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Dear "Free Press",

The outrage against democracy in America perpetrated by the Rove/Scaife/Delay putschists has been met by "Democratic Party" "leaders" with more acquiescence in the one party fascist state. Kerry can hardly find any words let alone actions in opposition to the vote fraud crimes in Ohio. Nancy Pelosi is apparently falling all over herself in support of an anti-abortion rights, DLC conservative candidate for the DNC top job! In other words, the "Democratic Party" leadership is acceding to all the DLC demands which amount to the absorption of the "Democratic Party" into the fascist coalition which has taken over by illegal means absolute power in the United States.

The current regime is by all evidence more negligent, more corrupt, more criminal than any other regime in the history of this country. Where is the opposition? Kerry's campaign was as much a fraud as Bush's. In the 60s, when war was raging in Vietnam, the academic community challenged the war openly, loudly, and assuming great risks. Today, there is not even a shadow of the resistance shown at that time. A hundred thousand Heideggers strut

A disturbing story has been widely circulated that a vote for Bush was the default choice in the software of electronic voting machines in a number of states.  By definition, “default” settings are built-in by the manufacturer to make sure their programs work properly, and can be changed by the user.  Some examples of default settings on a home computer are screen savers, type face, and screen resolution.

According an article by Ann Harrison, posted at http://www.counterpunch.org/harrison12082004.html

in certain counties in Ohio, Florida, Pennsylvania, Texas, and New Mexico where touch screen voting machines were used, there have been complaints from voters who selected Kerry on the touch screen and saw their votes change to Bush on a summary screen.  In addition, there was a specific problem with the Sequoia AVC Edge machine (not used in Ohio) where voters actually saw preselected default choices presented to them.

Public mass murder by gunfire is as American as apple pie.  In fact, public mass murder sometimes involves mom, too, as when Charles Whitman killed his mother and wife the day before he climbed atop the Austin, Texas campus bell tower to pick off sixteen residents with precision sniper action.  This last week Texas mourned again when it learned local Arlington metal musician Darrell Abbot (hilariously nicknamed “Dimebag”) was killed at point blank range by a freaked out ex-Marine and semi-pro football player super-fan of heavy band Pantera (Abbot’s first and most famous outfit).  The media-described “loner” shot and killed three others after that, firing into the audience of over 200, and was subsequently brought down by police rifle fire.  Happily, the law was close enough to the suburban metal ballroom to respond to panicked 911 cell phone calls, sneak through the club’s back door and blast the maniac as he held a hostage in a headlock. 

For those watching the growing body of evidence concerning election fraud in our past presidential election, one question has remained: Why don't we hear about this on the evening news?

As of yet it's been hard to explain why the controversies in Ukraine make the headlines, but when similar problems are discovered at home, you have to scour the Internet to find the information.

It certainly isn't for lack of events on which to report. Members of The House Judiciary Committee have been meeting regularly reviewing evidence of systematic voter suppression and voting machine tampering. A coalition of lawyers have filed a lawsuit against the Bush campaign citing deliberate manipulation of votes. Sworn testimony and signed affidavits have implicated companies, individuals, and a Florida congressman.

This developing story could eventually turn out to be more explosive than Watergate. But it's rarely mentioned on the major networks, and when it is, there's almost always a chiding remark about the "conspiracy nuts" and obscure "internet bloggers" who are behind it all.

COLUMBUS -- It was easier to walk into the Franklin County Board of Elections to witness the recount of votes than it was to get into a preview screening of "Finding Neverland." I totally expected to have to open my bag and be scanned by a metal detector when entering the building. Weeks earlier that happened to me when I went to Easton for a movie premier. I guess it's more important to make sure the citizenry isn't bootlegging movies. After all, we're no Warren County.

That was the first surprise of my experience on December 14, 2004. I hadn't expected to be called to serve but someone had to cancel at the last minute and I answered my phone so there I was. I met Amy in the lobby and she gave me a letter from David Cobb which was all I needed to become a bonafide witness. No one ever asked to see it, or any identification for that matter. The only time I did see any security personel was when I passed one in the hallway on my way to the restroom. But like I said before, we're no Warren County.

A little after 9 a.m., the volunteers were called to order by the director and deputy director. They explained the process, as they had
COLUMBUS -- As Republican officials stonewall and subvert the recount process, Rev. Jesse Jackson has pronounced Ohio's vote fraud fiasco "the biggest deal since Selma" and has called for a national rally at "the scene of the crime" in Columbus January 3.

Another major national demonstration will follow in Washington on January 6, as Congress evaluates the Electoral College. Should at least one US Representative and one Senator challenge the electors' votes, a Constitutional crisis could ensue.

Meanwhile, volunteer attorneys have poured into Columbus from around the US to help investigate the bitterly contested presidential vote that has allegedly given George W. Bush Ohio's electoral votes and thus a second term. A lawsuit filed at the Ohio Supreme Court charges that a fair vote count would give the state and the presidency to John Kerry rather than Bush.

On December 21, notice of depositions were sent to President George Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, Karl Rove and Ohio Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell to appear and give testimony regarding the legal challenge of Ohio's elections results in the case Moss v Bush et al.
In a Time of War and Fear, Seattle Writer Paul Loeb's New Anthology Discovers Hope for the Future in the Dissident Voices of Yesterday and Today

On a fall day in 1998, a group of people gathered for a conference on spirituality and ecology in a church basement in the college town of Bloomington, Indiana. They spent had part of a day sharing stories, ideas, and opinions on how they had and could live more meaningful lives as activists and environmentalists. But when one young woman voiced her frustration at her sense of powerlessness, complaining that the world was in such bad shape she couldn't believe there was anything she could do that would make a real difference, a voice in the room rose in protest.

It was the voice of Danusha Veronica Goska, a graduate student at the University of Indiana and a contributor to a new anthology, The Impossible Will Take a Little While: A Citizen's Guide to Keeping Hope Alive in a Time of Fear (Basic Books, 2004), edited by Paul Loeb. As she recounts, Goska was then
"Which is more revolting?" an editor e-mailed me the other day, "Rupert Murdoch spending $44 million for a triplex at 834 Fifth Avenue with 20 rooms and a monthly maintenance of $21,469.07, as narrated on the front page of that day's newspapers, or King Mswati III of Swaziland spending $690,000 on a Daimler-Chrysler Maybach 62?"

            Mention of the Great Beast buying his three-floor pad on Fifth Ave. gave me a chance to saunter down Memory Lane. I think Murdoch had one floor of that building back in the late 1970s, when his only properties in the United States were the Star and a newspaper in San Antonio, Texas. Then he bought the New York Post and duly made it onto either the cover of Time or Newsweek, I can't remember which. Maybe both. He was depicted as King Kong, clinging to the Empire State building.

AUSTIN, Texas -- And a Merry Christmas to all, including people who have white Christmas trees decorated entirely with purple balls. Merry Christmas to the Red states and the Blue states, to the R's and D's, and to all the troops stationed in Afghanistan, including the French troops there -- Mais oui, Chwistmas, y'all.

            Merry Christmas to all the people who had to eat bugs on reality shows this year and to all the professional athletes who have not gotten into duke-outs (lumps of coal to the rest of you jocks). Merry Christmas to the homeless and the people in the shelters, and especially to those who are feeding the people in the shelters. Season's Best to all the cops who collected for Blue Santa this year, and a Tiny Tim Salute to all the prisoners, including Martha Stewart. Her cell-wing lost the prison's Christmas decorating contest this year -- when it rains ...

On Dec. 11, 2004, I turned 41 years of age. The very next day, I bought my first Christmas tree.

Now it may not seem to some that buying a Christmas tree should be that big of a deal. After all, according to the National Christmas Tree Association (yes, there is such a group), Americans bought an estimated 24 million real Christmas trees this past holiday season, making it the second year in a row the number of trees purchased went up from the previous year.

Until this year, however, I had not bought one. In fact, until a few weeks ago, I didn’t even celebrate Christmas at all.

Didn’t get a tree, didn’t send out Christmas cards, didn’t buy presents for my family and friends.

Instead, year after year, I simply pretended Christmas didn’t exist.

And for years, my friends—and, later, my wife—put up with my little seasonal eccentricity.

They didn’t have much choice, seeing how I would regularly rail against what I saw to be the hypocrisy of the holiday.

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