CNN:

Republican George Allen of Virginia will concede the election for his U.S. Senate seat to Democratic challenger Jim Webb on Thursday, sources close to the senator said Thursday.

A victory for Webb will give the Democrats control of the Senate, as well as the House of Representatives.

Allen scheduled a news conference for 3 p.m. ET. Webb has scheduled an appearance with reporters at 4:15 p.m.

Even before any formal concession had been made, Republicans were resigned to facing a Democratic majority next year, one GOP member said Thursday.

"I think if you ask any Republican in Congress right now, they're working under the assumption that they'll be in the minority in both the House and the Senate," New Hampshire Sen. John Sununu told CNN.

In the last unsettled race of the 33 Senate contests on Tuesday's ballots, Allen trailed Webb, a former Navy secretary, by 8,805 votes, the Virginia Board of Elections announced Thursday afternoon.

The gap grew from the roughly 7,200 votes Wednesday after 55 of Virginia's 134 electoral districts completed their canvasses of the results.

A Webb win would put the new Senate lineup at 49 Democrats, 49 Republicans and two independents -- Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, who have said they would caucus with the Democrats.

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When interviewed by George Stephanopoulos, President Bush answered a question about a newspaper column comparing Iraq to the 1968 Tet offensive in Vietnam, might be accurate.  Specifically, he was asked if he agreed with the opinion of columnist Tom Friedman, of The New York Times that the two may be equilivent and answered,

"He could be right.  There's certainly a stepped-up level of violence, and we're heading into an election."

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Charles Grassley:

"Dr. McClellan has worked to fix the problems.  I hope his departure doesn't cause delays in getting Part D snags fixed for beneficiaries and that he'll correct all known problems before he leaves."

Reminder:  the leglislation for the Medicare Modernization Act was signed in 2003.

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Also reported in Anchorage Daily News via Slashdot   more documentation of technical difficulties with Diebold voting machines.  According to Election coordinator Lauri Wilson, several Diebold touchscreen machines in Southeast Alaska, the Interior and near Nome did not upload their votes into the Division of Elections' central computing system as modems did not get a dial tone.  Also, in one precinct, an optical scanner voting machine was unable to connect by modem.

Democratic Party response below

This is further demonstrated in Voting Machines Sitting in FL Living Rooms by Alf Ranken which states "Apparently, since Early Voting starts "early in the morning" Monday, the (Republican) Supervisor of Elections decided it was best to send the voting machines home for the weekend with the poll workers.

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I am not the only traumatic brain injury (tbi) survivor with the following opinion:  this "priortizing" the diagnosis and treatment of veterans w/tbi over civilians w/tbi has GOT to stop.  Plain and simple, tbi's do NOT differentiate between veterans and civilians w/respect to rehabilitation.  The effects and the necessary treatments are the same.  That is why the "Wait till 2008." mantra is bullshit.  

First and most importantly, more funding for research is NOT what is needed, as the research has already been done and is gathering dust.

facts and experiences listed below

I am a TEST VET.

We took an oath of secrecy.  Honorable men keep their oaths.  But there is no honor in protecting the predators who used us and then abandoned us.  It is time for the TEST VETS to speak out.

On August 25th, I will be 51 years old.  I have had a stroke, 7 heart attacks, a failed triple bypass, heart ejection fraction of 25%, COPD, skin abnormalities, foot fungus and rashes.  This all started in 1992 when I was 36.  I am in contact with 11 other "test vets" and we all have heart problems and multiple health issues. We are all ignored by the VA

Why the Fuck won't anyone ask Cheney and Rumsfeld about their Chemical Weapons and drug experiments in 1974 and 1975?   While they were in the Ford Administration, Cheney and Rumsfeld, violated the Nuremberg Codes of 1947 by using enlisted men as human test subjects for chemical warfare.   From 1952 thru 1975, they used 7120 enlisted men in these experiments.  

The health study contacted the participants in 2000 and found that 75% of them were either dead or disabled.

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This view is being supported by those Republicans who insist that immigrants must learn and use English.

Eighty Republicans signed a letter written by Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) objecting to provisions of the Voting Rights Act's provisions requiring state and local governments to print ballots in foreign languages, or, to provide interpreters where there is a need for them, claiming that doing so is an unfunded mandate. The letter further stated

"The multilingual ballot mandate encourages the linguistic division of our nation and contradicts the 'Melting Pot' ideal that has made us the most successful multi-ethnic nation on earth."

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To some, writing is tedious, a chore, and something to be avoided whenever possible.  Not to me.  I take pride in the end result.

The fact that I am distributing my ideas, and others respond, even though some disagree, means a great deal to me.  I thank my high school English teacher, Frank Strunk, for his willingness to share his knowledge emphasizing importance of the written word.  I apply it to this day.  It is automatic, just like he said it would be.  

Lately, I have been doing a lot of thinking about certain events, both in my life and in the political spectrum.  A converation with one aquaintance has been running though my mind.  In closing, the aquaintance said, "Your writing is very powerful."

There have been similar converations with others.  I have decided that now is the time for me to follow through.

I am going to write a book.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s article in Rolling Stone leaves too many unanswered questions.  There have been subsequent events that are cause for serious concern.

It has been reported BY AN INDEPENDENT SOURCE, that Mitch Given, a registered lobbyist for Diebold Election Systems, one of the vendors of voting machines for election boards in Ohio, gave Blackwell the maximum $10,000.00 donation.

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As previously stated by Senator. Debbie Stabenow,

"The enrollment numbers for the new Medicare prescription drug program are inflated and misleading...This is just one more indication that the drug benefit is not working as it was intended or as it is being portrayed."

and Rep. Sander Levin re:  ealier claims by CMS,

"That's my objection. They've tried to downplay the problem of so many people not enrolling and so many people who have had gargantuan problems."

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The right to vote is supposed to mean something in the United States. The idea of going to war overseas in the name of the democratic process while making a mockery of that process here at home is just too ludicrous.

However, it appears that is exactly what has happenned and is ongoing.  As documented, the outcome of the 2004  election raises serious doubts as to whether or not the correct person is presently occupying the White House and exercising all of the powers of the Presidency.

In addition, extremely serious questions are being raised, both in print and in court about the integrity and use of the electronic voting machines that were purchased.

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Now, in Colorado, it has been discovered that records consisting of personal information of over 150,000 people are missing.  In addition, officials are unsure if the files have been lost, moved or stolen.

According to the Denver Election Commission, officials didn't know of the records were missing until June 1, but, it is thought they disappeared four months previously.  Lisa Jones, a former temporary worker at the election commission, wrote that the files were missing on a weblog.   Jones believes that commission officials knew of the lost files in April.

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Yesterday, it was claimed that 11.5 million have signed up for Part D.  As a result,  the administration is claiming that there are now 38.7 million people with prescritption drug coverage.  However, most who did enroll, chose the lowest price plan that may or may not cover all of their prescriptions.  According to Robert Hayes, of the Medicare Rights Center,

``The moral dilemma is that the people in greatest need are the people still unenrolled.  Unless we can dramatically increase the number of the poorest Americans in this program, we need to reexamine the best way to meet the primary objective of the law."

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