Helpful Hints From ACORN?

French Observer Finds 'Dead Souls'
French National Assembly member Henri Plagnol told RFE/RL correspondent Ahto Lobjakas that he personally uncovered serious problems on a voter list in Orhei Vechi, a town outside the Moldovan capital [Chisinau Ed.] known for its monasteries, during his monitoring on election day.

Concerns have been high over the number of "dead souls" on voter lists, since their presence makes election fraud easier.

Plagnol said polling-station officials in Orhei Vechi initially dismissed his queries after he noticed pencil markings next to names on the voter list.

Eventually, the embarrassed officials gave up the ghost themselves: "I was told these people were dead," Plagnol said.

Monsieur Plagnol should read up on elections in Chicago. Those folks are rather well-versed in turning out the graveyard vote.

Allowing the dead to vote this past April caused all hell to break out in Moldova. Many are looking at the shenanigans that occured during yesterday's vote see only that it's deja vu all over again.

Yogi Berra is hard to translate. You have to understand America. And baseball. And Yogi himself. Viktor Chernomyrdin, who understands none of these things, nonetheless coined a Russian equivalent of Yogi's famous remark that "this is deja vu all over again."

The equally malapropistic Russian statesman, explaining in 1993 why Russians' savings would be wiped out, elucidated that "we wanted to do better, but it turned out like always."

As the dust settles, these two pieces of worldly wisdom will likely sum up Moldova's controversial repeat elections. Twitter-driven suspicion that thousands of "dead souls" had voted from the grave in April to extend Communist rule resulted in massive street protests. Things turned ugly and rioting led to a torched parliament, torture of detained protesters, at least three deaths, and a political stalemate.

Today's vote is part of a continuing contest for the broad strokes of Moldova's future: accelerated reform and EU integration or a place in Russia's coveted "privileged sphere of influence." Clean elections and political reconciliation are needed to put Moldovan society back together after April's trauma.

Unless I've missed it, both BarryO and That Woman have been silent on this. Must be afraid of getting Putie pissed off.

Regrettably, the process may once again be flawed and the outcome challenged, either on the streets or in the courts. Many have alleged that the Communists widely used harassment, biased state media, selective prosecution, and "administrative resources" to limit the opposition's chances. Perhaps most importantly, three well-regarded Moldovan NGOs each verified the voter rolls and found their quality and accuracy troublingly unchanged from last time.

These groups report that only 11 percent of the lists checked were fully correct; the rest contained either dead or duplicate souls, ineligible voters, incorrect information, or had not been published for public review.

One group said the Central Election Committee had "obstructed the monitors' work" and "ignored its legal obligations" by denying them access to the lists. Another uncovered serious problems that "place in doubt the quality of the voter rolls" -- including extensive, unexplainable increases in the number of voters from just three months earlier.

Pre-election polling suggests that this time around it will be the Communists who garner a sufficient bloc of seats to stonewall the coalition needed to elect the country's president and move ahead with the nation's business.

If so, Yogi and Viktor's sagacity will once again, sadly, mark Moldovan political life.

-- Louis O'Neill was OSCE ambassador and head of mission to Moldova from 2006-08

Via Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty

Community organizers from ACORN were unavailable for comment.

Putin Heads For Landslide Victory

Intimidation and dirty tricks help Putin to massive landslide
President Vladimir Putin appeared to be heading for a landslide victory in Russia's parliamentary elections last night amid widespread reports that millions of citizens were coerced into voting for his party, United Russia.

Early results from the Central Election Commission indicated the party was leading with 63% of votes, with the Communist party trailing a distant second on 11.5%. Two other partners looked set to scrape into the State Duma: the ultra-nationalist Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, with 10.6%, and Fair Russia, another Kremlin-linked party, with 7.1%. Exit polls indicated similar figures.

[....]

Read it all at The Guardian.

Previously Say It Ain't So, Kameraden!.

Congresswoman Wants to Arm Sworn Enemy

Nobody has ever accused Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Moonbat) of being the brightest bulb, but her latest suggestion borders on lunacy. Of course, I'm sure President Pantsuit (God, help us) or some other Democrat nitwit would do this this as a peace offering, knowing if we just had the proper amount of dialogue, everyone would love us.

A U.S. congresswoman called on the Bush administration Wednesday to reconsider its ban on selling parts for U.S.-made F-16 fighter jets to Venezuela, urging improved ties between the two nations.

U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, a Texas Democrat, told reporters that she was making the first U.S. congressional visit to Venezuela since President Hugo Chavez's December re-election with the message: "I want an immediate repairing of the relations between the United States and Venezuela."

Jackson Lee described Venezuela as a friendly nation that the U.S. should cooperate with and said that the F-16 jets, which are built in Texas, was an issue of concern to her constituents in Houston.

Yes, they're really friendly under their new Communist dictatorship. Well, folks, elections really do matter. Now you have a party wanting to suck up to someone who is working with Iran, Cuba, and al-Qaeda. Swell.

The U.S. State Department has banned arms sales to Venezuela, including parts necessary to maintain its fleet of F-16s, citing a lack of support by Chavez's government for counterterrorism efforts and its close relations with Iran and Cuba.

Venezuela has since begun receiving the first of 24 Russian-made Sukhoi fighter jets as part of approximately $3 billion in military deals that Chavez has signed with Moscow.

She said her fact-finding mission to Venezuela was part of an effort by a new Democrat-controlled Congress to show that "Venezuela has many friends in this new Congress."

I have no doubt they do.

Bryan at Hot Air has more, as does A Blog For All.

Elsewhere, check out this New York Sun report on the dubious elections results in Venezuela, certified by the idiot Jimmy Carter.

Hugo Chavez may have lost both the recall referendum in 2004 and the December 2006 presidential election, according to studies conducted by a distinguished multidisciplinary team in Caracas, Venezuela. The team includes the rector of Universidad Simon Bolivar, Frederick Malpica, and a former rector of the National Electoral Council, Alfredo Weil.

Astonishing as it may seem to Americans who believe the contention by Mr. Chavez that he won both elections by a landslide -- 58% to 42% in the recall and 61% to 39% in the presidential election -- the studies show that since 2003, Mr. Chavez has added 4.4 million favorable names to the voter list and "migrated" 2.6 million unfavorable voters to places where it was difficult or impossible for them to vote.

In this country, the lunatic fringe are still whining over the 2000 Florida election, but have no problem with rigged elections in Venezuela.