Next Public Hearing On Implementing Voting Centers

Meeting Thursday, August 6th On Implementing Countywide Voting Centers for the Nov. 3, 2009 Election.
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Thursday, August 6, 2009 – 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm.
Collin County Community College.
Spring Creek Campus.
Conference Center Room AA135.
2800 E. Spring Creek Parkway, Plano, Texas - map.
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Agenda:

• Site Selection Committee Report on Proposed Election Day Locations
• Research Presentation on Vote Centers by Dr. Robert M. Stein.
  
• Public Comment on Countywide Election Day Polling Place Program

Though the efforts of Shawn Stevens, the new chairperson of the Democratic Party of Collin County, Dr. Robert M. Stein of Rice University in Houston will attend the August 6th meeting to speak to the planning committee.

• Dr. Stein, a Lena Gohlman Fox Professor of Political Science at Rice University, is an expert on urban politics, elections, voting behavior and public policy. Dr. Stein has been researching how Voting Centers affect overall voter turnout behaviors and has recently addressed conferences and co-authored papers on this topic. (See paper Dr. Stein co-authored: pdf-Engaging the Unengaged Voter - Vote Centers and voter turnout | List of Dr. Stein's publications)


• Dr. Stein's presentation given in this meeting can be accessed at these links:
  MS PowerPoint Presentation 1 - Colorado Comm on Elect Reform 121608.ppt
  MS PowerPoint Presentation 2 - Lubbock Co. Commissioner 032309.ppt
  Audio Recording - Dr. Stein's presentation on Vote Centers 8-6-09.WMA (sorry no .mp3)
  

Related Post:

• Vote Centers Coming To Collin Co. For Election Day November 3, 2009?

Thumbs Up To Pres. Bill Clinton For Bringing Home Two Americans

Thumbs Up To Pres. Bill Clinton For Bringing Home U.S. Journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee.

The two journalists were accompanied by President Clinton and CAP President and CEO John Podesta, arrived back home in California this morning after being held for five months in North Korea while reporting for Current TV. They had been sentenced to 12 years of hard labor for allegedly illegally entering North Korea. North Korea held the two captive for 140 days.

“I am very happy that after this long ordeal, Laura Ling and Euna Lee are now home and reunited with their loved ones,” President Clinton said in a statement. “When their families, Vice President Gore and the White House asked that I undertake this humanitarian mission, I agreed. I share a deep sense of relief with Laura and Euna and their families that they are safely home.”

Shortly after landing in Los Angeles, Ling expressed her “deepest gratitude” for the rescue:

LING: Thirty hours ago Euna Lee and I were prisoners in North Korea. We feared that at any moment we could be sent to a hard labor camp and then suddenly we were told that we were going to a meeting. We were taken to a location and when we walked through the doors we saw standing before us President Bill Clinton. We were shocked but we knew instantly in our hearts that the nightmare of our lives was finally coming to an end. And now, we stand here, home and free. Euna and I would just like to express our deepest gratitude to President Clinton and his wonderful, amazing, not to mention, super-cool team.

Conservative GOP Violent Rhetoric Breeds Violence

DNC Web Ad: "Enough of the Mob"

President Obama faces an increase of 400% in death threats a day as lobbyist-run conservative special interest groups whip conservative activists into mounting mob mentality. Telegraph.co.uk:

Since Mr Obama took office, the rate of threats against the president has increased 400 per cent from the 3,000 a year or so under President George W. Bush, according to Ronald Kessler, author of In the President's Secret Service.

Some threats to Mr Obama, whose Secret Service codename is Renegade, have been publicized, including an alleged plot by white supremacists in Tennessee late last year to rob a gun store, shoot 88 black people, decapitate another 14 and then assassinate the first black president in American history.

Most, however, are kept under wraps because the Secret Service fears that revealing details of them would only increase the number of copycat attempts. Although most threats are not credible, each one has to be investigated meticulously.

Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA), the president of the freshman Democratic class has revealed that “at least one freshman Democrat” has already been “physically assaulted at a local event.” Connolly warned that conservative groups had taken things to a “dangerous level“:

“When you look at the fervor of some of these people who are all being whipped up by the right-wing talking heads on Fox, to me, you’re crossing a line,’ Connolly said. ‘They’re inciting people to riot with just total distortions of facts. They think we’re going to euthanize Grandma and the government is going to take over.”

The violent rhetoric from talk radio and FOX News continues to throw gasoline on the fire. Remember Dr. Tiller?

In fact, threatening phone calls escalate to a death threat for Rep. Brad Miller (D-NC) over the health care bill. His offices have received threatening phone calls, including at least one direct threat against his life.

RNC Refuses To Accept Calls Generated By New DNC Web Ad On Conservative Mobs

Cherry Creek News: A BROAD STRATEGY: Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX), chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, has endorsed the strategy of staged protests, telling Politico the days of civil town halls are now "over." [Democrats launch a phone counter-offensive on Pete Sessions]

In a memo to House Republicans, Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) promised "anger" during the August recess: "Americans' anger will be on full display in the weeks ahead as Members of Congress leave Washington and travel the nation listening to the voices of their constituents."

The published memos are similar to talking points being distributed by FreedomWorks that push an anti-health reform assault all summer. Patients United, a front group maintained by AFP, is busing people all over the country to protest health care reform. America's Health Insurance Plans, the trade group and lobbying juggernaut representing the health insurance industry, is also sending staffers to monitor town halls in 30 states.

Meanwhile, Conservatives for Patients' Rights (CPR), led bydisgraced hospital executive Rick Scott, is running a national campaign against a public health care option. Yesterday, the group took credit for "helping gin up the sometimes-rowdy outbursts targeting House Dems at town hall meetings around the country, raising questions about their spontaneity."

Earlier in the week, a representative of CPR "sent an email to a list serve (called the Tea Party Patriots Health Care Reform Committee) containing a spreadsheet that lists over one hundred congressional town halls from late July into September."

And last weekend, CPR announced it will send staff to "confront" lawmakers at town halls and then transition to negative ads.

Mental Illness Services in Collin County (Meeting)

The Healthcare Committee of Collin County (HCCC) will conduct a panel discussion on Mental Illness in Collin County on Tuesday, August 4, at 7:00 PM at the Collin College McKinney Campus Conference Center.

2200 West University Drive, McKinney, TX 75070 - Room D106 Section B - Look for the main entrance across from the Clock Tower on Campus - map

Most Texans don't realize that the State of Texas is ranked 49th in per capita funding for Mental Health while one out of every six adults will experience a serious Mental Illness throughout their life.

The HCCC has assembled a panel of local experts in the field of mental health care services who will share their thoughts and expertise on the subject. The committee is a nonpartisan grassroots organization dedicated to improving healthcare in Collin County. Please attend to find out what mental health care services are available in your Collin County community.

This meeting is open to the public, and the public is encouraged to ask questions of the panelists.

Sign up at: http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/detail/gpfz7l