What can you say?

This sucks. Not only 7 people dead, but 7 of the best and brightest that our country, India, and Israel had.

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Atlanta Journal-Constitution gets fooled by GOP astroturf twice!

AJC: Astroturf letter #1 on 1/9/2003, by Misty Haynie.

AJC: Astroturf letter #2 on 1/31/2003, by Robert Rahm

President Bush is demonstrating genuine leadership.....

Astroturf is a form letter generated by the GOP through it's GOP Teamleader website. It has been published by a few dozen papers, but only the AJC and Santa Barbara News Press seem to have printed it twice. This is an old tactic by the GOP, Rush Limbaugh's dittoheads, and the Freepers. Now it is all computerized. The program will supposedly make a few changes in each letter, but key phrases usually stand out. Here is a google search for the phrase "President Bush is demonstrating genuine leadership." That was the key phrase in this round of letters. See how many papers printed an almost identical letter? The GOP trying to influence people through any means possible.

Via Atrios.

Update: After sending an email to the AJC letters editor, they wrote me back. Actually they wrote back several times. The first to say they knew thay had published a letter to the editor a few weeks ago they knew was junk. The second to say they try to maintain balance with their letters and "We try hard to find letters that praise him [Bush], for balance." The third said oops, you were right. Two almost identical had slipped in a few weeks apart. They were very nice, said they look for the "astroturf," and that they are rotating jobs some which caused some confusion. As I told her, even though I don't know why anybody would actually write one, I don't mind letters praising Bush. I just hope they would print true letters and not the GOP junk. I did get in a few jabs at columnist Jim Wooten, however. Hell, what did you expect?

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Presidential candidate Dean says state of the union could be better.

Primary Monitor: Democratic presidential hopeful Dean critical of Bush View.

"The president continues to threaten war without making a case for war; he promises to stimulate the economy yet runs the federal budget deep into debt and he proposes no serious health care reform."

"It would be un-American to plunge our country into conflict without clear justification."

"The Bush administration's borrow-and-spend fiscal policy does nothing to bolster a shaky economy."

"Not only does he have the wrong answer [on healthcare], he doesn't even understand the question."

"You can't spend the same dollar on a tax cut, a war against Iraq, a fight against terrorism at home, expanding health care, and improving schools and roads. President Bush wants to borrow to pay for it all."

I like this guy. The courage to tell it like it is. This government is getting into a terrible mess with these Republican policies, and we are going to have to work and pay to fix it. This is the guy to do that.

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Travel to exotic locations, meet interesting people, and then embalm them.

Hot Jobs: U.S. Navy Mortician - $6000 sign on bonus.

that's right! Been laid off? Run out of unemployment benefits before the Senate passed an extension leaving you out in the cold? Well now you can become a mortician for the United States Navy. You may have to relocate. The ad lists lists California, Arizona, Texas, and Michigan as possible relocation sites. I'm thinking you may be relocating to Iraq, but lets not get into truth in advertising right now. If you go to Detroit, I'm sure you can get a job moonlighting also. The murder rate per capita in Detroit is out of this world!

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Democrats researching Perdue's voodoo economics.

AJC: Paycheck delay plan called unprecedented.

Democrats are asking state lawyers to look into the legality of Gov. Sonny Perdue's maneuver to avoid increasing property taxes next year.

Perdue announced Monday that he was backing off his earlier proposal to lower the state homestead exemption. Instead, he said he would be able to save $200 million in fiscal 2004 by delaying employee paychecks one day.

House Democrats asked the legal services office to see if the move is legal.

Looks like Perdue is going to run the government more like a business.

Perdue's proposed delay would allow the state to pay employees on the first day of fiscal 2005, on July 1, 2004, rather than on the day before, June 30, which will be the last day of fiscal 2004. The change would push $200 million in costs into the fiscal 2005 budget and give Perdue time to look for other ways to cut costs.

I'm thinking that if I tried crap like that on my taxes, somebody would be hauling me off to jail. See my earlier post for more info.

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Coca Cola laying off 1000. Its going to get worse before it gets better.

AJC: Coke to cut 1000 jobs, 500 in Atlanta.

You hate to see it. More people out of work. It is not looking pretty. It is bound to happen more and more.

After hearing the news, President Bush did point out that these people will save signicantly on income tax!

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My new bumpersticker!

Order yours today!

Yeah, it is kind of mean, but after what the radical lunies put Clinton and family through for 8 years, not to mention the millions of taxpayers money spent to do it, I don't give a crap. It is to f%&#ing funny!!!! Oh, and they always give crap to Ted Kennedy also, for pretty much the same thing.

Via Tbogg, who you should be reading everyday.

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Cannondale Bicycles files for bankruptcy.

Inside Triathlon: Cannondale to file for Bankruptcy.

Cycling News Cannnondale files for Bankruptcy.

Wow! Cannondale used to be a big hitter. It looks like management made some very bad decisions. The motorsports division is certainly dragging the company down. I can also look back to few years ago when the national sales rep and a VP tried to preassure a local bike shop, which was one of the largest Cdale dealers in the country, into changing it sales practices. The shop began pushing Giant and Merlin because they were so pissed off. When I sold bikes on weekends, I thought the national sales rep was a dick, and so made an effort not to sell Cdales. I didn't want any money going into his pocket.

"Cannondale has also reached an agreement in principle with Pegasus Partners II, L.P. to sell substantially all of its assets to Pegasus Partners, subject to better and higher offers and court approval. Pegasus would operate the bicycle business with the involvement of current management and would purchase separately the Company's motorsports assets, including the intellectual property related to the design of Cannondale's motorsports products."

At least GT could blame everything on the guy running the company dying.

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Joe Millionaire finalist a S&M porn star!

The Smoking Gun: Sarak Kozer S&M porn star.

Yes, the Sarah that Joe Millionaire, aka Evan Marriott, made out with the other night, previously supported herself as the "bondagee" in many BDSM porn productions.

Maybe if former underwear model Evan wore some leather underwear, this could be a marriage in heaven! After all, neither one of these people are who they pretended to be.

Probably for the best that she was booted off the show. After all I doubt she really wanted to be tied down.

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Kasparov vs. Computer.

AJC: New Luckovich cartoon.

Just go look at it.

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I called this one correctly: Perdue has no backbone at all.

AJC: Perdue may yield on sin taxes.

Gov. Sonny Perdue told Buckhead business leaders Wednesday he is willing to back off the last of his tax-increase proposals, targeting alcohol and tobacco users.

Damn! That didn't take any time at all. Pretty soon Perdue won't be going to the bathroom without calling up some constituents to make sure it is okay.

The governor, who does not drink or smoke, said he thinks that teens might be less inclined to start smoking and that older people might be more inclined to quit smoking if the price of cigarettes goes up. He already had said that an increase in the cost of alcohol could contribute to a reduction in drunken driving.

I really have no problem raising sin taxes. Smoking does increase the governments cost for healthcare. Pricing cigarettes higher would probably decrease teens smoking also. I think raising the price of alcohol will not reduce drunk driving, but it would give the state more money to battle it with.

The speed with which Perdue will abandon unfavorable policies is hilarious, however. If former Governor Barnes had no backbone, we would still have the confederate battle flag above the capital, and there would have been no education reform. Maybe if we progressives and liberals can raise a little hell, he would back off his abortion stance also.

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Over 3200 poisoned birds found.

AJC: Kahn to cooperate in bird kill probe.

Former congressional candidate Roger Kahn is cooperating with state and federal authorities investigating the apparent poisoning of more than 3,000 birds on his Bartow County cattle ranch, said his attorney, David Vaughan of Cartersville.

This is not just little birds. This includes duck, geese, and hawks. Searchers are also looking for deaths up the food chain, as predators and scavengers may also be poisoned from eating these dead birds. The poisoned seed was found on property belonging to Kahn. State officials are investigating and no arrests have been made. Of course this is only a misdemeanor crime, but the punishment maximum is $1000 and 1 year in jail. Oh, that punishment and fine is per carcass.

It would be nice to string up the person who did this. Thankfully no humans have reported being poisoned. The possibilities of people being poisoned includes everything from children nibbling on the seed to hunters eating contaminated kill. That could slightly increase the jail sentence if they find out who spread the deadly seed.

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Producer swears Shania wasn't lip syncing.

Slate: Did Shania Twain lip-sync her Superbowl halftime songs.

Paul Liszewski, who produced the sound for the show, says Shania's mic was hot and her vocals were live.

Yeah, right. He also gives us some excuses about why there were vocals coming over the loudspeakers when Shania was in the crowd and obviously not singing. The lack of heavy breathing and missed notes from the diva while she ran and danced all over the stage makes me wonder about the truthfulness of this producer's statement. The much more enjoyable Gwen Stephanie could easily be heard breathing hard during her performance. Even Sting was unable to duplicate a recording studio performance.

A little girl I was very close to a few years ago used to love the Shania song "I Feel like a Woman." I used to play that and Earth, Wind and Fire for her all the time. What I heard Shania "perform" during the Superbowl was exactly the same, notes and inflections. Nobody can reproduce a studio performance in such conditions. Nobody!

Edited to add:

SFGate: Is Shania human? by Mark Morford

....She lip-synched every word. She completely faked it. She was a walking mannequin, all hair and teeth and strings pulled from above. Nothing new there, though as a culture we're probably more accustomed to such simulated performance from non-singers like Britney or J.Lo, rather than someone who professes to be an actual crossover diva "artist," but still.

And then about No Doubt and Sting.

They actually sang. They talked to the audience. They were genuinely into the music they wrote and their movements weren't at all scripted and their voices weren't perfect and they were breathing hard into the mics because they were running around the stage, and Gwen was moving and gyrating spontaneously like a love goddess on ecstasy and therein lies the biggest difference: They may still be pop confections, but at least they genuinely taste good.

.....

Gwen Stefani and Sting sang a duet to "Message in a Bottle." At one point Gwen swiveled her hips so gorgeously and so deeply that the TV cameras were forced to shoot her only from the waist up, assumedly because it was just a little too racy for the Sunday Doritos n' Bud Light football crowd.

Stefani had more genuine sex appeal and feminine power in her left eyelash than Shania has in her whole career......

I read this yeasterday, but could not access it this morning. Morford pretty much nailed it. The whole column is a great read.

You can actually get Mark Morford emailed to you every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday morning, known as the SF Gate Morning Fix.

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Notes About Washington: State of the Union Reaction 1/29

David E.'s Fablog: SOTU Analysis.

Long, but very funny.

You and I serve our country in a time of great consequence. During this session of Congress, we have the duty to reform domestic programs vital to our country,

ie. gut as many social services as possible.

we have the opportunity to save millions of lives abroad from a terrible disease.

ie. sell drugs to the highest bidder.

We will work for a prosperity that is broadly shared,

by the already prosperous.

and we will answer every danger and every enemy that threatens the American people.

with equivication, obfuscation and barefaced lies.

That pretty much sums it up for me.

The Washington Post: Gov. Gary Locke's response.

But the war against terror is not over. Al Qaida still targets Americans. Osama bin Laden is still at large. As we rise to the many challenges around the globe, let us never lose sight of who attacked our people here at home.

Hey, Bush never did mention Osama this year, who he was going to get "dead or alive." He really doesn't talk about him too much, nor does the conservative media.

Last year Congress authorized $2.5 billion in vital new resources to protect our citizens: for equipment for firefighters and police, to protect ports, to guard against bioterrorism, to secure nuclear power plants and more.

It's hard to believe, but President Bush actually refused to release the money. Republicans now say we can't afford it. The Democrats say: ``If we're serious about protecting our homeland, we can and we must.''

I guess we cannot afford homeland security anymore. We have to get Saddam instead. We can spend hundreds of billions to go get Saddam but we cannot give $2.5 billion to protect our citizens.

We believe every American should get a tax cut. That's the way to create broad-based growth. But we shouldn't spend hundreds of billions of dollars on a plan that helps neither the economy nor the families that need it most, while making it harder to save Social Security and invest in health care and education.

Think about it: Under the president's proposal to eliminate taxes on stock dividends, the top 1 percent--that's people who earn over $300,000 a year--would get more tax relief than the bottom 95 percent of taxpayers combined. That's wrong, it's irresponsible and it won't create jobs.

Let's choose the right course, the successful and fair course, for our economy.

Remember, whenever a Republican uses the word average, he is about to deceive you. If Bill Gates and I are sitting in a room together, on the average our net worth is billions of dollars each. That deosn't mean I have billions of dollars.

Yahoo News: Democrats decry Bush on economy, security.

Just a few quick quotes.

Sen. Edward Kennedy D-Mass., said he would seek a congressional vote requiring Bush to present "convincing evidence of an imminent threat" before initiating military action. "Instead of rushing down the path to war with Iraq, the American people deserve a full debate," he said in a written statement.

Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina said the president "just doesn't get it. Giving tax cuts to the very wealthiest Americans should not take priority over the real economic, health care, and security concerns facing regular people."

Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, another presidential hopeful, said Bush "has too often practiced a blustering unilateralism that is wrong, and even dangerous, for our country."

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State of the Union address.

I could only watch 6 minutes of it. The man has no problem lying. I turned it off when he went into the tax cut where every American will get an average tax savings on over $1000 dollars. Let me explain how an "average" works. My boss came into my office yesterday while me and a co-worker were talking. He said that he had great news! Our raises had just been approved and we each got an average raise of $1000. I was ecstatic! Then he said that he got $2980 and my co-worker and I got $10 each. I am so glad Nancy Pelosi grimaced and shook her head no as he was saying it.

While I didn't have to watch it, I did track it. Daily Kos has a running commentary on it. Many people were posting on the comment pages, so there is a lot of reaction if you want to read it. The pundits are praising it. It now. I am sure they are going on about how bold it was. Actually what little I saw was not good. The people on Daily Kos found it lacking also, in substance and style.

Hacked from Atrios, who evidently got it from Schmanda. There are some good comments over on Atrios' blog also.

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Anti-war protesters in Atlanta

WSBTV: War protesters take to metro Atlanta streets.

11 Alive: Anti-war protests hit Atlanta.

Members of the group Not In Our Name spread out over the metro area and set up what they called “no war zones” along major intersections. 

Supposedly the protestors were at 50+ intersections. Media coverage only covered a few, and downplayed the size of the demostrations. The idiots on talk radio got into the spirit, however.

“People in America who don’t get it...They all need to be shipped over there and be treated like [how] Saddam treats his people,” said one caller.

The caller seemed to forget that the right to protest is one of America's most fundamental and important rights. She, I heard this quote on a newscast and it was a woman, also does not seem to know that Iraq is more progressive than most of our Arab allies. If it wasn't for our sanctions, conditions in Iraq would be much better than in most other middle eastern countries. Well, except if you are a Kurd and Saddam is gassing you with assistance from a former Republican-led US government.

WSBTV placed the protest numbers at 400. They also got a few nice quotes, including one from a veteran.

Eric Jacobs served during the Gulf War. He said he is opposed to a new war.

"I don't believe Iraq is much of a threat," he said.

Said protestor Susan Cookson: "People are thinking twice about what's going on and looking for proof (because) we haven't seen any."

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They will say bold and brilliant no matter what he says.

NY Times: A credibility problem.

Bush will give his State of the Union Address tonight. How will it be received?

We can be sure that some pundits will acclaim the speech as bold and brilliant; they would do that if he read from "The Very Hungry Caterpillar."

Yeah, but he would probably have a hard time reading that.

Okay, the upsidedown book photograph is a hoax, but I still like it.

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Governor Perdue quickly shows that he has no backbone at all.

11 Alive News: Perdue addresses budget and flag.

AJC: Perdue plots new course.

11 Alive News: Democrats to oppose tax hikes.

"Let us decide and let us move forward," the new Republican governor said in his first State of the State address to the Legislature. "I'm willing to trust the people of Georgia to make the best decision for Georgia and I trust you are, too."

What he decided was to have a non-binding referendum on the flag. He wants no voice in what choices are on the ballot or when the referendum takes place. After the vote, he will allow the legislature to make the decision about what to do. In other words: "Leave me alone, you guys do it. I don't want anything to do with it. I know nothing!" He does look a little bit like Sgt. Schultz.

On the tax issue, Perdue initially announced plan to scale back the homeowners tax relief program instituted by Barnes four years ago, part of his overall strategy for managing the state's budget in an economic slump.

He drew a standing ovation after declaring he will leave the program intact and make it permanent because he has found other ways to balance the budget.

Yeah he found the money, after the people of Georgia started burning up the ears of all their elected officials opposing this move. Where did this self proclaimed businessman find the money to do away with the tax cuts he insisted we need for fiscal stability and responsibility?

Perdue told reporters at a briefing before the speech that he would delay by one day from June 30, 2004, to July 1, 2004, paychecks for government employees for that June pay period. The one-day delay in payment would push a $200 million expense into the 2005 budget and give the governor time to look for ways to cut expenses other than the homestead exemption.

Basically he is stealing the money from the following year. We still need to pay for the homestead exemption, it is just that Perdue can push it away a year and not look at it right now. Sounds similar to Fred Sanford sneaking outside and putting the bills back into the mailbox, and saying he never got them. This is the man who is going to restore Georgia to fiscal responsibility?

Moving paychecks back one day did not cover all of the money needed to fund the homestead exemption. More was needed. Where did our education Governor get this additional money? He found a good chunk of it in the supplemental budget, where he cut a portion of the education funding. Now we have Perdue not giving teachers raises, the Democrats are trying to reinstate the tenure system for teachers preventing administrators from firing poor performing educators, and Perdue cutting supplemental funding for education in general. How much lower than 50th can we go?

I am thinking, with a little pressure we can get old "Moon Pie" to back off the sin taxes he is proposing on alcohol and tobacco. I don't mind those taxes, but Perdue doesn't seem to have the backbone to stick to any of his plans.

In their rebuttal, Georgia Democrats said they are opposing raising any taxes right now. They would rather cut spending.

"Unfortunately, Governor Perdue still wants to raise taxes by more than $400 million," [Democratic Lt. Governor Mark] Taylor said. "Georgia Democrats oppose raising taxes to balance the budget. Taking more money from your wallets, from your homes, from your children should be the last resort, not the first."

"It's the wrong time, it's the wrong way and we'll fight it," he said.

Which party sounds more like fiscal conservatives?

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Coca-Cola to start marketing hot coffee from its fountains.

AJC: Coca-Cola explores entering hot coffee dispensing business.

Coca-Cola's fountain unit has been working on a project to test selling hot coffee in restaurants, according to the trade publication Beverage Digest.

Actually I may like this. I drink coffee often, and I cannot count the number of times that a fast food place does not have fresh coffee, or any coffee, available. Coffee from concentrate out of a fountain would always be available.

The downside to coffee made from concentrate is that it typically doesn't taste as good as ground roast coffee.

Okay, there is a down side here. It may suck.

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All I can think of is.....

TPM: On the 2002 elections.

...how Oakland can sum up the Superbowl with a TPM quote: "Well, that really could have gone better.

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Oakland gets spanked, Shania could have done it!

AJC: Pregame and halftime photots.

What was worse, the Oakland offense or Shania trying to lip sync? Would the Raiders have enjoyed being spanked by Shania instead of Tampa Bay? Did Santana just ask Beyonce Knowles to perform with him because she looked really good in that purple dress? Couldn't they have given her a few lyrics? Why the hell is Celine Dion singing "God Bless America?" Isn't she Canadian?

And finally, why couldn't they have just trashed the rest of the halftime show, and let Sting and No Doubt go to town. Talk about something that was good that could have really been special! Imagine that lineup pulling off a 30 minute set. That would have been something! And then maybe have the other two Police members walking on for the last song or two. Wow!

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Anti-War Protest Monday in Atlanta.

Not in Our Name: War without End.

On the 11 Alive newscast Sunday night they reported an anti-war protest her in Atlanta. From 4 to 6 PM, at over 50 intersections throughout the city, there will be people with signs protesting the war. To join all you need is a sign. Protest at any intersection.

On the Not in Our Name website, they are listing any type of protest from Noon to 1 PM. Protesting at any time would be fine, but I think the 4 to 6 PM will be the main time. The media pretty much managed to bury this. They are getting good at that.

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