#!/user/bin/geek caught something tonight I have not seen on any other blog yet, and I was not home to see the piece on 60 Minutes myself.

Verification (or at least review) of your source material should be one of your basic requirements. No?

Osama bin Laden doesn't seem nearly so cocky in the unedited version of a videotape aired on al-Jazeera, complaining that the manhunt against him has hampered al Qaeda.

Osama bin Laden's newest tape may have thrust him to the forefront of the presidential election, but what was not seen was the cave-dwelling terror lord talking about the setbacks al Qaeda has faced in recent months.

Officials said that in the 18-minute long tape ? of which only six minutes were aired on the al-Jazeera Arab television network in the Middle East on Friday ? bin Laden bemoans the recent democratic elections in Afghanistan and the lack of violence involved with it.

On the tape, bin Laden also says his terror organization has been hurt by the U.S. military's unrelenting manhunt for him and his cohorts on the Afghan-Pakistani border.

Do you think the media here in the U.S. will run the unedited video before the 2nd, or will they wait until the 3rd to tell us what is really happening in the world?

If you have been following along, you know that someone submitted my email address to the DNC, so I now get daily (and sometimes hourly) updates on the Kerry campaign and what "I" can be doing to help. I did, however, sign up voluntarily to get emails from the Bush campaign, and I get those daily as well. I got one email from each campaign today, and I thought I would see if you can pick up the difference that I see daily between the two sides…

From the left:

We are on track for historic turnout in this election. America is coming out in record numbers for John Kerry.

And that has the Republicans scared. They have no plan, no hope, no way to win this election except to stop people from voting. Their strategy is simple:

Discourage Democratic voters from going to the polls by filling the airwaves with predictions of doom and gloom.
Delay voting and create lines at polls by challenging voters and election officials.
Deny voters the opportunity to cast their votes and have them counted.

But their strategy won't work. We will stop their attempts to deny our rights by using the best weapons in our arsenal: information and education.

From the right:

It is now time to activate our 72 Hour Task Force–the single most important factor for victory on November 2. With your help, we'll launch the largest and most effective get-out-the-vote ground operation in presidential campaign history.

Let's get out the vote!

Everything you do will make a difference. In 2000, less than 17,194 votes decided five states, and 55 Electoral College votes. That's 55 Electoral College votes decided by 2 votes per precinct!

You can make the difference!

Bring your family to the phone bank and turn out our fellow supporters. Recruit your neighbors to burn some shoe leather knocking on doors. Forward this email to your friends and let them know that every phone we call, every email we forward, every door we knock on, every neighborhood we walk, every yard sign we post, and every bumper sticker we stick-matters!

Everything we do will make the difference and we must get out the vote!

Every day, the Bush campaign sends a positive message encouraging me to help get the word out to make sure people vote. Every email tells me how President Bush's policies will affect me in the next four years. Every message is pro-Bush, not anti-Kerry.

Every day, the Kerry campaign sends a negative message encouraging me to question the Bush campaign because republicans are attempting to disenfranchise the voters. Every email tells me how President Bush's policies will affect me in the next four years. Every message is anti-Bush, not pro-Kerry.

I have been getting these emails for quite some time and I have yet to get a single email from the democrats telling me why I should actually vote for John Kerry.

I just found that odd.

Frank J from IMAO endorses President Bush, complete with pictures for those who might be confused by large words.

I had the next few days all planned out.

In a perfect world we would be carving the pumpkin on Saturday, taking the kids trick-or-treating on Sunday, anxiously awaiting Tuesday on Monday, voting on Tuesday, and spending the rest of the evening watching the election returns, in front of Fox News, with a nice high speed Internet connection.

In the world we actually live in, the company I work for called late yesterday afternoon. They need me in the Baltimore area next week, which would normally mean that I would have to leave Sunday morning and drive all day, missing Halloween, election day, and all the fun that comes with them. After a few properly placed phone calls, it turns out I am flying this week, and I don't leave until Tuesday morning, which is good, because the kids were quite upset I might not be here for "their night".

Because of the short notice, today was filled with doing all those things that need to be done when you have to leave town on short notice, and can't do some of them on the weekend. You know what kind of stuff I am talking about. On top of all that, Gidget needed to renew her driver's license and we had to vote early, since I will be out of town on election day.

We left the house around 1:30pm to get the driver's license taken care of. Upon arriving to a virtually empty parking lot, we were quite happy, because we would be in and out in no time. We got the kids out of the truck, and walked to the door. As I opened the door, I saw the sign "CASH ONLY". Well, shit. I never carry cash anymore. I have become so dependent on the bankcard I never really need it, until we go to DMV to get a driver's license renewed. So, we were out the door, into the truck, down the road, into the drive-through ATM, and headed back to the DMV within 15 minutes. When we pulled into the lot, my heart sank. There was but one spot available, and when we got to the door, we could hardly get in, due to the line. (sigh)

After a 45 minute wait, or so, we were finished, and walking out the door. The kids did so good waiting in the line, I promised them McDonalds Happy Meals when we were done voting.

We arrived at the county voter's registrar office around 3:15 and thanks to a very considerate fellow voter, we got an excellent parking spot. The line was coming out the door, but did not appear too bad. As we took our place in line, we could see about 200 people inside the building in front of us. As the line progressed and we got inside the door, we realized there were two lines. One to fill out the "early voter application" and the other to actually vote. As we waited I chatted with a school teacher in front of us who informed me, amazingly, of almost every election procedure ever known. I learned more about that woman, and the voting history of the state of Georgia, in the time we waited in the first line, than I know about most people I have known my entire life. She was very cool though. (Hi Margaret, if you ever read this).

In the final line, they were calling peoples names as they verified voter precincts on the computer, so the line was not really necessary. Gidget and Margaret were both called before me, in fact, I waited about an extra 10 minutes before they called my name. While I was waiting another woman began speaking to me about the evils of the system and how close this election will be. She went off on a rant about Ralph Nader and how he is going to ruin the election again. She ended her tirade with "anyone who votes for Nader is a moron". My name was called.

As I finished and placed my ballot in the box, I turned and noticed the same grumpy old woman standing first in line. I leaned down and picked up our youngest son, and as we walked past the woman I said to him, "Just think, next week President Nader will be leading our country".

I have NEVER seen someone turn that red since Gidget was in the final stages of labor. That lady was quite pissed and I just chuckled as we walked out the door and took the kids to get their happy meals.

All in all, voting was quicker than renewing the driver's license, and I can rest assured that my vote will be counted on election day. One thing I noticed was the sheer number of people turning out to vote early. If this turnout is any indication, this election may set a new record for voter turnout.

Sitting here tonight I realize that I need to find a different (inexpensive) hotel to stay in this time, as the one I usually stay in does not offer FOX News and has no high speed Internet connection. How in the world am I expected to survive without the basics? Boy how things have changed in the past few years. :wink: