RED ALERT!!!!!!

Mind Your Business: You Will Lose All The Rights to Your Own Art

bennettandsimone — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 01:56:01 GMT

Mind Your Business: You Will Lose All The Rights to Your Own Art Mark Simon is mad as hell and, in this month's "Mind Your Business," he tells you why you should be too. As you know, I usually handle the subjects in my articles with a sense of humor. That is not the case this month. I find nothing funny about the new Orphan Works legislation that is before Congress. In fact, it PISSES ME OFF! As an artist, you have to read this article or you could lose everything you've ever created! An Orphaned Work is any creative work of art where the artist or copyright owner has released their copyright, whether on purpose, by passage of time, or by lack of proper registration. In the same way that an orphaned child loses the protection of his or her parents, your creative work can become an orphan for others to use without your permission. If you don't like to read long articles, you will miss incredibly important information that will affect the rest of your career as an artist. You should at least skip to the end to find the link for a fantastic interview with the Illustrators' Partnership about how you are about to lose ownership of your own artwork. Currently, you don't have to register your artwork to own the copyright. You own a copyright as soon as you create something. International law also supports this. Right now, registration allows you to sue for damages, in addition to fair value. What makes me so MAD about this new legislation is that it legalizes THEFT! The only people who benefit from this are those who want to make use of our creative works without paying for them and large companies who will run the new private copyright registries. These registries are companies that you would be forced to pay in order to register every single image, photo, sketch or creative work. It is currently against international law to coerce people to register their work for copyright because there are so many inherent problems with it. But because big business can push through laws in the United States, our country is about to break with the rest of the world, again, and take your rights away. With the tens of millions of photos and pieces of artwork created each year, the bounty for forcing everyone to pay a registration fee would be enormous. We lose our rights and our creations, and someone else makes money at our expense. This includes every sketch, painting, photo, sculpture, drawing, video, song and every other type of creative endeavor. All of it is at risk! If the Orphan Works legislation passes, you and I and all creatives will lose virtually all the rights to not only our future work but to everything we've created over the past 34 years, unless we register it with the new, untested and privately run (by the friends and cronies of the U.S. government) registries. Even then, there is no guarantee that someone wishing to steal your personal creations won't successfully call your work an orphan work, and then legally use it for free. In short, if Congress passes this law, YOU WILL LOSE THE RIGHT TO MAKE MONEY FROM YOUR OWN CREATIONS! Why is this allowed to happen? APATHY and MONEY. Artists have apathy and corporations have money. We need to be heard in order to protect our incomes, our creations and our careers. GET OFF YOUR ASS! That means writing letters to our congressmen and representatives. That means voicing your opinion about how we need copyright protection, as we've had since 1976, that protects everything we create from the moment we create it. This is the case around the world. However, an Orphan Works bill is also in the works in Europe. I was speaking recently with Roger Dean, the famed artist of the Yes album covers, and he is greatly concerned with what will happen if Orphan Works bills become law. "This will devastate the livelihood of artists, photographers and designers in a number of ways," Dean says. "That at the behest of a few hugely rich corporations who got rich by selling art that they played no part in the making of, the U.S. and U.K. governments are changing the copyright laws to protect the infringer instead of the creator. This is unjust, culturally destructive and commercial lunacy. This will not just hurt millions of artists around the world. "On the other side of the coin, what argument will a U.S. court have with a Chinese company that insists it did its research in China and found nothing? If the cost of this is onerous for a U.S. -based artist, what will it be like for artists and small businesses in emergent economies?" If an artist whose work is as famous as Roger Dean's is concerned with this legislation, it should be of great concern for all of us. The people, associations and companies behind the Orphan Works bill state that orphaned works have no value. If that were true, no one would want them. However, these same companies DO WANT your work, they just don't want to pay for it. If someone wants something, IT HAS VALUE. It's pretty simple. Some major art and photography associations, or I should say, the managers of the associations, support this bill. The reason they support it is that they will operate some of the registries and stand to make a lot of money. Some have already been given millions of dollars by the Library of Congress. Follow the money and you will see why some groups support this bill of legalized theft of everything you have ever created. Two proponents of this new legislation are Corbis and Getty Images. They are large stock photo and stock art companies. They sell art and photos inexpensively and are trying to build giant royalty-free databases. Do you see how they could benefit from considering most works of art in the world orphans? Do you know who owns Corbis? Bill Gates. He doesn't do anything unless it can make a huge amount of money. Helping you lose the copyright to your art is big business for Gates. For years we've heard of Hollywood fighting with China to protect copyrights and stop the pirating of DVDs. Our government has worked with the studios to protect their investment. Our government is NOW WORKING AGAINST US by allowing our own fellow citizens TO STEAL OUR CREATIVE WORKS. It will be easy for them to get away with it unless we make ourselves heard. Your calls and letters do work. I've seen many instances in which a single letter made a difference in public policy. Tens of thousands of calls and letters help even more. This is not empty talk. I have written letters to my congressmen and I will do so again. I do what I can to let every creator know about terrible legislation like this... thus you are reading articles like this one and you can listen to interviews I've posted online. CONTACT YOUR LEGISLATOR: Go to http://www. usa. gov/Contact/Elected. shtml to quickly find the phone number, address and e-mail of every U.S. senator, U.S. representative, governor and state legislator. Forward this article to every creator you know and urge them to take a moment to protect their very livelihood. I am giving everyone the right to reprint this article in any form to help spread the word to protect our creative rights. Instead of sitting around watching TV tonight, TiVo that show, write a letter and make yourself heard. Letters to our government officials don't have to be long, but they should be heartfelt. A good story helps. Tell them who you are, how this legislation negatively affects you and that you want them to vote against the Orphan Works legislation. It's that easy! If you don't, you will have only yourself to blame when you see other people making money from your art and you don't see a dime. Spider-Man comic artist Alex Saviuk is also concerned about the loss of copyright protection. "When I found out all the negative aspects of the new legislation, it would almost behoove us to want to do something else for a living," says Saviuk. "If we would have to register with all the different companies, we would never be able to make a living. " "It would be impossible for me to register all my art," continues Saviuk. "It would put me out of business. " You can listen to my complete interview with Alex online. Think this doesn't apply to you? Maybe you don't license your artwork? How about this? Photos on the internet could be orphaned. With tens of millions of photos shared online with services like Flickr, Shutterfly and Snapfish, there is a huge opportunity for unauthorized use of your photos... legally. You could see photos you take of your family and kids, or of a family vacation, used in a magazine or newspaper without your permission or payment to you. You would have to pay to register your photos, all of them, in every new registry in order to protect them. Say the average person takes 300 photos per year (I take a lot more than that). If a registry only charges $5 per image, that is a whopping $1,500 to protect your photos that are protected automatically under the current laws. If there are three registries, protecting your images could cost an amazing $4,500. Not to mention the time it would take to register every photo you take. Plus, you will also have to place your copyright sign on every photo. That's not including all your art, sketches, paintings, 3D models, animations, etc. Do you really have all that extra time and money? Plus, even if you do register, the people stealing your work can still claim it was orphaned and, unless you fight them, they win. Even if you win, you may not make back your legal fees. It gets even better. Anyone can submit images, including your images. They would then be excused from any liability for infringement (also known as THEFT) unless the legitimate rights owner (you) responds within a certain period of time to grant or deny permission to use your work. That means you will also have to look through every image in every registry all the time to make sure someone is not stealing and registering your art. You could actually end up illegally using your own artwork if someone else registers it. DOES ANYONE SEE A PROBLEM WITH THIS? Do you think the U.S. Copyright Office is here to protect you from this legislation? Think again. Brad Holland of the Illustrators' Partnership shares his notes from a recent meeting with David O. Carson, general counsel of the Copyright Office. Brad Holland: If a user can't find a registered work at the Copyright Office, hasn't the Copyright Office facilitated the creation of an orphaned work? David O. Carson: Copyright owners will have to register their images with private registries. BH: But what if I exercise my exclusive right of copyright and choose not to register? DOC: If you want to go ahead and create an orphan work, be my guest! This cavalier and disrespectful dialogue should have you seeing red. Who the hell does he think he is? Carson should be fired and RUN OUT OF WASHINGTON! None of this could happen with our current laws. Our current laws work and they protect us and our creations. The only people who will benefit from the copyright law change are those who can't create work on their own or companies who stand to make a lot of money from using our works of art. They make contributions to congressmen, which is why they get what they want. We need to stand up and be heard. Every one of you need to write your senators and representatives. We have to protect our livelihoods. It's that serious. Plus, the technologies being developed for locating visual art don't work well enough. On March 13, 2008, PicScout, the creators of one of the software applications used in the registries, stated to the House IP subcommittee: "Our technology can match images, or partial information of an image, with 99% success. " A 1% margin of error is huge when you consider the millions of searches performed for art every day. That means for every million searches, 10,000 images could be orphaned. Plus, this only takes into account images registered on their system. If you have registered all your work on another system, they won't be searched here and, even though you may have spent thousands of dollars registering your creations, a new or unused directory could orphan everything you've ever created. This is just one of the many reasons why INTERNATIONAL LAW FORBIDS COERCED REGISTRATION as a condition of protecting your copyright. The United States is about to break international law by making us register our works. The people behind the bill say it's not forced registration, but you won't have any rights unless you register. THIS IS SEMANTICS! Of course, this is forced registration and we can't stand for it! There are many, many other problems with the Orphan Works legislation. As a creator, YOU MUST understand what is going on. For additional information on Orphan Works developments, go to the IPA Orphan Works Resource Page for Artists. This is not something that is going to go away easily. We need to be vocal NOW! This legislation has been beaten or delayed for the past two years and they will keep trying until it passes. This is no time to be quiet and see what happens. What will happen depends on you. Send e-mails and call your congressmen. Ownership of your own creations depends on it. Roger Dean sums this up well. "Where are the colleges and universities in all this? Has the whole world gone to sleep?" GET ON ORPHAN WORKS E-MAIL LIST To be notified of the latest information on the Orphan Works bill and when to contact your legislators, send an e-mail and ask to be added to the Orphan Works list. AUDIO INTERVIEW LINK I have recorded a fantastic interview with Brad Holland of the Illustrators' Partnership regarding this bill and what it means to us as artists. Please listen and learn more about how you may lose ownership of all your art and photos. This article and the recorded interview are available for anyone to use in print or online. Please forward this information to every person and group you know so that we can work together and protect our creations and livelihoods. Mark Simon is an award-winning animation producer/director and speaker. He speaks around the world on subjects about art, animation and TV production. His copyrighted companies may be found online at www. SellYourTvConceptNow. com and www. Storyboards-East. com. He may be reached at marksimonbooks@yahoo.com. Portions of this article use information and phrasing provided by the Illustrators' Partnership.

ALL CA ALMONDS MUST BE PASTEURIZED

bennettandsimone — Fri, 27 Apr 2007 03:36:35 GMT

The information below is from the living tree community website. www.livingtreecommunity.com On Friday, March 30th, the California Almond Board passed a mandatory almond pasteurization order. It requires that all almonds be pasteurized beginning September 1, 2007. This is an affront to the live food movement and an insult to organic farming. It is all the more poignant that this is coming when an abundant new crop of California almonds is expected to be harvested in September. This, after several years of crop failures and a sharp increase in price. Instead of rejoicing with the new crop of almonds, what does Big Almond propose to do? It plans to fumigate them! The order requires that all almonds be treated either with steam or propylene oxide, a toxic chemical. Almonds treated in this delightful way are permitted to be labeled as "raw". To be understood properly, this must be seen in the perspective of a deep trend in the food industry: - Before long, it seems, all the food sold in the United States will be genetically modified, irradiated, pasteurized, homogenized, hydrolyzed and packaged for a two-year shelf life and it will all be labeled as "All Natural". It's no wonder, then that the United States population demonstrates the lowest levels of mental and physical health of any advanced nation. (Mike Adams, The Big Almond Atrocity, NewsTarget.com) The most remarkable thing is that there is no distinction between conventional grown and organic almonds. Both are subject to the same pasteurization order. This, despite the fact that the standards of sanitation and cleanliness are higher with organic. Not only is organic thrown into the same boat, but the California Certified Organic Farmers (CCOF), the largest body of organic almond growers was not invited to participate in the hearings on before the mandate became law. Two weeks ago when we heard of it, we phoned Peggy Miars, the Executive Director of the CCOF. It was obvious that she had no prior knowledge. This despite the fact that, by far and away, organic almonds bring in more sales revenue than any other organic fruit or vegetable in California. Seventy-six members of CCOF are either almond growers or handlers. The enlightened and progressive CCOF has the political clout and know how to contest this. They are the oldest and most reputable organic certification association. We suggest that you write to Peggy Miars, Executive Director at peggy@ccof.org and request that she mobilize in protest. At very least, they should ask for a separate marketing order for organic almonds. Should CCOF fail to act, they will be crushed. The same powerful forces that pushed for the fumigation of almonds are constantly seeking to chip away and erode organic standards. Moreover, just around the bend are yet more sinister threats, e.g. food irradiation. The new regulation to sterilize almonds coincides with the recent announcement by the Food and Drug Administration that it intends to relax its labeling requirements for irradiated food. The FDA proposal will also allow irradiation... to be called pasteurization... (Press Release,The Cornucopia Institute, 4/6/07) Then there is the FDA's long-standing refusal to require that genetically engineered food be labeled. There you have it:- fumigated almonds are to be labeled "raw", irradiated food is to be labeled "pasteurized" and that tomato with pig genes doesn't have to be labeled at all. Please address Ms. Miars graciously and respectfully. Remember the CCOF folks are, for the most part, family farmers. Speak from your heart, and you'll know what to say. She requests that people not phone her. Please forward a copy to us. We'll collate your letters and publish them on our site. For letters you've already written please click on Your Letters. Jesse Schwartz, Ph.D. President Living Tree Community Foods jesse@livingtreecommunity.com ================== ---------[ Received Mail Content ]---------- Subject : pasteurizing ORGANIC almonds ???? Date : Wed, 25 Apr 2007 19:31:03 -0400 (EDT) From : "Bari Caine" <greenleaf@lycos.com> To : <peggy@ccof.org> Cc : <jesse@livingtreecommunity.com> Dear Peggy Miars, I urge you to take strong leadership action to reverse the new regulation to sterilize ORGANIC almonds!!! How can consumers trust and respect the organic label if such travesties are allowed??? I definately won't be buying any almonds until this is straightened out! I would appreciate an update on the actions CCOF is taking to nip this in the bud!!! best regards, Bari Caine Weston A. Price Foundation chapter leader, Reno, Nevada greenleaf@lycos.com http://www.organiclifestyle.net http://www.westonaprice.org ---------------------------

CODEX LETTER TO THE EDITORS

bennettandsimone — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 22:46:16 GMT

To the Editor: I am writing this letter to alert you and your readers to the major problem CODEX presents. What if you woke up on Dec 31, 2009 to find that all milk must be treated with Monsantos recombinant bovine somatotropin (rbST), all animals must be given anti-biotics, and all herbs and supplements must be given to you by a doctor. These and more are laws called CODEX that are being "harmonized" into the USA laws. This is vitally important; how would you like to have to pay to go to a doctor in order to obtain a perscription for Vitamin C, or calcium or supplements to relieve joint pain and have the doses they perscribe hardly be enough to remedy the problem? This and more is what's at stake. It appears we have until April 30, 2007 to comment on the FDA's desire to put all supplements under a doctor's care ONLY. The vote is finally here. Codex will now make herb and alternative therapy illegal. I urge you and your readers to inform yourselves on this vitally important issue and participate in helping to stop this potential cataclysm. Here is a video that can be viewed: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5266884912495233634 Please take this seriously and share this with as many people as possible. The Natural Solutions Foundation, www.HealthFreedomUSA.org, is a tax exempt humanitarian organization focused on US and global health freedom issues. More information on CODEX can be found their website. Yours in health and freedom,

CITIZENS PETITION TO REVAMP CODEX

bennettandsimone — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 22:43:53 GMT

F. Edward Scarbrough, PhD US Manager for Codex US Department of Agriculture South Building, Room 4861 1400 Independence Ave., SW Washington DC 20250 Barbara Schneeman, PhD Director, Office of Nutritional Products Food and Drug Administration 5600 Fishers Lane Rockville MD 20857-0001 Dear Drs. Schneeman and Scarbrough: I am deeply concerned about health and health freedom in the US under the continuing assault of both Codex Alimentarius and those domestic forces which seek to undermine my access to natural health promotion options (including nutritional supplements and clean, unadulterated food). Therefore I wish to join the Natural Solutions Foundation in urging you to support the adoption and implementation through legislation and regulation of the Revised Vitamin and Mineral Guideline (VMG) which would put the US in a position of Codex Compliance per our Vitamin and Mineral laws and regulations (thus avoiding the possibility of huge WTO trade sanctions in disputes around those nutrients). This Revised VMG would, at the same time, strengthen and solidify the principles of DSHEA for the benefit of the health of both the populace and the Wellness Industry. Please direct Codex Delegates to foster those policies and do so in your domestic policy dealings as well. I urge you to adopt US Codex policies which support of the spirit and the letter of the protective tradition, regulation and legislation representing the best of public policy. Those policies should be strictly in line with US law preventing harmonization with any international standard or guideline which conflict or contradicts United States law as specified in the Citizen Petition and its Amendments provided to your offices by the Natural Solutions Foundation. I wish to join the petition and add my voice to those of other Americans who want their health and health freedom supported by their government domestically and internationally in support of the positions, hearing requests and Revised Vitamin and Mineral Guideline presented in that Petition as delineated in the most recent Amendment (submitted to you on October 14, 2005 by the Natural Solutions Foundation), and to the Secretaries of Agriculture, Health and Human Services, Commerce, Transportation, Commissioners of the EPA and FDA, President Bush, Vice President Cheney and the Majority and Minority leaders of both Houses of Congress. Thank you for your attention to this urgent matter. Codex standards, guidelines and regulations threaten our rights and laws in serious ways by lowering the protective bar to satisfy trade, not health, considerations. This is highly detrimental to us all and is a violation of the significant protection offered to us in this country by laws like DSHEA and similar statutes. Please bring US Codex Policy and activities of the US Codex Office and FDA in line with US law and protective public policy. Yours in health and freedom,

CODEX ALERT

bennettandsimone — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 22:38:22 GMT

These 14 points provide you with understanding about Codex Alimentarius - health freedom threat number one. Consumer Protection? Unfortunately Not The first step to understanding Codex Alimentarius is to realize that it has absolutely nothing to do with “consumer protection”. That’s propaganda for the sake of getting people and Congress to yield to its implementation. Says Who? Rima E. Laibow, M.D. is a successful natural medicine physician who graduated from Albert Einstein College of Medicine in 1970. Dr. Laibow has studied more than 16,000 pages of Codex Alimentarius documentation. Her conclusion? Codex Alimentarius is a very serious threat to health freedom. We must take it seriously. Meaning of Name and History of Organization “Codex Alimentarius” means “food rules” in Latin. The organization was born in 1962 when the UN established the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC) as a “Trade Commission”. It was created to regulate, and thus control, every aspect of how food and nutritional supplements are produced and sold to the consumer. It is solely about trade and the profits of multi-national corporations. Bolstering Profits of Pharmaceutical Industry The more natural health products people use, the fewer drugs they use. Millions are turning to natural health. Big Pharma fears this as it would diminish profits. Codex is designed to protect Big Pharma profits by eliminating natural health products and treatments. Health food stores and wellness companies would be hit hard. Codex Alimentarius is Unscientific Codex is unscientific because it classifies nutrients as toxins and uses “Risk Assessment” to set ultra low so-called “safe upper limits” for them. Risk Assessment is a branch of Toxicology, the science for assessing toxins. The proper science for assessing nutrients is Biochemistry. Codex does not use Biochemistry. Based on Tyrannical Napoleonic Legal Code Codex is based on the Napoleonic Code, dating back to Bonaparte. Under this code, anything not explicitly permitted is automatically forbidden. Under Common Law (our system), something does not have to be explicitly permitted to be legal. The tyrannical Napoleonic Code allows the banning of natural health options by default. Shrewdly, Slowly Raising Heat Codex will go into global effect on December 31, 2009, unless we, the People, take action and avert it. Right now, we are like a frog boiled slowly, the heat raised gradually so we won’t jump out of the water. The media is used to make us believe that Codex is about “consumer protection”. Part of the media strategy is to tarnish the image of natural health options, through for-hire studies. Beware Codex Wolves in Sheep’s Clothing One-time defenders of supplements and nutritional products, such as the National Nutritional Foods Association (NNFA) and Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN), have fallen prey to new pharmaceutical members and are spreading disinformation saying that Codex is “consumer protection”. Their boards used to be run by health freedom fighters. VMG: Banning Our Supplements Codex is made up of many standards for every aspect of food. One of these standards was ratified (approved) in July 2005: the destructive Codex Alimentarius Vitamin and Mineral Guideline (VMG). The VMG can ban all high potency and clinically effective vitamins & minerals. For example, Vitamin C would be restricted to only a few milligrams per dose. Other nutrients, such as amino acids, are also under threat. DSHEA, Our Best Legal Defense The U.S. has a powerful legal tool for health freedom: the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA), passed in 1994 after massive grass-roots action. DSHEA scientifically classifies nutritional supplements as food and prevents dosage restrictions; Codex unscientifically classifies them as toxins and sets ultra-low doses. The VMG violates U.S. law because it violates DSHEA. We must unite to protect DSHEA, our best legal defense against Codex. Congressional Effort Underway to Undermine DSHEA The pharmaceutical industry works through irresponsible/corrupt politicians to do their bidding. The path to institute Codex in America is to “influence” Congress to pass laws friendly to drugs and unfriendly to nutritional supplements, so that slowly everyone comes to believe that nutrients are “dangerous”, and drugs are “proper medicine”. Susan Davis (D, CA) and other politicians are helping Big Pharma by supporting bills designed to destroy DSHEA. U.S. Government Illegally Supports Codex The U.S. Codex Office (the U.S. Codex “point of contact”) is unfortunately highly supportive of Codex. So is the rest of the government, including the pharmaceutical-friendly FDA. They should not be. DSHEA and other U.S. law means their support is in direct violation of the laws of the U.S.A.! They are breaking our laws and they know it. Let’s Enter Coordinal Relationships With Congress Congress has the power to keep America Codex-free. It can defeat bills designed to destroy DSHEA, support health freedom bills, and reprimand the U.S. Codex Office and the FDA. Using the Internet we can reach Congress directly to create a lobby of the people, for the people. Families of Congress would suffer too, if Codex is not averted. Call to Action Thanks to the Internet, millions of health conscious Americans can unite to protect health freedom from Codex Alimentarius. We have the power to turn Codex into a blessing if all of us in the natural health community use it to get active, get organized, and stand up for health freedom. Together, we will let Big Pharma know that we see through their deception and will protect our access to natural health care. Ready to take action now? Click here. Ready to learn more? Click here. This information is from www.healthfreedomusa.org

Black Box Voting

bennettandsimone — Wed, 22 Feb 2006 18:39:46 GMT

For the first time ever, we have the opportunity to subpoena key voting industry witnesses to get themunder oath in front of a senate hearing to investigate what they were doing when they created and recommended tamper-friendly voting systems. Are you aware that Calif. did an about face and certified Diebold's entire line of products -- hackable touch screens, hackable optical scanners, and extremely hackable GEMS tabulators -- despite 100% public opposition and numerous attacks proving the sytems' fatal flaws and insecurities? But this isn't just California. Many states are experiencing similar situations. Easiest strategy with the biggest return: FIVE emails, FIVE faxes, FIVE calls. Remember; your tax dollars are paying not only for this equipment, but for the voting machine examiners who refused to answer any questions in last week's Calif. Senate Elections Committee hearing. 1) All we need is three out of five senators. 2) All five are interested and willing to listen 3) This is the FIRST time Black Box Voting has issued a call to action. WHO TO CONTACT: California Senate Rules Committee. Only they have the power to authorize subpoenas. WHY DO WE NEED SUBPOENAS? Key voting industry witnesses, including all federal testing lab personnel, chickened out of Calif. Senate Election Committee's Feb. 16 hearing on how this stuff got certified in the first place. They don't want to answer questions. Subpoenas will legally compel them to show up so they can be questioned under oath. Black Box Voting believes that perjury will follow. A plan is in the wings for what to do if/when key witnesses perjure themselves. By the way, documents can also be subpoenad - like the NONDISCLOSURE AGREEMENTS signed by voting system examiners, which reportedly have prevented them from telling what they know. And like the documents requested under Calif. public record law by the Senate Elections Committee which the current secretary of state -- in violation of the law -- has failed to answer or provide. HERE IS THE CONTACT LIST FOR THE FIVE RULES COMMITTEE MEMBERS: Email first, so they can be logged by Senator Debra Bowen's office (Senate > Elections Committee Chairperson). > > Senator Don Perata (Chair) D > > (916) 651-4009 > > District office (510) 286-1333 > > Senator.Perata@sen.ca.gov >> Fax (510) 286-3885 Perata > > Senator Jim Battin (Vice-Chair) R > > (916) 651-4037 > > Jim.Battin@sen.ca.gov > > Fax: (951) 653-9524 Battin > > Senator Roy Ashburn R > > (916) 651-4018 > > senator.ashburn@sen.ca.gov > > Fax: (661) 323-0446 Ashburn > > Senator Debra Bowen D - She is on the rules committee and is also the chairperson of the Senate Elections Committee. EMAIL ONLY > > Debra@debrabowen.com - (Ms. Bowen is mounting this case and will be busy preparing, emails are welcomed-- See below*) > > Fax (310) 318-6733 Bowen > > Senator Gilbert Cedillo D > > (916) 651-4022 > > Fax (916) 327-8817 Cedillo This is about volume of calls logged, emails sent. Make the contacts and make sure this goes out to your list. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ WHAT TO SAY: Be concise, be polite, be professional. Here's your message: Request Rules Committee support for subpoenas of election industry and certification insiders to answer the Elections Committee's questions about voting machine programming, examination and certification. A sample letter is provided below. WHO ARE THE KEY WITNESSES? Diebold head programmers, federal testing labs (Ciber, Wyle) that repeatedly certified flawed systems, voting system examiners who took taxpayer money, spent hours on so-called "security exams" on systems a 12-year old can hack, repeatedly recommending for certification. BACKGROUND The Calif. Secretary of State's office decided to certify Diebold -- again -- despite the new UC Berkeley report. QUOTES FROM THE LATEST REPORT, COMMISSIONED BY THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA: "Harri Hursti's attack does work: Mr. Hursti's attack on the AV-OS (Optical scanner)is definitely real. He was indeed able to change the election results by doing nothing more than modifying the contents of a memory card. He needed no passwords, no cryptographic keys, and no access to any other part of the voting system, including the GEMS election management server." -- (Comment from Black Box Voting: Note that Diebold has lied repeatedly to election officials and secretaries of state about this. We have videotape and documents from Diebold documenting this posted at our Web site) -- ...and: "Interpreted code is contrary to standards: Interpreted code in general is prohibited by the 2002 FEC Voluntary Voting System Standards, and also by the successor standard, the EAC's Voluntary Voting System Guidelines due to take effect in two years. In order for the Diebold software architecture to be in compliance, it would appear that either the AccuBasic language and interpreter have to be removed, or the standard will have to be changed." -- (Comment from Black Box Voting: Note that California can only run software certified by the Federal ITA process, by state law. The "Berkeley team" is saying flat-out that such certification was not done correctly. It follows that the entire Diebold product line should be illegal under state law.) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ WHAT'S ALL THIS ABOUT KEY WITNESSES CHICKENING OUT? The Feb. 16 California Senate Elections Committee hearing on certification was hit with no-shows by ALL FOUR major vendors (Diebold, ES&S, Sequoia and Hart Intercivic). Representatives from Wyle and Ciber testing labs also declined to appear. The Secretary of State's office is now "legally late" on a series of public records requests made by California Elections Committee Chairperson Debra Bowen. Sen. Bowen has to get permission from the California Senate Rules Committee to have subpoenas issued. Only three of the Rules Committee Senators are needed to invoke port subpoenas. SAMPLE LETTER Senator ____, California Senate Election Committee Dear Senator ____, I urge you to take a courageous stand to issue port subpeonas to key representatives and officials from Diebold, ES&S, Sequoia and Hart Intercivic, as well as Wyle and Ciber Testing Labs and state voting system examiners who fail to appear for your hearings on this matter. I also urge you to subpoena documents as needed, including the non-disclosure agreements signed between examiners and vendors, and all other documents needed to assess the integrity of the certification process. Voters must be able to ensure that voting systems are secure fromtampering, either by outsiders or by insiders. If the citizenry cannot see for itself that elections are secure, that our votes are being counted as we cast them, it is only a matter of time before the very fabric of our nation is torn to pieces. Flawed, hackable systems have been approved that violate FEC guidelines. Some of these systems are so deeply flawed that they defy common sense. It is imperative that the elections industry insiders who were party to the design, examination and recommendation of these systems appear before California's Senate Election Committee in open hearings under oath to answer questions and address these serious concerns. Sincerely, [name] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ FROM CALIF. SENATE ELECTIONS COMMITTEE CHAIRPERSON BOWEN: "We are going to need an enormous amount of people power in the next couple of weeks. Together we can change this whole pathetic mess. Let's stand up for our democracy RIGHT NOW." "Email is great because it is easy for us to log and report -- and we can actually prove how many emails we've received!" "Please email me in support of issuing subpoenas rather than calling you will save my staff a great deal of time logging calls, and you know what kind of work we have to do right now. You can always call and fax later!" Debra Bowen ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THANKS EVERYONE, IN ADVANCE, FOR MAKING FIVE EXTREMELY IMPORTANT CONTACTS FOR DEMOCRACY. Thanks to M.S. English for collaborating with Black Box Voting to craft this message quickly and effectively. Her Web site is recommended for those who want to get up to speed on the history of the voting machine issue: http://www.whoscounting.net Recommend the Chapters on "Technology" and "The Companies" as a Primer. For more information, see the free online chapters of Black Box Voting: Available in .pdf format on the home page at http://www.blackboxvoting.org (scroll down, look in right hand column) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ HERE ARE MORE LINKS YOU MAY FIND OF INTEREST: Here is a copy of the Diebold GEMS program. Thirty million votes will be counted on GEMS in the brutal battle for control of congress in 2006. Be your own "federal testing lab" -- see for yourself: http://www.bbvforums.org/forums/messages/2197/10519.html (Is this not ridiculous? You could teach a pigeon to hack the audit log. Your 12-year-old sister and all her giggly friends can change administrative passwords and election results.) Details: The true scariness of the Herbert Thompson GEMS hack: With Visual Basic script, a one-minute access by anyone -- even years ahead of time -- can implant a trojan horse. Thompson's script demonstrated May 2 in Leon County, Florida was able to make "intelligent guesses" to find names and ballot questions and then manipulate them. http://www.bbvforums.org/forums/messages/1954/19304.html?1140298038#POST17506 Article: Key Witnesses chickening out on hearing: http://www.bbvforums.org/forums/messages/2197/10519.html More extensive article on Calif. certification issues: http://www.bbvforums.org/forums/messages/1954/19353.html Voting system examiners blocked from telling what they know: http://www.bbvforums.org/forums/messages/1954/17717.html Electronic voting machines: Who cooked this turkey? http://www.bbvforums.org/forums/messages/1954/14337.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ IF YOU WANT TO DO MORE: Now comes gathering evidence in the form of public records. Black Box Voting will work with any who volunteer to send customized public records request letters. We will help you learn the ropes, will suggest strategic records to start collecting NOW to protect Election 2006. This year, it is all about mentoring individuals to regain their power as citizens. It takes no more effort to write a public records letter than to write your congressman -- but when you write for public records, you end up with something tangible: Evidence. To participate in the 2006 Election Cleanup Crew, email: crew@blackboxvoting.org. Please allow a few days to respond, due to our heavy schedules -- this is a one-on-one, personalized project, and we are so very proud of the many citizens who are stepping up to the plate. We are quietly developing leaders in "cells" throughout the country, helping citizens learn the skills to oversee their own government. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Black Box Voting is a nonpartisan, nonprofit 501c(3) organization that is teaching citizens how to take back oversight of our own electoral process. We do not accept funding from any vendor or anyone associated with any corporation that stands to benefit from electronic voting. We are funded solely by citizen donations. Our expenditures right now are dedicated to further work with Hursti and specific one-on-one empowerment and training of local citizens, mentoring how to take effective action to collect evidence that will help protect Election 2006. We need to make sure we can survive into the 2008 presidential election cycle. If you believe our work is important and should continue, here's how: To donate by credit card: http://www.blackboxvoting.org/donate.html To donate by check: Black Box Voting 330 SW 43rd St Suite K PMB 547 Renton WA 98055 Black Box Voting

Scholars for 911 Truth

bennettandsimone — Mon, 30 Jan 2006 02:55:18 GMT

BYU professor's group accuses U.S. officials of lying about 9/11 By Elaine Jarvik Deseret Morning News Last fall, Brigham Young University physics professor Steven E. Jones made headlines when he charged that the World Trade Center collapsed because of "pre-positioned explosives." Now, along with a group that calls itself "Scholars for 9/11 Truth," he's upping the ante. "We believe that senior government officials have covered up crucial facts about what really happened on 9/11," the group says in a statement released Friday announcing its formation. "We believe these events may have been orchestrated by the administration in order to manipulate the American people into supporting policies at home and abroad." Headed by Jones and Jim Fetzer, University of Minnesota Duluth distinguished McKnight professor of philosophy, the group is made up of 50 academicians and others. They include Robert M. Bowman, former director of the U.S. "Star Wars" space defense program, and Morgan Reynolds, former chief economist for the Department of Labor in President George W. Bush's first term. Most of the members are less well-known. The group's Web site (www.ST911.org) includes an updated version of Jones's paper about the collapse of the Twin Towers and a paper by Fetzer that looks at conspiracy theories. The government's version of the events of 9/11 — that the plane's hijackers were tied to Osama bin Laden — is its own conspiracy theory, says Fetzer, who has studied the John F. Kennedy assassination since 1992. "Did the Bush administration know in advance about the impending attacks that occurred on 9/11, and allow these to happen, to provoke pre-planned wars against Afghanistan and Iraq? These questions demand immediate answers," charges a paper written collectively by Scholars for 9/11 Truth. The group plans to write more papers, and present lectures and conferences. "We have very limited resources and no subpoena powers," Fetzer said. "What you have is a bunch of serious scholars taking a look at this and discovering it didn't add up. We don't have a political ax to grind." Fetzer has doctorates in the history and philosophy of science. "One of the roles I can play here," he said, "is to explain why a certain line of argument is correct or not." In his original message to potential members last month, Fetzer warned that joining the group might make them the subject of government surveillance and might get them on various lists of "potential terrorists." The group's charges include: • Members of the Bush administration knew in advance that the 9/11 attacks would happen but did nothing to stop them. • No Air Force or Air National Guard jets were sent to "scramble" the hijacked planes, which were clearly deviating from their flight plans, although jet fighters had been deployed for scramblings 67 times in the year prior to 9/11. The procedure for issuing orders for scrambling was changed in June 2001, requiring that approval could only come from the Secretary of Defense, but Donald Rumsfeld was not alerted soon enough on 9/11, according to Scholars group. • The video of Osama bin Laden found by American troops in Afghanistan in December 2001, in which bin Laden says he orchestrated the attacks, is not bin Laden. The Scholars for 9/11 Truth compared the video with a photo of the "real" bin Laden and argue that there are discrepancies in the ratio of nose-length to nose-width, as well as distance from tip-of-nose to ear lobe. The Scholars group hopes that media outlets around the world will ask experts in their areas to examine the group's findings and assertions. If this were done, they argue, "one of the great hoaxes of history would stand naked before the eyes of the world." The group also asks for an investigation of the collapse of the World Trade Center buildings, following up on points made in Jones's paper, "Why Indeed Did the WTC Buildings Collapse?" That paper, recently updated, has been posted on Jones's BYU Web site since last November. Jones argues that the WTC buildings did not collapse due to impact or fires caused by the jets hitting the towers but collapsed as a result of pre-positioned "cutter charges." Proof, he says, includes: • Molten metal was found in the subbasements of WTC sites weeks after 9/11; the melting point of structural steel is 2,750 degrees Fahrenheit and the temperature of jet fuel does not exceed 1,800 degrees. Molten metal was also found in the building known as WTC7, although no plane had struck it. Jones's paper also includes a photo of a slag of the metal being extracted from ground zero. The slag, Jones argues, could not be aluminum from the planes because in photographs the metal was salmon-to-yellow-hot temperature (approximately 1,550 to 1,900 degrees F) "well above the melting temperatures of lead and aluminum," which would be a liquid at that temperature. • Building WTC7 collapsed in 6.6 seconds, which means, Jones says, that the steel and concrete support had to be simply knocked out of the way. "Explosive demolitions are like that," he said. "It doesn't fit the model of the fire-induced pancake collapse." • No steel-frame, high-rise buildings have ever before or since been brought down due to fires. Temperatures due to fire don't get hot enough for buildings to collapse, he says. • Jones points to a recent article in the journal New Civil Engineering that says WTC disaster investigators at NIST (the National Institutes of Standards and Technology) "are refusing to show computer visualizations of the collapse of the Twin Towers despite calls from leading structural and fire engineers." Neither Jones nor other members of the Scholars group suggests who would have planted the explosives, but they argue that the devices could have been operated by remote control. Jones says he has received thousands of e-mails from people around the world who either support his ideas or think he's "nutty," and he still gets about 30 e-mails a day on the topic. He continues to do research on cold fusion, which he prefers to call metal-catalyzed fusion "to distinguish it from the claims" of former University of Utah chemistry professors B. Stanley Pons and Martin Fleishmann, "which we do not accept as verified." He reports that his metal-catalyzed fusion work is going well, with three scientific papers published last year. Jones will present a talk entitled "9/11 Revisited: Scientific and Ethical Questions" at Utah Valley State College at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 1. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- E-mail: jarvik@desnews.com

LINK FOR CAFTA DOCUMENTARY

bennettandsimone — Sat, 09 Jul 2005 03:13:51 GMT

The real link to the film WE BECOME SILENT is www.WellTV.com -- the one posted earlier is incorrect. I was told there are fifty streaming video players going at once because the film has been so widely viewed... 5,000 - 15,000 a day!

SAMPLE LETTER FOR REPS ON CODEX/CAFTA

bennettandsimone — Wed, 06 Jul 2005 20:46:37 GMT

The Honorable Wally Herger 55 Independence Circle Ste.104 Chico CA 95973 Re: CAFTA VOTE - URGENT Dear Representative Herger: We are writing to urge you to vote against the Central American Free Trade Act (CAFTA). While some people may believe that CAFTA will promote regional trade, we do not support CAFTA because it contains (in Section 6) stipulations that would require the United States, as a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO), to revise our food laws and regulations, based on decisions made by another WTO tribunal, the Codex Alimentarius (International Food Code) Commission, or Codex. The WTO recognizes Codex standards as a source of international regulation for WTO members. The WTO can and has sanctioned nations for not following Codex guidelines. The passage of CAFTA would force the “harmonization” of our dietary-supplement laws and regulations to international standards, as established by the supranational Codex Commission. Doing so would drastically infringe on the quality of dietary supplements and access to supplements that people like me are used to. The passage of CAFTA could effectively override the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA) of 1994. CAFTA would devastate our health freedom of choice, destroy thousands of small businesses in the health foods and dietary supplement fields, and negatively impact the 150 million regular consumers of dietary supplements like ourselves. Any treaty that leads to the banning of thousands of safe products cannot be described as "free trade.” There are better ways to globalize. Various FAIR trade agreements have been proposed including the Alternatives for the Americas put together by the Hemispheric Social Alliance, and the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas, promoted by Venezuela. If CAFTA cannot be done without threatening our basic right to have access to nutritional choices, then we should scrap CAFTA and start over. We appreciate your consideration of our views and look forward to knowing what your position is on this legislation. We would greatly appreciate a response from you acknowledging this fax and again urge you to vote NO on DR-CAFTA. Sincerely,

CODEX Victory in Rome/Comsumer Advocate Tim Bolen comments

bennettandsimone — Wed, 06 Jul 2005 18:20:18 GMT

Vitamins to be Banned Worldwide... > >Opinion by Consumer Advocate Tim Bolen > >Monday, July 4th, 2005 > >"Big Pharma" won a major victory in Rome, Italy today. Vitamins and >minerals, for over-the-counter sale will be phased out, almost completely, >in every country on Planet Earth. The "German Model" of health care will >now be the law of the land - in every land. > >Below is a press release from Diane Miller JD of the National Health >Freedom Coalition, detailing the action. Diane is in Rome at the meeting. > >Press Release - National Health Freedom Coalition: Codex Full Commission >adopts Codex Guidelines for Vitamin and Mineral Food Supplements in final >form July 4, 2005, Rome Italy. by Diane Miller JD. > >Minutes ago the full Commission of Codex Alimentarius adopted in final >form, the Codex Guidelines for Vitamin and Mineral Food Supplements. This >adoption is the Step 8 adoption, the final stage of adoption for the >international Codex guidelines. The Codex Vitamin and Mineral Food >Supplements guidelines are now official and no longer in draft form. > >The Commission, attended by over 85 of the 171 Codex countries, adopted the >guidelines by consensus method. There was brief discussion before adoption >taking in comments from a small number of countries and two NGOs. > >Australia requested adding the word "only" in Section 1.3 bertwee the words >"apply" and "in". The sentence would then read "These guidelines apply >only in those jurisdictions where products defined in 2.1 are regulated as >foods." > >Australia's comments were followed by request from Venzuela and Spain to >clarify the spanish translation. > >Venezuela was followed by China. China stated that every government in >making decisions about vitamins and minerals should take into account the >dietary limitations of their own countries, that governments can select >vitamins and minerals acocording to the customs and habits of their >country. China also pointed out that there should be definitions of the >sources of vitamins. > >Columbia spoke up and commented that Vitamins and Minerals are intended for >deficiencies and are recommended for health reasons and said that there has >to be no exaggerated use of minerals. > >Egypt commented and offered a clarification saying that vitamin and >minerals can be considered if daily needs are not being met. > >After the countries were heard, the Chairman recognized NGOs >(Non-Governmental Organizations). National Health Federation (NHF) a world >wide consumer organization with NGO status at Codex was recognized to >speak. Attonery Scott Tipps of NHF stood and requested the guidelines not >be adopted but rather be sent back to commitee for 3 important reasons. 1) > According to Codex rules a "purpose" statement must be part of all >guidelines adopted and the Vitamin and Mineral guidelines did not contain a >purpose. Secondly,the guidelines did not define vitamin and mineral and >therefore it is unclear as to what is being regulated. And lastly, he >pointed out that the Chinese comments were substantive and according to >Codex rules on page 27 of the procedural manual, a substantive amendment >request should be addressed at the committee level. His comments were >heard. > >The NGO IADSA was then recognized. IADSA stressed the fact that the draft >guidelines should be adopted because they had been worked on in committee >for near 10 years and that valuable consensus had been reached in the Bonn >Germany committee meeting and the guidelines should now be passed. > >After all comments, the Chair, consulted with counsel to assess whether the >addition of the word "only" would change the meaning of the sentence. >After learning that it would not he consulted with Australia and Australia >repeated their request for amendment. The Chair recommended adoption of >the amendment and there was no dissent. Then the Chair recommended the >guidelines be adopted at Stage 8 in their final form and that China submit >their substantive amendment requests to the committee at their next >meeting. There was no further comment or dissent from any country and the >guidelines were adopted. > > >What this means, in the United States, is that as soon as CAFTA (Central >American Free Trade Agreement) passes the House of Representatives (it has >already passed the Senate), the US government will be forced, by the terms >of that CAFTA agreement, to restrict vitamin and supplement sales in >accordance with the "German Model" of health care. > >If and when this happens, the hard won 1994 DSHEA (Dietary Supplement >Health & Education Act) will be nullified, and the dismantling of the North >American supplement Industry will begin. > >However, it is not inevitable - the use of "supplements" and other >"alternatives" to conventional medicine regimens represents over fifty >percent (50%) of the total US health dollar spent annually. Eighty-eight >percent (88%) of US adults use an "alternative," and believe in them. >Opposition is already gearing up for the battle - (click here). > >This is a battle between "We the People," and the free world's biggest, and >worst, enemy - ever - "Big Pharma." > >Stay tuned... > >Tim Bolen - Consumer Advocate > >This "Millions of Health Freedom Fighters - Newsletter" is about the battle >between "Health and Medicine" on Planet Earth. Tim Bolen is an op/ed writer >with extensive knowledge of the activities of a subversive organization >calling itself the "quackbusters," and that organization's attempts to >suppress, and discredit, any, and all health modalities that compete with >the allopathic (MD) paradigm for consumer health dollars. The focus of the >newsletter is on the ongoing activities, battles, politics, and the >victories won by members of the "Health Freedom Movement" against the >"quackbusters" It details "who the quackbusters are, what they are, where >they are operating, when they appear, and how they operate - and how easy >it is to beat them..." > >For background information on the "Battle between Health and Medicine" go >to: http://www.savedrclark.net/by_whom2.htm. A copy of THIS newsletter, and >older ones, are viewable at the website >http://www.quackpotwatch.org/default.htm. > >For EVEN MORE interesting and related articles go to >http://www.bolenreport.com. > >Our body is precious. It is a vehicle for awakening. >Treat it with care. - The Buddha

CAFTA UPDATE

bennettandsimone — Thu, 30 Jun 2005 06:15:58 GMT

CAFTA passed in the Senate today and will go to the floor to be voted on by the whole Senate. Please call you Senators and House Representatives and tell them you oppose CAFTA. For more information view the documenatry on CAFTA at these links: http://www.welltv.com http://iahf.com/wbs-weba.mp4 http://www.alliance-natural-health.org and http://www.friendsoffreedominternational.org (the documentary can be purchased from the IAHF website for rapid distribution.) You can also read about CAFTA on these sites: http://www.house.gov/paul/tst/tst2005/tst060605.htm http://capwiz.com/lef/mail/oneclick_compose/?alertid=7739691 www.citizens.org

More on CAFTA

bennettandsimone — Thu, 30 Jun 2005 01:30:04 GMT

"CAFTA is NAFTA on steroids!" That's how one experienced trade attorney describes the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA). And CAFTA is on the move. This morning, the U.S. Senate Finance Committee endorsed CAFTA, sending it to the full Senate for a vote which will likely take place in two days. The vote will be close, but pro-CAFTA forces believe they have enough votes to get it passed by the Senate. If they do, they will claim "momentum" and get the U.S. House to vote on it soon thereafter. The pro-CAFTA forces aren't really for true free trade. They are for global managed trade...because that is what CAFTA (like NAFTA) really is. Think about it. Why does it take over 1,000 pages to define free trade? Consider: CAFTA article 10.16.3 places the United States under the jurisdiction of international tribunals supervised by the United Nations. CAFTA article 10.5.2(a) states that these international tribunals must use "customary international law" as established by the "principle legal systems of the world" when deciding cases. And then there's the unconstitutional granting of "fast track" authority to the president. Article I, section 8, clause 3 of the U.S. Constitution gives Congress the sole authority to regulate international trade. But CAFTA, like NAFTA, treats the U.S. Constitution as a relic. We already suffer from the World Trade Organization and its international bureaucrats. CAFTA will add another layer of unaccountable world elites who will tell us what we can and cannot do. Even the French understand the critical importance of national sovereignty. They recently rejected the proposed constitution of the European Union. Remember that the E.U. started as a trade agreement in 1957, and now it is a regional supra government. NAFTA. CAFTA. And then the Union of the Americas. We strongly urge a "no" vote on CAFTA. Tell your U.S. senators to reject CAFTA