The comparison between Iraq and Vietnam is far from perfect, and I'm sure that there are examples of elections that have led to the end of an insurgency, but the ecstatic, over the top commentary about the Iraqi elections from the right-wing and Bush Administration reminded me of an earlier election:  the rigged victory of Ngo Dinh Diem in Vietnam in 1961.  That election was also seen as a major turning point, as shown in the reports listed below (because the articles are so old, the full text is not freely available from the NY Times website).   It should serve as another reminder that although elections can have positive effects, it takes much more to achieve peace (jobs, electricity, transparent government, etc.).

Summaries of the three articles from the April 1961 New York Times below the flip.

President Bush has been speaking about an "era of personal responsibility" and the immorality of "blaming someone else" for years.  I did a Google site search of the White House web site and found a few hundred transcripts, press releases, and documents referring to "personal responsibility."  A search for "blame someone else" results in plenty of hits, mostly in the context of "it's bad to blame someone else for your actions."  

Now, with Karl Rove in trouble for his actions, let's take a stroll down memory lane for some of President Bush's thoughts about "personal responsibility" (in no particular order).

The thoughts in this diary have been sitting on my hard drive for months, getting a some rearrangement, additions, and etc.  But this week and last, four recent articles about energy, innovation and pollution linked up in my mind and forced this diary out of my head and onto Daily Kos.  The basic idea is that Bush and Republican energy and pollution policies are condemning the U.S. to become reliant on foreign technology and know-how (again).  While Japan and Europe are creating world class solar and wind-power industries---as well as designing innovative and efficient automobiles---thanks to Bush policies like scrapping New Source Review, the U.S. is headed to become the world leader in maintaining 50 year-old coal-fired power plants.  

The four articles:

1. S&P Downgrades GM and Ford Credit Rating to Junk-Bond Status
   
2. Used Toyota Prius hybrids selling for more than their asking price
   
3. An op-ed called "Lack of vision on policy clouds energy future"
   
4. "Southern Co. Won't Cut Carbon Output Much"

Links and commentary below the jump.

Imagine yourself as a tourist in the one-party state that the Republicans are dreaming of.  Every branch of government in every state is run by the party.  Elections are rigged, dissent is unpatriotic.  But society would be "harmonious" and "unified."  

What would this be like?  Perhaps the North Koreans can help us understand.  Some of their views are below the jump.

The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) and Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) issued press releases on a study that shows how the Bush administration is attacking science for political gains.  Again. (for other examples, see reports from Rep. Waxman (D-CA) and the House Committee on Government Reform, and The Sierra Club)

The UCS and PEER distributed surveys to 1,400 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) biologists, ecologists, botanists and other science professionals to obtain their impressions of the scientific integrity in the Fish and Wildlife Service.  Despite pressure from supervisors to ignore the survey, over 400 replied.  

UCS and PEER conclude that 1) there is significant political interference with science, 2) the interference is negatively impacting wildlife protection, 3) political interference is having a negative effect on scientific candor, 4)  not enough resources are provided, and morale is low.

The phrase "baby tax" has appeared a few times on Daily Kos, generally in discussions of framing and George Lakoff (for example, one of my diaries, a comment by LynChi and diary by Newsie8200).  The idea behind the term is that every time the fiscally reckless Republican Congress increases the federal debt they are actually passing a tax on our children, grandchildren and beyond.  

As an event to attract some media attention and educate the public, how about

• A visit to the local hospital to deliver "Baby Tax Certificates" or "Statements of Indebtedness" to new mothers.
  
• A mass mailing of letters to all families with newborn children.
  
• A roving team of people (in baby outfits?) who give the certificates to people with small children at the Mall or in shopping districts.
  
• Setting up a playpen in a popular kiddie park with prominent signs saying "debtor's prison".
  

The certificate would describe the current debt situation and how the GOP is making it worse each year.    Synchronizing the action with the release of Bush's next budget might be fruitful.

In his "State of the State" address last week, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger again tried to redefine the term "special interest".  One dictionary defines special interest as "A person, group, or organization attempting to influence legislators in favor of one particular interest or issue."  Schwarzenegger thinks that a special interest is anyone who opposes his agenda.  It is a semantic trick that has been used for decades.  But in the case of Schwarzenegger, it is especially potent since he casts himself as the ultimate outsider who is going to "blow up the boxes" of government as usual in California.  

Schwarzenegger's targeted "Special Interests" include public sector unions (especially teachers), general trade unions, health professionals (especially nurses).

These groups, despite giving over $20 million to the Schwarzenegger campaign and having legislation before him, are not considered special interests by the Governor:  Real estate development; Finance, accounting, Investing; Entertainment, media; High tech; Health care, pharmaceuticals; Agriculture; Insurance.

The group Environment California published a new report called The Economics of Solar Homes in California.  The authors argue that increasing the usage of photovoltaic solar panes will benefit all state residents.  Solar power can lead to reduced air pollution, protection against electricity price volatility (remember the crisis of 2000?), and reduce the need to upgrade electrical infrastructure.   With just a little bit of tweaking, the results of the study can probably be applied to other sunny states.  

The 2004 election resulted in a record number of voters in California (12,589,683), but not a record turnout.  The Statement of Vote (available here, see pp. ix-x) reports that 76% of those registered voted, while only 57% of those eligible voted.  The record for turnout of eligible voters is the November 1940 election, in which 78.3% of those eligible voted.  

Compared to 2000, there were 13% more voters, eligible turnout was up by 5%, and registered turnout up by 5% (Note: "eligible turnout" is the percent of eligible voters who voted).  About 32% of the state voted absentee.

Below the jump I present tables of voter turnout by California county for 2000 and 2004.

The "baby tax"/"birth tax" phrase proposed by George Lakoff and others is starting to make the mainstream.  Last week I received a mass e-mail from Senator Boxer (D-CA) about the federal debt which uses the phrase (complete letter below the jump) in the following way:  "For the baby born today, our national debt is nothing less than a birth tax.  'Welcome to the world, and here is your tax bill.  You currently owe $25,000 plus interest, and we will be adding to the principal.'"

The phrase "baby tax" has appeared a few times on Daily Kos, generally in discussions of framing and George Lakoff (for example, a comment by LynChi and diary by Newsie8200).  The idea behind the term is that every time the supposedly anti-tax Republican Congress increases the federal debt they are actually passing a taxes on our children, grandchildren and beyond.  

The complete letter and some other birth taxes are below the fold.

As the year-end deadline for 2004 charitable giving approaches, it is time to decide where to make that last batch of charitable donations.  As always, there are countless groups that need and deserve your money.  Consider making some donations to groups that are part of the "progressive infrastructure."  These groups include think tanks, media watchdogs, and others related to messages, ideas, and strategy.    

The list below includes only groups which have tax exempt status (501(c)(3) or 501(a)(9)(1)).  If you don't care about getting a tax deduction for your donation, the DNC, Sierra Club, People for the American Way, or many other political action groups would love to have your money.  Another recent diary, Christmas is for giving (to good causes) by MAJeff, listed many groups that are worthy of donation, but not necessarily tax deductible, and not focused on infrastructure building.  

Update [2004-12-14 21:42:44 by meander]: Official Results in New Diary called "California Voter Turnout in 2004." The tables that were once below have been erased.

Whatever the outcome of Tuesday's election, the Republicans were sure to claim that this was a grand mandate for their party and the Conservative movement.  The size and meaning the mandate have been discussed in several places (TAPPED, Talking Points, Political Animal, and the conventional media including a disturbing "Mandate is seen for next four years" headline at the New York Times).  

But how did the closeness of this election compare to the previous 26 presidential elections?  I found electoral results for the elections since 2000 and ranked them by difference in the percentage of vote and electoral vote totals.  In terms of popular vote percentages, 2004 was the 5th closest since 1900.  In terms of electoral votes, it was the 3rd closest since 1900.  

The California Secretary of State's 15-Day Close Report for the November 2, 2004 General Election includes registration data for each Congressional District.  Previously, I summarized the registration report by county (Diary on October 29). In response to a query about registration changes in the various districts, I provide the tables below.

In the following districts with Republican representatives, there were more new Democratic registrations than Republican since 2/17/04:  11th (Pombo), 24th (Gallegly), 25th (McKeon), 26th (Dreier), 45th (Bono).  In district 47 (currently represented by Democrat Loretta Sanchez), there were more new Republican registrations than Democratic.  

In each case, however, the gains (or losses) do not make up for previous party registration difference.  There as many "Decline to State" [a party] registrations as registration by party.

Complete tables are below the jump.

The final pre-election report on voter registration was released by the California Secretary of State this week.  The 15-Day Close Report for the November 2, 2004 General Election shows significantly more new Democratic registrations than new Republican registrations (220,000), and more new registration in general (almost 1.5 million) compared with February 17, 2004.  

Between 2/17/04 and 10/18/04 the following increases occurred:

Number of new eligible voters:     187,142
New registrations:               1,466,113  
New Democratic registrations:      601,794
New Republican registrations:      380,686
New Other party registrations:      37,771
New Decline to State reg.:         445,862

Although California is not a swing state, there are 13 initiatives, a U.S. Senate race (Boxer vs. Jones), local measures, and a few competitive legislative races on the ballot.  In addition, this election is a chance to dispel GOP myths created with the election of Schwarzenegger.

Many groups this year have been trying to get America's youngest voters to the polls.  Rock the Vote, the League of Pissed Off Voters, and others have been prodding youth to make their voice heard on November 2nd.  

An article in the San Francisco Chronicle stated that

If youth turnout is 80% like the MTV poll suggests, that means 434,000 new young voters in Ohio, 514,000 new young voters in Pennsylvania, and almost 600,000 new young voters in Florida (estimates made from U.S. Census Bureau data).  

A tough week for Halliburton, with stories about  

• the Nigerian bribery scandal
  
• a U.S. audit into the no-bid contracts
  
• war profiteering
  
• favors from the White House for a drilling technology

Excerpts and links below the jump.

Florida U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler's lawsuit against the Florida Secretary of State won't be heard by a Federal Court until October 18th, reducing the chance of paper trails for electronic voting machines.  Wexler argues that since a vote recorded on one of these machines cannot be included in a manual recount, it is not equal to an absentee ballot cast in the same district and therefore in violation of the Equal Protection clause.  

Two other lawsuits against the Secretary of State are pending:  provisional ballots and voter registrations.  They are described below the jump.

If you live in an area that uses electronic voting machines without a paper trail, request an absentee ballot!