Differences of opinion...

Are the American way. And anyone who tries to limit the right of people to disagree by, say, calling those who do irrelevant, is not American. I, for one, do not agree with the assertion by those in charge that anything other than completely agreeing with the message is to be unpatriotic, or to hate America. On the contrary, I love America, but I'm not too keen on the current power structure.
Welcome to what desperately needs to be the last 62 days of the trainwreck known as the bush2 Presidency, if there is any hope for the Union at all.

Got an invoice from my bank telling me that I now owe an outstanding service fee for IRA accounts, rolled over from 401Ks that I kept when I lost jobs. They told me that it's a new policy and the only way to avoid fees is to have at least 50K in the IRA, 250K in combined assets, or 25K in the bank. Not to accuse banks of class warfare, but it does seem like another advantage of wealth, does it not? OK.. So I haven't put a dime in the account since I opened it, but if I did, there would go one of the 2 I've had to rub together. Then there's bush's economy, which has let me watch the value of said IRA drop (both combined are worth less than either of them were worth individually...) Perhaps if I were, say, billionaire entrepreneur Alex Spanos, and had a spare 5.78 million to contribute to the prez and his party, and various groups airing media bending adds (Swift Boat Veterans for what?), the fee would not even amount to lint in my pocket.

"Look, I'm an aide to the president. I serve at his sufferance. He's been a friend of mine for a great many years. I'm supposed to look out after certain activities within the White House, the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, the Office of Public Liaison, the Office of Strategic Initiatives, the Office of Political Affairs. But I'm one of the great many people who serve as a senior aide. " -- Karl Rove in an interview with ABC news. (incidentally, as Rove said this, he held his hand in a zero gesture, that also means *ssh*l* [I re-moved my vowels] and "go Cheney yourself" in certain cultures) Nope. Sorry. I don't believe it. This from the 9th degree grand master in using push polling, distortions, and out-right lies to destroy the opponents public image (some of the characters Rove has destroyed still cannot get jobs...). Lee Atwater prodigy. The man who asked southern voters if they would vote for John McCain if he had an illegitimate black child. Chickenhawk. Doesn't he have direct ties to the Swift Boat liars? Could you believe that this man has no power? Neither can I.

Different subject: Voting machines. I've been a geek for years (self admitted... Admitting is the first step.) I know that I can't trust my PC to keep all of my Word documents straight. I'm not going to trust my future to it. I suppose that there are cultures that sleep on beds of nails, and if they can be comfortable with that, they can be comfortable with the current state of electronic voting. I'm not comfortable with them. Seriously, if they can't give me a piece of paper so that they can recount my vote (if they count it at all) then they can just dangle my chad!