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This doesn't count as a statistical study, but discusses how accurate
the count would have to have been in Florida to have a determinate result in
Bush v. Gore:

http://web.jhu.edu/president/articles/2000/wpnov00.html

Here is a claim by Washington State electoral officials that studies had shown
their elections to be 99.99 % accurate. Even if true, that represents
an error of 10,000 votes in a 100million voter federal election.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002185379_accuracy20m.html

http://www.secstate.wa.gov/office/osos_news.aspx?i=U4SQ5nub4drPOpM60107aQ%3D%3D

Note that the claimed accuracy is not enough to have determined the
Florida presidential vote in 2000.

Here's a typical Mexican election:

http://americas.irc-online.org/am/3344

More anecdotes:

http://www.knoxstudio.com/shns/story.cfm?pk=MISCOUNT-ELECT-12-20-04&cat=AN

Wow... you're really carrying the party line there, huh?

No more than you are...

In reality, we don't know who is organizing and executing these attacks.

We have some pretty big clues.

Given the hatred of the US in certain parts of Iraq, it could just be random farmers picking up weapons and capping servicemen while they sit in traffic

Nobody disputes that some Iraqi's hate the US, and that those people are probably taking part in the attacks on our troops. I do believe, however, that these people are in the minority. I base that belief off of conversations I have had with Iraqi coworkers and from various articles on the subject.

So you don't think that the Supreme Court's invention of a new job for itself - The Decider of Tough Elections - was scandalous.

They didn't decide the election, they decided that selective had recounts are not constitutional, and those selective recounts that Gore was asking for wouldn't have changed the outcome anyway (Source).

I tend to think the voters should decide the election, not a bunch of potentially partisan judges

They did. The votes were counted. Twice.

We've got election protocol so that this sort of influence is supposedly impossible.

Right. Like the Florida statute that required the vote counts to be certified by November 26th.

Actually, we're not turning over control on that date... what we're doing is changing the name of the occupation.

Whatever. They are going to complete a bill of rights by February, hold elections for members of the national assembly in May, and those people take office in June. And with a fledgling police force and a disserting army, maybe the Iraqi's will still want a US presence there...

There are no Saddam loyalists.

Bullcrap.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=7&section=0&article= 36512&d=16&m=12&y=2003
http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/news/specia l_packages/iraq/7511113.htm
http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2003580992,00 .html

The freedom fighters are just that - fighting for control of their own country.

They don't have to fight- Iraqis get control of the country at the end of June.

You can't dismiss as everyone who is anti-US as an Islamic terrorist

I didn't, and on the same note, you can't dismiss the entire nation of Iraq as anti-US. We are doing a lot of good in Iraq, and they are appreciative (unlike some countries)

US disregard for civilians has made them quite a few enemies

Bullcrap. We are doing a lot of good there, and the people appreciate it. It was Saddam and his regime that showed a complete disregard for Iraqi civilians...

(yay news.google!)

Southwest Alaskans say bird is the size of a small plane
Seattle Post Intelligencer,WA
A super-sized bird in Alaska-Scripps Howard News Service
Raptor-like bird spotted in Alaska-Ananova
Southwest Alaskans say bird is the size of a small plane-Kenai Peninsula

More here (in case it gets slashdotted) - http://www.knoxstudio.com/shns/story.cfm?pk=BIGBIR D-10-15-02&cat=AN

Hmmmmm. I wonder if the Sun is even the brightest star out at the distance of Qu...... whatchmacallit. I would guess that it still is. Although Sun is not a big star, Q is still far closer to it than others.

Our next closest star, Proxima Centauri, is 4.8 light years away. Quaoar circles the sun in a nearly circular orbit taking 288 years to revolve once. Too lazy to calculate its mean distance from the Sun based on this, but I can certainly say that it is more proximate (pun intended) to the Sun than any other star.