Guest Column
by Dwayne Hood

ATLANTA — Three Republican senators are still fighting desperately for reelection in order to deny Democrats a 60-seat filibuster-proof U.S. Senate. But the odds are daunting; one incumbent faces a runoff, another faces a recount and the third may be ousted from the Senate.

The most notable of the three is Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska who was convicted of seven federal corruption charges one week before the election. But despite the convictions, Stevens, 84, the longest serving Republican in the Senate, edged past Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich by 3,257 votes. The election will ultimately hinge on more than 50,000 absentee ballots that are being examined and contested by both parties with certification of election results set for Nov. 25.

Stevens, who was named Alaskan of the Century, has funneled billions of dollars of pork projects to the state which enjoys the largest per capita outlay of federal funds in the nation. He still garners widespread support from Alaskans who blame the convictions on a Washington, D.C., jury.

The Republican incumbent was convicted of lying on Senate financial disclosure forms about $250,000 in home renovations performed by an oil contractor. But Stevens denies he has been convicted because he has not yet been sentenced and vows to be exonerated on appeal. He plans to take office for his eighth term in January.

But political observers claim Stevens is suffering from denial because even if he withstands the challenge from Begich, he will still face a possible ouster from Senate members. Law does not prohibit a convicted felon from serving in the Senate but it has never occurred. And Democrats and Republicans alike promise that Stevens will not be the first. It is almost certain they will reach a two-thirds majority needed to remove him from office.

That would present an interesting scenario. Under Alaska law, Governor Sarah Palin would then nominate a successor to Stevens. She could nominate herself or any other Republican she chooses. The candidate would then face possible contenders in a special election. But Palin, a popular governor who has expressed interest in a 2012 presidential run, may get voter support to catapult her into the Senate for much needed federal experience.

In Georgia, Sen. Saxby Chambliss faces a runoff against Democrat Jim Martin on Dec. 2.

Under Georgia law, a runoff is held if the winner cannot get at least 50 percent of the vote. Chambliss led with 49.8 percent of the vote in a bitter three-way race against Martin and Libertarian Allen Buckley.

As a result, both parties are committing more than $5 million in advertising for the runoff and presidential contender John McCain will campaign for Chambliss in Georgia on Nov. 13. Palin is also considering campaign appearances for Chambliss. Martin has asked President-elect Barack Obama to visit but it has not been announced whether he will appear.

Chambliss, who received five student deferments and a medical deferment to avoid military service, won his seat in 2000 largely by questioning the patriotism of former Democratic Sen. Max Cleland who lost both legs and an arm in the Vietnam conflict. Chambliss has been a loyalist to President George W. Bush which has left him vulnerable to Martin’s challenge.

The key to the runoff victory will be voter turnout which is expected to be low for both parties. There is also an effort to attract Libertarian voters who tend to favor Democrats. High ranking Democrats and Republicans are now being drawn to Georgia with millions of dollars in advertising to fight for a seat once considered safely Republican.

In Minnesota, Sen. Norm Coleman is facing a razor thin challenge from former comedian Al Franken.

At last count, Coleman was leading Franken by 204 votes out of more than 2.9 million cast. Coleman declared victory on election night and questioned whether Franken would want to put state taxpayers through a $90,000 vote recount. But Minnesota law requires an automatic recount if the margin of victory is less than one half percent. In this case, the victory margin is less than one-hundredth of a percent. The manual recount with both parties participation is estimated to take one month.

With 57 Senate seats, Democrats admit they may not win all three contested races to reach the 60 seats needed to stop a filibuster. But they are still confident of a filibuster proof Senate on important matters because of moderate Republicans who have crossed party lines in the past.

In any event, the three remaining races show the ferocity of the GOP as they struggle to maintain waning government power left at the end of the 2008 election.

It is now apparent that the Reagan era of conservatism is over.

Dwayne Hood is a former newspaper reporter from Alabama who now spends most of his time in more academic pursuits, although he writes this weekly column exclusively for The Locust Fork News-Journal.

Survivor Corps Supports Returning Troops and Their Families

Guest Column
by Dani Sevilla
SurvivorCorps.Org

Within the United States there are over one and a half million service members that have served in military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. More than 30,000 have been physically wounded, but many more have experienced less visible, psychological wounds.

Traumatic Brain Injury and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder have emerged as signature injuries of these conflicts, with recent reports suggesting an increase in rates of suicide, alcohol and drug abuse, homelessness, and domestic violence among returning service members and veterans.

These traumatic affects of conflict, left unaddressed, could have far-reaching negative consequences for the individuals affected, their families, and our country. Survivor Corps’ work in some of the most conflict affected countries in the world has shown community reintegration to be the key factor in those that overcome their traumatic experiences, and those that are consumed by them.

Operation Survivor

Ongoing conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan are creating a generation of veterans in the United States from all branches of the armed services and all 50 states who are struggling to overcome physical and psychosocial injuries. Most combat veterans convalescing in military hospitals across the country will survive physically, but getting on with their lives after returning home to their families and communities is proving a significant challenge for hundreds of thousands.

Among the 1.6 million who have served since 2001, suicide is on the rise, as is unemployment and incidents of substance abuse and domestic violence.

The successful reintegration of returning service members is an issue that will have a long-lasting impact on American society, and may become the single defining struggle facing this new generation of veterans.

Survivor Corps and its partners are determined to avoid the mistakes made when veterans returned from Vietnam, which resulted in tens of thousands of post-war suicides and over 200,000 men and women living on the streets.

To head off this tragic outcome, Survivor Corps will build peer support programs at the community level that will bring service members and veterans together for mutual support and encourage both individual responsibility and collective action to help others in need.

Survivor Corps is offering an alternative “treatment” that can be made readily available in all communities, regardless of proximity to traditional military or government centers of support. Our approach is nimble enough to address the needs of individual survivors, while still broad enough to build a coalition of survivors and service providers working to effect long-term positive change.

This new program will help the recovery and reintegration of hundreds of thousands of returning U.S. service members at a critical time for them and their country.

Click Here to read more about Operation Survivor

Help Jim Martin Beat Saxby Chambliss in Georgia

Guest Column
by Paul Hackett
Iraq, Marine combat veteran

Eighty years ago today, the Great World War came to an end on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month. A few years later, we began celebrating Armistice Day, which for the last 55 years has been expanded to be known as Veterans Day. This is the day I celebrate all of the Veterans who came before me.

One such Veteran is my good friend, Max Cleland. Winner of the Silver Star and the Bronze Star, Cleland served with great distinction in Vietnam and in our United States Senate. When running for re-election in 2002, Republican Saxby Chambliss attacked Senator Cleland with ads using the picture of Osama Bin Laden to attack the patriotism of a war hero who left three limbs on the battle field. Now, Saxby Chambliss is facing the voters in a runoff in Georgia.

As we take this day to remember our Veterans, we also need to remember the injustice suffered by Senator Cleland six years ago by Republican Saxby Chambliss who himself received five deferrements during the war when Veteran Max Cleland gave so much for our country.

On December 3, Georgia voters have a choice between Republican Saxby Chambliss and Democrat Jim Martin. On this Veterans Day the choice between the Republican who ran what might be the sleaziest political ad of all time and Democratic Veteran Jim Martin could not be clearer. Jim Martin needs your help.

As you can expect, the Republican Party is pulling out all of the stops to hold on to this Georgia senate seat, which could very well push Democrats to 60 votes in the US Senate. John McCain and Sarah Palin are raising big dollars for Chambliss despite his disgraceful history. That is why your support is so important, together people from all fifty states standing up against sliming Veterans can be a powerful force against DC special interests.

Please join me in supporting Democrat Jim Martin

Guest Column
by Josh Silver
Executive Director
FreePress.Net

Now that the reality of an Obama presidency is sinking in, I want to give you a sense of what it means for the future of the media.

In a nutshell, if the new president lives up to his campaign promises, we are poised to see an unprecedented transformation of U.S. media.

Unlike George W. Bush, the president-elect is a strong supporter of Net Neutrality and universal, affordable Internet access. He is opposed to further consolidation of media ownership, and he is a friend to public broadcasting. Obama’s election represents a sea change in leadership that allows us to go from playing defense to offense.

These are exciting times.

While Free Press is a tax-deductible, nonpartisan organization that cannot and does not endorse political candidates, we are heartened by our nation’s new direction.

Obama’s election rekindles hope that media reform may finally claim its rightful place in American politics as a bona fide political issue — one whose success is essential to progress on every other issue — from health care to the environment, from financial reform to war and peace.

Free Press has worked tirelessly since our founding five years ago to stop the Bush White House from allowing runaway consolidation of media ownership, from slashing funding for public broadcasting, and from handing over control of the Internet to the largest phone and cable companies. Thanks to your unwavering support and activism, we have succeeded to an extent that few thought possible.

However, as the new president inherits a severe economic crisis, two wars, and myriad other problems, it will be too easy for media reform to get pushed down the to-do list.

For a look at Obama’s important media reform pledges during his campaign, go here.

Our job — your job — is to keep our momentum going and make sure President Obama makes good on his campaign pledges in the face of competing priorities and well-financed lobbyists from the phone, cable, and broadcasting companies.

The future of our economy and our democracy requires that Congress and FCC pass policies that get fast, open, affordable Internet to every home and business in America, urban and rural, rich and poor.

We must foster hard-hitting journalism that holds the powerful accountable and covers the issues that affect you most.

There must be no more consolidation of media ownership, and we must create incentives for more independent local radio, television, and print media.

We must double funding for public media — for PBS and NPR, as well as for community media and other noncommercial outlets, and ensure that public media are protected from undue political influence.

Free Press is building a new and unstoppable coalition of every constituency, company, and organization that uses the Internet — young people, religious organizations, nonprofits, and labor. Together, we can wage and win this looming battle for media that nourish — rather than undermine — our democracy.

We are pulling together the countless millions of Americans who treasure public and independent media to create the political will to dramatically increase funding and distribution of alternative media.

And we are going to fight efforts by the Bush administration to give more handouts to Big Media before they leave office on January 20. Free Press is already mobilizing to block eleventh-hour moves.

Over the next few months, we will have a rare moment of opportunity to turn President-Elect Obama’s pledges for media reform into a reality in the next FCC and Congress.

Together, we will determine whether critical, independent voices will reach living rooms in red states and blue states, East and West, rural and urban.

If we do our job right, we could advance several crucial issues in 2009:

1. A permanent Net Neutrality law
2. Redirecting billions of dollars in the “Universal Service Fund” away from subsidizing telephone service and toward high-speed Internet deployment
3. Laying the groundwork for a major increase in support for public, noncommercial media — the crucial alternative to our failing commercial media system
4. Thanks to overwhelming public opposition, we do not anticipate further efforts by the FCC to let Big Media get bigger.