This is from the S.L. Trib.

After 23 years as Emery County clerk, Bruce Funk will decide this morning whether he will resign because he cannot endorse an election on Utah’s new voting machines.
“In no way could I feel comfortable with these machines,” Funk said Monday. “I don’t want to be part of something that put into question the results that come out of Emery County.”

Earlier Monday, state Elections Director Michael Cragun and other state officials and engineers from Diebold Elections Systems met behind closed doors with the Emery County Commission. Their goal was to address Funk’s concerns about some of the machines’ computer memory that made him suspect they were not new or that something already had been loaded into their memories.

Funk invited in representatives of Black Box Voting, a Washington state-based nonprofit voter rights group, to inspect the machines earlier this month. Black Box has yet to issue a final report on the machines that are slated to replace Utah’s punch card system of voting at a cost of $27 million.

By the end of the Monday meeting, Diebold engineers convinced the county commissioners the discrepancies in the machines’ memory are the result of testing and of additional printing fonts. But Diebold told the commissioners that allowing unauthorized people access to the machines had violated their integrity.

It could cost upwards of $40,000 to fly in technicians to retest them.

Joe Demma, chief of staff for Lt. Gov. Gary Herbert, the state’s chief elections officer, was plainly incensed with Funk for allowing Black Box to probe the machines.
“The problem is that instead of asking us or Diebold, Bruce Funk allowed a third party to put the warranty in jeopardy,” Demma said in a telephone interview from Emery County. “If I sound frustrated, it’s because I am frustrated. We don’t know what they did to the machines. If Bruce would have just asked, we could have saved this forty grand.”

Via John Urgo and HEAL Utah:

Here’s a reminder that neighborhood caucus meetings for choosing delegates are coming up in a week: Tuesday, March 21st, at 7:00pm. These meetings are the most important two hours you can spend if you want to help shape the local political process and get involved as a delegate.

The info for the Democratic neighborhood caucus meetings is here: http://www.utdemocrats.org/ht/display/AlertDetails/i/737953 (scroll down for the meeting times and locations).

The info for the Republican meetings is here: http://utgop.financialprintplus.com/Content.asp?W=20&C=31.

The UEA also has a good page with general information on the meetings and how to prepare: http://www.utea.org/politicsLegislation/caucuses/index.htm.

Unfortunately, this year’s legislative session was often marked by many legislators’ open disregard for the public (fortunately, the media took notice. See: “Shame on rude, petty lawmakers”, “Lack of civility mars session”). The good news is you can do something about it. As a delegate, you choose the candidates who run and help shape the platforms they run on.

Make your voice heard now because by November it could already be too late!

Many of you have heard the rumors, and now that the mayor’s schedule and an open venue are available to us, we can finally announce the next meeting. This Friday, March 10th, Mayor Rocky Anderson will be coming out to speak to our group at Piper Down Pub [Map]

Certainly a figure of controversy in our conservative state (or rather, because of our conservative state), and whether you agree or disagree with his some of his policies, you have to admit that Rocky shows a lot of courage to stand for progressive ideals in an often hostile environment. We’ve left it up to him to decide what topic he’d like to talk about, and with the close of our 2006 legislative session recently, there’s certainly a lot to talk about locally and we know the Mayor has plenty to say about the state of our Federal government.

So whether you’re a nutcake, a closet nutcake, a Liberal Drinker or a closet drinker, come out to Piper Down and enjoy some of the best liberal conversation you’re sure to have in Utah.

When: We meet at 6:30pm, Rocky will speak at 7:30pm
Where: Piper Down Pub, 1492 S. State Street, SLC
How much: Piper down sells visitor cards for $4 with a club sponsor, or a 1 year membership for $12.

Many of you have heard the rumors, and now that the mayor’s schedule and an open venue are available to us, we can finally announce the next meeting. This Friday, March 10th, Mayor Rocky Anderson will be coming out to speak to our group at Piper Down Pub, 1492 South State Street [Map]

Certainly a figure of controversy in our conservative state (or rather, because of our conservative state), and whether you agree or disagree with his some of his policies, you have to admit that Rocky shows a lot of courage to stand for progressive ideals in an often hostile environment. We’ve left it up to him to decide what topic he’d like to talk about, and with the close of our 2006 legislative session recently, there’s certainly a lot to talk about locally and we know the Mayor has plenty to say about the state of our Federal government.

So whether you’re a nutcake, a closet nutcake, a Liberal Drinker or a closet drinker, come out to Piper Down and enjoy some of the best liberal conversation you’re sure to have in Utah.

When: We meet at 6:30pm, Rocky will speak at 7:30pm
Where: Piper Down Pub, 1492 S. State Street, SLC
How much: Piper Down sells visitor cards for $4 with a club sponsor, or a 1 year membership for $12.

Thanks for the mention. We’ve done three more of ‘em. You can download them at pikeplacepolitics.blogspot.com

Thanks again

Will (Belltowner)

The National Journal is reporting on what Bush knew, and when he knew it (early October 2002).

“According to interviews and records, Bush personally read the one-page summary in Tenet’s presence during the morning intelligence briefing, and the two spoke about it at some length. Sources familiar with the summary said it was highly significant that the president was informed that it was the unanimous conclusion of the intelligence agencies participating in the production of the January 2003 NIE that Saddam was unlikely to consider attacking the U.S. unless Iraq was attacked first.”

“Cheney received virtually the same intelligence information, according to the same records and interviews. The president’s summaries have been shared with the vice president as a matter of course during the Bush presidency.”

“The conclusion among intelligence agencies that Saddam was unlikely to consider attacking the United States unless attacked first was also outlined in Senior Executive Intelligence Briefs, highly classified daily intelligence papers distributed to several hundred executive branch officials and to the congressional intelligence oversight committees.”

Yet Dick Cheney is quoted as saying “Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction. There is no doubt he is amassing them to use against our friends, against our allies, and against us” AFTER this information was made available to him.

The Seattle chapter of Drinking Liberally has released the first Drinking Liberally podcast. You can find it here: http://www.horsesass.org/.