Four More Years?

I started this blog talking about Bush and Kerry, I think I need to mark this point in time, to look back as we move forward.

So, how did this happen?

Karl Rove and the 'values' rope-a-dope
My first feeling upon hearing that lots of churches mobilized voters to come out and smite the homosexuals at the ballot box was pretty depressing. I mean, here we are, melting the glaciers at an alarming rate, pissing the large majority of the world off with our escapade in Iraq, and generally spending our grandchildren's inheritance on this wild orgy, and all people care about is trying to avoid the sight of two men kissing? Are people are so mean-spirited that they waited in the rain in Ohio to vote against gay marriage, and hey, while we're here, let's just give the W chimp another four years to play with? At the very least, you have to hand it to Karl Rove, the modern day Goebbels, who distracted Kerry with the Swift Boat liars, while all along they have been working to bring out the evangelical vote. I don't like it when my own church gets involved in a specific election issue, and here it seems it's been going on nationwide. Color me clueless I guess. I would like to find out more about this effort, and will share more later if I find anything useful.

Was the vote stolen?
Many people offhandedly dismiss this point of view as paranoid rantings from the tin foil hat set. I can be accused of being under the mind-control rays of radio flamethrowers like Randi Rhodes, but I have seen many interesting articles about the black box voting in the Diebold machines, and I would suggest anyone interested to spend a little time looking into this. blackboxvoting.org is a major source of info, and is actually mounting a Freedom of Information campaign to uncover hard facts about the 2004 election. It is their position that fraud took place in 2004 via the voting machines. Another great resource is Common Dreams, a great nexus for well-written articles by established writers about progressive issues. I feel a little let down that the Democrats are not following through on the vote fraud issues; they pledged to make sure every vote would be counted. Even if Bush wins fair and square, let's make sure it was done on the up and up. Our citizens need to feel like they have a voice.

Does King George really have a Mandate?
There is no sea of "red states" in this country. Every state had a significant number of Kerry votes (well, except maybe for Utah!) and a better map shows the shade of purple for each state, based on the actual vote counts. Before the body of the 2004 election was even cold, George W was talking about spending his political capital, like he did in 2000. Considering he didn't even win the popular vote in 2000, that takes a lot of chutzpah to claim political capital while losing the popular vote! This is spin on a massive level. Out of one side of his mouth, he takes credit for getting the most votes of any President in history. Of course, the fact that the number two vote getter of all time is John Kerry seems to be glossed over. What needs to happen now it to mobilize the poplulation to resist turning back the clock a half-century. I have already seen the Fox News talking heads talking about how the losers cannot expect any concilliation in their direction, it's up to the losers to reach out in George W Bush's direction.

Four More Years Starts Now!
We cannot allow this president to appoint reactionary Supreme Court justices. Politics must not sleep for another four years. The resistance starts now!