Obama Election Night LIVE

Sights and sounds from the Sen. Obama Election Night party in Chicago on C-SPAN's Election Cam.

It's started going LIVE at 3:00 PM and at the moment they're walking around Grant Park setting it up selling t-shirts, buttons, etc, as some begin to drift in for the election night party.

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I Voted Today, Did You?

Entering the school to vote while fighting through the crowds.


Top left shading says Presidential Candidates. Barack Obama's name is at top left under that and if you look closely you'll see an "X" beside it.


You all know what to do today.

I Voted Today, Did You?

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VOTE!

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Twitter Your Vote

Twitter Vote Report

Using Twitter Vote Report, voters will be able to share their experiences and resources with one another (e.g. “#wait:120″ meaning that the wait time is 120 minutes). These messages will then be aggregated and mapped so that we can “see” voting problems around the country in real-time.

Our network includes a large number of people who have contributed their time and expertise to this project.

And...Video The Vote



**UPDATE**: from PBS's Simon Owens - An interview with Nancy Scola -- one of the people who helped create TVR -- for an article I wrote for PBS about the multiple Web 2.0 tools citizens are using to monitor the election:
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Obamacans: Prominent Republicans Line Up Behind Obama

Obamacans: Prominent Republicans Line Up Behind Obama

Since Colin Powell crossed party lines to endorse Barack Obama last Sunday, a steady stream of prominent Republicans have endorsed the Illinois senator over rival John McCain.

Former Massachusetts Gov. William Weld is endorsing Obama today at a press conference in Salem, N.H. Weld was a public supporter of Mitt Romney in the Republican primaries. In a statement, Weld called Obama a “once-in-a-lifetime candidate who will transform our politics and restore America’s standing in the world.”

On Thursday, former Minnesota Gov. Arne Carlson endorsed Obama at the state capitol. “I think we have in Barack Obama the clear possibility of a truly great president,” he said. “I would contend that it’s the most important election of my lifetime.”

Scott McClellan, a former spokesman for President George W. Bush, also endorsed Obama Thursday. USA Today reported that McClellan told CNN in a taping to be aired this weekend that Obama has “the best chance of changing the way Washington works.”

Ken Adelman, a prominent conservative on foreign policy matters announced his support for Obama on Tuesday, telling the New Yorker that his decision was based on temperament and judgment.

Adelman called McCain “impetuous, inconsistent, and imprudent; ending up just plain weird” in his handling of the U.S. economic crisis. He also was unsettled by McCain’s choice of running mate. “Not only is Sarah Palin not close to being acceptable in high office—I would not have hired her for even a mid-level post in the arms-control agency,” Adelman wrote.

UPDATE: Add Charles Fried, a Harvard Law professor and former Solicitor General in the Reagan administration, to the list of Republicans supporting Obama. Fried’s vote for the Democratic ticket is particularly harsh, as he was associated with the McCain campaign. Fried voted absentee for Obama this week, and informed McCain campaign general counsel Trevor Potter of his decision in a letter where he stated he could not support McCain in large part because of his selection of Palin as his running mate.

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PHOTOSHOP McTONGUE CHALLENGE

PHOTOSHOP McTONGUE CHALLENGE

link | via | see wfmu photoshops

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100 Year Old Votes in Her First Election

100 Year Old Votes in Her First Election

It's the excitement surrounding these elections — a woman running for vice president and a black man running for president — that prompted Burt to action, said her daughter, Phyllis Burt.

"We're seeing a lot of elderly, not at 100 years old of course, voting for the first time," Penuel said. "My personal opinion is that these elections are very critical and people want to vote and participate this time. There is a minority for both parties causing people to come out." [Read More »]

Love this story

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Criminal War / War Criminal

Criminal War / War Criminal

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Moonshine Elections

MOONSHINE ELECTION SERIES - Part 1

Black Box Voting has found "Moonshine Election patterns" in 16 states, which together carry 210 electoral votes.

Kentucky is a swing state where 87 out of 120 counties had a majority of Democratic registered voters, yet 106 out of 120 counties voted for Bush in 2000; 108 voted for Bush in 2004. It wasn't low turnout -- in fact, turnout has been going up. It was Kentucky politics: Registered Democrats went into the voting booth, Republican votes came out. (Details on website)

THE HUNT FOR JOE BOLTON

We discovered that a man named Joe Bolton has inside access to nearly 200,000 votes, most of them in the most troubled areas, locations that have a history of vote fraud, family-run government, drug-dealing sheriffs, what-have you.

In 23 Kentucky counties, citizens are required to trust their votes to someone named Joe Bolton, who is not an elected official and who is not even a government employee. They probably don't even know they're trusting Joe with their votes, because newspapers don't mention him and the county clerks have no line item for his checks in their published financial statements.

We went through all manner of investigations trying to even locate Joe Bolton, and those are chronicled in the short video and the full reports. Eventually we caught up with him. He has been programming the voting machines in his home in a remote location that even the county election officials don't know much about.

AMONG THE MOST INTERESTING COMMENTS:

Black Box Voting: Okay. Well you've been doing this for 35 years, has anyone ever asked you to do something that made you uncomfortable?

Joe Bolton: Oh, absolutely, get it all the time, I get that all the time you know. "Could you rig this machine?" And I don't know whether it's a conspiracy or a joke, you know, "Could you rig these machines for me Joe? How much would it cost me?" I've heard that for 35 years.

Joe told us all kinds of things, like the Appalachian tradition of vote-buying -- whatever you may have heard, it is alive and well.

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The Big Disconnect

War is good for business. Everything else be damned. In that same context people always want to give Bush a good deal on a Brooklyn Bridge or an ocean front property in Kansas (or yellow cake or wmd's, etc) and without reservation he goes for his wallet like a father handing out cash to his kids.

Washington's Wars and Occupations
Month in Review #28
August 30, 2007
By Max Elbaum, War Times/Tiempo de Guerras

THE BIG DISCONNECT

The promised September assessment of where things stand in Iraq is around the corner.

So right on cue George Bush declared (Aug. 22) that "a free Iraq" is within reach.

The same day Iraq's Electricity Minister told reporters that "armed groups" - not the Iraqi government - control the switching stations that channel power throughout Iraq's energy grid. A new report from Bush's own Intelligence apparatus declared that prospects for the Iraqi government to unite the country were somewhere between bleak and gloomy.

Bush's dreamland "free Iraq" is part of the President's "support for freedom and democracy throughout the Middle East."

Most Arabs and Muslims, though, see that kind of support as "the kiss of death," according to Turki al-Rasheed, a prominent (and largely pro-U.S.) Saudi reformer. "The minute you are counted on or backed by the Americans, kiss it goodbye, you will never win," al-Rasheed told the New York Times (Aug. 10). The Times went on to report that "The paradox of American policy in the Middle East - promoting democracy on the assumption it will bring countries closer to the West - is that almost everywhere there are free elections, the American-backed side tends to lose."

It's Alice-in-Wonderland come to life. Bush's imaginings (and the imperial interests they are conjured up to defend) vs. the real world and most of the people in it.

And if it isn't hard enough to parse through the bullshit, we have to read between the lines when the Dems say "end the war."

"Even as they call for an end to the war and pledge to bring the troops home, the Democratic presidential candidates are setting out positions that could leave the U.S. engaged in Iraq for years. John Edwards would keep troops in the region to intervene in an Iraqi genocide and be prepared for military action if violence spills into other countries. Hillary Clinton would leave residual forces to fight terrorism and to stabilize the Kurdish region in the north. And Barack Obama would leave a military presence of as-yet unspecified size in Iraq to provide security for American personnel, fight terrorism and train Iraqis."

Bush says we're making progress in Iraq and anyone who differs is "undermining the troops."

I just can't. I'm done. (as Father Luke says)

(italics are mine; the rest is via an email newsletter from war-times.org; not yet published to the website)

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What does Al know that we don't?

What does Al know that we don't? by Steven Weber

Why, given the opportunity that's been presented to him on a silver Prius, is this man not going to run for (and win) the presidency of the United States? If ever there was a clarion call to be answered it is this one: heed the will of the majority of the people, take back the yoke Bush and his cracked team of highjackers have used to steer the country into the ground and pull the ship skyward again.

Why, after his self-imposed banishment to the wilderness (suburbia), where he along with every other sentient being has observed the feckless evil of the current executive tenant and his Neo-posse, does he demur? Could he know that any run at the office would surely turn out to be a hollow chrysalis which, after gestation, would not incubate a butterfly but more likely belch forth a wingless, blind slug; that an educated, experienced, wise adult can lead more effectively and make more of a difference by being an activist/celebrity and riding a wave of pop-culture popularity, rather than relying upon the rusted and jury-rigged contraption quaintly referred to as the electoral process?

Maybe Al knows that America (to paraphrase Paddy Chayefsky) is a dying giant, that perhaps she is dead already. And the "business of government" is merely the scramble of organisms over the carcass's wan, flaking skin; any rumbles from within aren't the sounds of legislators engaged in constructive debate but the gasses issuing from the anuses of the bacteria digesting the sad corpse's putrefying innards. Are we destined to have the presidency so finally and utterly mediocritized that it no longer holds any attraction for the most qualified person in recent memory who would imbue it with the honor and prestige it -- and we -- deserve?

Well then, that's what Al must know. Because only that kind of realization would prevent him from participating. He says that politics no longer holds any allure for him. And really, why should it? He won an Oscar, for chrissakes. He's raised awareness of a real issue that actually effects us all in a way that makes him truly a uniter -- not a divider. He is the world's activist uncle. George Bush standing in front of his American Enterprise Institute portable backdrop can barely scrape up a strangulated hosanna from his meticulously vetted and dwindling audiences.

Having only once appropriated the toxic phrase "cut and run" to describe the result of catching my fishnet stockings on a partially extruded staple embedded in the side of a bed post (A long, dull story. Forget I mentioned it.) I am forced to resurrect it once again. It's an extremely ugly phrase, wielded by extremely ugly people but I will use it as that mediocre apparatchik/harridan Jean Schmidt never intended: to provoke the discouraged conscience of the marginalized true-patriot who would ably restore what has been so ignobly destroyed. On second thought, it's so shallow and inflammatory that I can't stand to apply it even in a good cause. There has to be some other way to convince this man of his worth. May be we need to convince him of our worth?

Because this country, for all its gaudy fascinations, for all its daily desperation to fend off reality by consuming goods from China as though they were oxygen atoms is also a country of souls betrayed by their loyalty to the idea of America the beautiful, the judicious and the brave. And it is not the loyalty itself that is at issue but those whom we have entrusted with it. A presidential election is not a parlor game, though it may resemble one far too closely. It is as close to being a sacred exercise as this secular republic asks of its congregants. We require a real leader now, one with a true understanding of the importance of why this country must function correctly and efficiently. We and the world depend on it. So here's your hat. And there's the ring. America needs you need to lead us now more than ever.

That's what we know that Al doesn't.

A wee bit pretentious, but effective.

link

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Bush’s Fleurs du Mal

Bush's Fleurs du Mal
By MAUREEN DOWD
Published: May 27, 2007

The president thinks he can save face if he keeps taunting Democrats as the party of surrender - just as Nixon did - and dumps the Frankenstate he's created on his successor.

For me, the saddest spot in Washington is the inverted V of the black granite Vietnam wall, jutting up with the names of young men dying in a war that their leaders already knew could not be won.

So many died because of ego and deceit - because L.B.J. and Robert McNamara wanted to save face or because Henry Kissinger wanted to protect Nixon's re-election chances.

Now the Bush administration finds itself at that same hour of shame. It knows the surge is not working. Iraq is in a civil war, with a gruesome bonus of terrorists mixed in. April was the worst month this year for the American military, with 104 soldiers killed, and there have been about 90 killed thus far in May. The democracy's not jelling, as Iraqi lawmakers get ready to slouch off for a two-month vacation, leaving our kids to be blown up.

The top-flight counterinsurgency team that President Bush sent in after long years of pretending that we'd "turned the corner" doesn't believe there's a military solution.

--MORE--

So many deaths; so little truth.

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Federal Abortion Ban

Yesterday, Bush's appointees to the Supreme Court did exactly what he selected them to do...

By upholding the Federal Abortion Ban in its entirety, the Supreme Court has not only supported an abortion ban with no exception for a woman's health, it has given the green light to the anti-choice movement's plan to outlaw abortion entirely.

In her dissenting opinion, pro-choice Justice Ginsberg, who called the majority opinion "alarming", writes "...[T]he Act and the Court's defense of it cannot be understood as anything other than an effort to chip away at a right declared again and again by this Court."

So how are we going to defeat this ban now that Bush's appointees upheld it? Simple. We're starting an all-out campaign to support the Freedom of Choice Act.

Here's how it starts: The Freedom of Choice Act is legislation that would codify Roe v. Wade into law, and guarantee the right to choose for generations to come. But this legislation is just the first step. To ensure we never face an attack like this again, we're not stopping until we've elected a pro-choice president in 2008!

Pro-Choice America


Suddenly 2008 presidential candidates are forced to declare their positions. Has anyone contacted YOU yet? Kate Michelman, who was president of NARAL Pro-Choice America for nearly 20 years, sent me an email to say the following:

This is one of the most important reasons all of us - but especially women - must be fiercely committed to electing a Democratic president in 2008 who will protect and defend our rights. And that is why I am so strongly committed to electing JOHN EDWARDS.

Read what he has to say about the Supreme Court ruling.

Senator John Edwards released the following statement about today's 5-4 Supreme Court ruling upholding the federal abortion ban.

"I could not disagree more strongly with today's Supreme Court decision. The ban upheld by the Court is an ill-considered and sweeping prohibition that does not even take account for serious threats to the health of individual women. This hard right turn is a stark reminder of why Democrats cannot afford to lose the 2008 election. Too much is at stake - starting with, as the Court made all too clear today, a woman's right to choose."

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SOTU Drinking Game

I always think these games are right-on about the predictable buzzwords or talking points that are mentioned. Especially when the "sectarian violence", the pseudonym for civil war, is used.

SOTU Drinking Game 2007

Every time he says.... - # of Drinks

“The state of our union is strong…” (or some version of this) - 1,+1 if he breaks down in tears

"the American people" - 1

troops - small 1

surge - quick 1

Iraq - 1

Baghdad - 1

"sectarian violence" - 1 Car Bomb recipe

Iran - 1

terror (however itÂ’s pronounced) - small 1

detainees - 1, with your hands behind your back

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad - 2 (+1 if he pronounces it correctly)

Saddam Hussein or Saddam - 1

elections - 1 if referring to another country's, 2 if referring to the 2006 midterms

freedom - 1

Homeland - 1 if followed by "Security"; 2 if another context

"Bring it on" - Arm-wrestle the person next to you; loser drinks

MORE//

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MUSIC | STUFF

* I have Leary surrounded. Interview with John Higgs. link

* Former Mega City Four singer Darren "Wiz" Brown died from a blood clot on the brain on December 6, 2006. Condolences are being received here.

* These swinging dicks have the 'I Got The No Pussy' blues.

* Bob Dylan Live on WBAI. mp3

* You are MOG-ing, aren't you? link

* Dealhack Holiday Shipping Deadlines at Popular Online Stores

* Garrett County Press asked favorite artists to "color in" pages from Kevin Stone's latest project, The Pat Robertson and Friends Coloring Book.

* Hack This: Decorate a glass block from House Hacker. [via]

* How many blue and red people live in your zipcode? Following The Dollars, a Google Maps mashup that points out election donations in your zipcode.

whew! goodnight...

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You've seen "High Times." Now photoshop another magazine devoted to an illegal activity (from Fark.com).

Mattress Label Remover Monthly, DUI Times, Border Hopping Monthly, White Collar Crime. I especially like Election Fraud Quarterly I saw on Earthrites and Crack House Beautiful.

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Hacking Democracy

I just finished watching the HBO documentary Hacking Democracy. This cautionary documentary exposes the vulnerability of computers - which count approximately 80% of America's votes in county, state and federal elections - suggesting that if our votes aren't safe, then our democracy isn't safe either. Premieres Thursday, November 2 at 9pm. It's fair. It's objective. And you won't soon forget it.

In 2002, Seattle grandmother and writer Bev Harris asked officials in her county why they had acquired electronic touch screen systems for their elections. Unsatisfied with their explanation, she set out to learn about electronic voting machines on her own. In the course of her research, which unearthed hundreds of reported incidents of mishandled voting information, Harris stumbled across an "online library" of the Diebold Corporation - which counted more than 40 percent of the presidential votes nationwide in 2000 - discovering a treasure trove of information about the inner-workings of the company's voting system.

Just think of how much pride we put into casting our individual votes. If you get HBO, try to catch a rerun of this documentary.

For more, see Bev Harris' Black Box Voting website.

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Keith Olbermann: This Hole in the Ground

"How dare you, Mr. President, after taking cynical advantage of the unanimity and love, and transmuting it into fraudulent war and needless death, after monstrously transforming it into fear and suspicion and turning that fear into the campaign slogan of three elections? How dare you - or those around you - ever 'spin' 9/11? Just as the terrorists have succeeded - are still succeeding - as long as there is no memorial and no construction here at Ground Zero. So, too, have they succeeded, and are still succeeding as long as this government uses 9/11 as a wedge to pit Americans against Americans." [READ MORE...]

Profound piece. This former sportscaster cum newscaster increasingly gains respect for speaking out against the Bush administration's neverending clusterfuck in a very concise and controlled manor.

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Repukes To-Do list re: Nov 2006 Elections

Stir up immigration issue?

Check.

Gay marriage issue?

Check.

Scare hell out of everyone with impending doom and terrorist attacks?

You betcha.

"These individuals are often hiding in plain sight in cities like Torrance and now Toledo."

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BUSH SARCASM AT ITS FINEST
By Peter Fredson

I saw a news item an hour ago which gave me great amusement. The headline read:

US wants new Belarus poll

The story said: “The United States does not accept results of the Belarus election and believes the campaign that re-elected President Alexander Lukashenko was conducted in a ‘”climate of fear’", the White House said today.’”

What a coincidence. I was thinking exactly the same thing about the last election that re-elected President George W. Bush. It too was conducted in a “climate of fear” by which he and Colin and Condi and Dick and Donald scared the entire nation into believing terrorists would strike us any moment in a great mushroom cloud. His lies about weapons of mass destruction led us into this present failed attempt to make Iraq into a neocon colonial nation.

Today the White House spokesman, Scott McClellan said: "We support the call for a new election," and that too was exactly what most of my friends have been thinking for the past 5 years.

Link

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