WALL STREET JOURNAL: Milwaukee Puts a Vote-Fraud Cop Out of Business. “Last week Mike Sandvick, head of the Milwaukee Police Department’s five-man Special Investigative Unit, was told by superiors not to send anyone to polling places on Election Day. He was also told his unit — which wrote the book on how fraud could subvert the vote in his hometown — would be disbanded.” Strange that they’d do that right before a major national election . . . .

JAMES LILEKS now has a bright-and-shiny screedblog.

BACTERIA MOVE in mysterious ways.

JONATHAN GEWIRTZ: Vote for McCain, He May Win.

DOLLY PARTON takes on Google.

HAPPY ELECTION DAY: Now get out and VOTE!

UPDATE: Reader Andrew Morriss did, and reports:

I vote in a small, rural, conservative, Republican town in Illinois. There is nothing major for either state or local on the ballot. I waited 20 minutes to vote at 6:30 a.m. and the elderly poll workers said they had never seen an election like this before, even when there was a major local issue on the ballot.

I take some hope from this – I think all those people were there, just as my wife and I were there, to vote against Obama when it won’t make a difference at all, since he’ll easily carry Illinois based on Chicago. As my wife noted, the folks in the Remington caps were unlikely to be Obama voters.

And reader David Klug reports from Florida: “I showed up at the polls in Jacksonville 15 minutes before they opened to find this long line already formed. By the time they opened the doors the line was well on its way to tripling in length. In my experience this is unusual the opening. Another observation – of the dozen and a half poll workers, only two of them were people of pallor. Interesting in that the district is predominantly white. None of the usual white haired ladies were there. Not sure why that is but I found it interesting.”

At right is a photo he sent of the line. If the turnout doesn’t match the polls’ models, of course, the results might turn out to be different than the polls predict.

ANOTHER UPDATE: A report of massive turnout “even in GOP-friendly states.” And reader Thomas Pfau emails:

I first voted around 1980 and have been voted in every major election since the early 90’s. For the first time I can remember I had to stand in line to vote this morning. The parking lot was full and the firehouse was fairly packed at 7:30 this morning.

I passed another overflowing parking lot on the way there. I believe that location was being used as a voting center for the neighboring town. I’ve never seen so many cars there.

Please tell me high turnout favors Republicans.

Well, probably not in New Jersey. But what do I know? And reader George Stege writes:

I reside in Republican DuPage county right outside of Cook County and the economic black hole of Chicago. At 6:30AM, over 60 people were voting or in line when I got there. Took 25 minutes to complete my voting. The large turnout at that time probably does not bode well for McCain, even though he is strong in Villa Park and the county. I hope I am wrong, but tomorrow is the wife’s birthday so I have great reason, regardless of who wins, to put on a happy face and get back to the grind of keeping our economy chugging along.

I don’t think anything could deliver Illinois to McCain. But someone who knows more than I do ought to look at the turnout reports around the country and compare them to what the poll models are based on.

STILL MORE: Reader Michael Newton writes: “Heavy turnout favors McCain. Remember how we were told that Obama supporters were more energized? But the closer we get to 100% turnout, the less ‘energy’ has to do with who will win.” Hmm. Makes sense to me, but I’m no polling expert.

DOG BITES MAN: Anonymous Anger Rampant on Internet.

ANOTHER UNDERFUNDED PUBLIC PENSION PLAN: “The funded status of the Illinois Teachers’ Retirement System (TRS) dropped to 56% in the last fiscal year, down from 64% the previous year.” Anything below 80% is underfunded.

MEGAN MCARDLE: “I can’t prove that cops are ticketing more in order to make up other revenue shortfalls, of course, but it certainly seems true from anecdotal evidence.” Looks that way around here, too.

PROFESSOR BAINBRIDGE: On responding to an Obama victory: “I plan on throwing a major hissy fit, followed by a bender of historic proportions.”

Meanwhile, Bill Quick writes: “I’m not going to panic. The GOP is going to spend a few years in the wilderness, but I think the right will be able to hold Obama in check to a much larger extent than the hysterical prognoses being offered today indicate.” I certainly hope he’s right. Plus, a positive note from an immigrant.

MICHAEL GREENSPAN: How successfully has the MSM covered for Obama? This successfully.

UPDATE: Two percent?

UGH: Mother murdered her “inconvenient” baby. (Via Andrea See).

HMM: Google’s growth makes privacy advocates wary. “Perhaps the biggest threat to Google Inc.’s increasing dominance of Internet search and advertising is the rising fear, justified or not, that Google’s broadening reach is giving it unchecked power. . . A bigger long-term concern for Google could be criticisms over something less tangible — privacy. Increasingly, as Google burrows deeper into everyday computing, its product announcements are prompting questions about its ability to gather more potentially sensitive personal information from users.”

UPDATE: Toren Smith writes: “I recommend Scroogle. It ‘scrapes’ Google, allowing you to use Google’s capabilities without giving them any of your personal information. You lose out on a few of Google’s features (most notably cached pages) but it provides a lot more privacy.”

UPDATE: You really want to follow the link above, which goes to Scroogle.org. If you just type in Scroogle.com you get something very different, and not at all safe for work.

SO ARE THEY FOOLING THEMSELVES, OR NOT? Optimism in the McCain Camp.

Could it be explained here?

SO THERE WERE THESE COUNTRY-TYPE GUYS in the faculty restroom this afternoon, and it turns out it was Brooks & Dunn. They were talking about mules. No, really.

KEEPING HOPE ALIVE: President John McCain: it could happen. At the Boston Globe?

JAMES TARANTO ON HEARTLESSNESS: “Maybe a period of heartless liberalism is a needed corrective after eight years of compassionate conservatism. But here’s the big question: Would Obama be as brutal in defending America’s interests as he is in pandering to xenophobes and global warmists?” (Via Ann Althouse).

IN WHICH I AM ACCUSED, ONCE AGAIN, OF SHILLING FOR OBAMA: Reader David R. Graham emails:

It seems to me that the English of your OpEd today in the NY Post is that you have voted for Obama because he is a lawyer and lawyers hang together for professional enhancement. Had you considered Obama’s thuggery etc. wrong, dangerous, actionable, whatever, you would have personally taken him to court on the point of his legitimacy or filed amicus briefs on behalf of those who have. You know he is a fraud from front to back and top to bottom and you will talk about it but you will not act on it because you are a lawyer, a coward in your peer group, and so is he.

No, I’m not an Obama supporter, and I didn’t vote for him. I thought that OpEd was fairly hard-hitting, but then, I do “lack fire.”

THINKING THE UNTHINKABLE: What if McCain Wins?

SO IF, AS SEEMS LIKELY, MCCAIN LOSES TOMORROW, people will be blaming him and Sarah Palin. But let me point out that the Republican Party has been exhibiting a bizarre death wish since 2005. And you can’t blame either of them for that. . . .

MORE QUESTIONS ABOUT Obama’s donations.

CONVENIENTLY LATE: Investigator: No Evidence Palin Violated Ethics Law. (Via JWF).

FIGHTING “WRAP RAGE,” by touting products with “frustration-free packaging.” I’d like to see more of that. They’re also requesting examples, and video, of frustrating, hard-to-open packaging, so you’ve got both carrot and stick. (Via the Insta-Wife).

Plus, praise for Amazon’s effort from Engadget. “At long last, a company with a little clout has stood up and questioned the necessity of those ridiculous hard plastic containers that hold minuscule flash cards and the like.”

SOME ELECTION PREDICTIONS from the Rovian Conspiracy. One of them looks spot-on.

ROGER SIMON: If McCain Loses, I’m Moving to France: “France is more conservative and they’ve got better food. And isn’t that the grand tradition of Hollywood sore losers?”