"The difference was hundreds of votes in each of the different places we examined," said Bev, "and most of those were in minority areas."

When I asked Bev if the errors they were finding in precinct after precinct were random, as one would expect from technical, clerical, or computer errors, she became uncomfortable.

"You have to understand that we are non-partisan," she said. "We're not trying to change the outcome of an election, just to find out if there was any voting fraud."

That said, Bev added: "The pattern was very clear. The anomalies favored George W. Bush. Every single time."

CLICK FOR MORE

  ¶ 1:13 PM (0) comments

  As always, the best insights on the net come from BlackCommentator.com: Read the whole article for a clear, thorough analysis from top to tail. Here's a tid-bit:

"Kerry and the DLC wing of the Democratic Party want to re-seal the deal on that Great White Peace. But a large section of white America -- those who proudly call themselves "Blue" and even speak (foolishly) of secession from the "Red" regions -- see their own subjugation and humiliation in the Republicans' proposed arrangement. This white current -- to some degree estranged from the racist narrative of American Manifest Destiny -- appears deeper than even during the supposedly "counter-cultural" Sixties.

When, for example, a mostly white city like Seattle votes 82 percent against Bush, this indicates that large numbers of its white citizens feel themselves threatened by the Bush men -- just as white Free Soilers of the North felt threatened by the institution of slavery. If this white revulsion to Bush is to be of any practical political value, "Blue" whites must make common cause with their fellow citizens who have always been, in the words of the old song, "So Black and Blue" -- African Americans whose disenfranchisement strengthens the (now common) enemy. In that sense, the corporate media may be making a big mistake in beating up on the sensibilities of "Blue" whites, threatening to consign them to the dust bin of U.S. political culture. The outpouring of white volunteers for ghetto work in the past election is in some ways reminiscent of the Freedom Summers of four decades ago. Something is "happening here" -- a palpable crystallization of thought -- among a very significant minority of whites.

But only disaster looms unless African Americans provide the vision for national salvation in the face of what is clearly an emerging fascist mass movement in America, organized and empowered by the Bush Pirates. We must have no illusions about the enemy that is massed against us."


CLICK FOR WHOLE ARTICLE!  ¶ 12:14 PM (0) comments

  CSPAN? Not a bad start...!

Last night, my beloved Brian read some poems at the Stanford U bookstore, and CSPAN was there, filming. Now, technically, they'd come to record the creative-non-fiction stylings of one Stephen Elliot, who read from his latest book after Brian -- but still, opening act on national television -- even if it is CSPAN -- ain't bad. Especially for a poet. In fact, it was pretty wonderful. (I will post the date and time of airing here as soon as I know... it will probably be about a week and a half.)

My love for Brian and happiness for his success is not usually tainted by jealousy (although I cannot claim never to have proclaimed the grapes sour -- however, every such claim is quickly ammended: the grapes, my dear, are suitably sweet, and make for exceptional wine), although I am often made sad by my lack of success in comparison. Kinda like how you don't feel short until you happen to bump into a very tall person. Still I write: and I love what I write more than ever. I actually "completed" the poetry ms I've been more or less working on for years, my Florida poems. (I put "completed" in quotes because no poet's work is truly complete until she is eating dust, and I am in no hurry!) I love them like my babies. So, I say, like a proud parent beaming: here's one.

Hope (forgive me)

I love kitchens drenched in sun,
the steamy must of a million growing green things
creeping in the door, mingling
with coffee and the morning news made pleasant
for TV, and droned in gentle tones - parrots
squawk approval. We know
the world is not all sunny Sundays,
that the coffee we drink is grown in blood,
that our lush green world belonged
to another people we destroyed, and sent
to live in deserts far from home.
But hope is part forgetting, and part love.  ¶ 12:21 PM (0) comments