The 10 most outrageous civil liberties violations of 2006.

The year in review -- a common topic in the final weeks.

Vote Early, Vote Often

We have recounts because vote counting is -- to put it mildly -- sloppy. Americans like their election results fast, before they go to bed at night. So we're willing to put up with inaccuracies in our tallying procedures, and ignore the fact that the numbers we see on television correlate only roughly with reality.

Voting Technology and Security

Essay by Bruce Schneier; link to his blog.

Home-Made Nukes

So you wanna build a nuke, huh? Simple, according to the latest reports. But remember -- these stories are coming from the same people who were screaming "WMDs! WMDs!" just a short time ago.

How to steal an election by hacking the vote

Fully one third of the votes cast in this fall's election will be recorded on electronic voting machines. You should be worried.

BushCo.'s Stay on Spying

Not a complete victory, since they have until Oct. 5 to find yet another legal loophole.

UPDATE 10/5 Nope. The current junta managed to convince the court of appeals that their illegal activities are necessary to prevent further attacks on our soil and our people, so the court is going to allow illegal wiretapping to continue while the appeal is processed.

House passes warrantless domestic spying measure

The House of Representatives passed a bill on Thursday that would provide congressional authorization for President George W. Bush's warrantless domestic spying program but subject it to new rules.

AND THOSE "RULES" ARE...?

The president would be permitted to do so, for example, after an "armed attack," "terrorist attack" or when the president deems there is an "imminent threat."

OH, I FEEL _MUCH_SAFER_ ALL READY!!

You may recall it was some two months ago BushCo. declared an "imminent threat" and banned all liquids on aircraft, jacking our secur-O-meter to "condition red", and costing us another billion or so in the process. This "imminent threat" came from a bunch of Muslims in England -- only one of whom even had a passport, and none had even purchased airline tickets. Bobbies sacked nearly 100 properties looking for additional clues after this arrest. They found nothing. No weapons, no chemicals, no explosives. Some of them have all ready been released for lack of evidence. We probably won't hear how this whole farce ends, but I'm willing to bet it goes nowhere.

How about the "imminent threat" to the Sears Tower that landed seven men in a Florida jail? Remember that one? Only one of them knew the Sears Tower was in Chicago; no evidence that he had been there. No weapons, no explosives, no WMDs and no way to get any. They called themselves Christian Soldiers.

See how easy it is to declare an "imminent threat" and grab some headlines? Does it in any way make us safer? Is this _really_ how we should be spending our tax dollars?

This truly terrible piece of legislation will have to wait for Congress to come back after the elections -- let's hope it dies quickly.