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Ken Blackwell might be gone from office, but Republican leaders haven't given up his old, cynical political tactics.

You may have heard that last Friday, the Ohio Republican Party filed a lawsuit to block Buckeyes from casting absentee ballots if they register between September 30th and October 6th -- the exact period of overlap when voter registration ends and absentee voting begins.

Once again, Republican political operatives are attempting to disenfranchise Ohio voters.

But the Campaign for Change and supporters like you are fighting back -- standing up for the right of every legal Buckeye voter to cast their ballot.

And it's up to you to reach out to your friends, family, and neighbors and ask them to help take back the political process for ordinary Americans, and stop the cynical politics of the past.

We've set a goal of knocking on 118,602 doors this weekend -- one more than the total number of votes John Kerry lost Ohio by in 2004.

Send a message that 2004 won't happen again -- not here, not now. Sign up to help us reach our goal this weekend.

Several weeks ago, Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner and Attorney General Nancy Rogers brought together election attorneys from both political parties to reach an agreement to avoid costly, confusing litigation. I was in this meeting.

The Ohio Republican Party sent their attorney, Kari B. Hertel, who is responsible for handling Election Day operations, and the McCain campaign sent their chief counsel, Todd Steggerda. When given the chance to speak up about any issues that Republicans or McCain had, they did not raise any concerns.

But late Friday afternoon, Republican operatives filed a last minute lawsuit to suspend early voting -- a blatant attempt to cut Buckeye voters out of the political process.

The stakes are too high in this election to let the same old partisan playbook stand in the way of your voices in Ohio.

Sign up now to help grow this grassroots movement for change and put an end to the politics of the past:

http://oh.barackobama.com/OHweeklywalks

No previous experience is required to volunteer -- Campaign for Change staff will provide you with all of the support you need to succeed.

Thank you for all you're doing from now until Election Day, November 4th -- we can't win this without you.

Jeremy

Jeremy Bird
General Election Director
Ohio Campaign for Change

Déjà vu

I Wanna Go Back To Dixie

(by Tom Lehrer, a social comic/musician from another era...)

 "Well, what I like to do on formal occasions like this is to take some of the various types of songs that we all know and presumably love, and, as it were, to kick them when they're down. I find that if you take the various popular song forms to their logical extremes,... 

...first of all, the southern type song about the wonders of the American south. But it's always seemed to me that most of these songs really don't go far enough. The following song, on the other hand, goes too far. It's called I Wanna Go Back To Dixie."

I wanna go back to Dixie,
Take me back to dear ol' Dixie,
That's the only li'l ol' place for li'l ol' me.
Ol' times there are not forgotten,
Whuppin' slaves and sellin' cotton,
And waitin' for the Robert E. Lee.
(It was never there on time.)
I'll go back to the Swanee,
Where pellagra makes you scrawny,
And the Honeysuckle clutters up the vine
I really am a-fixin'
To go home and start a-mixin'
Down below that Mason-Dixon line.

Oh, poll tax, how I love ya, how I love ya,
My dear old poll tax.

Won'tcha come with me to Alabammy,
Back to the arms of my dear ol' Mammy,
Her cookin's lousy and her hands are clammy,
But what the hell, it's home.
Yes, for paradise the Southland is my nominee.
Jes' give me a ham hock and a grit of hominy.

I wanna go back to Dixie
I wanna be a dixie pixie
And eat cornpone 'til it's comin' outta my ears
I wanna talk with Southern gentlemen
And put my white sheet on again,
I ain't seen one good lynchin' in years.
The land of the boll weevil,
Where the laws are medieval,
Is callin' me to come and nevermore roam.
I wanna go back to the Southland,
That "y'all" and "shet-ma-mouth" land,
Be it ever so decadent,
There's no place like home.

http://www.casualhacker.net/tom.lehrer/revisited.html

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>>> Maybe it isn't just in the South any more... <<<<

PND

Susan, see the second half of this post:
http://www.callahansclevelanddiary.com/?p=664

Caging? You know Bill that we are being asked to enlighten our children in the ways of game simulation via the Scratch program (another story)...does this help our children learn how to cheat at the universal game of politics?

I know you know the technical name for these non-profits set up to "work the vote." In the last presidential election, everyone felt the presence of ACT up and MoveOn, resulting in Bush/Cheney. Now, we have the "non-partisan" OhioVOTES and AmericaVotes. What is your take on these organizations?

My take on the "strategy"--so far?

Intentional incompetence and NOAction=McCain/Palin 2008.

I am still trying to figure out how the largest minority in America, Americans of Hispanic and/or Latino origin, will play out the vote.

In the last election, I watched the raptured (of all cultures) literally cross themselves before entering the voting the booth.

This time around, are the churches in Hispanic/Latino communities telling their parishioners to stay home?

These folks who are in foreclosure or the victims of their landlord's foreclosure; they have moved to the home of a family member and are having their mail forwarded via a change of address, so they get their mail OR they are living in a shelter (do you have your mail forwarded to a shelter?)

So they don't get to vote to change these things while the banks that screwed them in the first place are under "federal bankruptcy protection"? Isn't the federal budget made up of our tax dollars? (I still don't get why taxpayers should give a hand to Richard Fuld and the like) What happens when these mailboxless folks' taxes become due? They don't have to pay because they didn't get the mail reminding them that taxes are due?

Sounds like Bill Moyers need to return to Ohio and do the follow up story to the foreclosure story, Mortgage Meltdown.Mortgage Meltdown 2 - no home, no vote.

Bill, Do you know approximately how many voters could possibly be disenfranchised by this technique?

PBS's NOW covered the caging story and Ohio is right up there with the list of battleground states being targeted by the neocons. Just one more way to "keep the brown man down". Now, with the foreclosure crisis,  we have a focus on keeping the poor man down.

 From a friend who watches these things more closely,

"Brunner is already being sued by the GOP - twice, so far - because McCain campaign put in absentee ballot applications; they added an extra box, which few see - a Y/N asking if the applicant is a validly registered voter in OH - and they also left off the sentence indicating same, just above the voter's signature, as is prescribed by the state... and she ruled that, according to OH law, those people who did not see/check their box, would have to provide another such affirmation...and is even is setting up a way to do that on line.

But the GOP is suing, saying her non-acceptance, (caused by their mistake on their forms) is a partisan move...(and get out the violins,) "disenfranchising" their voters. (Thus, it's apparent they are also already working to to take back the SoS seat in 2010....)

And then there are all the vicious, supposed polling they're doing, with questions implanting inflammatory lies about Obama... and then there's also the Obsession DVD they're sending....

Also, as an aside, not an answer I think OH law allows voter challenges by people (other than poll workers while the election is going on,) only up until 20 days before the election. If the GOP is using foreclosure lists, anyone not already on the lists by that time would probably be able to vote ---- as long as--- they give their recently vacated, and still vacant old registered address, go to their old poll - or safer yet, go to the board, after the twenty days, but before November 4, and vote there (with such old address.)  I'd avoid the polls in case there's
a GOP poll worker instructed by the party to check  (with GOP-provided updated foreclosure lists) and make a fuss. A poll worker CAN challenge the validity of a voter's registration, based on address.
 
Or far more legal.....they can still re-register for Nov. 4, until 10/6, with whatever address they are living at... or if they have no home  :-((( - they use the board address, I believe.

I emailed a county official asking about this, but have not received a response yet.

And then there's Tom Paxton - still scathing (and also still commenting)

I Am Changing My Name To Chrysler
by Tom Paxton

Oh, the price of gold is rising out of sight,
And the dollar is in sorry shape tonight.
What a dollar use to get us
Now won't get a head of lettuce,
No, the economic forecast isn't bright.
But amidst the clouds I spot a shining ray,
I begin to glimpse a new and better way.
I've devised a plan of action,
Worked it down to the last fraction,
And I'm going into action here today:

Cho: I am changing my name to Chrysler,
I am going down to Washington D.C.
I will tell some power broker,
"What you did for Iacocca
Would be perfectly acceptable to me."
I am changing my name to Chrysler,
I am leaving for that great receiving line.
When they hand a million grand out,
I'll be standing with my hand out,
Yes sir, I'll get mine.

When my creditors come screaming for their dough,
I'll be proud to tell them all where they can go.
They won't have to yell and holler,
They'll be paid to the last dollar
Where the endless streams of money seem to flow.
I'll be glad to show them all what they must do.
It's a matter of a simple form or two.
It's not just remuneration, it's a lib'ral education,
Makes you kind of glad that I'm in debt to you.

Cho.

Since the first amphibian crawled out of the slime,
We've been struggling in an unrelenting climb.
We were hardly up and walking
Before money started talking,
And it's said that failure is an awful crime.
It's been that way a millenium or two;
Now it seems there is a different point of view.
If you're a corporate Titanic
And your failure is gigantic,
Down in Congress there's a safety net for you.

Cho

http://www.lyrics007.com/Paxton%20Tom%20Lyrics/Changing%20My%20Name%20To%20Chrysler%20Lyrics.html

Over half a million lost voters in five Ohio counties

September 20th, 2008

Almost 600,000 in five counties means at least 120,000 in Cuyahoga, probably more.

Did I just miss the Plain Dealer story?

From: http://www.callahansclevelanddiary.com/