Submitted by Bob Burton on
In November 2005, activists from the Chesapeake Climate Action Network peacefully protested against the failure by then-Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr to significantly curb pollution from coal-fired power stations in Maryland. After their protest, Maryland police categorized them as terrorists and added them to a federal database of people to be monitored.
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
A coalition of open records, good government and research groups submitted "a lengthy to-do list for President-elect Barack Obama and Congress." Their recommendations include overturning the "Ashcroft memo," which made it easier for federal agencies to refuse requests under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA); rescinding Executiv
What went wrong with voting in last night's U.S. elections, and what went right? The election itself is over except for a few recounts, but the election process is still being scrutinized.
The Election Protection Wiki, online at http://www.EPWiki.org, is the Center for Media and Democracy's non-partisan collaboration of citizens, journalists and researchers, a one-stop-shop for exposing voter suppression and other threats to election integrity. We collect just the straight facts that are fully referenced to external, verifiable sources. You can get directly involved; we need your help!
On Election Protection Wiki you'll find links to sites such as Voter Suppression Wiki and TwitterVoteReport, a non-partisan coalition using real-time text-messaging to reveal what's working, what's not, and what needs to be done at polling places to ensure that everyone's vote is counted. See the full list of Election protection and reform organizations and go to our Election Protection map and click on the state of your choice to find its election protection and reform groups.
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
The British government's second public consultation on nuclear power, "which was run by a company linked to the Prime Minister's personal pollster," has been criticized for material that was "inaccurately or misleadingly presented." In response to a complaint from the environmental group Greenpeace, Britain's Market Research Standards Board ruled that the Opinion Leader firm presen
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
Professor Andrew Appel of the Center for Information Technology Policy (CITP) at Princeton University has released a previously-suppressed report finding that electronic voting machines in New Jersey make it easy to engage in undetectable election fraud.
Submitted by Judith Siers-Poisson on
A coalition of "consumer and good government groups, librarians, environmentalists, labor leaders, journalists, and others," OpenTheGovernment.org, has found that secrecy by the Bush administration continues to expand.
As the world learned in 2000 and 2004, the very integrity of the voting process in the United States has come under suspicion with dubious outcomes. Fair and honest elections with properly counted results that can be documented and trusted are essential to democracy. But can we really trust the results today? Who is watchdogging elections at the local, state and national level? Will hanging chads and unaccountable electronic machines determine the outcome of the 2008 vote?
To help answer these questions, and to play a role in improving the process, we at the Center for Media and Democracy will soon be launching a new project on our www.SourceWatch.org website, our Election Protection portal. Watch for it in the weeks ahead.
SourceWatch, our online encyclopedia of the people, organizations and issues shaping the public agenda, will soon become a clearing house of vital current information, research and reports for examining the US election process. The new Election Protection portal will be a key "first stop" online resource for information about election officials, polling places, procedures and regulations.
We're hoping to meet an urgent need. There has never to our knowledge been a central repository for this information, certainly not one that harnesses citizen journalism and the benefits of 'wiki' collaboration to stay up to date and accurate. The lack of such a website has been a serious hindrance to understanding and responding to problems on Election Day and to reforming voting procedures before the next election.
Many organizations and individuals are working across the United States to protect our right to vote and the integrity of the electoral process. In the weeks ahead we will be drawing attention to their work and pulling it together in one portal in Sourcewatch. This is an experiment, it's not been done before. We're doing it in the spirit of our successful experiment earlier this year, the Super Delegate Transparency Project.
Right now, we're looking for the right person to become the paid editor of our Election Protection wiki, beginning immediately. Below is the job posting. If you qualify, please send us an email. This is a short term position with no benefits, and it will be a demanding job, but it's an important position. We hope to fill this position by the end of the week, so please send this quickly to anyone you know who might be interested.
Submitted by Bob Burton on
In a scathing review of the Chinese government's handling of the Olympics, Jacquelin Magnay writes "there has been the fake singer, the fake fireworks, the fake minority kids (they were all Han, and not from the 55 different ethnic groups as portrayed), the fake press freedoms, fake internet access, fake promises. ...
Submitted by Anne Landman on
![Jon Stewart of Comedy Central's "Daily Show"](/files/images/jon_stewart_daily_show.jpg "Jon Stewart of Comedy Central's "Daily Show"")
An article in the New York Times asks whether Jon Stewart of Comedy Central's Daily Show has become the most trusted man in America, pointing out that his fake
Submitted by John Stauber on
The New York Times notes that, "in an effort to cast himself as independent of the influence of money on politics, Senator Barack Obama often highlights the campaign contributions of $200 or less that have amounted to fully half of the $340 million he has collected so far.
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