Gary
11/30/04
Ooops. I just now put up the Advent calendar and realized I forgot to upload (from my office computer) one part of it that makes the thing functional. (This has not been my best day...) So if when you read this the calendar doesn't respond to your clicks, check back! I'll have it fixed early Wednesday morning. Sorry!

Yesterday was a fun day. Olivia also had the day off and was spending the day at Grandma's, so I went over there around lunch time. Livy was decorating Grandma's tree -- in the basement, right next to the fireplace -- and she did a great job! Then we had a bite of lunch, and we all three decided to go to the movies. So we drove downtown to the new Grand and saw "National Treasure" -- which was very good! (Which reminds me, I've got two reviews to write: "National Treasure" and "Alexander"). Also, Livy and I sneaked into "Spongebob Squarepants" for a few minutes (though Livy had already seen it).

Advent calendar starts tomorrow (Wednesday) -- so let me wish you all a Merry Christmas!

As far as I know school is on time. (I'm taking a day off today.) We got maybe a couple of inches, and most of the snow that fell on the streets and sidewalks melted right away. So it's a very well-behaved snow, staying to the lawns and trees. Looks nice! I haven't been out in it yet, but will be going out this afternoon. Maybe my attitude will change then... :-) --Gary

Lindsey sent in a batch of photos of Grandma's new deck, but I have them on my work computer, not here at home. I'll have 'em up by Tuesday -- sorry about the delay...

Sean's phone-cam pictures are up on the photos page now. Hopefully we can get some bigger and wider shots soon! -- Gary

PS To Everyone else~ Happy Turkey Day!

Welcome back to the webpage! :-) Y'all better ask Santa for a new computer. Feel better, John! We're working on getting pictures of the deck up here soon. Watch this space! --Gary.

Don't have it; have seen it; been tempted to buy it! Looks way fun. :-) --Gary.

??? I do have a dim memory of putting someone on a Disney mailing list; but I think it was Zach, way back when he wanted to go to DisneyWorld. And I think I put Emily on some various mailing lists when she was little, so she would get some mail. But obviously they got the name wrong! --Gary

:-) --Gary

Store retail is expected to be $29.95 (though I imagine it will be cheaper in places). You can get it from Deepdiscountdvd.com for a mere $20.52 and shipping is free! They'll send it out by regular mail as soon as it's released. I've gotten many DVDs from them and they're great. Check it here. --Gary

"I have some bad news for you, your dad's on the bad list..."

I am grateful to the many people who have contacted me to express their deep concern about questions of miscounting, fraud, vote suppression, and other problems on election day, especially in Florida and Ohio. Their concern reflects how much people care about the outcome of this election. I want to you to know we are not ignoring it. Election protection lawyers are still on the job in Ohio and Florida and in DC making sure all the votes are counted accurately. I have been conferring with lawyers involved and have made them aware of the information and concerns people have given me. Even if the facts don't provide a basis to change the outcome, the information will inform the continuing effort to protect the integrity of our elections.

If you have specific factual information about voting problems that could be helpful to the lawyers doing their job, please send it to vri@dnc.org rather than to me.

The election protection effort has been important to me personally, and I am proud of the 17,000 lawyers around the country who helped. It's obvious that we have a way to go still, but their efforts helped make a difference. Their work goes on.

Apparently at this point the possible fraudulent votes to do not total enough to swing the results; but "the work goes on."

And one other thing: If you got depressed looking at the final electoral map covered in red, take a look at this site. He has re-drawn the states with their actual percentage of red (Republican) and blue (Democrat). Bush thinks he's got a "mandate," but all he's got is a little over 50%....

I do know that story, absolutely. I admire him and the others who walked out in protest! --Gary

Mr. Moore:

First, a word of thanks for your courage, and for your willingness to take the hit for the rest of us.

No doubt you've already heard the following. But if not, could I urge you to keep your eye on this story? (I have no hope of it being otherwise followed up in the media -- they let Bush steal the first election, why not this one?) I am coming to believe that the 2004 election was stolen in a way that makes the 2000 election look almost legal. It looks as though Bush's vote total was inflated by means of altered voting machines.

Some sharp-eyed political observers noticed some odd things in the results of last week's election. First, the two all-important states of Ohio and Florida had both decided to go to touch-screen voting machines this year -- machines which I understand leave no paper trail. Next, the observers noticed that wherever these voting machines were used, they recorded vote totals for Bush five-percent higher than the exit polls showed. This percentage was uniform, and showed up only where the electronic machines were in use.

http://www.newstarget.com/002076.html

Further, some very odd voting patterns emerged in Florida. Here are a few examples:

**Madison County is 79.5% registered Democrat, with only 14.9% registered Republican. Yet Bush received 50% of that county's votes.
**Hamilton County is 78.9% registered Democrat, with only 14.9% registered Republican. Yet Bush received 55% of that county's votes.
**Franklin County is 77.3% registered Democrat, with only 15.9% registered Republican. Yet Bush received 58.5% of that county's votes.
**Liberty County is 88.3% registered Democrat, with only 7.9% registered Republican. Yet Bush received 63.7% of that county's votes.
**Calhoun County is 82.4% registered Democrat, with only 11.9% registered Republican. Yet Bush received 63.4% of that county's votes.
**Union County is 75.5% registered Democrat, with only 18.3% registered Republican. Yet Bush received 72.6% of that county's votes.
**Lafayette County is 82.8% registered Democrat, with only 13.2% registered Republican. Yet Bush received 73.9% of that county's votes.
**Holmes County is 72.7% registered Democrat, with only 21.3% registered Republican. Yet Bush received 77% of that county's votes.

http://www.truthisbetter.com/Florida_Election.htm

And this is after all the polling had been saying Florida was "too close to call." No pollsters caught these massive Democratic defections...? (Exit polls in Florida that day were running 51-49 in Kerry's favor.)

http://slate.com/Default.aspx?id=2109053&lMSID=FFE5A62B46734856AA79B2749488D58E

One final sinister element is that the President of Diebold (maker of the voting machines used in Ohio; perhaps Florida as well, though I'm not sure), promised last year to "deliver [Ohio's] electoral votes to the president."

http://money.cnn.com/2004/08/30/technology/election_diebold/?cnn=yes

The only place I've seen this discussed so far is in the forums on the Democratic Underground site:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/

and in this article from CommonDreams.org:

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/1106-30.htm

Thank you for looking at this long note. I hope that you, and others, can bring this subject to light.

Gary Anderson
Lincoln, NE

Ok, see above. --Gary

Math--Satisfactory class attitude B

S.Studies--Excellent class attitude A

Band Adv.--Showing Steady improvment & excellent class attitude B+

P.E.--excellent class attitude B

Reading--Excellent student & Excellent class attitude A

Life Skills (Home ec.)--Excelent class attitude B

English--Good work Attitude & Excellent class attitude A

Sci/hea (this is what kept me off of the honor roll)--Satisfactory class attitude C

Excellent grades, Erika! --Gary

Karen, take a picture for the project page when you're done. And/or bring it with you this weekend.

Hey, sometimes it's just quiet. :-) --Gary

Woo-hoo! See you guys next week! --Gary

Calhoun County is 82.4% registered Democrat, with only 11.9% registered Republican. Yet Bush received 63.4% of that county's votes.

And this is after all the polling had been saying Florida was "too close to call." Florida numbers are here. No way this election wasn't rigged.

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Anna
11/4/04
Hey everyone!! I have not been on for a long time. I have been really busy with school it is finals this week. Thats really too bad about Kerry!! On Tuesday with my student council I got to leave school and help out with the election. We just held up signs and I was gonna go door knocking but we ran out of time. I hope everyone had a good Halloween. I did. Sam and I took Peter out and we had fun and i got a lot of candy.

You did good, Anna! Minnesota went for Kerry! :-) --Gary

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Gary
11/4/04
I know that within a few days stories like this will be completely ignored (even though we are supposed to have a "liberal" press), but here's a disturbing story related to the thing Donna alluded to below. It will be called a crackpot conspiracy theory by the Republicans -- and as they're the ones who really control the press, that's as far as it will go.

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Amanda
11/4/04
Olivia was the CHAMP at that rope climb thing on the tree stumps in the water. Sean & Lauren tried (that was a joke, WAY too tall) and Lindsey faired OK.

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Gary
11/4/04
New pictures!

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Gary
11/4/04
Yeah, "bringing America together..." He does have a history of taking a marginal win as a landslide. After the 2000 "election," I remember seeing (in fact, I think I posted it on this webpage), Bush's invitation to his inaugural ball: It invited the recipient to celebrate this "triumph of democracy." Egad....

But! This too shall pass! Bush, and those who supported him, will reap what they sow. And even though it may feel like we're all alone out here, remember that there are 55.4 million others out there who voted against him just like we did. (In fact, more than 55.4 million, if you factor in voter fraud!)

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Ryan
11/3/04
I know that I haven't said to much on the website. But I feel like I just got beat up. Majority of the individuals I work with are big Bush supporters. Military type right? I was listening to the radio yesterday morning and a woman stated that she was a military member and voted for Bush because Kerry was going to pull out the troops! Well maybe I'm one of the intelligent types who ask myself "DO WE WANT TO BE AT WAR?" I have tried my hardest to keep my veiwpoints out of the work enviroment, but its tough. I can't imagine another 4 years of the same "dictatorship." If I'm not mistaken, Kerry wanted to increase the military by 40,000. Currently the military is in a recession. It is very easy to get out of the military. It doesn't add up. I keep telling myself and Amanda Oct 06. We're almost there!!!!!!

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Amanda
11/3/04
I don't know why the news people keep saying Bush faces the hard task of bringing America together. He won't. He didn't do it the first time. Unless you count capitalizing on the September 11th attacks, as WE THE PEOPLE united. He is giddy right now, thinking 2 things, "I can now get all my hard right ideas made into laws", and "I am FINALLY better than my DAD!" It all feels surreal. I knew Kerry wouldn't win, but I didn't think beyond that. Imagine, if you will, living in Texas during this. OH, and ALL of Wichita counties (the county we reside in) ballots must be recounted, for EVERY race. We still have NO winners for anything we voted on because the counting machines screwed up at 10:30 last night.

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Donna
11/3/04
Take a look at this website. Then go to this paragraph:

"One thing that is very strange is how much the exit polls differed from the final results, especially in Ohio. Remember that Ohio uses Diebold voting machines in many areas. These machines have no paper trail. Early in the campaign, Diebold CEO Walden O'Dell, a GOP fundraiser, promised to deliver Ohio to Bush. He later regretted having said that."

Click on 'deliver Ohio to Bush.' There's a news article from last year about Diebold.

I wonder if Bush may have stolen the election again.

Well, he does have a history of that! Interesting article, thanks; I will keep my eye on this! --Gary

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Donna
11/3/04
Can someone please explain why Kerry concedes before Ohio has declared a winner? I thought this would take days to figure out.

I suppose the official answer would be "save the country from anxiety," "time to move on," bla bla bla; but I'm sure the smart guys on the inside looked at the numbers and said they are just not going to add up. If there was any room for doubt, Kerry would still be hanging on. --Gary

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Donna
11/3/04
It's not over yet. They will have to recount a lot of Ohio and all of the absentee ballots. Kerry could still win.

True! It ain't over til it's over... --Gary

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Karen
11/3/04
What a depressing day! I was afraid that this would be the outcome, but was holding out hope. Even so many of our local results were defeated.

Hey, it's a great day to be rich, white, and male! --Gary

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Gary
11/3/04
I know what you mean. We've got two nations now (Republicans on one side, and Americans on the other -- and no, that's not a typo: Republicans are not Americans) trying to live under one government; and unfortunately for us, the Republicans have seized the government. It wouldn't be so bad if our Republican masters would practice the art of compromise -- recognizing that the country is split down the middle and trying to chart a somewhat middle course. But no: they put their feet up on the desk and run the country like a dictatorship. Which -- with a Republican congress and a Republican Supreme Court -- it is.

Here's a little ray of sunshine, such as it is: For many of us, living through Richard Nixon's presidency was a lot like these past four years have been under Bush. In his fourth year in office, the Watergate break-in occurred, and we thought, "Okay, his crimes will catch up with him at last, and people will see him for what he is." Well, at the end of his fourth year he was re-elected in one of the biggest landslides in history: 520 electoral votes. And of course, we were all incredibly depressed. But! After the election, the Watergate story continued to reveal more and more about the Nixon White House and, several months into his second term, he was threatened with impeachment and chose to resign instead. Bush is a bigger criminal than Nixon ever was (given the choice, I'd take ten Nixons in a row instead of one Bush), and Bush's crimes will catch up with him.

Oh also, apologies for leaving the same front page up two days in a row. I forgot to make a new one yesterday! :-)

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Amanda
11/3/04
That's it, I'm moving to Canada, after I get some sleep!

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Lindsey
11/2/04
Yea we will order from Tristen too, we just need to look at the order form again! I love the pictures on it. That's too bad you guys won't be able to make it back earlier but that's ok.

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Emily
11/2/04
Um, I did't say that last newsletter.

Sorry, Donna did -- I put in the wrong name (now fixed)! --Gary

Anyway, I didnt vote for Bush!! I voted Kerry. I think Erika thought Nicole would vote for Nader beacuse, they both start an N.

I'm not sure what exactly I said to the girl I debated to make her cry. The judge did say I should have been kinder in CX, but I think mostly she was just upset that she didn't do very well.

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Donna
11/2/04
Emily voted for Bush? Are you sure? But more importantly, why would Nicky vote for Nader?

Emily, pleeeeease tell me what you said to make the girl you debated cry.

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Erika
11/2/04
Hi everybody Today at school people came to school to vote and when we walk by they were all like ohhhh their so cute AND they blocked the hallway so that I was late for 4 classes. Today Emily voted, I think she voted for bush. If I could vote I would vote 4 Kerry and Cocoa would vote for Kerry and Nicky would vote for Nader!!!!!!!! :) (:

I vote in a school, too, Erika. When I was waiting in line, a teacher came walking down the hall with her arms totally loaded with papers and plastic bags full of stuff and big long rolled-up things like maps. Another teacher shouted after her, "Do you need any help?" and she said, "No, I've got it!" And just then she dropped everything on the floor. :-) I helped her pick it up, so today I was a Teachers Assistant! --Gary

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Emily
11/2/04
I voted in our mock election at school today. Kerry won!! Kerry got 57%, Bush got 36%, and Nader got 7%.

We got the date for out next debate tournament today also. It is Nov. 22, and it is at one of the high schools in town, so I wont have to get up at 4!! I think mom and dad are going to try to sit in on some of my rounds (anyone else who would want to is more than welcome :) But, hopefully I will do as well at this one as I did at the last one.

Happy Election Day everybody!!

Your mock election is the best news I've heard today, Emily (so far!). I believe that reflects the under-30 vote, which in this election could make the difference (see this article on the MSNBC site). ...Oh hey, congratulations on making that girl cry! :-) --Gary

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Donna
11/2/04
Amanda, congrats on going to London. Give us the details please. Where will you go while you're there?

I'm really bummed you can't come home for Christmas sooner. How long will you be able to stay? Will you leave T&t here since you'll be going to London? ;-)
I'm thinking that's a pretty good idea.

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Donna
11/2/04
Oh my gosh, that picture of Tristen on the GS nut/candy order form is hilarious. That should help boost sales!

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Donna
11/2/04
Congratulations Erika!!! Great picture of you too.

Tristen, I'll place an order, I just haven't done it yet. ;-)

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Donna
11/2/04
A friend of mine who lives in Philadelphia called this morning. He got to his precinct at 6:15 to get in line (they open at 7) and it took him 2 hours to vote. He said there were at least a thousand in line and most around him said they were voting for Kerry. Another good sign, I hope.

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Amanda
11/2/04
Yeah, wouldn't it be cool to have webcams of voting stations?

Especially this year, with the Republicans sending out "observers" to challenge peoples' voting credentials. They say it's to "ensure democracy" bla bla bla, but they're really hoping to intimidate turnout in predominantly black precincts. Which is where all their observers are going, no mistake -- you won't see any such "observers" in, say, Crawford, TX! The Democrats challenged this practice (I can't believe it's even legal) and the news reported yesterday that the courts agreed, and declared it illegal; but the Republicans pushed it to a higher court (circuit court) yesterday afternoon, and at 1:30 this morning the court overturned the ruling and said the "observers" could be present. Democrats, at that early morning hour, took it to the Supreme Court, and the ruling judge -- who probably resented being awakened -- said he didn't want to get involved. Bleah! The good news, to bring this back to the subject of cameras, is that Michael Moore has hired -- out of his own pocket -- several thousand video photographers to be in these polling places (mostly in Ohio) and photograph any voter harrassment that goes on. God bless Michael Moore! --Gary

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Gary
11/2/04

I got there early and was the second one in line. (I wanted to be first so I could have said -- at 8:01 -- "early returns from my precinct showed Kerry with 100% of the vote," but no...) Anyhow, by the time I finished, the line was maybe 50 deep. Gonna be quite a day! :-)

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Karen
11/2/04
Happy Election Day!! Looks like it will be a long and interesting day. Geo W was in town yesterday. A lot of the kids at school were leaving early to see him. Emily and Erika are out of school early today. Emily had a great time on Saturday. Did a good job on her first debate, the highlight for her was making the girl cry. She has another debate later this month, this time it will be in SC. So the day shouldn't be nearly as long and maybe we will be able to see her. Erika had a great day yesterday too, first her award, then news of another field trip. This time it's to the mall for lunch and a movie. Think that will be around Thanksgiving. Halloween was an all time record for us this year. Erika handed out the candy and stayed on the porch for 1 1/2 hours. It was non-stop kids at the door. Ended up with 430 by 7:30, we were out of candy and turned off the light. So I imagine we would have easily had 500 if we had the treats for them. Lindsey - Erika didn't go out trick or treating this year because she thought she was too old to go. Amanda I love the pictures - keep them coming :) The Arthur cookies looked so good, did the kids like them? VOTE!!

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Amanda
11/2/04
A chillier day today than we have had in months. Its about time if you ask me. Too bad it happened on election day. Maybe it will just keep the old hardline Republicans home... I already voted, but am glad I did. I don't have class today but I have a busy day. First I have to get my passport taken care of, since my trip to London is now officially in less than 2 months! I also am going to do my 4 hour observation at the Adult Probation office today. Then of course I will rush home to watch election coverage all night. I just sincerely hope we have an answer tonight. Tristen has only sold 3 items for her nut sales, from her teacher & from her dance teacher, she was feeling a bit depressed about that. We also found out we won't make it home for Lindsey's nutcracker performance. Ryan doesn't get Christmas break until December 22. Any pictures of the deck yet??

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Amanda
11/2/04
Congrats Erika!!

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Lindsey
11/1/04
Today in school (and all throughout Lincoln) they had a student mock election and they had all the kids vote online and it had the president, Nebraska senator, should gambling in NE be legal, and should you have to be a native born US citizen to run for president. So I voted today and got my sticker. But I'm interested to find out the results.

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Karen
11/1/04
Erika received a certificate at school today. She was one of about 10 to get a top Reading Point Achiever (she read more books than the other students). Then she also got an award for having the most accelerated reading points in sixth grade!

Good job, Erika! --Gary

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Lindsey
11/1/04
Same here, we had probably 50 people at the MOST and usually we have like a couple hundred at least. Yea and the weather was great. We were wondering if it was a school night thing or something. Erika--you didn't go trick-or-treating? I saw a bunch of people handing out candy, some were cute and others I had to wonder what they were. But fun night either way.

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Donna
11/1/04
Amanda, I sometimes have trouble sending personal emails from my work computer, so I wanted to let you know I just emailed a response to you about the Gallup questions you had. Let me know if you don't get it. We could maybe post it on the website if it doesn't go through.

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Grandma
11/1/04
So much for Halloween, I had a couple pirates, skeleton and little brother, and 2 little girls, and that was all, the weather was especially nice so I don't know where they all were, I must be surrounded by non believers. Woke up to rain and thunder a couple times last night, and there is much needed rain of over an inch in the gauge this morning. This week should be cooler, in the 50's. The deck has railing on the east side now and is looking really good. Got three new mysteries at the library, Sat. so I'm set for a slow cool week.

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Gary
11/1/04
I don't know -- I still stand by my prediction. Kerry may not pull in the 322 electoral votes I said he would back on October 11 (some of the states I gave him, like Hawaii and Arkansas, are wavering), but I do think it will be 270+ (even 300+), enough to win. I just don't think the popular vote is going to be as close, in the final showdown, as everyone thinks. (Barring voter fraud, of course, which is a real possibility....)

On that subject, John Dean -- one-time key figure in the Watergate thing and now a political commentator -- predicts that tomorrow we will see the "Perfect Electoral Storm," an election meltdown that Dean also called "a 21st Century Civil War." Or as Keith Olbermann said, "2004 could make 2000 look like an argument over a parking spot." The polls show the race as even closer than it was in 2000, but this time there are tens of thousands of lawyers involved; and election problems are already starting to surface in Florida and Ohio. Knock wood this doesn't happen, but it is sure primed to.

Tomorrow night is definitely going to be interesting!

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Donna
11/1/04
Gallup says the election is too close to call--they're calling it a dead heat with each at 49% and Nader and all others at 1%. This is based on likely voters and voter turnout at 60%. Should be interesting.

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Gary
11/1/04
New pics from Texas!

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