h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Jim has gone off to school to study, and Bush has won! Or so everyone thinks... Kerry has even conceded defeat. I do not believe it! - oh, it's complicated and Ohio is still undecided!

03 November 2004. 1ZB at 14.30 had Kerry leading comfortably. Pacific at 15.00 had Bush leading comfortably. BBC says it's all up in the air. Republicans are legally attempting to delay counting absentee ballots until Thursday ,i.e., our Friday.
Scr*w you says Al Franken, when abused by a Republican.
Could all this lead to the civil war John Titor predicted? Odd. The BBC says it looks as if Bush has the popular vote. How is this possible? Jim says don't despair but it's hard not to.
4th Nov. '04. At 07.00 this morning, 91ZM claimed victory on behalf of Bush, they sounded so happy! We switched to the BBC WS and Kerry did conceded defeat, though Ohio is still undeclared! I am stunned! Edwards said "it's not over yet" but even the BBC seem to have accepted it. With what Scandrea said had happened to her friend, it should certainly not be over yet! If W., did win the popular vote, fraud is the only explanation...
On top of all this, I got a phone call this morning about Garth and the endless difficulties continue... So, the word 'mourning' really is quite apposite. It's a lovely sunny day, but you'd never think so here inside.

I am finding this result very hard to swallow too. Given the level of discontent with Bush, how does he get in again, even when all the results are not in. No wonder people feel their votes don't count.

I agree with you, something distinctly y here.

Hope things improve for you. Don't know anything about the Garth situation, but good luck anyway.

Wishing you and

Websailor

As far as I'm concerned and I don't mean to sound rude here, but either that election was fixed or there are far more dumb Americans in America than there is intelligent ones.

Bush completely lost the three debates and has fouled up the forein policy and domestic issues etc etc yet he gets back in, FIX.

Oh well better the devil you know than the one you don't know I guess, an things can't get much worse can they?

Oh dear the end of the world is nigh!

Adib

Can't understand why but it does look as if he won without fixing the results this time
If Hitler, Thatcher and Blair can win power through elections it shouldn't really surprise us if Bush can too
Does kind of make me despair and think of becoming even more of a people-hating recluse than I already am

There was no conspiracy. The election was not rigged.

Bush's people played a very clever and quite dirty game through which they motivated the Evangelicals and many other right-wing Christian groups. They did this by identifying, quite wrongly, the Kerry campaign as pro-abortion, pro-gay marriage. They made the election a moral issue.

Post election interviews and polls found that people who supported Bush and the Republicans, often for the first time, were five times more likely to have done so on 'moral grounds' than in response to the 'War on Terror'.

Bush has also won Congress and the Senate. This is very scary as it allows him to stuff the Supreme Court with ultra-right wing Judges. He is already proposing to outlaw gay marriage, it won't be long before he also outlaws elective abortion and stem cell research.

After that where could he go? My many druid friends in the States fear he will then roll on through freedom of religion. Already some of his neo-conservative advisors are publicly talking about changing the words of the constitution from 'one nation, under god' to 'one nation, under one god'.

More realistically he will go after pornography on 'moral grounds' and then birth control. He already witholds funds from any charity in the third world that supports condoms as a preventative measure against AIDs.

We live in interesting times...

Blessings,
Matholwch the Apostate /|\.

Garth was my brother, he died in March this year - and he predicted back in February, that Bush would win a second term, because of the "power of stupid" - and I believe, because there *is* something distinctly y going on!

I was talking about this to Jim this morning, and I have faith that Tony B Liar for one, will not be re-elected! I know Australians, and they are very easily scared by talk of terrorism, as indeed New Zealanders would also be. Given that, I can see why Howard was re-elected... Also Bush.
(Australians here on hootoo are just as upset as I would be - good on them!)
But I don't think that's gonna work for Tone. I truly believe that - hope that...
Hi, Adib!

<>

Yeah, I heard some of those interviews on the radio. Un-be-flipping-lievable! But it's important, Matholwch, that you don't blame all Christians for Bush - just as many of us are agin him, even in the USA, there's a significant number of Christians against Bush - sadly, they're just not as vocal...

The evangelical vote swung Bush into the house, so Christians is probably not the right term. Bush has huge evangelical support, being one of them. We're talking about a fundamentalist group here I think.
I'm upset too and as far as Tony is concerned, until there's an actual viable opponent, the British will probably vote him back in again too. Sad. You CAN lie to all of the people all of the time and still get elected. Apparently.

the problem in the UK is the most likely replacement for Blair is Michael Howard
I suspect Blair will get back in, although with a much reduced majority, since for every disillusioned leftie who defects to the Lib Dems, Greens, Plaid Cymru or whatever the Tories lose a voter to UKIP

What is Michael Howard like? Is he anything like his Australian namesake?

funny you should mention garlic and crosses
a fellow Tory (Anne Widdecombe) said he had something of the night about him
as far as I can see if we replaced Blair with him we would have just the same foregn policies but worse domestic ones
what we need is a minority Labour government kept in power by Liberal Democrat support who demand electoral reform in exchange for keeping Labour in power

Same foreign policies, worse domestic ones - oh no! Horrible. I'll join you in wishing for not Michael Howard!

"what we need is a minority Labour government kept in power by Liberal Democrat support who demand electoral reform in exchange for keeping Labour in power"

Sounds like you need MMP

you're right there
the 2 main parties both oppose it which is why I'll probably vote Liberal Democrat next election
they do support electoral reform although in general they are a bunch of wishy-washy centrists
still once we have a fairer electoral system hopefully it will be worth voting for a left-of-centre party which Labour hasn't been for a long time here

Big established parties always oppose it because they know it's the death of one party rule forever. Good luck with that 'third party'

, btw good tag line

I must admit to not making it up. I culled it from something I read and I liked it