DEJA VU: Finally emerged from exhaustion after holding the election in our old precinct. We had the biggest turnout ever. We're delighted to see that Dallas County elected a Democratic Sheriff, who is also an Hispanic woman and openly lesbian. We added three new Democratic Judges (for a total of four), and three other statewide or multi-county candidates carried this one even though they lost overall. That is delightful progress.
On the other hand, the worst President in American history claims he was reelected, and despite serious problems with the voting, the Democratic nominee has rolled over and played dead for him. He should have fought to get all those provisional ballot s counted, to protect not just their rights but those of all of us in the future. Kerry was nowhere near my first choice, and this is one of the reasons: he is always too accomodating to the establishment, ever since he lost his first race for Congress in 1972. He voted for the Patriot Act, for the War, for Bush fiscal policies -- and only made grudging arguments that all these things could be done more effectively by him. No wonder there wasn't more enthusiasm.
His real problem has been identified indirectly by several surveys of voters which showed the concern most often cited was with moral values. Of course that has always been my chief political concern, but here the examples given by those voters were opposition to partial birth abortion, gay marriage, etc. Kerry should have made this a referendum on moral values himself, by attacking Bush for not having any. To paraphrase the anti-Clinton people, say "It's not the war, it's the lying." Remind people how our ancestors fought and died to preserve our right to honest open government that protects our rights but lets us live our own lives, how they scraped and saved to flee from countries where they were persecuted for their beliefs, and how the Bush and Ashcroft crowd are trying to take us back to the religious wars and make us a giant Belfast or Beirut.
It might have worked, and it couldn't have done much worse.
However, the truth is that Kerry probably DID win anyway, and his votes were stolen away by Republican-manufactured election software. In two key states, Ohio and Florida, the exit polls mysteriously showed Kerry winning or close, and then Bush won big. Strangely, the only places the exit polls were so wrong were the places where touch-screen voting machines did not leave a paper trail so that they could be audited. Lots of sites are peering at this (Daily KOS is a good clearing house, or check out Black Box Voting), but don't expect Ashcroft's inquisitors to investigate.
I'm not advocating emigrating, but you might think about making sure you have a valid passport in case it all falls apart -- or some means of self-defense if you plan to stay no matter what. The government is no longer in our hands, and it threatens not only those who disagree with it, but the rest of the world. Go check out the link on the sidebar to "It Becomes Necessary". It already is starting to happen here.
On the other hand, the worst President in American history claims he was reelected, and despite serious problems with the voting, the Democratic nominee has rolled over and played dead for him. He should have fought to get all those provisional ballot s counted, to protect not just their rights but those of all of us in the future. Kerry was nowhere near my first choice, and this is one of the reasons: he is always too accomodating to the establishment, ever since he lost his first race for Congress in 1972. He voted for the Patriot Act, for the War, for Bush fiscal policies -- and only made grudging arguments that all these things could be done more effectively by him. No wonder there wasn't more enthusiasm.
His real problem has been identified indirectly by several surveys of voters which showed the concern most often cited was with moral values. Of course that has always been my chief political concern, but here the examples given by those voters were opposition to partial birth abortion, gay marriage, etc. Kerry should have made this a referendum on moral values himself, by attacking Bush for not having any. To paraphrase the anti-Clinton people, say "It's not the war, it's the lying." Remind people how our ancestors fought and died to preserve our right to honest open government that protects our rights but lets us live our own lives, how they scraped and saved to flee from countries where they were persecuted for their beliefs, and how the Bush and Ashcroft crowd are trying to take us back to the religious wars and make us a giant Belfast or Beirut.
It might have worked, and it couldn't have done much worse.
However, the truth is that Kerry probably DID win anyway, and his votes were stolen away by Republican-manufactured election software. In two key states, Ohio and Florida, the exit polls mysteriously showed Kerry winning or close, and then Bush won big. Strangely, the only places the exit polls were so wrong were the places where touch-screen voting machines did not leave a paper trail so that they could be audited. Lots of sites are peering at this (Daily KOS is a good clearing house, or check out Black Box Voting), but don't expect Ashcroft's inquisitors to investigate.
I'm not advocating emigrating, but you might think about making sure you have a valid passport in case it all falls apart -- or some means of self-defense if you plan to stay no matter what. The government is no longer in our hands, and it threatens not only those who disagree with it, but the rest of the world. Go check out the link on the sidebar to "It Becomes Necessary". It already is starting to happen here.
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