Defense Department Program Informs Overseas Voters

A Defense Department program is working to ensure overseas government employees, civilian contractors, servicemembers and their spouses have all the information they need to make their vote count.

Scott Wiedmann, deputy director and 15-year employee of the Federal Voting Assistance Program, said people deployed to combat or stationed overseas have numerous sources for registration and balloting information.

Every U.S. military installation and individual unit, as well as U.S. embassies, has voting assistance officers to help servicemembers and civilians. Information can also be found on the program's Web site at http://www.fvap.gov/.

This year is particularly important because of the U.S. presidential election approaching in November, Wiedmann noted. "Every vote counts, and a vote in the U.S. is a very powerful vote, so people need to take advantage of it," he said. "Not to diminish the importance of any other country, but certainly, a vote for the U.S. president will have its effect on many issues. Policy decisions made by the U.S. government do have an effect on many other countries around the world."

Military members, especially, should take advantage of their vote, he said. "Their daily lives, their income, their living conditions and their retirement benefits are decided by Congress. So, they should certainly have a choice in who's representing them," he added.

Wiedmann encouraged people turning in absentee ballots to act as early as possible to ensure enough time for their ballots and registration requests to process. The earlier one starts the process, the more time election officials have to decide whether the applicant meets the jurisdiction requirements to vote, he explained. Early application allows enough time for such issues to be resolved, he added.

"As long as people get their ballot requests in at least 30 days before the election, no state will be too late," Wiedmann said. "Thirty days is the maximum timeline for registration and ballot requests."

The primary procedure for all 55 U.S. states and territories is to process registrations and ballots by mail, but many states are working with the Defense Department and allowing servicemembers and overseas voters to request by e-mail and fax, he said.

If voters don't receive their ballots in a timely manner, they can request backup ballots on the program's Web site as well as at every military installation and U.S. embassies worldwide, he added.

By Army Staff Sgt. Michael J. Carden
American Forces Press Service

CNN sets debate criteria 1% above Kucinich’s latest poll results, campaign files complaint with Federal Communications Commission

The Kucinich for President campaign filed a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission yesterday against CNN and its parent company, Time Warner, Inc., for arbitrarily establishing criteria for its scheduled Monday Presidential debate that will exclude the Democratic candidate from participation.

On Wednesday, the campaign was notified by CNN that its criteria included a showing of 5% or better in a national poll. In two polls completed earlier last week by CBS News/New York Times and by the Pew Research Center, Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich scored 4%.

“The CNN criteria specifically exclude the diverse and anti-war voice of Mr. Kucinich and his grass-roots supporters,” according to the complaint. “The exclusion of Mr. Kucinich undermines the purpose of the (Federal Communications) Act and is a blatant violation of the Act, including its equal time provisions.” Also, “Mr. Kucinich is a successful candidate because of his anti-war message and strong criticism of the American healthcare system, issues that are not championed by his presidential primary opponents. In these and other policy issues, his opponents share very similar policy platforms that differ from Mr. Kucinich.”

The filing also points out that Kucinich was invited to participate in the upcoming South Carolina debate by the Congressional Black Caucus, which is co-sponsoring the event. The invitation, which he accepted on May 20, stated, in part that Kucinich “will be guaranteed a rare opportunity to present your message to millions of voters unfiltered by any political organization or by any news organization.”

The complaint also argues that the Monday event “is not a true presidential primary debate without including all credible candidates. Instead, it is effectively an endorsement of the candidates selected by CNN” and is a breach of the federal requirement “to operate in the public interest and to afford reasonable opportunity for the discussion of conflicting views of issues of public importance.”

The campaign is asking the FCC to order CNN to allow Kucinich to participate.

McCain: IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: New Hampshire Union Leader: "Kill The Pork! Elect The Guy With The Knife"

"Let's put the veto pen in the hands of the one man who will use it to X out all pork-barrel spending and get Washington's fiscal house in order. Let's end once and for all this outrageous use of taxpayer money for the private benefit of elected officials. Let's elect John McCain President." -- New Hampshire Union Leader

Kill The Pork! Elect The Guy With The Knife
Editorial
New Hampshire Union Leader
December 23, 2007

Every single dollar you paid in federal income taxes this year was spent on pork projects.

Outraged yet?

About $20 billion of the just-passed $555 billion federal budget was earmarked for pork. That might sound like a small percentage, but Heritage Foundation analyst Brian Riedl calculated that it equals the entire federal income tax payments for everyone in Iowa, New Hampshire, New Mexico, West Virginia, and Delaware.

So congratulations, every dollar you paid in federal taxes went to help some member of Congress get elected.

What wonderful projects did you pay for?
· The Andre Agassi prep school in Las Vegas -- $200,000.
· Olive fruit fly research in France -- $213,000.
· The Stark County, Ohio YMCA -- $500,000.
· A bike trail in Minnesota -- $700,000.

The police department in Bastrop, La., got $1.6 million, supposedly for bullet-proof vests. Even if you think Washington ought to fund local police, consider this comment from a Bastrop cop:
"There's no way we'd need that kind of money just to put all our people in vests," said Det. Curtis Stephenson.

Outraged yet?

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi pledged in March to cut the number of earmarks by half. Didn't happen. This budget contains more than 11,000 earmarks, the second-highest number in history.

Outraged yet?

Congress cannot be trusted to end earmarks. If left to the legislators who use earmarks to get re-elected, there's no way this robbery will end. It will take a President to stop it. And there is only one candidate running for President who can be trusted to do that: John McCain.

Sen. McCain was first elected to Congress in 1982. In the 25 years since, he has sponsored not a single earmark. Not one.

His yearly haranguing of Congress for its pork-barrel spending has helped bring national attention to this outrageous pilfering of taxpayer money. Sen. McCain has pledged that if elected President he will veto every bill that contains an earmark. And those who know him know he means it.

Let's put the veto pen in the hands of the one man who will use it to X out all pork-barrel spending and get Washington's fiscal house in order. Let's end once and for all this outrageous use of taxpayer money for the private benefit of elected officials. Let's elect John McCain President.

Read Union Leader Editorial: "Kill The Pork! Elect The Guy With The Knife"