"Which is more revolting?" an editor e-mailed me the other day, "Rupert Murdoch spending $44 million for a triplex at 834 Fifth Avenue with 20 rooms and a monthly maintenance of $21,469.07, as narrated on the front page of that day's newspapers, or King Mswati III of Swaziland spending $690,000 on a Daimler-Chrysler Maybach 62?"

            Mention of the Great Beast buying his three-floor pad on Fifth Ave. gave me a chance to saunter down Memory Lane. I think Murdoch had one floor of that building back in the late 1970s, when his only properties in the United States were the Star and a newspaper in San Antonio, Texas. Then he bought the New York Post and duly made it onto either the cover of Time or Newsweek, I can't remember which. Maybe both. He was depicted as King Kong, clinging to the Empire State building.

On Dec. 11, 2004, I turned 41 years of age. The very next day, I bought my first Christmas tree.

Now it may not seem to some that buying a Christmas tree should be that big of a deal. After all, according to the National Christmas Tree Association (yes, there is such a group), Americans bought an estimated 24 million real Christmas trees this past holiday season, making it the second year in a row the number of trees purchased went up from the previous year.

Until this year, however, I had not bought one. In fact, until a few weeks ago, I didn’t even celebrate Christmas at all.

Didn’t get a tree, didn’t send out Christmas cards, didn’t buy presents for my family and friends.

Instead, year after year, I simply pretended Christmas didn’t exist.

And for years, my friends—and, later, my wife—put up with my little seasonal eccentricity.

They didn’t have much choice, seeing how I would regularly rail against what I saw to be the hypocrisy of the holiday.

Three contiguous counties in southwestern Ohio, all traditionally Republican counties, gave unexpectedly large margins to George W. Bush over John F. Kerry on election night.  All three counties experienced a huge increase in voter turnout.  In all three counties, Bush received a higher percentage of the vote than he did in the 2000 election, and Kerry received a lower percentage of the vote than Al Gore did in 2000.  This study analyzes how it happened.

In Warren County, the administrative building was locked down on election night, all in the name of "homeland security."  No independent persons were allowed to observe the vote count.  Compared to 2000, the population increased by 14.75%, the number of registered voters increased by 29.66%, voter turnout increased by 33.55%, Bush’s point spread increased from 42.24% to 44.58%, and Bush’s victory margin increased from 29,176 votes to 41,124 votes.

In Clermont County, compared to 2000, the population increased by 4.39%, the number of registered voters increased by 10.20%, voter turnout increased by 24.86%, Bush's point spread increased from 37.50%

I understand that Ohio Chief Justice Thomas Moyer dismissed Cliff Arnebeck's first petition to contest the presidential election results, which also included a contest of the election of the chief justice himself to the Supreme Court. How can any judge in America refuse to recuse himself in a lawsuit in which he has been named a defendant? That clearly violates the 14th Amendment's due process right to a "fair tribunal." How can this be?

  Charles Reed
(former mayor of Waco, Texas)

I am surprised how your story frames the issues. After Florida in 2000, Ohio should have been expected. Can you name one person who helped 'shift' the vote towards Bush in Florida who has been held to account? I would believe a decent lawyer could have made quite a case for constructive conspiracy. If those who have their hands on the controls of the machinery are not held to account, how can you ever expect it to stop?

I am NO supporter of Bush and did not vote for him. What I hear is a lot of noise. The people who did this need to be put at personal risk for their actions. In all of Ohio, is there no one with the guts of Ronnie Earle?

Thanks,
Russ Bauman
Anaheim, CA