Miscellany

Via elynne, for those voting in the USA in the near future, you can call 1-866-OUR-VOTE to report irregularities. (And whether or not you believe in deliberate vote-rigging, it seems pretty clear that poor design is going to cause irregularities in some areas.) I'll spare you the regular spiel about how it's not actually hard to get quick and reliable results from old-fashioned paper ballots when done properly, and how the USA needs something like the AEC, because most of you would have heard them 2n years ago and nothing much has changed.

Via james_nicoll: if you like Christmas and you like Billy Idol, how could you not love a Billy Idol Christmas Album?

Exercise since last: 25km, total 420km/252mi: just out of Weathertop. Frodo injured and all that.

(no subject)

Oh, and Rey and I went out on a date last night and saw The Departed. Pretty good - I like films with a bit of imagination, and while I picked a couple of the twists I was startled by the ending. Funny how times change; ten years ago I would've run from anything featuring both Leo DiCaprio and Mark Wahlberg, but they've come a long way since then.

Dirty tricks

SFGate article:

Orange County Republican leaders on Thursday called for the withdrawal of a GOP congressional candidate they believe sent a letter threatening Hispanic immigrant voters with arrest... County Republican Chairman Scott Baugh said that after speaking with state investigators and the company that distributed the mailer, he believes [GOP candidate] Nguyen had direct knowledge of the "obnoxious and reprehensible" letter. He told the AP that the party's executive committee voted unanimously to urge Nguyen to drop out of the race against Democratic U.S. Rep. Loretta Sanchez.

"I learned information that allows me to draw the conclusion that not only was Mr. Nguyen's campaign involved in this, but that Mr. Nguyen was personally involved in expediting the mailer," Baugh said in a telephone interview.

State and federal officials were investigating the letter, which was written in Spanish and mailed to an estimated 14,000 Democratic voters in central Orange County. It warns, "You are advised that if your residence in this country is illegal or you are an immigrant, voting in a federal election is a crime that could result in jail time." Immigrants who are adult naturalized citizens are eligible to vote.

It's good to see the GOP are not standing by their candidate, although my inner cynic suspects their attitude might've been different if Nguyen had had a better chance of winning.