U.S. National

There’s a story to tell this Christmas season about evil and redemption, about hope for the future. No, it isn’t the one about King Herod and the Babe of Bethlehem. That story has been told thousands of times, and has inspired Christians and even many non-Christians for two millennia. The new Christmas story hasn’t been told, because as was the case in Palestine two thousand years ago, the public isn’t quite ready to receive the news. There’s no room in the inn…not yet, at least.

The United States of America began as a secular country that welcomes religion, not as a religious country that tolerates secular humanism. It is a nation of laws, not men. Our founding fathers were mostly God-fearing gentlemen, but contrary to popular belief, the late 18th-century was not a time when religious observances were prevalent. We’ve become a religious nation, which is good, but in the evolution we’ve lost sight of the guiding principles on which America was founded.

As of Oct. 18, 2004:
Democrats - 12,370
Republicans - 38,467
Independents - 74,316
Other - 12
Total - 125,165

As of Apr. 2, 2001:
Democrats - 7,637
Republicans - 32,686
Independents - 57,963
Other - 28
Total - 98,314

Percentage change from 2001 to 2004:
Democrats - +61.97%
Republicans - +17.69%
Independents - +28.21%

So clearly, registered Republicans heavily outnumber Democrats, but percentage-wise, there is quite a surge in Democratic registrations and Independents simply outnumber everyone else. Also, Democrats only consisted of about 7.8% of the voters in Warren County in early 2001, but in Oct. 2004, they were about 10% of all voters. Republicans made up 33.25% of all voters in Warren County in early 2001, but in Oct. 2004, they were only 30.7% of the electorate.

This refutes an earlier post from a few days ago stating that Warren County was "trending Republican." More results of my research will be forthcoming... please be patient.

So much for a free and fair exchange of ideas.  At conferences and hearings across the country, traditional voting rights organizations have successfully blocked any serious debate on machine-free, paper-only elections.  It appears that our well-entrenched so-called 'voting rights' organizations, including the NAACP and ACLU, haven't absorbed the lesson from America's election debacles.  They would rather invite the industry-funded National Association of State Election Directors (NASED) to speak at their conferences, than invite researchers and activists who will argue that the machines must go.  

Tuesday's Dec. 7th conference in Washington, D.C., Voting 2004: A Report to the Nation on America's Election Process, sponsored by Common Cause, The Century Foundation, and LCCR (Leadership Conference on Civil Rights) was no exception.  Instead of fighting for the peoples' right to a paper ballot and a hand count, the conference adopted the VerifiedVoting.org and Congressman Rush Holt's (D-NJ) prescription for voting integrity.  It is beyond worthless.  

Sinclair Broadcasting Group has tried to influence the outcome of elections long before the media company became a lightning rod for criticism due to its decision to air a controversial documentary ten days before the Nov. 2 election critical of Democratic Presidential candidate John Kerry's activities during the Vietnam War.

Two years ago, Duncan Smith, vice president of Sinclair, gave then Maryland GOP gubernatorial candidate Robert Ehrlich extensive use of a luxury helicopter Smith owned and billed Ehrlich's campaign-at a discounted rate of $1,000 an hour-only after an inquiry by the Baltimore Sun. Smith's company, Whirlwind Aviation, Inc., rents out the aircraft for $2,500 an hour. "Ehrlich used the helicopter at least six times during and after the gubernatorial campaign," according to a Nov. 20, 2002 Baltimore Sun story. Smith said at the time that the remaining fee of more than $13,750 would be picked up by Whirlwind and listed by the company as an "in-kind" contribution to Ehrlich's campaign.

John F. Kerry gained ground on George W. Bush in Ohio after Election Day.  The official results, posted on December 2, 2004, include provisional ballots and some late-arriving absentee ballots.  The point spread between Bush and Kerry has been reduced by 0.30%, but this only begins to tell the story.

All the following tables show the official results on the first line, the unofficial results on the second line, and the difference on the third line.  The number of newly counted votes as a percentage of the total is posted beneath the name of the county.  State wide, this percentage was 2.62%.

COMPARISON OF RESULTS: STATE WIDE                

               Bush    % Bush     Kerry   % Kerry

Due to the formatting and footnoting utilized in this article, we have elected to print it as a pdf for ease of reading.

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Global warming isn’t happening, but evil environmentalists are making it look as if it is. That’s the story in Michael Crichton’s new thriller, State of Fear, already a huge best seller.

Reviews in the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times made me think of another book, Overload, by Arthur Hailey. Author of Airport, Hotel, and many others, Hailey was extremely popular in the 1970s, and his books were made into successful films.

What could be wrong with farming in concert with nature—eliminating toxic agrichemicals and the use of genetically engineered crops?  Well, plenty if you are a CEO at Monsanto, Dupont, or any number of other “life-sciences” companies that have invested in an escalating smear campaign aimed at discrediting organic farming.  Promulgated by such well-funded surrogates as the right-wing Hudson Institute, Competitive Enterprise Institute, and the American Chemical Society, these multinational corporations can’t stand that consumers are voting with their pocketbooks because of their discomfort with conventional farming practices and have turned organic food marketing from a small, eclectic niche into the fastest growing segment of the food industry, with over $12 billion in sales this year.

Mahatma Gandhi once said, "First they ignore you. Then they laugh at you. Then they fight you. Then you win."  The agrichemical industry is definitely itching for a fight.

I give my heartfelt thanks to Steven Elias for obtaining the precinct canvass data and producing the spread sheets that made it possible for me to write this report in a timely manner.

A 14-page letter dated December 2, 2004 from four Members of Congress to J. Kenneth Blackwell, Ohio Secretary of State, and posted online at

http://www.spidel.net/ohblackwellltr12204.pdf

contains many disturbing allegations concerning the presidential election in Ohio. Here is an excerpt:

Revised December 24, 2004

I give my heartfelt thanks to Ellis Goldberg for obtaining and abstracting the data from the Lucas County canvass records, and to Coleen Christensen for producing the spreadsheets, which made it possible for me to write this report in a timely manner.

The very first thing we all noticed when examining the precinct canvass records for Lucas County was the distribution of turnout.  The range is striking, and turnout is distinctly higher in the Bush precincts than in the Kerry precincts.  In some precincts the reported turnout is too high to be credible.

PRECINCTS WITH HIGHEST TURNOUT, TOLEDO SUBURBS
 
Precinct                 Turnout  Bush  Kerry