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Egyptian Voters on the Promise, and Limits, of Historic Election: Sharif Kouddous Reports From Cairo

Thu, 24 May 2012 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Sharif Kouddous - May. 24 (News Report) - Voters are heading to the polls for the second day in Egypt's first competitive presidential election following the ouster of Hosni Mubarak 15 months ago. The first day of voting saw numerous reports of minor violations, but was largely hailed as free of fraud and violence. Ahmed Shafik, Mubarak's last prime minister and now a leading candidate, was swarmed by protesters outside his polling station who hurled shoes and debris at him. Democracy Now! correspondent Sharif Abdel Kouddous and videographer Hany Massoud spent the day traveling to polling stations around Cairo speaking to voters about their choices for president and their concerns in the election. [Transcript to come. Check back soon.]

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CAUGHT RED HANDED

Wed, 23 May 2012 00:00:00 -0700

bbvforums.org - By Bev Harris - May. 23 (Investigative Report) - Four hundred and eighty-eight voters, every one of them in the Tennessee district of US Rep Steve Cohen (D-09), all but four lifelong Democrats, and nearly all Black, had their voting history erased by Shelby County election workers, setting them up for purge from the voter list.

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Bachmann’s Fundraising Whopper

Sun, 20 May 2012 00:00:00 -0700

FactCheck - By Robert Farley - May. 20 (Fact Check) - In several urgent fundraising appeals, Rep. Michele Bachmann falsely claims that biased “liberal judges” redrew her congressional district “in retaliation for repeatedly standing up to President Obama.” The truth is that only two of the five judges were Democratic appointees, and Bachmann’s Minnesota district has become even more Republican than … More >>

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Mitt Romney Debt Speech Ignores Key Facts

Wed, 16 May 2012 00:00:00 -0700

Huffington Post - By Tom Raum - May. 16 (News Analysis) - When Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney decried the "prairie fire" of U.S. debt Tuesday, he ignored some of the sparks that set...

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SHELBY COUNTY PERFORMED UNAUTHORIZED ALTERATIONS IN ITS (NOW UNCERTIFIED!) VOTING SYSTEM -

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0700

bbvforums.org - By Bev Harris - Apr. 19 (Investigative Report) - They inserted a completely different program (not from Diebold at all) which alters the way the system works. Documents show that fully half of White suburbs are now processing information in a different way than the rest of the county, and that this selective and unusual processing has been taking place for at least four years. The alterations made to the system are illegal almost everywhere in the USA and automatically render their $600,000 voting system decertified, although they will claim that they don't need to use a certified system.

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FreedomWorks, Koch Brothers Clash Over Cato Institute Takeover Bid

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0700

Huffington Post - Apr. 12 (News Report) - Dick Armey, chairman of FreedomWorks, released a statement opposing the Koch brothers' attempt to take majority control of the Cato Institute. WASHINGTON -- A split is opening up between two forces that helped to launch the Tea Party in 2009. FreedomWork

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When a Congressman Becomes a Lobbyist, He Gets a 1,452 Percent Raise (On Average)

Wed, 14 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0700

The Nation - By Lee Fang - Mar. 14 (Special Report) - Selling out pays. If you’re a corporation or lobbyist, what’s the best way to “buy” a member of Congress? Secretly promise them a million dollars or more in pay if they come to work for you after they leave office.

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NAACP Head Benjamin Jealous in Geneva Seeking United Nations Help To Protect Voting Rights in U.S.

Tue, 13 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman - Mar. 13 (News Report) - Since last year, 15 states have passed new voting laws that critics say suppress the votes of the poor, students and people of color. This is the topic of a major speech set for today by NAACP head Benjamin Jealous before the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva. The NAACP wants a U.N. delegation of experts to monitor the impact of voter identification laws, as well new restrictions on same-day registration, early voting, Sunday voting, and making it harder to run a voting registration drive. Its outreach to the United Nations has been compared to the group’s efforts in the 1940s and 1950s when it sought international support in its fight for civil rights and against lynching.

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Super Tuesday guide: Finding truth in the attacks

Sun, 04 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0800

PolitiFact - By Becky Bowers - Mar. 04 (Fact Check) - As 10 states prepare to vote on Super Tuesday, here’s PolitiFact’s guide to the multimillion-dollar ad blitz. With the field down to four Republican contenders, campaigns and super PACs are attacking their opponents with hot-button allegations about supporting Planned Parenthood, Obamacare and even Nancy Pelosi that are designed to strike fear in the hearts of Republican voters. There's been some piling on. We've seen several examples where two (or more) candidates have made the same attack. The one candidate who hasn't been attacked much: Ron Paul. He's has been busy attacking others — but we didn’t find ads attacking him. ... >>More

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Players guide 2012 campaign

Sun, 04 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0800

FactCheck - By Brooks Jackson, team - Mar. 04 (Fact Check) - The 2012 campaign cycle marks the first presidential election since the 2010 Supreme Court ruling that allowed corporations and unions to spend more freely in federal elections. The loosened campaign finance rules, coupled with an intense competition between the two major parties, have served only to embolden independent political groups that hope to influence the 2012 races. Below is a list of most major groups that have been active or expect to be active in the 2012 federal elections. Many of these groups can accept unlimited donations. Others can accept unlimited donations and avoid disclosing their donors. There’s even a new breed of so-called independent groups that advocate solely for a single presidential candidate.

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Moyers: Meet the Shameless Plutocrats Choking What's Left of Our Democracy

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0800

AlterNet - By Bill Moyers, Michael Winship - Feb. 15 (News Analysis) - We are drowning here, with gaping holes torn into the hull of the ship of state from charges detonated by the owners and manipulators of capital. Their wealth has become a demonic force in politics. Nothing can stop them. Not the law, which has been written to accommodate them. Not scrutiny -- they have no shame. Not a decent respect for the welfare of others -- the people without means, their safety net shredded, left helpless before events beyond their control.

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The Wealthy One Percent That’s Behind Minnesota’s Racist Voter ID Push

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0800

AlterNet - By Brentin Mock - Feb. 13 (News Report) - The perennial swing state of Minnesota is the latest to be enthralled in debate over Republican-led efforts to create new voting restrictions that civil rights groups say will undermine voter access for low-income people of color, the disabled, youth and immigrants, among others. And a new watchdog report argues this week that the wealthy one percent of Minnesota are behind those efforts.

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Indiana Election Chief Found Guilty Of Voter Fraud

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Huffington Post - By Charles Wilson - Feb. 04 (News Report) - Indiana's top elections official could lose his job and his freedom after jurors convicted him of multiple voter fraud-related charges on Saturday,

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Global Internet Voting Firm Buys U.S. Election Results Reporting Firm

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Black Box Voting - By Bev Harris - Jan. 13 (News Analysis) - In a major step towards global centralization of election processes, the world's dominant Internet voting company has purchased the USA's dominant election results reporting company. When you view your local or state election results on the Internet, on portals which often appear to be owned by the county elections division, in over 525 US jurisdictions you are actually redirected to a private corporate site controlled by SOE software, which operates under the name ClarityElections.com.

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Rivals' Attacks on Romney's Corporate Record Display Occupy Wall Street's Wide Reach

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman - Jan. 11 (News Analysis) - The New Hampshire primary brought fewer than 50 percent of voters to the polls. The candidates are "addressing issues that aren’t really connecting with a whole bunch of Americans, especially blue-collar Americans," says Dale Kuehne, a New Hampshire political science professor. "I don’t know that they see a whole lot of reason to go out and vote for either Obama or out to vote for Romney or some of the others."

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'Citizens United' Backlash: Montana Supreme Court Upholds State's Corporate Campaign Spending Ban

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Huffington Post - Jan. 05 (News Report) - The Montana Supreme Court has put itself on a collision course with the U.S. Supreme Court by upholding a century-old state law that bans corporate spending in state and local political campaigns. The law, which was passed by Montana voters in 1912 to combat Gilded Age corporate control over much of Montana's government, states that a "corporation may not make ... an expenditure in connection with a candidate or a political party that supports or opposes a candidate or a political party."

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Super PAC Disclosure Requirements Hot Topic Of Conversation Among GOP Candidates

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Huffington Post - By Sam Stein - Jan. 05 (News Report) - The rapid rise and far-reaching impact of super PACs -- the well-financed non-party groups that helped carry former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney to victory in the Iowa caucuses -- have persuaded some prominent Republicans that restrictions of some sort on the groups' activities may be in order.

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Voter Photo ID Laws Hit Older Americans Hard

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

AARP Bulletin - By Marsha Mercer - Jan. 05 (News Analysis) - Having a driver's license or photo identification card is commonplace for most Americans, but about 11 percent of adult citizens — more than 21 million people — lack a valid, government-issued photo ID, according to a study by the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law.

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As States Take on Citizens United, Lawrence Lessig Offers Bold Plan to Get Money Out of Politics

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman - Jan. 04 (News Report) - California and New York City lawmakers are introducing measures today calling for a constitutional amendment overturning Citizens United, the controversial 2010 Supreme Court ruling that characterizes political spending as free speech and opened the floodgates for unlimited corporate spending on election campaigns. Similar measures have passed in Los Angeles, Oakland, Albany and Boulder. We speak with Harvard Law School Professor Lawrence Lessig, author of a new book that examines how money buys results in Congress and fuels campaigns that put the powerful in office. Lessig argues that both De

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Wave of Restrictive Voting Laws Prompts Federal Probes, Grassroots Activism Ahead of 2012 Elections

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman - Dec. 15 (News Analysis) - "When people move on their fears, they make bad law," says NAACP CEO Ben Jealous, co-author of a new report that argues the new laws amount to a coordinated and comprehensive assault on minorities’ voting rights at a time when their numbers in the population and at the ballot box have increased. Students, former felons and elderly voters may also be impacted. On Saturday, the NAACP helped organize a voting rights march in New York, starting at the offices of Koch Industries in order to highlight how billionaire conservative financiers David and Charles Koch have financed the push for voter ID laws.

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Sanders Files "Saving American Democracy Amendment'

Sun, 11 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Op Ed News - Dec. 11 (News) - The first constitutional amendment ever proposed by Sanders during his two decades in Congress would reverse the narrow 5-to-4 ruling in Citizens United vs. the Federal Elections Commission. In that controversial decision almost two years ago, justices gave corporations the same First Amendment free-speech rights as people.

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Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood Takes Early Lead in First Post-Mubarak Elections

Thu, 01 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Democracy Now - By Juan Gonzalez - Dec. 01 (News Report) - Early results from Egypt's first post-revolutionary elections indicate the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party will emerge as the biggest winner. We speak with Democracy Now! special correspondent Anjali Kamat, who has just returned to the United States after reporting in Cairo since the fall of former president Hosni Mubarak. Anjali describes how Egypt's elections take place against the backdrop of economic insecurity and renewed street clashes between pro-democracy demonstrators and security forces that have left more than 40 dead and thousands injured. She also discusses Egypt's use of U.S.-supplied tear gas to quell massive demonstrations, and a photo she took of police dragging protesters injured by rubber bullets and live ammunition, then leaving them in piles of garbage. [includes rush transcript - partial]

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Egypt Holds Historic Election As Military Council Resists Calls To Transfer Power To Civilians

Tue, 29 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Democracy Now - By Sharif Abdel Kouddous - Nov. 29 (News Report) - Egypt is in the second day of its first elections since the ouster of longtime president Hosni Mubarak earlier this year. On Monday, Egyptians waited in long lines across the country to choose their first ever democratically elected parliament. The elections are being held in the wake of fierce clashes between protesters and police last week that left at least 42 people dead and more than 3,100 wounded.

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Pro-Recall Group Outs Facebook Page That Boasts About Destroying Signatures

Fri, 25 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

patch.com - By Denise Lockwood - Nov. 25 (News Report) - One Wisconsin Now calls on all recall supporters to be vigilant, but only one instance of actual recall destruction found.

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Protesters Are Seeking Change in the Streets Because It Won't Come From the Ballot Box

Thu, 06 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Naomi Klein - Oct. 06 (News Analysis) - Among the thousands at last night's Occupy Wall Street protest here in New York City was award-winning journalist and author Naomi Klein. She is the author of the bestselling book, "The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism.” She also wrote "No Logo," a book that has become a cultural manifesto for critics of unfettered capitalism worldwide. Klein joins us to discuss the Occupy Wall Street movement and why it is being belittled in the corporate media. “My biggest fear was that the Obama presidency was was going to lead this generation of young people into political cynicism and political apathy,” Klein says. “But instead, they are going to where the power is. They are realizing the change is not coming in Washington because politicians are so controlled by corporate interest, and that that is the fundamental crisis in this country.” [Transcript to come. Check back soon.]

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