1. not sorry for 'shrill' tone and abrasive attitude; when democracy is being smothered, i have no time for polite entreaties... saloonists who think that civility and politeness are all that is needed to effect real change are fools... *as if* our forefathers had only been more polite to king george, he would have relented...

2. again, not *just* dem'rats, but all der gut citizens *should* have been clamoring for TRUSTWORTHY, complete, and accurate vote counting since AT LEAST coup 2000... is voting the BEDROCK of a purported participatory small-dee democracy or not ? ? ?

(i have NO DOUBT that much of the early-voting phenomena -DEGRADED by recent laws, NOT enhanced- is due to various minorities and others JUSTIFIABLE mistrust of the present voting 'systems' and 'their' (sic) gummint which administers them...)

3. because of the fatally flawed role of the korporate/mainstream media, the sleeper will not awaken: there is no clarion call from investigative mainstream journos that 'our' (sic) voting systems are flawed, vulnerable, and gamed...

no oj-ification of that issue, no sirree...

no MSM attention, no problems, nothing to see here, move along...

4. to iterate and reiterate: computer-based systems ARE INHERENTLY VULNERABLE... don't take this village idiot's word for it, most any computer expert of note will agree to the inevitable problems involved, ESPECIALLY UNDER PRESENT SYSTEMS CONFIGURATIONS...

5. EVEN GIVEN computer-based voting systems, the present configurations are fraught with systemic, logical, and application problems that are moronic: spaghetti code (good for hiding mal-code) unnecessary in what is -at heart- an abacus simulation; daisy-chained machines that transmit 'illegal' (*snort* as if that means anything) code changes and 'patches' AFTER machines are 'certified' (NOT that 'certification' means much: the election supers CAN'T SEE THE PROPRIETARY CODE, even if they could analyze it); the audit capabilities are either nil or useless; as you mentioned, the chain of custody on both machines and the various form factors of recording votes (smart cards, discs, etc) is out of control; NOT TO MENTION, machines and VOTE TABULATORS which are amenable to 'outside' phone calls/jiggerypokery, AS WELL AS -again- 'illegal' software 'upgrades' and 'patches' EVEN AFTER the voting is over...

6. shit, 'we' can't even get our fearless kongresskritters to change the stupid electoral college fiasco to reflect the people's will more directly; EVEN AFTER one of the most controversial (*snicker*) elections of our his story where (supposedly) the electoral vote was not reflected in the popular vote total...

AND we expect these Korporate Money Party hacks to overhaul our voting systems to increase and benefit voter participation, not limit it ?

we expect these keepers of the duopoly to do ANYTHING which makes it practical for third parties to get a toehold ?

i don't think so...

my suggestions ? thought you'd never ask:

PAPER BALLOTS

HAND COUNTED

LOCALLY REPORTED

INSTANT RUNOFF VOTING

remember this election day: one dollar, one vote !

art guerrilla

aka ann archy

eof

...with a heart of stone

hee hee hee

but even this curmudgeon had to drop a tear for this krewe...

ho ho ho

go to alternet.org (which you should be doing anyways, stupid sheeple)...

ha ha ha

and check out the rap/video by a bunch of 7th graders...

ak ak ak

art guerrilla

aka ann archy

eof

the Korporate Money Party (tm) ! ! !

hee hee hee

can't disagree with piquedavid...

ho ho ho

even shouter 2-4-d's cassandra is merited...

ha ha ha

we'll see, kampers, we'll see...

(or rather, we probably won't...)

ak ak ak

(i will guarantee this: IF (a huge if) dem'rats manage to overwhelm rethug election fraud, they will 'win' only half of what an honest count would determine...)

art guerrilla

aka ann archy

eof