On the bright side, this will give me some time for some off-line projects as well as time to get my second computer back together. Who knows, ... maybe I'll even be able to get my "voodoo" home network (a cross-over cable) working at long last. It never wanted to work quite right last time, and if you've ever had a home networking problem before, you know how very little help the manufacturers provide.
In the meantime, have a good holiday!
Largely unreported or under-reported at least in the U.S. press, the Bush administration last Thursday partially declassified a document called "National Security Presidential Directive 9". With falling polls, this is a massive gamble on the administration's part, and the success of this gamble depends entirely on whether or not the U.S. press can "connect the dots". So far, they have not.
Allow me to do that for you.
P.S. I'll be back to my regular routine tommorrow. Thanks for staying with me in the meantime.
"AN UNPRECEDENTED criminal enterprise designed to impermissibly affect a presidential election." That was the heated accusation leveled last week by the Bush campaign and the Republican National Committee against the Kerry campaign, an array of outside Democratic groups working to defeat President Bush and several big donors to those groups. The complaint, filed with the Federal Election Commission, involves groups created by Democratic activists to collect and spend the huge "soft money" contributions now off-limits to political parties.The Republicans argue that "this illegal conspiracy of donors and shadowy groups" is improperly spending soft money on television ads and other activities to defeat Mr. Bush. They say that the groups are illegally coordinating their activities with Sen. John F. Kerry's presidential campaign and the Democratic Party. And they say the situation is so dire, and the FEC's processes so cumbersome and ineffective, that the agency should take the unprecedented step of dismissing the GOP complaint so that the Republicans can obtain an immediate hearing before a federal judge. ...
* * *But the complaint does not provide the slam-dunk evidence of a "massive conspiracy to corrupt the federal campaign finance system" that its proponents contend. It's far from certain that the groups, known as 527s for the section of the tax code under which they are organized, are violating the law. ... Nor does the complaint prove illegal coordination. ...* * *You don't have to cheer what the Democratic groups are doing to believe that the extraordinary remedy proposed by the Republicans -- removing the matter from the agency with expertise in the law and dumping it in the lap of a federal judge -- is neither sensible nor warranted.
n last month's Florida presidential primary, Fort Myers polling places had signs saying voters could not vote without photo ID, according to the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida The problem is, the signs were wrong. ...* * *Voter ID laws must strike a balance between preventing voter fraud and not making it unduly difficult to vote. Without a national ID card, it isn't easy. Many Americans do not have driver's licenses, particularly city residents, old and young people, and some members of minority groups. The rules for what is acceptable ID vary widely by state. The Help America Vote Act, the law passed after the 2000 election mess, added new federal ID rules, some making it easier to vote, some making it harder.Above all, election officials should enforce the law accurately. Their record, however, is troubling. ...
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from their "MAKING VOTES COUNT" series.