progresoblog.com

The following two columns appeared as op-ed pieces in the Orlando Sentinel this past Friday. It shows that Republicans (and Florida’s Secretary of State is a Republican) are up to no good — again! Record numbers of new voters have registered hoping to participate in the November 4 presidential election — probably the most important in our lifetime. Of those registered a very large group are new U.S. citizens, many Latinos and persons who derive from Caribbean islands, and African Americans who want to deposit their vote with the first African American presidential candidate with a legitimate shot at winning the highest elective office in the country. There are those who fear this possibility.

May I remind you of the problems that developed in 2000 when studies have shown that election WAS stolen in Florida. Behind it all was a Bush in the governor’s office (no longer the case, although we have one in the White House) and a sneaky secretary of state who managed to arrange to have thousand of eligible voters disenfranchised. May history NOT repeat itself…

Alvaro F. Fernandez

REMOVE THE VOTING BARRIER

September 26, 2008

On Election Day, Floridians may again see a mishandled election that unfairly disenfranchises eligible voters. To avoid this, I call on Secretary of State Kurt Browning to suspend enforcement of the “no match, no vote” voter verification statute. He can and should delay enforcing this burdensome and unnecessary law.

This law prevents newly-registered voters from voting by regular ballot if the state doesn’t verify their drivers license or Social Security number by matching it with a state or federal database — even when the source of the problem is a clerical error or typographical error.

County officials must notify unmatched applicants who, to be added to the voter rolls, must provide a copy of their drivers license or Social Security card. If applicants don’t receive or understand that notice and appear at the polls on Election Day, they get a provisional ballot — which won’t count unless they give officials a copy of their valid identification card within 48 hours.

The requirement places unnecessary obstacles in the paths of people who are energized by the upcoming election and excited to vote for the first time — and disenfranchises voters unless they correct clerical errors made by the government.
Before the presidential primary, 16,000 citizens were blocked from the voter rolls by the law. It disproportionately impacts voters of color who have nontraditional names, including Latino voters who use two surnames, thus increasing the likelihood of clerical errors. In 2006 and 2007, 65 percent of the unmatched applicants were either Latino or African American. Latinos comprised only 15 percent of the applicant pool, but a whopping 39 percent of them were prevented from registering. African Americans comprised only 13 percent of the applicant pool, yet 26 percent of them were kept from the rolls.

Browning says this law is necessary to prevent fraudulent voters from registering — despite scant evidence of voter-registration fraud in Florida. And while election officials must verify voters’ identities — that is, make sure voters are who they say they are — this law does not accomplish that purpose. Indeed, voters who verify their identities by showing poll workers their drivers licenses, U.S. passports or military identifications will have their votes go uncounted if they do not give election officials an extra copy of an ID card in the two days after the election.

Last year, the Southwest Voter Registration Education Project and other groups challenged the law in federal court, and the court blocked enforcement of the law for the presidential primary. That ruling was reversed on appeal, but the lawsuit continues, and there hasn’t yet been a final ruling. This makes all the more puzzling Browning’s announcement that he would abruptly begin enforcing the burdensome law just weeks before the registration deadline.

Browning should not put Florida’s voters at risk. The Division of Elections is already overwhelmed trying to process a backlog of thousands of new applications. Forcing officials to contend with an unnecessary matching law when they’re already inundated makes no sense — especially because the law won’t stop any voter fraud and will stop thousands of citizens from having their ballots counted on Election Day.

Alvaro F. Fernandez is a regional director of the Southwest Voter Registration Education Project, a plaintiff in a lawsuit challenging the voter verification law.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/opinion/letters/orl-myword26bfernandez08sep26,0,1731958.story

EVEN THE UNVERIFIED CAN VOTE

Kurt S. Browning | Special to the Sentinel

September 26, 2008

There have been many misstatements and confusion over the recent implementation of the voter verification law, otherwise known as the “no match, no vote” law originally passed in 2006. The Division of Elections’ mission along with local supervisors of elections is to register voters and to make sure they can cast a ballot on Election Day that will be counted.

And just to clarify, this law will not affect the status of the 10.7 million voters who have already registered. The law applies to all new applications received on or after Sept. 8.

Unlike what activists are saying, obvious errors including nicknames or typos will be resolved, and that applicant will be registered to vote. Every voter-registration applicant must provide (if issued) a Florida drivers-license number, state identification card number or the last four digits of the Social Security number. The identification number is automatically cross-checked against the Florida drivers-license database or the Social Security Administration database. If that number does not match, the Bureau of Voter Registration Services manually reviews it for identifiable typographical errors or a difference between a nickname and formal name based on available records and the voter-registration application.

If the number still cannot be matched, the applicant is notified to provide a photocopy of his or her identification by mail, by fax or by e-mail; or the applicant may show the identification in person. If proof is provided before the election, the applicant becomes registered and is able to vote a regular ballot. If proof is not provided before the election, this person may vote a provisional ballot and may provide proof up until 5 p.m. of the second day after the election for the ballot to be counted.

This law does not keep any person with an unverified number from being able to vote. This law is about verifying identity at the time of registration, so that when the voter goes to the polls, the voter can use a regular ballot, not a provisional ballot.
Identification required and checked at the polls is used solely to confirm the voter’s identity, not to verify the voter’s ID number or address. The photograph on the ID is compared with the person standing before the poll worker, and the signature on the ID is compared with the signature on record.

This law does not target specific groups. The U.S. Department of Justice reviewed the law in 2005, and after revisions to the law in 2007 and 2008, found that the law did not deny or abridge the right to vote on account of race, color or membership in a language minority group.

The courts have held that the voter verification law is valid because the state has a compelling interest to have accurate voter rolls. We encourage you to register now, review your application before submission, and call your local supervisor if you have any questions.

See you on Election Day.

Kurt S. Browning is Florida’s secretary of state.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/opinion/letters/orl-myword26abrowning08sep26,0,174044.story

President George W. Bush seems to live in his own fairy tale world. Examples abound that he just doesn’t feel the “pain” most of the rest of us in this country and many around the world do.

I can never forget the image of Bush the reader receiving the information that New York’s Twin Towers had been attacked. His reaction that fateful morning was an eerie look of puzzlement. He then proceeded to keep reading to the small children in the Florida school where he was visiting. Almost 10 minutes later (a lifetime under any emergency situation), he decided to react. He then disappeared high above the skies to manage the September 11 attacks from Air Force One, the presidential airplane.

A few years later when Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans with the wrath only nature possesses, President Bush seemed oddly disinterested while vacationing in his Texas ranch. As cadavers floated in their watery graves for all to see on TV, when we found out that the poor and hapless had been left behind to deal with a city and state lacking emergency preparedness, and after years of ignoring infrastructure needs and maintenance, Bush decided to keep vacationing. The devastation in New Orleans grew to the point that not even Bush could ignore it. Days later, he reacted and decided to take a look at it. That’s when he hopped on Air Force One to take a look at the effects of the hurricane on definitely not his “political base,” as he had once joked about the very wealthy who supports his lifestyle and political needs.

Empathy was not a word that came to mind at that moment when we saw our president high above the skies looking down on Americans floating in New Orleans.

Less than two weeks ago Wall Street seemed to collapse from under us. Freddie, Fannie, AIG, Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns… the names abound and they need little explanation. Some of our largest and richest companies were going belly up. Years of greed and exploitation had taken a toll. The country’s economy seemed tottering on a peeling string.

So what was our president’s reaction? He sent his economic henchman to offer congress a bailout idea with more of the same. The stench of arrogance permeated the plan. Give us (the administration) $700 billion (yes 700 with a bunch of zeros behind it) and we will fix the problem. Taxpayer dollars turned over to many of the same people who had caused the collapse. And there was a catch: “You cannot tell us how to spend the money or what we must do!”

Let me tell you, Bush and his people have major balls…

Congress did not bite (thank God!) and finally, almost two weeks later Bush had to face his public. In a national television appearance on prime time he told us what we already knew.

This guy Bush doesn’t really care. He may be the worst president in the history of this country. He is not fit to lead in the first place. And his second in command and others around him remind me of some fellows who were around Germany in the middle part of the 20th Century.

And later you wonder why I call my blog “This ain’t Disneyland”? Come on, look around you… Do you realize we’re in real trouble here. Mickey’s left the building. He’s on vacation somewhere high up in the sky inside Disney One.

Alvaro F. Fernandez

Since Monday, the U.S. has been mired in a funk the likes of most of us have never seen. Those who might remember anything like this may want to forget what happened in 1929 and the years that followed it. Let us hope this is not a repeat performance… Three days now that the people of this country have been worried — I mean really worried — about what is going to happen. Should I leave my money in my bank? What will happen to many people’s 401K and other retirement moneys regular Americans were counting on for their retirement?

In other words, we have lived three very stressful days in this country. At times it feels like the heavens are falling and they may just land on one’s head.

Times like this require a president who will go before the American public and reassure them that help is on the way. It is why I keep asking: Where is George W. Bush?

I have not heard a peep from our president. Has he taken to the bottle? Again? I would consider it based on his performance and the hole he has helped to dig for this country.

The man is a coward. We know he’s a liar and not a very smart one, but the least he can do is go before the public and act presidential. I have yet to see it.

As for the man who wants to replace him, John McCain. He keeps telling us that the U.S. economy is doing “fundamentally” OK. Yeah, sure… He loses one house he still has seven to choose from. And his running mate, Sarah Palin, she is slowly blowing up in the face of lying, cheating republicans.

It is sad to have to say this, but this horrible situation we are traversing may have sealed the deal for Barack Obama. Yes, there are racists out there who would rather hammer their left thumb then vote for a black man… But most Americans are starting to realize that if we vote for 4 more years of the same, this country may not survive to elect a new one. Or, worse yet. Old man McCain may not survive his seventy something years and then we would have to contend with Caribou Barbie.
Moose burgers any one?

By Alvaro F. Fernandez

NY Times has an article on the Florida everglades involving a $1.7 billion buyout the U.S. government is giving the Fanjul family. The Times does not mention that the Fanjuls are one of the principle promoters of the Cuban embargo and the Helms-Burton law, along with Bacardi (sugar = rum) and CANF.

The Fanjuls are also the reason that Americans pay 50% more than the world price for sugar and arguably the reason that we consume vast amounts of high fructose corn syrup which is linked to the obesity and diabetes epidemics. The Fanjul family gives vast amounts of campaign contributions to both the democrats and republicans. The
back room deals taking place regarding the Everglades are in violation of Florida’s sunshine laws but rest assured it will all be win-win for the Fanjuls: they will give up certain portions of the Everglades but will still own huge tracts that are prime for
development.

Florida Deal for Everglades May Help Big Sugar

By Mary Williams Walsh

IN June, Gov. Charlie Crist announced that Florida would buy one of the state’s two big sugar enterprises, the United States Sugar Corporation. He billed the purchase as a “jump-start” in the environmental restoration of the Everglades, which cane growers are accused of polluting with fertilizer runoff.

But in the end, the $1.7 billion buyout, scheduled to be completed in early 2009, may also prove to be a financial boon to the state’s remaining sugar superpower, Florida Crystals.

One of the country’s wealthiest families, the Fanjuls of Palm Beach, controls Florida Crystals and today touches virtually every aspect of the sugar trade in the United States.

Click here to continue reading this NY Time article

Earlier this week U.S. bishops asked the U.S. government to lift its ban on remittances and travel to Cuba, even temporarily, in light of the crisis caused by recent hurricanes.

The request was made in a September 10 letter from Cardinal Francis George, OMI, president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, to President George Bush. The letter follows.

Dear Mr. President:

In light of the devastation and humanitarian disaster caused by recent hurricanes in Cuba and the efforts of extended families, friends and organizations to reach those in need, I urge you to suspend — even temporarily — Treasury and Commerce Department restrictions and licensing requirements for humanitarian travel and remittances by American citizens and assistance by not-for-profit organizations.

At times of crisis, there are simple and basic acts of charity on which people rely. Churches, as well as governments, urge people to reach out and respond with generosity to those in desperate need. The United States has a tradition of such assistance for which it can be rightly proud. At this time, all should be done to facilitate humanitarian assistance, be it through institutions like Catholic Relief Services, or through the generosity of individuals moved by the misfortune of their brothers and sisters. Removing restrictions on remittances and travel to Cuba are a necessary step which I urge you to take without delay.

USCCB has long-opposed U.S. sanctions on Cuba because of their failure to foster greater freedom, democracy and respect for life. In our judgment, restrictions on remittances and travel to Cuba, especially by family members, are onerous and counterproductive. Under current circumstances, they are particularly unjustifiable and need to be relaxed.

In prayerful support for your efforts to assist all those affected by these ongoing weather emergencies, I remain.

Sincerely,
Francis Cardinal George, OMI
Archbishop of Chicago
President
SOURCE U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops