Global
In next week’s presidential elections women could, in effect, lose ownership of their bodies if the Romney-Ryan ticket, with its hard right stance wins. Even if Romney loses it will be a sad day for women in some quarters if candidates such as Akin and Mourdock, with their frightening, absurdist and fundamentalist leanings, are successful.
These candidates also may have an advantage that has not been publicized widely enough. Our elections are controlled by an international, privatized electronic voting industry, making it hard to know who actually owns the voting machines we use. Based on my research on rigged elections, I believe there is a deliberate effort to obscure some ownership issues. Records show that Unisyn, owned by a Malaysian gambling company, Scytl, ES&S, Dominion, Sequoia and Hart InterCivic are major players. There have been allegations that Tagg, Ann and Mitt Romney own Hart InterCivic, whose machines will be used in parts of Ohio and in Colorado (both swing states), and other states too.
These candidates also may have an advantage that has not been publicized widely enough. Our elections are controlled by an international, privatized electronic voting industry, making it hard to know who actually owns the voting machines we use. Based on my research on rigged elections, I believe there is a deliberate effort to obscure some ownership issues. Records show that Unisyn, owned by a Malaysian gambling company, Scytl, ES&S, Dominion, Sequoia and Hart InterCivic are major players. There have been allegations that Tagg, Ann and Mitt Romney own Hart InterCivic, whose machines will be used in parts of Ohio and in Colorado (both swing states), and other states too.
Suddenly we all know Sandy, the superstorm that whacked New York City, left 55 people dead across the East Coast — and about that many in Haiti as well — knocked out power to millions and caused some $20 billion worth of property damage.
What I find fascinating is that the storm has a name.
Sandy failed to bring climate change into the presidential election season — though the warmer waters of the Atlantic and rising sea levels, resulting from human activity, aggravated the storm’s intensity — but “she” claimed quasi-celebrity status as a killer mega-storm, thus manifesting a deeply pre-scientific human need to personalize nature, indeed, to be one with nature, as so many indigenous people still are.
The naming of tropical storms may seem trivial, but I’m thinking maybe it’s anything but. Climate change denial rests on the assumption that nature is inert and the planet on which we have evolved is a dead rock. Therefore, it doesn’t matter what we do to it.
What I find fascinating is that the storm has a name.
Sandy failed to bring climate change into the presidential election season — though the warmer waters of the Atlantic and rising sea levels, resulting from human activity, aggravated the storm’s intensity — but “she” claimed quasi-celebrity status as a killer mega-storm, thus manifesting a deeply pre-scientific human need to personalize nature, indeed, to be one with nature, as so many indigenous people still are.
The naming of tropical storms may seem trivial, but I’m thinking maybe it’s anything but. Climate change denial rests on the assumption that nature is inert and the planet on which we have evolved is a dead rock. Therefore, it doesn’t matter what we do to it.
It seems as though most Americans don’t know that the Obama administration has backed off its commitment to stop a Canadian oil firm from bringing dangerous and toxic tar sands from the fields in Alberta, Canada to oil refineries in Texas. But in East Texas, the farm lands and forests have been seized for the Canadian company through eminent domain and are already being destroyed for the foreign pipeline.
Yesterday, October 24, Leslie Harris of Dallas, Texas and I visited the “boys” in the trees, the great activists who have been living in the trees along the Trans Canada Keystone XL pipeline that is carving a terrible scar in the countryside of East Texas. Earlier in the day we had been meeting with dozens of Tar Sands Blockade (TSB) activists who are preparing campaigns in East Texas and Houston to challenge the XL pipeline.
Activism in the Air
The Tar Sands Blockade (TSB) fellows are living in tree houses built high in the branches of tall oak trees next to the piles of sandy soil that has been dug up and mounded 30 feet high. Huge green pipes lay on the side of the trench sliced deep into the Texas soil.
Yesterday, October 24, Leslie Harris of Dallas, Texas and I visited the “boys” in the trees, the great activists who have been living in the trees along the Trans Canada Keystone XL pipeline that is carving a terrible scar in the countryside of East Texas. Earlier in the day we had been meeting with dozens of Tar Sands Blockade (TSB) activists who are preparing campaigns in East Texas and Houston to challenge the XL pipeline.
Activism in the Air
The Tar Sands Blockade (TSB) fellows are living in tree houses built high in the branches of tall oak trees next to the piles of sandy soil that has been dug up and mounded 30 feet high. Huge green pipes lay on the side of the trench sliced deep into the Texas soil.
Earlier this year President Obama signed the National Defense Authorization Act into law. It allows for the indefinite detention without trial for any U.S. citizen deemed to be a terrorist or an accessory to terrorism.
Some might have thought that there would be wide-spread revolt among people who voted for Obama against legalized indefinite detention. And there was some protest, mostly led by Chris Hedges (who did not vote for Obama), with some legal victories against the law.
But the political success seems to have come from the law itself -- in favor of Obama. Instead of provoking a revolt, the result seems to be this:
Obama is in effect telling his supporters: "You better support me more, because I just signed this law saying the president of the U.S. can detain anyone he wants. Now, do you want me to have this power, or do you want Mitt Romney to have this power?"
And so, perversely, Obama by signing a law most of his supporters almost certainly didn't want, has actually ensured a greater grip on them. He has in effect indefinitely detained them.
Some might have thought that there would be wide-spread revolt among people who voted for Obama against legalized indefinite detention. And there was some protest, mostly led by Chris Hedges (who did not vote for Obama), with some legal victories against the law.
But the political success seems to have come from the law itself -- in favor of Obama. Instead of provoking a revolt, the result seems to be this:
Obama is in effect telling his supporters: "You better support me more, because I just signed this law saying the president of the U.S. can detain anyone he wants. Now, do you want me to have this power, or do you want Mitt Romney to have this power?"
And so, perversely, Obama by signing a law most of his supporters almost certainly didn't want, has actually ensured a greater grip on them. He has in effect indefinitely detained them.
When British economist and public intellectual John Maynard Keynes wrote his famous essay entitled “The Economic Consequences of Mr. Churchill” in 1925, the British economy was still suffering the consequences of WWI, and was slowly sliding into the worst economic depression in world history. Today, as the Great Recession continues to devastate millions of people’s lives in the United States, Americans will decide in a matter of days whether they want Mr. Obama to continue on as President for another four-year term, or elect Governor Romney to replace him in the White House. As an economist who is committed to social justice, I would like to offer a brief assessment of President Obama’s economic policies during his first term, and speculate on the likely direction that the U.S. will take under a second term Obama administration versus a possible Romney White House.
The Free Press has obtained internal memos from the senior staff of the Ohio Secretary of State's office confirming the installation of untested and uncertified election tabulation software. Yesterday, the Free Press reported that "experimental" software patches were installed on ES&S voting machines in 39 Ohio counties. (see Will "experimental" software patches affect the Ohio vote?).
Election Counsel Brandi Laser Seske circulated a memo dated November 1st renewing the already shaky justification for installing software made by Election Systems and Solutions on vote tabulation equipment used in 39 Ohio counties. The letter to Ohio Secretary of State personnel Matt Masterson, Danielle Sellars, Myra Hawkins, Betsy Schuster, and Ohio's Director of Elections Matthew Damschroder, clarified the dubious justification for not complying with the legal requirements for the examination of all election related equipment.
Election Counsel Brandi Laser Seske circulated a memo dated November 1st renewing the already shaky justification for installing software made by Election Systems and Solutions on vote tabulation equipment used in 39 Ohio counties. The letter to Ohio Secretary of State personnel Matt Masterson, Danielle Sellars, Myra Hawkins, Betsy Schuster, and Ohio's Director of Elections Matthew Damschroder, clarified the dubious justification for not complying with the legal requirements for the examination of all election related equipment.
BANGKOK, Thailand -- Thailand's popularly elected, pro-U.S. government suffered a rude wake-up when thousands of people gathered on Sunday (October 28) demanding the military stage an immediate coup.
"I would love to see a coup, because I know this puppet government is here to rob the country," said retired Gen. Boonlert Kaewprasit, the self-declared leader of a new, attractive, anti-government group called Pitak Siam, or Protecting Siam.
Siam is Thailand's pre-1939 name, and is often used for nostalgic, commerical or other reasons.
"If I had the power, a coup would have been staged by now," said Gen. Boonlert, 69, while calling for the protest which was held in Bangkok's prestigious Royal Turf Club stadium.
With his slick black, front-wave hairstyle and frequent big grin, Gen. Boonlert is suddenly the jittery government's newest enemy.
He projects himself as a defender of the nation and its monarchy, and has powerful connections among politicians who opposed Thailand's elected governments in the past.
"I would love to see a coup, because I know this puppet government is here to rob the country," said retired Gen. Boonlert Kaewprasit, the self-declared leader of a new, attractive, anti-government group called Pitak Siam, or Protecting Siam.
Siam is Thailand's pre-1939 name, and is often used for nostalgic, commerical or other reasons.
"If I had the power, a coup would have been staged by now," said Gen. Boonlert, 69, while calling for the protest which was held in Bangkok's prestigious Royal Turf Club stadium.
With his slick black, front-wave hairstyle and frequent big grin, Gen. Boonlert is suddenly the jittery government's newest enemy.
He projects himself as a defender of the nation and its monarchy, and has powerful connections among politicians who opposed Thailand's elected governments in the past.
With election day less than a week away, the spectre of another stolen election is upon us. The airwaves and internet are at last filling with discussion of this possibility.
When the first stories were broken by a handful of us after the fiascos of Florida 2000 and Ohio 2004, there was a stunning silence, followed by a wide range of attacks. Today the warnings about the possibility of another election theft are taken with increasing gravity.
The question is deep and profound, with a huge body of research and writing surrounding it.
But among the many concerns, two are key: massive disenfranchisement, and manipulation of the electronic vote count.
DISENFRANCHISEMENT:
When the first stories were broken by a handful of us after the fiascos of Florida 2000 and Ohio 2004, there was a stunning silence, followed by a wide range of attacks. Today the warnings about the possibility of another election theft are taken with increasing gravity.
The question is deep and profound, with a huge body of research and writing surrounding it.
But among the many concerns, two are key: massive disenfranchisement, and manipulation of the electronic vote count.
DISENFRANCHISEMENT:
Why did the Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted's office, in an end run around Ohio election law, have "experimental" software patches installed on vote counting tabulators in up to 39 Ohio counties? Voting rights activists are concerned that these uncertified and untested software patches may alter the election results.
During the 2004 presidential election, the Free Press reported that election officials observed technicians from the ES&S voting machine company and Triad computer maintenance company installing uncertified and untested software patches on voting machines in 44 Ohio counties prior to the election. Software patches are usually installed to "update" or change existing software. These software patch updates were considered suspect by election protection activists, in light of all the voting machine anomalies found during the 2004 election in Ohio.