CA election officials take rubber erasers to 100K mail-in ballots! WHAT?

I don't see how this can be OK. All ballots should remain unmolested by officials. If the computers have a hard time reading them, count them by HAND. Geeeez!

By Erik Silk and Christina Farr; Peninsula Press

Drake Martinet

County workers used erasers to manually correct the smudge errors on every affected ballot.

Santa Clara County election officials Tuesday shrugged off a printing flaw that caused some 100,000 ballots to be rejected by optical scanning machines, even as county employees worked overtime to scrub each and every ballot by hand, using rubber erasers.

Elma Rosas, a spokesman for the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters, said that even though the majority of mail-in ballots were affected by the printing flaw, the issue had been largely resolved. "The computers were letting us know there was an issue," Rosas said Tuesday night. "We looked at those 100,000, and we just took care of it."

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/inthepeninsula/detail?entry_id=76165#ixzz14CAe5aOX

Most Sensible Newscast of the Day Award

What is wrong in a world where Americans only get news satisfaction from Russian stations. This is the same group that reported on the April 15, 2009 Tea Parties, when our president and media claimed not to know anything about them.

I like the part where the man says that sitting politicians should not get a Nobel Peace Prize, because their entire story has not been told. The nicest thing that can be said is that the award is premature. If the Nobel committee hopes to guide Obama's future behavior with this award, these commentators say it does not work that way. Thanks to Left Coast Rebel for this find.

Listen to the verbal reaction of the crowd

This video is interesting because the news does not seem to be well-received by the listeners. Or is it me?

Obama Wins Nobel Peace Prize!

Alright. OK. Gimme a moment to let this settle in. I wonder what Saturday Night Live will have to say about this. I mean, isn't it a slap in the face to THEM? They just got through calling Obama a "do nothing" president, and ridiculing him for accomplishing "nothing" so far. And that nomination deadline was FEBRUARY 1st???? There is something rotten in Denmark (Sweden, Norway). The comments on the Fox News article are amusing.

Here is one, probably a conservative:
They have GOT to be kidding. The committee has to be on drugs or paid alot of money. Obama has only traveled abroard and put down America at every chance he gets? Obama has done nothing but promote the Muslims. Are we so lost that this happens. I could cry. I am already stressed out and now this. God help us.

Here is one who sees racism:
Great , Now we have affirmative action Nobel prizes. I thought these awards were based on accomplishments not personalities.

Here is one who sees greatness:
Congratulations Barrack Obama. The promise of what you represent cannot be denied. The world sees your greatness even if the opposition here at home refuses to. Hennepin County Liberal Examiner

Here is one who sees a destroyer:
obama has done nothing to warrant this supposed award. he will be known as the president who destroyed the American economy and health care system. let's have a look at the recent winners - gore and carter - what an lame group. gore the inventor of the internet and the fake global warming. carter the racist in sheep clothing.

Here is one who sees hateful neocons:
Great day for america...just goes to show you how much of you neocons are blinded by ha.te for president obama.

Here is one doubting the Nobel Committee:
What a disappointment! Obama has accomplished nothing. In fact, he's created more division and poverty than any US president in history. The award is proof positive the Nobel Peace Prize is a political b.ooby prize traded between s.ocial.ists.

Here is one who burst into song:
Are you frekin kidding me? The Nobel Peace Prize? Barack Hussien Obama. Mmmm Mmmmm Mmmmm.

Here is one who feels a little sick:
For the next week we arre going to see the right pick apart the Nobel Peace Prize and show what a farce it is. After all, 3 Democrats have won it. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Starting with me. I have no respect for the committee who gave this turd the prize. His head and his ears are already big enough! It's a joke. They probably would have given it to Hitler for uniting the world. Ya for bleeding-heart Democrats. That just goes to show what a worthless prize it really is. It's spelled "are" not arre. (Unless you are a pirate.) Today, I vomit on the Nobel Peace Prize and it's committee. It's a sad state of affairs when someone like Nobama wins the prize.

Here is one who is willing to pay the shipping:
WOW! That's the biggest crock of s-h-i-t I've ever heard. If the rest of the world wants obama, they can have him today...I'll even pay shipping costs.

Here is one who sees a rush to judgement:
Wait. What did he do? How can anyone get a Nobel Peace Prize for two hundred days worth of getting their toes in the water? Come on folks, at least have the decency to wait a year before pretending... Nothing has happened yet! Well Obama did extend the Patriot act. He did extend the Wire tapping previsions. He did extend our presence in Iraq for another open ended term... Basically he's rubber stamped all the executive orders of the last administration. So that's what it takes to get a Nobel Peace Prize... Who knew?

OSLO -- President Barack Obama won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for "his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples," the Norwegian Nobel Committee said, citing his outreach to the Muslim world and attempts to curb nuclear proliferation.

The stunning choice made Obama the third sitting U.S. president to win the Nobel Peace Prize and shocked Nobel observers because Obama took office less than two weeks before the Feb. 1 nomination deadline. Obama's name had been mentioned in speculation before the award but many Nobel watchers believed it was too early to award the president.

"Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world's attention and given its people hope for a better future," the committee said. "His diplomacy is founded in the concept that those who are to lead the world must do so on the basis of values and attitudes that are shared by the majority of the world's population."

The committee said it attached special importance to Obama's vision of, and work for, a world without nuclear weapons.

"Obama has as president created a new climate in international politics. Multilateral diplomacy has regained a central position, with emphasis on the role that the United Nations and other international institutions can play," the committee said.

Theodore Roosevelt won the award in 1906 and Woodrow Wilson won in 1919. Former President Jimmy Carter won the award in 2002, while former Vice President Al Gore shared the 2007 prize with the U.N. panel on climate change.
More here.

I am still rather speechless. Dumbstruck. You could knock me over with a feather.