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Last Updated: Nov 7th, 2008 - 12:51:26 |
Presidential Campaign Enters Final Full Day
The longest and most expensive presidential race in US history has entered its final full day. Senator John McCain is campaigning in Tennessee, Pennsylvania, Indiana, New Mexico, Nevada and Arizona in an attempt to pull off an upset victory. The latest Washington Post-ABC News poll shows Senator Barack Obama has an 11 percent lead among likely voters. If elected, Obama will become the nation’s first African American president. The Illinois senator is heading today to Virginia, North Carolina and Florida, three states won by President Bush in 2004. Over the weekend Obama told supporters that now is not the time to let up.
Sen. Barack Obama: “My faith in the American people has been vindicated. That’s how we’ve come so far. That’s how we’ve come so close. Because of you, because of your hard work, because of your efforts, because of your commitment, because of your support. That’s how we’ll change this country. With your help. And that’s why we can’t afford to slow down, sit back or let up one minute, one second, in these last few days, not now, not when there’s so much at stake.”
On Eve of Election Day, Is the Nation’s Voting System Ready? Reports of Irregularities Pour in from Across US in Record Early Voting
Election Day is one day away. Tomorrow tens of millions of Americans will head to the polls. Is the nation’s voting system ready for the unprecedented turnout?
Already more votes have been cast before Election Day than ever before. As of Saturday night, there were some 27 million absentee and early votes in 30 states, according to the Associated Press. But already, reports of voting irregularities, long lines, malfunctioning machines and badly managed polling stations are pouring in from across the country.
Despite documented irregularities, about a quarter of all voters will use electronic machines that offer no paper record to verify that their choice was accurately recorded. Voting rights groups have filed lawsuits against election officials in Pennsylvania and Virginia, saying they have not stocked enough paper ballots to prepare for the expected turnout.
In Colorado, Tennessee, Texas and West Virginia, voters have reported using touch-screen machines that have flipped their votes to the wrong candidate or party. Meanwhile, Florida has switched to its third ballot system in the past three election cycles, and glitches associated with the transition have caused confusion at early voting sites.
This all comes in the wake of voter suppression tactics that have seen tens of thousands of voters potentially lose their right to vote. In the battleground state of Colorado, voter rights activists recently won a major victory after state officials agreed to reinstate tens of thousands of people whose names had been removed from the rolls.
Sen. McCain Predicts He Will Win Election Despite Polls
Senator John McCain predicted he would come back to win the election.
Sen. John McCain: “My opponent is working out the details with Speaker Pelosi and Senator Reid of their plans to raise your taxes, increase spending and to concede defeat in Iraq. He’s measuring the drapes! And as you might have seen the info—some of the infomercial, he gave his first address to the nation before the election. We’re a few points down, but tonight and today and tomorrow and the next day, we’ll show we’re coming back and we’re going to win this race.”
80,000 Attend Obama/Springsteen Rally in Cleveland
On Sunday, Senator Obama focused on the battleground state of Ohio, where he spoke in Columbus, Cleveland and Cincinnati. In Cleveland, over 80,000 people turned out for the largest political event in Northeast Ohio since John F. Kennedy’s 1960 presidential campaign. At the Cleveland rally, the musician Bruce Springsteen appeared with Senator Obama.
Bruce Springsteen: “I want my dream back. I want my America back. Now is the time to stand with Barack Obama and Joe Biden and roll up our sleeves and come on up for the rising.”
Over 30 million people have already cast their ballots in early voting. In Columbus, Ohio, voters reported waiting in line for over six hours to vote.
Oprah Winfrey: Electronic Voting Machine Initially Dropped My Vote
Talk show host Oprah Winfrey was among those who took part in early voting in Chicago. On her show on Friday, Winfrey revealed she had problems inside the polling booth.
Oprah Winfrey: "When I voted yesterday electronically, the first vote that you vote for on the ballot is the presidential candidate. And so, I hadn’t—you know, it was my first time doing electronic, so I didn’t obviously mark the X strong enough, or I held down too long, because then when I went back to check it, it had not recorded my presidential vote. And I was like, ohhOhhOh. And so the woman is walking around. And she says, why are you going back, why are you going back? I go, because it…didn’t…record…my presidential vote! So I went back and double-checked. So that’s why they have the, you know—check. Make sure you double check.”
Economy Contracts 0.3%; Consumer Spending Falls
New government figures show the economy shrunk from July through September. Gross domestic product dropped 0.3% in the worst contraction since 2001. Consumer spending also fell for the first time in seventeen years.
Exxon Breaks Own Profit Record with $14.8B 3rd Quarter
Exxon Mobil has posted another record-breaking quarterly profit. The oil giant earned $14.8 billion in the third quarter, the most ever by a US corporation. That’s nearly 15 percent higher than the previous record Exxon set in the second quarter. Meanwhile, Europe’s biggest oil company, Royal Dutch Shell, also reported high third quarter earnings, rising 74 percent to $10.9 billion.
Bush Admin in Frantic Deregulation Rush Before January Exit
The Bush administration is making a final push for deregulation in its remaining months in office. The White House is seeking to do away with government safeguards protecting consumers and the environment. Some of the provisions the White House wants to ease or undo include standards on drinking water, emissions of global warming-causing pollutants, commercial fishing and mountaintop coal removal. The Washington Post says the move amounts to “the most controversial deregulatory steps of the Bush era.”
Red Cross Warns of “Humanitarian Catastrophe” in Congo
In the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Red Cross is warning intense fighting between government and rebel forces is causing a “humanitarian catastrophe.” Tens of thousands of people have abandoned the restive eastern city of Goma amidst an advance by armed rebels led by Laurent Nkunda. Overall, some 200,000 have been displaced since August, and the number is said to be growing by the hour.
LA Police Officer Kills Unarmed African American
Back in the United States, an unarmed African American has been shot dead by a police officer in the yard of his Los Angeles home. Twenty-year-old Julian Alexander was killed as he stood outside with a broomstick after hearing a strange noise in his yard. A police officer who had been chasing suspected burglars through the neighborhood shot him twice without warning. Alexander had recently married. His wife is due to give birth to their first child in December.
Court Backs Penn. Voter Rights Suit on Electronic Machines
In elections news, voter rights activists in Pennsylvania have won a major court victory to safeguard against faulty electronic voting machines. A federal judge has ordered state election officials to provide emergency paper ballots if half or more electronic voting machines become inoperable at any polling site in the state. The lawsuit was filed after Pennsylvania’s Secretary of State ordered counties to provide emergency paper ballots only if every electronic voting machine breaks down. In his ruling, Judge Harvey Bartle said he saw “a real danger…a significant number of machines will malfunction.” The plaintiffs include the NAACP, the Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia and Voter Action. Democracy Now! interviewed John Bonifaz of Voter Action on Friday, the day after the suit was filed.
John Bonifaz: “This lawsuit is all about making sure the people are protected when they show up at the polls on Election Day in Pennsylvania. The fact of the matter is that these electronic voting machines have a long record of breaking down, not functioning on Election Day, apart from the issues around whether or not they can be counted as being accurately counting votes. But the—and in this instance, we’re dealing with a situation of long lines; with high voter turnout combined with that, we see a potential perfect storm impacting the right to vote. When machines break down, they cause these long lines, they turn people away.”
Bonifaz says he now hopes other states will follow Pennsylvania’s lead in protecting against voter machines.
Poll: 59% of Early Voters Backing Obama
Some 16 million people have already took part in early voting. According to a Washington Post-ABC News poll, 59 percent of early voters say they voted for Democratic candidate Barack Obama.
Cheney Endorses John McCain
While President Bush is staying far from the campaign trail, Vice President Dick Cheney officially endorsed John McCain on Saturday during a speech in Laramie, Wyoming.
Dick Cheney: “John is a man who understands the danger facing America. He’s a man who has looked into the face of evil and not flinched. He’s a man who is comfortable with responsibility, and has been since he joined the Armed Forces at the age of seventeen. He’s earned our support and confidence, and the time is now to make him commander-in-chief. I believe the right leader for this moment in history is Senator John McCain.”
Barack Obama later congratulated John McCain on the endorsement.
Sen. Barack Obama: “Earlier today, Dick Cheney came out of his undisclosed location, and he hit the campaign trail. And he said that he is—and I quote—delighted to support John McCain. So I’d like to congratulate Senator McCain on this endorsement, because he really earned it. That endorsement didn’t come easy. Senator McCain had to vote with George Bush 90 percent of the time and agree with Dick Cheney to get it.”
FCC to Vote on White Spaces
The Federal Communications Commission is scheduled to vote on Tuesday on a measure that could expand wireless broadband internet access to more of the country. The FCC will decide whether to allow the unlicensed use of so-called “white spaces” television spectrum for wireless internet services. The media advocacy group Free Press says white spaces could be used to provide fast internet connection to tens of millions of Americans now on the wrong side of the digital divide. One of the most vocal opponents to the move is the National Association of Broadcasters.
Morales Bans DEA Agents from Bolivia
Bolivian President Evo Morales accused US anti-drug agents of spying on Saturday and barred them from the Andean country until further notice. Morales charged that US Drug Enforcement Administration agents had conducted espionage and financed criminal groups. Morales also accused the DEA of maintaining ties with anti-government groups that staged violent protests in eastern and central regions governed by the opposition in September.
Evo Morales: “From this day forward, the activity of the North American DEA is suspended indefinitely. We are proud, as Bolivians, of defending the sovereignty and dignity of the Bolivian people. And it’s not because of this (suspending of DEA activity) that we are voluntarily reducing (the coca crops). Nor are we going to leave the fight against drug trafficking. We are going to continue. Imagine, two months from the conclusion of this year, we already have reduced 5,000 hectares.”
Gov’t Targeted Muslims Ahead of 2004 Election
The New York Times has revealed the Department of Homeland Security used racial profiling as part of an anti-terrorism program four year ago. More than 2,000 Muslim immigrants were investigated or interrogated in the lead-up to the 2004 election. Newly disclosed government data shows that most were found to have done nothing wrong.
Pioneering Radio Broadcaster Studs Terkel, 96, Dies
And the legendary radio broadcaster, writer, oral historian, raconteur and chronicler of our times, Studs Terkel, died Friday at the age of ninety-six in his home town of Chicago. Over the years, he has worked as an activist, a civil servant, a labor organizer, a radio DJ, an ad writer and a television actor. In 2005, he appeared on Democracy Now! just weeks after undergoing open-heart surgery. Doctors said Studs Terkel, at ninety-three, was the oldest patient known to have undergone such a procedure. He talked about how he survived it.
Studs Terkel: “My curiosity is what saw me through. What would the world be like, or will there be a world? And so, that’s my epitaph. I have it all set. Curiosity did not kill this cat. And it’s curiosity, I think, that has saved me thus far.”
© Copyright 2006 SeeingBlack.com
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