<HTML><BODY STYLE="font:10pt verdana; border:none;"><DIV>Brother Carl writes:</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>"There seems to be some dispute regarding the number of people at yesterday's <BR>rally at Friendship Square. Quibbling over numbers, and ridiculing those <BR>who did show up serves what purpose? I didn't go, because I had to work. <BR>That's probably true of many of us who supported the rally in spirit, but <BR>were unable to physically attend. To dismiss it as a "Loser's Rally" is to <BR>apparently label 49% of the electorate as losers."</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Dear Visionaries:</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Carl refers, of course, to Dale Courtney's blah-g, which not only dismisses those who came to yesterday's rally as "pathetic losers" but also insists that there were only 84 people present because he (Dale) stood on a bench and counted. While I'm not interested in fighting about Dale's informal head-count (if the Rally had consisted of just the 49er planning committee and me, my son, and my mother-in-law, I'd have still been happy and still have had a damn good time), I have to say that I printed out 175 pre-addressed 49% postcards with boiler-plate text, and 50 pre-addressed blank cards. Today, I have 127 postcard stamps to buy. As none of the cards in my possession were signed by Donald Duck or Mickey Mouse or even that queer-as-Dick's hatband SpongeBob Squarepants, I'm obliged to assume that they were filled out by real people with real names and addresses. And so, I shall cough up the $29.21 for postage and mail them. It's the least I can do for democracy.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Now, what does this postcard business suggest? Well, to me, it suggests that: </DIV> <DIV><BR>1) Dale is affiliated in some way with the National Park Service, which estimated the attendance at the 2002 New York march against the Iraq War at 13 Frenchmen and a standard poodle, while other news sources suggested something closer to a million people, most of whom looked like actual Americans;</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>2) Dale can't count above 84 without the aid of the Sylvan Learning Center;</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>3) Dale came to the Rally to be a sour grape and a wet blanket and he succeeded beyond his wildest expections; and/or </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>4) All liberals look alike to Dale. You know how it is.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>For my part, I am grateful to all who turned out yesterday in the cold and the wind to stand up for democracy and to express their unwillingness to be steamrolled, ignored, or silenced by a phony-baloney Bush II mandate. Thank you all so much and may God (or the deity of your choice) bless and keep you. I was inspired by your presence yesterday and by your enthusiasm. We've got our work cut out for us in the next four years, and for the first time since November 4th, I actually feel up to it. In fact, I'm on fire! </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Yours sincerely and gratefully, </DIV> <DIV>Joan Opyr/Auntie Establishment</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>PS: I seem to only have twenty-odd postcards left over, as some folks went away with several cards for friends and family. I'm sorry they weren't pre-stamped. I had planned to do that but didn't get around to it. Remember, a postcard only costs 23 cents, so you don't need to blow a whole 37. In this rotten economy, every penny counts. </DIV></BODY></HTML><br clear=all><hr>Get more from the Web. FREE MSN Explorer download : <a href='http://explorer.msn.com'>http://explorer.msn.com</a><br></p>