Not surprisingly, voter turnout for the New Hampshire state primaries was quite low. With few real contests in the offing, voters stayed away in droves.

Another reason the voter turnout was weak was because a majority of registered voters in the state are declared as independents, affiliated with none of the political parties in the state. It is one of the many ways that New Hampshire shows its contrarian nature, with citizens voting for the candidate and not along party lines, more often than not.

While turnout was low for this mid-term primary, the story will be quite different come November and the national elections.

Updates will be appended as results become available.

UPDATE 9:39PM EDT: Incumbent 2nd Congressional District Representative Charlie Bass® has won over his challenger, Berlin Mayor Bob Danderson. Bass will be facing Democrat Paul Hodes in a rematch of their 2004 contest.

UPDATE 10:08PM EDT: In an upset, Carol Shea-Porter has defeated fellow Democrat Jim Craig in her bid to run against incumbent 1st Congressional District Representative Jeb Bradley®.

The question yet to be answered is whether President Bush’s popularity, or lack thereof, will have any effect on the elections in New Hampshire come November. If past elections are any indicator, I’d have to say ‘No’. Again, it may be the contrarian New Hampshire yankee character that will be more of a deciding factor in November than party affiliations.

Both incumbent Republicans support the efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan, while both of the Democratic challengers have voiced their objections to the war and have expressed opinions that favor a quick pullout from Iraq. It may be that Iraq may be the deciding factor in the upcoming November elections.

Cue America haters in extremis.

This is breaking news; Sky has the details. Explosions and gunfire was heard; black smoke was seen around the US Embassy.

Four men in the attack; three killed, one Syrian guard killed. Car bomb failed to detonate.

Do you have an ever changing life that means that getting the normal minimum business cards done is a waste of money? As a consultant I need several different cards for the different types of thing I do, much like one needs different CVs for different type of jobs searches. The prospect of free business cards that are well done is always quite appealing to me. I think considering all the things I am doing right now; I would need at least three different versions. There are times when the URL to your rock band is not necessarily the best thing to have on your card. Eyes do roll. So go check out the free business cards.

And it happened 323 years ago at the Gates of Vienna. Islamists are still bitter that Europe finally got its act together and defeated the Muslims hordes. What you actually think the timing of the attacks 5 years ago were random?

One has to wonder does central Europe need another Vlad Tepes?

Oh and I have discovered this interesting essay on the origins of Islam. It casts some doubt on their common origins with Judiasm & Christianity.

I am speaking to the Adam Smith Institute’s The Next Generation this evening. The topic is being a libertarian in an increasingly restricted society.

On a heavier note, Marty has a new column up over at Blogcritics.

And this time its Hizbollah in his lazer site. Scott its good to have you back mate.

Well bridal shower invitations are something that loom in our future seeing as there is a wedding coming up in May. If you need any why don’t you follow the link and see what savings you can get online.

The CBC’s gone off the deep end. They’ve actually put out a transcript of it. I guess they’re proud of their efforts. They shouldn’t be.

Last night’s Sunday spent over half its broadcast—at least 30 minutes—airing a sympathetic and utterly credulous report on 9/11 conspiracy theorists.

The majority of it was spent interviewing the likes of Dylan Avery, responsible for Loose Change, and David Ray Griffin, who brought his expertise in theology to the matter. If watching Evan Solomon give these characters a warm tongue-bath strikes you as nauseating, fear not: Solomon’s cynical instincts were in fine form when talking to Lee Hamilton, co-chair of the 9/11 Commission:

Hamilton: Look, youve obviously gone through the report with a fine-toothed comb, you’re raising a lot of questions – I can do the same thing…

Solomon: Yeah..

Hamilton: ..all I want from you is evidence. Youre just citing a lot of things, without any evidence to back them up, as far as I can see.

Solomon: No, I’m just asking why they weren’t –
Hamilton: I dont know the answer to your question.

Solomon: I guess part of the reason is..

Hamilton: I cannot answer every question with regard to 9/11. I can answer a good many of them, but I can’t answer them all.

Solomon: I guess, Mr. Hamilton, I dont think anyone expects you to have all the answers…

Hamilton: Well, you apparently do, because you have asked me questions of enormous detail from a great variety of sources. You want me to answer them all – I cant do it.

Hamilton was trying to point out to Solomon that investigating conspiracy theories was not the Commission’s mandate; it was to establish a timeline for the attacks and evaluate the responses from government agencies. He might as well have been speaking to a wall.

There was one other interview, a long and interesting one, with “target=”new”>Jim Meigs, the editor-in-chief of Popular Mechanics, which put out an article (recently expanded into a book) that comprehensively rebuts the conspiracy-mongers point-by-point.

Meigs appeared, though, only in three or four short segments of the program. I don’t seem to recall this section making it to air:

And if you’re doing a responsible report on this, you really need to challenge the Loose Change film-makers on their selective use of source material, and go back and check the sources for every claim they make, and talk to the witnesses. What we did again and again in this book is go back and talk to people whose original interview are quoted over and over again by conspiracy theorists. Every single one of them told us their quotes were taken out of context, that was not what they said, not what they meant. And they’re heartsick at seeing their words being misused to mean something directly opposite of what their intention was at the time.

Because I suspect the interview won’t survive for long on the CBC’s website, I’ve copied it in full and reprinted it in the extended entry.

I do have one question, apparently unthought of by the tinfoil-hat brigade and their enablers in the media: Do you really think that a government both ruthless and omnipotent enough to orchestrate the murder of thousands of its citizens in broad daylight would hesitate for an instant to snuff out inconvenient craphounds like yourselves?

Better get an intern to start your car in the mornings, Solomon.

the blog québécois

Ever wanted to watch movies but didn’t want to watch them on your TV lest someone thinks you are a bit lame? Does no one else in your house share your taste in movies? Well Elite Movie Downloads allow you to watch them on your computer in the privacy of your office or bedroom. Why not head over and register thendownload a movie that you like. I suspect this will be a good resource for those who have eclectic tastes is movies and are sick of how slowly stuff shows up on satillite or their local movie shop. The stuff on this site is DVD quality not the barely visible stuff on some other places you could go. Go have a look. You have broadband so why not use it to download movies?

The polls open in a little over 8 hours.

It will be interesting to see how busy they will be. On more than one occasion the contrary New Hampshire voters have fooled the pundits and done just the opposite of what they were predicted to do. I hope this will be the case this time round.

Results of the three major races – governor and the two Congressional districts – will be posted as soon as they become available. Stay tuned.

UPDATE: I must correct an error. Both the Democrat and Republican candidates for governor are running unopposed, so by default, they’ve won their elections….unless of course a write-in takes the race.