a little motivational material, and then I'm off to bed

[sisyphusshrugged]

do these people not have cell phones or are they just convinced they're gonna get away with it because they always have?

In West Virginia's eastern panhandle, Democratic activists were working the phones to undo what they suspected was a Republican-led effort to suppress the vote.

On Sept. 1, several registered voters called the Berkeley County voter registration office in Martinsburg, saying they had received phone calls notifying them that they were not on the rolls or would not, for technical reasons, be allowed to vote.

One resident used caller ID to trace the call to the county Republican Party headquarters.

West Virginia GOP spokeswoman Mary Diamond later told a television interviewer that the calls might have been a misguided effort to "make sure everyone is registered to vote."

Many of those who were called, said Stephen Skinner, a Democratic activist, had ethnic or African American-sounding surnames.

"It's like some yahoo went through and said, 'Let's pick up the people most likely to be Democrats,' " he said. "Or it may be more sophisticated than that."

In Fairfax County, a record number of "emergency absentee" voters cast ballots yesterday, officials said. Such voters have last-minute medical or business problems that would keep them from the polls.

Such voting has been rare in the past. officials said.

define "emergency." OK, now define "voting rights act"

Colorado Secretary of State Donetta Davidson just weeks ago removed several thousand voters from the state’s voter rolls. She tagged felons as barred from voting. What makes this particularly noteworthy is that, unlike like Florida and a handful of other Deep South states, Colorado does not bar ex-cons from voting. Only those actually serving their sentence lose their rights.

There’s no known, verified case of a Colorado convict voting illegally from the big house. Because previous purges have wiped away the rights of innocents, federal law now bars purges within 90 days of a presidential election to allow a voter to challenge their loss of civil rights.

To exempt her action from the federal rule, Secretary Davidson declared an “emergency.” However, the only “emergency” in Colorado seems to be President Bush’s running dead, even with John Kerry in the polls.

Why the sudden urge to purge? Davidson’s chief of voting law enforcement is Drew Durham, who previously worked for the attorney general of Texas. This is what the Lone Star State’s current attorney general says of Mr. Durham: He is, “unfit for public office… a man with a history of racism and ideological zealotry.” Sounds just right for a purge that affects, in the majority, non-white voters.

Our Fearless Leader, at least, has been unusually forthright about his goals
"I want to see the control of Congress stay in the hands of the president," Bush said.
although perhaps he's shading the truth a bit about his newfound love for Democrats

"I'm sorry, but they're Kerry shirts," a female Bush volunteer said. "We were told not to let people with Kerry shirts into the rally."

And as they approached the gates of the stadium, Lance "Chip" Borman, a Bush campaign worker and attorney who worked for the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq, directed them toward the Brevard County sheriff's deputies waiting at the exit.

"Hey folks, it's a private event," he said. "Can you find your way to the nearest exit? Maybe some law enforcement can help?"

The RNC, however, was less forthright when they tried to peddle a fraudulent tape to the press, representing it as evidence of fraud by Mr. Kerry's campaign

In 11th Hour Gambit, RNC Tries Hoodwinking Press: Splices DNC Call and Makes False Accusations
Washington DC - Today, the Republican National Committee tried to falsely accuse the Democratic National Committee of claiming the endorsement of General Schwarzkopf. In fact, the RNC spliced a DNC recorded telephone call by General Merrill "Tony" McPeak, urging voters to vote for John Kerry, and attempted to peddle the doctored audio file to the press.

An Republican nursing home inspector for absentee ballots is telling Democratic seniors that Bush is the Democratic candidate and offering them forty acres and a mule

She played one of those messages for me. It came from a woman working at the Fairfax Nursing Home, saying people from the Board of Elections were taking absentee ballots from the residents that day and creating a ball of confusion, asking people their party affiliation and telling self-described Democrats that Bush was the Democratic candidate.

I called over there to speak with Ann Niles-Crumb, an LPN named in the message, to check it out. "This little shrimp of a bald-headed man named Lacey Brooks Jr. walked around here saying 'Vote for Bush! Vote for Bush! He's still going to give you your forty acres and a mule!'" she told me. "So I get infuriated. You don't talk to these patients this way. We were so angry, if we weren't at work we would've whupped this little man."

The Board of Elections confirmed that Lacey Brooks Jr. is a Republican nursing home inspector for absentee ballots, but no one returned calls for comment.

and the Big Dog may have just created a swing state for Kerry

Advisers to President Bush, who won Arkansas's six electoral votes four years ago, have assumed the state is still in the red Republican ranks. But recent polls here have shown the presidential race tightening or in a dead heat, and a local Kerry spokesman said Sunday that "the campaign of John Kerry is poised for victory in Arkansas."

With 13 field offices, 40 paid staff members and "thousands and thousands" of volunteers working to get out the Kerry vote in the last 48 hours of the campaign, John Emekli said all the campaign needed was an appearance by Clinton. "He's still the most galvanizing force we know in Arkansas," he said.

Indeed, Clinton's appearance drew not only the party faithful -- many of them wearing buttons for Kerry or Democratic congressional candidates -- but also Arkansans who still love the former president despite the personal foibles that sidelined him during the 2000 presidential campaign when Al Gore asked his former running mate to stay off the campaign trail.

Forty acres and a freaking mule.

The sitting President of the United States has people out in the field telling old folks he's a Democrat and offering them forty acres and a damn mule.

I truly don't know what country these people live in.

Tomorrow we can get ours back.

Comments

[kiplet.livejournal.com]

Word.

As it were.

[fantome14.livejournal.com]

It's freakin' Gone with the Wind!

"And you'll get forty acres! And a mule!"

"AND a MULE???!!!"

"That's right!"

Ugh.

[(Anonymous)]

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<<I truly don't know what country these people live in. Tomorrow we can get ours back.>>

You'll like this sign I saw on Saturday:

Don't forget to turn your clocks back an hour tonight.

And turn them ahead 50 years on Tuesday!