September 28, 2004
Get Up with MorningWood
Get Up with MorningWood, on 70,000 Watt Community Radio WMNF 88.5 fm, Tampa, and streaming at wmnf.org. 4 to 6 am (eastern) every Tuesday!
Studio line: 813-239- WMNF WOOD
Marathon
Yes, WMNF has had a buttload of pledge drives this year, and MorningWood has been involved in all of them. This is the last one for a while, and absolutely the last one this year. This time, we need money strictly for day to day operations. We’ll worry about the new building later.
To volunteer to help out during Marathon, call or email Gene Moore. (813-238-8001) or call me in the studio this morning: 813-239-WOOD.
Marathon runs from October 1 through October 8. Please support MorningWood with your pledge on Tuesday, October 5.
Blogging on the radio
Jimmy Carter, the former US president, has said Florida lacks "some basic international requirements for a fair election" and a repeat of the 2000 election fiasco "seems likely".Mr Carter said reforms recommended after the recount in Florida had still not been implemented "because of inadequate funding or political disputes".
Mr Carter, who runs an election and human rights centre in Atlanta, accused election officials working for Florida's governor, Jeb Bush, the president's brother, of being "highly partisan".
They were "brazenly violating a basic need for an unbiased and universally trusted authority to manage all elements of the electoral process".
"The disturbing fact is that a repetition of the problems of 2000 now seems likely, even as many other nations are conducting elections that are internationally certified to be transparent, honest and fair," Mr Carter writes in a commentary reprinted in today's Guardian.
......Mr Carter was a member of a commission that recommended modernising the state's voting equipment, but he says today those reforms have been patchy. The new computer voting machines have raised questions over the possibility of tampering, but there are no statewide regulations on the use of a paper backup record of the vote in the event of another recount.
Mr Carter argues the right to uniform, reliable voting procedures is a requirements for a fair election by international standards. However, he writes: "There are disturbing signs that once again ... some of the state's leading officials hold strong political biases that prevent necessary reforms."
Meanwhile, an appeals court has just revived a lawsuit that demands a paper trail for every Florida voter:
Florida's election system, ridiculed and maligned during the 2000 presidential election and then rebuilt with new technology, was thrown into chaos again Monday with five weeks to go before Election Day.A federal appeals court in Atlanta reversed a lower-court judge and ordered him to hear a lawsuit that demands voters be given paper receipts when they use touch-screen voting machines so there is a paper trail in a close election.
The court's decision is vindication for U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler, the Palm Beach County Democrat who filed the lawsuit, and a potential nightmare for election officials in the 15 counties that use the ATM-style equipment, including Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach.
......Regardless of whether Wexler wins his lawsuit in court, state officials said Monday that they will now draw up an emergency rule requiring touch-screen counties to do manual recounts in close elections -- a startling turnaround, because the state fought for months to bar such recounts.
......This latest controversy comes as Florida is under renewed criticism.
In a stinging opinion piece in The Washington Post, former President Carter, whose Atlanta-based Carter Center has monitored 50 elections worldwide, argued that ''some basic international requirements for a fair election'' are missing in Florida.
Among them, he said, are paper ballots and a nonpartisan electoral commission. Carter said that ``Florida voting officials have proved to be highly partisan, brazenly violating a basic need for an unbiased and universally trusted authority.''
HOOD AND HARRIS
Carter likened Hood to her predecessor, Katherine Harris, who co-chaired President Bush's state campaign while overseeing the 2000 recount.
''The same strong bias has become evident,'' Carter said of Hood, blaming her for a flawed list of felons who were to be purged from voter rolls. The list contained the names of 22,000 blacks -- likely to vote Democratic -- but just 61 Hispanics, who in Florida tend to vote Republican, Carter said. He called the list a ''fumbling attempt'' to disqualify blacks.
Also on MorningWood today:
Revolution, rain, and the return of the remix or mashup: an amalgamation of two or more songs, often combing the lyrics of one with the instrumental part of the other. Today, a brand new very cool mashup that I found on Skippy. It mixes two songs plus a surprise bonus vocalist.
Anyway, a few years ago, mashups were all the rage for a week or two, and I played lots of ‘em, sometimes dedicating an entire 2 or 3 hour show. This morning, I’ll feature a couple of old favorites along with the brand new not to be missed “imagine...walk on the wild side”.
Also this morning, another cool downloadable find - Billionaires foe Bush has teamed up with rappers Felonious Axe and 50 Billion to produce this rich video and mp3.
Billionaires for Bush will be starting a Florida Tour very soon and MAY be in Tampa this weekend - events are actually being rescheduled right now due to all of the hurricanes. Check back here for more details as they become available.
Revolution and rain will fill in the rest of MorningWood - freeform political radio. Tune in and listen up.
Playlists
Each week, I bring my planned songs in on CD. I usually end up playing most or all of them in the planned order. But sometimes things go askew. Sorry - no guarantees or refunds.
Live playlist (May be down due to power outage)
WMNF Community Radio
WMNF is a non-commercial community radio station that celebrates local cultural diversity and is committed to equality, peace and social and economic justice. WMNF provides broadcasts and creates other forums to serve the community by the exposure and sharing of these values.
Posted by Norwood at September 28, 2004 02:05 AM