Free Republic

"We must stop being the stupid party," Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal warned fellow Republicans recently. "It's time for a new Republican Party that talks like adults." Many Republicans apparently weren't listening, because they insist on doing stupid things. Exhibit A: lawmakers in a half-dozen states who are trying to alter the Electoral College system to give Republicans more votes. This is a desperate and ultimately self-defeating reaction to the changing demographics of America. The GOP calculus seems to be: We can never appeal to minorities, and we cannot win the presidency without them, so let's rig the system to reduce...

In post-election analyses, the 11-point drop in the president's support among 18- to 29-year-olds indicates that particular voting bloc is falling away from Barack Obama on major issues. ------- One polling trend that isn't going in Barack Obama's favor after the presidential election is the drop in his support among young voters. Even though it might not be as unbelievable as winning 100 percent of the vote in 59 Philadelphia precincts ─ and nine Cleveland precincts ─ an 11-point swing in support away from Obama is lifting some eyebrows on both sides of the political spectrum ... particularly because that...

California’s top election official on Friday decertified three voting systems widely used in the state but said she would let counties use the machines in February’s presidential primary if extra security precautions were taken. The official, Debra Bowen, the secretary of state, said she made the decision in response to studies showing that the machines could be hacked.

CLEVELAND -- Two election workers were convicted Wednesday of rigging a recount of the 2004 presidential election to avoid a more thorough review in Ohio's most populous county. Jacqueline Maiden, elections coordinator of the Cuyahoga County Elections Board, and ballot manager Kathleen Dreamer each were convicted of a felony count of negligent misconduct of an elections employee. They also were convicted of one misdemeanor count each of failure of elections employees to perform their duty. Prosecutors accused Maiden and Dreamer of secretly reviewing preselected ballots before a public recount on Dec. 16, 2004. They worked behind closed doors for three...

SmartMetric Inc., manufacturer and marketer of tamper-proof identity cards, says it has the solution to yesterday's story that reported possible voting fraud due to the mysterious disappearance of 12 voter smart cards in Shelby County, Tennessee. The cards, used to activate electronic voting machines, were reported missing at Bishop Byrne High School, a Memphis, Tennessee polling place. Local authorities expressed concern that someone in possession of a smartcard could use 'off the shelf equipment' [equipment that reprograms the card] and alter it, enabling it to be used multiple times to cast multiple votes. SmartMetric says its card includes a fingerprint...

Hugo Chavez is on the campaign trail again - but instead of using old fashioned politicking to win the scheduled 12/03 election, he tells the workers who to vote for ....if they don't want to get fired !

We're all completely familiar by now with the pretty rock-solid indications that the Democrats stole the Washington governors race - and now that we're getting proof of the rather large Democratic efforts at voter fraud, I think it is high time we started to look everywhere - and some people have started to take a look at Wisconsin. Stranded on Blue Islands gives us the whole scoop about the Wisconsin vote but I'll just note three things: 1. You can register to vote on election day in Wisconsin. 2. In Miwaukee alone, 10,000 votes cannot be verified - ie, they...

<p>10,000 people, despite filling out illegible registration cards, were given ballots.</p> <p>The other 74,000 registrations have yet to be verified through mailing a confirmation to the address listed.</p>

Gregoire ‘Jumps the Shark’ * Now claims she has nothing to do with lawsuit Bellevue, WA – Christine Gregoire had nothing to do with an Attorney General opinion opposing the inclusion of previously rejected ballots into a hand recount. Nor does she have anything to do with a lawsuit filed by the Democratic Party regarding the hand recount in the governor’s race. At least, that’s what Christine Gregoire says. This week Gregoire, who has been Attorney General for 12 years, claimed she had no knowledge of long-standing Attorney General advice that in a manual recount, rejected ballots cannot be introduced...

Okay, below is latest the Rossi campaign press release: Gregoire & the memo: Attorney General claims ignorance Bellevue, WA – Christine Gregoire is trying to shrug off responsibility for a 1996 memo that puts her own Attorney General’s office at odds with her efforts now to change the rules of the recount in the governor’s race. Yesterday, a November 1996 memo from then-Secretary of State Ralph Munro regarding a manual recount in a state legislative race was made public. It included the following statement: “Challenge of Ballots Not Allowed. We are advised by the Attorney General that state law makes...

The leader of the Democratic National Committee announced Monday that he will start an investigation into voting irregularities in Ohio, where lines snaked outside some inner-city polling places on election day and provisional ballots were sometimes in short supply. Terry McAuliffe, chairman of the DNC, said the aim of "this comprehensive study is not to contest the results of the 2004 election, but to help ensure that every eligible vote cast is truly counted." McAuliffe made his announcement on the same day that Ohio Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell certified the state's final presidential election results, declaring President Bush...

Belgium's highest court has ruled that the country's Flemish nationalist party, the Vlaams Blok, is racist. The decision means that Europe's most successful far-right party will be forced to disband - and re-form under a new name. The ruling - confirming an appeals court judgment that the party was guilty of racism and discrimination - means that the Vlaams Blok can no longer benefit from state financing, while anyone who continues to work for it will henceforth be committing an offence. A quarter of voters in Flanders, the Dutch-speaking northern half of Belgium, support its policies - independence from Belgium...

-snip- Right-Wing Party Declared Illegal in Belgium [John Derbyshire] In a nasty little example of what the Left would like to do to anyone that refuses to toe the PC line, a Belgian court has just ruled Vlaams Blok "racist," effectively making the party illegal. Vlaams Blok is the most popular party in Flanders (the Flemish-speaking part of Belgium). Last June they got almost a quarter of the votes in regional elections. The Belgian establishment hates them, however, since they have at various times advocated (a) the secession of Flanders from Belgium, (b) the repatriation of non-European immigrants. The lights...

More than 400 Democrats packed a North Jersey banquet hall last week to get their annual pre-election instructions. They left fired up but empty-handed. In a scene played out in Democratic precincts across the state, Perth Amboy Mayor Joseph Vas had no more than a handful of Kerry-Edwards lawn signs and bumper stickers for party workers eager to promote their presidential ticket.

Just heard this bit news on WTMJ 620 AM about the kerry rally in Madison, WI. There is no print version to reference, so for right now you'll just have to trust what I heard. First, a little background: Kerry appeared in a big rally in Madison, Wisconsin yesterday. This itself is odd because Madison is known as the Berkeley of the midwest. It's an area Kerry should have sewn up by now. They brought in Bruce Springsteen and Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters / Nirvana) to draw the crowds. They even brought in busloads of people from Iowa and Minnesota....

Clinton's Junk Food Diet Concerned Hillary Former President Had Quadruple Bypass Surgery In September Oct 29, 2004 11:36 am US/Eastern NEW YORK (AP) Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton said she worried that former President Clinton's low-carbohydrate, high-protein diet was unhealthy before he was diagnosed with heart disease, but that he brushed off her concerns. "I didn't think it was healthy, but I know so many people who are doing that now. I'd say, 'You really think you should have a cheeseburger every day for lunch?"' she said in an interview broadcast Friday on ABC News' "Good Morning America." The former president...

The U.S. attorney for the northern district of Indiana is being asked to investigate an alleged incident of voter fraud. The name of a man who died more than three years ago has shown up on paperwork requesting a mailed absentee ballot.The man's name is Stanley Grygiel. He was a staunch democrat, a UAW member and somewhat politically active. Up until now, it appeared that activity ended when he died in June of 2001.Mail from the Democratic Party still occasionally shows up at the home of the late Grygiel, according to a son who still lives there. The son expressed...

Muslim group attempts late Florida vote dump Pushy activist brings box of 550 applications after close of county registration deadline Posted: October 9, 20041:00 a.m. Eastern © 2004 WorldNetDaily.com A pushy Muslim activist demanded a county elections office worker accept a box of 550 applications to vote after the close of business on the last day to register in Palm Beach County, Florida. According to a report in the Palm Beach Post, Theresa LePore attempted to close the office at 5 p.m. last Monday when a young man showed up 15 minutes after the deadline, insisting she accept a box of 550...

Students at Piper High are getting a crash course in politics after student government elections problems erupted amid complaints of racism, election rigging, physical threats and improper campaigning. The controversy started when administrators changed election criteria to encourage more students to get involved with student government. Although almost half of Piper students are black, only a handful of the members of student government are. Unfortunately, it's upset some people," Tom Geismar, superintendent for north central area schools, said of the changes. "But it's also opened up the process to some other students." The move was perceived by some of the...

Carter's policies have left a trail of bloodshed, war, and revolution during his long career in global politics. What about Jimmy Carter - --How newly discovered KGB documents prove how America's worst president betrayed his country by trying to get the Soviets to intervene in two U.S. elections to stop Ronald Reagan. --Carter's role in starting the Islamic Jihad by allowing the Shah of Iran to fall -- and beginning more than two decades of international terrorism. --Carter's actions that led to the murders of dozens of top Iranian military officials. --Carter's long "blame America first" history, and his support...