xxx

Kristy, look up from that Republican list of talking points long enough to think about this. There was no need for either candidate to seek a nationwide recount. There were only a handful of states that were close enough to worry about. They were Florida, NH, NM, Iowa, maybe Oregon. Gore won all of these states except Florida and New Hampshire. Bush sought and was awarded a manual recount in NM. The candidates could have challenged these other states, but there was no reason to believe that undervotes and overvotes were concentrated in particular ways to favor the losing candidate. Neither candidate mounted challenges in these states, so why are you still going on about something that is simply not in issue?

Remember, the electoral college decides the presidency. Gore and Bush would have to be morons to contest states that did not have enough electoral college votes to change the result.

This is all so obvious that I can't believe you are bothering even to argue about this. Sheez.

Wrong

NM had a recount because the state constitution calls for one in races as close as this one was. Bush had the opportunity after the first recount to request a handcount and he REFUSED. Please at least know the facts before you spew the typical Liberal Spin and rhetoric.

kalena

Hello Armstrong:

I must say I read your posting with exceedingly mixed feelings. I had thought water chestnuts were more of a mainland mainstay, and I am truly concerned that your youngest has had to deal with so many dietary adjustments during your visit to our country. I assume that in your search for the authentic American experience you have perhaps not sought out water chestnuts where they are most readily available: in Asian markets in most large cities. I am sure that had we known of your son's dietary restrictions, we would have tried to give you better travel advice. I only hope you can find some water chestnuts soon, or in the alternative, plase take your son to a doctor.

As far as the protests though, it may not be possible to move them up a week to meet your itinerary. As you see, Nando may very well be on his way. It is true that these gatherings will have much historical significance. I would like to be there myself, but it is not practical for me to make the trip. Dress warmly wherever you are on the mainland in January. That much I know.

Correct me though, on one point, because as it is I only get my news from the U.S. liberal media. I thought that in Hong Kong you had student riots once in a while. Do you have the death penalty? Tell me please, is Hong Kong a better place to visit than say, Singapore?
Thank you very much.

Your friend in travel,
Kalena

Ojala

If Katherine Harris couldn't deliver Florida by her machinations (ordering supervisors to stop legitimate hand counts, throwing thousands of out-of-state innocent "felons" off the rolls—30 percent of all blacks), then maybe the Florida Supreme Court. or US Court of Appeals would (they didn't). If not them, the Florida legislature prepared to usurp their own voters will in the most naked abuse of power we have seen in ages. If not them, the Supreme Court prepared to throw out every principle they espoused to cobble together a decision so shoddy that every American election in history would be invalidated by its application. For the Bushmen, losing was not an option.

But if losing wasn't an option, then this wasn't an election and we aren't a democracy—which brings us back to the conundrum of preventing a fair recount. Future eons of schoolchildren will ask, "Why did people let this happen?" Simply, the Democrats didn't care enough, and the Republicans were willing to do anything to win.

If conditions had been reversed and Bush was ahead by 700 votes, do you think for one second that Gore would have opposed recounting the votes? He is such a civic stickler that he wouldn't even let the black reps talk about their motion to contest Florida electors when the Loser-in-Chief was certified the victor last Saturday. The Republicans have been fighting no-holds-barred for 20 years now, since 1980, Reagan, Terry Dolan, and NCPAC; and almost rabidly since Clinton's ascension. Democrats, however, have maintained a befuddled civility as if they couldn't quite understand why the Republicans hated them so much, as the Republicans—fueled by hate radio—became dominated by extremists and fringe fundamentalists.

Politics all involves some damage to the truth, but when one repeats an egregious lie over and over, until half the country repeats (or believes) that untruth, you haven't just damaged the system, you've damaged the very language and changed the firmament on which the system sits. And nothing is ever the same again. It's been so in every dictatorship, as rulers conditioned their people to accept constantly rising levels of outrage, of violence, of enemies—internal and external—that must be warred against. And this lie involved the voting that's the very basis of democracy. The next step of shifting relativity, already floated by Bushmen and perhaps soon to be picked up by vapid commentators, is to seal the votes—to prevent all this uncertainty and instability.

Johnlw

I work in D.C. I drove past the Mall yesterday, and saw all the materials being put together in preparation for the Inaugural. I have seen so many protests and displays of dissent over the years, just by being here, and you know what(?), they are all good. The fact that we allow, even encourage this peaceful venting of outrage is what makes us great.

If it is any consolation, when you are on the Mall, stop and quietly look around. The majesty of the Capital, the Washington Monument, the White House etc. should give you confidence in this country.

If you think of the parade of scoundrels, scofflaws, heretics, charlatans, theives, and losers that have gone through these hallowed grounds, and that the country has survived them very well, then you will know that we will also survive the latest onslaught of same.

Chill.

L.E.

A Day In the Life
(Sung to the tune of The Beatles song)
I read the news today oh boy
About a man who never made the grade
And all the news was rather sad
For we had just been took
We could not just stand back and look
We'd love to overturn

He blew his mind out using coke
He drank too much, a sorry bloke
But that did not stop him at all
As he took the oath
Everybody hoped that it was just a joke

We'd love to overturn

I saw the news today oh boy
the Bush Family had just won the war
A crowd of people turned away
But we just had to shout
Since our votes they did not count

We'd love to overturn

Woke up, got out of bed
Could not believe what was said
Made our way downstairs to catch a train
Carrying signs "NO, Not Bush Again!"

Grabbed our coats, grabbed our hats
Went to DC in seconds flat
Wrote some songs to sing loudly as one
To drown out the the guy the court said had won.

Ahhh ahhh ahhh ahhhh ahhhh ahhh ahhhhh

I read the news today oh boy
About a man who never made the grade
His daddy could cover up his DUI collars
Buy his way through Yale
Now we know the Supreme Court can be bought for dollars
We'd love to overturn

Terry Pack

nando -

It sounds like you've got quite the trek planned. The best directions that I can give you are to take your socialist ideals and go to Hell.

Here's another suggestion - get a job, quit your f***ing whining, take your tax cut, and go buy a tree to hug.

I'll be in DC with 700,000+ supporters to watch the White House get a much-needed cleansing. If you break down on the way, don't expect a government-funded program to ship your a$$ back home!

agape

PBS ran one of their "Great Speeches" segments this afternoon, the eve of Martin Luther King Day. The speech I thought was particularly interesting, that I hadn't heard before, was Nelson Rockefeller's at the 1960 Republican Convention. He basically got jeered down as he spoke of the need of the Republican Party to take a stand against the Jobn Bircher's and the KKK. He spoke of the hate groups in our society, and how our nation was founded on different ideals. Apparently, the extreme right wing of the Republican party couldn't accept this message then and apparently it can't accept it now.

As to those here that continue to post hate missives and still consider yourselves Christians, I pray for you.

By the way, I am not a socialist, so you can't pin that on me. But the one historical person that espoused what comes closest to true socialism was Jesus Christ. Go read your Bible and think about it.

"Many spoke my name and never knew me."
JC

A Thinking Christian

I am a Christian and our minister today made wonderful Biblical references to the dreams of Martin Luther King Jr. and to the premises of diversity in our lives. He also said a prayer that, while it included a request for guidance for the new president and administration, also prayed that the voices of the silenced would be heard and that those of us who fear that democracy has been dealt a blow will not need to despair because God hears and he will make sure we get heard.

He also mentioned that what people try to keep hidden will come out. In fact Ismael, Hagar's son in the Bible, has a name which means God hears. I don't recall any scripture that says "For God so loved the world that he gave us Dubya, that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life." I can't find that scripture anywhere in the Bible.

I don't have to believe in Dubya, thank you very much, in order to be a Christian.