In an election likely to be decided as much by voter turnout as by convincing the remaining undecided, how do we maintain the hope that's necessary to keep making the phone calls, knocking on the doors, funding the key ads, and doing all the other critical tasks to get Bush out of office?

Even those of us working hard for change hit walls of doubt and uncertainty about whether our actions really matter. Our spirits rise and fall as if on a roller coaster with each shift in the polls. In a time when lies too often seem to prevail, we wonder whether it's worthwhile to keep making the effort.

We need to remind ourselves that we never can predict all the results of our actions. A few years ago, I met a Wesleyan University student who, with a few friends, registered nearly three hundred fellow students concerned about environmental threats and cuts in government financial aid programs. The Congressman they supported won by twenty-one votes. Before they began, the student and her friends feared that their modest efforts would be irrelevant.

Even when our actions seem futile, we never really know their full

I read your article about George Dumbass Bush being the biggest environmental terrorist of all time (I agree) and his many other too-long-to-list violations (I agree) but when you ran down a list of history's bad guys, you did NOT list Christopher Columbus... why?

Why is it that so many people still think of this greedy, murdering, slave-trading bastard as a hero? There were an estimated 6,000,000 people (Taino) in the Caribbean when Columbus, lost, came upon it and then promptly "claimed" it... He called it the New World and was heralded for his "discovery"... but, didn't the Taino discover it...they had been in the (cough,cough) New World for two thousand years when Columbus stumbled upon them. Columbus promised the King & Queen of Spain riches beyond imagination for funding his voyage... but even though he enslaved the population and put them to work in the gold mines until they dropped dead from exhaustion or starvation... the greed was never-ending but the gold just wasn't there. So, the enterprising Columbus rounded up 1,000 of the biggest, strongest Taino and stuffed them into the stinking holds of his

Robert F. Kennedy was greeted with a standing ovation on Wednesday at Campbell Hall on the OSU campus. A Harvard graduate, Kennedy is a professor at the Pace University School of Law, senior attorney for the National Resources Defense Council, and chief prosecuting attorney for the Hudson Riverkeeper Fund.

More than two hundred people came to hear him talk about his new book, Crimes Against Nature, and the Bush administration's irresponsible environmental policies.

Kennedy blamed the public's ignorance of President Bush's environmental abuse on the timidity of the national press and the White House Press Corps, whom he referred to as "stenographers."

One of the problems Kennedy discussed is the particulate emissions from 1100 coal burning plants operating illegally in the country, causing acid rain, sterilization of lakes, accumulation of ozone, and mercury poisoning. Effects of air pollution are thought to be responsible for as many as 5000 deaths per year and a recent increase in cases of asthma in children. Lawsuits from the Clinton era against many of these plants were ordered to be dropped by Bush

The Israeli Tourism Authority, thinking of creative ways to lure visitors back to the Holy Land, has taken to organizing the high profile visits of Hollywood stars and pop divas to mixed reaction.

Earlier this year, Richard Gere arrived for a film festival, attended a seminar, had posters of his face plastered all over Israel and generally left with rave reviews especially from the female human rights activists. They didn't question the intentions of his visit or give him too much flak for not taking any public positions on human rights. They work on human rights every day of the year, but he was RICHARD GERE!

A few months later Chris Noth, Mr. Big, was on the pages of Haaretz being whisked away by helicopter to see the sights of Israel all paid for by the good folks at the Israeli Tourism Authority. In fact, they were even armed with pro forma statements about how much the visit would boost Israeli tourism.

Then came "Esther," pilgrim Madonna, donning the latest Kabbalah outfit, raising a storm for visiting Rachel's Tomb, having her cab mobbed by fans resulting in her planned visit to the Old City of Jerusalem

The recent polls showing a large Bush lead seem to be designed to either discourage Democratic voters and/or condition the American public for a Bush victory based on vote rigging. The methodology that seems to be in use by Gallup and most other polling firms connected to large corporations are greatly over weighted to give Republicans excessive representation and do not give sufficient weight to Democratic voters based on historical voting trend. Polls by independent polling organizations that are using properly weighted samples (like Zogby, Pew Research, Harris and others) are not showing a significant Bush lead and some have Kerry ahead!

While most political analysts predict the largest Democratic voter turn-out in history, Gallup is predicting in their methodology that Republicans will be 7-8% more of the total electorate than Democrats actually voting on election day. Based on the most recent elections, Democrats have usually been 7-8% more of the total electorate when the actual votes were counted. The swing in numbers using Gallup’s distorted methodology would tend to give Bush a “fake” lead in the neighborhood of 15%.