There is a coup going on in our country, right now as I write. It's taking place in plain sight. It's been in plain sight for many of us for quite some time now. But now it's obvious to everyone.

This marks the beginning of a series of COUP WATCH articles. It's not a coup by a particular small group of plotters, though there's certainly signs that a variety of deliberate acts were taken to suppress Democratic votes. Rather, it's the fitting climax of a systemically anti-democratic process -- a plutocratic coup taking place in plain sight.

Many people who visit our site may shrug and say, "So What?" They didn't vote for Gore, maybe they didn't vote at all. But this latest turn of events, with the will of the people in Florida *clearly* thwarted, serves as a massive escalation in the ongoing demonstration of just how anti-democratic our system really is.

It's no longer just the anti-WTO demonstrators being shut out of the process.

It's no longer just Ralph Nader being shut out of the debates.

It's now the MAJORITY of the American people who are seeing their votes for President being shut out of the political process. Al Gore may not care about it that much. He seems half-inclined to prefer looking like a good sport to fighting for his own election. But the people whose intended votes have been invalidated are MAD AS HELL.

While many liberal Democrats are their venting spleen on Ralph Nader, further splitting progressive forces, the objective facts of an OPEN COUP are creating an opportunity for reaching out to a much broader constituency. This is what we ought to be focusing our attention on now: fighting against this most fundamental attack on the very principle of democratic self-government.

As an example of what's going now, a story in the Sun-Sentinel (www.sun-sentinel.com) "Widespread voting irregularities marred presidential results in S. Florida" By SCOTT WYMAN contained the following passage:

"Republicans from Gov. Jeb Bush to local party leaders disputed whether any voter problems tipped the scales in favor of the GOP. Jeb Bush, brother of the Texas governor, blasted a lack of specifics about voting problems.

"'Don't overexaggerate the accusations,' he said. 'This is highly important business. What's at stake is the next leader of the free world.'"

A *LACK* of specifics? There are people signing affidavits and filing lawsuits concerning *specific* violations. There are accounts of people turned away from polling places. There are accounts of police roadblocks, ticketting people on the way to vote. There are specifics out the ying-yang.

And *BUSH* is the honest one in this campaign???

The whole political elite is being forced to go through all manner of contortions, just to keep up the charade that the Emperor's New Clothes *really, really, really ARE* the best that's ever been seen. The system is working, they proclaim. No people pouring out into the streets like in Peru or Indonesia.

No, we Americans are a bit slow. Demonstrations have been called nationwide for 11 AM on Saturday. Here in LA, they're at the Westwood Federal Building (11000 Wilshire). The Countercoup website link below has more information.

There is a coup going on in our country, right now as I write. It's taking place in plain sight. Defending democracy means defending the bad as well as the good. Al Gore is no Salvador Allende, that's for sure. But not defending democracy means tacit support for democracy's enemies. And those who would triumph in this coup are remarkably similar to Pinochet.

There is a coup going on in our country, and there's an opposition. Join the opposition.

Not so much a coup d'etat as the election's closeness revealing the systemic corruption that is usually masked by wider popular vote spreads.

I credit the people with a real good one here. From what I've seen, the people turned out and made it close, or the fuckheads would have gotten away with it again.

Now begins the Constitutional crisis. These happen once a century. We are so damn lucky I can't believe it.

Solidarity,

-- .- .-. -.-. --- -. ..

Here is a web site that will submit a petition to demand a re-vote. You can change the re-vote to read
Florida instead of Palm Beach County.

www.workingforchange.com/activism/action.cfm?ItemId=9237

I have mixed feelings about this petition -- it only asks
for Palm Beach to be re-voted...yet there were
significant reports of violations of fair voting in other parts of
FL....I worry that if this petitions "succeeds"
they may only fix that problem, and it
would serve to "validate" the whole election
without addressing the serous charges of abuse elsewhere..

My mistake in getting the time wrong for the demonstrations this Saturday. They are supposed to begin at 1 PM, not 11 AM as I stated in this article. There is also one scheduled for Long Beach as well as Westwood.

If you people did not have something to complain about, you would think you died. Why don't you people stop causing trouble and shut up! You have no voice because you have nothing to say. You are impotent. You do not understand Chile and anything other than your miserable ethnocentricly narrow veiw point. You do not represent freedom. You represent a different form of slavery. Do everyone a favor and consider suicide.

You feeling a little impotent big guy? What dribble. Sound like Rush L. Do yourself a favor and get a life.

What about recounts needed in Oregon, Wisconson, New Hamshire, IDAHO!!!, California... um Ohio!!! This is such a great opportunity for all those who were in political limbo before this effect and refreshing to those of us who knew we were getting the long stick was before this. Everyone!!! Let's hit the streets!!! And remember to keep it non-violent!! Keep the protests about a need for democracy and not about police brutality!!!

Maintain your anonymity and where all white bandanas and clothing, representing peace, so to speak!

Shit! I'm so excited!!! I feel a weight has been lifted off my shoulders because now it's just too damn obvious to cover up!

Perhaps you should look at the fact that in 1996 there was a lower voter turnout and 15,000 voter failed to understand how to vote. They should take responsibility for their mistakes and live with it. Buchanan was able to get around 2500 votes in the 1996 election and 8000 votes in the 2000 Republican primary in the county in question. The type of ballot in question is the same as the one used in Cooke County, Illinois where Daley is from. This is not a conspiracy and I might add that there are still 2,000,000 absentee ballots that are still out throughout the country. Who knows Gore may get these votes and get the presidency, but history points in favor of Bush gaining these votes. If this happens Bush will establish a popular and perhaps an electoral majority.

Perhaps you should look at the fact that in 1996 there was a lower voter turnout and 15,000 voter failed to understand how to vote. They should take responsibility for their mistakes and live with it. Buchanan was able to get around 2500 votes in the 1996 election and 8000 votes in the 2000 Republican primary in the county in question. The type of ballot in question is the same as the one used in Cooke County, Illinois where Daley is from. This is not a conspiracy and I might add that there are still 2,000,000 absentee ballots that are still out throughout the country. Who knows Gore may get these votes and get the presidency, but history points in favor of Bush gaining these votes. If this happens Bush will establish a popular and perhaps an electoral majority.

If there is one thing that is clear from this whole election season, it is that our noble electoral process is an outdated undemocratic joke.
The fact that we might not vote for our first choice out of fear of our last choice is telling in itself. But let's just pretend that we all did vote our consciences. The whole country is going to be represented by the minority of voting citizens. And the majority, those of us that voted for one reason or another against the lesser of two evils, gets a shoe to the ass.
I can't think of a better time to make our voices heard and demand our country to belong to us, its people.
We aren't all going to agree. That is why we need proportionality. Let's get it.

Have the courage of your convictions! Some of us thought all along that the two principal candidates in this election were tweedledee and tweedledum and that it really does not make a difference who wins. The outcome of the election so far has only confirmed this view. So similar are Al G. and George B. that, faced with this primary choice, American voters have not been able to make a clear choice.

Of course the Republicans and Republicrats are going to make a big deal over a few minor election glitches. These arguments amount to no more than frat house squabbles. In any election where a 100,000,000 votes are cast there is bound to be a few glitches, probably always has been and always will be. No one is trying to "steal" this election; there is no coup. Liberals who are all of a sudden are having a fit that Gore might have "won" but will not get to move into the White House are pussies who do believe that there is a difference between Bush and Gore. All of this post-election bru-ha-ha about popular vs. electoral college votes, ballot irregularities, ballot confusion, vote counts, etc., etc., etc., is just a smoke screen to cover up the real story.

The REAL story of the election is that there REALLY IS little difference between the two main candidates. No matter who moves into the White House in January here will be no clear mandate for either the Republican or the Republicrat agendas. We are going to get Gore or Bush. So What? This election simply confirms the view that the two principal parties in this country have really merged into one. Ralph Nader is correct after all. NOW we can make this case with clear, clear evidence! Now we can begin to build a party for the future.

Since when has president in recent memory needed abstentee
ballots to help establish a majority.IF HE HAD A MAJORITY, HE WOULDN'T NEED ABSENTEE BALLOTS-QUIT GRASPING FOR STRAWS!

Since when has president in recent memory needed abstentee
ballots to help establish a majority.IF HE HAD A MAJORITY, HE WOULDN'T NEED ABSENTEE BALLOTS-QUIT GRASPING FOR STRAWS!

So what will a Bush inauguration look like? What can we make it look like? If this coke-sniffing frat-boy does make it into the Oval Office, it will be under a cloud of illegitimacy that no president has been dogged with in-- at least half a century. The inherent media circus around such an inauguration may prove a good opportunity to make our point heard-- but, I fear, also an opportunity for DC cops to show us what a brutal police state we live in... Can we steal the spotlight at the Bush inauguration without the situation devolving into a riot? It's worth a try.

"The MAJORITY of the American people" did not vote for either of the two candidates. With approximately 52 to 53% of Americans voting, and each candidate getting approx. 49% of the vote, whichever tweedle (dee or dum) goes to the White House will have only garnered votes from AT MOST 26% of the American public!
The fact that twenty thousand votes were not properly cast, and thousands of people illegaly (and legally) barred from voting is not the real scandal. The scandal is that 48% of Americans felt their vote simply didnt count at all.

Well first of all, as someone said, comparing the situation today to the situation in Chile in 1973 is so ridiculous I am ashamed to be an American, I am even more ashamed to speak the same language as you. That was a military coup costing thousands of lives, eliminating any pretense of democracy, ruling out the hopes of millions of suffering and downtrodden people to create a peaceful path to socialism, disappearing and torturing thousands of innocent people. This BushGore election is nothing more than another referendum on 2 candidates of corporate capital, who did the country choose to kick them in the face?..some chose tweedledee to kick them, others (with more strategic intent) chose tweedledum preferring to call it not a kick in the face, but a physical sharing of space between their face and the boot...Well welcome to the corporate media spin, not only have you bought into it, you see nothing beyond it. Or perhaps it is more appropriate to say that you are it? Oh the tragedy! Now we will be ruled by asshole A instead of asshole B! Let's all move to Europe and spread our ignorance to their societies! COUP WATCH! Go buy a godamned clue! Al Whore doesn't represent democracy or the will of the people anymore than Pepsi or Coke! Preemptively given such a ridiculous set of choices by the wealthy investors who run our country and then clamoring for the support of one as opposed to another because your asshole didn't win is the saddest indication yet of how low political discourse has sank in this incredibly brainwashed society. Oh great Gorebot! We love you so! Please be the one to kill more Iraqi civilians and Colombian peasants , because if Bushbot is president then he will kill those same people in the same way, only he is a nasty bad republican so it's qualitatively different. and do you think these suffering people will regret the ignorance of dumbasses like you?Do you think they give a shit whether their family members are disembowled and tortured as a result of a "democratic" administration or a "republican" one?
Calling Bush a plutocrat but not Gore? What rock have you been hiding under! His daddy was a fucking senator, he has 1 million in Oxy oil stock! He is licking his lips over the prospect of dead Uwa people!
The majority of the people did not vote and they sure as hell did not vote for no oligarch executioner, new conquistador, defender of the right of U.S. oligarchs to plunder the planet, the poor and everybody who can't defend themselves!
Go fuck al gore! or George Bush! You make me sick

A new reality is coming into focus for the Liberals, one which we "Extremists" have been trying to share with them for awhile... the fact that they are ready to jump straight to the idea of "coup" points to the pain and shock of their current unheard of predicament ("...imagine! we aren't in the real Elite after all!"), and underscores their ignorance of the reality of coups as exported by their own candidate and Viceroy, Al Gore. The fact that they can't tell the difference between Bush and Gore (none) and think Gore's election will symbolize the victory of Democracy is a measure of their remaining distance from reality and ignorance due to conflict of interest as stakeholders in corporate Amerika. But truth is truth, and even middle calsses get screwed, at which point there may exist an opportunity to gently offer tools to those who are ready to see new horizons of understanding vis the operation of capitalist power against the family of life. In other words, lets all show up out at the Federal Building on Saturday, and see what a Day of Free Speech in defense of democracy might produce.

peace,
elbop

Yes, officially our democracy has been dead for quite sometime. But what happened in Florida should demand immediate attention by Ralph. He should make statements denouncing the election and demanding a new one. I couldn't believe he made the statement after the election that the outcome "would teach the corrupt democratic party." Hell yes, their corrupt--but the republicans just falsified an election. COME ON RALPH!!!!!!!!!!!! WHERE ARE YOU NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Over the last 30 years our elections have become unverifiable. Believe it or not, ordinary citizens used to take part--if they wanted--in COUNTING the paper ballots. That is no longer the case. Now these elections are run from start to finish by various Corporations, from the CPD to VNS. Those corporations are NOT open to citizen involvement or oversight. We simply are expected to TRUST THEM. Do you trust them? I don't. This election is not verifiable. You can believe it if you want to, but there's no way to prove it anything about it, no way to return to the days of the paper ballots.

All three legs of the modern day "election process" are mysterious and COMPLETELY devoid of citizen checks and balances (excepting the Iowa caucuses, and excepting 70% of New Hampshire in the primary and general elections.) We are living in a Brave New World... most people are obsessing on the very tip of electoral corruption. Sorry folks, the roots run deep.

The elections really turned into a wacked out circus accident. I always favored international oversight by the the OSCE. Now they offer help when it's really too late. At least the problems are finally getting exposed....

Over the last 30 years our elections have become unverifiable. Believe it or not, ordinary citizens used to take part--if they wanted--in COUNTING the paper ballots. That is no longer the case. Now these elections are run from start to finish by various Corporations, from the CPD to VNS. Those corporations are NOT open to citizen involvement or oversight. We simply are expected to TRUST THEM. Do you trust them? I don't. This election is not verifiable. You can believe it if you want to, but there's no way to prove it anything about it, no way to return to the days of the paper ballots.

All three legs of the modern day "election process" are mysterious and COMPLETELY devoid of citizen checks and balances (excepting the Iowa caucuses, and excepting 70% of New Hampshire in the primary and general elections.) We are living in a Brave New World... most people are obsessing on the very tip of electoral corruption. Sorry folks, the roots run deep.

The elections really turned into a wacked out circus accident. I always favored international oversight by the the OSCE. Now they offer help when it's really too late. At least the problems are finally getting exposed....

I love irony, don't you?

We send people to Mexico, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Colombia, Haiti, and the Philipines to help them (supposedly) get a straight count in their elections.

Sounds to me like it's time to send people from Mexico, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Colombia, Haiti, and the Philipines to south Florida.

Hail irony, the great destroyer of bullshit.

-- .- .-. -.-. --- -. ..

I could live with them counting the outstanding votes to determine the "true" winner. What I cannot stand is the fact that Bush is trying to railroad this thing to a close without even CONSIDERING the outstanding absentee ballots.

Why don't we throw out the "Dick" and let Al and George do it together? I wonder if this would even be possible, in every sense of the word?

And Republican governor Tommy Thompson has already announced on NPR that if
Bush doesn't get the 25 he needs in florida he's going to start asking for a statewide
recount in Wisconsin. He said he's really confident he can get Bush the 11 from here.
Is he confident New Mexico or Iowa or somewhere else can deliver the difference???
He must be to say it out loud.

And what kind of fraud does he plan for here in wisconsin.
I'll venture that unlike Jeb Bush - Thompson could not care less
how he "looks" in the conflict of interest department. He likely will
not step down while the recounts go.

Brace yourselves for a protraced uphill battle for everyone.
I say we toss out both Bush and Gore and let the third place
candidate run the country for four years or so. In fact, LaDuke/
Nader is perhaps the only candidate that might get reelected.

Heck, they're going to be a whole lot easier to non-violently
overthrow than Gore's admin OR Bush's. They'd probably even
enjoy watching it all come down. My only question is why
Nader and Buchanan haven't sent representatives to stand
right there next to Warren Christopher (pronounced Jimmy Carter's 5-star-general)
and James Baker (pronounced Bush "herbert walker's" 5-star general)

We're a peaceful angry people, but we're pretty doggoned tired aren't
we???

marco

This is one of the rare chances to change the voting system for the profit of the small alternative parties. I hope the US is taking it.

THE IRON HEEL by JACK LONDON. The classic account of how plutocracy will topple deocracy if it gets a chance. I implore everyone to read it (pp 1907 !)

We the People can turn this thing around; there is an interesting online petition calling on Gov. Bush to bow out gracefully by recognizing the popular vote and requesting his electors to vote for the VP. I know, I know--fat chance! But let's do all we can and let those who wanted to sneak around and do their dirty deeds in the dark realize they've been busted by the ultimate authority, the people. Here's the link: http://www.petitiononline.com/trust1/

Regarding the claim that the same ballot used in W. Palm Beach as in Cook County, IL ... not quite. In Cook County, all of the Presidents were listed on the left. It wasn't until you got to the portion where the JUDGES were named, that the "butterfly" format was used. (how do I know? I voted there) - Nicole

If were going to concentrate on Florida lets talk about the Democratic irregularities too and allegations of abuse in Wisconsin- A Pack of Smoke for you Vote
OTHER abuses in Mental Hospitals, Haitian intimidation in Miami

Daley is not a Choir Boy he is the next star in a lineage of the top campaign abusers in the history of this country

We live in a Republic of the United States of America. You need to look some where else to live.

I really believe something big is in the making such as if there are protests across the USA, all the states could be zoned to control people. Also, I wonder sometimes if Gore or Bush will even get President. Clinton could actually assert an executive order and call a national disaster and put marital law into place. I know some people might think this could never happen, but who would have thought this in Fl. would happen. It is not as simple as we all probably think. After all this, I believe anything could happen.
Then again, everyone's eyes are on this election, who knows what is going on behind our back or even in Washington.
What a way to pull something over on the American people.
Thanks for letting us give out our comments.
Sarah

Perhaps the reason for this undemocratic action is because this country is not a democracy. It's a Republic.

I am amazed that so few people know that there has never been a perfect election. There is never a completely accurate vote count, there are thousands of disqualified voters and votes, and sometimes out right frauds.

Do we really want to turn over all the rocks? If and when we do, all faith in our system will be gone and then we will see the real coup.

That butterfly ballot is a Monarch butterfly, meant to make Al king.

Kudos to whall. Why don't you fools just admit you're socialists and be done with it. We live in a republic, dumbass!

While I highly commend your organization and purpose, the piece on the voting irregularities in Florida read more like a manifesto designed to illicit outrage than a true analyzation of the situation. It is important for those of us not in step with the mainstream to lay out our arguments concisely, and be consistent with the facts, so that we may undo the logic of the mainstream while in the safe corner of truth and accuracy. Gore is not simply sitting back during this whole process--he has filed a lawsuit. To not acknowledge this only undoes your argument. Furthermore, you would be much more effective in garnishing true support to what I would also dub an obvious perversion of the democratic system by listing off concrete examples of voter harrasment and blockage. Such facts would no doubt make any person who truly believes in democracy angry and frustrated, and in search of action, and you can then direct them on the most effective course of action. The aims of journalism--truth, integrity and fairness--are true ideals that should be adhered to and that, sadly, the mainstream press has sold to the highest bidder. I hope you do not abandon them for your own personal ideals.

Thank you for reading.
Christine Shearer
M.A. student in Media Studies

"Gore is not simply
sitting back during this whole process--he has filed a lawsuit. To not acknowledge this only
undoes your argument."

I think lawsuit was not in place when article was written..?

See Los Angeles Times,

Those Florida Ballots Were Clearly Illegal


http://www.commondreams.org/views/111000-105.htm

William, Ellen and Amanda have all written that we (in America) "live in a Republic." Ah, if that were only so! The founding fathers would have loved to create a Republic, and I would love to live in one. Too bad we don't... and why do you (three) think that we do?

--Frosty J.

I wouldn't have put it in $uch a coloful manner, but...... right on!!!!!!!!!!!!! Bu$h made hi$ $$$ in oil and $tadium$, and Gore ha$ hi$ $1 million in Oxy pertrolium $tock. What'$ the difference? BOTH partie$ accepted oodle$ and oodle$ of $$$$ from Fortune 500 companie$ BEFORE their respective "National Convention$". I'm $orry, but my keyboard $eem$ to have replaced the letter $ with the dollar $ymbol. Maybe it'$ becau$e $$$$ $peak louder than word$.

Those of you who say America is a republic and not a democracy, please discuss with us what you consider the difference between the two to be. Meanwhile, here's what the American Heritage Dictionary says:

Republic-1.Any political order that is not a monarchy.2. A constitutional form of government.3. Any group of people working freely and equally for the same cause.

Democracy-1. Government by the people, exercised either directly or through elected representatives. 2. A political or social unit based on this form of rule. 3. A social condition of equality and respect for the individual.

http://www.netrinsics.com/Duval/Duval.html

This gentleman took the precinct data from the Duval County Florida web site, converted it into a spreadsheet friendly format, and then generated these graphs for us. Thanks!

These VERY disturbing findings... I encourage people to save this web page locally in case the site disappears some time in the future.

J. Maynard Gelinas

This isn't a republic or a democracy. It's a plutocracy:
1 : government by the wealthy
2 : a controlling class of the wealthy

I would just like to point out to all those people who say that the people of Florida should just live with their voting mistakes that the Chad system of voting (Chad is the name of those little punch hole ballots in question)was sold with the knowledge that they had a 10% error margin! Why is no one else talking about this fact!? Not only do they need a revote in all of Florida, they MUST get rid of the Chad system all together.

For all of you assholes who prefer Al Gore because of the abortion issue... It is too bad your parents where too good not to consider aborting you sorry bastards.

When the founders of this country outlined our government, they emphasized the protection of and reliance upon common, human, personal rights. I believe that it is this ideal of protecting natural rights that has made this country the strongest in the world. With the way that this election has been handled, I fear that we are establishing a dangerous precedent that may compromise our essential right to vote. Without this right, we have no way of making our government represent it citizens interests. I would urge Republicans to not ignore the complaints of more than 19,000 citizens, who lost their vote, because it favors their own choice for president in this election. Are they really ready to trade this right in for one election? I’m not. We should be looking into the alleged improprieties and trying to arrive at serious solutions. If we show politicians that we are OK with confusing ballots, there will be more. And next time, the Republican candidate may not be the first and therefore easiest name to pick out. And perhaps this sort of ballot should appear in several key Republican strongholds. I hope we can set aside our bipartisan nature long enough to realize that this was not just a problem for Democrats, but rather significant crisis for all Americans.

Sincerely,
Bruce Thompson

is the proces working is the question now. with such a close race, how did the media report winners in several states when their absentee ballots were not going to be in for a week and those states races were too close to call. it is election day - the day we vote - not necessarily the day we decide. december 18, with the electoral college vote, we can only pray that those electoral voters who can change their vote will vote their mind and go with the popular vote.

Just try your coup Rosenberg. Are you going to get out in the streets and fight for what you think is right? Great? Or are you going to try and sue someone? Or are you trying to whip up minority groups to do your fighting?

I first would like to thank all the individuals who have given thier energies to the creation and maintinence of this website. The things that are going on in this society are on a level that demands the attention of all of us. Yet, dispite all of this information many of us are just ignorant or just plain indifferent to what is going on. I believe we must strive to evolve new levels of interpersonal communication and respect in order to make sense of the reality we observe. One earth, one people, 1 love.

www.citybeat.com/tabd/images/new_images/tabd_gunpoint_mb.jpg

Are you always this cheerful?

Buchanan says the votes in Florida are not his.
I'll take his word for it over yours

Coup Watch? You got that right. Watch this!! Gore is trying to steal the election. It is so blatant a blind person could sense it.

This administrations disrespect for its own military personell with regard to the absentee balot issue is enough to ignite a coup.

No, it is not Bush who is conducting a coup. It is Al Gore (the lier now turned thief) and his gangster lawyers along with Warren Christopher, Daley, Jesse Jackson, et al who are guilty of conducting a coup.

They are stealing a presidential election in plain sight by using Florida as the unfortunate domicile in order to commit their crime. The media played a major role in this by calling Florida for Comrade Gore early on Nov 7. Too bad for the media whores. It did not work.

Gore is the one who is prolonging this problem. He can end it by stepping aside. He already has lost a few times. Remember? Count, re-count, re-recount?? Give it up already!

Gore and everyone who wants him to win for whatever reason deserve to loose. Gore can not bring himself to let go. It would prove he is a failure. He is too insecure to allow himself to recognize the truth. So he fights harder (or pretends to). He becomes a bully and overbearing, or allows others to do it for him. He becomes a camillion and emulates whoever or whatever audience he is in front of.

He is not his own person. He does not know who he is. He is an ego maniac with an inferiority complex. He is a married man yet he needs to hire a woman in order to coordinate his attire. Lately he looks more like Ronald Reagan than Reagan himself. I am waiting for Gore to emerge looking like Ronald McDonald.

Hey that would be a good send off.

I hope Bush wins just the way things are. With all the animosity his supporters are stockpiling in their attempts to humiliate and dehumanize persons who feel their voters' rights were violated. Sore loser and cruel-heartless winner claimer. It will leave those matters to be dealt with later while he's in office as to the police checkpoints, etc. Plus as an added benefit to all the Bush supporters' harmful and hateful ranting will stop the use of "Compassionate Conservative" being used as a plea for minority votes next election. Enjoy the hallow victory if you can! Buy the way, what if some of those persons in those counties with enormous amounts of undervotes are military service persons?

"Enjoy the hallow victory if you can! Buy the way, what if some of those persons in those counties with enormous amounts of undervotes are military service persons?"

Ahhh.... Politically correct language.... They never speak that way where I live.... Engage me in uncleansed speech.

It depends on what you mean by persons.

I agree. If Gore wins he will have hell to pay. Enjoy the hollow victory while it lasts. It will not last very long. Gores victory will make the Cold War in the DC area seem like a pleasant spring afternoon. Be sure to be appropriately attired. Fire suits and long underwear will in vogue.

Old ploy, trying to turn around the accusations. Bush tried to cheat, he couldn't even do that right. Al Gore won't call him on it, he's too much of a wuss. George tried to steal the election, he's paid off the press, and has brainwashed miltia style supporters, can anyone say Suharto?

Old ploy, trying to turn around the accusations. Bush tried to cheat, he couldn't even do that right. Al Gore won't call him on it, he's too much of a wuss. George tried to steal the election, he's paid off the press, and has brainwashed miltia style supporters, can anyone say Suharto?

There is almost no question in my mind that Bush+Bush+Bush (ex-head of CIA + Gov of the god-damned state + W himself) cheated in the Florida election.

Gore can't call him/them on it becuase the Dems have also cheated in Florida (or elsewhere).

Nixon's famous concession to Kennedy was simply blackmail.... he cheated as well.

It's all a scam. I hope it blows up in the republicrats' faces this time.

"It's all a scam. I hope it blows up in the republicrats' faces this time."

If it doesn't blow up in the Rep's face it will surely blow up in the Dem's ass. Choose your posion or position reather.

Key point to focus on, between the postings of the right-wing lunatics that always seem to hang out here. (Talk about "get a real job", Geez)

Point: People are focusing on their electoral system closely, and for many of these peopel who slept through civics class in high school, this is the first time. Because of the attention, you'll likely see some attempts at some sort of reform in the next year. You may see an attempt to change the electoral college. You may see attempts to change the way we vote and the way votes are counted.

The point is that we need to be pushing these issues hard. But not just these limited issues but a full discussion of all of the apparatus that keeps the American people out of their government. If not, we'll either get some shallow reform that doesn't really change anything, or a dangerous reform that changes things for the worse (like a computerized voting system that people can't go back and check).

So we need to be out pushing ALL of the ways in which this election was unfree and unfair from the beginning. We need to be talking about the flood of corporate money that dominated this election. We need to be talking about elections that keep most candidates from talking to the voters.

Seems to me a good day to start talking about this would be inaguration day in Washington DC....Jan 20th 2001. And that's no matter who's got their hand on the bible that day.

Taking the advice of "a London reader", I located and read Jack London's "The Iron Heel." It is a horrific read about plutocratic methods and power. It's also uncannily prescient; amazing to know it was written in 1907. Seems London had a crystal ball focussed on these very days we are living in.I join "a London Reader" in urging everyone to read it. Go!

Let's hope it doesn't come to this, but all who see clearly the fascist direction events are taking should begin contingency planning for an action at the ersatz inauguration. We must not be "good Germans"!!! Let's not wait till this version of totalitarian inevitably shows its fangs. Force the issue! But we *must* plan a nonviolent action. This means very careful planning, because once Shrub grabs power, his regime will look for any excuse to "crack down." We've *got* to stay one step ahead

??????????????????????????

BU$H seems determined to seize the White House by any means necessary. If that requires ignoring our American right to vote, so be it. If that requires a propaganda campaign to silence the protests of this Nation's majority, so be it. I am profoundly concerned with the future of America's election process. Can we THE MAJORITY allow our choice to be silenced by this Republican coup? I say NO! Let the voice of America be heard. Don't accept this distortion of Democracy.

Bruce Thompson

Everything you said applies equally to comrade Al Gore et al as well. Everytime you point a finger three are pointing back at you. On the other hand I know a good place for you to stick it.

I sure hope Republicans have a better argument than, "I'm rubber, you're glue." Because, too much is at stake to be debating in a such a childish manner. Let’s focus on facts.

Seminole County: 4700 incomplete absentee ballots authorized by none other than Katherine Harris to be completed behind closed doors (collusion) and counted. N. Miami: 3 unopened ballot boxes found after election. Volusia County: Computer error subtracted 16,000 votes from Gore (may or may not have been corrected). Osceola County: voting cards didn't fit properly in slots resulting in 300+ votes for Libertarian Party (with only 100 registered Libertarians). Pinellas County: recount shows that 100 north county (Republican area) votes counted twice and 400 south county (Democrat area) votes were not counted in initial election. Also, dozens of minority voters leave without being able to vote after hours of waiting at undermanned polling centers in the inner city. Palm Beach: ballot listing BU$H's punch hole first and Gore's 3rd results in ridiculously disproportionate amount of Buchannon votes. Buchannon did no serious campaigning there and states publicly that these weren’t his votes. Also, Katherine Harris abuses her position and orders PB to stop manual recount before her Nov. 14 deadline for required recounts. Then she penalizes them for not finishing by the 14th. Volusia County: many African-American students complain of being turned away at polls. Also, election worker shows up Wednesday after election with bag full of ballots saying he forgot to return them Tuesday night. Broward County: election officials have to retrieve ballot box sent to main office (improper destination) by poll worker. Hillsborough County: alleged intimidation of African-American voters. Miami-Dade: out-of-state paid political operatives sabotage the manual recount. This county, where Gore's campaign hoped to collect hundreds of votes, halted its recount Wednesday due to intimidation by a hoard of violent fanatics. Nassau County: rejects recount netting Bush 52 votes. Century Village (A Jewish Democrat retirement community in Palm Beach): 950 votes for Buchannon, who is widely known for anti-semetic remarks.

Clearly these are serious allegations. How can we honor a difference of 537 votes out of nearly 6 million, when the punch card system has been shown to have a 2% error! I think we should stop letting Republicans (like the abrasive goof above) force an illigitimate president upon us.

Long Live Ronald Reagan!

in an attempt to relate to as many of you as possible and to avoid a hypocritical, or at least judgmental position lets simplify this election problem. we are in search of a leader. prior to election day i didn't trust the sincerity of any of the candidates. i did not vote. for me to vote in an attempt to choose between the lesser of the evils would mean that i am choosing evil to lead. i did not and will not. that would be akin to pointing a gun at my own head. i do not see a leader anywhere at this point. i see two clinically defined men acting as children fighting over who gets the bigwheel at recess. these are not role models nor are they minds to further evolve our current state as a nation. they are capitalists. the coup has already taken place people. this country was not established in the name of the almighty dollar and materialism. we fought against a king and his taxes. we went as far as sailing across the atlantic to FREE ourselves. and now $50 out of every $180 or so goes to some unnamable purpose all for "the good of the nation" of course. income tax is wrong and unjust. if there need be a tax in this country it should be upon what we puchase not what we have earned. americans are very good at blowing their cash and isn't that what capitalism is all about anyway?
this was a democracy only in the beginning. very shortly after our terms of government were established began a new form of governing. THIS IS NOT A DEMOCRACY! in democracy votes are not bought, an excess of laws are not necessary, the people are equal regardless of any phycally oriented nature. THIS IS NOT, I REPEAT NOT, A DEMOCRACY.
people we need to lead ourselves. we need to learn to be responsible for ourselves, vote for yourself. in doing so you will see the merits in every other human being and will arrive at the truth. truth is that thing inside you which science is unable to point at. big brother can not have that unless you give it to him.
ENJOY!

One man with a distorted sense of values can wreak havoc on a entire world. We are living amid such havoc. In all of Ronald Reagan's pious years, did no one ever tell him it is harder for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven? For all the holy-baloney the Reagan years brought this country, this bibical wisdom seems to escaped Reagan and his cronies, they choosing the far safer and easier piety of worrying about the personal habits of others rather than the very real and far more destructive corruption of their own greed and ambition. Reagan brought the worship of Mammon to new heights---and this country's values to disgusting lows.

You talk about all these problems with the voting in florda counties, but the democrats are the ones who come up with the voting ideas and now they cry foul cause they think they may have goofed. The truth is most of thes stories are outright lies and have no merit at all. The democrats are known for paying people to file lawsuits on their behalf. Just get used to saying MY PRESIDENT IS GEORGE W. BUSH !!!

If even one of these alleged improprieties is true, then the merit of the whole election process must be called into question. When will people finally learn that this is not a war for the White House? Nobody, cared about that in the first place. This is a war to retain our Right to Vote and have that Vote counted. We must strive for proper form, or our elections will never be free from inaccuracy.

Bruce Thompson, FL

I find it unsettling that Justice Scalia has decided (or discovered) that Americans don't have a Constitutional right to vote for President.If that is what folks mean by this governmental system being a "republic," it appears we may be in for some awful surprises in the next few years if Republicans choose to follow this idea beyond Texas. Or perhaps they've been following it all along, and making use of it, and maybe what's happening in Florida is simply the planned result of it.

"I find it unsettling that Justice Scalia has decided (or discovered) that Americans don't have a Constitutional right to vote for President. If that is what folks mean by this governmental system being a "republic," it appears we may be in for some awful surprises in the next few years if Republicans choose to follow this idea beyond Texas. Or perhaps they've been following it all along, and making use of it, and maybe what's happening in Florida is simply the planned result of it."

Alright, calm down now Cassandra, a repeat episode of the X Files is about to air on the FX channel in about a half hour.

Raputin, one doesn't need to invent a paranoid X-Files scenario. The one we have before us is more than ominous on its own terms.It defies logic for Scalia to proclaim that since Bush THINKS he's the president, a state-wide recount would undermine his presidency. It's also too bizarre for Scalia to stop the recount in a run-out-the-clock ploy, then later to declare that since there's not enough time remaining to get the aborted recount completed,the recount should not be resumed. With twisted logic like that, no one needs the X-Files.

We must not let the problems encountered in this election continue in future elections. I hear people say that the election process is not perfect, and that we should just accept it as it is. I am not OK with this. I believe that nothing we do can be absolutely perfect. However, this does not mean we should stop striving for perfection. In my mind, the closer you get to perfection, the further you get from failure. The validity of the election process is fundamental to Democracy and must not be riddled with error.

Areas that I think should be addressed:
1. the punch card system(2% error is unacceptable)
2. ballot forms(should be standardized nationally with no loopholes in the laws allowing confusing ballots)
3. accuracy of count(we should not get completely different numbers during a recount)
4. address allegations of improprieties(voter intimidation, undermanned polling centers with varying hours of operation, illegal activities by poll workers)

There remains nothing sacred or no code of honor in the U.S.

Check out US election news as seen from abroad. Read columnists for the London Observer:

www.guardianlimited.co.uk

Published Sunday, December 17, 2000, in the Miami Herald

Putin's visit to Havana boosts Castro's image
BY PATRICK E. TYLER
New York Times Service

HAVANA -- A month ago, supposedly over a bottle of vodka with the leaders of Ukraine and Belarus, Fidel Castro was characterizing Russia as just another cash-strapped Third World country, whose former president, Boris Yeltsin, had sold out the socialist vision in 1991 by breaking up the Soviet Union.

But when President Vladimir Putin of Russia arrived last week on a state visit to revive relations between Moscow and Havana -- and to try to clear the backlog of $20 billion in debts Cuba owes to its former patron -- Castro summoned brass bands and honor guards to trumpet the ``reconfirmation of friendship,'' as the Communist Party newspaper put it Friday. The news about the debt was buried.

Behind the switch, according to Cuban analysts and foreign diplomats here, lay a calculation: Putin's arrival this week has once again revived Castro's diminished fortunes as a charismatic leader, who after four decades in power holds sway only over an impoverished revolution.

``The visit of the president of Russia shows the people that Castro is still important, and that is critical because it helps Fidel to keep mobilizing the people,'' said a foreign envoy who has spent a decade watching the Cuban leader here.

A more recently arrived Western diplomat said, ``He is trying to recapture his position on the world stage, not through arms and subversion anymore, but through rhetoric and leadership in the Third World, where leaders look to him for help in shaping their arguments.''

Despite the opportunity to magnify his international profile, some of the gloss seems to be off Castro's appeal at home, even though his power is secure and reinforced by a totalitarian party structure and ample security services.

``The government used to have the absolute support of the people, but it has lost that support,'' said Oscar Espinosa, an economist who had to shovel bat dung for two years after he first criticized Castro's economic policies in the 1960s, but who continues to do so today.

CUBA'S DOWNTURN

The loss of ``political capital,'' as Espinosa terms it, flows from the catastrophic economic turmoil of the 1990s, when the withdrawal of Soviet and Russian subsidies caused the Cuban economy to contract by 35 percent, forcing Castro to undertake reforms he had long opposed.

He ``dollarized'' the economy, allowing Cubans to receive dollars from abroad and trade in them at home. He solicited foreign investment, selling half the country's cigar export monopoly to the Spanish. Canada is buying into the nickel sector and Europeans into the oil sector.

He opened the doors to tourists as never before, with nearly 2 million visiting this year. He legalized self-employment, small private restaurants in homes and small agricultural markets, though he hectors them like a blight.

``The enemy's money is the only money that is really worth something in Cuba today,'' Espinosa said, adding that since fewer than half of Cubans have access to dollars by working in the tourism industry or by receiving remittances from relatives in the United States, social inequities between the ``dollar haves'' and the ``dollar have-nots'' are mounting.

``This could lead to an economic backlash with extraordinary consequences,'' Espinosa said, though he, and most analysts here, do not see any immediate threat to Castro's rule, in part because the Cuban leader so successfully blames the American trade embargo for the country's ills.

``Fidel Castro has been the most skillful and clever political figure in our history,'' said Elizardo Sánchez, a leading dissident whom Castro has imprisoned for eight and half years. ``And he has also been the main social reformer in our history because he has practically turned upside down all of Cuban society.''

But Sánchez thinks he is not just stating the obvious when he says Castro's regime is in its ``terminal phase,'' not only because Castro turned 74 this year, but also because the last decade has cracked open the door to economic independence for 11 million Cubans. ``He has always controlled everyone through the economy,'' Espinosa asserted.


DISSENT RISING

According to Espinosa, dissent is also on the rise.

A decade ago, said Sánchez, 57, fewer than a dozen dissidents dared to criticize Castro's regime openly. ``Now there are thousands of dissidents acting throughout the country,'' he said.

Twice this year, Castro has personally led tens of thousands of Cubans on marches along Havana's waterfront, capitalizing on his ``victory'' over the United States in the battle to bring Elián González home from Florida after he lost his mother when she and others fled Cuba in a boat.

Castro is said to have taken great energy from the struggle. On a vacant lot facing the American diplomatic mission here, he has erected the José Martí Anti-Imperialism Plaza as a permanent protest against Washington. Its most prominent feature is a statue of Martí, Cuba's national hero, holding young Elián in his arms and pointing an accusing finger at the U.S. edifice.

But as a sign of the times, Cuban political humorists have spread the story that Martí is simply advising the boy where to apply for a visa when he is ready to return to Florida.

Published Sunday, October 8, 2000, in the Miami Herald

CASTRO'S FAMILY
Fidel's private life with his wife and sons is so secret that even the CIA is left to wonder

BY JUAN O. TAMAYO
jtamayo@herald.com

There are no streets in Cuba named after President Fidel Castro, no statues or peso bills bearing the image of the ``maximum leader,'' no mention -- ever -- in the official media of his wife of 30-plus years or their five sons.

Most Cubans, in fact, know almost nothing about the personal life of one of the world's most private, even secretive rulers. Not the names of his wife and sons, not even the address of his home in Havana.

Photographs of two of Castro's sons, a niece and a nephew-in-law that appear in today's Herald are, indeed, the first time their faces are published anywhere, slightly lifting the veil of secrecy that shrouds Castro's family.

His wife, Dalia Soto del Valle, and their sons Angel, Antonio, Alejandro, Alexis and Alex, have never been identified in the island's media and only in a few foreign publications not subject to Cuban censorship.

Except for brothers Raúl and Ramón and his oldest son, ``Fidelito,'' Castro's close relatives hold no publicly visible jobs, wield no political power, and are unlikely to play a role in the succession to the 74-year-old ruler.

While they live comfortably, compared to the grinding shortages faced by most Cubans, they are under strict orders to avoid ostentatious behavior and live austerely, far from the limelight, acquaintances say.

``They don't dress any better than anyone else,'' said Castro's daughter, Alina Fernández, now living in Spain. ``On the contrary, they are required to at least project an image of austerity for the rest of the Cubans.''

Added exile author Norberto Fuentes: ``The most avaricious cabinet minister lives no better than the average Cuban in Miami. He has one car, not two. An air conditioner in the car? No air conditioner.''

Unlike other Latin dictators, he promotes no cult of personality.

Most Latin American dictators have sought to glorify themselves. The Dominican Republic's Rafaél Trujillo renamed his nation's capital city and highest mountain after himself, and Paraguay's Alfredo Stroessner put up huge posters of himself around Asunción streets.

Yet even as Castro's bearded profile has become an icon for revolutionaries around the world after 41 years in power, inside Cuba his desire for privacy has generated an odd sort of reverse cult of personality.

Few public images of El Comandante are visible around Cuba, and his Aug. 13 birthday is not a holiday even though it's always noted by the government's media monopoly.

His regime instead promotes dead revolutionary heroes such as Ernesto ``Che'' Guevara and Camilo Cienfuegos on everything from statues to key chains and T-shirts sold to tourists.

Though his power is unchallenged, and phrases from his lengthy speeches are often quickly adopted as national slogans, the Cuban media is strictly forbidden from reporting on Castro's personal life.

``His private side is a completely taboo subject,'' said Lissette Bustamante, formerly a top Cuban journalist who met several of Fidel and Raúl Castro's children before she defected in the early 1990s.

Castro has said that his penchant for privacy largely stems from his security concerns, given the more than 600 assassination attempts he says the CIA and Cuban exiles have mounted against him since 1959.

``They want to know if some day I went to bathroom or not, details on how my prostate is doing, they even want x-rays,'' Castro told reporters during a Havana news conference in April.

But he has also acknowledged having a general propensity for ``permanent conspiracy,'' and made a strong argument that national leaders should never mix their public and private lives.

``In this sense, I have reserved for myself a total freedom,'' Castro said in an interview for a documentary, Fidel, 40 Years of the Cuban Revolution and its Leader, by Estela Bravo, a U.S. filmmaker who lives part time in Havana.

The film provided Cubans with rare glimpses of his personal life when it was shown by Cuban television, unannounced, on Jan. 1, the anniversary of Castro's revolution, and again at two film festivals in March.

The 75-minute documentary notes that Cubans ``know very little about the personal life of Fidel,'' and discreetly adds: ``It is said that he has seven children and has been married for almost 30 years.''

Its few images of a private Castro date from pre-revolution days, including his 1948 marriage to Mirta Díaz-Balart, and their son, Fidel ``Fidelito'' Castro Díaz-Balart. They divorced two years later.

``The amount and quality of hard information on that subject is so scarce that it is unlike any other country in the world,'' said Brian Latell, the CIA's recently retired top analyst on Cuba and Castro.

Castro's wife and their five sons have been briefly mentioned in books by Alina Fernández, the offspring of an affair with Natalia Revuelta in the early 1950s, and by Herald columnist Andres Oppenheimer and Castro biographer Tad Szulc, as well as in two recent U.S. magazine stories.

But nothing at all about them has ever been published or broadcast inside Cuba.

Dalia Soto del Valle is a former schoolteacher from the south-central city of Trinidad who met Castro during the literacy campaigns of the 1960s, said Fuentes, a member of Cuba's inner circles who met her several times before he defected in 1994.

Now in her late 50s, she is regarded as warm, but as austere as Castro himself, running his household affairs and almost never attending his public functions, said Fuentes, who now lives in Miami.

Their sons range in age from Angel, about 25 and studying medicine, to Alex, a computer systems manager in his mid-30s. Antonio is studying to be an orthopedic surgeon, and Alejandro and Alexis are computer programmers.

They use the surname Castro Soto del Valle, and their first names come from the nom de guerre that Castro adopted during the revolution in the 1950s -- Alejandro, in admiration of Alexander the Great's military feats.

Almost nothing is known about a sixth Castro son, Jorge Angel Castro, identified by Alina Fernández as the child of a woman who died years ago. He is believed to be 51 years old and to have four children, including triplets. The middle name Angel may come from Castro's Spanish-born father, Angel Castro.

All but Angel and Alejandro Castro Soto del Valle are said to be married and have children of their own, making Castro a grandfather many times over. Alejandro, known as a computer and softball nut who always dresses informally, is said to be the only one still living at home with Fidel and Dalia.

Alina Fernández recalled the five brothers as ``sensible, intelligent kids.'' But she felt sorry for them, she added, ``because on the one side they are tightly watched by guards, and on the other Cubans have a great curiosity about them.''

``There is no yellow press in Cuba to report on their lives, but of course when people see a young guy with lots of bodyguards, they start guessing whose sons they are,'' she said in a telephone interview from Spain.

The government takes care of their every basic need, Bustamante said, but some do not own their own cars and must call the family's central security office when they need rides around Havana.

``They have privileged positions but they don't seem to have many luxuries ... certainly not like the `juniors' in Mexico,'' said Latell, referring to the Mexican slang for rich kids.

Added Fuentes: ``They live comfortably, only comfortably. In the eyes of other Cubans they may be living in luxury, but in Cuba eating three balanced meals a day is a luxury.''

Most of Dalia's sons graduated from the Lenin High School in Havana, said Bustamante, a school reserved for Cuba's brightest and children of top government officials who require special security protection.

The children of Castro and his brother, Armed Forces commander Raúl Castro, have specially tight security details under orders never to allow them to be photographed or approached by unknown persons, acquaintances said.

The photographs that appear in color in today's Herald were taken by a Cuban acquaintance who said he managed to snap them during private social gatherings when the Castro offsprings' bodyguards were not around to stop him.

He smuggled them out of Cuba when he defected during a trip abroad last year. The Miami Herald purchased the images and has offered them for re-sale to other publications.

So tight is the security around Castro's children that friends of ``Fidelito'' still sometimes call him José Raúl Fernández, the cover name he used when he studied nuclear physics in the Soviet Union in the 1970s.

Fidelito, nephew of Florida Republican Rep. Lincoln Díaz Balart, is the only offspring who has been regularly mentioned in the Cuban media, particularly when he served as executive secretary of the Cuban Atomic Energy Commission from 1980 to 1992.

He is belived to have divorced his Russian wife several years ago and remarried a Cuban. A U.S. citizen who met him recently said he is now working as a consultant for the Ministry of Basic Industries.

THE CASTRO COMPOUND
Fidel and his wife live in western Havana near Raul

Fidel Castro and wife Dalia live in a two-house complex in western Havana. The living room of the main house is described by visitors as furnished with simple wood and leather sofas and chairs and Cuban handicrafts.

The only luxury visible to visitors, said Fuentes, is a big-screen television that Castro uses to satisfy his interest in foreign news reports and videos secretly recorded by Cuba's intelligence services.

While the nature of Castro's relations with his sons is unknown, Alina Fernández and Bustamante both said Raúl Castro is much more the family man, holding regular Sunday dinners for his and Fidel's children at his home, known as La Rinconada, two blocks from Fidel's own house in western Havana.

``He has a much better sense of family than any of his brothers,'' said Fernández. It is Raúl, according to two friends of Mirta Díaz-Balart, now living in Spain, who arranges her occasional visits to Cuba to see Fidelito.

Raúl and his wife of 40 years, Vilma Espín, a veteran of the revolution and longtime president of the Cuban Women's Federation, have three daughters and one son -- also never mentioned in the media.

Son Alejandro was an army officer, Nilsa was studying at the University of Havana, Deborah was an engineer working at a government enterprise and Mariela studied child psychology and modern dance, said Bustamante, who knew the family well before her defection.

Mariela is considered the rebel in the family, Bustamante added, a free spirit who performed topless in one late 1980s production and favored Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev's perestroika in the 1980s.

Dancer Ruben Rodriguez, who lived with Mariela three years before he defected to Spain in 1991, told Bustamante during an interview that Raúl had once complained Mariela had ``brought perestroika into my home!''

Mariela is now married to an Italian and has two children with him, plus a boy from a previous union with a Chilean, according to a former Raúl Castro assistant who defected in 1993 but stays in touch with current aides.

The only politically powerful member of the Fidel or Raúl families is believed to be Deborah's husband, Luis Alberto Fernández, about 40, son of an army general and himself a lieutenant colonel in the armed forces.

Fernández heads the umbrella agency that administers the Cuban military's multi-million dollar businesses, from scores of tourist hotels in Cuba to trade companies in Panama, Angola, South Africa, Geneva and Cyprus.

``He isn't just Raúl's son-in-law or the son of a general. Luis Alberto earned his position because he's smart and efficient, and he'll go far in the future,'' said the former Raúl Castro aide.

Luis Alberto and Deborah have two children named Raúl and Vilma after her parents, according to the former Raúl aide and two other family acquaintances.

The former aide and the acquaintances asked for anonymity out of fear that Cuban security agents would go after relatives still on the island in retaliation for exposing details of the families.

DOMESTIC COMFORTS
The houses of Fidel and Raúl are large but simply appointed

Fidel and Dalia's compound in western Havana is equipped with one outdoor tennis and basketball court. It is ringed with pine trees that block off outside views, and surrounded by electronic fences that detect intruders.

All streets surrounding the compound are marked as one-way streets heading away from the house to deter sightseers, Bustamante said. Only official cars are allowed to drive the wrong way into the compound.

An acquaintance who has visited both Fidel and Raúl's homes described them as very large by Cuban standards but relatively simply appointed with Cuban-made furniture, with Raúl's home ``a bit nicer than Fidel's.''

The Castro brothers are known to have had several other houses around the island set aside for vacations or official visits to the provinces. But they handed over most of them for tourist lodgings after Soviet subsidies stopped arriving in 1991 and Cuba plunged into an economic crisis.

AUSTERITY AND HYPOCRISY
The elite live better, but are required to project equality

Fuentes said the show of austerity by Castro and those near him is part of the hypocrisy of a system in which the elite live better than the average Cuban but are required to project an image of equality.

``You see the house of a top official all worn on the outside, badly in need of paint, the grass all a mess,'' he said. ``But inside he'll have two television sets, a VCR, a nice stereo, a new fridge.''

But there are limits.

``Of course, anything the hijos de papi [sons of daddy] want they get -- even if no other Cuban ever sees this stuff. Computers, nice houses, vacations, you name it. But luxuries? With few exceptions, not really,'' said Fuentes.

``I think that when this [Castro's rule] ends, most people in Cuba will be outraged by the relative comforts of the leadership,'' he added, ``and most people in Miami will be surprised by their low level of life.''

As a child of the '60's I watched nightly both the protests of the peacelovers and the body count rise. Both of these numbers seemed to swell both independantly of each other yet parallel.. They were analogous each other in another key correlation- the people watching this madness unfold on national television every night became anesthetized to both the numbers of dead (unless of course it was Your son, grandson, etc) and to the sight of another screaming horde of the young enveloped in clouds of teargas supplied oh-so-generously by the stormtroopers.
In a visual medium such as television, one green body bag looks the same as every other- as does each throng of a thousand marching hippies with signs. It began to seem as if the stations were simply replaying the news from the night before, the only changing aspect being in location.
The extraordinary became mundane - until Kent State.
As I watched the film clips of the Seattle protests I felt transported back in time. Many survivors of the '60's felt the same. There were two noted differences though between then and now. Then there was a common focus- a laser beam of energy, action and thought directed at a discernable end point. The other difference is that somehow the stormtroopers are much more frightening in deportment, arms, and strength. It is as if they have been trained for this for years and years in expectation of an eventual rebellion by people who are waking up to the truths of the world. Perhaps they have been.
Unfortunately for the peacelovers, we have not. What we can do at this point is look to the mistakes made- and learn from them. Another mass of screaming protesters will not make a statement on the national conscious. It simply gives the fascists more ammunition to use against us- as they have so many times... and gives the infiltrators an opening, as happened at the RNC.
Many who are holding center stage currently are the ones who years ago began the process leading up to this point in history. Understand that they have decades of experience in handling us. They look at us as children tossing tantrums in the corner. And when we have seemingly disparate issues-we are in several corners, divided; all too predictable in our actions.We need to close these gaps- womens rights, the environment, economic imbalance, sweat shops, race etc. etc. and realize that all of these issues add up to One issue. That issue is the same as the one fought for in the 1960's -
Life vs. Death.
The ones who have orchestrated this coup are Pro-Death.. Let this be our focus:
The Death of democracy, the Death of Freedom. The same bell is being tolled for us all.
That being so- then I propose a March of Mourning- a Funeral dirge.
The protestors in Washington and elsewhere should - EN-MASS - dress in black from head to toe, paint thier faces white in unity, and walk in TOTAL silence -carrying no banners, no posters.. Instead, carry coffins: coffins draped in black cloth bearing one word -DEMOCRACY- in letters as scarlet as the blood of those who have died in defending it.
At the moment of the Coronation of King George the thousands of protestors should - as ONE body- silently turn thier backs on the scene of the crime.
I can think of no stronger visual or visceral impact than this. A silent, unified condemnation that would be utterly horrifying to the Pro-Death people.
This way there can be no infiltration of ranks - there can be no censure by those who would want to call us 'rioters' and 'anarchists'- and no arrests or beatings that 'they' seem to delight in.
And for those watching, an indelible image to contemplate.

King George
by Elysian 5:31am Thu Dec 21 '00


As a child of the '60's I watched nightly both the protests of the peacelovers and the body count rise. Both of these numbers seemed to swell both independantly of each other yet parallel.. They were analogous each other in another key correlation- the people watching this madness unfold on national television every night became anesthetized to both the numbers of dead (unless of course it was Your son, grandson, etc) and to the sight of another screaming horde of the young enveloped in clouds of teargas supplied oh-so-generously by the stormtroopers.
In a visual medium such as television, one green body bag looks the same as every other- as does each throng of a thousand marching hippies with signs. It began to seem as if the stations were simply replaying the news from the night before, the only changing aspect being in location.
The extraordinary became mundane - until Kent State.
As I watched the film clips of the Seattle protests I felt transported back in time. Many survivors of the '60's felt the same. There were two noted differences though between then and now. Then there was a common focus- a laser beam of energy, action and thought directed at a discernable end point. The other difference is that somehow the stormtroopers are much more frightening in deportment, arms, and strength. It is as if they have been trained for this for years and years in expectation of an eventual rebellion by people who are waking up to the truths of the world. Perhaps they have been.
Unfortunately for the peacelovers, we have not. What we can do at this point is look to the mistakes made- and learn from them. Another mass of screaming protesters will not make a statement on the national conscious. It simply gives the fascists more ammunition to use against us- as they have so many times... and gives the infiltrators an opening, as happened at the RNC.
Many who are holding center stage currently are the ones who years ago began the process leading up to this point in history. Understand that they have decades of experience in handling us. They look at us as children tossing tantrums in the corner. And when we have seemingly disparate issues-we are in several corners, divided; all too predictable in our actions.We need to close these gaps- womens rights, the environment, economic imbalance, sweat shops, race etc. etc. and realize that all of these issues add up to One issue. That issue is the same as the one fought for in the 1960's -
Life vs. Death.
The ones who have orchestrated this coup are Pro-Death.. Let this be our focus:
The Death of democracy, the Death of Freedom. The same bell is being tolled for us all.
That being so- then I propose a March of Mourning- a Funeral dirge.
The protestors in Washington and elsewhere should - EN-MASS - dress in black from head to toe, paint thier faces white in unity, and walk in TOTAL silence -carrying no banners, no posters.. Instead, carry coffins: coffins draped in black cloth bearing one word -DEMOCRACY- in letters as scarlet as the blood of those who have died in defending it.
At the moment of the Coronation of King George the thousands of protestors should - as ONE body- silently turn thier backs on the scene of the crime.
I can think of no stronger visual or visceral impact than this. A silent, unified condemnation that would be utterly horrifying to the Pro-Death people.
This way there can be no infiltration of ranks - there can be no censure by those who would want to call us 'rioters' and 'anarchists'- and no arrests or beatings that 'they' seem to delight in.
And for those watching, an indelible image to contemplate.

You were at Kent State? Too bad you weren't number five.

WOW guardsmen, I guess with that statement you showed the true colors of those you support: The Pro-Death people. Did the vision of unity presented in my post frighten you THAT much? Again I say Wow! I must be doing something right.

Don't flatter yourself. Especially in full view of this fourm. It is not fear. I smiply don't like you or your type. Speaking about ProDeath, anyone who advocates the killing of innocents through abortion yet advocates protecting trees and animals is skewed. ProChoice is whether or not to have sex in the first place, not the elimination of something that happens to be inconvenient. There is no excuse or explanation for partial birth abortion. The very proceedure smacks of a throwback from the Hitlers Nazi Germany or Joseph Stalins Soviet Union. Your side is the epitome of selfishness and arrogance.

Voting is NOT the essence of self-government. Anyone who believes that voting has anything to do with self-government does not understand what self-government means.

Prior to the foundation of the the United States of America, citizens were considered "subjects" of the government.

The revolutionary thing about the United States, and the way in which it changed the world, was not the fact that we vote for our leaders.

The revolutionary thing was that citizens were considered to "sovereigns unto themselves" -- free men. Not subjects of the government.

That has been expanded in one way, with Blacks and women being recognized as citizens -- and therefore free.

However, at the same time, the role of the government has expanded -- vastly.

It has come to the point that we now simply vote for the person who holds our leash and call this "freedom" and "self-government".

Meanwhile, more Americans than ever before are in jail. Property rights are being destroyed by the Federal Governments "environmental policies." (That is in quotes, since by any fair examination of the true policies of the EPA, protection of the environment is not the goal -- it is clear that the goal is expansion of government and the destruction of rights. Hint: You must look behind the rhetoric. Remember, the "defining attribute of the political class is untrustworthiness.") Right to contract is being destroyed by the Departments of Commerce (regulating who can sell what to whom where, when and for how much), Agriculture (saying who can grow what, making it a crime to grow more than the government says you may, fixing prices)and the EEOC (saying who can hire who do what and for how much money).

Obviously, the Government does not announce its intention to destroy individual rights -- it says "we are protecting endangered species."

If you believe that, then you were probably one of the people who believed Clinton when he said "I did not have sexual relations with that women, Miss Lewinski", believe Bush when he said "Read my lips, no new taxes", believed Reagan when he said "there was no arms for hostages deal" and believed Nixon when he said "I am not a crook."

So, in your outrage over alleged problems with the electoral system -- don't pretend that voting protects us from an overreaching government. That only occurs when American's understand the true nature of government. I think most of us do not.

"Obviously, the Government does not announce its intention to destroy individual rights -- it says "we are protecting endangered species."

If you believe that, then you were probably one of the people who believed Clinton when he said "I did not have sexual relations with that women, Miss Lewinski", believe Bush when he said "Read my lips, no new taxes", believed Reagan when he said "there was no arms for hostages deal" and believed Nixon when he said "I am not a crook." "

If this is ture then how come so many people who demonstrated at the DNC and the RNC and who appeared to be equally against Gore and Bush are now boisterously against Bush and seemingly in support of Gore. Not that protesting against Bush automaticly indicates support for or favor toward Gore. However, most of the rhetoric displayed on the IMC pages seem to sympathize with Gore when I thought the movement of people who protested at DNC, RNC, Seattle and Washington, DC where against Gore too. What gives? Opportunisim?

Publish date: 14/12/2000; Amnesty International.

Cuba Marks Human Rights Day With Mass Detentions And Sentences For Dissidents.

"The mass detention of dissidents and political opponents in the weeks around the 52nd anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights indicates a continued disrespect by the Cuban authorities towards several of the fundamental freedoms enshrined in the Declaration," Amnesty International said today. "Although the number of prisoners of conscience in Cuba appears to have dropped slightly during 2000, these events clearly demonstrate the government's will to suppress attempts to exercise the rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly."

Up to 200 people believed to be involved in the planning of anti-government demonstrations or marches for Human Rights Day on 10 December were rounded up and held in custody in order to prevent them from participating in 'counter-revolutionary' activities. Although most of those arrested were released after being held for periods of up to 48 hours, four people remained in detention yesterday evening, two of whom had already been tried and sentenced.

Angel Moya Acosta and Julia Cecilia Delgado were tried this week in separate proceedings for "disrespect" after being detained in the mass arrests. They were each sentenced to a year in prison. Angel Moya Acosta has also been banned from traveling to Havana, where his wife and children live, for ten years. The speed with which they were charged, brought to trial and sentenced gives Amnesty International cause for concern that the proceedings might not have met international standards for fair trial. The organization believes that they may be prisoners of conscience.

The organization is also concerned for Leonardo Bruzón Avila and Marcos Lázaro Torres León, who were reportedly still held in detention without charge more than 10 days after their arrest in the context of the recent mass detentions.

Background:

A number of prominent dissidents have been in detention since October on charges related to their criticism of the Cuban government, including Carlos Oquendo Rodríguez, Jose Aguilar Hernández and Pedro Pablo Alvarez Ramos.

Angel Moya Acosta was declared a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International following his arrest on 10 December 1999 for participating in a peaceful demonstration in Matanzas province to celebrate the 51st anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Although he was charged with "resistance", public disorder, and "instigation to commit a crime", he was freed on 7 August without ever being tried.

For more information please call Amnesty International's press office in London, UK, on +44 20 7413 5566 Amnesty International, 1 Easton St., London WC1X 0DW web :http://www.amnesty.org

I'm not entirely sure I follow ZeroOneOne's question.

However, I think that people need to recognize some things about government in general.

First, government creates nothing. If the quality of life in this country is good, it has nothing to do with government.

Government merely takes from some people and gives to others.

Example -- Senator Kennedy recently added a $400,000 appropriation to build a statue of Dr. Seuss in Springfield, Mass. (No kidding, check his web page, under press releases.) The government did not earn the money to build this. You and I did. The government took it from me and you and gave it to some sculptors and other tradesmen/women, to build a statue.

Second, government only acts by coercion -- violence or the threat of violence.

Let me say that again, because that it important -- Government only acts by coercion -- violence or threat of violence.

I did not send my hard earned money to Washington so that a Dr. Seuss statue could be built because I thought "gee what a great thing." I sent it because if I didn't the government would (a) sieze my assets (b) take possession of my home (throwing me in the street) and (c) if it came right down to it, put my butt in jail.

So when government says -- we have a wonderful new program to (fill in the blank -- pay for drugs for the elderly, prevent pollution, protect endangered species, prevent drunk driving, keep drugs off the street (unless your elderly)), what they are really saying is:

"We have a great program to criminalize more conduct, put more people in jail, take more property from more people, make the government more powerful and take more rights from citizens."

Third, politicians and bureacrats are inherently dishonest. I don't really have to run down a catalog of political/bureacratic dishonesty to convince you of this, do I?

Put it all together and you realize what the authors of the constitution said more 200 years ago:

"The best government is that which governs least, the best check against totalitarianism is protection of individual rights and the citizenry must be constantly on guard against politicians who seek to destroy those rights."

Today, I feel, most citizens are not concerned even the tiniest, teeniest little bit with the fact that politicians seek to destroy citizens rights. When, for example, a senior citizen goes to vote for Gore thinking "I need those cheap drugs, I don't care whose pocket must be picked to pay for them" -- that shows an utter lack of concern for the rights of others.

Another example: an environmentalist goes to vote for Gore saying "I gotta vote for him, those Republicans want to destroy the planet -- Gore will protect it." This person is really saying -- "I want Gore to go out and coerce more money from more polluters, put more people in jail, and take more property rights away from citizens -- thereby increasing the power of the government." That shows a lack of concern or understanding of the three points I made above.

Blah, blah, blah, I go on, do I not?

"Blah, blah, blah, I go on, do I not?"

Hey Paul D, thanks for the blah blah.

Really people, calm down.

Its the same thing over and over again, Bush stole the election, blah blah blah.

How? Other than wild accusations of insane plots there's nothing. By the rules of the election on November 7th Bush won fair and square, he did nothing illegal, unethical or immoral to win. Sure, sure you can come up with some crazy conspiracy theories but there is no facts or truth to them.

Some people forgot to register, some people forgot or simply didn't make it to the polls. Depending on the machines there were a thousand mistakes because of the machines. Ballots lost accidentally, etc. Then there is outright fraud, Democrats giving illegal ballots to illegal immigrants, people voting in two different places, criminals, children, dead people voting. In every election there is up to a 5 percent swing. Gore could have won, or Bush could have won by 4 points. We will never know.

The Democrats solution? Use Democrat vote counters in heavily Democratic areas count and recount and recount, changing the rules trying to correct 1 possible error out of hundreds. And you know what? Even given that suspicious standard, Bush still won.

The fact is that Democrats are closed-minded bigots filled with hatred. They have turned a reasonable debate about society versus the individual and government's role in society into a fistfight and personal attacks. Witness Katherine Harris. She did her job as Attorney General, no doubt. Had Gore won by a few hundred votes she would have certified him on November 14th. What do the "high-minded" Democrats do? They attack her looks and makeup.

Get some perspective, you're losing your minds.

No more needs be said.

Same here... I'll pee in the street for that one.

Please...

Anyone who supports the way in which this election was conducted is an enemy of Democracy. Allegations of illegal immigrants voting is just ludicrous. Such false accusations are very Naziesque. Lies and Deception are often used by totalitarian governments to sway public opinion.

I hate Bush and the Fascist GOP, but if the majority of the people voted for Bush and his bigots, then so be it.
Fortunately the majority did not vote for Bush. When the Associated Press and the Miami Herald count all the votes in Florida, Gore will be the legitimate Electoral winner.

The ugliness, hatred and intolerance shown by the Right Wing zealots has illustrated the split in the idealogical and philisophical psyche of the Nation. Since progressive ideas and intellectualism threatens those who wish to maintain the status quo, in their religious and cultural vacuum, such ideas are often called "immorality, communism, and unGodly". We must remember that a society that does not move forward, moves backward.

Though the majority of Americans strive to be progressive, intellectual and tolerant, there is a small segement of the population who resist change, prefer ignorance and shun the new emerging America. These are the people who support Bush, spew vitriol and claim to be "holier than thou".
They have also stolen our Democracy.

It seems that we, the majority, must now fight for our Democracy. We must march in the streets and confront those who squelched the will of the people. We must raise our collective voices in unison and raise our fists in defiance. For if we as a Nation are to truly be free and remain a shining example of Democracy to the World. We must seize back our country from those who wish to enslave us.

I hope to see everyone in the streets of D.C. on January 20th. That will be the first day of the resistance to the illegitimate and Undemocratic regime of GW Bush.

See you in DC.

March and shout against the "illegitimate one", GW Bush.
We will be victorious, but we must fight to win.

What the hell is the "new emerging America?"

Seriously, tell me in 100 words or less (or whatever) what you think American should be like.

I'm dying to know over here. Friggin dying.

Thanks!!

The fact that our revered democracy might somehow have been compromised with a stolen election is dwarfed signifigantly by the fact that our nation has never been about individual rights or freedoms. The founding fathers were the richest people in this country at the time. There goal was to protect their assets. They invented a fabulous and complex scheme to insure that they would never lose power. Their birthchild: The American Empire. A land of freedom and opportunities. A land where every voice counts. They had a great PR campaign!! Their idea: that they make everyone think they were happy by continuously telling them so. By using words like freedom, by telling us that we (us rich whites)were endowed with certain rights, certain basic principals that we could only attain in America. When a lot of people disagreed with them, they began operating in near secrecy. When they realised they didn't have enough votes to ratify the constitution, they changed the amount of states needed. When it still wouldn't pass, they lied to a few states by telling them they would fix it later.When the constitution was ratified the majority of Americans hadn't even read it yet. Many rebellions were quelled when early Americans were horrified to learn that their demand for a small localised government was converted to a huge nationalistic government without their approval. What do you think the Civil War was about?? Slavery -- hell no!! Talk about early spin doctors!! This latest debacle is just another glimpse at the true nature of our government. And we get to finance it -- we have to finance it, or we will go to jail. Would someone please tell me what freedoms I do have in this country?
Well, I apologize for the length of this, but now I must run as I suspect an American spy satellite has read the words on this screen and an LAPD officer is waving to me from the helicopter hovering outside my window....

Maybe if we procrastinate long enough you will have died before we had to write 100 words. Just a thought.

So You woke me up when i was young and innocent to this pain and anguish when you killed all those people in panama my brothers and sisters to show your arrogence of power and depravity and to break international law in capturing a third world dictator that you probably installed in the first place and i have never felt good since. You who break hearts by slaughtering hope and innocent real good will mabie i will never recover and so much more that you have done. just why? why?!

So You woke me up when i was young and innocent to this pain and anguish when you killed all those people in panama my brothers and sisters to show your arrogence of power and depravity and to break international law in capturing a third world dictator that you probably installed in the first place and i have never felt good since. You who break hearts by slaughtering hope and innocent real good will mabie i will never recover and so much more that you have done. just why? why?!

The post 'Prairie Fire' is signed "peace, elbop"...
But since last November, I have (hopefully) changed from the logic that informs this very un-peaceful post of mine.

I apologize to the people who read it and were annoyed at its attitude of superiority, smugness and disrespect. I think my writing stinks too.

I was also wrong that there would have been no difference, Gore or Bush -- and that the people who supported him did so out of weak-minded financial self-interest -- that was way over the top... what an ass.

I wish us luck and hope I've learned a lesson re-reading this ancient post from the end of a way I used to think.

peace, again,
elbop

You're right this past election is an attempted coup to take over our government. The nerve of Gore to demand a revote just because he didn't win, and the idea that they just don't see that even in the recount the votes that didn't get counted were Republican votes, giving Bush a MAJOR lead.