Voting machine problems
Some interesting fallout from the Democratic primaries. It seems as though the "miraculous" DRE touch-tone voting machines didn't work very well in the states that have purchased them. Here are some of the headlines:
* In Florida, Gephardt beats Kerry, sort of: ["Bay County Election Problems Stir Bad Florida Memories"].
* While seniors have problems: ["Florida senior voters have trouble with electronic voting machines"].
* In California, some senators make formal complaints: ["Senators assail touch-screen voting"]. Note the subhead: "Too many problems to correct by November's election, a Democrat and a Republican say." Ouch. Not good.
* In San Diego, county election officials post their problems: ["County polling reports"]. I particularly like this entry:
Approximately 40% of the PCM devices failed to "boot-up" to the correct screen when turned on by the poll workers.Vanity Fair also has a pretty extensive article about the DRE machine problems which I have only skimmed [it came in the mail Thursday]. But the overall tone of the piece, as well as Graydon Carter's editorial - that Republicans will steal the election in 2004 by hacking into these voting machines - is really above and beyond.
In the article, the author also elevates Bev Harris as just another courageous grandmother fighting to expose the problem. Yet, and not surprisingly, the article ignores Harris' rabid partisanship and her outrageous - and near slanderous - attacks against conservative Christians. It also revises Harris' history in investigating these problems - ignoring her conspiratorial and fraudulent attacks against paper ballots scanned by optical scanning machines.
As I have shown on this blog, the allegations are baseless - since optical scanning machines have been proven time and again to be more accurate than human counts: ["Vote fraud, conspiracies, and real solutions to the elections problem"].
Harris is right about the DREs. But the article, which should have been more balanced, does a disservice to democracy by ignoring the partisanship of Harris and others.
Invigorated Democrats? Not!
And then there is this, from earlier in the week, about the low turnout for the primaries: ["Study: Turnout for Democratic primaries is among lowest ever"].
The liberal double standard
There has been a lot of anger about plans to shelter attendees to the Democratic Convention in Boston from protesters: ["Convention plan puts protesters blocks away"]. The outcry from protest groups, liberal activists and civil libertarians has been loud and vocal. So imagine my surprise when I went out to World Net Daily this morning and saw this: ["Woman Tells John Kerry She Regrets Her Abortion, Staffer Destroys Her Sign"]. Now, for the record, I am politically pro-choice. I don't think abortion in the early stages of pregnancy should be banned. But why can't this woman be allowed to protest outside a Kerry rally without being demeaned?
" ... one detractor told her he wished the abortion had killed her. His wife elbowed him in the stomach afterwards."How divisive can the Democrats get? These types of comments will surely win over swing voters. Frankly, the liberals can't have it both ways. They can't complain about not being able to protest while assaulting someone from the other side who is protesting. We should fear no speech. This is America. Wake up, fools.
Then, there is this from Friday: ["Pro-life shirt barred as 'obscene'"]. Again, so it is OK for 14-year-olds to wear "porn star" T-shirts or disgusting heavy metal artwork tees portraying violence, rape, and murder, but not a pro-life T-shirt? Come on. It has become clear that some sort of dress code legislation - that limits offensiveness and removes the stigma of economic status and caste from the classrooms - should be considered.
Nader stuff
Here's a very good piece by The Boston Phoenix's Adam Reilly analyzing whether or not Ralph Nader's independent campaign will destroy the Green Party: ["Power broker"].
Here is a column by a guy in Seattle who is just a tad schizophrenic: ["Why I'm Working for Nader but Casting a Vote for Kerry"].
And, more complaining about his candidacy: ["A Letter to Nader: Why I’m Dumping You"] and ["Ralph Nader's Untimely Campaign in Perspective"].
Then, there is this
I forgot to post this last week: ["3-Headed Frog Found"].
