As the breathless sports coverage of the presidential primaries bursts around me this morning, I’m doing my best to resist surrendering to the contrived drama about “comeback kids” and the flying shrapnel of numbers and hold onto my troubled skepticism about the electoral process, or at least most of it.

First of all, before we get too enthusiastic about feminist solidarity or wax knowingly about New Hampshire Democrats’ traditional soft-heartedness toward the Clinton family, let’s ponder yet again the possibility of tainted results, which is such an unfun prospect most of the media can’t bear to remember that all the problems we’ve had with electronic voting machines — and Diebold machines in particular, which dominate New Hampshire polling places — remain unsolved.

Did the Hillary campaign really defy the pollsters? She had been trailing Barack Obama by 13 percentage points, 42 to 29, in a recent Zogby poll, as election watchdog Brad Friedman pointed out. And the weekend’s “rapturous packed rallies for Mr. Obama,” as the New York Times put it, “suggested Mrs. Clinton was in dire shape.”

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Florida has followed the lead of the ACLU of Central Florida, the ACLU of Monroe County Florida, and the ACLU of the Treasure Coast (Florida), all of which followed the lead of the ACLU of Southern California in backing impeachment and calling for the National ACLU to do the same.

The ACLU was a prominent supporter of Richard Nixon's impeachment. In 2006 an ACLU panel argued for impeachment. In recent years, the national ACLU has lobbied against numerous offenses that appear quintessentially impeachable, but refused , despite intense lobbying by its members and others, to back impeachment. The national ACLU recently announced a new motto that many impeachment advocates view as a wish for the impossible (a reference to the current presidential administration): "One More Year, No More Damage."

In a December 31, 2007, editorial, the New York Times faulted the current president and vice president of the United States for kidnapping innocent people, denying justice to prisoners, torturing, murdering, circumventing U.S. and international law, spying in violation of the Fourth Amendment, and basing their actions on "imperial fantasies."

Um, thanks for finally noticing. What would you suggest we do about it?

"We can only hope," concludes the New York Times, quite disempoweringly, "that this time, unlike 2004, American voters will have the wisdom to grant the awesome powers of the presidency to someone who has the integrity, principle, and decency to use them honorably. Then when we look in the mirror as a nation, we will see, once again, the reflection of the United States of America."

But here's the problem (other than the pretended certainty that Bush won the 2004 election):

We urgently need your help to stop a live animal lab from taking place at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in Ohio this month. The school plans on using pigs in its elective laparoscopy surgery lab. Pigs are highly intelligent, social, and sensitive animals. According to this recent article in The Cleveland Plain Dealer, Case Western has stopped using live dogs, cats, and ferrets to teach surgery and other medical courses, and it also plans to stop using pigs—but not until the next academic year. Live animal laparoscopy labs are easily replaced by inexpensive, high-quality simulators. Please urge Case Western to discontinue its live animal lab program today. Being polite is the most effective way to help these animals.

Here’s what you can do to help:

Call Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine Dean Pamela B. Davis, M.D., Ph.D., at 216-368-2825 and politely ask her to end the school’s live animal lab once and for all.
Send an automatic e-mail to Dr. Davis and politely ask her to end the school’s live animal lab program now.