The first hard evidence is now coming in from the crackdown/massacre in Myanmar (formerly Burma), as tape, including a dead monk floating in the river and blood on the streets, is aired on CNN.

RAW STORY has the report and video. Kudos to CNN for airing it.

And what will the "pro-Democracy" George W. Bush do about it? Likely, the same thing his father did in response to the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre in China. Namely:

WaPo blogger Chris Cillizza is reporting:

You'll remember Domenici, of course, as the senator (along with NM Rep. Heather Wilson) who was haranguing US Attorney David Iglesias to bring phony "voter fraud" indictments in the state via several inappropriate phone calls prior to the 2006 election. Iglesias was later fired for not having done so.

Like most Repubs, when called out, he'd rather run (or not run, as the case may be) than fight.

Though Cillizza speculates that NM Gov. Bill Richardson would be the "dream candidate" to run for the seat, it seems he's currently too busy for the moment running for vice president. We'd be delighted to see him change his mind and do something actually useful for the country in 2008.

UPDATE: AP confirms, and notes that "Domenici would be the fifth Republican senator to decline to seek a new term." They've also got more details on the "health issues" that Domenici, who had previously planned on running again, will use as his excuse. We guess "need to spend more time with the family" is getting a bit worn out by now.

Looks like somebody needs attention. So we'll oblige and give it to her. RAW STORY covers Coulter's latest desperate "look at me" moment in which she speaks of her "personal fantasy" about taking away "women's right to vote."

That silly comment, of course, is meant as little more than a Britney Spears-like attempt to lurch herself back into the headlines as she flogs her latest book. But it does give us the opportunity to remind folks that Coulter herself, without question, committed two third degree felonies, and one first degree misdemeanor by committing voter fraud (yes, actual voter fraud) in Florida in 2006.

The story is more important than it would appear at first, given that the GOP's 2008 strategy to pull their fat out of the fire consists of convincing folks that there is a massive epidemic of Democrats committing voter fraud in order to require driver's licenses at the polls. That, despite the fact that such fraud is exceedingly rare (at least by Dems) and millions of urban, elderly, and minority voters would not be able to cast their legal votes at all should the R's continue to get their way with draconian, Jim Crow-era Photo ID restrictions.

On the other hand, the few instances of actual voter fraud in America seem to be carried out by folks like Coulter, and other Republicans.

We've covered the whole Coulter Fraud saga, in great detail --- including hard, undeniable evidence --- for the past year or so right here: http://www.BradBlog.com/CoulterFraud.

But Ron Brynaert at RAW gives us a break today by doing the heavy lifting for us on her latest related nonsense.

And we can't say we didn't enjoy it. Probably a whole lot more than Matthews did...

LATE UPDATE: E&P's Greg Mitchell describes the interview as "worth waiting a decade for."

Tomorrow's NY Times features an article describing Rush Limbaugh as the "Latest Victim" in the "War of Condemnation" following his characterization of Iraq War vets calling for a pull-out as "phony soldiers." Limbaugh's comment was made to his 14 million or so listeners across America and on Armed Forces Radio.

In the last graf of the Times piece, discussing whether or not the U.S. House will vote on a resolution to condemn Limbaugh --- just as they voted to condemn MoveOn.org for asking whether Gen. Petraeus should better be described as "General Betray Us?" in a single Times ad (seen by millions, only due to the "Conservative" Media exploitation of it), Democratic House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer is quoted thusly:

Well gosh golly gee willickers, Mr. Hoyer. Shouldn't that have occurred to you before you allowed a vote on a resolution condemning MoveOn? A resolution, we should add, which you voted in favor of?!

P.S. Jane Hamsher is absolutely right. Limbaugh should be taken off of Armed Forces Radio immediately. What should be done with Hoyer is another question entirely.

As we near the one year mark since some 18,000 votes inexplicably disappeared in Sarasota County, Florida, on the Direct Recording Electronic (DRE) touch-screen voting machines used in the U.S. House Election for the state's 13th Congressional District, more study is still needed to determine whether or not the voting machines were at fault, according to the report released today by the Government Accountability Office (GAO).

Even with the additional testing, the GAO admits, it will be impossible to determine for certain whether the touch-screen machines caused the extraordinarily high undervote race in the election.

The GAO's report [PDF] was presented to a Congressional task force investigating the challenge brought by Democratic candidate Christine Jennings, under the Federal Contested Elections Act, after the certified tally between her and her Republican opponent, Vern Buchanan, was reported by the state to be a slim 369 vote margin.

No reasonable explanation for the massive undervote --- found only in that particular contest, only in the Sarasota portion of the race, and only on the touch-screen ballots there (as opposed to the paper-based absentee ballots) --- has yet been proven by anyone.

The GAO has asked the task force to allow them to conduct further testing of the ES&S iVotronic touch-screen machines, in three specific areas, though they admit while "the proposed tests could help provide increased assurance, they would not provide absolute assurance that the iVotronic DREs did not cause the large undervote in Sarasota County."

Determining for certain whether the machines caused the problem would be "impossible," according to the GAO analysis, because they are "unable to recreate the conditions of the election in which the undervote occurred." Ah, the trouble with touch-screens.

As well, the report determined that "some of the prior tests and reviews conducted by the State of Florida and Sarasota County provide assurance that certain components of the voting systems in Sarasota County functioned correctly, but they are not enough to provide reasonable assurance that the iVotronic DREs did not contribute to the undervote."

While the Congressional task force has given permission for the GAO to proceed with their additional testing of the DREs, Jennings has already announced her intentions to run again in 2008 and Buchanan has voted for almost a full year with the Republican House caucus. And Democrats in the House prepare to vote on legislation which would allow the same faulty technology to be used in further elections.

QUESTIONS ABOUT ES&S CONTINUE

Among the unanswered questions in any of the FL-13 reports so far, is whether or not the source code reviewed in previous studies was the same as the code actually in use in the machines on Election Day. Recent news out of California demonstrates that ES&S has a prior history of playing fast and loose with different versions of hardware and software used on their machines in elections.

As well, reading past the summary section of the GAO report reveals another troubling disclosure by the nation's largest voting machine vendor...

Guest Blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.org

Today the Government Accountability Office (GAO) reported to a House Committee on the results of their investigation into the Nov. Congressional election in Florida D-13. The report is still being kept secret but the committee voted unanimously to go back and do more testing of the voting machines.

UPDATE FROM BRAD: The GAO report is now available. Details here.

For links to the rest of today's notable voting news stories, see below...

Anita Hill (Ah, those were the days! When Senate Judiciary Committee hearings actually made it onto network TV, and in prime-time no less!) writes in tomorrow's NYTimes that Clarence Thomas is still full of shit...

She goes on to detail a few of the "blatant inconsistencies" that Thomas is still selling --- this time in hardback, and in an unprecedented hour-long Rush Limbaugh interview --- as well, she offers a reality check on progress since 1991 when it comes to the seriousness with which complaints like hers, of sexual harassment in the workplace by superiors, are taken.

Hill, now a law professor at Brandeis University and a visiting scholar at the Newhouse Center for the Humanities at Wellesley College, notes the character attacks which are still de rigueur against such complainants. She goes on to warn: "Our legal system will suffer if a sitting justice’s vitriolic pursuit of personal vindication discourages others from standing up for their rights."

You go, girl. 16 years on, however, and we still have no answer as to who placed that pubic hair on Clarence Thomas's Coke can. Little wonder he stays so quiet on the bench.

Guest Blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.org

Today Sequoia announced that they are marketing a new optical scan voting system in New York. They claim it is in process to be certified to the 2005 voting system standards. Sequoia has no system presently in the process that is being tested to the 2005 standards. Could they actually be selling the Dominion voting system as their own in New York? The new system reportedly makes an image of the voter hand-marked ballot at the same time it is reading that ballot. Why is this necessary except to add more software and another process to voting systems that are already beyond these companies' abilities to design and build? Of course, more software equals a higher cost. The press release also describes a new “Audio Tactile Interface” (ATI) for blind and sight-impaired voters. The description leaves out any mention of how the blind and sight-impaired voters verify that the ATI has correctly marked their ballots. Failure to provide that verification would seem to be a violation of the Help America Vote Act....

Good god. Hypocrisy in Texas? In the State Legislature? Whoddathunkit?!

Behold Republican TX State Rep. Debbie Riddle, who --- despite any substantive evidence to demonstrate that citizens are voting more than once in her state --- is the author of a disenfranchising Photo ID law that would do little more than keep lawfully registered voters (mostly Democratic-leaning voters) from being able to cast their votes.

When it comes to her own vote, however, and those of her colleagues in the state legislature, the rules are apparently quite different. Incredible...

Thanks to all of those who sent the link to this video to us.

And to Ms. Riddle, who has all kinds of excuses as to why her colleagues don't have time to vote --- excuses which apparently do not also apply to actual working citizens on Election Day, which also happens to be a work day --- please kindly go Cheney yourself.