Dawg care, laugh out loud

The dawg's healing is continuing, but she refuses to calm down (i.e., she's the same hyper bundle of muscle, bone, and skin she was before the surgery) and the cyst-removal on the leg is a constant lick-target. This is bad, since she still has staples in the leg, and too much pressure can make them bleed.

She's also requiring near-constant attention. If dogs are training for kids, I'm gonna be one tired daddy when junior finally shows up.

She's also training me to leave my computer.

So that's what's up nowadays.

In other news, this made me laugh out loud. It seems that the Bushies, who love blaming others for their own errors and faults, now think that Hugo Chavez is cheating with electronic voting machines.

If you ever thought that maybe they weren't cheating using electronic voting machines, this projection on their part should be proof certain.

U.S. digs for vote-machine links to Hugo Chávez

Federal officials are investigating whether Smartmatic, owner of Oakland, Calif.-based Sequoia Voting Systems, is secretly controlled by Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, according to two people familiar with the probe.

In July, a Treasury Department spokeswoman disclosed that a Treasury-led panel had contacted Smartmatic, and a company representative said his firm was ''in discussions'' with the panel. At the time, those discussions were informal. The government has now upgraded to a formal investigation, the two sources said.

Sequoia's electronic voting machines operate in 17 states. In Florida, the machines are used in four counties: Palm Beach, Indian River, Pinellas and Hillsborough.

Miami-Dade and Broward use other technology.

Concerns about Smartmatic are keen on the eve of the Nov. 7 election, given fears that someone with unauthorized access to the electronic system could create electoral chaos. Some critics believe that if the Venezuelan government is involved, Smartmatic could be a ''Trojan horse'' designed to advance Chavez's anti-American agenda.