Republicans will get out their votes, too, but they also have engaged in widespread voter suppression programs, from officials who nit-pick voter rolls to eliminate likely Democratic voters, to dirty tricks, such as registering voters and then throwing away Democratic registrants in Nevada and Oregon, and perhaps other states, according to media reports. Republicans have been pretty open about their determination to keep African Americans from voting, where possible. Democrats have assembled legal teams to be prepared to contest Republican vote shenanigans around the nation.

If you see electoral fraud, call the national vote fraud hotline, toll-free, at 1-866-OUR-VOTE (687-8683). To find out how to preserve an honest count after the election, contact Nick Biddle of "Save the Election," phone 541-385-5998 or email nick@bendnet.com.  more at: http://www.commondreams.org/views04/1030-21.htm

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And for 95 years, the Internal Revenue Service hasn't had a problem with the doings at the NAACP...

Until now.

Earlier this month, the NAACP received a letter from the IRS threatening to revoke the group's tax-exempt status because of statements made by its chairman, Julian Bond.

At the NAACP's annual convention in Philadelphia in July, Bond made statements about the effects of the policies of the administration of President Bush. The IRS is charging that that was in violation of the law that forbids tax-exempt organizations from advocating for or against a particular candidate for elective office.

Bond sees it quite differently, and we agree with him wholeheartedly. To him, the IRS is using its power to try to silence him and his association. To him, it's a Nixonian abuse of power.
It sure sounds like it to us.

IRS is in the wrong in flap over NAACP
Monday, November 01, 2004

For 95 years, the NAACP has worked to advance the cause of our nation's black citizens.

If the NAACP can't talk about public policy, what can it do?

When the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic church recently made clear that it opposed the election of Sen. John F. Kerry to the presidency, no one from the IRS sent any threatening letters.

But Julian Bond now has to marshal his forces to fend off the nation's Internal Revenue Service. We believe that in the end he will win, but we believe, too, that it's a fight he shouldn't have to fight.

Said Bond: "This is an attempt to silence the NAACP on the very eve of a presidential election. We are best known for registering and turning out large numbers of African-American voters. Clearly, someone in the IRS doesn't want that to happen."

He said further, "It's Orwellian to believe that criticism of the president is not allowed or that the president is somehow immune from criticism."

The IRS already has a lot of work to do. It shouldn't be adding intimidation and voter suppression to its to-do list. And it is supposed to be working for the citizens, not for George W. Bush's re-election team.

Julian Bond has a big job, too. And he is very good at it. But he is not going to be able to devote all his energies to it because of the unwarranted distraction caused by IRS agents.
They should concentrate on their work - and let him concentrate on his.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And if that isn't scary enough... read on... Carolyn

Supreme Court in the hands of the next US president

IDEOLOGICAL DIVIDE: The US' next leader is likely to
have to appoint new justices, which will affect the balance
of the court for years to come

THE OBSERVER , LONDON
Monday, Nov 01, 2004,Page 7

With moral and cultural issues playing as large a role in influencing tomorrow's presidential election as security, money and war, the question over the future make-up of the US Supreme Court is the issue that neither candidate has wished to fully acknowledge.

Beyond the prospect that disputed results in many states could once again put the outcome of the election in the hands of nine aging justices, the next president is almost certain to have the power to affect the ideological balance of the court, which often divides five to four on controversial issues.

With America's moral and cultural armies squaring off over gay marriage, stem-cell research and abortion, the power to appoint one or more new justices to the ideologically divided court is perhaps more important in the long term than who sits in the White House.

Last week, the issue came into focus when it was announced that 80-year-old Chief Justice William Rehnquist was being treated for thyroid cancer. Rehnquist, an ideological conservative who has presided over the court for 17 years and who has seen the country move to the right since he was appointed by former president Nixon, is said to be ready for work next week in case there are election issues to resolve.

But Rehnquist's illness placed both sides of the US' cultural divide on notice. Three other justices have already been treated for cancer, and with all but one over the age of 65, the court is fast approaching a changing of the guard that makes the outcome of tomorrow's vote all the more important.

It's 10 years since the last justice was confirmed; not since 1812 to 1823 has it gone that long unchanged. Indeed, some commentators fear Kerry's first or Bush's second term could be dominated by nomination battles. Democrats see the court as dominated five to four by conservatives; Republicans see it as evenly split. Any change in the make-up could tip it further either way.

"This election is not just about the next four years but the next 40," says Nan Aron, president of Alliance for Justice.

"The new president or the re-elected president will have huge control over the future direction of the court," Aron said.

Democrats fear that if Bush is re-elected, he will follow a familiar pattern of judicial appointment.

"Ideology has triumphed qualification in Bush's judicial selections," Aron said. "He's looked for young ideologues with fixed hostilities toward civil rights, environmental and consumer protections and a woman's right to choose."

Despite his faith, Kerry has vowed he will not nominate a judge who does not support abortion rights. Bush, somewhat opaquely, says he'll name "judges who know the difference between personal opinion and the strict interpretation of the law."

Under a Bush second term Democrats fear a conservative could be selected to replace liberal John Paul Stevens, 84. And conservative groups fear a liberal successor to Rehnquist or to the committed conservative Antonin Scalia.

"I don't think it is too much to say that the culture may well hang in the balance with the appointment of Supreme Court justices in the coming years," said Tony Perkins, president of the socially conservative Family Research Council.

As an original opponent of abortion rights and supporter of invading neutral Cambodia in the early 1970s, Rehnquist has been a soldier for the right, helping to deliver the 2000 election to Bush, weakening the barrier between church and state, restricting the criminal appeals process and the reach of affirmative action, as well as reducing the power of Washington to dictate to the states.
This story has been viewed 210 times.

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ACLU Launches Voter Protection Efforts for Election Day
October 29, 2004
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Civil Liberties Group Challenges Practices That May Impact Voting Rights
NEW YORK-The American Civil Liberties Union announced today that it is prepared to respond immediately to voting rights infringements or ballot irregularities that may arise on Election Day.
"Voting is the most fundamental right we have in a democracy," said ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero. "All eligible voters who wish to exercise their rights on November 2 deserve to be able to cast their ballots without interference, and have confidence that their votes will be counted fairly."
As part of its Election Day efforts, the ACLU Voting Rights Project and various ACLU state affiliates will monitor polls and respond to any incidents of voter intimidation, vote suppression or election foul-ups. Voters with complaints are encouraged to call the organization’s toll-free voter hotline, 1-877-523-2792. In coordination with state affiliates, the ACLU has distributed more than 100,000 voter empowerment cards in English and Spanish, which contain information for voters on their rights and ways to avoid problems when voting.
Some of the activities the ACLU will monitor on Election Day, include:
Voter harassment or intimidation, including slurs or signs of bias among poll workers
Efforts to have voters produce identification or proof of citizenship in situations where such information is not required
Disinformation campaigns, such as posting fliers in minority neighborhoods that give false information on voting requirements
Moving or closing polling places on short notice or without sufficient warning
Blocking voter access to provisional ballots
Problems with voting machines, including human errors and technology-related problems
Efforts to tamper with voting machines
Excessive presence of uniformed law enforcement officials at polling places.
The ACLU has already identified and challenged questionable election practices in more than a dozen states across the country, including concerns over access to absentee and provisional ballots, flawed felon purge procedures, the presence of armed guards at polling places, physical searches of voters, ID and proof of citizenship requirements and voter registration challenges.
"Ballot security measures designed to prevent voter fraud must be closely monitored and carefully implemented so that they do not discourage legitimate voters from participating fully in the democratic process," said Laughlin McDonald, Director of the ACLU Voting Rights Project. "Every effort must be made to ensure these programs do not disproportionately target minority voters, as they have done so in the past."
In response to reports that Ohio’s Republican party is stationing 250 challengers in predominantly African American precincts, the ACLU of Ohio has launched the "Refuse to Leave" media campaign to inform voters of their right to cast provisional ballots if they are prevented from voting for any reason. ACLU attorneys are also poised to file legal challenges, stating that this process could intimidate voters and create excessive delays causing voters to leave without casting their ballots.
In recent weeks, the ACLU of Florida filed two separate lawsuits on behalf of individuals who are being barred from casting their ballots on November 2 because of overly strict election board requirements. In a complaint filed in Orlando, the ACLU sued election officials for refusing to issue an absentee ballot to a U.S. citizen currently residing in Germany, even though he submitted his registration form months in advance. In Gainesville, the ACLU and Florida Legal Services challenged the rejection of the voter registration form of a 77-year-old Broward County woman who didn't check the citizenship box, even though she signed an oath affirming she is a U.S. citizen. The ACLU is challenging similar obstacles in Iowa, Georgia and South Dakota.
According to the ACLU, state interpretations of the 2002 Help America Vote Act have raised constitutional questions over ID checks. Under HAVA, poll workers must check identification only for new voters who registered by mail, but some states have expanded the provision to require all voters to present ID, or restricted the types of identification that poll workers may accept. The ACLU said this is especially troubling for poor, urban voters who may not have a driver’s license or other accepted forms of identification. The ACLU of Minnesota recently filed a petition in federal court with the National Congress of American Indians, which challenged the state’s expansions on HAVA and argued that restrictions on tribal identification cards could prevent thousands of Native American voters from voting on Election Day.
Another major concern for the ACLU, which it also says has a disproportionate impact on minority voters, is the systematic disfranchisement of voters over felony convictions. The ACLU and the Rutgers Law School Constitutional Litigation Clinic earlier this year filed a constitutional challenge to a law denying voting rights to persons on probation or parole in New Jersey. Last week, the ACLU of Washington filed a lawsuit seeking to restore voting rights to those individuals who have served their prison time but are denied the right to vote solely because they owe legal debts. In addition to legal challenges, the ACLU is currently conducting a public education campaign, including mobilization efforts with affiliates in Georgia, New Jersey, North Carolina and Southern California, to educate formerly incarcerated persons about their voting rights and to encourage them to vote.
The ACLU also said that it is concerned that attempts to increase security on Election Day could result in voter intimidation. In Virginia, the ACLU urged election officials to cancel plans to post armed, uniformed police officers outside polling places, saying that such measures could intimidate voters, especially minorities. In Rhode Island and Georgia, the ACLU similarly challenged U.S. attorney recommendations that poll workers search voters and their personal belongings as they enter the polling places.
For more information on the ACLU Voting Rights Project, go to http://www.aclu.org/VotingRights/VotingRightsMain.cfm.
Christian Right Need Not Fear Republicans for Kerry

This year again, our country faces a presidential election while
seemingly stuck in the intractable struggle of liberal vs. conservative,
blue states vs. red. Is there any way to avoid an election
in which 50% of the population doesn’t feel cheated?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A few Dubyu Quotes "After all, religion has been around a lot longer than Darwinism." George, September 2000

"You're all going to hell." George W Bush joking about what he would say to Israeli Jews upon arriving in the Middle East in 1993, Austin-American
Statesman, 1st December 1998

"First, let me make it very clear, poor people aren't necessarily killers. Just because you happen to be not rich doesn't mean you're willing to kill." George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., May 19, 2003

“Those weapons of mass destruction have got to be here somewhere,” “No, no weapons over there,” “Maybe under here?” President George Bush joked about not finding the much-vaunted weapons of mass destruction in Iraq during a black tie dinner for journalists.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

'Evangelical Christianity Has Been Hijacked':
An Interview with Tony Campolo
Speaking out on gays, women and more, a progressive evangelical says 'We ought to get out of the judging business.'

Interview by Laura Sheahen

Evangelical leader, sociology professor, and Baptist minister Tony Campolo made headlines in the 1990s when he agreed to be a spiritual counselor to President Bill Clinton. A self-described Bible-believing Christian, he has drawn fire from his fellow evangelicals for his stance on contemporary issues like homosexuality. He talked with Beliefnet recently about his new book, Speaking My Mind.

It's a common perception that evangelical Christians are conservative on issues like gay marriage, Islam, and women’s roles. Is this the case?
Well, there's a difference between evangelical and being a part of the Religious Right. A significant proportion of the evangelical community is part of the Religious Right. My purpose in writing the book was to communicate loud and clear that I felt that evangelical Christianity had been hijacked.

When did it become anti-feminist? When did evangelical Christianity become anti-gay? When did it become supportive of capital punishment? Pro-war? When did it become so negative towards other religious groups?

There are a group of evangelicals who would say, "Wait a minute. We’re evangelicals but we want to respect Islam. We don’t want to call its prophet evil. We don’t want to call the religion evil. We believe that we have got to learn to live in the same world with our Islamic brothers and sisters and we want to be friends. We do not want to be in some kind of a holy war."

We also raise some very serious questions about the support of policies that have been detrimental to the poor. When I read the voter guide of a group like the Christian Coalition, I find that they are allied with the National Rifle Association and are very anxious to protect the rights of people to buy even assault weapons. But they don’t seem to be very supportive of concerns for the poor, concerns for trade relations, for canceling Third World debts.

In short, there’s a whole group of issues that are being ignored by the Religious Right and that warrant the attention of Bible-believing Christians. Another one would be the environment.

I don’t think that John Kerry is the Messiah or the Democratic Party is the answer, but I don’t like the evangelical community blessing the Republican Party as some kind of God-ordained instrument for solving the world’s problems. The Republican Party needs to be called into accountability even as the Democratic Party needs to be called into accountability. So it’s that double-edged sword that I’m trying to wield.

Are the majority of evangelicals in America leaning conservative because they see their leaders on TV that way? Or is there a contingent out there that we don’t hear about in the press that is more progressive on the issues you just talked about?

The latest statistics that I have seen on evangelicals indicate that something like 83 percent of them are going to vote for George Bush and are Republicans. And there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s just that Christians need to be considering other issues beside abortion and homosexuality.

These are important issues, but isn’t poverty an issue? When you pass a bill of tax reform that not only gives the upper five percent most of the benefits, leaving very little behind for the rest of us, you have to ask some very serious questions. When that results in 300,000 slots for children's afterschool tutoring in poor neighborhoods being cut from the budget. When one and a half billion dollars is cut from the "No Child Left Behind" program.

Click below for more on this article:

http://www.beliefnet.com/story/150/story_15052_1.html

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Friday, October 22, 2004
BUSH SUPPORTERS ARE WILDLY MISINFORMED
From Judd Legum’s blog, excerpted from the
PIPA study:

75% believe Iraq was providing substantial support to al Qaeda.

74% believe Bush favors including labor and environmental standards in agreements on trade.

72% believe Iraq had WMD or a program to develop them.

72% believe Bush supports the treaty banning landmines.

69% believe Bush supports the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.

61% believe if Bush knew there were no WMD he would not have gone to war.

60% believe most experts believe Iraq was providing substantial support to al Qaeda. (An additional 19% think Iraq was directly involved in 9/11.
Gallup had 62% on this question.)

58% believe the Duelfer report concluded that Iraq had either WMD or a major program to develop them.

57% believe that the majority of people in the world would prefer to see Bush reelected.

56% believe most experts think Iraq had WMD.

55% believe the 9/11 report concluded Iraq was providing substantial support to al Qaeda.

51% believe Bush supports the Kyoto treaty.

Should these people choose your president?
It’s up to you.

Ben Wikler
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This article is quite frightening, just in time for
Halloween. I wished it wasn't so. Carolyn

http://davidcorn.com/

October 18, 2004

Is Bush Really on a (Facts-Don't-Matter) Mission from God?

Ron Suskind's 8000-word article in yesterday's New York Times Magazine received so much notice because it reported (as I noted below) that Bush had told a luncheon of his top funders that he aimed to privatize Social Security if he wins a second term. The Kerry campaign immediately seized upon this factoid, and GOPers countered that the quote was wrong and that Suskind, a registered Democrat, had only cited anonymous sources. But the article contained far more frightening material, which did not draw as much attention as the P-word quote. For instance, Bruce Bartlett, a former adviser to Ronald Reagan told Suskind that "if Bush wins, there will be a civil war in the Republican Party starting on Nov. 3." Bartlett explained:

I think a light has gone off for people who've spent time up close to Bush: that this instinct he's always talking about is this sort of weird, Messianic idea of what he thinks God has told him to do. This is why George W. Bush is so clear-eyed about al Qaeda and the Islamic fundamentalist enemy. He believes you have to kill them all. They can't be persuaded, that they're extremists, driven by a dark vision. He understands them, because he's just like them. ... This is why he dispenses with people who confront him with inconvenient facts. He truly believes he's on a mission from God. Absolute faith like that overwhelms a need for analysis. The whole thing about faith is to believe things for which there is no empirical evidence. But you can't run the world on faith.

A mission from God? No need for analysis? Running the world on faith? If this is true, it's far more scary than the privatization of Social Security. And there's more. Suskind notes that Senator Joe Biden told him of a White House meeting in December 2002 when Bush and legislators discussed the possibility of European peacekeepers becoming involved in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Representative Tom Lantos, a California Democrat, suggested the Swedish army be approached. Bush replied, "I don't know why you're talking about Sweden. They're the neutral one. They don't have an army." Lantos--no doubt politely--informed Bush that Switzerland was the nation that was historically neutral and without an army. Bush countered, "No, no, it's Sweden that has no army." The room, according to Suskind, "fell silent, until someone changed the subject." Then a few weeks later, Bush encountered Lantos and told him, "You were right. Sweden does have an army." Well, at least he has the capacity to learn.

Exploring further Bush's relationship--or lack thereof with reality--Suskind, a former political reporter for The Wall Street Journal , writes about a conversation he had in 2002 with a top Bush aide:

I had a meeting with a senior adviser to Bush. He expressed the White House's displeasure [about an article Suskind had written on Bush aide Karen Hughes], and then he told me something that at the time I didn't fully comprehend--but which I now believe gets to the very heart of the Bush presidency. The aide said that guys like me were "in what we call the reality-based community," which he defined as people who "believe that solutions emerge from your judicious study of discernible reality." I nodded and murmured something about enlightenment principles and empiricism. He cut me off. "That's not the way the world really works anymore. ... We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you're studying that reality--judiciously, as you will--we'll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that's how things will sort out. We're history's actors ... and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do."

Are Bush and his gang are running on high-octane delusions? I've not been one to shout that the sky will fall if Bush is reelected (though it might--especially given his position on global warming). But Suskind presents rather chilling stuff. He also quotes an unidentified Bush supporter who is unnerved by Bush's detachment from the real world:

I'm happy he's certain of victory and that he's ready to burst forth into his second term, but it all makes me a little nervous. There are a lot of big things that he's planning to do domestically, and who knows what countries we might invade or what might happen in Iraq. But when it gets complex, he seems to turn to prayer or God rather than digging in and thinking things through. What's that line?--the devil's in the details. If you don't go after that devil, he'll come after you.

Sounds like Bush is going to come after us--us being anyone who believes that decision-making should be grounded in reality and that it is dangerous for any leader to assume his faith in God (and God's faith in him) trumps an obligation to understand the world he seeks to change. If Suskind isn't pulling a fast one, Bush is aiming to achieve fundamental change far beyond privatizing Social Security. And he's not going to let facts get in the way of his (and God's) wishes. Happy Halloween.

Christians Must Challenge American Messianic
Nationalism: A Call to the Churches

messianic also Messianic adj.
1. Of or relating to a messiah: messianic hopes.
2. Of or characterized by messianism:
messianic nationalism.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This next article comes from the site
http://www.flakmag.com/
One Grandmother's opinion of the
Bush War.

Weekly Shredder 15:
The PennySaver Cronkite
by Bob Cook

Wall Street Journal reporter Farnaz Fassihi's e-mail to friends about the horrific conditions she faced in Baghdad became an Internet sensation because it seemed so real and emotional, and so different from the bloodless, professional reports that usually come out of Iraq.

A suburban Chicago grandmother named Alice Collins has written the equivalent piece for the home front — a searing story grieving for the death of her 19-year-old grandson and lashing out at President Bush for sending young people like him off to war. The piece is stunning not just for its emotional rawness, but for where it appears — an advertorial in a weekly shopper.

Alice Collins of Oak Lawn, Ill., looks like the kind of sweet grandmother who would have fresh-baked pie at the ready whenever you stopped by. She writes two advertorial columns — "Love 'N Leftovers," sponsored by the Freshline Foods grocery store, and "Cookies 'N Chaos," sponsored by car dealer Hawkinson Ford — for the PennySaver of Tinley Park, Ill., a Hollinger International-owned publication distributed for free to homes in south Chicago and its suburbs.

The columns usually include items about community events or whimsical musings on family — the kind of stuff you'd imagine your grandmother talking about as she scooped the ice cream onto your pie plate. Collins used her columns to help collect care packages for US troops in Iraq, and that was as political as things got.

But on Aug. 8, Collins' grandson, Marine Lance Cpl. Jonathan Collins of Crystal Lake, Ill., was killed by small-arms fire in Iraq's Anbar province. Hometown news accounts quoted Alice Collins as saying she begged Jonathan not to join the military, in part because her only brother was killed in Vietnam.

Collins had held back her emotions in print — until the Oct. 12 "Cookies 'N Chaos." Wedged between the "Merchandise $100 or less" listings and a display ad for double-hung windows was a piece entitled "We Are But One Family." Collins, in an e-mail interview, said neither the paper nor her column's sponsor requires her to seek permission for what she writes. "Controversy is a part of life and as a columnist, I feel privileged to address it," Collins wrote in her e-mail.

With Collins' permission, Flak is reproducing the piece in its entirety — until now, it hasn't appeared on the Web.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

WE ARE BUT ONE FAMILY

I can think of over a thousand reasons why George Bush should not be re-elected as President of the United States of America. They are the names of the young servicemen and servicewomen who have paid the ultimate price, the sacrifice of their lives, in a war whose premises have proven to be false.

You can search the list of those killed in action from top to bottom. Among all the names of Marines and Soldiers there is not one son or daughter belonging to a Congressman, Congresswoman, or the President and his cabinet. Do I wish the horror of losing a loved one upon any of them? ABSOLUTELY NOT! for the pain and the grief that have been thrust upon over one thousand families are in the words of one Mother,

"Living Hell here on earth."

The rich and powerful have surreptitious ways to keep their families from active duty in the military and schemes that allow them to profit from the rebuilding of Iraq. While they count their money, the middle class families of dead Marines and Soldiers pile up their sympathy cards.

If John Kerry is elected President can he rush in and end this nightmare? Probably not at first, but one thing is for sure. A man who has fought, who has watched friends suffer and die, who has witnessed first hand the horrific inferno of war and its life long consequences, remembers forever all that he saw, heard and did. That man will do all in his power to bring an end to another generation's suffering and death. This I believe.

We are but one family, and yet, the death of Jonathan Collins, USMC has touched hundreds of people: former classmates, neighbors, families, friends, strangers, you, Dear Readers, and countless others. Who can count the tears that have been shed? Who can measure the heartache that begins and ends each new day? How do you comfort two teen-age sisters, Lauren and Devon, who walk through each school day trying not to cry on the outside, while inside their young hearts sob? How can nightmares and fear and loss that have carved a crater in their innocent souls ever be closed? And what of Brandon, the big brother who, as a child, would not go to a party unless his kid brother, Jonathan, was invited too? Part of Brandon is forever gone, that part of his life, that he freely gave to Jonathan alone. The antics they shared, the goofy jokes, the pillow fights, the love that wasn't always expressed in words but rather the hugs they still gave each other, and the pride that gleamed in Brandon's eyes the day Jonathan graduated boot camp at Camp Pendleton. I watch him now, twenty-one years young, and his shoulders bend with heavy sorrow. He epitomized the words, "He ain't heavy, Father, he's my brother." But now there is no brother to carry, only memories that weigh them down with a broken heart.

We have watched our vivacious, beautiful daughter-in-law, Angel, age before our eyes as she walks through each dreaded day in a trance of grief and loss so raw the finality and reality of what she must endure forevermore have become a vise around her heart. And our son, Jack, trying so hard to be the rock for his family, to hold them close with his love and faith. Does he cry in the shower, does the emptiness sear night and day? I am his mother, and the face I love to gaze upon, is etched with sadness that rips me apart.

We are but one family, and there are over a thousand more, just like us.

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

At the conclusion of the Feb. 27, 1968, CBS Evening News anchor Walter Cronkite delivered a commentary based on his experience reporting from Vietnam in the aftermath of the Viet Cong's infamous Tet Offensive a month before. Cronkite didn't use the word "quagmire," but that's what he described. After hearing the commentary, President Lyndon Johnson reportedly turned off his TV set and declared to his aides, "If I've lost Cronkite, I've lost middle America." Five weeks later, Johnson shocked the nation by announcing he would not run for a second term.

Maybe it's going overboard to suggest that another Cronkite-type moment has occurred with Alice Collins in the pages of the PennySaver, but President Bush had better realize that if he loses more Alice Collins's, he'll have lost middle America.

E-mail Bob Cook at bob@flakmag.com.

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Subject: Witches and a Fairy Princess
Date: Sun, 26 Sep 2004 21:17:49 -0400

I went to the fabric store because my granddaughter wants  to be a witch and her sister wants to be a  fairy princess .  A woman pointed at my MOB shirt, "I like your shirt."Sarah", she said, pointing at her daughter," look at this lady's shirt."   I told her to check MOB.org (MOTHER'S OPPOSING BUSH). She said she had but hadn't been able to find a local chapter.   We started to talk and I gave her my card with Gina's e-mail on it so she could connect with the Olney Chapter. Then we chatted some more. That's when  she told me about T.J.  her son who died in Iraq last spring.  I had no words to comfort her.  I didn't know what to say. I hugged her and she cried on my shoulder, in the middle of the Fabric store, surrounded by gaudy Halloween fabrics.    There are times I get so discouraged, when doubts and disappointments cloud my thinking.  And days when I am profoundly sad about the state of our nation.  There are times I want to do nothing more than just stay at home and watch old movies and stop being abused by rude Republicans on street corners.  But then I come face to face with a reality I can't deny and I hold a stranger in my arms who cries on my shoulder in the middle of the fabric store.     The  woman works for the Federal Government.  She lives in Frederick and has a home in Bismarck, ND.  She put  banners on both her homes saying "George Bush sent my son home in a box."  If she can do that, then I can do whatever I can to change the future of our country.  For no mother should have to bring her son home in a box and no woman should have to cry on the shoulder of a stranger in the middle of a fabric store.
  "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world.  Indeed it's the only thing that ever has." Margaret Mead

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Words To Unamerican

      v.1
Didn't know I was unamerican
For choosing to give a damn
Or unpatriotic
For daring to take a stand
For what I believe in
Looks like Freedom to me -
Expressions of Liberty
Wanting our America to be
A responsible hegemony

      v.2
Didn't know I was a communist
For wanting to share the wealth
It doesn't take an economist
To measure the cost of health
And what I believe in
Looks like heaven to me -
One Human Family
Where everybody's got enough to eat
And something warm to cover their feet

      v.3
Didn't know I'd be labeled a terrorist
For daring to speak my mind
It's becoming more precarious
For failing to tow the line
And what I believe in
Sounds like Freedom to me -
Like the Sons of Liberty
In 1773
Dumping 45 tons of tea

      v.4
Didn't know I was in the minority
Of people who love the Earth
I hope it becomes a priority
Before it gets any worse
And what I Believe In
Looks like heaven to me -
Where Angels take the shape of the tree
Giving us clean air to breathe
From the rivers to the mountains and seas...

      v.5
Didn't know I hated my country
For acknowledging the Truth
This war is dispicable profiteering
At the expense of our youth
And what I Believe In
Looks like heaven to me
All of humanity
Living as community
In relative harmony

I know it's just a song
But if the whole world sang along
How much longer would it be this way?

his work is ©2004 Ian Rhett and licensed
under a Creative Commons License
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Please visit the pages on carolynconnection.com

.*The Republican War
* A Parent's Rage
*Kerry 1971
*911 Attack
*Hope Is On The Way
*War Mongering and Football
*Political Polling A Sham
*Bush-Misleading-Middleclass
*Time To Get The Bush Out.
*Prairie Fire
*Ghosts Of War
*Heroes and Villians
*The American Voter
*The Unfeeling President
*Why Don't Americans Care?
*Our man Kerry and opinions
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Every daring attempt to make a great change
in existing conditions, every lofty vision of new
possibilities for the human race, has been labeled Utopian.

Idealists foolish enough to throw caution to the
winds have advanced mankind and have enriched the world.
Emma Goldman

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