-Caveat Lector- More on military vote.......all that crap about fighting for freedom - when it is the duty of the President to provide for the defense of this nation not aid in its destruction..... Remember the USS Liberty and USS Cole....and our military whom someone tried to deprive of their vote.....lay that at at Clinton Gore door. Saba Mail message Date: Wed, Nov 15, 2000, 10:26am To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Fwd: Those missing military ballots [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Wed, Nov 15, 2000, 9:13am Subject: Those missing military ballots To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] << Wednesday, November 15, 2000 BETWEEN THE LINES Those missing military ballots by Joseph Farah Now it's up to the military. In most countries, facing a constitutional crisis over a hung election would be a scary prospect. But in America, military service people have traditionally exhibited sounder voting judgment than the civilian population. Thus, as America waits for the absentee ballots -- many from members of the armed services stationed overseas -- to be counted this week in the closest presidential election in history, a heavy turnout opposing Vice President Al Gore is expected. But will that be the case? WorldNetDaily's Jon Dougherty has been reporting that many overseas service personnel have been denied their right to participate in the selection of a new commander-in-chief. Many continue to say they have been "cheated" out of their vote -- due to their absentee ballots either arriving late or never arriving at all. Some military families speculate about the possibility of an agenda behind the strange backlog. Many wonder out loud if a Democrat administration purposely delayed or denied thousands of servicemen and women their right to vote, assuming, based on past elections, that most overseas military votes would end up in the Republican column. Some U.S. military families in Germany are reportedly flying the American flag upside down -- a traditional sign of distress -- at their places of residence, as a result of the presidential election and the subsequent balloting difficulties. And it gets worse. There are reports of thousands of ballots still sitting in mailbags aboard at least one U.S. navy ship, the USS Tarawa near Yemen. They were reportedly never picked up, despite the fact that mail is being delivered to the same warship. Keep in mind, WorldNetDaily broke this story before the election -- before anyone had any idea just how close this election would be and how much it would depend on absentee ballots. And though few official meaningful explanations have been forthcoming from the Pentagon, there is no question that WorldNetDaily's stories have attracted the attention of the highest officials in the land. First Kenneth Bacon, official spokesman for the Defense Department and Monica Lewinsky's boss, did his best to disparage WorldNetDaily's reporting in a press conference last week. Bacon referred to WorldNetDaily's first report as "ludicrous." Bacon attempted to shift blame away from the Pentagon and instead put the onus on servicemen themselves, though he acknowledged that the service branches -- at one point -- do handle mail for service members. One reporter, in an attempt to find out what information Bacon was using to refute WorldNetDaily's story, asked, "How would you know whether people are having problems [getting their ballots] or not? How do you know that?" Bacon: "Well, apparently somebody talked to this Internet service. But I assume they could go to an official on the ship or at the base and say, 'I haven't got my ballot.'" Q: "But how would you know back here? In other words, on what basis are you answering our questions today?" Bacon: "Well, I'm answering your questions completely on the basis of procedure; what the procedures are -- " Q: "Right, so you don't know. There could be -- " Bacon: "and I think -- I think -- let me just point out; the most important thing for everybody to realize is that the Pentagon encourages people to vote, but it -- and it tells them how to vote; that is, it tells them the procedures to follow, and the procedures generally involve requesting an absentee ballot from a local authority well enough ahead of time so that the person can get the ballot returned by election day. That's the primary role we play." The Pentagon has also said that about 130,000 service personnel in 1996 -- because of a failure of ballot delivery or request by the member -- did not get absentee ballots and could not vote. The Pentagon has since done its best to quiet whistleblowers in its ranks. Navy Lt. Dave Gai, the Pentagon spokesman who initially spoke to WorldNetDaily about the story, admitted hearing reports "about this [absentee ballot non-deliveries] within the past week," but said that the Defense Department was "trying to get more information." The day after the story broke, however, an agitated Gai contacted WND to complain, saying the report was "biased" and incorrect -- though he failed to cite any factual error, other than that he had been incorrectly referred to as an Army spokesman instead of a Defense Department spokesman. Would anyone put it past the Clinton administration to manipulate an election this way after eight years of political dirty tricks and abuse of federal agencies? I wouldn't. And at least one member of Congress has called for an investigation of the whole mess. Rep. Joe Scarborough, R-Fla., in a letter to Rep. Floyd Spence, R-S.C., said an investigation was warranted due to "numerous reports that our military men and women were unable to vote in Tuesday's election due to delays in receiving absentee ballots." So far, no word on whether the House Armed Services Committee will take up the call. Maybe you had better give some members of Congress a nudge. <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance�not soap-boxing�please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'�with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds�is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. 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