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The Republican-led attempt to unseat from the Texas Legislature newly elected Democrat

Hubert Vo, will require more voter intimidation, says a source close to the Vo campaign. In order to

prove that Vo does not deserve to keep his narrowly won seat, Republican attorneys will have to produce

alleged “illegal voters” in west Houston precincts, drag them into public view, and then compel them

to testify under oath who they voted for.

“Conceptually speaking,” says our source, “asking

people who they voted for has a lot of implications. The easy part of voting is knowing that no one

will ever know who I voted for. If this assurance is violated, then people may never vote against a

powerful person again. Making people disclose their votes is the ultimate form of

intimidation.”

Intimidation before, during, and after elections is the Republican way.

It is what connects Florida 2000 to Ohio 2004, and now to the Republican-led challenge against Hubert

Vo. For this reason you may stay tuned to the Texas Civil Rights review for further updates. We will

not be intimidated out of our civil rights.

The Texas Civil Rights Review is taking an

interest in the Republican-led effort to unseat newly elected Democrat Hubert Vo. As argued in a

recent article on the “Whitewashing of Election Fraud” (see below) we see the struggle to maintain

Vo’s seat as part of a national civil rights struggle.

Despite the intensity of the

Republican challenge so far, our source reports that “things are going well–so far all the signals

are in our favor.” Yet that seems difficult to believe this week.

“From the beginning

the Texas Speaker of the House has been sending signals that he doesn’t want to proceed with this

challenge,” reports our source. “But the process keeps moving forward. How can the process keep

moving forward without the Speaker wanting to proceed?”

So why does the source think

that signals are good? For one thing, the deadline for producing a complete list of alleged illegal

voters has been set for early next week. If the Speaker were more sympathetic to the challenge, he

might be giving the anti-Vo camp more time to collect their case.

So far, the allegations

include claims that 14 people voted twice, once via mail, and then again on election day. But our

source tells us that the 14 people in question happen to live on the same block. This leads our source

to believe that a “keying error” is a more likely explanation for the double count. (Frankly, we have

to admit that we don’t know enough about the “keying” process to make an independent assessment

about this.)

Here’s the tactical schedule:

• Dec. 14

  (Tuesday): Deadline for submission to Vo campaign of complete list of alleged “illegal

  voters.”

• Dec. 15 (Wednesday): Conference call between

  parties.

• Early January: Completion of discovery

  phase.

• Early February: Formal hearing on election contest in Texas

  legislature.

webposted Dec. 11–

gm

Sold American:
Cowboy Nation
Gets Ready to Vote

If tragedy is

the name we use for a drama in which the
protagonist falls on his own character, then tragic

is
the shape of public opinion in America.

Headlines Monday claimed that three-

fourths of
Americans already have their minds made up about
presidential candidates, but the poll

suggests more
than that. On the issue of who we are, the poll
reveals that Americans have had

their minds made up
for many, many years. Taking up the question of sincerity, for instance,

a
majority of Americans tell pollsters that Bush says
what he believes (51 percent), but an even

greater
majority report that Bush exaggerated to build support
for war on Iraq (59 percent). So

what are Americans
saying about Bush? That he believes his

own
exaggerations.

Again, on the sincerity question, a majority (57
percent)

believe that Kerry does not say what he
thinks, yet American voters rate Kerry higher than
Bush

for caring about us, for being able to deal with
economic decisions, make sure social security

is
solvent, and increase jobs. What do Americans think
about Kerry? That he does not believe in

his own
capabilities.

On the fundamental question of sincerity,

therefore,
Americans have nothing new to say. As a nation, we
prefer sincere liars to insecure

competents. Look for
a Reagan-Carter repeat. Or, for that matter,
Reagan-Dukakis, Clinton-Dole,

Nixon-McGovern. When it
comes to the question of sincerity, America loves a
salesman best.

And where do we find the qualities of a great
salesman? Not in the product, but in

the pitch.

And what is Bush pitching these days? That we are a
culture at war. More

important than care, economy,
social security, or jobs, is our ability to conserve
our way of

life against subversive forces. It’s an
exaggeration, as we fully know. But it’s

an
exaggeration that creates purpose.

Meanwhile, a mid-week editorial from the

Boston Globe
reminds us what Bush is selling to the rest of the
world. Scan the headlines coming

out of Santiago,
Chile during Women’s History Month. Bush
Administration Opposes 40 Latin

American Nations.
Countries of the Americas, Except US, Reaffirm
Reproductive Health Accord. US

Lone No at Chile
Meeting .

“The United States was the only country to

disagree
with a declaration linking poverty eradication to
greater access to services for family

planning, safe
motherhood and HIV/AIDS prevention,” reports the
United Nations.

A

simple Google search for “Bush opposes treaty”
yields the following: Bush opposes ratifying

nuclear
test ban treaty; Bush Administration Opposes UN
Children’s Treaty; Bush Tries to Weaken

Tobacco
Treaty; US Abandons Environment Treaty; Bush Opposes
Kyoto Global Warming Treaty. That’s

page one.

Our embattled way of life is indeed at war with the
world. Bush is right

about that. But he is only our
most recent cowboy-in-chief, pushing the frontiers,
shredding the

treaties, and sending in the cavalry to
secure the outposts.

So, of course, Americans

feel more comfortable with
Bush than Kerry when it comes to handling an
international crisis and

protecting the country from a
terrorist attack.

On three questions Bush tops the

charts absolutely.
Seventy five percent believe Bush has a vision for the
country. Seventy

eight percent believe that we would
have a good economy today were it not for the
disruption of

the massacre of Sept. 11.

And 75 percent of Americans believe Bush shares the
moral

values most Americans try to live by.

So the poll numbers demonstrate that Kerry and

Bush
are placeholders in a cowboy nation that is nearly 80
percent unified.

So

bring on your Nader, if you will. Or point out
that America is isolating itself in the eyes

of
others. What we have here is a mature culture acting
out its character in ways that are as

predictable as
they are tragic.

If the poll numbers hold up, whoever wins in

November
will be the top cowboy candidate. In this drama of
Cowboy Nation, is there an

alternative ending at hand?

Greg Moses
Site

Editor

ANN ARBOR, Michigan (AP) — Seven months after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the

University of Michigan’s undergraduate affirmative action policy, the number of applications from

blacks, Hispanics and American Indians is down 23 percent from the same time last year.
And the

number of those admitted is down 30 percent.

Officials said the figures are only

preliminary and thousands more applications will continue to be reviewed in a process the school hopes

to finish by the first week of April. The application deadline was February 1.

“We’ve

only accepted a fraction of the class we’ll ultimately admit,” associate director of admissions Chris

Lucier said Monday.

Overall, applications for this fall’s incoming freshman class are

down 18 percent, according to the preliminary data compiled February 5 and released to The Associated

Press Monday in response to a Freedom of Information Act request.

Despite the decrease

in applications, the total number of students admitted so far — nearly 8,600 — is down only 1 percent

from the same time last year. The university plans to admit 12,000 to 13,000 students and hopes that

will yield an enrollment of 5,545 for this fall.

Last June, the high court upheld an

affirmative action policy at the University of Michigan law school but struck down the university’s

undergraduate formula as too rigid. It awarded admission points based on race.

The

University of Michigan adopted a new application that still considers race, but does not award points,

and includes new short-answer questions and an optional essay — changes that meant applications were

made available to students about a month later than usual, stalling the start of the admissions

process.

Lucier said essay answers are “providing the breadth and the richness of

information that we really were hoping to get from students.” But the questions also mean additional

work for high school seniors, which officials say likely contributes to the lower number of

applications.

Admissions Director Ted Spencer said minority students and their families

may not want to thrust themselves into the center of the debate over affirmative

action.

“The residual kinds of impact of all this discussion and dialogue, particularly

from the other side of this issue, that diversity is bad, it makes a lot of students think, ‘Well,

maybe I don’t want to be put into that sort of environment,”‘ Spencer said.

The

university said it has reviewed 44 percent of applications from minority students and 69 percent of

non-minority applications — indicating minority students’ applications have been arriving later in

the admissions cycle.

Ohio State University, which also revised a similar point-based

admissions policy in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling, said applications from American Indians are

holding steady and Hispanic applications are up 6.2 percent from the same time last year, but

applications from blacks are down 18.6 percent.

“The mere conversation in the minority

community seems to be what lawyers call a chilling effect,” said Mabel Freeman, assistant vice

president for undergraduate admissions.

Thank you Greg for your excellent article in Counterpunch…education…equality…some,

many feel america has never had anything close to either…I am one of the

many…

Classism, class-discrimination, hatred, violence, war, pollutions, depleted

uranium, the system by the rich for the rich, represented by the rich…and all that star spangled

B.S……

Keep writing Greg…

Joe Ciarrocco
posted by

permission

————————-

If you’re concerned about

Education, Children, Society, please read John Taylor Gatto’s magnum opus, The Underground History of

American Education. It’s about $30, or free on the Web at http://www.johntaylorgatto.com . The educational

system is so structured as to nullify, by pre-framing, any arguments for or against busing, or any

other issues within public education as it exists–in fact, it only serves to maintain and further the

objectives of the current power structure. At least you care–most people seem to just be watching the

lobotomy box, and consuming whatever they see and hear there.

Thanks, and peace,
Al

Levine
posted by permission

[Editor’s Note: I’ve taught Gatto’s work in

Philosophy of Education. Reminds me that the most elegant solution to great education remains: hire

good teachers and keep them at all cost!–gm]