Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News Friday, 4/18/2008

[Mnemosyne]

All members welcome and encouraged to participate.







Please post Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News on this thread.



If you can:

1. Post stories and announcements you find on the web.





2. Post stories using the new Spring 2006 Edition of "Election Fraud and Reform News Directory" listed here:



http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x407240



3. Re-post stories and announcements you find on DU, providing a link to the original thread with thanks to the Original Poster, too.





4. Start a discussion thread by re-posting a story you see on this thread.








Please Feel Free to "Recommend" for the Greatest Page (it's the link just below). Thanks!




Good evening all! Sorry running late today. :hi:

[Mnemosyne]

1. National. n't

[Mnemosyne]

6. Holt will continue fight for ballot paper trail

Holt will continue fight for ballot paper trail

By RAJU CHEBIUM • GANNETT NEWS SERVICE • April 18, 2008

WASHINGTON — A New Jersey congressman's four-year effort to prevent the types of balloting problems that marred the 2000 presidential election has suffered another legislative setback.

A frustrated Rep. Rush D. Holt, D-N.J., said Thursday that he would continue to push his measure but acknowledged that time's running out.

"Can we get it done this year? I don't know," Holt said.

The bill's future, he said, "depends in no small measure on what form the support in the Senate takes. We could, for symbolic purposes, pass it in the House. But would it be of anything more than symbolic value if the Senate just sits on it?"

http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080418/NEWS03/804180429

[Wilms]

22. Kucinich Statement on HR 5036 Vote

Kucinich Statement on HR 5036 Vote

Reportedly from the Congressional record

snip

H.R. 5036 acknowledges that problems exist in our system of voting, and that without action now these problems will grow. For this reason the legislation has merit.

While H.R. 5036 includes a provision to reimburse jurisdictions that convert their paperless voting system to one that includes a paper trail, it may also include optical scan technology. I have serious concerns with optical scan technology and its susceptibility to hacks and security breaches. Recent tests and research have demonstrated the ease with which a person can manipulate the configuration files to change votes. What's more, most of the equipment necessary to accomplish this can be purchased off-the-shelf at most technology stores.

Indeed, our voting system needs improvement, but replacing one flawed technology with another will do little to garner public faith in the electoral process. Let us make comprehensive electoral system reform a priority, and let us enact a policy that ensures system integrity, system security, and that each and every vote is counted.

snip

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/electionreform/message/9299?var=1


Discussion

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x500756

[Mnemosyne]

2. States. n/t

[Mnemosyne]

7. FL: Election experts predict problems in state in '08

Election experts predict problems in state in '08

By Jeremy Wallace
H-T POLITICAL WRITER
Published Friday, April 18, 2008 at 4:30 a.m.

Because many Floridians will be using their third different voting system in as many presidential elections, experts are warning that the state is primed for more voting problems in 2008.

Though touch-screen voting machines are gone, elections officials should not underestimate the problems voters will face moving to different, though simpler, voting technology, said Doug Chapin, director of the nonpartisan electionline.org.

"All the change between the systems will cause problems," Chapin told a Sarasota audience on Thursday at a forum on voting technology at the Ritz-Carlton. Chapin was on a panel of speakers that included Florida's top election official, Kurt Browning.

After the 2000 presidential election controversy, Florida got rid of punch-card balloting in favor of touch-screen voting machines. Last year, after the 2006 disputed Congressional election in Sarasota County, the state required all counties to change to optical scan systems, in which voters blacken in ovals on a paper ballot.

http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20080418/news/804180302&tc=yahoo

[Mnemosyne]

8. IN: County will pay less than thought for new voting machines

County will pay less than thought for new voting machines

Friday, April 18, 2008
By Amy Erickson

Plymouth County may not have to shell out as much money for new voting machines as originally thought.

K. Kae Meyer, Plymouth County auditor, told the Plymouth County Supervisors Tuesday that according to voting machine vendors the State of Iowa is expected to pick up the cost for 26 new machines. New federal requirements make the purchase necessary.

"That's my understanding," Meyer said. "They are going to pay for one for each of our precincts."

Last week Meyer wasn't sure how much of the nearly $166,000 cost for the new machines would have to be paid with county dollars.

http://www.lemarssentinel.com/story/1395817.html

[Mnemosyne]

9. PA: Fight erupts in Pike County over voting machines

Fight erupts in Pike County over voting machines
Dems 'teach-in' provokes head of election board

By Stephen Sacco
Times Herald-Record
April 17, 2008

MILFORD, Pa. — With the primary just days away in Pennsylvania, back-and-fourth accusations aren't just for the candidates. There's a quarrel brewing between Pike County's Democratic Committee and Board of Elections, complete with partisan overtones.

Members of the Democratic Committee plan on conducting a "teach-in" today at the board's office in Milford on the use of electronic voting machines.

It's either a public service or an ambush, depending on who you ask.

"This is a sneak attack," said Yolanda Goldsack, department head for the board. The Democratic Committee never told Goldsack they were coming, but did inform the news media.

http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080417/NEWS/804170316

[Mnemosyne]

10. TX: Copperas Cove using electronic ballots in upcoming election

Copperas Cove using electronic ballots in upcoming election

Updated: Apr 17, 2008 7:30pm

The city of Copperas Cove is throwing out paper ballots in exchange for electronic voting machines for the upcoming May election.

The signs of election season are apparent in Copperas Cove. To handle a lengthy May ballot the city is giving voters only one option electronic voting machines.

"If we went with paper ballots, we were going to have six pages, which lends itself to error and problems." Copperas Cove Spokesperson Kelly Dix said.

Potential errors that could cost the city an expensive recount. Voters will have to choose between eight city council candidates, four running for the school board, and 28 propositions to change the city charter.

http://www.kcentv.com/news/c-article.php?cid=1&nid=15355

[Mnemosyne]

12. Chicago Premiere of "Uncounted" on Tuesday, April 29th - Press Release

Chicago Premiere of "Uncounted" on Tuesday, April 29th

by Press Release (Posted by Joan Brunwasser) Page 1 of 1 page(s)

http://www.opednews.com


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Filmmaker To Bring Election Integrity Documentary to Chicago to Help Spread Message - "Let Every Vote Count!"

CONTACT:
Mary Mancini
615-480-4678
[e-mail]

FILMMAKER TO BRING ELECTION INTEGRITY DOCUMENTARY TO CHICAGO TO HELP SPREAD MESSAGE - "LET EVERY VOTE COUNT!"
Will Screen Film and Share Concerns of 2008 Election Irregularities

NASHVILLE, TN (April 14, 2008) – A famous Chicagoan may have coined the phrase, "Vote early - and vote often," during the last century, but it's this year's Super Tuesday instances of frozen voting machines in Peoria, "magic" invisible ink in the 49th Ward's 42nd precinct, and uncounted ballots in Evanston County, that make for a timely Chicago premiere of the new feature-length election integrity documentary, UNCOUNTED: The New Math of American Elections. The premiere will take place at Landmark's Century Centre Cinema in Chicago at 7:00pm, on Tuesday, April 29, 2008.

A question and answer session featuring filmmaker, David Earnhardt, and Tribune Media Columnist, Bob Koehler, will follow the screening.

"Illinois, like the rest of the country, has a long and varied history of election irregularities," said Earnhardt, "Yet there are still so many in the state that accept on faith the integrity of the process - I hope my film can help change that."

Through UNCOUNTED, the multiple Emmy award-winning Earnhardt examines how the fraud that changed the outcome of the 2004 election led to even greater election fraud in 2006 and now looms as an unbridled threat in 2008. UNCOUNTED exposes the war being waged on the core of our democracy - our right to vote - by exposing the systemic problems that plague our nation's elections and disenfranchise voters including Jim Crow-like voter suppression, voter intimidation, under-voting, provisional balloting, the privatization of the election process, and electronic voting.

"Now is the exact time for the people of Illinois to closely examine the accuracy and effectiveness of the state's election system," says Earnhardt, "The record voter turnout for the primary illustrates an engaged electorate, which is great! But it's important we all remain vigilant about making sure that every vote that is cast, is counted."

In addition to being an searing indictment of our country's election system and a wake-up call for voters and election officials, UNCOUNTED is also the uplifting story of a small group of whistle-blowers determined to do the right thing. These men - computer programmer Clint Curtis, who is directed by his boss to create software that will "flip" votes from one candidate to another; Utah, County Clerk Bruce Funk, who is locked out of his office for raising questions about security flaws in electronic voting machines; and Californian Steve Heller, who gets convicted of a felony after he leaks secret documents detailing illegal activities committed by a major voting machine company - are true patriots who embody what's best about our country.

The Chicago premiere of UNCOUNTED is sponsored by WCPT 820AM - Chicago's Progressive Talk, and is co-hosted by the Illinois Ballot Integrity Project and Progressive Democrats of America - two groups that continually fight for the integrity of elections in Illinois.

The screening takes place at 7:00pm, on Tuesday, April 29, at Landmark's Century Centre Cinema, 2828 N. Clark Street, Chicago, IL, 60657. Ticket prices are $10.00 general admission.

Earnhardt has been on a national tour with UNCOUNTED for the past three months, with screenings in large, medium and small cities across the country drawing an average of 300 people per stop. The film has also been shown at more than 300 house party screenings in 45 states during the past three months and the DVD has sold in 47 states and 16 countries.

DVDs of UNCOUNTED will be available at the screening or can be purchased online at
http://www.UncountedTheMovie.com/order-the-dvd.html.

http://www.opednews.com/articles/genera_press_re_080416_chicago_premiere_of_.htm

[Mnemosyne]

3. The Youth Vote. n/t

[Mnemosyne]

13. NE: County youth attend election seminar

County youth attend election seminar

By DeManda Arkfeld
04/18/2008
Updated 04/16/2008 06:35:14 PM EDT

Area students recently had an opportunity speak out on upcoming elections and practice their new voting rights.

Most of the youth who attended the Saunders County Youth Election Seminar on April 10 will be voting for the first time this year.

The students have their own opinions on the importance of voting and reactions to local and national issues.

The seminar gave students some of the background and structure of an election.

http://www.lavistasun.com/site/tab8.cfm?newsid=19491195&BRD=2712&PAG=461&dept_id=557010&rfi=6

[Mnemosyne]

14. IN: Purdue student IDs don't pass early voting test

Purdue student IDs don't pass early voting test

By DOROTHY SCHNEIDER • [e-mail] • April 17, 2008

Purdue students won't be able to use their student IDs for early voting being held on campus today, Friday and Monday.

But county election officials are still investigating whether they will be able to accept Purdue student IDs for voter identification purposes on May 6, the date of Indiana's primary.

"We'd like to be as accommodating as possible to Purdue students," said County Clerk Linda Phillips.

Purdue IDs have not been accepted in past elections because there's no expiration date printed on the cards.

http://www.jconline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080417/ELECTION01/804170340

[Mnemosyne]

15. PA: Pitt Prepares For Surge In Student Voters

Pitt Prepares For Surge In Student Voters

POSTED: 4:58 pm EDT April 17, 2008
UPDATED: 6:02 pm EDT April 17, 2008

PITTSBURGH -- There is an effort under way in Pittsburgh to safeguard the votes of college students in the city for the upcoming presidential primary on April 22.

In 2004, for the presidential election, there weren't enough voting machines to go around in Oakland at the University of Pittsburgh. The courts had to get involved to allow everyone time to vote.

Those students stood in lines for up to five hours waiting for the opportunity to vote. But some, who weren’t able to hold out for that duration, never got the chance to vote.

Former election official Josh Bloom said a repeat could affect Sen. Barack Obama at the polls.

http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com/news/15914252/detail.html

[Mnemosyne]

4. OPED/BLOGS/LTTE. n/t

[Mnemosyne]

11. 'BradBlog: Video 'No Trouble with Touch-screens' Your Clueless Democratic Public Officials in PA

'Why Tuesday?' Video: 'No Trouble with Touch-screens' Say Your Clueless Democratic Public Officials in PA

Philly Mayor Nutter Says 'No Problems, They Got Me Elected'; PA Gov Rendell Admits He 'Knows Nothing About Them, But They're All Approved by HAVA'
Great Work by Jake Soboroff from Last Night's Dem Debate...

The following video comes fresh from our buddy Jake Soboroff of Why Tuesday? He was at last night's Democratic debate and tried to get some answers from some of the local Democratic public officials on hand --- including Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter and PA Governor Ed Rendell --- to see if they had any concerns about the e-voting machines to be used in next week's crucial PA Primary.

Kudos to Jake for asking, just one of the so-many questions (if, arguably, one of the most important) that the Corporate Media, such as ABC News, couldn't even be bothered to dream of, apparently.

Despite the fact that, next week, wholly unverifiable, 100% faith-based e-voting systems will be in use across much of the Keystone State --- including, perhaps most notably, Sequoia's AVC Advantage touch-screens in Montgomery and Northhampton counties, even though very same systems failed so spectacularly in neighboring NJ on Super Tuesday (see this recent BRAD BLOG story for the quick skinny on what happened, and continues to be going on with the NJ/Sequoia failed touch-screen imbroglio) --- the election officials interviewed by Soboroff, in the following quick video recorded just last night, remain utterly and completely clueless.

It's simply amazing...

http://www.bradblog.com/?p=5905

[Mnemosyne]

5. Foreign. n/t

[Mnemosyne]

16. Study says Russia's election likely rigged

Study says Russia's election likely rigged

Up to a third of the votes cast for Dmitri Medvedev to be Russia's next president were likely rigged, a study says.

Millions of votes for Medvedev -- outgoing President Vladimer Putin's protege -- were challenged in the study by Sergei Shpilkin, a physicist and computer programmer, The Times of London reported Friday.

Medvedev officially won 70.3 percent of the vote in the recent election, but Shpilkin calculated that it really was just under 63 percent.

Millions of votes were fraudulent or resulted from administrative resources government officials used to pressure state employees to support the candidate, Shpilkin said.

http://politicom.moldova.org/stiri/eng/112978/

[Mnemosyne]

17. Namibia: Electronic Voting Becomes Reality

Namibia: Electronic Voting Becomes Reality

The Namibian (Windhoek)


17 April 2008
Posted to the web 17 April 2008

Denver Isaacs
Windhoek

The Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) has allocated just over N$12 million of its requested N$78 million annual budget for the purchase of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs).

Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly Doreen Sioka told MPs yesterday that Cabinet and President Hifikepunya Pohamba had in principle approved the purchase and introduction of the machines into the Namibian electoral system. The ECN, she said, plans to acquire the machines in two phases during this financial year and the next. She added that, in order to test the new machines, a further N$200 000 would be allocated for mock elections that would serve as a trial run before full implementation of the machines.

"The introduction of the EVM into the Namibian electoral system will be preceded by a meticulous and thorough preparation phase. Such preparation phase would include nationwide consultations with all stakeholders including the political parties, civic society organisations and most importantly the general electorate," she said.

In total, the ECN is requesting N$78 191 000 of the National Budget. Sioka said this amount was a "rather conservative" budget, due to the financial constraints and tightening measures being implemented by Government. Also on the cards for the Electoral Commission this year is the construction of its new headquarters, which should set its budget back by N$40 million.

http://allafrica.com/stories/200804170648.html

[Mnemosyne]

18. Scotland: Election machine firm hands back £360,000

Election machine firm hands back £360,000

The company at the heart of the debacle during last year's elections for the Holyrood and local elections has been forced to hand back more than £360,000 in compensation to local authorities.

It was revealed yesterday that eight councils had chosen to invoke penalty clauses against DRS, the private firm operating the elections, and that these had involved total compensation of £362,998.

The firm, which supplied the counting machines at last year's Scottish elections, should provide a refund for its "failure" MSPs were told yesterday.
advertisement

Keith Brown, the SNP MSP for Ochil who has pursued the issue said some councils had already received compensation from DRS over problems with the ballot.

http://www.theherald.co.uk/politics/news/display.var.2206553.0.Election_machine_firm_hands_back_360_000.php

[Mnemosyne]

19. Zimbabwe election battle turns to partial recount

Zimbabwe election battle turns to partial recount

18 Apr 2008 22:02:21 GMT
Source: Reuters
By Nelson Banya

HARARE, April 19 (Reuters) - Zimbabwean election officials are expected on Saturday to begin a partial recount of votes from the March 29 elections despite opposition protests and widespread fears political stalemate could erupt in violence.

The recount in 23 of 210 constituencies could overturn the results of the parliamentary election, which showed President Robert Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF losing its majority to the opposition Movement for Democratic Change for the first time.

Results of the presidential election have not been released.

Zimbabwe's electoral commission has said some foreign observers will be allowed to monitor the recount, which has aroused widespread concerns in the West that Mugabe's government is planning to rig the outcome.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L18411440.htm

[Mnemosyne]

20. Zimbabwe: MDC-T Seeks to Bar Declaration of Vote Recount Winners

Zimbabwe: MDC-T Seeks to Bar Declaration of Vote Recount Winners

The Herald (Harare)
Published by the government of Zimbabwe

18 April 2008
Posted to the web 18 April 2008

Harare

MDC-T yesterday filed another application at the High Court seeking an interim order barring the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission or constituency election officers from declaring as duly-elected anyone who might emerge victorious in tomorrow's vote recounts.

Cited as respondents in the application are ZEC and constituency election officers in the concerned 23 constituencies. MDC-T wants the provisional order to remain operational notwithstanding any appeal by the respondents.

The High Court will hear the application and another one seeking to stop the recounts today. ZEC has ordered a recount of presidential and House of Assembly results in 23 constituencies on the basis that there were reasonable grounds to believe that the votes were miscounted and that the miscount would affect the result of the election.

Recounts will be done tomorrow and local and foreign observers have been invited to witness the process. The recounts come after Zanu-PF unearthed anomalies in the way V11 and V23 forms were completed by ZEC officers, some of whom have since appeared in court charged with electoral fraud. ZEC has already announced House of Assembly and Senate poll results. In the House of Assembly elections, MDC-T won 99 seats, Zanu-PF 97, MDC 10 while one seat went to an independent. In the Senate elections, Zanu-PF garnered 30 seats, MDC-T 24 with MDC winning the remaining six seats. ZEC yesterday said ballot boxes used in the just-ended harmonised elections were secure as they were under police guard pending completion of the electoral process. In an interview, the commission's deputy chief elections officer, Mr Utoile Silaigwana, said the ballot boxes were kept at constituency command centres in the districts countrywide under police guard. "So far we have not received any reports of ballot boxes that have been tampered with," Mr Silaigwana said. US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack has criticised Zimbabwe's electoral authorities for their plan to recount the March 29 presidential vote, alleging the State could have fiddled with the ballots.

http://allafrica.com/stories/200804180109.html

[Peace Patriot]

21. PARAGUAY: Leftist set to win another South American presidency this Sunday

--

Fernando Lugo: the turbulent priest challenging a dynasty (4/18/08)

If opinion polls in Paraguay are correct, the 62-year reign of the world’s longest-serving ruling party will end on Sunday at the hands of a presidential novice.

The Asociación Nacional Republicana, known as the Colorados, has ruled this desperately poor and chronically corrupt country since 1946, through dictatorship and democracy. Now its freehold on power is threatened by a former Catholic bishop attempting to become president in his debut political campaign.

Fernando Lugo quit the Church in 2006, though Rome has refused his request for laicisation, and now leads an opposition alliance of 20 parties and political movements that have rallied to his candidacy.

Though his alliance’s programme includes plans to boost employment, clean up public life and implement land reform, his campaign essentially hangs on the promise of national renewal after decades of Colorado kleptocracy.

(MORE)

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article3767932.ece

--

Q&A: ‘Barring Electoral Fraud, the Opposition Will Triumph’ in Paraguay

Interview with Fernando Lugo

ASUNCION, Jan 28 (IPS) - The countdown to Paraguay’s presidential elections in April has begun, and the candidate for the Patriotic Alliance for Change (APC), former Catholic bishop Fernando Lugo, looks likely to pose a serious threat to the six-decades-old Colorado Party monopoly on power.

Lugo, 56, asked to be secularised (returned to layman status) by the Vatican in December 2006, after a decade of pastoral work in the northern province of San Pedro, one of the poorest regions in this country of 6.7 million people.

However, Pope Benedict XVI disapproved of his political aspirations, turned down his resignation and instead suspended him "a divinis", a penalty which means he cannot exercise certain priestly functions, but is not relieved of his clerical obligations.

Known as "the bishop of the poor," Lugo is strongly influenced by liberation theology, a school of thought which took shape in Latin America in the 1960s, partly as a result of the renewal of the Catholic Church at the Second Vatican Council. Recognising the pressing need for social change and social justice, it challenged the Church to defend the oppressed and the poor.

Polls indicate that he is the most respected and popular political figure in Paraguay, ahead of the other candidates by a wide margin.

(MORE)

http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=40961



--

Paraguayan ex-bishop aims for president

By BILL CORMIER, Associated Press Writer Fri Apr 18, 4:10 PM ET

ASUNCION, Paraguay - Paraguay's "bishop of the poor" has leaped from the pulpit to politics in hopes of working a miracle: toppling a party that has ruled his poor South American nation for six decades through dictatorship and democracy.
ADVERTISEMENT

Rival Blanca Ovelar vows to become Paraguay's first female president. But her Colorado Party's 61-year reign faces a serious challenge, with Fernando Lugo and his left-leaning opposition coalition leading several polls ahead of Sunday's vote.

(MORE)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080418/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/paraguay_election

--

Paraguay: Fernando Lugo vs the Colorado machine
Andrew Nickson

A former Catholic bishop's challenge for Paraguay's presidency threatens the power of the country's long-serving ruling party, says Andrew Nickson.
28 - 02 - 2008

A new school year in Paraguay and the return of the country's elite to Asunción after its collective flight from the capital's scorching heat mark the end of summer in this landlocked Latin American country. The several hundred families who compose this elite and control Paraguay - fresh from their luxury second homes in the beach resorts for the region's super-ricos - have in the past had little reason to consider the plight of their poor (notional) compatriots, who are at the sharp end of the second most unequal distribution of income and wealth in the region after Guatemala.

There are signs, however, that 2008 is likely to be different....//....Paraguay has been continuously ruled since 1947 by the Colorado Party, which on 13 January celebrated an unbroken sixty-one years in power. Now, however, a maverick candidate - Fernando Lugo, a former bishop in the Catholic church - has emerged to challenge its hegemony in the contest for the presidential elections on 20 April 2008. Will Paraguay experience the kind of electoral and political earthquake that its Latin American neighbours have undergone in recent years; or will the tide of social convulsion and political radicalism continue to bypass the region's most neglected (as well as second-poorest) land? Whatever the election's outcome, Paraguay is moving - in its own unique way - into the limelight.

(MORE)

http://www.opendemocracy.net/article/democracy_power/politics_protest/paraguay_fernando_lugo

--



Video & Article: Fernando Lugo, Paraguay's "Red Bishop" Is Favorite For Presidential Victory
World (tags: South America, Paraguay, presidential election, former clergyman, Fernando Lugo, the Colorado party )

Jill
StarsButterfliesGold Notes - 2 days ago - france24.com
People in Paraguay to elect new president on April 20. Polls favour Fernando Lugo, former bishop, who listens to the people's grievances. The govt that he challenges is a political colossus – the Colorado party's been in power for 60 yrs. Shift to left ?

http://www.care2.com/news/member/597720583/710938

---

Note from Peace Patriot: This is a very important election--important for the further empowerment of the poor majority in South America, important for the success of democracy and honest elections, and important to the political tenor of the continent, which has seen leftist governments elected in Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Chile, Nicaragua and Guatemala--an overwhelmingly leftist trend with goals of social justice and Latin American self-determination. Fernando Lugo, the beloved "bishop of the poor," who resigned his bishopric to run for president of Paraguay and pull together the fractious Paraguayan left, does not describe himself as a leftist. He says, "Paraguay is neither left nor right--Paraguay is poor!" But he is a strong and lifelong advocate of the poor majority, close friends with the leftist president of Ecuador, Rafael Correa, and has praised the social justice goals of the Bolivarians--Correa, also Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, Evo Morales of Bolivia, and others. He has not expressed the anti-Bush sentiments that others have, and seems to view himself more as a peacemaker. But his victory this Sunday will certainly be seen as a defeat for the Bushites, and a significant triumph for the new left that has been sweeping elections throughout the region.

[Kurovski]

23. Thank you vickiss, Wilms, & Peace Patriot.

Peace Patriot, your well thought-out commentary is always appreciated! K&R. :thumbsup: