politics

Did you know that over half a million American citizens have no representation in congress? That's right. The 571,822 residents of Washington, DC have no senators and only a token house delegate with no voting power. In fact, these unfortunates were only granted the right to vote for president in 1961. Over half of the District of Columbia's residents are black. Feeling proud to be an American? (1)

Majority Leader, US House of Representatives
Tom Delay

On the Columbine shootings

"I got an E-mail this morning that said it all. The student writes, Dear God: Why didn't you stop the shootings at Columbine? And God writes, Dear student: I would have, but I wasn't allowed in school." (2)

"It couldn't have been because our school systems teach the children that they are nothing but glorified apes who have evolutionized out of some primordial soup of mud...Nah, it must have been the guns." (3)

On Religion
"Only Christianity offers a comprehensive worldview that covers all areas of life and thought, every aspect of creation. Only Christianity offers a way to live in response to the realities that we find in this world -- only Christianity." (4)

Secretary of Defense
Donald Rumsfeld

On WMD
"There's no debate in the world as to whether they have those weapons. There's no debate in the world as to whether they're continuing to develop and acquire them...We all know that. A trained ape knows that. All you have to do is read the newspaper." (5)

e-voting

"I am committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president next year."

--Walden O'Dell, CEO of Diebold Election Systems, in a 2003 fund-raising letter to prominent Republican campaign donors. Diebold is one of the leading makers of touch-screen voting machines; their machines are used in over 55,000 voting stations in the United States. (6)

   1 The New York Times, January 12, 2004, "A Letter from Washington", p. A11. DC Vote is an organization working on this issue.
   2 The Washington Post, June 18, 1999, p. A1, quoted from the June 16 "God not Guns" rally on Capitol Hill.
   3 Congressional Record, House of Representatives, June 16, 1999: "Consequences for Juvenile Offenders Act of 1999". http://thomas.loc.gov
   4 The Washington Post, April 20, 2002, p. A5. Link to article here.
   5 Media Roundtable with the BBC and Voice Of America, September 13, 2002. Link to transcript here.
   6 The New York Times, May 12, 2004, Executive Calls Vote-Machine Letter an Error. Read O'Dell's response to media criticism. O'Dell is a Bush "Ranger", meaning he has raised over $200,000 for the Bush campaign. Wired magazine maintains an archive of their excellent electronic voting coverage. BlackBoxVoting is a watchdog group committed to making voting systems more accountable.

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