Both candidates are hoping to reap the lion's share of more than 23 million votes that have been cast nationwide. They're targeting states where polls remain open through the weekend -- and, in some cases, into Monday.
Polls indicate that many, if not most, of the early votes in more than 30 states are being cast by registered Democrats.
Of 23,298,564 total in-person and mail-in ballots in 25 states, at least 6,057,527 -- or 26 percent -- were cast by Democrats or repugicans, according to election officials.
Of that 6 million, 57.8 percent were Democrats, and 42.2 percent were repugicans.
Obama campaign manager David Plouffe said Friday that the campaign has been successful motivating voters to cast ballots early, thanks to a vast national network of neighborhood captains, whom he said will be out in full force this weekend in North Carolina and Florida.
"We are confident that we have a lot of good voters left," Plouffe said, adding that Obama plans to stump hard this weekend in western states such as Colorado, where the campaign is targeting independent voters.
Michael McDonald of George Mason University predicted that McPain will have a "very tough time in some of the western states like Nevada, Colorado and New Mexico, just because we're seeing that Democrats are apparently casting a lot of ballots in those states."
Early voting is handled differently in every state. But in general, it allows voters to cast ballots in person before Election Day using either voting machines or so-called absentee ballots, without having to provide an excuse.North Carolina topped 2 million in-person early voters Friday, said election officials, about twice the previous record since the state began no-excuse early voting in 2000.
About half the state's 100 counties have voted to extend voting Saturday by two hours, said state election board deputy director Johnnie McLean.
The entire $3 million early voting project, she said, "will enable voters who come on Election Day to vote without staying until midnight."
To the south in Georgia, officials in Fulton Countysaid that they are considering extending early voting through the weekend.
Georgia also has set records in the past two weeks of early voting, and the Obama campaign boasts 4,800 captains who were recruited during the summer and early fall.
|
Vick's lawyers had requested that he be allowed to enter the plea from federal prison in Leavenworth, Kan., where he is serving a two-year term since admitting he bankrolled a dogfighting operation and helped execute dogs.
But citing high public interest in the case, Surry County Circuit Judge Samuel Campbell said it would be better for Vick to appear in person.
"I know from my conversations with Mike and, more importantly, his family that he's looking forward to getting this behind him," said Lawrence Woodward, an attorney for the former Virginia Tech and Atlanta Falcons star.
Prosecutor Gerald Poindexter preferred that Vick's plea wait until his release from federal prison. He objected to the video conferencing motion on grounds that it has never been used in Virginia and he didn't want the county to set a precedent.
Vick, 28, is set to enter his plea on Nov. 25. Under the terms of his plea deal, he would receive only a suspended sentence and a year of probation. If he is able to resolve the state dogfighting and animal cruelty charges, he would be eligible to transfer to a halfway house for the final six months of his term, according to court papers.
*****
He should have received the same treatment he gave to the dogs!
"Here the entire economy of America is shrinking, and the oil companies ... one, in fact, made the largest profit in its history in a quarter," Biden said at a rally in Arnold, Missouri.
"Ladies and gentlemen, what more evidence do we need that the Exxon Mobils of the world don't need a tax break?" he asked, speaking to supporters in a half-empty high school gym. "That $4 billion should go to middle class taxpayers, people who need the money. John [McCain] and governor [Sarah] Palin have this upside down. They literally have it upside down."
Exxon Mobil set a quarterly profit record for a U.S. company Thursday, saying its third-quarter net profit was $14.83 billion.
*****
That feeling you are feeling folks is the urge to toss you cookies and the pain from the hosing you have been getting for the last eight years at the obscenity that is the unholy union of repugicans and big corporations.
“All of a sudden his picture came up and (Ashlee) said, ‘Oh my god, Mom, that’s him and that’s the shirt he had on,’” Christine Hutchens said.
“I get very upset when the elderly, kids or handicapped people become victims of these offenses,” said Officer Tamar Skelly, who is with Crime Stoppers.
"Boulevard du Temple", taken by Daguerre in late 1838 or early 1839 in Paris, was the first photograph of a person.
The image shows a busy street, but because exposure time was over ten minutes, the traffic was moving too much to appear.
The exception is the man at the bottom left, who stood still getting his boots polished long enough to show.
"According to expense reports, Sarah Palin charged the state of Alaska over $21,000 for her children to travel with her on official business.
In fairness to Governor Palin, when she leaves them home alone, they get pregnant."
Researchers have found evidence of psychoactive drug use in the hair of ancient mummies found in Chile's Azapa Valley. The scientists detected harmine, an ingredient used in the psychedelic brew ayahuasca, in hairs from an adult and baby who lived between 800 and 1200 years ago."These individuals probably ingested harmine in therapeutic or medicinal practices, some maybe related to pregnancy and childbirth," said study co-author Juan Pablo Ogalde, a chemical archaeologist at the University of Tarapacá in Arica, Chile.
"However, it is possible also that consumption of harmine was involved in religious rituals, said Ogalde, whose research appeared online October 14 in the Journal of Archaeological Science.
X-rays showed that the adult male—who was buried with items of social prestige such as panpipes, a four-pointed hat, and a snuffing tray—had damage near the nose, perhaps from sniffing.
As for the baby, Ogalde speculated that the mother had consumed the drug and passed it on to her offspring during pregnancy or breast-feeding.
"The fact this mind-altering substance was found even with a one-year-old shows how much a part of their life it was," said archaeologist Alexei Vranich of the University of California, Los Angeles, who did not participate in the study.
Yaron Svoray scrapes caked layers of dirt from a shard of glass, revealing a sunflower at the heart of a Star of David.
He carefully turns it, speculating it may have been a bowl used for Passover ceremonies in pre-World War II German Jewish homes.
The fragment is one of a handful of artifacts Svoray has pulled from mounds of debris in this former dump about an hour north of Berlin that locals say was used by the Nazis to deposit rejected loot from the 1938 pogrom known as Kristallnacht, or "The Night of Broken Glass."
"Most of the people in Israel I know who went through the Holocaust, if I take this to Israel, to Yad Vashem, you'll get every visitor who is a Jew will say: 'Oh this is what was in our house 50 or 60 years ago,'" Svoray said recently at the site.
"For me as a Jew, if this turns out, and I'm not saying it is, but if this turns out to be a Jewish bowl from before the war, it's a treasure."
Svoray was hunting for a downed Nazi plane in the area's vast stretches of woods when a former forester tipped him off to the dump, used from 1935 to 1945, outside the village of Klandorf in the largely rural eastern state of Brandenburg.
After two hours of digging with his bare hands and a rusty spade found among the refuse, Svoray had unearthed what appeared to be a beer bottle stamped with a Star of David and a plate-sized alloyed metal swastika. Several weeks later he returned and found the jagged shard of the bowl.
"I don't claim to say this is from Kristallnacht, I claim there is enough evidence here to provoke a further investigation," said Svoray, 54, an Israeli journalist who made his name infiltrating German neo-Nazi groups in the 1990s. He would like to see the dump excavated.
Thomas Kersting, an archaeologist employed by the state of Brandenburg to care for buried memorials and archaeological sites, said Svoray's finds - which he has yet to examine - may give the area historical value.
"A place like this where we have objects with a Star of David directly next to a Nazi swastika, that is of course meaningful ... that gives it a certain quality of a memorial," Kersting said.
But Kersting played down the likelihood of an archaeological dig, citing a lack of funds and arguing that such a disruption would be in direct opposition to his bureau's aim to maintain the sanctity of such sites.
Arno Gielsdorf, who owns the strip of land where the dump sits, said his father told stories the arrival of "garbage" trains after Kristallnacht.
Since the collapse of communism in 1989, he said, bands of scavengers have picked over the area, selling their finds at weekly flea markets in Berlin.
But he is convinced the dump holds valuable artifacts.
"The things from Kristallnacht were buried in the deepest places," Gielsdorf said. "They are still there."
The gap between the nation's ceos and average workers is now ten times greater than it was a generation ago. And while bush's tax cuts shaved only a few hundred dollars off the tax bills of most americans, they saved the richest one percent more than $44,000 on average. In fact, once all of Bush's tax cuts take effect, it is estimated that those with incomes of more than $200,000 a year -- the richest five percent of the population -- will pocket almost half of the money. those who make less than $75,000 a year -- eighty percent of America -- will receive barely a quarter of the cuts. in the bush era, economic inequality is on the rise. ...so where did all the economic growth go?The wingnuts are foaming at the mouth because they fear "redistribution of wealth" and calling Obama a socialist.
It went to a relative handful of people at the top. the earnings of the typical full-time worker, adjusted for inflation, have actually fallen since Bush took office. Pay for CEOs, meanwhile, has soared -- from 185 times that of average workers in 2003 to 279 times in 2005. And after-tax corporate profits have also skyrocketed, more than doubling since Bush took office. those profits will eventually be reflected in dividends and capital gains, which accrue mainly to the very well-off: more than three-quarters of all stocks are owned by the richest ten percent of the population. -
Some three dozen workers at a telemarketing call center in Indiana walked off the job rather than read an incendiary McPain campaign script attacking Barack Obama, according to two workers at the center and one of their parents.
Nina williams, a stay-at-home mom in Lake county, Indiana, tells us that her daughter recently called her from her job at the center, upset that she had been asked to read a script attacking Obama for being "dangerously weak on crime," "coddling criminals," and for voting against "protecting children from danger."
Talking Points Memo Election Central
*****
It's really bad when telemarketers won't lie for you!
First the facts about ACORN. Months ago, we obtained, as part of our investigation for Rolling Stone magazine, the Republican's list the GOP alleged were the very worst cases of vote and registration fraud by ACORN and similar groups. We went through the names the GOP asserted were "obviously, undeniably and clearly fraudulent" voter registrations.
First, there was Melissa Tais, a dubious ACORN registrant. Her two voter registration forms show, admittedly, suspiciously different signatures. Republicans suggested Melissa was part of a massive fraud to allow Democrats to vote twice. They were wrong. Ms. Tais, a Cerrillos, New Mexico, waitress, told us she had signed one form on a table and one form holding the paper in her hand. Hence, a second, wobbly signature.
Then there was Patricia White, who Republicans claimed was a fictitious voter. When we filmed her at home in Albuquerque, she seemed real enough. And so on, through the entire GOP list -- not one fraud. And these were their best cases out of the five million "illegal voters" who Republican leaders claim have infiltrated America's voting rolls.
The overblown histrionics about ACORN do not surprise those of us who have been watching the RNC's election manipulation antics. For eight years White House operatives have been trying to gin up press stories about voter fraud. David Iglesias of New Mexico was one of seven U.S. Attorneys fired by the White House for their refusal to bring voter fraud prosecutions. "We took over 100 complaints," from the GOP, he told us, "We investigated for almost 2 years, I didn't find one prosecutable voter fraud case in the entire state of New Mexico." Iglesias, a McCain supporter, has, for the first time, leveled a new and serious charge: Despite finding none of the 200 voters guilty, he says the White House nevertheless ordered him to illegally prosecute baseless cases against innocent citizens, just to gin up voter fraud publicity. His refusal, he says, cost him his job. "They were looking for politicized -- for improperly politicized US attorneys to file bogus voter fraud cases."
Certainly ACORN collected some bad signatures. But despite McCain's claims, now morphed into media theology, none of ACORN's actions will have any impact on any election. ACORN hired 13,000 canvassers to register new voters. A small number of these workers defrauded ACORN by handing in phony registration forms using names they had invented (e.g. Mickey Mouse), or copied from phone books. In one case ACORN canvassers used cigarettes to bribe a homeless man, now a Fox News regular, to register 17 times. None of these activities constituted voter fraud. It is no crime to register 17 times; only the final registration counts. His multiple registrations would not allow the tobacco lover to vote 17 times. Nor is there any evidence the phone book registrants will cast multiple ballots.
Finally, the removal by GOP officials of hundreds of thousands of legitimate voters from voting rolls over the past year provides ACORN with a sound rationale for obtaining new registrations, even from voters who believe they are already registered. ACORN took pains to screen its registrations and cull out those it considered dubious.
However, federal laws make it a felony for voter registration groups like ACORN to discard registrations even when it believes them fraudulent. So ACORN flagged the forms it considered doubtful and handed them in to the registry. Ironically, it was those flagged forms -- the fruits of ACORN's diligence -- that have been flogged by Republicans as their best evidence of widespread election fraud.
Voter fraud is a phantom according to Lorraine Minnite, an expert on voting crime at Columbia University. Only 24 cases of federal voter fraud have been uncovered between 2002 and 2005 despite massive government efforts devoted to uncovering evidence of a voter fraud crime wave.
Where does the GOP spend their remaining money? (Certainly not on more clothes for Palin.)
Do they go all in behind McCain who is almost certain to lose, or do they cut their losses for
President and put all their money into holding on to seats in close races the House and Senate?
McCain could be a death sentence for the Republican party.
The McCain/Palin campaign is so bad that even Bush is distancing himself from them!
Marc Perkel
San Bruno, CA.
*****
That's bad ... when the shrub is distancing himself from you, you know you're f#@ked.
"Putting Palin one 72-year-old heartbeat
from the leadership of the free world is
just too risky at this time."
~ Anchorage Daily News
Someone in Germany is driving an automobile built for UK roads and has installed a Muppet in the passenger seat. The speed cameras in Germany are made to take photos of drivers who sit in the left side of the vehicle, so drivers of UK-style cars driver can't be easily identified.
A German police source said: “The number plate is not enough. We need clear evidence of who is driving the vehicle too.“But because this is a British vehicle we can never get a decent picture. The driver has obviously worked this out because he has placed a large puppet in the passenger seat.
“This may be an example of the famous British sense of humour but it is still dangerous driving. The driver has been caught on camera on several occasions and the puppet is on the passenger seat every time. We suspect he positions the toy deliberately before accelerating past the camera.”
In March, Ms. Todd was asked to leave a grass-roots group of Ron Paul supporters in Brazos County, Texas, group leader Dustan Costine said. He said Ms. Todd posed as a supporter of former Arkansas governor and presidential candidate Mike Huckabee and called the local Republican committee seeking information about its campaign strategies."She would call the opposing campaign and pretend she was on their campaign to get information," Mr. Costine said last night. "We had to remove her because of the tactics she displayed. After that we had nothing to do with her."
About a month earlier, he said, Ms. Todd sent an e-mail to the Ron Paul group saying her tires were slashed and that campaign paraphernalia had been stolen from her car because she supported Mr. Paul. "She's the type of person who wants to be recognized," Mr. Costine said.
The assassination was to be the culmination of a “killing spree” that would also single out children at an unnamed, predominately black school, federal officials said. The men talked of “killing 88 people and beheading 14 African-Americans,” according to the affidavit.
The two men each had “very strong views” about Aryan white power and “skinhead” ideology, the federal officials said, and the numbers 88 and 14 have special significance in the white power movement. The number 88 is shorthand for “Heil Hitler” — H is the eighth letter in the alphabet —and 14 signifies a 14-word mantra among white supremacists: “We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children.”
Officials said the two men met via the Internet through a mutual friend.
To start, this image pretty much sums up my take on the Republican candidates this year:
The first and biggest problem I have with McCain is that I think he'll die in office, making Palin our president. If the job doesn't actually kill him, he will at least be down for the count time and again, as doctors desperately work to keep him alive. The fact is that being a US president is, more than ever, an exhausting, demoralizing, mind-fuckingly stressful job. Look at Bill Clinton's before and after pix, then look at George W. Bush's. Does anyone really believe a 72 year old man can take all the kicks to the stomach that go with the job and come out alive? McCain could live to 100 as a Senator, but as President, the stress will take an already physically and mentally fragile old guy and put him in an early grave. (Note: no need to explain why Sarah Palin in the Oval Office is a nightmare none of us can face, right?)
The next problem with McCain is that he is a sociopath. When the devoted wife who stood by him during his time in a POW camp got into a terrible car wreck that destroyed her figure, put her in a wheelchair, and caused her to gain weight, McCain promptly dumped her and his kids cold and ran off with a rich, young woman who he married only one month later. That's why none of his grown kids show up at rallies or speak out in support of him: they hate his guts for what he did to their mother. I can't help wondering why his new kids don't show up at rallies either. The GOP has made a point of dragging Palin's kids on stage, even the baby who shouldn't be passed around like a political prop in the first place. But where is McCain's little adopted daughter? Is he afraid he'll lose the support of his racist constituents if they were frequently reminded that his wife adopted a darling little girl of color?
Leading to another thing that makes me hate McCain. I've read thousands of anti-Obama rants by McCain supporters. And I'm afraid I can only draw one conclusion from the gobbledy-gook of their addled arguments. They're damn racists. I don't care how vociferously McCain supporters may deny it, but his camp's political fortunes rest on the shoulders of hate-mongers and ideologues. McCain's most fanatical supporters believe in white supremacy and in keeping women in their place. A good number believe the Rapture's right around the corner, so we might as well blow up the world now, because they're floaters and the rest of us can go to hell.
As I see it, there's room for everyone in America, even the ignorant and deluded; but I am certain that if the ignorant and deluded run America, they won't make room for me or anyone else who doesn't think like them.
I still can't believe that the female lobbyist McCain philandered with (and no doubt made illegal deals with) has not even been an issue in this campaign. I can't believe anyone thinks that McCain, who played a role in the S&L fiasco, could possibly do shit about Wall St., except fuck it up even more. I can't believe that anyone could see McCain as a man of the people when he married a filthy-rich, Mafia-connected heiress who puts up with verbal abuse and worse from him, while he uses her money to buy office. McCain called her a cunt in public and yet no one links this with his character. WTF. Everything about McCain screams sociopath.
I'm not madly in love with Obama, but I respect him. More than that, I think he will be a great president. If he can live up to his potential, well, I think he could be the greatest president of my lifetime, maybe even the greatest American president since FDR. But he is a politician, and I am incapable of ever fully trusting any politician, no matter how much I love what he stands for. To be a politician is to compromise: if you don't compromise, you don't win. And those compromises inevitably disappoint. When Obama caves to oil interests, when he goes along with bills that infringe on our Constitutional rights to privacy, well, it is what it is: a politician trying to please too many camps, listening to too many advisors, and trying to make the most politically advantageous compromise.
But I believe Obama can be a great president. He is the only presidential candidate in my lifetime thus far who has demonstrated the same qualities as the best presidents in American history. He is that wondrous, mythical creature: a liberal Christian. He has shown himself to be rational, generous, kind, respectful and considerate in the face of adversity, even when he's been viciously attacked. Obama has overcome incredible odds in this campaign, and in his life as well. He was the disenfranchised, underprivileged outsider who, through hard work and more hard work, has risen to lead a nation. He combines the charisma of Bill Clinton with the affability of Ronald Reagan, the social concern of Franklin Roosevelt with the towering intelligence of Abraham Lincoln.
His political enemies have done everything in their power to discredit and humiliate him. He's survived dirty tricks (like the Obama "food stamps"), hoaxes (like the campaign worker who scratched a B on her face and blamed it on an Obama supporter), lies (such as the claim that he's a Muslim terrorist) and McCarthyism (e.g., re-heating Cold War hysteria and calling Obama a Commie for wanting to restore social equality to America). More amazingly, he's done so without resorting to the GOP's favorite ploy: whining like babies about media bias. ( Which is really fucking hilarious, btw, since nearly all major media outlets and talk-radio stations in the US are owned by right-wingers.) Obama has weathered every possible political storm with courage and elan.
Obama seems to be a man who always valued his family, and particularly the women in his life: his mother, his grandmother, his wife. Unlike Cindy McCain, Michelle doesn't seem to freeze up in terror next to her husband. Mrs. Obama is beautiful and strong and acts like her husband's equal and friend, unlike Mrs. McCain, who looks like she's hiding domestic abuse and drug addiction under three compacted inches of make-up. That Obama appears to have such warm and progressive relationships with his female relatives probably explains why he has a progressive attitude about women's issues. That McCain looks like the poster-child for tyrannical males may explain why he doesn't think women have a right to choose what to do with their bodies.
Obama doesn't have to engage in name-calling to win points. Whether or not you thought he won the debates, Obama certainly classed them up. He exudes leadership qualities. McCain looked and acted like a creepy old Wal-Mart greeter. Obama is articulate. McCain is loud. Obama looks like he smells of good cologne. McCain looks like he smells of Ben Gay. Obama gets personally informed on issues and makes original, interesting statements. McCain gets memos from staff telling him what to say. You can "listen" to McCain simply by turning on Fox News where talking heads read off the same notes that McCain was given.
But perhaps the most important reason I support Obama is because I believe that he is uniquely capable of getting America out of the horrible shit-hole we've sunk into over the past eight years. Obama has the character, the intelligence and, most importantly, the will to get us out of Iraq. Obama understands social inequality and financial hardship, and can make the right choices to restore financial stability to the country, just as he made good choices in his own life and lifted himself up by the bootstraps. McCain's greatest personal financial accomplishment was to marry a rich woman. McCain's innate sense of entitlement, coupled with his greed, spell doom to our economy. If McCain's a friend of the working class, I'm the tooth fairy.
I took advantage of early voting this year. I don't know if, in the end, Obama will prove to be the man I think he is. Who can say? But I'm kind of hoping that he will prove that he is even better than we can yet imagine. Kind of like Lincoln, who stepped into office equipped with little more than an insanely bright mind and a passionate commitment to serving his country. Lincoln's resources were tested and stretched beyond all human limits once in office, yet he managed, despite his personal agony and despair, to rise above and lead this nation towards truth and justice. I see that potential in Obama. I see that same strength, and clarity, and sense of honor and duty to a cause larger than himself.
McCain and his minions are the same old boys who created the mess America is in now, and they're still living in the past. Obama has a vision for a better future and the talent to make it happen. He is our only hope for change, and we need change badly. I pray to God that you, and yours, and most Americans this election year will vote for Barack Obama.
Theodore Roosevelt
The average price of self-serve, unleaded gas in the United States as of Friday was $2.78 a gallon, compared to $3.31 on October 10, said Trilby Lundberg, publisher of the nationwide Lundberg Survey.
Just when you thought the slimey -ness of the repugicans could not get any slimier ...
On Thursday the Pennsylvania repugicans sent out an email to 75,000 Jewish voters in the state warning that electing Obama could lead to a second Holocaust:
"Jewish Americans cannot afford to make the wrong decision on Tuesday, November 4th, 2008," the e-mail reads. "Many of our ancestors ignored the warning signs in the 1930s and 1940s and made a tragic mistake. Let's not make a similar one this year!"A copy of the e-mail says it was "Paid for by the Republican Federal Committee of PA - Victory 2008."
It warns "Fellow Jewish Voters" of the danger of a second Holocaust due to the threats to Israel from its neighbors and touts repugican presidential candidate John McPain's (lack of)qualifications over those of Obama.
The olive harvest was off to a bad start for Said Abu Aliya - branches torn from the Palestinian farmer's trees lay scattered on the ground, along with bright-green olives.
He blamed Israeli settlers in a nearby hilltop camp, and Israeli soldiers patrolled as a buffer while he and his family picked the remaining crop.
"Without their presence, we wouldn't be able to enter our lands because the settlers would attack us," said the 47-year-old.
For many Palestinians, the fall harvest of some 10 million trees used to be a joyful ritual steeped in tradition. But the West Bank's olive groves have increasingly become a target of extremist Jewish settlers who, hilltop by hilltop, seek to expand their control over land they say they were promised by God.
Just in the first two weeks of this season, farmers say, assailants beat a 63-year-old olive picker, slashed another man's car tires, tried to chase Palestinians out of several groves and stole or damaged some of the crop. In one incident captured on video, four settlers punched and kicked a Palestinian photographer and a foreign activist in an olive grove.
Compounding the farmers' problems, more trees are harder to reach because they lie beyond Israel's lengthening West Bank separation barrier or close to Jewish settlements and their multiplying satellite camps.
This week Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas complained that the army isn't doing its job, raising questions about whether Israel is serious about peace with Palestinians. Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak denounced those attacking farmers as "hooligans," but said troops are making a major effort to protect farmers. The military said soldiers have been briefed about the importance of the harvest, jeeps patrol trouble areas and officers are given maps to rule on ownership disputes.
In the past, Israeli troops have destroyed thousands of Palestinian olive trees along roadsides to protect against snipers and stone throwers. Palestinians still complain that settlers are often given free rein by the military. For example, the settlers who were filmed attacking the photographer were allowed to walk away, while police arrested three Israelis helping with the harvest for entering a "closed military area."
A settler leader, Yitzhak Shadmi, dismissed reports of vandalism as staged.
Thousands of Palestinians take part in the harvest, with students given time off to help and professionals returning to their villages. Olive oil is a food staple, and even the leftovers from the oil presses are used as fuel.
The economic benefits are relatively modest - about $100 million from an expected 21,000 tons of olive oil this year - but the extra income reaches some 100,000 families. For some, it's just pocket money, for others enough to plan a wedding or build a house.
Near the village of Burin, Amneh Abdel Qader sat on a tarpaulin under a tree, as her son, daughter-in-law and three grandsons combed the branches with handheld rakes. The olives tumbled onto the tarp, and the 70-year-old sorted them, the plumpest for eating and the rest for oil.
"We used to bring a radio and have fun, sing and enjoy ourselves," Abdel Qader said. "But from the day they came," she said, referring to Israeli settlements near her village, "we can't relax anymore."
Burin's farmers can only reach lands near the settlements of Yitzhar and Bracha with special coordination from security forces. Farmers say they're allowed to visit those areas only twice a year, for planting and harvesting, and that they need more access to hang traps for olive flies, prune branches and clear underbrush.
"You can smell the fuel in the air," the official said on condition of anonymity, in line with briefing regulations. "We don't want to have a situation where the olive harvest is setting off the atmosphere again."
At times, there's also lack of coordination within the military.
In the village of Naalin this month, near Israel's separation barrier, border police fired tear gas and stun grenades as villagers and volunteers tried to reach a grove. The army had given a permit for the Naalin harvest but apparently not briefed the border police, said Rabbi Arik Ascherman of Rabbis for Human Rights. Several Israelis were injured and three detained, he said.
Eighty percent of the people who used to work these lands no longer get permits, according to U.N. monitors.
Mohammed Jabareen, mayor of the village of Taibeh, which has 250 dunams (60 acres) of land beyond the barrier, said landowners have received permits, but not all of the workers needed for the harvest. The army says it's issuing extra permits during the harvest.
Some are trying to improve output by teaching farmers how to grow premium oils for export. Industrialist Bassem Khoury has invested in a premium oil storage facility with 30 steel vats, even though business prospects are uncertain.
"To me," he said, "the olive tree is a symbol of Palestine."
