The SeeingBlack.com 411
January 2005

Tsunami Death Toll Rises…Final Challenges
to the Election…AIDS "Guinea Pigs"…
Shirley Chisholm Dead at 80…and more

Compiled by the Red-Eye Crew
SeeingBlack.com Contributing Writers

Talk about these issues! Click here.

At our deadline, the death toll continued to rise in the world's worst natural disaster in modern history. The number of people killed in the massive tidal waves that hit Indian Ocean shorelines on December 26 is expected to top 150,000.

Indonesia has borne the brunt of the December 26 catastrophe, with a health ministry official putting the country's dead at 94,081 with entire coastal villages disappearing under the wall of water. The health ministry has cautioned that there could be 100,000 deaths in Aceh and North Sumatra.

In Sri Lanka, 30,196 were confirmed killed, while a further 3,792 were listed as missing, the president's office said. The official toll in India stood at 15,275, comprising 9479 confirmed fatalities and a further 5,796 who are missing, many of them presumed dead, the government said yesterday.

In Thailand interior ministry figures listed the death toll at 5,187, which included 2,463 foreigners, 2,362 Thais and 362 whose race could not be established. It said 3,810 were missing, eight days after the waves hit resorts and fishing villages in six provinces along the Andaman Sea coast. Officials said most of these are presumed dead.

In Myanmar at least 90 people were killed, according to the UN, but the real toll was expected to be far higher. At least 75 people were killed and another 42 were confirmed missing in the Maldives, President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom said.

Sixty-eight people were killed in Malaysia, most of them in Penang, police said. In Bangladesh a father and child were killed after a tourist boat capsized in large waves, officials said.

Fatalities also occurred on the east coast of Africa where 176 people were declared dead in Somalia, 10 in Tanzania and one in Kenya. The US Geological Survey said the earthquake west of the Indonesian island of Sumatra measured 9.0 on the Richter scale, making it the largest quake worldwide in four decades. —with information from Sapa, AFP

Conyers to Object to Ohio Electors, Requests Senate Allies

Representative John Conyers, ranking minority member of the House Judiciary Committee, said he would to object to the counting of the Ohio Electors from the 2004 Presidential election when Congress convenes to ratify those votes on January 6th. In a letter dispatched to every Senator, Conyers declared that he will be joined in this by several other members of the House. Rep. Conyers took this dramatic step because he believes the allegations and evidence of election tampering and fraud render the current slate of Ohio Electors illegitimate.

"As you know," writes Rep. Conyers in his letter, "on January 6, 2005, at 1:00 P.M, the electoral votes for the election of the president are to be opened and counted in a joint session of Congress. I and a number of House Members are planning to object to the counting of the Ohio votes, due to numerous unexplained irregularities in the Ohio presidential vote, many of which appear to violate both federal and state law."

The letter goes on to ask the Senators who receive this letter to join Conyers in objecting to the Ohio Electors. "I am hoping that you will consider joining us in this important effort," writes Conyers, "to debate and highlight the problems in Ohio which disenfranchised innumerable voters. I will shortly forward you a draft report itemizing and analyzing the many irregularities we have come across as part of our hearings and investigation into the Ohio presidential election."

There were expected to be high level meetings with high ranking Democratic officials to coordinate a concerted lobbying effort to convince Senators to challenge the vote. The Green Party and David Cobb, as has been true all along, will be centrally involved in this process, as will Rev. Jesse Jackson.

The remainder of the Conyers letter reads:

3 U.S.C. §15 provides when the results from each of the states are announced, that "the President of the Senate shall call for objections, if any." Any objection must be presented in writing and "signed by at least one Senator and one Member of the House of Representatives before the same shall be received." The objection must "state clearly and concisely, and without argument, the ground thereof." When an objection has been properly made in writing and endorsed by a member of each body the Senate withdraws from the House chamber, and each body meets separately to consider the objection. "No votes...from any other State shall be acted upon until the (pending) objection...(is) finally disposed of." 3 U.S.C. §17 limits debate on the objections in each body to two hours, during which time no member may speak more than once and not for more than five minutes. Both the Senate and the House must separately agree to the objection; otherwise, the challenged vote or votes are counted.

Historically, there appears to be three general grounds for objecting to the counting of electoral votes. The language of 3 U.S.C. §15 suggests that objection may be made on the grounds that (1) a vote was not "regularly given" by the challenged elector(s); and/or (2) the elector(s) was not "lawfully certified" under state law; or (3) two slates of electors have been presented to Congress from the same State.

Since the Electoral Count Act of 1887, no objection meeting the requirements of the Act have been made against an entire slate of state electors. In the 2000 election several Members of the House of Representatives attempted to challenge the electoral votes from the State of Florida. However, no Senator joined in the objection, and therefore, the objection was not "received." In addition, there was no determination whether the objection constituted an appropriate basis under the 1887 Act. However, if a State—in this case Ohio—has not followed its own procedures and met its obligation to conduct a free and fair election, a valid objection—if endorsed by at least one Senator and a Member of the House of Representatives- should be debated by each body separately until "disposed of".

A key legal aspect of this is the second clause referenced in the letter. Rep. Conyers and the other House members involved do not believe the electors have been lawfully certified. They believe that there has been too much illegal activity on the part of Blackwell, other election officials, and Republican operatives on the ground and therefore, as stated in the letter, the electors were not "lawfully certified" under state law. Next week, the House Judiciary Committee Democratic staff will release the report referenced in the letter, which is now still in draft form, and which led Mr. Conyers to this decision.

The Senators who shall receive the greatest focus from Conyers in this matter are Biden, Bingaman, Boxer, Byrd, Clinton, Conrad, Corzine, Dodd, Dorgan, Durbin, Feingold, Harkin, Inyoue, Jeffords, Kennedy, Kerry, Lautenberg, Leahy, Levin, Lieberman, Mikulski, Nelson (FL), Jack Reed, Harry Reid, Rockefeller, Sarbanes, Stabenow, Wyden and Obama. —www.truthout.org

Jesse Jackson on Why he Thinks John Kerry Really Won the Election.

Ohio officials concluded their recount of the presidential vote last Tuesday-reaffirming President George W. Bush's victory. But the state's election woes aren't over yet. As bloggers continue to spin conspiracy theories about a victory stolen from Democratic candidate John Kerry, the Rev. Jesse Jackson plans to lead a Monday rally in Columbus to protest alleged voting irregularities. He warmed up with Newsweek's Susannah Meadows:

Newsweek: What's the matter with Ohio?

Rev. Jesse Jackson: In Columbus, Cincinnati, Akron, Youngstown, Cleveland, where I was, you had blacks standing in line for six hours in the rain. That's a form of voter suppression.

Ohio Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell says that machines were allotted based on turnout in past years, and that he didn't realize they'd need more machines until it was too late.
He had to know it because registration was up. Blackwell may have had to deliver for Bush and [Vice President Dick] Cheney and he got a lighter rap than [former Florida Secretary of State Katherine] Harris got. But Ohio may have been more stacked than Florida was.

So you think Blackwell stole the election for Bush?
It was under his domain to have enough machines; the machine calibration, tabulation issue. You could rig the machines. We have reason to believe it was rigged.

What is your evidence?
Based on distrusting the system, lack of paper trails, the anomaly of the exit polls. In Ukraine, there's an exit poll gap, they say, "Let's have another election."

Have you been in touch with John Kerry about the issue? Does he share your concerns?
His lawyers are now involved in a minimal way. We are appealing to him to get involved. We think it should be certified provisionally, until there can be a forensic investigation of these machines, and until there's a random recount. In only two of the counties did they do any hand recounting.

What can be done now?
Thursday ( Jan. 6) is when Congress is scheduled to certify the vote. Kerry should take the floor and ask for a debate on the subject. Kerry pulled out too early. The scrutiny pulled out with him.

If the election were held again with these alleged problems solved, would Kerry win?
Of course I think that. If we deal with the anomalies, a fair random count, the urban-suppressed vote, Kerry would get at least 60,000 more votes. At least! I believe that. I don't know that.

Is it possible that election will be overturned?
I don't know. All we want is a fair count and a transparent election. We can live with the result. We're fighting the odds but we will not faint in the face of the odds.

—www.Newsweek.com

Black and Latino Children Used to Test AIDS Drugs

A new BBC documentary exposes how the city of New York has been forcing HIV positive children under its supervision to be used as human guinea pigs in tests for experimental AIDS drug trials.

All of the children in the program were under the legal guidance of the city's child welfare department, the Administration for Children's Services. Most live in foster care or independent homes run on behalf of the local authorities and almost all the children are believed to be African-American or Latino.

The BBC identified pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline as one of the companies that provided the experimental drugs for the tests. In an email to Democracy Now! GlaxoSmithKline stated "pharmaceutical companies are not directly involved in the recruitment, enrolment or participation of patients in such trials." GSK went on to say "the FDA encourages studies in pediatric patients. Clinical trials involving children and orphans are therefore legal and not unusual."

In the documentary, parents or guardians who refused to consent to the trials claim that children were removed by ACS and placed in foster families or children's homes. Then, acting over their objections, ACS authorized the drug trials. —www.DemocracyNow.org

Woman Died During Government AIDS Study

A pregnant Tennessee woman who enrolled in federally funded research in hopes of saving her soon-to-be-born son from getting AIDS died in 2003 last when doctors continued to give her an experimental drug regimen despite signs of liver failure, government memos say.

Family members of Joyce Ann Hafford say the 33-year-old HIV-positive
woman died without ever holding her newborn boy. They also said they never were told the National Institutes of Health concluded the drug therapy likely caused her death.

The family first learned of NIH's conclusions when The Associated Press obtained copies of the case file this month. For the past year, they say they were left to believe Hafford, of Memphis, Tenn., died from AIDS complications but began pursuing litigation to learn more.

Documents show Hafford's case reverberated among the government's top scientists in Washington, who were monitoring reports of her declining health in late July 2003 as she lay on a respirator.

NIH officials quickly suspected the drug regimen because it included nevirapine, a drug known to cause liver problems, and the case eventually reached the nation's chief AIDS researcher.

''Ouch! Not much wwe (we) can do about dumd (dumb) docs,'' Dr. Edmund Tramont, NIH's AIDS Division chief, responded in an e-mail after his staff reported that doctors continued to administer the drugs nevirapine and Combivir to Hafford despite signs of liver failure.

Nevirapine is an antiretroviral AIDS drug used since the mid-1990s, and the government has warned since at least 2000 that it could cause lethal liver problems or rashes when taken in multiple doses over time.

NIH officials acknowledge that experimental drugs, most likely nevirapine, caused her death, and that keeping the family in the dark was inappropriate. But NIH usually leaves disclosures like that to the doctors who treated her, officials said.

Jim Kyle, a lawyer representing Regional Medical Center in Memphis where Hafford died, declined comment because of the family's pending litigation. The doctors there referred a call seeking comment to NIH.

The study during which Hafford died recently led researchers to conclude that nevirapine poses risks when taken over time by certain pregnant women. —By John Solomon and Randy Herschaft, Associated Press

Shirley Chisholm Dead at 80

Shirley Chisholm, the first African American woman elected to Congress and a 1972 presidential candidate, has died at age 80. She died Saturday night in Florida. Chisholm was known as an outspoken advocate for women and people of color during seven terms representing New York City in the U.S. House. She was raised in a predominantly black New York City neighborhood and was elected to the House in 1968.

She went to Congress to represent New York the same year Richard Nixon was elected to the White House and served until two years into Ronald Reagan's tenure as president. She also was a founding member of the Congressional Black Caucus in 1969. —www.Democracynow.org

SeeingBlack.com's Review of "Chisholm 72: Unbought and Unbossed"

The bold campaign for the U.S. presidency in 1972 by Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm (D-New York) is one of those facts of Black history that could easily be forgotten unless we tell the story. In the new documentary, "Chisholm '72: Unbought and Unbossed," which is being screened around the country, director Shola Lynch does just that: in a taut, well-organized 76 minutes, she chronicles Chisholm's campaign and how it fit into politically turbulent times that still shape the United States today

When Chisholm announced her candidacy, she had already made history in 1968 as the first Black woman elected to the U.S. Congress. She represented New York's 12th Congressional District of New York in Brooklyn. At that time, she had broken a barrier not only in Congress, where she faced a cold shoulder and random insults from colleagues, but also in the Black Congressional Caucus, a boys-only club that included many representatives newly elected after the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. (click here to read entire review)

— Compiled January 7, 2005

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