So, W is at it again.  And McSame agrees.

Looks like the rest of the Dems, Obama supporters or not, have is back.  Thanks Begala.  Sure, the criticism is safe- partisanship on foreign soil is bad, and unprecedented if Rahm is right.

But the premise of the argument still stinks.  Diplomacy= bad?  OK, terrorist groups who kidnap and extort, I can understand not using diplomatic relations with them I guess.  It seems risky to set the expectation of negotiation.  And terrorist groups are formed mainly around terrorist means- that is to say they are not governments with non-combatant citizens, social giving, world acceptance etc.

But not negotiate with anyone, such as Terrorist States (queue sinister music while W pauses for effect, squints, leans forward...) who disagrees with us?  Because everyone who seems to not see things W's way is a "terrorist state."  Pretty broad strokes and a lot of paint needed for that brush.  Id like a definition, please?  And please try to avoid the use of rationale such as "when its done to U.S.."  A worldwide definition, thanks.

But to my point, who are we supposed to negotiate with, our allies?  Those who only do conventional or cold wars (or does McSame not want to talk to Russia too, and the reason why he wants them ousted from the G8, or the league of democracies, because democracies only matter?). 

And with all this non-talking going on, how the heck are we supposed to know who we dont agree with?  Im not sure assuming we know an entire peoples' motivations is necessarily bankable truism, but that may just me trying to make a sarcastic understatement of incredulity.  Should we trust McCain that he can just "see KGB" in someone's souls?

Sorry, not gonna follow you down that rabbit hole again.  War first?  Well, its a succinct slogan, but I'll pass for now, had my fill.  Talking sounds like a fresh idea.  Gathering intelligence- you know, the real kind, that whole thing.  Heck Im not only going to try it, Im going to dive in to this whole "fact" and "talk" and "intelligence" pile and see if  cant find peace along with non-inflated threats. 

If not, hey, I will fully support action before action is put upon us.  At the very least, it'd be nice to try to not start a third simultaneous war, the troops are tired men!  And our economy could use $4 trillion spent at home!

Be careful GOP, the more you talk, the more your warmonger undergarments show to the world.  Even your truest red followers see the the reality of their marriage.  The honeymoon is over.  Its true, just ask Mr. Childers in MI-01. 

Its not foreign policy minutia.  Its a question of Diplomacy first, or War.

So who makes an ATM with a paper receipt but forgets that function when building voting machines?  It makes sense that I would want a receipt of my deposit/ withdrawals, but I would trust my vote wasn't tampered with? 

Anyway, audit trails are a good idea even when you trust people.  Yet we wont have that unless we do something.  I recommend calling your congressman to help get this BILL BACK ON THE FLOOR!

This bill provides funding to ensure an audit trail exists and can be executed and paid for.  Although a house majority voted yes, it was defeated 4/15/8.

Why?  Well, there was no opposition, so it was put on the calendar on suspended rules and expected to pass with a 2/3 vote, which is required if rules are suspended.  Well, W waited in the weeds, and when it was on the calendar, he issues "a concern" on the bill, citing overinflated numbers that $650 million would be the tab, even though we spent more than that in Iraq just today, before lunch.

I talked to the sponsor's, Rush Holt, office and they told me that its "not officially" dead.   This needs help or it will never get passed, and its probably too late for any other legislation to make it through before November

After this gets to the floor you will need to pressure your state/ district to opt in, but with free money, its great pressure to make them justify why not. 

And speaking of justification, there are a lot of published reports as to the why, RFK Jr. in Rolling Stone post-2004, uncounted the Movie, anything written by Greg Palast or his speeches on YouTube, Hacking Democracy Youtube/ HBO, Black Box Voting.  2006 was less concerning than 2004, mainly because the voices were loud enough to catch the medias attention.  Not now, and  as before, without controls or scrutiny, we got issues.  We  safeguard our money,  lets help protect our democratic rights.  Whether we believe thieves exist or not, we lock the door, why not do the same for your vote?

Summary of the Bill:
H.R.5036
Title: To direct the Administrator of General Services to reimburse certain jurisdictions for the costs of obtaining paper ballot voting systems for the general elections for Federal office to be held in November 2008, to reimburse jurisdictions for the costs incurred in conducting audits or hand counting of the results of the general elections for Federal office to be held in November 2008, and for other purposes.

Sponsor: Rep Holt, Rush D. [NJ-12] (introduced 1/17/2008)      Cosponsors (92)
Latest Major Action: 4/15/2008 Failed of passage/not agreed to in House. Status: On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended Failed by the Yeas and Nays: (2/3 required): 239 - 178 (Roll no. 188).
House Reports: 110-582 Part 1MAJOR ACTIONS: 1/17/2008 Introduced in House 4/14/2008 Reported (Amended) by the Committee on House Administration. H. Rept. 110-582, Part I. 4/14/2008 Committee on Science and Technology discharged. 4/15/2008 Failed of passage/not agreed to in House: On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended Failed by the Yeas and Nays: (2/3 required): 239 - 178 (Roll no. 188).

http://progressillinois.com/2008/05/11/features/obama-over-the-top

"Poblano," the secret poll/ stat hobbyist, was more accurate than anyone May 6.  His site, 538.com, is worth checking out.

He contends Clinton, not Obama, would beat McCain in FL, OH, AR, WV and Obama, not Clinton, would beat him in MI, WI, IA, CO, NM, NV, WA.

Clinton: WEST VIRGINIA 5, ARIZONA 10, OHIO 20, FLORIDA 27, NEVADA 5 Total=62

Obama:  NEW MEXICO 5, IOWA  7, COLORADO 9 WISCONSIN 10 WASHINGTON 11 MICHIGAN 17 Total=64

Thats a 2 delegate advantage for Obama.  A wash basically, but a debunking wash as it were (Im looking at you Terry "Baghdad Bob" McAuliffe!)

Whats exciting is the downticket prospects of the number of states (3 more) and districts an Obama presidency could help put in play. 

And none of the above takes into account the GOTV campaign underway, which has some complicated calculations on 538, so I leave that analysis to better men, except to say it looks really exciting.  Downtickets  benefit from the additional GOTV efforts-HuffPo posits 1 million new volunteers (count me one)- as do other non-blue states potentially in play.  Virginia, Texas, Im talking to you, you sexy wildcards!

All this adds to my thoughts on VP choices.  Im not a fan of this one, but I had seen Sherrod Brown getting more press.  And several women have been offered the spot, according to a mydd blogger with proclaimed airtight sources.

Thoughts?