Another danger to repairing the damaged and defective electronic voting machine fiasco in Amurka may just be damaging prods by the IRS:

Is this a trend? The Boston Globe quotes a former IRS tax exempt division administrator to the effect that it appears that the IRS is actively targeting groups that seem to agree with liberal, Democratic policies more than groups with positions more accommodating to the Bush Administration and the Republican Congress. If so, this is a very disturbing development, but not a new one under this administration.

(DMIblog, emphasis added). If you will remember, Bradblog and even the MSM has pointed out that the Department of Justice Just Us was politicized to go after non-bushies in prosecutions, and to hire bushies as attorney generals throughout the nation.

A similar exercise in the IRS is another powerful weapon one political group can use against another political persuasion.

The current regime sees voting issues differently than activists in the EI movement, and the IRS would be an effective tool to slow things down until the electioneering mission has been accomplished.

There is no doubt that something is going on. The figures at the Tax Court tell a story of a 200% increase in tax cases during the bushie years:

29,352 - 2007 (as of 12/18)
26,993 - 2006
24,801 - 2005
24,931 - 2004
22,451 - 2003
20,291 - 2002
14,649 - 2001
13,545 - 2000

The only reason the EI movement may not be a target is that it has been quite ineffective at bringing about electronic voting safety these past 40 years now. (The recent Holt fiasco is but one example.)

The economic danger to improving the electronic voting machine landscape in Amurka is probably going to get some press. The national debt seems to parallel the tax court issues during preznit blush's regime:

currently $9,136,418,062,457.29
09/30/2006 $8,506,973,899,215.23
09/30/2005 $7,932,709,661,723.50
09/30/2004 $7,379,052,696,330.32
09/30/2003 $6,783,231,062,743.62
09/30/2002 $6,228,235,965,597.16
09/30/2001 $5,807,463,412,200.06
09/30/2000 $5,674,178,209,886.86

(Bonddad). It just might be that "we can't afford to fix the machines" could become the mantra of the election officials in Amurka.

I'd love to hear the definition of "ballot marking device" I can only hope that's like a printer that doesn't tabulate votes electronically.

Dredd,

When I was a kid growing up, I always used to compare one million dollars to one human life, so if someone made one million dollars it was equal to one fully born-worked-death'd human life.

Puts the campaigns into perspective if you think like this. ("bla bla just raised 30 million") Also puts the debt in perspective.

Phil

Good question about "Ballot Marking Device" (BMD). What is it?

A BMD is simply a device used to mark a ballot but they do not tabulate the votes. So, AutoMark is an example of a BMD that was devised to allow voters with disabilities to vote in private. It marks the voters ballots using touchscreen or gel-pack or sip-puff or key pad. The result is a marked paper ballot that can be op-scan or hand-counted. These types of BMDs are very expensive and seldom used in polling places.

A tactile ballot would also be a BMD. A tactile ballot is a device that assists voters with disabilities in marking a paper ballot. Some use tactile symbols and Braille so the number of voters is limited. Others, like Vote-PAD, actually can be used by more people with disabilities than even the high-tech machines. These devices tend to be much less expensive than the high-tech machines.

Hope that helps. Happy Holidays!!

John what is a "sip-puff"?
That's what I will be doing over the holidays but I don't think that's what you mean

Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah to all at the bradblog.

Happy christmas!

GWN

"Sip-puff" is a device used by those who don't have the use of their arms. You may have seen some wheelchairs that are controlled by the person blowing into a tube. That's "sip-puff".