Machine Error Gives Bush Extra Ohio Votes

An error with an electronic voting system gave President Bush 3,893 extra votes in suburban Columbus, elections officials said.

Franklin County's unofficial results had Bush receiving 4,258 votes to Democrat John Kerry's 260 votes in a precinct in Gahanna. Records show only 638 voters cast ballots in that precinct. Bush's total should have been recorded as 365.

I wonder how many more machines had the same glitch.

We're All Really Really Sorry.

3 British troops killed in Iraq

Three British soldiers sent to provide cover for U.S. troops in Iraq and a civilian translator have been killed in an attack, according to the government.

Armed Forces Minister Adam Ingram announced the news to the House of Commons on Thursday.

The three were among the 850 Black Watch Regiment members deployed from Basra to south of Baghdad, a move made to free up U.S. Marines planning operations against militants in Falluja and other cities.

The defense ministry said Thursday's attack also injured several others -- thought to number eight, but the figure has not been confirmed. The translator is believed to have been an Iraqi national.

I Don't Believe This....
I'm listening to Bush talk to the press after meeting with his cabinet. I don't believe this idiot was re-elected. It's just unbelievable.

In response to the Israel-Palestine issue, he said he had a plan for middle east peace from the beginning of his term and then goes on to say that he laid out his plan in March 2002 after ignoring it for 2 years. He still says that Iraq was a direct threat to the US. He still wants to spread "freedom" in the world.

News Flash: US troops in Iraq are there by Allawi Invitation [Dabya].

Lions Understand English...
Stupid Man: [After leaping into the den] Jesus will save you! Come bite me!
Lion: OK!

A man leaped into a lion's den at the Taipei Zoo on Wednesday to try to convert the king of beasts to Christianity, but was bitten in the leg for his efforts.
"Jesus will save you!" the 46-year-old man shouted at two African lions lounging under a tree a few meters away.

"Come bite me!" he said with both hands raised, television footage showed.

One of the lions, a large male with a shaggy mane, bit the man in his right leg before zoo workers drove it off with water hoses and tranquilizer guns.

Newspapers said that the lions had been fed earlier in the day, otherwise the man might have been more seriously hurt ... or worse.

Dumbass! Apparently, lions need saving also. Ironically, this guy was saved by zoo workers.
Pictures

Since The Elections are Over and US Casualties Won't Matter...
Five die as U.S. pounds Falluja

U.S. planes and tanks have bombarded Falluja overnight, killing five people and increasing pressure on Iraq's most rebellious city, which is braced for an all-out offensive now that the U.S. presidential poll is over.

The U.S. military said on Thursday two air raids after midnight destroyed "fighting barricades" prepared by insurgents in the northeast and southeast of the Sunni Muslim city.

News That Doesn't Matter
Soldiers Describe Looting of Explosives

In the weeks after the fall of Baghdad, Iraqi looters loaded powerful explosives into pickup trucks and drove the material away from the Al Qaqaa ammunition site, according to a group of U.S. Army reservists and National Guardsmen who said they witnessed the looting.

The soldiers said about a dozen U.S. troops guarding the sprawling facility could not prevent the theft because they were outnumbered by looters. Soldiers with one unit — the 317th Support Center based in Wiesbaden, Germany — said they sent a message to commanders in Baghdad requesting help to secure the site but received no reply.

The witnesses' accounts of the looting, the first provided by U.S. soldiers, support claims that the American military failed to safeguard the munitions. Last month, the International Atomic Energy Agency — the U.N. nuclear watchdog — and the interim Iraqi government reported that about 380 tons of high-grade explosives had been taken from the Al Qaqaa facility after the fall of Baghdad on April 9, 2003. The explosives are powerful enough to detonate a nuclear weapon.

Nuf Said!

It's a Sad Sad Day...
Bush camp is claiming victory but there are still provisional ballots to be counted in many closely contested states.

Vacation from Blogging...
I'm so sick of all the political ads on TV and everyone having an opinion. I'm just going to sit back and enjoy the show.

BTW, I still think Bush will win and we'll have 4 more years BUSHIT!

What's That?
Just asking...via Atrios

Orgies are the way to ease social tensions, claims US judge

Challenged about his views on sexual morality, Justice Scalia surprised his audience at Harvard University, telling them: "I even take the position that sexual orgies eliminate social tensions and ought to be encouraged." emphasis added

I guessing the Bush campaign will not be mentioning his name again for the rest of the year.

Fear Mongering...
The "Major Policy Speech" that Bush delivered in PA was nothing but his campaign stump speech. Great tactic to get some free air time. Then this report in WAPO...

The strongly worded speech, which indicted Kerry as a "tax-and-spend liberal," was timed to deflect criticism of Bush's Iraq policy from such key sources as former Iraq administrator L. Paul Bremer, the U.S. weapons inspector and the State Department. A Bush adviser said the president hopes to change the dynamics of the race with more biting attacks on Kerry's record and trustworthiness and on what Bush charges is Kerry's reluctance to use U.S. military force to defeat terrorism. The strategy is aimed at stoking public fears about terrorism, raising new concerns about Kerry's ability to protect Americans and reinforcing Bush's image as the steady anti-terrorism candidate, aides said.

And then like clockwork, the Education Department sends out a nationwide alert to all schools to watch for people spying on schools. Watch out security moms, your kids are in danger. I guess this is an early October surprise. Hold on folks, we're sure to have a late October surprise too.

Reporter (Judith Miller) Held in Contempt in CIA Probe

A federal judge held a reporter in contempt Thursday for refusing to divulge confidential sources to prosecutors investigating the leak of an undercover CIA officer's identity.

U.S. District Judge Thomas F. Hogan ordered New York Times reporter Judith Miller jailed until she agrees to testify about her sources before a grand jury, but said she could remain free while pursuing an appeal. Miller could be jailed up to 18 months.

How about Novak? Can we lock him up and throw away the key?

Hussein Used Oil to Dilute Sanctions

Saddam Hussein made $11 billion in illegal income and eroded the world's toughest economic embargo during his final years as Iraq's leader through shrewd schemes to secretly buy off dozens of countries, top foreign officials and major international figures, according to a new report by the chief U.S. weapons inspector released yesterday.

Oil "vouchers" that could be resold for large profits were given to officials including Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri, French Interior Minister Charles Pasqua and former Russian presidential candidate Vladimir Zhirinovsky as well as governments, companies and influential individuals in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, the report said.

OK. But here's the most interesting bit...

Several American companies on the list, compiled from 13 documents kept by Hussein's vice president and oil minister, were given vouchers to purchase billions of dollars of oil at discounted prices. The U.S. companies are not named in the report because of privacy laws, U.S. officials said.

What? There are privacy laws that protect you when you break the law? Interesting...I bet you Haliburton (or a subsidiary) was one of them.

Here's a New Reason Now
Bush Said:

President Bush said on Thursday he was "right to take action" in Iraq even though a new U.S. report found that Baghdad had no stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction and that its nuclear program had decayed.

"Based on all the information we have today, I believe we were right to take action and America is safer today with Saddam Hussein in prison," Bush told reporters on the White House South Lawn just before heading off on the campaign trail.

Bush insisted the report showed Saddam was a threat because he was trying to undermine international sanctions.

"He was doing so with the intent of restarting his weapons program once the world looked away," Bush said.

"He was a threat we had to confront," he added.

France Was Ready to Send Troops to Iraq, Book Says

French officials were prepared to provide as many as 15,000 troops for an invasion of Iraq before relations soured between the Bush administration and the French government over the timing of an attack, according to a new book published in France this week.

The book, "Chirac Contre Bush: L'Autre Guerre" ("Chirac vs. Bush: The Other War"), reports that a French general, Jean Patrick Gaviard, visited the Pentagon to meet with Central Command staff on Dec. 16, 2002 -- three months before the war began -- to discuss a French contribution of 10,000 to 15,000 troops and to negotiate landing and docking rights for French jets and ships.

There are approx 8,000 British troops in Iraq so 10,000-15,000 troops would be small but significant number. It also give the coalition more ligitimacy in the world.

Bush Said...
This morning at a campaign rally in Wilkes-Barre Bush said.

My opponent says he has a plan for Iraq. Parts of it should sound pretty familiar -- it's already known as the Bush plan.

And then he said...(drum roll please)...

In Iraq, Senator Kerry has a strategy of retreat; I have a strategy of victory.

The Bush Zombies then applauded.