Daffodil Lane

April 24, 2007

I stand corrected!

A few years ago I took a serious look at the Social Security problem during the Republicans last grand stand to destroy it. I did the math and amputating the arm to get a splinter out of the finger just didn't make sense to me. I know crazy using that math thing, I should just have faith in the radical right to do it for me. Well two years have past and we get the report from the Social Security Administration saying:

Social Security could be brought into actuarial balance over the next 75 years in various ways, including an immediate increase of 16 percent in payroll tax revenues or an immediate reduction in benefits of 13 percent or some combination of the two.

Atrios is nice enough to do the hard math for me.

Roughly, this would require increasing both the employee and employer share of the tax from 6.2% to 7.05%.

Which means my calculations for needing a 3.0% increase to cover the short fall was a bit aggressive. In my defense I was using Republican numbers to do the calculations with so it's likely they were falsified. So we can fix everything with a .85% increase. For some perspective for the average person making minimum wage of $5.15 that would represent a nickel more an hour paid to receive full benefits promised by the social security program. It will be six cents an hour when the minimum wage goes up to $7.25, which seems like a good time to include the bump up, when you're already giving everyone a raise at the same time. Just a suggestion. Actually the more important idea is to raise the limits on income covered by Social Security payments. It's really a regressive tax on the poor right now and that's just not right. The wealthy need to start paying their fair share of the burden to improve everyone's quality of life.

So ask yourself, do you really want to throw granny out in the street for a nickel?

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Posted by: Conspiracy Theorist at October 11, 2007 4:38 PM

Posted by: Conspiracy Theorist at October 11, 2007 4:47 PM

April 4, 2007

As Usual, Wingers Blame the Victim

Once again, it's me and Ralph Peters on the same wavelength, deploring the cowardice of the British sailors and marines kidnapped by Iran. When it happened, I said I hoped the ones who'd shamed their country would be court-martialed on return to Blighty, and given dishonorable discharges after a couple years breaking rocks in the Outer Hebrides (which, believe me—I've been there—have a LOT of rocks). Now, I confess, I wouldn't shed a tear if some worse fate befell them.

People ask me from time to time why I have such disdain for the radical right and it's comments like this one that really sum up the Republican mindset for me. Personally it never crossed my mind to blame the victim, but I'm not a Republican so I usually don't think that way, but time again, no matter the disaster or event, the radical right jumps in to blame the victim. Has the statement "There but for the grace of God go I" ever registered with these people? If your fellow human being is in need of a helping hand, if you can you extend it, the hows and whys of their situation aren't really supposed to be your concern. I know the crazy concept of human decency is never going to catch on within the radical right, but I do have hope that America will remember that we use to be a land of decent people who worked together to help ourselves and the rest of the world to be a better place. The Republicans may have forgotten about that, but the rest of us want to get back to that way of living.

Read more over at Instaputz.

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March 26, 2007

What's the big deal?

One of the entries that I've been trying to think up a good write up about is the Attorney General scandal. As each new bit of information about the criminal activities of the AG has leaked out, it's become more and more apparent that something really needs to be said about it, but I was grasping about for the right words to say. I hadn't settled on anything and then I read this piece by Josh Marshall and it was perfect and eliminated the need for me to blog about it. I hate to copy other people's work in their entirety, but this is just too critical to leave it to chance that some people will go find the truth on their own:

Given the amount of attention we've given to the US Attorney Purge, there's been no end of right-wing nutjobs who've written in asking just what the big deal is. In most cases, these are just attacks dressed up as questions. And I do my best -- not always successfully -- to ignore them. But interspersed in that mess of emails are a few who seem to be asking, genuinely, what the big deal is. Perhaps they're critics of the president or conservatives who genuinely don't see it. So here's how I'd answer that question.

For all the intensity and hostility awash in our politics, there are some lines we just assume aren't going to be crossed, lines that are so basic that the civil compact itself can't easily survive if they're not respected.

One of those is the vote. Whoever's in power and however intense things get, most of us assume that the party in power won't interfere with the vote count. We also assume that the administration won't use the IRS to harrass or imprison political opponents. And we assume that criminal prosecutions will be undertaken or not undertaken on the facts.

Yes, there's prosecutorial discretion. And the grandstanding, press-hungry DA is almost a cliche. But when a politician gets indicted for corruption we basically all assume it's because they're corrupt -- or, given the assumption of innocence, that the prosecution is undertaken because the prosecutor believes their case is strong and that the defendent committed the crime.

Now, again, life is made of grey areas. And our laws and regulations often take into account that even people of good faith may not be able to impartially investigate their own. That's why we had the Independent Counsel statute. The partisan affiliation of prosecutors and judges often hangs in the background of cases. And probably most Democrats and Republicans feel a bit better when a member of their party is brought down by a prosecutor of the same party because then you can assume -- whatever fairness or unfairness may have been involved -- that partisanship wasn't a factor.

So, all of this is to say that no system is perfect and partisan affiliation may distort the justice system at the margins.

But none of what we're seeing here is at the margins. What we seem to see are repeated cases in which US Attorneys were fired for not pursuing bogus prosecutions of persons of the opposite party. Or vice versa. There's little doubt that that is why McKay and Iglesias were fired and there's mounting evidence that this was the case in other firings as well. The idea that a senator calls a US Attorney at home just weeks before a federal elections and tries to jawbone him into indicting someone to help a friend get reelected is shocking. Think about it for a second. It's genuinely shocking. At a minimum one would imagine such bad acts take place with more indirection and deniability. And yet the Domenici-Iglesias call has now been relegated to the status of a footnote in the expanding scandal, notwithstanding the fact that there's now documentary evidence showing that Domenici's substantial calls to the White House and Justice Department played a direct role in getting Iglesias fired.

So what you have here is this basic line being breached. But not only that. What is equally threatening is the systematic nature of the offense. This isn't one US Attorney out to get Democrats or one rogue senator trying to monkey around with the justice system. The same thing happened in Washington state and New Mexico -- with the same sort of complaints being received and acted upon at the White House and the Department of Justice. Indeed, there appears to have been a whole process in place to root out prosecutors who wouldn't prostitute their offices for partisan goals.

We all understand that politics and the law aren't two hermetically sealed domains. And we understand that partisanship may come into play at the margins. But we expect it to be the exception to the rule and a rare one. But here it appears to have become the rule rather than the exception, a systematic effort at the highest levels to hijack the Justice Department and use it to advance the interest of one party over the other by use of selective prosecution.
-- Josh Marshall

Simple and direct. It probably won't help our confused friends on the radical right, but it will clarify things for the rest of us.

Read more over at Talking Points Memos.

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March 10, 2007

Concerned Trolls

What I'm learning in the aftermath of the decision to ditch the Fox News debate is that the only thing conservatives want is for Democrats to effectively get the message out and attract new voters. Who knew?

Here I was, thinking that conservatives were standing in the way of the Democratic agenda, when in reality they're doing everything they can to help us expand our majorities!

I would humbly suggest that in this new spirit of cooperation we're seeing from conservatives, that they demonstrate some good will by wholeheartedly embracing the Pelosi/Reid agenda in Congress.

That simple and easy gesture would erode what skepticism I have left.

Markos definitely has nailed this one dead on. I almost bust a gut laughing when I heard some Concerned Troll lecturing me on how to effectively attract voters to my cause by abandoning everything that is moral and right. I really don't understand...How stupid do they think we are? Sure if I were stupid like the DLC Blue Dogs, I might fall for something like that, but I'm a honest hardworking kind of guy. That kind of con just isn't going to work on me.

Read more over at Daily Kos

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February 13, 2007

Take Out The "Comp" And The "Ionate" And That's Just About Right

And suddenly, it was 2000 again; Mr. Bush did not mention 9/11 or the global war on terror, Iraq or Afghanistan, Saddam or bin Laden: "Compassionate conservatism" was his legacy, he declared, and referred to the faith-based initiatives we haven't heard much about in subsequent years. "I made a name by being compassionate."

This man's arrogance never ceases to amaze me! Mr. Bush has no clue what "compassionate" even begins to mean. He's as far removed from compassion as the Earth is from Pluto. If compassion came up and slapped this man in the face he still wouldn't recognize the conept. Take out the "comp" and the "ionate" you have exactly what Bush is summed up to be in one little word. Throw in delusional, psychopathic, liar and evil and you've got him all wrapped up in a nice little package.

Found via the Huffington Post.

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February 7, 2007

So Now He's "Cured"?

DENVER - One of four ministers who oversaw three weeks of intensive counseling for the Rev. Ted Haggard said the disgraced minister emerged convinced that he is "completely heterosexual."

This story is wrong on so many levels it isn't even funny. Jamison's mentioned it in passing yesterday, but I have to say that it's just ridiculous to think that this guy did a few weeks of therapy and now he's "completely heterosexual". I hate to break it to you, but if you're gay you're gay! That's the way it is. There is no "cure" and counseling isn't going to scare it out of you!

These people are doing the community a great disservice, along with Haggard's family by even insinuating that they can make it all better. He was gay, he is gay and when he wakes up tomorrow he'll be gay then too. You can't run from what you are. It isn't fair to anyone involved.

This kind of situation is indicative of these types of groups and it's really quite sad that they can't just stop judging something they think to be wrong, and start loving unconditionally. Haggard needs love and support from people who have his best intrests at heart now more than ever as he comes to terms with who he is. He does not need people who simply want to pray the gay out of him.

Found via Yahoo! News.

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February 2, 2007

No Surprise Here

A long-awaited National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq, presented to President Bush by the intelligence community yesterday, outlines an increasingly perilous situation in which the United States has little control and there is a strong possibility of further deterioration, according to sources familiar with the document.

In a discussion of whether Iraq has reached a state of civil war, the 90-page classified NIE comes to no conclusion and holds out prospects of improvement. But it couches glimmers of optimism in deep uncertainty about whether the Iraqi leaders will be able to transcend sectarian interests and fight against extremists, establish effective national institutions and end rampant corruption.

The document emphasizes that although al-Qaeda activities in Iraq remain a problem, they have been surpassed by Iraqi-on-Iraqi violence as the primary source of conflict and the most immediate threat to U.S. goals. Iran, which the administration has charged with supplying and directing Iraqi extremists, is mentioned but is not a focus.

Completion of the estimate, which projects events in Iraq over the next 18 months, comes amid intensifying debate and skepticism on Capitol Hill about the administration's war policy.

It's really time to bring our troops home. It's past time in fact. Bush and his money hungry buddies have failed at every turn and our presence there is merely making us more reviled throughout the world and making the situation much worse. Bush has no solid plan to help the situation, he never did. Nor does he have any plans to keep our brave troops safe, cutting their funding at every turn. He'll never admit he's wrong because arrogance doesn't allow such admission, but it's time for the rest of our country to stand up and force him to the right thing. There is more than enough evidence to impeach this yahoo, let's get to it!

Found via the Washington Post.

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February 1, 2007

Want A Problem To "Go Away"? Throw Money At It!

Scientists and economists have been offered $10,000 each by a lobby group funded by one of the world’s largest oil companies to undermine a major climate change report due to be published today.

And this dear people is why there is "debate" among people as to whether global warming is real or not. It's real, but big business, in this case big oil completely backed up by the delusional of all delusional Bush Co. don't want it to be real so they throw some money at the "problem" so the gullible people of the world will think there is no consensus because they don't understand the science behind the reality.

Worst. President. EVER!!

But you knew that already...Back to the problem at hand.

Think Progress makes a very good point:

As Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth pointed out, despite the fact that no peer-reviewed scientific articles published in recent years express any doubt that climate change is happening, more than 50 percent of news media coverage of the issue includes the oil industry’s position on the subject.

Scientific method by its very definition is about peer review. You do it over and over again and the nay sayers just can't back up their point of view with any substantial scientific evidence. Science doesn't lie.

Found via Think Progress.

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Oregon biofuel study: Selling out America to the Oil Companies

I have to say the hit pieces sponsored by the oil companies and their allies are getting weaker and weaker with every passing day. I can't even believe that AutoblogGreen bothered to acknowledge it at all it's so transparent. Basically the Economists at Oregon State University want you to know that Bio-fuels are a pointless exercise in futility. They have nonconvertible "proof" of this. So I decided to take a look under the hood of this "study" and an interesting set of assumptions become readily apparent. They add in transportation costs of bringing all the biofuel materials to Oregon to be processed to make the biofuels. That's roughly a 25% increase in the cost of the fuel right off the top. Then they compared it to $1.80 a gallon gas over the last three years. I used the federal numbers for the West Coast and got an average of $2.30 a gallon of gas over the last three years, but lets assume for a moment that they are honest agents. Who am I kidding? They took a window including from 2002 to 2005, of which includes none of the things like Katrina or 9/11, you can find a hole right in the middle of there that gas prices were fairly reasonable if you play the numbers correctly. Amazingly, they felt it was critical to take into account the variability of biofuel feedstock variations in price, but somehow it was assumed the oil prices are a stable predictable given for the rest of time. Isn't it interesting where you end up when you start with the answer you want to get? I'm not even going to go further, because there are similar problems through out the study and I only had a chance to skim it.

On a happier note, when I was reading over this bogus report I was reminded of a story that Carnegie Mellon University has done some process improvements on the current Ethanol production techniques and managed to squeeze an 11% improvement in energy efficiency. Obviously this won't show up in the Oregon State study, but it's another 18 cents a gallon savings that will be working its way out of the Ethanol production process over the next few years. Imagine if instead of attacking the effort to move us to renewable energy sources, they would expend a little energy on moving that effort forward instead. In the end it doesn't matter how radical right wing you are, oil is a finite resource and getting harder to get everyday. We have to start thinking about our children's futures and not waste so much time on trying to avoid responsibility for it.

Read more over at AutoblogGreen.

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Posted by: Royal at February 3, 2007 7:14 AM

January 27, 2007

It Doesn't Take A Rocket Scientist

Jan. 27, 2007 - President George W. Bush concluded his annual State of the Union address this week with the words “the State of our Union is strong … our cause in the world is right … and tonight that cause goes on.” Maybe so, but the state of the Bush administration is at its worst yet, according to the latest NEWSWEEK poll. The president’s approval ratings are at their lowest point in the poll’s history—30 percent—and more than half the country (58 percent) say they wish the Bush presidency were simply over, a sentiment that is almost unanimous among Democrats (86 percent), and is shared by a clear majority (59 percent) of independents and even one in five (21 percent) Republicans. Half (49 percent) of all registered voters would rather see a Democrat elected president in 2008, compared to just 28 percent who’d prefer the GOP to remain in the White House.

You can not simply ignore the will of the people and expect them to bow down to you. Bush is arrogant, delusional and completely out of touch with reality. America is ready for a change.

Found via Newsweek.com.

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January 12, 2007

Maybe I Just Expect Too Much...

At one point Gates, just three weeks on the job, told lawmakers, "I would confess I'm no expert on Iraq." Later, asked about reaching the right balance between American and Iraqi forces, he told the panel he was "no expert on military matters."

Maybe I just expect too much, but shouldn't the man who is for all practical purposes in charge of the military and by default the war in Iraq be an expert on both subjects? If he doesn't know anything send him home! I'm just saying.

Found via CBS.

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January 9, 2007

A Picture Speaks A Thousand Words

Isn't it amazing that they have a picture of Dubya with a man he's never met? I mean it's just astounding they could pull off such trickery in that photograph. It must be that new fangled technology on the Internets and the Google that did him in!

No wait...He wasn't lying! How could he possibly lie to us? Gosh, how could such an honest man as this one do such a thing?

Yeah, I'm not buying it either. For those of you that don't know, that's Jack Abramoff in that picture and trust me this isn't the only one that is floating around...It's just the first one that's surfaced! There's a reason they were doing away with visitor's logs last week...They have a lot to hide! They lie at every turn and if that surprises you, you need to wake up and turn off Faux News!

Found via CREW.

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December 29, 2006

All Hell Is Going To Break Loose Now

No doubt he was an extremely vile, vicious human being, but I don't think this is going to be quite the bump that Bush and Company think it will be. None the less, he was evil and those things tend to come back upon you, but are those in charge better or worse than he was? Food for thought.

Via CNN and the BBC.

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Posted by: Moni at December 30, 2006 5:57 PM

December 18, 2006

Barr Leaves GOP for Libertarian Party

I'm so amused by the collapsing Republican party. The people that worked night and day to turn this country into a banana republic suddenly are turning around as it's collapsing and saying they don't understand why this happened.

Excuse me?? You supported the rise of a dictator and now you are baffled that he thinks he's a dictator? How does that work exactly? If you rubber stamped this kind of behavior then you supported it and no amount of changing parties will change the fact that everyone that voted for the GOP bears a responsibility for the problems that irresponsible decision has visited on America. It's all well and good that you suddenly realize that deficit spending wasn't a good idea, but why couldn't you have figured that out 5 trillion dollars ago? They claim to be the party of personal responsibility, but there really isn't anyone stepping up the plate and saying the Republicans did the American people great harm. Instead they think they can just say that they are in a new party now and that solves everything. I'll bet that these same people will run right back in when the GOP is on a winning streak again and support the GOP's master plans for undermining America again when it's not unpopular anymore.

And no American should think for a second that the GOP's attitude has changed in the least folks. They still have nothing but disdain for our way of life and they will happily sell us all into economic slavery for the rest of time. That 5 trillion dollars is a debt our children and their children owe for a handful of rich people that will happily make our children suffer so they can live in absolute luxury. But Republicans believe that rapture is just a moment away, keep running up the credit card and hope that you're with Jesus when the bill comes due.

That's why the American people put the adults back in charge. The Democrats are going to make the hard decisions and the irresponsible teenagers in the Republican party are going to whine and complain about doing the right thing. And they are going to start the same old whisper campaign into the American people's ears, that you can get something for nothing if you vote for them. The something they are giving you is ruining your kids future and only fools would sell out their children's futures for a few bucks. It's truly disgraceful that people won't stand up and admit they were Republicans and they happily sold out their kids and their country's future for a few hundred bucks. You were a bunch of gullible dupes and you should be begging the American people's forgiveness, not pretending like you weren't a supporter all along.

Read more over at Democratic Bloggers.

Posted by Jamison at 7:44 AM

December 13, 2006

Skilling's free pass canceled after one day

HOUSTON - Former Enron chief executive Jeffrey Skilling is expected to report to prison today. One day after a federal appellate court ruled that the former Enron chief executive could remain free until it decided on his request for bail pending appeal of his sentence for conspiracy, fraud and insider trading, the judge in the case rejected the request.

Judge Patrick Higginbotham of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals wrote in his two-page order Tuesday that "Skilling raises no substantial question that is likely to result in the reversal of his convictions on all of the charged counts."

As a result, Higginbotham denied Skilling's request for bail pending his appeal and vacated an earlier order staying his prison report date.

Skilling is now required to report to a low-security federal prison in Waseca, Minn., to begin serving his 24-year sentence on 19 counts of conspiracy, fraud and insider trading.

Marianne Matus, spokeswoman for the U.S. Marshal Service in Houston, said Skilling is expected to surrender on Wednesday in Minnesota. Since he is out on bond, he can report to the prison on his own, she said.

This guy is a hardened criminal that cost hard working Americans billions of dollars. The notion that he should be allowed to walk around the streets free while his overpaid attorneys work with the Republican party to get him off is sickening. Trust me, if you or I were convicted of even the most minor crime that required jail time, every Republican from here to California would be screaming for our immediate incarceration, but for the Republicans there are two sets of laws, one for us honest hard working folks, and then one for them.

[via America Blog]

Read more over at Yahoo News.

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December 7, 2006

He Must Squash Good At All Costs

I'm at a loss for words. Just when I think Bush can't do anything else to astound me he pulls a rabbit out of his hat! And in this case a rabid zombie rabbit with brown fangs!!

The Bush administration is considering doing away with health standards that cut lead from gasoline, widely regarded as one of the nation's biggest clean-air accomplishments.

Battery makers, lead smelters, refiners all have lobbied the administration to do away with the Clean Air Act limits.

A preliminary staff review released by the
Environmental Protection Agency this week acknowledged the possibility of dropping the health standards for lead air pollution. The agency says revoking those standards might be justified "given the significantly changed circumstances since lead was listed in 1976" as an air pollutant.

The EPA says concentrations of lead in the air have dropped more than 90 percent in the past 2 1/2 decades.

There is a reason lead has dropped and one of the main reasons is this very enactment he wants to do away with. I truly just do not understand how someone can be so callous, uneducated and down right stupid when it comes to our environment, our future and our health! First Mercury and now lead...What's next radioactive waste?

This man truly is the WORST PRESIDENT EVER!!

Found via Yahoo! News.

Posted by Dianne at 10:11 AM

December 2, 2006

Paying the Price for Cheating Democracy

MANCHESTER, N.H. --A judge has ruled New Hampshire Democrats can go after more than just the cost of renting and using telephones that were jammed by Republicans on Election Day four years ago.

The ruling offers the Democrats the right to argue the GOP jamming in 2002 hindered their attempt to boost voter turnout.

Republicans wanted Judge Philip Mangones to rule the Democrats could only claim $4,974 in damages -- the cost of renting and using phones for the get-out-the-vote campaign. Democrats argued they should be able to go after more than $4 million in damages -- the cost of seven months of work for the get-out-the-vote effort.

That's nearly half of what Democrats spent on their effort, which was disrupted for nearly two hours the day it was supposed to pay off.

Interesting little development here. As we know phone jamming is a standard sort of election disenfranchisement technique used by the GOP over the last decade or so. We even had problems here in Maryland with them trying similar activities on us. We kept having to change numbers in the days before the election sometimes every couple of hours to get ahead of their efforts. My question is this: What's the hold up? Let's get started on suing them!! We know the GOP is filled with criminals and it's only a matter of getting them where they belong!

Read more over at DNC and The Boston Globe.

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December 1, 2006

Yeah This Is What I Would Call Morals...

Or lack there of:

Larry Corrigan, a well-known activist in local Republican politics as a backer of U.S. Rep. Dave Reichert and King County Prosecuting Attorney Norm Maleng, was arrested Wednesday in an Internet sting for allegedly trying to arrange sex with a 13-year-old girl.

Corrigan was the director of financial operations at the prosecutor's office for more than 25 years and was deputy treasurer in Reichert's 1997 and 2001 runs for King County sheriff. He was also a supporter without an official role in Reichert's congressional campaigns.

According to the Seattle Police Department, Corrigan, 54, of Seattle, was chatting online with an undercover police officer who was posing as a 13-year-old girl when he agreed to meet the minor at a Capitol Hill video store on Broadway for sex.

He was booked into King County Jail around 1:30 p.m. Wednesday for investigation of the attempted rape of a child and communicating with a minor for immoral purposes.

What can you say that hasn't been said already? It's just sick.

Found via The Seattle Times.

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November 29, 2006

Take Note

I wouldn't mess with Mr. Webb if I were you:

The Post says Webb refused to have his picture taken with Bush and even refused to stand in the receiving line. Here’s the paper’s version of the exchange:

“How’s your boy?” Bush asked, referring to Webb’s son, a Marine serving in Iraq.

“I’d like to get them out of Iraq, Mr. President,” Webb responded, echoing a campaign theme.

“That’s not what I asked you,” Bush said. “How’s your boy?”

“That’s between me and my boy, Mr. President,” Webb said coldly, ending the conversation on the State Floor of the East Wing of the White House.

2007 is going to be awesome.

Bush really has no clue. He sits up on his high horse removed from reality through his own deluded visions and then he has the nerve to ask someone who not only served our country, but has a son currently in Iraq how his son might be. Well Mr. Bush how do you think he is? Wake up and smell reality! Mr. Web handled himself quite well and clearly threw Bush for a loop.

Wonkette is right...2007 is going to awesome! For the past six years they've played dirty and now they are stunned that no one takes them seriously. They've lied, cheated and....well you get the picture! Justice is bittersweet in this case, but we'll take it, because the alternative is not a pretty picture.

Found via Wonkette.

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Posted by: Monica at November 29, 2006 8:25 PM

November 24, 2006

Elephants Aren't Thankful?

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November 19, 2006

Houston Declares War on the Working Poor

I've been following the Janitor's strike in Houston for the last week or so and I have to say you can tell when the Republican party runs things. First the quick version of the story, Janitors making 20 dollars a day after taxes strike against Chevron and several other big corporate giants that own the Republican party in America. The Houston police decide to use extreme force to break up the protests to send a message to the workers that this is GOP country.

Now the GOP has moved in with their next attack on the workers. After arresting them for peacefully protesting, they set the bond for them to get out of jail to 888,888 dollars. Just to give you prospective on how GOP justice works take a look at this, for a woman charged with beating her granddaughter to death with a sledgehammer, bail was set at $100,000. Obviously everyone can see how suggesting an industry making in the billions of profit every quarter shouldn't have to give a pay increase to the guys that clean their offices makes perfect sense to them. Nothing raises GOP hate more than the notion of Americans getting paid a living wage. I think Lou Dobbs summed it up the other week. George Bush is always saying that illegal immigrates come to America to do jobs that Americans wouldn't do, but the end of the sentence is always left off, which is for slave wages. These are Americans working for slave wages and the GOP is screaming for blood, because they don't think they should have to right to be able to feed their families. This is the modern Republican party at it's finest folks.

Read more over at MyDD and for important abou the strike from the workers themselves SEIU.

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Posted by: Dianne at November 19, 2006 2:03 PM

November 9, 2006

He's Out!

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Republican Sen. George Allen of Virginia conceded defeat Thursday afternoon to Democratic challenger Jim Webb, giving Democrats control of the Senate.

See ya! I would say it was nice knowing you, but I shouldn't lie.

Via CNN.

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Dobson Quits Haggard Counseling Team

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Nov. 7) - Citing a lack of time, Focus on the Family founder James Dobson withdrew Tuesday from the team overseeing counseling for the Rev. Ted Haggard, the evangelical pastor who was fired amid allegations of gay sex and drug use.

"Emotionally and spiritually, I wanted to be of help - but the reality is I don't have the time to devote to such a critical responsibility," Dobson said.

This is simply a PR front on Dobson's part. When Haggard fails to be "cured" of being gay then Dobson can say he had nothing to do with the whole mess and still insist that you can pray gay away. The plain and simple facts of the matter are this...There isn't a "cure" for being gay and people need to stop stupidly saying that there is. You're gay or you aren't. Praying about it isn't going to make the gay go away. I'm sick and tired of hearing about how you "choose" to be gay and I'll admit I used to think that way too, but I was wrong.

We need to stop worrying about other people's business and be concerned with our own. Even it boils down to thinking something is wrong, that doesn't give you the right to dictate how someone else lives their life. I suggest you read this book and get over it already! In short love is love and it comes in different packages. And just because you like your package doesn't mean that someone else's package is bad.

Found via AOL News.

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And So It Begins

We haven't even caught our breath yet from 2006 and already the candidates for 2008 are coming out of the woodwork!

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) -- Democratic Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack is expected to officially launch his 2008 presidential campaign Thursday by filing documents with the Federal Election Commission.

His decision comes after months of speculation he would run and two days after his fellow Democrats scored overwhelming victories in state and national elections.

Vilsack is the first Democrat to make a formal declaration for the presidency although a number of better known candidates are presumed to be running.

Likewise, Rep. Duncan Hunter of California is the only announced candidate on the Republican side.

"Americans sent a clear message on Tuesday," Vilsack said in a statement obtained by The Associated Press that will be released Thursday. "They want leaders who share their values, understand their needs and respect their intelligence. That's what I've done as governor of Iowa and that's what I intend to do as president."

Vilsack said he will file documents with the FEC establishing the Tom Vilsack for President Committee. He plans a multistate tour on November 30 to formally announce his intentions.

My feeling is that he's jumping in so soon, because he's really not a nationally known name and he wants to ride the tide of the House and Senate win while people are still thinking about how nice it is to finally have changed in this country. This gives him a little time to get himself out there to test the waters. I can see where it might make sense, but it just seems so soon!

Does anyone think this is like Christmas in stores? I remember when Christmas stuff was put out in stores AFTER Thanksgiving. Now it's out in July! Soon they'll just leave it out year round! In politics these things just keep melding together as well. Let us catch our breath for a little while. Is that so much to ask?

Found via CNN News.

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More work to do.

As most of you have already figured out, I'm a problem oriented person. I don't spend much time celebrating successes. There is something hardcoded in my DNA that just won't let me get caught up in it. The statement Pride leadth to a fall, becomes a tired refrain and I move onto the next problem. There is always more work to do, more things to fix and build.

As these elections are being sorted out nationally, we are left with a lot of work to do. The Republicans have done horrible damage to the critical infrastructure of our nation for short term gain. And with Bush still in control and incompetent people leading every aspect of the government, everything that the Democrats do will be completely and totally muted. The right wing noise machine will focus all their energy on the fact that with Republicans working night and day to undermine their agenda that it's failing. So it's up to the American people now to step in and try to resist the Republican incompetence and cruelity. Remember folks, they only care about getting more power back into their hands and they will do anything to do it. So if you think the fight is over, you are sadly mistaken. We've got twice as much work to do now.

We bloggers will probably start outlining our agenda for the next 2 years now. There are a lot Republican Senators who will be up for reelection. Their actions for the next two years will determine how much energy we focus on making sure they don't get reelected. The radical right wing bloggers are screaming that some of the red districts that we won, we won't win in the next 2 years in the House. At worse, I think we could lose 15 seats in 2 years. But it will mostly depend on the Senate. In the House there is no filibuster, so there is little the Republicans can do to harm the Democratic agenda there. The nuts and bolts efforts that Speaker Pelosi has in mind will definitely resonate with the American people. It will be the responsibility of we bloggers to offset the Republican attempts to blame their failures on the Democrats because they just happen to be in charge.

Our most immediate concern is going to be a little house cleaning of our own. Republicans in their infinite wisdom decided that embracing corruption and criminality was the best choice for their party. We Democrats have a slightly different worldview. So we have to do something about Rep. William Jefferson (D-LA). As you may recall, he was the one caught in the corruption scandal taking a bribe from FBI agents. We strip him of his place on committees but the real place we can send a message about how committed we are to fighting corruption is at the ballot box. In Louisianna, when you fail to get a majority of the vote in an election it forces a run off between the top two vote getters. The Netroots is now going to swing it's gaze onto this race and throw it's full support behind Karen Carter. They are setting up an ActBlue page for getting money to Carter, because she's being out fundraised by the corrupt Jefferson (big surprise there). She's got the endorsement of the Democratic Party of Lousianna and that of the Netroots. I imagine that the women's groups will be following these endorsements pretty quickly.

So you've had a couple of days to relax, it's time to get back to work folks. Remember keep in touch with your Congress Critter, they need to know what we are thinking and worrying about to be effective.

Read more over Daily Kos.

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November 8, 2006

Hopefully Sooner Rather Than Later

Top Republicans in Washington will give Sen. George Allen a few days to take stock of his legal and political options before beginning to pressure him to concede to James Webb. Senior Republican officials and White House aides believe that Webb won the race. Several outside advisers to Allen want him to make the decision quickly; others in his campaign want to make sure that there's no chance a cache of new votes will turn up. One question: when will (will?) the AP call the race?

The end is near!

Via Hotline On Call.

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Significant Announcement

According to Think Progress:

The White House claims President Bush will make a “significant announcement” at his press conference today at 1 PM ET.

Is Rummy leaving? Is Cheney going back to his lair? You know that Bush coming out in unequivocal support of someone like he did for both of them is the kiss of the death! (Brown or Myers anyone?)

Or do you think he's going to do something sinister like declare marshal law or something? I tend to have an active imagination.

So what do you think the announcement is? I guess we'll find out in roughly 8 minutes or so.

Update: 12:57 pm: Accoring to CNN Rumsfeld is a gonner!

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November 7, 2006

Remember

If someone tries to prevent you from voting call:

1-866-OUR VOTE (1-866-687-8683)

or

1-888-DEMVOTE (1-888-336-8683)

If you can't get through keep trying! It's too important not to!

Note: This is being posted forward so as to remain on top all day. New posts will appear below.

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Posted by: Fred at November 7, 2006 7:01 PM

Posted by: Dianne at November 7, 2006 7:10 PM

Posted by: katherine at November 7, 2006 9:46 PM

Now It's GA

A sign at a polling place in Henry County Georgia indicates that you need an ID to vote, despite the fact that was struck down in September.

Found via ThinkProgress.

Is this day over yet? The GOP isn't getting better, they are just getting worse!

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Election Problems Galore!

* FBI Investigating Voter Intimidation In Virginia * New GOP-Pushed ID Laws in Arizona Keeping Voters Away from the Polls * Missouri Secretary of State Robin Carnahan was asked three times to show photo ID at the voting booth, despite a court ruling striking down the requirement * Voters are furious at GOP robocalls * Florida Candidate Finds Unattended Voting Machines in Pinnelas County * San Diego Judge Denies Writ Seeking to Force County to Count Paper Ballots as 'Normal Ballots' as Ordered by CA Secretary of State

Read more at Democrats.com.

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And So It Begins...

Intimidation in Virginia...

Possible illegal training in Ohio...

Technical glitches abound...

Machines just flat out not working in Indiana, Ohio and Florida...

It's going to be a very long day/night...

Posted by Dianne at 11:36 AM

November 6, 2006

Reality

There is no GOP surge.

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Something Sinister Is Afoot

And yet more negative robo-calling incidents in several states:

UPDATE: Fraudulent calls hitting Virginia voters too. In Virginia, Democratic voters are getting phone calls telling them they'll be arrested (Markos has the audio via the link above).

The fraudulent GOP voter-intimidation scam has now hit Washington state. Other states being targeted by the GOP calls, that we know of so far, include Pennsylvania, Kansas, New Hampshire, Connecticut, and New York.

We are the point of needing an FBI investigation because this is now clearly happening across the country in a clearly coordinated way (across interstate lines, mind you).

The Republican party is engaging in a campaign to defraud the voters and Democratic congressional campaigns by making phone calls to voters, often late at night and repeated, and making the voters think that the calls are coming from the Democratic campaigns when in fact they're coming from the Republicans.

This is fraud. It an effort to steal the vote. It violates a number of consumer telemarketing laws, and more.

Isn't it amusing (and I use that term in the negative sense) that you never heard of these things from the other side of the fence, yet the GOP still screams at the top of their lungs that they are the honest ones. The insist they are the ones with values and morals. Quite frankly I'm not interested in your "values" and "morals" because you are a very sinister bunch of people. Screaming louder doesn't make you right, it just makes you draw attention to the fact you are involved in a lot of shady dealings that are truly despicable in every sense of the word. Trying to keep someone from voting because they don't plan to vote the way you would like is not how our country works and the founding fathers are somewhere rolling over in their graves.

Found via AMERICAblog and Daily Kos.

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Prayers Are Answered

From Ted Haggard’s sermon last week, four days before accusations of his gay affair became public: “Heavenly Father give us grace and mercy, help us this next week and a half as we go into national elections and Lord we pray for our country. Father we pray lies would be exposed and deception exposed*. Father we pray that wisdom would come upon our electorate …”

* Bolded emphasis mine.

Well it looks like he got what he prayed for, but I doubt he was referring to his own lies and deception.

For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. -Matthew 7:8

And boy did the door open for Mr. Haggard!

Check out the comment section on the link posted below. Hilarious!

Here's a sample of the comments:

Ask and yea shall receive

That you will!

Haleluia! Amen! Prayers were answered and lies have been exposed! Let’s hope the second half of that prayer is answered too, and the American people have the wisdom to throw the hypocrites out.

Amen to that!

AHHHHH! The power of prayer!

Truly powerful!

Read more over at Think Progress.

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Can You Say All The Law Breaking Republicans In One Breath?

Um, no. Can't be done!

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Election Eve

Well folks, it's about to get ugly. Here we are on the eve of yet another election and the stories from the ground are not pretty, unless of course you're a Rethuglican and you are comfortable with dirty tactics and outright attempts at voter suppression then I guess everything is ok in your world, though I'm not sure how you sleep at night, but that's a topic for another time.

From robotic calls from the GOP designed to appear to be from the Democrats trying to irritate the voters, to voter suppression efforts, to massive problems with electronic voting machines across the country, tomorrow is going to be a very, very long day. Ultimately I think we will prevail, but it's going to take diligence and strength to fight the evil that is attacking our great nation.

Have you had enough yet? It's time for the Rethuglicans (and that is what they are plain and simple...thugs!) to be held accountable for the mess they've created. Let's stage an intervention and take back our country!! Tomorrow is the day!

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Posted by: Yikes at November 6, 2006 11:28 AM

Posted by: Dianne at November 6, 2006 11:35 AM

November 5, 2006

Speaking Of Unhinged...

How about their reponse to all four military papers saying it's time for Rumsfeld to go:

NEW YORK The White House is dismissing fresh calls for Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's ouster, calling an editorial in leading newspapers for the military "a shabby piece of work."

White House spokesman Tony Snow said Saturday the president has shrugged off an editorial by the Military Times Media Group, which publishes the Army Times, Marine Times, Air Force Times and Navy Times, calling for Bush to fire Rumsfeld. Bushs feels it is merely "grandstanding," he added. The editorial says Rumsfeld has "lost credibility" with top officers.

Snow called the editorial "a caricature" and a "shabby piece of work" filled with inaccuracies. He said it implied the administration's made nothing but "rosy" predictions about Iraq. Snow said that isn't true, leading the president to "shrug it off."

He also charged that the military papers, produced for military personnel by a subsidiary of Gannett, are biased, in that Gannett does not -- he said -- have a single newspaper with a conservative editorial page. This is not true, however.

Their reaction is clearly unhinged from reality. So if you don't like what is being said, just yell louder and start lying. I mean their morals are just astounding aren't they? Rumsfeld should have been fired a long time ago. In fact he should have never been appointed in the first place. That my friends is reality!

Found via Editor and Publisher.

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Unhinged

George W. Bush just gave the most powerful reason for voting Democratic next Tuesday. He has reiterated unconditional support for the two architects of the chaos in Iraq, Cheney and Rumsfeld. He intends to keep Rumsfeld in his job until 2008! Why not a medal of freedom while he's at it?

Let me put this kindly: anyone who believes that Donald Rumsfeld has done a "fantastic job" in Iraq is out of his mind. The fact that such a person is president of the United States is beyond disturbing. But then this is the man who told Michael Brown he was doing a "heckuva job." And, yes, our Iraq policy begins to look uncannily like the Katrina response.

The president, in other words, has just proved that he is utterly unhinged from reality, in a state of denial truly dangerous for the world. He needs an intervention. Think of this election as an intervention against a government in complete denial and capable of driving the West off a cliff. You can't merely abstain now. Bush just raised the stakes. And he must be stopped.

Keep in mind the above quote is NOT from someone from the left, but from someone on the right! Mr. Bush truly is unhinged and Mr. Sullivan makes a very valid argument as to why you should vote Democratic on Tuesday! It's intervention time people, get moving!

Found via Andrew Sullivan.

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November 3, 2006

Vices They Can't Shake

Nathaniel Frank has an excellent piece up on the Huffington Post entitled "Haggard, Foley and GOP Preaching Against the Very Vices they Can't Shake" that deals with, well Republican hypocrisy:

What are we to make of a reigning conservative regime that lists the following inglorious claims to fame: Strom Thurmond, a notoriously racist senator who turned out to have a black lover; a Republican indictment of President Clinton's sexual license headed up by a team of philanderers; a Congress full of divorces passing an anti-gay law known as the "Defense of Marriage Act"? In the pundit corner, we recently saw three giants of conservative moralizing unmasked as incapable of restraining their own vices: William Bennett turned out to be addicted to gambling, Rush Limbaugh to drugs. Meanwhile, Ralph Reed, the hand-picked youthful leader of the religious right, was quietly helping the corrupt lobbyist, Jack Abramoff, enable everything that religious conservatives oppose: casinos on Indian reservations and compelled abortions and sex slavery in the Northern Mariana Islands, an American territory. And this is not even to mention the Catholic Church's strident indictment of sexual freedom as it shuffled its own cadre of child-molesting priests from parish to parish.

The cover-ups and power grabs, of course, are simply raw politics. But the pattern here may reveal something more striking than the obvious reality that those in power will sacrifice almost anything to stay there. The Republican Party appears to be chock full of people who make a life of preaching against the very vices they can't shake. Why?

A very valid, simple question..."Why?" Why do they scream so loudly about issues that it appears many of them are involved in? Is it self loathing? Is it denial? How do they spin this in their minds to make it rational to themselves? I don't begin to understand how a Republican thinks and that is one of the main reasons I abandonded their party in the 90's. As they began to lose touch with reality I could no longer blindy follow their lead.

And finally he closes with this:

Republicans have no monopoly on hypocrisy. Most of us are guilty, at one time or another, of vocally denouncing something we ourselves have done, of shifting focus away from our own foibles by hoisting them onto others. But a Party with a peculiar penchant for condemning in others what they can't overcome in themselves is a Party resting on shaky ground, especially if it professes self-control as a cornerstone of its governing philosophy. Social conservatives must be called on their hypocrisy, not simply as a matter of justice, but so that Americans can fully understand the roots and impact of the politics of moral judgment. Virtue, it's true, is necessary to a healthy democracy; but it begins inside.

I'll even go a step further and say that some people (obviously not Republicans) are happy to deal with their own mistakes without yelling at others about their own. Some people however just can't let things go by without commenting upon them, even if they themselves are guilty of exactly what they are railing about.

The entire essay is very thought provoking. Go read it if you have the chance.

Found via The Huffington Post.

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E-voting may be scarier than hanging chads

WASHINGTON — After the 2000 presidential election in Florida exposed the dangers of relying on punch-card ballots and other vintage voting systems, the federal government spent more than $3 billion to help state and local authorities overhaul the way Americans record their votes. When the polls open for Tuesday's midterm election, 90% will be equipped with new high-tech systems.

But instead of bringing the accuracy, efficiency and reliability of the corner ATM, the wholesale makeover of the nation's voting system has brought a new set of concerns: the possibilities of software bugs, freeze-ups, vulnerability to hackers and new forms of human error that could bring their own chaos and controversy.

In Maryland, for instance, doubts about the state's touch-screen system are so serious that Republican Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. has urged voters to cast absentee ballots instead of going to neighborhood precincts.

I've never thought I would agree with Ehrlich on anything, but voting absentee is the way to go. Paper trails people! We need a physical paper trail!

Found via the LA Times.

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Yeah The Republicans Are Soooooooooooo Good At This National Security Thing

So good in fact they had the plans for a nuclear bomb posted on the internet! I feel safe, how about you?

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The top U.S. intelligence official took down a government Web site with captured Saddam Hussein-era Iraqi documents after questions were raised whether it provided too much information about making atomic bombs.

In a statement Thursday night, a spokesman for National Intelligence Director John Negroponte said his office has suspended public access to the Web site "pending a review to ensure its content is appropriate for public viewing."

And this is supposed to make us feel better about our safety? These are the people who say they are the only ones that can keep us "safe"? These people don't know their head from a hole in the ground! Sadly their mindless drones don't either.

Via CNN and the New York Times.

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November 2, 2006

Hacking Democracy

HBO is airing a documentary entitled Hacking Democracy that takes a look at the vulnerabilities of electronice voting machines. Is your vote safe?

Electronic voting machines count about 87% of the votes cast in America today. But are they reliable? Are they safe from tampering? From a current congressional hearing to persistent media reports that suggest misuse of data and even outright fraud, concerns over the integrity of electronic voting are growing by the day. And if the voting process is not secure, neither is America's democracy. The timely, cautionary documentary HACKING DEMOCRACY exposes gaping holes in the security of America's electronic voting system.

In the 2000 presidential election, an electronic voting machine recorded minus 16,022 votes for Al Gore in Volusia County, Fla. While fraud was never proven, the faulty tally alerted computer scientists, politicians and everyday citizens to the very real possibility of computer hacking during elections.

In 2002, Seattle grandmother and writer Bev Harris asked officials in her county why they had acquired electronic touch screen systems for their elections. Unsatisfied with their explanation, she set out to learn about electronic voting machines on her own. In the course of her research, which unearthed hundreds of reported incidents of mishandled voting information, Harris stumbled across an "online library" of the Diebold Corporation, discovering a treasure trove of information about the inner-workings of the company's voting system.

Harris brought this proprietary "secret" information to computer security expert Dr. Avi Rubin of Johns Hopkins University, who determined that the software lacked the necessary security features to prevent tampering. Her subsequent investigation took her from the trash cans of Texas to the secretary of state of California and finally to Florida, where a "mini-election" to test the vulnerability of the memory cards used in electronic voting produced alarming results.

It airs tonight on HBO as well as throughout the week. Check your listings and catch it if you can.

Find out more on the official site.

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The Little Yellow Button Of Doom

"Just push the yellow button and you can vote as many times as you want," Tom Courbat, an Election Integrity advocate from Riverside County, California informed The BRAD BLOG tonight. Not that we're in any mood to report more such stories, but this seems to be a big one. A very big one.

It seems there's a little yellow button on the back every touch-screen computer made by Sequoia Voting Systems, that allows any voter, or poll worker, or precinct inspector to set the system into "Manual Mode" allowing them to cast as many votes as they want.

Concerns about the flaw were first reported some thirty days ago to California Secretary of State Bruce McPherson's office by Ron Watt, a Tehama County, CA precinct inspector who has been a poll worker in the county for the last fifteen years. And yet, as recently as a radio interview last Tuesday, McPherson — who has been crowing about having the country's most stringent security process for voting systems — denied he was aware of any security issues with Sequoia systems.

"They didn't care about it," Watt told us tonight about his "late September or early October" discussion with McPherson's voting systems chief Bruce McDannold. "He said he didn't think it was an important issue. He said I don't believe this is really a vulnerability."

Watt and Courbat disagreed and placed another phone call to the SoS' office on Friday after Watt received a copy of Sequoia's "Poll Workers Guide, Booklet #5: Troubleshooting" via a public records request in Tehama. On pages 19 through 22 of the booklet — which is marked as "Confidential and Proprietary" — he confirmed the simple manual override to the system. He'd learned about it years earlier and the new manuals confirmed that button was still in place. Even in the latest models of the Sequoia Edge voting systems (both models 1 and 2).

The complete sequence to override the system and enter manual voting mode, along with the Sequoia booklet received via Watt's public records request is now posted here at BlackBoxVoting.org.

I'm getting sick and tired of hearing about how there is nothing wrong with these electronic voting machines. I'm sorry, but there are too many ways for dishonest people to take matters into their own hands and make the outcome of an election meld to their liking, even if their liking is not actual reality. There are reports already out of various districts across the US where people go to vote a straight Democratic ticket and unless they look closely at the review screen their votes have been recorded as voting a straight Republican ticket. Does anyone else wonder why these glitches always seem to favor the Republicans? Oh wait, their people made the machines!! And now they've found a yellow button on Sequoia Voting Systems that just lets you vote as many times as you like. That's just not acceptable! Until these issues have been adequately addressed these machines should be shelved.

Found via BRAD BLOG.

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November 1, 2006

I'm Sick Of Hearing How The Republicans Are The Ones That Support The Military

Republicans do not support the military. In fact this is what they think of them: