Listics

Kerry won.  Here’s the analysis.  Not incontrovertible proof perhaps, but reasonably well documented and quite likely given what we know about the vast right wing conspiracy.  Greg Palast says,

Despite the
Democratic Party’s pledge, the leadership this time gave in to racial

disenfranchisement once again. Why? No doubt, the Democrats know darn
well that counting all the spoiled and provisional ballots will require
the cooperation of Ohio’s Secretary of State, Blackwell. He will
ultimately decide which spoiled and provisional ballots get tallied.
Blackwell, hankering to step into Kate Harris’ political pumps, is
unlikely to permit anything close to a full count. Also, Democratic
leadership knows darn well the media would punish the party for
demanding a full count.

What
now? Kerry won, so hold your victory party. But make sure the shades
are down: it may be become illegal to demand a full vote count under
PATRIOT Act III.

I used to write a column for the Guardian
papers in London. Several friends have asked me if I will again leave
the country. In light of the failure—a second time—to count all the
votes, that won’t be necessary. My country has left me.

Click on the map to see a higher resolution version of the image…

Mena presents a map that makes more sense than the ones I posted earlier:

Per the New York Times. (Thanks for the grim news, Michael).

Zoltan Grossman points out that the election of 1860 resulted in the secessions of 1861. Here is one proposal that makes more sense than trying to start up a whole new country or two…

When I was…
… a San Francisco Bay Area resident (1971 - 1990), the Bay Conservation and Development Commission represented an ideal of regional politics, a chartered body working to restore and preserve the environment while protecting property rights and economic development.

Andrew Tanenbaum had a hand in that.

When I was…
… enrolled for graduate coursework at MIT (1985), Professor Gallagher’s text was Computer Networks (Prentice Hall, 1981). I’ve dragged the 1st edition of that text with me everywhere and I always keep it nearby. Spooky, I turned around and found it on my bookshelf just now, within easy reach.

Andrew Tanenbaum wrote the book. (Now in its 4th edition. Time to re-order).

When I was…
… looking for good projections on the Presidential election, I found that Bruce at The River had linked to the Electoral Vote Predictor. This site was a labor of love by someone stylizing himself as The Votemaster. Yesterday I found out.

Andrew Tanenbaum is the Votemaster.

Small web.

Voters in Utah, Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho favor Kerry over Bush almost 2 to 1, according to an independent survey conducted by Metapollsters, Inc. The startling revelation factors three important demographic data vectors that other traditional, or “trad” polling companies miss, or choose to ignore.

First, the fear factor: Almost everyone surveyed required an almost paranoid level of assurance that their privacy would be respected. “When you’re dealing with thugs, expressing your true feelings can get you hurt,” according to one confidential source. “If these people would sew anthrax in the halls of congress and major media outlets, what do you think they’d do to dissenters in their midst?” asked another. Following up on this issue in Wyoming and Montana there was almost universal agreement that Cheney was behind the anthrax ploy that added confusion to the mix in those terrible days after 9/11.

Second, cell phones: “Yeah like we have a lot of cell phones in the mountain states,” said one scoffer. A little digging by the Metapollsters unearthed the information that almost 50% of Idaho residents have a cell phone. Metapollster further estimates that barely ten percent of these people have been sampled in land-line polls. Extrapolating likely voters and voter preferences in the population that the trads have ignored, there is a blue shift in the mountain states.

Third, women: Women, especially in Utah, have been a little intimidated by Ms. Heinz-Kerry. This intimidation has shown in lowered trad polling numbers. Here again, the Kerry team is counting on the secret ballot effect to boost the trad numbers. “There’s a complex emotional landscape we’re sampling here, and it doesn’t really have much to do with Bush scare tactics about abortion,” said the Metapollster representative. “We are hearing some surprising things in our in depth interviews.”

“I’d be afraid to mud-wrestle with her, ne’mind getting into a hissing, spitting, scratching contest,” was the way one Utah housewife put it. “But over-all, I have a powerful respect for her and her husband. The fact that the Bush family did in her first husband wasn’t all that obvious to us until we saw Carnahan and Wellstone go down the same way. So it’s with a lot of love and respect that most of the ladies I know will be voting for Senator Kerry this year.”