Don't make any big weekend plans...

Everyone with a job take one step forward...

Not so fast, Rumsfeld.

Whump. That's all I can say - "Whump." That's the sound that every right-wing crazy who equated questioning the war in Iraq with a lapse in patriotism should remember. It's the sound of blunt trauma to the cranium. And, it's deserved.

A friend of mine saw his dad, for all intents and purposes, demoted. Sorry about that. Unfortunately, your dad was aligned with forces that I feel were slowly ripping this country apart. I'm sure he will continue to bring his very best to the very important post entrusted to him.

Now we can recover from the very deliberate driving of our country into the ground to our country slowly sinking into the ground due to gridlock preventing anyone from turning the wheel... It's the American way.

Seriously, though, GOP... You had exclusive rights to the rudder for how long? And, where did it get us? I've always been a big fan of a party split between the executive and legislative branches. The tension always seems to force issues to their fruition. I liked the elephants running congress while the donkeys ran the White House. Hopefully, the new arrangement can bring about similar results.

For those of you who think that the country was in better hands under this last all GOP configuration, I want you to remember one thing...

Whump!!!

Hackable

So, I was on my way to the CVS tonight with my shopping list (hand soap, dish soap, and wine) firmly in hand. NPR was running their election preview coverage and one of the topics was electronic voting machines. The primary concern was that, since these were computers, they were susceptible to "hacking." This seemed a little ludicrous to me - not the possibility, but the fear.

I'll grant you that the machines in question are, essentially, computers and that someone who knows enough about computers could "hack in" and alter the apparent vote count in their party's favor. However, it is a mistake to assume that the computer is any more hackable than a paper ballot box. This seems like people priming the pump to take advantage of people's unfounded luddite fear of machines. That way, if the elections don't turn out the way they want, they have something to point at to level blame.

See, the voting machine's hackability arises not from it's machine-ness, but from the fact that it is a system. All systems are prone to hacking. If you understand enough of how a system works, you can exploit its tendencies to your advantage. We have a long and storied history of stuffing the ballot box in this country - the machines actually offer the advantage of creating an auditable paper trail.

While we're at it, let's talk about the systems being hacked before we even make it to the ballot box or, in other words, the human mind. Candidates spend millions on negative attack ads to convince you that "Tammy Duckworth wants to feed your unborn children to illegal immigrants and then tax you for it." Essentially, they're creating the equivalent of an adware popup they hope shows up just prior to you casting your lot or dangling your chad. They do so not because they believe it, but because the believe you will believe it.