***Republicans in Ohio cannot believe that there have been voting problems in Ohio. Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner wants to clean up the voting irregularities in Ohio. Dispatch:
Tired of Cuyahoga County’s vote-counting problems, Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner has given the elections board a choice: Resign by Wednesday or be fired.
The board’s chairman is Robert T. Bennett, who also is chairman of the Ohio Republican Party. He said he will not resign and that the board is not to blame for the problems....
(What a coincidence! Bennett is chairman of the Ohio GOP AND the Cuyahoga County Election Board! Hmmmmmm. Anyone else see a problem with that?)
.....Brunner, a Democrat who was elected last fall, said that on Sunday, she asked the two Republicans and two Democrats on the Cuyahoga board to resign no later than Wednesday as a way to restore public trust after high-profile election problems at the state’s most populous county.
Those who do not resign will face a complaint that will be filed Thursday and a public hearing by the secretary of state’s office. Brunner said she has the power to remove any board member for cause....
...Two county elections workers were sentenced to 18 months in prison last week for rigging a recount of the 2004 presidential election, and problems in the May 2006 primary delayed the unofficial vote count in the county for five days.
The Cuyahoga County elections director, deputy director and a third top official all are being replaced because of the scandals and problems....
...J. Kenneth Blackwell, Brunner’s Republican predecessor, forced the entire Lucas County Board of Elections to resign in 2005 after a review of the November 2004 election found numerous problems, including ballots being stored in an unsecure warehouse.
**Guess who'd like to go home? The troops! Raw Story has this:
For US troops from 9th Cavalry Regiment bumping around the dangerous streets of Baghdad in Humvees after dark on Monday, news that their deployment in Iraq could be extended fell like a hammer blow.
Their commanders had cautioned that their second one-year tour due to end in October could be prolonged while US President George W. Bush later warned troops it was too soon to "pack up and go home."
The expletives during the four-hour night patrol turned the air in the Humvee, already thick with cigarette smoke, a dark shade of blue.
"We just want to get out of here as soon as possible," said one vehicle commander in one of his few printable comments....
"Ninety-five percent of Iraqis are good but five percent are bad. But the 95 percent are too weak to stand up to the five percent."
"Bush should send all the Death Row prisoners here and they can be killed fighting the terrorists. We've had enough," said another soldier, as the Humvee accelerated past a roadside car in case it exploded.
Added yet another, "Bush can come fight here. He can take my 1,000 dollars a month and I'll go home."
Commander of the night operation, Lieutenant Brian Long, said the anger was understandable.
"One of the men has five children, another has three. Another has a boy aged four -- he's missed two of those years. He'll never get them back," said Long.
"It is like the movie 'Groundhog Day'. Each day is the same and nothing ever changes," he added, referring to the 1993 movie in which the principal character is doomed to repeat the same day endlessly....
Now we know how the troops feel. It is unnecessary for the Republicans to say that the troops want to stay in Iraq. Since only Republicans and Joe Lieberman support an everlasting war in Iraq, they should volunteer themselves, their children, and grandchildren to go fight in Iraq.
>>The latest CNN poll shows that Americans over 50 of becoming increasingly anti-war. Excerpts from CNN:
As the war in Iraq steadily plummets in popularity, opposition has grown mostly among Americans older than 50 and Democrats, survey results released Monday show.
When President Bush announced March 19, 2003, that U.S.-led forces had begun military attacks, 15 percent of Americans 50 and older strongly opposed the invasion, compared to 18 percent younger than 50.
Four years later, the fighting is opposed by 52 percent of Americans 50 and older, and by 42 percent younger than 50.
The CNN poll of 1,027 adults was conducted by Opinion Research Corp. March 9-11. It shows that support for the war has dropped 40 percentage points since 2003, while the number of Americans who say they strongly oppose the war has doubled.
Just after the war began, 72 percent of Americans said they favored the war; today only 32 percent do.
More than six in 10 people oppose the war, and nearly half say they strongly oppose it....
I'm not surprised. Those of us over 50 remember Vietnam and we don't want to repeat those mistakes.
