PERSONAL NEWS - Part X
Sunday evening I was talking on the phone with a good friend of mine down in southern FL. Sheila lives in a retired Jewish community not far from West Palm Beach, which is a heavily Democrat area and very few Republicans. We got talking about politics since she mentioned that she is joining a Democrat meeting group to do something about upcoming presidential election. [Trust me, Sheila hates the Bush Empire as much as I do & voted Gore in 2000, tho I went with Nader. I was in Green Party at the time & not a Democrat.] She also wondered if I was still majorily involved in DJK campaign and I said YES. Anyhow ... she told me about what happened in her area during the FL primaries. Which, as you know, was quite recent. What she told me damn near floored me. Sheila mentioned how the voting booths were "set up" inside after closing the curtain. Can you guess? You won't believe it. I'm still flabbergasted! She told me they were only given two options or choices. I asked which Democrat candidates did they list. No names she said ... the two options were Republican and/or Democrat. NO NAMES ... just Republican & Democrat?!?!? [Naturally she flicked the Democrat switch.] I was like ... "what the hell is this country coming to"?!? Fascism?!? Sounds like Jeb [evil, demented, greedy bastard] Bush is at it again. When I explained how the booths should of looked, naturally my friend was terribly upset and horrified. And that furthered her resolve in becoming more involved in the Democratic groups in her area. Just wanted to share this news with all my readers. We need to come together as one and take back our beloved country from the greedy bastards. NOW!

In yesterdays postal delivery, I received a short note and signed photo from actor Scott Patterson of the GILMORE GIRLS TV show. [One of the main reasons I watch this show is so I can gaze at Luke.] One could tell it was all personally done by Scott [ie: Luke] himself. No agents office handled this, which floored me even more. At first, receiving this in the mail totally perplexed me, until I remembered that I sent a very nice long fan letter to him about 5 to 6 months ago. Not only is the man very handsome; but he's into baseball, politics AND Pearl Jam. Hell yeah! Also, in his brief note, he mentioned he spent a day back in 1998 surfing in Malibu with Eddie Vedder. That is so cool!

Lifting The Shroud
NEW YORK TIMES EDITORIALS
by Paul Krugman
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/23/opinion/23KRUG.html?ex=1081029877&ei=1&en=7402f8a2197b54fd

Personal Voices: In Defense Of Liberalism
ALTERNET
by Walter Cronkite
http://alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=18196

DENNIS KUCINICH PULLS SECOND-PLACE SHOWING IN ALASKA CAUCUS
Although the final count is not yet in, with more than 85 percent of its precincts reporting, Dennis is showing a strong second-place in the Alaska Democratic caucus. Unofficial tallies to date show John Kerry with 47.75%, Dennis with 25.83%, uncommitted with 12.31%, Howard Dean with 11.41 percent and John Edwards with 2.7%. Dennis is expected to pick up possibly five delegates to the national Democratic Convention from Alaska. [ Video of Dennis speaking in Alaska last week: http://www.kucinich.us/fearinamerica-talksabout.php In the Wyoming primary, Dennis picked up approximately seven percent of total votes cast. The primary in Guam has been postponed.

KUCINICH STILL IN RACE, REPORTS THE AP
"One by one, all of John Kerry's rivals for the Democratic presidential nomination have fallen by the wayside," reports the Associated Press, "except for Dennis Kucinich." The article notes that "The Ohio congressman said in a statement Sunday, a day after his second-place finish to Kerry in Alaska's presidential caucuses, that he intends to campaign through the remaining primaries and caucuses in early June." Read the complete article at: http://www.usatoday.com/news/politicselections/nation/president/2004-03-21-kucinich_x.htm

LATEST NEWS FROM MOVEON.ORG
Several weeks ago, Tom Cole, a Republican Congressman in Oklahoma spoke to supporters about the upcoming election. "If George Bush loses the election, Osama bin Laden wins the election," he told them. Later, he said that a vote against Bush was like a vote for Adolf Hitler.

These hateful and outrageous remarks –- which neither the RNC nor the Bush/Cheney campaign will repudiate -- are representative of the negative campaign being rolled out against John Kerry. Bush is now airing the first negative ads of the season, which according to nonpartisan monitors seriously misled viewers about Kerry's record. In response, Senator Kerry is taking the high road. He's asked President Bush to engage in a series of monthly debates on the country's future -- debates on the real substance of the issues that face us. It's a simple proposal that could elevate the campaign and truly educate the country about the positions and records of each candidate. But President Bush's campaign brushed off the suggestion with a snide remark. Today, we're asking President Bush to stand up and face a real debate. You can join our petition asking President Bush to debate Kerry on the future of our country at: http://www.moveonpac.org/debate/?id=2476-2148547-m3lFgxqJ.dOTFA20affTFw

We'll send your comment on to the Bush/Cheney campaign and highlight this issue in the media. The negative tenor of the campaign so far even has Republicans worried. Senator John McCain reprimanded the President for the negative campaign, saying, "Already, I'm hearing from people here that are saying, 'Look, I'm not even going to vote if this is the way the campaign's going to be conducted.'" Here's a summary of some of the attacks that have unfolded just in the first two weeks:

1] In the first negative ad of the general election, President Bush claimed that Kerry would raise taxes by $900 billion. The figure turned out to be entirely made up -- John Kerry promised to lower taxes on working families, not raise them.

2] President Bush personally accused Kerry of attempting to "gut" the intelligence budget in a "deeply irresponsible" move: Yet, as independent media monitor factcheck.org pointed out, "the proposal Bush criticized would have amounted to a reduction of roughly 1%. And senior congressional Republicans supported a cut two-thirds as large at the time."

3] Vice President Cheney told reporters that he believed Kerry does not have "an impressive record for someone who aspires to be commander in chief in this time of testing for our country."

By any standard, the campaign is already one of the most negative in political history. But by engaging in a forward-looking debate, President Bush could turn things around. It's much easier to make misleading claims in TV ads than to someone's face, and both Kerry and Bush would have hours -- not seconds -- to make their case to the public.