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AUSTIN, Texas -- Naturally, when I heard President Bush is now claiming to be in the forefront of the fight against corporate crime, I thought it was an April Fools' joke. But no, there it is in print -- he made a big speech about it in Houston, of all places, not far from he Enron building.

            "We had to confront corporate crimes that cost people their jobs and their savings," he said. "So we passed strong corporate reforms and made it very clear, we will not tolerate dishonesty in the boardrooms of America."

            We did; we won't? Oh, he was talking about the Sarbanes bill, that set of inadequate corporate reform measures that he (SET ITAL) opposed (END ITAL) until it passed the House of Representatives with just a handful of dissenting votes and he couldn't face the political heat any longer. That bill.

Here is an idea for the DNC, MoveOn.org, TrueMajority.org:

Tell the state legislatures that if paper-trail audits are not implemented BEFORE the 2004 election, then they will encourage all Democratic and Independent voters to vote by absentee ballot.

The reason you can't just print up some money on the office copier is because it reduces the value of all other money. What this means is that money isn't private property, but a form of public commons, just like the road system. What is happening with our economic system is a version of the tragedy of the commons, as it is abused by the few, to the detriment of the many.

It would be one thing if the tax cuts for the rich had some greater long term effect, but all that extra wealth is only creating inflation in the stock markets. Everything being relative, if the value of the underlaying assets are not going up, than the value of the investment capital is going down. Only as much wealth can be saved as can be effectively invested. The economic engine is the borrower, the fuel tank is the lender. Order is top down, but growth is bottom up.

Thanks for the update!  Taken out, a la Paul Wellstone, JFKjr...who's next?  Kerry.

John Lamenzo
        Santa Fe, NM

Editor's note: To read more about TruVote, Athan Gibbs, and electronic voting, visit www.freepress.org/columns/display/3/2004/853 or www.freepress.org/columns/display/3/2004/834.

If Ohio has touch screen voting in the presidential election, I will promptly request an Absentee ballot.  That tip should be passed on to others who fear paperless ballots.

*  i live in brasil and was an election observer for their 2002 general election.  they use an electronic touch screen that also gives a paper record and a recorded diskette.  i was amazed at the ease of use and the redundancies to ensure that votes are counted correctly and can be audited.  in that election the polls closed about 8pm.  all votes were counted with 4-5 hours, even from remote towns in the amazon.

*  i hope either you or someone else as interested will contact the brasilian electoral authorities and find out more about the machines.  they cost about $500 each and each polling place had a couple of spares.

*  we don't need a repeat of the 2000 coup d'etat.

Are you a Sierra Club member?

The future of the Sierra Club is at stake.

Outsiders are trying to take over the Club by placing stealth candidates on the Club's board ballot this year.  This is driven by anti-immigration activists, and their tactics are underhanded -- they aren't declaring their real issue positions to members. They hope that low participation and confusion will allow them to stack the board of directors.

You can stop this, but you must vote now in the Sierra Club board election.  You probably have already received the ballot in the mail.

We've attached below an outreach from Groundswell Sierra -- a volunteer network of Sierra Club members working to defeat this threat.  This outreach includes a list of endorsed candidates. We recommending printing this email and having it on hand as you fill out your ballot.

If you'd like more information on this threat, go to:

http://www.groundswellsierra.org/takeover_index.php

Thank you,

-Carrie, Joan, Noah, Peter, and Wes
The MoveOn.org team

Bush, Cheney, Ashcroft, Ridge, Rumsfeld, Rove

KARL ROVE: Gentlemen, we have a problem. It's called Spain.

PRESIDENT BUSH: This had better be serious, Karl. Your little emergency phone call here is costing me gym time. You know I don't go for that.

SECRETARY RIDGE: Sir, the bombs that went off in Spain killed some two hundred people. It's the worst terrorist attack in the history of Europe.

PRESIDENT BUSH: So?

SECRETARY RIDGE: The entire continent is saddened and traumatized. These were ordinary civilians, with families. Some were children, even pregnant women. Spain has been at peace for a half-century. Blood was everywhere. It's a terrible human tragedy.

PRESIDENT BUSH: Karl, what the hell is this guy whining about? Is there a purpose to this meeting?

KARL ROVE: We lost the election.

VICE PRESIDENT CHENEY: We had this timed out pretty carefully, George. Two days was just about the right gap before a national ballot. We figured the bombs would go off, the nation would freak out, be furious with ETA or Al Quaeda or both, and our hard-liners would sail in.