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Friday November 20, 2009 5:12pm EST.

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Digging in for a long struggle, Republican senators and governors assailed the Democrats' newly minted health care legislation Thursday as a collection of tax increases, Medicare cuts and heavy new burdens for deficit-ridden states. Despite the criticism, there were growing indications Democrats would prevail on an initial Senate showdown set for Saturday night, and Majority Leader Harry Reid crisply rebutted the Republican charges. The bill "will save lives, save money and save Medicare," he said. The legislation is designed to answer President Barack Obama's call to expand coverage, end industry practices such as denying coverage on the basis of pre-existing medical conditions, and restrain the growth of health care spending. Republicans saw little to like. "It makes no sense at all and affronts common sense," said Sen. Judd Gregg of New Hampshire, one of several Republicans to criticize the measure. He added that a plan to expand Medicaid, the state-federal p...Full Story >>

New Commentary/More Headlines

When Big Labor Bullies and Volunteers Collide by Michelle Malkin

Dede Can't Decide on a Party by Timothy Knight

Suicide Pact by Oliver North

Obama Bows But the World Refuses to Bow Back by Michael Barone

Voting Machines Used Were Not Certified

GOUVERNEUR, NY - The Dominion ImageCast voting machines used in this year's Nov. 3rd election, both in the 23rd Congressional Special Election and in the local elections around the state have not been certified for use by the State Board of Elections. Reports of bugs in the programming code, known security flaws, outright failures, and concerns over the potential for tampering have not prevented the State from calling the pilot program "very successful."{loadposition googlesky} In her report on the pilot program to the State Board of Commissioners, Anne E. Svizzero confirmed problems in Jefferson, Lewis, Seneca, and Schuyler counties but failed to mention the failures and freeze-ups that caused the Democratic Party to order several of the St. Lawrence County machines impounded on election night. The State Board also has not commented on allegations of a virus in the machines in Hamilton County or why other counties were not made aware of the potential for a computer virus to infect the machines. The Board of Commissioners is still awaiting a report from the manufacturer on the failures. Ms. Svizzero confirmed that, just prior to the election, the source code that records the votes was altered in machines in at least 10 counties and that the new code has not been certified by the state. A spokesman for Dominion maintains that the "virus" reports from Hamilton County were really a source code "bug" instead, one that required reprogramming of the source code in the days prior to the election. Dominion indicates that their technicians "created a workaround" for some bad code that was causing the machines to freeze-up in certain types of elections. Certification of the source code is necessary step to prevent issues like the State of Hawaii encountered during one of their first uses of the machines. In the 2007 Hawaii election, computer source code errors allowed voters to cast hundreds of votes for non-existent candidates. Faulty source code or deliberately a...Full Story >>

VIRUS in the VOTING MACHINES: Tainted Results in NY-23

GOUVERNEUR, NY - The computerized voting machines used by many voters in the 23rd district had a computer virus - tainting the results, not just from those machines known to have been infected, but casting doubt on the accuracy of counts retrieved from any of the machines. Cathleen Rogers, the Democratic Elections Commissioner in Hamilton County stated that they discovered a problem with their voting machines the week prior to the election and that the "virus" was fixed by a Technical Support representative from Dominion, the manufacturer. The Dominion/Sequoia Voting Systems representative "reprogrammed" their machines in time for them to use in the Nov. 3rd Special Election. None of the machines (from the same manufacturer) used in the other counties within the 23rd district were looked at nor were they recertified after the "reprogramming" that occurred in Hamilton County. Republican Commissioner Judith Peck refused to speculate on whether the code that governs the counts could have been tampered with. She indicated that "as far as I know, the machine in question was not functioning properly and was repaired" by the technician. Commissioners in other counties have stated that they were not made aware of the virus issue in Hamilton County. In Jefferson County, inspectors from four districts claim that "human error" resulted in their "mistakenly" entering 0 votes for Hoffman in several districts, resulting in Owens leading Jefferson County on election night though the recanvas of the computer counts now show that Hoffman is leading. Jefferson County has not conducted a manual paper ballot recount.{loadposition googlesky} In St. Lawrence County, machines in Louisville, Waddington, Claire, and Rossie "broke" early in the voting process on election day. Republican Commissioner Deborah Pahler said that the machines kept "freezing up... like Windows does all the time," and that they experienced several paper jams as well. The voted ballots that could not ...Full Story >>

Politics

GOP governors push for 2010 party rebirth

CEDAR CREEK, Texas (AP) — Thrilled with twin victories this month, Republican governors are looking to lead a party-wide resurgence in 2010 and shape the GOP for years to come. Republicans boast of a strong crop of gubernatorial candidates who could be future party leaders, $25 million in the bank a year before the elections and a difficult environment for Democrats, particularly in financially ailing swing-voting states like Ohio and Iowa.{loadposition googlesky} "Next year's going to be a good year for Republican governors," predicted Haley Barbour, Mississippi's governor and chairman of the Republican Governors Association. "In states where there are Republican governors, people can see if conservative and Republican ideas, when actually implemented, work." Yet, Republicans face a Democratic Party that holds more states and is led by a proven fundraiser in President Barack Obama. There's no certainty that the landscape will continue to tilt toward the GOP a year from now or tha...Full Story >>

200 Web sites spread al-Qaida's message in English

RIYADH,Saudi Arabia (AP) — Increasing numbers of English-language Web sites are spreading al-Qaida's message to Muslims in the West. They translate writings and sermons once largely out of reach of English readers and often feature charismatic clerics like Anwar al-Awlaki, who exchanged dozens of e-mails with the Army psychiatrist accused of the Fort Hood shootings.{loadposition googlesky} The U.S.-born al-Awlaki has been an inspiration to several militants arrested in the United States and Canada in recent years, with his Web-based sermons often turning up on their computers. "The point is you don't have to be an official part of al-Qaida to spread hatred and sectarian views," said Evan Kohlmann, a senior investigator for the New York-based NEFA Foundation, which researches Islamic militants. "If you look at the most influential documents in terms of homegrown terrorism cases, it's not training manuals on building bombs," Kohlmann said. "The most influential documents are the on...Full Story >>

White House at odds with bishops over abortion

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House is on a collision course with Catholic bishops in an intractable dispute over abortion that could blow up the fragile political coalition behind President Barack Obama's health care overhaul. A top Obama administration official on Thursday praised the new Senate health care bill's attempt to find a compromise on abortion coverage — even as an official of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops said Sen. Harry Reid's bill is the worst he's seen so far on the divisive issue.{loadposition googlesky} The bishops were instrumental in getting tough anti-abortion language adopted by the House, forcing Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., to accept restrictions that outraged liberals as the price for passing the Democratic health care bill. Reid, D-Nev., now faces a similar choice: Ultimately, he will need the votes of Democratic senators who oppose abortion to get his bill through the Senate. So far, Reid has steered the Senate bill in a direction that abor...Full Story >>

Technology

Web sites cater to for-sale-by-owner home sellers

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Selling a home without a real estate agent can save thousands of dollars in commission fees, but it can also be a painstaking, confusing task. Foregoing an agent, however, is easier these days thanks to Web sites that help homeowners advertise their properties on the hottest real estate portals and even walk them through figuring out how to price their home to sell. Sites such as ForSaleByOwner.com, Owners.com and Fizber.com don't claim to supplant every service a real estate agent provides, but they and others come close to giving a seller's home the same online exposure as one that's marketed by an agent.{loadposition googlesky} That kind of access comes at a price, often in the hundreds of dollars, and probably means the seller must settle for saving only half of the 6 percent cut of the sale that traditionally would be split between the agents for the buyer and seller. On a $300,000 sale, that's $9,000. Not too shabby. Still, the median sale price for a fo...Full Story >>


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