Ken:
Nortel
I feel your pain. I bought some NT for my wife earlier this year . . . on two occasions. Usually she's pretty nervous when the stocks I buy for her go down, but for some reason she's not nervous with NT (I guess she trusts me). But today, I had cause for concern because usually the stock I buy hold good long term prospects and typically recover. This latest dip in IS a concern.
Election
Yes, undoubtedly the issue of whether Secretary Harris exercised her discretion appropriately will be decided by the Florida Supreme Court, on appeal. But it'll be interesting to first see how J. Lewis rules on the matter based upon his own previous ruling.
I am aware of the political makeup of the Florida Supreme Ct. This is an issue I'm sure the Republicans are well aware of. As this progresses, I am more convinced that the Republican strategy is to continue to push this process along until the overseas absentee ballots are counted and certified Saturday, at which time it is likely that Bush's margin over Gore will widen considerably making much of what is taking place in Palm Beach and Broward counties immaterial to the outcome of the election.
Notwithstanding, very strong arguments can be made regarding the integrity of these manual counts in terms of their accuracy, and in terms of whether they represent the will of the people as expressed by the ambivalent position of several canvassing boards to proceed with the hand count.
I think it is indisputable that without the influence of the Democratic Presidential Campaign Broward County, at a minimum, would not be doing the hand count today, which BTW, has been reported not to be turning up that many more votes for Gore. The integrity of the officials conducting the hand count in Palm Beach must also be called into question.
Again, in the totality of the circumstances, I do think that it is very difficult to argue that the Secretary of State did not follow the J. Lewis' ruling. She has a duty to question the merit of these late hand-counted ballots. Her discretion acts both ways, not only to blindly reject, but also not to blindly reject. All the law requires, and all the judge's ruling requires that she not make her decision blindly. And I think it will be difficult to argue that she has fail to meet this standard. JMO. |
