THE THIRD GATHERING TO SAVE OUR DEMOCRACY
SUNDAY, 01/02/05, 2:00-5:00 PM
BENTON CHAPEL, VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY
NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE
BE THERE!!!
OUR THIRD GATHERING
This Sunday, January 2, 2005, will mark the third Gathering To
Save Our Democracy in Nashville. Our two previous gatherings, held on
the steps of the Tennessee State Capital, have been well attended by
people from throughout Tennessee and other states, and have generated
some much-needed media coverage for the 2004 election fraud/theft
issue. We have received coverage on Channel 5, WPLN, the Nashville
Tennessean and other media. (We have also done two 30 minute public
affairs programs on the election theft on two large Nashville radio
stations and an hour-long public service program which included a
discussion of the election theft was broadcast this past Sunday on five
East Tennessee radio stations.) We want to continue to build momentum
and support for free and fair elections here in Tennessee by scheduling
this third Gathering To Save Our Democracy this coming Sunday
(01/02/05). This third Gathering will help us garner more media
attention and help us move forward to pursue remedies to the threats
which our election process now faces.
We are honored and very appreciative that Vanderbilt University
is allowing us to use Benton Chapel free of charge for this third
Gathering. At the Gathering, we will have several speakers, including
honored veterans of the 1960s Nashville civil rights movement who can
remind us what was necessaary to secure voting rights in the past,
social scientists who can review the latest evidence for election fraud
in Ohio and other states, and local and national elected officials and
their representatives who will discuss the steps we must take to
reverse this situation. We will also have discussion groups which will
focus on short-term and long-term strategies to overcome this 2004
election theft and to prevent it from happening again in the future.
Finally, the Gathering will end when we send a busload (or more) of
Tennesseans to Columbus, Ohio to participate in another large rally
organized by the Reverend Jessie Jackson to protest the Ohio election
sham on Monday, January 3. At the Gathering, we will distribute new
summaries of election fraud information and, if possible, we will allow
opportunities for anyone (and everyone) who wishes to speak to do so.
And we will distribute orange ribbons to everyone there, so that we can
continue to show our solidarity with the brave people in the Ukraine,
our Tennessee soldiers in harm's way in Iraq and Afghanistan who are
fighting to protect what's left of our democracy and our thankfulness
for their potent example.
If you and your friends and family can join us this Sunday,
please contact anyone and everyone you know in Tennessee and
surrounding states who are as concerned about the future of our
democracy as you are, and invite them to join us. Ask them to pass the
word along to others to make this the largest gathering yet. If
possible, please make up signs and banners to protest the 2004 election
theft to use at the Gathering and to send to Columbus, Ohio, to help
make this a visually memorable gathering.
So please come join us at 2:00 p.m. on Sunday, January 2, 2005, in Benton Chapel at Vanderbilt University. (Benton
Chapel is located on the north-east side of the campus, off of 21st
Avenue, close to the Main Library and near O'Charley's Restaurant.)
Come meet with many other like-minded people who share your concerns
and come show, by your presence and your voice, that you will not allow
this election theft to stand. Come get your orange ribbon, and help us
begin to take our country back!!
WHAT WE KNOW
By now, all of you are aware of the overwhelming evidence that the
2004 election was tampered with. As I write this message, plans are
underway to recount the votes in at least a dozen states, most notably
in Ohio. In December, the House Judiciary Committee (under
Representative John Conyers' leadership) has taken testimony on the
evidence of the Ohio election theft and the multiple actions now
underway in that state and other states to overcome the election fraud
and theft. The testimony has been riveting and clearly indicates that
our election process is no longer sacred, or safe.
The evidence for this election theft is everywhere and is
undeniable. Since 11/2, the Government Accountability Office has logged
over 57,000 (and counting) reports of election irregularities and
voting machine "glitches", 99.99% of which favored Bush. Numerous
voters have reported that the electronic votes they cast for Kerry
registered instead for Bush or another candidate. The total votes
reported cast for President in many U.S. counties exceeded the total
number of people who voted. (In Wyoming, with no important state races
at stake, the total reported vote for President was 106% of the total
registered voters there.)
In too many states, absentee ballots were misplaced or never
counted, and provisional ballots were discarded in violation of
election rules. Voting machines were disproportionately distributed to
create long lines (and discourage turnout) in Democratic districts. And
the disconnect between the exit polls and the "reported" vote – a prime
source of speculation that the Ukrainian vote had been tampered with –
was so bad in our own country that statisticians have placed the odds
that this disconnect occurred by chance in the millions (or even
trillions) to one. Against those odds, a PowerBall ticket would be a
safe investment.
In the face of this overwhelming evidence of U.S. election fraud,
our "mainstream media" has been virtually silent and our (unelected)
President's concerned comments about the Ukrainian election seem
hollow, misdirected and distractingly self-serving. We sincerely hope
that the American people will become aware and resolute enough to
re-import a love of democracy -- and an understanding of the necessity
of free and fair elections as democracy's foundation -- from the
Ukrainian people, whose brave actions have placed a spotlight on our
own inattention to the obvious election theft in our country. And while
we're at it, we hope that we can also re-import from the Ukrainians the
wisdom and the courage to change the things that now threaten democracy
in the United States, while we still can.
The Ukrainians are not our only brave role models. In the past
month, a Nashville soldier in Kuwait (Spc. Thomas Jerry Wilson) stood
face-to-face with Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and demanded to
know why he and his fellow soldiers were being sent into battle in Iraq
unequipped and unprotected from the dangers they faced there. That
bravery should be honored by our own presence at the Third Gathering To
Save Our Democracy on Sunday, January 2, 2005 from 2:00-5:00 p.m. at
Benton Chapel on the campus of Vanderbilt University. We will gather to
hear veterans of the Nashville civil rights movement, to review the
most damning evidence for election fraud and theft and to discuss
short-term and long-term strategies to insure that free and fair
elections -- the foundation of any democracy -- be protected in this
country. If a single Nashville soldier can speak truth to
(illegitimate) power and be heard around the world, so can we. We can
do this -- together.
SEE YOU ON SUNDAY, 01/02/05, 2:00-5:00 P.M.
BENTON CHAPEL, VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY
NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE
BE THERE
WHAT ELSE WE CAN DO NOW
1) If you have any questions about our third Gathering this Sunday (01/02/05), please email me (Bernie Ellis) back right away
( [email protected]
) so that I can answer your questions. (If you can't be there but want
to be put on our Gathering email list, please write me also.)
2) If you may be interested in going to Columbus, OH to
participate in the rally there on Monday afternoon, 01/03/05, please
call Alma Sanford at the Davidson County Democratic Party headquarters
(615/251-8823) or email her ( [email protected]
) right away. The cost is $40/person and we have room for 50 riders. If
we are able to secure a bus for the trip, the bus would leave after our
Sunday Gathering and return late Monday evening. Here's a link with
more information on the Ohio rally: http://www.caseohio.org/CalendarEvents.htm
3) Please continue to educate your friends, family members,
neighbors and co-workers about election fraud/theft issues. To help, we
will distribute two short documents (each of which will fit on the
front and back of one page) at the Gathering for you to distribute. The
first is entitled "20 Amazing Facts About Voting in the U.S." and the
second is entitled "Things You Must Also Believe If You Believe That
Bush Won The Election". These two sheets of paper will help educate
many more people to the evidence for election fraud. If you can't make
the Gatehring but would like these handouts, please email me and I'll
send them.
4) Please keep writing our U.S. Representatives and Senators to
ask that they set aside the electoral votes when they meet on January
6, 2005, until a full inquiry is undertaken on the evidence for
election fraud in Ohio and literally dozens of other states. We must
have at least one Senator stand with the 14 Representatives (and
counting) who have already committed to rejecting the electoral votes.
I believe we need to write all our Representatives and Senators, and
you can find their email addresses and phone numbers at the following
links:
http://www.house.gov/writerep/
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
5) Finally, please keep reading and distributing the wealth of
information that is now appearing (some of it – finally – in the
mainstream media) about the election fraud/theft. The following
articles have just appeared in the past few days – they are well worth
reading.
-----
A comprehensive county-by-county review of Ohio election fraud/theft is published
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2004/12/20/215458/51
Reverend Jessie Jackson wrote an inspiring letter:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?
az=view_all&address=203x199115
Kerry did file "two important motions to preserve and augment evidence of alleged election fraud"
http://rawstory.rawprint.com/1204/kerry_motion_ohio_recount_1227.php
Green Party Presidential candidate David Cobb is considering a Federal Appeal in the New Mexico Recount
http://www.augustafreepress.com/stories/storyReader$30133
Znet Magazine thinks that we should "Do the right thing" and fight fraud
http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=90&ItemID=6924
(via Ohio Election Fraud.)
