AP:"A voting expert testifying for the state agreed Tues. with an attorney for U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler that the nation's system of electronic voting is 'out of control'. The testimony came on the second day of trial by the Boca Raton Democrat, who wants to force the state to create a paper trail for touch-screen voting machines when recounts are needed in tight races... In the Ft. Lauderdale trial, voting expert Michael Shamos detailed the problems of electronic voting but stopped short of endorsing a paper trail. Shamos, a computer scientist at Carnegie-Mellon University, told a congressional committee in July that machine makers lack industry standards, testing is inadequate and no compulsory procedures exist for fixing problems. 'The system is out of control just about, isn't it?'Jeff Liggio, Wexler's attorney, asked on cross-examination. 'Yes,' Shamos responded in court. He said electronic voting processes "are much more out of control that anyone is willing to admit.' "

Florida's Herald Tribune reports Jeb "Bush said Friday that he was never warned about any problems before the list was released. But his denial contradicts a May 4, 2004, e-mail in which Florida Department of Law Enforcement computer expert Jeff Long describes how election officials told Bush the list needed to be abandoned. 'Paul Craft called today and told me that yesterday they recommended to the Gov that they 'pull the plug,'' on the voter database, Long wrote in an e-mail to his boss, Donna Uzzell. Long added that state election officials 'weren't comfortable with the felon matching program they've got.' 'The Gov rejected their suggestion to pull the plug, so they're 'going live' with it this weekend,' Long wrote." Jeb is lying - IMPEACH Jeb now!

At a recent press conference, Jeb Bush said the "silver lining" to the hurricane disaster was how many new jobs reconstruction was creating. But now to spin off the fact that fewer new jobs were created in Sept. than expected, the White House is BLAMING the hurricane! Nothing like making reality whatever you need it to be! Bloomberg reports: "U.S. employers probably added 150,000 jobs in September and the unemployment rate held at 5.4% the lowest in almost three years." The rate, of course, doesn't reflect the 152,000 discouraged workers who dropped out of the labor force last month! (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/10/03/BUG619120L1.DTLeach .Bloomberg reports : "More jobs would have been added if hurricanes hadn't struck the southeastern U.S." One economist said that Hurricane Ivan shaved as many as 30,000 jobs from last month's figures... So how does the temporary loss of 30,000 old jobs have any bearing on how many NEW jobs were created?

Sacbee.com: "Former President Jimmy Carter says that despite changes designed to eliminate voting problems in Florida - where the disputed 2000 presidential election was decided by only a few hundred votes - conditions for a fair election in that state still don't exist. 'The disturbing fact is that a repetition of the problems of 2000 now seems likely,' says Carter...citing the experience of his Carter Center in monitoring international elections. 'Some basic international requirements for a fair election are missing in Florida.' Most significant: requirements that a nonpartisan electoral commission or official organize and conduct the electoral process and that voting procedures be uniform for all citizens." Florida's top election official in 2000, Secretary of State Katherine Harris was a Bush toady, while her successor, Glenda Hood, is said to be just as bad if not worse. Meanwhile, Bush's brother Jeb Bush has allowed the situation to continue.

The Repug smear machine is trying to discredit Ben Barnes by calling him a "long-time partisan Democrat." But "Ben Barnes has close ties to the Republicans -- including Scott McClellan's family. Barnes has contributed $51,500 to TX GOP candidates since 2000. [TXEthics Commission, http://www.ethics.state.tx.us/] Scott McClellan's mother, Carole Keeton Strayhorn is a friend of Barnes -- Barnes contributed $35,000 to Carole Keeton Strayhorn's campaign in 2003. [Texas Ethics Commission, http://www.ethics.state.tx.us/] [New York Times, 9/15/03]The former TX Lt. Gov. contributed $500 to Jeb Bush during his failed 1994 campaign for Florida's governorship. [Dallas Morning News, 10/25/94] Barnes was on a fundraising events committee to benefit Sen Kay Bailey Hutchinson. [Austin American-Statesman, 1/13/04] In 1995, Barnes contributed $250 to the Tom Delay Congressional Committee. [www.tray.com]."

St. Petersburg Times warned in 2003: "The testing mania may not be helping students, but many Republican insiders are profiting from it. Neil Bush, the younger brother of Bush and Gov. Jeb Bush [and the guy who defrauded thousands in the Silverado banking scandal] is the CEO and founder of a company that designs computer software aimed at helping students pass tests such as the FCAT. Other industry officials also have ties to Republican insiders. Uhlfelder's law firm represents the test preparation company Kaplan in K-12 matters and also represents Pearson Education, which administers the FCAT." Now, fast forward to Sept. 2004: Dubya has called for a NATIONAL version of the FCAT. Who will lose? Kids whose parents can't afford overpriced testing packages and tutors. Who will win? Bush's "get-rich-quick" schemer pals and brother Neil.

St. Pete Times: "The latest effort to disqualify Ralph Nader as a presidential candidate in Florida has led to renewed scrutiny of papers filed by other candidates - including Bush. State law sets a Sept. 1 deadline for the governor to certify a list of presidential electors for each party's candidates. But Sept. 1 was also the day Bush and Cheney were being nominated at their party' convention in NYC. Consequently, some of their paperwork did not arrive at state elections headquarters until Sept. 2, a day after Gov. Jeb Bush certified the candidates for president. Paperwork problem? No, says Secretary of State Glenda Hood's office." Anyone remember an issue of DEADLINES being a factor in Cruella Harris' mishandling of the Stolen Election in 2000? Like, maybe, DISALLOWING a recount because of missing an arbitrary deadline, one not mandated by the "RULE of LAW."

The Spoof: "In a rare moment of weakness, Jeb Bush, the Republican Governor of Florida and brother to President [sic] Bush, said today he will be unable to fix the Florida ballot because of the wanton destruction caused by the one-two Charley-Frances punch. 'There's just too much death and destruction down here right now, I have no time to fix the ballot in favor of my brother,' Bush said. Whereas the 2000 election offered little in the way of rogue left wing weather patterns, the 2004 election is proving to be one rich with Category 3 and above spirals of disruption in the raping of democracy down in the Sunshine State. 'My hands are tied,' Bush said from a flooded voting station. 'The electronic voting machines are all shorted out from the water - just look at how they allow the voters the option of choosing the candidate they want to win. This is inexcusable.' "

Cheryl Seal writes: "Anyone who routinely scans multiple sources for news, taking in AFP, BBC, Al Jazeera, the Guardian, US Newswire, and other non-Bush-controlled sources will quickly begin to see the gaping holes in US corporate media coverage. Not only do these holes tend to be uniformly in the interests of G.W. Bush and his campaign, they are systematic: it is rare to find one of the members of the US media cartel breaking ranks and giving prominent coverage (as in not buried on page A22 or C12), to a story suppressed by the others. There are laws against price-fixing - a practice acknowledged by all as fraud. So why aren't there laws against 'news fixing?' It, too, is fraud."

Dale Reynolds writes, "This play dramatizes the events that lead up to the US Supreme Court's 5 to 4 decision to make George W. Bush President of the United States. FLORIDA is based on investigative reporting and eyewitness accounts, including testimony from actual participants in these events. Some of FLORIDA's characters have been created for dramatic purposes, and some are people you will recognize, such as GREG PALAST, KATHERINE HARRIS, and JEB BUSH. Some, such as LEO (CASINO) HARRIS, are portrayed as the real life heroes they were. FLORIDA is a drama based on what happened there, before, during, and after November 7, 2000. FLORIDA, The Election Play, was first read in London (please see Readings on the BACKGROUND page) and these readings have resulted in a devoted cast of actors to carry out projects for FLORIDA. We will be recording, probably in September, 2004, a radio and CD version of the play. "

The Spoof: "FEMA officials today brought relief to the ravaged counties of FLA in the form of preprepared ballots. With houses and lives to rebuild, said Dick Cheney, FLA voters need not worry themselves concerning the election.Giving priority to the basic needs of FLA residents, FEMA officals have declared the rebuilding of polling places incidental to a healthy and functioning society. "No one likes to vote, anyways", one FEMA official declared. Giving their time freely, young Republicans spent endless hours filling out ballots in a fair and impartial manner. Using voter registration rolls provided by Gov Jeb Bush, Republicans carefully punched through each ballot at least twice. Working closely with his brother Jeb, Bush declared the entire state of FLA in need of ballot replacement therapy. Bush hastened to add, however, that the Disney empire would not be placed on the list...as Governor Jeb Bush pointed out, mice can't vote."

Bob Herbert writes, "State police officers have gone into the homes of elderly black voters in Orlando and interrogated them as part of an odd 'investigation' that has frightened many voters, intimidated elderly volunteers and thrown a chill over efforts to get out the black vote in November. The officers, from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, which reports to Gov. Jeb Bush, say they are investigating allegations of voter fraud that came up during the Orlando mayoral election in March. Officials refused to discuss details of the investigation, other than to say that absentee ballots are involved. They said they had no idea when the investigation might end, and acknowledged that it may continue right through the presidential election... A heavy-handed state police investigation that throws a blanket of fear over thousands of black voters can only help Bush. The long and ugly tradition of suppressing the black vote is alive and thriving in the Sunshine State."

"Kerry and Edwards had the backing of 47%, Bush and Cheney had the support of 41% and independent Ralph Nader and his running mate Peter Camejo had 4% in the Quinnipiac University poll. Bush and Kerry were deadlocked in Florida at 43% each in a Quinnipiac poll in late June. The August poll found Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, the president's younger brother, getting tepid reviews from Floridians. They were evenly split on whether they approve or disapprove of the job the second-term governor is doing. The survey also found fewer than half, 47%, were 'very confident' that their vote would count. Only one in five said the same about new touch-screen voting machines that will be used this year in 15 of the state's largest counties."

AP: "Democrat John Kerry has taken a slight lead over President Bush in Florida - the essential swing state in the 2000 election, according to a poll out Thursday." LOL! The "slight lead" is actually 47-41%! In A.merican P.ropaganda speak, 6 points in Kerry's favor is a "slight lead," while 2 points in Bush's favor is a "surge in support"! "The August poll found Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, the president's younger brother, getting tepid reviews from Floridians. They were evenly split on whether they approve or disapprove of the job the second-term governor is doing. The survey also found fewer than half, 47 percent, were "very confident" that their vote would count. Only one in five said the same about new touch-screen voting machines that will be used this year in 15 of the state's largest counties."

When Jeb Bush wanted to keep felon purge data secret, who did he turn to? EVIL TRIAL LAWYERS! "A politically connected Miami law firm wants Florida taxpayers to pick up a $5,000-plus tab for its chairman's private jet ride to Tallahassee. That bill is part of the approximately $149,000 in legal fees and expenses that Steel, Hector & Davis says it's owed for representing Secretary of State Glenda Hood in her unsuccessful bid last month to keep an error-riddled list of suspected felon voters out of the hands of the press. 'Because of short notice, we had to use a private jet to accommodate Mr. Klock's schedule,' the firm wrote to state officials to justify the $5,385 flight. The letter refers to Steel, Hector & Davis chairman Joe Klock, the election-law specialist who represented Hood when she was sued last month by Cable News Network and a host of Florida news outlets, which demanded the right to investigate a list of 48,000 suspected felons on the state voter rolls."

"Murdoch has made no bones about his strong support for Bush... As one former News Corp. official told Fortune, 'part of our political strategy [in the U.S.] was the New York Post and the creation of Fox News and the Weekly Standard.' And as Slate reports, Murdoch put that empire to work for Bush. In 2000, Murdoch placed 'George W. Bush cousin John Ellis in charge of [Fox's] Election Night vote-counting operation in 2000.' And 'Ellis made Fox the first network to declare Bush the victor,' even as the New Yorker reported that Ellis spent the evening discussing the election with George W. and Jeb Bush. Most recently, Murdoch's partisan support for the Bush White House appeared when he took the extraordinary step of putting an editorial on the front page of his New York Post calling the 9/11 Commission a 'National Disgrace.' At the time, the Commission was in the process of revealing material showing how the Bush administration was not focused on counter-terrorism before 9/11."

NY Times reports, "Of nearly 48,000 Florida residents on the felon list, only 61 are Hispanic. By contrast, more than 22,000 are African-American. About 8 percent of Florida voters describe themselves as Hispanic, and about 11 percent as black. In a presidential-election battleground state that decided the 2000 race by giving George W. Bush a margin of only 537 votes, the effect could be significant: black voters are overwhelmingly Democratic, while Hispanics in Florida tend to vote Republican [because of the right-wing Cuban community]... 'This was absolutely unintentional,' said Nicole de Lara, spokeswoman for the Florida secretary of state, Glenda E. Hood, an appointee of Gov. Jeb Bush, the president's brother... Democrats said yesterday that the latest disclosure should be the last straw. 'The honorable thing to do,'' Scott Maddox, the Democratic state chairman said, 'is throw the list out and not purge people erroneously on the eve of election.' "

"U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek, speaking on a conference call designed to discuss G. W. Bush's record on issues key to black voters, said there was a "lack of accountability from the state of Florida" during the disputed recount process. A mere 537 ballots decided Florida's 25 electoral votes, ones that sealed the presidency for Bush. "The governor was like bin Laden after the 2000 election,' said Meek, the Florida chairman for the Kerry-Edwards presidential campaign. 'No one could find him when they had issues as it relates to so many African-American votes that were left on the floor in many supervisor of elections offices throughout the state.' President Bush's win came amid claims thousands of ballots from minority voters and others were not counted."

The AP reports, "The former head of a Republican consulting group has pleaded guilty to jamming Democratic telephone lines in several New Hampshire cities on Election Day two years ago. The jamming involved more than 800 computer-generated calls and lasted for about 1 1/2 hours on Nov. 5, 2002, the day voters decided several races, including a close Senate contest between outgoing Gov. Jeanne Shaheen and GOP Rep. John E. Sununu, who won by fewer than 20,000 votes. The lines that were jammed were set up so voters could call for rides to the polls. Democrats say the jamming was an organized, statewide effort that may have even affected the outcome of some local races. 'There is, short of murder, not much that is more horrific in America than purposely trying to stop people from voting,' said Raymond Buckley, vice chairman of the state Democratic Party." Republicans admit they can't win fairly when they resort to criminal cheating. Next up - W and Jeb Bush?

We're just 132 days from Stolen Election 2004. This week, Jeb Bush will get $47 million from the Feds under HAVA to improve election technology. But Jeb has decided not to spend the money until AFTER the 2004 election - despite the numerous documented problems with Florida's new touchscreen machines. Impeach Jeb Now!

In an apparently permanent state of mid-life crisis, Bush, Sr. "honored" his birthday by jumping out of a plane at 13,000 feet to prove just what a macho man he is (now that he can't bomb Third World countries to show off his testosterone). After the jump Bush arrogantly ordered other seniors to "Get out and do something. Just don't watch TV." Of course, great health at 80 and opportunities to have expensive forms of fun require: A. a lifetime of the world's best healthcare (paid through much of Bush's life by taxpayers), and B. Enough money to do something besides watch TV - a luxury a growing # of seniors don';t have, thanks in large part to the policies of Reagan, Bush I, and Bush II. "It's great to have people that have energy and vitality like my dad and approach age with dignity," Jeb Bush said. Dignity? The only thing Bush I proved by jumping out of a plane is the law of gravity.

"A computer science expert criticized electronic voting systems planned for the November election as highly vulnerable and flawed, saying on Wednesday a backup paper system is the only short-term solution to avoid another disputed presidential election. 'On a spectrum of terrible to very good, we are sitting at terrible,' Aviel D. Rubin, a computer science professor at Johns Hopkins University, told the U.S. Election Assistance Commission. 'Not only have the vendors not implemented security safeguards that are possible, they have not even correctly implemented the ones that are easy.'... Phil Singer, a spokesman for the presidential campaign of Democrat John Kerry , said Wednesday, 'After what happened in Florida in 2000, making sure that there is a reliable paper trail in place to account for every vote is just common sense.'.. [But Jeb Bush said] he is not concerned about using the machines in November." Of course not - he's going to rig them to elect Big Brother!

"To Disney CEO Michael Eisner: We are outraged that you would block the distribution of Michael Moore's film Fahrenheit 911 because it criticizes George W. Bush and could lead to his defeat (again) in November. We understand your corrupt motive: you are afraid Gov. Jeb Bush will cancel the lucrative tax breaks Disney gets in Florida. Your are censoring one of the most important filmmakers in America. This is unacceptable in a democracy. Since you only care about money, we will register our protest where you will feel the pain - by boycotting all Disney products until you agree to distribute Fahrenheit 911: Disney films, Disney theme parks, Disney toys, Disney TV networks." Sign the petition at http://democrats.com/disney and spread the word!

Proposed legislation in Florida legislation would allow a city or county to take an individual's land and sell it to a private developer for a shopping center or office building. Proponents say, in effect, that communities have to steal from ordinary people to give to the magnates because enormous tracts of land for businesses -- think WalMart -- are essential to the local economy. You can imagine what opponents say, because you're probably saying it yourself right now.

Nancy Kuhn writes: "I've been most anxious to view the DVD 'Unprecedented-the 2000 Presidential election,' because I spent 15 years volunteering on numerous election campaigns when I lived in Florida. Because of my own personal experience I know the disputed territory and the election laws that were deliberately broken by Jeb Bush and Katherine Harris in 2000 extremely well. I've finally seen 'Unprecedented' and I've found 2 claims made in this documentary that are totally false."

In their family portrait "The Bushes," Peter and Rochelle Schweizer "quote one unnamed relative as saying that George W. Bush sees the war on terrorism 'as a religious war': 'His view of this is that they are trying to kill the Christians. And we the Christians will strike back with more force and more ferocity than they will ever know... They describe what they call George W.'s 'addictive personality,' which 'required him to fix in on something and maintain a hold on it'... Because of his addictive personality, [post-911] was the sort of presidency that suited him well. Unencumbered by domestic issues, with their detail and ambiguity, he was now free to speak naturally in a way that reflected the way he viewed the world: black and white, good and evil. Life had been for him a struggle to conquer those things that had a bad hold on him; the struggle between good and evil was something that he had experienced in his own life."

"Currently, nursing home residents can be hospitalized up to eight days and Medicaid will pay the nursing home to keep their beds open. ...Medicaid calls this the 'eight-day bed-hold.' Bush proposes saving $23-million this year by eliminating it. In dollar terms, the bed-hold proposal pales beside a total of $300-million Bush hopes to cut from this year's nursing home budget. Florida spends more than $2-billion each year on nursing home care through Medicaid... Besides the eight-day bed-hold, Bush hopes to cut $260-million from the nursing home budget by suspending payments for staffing increases mandated by the 2002 Legislature. About $60-million of that proposed cut represents money for future hires. The other $200-million represents reimbursement for new nurses and aides already hired."

Here's the sort of BS we can look forward to between now and November in terms of phony polling. A new poll that shows Bush with a huge lead over Kerry "throughout the entire South" has been plastered all over the nation by the corporate media. But turns out the poll was conducted by the University of North Florida - a school governed by a board of trustees appointed by Jeb Bush and his pals! And, to represent ALL ELEVEN states of "the entire South," only 802 people were polled! (At least 802 responses were actually KEPT by the pollsters, anyway). Here's the poll article: http://www.tcpalm.com/tcp/home/article/0,1651,TCP_996_2680296,00.html

"Modern-day slavery is alive and well in Florida, the head of a human rights center said Tuesday as it released a report on people forced to work as prostitutes, farmworkers and maids across the state. Human traffickers bring thousands of people into the United States each year and Florida is believed to be one of the top three destinations, along with New York and Texas, according to the Center for the Advancement of Human Rights at Florida State University. Although there have been several prosecutions of human trafficking in Florida, no one knows how many people in Florida are under the control of traffickers... 'All you have to do is look where cheap labor is required and where there is a potential for labor exploitation, which pretty much can put you anywhere in our state,' according to Robin Thompson, director of the research project." Read the report at the Center for the Advancement of Human Rights: http://cahr.fsu.edu

"Strangely, many conservative Washington 'hawks' who are strong advocates of war contrived to duck combat duty when they were young. The label 'chickenhawk' is applied to such leaders. The New Hampshire Gazette, America's oldest newspaper, and other groups have posted GOP chickenhawk lists on the Internet. Newt Gingrich, Dan Quayle, Trent Lott, Tom DeLay, William Bennett, Elliott Abrams, George Will, Rush Limbaugh, Kenneth Starr, Bob Barr, Ari Fleischer, Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas, Bill O'Reilly, Phil Gramm, Jeb Bush, Steve Forbes, Jerry Falwell -- these and many others are cited for ducking wars... Bush himself managed to avoid Vietnam combat... Although he signed up for a six-year enlistment, he left in 1972 ... Allegations of 'going AWOL' have been raised... everyone should ponder the disturbing pattern of Washington hawks -- leaders eager to send young soldiers into killing fields -- who wriggled out of that dangerous duty themselves."

From FAIR: "Dennis Miller's new CNBC political talk show hasn't even debuted yet, but it's already mixed up in a serious conflict of interest. The conflict-- brought to our attention by weblogger Roger Ailes (no relation, apparently, to the Fox News chief)-- began with the show's hiring of Mike Murphy as a consulting producer. The problem isn't that Murphy is a well-known Republican campaign consultant whose past clients have included John McCain, Jeb Bush and the 1992 Bush/Quayle campaign; the problem is that Mike Murphy already has a job. Murphy, who was a key political advisor in Arnold Schwarzenegger's 2003 campaign for governor of California, still works for Schwarzenegger... Please write to CNBC and ask them what they intend to do about the conflict of interest posed by Dennis Miller's producer working for a politician who happens to be a guest on Miller's first show. Contact: CNBC 2200 Fletcher Avenue Fort Lee, NJ 07024 Phone: 201-585-2622 info@CNBC.com"

Kevin Phillips has written a BRILLIANT concise summary of the Bush family ties to Mideast Oil - and the corruption and conflicts of interest they have produced. He concludes: "There is no evidence to suggest that the events of Sept. 11 could have been prevented or discovered ahead of time had someone other than a Bush been president. But there is certainly enough to suggest that the Bush dynasty's many decades of entanglement and money-hunting in the Middle East have created a major conflict of interest that deserves to be part of the 2004 political debate. No previous presidency has had anything remotely similar. Not one." While the Rove-controlled media is digging for the most insignificant dirt on Howard Dean, why is Phillips the ONLY journalist examining the Bush family's oil-drenched scandals?

Unbelievable!! Here's yet another story you never heard from FOX, NBC, or any of the other sorry excuses for news sources - aside from a small piece in CNN online. On November 17, a 30-foot long, 21,700-pound bomb- the largest nonnuclear bomb in the US arsenal - more destructive than a Daisy Cutter - was tested in northwestern Florida. The bomb created a plume over 10,000 feet high that could be seen for over 40 miles, with a deafening sound that traumatized area residents for miles around. "It looked like a big mushroom cloud filled with flames as it grew and grew and grew. It was one of the most awesome spectacles I've seen." said one observer. How nice for G.W. that brother Jeb has allowed the state of Florida to used as a bombing range.

St. Petersburg Times reports, "Less than a year before Floridians vote again for president, the election system remains bedeviled by inconsistencies, red tape and potential obstacles to prospective voters:.. The counties have been told to deal with inconsistencies in the list as best they can. Some are returning to the rolls any voters who the county can't prove are felons. But others are making voters prove they aren't felons in order to vote next year. Despite a legal settlement to make it easier for felons to regain their voting rights, the backlog of former prisoners who have applied to restore their rights has grown to nearly 39,000. That's a six-fold increase since 2001, yet the state earlier this year cut the number of Parole Commission staffers who handle applications. In 2004, could Florida voters again be wrongfully denied their voting rights? 'I don't know that I can answer that,' said Sec. of State Glenda Hood, whom Gov. Jeb Bush appointed to succeed Katherine Harris."

When Katherine Harris was elected to Congress, Jeb Bush appointed Glenda Hood to replace her as Secretary of State. So it comes as no surprise that "Hood said making a paper trail a statewide requirement is not necessary because Florida has multiple safeguards to assure the accuracy and security of touch screens, which are used in Palm Beach County and 14 other counties." Obviously Hood is determined to steal the White House AGAIN for Bush through electronic fraud that will be impossible to detect. We're NOT going to let Glenda HOODWINK Florida and the rest of the Nation! Call 850-245-6500 and demand Voter Verifiable Paper Ballots!

Tom Flocco reports, "A Saudi military flight instructor who died mysteriously on May 8 had the same name as two 9/11 terrorists who lived at the same U.S. naval air base. Two other test pilots also dying with Saudi Air Force Major Ambarak S. Alghamdi were employed by Raytheon Corporation, which possesses technology capable of disrupting flight controls and taking down aircraft with a secret pulse-ray technology. This, as reports revealed that resident Bush's brother, Governor Jeb Bush, was on board the C-130 military aircraft that flew out of Sarasota airport the day after the attacks, carrying FBI agents who had collected criminal evidence--all the flight instruction evaluations, after-action reports, personality profiles, and financial records of all Arab terrorist flight students at Huffman Aviation School in Venice, Florida."

"Americans agreed to a kind of quasi democracy on the 'Afghan model.' This involves selection of delegates for a National Assembly by tribal leaders and 'notables' in Iraq's 18 provinces. That body in turn would form a provisional government of elites by next June that will 'assume full sovereign powers for governing Iraq,' according to an agreement released Saturday. This is to be followed by a constitutional convention, a referendum and then national elections - but not until 2005-06." Sure - unless future Residents Jeb Bush, Noelle Bush, and Jenna Bush put elections off until 2666.

"Gov. Jeb Bush joked during a Florida Cabinet meeting that the people of San Francisco may be endangered and, 'That's probably good news for the country.' The subject was environmental land and Bush was looking at a map of locations with a lot of different wildlife at the time. 'It looks like the people of San Francisco are an endangered species, which may not be a bad thing. That's probably good news for the country.' People in the room broke into laughter." Atrios comments, "Can't wait 'til I can bring out my vast arsenal of witty 'ha ha look at the dead hurricane victims' jokes. ...Wait, maybe Jeb ain't so bad after all. Here's his spokesman: 'Bush spokesman Jacob DiPietre later explained the governor's thinking: 'The Cabinet was talking about endangered species and everyone knows that Republicans are an endangered species in California.' So, it's a good thing for the country that Republicans are an endangered species in CA? Sounds about right to me. Preach on, Brother Jeb!"

PentaPost opines, "The Senate last week approved a prohibition on the procedure known to its opponents as partial-birth abortion, sending the measure to resident Bush for his signature. That same day, the Florida legislature authorized the resident's brother, Gov. Jeb Bush, to order a feeding tube reinserted for Terri Schiavo, who has been in a vegetative state for 13 years. The measures are linked not only by the fact that each touches on the deeply felt religious, moral and political issues that arise at the beginning and the end of life. Perhaps precisely because the issues involved are so emotional, both laws exemplify legislators' overstepping their bounds, betraying a fundamental lack of respect for the proper role of doctors and courts." Of course, the Pentagon Post does NOT point out that Congress and the Florida legislature are run by REPUBLICANS who rant against "Big Government." How much BIGGER can government get? E-mail letters@washpost.com

Dick Meyer writes, "This has been terrifying week for people who are concerned about big government meddling in families' most personal and painful decisions. I would say it's been a terrible week for conservatives, but most of the people who call themselves conservatives are celebrating and crowing. I think they're radicals. I'm referring, of course, to the unprecedented intervention of Governor Jeb Bush and the Florida legislature in the tragic case of Terri Schiavo, and to the Senate vote, supported by Resident Bush, banning a certain type of procedure to terminate pregnancies in cases where the mother's life or health are at risk. The idea of legislatures, governors and presidents dictating what families can do in these most private situations is mind-boggling. It is as intrusive as government can be. It is, in both cases, almost certainly unconstitutional."

So much for the famed Bush family "moral values" (ha! what values?!). Only after tens of thousands of letters and phone calls re: the Terri Schiavo case, has Jeb Bush decided to "look into" the matter. Yet, after days of Schiavo's slow starvation, he refused to intervene directly using his governor's clout. Seems he didn't find it so hard to intervene for Cynthia Henderson, not once but repeatedly, using that same governor's clout. That leads one to wonder...is it perhaps that Bush identifies more with Schiavo's husband, alleged by many sources to have been eager to "unload" his "inconvenient wife?"

John Sugg writes, "I was working in Miami in the early 1980s when Jeb Bush popped up on the scene like a malevolent jack-in-the-box. Doors, especially those in Little Havana, swung open wide for the 'vice president's son.' My interest was drawn to one particular door - an HMO owned by Miguel Recarey [who] had ties to the Contra terrorists in Nicaragua and the Mafia family of Tampa's godfather, Santos Trafficante. Bush brushed aside the mob allegations and declared that Recarey was 'a good supporter of the Republican Party.' And Bush helped arranged for the HMO to treat wounded Contras - part of the larger clandestine, and very illegal, Reagan Administration scheme to help the terrorist outfit (a group that, as it would later turn out, was padding its coffers by smuggling drugs into American cities). Bush.. opened doors in Washington to get a massive infusion - a billion bucks or so - of Medicare funding. Recarey stole $230 million of the taxpayer's cash and fled the country in 1987."

The National Institute of Standards and Technology is a little-known but important federal agency. On December 10-11, 2003, NIST will host a "Symposium on Building Trust and Confidence in Voting Systems." Naturally, we would start by indicting Katherine Harris, Jeb Bush, and George W. Bush - but that isn't on their agenda, which focuses on purely "technical" issues. If you live in the DC area and you care about paper audit trails for electronic voting machines, you should attend.

SF Chronicle: "To hear Gov.-elect Arnold Schwarzenegger, the much-awaited 'audit' he proposed on the campaign trail will point the way to fiscal nirvana in California... To carry out this fiscal inquisition, Schwarzenegger has imported 40- year-old Donna Arduin, who has a bachelor's degree in economics. She's on loan from Florida Gov. Jeb Bush for the two months or less her new boss says the audit will take... So what will Arduin come up with? 'Those who know Arduin predict California will soon be handed a conservative diet of program cuts, the use of one-time tax dollars to pay for recurring state services, the privatizing of state work, and tax cuts to stimulate the economy,'' the Orlando Sentinel wrote last week. The Tallahassee Democrat said she 'has a reputation for never having met a tax she didn't want to take a whack at.'"

"The American vote-count is controlled by three major corporate players -- Diebold, ES&S (major share holder Howard Ahmanson), and Sequoia -- with a fourth, Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC, David Kay former VP), coming on strong. All have been given billions of dollars by the Bush Regime to complete a sweeping computerization of voting machines nationwide by the 2004 election. These glitch-riddled systems -- many using 'touch-screen' technology that leaves no paper trail at all -- are almost laughably open to manipulation. In computerized Minnesota, former Vice President Walter Mondale, a replacement for Paul Wellstone, who died days before the vote, was also defeated in a large [and mysterious] last-second vote swing. Convenient 'glitches' in Florida saw an untold number of votes intended for the Democratic candidate registering instead for Jeb Bush."

"Ahmanson is also one of the bagmen behind the extremist 'Christian Reconstructionist' movement, which openly advocates a theocratic takeover of American democracy, placing the entire society under the 'dominion' of 'Christ the King.' This 'dominion' includes the death penalty for homosexuals, exclusion of citizenship for non-Christians, stoning of sinners and - we kid you not - slavery, 'one of the most beneficent of Biblical laws.' Ahmanson also has major holdings in ES&S, whose former CEO is Republican Senator Chuck Hagel of Nebraska. When Hagel ran for office, his own company counted the votes; needless to say, his initial victory was reported as 'an amazing upset.' Hagel still has a million-dollar stake in the parent company of ES&S. In Florida, Jeb Bush's first choice for a running mate in his 1998 gubernatorial race was ES&S lobbyist Sandra Mortham, who made a mint installing the machines that counted Jeb's votes."

"A federal audit that was delayed at the request of Gov. Jeb Bush's office during his re-election campaign found that Florida's public pension fund owes the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services $267 million. The department's inspector general's office said the state, which receives federal money to pay employees working in federally funded programs such as Medicaid, charged too much for pension benefits between 1999 and 2002. The audit said the state should refund the money from the $12.8 billion in surplus funds in the $93 billion pension plan, either by paying all at once or over the long term by reducing future pension costs for the federal agency... The audit was originally scheduled to begin in April 2002, but Janet Rehnquist, daughter of U.S. Supreme Court [In]Justice William Rehnquist [who appointed Dubya] and then the Health and Human Services inspector general, postponed the audit until July 2002 after receiving a call from Kathleen Shanahan, Bush's chief of staff."

Whatever tiny gains were achieved from Florida's clemency lawsuit were completely eclipsed by the wholesale roundup of drug users by Jeb Bush. "Nearly 3,000 people were locked up in June, the largest number of new inmates in any single month in Florida in more than a decade. The bulge in the state prison population, which caught officials by surprise, was largely driven by a big jump in the number of people being imprisoned for drug crimes, according to state Department of Corrections figures. The immediate problem -- a looming lack of bed space -- may have been resolved last week when Gov. Jeb Bush signed an emergency measure shifting more than $65 million from reserves into a flurry of new prison construction. But officials are starting to question what is causing such a large and unexpected spike in prison admissions while, as politicians are quick to point out, the crime rate has dropped to record lows." Jeb is DELIBERATELY locking up drug users to DISENFRANCHISE poor voters!

In 2000, Gov. Jeb Bush defied 2 court orders by refusing to process clemency applications from thousands of ex-felons. (This is different from the false felon purge - these ex-felons never even made it on to the voter list). "The recent court order could make 20,000 to 30,000 felons eligible to vote without a hearing, says attorney Randy Berg of the Florida Justice Project, which advocates liberalizing clemency laws. Florida Parole Commission Chairwoman Monica David estimates the number at 15,000 to 17,500. The speedier clemency is available to those who did not commit crimes such as murder, robbery or drug trafficking, do not have multiple felony convictions and who meet other criteria." But this is a drop in the bucket: "More than 827,000 Floridians were ineligible to vote in 2000 because they were incarcerated, on probation or parole or had felony convictions." Florida is one of only six states where ex-felons cannot vote unless they are granted clemency. Defeat ALL Republicans!

Mike Thomas writes: "Jeb Bush calls politics a 'blood sport.' Unfortunately, he's the one bleeding in Tallahassee right now. This malpractice reform spectacle revealed chinks in his political armor that were covered up in his early years by a budget surplus and legislation that all Republicans could agree on. In reality, Jeb is a Republican version of Jimmy Carter. Like Jimmy, Jeb has alienated many members of his own party who see him as aloof and arrogant. Like Jimmy, Jeb is awful at personal, political connections. Like Jimmy, Jeb never was in a legislative body [correction: Carter was a State Senator] and seems to have little use for them. Like Jimmy, Jeb doesn't grasp the subtleties of when to reward and how to threaten. Like Jimmy, Jeb is smart enough to have figured all this out, but hasn't. Jeb should not be in this position." What an insult to Jimmy Carter! Write Mike at mthomas@orlandosentinel.com

"Gov. Jeb Bush's office was trying to distance itself Tuesday from another memo that appeared to link the governor to planned demonstrations by doctors outside the offices of Republican state senators. The memo, titled ``These Boots Were Made for Walking,'' was sent Monday by the Sarasota Medical Society to its members. It said the governor's office, working through the Florida Medical Association, had asked that groups of 100 doctors demonstrate Monday outside the offices of Sen. Mike Bennett, R-Bradenton, and Sen. Lisa Carlton, R-Sarasota. The two are among the Republican senators who have steadfastly opposed Bush's push for a $250,000 cap on jury awards for pain and suffering in malpractice lawsuits. Beckett Shady-King, leader of the Sarasota Medical Society, said she had no comment when asked if the governor's office was involved in the planned demonstrations."

Greg Palast writes, "Jeb Bush's operation denied over 50,000 citizens their right to vote. Given that 80% of registered voters actually cast ballots in the presidential election, at least 40,000 votes were lost. By whom? ... We can confidently state that this little twist in the voter purge cost Al Gore a good 30,000 votes... Three decades ago, Governor George Wallace stood in a schoolhouse door and thundered, 'Segregation now! Segregation tomorrow! Segregation forever!' but failed to block entry to African-Americans. Governor Jeb Bush's resistance to court rulings, conducted at whisper level with high-tech assistance, has been far more effective at blocking voters of color from the polling station door. Deliberate or accidental, the error ridden computer purge and illegal clemency obstacle course function, like the poll tax and literacy test of the Jim Crow era, to take the vote away from citizens who are Black, poor and, not coincidentally, almost all Democrats."

Greg Palast writes, "If profit lust is the ultimate problem blocking significant investigative reportage, the more immediate cause of comatose coverage of the election and other issues is what is laughably called America's 'journalistic culture.' If the Rupert Murdochs of the globe are shepherds of the New World Order, they owe their success to breeding a fiock of docile sheep -- snoozy editors and reporters content to munch on, digest, then reprint a diet of press releases and canned stories provided by government and corporate public-relations operations. Take this story of the list of Florida's faux felons that cost Al Gore the presidential election... [Palast offered the story to CBS during the heat of the recount.] The next day I received a call from the producer, who said, 'I'm sorry, but your story didn't hold up.' And how do you think the multibillion-dollar CBS network determined this? Answer: 'We called Jeb Bush's office.' Oh."

ACLU reports, "As many as 30,000 ex-felons are likely to regain their voting and civil rights within the next year, the ACLU of Florida announced today. The organization released a proposed final judgment in a lawsuit against the Florida Department of Corrections that mandates assistance to ex-felons who did not receive help in the application process from the state -- as required by law... During the course of the lawsuit, the Department of Corrections acknowledged that 124,769 offenders who were released between 1992 and 2001 did not receive assistance pursuant to Florida Statute sec. 944.293... 'Whatever good results that came from this case are only a drop in the bucket,' said Randy Berg, lead counsel in this lawsuit. 'Many of these people should have had their rights restored nine years ago -- further evidence that this entire process needs to be changed'... Florida is one of only six states that impose a lifetime civil and voting rights ban upon a felony conviction. "

Greg Palast writes, "In the months leading up to the November 2000 balloting, Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris, in coordination with Governor Jeb Bush, ordered local elections supervisors to purge these 57,700 from voter registries. In Harris's computers, they are named as felons who have no right to vote in Florida. Thomas Cooper is on the list... convicted of a felony on January 30, 2007. 2007? You may suspect something's wrong with the list. You'd be right. At least 90.2% of those on this 'scrub' list, targeted to lose their civil rights, are innocent. Notably, over half -about 54%- are Black and Hispanic voters. Overwhelmingly, it is a list of Democrats. Harris declared George W. Bush winner of Florida, and thereby president, by a plurality of 537 votes over Al Gore. Now do the arithmetic. Over 50,000 voters wrongly targeted by the purge, mostly Blacks. My BBC researchers reported that Gore lost at least 22,000 votes as a result of this smart little blackbox operation."

AP reports: "The leader of the NAACP criticized President Bush and his brother, Gov. Jeb Bush, for challenging race-conscious admissions in colleges and vowed to work to unseat the president in 2004. Speaking at the 94th annual convention of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, chairman Julian Bond praised the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that upheld the use of race as a factor in university admissions policies... Bond criticized the Florida governor for his One Florida program, under which state universities can no longer consider race or gender in admissions decisions. High school students are instead guaranteed admission if they are in the top 20 percent of their graduating class... Bond also voiced his disappointment that neither President [sic] Bush nor his brother attended the 2002 NAACP conference in Texas or the 2003 meeting. He also said the group intended 'to uproot the bigger 'Bush' in 2004.'"

"Tony Welch, the Democratic spinmeister whose zingers got under Gov. Jeb Bush's skin during two elections, is taking his partisan act national, aiming directly at the governor's brother. Welch, the Florida Democratic Party's leading verbal attacker for four years and currently the state teachers union communications director, will begin a new post July 1 as press secretary for the Democratic National Committee. He'll likely become a fixture on cable television talk shows, ripping Resident Bush and putting Florida's political importance back in the spotlight."

Cheryl Seal writes: "The attack on Bob Wise shows how the GOP 'secret police' works. First, the CIA or FBI is subverted, charged with digging up anything on a target even vaguely resembling dirt. (look what they did for the case against Iraq!). These taxpayer-paid spies report back to HQ - the White House. There 'senior officials' call contacts in the corporate media. The media, armed with inside info, swing into action. Invoking the Freedom of Information Act, they demand transcripts of Bob Wise's e-mail between certain dates. End result: today, the corporate media, including the Post and the MediaGroup-owned 'Charleston Daily Mail' have plastered Wise's story - including copies of emails - across their pages. Meanwhile, the far more outrageous case of Jeb Bush and Cynthia Henderson remains swept under the media rug."

Saudi Defense Minister Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz is being sued by families of the 9-11 victims for personally approving millions of dollars of Saudi government funding for terrorist front groups. Amazingly, bin Abdul Aziz arranged for his son to be flown from Florida to Kentucky on 9-13 - a flight the Bush administration denies ever happened, on the second day when ALL civilian flights in the US were prohibited. To make matters worse, bin Abdul Aziz and his Saudi co-defendants hired James Baker's law firm to defend him against the TRILLION dollar 9-11 lawsuit. Could this trial expose the deep Saudi connections to Al Qaeda, and the Bush connections to both? Is a Special Prosecutor needed? Is it even possible to investigate the Bush-Saudi-Al Qaeda ties? Stay tuned...

"Jeb Bush and an army of lobbyists for Big Sugar have pushed legislation through the Florida House and Senate which would seriously threaten the viability of the Everglades and may dismantle the federal-state partnership that has begun the process of saving the Everglades," Howard Dean said in a statement released May 8, 2003. "We must not allow the Everglades to be destroyed by politicians who kowtow to the interests of Big Sugar." The bill moves back by 13 years the deadline for when the system must be considered clean. Give em hell Howard!

Jim DeFede writes: "We are told the death of 5-year-old Zachary Bennett was an isolated incident. We are told this isolated incident does not represent the fine efforts of Gov. Jeb Bush and Jerry Regier, the Secretary of the DCF, to reform that troubled agency.... Zachary Bennett. Deondre Bondieumaitre. Kelton Wright. The DCF is once again the Department of Child Fatalities. Yet while these children were being left to die in the hands of unfit guardians chosen by the DCF, the agency's secretary, Jerry Regier, was mounting a witch hunt to fire six competent DCF employees because the grandmother of Republican FLA Sen. Rudy Garcia wasn't immediately escorted to the front of the line to receive her welfare benefits at a service center in Hialeah [Miami]."

"Steve Norton, a junior at Upper St. Clair High School near Pittsburgh, was looking for help with his honors class in American history. His topic was the Electoral College. And he thought he knew who could give him some sharp insights: ... Jeb Bush (R). So he wrote Bush for help. 'I am going to explain the pros and cons of the Electoral College,' he told Bush in a March 2 letter, 'using examples such as George W. Bush's election and compare the U.S. to other countries. Bush replied April 8, 'To help you with your research paper on the Electoral College, I have forwarded you [sic] letter to the Democratic National Committee (DNC) in Washington, D.C. The DNC will have all the information you need on The Electoral College'... The DNC wasn't surprised by the Bush referral. 'We understand why Governor Bush wasn't able to answer the student's question,' DNC Chairman Terence R. McAuliffe said. 'When you've got the Supreme Court, you don't have to understand the Electoral College.'"

"In the latest case of a youngster's falling through the cracks of the Florida child welfare system, a 5-year-old boy was beaten to death on Tuesday. His father, in whom the state had placed his care without a thorough check that would have disclosed a violent criminal past, has been arrested and charged with murdering him. The caseworker and the supervisor assigned to the boy's case both resigned today in the face of dismissal... The agency, the Florida Department of Children and Families, has been afflicted by problems that were first exposed after it lost track of a 4-year-old girl, Rilya Wilson, and did not notice that she was missing until 15 months later, in April 2002. She remains unaccounted for."

Tyler Bridges writes: "The Republican National Committee has launched an attack e-mail on each Democratic presidential candidate as he or she lifted his or her head above the battlements. Tuesday, it was U.S. Sen. Bob Graham's turn. As Graham makes his first campaign swing, the RNC sent out an e-mail to reporters using the party's most popular anti-Democratic line, calling Graham 'a tax-and-spend liberal in moderate's clothing'... Graham defended his record in a meeting with potential campaign contributors at a Silicon Valley law firm here, saying, 'I grew the economy by one million jobs while I was governor.' He also said the tax increases were needed to help pay for needed government programs.'" Consider that under Jeb Bush, Florida now has a $3 billion budget shortfall.

"Dozens of e-mails detailing a lobbying campaign by Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and his staff on behalf of Bacardi Ltd. have been filed with a U.S. trademark court as evidence of illegal 'political pressure' by the resident's brother. Havana Club Holdings S.A., a joint venture between Cuba and France's Pernod Ricard, is using the governor's e-mail traffic to try to convince three administrative law judges at the U.S. Trademark Trial and Appeal Board to reconsider a Jan. 21 ruling that Bush's one-sided contacts with U.S. Patent and Trade Office officials did not break any law. Federal rules prohibit ex parte communications on the merits of a case between interested parties and certain agency officials. The governor's e-mails flowed while the world's biggest rum maker and its Miami-based executives poured tens of thousands of dollars into the political war chests of Bush and the Florida Republican Party -- more than $200,000 since 1998, the Miami Daily Business Review reported in October."

"Janet Rehnquist, the daughter of Chief Justice William Rehnquist, is leaving her job as the Health and Human Services official who investigates fraud and waste in Medicare and a range of other social programs. Congressional officials are investigating Rehnquist's management decisions as the HHS inspector general, but Bush administration aides said she was not pushed out [yeah, right!] She delayed an audit of Florida's pension fund at the request of a top aide to Gov. Jeb Bush. The delay ensured that the audit would not be completed until after the November election, in which Bush won [STOLE!] a second term. Several top career staff members in Rehnquist's office either quit or said they were forced out. Rehnquist also kept a government handgun in her office, raising questions about whether she was authorized to have the weapon. In addition to Congress' GAO, Rehnquist's management is under review by the Integrity Committee of the President's Council on Integrity and Efficiency."

From NY Post: "Jeb Bush came to Spain looking forward to establishing trade ties, but ended up looking back to the violent past, mistakenly calling the country a republic. In the kind of gaffe for which his brother, George W., has been famous, the governor temporarily forgot King Juan Carlos II as he complimented Jose Maria Aznar, the prime minister whose title in Spanish is president of the government. 'I would like to finish by thanking the president of the Republic of Spain for his friendship with the United States,' Bush told reporters yesterday in fluid, Miami-accented Spanish. Spain has not been a republic since the 1930s, when Gen. Francisco Franco crushed Republican troops in the Spanish Civil War. His nationalist dictatorship, on paper a kingdom for most of its life, lasted until his death in 1975, when Spain became a constitutional monarchy.'"

Lucy Morgan writes for the St. Petersburg Times: "We're having a little environmental control problem in Tallahassee these days. The governor and other public officials we see every day want to control their environment by determining when -- and sometimes which -- reporters will be allowed to see and hear what they are doing. The governor's staff says they want 'a controlled environment,' so they strictly limited access to Bush for a recent round of interviews looking ahead to the new year. Sometimes access is so controlled that press aides start saying 'one more question' about the time reporters have asked the first question. Gone are the days when a public official faced reporters and answered all the questions we had. Instead they flee the room with reporters at their heels trying to get the answer to one last question. Sometimes their flight makes them look like mobsters running from a camera."

Frank Murkowski, recently elected governor of Alaska, appointed his own daughter to replace him in the Senate. This extreme version of "Bring your Daughter to Work Day" follows the pattern of nepotism from the White House and the Republicans in Congress. White House appointees include the daughter of Chief Injustice William Rehnquist; the son of Injustice Antonin Scalia; Dick Cheney's daughter and son-in-law; Colin Powell's son; the wife of Republican senator Mitch McConnell; and the sister of budget director Mitch Daniels. Judicial nominees include Sen. Jim Bunnings' son, Sen. Strom Thurmond's son, Rep. Chip Pickering's father (yes, that Pickering), Rep. Jim Ramstad's sister. As Jeb Bush prepares to run in 2008, it's plain as day: Republicans don't believe in democracy, but in hereditary aristocracy.

Peter Wallsten writes: "As if being a two-term governor of the fourth-biggest state isn't enough to put Bush in line for the presidency, this governor also bears the country's most successful political brand name, won reelection with a surprisingly wide margin and enters the second term with an office that -- because of his own handiwork and a series of constitutional changes -- has greater influence over more facets of state government than any previous incarnation. Those circumstances have led many to wonder if Bush is in the ideal position to succeed his brother, the president, as leader of their party in 2008 and therefore heir to the family throne as the third Bush to rule the White House... How Bush handles the second term -- with its looming budget crisis, near-certain deficits and an expensive constitutional mandate for smaller class sizes -- will say far more about his political dexterity than the first four years of robust budgets and easy tax cuts."

Marc Ash writes, "One lie in the great nest of lies that has become America since December 13, 2000 is that Al Gore 'ran a poor race.' The truth is that no Democrat who ever ran for anything, anywhere at anytime ever got more votes than Gore got in his bid to become our 43rd President. In fact only Republican Ronald Reagan in 1984 got more votes... Gore faced down a ruthless frontal assault by right wing extremists determined to destroy him at any cost. He withstood a litany of deliberately bad press, bought and paid for by corporate financiers looking for control of the federal government. He survived a treacherous backside assault by Ralph Nader. He even succeeded in preventing Jeb Bush and Katherine Harris from stealing the election in the state of Florida; in the end, Bush and his corporate backers had to enlist the aid of their right-wing allies in the U.S. Supreme Court. Not only did Al Gore not 'run a poor race,' he ran one of the greatest races this country has ever seen."

Bob Fertik writes, "In announcing his momentous decision not to run for President in 2004, Al Gore offered only a precious few words explaining why. For the millions of Americans who remain outraged over the 2000 election - and believe Al Gore deserves to occupy the office that was stolen from him by George W. Bush, his brother Jeb Bush, five Republican Justices on the U.S. Supreme Court, and the right-wing media led by FOX News - these few words were profoundly inadequate. Even more importantly, the reasoning behind those few words is historically wrong. In its usual fashion, the Republican media will not spend much time analyzing Gore's historic decision, and will instead turn its attention to the field of Democratic hopefuls [to] launch a campaign of personal destruction against each of these candidates. But for those of us who will never accept George Bush's theft of the Presidency, Gore's few words deserve a more thorough analysis."

A draft audit of Florida's pension fund would have been completed before Gov. Jeb Bush's re-election if federal investigators hadn't agreed to delays sought by his office, according to government documents provided Thursday to congressional investigators. Janet Rehnquist, the embattled head of the audit office, released the documents and said her decision to grant the delays "was based on the merits and not motivated by political reasons." Congressional investigators are trying to determine whether Rehnquist, the Health and Human Services inspector general and daughter of Chief Justice William Rehnquist, improperly delayed the audit - ensuring it wouldn't be completed before the president's brother won re-election last month.

"The General Accounting Office (GAO) began an investigation in October into charges that she has mismanaged the office [of the HHS Inspector General]. Among the allegations: that she forced out a number of senior career staff members, improperly kept a gun in her office and ran up questionable travel bills. She is also under fire for delaying an audit of a Florida pension fund at the request of a top aide to Governor Jeb Bush. Now, sources tell TIME, GAO investigators have discovered that documents potentially important to the inquiry have been shredded. The investigators are focusing on the possible destruction of notes, e-mails and memos written by top officials in Rehnquist's office. Rehnquist has denied that anything of significance was shredded, but the discovery prompted Rehnquist's general counsel to pen a Thanksgiving-week e-mail urging HHS staff to stop shredding."

"Jeb Bush, has been instrumental in securing the release from prison of militant Cuban exiles convicted of terrorist offences, according to a new book...[In] 1984...Jeb Bush began a close association with Camilo Padreda, a former intelligence officer with the Batista dictatorship overthrown by Fidel Castro. Jeb Bush was then the chairman of the Dade county Republican party and Padreda its finance chairman. Padreda had earlier been indicted on a $500,000 embezzlement charge along with a fellow exile, Hernandez Cartaya, but the charges were dropped, reportedly after the CIA stated that Cartaya had worked for them...The president's younger brother was also on the payroll in the 80s of the prominent Cuban exile Miguel Recarey, who had earlier assisted the CIA in attempts to assassinate President Castro...In 1985, Jeb Bush acted as a conduit on behalf of supporters of the Nicaraguan contras with his father." There's also Felix Rodriguez, who ran the Contra Supply operation for BushDaddy.

Palm Beach Post writes, "This year, Gov. Bush raised at least $10 million; that number will be higher when final reports come in. More important, the Republican Party of Florida raised at least $40 million, funneling a lot of that to the Bush campaign. Another $3.2 million came to the state party from the national GOP Senate fund, even though there was no Senate race in Florida. Where Mr. Chiles ran to limit the influence of money and signed laws to do so, Gov. Bush and his party revel in fund raising, saying they can't have enough money. So the question after Gov. Bush's victory is: If the people won in 1990, who won this year?...So whatever Gov. Bush declares to be his agenda for the next four years, the fact is that he and his party begin the new term in hock to a long list of political creditors. Their money was private; the payoffs will be public."

Campaign for America's Future writes, "In the mire of this week's election, a few remarkable stars were elected to Congress. Here are three new progressives whose energy, ideas and leadership will help transform this country in the years to come." Meet Chris Van Hollen (MD-8), who defeated veteran incumbent Connie Morella just outside Washington DC and thus became a national star... Raul Grijalva (AZ-7), who built a powerful grassroots movement in southwest Arizona... and Kendrick Meek (FL-17), whose sit-in at Jeb Bush's office in 2000 galvanized the black community to turn out a huge vote to elect Al Gore - forcing Jeb and Katherine Harris to steal the election.

Three cheers and about a million thumbs up - way, way up - for the Election Protection squads of the People for the American Way. These volunteers, in the trenches across the nation today, are helping to mitigate what could have been much worse voting disasters in areas where chronic disenfranchisement of voters is threatening the entire election system. As soon as reports came in that voters were once again having trouble in Miami-Dade County in Florida, the squads were on the site, calling election officials and demanding that improperly working machines - the ones registering Jeb Bush for every Bill McBride vote - be pulled from use.

BuzzFlash writes, "The following message is an actual 'Jim Crow' alert that NewsMax sent out on behalf of the 'Committee to Stop Bill McBride.' It reeks of racism and efforts to intimidate black voters, as if there were something wrong with black Americans voting. The Committee to Stop Bill McBride could not exist without the tacit support of Jeb Bush. The following e-mail typifies the Brown Shirt, thuggish tactics of the racist South before the era of civil rights. This is what the Republican party is all about, at its heart, returning America to the pre-Civil War days when blacks, needless to say, didn't have a right to vote... This is an organized party of thugs. When we finally get a Democratic administration in power again, the GOP and its surrogate 'Jim Crow' organizations should be prosecuted under the RICO act for trying to keep Americans from exercising their right to vote."

Miami.com reports: "Former Vice President Al Gore on Sunday urged black voters 'to walk through fire' to cast their ballots, testifying to his experience during the Florida recount of 2000. 'If anybody ever tells you that one vote doesn't make a difference, ask them to come talk to me,' said Gore… That line, repeated at three Orlando-area black churches, was met every time with applause and cries of approval. Democrats have long regarded black voters as a crucial part of their base, and Gore's appearance was intended to boost Democrat Bill McBride in his race against Gov. Jeb Bush - W's younger brother....'I want somehow to communicate to you how important I believe it is that you overcome any obstacle, external or internal, to get to the polls,' Gore said to a packed house at Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church. 'That you walk through fire, if it's necessary, in order to exercise that right to vote.'"

AP reports, "Three protesters sued this city and its police chief Friday for their arrest during a demonstration against George Bush and Gov. Jeb Bush... Janis Lentz, 56, Sonja Haught, 61, and Mauricio Rosas, 38, had their free speech rights violated and were unlawfully arrested at a public Bush rally June 4, 2001... The three took signs to the event calling for an investigation of the 2000 presidential election and reading 'June is Gay Pride Month.' Police told them to put away the signs or leave. When they refused and asked the officers why people with pro-Bush signs were allowed to stay, they were handcuffed and forcefully removed from the grounds... Rosas said he was dragged down two flights of stairs and left with scars. Haught and Lentz said they were bruised. Charges of disorderly conduct and trespassing against Haught were later dismissed, as was a charge of trespassing against Lentz."

"A Learjet belonging to the true owner of the Venice flight school that trained both terrorist pilots who flew into the World Trade Center was seized with more than 30 pounds of heroin onboard by Federal Agents in July of 2000 at the Orlando Executive Airport. Authorities at the time called it the biggest seizure of heroin ever found in central Florida. The seized plane belonged to [the secret owner of Huffman Aviation, Wallace Hilliard. At the same time these planes were flying heroin, Hilliard's charter service was also being used at virtually no cost by Jeb Bush. Even stranger, both Jeb Bush and Katherine Harris were providing celebrity endorsements to Hilliard's operation well after the company's Lear jet] had been busted by DEA agents armed with machine guns... One would think a sitting Governor seems well-advised to steer well clear of anything to do with heroin trafficking. Yet Governor Jeb Bush honored Hilliard's operation... with a personal visit, even posing for photos."

Investigative repoter Roses Prichard writes, "As in 2000, the withholding of information about the whistleblower lawsuit known as Funeralgate will be a major factor in the mid-term election. During the 2000 campaign, the media failed to inform the electorate that candidate George Bush was a defendant in a lawsuit brought by Eliza May, the fired executive director of the agency that regulated Texas's funeral homes. It accused him of lying under oath to conceal influence-peddling and obstruction of justice by the governor's office on behalf of a major contributor, funeral giant SCI, allegations germane to his promise to restore honor and integrity to the White House. This year the media has failed to inform Texans that one of Bush's co-defendants in the case, Attorney General John Cornyn, the GOP candidate for the U.S. Senate, used taxpayers' money to settle the case last fall - imposing an extraordinary provision that all records from the 2 1/2 year old lawsuit be kept secret forever."

John Kaminski writes, "What really determines elections is who counts the votes, and who counts the votes is somebody you probably didn't know, and if you did know them, you surely wouldn't trust them to count the votes. No government agency counts the votes. And the people who count the votes, who tell you who your next president is, have no government oversight, no audit, no official you have elected watching over them. The people who really count the votes are the media, more specifically a politically influenced cabal of minions bought and paid for by corporate tycoons who own the nation's major media outlets. These are the same people who don't think peace demonstrations are worthy of coverage, and who in the year 2000 got together and reviewed the data from Florida and then really wouldn't tell us what they found out. They'd only say ... 'Bush won,' just like the Supreme Court."

Ah, those Bushies! Always telling you they're in it for your best interests and other altruistic babble while they're busy robbing you blind. Poppy has Carlyle with the defense and telecommunications industries; Jeb took a $3 billion FL surplus and used it for giveaways to corporations and the wealthy; and now Neil, most notorious for his $1 billion Silverado Savings and Loan ripoffl, again wants to milk the taxpayers in a new educational software exploit. "A software company run by Neil Bush, brother of Gov. Jeb Bush, hopes to sell a program to Florida schools that students would use to prepare for the test that is key to the governor's education policy....(Dubya's) "Leave No Child Behind" law forces states to use testing as a measuring stick for schools..."I don't know where the money's going to come from for this....These districts are hard pressed to pay for chalk, let alone to put money in the pocket of the Bush family."

Shortly after the 2000 Election, Greg Palast reported on the Florida Voter Purge. Nearly 60,000 names were on the original lists, and more than a thousand predominantly minority and Democratic voters were wrongly removed from the rolls. The original lists included 8,000 names of individuals from Texas who were wrongly identified as having felony convictions. In May 2001, at the DNC Voting Rights Institute hearings in Florida, it was reported that a similar voter purge had been attempted in Texas in 1982. The Florida and Texas voter purges have one thing in common - Karl Rove. Long before the Supreme Court installed him in the White House, George W Bush appointed himself Commander in Chief - of a Criminal Conspiracy to Steal the Election.

Greg Palast writes, "In Dec. 2000, we reported that Florida's use of a faulty and politically questionable list of felons and dead people 'scrubbed' from voter rolls - half of them African-Americans - may have cost Al Gore the 537-vote margin of victory claimed by George W. Bush in Florida. [Now] Jeb is fighting to fend off a challenge from Bill McBride for the governor's race. The Nov. 5 face-off could again come down to thousands, if not hundreds, of votes... DBT Online... reports that if it followed strict criteria to eliminate those errors, [only] 3,000 names would remain - and a whopping 91,000 people would have their voting rights restored. Eventually the list will be fixed, state officials have promised, in accordance with a settlement with the NAACP in its civil rights suit against Florida following the 2000 election. But not until the beginning of next year - and after Jeb Bush's reelection bid is long over." Call talk shows and denounce Jeb's plans to steal ANOTHER election!

The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, united with the Million Mom March, has released its "Dangerous Dozen" list of 12 candidates for the United States Senate, U.S. House of Representatives, and state governorships whose election could make the difference between common-sense gun laws and laws that make it easy for children and criminals to get guns. Senate candidates: Wayne Allard (R-CO), Norm Coleman (R-MN), Doug Forrester (R-NJ), Gordon Smith (R-OR), Jim Talent (R-MO). Gubernatorial candidates: Jeb Bush (R-FL), Robert Ehrlich (R-MD), Mike Fisher (R-PA), Bill Simon (R-CA). House incumbents: Joe Baca (D-CA), Phil Crane (R-IL), Tom Delay (R-TX-22), Dennis Hastert (R-IL-4), Richard Pombo (R-CA-11). Cliff Stearns (R-FL-6) House challengers: Scott Garrett (R-NJ), Joe Knollenberg (R-MI), Dick Monteith (R-CA).

Bob Poe, chair of the Florida Democratic Party, received a telephone call Friday afternoon from someone urging him to cast his absentee ballot on Nov. 10 - five days after Election Day. The caller said he was from Bill McBride's gubernatorial campaign. Jeb Bush campaign denies all knowledge of the calls. Interfering with an election is a federal crime - we DEMAND prosecution!

Palm Beach Post editorializes: "When candidate Jeb Bush campaigned in 1998, he said, 'Florida can do better.' Thanks to the work of his Democratic predecessor, he inherited a budget surplus of roughly $2 billion. Florida was poised to do better, even to do great things. Instead, Gov. Bush squandered the surplus on tax cuts that have returned nothing for the state. Having made lower taxes for a few corporations and the wealthiest 4.5 percent of Floridians his priority, the governor provided slogans and gimmicks that he hoped would fulfill his campaign pledge. [Jeb] is resorting to ads that lie about almost every McBride position and jab frantically at every hot-button issue... This is the Jeb Bush who in 1994 falsely accused Lawton Chiles of blocking a child-killer's execution. The same Jeb Bush ran in 1998. He just used a different script. Once in office, however, he reverted to the ideologue of eight years ago, taking a wrecking ball to state government before he has a blueprint."

Columnist Matt Towery writes, "While the cumulative InsiderAdvantage tracking poll - which has surveyed Florida voters every day since Oct. 2 - has shown an ever-dwindling lead for Bush, the survey's latest weekly 'horse race' numbers show an unexpected development: Democrat Bill McBride now leads" by 49%-45%. "A Bush defeat in Florida would suggest to the nation - and to the White House - that the Bush name does not guarantee political invincibility. Absent concerns about homeland defense or Iraq, a popular candidate - be it Jeb Bush in 2002 or George W. Bush in 2004 - can quickly tumble if more pedestrian issues, like education or the economy, start edging to the fore... If these trends continue, [W] might have to make Florida his second home as Nov. 5 approaches. Such a strategy could cost Republicans elsewhere and be considered foolish and selfish" - in other words, quintessentially Bushian!

Jeb Bush thinks that he can hoodwink women into handing him the Florida election by feeding them bogus poll results, stuffing his campaign with figurehead women, and bragging about how many women he appointed to the FLA government. Yep, it's true, to court the female vote, Jeb DID appoint more women. As Democrats.com has reported, one of them is said to be Jeb's "close, personal friend." Another one helped him rig an election, and the others make embarrassingly less money for the same jobs done by males (for example, Judge Kathleen Kearney makes $113,000/year while her male successor, also a Bush appointee, gets $150,000). In addition, at a recent fundraiser photo op with "women supporters from all walks of life," nearly all were Jeb appointees, relatives, or GOP lobbyists. Real representative, eh? Course you also won't hear Jeb mention that FLA was recently ranked NUMBER ONE as the worst state in which to be poor and female.

CubanAmericanDemocrats.com reports: "Governor Jeb Bush continued to mislead Floridians on Thursday about his stance on benefits for disabled military veterans. In a(n)...interview with CNN's Judy Woodruff, Bush said, 'I do support concurrent receipt.' However, in a Sept. 18th letter...to Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI), Bush calls for continuation of unfair penalties on the retirement pay of 460,000 disabled veterans. McBride stands by all disabled veterans and sent a letter on June 27th to US Senators supporting their plan, which provides all disabled military retirees with full retirement pay in addition to their disability compensation. In his letter, Bush backed the House plan, which excludes more than 460,000 disabled veterans from receiving both their disability compensation and retirement pay (also known as 'concurrent receipt.')...'He has taken himself out of the Governor's race,' (said) Dan Pettigrew, National Legislative Director for the Uniformed Services Disabled Retirees."

Dan Hopsicker writes: "The airfield where Mohamed Atta and his terrorist cadre learned to fly has a long history of being used as a training base for paramilitary operations by federal authorities. [The Venice airport] has been utilized in covert U.S. operations since the earliest days of the Cold War...The federal activity continues to this day...What they're hiding down in Venice, Florida, is that Mohamed Atta came to be there at the behest of the people responsible for these operations. [According to local law enforcement, who loaded the flight school records on a C130 the day after 9/11, it flew out with Jeb Bush aboard.] The accumulating evidence in Venice of official and so far unacknowledged complicity in the presence in the US of Mohamed Atta and his terrorist cadre is a far more important issue than the proposed focus for the now halted independent 9/11 investigation."

CBS News reports, "With his brother in an unexpectedly tight battle for re-election as Florida governor, [Shrub] is topping off the state GOP's campaign coffers with another $1 million and dashing through Georgia to aid the top of the ticket there. The Florida gubernatorial contest has been a grudge match from the start, with Democrats hungry to avenge Al Gore's [stolen victory] there in 2000, a [theft] that cost him the presidency. A poll this week showed Gov. Jeb Bush in a statistical tie with Democrat Bill McBride, who defeated former Attorney General Janet Reno in last month's primary. A Bush loss would deeply embarrass [Shrub], and cloud his own prospects for re-election in 2004. The state carries a rich cache of 27 electoral votes in the next presidential election, up from 25."

Keith Epstein and David Wasson write: "Even as he courts Florida's veterans, Gov. Jeb Bush is lobbying Washington against immediately expanding benefits for 655,000 disabled military retirees, saying the plan is not 'fiscally responsible.' Compensation for disabled retirees is a key issue among American veterans who have been fighting for an end to a 19th century law that precludes them from collecting both retirement and disability pay. Veterans are the only class of federal employee for which such a prohibition exists. But Bush, in a Sept. 18 letter to the chairman of the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee, urged a much lesser benefit that would help just 168,000 disabled retirees, and only after a five-year phase-in. The issue, known to veterans as concurrent receipt, is politically sensitive. Republicans in Congress are stalling so Bush, expected to veto any new benefit, won't have to act before next month's elections." More Greed Over People (GOP)!

Sun-Sentinel columnist Stephen Goldstein writes, "Bushwhacked-Floridians are worse off than we were four years ago. Thanks to Jeb Bush's voodoo economics, smoke-and-mirrors education reforms, environmental poison pills and right-wing pandering, the state is in shambles. Florida needs regime change. Here are 24 reasons to vote the governor out of office on Nov. 5... In 1998, candidate Jeb asked you to give him four years, so he could create a better Florida. Many of you kept your end of the bargain; he didn't. 'Fool me once; shame on you. Fool me twice; shame on me.' -- the truth of the adage should not be lost on voters. Stop the bushwhacking: Whack Bush out of office on Nov. 5."

With only 19 days until Election Day, "Jeb Bush's only daughter was led away in handcuffs Thursday after [Circuit Judge Reginald Whitehead] sentenced her to 10 days in jail for violating the terms of her drug treatment program [after she was found with crack cocaine in her shoe while at the treatment center]... Bush was placed in the drug court system after she was accused of trying to use a fake prescription to buy the anti-anxiety drug Xanax in Tallahassee in January. [Shrub]'s niece has been undergoing treatment at the treatment center since February as an alternative to going through the traditional criminal justice system. Thursday's hearing was to determine if she could stay in her program or whether she would be returned to the regular criminal justice system for violating rules in the drug treatment program. Earlier this week, Whitehead had rejected a request from Bush's attorneys that the press and public be banned from her drug court proceedings."

Karen Hughes, Bush's nursemaid and chief Valkyrie, has proven that when the going gets tough, the nasty get nastier. Jackson Thoreau reports that Hughes is now trying to shore up her sagging boy by strongarming several key Texas campaigns, including those of John Cornyn (Senate), Rick Perry (governor) and David Dewhurst (Lt. Gov). "Karl Rove is also heavily involved in advising these campaigns," says Thoreau. "Bush & Co. do not want to lose a top Texas position to the Democrats, which would be seen as a huge SLAAAAPPPPP!! to Bush's face. Bush himself has wasted more public taxpayers' dollars by flying several times recently on Air Force One to Texas to campaign for Cornyn, Perry, and Dewhurst, rather than actually work on issues like the economy and national security." He leaves that to Dick Cheney and the Carlyle Group.

Until his surprise primary win over Janet Reno in September, Bill McBride was barely known in Florida. In head-to-head matchups with Jeb Bush, he trailed by 20-30%. But the 2 latest polls put McBride only 3% behind Jeb, which is within the margin of error, hence a statistical tie. Jeb's lesbian smear of Rilya Wilson's caregivers, and his claim to have a "devious" plan to sabotage a state constitutional amendment limiting public school class size, have given McBride momentum - the "big mo," as Poppy Bush used to brag. Florida Democrats are united and determined to dump Jeb. You go, McBride!

"A coalition of environmental groups criticized Gov. Jeb Bush...for the environmental achievement it once praised, the one he touts the most in his re-election campaign: restoration of the Everglades. Just two years ago, the Everglades Coalition gave Bush and his environmental chief, David Struhs, a Steward of the Everglades award. Now, the coalition says Bush is jeopardizing the $7.8-billion restoration plan. They say the state has refused to write tight rules to ensure that water goes to natural systems before it is used for agriculture and growth. The coalition includes 43 environmental groups, including the National Wildlife Federation, Sierra Club, National Audubon....Half of Florida's historic Everglades are gone. The restoration project aims to reverse years of diking, ditching and draining. But in crafting the project, government has to balance the needs of a complex natural system with water-hungry agriculture and thirsty cities on the fringe of the vast marsh."

Aaron McGruder is one of the premiere comic writers in America and a very outspoken critic of the Bush administration. McGruder had a story about Jeb Bush in his Sunday's strip, "Hello Jeb... I had a nightmare ... that your daughter broke into my house and stole my TV to feed her crack habit... " Read the rest, and check out the archives as well which indludes letters to Dubya about Iraq. It will surely make you smile!

Palm Beach Post writes, "A Florida Elections Commission member who urged the panel to investigate Dem Bill McBride owns a business that received $20,000 from the GHP, rents office space at state party headquarters and lists as one of his clients Gov. Bush. Richard Heffley, a lobbyist, also once had as a client Tidewater Consulting, whose president served as the GOP lawyer at the 8/15 hearing that reversed the FEC staff's finding that McBride had done nothing illegal. Heffley was one of 2 commissioners who pushed the panel to investigate television ads supporting McBride. Heffley did not disclose his financial ties to the GHP at the meeting. Ron Meyer, called the conflict of interest 'outrageous,' and said he would ask the FEC to remove Heffley from any further discussions... Campaign records show that Heffley's 'Strategic Direction' political phonebank received $20,654 from the GHP in 2001. Heffley said he hopes to receive more business from the party in the coming months."

Florida has the resources and location to be a veritable paradise. But under Jeb Bush, the state has gone downhill steadily and is now resembles tropical dictatorships like Nicauragua under the Somosa family. Miami is now the POOREST city in the nation, up four places since the 1990s - most of the loss coming during the Bush regime, at a time when the rest of the nation prospered. In Jeb Bush's Miami, 61% of all families headed by single women with young children live in poverty. Overall, one-third of all Miami residents live below the poverty line. Good job, Jeb - Slum Lord to the State of Florida. And just think, what Jeb Bush has done to Flordia in four years is just a HINT at what Bush may do the the entire U.S. if left unchecked for two more.

Something very strange occurred during Jeb Bush's latest debate with Bill McBride and some people seem to think that -GASP - Jeb cheated! Did Jeb Bush have the names of the "anonymous concerned citizens" as well as the nature of their questions before the debate, or has Jeb been hanging around at the psychic friends network? And how much time will the Republican media spend on this latest Jeb scandal, compared to the Harkin-Ganske tape or Streisand's Caesar hoax?

AP writes, "Drug rehabilitation workers where Gov. Jeb Bush's daughter is receiving treatment aren't required to answer police questions on whether Noelle Bush was in possession of drugs, a judge ruled Monday." The Bush family wins again. If this is the case, why was Daryl Strawberry's case any different than this one as he was sentenced back to jail for violating some of the rehab rules? Patients called the police about Noelle, and then they found crack/cocaine. Once again the Bush family is simply ABOVE the law. Where is the outrage???

Palm Beach Post reports: "Gov. Jeb Bush and the Republican Party have not reported as much as $221,000 in donated corporate airplane flights it provided his campaign, despite a state law requiring that such gifts be listed. Paradoxically, the full costs of the expensive flights are listed as donations to the state Republican Party, and GOP sources say those records are kept -- to the penny -- so Bush will know exactly how much help each company provided to his reelection campaign. The total value of the donated air travel exceeds the $50,000 limit for cash and 'in-kind' assistance his campaign is allowed to accept from the party. 'In-kind' contributions refer to services that are provided free, such as printing yard signs, providing meals or flying the candidate, and no money is exchanged.... In early September, Bush refused to acknowledge a Post reporter's question about his use of donated airplanes." Refused to answer? Defeat ALL Corrupt Republicans!

Writes Peter Hart for FAIR: "There's a valuable lesson here for Factor watchers: When O'Reilly is most certain, you should be most skeptical. On another show (2/26/01), O'Reilly explained to Florida state senator Kendrick Meek that, thanks to Gov. Jeb Bush's 'One Florida' program, 37 percent of students at Florida universities were black: 'Thirty-seven percent. That's much higher than the population, the black population, of Florida. Bush is doing a good job for you guys and you're vilifying him.' When Meek challenged those numbers, O'Reilly insisted they were 'dead on.' Dead wrong is more like it: Total minority enrollment for the freshman class entering in 2000 was 37 percent (Florida Times-Union, 8/30/00)-- black enrollment was about 18 percent." Read more examples of how O'Reilly has played fast and loose with statistics. "No-Spin Zone?" A viewer switching on O'Reilly's show should instantly think, "Know Spin Zone!"

W. David Jenkins III writes, "There's been a lot of talk during this past year over the fact that those dastardly terrorists hate us because of our freedoms. They are 'jealous' we've been told. They hate us because of who we are. They hate us for the way we live, the way we think, the way we love and for the way we wish to raise our children. The people who hate us don't like our tolerant ways. The fact that we wish to accept all religions, lifestyles and political differences drives those who hate us up the wall. We've seen these people on TV. We watch them on an almost daily basis plot against us -- and all that America stands for -- and we feel our anger build. And as we watch and listen to these hateful people, the nagging question keeps rearing its ugly head: What makes the Right Wing hate us so much?"

Jason Zengerle writes "For more than a year Bill McBride touted himself as the man who could fulfill Florida Democrats' wildest dream: He could beat Jeb Bush. 'I've sized him up,' McBride would say in his folksy drawl as he stumped for votes in the state's Democratic gubernatorial primary. 'I can take him.' A combat-decorated Marine, [McBride doesn't lack for confidence. Jeb Bush's attack ads confirmed] for Florida Democrats what McBride had been telling them all along: He could beat Bush... The potent synergy of public dissatisfaction with state education and Democratic animus toward Bush was on display when McBride addressed a meeting of the FEA... The teachers' union, of course, supports McBride -- [but] as much as the teachers like McBride, they detest Bush... One FEA member sported her own homemade pin: Jesus Loves You, Jeb. Everyone Else Thinks You're An Asshole."

"Should Noelle Bush be getting favorable treatment because she is the daughter of Governor Jeb Bush and niece of President GW Bush? Absolutely NOT! Why do the Bush girls think they are above the law? The answer is simple. They are NOT. Noelle, age 24, has either been involved or found guilty of; Impersonating a doctor to obtain drugs. Arrested for shoplifting lingerie in 1995 and paid a $305 fine. Perjured herself in a Florida court when she swore she had no prior arrests. Committed fraud by giving the Florida police a different Social Security number to try and cover up this crime. Received more than 12 traffic violations Four automobile crashes including one influenced by drugs Noelle Bush is not above the law. It's time to stop treating the powerful Bush family like they are royalty. Sign this petition that will go directly to the State Attorney Willie Meggs in Tallahassee, Florida (850-488-6701) We, the concerned citizens, demand that Noelle Bush be prosecuted for her crimes."

Democrat Steve Warren of Texas writes, "You have an unelected 'leader' who was placed into office through a rigged election and five members of a Supreme Court whom, in a normal and sane world, would all be impeached for their blatantly partisan ruling. The Bushies are even campaigning against you now saying Social Security 'privatization' was not a Republican idea, even though the words are there in black and white in their 2000 platform. You don't even seem to get irritated at that. Now, yesterday on the first day of Senate hearings the very first thing you hear is that intelligence indicating an attack here in the US using airplanes was coming to us from all sorts of places. How can you trust them about ANYTHING after that? Yet, the Democratic response is to seriously contemplate giving these men More Power?! Have you lost your ever lovin' minds? For all our sakes, find your damned spines, your honor, your duty and your patriotism."

Arianna Huffington writes, "I feel nothing but sympathy and concern for Noelle... I'm in total agreement with (Jeb's) insistence that his daughter's substance-abuse problem is 'a private issue.' But... the heartless stance the governor has taken toward the drug problems of those less fortunate and well connected than his daughter, my empathy turns to outrage... Her father has made it harder for others... to get the help they need by cutting the budgets of drug treatment and drug court programs... He (opposes) a proposed ballot initiative that would send an estimated 10,000 nonviolent drug offenders into treatment instead of jail... African-Americans make up only 13% of... drug users but 55% of those convicted of drug possession and 74% of those sent to jail on possession charges... If America's drug laws were applied consistently, Jeb Bush and his family would be evicted from their publicly funded digs, just as people living in public housing can be thrown out of their homes."

The Sunday Herald (UK) revealed that Bush had a plan in place to invade Iraq whether or not Saddam was the ruler as early as 2000 - plan formulated by the Project for the New American Century. This "project" calls for a grandiose, belligerent return to 1800s-style imperialism. Here is the original statement of purpose of PNAC. Look who signed this document, and you will find familiar names - in fact the names of all key Bush administration players and First Brother Jeb Bush. And, the chairman of the project? None other than William Kristol - playing the role today of chief inside operator in the media. Can anyone now doubt that the entire Bush administration amounts to a major conspiracy in and of itself?

Joe Citizen writes, "George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, John Ashcroft, Richard Perle, Paul Wolfowitz have all said that we must launch a preemptive attack on Iraq. Andrew Card will try to make a potential invasion look good to both public and (p)resident. He is lost without Karen Hughes... Karl Rove, Mark Racicot and Mitt Romney will want to make 'GOP patriotism', even more of a campaign issue than it was before. Newt Gingrich and Gary Bauer will help mobilize the right flank of their party. Ted Olson and Ken Starr will investigate and litigate, if there are any legal or constitutional issues. Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas will agree to hear their cases. Tom Delay, Dennis Hastert, Trent Lott, Phil Gramm, Mitch McConnell and Don Nickles will bring up bills in Congress in an attempt to appease the so-called opposition and convince the American public about the urgent need to invade... All want war - none served in the military."

"It was a Democrat, President Harry S. Truman, that had a sign on his desk that proclaimed, "The Buck Stops Here". Those simple four words define the ultimate responsibility for an executive in charge of a state, or the nation. Having observed Jeb Bush and Katherine Harris concerning two botched elections in the state, it's clear their motto is, 'Never miss an opportunity to Pass the Buck.' Let there be NO doubt that the supervisors of election in the 13 counties (No, not just Broward and Miami-Dade as the GOP are trying to spin it) that had issues in Florida deserve scrutiny and blame. But, the ultimate responsibility lies with Katherine Harris, who oversaw the changes after the 2000 Presidential election fiasco and was, until six weeks ago, Florida's Secretary of State, and, her boss, Governor Jeb. Harris' job was to ensure that a proper election was conducted in the state" writes Steven Lesar.

Turning back the clock, we saw a state that had a disastrous and corrupt election. Today we saw the same things. Florida did not open some polling places for 5 hours after the state law mandates it. Thousands of voters were turned away again. Jeb Bush has got to take responsibility for this. The second question is what was Katherine Harris doing for most of this year? Obviously she wasn't doing her job, and instead, she ran her own campaign while she should have been serving the people of Florida. She also failed to follow the law and she did not resign her position soon enough to run in the district she is now running in. Once again these people have no shame. The good people of Florida should immediately demand Jeb's resignation, and Harris should be disqualified for her clear incompetence and voter disenfrachisement. Do you really think it is a cooincidence that the main problem areas were Miami/Dade and Broward again? They must be practicing to steal the 2004 election for W.

Orlando Sentinel reports, "Gov. Jeb Bush's 25-year-old daughter was found with cocaine at an Orlando drug-rehabilitation center... Bush was not arrested because police could not obtain sworn statements signed by the center's staff. A worker who found the suspected cocaine on Noelle Bush tore up a sworn statement she had written at the suggestion of one of her bosses, police said... Police were called to the Center for Drug Free Living at about 8:45 p.m. Monday where workers gave them a substance that later tested positive for cocaine, Rolon said. Center staffers said they talked with Bush after receiving several complaints from residents about her... Employee Julia Elias searched Noelle Bush and 'found a small white rock-like like substance in Bush's shoe.' Elias ripped [up] a sworn statement that officers later collected as evidence." We demand uniform justice for all members of the most powerful family in America - including Jeb's eviction from public housing!

"DONAHUE: We also have a lot of Enron money going to Florida... PALAST: First of all, it’s another twofer. No. 1, Enron goes bust. The Florida state pension fund has lost 1/3 of a billion dollars. That’s more than any other state threw onto the Enron roulette wheel. A third of a billion dollars... DONAHUE: Because of its extraordinarily large investment in Enron stock. PALAST: Unbelievable investment in Enron stock. DONAHUE: 330 million, gone. PALAST: That’s right, 1/3 of a billion dollars. So what’s happened is the state of Florida is hunting for every Enron asset and for all the assets of Enron executives, to try to get back some of the money which is basically stolen from the pensioners of Florida. What happens 45 days after the money disappears into a hole in Houston? The governor of Florida, Jeb Bush, goes to the home of the ex-president of Enron and picks up a check for $2 million, a campaign contribution from a fund raiser held at the house of the ex-president of Enron."

Greg will be Phil Donahue's guest Thursday night, September 5, 2002 on MSNBC at 8 PM ET, 11 PM ET and 3 AM ET on Friday September 6. The topic will be Jeb Bush. Hear the investigative journalist who connected the dots to the Florida voter purge discuss the upcoming Florida gubernatorial race. Author of "The Best Democracy Money Can Buy" Greg Palast will also appear on Democracy Now! Fri Sept 6, 2002 9 AM ET with host Amy Goodman on Pacifica Network radio.

Lance deHaven-Smith writes: "Florida's 2002 gubernatorial election holds national significance, but not for the reasons most people think. The world will be viewing the contest as a follow-up to the disputed 2000 presidential election. Americans will want to see if the flaws in Florida's voting system have been corrected, and if the president's (sic) brother, Gov. Jeb Bush, can win a second term. But the upcoming election's true importance will not be what it says about election reform or the Bush administrations in Tallahassee or Washington. It's important because of what it will reveal about the Republican Party's viability in the face of an aging and increasingly diverse electorate. Demographically, Florida is a picture of America's future. If the Republicans lose Florida's governorship, it will mean that the Republican era initiated by President Eisenhower and solidified by President Reagan is beginning to fade."

Mark Silva writes that a TV advertising attack on Democrat Bill McBride and his campaign for governor could backfire on Jeb Bush. "Bush defended the GOP's intervention in the Democratic primary race, saying he thinks the TV attack ads had held down McBride's rise in the polls. [Analysts say McBride's TV ads are] largely responsible for his improved standing. Nine in 10 Democrats know who McBride is. But Bush's attacks also have boosted McBride's name recognition, while offering him a platform... 'I'm convinced that Bush's attacks on McBride have backfired, and Bush is in the process of potentially producing a very strong general-election challenger to himself,' said Larry Sabato, political scientist at the University of Virginia. 'Assuming McBride wins the nomination, Bush has taken a likely re-election and turned it into a nip-and-tuck battle... Bush has purchased himself an awful lot of trouble.'"

On Thursday (1 pm ET / 10 am PT) Meria will be interviewing Peter Buckley. Hear Peter's FIRST HAND account of being locked in a cage with other protesters during one of Bush's appearances in Oregon. To make it more impressive, this man is running for CONGRESS (www.meria.net). Greg Palast will be Phil Donahue's guest Thursday night, September 5, 2002 on MSNBC at 8 PM ET, 11 PM ET and 3 AM ET on Friday September 6. The topic will be Jeb Bush.

Salon's Anthony York writes that a Justice Department lawsuit against a former business partner of "Jeb Bush is raising new questions about yet another Bush's old business dealings... As one Florida Democratic operative puts it, the key to erasing Bush's double-digit lead over his potential Democratic challengers, former US Attorney General Janet Reno and Tampa attorney Bill McBride, is to tell the story of how Bush 'came to Miami with chickenshit, and turned it into chicken salad.' Bush has endured a long, hot summer of hideous headlines -- on everything from his daughter Noelle's drug conviction to the ongoing scandal at the state's social services agency. [So far, neither Reno nor McBride] has been able to use the bad news to gain traction against Bush. [That could change] if this latest Bush business scandal develops legs."

"Lawyers representing Florida's black voters in a federal voting rights lawsuit arising from the bitterly contested 2000 president election may be close to settling the case with the Florida secretary of state, two other state agencies and the election supervisors of Orange and Hillsborough counties... The plaintiffs seek a range of remedies to ensure registered black voters are not prevented from voting in the future," but did not seek punishment for the crimes committed by Katherine Harris, Jeb Bush et al in 2000. "The lawsuit claims that there were a disproportionate number of ballots in black precincts without votes counted for the presidential election. It also claims that black voters were wrongfully purged from the official lists of eligible voters, voter registration applications of black voters were not processed properly, and registered black voters encountered unjustified barriers to voting at their precincts."

The South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports: "The Florida Department of Corrections is investigating an error that may have disenfranchised a number of eligible voters in four counties in the past four years. A handful of probation officers in Broward, Monroe, St. Johns and Orange counties relied on an unofficial document to instruct offenders on probation that they've lost certain civil rights, even if the offenders had their adjudication withheld as part of a plea agreement. That instruction was false... The error incensed local political and community leaders still sensitive to the issue of disenfranchised voters... At this point it remains unknown whether the 44 probation officers gave the wrong information to enough offenders before the 2000 election to have influenced its outcome.'" Just one more reason to defeat Jeb Bush!

Why would Bush gut a Clinton rule to cut tax evasion by foreigners living aboard? "On the surface, the move appears to be a favor to Florida and Texas bankers who profit greatly from Latin American expatriates. [Jeb Bush lobbied the administration for the change. But this] sop to the Bush Brothers' home states has deeper - more Machiavellian - implications going to the very heart of the offshore tax haven debate currently underway... The IRS estimates that the US Treasury loses at least $70 billion a year to offshore corporate tax havens... Others put the cost much higher, at around $200 billion a year. [Clinton supported a treaty to close the offshore tax havens.] Conservative Republicans stymied those efforts... and hope to kill them entirely now, though they can no longer do so openly." And -- Bill Simon lost the lawsuit to a former partner -- who is a convicted drug smuggler. GOP family values at work.

"Florida's 'resign to run' law requires that elected officials seeking another office submit a letter on the day of qualifying for the upcoming race stating when they intend to resign... [Katherine] Harris, whose office enforces state elections law, said she did not realize that the law applied to her because" - well, she's a REPUBLICAN, just like George Bush and Dick Cheney! "So today, Ms. Harris, the official who made so much of 'following the letter of the law' during Florida's botched 2000 presidential election, resigned as secretary of state in a letter to Gov. Jeb Bush dated Aug. 1, but she said her resignation was effective July 15" - ONCE AGAIN illegally reinterpreting Florida law to benefit HERSELF! Of course, Harris insists her crimes are perfectly legal, and she should not be jailed or thrown off the ballot. But when Palm Beach missed a deadline set by Harris, she THREW OUT THEIR VOTES! Katherine Harris is a career criminal - lock her up and throw away the key!!!

Alan Bisbort writes: "We are currently employing Vietnam-like strategies in Afghanistan (bomb the hell out of an area, sort through the dead, tally how many were actually combatants) and are on the brink of going to war in Iraq, where an unimaginable scenario involving biological, chemical and nuclear weapons is entirely possible…Vietnam: it was a horrible, tragic, terrible, godawful mistake that was begun on a fake pretext… Among those who are rattling their sabers for war… most if not all were of age during the Vietnam War (but) "had other priorities." In addition to… Cheney, these hypocrites include Trent Lott, Tom Delay, Dick Armey, Phil Gramm, Andrew Card, Don Evans, Harvey Pitt, Paul Wolfowitz, Antonin Scalia, Bob Barr, Ken Starr, Jeb Bush, Pat Buchanan, Spencer Abraham, Rudy Guiliani, Mitch McConnell, Dennis Hastert, Don Nickles, Rush Limbaugh (he got out due to "anal cysts"), Marc Racicot ("psoriasis"), Tommy Thompson, Brit Hume and Dan Quayle." Plus AWOL Bush!

Jeb "arrived in Miami in 1980 so broke that he used his American Express card to pay his MasterCard bill is now worth $2.4-million...He tapped his father's Washington connections to recruit help for some questionable businessmen, including one felon who remains a fugitive wanted by the FBI. He embraced business deals that have prompted lawsuits alleging mismanagement, stock manipulation and special treatment...Bush also made money working on land deals with former CIA staffer [Richard] Lawless, who represented Asian buyers. The two began a series of real estate ventures in 1989 through a flurry of private companies...Lawless created U.S. Asia Florida, among other shell companies. Lawless...was widely reported...to be linked in 1988 to efforts to free U.S. hostages in Lebanon. Though it was denied at the time by the Reagan administration and Lawless, the U.S. intelligence officer was reported to be acting as an emissary between then-Vice President Bush and the government of Iran."

Tyler Bridges writes, "A man suing a one-time business partner of Gov. Jeb Bush's in a Nigeria water-pump sale that went awry amid allegations of bribery wants to call Bush as a witness in the case whenever it goes to trial, an attorney confirmed Monday. In a related development, the governor said Monday he does not want a federal judge to seal records in the case, as his former business partner, J. David Eller, is seeking, If the judge does not seal the records, any pretrial deposition that Bush gives could become public... Democrats are hoping the legal case will force Bush to answer a question he has never fully addressed: What did he do to earn the $648,250 paid to him by Eller when Eller bought Bush's share of a different company, Bush-El Trading, in 1994?"

The New Hampshire Gazette has published The Chickenhawk Database. "A chickenhawk is a term often applied to public persons - generally male, who (1) tend to advocate, or are fervent supporters of those who advocate military solutions to political problems, and who have personally (2) declined to take advantage of a significant opportunity to serve in uniform during wartime'... Topping the list are George W Bush, who was mostly AWOL in the Texas National Guard, and Dick Cheney, who had 'other priorities.' [Most Bushies make the Chickenhawk list -- Andrew Card, Karl Rove, Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Perle, and John Ashcroft. Warlike Members of Congress include Trent Lott, Dick Armey, Bob Barr, Tom DeLay, Phil Gramm, and Dennis Hastert. Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas make the list. Also Florida Gov. Jeb Bush. Newt Gingrich. Rudy Guiliani. Charlton Heston.] 'Anal cysts' kept Rush Limbaugh from the fray."

"Intimate Treasures, a sex shop in the resort town of Fort Walton Beach...received a low-interest, 25-year loan for $410,250, guaranteed by George W. Bush's Small Business Administration (SBA). Why?... Intimate Treasures possesses one attribute that makes it a highly attractive destination for federal dollars: It's located in Florida...According to a report in The Palm Beach Post last year, the Bush brothers' political advisers hold a joint weekly conference call to discuss Florida strategy and how Washington can help Tallahassee...And the new pots of federal money come with remarkable frequency...the White House has sent Washington dollars to buttress the three primary themes of Jeb's reelection effort: education, homeland security, and the environment. 'If you want to do a new initiative, and you want to get funding for it, you better show how it's going to help a state that was close in 2000, like Florida. Obviously, the word is out to help Jeb any way you can.'"

During the Florida recount, "John Bolton, [now] undersecretary of state for arms control, [burst] into a Tallahassee library on behalf of the Bush-Cheney campaign to stop a recount of Miami-Dade County ballots. Matt Schlapp, a former congressional aide, is currently White House special assistant to the president and deputy director of political affairs. In November 2000, he was part of the supposedly spontaneous window-pounding protest at Miami-Dade County Hall that brought to an end the first recount of Miami-Dade ballots. Sue Cobb, a Coral Gables developer, today is the U.S. ambassador to Jamaica. Twenty months ago, the generous Republican donor volunteered... as part of the legal team that contested recounts in Miami-Dade. [These three] are among more than 50 political appointees found by The [Miami] Herald to have served as troops in the frantic Florida recount battle that followed the Nov. 7, 2000 election." Impeach Bush Now!

Here is an amazing post from the Seminole (FL) Republicans Discussion List. Republican Ishah Wright wanted to run against Corinne Brown (D-FL). But she was forced to drop out last week after receiving threats from fellow Republicans. "What made me decide to withdraw finally was when , on Friday, people high up in the JAX GOP said that they would put cocaine in my car if I continued to run. They said they own the police and FBI. I do have reports in with Seminole County Sheriff, Florida Dept. of Law Enforcement, and the FBI." We demand an investigation by Attorney General Bob Butterworth!

Jack McCarthy writes "I'm glad I'm not alone in believing that Jeb Bush is more vulnerable than some would like to admit. [Mr W's political Rasputin, Karl Rove], put Florida in the same column as nine other states that the Bush political operation consider to be in trouble this fall... Although recent polls show Jeb with a sizeable lead, his negative ratings have gone from a low 15 to a present day 35 percent. Polls similarly show that despite a post 9/11 blip in approval ratings, a majority of Florida voters give Jeb an F+ for his education plan... A credible candidate, who can articulate the case against 'What Jeb Bush has done to Florida,' should have no trouble closing the gap on this less than beloved governor."

"Led off by state Sen. Kendrick Meek, speakers at a daylong session in downtown Miami complained the state had not provided enough funds or time to educate voters about the new equipment or address accessibility issues for disabled voters and those not proficient in English language. They predicted that new polling procedures and redistricting changes will create major problems in the upcoming Sept. 10 primary, when 41 of Florida's 67 counties will be required to use new voting equipment... In her opening statement, [Civil Rights Commission Chair Mary Frances] Berry said the commission had invited Gov. Jeb Bush and Secretary of State Katherine Harris... to give a first-hand update on the reforms. But none of them appeared. 'The commission is especially disappointed that Bush declined to join us, and did not send a representative because of his earlier statements that he would cooperate with this commission and would do so without a subpoena compelling him to do so,' Berry said. "

"A Miami lawyer who could become the Florida Supreme Court's first Hispanic justice is under fire for his ties to a militant anti-Castro activist once accused of plotting to blow up a Cuban airplane. A Miami radio host is exhorting listeners to call Gov. Jeb Bush to complain about Raoul Cantero, one of five finalists for an open seat on the high court, because he once helped represent Orlando Bosch. Bosch was held in a Venezuelan jail for 11 years on charges of masterminding the October 1976 bombing of a Cuban airliner that killed all 73 people on board. Later acquitted, he arrived in Miami, where lawyers, including Cantero, eventually were able to secure his residency after he served time in federal prison. He left prison in 1990 and remains a controversial figure." In 1990, the BushDaddy ordered the release of Bosch at the urging of Jeb, which the Bush gang traded for Florida votes in the '92 election (See Online Journal, 3/1/01).

AP writes, "Gov. Jeb Bush wants Floridians to elect their first woman governor ... 'It's about time a woman became governor of the state of Florida,' Bush told 300 female high school seniors. The girls, who were in the House chambers taking part in a mock Legislature, roared their approval. So did the Janet Reno campaign. 'We couldn't agree more,' said Reno spokeswoman Nicole Harburger. 'Careful what you wish for, Mr. Governor.'"

On September 7, four days before 9/11, Jeb declared Florida a State of Emergency because of a terrorist threat. We have learned since then that nearly all of the pilots of the planes lived (at some point) in Jeb's state, including Jose Padilla. Also, there was a soldier from Fort Stewart who tried to detonate explosives near a power plant (by the way, he was released with a slap on the wrist- hmmm a CIA operation?) Now we learn that another Florida man, Safraz Jehaludi, had plans to blow up a Florida power plant and the White House.

Writes Nancy Kuhn: "The purpose of this letter is to bring to the attention of this commission an outline of the very extensive and strong evidence that Democrats.com is compiling in our extensive investigation of the 2000 Presidential election in Florida and to relate this evidence to the issues outlined in the commission's press release that announced this 6/20/02 hearing in Miami."

"In a lawsuit filed in Tallahassee, two businesswomen say the Bush administration stole their idea for creating a user-friendly state budget that could be accessed on the Web. Keystrokes, program features and the entire concept for placing the phonebook-sized state budget on the Internet were pilfered during meetings the women had with state officials, the suit contends. The women say they are victims of intellectual-property theft, conducted by the governor's budget director in concert with top House and Senate budget officials. 'All they did was pick our brains for two years and then designed their own system,' said Anna Mattson, a former longtime state budget systems expert whose company, GroupThink, has filed the suit in Leon County Circuit Court. 'They just weren't going to let two little old ladies make any money off them,' she added."

Tom Edsall writes, "Key Democratic senators contended yesterday that the Justice Department did not address the most politically sensitive issues in the 2000 presidential election in Florida, particularly allegations of illegal purges of voter lists and the denial of voting rights to minorities... The Democrats' complaints were prompted by a [letter to Pat Leahy from Ralph Boyd, the assistant AG] for civil rights. Boyd wrote that there were 'very few voters who actually were prevented from voting' in Florida. [The Justice Department charges do not involve Katherine Harris, whom many civil rights leaders and Democrats accused of encouraging voting-rights denials, by hiring a firm that produced a controversial list of voters to be purged]. 'This investigation seems to be more about wallpapering over the troubling records of [Jeb Bush and Katherine Harris] than it is about seriously addressing what happened in Florida,' said Jenny Backus, [Gore's spokeswoman] during the Florida recount."

Dian Hardison is a former NASA scientist who has been lauded as a "pioneering" woman of science. However, since going against the Bush Reich, Hardison's life has become a nightmare. First she was fired, now she has been arrested as a terrorist - for accidentally getting foot powder on her water bill! Her real crime - speaking out against Bush. Is Hardison the first of a mass roundup of dissenters under Ashcroft's "new guidelines?"

As mentioned in "Smoking Gun 2 & 3," the Bush administration had PLENTY of information that would lead them to believe the Pentagon was at high risk of a terrorist attack, especially in the summer and fall of 2001. Yet while the Bush administration and its pals were maneuvering into the safest possible positions, the folks at the Pentagon (and the workers and "expendable" CEOs at the WTC, of course) were left to their fate, no warning given to them at all. What's wrong with this disturbing picture?

"In 2002, with the U.S. Supreme Court nothing more than a useful machination of the Bush regime, it seems likely that if Americans become subjected to a Bush declaration of martial law, any challenge to it would fail miserably... In 1992, Bush the Elder issued Executive Order 12804 in response to the Los Angeles riots... That event would expose the CIA's penchant for selling drugs to inner city youth to raise funds for U.S. government covert operations in Central and South America... [Bush's underling] Oliver North came up with a secret plan, along with the fascist-oriented FEMA (the key-masters for the doors to the bunkers), to declare martial law in the event of a 'national crisis,' including 'violent and widespread internal dissent or national opposition to a U.S. military invasion abroad.' Florida's provincial ruler Jeb Bush signed Executive Order 01-262 on September 11, 2001 declaring a State of Emergency in Florida." So write John Stanton and Wayne Madsen in a chilling analysis.

Greg Palast's continuing reports on the Florida felon purge "are devastating: disclosing e-mails and internal Florida state documents indicating that Harris' office KNEW the purge swept away the civil rights of innocents - and changed the outcome of the election. Counsel for the US Civil Rights Commission has said that Palast's reports provided, "The first hard evidence of systematic violation of civil rights.... Palast says, 'The US Justice Department's suit is a sham - the beneficiaries of the voting disaster, Bush's agencies, have figured out a way to do the least possible political damage to candidates Katherine Harris and Jeb Bush. They have aimed their fire at blameless county officials when the disaster was created in Tallahassee - a disaster for Black voters, though a blessing to the highly partisan Secretary of State's office. I fear this is an attempt to undercut the suit by the NAACP against Harris and others more directly responsible.'"

Tom Edsall of the Washington Post writes, "The Justice Department's intervention in three Florida counties, which it accuses of violating voters' rights in the 2000 presidential election, deals mainly with would-be voters who needed 'language assistance,' according to letters released by the counties. Some civil rights groups complained yesterday that the inquiry should tackle a more controversial issue: Florida's purge of voter registration lists, which allegedly denied many minority voters access to the ballot box in November 2000... Anita Hodgkiss, director of the voting rights project for the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights [said] the inquiry also should address the 'statewide purging of voters,' -- an issue that might draw Gov. Jeb Bush [R-crook] and Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris into the voting rights litigation."

The Republicans - led by Jeb Bush, Katherine Harris, and Clay Roberts - stole the Florida election by disenfranchising thousands of African-American voters. Their primary tool was the intentionally fraudulent "felon" purge, in which African-Americans were disproportionately included. It was a "high-tech lynching," to quote Supreme Injustice Clarence Thomas (from the Anita Hill hearings), a 21st-century version of Jim Crow laws that disenfranchised Florida's black voters for a century after Reconstruction. The Justice Dept. recently announced legal action against 3 Florida counties, but 2 of those - Miami-Dade and Osceola - focus on language problems facing immigrants. If there is NO JUSTICE over the felon purge - including CRIMINAL PROSECUTIONS - there will be NO PEACE - at least from Democrats.com!

How many ways has Jeb broken the 10 commandments? Let us count the ways. Jeb STOLE the Presidency for his brother George. Jeb LIED about not being involved in the theft of the Presidency. Jeb committed ADULTERY with Cynthia Henderson. Jeb puts the GODS of money and power before Jehova. Jeb makes the Republican elephant into an IDOL. Jeb forgets the SABBATH every week. Jeb COVETS everything that belongs to his neighbors. And we haven't even touched the Seven Deadly Sins. Hey Jeb, before you judge the souls of 100 million other Americans, don't you think you should examine your OWN sin-ridden soul?

We're as sympathetic as anyone to the tragic plight of Noelle Bush. But how can we fail to be outraged by her father's unbelievable hypocrisy? "Gov. Jeb Bush broke down and cried in a speech Tuesday as he thanked an audience of law enforcement and drug prevention professionals for their sympathy following his daughter's drug arrest earlier this year." Jeb pulled strings to keep Noelle out of jail: "Under a pretrial agreement between her lawyer and prosecutors, she entered an in-patient drug rehabilitation center, where she remains indefinitely." But Jeb has the GALL to oppose a "constitutional amendment in Florida that would have let certain first- and second-time drug offenders avoid jail and go to treatment" - he even called the measure's supporters "clowns."

Linda Kleindienst and John Kennedy write in the South Florida Sun Sentinel, "Florida legislators appear eager to approve a lucrative tax break sought by the state's biggest corporations but are less likely to relieve crowded classrooms when they return to the Capitol today for a two-week special session. The $262 million tax cut, which would allow 'bonus depreciation' on new equipment purchases, has been lobbied hard for weeks by Gov. Jeb Bush and Florida's most powerful businesses. It looks almost certain to win approval, even as legislators scramble to pull together cash for schools, social services and environmental programs that were hit hard by December's recession-driven budget cuts." Let's beat the Bushes!

According to the Orlando Sentinel, "The Republican Party, airing costly new TV ads touting Gov. Jeb Bush's concern for public schools, filmed its commercials in a private Christian academy. Bush wanted to avert criticism for campaigning in a public school, both the state GOP and the governor's campaign say, so he filmed the ads picturing him with children at Florida Christian School near Miami. But Bush's move has only invited criticism from Democrats challenging his commitment to public education. 'The only refuge for him is the private schools,' said Tony Welch, a spokesman for the Florida Education Association teachers union, which has endorsed a Democratic rival to Bush. 'It's so fitting. We see this ad as fantasy.'... Opinion polling has targeted education as the runaway concern among voters, and surveys show few voters credit Bush with improving the public schools since his election in 1998." That's because Jeb was way too busy disenfranchising voters and stealing the Presidency!

According to the St. Petersburg Times, "Jeb Bush's former business partner, prominent Republican contributor J. David Eller, twice flew suitcases of cash to offshore tax havens to hide his assets, the U.S. Justice Department contends in a lawsuit. The lawsuit also says Eller's MWI Corp., a Deerfield Beach water pump manufacturer, improperly used more than one-third of a $74.3-million U.S. loan to pay a Nigerian agent for the company. In turn, that agent and other company officials paid Nigerian government officials involved in buying MWI's pumps... The allegations of wrongdoing by MWI track the period when Bush worked for an affiliated company promoting the company's equipment overseas. A Bush spokeswoman, Katie Muniz, said Friday that the governor was unaware of any wrongdoing by MWI and that the absence of any reference to Bush proves what he has said for years: 'He had nothing whatsoever to do with the alleged wrongdoing of MWI.'" Why is EVERY Bush deal surrounded with corruption???

"The latest crime of the stolen 2000 Presidential election is blaming the victim of the stolen election - Al Gore - for the numerous illegal acts committed by the Bush campaign and its surrogates in their broad daylight theft of the Presidency. Both the evidence that Democrats.com has collected in its extensive investigation of the stolen election, and the election laws and procedures of the state of Florida, prove this 'blame the victim' attack to be totally wrong." So writes Nancy Kuhn.

"A 17-month-old foster child in Duval County is beaten and then drowned in the bathtub. Her foster mother is arrested. Four young children say they were sexually abused in a Lake Mary foster home. Two people, including their foster mother, are arrested. Is the Florida Department of Children & Families doing a good job monitoring foster homes? An internal audit released to the Orlando Sentinel makes clear the answer to that -- at least in Central Florida -- is no. Local administrators are so hampered by sloppy and incomplete paperwork that they cannot tell in three out of every 10 cases whether foster parents are capable of handling the abused and neglected children the agency gives them. Staff sometimes skip out-of-state criminal checks, often leave safety concerns unaddressed and sometimes let experienced foster parents watch television talk shows and count that as continuing education." So reports the Orlando Sentinel.

Here is yet another Jeb Bush privatization scheme that has brought about disaster - this time to abused kids. "Amid mounting allegations of shoddy work and falsified records, the state Thursday canceled multimillion-dollar contracts with a Pinellas Park company it hired to investigate child abuse cases. The move is a blow not only to the nonprofit company, but also to state Department of Children and Families Secretary Kathleen Kearney, who just last week proudly recounted in an interview how rapidly the department had cut its backlog of abuse cases. The cancellations mean that already overworked state and local investigators are likely to get even higher case loads as the department severs ties with the company that had investigated more than 10,000 cases the department was too busy to manage." The Bushes think families can be strengthened through empty rhetoric, rather than economic assistance and well-managed public services. Where is the outrage???

According to the Miami Herald, "Hundreds of Bill McBride supporters have been 'spammed.' The spam artist is none other than the e-governor himself -- or, rather, his reelection campaign manager. In an e-mail sent to people who had signed up to receive electronic updates from McBride, the Tampa lawyer who is seeking the Democratic nomination for governor, Gov. Jeb Bush's campaign manager urges people to consider voting for her boss. The spam was sent to some 300 users, much to the horror of McBride strategists who were at a loss to explain how the Bush campaign obtained their list. 'In e-mail etiquette, this is a no-no,' said Robin Rorapaugh, McBride's campaign manager. 'I think this is dirty pool.'" Just one more reason Florida voters should crush Jeb.

According to the Washington Post, "The Supreme Court ruled today that public housing authorities around the country may evict tenants because members of their households, or guests, are using drugs, even if the evicted tenant was unaware of the drug use." So will Jeb be evicted for Noelle's illegal drug use? If Florida's housing bureaucrats don't do it, the voters of Florida will!

Under the headline "The Stolen Election in Zimbabwe," the NY Times denounced the "ugly travesty" of an election in Zimbabwe. Is there anyone on the planet who can read this editorial without being reminded of the Stolen Election in Florida - aided and abetted by the Times, compounded by the Big Lie headlines following the recounts that PROVED Gore Got More? Let's all write the Times asking that they show the courage of their "convictions" and tell George Bush to resign because of the "deeply flawed" election in Florida! And ask them to report the story they've completely buried: that Katharine Harris/Jeb Bush ordered the purge of ex-felons and people with names similar to felons - to reduce black votes. If the Times can agonize over Clinton taking gifts with him from the White House, they can break their silence on the Bushies stuffing votes in the trash. Let's flood them with letters - if they get several thousand, maybe they'll print one (letters@nytimes.com)

Jeb's administration has been rocked by one scandal after another - but none of them ever appear in the state's news media, thanks to incestuous business relations between the media owners and the Bush organized crime family. Here's a quick review of several of Jeb's scandals - Jeb's affair with Cynthia Henderson, Noelle Bush's repeated drug offenses, and Enron's theft of $334 million from Florida's pension fund. But that's just the tip of the iceberg - Jeb's lies about his relations with Ken Lay, his giving the finger to Clearwater protesters, Florida's criminal purge of LEGAL voters, the Menorah Gardens Funeralgate scandal, and on and on - just type "Jeb" into our .compass search engine for Jeb's complete criminal record.

In an online chat with members of Democrats.community, investigative journalist Greg Palast shared his trademark humor - and some intriguing revelations as well. Palast discussed his new book, "The Best Democracy Money Can Buy." which covers the broad range of Palast's work. Topics include the Stolen Election (Palast uncovered Katherine Harris' Fraudulent Felon purge) ... Bush's interference with FBI efforts to trace Al Qaeda's roots in Saudi Arabia ... and Enron's criminal manipulation of California electricity prices. Palast's most dramatic revelation was that he has videotape proving that George W. Bush LOBBIED for Enron in 1988 - 6 years BEFORE he says he "really got to know" Bush! Stay tuned for an EXPLOSION when Greg reveals the videotape.

"A top aide to [Florida] House Speaker Tom Feeney tried to delete e-mails about state and campaign business from her computer last week as reporters requested copies of them. Bridgette Gregory's e-mails were believed to have been recovered intact, Feeney spokeswoman Kim Stone said. Feeney's office also acknowledged Wednesday that the state Republican Party has begun paying the bills for about a half-dozen state cell phones his staff uses. The Palm Beach Post Feb. 7 requested copies of Gregory's state cell phone records from August through Feb. 6. Stone last week provided records from August to early September that showed Gregory called lobbyists on her state cell phone who have since pledged their support for Feeney. He is expected to seek a congressional seat this year." So reports Palm Beach Post reporter S.V. Date - who was BARRED from the House floor by Feeney for his "aggressive" pursuit of Bridgette Gregory to question her. WHOSE Florida is it???

Florida's state pension fund lost $328 million on Enron stock - much of which was bought AFTER Enron began disclosing its massive problems in October 2001. The investment manager who lost all of this money was Alfred Harrison of Alliance Capital. Was Harrison trying to prop up Enron's stock, and did Jeb Bush let him? Harrison met with Enron's top executives at least 10 times - was he conned or bribed? Jeb denies any involvement, but Jeb's appointees oversaw the investments - including Coleman Stipanovich, brother of 'Mac' Stipanovich – the Tallahassee lobbyist who masterminded Katherine Harris' theft of Election 2000. (The NY Times left Stipanovich's name out of its story - e-mail wayne@nytimes.com to ask why.) We demand a Special Prosecutor!

Here's a deal that will make you laugh - if you live OUTSIDE of Connecticut. Enron conned the Connecticut Resources Recovery Authority into handing over $220 million in CASH in return for an IOU of $2.4 million per month until 2012. Where is the collateral, you ask? Don't bother asking - this was a REPUBLICAN deal, approved by Gov. John G. Rowland's Chief of Staff, Peter Ellef, who also serves as chairman of the trash authority. We'll add Rowland to the ever-growing list of Republicans whose careers will go down the tubes with Enron - joining Jeb Bush (FL), Rick "Goodhair" Perry (TX), and ultimately the Commander-in-Thief Himself.

Citing Florida Gov. Jeb Bush’s strong ties to Enron and his extensive entanglements with the company, Public Citizen called on Bush to recuse himself from all actions relating to investigations into the state pension fund's losses in Enron stocks and bonds. The organization also called on Bush to refrain from taking an active role in any lawsuits against Enron, Arthur Andersen or other entities related to Enron. In a letter sent to Bush, the consumer advocacy organization urged Bush to disclose all his contacts with Enron executives since he was elected governor and to tell the public whether he knew anything about Enron's shaky financial condition when the pension fund was buying Enron shares last fall that were plummeting in value. Public Citizen also asked Bush to outline what steps he plans to take to shield the pension fund from a similar loss in the future.

"Should Noelle Bush be getting favorable treatment because she is the daughter of Governor Jeb Bush and niece of President GW Bush? Absolutely NOT! Why do the Bush girls think they are above the law? The answer is simple. They are NOT. Noelle, age 24, has either been involved or found guilty of: Impersonating a doctor to obtain drugs. Arrested for shoplifting lingerie in 1995 and paid a $305 fine. Perjured herself in a Florida court when she swore she had no prior arrests. Committed fraud by giving the Florida police a different Social Security number to try and cover up this crime. Received more than 12 traffic violations. Four automobile crashes including one influenced by drugs Noelle Bush is not above the law. It's time to stop treating the powerful Bush family like they are royalty. Sign this petition that will go directly to the State Attorney Willie Meggs in Tallahassee, Florida (850-488-6701)." Sign the petition - we know Willie Meggs is feeling the heat!

"In 1999... leaders of an Enron Corp. subsidiary called Azurix Corp. made Gov. Jeb Bush an extraordinary offer: They would help pay Florida's multibillion-dollar share of the effort to replumb and revive the Everglades -- if they could then sell water captured by the project." The author shows his bias here. "Democrats were quick to put a nastier spin on his Azurix flirtation. They noted that Bush and his aides have expressed sympathy for the concept of privatizing water. In fact, the think tank Bush started after losing the 1994 gubernatorial race, the Foundation for Florida's Future, published a paper endorsing the idea in 1997 -- and the author later went to work for Azurix... 'We almost sold out Florida's water to a company that was falling apart,' said Nancy Brown, president of the Florida League of Conservation Voters. 'Jeb is lucky we didn't, because he was totally behind it.'" Hey, why did Jeb REALLY want to inject untreated water (containing human and animal waste) into Florida's aquifers last year?

Florida's pension fund lost a staggering $334 million due to Enron's collapse. Now a preliminary investigation indicates that the loss was largely due to pension funds being lavishly thrown at Enron, even as the company was KNOWN to be failing. In addition, the ties between Enron and Jeb are being shown to be deeper, closer, and more entwined than anyone ever dreamed. The evidence points to a scary conclusion: Did Jeb use pension funds to try to bail the sinking Enron ship out? Read this document from Public Citizen and YOU decide!

First Jeb Bush denied talking to Enron, then it was revealed that Jeb spent a 1/2 hour on the phone with Ken Lay. Then Jeb's spokeswoman said Enron "never had any visible interest" in Jeb's specially created "Energy 2020 Commission." But according to the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, Jeb created the Commission after the legislature blocked a bill backed by Enron. Once empanelled by Jeb, the Commission rushed to produce an interim report that was written ENTIRELY for Enron's benefit by Chairman William Revell. "The Energy 2020 interim report that the Bush administration was trying to push through the Legislature last spring would have answered Enron's prayers, if it had been passed." We demand a Special Prosecutor!

"Gov. Jeb Bush spent up to a half-hour on the phone last April with Kenneth Lay, the former chairman of Enron Corp., the now-bankrupt Houston-based energy conglomerate that had an interest in breaking open Florida's energy market to outside companies. The disclosure that Bush talked to Lay was revealed in public records made available to several news organizations Wednesday. Bush said late last month he did not 'recall' meeting or talking with anyone from Enron during his tenure as governor, although he said he had met with representatives of an Enron subsidiary. Lay, who this week refused to voluntarily testify to Congress about the demise of his corporation, and Enron were one of the largest donors in the 2000 election to President George W. Bush, the older brother of Florida's governor. Several Enron officials -- including Lay -- also donated money to Jeb Bush's 1998 campaign for governor." So reports the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.

Once again, a Bush is getting away with a crime, thanks to powerful family ties. Jeb's daughter Noelle, 24, was busted for trying to buy drugs. (Unlike the terror-supporting pot users in Bush's TV ads, Bush family drug abusers don't buy drugs on the street. Instead, they impersonate doctors and write themselves fraudulent prescriptions.) Noelle then PERJURED herself in Florida court when she swore she had no prior arrests - she WAS arrested for shoplifting lingerie in 1995 and paid a $305 fine. To conceal her criminal record, Noelle gave Florida police a different Social Security number - yet ANOTHER fraud. Noelle also received more than 12 driving tickets (including driving 95 MPH in Palm Beach County) with 4 crashes, including one influenced by drugs - why was she never arrested, or her license revoked? Call State Attorney Willie Meggs at 850-488-6701 and demand that Noelle be prosecuted like any other drug abusing, recklessly driving perjurer - for her own good, and ours!

According to two witnesses, Governor Jeb Bush gave the finger to a group of protesters in Clearwater FL. We guarantee Florida's presstitutes will never report this outrageous and disgusting behavior by the head of Florida's Foremost Dysfunctional Family. Hey Bill Bennett, where is the outrage?

A former Enron president will host a fund-raiser for Gov. Jeb Bush Thursday in Houston. Bush will attend the $500 a person reception at Richard Kinder's home. Kinder left Enron in 1996 and formed Kinder Morgan, an $18 billion energy company. Kinder has given $400,000 to President Bush and the Republican Party. Some Democratic leaders questioned Bush's decision. "The people who have lost their life savings have to be wondering about his judgment," state Democratic Party Chairman Bob Poe said. "I just can't believe with everything that has been going on about Enron they would do that." We can believe Jeb Bush - and all Republicans - would do ANYTHING for a few campaign dollars!

"The state Board of Administration fired Alliance Capital Management Corp. last month, saying it was troubled by the New York financial adviser's decision to continue buying Enron shares for the fund after indications of the company's financial problems became public. One of Alliance's executives, Frank Savage, was also a board member of Enron and a major contributor to political campaigns…'We've been investigating,'' said Coleman Stipanovich, deputy executive director of the State Board of Administration, which oversees the pension fund. 'If Alliance did anything improper or was unduly influenced by Savage, we could sue Alliance, but we have made no decision on that'… Stipanovich said state officials did not learn until late last year of Savage's tie to Enron." Hold the phone! A Jeb Bush appointee -- Coleman is the brother of 'Mac' Stiponovich – the Tallahassee lobbyist who masterminded Katherine Harris' moves to steal the election. Both brothers served key roles in Jeb's campaigns.

Katherine Harris refused to let Florida officials create a system for correctly purging ineligible felons, and instead hired yet another private company. "A preliminary sampling last month of data on 1,328 people from seven counties identified by FDLE as felons found that 5.3 percent were incorrectly tagged as ineligible to vote." Sounds like just enough votes to steal a close election for her hero, Jeb Bush. Democrats will need a massive GOTV effort in 2002 - not just in Florida, but everywhere in the USA.

If there's a Bu$h scandal, you can be sure that Little Brother Jeb is involved. So it comes as no surprise that Florida's pension fund lost $300 million in Enron's collapse. Jeb claims to be a hero because he recently fired the pension fund manager, Alliance Capital Management. But why did he hire the firm in the first place? The chairman of Alliance is Frank Savage. Savage is on the board of directors of - you guessed it - Enron. So why did Jeb give his state's pension funds to a director of Enron in the first place, and why did he wait until he lost $300 million before firing him? Could a $6,500 contribution from Enron to Jeb in 1998 have influenced him? Jeb's campaign manager, Karen Unger, says "Gov. Bush has never been swayed on an issue by a campaign contribution. He cannot be bought." Hey Karen - tell that to a judge!

"Mari Anderson has been flying two large American flags upside down at her home since the November 2000 presidential election. Flying flags upside down is a traditional way of displaying the flag when the nation is in distress. Anderson said that the upside-down flags are a political statement of her feelings after George W. Bush was declared the presidential winner in Florida over Al Gore... There also are a half-dozen other signs in her yard and hanging on her house with political statements about President Bush, his brother Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and their administrations. 'The election was a crime,' Anderson said. 'I went up to Washington, D.C., to protest, something I never thought in my life I would do. I was so upset I had to do something. We have rights and freedom of speech is one of our rights. I am exercising that but I am also worried that we are losing our rights.' Anderson said she plans to continue flying the flags upside down until after the 2004 presidential election."

Using data from revised state totals, the FEC now has the definitive official results of Election 2000. In the popular vote, Gore beat Bush 50,999,897 to 50,456,002, a margin of 543,895. Gore had the second highest vote total in history, behind Reagan in 1984. The only reason Bush occupies the White House is because he stole Florida's 25 electoral votes with the help of Jeb Bush, Katherine Harris, and the US Supreme Court. We will never get over it!

Bu$h will officially end America's national unity with a fundraising event for none other than brother Jeb. The nation's wealthiest 1% will repay the Bu$hes for their massive tax breaks by writing $10,000 checks to help Jeb steal the 2002 election. Meanwhile, Florida citizens are suffering massive cuts in health care, education, and social services thanks to Jeb's grotesque mismanagement of the state's budget. Hey Ashcroft & Muller - why don't you send some Federal agents to the event to arrest the Bu$h brothers for committing the crime of the century by stealing the Presidency?

"The governor can say what he wants, but the revised state budget shortchanges Floridians and darkens their future. The Legislature will vote Thursday on more than $1 billion in spending cuts to bring the budget back into balance after the slow economy collided with $1.6 billion in tax cuts passed since 1999. Gov. Bush chose to say: 'We in Florida have been successful in meeting the priority needs of our people and preparing for a brighter future.' He's wrong...After a cut of $309 million in never-bountiful budgets, their schools must absorb the equivalent of 100,000 new students with no new money over last year...the state will cut 171 [probation] officers. Elderly and disabled citizens will settle for fewer health services from Medicaid and counties, if the counties can afford them. The Bright Futures student who planned to do her Legislature-mandated summer session this year won't get tuition money."

Here is our latest list of Bush v. Gore anniversary events on December 12. We urge you to participate in the one near you! Washington DC: Protest Opposite the US Supreme Court, 1-5 pm ... New York City: Rising from the Ashes: Towards Democratic Victories in 2002 and 2004, 6-8 pm (free), followed by a Reception and Film Festival at 9 pm ($5)... Norfolk VA: Death of the Voter Rights Act Demonstration, 6 pm at the Federal Courthouse... Tampa FL: Voice of Freedom Protest Jeb Bush 6:30-9 am at Tampa Marriott Waterside... Orlando FL: Death of Democracy March and Candlelight Vigil, 6:30 pm ... Denver CO: Silent Vigil, 12:00-12:30 pm, Federal Court House... Oakland CA: (A)Wake for Democracy, 5 pm... Los Angeles CA: (A)Wake for Democracy, 6:30 pm... Santa Ana CA: Candlelight Vigil and March, 6-8 pm... Eugene OR: Ring the Bells for Liberty, 4:30 pm... Our hats off to all true patriots!

"Now, Judge Lewis's memo undercuts both the tone and the content of those news reports. It is certainly not clear anymore that the state-ordered recount would have favored Bush. It also appears likely that the interference by the U.S. Supreme Court was decisive. Based on the new evidence, the major newspapers look to be wrong on both these high-profile points. Beyond Gore's narrow victory from the recoverable ballots, the news organizations concluded – but played down – that Gore lost thousands of unrecoverable ballots because of flawed ballot designs in several Democratic strongholds. Gore lost other votes because Gov. Jeb Bush's administration disqualified hundreds of predominantly black voters who were falsely labeled felons. The New York Times also reported that Bush achieved a net gain of about 290 votes by getting illegally cast absentee votes counted in Republican counties while enforcing the rules strictly in Democratic counties." So writes Robert Parry.

"Their struggle will center on a constitutional amendment [Democratic Senator Bob] Graham wants voters to support that would bring back the university system's board of regents...'It's like having Graham on the campaign trail without having him run for governor,' said Bob Poe, state Democratic Party chairman. 'That's very important because Bob Graham, who has enormous respect and credibility, will talk about what [Jeb] Bush has done to hurt education in this state, and that can only help Democratic candidates.' Bush, in Graham's view, was tearing apart the very legacy that Graham had built as governor from 1979 to 1987 …[when] Graham helped shepherd massive changes to a state school system that was held in disregard…Graham demanded more accountability from local school districts. He overhauled the state's testing systems, changed training for teachers and principals and increased control over curriculum requirements."

Robert Kunst, Candidate for Governor of Florida, was on the Meria Heller Show this week. Robert talks about what is going on in Florida today, and what Jeb is up to. Robert was at a Voter Reform meeting in Tampa, Florida and was threatened with arrest for speaking about the Stolen Election. Robert said "why are we talking about voter reform, when we can't even get the votes counted?" - he was then threatened with arrest and forced to leave. This type of "McCarthyism" is happening more and more in America, and Mr.Kunst is not one to stand for it. Interestingly, Tampa is the same town where 3 grandmas were arrested in last summer for holding anti-Bush signs. Florida's tourism is drowning and Jeb Bush says he "wants to read about it in the newspapers". Roberts campaign slogan is "we won't steal your vote." This is a great interview archived at www.Meria.net.

Following the long-awaited recount of Florida's Presidential ballots, Democrats.com declared Gore the winner of the 2000 election and launched a "Democracy in 2002" campaign to sweep Democrats into office across America in the next election. According to Democrats.com co-founder Bob Fertik, "It has taken more than a year, but we have finally learned the truth about Florida - that if all of the votes had been counted, Al Gore would be President. The only reason George W. Bush was sworn into office is because his campaign adamantly refused to count all of the votes. To put it simply: George W. Bush stole Florida with the help of his brother, Governor Jeb Bush, his campaign co-chair, Secretary of State Katherine Harris, and a partisan Republican majority of the U.S. Supreme Court. The 30,000 members of Democrats.com are proud to declare that we will NEVER 'get over' the Stolen Election."

We waited for more than a year for 175,000 uncounted votes to be counted. Now the results are in, and the facts show that Al Gore won Florida. But Republicans and the corporate media cannot allow the public to see the truth - that Gore won and Bush lost - because that would expose the Presidency of George W. Bush as illegitimate. So the same people who helped Bush steal the Presidency are now trying to steal the Truth. This page is dedicated to exposing the monumental efforts by the media to distort the truth: that Al Gore won, and George Bush stole the Presidency with the help of Jeb Bush, Katherine Harris, the U.S. Supreme Court, and the TV networks.

One year ago, George W. Bush stole the Presidency with the help of his brother Jeb Bush, his Florida campaign co-chair Katherine Harris, and a Republican majority of the U.S. Supreme Court. Should we just 'Get Over It' - or should we fully investigate the crimes that were committed by Republicans in Florida, punish the criminals to the fullest extent of the law, and sweep all Republicans out of office in upcoming elections? (Registration required to vote.)

"Some prophets wait a lifetime or longer to be vindicated. For Larry Fuchs, Florida's former chief tax collector, it took merely two years. Fuchs said in the summer of 1999 that Florida was 'functionally bankrupt' and that the next inevitable recession would swiftly prove it. Though some leaders listened, it was mostly to laugh -- none more raucously than Florida's new governor, Jeb Bush, who boasted just a few months ago that he and the Legislature were on track to cutting taxes by a cumulative $6-billion before the end of his term... Now the Legislature must return to Tallahassee to cut this year's already lean budget by at least $1-billion, with even greater reductions looming for fiscal 2003." So writes a stinging editorial in the St. Petersburg Times.

Jeb Bush finally admitted that he fired Elder Affairs Secretary Gema Hernandez, but continues to lie about the reason. Hernandez had created a pilot project to give seniors real choices in local service providers, rather than making them slaves of local monopolies - no doubt with powerful Republican connections. Instead of telling the truth, Jeb says "She wasn't very good at managing people." Hey Jeb - let's talk about the management skills of Cynthia Henderson!

Even before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Florida's state budget was already some $673 million in the red, due in no small part to Jeb Bush's tax cuts for the rich. Today, the shortfall may exceed $1.4 billion. So, what are we to do? Stop teacher salary talks and put a freeze on hiring, of course! This is the pattern we're going to see throughout the country - as Republican tax cuts turn government surpluses into deficits -- programs for the middle class and the poor will get the axe. This is ALWAYS the Republican Way.

According to the Palm Beach Post, "Florida is under a state of emergency, legislators are considering closing committee meetings, and routine public records are being withheld in the name of a massive federal terrorism investigation. In the two weeks since suicide attacks killed thousands, civil libertarians are growing worried that Florida's ironclad Government-in-the-Sunshine Law -- the most open in the nation -- could become collateral damage. 'I understand the fear because I'm afraid. But this rush to close access doesn't do us any good,' said Barbara Petersen, president of the First Amendment Foundation. 'At this time of national crisis, it's more important than ever that we know how well our government is functioning.' Petersen's concerns weren't eased Monday evening when House and Senate leaders announced the creation of special 'security' committees assigned to coordinate Florida's response to the national emergency."

On September 7 - 4 days before Florida-based terrorists attacked the US - Jeb Bush issued an unusual executive order. "Based on the potential massive damage to life and property that may result from an act of terrorism at a Florida port, the necessity to protect life and property from such acts of terrorism, and inhibiting the smuggling of illegal drugs into the State of Florida, the use of the Florida National Guard to support FDLE in accomplishing port security training and inspections is 'extraordinary support to law enforcement' as used in Section 250.06(4), Florida Statutes." Did Jeb know something the rest of us didn't know then - and still don't know now?

After the attack on September 11, Jeb Bush declared a State of Emergency in Florida, and put state and local government agencies under the control of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (Florida's state troopers). This gives the state police broad powers to suspend state laws, commandeer state and local government employees, seize property, and evacuate residents. Pretty scary - especially since Jeb has thoroughly politicized the FDLE by firing career officers and appointing loyalist hacks. Right-wingers love to accuse Democrats of being dictators, but here's one in the flesh - and his name is Bush.

Parris Glendening, Maryland's well-liked progressive Democrat governor whose term ends in 2003, is no doubt viewed by the GOP as a potential presidential contender. So, in an effort to dig up dirt on the governor, the already ethically-challenged Washington Post slid to an all-time low. Glendening, who is estranged from his wife, allegedly had an affair with his Deputy Chief of Staff Jennifer Crawford. In true "National Enquirer" style, two Post reporters spent a MONTH staked out in a shopping center parking lot spying on Glendening, then later posing as tourists at a Delaware beach for days so they could peer in his beach house windows. This, of course, while major events in the U.S. and around the world went unreported by the Post. Of course, the Post would never have dreamed of staking out Jeb Bush's mansion or office! Nope - he's not likely to run against Georgie in 2003! Meanwhile, the Post's efforts to turn the Glendening thing into a viable story are truly comical.

"Speak softly and carry a big stick" - that's Janet Reno's approach to politics. Instead of the usual brass-band announcement, Reno simply invited reporters to her home to tell them she was running for Governor. "I've spent the last three months talking to people all across Florida, and I think they share my vision for Florida -- building the best educational system in the country, preserving our environment, managing our growth and standing up for our elders," she said. Early polls taken before Reno became a serious candidate showed Reno was only slightly behind Jeb; the next round of polls will certainly show her gaining ground. With Jeb's tax giveaways running Florida's budget way into the red, Jeb will have a hard time convincing Floridians to give him another chance. And then, of course, there's the small matter of the Stolen Election...

The Republican Party of Florida is up in arms because Leon County Commissioner Cliff Thaell, a Democrat, used his county e-mail address to post a single letter of support for gubernatorial candidate Pete Peterson. This is the same Republican Party whose Governor and Secretary of State used their offices in countless ways to steal the Presidency. Tell reporter David Twiddy (drtwiddy@taldem.com) you are outraged - and want a FULL investigation of the abuses of Jeb Bush and Katherine Harris' offices to steal the presidency.

AND THEY'RE OFF! A sellout crowd of 650 turned out for the Alachua County Democratic Party's third annual Lawton Chiles Dinner, which attracted 90 guests in previous years. Seven Democratic gubernatorial candidates took turns skewering Jeb. "One after another, Democrats tore apart Bush's record on education, race relations, tax breaks and the environment, and the crowd relished it. U.S. Rep. Karen Thurman, D-Dunnellon, the emcee, set the tone by declaring at the outset: 'We only have one enemy.'" -Jeb. Jeb's seven potential opponents included Rep. Jim Davis, House Minority Leader Lois Frankel, State Sen. Daryl Jones, attorney Bill McBride, former Ambassador Pete Peterson, Janet Reno, and Oral Majority founder Bob Kunst, who was added to the program at the last moment. It looks like Florida Democrats have "Big Mo," as Jeb's daddy used to say!

If there was any doubt that the corporate media is COMPLETELY Republican, the Washington Post has proved REPUBLICAN MEDIA BIAS beyond a shadow of a doubt. When a "source unfriendly to" Maryland's Democratic Governor Paris Glendening told the Post that Glendening "often visited" the town house of his 34-year-old chief of staff, the Post spent ONE MONTH spying on her. While NO CREDIBLE SOURCE ever said their relationship was sexual, the Post nevertheless declared that they are "involved in a relationship." Now compare that with the coverage of Jeb Bush's relationship with Cynthia Henderson, for which Democrats.com was widely denounced. What's the difference? Only one - Bush is a REPUBLICAN, and Glendening is a DEMOCRAT. Send your letters of outrage to ombudsman@washpost.com and KurtzH@washpost.com - and if you're a Post subscriber, cancel now. It's time for all 51 million Democrats to declare a corporate media boycott!

In July, the Bush Organized Crime Family's Tallahassee branch office (also known as the Florida Governor's office) named an admitted embezzler as the state's chief technology officer. Less than two months later, Roy Cales was jailed for grand theft. It appears that Cales fraudulently obtained a $35,000 bank loan in 1996, then defaulted on it. If Cales was a Democrat, Jeb and the Republicans would be demanding his head. But because he's a Republican, Jeb is insisting on the "presumption of innocence." Cales is just another example of Republican "heartland values."

Rep. Joe Scarborough, whose 28-year-old aide Lori Klausutis was found dead in July, is in the process of quitting Congress to "spend more time with his family." His unusual mid-term resignation led to a special election, starting with a primary on July 24. Once again, the winner (State Rep. Jeff Miller) was "selected" by - you guessed it - Jeb Bush and Katherine Harris. Only this time, they screwed a bunch of competing Republican candidates, who refuse to get over it. Rev. David Reddick, a right-wing pastor and talk show host, has filed a lawsuit, and other candidates may follow. It just goes to show - there IS no honor among thieves.

Oral Majority founder Bob Kunst formally announced his candidacy for Governor of Florida. "Kunst said his campaign stands out because he is the only one focused on the Florida presidential election, which he accuses Bush of helping to steal for his brother. 'I believe this is the one issue that defeats Jeb Bush,' Kunst said." Kunst has traveled tirelessly throughout Florida - and the entire country - to call attention to the crimes committed by the Bush brothers. As a candidate for Governor, Kunst will be able to break through the media blackout to demand the investigation and prosecution of those responsible for stealing the Presidency. Kunst joins the field with U.S. Rep. Jim Davis of Tampa, House Minority Leader Lois Frankel of West Palm Beach, State Sen. Daryl Jones of Miami, Tampa attorney Bill McBride, former Ambassador to Vietnam Pete Peterson, and most likely Janet Reno.

Katherine Harris has insisted that the three GOP operatives who ran a partisan "war room" out of her non-partisan office were "volunteers." But once again Katherine Harris has been caught lying, because she agreed to pay one of them - Adam Goodman - $12,000 for his work during the recount. And Goodman's correspondence leaves no doubt as to the nature of their relationship: instead of trying to objectively apply Florida election law, he and Katherine were working to "rock the world" - GOPspeak for stealing the election for Bush. Harris refused to pay Goodman from her political funds, because his work for her was in her "official" capacity. This means Harris intentionally used her office to hire a GOP operative to help her steal the Presidency. We demand an investigation!

Democrats.com has learned that Florida has passed a secret new felons purge law for 2001. This law allows the Republican-controlled Florida Division of Elections to send lists of voters that it "believes" are felons to county election supervisors for purging. As before, the disenfranchised voters would be predominantly African-Americans. Finally, the new purge law uses the state funds that were set aside to help counties buy new voting equipment - and prevent a repeat of the 2000 election fiasco.

If Mr. Bush and his cohorts are unable to guide our nation back to truth and democracy, and if our Democratic leaders are not powerful enough to ensure that formal investigations are launched, we may have only one alternative left. To adhere to the rule of law, and to reclaim and restore our democracy - we must resort to a Citizens' Arrest of George W., Jeb, Katherine, et. al.

"Black freshman enrollment at the University of Florida is expected to be down by nearly half this year under Gov. Jeb Bush's ban on racial preference in public university admissions. Blacks represented nearly 12 percent of the freshman class last year, but the class starting this month will be only 6 percent to 7 percent black, said officials at the state's most elite public university. 'This is disappointing,' said provost David Colburn, the school's chief academic officer. 'We were a segregated institution for a long time. And for a long time after that we were an almost lily-white institution.' Bush announced in 1999 his 'One Florida' plan to remove affirmative action from state agencies. Critics of the policy have warned it would lead to fewer minorities enrolling. A Bush spokesman said Sunday the governor had no comment." Surprise! Well, we have one - Jeb, we will remember in November (2002)!

Medical Examiner Michael Berkland concluded that Joe Scarborough's aide Lori Klausutis died as a result of a blow to the head because an undiagnosed heart condition caused her to collapse and fall, hitting her head on the desk. But Berkland's credibility is in doubt because his Missouri license was revoked in 1998 for falsifying a report; after moving to Florida, his license was suspended in 1999 for SIX years! Moreover, there appear to be inconsistencies in Berkland's report. Reporters Denis Wright and Chris George of American Politics Journal are seeking answers from Dr. Stephen Nelson, Chair of the Medical Examiners Commission, an appointee of - you guessed it! - Jeb Bush.

Here are some of the political activities conducted on Harris' computer. 1) On 1/29/00, a speech written for a Republican meeting that declared: "We are READY TO LEAD!" 2) On 3/14/00, a set of campaign talking points for George W. Bush. 3) On 11/14/00, an examination of the campaign finances of FL Supreme Court Justice Barbara Pariente - who was reviewing important election cases. 4) A list of contributors to Harris' 1998 Democratic opponent, Karen Gievers (undated). Item #3 proves that Harris lied when she declared: "no partisan political activity transpired in my office during the recount period." And from #1, here's the clincher that perfectly sums up Harris' role in stealing the election: "I am a bit biased - after all - I co-chair the campaign effort of George W. Bush." Thanks, Katherine - we'll engrave that on your jail cell door.

Clay Roberts, who directs Florida's Division of Elections for Secretary of State Katherine Harris, is personally responsible for the fraudulent felon purge that illegally disenfranchised thousands of voters, most of whom were Democrats and black. Roberts belongs in jail for those activities. But according to Salon, Roberts is now fighting his fellow Republicans in the state senate who want future felon purges handled by Florida's county clerks, rather than by Harris and Roberts. Katherine Harris should fire Clay Roberts immediately, and Jeb Bush should urge the Florida legislature to join the rest of the country in allowing ex-felons to vote.

As always, we are in awe of the quality of the letters we have received from our incredibly caring, morally passionate readers. Alas, the insight and intelligence in your comments stands in painful contrast to the double-digit quality of the "bright lights" now "illuminating" the White House.

Cyndi Henderson fired Col. Terry Meek, commander of the Capitol Police. Cyndi also removed the number two commander, Major Robert G. Tippett. Tallahassee sources say Cyndi wants to control the Capitol Police to protect herself and Jeb from prying eyes whenever they meet in the Capitol building (hundreds of other state buildings throughout Florida are owned/leased by Cyndi's DMS and protected by the Capitol Police). Cyndi recently moved the Capitol Police from the 9th floor of the Capitol to the Winchester building, because they were right next door to her Legislative Liason Office. It is rumored that Jeb's wife, Columba, caught Cyndi and Jeb in a 'compromising position' in this office during the legislative session three months ago. Allegedly, Columba was forcibly removed from the Capitol by members of Jeb's FDLE protective service unit. But the rumor in Tallahassee was that the Capitol Police called FDLE after discovering the three of them arguing in the office next door.

Florida House Democratic Leader Lois Frankel gained national recognition for standing up for Al Gore during the recount fiasco. Frankel will enter the Democratic primary for Governor. In response to the NY Times expose, Frankel declared: "The New York Times investigation reveals the hardball tactics of the supporters of George W. Bush to slant the process by treating votes in an unequal manner. As with the events chronicled by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, this effort to ensure a Bush victory also led to voter disenfranchisement. I believe these are possible violations of the Voting Rights Act that demand investigation by the proper authorities in the U.S. Department of Justice and the Florida Attorney General’s Office."

Oral Majority's Bob Kunst has run twice for statewide office in Florida. Now Kunst is running in the 2002 Democratic primary for the opportunity to take on Jeb Bush and expose the Stolen Election. Speaking to Democrats in Cocoa Beach, Kunst declared "If you want a federal investigation of this High Treason, vote for Kunst! If you voted for Gore last time, do it again and vote for Kunst. If you want to impeach the U.S. Supreme Court Extremists, vote for Kunst!" Kunst also sent letters to Tom Daschle and John Ashcroft demanding an investigation of the crimes exposed by the NY Times.

Online Journal's Sally Slate has uncovered explosive details about Jeb Bush and his ex-playboy bunny mistress, Cynthia Henderson. Ms. Sally says Democrats.com was correct about Henderson's capitol lovenest. She says Jeb "broke" his bed while Columba Bush was away, and had the state pay $1,900 for immediate delivery of a new bed. Even worse, she reports that Columba caught Jeb and Ms. Henderson together, "at least once, when she came back from Miami early one Sunday morning, when Jeb expected her to return the afternoon of the next day... Jeb sported a black eye for two days, captured in a photo now in the possession of the Globe." Ms. Sally concludes, "Isn't the silence of the so-called mainstream media - you know, the folks who could not get enough of 'all Monica, all the time' and who are now obsessing over 'all Condit, all the time' - interesting in light of all the Jeb-Henderson stories making the rounds in Florida?" We demand a media onslaught!

In his often-reprinted "Coup d'Etat: A Practical Handbook," U. S. intelligence expert Edward Luttwak says that lack of reaction on the part of the people is all a coup needs to stay in power: "This lack of reaction is the key to the victory of the coup..." In his discussion of how coup leaders and beneficiaries exploit their "monopoly" of the mass media to discourage resistance to the coup, Luttwak speaks of making constant use of the "motif of isolation." This strategy must emphasize that "isolated" resistance is the product of the obstinacy of a few misguided or dishonest individuals. Furthermore, it must emphasize that law and order have been re-established which "should have the effect of making resistance appear as dangerous and useless." Now, considering these strategies, look at the White House reaction to the New York Times's findings.

"When it became clear that the disputed Florida election could deliver the White House to his brother, Gov. Jeb Bush immediately recused himself from any official role in the recount, promising to avoid even the 'slightest appearance of a conflict of interest.' ... Despite that hands-off policy, the Florida governor's office in Tallahassee made 95 telephone calls to the George W. Bush presidential campaign, its advisors, lawyers and staffers during the 36-day recount period, records show... The governor visited the state GOP headquarters in Tallahassee that functioned as the Bush campaign command center for the recount at least once, for example. He also dialed into at least one conference call with campaign operatives, aides said." The bottom line is this: Jeb Bush used his power as Governor to help engineer the stolen election - and continues to lie about his role. We demand an investigation!

According to Florida law, the state seal may NOT be used for any partisan political purpose. However, Jeb Bush broke the law to help "fix the race" for his brother by sending out hundreds of thousands of special letters to Republican-registered voters on stationery with the state seal. Furthermore, the letter told voters they could "vote from the comfort of their home," but under Florida law, absentee ballot can be used ONLY if voters are physically unable to get to the polls. As a result, many voters not entitled to absentee ballots cast a Bush vote. Totally absentee votes increased by 50%, and Bush beat Gore by 125,000 among absentees. When activists filed lawsuits protesting this illegal activity, judges dismissed the suits - not because of lack of merit, but because they felt the offense should be prosecuted as a CRIMINAL case, not a civil action. Yet prosecutors have done NOTHING. We demand the prosecution of Jeb Bush!

Sally Slate has joined forces with the wonderful Online Journal, and her debut column is sizzling! Sally weighs in on Gary Condit, and adds some details about Jeb and Cynthia. Check it out!

"Maybe it's just me – but is anyone else suffering from acid reflux disorder from having to swallow the bile of Bush Republicanism? I hardly know where to begin this rant of random convulsions and vomitous-interruptus! Someone tell me why the so-called 'media' can discover every detail of the D.C. Police investigation into Chandra Levy's disappearance – but cannot unearth a simple list of Cheney's secret White House meetings? Or where GW was during his AWOL days? Or why Jeb Bush protects and promotes Cynthia Henderson?" So writes John Cory in Buzzflash. We might add - has anyone in the media actually seen Dick Cheney since he allegedly returned to work on July 2? (Forget about those official White House photos of Cheney allegedly fly fishing on July 8.)

-"Two votes and three felony counts brought probation, not prison time, for Chris Carman, a former Manatee County Republican Party executive and brother of Bradenton city councilman Jeff Carman. It also brought a blast of criticism from the man who oversees elections. '[The] judge just spanked his hands,' said Bob Sweat, the county's elections supervisor. 'Poor people get slam-dunked. Those people with money and some influence, maybe with a brother who's on the City Council, they just walk away.' Chris Carman received his probation sentence Thursday from 12th Circuit Court Judge Marc Gilner, after admitting he had voted using the name of a former roommate during the 2000 presidential election and had cast a vote in his own name." Who appointed Gilner? Jeb Bush, of course (see http://www.state.fl.us/eog/press_releases/1999/July/Gilner.htm). We demand an investigation!

Jeb Bush has put Roy Cales in charge of a new state Technology Office, with 1,760 technology employees and a $600 million annual budget. There's only one problem: Cales is an admitted embezzler. Cales' position as technology czar presumably puts him in charge of election technology, which would allow him to conduct more illegal felon purges and manipulate the results of computerized vote counting. Florida beware!

Florida's economic development agency, often cited as an example of how government can run like a corporation, treats its top executives to bonuses and lavish travel - while making grants to businesses whose officers sit on its boards. Comptroller Bob Milligan's auditors said Wednesday that officials of Enterprise Florida Inc. set up a $2.38 million "private bank account" to cover exclusive club memberships, lobbying expenses and extra pay for leaders of the Orlando-based operation.

In response to the demands of our readers and to the demands of all Americans who have sought a remedy to the outrage represented by the despotic and illegal Bush Administration, we have formulated a Renewal of the Declaration of Independence. This is NOT a petition, but an historic document which will be delivered personally to Washington. We urge you to celebrate the Fourth by Re-affirming the guarantees and promise of the original Declaration and demanding the reforms that will insure their continuance, once reaffirmed.

Under Jeb Bush, Florida is becoming more and more like Orwell's 1984 (especially through the proposed use of surveillance cameras). Now a newspaper editor in Key West who dared expose a possible police cover up was arrested and charged with a criminal misdemeanor. The arrest, based on an obscure law considered unconstitutional, was clearly aimed at silencing editor Dennis Cooper, who was investigating an internal probe by police into a 6-year-old incident in which the PD may have falsified information. Police chief "Buz" Dillon sounded just like a Bush boy when asked to explain himself regarding his use of an unconstitutional law to go after an editor. "This law is referred to as 'the Gag Law'. That's what this law is intended to do, so we can have a fair and impartial investigation." Hey, Buz, just get it to the Supreme Court - they'll fix it for you.

"Five elderly Clevelanders last fall entrusted their votes to an election worker whose job was to assist them in marking their ballots. Unbeknownst to them, their votes for Al Gore were marked as votes for George Bush, according to the Cuyahoga County prosecutor's office. Now the man accused of not recording their votes according to their wishes is under indictment. John V. Jackson, who was a temporary worker at the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections, was indicted yesterday on felony charges that he tampered with ballots in last fall's General Election." Jackson could get 18 months in prison for each count - 7.5 years total. In that case, Jeb Bush and Katherine Harris should get about 1 MILLION years for all of the ballot tampering under their watch!

Does Jeb Bush hate kids or what? This year, the FLA governor vetoed every child safety measure proposed by the legislature, including a bill that would have prevented people from selling cribs that would fail current safety standards. Under the bill, cribs with lead paint, slats far enough apart to trap and strangle infants, loose screws, faulty latches, and other defects would be taken out of circulation. The bill would also require safety inspections of hotel cribs. JB brushed the latter off saying "There hasn't been a death or an injury in a [FLA] hotel with a crib." From this we can assume he is waiting for a death or serious injury before he acts. How typically Bush.

In 1998, the state legislature mysteriously allocated over $4 million for a future felong purge. Why was it so expensive? Whoever knows the answer won't talk about it. We demand an investigation!

"Republican lawmakers from Florida are furious at the White House, saying it bungled opportunities to cultivate a state that has a high-profile governor's race next year and is vital for President [sic] Bush's electoral fortunes in 2004. These Republicans said they feared that President [sic] Bush was jeopardizing his party's position in Florida as resentment here over the disputed presidential election united and energized Democrats. While Republicans cited many concerns, they said their frustration boiled over last week when Mr. Bush traveled to the Everglades National Park... 'It was a missed opportunity by the White House not to reach out properly,' said Rep. Mark Foley (R-FL). 'If I worked at the White House, the sign above my desk would say, "It's Florida, stupid," and everything else should flow from there. They have to get their act together. Jeb Bush's election is on the line - and you have 2004.'" Yeah - without Jeb in the State House, Bush won't be able to steal the White House.

State House Democratic Leader Lois Frankel said the Civil Rights Commission's report provided "enough ammunition to justify investigations into voting irregularities" in Florida. Frankel sent a letter requesting formal investigations to U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft, Florida Attorney General Bob Butterworth, Gov. Jeb Bush, Secretary of State Katherine Harris and legislative leaders. The Justice Department claims to be investigating, but John Ashcroft's record of denying civil rights to blacks as Governor of Missouri should disqualify him from any investigation.

It is astounding how absolutely without conscience the Bush boys are. Now Jeb Bush and two of his henchmen in the FLA state government have unanimously approved a move to turn a big chunk of the state's $99-billion pension fund into tobacco stocks. That's right, folks: tobacco stocks - right at a time when the industry is facing some 200 multi-billion-dollar law suits and the inevitable phase out of its product over time. Geez - what does he have against state employees? The state unloaded nearly one billion dollars in tobacco stocks from the fund four years ago in anticipation of a big FLA lawsuit. Now Jeb has set up a sweet deal for his family's tobacco industry pals by creating a new policy that exempts pension money from being tapped by the FLA settlement with cigarette makers. That way he can pump citizens' money into an industry that the same citizens have made plain they revile. Let's see...what's that Bush family salespitch: "It's your money!" Yeah, right!

When we asked what our readers thought about the Florida election debacle, we were thrilled by the outpouring of letters! It is plain that people are angry - and getting angrier by the day! The next step? Action! So stay tuned...

"Some state Republican officials, including Gov. Jeb Bush, chose to dismiss the report out of hand because commission chairwoman Mary Frances Berry and some other members supported Democrat Al Gore's presidential campaign. That's not good enough. The report's specific findings and recommendations deserve a detailed response from the governor, Secretary of State Katherine Harris and other relevant state officials... The report also details significant flaws in the Florida vote that should be familiar to anyone who has paid attention since November. It reinforces the evidence that thousands of Floridians were denied their right to vote as a result of outdated equipment, inaccurate voter lists, inadequate access and other flaws. The report also documents the extent to which poor and minority voters were disproportionately disenfranchised." So writes the St. Petersburg Times.

When we asked readers to tell us what they thought about "getting over" the stolen election and what should be done to right this huge, history-bending wrong, the response was immediate and powerful! It is obvious that the "indifference" of the public is a myth intentionally created by the corporate media to build a wall of smoke and mirrors around their phony president. But your letters unmask the lie and show that a massive ground swell of rebellion against the crimes committed by Bush and the Supreme Court is gaining momentum! Power BACK to the People!!!

Grandmother Suni continued, "With that, all H__L broke loose. A police officer came and told us we had to leave. We said we had a right to be there. We said other people were holding signs much bigger than ours. Large poster signs flashed all around the stadium for Bush. We had a right to be there as well as anyone else. We had tickets. We didn't do anything wrong. Why were they taking us away - in handcuffs? All we did was show our small signs. I just couldn't believe it."

After evidence was presented that Ormond Beach cosmetic surgeon Madhusudan Parikh had disfigured the faces of five women and may have killed another patient by botching a liposuction job, the Florida Board of Medicine all but rewarded the quack. Parikh's license was not revoked and the board voted unanimously to fine him a laughable $10,000 (barely the amount of his next malpractice insurance payment). Board member Becky Cherney (who did not participate in this travesty) was so outraged she quit. A letter of resignation expressing her disgust was sent to Jeb Bush, who no doubt had a good laugh. In any case, he sure didn't step forward with any condemnation of HIS government med board appointees.

Are you sick of hearing "Just get over it" from every Republican drone and conservative media pundit you encounter? They just don't get it - a CRIME has been committed here. No one has asked us to "just get over" the Oklahoma bombing or any other crime of national proportions. Even some third world dictatorial countries we assume ourselves to be superior to wonder why we have allowed this travesty to continue without complaint. But Bush and company want everyone to pretend it's business as usual and, outrageously, the press and our own representatives in Washington are joining in the masquerade! Here's your chance to give the world your take on this crime.

Jeb Bush says nasty rumors about him and ex-Playboy bunny Cynthia Henderson are just politically-inspired rumors. Are they, Jeb? Maybe you've gotten off the hook one too many times... we think this time your number's come up. We think you know it, too - why else would you suddenly be rushing to make public statements to be aired nationwide and the same day order Ms. Henderson's office moved to a new location, further from yours (after having a spokesperson in the form of rightwing columnist Lucy Morgan tell us Henderson DID NOT have an office in the Capitol Building)? We think you're covering your behind more vigorously this time because you sense your arse is in someone's sights, and they just might be taking aim...Better jump fast, Jeb! You may have gotten away with federal election tampering, but you can't outrun everything!

The New York Times abandoned all pretense of objectivity and launched an outright attack on the US Civil Rights Commission for daring to expose Florida's disenfranchisement of black voters. The news section of the Times adamantly refuses to report on any of the HUNDREDS of grassroots protests against the thieves who stole the Presidency - George W Bush, Dick Cheney, Jeb Bush, and the Supreme Court. But the Times can't ignore the report of an official government body - the US Civil Rights Commission. So instead they are engaging in a direct partisan effort to discredit the report. Once again, the Times news pages are showing their complete and total enslavement to Karl Rove and the Republicans. This comes as no surprise to anyone who actually visits the Times - right inside the front door is a wall with a massive photo of Bush taking the oath of office. This sends an unmistakable message from the bosses to the reporters: Bush is OUR president, and we will NOT question his legitimacy.

"Florida's conduct of the 2000 presidential election was marked by 'injustice, ineptitude and inefficiency' that unfairly penalized minority voters, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights has concluded in a report that criticizes top state officials -- particularly Gov. Jeb Bush and Secretary of State Katherine Harris -- for allowing disparate treatment of voters. Unequal access to modern voting equipment and 'overzealous efforts' to purge state voter lists most harshly affected African Americans... Fifty-four percent of votes rejected during the Florida election were cast by black voters... African Americans accounted for 11 percent of voters statewide... African Americans were nearly 10 times as likely as whites to have their ballots rejected. Poor counties populated by minorities were more likely to use voting systems that rejected larger percentages of ballots than more affluent counties." So reports the Washington Post.

Back in March, Nightline blamed Duval County's black voters for their overvotes - without ever reporting how the ballot instructions that said to VOTE EVERY PAGE - while the Presidential candidates were spread over TWO PAGES. Tonight (June 5) they are doing a show on the Civil Rights Commission's stinging report about the "injustice, ineptitude, and inefficiency" of Jeb Bush and Katherine Harris. Of course, Republicans don't want to talk about how Jeb and Katherine STOLE the election. So Karl Rove concocted this bogus story about the Commission's report being leaked - and the massive Republican propaganda machine has made this topic #1 on the talk shows. Once again, Nightline is fronting for Karl Rove, instead of reporting the REAL news - the damning conclusions of the Commission's report. Tell Nightline (niteline@abc.com) to report the news, not the Republican propaganda.

Get this - Dan Burton is launching a new investigation of Janet Reno. No, this is not about her tenure as Attorney General. This goes back to her earlier days as Miami prosecutor! This obscure case is about a fugitive in Australia - remember how Republicans denounced fugitive Marc Rich? There is only one reason for this investigation - to stop Janet Reno from crushing Jeb Bush in 2002. We demand an investigation - of Burton!

Lucy Morgan of the St. Petersburg Times falsely attacked Democrats.com in two recent columns. The St. Petersburg Times extended us the courtesy of publishing our reply, which corrects Morgan's errors. We thank the editors for their integrity.

Florida has been buzzing with the news that Janet Reno may challenge Jeb for Governor in 2002. A quick poll by the Miami Herald put Reno practically even with Jeb at 49%-43% - an amazing showing for an unannounced candidate. Remarkably, 40% of Floridians disapprove of the job Jeb is doing - especially black voters. Moreover, 37% of Floridians blame Jeb for stealing the Presidency. Bush gets less than 50% against all potential challengers, including some total unknowns. Hey Jeb - it's time to start working on your resume. The part about stealing the Presidency for your brother will go over great with Karl Rove.

In February, Jeb's girlfriend Cynthia Henderson hired a general counsel who is not licensed to practice law in Florida. Mallory Roberts, 30, recently married Michael Harrell, a golf buddy of Jeb's who lobbies for DuPont, Sprint and Walt Disney World. "Roberts' appointment comes as state employees nervously await an overhaul of the state's Career Service system that makes it easier to hire and fire them. Many fear the new Service First law that goes into effect July 1 will lead to increased cronyism." As the head of two state agencies, Cynthia Henderson has fired most of the experienced managers and replaced them with inexperienced Bush lackeys. She is already defending two lawsuits for abusing her staff.

"The Florida Democratic Party, Salon has learned, hopes to raise at least $15 million in its campaign to unseat Bush in 2002. For the first time in its history, the state party will be targeting donors in the other 49 states for at least half that sum. The campaign, called 'Focus on Florida,' will include direct mail solicitations as well as a series of fundraising events throughout the country, kicking off on June 11 in New York... 'A lot of people's anger about what happened during the recount may come out,' says Washington-based political consultant Nick Baldick." Democrats plan to highlight the fraudulent felon purge and Jeb's conspiring with the state legislature to overturn a recount.

Conspiracy investigator Al Martin claims that Jeb Bush and Cynthia Henderson were filmed together by the FBI at the 2001 Super Bowl in Tampa. Martin also claims that Cynthia threatened the FBI with a lawsuit to get the tape. Martin cites "a highly placed individual within the the Federal Bureau of Investigation, who has a long track record of credibility in such matters and who was in a position to know of this matter, to wit Jeb and the girlfriend at the Super Bowl." Martin also notes Cynthia's prior work for Neil Bush at Gulf Stream Realty Group during the Iran-contra days. "The reason the Bushes may have carried her all these years is because of something she found out about the extent of the Bush Brothers' frauds during the Iran Contra period. Nobody has investigated this... Maybe Ms. Henderson just knows too much about Neil and Jeb Bush's Iran-Contra profiteering..." Will any Florida newspaper look into these new charges?

Under contract with Florida election officials, ChoicePoint "produced a list of 42,389 'probable' and 'possible' felons before last year's election. The list identified thousands of legal voters as criminals, forcing them to prove their innocence before they could cast a ballot." 6,500 of these "felons" were not exact matches - due to instructions from state elections lawyer Emmett "Bucky" Mitchell, who belongs in jail. 5,400 appeals were filed, and over 2,500 were upheld. But "at least 108 law-abiding people were purged from the voter rolls as suspected criminals, only to be cleared after the election... Florida officials cut from the rolls 996 people convicted of crimes in other states, though they should have been allowed to vote" - due to instructions from Janet Keels, head of the Office of Executive Clemency, who also belongs in jail. The Post's data is incomplete, so the 1,100 tally is low - and the real total could still be in the "thousands." But even 1,100 votes could have allowed Al Gore to eclipse Bush's 537-vote margin.

Assessing the now-mainstream reports of the false felon purge, the San Francisco Examiner went straight to the point. "The whole episode smells awfully fishy and does little to assuage the suspicion among Democrats that Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and other state officials pulled some serious strings to keep presumed Gore supporters from voting. The emphasis on butterfly ballots, overvotes, undervotes, and dimpled chads in the wake of the Florida election fiasco wasn't the smoking gun in the 2000 election after all. It turns out that a professed effort to purge voter rolls of felons, which instead resulted in law-abiding Americans having their right to vote stolen from them, swung the deal." We demand an investigation!

Former Congressman Pete Peterson (D-FL) is planning to run for governor against Jeb in 2002 - and the Republicans are terrified. Peterson was a POW in Vietnam for 7 years, and was sent by President Clinton in 1996 to serve as our Ambassador. Peterson represented the Panhandle in Congress, which would allow him to cut deeply into the GOP base. Other possible candidates include Janet Reno, Palm Beach state Rep. Lois Frankel, and Oral Majority's Bob Kunst, who will take Jeb on for stealing the Presidency - an issue no other candidate has mentioned.

Democrats.com is getting so darn popular! In its May 28 issue, The New Republic's Notebook attacked us for complaining about Ken Starr last year, then reporting on Jeb & Cynthia this year. Hey TNR - are you incapable of seeing the difference between investigative reporting and Ken's Starr Chamber? Starr had unlimited taxpayer funding, unlimited subpoena powers, unlimited use of the FBI. He was given this awesome power to conduct an independent, non-partisan investigation of a specific allegation - the Whitewater hoax. Instead, Ken Starr used this power to conspire with Republicans (including Paula Jones's lawyers and Congressional Republicans) in a partisan destroy-Clinton campaign. In the process, he put the entire country through one year of hell and destroyed the Clinton Presidency and Al Gore's campaign - not to mention ruining the lives of Susan McDougal and Julie Hiatt Steele. If you can't see the difference, then you should be working for Karl Rove - you'd fit right in!

On May 12, St. Petersburg Times reporter Lucy Morgan inaccurately reported that Democrats.com was "the first to actually publish one of the rumors, suggesting a romantic relationship between [Jeb] Bush and [Cynthia] Henderson." In fact, Bill Cotterell of the Tallahassee Democrat was the first to publish "The Rumor" on May 10, referring to "the supposed Clintonesque dalliance of two high-ranking public officials," who he coyly refused to name. Democrats.com linked to Cotterell's article and supplied the missing names, which were known to every journalist in Tallahassee. (One day earlier, Democrats.com drafted a story about "The Rumor," but we never published it - as Lucy Morgan well knows, because she interviewed us about it.) On May 19, Morgan attacked us again, basically accusing Democrats.com of starting the rumors altogether - which is utterly false, and Morgan knows it. Tell Lucy Morgan (morgan@sptimes.com) to get her facts straight.

In doing some background research on Tallahassee rightwing columnist/Jeb Bush damage-control officer Lucy Morgan, we have made an amazing discovery! The tendency to want to contort and stretch things (like the truth!) and to perform when hired (such as writing BS on demand for a governor) is actually a name thing. Yes, that's right! It goes with the name LUCY MORGAN and can take a variety of interesting forms...

#10: So dumb, he used to cheat off George in school...

As the rumors of Jeb's affair with Cynthia have surfaced, Jeb's ship of state is going the way of the Titanic. Among the top officials who have abandoned ship in recent days: Deputy Chief of Staff Cory Tilley (who wants "to play a lot of golf"); former Chief of Staff Sally Bradshaw, who is not returning from maternity leave; and Ruth Sykes, head of Jeb's "reinventing government" effort. Are these top officials leaving because they know the truth? It sure looks that way! Jeb could fix the problem if he simply fired Cynthia - after all, her job performance has been appalling. So why is he protecting her at the expense of the rest of his staff?

Jeb is facing the end of his political career - which could bring down brother George as well, by allowing a future Democratic governor to expose the truth about the stolen election of 2000. To bury the truth, Jeb is doing what Bushes do best - a massive scrubbing operation. Plan A was to prevent the story from ever being published - but Democrats.com helped foil that plan. Plan B was to attack the Democratic Party for being the source of the rumors - but Democrats.com foiled that plan too, because we're totally independent of the party. Plan C is to attack any news outlet covering the story - which is why Vanity Fair editor Doug Stumpf scrubbed the affair from David McCullough's upcoming profile of Jeb, why Jeb's scrubbers threatened the supermarket tabloid Globe (which has a very suggestive photo taken in April), and why WPOW-FM's Bo Griffin got a "spooky" call from the Governor's office, demanding to know her source. (Kudos to Howard Kurtz for acknowledging Democrats.com's role!)

In a carefully staged performance, Jeb adamantly denied having an affair with former Playboy Bunny Cynthia Henderson - or anyone else! "I love my wife. I've been married to her for 27 years. I have been faithful to her, and there is nothing to these rumors. It is an outright lie." Is that true, or will other women come forward? Jeb also attacked the media: "Sadly, it's reached the point where it's being written about... But the fact you have to ask that question and I have to answer is sick, it really is." That's the trademark rhetoric of Newt Gingrich - who took "sickness" to new lows by impeaching Clinton for an affair while he was cheating on his own wife. Will this scripted denial scare reporters off the story - or encourage them to dig more deeply, as the Miami Herald's Tom Fiedler did when Gary Hart denied having an affair? Stay tuned...

"Media spinners in Florida (including Bush himself) have tried to cast these reports as merely sexual innuendo.. But it's never really been about sex: far more importantly, it's about favoritism and how Jeb runs the Florida executive office. Why did it take talk of a sex scandal to compel the Media Whores to finally (we hope) ask questions about CORRUPTION - and for Jeb to finally answer to the people of the state of Florida? The world awaits Jeb's explanation for the outrageous favoritism shown his scandal-ridden, unethical and incompetent former Playboy bunny agency head!" So writes Media Whores Online.

Before he started his victory lap last week, symbolically signing Florida's new election reform law for the TV cameras, Gov. Jeb Bush was asked about media recounts of last year's presidential ballots. "Well, I think they ought to get over it," Bush told FOX News. Hey Jeb - of course you want us to get over it! Because if we file criminal charges against you for stealing the Presidency, your next residence might be the State Penitentiary. So read our lips - we will NEVER get over the stolen election.

It should be quite a show on Monday, when Jeb points to Cynthia Henderson before a roomful of reporters and declares: "I did not have sexual relations with that woman!" He may even try to hurt our feelings by saying mean things about Democrats.com. But we'll be watching to see if any of the Tallahassee reporters has the guts to ask Jeb pointed follow-up questions - or if they simply parrot whatever lies he tells them. And the reporters should sure to ask Cynthia some tough questions - remember, it was Monica who spilled the beans, not Bill!

This week, Democrats.com began researching the widespread rumors in Tallahassee about an affair between Jeb Bush and his Secretary of Management Services (and former Playboy Bunny), Cynthia Henderson. We have not yet published our findings, but word got back to Jeb and he summoned Tallahassee reporters - off the record! - to insist that these rumors are "wild lies." "He has not been alone in a room with either official," reports Lucy Morgan of the St. Petersburg Times. Hey Jeb - that sounds awfully "Clintonian" to us! President Clinton said he was never "alone" with Monica, because there were always people just OUTSIDE the door. So what do YOU mean by "alone"? Also, you say you're "escorted by Florida Department of Law Enforcement officers everywhere," which makes hanky-panky impossible. But are the rumors true that you once slipped away from them for a few hours - and were eventually caught? If these are "wild lies," why don't you go on the record - or better yet, under oath? And why doesn't Cynthia?

In what amounts to a long advertisement to solicit confirmation of Jeb Bush's sexual liaison with the head of Florida's Department of Management Services and ex-Playboy Bunny Cynthia Henderson, Tallahassee Democrat columnist Bill Cotterell wrote today about "the rumor that won't die." The crucial thing that the story is missing is a few rich ideologues willing to fund an investigation to dig up the dirt and hand it over to journalists who have now adjusted to being spoon fed. At least, that's the way the far right does it, right?

Jeb Bush went on CNN to discuss changes to Florida's election law, and anchor Carol Lin asked Jeb about racial discrimination against black voters. "I don't think that there was any overt discrimination," Jeb said. Lin pressed him on specific complaints from black voters: "being rejected at the polls, lists that were supposed to contain names of felons and yet also contained names of legitimate voters who were not able then to cast their ballots." Jeb said "many of those questions that you just posed have been looked at by the Justice Department and by the attorney general's office in our state. And they have been rejected as -- in terms of not having any kind of systemic effort to restrict people's right to vote." Jeb is LYING! Neither the Justice Department nor the Florida AG have examined the Felonious Felon Purge. We demand a full report by CNN about Jeb's lie - and about the Felon Purge itself, which has NEVER been reported on CNN!

"She looks a lot like Susan Hayward, star of such films as 'Top Secret Affair' and 'The Lusty Men,' doesn't she? Ms. Henderson was appointed by Florida Governor Jeb Bush to head the Florida Department of Management Services after a scandal-ridden tenure as the head of Department of Business and Professional Regulation, a position to which she was also appointed by Little Brother." Now Tallahassee is breathless with rumors about the exact nature of Cynthia's relationship with her boss. And why did conservative columnist Robert Novak say that Jeb might not run for re-election because of "family troubles"? Stay tuned!

"Gov. Jeb Bush says partisan politics will not play a role in his selection of university trustees, which he ranks among his most important appointments. But his record tells another story. In his 2 1/2 years as governor, Bush has appointed 212 people to community college boards of trustees and the state Board of Regents. The overwhelming majority - 83 percent of those who list a political affiliation - are Republican." Florida's higher education system will no doubt turn to lead, as has everything else ever touched by a Bush.

According to the Orlando Sentinel, "One of the best-kept secrets in Florida's disputed 2000 presidential election is that thousands of ballots that ultimately counted were never even filled out by voters. With no outside scrutiny, county officials on Election Day made new copies of at least 10,000 mismarked or torn absentee ballots that the counting machines initially couldn't read." This exposes the Big Lie at the heart of the Bush campaign's legal arguments, which were ultimately embraced by the Republican majority on the US Supreme Court - that ballots should NOT be inspected by humans to determine the intent of the voter. In fact, certain ballots - absentee ballots - were routinely inspected if they were rejected by machines, and carefully duplicated so they could be counted. We're sure the Republican legal team knew about this common practice before they argued their case in court - and if so, their lawyers should be disbarred.

Politex at the Bushwatch writes the following. "Last week the Washington Post reported that New York Knicks guard Charlie Ward made anti-Semitic statements and that Florida governor Jeb Bush defended those statements. The Bush family has a history of being involved with anti-Semitic remarks, as you can see from the stories below." Ward was appointed by Katherine Harris -- the voters enemy -- as spokesman for Florida's "Born To Read" program. The American Jewish Congress has demanded that Harris remove Ward from that position. Meanwhile, Jeb has added another chapter to his family's history of defending, and even supporting, anti-Semitism. But it doesn't end with mere remarks, the Bushes have long allied themselves with Nazis. Read more about this troubling history at the Bushwatch page linked below or enter "nazi" in our "Compass" search engine.

Investigative reporter Greg Palast broke the story about Florida's illegal felon purge, which certainly cost Gore the election. In an interview with Michael Rectenwald, founder of Citizens for a Legitimate Government, Palast revealed some new details from his coming PBS documentary, "The Calling." This includes more proof that Katherine Harris knowingly approved of "loose" matching standards for felons, which violated the civil rights of an unknown number of legal voters. He also disclosed that Jeb Bush's Clemency Board has been illegally scrubbing its files, including one letter dated 9/18/2000 of which Palast has a copy. Once again, we demand an investigation!

"Governor Jeb Bush has written to his brother, President [sic] George Bush, asking him to suspend federal environmental regulations which ensure that Florida has safe drinking water...State officials want to allow billions of gallons of untreated and partly contaminated rain and river water to be injected underground to help form underground reservoirs...If the plan goes ahead, however, the [EPA] would have to waive rules which require that any water pumped into the ground must first be treated to meet drinking water standards." The reason for all this -- Jeb wants to save costs. Gee, why didn't Jeb worry about costs before he created a $1 billion deficit for Florida, that is even worse than the $700 billion his big brother left Texas? Shame Jeb doesn't seem to care what matters to the Florida people -- when it comes to their votes or safe drinking water. Show of hands -- how many Floridians think it's worth the cost to make sure that you are not drinking contaminated water?

According to the investigation by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist John Lantigua in the April 30 issue of The Nation, Florida's black community -- provoked by Governor Jeb Bush's attack on affirmative action -- mounted a voter registration drive that increased black voter turnout by an astounding 65 percent. What did Bush do? Using taxpayer funds, the state took extraordinary steps to fight the influx of legitmate American voters. As many as 200,000 Floridians -- mostly African Americans -- were purged from the voter rolls or denied the right to vote in what has to be considered the biggest crime against the people since the era of cross-burnings and lynchings.

It has been more than three months since the U.S. Supreme Court violated all principles of law and stopped the counting of votes in Florida in order to declare George W. Bush the President of the United States. With the passage of time, we have learned many details about how Bush stole Florida, but the media remains adamantly opposed to examining these details. Here are some of the many crucial questions we believe the media needs to ask about the Florida election in order to find out the truth.

"If you count every vote, Gore wins." So says Doug Hattaway, a former Gore campaign spokesman. When USA Today declares "Newspapers' Recount Shows Bush Prevailed In Fla. Vote," they are simply lying.

I work as a graphic designer, and often I am tasked to create imagery that will invoke a certain type of emotion. In doing so, I will often consult work that has been done by others in order to get a sense for what types of images will invoke the particular feeling or feelings that I am trying to achieve. I was sitting in my study last night, evaluating some images from scenes of The Lion King, when I came to a stunning realization.

Florida Republicans are running as fast as they can away from Katherine Harris. Even though the next state election is 20 months away, the Florida Democratic Party is already airing television ads attacking Jeb Bush. With those commercials in mind, GOP political strategists say it's dangerous for Republicans to align themselves too closely with Harris. Democrats, meanwhile, are savoring the possibilities for future television ads, many of which are sure to feature Harris. "There's a whole lot of fodder out there," said Tony Wyche of the Florida Democratic Party. Picture an ad with this quote when Harris innocently asked a 4th grade girl to describe Harris' job: "You get to choose the president of the United States," the brilliant girl replied.

Nightline and Ted Koppel presented the absurd notion that it is the responsibility of the Democratic Party to make sure that corrupt and/or incompetent GOP officials do not steal elections, and that if the Democratic Party does not make a Herculean effort to prevent the corruption of the election process by the GOP, the American people have no right to expect fair elections. Scapegoating the Democrats, and scapegoating black voters when the real culprits are GOP election officials who did not do their jobs (or did them illegally), is not merely absurd, it is an outrage.

In the face of an open-and-shut civil rights law suit, Jeb Bush's administration has quietly changed a controversial voting policy that illegally removed as many as 2,834 names from the state's voting rolls last year. Florida denied automatic voting rights to citizens from other states who had their voting rights under those state laws. By one estimate, Gore would have received over 90% of those ex-felons who chose to vote, so this illegal policy alone may have allowed Shrub to steal the Presidency.

How much evidence do we need to see to understand that no Bush should ever be trusted with a budget? Bush the Smarter increased the national debt from $1 trillion to $5 trillion. Bush the Dumber left a $700 million deficit in Texas. Bush the Goner created a $1 billion deficit in Florida, so he wants to cut salary bonuses to alleviate the state's dire teacher shortage, treatment for epileptics without insurance, and prenatal care for low-income women. Where is the outrage??

In honor of Shrub's visit to Orlando, Florida Dems ran TV ads attacking Jeb's budgets. The latest ad accuses Bush of squandering a $1-billion surplus and cutting taxes for millionaires while cutting services to the elderly, the poor and children. Jeb is whining bitterly about the ads. Hey Jeb, we feel your pain!

"Voter disenfranchisement appears to be at the heart of the issue. It is not a question of a recount or even an accurate count, but more pointedly the issue is those whose exclusion from the right to vote amounted to a 'No Count.'" So writes the U. S. Commission On Civil Rights.

Florida Republicans simply don't believe in elections. Chairman Al Cardenas has attacked Democrats for even considering running against Jeb in 2002. He said Democrats are following the "dumbest strategy I can think of" by pouring heavy resources into challenging a governor who enjoys "rock-star status." Given Jeb's contempt for democracy, "porn-star" is more like it.

Jeb Bush wants to spend taxpayers' money in Florida to promote abstinence among school children. But, as this document from SmokingGun.com reveals, Jeb ought to start promoting abstinence at home. Bush's 16 year-old son John (a.k.a. Jebby) was arrested for "sexual misconduct" in a car in a mall parking lot. By the way, Jeb's son George P., a.k.a. "the hunk," was arrested in 1994 for breaking into his former girlfriend's apartment in a rage. Jeb, you need to spend a little more time teaching moral values to your children - before you worry about ours.

Joel Engelhardt and Scott McCabe, staff writers for the Palm Beach Post, win Toto Awards for daring to examine the ballots in Palm Beach - and daring to report the fact that Gore's gains would have given him Florida's 25 electors - if Katherine Harris, Jeb Bush, and the US Supreme Court had not committed treason by stopping the recount.

Mary Frances Berry, chairwoman of the U.S. Civil Rights Commission, put Jeb Bush and Florida's Republican legislature on notice that the commission would be watching to see what election changes came out of the state's legislative session. Although the commission's final report has not been prepared, Ms. Berry said today, "We know there was discrimination, but we don't know yet precisely whether it was intentional or unintentional." She cited a wide range of problems in the November election, and said fixing them would take more than upgrading election machines. When the legislature is finished, she plans to subpoena Jeb and other top officials. See the full interim report, http://democrats.com/view.cfm?id=1833).

Jeb Bush is nervous about a voter backlash come the next election. To add to these woes, Jeb's wife Columba is reportedly sick of their "fishbowl" existence. Even before Jeb stole the election, Columba surely didn't appreciate the news about her trying to smuggle $19,000 in goods past US Customs (http://www.naplesnews.com/today/florida/d270483a.htm). No doubt it pained her when her son George P. Bush's arrest record for stalking his girlfriend made the rounds (http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/georgep1.shtml). And it certainly spoiled the party when 16 year old Jebby was caught in flagrante delecti with a half-nude underage girl (http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/jebby1.shtml). And it definitely put a strain on their marriage when rumors circulated about Jeb and Katherine Harris. But the media was downright forgiving of these "indiscretions" compared to how they would have treated Democrats. We would let them go too, but because Jeb helped steal the election for his brother, we will continue to bring up these and other "inconvenient facts" - until the Pretender 'n' Thief gets out of OUR White House!

Oh, those Bush brothers! Aren't they a sly bunch? Jeb Bush echoes his bro's efforts at promoting greed for the wealthy through unnecessary tax cuts. And, surprise, surprise, Jeb almost forgot to mention Florida election reform in an address to the state legislature. Mercy me.

When Democrats on Dan Burton's Government Reform Committee got their chance to call witnesses, they highlighted a bunch of ugly Republican pardon scandals that have received none of the attention given to Clinton's pardons. Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) cited Orlando Bosch, a right-wing Cuban terrorist who was released on parole by Bush the Smarter in 1990 after lobbying by Jeb Bush - which cemented Jeb's support among Miami's right-wing Cuban community and led to his election as Governor. Waxman also cited Armand Hammer, pardoned by Bush the Smarter in 1989 after he gave $200,000 to the Republican Party and the Bush-Quayle Inaugural Committee. Democrats also brought up the pardons of election law felon George Steinbrenner, fundraising abuser Gilbert Dozier, and Pakistani drug trafficker Aslam Adam. Waxman urged Burton to subpoena records from the Reagan and Bush Libraries, but Burton refused. We can't wait until Democrats regain the House and Waxman gets to issue the subpoenas!

Double standards are just"bidness" as usual for the Bushes. Having Jr. play"good cop" while his operativies play"bad cop" is par for the course. And the Bushes - albeit through their minions - should be the last ones to cry foul about Marc Rich."[Rich] has worked with the world's premier dirty banks, including BCCI, Nugan Hand and BNL. George H.W. Bush relied on Rich's assistance in the October Surprise operation, weapons deals with Iraq and Iran, tax evasion and the laundering of drug profits (from both South America and earlier, from Southeast Asia). Rich is also involved with Prescott Bush, and numerous arms and ammunition deals in China." The Bushes are also in deep with Glenn Braswell, who contributed $25K to George W. and $150K to the Republican Party. Braswell got Jeb Bush to write an article in his magazine promoting Braswell's sleazy alternative medicine enterprise. Braswell had been"convicted in 1983 of mail fraud, perjury and tax evasion in connection with a fraudulent herbal drug business".

Joe Conason reviews Bush Sr.'s highly questionable pardon of Armand Hammer, after Hammer had deposited hundreds of thousands into the Bush and Republican Party coffers. Hammer's attorney was none other than Ted Olson -- Bush Jr.'s pick for Solicitor General. Olson is a good friend and fellow Federalist Society member to C. Boyden Gray, Bush Sr's legal counsel and another Ken Starr pal. Both Olson and Gray played roles in the "Get Clinton" efforts, and later in helping Bush steal the election. Conason also reviews Bush Sr.'s pardon and swift deportation of heroin trafficker Aslam P. Adam. Conason writes "that Bush, a former CIA director, may have had his own occult foreign policy or national security reasons for releasing Adam -- but none ever came to light" -- thanks to a media that looked the other way. The same questions could be raised about Bush Sr.'s pardon of the anti-Castro terrorist Orlando Bosch at the behest of Jeb Bush. Throughout his CIA career, and later during Iran-Contra, Bush Sr. enjoyed a long association with anti-Castro Cubans who were folded into the CIA. Bush's favorite spook was Felix Rodriguez, an anti-Castro Cuban and long-time CIA agent. When Rodriguez was Contra Supply Chief, he regularly reported to Bush Sr. We demand that Congress grill Olson about the Hammer pardon! We also demand that they call Bush Sr. about his pardons if they call Clinton!

To the U.S. Congress: George W. Bush stole the Presidency of the United States with the help of his brother Jeb Bush, his Florida co-chair Katherine Harris, and five partisan Supreme Court Justices appointed or promoted by Reagan-Bush and Bush-Quayle administrations. Bush thereby assumes the Presidency on the basis of a crime against the American people – and against Democracy itself. We call upon Congress to Impeach President Bush. If they fail, we will elect a new Congress in 2002 that will do so. We will never accept the theft of the Presidency. Sign the Petition!!

Poor Jeb, more than 92% of the black voters in Florida disapprove of him, and he doesn't understand why. In fact, it drove him to tears the other day. For real.

Investigative reporter Robert Parry looks at the consequences of the failure of the Democrats in Congress to support former Special Prosecutor Lawrence Walsh's case against George Bush Sr. and his treasonous coterie of Republican henchmen. He hits the nail of truth right on the head: As they had for almost a decade, the Democrats let the Republicans determine which situations deserved investigations and which ones didn’t. While Republicans conducted new hearings on Clinton’s pardons – a contrast to the lack of hearings on George H.W. Bush’s Iran-contra pardons in 1992 – the Democrats made no move to force an investigation of the GOP power plays around the Florida recount. The only congressional hearing on the Florida case was called by Republicans – and that was for the Orwellian purpose of having news executives explain why their “erroneous” projections had shown Al Gore to be the voters’ choice in Florida. Though the Democrats have the right to demand hearings in the evenly split Senate, they appeared to have no stomach for confrontational hearings about the Florida showdown, clearly one of the most important political events in recent U.S. history. Thanks to this Democratic timidity, no Republican has been called on the carpet for dispatching hooligans to south Florida. No conservative Supreme Court justice has been compelled to justify the unprecedented interference in the electoral process that meant negating more than 50 million votes cast by American citizens for Al Gore. None of Jeb Bush’s aides has been hauled before Congress to explain how thousands of African-American voters apparently were purged from voting lists based on an inaccurate computer program for eliminating supposed felons. Having retreated so far and so often, today’s Democrats seem incapable of fighting back. It is a pattern of behavior that – as much as anything – has made the Republicans the dominant political force in Washington and left American democracy in an endangered state."

Investigative journalist Gregory Palast's report on the Bush/Harris election scam can be downloaded until February 22. The 13 minute film covers Palast's expose of Database Technologies, the firm hired by Katherine Harris and Jeb Bush that purged thousands of Florida voters - mostly African-American - from the voter registry. A highlight is Harris' Director of Elections, Clay Roberts, bolting from the cameras exclaiming, "If y'all want to hang this on me that's fine!" The program announcement promises, "For the first time: 'secret and confidential' details of the agreement between the State and the computer firm ... which show exactly how Al Gore was cheated out of 23,000 votes."

Florida is one of only nine states where the right to vote is not automatically restored when a person convicted of a felony has completed his or her sentence. It's a law that dates back to the Civil War, passed mainly as a way of keeping former slaves from voting, according to election-history experts. As a result, 525,000 ex-felons in Florida are denied their voting rights - and so are many innocent voters with the misfortune of sharing the same name as an ex-felon. A bill is before the state legislature to repeal this legacy of slavery, but Jeb Bush is not supporting it.

I've been traveling overseas for the past few weeks on business, visiting Jamaica, Davos Switzerland, Cairo and various parts of Egypt. Everywhere, people want to know about the recent US elections. Here are a couple of recent conversations.

"I believe our critics are wrong. Our Party is united. Our Party is strong. In the last election, we beat Republican incumbents. We picked up seats in the House. We picked up seats in the Senate. We won State Houses. And we won the popular vote, rolling up 50 million votes nationally. And you know this: if Katherine Harris, Jeb Bush, Jim Baker and the Supreme Court hadn't tampered with the results, Al Gore would be President, George Bush would be back in Austin, and John Ashcroft would be home reading Southern Partisan magazine... We will transform the anger about Florida into energy about politics. We will prove there is victory after denial, democracy after Florida, Daschle after Lott, Gephardt after Hastert, and justice after the Supreme Court. We will give the American people a Congress they can be proud of, and we will show George Bush the door in two thousand and four." So says the new DNC Chair, Terry McAuliffe.

In his inaugural speech, Bush cited America's "faith in freedom and democracy." He also made a solemn pledge: "I will work to build a single nation of justice and opportunity." But Bush made no mention at all of the crimes against democracy and the massive INjustice that made him President - the election stolen in Florida by Jeb Bush, Katherine Harris, and the Republican majority of the U.S. Supreme Court. Is Bush planning to pretend throughout his Presidency that he won a just and democratic election?

An investigation by Gregory Palast in The Nation found that aides to Jeb Bush and Katherine Harris defied explicit court rulings and prevented thousands of Floridians - mostly black - from voting. This was done by illegally purging and denying registration to thousands of Florida residents who committed crimes in other states but had their voting rights restored after paying their debts to society. Bush and Harris refused to answer the reporter's calls; they must be brought to justice for criminally interfering with the voting rights of thousands of Floridians.

During his brief testimony before the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, Jeb Bush "denied that he had any special contact with Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris, one of six co-chairs of his brother's Florida campaign, or other elections officials before or during Election Day," according to the Washington Post. Interestingly, Jeb's remarks were made under oath...

The right wing Internet rag, NewsMax, says that the tabloids are about to break the story of the much rumored Jeb Bush-Katherine Harris affair. They claim the tabloids have witnesses who have passed polygraph tests. Remember, this is coming from a right wing house organ.

Oh, the shredding machines must be working overtime in Tallahassee tonight. The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights has subpoenaed Jeb Bush to explain why so many minorities lost their right to vote in Florida. He is also being asked to bring all evidence of communication with Katherine Harris during the election to the hearing, along with other communication documentation. Of course, Jeb's Daddy headed the CIA, so expect that there will be a lot of paperwork that gets burned up in a mysterious fire. Then again,who knows, maybe there will be some justice after all.

As the first media recount showed Gore gaining 130 votes - enough to win Florida - in the first county, Governor Jeb Bush condemned the media's recount effort. No surprise here - Al Gore won Florida, and the facts will prove it.

"The Supreme Court can enjoin local officials, but it cannot enjoin election researchers or the press from searching out the truth. Stealing Florida once left only a small ripple in the history books. Stealing it twice could leave a deep and damning stain on the Republican Party," said respected conservative commentator Kevin Phillip on National Public Radio.

As low as the bottom of the scum pond. The GOP leader of the Florida house, an ardent Dubya backer and former running mate of Jeb Bush, called Gore's speech "evil." His friends joined in jeering Joe Lieberman. It's the dark, ugly underside of the Bush campaign that's not going to go away.

George W. Bush stole the Presidency of the United States with the help of his brother Jeb Bush, his Florida co-chair Katherine Harris, and five partisan Supreme Court Justices appointed or promoted by Reagan-Bush and Bush-Quayle administrations. Bush thereby assumes the Presidency on the basis of a crime against the American people – and against Democracy itself. We call upon the next Congress to Impeach President Bush. If they fail, we will elect a new Congress in 2002 that will do so. We will never accept the theft of the Presidency.

Day-by-day, it is becoming clearer: there was a systematic GOP effort to suppress the black vote in Florida, through a variety of methods. It all amounts to "Jim 'Jeb Bush' Crow" doing what he could for his brother. Hail to the Commander in Thief and his sib.

Please join with me in writing to the Democratic State Legislatures, Governors, Representatives, Senators, and party officials in Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Missouri, and North Carolina to prevent the tyranny the Republican Party would otherwise impose. Ask that the Democratic slate of electors be sent to Congress for certification, that the democratically elected candidates for President and Vice-President be inaugurated in January, 2001: Albert Gore Jr., and Joseph Lieberman.

You don't need to be a Constitutional scholar to see through the Republican lies. Here are nine simple questions from an American citizen and a voter. Can any Republican answer these questions?

Jeb has been lurking behind the scenes, pulling the strings of key players in the Florida recount battle. It's all part of his strategy of seeming to appear unresponsible for the election theft in the Sunshine State. But a lot of Democrats now have Jeb targeted in 2002. Will this be the beginning of Jeb Bush's downfall? We certainly hope so.

Stick a fork in him. If you think folks are angry at Jeb now, wait until the truth of the stolen election comes out - and it will come out.

The tactics have changed, but the goal remains depressingly the same: Keep the coloreds, the blacks, the African-Americans - whatever they're called in the particular instance - keep them out of the voting booths. Do not let them vote! If you can find a way to stop them, stop them.

A group of local Democrats has launched a new online effort to support the lawsuit against Republican election fraud in Seminole County. Today's big news: the Court of Appeals turned down the Republican plea to yank the case away from Judge Nikki Ann Clark. It turns out the Clark was one of two African-American judges considered for promotion to the Court of Appeals recently, but she was the one NOT chosen by Jeb Bush. Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus!

Jeb Bush has been trying to give the appearance of not interceding in the Florida shenanigans. He's a bit concerned about retaining his Governor's seat in 2002. But an unimpeachable source says that J.B. is head deep in Dubya's strategy to steal Florida. And Jeb can't call the source a liar, because it's Papa B.

More and more, Florida is starting to look like a one-horse town where everything is controlled by Jeb Bush and the fix is in. That's because it's true. If the Florida legislature decides to co-opt democracy and choose its own Bush electors, there should be protests swamping the streets of Miami.

Jeb Bush: You are in violation of the will of the people of your State - You have once publicly recused yourself on Nov 8th - and now your honor is lost. We call for your impeachment from Governor of the State of Florida for your reckless action taken to obstruct the fair Election of President of the United States in the year 2000.

You would think that there might be a sense of urgency, except in Jeb Bush's state. Gore's key consolidated case won't be heard until Saturday. Is this called stalling or what?

Robert Reich is the latest Democrat to wimp out and go public with reservations about Al Gore's strategy. The man gets littler every day. A reader lets Reich knows that he's helping to disenfranchise thousands of people. E-mail Reich yourself. Let him know that you want him to stand tall for the victims of Jeb Bush's new Jim Crow regime in Florida.

Okay, so it's just another Bush-associated conflict of interest. They are so prevalent in Florida, they have become the norm, rather than the exception. In this case, a Jeb Bush appointed Judge is hearing a case that could result in the voiding of nearly 5,000 Bush absentee ballots because of illegal activity on the part of the GOP election board head. The only problem is that the Judge's assistant did a similar thing during the Judge's last campaign. Has the Judge recused herself? Don't be silly, she's a Bush appointee. They have no shame, just chronic conflicts of interest.

Minutes after Jeb Bush's poodle, Katherine Harris, put the fix in for Dubya, Joe Lieberman denounced the call. ``We have an opportunity here, and we have a responsibility to ensure that this election lifts up our democracy and respects every voter and every vote -- no matter what the outcome,'' Lieberman said. ``And that is precisely what Vice President Gore and I will seek to do in the days ahead,'' he said. Go Joe!

In 1876, Democrat Samuel Tilden won the popular vote by 264,000 votes. But Republican Rutherford B. Hayes cut deals with three southern states where the results were in dispute, including Florida. He promised to remove Federal troops and thereby end Reconstruction in return for the southern Electoral College votes. A Republican-rigged Electoral College commission completed the theft of the Presidency for Hayes, who was subsequently called "Rutherfraud." There are many parallels to the events unfolding before our eyes.

Whatever happens in the presidential race in Florida, Sunshine State Dems have clearly had enough of Bush -- Jeb Bush that is. Having alienated minority voters with various backward stances already, Jeb's behind the scenes efforts to ensure a Gore defeat have motivated Florida Democrats like never before.

Forget the cultivated image of Jeb Bush having a low key presence in Florida. Behind the scenes he is pulling the strings -- and sending out inflammatory e-mails. Check out the response his communication director sent back to him.

George W. Bush lost last Tuesday's presidential election. The networks knew it, the voters knew it, the Republican Party knew it, and George W. Bush knew it. But they couldn't accept it. Despite all the character attacks, the negative ads, the outrageous spending of a record $138 million, Bush lost. So with nothing more to lose, they resorted to dirty tricks.

In a latebreaking Friday afternoon ruling, the Florida Supreme Court unanimously ordered Florida Secretary of State Katherine "Jeb Bush Owns Me" Harris to cease from certifying a winner in the Presidential election until further order of the court. That must have surely cast a pall over the celebrating in Austin after an early morning circuit court ruling that had permitted Ms. "I want desperately to be an ambassador to France in a Bush administration" Harris to proceed in rejecting the hand recounted votes.

Would anything surprise us at this point? The Florida Supreme Court should send Katherine Harris into exile. But she'd still have a job, we're sure. FOX News would hire her as an expert unbiased commentator, just to please the Bush campaign.

Just a little nudge here and there, that's all it takes for Florida's Secretary of State needs to do the work of the Bush campaign. However, Jeb Bush had the usual shameless Bush audacity to assert to claim that Harris was just upholding the law of the state of Florida. The Bushes look so sincere and earnest when they're lying through their teeth.

Secretary of State Katherine Harris, a George and Jeb Bush surrogate, announced that Dubya has a 300 vote lead after she "officially certified the returns." Of course, the overseas absentee ballots won't be counted until Saturday, so there's only one reason she rushed the count: to make sure that Gore doesn't get the votes that are due him.

This one is almost too preposterous: FOX was the first network to call Florida for Bush, but the FOX executive who made the call is a cousin of Dubya's. What's more, he spent election night on the phone with George W and Jeb Bush, giving them inside information on the vote tally, among other things. Why doesn't FOX just become the PR Department for the Bush campaign. Because they are already!

According to the New York Times, Florida's 25 electoral college votes are not essential. "The Constitution requires only that a winning candidate have the votes of 'a majority of the whole number of electors appointed.' If Florida's votes are not resolved by then, or if a legal restraining order bars Gov. Jeb Bush from filing a certificate listing Florida's electors, then Mr. Gore has enough votes from other states, if current vote totals stand and if his electors keep their pledges, to reach a majority of the 513 electors actually appointed."

Gore is ahead of Bush in Florida 46-42 percent among those expected to vote, according to a New York Times/CBS News Poll. Seniors are apparently showing the wisdom of age in moving toward Gore. They know a bogus Social Security scam when they see one -- and they have had enough of the snake oil salesman from Texas.

For Bush, the greatest challenge will be to maintain direction and control and avoid perils that appear suddenly and force crucial errors on the campaign trail. But without an issues-based premise and plugging a tarnished Honor and Dignity theme, avoiding errors alone may not be enough for the Bush campaign.