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The Blogmanac: "On This Day" ... and much more
Think universally. Act terrestrially.
For in a hard-working society, it is rare and even subversive to celebrate too much, to revel and keep on reveling: to stop whatever you're doing and rave, pray, throw things, go into trances, jump over bonfires, drape yourself in flowers, stay up all night, and scoop the froth from the sea.
Anneli Rufus*
"COLUMBUS, Ohio - An error with an electronic voting system gave President Bush 3,893 extra votes in suburban Columbus, elections officials said.
"Franklin County's unofficial results had Bush receiving 4,258 votes to Democrat John Kerry's 260 votes in a precinct in Gahanna. Records show only 638 voters cast ballots in that precinct. Bush's total should have been recorded as 365."
"The hot story in the Blogosphereis that the 'erroneous' exit polls that showed Kerry carrying Florida and Ohio (among other states) weren't erroneous at all -- it was the numbers produced by paperless voting machines that were wrong, and Kerry actually won. As more and more analysis is done of what may (or may not) be the most massive election fraud in the history of the world, however, it's critical that we keep the largest issue at the forefront at all time:Why are We The People allowing private, for-profit corporations, answerable only to their officers and boards of directors, and loyal only to agendas and politicians that will enhance their profitability, to handle our votes?
"Maybe Florida went for Kerry, maybe for Bush. Over time -- and through the efforts of some very motivated investigative reporters -- we may well find out (Bev Harris of http://www.blackboxvoting.org/ just filed what may be the largest Freedom of Information Act [FOIA] filing in history), and bloggers and investigative reporters are discovering an odd discrepancy in exit polls being largely accurate in paper-ballot states and oddly inaccurate in touch-screen electronic voting states. Even raw voter analyses are showing extreme oddities in touch-screen-run Florida, and eagle-eyed bloggers are finding that news organizations are retroactively altering their exit polls to coincide with what the machines ultimately said. "
Carnival for bicentennial of Hans Christian Andersen's birth
"COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) - International celebrities, music stars, athletes and Danish royals will attend a four-day carnival next spring that will start a year-long international celebration of the bicentennial of Hans Christian Andersen, Denmark's famous fairy tale writer, officials said Wednesday.
"The March 31-April 3 events in Copenhagen and Andersen's native Odense are 'expected to reach the scope of the opening ceremony of Olympic Games', said organizer Christian Have. 'It will the biggest celebration of a single cultural personality the world has ever seen'."
"God has no place in politics and should not have been used by churches in the United States to influence the presidential election, a council representing 342 Christian groups around the world said.
"The World Council of Churches (WCC) told US member churches in a letter that they should not ask whose side God was on in an election but only offer 'a moral and spiritual compass for their community, their nation and the world'.
"The letter, by WCC general secretary Rev Samuel Kobia, chided some US churches for presenting God in partisan terms.
"It was released late on Wednesday."
Source: Irish Times [subscription only, I'm afraid]
November 4, 1796 The United States of America government signed a treaty with Tripoli, Libya, which included the statement,
"The Government of the United States is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion".
As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion; as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquillity, of Musselmen; and as the said States never have entered into any war or act of hostility against any Mehomitan nation, it is declared by the parties that no pretext arising from religious opinions shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries.
So reads Article 11 of the Treaty with Tripoli (Libya), made during the Presidency of George Washington and signed on this day ...
This is just a snippet of today's stories. Read all about today in folklore, historical oddities, inspiration and alternatives, with many more links, at the Wilson's Almanac Book of Days, every day. Click today's date (or your birthday) when you're there.
A media report today said that Americans voted on morality first, economy second, terrorism third and Iraq fourth.
I might be a bit dim, but if morality was the big issue, why did they vote in a bunch of rich, greedy cunts who just killed 100,000 men, women and children in a country that did nothing to America? Add to that the Afghan death toll of many thousands.
Someday I hope to understand the morality issue. If, as it seems, it's about who you fuck and not who you massacre, then I fear that I never will.
If the economy was the issue, why did they vote for the bastards who have spent (so far) $143 billion of taxpayers' money on killing tens of thousands of people (how long before a million) for no reason? The same bastards that preside over the most derided health care and welfare system in the Western world? And one of the highest levels of disparity between rich and poor of all OECD countries? And, of the rich countries, the 18th ranking per capita in terms of foreign aid? Americans don't seem to want a society, they want an economy. And that's what economists deliver: social ills on grand scale. Remember, every sale of a casket, and every clean-up operation on an oil spill increases the Gross Domestic Product, which is how the 'health' of an economy is measured.
If terrorism was the next big issue, why did they vote in a bunch of psychopaths who have made every American increasingly unsafe by enraging an already unhinged minority of the generally reasonable pro-Palestinian lobby worldwide?
If Iraq was also a big issue, then I have practically nothing more to say.
America, like Australia, needs a massive upheaval. If it means taking it to the streets because of the corrupt media, then so be it.
I'm old enough to know about Yippie, young enough to still be a proud Yippie. The Western world needs some Yip real bad. I hope those who are too young to remember will google Yippies and spend a productive afternoon on their computers, and think "strategy and tactics". Don't worry if it's uncool: it works, that's the main thing. Certainly adjustments must be made for the new era we live in, but there is a wealth of praxis to study and replicate in modern vernacular. People of this frame of mind helped end the war in Vietnam. However, the Democrat and Republican parties massacred 3 million unnecessarily before we succeeded, before Shrub's predecessors backed down, so activists have got to be in for the long haul.
They say a country gets the government it deserves. I'm fond of Americans, and thought that they deserved a bit better than this.
LA Citizens' Grand Jury calls for end to 9/11 "cover-up"
Los Angeles, Oct. 31 - "In findings issued today, the Los Angeles Citizens' Grand Jury condemned the 9/11 Commission's official version of the events of September 11, 2001 as "physically impossible, untenable, contradictory, implausible and fraudulent" and called for the release of several documents specifically naming officials responsible for 9/11, being withheld until after the election.
"Citing evidence that at least 8 of the 19 alleged suicide hijackers reported themselves alive after 9/11, that the World Trade Center Towers and Building 7 came down not from fires from the planes but controlled demolition explosives which require weeks to prepare, and Administration managed 'war games' (including a field training exercise scenario covering multiple hijackings and a plane going into a building) that were actually happening on 9/11 as causing air traffic controller confusion & lack of fighter response, the nation's first Citizens' Grand Jury on 9/11 unabashedly concluded 9/11 was 'an inside job' that demands "legal prosecution, civil liability and political condemnation" around the world.
"According to the nation's first Citizens' Grand Jury on 9/11, the US government must immediately release the CIA Inspector General's report on 9/11, which assigns blame to certain high level officials but whose release is being suppressed by new CIA Director Porter Goss until after the election, according to published reports. Goss is reported to have been having breakfast on the morning of 9/11 with the Pakistani ISI 'money man' himself, General Mahmud Ahmed, who had wired $100,000 to the alleged head-hijacker Mohammed Atta."
The expanded version of evidence and LA Citizens' Grand Jury Findings can be viewed here.
Thanx Almaniac Mary Ann S. from California for sending this.
Post-election coverage is available at Indymedia US. If any voting irregularities show up, that's probably one of the first places that will report them.
11/03/04 "ICH" --Bush's popular vote outcome is not surprising to me. Bush has been always successful in fear mongering the "patriotic" base into loyal submission. That's been a hallmark of his administration. What I'm worried about is how, with all the Fahrenheit 9/11s, all the government leaks, the Paul o' Neils, Richard Holbrookes, Abu-Ghraib's, Al-Qaqaas, the dismal presidential debates (for Bush), the depressed economy, the ballooning of the federal deficit, the loss of millions of jobs, the absolutely Orwellian anti-environmental policy of this administration, the Leave No Child Left Behind initiative (entitled sarcastically by actual teachers as the "No Child Left Alive" act), the smearing of our international reputation like no other administration before, the unnecessary embroilment in Iraq, the fumbling of the ball with respect to finding Osama Bin Laden in Tora Bora, the Patriot Act and curtailment of liberties and so on....
How could the American people vote massively (by a 3-4 million vote margin) to re-elect this fool...this dangerous, arrogant fool? We in the U.S. can look forward to 4 more years of increased reactionary policies in government. With re-election now not an issue for Bush, with the Congress firmly in Republican hands, and with the Supreme Court looking to be shaped for the next decades by Bush, you're going to see some of the most reactionary bills in the history of the United States suddenly be taken off the shelves of Republican think-thanks and pressed on the Congress to be passed quickly and easily. Welcome to Bush's 2nd term!
In one way, I feel relieved. For years, I've tried to state to my friends that it's not just the "government" but "the people". There seems to be an unspoken taboo regarding accusing the American people to be the source of our bad government, but in this case, I think that the adage that a people "deserve the government they elect" proves true. How long are we supposed to look the other way to the fact that a large part of country holds increasingly ignorant and radical-religious views? Who are the voting for? The American people have chosen to ignore all the incredibly abundant signs of corruption and reactionary ultra-conservatism of this administration and have given control of the world's fate to this arrogant Cowboy from Texas, and his crew of corporate-ruled cadres, and neocon imperial fanatics....AGAIN. "Fool me once, shame on you...fool me twice, shame on ME". And boy does it seem that we've been fooled! The first time the election was stolen...this time, we gave it to the thief!
Shame on you, American people. You were given a lot of facts and you ignored them, focusing more on whether you liked Bush's "confident" swagger than Kerry's more reserved style. Stylistic issues took precedence over hard facts. My message to Red States and Republicans: I don't want to see a single tear about dead soldiers anywhere on the globe from Red States or Republican families. You've forfeited your right legitimately to be angry about our embroilments abroad when you voted for the man who sent your sons/daughters to die unnecessarily. I don't want to hear laments about how we find ourselves still quagmired in Iraq and the President is saber-rattling about starting a War with Iran. I don't want to hear about how you felt uncomfortable in your last trip to pretty much all of Europe, Asia, Africa, or Latin America. I don't want to see a single cry of surprise or outrage if another terrorist attack does occur...we've had ample evidence to prove that Bush's arrogance has proved a recruiting boon for equally angry radical Islamists in the Middle East. We've made that easier for them, and an attack more likely. I don't want to hear a single complaint about gas prices going up or a Republican losing his job or the economy deepening its inequality...you knew who you were electing in this election and you knew his record on the economy. I don't want to hear about another "hero" who has died in foreign lands. If they truly were our heroes, we wouldn't have elected this President, which will assure that they stay in harm's way for more unnecessary reasons and for longer times. If you get searched on some airplane and detained at an airport, don't act indignant that they stopped you (a Republican); instead reflect on how you made it possible for the "big brother" government to continue, and worsen. If you have any integrity left, Republicans and Red States, you will suck up all "second-thoughts" in the Bush 2nd term and spare us, the Democrats, the pain, anger and anguish of having to say, "not only did we TELL YOU SO, you could see it for yourself for the last 4 years!". You knew...damnit, you knew what you were doing...and you still gave power to this dangerous fool.
We deserve the government we elected, we deserve the corruption, fearmongering, and war-waging that will occur in the 2nd term, we deserve every single part. We have nothing more to do than wade through Dante's last circle of hell and hope we come out the other side with some semblance of our Republic.
[Emphasis added. -v]
Jamie Foxer is an undergraduate student at the University of Massachusetts. She may be reached at jamiefoxer@hotmail.com
Have you ever heard people say they don't know what to do with their lives? That always strikes me as extremely odd, as there's so much that needs doing; they must be extremely short sighted!
Two women, one from Africa and the other from South America, have been highly honoured this week for the important humanitarian work that they have decided to apply their lives to.
"Wangari Maathai has become the first African woman to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Best known as the founder of the Green Belt Movement which inspired Kenyan women to plant 30 million trees, Wangari was elected to Parliament last year and is now Assistant Minister of Environment." Read more
"Bianca Jagger has been awarded the 2004 Right Livelihood Award of £150,000 which she shares with Argentinian scientist Raúl Montenegro and a Russian organisation, Memorial." Read more
An Election Spoiled Rotten By Greg Palast TomPaine.com
It's not even Election Day yet, and the Kerry-Edwards campaign is already down by a almost a million votes. That's because, in important states like Ohio, Florida and New Mexico, voter names have been systematically removed from the rolls and absentee ballots have been overlooked — overwhelmingly in minority areas, like Rio Arriba County, New Mexico, where Hispanic voters have a 500 percent greater chance of their vote being "spoiled." Investigative journalist Greg Palast reports on the trashing of the election.
John Kerry is down by several thousand votes in New Mexico, though not one ballot has yet been counted. He's also losing big time in Colorado and Ohio; and he's way down in Florida, though the votes won't be totaled until Tuesday night.
Through a combination of sophisticated vote rustling — ethnic cleansing of voter rolls, absentee ballots gone AWOL, machines that "spoil" votes — John Kerry begins with a nationwide deficit that could easily exceed one million votes.
I know, I know, Kerry looks like Herman Munster, and he sounds like he's coaching deaf kids to swim underwater. But just look at the alternative. No contest.
The three big issues this US election are the economy, Iraq, and terrorism. Pollsters in the US say that a majority of people want Kerry for economy and Iraq, but Bush gets the nod for terrorism. Let's keep this in perspective.
Americans are obviously far more in danger of terrorist attacks than pre-Shrub. And the fact is, that if our American cousins want the world on their side to eliminate terrorism, or at least reduce its occurrence, they need a Chief who isn't so "on the nose" worldwide. And it's not just in poor countries where Bush is despised. I have no doubt that a drover's dog could do better than GWB in that department.
This Tuesday (the first Tuesday in November), Australia can take its mind off the Melbourne Cup horse race for a bit (at 3 pm every living thing completely stops for that!), and hopefully send some good luck wishes to our friends in America.
In the Book of Days for October 31 we have a truckload of folklore and origins of the Samhain/Halloween festivities.
Many Australians still resist Halloween and some trick-or-treaters get short shrift at some Aussie doors. The reason given is that "Halloween is American, and we're Australian". True, Halloween was scarcely celebrated when I was a kid, but of course, the Night of the Dead on October 31 was around for many centuries before Christopher Columbus was even a twinkle in his father's eye, so today we look at how the commemoration actually began.
The Almanac has found that Halloween was celebrated in Australia before it was celebrated in several states of the USA, so Aussie readers might like to follow the links to our source.
What killed Houdini? Appropriately, I guess you could say, it was on October 31 that The Great Houdini died. It's often said that a punch to the abdomen killed him, but it's likely that this was not in fact the case. We explore that question today as well.
Speaking of Australia: did you know Harry Houdini was the first person to fly a plane in Oz? Follow the links for that as well, Oct 31 in the Book of Days. It will take you to photos and a cute lil film, too.
I can't say it better than Richard Brodie, himself, can. So, please enjoy his email and his link. Memes.org is mentioned in the article as well. My goodness, has the traffic increased. Thank you all so much for all of your patronage since 1999!
LOL! This is dated Wednesday 27th, but I've just tried to get GeorgeWBush.com and I was told "You are not authorized to view this page".
Bush website conspiracy theories darken skies
"The official Bush re-election website -- which blocked access to most of the world outside the US this week -- is still visible to Canadians.
"We don't know if it's fears about future attacks by hackers, concerns about keeping bandwidth costs to a minimum or an aggressive response to pinko UK broadsheet The Guardian's recent shameful pro-Kerry political lobbying efforts in Ohio which are behind moves that have rendered GeorgeWBush.com inaccessible to world + dog. Or, to be strictly accurate, most of the world bar the US and Canada which is presumably considered bandwidth-friendly, hacker-free and mercifully bereft of pinko broadsheets. "We called the Republican National Committee for comment but they couldn't get back to us because campaign volunteers are not allowed to phone outside the US.
"So, we can't see Bush's website because of reckless politicking by pinko broadsheet agitators, Republicans can't call outside the US lest they be corrupted by pinko broadsheet agitators, but Canadians are exempt because -- well, readers will have to answer that for themselves but a massive black swarm of black helicopters is already hovering menacingly on the horizon.
"Meanwhile, the official website of the Kerry/Edwards campaign (JohnKerry.com) is still accessible to all and sundry -- as is the satire site GeorgeWBush.org. How many would-be visitors to GeorgeWBush.com -- including US service men and citizens living abroad and now denied their God-given right to freely surf the Land of the Free -- will wind up at the satire site, we wonder? We weep for democracy."
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"COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) - International celebrities, music stars, athletes and Danish royals will attend a four-day carnival next spring that will start a year-long international celebration of the bicentennial of Hans Christian Andersen, Denmark's famous fairy tale writer, officials said Wednesday. 
"God has no place in politics and should not have been used by churches in the United States to influence the presidential election, a council representing 342 Christian groups around the world said.
A media report today said that Americans voted on morality first, economy second, terrorism third and Iraq fourth.
Los Angeles, Oct. 31 - "In findings issued today, the Los Angeles Citizens' Grand Jury condemned the 9/11 Commission's official version of the events of September 11, 2001 as "physically impossible, untenable, contradictory, implausible and fraudulent" and called for the release of several documents specifically naming officials responsible for 9/11, being withheld until after the election.
Wangari Maathai and Bianca Jagger
I know, I know, Kerry looks like Herman Munster, and he sounds like he's coaching deaf kids to swim underwater. But just look at the alternative. No contest.
What killed Houdini?
