[DUCHESS NOTE ... The following statement was written in early December by my fellow Kucitizen Thomas Gallagher. An awesome, creative, energtic, inspiring fella and I very much value being acquainted. Read on..........]

286 - 252 electoral votes (red Ohio): bush won?
266 - 272 electoral votes (blue Ohio): bush lost.

Ohio is not the United States. Florida is not the United States. We want all our votes counted.
The truth is that at every juncture, at every opportunity, the republican party has attempted to rob American citizens of their right to vote. With republican officials (the Ohio chair of bush's campaign) certifying the vote in Ohio, with republican officials in charge of the distribution of voting machines in Ohio, with "republican" (conservative) justices ruling on whether or not cases concerning election irregularities and possible recounts can even be brought to court (evaluating each case based on if it could individually change the outcome of the election) - the republican party claims their 51% "mandate."

Less than 60% of those eligible to vote nationally actually voted on November 2 (according to the ongoing count). So the republicans' 51% (if that even was an accurate number) translates as around 30% of eligible voters choosing bush. The fact is, more eligible voters DID NOT VOTE AT ALL than voted for bush. THERE IS NO MANDATE. Just like there was no mandate in 2000 when Secretary of State Katherine Harris (then chair of bush's Florida campaign, now congresswoman Harris) over saw the removal of 90,000 voters from the rolls in Florida (she admitted this under oath when taken to court by the NAACP), all 90,000 of which continued to be off the voter rolls during the midterm election of 2002 (when Jeb Bush was "re-elected" and Harris got her congressional seat). They selected voters to remove based on lists of names of former felons. These lists were primarily comprised of common African American names, names of predominantly democratic voters. Florida law says that former felons, specifically those who were convicted in Florida (many of the names on the lists were compiled from other states), no longer have the right to vote. The vast majority of those who lost their vote (some 97%) had never committed felonies, but they unfortunately had the same name as someone who had. Some had misdemeanor offenses on their records (like George Bush) but were listed as felons. A similar strategy was used recently in Ohio to challenge the votes of democrats there. If you simply had the same name as someone who had already voted earlier, then you could be forced to vote by provisional ballot. John Smith may not have had any trouble, but John Williams may have experienced some.

Many democrats point to the Nader vote in Florida as the cause of their "loss." They are missing the point. Just like they are now in Ohio. Kerry said he would "fight for us" and conceded to bush the day after the election. Then in that concession speech he said "I would not give up this fight if there was a chance that we would prevail. But it is now clear that even when all the provisional ballots are counted, which they will be, there won't be enough outstanding votes for us to be able to win Ohio. And therefore, we can not win this election." Now that six defiant democratic congressman have taken action to get the General Accounting Office to do an investigation of voting irregularities, Kerry endorses the investigation saying: "I will fight for a national standard for federal elections that has both transparency and accountability in our voting system. It's unacceptable in the United States that people still don't have full confidence in the integrity of the voting process." Fight, fight, fight. Remember when Al Gore said he'd fight for us during the 2000 campaign? If the republicans had "lost" by an "unofficial" 136,000 votes (including those 4,258 votes for bush in a suburban Columbus precinct where only 638 people voted), they would have taken it to court or done something (can anyone remember the republican storming of the board of elections in Florida in 2000?). Why is the DNC so predictable? Why do they always back down after saying that they will fight?

The vote in Ohio will not be certified until December 6th. While every other state has already certified its vote, Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell (republican, and chairman of bush's campaign in Ohio - sound familiar?) stalls the beginning of the recount (initiated by green party presidential candidate David Cobb) banking on the recount not being finished before Ohio electoral college reps cast their votes on December 13th. It is possible that the courts will not allow a re-count until after the 13th. At present the "unofficial" margin has slipped from the reported 136,000 votes to 119,000.

Now, after their "loss," the democratic party (the DNC) is talking about "values," and becoming MORE centrist, MORE moderate. When we were working on Dennis Kucinich's presidential campaign, one based solidly on REAL democratic values, the party was busy talking about "electability." When will we stop letting the republicans create the vocabulary by which we evaluate our choices? Karl Rove is NOT a genius. Jesus was NOT a republican. A civil union is not gay men coming to your church to get married. And it didn't win bush the election. Its a distraction. They don't create these issues to win. They create them so that when they steal the election they can claim that the issue was the reason for their sweeping victory, their "mandate." They are laughing at us as we scurry around trying to figure out where we went wrong, adopting their manufactured issues in a vain attempt to shore up support. It is up to us to see through these manufactured ideas and reject them in favor of our own personal values. Peace, Justice, Equality, Compassion - some of the amazing stuff that Jesus... and Martin and Mahatma didn't fight for. Unity through Empathy - NOTOBUSH

NOTOBUSH will be in Washington DC on Jan 20th ("coronation" day) to let people know that bush lost. Hope you will all be there to exercise your freedom as well. For more info go to the below link and click on the JAN 20 link.
http://www.notobush.com