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This just in: George W. Bush won.
[~OO~] Pyrrhic victory at
best, a disaster in fact. What has been won and what has been lost? We
lost jobs, prosperity, education, social services, environmental
protection, some privacy, the right not to be harassed or searched
without good cause, a verifiable ballot, 1300 plus American lives, plus
more than ninety-nine thousand
victims: crippled, maimed, disinherited, dispossessed,
occupied, controlled, bombed, tortured, or executed in cold blood.
...and we won what? The abject scorn and derision of the world
for such arrogance and hubris. Beyond that we lost our integrity and
our reputation as a just and humane nation. George, Dick, and Donald...
have orchestrated torture, promoted corporate colonialism, and allowed
private companies to use our troops as mercenaries. This is not
winning. This is surrender.
"We have seen the enemy, and he is
us...." It is not the "American" thing to do to throw out inspectors,
ignore the family of nations, invade a virtually helpless, crippled
country, and spread death, devastation and destruction. This war of
choice was illegal, immoral, precipitous, ill-advised, duplicitous,
and lethal. A lose-lose situation. America and Iraq both lose big.
But the fortune 500
chuckles all the way to the bank, stepping carefully between the
coffins, with a nod and a wink. American has lost trust and her
leaders are untrustworthy due to conflicting interests. We need
new leadership..
from Tim Flanagan
editor of www.WritingResource.org/
www.PeaceResource.com/
www.ComputerResource.org/
www.InternationalPeaceresources.org/ and 1200 plus other pages
Here is some of the ongoing
discussion...
People
have known that the president was reelected for going on two months.
[~OO~] The bloodiest two
months of the war... The shape of things to come...
But more than a few left-wing deadenders
[~OO~] Like who?
have been insisting that "evil Republicans"
[~OO~]a citation?
managed to deprive John Kerry of victory by "stealing"
the state of Ohio just like Florida in 2000!
[~OO~] Even without a
citation, this innuendo is clearly possible. With unverifiable
machines, goon squads scaring off voters, moving polling places,
closing polling places, and the other machinations described, this
election may turn out to be more questionable than the last. But due to
intentional design by a Right Wing company dedicated to "electing Bush
no matter what it takes," we can never discover the vote, or verify
it. By hook or by crook, he retained control of the office. Once he is
gone, perhaps we can restore democracy, where votes not only count, but
can be recounted and verified. This capacity was stolen from us this
election. Bush is not my president. He is a traitor and a
criminal. Facts matter. The law of the land should prevail
over imperial ambition. Regardless of how "quaint" Karl Rove finds the
rule of law, when we take the law into our own hands we obstruct justice
and commit crimes. [~OO~] George, Dick, Donald, Karl, and others should
pay for their crimes. The rest of us will be paying for a couple
generations or more.
Front and
center for all this silliness
[~OO~] "Silliness"
indeed. Opposing the dilution of the power of the vote is not silly. It
is very serious. Allowing our votes to be taken away by corporate
ambition is abject surrender, and foolish.
were Rev. Jesse Jackson and Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.),
who traveled the Buckeye State claiming racial bias and voter
intimidation and unethical behavior by Ohio Secretary of State Kenneth
Blackwell (this year's Katherine Harris in the fever swamps of the
left).
[~OO~] When Rev. Jackson and
Representative Conyers exercised discretion and vigilance in protecting
our right to vote, I would have been proud to stand shoulder to shoulder
with them. Unethical behavior, racial bias, and ugly intimidation
exist. While this may be "outside of your world," it remains a fact. If
laws are broken and votes suppressed, we all lose.
Plus, the presidential candidates of the Green and
Libertarian parties demanded and got an official recount.
[~OO~] We call it Democracy.
|Meanwhile, John Kerry's lawyers flitted about in hopes
that something might come of it all.
[~OO~] Well, the Governor of
Washington is a bright and capable woman, and I thank John Kerry for his
noble efforts. The constitution demands that we count all the votes.
Why do you see this as "flitting about?." It is serious business...
Nothing did.
[~OO~] ???? A new governor
did. ;-)
To be sure, the official count wasn't completely accurate. The recount,
concluded on Tuesday, saw Bush's margin drop by 300 votes meaning he
won Ohio officially by only 118,457 votes.
[~OO~] We cannot verify
approximately one third of the total vote. This grossly exceeds his
"margin."
Shocking.
[~OO~] Not really. As a
frustrated woman in Ohio said, "I pressed Kerry, and the machine kept
lighting up Bush!"
Seriously, was anything learned over the last few weeks?
[~OO~] Yes, Bush is not only
a liar, but a brutal bully with little regard for human life or common
decency.
And as for the votes, we cannot count them. This is not a good thing.
It was not an accident.
Well, yes, glitches were identified. In some machines,
votes didn't get recorded correctly. Some ballots weren't initially
tallied accurately.
[~OO~] And some will never
be counted.
In short, there were the common errors that occur in every election
from a local town council all the way up.
[~OO~] The company which
designed one third of the machines, designed out verification. It took
extra effort to eliminate the digital trail. This was purposeful. Not
an error.
But there was no meltdown nor, more to the point, was
there any evidence of fraud.
[~OO~] You are mistaken.
Yet, for some, that's not enough. The loony left (you may even run into
some on the subway) will continue to mutter about "stolen elections."
[~OO~] You know the last one
was stolen, and it may turn out that this one was only stolen more
efficiently. Time will tell.
But it is not relevant. We have a problem. Corporate thieves are
raping and pillaging congress and the executive branches of our
government. These branches are growing at an alarming rate and
consuming all of our resources. They have now spent a goodly portion of
the Social Security fund, which is why they now claim it is "at risk."
While we are robbed, with impunity and official consent, American sons
and daughters are destroyed in these machinations. I will forgive the
persons, but will never forgive nor forget their ignoble and reckless
crimes against this nation. Crime should not pay and justice should be
done.
For everyone else, it's long past time to move on.
[~OO~] Not even. It is time
to act. Before we lose even more to these thugs.
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Tim
Flanagan