[MindFad]

http://www.gregpalast.com/detail.cfm?artid=392&row=0

Discuss�

(lol)

[Zimphire]

[CD Hanks]

Oh.

[mo]

I don't want to defend punch cards, but I have yet to understand how the machine knows the content of the ballot it spoils. Maybe I'm just slow.

[davesimondotcom]

Yawn.

[NYCFarmboy]

[Joshua]

Crow apparently has mind-altering effects when eaten.

[MindFad]

Originally posted by Zimphire:

About the discussion I expected. So who actually read it?

Originally posted by Joshua:
Crow apparently has mind-altering effects when eaten.

I still find it hard to believe so many people turned out to keep things the same. I'm willing to live a Bush victory, but if there are questions of fraud, why shouldn't they be investigated? I would've felt this way if Kerry won.

But never mind. I just wanted to see everyone **** all over the thread.

[Disgruntled Head of C-3PO]

The system doesn't work.

[Link]

Originally posted by mo:
I don't want to defend punch cards, but I have yet to understand how the machine knows the content of the ballot it spoils. Maybe I'm just slow.

The "spoiled votes" come almost entirely from heavy-democratic precincts. They could just slip "defective" machines in, and well there you have it -- instant gratification.

Most of us gave up on true democracy a long time ago. It's a fact that if bush could win 2000, he WOULD win 2004, no doubt -- legitimate or not, and if we try to contest it, we'll have the noisy republicans all over us like mad rotweilers.

Of course there's no such thing as a fair election. As long as you have people related to you working in the right places to make sure those democratic precincts don't get their full vote

[Millennium]

An d thus, Greg Palast's descent into madness is complete.

Seriously. There are honest people in the media, and then there are the liars. And then there are the completely nucking futs ones. And then there's Greg Palast. The man's single-minded obsession is only in touch with reality enough to know Bush's name.

But frankly, it doesn't matter. Kerry conceded the election precisely to prevent this kind of debacle -rendering Palast irrelevant in the process, incidentally- and now Palast is trying to stir the waters again, realizing that otherwise this rift might actually, you know, heal. The man has made a career out of the Anybody-But-Bush crowd, and it simply wouldn't do for everyone to calm down, now would it?

Not all liberals are divisive, nor are all conservatives. But if you want a look at divisive behavior, here it is.

[ironknee]

[MindFad]

Wow, I would've thought you'd have more than that, Millennium.

[CreepingDeth]

Originally posted by MindFad:
Wow, I would've thought you'd have more than that, Millennium.

What tanks?

[Shaddim]

Originally posted by MindFad:
Wow, I would've thought you'd have more than that, Millennium.

Doesn't deserve more than that.

[MATTRESS]

Excuse me while I go take a palast. Been wanting to take one all day.

[Gee-Man]

I don't believe that this story has any real evidence. Kerry lost, let's face it. I know how you feel, I too worked long hours as a volunteer in Nevada going door to door to get out the vote for Kerry, and it really is painful to watch your guy lose. But we do need to face reality so we can pick ourselves up and work on the next round.

I will say this though - this election proves once again that there needs to be some serious bi-partisan national standards for voting in presidential elections. We need to ensure that this kind of lingering doubt and "tin-foil hat" accusations are rendered irrelevant by a more bullet-proof voting system.

Having ONE kind of voting system in place everywhere would be a great start. This mixup of optical scan, touch-screen, punch cards, and mechanical lever systems is a travesty in the world's richest country. Touch-screen with a human-readable paper printout would be great, every precinct in America should be outfitted with one type of system, with the paper ballots as the "official" ballot and the computer tally as the backup. Give people instructions to make sure they double-check their vote on the printout before they leave the booth. Then, the state can report the instant results from the computers for the networks and news organizations, then count the paper printouts later as the official count for the electoral college. Reconcile the paper printouts with the computer tabulation, and voila - no more accusations of fraud.

It also sucks that basic voting resources are not equal based on population in many places across America. In many precints in Ohio, the number of voting booths set up was too short for the number of people - some people were waiting in line for up to 7 hours to vote! In the meantime, counties next door had no lines or 15 minute maximum wait times... this is inexcusable.

Making some real changes would spare everyone from having lingering doubts over election results. Unfortunately, I don't see the currently ruling party having any incentive to change things, as long as the outcome favors them (and this would apply to Democrats too if they had won) there's no push coming for reform.

[Millennium]

Originally posted by MindFad:
Wow, I would've thought you'd have more than that, Millennium.

What more is there to say, really?

The US is, I believe, a nation whhich is sick of all the infighting of the past four years. That doesn't mean there's not a lot of disagreement still, but I think that as a nation most of us have finally realized just how pointless the bickering is. We want to get past that, heal this rift, and move on.

This is a large part of why Kerry conceded. I don't think it was the best course of action if he wanted to take a step toward healing the rift, but that is what he wanted. But of course people like Palast, who have been feeding off of the hatreds for the past four years, can't have that; it would ruin their careers. So what do they do? They try stirring the waters with their junk statistics. Palast is by no means the only one doing this, nor are the only ones doing this on his side, but this is by far the most blatant attempt I've seen since the election.