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Humor Times blog - by James Israel

I publish a monthly paper called the Humor Times, available via subscription anywhere in the world. This blog allows me to comment in a more timely manner on current events, etc., since, after all, I have plenty to say!

Sunday, May 31, 2009

Now's not the time to relax -- we must ban touchscreen voting

Now's the time to push this, while the Dems are in control... most of the so-called "anomalies" that have happened with electronic voting have hurt Democrats and helped Republicans, like the election Max Cleland lost in 2002.

Check out this petition... "Ban Touchscreen Voting"

It supports Rep. Rush Holt's Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act. This bill requires verifiable and accessible voting systems in federal elections with paper ballots marked by voters by hand or through the use of non-tabulating ballot marking devices. It will ensure that voters in every precinct across the United States are guaranteed the right in a federal election to cast their votes using paper ballots. It will require election audits for every federal election where the winning candidate receives less than 80 percent of
the vote.

The past several election cycles have demonstrated that electronic voting systems present a serious threat to the integrity of our elections. Touchscreen machines (DRE's) have proven to be unreliable and insecure for the counting and recording of votes. Further, touchscreens repeatedly malfunction during elections, causing long lines and disenfranchising thousands of voters.

And touchscreens provide no opportunity to conduct a meaningful recount or audit of an election. As a result, voters throughout the country have lost confidence in the accuracy of reported electoral outcomes in jurisdictions using touchscreens. More than a century ago, the United States Supreme Court stated in the case of Yick Wo v. Hopkins, 118 U.S. 356, 370 (1886), that the right to vote is "a fundamental political right" which is "preservative of all rights." The Holt Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act is a critical measure for helping to protect this most basic right.

http://www.democrats.com/ban-touchscreen-voting?source=cpn%40cwo.com

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Saturday, May 30, 2009

Watch "Torturing Democracy" online - it's your civic duty as an American

Please take the time to watch this movie, free online. Every American should, because we're all responsible.

No political party would dare make torture a cornerstone of its rejuvenation if people really understood what it is. And lest we forget, we're not just talking about waterboarding, itself a trivializing euphemism for drowning.

If we want to know what torture is, and what it does to human beings, we have to look at it squarely, without flinching. That's just what a powerful and important film, seen by far too few Americans, does. "Torturing Democracy" was written and produced by one of America's outstanding documentary reporters, Sherry Jones...

"Torturing Democracy" begins at 9/11 and recounts how the Bush White House and the Pentagon decided to make coercive detention and abusive interrogation the official US policy in the war on terror. In sometimes graphic detail, the documentary describes the experiences of several men who were held in custody, including Shafiq Rasul, Moazzam Begg and Bisher al-Rawi, all of whom eventually were released. Charges never were filed against them and no reason was ever given for their years in custody.

The documentary traces how tactics meant to train American troops to survive enemy interrogations - the famous SERE program ("Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape") - became the basis for many of the methods employed by the CIA and by interrogators at Guantanamo and in Iraq, including waterboarding (which inflicts on its victims the terror of imminent death), sleep and sensory deprivation, shackling, caging, painful stress positions and sexual humiliation.

"We have re-created our enemy's methodologies in Guantanamo," Malcolm Nance, former head of the Navy's SERE training program, says in "Torturing Democracy." He adds, "It will hurt us for decades to come. Decades. Our people will all be subjected to these tactics, because we have authorized them for the world now. How it got to Guantanamo is a crime and somebody needs to figure out who did it, how they did it, who authorized them to do it ... Because our servicemen will suffer for years."

-- Bill Moyers

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Thursday, May 14, 2009

Stop credit card companies from ripping us off

There's a strong bill pending in the Senate right now that would make the worst ways that credit card companies abuse their customers illegal. But it's stuck because too many senators are afraid to take bold action against the banks.

We've got to keep the pressure on. Please add your name to this petition urging Congress to pass the bill and not let Wall Street water it down.

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Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Insurance industry suddenly finds ways to cut health care costs! Wow, aren't we impressed!

So, NOW the insurance industry finally comes around, saying it can reduce costs! Gosh, what were they waiting for? The threat of a public health care option, that's what.

Don't let them fool you, and keep the heat on your elected representatives for real reform.

All the industry's proposal will do is cut a mere 1.5% from the price INCREASES they were hoping to leach our economy further with.

Private insurance is the whole reason our health care is in such a mess in this country. The huge amounts wasted on overhead and unnecessary bureaucracy caused by these greedy companies is bloating our system. They sit in their cubicles, in between you and your doctor, and tell your doctor what he can and can not do for you.

This proposal is nothing more than a desperate attempt to avoid their worst nightmare -- a public health option. They know that if Americans have that option, they'll end up gravitating to it, because it makes so much sense.

Private insurance advocates always talk about preserving choice. So why are they against this choice? Make sure your representatives know you want a public health care option.

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Thursday, May 07, 2009

Catch us at the Whole Earth Festival in Davis this weekend!

If you're going to the wonderful Whole Earth Festival on the UC Davis campus in Davis, California this weekend (it's every Mother's Day weekend), stop by our booth!

Festival admission is free, and it is not to be missed. Several stages of music and dance performances happening all weekend (Friday-Sunday), first class handmade craft booths, good ethnic food, and lots of people having tons of fun -- what's not to like?

We'll be nestled among the "educational" booths. Don't laugh! Sure, we educate, while making people laugh. In fact, many teachers have found our publication invaluable in getting students interested in politics, government and current events!

You'll be able to peruse or pick up back issues at our booth (free), and even get the current issue ($2.00, a dollar off the cover price). And it'll be the perfect time to get that Humor Times subscription you've been meaning to buy for yourself, or as a gift!

The reason it'll be the perfect time? Because you will receive a FREE ticket to the Sacramento IMAX theater! (They are worth $15.00 each, and the subscription is only $18.95 -- such a deal!!!)

Or, just come by to say hi and check out the recent issues, including our 18th Anniversary Issue! See you there!

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