Benny's World

Friday, December 31, 2004

Conyers' Call to Arms

I've read that Conyers will stand up and ask for a senator's signature to contest the election. I've written to several senators, including Byrd. It's been reported on the Daily Kos that Kennedy won't support Conyers. However, I think the staffer who answered the blogger's questions wasn't really in the position to say if the Senator would or wouldn't really support Conyers. So, I wrote Senator Kennedy myself:

Dear Senator Kennedy:
I'm a former Bay State resident, and voted for you each time you were up for re-election. One of the reasons why I did is because I believed in many of the same issues you did: access to better healthcare, education, and fairer trade agreements. As you learned from your brothers, you knew you have to be steadfast in your oath to defend and protect the Constitution of the United States from its enemies both foreign and domestic. On January 6th that oath will be tested as Representive Conyers is asking for your help to contest the Presidential election.

For the sake of U.S. citizens both present and future, I ask you to seriously evaluate the legitimacy of electors on January 6th, 2005. Americans are relying on you, and all of our elected representatives, to defend the Constitution. You have an obligation to respect the democratic process by ensuring the validity of our elections.

Verifiable evidence of vote suppression and compelling indications of vote manipulation in Ohio, New Mexico, Florida and other states have been detailed by thousands of witnesses. Given the testimony we have seen thus far and the over 50,000 voter complaints filed since November 2 in Ohio alone, you have legitimate reasons for challenging the presidential electors.
Whether we are experiencing a concerted effort to control the outcome, isolated instances of fraud, lack of training, good faith human error, poor planning for unexpected voter turnout, a lack of funds, flawed software, vulnerable computer networks or some combination of the above; Americans deserve to know for certain that every vote counts and every vote is counted. Our nation cannot serve as a shining example of democracy if it cannot fulfill that responsibility to its own electorate.


In addition to evaluating the electors, there needs to be a full investigation into the matter. Now is the time to address the problem even if the work necessary to regain voter confidence is painful and messy. Expense should not be a consideration in launching a full investigation. I can certainly sympathize with the reticience to initiate such an investigation but I also feel quite strongly that complicit silence will result in a far greater crisis. We as taxpayers and voters have the right to know the truth.

You have voted as beacon of hope for those who need it most. Please ask your colleagues to join you as you help Representative Conyers in his call to arms on January 6th.

For those of you who wish to contact any senator, go to www.senate.gov, and choose from the drop-down list of contacts.

If we stay silent, so will the senators.

Cheers....

Thursday, December 30, 2004

SEA-EAT Blog

I just signed up for an RSS feed to a new blog called South-East Asia Earthquake and Tsunami blog, SEA-EAT for short. I stumbled across it as I was doing some searches in Google.

It has really good ideas for how people can contribute money, time, or other things. The most creative one I've seen thus far is donating airline mileage. Several airlines are permitting this, especially for children who need immediate medical help somewhere else.

I'm still looking for agencies that are rescuing animals, particular the ones on the wildlife habitats in Sri Lanka. From reading Christine Kenneally's piece on Slate.com today, I understand the animals were so intutive they sensed the tsunami coming and moved to higher ground. But many of their caretakers are lost, dead, or helping others. The animals are vulnerable to disease, lack of food and problems with access to water and will be competing with the humans who need it. I posted a query on the SEA-EAT blog about this; I'll keep you posted in what I learn.

May the Universe watch over all of the workers who are helping, with the hope that loved ones who are still looking for their families and friends will find them.