After watching geriatric nuns get turned away from the polls in Indiana last week, because they lacked a photo ID, one would think that the movement for voter ID laws might be slowed down.  Apparently, not in Pennsylvania:

Now that the U.S. Supreme Court has upheld Indiana's law requiring voters to present photo identification, state Rep. Daryl Metcalfe wants to enact the same kind of law in Pennsylvania.

...

But Mr. Metcalfe said his bill is needed "in order to bar corrupt politicians, special interests and any other integrity-deficient individuals from executing unfair, criminal influence at the ballot box."

Never mind the lack of proof of such voter fraud.

During today's episode of NBC's 'The Today Show', Laura and Jenna Bush were guest co-hosts, probably to plug their new book.  I didn't care enough to watch it, but it occurred to me that serious journalists like Tim Russert might seize the opportunity to ask them serious questions.  (Ha ha!  I crack myself up sometimes.)  In that spirit, here are some questions that the Today show won't ask Laura and Jenna Bush.  

It sickens me when our national media repeatedly dedicates air time to local stories, especially when that means more face time for a schmuck like Drew Peterson, when our soldiers (and Iraqi civilians) are still dying in Dubya's still-unjustified 'war of choice' in Iraq.  

We usually watch the NBC's Today show in the morning, but we changed the channel when Drew Peterson graced us with his visage.  But I doubt even 'Big Time' Dick Cheney cares what shows we watch, so I just sent NBC an e-mail asking them to please stop giving Drew Peterson face time, and tried to constructively suggest news topics to consider (full letter after the jump)....

The apparent gnashing of teeth between some supporters of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton perplexes me.  My preferred candidate (John Edwards) dropped out before I could vote for him on Super Tuesday.  Compared to Edwards, I think that Obama vs. Clinton is a coin flip, relatively speaking, and I will support either of them in November.

Anyone catch Matt Lauer's interview with Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Richard Myers on the Today show this morning?  I can't find a transcript yet (there's some video from this interview linked from here, but it doesn't work on Macs), so the content below is paraphrased (emphasis added):

LAUER:  Why didn't the U.S. move against the insurgents in Fallujah back in April, instead of waiting until after our election?

MYERS:  Force was not our only option.

Well, NO SHIT, SHERLOCK.  In late 2002/early 2003, everyone agreed that Saddam must be disarmed, but was invading Iraq really our only option?  Why couldn't we have LET THE U.N. WEAPONS INSPECTORS FINISH THEIR FUCKING JOBS?  After 12+ years, what was wrong with giving them 2-3 more months?  Then again, U.N. weapons inspections wouldn't lead to fat U.S. taxpayer-funded contracts for Bush regime cronies at Halliburton and Carlyle.  

If W(rong) has this kind of mandate, whether it was legitimately obtained or not, then what can we look forward to over the next 4 years?  My predictions (all completely serious) are below the fold, but to summarize: we (as a country) are well and truly fucked, on our way to becoming a fascist theocracy with a third-world economy.

(I posted this on the NYT discussion boards, but thought it was worth repeating here)

link: "The First Draft of Freedom," by Paul Wolfowitz

The context of the article is the struggle of democracy in Indonesia. It's easy to pick on Wolfowitz for writing about freedom, but for me the kicker was this line:

"While holding two fair presidential elections in a row is a hallmark of democratic progress, the real test of a democracy is how it protects the rights of its citizens."

By this reasoning, if our election this November and the 2008 election are both deemed 'fair', then democracy in America will be making progress once again. And I sure hope Ashcroft reads Wolfowitz's editorial, lest the so-called "Patriot" acts flunk our democracy.