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Model European Parliament

The Model European Parliament (MEP) is an international simulation of the working of the European Parliament for students aged 16–19. The aim of the programme is to give young people an insight into the workings of the European Parliament and raise their awareness of European citizenship. Two sessions are held each year, each involving 180 secondary school students.

Format
The format of the MEP resembles that of the actual European Parliament: approximately 15 delegates of different nationalities form a committee that debates a certain topic extensively and drafts a resolution, a non-binding piece of legislation outlining the key issues of the topic and proposing solutions. The drafting process is followed by lobbying, during which delegates may debate and propose amendments for other resolutions. The finale of a session is the General Assembly (GA). During this, resolutions and amendments are debated and voted upon by all of the delegates. Any successful resolutions are then forwarded to the European Parliament, the European Commission and the Council of the European Union. The elder members are titled as Presidents or Chairs, while the youngers are entitled as delegates.

Participating countries

, participants come from all 28 member states of the European Union and two candidate countries: Republic of Macedonia and Turkey. Each country can choose five delegates in any way they deem appropriate. Many hold regional and/or national sessions using the same format but with a smaller scope.

Connections to politics
Famous members of the European Parliament often visit the MEP, hold speeches and participate in debates. Some delegates of the international session in Brussels in February 2023 had the honour to be welcomed by the President of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola. Also the First Vice President of the European Parliament Othmar Karas and the Vice Presidents Rainer Wieland and Evelyn Regner visited the session in several parts of the programme. The General Assembly of the sessions is often held in real Parliamentary or governmental buildings of the hosting country, region or city or the European Union. In 2019 there was a General Assembly in the real building of the European Parliament in Strasbourg. The international session in February 2023 in Brussels had the General Assembly in the building of the European Committee of the Regions. Also national parliaments like the Narodno Sabranie in Sofia, Bulgaria, hosted international sessions in their plenary hall.

List of international sessions
The following international sessions have been held or announced:

 * 1) 1994 Spring: The Netherlands, The Hague/Maastricht
 * 2) 1995 Spring: The Netherlands, The Hague
 * 3) 1996 Spring: 🇫🇷 France, Paris
 * 4) 1996 Autumn: 🇮🇪 Ireland, Dublin
 * 5) 1997 Spring: 🇬🇧 United Kingdom, Stowe/Oxford
 * 6) 1997 Autumn: 🇮🇹 Italy, Carpi/Bologna
 * 7) 1998 Spring: 🇸🇪 Sweden, Stockholm
 * 8) 1998 Autumn: 🇪🇸 Spain, Madrid
 * 9) 1999 Spring: 🇩🇪 Germany, Bonn
 * 10) 1999 Autumn: 🇱🇺 Luxembourg, Luxembourg
 * 11) 2000 Spring: 🇵🇹 Portugal, Lisbon
 * 12) 2000 Autumn: 🇦🇹 Austria, Vienna
 * 13) 2001 Spring: 🇩🇰 Denmark, Copenhagen
 * 14) 2001 Autumn: The Netherlands, Rotterdam
 * 15) 2002 Spring: 🇸🇮 Slovenia, Ljubljana
 * 16) 2002 Autumn: 🇮🇪 Ireland, Dublin
 * 17) 2003 Spring: 🇫🇮 Finland, Helsinki
 * 18) 2003 Autumn: 🇬🇷 Greece, Athens
 * 19) 2004 Spring: 🇵🇱 Poland, Warsaw
 * 20) 2004 Spring: 🇱🇺 Luxembourg, Luxembourg
 * 21) 2004 Autumn: 🇭🇺 Hungary, Budapest
 * 22) 2005 Spring: The Netherlands, The Hague
 * 23) 2005 Autumn: 🇪🇸 Spain, Madrid
 * 24) 2006 Spring: 🇱🇹 Lithuania, Vilnius
 * 25) 2006 Autumn: 🇸🇮 Slovenia, Ljutomer / Ljubljana
 * 26) 2007 Spring: 🇧🇬 Bulgaria, Sofia
 * 27) 2007 Autumn: 🇮🇹 Italy, Rome
 * 28) 2008 Spring: 🇸🇪 Sweden, Stockholm
 * 29) 2008 Autumn: Slovak Republic, Bratislava
 * 30) 2009 Spring: 🇨🇾 Cyprus, Nicosia
 * 31) 2009 Autumn: 🇩🇪 Germany, Bonn
 * 32) 2010 Spring: The Netherlands, The Hague
 * 33) 2010 Autumn: 🇹🇷 Turkey, Istanbul
 * 34) 2011 Spring: 🇪🇪 Estonia, Tallinn
 * 35) 2011 Autumn: North Macedonia, Skopje
 * 36) 2012 Spring: 🇸🇮 Slovenia, Ljutomer / Ljubljana
 * 37) 2012 Autumn: 🇪🇸 Spain, Madrid
 * 38) 2013 Spring: 🇬🇧 United Kingdom, Norwich
 * 39) 2013 Autumn: 🇱🇹 Lithuania, Vilnius
 * 40) 2014 Spring: 🇦🇹 Austria, Vienna
 * 41) 2014 Autumn: 🇱🇺 Luxembourg, Luxembourg
 * 42) 2015 Spring: 🇮🇹 Italy, Naples / Rome
 * 43) 2015 Autumn: 🇩🇪 Germany, Berlin
 * 44) 2016 Spring: 🇭🇺 Hungary, Budapest
 * 45) 2016 Autumn: 🇩🇰 Denmark, Copenhagen
 * 46) 2017 Spring: 🇳🇱 Netherlands, Maastricht
 * 47) 2017 Autumn: 🇫🇮 Finland, Helsinki
 * 48) 2018 Spring: 🇪🇪 Estonia, Tallinn
 * 49) 2018 Autumn: 🇪🇸 Spain, Toledo / Madrid
 * 50) 2019 Spring: 🇫🇷 France, Paris / Strasbourg
 * 51) 2019 Autumn: 🇲🇹 Malta, Valletta
 * 52) 2020 Autumn: 🇸🇪 Sweden, Stockholm (online)
 * 53) 2021 Spring: 🇦🇹 Austria, Vienna (online)
 * 54) 2021 Autumn: 🇩🇪 Germany, Berlin (online)
 * 55) 2022 Spring: 🇷🇴 Romania, Bucharest
 * 56) 2022 Autumn: 🇧🇬 Bulgaria, Sofia
 * 57) 2023 Spring: 🇧🇪 Belgium, Brussels
 * 58) 2023 Autumn: 🇨🇿 Czech Republic, Prague
 * 59) 2024 Spring: 🇪🇪 Estonia, Tallinn
 * 60) 2024 Autumn: 🇬🇷 Greece, Athens
 * 61) 2025 Spring: 🇫🇷 France, Strasbourg

Model European Parliament Baltic Sea Region
The Model European Parliament Baltic Sea Region (MEP BSR) is an international organization that includes eight member states of the EU situated in the Baltic Sea Region, but also welcomes delegates from Iceland, Norway and Russia (Kaliningrad). The MEP BSR, which is organised and managed by the Model European Parliament BSR Association, uses the same format as the main international MEPs, but with ten delegates representing each country rather than five.

List of MEP BSR sessions:

 * 1) 2005 Spring: 🇩🇰 Denmark, Copenhagen
 * 2) 2006 Spring: 🇪🇪 Estonia, Tallinn
 * 3) 2006 Autumn: 🇩🇪 Germany, Bremen
 * 4) 2007 Spring: 🇩🇰 Denmark/🇸🇪 Sweden, Øresund Region
 * 5) 2007 Autumn: 🇱🇻 Latvia, Riga
 * 6) 2008 Spring: 🇫🇮 Finland, Helsinki
 * 7) 2008 Autumn: 🇷🇺 Russia, St. Petersburg
 * 8) 2009 Spring: 🇵🇱 Poland, Toruń
 * 9) 2009 Autumn: 🇩🇰 Denmark, Copenhagen
 * 10) 2010 Spring: 🇸🇪 Sweden, Stockholm
 * 11) 2010 Autumn: 🇷🇺 Russia, Kaliningrad
 * 12) 2011 Spring: 🇱🇹 Lithuania, Vilnius
 * 13) 2011 Autumn: 🇵🇱 Poland, Gdańsk/Gdynia
 * 14) 2012 Spring: 🇩🇰 Denmark, Copenhagen
 * 15) 2012 Autumn: 🇩🇪 Germany, Leipzig
 * 16) 2013 Spring: 🇮🇸 Iceland, Reykjavik
 * 17) 2013 Autumn: 🇧🇪 Belgium, Brugge/Blankenberge
 * 18) 2014 Spring: 🇪🇪 Estonia, Tartu
 * 19) 2014 Autumn: 🇸🇪 Sweden, Stockholm
 * 20) 2015 Spring: 🇫🇮 Finland, Helsinki
 * 21) 2015 Autumn: 🇳🇴 Norway, Oslo/Nesbru
 * 22) 2016 Spring: 🇱🇻 Latvia, Riga
 * 23) 2016 Autumn: 🇷🇺 Russia, Kaliningrad
 * 24) 2017 Spring: 🇳🇴 Norway, Elverum
 * 25) 2017 Autumn: 🇱🇻 Latvia, Riga
 * 26) 2018 Spring: 🇵🇱 Poland, Iława
 * 27) 2018 Autumn: 🇩🇰 Denmark, Sønderborg
 * 28) 2019 Spring: 🇩🇰 Denmark, Copenhagen
 * 29) 2019 Autumn: 🇦🇹 Austria, Vienna
 * 30) 2021 Autumn: 🇩🇰 Denmark, Copenhagen
 * 31) 2022 Autumn: 🇩🇪 Germany, Potsdam
 * 32) 2023 Autumn: 🇳🇴 Norway, Oslo

Model European Parliament Central and South East Europe
The Model European Parliament Central and South East Europe (MEP CSEE) is an organisation largely similar to MEP BSR, but it invites students from member states Austria, Slovenia, the Czech Republic, Germany, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, candidate countries the Republic of Macedonia, Serbia, and neighbouring countries Moldova, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Montenegro.

List of MEP CSEE sessions:
 * 1) 2001 Autumn: 🇦🇹 Austria, Vienna
 * 2) 2002 Autumn: 🇮🇹 Italy, Capri/Rome
 * 3) 2003 Autumn: 🇸🇮 Slovenia, Ljutomer
 * 4) 2015 Autumn: 🇷🇴 Romania, Bucharest
 * 5) 2016 Autumn: 🇧🇬 Bulgaria, Sofia
 * 6) 2018 Spring: 🇸🇮 Slovenia, Ljutomer
 * 7) 2018 Autumn: 🇦🇹 Austria, Vienna
 * 8) 2019 Autumn: 🇭🇺 Hungary, Budapest
 * 9) 2021 Spring: Slovak Republic, Bratislava (online)
 * 10) 2021 Autumn: 🇷🇴 Romania, Bucharest (online)
 * 11) 2022 Autumn: 🇭🇺 Hungary, Szeged
 * 12) 2024 Spring: 🇩🇪 Germany, Munich

Model European Parliament Western European Region
A Western European version was launched in Autumn 2016 with the participation of Belgium, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Luxembourg, Ireland and the Netherlands.

List of WEMEP sessions:
 * 1) 2016 Autumn: 🇳🇱 Netherlands, The Hague
 * 2) 2018 Spring: 🇧🇪 Belgium, Lier
 * 3) 2019 Spring: 🇩🇪 Germany, Koblenz/Bonn
 * 4) 2020 Spring: 🇱🇺 Luxembourg, Luxembourg City
 * 5) 2023 Spring: The Netherlands, The Hague
 * 6) 2024 Spring: 🇧🇪 Belgium, Lier

Model European Parliament Mediterranean Region
The Model European Parliament Mediterranean Region is a non-partisan leadership programme for youth in Mediterranean countries. The aim of the MED MEP Region programme is to develop interest and skills in addressing high level international issues jointly among high-school students. The program is a training ground for future leaders and politicians, and is mainly aimed at Italy, Croatia, Albania, Greece, Spain, Portugal, Malta, Cyprus, France and Turkey

List of MEP MED sessions:

 * 1) 2017 Autumn: 🇮🇹 Italy, Naples
 * 2) 2018: Autumn: 🇬🇷 Greece, Athens
 * 3) 2019: Autumn: 🇨🇾 Cyprus, Nicosia
 * 4) 2022: Autumn: 🇮🇹 Italy, Milan
 * 5) 2025: TBA: 🇪🇸 Spain, Madrid

Similar projects
The European Youth Parliament and Model European Union are separate projects, but follow the same format as the Model European Parliament to some extent.

title: Model European Parliament


text:
Taiping Island

Taiping Island, also known as Itu Aba, and various other names, is the largest of the naturally occurring Spratly Islands in the South China Sea. The island is elliptical in shape being 1.4 km in length and 0.4 km in width, with an area of 46 ha. It is located on the northern edge of the Tizard Bank (Zheng He Reefs; 鄭和群礁). The runway of the Taiping Island Airport is easily the most prominent feature on the island, running its entire length.

The island is administered by the Republic of China (Taiwan), as part of Cijin, Kaohsiung. It is also claimed by the People's Republic of China (PRC), the Philippines and Vietnam.

In 2016, in the ruling by an arbitral tribunal in the intergovernmental Permanent Court of Arbitration, in the case brought by the Philippines against China, the tribunal classified Itu Aba as a "rock" under United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) (and therefore not entitled to a 200 nautical mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ) and continental shelf). Both Republic of China (Taiwan) and People's Republic of China rejected this ruling. According to an article from ASPI, a significant portion of international opinions views Itu Aba as an "island," despite the Tribunal's ruling, and that very few experts expected it to be classified as a "rock".

The adjacent unpopulated Zhongzhou Reef (Ban Than Reef) is also under the control of Taiwan.

Names
In 1946, the Republic of China named it Taiping Island (Mandarin ) in honour of an ROC Navy warship, ROCS Tai-ping (太平號), which sailed to the island when Japan surrendered after the Second World War. The name Taiping Island is used by both the government in Taipei (ROC) and in Beijing (PRC). The island was also called by Hainanese fishermen in their dialect as "Widuabe" and in Mandarin  and.

Outside of China and Taiwan, a common name for the island is Itu Aba, which was in use prior to 1946. Two different etymological origins have been proposed for this name: that it is a Malay expression meaning "What's that?" (conventionally spelled in Itu apa?); or that it is a corruption of Hainanese: Widuabe. Some Western sources including U.S. government publications continue to use "Itu Aba" as the primary designator of the land feature, often with "Taiping" in parentheses.

The Vietnamese name for the island is Ba Binh (Đảo Ba Bình, 島波平) and the Philippine English name is Ligao Island (or in Filipino/Pulo ng Ligaw).

During the Japanese occupation of the island 1939–45, the name Nagashima (長島) was used.

History
From before the 1870s the island was used by fishermen from Hainan. They had a semi-permanent settlement. Supplies were shipped from Hainan to the island in exchange for turtle shells.

China first asserted sovereignty in the modern sense to the South China Sea island when it formally objected to France's efforts to incorporate Itu Aba and other islands and rocks into French Indochina during the 1884–1885 Sino-French war. The French conceded the Paracels and Spratly Islands to the Qing government, in exchange for recognition of Vietnam as a French territory.

Sensing the weaknesses of the Republic of China, France formally incorporated the Paracel and Spratly islands into French Indochina in 1932, a year after the Japanese formally invaded northeast China (Manchuria). China and Japan both protested. On 6 April 1933, France seized the Spratlys, formally included them in French Indochina, and built a couple of weather stations on them, but did not disturb the numerous Chinese fishermen it found there. On 3 July 1938, French Indochinese colonial troops also formally occupied the Paracel islands in the name of French Indochina. The following year in March 1939, Japan took both the Paracel and Spratly islands from France, garrisoned them, and built a submarine base on Taiping (太平) Island. In 1941, the Japanese Empire made the Paracel and Spratly islands part of Taiwan, then under its rule.

In 1945, in accordance with the Cairo and Potsdam Declarations and with American help, the armed forces of the Republic of China government at Nanjing accepted the surrender of the Japanese garrisons in Taiwan, including the Paracel and Spratly Islands. Nanjing then declared both archipelagoes to be part of Guangdong Province. It was administratively attached to the municipality of Takao (Kaohsiung) in the Japanese colony of Taiwan. On 6 November 1946, the ROC government sent four warships to the South China Sea to secure islands within the region, commanded by Lin Zun and Yao Ruyu (姚汝鈺): ROCS Chung-Yeh (中業號), ROCS Yung-hsing (永興號), ROCS Tai-ping (太平號) and ROCS Chung-chien (中建號). The warships departed from Guangzhou and headed towards the Spratly and Paracel island groups. On 12 December the two ships led by Lin Zun, ROCS Tai-ping and ROCS Chung-Yeh, arrived at Taiping Island. In commemoration of the island being secured, the island was chosen to be named after the ROCS Tai-ping warship, and thus a stone stele reading "Taiping island" was erected on a breakwater tip southwest of the island. This expedition was assisted with US naval logistical support. The other three ships likewise had their names used: Woody Island (in the Paracels) was named Yongxing (Yung-hsing) Island (presently PRC-occupied), Triton Island (Paracels) was named Zhongjian (Chung-chien) Island (presently PRC-occupied), and Thitu Island (Spratlys) was named Zhongye (Chung-Yeh) Island (presently Philippines-occupied).

After being secured by Nationalist China, the island was placed under the administration of China's Guangdong Province. When the Chinese Communists gained control of mainland China, the defeated Nationalists retreated to Taiwan, but retained control of the Taiping garrison. Japan officially renounced its control and transferred the island to the trusteeship of the Allied Powers within the San Francisco Peace Treaty on September 8, 1951. A different interpretation is that Japan officially renounced its sovereignty and transferred the island to the Republic of China under the provisions of the Taipei Peace Treaty.

In 1952, a Philippine civilian (Tomás Cloma) began to mine sulfur from Taiping Island after claiming it as part of Freedomland and that same year, a note attached to the Treaty of Taipei provided the Nationalist Chinese arguments for sovereignty over the island. The Nationalists established a permanent presence on the island in July 1956.

From 2000, a detachment of the ROC Coast Guard Administration was stationed on the island, replacing the Marine Corps detachment. The Taiping Island Airport was completed in December 2007, and a C-130 Hercules transporter airplane first landed on the island on 21 January 2008.

On 2 February 2008, ROC president Chen Shui-bian personally visited the island accompanied by a significant naval force including two fleets with Kidd class destroyer flagships and two submarines. On 19 April 2011, it was announced that the Marine Corps would once again be stationed on the island.

In February 2012, the ROC began construction of an antenna tower and associated facilities with the purpose of providing navigation assistance for aircraft landing. The tower had a planned height of approximately 7 to 8 metres (25'), and was scheduled to be completed in April 2012, and fully functional after proper testing in September 2012. In July 2012, ROC authorities revealed a project which intended to extend the runway by 500 metres (660 yards), which would allow the island to accommodate various kinds of military aircraft.

In late August 2013, the ROC government announced that it would spend US$112 million on upgrading the island's airstrip, and constructing a dock capable of allowing its 3,000-ton Coast Guard cutters to dock, due to be completed by 2016.

On July 12, 2016, a tribunal of the Permanent Court of Arbitration backed the Philippines in an arbitration proceedings against China's "nine-dash line" claim which includes Taiping Island controlled by Taiwan. Both China and Taiwan have strongly rejected the ruling.

Ecology
The flora and fauna present on and surrounding the island include swallows, papaya plant, coast oak, terminalia trees, lotus leaf tung tree, goodeniaceae, sea lemon, long stem chrysanthemum, long-saddle rattan, gray grass, coconut tree, banana tree, white-tailed tropicbird, sparrow hawk, tropical fish, jellyfish and various other organisms. The Island is also a nesting ground for green sea turtles migrating from Philippines.

Geology and landform
The island has a long and narrow shape that is low and flat, that is approximately 1,289.3 metres (1410 yards) long and 365.7 metres (400 yards) wide. The area of the north–south coastline is 41.3 hectares (102 acres), and the coastal vegetation line range is 36.6 hectares (90 acres). The mean tidewater over land area is approximately 49 hectares (120 acres), and during low sea tides the water reefs and land area is 98 hectares (250 acres), 4–6 metres (13' to 20') above sea level.

Since Taiping island is a coral island, the surface includes fine sand and coral reefs formed by weathering. Around the island are sandy beaches, with narrower beaches on the south and north sides 5 metres (16') wide, on the east side 20 metres (65') wide, and on the southwest side 50 metres (165') wide. The sand accumulated on the beach is rosy coloured, mainly formed from red coral fragments and shell debris.

A 523-metre long core sample was obtained by the CPC Corporation. The rock layers were estimated to be as old as 780,000 years at the 43-metre mark and over 2 million years past the 130-metre mark.

Natural resources
The island has historically been mined for phosphates to the point of exhaustion, and today has no major natural resources. There is potentially a large amount of undiscovered reserves of oil and natural gas beneath surrounding waters within the South China Sea Basin, however, there has yet to be formal exploration and mining conducted.

Weather
Taiping Island has a tropical monsoon climate, with the temperature varying between 21 and 35 degrees Celsius (70 to 90 °F). There is a strong southwest monsoon in summer months in June and July, with strong southwest wind and currents, and during the time typhoons become frequent there is abundant rainfall. The rainy season occurs during November and December.

Government and politics
The island, along with the rest of the Spratlys, is disputed by four countries on historical, geographic, legal and/or technical grounds, in pursuit of fishing rights, shipping lanes, and the potential of petroleum and natural gas beneath the South China Sea. Although it is anticipated that the South China Sea basin is abundant in oil and natural gas, the waters surrounding Taiping Island have yet to be formally surveyed or extracted. Kuomintang legislator Lin Yu-fang has stated that the Chinese Petroleum Corporation has not excluded the option of prospecting territorial waters in the near future, with the military providing naval escort assistance upon directive from the National Security Council of the Republic of China.

Taiping Island is administered under the Municipality of Kaohsiung City, Cijin District, by the Republic of China (Taiwan). Postal service is provided by Chunghwa Post under the assigned area code "819". The Republic of China (Taiwan) military postal service uses the designation "post office branch 68" ("68局") for postage services for the island. The total population of the island is about 600 with no civilians. Land pricing is managed by the Kaohsiung local government, although there have been no cases of actual transactions being made. In 2007, the announced land value adjustments placed the value of the land on Taiping Island at NT$400 per square metre.

Prior to 2012, the island's coast guard defense forces held 106 mm recoilless guns and 81 mm mortars. These were planned to be replaced by eight sets of 40 mm auto-cannons and a number of 120 mm mortars by the end of August 2012.

Facilities
Taiping Island has four existing wells. The proportion of fresh water in them is 99.1, 75.8, 97.5, and 96.8 percent, respectively, averaging 92.3 percent. About 65 metric tons of water can be pumped from these wells daily to provide drinking water and meet cooking and everyday needs. Apart from well water, there are water-retaining facilities mainly used for farming.

Since December 2014, the island has been powered by a 40 kWp photovoltaic power station with a 612 kW storage facility that will generate an estimated 50MWh per year. The project was divided into two phases: the first phase was completed in December 2011; and the second in December 2014. The entire solar power system will generate an estimated 189,492 kWh per year, saving an estimated 49,000 litres of diesel fuel per year. It was funded by the Ministry of Economic Affairs.

The Taiping Island Airport features an airstrip which caters for C-130 transport planes of the ROC Air Force, with one sortie arriving every two months. No re-fueling facilities are available. Depending on sources, the runway is either 1150 or 1200 metres (approx. 1300 yards) long, 30 metres (100') wide, and has a large hard-standing area capable of accommodating two C-130 aircraft. The island also has a helicopter platform.

Additional facilities located on the island include a shelter for fishermen, a hospital (including a civilian doctor), satellite telecommunications facilities, radar surveillance equipment, and other communications equipment. Five public telephones are connected via satellite. The island also has Internet connectivity. Mobile phone reception is available for individuals with international roaming; a signal from China Mobile can be accessed from a GSM base station located on PRC-occupied Nanxun Reef. In 2013, Taiwan's Chunghwa Telecom established a satellite-based cellular base station on the island to provide the coast guard with communication services.

The ROC maintains a large meteorological station on Taiping island. The station collects weather information using surface instruments, launching weather balloons daily. The ROC Central Weather Bureau has an employee presence on the island.

Guanyin Temple, built in 1959, and nearby tombstones dating back to the Qing dynasty (which lasted until 1911) can show traces of Chinese activity on the island.

Coast guard

Three Coast Guard Administration boats of the Type M8 speedboat, designated Nanhai 4, Nanhai 5, and Nanhai 6 (, "Nanhai" literally translates to "South Sea" or "South China Sea"), respectively, are prepared to patrol the island but are not considered sufficient to adequately monitor the island's surroundings. Bridge piers were constructed in 1992 but some had been damaged. In December 2006, rebuilding began on a damaged L-shaped pier, the Southern Star Ferry Pier, in order to improve the transportation and supply of materials for the Coast Guard. Currently, as of 2017, a military supply ship services the island during a single voyage in April and November each year, anchoring for one day to deliver personnel and military supplies. Additionally, a civil merchantman arrives with general goods every 20 days, anchoring for 1 to 2 days at a time. This ship may be used as a transport for the stationed coast guard personnel.

Tourist attractions
A temple on the island exists as a common visiting place. The southeast side of the island contains old Japanese constructions. The "Taiping Cultural Park" is located near the pier. There is also a pillar erected on the island that declares Taiping Island as a territory of the Republic of China.

Sister cities
The following are sister cities with Taiping Island:

 * 🇺🇸 Lincoln, Nebraska

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Taiping Island


text:
User:Kizzle/smoke/collusion

Electronic Voting

 * Illustrate personalities behind Corporation
 * Illustrate ties to politicians (mostly Republican)
 * Point out differences between Diebold ATMs and Diebold Voting Machines
 * You MUST prove that Diebold was not merely incompetent but acted with purpose.
 * Is there a difference between Target, Phillip Morris, Time-Warner, etc. donating to the republican party as opposed to an electronic voting company donating to the republican party?

General: Compare ATMs to Diebold voting machines. Point out lack of quality in voting machines as compared to extremely similar product WITHIN SAME COMPANY. Only two possibilities, incompetence or fraud. Use motive section (political connections, prior irregularities, etc.) to prove incompetence unlikely, especially in the face of ATM quality.

Issues
About Diebold
 * What is Diebold?
 * Who is the president of Diebold?
 * What ties does Diebold share with politicians?
 * Walden O'Dell CEO of Diebold said he was "committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral voes to the President . O'Dell has defended his actions, telling the Cleveland Plain Dealer "I'm not doing anything wrong or complicated." But he also promised to lower his political profile and "try to be more sensitive." But the Diebold boss' partisan cards are squarely on the table. And, when it comes to the Diebold board room, O'Dell is hardly alone in his generous support of the GOP.

 * One of the longest-serving Diebold directors is W.R. "Tim" Timken. Like O'Dell, Timken is a Republican loyalist and a major contributor to GOP candidates. Since 1991 the Timken Company and members of the Timken family have contributed more than a million dollars to the Republican Party and to GOP presidential candidates such as George W. Bush. Between 2000 and 2002 alone, Timken's Canton-based bearing and steel company gave more than $350,000 to Republican causes, while Timken himself gave more than $120,000. This year, he is one of George W. Bush's campaign Pioneers, and has already pulled in more than $350,000 for the president's reelection bid.

 * Does Diebold management have a criminal record?Court papers filed in Maryland, Wired news,
 * Dec. 17 2003 - "At least five convicted felons secured management positions at a manufacturer of electronic voting machines, according to critics demanding more stringent background checks for people responsible for voting machine software.
 * "The programmer Jeffrey Dean wrote and maintained proprietary code used to count hundreds of thousands of votes as senior vice president of Global Election Systems, or GES. Diebold purchased GES in January 2002. According to a public court document released before GES hired him, Dean served time in a Washington state correctional facility for stealing money and tampering with computer files in a scheme that "involved a high degree of sophistication and planning in the use and alteration of records in the computerized ... system that defendant maintained for the victim." (23 counts of First Degree Theft, case 89-1-04034-1)

 * "The other reported felons included a cocaine trafficker [John Elder] and a man convicted of engaging in fraudulent stock transactions."

 * Jeff Dean was specifically involved in the King County voting system, and is also mentioned specifically in the Diebold memos in connection with programming optical-scan software and the touch-screen Windows CE versions. King County provided him with a key to the computer room, the passcode to the GEMS computer and 24-hour access to the building. Diebold have indicated that he left when they took over GES, however internal records show he was retained, and continued to act as a "consultant".

 * King County WA. is the same county which Diebold internal memos say "are famous" for illicit access to voting systems and where a 3 hour section is missing from a security log during the September 2004 Primary.

About ES&S
 * What is ES&S and its history?
 * Who is the president of ES&S?
 * What happened when Hagel stepped down as head of the company?

"If You Want To Win An Election, Just Control The Voting Machines"
 * In 1992, investment banker Chuck Hagel, president of McCarthy & Co, became chairman of AIS. Hagel, who had been touted as a possible Senate candidate in 1993, was again on the list of likely GOP contenders heading into the 1996 contest. In January of 1995, while still chairman of ES&S, Hagel told the Omaha World-Herald that he would likely make a decision by mid-March of 1995. On March 15, according to a letter provided by Hagel's Senate staff, he resigned from the AIS board, noting that he intended to announce his candidacy. A few days later, he did just that.

 * A little less than eight months after steppind down as director of AIS, Hagel surprised national pundits and defied early polls by defeating Benjamin Nelson, the state's popular former governor. It was Hagel's first try for public office. Nebraska elections officials told The Hill that machines made by AIS probably tallied 85 percent of the votes cast in the 1996 vote, although Nelson never drew attention to the connection. Hagel won again in 2002, by a far healthier margin. That vote is still angrily disputed by Hagel's Democratic opponent, Charlie Matulka, who did try to make Hagel's ties to ES&S an issue in the race and who asked that state elections officials conduct a hand recount of the vote. That request was rebuffed, because Hagel's margin of victory was so large.

 * As might be expected, Hagel has been generously supported by his investment partners at McCarthy & Co. -- since he first ran, Hagel has received about $15,000 in campaign contributions from McCarthy & Co. executives. And Hagel still owns more than $1 million in stock in McCarthy & Co., which still owns a quarter of ES&S.

 * What political ties does ESS&S have?

 * How did he know Bush?
 * What was he caught lying for?

 * Who was Jeb Bush's first choice as running mate in 1998?
 * What happened to the Hill when it tried to publish a story detailing Hagel's conflict of interest?

Sequoia
 * Is there really a connection between Sequoia Pacific and criminal activity?

Problems with Voting Machines
 * How secure are voting machines?
 * Describe the incident where an alert poll worker noticed Gore's votes going down. Why did it occur?  Why did Diebold say this occured?  Is there explanation plausible?
 * What kind of bugs are associated with voting machines?
 * Who verified these bugs?
 * Were these bugs fixed?
 * Why was there only one password (1111)?
 * Why did a programmer insert "This is just a hack for now"?
 * Have voting machines been cracked before?

 * Did Diebold know that its product was certified and tested? Did it present them as such?[http:/www.equalccw.com/lewisdeconstructed.pdf]

 * How verifiable are voting machines?
 * Why is there no paper trail?
 * What is the history in congress that deals with debate over paper trails?

Impact of Electronic Voting
 * How many votes were cast electronically in the 2004 Election?
 * In percentage of national votes
 * In percentage of votes in Ohio (and maybe Florida)

title: User:Kizzle/smoke/collusion


text:
User:Kizzle/smoke/vote suppression

KB issues

 * ''What happened in the 2000 Election with voting suppression?
 * '' Who is ChoicePoint/Database Technologies?
 * '' Reference Greg Palast's argument / "Bush Family Fortunes"

 * ''What did State Rep. John Pappageorge, R-Troy, say about the Detroit vote?
 * "If we do not suppress the Detroit vote, we're going to have a tough time in this election cycle."
 * ''Does it matter that the authors of the article were employed as legal counsel to the Kerry campaign?

 * ''Why were there such long lines for some machines?
 * ''What did the interim report find about the long lines?
 * "In precincts where there were fewer than 275 registrants per voting machine, Kerry received an average of 46.6% of the vote. In precincts with 275-325 registrants per voting machine, he received 55.7% of the vote. In precincts with the highest number of registrants per voting machine (over 325), and therefore likely the longest lines, Kerry received 65.3% of the precinct-level vote. Ratios of registrants per machine also appear to be negatively correlated with turnout percentages: in precincts with more registrants per machine, turnout figures were lower."
 * ''What is another possible explanation for lower turnout?
 * "Such an argument depends on an assumption that turnout differences associated with registrant to machine ratios were in fact caused by these machine availability differences. But other causal factors may also explain turnout differences. For example, prior research has demonstrated that less educated citizens of all races and partisan affiliations have lower turnout than better educated ones. If precincts with larger registrant to machine ratios have higher numbers of less educated registrants (perhaps because they are located in urban and less affluent areas), then one would expect lower turnout in these precincts, even if there were no effect of registrant to machine ratios on turnout."
 * ''Is this rebuttal an adequate explanation? Why or why not?  Does it actually refute the theorized effects of the voting machines?

 * ''Why do long lines have anything to do with voter suppression?
 * ''Were there any patterns to where the machines broke down?
 * "Of the 82 precints for which voters reported that one or more voting machines were not working, the vast majority were in neighboroods where over 75% of the population were black, while non-working machines were reported in only five precincts where less than 5% of the population were black"

 * ''Is there a law covering the distribution of voting machines? Is it state or national?  Was this law broken?

 * ''Were voters intimidated on Election day? What organizations were alleged to intimidate voters?  How do we know that they intimidated voters?  From what sources do we know this information?

 * ''What happened in Cuyahoga County, for example?
 *

 * ''What happened in Franklin County, for example?
 * ''Who is Voter Outreach for America, and who are they funded by?
 *

 * ''How are absentee ballots sorted and who is responsible for getting them to the voters?

 * ''What happened with Florida's attempt to use Felony purge list in 2004?
 *

 * ''Why were leaflets passed out that the election was November 4, and what areas were they primarily located in?

title: User:Kizzle/smoke/vote suppression


text:
Hariri

Hariri (in Arabic حريري) is a surname and derivative of harir (in Arabic حرير meaning silk) which indicates a mercantile background at one point in that field.

Historic

 * Ali Hariri (1009-1079), Kurdish poet
 * Al-Hariri of Basra (1054–1122), Arab poet, scholar of the Arabic language and a high government official of the Seljuk Empire

Family of Rafic Hariri

 * Ayman Hariri (born 1978), Lebanese businessman, son of Rafic Hariri
 * Bahia Hariri (born 1952), Lebanese politician, sister of Rafic Hariri
 * Bahaa Hariri (born 1966), Lebanese business tycoon, son of Rafic Hariri
 * Fahd Hariri (born 1980/1981), Lebanese businessman and property developer, the son of Rafic Hariri
 * Hind Hariri (born 1984), daughter and youngest child of Rafic Hariri
 * Nazik Hariri, widow of Rafic Hariri
 * Rafic Hariri (1944–2005), business tycoon and Lebanese Prime Minister; assassinated
 * Saad Hariri (born 1970), politician, business tycoon, Lebanese Prime Minister, and son of Rafic Hariri

Other people

 * Abbas Hariri, Iranian wrestler
 * Abu Al-Izz Al-Hariri (1946–2014), Egyptian politician and member of parliament
 * Abdulhadi Al Hariri (born 1992), Syrian footballer
 * Fawzi Hariri (born 1958), Iraqi Minister of Industry and Minerals (since 2006)
 * Franso Hariri (1937–2001), Kurdish Iraqi politician
 * Lamia Al Hariri, Syrian diplomat
 * May Hariri (born 1972), Lebanese pop artist and actress
 * Naser al-Hariri, Syrian politician
 * Omar El-Hariri (c. 1944–2015), Libyan politician, minister, leading figure of the National Transitional Council of Libya
 * Robert Hariri, MD, PhD, former CEO of Celgene Cellular Therapuetics, and co-founder of Human Longevity, Inc.
 * Salman Al-Hariri (born 1988), Saudi footballer
 * Siamak Hariri (born 1958), a Canadian architect
 * Wahbi al-Hariri (1914–1994), Syrian-American architect, artist and author
 * Ziad al-Hariri (born 1930), Syrian Army chief of staff

Given name

 * Hariri Safii (born 1989), Malaysian footballer

Businesses

 * Hariri & Hariri Architecture, New York, U.S.
 * Hariri Pontarini Architects, Toronto, Canada

Places

 * Beirut–Rafic Hariri International Airport, Lebanon
 * Nazik Al-Hariri Welfare Center for Special Education, Amman, Jordan
 * Rafic El-Hariri Stadium, Beirut, Lebanon
 * Rafik Hariri University Hospital, Beirut, Lebanon

title: Hariri


text:
Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Wan Azizah Ismail

 This page is an archive of the discussion about the proposed deletion of the article below. This page is no longer live. Further comments should be made on the article's talk page rather than here so that this page is preserved as an historic record. The result of the debate was REDIRECT to Wan Azizah Wan Ismail. —Korath (Talk) 14:54, Mar 1, 2005 (UTC)

Wan Azizah Ismail
Oddly, this minor stub questions itself in its first sentence. Does keeping this incomprehensible text benefit our readers? Is this article beyond cleanup? GRider\talk 20:42, 17 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * ' Keep, cleanuppable and from the article looks like she was elected to the national parliment. Nice of people to make omissions explicit with question marks. One might also follow "what links here" to Anwar Ibrahim Kappa 20:55, 17 Feb 2005 (UTC) merge/redirect' the two articles as appropriate. Kappa 09:52, 19 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * Redirect to Wan Azizah Wan Ismail. Nominated article is currently a duplicate article and does not represent the most common name. I've merged content from the article nominated for deletion.  According to Naming conventions (names and titles), the article name should use the most common form of the name used in English, especially for non-European and non-Western names. Google test returns 1,320 hits for "Wan Azizah Ismail" and 5,160 hits for "Wan Azizah Wan Ismail". English only google test returns 793 English pages for  "Wan Azizah Ismail" and 4,200 English pages for "Wan Azizah Wan Ismail". --Viriditas  | Talk 04:41, 18 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete the duplicate/redundant article. Megan1967 00:17, 18 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * Redirect. It's probably easy to forget wan wan I mean, one "Wan" in the name. / u p p l a n d 08:18, 18 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * Redirect. Wan Azizah Wan Ismail is the real name. __earth 15:06, Feb 18, 2005 (UTC)

This page is now preserved as an archive of the debate and, like some other VfD subpages, is no longer 'live'. Subsequent comments on the issue, the deletion, or the decision-making process should be placed on the relevant 'live' pages. Please do not edit this page.


text:
Monument Ave. (film)

Monument Ave., originally titled Snitch in the United States and titled Noose in Australia, is a 1998 American neo-noir crime film directed by Ted Demme and starring Denis Leary. The film also stars Famke Janssen, Martin Sheen, Ian Hart, and Lenny Clarke. Cam Neely also makes a brief appearance as a man returning home from work who finds his house has been broken into. The film takes place in Charlestown, Massachusetts and centers on small-time criminal Bobby O'Grady (Leary), who becomes conflicted due to Charlestown's code of silence. His loyalty and drive for self-preservation are tested, after two of his close family members (also criminals) are gunned down by their boss.

Plot summary
Bobby mentors his young cousin, Seamus, into a life of drugs and crime soon after Seamus emigrates from Dublin, Ireland. Bright, conscientious, but notably naive, Seamus finds himself unable to get used to the spontaneous dangers and recklessness of his new life in the United States.

Seamus commits a hate crime on an African American youth who had crossed the racial boundary around Charlestown in the 1990s. Following this and another particularly traumatic incident, Seamus is afraid of further involving himself with Bobby and Bobby's circle of criminal friends. Seamus tells Bobby he wants to return to Dublin.

The two argue after Seamus blames Bobby for dragging him into a dangerous and "damaging" lifestyle which he never wanted. Seamus is killed soon afterward by crime boss Jackie O'Hara. O'Hara mistakenly believes that Seamus told police about O'Hara's criminal operations. O'Hara had ordered an earlier hit against Bobby and Seamus' cousin Teddy, because Teddy had made a deal with police. The deal concerned a reduced prison sentence.

Cast

 * Denis Leary as Bobby O'Grady
 * Colm Meaney as Jackie O'Hara
 * Famke Janssen as Katy O'Connor
 * Martin Sheen as Hanlon
 * Lenny Clarke as Skunk
 * Billy Crudup as Teddy
 * Ian Hart as Mouse
 * Lyndon Byers as Fitzie
 * Melissa Fitzgerald as Sheila
 * Jason Barry as Seamus
 * John Diehl as Digger
 * Greg Dulli as Shang
 * Jeanne Tripplehorn as Annie

Reception
On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 90% based on reviews from 21 critics.

title: Monument Ave. (film)


text:
Woodfest Wales

Woodfest Wales (Welsh: Gŵyl Coed Cymru) is an annual wood carving event that was first held on 8–9 June 2002 in St Asaph, and attracted more than 18,000 visitors in 2004. Among the attractions is a chain saw carving competition. Since 2005, due to its increasing popularity, a second event has been held in May at Margam Country Park near Port Talbot in South Wales, and in addition to activities and displays related to wood, such as chain saw carving, logging competitions, and pole climbing, it includes displays of birds of prey, mountain biking, cookery, arts and crafts and a fairground.

title: Woodfest Wales


text: User talk:81.155.198.62

title: User talk:81.155.198.62


text:
User:Kizzle/smoke/trial theme

Issues

 * Introduce personality of movie
 * ''Anticipate preliminary rebuttal / Teach audience what to look for
 * ''Anticipate:
 * ''"Liberals hate America"
 * ''"Sore Loser"
 * ''"Bitter smear campaign"

 * ''State thesis of the movie

 * ''Key Elements of style
 * ''Irreverance
 * ''Accuracy
 * ''Tempered vitriol

Commentary
Notes: All the CUTS in this scene are as if one is CHANGING CHANNELS ON AN OLD TELEVISION, THEY ARE QUICK AND FOLLOWED BY A VERY BRIEF MOMENT OF STATIC THEN TO THE NEXT SHOT.

STILL BLACK
 * "MR. SPEAKER, THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA"

'''FOOTAGE OF BUSH STATE OF THE UNION 2005, WHERE HE'S SLOWLY MAKING HIS WAY TO THE PODIUM WHILE EVERYONE IS APPLAUDING. COMMENTARY BEGINS ABOUT 10 SECONDS AFTER VIDEO'''
 * Theodore Roosevelt once said, "Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the president or any other public official, save exactly to the degree in which he himself stands by the country. It is patriotic to support him insofar as he efficiently serves the country. It is unpatriotic not to oppose him to the exact extent that by inefficiency or otherwise he fails in his duty to stand by the country. In either event, it is unpatriotic not to tell the truth, whether about the president or anyone else."

CUT TO FOX NEWS RESPONSES TO FARENHEIT 9/11 - ASSEMBLE VARIOUS AD HOMINEM ATTACKS FROM NEWS FOOTAGE.
 * I am sure that in telling the truth, I will be labeled unpatriotic, a communist, a crackpot liberal, a partisan hack, and maybe, if I'm interviewed on FOX news, a traitor to this country.

CUT TO FOOTAGE OF WHITE HOUSE, SCOTT McCLELLAN's RESPONSE TO F9/11, DO NOT USE ANY FOOTAGE WITH MENTION TO F9/11
 * Scott McClellan, white house press secretary, will throw up his usual smoke screen without addressing any actual facts by passing off this movie as a bitter smear campaign because my candidate lost. All of these attacks, as per Scott's standard, will be made without seeing the movie.

 * I am none of these things.

CUT TO EMINEM VIDEO - MOSH
 * All you need to know about me, is that I listen to Eminem,

CUT TO ROBERT HORRY's GAME-WINNING SHOT IN GAME 4 of 2002 NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS
 * I'm waiting for a Kings-Lakers western conference championship rematch so my team will win this time,

CUT TO COMMERCIAL of MISS THEO
 * I'm a Libra,

CUT TO SOME CHEESY FOOTAGE OF A COUPLE WALKING ON THE BEACH
 * and I enjoy pina coladas... and getting caught in the rain.

MONTAGE, EXACT VIDEO TBD

Needs to mention voting thesis more prominently
 * But most importantly, I love this country. In an unprecedented moment of clarity in recognizing the human condition, our founding fathers envisioned a country which revolved not around power, but around freedom and the pursuit of happiness.  No other time in history have the people in power shown so much respect for the people they watch over and protect.  We as a people through various angels sent to us have vigilantly defended this freedom endowed upon us and fought tirelessly to uphold these ideals expressed in the Constitution.  Since then, politics has grown to become a self-serving machine which answers only to conduits of power and not the people it serves.  I am afraid we are starting to stray from the path our forefathers put us on.

 * From the beginning, you will notice that the tone of this movie will be on par with the grandest of American conspiracy theories, Roswell, the JFK assassination, FDR and Pearl Harbor, and whether Lindsay Lohan's breasts are real. This is not your typical political documentary.  While there will be some tasteless jokes here and there, I am asking you to consider the facts for themselves.  Use your own head to come to conclusions, don't let Ann Coulter, Michael Moore, Rush Limbaugh, Fox News, LGF, DailyKOS, or ANYONE do the thinking for you.  If you walk out hating this movie, tell 10 people why you hate it!  If you walk out furious at our government, tell 50 people that you're mad as hell and you're not going to take it anymore!  But whatever you do, do not sit back and become one with the herd.  When you hear people bash this movie in the media, try to see if they actually dispute the content of the movie itself. Be especially careful with Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity, as they seem to avoid facts at all costs.

 * This movie is not about being liberal or conservative, but about being an American. The privilege to vote is one of the most vital posessions we have, and today, that privilege has been compromised.  We have allowed special interests to control our ability to select a leader.

 * One more thing before we start, the fact that none of this was reported by the media is a travesty to this country. (Insert 2-3 sentence critique of the current state of media)

FOOTAGE OF OLBERMANN FROM COUNTDOWN ON OHIO IRREGULARITIES
 * I must give credit to one person, Keith Olbermann of MSNBC's Countdown, for he was the only one out of all the news networks that had the balls to say anything about the 2004 Election controversies.

Either FOOTAGE OF A CHICKEN WITH ITS HEAD CUT OFF RUNNING AROUND - or - FOOTAGE OF A MARIONETTE PUPPET DANCING AROUND LEARNING TO TALK, MAKE CONNECTING STRINGS PROMINENT
 * All the rest of you are a bunch of cowards who were too scared to lose their jobs all because Dan Rather trusted someone who maybe should have taken some night classes in Microsoft Word.

'''{ FWIW, i think of abu ghabu-whatever, the torture thing, how only a few people realized it was wrong, same thing with news reporting. }'''

FOOTAGE OF CROSSFIRE WITH JON STEWART AS GUEST, AUDIO OF "YOU'RE HURTING AMERICA" is JON's VOICE
 * As Jon Stewart said when he figuratively bitchslapped Tucker Carlson on CNN's Crossfire, "You're hurting America."

STILL BLACK
 * Let us begin.

TITLE - FOOL ME TWICE, PLAIN, NO MUSIC BACKGROUND

Issues

 * ''Briefly state the framework of the movie
 * ''Give a broad picture of how the content will be divided
 * ''Make the comparison to a trial or mystery in highlighting how a case is built against someone

Commentary
In determining whether or not a criminal is guilty, we ask three questions: Why did they do it? How could they have done it? And did they have the opportunity?

Issues
[General Interim Report]

About Exit Polls
 * ''What are exit polls?
 * ''How accurate/reliable are exit polls really?
 * ''Why does that have anything to do with voter fraud?
 * ''Who is responsible for conducting exit polls?

Previous utility in determining fraud *But how come they didn't show problems in Florida in 2000? (answer: they did.)'
 * ''How have exit polls been used in other examples of monitoring fraud (Venezuala, Ukraine)?
 * ''Why did the exit polls in these instances conflict with the official tally?

Exit Poll Controversies
 * ''What is a swing state? What states constitute swing states?  How long were they known to be swing states?
 * ''What is the correlation between exit poll / actual counts in swing and non-swing states
 * ''Why are the exit polls drastically different in in some counties in Florida, Ohio?
 * ''Explain the 'Dixiecrat Effect'...support or deny its premises
 * ''Explain the 'Kerry voters were more likely to respond then Bush voters' theory as cited in the Edison/Mitofsky report...support or deny its premises.
 * Show what happens when you take this hypothesis in good faith (kerry still wins!) Talk:2004_U.S._presidential_election_controversy%2C_exit_polls
 * Mitovsky Report
 * Analysis
 * Mitovsky Refuted?
 * USCountVotes analysis (2004_U.S._presidential_election_controversy%2C_exit_polls)

 * ''Reference the CalTech/MIT Paper, explain its conclusions
 * ''Why was the CalTech paper's conclusions disputed?

 * ''Reference the UC Berkeley paper, explain its conclusions
 * ''Are the statistical models used in the paper correctly utilized?
 * ''Name any other possible problems with the UC Berkeley paper

 * ''Are the 2004 exit poll discrepencies more irregular than in years past? Why or why not?

 * ''Why are the initial exit polls released by the NEP different than the final released exit polls?
 * ''Why haven't the true raw exit polls been revealed?
 * Perfect place for some story telling: conyers and others chasing down raw data, including, 'i'd be perfectly willing to do the analysis myself' (since it appears either you are utterly incompetent when it comes to doing your job: statistics, or think i was born yesterday) 2004_U.S._presidential_election_controversy%2C_exit_polls

Commentary
Lets assume for a moment that we knew for sure the election results weren't manipulated. How would we know? What kind of indicators would alert us to wrongdoings? A common method of

Motive
Why would they do it?

Diebold and the Voting Corporations
which leads directly into...

Electronic Voting

 * ''Illustrate personalities behind Corporation
 * ''Illustrate ties to politicians (mostly Republican)
 * ''Point out differences between Diebold ATMs and Diebold Voting Machines
 * ''You MUST prove that Diebold was not merely incompetent but acted with purpose.
 * ''Is there a difference between Target, Phillip Morris, Time-Warner, etc. donating to the republican party as opposed to an electronic voting company donating to the republican party?

General: Compare ATMs to Diebold voting machines. Point out lack of quality in voting machines as compared to extremely similar product WITHIN SAME COMPANY. Only two possibilities, incompetence or fraud. Use motive section (political connections, prior irregularities, etc.) to prove incompetence unlikely, especially in the face of ATM quality.

Issues
About Diebold
 * ''What is Diebold?
 * ''Who is the president of Diebold?
 * ''What ties does Diebold share with politicians?
 * Walden O'Dell CEO of Diebold said he was "committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral voes to the President . O'Dell has defended his actions, telling the Cleveland Plain Dealer "I'm not doing anything wrong or complicated." But he also promised to lower his political profile and "try to be more sensitive." But the Diebold boss' partisan cards are squarely on the table. And, when it comes to the Diebold board room, O'Dell is hardly alone in his generous support of the GOP.

 * One of the longest-serving Diebold directors is W.R. "Tim" Timken. Like O'Dell, Timken is a Republican loyalist and a major contributor to GOP candidates. Since 1991 the Timken Company and members of the Timken family have contributed more than a million dollars to the Republican Party and to GOP presidential candidates such as George W. Bush. Between 2000 and 2002 alone, Timken's Canton-based bearing and steel company gave more than $350,000 to Republican causes, while Timken himself gave more than $120,000. This year, he is one of George W. Bush's campaign Pioneers, and has already pulled in more than $350,000 for the president's reelection bid.

 * ''Does Diebold management have a criminal record?Court papers filed in Maryland, Wired news,
 * Dec. 17 2003 - "At least five convicted felons secured management positions at a manufacturer of electronic voting machines, according to critics demanding more stringent background checks for people responsible for voting machine software.
 * "The programmer Jeffrey Dean wrote and maintained proprietary code used to count hundreds of thousands of votes as senior vice president of Global Election Systems, or GES. Diebold purchased GES in January 2002. According to a public court document released before GES hired him, Dean served time in a Washington state correctional facility for stealing money and tampering with computer files in a scheme that "involved a high degree of sophistication and planning in the use and alteration of records in the computerized ... system that defendant maintained for the victim." (23 counts of First Degree Theft, case 89-1-04034-1)

 * "The other reported felons included a cocaine trafficker [John Elder] and a man convicted of engaging in fraudulent stock transactions."

 * Jeff Dean was specifically involved in the King County voting system, and is also mentioned specifically in the Diebold memos in connection with programming optical-scan software and the touch-screen Windows CE versions. King County provided him with a key to the computer room, the passcode to the GEMS computer and 24-hour access to the building. Diebold have indicated that he left when they took over GES, however internal records show he was retained, and continued to act as a "consultant".

 * King County WA. is the same county which Diebold internal memos say "are famous" for illicit access to voting systems and where a 3 hour section is missing from a security log during the September 2004 Primary.

About ES&S
 * ''What is ES&S and its history?
 * ''Who is the president of ES&S?
 * ''What happened when Hagel stepped down as head of the company?

"If You Want To Win An Election, Just Control The Voting Machines"
 * In 1992, investment banker Chuck Hagel, president of McCarthy & Co, became chairman of AIS. Hagel, who had been touted as a possible Senate candidate in 1993, was again on the list of likely GOP contenders heading into the 1996 contest. In January of 1995, while still chairman of ES&S, Hagel told the Omaha World-Herald that he would likely make a decision by mid-March of 1995. On March 15, according to a letter provided by Hagel's Senate staff, he resigned from the AIS board, noting that he intended to announce his candidacy. A few days later, he did just that.

 * A little less than eight months after steppind down as director of AIS, Hagel surprised national pundits and defied early polls by defeating Benjamin Nelson, the state's popular former governor. It was Hagel's first try for public office. Nebraska elections officials told The Hill that machines made by AIS probably tallied 85 percent of the votes cast in the 1996 vote, although Nelson never drew attention to the connection. Hagel won again in 2002, by a far healthier margin. That vote is still angrily disputed by Hagel's Democratic opponent, Charlie Matulka, who did try to make Hagel's ties to ES&S an issue in the race and who asked that state elections officials conduct a hand recount of the vote. That request was rebuffed, because Hagel's margin of victory was so large.

 * As might be expected, Hagel has been generously supported by his investment partners at McCarthy & Co. -- since he first ran, Hagel has received about $15,000 in campaign contributions from McCarthy & Co. executives. And Hagel still owns more than $1 million in stock in McCarthy & Co., which still owns a quarter of ES&S.

 * ''What political ties does ESS&S have?

 * ''How did he know Bush?
 * ''What was he caught lying for?

 * ''Who was Jeb Bush's first choice as running mate in 1998?
 * ''What happened to the Hill when it tried to publish a story detailing Hagel's conflict of interest?

Sequoia
 * ''Is there really a connection between Sequoia Pacific and criminal activity?

Problems with Voting Machines
 * ''How secure are voting machines?
 * ''Describe the incident where an alert poll worker noticed Gore's votes going down. Why did it occur?  Why did Diebold say this occured?  Is there explanation plausible?
 * ''What kind of bugs are associated with voting machines?
 * ''Who verified these bugs?
 * ''Were these bugs fixed?
 * ''Why was there only one password (1111)?
 * ''Why did a programmer insert "This is just a hack for now"?
 * ''Have voting machines been cracked before?

 * ''Did Diebold know that its product was certified and tested? Did it present them as such?[http:/www.equalccw.com/lewisdeconstructed.pdf]

 * ''How verifiable are voting machines?
 * ''Why is there no paper trail?
 * ''What is the history in congress that deals with debate over paper trails?

Impact of Electronic Voting
 * ''How many votes were cast electronically in the 2004 Election?
 * ''In percentage of national votes
 * ''In percentage of votes in Ohio (and maybe Florida)

Issues - KBaas

 * KB, Keep in mind for example I don't know half of the stuff that you're talking about, remember to target it to someone who is not familliar with any of these events :).

 * ''Theory of law? -consistent, unambiguous
 * ''Voting process overview
 * ''Brief outline of voting laws

A guide to voting in Ohio, America

 * Note: Whenever possible, ask "who was affected" and show a pie chart. Whenver possible, ask "how should it change (this year)?", "who is responsible?", and "how did it change?"  If possible, after who is responsible, attribute to them (possible quote, such as "active voters", and show what that looks like on a graph, then show how it really looks (how it did change)
 * Another possible question to ask often: "Is this legal?" "No." "(Duh.)"
 * Reporting questions: who what when how why where'
 * "If you are a __, you are __% more likely to ___." "___ were ___ times as likely as __ to ___."

 * addendum: was the democratic get-out-the-vote effort effective?
 * show long lines (what does it look like?)
 * show long lines graph and/or map (rep-dem) (and yes, those are democrats.)
 * show voter turnout graph? (rep-dem)

Then what happened? Let's go through this one step at a time...

 * Registrating to vote
 * Law changes
 * Ballots being discarded (same guy from new mexico)
 * Ballots not being put in database (new this year)
 * In cuyahoga, over 10k
 * Lawsuit re. ballots being put in database - little or no avail
 * What will happen when a voter who's registration was not properly filed goes to vote? :provisional ballot
 * what percentage of these quasi-registered voters will get out to vote?: voter turnout percentage.
 * Voter registration growth scatter plot by %rep<->%dem
 * compare with voter turnout growth scatter plot, and turnout per reg.
 * registration and get out the vote efforts, from washington post article

 * Voting ahead of time - Absentee ballots
 * History
 * lost in delivery to voter, or not recieved by vote date
 * lost in delivery from voter
 * couldn't vote provisional

 * Going to vote
 * precincts (the big squeeze)
 * what are precincts?
 * how are they alloted?
 * why?
 * what happens when the pop density changes?
 * who is responsible for making the adjustment?
 * how did the population change this time?
 * how should the precincts have been changed?
 * how were they changed?
 * who was affected?
 * given wrong date to vote (up one or down one?)
 * who was affected?
 * finding my precinct - what if i don't know it?
 * What do the receptionist do (go thru process - show how reliable it is; you have to intentionally mislead)
 * precinct misdirection
 * how much?
 * where?
 * who was affected?

 * When you get there
 * Do I get a ballot (machine) to vote on?
 * answer: maybe... (pie chart)
 * ...it depends (pie chart per demographic (ethnicity?))
 * what is the law?
 * law: 100 voters per machine, 125 max
 * ''Why does this law exist?
 * go into detail, mathematically, be meticulous:
 * rate at which machine processes votes, how many people in one day, thus voters per machine.
 * why max? going over limit means no vote
 * with this formula, there shouldnt' be long lines.
 * who adjusts it?
 * how should it be adjusted?
 * how was it adjusted?
 * ''Poll Workers expecting more machines, there were less then last election
 * ''long lines
 * can we get a fox news clip? that would rock!
 * ''nearby, peace... (show republican district)
 * ''how many voters left?
 * ''1 in 5 leaving, witnesses.
 * Why?
 * people being called into work, or get fired
 * vehicles being towed
 * ''nearby, peace... (show republican district)
 * ''poll workers calling in
 * we'll get to it...
 * we'll get to it...
 * no. (order from blackwell)
 * Nader, lawsuit on election day: way to alleviate lines?
 * Damshroder: no.
 * show unused voting machines sitting in warehouse.
 * show & cite newspaper reporting it
 * Show how graph for franklin should look.
 * Show how graph for franklin does look.
 * blackwell "not registered voters, active voters"
 * why? (purported reason)
 * graph for franklin (w/ "active" voters)
 * show how it should look
 * show how it does look: yes, it looks like "active" voters is part of the formula: most likely, a cofactor on "%voting republican"
 * do statistical regression, to find formula. show variance, that it is statistically called a "good fit". (much better than... show variance for null hyp.)
 * do math on graph - wow, 1 in 5 leaving!
 * show map of county, machine distr.
 * "now let's zoom out a little bit" - zoom to map of state, machine distr.
 * show graph per county, statewide.
 * show unused voting machines.
 * calculate statewide from available data, if 100 machines per voter.

 * Will the machines work? - Broken machines answer: maybe. it depends...
 * Where?
 * broken machines per machine, by rep-dem.
 * Will the machines be repaired? (answer: no.)

 * How will I be treated? - Voter intimidation answer: it depends...
 * was there intimidation?
 * show video

 * What will I vote on? answer: it depends...
 * problems with voting machines - opt., electronic, punch.
 * allocation of type
 * graph showing correlation of demographics to technology
 * punch cards being saturated - show graph.

 * How will I vote? : answer: you will vote for george w. bush
 * electronic voting machines registering vote wrong
 * show voteprotect report (dem:88-rep:2)

 * Provisional ballots
 * history - include HAVA.
 * prov. ballot rule changes (pre-election) - bday, envelope
 * voting wrong precint (even if right polling place) - vote not counted
 * lawsuit
 * field not required not filled out, ballot not counted.
 * no absentee ballot recieved? too bad.
 * Provisional ballots per total ballots by %rep<->%dem
 * Provisional ballots->uncounted prov. ballots per total ballots by %rep<->%dem
 * after election, counting provisional -
 * abnormally high number of unregistered
 * grade school math: 10k reg. not entered into database * 70% turnout = # "unregistered"
 * lawsuit re. prov. ballots - compare w/ reg. card if not in database. - no avail
 * show breakdown of reason prov. thrown out. (highest is not unregistered), cite source, narrate.
 * blackwell: "highest number prov. thrown out were unregistered"

Issues

 * ''What happened in the 2000 Election with voting suppression?
 * '' Who is ChoicePoint/Database Technologies?
 * '' Reference Greg Palast's argument / "Bush Family Fortunes"

 * ''What did State Rep. John Pappageorge, R-Troy, say about the Detroit vote?
 * "If we do not suppress the Detroit vote, we're going to have a tough time in this election cycle."
 * ''Does it matter that the authors of the article were employed as legal counsel to the Kerry campaign?

 * ''Why were there such long lines for some machines?
 * ''What did the interim report find about the long lines?
 * "In precincts where there were fewer than 275 registrants per voting machine, Kerry received an average of 46.6% of the vote. In precincts with 275-325 registrants per voting machine, he received 55.7% of the vote. In precincts with the highest number of registrants per voting machine (over 325), and therefore likely the longest lines, Kerry received 65.3% of the precinct-level vote. Ratios of registrants per machine also appear to be negatively correlated with turnout percentages: in precincts with more registrants per machine, turnout figures were lower."
 * ''What is another possible explanation for lower turnout?
 * "Such an argument depends on an assumption that turnout differences associated with registrant to machine ratios were in fact caused by these machine availability differences. But other causal factors may also explain turnout differences. For example, prior research has demonstrated that less educated citizens of all races and partisan affiliations have lower turnout than better educated ones. If precincts with larger registrant to machine ratios have higher numbers of less educated registrants (perhaps because they are located in urban and less affluent areas), then one would expect lower turnout in these precincts, even if there were no effect of registrant to machine ratios on turnout."
 * ''Is this rebuttal an adequate explanation? Why or why not?  Does it actually refute the theorized effects of the voting machines?

 * ''Why do long lines have anything to do with voter suppression?
 * ''Were there any patterns to where the machines broke down?
 * "Of the 82 precints for which voters reported that one or more voting machines were not working, the vast majority were in neighboroods where over 75% of the population were black, while non-working machines were reported in only five precincts where less than 5% of the population were black"

 * ''Is there a law covering the distribution of voting machines? Is it state or national?  Was this law broken?

 * ''Were voters intimidated on Election day? What organizations were alleged to intimidate voters?  How do we know that they intimidated voters?  From what sources do we know this information?

 * ''What happened in Cuyahoga County, for example?
 *

 * ''What happened in Franklin County, for example?
 * ''Who is Voter Outreach for America, and who are they funded by?
 *

 * ''How are absentee ballots sorted and who is responsible for getting them to the voters?

 * ''What happened with Florida's attempt to use Felony purge list in 2004?
 *

 * ''Why were leaflets passed out that the election was November 4, and what areas were they primarily located in?

title: User:Kizzle/smoke/trial theme


text:
Pen tilt

Pen tilt refers to the angle of a writing instrument during handwriting and drawing, which can vary over time. In a coordinate system which is determined by the writing surface plane $$\{X,Y\}$$ and the vertical pen-tip movement along the $$\{Z\}$$ axis, all three two-dimensional planes can be discerned, and the angular signals can be delivered by a digitizer. It is part of the ISO/IEC standard 19794-7 for biometric data in signatures.

title: Pen tilt