Weekly Voting Rights News Update

By Erin Ferns

In the aftermath of the presidential primaries, stories of unprecedented voter registration and turnout are drifting to the back burner. But with an exceedingly imbalanced electorate, the fight to create access to the voting rolls and enforce the voting rights of all Americans continues. With historic voter registration drives underway and a preview of the types of problems that could occur in November, the focus of the media is beginning to shift towards the less sexy, but crucial elements that work to maximize voter participation while ensuring eligible voters can cast their ballots and have them counted. In Project Vote's view, this is a welcome development since many of the potential issues require more time to sort out than is available if problems are noted only weeks in advance of the election. This week, election officials, advocates and a presidential candidate worked to assist in or restore voting rights for hospitalized veterans in Connecticut, minority citizens in Georgia, and former felons in Tennessee.

Since March of 2003, 4,113 soldiers have perished in Iraq and thousands have been injured. Hundreds of thousands of veterans are suffering from TBI and mental illnesses like PTSD and many are not seeking treatment. While I am heartened by the passage of the new GI Bill and Bush's willingness to sign it, we have a long way to go to fully honor our veterans.

Full disclosure: I am the netroots director for OR-Sen candidate Jeff Merkley

Here are the top stories this week related to our soldiers here and abroad, taken from the Our Troops Newsladder.

21 House members are co-sponsoring the Stop Loss Compensation Act of 2008, which would provide $1,500 per month of special pay to soldiers serving under stop-loss orders. The bill was introduced by Rep. Betty Sutton, Democrat of Ohio. (marinecorpstimes.com)

The rise of long, repeated combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan has given rise to an epidemic of soldiers harming themselves in order to not be sent back. This trend has occurred in past wars, but Army Reserve psychologist Elspeth Ritchie thinks the current problem may be worse than it was during Vietnam or Korea. One soldier swallowed pens, another jumped off his roof with tools strapped to his body, and a New York man paid a hit man to shoot him in the kneecap. (newsweek.com)

Cross-posted at Project Vote's blog, Voting Matters Weekly Voting Rights News Update

By Erin Ferns

"Someone needs to the tell the VA that veterans don't check their citizenship rights at the door when they enter a VA facility," editorialized the Sacramento Bee on Sunday, referring to the continued refusal of the Department of Veterans Affairs to assist with voter registration. The Calif. publication urged the VA to change a policy restricting voter registration drives before October registration deadlines for the 2008 presidential election.

I recently traveled to Madison, WI, to interview Rachel and Josh, two young Iraq War veterans about the health issues they've dealt with, due to poor accountability for both the private contractors who are supposed to be supporting our troops, and for the mental health needs of returning soldiers.

When I interviewed Josh about his difficulties seeking help for his PTSD, he recounted the whole horrific process with a smile on his face and a self-effacing laugh. It took me a while to realize that Josh laughed about his troubles because the seriousness of the situation was overpowering. Unfortunately, even the VA is starting to turn its back on the gravity of this problem, even as it escalates to frightening proportions.

Stay tuned to the Progressive Future website, as we will be launching these videos in the near future.

Here are the top stories this week related to our soldiers here and abroad, taken from the Our Troops Newsladder.

2007 saw 115 soldier suicides, more than any year since the military started keeping a record of them in 1980. (boston.com)

Along similar lines, 2007 saw a 50% increase in PTSD diagnoses amid increased violence in Iraq and Afghanistan. Army officials believe that in addition there are many people who have PTSD and are keeping it secret. (marinecorpstimes.com)

As many of you know, back in 2006, first time candidate and Retired USAF Lt. Col. Charlie Brown came from obscurity to within less than 9,000 votes (or 3%) of victory in a district that had been electing Republicans by 30 point margins just two years before.

I worked on Charlie's campaign in 2006, and I'm proud to be serving Charlie again in 2008. I didn't come back because I enjoy the 16-hour days. I certainly didn't come back because of the paychecks. I came back because there's something different about a "typical day" on the Charlie Brown for Congress campaign---something that can't be described in sound bytes or talking points...something so important, you want the world to experience it with you...

Obama makes up so much, we can't tell what is truth or tale anymore.  It's starting to feel like we are living through his next work of Fiction, slated for release next year.

If the media wasn't trying to cover for him, either out of embarrassment, or because they don't want to tip their hand yet, we would be laughing silly with his countless misspeaks and gaffes.  

"On this Memorial Day, as our nation honors its unbroken line of fallen heroes — and I see many of them in the audience here today — our sense of patriotism is particularly strong", Barack Obama