Iraq is the downfall of a second term for Bush....

[Postman]

Even if Iraq becomes "stable"...the costs in dollars and services back home are going to be enough to destroy Bush's presidency.

As far as knocking Bush's out of the presidency, Saddam Hussein is batting a thousand. But we've got Howard Dean, Wesley Clark, and John Kerry warming up in the bullpen.

Next November (aka...the 9th inning)...looks like Manager John "the Electorate" Doe is headed for the mound and he's waving for the lefty.....(announcer #1- Boy Joe, I thought they would have relieved him a lot earlier in the game after all the balks he's committed....announcer #2- Well, the only explanation I have for that John, is that the Manager must have been asleep in the dugout.)

[The Backlash Cometh]

1. I don't see how they can hope to sell a 30 year commitment.

I believe that's what they're projecting. They may pull out the military long before then, but it's obvious that Bush has plans for Iraq that will go beyond his term in the presidency.

And if Iraq is in someone's grand plan, then the only way that they can sustain this hopeless dream is through a series of dirty tricks that will steal votes from the Democrats through many, many elections. It's not a sustainable idea.

[Postman]

2. I agree 100%....enter stage right - Diebold Voting Machines.....

21st century ballot stuffing. Pathetic.

[The Backlash Cometh]

3. Even if they are stealing elections with Diebold,

they will eventually be found out. What do you think the American people are going to do to them when that happens? Diebold can't claim they didn't know because they will be ultimately liable. As long as they continue to hide behind trade secrets, they have no excuse.

[lovedems]

5. Isn't Diebold a European company? Pardon my ignorance if I am

wrong but I thought Diebold was the company that made all of the atm machines. That is what surprised me when I heard about the possibility of security problems when voting. Those atm's are secure. I agree though, elections are being stolen.

[muriel_volestrangler]

6. Diebold is American; Sequoia is owned by De La Rue

which is British.

ATMs are fairly secure against external attack; but there was a recent technical computing paper showing that the ATM system was far more vulnerable to attack by dishonest bank employees than previously thought. It boiled down to the employee being able to guess someone's 4 figure PIN in an average of about 30 guesses, where you might think it would take 5000.

The lesson here is that software often has holes in it that the original designers never thought of, even if they're honest. That's why freely inspectable source code would help - a lot of devious people could check for the holes. A paper audit trail is even better, though.

[Bandit]

4. By July Iraq will not even be mentioned ~ It will be all Syria all the tim

Syria will be antagonized by Israel and will fight back and Bush* will launch his attack to aid our "only ally" in the ME. It's the only hope they have of distacting America and rallying around the pResident. For re-selection and world domination all at the same time.