Home add your blog Archives Search Book Reviews Forum Contact RSS FEED

This site is an rss/xml news reader containing our favorite feeds. All articles are the copyrighted material of the blogs that wrote them.

Voter Fraud, Caught On Tape

post from TPMMuckraker on 03 November 2009 04:33:00 PM. © TPMMuckraker

Election Journal, the site that last year released a widely-played video of the New Black Panthers supposedly scaring voters from the polls, posted a video today which they claim vindicates their warnings of voter fraud.

In the 30-second video, posted under the title "Concerns over absentee ballots realized," a New Jersey voter says he gave his name to election officials, only to find that he had already voted.

"I walk in there, tell them my name and it says that I have a mail thing, someone sent it in the mail. But I never sent mine in the mail, so I had to file a provisional in order to be able vote," says the voter, who identifies himself as Mark Allen of Galloway, N.J.

video details and more

The video has also been touted by RedState as, if not proof, then vindication of their claims that the Democrats rigged the New Jersey race via lax absentee-voting laws.

There are a few possible explanations for Allen's trouble, assuming he was telling the truth. One, he was a victim of fraud.

Two, there was a simple clerical error. The second explanation is more plausible when you consider that Mark Allen is a rather common name. It's easy to imagine an official receiving the absentee ballot of another Mark Allen and checking off the wrong one.

Read The Full Article:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TPMmuckraker/~3/6G_tkQoHZcA/voter_fraud_caught_on_
tape.php

Digg this

Look Out, Charlie Crist: Teabagger World
Domination Plan Coming to Florida

post from Firedoglake on 03 November 2009 04:25:20 PM. © Firedoglake

If the NY-23 race yields a teabagger-supported winner, Florida's teabaggers will be emboldened in their attacks against candidate Gov. Charlie Crist in next year's Republican primary.[...]

Read The Full Article:
http://news.firedoglake.com/2009/11/03/teabagger-world-domination-plan-set-charli
e-crist-look-out/

Digg this

The Anti-Choice Democrats Wiling to Derail
Healthcare Reform

post from Daily Kos on 03 November 2009 04:22:03 PM. © Daily Kos

WaPo reports today that a number of anti-choice holdouts among Democrats are "threatening to oppose the measure over the issue of abortion to create a question about its passage."

"I will continue whipping my colleagues to oppose bringing the bill to the floor for a vote until a clean vote against public funding for abortion is allowed," Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) said Monday in a statement. He said last week that 40 Democrats could vote with him to oppose the legislation -- enough to derail the bill.

To be clear, Stupak and his colleagues are joining with Republicans in trying to prevent the bill from coming to the floor at all if their extreme anti-choice amendment is not allowed. Stupak wants to prohibit abortion coverage completely in the exchange, meaning that if a woman wanted reproductive health coverage that included abortion servcies, she'd have to purchase an additional insurance rider. That would mean that a young woman covered by her parent's plan would have to negotiate with her parents for the coverage. Or a woman in an abusive relationship would have to negotiate that with her partner. Women would have to plan in advance, think ahead to whether any circumstance in their future life might lead them to have an unplanned or unwanted pregnancy and buy that extra insurance, just in case.

It's a backdoor attempt by Stupak and his colleagues to get abortion coverage excluded from private insurance, as well as public--which has been in place since 1976 with the Hyde Amendment, a rider that has been attached to appropriations bills for the past 33 years. The proposed House bill already goes much further in restricting access to abortion services than pro-choice advocates like, and in many ways marks a significant step back for choice. One of the primary issues is that it would codify the Hyde Amendment, making it permanent law.

But the Stupak amendment is much worse. He says he as some 40 Members with him to vote no on letting the bill onto the floor without banning abortion. It's not clear that he actually does have 40. We know of these 29 who are with him. Incidentally, 28 of them are men. Shocking, I know.

Jason Altmire
John Barrow
Dan Boren
Bobby Bright
Chris Carney
Travis Childers
Jerry Costello
Kathy Dahlkemper
Artur Davis
Lincoln Davis
Steve Driehaus
Parker Griffith
Tim Holden
Dale Kildee
Frank Kratovil
Dan Lipinski
Jim Marshall
Jim Matheson
Mike McIntyre
Charlie Melancon
Michael McMahon
Alan Mollohan
Jim Oberstar
Collin Peterson
Nick Rahall
Mike Ross
Heath Shuler
John Tanner
Gene Taylor

As Chris says, this makes just 30 members along with Stupak, not enough to stop the bill from coming to the floor unless he can find nine more. He says he has 40 some, so it's possible. So if you happen to recognize any of those above names as being your Representative, give them a call and let them know that you don't appreciate they're working with Republicans to attempt to derail this reform.

Read The Full Article:
http://feeds.dailykos.com/~r/dailykos/index/~3/hXCZkODnFCY/-The-Anti-Choice-Democ
rats-Wiling-to-Derail-Healthcare-Reform

Digg this

2009 Elections Preview: Washington Referendum 71
(Domestic Partnership)

post from FiveThirtyEight: Politics Done Right on 03 November 2009 04:19:00 PM. © FiveThirtyEight: Politics Done Right

Washington (state) -- Referendum 71 -- "This bill would expand the rights, responsibilities, and obligations accorded state-registered same-sex and senior domestic partners to be equivalent to those of married spouses, except that a domestic partnership is not a marriage. Should this bill be Approved or Rejected?"

The Positions: An Approve (Yes) vote upholds the expanded domestic partnership rights approved by the state legislature. A Reject (No) vote withdraws those rights and benefits, although it does not overturn domestic partnership itself.

The thing to notice is that the language is the functional opposite here of what it was in Maine or California. An affirmative (approve) vote is good news for same-sex couples, and a negative (reject) vote is bad for them. This has caused some confusion; one pollster has stated that as much as 10 percent of the electorate might vote in a way opposite to their true intentions.

The Polls: The only independent polling in the race is from SurveyUSA, which shows the Approve side winning 50-43, an improvement from 45-42 a month ago. GQR also polled the race on behalf of the pro-domestic partnership group Washington Families Standing Together and showed it passing 53-36, although the usual caveats apply as this is a nonindependent poll.

Analysis: Washington is similar to Maine in certain respects, being white and fairly secular, and since I think the pro-gay marriage side is more likely than not to prevail in Maine, you might think I feel the same way about the initiative in Washington state. Indeed I do feel that way, although the initiatives are not directly comparable. On the one hand, Referendum 71 does not go as far as Maine's Question 1 or California's Proposition 8 since it seeks to reaffirm an "everything but marriage" bill that does not formally bestow the title of marriage upon same-sex couples. On the other hand, a rejection of the referendum would not overturn Washington's 2007 domestic partnership law, but instead only the expanded, marriage-like benefits that were afforded to those couples this year.

Were Washington to vote on a measure to ban domestic partnership outright, it would almost certainly fail and fail badly: by a 58-42 margin, according to my statistical model. A measure to ban gay marriage but not domestic partnership would be much closer; I have such a measure failing 52.5-47.5, but there is a good deal of uncertainty there, and in an off-year election the numbers might be closer to 50:50. Referendum 71 appears to be polling somewhere in between those two goalposts, which makes sense, since it takes Washington somewhere in between domestic partnership and full-blown marriage.

There is also arguably less uncertainty about the outcome in Washington than in Maine. This is because, as in California, most Washingtonians vote by mail, and SurveyUSA has the Approve side leading 53-42 among those who have already voted. A small bit of good fortune for the Approve side is that there is a highly competitive mayoral race in Seattle, which might encourage turnout in that obviously very liberal corner of the state.

The Odds: Although there is a lot of uncertainty in both the polling and the statistical model because of the ambiguity of the measure under consideration, they do tend to point toward the same result: Referendum 71 passing by a margin on the order of 7-10 points. Coupled with what appears to be movement toward the pro-domestic partnership side -- which may reflect voters familiarizing themselves with the language of the ballot -- and what also appears to be an advantage for the Approve side in votes collected thus far, Referendum 71 appears to be fairly safe. I would give about 10-1 odds against its being rejected.

Read The Full Article:
http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2009/11/2009-elections-preview-washington.html

Digg this

Afternoon Edition

post from Docudharma - Front Page on 03 November 2009 04:10:22 PM. © Docudharma - Front Page

Afternoon Edition is an Open ThreadFrom Yahoo News Top Stories1 Karadzic defiant over boycott at first court appearanceby Mariette le Roux, AFP1 hr 5 mins agoTHE HAGUE, Netherlands (AFP) - Bosnian Serb wartime leader Radovan Karadzic defiantly demanded[...]

Read The Full Article:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Docudharma/~3/ZIsrtuiWNyI/afternoon-edition

Digg this

An Open letter to black women: You are beautiful

post from Let's Talk Honestly on 03 November 2009 04:06:40 PM. © Let's Talk Honestly

Check out this open letter from Leonard Pitts a black man and Miami Herald writer in which he not only states that black women are beautiful but explains why:http://www.letstalkhonestly.com/blacknewsblackviews.html

Read The Full Article:
http://glciii.wordpress.com/2009/11/04/an-open-letter-to-black-women-you-are-beau
tiful/

Digg this

Finally, Congress Is On Track With Unemployment
Benefits Extension.

post from Crooks and Liars on 03 November 2009 04:00:18 PM. © Crooks and Liars

It's so predictable, isn't it? Every time there's legislation to help ordinary working people, the Republicans hold it for ransom until they get... tax breaks! Is there any illness for which they don't see tax breaks as the cure?

A $20 billion-plus package of homebuyer and business tax breaks was advanced in the Senate Monday, together with a precedent-setting expansion of unemployment benefits to help carry the jobless through the holiday season.
Ending weeks of delay, all but two Republicans joined Democrats on an 85-2 roll call to cut off debate. Procedural obstacles remain, but passage this week appears all but certain. The House is expected to take up the measure next and send it on to President Barack Obama for his signature.
Concessions to real estate and business interests helped deliver the package, a remarkable political amalgam given the pain so associated with the long-term unemployed.
The homebuyer credit, which remains controversial, will apply to houses worth as much as $800,000; and businesses of all sizes stand to benefit from a tax break first afforded this year just to those with gross receipts of $15 million or less.
But the biggest emotional driver for Democrats is the prospect of hundreds of thousands of workers exhausting their benefits before Thanksgiving and Christmas without some extension.
The bill seeks to fill this gap by adding up to 20 more weeks in aid ? establishing a modern record of 99 weeks when state and federal benefits are counted together. With new unemployment numbers due out Friday, the measure testifies to the enduring joblessness problem even as the economy shows signs of new strength and recovery.

Read The Full Article:
http://crooksandliars.com/susie-madrak/finally-congress-track-unemployment-b

Digg this

Blue Dogs set to lose, urge other Dems to be like
Blue Dogs

While there is some drama in tonight's elections--most notably in Maine and New Jersey--there is[...]

Read The Full Article:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OpenLeft-FrontPage/~3/u7ru7XBfK9g/blue-dogs-set-to
-lose-urge-other-dems-to-be-like-blue-dogs

Digg this

Maine Marriage Equality Update

It's looking like unexpectedly high turnout in Maine today. The conventional wisdom would suggest that's good news for marriage equality supporters.Of course, conventional wisdom and $3.95 will buy you an overpriced cuppa Joe at your local cafe. [...]

Read The Full Article:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Talking-Points-Memo/~3/MBOER5DIYDk/maine_marriage_
equality_update.php

Digg this

Military Facing a Silent, Un-spoken Threat

post from Military Spouse Press - Recent Diaries on 03 November 2009 03:52:04 PM. © Military Spouse Press - Recent Diaries

Extensively used in military, industrial and construction products throughout the 20th century, asbestos was the ideal insulation choice for manufacturers due to its flame resistant and highly durable qualities. Many countries ordered the use of asbestos in many, if not all of its military sectors, including the Navy.

These shipyards were vital in efforts to build and repair ships on the west and east coasts of the country. The military also used asbestos as insulation aircraft, vehicles and buildings.

It is truly amazing that the military allowed the use of this obviously harmful material in their equipment for decades, with no prior information or safety equipment provided to our soliders.

According to the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, hundreds of thousands, if not millions of living veterans were exposed to asbestos-containing material during their service. Asbestos was valued so high that its use was widespread until the 1970's, when it began to be phased out.

Asbestos exposure can cause serious illnesses such as asbestosis and mesothelioma, a severe lung ailment that accounts for three percent of cancer diagnoses in the United States. Asbestos-related illnesses may not appear until 20 to 50 years after exposure, which makes mesothelioma diagnosis even more difficult.

To make matters even worse, the danger for asbestos exposure is still present today with over $194,000 worth of asbestos imported to Iraq in 2003. Aside from daily threats from military assignments and enemy fire, soldiers stationed in Iraq based in the country are at risk because intense desert winds can carry asbestos dust many miles.

Currently, mesothelioma is not readily recognized as a service-related medical ailment. This makes receiving compensation and benefits for their wrongful illness a tough task. However, veterans can apply for Veteran Affairs benefits for asbestos-related illness and must provide proof that their exposure occurred at the time of their military service.

Soldiers have enough to worry about besides asbestos. Quite frankly, it is unacceptable. I am holding a cautious optimism regarding a change in policies enforced on a federal level against the use of asbestos. Until that time comes, it will be through grassroots journalism citizen and solider word of mouth that we can protect our brave men and women from asbestos exposure.

Read The Full Article:
http://www.milspousepress.com/diary/874/military-facing-a-silent-unspoken-threat