Just want to take this opportunity to thank you for your excellent article on "Democracy Hangs By A Thread In Ohio".

I has said so many things I've been saying or feeling or thinking recently. And it has expressed the concerns I've been feeling about this election.

Mainstream journalists have been wont to say that Democrats are suffering from "depression" re: loss in the election.

But I believe a more appropriate word, at least for me, is more "paranoia."

Now, psychiatrically, that's a different diagnosis!

Bush has all three branches of the federal government, and has had since 2000, and if he keeps the White House, the GOP will have had all three branches for longer than any time in modern history. Meanwhile, as I've mentioned in e-mails, W. now has unprecedented powers no President has ever had--Homeland Security, Patriot Act, Drug War police powers, Line Item Veto, increased War Powers Act troop deployment times. And he's the first Electoral College-only President to ever be re-elected. Assuming, that is, that he even legitimately won in 2000. There's still plenty of controversy there. And there was the data you've mentioned about the Florida computer glitch of -16,022 votes from Gore back then, recently (2002) discovered by BlackBoxVoting.org, as you may recall.

So, will we be able to win the battle in Ohio. The Cleveland Plain Dealer is reporting that the Washington state Supreme Court has rejected the Democratic lawsuit regarding the recount there.

Now, with this you refer to about the Triad Company technician, one wonders how far up the chain of command this could go, and what effect it will have on the continuation of the recount. Now that Conyers has asked the FBI to step in in Ohio, just as the Florida Congressman has asked them to do there, it seems that this is becoming a "story". Perhaps the mainstream media will begin picking up on it. Certainly, the _Plain Dealer_ could have done a better job of presenting the facts accurately in its articles regarding the Warren County, Ohio incident. It seems to me that they ended up quoting the Kerry-Edwards lawyer out of context, in order to make what he said fit their article about "Untangling the Controversies".

Now, it's the holidays, and everyone wants to take a breather. Those of us who are concerned about our democracy and what this all portends for it, are being given short shrift by most people. It's not just the GOP. Ordinary people, often Democrats, are unfamiliar with the details of the potential threat here. So they think we're just overly intense, bitter, etc. They don't want to talk about the election because "Kerry conceded, so why bother?"

But the reality is that Kerry wouldn't concede if enough comes up along the lines of what you've written about.

Thanks again for putting this idea--that democracy is threatened--out there again.

Best wishes,
Max Standridge