The "double-bubble" ballot requires Decline-To-State voters in Los Angeles County to not only request a Democratic ballot, but also fill in a separate, special bubble indicating that they want their presidential primary vote to count.

19% of California voters are registered as "Decline-To-State" rather than with a particular party - only LA County requires this extra step for votes to be counted!  

A manual recount of all DTS ballots is the only fair way forward - please call and/or email CA Secretary of State Debra Bowen, Acting Registrar Dean C. Logan and the DNC to support a recount (links and contact info after the jump)

Led by the Vatican, conservative forces in Italy successfully fought off repeal of Italy's controversial law restricting use of stem cells and severely limited fertility treatment.

Italy's law makes it illegal for couples receiving fertility treatment to use DONATED eggs or sperm or to create more than 3 embryos.

The NYTimes has the story here: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/14/international/europe/13cnd-italy.html

This story needs more publicity! We need to tie this to the anti-stem cells forces here - they want to restrict science, restrict privacy, restrict medical options for everyday people.

In 1953, the Social Security Administration commissioned a film entitled "Your Social Security", which describes the program (repeatedly) as "insurance that is bought and paid for" - enabling people to take care of themselves. The government holds these funds "IN TRUST" - and yes, there is a fabulous graphic of Uncle Sam and a huge safe. You can view/download/re-use this gem: http://www.archive.org/movies/details-db.php?collection=prelinger&collectionid=18733 see also "Despotism": http://www.archive.org/details-db.php?mediatype=movies&identifier=Despotis1946) These and several thousand other government, educational, industrial, and amateur films are available at www.archive.org courtesy of Rick Prelinger, the Internet Archive, and other generous, far-sighted folks who make creative commons work.