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The executive order will direct the commission to produce a report for Obama within six months of its first public meeting, principal deputy press secretary Josh Earnest said. The panel will be tasked with considering "a variety of ways to shorten lines and promote the efficient conduct of elections" and its findings will be "intended to serve as a best practices guide for state and local election officials to improve voters' experience at the polls under their existing election laws."

The justified hue and cry over ACORN's trying to steal this election can really be solved with a quick and clean piece of legislation that could be passed tomorrow. Require all voters on election day to dip their finger in the purple dye that the Iraqis have used since their fledgling democracy started a couple of years ago. From The Campaign Spot. Picking up from a thought by Mark Steyn, why do Iraq and Afghanistan have better protections against voter fraud and multiple voting than the United States? Why does the simple, visible, tough-to-evade purple finger ink get put...

The election last Thursday in Iraq, the third since the U.S. invaded, is an astonishing historical event in the Muslim Middle East......Yet with some few exceptions, the American media have done a poor job of telling us why this vote is so historically important, why it is such a remarkable achievement, and why the administration deserves credit for making it happen. Having opposed the war and the President from the start, the media’s coverage has relentlessly accentuated the negative, offering nit-picking analyses even as the bullets are flying, and asserting the failure of the effort before the job is even...

After months of criticism of President Bush’s policy, gloomy press coverage that seemed to focus almost entirely on car bombs, and near panic on the part of some Congressional Democrats, we now have a useful barometer to assess the real state of affairs in Iraq - Thursday’s historic and enormously successful parliamentary elections. The third national plebiscite vote in just two years since Iraq’s liberation from Saddam Hussein was largely free of violence and saw a turnout rate higher than most western nations’. Millions of Iraqis who proudly dipped their fingers in purple ink, enjoying the democracy that our troops...

With hat tips to FreePers Chris Dickson, Jenny Hatch, and ceogop (and apologies to any FreePers that I may have overlooked), I am again raising the point that we are to sport purple right index fingers this Monday-Thursday (Dec 12-15). Please see Purple Finger for Freedom and its directions for inking. Anyone with an appropriate ping list, please help spread the word. There have been far to few viewings of the aforementioned posts. Aye, maties, if we can wear the colors of our favorite football teams, we certainly can sport a purple finger for four days. Our soldiers, and the...

One finger at a time By Salena Zito TRIBUNE-REVIEW Iraq is under siege. And, for a moment, it has nothing to do with "insurgents," Saddam meltdowns or weak-kneed U.S. politicians. This siege is one that your average American is pretty familiar with: that mentally fatiguing final week leading to Election Day. Iraq resembles a targeted swing state; sophisticated media have taken hold. Savvy radio and television commercials bear a striking similarity to those produced here; political consultants are even advising campaigns on media saturation and how to react to developments. With campaign signs plastering every vertical surface available, the only...

"In a small dusty classroom, dirty with mold but brightened by a red plastic flower in a vase, English teacher Azhar Hashim tells a student practicing the words "I'm from Iraq," to raise his voice when he says that. "We all have to be proud of our country," she says, her black dress stained white with chalk. In the next room, Thanaa Mohamed asks her students to describe the rights of Iraqi citizens. "Equality and freedom," answers 12-year-old Jiwan Arasin. "Who can define equality?" Mohamed asks. "All people were born free," answers Esraa Jabbar. And freedom? "To express your opinion...

"Company of Heroes" is on FOX now about Falluhjah.

House foes say additional proofs meant to keep some groups away from ballots AUSTIN - The Texas House in a highly partisan 83-63 vote Monday gave preliminary approval to a bill that would require voters to present as many as three forms of identification before casting a ballot.Republicans argued the legislation would reduce voter fraud in Texas, but Democrats said the bill is meant to deter minorities and elderly people from voting.The bill's sponsor, Elections Chair Mary Denny, R-Aubrey, said it is not too much to ask people to prove their identity before voting to preserve the integrity of the...

MIDI - RUNAWAY TRAIN They just watched as the train had left the station We've been blessed George Bush led our nation Every day as we're feeling very grateful The DemocRATS are displaying how they're hateful At good news they're reacting really sadly They keep hoping things will go badly There's no joy because freedom has been spreading That Bush gets credit the traitors have been dreading When they see a purple finger, that is when their blood runs cold Because deep down the leftists hate America Everywhere watch freedom's flags unfurl Great change sweeping all around the world...

Darleen’s Place has photos from the San Diego Loon Convention, including this lovely lady with a purple middle finger, and a guy who looks like he could use a little starvation himself. I captured Her Gloriness just as she was lunging at our line of "USA USA" chanting patriots. But a really great frontal shot was had by Larry and is posted at Smash's place here. Smash is also starting to publish some of the transcripts of the "speeches" done at MoonbatTown where some of our number had blended into the attendees to capture it. Word was that the speeches...

MYRIAM MARQUEZ: DON'T DISMISS CHANGES FOR IRAQI WOMEN Ever since Safia Taleb al-Suhail triumphantly lifted her purple finger at President Bush in Congress -- signaling women's right to vote in a new Iraq -- the critics have wagged a finger back purporting that nothing will change. Oh, really? Where else in the Middle East do women make up almost a third of the parliament? Because that's what happened in Iraq's elections. It includes 45 women among the 140 members of the Shiite party blessed by Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, hardly known as a liberal. In all, 31 percent of the...

Marine's Mom Eva Savage's Message "Son Did Not Die In Vain."/ "Moore Does Not Speak For Them"

MIDI - PURPLE PEOPLE EATER That annoying wench, we will not take any more She is always wrong and quite a bore She's been flapping her gums on the radio So here is a message for Ms.Garofalo We will be flipping her off with a purple voting finger Flipping her off with a purple voting finger Flipping her off with a purple voting finger Stick it in her face She is showing hatred for our great president Anything he does will make her vent She's been flapping her gums on the radio So here is a message for Ms.Garofalo...

United Iraqi Alliance, backed by Iranian-born Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, leads with 1.1 million votes. The ticket headed by interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, a U.S.-backed secular Shiite, trailed second with more than 360,500 votes.... Developing...

"The inked fingers was disgusting," Air America radio talk show host Janeane Garofalo declared on MSNBC in denouncing Republican lawmakers who, before and after the State of the Union, showed off an inked finger meant to demonstrate solidarity with Iraqi voters who dipped a finger in ink when they voted. To mock the display, Garofalo soon held up her hand in a Nazi salute as she predicted: "The inked fingers and the position of them, which is gonna be a Daily Show photo already, of them signaling in this manner [Nazi salute], as if they have solidarity with the Iraqis...