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On voter registration, the Columbus Dispatch gets it right, almost

Is election reform brewing in the Buckeye State? In an extensive and well-argued editorial the Dispatch made the case for the integration of key state government databases into a statewide electronic voter registration system under the control of the Secretary of State’s office, as proposed in pending legislation.

Ohio’s voter registration databases are in disarray. In the 2008 presidential election, many voters found their right to vote challenged in Ohio because of discrepancies in state and federal databases. For example, under Social Security I am listed as Robert John Fitrakis, but on my driver’s license it’s Robert J. Fitrakis. On the voting rolls I’m Robert Fitrakis. If the states would integrate their databases and establish a single form for voter registration, bizarre challenges over middle initials and names may become a thing of the past.

2008 Ohio Election Protection Report

2008 Ohio Election Protection Report
by
Columbus Institute for Contemporary Journalism
Election Integrity
The Green Party of Ohio

Presented December 2, 2008 at the Ohio Secretary of State Elections Summit

Introduction

The November Presidential election was a historic landslide victory for Barack Obama. A closer election would have magnified the many troubling aspects of our election systems, despite the improvements made by Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner.

The Ohio Green Party, Election Integrity, and the Columbus Institute for Contemporary Journalism deployed a team of observers, exit pollsters, and Video the Vote volunteers throughout Ohio counties on Election Day. Observers monitored the opening of precincts, activities throughout the day, and the closing of polls. Other observers spent election night watching the activities at county Board of Elections (BOE) offices. Exit pollsters surveyed voters leaving the polls and videographers were on hand to videotape the day’s happenings.

For Obama it's one (term) if by war, two if by peace

As the world awaits Barack Obama's decision on Afghanistan, a lethal myth has spread. It says that standing up to the military will doom him to be a single-term president.

The "one if by peace" myth comes most recently from Garry Wills in the New York Review of Books. Wills mourns that Obama would commit political suicide by pulling out of both Iraq and Afghanistan because "the charges from various quarters would be toxic---that he was weak, unpatriotic, sacrificing the sacrifices that have been made, betraying our dead, throwing away all former investments in lives and treasure."

Against all that, says Wills, "he could have little defense in the quarters where such charges would originate."

Coming from an astute observer like Wills, this is a stunning analysis---and dead wrong.

In fact, the only way Obama can begin to think about getting re-elected is to leave the Afghan quagmire and do the same from Iraq.

The key phrase here is "the quarters where such charges would originate."

Come together right now

If you have an interest in grassroots organizing, international alliance building, the peace movement, the labor movement, the conversion of the U.S. economy from weapons to human needs, the preservation of life on earth (come on, admit it), the weaponization of space, or the autobiographical insights of smart and determined people, then I cannot more strongly recommend that you get a copy of "Come Together Right Now: Organizing Stories from a Fading Empire," by my friend and ally Bruce Gagnon.

Isolated incident

Moving forward from the latest massacre, three narratives — well, one of them is no more than the familiar, all-purpose shrug of experts, puzzled over yet another “isolated incident” — are vying to explain what happened and set the direction of our future.

Is Major Nidal Malik Hasan, the alleged killer of 13 people at Fort Hood last week, A) a Muslim terrorist; B) a solitary guy who snapped; or C) a broken healer and victim of the misbegotten war on terror?

While the reality may be more complex than we can imagine, and ultimately unknowable — and while national grief demands, at the very least, a refusal to jump to quick, convenient conclusions and politicize the tragedy — no healing at all can happen without a simultaneous groping for understanding. Let our explanations, I pray, go deeper than the suspect’s surname. And let them honor the facts of the matter.

Over 2,200 veterans died in 2008 due to lack of health insurance

Harvard researchers say 1.46 million working-age vets lacked health coverage last year, increasing their death rate

A research team at Harvard Medical School estimates 2,266 U.S. military veterans under the age of 65 died last year because they lacked health insurance and thus had reduced access to care. That figure is more than 14 times the number of deaths (155) suffered by U.S. troops in Afghanistan in 2008, and more than twice as many as have died (911 as of Oct. 31) since the war began in 2001.

The researchers, who released their analysis today, pointedly say the health reform legislation pending in the House and Senate will not significantly affect this grim picture.

The Harvard group analyzed data from the U.S. Census Bureau's March 2009 Current Population Survey, which surveyed Americans about their insurance coverage and veteran status, and found that 1,461,615 veterans between the ages of 18 and 64 were uninsured in 2008. Veterans were only classified as uninsured if they neither had health insurance nor received ongoing care at Veterans Health Administration (VA) hospitals or clinics.

The Healthcare Bill

The passing of the healthcare bill in the House of Representatives finally came down to the passing of Stupak Amendment which forbids any federal funding for abortion. Now as the Senate debates the bill, this Amendment will certainly be on one of the front burners.

With abortion being one of the primary issues in the healthcare debate, it would do us all well to take a look at "who" we are talking about when we are talking about abortion. They call her name "Fetus." It is a Latin name that means "Little One."

At conception, she was only about the size of a grain of salt. She began with 23 chromosomes from each of her parents. In that one little cell was the complex genetic blueprint for every detail of Little One’s development—the color of her eyes and hair, her height, her skin tone—it was all there in the first miraculous moment of the beginning of her life.

From the time of her conception, Little One has been quite a remarkable young lady. Only three weeks after conception her heart began to beat and the foundation of her brain, spinal cord and nervous system were already established.

Admiral Mullen announces Afghanistan strategy: prepare to nonviolently resist

This past Wednesday, Admiral Mullen (Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff) announced that the Pentagon will seek additional war funds for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars in 2010. While he did not give a firm dollar amount, the New York Times reported that defense budget analysts are kicking around the number of $50 billion. The Times also reported that Jack Murtha, Chair of the Defense Subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee, indicated on October 30 that he expects the supplemental spending bill for 2010 to be in the range of $40 billion. The final dollar amount won't be known until the White House submits its "emergency" supplemental spending request to Congress, most likely around February 2.

In the immortal words of Coach Vince Lombardi: "What the hell is going on out there?"

We should be so lucky if it were a simple matter of the Green Bay Packers screwing up the power sweep.

Instead, it's a matter of the Obama Administration now leading us down the path of the most expensive year in war funding since President Bush began the so-called "Global War on Terror" (now morphed into the

America won't lift sanctions unless Suu Kyi is freed for election

BANGKOK, Thailand -- Burma must free Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest and allow her to participate in a nationwide election, otherwise the vote will not be credible and U.S. economic sanctions will not be lifted, a U.S. State Department official warned on Thursday (November 5) after meeting her in Rangoon.

After "listening" to Mrs. Suu Kyi during a meeting on Wednesday (November 4), however, U.S. State Department Deputy Assistant Secretary Scot Marciel was unwilling, or unable, to reveal what she said.

"It was a private conversation," a testy, tight-lipped Mr. Marciel said.

He also dodged questions about demands by some to put Burma's military regime leaders on trial for alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes committed during their bloody crackdowns against pro-democracy demonstrations and military campaigns against ethnic guerrillas.

When asked if he favored such prosecutions against the regime, Mr. Marciel continued walking toward his waiting car and replied: "I think I have officially finished answering questions."

Eight reasons the Democrats lost Virginia & New Jersey—and how to recover

Losing the Virginia and New Jersey governorships hurt. Local factors played a part, but these are major states. So it matters why the Democrats lost them. Here are eight reasons, with lessons on how to reclaim the momentum of just a year ago:

Bad candidates.

The consensus choice, but worth stating before moving on to reasons less obvious. Creigh Deeds ran an awful campaign, even saying he’d reject a healthcare public option. Jon Corzine’s ratings were disastrous from the beginning and his Wall Street background combined with the massive indictments of so many New Jersey Democrats to offer the worst possible symbolism. You have to give people something to fight for, and if our candidates are this unpopular, we’d better get better ones.

Blue Dogs.

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