(Use of past tense is not a psychological slip or admission of Obama's victory to come)

SD, she did not say it was illegal. She said it violates the retailer's agreement with the credit card company. BTW, for anyone who has been asked to pay 5% more when using a credit card, that too violates the Visa/MasterCard agreements.

I'm not claiming that the whole effect of increased Dem voter registration is fraudulent, mind you- I certainly realize that a lot of it is real. But it seems like in these last weeks before the close of voter registration, we're suddenly hearing about thousands upon thousands of new registrations, with allegations of pretty widespread fraud, and at the very same time a major jump occurred in the polling (again, realizing that some of that is real due to McCain's missteps during the economic crisis.)

Conversely, despite protections under the Help America Vote Act, several (Republican, surprise) Secretaries of State are doing massive purges of the voter roles, within the 90 day federal moratorium mandate. This is hundreds of thousands of voters potentially being disenfranchised, compared to the handfuls that may have gotten onto the lists from disingenuous ACORN canvassers.

In 2006, despite having lived at the same address for 10 years and casting a vote in every election in the same district, I was booted off the voter rolls. Of course I didnt discover this until I showed up and was handed a provisional ballot.

Fixes do need to be made.

the timer doesn't appear to be working onthe comments, so I'm just checking if the comment function is working. So far it appears that it is, but I guess my last two comments were conversation stoppers.

I wonder if you or anyone else can answer though, why Obama's fight the smears website claims that the group that he worked with, Vote Smart, is not affiliated with ACORN when ACORN itself claims that Project Vote is one of its offshoots?

Here's Obama's site

Here's ACORNlisting Project Vote as an affiliate group.

And here's one example of a third party (not a source that's critical of ACORN or VoteSmart, so no motivation to try to tie the two together as guilt by association.)

Oh, wait, I imagine the GOP has already imagined this… ; )

As for Jim's point, I can only say that I think a healthy cynicism of government and belief in limiting it's powers was a large part of the thinking of our founders, and I believe we do well to continue that tradition. That some people take that too far and consider the government to be the enemy of the people I suppose is true, just as I guess some people demonize corporate America to their own detriment if they choose not to avail themselves of opportunity for financial betterment through the fruits of their labor.

Layout resembles defamer/gawker. Looks like lots of great reading.

Always good to know how one is being reamed, rather than just being reamed in ignorance. But, as you say, we do have choices.

“I wonder why so many people do not vote in the U.S.?”

How much does the constant drumbeat of criticism of government by American conservatives contribute to it? How much does the ignorance of the majority of Americans concerning their government and its functions contribute? There are probably more factors than we could think of.

Lotusflwr, you seem like the type of person who sees shop lifting as a victimless crime that should just be ignored. It is very much like the current policies being promoted by both political parties. Let the responsbile honest people be responsible for all of the irresponsible people. You people be willing to give up store security if it meant that everyone paid 10% more?