Election Reform and Related News: Sunday, June 22, 2008

[livvy]

Election Reform and Related News
Sunday, June 22, 2008

CAN WE ASSUME AN HONEST ELECTION?

There are more such examples, but you see the pattern. The Far Right, which has had its way with the law and with controlling the ideological parameters during the past eight years, could well lose those powers via the ballot box, so it's pulling out all the stops in a desperate attempt to stop the future or, at the least, to minimize GOP losses.

We all, but especially Republicans this time out, have to expand our thinking beyond the damage we can do to our opponents. A former McCain stalwart parses it this way:

"Simply put: Republican strategists who think that business-as-usual -- i.e., the slanderous politics of the past 30 years -- will take care of matters this time around are deluded. Worse than that, they will doom the reputation of the Republican Party and turn it into a marginal footnote of American history if they keep trivializing this historic event. That is too bad because, as I said, we need a two party system."

As everyone understands, there is so much riding on the November election, which, one would think from the early polls, should yield a major defeat for the Republicans. But this assumes that the November election is reasonably honest and that, despite the GOP's voter-suppression maneuvers, Democratic or third-party voters come out in such massive numbers that, seeing the overwhelmingly anti-GOP pre-vote polls and the post-election exit polls, vote-manipulators would not dare fiddle with the tabulations. But if that Democrat/third-party surge doesn't happen and McCain were, say, to take 45% of the actual vote, the mainstream-media spinners could hype the possibility of a GOP victory in key states and the Republican corporations that tabulate the votes with their secret software could serreptitiously make up the needed percentage points for victory. (For more on all this, see Mark Crispin Millers' new book, "Loser Take All: Election Fraud and The Subversion of Democracy," and Ernest Partridge's articles "Where's the Outrage?" and "According to Plan?").

Would Bush&Co. be willing to try something fraudulent like that in November? Aside from the fact that the evidence suggests they already have in previous elections, imagine yourself facing possible criminal indictments and time in the federal slammer, standing in the war-crimes dock at The Hague, and losing all the riches and power you've built up over eight years -- you might be tempted, too.

http://www.crisispapers.org/essays8w/desperation.htm

Everyone is welcome to participate. Feel free to:

:redbox: Post stories and announcements you find on the web.

:redbox: Post stories using the new Spring 2006 Edition of "Election Fraud and Reform News Directory" listed here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph ...

:redbox: Re-post stories and announcements you find on DU, providing a link to the original thread with thanks to the Original Poster, too.

:redbox: Start a discussion thread by re-posting a story you see on this thread.



Recommendations for the Greatest Page are always welcomed. It's the best way to share the news with members who don't frequent this forum. It's the link below.

[livvy]

1. Campaign Finance Issues

[livvy]

2. Clinton, Obama Could Help Each Other Financially

Jun 22, 4:41 AM EDT


Clinton, Obama could help each other financially

By JIM KUHNHENN
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Hillary Rodham Clinton needs Barack Obama's donors to help retire her sizable debt. Obama, who's forgoing public funds for the general election, could use her donors to boost his ample fundraising.

The two former Democratic presidential rivals filed their May fundraising reports Friday - hers awash in red ink and his lacking the high-dollar sizzle of his previous monthly reports.

But if the two have an itch to soothe, they're not yet scratching each other's backs.

How the campaigns can help each other will be a likely topic when Obama, the Democrats' nominee in waiting, meets with Clinton and some of her top fundraisers on Thursday in Washington. The two then plan to campaign together on Friday. But so far, the Obama camp has not devised a Clinton assistance plan.

more...

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/C/CAMPAIGN_MONEY?SITE=NEYOR&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

[livvy]

3. Obama Reinvents Campaign Finance

Obama Reinvents Campaign Finance


Obama Reinvents Campaign Finance, Declines Public Funding



Barack Obama made presidential campaign history by declining public funds. XPLANE has created an infographic showing how Obama\'s 2008 campaign has used social networking to raise campaign funds.
2008-06-22 10:31:21 - XPLANE, a global consulting and information design firm, has developed an infographic detailing how Barack Obama is the first major candidate to decline participation in the public funding system because of the support he has garnered through online social networks.


Portland, OR. June 22, 2008 -- XPLANE, a global consulting and information design firm that clarifies the complex through visual communication, has developed an infographic detailing how Barack Obama is the first major candidate to decline participation in the public funding system because of the support he has garnered through online social networks. The work, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License, can be downloaded from the XPLANE web site at www.xplane.com/obama/

Recognized for its visual communication pieces, XPLANE won a bronze medal in 2008 at the 16th Malofiej International Infographics Awards, which is known as the most important and respected infographic contest in the world. This marked XPLANE's first time entering an infographic into the competition.

With an innovative, multidisciplinary methodology, XPLANE is unique because it focuses on visual thinking and information-driven communication to develop clarity, convey key messages to its clients' target audiences, and generate the desired results faster and more efficiently. Companies have hired XPLANE to motivate employees, drive sales, convince decision makers and integrate with partners and vendors.

more...
http://www.pr-inside.com/obama-reinvents-campaign-finance-declines-r657108.htm


No Small Change
How Obama Reinvented Campaign Finance
Barack Obama is the first major candidate to decline participation in the public financing system for presidential campaigns. He’s found a more effective way to raise money — by leveraging the power of the American people through online Social Networks.

http://www.xplane.com/obama/

Direct link to the pdf poster:
http://www.xplane.com/obama/XPLANED_Obama_Fundraising.pdf

[livvy]

4. Dan Walters: Move to cut money influence on state politics is backfiring

Dan Walters: Move to cut money influence on state politics is backfiring
By Dan Walters
Article Launched: 06/22/2008 01:33:16 AM PDT


Any realistic overview of California's campaign finances begins with a simple and inescapable fact: The men and women we elect to state office, from the governor down, wield enormous financial authority.

When, for example, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger bulldozed the Legislature into overhauling the system for compensating workers for job-related illnesses and injuries four years ago, the net result was about a $15 billion-a-year reduction in employers' insurance costs, nearly $100 billion during his governorship.

Financial decisions made by the governor, his appointees, other statewide officials, elected members of the state tax board and the Legislature total roughly $400 billion a year, about half of which is the state budget, including special funds and federal funds. An additional $100 billion-plus are insurance premiums regulated by the Department of Insurance and utility rates regulated by the Public Utilities Commission.

None of those numbers includes the countless billions of dollars in indirect financial impact of legislative and regulatory decisions - just one example being the rules now being written to implement the anti-global warming law that was enacted a couple of years ago.

With politicians divvying up a big chunk of California's immense economy, those affected by their decisions spend hundreds of millions of dollars each year on "political action" - campaign contributions, lobbyists and public relations operatives, sponsoring or opposing ballot measures, and waging legal battles. But while those millions may sound like a lot, they're a tiny fraction of the hundreds of billions of dollars at stake.


more...
http://www.mercurynews.com/opinion/ci_9664519

[livvy]

5. McCain vs. Obama: how California counts

McCain vs. Obama: how California counts
By Mary Anne Ostrom and Frank Davies
Mercury News
Article Launched: 06/22/2008 01:31:26 AM PDT

With Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain heading to California early this week, the state is helping shape the historic showdown for the presidency, even if it doesn't make anybody's list of battleground states.

Home to progressives, pragmatists and headstrong politicians, California will be a proving ground as political and business leaders take major roles in the campaigns. They are crafting the candidates' agendas on topics ranging from technology to foreign policy, while navigating particularly sensitive issues in the limelight, such as gay marriage and off-shore oil drilling.

And with fundraising records already shattered, California is set to lead that race, too. Already, residents have contributed a staggering $100 million to presidential candidates this election cycle. And hundreds will be attending McCain or Obama fundraisers this week, bringing in another several million dollars by Tuesday night.

Democrats are feeling secure about Obama's chances of winning the state in November, so they are looking at California as a resource.

"My job is not to win California, though we will do that, it's to get the campaign the money to get into places like Ohio and Pennsylvania so they can start now," said California Obama co-chair Steve Westly.

more...

http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_9664453

[livvy]

6. Campaign Cover-ups

Campaign Cover-ups

10:00 PM PDT on Saturday, June 21, 2008

CASSIE MACDUFF


Mark Leggio stood out among Republican campaign contributors in San Bernardino County.

The 43-year-old Upland man and his Mark Christopher Auto Center gave tens of thousands of dollars to GOP candidates for governor, state Assembly and Senate, county offices and city councils.

Those who know him said Leggio also generously supported local charities.

But twice, campaign contributions got him in trouble with the state Fair Political Practices Commission.

more...

http://www.pe.com/columns/cassiemacduff/stories/PE_News_Local_W_cass0622.4b15695.html

[livvy]

7. National

[livvy]

8. The Great Election Robbery of 2008?

June 19, 2008
The Great Election Robbery of 2008?
By Laura S. Washington

Come Nov. 4, the elephant in the polling booth is the possibility that the 2008 presidential election will be stolen — again.

Loser Take All is a new collection of essays edited by Mark Crispin Miller. Subtitled “Election Fraud and the Subversion of Democracy, 2000-2008,” the book reviews a contemporary slew of electoral mischief, hubris and thievery.

Miller has been around this block before. A professor of media, culture and communication at New York University, Miller authored the 2007 book, Fooled Again: The Real Case for Electoral Reform. He is a leading voice on media activism and electoral reform.

Miller wastes no time diving into the gloom and doom. By page three of his wide-ranging, sarcasm-laden introduction, he suggests that the United States is headed toward a fascist state. While “the guardians of the establishment” on both sides of the aisle crow that American Democracy is a shining beacon for the world, Miller writes, our so-called free and fair elections are seriously corrupted. He argues the American media has done its darndest to rewrite history and that the Bush/Cheney “re-election” of 2004 was a “masterpiece of fraud.”

more...

http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3750/the_great_election_robbery_of_2008/

[livvy]

10. Poll to poll: 'Election Day' watches democracy unfold

June 22, 2008

Poll to poll: 'Election Day' watches democracy unfold

By Mark Hinson
DEMOCRAT SENIOR WRITER

The ambitious documentary "Election Day" begins at 4:40 a.m. on Nov. 2, 2004, at an IHOP in Chicago and ends nearly 24 hours later on the front steps of the Gadsden County courthouse in downtown Quincy.

In between those two points, "Election Day" fans out to nine other cities and small towns across the country to observe how America votes. The cumulative effect is a multi-character, multi-tracking drama by the late director Robert Altman ("Nashville") — only it's non-fiction, and it was all filmed simultaneously by an organized cadre of camera crews.

In other words, it feels like a real movie with a cast of colorful characters and natural story arc.

"That's exactly what we were going for," Emmy-nominated director Katy Chevigny, 39, said. "It's not a ninth-grade social-studies class. We didn't want a dry civics lesson. We weren't really interested in the Bush-Kerry horse race, either. We wanted to see how real people really vote."

"Election Day," which was shown as part of the Tallahassee Film Festival in May and was co-produced by former Tallahasseean Jolene Pinder, will have its national television premiere on July 1 as part of the long-running "POV" documentary series on PBS. The POV series kicks off Tuesday night with "Traces of the Trade: A Story from the Deep North" about New England's role in the slave trade.

more...

http://www.tallahassee.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080622/ENT/806220313/1005

Anyone seen this, or have comments/info, etc.? First I've heard of it. (Prob'ly should get out more LOL)

[livvy]

14. Simpleminded Voters

Home / July 5th, 2008; Vol.174 #1 / Feature Simpleminded Voters
By Bruce BowerJune 20th, 2008

Informed citizens avoid information overload by taking strategic shortcuts before casting their ballots
Matt Rota

As the 2008 U.S. presidential election approaches, tens of millions of voters have to make up their minds. They face the task of sifting through media reports, televised debates, political advertisements, campaign literature and conversations with family and friends to identify a candidate who best reflects their political views.

That just may be too much to ask, though. As political scientists have long lamented, the general public knows depressingly little about politics. Most Americans can identify the president but barely half know the name of even one cabinet member and only one-third correctly identify their two U.S. senators or their congressional representative. In surveys, roughly half of registered voters display little understanding of how government works or of current political issues.

Even if a voter knew enough to evaluate each presidential candidate’s positions on diverse issues, he or she would still need to tally pros and cons on those issues for each candidate and determine who most deserved support. Decision researchers in various fields have long favored this exhaustive, coldly logical approach, even if only as an ideal that less methodical thinkers should strive for.

Yet according to many psychologists, people will never think that way. We shun rationality and seek as little information as possible when making judgments, the experts assert. Instead, individuals use strategic shortcuts, also known as rules of thumb or heuristics, to decide. The latter term, of Greek origin, means “serving to find out or discover.” Heuristics require minimal mental effort but prompt irrational and biased judgments — or at least so say some psychologists.

more...

http://www.sciencenews.org/view/feature/id/33352/title/Simpleminded_Voters

[livvy]

9. States

[livvy]

11. OH: Cuyahoga County hopes third voting system is a charm

Sunday June 22, 2008

Cuyahoga County hopes third voting system is a charm
Associated Press

COLUMBUS — The state’s most populous county wants to stick with the company from which it rented voting equipment during the March primary, recommending a deal that would put in place the county’s third voting system since 2006.

Cuyahoga County’s Board of Elections on Friday voted 3-1 to select a ballot-scanning system from Omaha, Neb.-based vendor Election Systems & Software.

The system, which will cost $13.4 million, includes about 1,500 scanners that will be installed in every precinct in the heavily Democratic county for the November presidential contest, Elections Director Jane Platten said.

Cuyahoga, which includes Cleveland and its suburbs, rented 15 high-speed scanners from the vendor for the March 4 primary, when the county switched to paper ballots and counted them at a central location, Platten said.

more...

http://www.chroniclet.com/2008/06/22/cuyahoga-county-hopes-third-voting-system-is-a-charm/

[livvy]

12. IN: 478 Voting Machines Waterlogged

478 voting machines waterlogged
Cost to replace touch screens in Johnson County is $1.67M; lease would be about $335,000
By Jason Thomas
Posted: June 21, 2008

FRANKLIN, Ind. -- Johnson County officials are scrambling to replace nearly 500 voting machines ruined in the recent floods.

The touch-screen machines were stored in the Oren Wright administrative building, which was swamped by 5 feet of water during the June 7 floods. The water displaced several departments and rendered the machines useless.

Time is bearing down on election officials as they piece together a strategy in preparation for the Nov. 4 general election.

"Time is a constraint here," County Clerk Jill Jackson told the county election board Friday. "Normally we would start working on the ballot in August."

Funding is a key issue.

more...

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080621/LOCAL/806210416

[livvy]

13. No ballots saved in two NM precincts in Cibola County

SUNDAY, June 22, 2008

No ballots saved in two NM precincts in Cibola County
By BARRY MASSEY Associated Press Writer
Article Launched: 06/20/2008 05:52:22 PM MDT


SANTA FE—Ballots from the primary election are missing from two Cibola County voting places, which could create difficulties for an automatic recount expected in a razor-thin state Senate race.

The incident also raises questions about New Mexico's paper ballot voting system that was first put into place in 2006 to try to make voting more secure and restore the public's confidence in elections.

Cibola County Clerk Eileen Martinez confirmed Friday that the paper ballots were missing from two precincts. But she said there were printed reports from vote tabulators used in the two polling places. The printouts show the election results for each office. The county was able to canvass the results of the June 3 primary using that information. There also are electronic memory cards from the tabulators that store results from the polling places.

Martinez said she hasn't been able to determine what happened to the ballots.


more...
http://www.lcsun-news.com/ci_9651252

[Wilms]

15. NJ: Judge rules public can see voting machine test results

Judge rules public can see voting machine test results

by Diane C. Walsh/The Star-Ledger

Friday June 20, 2008

A Superior Court judge in Trenton today agreed to overturn her ruling barring computer experts from publicizing test results of electronic voting machines.

The move was a victory for the American Civil Liberties Union and New Jersey media organizations that argued the public should be privy to the results before the presidential election.

"This is a historic moment. This is the first time a court has recognized the public's right to examine voting computers," said Penny Venetis, a professor at Rutgers Law Clinic who is representing the plaintiffs.

snip

The tests, conducted by Princeton University computer experts, will begin June 30. The final report will be released in late September, roughly one month before the November election.

snip

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2008/06/judge_lifts_gag_order_on_votin.html


Discussion:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x504603

[livvy]

16. TN: Paper backup required by state (by Nov. 2010)

June 20, 2008


Paper backup required by state

New law mandates ballot hard copies


Montgomery County voters won't face any new equipment this year, according to Administrator of Elections Vickie Koelman. The voting machines will be the same as they were in 2006.

After Election Day in November, however, things eventually will change here and across the state. The state Legislature approved a measure this session that requires the use of paper ballots and optical scanners.

All counties must switch to optical scan machines by the November 2010 elections.

Paper ballots may sound like a step back on the technology scale. If a recount is necessary, however, a paper backup adds credibility to the count numbers. Random samplings also can test the accuracy of the voting machines.

a bit more...

http://www.theleafchronicle.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080620/OPINION01/806200318

[livvy]

17. AL: State Looks at Online Voting Systems

June 20, 2008


State looks at online voting systems

By Jenn Rowell

Online voting is inevitable, Alabama's Secretary of State Beth Chapman says.

Given that fact, she poses a question.

"Are we going to be on the front end of that or the back end of it?"

On Thursday, Chapman hosted the third meeting of the recently created task force on military and overseas voting. Chapman chairs the group founded by Gov. Bob Riley at her request.

At the meeting, three vendors briefed task force members, military members, state officials and residents on the capabilities of their systems. Currently, they are the only companies facilitating state and national elections worldwide. It was the first time they had assembled in one place, Chapman said.

more...

http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080620/NEWS02/806200325/1009

[livvy]

18. AL: Military Voting Systems To Be Demonstrated

Military voting systems to be demonstrated
6/19/2008, 5:58 p.m. CDT
By BOB JOHNSON
The Associated Press

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Alabama Secretary of State Beth Chapman said Thursday that she would like to have a system in place by the 2010 governor's election to allow overseas military personnel to vote online.

If the Legislature agrees to allow Internet voting, Alabama would be the first state in the country to allow full-scale voting on the Internet by military personnel. But one key legislator says he is skeptical that a system can be devised to keep ballots secure.

Adam Thompson, Help America Vote Act coordinator for the secretary of state's office, said Okaloosa County, Fla., plans a trial run in November to allow some overseas soldiers to vote by Internet.

But Chapman hopes Alabama will be the first to go statewide. In 2006, Alabama was sued by the U.S. Justice Department because there was not enough time between party primaries and runoffs to allow military personnel overseas to vote. As a result, runoff elections in 2006 and this year were moved to six weeks after the primaries.

more...

http://www.al.com/newsflash/regional/index.ssf?/base/news-36/1213916954260300.xml&storylist=alabamanews

[livvy]

19. NJ: Public Can Now Check Voting Machines

Public can now check voting machines
By TOM BALDWIN • Gannett State Bureau • June 21, 2008

TRENTON — A state Superior Court judge Friday pulled long-feuding parties together in a pact that allows the public to view and check the veracity of electronic voting machines lacking a receipt or paper trail.

"I think this is right," said Judge Linda Feinberg as she waived her proposed pact in front of the attorneys for the two sides. She sternly added later, "If anybody violates this protective order, there are going to be serious consequences."

"This," said plaintiff's attorney Penny Venetis, "is the first time a court has ordered the public can check a voting machine."

"I am enormously happy," said Irene Goldman, chairwoman of the group that sued for access to the machines, the Princeton-based Coalition for Peace Action.

more...



http://www.courierpostonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080621/NEWS01/806210337/1006/news01

Another article and discusssion posted by Wilms.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x504603

And another article.

Voting machine test results will be released to the public
Saturday, June 21, 2008
DIANE C. WALSH
Star-Ledger Staff
The American Civil Liberties Union succeeded yesterday in persuading a Superior Court judge to allow computer experts examining New Jersey's electronic voting machines to release their results to the public.

Judge Linda Feinberg agreed to revise her original order, which barred two Princeton University professors from discussing their findings until after the trial on the accuracy of the machines is finished.

more...

http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/index.ssf?/base/news-13/1214028319208210.xml&coll=1

[livvy]

25. MS: Wilkinson voters head back to polls Tuesday to decide Primary

Wilkinson voters head back to polls Tuesday to decide Primary
By Vershal Hogan (Contact) | The Natchez Democrat

Published Saturday, June 21, 2008

WOODVILLE — More than 10 months after the initial elections, Wilkinson County voters will head to the polls Tuesday to decide the results of the August 2007 Democratic primary in what is essentially a court ordered do-over.

Candidates Lynn Tolliver Delaney, Jessie Stewart and Kirk Smith challenged the results of the elections for circuit clerk, sheriff and district two supervisor, soon after the initial election.

Delaney is seeking the position of circuit clerk, Stewart is pursuing the sheriff’s seat and Smith is looking to reclaim the supervisor’s chair for district two.

All three were reportedly leading in the polls until the paper ballots — affidavit, absentee and curbside ballots — were counted.

more...

http://www.natchezdemocrat.com/news/2008/jun/21/wilkinson-voters-head-back-polls-tuesday-decide-pr/

[livvy]

26. County says no Illinois voters in East Chicago

County says no Illinois voters in East Chicago


June 20, 2008

By Andy Grimm Post-Tribune staff writer

CROWN POINT -- County elections officials say they've found no evidence of Illinois residents voting illegally at East Chicago polling places in the May 6 primary.

In response to complaints from East Chicago Republican Party Chairman Raymond Lopez, Elections Director Sally Lasota said Thursday that several would-be voters presented Illinois identification at one city precinct but were turned away without being allowed to vote.

"There is nothing so far to indicate anybody was able to vote that shouldn't have," Lasota said.

Poll inspectors reported at least two people presented Illinois driver's licenses at Precinct 14 in East Chicago, inside the 151st Street Center. The pair said they recently moved to Hammond from Illinois, Lasota said, but were not allowed to vote because they were not registered in Indiana. The East Chicago precinct also would not have been the right precinct for them to vote, she added.

more...

http://www.post-trib.com/news/1015931,lcelex.article

[livvy]

28. Indiana voter ID law challenged again

Indiana voter ID law challenged again
By Laura Misjak
Posted: June 20, 2008

A requirement for Indiana voters to show their photo ID at the polls isn’t only a hassle, it’s unconstitutional, the League of Women Voters of Indiana is arguing.

The league, taking its case to court, filed a lawsuit against the Indiana Secretary of State in Marion County Superior Court on Friday, less than two months after the U.S. Supreme Court voted 6-3 to allow the 2005 law to stand.


“This is a challenge under Indiana’s constitution. It has different language and is interpreted in different ways” than the federal laws that were considered by the Supreme Court, said Karen Celestino-Horseman, an attorney representing the league and a former Indianapolis City-County Council member.

Under the state’s Constitution, voters must be 18, residents of the state and U.S. citizens before they are allowed to cast a ballot. An amendment added in the 1800s requires voters to register, but there is no requirement to show a photo ID, Celestino-Horseman said.

more...

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080620/NEWS05/80620045

[livvy]

20. World

[livvy]

21. Zimbabwe's Opposition Leader Withdraws From Runoff (Update1)

Zimbabwe's Opposition Leader Withdraws From Runoff (Update1)

By Brian Latham

June 22 (Bloomberg) -- Zimbabwe's main opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, won't contest this week's runoff election because he says a state-sponsored campaign of violence has resulted in the deaths of 86 of his party's supporters.

At least 200,000 people have been forced to flee their homes and more than 20,000 homes have been destroyed because of the government's ``violent retributive agenda,'' Tsvangirai said in an e-mailed statement today.

``We in the MDC cannot ask them to cast their vote on June 27 when that vote will cost them their life,'' he said. ``Therefore, we in the MDC have resolved that we will no longer participate in this violent, illegitimate sham of an election process.''

Zimbabwe is scheduled to hold a second round of voting on June 27 in which Tsvangirai hoped to end President Robert Mugabe's 28-year rule of the southern African country. Tsvangirai won the most votes in the first round without garnering the 50 percent needed to avoid a runoff.

more...

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601116&sid=aYbY_5dPsxZQ&refer=africa

[livvy]

22. Opinion, Editorial, OpEd, etc.

[livvy]

23. Reaction to Obama Was a Shock

June 22, 2008

Terry Gossard
Reaction to Obama was a shock

Over the years I've come to appreciate the many fine qualities that typically characterize the people of Appalachia, including their neighborliness, graciousness, love of family and kindred spirit.
Over the years I've come to appreciate the many fine qualities that typically characterize the people of Appalachia, including their neighborliness, graciousness, love of family and kindred spirit. Embedded in this unique culture, however, is a disturbing character trait that unfortunately for some, occasionally tends to raise its ugly head.

I'm not an anthropologist, and I find it puzzling to see such reluctance among many to accept change of any magnitude when it is perceived to be an infringement upon the so-called "Appalachian culture."

Most recently in both West Virginia and Kentucky we've seen this manifest itself in an outright rejection of Barack Obama as a viable and acceptable candidate for president. The question then becomes, is this bigotry, or is it someone who is rejected simply because the culture is exclusive of anything or anyone who disturbs the deep-seated biases and beliefs that lie dormant until an "Obama-like event" occurs?

This is tantamount to a generational gap that has evolved over time into a somewhat isolated electorate that chooses not be burdened with the facts or, at the very least, is not interested in the facts at all. It appears to be a culture that has remained static in many respects while the rest of the world has moved on.

more...

http://wvgazette.com/Opinion/Op-EdCommentaries/200806210058

[livvy]

24. Will states topple the Electoral College with new movement?

June 22
Will states topple the Electoral College with new movement?
PAMELA M. PRAH Stateline.org

First it was the presidential primary calendar that state legislatures across the country upended to give their voters a greater say this year in choosing candidates. Now a few states are orchestrating an overhaul of the way voters select the U.S. president.

Voters this fall will still use the Electoral College to determine the next occupant of the White House, but a movement is bubbling at the state level to bypass the process and instead ensure future presidents are the candidates who get the most votes nationwide — an outcome not always guaranteed under the current system.

Maryland last year became the first state to approve a “national popular vote” compact that would allocate all of its 10 electoral votes to the candidate who wins the most votes nationwide, rather than to the candidate who garners the most votes in the state, as is the case under the Electoral College.

New Jersey, Hawaii and Illinois have since followed suit and passed laws that would allot their collective 40 electoral votes the same way. Identical bills are moving in Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina and Rhode Island, which have a total of 62 electoral votes.

more...

http://www.timesleader.com/opinion/Will_states_topple_the_Electoral_College_with_new_movement__06-22-2008.html

[livvy]

27. The Broken Contract Lies Upon My Office Floor, Part 3 with Richard Hayes Phillips

Series Archives:

Part one: Richard Hayes Phillips,Author of "Witness to a Crime: A Citizens' Audit of an American Election"

http://www.opednews.com/articles/Exclusive-with-Richard-Hay-by-Joan-Brunwasser-080612-229.html

Part two: Being Multi-faceted in a Two-Dimensional Society, part 2, with R. H. Phillips, Author of "Witness to a Crime"

http://www.opednews.com/articles/Exclusive-with-Richard-Hay-by-Joan-Brunwasser-080617-109.html

Next installment: The Silence of the Mainstream Media



June 20, 2008

The Broken Contract Lies Upon My Office Floor, Part 3 with Richard Hayes Phillips

By Joan Brunwasser


The Broken Contract Lies upon my Office Floor
Part 3 of Exclusive with Richard Hayes Phillips, Author of Witness to a Crime: A Citizens’ Audit of an American Election

This piece is about how close this book came to disappearing into a black hole. It got me thinking about just how much of what is really newsworthy never sees the light of day. Project Censored* has been documenting uncovered news for over three decades. Help make sure this story – the theft of the 2004 election - stays in the public eye.

***

“I'm pretty sure it was your interview I heard on an NPR broadcast some months ago,” she said. “I had to pull the car over and finish listening, stunned and repulsed. This is a fascinating and horrifying story and one that certainly needs to be told.”

I received these words by e-mail from Kent State University Press on Tuesday, June 12, 2007, a scant four days after mailing them a letter of inquiry and the Introduction to my book on the fraudulent 2004 election in Ohio. I had sent the same package to seven carefully selected publishers, and I heard back from three of them on the same day – quite an auspicious achievement for an unagented author with an unsolicited manuscript.

more...

http://www.opednews.com/articles/The-Broken-Contract-Lies-U-by-Joan-Brunwasser-080620-432.html

[livvy]

29. A couple 'toons...don't forget to check out the ones under each category, too!

And...have a great week ahead!

[tbyg52]

30. K,R,&thanks!

:hi:

[eppur_se_muova]

31. Thomas Nast, a cartoonist from the days of the Robber Barons ...

how sad that his work is as appropriate now as it was then.