New Berkeley study: Bush may have gotten 130,000 excess votes in FL

All because of electronic voting machines.

A small excerpt:

Irregularities associated with electronic voting machines may have awarded 130,000 excess votes or more to President George W. Bush in Florida.

- Compared to counties with paper ballots, counties with electronic voting machines were significantly more likely to show increases in support for President Bush between 2000 and 2004. This effect cannot be explained by differences between counties in income, number of voters, change in voter turnout, or size of Hispanic/Latino population.

- In Broward County alone, President Bush appears to have received approximately 72,000 excess votes.

- We can be 99.9% sure that these effects are not attributable to chance.

And the big questions in my book are:

1. Why did the votes skew Bush's way?
2. Did anything similar happen in other states?

Conspiracy theory, my ass. Read More......

ReDefeatBush.com: Join the protest in DC on Friday Nov. 19 at Noon

From ReDefeatBush.com - join the protest Friday November 19 at noon in LaFayette Park, across the street from the White House (I mean to post this earlier - these are good guys):

Be Counted, Be Heard, Be America!

We held a demonstration in LaFayette Park in front of the White House last week, and the readers and members of ReDefeatBush have voted to hold one again at noon Friday November 19th to protest the misadministration of the vote for the presidency. Please join us as we hear from Libertarian candidate for President Michael Badnarik and from Green Party candidate for Vice President Pat LaMarche and others. There remain some honest people in the news media, but they need something to take a picture of in order to get their story -- actual empirical research being out of the question -- so let's give them one.

As a result of the investigations into election fraud it remains possible that OH, FL, NC, NM, IN and other states can see their representation in Congress reduced for their inability to conduct fair elections and denying citizens the right to vote....

You get the picture. They're making a stink about the voting irregularities and can use our help. Please join in if you can. Read More......

Evening open thread

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Republicans Change Rule to Shield DeLay if Indicted

Reuters:

House Republicans voted on Wednesday to change their own rules to allow their powerful Majority Leader Tom DeLay to keep his post even if he is indicted in connection with illegal fund-raising activities.

In a closed-door session, House Republicans approved the rule change in a voice vote to allow a leader or chairman to keep his post after an indictment. The leadership would then make recommendations, based on whether the indictment was deemed legitimate or politically-motivated.

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Bush Gets High Part II

Afghanistan is going great, folks...if you're a heroin addict.

"Heroin production is booming in Afghanistan, undermining democracy and putting money in the coffers of terrorists, according to a U.N. report Thursday that called on U.S. and NATO-led forces to get more involved in fighting drug traffickers," reports the New York Times.

One out of ten Afghans benefits from the opium trade. After putting US soldiers at risk and invading the country, opium production is up to 87 percent of the world's supply -- only bad weather and disease kept it from going higher. Opium is 60% of the entire country's GDP. How can we possibly call that a success?

``The fear that Afghanistan might degenerate into a narco-state is slowly becoming a reality,'' said one person in the report. ``Opium cultivation, which has spread like wildfire throughout the country, could ultimately incinerate everything: democracy, reconstruction and stability.''
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Bush Gets High Part I

When your debt piles up, you can do one of two things: start tackling that debt by spending less and paying off more than the monthly minimum. Or you can just ignore the problem by calling up your credit card company and getting them to up your credit limit from, say, $5000.00 to $8000.00 and keep spending like crazy.

Wanna bet which tactic Bush chose?

Yep, the Republican-controlled Senate voted to INCREASE the debt limit by $800 billion.

"The bill, if approved by the House in a vote expected on Thursday, would authorize the third big increase in the federal borrowing since President Bush took office in 2001. Federal debt has ballooned by $1.4 trillion over the past four years, to $7.4 trillion, and the new ceiling would allow borrowing to reach $8.2 trillion," wrote the New York Times.

"With no end in sight to the huge annual budget deficits, which hit a record of $412 billion this year, lawmakers predicted on Wednesday that the new ceiling would probably have to be raised again in about a year."

Remember, Republicans have controlled everything for four years now and have more power than ever. EVERYTHING is their fault now. Every increase in spending. Every terrorist attack. Every old person that dies from lack of a flu shot. The Democrats should be having a field day with all this.
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Bush Dropped The Ball on Flu Vaccines

The evidence is mounting that the Bush-run FDA completely dropped the ball on the flu vaccines. Everyone knew for years it was dumb to rely on one or two sources for vaccines. Other countries had multiple plans in place to deal with "unexpected" problems.

But now it's clearer that the screw-ups at the vaccine plant were seen as early as 1999 -- when the Clinton-run FDA sent a warning letter saying they would take legal action if the plant didn't fix the problems. Then the FDA found problems in 2001, 2003, and 2004 -- and did nothing. So when your elderly parent has to stand in line for hours to get a flu shot or when you have to hack and cough your way through an illness because they told you to skip your shot this year, you know who to thank: Bush.
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New Head of US Bishops: Woe is Us

The blockheaded new leader of the US Catholic Church -- who has just declared bankruptcy so his region can avoid paying the full price for harboring, protecting and defending pedophiles -- just gave his first press conference.

One of Bishop William Skylstad's first comments? According to USA Today:

"Acknowledging "tension" between his responsibilities to his diocese and his role as leader of the bishops' group, Skylstad said, "It's been a tough time for bishops, honestly, a very tough time.""

A tough time for bishops? BISHOPS? Not for the parishioners who saw their private church records turned over to Republican hacks to contact voters? Not for people of faith who saw bishops roaming the country trying to stir up votes for a presidential candidate who defied the Pope and launched a war the Pontiff declared immoral, a candidate who defied the Church and executed more people as governor (including the mentally retarded) than anyone else in history in the same amount of time? And most of all, not a difficult time for the victims of rape who finally found the courage to come forward and were treated as a nuisance or as money-grubbing people trying to bilk the Church out of funds?

But in fact a difficult time for bishops. Skylstad clearly is in no mood to reach out or seek pastorally what the people of the Church are thinking and feeling. God help us practicing Catholics.
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Memo to CIA agents: Out this administration now, before it's too late

If anyone has contacts with folks working for the CIA, they need to read today's column by Robert Novak. And after they're done, they need to send this column around the CIA and, with their CIA buddies, come clean with any information they have showing that this president and this administration is full of dangerous liars.

Novak's column is the latest sign that the Bushies and their Republican attack dogs are launching an all-out assault on the CIA. They never liked the CIA - too independent-minded for the Bushistas neocon sensitivities - and after Bush lied to get us into war in Iraq, the CIA simply has to be the fall guy, otherwise Bush himself might have to take some responsibility for the first time in his life.

Novak's piece, remarkably, complains about CIA leaks as part of the "problem" that needs to be addressed. Yeah, right. Novak had no problem outing an undercover CIA operative's name that was given to him in a leak. But hey, Novak's a Republican, and practicing what they preach, or adhering to the code of morality they try to jam down everyone else's throat, isn't something they're real prone to.

You guys are professional spooks. You do this for a living. You know how to read the tea leaves. Bush and the GOP are out to destroy you. The public relations assault has already begun, as has the purge. You now have a choice. Either sit back and do nothing while your agency, your friends, and our national security are attacked and undermined. Or you can fight back the best way you know how.

You guys are experts at managing information, getting it to the right people at the right time, and doing the entire thing clandestinely. It's high time you started exercising that power and ability, and fast. There's still time to expose this White House and all the horrific mistakes, and lies, over the past four years. Do what you were trained to do. Fight back.

After all, they've already publicly convicted you of trying to expose this president for the fool he really is. And in politics, if they're already accusing you of doing something, you might as well do it. Read More......

Afternoon open thread

Gay fishses. Gollum. Read More......

Kerry campaign sitting on $15M

Democratic leaders are wondering why there's so much left over, which is fair enough and they ought to sort out that problem. Maybe they can then tell us how the hell they've blown presidential elections in 2000 with the strongest economy in a lifetime and in 2004 against a president who had a sagging economy, an unpopular war, poor ratings and corporate corruption with ties to the administration.

One good bit of news is that some are suggesting this will diminish Kerry's choice for DNC chaiman which is rumored to be Vilsack. We do not need more of the same (such as a lame choice of Reid) but we need change at the DNC.
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Ohio Finds Possible Double Votes, Counts

No, the big media told us that it was impossible that there was any problem with counting votes this election. I believe the word they used on ABC News, for example, was "conspiracy theories." And Amy Applebaum in the Washington Post today makes it very clear that there were NO voting irregularities because if they can count our money at the ATMs, then this proves they can count our votes (yes Amy, it proves they CAN, it doesn't prove they DO - I know I know, "nuance," that's so blue state of me).

How sad that the Associated Press buys into conspiracy theories. Read More......

Leading economic indicators down for 5th straight month

I say it's Clintons fault!
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Shark Tale is GAY, religious right accuses

Oh yeah. First it was Tinky Winky. Now they're taking on gay sharks. Not kidding. And they even quote "The Onion" as proof. And they ask why the hell we think they're a bunch of Bible thumping morons? You're accusing a shark of being gay and using the Onion as proof. Idiots.

In a nutshell, the movie is about a Great White Shark named Lenny who is a vegetarian. Dad does not approve, and the movie goes on from there. The movie's Web page includes the phrase "it's sometimes okay to swim against the current." And the religious right disapproves of this message of tolerance against those who are a bit different, even though, truth be told, they're pretty damn different themselves. One wonders how long the religious right would survive in a country like the one they're trying to craft - i.e., a country that crushes those who are different and unliked by the majority (message to religious right: you're not 50% of the vote, think about that).

Oh, and it gets better. Apparently the young shark "cross-dresses" as a dolphin! The horror, the horror. Now young boys across America may think it's ok to - dare I say it - dress as dolphins.

Only America's Taliban could bring a whole new meaning to the phrase "Free Willy." Read More......

NYC gives gays marriage in everything but name only

Kiss the religious right goodbye. Now Bloomberg has caved on marriage. A day after Jeb Bush refused to endorse a state constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. A week after Karl Rove reiterated that George W. Bush was fine with civil unions. You get the picture. These guys may or may not think the religious right won them the election, but now they don't really care.

Sure, they'll still snap back when the religious right blows a gasket. They'll take another pot shot at us. But the pattern is already clear. Religious right, relevant at election time, not so relevant once the Republicans are in office. Or at least not as relevant as the religious right would like. Read More......

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It's Groundhog Day

Parents of draft age children, or children approaching age, should read the front page story in today's Washington Post, "Powell Says Iran is Pursuing Bomb" with great fear. The Bush Administration is gearing up for Iran. You'd think they might come up with a better script, but, when the first one worked so well, why change it?

Just change the "n" at the end to an "q"...and this will sound very familiar:

The United States has intelligence that Iran is working to adapt missiles to deliver a nuclear weapon, further evidence that the Islamic republic is determined to acquire a nuclear bomb, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell said Wednesday.

Separately, an Iranian opposition exile group charged in Paris that Iran is enriching uranium at a secret military facility unknown to U.N. weapons inspectors. Iran has denied seeking to build nuclear weapons.

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"Conservative" GOP votes to raise debt

Uh huh, real conservative. Whenever the rules don't fit, just change the rules.

The US Senate voted to raise the debt ceiling by 800 billion dollars to nearly 8.2 trillion dollars, allowing the US government to avoid the unwelcome prospect of running short of operating funds.

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What's missing from our news these days?

Interesting how the terror warnings and fear, fear, fear that was pumped into the news prior to the election has suddenly gone quiet? What a coincidence.
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US losing the war to China?

This article in the NY Times is well worth a read. The article is focused on the Chinese efforts to improve its standing in the world, much like the US did during the Cold War. I am amazed that a country such as China is able to out market the US and they are. I see it all of the time in Europe, where the general consensus is that China is the future. Since the Cold War, US politicians from both parties have ended the "product USA" campaign and surely that has contributed to our decline in status globally and in the Middle East specifically.

Sure, the US has plenty of faults and our current government is unappealing outside of the Red States but look at China. I have spent enough time visiting neighboring countries to know just how invasive they are and we are all aware of their crimes in Tibet as well as their human rights record that makes Texas look liberal. I don't subscribe to the "China is the future" theories but how the hell are we losing mindshare to the Chinese government? Talk about international failures.
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Mission Accomplished? Falluja now a city of rubble

The city of mosques is now the city of ruins. Rebuilding may take a while because despite claims that the fighting was over (sound familiar?) it somehow continues. I am often very critical of international aid programs because they rely too often on local institutions to hand out the money, which all too often means that friends and well connected people get the biggest and the best and considering the existing problems of bribery and favoritism in Iraq I suspect the rebuilding effort will be equally spotty, whenever it can actually get moving. Perhaps this is an early sign of our mis-management of the situation and what we have to look forward to in the city of rubble:

...he was handed a white bag filled with candy and snacks and a microwaveable meal, even though the city's electricity was cut more than a week ago.

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