Obama and Civil Liberties

Michael Ratner: Peoples' constitutional rights are not going to be the main priority.



The Real News senior editor Paul Jay and head of the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) Michael Ratner discuss the demolishment of peoples' constitutional rights and civil liberties.

The 'chubby' little Voter Felon!!

was arrested on voter fraud charges.

And I would say this little chubby 25yr old is a true blue 'chickenhawk' along with being of criminal mind, or why isn't he in the military defending the 'homeland'!!

Ontario police arrest man in voter fraud case

Signature-Gatherer Arrested In Voter Fraud
Calif. GOP Contractor Accused In Registration Scam Charged With Falsely Registering Own Address

Video link for LA Times Story above


As I'm sure he uses his computer to keep tabs on, and receive his talking points, I offer his Medal, a military one seems not what he would look for while trying to create havoc in our Democratic Voting process and Right!


And as there will be no Military Patches for our brave little Voter Registration and his own possible Voter Fraud I feel it's my duty to embellish this tool of Democracy destruction the following patch, to wear Proudly!!


From all of us older Veterans but Especially from the Soldiers of todays Multiple Tours Extremely Dangerous Occupations and Veterans of same who served their Multiple Tours and Survived, we hope you wear this with pride!!

And because you've chosen a different route, not to defend country, but to destroy the citizens rights to participate the way they choose by Registering to Vote and Registering to a Party of their choice, plus make this post really worthwhile let me bring the Reality!

Afghanistan:

Fighting In A "Hornet's Nest"

There is a reason the base 60 Minutes and correspondent Lara Logan traveled to is called "Wilderness." It's in the middle of nowhere, with nothing but desolate mountains stretching endlessly into the distance, until you drop onto a tiny patch of ground not much bigger than a football field in the heart of enemy territory.

"I thought it was gonna be a little bit quieter here. But we landed in a hornet's nest when we got here," explains Staff Sgt. Jake Schlereth.

When Schlereth, 27, and 33-year-old Sgt. First Class Anthony Barnes were sent to Afghanistan, they thought the fight was mostly over.

When he arrived in Afghanistan, Sgt. Schlereth didn't think he'd be landing in a hornet's nest. "I guess I really didn't know what to expect when I got here. I'd never been here before, I'd only been to Iraq. And you didn't hear too much about Afghanistan on the news. It was all about Iraq."

"Iraq, yeah. … Roles are reversed," Sgt. Barnes comments.

"Yeah. Reversed. And now it's all about here," Schlereth agrees.

It's all about "here" because the fight in Afghanistan is worse than ever. The tiny base has been hit by rockets and mortars at least 30 times since these soldiers arrived in March.

And that's only part of it: Barnes, Schlereth and their fellow soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division have survived 20 ambushes on their patrols.

Combat In Afghanistan

Oct. 19, 2008 Enemy combatants for U.S. troops are on the rise in Afghanistan. Lara Logan reports from a forward operating base near Pakistan.

Frontlines Of Al Qaeda

02/11/2004: Lara Logan reported from the frontline of the War on Terror in Afghanistan

Ambush In Afghanistan

U.S. Army Special Forces say they were shocked by military tactics used by Taliban fighters who ambushed them near Kandahar, Afghanistan, in their first account of the unreported battle. Lara Logan reports.

And NPR Diane Rehm Show this morning - ACORN

The Allegations against ACORN

John McCain and other Republicans accuse the grass roots community organization ACORN of attempting to steal next month’s presidential election. The organization says it has helped register one-point-three million low-income, minority and young voters. A look at ACORN and the allegations against it
Guests

Bertha Lewis, Interim Chief Organizer of ACORN.

Greg Gordon, National Correspondent for McClatchy Newspapers Washington Bureau.

Ken Klukowski, Legal Analyst for the American Civil Rights Union.

Steve Ansolabehere, Professor of Government at Harvard University.

Listen with Real Player

Listen with Wondows Media Player

Help Stop Voter Harassment, Early Voting and on Nov 4th at the Polls

On my trip over to ePluribus Media this morning I found this open thread Help Make Sure Every Voter's Story Gets Told in 2008, not long but with very useful information that was gathered from two other sources from yesterday, one found here at daily kos about incidents at early voting polls here in North Carolina and also sourced at Andrew Sullivan at The Atlantic

Regardless of your political alignment, nobody -- from any party, special interest or group, has the right to interfere with your right to vote for the candidate of your choice.

There was a short form that can be filled out and sent to the VoterStory website


On a visit to VoterStory this is what I found:

The VoterStory web widget is programmed to collect and classify voter complaints in real time across the Internet and will provide a data feed of complaints that can be addressed in real time by Voter Protection groups who partner with VoterStory. Originally developed for the 2006 General Election, the VoterStory Web Widget is distributed web technology that enables a broad and expandable network to easily place sophisticated voter protection functionality on news, organizational web pages, blog and social media sites such as FaceBook or MySpace.

The VoterStory widget will be active on November 4, 2008. Complaints generated in the General Election will be shared with election protection partners.

Please download the widget and put it on your website today.

How the VoterStory.org Web tool works

1 On Election Day, the voter completes the form with their story.

2 When they hit "submit" their information is transmitted to voter protection organizations who will be standing by to intervene or lend support if necessary.

3 The voter also receives an email confirming that their story was transmitted.

4 Voter information is entered into a database of election incidents.

5 Voter Protection groups receive live information about voting problems during the election.

{You can get the above interactive form embed code to place at your sites at VoterStory}

Did a quick search, the local Charlotte Observer didn't seem to have any reports about yesterdays happenings, probably because it never got to the calling in the police stage, but I'll be keeping an eye on that paper as well as other papers around the state. But did find these:


ACLU Demands Halt To Intimidation Of Lawful Voters

"The Ohio Republican Party ought to stop harassing innocent voters. First they challenged newly registered voters' right to vote absentee, and now, after the courts turned them down, the party is continuing to imply wrongdoing by undertaking a sweeping investigation of legitimate voters for simply having the nerve to lawfully cast a ballot. Voting is a right. It should not be treated as a crime."

Voter harassment claims rolling in

"My guess is (the complainants) are probably some folks who have some motivation for doing so," Swain said. "I'd find it hard to believe any of our volunteers are doing anything else."

Mark Owen, chairman of the Vanderburgh County Democratic Party, denounced the reports of voter harassment as the work of Republicans.

"This is just another attempt by the Republicans ... to embarrass the Obama campaign and the Democrats to suppress the vote," Owen charged. "If they have witnesses and evidence, bring it forward and those people should be prosecuted."

Protecting the Vote: Know Your Rights

Republicans this year have stated they will use voter challenges as intimidation and harassment to reduce the vote in the hopes of helping John McCain win the presidential election.

Now if you witness or might be harassed yourself after filling out the form and clicking to send you can visit the ePluribus Media link above, they have a link in the post to also send them the information that can than be archived and used as research material on Voting.