Note:  I publised this diary here at DKos 2 years ago this April.  I would never normally republish anything I wrote, but this issue is a painful and tough one for me to talk about, let alone write anything new.  I just want these words to speak for themselves, as I don't have the emotional energy to do much more than slightly tweak my previous version.  

Please remember that among the spate of political diaries here, this issue cannot, and should not be ignored.  These children are why we fight....

He sat on the edge of the bed, waiting.

The routine was always the same.  He knew where he had to go in order to wait for his punishment.  It gave him time to think about how to steele himself against the blows mentally.  It gave him a moment of peace before the storm.

To eliminate unpredictable "screen freezes" that have occurred since the machines were first used in Maryland in 2002, Diebold Election Systems installed new system boards in about 4,700 voting machines from four Maryland counties: Allegany, Dorchester, Montgomery and Prince George's.

This according to a Washington Post article published today.

Below is the link to ThinkProgress and his videotaped (short) rebuttal of the criticism

Washington, DC -- With President Bush touring the country on a new public relations campaign designed to sell his national security policies to the American people, Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid, Assistant Democratic Leader Dick Durbin, House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer, and Senator Thomas Carper today joined General Wesley Clark and Sharon Burke, Director of the Third Way National Security Project to release "the Neo Con," a new report analyzing the dangerous effects Republican policies have had on the security of the nation. Prepared by Third Way, the study is a damning indictment of Bush Republican failure and incompetence that has left America less safe five years after September 11, 2001.

Thought you might be interested in knowing...

All I have to offer are my own experiences and observations from street level.

This gem helps set the tone:

The schoolbooks used by early Americans were supposed to teach literacy and knowledge, but they also had a broader purpose: to create a national character, instilling children with a belief in God and a moral code appropriate to the pious citizens of a new republic. While learning to read, students also had to absorb messages about religion, patriotism and other virtues, such as thrift, diligence and honesty.

National character, eh?  A "moral code appropriate to the pious citizens of a new republic?"

In late September of this year, the who's who of the religious right will descend upon Washington for a conference they are billing the "Washington Briefing"??

This "Values Voter Summit" will include such religious right heroes as Focus on the Family President James Dobson, right-wing news commentator and demagogue Ann Coulter, right-wing pundit Bill Bennett, Former Republican Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, Rep. Marilyn Musgrave (R-CO), and many more. ??The Family Research Council -- the D.C.-based lobbying arm of the religious right -- has hailed the event as "your chance to help America focus on the issues that matter most -- life, marriage, faith, and family. From September 22nd through the 24th we'll remind Congress that we elected leaders who would not only respect our values -- but work to protect them."

How do I know?  Well, it seems Texas and Virginia have said so.  I'm waiting for a knock on my door at any moment and expect to be hauled away.  How's the weather at Gitmo this time of year?

The allegations rasied by this organization include the supposedly innapropriate use of earmarks totalling $178 million dollars funnelled into charities of his creation.  This, as well as some misreporting of his personal finances and taxes have caused the Senator to come under the spotlight.  Citizens for Ethics alleges that Mollohan undervalued and omitted key assets in his annual reporting.  It also raises the question of how his financial net worth rose from $562,000 in in filings for 2000, to over $6 million in 2004.

What's that?  Oh, no I wasn't referring to a plum.  Excuse me?  No, Mr. President, I don't have any plums.  

What I meant was, uh...well, never mind.  

Today, as we sat before a bankruptcy attorney for consultation, we have learned that the new bankruptcy laws will probably help to finish us off.

I don't know where to begin.  I don't know what to say, because I can't even make sense of it myself.  And I can't stop crying because everything we have built together will most likely be carved up and disappear.  My personal humiliation is complete, and I write this a broken person.

In the beginning, we had such hope.  There was such promise, as we both were poised to live the American Dream of business ownership.  We had seen a five-year plan we put in place come to its final stages, and the future looked bright.  Today, all I see are dark clouds and fear for our future.  So how did we get to this place?

Am I being sensitive? (3+ / 0-)

about you implying a homosexual relationship between them as a joke?  
As a gay person, I get tired of seeing images like this being used in a "wink-wink" fashion.  Thier relationship is smarmy on its on without having to throw a "gay" implication into it.  Its like using homosexuality as a degrading thing, when I, and other gays and lesbians don't need any additional help to feel atacked for our sexuality.
I hope that isn't what you meant, Thistime.

The diary in question posted by Kos was a legitimate one for discussion, and yet a contingent of posters took the opportunity to post pics of Bush and Lieberman kissing, as well as throwing in Hannity (with "love" comments thrown in) as well as a Gannon pic I found distasteful.

Seems the GOP are trying to dig up a little DeLay/Duke-style dirt on Alan Mollohan (D-W.Va) and with the help of an unlikely ally in Citizens for Ethics they may have possibly found something.

That day may turn out to be a historic one if  Family Pride can pull together the number of gay and lesbian families promised (in the hundreds at last count) to have their children roll eggs on the White House lawn in a public display of what "families" are all about.  This event may help to put a public face on families that have in many cases been disenfranchised and marginalized, and just may show that they, and their beautiful children, are normal, healthy, productive and loving like any other family.  

But it won't be easy, as conservatives are gearing up to block participation, and there is talk the White House may turn it into an "invitation only" event to avoid it turning into a protest situation on both sides.