Subject: What's next
Bart:
Democrats should come out firing against pseudo-christians
(those who claim to be 'good christians'
and yet support war, death and murder). Take
a stand that drives a wedge between the Scriptureheads
and the republicans. The Scriptureheads are just
stunned enough to abandon the GOP because they
haven't appointed a Witchfinder General yet and
start their own party, leaving Rove with the impossible
job of trying to sell the GOP to the rest of
America that now loathes him and them. Everytime the GOP
does something that favours the Scriptureheads,
point it out to the mainstream protestants and catholics
and SHAME THEM into thinking straight. Call it
the Democratic 'God Squad'...every bit as up on the
scriptures and totally prepared to call the Scriptureheads
on their hypocrisy.
Still kinda feels like 1933 Germany, doesn't it?
Except the uniforms aren't as slick.
Stormcrow
Subject: regards to suspicious Florida vote
Okay - based on the vote totals there should have
been in evidence at the polling stations of
a large groundswell for Bush. Was this witnessed
by those on the ground at the polling stations?
We know exit polls were finding no such movement
- Exit polls used to be considered the most
accurate of all polls - devestatingly so - with
fights to keep their results secret so as not to suppress
vote in other parts of the country.
The pattern you chart in Florida also exists in
Ohio.
According to the US census
http://www.census.gov/popest/counties/tables/CO-EST2003-01-39.pdf
a state that added less
than 100,000 to its general population in 4 years
managed one million new voters this year - the vote
split almost down the middle for the two parties.
I find it easy to believe that the dems could
recruit a half million new voters when the incumbent hasn't
created a job in 4 years, when the incumbent
used bogus intel to get the US into a war built on lies and
fabrications. A wrong-headed war that has incalculable
costs for the US at home and abroad in the near
future at the very least. An incumbent with unseemly
ties to corporate war profiteers and the Sauds. An
incumbent that will appoint people who will end
Roe v Wade - and infringe on other constitutional rights
as evidenced by the Patriot Act. An Incumbent
who was asleep at the wheel when 9/11 happened - who
has made America hated and mistrusted abroad
(you're all suspect now that you've voted him a second term
- or as wags in the blogosphere said after Abu
Ghraib surfaced "We're all wearing the blue dress now.") This
Incumbent also had Abu Ghraib happen on his watch
and with a 56 page memo parsing torture and the
Geneva convention that went through the President's
In Box unseen he dishonored American ideals.
This is the short-list and that's a half million
reasons to be fired up for sure - but where is the matching
republican groundswell - was it witnessed or
is it a fiction? The turnouts in some Ohio Republican districts
is in the mid-70% range - ten points less in
most Dem voting counties..
Just sayin'.
Some of the Ohio counties that Bush pulls in a
brand new 5 or 10 thousand more new voters are smallish
counties and they could be polled to see if evidence
of this groundswell can be found.
Feel free to write back and keep me abreast of
your efforts - look at the vote diff between 2000 and 2004
county by county in Ohio - that's what got my
tin-foil hat a' cracklin'!
Karl K
Karl, someone besides me will be tracking that story.
Subject: 'moral' victory
The biggest disappointment for me out of this
election is: the realization that a significant amount of
people do not care about results from a president,
instead it's their idea of morality that matters most.
There is absolutely no failure too large that
could change these people's minds.
Being a evangelical Christian myself, makes
it an exceptionally bitter pill to swallow.
These people have a persecution complex as big
as the state of Texas, and they literally
fear that "homos" are going to take over their
country. I try to tell them that some day the
pendulum will swing back to the left and they
will have to deal with the backlash.
But it won't be because of their beliefs in Jesus, it will be because they tried to legislate morality.
D Lewis.
They believe Clinton was an evil man because he cheated on his wife,
but Bush is a good Christian who needlessly killed 100,000 Iraqi civilians.
Sex is always worse than murder - to them.
Subject: reasons for Kerry's loss
This is from Al Martin:
He questions if the Dems would throw the election either by design or fundamental incompetence -
http://almartinraw.com/public/column106.html
I don't agree with him that John Kerry would spend
2 years of his life pretending he's running for
president. But I do agree that Kerry didn't fight
immediately.
I wanted him to be more likable (ie: be human
and get to the meat of the issues faster) AND to go for the
jugular immediately. Not wait until the last
weeks. I wanted him to fight the Swift Boat liars immediately.
I wanted Wes Clark to be the fightin' general
in the VP spot.
I heard Mario Cuomo say something that struck
me as the most potent statement Kerry could have made...
He mentioned if John Kerry spoke about what is
the most difficult part of serving for your country.
Not being shot at, but having to kill for your
country. Cuomo was amazing and I was so moved imagining
Kerry speaking about this horror we never hear
about. I know for myself, that would be the most chilling
part of defending my country. And I know I would
do it, if I believed I was defending our freedom, but it
would be the defining moment that would remain
with me.
I wanted that Hero to show himself before Tuesday
night.
I didn't see him until his concession speech.
-Elizabeth.
Subject: Florida results
I’ve looked at that spreadsheet myself, Bart.
What jumps out at me, though, is the county tallies
where the ratio of Democratic to Republican registration
is like 2.5 to 3 or more to one. In several,
but not all of these counties, the vote came
in 2 or 3 to one for the spoiled brat idiot.
A couple of thoughts have crossed my mind about this.
1. If such a big instance of cross-party
voting did in fact occur, some post-election polling or a
county survey would likely be able to ascertain
the underlying reasons – big military population that
likes to put its progeny into the meat grinder
for no fucking apparent reason, county economy is
completely dependent on making bullets, - you
get the idea.
2. If I were going to steal an election,
I would avoid fucking with the counties that everyone knows
about – Miami-Dade, Palm Beach, knuckle-dragging
Santa Rosa, etc. Instead, given that the margin
last time was so slim, I would try to stay way
under the radar, and pocket a few hundred to a thousand
or so votes from counties that nobody knows or
cares about. Scatter the evidence.
3. Keeping with the first point,
I would like to see these numbers compared to the 2000 results.
Going from a margin of 500 votes to over 300,000
is not insignificant. The changes in voting results
between these two general election years might
be revealing.
I’m not a conspiracy nut, but given all the shit
that has happened over the last four years that the
lazy fucking media in this country gave the idiot
boy-king a pass on – beginning with the Enron
submarine joyride in February of 2000 to the
lying about a war he planned to start even before
he got selected – this matter deserves a little
more attention.
Robert Z
Subject: Adam Yoshia
Dear Bart,
This maniac has the nerve
to exclaim, "Thank god almighty!" His contempt for those of us
who care about our country's future and our children's
future is staggering. This must have been
one of those days he forgot to take his brain
medicine. Shall we pray to the great cloud spirit
that he does us all a great big favor & quietly
takes his hatefulness to his own little inner world,
preferably in a strait jacket & locked up
securely where he can't harm anyone with his corporal evilness.
How much bleach would it take to cleanse his inner
spirit of the corruption residing in his whole being
....oceans would be too little. Where are our
true Americans who believe in our Constitution and the Bill of Rights?
Keep hammering and keep stomping, BC.
Elizabeth & like Molly Brown, unsinkable
Elizabeth, another reader pointed out that the GOP would not even allow Yoshida's parents in this country.
Subject: religious insanity
Right On Bart,
If, as was reported on National Public Radio today,
that 52% of Catholics voted for the Bungler because
his "morality" precludes gays from marrying yet
allows our young soldiers to die because of his oil hard on,
then these same Catholics must answer this question:
Why is it wrong for gays to marry, yet correct for their
priests to continue molesting little children?
This is a particularly galling contradiction here
in Massachusetts where dozens of churches are either closing,
or under the threat of being closed, so that
the church has more hush money to pay the people it has abused
over the years. In the first paragraph I wrote
"their priests" because, like you, I left the Catholics at a young age
because fear and superstition are lousy ways
to help one live a productive life. I prefer the ways of science and logic,
but those have never been things high on the
list of priorities for the Catholic church. After all, they waited a mere
380 years to admit Galileo's view of the heavens
was correct.
So what does it say about a segment of society
that voted for "higher morals" that include such atrocities as
condoning child abuse? Even worse, when I question
family members and friends who love Bush about this
(and the ever growing deficit, war in Iraq and
possibly Iran and Syria, but surprise...no Osama!), they stand
their ground and insist that the Bungler is The
Man. I have a two-and-a-half year old nephew, and I don't want
to see him end up in Iraq, Iran, Syria, North
Korea, Cuba or whatever other country the BFEE decides it needs
to murder in the year 2020.
Thanks for providing a space to vent.
Keep swinging the hammer!
Mike in Leominster, MA (not even close to being as liberal as the Bungler wants everyone to believe)
Subject: Where is bin Laden?
Pentagon officials believe they have been unable
to locate Bin Laden
because he has found a place to hide out where
(1) it is easy to get in if you have
the money,
(2) no one will recognize or remember you,
(3) no one will realize that you have disappeared,
(4) no one keeps any records of your comings
and goings, and
(5) you have no obligations or responsibilities.
Pentagon analysts are still puzzled, however,
as to how Bin Laden found out
about the Texas Air National Guard in the first
place.
Wanda
Subject: How can you ignore this issue and others like it?
November 5, 2004
The Honorable David M. Walker
Comptroller General of the United States
U.S. General Accountability Office
441 G Street, NW
Washington, DC 20548
Dear Mr. Walker:
We write with an urgent request that the Government
Accountability Office immediately undertake
an investigation of the efficacy of voting machines
and new technologies used in the 2004 election,
how election officials responded to difficulties
they encountered and what we can do in the future
to improve our election systems and administration.
In particular, we are extremely troubled by the following reports, which we would also request that you review and evaluate for us:
In Columbus, Ohio, an electronic voting system
gave President Bush nearly 4,000 extra votes.
"Machine Error Gives Bush Extra Ohio Votes,"
Associated Press, November 5.
An electronic tally of a South Florida gambling
ballot initiative failed to record thousands of votes.
"South Florida OKs Slot Machines Proposal," Id.
In one North Carolina county, more than 4,500
votes were lost because officials mistakenly believed
a computer that stored ballots could hold more
data that it did. "Machine Error Gives Bush Extra Ohio Votes," Id.
In San Francisco, a glitch occurred with voting machines software that resulted in some votes being left uncounted. Id.
In Florida, there was a substantial drop off in
Democratic votes in proportion to voter registration in counties
utilizing optical scan machines that was apparently
not present in counties using other mechanisms.
http://ustogether.org/election04/florida_vote_patt.htm
The House Judiciary Committee Democratic staff
has received numerous reports from Youngstown, Ohio
that voters who attempted to cast a vote for
John Kerry on electronic voting machines saw that their votes
were instead recorded as votes for George W.
Bush. In South Florida, Congressman Wexler's staff received
numerous reports from voters in Palm Beach, Broward
and Dade Counties that they attempted to select
John Kerry but George Bush appeared on the screen.
CNN has reported that a dozen voters in six states,
particularly Democrats in Florida, reported similar
problems. This was among over one thousand such
problems reported. "Touchscreen Voting Problems
Reported," Associated Press, November 5.
Excessively long lines were a frequent problem
throughout the nation in Democratic precincts, particularly in
Florida and Ohio. In one Ohio voting precinct
serving students from Kenyon College, some voters were
required to wait more than eight hours to vote.
"All Eyes on Ohio," Dan Lothian, CNN, November 3, http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/blog/1...blog/index...
..
We are literally receiving additional reports
every minute and will transmit additional information as it comes available.
The essence of democracy is the confidence of
the electorate in the accuracy of voting methods and the fairness of
voting procedures. In 2000, that confidence suffered
terribly, and we fear that such a blow to our democracy may have occurred
in 2004.
Thank you for your prompt attention to this inquiry.
Sincerely,
John Conyers, Jr. / Jerrold Nadler / Robert Wexler
Ranking Member / Ranking Member / Member of Congress
House Judiciary Committee Subcommittee on the
Constitution
Sincerely,
Phil
Phil, I can't tell if you're asking me or David Walker,
but voter fraud is a minutia-times-50 subject I just can't afford.
If you want to get into it, I can prints some links, but I can't even
answer my mail, much less get into 300 county problems in all 50 states.
I know - maybe we could convince the Democrats to get interested?
Nahhh...
Subject: Intellect as a hobby
Bart,
How do you get a point across to someone (namely
3 of my 4 brothers) who's only retort
to my attempt at stating relavent facts and truths
is "I never had sex with that woman."
I guess I still love em' though.
I feel like Ricky telling Lucy "I still love you, but you can't be in the show."
Dinojak
Dino, ask them why sex is a bigger crime than killing 100,000 civilians
and 1130 soldiers.
To them, sex is always worse than 100,000 murders.
Subject: remember the mark of Cain
Bart,
I just got my appetite back today.
You wrote:
> Do you remember a year or two ago, I said that
I'd always felt that racial bigotry was
> America's biggest problem, but that it was
falling to Number Two behind religious insanity?
> Sometimes I hate it when I'm right.
It hit me pretty hard that the religious right
wing believes that Cain killed Able and god marked Cain.
They believe that darker skinned people are the
sons of Cain.
When all gays and Africans are gone who will they have left to hate and persecute?
Joe S.
Joe, just like Hitler, they'll blame the liberals, the teachers, the
intellectuals.
They think the answer to every problem is more God, more guns and less
education.
Subject: that Yoshida dude
Dear Bart,
> We’ve got their teeth clutching the sidewalk
and our boot above their head.
> Now’s the time to curb-stomp the bastards.
> Adam Teiichi Yoshida
I think George Orwell had Nazi scum like Adam Teiichi Yoshida in mind when he wrote the quote cited below.
> But always -- do not forget this, Winston --
always there will be the intoxication of power,
constantly increasing and constantly growing
subtler. Always, at every moment, there will be
the thrill of victory, the sensation of trampling
on an enemy who is helpless. If you want a picture
of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human
face -- for ever.'
http://www.online-literature.com/orwell/1984/
James C
Subject: the loss
Bart,
From the day Kerry came out of nowhere to get
the nomination, I thought he was a ringer.
Too close to Bush to be a real choice for the
voters. And the problems in the Dean and Clark
campaigns seemed like maybe a few moles had been
planted to slow them down, give them bad advice, etc.
The totality of the dirty tricks and the neo-con
infrastructure now in place is beyond our comprehension.
How can we get our country back?
We need a new, real progressive party that presents
a true choice.
But I don’t think it can be done. They
would kill it.
The neocons have realized that churches presented
them with the ideal opportunity for recruiting,
for solidifying their base. What could
a progressive party use in this way?
Rather than living in an evangelical version
of Iran, I’m seriously considering moving out of the county.
When the people who voted for Bush realize what
they have done, if they ever do, it will be too late for them and their
children.
Wake up America.
Stephany
Subject: Allawi commanding US forces
BC:
The right wing always has a hissy fit about American
forces serving under
the command of a foreign general, but it appears
that "Dr." Allawi, the US puppet,
is commanding the US attack on Falluja.
Interesting, eh?
Neil in Vermont
Neil, that's OK.
Bush knows what he's doing.
He's a jenius.
