"There was a failure rate of about 10 percent, and that's not good enough for the voters of California and not good enough for me," Secretary of State Bruce McPherson said.

If the machines had been used in an election, the result could have been frustration for poll workers and long lines for thousands of voters, elections officials and voter advocates said Thursday.

"We certainly can't take any kind of risk like that with this kind of device on California voters," McPherson said.

The Senate voted Friday to shield firearms manufacturers, dealers and importers from lawsuits brought by victims of gun crimes, a measure opponents said had been ordered up by the gun lobby.

The 65-31 vote passed a bill that supporters said protects the industry from financial disaster and bankruptcy caused by damage lawsuits.

"This bill says go after the criminal, don't go after the law-abiding gun manufacturer or the law-abiding gun seller," said bill sponsor Sen. Larry Craig (news, bio, voting record), R-Idaho.

But Sen. Edward Kennedy (news, bio, voting record), D-Mass., and other opponents said the gun industry needs no such special protection. "This bill has one motivation — payback by the Bush administration and the Republican leadership of the Congress to the powerful special interest of the National Rifle Association," he said.

Eric Minameyer, an advisor to Jean Schmidt, was just the beginning of the "swift boating" of Paul Hackett in what appears to be a coordinated effort by her campaign.  Upon arriving at Hackett HQ this morning to take some photos and videos, I was shocked to hear that the deplorable tactics have been taken to a new level in the past 24 hours.

1.) A local conservaitve radio host started by questioning Paul Hackett's service to country.  Scott Sloan of WLW 700 AM in Cincinnati went off on some insane rant about the real level Paul's patriotism regarding the war in Iraq and claimed Hackett was using his service for "political purposes."

3.) A few days ago, an Amry Private First Class was burried in Fairfield, Ohio.  Within 24 hours, a number of flags were burned and tossed into a pile infront of his mother and father-in law's home.  As you can imagine, this incident has led to a lot of press and sadness for the family.

The same host above, Scott Sloan, attempted to tie Paul Hackett to the flag burning incident.

Our question is this? DO Rethuglicans have a soul? No, I'm serious. Do they have a mutha fucking soul?

The boys at The Rat bust open our stash for beer and threw some more loot at Paul. Now We're asking you Rat Bastards to do the same. Let fuck these assholes were it hurts and send Paul to Congress!!!

The Army, which expects to miss its 2005 recruiting goal by about 12,000, already is falling behind for next year.

The pool of recruits who sign up as much as a year before they report for training is dwindling. So far, 3,100 have signed up for 2006, according to Army Recruiting Command at Fort Knox, Ky. The Army says it hopes to have 7,200 recruits in the pool by Oct. 1, when the 2006 recruiting year begins. By comparison:

• The Army started the 2005 recruiting year with about 14,700 recruits in the delayed entry pool. It is making up some of the shortfall in recruiting by re-enlisting soldiers at a higher-than-expected rate. But the Army also has tried to trim this year's shortfall by rushing many delayed entry enlistees into basic training.

• In 2004, the Army had more than 33,000 enlistees signed up ahead of time. It met its recruiting goals.

Allowing recruits to put off going to boot camp for up to a year gives enlistees flexibility and provides the Army with a buffer for future recruiting needs. Army statistics show the pool's size is a key indicator of its annual recruiting.

Maj. Gen. Michael Rochelle, who heads Army Recruiting Command, said recruiting in July is slightly ahead of its goal, but that won't wipe out the current shortfall. He said parents are still reluctant to encourage their children to enlist. The Army has taken the brunt of U.S. casualties in Iraq.

Rochelle acknowledged it can expect another struggle next year.