We can talk at length about Florida 2000 and Diebold and black-box voting and all that stuff.  But may we have a moment to consider the fact that some voters — regardless of political persuasion — are just bone stupid?

Take, for instance, Minnesota.  Apparently the Senate election is now down to a bunch of state officials trying to discern the intent of the stupidest voters in the state.  Now, I am a firm adherent to the theory that, of all electoral systems out there, the hardest to screw up is pen-on-paper balloting.  Yet there they are.  Ballots with the mark placed squarely between Norm Coleman’s name and Al Franken’s name.  Ballots with two selections, where the ballot clearly says “VOTE FOR ONE, DUMMY.”  Ballots with a filled-in oval for one name, and a check mark for the other.  Ballots with a clearish selection, but with a cartoon drawn on the ballot to make the selection unclear. 

And the decisions on the intent of the stupidest voters available will decide who goes to the Senate. Oy.

Bored with politics and Carpocalypse … wonder what other stupid shit is out there?

Looks like it’s bride number 5 for Drew Peterson.

You’re shitting me.

“Yeah, he proposed and she accepted,” Peterson’s attorney, Joel Brodsky, said of his client’s impending nuptials.

But Brodsky added, “I guess he’s got to get divorced.” Peterson’s current wife, Stacy, has been missing since last year.

And number three was murdered.  In total, three divorces, one dead, one missing. Anyone sense a pattern here?

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Good news if you hoarded a dozen Elmo LIve’s and can’t flip them for black-market profit before the bill comes due: Relax! You won’t have to pay for them after all.

The bad news? We’ll all perish next week instead in a massive nuclear holocaust.

That’s the holiday forecast from Leland Freeborn of Utah, known by a few dozen locals and now thousand of L.A. Times readers as the Parowan Prophet.

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To answer everyone’s question, yes, “the Secret Service put everyone who attended President George W. Bush’s Baghdad news conference through several layers of security Sunday.” There were no guns in the room, just shoes. And a very angry reporter.

Make that a very surprised angry reporter. Journalists weren’t told in advance that Maliki’s Secret Santa would be making a guest appearance.

But never mind the details. McClatchy’s story is accompanied by a Fox News clip of the incident, and the crawl is fascinating. We voted here for Vince Vaughn, although “Teen Vampire Drama” was a close second.

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You want a morning newspaper delivered to your front door?  Well la-dee-da, Mr. Carnegie!

[Detroit newspapers (both of them, for the time being) will deliver papers on Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays. Otherwise, you’ll have to go to an honor box or a store in order to get your daily dose of Cathy.  AAAACK!]

Yes, yes.  The Internets have news quicker and fresher than dead tree media.  But still — damn.

Al-Zaidi in U.S. Run Camp Cropper Prison

What could possibly go wrong?

Iraqi TV al-Sharqiya just reported on the news that AL-Zaidi is transferred to Camp Cropper prison [the Airport prison, managed by the American forces].

The TV Channel announced that Al-Zaidi is in a difficult condition, with broken ribs and signs of tortures on his thighs. Also he can not move his right arm.

P.S.

I am just telling you what I heard on TV.

Source: Roads to Iraq

On a lighter note, those crazy Norwegians have come up with a shoe-throwing game.

We couldn’t decide which audio to use for our Ultra-Repetitive Shoe-Tossing Video. So we made two.

(If the robocops censor this before morning, just imagine the best video you’ve seen in your life. Otherwise, make do with this one.)