Conspiracy theorists, this is your lucky day! It has often been said, perhaps most famously by Axl Rose, that just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not after you. A team of computer scientists at Princeton have created a vote-stealing program for the Diebold AccuVote-TS, one of the most common electronic-voting machines. I can see it now: A call for an investigation by a most bizarre pairing. My money is on Robert Kennedy, Jr. and Pat Buchanan.
Over at Radar they have an entertaining feature on the worst trends in Congressional hairstyles. Don't worry -- it includes pictures. As a general rule, dcat does not support these sorts of shallow, fluffy distractions (!). But in this case, we'll have to make an exception. (Courtesy of the good folks over at TNR's Plank.)
On a more somber note, flags began flying at half-mast in Texas yesterday, because former Governor Ann Richards lost her fight with cancer in Austin. Richards was able to win out in the rough and tumble good old boys political climate that is Texas. I was once a member of a bipartisan commission here in Odessa that put together a debate among local college students on the eve of the 2004 elections. Two little old ladies from Midland who were both active in the area's Republican politics spoke in hushed tones about Richards, as if just saying her name ran them the risk of God's wrath. they spoke of how she had a "filthy mouth" and acted just as bad as most of the men. But that was sort of the point. Politics, especially here, is not for the dainty. Richards won by playing politics at the highest levels as well as anyone. Local GOP double standards aside, I always admired Ann Richards, and even though I knew she had been battling cancer for quite some time, it was still a shock to hear of her passing.
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