 | ELECTIONS
|
| HOME | PAGE 2 | NEWS/FEATURES | OPINION | BUSINESS | SPORTS | ARTS/ENTERTAINMENT | HOME/GARDEN | BLOG |
| CULTURE | TECH/SCIENCE | AUTOS | TRAVEL/LEISURE | HOBBIES/COLLECTING | HEALTH | MISCELLANY | ARCHIVES | CONTACT |
|
Petition Mail List - Get Petition's Progess in your email. Just type in your email address and submit.
RELATED STORIES:
Judge considers challenge to Bush victory in Nevada - SCOTT SONNER, Associated Press - 11/29/04
Cobb Expands Recount To Nevada, New Mexico - Press Release: United States Green Party - scoop.co.nz - 11/29/04
44 Percent of Hispanics Voted for Bush? - by Ruy Teixeira - The Center for American Progress and The Century Foundation - alternet.org - 11/24/04
Voting Machines Count Backwards in Okla. - by Bob Nichols - Oklahoma Independent Media Center - 11/27/04
More voting questions raised - by Jon Craig - Columbus Dispatch - Ohio - 11/25/04
What Were the Odds That Bush Would Win? - by Alan Waldman - Hartford Advocate - 11/25/04
Surveying the Damage - Exit Polls Can't Always Predict Winners, So Don't Expect Them To
- By Richard Morin, Washington Post 11/21/04
'Stinking Evidence' of Possible Election Fraud Found in Florida - by Thom Hartman - Black Box Voting's Bev Harris and her team in Volusia County - bellaciao.org 11/18/04
Breaking the Media-Induced Trance - by Vincent L Guarisco - opednews.com 11/16/04
Did Bush Fix the Elections? Why did Kerry throw in the towel so soon? - by Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey - bellaciao.org - 11/11/04
Collected Vote Fraud Stories - by Hank Ramey - bellaciao.org - 11/11/04
Media Black Out on Vote Fraud Allegations - Votes aren't the only thing missing in Ohio - by David Swanson - counterpunch.org - 11/8/04
Worse Than 2000: Tuesday's Electoral Disaster by William Rivers Pitt, truthout.org - 11/8/04
Growing Collection of Vote Fraud links: ATTN Global Media - excellent resource with many links to articles - bellaciao.org - 11/7/04
States with electronic voting machines gave Bush mysterious 5% advantage - News Target Network - 11/6/04
Evidence Mounts that the Vote was Hacked - Thom Hartman, Common Dreams - 11/6/04
KERRY WON. HERE ARE THE FACTS - by Greg Palast, writer for Harper's and the BBC - 11/5/04
Surprising Pattern of Florida's Election Results - Page with amazing details of various Florida counties where electronic voting was used - ustogether.org
Exit polls and 'actual' results don't match; Evoting states show greater discrepancy - Raw Story/Blue Lemur - 11/03/04
|
For the latest updates on petition developments see the UPDATE PAGE
The Great Divide
How the Presidential Election Uncovered a Dramatic Rift in US Values
Now that George W Bush has been elected to a second term, we have the opportunity to look back on who voted for whom and why. The results display a dramatic, wide and deep divide in America.
The major factors which decided the race:
The black vote: Bush once again proved that he doesn't need the minority vote to carry a majority. Take out the 90% of blacks who voted for Kerry and this election was a massive runaway win for the President.
Teresa Heinz Kerry: A huge downside for the Kerry campaign and democrats overall. In her brief appearances, Kerry wealthy wife could not disguise her overarching elitism, lack of compassion for ordinary people and general incompetence as a public speaker. If there was anything in this election that swayed voters one way or the other, the Democrats hatred of Bush was well-matched by the soccer moms' disdain for Mrs. Kerry.
Swift boat Veterans: The damage done by the veterans who served with and around Kerry in Vietnam was heavy and Kerry did not respond quickly or decisively. He also failed to counter the argument that he was in combat while George Bush was home in and/or around the National Guard.
Married Women vs. Single Women: The numbers, as reported by NBC, broke down this way nationally. 54% of married women voted for Bush while 63% of single women voted for Kerry. This should come as no surprise to anybody as single women are more inclined to seek abortions than married women, putting that issue solidly into play. Married women, many of whom have children, would never consider an abortion under almost any circumstance. That is the core and possibly the only issue here. Abortion is it and the Democrats are on the wrong side of the issue when it comes to registered voter percentages.
Morality and Faith: Bush managed to portray himself as a devout Christian with solid core family values. Kerry came off as an intellectual with not as much fervor in his faith. Kerry's circumspect, over-intellectualized views eventually proved to be harmful to him. The huge voting blocs of white, middle-class, married people backed Bush in big ways.
Urban vs. Rural: Possibly the most significant, but overlooked trend in the electorate. Kerry handily took urban centers, especially those with high black concentrations. Bush trounced the Democrats in rural communities across the country.
Gay Rights and Marriage Initiatives: Voters said no to gay rights - specifically that gay unions be respected as marriages - in 11 states. Though the wording of the various proposals varied widely, the thrust was that marriage is exclusively the province of being
The big rift as it turns out is between rural, married, white, predominantly Christian people versus everyone else. Not that it's something new. This divisions between urban and rural, married versus single, Christian vs. non-religious, minority vs. white have existed for decades.
On the extreme, if you're a single, gay, black city woman with no religious conviction, you are far, far on the left, nearly outside of political debate. You'll almost always vote Democrat or liberal on just about any issue or for any candidate. Essentially, you're screwed. You'll get no breaks from this administration at all.
Conversely, if you are a rural, white, non-gay, married male or female, the world is yours. President Bush will propose and sign any legislation that appeals to you. More kids? Bigger tax breaks. Farm subsidies, help for smaller communities in larger proportion to aid for cities, maybe even one-time tax credits for making large purchases or buying a home, breaks on charitable contributions - especially to religious organizations - and other goodies designed to promote the American dream lifestyle will come to you in droves.
Issues that didn't really matter include terrorism, Iraq, foreign policy and others. The failure of terrorism to become a main issue was not surprising given that we haven't been attacked since 2001. And apparently the majority believes that the war in Iraq is just fine, unless you're there. Since it's thousands of miles away it has virtually no impact on the day-to-day lives of average Americans, so it was pushed to the back of the issues line, as was US foreign policy, tax policy, the environment, fiscal policy, education, immigration, homeland security, civil rights, social security and law enforcement. Give Karl Rove an A+ for shaping a campaign that skirted the issues which could have done damage to Bush and focusing on those things which energized his base and demonized his opponent.
Don't expect Bush to be a unifying political force. Nearly the opposite would be closer to where he's headed. With commanding majorities of Republicans in both the House and Senate and unable to run for a third term (though watch how quickly there will come a hue and cry to repeal that clause), the President will be able to ram through whatever legislation and policy initiatives he wishes. The effort to come across the aisle for compromise will be sorely lacking in sincerity if it happens at all. Bush will get his tax cuts to be made permanent (in Capitol parlance, that means until a majority of legislators decide to raise them again), much more money for the military, homeland security, war efforts, and other budget-busting schemes, and significant movement to push gays, minorities and dissident opinion further off the mainstream political landscape.
In other words, get ready for a radical swing to the right. Laws will be made tougher, men in uniforms will be more revered, freedoms for average citizens will be fewer. Privacy also will be under fire, disguised as security. A national ID card will become the standard, search and seizure rules will be modified in favor of less restriction on law enforcement. Everything you do, touch, buy or prefer will be scrutinized and analyzed in a national database. Rigidity and conformity will be the accepted norms of social conduct. Straying far from ultra-conservatism in anything may be damaging to your career, family and freedom. And while federal income taxes will stay low, look for fees for everything to increase dramatically as the states have proven this to be an effective means of generating revenue (the stealth taxes). Paycheck deductions for social security and Medicaid will increase, while the benefits will remain stagnant or be reduced.
Big business will get an enormous boost in tax code manipulation and easing of rules on everything from how pension plan reserves are calculated and reported to outright credits and/or deductions for anything that so much as smells like an expense or business growth initiative. The underbelly of the tax code will be laden with payments by middle class citizens in support of rich, fat cat public corporations. This may do your 401K plan some good if you can afford to live long enough to enjoy it.
Expect oil and gas prices to remain high. After all, Bush is from Texas and his roots are in the oil business, so the record profits already being announced by the big oil firms should have been expected and they will continue. Meanwhile, everything else will go up in price. Count on inflationary pressure in every aspect of your life. From tires to Tylenol, from baby boots to beer, everything will cost more four years out.
In the final analysis, we went to the polls and voted. If anything is proven it is that voters were even more convinced that we made the right choice in 2000. While it may or may not be the case that George W. Bush is the right man in the right place at the right time, we'll certainly be able to see how it plays out in every day of every life for every American over the next four years.
|
SIGN THE PETITION to the US Congress requesting an investigation into the 2004 Presidential Election.
RELATED LINKS:
dirtybush.com - Hard-hitting and to the point, this site makes the case against governemnt fraud and names names.
The New Hampshire Gazette - The nation's oldest newspaper and home of the chickenhawk database.
The Brad Blog - Solid source for updated news concerning election fraud. Great place to arm yourself with FACTS!
Anitwar,com - Continuing commentary on opposition to war in Iraq and beyond.
Hack The Vote - Professional IT Auditor Chuck Herrin shows how easily votes can be altered. Packed with tons of links to other related sites. A must-see!
Countdown with Keith Olbermann - Top shelf blog complements factual, probing, on-air reporting.
VAIW - Veterans Against the Iraq War - Their name speaks for itself.
The Blue Balloon - Intelligently written blog with articles and links. Support an Informed, Intelligent Dissent to Discover Truth.
Black Box Voting - Site developed by author Bev Harris, uncovering the failures of electronic voting and currently pursuing FoIA requests for election results.
Votergate - site features documentary film focusing on how elections can be rigged.
InfoWars - Alex Jones' InfoWars with updated information on election fraud issues.
truthout.org - Continuing coverage of post-election news, updated throughout the day.
CNN Election 2004 - extensive collection of data, maps, county-by-county results. Do your own research.
CounterPunch - Politics, news and opinion, edited by Alexander Cockburn and Jeffrey St. Clair.
Verified Voting - Incredible resource with links to sortable election incident reports.
|
