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Perhaps but this story also includes a brief discussion of comprehension by kiddies.

And so you'll want to read this story. Well actually you won't want to, but if you think your story is meaningful then you can't argue with this one, which is just as scientific and is a much larger sample.

Cartoon in yesterday's Seattle paper: Question: Who would you rather have a beer with? Answer: Who GIVES A DAMN? We're talking about running a country, not drinking a beer.

"Gay marriage" is a term coined in order to evoke feelings of repugnance, much like "death tax". Spin, it's all spin. Many marriages today are actually civil unions (performed by a civil officer, not a church). In fact because the states must issue a license in order for the marriages to be legally recognized you could say that all marriages are civil unions (although many are of course consecreated by the respective religious ceremonies which can only be perfomed with a valid license from the state). There are probably some exceptions of course. But I don't think "gay" is a choice and that being the case they should enjoy the same basic rights as the rest of us. Call it marriage, union or schmutz but don't deny them the right.

Yeah right. Knowing that Yankee fans far, far outnumber Sox fans if you're implying his fandom is opportunistic then he'd never have come out publicly as a Sox fan and piss off all those Yankee fans.

People like to feel superior to other people. It's hard when they always lose (as to the Yankees or to the US in terms of not having the freedom, the wealth, the prestige, etc). So it's hard to resist either actively trying to bring the winner down or rejoicing when they fall. I am a Yankee fan but I am a realist. I didn't think they'd make the Series this year because of their (relative) lack of pitching. Turns out I was right. As a Bills fan I can sympathize with what the Red Sox fans have had to live with. I may never live to see the Bills in another Superbowl after all so I can understand how Sox fans feel. I wish the Sox the best. John Kerry is a Sox fan after all.

How about that. I read Jane's too on occasion.

I remember when Bush got in hot water when the Chinese premier (or some high-ranking Chinese) came to visit him at The Rayunch. He made some insensitive statement about Laura getting there early, or staying late, to sweep off the porch for them. He had to apologize too when Laura publicly stated that she didn't appreciate his comment. That's what happens when you're in the public eye. Shoot, people are crucified here for statements they make sometimes in jest or sincerity...

According to the "CW" on other threads none of this should be a surprise to you. (sarcasm) In King County where I live some voters got TWO ballots. So I go back to my statements that until the Boards of Elections can stop the screwups you can't entirely blame for the voter for not always knowing what to do.

From: Gerard E. Dolan [e-mail address omitted] Sent: Wednesday, September 01, 2004 4:18 PM Subject: Soldiers helping the children of Mosul, Iraq Friends, I wanted to apprise you of a few things that might help you understand some of my fears and frustrations. Did you know that American citizens at the Republican National Convetion last night were wearing band-aids with Purple Hearts on them to mock veterans (i.e. Kerry) who were lightly wounded? I'm in a bunker in Mosul, Iraq, getting mortared daily, and I have to watch my countrymen wearing Purple Heart Band-aids and getting coverage on CNN, MSNBC, and FOX? Did you know that two nights ago, our combat support hospital took in two casualties from an IED (improvised explosive device, a road side bomb)? One kid had two broken legs, a broken arm, broken ribs, and a punctured lung. The other kid was trapped in the vehicle and burned to death. Have you ever seen a burnt human body? It's a sight you won't forget and the smell never leaves you. I wish I could reach out to those fine Americans at the Republican National Convention and make then see what I've seen; I would show them all of the wounds and injuries our surgeons, nurses, and medics have treated. American soldiers are dying over here, and those at the convention have the temerity to mock us? While the balloons drop and the banners wave, somebody's son is taking fire, somebody's daughter is crying for her mother on our operating room table, and somebody's husband is lying cold in a "pouch, human remains." Will that be enough to convince these model citizens to take off their Purple Heart Band-Aids? I consider myself a proud ex-pat, along with the 150,000 or so other soldiers in Iraq. Given all that us ex-pats are doing to further democracy in the Middle East, is it too much to ask for a little respect and a vote now and then? When will we be able to have some intelligent debate over real issues: health care, creating more jobs, bringing our boys home, increasing taxes on corporations, etc.? By the way, if anyone wants to make a difference in the future of Iraq, my unit is working with our civil affiars battalion to collect school supplies for the local schools in Mosul. Apparently, there isn't enough money in the interim Iraqi budget to pay for pencils, pens, and composition books. School starts September 11th. Leave no child behind! Sincerely, Gerry Dolan US Army

I don't watch TV news at all - not CNN, not MSNBC, not FAUX. I may watch CSPAN on occasion. Instead I read.

Economic Left/Right: -6.12 Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -4.41 I don't mind being in the same quadrant as the Dalai Lama and Nelson Mandela.

Aren't all ballots protected by law? Then the law must be equally applied to all. We are a nation of laws after good - the good, the bad and the extremely stupid, but laws nonetheless.

And the wonderful thing about humanity is that you could have 5 people see the same thing and get 5 different interpretations. For every soldier's letter like this you'll find one that's extremely critical of the Administration. I ought to know, we receive them at our house. We have the luxury of hindsight to review Vietnam and the Cold War (I think Kerry was a little young to do much about the worst of the Cold War in the late 50's and early 60's by the way). I'm not dismissing this guy's letter. But it's just one soldier. I'm glad it makes you feel better. But there are about 134,999, or more, other stories. Plus, if you care, the stories of the Iraqis as well.

Agreed. The military ballot thing in 2000 was pure political pandering. Had there been huge numbers of ballots coming in from, say, the Peace Corps, which you might think would tend to go the over way, I don't think there would have been much discussion about what to do with THEM if they were improperly executed. All the parties care about is winning. Some are willing to go lower than others, on any given day. Too bad it's we who get stuck with the end result.

Well it's been said before if people are too stupid to complete a ballot or voter registration form, tough beans. Or do we make exceptions for classes of people? Soo...military people are exempt from filling out forms properly but for the 200,000,000 other people who are eligible to vote, there's a different standard? What about all those Halliburton people in Iraq, for example? They're not military. If they screw up their ballots, then what? That's not democratic. The idea is that we're all equal (it says something like that in the declaration of independence doesn't it?) which means that the law is supposed to be applied to all citizens, equally. Conservatives especially should see this as a slippery slope. Make allowances for the military, next the clergy may want it...then other "classes" of special interests. And after all, meaning no disrespect to our brave women and men in the service, but they are just another special interest group when it comes to this kind of discussion. A very important group to our country, but no better or worse than any other American citizen.

Getting back to the original topic here, I think you should all go screw yourselves since it's obviously the ONLY thing that you're good at. I couldn't resist.

Mr. or Mrs. Public may NOT be allowed to vote, period. I used to work on systems that electronically compiled the voter rolls and they're sorted by state, district...down to precinct. Those things do change and polling places change. For example in some states since 9/11 polling places that were at schools have been moved to keep outsiders from going in during school hours (makes sense). If a state doesn't send out an update the voter either has to know that their place has moved so they can check the paper (most publish the sites) but many people may not know their district or precinct this year because of the 2000 census - redistricting took place in many states. SO when they show up to vote, tough beans. This is why I started the thread on Florida. People ARE being allowed to cast "provisional" votes, meaning that if they can find them on the rolls IN THAT PARTICULAR DISTRICT ONLY the vote will count, otherwise it's discarded. There is NO WAY to refer a voter to their proper polling place when they show up at the wrong place. This is really a question of IS and priorities I guess. Since the rolls are all stored electronically it should be possible to have remote/wireless access or at the very least a call center staffed by volunteers who do nothing but look up registrations. It SHOULD be...but it's not.

And that's great but don't make the mistake of assuming that all states are as efficient. The first time I absentee voted in NY I received some cheesy paper and a STYLUS. What the heck? Where I lived we used the booths. I was very worried about completing the ballot properly and to this day I have no idea whether I did or not. The instructions were rather cryptic and, it impressed me at the time, written for some globe-trotting individual who was used to those sorts of things rather than to someone who was unfortunate enough to have to travel during an election. I reiterate that the voter has the responsibility to do their best to register properly, go to the right polling place, and execute the ballot properly, but the states do not UNIFORMLY make those goals achievable. And when it comes to something as fundamental to our way of life as a vote, we should err on the side of the VOTER instead of the state.

Certainly the voter bears responsibility but so does the state. There are documented cases of people getting letters that their applications were not properly completed AFTER the deadline for registration. So what recourse do they have? In the cases yesterday, people reported to their usual polling places only to find their names not on the list. The poll workers should have been able to refer the voters to some central listing where they could find out whether they hadn't properly registered or whether their polling place had moved. Instead they just took the vote and if they couldn't find the name on the list, oh well. When I registered here in WA I completed a form at a 4th of July parade. I trusted the individual who registered me to turn it in and until I got a confirmation in September I was NERVOUS. (Had I been in Las Vegas, I guess my registration may have been torn up and discarded.) Fortunately I got my stuff and in WA the deadline to register was last week, so there was time to check; but I could see where people could assume all was well only to find out too late. That's not right. So it's not ALL on the voter. In particular since the election is 2 weeks away, the state of Florida has some time to put a little effort into making sure the votes are counted. I'm not sure which county in Florida is the offender - it might be interesting to know.

So how does that explain the recently-reported (like yesterday) proposed alliance between Al Qaeda and AlZawackywhatever? And while we're at it, if the terrorists were so afraid of GWB it didn't show on 9/11. And they don't appear too scared in Fallajah...or Baghdad... We need to remember that "keeping terror off our shores" is what allowed it to prosper to the state where it was ABLE to reach our shores. The Adminstration has admitted that incidents of terror have INCREASED over last year.

Floriduh Starts Already It would seem to me that after the debacle in 2000 there should be some centralized database of voters that maps their addresses to proper polling places. And if a voter shows up to the wrong place because they're new to town, were redistricted or their polling place got exploded by a hurricane, there should be a way to validate their registration and tell them where to go. However this is FloriDUH so hey, just toss out the votes, whether legitimate or not. Anyone bothered by this?

Speaking of the fight song didn't you say you'd get me some lyrics? Or a line on a recording? Any luck? I don't mean to be a pest but I would love to give a copy to my husband for Christmas, he going around bellowing "Go BILLLSSS" because that's the only part he knows, poor thing. He was just a Cowboy fan too long!

I like that name, although robjohnsonholdstheballtoodamnedlong was a little much

So here's a seroius question, and be honest: If someone else, say Chiraq for example, made the same statements would you react the same? Or would you say that foreigner ought to keep their danged opinions to themselves and not meddle in our elections? I think Putin may just be ticked off that Kerry's comments about loose nukes and Russia put his nose out of joint...but I guess only Putin knows his motives. Nevertheless I think it's somewhat odd that he would make these statements and even odder that people who are normally suspcious of others' motives seem to want to take those statements at face value. Note to moderator: this is not an attack, just a question.