Liberty

If we want Liberty we are going to have to fight for it. We are not going to get it from the Republicrats or the Democritans. If this country is going to thrive as it once did we are going to have to consider our other presidential options. If we continue to elect presidents from either of the "major" parties we are going to continue to get essentially the same thing. Both support the war in Iraq, the Patriot act, the war on drugs, and many other unconstitutional political endeavors that harm our country.

The biggest threat of all comes from the dropping value of the American dollar resulting from massive deficit spending and the printing of money that is backed only by trillions of dollars in debt.

Hard times are going to come if we don't do something to radically change the direction that either of big parties are going to bring us.

We must vote Libertarian. We have to fight for ballot access for third parties and demand that they be allowed to participate in the debates.

How did Chief Justice not recuse himself?

I understand that Ohio Chief Justice Thomas Moyer dismissed Cliff Arnebeck's first petition to contest the presidential election results, which also included a contest of the election of the chief justice himself to the Supreme Court. How can any judge in America refuse to recuse himself in a lawsuit in which he has been named a defendant? That clearly violates the 14th Amendment's due process right to a "fair tribunal." How can this be?

  Charles Reed
(former mayor of Waco, Texas)

Vote solidarity

Every vote should be counted and recounted until we know the true outcome of this very close ballot.

I'm particularly disturbed by reports of high numbers of challenges of minority voters, and the high proportion of minority votes having to be provisional, as well as high rates of spoilage in minority districts, probably due to those areas receiving the worst voting equipment as well as having the fewest machines per number of voters, thereby pressuring voters to vote faster. This type of behavior was thought to have died decades ago, and residents of Ohio should be as red-faced as the devil to find themselves party to the practice of of this type of racism.

Ohio should be ashamed to have to once again put American through this wringer, and it should be proud to correct the wrongs perpetrated on the American people -- by recounting its votes to assure us of a true outcome to the presidential election.

American democracy hangs by a thread in Ohio

I am surprised how your story frames the issues. After Florida in 2000, Ohio should have been expected. Can you name one person who helped 'shift' the vote towards Bush in Florida who has been held to account? I would believe a decent lawyer could have made quite a case for constructive conspiracy. If those who have their hands on the controls of the machinery are not held to account, how can you ever expect it to stop?

I am NO supporter of Bush and did not vote for him. What I hear is a lot of noise. The people who did this need to be put at personal risk for their actions. In all of Ohio, is there no one with the guts of Ronnie Earle?

Thanks,
Russ Bauman
Anaheim, CA

The greatest story never told

There’s a story to tell this Christmas season about evil and redemption, about hope for the future. No, it isn’t the one about King Herod and the Babe of Bethlehem. That story has been told thousands of times, and has inspired Christians and even many non-Christians for two millennia. The new Christmas story hasn’t been told, because as was the case in Palestine two thousand years ago, the public isn’t quite ready to receive the news. There’s no room in the inn…not yet, at least.

The United States of America began as a secular country that welcomes religion, not as a religious country that tolerates secular humanism. It is a nation of laws, not men. Our founding fathers were mostly God-fearing gentlemen, but contrary to popular belief, the late 18th-century was not a time when religious observances were prevalent. We’ve become a religious nation, which is good, but in the evolution we’ve lost sight of the guiding principles on which America was founded.

Selections not elections

I CAN ,T BELIEVE THIS COUNTRY TWO CROOKED ELECTIONS IN A ROW. AND OUR PRESIDENT HAS THE NERVE TO CONDEM  ANOUTHER COUNTRY FOR A BAD ELECTION, THE DIFFERENCE IS THE PEOPLE OVER THERE WON,T ACCEPT IT.  AND I WOULD LOVE TO SEE MR. BUSH WALK DOWN THE STREET IN BAGDAD TO VOTE, I SEE LITTLE NEED FOR ME TO VOTE AGAIN

I HAVE LOST RESPECT FOR MY LEADERS AND I SEE A GREAT NATION GOING DOWN . WE ARE THE MOST HATED PEOPLE IN THE WORLD  AND HAVE BEEN MADE A LAUGHING STOCK OF THE WORLD.THE ONLY THING I CAN SAY FOR BUSH IS MAY GOD HAVE MERCY ON HIS SOUL....THANK YOU FOR LETTING ME USE A FREEDOM  TO VENT MY TOTAL DISGUST WITH OUR BELOVED USA THANKS AGAIN AND GOD BLESS YOU ALL AN AMERICA            

ROY T. WATTS
OHIO

Statistics from Warren County

As of Oct. 18, 2004:
Democrats - 12,370
Republicans - 38,467
Independents - 74,316
Other - 12
Total - 125,165

As of Apr. 2, 2001:
Democrats - 7,637
Republicans - 32,686
Independents - 57,963
Other - 28
Total - 98,314

Percentage change from 2001 to 2004:
Democrats - +61.97%
Republicans - +17.69%
Independents - +28.21%

So clearly, registered Republicans heavily outnumber Democrats, but percentage-wise, there is quite a surge in Democratic registrations and Independents simply outnumber everyone else. Also, Democrats only consisted of about 7.8% of the voters in Warren County in early 2001, but in Oct. 2004, they were about 10% of all voters. Republicans made up 33.25% of all voters in Warren County in early 2001, but in Oct. 2004, they were only 30.7% of the electorate.

This refutes an earlier post from a few days ago stating that Warren County was "trending Republican." More results of my research will be forthcoming... please be patient.

Here's a link that breaks down everything by precinct:

Voting Rights Groups 'Block' Talk of Machine-Free Elections

So much for a free and fair exchange of ideas.  At conferences and hearings across the country, traditional voting rights organizations have successfully blocked any serious debate on machine-free, paper-only elections.  It appears that our well-entrenched so-called 'voting rights' organizations, including the NAACP and ACLU, haven't absorbed the lesson from America's election debacles.  They would rather invite the industry-funded National Association of State Election Directors (NASED) to speak at their conferences, than invite researchers and activists who will argue that the machines must go.  

Tuesday's Dec. 7th conference in Washington, D.C., Voting 2004: A Report to the Nation on America's Election Process, sponsored by Common Cause, The Century Foundation, and LCCR (Leadership Conference on Civil Rights) was no exception.  Instead of fighting for the peoples' right to a paper ballot and a hand count, the conference adopted the VerifiedVoting.org and Congressman Rush Holt's (D-NJ) prescription for voting integrity.  It is beyond worthless.  

Resistance, Hope, and Joy in the face of empire

The forces of empire are encountering stiff public resistance at home and abroad. Here are glimpses:

- The Israeli army executed 6 Palestinians in Tulkarem on Sunday (including two teenagers). Another Israeli sodier at a checkpoint beat a Palestinian student, slammed his head on the ground and then shot at him with a rifle causing moderate injuries (according to Israeli sources).

+ Thousands of Lebanese and Palestinians attended a gathering to commemorate the 23 July 1952 revolution in Egypt that ushered in modern Arab nationalism. Speakers emphasized the importance of unity of Arabic and Islamic people and countries in the face of US imperial interests in the Middle East. They also emphasized their solidarity with the resistance to occupation in Iraq and Palestine. Palestinians in the ooccupied areas continue to put their own fragile bodies in front of the US supplied war machine intent on keeping refugees away, enclosing others in ghettos, and confiscating the remainder of their lands and livelihoods. See stopthewall.org

Apartheid Walls, Moore, Kerry, and Israel

According to Israeli sources (Arutz news), Prime Minister Ariel Sharon stated that the Israeli court's decision to ask for rerouting segments of the wall near Jerusalem "strengthens Israel's position ahead of the expected verdict by the International Court of Justice in The Hague which will be announcing its verdict regarding Israel's right to construct the fence. " When taken with the attempts at distraction by talk of future withdrawal from Gaza and combined with the court's earlier ruling that Israel has a right to confiscate Palestinian lands and create hardships for them as long as Israeli military commanders indicate it is related to security, this statement from Sharon suggests that Israel will proceed with its apartheid wall since it now has the stamp of approval from both George Bush, John Kerry, and congress. This monstrous project to impoverish and isolate the Palestinians in several Ghettos is a war crime and a crime against humanity. All people of conscience must protest and raise their voice. Pericles (430 B.C.) observed that "Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn't mean politics won't take an interest in you. " Indeed

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