Uncle Horn Head

It makes sense for W. to use surrogates to do his fighting, just as he did when he slid out of Vietnam and just as he did when he sent our troops to fight his administration's misbegotten vanity war in Iraq.

State officials have said that the investigation, which has already frightened many voters and intimidated elderly volunteers, is in response to allegations of voter fraud involving absentee ballots that came up during the Orlando mayoral election in March. But the department considered that matter closed last spring, according to a letter from the office of Guy Tunnell, the department's commissioner, to Lawson Lamar, the state attorney in Orlando, who would be responsible for any criminal prosecutions.

The letter, dated May 13, said:

"We received your package related to the allegations of voter fraud during the 2004 mayoral election. This dealt with the manner in which absentee ballots were either handled or collected by campaign staffers for Mayor Buddy Dyer. Since this matter involved an elected official, the allegations were forwarded to F.D.L.E.'s Executive Investigations in Tallahassee, Florida.

"The documents were reviewed by F.D.L.E., as well as the Florida Division of Elections. It was determined that there was no basis to support the allegations of election fraud concerning these absentee ballots. Since there is no evidence of criminal misconduct involving Mayor Dyer, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement considers this matter closed."

Well, it's not closed. And department officials said yesterday that the letter sent out in May was never meant to indicate that the "entire" investigation was closed. Since the letter went out, state troopers have gone into the homes of 40 or 50 black voters, most of them elderly, in what the department describes as a criminal investigation. Many longtime Florida observers have said the use of state troopers for this type of investigation is extremely unusual, and it has caused a storm of controversy.

State officials deny that their intent was to intimidate black voters. Mr. Tunnell, who was handpicked by Gov. Jeb Bush to head the Department of Law Enforcement, said in a statement yesterday: "Instead of having them come to the F.D.L.E. office, which may seem quite imposing, our agents felt it would be a more relaxed atmosphere if they visited the witnesses at their homes.''

...Sadir had a message for U.S. president George W. Bush, who is using the Iraqi Olympic team in his latest re-election campaign advertisements.

In those spots, the flags of Iraq and Afghanistan appear as a narrator says, "At this Olympics there will be two more free nations -- and two fewer terrorist regimes."

"Iraq as a team does not want Mr. Bush to use us for the presidential campaign," Sadir told SI.com through a translator, speaking calmly and directly. "He can find another way to advertise himself."

Ahmed Manajid, who played as a midfielder on Wednesday, had an even stronger response when asked about Bush's TV advertisement. "How will he meet his god having slaughtered so many men and women?" Manajid told me. "He has committed so many crimes."

What's it like for men in uniform? Little or the media coverage looks into this. That's why I invited Dwayne (who has given me his last name - though I decide to withhold it), the soldier who courageously wrote to us to tell us a little bit more about life in the Army of One. He writes:

I must begin with what I hope is a worthy submission somewhat off topic. I am a little upset by the fact that my comments were immediately believed to be some type of intentional governmental ambush, simply because I admitted that I am a soldier and the nature of my comments.
Understand this, simply because I am an enlisted soldier in the US military and do not posses a Bachelor's in anything that I, we (soldiers), do not ponder issues of politics with depth and intelligence. Make no mistake, we do. Many of us are articulate and can structure a sentence to some degree of "respectability"; we also know how to use a dictionary for the spellings that elude us.

Now having said that, I hope these comments are not mistaken for extremely petty anger on my part. I did not attempt to encourage, or engage, Mr. Schechter in any illegal activity. Also, I did not attempt to solicit any personal or sensitive information regarding him or his activities; I simply submitted my personal comments to him and I stated the reason why: "the ironic fact that I obtained EMBEDDED from my base library and am currently working my way through a damn good and informative book." Furthermore, I am the one that is waiting for the FBI's axe to drop on my neck because of the comments I submitted using their website terrorist tipline.

Late April, 2004:

As always, it's extremely early in the morning and we have already had an intense physical training session and are now crammed into a classroom, fighting off fatigue and nervousness. Today's task, we are about to learn, and practice, the important skills of ESCAPE & EVASION. For reasons I still do not understand, our briefing will conclude with a lecture by the Regimental chaplain, Captain "Y." For the moment, we quickly use grease pencils to scribble important training information on our laminated maps, code names for roads, final destination points and anything else we believe is relevant and can be used to our advantage; when the soldiers who will play the role of our enemy pursers catch us their treatment will be.... realistic.

Soon the Chaplain's assistant, Specialist "Z", enters the class. He comes bearing gifts of chocolate bars, bananas, apples and bottled water. Without question, we will need the energy and hydration they provide and these treats are quickly snatched up; goodies that a soldier can acquire without pulling money from our pockets always creates a frenzy.

Enter the Chaplain:

After a brief introduction, the chaplain proceeds to ask a few questions about faith, who believes (in God) and who does not. He also asks if the prospect of being a soldier, and possibly having to kill another human, is causing anyone a moral conflict. If so, the chaplain wants those who may be suffering a crisis of conscience to be comforted by the knowledge that "the Ten Commandments (God) does not say that killing is wrong, but that thou shall not murder." Yes, he said that, this representative of a God, a religion, supposedly of peace, love, kindness and generosity preaches that killing for a military goal is okay. To be honest, I was not shocked, but I do remember thinking about how people outside of the military would find the chaplains words of compassion extremely interesting. I furiously focused on my Snicker's bar and assorted goodies to prevent myself from responding and literally biting my tongue. I guess that's the true meaning of "praise the Lord and pass the ammunition."

...Over the last week or so, a group called Swift Boat Veterans for Truth has been attacking me. Of course, this group isn’t interested in the truth – and they’re not telling the truth. They didn’t even exist until I won the nomination for president.

But here’s what you really need to know about them. They’re funded by hundreds of thousands of dollars from a Republican contributor out of Texas. They’re a front for the Bush campaign. And the fact that the President won’t denounce what they’re up to tells you everything you need to know—he wants them to do his dirty work.

Thirty years ago, official Navy reports documented my service in Vietnam and awarded me the Silver Star, the Bronze Star and three Purple Hearts. Thirty years ago, this was the plain truth. It still is. And I still carry the shrapnel in my leg from a wound in Vietnam.

As firefighters you risk your lives everyday. You know what it’s like to see the truth in the moment. You’re proud of what you’ve done—and so am I.

Of course, the President keeps telling people he would never question my service to our country. Instead, he watches as a Republican-funded attack group does just that. Well, if he wants to have a debate about our service in Vietnam, here is my answer: “Bring it on.”

I’m not going to let anyone question my commitment to defending America—then, now, or ever. And I’m not going to let anyone attack the sacrifice and courage of the men who saw battle with me.

And let me make this commitment today: their lies about my record will not stop me from fighting for jobs, health care, and our security – the issues that really matter to the American people...

...Suppose that some of the electors -- the people who under our constitutional system conduct the real presidential election some weeks after voters go to the polls -- aren't actually selected by the voters.

Impossible? Not if you give a close reading to the Supreme Court's decision in the case of Bush v. Gore, which finally settled the presidential election of 2000, if not to everyone's satisfaction. Under that decision, there is no guarantee that the electors who are decisive in choosing the next president of the United States will themselves be selected by the people of the United States. That's because the justices ruled in that case that state legislatures have unlimited authority to determine whether citizens in their respective states shall be allowed to vote for president at all.

"The individual citizen has no federal constitutional right to vote for electors for the President of the United States," the court said, "unless and until the state legislature chooses a statewide election as the means to implement its power to appoint members of the Electoral College."

Imagine, now, a state in which the same party controls both houses of the legislature and the governor's office. There would presumably be no partisan impediment to the state legislature, with the governor's approval, deciding that the majority party in state government shall control the state's electoral vote, regardless of any popular vote in the state. If the Supreme Court's declaration is an accurate statement of the law, there would not be any legal impediment either...

An unidentified supporter of President Bush tries to silence protester Kendra Lloyd-Knox (right) outside Southridge High School in Beaverton. Elsewhere in Portland, supporters of Democratic candidate Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., rallied on the waterfront.

KERRY’S POSITION: I voted to give President Bush the authority. Then President Bush f*cked it up.

...And Bush certainly doesn't want to talk about the facts laid out by a Congressional Budget Office report on Friday that one-third of his tax cuts over the past three years went to people who earned an average of $1.2 million annually.

Households with incomes in the top 1 percent received an average tax cut of $78,460 this year. Households in the middle 20 percent -- they average about $57,000 a year -- received an average cut of $1,090. That is a 72 to 1 ratio in favor of the millionaires...

I am a soldier in the US Army. I want out of this nightmare, this emasculation of my humanity, my needs, my desires, the right to voice my opinion. Ironically, I obtained a copy of Embedded from my base library. I also just sent a letter to the FBI, via their webpage for submitting tips about possible terrorists, and informed them of my disgust about their interregation of people who intend to protest at the RNC in NYC. Please forgive any mispellings, I am typing this much quickly than normal; you guessed it, I am using a highly monitored computer. Fuck it, I don't care anymore.

Sincerly,

Dwayne