Pamela Powers Hannley by Pamela Powers Hannley Underwater mortgages, student loan debt, medcial bills, unemployment, credit cards, preditory lending– for a myriad of reasons Americans are in debt and hurting financially. How did this happen? To quote a popular Occupy chant: "Banks got bailed out. We got sold out!" To draw attention to our national debt and solutions … Read more
by Pamela Powers Hannley
Loneprotestor has done it again. Check out her poignant video about recent deaths along the US/Mexico– in honor of the Day of the Dead.
Eight days after Border Patrol agent Nicholas Ivie was killed by friendly fire on the U.S.- Mexican border, a sixteen year-old boy was shot seven times through the border fence by a Border Patrol agent. Yet – in spite of involving the murder of a child across international lines – one incident received national attention for weeks, but the other was largely unknown except in the town where it happened. On November 2, the Mexican Dia de los Muertos, both sides of the border in Nogales, Arizona, walked to honor Jose Antonio Elena Rodriguez and the sixteen others killed by Border Patrol in the last three years, and called for an end to Border Patrol immunity.
Video after the jump.
by Pamela Powers Hannley We here are Blog for Arizona have been beating the drum for election reform continuously for several weeks (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9,10, 11)– long before our state was disgraced last week with 600,000+ uncounted ballots. In the election integrity arena, one thing that Arizona has done right– despite the Arizona Legislature– is to … Read more
Eariler this week, Arizona Secretary of State Ken Bennett announced that more than 600,000 ballots from Tuesday's election had yet to be counted. According to the Wednesday Arizona Daily Star the breakdown is:
Maricopa County: 460,000
Pima County: 80,000
Pinal County: 27,000
Coconino County: 11,000
Navajo County: 5,600
Gila County: 3,400
Apache County: 2,457
Cochise County: who knows? (And why don't they know?)
The 2012 Arizona election is one for the record books with the vast numbers of uncounted ballots, the largest number of provisional ballots ever, pre-election suppression of Latino vote in Maricopa County, polling place misinformation spread by Jeff Flake's campaign, questions about the integrity of Pima County's voting machines, and evidence that the Pima County Elections Department asked for and was granted permission by Bennet not to follow state law when processing ballots. (How many other counties were given a pass on the law by Bennett? An image of the letter is after the jump.)
Now, MSNBC's Rachel Maddow is using Arizona– and specifically Pima County– as the poster child for need for election reform– because Pima has a history of voter suppression. (Us?)
In 2008, the ACLU named Pima County #1 in the country for voter suppression when F. Ann Rodreguez's department threw out 18% of the provisional ballots– rather than spend the estimated 45 minutes per ballot to verify addresses. (Why was she re-elected?) We can't let this happen again. This year we must hold her feet to the fire. Every provisional ballot must counted. If you are one of the 1000s of Pima residents whose vote has not been counted, go here to check on your early ballot and go here to check on your provisional ballot.
After the jump, watch Maddow skewer Arizona for having more than 600,000 uncounted votes. No one should concede until all ballots have been counted. Today's Arizona Daily Star said that could take another week. We need election reform.
by Pamela Powers Hannley The Tucson Pima Arts Council's annual Open Studio Tour takes place this weekend on Saturday and Sunday, 11 a.m. – 5 p.m. More than 200 local artists will open their studios, show off their work, and hopefully sell some of it. I attended the Open Studio reception on Thursday night, and … Read more