Global

Republican recently sort of maybe re-elected Chief Justice Moyer in the Ohio Supreme Court apparently deems the Judicial Code of Ohio, specifically Cannon 3, not sufficiently convincing to recuse himself. That Canon specifically provides that if your economic interests are tied to the outcome of litigation you MUST recuse yourself. Moyer’s job and salary are base on his reelection results. Notwithstanding that his Election results are shadowed by the same alleged problems with the voting manipulations and irregularities plaguing the Presidential Election, and notwithstanding that there is a collateral action by the same plaintiff attorneys against Moyer himself related to the pled illegitimacy of his re-election, before any evidence on any substantive summary judgment motion or hearings issued, and before even his Court apparently effectively served the Defendants according to the spurious arguments of those main Defendants served but ducking subpoenas, Moyer deems the plaintiff's case-in advance- "inadequate."

Editor:

The AP distributed an article bylined J. Seewer entitled “Ohio ends recount; Kerry nets 300 votes“ on December 29, 2004 that is highly misleading and demands rebuttal. Those of us in Washington State, where recounting has become a major spectator sport, understand that the term demands careful qualification. The steps taken in Ohio bear only limited resemblance to a true “recount.” For one thing, leaving aside the many reports of voter suppression, many of the Ohio votes were cast with electronic voting equipment that does not produce any verifiable paper record of the vote. This eliminates the possibility of any recount of those votes from the start. It also makes those votes a prime target for mischief since no followup is possible.

COLUMBUS -- The Ohio presidential recount was officially terminated Tuesday, December 28.

But the end comes amidst bitter dispute over official certification of impossible voter turnout numbers, over the refusal of Ohio's Republican Supreme Court Chief Justice to recuse himself from crucial court challenges involving his own re-election campaign, over the Republican Secretary of State's refusal to show up for a noticed deposition, over apparent tampering with tabulation machines, over more than 100,000 provisional and machine-rejected ballots left uncounted, over major discrepancies in certified vote counts and turnout ratios, and over a wide range of unresolved disputes that continue to leave the true outcome of Ohio's presidential vote in serious doubt.

With the current reshuffling, realignment, and exodus of and from President Bush's Cabinet, I would like to take this opportunity to ask everyone  to call your congressman and senators and demand the resignation of Donald Rumsfeld as Sec. of Defense. As a retired military person I feel I have a duty and obligation to our current troops to weigh in on this subject.

  His refusal to accept responsibility for the poor planning (not working with and ignoring the recommendations of the State Dept. to coordinate a framework of government for post-war Iraq, not using sufficient force to overcome the enemy) poor prosecution of the war (ignoring sound military advice on troop levels, not properly securing supply lines, relying on Iranian double agent Ahmed Chalabi for flawed intelligence) and his complicity in criminal and immoral activity (the Abu Grahib prisoner scandal, not properly equipping the troops for the tasks at hand, court-martialing commanders and subordinates for providing adequate resources to the men and women under their command, shifting responsibility to underlings) is offensive and lacking any shred of integity.  

"That can't be what they really call them!" I exclaimed in amusement. But Lowell Finley, legal counsel for the Green/Libertarian recount effort in New Mexico, assured me that 'phantom vote' was indeed the common legal term for the puzzling phenomenon I had uncovered in looking at the state's canvass report. A phantom vote occurs when the number of votes recorded exceeds the number of ballots cast. Mathematically, phantom votes are merely the inverse of undervotes. Undervotes, which show up when there are less votes than ballots cast, can be accounted for more or less persuasively in one way or another but I have yet to come up with any acceptable explanation for phantoms. Much less, 2,087 of them statewide in New Mexico, just about one third of the margin of victory that determined the selection of that state's presidential electors.

Executive Summary:

There is a substantial discrepancy—well outside the margin of error and outcomedeterminative— between the national exit poll and the popular vote count.

The possible causes of the discrepancy would be random error, a skewed exit poll, or breakdown in the fairness of the voting process and accuracy of the vote count.

Analysis shows that the discrepancy cannot reasonably be accounted for by chance or random error.

Evidence does not support hypotheses that the discrepancy was produced by problems with the exit poll.

Widespread breakdown in the fairness of the voting process and accuracy of the vote count are the most likely explanations for the discrepancy.

In an accurate count of a free and fair election, the strong likelihood is that Kerry would have been the winner of the popular vote.

Download the paper (PDF, File size: 2.1 MB)

There are scripts that qualify as national treasures, and Mel Brooks's THE PRODUCERS is high on the A-list.  It is the ultimate, over the top, gleefully politically incorrect, good-hearted, goof-ball, completely nutso musical tour de force that defies description.  Like a great moment in history, you just have to be there.

The version presented by the Broadway Series at the Ohio Theater---itself a national treasure---does this jewel justice.  The staging is beautiful, the acoustics fine, the cast a delight, the  costumes and sets all they should be.  In short, it's a wonderful evening in a setting that can't be beat. 

If you don't know the story, don't worry, there's not much to tell.  A down-on-his luck producer named Bialystock hooks up with a liberated accountant named Bloom to scam a show funded by horny old women.  They want it to fail, and wind up with a bomb called SPRINGTIME FOR HITLER that turns into a blitzkreig.  What more can be said?

I worked on the Kerry campaign  for months but to me he has given up he is not like Gore at least he fought to be President Kerry has not done anything that scares me here's why some times I think the democrats are involved in these election mishaps I find it hard to believe that Al Gore  couldn't get one senator to vote his way in 2000 and now Kerry with all the rumors about exit polls Kerry has disappeared and done nothing  and Iraq that's a whole other  story Bush has lied and lied to get our troops over there there are no wmd's that's for sure and the people get to vote now but we will stay I  say put saddam on the ballot and if he wins we leave and save some lives because that's how the people will want it but Bush will fix that vote just like Afghanistan bushs man won what a good thing for Bush

AUSTIN, Texas -- Oh 2004, 2004, bird thou never wert. Was it really that horrible a year, or does it only seem that way?

Abu Ghraib, the endless trials anent Kobe Bryant and Scott Peterson, war in Iraq looking worse every day, Howard Dean eliminated over a whoop and a presidential race so devoid of joy that the high point was when the president claimed God speaks through him -- leaving us to contemplate the news that God doesn't know how to pronounce nuclear and has yet to master subject-verb agreement. "Performance enhancing drugs" in baseball. Ray Charles died. Karl Rove is Man of the Year. We're all overweight. Swift Boat Liars win the presidential race for Bush. Then just to round things off nicely, a terrible natural disaster. What a bummer.

But, look at it this way ... the Boston Red Sox won the championship. Eliot Spitzer is scaring the spit out of the insurance industry (check out those year-end bonuses on Wall Street, El). The Greek Olympics went well. Maybe we could end the payola by just having them in Greece every time. Lance Armstrong won the Tour de France for a record sixth time, a symbolic victory for cancer patients everywhere.

Iraq Veterans Against the War
216 South Meramec Ave
St. Louis, MO 63105
314-725-6005
www.ivaw.net

Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) is a group of veterans who have served since September 11, 2001. They have called for an immediate withdrawal of all occupying forces. They are also calling on the Bush administration to give their soldiers, Marines, sailors and airmen the benefits that are owed to them upon their return home.

Military Families Speak Out
P.O. Box 549
Jamaica Plain, MA 02130
617-522-9323
www.mfso.org

Military Families Speak Out is an organization of people who are opposed to war in Iraq and who have relatives or loved ones in the military. They formed in November of 2002.

GI Rights Hotline
405 14th St., Suite 205,
Oakland, CA 94612
http://girights.objector.org/