To The Barricades!

Another fake election is over, and no one should be surprised at the results. What do I mean by "fake" you ask? Well, just look at what has transpired in the weeks leading up to "election" day:

• Florida prevented 91,000 legally registered voters from casting their ballots, and the majority of them were people of color. They did this by using the already discredited and politically questionable list of felons and dead people that they used to rig the 2000 election for the governor's brother.

• In Minnesota, the corporate-controlled media prevented a Libertarian candidate from participating in the crucial debate between a tired old Democrat and the anointed business candidate... this is a state with a sitting Libertarian governor.

• Poor candidates were completely drowned out in a tidal wave of special interest campaign money, much of which was collected directly by Bush himself.

• U.S. taxpayer money was used to fly Bush and his cronies around the country so they could spread more fear with their rhetoric about terrorists and the imminent destruction of all things American by Middle Easterners.

• For some mysterious reason, no exit polling data was released. Thus, particularly in precincts that used computer terminals for voting, there was no way to determine how much fraud was being committed by election officials.

• The power elite and their media lackeys intentionally obscured real issues, like the loss of jobs, corporate graft that is robbing our pension plans, and the devastation caused by a phony war on drugs.

I could go on, but you already know the story. The real question is "What are you going to do about it?" Are you going to roll over like just another wage slave, or are you going to stand up and be counted? For now, you still have a choice, but if you assume you can wait until November of 2004 to do something about the death of democracy in this country, you have already lost.

It is time for us to be brutally honest with ourselves. We are being lied to by the media and by almost every politician in Washington. Of course, the lies are extremely well packaged. For example, look at how skillfully the Bush-Cheney junta forced Congress to spend most of the pre-election period in a debate about whether we should abandon everything this once great nation stood for and adopt a first strike policy. Striking out in blind fear, as Congress has authorized our emperor to do, is simply un-American. How anyone could vote for a member of Congress that supported a first strike policy is beyond me. Yet almost all of those fearful and cowardly congress-people who voted for this insane policy were re-elected.

If we are to have any hope at all of unseating the oligarchy and returning to a republic, we must act now... TODAY! What makes you think you can wait another two years to effect change? We have already seen how a crazed, military-trained sniper can paralyze a city. If such a madman were loose in your city next election day, would you go out to vote? When you think about all of the insidious ways the will of the people can be thwarted on election day, it isn't hard to see that the usurpers who have captured the machinery of our government don't have to declare martial law to keep us in check. All they need is a few homegrown terrorists and a media machine to fuel the fear, and we sheep will remain indoors, watching sitcoms and dreaming about our new SUVs.

Lorenzo Hagerty

I'm sick to death of the hypocrisy of the W Right and the censorship of all things Left by so-called news outlets such as CNN. It's crazy making -- it feels like deliberate and coordinated PsyOps being carried out by some unseen hand. Yet it's so out in the open at the same time. I have alarm bells going off in my mind and yet keep quesioning my own perceptions and sanity. How could the W Right have gained nearly complete control over the media without anyone noticing? Ideas that were once really fringe are now commonplace, accepted as conventional wisdom while all the progress of the previous two centuries in the areas of civil rights and civil liberties, equality, economic justice and security for ordinary people is villified, denigrated...and disappearing.

Why can't writers such as yourself somehow join forces and publish the Left's version of the "American Spectator," except publish some actual facts? Incite witch-hunts and impeachment hearings. Publish all the news that's not fit to print...all the W Right's nasty hypocricies, all the salacious gossip about their sex lives, crooked business deals, abrubt departures from public life, under-the-table bribe taking, conflicts of interest, greed, gluttony, avarice, lust, murder...why not get down and dirty and fight fire with hellfire? The trick is to gather it all into one print magazine instead of having it spread piecemeal all over the internet. How much money would it take to infiltrate the market...put it on newsstands and in supermarkets everywhere? What catchy title for the publication could you come up with that would utilize the W Right's own Bible- God- flag- mom- applepie- patriotic- racist -self-righteous- priggery Code Words so they might actually buy it and read it for the hot tabloid headlines?

All the knee-jerk intellectualism on the Left doesn't cut it, doesn't appeal to the lowest common denominator, doesn't dumb-down, infotain, manipulate, emote, or stimulate purient interest or self-righteous anger for white males and their womenfolk. As it stands, we on the Left are no match at all and we are going to lose it all by engaging in our own form of above-it-all priggery.

C. Fowles

Let's make this very simple. If you voted Republican in the 2002 election, take your most recent paystub and put it away somewhere. When elections roll around again in 2004, take it out and compare it to a paystub in September or October of 2004. Since the Republicans are always screaming about how much they're going to lower taxes, and since now there's no one stopping them from doing anything they want, see if you're really paying more or less taxes in 2004. If it turns out you're paying a LOT less taxes, like say, half of what you're paying now, then you have every reason to keep voting Republican. If, however, you're paying about the same, or maybe even more taxes than before, and you still insist on voting Republican, well, face it, you're an idiot who deserves what you get.

Joseph Vecchio (Georgia)

John Ellis, responsible for Fox News being first to call the 2000 presidential election for George W. Bush, is also the President's first cousin. In an interview (in the New Yorker) a week after the election, he admitted that early in the campaign he believed his cousin had little chance of winning. During the debates he kept waiting for Al Gore to turn to W. and ask "Just what is it about peace and prosperity you don't like?"

I bring this up now to remind citizens just what a distant memory peace and prosperity are as we face these mid-term elections.

Peace? There is no compelling logic for going to war with Iraq at this time, and a good case can be made that do so will only make us less secure. Other than as a tactic of distraction, there was likewise no compelling reason for Iraq to dominate recent public discourse. We have many more pressing issues to deal with -- terrorism, the economy, corporate accountability, poverty, healthcare, education, the environment, etc.

Or consider domestic peace: no matter how many innocent Americans the DC snipers killed, Bush refuses to consider gun fingerprinting.

Prosperity? To paraphrase Ronald Reagan in 1980 "Are we better off today than we were two years ago?" In less than a year and a half, the federal government's 10-year projected budget surplus of $1.6 trillion has morphed into predictions of soaring deficits of over $100 billion each year for the rest of the decade. Since the beginning of last year, the economy has lost 1.7 million jobs, or about 1 percent of the nation's total -- the worst job losses during a two-year Congressional cycle since 1981-82. More than half of the Bush tax cuts, when fully effective in 2010, will go to those making more than $1 million a year. According to the UK Guardian, "The country is moving from economic miracle -- 3% growth a year for a decade -- to mirage in one presidency,"

We don't need more quick-fix schemes or lopsided tax cuts. We don't need more government of, by and for CEOs.

We need to elect enough Democrats to stand up to this administration, and then it is up to us to demand that they do so.

As Americans at this time, we have more political power than 99 percent of all the people who have ever lived on earth. And if we each round up a friend who doesn't usually vote, we double that.

Remember the 2000 presidential election was ultimately decided by 537 votes and 87,000,000 did not vote at all.

Terrence McNally

Jimmy Carter Emerging As Leading Voice Against Bush War Plans

Outstanding.

Thank you, the voice of so many Americans are suppressed. Perhaps Former President Carter will emerge to be our voice.

Judith Anderson

Military Recruiters Given Data on Jr. High, High School Students

Why is there no outrage about the forcing of military recruiters into the schools with the demand that the schools remit to them the names and addresses of students? Penalty if schools do not comply, cutoff of federal funds to already strapped school systems!

Why the silence, the acceptance of this fascistic atrocity!

I have three grandsons coming up, vulnerable to the Bushwhacker's whims!

Barbara Kliene

Sioux Join "Crazy Horse Malt Liquor" Suit

I am the great-great granddaughter of Crazy horse and I am adamantly opposed to using my grandfather's name to promote liquor. The white man gave Indians a bad name by introducing them to " fire water" in the first place. Today, alcohol abuse rises on the reservations and I believe that by using my grandfather's name, many will believe that he ( Crazy Horse ) would have endorsed such consumption. This is not okay; why should any person, or company, be allowed to besmirch another person's good character and reputation? I will gladly do whatever needs to be done to restore the good character to all Indians who were maligned by the white man. This terrible act of condoning the use of Crazy Horse's name must NOT be allowed!

Donna Hogarth

When One Honest Man Made a Difference

One honest man made a difference? This honest man faced no danger of combat.

I thank General Lavelle for his actions -- because despite vastly improved North Vietamese air defenses, no American lives or aircraft were lost during the raids that Lavelle ordered. The only fault that Lavelle had in that dire mess was the falsification of reports of the raids. The reports were faked to circumvent stupid rules of engagement that made no sense militarily. The raids themselves were about as "illegal" (your words) as you or me defending ourselves against an armed person who is preparing to shoot at you.

Mike Menz

Soldier in The Army of God

I live in the Republic of South Africa, and have recently seen a documentary of the Army of God on one of our TV channels. I was shocked, but also impressed that there are still people out there who are willing to take-up arms, and fight for their cause. This cause being the protection of the innocent lives of little babies, cruelly killed by abortionists. I am a white man, a Protestant and an Afrikaner. I believe that abortion is wrong, and very evil. In short, it is nothing else but cold-blooded murder. I hope that you wouldn't need to resort to violence in the future, and that your cause will be won.

GD Joubert

Dubya No Ike

So, President Bush is cutting federal workers' pay next year to the tune of $13.6 billion. He needs to do this, of course, so he can give Israel the $14 billion that Israel wants. He's not the man Eisenhower was.

In October 1956, President Eisenhower froze aid to Israel when it seized and occupied Egyptian territory. Eisenhower said he would resume aid when Israel withdrew. Israel did not withdraw. So Eisenhower maintained the freeze on aid. After months of Israeli intransigence, Eisenhower threatened to support UN sanctions against Israel unless Israel withdrew. He also threatened to take away the tax break for Americans donating to Israeli causes. Israel finally capitulated and withdrew from the Egyptian land it had seized.

Today, President Bush, opposite to President Eisenhower, capitulates to Israel. With billions of aid he supports Israel's illegal seizure and occupation of Palestinian land -- and thereby invites more terrorists to attack us -- instead of halting aid until Israel obeys international law and withdraws its settlers and soldiers. Where's a man like President Eisenhower when you need one?

Bob Krasnansky (Maryland)

War on Iraq

I urge the President to change his course and NOT go to war with Iraq. We have not been provoked to go to war and reasons given by the the Bush Administration seem to be manufactured. It would be better to spend our resources in this country on education and the economy.

A. Daniel

When the "President" explained to us why we need to invade Iraq, his talk was striking for its lack of facts showing that Iraq is a danger to us and its lack of any mention of oil. The fact is that Iraq is not a danger, and Bush's war is all about about oil.

How can our representatives live with knowing that they are sentencing thousands, and quite likely hundreds of thousands, of the ordinary people of Iraq to death? Letters and phone calls to Senators and Representatives are running from 3 to 1 against attack in the most "conservative" parts of the country to a hundred to 1 against attack in the more "liberal". What kind of democracy ignores the overwhelming and plainly stated views of its citizens?

Fred Wolters

President Bush should be applauded for taking a courageous stand against Saddam Hussein's outlaw regime and its reckless pursuit of weapons of mass destruction. As the President noted in his recent address to the nation, the riskiest option for dealing with Iraq is to do nothing. Inaction would only give Saddam Hussein time to complete his malicious pursuit of nuclear weapons and would embolden tyrants and terrorists everywhere.

Acting now to disarm Saddam Hussein, using military force if necessary, is the only way we will keep America safe from weapons of mass destruction that fall into the hands of freedom's enemies. President Bush is right - our nation cannot let world events be dictated by brutal and lawless dictators.

Although we never (knowingly) reprint bulk-mailed letters, we received an overwhelming number of exact copies of this last submission. This was the heaviest bulk-mailing we have received since the weeks before the Y2000 election, when hundreds of copies of the exact same anti-Gore message arrived, suggesting an orchestrated PR campaign to sway public opinion.

-- Editor