The Daily Render

A Digital Scrapbook for the Past, Present, and Future

DC Residents say they want full democracy, like New Delhi.
|| 5/26/2008 || 1:26 pm || Comments Off on DC Residents say they want full democracy, like New Delhi. || ||

[download pdf]

This article is a great primer on the disenfranchisement of Washington, DC residents. However well-crafted or edited, I genuinely have issue with this one statement– the only place where the word STATEHOOD is mentioned in the entire article:

While many Congress members support a vote in the House for Washington residents, statehood is less popular because it would mean adding two senators from one city in an upper chamber that has only 100 members for the entire nation. And although the population of D.C. is greater than the state of Wyoming, the District lacks characteristics normally associated with states such as diverse geography with both urban and rural areas. Yet, these definitions of what constitutes a state are not written in the Constitution.

Statehood is the easiest answer, but the hardest solution to obtain. The League of Women Voters gave up on Statehood in the 90’s and were most recently in favor of the constitutionally dubious 1/3 representation bill. What I find sad is that the words “An Equal Constitutional Rights Amendment” are used in place of an actual bill. So instead of working for statehood- a singular goal- they are currently advocating what? A to-be-drafted bill that will probably only give partial equality? It’s rather sad. I mean, come on. The Democratic Party, DC Vote, the League of Women Voters, and the ilk are not able to change anything because they gave up on what DC residents voted for. Instead of not wavering and clearly stating one precise goal: statehood, they have sought “incremental” answers that have missed the mark. Its just so happens that most of these incremental steps are unconstitutional. Politics might be the art of compromise, but equal representation is the basis for politics. Statehood might be the most difficult solution to the DC Dilemma, but it provides the residents with full equality that no “voting rights bill” can match.

Below is the article:

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SloMo the Statehood Snail visits Swampoodle
|| 5/9/2008 || 1:13 pm || Comments Off on SloMo the Statehood Snail visits Swampoodle || ||

SloMo the Statehood Snail hanging out at the corner of 1st & M Street NE in Washington, DC

On Tuesday evening after I had finished putting the last coat of wheat paste on to my base map installation at Artomatic, I decided to venture outdoors and place one of my favorite cartopomorphic creatures on to a couple lampposts outside of the venue.

The idea was to see if anyone would recognize the SloMo the Statehood Snail when they visited my exhibit space. He’s placed about six times on the base map and on three lampposts outside of the venue.

Artomatic opens tonight and I look forward to seeing if anyone recognizes him when they visit my exhibit space. My null hypothesis is that visitors will not notice the lil bugger.

SloMo the Statehood Snail outside of the Metro exit on M Street

SloMo the Statehood Snail in a Swampuddle!

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Germany’s Green Party opens chapter in Washington, DC
|| 4/10/2008 || 11:46 pm || Comments Off on Germany’s Green Party opens chapter in Washington, DC || ||

As a current member of the DC Statehood Green Party, former elected member of the DC Statehood Green Party steering committee, and former elected national delegate to the Green Party of the United States, this is exciting news to me. Dies ist gut:

Germany’s Green Party opens chapter in Washington, DC

Julie Gregson | Deutsche Welle | 04.09.2008

Germany’s Green Party is setting up a branch in the United States. The bottom-up initiative aims to bring a more international perspective to the party’s work and combat anti-Americanism among some members back home.

The chapter is due to be officially founded next weekend in Washington DC. It hopes to tap into the experiences of the growing number of Germans working in the US capital in international organizations, foundations and think tanks, as well as in the media, the culture industry and higher education.

“We’ve discovered that there are a lot of Germans in town who are young, tolerant and cosmopolitan and who share Green values or are active in the Green party,” said chapter co-founder Arne Jungjohann. “We want to offer them a platform.” But the group is also looking to engage with Greens across the United States and has set up a Facebook presence to allow those living further afield to contribute to the debate. “Our purpose is to have a group that is following German domestic politics and influencing the Green agenda in Germany on international topics,” said Jungjohann, who is also Environmental Program Director at the Boell Foundation.

Countering anti-americanism

Anti-Americanism is another area where the group believes it could have important input. Reinhard Buetikofer, co-leader of the Greens, welcomed the establishment of the party’s Washington DC branch, saying it was a positive sign for bilateral dialog.

“This is not supposed to be a one-way street — it’s an exchange, it’s about cooperation,” Buetikofer said. “It will attest to the fact that the Green party is open towards exchange with the United States. You do not have to be German to join the group, but an affiliation with Germany is required and German will be its working language.

It is the Greens’ second branch abroad. The party also has a group based in Brussels, the headquarters of the European Commission.

[via Sam Smith’s D.C. City Desk]

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ABSOLUT STATEHOOD
|| 4/8/2008 || 4:52 pm || Comments Off on ABSOLUT STATEHOOD || ||

Screen grab links to .kmz file for Google Earth

A geovisual response to an LA Times blog entry showing mostly isolationist responses to an alternative history map of North America by Absolut Vodka.

This interactive map for Google Earth shows the familiar Absolut Vodka bottle labeled “Absolut Statehood” and placed inside of the original boundaries of the District of Columbia. These boundaries existed until 1847 after the residents of Virginia voted to cede back the portion of the District of Columbia that was west of the Potomac River.

Absolut Statehood represents the cartographic notion that the nation’s capital can become America’s 51st state*. Today there are over 550,000 American citizens living in the nation’s capital that are being denied the fundamental right of representation in Congress. This ongoing human rights violation currently practiced by the government of the United States has been denounced by the United Nations, the Organization of American States, and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. The United States is the only country in the industrialized world that forbids the residents of it’s capital city the right to elect representatives to their national legislature.

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The maps on Google Analytics suffer from Washington, DC’s exclusion
|| 4/4/2008 || 12:58 pm || Comments Off on The maps on Google Analytics suffer from Washington, DC’s exclusion || ||

The other day I mentioned how Google Charts API includes small maps but leaves Washington, DC off the map. Last night when I was looking at my newly installed Google Analytics interface (above) and I discovered another reason why Washington, DC should be included: without including Washington, DC, the map on the Google Analytics page is lacking a means to show visitors from the nation’s capital. This means all webmasters around the world who use Google’s Analytics are not being able to effectively analyze their data on the map of the United States because not every country/territory/region on the continental mainland is being shown.

From the screen grab above:
A. There is 61.4 square miles of Country/Territory missing here
B. If Regions are being listed, why is one being excluded from the map above?
C. District of Columbia is not a Region nor are any of the States listed below it

As I wrote before, Google can add Washington, DC to the lower portion of their maps in the area where Alaska and Hawaii are not shown to scale. While Washington, DC may be denied statehood, it has more inhabitants than the state of Wyoming and should be given the same opportunity to be shown on the map of the United States. Otherwise, like the Google Analytics screen grab above, the maps will continue to be incomplete and inaccurate.

My vote verified by a paper ballot
|| 2/13/2008 || 1:17 pm || Comments Off on My vote verified by a paper ballot || ||

An infographic showing how to hack a Diebold Accuvote-TS unit

So yesterday I participated in the DC Statehood Green Party Primary. This election cycle I was offered the opportunity to keep the tab from my ballot. Compared to those generic “I VOTED” stickers, the paper ballot is a much better souvenir because it shows that not only did I vote, I was voter number 2 at the precinct. Here’s the scanned proof:

Judging by the DC Board of Elections and Ethics results for my precinct (below), I can verify that the ballot above was the second and last DC Statehood Green Party ballot given out yesterday. If you scroll down to the bottom of the image, it shows that there were 2 people who voted for Cynthia McKinney and since the ballot above is market 00002, I can only infer that the other voter has 00001.

Page 137 of the Pre-Certified Presidential Preference Primary Election Results – Precinct Report

It looks like Cynthia McKinney beat Ron Paul in my precinct (2 votes to 1 one). Only nine people voted republican compared to the two Statehood Green (one being me). Thats some hyperlocal politix.

Related 2008 Election Entries:

Roll Call’s Photo of the Week features the DC Colonist
|| 4/18/2007 || 11:34 am || Comments Off on Roll Call’s Photo of the Week features the DC Colonist || ||

From Roll Call:

Up-Lifting Message
Nikolas Schiller of the DC Statehood Green Party helps fellow party members lift a large pro-D.C. statehood flag on the Capitol’s West Front following a voting-rights march to the Capitol on Monday. Washington, D.C., Mayor Adrian Fenty, Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton and other District officials led supporters from Freedom Plaza to the Capitol in a show of support for a bill that would grant D.C. a vote in the House.

Related Colonist Entries:

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D.C. Voting Rights March…
|| 4/16/2007 || 10:20 am || Comments Off on D.C. Voting Rights March… || ||

This afternoon will be the largest organized march for D.C. congressional representation in over a decade. While its great news that there is enough popular support to have a march, it’s downright sad that the bill in which people are lobbying for is a complete sham. It gives D.C. a token vote in the House, and little else. Congress will still have full control of D.C. (as written in the Constitution) and there will still be no representation in the Senate.

As I have stated time & time again, if the bill passes, D.C. residents will only be 1/3 represented– so why advocate for partial representation? Democracy only works in whole numbers. History tells us this. Just like the slaves who were once considered 3/5’s of a human in regards to representation, which was found to be unconstitutional, this bill will probably end up with the same result.

I was going to publish the list of sponsors of the Voting Rights March to show high up the kool-aid drinking goes. From the NAACP to the DC Government, it’s laughable that these organizations are behind something so constitutionally dubious. Moreover, I must highlight the sad fact that they behind something that sells everyone short. As one person told me, “It’s the best thing going,” but does that make it legitmate? Politics may be the art of compromise, but why compromise becoming a full citizen over being 1/3 of a citizen?

I will be marching with the largest D.C. flag (made of hemp, with the text “DC STATEHOOD NOW!”) from Franklin Square to Freedom Plaza in the “March to Statehood” contingent and then after the march & rally I will be going to “Push the Senate Reception” in the Dirksen Senate Office Building. I was thinking of getting arrested in the senate, but I have yet to decide if it will be worthwhile or not. I’m a bit rusty when it comes to civil disobedience, it’s been awhile.

Lastly, I’d like to point out the stupidity of the naming of the march as a “Voting Rights March.” People are lobbying for a voting RIGHT – thats singular – not plural, with the right being only one vote in the House. If it were really about voting RIGHTS – that’s plural – it would be in support of full representation in both the House & Senate….

Below the fold is Reuters story,
“Washington, after 200 years, may get vote in Congress”

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OSCE Finds US Government Violates Human Rights
|| 3/27/2007 || 4:21 pm || Comments Off on OSCE Finds US Government Violates Human Rights || ||

Posted on Sunday to theMail by my friend Timothy Cooper:

On March 9, the Organization for Security and Cooperation (OSCE) in Europe’s Office of Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) issued a major report on the 2006 mid-term US congressional elections(PDF), and concluded that the US government violates DC citizens’ basic political rights, as well as those of US citizens living in the territories, by denying them full representation in Congress. The OSCE report states, among other things, that “US citizens who are not citizens of one of the fifty states are not able to vote for members of Congress who have the right to vote on the floor. . . . These restrictions exist even though such US citizens are subject to US federal law and pay federal taxes. . . . It is . . . estimated that in Washington, DC, alone, without including US citizens of US territories, up to half a million US citizens are not permitted to vote in federal elections for full congressional representation. As these citizens are subject to US laws, including taxation, the denial of full representation, as underscored by the Constitution and Supreme Court decisions, would appear to be a limitation of voting rights.” The OSCE recommends that “US authorities should consider all possibilities to provide full representation rights for all US citizens.”

The OSCE is Europe’s largest human rights monitoring body. It is composed of 56 countries, spans the globe from Russia to Canada, and is the world’s preeminent democratic election monitoring body, which regularly observes elections in all OSCE countries. The US is a founding member of the organization, and is bound by all of its human rights commitment. The right to participate equally in one’s own national legislature is a key OSCE democratic election standard under the 1990 Copenhagen Act. In 2002, Worldrights launched a campaign to win the OSCE’s endorsement of full Congressional voting rights for DC residents. Since then, Worldrights has appeared at the OSCE’s annual Human Dimension Implementation meetings in Warsaw, Poland, pressing for the OSCE to address the DC issue and make recommendations. The complete report may be found at: https://www.world-rights.org.

Worldrights has also requested that the US Helsinki Commission, under the new leadership of Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-FL) and Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD), hold hearings on US noncompliance. The Helsinki Commission regularly monitors the human rights compliance of other OSCE countries.

On July 1st, 2005 I greeted the OSCE parliamentarians when they met in Washington, DC for the first time. Alongside Tim, Statehood Green Party members, and DC Vote, we organized a street meet & greet, where I said hello to the parliamentarians dressed in my colonial costume as they entered the hotel for the day’s meetings.

That afternoon we had a press conference in Freedom Plaza (you can watch the video here, scroll down to OSCE) next to a ballot box enclosed in a barbed wire fence. The following day, we conducted the first even naval lobbying effort in the history of D.C.! As the OSCE parliamentarians took a yatch ride to the historic home of George Washington, we followed them on D.C. Shadow Senator’s Paul Strauss’ boat with a banner that read “OSCE Equal Voting Rights for D.C.”

Seeing this continued postition of the OSCE is great news and shows that our efforts have had a lasting impact. Alas, we still are denied representation in both chambers of Congress….

Read my OSCE related blog entries…
Text of the OSCE Report(PDF) after the fold.

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Tom Davis Supports Statehood?
|| 3/23/2007 || 8:52 am || Comments Off on Tom Davis Supports Statehood? || ||

No, not really. But taken completely out of context, this clip sure makes him sound like a supporter of statehood. I actually learned some new constitutional facts. See for yourself:

If you were to watch the full clip you’d see that he’s just another politician compromising equality for 1/3 representation and claiming it’s progress. He definitely makes the case that a strict reading of the constitution says that DC should be a state.

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Hello! Thanks for stopping by! My name is Nikolas Schiller. I am an American citizen currently living in New York City and working remotely to support structural change in Washington, DC.

This blog is my online repository of what I have created or found online since May of 2004. I've been on hiatus since 2018 but plan on contributing more content in the not so distant future.

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