Archive for September 18th, 2008

This is a joke, right?

Thursday, September 18th, 2008

It’s been a decade since the hanging chad incident in Florida, yet we’re still having voting problems in the U.S.?

We can spend billions on a war but we can’t buy voting machines that actually work?

I have preached this for years: The fundamentals of our democracy depend on the voting process. Without that, we are nothing. How can our government not provide a voting method — and voting equipment — that works?

From today’s Washington Post: “Faced with a surge in voter registrations leading up to Nov. 4, election officials across the country are bracing for long lines, equipment failures and confusion over polling procedures that could cost thousands the chance to cast a ballot.”

I’m outraged by this. How can we not be prepared for the most important event in our democracy?

How can the government continue to fail the people of the United States by denying them a chance to vote in a setting that will ensure that their vote is counted.

There should be mass uprising because of this, folks.

Mass. Uprising.

Click here for the rest of the Post story.

Posted in By John Worthen, News, Politics | No Comments »

Worker dies after explosion at Camden plant

Thursday, September 18th, 2008

EAST CAMDEN, Ark. (AP) — One worker was killed after a rocket motor at the Aerojet plant in south Arkansas exploded and caught fire, Calhoun County Sheriff Bob Dunn said.

The employee apparently was working on the motor in a bay area when the explosion occurred about 3:15 p.m. Wednesday, the sheriff said. He did not release the employee’s name.

The fire was contained by the evening and the site secured, although emergency workers had not recovered the body and planned to resume their search Thursday morning, Dunn said.

The sheriff said it was too dangerous to search the site in the dark with spotty fires still burning.

Company spokesman Glenn Mahone told The Associated Press earlier in the day that workers were involved in “the routine manufacturing process” at the 1,200-acre company compound when an “unplanned ignition of a rocket motor” occurred. Mahone said the company was investigating, but did not know what caused the explosion.

Aerojet, which contracts with the defense department, employs 500 people in the manufacture of weapons at Highland Industrial park. About 450 people would have been working when the explosion occurred.

The park was evacuated and firefighters and emergency workers began working the fire, said Renee Preslar, a spokeswoman for the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management. She said no other injuries were reported.

Aerojet is based in Sacramento, Calif. The company makes guided missiles and space propulsion systems.

Posted in By John Worthen, News | 2 Comments »

President Bush speaks on financial crisis

Thursday, September 18th, 2008

Well, it’s nice to know he cares. He really cares. Hey, who we gonna bail out next?

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Bush says he shares the American people’s concern about the situation in U.S. financial markets and the economy.

Bush says the markets are adjusting to “extraordinary measures” the government has taken to stabilize the economy.

The president delivered a statement to the America people from just outside the Oval Office. He said that he and his advisers are working to promote stability in the markets. But Bush did not announce any new policy moves.

The president scrapped an out-of-town trip to monitor the situation and will meet later Thursday with Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson.

Posted in BREAKING NEWS, By John Worthen | 3 Comments »