SPB News for Wednesday.

Protestor tries to arrest Rove in SF — SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — There was major political theater involving President Bush's former chief of staff Karl Rove. A protestor tried to arrest Rove for treason Tuesday morning while he was speaking at the Mortgage Bankers Association Convention, continuing in San Francisco.

Obama to media: pony up for election night access — (Crain's) — The best-funded political campaign in American history says news organizations will have to pay—in some cases almost $2,000 each—if they want to cover Barack Obama's election-night celebration in Chicago.

Rendell ‘still a little nervous’ about Penn., asks Obama to return — (CNN) — Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell has sent two separate memos to the Obama campaign in the past five days requesting that the Democratic Presidential candidate—as well as Hillary and Bill Clinton—
return to campaign in Pennsylvania …

Bernanke Endorses Obama

Guantanamo Bay to remain open: Bush America's Bush administration has confirmed the Guantanamo Bay detention facility, that houses suspected terrorists, will still be open when the President takes office in January. White House spokeswoman, Dana Perino, says there is no way the facility could be closed in the president's [sic] remaining three months in office.

Appeals Court Halts Release of 17 Guantanamo Detainees A federal appeals court last night blocked the release of 17 Chinese Muslims into the United States from the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, until it can hear further legal arguments in the case. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit stayed a federal judge's order releasing the men, and it ordered oral arguments in the government's appeal, to be heard Nov. 24. The government is appealing U.S. District Judge Ricardo M. Urbina's decision Oct. 7 to release the men, all Uighurs, who have been held at Guantanamo Bay for nearly seven years.

Iraq cabinet wants changes in pact despite US warning Iraq's cabinet on Tuesday called for changes to a planned security pact with Washington, despite a warning from the US military chief that time is running out for Baghdad to approve the deal. But officials in Washington defended the draft agreement, with Secretary of Defense Robert Gates warning of "pretty dramatic" consequences of not having an accord governing the presence of US troops in Iraq.

Letter threats to Chase grow past 30: FBI --"Today we're well over two dozen." At least 30 Chase bank offices in nine U.S. states have been targeted by threatening letters, many of them containing an unidentified powder, an FBI spokesman said on Tuesday. At least five Chase branches in Colorado and Oklahoma received the letters on Monday and some contained a white powder, Chase had said. FBI spokesman, Rich Kolko, declined to characterize the threats but said he was unaware of any connection to recent troubles in the U.S. financial system

WeAreChangeLA 'debriefs' former CIA Case Officer Robert Baer about apparent Mossad, White House 9/11 foreknowledge By Shumonik On October 16, 2008, Robert Baer, who was a CIA Case Officer in the Middle East over the course of almost two decades, participated in a discussion at the Hammer Museum entitled "A Third War: The Threat of War with Iran." Dr. Trita Parsi was part of the discussion which was moderated by Ian Masters. Baer was briefly interrupted during the discussion by Jeremy Rothe-Kushel for clarity's sake, after he brought up 9/11 and reaffirmed his recently aired belief that Osama bin Laden is likely dead. Bob: The chances of Bin Laden being dead are very high... Jeremy: But he didn't do 9/11 though. Bob: Well, let's put it this way, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the mastermind... Jeremy: No. Bob: ...said he wasn't working for Bin Laden, so...

Ohio election Web site shut down after hacked The Web site of the Ohio state agency that handles voter registration and other election information was shut down briefly after it was hacked, an official said on Tuesday, vowing to guard against fraud in the key battleground state in the November 4 presidential contest. Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner said the agency temporarily took the Secretary of State Web site at www.sos.state.oh.us down on Monday after "one or more" security breaches were detected.

'I hit it in the square to vote for Obama. Immediately, it went to McCain.'

Early-voting problems in Putnam --Touch-screen votes switched, then corrected Two more Putnam County voters - Martha Louise Harrington and Michael K. Koon - have come forward about problems they experienced on early-voting electronic machines at the Winfield courthouse. Last week, other early voters in Jackson and Putnam counties said touch-screen voting machines changed their votes after they tried to punch them in... "All the voting systems [in West Virginia] are manufactured by ES&S."

Concern That Overseas Military Votes Will Not Be Counted Judicial Watch has filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the Department of Defense (DoD) to obtain documents detailing the voting process for active duty military and their families stationed overseas [Judicial Watch, Inc. v U.S. Department of Defense, Civil Action No. 08-01748]. As reported by columnist Bob Novak, the federal Election Assistance Commission estimated overseas and absentee military voting rates were only 5.5% for the 2006 mid-term elections, and questions have arisen as to whether the Defense Department is adequately ensuring that overseas U.S. military personnel will be able to cast votes for Election Day.

Dead bear cub covered in Barack Obama posters found at university A dead bear cub draped in Barack Obama posters has been found at the entrance to a university in North Carolina, police said today. Police and wildlife officials are investigating the incident at the Western Carolina University. Maintenance workers found the 34kg (75lb) bear cub in front of the administration building at the entrance to the campus. It had been shot, and Obama posters were stapled together and placed over its head.

World Citizens Prefer Obama to McCain by Nearly 4-to-1 Gallup Polls conducted in 70 countries from May to September 2008 reveal widespread international support for Democratic Sen. Barack Obama over Republican Sen. John McCain in the U.S. presidential election. Among these nations, representing nearly half of the world's population, 30% of citizens say they would personally rather see Obama elected president of the United States, compared with just 8% who say the same about McCain.

U.S. gives Iraq $13 million to fix looted museum The U.S. government has announced a $13 million grant mainly to help refurbish Iraq's National Museum which was looted [by US barbarians] in the aftermath of the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, U.S. officials said Monday. U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs Goli Ameri announced the project at a news conference with Iraqi officials, held inside the dilapidated museum building which is still closed to the public.