MORE SUBTLE THAN ANY BEAST:

Since in Spain the voters rejected the government which sent troops into Iraq, why did the Australians vote (barely) to reelect the government which sent their troops into the morass? Now we know the answer. It was voter intimidation at the polls:

Australian Electoral Commission Queensland officer Anne Bright said apart from reports of a brown snake slithering up to a polling booth at Eumundi, inland from Noosa, no other problems were reported. "I had a report that brown snakes wanted to vote at Eumundi," Ms Bright said.

Read it HERE. Let's hope this doesn't give Karl Rove any ideas. (Thanks to Dave Barry.)