AUSTIN -- Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice helpfully explained it all for us. The problem is that we are living in an alternative reality. What we think we know is not true. We have always had enough troops in Iraq. There are 120,000 trained Iraqi soldiers ready to take over. The president has condemned torture, so what else is there to say? Why torture happened, whose fault it is and why it is still happening at Guantanamo is not a problem because the president has condemned it. Secretary Rice also condemns it, so why raise questions about the fact that she wrote a letter to get an anti-torture clause in the intelligence appropriation bill taken out?

What, do you want to insult her integrity?

Secretary Rice did say that mistakes were made, but she does not know who made them or who should be held accountable. And, of course, as we all learned during the last election, no matter what happens, it is never, ever President Bush's fault.

Objections to a swift decision on Alberto Gonzalez, stemming especially from Sen. Kennedy's concerns about his responses to questions about torture, have delayed the vote on whether to confirm him as Attorney General.

This gives us a momentary window in time to slow down or even halt the confirmation, and to make the record of the truth about the Administration's use of torture.  SEE BELOW FOR HOW TO USE THIS MOMENT.

Gonzalez' responses to Judiciary Committee questions about the actuality of torture were evasive, full of "I don't remember" in regard to a very important and unprecedented memo he gave the President (a surprising thing to forget) and on memos he received about it from lawyers in the Justice Department.

And he explicitly repeated the Bush Administration's assertion that the Geneva Conventions do not apply to people the Administration labels "enemy combatants."

Even worse, he has not been willing to repudiate the definition of torture that was so extreme that most forms of torture would be permitted.

The torture carried by YUS soldiers was not only at Abu Ghraib but also at

I wish to acknowledge the work of Pat Lent, Brian Taylor and Cindy Darrah who contributed research and ideas for this paper. Dan Kornacki converted the data from Lucas County into an Excel Spreadsheet.

This report contains overwhelming evidence of voter suppression in Lucas County, Ohio.

A list of voters who voted provisionally was obtained from the Lucas County Board of Elections. The report listed name, address, precinct voted in and reason for the vote being invalidated. Voter turnout data by precinct was obtained from the Lucas County Board of Elections website. Other information was obtained over the telephone from the Lucas County Board of Elections and the Wayne County City Clerk’s office.

A large number of citizens voted by provisional ballot in Lucas County on November 2nd and most of the uncounted provisional votes were cast in Toledo.

Lucas County Provisional Votes
Total Provisional Votes - 4,469
Votes Not Counted - 3,123
Provisional Votes Counted - 1,346

Conservative Christian organizations have accused a children’s cartoon character, SpongeBob SquarePants, of being part of a secret agenda to promote homosexuality. The character appears in a music video, produced by the non-profit We Are Family Foundation, which was established following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks to promote greater cultural understanding. The video, which is being distributed to 61,000 elementary schools, features SpongeBob, Winnie the Pooh, and other popular children’s characters. Although the video does not mention sexuality, the website of the foundation asks people to take a tolerance pledge by respecting those of different abilities, beliefs, culture, sexual identity, and race.

FREEP HEROES

Ohio Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs-Jones and California Senator Barbara Boxer

U.S. representative Stephanie Tubbs-Jones courageously stepped forward and challenged the Ohio electors certified for Bush. Unlike the 2000 presidential challenge, this time a heroic U.S. Senator, Barbara Boxer, also signed off on the challenge and forced a long overdue debate on the massive voting irregularities that have plagued both of George W. Bush’s presidential “elections.” Tubbs-Jones and Boxer’s actions will be recorded in history as the two towering figures brave enough to speak out and create a new voting rights movement in the United States.

THE FREE PRESS SALUTES

Reverend Jesse Jackson
and Representative John Conyers