Oscar voting is taken extremely seriously. CNN's Rosemary Church explains the secure path Oscar ballots take as they are mailed and counted. The members vote and then send their ballots to Pricewaterhouse Coopers. The ballots are counted in a secure room with no windows. Take a look:
Here's another get out the vote PSA from Declare Yourself directed by Stephen Spielberg. This one stars Tom Cruise, Cameron Diaz, Leonardo DiCaprio, Snoop Dogg, Harrison Ford, Julia Roberts, Ben Stiller, Will Smith, Steven Spielberg, Justin Timberlake and many others. Borat also makes some funny outbursts.
DeclareYourself continues its get out the vote campaign. The latest is this video starring Jessica Alba and Hayden Panetierre. Jessica is the smarmy host of shopping tv show called "Snatch It Up With Jessica" where they are selling an item called The Muzzler 2008 for only $19.99. Several customers are happy with their muzzlers. Hayden Panetierre has been beautifully silenced by her Muzzler 2008. The toddler muzzler is pretty creepy. In case you missed it there was also a photo released of Jessica Alba enduring bondage to encourage you to vote.
Today the House of Representatives failed
to pass the $700 billion proposed bailout plan, causing the Dow Jones to plunge 778 points. Nancy Pelosi and the other House leaders, such as Republican John Boehner, seemed stunned that the bill didn't pass. Only twelve changed votes made the difference. Opposition to the plan has been growing, with the perception that the plan is bailing out Wall Street and not Main Street. However, President Bush, John McCain, Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi and even Newt Gingrich all say the plan is necessary to free up tight credit markets which could leave consumers without access to home loans, auto loans, small business lines of credit.
The House of Representatives delivered a stunning defeat to legislation designed to rescue the nation's troubled financial system, sweeping aside a call from President Bush to "send a strong signal" of confidence to markets at home and abroad.
The 228-205 vote Monday exposed deep unease among rank-and-file lawmakers in both parties with what would be an unprecedented intervention in the private sector. The vote came as turmoil in financial markets widened, prompting the Federal Reserve to inject new capital into credit markets and forcing the government-arranged sale of Wachovia Corp. to Citigroup.
Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted 777.68 points, its biggest one-day drop in history. It ended down 7% at 10365.45, down 9.3% since crisis erupted a few weeks ago on Wall Street following the meltdown of Lehman Brothers Holdings. All 30 of the blue-chip indicator's components fell Monday.
The Bush-backed package now faces an uncertain future, though party leaders on both sides of the aisle are sure to consider revising the initiative, which Mr. Bush said Monday is needed to "keep the crisis in our financial system from spreading throughout our economy."
After the vote, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R., Ohio) said there would be an effort to bring back another bill, with further changes. "We've got to find a true middle ground," he said. "We need everybody to calm down and relax and get back to work."
The bailout plan isn't dead yet: it could still be passed. Today's stock market plunge is a 6.98% drop. Just for comparison, The Great Depression began with a 40% drop in the stock market over two months and on October 19, 1987 (Black Monday), the Dow fell 22.6% in a single day. Credit markets are continuing to tighten and the slide in the stock market will hurt people's 401k and other retirement plans. $1.2 trillion dollars in market value was wiped out today.
On Thursday night Sarah Palin will debate Joe Biden: they had both better be ready to discuss the bailout and the economy. Any missteps could prove fatal in an election year when consumers are very jittery about the economy.
No, it's not an ad for Jessica Alba starring in Saw 8: the Terror Continues. It's a graphic representation of how your opinions are stifled when you don't vote. It's part of a campaign called Declare Yourself that encourages people to register to vote. Jessica talked about the bondage-inspired photoshoot:
"I think it is important for young people to be aware of the need we have in this country to get them more active politically," says Alba. "People respond to things that are shocking."
The dramatic image "really resonates" with the issue of voting, according to the 27-year-old star. "If you don't register and vote and make a difference, and hopefully change the bad things that are happening in our country, you are essentially just binding and muzzling yourself."
Of taking the photos, shot by photographer Marc Liddel, Alba says, "It didn't freak me out at all. What I like about Marc's work is that he tells a story and brings real emotion to his pictures."
Look how tortured Jessica will feel if you don't register. How can you be so cruel?
