Democracy Saved As Ohio Recount Finishes. But Why Is Bush Still The Winner?

The Ohio Recount is officially over. And while this AP Headline-"Ohio Recount Ends, Shows Vote Closer" is technically true, it's awfully misleading. Yes, the recount requested by the Green and Libertarian parties has closed the gap between Dubya and What's his face, the dude who was in Vietnam, the gap only went from a 118,775 vote margin for Bush to a 118,457 vote margin for Bush. That's 318 fewer votes. I'm glad that the $1.5 Milliion dollars the taxpayers spent was not wasted!

However, some will never let it go, like Jesse Jackson and his attorney who say in the AP article that for some reason or another, mostly evil GOP plotting, probably, the recount was not "real" because it counted the same "flawed" votes that were cast on November 2nd, despite their having no proof about this claim at all. Olbermann, linked above, thinks that for some on the Left, the recount "battle" may become like Florida to the same bitter partisans who are still obsessed with Florida. He seems to think this might be a bad thing. I'm glad that he realizes that, though his little effort to boost tin-foil-hat conspiracy theories will probably degrade the public debate more than if he had never covered it. Lets also remember that Olbermann initially jumped on the "fraud" story over the seemingly odd but actually norman voitng patterns in Northern Florida because he never actually looked at past results there. At least he scoffs a bit when the Kerry Campaign's lawyer tries to raise questions about the "legitimacy" of the Bush win. Seriously. The guy said it might be illegitimate then backs off the next day. Only news source reporting it? Olbermann. Now, no one watches him, but I still think he hurts more than helps the election process by being a voice in the MSM that looked at the nutjob theories and then talked about them, even after any sane person would have realized that there was no "there" there. He also raises questions about whether John Conyers or Maxine Waters will try to challange the Electoral Vote in a week when it is unsealed and certified by the House. He seems to be imagining a 2000-redux here, again, where no Senator will dare challange the election. Actually, he thinks Kerry was thinking about it, but thinks him crazy to do so. Takes one to know one, Keith! Anyway, the point is, the damn recount and election are over, and Bush won fair and square. What's funny is that with the exception of the nightmare in Washington State, this election proabably had the smallest amount of fraud in a long time, at every level. We should keep refining the system, but I don't think some people on the losing side will ever be satisfied, even in George Washington himself appeared and announced the election fair. Maybe Keith would cover it, but I'm sure he'd say something ill-informed and smarmy. Well, it's over at least. Lets get on with our lives.

NeoWarGameMongers

Kodos, look what Tex got for Christmas. Kang gets his own piece! We need one of those here at NeoWarmonger. Then we'd all have to get together some time to play it.

Fraud

Just in case you haven't seen this. This is an actual ballot in the Washington election. If you look very closely, just to the left of the names, you can make out the bubbles which a voter would fill in to cast a vote. As you can see, none of the bubbles have even the slightest mark in them. In the margin of the paper you can see the holes for the card reader, and on one of those holes there is a vague pen mark, of the sort one might make if one was scribbling on a piece of paper, and this paper happened to be underneath it, and slighting jutting out. However it got there, there is no way that this is a vote for anybody. This was counted as a vote for Gregoire.


(Click on the picture for more details)

Quote of the day:

Stefan Sharkansky:

For the same reasons that the Democrats insisted on a manual recount to ensure that all valid votes were counted, I'm going to insist on a contest to ensure that all counted votes were valid.

A Christmas Carol for anyone

Over at Tech Central Station, Doug Kern has penned various versions of a Chirstmas Carol as penned by John Kerry, Jessica Simpson, and others. My favorite is Ayn Rand, because I hate Ayn Rand and Kern captures her essence perfectly.
(Hat Tip: Instapundit)

Merry Christmas, and Seasonal Greetings to all the non-Christians, including Milhouse and Kodos. I'm going on a bender. Ahoy-hoy!

Happy Birthday, S

It's been five years since Kodos and its mate hatched their first offspring. Or spawned, or however that species reproduces; I really don't want to know. Whatever the correct word is, congratulations. Kodos, has S got a Simpsons persona picked out yet? I'm waiting to see its first post to the blog...

Joseph's Tomb

This is a photo of Joseph's tomb, taken circa 1900:

Note what is missing - any sign of the major 'Palestinian' metropolis of Nablus.

This photo from 1900 shows the impressive compound around Joseph's Tomb, well maintained, and with a wide carriage road for Jewish visitors who came regularly to pray at the holy site. A small Arab village is seen at the right with 8 houses, otherwise all is vacant. After the 1967 6-day war and the prosperity that the Israeli presence brought, the sleepy Arab town of Nablus (Shechem) expanded from a population of 30,000 to more than 160,000 today, swallowing the small villages around it, and surrounding the holy site with urban sprawl.

A collection of photos of the tomb over the years can be found here, and its current condition is documented here.

Tim Blair's blog has moved

...to http://timblair.net/weblog.php, and is Now Accepting Trackbacks. (Yes, the only purpose of this post is so I can track back to the post announcing that trackbacks are enabled. You got a problem wid dat?)

Speaking of vote counts...

There's this news from Minnesota. When the House counts the electoral votes for president next month, Kerry will have only 251 votes, instead of the 252 he has been counting on, because one dumb Democrat apparently found the ballot form confusing.

One of the 10 handwritten ballots cast for president carried the name of vice presidential candidate John Edwards (actually spelled "Ewards" on the ballot) rather than Kerry.

It's a wonder he didn't vote for Pat Buchanan. Perhaps we can get some creative counters from Florida or Washington to 'enhance' the ballot so as to reflect the voter's clear intent.

UPDATE: Then there's this:

"It's the symbolism of it, the fact that I am now representing the entire 4th Congressional District and the will of its majority," said elector Matthew Little of Maplewood, an 83-year-old activist and a longtime Minnesota civil rights leader.

Huh? Maine and Nebraska have electors who represent specific CDs, but no other states do. So what on earth is this guy talking about? And out of all the people in Minnesota, the DFL couldn't find 10 people to put up for elector who actually know how it works? What are the odds that this is the same idiot who voted for Ewards?

No wonder they're sleepless in Seattle

Counting sheep can be an exciting activity, what with 'enhancing' goats, dogs, and the occasional kangaroo, so they can be counted as sheep, making home visits to absent sheep so they can swear out affidavits that they were indeed in the field that day, and constantly finding new batches of sheep behind haystacks and under bushes, that were inexplicably omitted from the first few counts. Where's the little boy who looks after the sheep? Looks like he's been under a haystack himself, perhaps looking for more misplaced mutton.

And it's not just votes that they count in the Emerald City. Words, for instance. But strangely enough, auditors can sometimes have a tough time of it. Perhaps they could use an auditor with considerably more teeth.

Jim Treacher is the funniest blogger ever...

As a loyal reader of this blog (yes all two of you), you assuredly got hours of side-splitting entertainment out of Treacher's commentary/links to the "we 49% are sorry" crowd that was posting images of themselves. If not, here it is again.

But in his reaction to a British piece titled So what do you do when your home is burgled?, Treacher has out done himself. For those of you not familiar with the Tony Martin case, read more Mark Steyn! Tony Martin is the infamous British farmer that was jailed for defending his property against two burglars, killing one and wounding another. This created quite a stir in England, where Burglars have rights too. Martin's release from prison had to be delayed because he posed a danger to burglars and Tony was sued for 'lost earnings' by one of the burglars. As part of the report on the civil litigation, one article notes that:

[Tony] Martin, 58, is nearing the end of a five-year manslaughter sentence, for shooting dead petty thief Fred Barras. Fearon [The Affected Burglar and Plaintiff], who has a string of convictions, was jailed for 18 months for heroin dealing in February.

So learning the lessons of a bankrupt criminal justice system that doles out half a decade for self defense but not even two years for Smack dealing, the afore referenced article offers the following pointers for the "legal and moral dilemma members of the public face when they are confronted with intruders on their own property":

• Direct contact should be avoided whenever possible. If unavoidable, the victim should adopt a state of active passivity.
• Be careful what you say or do and give up valuables without a struggle.
• Sometimes the perpetrator of a burglary is even more terrified than the victim and in many cases when things go wrong it is the perpetrator of the crime who panics.
• It is essential to remember the post-traumatic stress associated with such incidents.
• The trauma can be dealt with in a number of ways with professional help, counselling to develop effective coping strategies and taking time off from stressful professional activities.

The authors also note that recently more burglars have been armed with weapons and threatening the lives of their temporary co-habitants. They conclude that "although not entirely excusing over-retaliation from homeowners, [this] creates an understandable degree of sympathy for members of the public who lash out at intruders in their home. In truth it is an incredibly difficult situation to assess." I agree! Whenever I try to weight the rights of the homeowner and the rights of the trespassing criminal, I run into endless internal debate and sleepless nights. Oh founding fathers, why did thee not foresee this inevitable clash of inalienable rights and offer clear guidance in the constitution?

So Treacher adds the following tidbits of wisdom for the British:

• Hit the intruder's fists, knees, elbows, and feet with your face, ribcage, and genitals. This will subtly wear him down and require him to stop for a glass of water
• On a related note, robbery is thirsty work, and a parched burglar is an angry burglar. If all you've got is tap water, you're just asking for trouble. Try to keep a wide selection of beverages on hand at all times, just in case. This will subtly lull your new friend into a false sense of comfort and good cheer, giving you the chance to crawl out of the room for a change of underwear before the smell requires him to punish you further.
• Refer to the home-invader as "massuh." This will impose a subtle feeling of guilt on the misguided victim of society, causing him to pause briefly for self-reflection in the course of upending your laundry room for hidden jewelry or drugs. In another 30-60 years, he will die of natural causes and cease all criminal activity.
• Many wealth-redistributors are atheist or agnostic, as is their right. Try to avoid offending your guest with thoughtless phrases such as "Please, God, help me," "Oh Christ, I can't feel my legs," or "Jesus, Jesus, there's so much blood."
• If at all possible, prevent the problem entirely by not living indoors. No home = No possibility of home invasion! Divest yourself of all personal possessions and take up a crimefree outdoor urban lifestyle.

Why again do the British think they have the right to lecture us on, well, anything?

Elections in Iraq

Hello NATO, anyone home? Canada want to be our friend again, eh? Memo to the E.U.seless, would you like to be relevant for once? Then how about supporting elections in Iraq. You're all against the war, we get it now. But here's some breaking news: the war is over. Without starting any "do the ends justify the means" crap, an oppressive and murderous totalitarian regime has been removed and the people of Iraq are trying to elect a government. Take a stand for liberal democracy (see I can use the word liberal in a non-derogatory way). Even Thomas Friedman gets it! And Andrew Sullivan too! These guys aren't exactly warmongering, Bush-loving Republicans (to put it mildly). For the last time, you don't have to like support Bush, or even like him, to support the spread of Democracy in Iraq.

And for those of you who think the war isn't over, on account of all those "freedom fighters", here's the thing: Freedom Fighters fight for freedom and democracy, not against it. People that target violent attacks against civilians with the stated goal of disrupting elections and suppressing the will of the people to advance their own politics are called... Terrorists.

Foreign Aid

From a comment at Samizdata

But seriously folks, are they really that poor? Nigeria is immensely wealthy. Every day I get emails from individuals who need my assistance to get upwards of US$50m out of the country. Fifty mill here, fifty mill there, pretty soon it adds up.

Election Fraud is Real!

There is an insidious case of electoral fraud, probably on par with the Ukraine election, happening right here in the United States. It threatens the trust of the people in the electoral process. Law is being made up as the recount goes on. And it's not Ohio.

No, the case is the ongoing Governor's race in Washington State where the losing candidate, a Democrat, has resorted to what appears to be outright fraud. The Washington race was the closest statewide race ever, with the initial margin of victory for Republican Dino Rossi being just 261 votes, and the mandatory recount giving him just a 42 vote lead. Now, on the third count, King County, a heavily Democratic county, has "discovered" that 561 ballots that had been rejected twice before are in vact valid. The Republicans went to court to keep just these from being reconsidered, because rejected ballots are not supposed to be recounted and there are 2000 other rejected ballots that King county will not inspect. Which is, of course, highly suspect. "Finding" 500-plus ballots to be valid after a month and a half of voting is a little too convenient, especially since it occured in a county the Dems needed to get more votes from, and even more suspect is the fact that they won't even INSPECT the other rejected ballots. It's kinda sickening. I wonder if all those nutjob groups in Ohio will come to Washington State and protest the obviously flawed, non-transparent King County recount process. I doubt it.

Ohio Electoral Nonsense

Well, today is the day that Ohio's electors officially cast their Electoral Collage ballots, as do the other 49 states and DC. And hopefully, the pointless, not-really-all-that-effective bickering from the "Glibs" and various Dems will go away. Ohio is already becoming the next Florida in Democratic/Left-Leberal folklore. Either there weren't enough ballot boxes, or they were tampered with, or their were undervotes or Keith Olbermann's sinking rating demanded a unique story. All this will hopefully be put to rest. Once the official ballots are cast and recorded, all that is left is for Congress to certify the count, and that will be that. Congress has little influence in this other than a rubber stamp. As Michael Moore(ugh) pointed out in "F 9/11", if a member of the House and a member of the Senate object, their can be a hold up, and House members may object, as they did in 2000. However, I doubt a single Senator will object. Why? Because the Senate tends to be more reasonable, and not having to get elected every two years makes Senators more eve-keeled and since there is really no evidence of massive voter fraud or anything else out of the ordinary(yes, there were a certain number of ballots without Preisdential votes(undervotes or overvotes), but the dirty secret is that there are ALWAYS under or overvotes and that according to law, since voter intent is impossible to discern, they are simply not counted in the Presidential race in Ohio. As they were in Florida.

Now, the claim from advocates of the recount is "electoral transparency". This is all well and good. We should have transparent elections. But what some in Ohio are getting at, such as Jesse Jackson and his lawyer, that fraud was so widespread that it would change the results, is absurd. The fact is, all elections are transparent. The records are always there to look at, and there are always undervotes and overvotes and every year if you wantes you could call for recounts and waste time, going back to FDR. Hell, percentage wise Pennsylvania and Michigan were closer than Ohio. Why not recount them? I reject the view that this recount effort is anything but an attempt to buck another "asterix" next to the election of George W. Bush, and an attempt to start a fraud issue that will keep Liberal hate flowing for another four years. Remember, the Florida "fraud" got votes out this year. Not enough, but a lot. Without a tale of a stolen election for 2008, what will get out the base? Up to a point, an examination of teh system is important, but the sad fact is is that no election has ever been 100% on-target mistake free. I can't think of a single National Election in which every vote has counted, simply because of the importance of election law. The Kerry/Edwards camp had that mantra, which was false on it's face precisely because they knew that not every vote would ever be counted. The National rate of spoilage is like 2.4% or something. It was lower in Ohio. And yet still these people are not happy. If the Ohio Supreme Court decides to suspend certification of the electors, I'll be very surprised, as the proponents of the recount pay lip service to transparency, but really want a Florida redux to polarize the Nation further. Pathetic.

Shopping-The FInal Blue/Red Frontier

You know, I thought the post-election calls for "healing" were pretty much BS. I mean, both sides say we, as a Nation, must come together. Now, that's all well and good. We should accept our elected leaders, but we shouldn't bend over backward and let them do whatever they want if we oppose them. This was the Republican credo in the 90's during the Clinton Years, and I have no objection to well reasoned Democratic oppostion to Dubya, even if I think it's wrong. As long as it's rational, who needs healing when you have a good political argument and are angry it's ignored? The Reagan Revolution didn't happen because the GOP decided to let LBJ's victory over Goldwater end the Conservtive movement in America. After all, politics is war without bloodshed. I say, fuck healing, let the best arguments win.

Still, I don't like the "red vs. blue" divide. It's stupid. The whole 51% sucks, go 48%! Rah-rahing by anti-Bush foreigners is stupid and displays a heavily ignorant take on the intracacies of American politcs. Assuming that all voters for Kerry voted for him for the same reasons and vice/versa for Bush is stupid. America is more complex. Which is why I hate Red State/Blue State comparisons. It's a simplistic political view that only morons would subscribe too. Which is why I shouldn't be surprised by BuyBlue.org, an online effort to "educate" Democratic voters about which companies give to which party, so that if your favorite store happens to give more to the GOP than the Dems, you can drop them and move to a "blue-friendly" store. What crap! If capitalism has taught is anything, it's that poltiics should have nothing to do with our choices as consumers. What should? Why, quality products, of course. In a free market, the best products win. Why do you think people of all political stripes love Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream? The two lovable fatties who started the busisness are near socialistic in their political statements and thier giving, but I could care less because their ice cream tastes so good. Plus, they're hypocrites because they got rich off a system them now beat up on. But that's the beauty of American capitalism-the best product wins. "W" brand ketchup never sold as well as Heinz because Heniz is, frankly, much, much better. I don't care who profits off it. They made a better product, I'm going to buy it.

Buy Blue is up in arms now because the founder of Amazon.com, which is doing really, really well this season, gives a lot of cash to the GOP. So? He made money with an innovative internet business and should be able to spend how he likes. When Barnes & Nobles sells DVD's and other stuff that cheaply and efficiently, maybe I'll switch(Buy Blue likes B&N). But I'm not paying an extra, say, $20, because of party affiliation. If Jeff Bezon gave all of his money to the Green party I wouldn't care. He has the superior product, and it should win. In an already divided country, must we divide outselves further in the way we shop? It's just so stupid and pointless. I want to enjoy my life without various interest groups telling me what to buy. I'm gonna buy what I like to buy from where I like to buy it. Case closed. Capitalism isn't about politics. It's about product. Down with BuyBlue or andy Republican counterpart mission. Build a better ketchup, and maybe I'll buy it. Maybe.

Huh?

The Seattle Times editorialises:

The hoax played against British Broadcasting Corp. Friday is the downside of the Internet: Though it can instantly communicate knowledge and truth, it also can instantly communicate lies.

Let me get this straight: a man walks in to the BBC office, claiming to be someone he is not, makes a statement, and the BBC broadcasts his claims as fact, without bothering to check whether he is who he says he is. And this has what, exactly, to do with the Internet?

(Hat tip: the Shark, at Sound Politics)

Fight!

Gacked from Denny Wilson, who got it from some guy named Phil.

Tax Cuts Explained

...in words of one syllable. Head over to The Right Scale, where David R. Kamerschen somebody explains the bloody obvious.

UPDATE: As Kang pointed out, the piece is misattributed. Snopes tracks it down as far as a letter in the Chicago Tribune on 4-Mar-01, by a Don Dodson of Fort Worth TX.

The Chicago Tribune version included no additional information about the item, however, not even an indication that the submitter claimed to be its author. Given that readers frequently send non-original items to newspapers as "letters" (an apocryphal item about President Clinton was published under at least four different names, for example), we're not quite ready to declare this mystery solved.

December 7th, 1941...

Remember Pearl Harbor.

Were You Aware...

...that Afghanistan just inaugurated it's first democratically elected leader? Just 3 years after being a Taliban stronghold? It's not front page news. Sure, the country still has some issues to deal with, including Osama-hunting and warlord types, but Karzai's elecetion and inauguration went off without a hitch. The former KING of the country was there. I wonder if this will get the notice it deserves. Probably not, as statements of the obvious by the NY Times are more important. The Washington Post story about Shiite endorsement of elections is good news as well, but it's not getting a lot of play elsewhere. I find it comforting that the Shiite leaders have declared voting to be "a religious and national duty". I think most Muslims feel this way. Just don't look for it on the NY Times.

"Party school"

means something different in a communist country...
- John Derbyshire

If We're Going To Recount Anything...

I cannot believe the cronic case of denial that these moonbat losers have. Between threatening to leave the country, going to the therapist, demanding Ohio recounts only to discover something that the rest of us knew on Nov 3 (There AREN'T enough provisionals) and devising off-the-wall conspiricy theories, how do they have time for a job? Oh wait...

So in that spirit, I'm demanding a recount of the following.

There are only 8,579,550 people in New Jersey, so where did the other 91,420,450 fans come from? I smell a story here. Dan Rather's going to unvail some internal Island Records company memos proving the fraud. Keith Olbermann will quote statistics showing disproportionate fan reporting from counties typically favoring country and western music. DailyKos will go balistic when they learn about the unusually high Bon Jovi album sales reported from record stores that use green bar code readers (versus stores using the more common red bar code readers). And for GOD SAKES, these numbers are contradicted by Rolling Stone magazine's concert-going fan exit polls (at least the ones where leaked to the media when the shows where only half over).

Developing...

Kerry Voters Now Seeking Group Therapy

Right after the election, Drudge linked to a story about individual Kerry voters going to a shrink, who was basicially coning them out of their money (if you ask me). Now the AHA is offerring free group therapy sessions to South Florida moonbats aflicted with PEST - Post Election Selection Truama. No, I'm NOT making this up. See for yourself (Thanks LGFs).

Also, if you have the time, scan through the comments on LGF re: The Terrible Scourge of PEST.

The Pot Calls the Kettle Black

Well, Vladimir Putin, who up until, well, the entire world accused his government of rigging the Ukraine election, was a sort of enigma on US Foreign Policy, not a fan of the US invasion of Iraq, then sort of saying a year later that Russian Intelligence thought Saddam should go, has decided to declare US Policy 'Dictatorial'. Right. From the guy who shuts down TV Stations that disagree with him. Who is the only person anywhere who thinks that a new election in the Ukraine is a bad idea(it's a bad thing for him, not a bad idea.) A man whose government may have some accounting coming it's way for the Oil for Food Scandal. He's decided, just now, that we're dictitorial. Yeah, I'm sure he's being totally objective in that statement.

Who Knew The Dutch Were So Clever?

We've discussed the Dutch quite a bit here lately, ever since the horrific murder of Theo Van Gogh. I was rather critical of the permissive culture that I believe allowed the murder to take place, and I also have issues with the fact that for such a "liberal" country, Holland has a really poor freech speech record. They still have to work some things out.

That said, there's an utterly hilarious and facinating story in the Wall Street Journal today about how Dutch intelligence set up and ran it's own Communist Party back in 1969 and used it to keep an eye on the goofy Reds that were in their society. It's on the paid only page of the Journal Online, but
Instapundit at least has the funniest bit of the piece, about an angry ex-member who used to give 20%(!) of his income to the party, which was in fact a bunch of Dutch spooks. He want's his money back. The guy who used to run the show? He calls the Commie "an idiot".

Heh.

Bring out your morons! Bring out your morons!

Two days in Canada, what a way to celebrate reelection? Many communists, national socialists and other various bands of undesirables showed up in Ottawa to protest against our President. When asked about the hospitality, Dubya’s quip was a classic:

I frankly felt like the reception we received on the way in from the airport was very warm and hospitable, and I want to thank the Canadian people who came out to wave - with all five fingers.

A review of the protestors’ signs reveals all the same slogans we have grown accustomed to state-side: Bush is an idiot, a moron, an ape and simultaneously an evil genius and the second coming of Hitler. Bush is war criminal, the only terrorists are the American soldiers, blah, blah, blah. Alas, Canadian protestors are not anymore tolerant (or creative) than U.S. protestors.

I respect people that thoughtfully disagree with the war in Iraq or the war on terror, even thought I think they are dangerously wrong. If you are one of these people, please explain to me how to twist the meaning of the words “war criminal” and “terrorist” to be applied to a president and his military acting to enforce a decade of United Nations Security Council resolutions, including Resolution 1441, which called for “serious consequences” when Iraq subsequently failed to prove its disarmament.

If you are even semi-literate and vaguely knowledgeable about international law, I suspect you are unable to perform this Clintonian feat of language manipulation. Which is why protests are the least effective tool of political engagement. By chanting infantile slogans over and over again, protestors drown out the serious, intellectual arguments of others who agree with them. That’s worse than accomplishing nothing! It actually damages your position among moderates and acts as motivation for your opponents. Moore-ons!!

What Kind Of A Man is Gary Johnston?

Well? What kind of a man is he? Go herewatch the NSFW unless the sound is turned low and no one is looking video and decide for yourself what kind of man he is. (If you haven't seen "Team America: World Police", you won't get my Gary Johnston reference, but you'll like the video nonetheless)

Bush arrested in Ottawa

There's a photo, so it must be true. Oh, and

Authorities had been expecting moderately sized protests in downtown Ottawa, but the fine weather and unseasonably warm temperature brought an estimated three hundred thousand demonstrators out on to the streets.

Three hundred thousand, eh? Looks like I'm not the only one who can't count.

(Hat tip: Steven Den Beste)

Hmm, does anyone make a waterproof laptop?

Powerline, in a piece about Brian Williams' dissing bloggers:

First we're in our pajamas, now we're posting from our bathrooms. What's next, nude blogging from our hot tubs?

Monty, have Smithers get out the hot tub, and pipe in hot water directly from the source. We're coming over.

Day By Day is back

Day By Day© by Chris Muir.

Welcome back. We missed you, Chris.