May I suggest we start writing Letters to the Editor?

[Pacifist Patriot]

Here are two that have been sent to a couple of Florida papers

___________________________________________________________________

ONE

On January 6 those who tuned in to C-SPAN witnessed something that has only happened three times in American history. Rep. Tubbs-Jones and Sen. Boxer interrupted congressional acceptance of the electoral votes by objecting to the Ohio slate of electors based on evidence of massive voting irregularities forcing the two houses to meet separately for debate. Courageous Democrats spoke on behalf of voting rights for all citizens regardless of race, political party, etc... They presented accounts of flaws in a system unable to assure fair and transparent elections. They pointed out this issue is not about President Bush or Senator Kerry, but about ensuring voters’ rights are protected.

Ironically, despite their attempts at a revote in WA, Republicans framed the contest as a “conspiracy theory” interfering with the business of Congress. Furthermore, Kenneth Blackwell, Ohio’s Secretary of State, functioned as both the head of Ohio’s election activity and co-chaired Bush/Cheney ’04 Ohio, yet Republicans ignored the obvious conflict of interest. The House Judicial Committee Minority Staff Report recently documented Blackwell’s illegal activities in this election.

One Senator said of election reform, “It’s a shame we’re wasting our time on this today.” What is shameful is any official sworn to uphold and defend our Constitution brushing aside voters’ rights as inconsequential. We cannot claim to be a great democracy if we remain ignorant and complacent about our voting rights. 100% of our voters should have complete confidence in the process and outcome, yet we failed them in both 2000 and 2004.

________________________________________________________________

TWO

I cannot even begin to describe how appalled I am by our current slate of elected officials in both the House and Senate. The protest against the Ohio voting irregularities is not 'misguided', 'full of wild accusations', 'equal to a terrorist attack' or designed to put someone other than George Bush in the White House. He'll be our president for a second term. We get that.

The protest is about ensuring that every vote is counted accurately and every citizen who wishes to vote is given a fair chance. The events in Ohio on November 2nd and beyond are plainly documented and Mr. Blackwell's actions and words are out there for all who wish to see.

I deeply resent Representative Keller telling me to 'get over it'. As the proud citizen of a democracy, I have a vested interest in assuring my vote and the votes of each and every one of my fellow Americans who went to the polls on November 2nd was counted and counted accurately. He may not lose any sleep over the fact that thousands of his constituents and Americans in all states have lost faith in 'the system', but I'm saddened and not a little bit frightened. Representative Keller can hear me loud and clear. I will never get over anything that threatens the credibility and the viability of my democratic government. The fact that he can calls into question why he's even in office.

As an added bit of irony, it's quite amusing to see the Republicans in Washington DC call the Democrats sore losers while they wage legal warfare in Washington state over the governor's election there. I wonder if Rep. Keller has the same advice for his colleagues out west.

_________________________________________________________________

Elected officials at all levels DO review the letters to the editor and who knows. We may reach more of the ignorant masses. ;)

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. Yep. We have a lot of work to do to rescue this nation.

------------------------------------------------------
Election reform can help save this country!
http://timeforachange.bluelemur.com/electionreform.htm

[Darknyte7]

12. Excellent suggestion...

... it ain't over folks. Now isn't the time for self pity and naval gazing. Time to go back to work.

[crispini]

2. Yes! Let's do it! n/t

[Pacifist Patriot]

3. I would highly suggest this tactic, although I didn't really use it.

It just occurred to me that non-partisan letters expressing outrage and/or dismay at the republican response would go a long way towards casting the bad guys in the light they so richly deserve. Phrase the letters in such a way that your party affiliation either can't be determined or doesn't matter.

[euler]

7. This should be at least as successful as...

...the campaign to send letters to democrats asking them to stand up.

[StephanieMarie]

4. Done. Kick n/t

[kimpossible]

5. Here's my LTTE:

I just got done watching the Congressional debate on the objection to the Ohio electoral votes, and wow, what fireworks there were. This is the most explosive event to happen in electoral politics in recent memory, and the "irregularities" documented in the House Judiciary Democrats' report are just eye-popping. People standing in line in the rain for up to 10 hours while perfectly good voting machines sat unused in warehouses, electronic voting machines that lost or misallocated votes, registered voters missing from the voter rolls for no good reason - and here in North Carolina, we had our own brush with voting problems when those 4500 votes were lost in Carteret County.

It was very courageous of Stephanie Tubbs-Jones and Barbara Boxer to stick their necks out and raise the objection, and we all owe them a debt of gratitude for shining a spotlight on the urgent need for reform to ensure reliable and clean elections in the future. They've helped us turn off the road that was leading our voting systems to become a laughingstock in the rest of the world, as we try to claim the moral authority to tell other nations how to run a democratic election.

[Pacifist Patriot]

9. Excellent!

I love your "popping" language.

[kimpossible]

22. I tried to make it sound more exciting than doing the laundry...

Maybe a little corny but might wake up some people with idle curiousity, I hope. I think it will be in tomorrow's local paper.

[katinmn]

6. I'm working on mine.....

will post it when it's ready.

I'm going for the emotional approach.

[CAcyclist]

8. MY LTTE to the Chronicle:

Dear Editor:
RE: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/01/07/MNGFDAMQ0N1.DTL

There is a threat to our democracy, but it is not coming from Democratic quarters. What, exactly, is Tom Delay so afraid of?

What is so subversive about making sure that our votes count and that everyone who wants to cast a vote gets to?

Who does Tom Delay think he is? The scene of a man so lost to integrity that he tried to gut ethics rules that threaten him due to his criminal activities daring to lambast the Democratic representatives of citizens who may not have had their vote counted is so bizarre that I can only conclude that he has lost his mind. If you want to see a real meltdown, real hysteria and real mania, check out the video of Tom Delay frothing at the mouth on C-Span.

What "must be curbed" is the republican abuse of power and abuse of citizens for daring to insist on their rights. What must be curbed is the corporate control of the voting booth, their republican and DLC puppets in Congress and their cronies in the White House.

Sincerely,

Dani

***************************************************
http://sfgate.com/chronicle/submissions/#letters
[e-mail]

[Pacifist Patriot]

10. Splendid.

Delay is a nutjob, isn't he?

[CAcyclist]

14. Thank you! nt

[EFerrari]

11. Go, Dani. I'm so mad at the Chron, I better not write to them or

it will be something like, "Problems in Ohio? Why didn't anyone tell me?"

[CAcyclist]

13. Do it anyway

I am so mad at the Chron, but it is nothing more than I expected after Hearst took it over. I have watched a jewel of a paper being systematically gutted, its best journalists replaced with hacks like Sandalow and Epstein and now it starts mounting propaganda campaigns of its own against Kevin Shelley.

They need to get strong criticism from the left, then maybe they will stop and think about the wisdom of trying to sell a right-wing slant in a liberal area.

Oh and thank you! I doubt it will get published , but it made me feel better to write it.

[musette_sf]

18. a telling quote from Hearst:

"News is something which somebody wants suppressed; all the rest is advertising."

[Pacifist Patriot]

15. I agree. Do it anyway.

[EFerrari]

17. Best way to get published by the Chron is to do 90 words or less

submit before 10 am PST and try to figure which story they will go with, then tie in. They publish me about every 6-8 weeks, so I must be close to right on this.

I won't write this time, but will look for an op soon. Anyway, I'm really glad you all are doing this. I've cancelled my print subscriptions in protest and for some reason, it's harder to gauge on line what story the editor will pick. lol

But, I will do back up, watch them as I do the NY & LA Times.

Beth

[Jo March]

16. Check out our action thread! Come in, sit down, sign up for a task

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x262387

These are what we have so far:

*Create fraud packets to mail/FedEx to elected officials
*Create state-specific fraud packets as well
*Educate the media by using media blasters
*Educate the "masses" using flyers, something easy to read
*Send BBV book to elected officials emcguffie will get info on using parts of the BBV book
*Send the Conyers report to elected officals
*Continue to call, fax, email and write with our concerns
*Develop a calling strategy
*Develop a clear and consistent message to deliver to our elected Officials (EO)
*Create a "media tree" for the organized distribution of information
*Election reform "comics" - mordarlar will do this
*Work on cleaning up registration process
1. Research needs to be done on the rejected ballots
2. Research and fix the registration process
3. Research into the felon purges: where, when, how
*Expand your network of progressive groups
*Meet with other progressive groups
www.meetup.com is a good tool for this
*Educate major corporations and businesses (especially the BLUE ones)
*Rent a billboard
*Take out ads in the newspaper
*Write Letters to the Editor
*Come up with a "soundtrack" for our movement
*Create a blog for our movement
*Create a mission statement for DU movement - arnheim is doing this

We are going to keep things going. Your idea links right into ours!

Won't you come over and join us? :) We'd love to have your fine writing skills.

[housewolf]

19. Excellent - we should all do this

I was thinking the same thing, that we should all write letters to newspapers pointing out how utterly lame the Repubs were yesterday. It's a story that needs to be told.

Thanks for the post/thread

[helderheid]

20. excellent!

[roenyc]

21. thanks but i need one just for the post

i posted there editorial, i hate that paper. its fox TV in print.

[buddysmellgood]

23. Damn! Look at you. You ARE the editorial machine. Your letter captures

what I like to say, the "it" is democracy. When someone tells you to get over "it" or "move on" tell them the "it" is democracy and they can have your democracy when they pry it from your cold, dead hands.

[Al-CIAda]

24. done. eom