[North-NV-Greens] Fwd: [usgp-dx] Letter to Nightline, re Jan. 19 broadcast covering 2004 voting irregularities

[Paul Etxeberri]

>
>
>Sent to ABC News' Nightline
><http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/> on January 21,
>2005....
>
>
>Cokie Roberts, in her remarks on Nightline's
>January 19 broadcast covering the allegations of
>vote obstruction and manipulation in the 2004
>election, dismissed the complaints from numerous
>voters, especially from African Americans and
>young people in Ohio, as conspiracy theory and
>Internet rumor.
>
>The same facile clichÈs were used in the media to
>deride allegations by the 9/11 families that the
>Bush Administration sat on evidence of an
>impending attack in 2001.  The 9/11 Commission's
>investigation later showed the 9/11 families were
>right.
>
>Ms. Roberts also suggested that the recount's
>purpose was to overturn George W. Bush's election
>in 2004.  In fact, the recount was undertaken in
>order to win some urgent reforms: auditable paper
>ballots for all votes cast on computers;
>equitable distribution of election equipment;
>national voting rights standards; removal of
>public officials with a clear partisan bias from
>supervision of elections (e.g., Ohio Secretary of
>State Kenneth Blackwell, who also chaired the
>2004 Bush/Cheney campaign in his state).
>
>These reforms are necessary regardless of whether
>the recount in Ohio was likely to overturn the
>2004 election.  My vote is important even if the
>candidate I vote for doesn't win.
>
>Significantly, the recount effort was launched
>and led by Green Party presidential candidate
>David Cobb while Democrats sat on their hands
>after John Kerry's quick concession.  Greens have
>been campaigning for electoral reforms for years,
>and also call for instant runoff voting,
>proportional representation, and repeal of ballot
>access laws passed by Democrats and Republicans
>in order to hinder third party and independent
>candidates.
>
>Contrary to the bromide that "the system works",
>which was repeated at the end of the January 19
>Nightline broadcast, the real lesson of 2000 and
>2004 is that the U.S. is still in the process of
>becoming a democracy.
>
>Scott McLarty
>Media Coordinator, Green Party of the United
>States gp.org
>
>
>
>
>
>
>__________________________________________________
>Do You Yahoo!?
>Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
>http://mail.yahoo.com
>_______________________________________________
>Natlcomaffairs mailing list
>To send a message to the list, write to:
>Natlcomaffairs at green.gpus.org
>To unsubscribe or change your list options, go to:
>http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/natlcomaffairs
>
>You must know your password to do this.
>
>If you can't figure out how to
>unsubscribe, as a last resort only,
>send a message OFF LIST to
>steveh at wagreens.us
>
>If your state delegation changes, please see:
>http://gp.org/committees/cc/documents/delegate_change.html
>
>For other information about the Coordinating Committee, see:
>http://gp.org/committees/cc/


-- 
Paul Etxeberri

"Forests precede civilizations and deserts follow"   ---Chateaubriand