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AUSTIN, Texas -- Pre-procrastination Christmas booklist! Look at this, fellow procrastinators -- almost two weeks before the actual day, and here I am to solve all your shopping problems with the annual one-stop, hit-the-bookstore with less than 24-hours-to-go, all-purpose Procrastinator's List.

Now, the only challenge is to hang onto the list long enough to get to a bookstore, lest we ONCE AGAIN wind up as the last customer at the Jiffy Mart at 11:45 p.m. Christmas Eve, trying to decide whether our nearest and dearest would prefer a nice jug of STP 40W or the new hemorrhoid cure.

For a terrific read and a great political yarn, "An Unreasonable Woman: A True Story of Shrimpers, Politicos, Polluters and the Fight for Seadrift, Texas" is my nomination for best surprise book of the year.

With public support for the Iraq war at low ebb, the White House is more eager than ever to conflate Iraq’s insurgency with terrorism. But last week, just after President Bush gave yet another speech repeatedly depicting the U.S. war effort in Iraq as a battle against terrorists, Rep. John Murtha debunked the claim. His refutation deserved much more news coverage than it got.

“You heard the president talk today about terrorism,” Murtha told reporters at a Dec. 7 news conference. “Every other word was ‘terrorism.’” Speaking as a lawmaker in close touch with the Pentagon’s top military leaders, he went on to confront the core of the administration’s current argument for keeping American soldiers in Iraq.

“Let’s talk about terrorism versus insurgency in Iraq itself,” Murtha said. “We think that foreign fighters are about 7 percent -- might be a little bit more, a little bit less. Very small proportion of the people that are involved in the insurgency are terrorists or how I would interpret them as terrorists.”

COLUMBUS, Ohio – (December 9, 2005) – Despite the heavy snow storm and bitter temperatures, Jonathan Meier, a 23 year-old divinity student and Columbus resident, is continuing a prayer vigil and hunger strike at the Ohio Statehouse to signal his disgust and distrust with House Bill 3 – the vote reform bill proposed and supported by GOP lawmakers.
Meier will continue the vigil Dec. 13 from 9am-11am on the Broad Street side of the Ohio Statehouse, at Broad and High Street. Supporters are welcome to join him in solidarity to show the lawmakers that the people of Ohio are in opposition to the bill.

Meier's hunger fast and vigil has been supported by sympathizers as far away as from Portand, Oregon and London, England. Meier also interviewed with a radio station covering the issue in Seattle.

Dylan to English Dictionary,
by A.J. Weberman (Dylanologist).
2005. New York: Yippie Museum Press.
560 pages. ISBN: 1-4196-1338-3.
www.booksurge.com
orders@booksurge.com

I have just read the article "Ohio Republicans Plan Holiday Burial for American Democracy" in the Dec. 6th Free Press (on Truthout).  The part about the disparity between the Dispatch poll and the outcome on the ballot issues sounds so very much like what happened in the Georgia Senatorial and Governor races in 2002 it is uncanny.  

It is pretty obvious that electronic touchscreen voting systems are the perfect vote rigging devices. "Irreverence is the champion of liberty, and its only sure defense."  The only safeguard I can see is for the press to conduct exit-type polls after the final tally to see how the polls square with the outcome.  If a number of polls were conducted after the election but before certification, it would be very difficult to argue against the integrity of numerous independent polls. 

The Inmates are Running the Asylum

How much damage will men like George Bush, James Dobson, Pat Robertson, Sam Brownback, Ralph Reed, and Rick Santorum inflict before reason prevails and they are unmasked as the twisted, malevolent charlatans that they are? Fundamentalist Christians, adherents to a nauseating perversion of Christianity (conjured from their twisted imaginations and their distorted interpretations of the Bible) wield a significant amount of power in the United States, socially and politically. Fund-raising, promotional, and organizational skills have enabled these Corpora-Fascist Capitalists masquerading as practitioners of the Christian faith to gain pervasive influence over the Republican Party. Despite recent blows, Republicans still control the Executive and Legislative branches of government, and are well on their way to dominating the Judicial branch by appointing judges who zealously rule in ways which promote the Social Darwinism, elitism, bigotry, property rights, and corporate power the Christo-Fascist Fundamentalist Christians crave.

In the 9/11 attack, a little over three thousand people were killed. Following that, the U S government was partially reorganized and the U S went to war. In the hurricanes, in the area around New Orleans, over six thousand people died. Now, over twelve hundred children are living with foster parents or in institutions because their birth parents cannot be located, dead or alive. Months later, the best the U S government can do for housing is temporary shelter in hotels, canvas tents and a few travel trailers. Over eighty percent of those who suffered the most were African/American. Is there a connection? How can the U S spend over $300 billion on war against a nation that had nothing to do with 9/11, and not take care of the survivors of hurricanes in our own land?

Thank you for your news story, “With new legislation, Ohio Republicans plan holiday burial for American Democracy.” It’s the most important news story I’ve read in a long while. I’m shocked and amazed there hasn’t been more discussion in the media about House Bill 3. I’m doing what I can to make people aware of it. It doesn’t just mark the end of democracy, it’s the birth of communism. Finally, the republicans make sense. They’re communists. I appreciate your making this stunning revelation clear.

I read your December 6 article on the above bill and am properly horrified. Can't this be challenged on the grounds that it is illegal and unconstitutional? I hope that will happen. Meanwhile I will write to the governor in the hope that a few million others will do so as well. Thank you for your diligence in reporting.

Former Senator Eugene J. McCarthy’s death is a subtle reminder to Americans of everything that he represented to our political system. McCarthy’s legacy will be twofold: that he gave the United States a chance to abandon the two-party system, an opportunity the country wasted, and that his refusal to adopt Madison Avenue-style political tactics left him behind the curve in the television era.