Republicans never miss an opportunity to wrap themselves in the flag, right? Without this amendment, they must know that there'd be nothing to stop us from waiting 'til the next time they drape themselves in the stars and stripes and torching the whole damn bunch of 'em.

Some might call it flag burning but not me ... I'd call it the biggest damn wienie roast in history.

It wouldn't surprise me in the least if stalling the renewal of the expiring provisions of this landmark legislation wasn't the Repugs way of sticking a toe in the water to see if anyone's paying attention to this. I'm sure they'd love to see the ENTIRE Voting Rights Act disappear since it's clearly benfitted Democrats much more than Republicans over the last 40 years. As it is, only a few provisions are expiring and if they think no one will raise a big stink they'll either let those provisions expire or water them down so that they're essentially meaningless.

How much easier it would be for the Ken Blackwells of America to disenfranchise millions of minority (Democratic) voters if the provisions that expire in 2007 didn't keep getting in their way. And it boggles the mind to think of how many voters they could disenfranchise if the entire Voting Rights Act were to be disappear. On a brighter note, for that to happen they'd first have to come up with a way to tranport the entire ACLU off the planet.

I don't know which aspect of this makes me happier ... that the people responsible for possible vote-count manipulation and the underhanded and, in some cases, illegal tactics that were used here in 2004 to disenfranchise voters may finally be exposed or that, as Tim correctly points out, it "could make it harder for Republicans like Kenneth Blackwell to continue with the voter-suppression tactics they're already employing for 2006 and 2008."

Unless or until gubernatorial candidate Ken Blackwell steps aside as Ohio's chief election officer he can (and will) continue to legally formulate "emergency" regulations and rules that he says are intended to "reduce voter fraud" but are really intended to keep poor and minority voters away from the polls in November. The man's balls are so immense that even the threat of an RFK Jr. lawsuit might not deter him but hope does spring eternal in this Ohio voter's cynical ol' heart. (And if you're reading this, Mr. Kennedy, I'm sure I'm not the only American who would happily donate some cold hard cash to help pay for those lawyers you're meeting with ... you may be our last best hope for convincing this country that our electoral process is broken, completely open to fraud and corruption, and needs to be overhauled from the ground up!)

How many times in the last 2 years have we heard a Republican accuse the Democrats of "cutting and running" when the subject turns to bringing some of our troops home from Iraq. It's gotten to the point that every time I hear that phrase I start wondering why the Democrats don't start declaring that it's the REPUBLICANS that "cut and run" every chance they get! . They sure as hell cut and ran last August when Katrina was headed towards our Gulf Coast, they cut and ran when seniors needed a comprehensive prescription drug program that included negotiating lower prices, they cut and ran when it came to properly equipping our troops with armored vehicles and protective body armor, they cut and ran when they let American banks re-write our bankruptcy laws, and they cut and ran when they let George Bush ignore North Korea and Iran in favor of a pre-emptive attack on a country that posed no immediate threat. In fact, Republicans will cut whenever a "liberal" program designed to help Americans comes up for a vote (and run right into the arms of the nearest lobbyist or big business campaign contributor!)

And while they're at it, the Dems need to start repeating Bush's latest chest-thumping quote every chance they get ... there will be no "early withdrawal" from Iraq "so long as we run the Congress and occupy the White House." If a majority of Americans really do think this war is a mistake, as polls would indicate, then George Bush has made their choices on November 7th crystal clear ... vote Republican and "some future president" will be left to clean up what's left of Iraq or vote Democrat to start bringing our troops home in 2006-2007.

On November 7th every Republican who thinks the Iraq War is a mistake should be repeating over and over one of George Bush's most profound homilies ... "fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again."