You've done everything right. You registered to vote  before October 10th, in the most historic election in modern times. You have your voter registration card in hand, you get to the polls on November 4th, and are told YOU CAN'T VOTE!

How can this happen? Your name may have been systematically wiped from the rolls because it doesn't match with other names you have on file with the state. 

Speaking on Air America Radio,September 22, Robert Kennedy Jr., said:

"There are about 30 scams the Republicans are deliberately using, particularly in the swing states to get Democratic voters off the rolls. These scams originate in the so-called Help America Vote Act (HAVA) which was passed after the Florida debacle in the year 2000. It was originally suggested by Democrats and Republicans but it was passed by a Republican congress with a Republican senate and a Republican president. And instead of reforming what happened in Florida it basically institutionalized all the problems that happened in Florida. And institutionalized a series of impediments that make it very difficult for Democrats to register, for Democrats to vote and then for Democrats to have their vote counted.

    "One of these requirements under HAVA is called "the perfect match" and what that does is little known but it is devastating. A quarter of the voters in Colorado have just been removed from the rolls because of this - just this one scam. And what it does is they use a computer system to compare your registration application to all other government records of you in the state. So they'll look at your social security records, your motor vehicle records and any time you've had any interaction with the government and if there is any information on your voter registration that is different than the information on another government record that they find they remove you from the voting rolls.

"Let me tell you about one other of these scams people should know about. If you're a newly registered voter - and of course the Democrats have done these gigantic registration drives - 12 million people on registration - if you're a new voter you MUST include your license or some other state I.D. when you come to vote. What that means is that if you're a college kid (and college kids now - they're sending in absentee ballots - they're not going to the voting place, they do everything online or they do everything remotely - they don't dream of going to the precinct house voting on election day and waiting in a long line) so if they send in the absentee ballot and they don't include a color copy of their license their vote is going to be thrown into a trash can. And none of these people know this because you have had to read the law in order to know it. So there is no notification for when you fill out your registration form, so all of those 12 million people that the Democrats have registered: those ballots are going to be just thrown out."

 HOW TO WE MAKE SURE OUR VOTES COUNT?

Call your county election board and make sure your name is on the rolls. Just because you have a voter registration card is no guarantee you are still on the rolls. If you sign your name differently - sometimes with an initial - sometimes not: CALL AND MAKE SURE YOU ARE STILL ON THE ROLLS.

 Re-register if you have moved, changed your name or if you have not voted since 2002. 

IF you choose to send in an absentee ballot, fill it out, have it notarized, include a color copy of your license, make a copy for your records. Hand deliver it to your county election board. Get a receipt.

Sending in an absentee ballot the way I described, is the only way to guard against voter machine error.

Am I being paranoid? I don't think so. We watched the 2000 election get snatched away and the 2004 election lost, because we were not prepared for the underhanded, dirty tactics, greedy politicians are willing to stoop, to stay in power.

FOREWARNED IS FOREARMED! Due diligence is required of all of us if we are to take back our country from this broken government.  Please, follow through. CALL YOUR COUNTY ELECTION BOARD NOW!

This election is definitley one for the history books. If nothing else, 2008 will be remembered as the Year of the Woman.  Ignored, placated then tolerated in Washington, women are the new swing voters. Millions of dollars have been spent appealing to the Wal-Mart Woman, the Thinking Woman, the Hillary Woman.

There is an email circulating that touts the women of the suffrage movement. Women without whom, we wouldn't have a dialogue about Hillary Clinton or Sarah Palin, much less a choice.

Eighty-eight years ago women won a 50-year battle to secure our right to vote. Fifty years they fought to get the vote. You might be surprised to know that the first woman to be elected to Congress, Jeannette Rankin, ran on the GOP ticket and won in 1917. 

According the information posted at womenincongress.house.gov, Rankin ran as a 'progressive, pledging to work for a constitutional woman suffrage amendment and emphasizing social welfare issues. A long committed pacifist, she did not shy away from letting voters know how she felt about possible U.S. participation in the European war that had been raging for 2 years.'  She was the only member of Congress to vote against U.S. participation in both WWI and WWII.  He remark about sending young men off to war is classic: "If they are going to have a war, they aught to take the old men and leave the young to propagate the race."

Jeanette Rankin was a college graduate in 1902. A community organizer, a social worker, back when the Grand Old Party was grand.

This year, 85 years after the 19th amendment, women have a choice.  We will be the ones who decide this election. 

In memory of all the suffragettes who fought, went to jail and suffered dire consequences so we could  cast our vote; in honor of all the women (and men) who have passed laws that lift us up enabling us to work without fear of sexual harassment, allowed us to choose if, when and how many children we want; with deep regard to our daughters and granddaughters, we have an obligation to vote a platform that continues that momentum, even if it means not voting for the female candidate. 

Lipstick on a pig. John McCain will need a lot of lipstick to put a pretty face on his lousy record for women's rights. He said this week, on The View that he intends to put judges on the Supreme Court that will overturn RoevWade. To have said that on a show for and about women indicates how incredibly arrogant and out of touch he is to womens issues. He opposed equal pay for women by skipping the vote on the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act; he voted to suspend the Family and Medical Leave Act unless the govenment certified that compliance would not increase business expenses nor provide assistance to businesses to cover costs; he opposed spending $100 million to expand access to preventative services that reduce the number of unintended and teen preganacies and reduce the number of abortions.  That makes sense  doesn't it?  He also voted NO on legislation that would provide funds for programs to teach medically accurate sex education to prevent unintended teen pregnancies. Abstinence -only programs do not work. If they did, we wouldn't be having this debate. McCain doesn't support progrms that work to prevent unintended pregancy, but wants to remove the option to terminate. His thinking is archaic.

Most likely, if you are reading this on your computer-which of course you are:), you won't remember a world without birth control. A world where every time you had sex, you had to worry whether you would have another child within the year. A world where abortion was a crime.  Believe me, I do not believe in abortion as birth control, but I do believe, we -as women- have the right to decide if we have the means, the abilty to raise a child or five. Period. (pun intended)

Straightdope.com states: W. Cates ("Trends in national abortion mortality, United States, 1940-1974," Advances in Planned Parenthood, 1976), states that 1,682 abortion-related deaths were officially reported in 1940. If we guess that this figure represents roughly a quarter of actual mortality due to illegal abortions, we get 6,800 deaths...sex researcher Alfred Kinsey estimated in the 1950s that around 85 percent of illegal abortions were performed by physicians, even if the physicians weren't all in good standing. The fact is that prior to legalization abortion had become relatively safe and easy to obtain - for those who could afford it. Studies done at the time show that the risks were borne disproportionately by those who couldn't, mostly minorities. Were abortion to be recriminalized, that would likely be the case again.

Who would suffer the most if RoevWade were overturned? The poor, of course. Women who's lives and oppurtunities are still marginal. 

We have a choice this election and I will vote my choice. Not this woman. Not this time.

i watched all of the Republican Convention.  As i stated in my last entry, the militarism, the words of war, fight and fear were so rampant, I often felt as though all the air had been sucked right out of me -  a feeling I have had before when subjected to people who can only get their way by intimidation.

The Democratic party has often been described as a party of "nice" people - we're the ones who put flowers in the rifles of the national guard during the anti-war demonstrations in the sixties. We're the ones who started the Peace Corps and won more Nobel Peace prizes (5 Democrats - 3 Republicans). We're the ones who actually go to disaster sites and work (Jimmy Carter and Brad Pitt). And there's that global warming - environmental stuff we have been harping about for the last 30 years. It goes hand-in-hand with love your neighbor and turn the other cheek.

Just like with the school-yard bully, sometimes you have to fight back, and I say Enough is Enough.

The McCain/Palin ticket is lying to the American people.  The lies used to be spread via anonymous emails with trumped up allegations and false accusations against Senator Obama and his family.  Distortions, no LIES about his faith, his background, his platform, his wife.  Now, the McCain Campaign has put out an ad today with the most flagrant lies to date: about themselves!!! And they are spewing them out on the campaign trail.

They are trying to rewrite their own history - hoping the American people are too stupid to check it out for themselves.  You don't have to investigate very hard to see the truth behind the lies. In fact - you can read my blog about Sarah Palin (Birds of a Feather) to see her public record. You can compare the tax plans at a non-partisan site:

http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/411693_CandidateTaxPlans.pdf

And below is a link to the Obama campaign's response.

http://my.barackoba ma.com/truthabou tmavericks 

If you are considering voting for the McCain/Palin ticket, I suggest you seriously look at your vice presidential candidate and her beliefs. When, as an elected official, you use your power to take away peoples' right to information whether it is in the media or the schools or the library - that's fascism. You are one election away from that.

This is serious folks.

I am dead set against withholding information (to teens about contrception), censorship ( pressuring NBC to cut Chris Matthews and Keith Oberman from covering the debates) and book banning (asking the Wasillia librarian how you go about banning books).  People wonder how Hitler took over Germany and that is how. He thought he knew best. He thought he was Right.  He pressured the media, then took it over; he feared what was being taught in schools, so he took them over and withheld information, he banned books.

Little by little you give up your rights. The Patriot Act smashed our rights with little response from the public. Sarah the Barracuda and McSame would love to take your freedom of choice, claim that God and the flag belong only to them and those who think like them.  They have drawn a line in the sand.

It is one thing to vote a party based on issues and it is something else to vote in someone who doesn't acknowledge global warming, someone who said "No thank you to the bridge to nowhere," but KEPT THE MONEY!!!!!!!!!!!  She is lying about that and about Barack Obama's earmarks and tax plan. How is that Christian?  Last time I looked it was number nine of the Ten Commandments. 

But, don't ask Lynn Westmoreland, Conressman from Georgia, who wanted the Ten Commandments placed in the Senate and at the House of Representatives.   He didn't even know what the Ten Commandments were!!!  Yes, he is the same Congressman who last week called the Obama's "uppity." Perhaps he could use a little of their uppity education and not come off as a total moron onl television. To see Congressman Westmorland in all his glory click below, with German subtitles no less:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jd239X4LPa4

Don't even talk to me about kool-aid.  Anyone who could seriously think Sarah Palin is a credible candidate either doesn't have all the facts, has taken too many Valiums (and I wouldn't blame them - the economy is so bad, unemployment is up and homes are being lost) or they are flat stupid.  Anyone who continues to believe the trash perpetrated by so-called Christians, needs our prayers, because the followers of Pat Robinson and James Dobson have drunk the kool-aid. False prophets they are, claiming a monopoly on God. 

I saw a bumper sticker on a car at church that made me smile. It said FOCUS ON YOUR OWN DAMN FAMILY.

Good Advice.

It's late and CNN is re-playing the RNC. Gosh, I missed Senator Graham's speech the first time.  How lucky, :( to have caught it tonight.

Did anyone else notice that as he was speaking about the surge in Iraq, the jumbo-tron had a slide-show of military graveyards and memorials? Just as he stated, "The surge was Victorious" the background was filled with white tombstones of dead soldiers.

Is it just me? Or did any one else feel this night was filled with one too many images of death? Mary Falin got us off to a great start with the Murrow Bombing and we preceded on through all the gory attacks against Americans abroad and at home - leaving out the facts of course that, the Bush Administration had been warned about Al Qaeda and Bin Laden well before 9/11, and did nothing.

I guess we are supposed to remember the fear, and remember the deaths, as a result of us going after Saddam Hussein and not Osama Bin Laden, as a good thing.

Wouldn't it have been better to have shown troops coming home????  Won't it be Victorious when the troops come home for good? It's late and maybe I have head too much Republican fear and loathing of peace and justice. But spreading fear for the sake of spreading fear is just more of the same political tactics the Republicans have used for years.

I have watched both political conventions with great interest. After last week's inspiring speakers of regular people who support Barack Obama - people who are not better off after eight years of George Bush decisions - I am struck by the contrast of McCain testimonials from old Republican faces and CEO's!!

Where are the regular people who support this ticket?  Where is the military?  Where is the discussion of the issues? 

Did you see the 12 retired Generals who support Obama at the DNC????

With no disrespect to women or veterans, I think it takes more than a pretty face and a man with a 35 year old war wound to run our country. McCain's camp has complained for months that Senator Obama is nothing more than a celebrity and last night every speaker spoke about the personality of Senator McCain -who by the way, became a celebrity in 1968 for being a P.O.W. Can you name another P.O.W? And, why was he singled out by the VC who sent interviews of him out to the media? Because his father was an Admiral.  Yes, he is a great American hero, yet, as far as I know, he is only one of a few ( I actually could only find one other) of the 152,527 listed as Vietnam POW/MIA's who has used that experience as a resume for a political career.

In fact, he blocked investigations to find  P.O.W.'s/MiA. See for yourself at www.americablog.com/2008/03/pows-families-former-members-of.html

That, to me, is disrespectful to the families of those men who are still listed as missing, those who have been forgotten, and those who have built lives without the spotlight.

With Sarah Palin, John McCain could not have picked a better candidate for Vice President to support his party's interests.  I found Palin's speech to be self-serving, not informative; belligerent, not challenging.

Isn't it a bit Alice in Wonderland to hear the Republican's scream about sexism, embrace teen pregnancy and raise money for hurricane relief?  It's like they just realized these issues exist!

Click on the link below  to read why no one has taken the stage to say why she made their life better. She vetoed programs all right; programs that impact health care, schools, seniors, a library.  Sad, very sad.

 Palin v. Reality

Exerpt from Mark Kleiman's Palin v. Reality post on www.samefacts.com

 

REALITY: PALIN WAS FOR THE BRIDGE TO NOWHERE BEFORE SHE WAS AGAINST IT.

October 2006" Palin Supported Bridge To Nowhere. In 2006, Palin was asked, "Would you continue state funding for the proposed Knik Arm and Gravina Island bridges?" She responded, "Yes. I would like to see Alaska's infrastructure projects built sooner rather than later. The window is now--while our congressional delegation is in a strong position to assist." [Anchorage, 10/22/06, republished 08/29/08]

 

2006: Palin: Don't Allow "Spinmeisters" To Turn Bridge To Nowhere Project "Into Something That's So Negative." "Part of my agenda is making sure that Southeast is heard. That your projects are important. That we go to bat for Southeast when we're up against federal
influences that aren't in the best interest of Southeast.' She cited the widespread negative attention focused on the Gravina Island crossing project. 'We need to come to the defense of Southeast Alaska when proposals are on the table like the bridge and not allow the
spinmeisters to turn this project or any other into something that's so negative,' Palin said." [Ketchikan Daily News, 10/2/06]

REALITY: PALIN ONLY ANNOUNCED OPPOSITION TO ONE "BRIDGE TO NOWHERE," STILL SUPPORTS THE OTHER ONE

Palin Refused to Fund Ketchikan Bridge, But Did Not Stop Funding for Knik Arm Bridge." Among the earmarks: $449 million for what critics have ridiculed as two 'bridges to nowhere' -- one in Ketchikan and one across Knik Arm in Anchorage formally named Don Young's Way. Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, also a Republican, last month refused to use any more money for the Ketchikan project, redirecting it for other purposes." [Anchorage Daily News,11/11/07]

As Recently as June, State Asking for Cost Estimate Proposals for Knik Arm. "An independent party will be called in to look at one of the most elusive aspects of a proposed bridge linking Anchorage and Mat-Su: the price tag. Gordon Keith, regional director for the state Department of Transportation and Public Facilities, said his office will be putting the job of estimating the cost of the controversial project out for bids in coming weeks. He said the task of coming up with a price could cost up to $200,000 and take up to 3½ months. 'The issue keeps swirling around, so we thought it best to go ahead and do an independent estimate,' he said. The cost to get the estimate is going to be high 'if you want to do it correctly,' he said. The cost of a span reaching across Knik Arm from Anchorage to Point MacKenzie has ranged over the years from $450 million to $1 billion, depending on what kind of bridge is envisioned and what starting date is plugged into the formula... Randy Ruaro, a special assistant to Gov. Sarah Palin, said the administration, even in the face of the recent lengthy report from the bridge authority, was having trouble getting an accurate picture of everything that is involved in the project, of the timing of the phases, and of the costs. He said the independent estimate is expected to answer those questions. Mary Ann Pease, spokeswoman for the authority, said she welcomes the effort to get updated costs." [Anchorage Daily News, 6/22/08]

 

PALIN: "Senator McCain also promises to use the power of veto in defense of the public interest - and as a chief executive, I can assure you it works."

REALITY: PALIN OPPOSED CRUCIAL EDUCATION, HEALTH CARE AND SENIORS FUNDING

EDUCATION/CHILDREN

Total: 396,000.

Anchorage - Fire Lake Elementary School Replacement of Unsafe Sports Equipment. Palin vetoed $10,000. [FY08 Budget]

Tanana City School District - Repair School Bus. Palin vetoed $36,000. [FY08 Budget]

American Lung Association of Alaska - Asthma Control Program and Champ Camp. Palin voted $350,000. [FY08 Budget]

HOSPITALS/HEALTH CARE

Total: $4,527,500.

Ketchikan General Hospital Surgical Suite Expansion/Relocation. Palin vetoed $4,400,000. [FY09 Budget]

Ketchikan General Hospital - Replacement of Outdated Equipment. Palin vetoed $70,000. [2007 Legislature Supplemental]

Sitka - Community Hospital - Medical Equipment. Palin vetoed $31,000. [2007 Legislature Supplemental]

Kenai Peninsula Borough - Diagnostic Hospital Equipment. Palin vetoed $26,500. [2007 Legislature Supplemental]

SENIORS

Total: $600,000.

Ketchikan Senior Citizens, Inc. - Access Road for Pioneer Heights. Palin vetoed $300,000. [FY08 Budget]

AARP Ketchikan - Access Road for Ketchikan Senior Housing Project Palin vetoed $100,000. [2007 Legislature Supplemental]

Catholic Community Services - Angoon Senior Center Stove, Refrigerator and Freezer. Palin vetoed $20,000 twice. [FY08 Budget, 2007 Legislature Supplemental]

Alpha Omega Life Care, Inc. - Delivery Van and Moveable Building. Palin vetoed $20,000. [FY09 Budget]

Older Persons Action Group - Senior Voice Equipment Upgrade. Palin vetoed $20,000. [FY09 Budget]

Statewide Independent Living Centers - Assistive Technology for Alaska's Centers for Independent Living. Palin vetoed $125,000. [FY09 Budget]

Kodiak Senior Center - Facilities repair and Equipment. Palin vetoed $15,000. [2007 Legislature Supplemental]

 

PALIN: "Before I became governor of the great state of Alaska, I was mayor of my hometown."

REALITY: UNDER PALIN, WASILLA GOVERNMENT SPENDING & DEBT SKYROCKETED.

Total Government Expenditures Increased 63 Percent Under Palin. In fiscal 2003--the last fiscal year Palin approved the budget--the total government expenditures of Wasilla, excluding capital outlays, were $7,046,325. In fiscal 1996--the year before Palin took control of the
budget--the expenditures were $4,317,947. The increase was 63 percent. [Wasilla Comprehensive Annual Financial Report 2003, Table 1]

Palin Supported Increasing Wasilla Sales Tax From 2 to 2.5 Percent to Build $14.7 Million Sports Center. "Wasilla residents have given the go ahead to building a new multiuse sports center in town and to raising the city sales t ax to pay for it. With the final votes counted
Friday, residents voted 306 to 286 in favor of a measure to raise the city sales tax from 2 percent to 2.5 percent to pay the estimated $14.7 million cost of building the center...Mayor Sarah Palin, who supported the measure, said the tight vote will motivate city officials to keep a close eye on the budget for the center." [Anchorage Daily News, 3/9/02]

Palin Left Behind Almost $19 Million In Long-Term Debt, Compared to None Before She Was Mayor. In fiscal 2003--the last fiscal year Palin approved the budget--the bonded long-term debt was $18,635,000. In fiscal 1996--the year before Palin took control of the budget--there was no general obligation debt. [Wasilla Comprehensive Annual Financial Report 2003, Table 10]

 

PALIN: "It was the spirit that brought me to the governor's office, when I took on the old politics as usual in Juneau ... when I stood up to the special interests, the lobbyists, big oil companies, and the good-ol' boys network."

REALITY: PALIN HAS A LT. GOVERNOR WHO IS A FORMER OIL LOBBYIST, HIRED WASILLA'S FIRST FEDERAL LOBBYIST (A FORMER STEVENS STAFFER) & HAD THE SUPPORT OF ENTRENCHED ALASKA POLITICIANS DURING HER 2006 RACE.

Palin's Oil & Gas Appointee Is Former Lobbyist for TransCanada. "Marty Rutherford, who leads Gov. Sarah Palin's gas pipeline team, made $40,200 in 2003 while consulting in Juneau for a pipeline subsidiary of TransCanada. TransCanada is one of the companies bidding for a state license to build a pipeline to carry gas to market from Alaska's North Slope. It's not a disqualifier, but the past connection deserves a second thought." [Anchorage Daily News editorial, 12/15/07]

 

Palin "Counting on Her Lieutenant Governor Candidate... Former Oil Lobbyist" to Help Win Oil Industry Support. "The defiantly grass-roots nature of the campaign may have distanced her from certain traditional centers of power in Alaska. The oil industry is one -- but the campaign says it is counting on her lieutenant governor candidate, Parnell, a former oil lobbyist and legislator, to help there." [Anchorage Daily News, 10/24/06]

Palin's Former Chief of Staff is Stevens' Campaign Manager. "Monegan says pressure came from those around Palin, including former Palin chief-of-staff Mike Tibbles, Department of Administration Commissioner Annette Kreitzer, and director of boards and commissions Frank Bailey. Tibbles, who is now the campaign manager for Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens, said Friday he couldn't comment on whether he spoke to Monegan about Wooten." [Anchorage Daily, 7/19/08]

As Mayor, Palin Hired a Washington Lobbyist to Help Get Earmarks for Wasilla - Lobbyist Was Former Chief of Staff for Indicted Senator Ted Stevens. "And as mayor of the small town of Wasilla from 1996 to 2002, Palin also hired a Washington lobbying firm that helped secure $8 million in congressionally directed spending projects, known as earmarks, according to public spending records compiled by the watchdog group Citizens Against Government Waste and lobbying documents. Wasilla's lobbying firm was headed by Steven Silver -- a former chief of staff to Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens, a key proponent of the bridge project." [USA Today, 8/31/08]

The Usual Alaska Suspects - Ted Stevens, Don Young, And Lisa Murkowski Fundraised For Palin. "Will we see Ted Stevens stumping for Sarah Palin? Palin said this morning that Stevens appeared at a fund-raiser for her in Ketchikan and gave a speech about 'moving Alaska forward.' But does that mean he'll pop up in any advertisements? (Remember his arguably pivotal role at the end of the Knowles and Murkowski Senate race?) Palin said she doubts it and hasn't asked... She said Don Young came to one of her fund-raisers two days ago, and she expects Lisa Murkowski at an upcoming event. Tonight she planned to talk with John Binkley, who she says is writing a letter to his supporters on her behalf, and she planned to meet with Frank Murkowski tomorrow morning." ["The Trail" blog, Anchorage Daily News, 10/13/06]

In Her 2002 Campaign for Lieutenant Governor, Palin Raised 'About 10 Percent Of Her Campaign Fund' From Veco, An Oil Company At the Heart of Federal Investigation. "While mayor of Wasilla, Palin ran for lieutenant governor in 2002. She gathered $5,000 -- or about 10 percent of her campaign fund -- from Veco officials or their wives along the way." [Anchorage Daily News, 9/6/06]

 

___________________

 

It is about the issues!!! If you are better off today then you were 8 years ago,  vote for them. If you enjoy the instability of Wall street,  vote for them. In fact, if you have made money in stocks, real estate or in a CD, vote for them.  The rest of us - who far outnumber you- will vote for change and vote for Obama.