Only five US Senators declined the opportunity to lard up the 2008 Defense bill with $8 billion in earmarks: Sen. Thomas Coburn (R-OK); Sen. James DeMint (R-SC); Sen. Russell Feingold (D-WI); Sen. John McCain (R-AZ); and Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO).

In The Favor Factory, the Seattle Times outlines in disturbing detail earmarks worth $3.5 billion that were hidden, tucked away, in the 2008 defense bill. Another $4.5 billion were "declared." The researchers report:

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The Brad Blog has a PDF of the absentee ballot sent to citizens in Rensselaer County (upstate New York, in the Capital Region -- Albany, Schenectady and Troy). On the ballot, Barack Obama has been printed as "Barack Osama." There is cause for worry as the county website says the absentee ballot "looks exactly like the ballot on the voting machine."

The Board of Elections is composed of a Democrat and a Republican. Citizens can only receive an absentee ballot with cause. The Albany (NY) Times-Union reports that about 300 citizens received the ballots.

See An Overview of Election Fraud and An Illustrated History of Voting Systems.

According to the New York Post, ACORN is under investigation in at least nine states for allegations of voter fraud. In Ohio, the Post interviewed a man who asserts that ACORN representatives gave him "cash and cigarettes ... in exchange for registering an astonishing 72 times."

ACORN is the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. It is currently at the center of a Republican effort to link Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) to negative headlines. Obama was a community organizer before becoming a state legislator.

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The Senate voted 74-25-1 to endorse the Wall Street bailout. I decided to look at the 25 (15 Republicans), to see how many are up for re-election this year. Here's the tally: Read more...