Tuesday, November 09, 2004

TODAY'S UNFILTERED TALKING POINT: While the republicans want to transport America back to the Stone Age, Unfiltered would like to take you back to May 22, 2003. That’s when Congressman Rush Holt of New Jersey introduced the “Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act.” The measure requires all voting systems to produce a paper proof for use in a recount. Congressman Holt’s bill had a lot of support, but it was smashed by the Hammer, Tom Delay, and House Speaker Dennis Hastert. Contact your member of congress and tell him or her that it’s time for a clean and verifiable democracy.   Find your Representative here. DO YOU STILL WONDER WHY THE REPUBLICAN REGIME FOUGHT SO HARD AGAINST THE PAPER TRAIL? 10:13:06 AM    comment [] Howard Dean is considering becoming chairman of the Democratic National Committee.  There is hope. 10:08:30 AM    comment [] What most of the world thinks about us. 10:04:59 AM    comment [] We still need a sense of humor. Here are 17 reasons not to slit your wrists: 1. It is against the law for George W. Bush to run for president again. 2. Bush's victory was the NARROWEST win for a sitting president since Woodrow Wilson in 1916. 3. The only age group in which the majority voted for Kerry was young adults (Kerry: 54%, Bush: 44%), proving once again that your parents are always wrong and you should never listen to them. 4. In spite of Bush's win, the majority of Americans still think the country is headed in the wrong direction (56%), think the war wasn't worth fighting (51%), and don’t approve of the job George W. Bush is doing (52%). (Note to foreigners: Don't try to figure this one out. It's an American thing, like Pop Tarts.) 5. The Republicans will not have a filibuster-proof 60-seat majority in the Senate. If the Democrats do their job, Bush won't be able to pack the Supreme Court with right-wing ideologues. Did I say "if the Democrats do their job?" Um, maybe better to scratch this one. 6. Michigan voted for Kerry! So did the entire Northeast, the birthplace of our democracy. So did 6 of the 8 Great Lakes States. And the whole West Coast! Plus Hawaii. Ok, that's a start. We've got most of the fresh water, all of Broadway, and Mt. St. Helens. We can dehydrate them or bury them in lava. And no more show tunes! 7. Once again we are reminded that the buckeye is a nut, and not just any old nut -- a poisonous nut. A great nation was felled by a poisonous nut. May Ohio State pay dearly this Saturday when it faces Michigan. 8. 88% of Bush's support came from white voters. In 50 years, America will no longer have a white majority. Hey, 50 years isn't such a long time! If you're ten years old and reading this, your golden years will be truly golden and you will be well cared for in your old age. 9. Gays, thanks to the ballot measures passed on Tuesday, cannot get married in 11 new states. Thank God. Just think of all those wedding gifts we won't have to buy now. 10. Five more African Americans were elected as members of Congress, including the return of Cynthia McKinney of Georgia. It's always good to have more blacks in there fighting for us and doing the job our candidates can't. 11. The CEO of Coors was defeated for Senate in Colorado. Drink up! 12. Admit it: We like the Bush twins and we don't want them to go away. 13. At the state legislative level, Democrats picked up a net of at least 3 chambers in Tuesday's elections. Of the 98 partisan-controlled state legislative chambers (house/assembly and senate), Democrats went into the 2004 elections in control of 44 chambers, Republicans controlled 53 chambers, and 1 chamber was tied. After Tuesday, Democrats now control 47 chambers, Republicans control 49 chambers, 1 chamber is tied and 1 chamber (Montana House) is still undecided. 14. Bush is now a lame duck president. He will have no greater moment than the one he's having this week. It's all downhill for him from here on out -- and, more significantly, he's just not going to want to do all the hard work that will be expected of him. It'll be like everyone's last month in 12th grade -- you've already made it, so it's party time! Perhaps he'll treat the next four years like a permanent Friday, spending even more time at the ranch or in Kennebunkport. And why shouldn't he? He's already proved his point, avenged his father and kicked our ass. 15. Should Bush decide to show up to work and take this country down a very dark road, it is also just as likely that either of the following two scenarios will happen: a) Now that he doesn't ever need to pander to the Christian conservatives again to get elected, someone may whisper in his ear that he should spend these last four years building "a legacy" so that history will render a kinder verdict on him and thus he will not push for too aggressive a right-wing agenda; or b) He will become so cocky and arrogant -- and thus, reckless -- that he will commit a blunder of such major proportions that even his own party will have to remove him from office. 16. There are nearly 300 million Americans -- 200 million of them of voting age. We only lost by three and a half million! That's not a landslide -- it means we're almost there. Imagine losing by 20 million. If you had 58 yards to go before you reached the goal line and then you barreled down 55 of those yards, would you stop on the three yard line, pick up the ball and go home crying -- especially when you get to start the next down on the three yard line? Of course not! Buck up! Have hope! More sports analogies are coming!!! 17. Finally and most importantly, over 55 million Americans voted for the candidate dubbed "The #1 Liberal in the Senate." That's more than the total number of voters who voted for either Reagan, Bush I, Clinton or Gore. Again, more people voted for Kerry than Reagan. If the media are looking for a trend it should be this -- that so many Americans were, for the first time since Kennedy, willing to vote for an out-and-out liberal. The country has always been filled with evangelicals -- that is not news. What IS news is that so many people have shifted toward a Massachusetts liberal. In fact, that's BIG news. Which means, don't expect the mainstream media, the ones who brought you the Iraq War, to ever report the real truth about November 2, 2004. In fact, it's better that they don't. We'll need the element of surprise in 2008. 9:43:31 AM    comment []

Monday, November 08, 2004

For everyone who can't shake the depression,  this editorial in The Nation offers hope.  Now, get out there and do something. ". . . we are angry about what the election of George W. Bush portends for the country. Bush's victory will tighten the grip of the Republican Party's virtual monopoly on the institutions of the federal government. The checks and balances on presidential power contemplated by the country's Founders are in tatters. Bush's election gives him the chance to shape the Supreme Court to his purposes: two branches of the government possibly lost in a single election.  Roe v. Wade and a host of other protections of basic human rights are at risk. Bush is bound to try to assist the Christian right in its fantastical efforts to "Christianize" public institutions. Further inroads into the liberties of Americans are likely, through a "Patriot Act II" and other legislation as well as by executive fiat. In the near term, a terrible acceleration of the violence in Iraq may be in the offing. In the longer term, new aggressive wars may be launched. The transfer through regressive tax cuts of hundreds of billions more from the poor and the middle class to the rich and the super-rich has been announced. Anger should lead to action. TV anchors and the candidates themselves call for a new civility and ask the public to "come together" as one people. Pay no attention. The progressive movement in this country has suffered a huge reversal. But the struggle for the country's future--and its very soul--was anything but settled. It will be renewed at a higher level of intensity, and for higher stakes. There must be a fierce, protracted resistance in defense of democracy." 1:23:39 PM    comment [] It is not an exaggeration to say today that the most powerful nation on earth is in the grip of an ideological administration – backed by a vast network of right-wing think tanks, media outlets and attack groups – that can neutralize any political enemy with smears, such as the Swift boat ads against John Kerry’s war record, or convince large numbers of people that clearly false notions are true, like Saddam Hussein’s link to the Sept. 11 attacks. The outcome of Election 2004 also highlights perhaps the greatest failure of the Democratic/liberal side in American politics: a refusal to invest in the development of a comparable system for distributing information that can counter the Right’s potent media infrastructure. Democrats and liberals have refused to learn from the lessons of the Republican/conservative success. Click here to read more of the excellent article by Robert Parry.  It's time to learn quickly and make serious changes. 1:10:21 PM    comment [] Just a taste of what's coming: USA Today is reporting that the CIA has assigned dozens of case officers and analysts to work with FBI agents throughout the USA in the most extensive deployment of intelligence officers on domestic soil in the spy agency's history. The CIA was created to gather foreign intelligence and is prohibited by law from participating in intelligence-gathering operations against U.S. citizens. It also has no law-enforcement powers. Intelligence and FBI officials say that the CIA officers are not involved in criminal investigations. The Associated Press reports that a warning sticker in suburban Atlanta science textbooks that says evolution is "a theory, not a fact" was challenged in court Monday as an unlawful promotion of religion.  The disclaimer was adopted by Cobb County school officials in 2002 after hundreds of parents signed a petition criticizing the textbooks for treating evolution as fact without discussing alternate theories, including creationism.  The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1987 that creationism was a religious belief that could not be taught in public schools along with evolution. Reuters reports that  Global warming is heating the Arctic almost twice as fast as the rest of the planet in a thaw that threatens millions of livelihoods and could wipe out polar bears by 2100.  The UN publishes a list of countries that have ratified the Kyoto Protocol--the US hasn't signed the agreement.  12:08:43 PM    comment [] TODAY'S UNFILTERED TALKING POINT: That nagging question…Was the election stolen?  Just six days after the election, stories of electronic voting machines behaving badly crawl across the national press.  Some democrats are ready to move on from the election and revitalize the party. But most of us are not quite ready to throw in the towel. So.. now do we proceed? First.. we need focus.. chances are we won’t make Thursday’s deadline to challenge the election.. so we’re in Watergate mode now.  We need Deep Throats.. Whistleblowers.. Insiders.. and Information. If you know anyone like that, contact the folks at BlackBoxVoting.Org.  Make sure you don’t mix that up with blackboxvoting dot com.. they’re a fake site pretending to be the good guys. 10:59:07 AM    comment [] Some hard core right wingers with whom I had been exchanging spirited emails before the election are outraged over my 11/4 posting about how Bush won the election and their responses were unsettling, to say the least.   Anyone who doesn't identify with the direction our country took last Tuesday should be very uneasy and work hard to change it.  America is being led on a very dangerous course by extremists. Being part of the "majority" (by a few points, and that it still open to debate) doesn't mean you're right and it certainly doesn't mean you have a mandate.  10:22:42 AM    comment [] Read today's Washington Post story detailing how the Republicans used evangelical Christians and conservative Catholics to win the election.   According to surveys of voters leaving the polls, Bush won 79 percent of the 26.5 million evangelical votes and 52 percent of the 31 million Catholic votes.  The Bush campaign is accused of leading churches to violate laws against partisan activities by tax-exempt organizations, and even some of the White House's closest religious allies said the campaign had gone too far. 10:14:35 AM    comment []

Friday, November 05, 2004

Read Thomas Frank's editorial today in the New York Times. Read Paul Krugman's editorial also. 12:15:17 PM    comment [] Here's something else that was sent to me for posting (I'm still cringing): This is an “open letter” to John Kerry and his family in support and appreciation!! “THIS COUNTRY, AND THE WORLD, MISSED A GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY” I have the utmost respect for you and your family. You ran a great and honest campaign (unlike the GOP). You didn’t let us down, we let you down, at least 51% of us did. Please be not upset and continue to work for us; the American people need your help!! I CRINGE at the thought of the next 4 years and what it will bring upon the American people. Fear mongering can do appalling things to people and so does ignorance; forgive us!! We might have a President of the United States, but I will personally never consider him “my” President. I hope and pray you plan to run again in 2008, for we need you desperately! We need to know “help is on the way” in 2008. Please don’t give up on us. This election had to have been an aberration, or our country is truly LOST!! Thanks, warmest regards and God’s blessings to you and your family, 11:43:32 AM    comment [] Heres another point of view (obviously not mine): Thomas Frank and so many like him are simply living in a fantasy world. George Bush won fair and square and most Americans know it. The fact is that there is nothing “wrong” with Kansas or the rest of “fly over” country as Mr. Frank would have us believe. Where once the Democrat Party was the party of the average person, today it is, in the words of Zell Miller, “a national party no more” because it is controlled by elitists who can’t get past the need to scare and divide people in order to win power. When a party begins to owe its existence to dividing people, people eventually begin to notice. Today, it is the Republican Party that appeals to the average person while the Democrat party has been set back a generation. Mr. Frank and his ilk would do well to begin looking inward. Unless and until Democrats can snap out of denial, stop the class warfare nonsense and end their black helicopter mindset, they will forever be lost in history. 11:40:16 AM    comment []

Thursday, November 04, 2004

1:59:22 PM    comment [] Thomas Frank, the author of What's the Matter with Kansas, was interviewed on Air America Radio this morning and explained better than I could have done how Bush won the election.  He is a one-time Republican and native Kansan who recognized the Karl Rove strategy very early. Most of middle America can be counted upon to be a "red" state in any election, even though they are voting against their own interests.  The Republican Party benefits the wealthy and powerful at the great expense of the average worker.  The 2000 election showed that the country was pretty much split 50-50.  How could Bush tip the balance in his favor?  The Republicans, knowing that Bush would not win on his abysmal record on everything, decided to focus on its conservative base.  Karl Rove announced this policy at the Republican National Convention, but had actually been working on this strategy since 2000. The Republican strategy to win another 4 years used dirty tricks, fear, lies and smear and fraud.  A recent study by PIPA (Program on International Policy Attitudes) shows that many Americans still believe Saddam Hussein was responsible for 9/11 and don’t know Bush’s real positions on many issues—when asked if they agreed with a particular position without being told who held it, most people thought that they were agreeing with Bush while they actually were agreeing with Kerry.   The main strategy, however, was playing up the emotional touchstones of social conservatism and spreading hysteria about a liberal agenda out to crush traditional values.  Over 20% of voters said that they voted based on "moral issues", a code word for anti-abortion, anti-gay rights and other socially conservative causes.  Moral values was never really discussed until some questions were brought up in the debates.  Democrats did not realize that, behind the scenes, evangelicals and conservative Catholics were being told in targeted campaign literature/ads and from the pulpits that Kerry was pro-abortion, a President Kerry would ban the bible, Kerry endorsed gay marriage and other outright lies.  Bush steered away from addressing moral values and publicly used the war on terror as his strength, but Rove and Associates were working the conservative Christians over with Bush's "morality".  The proposed amendments against flag burning and gay marriage were just organized smokescreens to appeal to social conservatives and put Kerry in the uncomfortable position of either not defending the Constitution or looking like a pinko liberal—what a Sophie’s choice.  Attack ads targeted for the battleground states and not seen in the metropolitan area appealed to the lowest base element, such as a vote for the democrat would mean an abortion mill in the local Wal-Mart or the democrat is in favor of partial birth abortions.  So, the pro-life blue collar worker who listens to Rush, Hannity and Fox News will repeatedly vote for the party that is less likely to protect his safety, job, economy and family.  He doesn't understand that he is being used.  Bush had 4 years of Republican control to make changes if he had really wanted to.  All he really wanted was to get the far right conservatives to get out the vote for him.  Now that he got it, he can go back to his real priorities--more greed and profit for the corporations and the wealthy.  One of the best ways to do it is on the backs of the volunteer army (poor and/or minority soldiers and National Guard members who were forced from decent to well paying jobs) that were sent to Iraq for oil and corporate profiteering.  Osama who? What makes this election even more disturbing is the complicity of the media.  Even now, we are told that continuing the battle would be bad for the country, to stop whining, it's just sour grapes from the losing side, Bush won fair and square.  NO HE DIDN'T AND THE MEDIA DOESN'T GET IT.  Besides dirty tricks, lying to the public, intimidation and voter suppression in democratic areas, the Republicans were successful in getting electronic voting machines with no paper trail to be used in many states including Ohio and Florida.  Ohio is home to Walden "Wally" O'Dell, the chairman of the board and chief executive of Diebold. As reported by Mother Jones in March 2004, O'Dell has given generously to Republican candidates for many years. Last September, he held a packed $1,000-per-head GOP fundraiser at his 10,800-square-foot mansion. He has been feted as a guest at President Bush's Texas ranch, joining a cadre of "Pioneers and Rangers" who have pledged to raise more than $100,000 for the Bush reelection campaign. Most memorably, O'Dell last fall penned a letter pledging his commitment "to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the President."  Omaha-based ES&S is the largest electronic voting machine company.  Nebraska Senator Chuck Hagel was Chairman of ES&S when he announced his candidacy for the Senate in 1996.  Nebraska elections officials stated that machines made by Hagel's "former" company probably tallied 85 percent of the votes cast in the race.  Hagel won again in 2002, and that vote is still angrily disputed by Hagel's Democratic opponent, whose request that state elections officials conduct a hand recount of the vote was rebuffed.  BlackBoxVoting.org is an independent, non-partisan and non-profit 501(c)(3) organization that is conducting the largest Freedom of Information action in history.  At 8:30 p.m. Election Night, Black Box Voting blanketed the U.S. with the first in a series of public records requests, to obtain internal computer logs and other documents from 3,000 individual counties and townships. Networks called the election before anyone bothered to perform even the most rudimentary audit.  An earlier FOIL by Black Box Voting following a primary election in Washington State uncovered an internal audit log containing a three-hour deletion on election night; “trouble slips” revealing suspicious modem activity; and profound problems with security, including accidental disclosure of critically sensitive remote access information to poll workers, office personnel, and even, in a shocking blunder, to Black Box Voting activists. The mainstream media did not do its job is getting out the truth.  It was left up to the progressive journalists, bloggers and Air America Radio.  Unfortunately, more people watch CNN and Fox News.  The media was a major factor in Bush's election victory. How will the boy in the bubble who always had poppy or rich connections to fix his many screw-ups clean up his many new messes?  How will we take back our country? 12:08:26 PM    comment []

Wednesday, November 03, 2004

Four more years. . . of pure hell. The worst is yet to come. Let the Bush supporters be the first ones to enlist for Iraq. Half the country is either brain dead or brainwashed. Repugnant as he is, Karl Rove is a master. The mainstream media is one of the major causes of the right-wing and corporate take-over of our country.  I have never felt more sad or fearful for our country. 10:35:47 AM    comment []

Tuesday, November 02, 2004

VOTE TODAY! 10:49:41 AM    comment []

Monday, November 01, 2004

November 1, 2004 From the New York Times:  What to Do on Election Day ivics books make voting look like a breeze, but it can be hard work. Voter rolls are inaccurate, ID requirements vary and are erratically enforced, partisans try to disqualify likely supporters of their opponents, and lines at the polls can be excruciatingly long. In 2000, as many as six million presidential votes were lost for technical reasons, and this year the number could be even larger. Voters, particularly in battleground states, should head to the voting booth prepared to fight for their vote to be counted: 1. Know where to go. In many states, you will not be allowed to vote if you show up at the wrong polling place. Worse still, you may be given a provisional ballot to vote on that will later be thrown out. Your board of elections can tell you where to vote. If you can't reach the board, a nonpartisan hotline, 1-866-OURVOTE, has a polling place locator. So does the Web site www.mypollingplace.com. 2. Bring proper ID. The rules vary by state. If you have a photo ID, it's wise to bring it, just in case. Too often, poll workers demand ID when it is not required, or demand the wrong ID. If you do not know the law in your jurisdiction, you should check your local board of elections Web site. 3. Review the sample ballot before voting. Ballots are often confusing, and their designs can change considerably from election to election. And as the infamous "butterfly ballot" showed in 2000, a poorly designed ballot can trick voters into choosing a candidate they did not intend. If you have questions about how to vote on your ballot, ask a poll worker or poll monitor for help. 4. Check your ballot before finalizing your vote. As we saw in 2000, if punch card chads are not punched out precisely, votes may not be counted. On electronic machines, a brush of the hand can erase or change a vote. On paper ballots, stray or incomplete marks can disqualify a vote. 5. Know your rights concerning provisional ballots. No voter can be turned away in any state this year without being allowed to vote. If there is a question about your eligibility, you must be allowed to vote on a provisional ballot, the validity of which will be determined later. But if you are entitled to vote on a regular ballot, you should insist on doing so, since a provisional ballot may be disqualified later on a technicality. 6. Know where to turn for help. If you experience problems voting, or if you see anything improper at the polls, you may want to get help. There will be nonpartisan poll monitors at many polling places. (There may also be partisan poll watchers, and it's possible one of them may be the person objecting to your voting.) It is a good idea to bring a cellphone, and phone numbers of nonpartisan hotlines like the Election Protection program's 1-866-OURVOTE and Common Cause's 1-866-MYVOTE1. 7. Be prepared for long lines. In some precincts, the wait may stretch into hours. Try to get to your polling place very early in the morning, or between the before-work and after-work rushes. As long as you are in line before the polls close, you are legally entitled to vote. Do not let poll workers close the polls until you have voted. 3:58:16 PM    comment [] Southorangetownnews (that name is a little too close for comfort!) wants me to get back to the school district because it's more important.  While my focus has been the presidential election because I think it's the most important election in my lifetime and I'm sad that southorangetownnews doesn't share that opinion, I haven't stopped covering the school district.  I've been posting info on all the school board meetings I attend.  I'm no longer in the loop, so PLEASE email anything to me that you would like posted.  I just don't have as much inside scoop as I used to have.  Thanks. 2:14:17 PM    comment [] The right wing, Moonie-owned Washington Times is reporting:  "Lawlessness and corruption are hampering reconstruction efforts in Iraq", U.S. Inspector General Stuart Bowen said.  In his latest quarterly report, Bowen said allegations have surfaced of large-scale embezzlement, robberies perpetrated by Iraqi police and even payoffs to U.S. military personnel who aided in theft, the Washington Post reports. Bush doesn't think that Kerry has a plan? 1:20:37 PM    comment [] I asked on Friday how many more October surprises could we handle.  Lo and behold a new Osama video shows up.  What a bizarre election. 1:17:29 PM    comment []

Friday, October 29, 2004

As reported on the Randi Rhodes Show today, the media has remained largely silent on The Wall Street Journal's October 25, 2004 report that President George W. Bush's administration passed up several opportunities to attack and potentially kill terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi before the start of the Iraq war, starting as early as June 2002.  The Journal article expanded on a March 2, 2004 NBC Nightly News report by Jim Miklaszewski last March that has been ignored.  It appeared on NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw just after Zarqawi became known to most Americans.  “People were more obsessed with developing the coalition to overthrow Saddam than to execute the president’s policy of preemption against terrorists,” according to terrorism expert and former National Security Council member Roger Cressey.   Click here to read the report. How many more October surprises can we handle?  What more will it take to convince Americans to do the right thing on Tuesday? 3:59:06 PM    comment [] NAACP, the taxman cometh. We've all made jokes at one time or another about the taxman paying visits to people who speak out against the government. But in the Bush administration, this actually happens. The IRS is investigating the NAACP -- the group Bush has declined to personally visit as president -- because chairman Julian Bond "condemned the administration policies of George W. Bush" during a speech this summer. [Salon.com] 3:31:55 PM    comment [] About that al Qaqaa satellite imagery. Like magic, the Pentagon produced yesterday a satellite image of the al Qaqaa complex from March 2003, hoping to demonstrate that after the IAEA inspectors left and before Baghdad fell and U.S. soldiers moved into the area there was "activity" at al Qaqaa that could have been explosives being moved out of the facility. (Even though the Minneapolis TV station's video pretty well proves there were explosives there under IAEA seal nine days after the fall of Saddam Hussein.) [Salon.com] 3:30:49 PM    comment [] The White House website (DO NOT GO TO DOT COM!) has "Ask the White House" -- an online interactive forum where you can submit questions to Administration officials and friends of the White House.  This afternoon's chat that is still active right now is hosted by Harriet Miers, Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy at the White House. All of the questions have been typical suck up we-love-george ones, or neutral, boring and soft. The responses are pat and canned.  I submitted the following question:  "This is a real question--how can you or anyone else in the Bush Administration look at yourselves in the mirror?"  It was ignored! At least I didn't have to give my name, address, phone number, etc. like I did when I tried to submit a question to The Twins. This is the transcipt of  one of the questions/answers from a session hosted on 10/15/04 by Jim Towey, White House Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of the Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiative:  John, from Berwyn, IL. writes: Mr. Towey, Can you share with us any personal prayers you say to help get you through your day? Especially ones dealing with the disconect between words and practices of this administration on issues of social justice, poverty, the death penalty and stewardship of the environment? Many thanks, John Jim Towey Well, John, I am not sure what disconnect you are referring to. Prayer is very important, and I know that the President prays a lot and depends on the prayers of the American people as he tries to do his job as best as he can. 3:17:27 PM    comment [] As previously posted on 10/26, the BBC published information about secret emails prepared for the executive director of the Bush campaign in Florida and the campaign's national research director in Washington DC containing a 15-page so-called "caging list". The list was 1,886 names and addresses of voters in predominantly black and traditionally Democrat areas of Jacksonville, Florida. The emails were incorrectly sent to "someone"@georgewbush.org instead of georgewbush.com.  (Remember Cheney's problem with factcheck.com instead of factcheck.org?)  Georgewbush.org is a satirical but bogus website.  It is NOT the official website of the Bush/Cheney campaign. Well, the georgewbush.org website discoverd the emails when it realized that its website, as many do, has a default mailbox where emails addressed to unrecognized names go to hang out.  If you're interested, click here to read the emails and see the caging list. The purpose of the caging list was to disrupt minority voting in Florida. 2:53:48 PM    comment [] Today's Unfiltered TALKING POINT: Bush is in trouble… An explosive explosives story.. The FBI’s investigation of Halliburton’s no-bid contracts. And Giuliani’s new “support the war, oppose the troops” stump speech. Then there’s that TV ad they “photoshopped” to add more troops to the adoring crowd. In the face of such devastating news, Bush turns to his base, a loyal conglomerate of fundamentalists, right-wingers and billionaires - not your average swing voter. The RNC has mailed out a flyer in Pennsylvania showing John Kerry’s face next to pictures of the burning World Trade Center. And they’re flashing back to the dark days of last century.. when racist voter suppression dominated the political landscape. This Administration is encouraging racism and voter intimidation in order to solidify their base, not encourage swing voters to join the republican party. Bush is in trouble. 11:36:11 AM    comment [] ABC news showed the controversial American al-Quaeda tape last night.  It had been sent to the CIA for verification and the network decided not to air it immediately because a preliminary CIA analysis was unable to determine if it was legitimate.  However, Fox News, claiming it obtained the videotape independently of ABC News (I wonder how that happened?!), aired it first, forcing ABC News to change its cautious position and run it 20 minutes later. 11:25:36 AM    comment [] What took so long?  The FBI is looking into whether Halliburton received preferential treatment when it was awarded a $7 Billion non-competitive contract in Iraq. Dick Cheney’s old company is also being investigated by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Justice Department on separate charges. 11:13:33 AM    comment [] As first reported by the Randi Rhodes Show yesterday, videotape shot by a Minnesota television crew traveling with U.S. troops in Iraq when they first opened the bunkers at the Al-Qaqaa munitions base nine days after the fall of Saddam Hussein shows what appeared to be high explosives still in barrels and bearing the markings of the International Atomic Energy Agency. The video taken by KSTP of St. Paul on April 18, 2003, could reinforce suggestions that tons of explosives missing from a munitions installation in Iraq were looted after the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq. The video was broadcast nationally Thursday on ABC. Read the AP story here. It's also being reported by Reuters, but I haven't seen it yet in any othe national newspapers. Why not? Rumsfeld says the explosives were moved before the US arrived, other honchos are blaming the Russians and Rudy Giuliani blames the US soldiers!  Kerry places the blame where is belongs--on the Bush Administration. 11:04:46 AM    comment []

Thursday, October 28, 2004

More than 1,000 federal poll watchers will be sent to monitor elections in 25 states to assure compliance with voting laws and prevent discrimination or disenfranchisement, the Justice Department announced Thursday.  Click here to read the AP story. How embarassing is this?  The rest of the world is also sending monitors.  Can you imagine? 3:58:03 PM    comment [] The U.N. nuclear agency said Thursday it warned the United States about the vulnerability of explosives stored at Iraq's Al-Qaqaa military installation after another facility — Iraq's main nuclear complex — was looted in April 2003.  Read the AP story here. 2:20:04 PM    comment [] As Bush has traveled the United States during this political campaign, the Secret Service and local police have often handled public protest by quickly arresting or removing demonstrators, free-speech advocates say. In addition, access to Bush's events has been unusually tightly controlled and people who do not support Bush's reelection have been removed.  Read the Washington Post article here. For anyone who wondered why Bush always has such happy, cheering crowds on the campaign trail. 2:18:03 PM    comment [] Just being reported by various news agencies:  A US District Judge just ruled against Ohio Republicans from challenging newly registered voters. 2:13:11 PM    comment [] Gov. Jeb Bush said Wednesday he would have no problem if Republican poll watchers challenge the eligibility of voters before they cast ballots on Election Day, despite growing concern that it could create gridlock and scare away qualified voters.  Read the St. Petersburg Times article here. It sure pays to have family connections. 1:09:00 PM    comment [] Civic avowal. Ralph Nader's new pamphlet prompts this revelation: Between the Uranian right and bourgeois left, Nader may be the moral choice, but he's still the wrong one. [Salon.com] 1:04:32 PM    comment [] 100,000 Excess Iraqi Deaths Since War-Study. LONDON (Reuters) - Deaths of Iraqis have soared to 100,000 above normal since the Iraq war mainly due violence and many of the victims have been women and children, public health experts from the United States said Thursday. [Reuters: Top News] 1:01:57 PM    comment [] Lawmakers yesterday abandoned efforts to pass legislation restructuring the U.S. intelligence system before Tuesday's election, with some warning that it may be impossible to reach an agreement even in time for a lame-duck session in mid-November, according to lawmakers and staff members.  The leaders of the Sept. 11 commission, former New Jersey governor Thomas H. Kean (R) and former representative Lee H. Hamilton (D-Ind.), have been pushing for quick legislative action, aided by public support from the families of victims of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Some relatives of victims, furious over the impasse, said President Bush and House Republicans who have pushed for controversial additions to the commission's recommendations would be blamed by voters for the failure to achieve a compromise.  Read the Washington Post article here. 1:00:23 PM    comment [] Looters stormed the weapons site at Al Qaqaa in the days after American troops swept through the area in early April 2003 on their way to Baghdad, gutting office buildings, carrying off munitions and even dismantling heavy machinery, three Iraqi witnesses and a regional security chief said Wednesday.  The Iraqis described an orgy of theft so extensive that enterprising residents rented their trucks to looters. But some looting was clearly indiscriminate, with people grabbing anything they could find and later heaving unwanted items off the trucks.  Two witnesses were employees of Al Qaqaa - one a chemical engineer and the other a mechanic - and the third was a former employee, a chemist, who had come back to retrieve his records, determined to keep them out of American hands. The mechanic, Ahmed Saleh Mezher, said employees asked the Americans to protect the site but were told this was not the soldiers' responsibility.  Read the New York Times article here. 11:07:13 AM    comment [] "In plain violation". Four Britons who say they were tortured at Guantanamo file a suit against Defense Secretary Rumsfeld and other U.S. military officials. [Salon.com] 11:00:53 AM    comment [] When Reporters Transcribe. At first glance, Bill Adair and Adam C. Smith's article in today's St. Petersburg Times -- headlined, "When Candidates Attack" -- looks like one of those fact-check pieces popping up in newspapers recently. Selected Bush and Kerry comments are arranged,... [CJR Campaign Desk] This campaign has had some of the worst news coverage ever done.  What a sorry state of the media. 10:59:31 AM    comment []

Wednesday, October 27, 2004

Newsweek is confirming an earlier LA Times story that the CIA is suppressing a report that lays blame on key Bush administration figures for 9/11. 2:46:25 PM    comment [] Postal Experts Hunt for Missing Ballots in Florida. MIAMI (Reuters) - U.S. Postal Service investigators on Wednesday were trying to find thousands of absentee ballots that should have been delivered to voters in one of Florida's most populous counties, officials said. [Reuters: Top News] 2:24:41 PM    comment []

Tuesday, October 26, 2004

BBC News is reporting:  "A secret document obtained from inside Bush campaign headquarters in Florida suggests a plan - possibly in violation of US law - to disrupt voting in the state's African-American voting districts, a BBC Newsnight investigation reveals.  Two e-mails, prepared for the executive director of the Bush campaign in Florida and the campaign's national research director in Washington DC, contain a 15-page so-called "caging list".  It lists 1,886 names and addresses of voters in predominantly black and traditionally Democrat areas of Jacksonville, Florida.  An elections supervisor in Tallahassee, when shown the list, told Newsnight: "The only possible reason why they would keep such a thing is to challenge voters on election day." Ion Sancho, a Democrat, noted that Florida law allows political party operatives inside polling stations to stop voters from obtaining a ballot. Stay posted! 4:18:41 PM    comment [] An editorial in The Capital Times (Madison, Wisconsin) asks, ". . .all the Republicans insiders - in Washington and Wisconsin - are backing Bush.  But what of the true believers?  What of genuine conservatives who favor cautious foreign policies, fiscal responsibility and the defense of basic liberties?  What of the Barry Goldwater/Ronald Reagan conservatives?  In steadily increasing numbers, they are abandoning Bush." 1:06:00 PM    comment [] What's the deal with many of the women TV journalists (and I use that term loosely)?  Many of them seem to have been hired more for their bimbo or girl-next-door qualities than anything else. Paula Zahn, the CNN anchor who must have taken voice lessons from Tom Brokaw's teacher, hosted a town hall type meeting with Bush/Kerry surrogates Bernard Kerik (the New York City police commissioner on 9/11 who is grabbing his 15 minutes of fame by the throat) and General Wesley Clark.  With her tan mid-calf length leather skirt and big sweater, she looked like she was on her way to a Westport housewarming party.  Her follow-up questions were stupid and annoying. Yesterday, Katie Couric (who is earnestly trying to transform from girl-next-door to bleached blond bimbo) interviewed John Kerry looking like he interrupted her as she was on her way to Lutece for dinner.  She wore a black suit, shiny dangling earrings and high heels that she kept coquettishly slipping on and off her right foot.  Ugly smart girl glasses were perched so far down on her nose that I wanted to reach into the screen and push them back up where they belonged.  Her idea of tough questioning was asking Kerry the same old same old as offensively as possible. Where are Christiane Amanpour and Helen Thomas when you need them?  Where are the role models? 11:20:29 AM    comment [] Click here to read Jonathan Alter's excellent article in this week's Newsweek. 10:54:20 AM    comment [] The New York Times reports today that a new legal opinion by the Bush administration has concluded for the first time that some non-Iraqi prisoners captured by American forces in Iraq are not entitled to the protections of the Geneva Conventions, administration officials said Monday.   The opinion, reached in recent months, establishes an important exception to public assertions by the Bush administration since March 2003 that the Geneva Conventions applied comprehensively to prisoners taken in the conflict in Iraq, the officials said. When are the almost 50% of Americans who polls claims are pro-Bush going to realize how dangerous and evil this Administration is not only for us but for the entire world?  Even if you only care about Americans and think that Iraqis are sub-human, don't you realize the implications for captured US soldiers if the US does not abide by the Geneva Conventions?  This is a major flip-flop. 10:34:09 AM    comment []

Monday, October 25, 2004

The New York Times today published a story that has been on Air America for months.  In early November 2001, with Americans still staggered by the Sept. 11 attacks, a small group of White House officials worked in great secrecy to devise a new system of justice for the new war they had declared on terrorism.  Determined to deal aggressively with the terrorists they expected to capture, the officials bypassed the federal courts and their constitutional guarantees, giving the military the authority to detain foreign suspects indefinitely and prosecute them in tribunals not used since World War II.  The plan was considered so sensitive that senior White House officials kept its final details hidden from the president's national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, and the secretary of state, Colin L. Powell, officials said. It was so urgent, some of those involved said, that they hardly thought of consulting Congress. White House officials said their use of extraordinary powers would allow the Pentagon to collect crucial intelligence and mete out swift, unmerciful justice. "We think it guarantees that we'll have the kind of treatment of these individuals that we believe they deserve," said Vice President Dick Cheney, who was a driving force behind the policy. But three years later, not a single terrorist has been prosecuted. Of the roughly 560 men being held at the United States naval base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, only 4 have been formally charged. Preliminary hearings for those suspects brought such a barrage of procedural challenges and public criticism that verdicts could still be months away. And since a Supreme Court decision in June that gave the detainees the right to challenge their imprisonment in federal court, the Pentagon has stepped up efforts to send home hundreds of men whom it once branded as dangerous terrorists. We now have 560 more people who may not have been mad at us before, but now? 2:40:39 PM    comment [] TODAY'S UNFILTERED TALKING POINT: With just eight days to go, the Bush-Cheney Campaign is going 100% with FEAR as their campaign message. George Bush told FOX News this weekend that our national security is, you know, “up in the air”!  The truth is that the real reason we should be afraid is that the Bushies have done a hell of a lot more to keep us afraid than they have to keep us safe. There’s new evidence of that every day. For example, we know that the Bioterrorism Act of 2002 requires the Bush Administration to issue guidance to state and local governments on stockpiling potassium iodide pills. If a nuclear power plant is attacked, these pills could prevent a thyroid cancer epidemic. Not only has the Administration failed to issue any sort of guidance on potassium iodide, the House Homeland Security Committee also found in a new report that the government would fall short in “the last mile” of distribution of all drugs and vaccines in the event of a biological attack. This means, that even if the government has enough drug stockpiles to save all at-risk citizens, there is still no plan to distribute the medicine. Bush’s desperate ccampaign message – be afraid! What they’re not saying is that the reason we should be afraid is because at every turn they’ve shirked their responsibilities to keep us safe! DISCUSSION POINTS: The House Homeland Security Committee reported that the $5.4 billion in funds to improve hospital readiness has not reached any state or local community.    Potassium iodide costs about twenty cents for a twenty-four hour dose. 11:43:35 AM    comment [] This posting was submitted by someone and it's certainly timely: “In his great essay, "The Paranoid Style in American Politics," the political scientist Richard Hofstadter remarked how political paranoids in early America--the anti-Masons, for example--were alarmed from decade to decade by the same chimera: They convinced themselves that they saw, operating just beneath the surface of the national life, "a libertine anti-Christian movement, given to the corruption of women, the cultivation of sensual pleasures, and the violation of property rights." Now, of course, the paranoids are bewitched by the mirror image: In Bush and his followers they detect, in place of a libertine anti-Christian movement, an uptight pro-Christian movement, given to the "virtue" of women rather than their corruption, the denial of sensual pleasures instead of their cultivation, and--perhaps most shocking of all--the preservation of property rights rather than their violation. Times do change. The earlier American paranoids imagined their enemies in drunken orgies and were horrified; today they see them at prayer--and they're still horrified.”  Andrew Ferguson The Weekly Standard Click here to read the entire essay by Hofstadter, written in 1964. 11:36:44 AM    comment [] Fifty newly "trained" Iraqi security forces are sent home on leave with no weapons and no armed military escort.  They end up massacred and all evidence points to Al-Qaeda infiltration.  Another sad example of a completely inept Bush Administration. 11:28:48 AM    comment [] Halliburton doesn't have the lock on corruption and greed in Iraq.  Managers of a security firm that won large contracts in Iraq warned their bosses in February of what they called a pattern of fraudulent billing practices, internal company memorandums suggest.  The memorandums, written primarily by two company managers, charged that the security firm, Custer Battles, repeatedly billed the occupation authorities for nonexistent services or at grossly inflated prices.  Read the New York Times article here. 11:15:48 AM    comment [] Russia's lower house of Parliament voted overwhelmingly on Friday to ratify the Kyoto Protocol, setting the stage for enactment early next year of the pioneering international treaty aimed at reducing emissions blamed for global warming. The Parliament's vote was widely expected after President Vladimir V. Putin's government endorsed the long-delayed treaty late last month, ending years of internal debate over its potential effects on Russia and its economy. Nevertheless, environmental groups hailed Russia's latest step as a landmark in environmental diplomacy. In 1990, Russia accounted for 17.4 percent of emissions; the United States accounted for 36.1 percent. Leading environmentalists in the United States applauded the Russian decision and used the opportunity to criticize the Bush administration for its refusal to sign the treaty. "The Russian government's decision to adopt the Kyoto Protocol leaves the United States alone as the largest and most important industrialized nation to not adopt the treaty," said Jeff Fiedler, a policy specialist at the Natural Resources Defense Council. "Russian ratification means a new market and a new economy has been given the green light, but the U.S. is not following the signal." Read the New York Times article here. 11:11:39 AM    comment [] At the request of the CIA, the Justice Department drafted a confidential memo that authorizes the agency to transfer detainees out of Iraq for interrogation -- a practice that international legal specialists say contravenes the Geneva Conventions. The agency has concealed the detainees from the International Committee of the Red Cross and other authorities, the official said. Read the Washington Post article here. 11:04:17 AM    comment [] As reported in the New York Times today: BAGHDAD, Iraq, Oct. 24 - The Iraqi interim government has warned the United States and international nuclear inspectors that nearly 380 tons of powerful conventional explosives - used to demolish buildings, make missile warheads and detonate nuclear weapons - are missing from one of Iraq's most sensitive former military installations. The huge facility, called Al Qaqaa, was supposed to be under American military control but is now a no man's land, still picked over by looters as recently as Sunday. United Nations weapons inspectors had monitored the explosives for many years, but White House and Pentagon officials acknowledge that the explosives vanished sometime after the American-led invasion last year. The White House said President Bush's national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, was informed within the past month that the explosives were missing. It is unclear whether President Bush was informed. American officials have never publicly announced the disappearance, but beginning last week they answered questions about it posed by The New York Times and the CBS News program "60 Minutes."  10:59:40 AM    comment []

Friday, October 22, 2004

Equal opportunity offender. 11:40:04 AM    comment [] The Real "Nuisance?” Interviews Like This.. On CNN's "Live From" broadcast today, anchor Miles O'Brien, talking to Democratic strategist Morris Reid, alluded to John Kerry's recent "New Yorker interview, where he referred to terrorism as something akin to a nuisance, a matter for law enforcement." Kerry "was widely criticized for saying that," according to O'Brien. He went on to ask Reid: "Why was he criticized? Is that a poor choice of words and does that fall flat among voters, saying this terrorism is a nuisance?" There are so many things wrong here that it's hard to know where to start. First, the interview was with the New York Times Magazine, not The New Yorker. (But hey, it's hard to keep all those New Yorky-sounding magazines straight.) Second, Kerry's comments weren't "widely criticized." They were criticized by the Bush campaign and its surrogates, who latched onto the now-notorious N Word to help make the case that Kerry isn't committed to fighting terrorism. Third, and most important, Kerry never referred to terrorism as a nuisance. To the contrary, what he said was that his goal is to weaken terrorism to the point that it becomes little more than a nuisance. Here is what he told the Times Magazine: ''We have to get back to the place we were, where terrorists are not the focus of our lives, but they're a nuisance. As a former law-enforcement person, I know we're never going to end prostitution. We're never going to end illegal gambling. But we're going to reduce it, organized crime, to a level where it isn't on the rise. It isn't threatening people's lives every day, and fundamentally, it's something that you continue to fight, but it's not threatening the fabric of your life.'' Reid, the clueless Democratic strategist, didn't correct O'Brien. He simply agreed that this had been a "terrible choice of words." There's room for disagreement with Kerry's stance: Some argue that we should aim to eradicate terrorism entirely, rather than settling for a mere reduction in attacks. But before we can have that debate, we need to be clear on what Kerry actually said. We expect candidates to simplify, distort and twist each other's words. Call us eternal optimists, but we expect more than that from CNN. --Zachary Roth [CJR Campaign Desk] This is expecting too much from CNN.  They all do it all the time.  At least Fox News doesn't pretend to be fair and balanced. 11:22:49 AM    comment [] Last night’s Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner was a disgrace. The Archdiocese of New York initially took the position that the presidential election this year was too “divisive”, so the candidates were not invited. However, Bush's father was invited and he took potshots at John Kerry with no rebuttal from Hugh Carey. Other bishops may come right out and say that voting for Kerry would be a sin, but the tactic used by the New York archbishop was even more reprehensible because of its sneakiness. Right wing Catholics are no better than the crazy fundamentalist Protestants and Jews in steering our country down a very dangerous path with George Bush. 11:17:37 AM    comment [] Passing almost without notice earlier this month, the public release of The Civil Rights Record of the George W. Bush Administration - the official staff report prepared by the US Civil Rights Commission - whose submission is required by federal law, was blocked by the Republican commissioners. None the less, it was posted on the commission's website: "This report finds that President Bush has neither exhibited leadership on pressing civil rights issues, nor taken actions that matched his words."  Bush has held the Civil Rights Commission in contempt since its June 2001 report on Election Practices in Florida During the 2000 Campaign. Then it concluded: "The commission's findings make one thing clear: widespread voter disenfranchisement - not the dead-heat contest - was the extraordinary feature in the Florida election ... The disenfranchisement of Florida's voters fell most harshly on the shoulders of black voters."  Read the Guardian article by Sidney Blumenthal here. 10:44:24 AM    comment [] LET'S HAVE A CONTEST! Between now and October 31st, the first person who can list 10 reasons to vote for George Bush based on his record (achievements during his first and hopefully only term of office) will get a copy of Howard Dean's book You Have the Power:  How to Take Back Our Country and Restore Democracy in America. The rules are: You can't copy and paste rhetoric from George's campaign website. You can't list something you heard on Fox News or Hannity or Rush unless you can back it up with independent and documented facts. The reasons must be substantial--wanting to have a beer with the guy doesn't count. All reasons must focus on George Bush only--John Kerry's name can't be mentioned. All reasons must be based on George's record and not promises made if he should be elected (I can't say re-elected, because he was never elected president). That's it!  I thought Jonathan Alter's article in the latest issue of Newsweek, where he examines Bush's record in various catergories as if he were conducting a job performance review of a CEO, was excellent and right on target.  This contest idea popped into my head while I was in the shower this morning.  Good luck. 10:30:48 AM    comment []

Thursday, October 21, 2004

Britain Agrees to Move Troops Nearer Baghdad. By Mike Peacock LONDON (Reuters) - Britain agreed on Thursday to a U.S. request for UK troops to move to dangerous areas near Baghdad, a politically risky step for Tony Blair who could face a sharp backlash if casualty rates start rising. [Reuters: Top News] I guess the Poodle is doing a John Major and is already planning ahead for his Carlyle job. 2:04:45 PM    comment [] From Al Gore's 10/18/04 speech at Georgetown: The former four-star general in charge of Central Command, Tony Zinni, named by President Bush as his personal emissary to the Middle East in 2001, offered this view of the situation in his recent book: Quote, "In the lead-up to the Iraq war and its later conduct, I saw at a minimum true dereliction, negligence and irresponsibility; at worse, lying, incompetence and corruption; false rationales presented as a justification, a flawed strategy, lack of planning, the unnecessary alienation of our allies, the underestimation of the task, the unnecessary distraction from real threats, and the unbearable strain dumped on our overstretched military. All of these caused me," he said, "to speak out, and I was called a traitor and a turncoat by civilian Pentagon officials." Massive incompetence, endemic corruption, official justification for torture, wholesale abuse of civil liberties, arrogance masquerading as principle -- these are new, unfamiliar and unpleasant realities for the United States of America. We hardly recognize our country when we look in the mirror of what Jefferson called the "opinion of humankind." How could we have come to this point? 1:59:25 PM    comment [] Today's non-sequitur cartoon is another example of one picture being worth 1,000 words. 12:46:05 PM    comment [] Condi Rice is scheduled to give speeches in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Florida during the next week. In recent days, she has appeared in Ohio, North Carolina, Oregon and Washington state. Since May, she has given 62 campaign speeches outside Washington.  This is contrary to long accepted policy that the National Security Advisor (who is appointed by the president) does not get involved in campaigning.  Every other National Security Advisor has abided by this protocol.  The White House defends her appearances, saying it's totally appropriate for her to explain Bush's foreign policy while we're at war. (It's just a coinkydink that she's just 'splainin' in the swing states.) If, according to Cheney, we can be nuked at any minute, how does Condi have so much free time? 11:51:05 AM    comment [] For reasons known only to America's leading conservative thinkers, it is far more offensive to utter an inconsequential truth than to tell a long series of important falsehoods. Or so we are learning in the wake of the final Presidential debate, as Republicans and their noisemakers proclaim grave indignation over John Kerry's innocuous reference to the sexual preference of Mary Cheney.  Read the article here. 11:34:13 AM    comment [] As reported in the Boston Globe and other papers on Monday, Iran endorsed Bush for President.  The head of Iran's security council said Tuesday that the re-election of President Bush was in Tehran's best interests, despite the administration's axis of evil label, accusations that Iran harbors al-Qaida terrorists and threats of sanctions over the country's nuclear ambitions.  Historically, Democrats have harmed Iran more than Republicans, said Hasan Rowhani, head of the Supreme National Security Council, Iran's top security decision-making body.  "We haven't seen anything good from Democrats." Today's reports are that Iran test fired a missile with a 1,200 mile range. 11:30:13 AM    comment [] Robertson's reality-based sin against Bush. We aren't the only ones who took notice of evangelical Christian leader Pat Robertson's bizarre endorsement of President Bush Tuesday night on CNN, when he told Paula Zahn that ahead of the Iraq invasion last year Bush emphatically assured him, "We're not going to have any casualties." Salon.com. Meanwhile, Bush spokespeople insist that Bush never said that. Is Pat Robertson a liar? Is Bush a liar? Earlier in the year Robertson said that God told him Bush would win by a landslide. Now, he is saying that God told him the election would be very close. Is God a flip-flopper? 11:07:01 AM    comment []

Wednesday, October 20, 2004

As reported today on Air America Radio (1190 AM)--The Los Angeles Times is reporting that a top level CIA report showing the Bush administration blind to the threat of Al Qaeda before 9/11 has been suppressed by the Bush administration. 11:23:26 AM    comment [] Under mounting political, legal and financial pressure, Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. yesterday backed away from its plan to carry a film attacking John F. Kerry's Vietnam War record, saying it would air only portions of the movie in an hour-long special scheduled for Friday.  Read here.  Power to the people! 11:15:46 AM    comment [] While many Americans search in vain for flu shots, members and employees of Congress are able to obtain them quickly and at no charge from the Capitol's attending physician, who has urged all 535 lawmakers to get the vaccines even if they are young and healthy. Read the Washington Post story here. Canada has responded with mixed reactions to the shortage of flu vaccine in the United States and to President Bush's suggestion that Canada could fill the gap.  Read the Washington Post Story here. I though the Bush Administration worried that Canadian drugs weren't safe?  Flip-flop. 11:11:06 AM    comment []

Tuesday, October 19, 2004

Air America Radio: The tussle between Comedy Central's Jon Stewart and CNN Crossfire's Tucker Carlson and Paul Begala ranks as the most compelling piece of television this year. Stewart accused Begala and Carlson of being "partisan hacks" who were in the business "helping politicians and corporations" and failing "miserably" to foster a real debate about the issues. Tucker Carlson in particular was not pleased. Watch it here. Jon Stewart said one bad word and seemed a little perturbed, but he told Carlson and Begala exactly what needed to be said about the media.  The Crossfire guys were not the least bit interested in having a real discussion on the issues raised.  It was a little unsettling when Stewart had to keep reminding them that The Daily Show is not a real news program! 4:05:50 PM    comment [] An earlier posting discussed the Sinclair Broadcasting Group and contained links to websites listing companies that advertise on Sinclair affiliates.  I contacted many of the companies--some deleted the email without opening it, some claimed that their names were listed in error and were contacting the website to correct the mistake, some (like JetBlue) saw the errors of their ways.  Following is General Mills's reply to me and my reply to them.  Please take the time to voice your opinion! -----Original Message----- From: Consumer Services-Help [mailto:cshelp@genmills.com] Sent: Tuesday, October 19, 2004 3:26 PM To: Subject: General Mills' Position Regarding Sinclair Broadcast Group   Thank you for contacting General Mills. Many consumers have written to share their views on this issue.  Some have   urged General Mills to use its influence as an advertiser to ensure that the media reports the news in an unbiased manner. Some have urged General Mills to continue advertising, and have threatened to withdraw support for our products if we alter our advertising plans.  Passions run deep on both sides, particularly this close to an election.    Whenever possible, General Mills does strive to preview the programs on which our advertising appears.  We do so to assure that we do not advertise on programs inconsistent with the family-oriented nature of our products. This works well with entertainment programs produced and available for advance screening, but pre-screening of news broadcasts is usually not possible. Our view in this area is clear.   We believe one of the fundamental elements of our society is the freedom of the press.  Companies such as ours, in our view, should not attempt to influence, control or pre-empt the content of news through the leverage of advertising sponsorship. To do so would undermine that fundamental freedom. From time to time, any one of us as viewers may consider a particular news story to be inaccurate or imbalanced.  News organizations do err.  Judgment is not always well applied.  One major news organization recently acknowledged that errors were made in stories relating to the current presidential election.  When such errors occur, certainly a price is paid in terms of reputation.  But errors and questionable judgment are an acceptable price to pay, in our view, to assure the presence of a free and independent media in our society.  As viewers, each of us is free to make a choice.  We can choose to patronize or not patronize programs with our viewership.  We can choose to patronize or not patronize particular television stations, or even entire networks.  Similarly, advertisers may choose not to sponsor certain broadcasts, a particular network or specific publications because of their journalistic standards and judgment. But advertisers should not attempt to control or pre-empt news programming prior to broadcast or publication. That, in our view, would be inappropriate. In this instance, as in the example cited earlier, passionate voices are calling on advertisers to insert themselves into the election by threatening to boycott those who remove or who do not remove their advertising. We choose to stand with freedom of the press. We welcome the views that you and others have shared with us.  You may rest assured that we will remind the networks we sponsor that the integrity of their reporting reflects on the companies that advertise during their broadcasts. Hopefully, you will understand our views – and the importance we place on a free press. Again, thank you for taking the time to contact us and share your views. Sincerely,                                           General Mills My reply to General Mills: Freedom of the press is not the issue.  A company forcing its affiliates to air a slanderous program days before an election of great importance (as well as firing its Washington Bureau Chief who spoke out) is outrageous.  The official position of General Mills is outrageous and unfortunately I can no longer buy your product.  I will post your reply on my site and urge others to boycott your products. For shame. 3:56:38 PM    comment [] Great quote from Maureen Dowd:  "America is awash in selective piety, situational moralists and cherry-picking absolutists." 1:49:57 PM    comment [] "The Cheneys didn't respond to . . . [Republican senatorial candidate] Alan Keyes' direct insult of their own daughter in Illinois. They have not voiced objections to a single right-wing piece of homophobia in this campaign," . . . "But they are outraged that Kerry mentioned the simple fact of their daughter's openly gay identity. What complete b.s. . . . The GOP is run, in part, by gay men and women, its families are full of gay people, and yet it is institutionally opposed to even the most basic protections for gay couples. You can keep up a policy based on rank hypocrisy for only so long. And then it tumbles like a house of cards. Kerry just pulled one card from out of the bottom of the heap. Watch the edifice of double standards slowly implode. Gay people and their supporters will no longer acquiesce in this charade. Why on earth should we?" Click here to read the Washington Post article. 1:15:21 PM    comment [] Vice President Dick Cheney on Tuesday evoked the possibility of terrorists bombing U.S. cities with nuclear weapons and questioned whether Sen. John Kerry could combat such a threat, which the vice president called a concept "you've got to get your mind around."  Read the article here. VOTE FOR BUSH-CHENEY OR DIE! 1:08:58 PM    comment [] Several of the so-called polls show Bush with a slight lead over Kerry, even as his house of cards is collapsing.  Polls can be misleading depending on who is being asked and who is doing the asking.  Bush-backers hope that thinking Americans will be dissuaded from going out to vote on November 2nd.  They are also hoping that those who do attempt to vote will either be blocked or not counted by the super oiled Republican machine that is working overtime to steal the election any way possible.  2000 can happen again. 11:26:38 AM    comment [] On the "Unfiltered" program this morning (Air America Radio 1190 AM) Peter Davis, the ‘Michael Moore’ of 1974, talked about the re-release of his award-winning Vietnam War documentary, "Hearts and Minds." It was a very interesting discussion of the dangerous parallels between Vietnam and Iraq. Davis also made the remarkable observation that, just like Rome, the US is shifting from a Republic to an Empire, a Holy Empire at that, with George (and many of his follower) thinking that he was appointed emperor by God. Very very scary. 11:16:21 AM    comment [] UNFILTERED RADIO TALKING POINT: Bush is telling his handpicked crowds on the campaign trail that John Kerry is using “shameless scare tactics” to freak people out about the draft and the future of social security.  George, it’s not a tactic if you are in fact the SCARIEST president we’ve ever had. Just days before the invasion, American war planners held a meeting to review Bush’s plans to remove Saddam and install a democracy in Iraq. Missing from their presentation was “Phase 4-C,” otherwise known as the Pentagon’s plans for rebuilding Iraq after the war. During a visual presentation, the “Phase 4 slide’ read, “To Be Provided.” Knight-Ridder published an investigative story yesterday that documents how the Administration invaded Iraq with no plan to secure, rebuild or exit the country.  According to three senior military officers, Central Command wanted three-hundred and eighty-thousand troops to attack and occupy the country. Rumsfeld offered forty-thousand.  A half-dozen intelligence reports warned that American troops could face a violent resistance. And what did the Administration do? They flat out ignored it.  Instead of planning an exit strategy and enough troops to control Iraq, the Administration bet on Ahmad Chalabi, who said the Americans would be treated as liberators. Do you feel safer knowing that the Administration’s plan for Iraq was wishful thinking? DISCUSSION POINTS: There was never a “Phase Four” plan – a plan to rebuild Iraq after the war. A veteran state Department officer who was directly involved in Iraq policy said, “We didn’t go in with a plan. We went in with a theory.” One-thousand one-hundred and six US soldiers have died in Iraq Go to the Knight-Ridder aricle: PLAN FOR IRAQ? 11:05:09 AM    comment [] The Washington bureau chief of Sinclair Broadcast Group was fired yesterday after accusing the media company of "indefensible" conduct for planning to air a movie attacking Sen. John Kerry's Vietnam record in the coming days. Jon Leiberman, who also was the lead political reporter for the 62-station television chain, told CNN last night that he was terminated for his criticism, which was quoted in yesterday's Baltimore Sun. He spoke out, he said, because "I feel so strongly that our credibility is at issue here. . . . I feel our company is trying to sway this election." Click here to read the Washington Post article. Sinclair stock in free-fall. Stock in the Sinclair Broadcasting Group continues to drop like a rock. Since the company announced its unprecedented move to air a one-side hit piece on its 62 stations nationwide the eve of a presidential election (i.e. "Stolen Honor," the anti-Kerry documentary), Sinclair shares have plummeted from nearly $8 to $6.50, losing more than 20 percent of their value in just six trading days. The current value not only marks a 52-week low for the company's stock, but it's the lowest level since Feb, 2001, and comes dangerously close to surpassing the stock's five-year low. Sinclair's Republican stunt proves once again that mass communications and partisan politics don't always mix, especially with irate Democrats voicing their outrage over Sinclair's move and urging advertiser boycotts. As one Sinclair employee told Salon last week, "They have no idea what they've unleashed." 10:57:47 AM    comment []

Monday, October 18, 2004

Without a Doubt By RON SUSKIND Published: October 17, 2004 ruce Bartlett, a domestic policy adviser to Ronald Reagan and a treasury official for the first President Bush, told me recently that ''if Bush wins, there will be a civil war in the Republican Party starting on Nov. 3.'' The nature of that conflict, as Bartlett sees it? Essentially, the same as the one raging across much of the world: a battle between modernists and fundamentalists, pragmatists and true believers, reason and religion. . .The president has demanded unquestioning faith from his followers, his staff, his senior aides and his kindred in the Republican Party. Once he makes a decision -- often swiftly, based on a creed or moral position -- he expects complete faith in its rightness.  The disdainful smirks and grimaces that many viewers were surprised to see in the first presidential debate are familiar expressions to those in the administration or in Congress who have simply asked the president to explain his positions.  Read the whole New York Times article. 3:54:03 PM    comment [] WASHINGTON (AFP) - A group of widows of September 11 victims slammed President George W. Bush's record against terrorism, accusing the US leader of making the United States less safe and of bringing terrorism to Iraq.  Read the story. 3:43:24 PM    comment [] Supreme Court Orders Texas Redistricting Review. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court ordered on Monday further consideration of a challenge by Democrats and minority groups to a controversial Republican-backed congressional redistricting plan in Texas. [Reuters: Top News] 3:28:15 PM    comment [] "How poorly we understood George W. Bush" We noted over the weekend that John Kerry has a huge lead over George W. Bush in at least one category -- newspaper endorsements. The current tally from Editor & Publisher: Kerry 45, Bush 30.  Five more papers that endorsed Bush in 2000 came out this weekend in favor of Kerry instead. No one did it more eloquently than the Bradenton Herald, a daily in Florida's Manatee County. Manatee went big for Bush in 2000, but the Herald says its readers shouldn't let themselves be fooled again.  Read the whole Salon.com article. 3:25:55 PM    comment [] As reported in yesterday's Journal News, "Republican County Executive C. Scott Vanderhoef has quietly appointed the Rockland GOP's former treasurer as the county's full-time auditor.  William Klein, a retired accountant, is making $72,000 a year in a job that, for nine years, has been a part-time position paying $43,820 annually." There's nothing unusual about cronyism and I suppose it's considered acceptable as long as the person hired is qualified for the job, but it's really sleazy to make the job part time when a democrat has it and then make it full time when a republican is appointed. 2:10:09 PM    comment [] "'The Bush campaign should be able to make an argument without having it reflexively dismissed as distorted or inaccurate by the biggest newspapers in the country.' Got that? The Bush campaign evidently grew so accustomed to a campaign press that seldom fact-checked much of anything between March and September that it is downright indignant anyone would have the temerity to muse, 'Gee, I wonder if that's right?' and then have the industry to actually ascertain the veracity of the claims and assertions contained in stump speeches and debate transcripts. We wouldn't believe it if we hadn't seen it with our own eyes, but there it is in black-and-white."   Read the whole article here. 2:00:54 PM    comment [] In recent years there have been many significant disruptions of vaccine supplies. Between November 2000 and May 2003, there were shortages of 8 of the 11 vaccines for childhood diseases in the United States, including those for tetanus, diphtheria, whooping cough, measles, mumps and chicken pox. There have been flu vaccine shortages or miscues for four consecutive years. . . . William Schaffner, chairman of the department of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt Medical School in Nashville, noted that the Bush administration last year promised to spend $5.6 billion to help develop vaccines for anthrax and other biological agents. "They're creating a very expensive program against diseases that don't exist anywhere in the world," Dr. Schaffner said. "What we need is an adult immunization program for diseases that kill tens of thousands every year." Read the New York Times article. The shortage of flu vaccine in the United States is "not a health crisis," Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson said, urging people to be patient as the government works to reallocate the nation's limited number of vaccines.  Read more. 1:08:11 PM    comment [] TODAY'S UNFILTERED TALKING POINT: All over the country , people are wondering if, aside from the obvious, there’s actually something wrong with the President. In 2001, 2002, and 2003, Bush got his annual physical in August. But this year, he’s decided to postpone it.... until after the election. The Bush Campaign assures us that the president is perfectly healthy, but people are starting to connect the dots and wonder if maybe there’s something wrong with George. The bulge visible under his suit jacket in all three debates has yet to be explained, but if you CLICK HERE, it’s clear that it could be a portable defibrillator. And what about how his speaking and debating skills have declined so dramatically since he ran for Governor of Texas ten years ago? And what about the drooping left side of his face, and the fact that he keeps falling down? Do you feel safer knowing that Dick Cheney, a man with a baboon’s heart, could be one fragile electronically assisted heartbeat away from the oval office? Also, more of Bush's missing military records were found and released, as usual, late Friday. 12:30:57 PM    comment [] The top U.S. commander in Iraq complained to the Pentagon last winter that his supply situation was so poor that it threatened Army troops' ability to fight, according to an official document that has surfaced only now. The lack of key spare parts for gear vital to combat operations, such as tanks and helicopters, was causing problems so severe, Army Lt. Gen. Ricardo S. Sanchez wrote in a letter to top Army officials, that "I cannot continue to support sustained combat operations with rates this low." Read the Washington Post article here. 12:22:16 PM    comment []

Friday, October 15, 2004

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States on Friday ordered a freeze on assets of the militant group led by Jordanian Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, which has claimed responsibility for a series of bombings, kidnappings and beheadings in Iraq. Can anyone explain what took our tough-on-terror president so long? 12:43:47 PM    comment [] Unfiltered 10/15/04. TALKING POINT: Yesterday, Bush went back to the press section of Air Force One for the first time in almost 4 years. Like Tattoo from Fantasy Island, he said "Smiles Everyone! 19 days left!". The only weapon left in the Bush campaign arsenal is the word LIBERAL. Awkwardly enough, yesterday was the day the nation hit our legal debt ceiling and had to start borrowing from federal employees' pensions. Bush is calling Kerry a liberal, but he's the one who's BUSTED the budget worse than any other president in US history, forcing Congress to legally raise the debt ceiling 3 times in 3 years. 11:03:15 AM    comment [] As reported on Air America Radio and in the Guardian, George Bush has squandered a wealth of sympathy around the world towards America since September 11 with public opinion in 10 leading countries - including some of its closest allies - growing more hostile to the United States while he has been in office. 11:00:28 AM    comment []

Thursday, October 14, 2004

The FCC will not block the airing of the anti-Kerry film that Sinclair Broadcasting Group is forcing on its affiliates just before the election.  "Don't look to us to block the airing of a program," Michael Powell told reporters. "I don't know of any precedent in which the commission could do that."  Michael Powell is the son of Colin Powell, Bush's Secretary of State.  Quelle surprise. 3:19:13 PM    comment [] Why Conservatives Must Not Vote for Bush http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2004/09/10/conservatives/index/print.html http://forum.therandirhodesshow.com/index.php?act=ST&;f=87&t=28935 A Reaganite argues that Bush is a dangerous, profligate, moralizing radical -- and that his reelection would be catastrophic both for the right and for America. By Doug Bandow Sept. 10, 2004 | George W. Bush presents conservatives with a fundamental challenge: Do they believe in anything other than power? Are they serious about their rhetoric on limited, constitutionally restrained government? Bush appears to have remained strong in the presidential race by rallying conservatives behind him. In his convention acceptance speech he derided Sen. John Kerry's claim to represent "conservative values" and seized the mantle of promoting liberty at home and abroad. Indeed, many conservatives react like the proverbial vampire at the sight of a cross when they consider casting a ballot for Kerry. Tom Nugent, a National Review Online contributing editor, wrote: "The last thing the Republican party needs is the reckless suggestion that conservatives vote Democratic." That is mild, however, compared with the American Conservative Union's mass e-mail solicitation headlined "Why Do Terrorists Want Kerry to Win?" Republican partisans have little choice but to focus on Kerry's perceived vulnerabilities. A few high-octane speeches cannot disguise the catastrophic failure of the Bush administration in both its domestic and its foreign policies. Mounting deficits are likely to force eventual tax increases, reversing perhaps President Bush's most important economic legacy. The administration's foreign policy is an even greater shambles, with Iraq aflame and America increasingly reviled by friend and foe alike. Quite simply, the president, despite his well-choreographed posturing, does not represent traditional conservatism -- a commitment to individual liberty, limited government, constitutional restraint and fiscal responsibility. Rather, Bush routinely puts power before principle. As Chris Vance, chairman of Washington state's Republican Party, told the Economist: "George Bush's record is not that conservative ... There's something there for everyone." Even Bush's conservative sycophants have trouble finding policies to praise. Certainly it cannot be federal spending. In 2000 candidate Bush complained that Al Gore would "throw the budget out of balance." But the big-spending Bush administration and GOP Congress have turned a 10-year budget surplus once estimated at $5.6 trillion into an estimated $5 trillion flood of red ink. This year's deficit will run about $445 billion, according to the Office of Management and Budget. Brian Riedl of the Heritage Foundation reports that in 2003 "government spending exceeded $20,000 per household for the first time since World War II." There are few programs at which the president has not thrown money; he has supported massive farm subsidies, an expensive new Medicare drug benefit, thousands of pork barrel projects, dubious homeland security grants, an expansion of Bill Clinton's AmeriCorps, and new foreign aid programs. What's more, says former conservative Republican Rep. Bob Barr, "in the midst of the war on terror and $500 billion deficits, [Bush] proposes sending spaceships to Mars." Unfortunately, even the official spending numbers understate the problem. The Bush administration is pushing military proposals that may understate defense costs by $500 billion over the coming decade. The administration lied about the likely cost of the Medicare drug benefit, which added $8 trillion in unfunded liabilities. Moreover, it declined to include in budget proposals any numbers for maintaining the occupation of Iraq or underwriting the war on terrorism. Those funds will come through supplemental appropriation bills. Never mind that Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz had promised that reconstruction of Iraq could be paid for with Iraqi resources. (Yet, despite the Bush administration's generosity, it could not find the money to expeditiously equip U.S. soldiers in Iraq with body armor.) Nor would a second Bush term likely be different. Nothing in his convention speech suggested a new willingness by Bush to make tough choices. Indeed, when discussing their domestic agenda, administration officials complained that the media had ignored their proposals, such as $250 million in aid to community colleges for job training. Not mentioned was that Washington runs a plethora of job training programs, few of which have demonstrated lasting benefits. This is the hallmark of a limited-government conservative? Jonah Goldberg, a regular contributor to NRO, one of Bush's strongest bastions, complains that the president has "asked for a major new commitment by the federal government to insert itself into everything from religious charities to marriage counseling." Indeed, Bush seems to aspire to be America's moralizer in chief. He would use the federal government to micromanage education, combat the scourge of steroid use, push drug testing of high school kids, encourage character education, promote marriage, hire mentors for children of prisoners and provide coaches for ex-cons. Conservative pundit Andrew Sullivan worries that Bush "is fusing Big Government liberalism with religious right moralism. It's the nanny state with more cash." Yet some conservatives celebrate this approach. Kevin Fobbs and Lisa Sarrach of the National Urban Policy Action Council opine that Bush is "a strong leader, a comforter in chief." A comforter in chief? Why, then, would any conservative believer in limited, constitutional government vote for Bush? It is fear of the thought of a President John Kerry. Bobby Eberle of the conservative Web site GOPUSA warns, "One can only imagine the budgets that would be submitted by Kerry." President Bush has made the same point, repeatedly charging that Kerry "has promised about $2 trillion of new spending thus far." Maybe that is true, though the cost of Bush's actual performance would be hard to beat. After all, the president initiated a huge increase in the welfare state with his Medicare drug benefit bill. Veronique de Rugy of the American Enterprise Institute points out that, in sharp contrast to Presidents Reagan and Clinton, "Bush has cut none of the [federal] agencies' budgets during his first term." Moreover, whatever the personal preferences of a President Kerry, he could spend only whatever legislators allowed, so assuming that the GOP maintains its control over Congress, outlays almost certainly would rise less than if Bush won reelection. History convincingly demonstrates that divided government delivers less spending than unitary control. Give either party complete control of government and the treasury vaults quickly empty. Share power between the parties and, out of principle or malice, they check each other. The American Conservative Union's Don Devine says bluntly: "A rational conservative would calculate a vote for Kerry as likely to do less damage" fiscally. Maybe so, respond some conservatives, but how about the Bush tax cuts? The president tells campaign audiences: "They're going to raise your taxes; we're not." But even here the Bush record is not secure. Bruce Bartlett of the National Center for Policy Analysis points to the flood of red ink unleashed by the administration and predicts that tax hikes are inevitable irrespective of who is elected in November. That is, Bush's fiscal irresponsibility could cancel out his most important economic success for the GOP. For some conservatives, the clincher in favor of Bush is the war on terrorism. Kerry, with more war experience than the current president and vice president combined, "resembles Neville Chamberlain," says Nugent. Answering his own hysterical question, "Why do terrorists want Kerry to win?" David Keene of the American Conservative Union says Kerry would submit to terrorists and "lead the free world to a second Munich," only this time with al-Qaida instead of Adolph Hitler. Yet Bush's foreign policy record is as bad as his domestic scorecard. The administration correctly targeted the Taliban in Afghanistan, but quickly neglected that nation, which is in danger of falling into chaos. The Taliban is resurgent, violence has flared, drug production has burgeoned and elections have been postponed. Iraq, already in chaos, is no conservative triumph. The endeavor is social engineering on a grand scale, a war of choice launched on erroneous grounds that has turned into a disastrously expensive neocolonial burden. Saddam Hussein had no weapons of mass destruction, contrary to administration claims, and no operational relationship with al-Qaida, contrary to administration insinuations. U.S. officials bungled the occupation, misjudging everything from the financial cost to the troop requirements. Particularly shocking is the administration's ineptitude with regard to Iraq. Fareed Zakaria writes in Newsweek, "On almost every issue involving postwar Iraq -- troop strength, international support, the credibility of exiles, de-Baathification, handling Ayatollah Ali Sistani -- Washington's assumptions and policies have been wrong. By now most have been reversed, often too late to have much effect. This strange combination of arrogance and incompetence has not only destroyed the hopes for a new Iraq. It has had the much broader effect of turning the United States into an international outlaw in the eyes of much of the world." Sadly, the Iraq debacle has undercut the fight against terrorism. The International Institute for Strategic Studies in its most recent study warns that the Iraq occupation has spurred recruiting by smaller terrorist groups around the world. And acting CIA Director John McLaughlin worries that terrorists are plotting "something big" against the United States. For a time the Pentagon considered closing its child care center, lest it become the target of an attack. NRO columnist Goldberg observes that the president's contention that the war in Iraq has made America safer "is absurd." Goldberg backs the war for other reasons, but says it was probably "the risky thing in the short run." Bush -- not even sure himself whether the war on terrorism is winnable -- has been unable to demonstrate how Iraq has reduced the threat of terrorism against America. Instead, he says: "I need four more years to complete the work. There's more work to do to make America a safer place. There's more work to do to make the world a more peaceful place." Alas, there's more work, far more work, to do because of Bush's misguided policies. A few conservatives are distressed at what Bush has wrought in Iraq. "Crossfire" host Tucker Carlson said recently: "I think it's a total nightmare and disaster, and I'm ashamed that I went against my own instincts in supporting it." William F. Buckley Jr., longtime National Review editor and columnist, wrote: "With the benefit of minute hindsight, Saddam Hussein wasn't the kind of extra-territorial menace that was assumed by the administration one year ago. If I knew then what I know now about what kind of situation we would be in, I would have opposed the war." And opposed it he should have. The conflict is undermining America's values. As social critic Randolph Bourne long ago observed, "War is the health of the state." Although the Constitution is not a suicide pact, the so-called PATRIOT Act threatens some of the basic civil liberties that make America worth defending. Abu Ghraib has sullied America's image among both friends and enemies. Still, there obviously are issues important to conservatives on which the candidates differ. On abortion and judicial appointments, for instance, Bush is clearly superior for conservatives. On business regulation Bush is probably better. For this reason Paul Weyrich of the Free Congress Foundation worries that "in punishing Bush, they [conservatives opposing him] may end up punishing the country." The administration has also sacrificed economic liberty on issues such as antitrust, telecommunications and trade. But these differences in practice may matter little. Not much can be done on abortion given current court rulings and the fact that Bush has won approval of few of his most conservative nominees. Republican senators could limit Kerry's choices just as Democratic senators have limited Bush's choices. Bush's record has been so bad that some of his supporters simply ask, So what? Bush is "a big government conservative," explains commentator Fred Barnes. That means using "what would normally be seen as liberal means -- activist government -- for conservative ends. And they're willing to spend more and increase the size of government in the process." But this political prostitution is unworthy of venerable conservative principles. Undoubtedly, reducing the reach of government is not easy, and there is no shame in adjusting tactics and even goals to reflect political reality. But to surrender one's principles, to refuse to fight for them, is to put personal ambition before all else. The final conservative redoubt is Bush's admirable personal life. Alas, other characteristics of his seem less well suited to the presidency. By his own admission he doesn't do nuance and doesn't read. He doesn't appear to reflect on his actions and seems unable to concede even the slightest mistake. Nor is he willing to hold anyone else responsible for anything. It is a damning combination. John Kerry may flip-flop, but at least he realizes that circumstances change and sometimes require changed policies. He doesn't cowardly flee at the first mention of accountability. Some onetime administration supporters have grown disillusioned. Sullivan observes: "To have humiliated the United States by presenting false and misleading intelligence and then to have allowed something like Abu Ghraib to happen ... is unforgivable. By refusing to hold anyone accountable, the president has also shown he is not really in control. We are at war; and our war leaders have given the enemy their biggest propaganda coup imaginable, while refusing to acknowledge their own palpable errors and misjudgments." Those who still believe in Bush have tried to play up comparisons with Ronald Reagan, but I knew Reagan and he was no George W. Bush. It's not just that Reagan read widely, thought deeply about issues and wrote prolifically. He really believed in the primacy of individual liberty and of limited, constitutional government. In his farewell address to the nation on Jan. 11, 1989, Reagan observed: "I wasn't a great communicator, but I communicated great things." Even when politics forced him to give way, everyone knew what he stood for. Bush's biggest problem, in contrast, is not that he is a poor communicator. It is that he has nothing to communicate. Victory over terrorists, yes -- but then what American really disagrees with that goal? Beyond that there is nothing. "Government should never try to control or dominate the lives of our citizens," Bush says. But you wouldn't know that from his policies. He has expanded government power, increased federal spending, initiated an unnecessary war, engaged in global social engineering and undercut executive accountability. This is a bill of particulars that could be laid on Lyndon Johnson's grave. No wonder "Republicans aren't very enthusiastic about" Bush, says right-wing syndicated columnist Robert Novak. Although anecdotal evidence of conservative disaffection with Bush is common -- for instance, my Pentagon employee neighbor, a business lobbyist friend, even my retired career Air Force father -- for many the thought of voting for John Kerry remains simply too horrific to contemplate. And this dissatisfaction has yet to show up in polls. Fear of Kerry, more than love of Bush, holds many conservatives behind the GOP. Yet serious conservatives must fear for the country if Bush is reelected. Is Kerry really likely to initiate more unnecessary wars, threaten more civil liberties and waste more tax dollars? In any case, there are other choices (e.g., the Libertarian Party's Michael Badnarik, the Constitution Party's Michael Peroutka and even Independent Ralph Nader). Serious conservatives should deny their votes to Bush. "When it comes to choosing a president, results matter," the president says. So true. A Kerry victory would likely be bad for the cause of individual liberty and limited government. But based on the results of his presidency, a Bush victory would be catastrophic. Conservatives should choose principle over power. 2:27:27 PM    comment [] The general consensus from last night's debate is that Kerry "won" again. Bush came across more balanced than in the previous 2 debates, but he avoided answering questions and continually misstated facts. What I cannot understand is why he is still considered so strong on terrorism. 9/11 happened on HIS WATCH after he ignored repeated warnings from Clinton, Berger (Clinton's security advisor), Clark (his own security advisor) and many others. He cut funding and personnel. He fought against a department of homeland security. FBI agents were ordered to stop investigations. Over 100,000 hours of al-Qaeda tapes are not translated. He took the focus away from bin Laden and poured all available resources into attacking Iraq, a country that had nothing to do with 9/11. Almost all the 9/11 hijackers were Saudi--the Bush family has long and close relations with the Saudi royal family AND THE BIN LADEN FAMILY. George Senior was at a Carlyle Group meeting on 9/11 with members of the bin Laden family, who were allowed to leave without questioning when US air space was closed. Bush Junior had business dealings with the Taliban when he was governor of Texas. Most of Bush's cabinet and high administration officials either have or had convoluted special interest dealings with the Taliban, Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia and others. James Baker is traveling the world trying to get every nation except Kuwait to forgive Iraqi debt because Baker's company has a secret deal with Kuwait. He squandered all the support and good will given to the US by the world after 9/11. Bush's Iraqi campaign has been called the greatest recruitment tool for al-Qaeda. George's own father as well as Dick Cheney said years ago that driving into Baghdad and overthrowing Saddam Hussein would be a disaster. Saddam got many of the chemical weapons he used against the Iranians and Kurds from Ronald Reagan when poppy was vice president. The list goes on and on and on. So many Americans believe that George Bush is tough on terrorism because he keeps saying that he is, and the mainstream media is not reporting the facts. 1:08:33 PM    comment []

Wednesday, October 13, 2004

Blix Says Iraq War Stimulated World Terrorism. STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Former chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix said Wednesday the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq had failed tragically in its aim of making the world a safer place and succeeded only in stimulating terrorism. [Reuters: Top News] 3:20:31 PM    comment [] House ethics committee Chairman Joel Hefley (R-Colo.) said last week that Republican lawmakers have threatened him in the wake of his panel's recent admonishments of House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas). What a shock! Read the story as posted today on The Daily Kos, originally published in today's The Hill. Also on the Daily Kos today, read about how the RNC funds voter supression efforts: the same company that is suspected of tearing up Democratic voter registration forms in Las Vegas. It has set up registration drives in Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Michigan, Ohio, West Virginia, Florida and Nevada and is accused of the same things in most if not all of these states. Sproul & Associates is a Republican consulting firm run by Nathan Sproul, former head of the Arizona Republican party and Arizona Christian Coalition. Nevada: Voters Outreach of America AKA America Votes tears up Democratic voter registration forms in Nevada. Oregon: Company claiming affiliation with non-partisan 'America Votes' to register voters in Oregon is actually GOP consulting firm Sproul & Associates, Inc. West Virginia and Pennsylvania: Sproul & Associates AKA America Votes workers in WV and PA refuse to register Kerry voters. Oregon Democrats in Oregon have complained that canvassers for Arizona based Sproul & Associates have been pressuring residents to register as Republicans so that they can get paid. Arizona Arizona Nader campaign was assisted in its petition drive by an unlikely figure: the ultra-conservative former executive director of the Arizona Republican Party, Nathan Sproul. About Sproul: Good background story on Sproul and his political track record, cached on Google. The link: Here is the direct link between Sproul and Voters Outreach of America. According to several sources, two of the contractors Sproul hired to oversee petition gathering for No Taxpayer Money For Politicians -- Aaron "A.J." James, who directs Voters' Outreach of America, and Diane Burns -- were also paid by Sproul to get as many signatures as possible for Nader. 3:18:11 PM    comment [] Technical expert: Bush was wired. A Bush spokesman tells Salon there is nothing to the story. But as the final presidential debate looms, speculation grows about the mysterious bulge. [Salon.com] 11:14:35 AM    comment [] Report: CIA Holds Top Al Qaeda Suspects in Jordan. JERUSALEM (Reuters) - The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency is holding top al Qaeda suspects in a secret Jordanian jail where they are subjected to interrogation methods banned in the United States, an Israeli newspaper said Wednesday. [Reuters: Top News] Do you understand what this as well as the Abu Gharib means for captured Americans?? 11:11:49 AM    comment [] As reported this morning on Unfiltered, Air America Radio: Per Naomi Klein in the Guardian, George Bush appointed James Baker, a former Secretary of State as well as the architect of Bush's Florida steal in 2000, as his unpaid envoy on December 5, 2003 to try to get the world to forgive Iraq's substantial debt.  At the time, he called Baker's job "a noble mission".  Baker is also a senior counsellor and an equity partner with a reported $180,000,000 personal stake in the Carlyle Group, a merchant bank and defense contractor. It is reported by Klein that the Carlyle Group is in a consortium secretly proposing to try to collect $27,000,000,000 (that's billion) on behalf of Kuwait, one of Iraq's biggest creditors, by using high-level political influence. It claims Mr Baker will not benefit personally, but the consortium could make millions in fees, retainers and commission as a result. One international lawyer described the consortium's scheme as "influence peddling of the crassest kind". The day before Mr Baker's appointment was announced, John Harris, managing director of the Carlyle Group, signed a statement to Alberto Gonzales, counsel to the president. It stated that Carlyle "does not engage in lobbying or consulting" and that "Carlyle does not have any investment in Iraqi public or private debt."  According to the documents, at the time of that statement the Carlyle consortium was at least five months into its assignment from the Kuwaiti government to "prepare a detailed financial proposal for the protection and monetization" of reparation debts from Iraq. Read the article and accompanying documentation here. 10:38:13 AM    comment []

Tuesday, October 12, 2004

CNN - Where the Spin Is the News. This morning on CNN, Sinclair Broadcasting's Mark Hyman went on the air to defend his company's decision to force its 62 stations to pre-empt their regular programming in favor of a movie attacking John Kerry's record during his military service... [CJR Campaign Desk] Besides the networks and cable channels disgracing themselves during this election, where is the FCC?  Is Janet Jackson's boob more important than ensuring (or trying to ensure) fairness?  Colin Powell's son is the chairperson of the FCC.  No wonder Americans have a hard time discerning the truth when they are constantly bombarded by distortions and lies by so-called reputable media. 2:41:21 PM    comment [] There's little left to say about the presidential election on November 2nd. Kerry isn't perfect but he's a far better choice than more of the same. Anyone who votes for Bush is either: ignorant of the facts, deaf, dumb and blind by choice, benefiting from the tax plan favoring the wealthy and the corporations, victimized by the Bush-Cheney hard line propaganda and/or profiteering off the war machine. As for the "undecideds", Andy Rooney said it best Sunday night. Either they've already made up their minds and aren't telling, or they're stupid. 1:14:25 PM    comment []

Friday, October 08, 2004

One picture (cartoon, in this case) says 1,000 words. 10:33:59 AM    comment []

Thursday, October 07, 2004

Right wing commentator and frequent talk show guest Ann Coulter, a vile hate-monger who must have done something to someone to get where she is today, says in her latest book that all non-Christians should become Christian. Muslims who don't convert should be killed. Whether or not she was joking (?!), Muslims are open targets for a lot of people. The Muslim Civil Rights Center website is both interesting and filled with information. 12:58:05 PM    comment [] Because of George Bush's failure to lead the world, we are nearly alone in Iraq. If we "stay the course" with this president, he will face a choice: drastically reduce our commitments or reinstate the draft. Even though Congress voted down a bill calling for the draft (their elections are also just weeks away), Howard Dean points outthat the way they rejected the bill shows just how easy calling a draft would be -- they suspended normal rules and voted with almost no warning (this is normal operations for Bush's House). Authorizing a draft would be just as easy -- it could be done in less than 48 hours. Please click here to sign a petition to George Bush demanding that he tell Americans which method he will choose to "stay the course". Let's hope that this petition will be moot on November 2nd. 12:44:34 PM    comment [] Vice President Dick Cheney states that a report by the chief U.S. weapons inspector in Iraq, who found no evidence that Iraq produced weapons of mass destruction after 1991, justifies rather than undermines President Bush's decision to go to war. HELP! 11:43:03 AM    comment [] The House Ethics Committee last night admonished Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) for the second time in six days -- and the third time overall.   DeLay is the House's second-ranking Republican who aspires to become the Speaker.  OK, the House simply "rebukes" one of its scummiest members for really disgusting ethics violations (bribery, coercion, asking federal aviation officials to track an airplane involved in a Texas political spat, etc.) but impeaches Clinton for lying about a personal failure that he tried to hide from his wife and family. I was channel surfing last night and watched a bit of Nova.  The subject was a cave in Mexico where sulfur bacteria derive their energy from inorganic substances such as hydrogen sulfide, the gas that smells like rotten eggs. The bacteria produces a slimy bacterial stalactite that the scientists call "snottites" because they look like the ooze from a 2 year old's drippy, snotty nose.  I immediately thought of Tom DeLay.  What an appropriate description of him--he's a snottite. 11:14:33 AM    comment [] It's official:  the top American inspector for Iraq stated in a report made official yesterday that Iraq had destroyed its illicit weapons stockpiles within months after the Persian Gulf war of 1991, and its ability to produce such weapons had significantly eroded by the time of the American invasion in 2003.  Enough said. 10:48:13 AM    comment [] Unfiltered on Air America Radio has an excellent discussion this morning with David Bennahum, Senior Fellow at Media Matters on the future of the Electoral College.  He claims that it is time for a Constitutional amendment to change the process for voting for the president of the United States to "one person, one vote".  This is the way that most people think it works, but it doesn't.  (Click here to learn more about how the Electoral College works.)  The framers of our republic had a reason for using the electoral college, basically to ensure equal representation for the smaller states, but is this still valid? We all know how Al Gore won the popular vote in 2000 but lost the election because Bush had more Electoral votes--270 is needed to win.  Bennahum made the startling statement that in theory, a candidate could win the presidency with only 11 votes.  Say that only one person in each of the 11 states with the largest number of electoral votes actually votes on November 2nd and votes for George Bush.  No one else in those 11 states votes, but Kerry wins the popular votes in the 39 other states.  George Bush would win the election even though he had 11 popular votes as opposed to Kerry's 165,000,000 popular votes because he won a sufficient number of electoral college votes. Using a more realistic example, only a handful of swing states (such as Florida, Pennsylvania, Ohio) actually control the election.  so, the candidates concentrate attention there.  If you live in a democratic state like New York and you vote republican, your vote for president doesn't count.  The same situation applies if you live in a republican state like Texas and you vote democratic--your vote for president doesn't count. It's a very interesting discussion with valid pros and cons.  You can link to the blog site for an ongoing discussion or listen to the interview tomorrow on the radio archives. 10:41:14 AM    comment []

Wednesday, October 06, 2004

Click here to see a to see a photo of a second time before last evening when Cheney met/spoke to John Edwards. 4:14:39 PM    comment [] White House dupes press ... again. It looks like the White House pulled a fast one on the 24-hour news channels this morning as President Bush grabbed 50 minutes of free, uninterrupted TV airtime one month before Election Day. News outlets were told in advance Bush would give a substantive speech addressing key policy issues, which is why they agreed to carry it. (They're not in the habit of running stump speeches in their entirety.) Days ago, the speech was billed as an address on medical liability reform. Then on Monday, White House aides announced the speech would address the "war on terror" and the economy. And that's how the cable outlets dutifully hyped it this morning. . . Instead, the address, in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., was nothing more than a raucous Bush pep rally as the president unleashed his most sustained and personal attacks on Sen. John Kerry to date, portraying him as an out of touch liberal who cannot be trusted to defend America, while Republican loyalists in the crowd booed and jeered each mention of Kerry's name.  [Salon.com] 3:26:02 PM    comment [] The Bush-Cheney triumph in Afghanistan:  Click here to read about how "freedom" for Afghan women doesn't go beyond Kabul.  Click here to read about the difficult "path to democracy and freedom". 2:32:43 PM    comment [] Click here for various instances of when Cheney suggested that Iraq was connected to 9/11. Keep checking Air America Radio for fact checks. 2:22:58 PM    comment [] Click here to see a photo of one of the times before last evening when Cheney met/spoke to John Edwards. 2:18:17 PM    comment [] Halliburton's problematic Cheney connection. Hoping to escape the election spotlight, the vice president's old firm may shed its KBR division, the one doing billions of dollars of work in Iraq. [Salon.com] 12:48:58 PM    comment [] There must be a lot of fact checking going on today, because I haven't been able to get onto factcheck.org.  Is there any way to get Cheney to mention this blogsite? 12:34:52 PM    comment [] The next presidential debate is this Friday, October 8th, at 9PM and it should be very interesting.  To make it even more fun, why not play a little game and try to see if you can tell if Bush is "wired".  I have read and heard from more than a few sources that Bush wore a hidden device (against the rules!) to take instruction from Karl Rove during the last debate.  That would at least partially explain Bush's unusual hunched over posture, the occasional out-of left-field comments such as, "Let me finish" when no one on stage interrupted him and the deer-in-the-headlights-look along with the long delay in responding to certain questions. 11:55:23 AM    comment [] "Now, in my capacity as vice president, I am the president of Senate, the presiding officer. I'm up in the Senate most Tuesdays when they're in session. The first time I ever met you was when you walked on the stage tonight," Cheney told Edwards during the debate.  NOT TRUE--READ MORE. 11:38:12 AM    comment [] "In his first speech before the interim National Assembly here, Prime Minister Ayad Allawi gave a sobering account on Tuesday of the threat posed by the insurgency, saying that the country's instability is a 'source of worry for many people' and that the guerrillas represent 'a challenge to our will'.. . . His tone was a sharp departure from the more optimistic assessment he gave to the American public on his visit to the United States last month."  Read more. 11:32:03 AM    comment [] CIA Report Finds No Conclusive Zarqawi-Saddam Link. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A CIA report has found no conclusive evidence that former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein harbored Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, which the Bush administration asserted before the invasion of Iraq. [Reuters: Top News] 11:22:41 AM    comment [] The government's most definitive account of Iraq's arms programs, to be released today, will show that Saddam Hussein posed a diminishing threat at the time the United States invaded and did not possess, or have concrete plans to develop, nuclear, chemical or biological weapons, U.S. officials said yesterday.  Read more. 11:20:43 AM    comment [] TODAY'S UNFILTERED TALKING POINT: When Edwards accused Cheney last night of having a conflict of interest because of his relationship with Halliburton, Cheney didn’t defend himself at all. Instead, he told viewers to go to factcheck.com to read up on the subject. (What he meant was FactCheck.org, but whatever). Anyway, what Fact Check.org says about Cheney and Halliburton is that he didn’t receive more than a million dollars in payments from Halliburton once he was vice-president --he received it two days before he was sworn in! On January 18, 2001. The website also states that Cheney is due to receive two more payments from Halliburton, one later this year and one in two-thousand and five. Wow, that’s their best defense? 9:59:33 AM    comment []

Tuesday, October 05, 2004

BUSH-CHENEY CREDIBILITY GAP "John Kerry said America must pass a ‘global test’ before we protect ourselves. The Kerry doctrine: A global test. So we must seek permission from foreign governments before protecting America?” THE FACTS ON JOHN KERRY’S RECORD John Kerry Will Take Any Action Necessary to Protect America And Will Never Give Another Country a Veto Over American Security – And Unlike Bush, Kerry Will Be Honest With America and the World About What He’s Doing and Why. John Kerry said that when it comes to America’s national security, he'll never give a veto to any other country. And he vowed to take any action necessary to protect the United States from immediate danger. But unlike Bush, Kerry will be honest with the American people and the world about what he is doing and why - the global test is not asking for a permission slip, but making sure that the decisions you make stand up to scrutiny and are backed by facts. John Kerry said that “no president through all of American history has ever ceded and nor would I the right to pre-empt in any way necessary to protect the United States of America. But if and when you do it, Jim, you've got to do it in a way that passes the test. That passes the global test where your countrymen, your people understand fully why you're doing what you're doing. And you can prove to the world that you did it for legitimate reasons.” [First Presidential Debate (Miami, FL), 9/30/04] John Kerry has a Realistic Plan to Get Commitments of Troops and Resources from Allies, and the Leadership to Make it Happen. “The President should convene a summit meeting of the world’s major powers and Iraq’s neighbors, this week, in New York, where many leaders will attend the U.N. General Assembly. He should insist that they make good on that U.N. resolution. He should offer potential troop contributors specific, but critical roles, in training Iraqi security personnel and securing Iraq’s borders. He should give other countries a stake in Iraq’s future by encouraging them to help develop Iraq’s oil resources and by letting them bid on contracts instead of locking them out of the reconstruction process.” [John Kerry, 9/20/04] John Kerry Has the Strength and Conviction to Move Past Bush Failures, Bring Allies To Our Side. “We have to move our allies beyond the resentment they feel about the Bush administration's failed diplomacy so they can focus on their interest in fighting terrorism and promoting peace. The best way to do that is to vest friends and allies in Iraq's future,” Kerry said, by giving allies access to the multibillion-dollar reconstruction contracts and involving them in the reconstruction of Iraq's profitable oil industry in return for their forgiveness of Saddam Hussein’s multibillion-dollar debts to their countries and payment of their fair share of the reconstruction bill. John Kerry also called for a regional conference with Iraq's neighbors to secure a pledge to respect the nation’s borders and commit Iraq's leaders to provide clear protection for minorities; and for NATO to step up and accept a peacekeeping role in Iraq. [John Kerry op-ed, “A Realistic Path in Iraq,” Washington Post, 7/4/04] 3:43:11 PM    comment [] From the georgewbush.com website (AS YOU READ AND MAY THINK, "WOW, THIS SOUNDS GREAT", ASK YOURSELF HOW WOULD HE MAKE IT WORK (WHAT'S THE PLAN) AND WHERE WOULD THE MONEY COME FROM? REMEMBER: THE DEFICIT IS APPROACHING $500 BILLION AND HE KEEPS CUTTING TAXES. OVER 65% OF US CORPORATIONS DON'T PAY TAXES UNDER THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION. ALSO, ASK YOURSELF WHAT DID HE DO DURING HIS FIRST 4 YEARS (OH YEAH, IRAQ)? BESIDES BEING EMPTY PROMISES, SOME OF HIS PROPOSALS AND GOALS SHOULD MAKE YOU VERY NERVOUS REGARDLESS OF THE COST.) A Plan for A Safer World & More Hopeful America On September 2, 2004, in New York City, President George W. Bush accepted the Republican nomination for President. In his address, he promised to build on the accomplishments of his first term by building a safer world and more hopeful America for our workers, families, and children. Over the next four years, President Bush will create new opportunities for American workers. He will help every family adjust to the challenges of a changing world. He will make it easier for every American to have a personal stake in the American dream and to take personal ownership of America’s economic prosperity. Americans can count on President Bush to strengthen our communities, stand by our families and share our values. And President Bush will continue to build a path to security by pressing for reform of the intelligence community and the transformation of our military to meet the threats of the 21st century. Chapter1: Creating Opportunity for American Workers • Reforming America’s High Schools: President Bush will provide $250 million annually to extend state assessment of student reading and math skills. • Jobs for the 21st Century Initiative: President Bush will provide $500 million for Jobs for the 21st Century, which will help educate and train high-skilled American workers in schools and community colleges. • Tax Reform: President Bush will work to make the tax code simpler for taxpayers, encourage saving and investment, and improve the economy’s ability to create jobs and raise wages. • Opportunity Zones: President Bush will create new Opportunity Zones, which will encourage public and private investment and provide priority consideration for Federal benefits to communities that are under economic hardship. • Read the Chapter Now Chapter2: Helping American Families in a Changing World • Helping the Working Uninsured by Expanding Health Savings Accounts: President Bush will propose a tax credit for Health Savings Account contributions to help individuals and families who work for small businesses fund their Health Savings Accounts. • Make Health Care Accessible: President Bush will call for a community health center in every poor county in America. • Promote Comp-Time and Flex-Time: President Bush will work to enable employees to choose paid time off as an alternative to overtime pay and to give employees the option of shifting work hours during a pay period. • Crack Down On Drugs in Schools: President Bush will increase funding for school drug testing to help students resist peer pressure and help parents intervene with students in need. • Read the Chapter Now Chapter3: Promoting an Era of Ownership • Homeownership: President Bush will provide assistance to help America to meet his new goal of creating 7 million new, affordable homes in 10 years. • Social Security Reform: President Bush will strengthen and enhance Social Security, guaranteeing no changes in benefits for current retirees and near-retirees, while giving younger workers the opportunity to use their Social Security payroll taxes to build a nest egg for retirement that can be passed on to their families. • Help Small Businesses: President Bush will help small businesses in a number of ways, including by allowing them to band together to provide more affordable health care for their employees through Association Health Plans. • Read the Chapter Now Chapter4: Defending American Lives and Liberty • Fight the War On Offense: President Bush will continue to lead a worldwide coalition to fight terrorists abroad so we do not have to face them here at home. • Intelligence Reform: President Bush will work with a new National Intelligence Director to improve the quality and quantity of our intelligence and our ability to disrupt and prevent terrorist attacks. • Troop Redeployment: President Bush will restructure American forces overseas to use existing forces more effectively and to support servicemen, servicewomen, and their families more efficiently. • Read the Chapter Now Chapter5: Supporting Our Communities and Honoring American Values of Compassion and Service • Judges: President Bush will continue to appoint to the Federal courts well-qualified judges who share his commitment to strictly interpret the law. • Welfare Reform: President Bush will continue to press for reauthorization of welfare reform and to build on its successes, strengthening families and helping more welfare recipients achieve independence through work. • Faith-Based and Community Initiatives: President Bush will continue to support the good work of community and faith-based groups and help ensure that these charities can participate in Federal, state, and local programs without discrimination. • Read the Chapter Now 2:39:03 PM    comment [] "White House spokesman Scott McClellan refused to say whether Bremer had pleaded with Bush for more troops. "We never get into reading out all the conversations they had," McClellan said."  Read more. 1:13:58 PM    comment [] Ambassador L. Paul Bremer, administrator for the U.S.-led occupation government until the handover of political power on June 28, said yesterday that the United States made two major mistakes: not deploying enough troops in Iraq and then not containing the violence and looting immediately after the ouster of Saddam Hussein. Read more. Better late than never, although it was his moral duty to have publicly said this earlier. 12:10:04 PM    comment [] Yes, Dick Cheney is experienced and very scary.  Even though John Edwards is not as experienced and not scary, he will be a formidable opponent tonight.  All he has to do is stick to the Bush-Cheney record!  Click here to read 10 questions that should be asked of Dick tonight. 12:01:23 PM    comment [] Speaking of extraordinary, Bill Maher made a great statement on his show last Friday night.  What this country needs is not the best looking or nicest or the one you want to have a beer with president.  What this country needs is someone extraordinary.  With all his imperfections, John Kerry is extraordinary.  George Bush is . . .special. 11:41:00 AM    comment [] TODAY'S UNFILTERED TALKING POINT: Two wars are raging in the Middle East and Bush Administration is running out of cash.  By the end of October, the government will hit the national debt’s $7.4 trillion dollar ceiling. Congress already raised the debt ceiling in May 2003, but the Treasury department had to go back and beg our elected officials to allow the government to spend more money that it doesn’t have! Paying interest on the debt will cost us more than homeland security, education, transportation, justice and environment budgets combined. DISCUSSION POINT: Bush’s tax cuts resulted in one-hundred and sixty-six billion less revenue in two-thousand and three – or about forty-four percent of our deficit.  Sixty-three percent of the nation’s corporations paid no federal taxes at all – yet Bush wants to give companies an additional one-hundred and nineteen billion in tax cuts. GO NOW: www.optruth.org 11:11:30 AM    comment [] "The Column Rule" by Arthur Gunther in the Journal News is always excellent but today's is extraordinary and should be read by everyone.  I tried to provide a link, but the online edition of the Journal News doesn't have it.  Definitely read it and think. 11:06:26 AM    comment []

Monday, October 04, 2004

"Inspired by the presidential campaign of Howard Dean, Democracy for America (DFA) is a political action committee dedicated to supporting fiscally conservative, socially progressive candidates at all levels of government—from school board to the presidency. DFA fights against the influence of the far right-wing and their radical, divisive policies and the selfish special interests that for too long have dominated our politics."  If you believe in these principles and you've been looking for a way to get involved, please check out this website. 4:07:23 PM    comment [] "Although his policies have yet to be fully articulated, Kerry is considered by much of the international community as the antidote to a bullying Bush administration. . .The citizens of 30 out of 35 countries from different regions, including Germany, Mexico, Italy and Argentina, support Kerry by more than a 2-1 margin over Bush, according to a poll by the Canadian research group GlobeScan and the University of Maryland. The survey also found that on average, 58% of respondents in those countries said the Bush administration made them feel worse about the U.S. versus 19% who said the president's policies made them feel better."  Read more about why the World has lost confidence in the United States. 2:13:34 PM    comment [] Poland announced today that it will withdraw its troops from Iraq by the end of 2005.  Poland sent 2,500 troops to Iraq last year AFTER the US-led invasion and heads up a multinational division of 6,000 soldiers in south-central Iraq.  Seventeen casualties have been suffered so far and over 70% of Poles are against their soldiers being in Iraq. Click here to see the complete list of 30 countries (besides the US) participating in the coalition.  Numbers are included.  12:44:39 PM    comment [] Monday's must-reads. New York Times: Deadlines are fast approaching or have already passed in most states -- and the data show new voters are registering in droves. " ... How many of the newly registered will vote is a matter of some debate. But it is clear the pace is particularly high in urban areas of swing states, where independent Democratic groups and community organizations have been running a huge voter registration campaign for just over a year." [Salon.com] TODAY'S UNFILTERED TALKING POINT: To the Republicans’ dismay, voter registration is on the rise to record levels in communities across the country. The surge of new voters is biggest in swing states, where election workers have been swamped in recent weeks. While this flood of new voters is wonderful news for the election, experts now fear that there won’t be enough poll workers on November second. The Election Assistance commission says five-hundred thousand new poll workers are needed in order to avoid a staff shortage on Election Day. What are you doing November 2nd? Contact the Election Assistance Commission at 1-866-747-1471 or online at: www.eac.gov To learn about becoming a poll worker this November 2nd. 12:04:51 PM    comment [] Read the New York Times exposé of the Bush Administration's lie on the Iraqi nuclear threat.  Aslo did you catch Condoleezza Rice on all the talk shows this weekend?  Wolf Blitzer was incredulous at how quickly and bizarrely she was spinning everything from Bush's performance during the debate to the lie he told during the debate about all the al-Qaeda leaders brought to justice.  (NOT!) How did Condi get the honor of 'splainin' what George said Thursday night?  How can she look at herself in the mirror? 12:00:32 PM    comment []

Friday, October 01, 2004

"Faces of frustration". Before last night's debate, we wrote a post suggesting (we were only half-serious at the time, we will admit) that with all of the tight rules and regs surrounding the forum, the networks' decision to ditch the debate commission rules and show renegade "cutaway shots" of whichever candidate wasn't speaking could actually make the whole thing more interesting ... well, it did. George W. Bush seemed to learn nothing from the treatment Al Gore got four years ago when he sighed and fidgeted during his opponent's answers. Now, Bush is the one getting gored for smirking, blinking, and appearing agitated while Kerry spoke. [Salon.com] 3:22:58 PM    comment [] President Bush ripped into John Kerry on Iraq Friday, taking a more aggressive approach than he had in the previous night's debate as both candidates rushed back to the campaign trail to put their own spin on the first big faceoff. Read here. Whatever the early verdicts were, one thing was clear: the debate attracted a lot of viewers overseas. In Europe . . .Kerry's promise of a multilateral U.S. foreign policy was welcomed. Read here. How interesting that now that Bush is back in front of carefully screened, vetted and friendly crowds, he's a smooth-talking tough guy again. Attendance at all Bush-Cheney campaign stops is limited to advance ticket-holders only, and people must show their drivers' licenses (and I heard that now their social security numbers are required). Anyone who wears an anti-Bush shirt is not permitted to attend the rally. Anyone who crashes or who heckles is subject to arrest. Seriously. 2:15:09 PM    comment [] Remarks by the President at his Debate Watch Party (really--this is taken from the White House website! 12:42:59 PM    comment [] From the Washington Post:  "The campaigns' 32-page debate contract had been negotiated to make the encounter as antiseptic as possible. But from the first moment -- when Kerry answered his first question with an opening statement -- the candidates' personalities showed through the bonds of the format." 11:48:08 AM    comment [] Even Fox News knows that claiming Bush won the debate is crazy talk. 11:25:20 AM    comment [] Most polls (at least those done by reliable and unbiased sources) show that Kerry did a much better job than Bush in last night's debate.  Even the neocons such as Bill Krystol acknowledge that fact.  Anyone who thinks that Bush did a standup job is spinning a pathetic deceit.  Bush proved last night that he is petulant, morally and intellectually bankrupt, delusional and stubborn to the point of being scary.   We're going to stay in Iraq for as long as it takes.  What kind of a plan is that? Kerry was not as hard-hitting as he could have been on Bush’s tragic foreign policy/national security record, but he clearly proved that he is and will be more presidential than the incumbent.  As Kerry pointedly asked, what good is stubbornly sticking to a decision that is so wrong?  Why did Bush divert attention and resources away  from bin Laden and to Iraq?  Why is Bush spending only a fraction of the billions devoted to Iraq's "security" on our own security? The debate was actually much better than anyone expected and viewers got a chance to see clear differences in the candidates.  Jim Lehrer was outstanding as moderator.  He is a true journalist and did a perfect job keeping the debate on track, even stopping when necessary to clarify points.  11:20:19 AM    comment [] It's the IQ, stupid. Kerry outsmarts Bush in crucial first debate. [Salon.com] 10:56:59 AM    comment []

Thursday, September 30, 2004

As you watch tonight's debate, keep in mind that it is not a real debate but a craftily orchestrated "memorandum of agreement" between the candidates.  For more information on the history of political debates, click here.  Note that Kerry's lead negotiator was Vernon Jordan, while Bush used James Baker III.  Kerry pretty much had to accept Bush's (Baker's) terms, otherwise George would not agree to debate. While Jordan is no chump, Baker was Ford's Under Secretary of Commerce, Reagan's Secretary of the Treasury and Bush I's Secretary of State and Chief of Staff.  He has been Senior Counselor of The Carlyle Group since 1993. (See prior postings about the Carlyle Group and the Saudi connection.  Baker and Bush I were at a Carlyle Group meeting in NYC on 9/11/01 along with members of the bin Laden family.) James Baker III was the mastermind behind Bush II's Florida "win" 4 years ago.  He also is defending the Saudis against the 9/11 families lawsuit (?!) and was appointed envoy in charge of restructuring Iraq's debt.  He's a very busy man. 4:14:56 PM    comment [] Last night at the school board meeting. . . 2:47:56 PM    comment [] Joe McCarthy lives. The Bush campaign's attacks on Democrats as "soft on terrorism" recall the dark arts of the demagogic senator. And once again, the press is playing along. [Salon.com] 12:59:18 PM    comment [] Documents reveal gaps in Bush's service. Once again, The Onion comes through with the real story: [Salon.com] 12:58:16 PM    comment [] AP embarrasses itself over Guard story. At this point, it's possible the White House could tell reporters that George W. Bush earned a Purple Heart during the Vietnam War and the press would simply print it as fact. That's how badly the press has fallen down on the National Guard story. Clearly spooked by the recent controversy at CBS over the questionable memos "60 Minutes II" used for its story on Bush's National Guard service, the press has essentially abandoned the Guard story, despite the fact obvious unanswered questions remain about Bush's mysterious military service. Worse, when it is forced to address the issue, the press has simply morphed into stenographers, dutifully recording every absurd answer the White House gives and completely ignoring the established facts from Bush's own military record. [Salon.com] 12:57:22 PM    comment [] Ashcroft Says Likely to Appeal U.S. Patriot Act Ruling. SCHEVENINGEN, Netherlands (Reuters) - U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft said on Thursday the Bush administration was likely to appeal against a U.S. District Court ruling that part of the Patriot Act was unconstitutional. [Reuters: Top News] 12:55:55 PM    comment [] Republican pollster canned at MSNBC. Upon hearing that MSNBC planned for Republican pollster Frank Luntz to conduct on-air focus groups as part of the cable network's debate coverage tonight, David Brock of the media watchdog group Media Matters sent MSNBC executive Rick Kaplan a letter of complaint. It looks like Kaplan listened. [Salon.com] 12:54:43 PM    comment []

Wednesday, September 29, 2004

Check out MMOB, Mainstream Moms Oppose Bush.  It is a website that is directed toward getting women registered to vote but is open to everyone.  Time is running out. 1:11:15 PM    comment [] Operation American Repression?. An Army officer in Iraq who wrote a highly critical article on the administration's conduct of the war is being investigated for disloyalty -- if charged and convicted, he could get 20 years. [Salon.com] 12:12:34 PM    comment [] William Safire has a very strange op-ed piece in today's New York Times.  His subject is the investigation into the leaking of Valerie Plame's name as a CIA agent by Robert Novak.  Chicago prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald had no luck with tracing the source of the leak to Administration officials and is now going after journalists to divulge their sources.  Mr. Safire rightly worries about Fitzgerald's "campaign to undermine the tradition of protecting the confidentiality of a journalist's sources, without which officials could conceal ineptitude, nepotism, corruption and worse".   However, he ruins his case by stating that Robert Novak had every right to report that Valerie Plame was a CIA agent because he was "apparently unaware that Plame in D.C. was still officially 'undercover'".  He also states that Novak has been "ethically tightlipped" during the investigation. Mr. Novak 'splains himself in a column by claiming, "The leak now under Justice Department investigation is described by former Ambassador Wilson and critics of President Bush's Iraq policy as a reprehensible effort to silence them. To protect my own integrity and credibility, I would like to stress three points. First, I did not receive a planned leak. Second, the CIA never warned me that the disclosure of Wilson's wife working at the agency would endanger her or anybody else. Third, it was not much of a secret."  Exposing a CIA agent is not only dangerous, it is a felony.  It is also treasonous.  For two journalists with such long and storied careers to spin this story is reprehensible. For additional information and links to other sources on the Joseph Wilson/Valerie Plame story click here and here. 12:06:21 PM    comment [] George and Laura Bush are appearing on the Dr. Phil show today  at 3 PM on Channel 4.  John and Teresa Heinz Kerry will appear next Wednesday at the same bat time, same bat channel.  I hope Dr. Phil tells them all that they're a bunch of screw-ups and gives them all a giant dose of his tough love.  Of course, he'll really have a bigger therapy field day today than next week. 11:13:54 AM    comment [] I've been trying my best to understand why almost half the country is still supporting George Bush.  Even after all the facts about 9/11, the war in Iraq, the economy, etc., almost a majority of Americans still think that Bush is a good leader.  I think I found my answer.  As I drove into work this morning, I was listening (as I always do) to the Unfiltered program on Air America Radio.  Rachel and Lizz, two of the co-hosts, were trying to figure out the same thing and one of them said that those Americans are like battered wives.  That's it!  Bush keeps saying the same message over and over and over.  He is a tough guy telling his woman that she can't survive without him.  "You leave me for that other guy and you're going to die.  He can't protect you like I can."  So, even though she is lied to, cheated on and has her paycheck stolen week after week, she is too afraid to leave.  All her life she has listened to authority figures and has been unable to think for herself.  The few times she has had an independent thought, she was severely chastised.  Even though her man does her wrong, she is sticking by him. Americans need group therapy really quick.  And, how about a safe house?  It's OK honey, you can leave that mean, no-good bully.  You have friends who will stand up for you.  10:36:32 AM    comment []

Tuesday, September 28, 2004

From www.georgewbush.com official website--if the worst outcome happens on November 2, 2004 and Bush is "re-elected", remember what he said about the draft. Monday, September 27, 2004 President Bush Says No Draft "No, we're not going -- we don't need the draft. Look, the all-volunteer Army is working. The all-volunteer Army... I know Senator McCain and I agree on this issue for certain, the all-volunteer Army works."    ~ President George W. Bush, August 10, 2004   President Bush is committed to keeping participation in the United States Armed Services voluntary.  The President’s cabinet has stated that a draft is not being considered.  Recruitment and retention rates remain strong, and the military has not had any problem maintaining a strong force.  President Bush is confident in the current state of the military and has assured that Nation that the all-volunteer military force is working well. President Bush's Administration has Remained Consistent on the Draft Vice President Cheney says all volunteer force "works extraordinarily well." "I don't foresee a situation in which we'd want to go back to the draft. We made a decision after Vietnam to go with an all-volunteer force... The all-volunteer force has produced an absolutely remarkable group of men and women in the service.   And I think it works. It works extraordinarily well. And I'm a great believer in it... I suppose, at some point down the road we'd have such a national crisis or emergency, but it would have to be on the scale of World War II before I would think that anybody would seriously contemplate the possibility of going back again to the draft. I think what we have works very well." (Vice President Cheney, Oregon City, OR, September, 17, 2004)      Secretary Rumsfeld calls suggestion of Bush initiated draft "nonsense." When asked if by the Armed Services Committee about initiating the draft, Secretary Rumsfeld replied, "That is absolute nonsense... It's absolutely false that anyone in this administration is considering reinstituting the draft."  (Donald Rumsfeld, Senate Armed Services Committee, September 23, 2004)   3:56:32 PM    comment [] Baghdad Year Zero -- Pillaging Iraq in Pursuit of a Neocon Utopia Naomi Klein details the Bush administration plans to dominate the Iraqi economy and transform it into a neo-con utopia.  In Klein's telling it was the implementation of these plans that deepened the scale of the insurgency. Read the article in Harper's. 3:05:53 PM    comment [] TODAY'S UNFILTERED AIR AMERICA RADIO TALKING POINT (See also Dana Milbank's White House Notebook article today): Last week, Ayad Allawi delivered an oddly familiar speech before a joint meeting on Congress. While many journalists believe a ghostwriter with close ties to the Administration is responsible for the speech, others believe that George Bush entered the body of Allawi as a spirit, which in turn forced the Prime Minister to sound exactly like a Pentagon official. Here are a couple of examples: Allawi said, “The world is better off without Saddam Hussein.” Bush said, “The world is better off without Saddam Hussein in power.” Allawi said, IraqI forces “are striking their enemies wherever they hid.” And Bush said, “We’re fighting these enemies wherever they hid.” How do you think Allawi is doing in convincing the world that he’s not a puppet for the Bush Administration? 2:56:59 PM    comment [] Published on Tuesday, September 21, 2004 by Democracy for America Hidden Agenda: A National Draft in the Future? by Howard Dean A key issue for young Americans and their families to consider as they prepare to cast their votes in the upcoming presidential election is the real likelihood of a military draft being reinstated if President Bush is re-elected. President Bush should tell us now whether he supports a military draft. Here is the evidence that makes a draft likely: The U.S. Army has acknowledged that they are stretched thin and that finding new recruits is challenging. They recently placed 300 new recruiters in the field. Bonuses for new recruits to the Army have risen by 67 percent to a maximum of $10,000 and $15,000 for hard-to-fill specialties. The extended tours of duty have made service less attractive for both the regular armed forces, and particularly for the National Guard and Reserves. To meet this year's quota for enlistees, the Army has sped up the induction of "delayed entry" recruits, meaning they are already borrowing from next year's quotas in order to meet this year's numbers. Reservists are now being called away for longer periods. In 2003, President Bush dramatically extended the length of time for the Guard and Reserves deployment in Iraq. Extended tours of up to a year have become common. In a further sign of a lack of adequate staffing, the armed forces are now in the process of calling up members of the Individual Ready Reserves. These are often older reservists usually waiting retirement. They are typically in their mid-to-late forties, and have not been on active duty and have not trained for some time. Traditionally, they are only supposed to be called up during a time of national emergency. In 2001, President Bush authorized their call up but never rescinded this order even after he declared "Mission Accomplished" in Iraq in May of 2003. The Armed Forces are already chronically understaffed. In 2003, General Eric Shinseki testified before Congress that an additional 50,000 troops would be needed beyond what the Bush administration said would be necessary to stabilize Iraq after the invasion. The President ignored him. We do not have enough troops in Afghanistan to be able to stabilize the country, as shown by the continual putting off of elections well past their announced date. In an effort to free up yet more troops in the coming years, we are moving troops away from the Demilitarized Zone in Korea and reducing the number of troops on the Korean Peninsula at a time when North Korea poses more of a danger to the U.S. - not less. Because of the President's military adventurism, our Armed Forces are under enormous pressure. The only place to go for more troops is a draft. Selective service boards have already been notified that 20-year-olds and medical personnel will be called up first. President Bush will be forced to decide whether we can continue the current course in Iraq, which will clearly require the reinstatement of the draft. The Pentagon has objected to a draft but, the President has ignored other Pentagon recommendations in the past. American families and young people are owed an explanation about the President's plans. Will the President withdraw from some of our military commitments or will he reinstate the draft? We need to know that before we vote, not afterwards. Howard Dean, former governor of Vermont, is the founder of Democracy for America, a grassroots organization that supports socially progressive and fiscally responsible political candidates. Email Howard Dean at howarddean@democracyforamerica.com 2:17:08 PM    comment [] According to David Bauder of Associated Press, the people at Comedy Central were not pleased when, during Jon Stewart's appearance on The O'Reilly Factor earlier this month, Bill kept referring to "The Daily Show" audience as "stoned slackers."  Comedy Central did some research and found that viewers of Jon Stewart's show are more likely to have completed four years of college than people who watch "The O'Reilly Factor," according to Nielsen Media Research. Mark your calendars; Bill O'Reilly is Stewart's scheduled guest on October 7th. (Note:  Watch "The Daily Show" locally on Cablevision channel 50 at 11PM.  The commercials are too many and way too annoying, but you'll learn more about real issues than by watching the local news channels.  It's also very entertaining.) 1:31:30 PM    comment [] Today's Journal News editorial highlights the generous local response to the horrific crisis in Haiti.  Read an excellent editorial about the painfully slow and inadequate official US government response.  It's too bad for Haiti that it has no oil. 12:30:04 PM    comment [] Read an excellent op-ed piece by Daniel Ellsberg (of Pentagon Papers fame) who is now heading The Truth Telling Project (information previously posted on this blog) on the moral need for Pentagon and White House insiders to leak information about Iraq. 12:22:53 PM    comment [] Niggling over paper thickness in Ohio. Jimmy Carter has already given up on the possibility of a fair election in Florida this time around, writing in the Washington Post yesterday that the best we can probably do at this point is to "focus maximum public scrutiny on the suspicious process" there. Carter may want to turn his election monitoring eye now to Ohio, another critical swing state, where election officials are also engaging in some questionable tactics designed to limit some voters' ability to cast ballots on Nov. 2. A cynic is left to wonder whether this has anything to do with massive voter registration drives in Ohio -- especially in heavily-Democratic areas -- as the New York Times reported on Sunday. [Salon.com] 12:09:11 PM    comment [] Mainstream news is finally picking up on a very interesting development as previously reported by Air America Radio and posted on this blog. Besides advising the President about the growing instability in Iraq after "mission accomplished", The National Intelligence Counsel warned the Bush administration two months before the war began that an American-led invasion of Iraq would increase support for political Islam and would result in a deeply divided Iraqi society prone to violent internal conflict.  Read the New York Times article. Are we safe yet? 12:06:46 PM    comment [] From Air America Place Blog:  Twelve Examples of Existing Documents That Deserve Unauthorized Disclosure Each of these--wrongly withheld up till now--could and should be released almost in their entirety, perhaps with minor deletions for genuine security reasons. (In many cases, official promises to release declassified versions have not been honored.) 1. Reports by International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on Guantanamo, Abu Ghrab and other prisons (ships, prisons in other countries) that hold prisoners from the "war on terrorism". (These reports have been provided to the US government but have not been made public.) 2. 28 pages redacted from the report of the Joint House-Senate Inquiry on Intelligence Activities before and after 9/11, concerning the ties between the 9/11 terrorists and the government of Saudi Arabia. 3. 800 pages of the United Nations Report on Weapons of Mass Destruction that were taken by the United States during unauthorized Xeroxing and never given to the Security Council members. (The original report was 1200 pages in length but has never been published in its entirety) 4. Membership, advisors, consultants to Vice President Cheney’s Energy Task Force, and any minutes from meetings (January – December, 2001). 5. Documents and photographs concerning/produced by military doctors or medical personnel that document abuses toward prisoners condoned by medical personnel. 6. Documents produced by military lawyers and legal staff that challenge the political policy makers decision to undercut the Geneva Conventions and any other extra-legal procedures. 7. The missing sections of the US Army General Taguba report on prisons in Iraq and Afghanistan. 8. Department of Justice-Inspector General (DOJ-IG) Report: RE: Sibel Edmonds vs. FBI, completed, classified 9. DOJ-IG Report: RE: FBI Translation Department (security breaches, intentional mistranslations, espionage charges), completed, classified 10. DOJ-IG Report: RE:FBI & Foreknowledge of 9/11, completed, classified 11. Full staff backup to General Shinseki’s 2002 estimate that "several hundred thousand troops" would be required for effective occupation of Iraq. 12. The full 2002 State Department studies on requirements for the postwar occupation and restoration of civil government in Iraq. http://www.truthtellingproject.org/ 11:44:39 AM    comment [] President George W. Bush maintains a clear lead over Democrat John F. Kerry and continues to be perceived by most voters as the candidate best able to deal with Iraq and the war on terrorism, according to the latest Washington Post-ABC News poll.  For more information, visit washingtonpost.com. Absolutely amazing!   11:11:49 AM    comment [] FBI Leaves Terrorism Tapes Untranslated "Three years after the Sept. 11 attacks, more than 120,000 hours of potentially valuable terrorism-related recordings have not yet been translated by linguists at the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and computer problems may have led the bureau to systematically erase some Qaeda recordings, according to a declassified summary of a Justice Department investigation that was released on Monday." Read the New York Times report. 10:24:39 AM    comment []

Monday, September 27, 2004

Another post request--I absolutely agree with the first part of the comment.  Regarding the forged document, the media made that the news and not the truths behind the memo.  The importance of Bush's service, or lack of it, is that 1) he won't come clean either way, and 2) the undisputed facts show a lack of character, truthfulness and commitment during his younger years that have not shown any improvement as he "matured". “We don't yet know who will win the 2004 election, but we know who has lost it. The American news media have been clobbered. In a year when war in Iraq, the threat of terrorism and looming problems with the federal budget and the nation's health care system cry out for serious debate, the news organizations on which people should be able to depend have been diverted into chasing sham events: a scurrilous and largely inaccurate attack on the Vietnam service of John Kerry and a forged document charging President Bush with disobeying an order for an Air National Guard physical.” David Broder – Washington Post – Sept. 26, 2004 2:22:16 PM    comment [] This is posted by request as the South Orangetown School District website does not have this information:   There will be a meeting on Tuesday, September 28th at 4pm and again at 7pm at the middle school for key communicators who would like to get the bond passed.  Please feel free to bring a friend.  Your support is greatly appreciated and needed.     11:33:10 AM    comment [] Click here to see state-by-state data on the number of soldiers killed and wounded, the dollar cost, and the number of reservists and National Guard troops on active duty. 11:06:22 AM    comment [] TODAY'S AIR AMERICA RADIO TALKING POINT: If it’s late on a Friday night in Washington, it must mean that yet another batch of Bush’s National Guard records are due to be released. Despite the White House saying over and over again that all of Bush’s military records have been found and released, late on the past two Friday nights, the Pentagon has quietly released a few more. They’re hoping that no one reads the Saturday papers, so no one will notice that there’s still no explanation for where Bush was for six months in 1972, why he wasn’t disciplined for missing 24 weekends of drills when the rules said you couldn’t miss more than 4, and why Bush keeps changing his mind about why he didn’t take his flight physical. DISCUSSION POINT: Most pilots at that time signed a contract that said they’d fly for five years after the government spent six years and a million dollars training them. Not only did Bush skip out before his 6 years were up, but mysteriously no one has been able to find a copy of Bush’s standard contract. 11:02:39 AM    comment []

Friday, September 24, 2004

Armitage: No Plans for Partial Iraq Election. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Iraq's elections in January should encompass the entire country, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage said on Friday, differing from comments by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld that some violent areas could be excluded. [Reuters: Top News] 1:56:10 PM    comment [] "Something deeply shameful has us in its grip. We carefully nurture a spirit of detachment toward the wars we pay for. But that means we cloak ourselves in cold indifference to the unnecessary suffering of others -- even when we cause it. We don't look at any of this directly because the consequent guilt would violate our sense of ourselves as nice people. Meaning no harm, how could we inflict such harm?"  Click here to read the article by James Carroll in the Boston Globe where he tries to make some sense out of why so many Americans believe Bush. 11:36:35 AM    comment []

Thursday, September 23, 2004

George and his hand puppet Allawi insist that Iraq will have elections in January, 2005.  Where's its Constitution? Click here to read the LAW OF ADMINISTRATION FOR THE STATE OF IRAQ FOR THE TRANSITIONAL PERIOD Here's Article 2(A) The term “transitional period” shall refer to the period beginning on 30 June 2004 and lasting until the formation of an elected Iraqi government pursuant to a permanent constitution as set forth in this Law, which in any case shall be no later than 31 December 2005, unless the provisions of Article 61 are applied. Here's Article 61 (A)       The National Assembly shall write the draft of the permanent constitution by no later than 15 August 2005.  (B)       The draft permanent constitution shall be presented to the Iraqi people for approval in a general referendum to be held no later than 15 October 2005.  In the period leading up to the referendum, the draft constitution shall be published and widely distributed to encourage a public debate about it among the people. (C)       The general referendum will be successful and the draft constitution ratified if a majority of the voters in Iraq approve and if two-thirds of the voters in three or more governorates do not reject it. (D)       If the permanent constitution is approved in the referendum, elections for a permanent government shall be held no later than 15 December 2005 and the new government shall assume office no later than 31 December 2005. (E)       If the referendum rejects the draft permanent constitution, the National Assembly shall be dissolved.  Elections for a new National Assembly shall be held no later than 15 December 2005.  The new National Assembly and new Iraqi Transitional Government shall then assume office no later than 31 December 2005, and shall continue to operate under this Law, except that the final deadlines for preparing a new draft may be changed to make it possible to draft a permanent constitution within a period not to exceed one year.  The new National Assembly shall be entrusted with writing another draft permanent constitution.  (F)       If necessary, the president of the National Assembly, with the agreement of a majority of the members’ votes, may certify to the Presidency Council no later than 1 August 2005 that there is a need for additional time to complete the writing of the draft constitution.  The Presidency Council shall then extend the deadline for writing the draft constitution for only six months.  This deadline may not be extended again. (G)       If the National Assembly does not complete writing the draft permanent constitution by 15 August 2005 and does not request extension of the deadline in Article 61(F) above, the provisions of Article 61(E), above, shall be applied. 3:50:40 PM    comment [] Yesterday the US contradicted an announcement by an Iraqi government ministry that a female Iraqi scientist in US custody would soon be released.  Iraq soon declared that Rihab Rasheed Taha, nicknamed "Dr. Germ" for her alleged biological-weapons research, would no longer be freed on bail.  She's being held in Iraq in US custody and Iraq has no say-so in her release.  Who's in charge of Iraq? 3:17:21 PM    comment [] Someone who I don't normally agree with emailed this to me and I agree totally.  Journalism is at its lowest point.  How could CBS have been so duped by this dirty trick unless it was in cahoots?  The bottom line is that everyone is talking about the horrors of the forged memo and not about the undisputed facts of W's "service" in the Texas Air Guard.  Why wasn't everyone so outraged over the Swift Boat Vets for Lies?  What about the new Bush ad that makes you think that Kerry was negotiating with the enemy?  Where's the balance?  Where are the journalists?  All we have are parrots.  “ON TUESDAY, CBS president Les Moonves told the Los Angeles Times that it was "clear that something went seriously wrong with the process" that produced DanScam. That's like The Zepplin Company announcing that the Hindenburg had a little trouble landing in New Jersey.” Hugh Hewitt We are watching the mainstream media become the journalistic equivalent of the leisure suit. 2:27:37 PM    comment [] My daily newspaper has a "community view" today from a local Republican leader who continues the right wing tradition of misstating what John Kerry said in 1971.  He goes on to say that since Kerry never apologized for the "lies" he is not fit to serve as Commander in Chief.  Here is just some of what was the writer stated in his community view: "In 1971, he gave sworn testimony before a nationally televised Senate hearing. In that testimony Kerry stated that U.S. forces in South Vietnam swept across the country like the hordes of Genghis Khan (his analogy), maiming, raping and murdering innocent civilians. He said everyone knew it, and that U.S. officers right up the chain of command condoned this behavior. What Kerry did, proclaiming these atrocious lies as facts before a national audience, slandering the reputations of the millions who served bravely and honorably in Vietnam, including the 50,000 Americans who gave their lives, should not be forgotten and cannot be forgiven." If the writer had done any homework and was the least bit concerned about truth instead of hard-core party line diatribe, he would have checked what Kerry really said.  Click here to read the text of John Kerry's testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in 1971. 12:43:51 PM    comment []

Wednesday, September 22, 2004

From yesterday's Congressional Record, (Senator Byrd speaking): "Ironically, the President's father, George Herbert Walker Bush, warned against the folly of invading and occupying Iraq. On February 28, 1999, speaking to a group of Desert Storm veterans at Fort Myer, VA, the former President told them:    Had we gone into Baghdad--we could have done it, you guys could have done it, could you have been there in 48 hours--and then what?    Then the first President Bush continued:    Whose life would be on my hands as commander-in-chief because I unilaterally went beyond international law, went beyond the stated mission, and said we're going to show our macho? We're going into Baghdad. We're going to be an occupying power--America in an Arab land--with no allies at our side. It would have been disastrous." 3:27:12 PM    comment [] Read Kerry's Iraq plan as printed in the Congressional Record on 9/21/04. 3:20:39 PM    comment [] Read 55 reasons to vote for George Bush. 12:35:37 PM    comment [] Bush Defends Iraq War at U.N., Asks for Help. UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Two years after warning the United Nations to act against Iraq or risk irrelevancy, President Bush on Tuesday defended the U.S.-led invasion and urged skeptical world leaders to help Iraq become a democracy in the face of a deadly insurgency. [Reuters: Top News] Does a pathological liar and world-class screw-up in deep denial qualify as Commander in Chief? 12:10:31 PM    comment [] No compassion in housing proposal. Funny, we didn't hear any of the Republicans who used New York City as the backdrop of their convention last month talking about the administration's plans to force poor families to either pay hundreds of dollars in extra rent or go homeless. But we're sure George Pataki, Michael Bloomberg, and Rudy Giuliani are going to talk to their Republican friends in Washington and take care of this pronto. [Salon.com] 12:05:11 PM    comment [] Millions Blocked from Voting in U.S. Election. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Millions of U.S. citizens, including a disproportionate number of black voters, will be blocked from voting in the Nov. 2 presidential election because of legal barriers, faulty procedures or dirty tricks, according to civil rights and legal experts. [Reuters: Top News] 12:03:36 PM    comment [] Ex-Pop Star Cat Stevens to Be Deported from U.S.. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Ex-pop singer Cat Stevens, a Muslim, will be deported to Britain after being denied entry to the United States because his activities could be "linked to terrorism," a U.S. official said on Wednesday. [Reuters: Top News] 12:02:30 PM    comment [] Are we safer yet? Over 5,000 Muslim men have been arrested since 9/11 as part of Attorney General John Ashcroft's anti-terror campaign.  Some of them have been held for almost three years.  Earlier this month a federal judge in Detroit threw out the only jury conviction obtained by the Justice Department on a terrorism charge since 9/11.  When the alleged terrorists were arrested in October 2001 Ashcroft held his first of many press conferences to tout the success of his anti-terror campaign.  Where was his press conference in September when the case (which was very weak to begin with) was dismissed because of  foul play by the government? Zero for 5,000 is a disgrace. The Department of Homeland Security recently revoked a work visa for Tariq Ramadan, a highly respected Swiss Islamic scholar and author who had been hired by Notre Dame for an endowed chair in its International Peace Studies Institute. Homeland Security invoked a Patriot Act provision that authorizes exclusion based purely on speech. Mr. Ramadan is a noted moderate who spoke out against the 9/11 attacks, called for bringing those responsible to justice and promotes modernization of Islam by advocating tolerance and women's rights.  Homeland Security will not divulge what "speech" it is using to bar Ramadan from the United States.  Way to go Homeland Security! Renowned former singer Cat Stevens (Peace Train, Morning Has Broken, etc. etc.) who adopted Isam and the name Yusuf Islam years ago had his Washington-bound United Airlines flight diverted yesterday.  He was detained, questioned and deported after it was discovered that he is on several government watch lists, including the no-fly list.  Homeland Security will not comment.  Yusef Islam recently re-recorded Peace Train, stating, "As a member of humanity and as a Muslim, this is my contribution to the call for a peaceful solution to the dangerous path some world leaders today seem to be taking".  It's a good thing Bush & Co. can't deport Americans who are saying the same thing.  Uh-oh. 11:50:50 AM    comment []

Tuesday, September 21, 2004

Someone made a very interesting comment regarding my "Bush should follow Dan's lead" posting earlier today-- "And maybe after that they can march on down to the South Orangetown school district and ask or rather demand a few ousters there too...starting from the top, going to the HS and continue on from there! Now that would be a good cause! there...... " As stated in the masthead, "This weblog is a forum for Orangetown residents to voice their opinions on anything--particularly school district issues".  Except for details about the School Board meetings since July 1, 2004, I have not had too many postings about the South Orangetown Central School District.  The major reasons are:  1. the summer, and 2. the importance of the presidential election this year.  However, I have many issues to bring out and that will happen shortly.  South Orangetown residents should definitely be demanding ousters at the top of the heap.  I said earlier in the year that changes were necessary at the top.  We had a very welcome change in the Board of Education, but now we desperately need a change in high level administration.  More will come. 2:51:31 PM    comment [] Bush in the National Guard: A primer. The flap over dubious documents has obscured the real story. Here it is. [Salon.com] 12:10:13 PM    comment [] Whom would al-Qaida vote for?. In a private meeting, the British ambassador to Rome tells other diplomats that Bush has been the "best recruiting sergeant ever" for the group. [Salon.com] 12:09:21 PM    comment [] The Fraud Squad. When will the outcome of the presidential election be known? Within hours of the close of polling? Within a week? Or, as was the case last time around, only after a weeks-long battle ended by the U.S. Supreme Court? As... [CJR Campaign Desk] 12:08:36 PM    comment [] Bush should follow Dan's lead. Protesters from the right will be marching on the offices of CBS News today, demanding that Dan Rather be fired for running a story about George W. Bush's past based in part on National Guard documents the network can't authenticate. Perhaps when they're done, they'll march down to the White House to demand that Bush be ousted for starting a war based on false intelligence. [Salon.com] 12:07:22 PM    comment [] The press: AWOL on Bush story. What's worse, the fact that most political reporters have decided to passively accept the White House's constantly changing stories about President Bush's mysterious National Guard service, or that when some journalists do address the story, it's hard to tell if they understand key elements in play? [Salon.com] 11:46:08 AM    comment [] Even if the bogus CBS memo was planted (with collusion from CBS?) to divert attention away from the issues and cast doubt on attacks against W's  Texas Air Guard "duty", the facts are undisputed.   Even The White House can't and /or won't dispute the facts--its response is silence and pat answers (Bush's honorable discharge proves that he performed all required service.)  Read more. 11:32:26 AM    comment []

Monday, September 20, 2004

First Cheney and now Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert is claiming that a vote for Kerry is a vote for the enemy.  Are we going to let them get away with this?  Where is the outrage? 3:31:49 PM    comment []

Friday, September 17, 2004

From www.dictionary.com: ter·ror·ism     Pronunciation Key  (tr-rzm) n. The unlawful use or threatened use of force or violence by a person or an organized group against people or property with the intention of intimidating or coercing societies or governments, often for ideological or political reasons. Source: The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Main Entry: ter·ror·ism Pronunciation: 'ter-&r-"i-z&m Function: noun 1 : the unlawful use or threat of violence esp. against the state or the public as a politically motivated means of attack or coercion 2 : violent and intimidating gang activity <street terrorism> —ter·ror·ist /-ist/ adj or noun —ter·ror·is·tic /"ter-&r-'is-tik/ adjective Source: Merriam-Webster Dictionary of Law, © 1996 Merriam-Webster, Inc. terrorism Ter"ror*ism, n. [Cf. F. terrorisme.] The act of terrorizing, or state of being terrorized; a mode of government by terror or intimidation. --Jefferson. Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc. terrorism n : the calculated use of violence (or threat of violence) against civilians in order to attain goals that are political or religious or ideological in nature; this is done through intimindation or coercion or instilling fear [syn: act of terrorism, terrorist act] Source: WordNet ® 2.0, © 2003 Princeton University Since we invaded and are occupying their country, do you think the Iraqis consider us terrorists? Now, look up the definition of war. 2:41:19 PM    comment [] If you try to attend a Bush-Cheney rally without an advance ticket (so that a background check could be done on you), or you refuse to sign a loyalty oath, or you wear a pro-Kerry shirt, or you "disrupt" the rally by asking why your son was killed in Iraq, you will be handcuffed and arrested.  That's the truth, people.  Wake up. 1:57:08 PM    comment [] Calling Kerry a flip-flopper on Iraq is getting a little tiring.  As George Bush stated in a speech in October, 2002, "Later this week, the United States Congress will vote on this matter. I have asked Congress to authorize the use of America’s military if it proves necessary to enforce U.N. Security Council demands. Approving this resolution does not mean that military action is imminent or unavoidable. The resolution will tell the United Nations, and all nations, that America speaks with one voice and it is determined to make the demands of the civilized world mean something." Congress did not vote for war in Iraq.  Kerry did not vote for the war in Iraq. Kerry and the majority of Congress voted to give the President the authority to use force if proven necessary and unavoidable to enforce UN Security Council demands. Bush claimed that Saddam Hussein was on the verge of possessing and using weapons of mass destruction, was supporting terrorists, including Al Qaeda, and was a tyrant who abused his own people.  The first two reasons have already been proven false.  Yes, Saddam Hussein was a vicious dictator who terrorized his own citizens and gassed Iranians and Kurds.  The world is filled with dictators like Saddam, except that he was our good friend when he was killing Iranians and he was using chemical weapons he got from Reagan and Bush I. Bush preemptively attacked Iraq on trumped up and/or false charges without UN support, with no plan, and no exit strategy.  He has made the world less safe. 1:48:30 PM    comment [] The Killian memo is probably a forgery (and shame on CBS News for what appears to be obvious problems with the memo).  Strong suspicion is that Karl Rove is behind the dirty trick (he's done similar dirty tricks many times before) knowing that the memo, when exposed as a forgery, would cast doubt on allegations about Bush's Air National Guard service. However, the undisputed facts of the situation are: 1. Bush got into the Texas Air Guard ahead of thousands of others. 2.  He has a 6 month gap in service while he worked on an Alabama Senate campaign. 3.  Bush did not take a required physical that caused him to be suspended from flying.  Bush states that he did not take the physical because the type of airplane he was flying was being phased out.  However, that airplane continued to be used for several more years.  What is the real reason for refusing to take a medical exam?  Bush's pilot training cost the taxpayers over $1,000,000, yet he was allowed to stop flying. 4.  Numerous officers and other pilots have no recollection of seeing Bush when he should have been on duty. The White House repeatedly states that Bush fulfilled all his duties because he was honorably discharged.  Bush will not address the serious questions raised about his "service" and lack of character.  12:56:22 PM    comment [] The purpose of this blog, as I have repeatedly said, it to provide a voice for people to express their opinions on various issues.  My role (besides voicing my opinion) is to present facts, documentation, links, research, information--whatever you need to digest so that you can make an informed decision.  If ranting and talking crazy makes you happy, then go for it, but you can't make up your own facts.  Please do a little work and stop sitting in front of the TV listening only to Hannity or O'Reilly or Fox News.  If you linked to the Columbian Journalism Review in yesterday's post, you would have seen (besides excellent articles) a link to www.factcheck.org.  One of the functions of this website is to analyze a political ad and to provide facts that either support or dispel the information portrayed as fact in that ad.  Bush and friends continually attack Kerry as voting against the soldiers because of his vote against the $87 billion supplemental appropriations bill in 2003.  The ad made it sound like Kerry separately voted no on the issues of body armor, higher combat pay, bettter health care for reservists, etc.  These are the documented facts: Kerry voted no on the $87 billion package--there was just one vote on the whole shebang, not separate votes on each item.  It was yes or no on the whole deal. Bush sent the troops to Iraq with an insufficient number of the best grade body armor.  He then asked Congress after the fact to approve $300 million to buy more of the protective vests.  The main purpose of the $87 billion appropriation bill was to support military operations and reconstruction in Iraq and Afganistan; the body armor portion represented .0034% (1/3 of 1%) of the total bill. Kerry co-sponsored an amendment that would have provided the $87 billion while temporarily reversing Bush's tax cuts for those Americans earning $400,000 a year or more.  That bill was defeated. Bush portrays Kerry as a flip-flopper ("He (Kerry) says he voted for the $87 billion before he voted against it.")  Kerry was not against supporting the troops, he was against running up the deficit to pay for it. FYI--Bush threatened to veto the $87 billion appropriations bill if it was amended to separate the body armor/troop health care/pay issues or to package it as a loan to Iraq that would require repayment. 12:21:04 PM    comment []

Thursday, September 16, 2004

Click here for a great article about Bush's truth factor (courtesy of Campaign Desk, a critique and analysis of 2004 campaign coverage from Columbia Journalism Review).  Things haven't changed much in 4 years. 12:02:53 PM    comment [] A classified National Intelligence Estimate prepared for President Bush in late July details a dark assessment of prospects for Iraq--the worst case scenario is civil war.  This is in stark contrast to the positive propaganda continually spewed out by the Bush Administration. 11:19:43 AM    comment [] An Afghani court sentenced Jonathan "Jack" Idema, a former member of the US Army's Special Forces to a 10-year term after finding him guilty of running a private prison and torturing Afghanis. Brent Bennett also got 10 years and Edward Caraballo, a photojournalist who claimed he was only taking pictures, got 8 years. Four Afghani employees were sentenced to between one and five years. The defendants were represented by two American lawyers who presented several videotapes and documents that appeared to support their claim that senior US and Afghani officials at the highest levels knew of and supported their covert operations.  US military authorities deny any involvement with Idema and his group. Afghani officials said they believed the group was operating with US government approval. Appeals will be filed and attempts will be made to have the men removed from their Afgani prison and transferred to the US. 11:06:03 AM    comment [] What Goes Around Comes Around A federal judge rejected yesterday a request from President Bush's campaign for an injunction against the Federal Election Commission. The Bushies don't like the ads sponsored by MoveOn.org and other 527's critical of him (but what about the Swift Boaters?). US District Judge James Robertson said he agreed with Bush's attorneys that the FEC is "notoriously slow" in investigating and acting on complaints of political campaign violations, but, the judge said that the law does not give him the power to act quickly against alleged violations of campaign law or demand that the FEC move more speedily. Robertson noted that he was rejecting the president's request based on "an impeccable decision by Judge Kenneth Starr".  (Yes, the infamous Kenneth Starr of Clintonian fame.)  When Starr was a federal appellate judge in 1985, he ruled that the court could not order the FEC to act more quickly on a Democratic congressman's complaint.  10:47:02 AM    comment [] Today's Unfiltered Talking Point Hey remember that whole unconstitutional enemy combatant thing? Yaser Hamdi was the first guy found to be an enemy combatant - our government said he was so dangerous that he had to be detained indefinitely in solitary confinement with no access to a lawyer and no right to a trial. Despite the fact that he's a US citizen! Well, Newsweek reports today that after more than 2 years in this legal black hole, Hamdi is being released. Not charged with anything. Sent back to Saudi Arabia where his family lives. Note:  He was born in the US and he is being forced to renounce his US citizenship. 10:32:07 AM    comment []

Wednesday, September 15, 2004

Evidence is mounting that the CBS memos are a forgery, and evidence is also mounting that Karl Rove is responsible--what a surprise.  Rove has a history of this particular type of dirty trick.  Even though the memos may not have actually been typed by Lieut. Col. Jerry Killian, his secretary asserts that the information contained in the documents is accurate.  Bush won't address the issues raised, continues his mantra that he was honorably discharged and continues his character attacks on Kerry.  Meanwhile, back in Iraq. . . 3:38:21 PM    comment [] "On Monday, President Vladimir V. Putin announced he would strip Russia's 89 regions of much of their authority and electoral legitimacy. On Tuesday, not one of the leaders of those regions said a public word of protest.  On the contrary, there were words of praise."  Click here to read the New York Times article.  History repeatedly proves how unscrupulous leaders are able to use times of crisis and great stress to their personal advantage.  What's really funny, in a really pathetic way, is the "concern" shown by the US over Putin's actions.  Putin told the US what it could do to itself. 12:25:13 PM    comment [] Russ Baker writes in The Nation that a long investigation including examination of many government documents, interviews with former Texas Air National Guard members and officials, military experts and Bush associates indicates that George Bush's "personal behavior was causing alarm among his superior officers and would ultimately lead to his fleeing the state to avoid a physical exam he might have had difficulty passing". Failure to complete that physical exam is the official reason given for his suspension from flying status. Check out the Air America Radio homepage frequently for more breaking news before it becomes mainstream. 12:17:54 PM    comment [] "President Bush thwarted our attempts at every turn". The widows known as the "Jersey Girls" changed history by demanding an independent 9/11 investigation. Now they want to change who's president -- though some voted for Bush four years ago. [Salon.com] 12:07:14 PM    comment [] Texans for Truth, a 527 group, is offering a reward of $50,000 to anyone who can prove that Bush performed his duties in the Air National Guard between May 1972 and May 1973.  Any wagers on the Texans having to pay up? 12:04:56 PM    comment []

Tuesday, September 14, 2004