This isn't really a diary, but I want my mea culpa to be as public as possible.

I've been harping pretty hard on the Democratic Party for not taking advantage of early voting opportunities, as the GOP has been doing for years.

Well, today I received an early ballot request form from the AZ Democratic Party.

So here is my public apology to the AZ Democratic Party and to any and all at the DNC who helped such common sense GOTV politics come about. I'm sorry for thinking you were still so mired in past deficiencies.

Now if the DNC will only put an early voting link prominently on their webpage, humiliation will have never been more satisfying to me.

See anything wrong with this graphic? The O'Reilly Factor ran it in not one, but two segments and posted it three times. I can understand if FOX and The Factor made an error the first time, but to post it repeatedly should be a firing offense, The most watched show on FOX News has now labeled the former Republican Congressman Mark Foley, who is in the middle of a sexual predator scandal that has Hastert's career on the ropes --a Democrat. Was it an error or done by choice? I report-you decide.

"If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it." -- Joseph Goebbels

A few million gullible conservatives probably now think Foley is a Democrat. Hey! It worked with Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda and WMD. Why not here?

My wife and I took our four year old with us to vote today. I guess they don't see kids much at the polling place because as we signed in and got our ballots the poll workers (all elderly) started oohing and aahing and popping questions at her. When she told one of them her yellow dress was a present for her birthday, they asked her when it was. When she said, "Tomorrow," They all sang Happy Birthday to her (the polling place was for two precincts, so it was a ten person chorus.)

When I got my ballot, I took her to a booth and let her use the magic marker to fill in where I told her to. Then I let her put the ballot into the scanner which sucked it out of her hand lickity-split. She had a blast voting and I think is well on her way to becoming a good citizen.  It was the most unique voting experience I'll probably ever have.

PS... She also asks me about Bush a lot -- especially his childhood. I try not to be too strong worded in my truth telling about him, but on the way home today she asked why he is such a bad man who lies and hurts people. I said I didn't know why some people are bad and asked her not to talk about Bush in her Pre-K class.

I must confess to being remiss. I've been paying attention to everyone's primaries  but my own. So with primary day upon me here in AZ I decided I'd better get on the stick and decide who to vote for.

First, I looked at my sample ballot and read the blurbs about them in the voters guide. There was no problem identifying their party affiliation since they were grouped that way, but the one paragraph bios were inadequate to make a decision upon, so I started googling them to learn more.

When I googled "slade meade/ superintendent education" the link to his site says "Republican party candidate seeking election." Wha???

I'm sick of "9/11". I'm sick of politicians and politicos using it to score points on each other. I'm sick of the corporate media exploiting and profiting from it on a daily basis. I'm sick of NeoCons and NeoDems using it to foment one immoral and disastrous war after another.

Don't just boycott Path To 9/11.

Boycott "9/11" altogether.

"More over, Mr. Bush, you are accomplishing in part what Osama Bin Laden and others seek -- a fearful American populace, easily manipulated, and willing to throw away any measure of restraint, any loyalty to our own ideals and freedoms, for the comforting illusion of safety."

Thank you again, Mr. Olberman.

Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the merger of state and corporate power. -- Benito Mussolini