I came across this story a few days ago but failed to blog it in the crush of...something or another. Glad I was reminded of it again today.

The Columbus Free Press, (which, by the way, should be lauded for the superb job they have been doing covering the post-Election outrages in Ohio, unlike so many of their media brethren) documents the latest scandal to surface from Ohio's Election Night, this time in Columbus:

The formula used to determine where and how many machines will be placed is based on a maximum usage of 100 votes per machine so that the length of voting lines won't become a burden to voters.

If you're not outraged about that, whether on the Right or Left, then I hope you'll not do me the insult of calling yourself an American.

The system is broken. Period.

From today's Cleveland Plain Dealer:

SIDENOTE: Notice LoParo's statement that it was "Internet blogs" and "alternative press" that have brought "glitches" to light. While the word "glitches" may or may not be accurate, it's certainly notable that even the Republican Ohio Sec. of State's office is admitting that the blogs and alt. press have noticed, caught and reported errors while the Mainstream Media continues to nap.

Whether one believe these are "glitches" and/or whether there is enough of them found to change the national election seems to me to be beside the point. Such "glitches" have already reversed the results of several local races and initiatives across the country as is. And since they are all about counting our votes correctly in the world's most important democracy, one would think that these issues would be a top priority for the MSM.

In other words, we (bloggers, etc.) have been right and the MSM has been wrong in not reporting and investigating these stories. Even the Republican Secretary of State's office in Ohio has now officially admitted as much!

WAKE UP, CNN!!!

Love this story. Sen. Rick Santorum (R-"PA") as hypocritical as you likely already know him to be. But this time, it's only the U.S. Constitution that he seems to be violating, as opposed, for a change, to just common-decency and human-kind.

Or as John Aravosis of AMERICAblog (from whom I caught the link) put it --- "couldn't have happened to a nicer asshole".

This brouhaha should be of no major concern to Mr. Santorum, however. Since Republican legislators are now more than free to avoid violations of their once sacred "Rule of Law" by simply changing the rules of the law as any potentially-scandalous situation-of-the-moment may require.

Better dead than red.

It was the clever graphic at left that first caught my eye. But the article which accompanied it by Jason Bradfield, a once-conservative activist who came to his senses and is now working towards progressive pragmatism in D.C., explains what might have been going through a Bush voters head in 2004 --- from the perspective of someone who had voted for Bush in 2000.

He analyzes the way which progressives may be able to speak to the "hyper-individualistic 'me-first' worldview" of so many of those voters in the future.

It's a fairly heady but extremely articulate analysis as is Bradfield's own blog "Random Thoughts of an Ex-Conservative". Both are well worth the read.

I wish I could resize this one to fit here. But I can't. So please click here to check it out (one panel of which is at right, another down left, but there is more...)

And by the way, if you're of the mind that this should be a "time of healing" and "coming together", you are reading the wrong blog and/or listening to someone other than George W. Bush.

The fact that the divisiveness in this country is now on schedule to grow only fiercer and more counter-productive to the general welfare of our nation and our world is perhaps the only thing that the faux "President-Elect" and I would seem to agree on. The difference being that while he apparently takes pride and pleasure in that fact, it breaks my ever-lovin' heart.

But I just live in this country, so I play with the cards I am dealt.

The money quote from Mark Crispin Miller's piece from Tuesday...longer quote than usual...because it's well-deserved:

(Thanks tipster DuffyB for the link!)

Our friend Pam, at her simmering "House Blend" asks an astute question --- though one for which the answer is likely self-obvious to any Reality-Based Americans.

She wonders why it is that a Saudi Prince is protecting News Corp from a possible hostile take-over bid as reported in Wednesday's Financial Times:

Follow the money. Ignore the sloganeering. Fox News and News Corp "support America" in the same way that George W. Bush "supports the troops".

...But if you count on The News to get your news, you probably hadn't realized that 1,216 US troops have now died in Iraq. For some reason or another.

The rate in the 19 days so far this month of 5.21 U.S. servicemen and women killed each day is the highest since the first 12 days of the initial invasion when 7.67 were killed each day.

Have a nice evening --- especially you folks in the "Red States".

...Comes DUBYA: The Movie!

(via Krup's Just Sayin')

Speaking of Russ Baker (see the previous item), he's got an interesting story today in The Nation about Ralph Nader's recount in New Hampshire. Which began today, by the way.

Baker's piece explains the optical-scan concerns which drew Nader's attention and lead to the recount demand after they were noticed by citizen Ida Briggs, a software designer and statistical analyst in Michigan who --- unlike those covering Scott Peterson in the MSM --- decided to investigate the numbers in New Hampshire:

American citizen does it again. I look forward to what the hand recount may or may not show in the coming days. Though Baker also sagely notes:

(Gracias to amigo Fin for the link!)

I've been receiving tips and links concerning the odd story of Jeff Fisher, a Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate down in Florida ever since Thom Hartmann's Nov. 6th article at CommonDreams.org spoke of Fisher "waiting for the FBI to show up" because he had evidence to prove "the Florida election was hacked" along with "who hacked it and how".

Fisher's story was and is compelling at first blush, though convoluted and spare in key details. He writes at varying lengths and coherency on his own website about mysterious meetings in McDonald's parking lots, a conspiracy played out to hack the vote from a computer lab at the Bay Point School for delinquent boys in Florida, wiretaps, computer professors and informants who feared for their own life.

Wild stuff. But then again, so was the idea that three cuban exiles broke into the Democratic campaign headquarters in a Washington D.C. hotel at the instruction of an ex-CIA guy with funding from an eccentric millionaire down in Key West, Florida that was said to lead all the way up to the President of the United States.

I hadn't reported on the Fisher story at all on these pages, despite many who had emailed me about him, because something in the story just wasn't adding up for me yet. And then I had begun hearing accounts of late about various folks distancing themselves from Fisher.

Both Ralph Nader and investigative journalist Russ Baker had recently been cited --- by Fisher on his website --- as working along with him in pursuing his troubling tale. But Nader's camp has publicly disavowed such a relationship, and an associate of mine who spoke with Baker has told me that Baker also finds Fisher's story to be incredible and that he's not currently pursuing it.

My associate had spoken with Dr. Piotr Blass (a prominent figure in Fisher's story) and encouraged me to call him. With Fisher's phone number in hand as well --- his is posted on his website --- I decided to give them both a call to see what I could learn...

More details on this shortly and notes we took during the Press Conference...

For the moment, see:

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