Friday1/21/05 Election/Fraud/Recount/Protest Thread

[MelissaB]

In order to organize and document I thought it would be a good idea to have a daily thread to place items related to the recounts/fraud. This also make it easier to "catch up" when we are away from the computer for a while.

Please help us. If you see something that isn't here post it with a link to the thread and a thanks to the author. Thanks to everyone who is helping with this project.

Link to the thread from yesterday: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x294636

[MelissaB]

1. Dubya's 2nd Inaugural: A Patriotic Commemorative Photographic Tribute...

Dubya's 2nd Inaugural: America Celebrates!
A Patriotic Commemorative Photographic Tribute...

Still Uniting Not Dividing!...From Sea to Shining Sea!...And Beyond!

What you probably didn't see:
http://www.bradblog.com/archives/00001138.htm




---
Brad Friedman
THE BRAD BLOG - The uprising continues...
http://www.BradBlog.com
VELVET REVOLUTION - The revolution begins...
http://www.VelvetRevolution.us

Thanks to BradBlog here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x297607

[MelissaB]

2. Republican National Committee registered BushCheated.com/Rawstory

The Republican National Committee apparently paid a Virginia networking firm to buy BushCheated.com on their behalf, RAW STORY has learned.



(I just couldn't resist this picture. :) )

A representative for Network Solutions, LLC confirmed that they registered sites for the Republican National Committee. When asked if they registered BushCheated.com on behalf of the party, she said, “Yeah, then we probably did.”

A spokeswoman for the Republican National Committee declined to comment and said they would return the call. The domain, which has no content, was likely registered to prevent others from setting up a website at the address.“Campaigns have been doing this since 2000 to protect themselves,” a Democratic Internet consultant, who asked to remain anonymous, said.

The consultant noted that the Bush campaign registered various derivatives of “Bush sucks” during the 2000 campaign.Asked why the RNC registered the site in April 2003, the consultant said they probably had registered the site when the original registrant’s control of the domain expired.

http://www.bluelemur.com/index.php?p=571

http://rawstory.rawprint.com/105/bush_cheated_registration_121.php
Thanks to cal04 here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x298535

[MelissaB]

3. Action Items here...

[MelissaB]

5. URGENT! Tell Sensenbrenner to hold Conyers' hearings!

OK people, in case this hasn't been requested here yet, write or call F. James Sensenbrenner, Chair of the House Judiciary Committee and tell him to hold the hearings on the 2004 election requested by Conyers!

His address is:

2449 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515-4905
Telephone: [phone]
e-mail: [e-mail]
Fax: [phone]

If you're in Wisconsin or you want to contact his home office too, it's:

120 Bishops Way, Room 154
Brookfield, WI 53005-6294
Telephone: [phone]

Outside the Milwaukee Metro calling area, call toll-free HOTLINE number: 1-800-242-1119.

For background on this, read this story:

<http://www.bluelemur.com/index.php?p=567 >

And have a nice day! :)


Thanks to Bill Bored here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x298111

---------------------------------------------------------------------

From the same thread thanks to Ojai Person:

Ojai Person (1000+ posts) Fri Jan-21-05 02:46 PM
Response to Original message

20. Why not fax or email the whole committee?

Edited on Fri Jan-21-05 02:59 PM by Ojai Person
House Judicary Committee fax

Republicans: 202-225-7682

Democrats: 202-225-4423

HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE

REPUBLICANS

Chairman:
Congressman James F. Sensenbrenner, Jr.
2449 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515-4905
Telephone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
[e-mail]

Congressman Henry Hyde
2110 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington D.C. 20515
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
http://www.house.gov/hyde/get_address2.htm

Congressman Howard Coble
2468 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515-3306
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
[e-mail]

Congressman Lamar Smith
2231 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515-4321
[phone]
Fax: [phone]
http://lamarsmith.house.gov/contact.asp

Congressman Elton Gallegly
2427 Rayburn HOB
Washington, DC 20515-0523
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

Congressman Bob Goodlatte
2240 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
[phone]
[phone] fax

Congressman Steve Chabot
129 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
[phone]
[phone] (fax)
http://www.house.gov/chabot/email.html

Congressman Bill Jenkins
1207 Longworth Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
Phone [phone]
Fax. [phone]

Congressman Chris Cannon
118 Cannon House
Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
[e-mail]

Congressman Spencer Bachus
442 Cannon Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
202 225-4921 phone
202 225-2082 fax
http://www.house.gov/writerep /

Congressman John Hostettler
1214 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
TEL: [phone]
FAX: [phone]
[e-mail]

Congressman Mark Green
1314 Longworth Bldg.
Washington, D.C. 20515
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
mailto:[e-mail]

Congressman Ric Keller
419 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515-0908
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]


Congresswoman Melissa Hart
1508 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Ph. 202-225-2565
Fx. 202-226-2274
http://hart.house.gov/contact.asp

Congressman Jeff Flake
424 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515-0301
[phone] - phone
[phone] – fax
[e-mail]

Congressman Mike Pence
1605 Longworth HOB
Washington, DC 20515
[phone] office
[phone] fax
http://www.house.gov/formpence/IMA/contact.htm

Congressman J. Randy Forbes
307 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
http://www.house.gov/forbes/zipauth.htm

Congressman Steve King
1432 Longworth Office Building
Washington D.C. 20515
[phone]
Fax: [phone]
http://www.house.gov/writerep /

Congressman John Carter
408 CHOB
Washington, D.C. 20515
[phone]
Fax: [phone]
http://www.house.gov/writerep /

Congressman Tom Feeney
323 Cannon House Office Building
Washington DC 20515
phone [phone]
fax [phone]
http://www.house.gov/writerep /

Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn
509 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
202-225-2811
202-225-3004 fax
http://www.house.gov/writerep /


DEMOCRATS

Congressman John Conyers, Jr.
2426 Rayburn Building
Washington, DC 20515
[phone]
[phone] Fax
http://www.house.gov/conyers/letstalk.htm

Congressman Howard Berman
2221 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
[phone]
Fax: [phone]
http://www.house.gov/berman/contact /

Congressman Rick Boucher
2187 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
202-225-3861
202-225-0442(fax)
[e-mail]

Congressman Jerrold Nadler
2334 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Tel. [phone]
Fax: [phone]
http://www.house.gov/nadler/emailform.shtml

Congressman Bobby Scott
2464 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
[phone] Phone
[phone] Fax
http://www.house.gov/writerep /

Congressman Mel Watt
2236 Rayburn H.O.B.
Washington, DC 20515-0001
Telephone [phone]
Fax [phone]
http://www.house.gov/writerep /

Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren
102 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515-0516
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
http://www.house.gov/lofgren/emailform.shtml

Congresswoman Sheila Jackson-Lee
2435 Rayburn Building
Washington, DC 20515
[phone]
[phone] Fax
http://www.jacksonlee.house.gov/feedback.cfm?campaign=jacksonlee&type=Let%27s%

Congresswoman Maxine Waters

2344 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
202-225-2201 phone
202-225-7854 fax
http://www.congress.org/congressorg/mail/?id=658&type=CO&state=CA

Congressman Marty Meehan
U.S. House of Congressmans
2229 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

Congressman Bill Delahunt
1317 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
[phone]
Fax: [phone]
[e-mail]

Congressman Robert Wexler
213 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
[phone]
[phone] FAX
http://www.house.gov/wexler/contact.htm

Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin
1022 Longworth Building
Washington DC 20515
[phone]
[phone] Fax
http://www.house.gov/formbaldwin/IMA/get_address.htm

Congressman Anthony Weiner
1122 Longworth HOB
Washington DC 20515
[phone]
Fax: [phone]
[e-mail]

Congressman Adam Schiff
326 Cannon HOB
Washington D.C. 20515
Phone: [phone]
Facsimile: [phone]
http://www.house.gov/schiff/as_sub_contact.htm

Congresswoman Linda Sanchez
1007 Longworth Building
Washington, DC 20515
202-225-6676
Fax [phone]
http://www.house.gov/lindasanchez/contact.shtml

Edited to add:

I copied this list of the internets and am not responsible for frownies by Feeney's info, although God knows he must deserve them.

[MelissaB]

6. We want to get 100,000 Sigs on petition to protect Social Security!!!

Dear Working Families e-Activist:

We're very close to reaching our goal of 100,000 signatures on the petition to protect Social Security by the end of today, Inauguration Day—but we only have hours to go and urgently need your action.

If you haven't already signed the petition, please do so now. A copy of your signed petition will go automatically to your members of Congress so they know where you stand. Click this link:

http://www.unionvoice.org/ct/p11Cjy41sqc3 /

If you've signed the petition, please click below to urge at least five people to sign the petition:

http://www.unionvoice.org/ct/pd1Cjy41sqce /

Right now, the Bush administration is using the Social Security administration—and Social Security funds—to promote its political agenda to privatize Social Security. Its recorded phone messages and annual reports to workers are stirring up unfounded fears and basically announcing Social Security's death sentence if we don't make drastic changes now. The New York Times reports, "agency employees have complained to Social Security officials that they are being conscripted into a political battle over the future of the program. They question the accuracy of recent statements by the agency, and they say that money from the Social Security trust fund should not be used for such advocacy."

That's what we're up against—and why your extra efforts to sign this petition to protect Social Security is so important. Please take action now by clicking this link:

http://www.unionvoice.org/ct/p11Cjy41sqc3 /

In addition to the administration's PR campaign, Bush's allies are raising huge sums for TV ads to push privatization. After the inauguration, the PR blitz will really get hot. Once you have signed the petition, please urge others to do so as well.

Click here: http://www.unionvoice.org/ct/pd1Cjy41sqce /

Thank you for acting to protect Social Security for working families.


Thanks to pbartch here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x296605

[MelissaB]

8. ACTION! LETTER OF THE WEEK #2: To Senators on Condoleeza Rice

New LETTER OF THE WEEK Forum

Some of us have started a LETTER OF THE WEEK feature here that will provide sample letters that you can use on one forum-selected topic per week--and contact information-- mostly aimed at helping Congress focus on our issues and talking points, also to support progressives in Congress who are taking brave stances against the BushCons, and to encourage others to join them. Barbara Boxer wrote that she had 40,000 letters backing her up in her tough interrogation of Condoleeza Rice this week. This inspired us to want to do more.

Join our forum discussions on topics and help write letters!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=203&topic_id=293412&mesg_id=293412

--------

Our first!

LETTER OF THE WEEK #1: The Media and the Protests (already posted)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x294547

This letter can still be used Friday and this weekend to encourage media reports on the protests, using MEDIA BLASTER (see below).

--------

LETTER OF THE WEEK #2: To Senators on Condoleeza Rice nomination

This second letter (below) is meant for Senators and must be sent differently. (Preferably fax; also email--see below.) It must go out this weekend. No time for snail mail. The full Senate debate will be Tues. and Wed. (9 hours total). It is a hard hitting letter opposing the nomination of Condoleeza Rice as Secretary of State, and supporting Boxer, Kerry and others in opposition. Boxer and Kerry were the only members of the Foreign Relations Committee to vote against Rice. Others like Biden voted for. And Feinstein will be introducing this bad appointment to the full Senate on Tuesday. Go figure.

Clearly the antiwar segment of the Democratic Party needs our support. But there is no reason not to send this letter—or your own—to all Senators, including Republicans. Remember that almost 60% of Americans oppose the Iraq War. We are the majority!

Feel free to change the letter any way you wish.

Senate and House contact info. (click on state, all Sen's & House, tel/fax/web site)
http://www.visi.com/juan/congress /

Senate and House direct send email:
http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/cgi-bin/mailform2.cgi?site=ctc

Senate (has list of all; snail mail addresses; DC tel, and webform)
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

_______

Here are two background articles on the Rice nomination:

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20050120/D87NRVAG0.html

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20050117/pl_afp/usricepolitics_050117223654

Our third letter will be on the Gonzales nomination (which has been delayed for a week—our letter will be posted in a couple of days.) Other topics will include election fraud, investigation and reform, Social Security and the environment.

-------

Send Senate Letter to the media?

You might want to also send the letter to the hundreds of media email addresses available at MEDIA BLASTER. It's easy. Just cut and paste the four sets of media email addresses into your email program, cut and paste your letter, and SEND. Here's MEDIA BLASTER:

http://www.independentmediasource.com/voteintegrity2_12.htm

You will want to change the greeting from "Dear Senator…" to a title, for instance: "Sent to all United States Senators on January __, 2005." Put your name at the bottom and it's probably best to add at least town and state, and phone number (possible letter to the editor?).


-----------

LETTER OF THE WEEK #2


Dear Senator ____:

The war in Iraq is by far the worst and most disastrous mistake that the Bush regime has made, and Condoleeeza Rice, whom George Bush has nominated for Secretary of State, has been responsible for conveying the false justifications for this war to the American people and to the Congress.

We need a Secretary of State whose word we can trust, and who can be trusted by other countries. Condoleeza Rice does not meet that job description.

I oppose her appointment as Secretary of State, and I support the efforts of Senators Barbara Boxer and John Kerry to obtain answers from her on the matter of misleading America into war. I support their votes against her appointment, and I urge you to do the same in the full Senate.

Thousands of Americans have been killed and wounded, over 100,000 Iraqis have been killed and many have been imprisoned and tortured, in this war—a war based on falsehoods, and a war that also holds grave consequences for America's reputation as a just and conservative country for whom the use of a force is a last resort.

The administration is now stuck in a quagmire in Iraq, similar to the one in Vietnam in which over 50,000 US soldiers and over one million Vietnamese were killed—and now the regime is spoiling for war in additional countries.

Nearly 60% of the American people oppose the Bush Regime's war in Iraq. The American people cannot continue to pay for these reckless and bloody policies, and we can no longer tolerate war crimes being committed in our name.

Ms. Rice has also been less than candid about the failures of this administration to protect the U.S. from the 9/11 attack, and supports policies of completely unethical interference in the internal affairs of other countries, such as Haiti and Venezuela.

A regime that holds power on the tenuous grounds of massive vote suppression against minority voters in violation of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, on the further tenuous grounds of a non-transparent election system that is controlled by partisans of the regime, and that currently has almost 60% of the American people opposing its war policy, would be well advised not to commit further arrogant acts against the consent of the governed, such as nominating for Secretary of State a person whose lies have resulted in countless unnecessary deaths.

Sincerely,

NAME
(a good idea to put here at least town and state, and phone)


Thanks to Peace Patriot here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x296466

[rzemanfl]

4. Did the Dems register "BillgotaBJ.com?"

Why register BushCheated.com if you didn't cheat? They didn't register Bushisnotagenius.com or Bushhassexwithfarmanimals.com, although the latter was probably an administrative error.

[MelissaB]

7. David Letterman "gets it"

Number 1 in the "Top 10 Bush Goals For His Second Term," "Begin vote-rigging process for Jeb's White House run in 2008."

(I wish I had a video to post with this one. Anybody?)

Thanks to Blue_In_AK here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x298017

[MelissaB]

9. Joy to watch... some truth slipping out on Faux news..

feel free to write the Vanity fair lady and thank her for candid truth! ... check out her smile at the end... whats funny here is I think the host actually believes that bush does honor the troops, as if she cant see past the PR. well.. they have to hire dumb people.

http://www.oliverwillis.com/node/view/1695

Thanks to Griffy here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x298186

[MelissaB]

10. Even DRUDGE DISSES BUSH ! TOO FUNNY....

http://www.drudgereport.com /

Direct Link: http://www.drudgereport.com/flash4uk.htm

As of this moment, the DRUDGE site highlights the following lead:

"BRITS MOCK BUSH INAUGURATION"

He has some hysterical photo clips - the one that stands out is a photo of Bushitler trying to smooch one of his daughters, and an expression on her face akin to that of a molested child.

It has the caption "Back off, Daddy: this really isn't very cool".

We need to obtain a high-res version of this photo, since it is symbolic of the molestation and abuse we have all suffered from the POS POTUS, the AWOL cowardly cokehead commander-in-thief, George Walker Bushitler.

Thanks to Shalom here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x297938

[MelissaB]

11. Redford Kicks Off Sundance on a Political Note

Friday January 21, 2:31 PM

Redford Kicks Off Sundance on a Political Note
By Bob Tourtellotte

(Okay, I'm a woman and I love this man. :) )

PARK CITY, Utah (Reuters) - The Sundance Film Festival kicked off on Thursday with a political tone struck by founder Robert Redford, who called independent film a voice of dissent and encouraged movie-makers to speak their minds.

The curtain rose at the premier U.S. gathering for independent movies on the same day President Bush was inaugurated for his second term, which was not lost on Redford, the Oscar winning actor and director of movies like "The Sting" and "Ordinary People."

Redford told a packed house at Sundance's opening-night premier of the tolerance-themed comedy "Happy Endings" that a goal of the festival was to give a platform to a diverse group of filmmakers with something to say about the times.

"This is really a festival about different voices in film that really reflect, a little more accurately, the world we live in," Redford said.

More here: http://sg.news.yahoo.com/050121/3/3q082.html

[MelissaB]

12. Protest fills downtown Seattle streets

Seattle Times

Inauguration Day in Seattle featured a student walkout, rallies and marches, with demonstrators protesting the war in Iraq and the entire "Bush agenda" on issues from tax cuts and Social Security to gay marriage and abortion.

Though Seattle police typically don't release crowd counts, one officer, standing on Second Avenue as a wall of people approached, estimated there were a couple thousand.

Protesters, many of them students who walked out of class around noon, assembled downtown at Westlake Park. One man was arrested, but otherwise the protests were peaceful, said Officer Debra Brown. Demonstrators arrived at the Federal Building around 5 p.m., chanting "Not our president, not our war."

Before the speeches were over and protesters marched back to Westlake Park, the demonstration had dwindled by almost two-thirds. Still, dozens of officers — on bicycles, motorcycles, horses and on foot — kept watch.

More here: http://michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=1062

[MelissaB]

13. High School Students Walk Out

Hundreds decry Bush in Evanston


By Sue Laue / Chicago Tribune

Several hundred Evanston Township High School students walked out of classes Thursday to protest President Bush's policies.

"Bush went to Iraq for no reason. There are no weapons of mass destruction. He lied," said Katlen Castillo, a 16-year-old sophomore.

Miriam Mondragon, a 15-year-old freshman, agreed, noting, "The walkout is important because Bush doesn't control everything in the United States. We have a right to say what we want. He's acting like a dictator, sending too many troops to Iraq and hurting too many families."

Students left the school at 9:45 a.m. but returned by early afternoon. They will be marked absent, school administrators said, and only eight absences are allowed per semester.

"They each know how many absences they can afford," said school spokeswoman Kathy Miehls. "It's a free-speech issue."


Link: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0501210326jan21,1,5989003.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed&ctrack=1&cset=true


and: http://michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=1060

[kitkat65]

15. Ah, my alma mater does me proud.

Go Wildkits!

:yourock:

[MelissaB]

14. Boulder High Does it Again; "I think it's important to show what we believ

January 21st, 2005 5:21 pm

'Out of class, in the moment'

By Bronson R. Hilliard / Colorado Daily

At 10:30 a.m. Thursday morning - about the time President George W. Bush was taking the oath of office at the inauguration in Washington, D.C., - Travis Moe and about 100 of his fellow Boulder High School students were making protest signs and their way toward the intersection of Canyon and Broadway.

Amid honks of support and friendly waives from motorists, the students gathered in clusters on the Canyon Boulevard median and on all four corners of the Broadway-Canyon intersection and held aloft their cardboard signs and their fingers in peace-signs.

"We're taking Inauguration Day off," said CoCo Breen, 14, a Boulder High freshman who with friend Sara Freedman, also 14 and a BHS freshman, had adorned their faces with peace signs.

The two were searching for more cardboard near the park to make signs.

"I think it's important to show what we believe in and catch up with school tomorrow," Breen said.


More: http://michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=1061

Discussion here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x298666

[MelissaB]

16. OAF OF OFFICE - by Greg Palast

OAF OF OFFICE
Thursday, January 20, 2005
by Greg Palast

Watching John Kerry lip-synch the oath of office, I couldn't help wondering, 'what if.'

Here on stage in Washington was the winner-class warmed and protected by cashmere and tax cuts against the strange, nipple-chilling cold. Hell had frozen over.

Our President said, "It is the policy of the United States to seek and support the growth of democratic movements and institutions in every nation." Well, no, it isn't.

Our President said, "We will widen retirement savings and health insurance." No, he won't.

Our President said, "America will not pretend that jailed dissidents prefer their chains." Yes, he will.

Our President said, "And our country must abandon all the habits of racism." Oh, sure.

He doesn't believe a single word he's saying. And all over America, everyone knows he's lying and America is truly relieved.

America doesn't want to give up the habit of racism. Karl Rove doesn't. Jeb Bush doesn't. If not for challenging hundreds of thousands of voters in Black precincts of Ohio and other swing states, if not for purging thousands more from voter rolls for the crime of voting while Black, you wouldn't be president now, would you, Mr. President?

You won't "pretend that jailed dissidents prefer their chains," unless they are chained by your buck-buddies in Saudi Arabia.

You'll "support democratic movements" so long as the citizens of Venezuela don't get carried away and decide that democracy means they can choose a leader you don't like.

And you'll "widen Social Security and health insurance"? Who are you kidding? I just got a doctor bill for $5,200 should I send it to you at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue?

You said, "You have seen that life is fragile, and evil is real, and courage triumphs." What you meant was, "Courage is fragile and real evil triumphs." Indeed your entire campaign was about American cowardice: "they" are coming to get us. Americans, scared for their lives, soiled their underpants and waddled to the polls crying, "Georgie, save us!"

Franklin Roosevelt said in his inaugural, "We have nothing to fear but fear itself." But he didn't have Dick Cheney creating from his bunker a government which is little more than a Wal-Mart of Fear: midnight snatchings of citizens for uncharged crimes, wars to hunt for imaginary weapons aimed at Los Angeles, DNA data banks of kids and grandmas, the Chicken Little sky-is-falling social security spook-show, and shoe-searches in airports. Fear is your only product.

In another world, in which all votes are counted, J.F. Kerry would have gathered most of those arcane chits called "electoral votes" and would have taken that oath today.

But, dear Reader, there's one cold statistic Kerry voters must face. The fact that Republicans monkeyed with the votes in swing states doesn't wash away that big red stain: 59 million Americans marched to the polls and voted for George W. Bush.

If bin Laden doesn't scare you, THAT should.

Because if 59 million Americans agreed with George Bush that every millionaire's son, like him, shouldn't have to pay inheritance taxes; that sucking up to Saudi petrocrats constitutes a foreign policy; that killing Muslims in Mesopotamia will make them less inclined to kill us in Manhattan; that turning over social security to the casino operators that gave us Enron, WorldCom and world depression is smart economics; then, fine, Mr. Bush deserves the job. But most Americans, bless'm, don't actually believe any of that hokum. YET MOST STILL VOTED FOR HIM!

What we witnessed on November 2, 2004 was a 59-million strong army of pinheads on parade ready to gamble away their social security so long as George Bush makes sure that boys kill each other, not kiss each other; who feel right proud that our uniformed services can kick some scrawny brown people in the ass in some far off place when we're mad and can't find Osama; who can't bring themselves to vote for a guy with a snooty Boston accent who's never been to a NASCAR tractor pull and who certainly thinks anyone who does is a low-Q beer-burping blockhead. And they are.

Today we witnessed more than the coronation of some privileged little munchkin of mendacity. It is the triumphal re-occupation of our nation by nitwits who think Ollie North's a hero not a conman, who can't name their congressman, who believe that Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden were going steady, who can't tell Afghanistan from Souvlaki-stan. Bloated with lies and super-size fries, they clomped to the polls 59 million strong to vent their small-minded little hatreds on us all.

When I looked today at the oaf of office, I could not shake the feeling that this election was an intelligence test that America flunked.

http://www.gregpalast.com/columns.cfm

Thanks to Al-CIAda here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x297664

[MelissaB]

17. For Newbies (like me) and old timers

a reminder of why we should be p*ssed. This is the same story second verse as Florida 2000. Go to Greg Palast's site and click the link on the left that says "BBC TV: Theft of the Presidency."

http://www.gregpalast.com/columns.cfm

[MelissaB]

18. Democracy Now clip

The clip lasts about 45 minutes if I remember correctly and is about the inauguration, protests, police actions (undercover, too).

(I don't know how to link it the way Carolab did. You can go to the discussion below and click the link or go here and click the "Watch the entire show" link. http://www.democracynow.org/streampage.pl?show=2005-01-20)


Thanks to Carolab here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=203&topic_id=298898#299059

[Wilms]

19. kick n/t