Month: August 2006

The following is cross posted from my local blog Turn Tahoe Blue. In this post I take a closer look at the history of the Senate seat Jack Carter is trying to win.

You all just know that the Republicans are gonna try to make it any issue pretty soon that Jack Carter’s not a native Nevadan and only moved to the state three years ago. Anyone who knows anything about Jack Carter knows for sure that the former President’s son didn’t move to Nevada to run for office. Jack himself says it best:

Elizabeth and I did not have the good fortune to be born in Nevada. We spent years in the wilderness before we found this Promised Land. But more than the mountains and the desert, the lakes and the pastures, the neon and the cowboys, we have sunk down into this land which values personal freedoms as much as we do. We love it here. Our home. I told her, “We’ve been Nevadans all our lives. We just found out a few years ago.”

As a foreign exchange student who came to Nevada at 16 years of age, who has seen the beauty of this state, from the awesome view of a starlit sky above Battle Mountain to the sparkling waters of Lake Tahoe, from historical Genoa to the more famous historical Virginia City, from the wide and open spaces of Northern Nevada to the Strip in Las Vegas I can only second what Jack Carter has to say.

But let’s take a break from the emotional and take a closer look at history. The United States Senate is divided into three “classes”. It depends on the class when a Senate seat is up for election. The junior Senator from Nevada, John Ensign, is Class I which is up for election this year. Class II Senate seats are up for election in 2008 and Class III Senate seats, among those the one held by Harry Reid, are up in 2010.

So far there have been 14 Class I Senators from Nevada, one of them served twice. Just guess how many of these were born in Nevada? Let’s take a look at the list first:

    * William M. Stewart (R) 1863-75, 1887-1905
    * William Sharon (R) 1875-81
    * James G. Fair (D) 1881-87
    * George Nixon (R) 1905-11
    * William A. Massey (R) 1911-13
    * Key Pittman (D) 1913-40
    * Berkeley L. Bunker (D) 1940-42
    * James G. Scrugham (D) 1942-45
    * Edward P. Carville (D) 1945-47
    * George W. Malone (R) 1947-59
    * Howard W. Cannon (D) 1959-83
    * J. Chic Hecht (R) 1983-89
    * Richard H. Bryan (D) 1989-2001
    * John Ensign (R) 2001-2007

Of the 14 only two were actually born in Nevada – Berkeley L. Bunker and Edward P. Carville. Interestingly both were appointed after the death of their predecessors.

So, the people of Nevada for more than 140 years have not once elected a native Nevadan to this seat. I’m quite surprised by this myself. Never would’ve thought. One of these gentlemen wasn’t even born in the United States. Senator Fair is a native of Ireland.

Nevada’s first Senator, William M. Stewart actually only moved to Nevada in 1860, four years before the people of the newly created state elected him to the Senate and he subsequently became one of Nevada’s longest serving Senators.

Seems to me the people of Nevada are pretty open minded about who represents them in Congress. The incumbent Senator himself was born in Roseville, California. His family moved to Nevada when he was a child.

When you take a look at the Class III Senators things look a little different. For this seat only native Nevadans have won since Patrick A. McCarran (D) was elected in 1932. His elected native Nevadan successors are Alan H. Bible (D), Paul Laxalt (R) and Harry Reid (D).

Looks like Class I is the seat for the people who life’s mysterious ways has brought to Nevada and Class III for those who were born here. Somehow I’ve got an inkling that the carpetbagger campaign won’t stick to Jack Carter. What about you?

Contribute to Jack Carter!

It looks like Senator Lincoln Chafee is going down.

If the September 12 primary were held today, 51 percent say they will vote for Steve Laffey, 34 percent support Senator Chafee, and 15 percent are undecided. A BGRS survey of Republican voters conducted in June had Laffey at 39 percent and Chafee at 36 percent. Chafee’s base is virtually unchanged since the June survey, while the number of Laffey supporters has grown 12 percentage points.

It’s not a good year to be an incumbent. If Steve Laffey wins this primary it will make the Democratic candidate, Sheldon Whitehouse, a very heavy favorite. I hope the wingnuts will be happy losing a Senate seat in New England. They are going to be down to the two in Maine and the two in New Hampshire.

I wonder if Chafee will form a new party called Rhode Island for Chafee and run as an independent?

P.S. National Press Corp? Which party is radical and hostile to centrists again?

This is unbelievable, sheer insanity now.

Just two days after Donald Rumsfeld decided to excoriate the United States of America in front of the American Legion, Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice ALSO decided to embarrass herself with yet another speech to the American Legion.

While Rumsfeld’s speech could only have appealed to people who hate America and find brown shirts vaguely attractive, Condi’s address could only appeal to those with the attention span of a gnat, and the intellect to boot.

But they appear to be written to work together–good cop and bad cop, says RedState.com–but this could only be described as a sinister version of a Laurel & Hardy film called “Nazi Cop, Dumb Cop.”
The transcript of the speech can be found at the Secretary of State’s website–and it’s a scary one as well.

I’m especially reminded of America’s resolve in times of adversity, as we come upon the fifth anniversary of September the 11th. That day, America encountered the darker nature of our world, and our nation’s course was profoundly altered.

Yes.  That’s true.  You know that seemingly genial, kinda slow-witted guy who seemed like a good beer-buddy when 49% of Americans voted for him for president?  Turns out he’s an aggressively belligerent dry-drunk sociopath with a theocratic megalomania complex and a gift for corporate cronyism.

Who knew?  The world’s nature is dark indeed.

Consider the progress we have made: Five years ago, the members of al-Qaida were largely free to operate, to organize, to travel, to move money, to communicate with each other, and to plan attacks to murder innocent people. Today, however, five years later, America is leading a great coalition of countries in the fight against terrorists.

You know, when I think about the truly GREAT countries of the world, Britain, Poland and Costa Rica are the first ones that come to mind.  Absolutely.  I’m sure that most Americans would agree.

Together, we are seizing their money. We’re closing their sanctuaries.

Sanctuaries like…Pakistan.  Have you seen the sheer number of troops we have in Waziristan right now?  Why, the number must be in the high two-figures!  The Taliban that originated in Pakistan, the terrorist network that the British liquid explosives guys went to in Pakistan–all being scoured as we speak by…umm….well, never mind.

We’re hunting their cells. We’re killing and capturing their leaders.

Lemme see about this.  Osama bin Laden?  Alive.  Ayman al-Zawahiri, his #2?  Alive.  Al-Zarqawi?  Dead–after three years.  The general Al-Qaeda network? Stronger, by all accounts, than it used to be.

Heckuva job, Condi!

Because we’ve gone on the offense, America is safer, but we are not yet safe, as we’ve seen just recently with the foiled terror plot in London.

Gee, ya think?  Two years later: “Because we’ve gone on the offense in bombing Tehran, America is safer–but we are not yet safe, as we’ve seen just recently with the spate of Iranian suicide bombings in Starbucks all across America.  As long as Republicans remain at the helm, you can trust that America will take the fight to its enemies.

By the way, Syria?  You’re next.  Bring ’em on!”

We know that every day, each and every day, violent extremists are plotting new ways to do us harm.

That’s true: President Bush himself said that he is always thinking of new ways to harm our country.  I know I’m scared of these violent extremists in the White House–I think most Americans are, too.

Today, five years after the attack on our nation, people still differ about what September 11th called us to do. On the one hand, if you focus only on the attacks themselves and believe that they were caused by 19 hijackers supported by a network called al-Qaida, operating from a failed state, Afghanistan, then the response can be limited.

Condi, on the other hand, believes that it was actually a Balrog of Morgoth from Transylvania who attacked us.  We, on the other hand, believe that 19 Saudi terrorists training in Afghanistan attacked us because we happen in live in a little place called reality.

But if you believe, as I do, and as President Bush does, that the root cause of September 11th was the violent expression of a global extremist ideology, an ideology that thrives on the oppression and despair of the Middle East, then we must seek to remove this source of terror by helping the people of that troubled region to transform their countries and to transform their lives.

Do you mean the sort of oppression and despair fostered by our Saudi allies?  The dictatorship of our Pakistani allies?  The bloody dictatorship of our Uzbek ally?

Meanwhile, I do agree with Condi on one point: bunker-buster bombs do wonders for transforming lives and the landscapes of troubled regions.  What greater transformation is there than “here today, gone tomorrow?”

The dream of some, that we could avoid this conflict, that we did not have to take sides in this battle in the Middle East…

What is she talking about?  Who is she talking about?  I’d like her to show me the American who thinks that we shouldn’t have dismantled Al-Qaeda and killed Osama Bin Laden.  Where is that American, Condi?  We’re angry because you HAVEN’T done those things, dimwit.

Under President Bush’s leadership, the United States is now standing shoulder to shoulder with moderate men and women all across the Middle East.

That’s good, because you certainly aren’t standing with moderate men at home.

Five years ago, who could have imagined that a vibrant debate about democratic reform and economic reform and social reform would be raging in every country of the Broader Middle East, a debate not about whether to proceed with reform, but how to proceed? Who could have imagined the positive changes we have already witnessed in places as different as Egypt and Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait and Morocco, and Jordan? Sure, there have been many setbacks and step backs in each of these cases, but the steps forward are also taking place.

“Who could have imagined?”  She didn’t just say that again, did she?  Seems to be an incredible failure of imagination by this White House, no?

And Earth to Condi: I think there have been more setbacks than steps forward.  Just possibly.

And who could have imagined that the people of Lebanon would stand up by the hundreds of thousands and call for the Syrian occupation of their country to end and for a new democratic future to begin?

That’s right, folks.  Lebanon is one of the greatest success stories of our times.  That’s how this Administration defines success.  Didn’t you know?

In Afghanistan, the Taliban is terrorizing the Afghan people and trying to stop their democratic progress.

Oh yeah, those guys.  I thought we defeated them.  Guess not.  Given that we first invaded Afghanistan five years ago, the Taliban must have greater military capabilities than the combined forces of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan.  Tough nut to crack, those guys.

But on the other hand, there are unsettling questions. Is success possible? Is it really worth the effort? Do the Iraqi people really want to live together in peace and freedom, the peace and freedom for which our troops have sacrificed so much. Or do they desire a darker path, somehow, of violence?

Well, let me answer that for you, Condi.  Success is NOT possible–not while you are the Secretary of State.  And yes, the Iraqi people desire a darker path of violence, as long as American troops are occupying their country.

See?  That was simple.  You asked questions, and I answered them.

————————–

And there’s so much more where that came from.

I encourage you all to read the whole thing.  It’s an encyclopedia of inane stupidity.

Which is apparently all they’ve got at this point: fascism and inane stupidity.

[Cross-posted from My Left Wing, and on the Daily Kos]

I have mixed emotions about Iran. Iran has been a de facto enemy of the United States ever since Ayatollah Khomeini sanctioned the kidnapping of American hostages that were held for 444 days. They fought a proxy war with us throughout the eighties. Many of the stars at Langley, indicating CIA officers killed in the line of duty, were killed by Iran. Their Council of Guardians, who control the government, armed forces, and intelligence agencies, are very bad guys. Imagine a Council of Guardians led by Tim LeHay, Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, and James Dobson, that could veto any legislation as un-Christian, and even deny liberal Christians the right to run for office. Some of their leaders do subscribe to an eschatological, apocolyptic world view, similar to the Rapture crowd here at home. And they are no friends of Israel and continue to make bellicose insinuations against peace.

However, having said all that, things are not as bad as they can be painted to seem. I doubt Pat Robertson is really a believing Christian at all. I assume he thinks Christians are idiots with deep pockets. The same is probably true of George W. Bush, and pretty much any charlatan that has achieved riches and power through the promotion of 19th Century style religion. Therefore, I don’t think the Iranian leadership has any interest in catapulting armageddon. But you never know.

What I do know is that Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon in not a happy prospect. In fact, it is not a happy prospect for any nation to obtain a nuclear weapon. I am not happy that Pakistan and North Korea have reached a nuclear capability. It’s a terrible threat to life on earth.

The question is, though, what are we willing to do about it? With Iran, we have pursued a reasonable path with the Europeans, in consultation with the Russians and the IAEA. Iran has thumbed their nose at us. It’s another example of how badly Bush has weakened America. I do not enjoy seeing us disrespected in this way. And I do expect Bush to pursue some form of sanctions, if for nothing else, to save face.

However, while Bush has been playing checkers, the Iranians have been playing chess. As we can see from the following:

In addition, the sanctions effort may also be hampered by a report to be issued Thursday by the International Atomic Energy Agency, in which inspectors will describe only slow progress by Iran in enriching uranium.

The report, according to diplomats familiar with its contents, will describe how Iran has resumed producing small amounts of enriched uranium since temporarily stopping in the spring, but has not increased the rate of production.

Furthermore, the report is expected to say that the purity of the uranium enrichment would not be high enough for use in nuclear weapons, but only for power plants. Iran has long insisted that its program is for peaceful purposes only.

This doesn’t tell us anything about what Iran intends to do down the line, but it shows they are outwitting our President. Bush is going to start out calling for “an embargo on the sale of nuclear-related goods to Iran…the freezing of overseas assets and a ban on travel for Iranian officials directly involved in the nuclear program.” He might not get even that.

Things are set up just as they were for the last midterm elections. Bush will go before the United Nations and tell them why a nuclear Iran is an unacceptable threat to world peace. He will essentially say, “This guy wants a nuke and he wants to wipe Israel off the map. Anyone who thinks he should have a nuke is weak on defense.”

The argument will be quite compelling and loudly supported at home by the traditional neo-conservatives like Cheney and Rumsfled, and by the right-wing media like Fox News, the Washington Times, and the New York Post, by the National Review Online types, and even by Democrats like Ed Koch, Alan Dershowitz, and Chuck Schumer.

The counterargument is difficult to make. It’s impossible to make it in a 15 second blurb or commercial. The easiest thing to say is “So, what to plan to do about it?”

Counterprolferation is a worthy goal and it would be nice if China and Russia would back up the rest of the Security Council when they try to enforce counterproliferation through peaceful means. In the end, I think that would make war less likely as well as work as an effective deterrent. But that is not the situation we find ourselves in.

Instead, Iran has been careful to cultivate economic and diplomatic relations with Russia and China, while tying down our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. They’ve also been careful to claim they only have civilian intentions for their nuclear program. They have limited their enrichment to what would be useful for civilian purposes. Their only weak point?

The mystery has been deepened by Iran’s recent restrictions on where international inspectors can roam, and its refusal to allow them to see facilities that Iran has not declared to be related to its nuclear program.

The atomic agency’s report is also expected to detail questions that Iran has failed to answer about suspected nuclear activities that it has declined to show to international inspectors.

Many liberals question what right the United States or the Security Council has to dictate who has nuclear weapons, or why it is okay for Israel to have them and not for Iran. The answer to that lies in power politics and the inherent interest the international community has in non-proliferation. There is a reason that Iran is a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty and also a reason why Israel is not. Until recently, those decisions reflected the self-interests of Iran and Israel. However, things have changed for Iran.

We are now occupying their left and right flank and building bases on their north flank in Azerbaijan. We are openly talking about regime change and hinting at air strikes, possibly involving tactical nuclear weapons. They feel threatened because they are threatened.

And the question for the United States is “what are we going to do about this?” We’ve talked a lot of smack but it doesn’t appear that we can back any of it up. We cannot get the UN Security Council to act in a unified way to deter Iran. We can’t get them to make any concessions. We can’t get them to accept a deal. We don’t have the military strength to invade or effect regime change. We don’t know where all the targets are should we want to destroy their nuclear program from the air. And we are reliant on the good will of Iran sympathizing Shi’a in Iraq for the security of our supply lines there.

At some point it should occur to people just how badly Bush has undermined American power. In the end, that might not be such a bad thing if it teaches us to have more humility and more faith in international organizations and collective security. Unfortunately, it doesn’t appear either party, nor the intelligentsia, have come to terms with the extent of Bush’s failure or the likely consequences.

Bush intends to try a repeat of 2002. He will go to the UN and cry wolf. The UN, this time, will flatly reject his cries. And then he will run on his failure, calling it strength, and daring Democrats to admit America is powerless to overcome his failure and get Iran to back down.

It is going to be ugly.

Anyone reading anything other than The Kite Runner?

this diary is dedicated to all who suffer because of war

we love and support our troops, just as we love and support the Iraqi people – without exception, or precondition, or judgement.

image and poem below the fold

Residents and a policeman pull a victim out of a burning minibus shortly after a bomb exploded in Baghdad August 27, 2006. A car bomb in central Baghdad killed five people and wounded 10 on Sunday, police said. The blast, which shook central Baghdad and sent columns of black smoke into the air, took place on Saadoun Street, a busy commercial area, police said. The target of the attack was not clear, but there is a hotel complex nearby and Iraqi police and army have checkpoints on Saadoun Street.
REUTERS/Namir Noor-Eldeen (IRAQ)

from Secrets in the Sand  
by Marjorie Agosín  

And the night was a precipice,
And the night was a hollow sound,
Beyond all depths and silences.
It was night in the city of Juárez and the dead women of Juárez
Protected the living ones.
It didn’t seem like a typical night at the border.
It seemed more like the drowsiness of a mute inferno
And flames transforming into knives.

Night in Juárez was a perverse mirror
Where death breathed its hollow
Trophies over the sand.

And night in the city of Juárez didn’t have a beginning or an end
Just fear
Just death.

– – –

Having been rained out of work I happened to catch this Diary, Charlie Daniels calls for war on opposition
by FreeTradeIsYourEpitaph
This morning.

Shortly after reading it I heard the below report from ‘Morning Edition’ on NPR;

Dixie Chicks Summer Tour Not All Smooth Sailing
by Craig Havighurst

Morning Edition, August 31, 2006 · It’s been more than three years since one of the Dixie Chicks told a London audience that she was “ashamed” President Bush was from the group’s home state of Texas. Some predicted the group would suffer long-term consequences because of the comment. Now their summer tour is coming up short in some cities. Craig Havighurst of Nashville Public Radio reports.

Chris Willman, who speaks on the report has the following book out:
Rednecks & Bluenecks: The Politics of Country Music

Take a vist over to the site and listen in.

I’m not a big fan of Country, I am a fan of Good Music by Real Musicians, not canned music produced by marketers hyping what otherwise wouldn’t be.

I was a fan of Daniels, and other Country singers, years back. But most of them, Daniels included, lost me long ago with their rethoric and lack of new material {even stopped listening to  their older stuff, which I had enjoyed}. And much of Country today is just what I describe above, Canned Music, for the quick buck.
The ‘Chicks’, on the other hand, are the type of Real Musical Artists, that come out of all forms of music, that have a Sound and Feeling in their songs that just graps hold and makes you want to hear more, and hope they will keep producing their Art without loosing that Heartfelt Feeling that they are putting into most of their songs, Real Musical Artists!

I find myself on Daniels, and the others out of my generation, knowing All that happened as to the War, myself and thousands of others served in, Disgusted that they Could and Would Support what this Administration and Republican Controlled Congress have done to this Present Generation, as to Iraq, and this Country as a whole on way to many fronts, Especially as to the Warmongering ‘In Our Names’!!

To Fight Back at least follow what is reported below that will be taking place in DC. Listen to the Press Conferance, Read about it, Attend if you can {this one I’m going to be unable to attend, sadly}, find anything you can about what will be coming out of this ‘GrassRoots Movement Action’, Get Involved In Taking Back Your Country!

VIDEO: Announcement of Camp Democracy
By David Swanson

We held a press conference on August 29, 2006, to announce Camp Democracy. It aired on C-Span. The Associated Press wrote an article. PoliticsTV.com filmed the event, and has posted the one-hour video. The advisory that we sent to the media prior to the event has more information.

And for you all who are having a hell of a time keeping track of the Lies, as I often find myself scratching my head, there are Just Too Many, MoJo has put together their ‘TimeLine-Lie by Lie’ and continuing to update. Take a visit over to clear your head as it’s spun on and off over these last few Destructive Years!

Lie by Lie;Chronicle of a War Foretold: August 1990 to March 2003

The first drafts of history are fragmentary. Important revelations arrive late, and out of order. In this timeline, we’ve assembled the history of the Iraq War to create a resource we hope will help resolve open questions of the Bush era. What did our leaders know and when did they know it? And, perhaps just as important, what red flags did we miss, and how could we have missed them? This is the first installment in our Iraq War timeline project.

Visit Mother Jones at the link above for the Timeline and continue the visits, or sign up to receive their E-News Letters, as they Update this timeline of Lie by Lie.

You.  Have.  Got.  To.  Be.  Kidding.  Me.

As if being sent halfway around the world to fight for a lie and greed of the neocon war criminals without proper armor or equipment, severe cuts in veterans benefits including treatment for PTSD as well as multiple extensions of tour duty  to “stay a course” that no one can even define, there is this kick in the teeth to military families who are cash strapped.

A 90+ page Pentagon report released a few weeks ago (with surprise, surprise, little to no press) titled Report on Predatory Lending Practices Directed at Members of the Armed Forces and Their Dependents shines a truly ugly light on this wonderful capitalistic society we live in where, for the glory of a buck you can screw over our military in their greatest time of need.

The report contains numerous examples of these practices, and makes some recommendations as to how to address this disgusting situation.  Additionally, it contains letters from the American Bar Association and the Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society urging action in this area.
According to the USA Today article (linked above), this is a widespread problem, as this predatory lending institutions have popped up near military bases all around the country (the report has maps of six different regions where there are a large number of these institutions.

As many as one in five members of the armed services are being preyed on by loan centers set up near military bases that can charge cash-strapped military families interest of 400% or more, a new Pentagon report has found.

—snip—

The report says “payday loan” stores (so named because their loans are often due on a borrower’s next payday) have sprung up by the thousands around military bases and elsewhere in the past decade.

OK – so there are debt problems that would otherwise preclude people from joining the military and serving overseas.  Of course, I can think of a large number of lies reasons why people wouldn’t want to serve, but let’s at least assume that debt is one of them.  So instead of the Pentagon or military helping people pay down their debts or working out some arrangement with potential recruits (which may or may not even be feasible to begin with), we have people who are more than willing to step in.

For a huge fee.  At a time in these people’s lives when there are likely few other options.

Lenders typically charge $15 to $25 per $100 loan for two weeks, and most loans are extended for several weeks. The report says the average loan is $350 and has an annual interest rate of 390% to 780%. The average borrower, it says, pays back $834 for a $339 loan.

The report cites estimates 13% to 19% of servicemembers — at least 175,000 people — took out high-interest, short-term loans last year. It said nine out of 10 loans go to borrowers who take out five or more over a year.

And who are these people that are being targeted?  Well, other than “just the military and military families”, the report goes on to indicate the following:

Predatory lenders seek out young and financially inexperienced borrowers who have bank accounts and steady jobs, but also have little in savings, flawed credit or have hit their credit limit. These borrowers are less likely to weigh the predatory loan against other opportunities and are less likely to be concerned about the consequences of taking the loan.

Predatory lenders make loans based on access to assets (through checks, bank accounts, car titles, tax refunds, etc.) and guaranteed continued income, but not on the ability of the borrower to repay the loan without experiencing further financial problems.

Predatory lenders market to the military through their ubiquitous presence around military installations and/or through the use of terms to affiliate themselves with the military. Increasingly the Internet is used to promote loans to Service members.

Predatory products feature high fees/interest rates, with some requiring balloon payments, while others pack excessive charges into the product. The result of their efforts is to obfuscate the comparative cost of their product with other options available to the borrower.

Most of the predatory business models take advantage of borrower’s inability to pay the loan in full when due and encourage extensions through refinancing and loan flipping. These refinances often include additional high fees and little or no payment of principal.

Predatory lenders attempt to work outside of established usury limits, either by attempting to obtain exemptions from federal and state statutes or by developing schemes designed to circumvent existing laws.

I am just speechless.  But I guess when you have a “Commander in Chief” (and I put that in quotes since you can’t seriously call Bush a commander or a chief) who is a military deserter, a Vice President who bravely had 5 deferments, and a slew of neocon “leaders” who care as much about the military as they do about the rest of We the People, then this shouldn’t be surprising.

But it doesn’t make it any less disgusting.

usury

US military

military

predatory loans

Believe it or not, that is the actual headline. From the original article.
 Volusia County Supervisor of Elections Ann McFall has fired 76-year-old Drusilla Synal, a poll worker for more than a decade, for opposing the use of the touch-screen machines as she cast her ballot during an early voting session Aug. 23 at the city’s library.

“She was rude, abrupt and loud. She made it clear she was a poll worker,” McFall said. “I called (her) the next day. She admitted being opinionated. She admitted as well that she doesn’t like the equipment and she doesn’t care who knows that.”

Synal’s reply, Synal acknowledged she speaks her mind, but was “dumbfounded” when McFall called and fired her the next day, explaining to Synal that offering her opinion of the machines was “OK at a Winn-Dixie, but not at the polls.”

“I’m upset this has become such a big deal and I’m in the middle of it. I figured I could say I didn’t want to use it,” Synal said of the new voting machine. “I wasn’t there as a poll worker. I just went in to vote.”
Read the remainder of the article at http://www.news-journalonline.com/NewsJournalOnline/News/Local/newEAST01POL082906.htm.

I diaried this because of ongoing irregularities in the Volusia County Elections Office. Let’s give a shout and fill her e-mail box with BOO-Ann, Hooray-Free Speech. You can reach her at, amcfall@co.volusia.fl.us