I lived in Lincoln, VA, a very sm. town near Leesburg, at that time called the sticks but now part of the giant DC magalopolis. THere was a mating pair in the woods opposite the house and the neighbors, birders all, were so excited they organized parties of all their birding friends. Our house had the best view of their nest, so our backyard became woodpecker central. I wasn’t as impressed then as I am now.

Thanks for continuing the bird blogging. We have an albino peacock in our neighborhood. Our polling place use to be on his street. Sometimes, he would strut throught the garage, checking out his territory and all the invaders, including the machines.

At the LA County Arboretum, you can see them now in all their mating finery. It is not uncommon to see a family with toddlers stand and watch their antics – until the moment when the peacock takes the hen, and then mom, mouth an O of horrified amusement, yanks the kids away.

Taylor, how about a subtle letter writing campaign to the Sunday talkies about the dearth of women on their shows? Not an avalanche they can discount as a blogger trick but a steady trickle.

In AZ we have paper ballots but they go into an optical scanner to be counted and get this it is against the law to recound the paper ballots in a recount. Just last year in a Republican primary in my district there was some “funny business” where the first count was a 50 vote difference which triggered a recount and “Surprise, Surprise” 432 votes just showed up out of thin air. This was 100% repub and the sitting state rep lost his seat with those amazing magical ballots. This has been a stink here for a year and the FBI just seized the ballots. That probably means we will NEVER hear the end of this one.
http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com….._full.html

Ever state needs to enact and build a non-partisan election boards, laws that prevent the elected offical in charge of elections & voting is NOT the campaign manager of a candidate, that there some way to monitor the whole process in a non-partisan way.

I do have a little comfort in elections right now,IF they are completely fixed and we really have lost the right to vote, the ReThugs would be sitting back smuggly and not spinning out of control like they are now. If they knew it was 100% shoe-in…. why the “Dems will Impeach” & “Dems will raise taxes”? They would be going on business as usual.

“Completely new approach, squire. Completely new approach.”

“No it isn’t.”

“Wot?”

“No it isn’t. It’s the same approach as before.”

“Oh, no, no… see, this time it’s written up on parchment. Impressive, innit?”

“It is NOT written on parchment, you’ve just scrawled it in biro on the back of a heavy paper place mat.”

“Well… it’s gonna look like that, innit? Fresh parchment and all.”

“You’re a very silly man, and I’m not doing this sketch with you anymore. Now, sod off.”

Fact of the matter is, of course, that Bush and his advisers have absolutely nothing. They’ve got the “nuke Iran” thing, which I’m sure they firmly believe would be a very beneficial chunk of red meat to throw to their wack-job base, and which I’m sure they’ll go ahead with a month or so before the midterm elections, but aside from murdering a bunch of Iranians and prompting an Iranian invasion of Iraq, I really don’t see that it’s going to do anything. For every friggin’ Elmer who pumps his fist in the air at the images of nuke craters in Iran, there will be other Americans who will be as appalled by the senseless, primitive brutality of the use of nuclear weapons as we all ought to be.

I don’t even think as stupid and vile a gesture as nuking Iran is going to help Bush much as far as his approval ratings go. He’s got nothing right now other than squatter’s rights, and I think Bolten’s non-innovation shows this to be true.

I think we should encourage the preznit to keep Cheney. Heck, The partisan in me thinks we should impeach Bush in February, leaving Mr 18% as president. We all know already what a great job he’ll do, and what a great charismatic communicator he is. Two years of the Sith Lord and we’ll be able to dance on the graves of the rethug party for the next century.

Thanks. She’s OK, all tubed up, but resting OK. I may have to extend my stay and not go back to Vegas tomorrow night. They’re doing a G.I. scope job tomorrow.

I see the L.A. Times is calling for Cheney to step down. Right. I’ll just hold my breath.

Wonderfully diabolical.