November 19, 2004

The BuzzFlash Mailbag

The opinions expressed in the Mailbag are not necessarily those of BuzzFlash. Read the BuzzFlash FAQ for info on submitting to the Mailbag.


Subject: Pledge Allegiance

They might as well hoist the confederate flag up all the government flagpoles and take down the stars and stripes. That would at least be honest as to which of the 2 Americas they have pledged their allegiance to, and everybody will know who really has been calling the shots.

Susan Savarise
A BuzzFlash Reader


Subject: letter to Pres. Bush

Hi, Buzz!!

I wrote the attached letter to Pres. Bush, and I'm forwarding it to you because I'm confident he will never read it (unless, of course, someone notices that my return address is Kansas and assumes I'm a supporter). Speaking as a Christian believer, I think these things need to be said, and my fellow Buzzers need to know the Religious Right is not the same as Christianity.

Thanks, Buzz!

Dear Mr. President:

The election is over, and I am afraid. I am afraid for my country. I am afraid of losing everything that our forebears fought to bring into being, and to maintain: our liberties, our rights, the way of life we have cherished for over two hundred years.

I don't believe this country will succumb to overwhelming terrorist attack - at least not from abroad. I am afraid of the danger that Abraham Lincoln foresaw: "As a nation of free men," he said, "we will live forever, or die by suicide." Our country will be destroyed, if it is to be destroyed, from within, and I see it happening. Even now our rights are under attack from those whose only priorities are power and wealth. In the name of "fighting terrorism," but in violation of our Constitution, American citizens are being held without charge, and without access to a lawyer. In the cause of electoral victory, and in violation of our Constitution, loyal American citizens and upstanding public servants have been attacked because they had the temerity to disagree with the administration's policies. Others who disagree with these policies have been denied the right of peaceful assembly. Laws have been passed that allow this administration and its agents to conduct what can only be called unlawful searches and seizures, again in violation of the Constitution. And you, Mr. President, are at the head of this cabal. For them, no corruption is too immense, no lie too egregious, if only they may get and keep power. They will manipulate anyone or anything to achieve their purpose. Even the religion of Christ Jesus is fair game, and you also have laid yourself open to a charge of misusing the holy name of God.

Examine the Scriptures, Mr. President, and you cannot help but see that your priorities, as expressed by your policies in your first term as President, are contrary to those of Jesus Christ and the prophets. The one measure of righteousness that all these holy people insist on is care for the unfortunate. I refer you to the following Scripture passages: Psalm 41:1-3; Isaiah 1:16; Isaiah 58:10-11; Daniel 4:27; Mark 12:40; Luke 6:20-21

In Matt. 25:31-46 Jesus goes so far as to say that anyone who does not help the needy has no place in the Kingdom of God. You claim to be a follower of Jesus, and to govern according to His commandments, and yet now there are more poor people in our country than there were four years ago. There are more people who have no medical insurance, and the cost of care keeps increasing. Your tax cuts have benefited those who are already wealthy at the expense of those who are not (I speak here from personal experience; there has been no change in the amount of my paycheck since your tax cuts went into effect). Jesus said these things about the wealthy: Luke 6:24; Matthew 19:16-25; Mark 10:23-27

Given what Jesus commands, why does your administration consider the
wealthy more deserving of help than the poor? Are you the President of
the United States, or only the President of the Rich?

Jesus and the prophets further agree that peace is better than war. These Scripture passages are typical: Isaiah 2:4-5; Isaiah 9:6-7; Micah 4:3; John 14:27

In Matthew 5:9 Jesus says those who make peace have God's special blessing. In spite of these messages from God, given through the prophets and our Lord Jesus Christ, and over the objections of the American people (not to mention many citizens of other nations), you have taken this country to war. Are you the President of the United States, or only the President of the Belligerent?

I suspect that the right wing of the Republican Party, although they claim to be disciples of Jesus Christ, are idolaters, worshipping power rather than Almighty God. Why else would so many questions have been raised regarding the legitimacy of the recent election? Why should anyone, Republican or Democrat, be unwilling to submit to an honest vote count? If power is one's object, rather than preserving the rights of the people, then questionable vote tallying (if not outright fraud) becomes acceptable if such is necessary to maintain power. Scripture has these things to say about the proper uses of power: Isaiah 11:1-5; Matthew 5:7

In Luke 4:5-8, the Evangelist suggests that worldly power comes from the Devil; Satan offers it to Jesus in return for His allegiance. Does it not occur to you that your own party may have turned over its allegiance to Satan in pursuit of political position? To many of us in the United States it does appear that power is the Number-One priority of the Republican Party, to be obtained and maintained by any possible means, proper or not. Are you the President of the United States, or only the President of the Republican right wing?

In Luke 6:37-38, Jesus commands us not to judge one another. Only God knows the condition of your soul, so as a Christian believer, I cannot question your professions of faith. But in Luke 6:43-45, Jesus also says that we shall know a tree by its fruit. The fruits of your administration have been power-seeking, war-making, and the increase of poverty among the people. These are not included in St. Paul's list of fruits of the Spirit: Galatians 5:22.

As you said after the election, the nation stands in need of reconciliation; you alone are in a position to begin this process among our people. In your next term, I implore you, Mr. President, to examine your conscience, search the Scriptures, and become the President of all the people of the United States.

Sincerely yours,

Jane Hawes


Subject: Elections

Dear Buzz,

I'm sitting here watching the dedication ceremony of the Clinton Library, and crying my eyes out for what we, as a whole, have lost. What a great President! Aside from the
Monica thing, President Clinton DID uphold the office by doing for the people exactly like he promised! What a man! Now there was hope!!

I've been reading about Bev Harris and her two hr meeting with the voting ofc in Florida and finding tapes that had been thrown in the trash which didn't match the votes that were counted. I read about other states with all the other problems about 'lost' or 'miscounted' votes, and I have this question....If found that Kerry had enough votes, does that mean that He will be President and the shrub goes back to Crawford to crawl back
under the rock from which he crawled out of?? I sure hope so!!!

I'm not political savvy, so I'm not sure if this is applicable since Kerry conceded. Can anyone shed some light on this?

A Loyal Buzz Fan Forever!

Sharon Carlton
Bellevue, Nebraska

[BuzzFlash Note: Some challenges are going forward...the Bush win isn't final yet.]


Subject: George Jr at Clinton Library...

The headlines should be reading "George Jr. Visits His First Library."

Cliff


Subject: election results

I would like to know why they never check places like KY. We live in VERY democratic county (Bullitt) with approx. 24000 Dems, 17000 Rep., and 3000 other. On election results, 19000 went for Bush and 9000 for Kerry. Most people I talk to here can't figure out how Bush won. We have what I think are electronic voting machines. They consist of a panel with lights that light up when you press the pressure sensitive area. Don't know if that's considered electronic. Also Nelson County, KY has same situation. Have a bro. in law there that says everyone he talks to there voted for Kerry, but Bush won by landslide there. This would be a great state to try to get something crooked pushed through --- nobody's looking here.

Thanks,

DB


Subject: Representative John Dingle (D-MI) on GOP Ethics

These folks talk about values and decency, but then think it's okay to change the rules once it appears one of their own may have broken them. This amounts to a work release program for the ethically challenged. We should all remember that a decade ago, Mr. DeLay helped to create this rule. Republicans said at the time they were the party of reform and good government. Now they've become the party of moribund hubris. --Rep John Dingell (D-MI), Talking Points Memo

Jim K.


Subject: Collaborator NYT writes Bush script on Fallujah by way of shhh shh memo....

So we haven't won like Allawi said a week ago Sunday, and so there ARE civilians in Fallujah like the marines said there WEREN'T on the day they didn't let the aid trucks in, and like Allawi says was an oops, and the trucks can go in now, presuming the food is spoiled and the civilians are all dead, and so it turns out that 95% of the insurgents are NOT foreigners like the DoD said, but actually good old Iraqis who are supposed to be jumping with joy at seeing our troops not trying to kill them with guns and mortars and bombs and anything else they can get their hands on....

So the NYT "leaks" some paper that says things MAY suck if this happens or that doesn't. Thanks, but we read the Independent and The Guardian and BBC and Al Jazeera and we ALREADY KNOW THAT!

What we don't know, dear NYT, is how many civilians were killed in Fallujah and why the US is able to count 1,200 dead insurgents but no dead civilians; what we don't know is why the NYT doesn't write how many Americans are being killed every day and how many wounded or describe the terrible ways in which they are being killed, and also killing; what we don't know is why no American media outlet has taken the Bushies to court to insist on the right to take photos of the coffins that are arriving in the US every day, or WHY the media is not willing to tell the American people the way things REALLY ARE and that Iraq is in total ANARCHY!!

It seems to me that the NYT has nobody IN Iraq...they get their news through briefings or are as deeply imbedded in the marines as they are in George Bush's derriere.

Marines' Falluja report is gloomy (NY Times/Int'l Herald Tribune)

A BuzzFlash Reader


Subject: Stop Arnold

Yesterday (November 17, 2004), marked the one year anniversary of the inauguration of California's governor. I remember that day like it was yesterday holding my "I don't trust Arnold" sign outside of the fenced off area at the state Capitol. I remember carefully choosing the word "trust" based on the dictionary definition "firm reliance on the integrity,
ability, or character of a person." I didn't trust him then, I don't trust him now, and I will never trust him. He is not my governor and I certainly hope he will not be my president either. With that said, I just found a new website: www.arnoldexposed.com

A BuzzFlash Reader in Sacramento


Subject: Re: selective service

Hello there! I noticed that you posted how Louisiana residents are required to register for the Selective Service when getting their driver’s license. I was wondering if you were aware that here in Alaska, to receive our Permanent Fund Dividend checks, Lisa Murkowski made it a requirement as well that young men must register for SS when applying for PFD's.

I love your website by the way, you’re giving me HOPE in this lacking nation.

Annette R. Koutchak


Subject: It's my way, and that's not Frank's voice you hear!

There is a sign on the White House door that reads, "By order of the King -- Only the loyal, the Far Right, those who will keep a secret, those who will agree with me are allowed to enter these hallowed halls," signed George W. Bush! The rules are posted at the entrance. Since they are a security risk, Moderates are not allowed in the meeting rooms unless accompanied by a Conservative! Dissenting opinions will not be tolerated! Before entering, all Democrats must be cleared by the Secret Service. Liberals are not allowed.

Are we living in a Dictatorship, a Monarchy, a Theocracy or a bit of all three?

With our system of checks and balances all skewed, so that there are no checks, and the balance is way far to the Right, we can’t call our form of government a Democracy!! Dissenting opinions were not only missing from those pre-war intelligence reports, but are missing today with the Neo-Cons in power! Ole impartial Porter Goss is cleansing the CIA of all Moderates, and avoiding answering Jane Harman’s letter about releasing Phase 2 of the 9/11 CIA investigation! Republicans are ignoring former rules to excuse Tom DeLay’s unethical behaviour! The CIA Outing of Valerie Plame, long overdue, continues to be stonewalled. Who told Chalabi what?

Bush and cohorts think if they continue to hide the truth from the American people, we will soon forget about it all. After all, 51% of us forgot, and the wind is at his back. He has capital to spend and will spend it! It is not about getting over losing an election, but more about shedding light on this Administration's policies, and cover-ups!

Mr. Bush, glad to see you pardoned a turkey today. There is a Turkey in the White House and 49% of us will not pardon you!

Susan


Subject: Less than 1 in 1000 chance e-vote results in Florida due to chance

Here is a more in-depth article about the new UC BERKELEY study of the election results in Florida that show that mathematically there is less than a tenth of one percent chance that these results are due to chance.

Which means fraud. And coupled with the U of Penn study showing a one in 250,000,000 chance that the difference between the exit polls in Florida, Pennsylvania, and Ohio, and the "actual" final vote was due to chance, we have a very powerful indication that all is not copacetic in the Republic.

Which means fraud. You know, the reaction of the vast majority of the media just kills me. They all seem to act as if vote fraud was unthinkable. They apparently know nothing of American history. The entire history of this country is that whenever vote fraud in an
election was possible, somebody did it. All that money, power and perks riding on the outcome of an election, and we're supposed to believe that everyone involved is just going to be purer than the driven snow.

Which is a ridiculous proposition. Anyone who knows anything about human nature whatsoever, knows that you HAVE to have a voter-verified paper trail if you're going to have electronic voting. Having a system where we just have to trust private companies who are all aligned philosophically and ideologically with one party, and who don't have
to turn over their source code to government officials, or provide some secure method of recounting votes is insane. That is a prescription for fraud. To sit around and just hope for the best, and assume that everyone is playing by the Marquess of Queensbury rules, flies in the face of everything we know about human nature and history.

UC Berkeley Research Team Sounds 'Smoke Alarm' for Florida E-Vote Count (Common Dreams)

Ken


Subject: I want my vote

On every election day, I go over to some church basement and vote on the same machine that my grandfather probably used to reelect Eisenhower. I flip the switch, the ratty curtain bangs open, and that's it. For all I know, my vote has never actually been counted toward any election's result in the last thirty years. In an Age of information when computers easily track billions of lottery tickets, millions of multiple call phone bills, and trillions of stock trades without losing a penny, something here in the American voting process does not make sense.

Anyway, I don't want any computer that any high school computer freak can bore into messing with my vote. Here's what I want. I want to vote on a ballot that's been engraved like United States Currency that I can mark with an x and that has some sort of carbon duplicate engraved in the same manner attached. I want the number of my precinct recorded at the top of my ballot. Just like a dollar bill, I want an individual number on my ballot. I also want that number printed on the duplicate, so I can tear it off, put it in my pocket, take it home and keep it for evidence. Forget about the paper trail in the machine because that can be changed as soon as I walk out of the door. I want the hand-counted ballots put in a box and saved. I want the ballots that come into each precinct numbered sequentially,so it's easy to see if votes have been slipped out or stuck in. And here's how. I want to see my number posted on the wall of the precinct showing by my number how I voted, right along with the other voters in the precinct. I want the tallies to be published in the local paper, too. That way, ripped off voters can show up waving their duplicate ballots at city hall and send the crooks who are stealing their way of life to jail.

A BuzzFlash Reader


Subject: Re: Tens of Thousands of Bush Votes in Florida Challenged for Legitimacy

You know what angers me about this? You see reports of this in the newspapers as tiny yet very important stories and yet the public does nothing! They allowed for the Supreme Court to install a president which under the Constitution is not allowed and they just threw up their hands instead of raising a fist at this court. I look at it this way, a person's vote equals their trust that those handling the elections will actually count their vote correctly. As we have all witnessed, that trust has been broken several times over and the country could not give a damn. When a trust has been broken like that, the system itself becomes broken. I keep praying that things will get better, but there are just too many signs that say the opposite.

Mary


Subject: Re: ATMs and Electronic Votes

Dear Ms. Applebaum [Washington Post columnist and editorial board]

Hope this letter finds all well with you.

As to comparing voting machines to ATM's: I can track a bank. If they are stealing from me, and from others, they will be caught and will be out of business, if not in jail. So they don't do it.

I cannot track a computer vote. When it is a fact here in the real world--a place you folks in Washington Social Circles need to see more of--that:

1) all the voting machines are made by people with direct ties and stated loyalty to the Republican party and Bush

2) that these machines have been demonstrated repeatedly by literally hundreds of professionals, some who have testified to Congress, to be open to faulty and fraudulent programming and hacking

3) that the companies with the machines refuse to let their software be examined by third parties so the inner workings are hidden (endless examples of counters turning backwards when certain numbers are reached, and the like)

4) that in every place these machines have been introduced a Republican has had an astonishing surprise victory (see for example Sen Hagel's victory, wherein machines from a company he owned were used to count the vote)

5) that the Republican party is in the hands of a lying bunch of thugs (see the endless personal threats/smears to anyone who dares criticize them, and the lies about Iraq, the budget, Medicare funding, No Child Left Behind, global warming, Bush's insider trading...the list literally has hundreds, all demonstrable from the public record)

6) that it is indisputable that Republicans used various methods to keep down the vote in Democratic areas (putting out false information about changes in voting places/dates, the Sproul campaign--paid for directly by the Republican Party--to register Democrats and throw out their registrations, in several states, the placing of one voting machine to
service thousands of voters in a district, etc etc)

Why, in the face of just plain common sense, do you make non-informed and, to be frank, half-witted statements like comparing ATMs to Diebold equipment? Please apologize to the public for your irresponsibility.

Clearly there was a drive to steal the election, and it is documented in literally tens of thousands of complaints (including pushing "Kerry" and seeing "Bush" register on these machines). Give one reason why the Republicans would stop at computer-vote fraud, especially given that the means to do so are completely available to them at practically no risk. (The only risk would be that journalists demand these things be checked.)

Are you really unaware that these people have no morality beyond grabbing ever-more power and wealth? Do you have a stake in their agenda? Why else would you say such silly things, when I know you are very intelligent. A twelve-year old can see that something is rotten in America. And it starts at the head. And it runs through the election.

Legend has it that there is a practice, evidently unknown to America's press, called "research." See what you can find out about this mysterious thing, and THEN, after using it, form an opinion. Believe it or not, fraudulent elections are a threat to all of us, our children, and our nation, and cannot be allowed.

Thank you for your time, and I don't mean to offend you. I am just extremely frustrated that our press has become so degenerate and irresponsible, and so unfailingly acts as enabler to that incompetent megalomaniac who fancies himself wise, just, and good.

Sincerely

Jim Pittman

[BuzzFlash Note: Anne Applebaum's column is here... In ATMs, Not Votes, We Trust.]


What the Democrats should have done was actually lost the Presidential election.

That way when the Republicans switched the numbers, we'd be analyzing why we won
instead of flagellating ourselves over why we lost when we won. Follow?

Bev Harris of blackboxvoting.org and others have been documenting how the new
technology was hackable. Some have said we don't have enough proof. But if Bush were behind and this was an option, would Karl Rove hesitate? Has he ever hesitated from screwing anyone in the past? One of the scenarios Ms. Harris documented probably came true. On the central tabulating machine you open up a spreadsheet say, put the election
results in, switch the numbers then put them back into the original program.

Adnausea.org is helping people write Sean Hannity's sponsors. They want to know why Disney's ad money is paying Hannity good money to insult half of America. Might result in serious action.

R. David Goldberg
Vancouver WA


Subject: Matt, why not look at both sides?

This morning Matt Lauer was interviewing an NBC analyst about Fallujah. They have found what appear to be classrooms where insurgents were trained to attack us. Supposedly they are attacking just because they hate democracy and love Saddam. We have given them absolutely no reason to be upset.

Matt, just once, try listing some of the reasons why Iraqis might want to join an insurgency against their occupiers. You stay with the Bush line and never, ever, ever come out with the civilian casualty estimates and never, ever, ever show the destruction the people of Fallujah will come back to.

Never, ever, ever mention the fact that you back completely and totally the attack of Iraq on your program and never once questioned the reasons given by Bush. Matt, we all know that you want to keep your job and have the courage of a toothless mongrel guard dog, but if we don't stop this, then your son will be old enough to go shoot unarmed injured men in the name of Bush.

The Iraqis should just lay down and play dead so Bush can have their oil and their country. The Bloody Bush cartel can count on you to sit back and allow them to kill as many Iraqis as they like and never even investigate the numbers, destroy everything in Iraq and on top of that get as many of our kids killed as he likes just to keep his twins in designer clothes.

Every time I see the twins, or Lauera, or any of the other Bushes, I see them like Carrie in the movie "Carrie" where she is drenched in blood."

"Out, damned spot! out, I say! One; two: why, then, ’tis time to do ’t. Hell is murky! Fie, my lord, fie! a soldier, and afeard? What need we fear who knows it, when none can call our power to account? Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him?....Here’s the smell of the blood still: all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand. Oh! oh! oh!...Wash your hands, put on your night-gown; look not so pale. I tell you yet again, Banquo’s buried; he cannot come out on ’s grave."

Saddam is in jail and he isn't going to get out, but still blood, blood, blood.

Karen Webb
Moore, Ok.


Subject: Values

If one is willing to overlook the lying, cheating, stealing, and intimidation of voters in association with but not limited to the exploitation of religion, 9/11, and war for political and personal business gain the Republicans do seem to be the party of values

Michael Barry
Reston, VA


Subject: Peter Jennings Interview with President Clinton

This is an absolute must for all BuzzFlash fans, and all Dems to get a copy of…tonight’s interview with President Clinton on ABC by Peter Jennings. Today the beautiful opening of the Clinton Center (which was not shown at all in real time on C-span!) and was "talked over" and edited by CNN and MSNBC, was only summarized on tonight's special with Peter Jennings and President Clinton. However, it is something to keep for all schools, children and grandchildren. Why? Because Clinton really tells it like it is, and even argues with the pompous Jennings about the media, yep, the media's coverage all those years. That was the very best part! Why didn't he do it years ago? But better late than never! I just loved it. What audacity and arrogance Jennings displayed to the former President of the United States, but how the Big Dog came right back so articulate, brilliant, and strong! Please get a copy of this program, if you can.

Former President Clinton Reflects (ABC News)

A BuzzFlash Reader in Texas


Subject: White House crows over "certain" victories in Ohio, Fla - before polls close!

In Florida Kerry was seen as having as having a 50-49% lead in the 5pm exit polls. Yet the White House was telling the Neocon Chickenhawks at National Review that it's over. We won.The polls had not closed yet!

In Ohio the exit poll results bounced back and forth all night; Kerry 51-52%, Bush 48-49%. No problem, states the White House--again no results in from the Buckeye State. The Spin: "Great Ground Game. We're getting massive turnouts in rural Ohio. It's doubled in electoral clout since '00!"

Red State Echoing White House/BC Sources (National Review)

Reality: The White House lit up the cigars in the early afternoon when the electronically generated "rural turnout" in Fla. and Ohio counties was being created by their friends. Confirmation of this mission's success was cause for the celebration. They couldn't give a fig about Exit Polls.

Of course Exit Polls couldn't pick up President Miracle's Invisible Cyberspace Caucus. The exit polls were not wrong. Bush knew he was going to win 3 years ago - that's the reason he governed in such an extreme and bellicose manner. His "victory" was the handiwork of computer programmers.

They used the exact same template in both states. Turnout in Kerry vote-rich counties in Ohio (Cuyahoga, Franklin, Mahoning) were reduced to the low to mid 60's while a berserk Bush wave sweeps rural Southern Ohio. Bush wins 75% of the vote on turnouts ranging from 73-80%!

Florida. The same formula. Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach Counties were stuck in the low 60's in turnout while the Berserk Bush Superwave strikes Rural Florida. As in Ohio, 75% victories for Team Bush on turnouts ranging from 73% to 81%! The pre-election pollsters couldn't find the surge. The much maligned Exit Pollsters couldn't find the surge. Only Karl and George knew the surge was a com'in. Hurricane JEB in Florida and sudden the Blackwell-generated lake effect Superstorm off Lake Erie had guaranteed four more years of "compassionate, conservative Fascism" in the White House.

Brad F.


Subject: The End of the Charade

What seems the reigning stupidity -- the might-is-right totalitarians in the White House who would do away with the Constitution (indeed all enlightenment from the Magna Carta on) and replace it with the Bible literally interpreted -- is in reality the end of the charade.
Centuries of practice have been realized.

The painful truth of what is essentially American is now manifest. Why bother any longer with the empty pieties of "the land of the free and the home of the brave"? What began in 1492 or thereabouts has pushed its way into total control. Images of American soldiers and armored vehicles mowing down defenseless women and children in Fallujah meld with the countless massacres of Pequot and Cherokee and Dakota and Apache peoples all across this American continent. And the plight of the African slaves, their children and grandchildren hanging from the cottonwood trees. Nothing has changed except the names.

The American thrust remains the same. It's still cowboys and Indians. The swagger of Custer stands astride the Fertile Crescent, having its way with her. The end of "civilization" where it began? The birthplace of writing the graveyard of humanity? The American way plays itself out on a wounded Iraqi-Indian-African in a Fallujah mosque. Whose side is God on?

American soldiers didn't need Israeli advisers to show them how; they were already thoroughly conversant with the ways of massacre, and well-practiced. This country has been working on it for centuries. And now the "mandate." The charade is over.

(Ironically-synchronistically, while writing this, NPR's "Morning Edition" was reporting the fraud case against American contractor Custer-Battles for its alleged improprieties in Iraq, to the tune of millions. Can't make stuff like this up.)

David J. Zaido


Subject: Statesman Award at Claremont Institute

Dear Mr. Kennedy,

I read with interest the goals of your organization, especially

...The Claremont Institute finds the answers to America's problems in the principles on which our nation was founded. These principles are expressed most eloquently in the Declaration of Independence, which proclaims that "all men are created equal and are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights..."

Given that your organization holds the principle of equality dearly to its heart, don't you find it absolutely insulting to your audiences that you are giving Rush Limbaugh a Statesman Award? Your credibility is bulldozed by such contradictory claims and actions. Do you ever listen to that man's show? He has no concept of "all men are created equal." He is so filled with hate and vitriol for people not like him I don’t know how you can even consider him any type of statesman.

Your institute reveals itself as a sham.

Denise Rhiner
Seattle, WA


Subject: Comparison of exit polls 2000 and 2004 -- Exit poll data versus Results, 2000 and 2004

The following is some exit poll data from the 2000 Election as listed by freerepublic.com. As I understand it, these are the "final" exit poll numbers, taken late in the day.

FLORIDA
exit poll: Bush 47 Gore 50
actual result: Bush 48.8 Gore 48.8
shift: Bush 3%

NEW HAMPSHIRE
exit poll: Bush 48 Gore 47
actual result: Bush 48.2 Gore 47.8
shift: Gore .6%

MICHIGAN
exit poll: Bush 46 Gore 50
actual result: Bush 46.4 Gore 51.1
shift: Gore .7%

MISSOURI
exit poll: Bush 49 Gore 46
actual result: Bush 50.4 Gore 47.1
shift: Bush .3%

ARKANSAS
exit poll: Bush 50 Gore 47
actual result: Bush 51.3 Gore 45.7
shift: Bush 2.6%

TENNESSEE
exit poll: Bush 50 Gore 47
actual result: Bush 51.2 Gore 46.2
shift: Bush 2%

PENNSYLVANIA
exit poll: Bush 48 Gore 48
actual result: Bush 46.4 Gore 50.6
shift: Gore 4.2%

NEW MEXICO
exit poll: Bush 48 Gore 46
actual result: Bush 47.9 Gore 47.9
shift: Gore 2%

MINNESOTA
exit poll: Bush 46 Gore 46
actual result: Bush 45.5 Gore 47.9
shift: Gore 2.4%

WISCONSIN
exit poll: Bush 50 Gore 45
actual result: Bush 47.6 Gore 47.8
shift: Gore 5%

IOWA
exit poll: Bush 50 Gore 47
actual result: Bush 48.2 Gore 48.5
shift: Gore 3.3%

NEVADA
exit poll: Bush 48 Gore 44
actual result: Bush 49.5 Gore 46.0
shift: Gore .5%

The only discrepancies that really jump out at you among this data are the ones in Pennsylvania (Gore shift: 4.2%), Wisconsin (Gore shift: 5%), Iowa (Gore shift 3.3%), and Florida (Bush shift 3%). So, the biggest shift was definitely in Wisconsin (Gore, 5%).

Now look at the shifts in the 2004 election, among some battleground states. Here, we are using exit poll data as provided by the Election Pool (shown on cnn.com, msnbc.com, etc...), and we are once again looking at exit polls taken late in the day on Nov. 2nd, 2004. NOTE: these exit polls were, in fact, weighted to accurately represent an appropriate proportion of women to men. It would be interesting to see the data first-hand, but the Election Poll refuses to release the original exit poll data for further examination.

NEW HAMPSHIRE
exit poll: Bush 44.1 Kerry 54.9
actual result: Bush 49.0 Kerry 50.3
shift: Bush 9.5%

OHIO
exit poll: Bush 47.9 Kerry 52.1
actual result: Bush 51.0 Kerry 48.5
shift: Bush 6.7%

PENNSYLVANIA
exit poll: Bush 45.4 Kerry 54.1
actual result: Bush 48.6 Kerry 50.8
shift: Bush 6.5%

MINNESOTA
exit poll: Bush 44.5 Kerry 53.5
actual result: Bush 47.6 Kerry 51.1
shift: Bush 5.5%

FLORIDA
exit poll: Bush 49.8 Kerry 49.7
actual result Bush 52.1 Kerry 47.1
shift: Bush 4.9%

NEVADA
exit poll: Bush 47.9 Kerry 49.2
actual result: Bush 50.5 Kerry 47.9
shift: Bush 3.9%

NEW MEXICO
exit poll: Bush 47.5 Kerry 50.1
actual result: Bush 50.0 Kerry 58.9
shift: Bush 3.7%

COLORADO
exit poll: Bush 49.9 Kerry 48.1
actual result: Bush 52.0 Kerry 46.8
shift: Bush 3.4%

WISCONSIN
exit poll: Bush 48.8 Kerry 49.2
actual result: Bush 49.4 Kerry 49.8
shift: No shift

As you can see, the only state where the outcome matched the exit poll's prediction is Wisconsin. New Hampshire, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, and Florida all reveal some fairly large shifts ranging from 4.9% and 9.5%, and they're all in Bush's favor. What's more, certain non-battleground states, such as Nebraska, New York, North Carolina, and Delaware also show a Bush shift ranging from 8% to 10%. Those are pretty huge shifts.

Either the exit pollsters are phenomenally incompetent, phenomenally corrupt, or there has been a huge mistabulation and/or fraud in this election.

Let's ask ourselves: What has changed significantly over the last fifty years? The methods by which we conduct exit polls or the methods by which we count the votes?

It's the methods by which we count the votes.

Clint C.


CLICK HERE FOR PART 2 OF THE NOVEMBER 19, 2004 BUZZFLASH MAILBAG.