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>> And she's telling her staff to ignore subpoenas about whether she campaigned with state resources.

> Reference, please.

http://www.adn.com/palin/story/530493.html

"Alaska Attorney General Talis Colberg said the governor, who was not subpoenaed, declined to participate in the investigation and said Palin administration employees who have been subpoenaed would not appear."

Palin's staff is ignoring supoenas, but parent has misstated what the subpoenas are about. They pertain to "Troopergate," not campaign financing.

Actually she was using her yahoo email accounts to conduct state business.

The name of the email accounts were gov.sarah and gov.palin. So, yes, these were used in her official capacity as the governor.

Also,

Hackers broke into the Yahoo! e-mail account that Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin used for official business as Alaska's governor, revealing as evidence a few inconsequential personal messages she has received since John McCain selected her as his running mate

It is also time to start looking at Todd Palin's role. You know, the guy who did not show up for a subpoena on Friday.

Not to mention that from all appearances (I may be contradicted later), Sarah Palin's beliefs are probably pretty much mainstream among regular church-goers.

Yeah, I'd say you'll be contradicted later - I hope most church-goers don't support her beliefs.

http://www.adn.com/sarah-palin/story/518514.html

Later, senior pastor Ed Kalnins -- with Palin standing at his side -- spoke about tapping into Alaska's natural resource wealth in order to fulfill the state's destiny of serving as a shelter for Christians at the end of the world.

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/09/08/palin.pastor/index.html

Palin's former pastor, Tim McGraw, says that like many Pentecostal churches, some members speak in tongues, although he says he's never seen Palin do so. Church member Caroline Spangler told CNN, "When the spirit comes on you, you utter things that nobody else can understand ... only God can understand what is coming out of our mouths."

Some Pentecostals from Assembly of God also believe in "faith healing" and the "end times" -- a violent upheaval that they believe will deliver Jesus Christ's second coming.

Personally if I was "middle of the road, or undecided...", I'd think she was a complete and utter raving lunatic.

OK, you were right about Heckmann. CBS News is wrong using the word 'brokered' to describe Harris's relationship to the deal. Harris was responsible for introducing Reynolds and Heckmann and smoothing the deal through at a lower than market price.

BTW, the market price was about 2.4 Million

Heckmann suggested the asking price of $2,450,000, based on the current jet market.

According to the Anchorage Daily News (Largest paper in Alaska) Palin asked the town's librarian during a town council meeting about banning books and was flatly refused.

According to the article:

Palin herself, questioned at the time, called her inquiries rhetorical and simply part of a policy discussion with a department head "about understanding and following administration agendas," according to the Frontiersman article.

Four days before this exchange took place the librarian had received a letter from Palin asking for her resignation. Similar letters were also sent to the Police Chief, Public Works Director, Finance Director, and Museum Director.

Again according to the article (emphasis mine):

Palin told the Daily News back then the letters were just a test of loyalty as she took on the mayor's job, which she'd won from three-term mayor John Stein in a hard-fought election. Stein had hired many of the department heads. Both Emmons and Stambaugh had publicly supported him against Palin.

The article is not clear what effect the other letter had. The librarian did, due to public popularity, survive a call for her resignation but later resigned for a better job in Fairbanks. The Meusum director was let go when Palin cut his job from the city rolls.

According to the article there is no documentary evidence that any books were ever banned from the library although the article does not quote the present librarian.

It is known that Palin subsequently cut funding for an expansion of the library and the museum while pushing for the construction of a local hockey arena that, according to other articles remains in litigation as it was built on land that the town did not own clear title to.

From this I don't see it as fair to call her someone who is obsessed with banning books but it is apparent that she places an emphasis on "loyalty" and has priorities that focus more on hockey than education.

As to the less porn more drugs line or the "country folks" I'm not sure either one is deserved. Meth problems aside Palin's stance on the bars was a backers issue. And once in office she didn't spend, apparently, much effort campaigning against porn so much as for hockey. As culture warriors go she clearly stumps on it but only acts on it in general terms.

A bunch of partisan wackjobs circulating a fake list of 'banned books' shouldn't take away from the importance of this incident. The fact is, she tried to have books removed, and the librarian refused.
http://www.adn.com/sarah-palin/story/515512.html
Back in 1996, when she first became mayor, Sarah Palin asked the city librarian if she would be all right with censoring library books should she be asked to do so. According to news coverage at the time, the librarian said she would definitely not be all right with it.

That's pretty damning as far as I'm concerned.

Right, she was unsuccessful. However, it has been confirmed that she did indeed attempt to have the books removed. The librarian refused.
http://www.adn.com/sarah-palin/story/515512.html

Well, except that's not an accurate portrayal:

In an interview Thursday, Palin said she meant only to say that discussion of alternative views should be allowed to arise in Alaska classrooms:
"It's OK to let kids know that there are theories out there," she said in the interview. "They gain information just by being in a discussion."

That was how she was brought up, she said. Her father was a public school science teacher.

"My dad did talk a lot about his theories of evolution," she said. "He would show us fossils and say, 'How old do you think these are?' "

Asked for her personal views on evolution, Palin said, "I believe we have a creator."

She would not say whether her belief also allowed her to accept the theory of evolution as fact.

"I'm not going to pretend I know how all this came to be," she said.

http://dwb.adn.com/news/politics/elections/story/8347904p-8243554c.html

Interesting how that context changes things.

In any case, recognize the position she's in -- the lunatic fringe of the republican party believes in the version of creationism that starts off with "Adam and Eve were in the garden with the dinosaurs", and she can't really say something that would tick them off. But, at the same time, she can't agree with them without appearing like a loon.

The Democrats have a similar problem with the lunatic fringe of the democrat party.

Why was this marked troll? The Poster has a point. She has a long history pandering to Creationists.

I hope I don't get modded down as troll myself for this by people who disagree with me, but here goes...

Although I heartily dislike Creationism, I was reading up on her political stance on Creationism and don't feel particularly worried about it:

http://dwb.adn.com/news/politics/elections/story/8347904p-8243554c.html

In an interview Thursday, Palin said she meant only to say that discussion of alternative views should be allowed to arise in Alaska classrooms:

"I don't think there should be a prohibition against debate if it comes up in class. It doesn't have to be part of the curriculum."

She added that, if elected, she would not push the state Board of Education to add such creation-based alternatives to the state's required curriculum.

Members of the state school board, which sets minimum requirements, are appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Legislature.

"I won't have religion as a litmus test, or anybody's personal opinion on evolution or creationism," Palin said.

Palin has occasionally discussed her lifelong Christian faith during the governor's race but said teaching creationism is nothing she has campaigned about or even given much thought to.

She was for the bridge before she was against.

Anchoridge Daily News: Palin touts stance on 'Bridge to Nowhere,' doesn't note flip-flop

Choice quote:

In September, 2006, Palin showed up in Ketchikan on her gubernatorial campaign and said the bridge was essential for the town's prosperity

[...]she did say "teach both". You can't get much clearer than that.

Actually, you can be a lot more clear than that. Would it not be even strange if creationism would not be mentioned at all in schools, especially seeing how hot it is as an issue as such?

To me it seemed, especially after reading through the article linked to on Wikipedia as the source of her statement, that she simply hadn't thought about the issue in detail. She was speaking about how she thought how both sides should be debated, which I think is a good thing, since such a debate would surely bring out many interesting issues on the nature of science and knowledge themselves that students would be well served by understanding better.

As for teaching creationism in science classes or sociology classes, I just didn't think it seemed as if she had considered that part of the issue at all. While one could argue that she should have, it's not really that important a detail in this context, and as long as she realizes that and leaves the important decisions to better suited people, I don't think there's anything wrong with her staying ignorant on that particular point.

directly. you people shouldnt need to wonder and do any research and find fucking things yourselves.

here, have another serving of readied, no effort information : http://www.adn.com/monegan/story/492964.html

http://www.adn.com/monegan/story/492964.html

great attempt in being an ignorant fool.

in action again.

http://www.adn.com/monegan/story/492964.html

'In an interview Thursday, Palin said she meant only to say that discussion of alternative views should be allowed to arise in Alaska classrooms: "I don't think there should be a prohibition against debate if it comes up in class. It doesn't have to be part of the curriculum."

She added that, if elected, she would not push the state Board of Education to add such creation-based alternatives to the state's required curriculum.'

From the Anchorage Daily News.

Except of course, it's not her baby, it's her daughter's. When that gains traction, it's all over for McSame and Sarah Palin-Cheney.

Perhaps I should know better than to bite an AC's flamebait, but what do you base that lie on?

This article clearly says that it is Palin's (and her husband's) fifth child.

And yet, she specifically targeted the Bridge to Nowhere and had it killed.

Despite what people continue to say Palin didn't oppose the bridge to nowhere. There are more links on it.

Falcon

And yet, she specifically targeted the Bridge to Nowhere and had it killed.

Despite what people continue to say Palin didn't oppose the bridge to nowhere. There are more links on it.

Falcon

, including helping kill the Bridge to Nowhere,

Actually, she was for that before she was against it. Also she was against it only after it became apparent that the state would have to kick in serious $$$ that the feds weren't providing, *and* Alaska still got the federal dollars, just not earmarked specifically for that project anymore.

Not quite the maverick-y bucking the party line that McCain'd have you believe.

Also, she is anti-abortion (even in the case of rape), pro-creationism in science classes, a global warming denier, and has it out for polar bears.

-Ted

Story here, with links to background material: http://www.adn.com/politics/story/468174.html

I think you left out some details which affect the impression the summary gives.

Her husband, who isn't her but is pretty close, openly states that he targeted the trooper, while she was in office, and he did so on his subjective opinions of the troopers health.

As for the stun gun, he wasn't attacking the child (which is what it sounds like imo). Not that the reasoning behind it was sound, but there was reasoning behind it. And it should be noted that his penalty was reduced.

The story and its links contain good background material, and should be read before deciding whether an abuse of power took place.

You've missed the point that in no way was it her or her office's responsibility or duty to fire this guy. She strong-armed the guy's boss into firing him. It wasn't something she should have even been involved with. She overstepped her bounds and used her political office to gain revenge for a family member.

Point of clarification: As far as I can tell, Wooten (the state trooper) is still on the force. He was suspended for cause for 10 days, reduced to 5 days after a grievance was filed by the union.

http://www.adn.com/news/politics/story/510080.html

Reading between the lines, it appears that Palin's husband was responsible for a lot of the pressure.

Where is your proof this guy was a thug? So far, the only people calling him that are people with an obvious motive for slandering him.

Maybe if you were to read the article that you pointed me to:

'Troopergate' inquiry lurks

[A state trooper investigation] found four instances in which Wooten violated policy, broke the law, or both:

- Wooten used a Taser on his stepson

- He shot a moose without a permit, which is illegal. At the time he was married to McCann, who has a permit but never intended to shoot it herself.

- He drank beer in his patrol car on one occasion.

- He told others that his father-in-law - Palin's father, Chuck Heath - would "eat a f'ing lead bullet" if he helped his daughter get an attorney for the divorce.

Wooten's 10-day suspension was reduced to five after his union filed a grievance.

Your defense of this woman comes across as a bit desperate.

Not nearly as desperate as your attack.

The article you link to is over a month old. Here is a list of more recent stories from the Anchorage Daily News:

Thank you, it was the first one I found with a reasonable summary. A better one is:

http://www.adn.com/news/politics/story/510080.html

It looks like it was published in the last hour or so. It also itemizes the results of the internal investigation against the state trooper.

Sorry, this story is already getting amazing traction.

I'm not surprised. Both sides are eager to dig up dirt on each other, and this is about the only thing that they have been able to find on Palin. She has made a lot of enemies (in Alaska) from both parties, so it was inevitable.

The article you link to is over a month old. Here is a list of more recent stories from the Anchorage Daily News:
http://searchalaska.adn.com/sp?keywords=monegan&submit=find+%BB&aff=1100

Sorry, this story is already getting amazing traction.

She tried to get a state trooper fired for divorcing her sister and after that failed, fired his boss for not firing him.

True, she has been accused of this. But so far, the only people implicated in trying to get this state trooper fired are members of her family and staffers in her office, without her knowledge. The only documentation of any action by her pre-dates when she was elected governor.

I don't think it's going to get traction, because the state trooper isn't exactly a sympathetic figure. He was suspended for using a stun-gun on his 10-year-old stepson, and is alleged to have threatened Palin's father (among other things).

Story here, with links to background material: http://www.adn.com/politics/story/468174.html

Your Wired story provides an Anchorage Daily News link with the following:

She added that, if elected, she would not push the state Board of Education to add such creation-based alternatives to the state's required curriculum.

At one time Clinton was "pro-life". He conveniently modified that position for the Federal stage and Palin will do likewise. Hysteria about her creationism will fail.

I don't mean to start a flame war here (ok maybe just a little) but seriously, how can anyone take a candidate seriously when they shamelessly pander to the stupid lobby?

Before the flamewar starts, maybe someone should read the article that Wired links to. In response to the controversy that followed her comments, she said:

"I don't think there should be a prohibition against debate if it comes up in class. It doesn't have to be part of the curriculum."

I'm no advocate of creationism, either. But, I question people who insist that it is a subject that must not be discussed. Germany bans certain subjects (and to avoid invoking Godwin's law, I'll leave it as an exercise to the reader), but all it seems to do is suppress open debate about it.

So they'll attack her on political corruption then:

http://www.adn.com/politics/story/469135.html

nothing like firing someone because they won't fire your ex brother-in-law when you repeatedly ask them to.

I would hold that the Exxon Valdez incident argues FOR drilling ANWR. Just about everything that could go wrong did. But today you could wander that area and never realize anything untoward had ever occurred.

You wouldn't notice anything unless you were a fisherman who had his life destroyed by Exxon Valdez. More than 10 years later (this from 1999) the fishing industry still hadn't recovered. People in Alaska are still (wrote this February) waiting for compensation, 20 years later. So far the fishermen haven't seen a dime from Exxon. Even today studies are finding wildlife is still adversely effected.

If you think everything is the same for those who had to live through Exxon Valdez you're obviously living in your own fantasy world.

Oil is not a long-term solution.

Agreed. But it IS the only short term solution anyone is proposing.

Drilling for oil off shore is a short term solution? Yea, while people are talking about it, not one of them has said anything about how long it will take before the first drop of oil pumped will end up in someone's gas tank. I surely doubt that will happen one year, forget one month, after exploration starts. The "Wall Street Journal", which is not an environmentalist group, says offshore drilling "won't affect physical supplies of oil." Here's an iteresting quote from Fadel Gheit, oil and gas analyst with Oppenheimer & Co. Equity Capital Markets Division: "If we were to drill today, realistically speaking, we should not expect a barrel of oil coming out of this new resource for three years, maybe even five years, so let's not kid ourselves". Oh, and don't blame Democrats for the offshore drilling ban, as president George H.W. Bush imposed an executive ban in 1990.

Why waste another dime on trying to extend the supply.

Because we need energy NOW.

Yea, right, if we start drilling now we can pump oil now. HAHA!!! See above quotes.

Falcon

Changing a bill after it had been passed

One aspect of the pending FBI investigation centers on Young's role in securing a $10 million earmark in the $286.5 billion highway bill passed in 2005. The earmark, which was inserted in the bill after final passage by the House of Representatives and Senate, was for a study of a highway ramp sought by a Florida real estate developer. At a fundraiser while on a trip to Bonita Springs, Fla., to inspect the site, Young received more than $40,000 in donations.

Holding open vote

CBS News correspondent Bob Fuss reports there was chaos on the Hour floor as Republican leaders passed the bill by holding a five-minute vote open for almost 50 minutes until they could convince two Republicans to change their votes.

They buttonholed lawmakers for last-minute lobbying as Democrats complained loudly that the vote should be closed. Finally two GOP lawmakers switched from "no" to "yes," giving the bill's supporters the margin of victory.

(additional examples)
It is against House rules to keep a vote open in order to alter the outcome.

a recorded vote by electronic device shall not be held open for the sole purpose of reversing the outcome of such vote.

"Abusive holds" is difficult to quantify but I'd point towards Tom Coburn's extensive holds.

text of the indictment is now available.

It was a part of the scheme that STEVENS, while during that same time period that he was concealing his continuing receipt of things of value from ALLEN and VECO from 1999 to 2006, received and accepted solicitations for multiple official actions from ALLEN and other VECO employees, and knowing that STEVENS could and did use his official position and his office on behalf of VECO during that same time period.

That sounds like good old-fashioned bribery to me, but with our screwed-up laws it's probably a lot easier to convict a politician for lying about the bribes than for taking the bribes.

Point of order on "quite rightly." See, that would be true if they were a private organization that did not accept federal grants. The government requires grant recipients not to discriminate.

"Like you don't open a double-A battery, you just plug [the reactor] in and it does its chemical thing inside of it. You don't ever open it or mess with it."

Uh huh... Nuclear reactions are not chemical in nature... spokesperson without a clue.

But on a side note, am I the only one who thought of Asimov's Foundation series, when the Foundationers had nuclear reactors the size of walnuts???

Seriously, though I remember something similar made in Japan that would power a remote city in Alaska for 30 years without pollution.

Yay! Go Nukular!

I know this site. It was mentioned in the Alaskan Daily News http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/story/8667098p-8559268c.html
a while back becuase some idiot was arrested in the parking lot stealing wifi in order to play!

I tried looking to see if the "Series of Tubes" Senator's house in Girdwood, AK had a small shadow or a long one, because it was jacked up two floors in 2000 as a favor from a local corrupt oil company. Unfortunately this is the best you can get from Google Maps- a fuzzy satellite view.

The map is different in Google Earth- there, you can see that each one of those short stubby little roads ends in a nice stately circle.

Why is anyone listening to him about this kind of a thing?

Hopefully nobody. But Ted has to keep talking. He's got some interesting things going on right now and it's best for him to keep the topic on children.

It would be so much nicer if corrupt oil companies were to do a better job of wiring up unethical politicians' houses for Internet when doing them construction favors. We could have been spared all that tube talk. At least put in a kiddie filter for the guy, he's old.

Ted Stevens cheats on his wife with a prostitute (thus betraying her trust as well as placing her at risk of serious STIs.) And then he lies about it. This makes one wonder what reverence he holds for the sanctity of marriage?

However, you might ask what is the root cause of Stevens' infidelity, stupidity, and dishonesty? Why would a man who so highly values family, marriage, and apple pie betray the sacred trust given him by his wife?

I think Ted himself gave us a pretty good answer: gay marriage.

My partner and I have been in a monogamous relationship for the past 11 years. We finally got married in Ontario in 2004 when I was at a medical conference in Quebec. You see, it was all well and good that we practice all the gardening, cooking, and sodomy that we wanted until we decided to call it a marriage.... because ultimately that resulted in the downfall of Senator Stevens. Before 2004 - Stevens was a respected Senator from the great state of Alaska. He was the chairman of the Senate Commerce and then ultimately the Appropriations Committee. He was happily married to a beautiful woman http://www.adn.com/photo/2007/05/29/2854015-sty.jp g/ (who kinda looks like a dude... but hey, look whose talking?)

Then after we get married, he ends up being continually hounded by the news media for his porktastic appropriations, his bribery scandals, his complete lack of any understanding of a medium of which he is charged to monitor and regulate, his work to allow drilling in the Alaskan Wildlife Refuge, and numerous other slimy crap he's heretofore been able to keep under wraps.

Coincidence? I think not!

No, this is proof positive of not only the existence of the homosexual agendahttp://www.bettybowers.com/homoagenda.html but that it is succeeding. Mua-ha-ha-ha-ha.

Oh, and BTW, the hypocrisy would be that previously as a District Attorney Stevens had a record for coming down hard on prostitution.

Nick

To be more accurate, it was Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Oklahoma) who wanted to divert $125 million of the earmarked money from Alaska to Louisiana which was to repair the Twin Spans Bridge on Interstate 10. This vote failed after Stevens threatened to quit.
The Anchorage Daily News has an article: http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/story/7112853p-7020 074c.html

So, how "free market" is it to spend billions of taxpayer dollars on a bridge to nowhere? :) I love how Republicans are treated as defenders of the free market, and do so... only when it suits them. Look at our government's policies as a whole. We ram free trade agreements down the throats of other nations, but only agreements that cover industrial products and government services. Agriculture? Nope! We have to protect our subsidies at all cost, because we couldn't compete with the low labor costs of many nations. Look at how we treat sugar, for example; it's just embarrassing. Even with the demand for cane sugar in ethanol production raising prices on the open market, it *still* costs twice as much in the US as it does on the open market.

More often than not, talk of "free trade" seems to be cover for little more than "protect what I support, but not what you support."

When I saw this article, my first thought was, "again"? This is the same guy who is already under investigation for bribes on the remodelling of his home. This guy is one big ball of scandal and jokes. Threatening to resign over the Bridge to Nowhere money being diverted to Katrina relief, the Series of Tubes comment, bribes, kickbacks, you name it. He crashed a jet at an airport and got the airport named after him. He runs the Ted Stevens Foundation, a "nonpartisan and nonpolitical" nonprofit run by his campaign treasurer whose purpose is " to assist in educating and informing the public about Senator Ted Stevens". He even plugs the Incredible Hulk for Marvel.

It goes on and on.

Wanna bet on that?

$20 million for a 10MW reactor good for 30 years. Prototype development and regulatory fees estimated at costing $600 million for the first unit, after that the marginal cost would be $20 million.

Anchorage Daily News has coverage...

Thus far, the FBI has seized evidence from Ben Stevens state senate office in a bribery investigation.

Now Ben Steven is the son of Ted Stevens, who is in Congress and invented the Internet Tubes.

In the latest news it seems to have gotten worse, as part of the investigation is now dealing with bribes accepted by Ben Stevens that involved fishery legislation sponsored by Ted Stevens.

Agreed. Stevens is the longest-serving Republican in the Senate, holds tremendous sway over senators and representatives in both parties, and is largely responsible for Alaska receiving the highest per-capita federal spending of any state. Overall he has a pretty impressive record getting done what he wants done.

When people make fun of him or call him "subliterate" for failing to understand the technology, they miss an important point. He doesn't care about the technology. He cares about having and using power. And he's damn good at it.

Write to Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Vir., voted in favor of Network Neutrality in the Judiciary committee) and Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore., introduced the Internet Non-Discrimination Act of 2006, S 2360, in March) to tell them about Sen. Stevens comments so that when they debate on the floor, they can speak to the utter incompetence of Sen. Stevens on this subject.

Make this your July 4th pledge. I'm sure most of you have the day off tomorrow. Spend an hour and write some letters. Talking amongst ourselves will accomplish nothing.

-S

Stevens is known to be very powerful in the Senate

If anyone remembers the "Bridge to No Where" contorversy you can thank Ted Stevens for trying to sneak it in. There's an interesting article titled Others respect Stevens' fury from the Anchorage Daily News that profiles him. It's lengthy but it helps explain why this guy is pretty powerful.

If you read the ADN article, they reference a meltdown that was featured in a memorable Jon Stewart piece on a coot off between Stevens and Senator Robert Byrd from West Virginia. Brilliantly funny.

Nice idea. Clicked on the link and sent Ted Stevens a piece of my mind. BTW, Common Cause has a nice template which you can use to send your letter to Ted 'Wacky Tie" Stevens and other representatives.

I demand that Congress protect freedom and openness on the Internet by passing legislation to protect network neutrality.

The Internet is our most democratic medium. It has grown exponentially, fueled innovation and altered how we communicate. Network neutrality is the guiding principle that has allowed for these advancements.

Now, for-profit interests want to violate the principle of network neutrality in order to increase their own profit margins. They must not be allowed to destroy the free and open culture of the web.

I strongly urge you and your colleagues in Congress to support robust net neutrality legislation that prohibits network operators from blocking, impeding or interfering with any lawful Internet traffic or prioritizing any content or services.

But yes, nuclear power plants are all one-off designs with no "off the shelf" replacement parts available, unless you count the doorknobs and lightbulbs. Toshiba seems to be testing a novel new approach to distributed nuclear power that makes a lot more sense. It'll do battle with the NIMBY crowd, but you can't please everyone.

One advantage to designs like Toshiba's is that they're small. Yet another issue with Trojan was that if it was cranking out power at it's peak (1100 MW) and it suddenly went offline, the whole Western U.S. felt the hit. Smaller plants cause less havoc when they trip. Furthermore, economic right-sizing for plants seems to be at about 500 MW. Power traders seem to like to manage plants of that size, though I can't say I completely understand why.

In all, I hope to see something of a resurgence in popularity of nuclear power, particularly as we see rising fuel costs for gas fired plants and continued environmental issues around the existence of hydroelectric dams. I don't think we know much at all about the long-term impacts of wind farms.

The discrepencies in the polling data would really just be an interesting anomaly if there weren't so many other corroborating circumstances.

If you read the actual studies that I posted, you would see that while the first study is discussing the statistical unlikelihood of the exit poll results, other studies are noting the statistical correlation between the use of electronic voting machines and nonrandom skewing toward Bush (compared to registered voters, previous trends in the voting area, and results from other areas). Yet another study explores the high correlation between where the errors occured and how important the region was toward securing the electoral vote toward Bush.

There were signifigant nonrandom errors that always skewed toward Bush.
They were unprecepended regarding:
1) polling data predictive history
2) correlation with the use of electronc paperles devices
3) correlation with areas in the country that had unusual leverage over electoral votes

The CEO of Diebold had previously been quoted as saying:
http://www.wanttoknow.info/031109nytimes

IN mid-August (2003), Walden W. O'Dell, the chief executive of Diebold Inc., sat down at his computer to compose a letter inviting 100 wealthy and politically inclined friends to a Republican Party fund-raiser, to be held at his home in a suburb of Columbus, Ohio. ''I am committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president next year,'' wrote Mr. O'Dell, whose company is based in Canton, Ohio.

That is hardly unusual for Mr. O'Dell. A longtime Republican, he is a member of President Bush's ''Rangers and Pioneers,'' an elite group of loyalists who have raised at least $100,000 each for the 2004 race.

But it is not the only way that Mr. O'Dell is involved in the election process. Through Diebold Election Systems, a subsidiary in McKinney, Tex., his company is among the country's biggest suppliers of paperless, touch-screen voting machines.

Partisans have fought the ability to audit electronic voting machines with every legal argument possible
http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/story/7386582p-7298 824c.html

If any process should be open, transparent, and verifiable, shouldn't it be voting? Dismissing concerns over voting irregularity out of a partisan satisfaction that whichever preferred side may have won this time is ridiculously shortsided.

I'd love to see Toshiba's mini nuclear reactors widely deployed in the U.S., or at the bare minimum looked into with a few test deployments.

They are small, safe, and cost effective.

They are the size of a grain silo, buried 100 feet underground. They are idiot-proof (think of the causes of Chernobyl) because the nuclear reaction only happens while a plate is moving in front of the rods. If the plate stops, the reaction stops. The plate cannot move except intentionally, so the chance of a runaway meltdown approaches zero.

If the U.S. were smart it would take a months budget for the war in Iraq and just buy the technology outright from Toshiba, then deploy them as widely and cheaply as possible.

The blurb I heard just mentioned the deposits in the sand. I should have visited the Wiki before responding and this articletalks about it taking 1,000 cubic feet of natural gas for one barrel.

But then if someone can figure out an alternative mechanical or chemical solution it may turn out better.
--
Q