We have a tough, probably long struggle ahead of us, but

[deutsey]

so did abolitionists, so did labor, so did former slaves after Reconstruction failed, so did suffragists...

I know I want to live to see "our side" (which is really everyone when you think about it) win, but, like MLK, I've accepted that I may not get to the promised land.

I'm going to do whatever I can to cut a path that leads people after me to that promised land.

I don't know if that helps you, but it's what inspires me.

Here's something from Utah Phillips...if you don't have his CDs with Ani DiFranco, you should get them...

time is an enormous long river and i'm standing in it, just as
you're standing in it. my elders were the tributaries and everything they thought and every
struggle they went through and everything they gave their lives to and every song they created
and every poem they laid down flows down to me. and if i take the time to ask and if i take
the time seek, if i take the time to reach out i can build that bridge between my world and
theirs, i can reach out down into that river and take out what i need to get through this world.
bridges from my time to your time, as my elders from their time to my time. and we all put into
the river and we let it go and it flows away from us and away from us until it no longer has our
name, our identity. it has its own utility and its own use and people would take what they need
and make it part of their lives.

(PS: I posted this in another thread, but wanted to share with the rest of you in case you're interested).

[OneBlueSky]

1. there is only one thing that Democrats should be fighting for . . .

and that's a fair, fully auditable voting system NOT controlled by Republican corporations . . . anything else is just twaddle . . .

[H2O Man]

3. I think that

you are correct in saying that this should be the focus of the national effort right now. And that would require a strategy that has the greatest probability of working. The democratic leadership seems unlikely to take it up right now. I believe that we should do two things: first, identify what legal team is best able to advocate for the legal right to have all votes counted, with a "paper tral." I can think of two possibilities: the Center For Constitutional Rights in NYC, and as odd as it might sound, Vince Bugliosi.

No one works for free on this type of thing. But the internet has shown an ability to raise funds at a grass-roots level. If a Howard Dean and/or Wesley Clark were to take a firm stance, I believe people would donate. I sure as heck would. I will mention that a dear friend who is an elder, a Clan Mother, if you will, said get Bev Harris and Ms. Edwards to do this, and the country would take a giant step towards a democratic healing.

This is the type of case that could be filed in several areas where there are "problems" that are documented, File a few cases. Get them in to federal courts, to insure people's right to participate with the least risk of error, human and technological. One need not say the republicans' stole the election. Everyone with an IQ over the teens will get it.

At the same time, people should be involved at the local level on a wide range of issues, from running for school board, to advocating on environmental issues.

[Eloriel]

4. You would do well, I think, to

get a little better idea of what's already going on. Why post pipe dreams (at this point they're pipe dreams) about Bugliosi (who turned down a chance to get involved with this some time ago) or even Elizabeth Edwards when a SIGNIFICANT effort is already underway on numerous fronts? Why send people off in some other direction when there are plenty of viable, working directions happening RIGHT NOW which need our help and activism AND contributions?

Please, educate yourself (and maybe your Clan Mother, too):

VOTE FRAUD Links - a DU Compendium
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=201&topic_id=1984#

VOTE FRAUD Links Compendium - Thread #2
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=201x3223

ALSO SEE: VOTE FRAUD? What can we do? http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=2701028#
INCLUDING DONATE to our own DUer hedda_foil's 27, Help America Recount: www.helpamericarecount.org

********SEND THESE TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW AND MEDIA TOO *********
Best Fraud Summary I've seen!
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x57214
Link: http://www.bopnews.com
Updated Version: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=203&topic_id=61029

NEW Berkeley Study: http://ucdata.berkeley.edu (scroll down)
and: http://ucdata.berkeley.edu/new_web/VOTE2004/index.html

VOTERSUNITE database of Voting Problems by state
http://www.votersunite.org/electionproblems.asp?sort=state&selectstate=NV&selectproblemtype=ALL

2004 COLLECTED VOTE FRAUD STORIES
http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/2004votefraud.html

[G_j]

2. good post

Thanks!

-I just finished reading this article which seems to fit here:


ACT LIKE CHRISTIANS
Barbara Ehrenreich, The Nation

For the next four years and well beyond, liberals and
progressives will need to emulate the original Christians,
who stood against imperial Rome with their bodies, their
hearts and their souls.
http://www.alternet.org/election04/20507/