doing a BIG follow-up mailing to all of you. For the time being, thanks for coming. Keep focused and stay energized. We can never lose if we refuse to quit. We are the ones we have been waiting for. Bernie

[Fly by night]

12. Another message from a Gathering member who "showed up"

Here is a sweet note from one of our Gathering members who "showed up" for the "Nash-ional" conference. Debbie has been with us from the beginning, she is the artist who created the electric cord Medusa artwork at the front of the church, she is a passionate small "d" democrat ... and a registered Republican. Thought you'd enjoy her reactions:
--------------------
Bernie,

I went to the National Election Reform Conference on Saturday, April 9. I got there around 10 a.m. It was fantastic. I probably won’t “come down” from it for awhile.

I knew this would happen and it did: Seeing Robert Koehler, syndicated columnist; Brad Friedman, BradBlog.com; and Bob Fitrakis, FreePress.org; let me be around they who are using their voices to search for and tell the truth. They are converting their anger into power. I needed to be around that. I needed to show support for it. Bob and Brad aren’t trained or paid columnists, they do it because they must; I relate. Powerful!

The Gathering was wonderfully organized. Everything was covered: speakers, lunch, music, registration, information packets and buttons! Smooth!

I loved hearing the ideas that people across the nation have come up with as solutions. With no mainstream media coverage to be in contact with one another, their solutions can seem to contradict, but they have been diligently working. Hooray!

Libertarians and Green Party included. I know they feel like they’ve got an audience. And howdy.

I loved Congresswoman McKinney. She is a fire ball. We need all the fire balls we can get. And she reminded us that she needs us to keep screaming, keep gathering and keep demanding that we get this country back to the principles of Democracy.

I loved meeting up with others who are also fighting this regime in any way that they can. I met or heard from five Californians (made me homesick). Chris Lugo of Tennessee Independent Media was there. Thank goodness we have people who do so much. And you so rock to pull this thing off. It was practically perfect in every way. Thank you for being so Bernie.

I’ve gotten very frustrated at the lack of local participation in some events I’ve organized. With the pressure off of me, I could see that your event pulled in some very powerful people. I don’t think it takes everyone to make change, I think it takes the right people to make change. I think a lot of the right people showed to this and the effects of it are going to reach out far and wide. I feel rejuvenated and I’ll bet the people who spoke feel validated.

This was a (vital) meeting of people who are on the front lines.

Thanks for saying howdy to our group even though you were running this thing! Stretch.

I loved the Native American prayer that you read. It had me in tears. I would really love a copy of it if possible. It truly rejuvenated me to the purpose of this fight.

Over but not out, Debbie

[flyarm]

13. could you please pm me when you know when a metting will be in philly?

i really want to go..i was a delegate to the convention for fla and i live in both fla and nj..so i really would like to be there..i am working with a group in fla for reform..

i just could not go to nashville because i broke a bone and could not attend..but i will be in nj 1 hour from philly for the summer ..please please contact me when you have info!!

thank you!!

fly

[Fly by night]

14. One day later, a link from the "Nash-ional" conference to Jimmy Carter

Here's a letter I just sent out to conference attendees. Any of you DUers who have evidence to send to Carter, please do so. I will probably start this as a new thread.
------------
To the "Nash-ional" conference attendees:

I just received this message from one of our "Nash-ional" conference attendees. She has already done the critical groundwork today to get everything that you have to document the 2004 election theft in front of Jimmy Carter, both directly through his assistant on the newly formed election commission AND through Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney.

Please -- EVERYONE OF YOU -- take a half day (or more or less) to flood President Carter's office with documents and charts and graphs and reports and testimony and legal motions and web-links and, and ... that will shout loudly to an honorable and moral man that "... there ain't no pony in the pile of horseshit..." that represents the 2004 election. If everyone of you who had so much to say at Jefferson Street Missionary Baptist Church would now say it loudly (and with as much persuasive content and volume as possible) to President Carter, he may be a worthy champion and facilitator of that long-delayed shining light of corporate media coverage on the 2004 election theft.

So please read her letter below RIGHT NOW and consider doing what she asks, just as quickly as you can. If you do, we may just be moving toward helping facilitate a "Gathering" of panelists from our side for testimony to the new commission. Thanks for doing this, and not just thinking this is a good idea. Don't wait for anyone else -- we're the only ones left. Bernie
------------------
Hi Bernie:

It's (me); we talked at the conference in Nashville this week, for which I thank you more times than I can say. Would you please pass this along, ASAP, to the other attendees, or send me your mailing list so that I can do it. THANKS!

I have been on the phone all day trying to get through to President Carter, and finally spoke to his executive assistant, NOT his Carter Center assistant. Her name is Lauren Gay, and she was very sympathetic to the idea of hearing testimony from the various groups who were in Nashville. She says that the only way to get information to her is BY MAIL. I suggest that as many organizations as possible, those with research results who would be willing to testify, especially, OVERNIGHT MAIL (with signed receipt requested) a succinct summary of your information, and a letter verifying your willingness to testify (the first hearing is this next Monday, April 18, at American University in D.C.), to:

MS. Lauren GAY
Assistant to President Jimmy Carter
Co-Chairman, Blue Ribbon Commission on Election Reform
The Carter Center
One Copenhill
453 Freedom Parkway
Atlanta, Ga. 30307

I would mark this "URGENT: TIME SENSITIVE. Election Reform Information. PLEASE OPEN IMMEDIATELY."

Ms. Gay’s telephone number is: 404-420-5100 (this is the Carter Center: ask for extension 207. I had to call several times and be very specific that my subject was President Carter’s role as Commission co-chair, and his need to receive information from election reform groups, before she would talk with me. The Carter Center per se is NOT INVOLVED in this issue. But Ms. Gay says that she will welcome calls from others of you with specific information. Sending it IN WRITING is also imperative, however.

I am aware that many attendees at the Nashville Conference cast a very jaundiced eye on the Blue Ribbon Commission. I agree that it appears to have been set up as a smokescreen to detract attention from those of you doing legitimate and valuable work in researching the 2004 election. However, my own opinion is that if we merely protest Mr. Baker’s appointment as co-chair (which I definitely think should also be done), we will possibly lose a chance to get President Carter’s ear and have a public forum to air your many findings of egregious election abuse. Just my opinion.

Also, I spoke about this with Congresswoman McKinney after her address to our conference. She told me she believes Mr. Carter to be an honest broker, and says that she will help us in our attempt to get useful information to him. You can send the same information that you mail to Ms. Gay to Congresswoman McKinney at:

[e-mail] This is the email of Rep. McKinney’s executive assistant; she has promised to pass it along to President Carter. Please mark it clearly in the subject line as being for Pres. Carter in his capacity as Co-Chair of the Commission, to be forwarded by Rep. McKinney.

Thank you all for the work you have done. I was so inspired by everyone at the conference.

[Fly by night]

16. David Griscom (Arizona) sends the first letter (and evidence) to Carter.

David Griscom gave a very compelling presentation about election fraud in Arizona and he is the first "Nash-ional" speaker to respond to my call to get information to one of our last honest (and intelligent) Presidents. Let's hear from more of you doing the same. See my other thread on getting election fraud information to Carter for instructions on communicating directly with Carter.

[Fly by night]

27. Sheila Leavitt, MD, sends 2nd letter (w/ documentation) to Jimmy Carter

Hi again Bernie:

I am forwarding to you the letter I just overnight-mailed (with reams of supporting documents) to Lauren Gay, Carter’s assistant. She says she will present it to him in his capacity as Co-Chair of the Blue Ribbon Election Reform Commission.

I was a bit rushed to get it to the P.O. before it closed, and left out many of the people, organizations, and reports whose efforts I wanted to include. Have you any suggestions?

Thanks for sending out my previous message.

Best,

Sheila
-------------
April 12, 2005

Ms. Lauren Gay
Assistant to President Jimmy Carter
Co-Chairman, Blue Ribbon Election Reform Commission
The Carter Center
One Copenhill
453 Freedom Parkway
Atlanta, Ga. 30307


Dear Ms. Gay:

Thank you for taking my call yesterday. I am, as requested, sending you some material for President Carter in his capacity as co-chairman of the Blue Ribbon Commission on Election Reform, which will hold hearings at American University next Monday, April 18.

I have requested several representatives of well-established and hard-working citizens’ voting rights organizations to contact you by mail at the Carter Center. You should perhaps keep an eye out for mailings to your attention labeled "URGENT: TIME SENSITIVE. Election Reform Information. PLEASE OPEN IMMEDIATELY."

Enclosed here please find:

· Ohio’s Odd Numbers, an article by Christopher Hitchens published Feb. 20, 2005 in Vanity Fair: This is a well-written, mainstream press piece giving background on not only the obvious problems in Ohio (long lines in minority precincts, selective paucity of voting machines), but documenting VERY SUSPICIOUS tallies in certain predominantly black counties. I believe, as do many others, that these are not isolated “glitches,” but a peek at the visible results of largely hidden electronic fraud.

· Analysis of the 2004 Presidential Election Exit Poll Discrepancies, released March 31, 2005 (updated April 11, 2005) : a multi-author, peer-reviewed study of the Edison/Mitofsky Election System 2004 Report (released January 19, 2005). This study was backed by the Utah-based non-profit corporation, US Count Votes. Their concluding sentence reads: “The absence of any statistically-plausible explanation for the discrepancy between Edison/Mitofsky’s exit poll data and the official presidential vote tally is an unanswered question of vital national importance that demands a thorough and unblinking investigation.”

http://electionarchive.org/ucvAnalysis/US/Exit_Polls_2004_Edison-Mitofsky.pdf

· An “Executive Summary” of the above report, written by one of its authors, Josh Mittledorf, Ph.D., Temple University Statistics Department

· A fact sheet prepared by Judith Alter, Ed.D, titled “Santa Fe County: 2004 Election and the Straight Party Option.” Dr. Alter’s data suggests that machine-tallied votes in this county may have been erroneous because machines were calibrated to tally straight party votes in a way that significantly benefited Mr. Bush.

· Material from a presentation by Larry P. English (given at the National Election Reform Conference, April 8-10, 2005), titled “Information Quality Improvement for Sustainable Election Reform.” His website: http://www.infoimpact.com/

· A Fact Sheet presented by Bernard Windham, a member of Common Cause from Florida, who has undertaken a heroic analysis of the thousands of specific complaints made by voters from around the country to the EIRS election day Hotline. This link, http://www.flcv.com/summary.html, will open a file containing links to state by state complaints.

· A troubling PRESS RELEASE from Mr. Brad Friedman (www.velvetrevolution.us) titled: American Center for Voting Rights & the Baker/Carter Commission on Federal election Reform: The Fix Is In. This report details the problems with a “voting rights” group, the ACVR (American Center for Voting Rights) which is slated to testify before the Carter/Baker Blue Ribbon Commission. Please bring this to President Carter’s attention.

· A fact sheet (“North Carolina’s ballot blues”) from Joyce McCloy, coordinator of the N.C. Coalition for Verified Voting, a non-partisan organization of citizens from across the state who are very concerned that North Carolina is moving forward with the implementation of DRE's (electronic voting machines) that are not secure, not reliable and not voter verifiable. They call for improved security and increased transparency in all election systems used in North Carolina. www.ncvoter.net

· A fact sheet from The Open Voting Consortium, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to developing open voting systems. The fact sheet is called “Transparent Liberty: Accountable Election Systems.” http://www.openvotingconsortium.org/

· A document posted on the website of the non-partisan voters’ rights organization Voters Unite .org (http://www.votersunite.org/), titled “Restoring Confidence to Voters.” This is a report from the Independent Election Committee appointed by the Mercer County Board of Commissioners documenting voting problems from Nov. 2004 in Mercer County, Pennsylvania.

· An “Official Ohio Recount Affidavit” from Dr. Richard Hayes Phillips, Ph.D., professor at the University of Oregon, in which he documents his own exhaustive research into election fraud in Ohio. (I heard Dr. Phillips speak at the National Election Reform Conference, and he was very thorough and convincing.) The “Affidavit” can be found at: http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0412/S00167.htm?mode=print


Ms. Gay: I could provide you and President Carter with much more documentation of the selfless efforts of these and other real citizen-patriots. Many have long worked toward President Carter’s stated goal for the Blue Ribbon Election Commission: an election system that “will make America proud again.” Their information should be publicly noted and they should be invited to testify at American University on April 18, 2005. Sincerely, Sheila Leavitt, MD

[Fly by night]

29. A copy of David's letter to Jimmy Carter

11 April 2005

President Jimmy Carter
Co-Chairman, Blue Ribbon Commission on Election Reform
c/o Ms. Lauren Gay
The Carter Center
One Copenhill
453 Freedom Parkway
Atlanta, Ga. 30307

Dear President Carter,

Please let me introduce myself. I was a civilian employee of the Naval Research Laboratory for 33 years until my retirement in 2001 after 33 years service as a Research Physicist. My research repeatedly proved relevant. Ten years ago I carried out an urgent project to test the radiation hardness of fiber-optic image guides that were virtually ready to install on the Seawolf (SSN21). I proved that this image-guide system would fail the first moment there was a radiation leak in the reactor compartment, thus obviating discovering this flaw while at sea. (I published the pure-science component of this study as: D.L. Griscom, J. Appl. Phys. 78, 6696 (1995)).

But today I am writing you on a matter that I consider to be a far greater danger to our country, namely, the apparent national-scale theft of the last election. I have just returned from National Election Reform Conference in Nashville, where I listened to many speakers who presented shocking evidence of pervasive electoral cheating. I myself spoke on an investigation by John Brakey and me that points strongly to substantial ballot-box stuffing by colluding poll workers out here in Tucson, where John was Democratic Cluster Captain for four precincts in Arizona's predominately Hispanic 7th Congressional District. Please refer to the PowerPoint presentation that I showed in Nashville, as well as the Excel "balance sheet" it is based on, both found on the enclosed CD.

I believe that as Co-Chair of the upcoming Blue Ribbon Commission on Electoral Reform, you will be in the ideal position to bring to the attention of the American people many of the things that the "mainstream" media have dared not report. So, please familiarize yourself with the enclosures, as well as the materials that I expect that you will be receiving from other attendees of the "Nash-ional" Conference.

If you should decide to take on this menace, I stand ready to testify at the hearings if summoned.

Very truly yours,

David Griscom

[liam_laddie]

15. ...showed up

FBN - your post brought tears to my eyes and soul. Thank you!
I believe our collective efforts will lead to a mighty movement
to rescue the USA!

[Peace Patriot]

17. THANKS SO MUCH for your reports, and all this info.! You are...

WONDERFUL!

[Fly by night]

35. Thanks. The good vibes from many of you make up for the ...

... very few dangerous distractors in our midst.

[keepthemhonest]

18. I came away

with a renewed sense of hope that the right people are on the case and together we can fight for our democracy. Thanks Bernie for having the conference and allowing brilliant people from all of these great states to come together. So many great things that I can't remember them all, but walking away with a few contacts that will help me with our audit is very exciting. I especially loved Brad Friedman's idea to send the letter to those EVS companies telling them to open their machines for inspection or we will boycott them. That was the first I had heard of it and I am thrilled that people are coming up with such great ideas.

I actually started a thread that I put some more details about the conference, so I will refrain from repeating it all here.

Great Conference Bernie , see you in Philadelphia in July!

[Fly by night]

19. More emails from "Nash-ional" conference attendees

Barbara:

"First, many many thanks for all your hard work and warm hospitality. I'd never been to Nashville before but I will definitely come back as soon as possible. Some parts that I especially loved:

--- The scene and context setting at the beginning with Dr. Kimbrough, Rev. Dixon, and Dr. Grant.
--- The three high school girls who sang like angels. All the great music.
--- The informal atmosphere and the chance to talk with so many people.
--- The Friday discussion group where I saw a whole new way to frame election "integrity," thanks to Patty Keeshan -- and which Common Cause's president, Chellie Pingree, will be using in her opening testimony at the first panel presentation of the first Carter-Baker Commission hearing on April 18th.
--- The party Saturday night.

I thought you might like to know that we have been writing about the conference on the CommonBlog (http://www.commonblog.com/section/Elections and in the CommonForum (http://www.commonforum.com) and we welcome comments and feedback from other participants. We'll also link to the Tennessean article.

All the best. Hope to see you again soon. Please stay in touch."
---------------------
Dorothy:

"What a WONDERFUL conference. The level of networking was phenomenal! Brilliant speakers, warm-spirited goodwill from the Nashvillians, acres of information to shore up anyone's convictions and assuage their doubts, and then the good good news this morning in your email.

And hearing/seeing Cynthia McKinney was the gift of a lifetime. I also "connected" with Bernie Windham...how wise you were to invite him.

I have another gift for you. As I was leaving the conference, I met an African American gentleman who seems to run the store in front of Harper's. I am not sure, but he is also an insurance agent...that I know. He caught wind of the conference and began to tell me all the things we want to hear about the election, about disenfranchisement, etc.. I said to him "Would you be interested in bringing together a group of your friends (African Americans) to learn more? He was emphatic - he said "YES"!!!.

So I am going to send a mutual invitation to the two of you to at least exchange an email. Warmly,
---------------------
Bob:

PHILADELPHIA SUGGESTED AS NEXT CONFERENCE SITE
AT NATIONAL ELECTION REFORM CONFERENCE

Philadelphia Ethical Society (PES) member Bob Moore attended the National Election Reform Conference held April 8-10 in Nashville, Tennessee. This report is intended primarily for members of the PES, for Pennsylvania people interested in election reform, and for invitees to the PES election reform forum.

The consensus of approximately 300 Nashville attendees was that the current voting system CAN be manipulated to change election outcomes, especially by private election equipment companies and by partisan election officals. Computer technology has increased the insecurity of the system.

But WAS the voting sytem so manipulated in 2004? Much of the conference was devoted to statistical discussion of this question. Many, but not all, attendees believe that at least three states were 'flipped' by fraud in the 2004 election: New Mexico, Florida, and Ohio. While there are statistical indications of this, there is no 'smoking gun' proof. However, one whistle-blower from a computer firm appeared at the conference to describe how a Florida legislator asked his company to write election fraud software.

The conference was relatively free of purely partisan 'sour-grapes.' Indeed, many were angry at Kerry and the Democrats for not fighting harder and more intelligently to expose the election system's defects.

The main difference of opinion among participants concerned what constitutes a secure election system, Paper-only v. machine-plus-paper. Some argued for the complete elimination of machines in favor of paper-ballots-only, others argued for machines with open-source software and voter-verifiable, auditable paper trails. In my view, the issue was divisive; no proposed legislation currently supports either position, so the issue has little to do with the election of 2006.

None of the election reform bills to date pleased everyone, but the bill proposed by Rush Holt (D-NJ), H.R. 550, seemed to be the most favored.

In his closing remarks, conference organizer Bernie Ellis surprised everyone by suggesting that the next election reform conference be held "at Independence Hall" on July 4 in Philadelphia. To my knowledge, he discussed this with no Pennsylvanian beforehand, but was motivated solely by the symbolic power of Philadelphia as liberty's hometown. I know of three Pennsylvanians present: myself, Marybeth Kunzik of VotePennsylvania in Pittsburgh, and Temple statistician Josh Mitteldorf.

I talked to Ellis after the conference and he said he threw out the 'Philadelphia' line as a challenge. I believe Ellis, a Nashville native, did not mean that HE or his group was going to arrange such a conference; I think he meant that he wanted someone else to arrange it. There is currently no single national election reform group, just lots of local ones. (I believe that condition is known as 'grass roots'.)

Members of the PES (and local people interested in election reform) need to ask themselves whether to accept Ellis' challenge and, if so, what resources to devote to the effort. Also, how does this effect the PES' current plan for a May 15 election reform forum?

The PES Ethical Action Committee, which determines the PES commitment, meets on Wednesday, April 13. The meeting ends at 7:30 PM sharp. After that meeting, I will know more about PES plans, and if any local addressee of this letter wants to discuss the results of the Nashville conference and/or the possibility of a Philadelphia follow-on conference, we can arrange to meet at 7:45 PM at a place to be announced (near Rittenhouse Square). If this notice is too short, a different time and place can be arranged. We could also telephone Kunzik to include her in the discussion.
--------------------
Brenda:

Thanks for the update Bernie and I will start working on it. I am not sure if I have thanked you yet for your hard work of having the conference. You did a great job. I posted your lovely prayer a couple of times on DU, I hope that is OK. Take care.

[Helga Scow Stern]

20. Nominated. Everyone should read this. n/t

[Andy_Stephenson]

21. Yay-you-right!

Which is Louisian for, "Yeee-Haaaaa!!!"

Great conference! My favorites:
1. ber-nie. Ber-nie. Ber-Nie. Ber-Nie! BER-NIE! BER-NIE!!! None of us can thank you enough, but we'll keep trying...
2. Joanne Roush. Convinced me that I wasn't crazy with her report from the front lines of both election and recount fraud.
3. The statisticians. They were not used to speaking in public forums, but their passion showed through...
4. Andy Stephenson. Andy stayed at our house. A delightful fellow, a wonderful raconteur, and a warm human being. First real celeb that's ever stayed at our place. And he had his network debut while here. Andy now returns to his home to face his most difficult task. Cancer. Pray for him in any way you can.
5. Robert Koehler. Now I understand how the media missed it. Major media sent him down. Hooray! Somebody's listening...
6. David Cobb. I just like Greens, even though I'm a Yallar Dawg Dem. Especially Texas-tuff, plain speakin' Greens.
7. Clinton Curtis. Republican. Truth teller. Whistle blower. Now I know how they did it to us...
8. Congresswoman McKinney. I wanna party with that girl!
9. The three high school singer girls. WOW! Gave me goose-bumps.
10. Melissa Sigler, Bruce Michael Miller, Casey Lutton, Tabitha Peak, Ross Falzone, James "Nick" Nixon, Forest Miller and me. Nashville professional musicians all (who rarely play for free...), they volunteered to play in less than flattering surroundings and at the last minute, just because they support our cause and wanted to say "Welcome to Music City, y'all."
11. Richard Reinoehl and the long-haired music producer guy from Atlanta; percussion players who caught the spirit of our Music City. Also the guy (Dr. Phillips, maybe?) that played guitar and mandolin wonderfully at the Fisk party. Sharing your music with us helped make it even mo bettuh...
12. Brad Blog. Not his real name? Sure it is. Usually I can't stand guys like him - aggressive, smoking, rabble-rouser types. But he fired me up as much as he did all of y'all. Glad he's on the side of freedom and truth.
13. All the Nashville gang that went so beyond the call to make this happen. THANKS FOLKS!
14. The Philly suggestion. I'm there if we do it!

[Andy_Stephenson]

22. I ain't Andy

I'm Shannon Williford in Nashville. I've never posted before, and I wrote the above one, which, for some reason, has Andy's name on it. Hmmmm.

shw

[tommcintyre]

23. Thanks for the great share! The reason Andy's name is appearing..

Assuming you have registered at DU, what probably happened is you let Andy use your computer, and he signed in to post. Your PC has a "cookie" (not the kind you can eat ;) ) that is "remembering" Andy's sign-in and password.

To change it to your account, all you have to do is sign-out ("logout") third icon from the left on this page http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/ ), close the window, and come back by clicking on this link: http://www.democraticunderground.com/ and "Login" (to the right of: "Enter Discussion Forums" - look for a little keys icon) You will need your own screen name and password.

That should do it.

Thanks again for entertaining our "election fraud troops", and the great report! It really is appreciated. :D

[Andy_Stephenson]

31. Woah...

I saw this and was like..."Er Ummm I don't remember posting this". Hi Shannon...Yall Shannon is awesome...One Helluva nice guy.

[Helga Scow Stern]

45. I thought it was cute how you said you were one of your favorites.

[Fly by night]

34. Thanks kindly, and kick

[Fly by night]

24. More follow-up messages from "Nash-ional" attendees and wannabes

Barbara:

Thank you for sending me all of these goodies. I was very sad not to be able to get to the conference, but the articles and the comments by others help me to get a little feel of what it was like. To my great frustration I could not find a cheap enough flight to get there from where I live and no one wanted to drive with me. So I wound up staying here and I attended a forum sponsored by The Green Party and TrueVoteNY on voting machines for NY State. Teresa Hommel spoke to us and showed us her demonstration. I know Teresa, because she has participated in my group, Citizens for Voting Integrity. I wanted to ask her more about the conference, but all she said was that what she learned was worse than she had thought. She did give a great talk to an audience that could have been a lot bigger. Also we had the Election Commissioner for NYC there -- Douglas Kellner -- who spoke about what he thought was going to happen with the legislature if they didn't adopt any of the bills pending so far.

He seemed to support Paper Ballots and Optical Scanners that you know that Teresa supports. My whole group supports this and almost anyone who studies the DREs comes away with the conclusion that they are not reliable and even if there isn't any fraud they cannot be depended upon to give a correct vote total all the time. There are so many ways that they can be hacked that they should not be allowed to be used even with a paper trail. I noticed that one person who was at the conference said that the people there seemed to be split between PBOS and paper trails. Yes, the paper trails seem like a good idea, but what no one remembers is that a computer can print one thing on its screen and print another on paper. Or worse, if it is programmed to do this it can actually print what the voter did on the screen and on paper and later the actual vote can be changed to falsify the total. Teresa showed this very well.

Anyway, I agree with the Hopis and hope that we will be strong and achieve our goal - a free and transparent election in which we all accept that one candidate actually won. It has been 2 elections so far that have not been right and it is time for us to stop this once and for all. We are our own leaders and this only inspires me to continue in this quest. It is great to know that so many other people around the country were enthused enough about this election's fraudulent results to gather for an examination of it all.

When we started out in January to picket the FBI to investigate the election, very few were on our side. Now I see a whole group of people are discussing this very subject and Jimmy Carter is heading the investigation. If we can't have the FBI, at least we can have someone that I trust. I will send him what I have. I will also notify my group to send him stuff too. We are working on our voting machine problems now and focused on NY, but I'm sure that we can spare some time to send it to him.

Again, thank you for keeping me informed and please continue to send me email updates. I will forward them to my group.

In the words of the song:

"We shall overcome!"
----------------
Dorothy:

I am still aglow from those three days.
I have made another wonderful connection post-conference for the Jimmy Carter work. I will tell you when it materializes...should happen today or tomorrow.
----------------
Alex:

Thanks for everything you've done to put the conference together. It was great, I'm so glad I decided to attend. From the orange folders full of information to the passionate speakers, I couldn't have imagined a better gathering. I especially like the location, it was a great spot to talk about this cause. I've learned so much on the election and I'm still digesting, reading, and thinking through everything I've learned.

You've reminded me that taking charge of this issue is what WE need to do ourselves. No one else is going to come along as I've been waiting. Since I'm a resident of this area, I'd like to try and attend some of the meetings you are having. Can you tell the times and locations of the meetings you're holding. I'd like to attend.

Also I saw your message this evening on DU. I attended the conference but registered late on location. I received your email at 2pm today on with the Hopi prayer, but didn't receive the later one. Could you add me to the conference email list. I also loved the Hopi prayer. I'm a follower of American Indian spiritual teachings.
----------------------
Debbie:

What follows is my synopsis of A NATIONAL ELECTION REFORM CONFERENCE organized by Bernie Ellis that happened in Nashville on April 8, 9 and 10. I went on Saturday, April 9, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

The conference addressed what we can do about election fraud and what happened that caused election fraud in 2004. I have seen Bernie Ellis’s presentation on election fraud several times. It leaves me without a doubt that the election was stolen. It seems hard to believe that the whole country could be controlled in such a manner, but I can’t argue with the evidence. I missed Bernie’s presentation earlier on this day and here is what I did see:

Guest speakers:

Syndicated columnist Robert Koehler spoke about why the media “shut up” after the election. He had read an article that talked about “outcries of voting fraud” and the article convinced him (for several months) that to say anything about fraud makes him partially a conspiracy theorist and just a little nuts. The written word in that case, was so powerful that he figured if it affected him that way, surely America was affected. Since then he has been writing about election fraud and being published.

Bob Fitrakis, writer of FREEPRESS.ORG has a Ph.D. in political science. He has been called Ohio’s most feared (and most well liked and well mannered) muckraker. He said, “How do you soften up (to control) the media? Try sending them some anthrax.” Does he think that terrorists from other countries did that? Hmm.

There are government operations that spend their time discrediting points of view. I jotted down that the American Center for Voter Rights is phony and its purpose is to discredit real change.

Should we search for the real truth in what we read? Where does Bob get his information? Like Michael Moore, he says everything is already documented. It’s all there, you just have to search. Because of Bob the investigation into Ohio voting fraud was looked into by the press and others. The Green Party and Libertarians were the first to fight Ohio voting fraud.

Brad Friedman of BradBlog.com, complains that he is up all hours of the nights writing articles that mainstream media should be writing. He says he’s being an investigative reporter because the media isn’t doing its job. Watch this guy, he’s up to no good (or very good) starting up the Velvet Revolution in America.

Brad, what an example of how anger becomes power, said he pushes his stories on to mainstream media and they sometimes print a bit of the truth.

Mainstream media reporters go to Brad’s blog to find out what’s going on. If they print it they usually discredit him with “a balance” by finding someone from the “other side” to bury his article.

Gandhi was quoted as saying: First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.

Other speakers:

Whistle-blower, republican Clinton Curtis who was paid to write software for a vote flipping program for the voting machines has passed a lie detector test. His employers said they were trying to prevent the Democrats from cheating. You push a choice on the computer screen and the software flips your choice to another choice. They wanted him to hide the source board, hide it in source code but he told them that he couldn’t do that (I don’t know what that means). He is a sweet person, nice speaker. Have you heard about this guy? Mainstream media?

We heard from Libertarian and Green Party leaders. Routy. Also a number of groups that presented various solutions to the voting fraud. Some of their solutions almost contradicted each other but then, how were they to know what each other was doing? Where’s the mainstream media?

Keynote speaker:

Congresswoman McKinney is a fireball. We need all the fireballs we can get. She said that she is not afraid to attack the lies and to fight to get this country back to the Democracy that it’s supposed to be. She said that she was allowed to hack into a computer voting machine to see how easily it is done. In Georgia, instead of looking into buying voting machines that are verifiable, the state spent 54 million on electronic voting machines that can be hacked. She knows what is going on. She’s pissed.

She is a powerful woman and speaker. She said that she depends on our support. We have to keep screaming and demanding our rights. She says we have been burying our Senators and Congress people with emails and phone calls and it’s wonderful. It really, really does matter. Those actions demand attention and they support her too. She says that she’s nothing without us.

But she’s really something. Her integrity and honesty had us all riled up. We loved her.

She said that this is about saving America. In the 1960’s the Black youth faced all the power that the South had to dump on them. To do less than fight this oppression now, would be honorless to all those who sacrificed for us to be where we are today.

Honest to god, I am not making this up. She said we need to keep facing the truth (I just said that!) and to stop supporting the media that lies to us and do support, with donations, those people who write the truth. They aren’t paid to do it. I have asked Chris Lugo how he makes a living while he is writing for Tennessee Independent Media http://www.tnimc.org/ (check this site for two articles about the conference). He has a small business he said. Ms. McKinney says fund organizations that give us the truth and learn how to discern.

The crowd:

There were six people that I talked to or heard from that came all the way from California to be at this conference. One group has made a computer voting machine that prints out a paper copy. Congresswoman McKinney knows of a company (True Vote) that also makes a verifiable computer voting machine. Solutions abound. Mainstream media is not doing its job. We need to keep pushing them.

See a very good article in the Tennessean at this site: http://www.tennessean.com/local/archives/05/03/68029191.shtml?Element_ID=68029191

I really needed this conference to remind me that a lot of powerful people are fighting for our civil liberties. I delighted in showing them support by “showing up” (we got buttons that say: I showed up). You guys have shown me that you support me and my efforts.

[Fly by night]

25. Excerpts from another follow-up message (from Kathy Dopp)

Thanks for that email Bernie (to encourage communication with Jimmy Carter). I forwarded it to our group of statisticians and asked them to take care of it. I'm busy right now with ten days left to the Utah battle to prevent Utah's adoption of DRE voting machines. I feel it is important to be able to succeed locally here in Utah in order to lead the national effort.

(Thanks for) a wonderful meal and a wonderful reception .... (The) Nashville Conference ... will have very very good repercussions in favor of restoring democracy. I had no idea how much election rigging and how many types of election rigging, even in the absentee and paper ballot categories was going on. It gave all of us a great chance to communicate and you did an excellent job of picking people to come and present.

As Pope John Paul said once "Don't ever get discouraged and don't ever give up".... I do support you and appreciate you very much.

[Fly by night]

26. An Op-Ed by Josh Mitteldorf, sent to the Philadelphia Inquirer

This is one of the nicest follow-up letters I have received so far, from Josh Mitteldorf. I hope others who attended the "Nash-ional" conference will follow his lead.
---------------------
Bernie,

I've submitted the op-ed below to the Philadelphia Inquirer. You have my permission to submit it as-is in your home town, or to edit it and submit it under your own name. I've taken a light touch exactly because it's such a serious issue that I think people need to be eased into another reality a little at a time.

-Josh

View from Another Planet

On the flight to Nashville this past weekend, I sat next to a man who asked what I was writing. Preparing a talk, I told him, for a conference of people sharing evidence that the 2004 presidential election was stolen. Without missing a beat, he asked ‘Isn’t that next door to the convention on UFO sightings?’

I wasn’t surprised. We’ve been painted as conspiracy theorists and worse by Democrats and Republicans alike, and even the liberal arm of the press has steered clear of this issue.

But when I arrived at the Jefferson Street Missionary Baptist Church in Nashville, my doubts about the election were reinforced by a community of sober professionals, none of whom seemed overtly loony.

I met David Griscom, a retired physics prof who had spent months with his colleague John Brakey poring over election tapes, signature rosters and “consecutive number registers” from Brakey’s Tucson, AZ home precinct. They audited and verified, one by one, the 895 votes in the precinct, and here’s what they discovered: 12 innocent, and unsuspecting voters had had their names duplicated on the roster and their votes for Bush counted twice. There were 22 ‘undervotes’ where the machine had failed to register a preference for president, and these had been dutifully and meticulously converted to 22 votes for Bush. The “Republican” and “Democratic” co-directors of the polling place were a local fundamentalist preacher and his wife. 39 of their parishioners from another precinct had cast provisional ballots, which had been (illegally) converted on the spot to regular ballots and passed through the vote counter, all 39 for Bush. The net result, Dr Griscom figured, was that Bush got 394 votes when he was entitled only to 336, a swing of 13%.

I met Judith Alter, another retired professor who discovered the software specification in a Diebold programming manual: When you press the “Straight Democratic” button, the machine should record votes for all Democrats except the president. The “Straight Republican” button should record votes for every Republican, including the president. This explained the mysterious pattern she’d noticed in Santa Fe, NM, where Kerry’s vote was lower than obscure local Democrats whose names appeared at the bottom of the ticket. Could this explain a similar pattern in Ohio, she wondered?

I heard Clint Curtis talk about working in 2001 as a programmer for Yang Enterprises in Florida. He was assigned, one day, to a meeting with State Senate Speaker Tom Feeney, who asked to have a program written into the software that controls voting machines so that the totals could be manipulated without leaving a trace. Curtis, the whistleblower, is now unemployed. Feeney, the politician, is now the U.S. Representative from Florida’s 24th Congressional district.

I was inspired to hear the travails of Ohio Attorney Cliff Arnebeck. After the Green Party raised $200,000 and obtained authorization for a recount in Ohio, Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell staged a charade, in which every State rule about the conduct of the recount was thrown out, and two hand-picked precinct captains emerged from behind locked doors to report that yes, indeed the numbers were exactly right and all was hunky dory. Arnebeck was lead attorney in a lawsuit to expose this sham, and demand a real recount. The suit was dismissed by Supreme Court Justice Thomas Moyer, who ruled on the case despite the fact that his own re-election in 2004 was part of the challenge. Arnebeck has continued to pursue the case while he fights on the side for his legal life: State Attorney General Jim Petro has brought an action to discipline Arnebeck for bringing a frivolous lawsuit that wastes the precious time of the Ohio court.

I was in Nashville to present the work of Steve Freeman, a Penn professor who was the first to point out that we do have a way to pull these horror stories together, and to know how much effect all these little scandals have had in the aggregate. The National Exit Poll by the Edison/Mitofsky consortium interviewed 70,000 voters fresh from the voting booth on November 2, and asked for whom they had just cast their ballots. 51% of them said John Kerry, and 48% said George Bush.

Now it’s Monday morning. I’m safely returned from Planet Nashville, back home in the land of ABC-CBS-NBC-FOX-AP-UPI. I find it reassuring to remember that if any of this had really happened, the Democrats in Congress would be screaming about it. I’d read about it on the front page, and it would be all over the network news. Yes, I can be sure that Nashville was just a bad dream. The reality is that President Bush won the election, and it’s time to move on. Time to move on. It was all just a dream. Yes, it’s time to move on.

Josh Mitteldorf lives in Mt Airy and teaches math and statistics at Temple University.

[jen4clark]

28. Kick!

A must read thread for anyone who cares if we have real elections in the future!!

You've all brought me to tears, I've been so lost and frustrated in thinking nothing was going on. Thank you!!!

:kick:

[FreedomAngel82]

30. Sounds successful!

I'm glad to hear a good report. Sounds great! :toast:

[AtLiberty]

32. Is the Robert Koehler piece out yet?

Anxiously awaiting...

[Fly by night]

38. Bob Koehler has written a stunning column -- it will be released tomorrow

As soon as his column is released to the (Chicago) Tribune Media Services syndicate newspapers tomorrow, I will post the column here. It is a wonderfully powerful piece and honors all of us who "showed up" in Nashville. Look for it tomorrow (Thursday) and call your local newspapers to ask that they contact the Tribune Media Services syndicate about running the column.

I just got off the phone with one of our local Black leaders who spoke at the "Nash-ional" conference. He and I are going to try to get the National Newspaper Publishing Association (a consortium of over 200 Black-owned newspapers around the country) to publish Bob's piece and to interview Bob about why he is such a lone voice in the corporate media these days. We hope that we can get this to happen. Of course, we would not be able to without the strong local support and direct involvement we have within our Black leadership here in Tennessee for the election reform work we are all pursuing together.

[Fly by night]

40. The Silent Scream of Numbers -- Bob Koehler's excellent column

This syndicated column is available now from the (Chicago) Tribune Media Services syndicate. It will be made available automatically tomorrow morning to 200+ newspapers that use this syndicate. However, any newspaper in the country can obtain this column from that syndicate and reprint it. Please encourage your hometown paper to do so. We all owe Bob Koehler a great deal of gratitude for this hard-hitting piece. We were honored to have him in Nashville with us.
------------------------

THE SILENT SCREAM OF NUMBERS

By Robert C. Koehler

Tribune Media Services

As they slowly hack democracy to death, we're as alone - we citizens - as we've ever been, protected only by the dust-covered cliches of the nation's founding: "Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty."

It's time to blow off the dust and start paying the price.

The media are not on our side. The politicians are not on our side. It's just us, connecting the dots, fitting the fragments together, crunching the numbers, wanting to know why there were so many irregularities in the last election and why these glitches and dirty tricks and wacko numbers had not just an anti-Kerry but a racist tinge. This is not about partisan politics. It's more like: "Oh no, this can't be true."

I just got back from what was officially called the National Election Reform Conference, in Nashville, Tenn., an extraordinary pulling together of disparate voting-rights activists - 30 states were represented, 15 red and 15 blue - sponsored by a Nashville group called Gathering To Save Our Democracy. It had the feel of 1775: citizen patriots taking matters into their own hands to reclaim the republic. This was the level of its urgency.

Was the election of 2004 stolen? Thus is the question framed by those who don't want to know the answer. Anyone who says yes is immediately a conspiracy nut, and the listener's eyeballs roll. So let's not ask that question.

Let's simply ask why the lines were so long and the voting machines so few in Columbus and Cleveland and inner-city and college precincts across the country, especially in the swing states, causing an estimated one-third of the voters in these precincts to drop out of line without casting a ballot; why so many otherwise Democratic ballots, thousands and thousands in Ohio alone, but by no means only in Ohio, recorded no vote for president (as though people with no opinion on the presidential race waited in line for three or six or eight hours out of a fervor to have their say in the race for county commissioner); and why virtually every voter complaint about electronic voting machine malfunction indicated an unauthorized vote switch from Kerry to Bush.

This, mind you, is just for starters. We might also ask why so many Ph.D.-level mathematicians and computer programmers and other numbers-savvy scientists are saying that the numbers don't make sense (see, for instance, www.northnet.org/minstrel, the Web site of Dr. Richard Hayes Phillips, lead statistician in the Moss vs. Bush lawsuit challenging the Ohio election results). Indeed, the movement to investigate the 2004 election is led by such people, because the numbers are screaming at them that something is wrong.

And we might, no, we must, ask - with more seriousness than the media have asked - about those exit polls, which in years past were extraordinarily accurate but last November went haywire, predicting Kerry by roughly the margin by which he ultimately lost to Bush. This swing is out of the realm of random chance, forcing chagrined pollsters to hypothesize a "shy Republican" factor as the explanation; and the media have bought this evidence-free absurdity because it spares them the need to think about the F-word: fraud.

And the numbers are still haywire. A few days ago, Terry Neal wrote in the Washington Post about Bush's inexplicably low approval rating in the latest Gallup poll, 45 percent, vs. a 49 percent disapproval rating. This is, by a huge margin, the worst rating at this point in a president's second term ever recorded by Gallup, dating back to Truman.

"What's wrong with this picture?" asks exit polling expert Jonathan Simon, who pointed these latest numbers out to me. Bush mustered low approval ratings immediately before the election, surged on Election Day, then saw his ratings plunge immediately afterward. Yet Big Media has no curiosity about this anomaly.

Simon, who spoke at the Nashville conference - one of dozens of speakers to give highly detailed testimony on evidence of fraud and dirty tricks from sea to shining sea - said, "When the autopsy of our democracy is performed, it is my belief that media silence will be given as the primary cause of death."

In contrast to the deathly silence of the media is the silent scream of the numbers. The more you ponder these numbers, and all the accompanying data, the louder that scream grows. Did the people's choice get thwarted? Were thousands disenfranchised by chaos in the precincts, spurious challenges and uncounted provisional ballots? Were millions disenfranchised by electronic voting fraud on insecure, easily hacked computers? And who is authorized to act if this is so? Who is authorized to care?

No one, apparently, except average Americans, who want to be able to trust the voting process again, and who want their country back.

- - -

Robert Koehler, an award-winning, Chicago-based journalist, is an editor at Tribune Media Services and nationally syndicated writer. You can respond to this column at [e-mail] or visit his Web site at commonwonders.com.

© 2005 Tribune Media Services, Inc.

[Fly by night]

33. kick

[Andy_Stephenson]

36. Bernie...

Thanks so much for the work you did on the conference. After 2 months of being sick and discouraged, it was medicine well recieved. I came away with a renewed vigor and stregth. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak as I have said...I am a man of few words but I hope my words there made an impact.

Despite the tantrums of a few...the conference was a resounding success and you are to be commended on your work.

Looking forward to Philly...

Andy

[Fly by night]

37. Another conference write-up, to be published in TN's Unitarian newsletter

This article is by Millie, one of our Gathering members and the Day 2 time-keeper:
--------------

WE THE PEOPLE . . . need to take back our Democracy. . .

Over the weekend (April 8-10), a conference was held at Jefferson Street Missionary Baptist Church and TSU. It was the National Conference on Election Reform. Seminars included: Highlighting problems with voters Rights (Disenfranchisement/Fraud etc), The Safety & Reliability of Electronic Voting machines, Taking Back the Media, Election Audit requirements & procedures to name just a few. Cases were presented that added to my conviction that at least the 2000 & 2004 Presidential Elections were stolen. The Ohio legal challenge(s) to the 2004 Presidential Election continue(s) and to those who keeping telling us to get over it, it is not about the results of the election any more, it is about fixing the process and improving the system.

We started off the Conference listening to heroes of the Civil Rights Movement of the 60’s. Among these were Dr. Charles Kimbrough, Reverend Sonnye Dixon and Michael Grant, who told the crowd, “We the people must talk about why democracy is important. . . We must. . . reform our voting system.”

My husband Ken & I have been involved in the “Gathering to Save our Democracy" group that sponsored the Conference, since shortly after the 2004 Election. Bernie Ellis has led the group leading protests, planning strategies, looking at the 2004 Election results and making plans for the future working to achieve Election reform. After working in the Kerry Campaign, and being highly upset at Kerry’s “quick concession,” we had to find some avenue to channel our frustration and work for improvement of our system. Initially protesting in front of the State Capital as part of the 51 State March in December, we have continued on protesting, wearing orange arm bands in solidarity with the Ukrainian people. Their challenge of election results in the Ukraine brought masses out into the streets for days in frigid weather. Ours should have done the same.

Problems with Electronic Voting Machines, DREs (Direct Recording Electronics) was one of my focuses at the conference. Teresa Hommel, a Unitarian Universalist from New York City, highlighted this both at the conference and in an article in UU World (November/Dec. 2004.) Teresa demonstrated on her laptop just how easy it is to program a computer to vote for whomever the programmer wants. I knew it was possible, I felt it had happened but seeing it was so much more powerful. Teresa told me she planned to submit a Study Resolution at GA in Phoenix this summer on Election Reform. I think this is vital for the future of this country.

Another speaker, Lara Shaffer of The Open Voting Consortium, advocated “open source” software for electronic machines which print out ballots that can be first checked by the voter, placed in a ballot box and recounted if necessary. Presently the Diebold and ES&S voting machines, due to “proprietary reasons”, cannot be independently inspected after elections. Even if they could, they do not have to have a paper trail. Even if they did, it depends on where and when the tampering happened, etc. All computer knowledgeable persons should be concerned. There are a number of bills before Congress that will fix this problem at least in the short run. As one the conference attendees from Atlanta (originally from Germany) said, “I don’t know why you don’t use paper ballots. They are still the safest and the simplest.” He also was amazed that our elections were not held on the weekend as in Europe.

Clinton Curtis also spoke. Even though I knew his story, listening to him was powerful. Mr. Curtis was the computer technician in Florida that was hired to create a vote rigging software prototype while working for Yang enterprises. He was let go after finishing the project but informing his employers that hiding the source codes, as requested, was against Florida law. Brad Friedman of bradblog.com was delighted to tell the crowd, “Clint Curtis passed his lie detector exam.” Mr. Curtis has been portrayed as a former employee-whistleblower with an agenda. Clint, a Republican, told the crowd, “You liberals compete in an election like a sport, thinking the best team will win. What you really need to understand is that these people (Right Wing Republicans) fight to win at any cost.”

Another powerful speaker was David Cobb, the Green Party’s 2004 candidate. He encouraged the crowd not just to “take back our democracy,” but to “build a movement for real democracy.” His goals include:

1. Having voter verified paper ballots
2. Having the ballots counted by independent non-partisan groups
3. Having publicly funded elections
4. Changing our present voting system, getting rid of the Electoral college and instituting Instant Runoff voting. You would vote for your 1st, 2nd and 3rd choices in this system.

The final speaker was Representative Cynthia McKinney (Democrat- Georgia.) Congresswoman McKinney’s struggle to regain her seat after losing due to the effort of the Right Wing and their media stranglehold was amazing. She now understands just what the “Right Wing” will do to achieve their goals. Ms. McKinney believes we need to do all we can through alternative media, the web, and keeping up on what is happening in Congress to achieve change. She also saw many irregularities in this past election and tactics of the “Right” that are clearly wrong. Rep. McKinney reiterated, “We need a massive movement of people to achieve Election Reform.”

I hope to add another sub-group to the (Tennessee Unitarian Universalist) Social Concerns and Action Committee that will deal with Election reform.
---------

Thanks, Millie, for allowing what was learned at the "Nash-ional" conference to reach many more people here in the Orange State.

[Fly by night]

39. Plans to web-stream the audio from the "Nash-ional" conference

One of our authorized videographers (Earnhardt and Company, from Nashville) responded to a request to download the audio from the 14+ hours of video they filmed of the conference plenary sessions. Tonight (at our post-conference celebration), David Earnhardt announced that they should be able to ship our audio to the Pacifica network tomorrow.

If that happens, the Pacifica producer we are working with should have the conference broken down into roughly one hour segments for distribution to the 84 stations in the Pacifica network in 2-3 days thereafter, and be able to post the one hour audio segments on a web-link (radioforall, I believe) for everyone to access by early next week. We will keep all of you posted on the progress of this effort to get edited, high quality, authorized web-casts of the conference to you and the rest of the world quickly.

If I am still up at midnight, I will post Robert Koehler's column on the "Nash-ional" conference tonight. We could not be more pleased. I will post it in this thread and also post it as its own thread. Otherwise, I will do it first thing in the morning.

[demodonkey]

41. THANK YOU, Bernie... I'm definitely glad I Showed Up!

BerNIE, BerNIE, BerNIE... thank you Fly By Night and all you other great Tennessee Volunteers who did such an incredible job of organizing this National Conference!

What a great opportunity you gave us all to update, and learn, and network, and meet up with friends that we only get to "see" otherwise online! Such a wealth of knowledge and inspiration... I am not even going to TRY to say more on what I liked about this event, because pretty much everything was terrific.

I can't wait for the audio, and I sure hope that we can find space to get all the video online too.

So will "y'all" really come and see us in PA for a "Philadelphia Freedom" National Conference? We aren't 100% sure that we can definitely hold this yet, but we ARE talking about it here in the Keystone State... Will post more in a day or so.

Thanks again and much love to all my "Nash-ional" friends!
MB

:grouphug:

[Fly by night]

42. Spreading the "Nash-ional" spirit

For those of you who were not there, we suggested that Philadelphia consider holding a follow-up conference (maybe around the 4th of July) and that we again invite the country to "show up". Others suggested similar conferences in some of the states that were "flipped" -- New Mexico, Iowa, Florida, etc. These are good ideas.

Unlike anything George W. Bush has ever done, putting on a national conference is indeed "hard work". But for everyone who did show up, we think it was well worth it, and the ripple effects so far have been mostly positive. On the other hand, any decision to keep volatile personalities or inappropriate or procedurally clueless speakers off your conference program will bring you a world of hurt.

For the past several days, I have been personally attacked on-line by people who either didn't show up at all or whose behavior before, during and after the conference was wholly inappropriate. At this point in the process, it is just one of those hazards that others who want to take our country back need to be aware of. However, I do appreciate other states contacting me directly to ask who to avoid in the future. I have a short list but it is definitely filled with "do not invite" folks.

I said at the conference -- after one of our speakers who was assigned 5 minutes spoke 17 (refusing to sit down even when I stood next to her at the podium for ten minutes) and another who was assigned 10 minutes spoke 25 -- that we Southerners get uncomfortable when we have to be rude, but we do know how to do it. My follow-up letters to some of the worst offenders definitely prove that I know how to be rude. But frankly, folks, to be called racist when our conference's opening was grounded in the civil rights movement (and our organization was the only one for whom people of color were present) and to be called sexist when 3/4 of our local organization is female puzzles me and pisses me off. However, it is allowing me (and others) to rate the priorities of the accusers, and that's a good thing.

I will post more good news from the "Nash-ional" later today.

[Fly by night]

43. Reactions from someone who "showed up" --Kip Humphrey, 51 Capital March

Bernie,

Thanks for the conference. In 30 days, you and the Tennessee Volunteers put together a remarkable, galvanizing event that will be long remembered and appreciated in the fight to regain our democracy. To each of the Tennessee Volunteers, please pass my full appreciation and thanks for their energy, determination, dedication, and a job well done in such a short time.

I was buoyed by the progress reported across the nation in uncovering the facts of fraud in the 2004 election: Like the tips of so many icebergs breaking the surface. More encouraging still, the efforts occurring simultaneously in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, Ohio, Minnesota, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, Washington, Oregon, and California (did I leave anyone out?) to reform our election systems so as to stop future stolen elections and return our system of government to its democratic coarse.

Each speaker and each attendee had a story to tell of their efforts to win back our country. Whether their efforts were devoted to investigating the election fraud, to developing and pushing election reform legislation, to educating and spreading the word about the loss of our democracy, to protesting the stolen election, or to pursuing avenues to obstruct further erosion of our democracy moving forward, the cumulative effect of the movement is on a very solid foundation, is populated by brilliant and dedicated patriots, and has progressed beyond my wildest expectations in the 5 months since November 2nd and the 4 months since December 12th.

Now, its time to return to the struggle with renewed vigor and insight from the Nashville conference. As Clint Curtis candidly pointed out at the conference, if progressives, democrats, libertarians, and independents will: put aside their personal concerns, issues, interests and differences; come together and work in unison, devoting everything to winning back our democracy, we can succeed in within the year. The message of the conference was clear: we will succeed only on all fronts, using every tactic, pursuing every avenue, leaving no American citizen out. This is the second American Revolution, a peaceful uprising of we the people, and I am proud to recognize and affirm, of the people who attended the conference and all of those who could not, WE ARE THE ONES WE HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR!

On December 12th, I conveyed the following to those courageous citizens who protested our stolen election on the steps of 41 state capitols:

You showed up because our rights as citizens have been trampled.
You showed up because millions of fellow citizens were denied their vote.
You showed up because we have lost the security and sanctity of our ballot box.
You showed up because you want the theft of our electoral process to stop.
You showed up because you want the power of your vote back.
You showed up because you want your democracy back.
You showed up for our children and their future.

On a beautiful spring weekend in Nashville, ordinary citizens, reluctant warriors all, showed up determined to take our country back, whatever it takes. While the road to victory before us appears rocky and rutted, steep and difficult, I am assured: We WILL win.

Thank you, Bernie, for all you do.

Warmest regards and my deepest appreciation,
Kip,51 Capital March

[Fly by night]

44. kick

[kerstin]

46. kick n/t

[Fly by night]

47. Latest word on web-streaming the audio

Our Nashville videographer has gotten the fourteen hours of audio to the Pacifica producer. My guess is that by early next week, all of you will be able to listen to the "Nash-ional" plenary sessions in their entirety. We sure hope you will all be pleased. Despite some unexpected and inaccurate sniping at the representativeness of those who attended (from people who didn't bother to be there), I am thankful to everyone who "showed up".

If we ever find ourselves in the trenches of the second American Revolution together, I will be more concerned about my colleagues' commitment to democracy and their ability to shoot straight (that is, at the enemy and not at me) than I will by how they fill out their fatigues. Peace (and blessed quiet).

[Fly by night]

48. Another "Nash-ional" speaker's letter to Jimmy Carter

Friday, April 15, 2005

To President Jimmy Carter
c/o: Ms. Lauren Gay
Assistant to President Jimmy Carter
Co­Chairman, Blue Ribbon Commission on Election Reform
The Carter Center
One Copenhill
453 Freedom Parkway
Atlanta, GA 30307

URGENT: TIME SENSITIVE. Election Reform Information. PLEASE OPEN
IMMEDIATELY.

Dear President Carter:

Introduction:

I have been involved in the problems in the 2000 and 2004
Elections. My specialty is applying quality principles to
information processes, such as the election processes. I have
been working with various election groups.

I was an invited speaker and facilitator at the "National
Election Reform Conference" in Nashville, April 8­10, hosted by
"Gathering to Save Our Democracy."

Various credible, statistical analyses of the irregularities in
the 2004 elections illustrate a pattern of problems that can NOT
be explained by random error. The patterns of irregularity in
vote counts for president consistently favor one candidate in
many areas, especially the "battleground" states.

There is a very clear and present danger that if the election are
not error proofed and put in control, our democracy is at risk.

Recommendations:

There must be a vigorous investigation into the systemic and
pervasive problems in the integrity and reliability of the
election processes. This investigation must be conducted in a way
to get to the truth of these irregularities. Of special concern
are problems with the electronic voting equipment that have
secret source and object code, and have not been proven to be
tamper­free, and do not provide audit records in a way to provide
a 100% verification that voters' votes are counted accurately.

Several speakers and others who have performed statistical
analysis on the voting results and discrepancies or who witnessed
irregularities should provide testimony to the Commission. We are
encouraging them to share their analysis and findings with you.

I should provide testimony to the Commission as expert in the
application of quality principles to the election processes and
for improvements to provide error­proofing and controls to
prevent both inadvertent error and deliberate tampering. Any
reforms made that are not grounded in sound quality management
and control principles will be sub-optimized at best, and may
fail to prevent deliberate tampering at worst.

My Credentials:

I have been applying quality principles to information since
1990.

I have been called one of the top two or three authorities in the
world on information quality management

I have provided information quality management consulting and
training to major companies like Intel and Toyota in 29 countries
on five continents.

My book, Improving Data Warehouse and Business Information
Quality, has been called "The Information Quality Bible for the
Information Age" by Masaaki Imai, creator the Kaizen quality
management system.
- It has been translated into Japanese by the first Information
Services organization to win the Deming Prize for Quality
- It was Cited by Computing Magazine as one of "Top 10 IT Books"
Nov 2002
- It has been the Best seller of all Information Quality books
on all Amazon sites

I have studied the election problems from the 2000 election. I
published a comprehensive analysis, "Information Quality Mandate
for Election Reform," published in the DM Review Journal,
October, 2001 to January, 2002. A copy is included. A PDF of
article is found at:
http://www.infoimpact.com/articles/DMR_10.01IQLessonsFromElection2000­w­Links1.pdf

Personal Notes:

I was a member the Northside Drive Baptist Church in Atlanta
during your presidency. Betty Conley and I co­led a young adults
Sunday School.

I am writing you because I have always admired your integrity. I
believe you can help America accomplish true Election Reform.

Our nation is at risk. We need more people like you who can help
the increasing number of concerned citizens bring about real
reform.

Thank you for considering this.


Sincerely,



Larry P. English
President

[Fly by night]

49. One week later ... a review of how the media "showed up" in Nashville

Here's a response that I posted in a "General Discussion -- Politics" forum thread about coverage of the election fraud story. The original poster had said something to the effect that the "Nash-ional" conference had received no media coverage. So below is my response (edited to update even more media-related news from the last 24 hours -- I'll label the updates).

Read it and be thankful that there are so many channels to get this message out that are available to all of us. All we have to do is show up and use them.

Enjoy this "one week out" ripples report from the "Nash-ional" tsunami-in-training.
--------------

You're wrong about the 'Nash-ional" conference getting no MSM coverage

Here's just a smattering of contrary evidence:

1) Before the conference, over 400 media outlets received one or more different press releases on the conference at least 50 times apiece (thatnks to a media blaster set up by supportive DUers.) We can only imagine how getting so many press releases may have softened up the MSM to cover as many new election theft stories as have appeared this week.

2) The Nashville Tennessean (Tennessee's paper of record) ran two articles on the conference, and assigned a reporter for two full days to cover it. Here is the link to the second story:

http://www.tennessean.com/local/archives/05/03/68078488...

3) The Nashville NBC TV affiliate sent a camera crew and ran long stories at noon, 4:00 pm, 5:00 pm, 6:00 pm and 10:00 pm on the opening day of the conference.

4) The Tennessee Independent Media Center has run two stories so far. Here is a link to one of them:

http://www.tnimc.org/feature/display/4960/index.php

5) At least seven documentary crews (including the foreign press) attended and filmed the entire conference. The fallout from their efforts will be felt for years.

6) Within a few days, audio segments from the conference will begin running on the Pacifica network of 84 affiliate stations. Within a day after that, the entire audiotape of the plenary sessions will be available on-line for anyone on the planet to listen to. (It will be broken down into hour-long segments that listeners can pick and choose among.)

7) WRFN, a new Nashville radio station, was one of several Nashville radio stations that ran live interviews with at least a half-dozen speakers at the "Nash-ional" conference. Plus, I did five pre-conference radio interviews (lasting as long as 30 minutes) on a number of stations, including country music stations, Black-owned urban music stations and news stations.

8) Brad Friedman (Bradblog) has run an excellent story (as usual) with multiple links that is on his site now. Here's the link:

http://www.bradblog.com/archives/00001321.htm

9) Finally, Robert Koehler (a syndicated columnist for the (Chicago) Tribune Media Services syndicate) wrote an exceptional piece on the conference which is beginning to appear in papers nationwide, around which we have built an entire thread on the "2004 Election Results and Discussion" forum. Here is a link to that thread and to Bob's piece, "The Silent Scream of Numbers":

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

10) Finally, finally (for now), people who "showed up" at the conference have begun to send "letters to the editor" in their hometown papers. One of the best I have seen so far was submitted by Josh Mitteldorf to the Philadephia Inquirer. Here is a link to another DU thread ("I Showed Up" ...) that includes Josh's letter in its entirety (post #26):

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

Last 24 Hours updates:

11) A relatively long story on the conference will appear in the national Libertarian Party newsletter, which goes to ALL members of that party. I appreciate the editor (who was at the conference for only three hours) calling me for a follow-up interview last night.

12) A major boomlet of communication to Jimmy Carter has been stimulated by one of the attendees, and at least six "Nash-ional" speakers have now communicated by Fed-Ex directly (we hope) with Carter (with documentation, etc). We should all email him our heartfelt opinions about election integrity this weekend.

13) On Friday, the Washington Spectator (a widely-respected newsletter) published a FOUR PAGE story on election fraud, complete with R.H. Phillips, exit poll researchers, six paragraphs on Clint Curtis, etc, etc, etc. This truly amazing, fact-filled (and accusation-filled) story will be read by the "movers and shakers" over the weekend, inside the Beltway (and the newsrooms) and in other places of power and influence. While we don't know if the writer was in Nashville, we are pleased that EVERY expert quoted in the piece "showed up" in Nashville also.

14) The conference is an ongoing subject of blog-posting and internet chat at several sites, including Common Cause's election reform site, BradBlog.com, Tennessee Independent Media Center, etc.

So is the MSM cup half-full or half-empty when it comes to covering the "Nash-ional" conference? From here, it looks like it is rapidly filling up and will begin overflowing soon.

[Fly by night]

50. How the Libertarian Party viewed the 'Nash-ional" conference

Here is a draft article to appear in the Libertarian Party's national newsletter in the next two weeks. It goes to all party members and other subscribers. They say it well -- there was a vibe at the conference, probably due to meeting in a church with a 30 year history of civil rights successes and to the commitment of so many people to be there with us -- that everyone just had to feel welcome, supported and in the presence of an important event. Now here's the Libertarians' (draft) statement about what they took away from the "Nash-ional":
-----------

LIBERTARIAN ARTICLE:

Libertarian National Committee Vice Chair R. Lee Wrights was a featured speaker at the National Election Reform Conference, held in Nashville, Tennessee, April 8-10, 2005. The conference was sponsored by Gathering To Save Our Democracy, bringing together a coalition of verifiable voting and election reform activists from across the country.

Wrights was invited so the Libertarian Party could be thanked along with the Green Party for their joint election recount efforts in Ohio, New Mexico and other states. Wrights shared the stage with Green Party Presidential candidate David Cobb. Libertarian Presidential candidate Michael Badnarik joined with Cobb to cause these recounts to ensure the votes were properly counted.

Conference organizer Bernie Ellis said, "We were excited to have a chance to honor the Libertarian Party for its courage, its seriousness and its fundamentally American response to this problem. The Libertarian and Green parties acted the way we all should have acted on November 4th. In the face of the same evidence that should have concerned us all, those two parties stood up and did something about it."

According to the event’s initial press release, the nonpartisan conference was organized to bring together the major players who have surfaced in the dialogue over the problems with the 2004 election and the need for election reform. Over 100 election reform advocates from 30 states attended the conference.

The Libertarian Party also was listed as a supporting organization. Nine political parties were represented. Other organizations involved with the conference include Velvet Revolution, Common Cause, FreePress.org, Democratic Underground and the NAACP.

In his remarks to the audience, Wrights said, "instead of you thanking us, we should be thanking you. The only way true reform will come about is when individuals come together and say we’ve had enough. If we go away today from this conference with nothing else it should be a unity in insisting that every voice be heard, that every vote be counted."

Cobb also had kind words for Libertarians. "I have tremendous respect and admiration for the principled positions Libertarians take," Cobb said. "On the campaign trail, I developed genuine affection for Libertarians because they are honest."

After his speech, Wrights spoke of the importance of joining together with other election reform advocates. He said, "There’s strength in numbers, and issues of election reform, ballot access, and verifiable voting are common among all parties. The Libertarian Party has always been a leader on these issues. It is appropriate and necessary for us to reach out to these affinity groups."

Ellis addressed the importance of Libertarian involvement at the local as well as the national level. "We’ve had Libertarians with us since our second public meeting in Tennessee," he said. We’ve learned to count on each other. Every American should be thankful that the Libertarian Party stood up, showed up and stood firm against what are still unresolved problems about the integrity of our voting process."

Wrights summed up his participation in the conference by saying, "Libertarians received not only respect, but genuine love and appreciation for what we have already done on these issues."

The next National Election Reform Conference is being planned for Philadelphia in July.

-30-

Sean Haugh is the Executive Director of the Libertarian Party of North Carolina.
------------------

[Fly by night]

51. Nine days out, what the 'Nash-ional" ripples look like.

As our lives slowly return to a more normal pace (ha!), here are a few things by way of catch-up on the impact of the "Nash-ional" conference. Thanks again to all for coming and/or supporting the conference. If anything is happening in your neck of the woods as a result, check in.

1) Bob Koehler's column appeared Monday in the Nashville Tennessean. The Tennessean title: AMERICANS MUST TAKE BACK THE BALLOT BOX (!!!!!!) Now let's hope we hear from others around the country that Bob Koehler's "call to patriotism" piece is being read by everyone -- at least once. It is having an impact: Boy, howdy.

2) Bob says the column is being picked up slowly (in places like Idaho and Louisiana), and that the Chicago tribune op-ed editor is decidedly not interested in running his piece. (That person needs to hear from us.) But Bob also says that he's getting 12,000+ hits/day on his web-site where the column is posted. http://www.commonwonders.com/

3) Bob is also giving people my email address if they write him, and I'm starting to collect them from around the country. We need to figure out what to say from here at this point ....

4) Through the intercession of another DUer, we now have several of our "Nash-ional" speakers communicating with and being interviewed by an Irish journalist for what we hope will be a series of stories on evidence for the 2004 election theft and the legal challenges being waged to achieve election justice in our country.

5) Jimmy Carter heard from MANY of us who attended the conference. I anxiously await what he says today -- I have only heard snippets and what very little I've heard sounded good. Please, Jimmy, be the proud and moral patriot that you are and stand up to these knaves and traitors -- for all of us.

6) At least five other conferences are being planned -- I will be communicating with those planners shortly with some suggestions, based on our "Nash-ional" experience. I am glad to hear that several of these sites are thinking of calling their state's gathering a National Election Reform Conference also. It would be nice to keep inviting the entire country to every one of these Gatherings that sprout up in the coming months.

7) On a personal level, I am balancing the joy of having worked with so many other committed patriots to accomplish something of real merit with having to endure the most unrelenting personal attacks, in wave after wave, by supposed allies of ours in this movement; accompanied by a hacked computer, erased anti-virus software (and three failed attempts so far to re-upload it), missing e-files, a "melted" answering machine, a "non-functioning" phone, etc, etc, etc.

Well, as my Arapaho elders and friends have taught me,
if your path is too smooth, you are on the wrong path.

I do believe (and the evidence of the past week would support the conclusion that)

we are on the right path, here on Planet Nashville.

Y'all come back now, y'hear!