There was once a farmer who loved his chickens
above
all other animals. "Nothing's too good for my chickens," he said,
and had a state-of-the-art chicken facility built. "Yard" just
didn't do justice to this wonder of chicken opulence. The new facility
had automated egg-gathering, automated feeding, and automated waste
disposal. It had luxurious hen houses with shiny new fixtures,
chicken saunas, chicken massage, and Grade A straw for nests. It
had everything a chicken could desire. Except one.
The farmer didn't notice it until the facility had
already been built. The gate didn't have a lock.
"Hmm," mused the farmer. "My chickens won't be safe
if I can't lock the gate. But that's easy to fix. I'll just
buy a padlock at the hardware store."
And so the farmer set about putting his plan into
action. But just as he was getting into his pick-up to drive to
the hardware store, he had a thought. "Maybe I'm being
hasty. It would be better if I solicited some other opinions
before I commit myself to this course of action. Maybe someone
else has a better idea."
First, the farmer asked the chickens. They
thought a padlock was a splendid idea.
"Well, that's good," thought the farmer, "but I'd
better get a couple of more opinions."
He asked the horse.
"Yei-ei-eigh," said the horse. "A lock will keep the
chickens out of my wei-ei-eigh, so that I don't step on them."
He asked the pig.
"Great," snorted the pig. "I don't want them
stealing my corn."
He asked the sheep.
"Sounds good to me," baaed the sheep.
Finally, the farmer asked the fox.
"It's too expensive," said the fox.
"I don't think so," said the farmer. "Especially if
you consider the
savings in potentially lost chickens."
"Well, it's outside your authority," said the fox.
"A government chicken authority has to do it."
"No way," said the farmer. "These are my chickens."
"But it's just a waste of time," said the fox. "No
one is going to
steal your chickens. They're perfectly safe."
"Gosh," thought the farmer, "I wonder why the fox
has so many objections to a little old lock?"
The new electronic
voting systems developed by Diebold and others are rife with
opportunities for fraud. (See, for example,
http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0307/S00065.htm) Walden
O’Dell, CEO of Diebold and a Bush "Pioneer," has promised to "deliver
Ohio" to George Bush in the next election. Gosh, I wonder how he
intends to do that? Knocking on doors and talking issues, no
doubt. We have already seen remarkable come-from-behind
Republican victories in Georgia and Minnesota. There's no way to
verify those votes. But there's a simple way to fix this
situation. Rep.
Rush Holt's Voter
Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act of 2003 "would require all
voting machines to
produce an actual paper record by 2004 that voters can view to check
the accuracy of their votes and that election officials can use to
verify votes in the event of a computer malfunction, hacking, or other
irregularity. "
(http://holt.house.gov/issues2.cfm?id=5996)
This is a simple fix
to a nonpartisan issue. It is
nonpartisan, right? Everyone is for fair elections, right?
So why isn't this bill sailing through Congress? I wonder why the
fox has so many objections.