US News / Special: Decision 2004 | The Christian Science Monitor
This electoral map is special because it lets you divvy out the swing states. You decide. mjh
Nasty politics?
Nasty politics? Puhleez! Get a historic grip. | csmonitor.com By William Schambra
US politics is exasperating – always has been. But through the calumny and distortion, we’ve selected decent, if not always excellent, presidents.
“Let’s step on them!” exhorts the early 1950s Republican election poster hanging in my basement. It features the party’s pachyderm with his foot planted squarely on two squirming figures, one a mustachioed Stalin look-alike labeled “Communism,” the other a spectacled, briefcase-toting bureaucrat labeled “New Dealism.”
Republicans Against Bush, Part 2
Dear Mr. Soros,
I am a life-long Republican from Wyoming. I have watched with disgust as the Bush administration repeatedly mislead and bullied the American public and our traditional allies. I could not, in good conscience, continue to support my party’s candidate for the White House. I find myself compelled to help bring an end to this administration. I have temporarily moved to St. Louis, Missouri in order to volunteer full time with America Coming Together to help register voters and get them to the polls in an important swing state. It is the first time I have engaged in this sort of grassroots activism. I find it ironic that my first political activism is directed to opposing my own party’s candidate. Like me, my parents back in Wyoming are life-long Republicans, but they too will be voting for John Kerry next month. I am doing my best to convince my brother as well. I just wanted to let you know that your appeals to moderate Republicans have worked, and are likely to succeed with others. Thanks for your generous donations to ACT. Please keep up your efforts, and know that you have companions in the fight!
Sincerely,
Ted Preston, MO
I am a registered Republican, 34 years old, and have surprised myself by becoming a Kerry supporter. The Iraq quagmire is reason #1, but I am equally fearful of the hold of the religious right on the party and of the detrimental effect of Bush’s myopic (at best) environmental policies. The Bush stance on abortion and gay marriage decry my fundamental (and I thought ‘Republican’) belief that individuals can make better choices than the government can for us. And seriously, I am a married heterosexual, but how does gay marriage hurt what my wife and I have IN ANY WAY? And the party keeps slipping towards intolerance in other ways. For the first time, the ‘official’ Republican platform removed the exception to the (so-called) pro-life stance in the case when a woman’s life is in danger. And then there is the Bush environmental policy, which at every turn favors business profits at the cost of sound and sustainable environmental policy. May God save us if we continue on this path. Thanks for your commitment and efforts.
T.B.
In 2000 I was one of the military voters that cast an absentee ballot in Florida for George Bush. This election I will again use an absentee ballot to vote in Florida but cannot in good conscience vote for the incumbent.
E.S.
I was a Republican for 28 years and am now fighting to get Kerry elected because of your exact views. Bush and his administration have isolated us in the world and made us more vulnerable to terrorists, by alienating our allies with Bush’s arrogance toward them and his “my way or the highway” attitude! Also, if they’re given 4 more years, they’ll push their religious and cultural views on all of us. Our freedoms are slipping away – including our ability to speak out against the Republican way and to get honest, balanced news.
Patty G., OH
Gathering Leaves by Robert Frost
The Writer’s Almanac – OCTOBER 18 – 24, 2004
Gathering Leaves
by Robert Frost
Spades take up leaves
No better than spoons,
And bags full of leaves
Are light as balloons.
I make a great noise
Of rustling all day
Like rabbit and deer
Running away.
But the mountains I raise
Elude my embrace,
Flowing over my arms
And into my face.
I may load and unload
Again and again
Till I fill the whole shed,
And what have I then?
Next to nothing for weight;
And since they grew duller
From contact with earth,
Next to nothing for color.
Next to nothing for use.
But a crop is a crop,
And who’s to say where
The harvest shall stop?
While this isn’t Frost’s best, it reminds me that Frost was the last American poet in my awareness to handle rhyme so well. mjh
‘The bedrock of good government is an informed citizenry’
American Voice 2004 – Charts: 10 issues illuminate the differences between Democrats and Republicans
The American Voice 2004: A Pocket Guide to Issues and Allegations
Getting behind the sound bites. Presenting both sides of the issues.
The bedrock of good government is an informed citizenry.
There is a difference on national issues.
YOU DECIDE!
10 issues illuminate the differences between Democrats and Republicans
Fact of the Day
* Of people who are regular viewers of the network nightly news, percentage who correctly answered four questions about current events: 33%
* Percentage of regular viewers of the Daily Show who answered correctly: 47%
[Thanks, Bob]
Latest Pix
A Man of Science
Four out of five Nobel Laureates agree: John Fleck’s is an intellectual sea that raises all boats, even deep in the desert. And these aren’t just Literature and Peace prize winners.
At the Awards Banquet, Lionel Ritchie sang, “He’s Fleck — FLECK! — exciting! An inspiration to me.” And to us all, Lionel.
Off in the shadows, Fleck’s masters from Manipulative Media Corp (a subsidiary of GreedCo) were seen rubbing their hands together dramatically. “Excellent! They trust him. Now activate his chip. Just wait until they read Jesus rode a dinosaur and that learning math makes girls less attractive. Bwahahah!”
Brought to you by Truth Is Duller Than Fiction. Now, here’s Paul Harvey with the rest of the story.
Congrats, G-Fleck!