LEFT is RIGHT (blogging against The Bush-war) |
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Iraq War Cost
 
 
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| Suppose the EC is tied 269 to 269 and the House deadlocks 25 states to 25 states. This is exceedingly unlikely, but just suppose. Then the Senate gets to choose the vice president. Also suppose the new Senate is divided 50-50, a very real possibility. Then the sitting vice president, Dick Cheney, gets to cast the deciding vote, electing himself as the new vice president. In the absence of a president, Cheney would be acting president for four years. This is not likely to happen because the Republicans are virtually certain of controlling at least 26 state delegations in the House. Still, scenarios like this one support the case for electoral college reform. |
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| "Health nuts are going to feel stupid someday, lying in hospitals dying of nothing." - - - Redd Foxx |
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Around for Everyone
Scientists: 100,000 Iraqis have died since war (reg req)
If Kerry loses on Tuesday, the Democrats will have no one to blame but themselves
Pentagon cannot account for 250,000 TONS of weapons and explosives in Iraq
Bin Laden Speaks
U.S. left ammo site unguarded
Prominent Republicans for Kerry/Edwards
Vast amounts of weapons-related material missing
Bush getting very desperate with campaign mailings.
Conservatives for Kerry
A Mistake Was Made 4 Years Ago (video)
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War On My Mind
Startling revelations about George W. Bush by autobiographer Mickey Herskowitz (excerpt):
| By Russ Baker Two years before 9/11, candidate Bush was already talking privately about attacking Iraq, according to his former ghost writer. Houston: Two years before the September 11 attacks, presidential candidate George W. Bush was already talking privately about the political benefits of attacking Iraq, according to his former ghost writer, who held many conversations with then-Texas Governor Bush in preparation for a planned autobiography. �He was thinking about invading Iraq in 1999,� said author and journalist Mickey Herskowitz. �It was on his mind. He said to me: �One of the keys to being seen as a great leader is to be seen as a commander-in-chief.� And he said, �My father had all this political capital built up when he drove the Iraqis out of Kuwait and he wasted it.� He said, �If I have a chance to invade�.if I had that much capital, I�m not going to waste it. I�m going to get everything passed that I want to get passed and I�m going to have a successful presidency.� Herskowitz said that Bush expressed frustration at a lifetime as an underachiever in the shadow of an accomplished father. In aggressive military action, he saw the opportunity to emerge from his father�s shadow. The moment, Herskowitz said, came in the wake of the September 11 attacks. �Suddenly, he�s at 91 percent in the polls, and he�d barely crawled out of the bunker.� That President Bush and his advisers had Iraq on their minds long before weapons inspectors had finished their work � and long before alleged Iraqi ties with terrorists became a central rationale for war � has been raised elsewhere, including in a book based on recollections of former Treasury Secretary Paul O�Neill. However, Herskowitz was in a unique position to hear Bush�s unguarded and unfiltered views on Iraq, war and other matters � well before he became president.... |
Exactly who was supposed to be orchestrating the "October Surprises"?
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Hey, Ohio! Lookie Here
From CAP:
| IRAQ: Cost of the war in Iraq for Ohio taxpayers so far: $5.7 billion. JOBS: The Bush administration projected 151,000 new jobs would be created in Ohio. As of September 2004, the economy had actually lost 18,200 jobs, a 169,200 job shortfall. ENVIRONMENT: According to EPA consultants, "fine particle pollution from power plants shortens the lives of 1,743 Ohioans each year. Ohioans have the fourth highest risk in the country of dying from power plant pollution." The administration, however, has acted in the interests of power plants, ending legal action to force compliance with clean air standards and rolling back clean air standards for the oldest, dirtiest power plants. POVERTY: More Ohioans slipped into poverty last year. According to the Columbus Dispatch, "about one in six children and nearly one in three households in Ohio headed by women were in poverty in 2003, both increases from the previous year." Cleveland was ranked the number one poorest city in the nation, with 31.3 percent of citizens living under the poverty line. HEALTH CARE: The Ohio State Medical Association reports the number of uninsured Ohioans grew to more than 1.3 million in 2003. TAXES: According to Citizens for Tax Justice, "between 2001 and 2006, Ohio taxpayers will receive $35.6 billion in tax cuts � but will face $145.7 billion in added federal debt, for a net added burden of $110.1 billion." And by 2006, 5 million Ohio taxpayers � 89 percent of all state residents � will receive less than $100 in tax cuts. EDUCATION: A report commissioned by the Ohio Department of Education found President Bush's No Child Left Behind Act was underfunded for the Buckeye State. It costs Ohio "$1.4 billion more annually than it gets from the federal government for public education," leaving the cash-strapped state to make up the difference. |
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It's Time to Vote
Mark Morford looks back on, and looks forward to, the 2004 election (snippet):
| ....It has become surreal, this election. It has become beyond coherent. We are at a point where our election system has become suspect and deeply flawed and our ideology has come unraveled and we as a nation no longer fully understand our role in the world and the bloom is way, way off the patriotic rose, so much so that it's no longer just a matter of which candidate will put a shinier coat of paint on the massive ship of bureaucracy, but who will stop us from sinking too abruptly into the quicksand of abuse and arrogance and ever increasing irrelevance. Go, U-S-A! So then. As we stare down this uncanny and indelible moment in American history, there are two angles of approach. One: sit back and reflect on how the hell we got here, what bizarre machinations and demonic falling dominos managed to put BushCo in power, just what sort of humiliating and positively satanic chain reaction lo these past 50 years led up to where we are now, to this bitter yet oddly amusing spectacle of a massive and awe-inspiring empire in full crumble. This approach, it is the more depressing and fatalistic and painful of the two and will result in much sighing and the supping of wine and the licking of lovers to deflect the pain and energize the skin and try and put it all in perspective, and is recommended only in small doses. Except for the drinking and licking part. Conversely and perhaps more enjoyably, you can project forward, then reminisce. You can, that is to say, imagine it's a short 20 years hence and it's about 2024 and we're sitting there sipping our laudanum/Vicodin Colas and injecting Nexium straight into our eyeballs and watching our 10-foot plasma-TV walls and looking back and saying my god, 2004, that was a weird one, wasn't it? Remember that ugly time? Remember when that smirking dolt Bush Jr. was president and we went through that dark dank tunnel of spiritual dread and international humiliation and we bombed Iraq for no reason and killed all those people for no reason and gutted our own economy for no reason other than to line the pockets of the Bush WASP mafia's corporate cronies? Wasn't that just so, like, crazy? We will make jokes and shake our heads and sigh. We will say oh man remember that defense guy? Rumsfeld? Remember his black and ominous eyes? His savage abuse of power and complete lack of accountability? Remember that demon-god Ashcroft and his oiled feet, didn't dance and didn't smoke and didn't drink and didn't have sex and wanted to crack down on nipples and scan our e-mail and check our library books and tap our phones? Remember Condi Rice, that lost and desperate look, lonely and sad and a creepy veneer of doomed longing over her soul? Weird times, my friend. Sip. We know that 20 years hence, there will be no Reagan-like legacy for Shrub. There will be no renamed airports or honorary expressways or revisionist rose-colored history books arguing the good and the bad of his epic much-loved presidency, because there is so little good and so very, very much bad and there is absolutely no love anywhere. We already know that history will look very, very unkindly upon this most booblike, lie-torn, appallingly underqualified of American presidents. Of this we can rest assured. Of this we will only look back and be incredibly grateful it didn't last all that long. This angle, it is the moderately healing and perspective-adjusting one. It's comfortable and helpful to project in such a manner, especially given how it's almost too hot right now, just too frustrating and painful to remain in this moment, to sit here and wait for the election returns and the potential lawsuits and Supreme Court riggings all the while knowing the GOP is trying everything short of launching another terrorist attack to maintain power and will stop at almost nothing to instill fear and dread and Dick Cheney deeper into the numb American psyche. You cannot stay here. You cannot sit in this moment any longer. You simply have to get out and vote and scream and then roll up this ugly hunk of living history into a tight little ball of hot gelatinous goo and hurl it at the wall of time and see what sticks.... |
If Bush steals another one, Canada better start hiring more Immigration Department employees.
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| "Well, at least with regard to this one bunker, and the film shows one seal, one bunker, one group of soldiers going through, and there were others there that were sealed. With this one, I think it is game, set, and match. There was HMX, RDX in there. The seal was broken. And quite frankly, to me the most frightening thing is not only was the seal broken, lock broken, but the soldiers left after opening it up. I mean, to rephrase the so-called pottery barn rule. If you open an arms bunker, you own it. You have to provide security." ---Former Chief Weapons Inspector David Kay |
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October 28, 2004
Here's MORE PROOF that Bush was blatantly lying this week about the high-grade explosives not being in Al Qaqaa at the start of his invasion of Iraq. Just an incredible job so far by the Minneapolis/St. Paul channel 5 news team. Here again is the original STORY and accompanying VIDEO of this tragedy about an incompetent U.S. military leadership allowing 760,000 pounds of high-grade explosives to be stolen from under their noses. These materials most likely have subsequently been used (and are still being used) for car bombs and other weapons against American Soldiers and Iraqis by terrorists and insurgents and god knows who else who may have gotten their hands on it. Jeanne at Body and Soul is keeping a constantly updated timeline of events as infomation becomes available.
When the book is written about the Bush Administration, librarians will have to file it under Fiction, because future readers will find it very difficult to believe that it is true.
College Republican National Committee steals millions of dollars from senior citizens.
The Katherine Harris rock video.
Possible evidence that explosives were looted after Bush's invasion. Here's the SUPPORTING VIDEO.
Spinsanity slams The Center for American Progress. Ouch.
Just imagine THIS happening in YOUR neighborhood.
Hey, troops: Guess what, it's YOUR FAULT! (Short analysis HERE.)
Bush expresses his true feelings. Source video HERE.
Bush's latest campaign ad, Whatever It Takes, is yet another example of the deception and lying rampant in the GOP over the past 4 years. If you look closely at the scene with the soldiers making up the audience, you can clearly see how the editors of the film photoshopped a handful of soldiers and cloned them repeatedly until they composed a large audience. As Kerry campaign senior adviser Joe Lockhart said today:
And it's bad, as usual:
I have never purchased a single item at Wal-Mart in 7 years.
Steve Gilliard contrasts Bush and Kerry (snippet):
John Kerry? Nope.... George W. Bush!
Dan Gillmor, always with an eye to the tech industry, discusses our ever-shrinking cache of liberties:
| "Strap yourself in, folks... October Surprises are certainly not the sole province of the GOP. But we can bet that a party already working overtime to suppress minority votes, scare voters into thinking Kerry and Democrats are going to legalize gay marriage (oh no!) and ban the Bible, and who already proved once they are willing to break the law to get their man elected, is not going to go down with anything left in their bag of dirty tricks. "By next Tuesday John Kerry will be a gay Communist baby killer whose first act as President will be to give Osama Bin Laden the keys to the White House and nuke St. Patrick's Cathedral." - - - Sean Aday |
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High-Grade Lying by the Bush Administration
Here's MORE PROOF that Bush was blatantly lying this week about the high-grade explosives not being in Al Qaqaa at the start of his invasion of Iraq. Just an incredible job so far by the Minneapolis/St. Paul channel 5 news team. Here again is the original STORY and accompanying VIDEO of this tragedy about an incompetent U.S. military leadership allowing 760,000 pounds of high-grade explosives to be stolen from under their noses. These materials most likely have subsequently been used (and are still being used) for car bombs and other weapons against American Soldiers and Iraqis by terrorists and insurgents and god knows who else who may have gotten their hands on it. Jeanne at Body and Soul is keeping a constantly updated timeline of events as infomation becomes available.
When the book is written about the Bush Administration, librarians will have to file it under Fiction, because future readers will find it very difficult to believe that it is true.
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Around for Everyone
College Republican National Committee steals millions of dollars from senior citizens.
The Katherine Harris rock video.
Possible evidence that explosives were looted after Bush's invasion. Here's the SUPPORTING VIDEO.
Spinsanity slams The Center for American Progress. Ouch.
Just imagine THIS happening in YOUR neighborhood.
Hey, troops: Guess what, it's YOUR FAULT! (Short analysis HERE.)
Bush expresses his true feelings. Source video HERE.
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Whatever It Takes.... For Bush To Win
Bush's latest campaign ad, Whatever It Takes, is yet another example of the deception and lying rampant in the GOP over the past 4 years. If you look closely at the scene with the soldiers making up the audience, you can clearly see how the editors of the film photoshopped a handful of soldiers and cloned them repeatedly until they composed a large audience. As Kerry campaign senior adviser Joe Lockhart said today:
| "Now we know why this ad is named `Whatever it Takes.' This administration has always had a problem telling the truth from Iraq to jobs to health care. The Bush campaign's advertising has been consistently dishonest in what they say. But today, it's been exposed for being dishonest about what we see. "If they won't tell the truth in an ad, they won't tell the truth about anything else. This doctored commercial is fundamentally dishonest and insults the intelligence of the American people. The Bush campaign has no choice but to take this ad down immediately and issue an apology for its latest attempt to mislead the American people." |
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Wal-Mart in the News
And it's bad, as usual:
| WAL-MART � COMPANY OPPOSES HEALTH INSURANCE FOR WORKERS: Vice President Cheney's favorite company, Wal-Mart, is pulling out all the stops to block Proposition 72 on the California ballot, "a measure that will require employers to provide basic health insurance to workers." Besides spending $500,000 to aid opponents of the measure, AP reports that Wal-Mart is breaking a tradition of trying to stay out of politics by spending more than $2.4 million on California races this fall � "well beyond any previous sum the company has spent here in one year." Wal-Mart's big funding to block Proposition 72 came just one day after TV ads cited a study from a University of California research group estimating "California taxpayers spend $32 million a year providing health care to Wal-Mart workers." |
I have never purchased a single item at Wal-Mart in 7 years.
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Bush: Not Dumb...
Steve Gilliard contrasts Bush and Kerry (snippet):
| ....Bush is intelligent, above average actually. But his intellect is not his problem. It is his innate laziness and contempt for logic and contemplation which shines through. Toss on an alcohol addiction and a dysfunctional family where lying was standard operating procedure, and you have one sick puppy. Even if he never took a drink, his temperament and deep anger would shine through. John Kerry, as he so clearly proved in the first debate, is the kind of man we should have as president. George Bush is not and never has been a serious man. His anger at his father and his mother's explosive temper, along with a lack of any sort of self-criticism or examination preclude that. Kerry is not the guy to pat you on the back and leer at a pretty girl, that was our last Democratic president. Kerry is the serious guy who you can count on when things get tight. He's going to stand by you without checking. With Bill Clinton, he always had an eye out for himself, even when he was swearing undying loyalty to you. Kerry's word may not come easy, but when he gives it, he means it.... |
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Bush Praises Democrats
| "The Democrat Party has also a great tradition of defending the defenseless." "The Democratic Party has a great tradition of leading this country with strength and conviction in times of war." "The Democratic party has a tradition for support of our public schools." |
John Kerry? Nope.... George W. Bush!
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"Give Me Liberty" now a distant & fondly-remembered phrase
Dan Gillmor, always with an eye to the tech industry, discusses our ever-shrinking cache of liberties:
| Personal liberty has suffered under Bush's administration By Dan Gillmor - Mercury News Technology Columnist If you believe that political and social liberty go hand in hand with economic freedom -- and that they form an underpinning of a vibrant free market -- you should be worried about another four years like the four we've just had. Let's grant that George W. Bush plainly believes in a free market, largely unconstrained by government intervention. But he has made it clear that he doesn't have the same devotion to other kinds of liberty. He and his allies have used terrorism to launch a massive assault on civil liberties. They are not just indifferent to liberty, they are actively hostile to it. Bush's first term has been a catalog of encroachments. He has expanded surveillance -- electronic and otherwise -- without adequate safeguards. He has had a mania for secrecy, shielding more and more government information from public view. This amounts to telling Americans they have no right in many cases to know how our money is being used or what government is doing in our names. This president has curbed dissent through intimidation. His attorney general practically labeled as traitors people who questioned the outrageously named ``Patriot Act,'' for example. More recently, the Bush forces have excluded anyone who is not a declared supporter from being even in the vicinity of campaign events, and have even fenced off protesters in Orwellian ``free speech zones'' far from the scenes. The Bush years have emboldened rights and privacy invaders everywhere. A national ID card is making a back-door entrance via a scheme by the state agencies that issue driver's licenses, for example. He has given corporate interests carte blanche to buy, sell, massage and trade our most personal information -- mocking his vows in the 2000 campaign to be a president who would protect privacy. The federal government now encourages (and buys) all kinds of data collection and ways to manipulate it, and offers barely a hint of safeguards. Do you imagine for even a second that the radio-chip ID implants being sold to track patients inside hospitals won't be used for much broader kinds of surveillance someday? Ditto the radio tags the government says it wants to put into our passports (and soon, no doubt, our driver's licenses). Surveillance is big business now. Insidiously, the Bush administration has turned the corporate data mongers into partners in the dawning surveillance state. Evading even the most trivial safeguards, including federal laws protecting privacy, it buys or uses data collected by private companies that are under no such restrictions. An intrusive airline passenger screening system, relying on commercial data and other information, was officially scrapped after protests. But as the Washington Post reported earlier this month, one of the former government officials behind that project has launched a private company that will collect and provide data for the project's new incarnation -- and established the company offshore in Bermuda, ``outside the reach of U.S. regulators.'' The most frightening assault on liberty has had nothing to do with the Patriot Act, surveillance or privacy. Bush has systematically ignored the law when it suited his purpose, treating the Constitution as a suggestion box, not the bedrock of liberty. He asserted the right to declare American citizens as enemy combatants here at home and to jail them indefinitely, with no right even to see a lawyer. The Supreme Court, thankfully, rejected Bush's dictatorial views in two pivotal decisions earlier this year. But presidents nominate justices, and this one means to nominate the kind who will let the government do pretty much what it pleases. Early last week, William Rehnquist, chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, had surgery for thyroid cancer. His condition reminded people that whoever is president during the next four years will probably nominate three or four justices to the highest court. A court with two, three or four judges of Bush's preference would not be friendly, on balance, to our rights as individuals. The president has made clear his intention to appoint judges who would overturn abortion rights. That, too, is a question of liberty. Is John Kerry any better? He voted for the ``Patriot'' law, after all. But while Bush vows to expand that law's reach over our lives, Kerry has said he would work to repeal some of the more odious provisions, such as the one that lets government agents rifle through our lives -- including what library books we read -- with few safeguards. I believe that a free economy rests in large part on people's willingness to feel free -- to take chances, to be different from others. The surveillance state is a conformist state, where a fog of fear deadens initiative and the willingness to take risks. No sane person wants to make law enforcement impotent. But risk is part of a free culture, and the more we clamp down on things that have any element of risk the more we clamp down on freedom itself. |
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October 27, 2004
Bush-appointed Allawi endorses Kerry?
Well, that's about as believable as this one:
Steve Soto sez:
Maybe they'll find an elementary schoolbook in Iraq with a photo of the White House on a page that is dog-eared. Yep, that's worth an elevated terror warning.
Wow. Very effective GOTV music video. Read about it HERE.
Peak Oil Is Just Around the Corner
Didn't know I was UnAmerican. (video: click "Launch Movie")
Senator Mary Landrieu rocks! (video)
Bush Relatives for Kerry.
Another Kerry Endorsement?
Bush-appointed Allawi endorses Kerry?
| THE ALLAWI ENDORSEMENT?....For some reason, the Iraqi government decided just two weeks ago to finally come clean and tell the IAEA � which in 2003 had warned that "terrorists might be helping 'themselves to the greatest explosives bonanza in history'" � that 380 tons of high explosives had gone missing. This weekend the Iraqi minister of science and technology confirmed the story. Then, today, Iraq's interim prime minister, Ayad Allawi, said that the recent massacre of 49 Iraqi National Guard recruits was due to the "gross negligence" of foreign troops � i.e., Americans. Am I the only one wondering why the Iraqi government suddenly seems to be so eager to release information that's obviously harmful to George Bush's reelection prospects? Has Ayad Allawi had a sudden change of heart about who he'd like to see in the White House next year? |
Well, that's about as believable as this one:
| I am a senior citizen. During the Clinton Administration I had an extremely good and well paying job. I took numerous vacations and had several vacation homes. Since President Bush took office, I have watched my entire life change for the worse. I lost my job. I lost my two sons in that terrible Iraqi War. I lost my homes. I lost my health insurance. As a matter of fact I lost virtually everything and became homeless. Adding insult to injury, when the authorities found me living like an animal, instead of helping me, they arrested me. I will do anything that Senator Kerry wants to insure that a Democrat is back in the White House come next year. Bush has to go. Sincerely, Saddam Hussein |
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Look for one last terror alert this weekend.
Steve Soto sez:
| Here�s your evidence why you may see an increased terror threat warning this weekend: a Cornell sociologist has statistical evidence that Bush�s approval rating goes up nearly 3 points every time the threat level is raised. Although the increase is temporary, it would sure do the trick for Tuesday. |
Maybe they'll find an elementary schoolbook in Iraq with a photo of the White House on a page that is dog-eared. Yep, that's worth an elevated terror warning.
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Around for Everyone
Wow. Very effective GOTV music video. Read about it HERE.
Peak Oil Is Just Around the Corner
Didn't know I was UnAmerican. (video: click "Launch Movie")
Senator Mary Landrieu rocks! (video)
Bush Relatives for Kerry.
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October 26, 2004
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.
OHIO: the
From NDOL:
So, pull up an easy chair this November 2 evening and watch the circus unfold before your eyes. And get ready as the circus evolves into a revolution if Bush steals another one. If there's a revolt coming, I'm going, so I hope there are restrooms there.
From the Daily Misleader:
References available at the Misleader site.
In my state (California) the Iraq War has cost $19.5 Billion so far, or $550 per resident. If, instead of invading Iraq, the Bush Administration had given this money directly to the state, we Californians would not only have no budget deficit, we would have lower college tuition, more teachers, better government funding/reimbursement for healthcare, better-repaired highways, and fewer dead residents (killed in Iraq).
Trans fat is linked to weak intellect (snippet):
Sorry, Ohio... Florida may upstage you yet
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.
| BBC Television News On-Line - Tuesday, October 26, 2004 - Greg Palast, reporting (Watch it tonight at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/default.stm begining at 5.30pm EST, available for 24 hours.) 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. ---Mass challenges--- They may then only vote �provisionally� after signing an affidavit attesting to their legal voting status. Mass challenges have never occurred in Florida. Indeed, says Mr Sancho, not one challenge has been made to a voter �in the 16 years I�ve been supervisor of elections.� �Quite frankly, this process can be used to slow down the voting process and cause chaos on election day; and discourage voters from voting.� Sancho calls it �intimidation.� And it may be illegal. In Washington, well-known civil rights attorney, Ralph Neas, noted that US federal law prohibits targeting challenges to voters, even if there is a basis for the challenge, if race is a factor in targeting the voters. The list of Jacksonville voters covers an area with a majority of black residents. When asked by Newsnight for an explanation of the list, Republican spokespersons claim the list merely records returned mail from either fundraising solicitations or returned letters sent to newly registered voters to verify their addresses for purposes of mailing campaign literature. Republican state campaign spokeswoman Mindy Tucker Fletcher stated the list was not put together �in order to create� a challenge list, but refused to say it would not be used in that manner. Rather, she did acknowledge that the party�s poll workers will be instructed to challenge voters, �Where it�s stated in the law.� There was no explanation as to why such clerical matters would be sent to top officials of the Bush campaign in Florida and Washington. ---Private detective--- In Jacksonville, to determine if Republicans were using the lists or other means of intimidating voters, we filmed a private detective filming every �early voter� - the majority of whom are black - from behind a vehicle with blacked-out windows. The private detective claimed not to know who was paying for his all-day services. On the scene, Democratic Congresswoman Corinne Brown said the surveillance operation was part of a campaign of intimidation tactics used by the Republican Party to intimate and scare off African American voters, almost all of whom are registered Democrats. Greg Palast reporting. The film will be broadcast by Newsnight tonight, Tuesday, 26 October, 2004 at 2230 BST (6:30pm New York time). |
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OHIO: the Buckeye Black Eye State
From NDOL:
| ....Based on scattered and largely anecdotal reports of improper registrations in minority neighborhoods, the Ohio GOP, exploiting an obscure 1953 law, has already challenged 35,000 new voters in heavily Democratic areas, forcing already overwhelmed election officials to hold hearings on each challenge (ironically, given the Bush-Cheney campaign's efforts to convince voters that re-electing the president is essential for the morale of our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, these challenges appear to disproportionately affect active duty personnel overseas). But the real Ohio outrage may occur on November 2 itself, when the GOP plans to send "volunteers" (reportedly being paid $100 for their time) into 8,000 (largely Democratic) precincts with instructions to challenge as many voters as possible. You don't have to be partisan or paranoid to suspect the aim is less about detecting ineligible voters than about making the experience of voting as slow and unpleasant as possible. That's "voter intimidation" by any definition. It's all the more egregious because Republicans have already won a decision from the courts in Ohio and in Florida as well that the "provisional" ballots that HAVA requires for challenged voters can be thrown out by election officials if they turn out to be cast in the wrong precinct -- a technical violation of election laws at worst.... |
So, pull up an easy chair this November 2 evening and watch the circus unfold before your eyes. And get ready as the circus evolves into a revolution if Bush steals another one. If there's a revolt coming, I'm going, so I hope there are restrooms there.
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Bush on hands and knees, looking under table: "Nope, no weapons over there..."
From the Daily Misleader:
| In Iraq, 380 tons of powerful explosives have been looted and may have fallen into the hands of insurgents. In an effort to deflect blame, administration officials are pushing the theory that when "U.S. forces...reached the Al Qaqaa military facility in early April 2003, the weapons cache was already gone." This theory is not credible. According to an AP report, U.S. solders visited the Al Qaqaa in April 2003 and "found thousands of five-centimetre by 12-centimetre boxes, each containing three vials of white powder." Officials who tested the powder said it was "believed to be explosives." Yesterday, "an official who monitors developments in Iraq" confirmed that "US-led coalition troops had searched Al Qaqaa in the immediate aftermath of the March 2003 invasion and confirmed that the explosives, which had been under IAEA seal since 1991, were intact." Thereafter, according to the official, "the site was not secured by U.S. forces." It makes sense that the explosives were there when the U.S. solders arrived because, as the LA Times notes, "given the size of the missing cache, it would have been difficult to relocate undetected before the invasion, when U.S. spy satellites were monitoring activity." |
References available at the Misleader site.
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Iraq's cost to California
In my state (California) the Iraq War has cost $19.5 Billion so far, or $550 per resident. If, instead of invading Iraq, the Bush Administration had given this money directly to the state, we Californians would not only have no budget deficit, we would have lower college tuition, more teachers, better government funding/reimbursement for healthcare, better-repaired highways, and fewer dead residents (killed in Iraq).
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Trans Fats Proven Bad for People in Mazes
Trans fat is linked to weak intellect (snippet):
| Research on mice points to role of diet in memory; Type of fat common in fast food By David Kohn - Sun Staff - Originally published October 26, 2004 SAN DIEGO - As if eating badly and being overweight weren't already harmful enough, research announced yesterday suggests that consuming too much of several kinds of fat can damage memory and intellect. With about a third of the U.S. population either overweight or obese, the results could have broad significance for the national IQ. "We are in the midst of an obesity epidemic in the United States," said Dr. Barry Levin, of the VA Medical Center in East Orange, N.J. "These studies show that diets high in fat are a risk factor for not only heart disease, hypertension, and diabetes, but for cognitive decline as well." All of the studies, which were announced at the annual conference of the Society for Neuroscience, involved animals. But scientists agreed that the results almost certainly applied to humans as well. "After I did this study, I didn't eat french fries anymore," said neuroscientist Lotta Granholm, who found that trans fats - the sort found in many fast foods - impaired memory and learning in middle-age rats. Many recent studies have linked trans fat to heart disease and cancer, but Granholm's research is the first to connect it to problems with learning and memory. "It's an important study. There's a real impact on the brain," said University of South Florida-Tampa neuroscientist Paula Bickford, an expert on the how food affects cognition. Last year, Granholm fed one group of rats a diet that contained 10 percent hydrogenated coconut oil, a common trans fat. She gave another group the same diet, but replaced the coconut oil with soybean oil, which is not a trans fat. After six weeks, the animals were tested in a series of mazes. The coconut oil group made far more errors, especially on the tests that required more mental energy. "The trans fats made memory significantly worse," said Granholm, who is director of the Center On Aging at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston. The quantity of trans fat fed to the rats was equivalent to amounts consumed by many Americans. "It was not more than what people would eat," said Granholm, who also noted that the rats in her study were not overweight. This indicates that the cognitive problems were not related to obesity, but to consumption of trans fat. "You don't have to be overweight to be affected by this," she said. ....Over the past two decades, trans fat has become ubiquitous in this country. It's used in many crackers, cookies, doughnuts, cakes and breads, as well as many fast foods, which are often fried in partially hydrogenated vegetable oil, a common trans fat. The fats, which are made by adding hydrogen to vegetable oil under high pressure, appeal to manufacturers and restaurants because they extend shelf life and remain solid at room temperature, as saturated fats do. In response to recent research, and efforts by consumer groups, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration earlier this year decided that starting in 2006, products that contain trans fats must say so on the label. Granholm said trans fat seems to produce its effect on the brain by destroying proteins that help neurons send and receive signals. In animals that ate coconut oil, these molecules, known as microtubule-associated proteins, were much less common. Granholm suspects that trans fat increases inflammation in the brain, which damages the proteins.... |
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October 25, 2004
So, have you caught yourself lately mentally holding your breath, praying that there is no terrorist attack in the U.S. between now and November 3? Have you caught yourself wondering if it's time to move to Canada, or Australia or New Zealand if Bush steals another 4 years? Have you caught yourself thnking how you are going to arrange time off from work in order to travel to Washington DC and join the other millions of Americans who willriot revolt after the election if Bush rips another from the jaws of defeat?
The conclusion of John Dean's excellent analysis of the outcome of the 2004 election:
Statement released today:
Probably not the October Surprise Rove was planning. I wonder how many thousands of people are going to get killed over the next several years as a result of these explosives getting sold and used all over the world? I wonder if one will be used in a school or church or department store or hospital or retirement home or train station or hotel or freeway overpass or soccer stadium or airport or....
I would like any Republican reading this blog to tell me again why they support Bush and his job performance. And don't give me that "he created this mess so it's his responsibility to get us out of it" crap that many stupid liberals are spouting today. If Bush was one of your mid-management employees and he fired or suspended employees without a fair hearing, or put your company into bankruptcy-ready debt, or took under-the-table payments from vendors, or took 5 months of vacation each year, or repeatedly lied to fellow employees about his work production, or slandered other companies in the same business, are you telling me that you would not hesitate to renew his employment contract??
Andrew Gumbel of the Independent thinks things aren't going quite hunky-dory in Florida.... again (snippet):
The ONLY way Kerry has a chance of defeating the Republican-led massive voter fraud and disenfranchisement sweeping this nation is with a landslide victory. Anything less will get nitpicked, litigated and stolen until there is nothing left but a slimy carcass of a burnt-out election that will fill the gutters of democracy with the repulsive, vomitous excrement from the Satan-spawned merchants of the Republican ultra-right-wing. (Oops, sorry, got a little carried away there...)
That's a lie. You're a liar. You're lying. Lie, lie, lie. (video)
Retards in the Pentagon (EDO video)
Bush Campaign Headed Toward the Wolves (BC04 campaign video) Are they serious?!
8 days to go
So, have you caught yourself lately mentally holding your breath, praying that there is no terrorist attack in the U.S. between now and November 3? Have you caught yourself wondering if it's time to move to Canada, or Australia or New Zealand if Bush steals another 4 years? Have you caught yourself thnking how you are going to arrange time off from work in order to travel to Washington DC and join the other millions of Americans who will
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Civil War? Count Me In.
The conclusion of John Dean's excellent analysis of the outcome of the 2004 election:
| ....It may be days or weeks, if not months, before we know the final results of this presidential election. And given the Republican control of the government, if Karl Rove is on the losing side, it could be years: He will take every issue (if he is losing) to its ultimate appeal in every state he can. The cost of such litigation will be great - with the capital of citizens' trust in their government, and its election processes, sinking along with the nation's (if not the world's) financial markets, which loathe uncertainty. After Bush v. Gore, is there any doubt how the high Court would resolve another round? This time, though, the Court, too, will pay more dearly. With persuasive power as its only source of authority, the Court's power will diminish as the American people's cynicism skyrockets. It does not seem to trouble either Rove or Bush that they are moving us toward a Twenty-first Century civil war -- and that, once again, Southern conservatism is at its core. Only a miracle, it strikes me, can prevent this election from descending into post-election chaos. But given the alternatives, a miracle is what I am hoping for. |
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More on the Moron
Statement released today:
| �Today, the Bush administration must answer for what may be the most grave and catastrophic mistake in a tragic series of blunders in Iraq. How did they fail to secure nearly 380 tons of known, deadly explosives despite clear warnings from the International Atomic Energy Agency to do so? And why was this information unearthed by reporters -- and was it covered up by our national security officials? �These explosives can be used to blow up airplanes, level buildings, attack our troops and detonate nuclear weapons. The Bush administration knew where this stockpile was, but took no action to secure the site. They were urgently and specifically informed that terrorists could be helping themselves to the most dangerous explosives bonanza in history, but nothing was done to prevent it from happening. �This material was monitored and controlled by UN inspectors before the invasion of Iraq. Thanks to the stunning incompetence of the Bush administration, we now have no idea where it is. �We need to know what the administration knew about this and when. We need to know why they failed to safeguard these explosives and keep them out of the hands of our enemies. The National Security Advisor should be at her desk in Washington tomorrow to work this problem and answer these questions, instead of giving speeches in battleground states.� ---Joe Lockart, Kerry-Edwards Senior Advisor |
Probably not the October Surprise Rove was planning. I wonder how many thousands of people are going to get killed over the next several years as a result of these explosives getting sold and used all over the world? I wonder if one will be used in a school or church or department store or hospital or retirement home or train station or hotel or freeway overpass or soccer stadium or airport or....
I would like any Republican reading this blog to tell me again why they support Bush and his job performance. And don't give me that "he created this mess so it's his responsibility to get us out of it" crap that many stupid liberals are spouting today. If Bush was one of your mid-management employees and he fired or suspended employees without a fair hearing, or put your company into bankruptcy-ready debt, or took under-the-table payments from vendors, or took 5 months of vacation each year, or repeatedly lied to fellow employees about his work production, or slandered other companies in the same business, are you telling me that you would not hesitate to renew his employment contract??
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This Year's Florida Election Poised to Make 2000 Seem Like a Cakewalk
Andrew Gumbel of the Independent thinks things aren't going quite hunky-dory in Florida.... again (snippet):
| ....In Florida, Secretary of State Glenda Hood has been repeatedly accused of doing the political bidding of the man who appointed her - Governor Jeb Bush, the President's brother. Her more recent exploits include directing county supervisors to throw out registration forms where applicants have signed a statement declaring they are US citizens but have forgotten to check a citizenry box elsewhere on the form. This, too, is seen as a vote-suppressing mechanism. It, too, is now in the courts. Secretary Hood has also been waging a months-long campaign to ban what limited manual recounts the electronic voting machines permit. Her initial ruling was struck down by the courts, but now she has come up with a staggeringly devious rewrite. The state will now permit analysis of the computerized machines' internal audit logs in the event of a close race, she said, but if there is any discrepancy the county supervisors are to go with the original count. In other words: we will do recounts, but if the recounts change the outcome we will disregard them. Secretary Hood's actions illuminate the real attraction of the electronic voting machines in the states where they have been introduced. They may work no better than the old punch-card machines - studies suggest they fail to record as many votes as their predecessors. In the absence of an independent paper trail, how- ever, all evidence of problems is hidden away in the binary code of an electronic black box and is, to all intents and purposes, invisible. This raises intriguing and troubling questions about what a post-election contest might look like. One can reasonably anticipate - based on past experience - an avalanche of stories about voters turned away from polling stations, told they are on a felons list even if they have no criminal record, or kept waiting for hours because of technical glitches. No doubt people will tell some of those thousands of lawyers how they pressed the screen for one candidate, only to have the other's name light up. The problem is, even if lawyers for the losing candidate are able to prove that the system failed, they will find it very difficult to talk specific numbers and demonstrate that enough votes were lost to alter the outcome. How the courts will react to this hypothetical state of affairs is anybody's guess. They could accept the given election results, however flawed. They could allow the arguments to rage until December, when the electoral college is supposed to meet, or even into the new year, when an undecided election would be thrown into the House of Representatives. Or they could be trumped, once again, by the Supreme Court. The most disconcerting possibility is that the highest court in the land could remove the electoral process from the voters altogether and turn it over to the state legislatures. Technically, they can do this under Article II of the Constitution, which offers no automatic right to vote. We know from the deliberations in 2000 that two, possibly five, of the nine justices have doubts whether the people should be the ultimate arbiters of presidential elections - a strict, literal reading of the Constitution that no modern Supreme Court countenanced before the current crop of ultra-conservatives. "After granting the franchise in the special context of Article II," the majority declared in its Bush vs Gore ruling, "[the state] can take back the power to appoint electors." Were this scenario to play out it would leave the fate of many of the electoral battlegrounds in the hands of Republican-controlled state legislatures (in Florida and Ohio, for starters), who would promptly hand the election to George Bush.... |
The ONLY way Kerry has a chance of defeating the Republican-led massive voter fraud and disenfranchisement sweeping this nation is with a landslide victory. Anything less will get nitpicked, litigated and stolen until there is nothing left but a slimy carcass of a burnt-out election that will fill the gutters of democracy with the repulsive, vomitous excrement from the Satan-spawned merchants of the Republican ultra-right-wing. (Oops, sorry, got a little carried away there...)
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Around for Everyone
That's a lie. You're a liar. You're lying. Lie, lie, lie. (video)
Retards in the Pentagon (EDO video)
Bush Campaign Headed Toward the Wolves (BC04 campaign video) Are they serious?!
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October 24, 2004
Boy did the Bush Administration fuck up here...
One of the biggest stories of the Iraq war
Boy did the Bush Administration fuck up here...
| Huge Cache of Explosives Vanished From Site in Iraq By JAMES GLANZ, WILLIAM J. BROAD and DAVID E. SANGER 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, produce 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 after the American 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." Administration officials said yesterday that the Iraq Survey Group, the C.I.A. task force that searched for unconventional weapons, has been ordered to investigate the disappearance of the explosives. American weapons experts say their immediate concern is that the explosives could be used in major bombing attacks against American or Iraqi forces: the explosives, mainly HMX and RDX, could be used to produce bombs strong enough to shatter airplanes or tear apart buildings. The bomb that brought down Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988 used less than a pound of the material of the type stolen from Al Qaqaa, and somewhat larger amounts were apparently used in the bombing of a housing complex in November 2003 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and the blasts in a Moscow apartment complex in September 1999 that killed nearly 300 people. The explosives could also be used to trigger a nuclear weapon, which was why international nuclear inspectors had kept a watch on the material, and even sealed and locked some of it. But the other components of an atom bomb - the design and the radioactive fuel - are more difficult to obtain. "This is a high explosives risk, but not necessarily a proliferation risk," one senior Bush administration official said. The International Atomic Energy Agency publicly warned about the danger of these explosives before the war, and after the invasion it specifically told United States officials about the need to keep the explosives secured, European diplomats said in interviews last week. Administration officials say they cannot explain why the explosives were not safeguarded, beyond the fact that the occupation force was overwhelmed by the amount of munitions they found throughout the country. The Qaqaa facility, about 30 miles south of Baghdad, was well known to American intelligence officials: Saddam Hussein made conventional warheads at the site, and the I.A.E.A. dismantled parts of his nuclear program there in the early 1990's after the Persian Gulf war in 1991. In the prelude to the 2003 invasion, Mr. Bush cited a number of other "dual use" items - including tubes that the administration contended could be converted to use for the nuclear program - as a justification for invading Iraq. After the invasion, when widespread looting began in Iraq, the international weapons experts grew concerned that the Qaqaa stockpile could fall into unfriendly hands. In May, an internal I.A.E.A. memorandum warned that terrorists might be helping "themselves to the greatest explosives bonanza in history." In an interview with The Times and CBS in Baghdad, the minister of science and technology, Rashad M. Omar, confirmed the facts described in the letter. "Yes, they are missing," Dr. Omar said. "We don't know what happened." The I.A.E.A. says it also does not know, and has reported that machines tools that can be used for either nuclear or non-nuclear purposes have also been looted. Dr. Omar said that after the American-led invasion, the sites containing the explosives were under the control of the Coalition Provisional Authority, an American-led entity that was the highest civilian authority in Iraq until it handed sovereignty of the country over to the interim government on June 28. "After the collapse of the regime, our liberation, everything was under the coalition forces, under their control," Dr. Omar said. "So probably they can answer this question, what happened to the materials." Officials in Washington said they had no answers to that question. One senior official noted that the Qaqaa complex where the explosives HMX and RDX were stored was listed as a "medium priority" site on the Central Intelligence Agency's list of more than 500 sites that needed to be searched and secured during the invasion. In the chaos that followed the invasion, many of those sites, even some considered a higher priority, were never secured. "Should we have gone there? Definitely," said one senior administration official. "But there are a lot of things we should have done, and didn't." .... An Inspector's Warning A European diplomat reported that Jacques Baute, head of the I.A.E.A.'s Iraq nuclear inspection team, warned officials at the United States mission in Vienna about the danger of the nuclear sites and materials once under I.A.E.A. supervision, including Al Qaqaa. But apparently, little was done. A senior Bush administration official said that during the initial race to Baghdad, American forces "went through the bunkers, but saw no materials bearing the I.A.E.A. seal." It is unclear whether they ever returned. By late 2003, diplomats said, I.A.E.A. experts had obtained commercial satellite photos of Al Qaqaa showing that two of roughly 10 bunkers that contained HMX appeared to have been leveled by titanic blasts, apparently during the war. They presumed some of the HMX had exploded, but that is unclear. Other HMX bunkers were untouched. Some were damaged but not devastated. I.A.E.A. experts say they assume that just before the invasion the Iraqis followed their standard practice of moving crucial explosives out of buildings, so they would not be tempting targets. If so, the experts say, the Iraqi must have broken I.A.E.A. seals on bunker doors and moved most of the HMX to nearby fields, where it would have been lightly camouflaged - and ripe for looting. But the Bush administration would not allow the agency back into the country to verify the status of the stockpile. In May 2004, Iraqi officials say in interviews, they warned L. Paul Bremer III, the American head of the occupation authority, that Al Qaqaa had probably been looted. It is unclear if that warning was passed anywhere. Efforts to reach Mr. Bremer by telephone were unsuccessful. But by that time, the Americans were preoccupied with the transfer of authority to Iraq, and the insurgency was gaining strength. "It's not an excuse," said one senior administration official. "But a lot of things went by the boards." Early this month, Dr. ElBaradei put public pressure on the interim Iraqi government to start the process of accounting for nuclear-related materials still ostensibly under I.A.E.A. supervision, including the Al Qaqaa stockpile. "Iraq is obliged," he wrote to the president of the Security Council on Oct. 1, "to declare semiannually changes that have occurred or are foreseen." The agency, Dr. ElBaradei added pointedly, "has received no such notifications or declarations from any state since the agency's inspectors were withdrawn from Iraq in March 2003." Two weeks ago, on Oct. 10, Dr. Mohammed J. Abbas of the Iraqi Ministry of Science and Technology wrote a letter to the I.A.E.A. to say that the Qaqaa stockpile had been lost . He added that his ministry judged that an "urgent updating of the registered materials is required." A chart in his letter listed 341.7 metric tons, about 377 American tons, of HMX, RDX and PETN as missing. Five days later, on Oct. 15, European diplomats said, the I.A.E.A. wrote the United States mission in Vienna to forward the Iraqi letter and ask that American authorities inform the international coalition in Iraq of the missing explosives. Dr. ElBaradei, a European diplomat said, is "extremely concerned" about the potentially "devastating consequences" of the vanished stockpile. Its fate remains unknown. Glenn Earhart, manager of an Army Corps of Engineers program in Huntsville, Ala., that is in charge of rounding up and destroying lost Iraqi munitions, said he and his colleagues knew nothing of the whereabouts of the Qaqaa stockpile. Administration officials say Iraq was awash in munitions, including other stockpiles of exotic explosives. "The only reason this stockpile was under seal," said one senior administration official, "is because it was located at Al Qaqaa," where nuclear work had gone on years ago. |
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October 23, 2004
I am a big fan of The Daily Show. Very Big. Thursday night during the closing sequence they showed a news clip of Fidel Castro's fall that resulted in a broken arm and leg. Since it was sandwiched between two funny scenes, it came off as humorous, when in fact it was not funny at all. I am disappointed at the producers of the show for allowing something as distasteful as this on the air. Normally TDS is nothing but a class act.
UPDATE: Last night Saturday Night Live also showed the same clip, this time associated with Castro "getting shot" by John Kerry. Still, NOT FUNNY. I don't get it.
Katha Pollitt on Kerry's mention of Cheney's lesbian daughter (snippet):
I'm still at a loss trying to understand why any middle-class, non-fundagelical gay man or woman would even consider voting for Bush. If you are one, please explain...
----Margaret Cho
Castro's Fall: NOT FUNNY
I am a big fan of The Daily Show. Very Big. Thursday night during the closing sequence they showed a news clip of Fidel Castro's fall that resulted in a broken arm and leg. Since it was sandwiched between two funny scenes, it came off as humorous, when in fact it was not funny at all. I am disappointed at the producers of the show for allowing something as distasteful as this on the air. Normally TDS is nothing but a class act.
UPDATE: Last night Saturday Night Live also showed the same clip, this time associated with Castro "getting shot" by John Kerry. Still, NOT FUNNY. I don't get it.
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Gaysbian Politics
Katha Pollitt on Kerry's mention of Cheney's lesbian daughter (snippet):
| ....Thus are positions reversed: Kerry, the gay-friendly candidate, becomes the victimizer of innocent daughters, and Bush, who supports a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage and who relies on homophobia to excite his fundamentalist base, becomes the generous protector. But if there's nothing immoral about being gay, and if Mary Cheney has herself made her sexual orientation public, what did Kerry do that was so monstrous? Here's what I find offensive: Kristol and William Safire comparing Kerry to Joseph McCarthy. Republicans, Safire writes, "have in mind a TV spot using an old film clip of a Boston lawyer named Welch at a Congressional hearing, saying 'Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?'" Who knew Safire, that old Nixonian, held McCarthy in such low esteem! Let's see: McCarthy destroyed lives with dubious accusations of secret Communist affiliations, something he regarded as evil. Kerry mentioned Mary Cheney's sexual orientation, which is a fact, is not a secret and is not a bad thing in Kerry's eyes. The analogy only makes sense if Kristol and Safire think homosexuality is as bad as communism--or communism is not as bad as they thought. The Mary Cheney gaffe is a bit like Paul Wellstone's memorial service, or for that matter the "Dean scream"--a blip, a nothing, a wisp that the Republican wind machine wants to whip into a tornado of hysterical outrage. And because so much of the media are frivolous and lazy, it can. The tactic doesn't work for long--don't you feel silly now, Minnesotans, for voting Republican because of a eulogy? and does anyone today think Howard Dean is crazy?--but it doesn't need to. It only needs to push the right buttons--propriety, prurience, politeness--for a few crucial days. Every minute people are focusing on what John Kerry said about Mary Cheney is a minute they're not talking about Iraq, or Guant�namo, that swamp of injustice and torture, or the plain basic fact that Bush, who lost the popular vote, has used his four years in the White House to turn the country over to lobbyists, ideologues and charlatans. It's a minute they're looking at Kerry's character and not at Bush's. It means they're not demanding action on the mushrooming scandal of pro-Bush vote suppression and fraud, and not just in Florida either--the intimidation of black voters, the trashing of Democratic registration forms by GOP-contracted firms and their rejection by state authorities on flimsy pretexts, those paperless electronic voting machines. (Penny Venetis and Frank Askin of the Rutgers Constitutional Litigation Clinic just filed a magnificent brief challenging the use of such machines in New Jersey.) Finally, as Richard Kim points out on www.thenation.com, defending Mary Cheney lets Republicans look concerned for a gay person while preserving their basic homophobic agenda.... |
I'm still at a loss trying to understand why any middle-class, non-fundagelical gay man or woman would even consider voting for Bush. If you are one, please explain...
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| All the busy-body �Christian� people�when they�re not preparing for the Rapture�are trying to make gay people miserable. I don�t see why our lives affect theirs in the least. They point to us as evidence of Satan in the world. Don�t they realize that Satan is intolerance, that every time they practice injustice, another demon gets his wings? The Pope recently castigated the media for making gays look normal. Yeah, he�s a real good judge of normal. With the gold dress, and the matching gold hat, living up in the Vatican with 500 men, surrounded by the finest antiques in the world. You go, girl! But it is the religious right who are fucking scary, because they�re out of control. Even the Satanists are saying, �Wow, you guys are being really mean.� |
----Margaret Cho
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October 22, 2004
Steve Gilliard on why we probably won't be seeing OBL any time soon:
Bush swore he would never use 9/11 for political gain. Ummm, okay, then what's this?
Juan Cole predicts the next big military event in Iraq:
And this is going to happen irrespective of the election results.
If you haven't seen THIS AD yet, check it out (WMP format). Apparently it's had a devastating effect on Bush's support in areas it's played. You can contribute HERE to help with additional showings (and see ad in Quicktime).
George Bush's Five-Headed Hydra Base
Americans Mobilizing for Our Schools (check out the video)
Visualize Winning (video)
Wal-Mart bans Jon Stewart's new book.
Program on International Policy Attitudes has released a new survey, comparing the beliefs of Bush and Kerry supporters. Some highlights:
Ahh, the wonderful, primitive ego defense mechanism called denial. Denial, which conflicts with the capacity to recognize and critically test reality, can sometimes get us through tough times. In this case though, it propogates a destructive process which seemingly is currently recognized only by Kerry supporters.
Hop onto the CONFERENCE BIKE
Dilbert's House (photo tour)
Disco Squirrel - the Video
Hip-Hop Debate
Ira Nowinski photography
Official Spam Website (the good stuff)
Regret the Error (newspaper miscues)
Stars of the B-Westerns
Turd Birds (small amt. of profanity)
Worst Jobs in Science
Exposing Misleading Campaign Mailings
| FactCheck.org needs your help. We are looking for examples of false or misleading political mail regarding the presidential campaign. If you receive any, please send them to us. We promise not to use your name without your permission, but we won't be able to return the material you send. Please do include your name and a telephone number or email address where we might contact you in case we have questions. The kind of mail we are looking for might be sent by the campaigns, or political parties, or independent groups. Typically these mailings are targeted to specific groups -- such as older voters, minority groups or gun owners, for example. Since the messages aren't intended for a general audience and are seldom seen by political reporters, those who send them sometimes take more liberties with the facts than they would in TV or radio advertising that is seen and heard by everybody. With your help, we hope to shed some new light on this sort of tactic and hold politicians accountable for any deceptions we can uncover. Brooks Jackson FactCheck.org 320 National Press Building Washington, DC 20045 |
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Bin Laden? Been Hidin'.
Steve Gilliard on why we probably won't be seeing OBL any time soon:
| ...While people have expected Bin Laden to be captured for the election, the reality is that the longer Bin Laden is hidden, the harder he is to find. He's no Pablo Escobar, surround by fear, people LOVE Bin Laden, he's a fucking rock star, the John Lennon of terrorism. In the hills of Pakistan, no one is going to rat him out any more than most people wouldn't get high with the Beatles. Bin Laden is the great Islamic hero to the people in the Hindu Kush. There is no law there, has never been, not under the British and not now. Expecting the military to solve this is ridiculous. Also, there is no penalty for helping Bin Laden. The Pakistani Army cannot massacre the Pathan tribesmen. Because they all have guns, unlike Colombian campesinos who had to fear the death squads as well as the Army. There, they have lots of guns and will use them on the slighest pretext. So even if they know where he is, they have no incentive to turn him in. The only reason is money and that means a visa to the UK or US. They would have their whole family killed otherwise. And why should they help us? What reason have we given them? Revenge? How does it make their lives better? We have to provide a reason beyond hot actresses and Coke to support the US. And Bush hasn't created one. The US could have supported Islamic culture and employment for the region, but they didn't and thus, it's Bin Laden, who represents their culture and thinking against the alien US. And it didn't have to be that way. |
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Ashley? Yes. Kids of Soldiers Killed in Iraq? No.
Bush swore he would never use 9/11 for political gain. Ummm, okay, then what's this?
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Flattening Fallujah
Juan Cole predicts the next big military event in Iraq:
| Meanwhile, The Scotsman reports on the British government's agreement to deploy 850 British troops in the area southwest of Baghdad. Here's my lay guess as to what this is about: Bush wants to flatten Fallujah as soon as the US elections are over. Flattening Fallujah requires moving another platoon or so to that western city. But that platoon is now tied down fighting the guerrillas in Latifiyah and environs. So the British are being brought in to keep a lid on the insurgency there, so as to free up forces for the assault on Fallujah. Latifiyah is more dangerous than Fallujah, according to one US soldier in a recent interview. So the British are not coming north for a picnic. If my interpretation is correct, it demonstrates how completely overstretched the US military is in Iraq. With over 130,000 troops on the ground, with stop loss orders in effect kidnapping troops far beyond the time they signed up for, the US doesn't have 1,000 troops to spare for a Fallujah campaign. It is completely tied down. So Bush needed Blair once again to save his behind. The British military does not approve, on the whole, of American flattening operations, and declined to be involved in any. So the British brass only acquiesced if they could keep British rules of engagement, which are far less Draconian than US ones. (The US military replies with overwhelming force to an attack, even if doing so would cause indiscriminate harm to civilians.) The British will likely therefore not attack Latifiyah, but will just try to implement their Basra-type brand of community policing, learned in Belfast. The guerrillas in Latifiyah, however, may not cooperate. If the Sunni areas become inflamed by the Bush assault on the city of Fallujah, however, all bets are off, and the guerrillas will target the British troops for suicide bombings and drive-by shootings, in hopes of turning Labour backbenchers decisively against Blair. (Public opinion doesn't matter in a parliamentary system, or Blair would already be out; it just matters that a Prime Minister can survive a vote of no-confidence and that the movers and shakers in his party don't dump him, as happened to Maggie Thatcher). Will Labour put up with American-scale casualties in Iraq, say 25 dead every week or two? |
And this is going to happen irrespective of the election results.
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Around for Everyone
If you haven't seen THIS AD yet, check it out (WMP format). Apparently it's had a devastating effect on Bush's support in areas it's played. You can contribute HERE to help with additional showings (and see ad in Quicktime).
George Bush's Five-Headed Hydra Base
Americans Mobilizing for Our Schools (check out the video)
Visualize Winning (video)
Wal-Mart bans Jon Stewart's new book.
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Denial: The Destructive Consequences of the Suppression of Reality
Program on International Policy Attitudes has released a new survey, comparing the beliefs of Bush and Kerry supporters. Some highlights:
| The Separate Realities of Bush and Kerry Supporters ....A large majority of Bush supporters believe that before the war Iraq had weapons of mass destruction or a major program for building them. A substantial majority of Bush supporters assume that most experts believe Iraq had WMD and that this was the conclusion of the recently released report by Charles Duelfer. A large majority of Bush supporters believes that Iraq was providing substantial support to al Qaeda and that clear evidence of this support has been found. A large majority believes that most experts also have this view, and a substantial majority believe that this was the conclusion of the 9/11 Commission. Large majorities of Kerry supporters believe the opposite on all these points.... Large majorities of Bush and Kerry supporters agree that the Bush administration is saying that Iraq had WMD and was providing substantial support to al Qaeda. In regard to WMD, these majorities are growing.... Majorities of Bush supporters and Kerry supporters agree that if Iraq did not have WMD or was not providing support to al Qaeda, the US should not have gone to war with Iraq.... Only three in ten Bush supporters believe that the majority of people in the world oppose the US going to war with Iraq, while an overwhelming majority of Kerry supporters have this view. A majority of Bush supporters assume that the majority of people in the world would like to see Bush reelected, while a large majority of Kerry supporters believe the opposite. Bush supporters also lean toward overestimating support in Islamic countries for US-led efforts to fight terrorism, while Kerry supporters do not .... Majorities of Bush supporters misperceive his positions on a range of foreign policy issues. In particular they assume he supports multilateral approaches and addressing global warming when he has taken strong contrary positions on issues such as the International Criminal court and the Kyoto Agreement. A majority of Kerry supporters have accurate perceptions of Kerry positions on the same issues..... So why do Bush supporters show such a resistance to accepting dissonant information? While it is normal for people to show some resistance, the magnitude of the denial goes beyond the ordinary. Bush supporters have succeeded in suppressing awareness of the findings of a whole series of high- profile reports about prewar Iraq that have been blazoned across the headlines of newspapers and prompted extensive, high-profile and agonizing reflection. The fact that a large portion of Americans say they are unaware that the original reasons that the US took military action--and for which Americans continue to die on a daily basis--are not turning out to be valid, are probably not due to a simple failure to pay attention to the news. The roots of the resistance to this information very likely lie in the traumatic experience of 9/11, and equally in the near pitch-perfect leadership that President Bush showed in its immediate wake. In response to an unprecedented attack on US soil, with the prospect of further such attacks, Bush responded with a grace and resolve that provided reassurance to an anxious public. In the war with the Taliban he showed restraint as well as effectiveness. Large numbers of Americans had a powerful bonding experience with the president--a bond that they may be loath to relinquish. When the president turned his focus to Iraq, this robust public support begin to waver. His case about Iraq�s WMD and support for al Qaeda touched a nerve, but most Americans were not entirely convinced of the imperative to act. Most wanted Bush to first get UN support and allied participation before going into Iraq and were willing to stick with the inspection process for a while longer. Many were very wary of the US getting itself into a position reminiscent of Vietnam, when the world turned against the US. Nonetheless, the majority was still inclined to give Bush the benefit of the doubt and backed him when he decided to go ahead without UN approval. At the same time, though they acquiesced, a majority of Americans did not actively favor taking action at the time Bush did. This was Bush�s war. If all had worked out as advertised, the president�s relation with the public would probably have not missed a beat. While the initial war was easier than the public anticipated, the aftermath was much more difficult and drawn out than originally assumed. Concurrent with these rising costs, the benefits of the war began to be challenged by the failure to find WMD or evidence of Iraqi support for al Qaeda. The extent of international criticism took on tones of the Vietnam period. Gradually the support for the decision to go to war and, concomitantly, public confidence in the president, began to wither. Moving in tandem down this slowly descending arc were the declining beliefs that Iraq had WMD and links to al Qaeda, and that world public opinion approved of the US going to war with Iraq. But now, while others have peeled off, Bush supporters continue to hold onto their image of Bush as a capable protector. To do this it appears that many need to continue to screen out information that undermines this image. |
Ahh, the wonderful, primitive ego defense mechanism called denial. Denial, which conflicts with the capacity to recognize and critically test reality, can sometimes get us through tough times. In this case though, it propogates a destructive process which seemingly is currently recognized only by Kerry supporters.
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FRIDAY FUN
Hop onto the CONFERENCE BIKE
Dilbert's House (photo tour)
Disco Squirrel - the Video
Hip-Hop Debate
Ira Nowinski photography
Official Spam Website (the good stuff)
Regret the Error (newspaper miscues)
Stars of the B-Westerns
Turd Birds (small amt. of profanity)
Worst Jobs in Science
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October 21, 2004
The Union of Concerned Scientists needs you help:
By clicking HERE you can have UCS send a letter to Webber & MacCarthy. Please consider spending a couple of minutes of your time today to help with our future. Left is Right thanks you.
The Left Coaster predicts the October Surprise:
Auto Industry Trying to Thwart California & the U.S.
The Union of Concerned Scientists needs you help:
| As the world�s fifth largest economy, California�s new law to reduce global warming pollution from automobiles will cause the development of clean car technology on a national scale. However, the new law faces an imminent threat. Rather than directing company engineers to implement existing technologies to build cleaner fleets, the automakers have employed lawyers and lobbyists to thwart California�s efforts, and ultimately prevent other states from adopting this crucial legislation. Take this opportunity to tell Frederick Webber and Timothy MacCarthy, heads of the two major automaker alliances, that American consumers want the industry to use their engineers, not their lawyers, to address global warming pollution. If you own a vehicle, please click here to send an additional letter to your specific automaker(s). |
By clicking HERE you can have UCS send a letter to Webber & MacCarthy. Please consider spending a couple of minutes of your time today to help with our future. Left is Right thanks you.
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Mr. October
The Left Coaster predicts the October Surprise:
| Beware Of The Saturday Trip To Crawford The first real sign of an October surprise cropped up yesterday when the AP reported that Bush would be taking this Saturday off during the home stretch of the campaign to return to the ranch in Crawford. Why would such an announcement be suspect? And why would this be a sure sign that we are in store for another surprise trip by Bush to drop in on our troops somewhere in the world, probably with another fake photo op and stuffed flight suit to boot? Because the last time Bush pulled this off to serve a plastic turkey to hand-selected soldiers in Baghdad last Thanksgiving, Air Force One didn�t fly from Andrews Air Force base to Baghdad. It flew from Crawford.... |
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Found on verbatim:
Burger King: Bad Burgers, Good Politics!
I demand to know...
Youth Vote Uprising? Arianna Huffington Speculates.
Why Bush is the Anti-Christ
Open letter signed by 24 Olympians and Professional Athletes
Question is, do you? (click video on right)
Here is your compassionate President and his people-friendly Administration hard at work protecting your rights as American citizens:
(From CAP Talking Points.)
Excess Mercury Levels Increasing - Survey Shows Fifth of Women of Childbearing Age Are Affected (intro)
One of many reasons why I never eat anything that swam or crawled under water when alive.
Jason points out this analysis by Paul Street about the recent debates (excerpt):
| Q. What's the difference between the Vietnam War and the Iraq War? A. George W. Bush had a plan to get out of the Vietnam War. |
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Around for Everyone
Burger King: Bad Burgers, Good Politics!
I demand to know...
Youth Vote Uprising? Arianna Huffington Speculates.
Why Bush is the Anti-Christ
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Reason #27 Why Athletes Shouldn't Take Steriods: Mental Disorder
Open letter signed by 24 Olympians and Professional Athletes
| To our fellow Americans: We have given much thought to the values and characteristics that make a great athlete. Our lives have been spent trying to run farther, push further, and jump higher than the person beside us, or across the field of our chosen sport. With years of training and exhaustive competition beneath our belts, we have identified the values necessary to compete and win--values like personal strength, determination, a sense of fair play and faith. The same qualities that make a great athlete make a great President--the determination to do what is right, regardless of the latest polls, the personal strength to bear the weight of the nation on your shoulders, and the faith that a higher power will direct the actions of good people. We see in President Bush these same qualities. In 2001, our nation was attacked without cause or provocation. The President's values saw us through those dark days after the terrorist attack. The economy was rocked by the dual blows of the terrorists' cowardly action and the reckless disregard of the rules by a few rogue executives. But President Bush's decisive, principled leadership has moved America forward, and today our nation is safer and our economy is strong and getting stronger. The fight against terrorism takes decisiveness. It takes continued support for our troops and first responders. But most importantly, it takes courage and inspirational leadership in the White House. In these critical times, our President has had the courage to stand up and do what's right. For that and for his unwavering character, we choose George W. Bush as our President for the next four years. He is a leader we can depend on to make the tough decisions and the right decisions. Please join us in supporting a candidate of courage, President Bush--a leader who backs our troops defending our nation and shares our values. Paid for by Bush-Cheney '04 Inc. |
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Bush just doesn't get it.
Question is, do you? (click video on right)
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Bush Administration Limits Voting Rights
Here is your compassionate President and his people-friendly Administration hard at work protecting your rights as American citizens:
| October 21, 2004 Since the passage of the Voting Rights Act in 1965, the Justice Department has fought to protect and expand the right to vote for of all citizens. All of that has changed during John Ashcroft's tenure as Attorney General. Rather than defending voters' rights, Ashcroft is using the resources of his department to prevent eligible voters from casting their ballot and has refused to prosecute cases of voter discrimination and intimidation. The Bush administration is actively trying to stop Americans from exercising their right to vote. On Monday, the Justice Department filed an 11th-hour brief in Michigan district court opposing efforts by civil rights groups to ensure that registered voters who appear in the right city, township or village � but the wrong precinct � have their votes counted. The right to a so-called "provisional ballot" was explicitly endorsed by Congress in the 2002 Help America Vote Act (HAVA) which sought to correct many of the problems associated with the 2000 election. Federal judge David M. Lawson yesterday ruled against the Justice Department's position and said their brief added "nothing to the arguments." The Bush administration refuses to fight against voter discrimination. Under Ashcroft's command, the Civil Rights Division of Justice has avoided prosecuting nearly all alleged cases of voter discrimination against minorities. The Justice Department has filed one discrimination case in three years, a case in Colorado it later lost. Americans expect their government to protect and expand voting rights, not restrict them. The Bush administration takes the opposite view � use government resources to challenge voters and restrict the rights of all Americans to express their political preferences. |
(From CAP Talking Points.)
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Mercury: Hair's the Latest News
Excess Mercury Levels Increasing - Survey Shows Fifth of Women of Childbearing Age Are Affected (intro)
| By Juliet Eilperin - Washington Post Staff Writer Thursday, October 21, 2004; Page A02 One-fifth of women of childbearing age have mercury levels in their hair that exceed federal health standards, according to interim results of a nationwide survey being conducted by researchers at the University of North Carolina at Asheville. The study, which was commissioned by the environmental advocacy group Greenpeace, offers the latest evidence of how much mercury Americans are absorbing by eating fish. Coal-fired power plants and other sources release mercury into the air, which ends up in water and is absorbed by fish. The pollutant, which is a neurotoxin that can cause developmental problems in fetuses and young children, makes its way into the bloodstream when people eat contaminated fish. Researchers at UNC's Environmental Quality Institute based their findings on hair samples from nearly 1,500 people, many of whom learned of the study through the Internet. Participants either paid $25 to submit hair samples with a home testing kit or got free tests at 27 hair salons across the country sponsored by Greenpeace, Aveda salons and state and local environmental groups. Study participants were not randomly chosen, but the report's author, Richard Maas, said they were evenly distributed geographically and that he believes the results reflect overall mercury contamination levels among Americans. He said the tests showed a correlation between how much fish people ate and their mercury levels: One-third of people who ate canned tuna four or more times a week, for example, had mercury levels above Environmental Protection Agency recommendations. "There is no other pollutant out there that has anywhere near this high a percentage of the U.S. population with exposure levels above the government's health advisory levels," said Maas, co-director of the Environmental Quality Institute. "Not lead, not arsenic, nothing." .... |
One of many reasons why I never eat anything that swam or crawled under water when alive.
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Street Reflections of the Debates
Jason points out this analysis by Paul Street about the recent debates (excerpt):
| ....At the same time, I've also been taken by how significantly superior Kerry and how incredibly bad Bush has been. Kerry has been cleaning Bush's clock, within the sadly restricted parameters, revealing the incumbent as what he really is: a sputtering, mean-spirited C-student creature of campaign dirty tricks, racist black voter disenfranchisement in Florida (a story about to be repeated), illegal Supreme Court intervention, and of course the great event that Repubicans love to pretend to hate: Nine-Eleven. It's been like watching a battle between two very different centers in an NBA game. Kerry scores inside, scores outside, and has an elegant hookshot. He plays with intelligent and measured grace. He's adept at blocking shots and rarely commits fouls because he doesn't particuarly need to resort to anything much more than his skills. He's slick and effective. Bush is a lumbering. muscle-bound bully who can barely shoot the ball from more than three feet out and scores only after he manages to muscle the other guy out of the way. He fouls constantly and is frequently caught out of position. As he gets more and more "lit up" by his opponent, he becomes more agitated and resorts to baiting his opponent with verbal abuse, calling him a panzy and other nasty names. On the few occasions that he makes anything like a decent shot, he puts on a big stupid grin and parades around the court like a goon. Nobody's quite sure why he even has a starting position in the big leagues but his team is too embarassed to admit how bad his performance is.... |
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October 20, 2004
Author unknown
| George W. Bush is visiting a primary school and he visits one of the classes. They are in the middle of a discussion related to words and their meanings. The teacher asks the President if he would like to lead the discussion of the word "tragedy". So the illustrious leader asks the class for an example of a tragedy. One little boy stands up and offers: "If my best friend who lives on a farm, is playing in the field and a runaway tractor comes along and knocks him dead, that would be a tragedy. "No," says President Bush, "that would be an accident." A little girl raises her hand: "If a school bus carrying 50 children drove over a cliff, killing everyone inside, that would be a tragedy." "I'm afraid not," explains the exalted leader. "That's what we would call a great loss." The room goes silent. No other children volunteer. President Bush searches the room. "Isn't there someone here who can give me an example of a tragedy?" Finally at the back of the room, little Johnny raises his hand. In a quiet voice he says: "If Air Force One carrying you was struck by a missile and blown to smithereens, that would be a tragedy." "Fantastic!" exclaims President Bush, "That's right. And can you tell me why that would be a tragedy?" "Well," says little Johnny, "because it sure as hell wouldn't be a great loss and it probably wouldn't be an accident either." |
Author unknown
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Why do people point to their wrist when asking for the time, but they don�t point to their crotch when they ask where the bathroom is?
DeLay's district to get loan for broadband
Just a small sample from the platter of goodies our federal government spends, to the tune of tens of billions of dollars, each year in order to get enough members of congress to sign the appropriations bills. If our government is not the most corrupt organization in the world, please tell me who is worse.
Florida's new electronic voting machines (hilarious video)
Short Path to Oil Independence (attention Michael Miller)
For all US progressives thinking of voting for someone other than Kerry
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DeLayed Pork
DeLay's district to get loan for broadband
| WASHINGTON � Nearly $23 million meant to bring the World Wide Web to the rural United States instead will underwrite fast Internet service to affluent Texas suburbs represented by House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, a situation Democrats and critics called outrageous yesterday. The loan, from the rural-development wing of the Agriculture Department, includes work in communities outside Houston, in DeLay's district. Farm and telephone groups questioned the wisdom of the $22.7 million loan to ETS Telephone Co. & Subsidiaries, a Houston firm that advertises itself as providing telecommunications for "quality master-planned communities." The loan would help bring broadband service to 9,272 households and businesses just outside the Texas city, said the Agriculture Department. Congress created the program in 2002 to help rural areas, including towns of fewer than 20,000 people, gain Internet access. The ETS project qualified, a USDA official said, because it was in a traditionally agricultural area and met the population criteria. Critics said the USDA loan was misspent. ETS chief Richard Gerstemeier was not available for comment yesterday. A spokesman for DeLay had no comment. |
Just a small sample from the platter of goodies our federal government spends, to the tune of tens of billions of dollars, each year in order to get enough members of congress to sign the appropriations bills. If our government is not the most corrupt organization in the world, please tell me who is worse.
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Around for Everyone
Florida's new electronic voting machines (hilarious video)
Short Path to Oil Independence (attention Michael Miller)
For all US progressives thinking of voting for someone other than Kerry
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October 19, 2004
The 9/11 Secret in the CIA's Back Pocket
I'm sure the report is just an "exaggeration".
SERIOUSLY (note: broadband only!)
Also: Google saves first life. Really.
Damn. I can't figure out which one was a "Bush" answer. Anyway, give it a try.
Screwy Hoolie has read THIS NY TIMES ARTICLE, by Ron Suskind, about reality versus the Bush Administration and strongly recommends it. It's a must-read for this week. Snippets:
(Note: reg. req.)
"Weenie spined Limeys"
Number of businesses that are now former advertisers on Sinclair stations is apporaching 80.
Vietnam vet sues Sinclair Broadcasting for airing anti-Kerry film.
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 Senator John F. Kerry's Vietnam record in the coming days.
"I support Kerry, but I can't wait in this line."
Here is a great find. NO BUSH IN 04 is a collection of some of the best video clips from the '04 election. It includes recent pieces such as Ryan's speech, Stewart's Crossfire appearance, and Bush slips in the debates. Check it out. Add it to your links lists. My favorite is the one titled "Seriously".
Attention Family and Friends of 9/11 Victims
The 9/11 Secret in the CIA's Back Pocket
| Published on Tuesday, October 19, 2004 by the Los Angeles Times - by Robert Scheer It is shocking: The Bush administration is suppressing a CIA report on 9/11 until after the election, and this one names names. Although the report by the inspector general's office of the CIA was completed in June, it has not been made available to the congressional intelligence committees that mandated the study almost two years ago. "It is infuriating that a report which shows that high-level people were not doing their jobs in a satisfactory manner before 9/11 is being suppressed," an intelligence official who has read the report told me, adding that "the report is potentially very embarrassing for the administration, because it makes it look like they weren't interested in terrorism before 9/11, or in holding people in the government responsible afterward." When I asked about the report, Rep. Jane Harman (D-Venice), ranking Democratic member of the House Intelligence Committee, said she and committee Chairman Peter Hoekstra (R-Mich.) sent a letter 14 days ago asking for it to be delivered. "We believe that the CIA has been told not to distribute the report," she said. "We are very concerned." According to the intelligence official, who spoke to me on condition of anonymity, release of the report, which represents an exhaustive 17-month investigation by an 11-member team within the agency, has been "stalled." First by acting CIA Director John McLaughlin and now by Porter J. Goss, the former Republican House member (and chairman of the Intelligence Committee) who recently was appointed CIA chief by President Bush. The official stressed that the report was more blunt and more specific than the earlier bipartisan reports produced by the Bush-appointed Sept. 11 commission and Congress. "What all the other reports on 9/11 did not do is point the finger at individuals, and give the how and what of their responsibility. This report does that," said the intelligence official. "The report found very senior-level officials responsible." By law, the only legitimate reason the CIA director has for holding back such a report is national security. Yet neither Goss nor McLaughlin has invoked national security as an explanation for not delivering the report to Congress.... |
I'm sure the report is just an "exaggeration".
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I love this video
SERIOUSLY (note: broadband only!)
Also: Google saves first life. Really.
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Interesting test of your political bent
 | You preferred Kerry's statements 89% of the time You preferred Bush's statements 11% of the time Voting purely on the issues you should vote Kerry Who would you vote for if you voted on the issues? Find out now! |
Damn. I can't figure out which one was a "Bush" answer. Anyway, give it a try.
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"'I'm going to be real positive, while I keep my foot on John Kerry's throat."
Screwy Hoolie has read THIS NY TIMES ARTICLE, by Ron Suskind, about reality versus the Bush Administration and strongly recommends it. It's a must-read for this week. Snippets:
| ....This is one key feature of the faith-based presidency: open dialogue, based on facts, is not seen as something of inherent value. It may, in fact, create doubt, which undercuts faith. It could result in a loss of confidence in the decision-maker and, just as important, by the decision-maker. Nothing could be more vital, whether staying on message with the voters or the terrorists or a California congressman in a meeting about one of the world's most nagging problems. As Bush himself has said any number of times on the campaign trail, ''By remaining resolute and firm and strong, this world will be peaceful.'' ....George W. Bush and his team have constructed a high-performance electoral engine. The soul of this new machine is the support of millions of likely voters, who judge his worth based on intangibles -- character, certainty, fortitude and godliness -- rather than on what he says or does. The deeper the darkness, the brighter this filament of faith glows, a faith in the president and the just God who affirms him. The leader of the free world is clearly comfortable with this calculus and artfully encourages it. In the series of televised, carefully choreographed ''Ask President Bush'' events with supporters around the country, sessions filled with prayers and blessings, one questioner recently summed up the feelings of so many Christian conservatives, the core of the Bush army. ''I've voted Republican from the very first time I could vote,'' said Gary Walby, a retired jeweler from Destin, Fla., as he stood before the president in a crowded college gym. ''And I also want to say this is the very first time that I have felt that God was in the White House.'' Bush simply said ''thank you'' as a wave of raucous applause rose from the assembled. Every few months, a report surfaces of the president using strikingly Messianic language, only to be dismissed by the White House. Three months ago, for instance, in a private meeting with Amish farmers in Lancaster County, Pa., Bush was reported to have said, ''I trust God speaks through me.'' In this ongoing game of winks and nods, a White House spokesman denied the president had specifically spoken those words, but noted that ''his faith helps him in his service to people.'' .... |
(Note: reg. req.)
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Around for everyone
"Weenie spined Limeys"
Number of businesses that are now former advertisers on Sinclair stations is apporaching 80.
Vietnam vet sues Sinclair Broadcasting for airing anti-Kerry film.
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 Senator John F. Kerry's Vietnam record in the coming days.
"I support Kerry, but I can't wait in this line."
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Video Clip Heaven
Here is a great find. NO BUSH IN 04 is a collection of some of the best video clips from the '04 election. It includes recent pieces such as Ryan's speech, Stewart's Crossfire appearance, and Bush slips in the debates. Check it out. Add it to your links lists. My favorite is the one titled "Seriously".
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October 18, 2004
I don't usually quote Andrew Sullivan, but he's sure correct about this:
This sounds like something we can all do:
Republicans Clear Up Reason for Flu Vaccine Shortage: It's Kerry's Fault
Jon Stewart blows away Tucker Carlson on Crossfire (video). (Note: if site overloaded, try HERE)
U.S. Giving Iraqis Cash to Buy New Guns (reg. req.)
GOP Out of Control with Anti-Gay Hypocrisy
I don't usually quote Andrew Sullivan, but he's sure correct about this:
| The Cheneys didn't respond to Jim DeMint's gay-baiting in South Carolina, or Alan Keyes' direct insult of their own daughter in Illinois. They have not voiced objections tio a single right-wing piece of homophobia in this campaign or the anti-gay RNC flier in Arkansas and West Virginia. But they are outraged that Kerry mentioned the simple fact of their daughter's openly gay identity. What complete b.s. In the short run, this hurts Kerry. Prevailing disapproval of homosexuality means that most people regard mentioning anybody's lesbianism as an insult and inappropriate. But long-term, the Republican bluff has been called. 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? |
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Sinclair Competing with Halliburton for Most-Evil-Ever Corporation Prize
This sounds like something we can all do:
| Dear MoveOn member, Starting Wednesday, Sinclair Broadcasting (SBGI) will begin airing a one-hour anti-Kerry hit piece -- in prime time, without advertising -- on its 62 stations. Do you own Sinclair stock or a mutual fund that may include a Sinclair holding? We strongly suggest you call your broker or money manager to discuss whether you hold Sinclair and let them know what you think about a company that puts partisan politics above its investors' interests. On Friday, Lehman Brothers downgraded its expectation for Sinclair stock. With the headline "Management Chooses Politics over Shareholders", the report says: "In our opinion, Sinclair's decision to pre-empt programming to air Stolen Honor is potentially damaging -- both financially and politically. In a best case scenario, we believe that this decision could result in lost ad revenues. In a worst case scenario, we believe the decision may lead to higher political risk." When a company puts politics over business, it loses stock value quickly. Since its plans were announced, Sinclair's share price has dropped by 11%. That means shareholders have lost $70,000,000 in just over a week. Call your fund manager or broker now to ask if you own any Sinclair stock. Please let us know you've made this call. We need to hear what brokers say about this: http://www.moveon.org/sinclair3.html A public company's first responsibility is to enhance shareholder value. It's actually the law. Sinclair's plans will put their broadcast licenses at risk and possibly violate election law, calling the company's financial future into question. Corporate management willing to risk your investment for partisan ideology can't be trusted. This isn't even about politics -- it's about Sinclair risking your money while its managers use the company as their private hobby horse. Your investment enables Sinclair to exist as a company. Sinclair's management is turning its back on people like you who are depending on them to protect the value of that investment. The most powerful message you can send to Sinclair is through your fund manager or broker. Let them know how concerned you are about this unprecedented misuse of shareholder investments. Ask them to contact Sinclair for an explanation of how shareholder value will be protected. |
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One Flu Over the Cuckoo's Nest
| Bush Misleads on Flu Vaccine President Bush has tried to avoid any responsibility for the flu vaccine shortage by making misleading statements. During the presidential debate last Wednesday, President Bush said the problem was that "we relied upon a company out of England." That isn't true. Chiron Corp., the company whose vaccine plant was contaminated, is a California company - subject to regulation by the U.S. government - that operates a factory in England. During the debate, President Bush also said, "we took the right action and didn't allow contaminated medicine into our country." That isn't true either. It was the British authorities who, after inspecting the plant, revoked the factory's license on October 5th. In June 2003, the United States Food and Drug Administration inspected the Chiron plant. Initially, the FDA found that the plant was contaminated with bacteria but later announced, "the problems were corrected to their satisfaction," and allowed the plant to continue to operate. |
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Around for Everyone
Republicans Clear Up Reason for Flu Vaccine Shortage: It's Kerry's Fault
Jon Stewart blows away Tucker Carlson on Crossfire (video). (Note: if site overloaded, try HERE)
U.S. Giving Iraqis Cash to Buy New Guns (reg. req.)
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October 17, 2004
Well, this is just about the stupidest idea I've heard in quite a while (intro)...
What's up with the Scots?!
Nuclear Baby Buggies
Well, this is just about the stupidest idea I've heard in quite a while (intro)...
| Plan to make baby buggies from nuclear waste Industry in bid to recycle contaminated material By Rob Edwards, Environment Editor, and Peter John Meiklem Thousands of tonnes of radioactive scrap metal from nuclear plants could be melted down and recycled into cutlery, saucepans and baby buggies under a scheme being promoted by the nuclear industry and its regulators. A report compiled for the government�s Nuclear Installations Inspectorate and leaked to the Sunday Herald concludes that �metal melting� is a good way to deal with nuclear waste because it would save money and be environmentally friendly. The aim is to reduce the levels of radioactivity in metal from decommissioned nuclear facilities by mixing it with less contaminated scrap. Some of the metal could then be sold on to the open market and used to make household items. As the leaked report points out, there is only one snag � the public might not like it. �There are significant stakeholder issues that must be considered in order to implement an integrated metallic waste management strategy,� it says. �These include public unease regarding the re-use of previously radioactive contaminated metals, and public concern over the transport of radioactive waste.� .... |
What's up with the Scots?!
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October 16, 2004
New York Times endorses Kerry/Edwards.
New York Times endorses Kerry/Edwards.
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October 15, 2004
The slaughter of American soldiers and Iraqis continues unabated, the price of oil (and thus gasoline and heating oil) continues marching upward, the housing market is skidding to a stop, tens of thousands of Americans are unnecessarily going to die from the flu this winter, Osama B. L. is still out there somewhere, stocks are slumping, inflation is on the verge of returning, health insurance costs continue their incessant double-digit climb, schools are rapidly shrinking their budgets, minimum wage increases are on hold, unemployment benefits payout periods are decreasing, federal low-income housing benefits are shrinking, Earth is getting warmer, higher education is becoming less-affordable, the job market is shrinking, the news media no longer reports objectively, millions are falling into poverty, fish are too dangerous to eat, and the air I breathe and the water I drink are now classified as toxic. Oh, and voting tabulation is now less secure than ever. And that's just in the past three-and-a-half years.
What will our lives be like in 4 years if we allow Bush to remain in the White House?
Bush's Bulges
17 U.S. soldiers in Iraq are arrested for refusing to go on suicide mission.
New study links Gulf War I veterans' sicknesses to exposure to Iraqi chemicals (reg. may be req.)
Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker, a state co-chairman of President Bush's campaign, refuses to print sufficient numbers of ballots.
Breakfosexuals
Centaur: Segway for fun.
Company name etymologies
2004 Ig Nobel Winners
Build Your Own Kaleidoscope
Best Encyclopedia Ever Written
US Presidents: Lists and Records
Why you have pictures of my brother's cat's behind
THE WORST HALLOWEEN COSTUMES OF ALL TIME
Don't Let "4" Become a Despised Number
The slaughter of American soldiers and Iraqis continues unabated, the price of oil (and thus gasoline and heating oil) continues marching upward, the housing market is skidding to a stop, tens of thousands of Americans are unnecessarily going to die from the flu this winter, Osama B. L. is still out there somewhere, stocks are slumping, inflation is on the verge of returning, health insurance costs continue their incessant double-digit climb, schools are rapidly shrinking their budgets, minimum wage increases are on hold, unemployment benefits payout periods are decreasing, federal low-income housing benefits are shrinking, Earth is getting warmer, higher education is becoming less-affordable, the job market is shrinking, the news media no longer reports objectively, millions are falling into poverty, fish are too dangerous to eat, and the air I breathe and the water I drink are now classified as toxic. Oh, and voting tabulation is now less secure than ever. And that's just in the past three-and-a-half years.
What will our lives be like in 4 years if we allow Bush to remain in the White House?
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Around for Everyone
Bush's Bulges
17 U.S. soldiers in Iraq are arrested for refusing to go on suicide mission.
New study links Gulf War I veterans' sicknesses to exposure to Iraqi chemicals (reg. may be req.)
Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker, a state co-chairman of President Bush's campaign, refuses to print sufficient numbers of ballots.
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Ask Me If I'm Surprised
| Bush Misleads on Tax Cuts At Wednesday's debate President Bush said most of his tax cuts "went to low- and middle-income Americans." That statement is flatly false. An analysis by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities found that, in 2004, the top 20 percent of earners received 69.8% of the tax cuts enacted by President Bush. While the middle 20 percent of earners received an average tax cut of $647, the top 20 percent received an average tax cut of $5,055. As a result, those in the middle class are paying a greater share of the federal taxes today than they were four years ago. |
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Expert Says Electronic Voting Not Ready
| "I'm certainly concerned, and my biggest concern is that it's really too late to address the problem for November 2nd. The election officials, who could have done something about the problem, instead dismissed us and dismissed the report, and now it's too late to make changes. My crystal ball doesn't tell me if we're going to have a major meltdown on November 2nd. If something goes wrong, if there are irregularities, if exit polls do not synch with election tallies, then people will have legitimate reasons to suspect that things are wrong, and that could undermine confidence in the entire electoral system." ---Rice University computer sciences professor Dan Wallach, co-author of an exhaustive 2003 report from the Johns Hopkins University (Analysis of an Electronic Voting System, July 23, 2003), which outlines more than half a dozen key ways in which the security, accuracy, and overall functionality of an electronic voting system could be compromised. |
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FRIDAY FUN
Breakfosexuals
Centaur: Segway for fun.
Company name etymologies
2004 Ig Nobel Winners
Build Your Own Kaleidoscope
Best Encyclopedia Ever Written
US Presidents: Lists and Records
Why you have pictures of my brother's cat's behind
THE WORST HALLOWEEN COSTUMES OF ALL TIME
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October 14, 2004
Stolen from Common Dreams:
Sharp Blades
| Red State, Blue State: Hometown News by Meteor Blades - Thu Oct 14th, 2004 at 23:09:34 GMT In between my unfettered rage at the ideologues who lied us into the Iraq war and my cautious elation that we may elect someone who brings an end to that nightmare, I sometimes catch myself going numb. The statistics are numbing. Perhaps 25,000 people dead, most of them civilians. Perhaps 100,000 wounded, many of them maimed forever. Who knows how many tens of thousands of insurgents recruited, not only in Iraq but also around the planet. And all because of the machinations of some war criminals � sorry, no other description will do � who hijacked our patriotism, grief and anger in the service of a foul crusade that they mask with �liberty� and �democracy.� In their mouths, these are simultaneously trigger words, soporific words, numbing words. Yet every day, sometimes twice or three times a day, for the past 19 months, somewhere in America, a dead soldier or Marine is memorialized by her or his family. Whatever appears on the surface of the bereaved at these rituals, beneath they are anything except numb. In the national media, we occasionally hear one of these stories, but mostly what we get � if anything at all � are the statistics. If only the personal stories in the local media � even the merged, oligopolistic chains that now pass for most local media � if only one of these stories made front-page news in The New York Times or the lead item on ABC - and if it were combined with an equivalent story about an Iraqi family at the burying grounds - numb would never describe us. |
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Now I'll never name a child or pet "Sinclair"
Stolen from Common Dreams:
| STOP SINCLAIR!!!! Sinclair Broadcasting, the largest owner of local television stations in the US, ordered its 62 stations to preempt regular programming to air an anti-Kerry documentary just a few days before the election. Sinclair's mission is clear: sway the election in favor of an administration that lets companies like Sinclair get even bigger. It's great for Sinclair's bottom line � terrible for our democracy. This is not about 'liberal' or 'conservative.' It's about corruption, the threat to democratic discourse, and the manipulation of elections. Together, we can stop them. Take Action Now: http://www.freepress.net/sinclair/dn.php |
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| �The spin we�re getting from the White House � that everything is just lovely and that we�re going to bring a beacon of democracy to Iraq � is such happy horseshit� ---Molly Ivins, political autor and columnist |
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Better Ryan
HERE is a much better (higher-quality) video of Rep. Tim Ryan's brief, rapidly-becoming-famous speech about the draft. By the way, BlogPAC is raising $ to air this speech throughout swing-state Ohio in the coming weeks. If you are as moved by this speech as I am, then by all means go HERE and contribute a few $.
Running on regulation? (intro)
Bush's medical history.
Volunteer HERE to help protect this election.
Long-time cell phone users at increased risk for rare brain tumor.
Election and technology experts are voicing their concerns about electronic voting.
You knew this was coming. Well, HERE IT IS. And here's the DNC VERSION.
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Kerry: Good for the Environment
Running on regulation? (intro)
If elected president, Kerry appears set to protect workers and the environment to the chagrin of some businesses. BY THOMAS FRANK - WASHINGTON BUREAU October 14, 2004 WASHINGTON -- In the mid-1990s when Republicans in Congress were pushing to make regulations harder to enact, consumer, labor and environmental groups sought an ally committed to government oversight and capable of grasping the complexity of the rules. Their choice was John Kerry. Since coming to Congress in 1985, Kerry had advocated the stricter regulatory agenda that liberal groups say will protect consumers, workers and the environment but that businesses charge hurt the economy. Now as Kerry runs for president, many close advisers come from those special-interest groups, and his platform supports some of their causes. So would a Kerry presidency, advocates say. That's what worries business groups that have supported the Bush presidency's drive to eliminate what it describes as burdensome regulation. "If he's going to move in a different direction from this administration, it always entails costs," said Bruce Josten, executive vice president for government affairs at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Business leaders worry particularly that Kerry support for strict regulation of smokestack emissions would increase costs for manufacturers and hurt their ability to grow their companies and add jobs. Labor groups supporting Kerry welcome the possibility of a different approach. "The Kerry administration would be a lot more receptive to promulgating standards that are going to look at worker protection," said Mike Flynn, director of occupational safety and health for the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers. "They would listen to our voice," Flynn added. Kerry's advocacy for labor, environmental and consumer regulations is well-established in the Senate, where he has won high ratings from Democratic-leaning groups. "He's never voted against us on any of the safety issues we've worked on," said Joan Claybrook, president of consumer advocate Public Citizen, which works with unions and environmentalists. Kerry "played a very substantial role" defeating the Republican anti-regulatory effort in the 1990s, Claybrook said. "He's never really had a heavy industry influence in health, environmental and safety issues." .... |
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Around for Everyone
Bush's medical history.
Volunteer HERE to help protect this election.
Long-time cell phone users at increased risk for rare brain tumor.
Election and technology experts are voicing their concerns about electronic voting.
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Not Concerned
You knew this was coming. Well, HERE IT IS. And here's the DNC VERSION.
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October 13, 2004
Iraq faces soaring toll of deadly disease
Isn't the Bush Administration concerned that the local labor force will be shrinking so much from disease and death that they might have trouble recruiting Iraqis to pump out all that oil for American petroleum conglomerates? Gosh, Mr. Bush, get your priorities straight; you're neglecting your Arab slaves.
Funny piece from LiberalOasis:
Also check out today's Scribble - it's a tribute to Rove's frustrations with coaching Bush through the transmitter during the debates.
Voter Registrations Possibly Trashed (intro):
F*cking GOP f*ckers.
Yes, But There'll be Elections in January
Iraq faces soaring toll of deadly disease
By Jeremy Laurance, Health Editor - 13 October 2004 Soaring rates of disease and a crippled health system are posing a new crisis for the people of Iraq, threatening to kill more than have died in the aftermath of the war. Deadly infections including typhoid and tuberculosis are rampaging through the country, according to the first official report into the state of health in the country. The alarming evidence is the legacy of years of neglect, crippling sanctions and two bloody conflicts. Iraq's network of hospitals and health centres, once admired throughout the Middle East, has been severely damaged by war and looting, leaving staff struggling to cope and adding to the crisis. The report, compiled by the Ministry of Health in Baghdad, provides the first detailed portrait of the health of the Iraqi population and the state of its health services since the 2003 war. It is being launched today by Dr Ala'din Alwan, the Iraqi interim government's Minister of Health, at a conference of international donors in Tokyo. It charts the drastic decline in the health of the population and the catastrophic deterioration in health services during Saddam Hussein's era, one which has accelerated since the war. One third of the health centres and one in eight of the hospitals was looted of furniture, fridges and air conditioners or had equipment destroyed in the immediate aftermath of the war. Damage to water supplies and sanitation has led to a surge in typhoid, with 5,460 cases recorded in the first quarter of 2004. Almost one in five urban households and three in five rural households do not have access to safe drinking water. Poverty has risen sharply, with an estimated 27 per cent of the population living on less than $2 a day in 2003, in a nation with among the richest oil reserves in the world. One in three children are chronically malnourished, putting their lives at serious risk from outbreaks of measles, mumps and jaundice, which are sweeping the country and infecting thousands. The report, compiled from Ministry of Health data and international surveys, says mothers and children have been hardest hit by a combination of domestic policies and international sanctions stretching back over a decade. Infant and child mortality doubled during the 1990s at a time when health was improving in most other countries. Between 1990 and 1998, the number of infants dying before their first birthday rose from 40 to 103 for every 1,000 live births. Maternal mortality rose almost threefold during the same period, with 279 deaths in childbirth for every 100,000 live births. Adult death rates have risen and life expectancy has fallen to below 60 for men and women. Overall, Iraq's state of health is now rated on a par with the impoverished countries of the Sudan, Yemen and Afghanistan, where once it was ranked alongside Jordan and Kuwait, the report says. Dr Alwan said yesterday: "More Iraqis may have died as a result of inappropriate health policies, sanctions and neglect of the health sector over the past 15 years than from wars and violence. The main causes were poverty, poor nutrition, the deterioration of water and sanitation services and the collapse of health services ...Iraq used to have one of the best health services in the region but Saddam did not consider it a priority.The budget was cut by 90 per cent." The report details the extensive looting and destruction of health facilities since the war, which combined with unreliable electricity and water supplies and the continuing threat of violence have added to the problems. Dr Alwan said Iraq was now facing a "double burden of disease" from chronic conditions such as cancer, diabetes and heart disease, which were growing rapidly, alongside a resurgence of infectious diseases. Cancer has been rising sharply for a decade, with most cases diagnosed only when advanced, fewer than a quarter of diabetics receive insulin and there is a growing problem of post- traumatic stress disorder, especially among children, the report says. |
Isn't the Bush Administration concerned that the local labor force will be shrinking so much from disease and death that they might have trouble recruiting Iraqis to pump out all that oil for American petroleum conglomerates? Gosh, Mr. Bush, get your priorities straight; you're neglecting your Arab slaves.
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A Little fun
Funny piece from LiberalOasis:
| "In order to make sure we can compete in a global war, we've got to educate our work force. It all starts with making sure our youngsters can read and write and add and subtract." -- George W. Bush, 10/12/04 Watch out Osama! A legion of Mathletes is about to smoke you out. |
Also check out today's Scribble - it's a tribute to Rove's frustrations with coaching Bush through the transmitter during the debates.
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Nevada Voters Screwed by GOP
Voter Registrations Possibly Trashed (intro):
| George Knapp, Investigative Reporter (Oct. 12) -- Employees of a private voter registration company allege that hundreds, perhaps thousands of voters who may think they are registered will be rudely surprised on election day. The company claims hundreds of registration forms were thrown in the trash. Anyone who has recently registered or re-registered to vote outside a mall or grocery store or even government building may be affected. The I-Team has obtained information about an alleged widespread pattern of potential registration fraud aimed at democrats. Thee focus of the story is a private registration company called Voters Outreach of America, AKA America Votes. The out-of-state firm has been in Las Vegas for the past few months, registering voters. It employed up to 300 part-time workers and collected hundreds of registrations per day, but former employees of the company say that Voters Outreach of America only wanted Republican registrations. Two former workers say they personally witnessed company supervisors rip up and trash registration forms signed by Democrats. "We caught her taking Democrats out of my pile, handed them to her assistant and he ripped them up right in front of us. I grabbed some of them out of the garbage and she tells her assisatnt to get those from me," said Eric Russell, former Voters Outreach employee. Eric Russell managed to retrieve a pile of shredded paperwork including signed voter registration forms, all from Democrats. We took them to the Clark County Election Department and confirmed that they had not, in fact, been filed with the county as required by law. So the people on those forms who think they will be able to vote on Election Day are sadly mistaken. We attempted to speak to Voters Outreach but found that its office has been rented out to someone else.... |
F*cking GOP f*ckers.
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October 12, 2004
Seymour Hersh speaks (tiny snippet):
Seymour Hersh speaks (tiny snippet):
| "I've been doing an alternate history of the war, from inside, because people, right after 9/11, because people inside � and there are a lot of good people inside � are scared, as scared as anybody watching this tonight I think should be, because [Bush], if he's re-elected, has only one thing to do, he's going to bomb the hell out of that place. He's been bombing the hell of that place � and here's what really irritates me again, about the press � since he set up this Potemkin Village government with Allawi on June 28 � the bombing, the daily bombing rates inside Iraq, have gone up exponentially. There's no public accounting of how many missions are flown, how much ordinance is dropped, we have no accounting and no demand to know. The only sense you get is we're basically in a full-scale air war against invisible people that we can't find, that we have no intelligence about, so we bomb what we can see." |
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Oil Be Buying That Hybrid Car After All
Look at these comments, on a recent post about rising oil prices, on Kevin Drum's site. It is probably safe to say that, after the election, the top news story after the Iraq War will be the worldwide economic devastation due to insufficient oil supplies. It's the elephant in the room and everyone is pretending that it's the family chihuahua. The rising cost of transporation (from increasing fuel prices) will start prices rising on consumer goods which will rekindle inflation which will raise interest rates which will destroy the housing market which will depress the manufacturing sector which will create massive layoffs which will greatly increase demands on government support which will spark even greater deficit spending which will upend the financial markets which will reduce investments which will increase bankrupcies which will add to layoffs which will.... Well, you get the idea. Bush's free-spending policies, tax reductions and money-sink-Iraq War have left the U.S. in a vulnerable position such that any significant downturn in any economic sector (in this case fuel) will be the straw that breaks the nation's back. This is my solution.
Be Aware of the Name BUSH (video in Spanish w/ English subtitles and catchy tune)
VOTE (bubbie video)
Save a Jew, Save Yourself!
This (from CAP) pretty much underscores Bush's entire domestic agenda:
So, basically, since to poor won't get off their butts and become millionaires, they don't deserve what, according to your compassionate Republican Party, rightfully belongs to the rich.
Received this e-message today from AFA:
In case you were wondering, following is the pertinent portion, to which AFA refers, of Procter & Gamble's job listing on Gaywork.com. I went ahead and highlighted any reference that even hints at the recruitment of "individuals who practice the abnormal and destructive homosexual lifestyle":
Wow. When I was a kid I thought for sure that the kind of cultural prejudice pushed by the AFA and MANY other Christian Right organizations would be a thing of the past by the time I reached adulthood. I don't think I could have been more wrong. What a stupid and terribly evil society we live in.
Office of Management and Budget Blocked EPA Clean-Up of Air Pollution from Ships
Oops. Sorry, I forgot I wasn't in the shipping industry. Anyway, what's a little dirty air from some boats? It's not like it ever killed anyone.
Great piece by Scott Ritter (snippet):
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Around for Everyone
Be Aware of the Name BUSH (video in Spanish w/ English subtitles and catchy tune)
VOTE (bubbie video)
Save a Jew, Save Yourself!
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Bless the Rich, Screw the Poor, Vote for Bush, Give Me More
This (from CAP) pretty much underscores Bush's entire domestic agenda:
| President Bush's tax cuts for the wealthiest 1 percent � those making $1 million or more � will total $148 billion this year alone. As the Detroit News reports, "That is twice as much as the government will spend on job training, $6.2 billion; college Pell grants, $12 billion; public housing, $6.3 billion; low-income rental subsidies, $19 billion; child care, $4.8 billion; insurance for low-income children, $5.2 billion; low-income energy assistance, $1.8 billion; meals for shut-ins, $180 million; and welfare, $16.9 billion." |
So, basically, since to poor won't get off their butts and become millionaires, they don't deserve what, according to your compassionate Republican Party, rightfully belongs to the rich.
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New and Improved! Gay Bashing for Shoppers
Received this e-message today from AFA:
| P&G ACTIVELY RECRUITS THOSE WHO PRACTICE HOMOSEXUAL BEHAVIOR TO BECOME EMPLOYEES Dear Mxxxx, Procter & Gamble actively seeks out individuals who practice the abnormal and destructive homosexual lifestyle to come to work for the company. It is the only group P&G seeks to employ based on their behavior. P&G recruits from this group because they practice the homosexual lifestyle. The company is currently running a promotion on the homosexual website GAYWORK.COM seeking employees whose sole distinguishing characteristic is sex with same-sex partners. Click here to see the Gaywork.com listing. (If that site isn't working, click here.) In addition, P&G is a major sponsor of Out & Equal, an organization that bills itself as one that "offers LGBT (lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgendered) diversity training to companies that want to delve deeper into the special workplace issues faced by LGBT employees." What kind of diversity training are P&G employees forced to attend? Here is a note from a P&G employee recently sent to us. "I'm a P&G employee at their (city) plant. I had to go to the captive audience Diversity class. The movie on homosexuals was very offensive to Christians. It showed a man in a collar (Catholic priest?) saying 'there is nothing in the Bible which says that homosexuality is wrong.'" Why would P&G actively recruit those who engage in homosexual sex and force employees to attend a class that presents those who oppose the homosexual lifestyle in a negative light? Because P&G is committed to promoting the homosexual agenda. Click here to register your support for the boycott! For more information on P&G's promotion of the homosexual agenda, click here. In Cincinnati, Procter & Gamble is aggressively leading the fight to repeal a law that forbids giving special rights to homosexuals. P&G has given $10,000 to the political campaign to repeal the law. Citizens to Restore Fairness, the group pushing for special rights for homosexuals, is chaired by Gary Wright, an employee of P&G given a leave of absence to head the campaign. He is also a leader of P&G's corporate homosexual group GABLE/P&G. P&G has thrown their full corporate weight behind the campaign to give special rights to homosexuals. While P&G puts forth their best effort and money to get the law favoring homosexuals passed, they refuse to support the Ohio Marriage Protection Amendment which defines marriage as being between one man and one woman or to make a donation to the cause. We encourage you to take the action steps listed below. Then forward this information to others on your email list. We need your help to get the word out on this unfortunate situation. American Family Association is asking individuals to: (1) Boycott three products of P&G � Crest toothpaste, Tide detergent, and Pampers diapers. (Many are boycotting all their products, which we encourage. Click here for a complete list of P&G products or look on the back of the product.) (2) Call Chairman A.G. Lafley at 513-983-1100 and politely let him know that you are participating in the boycott and will ask others to do the same. (3) Click here to register your support for the boycott. (4) Please forward this to your friends and family. They will have to see it to believe it, also. (5) Click here to print out and distribute the boycott Crest, Tide and Pampers petition. (pdf version) (MS Word Version) Take Action Sincerely, Donald E. Wildmon, Founder and Chairman American Family Association |
In case you were wondering, following is the pertinent portion, to which AFA refers, of Procter & Gamble's job listing on Gaywork.com. I went ahead and highlighted any reference that even hints at the recruitment of "individuals who practice the abnormal and destructive homosexual lifestyle":
| Philosophy of Recruiting: Over the years Procter & Gamble has been recognized as one of the more innovative and professional companies in terms of our recruiting practices. Without being modest, this recognition is not without merit. We have had a number of firsts that have enabled us to do a very good job of consistently attracting the diverse, quality talent we seek to run our businesses and grow our organizations. Although we were one of the very first to develop a patented scoreable on-line application form, champion the use of desktop video interviewing, create the multi-function School Team campus concept, and recognize the importance of moving to a paperless, web-based recruiting structure, our real competitive advantage lies as much in our principles as our technologies and approaches. What We Look For: Our people work in a unique and dynamic environment focused on: stretching to reach the breakthrough goal, innovative ideas and visionary leadership, and increasing the speed with which we make decisions and get our products into the hands of consumers. To meet these business goals we need people, who have the ability to think strategically, attack their area of the business with an entrepreneurial attitude, and who possess the skills to execute with excellence. Diversity: Procter & Gamble is deeply committed to diversity in all aspects of recruiting, development, and promotion. Our ultimate business success depends upon developing and fully utilizing the unique skills of people of different genders, races, ages, and cultural backgrounds. This diversity provides a broader, richer, more fertile environment for creative thinking and innovation, which creates a source of competitive advantage for P&G. |
Wow. When I was a kid I thought for sure that the kind of cultural prejudice pushed by the AFA and MANY other Christian Right organizations would be a thing of the past by the time I reached adulthood. I don't think I could have been more wrong. What a stupid and terribly evil society we live in.
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Bush Admnistration Hard at Work, Protecting Me
Office of Management and Budget Blocked EPA Clean-Up of Air Pollution from Ships
| In 2002, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) drafted new policies to reduce air pollution resulting from diesel fuel burned by large, oceangoing ships. EPA was preparing to crack down on U.S. ships, some of the least regulated sources of air pollution, and lead the way on regulating emissions from foreign ships. But when EPA took its proposals to the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review, the new rules were gutted. Regulation of diesel exhaust from domestic ships has remained virtually unchanged--and attempts to regulate foreign ships was tabled until 2007. While the Bush administration has made much of its rules to curb diesel pollution from "nonroad" engines--ranging from lawnmowers to forklifts--diesel exhaust from large marine vessels, such as container, tanker and cruise ships, is increasing at a greater rate than the clean-up of emissions from land sources. Foreign-flagged ships make up 95 percent of the traffic in U.S. ports. International ocean shipping is likely to double or triple in the next 15 years. These ships emit significant levels of nitrous oxide, increasing the levels of climate-changing ozone worldwide, as well as huge quantities of sulfur, which contributes to acid rain. A recent article in the Seattle Times noted that ships coming to ports in Los Angeles/Long Beach already produce as much smog as southern California's 350 largest industrial polluters combined. Emissions from ships on the Pacific Northwest's Columbia and Snake river system were found to be 2.6 times worse than expected, adding significantly to haze in the Columbia River Gorge. Diesel exhaust contains known carcinogens. Small particles of residue in diesel exhaust, called fine particulate matter, can be breathed in and embedded in the lungs. They are linked to health problems including lung, kidney and bladder cancer, heart disease and asthma. In Washington's Puget Sound area, the levels of these particulates in the air is already so high that 500 people per every 1 million exposed to them over a lifetime are likely to get cancer. EPA's stricter regulations for domestic ships would have taken advantage of already available and proven cleanup technologies. The cost to industry would have been about $1.6 million annually. OMB was lobbied by the tanker industry to remove tighter pollution standards from EPA's draft rules. |
Oops. Sorry, I forgot I wasn't in the shipping industry. Anyway, what's a little dirty air from some boats? It's not like it ever killed anyone.
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"The Inspection Process was Rigged..."
Great piece by Scott Ritter (snippet):
| ....This blatant disregard for international law on the part of the world's two greatest democracies [US and Britain] serves as the foundation of any analysis of the question: would the world be better off with or without Saddam in power? To buy into the notion that the world is better off without Saddam, one would have to conclude that the framework of international law that held the world together since the end of the Second World War - the UN Charter - is antiquated and no longer viable in a post-9/11 world. Tragically, we can see the fallacy of that argument unfold on a daily basis, as the horrific ramifications of American and British unilateralism unfold across the globe. If there ever was a case to be made for a unified standard of law governing the interaction of nations, it is in how we as a global community prosecute the war on terror. Those who embrace unilateral pre-emptive strikes in the name of democracy and freedom have produced results that pervert the concept of democracy while bringing about the horrific tyranny of fear and oppression at the hands of those who posture as liberators. If Saddam were in power today, it would only have been because the US and Britain had altered course and joined the global community in recognising the pre-eminence of international law, and the necessity of all nations to operate in accordance with that law. The irony is that had the US and Britain taken this path, and an unrepentant Saddam chosen to defy the international community by acting on the intent he is alleged to have harboured, then he would have been removed from power by a true international coalition united in its legitimate defence of international law. But this is not the case. Saddam is gone, and the world is far worse for it - not because his regime posed no threat, perceived or otherwise, but because the threat to international peace and security resulting from the decisions made by Bush and Blair to invade Iraq in violation of international law make any threat emanating from an Iraq ruled by Saddam pale in comparison. |
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October 11, 2004
From Medscape: (subscription required)
Before you touch that "x" next to Bush's name on Nov. 2, think: Is the Bush Administration acting in your best interests, or in the interests of their corporate campaign contributors?
HERE is Dan Gillmor's third and final column on the technology aspects of Bush's and Kerry's campaign platforms. The Silicon Valley guru discusses Health Care and Energy policies.
Bush has pre-senile dimentia? (video) If so, this is a serious development. We need more definitive and objective analysis of this ASAP. If Iran, N. Korea and others have their fingers on the button, we cannot afford another Reagan in the White House.
Multimedia page including videos of all P/VP debates. (note: upper VP link is mis-titled, s/b 2nd Pres. debate)
Two Views of Bush and Lesser of Two Evils
No mistakes to see here. Keep moving.
Consider Putting Up a Sign Wednesday (read HERE too)
Donkey Porn
Scientists bewildered by sharp rise of CO2 in atmosphere for second year running.
This is weird. (flash video)
And this is very promising news on the cancer research front.
U.S. FDA Tried to Block Vioxx Results
From Medscape: (subscription required)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) Oct 08 - U.S. Food and Drug Administration officials pressured an agency safety official to keep quiet or water down his findings that the now-withdrawn arthritis drug Vioxx was dangerous to the heart, a leading Senate Republican charged on Thursday. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles Grassley said he interviewed FDA scientist David Graham as part of the committee's probe of how the agency handled the Merck & Co. Inc. drug, which the company pulled a week ago. According to a statement from Grassley, Graham said he had been "ostracized" and subject to "veiled threats" and "intimidation" from within the FDA when he tried to get his research published in the weeks before Merck acknowledged Vioxx's risks. FDA officials could not immediately be reached for comment on Thursday evening. Graham, associate director for science in the FDA's Office of Drug Safety, concluded that patients who took Vioxx had a 50-percent greater chance of heart attacks and sudden cardiac death than people who took Pfizer Inc.'s rival medicine Celebrex. When an FDA official suggested Graham water down his findings, Graham wrote, "I've gone about as far as I can without compromising my deeply held conclusions," according to Grassley. On August 12, one of Graham's supervisors wrote that Merck "needs to know before it becomes public so they can be prepared for extensive media attention," Grassley said. Graham's conclusions were presented at a conference in France on August 25. Merck withdrew Vioxx after the company's own three-year study found higher heart attack and stroke risks for people who took the painkiller, compared with others who took a placebo. "Instead of acting as a public watchdog, the Food and Drug Administration was busy challenging its own expert," Grassley said. The treatment of Graham was similar to the agency's handling of warnings from another FDA scientist, Dr. Andrew Mosholder, that antidepressants increased the chances of suicidal behavior in children and teens, Grassley said. FDA officials prevented Mosholder from presenting his conclusions at a public meeting, saying they disagreed with him. Last month, the agency acknowledged a link between the antidepressants and suicidal behavior. "In both cases, what looks like foot-dragging by the Food and Drug Administration is downright alarming," Grassley said. |
Before you touch that "x" next to Bush's name on Nov. 2, think: Is the Bush Administration acting in your best interests, or in the interests of their corporate campaign contributors?
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"Kerry has edge over Bush on health care, energy policy"
HERE is Dan Gillmor's third and final column on the technology aspects of Bush's and Kerry's campaign platforms. The Silicon Valley guru discusses Health Care and Energy policies.
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Bush has pre-senile dimentia? (video) If so, this is a serious development. We need more definitive and objective analysis of this ASAP. If Iran, N. Korea and others have their fingers on the button, we cannot afford another Reagan in the White House.
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Around for Everyone
Multimedia page including videos of all P/VP debates. (note: upper VP link is mis-titled, s/b 2nd Pres. debate)
Two Views of Bush and Lesser of Two Evils
No mistakes to see here. Keep moving.
Consider Putting Up a Sign Wednesday (read HERE too)
Donkey Porn
Scientists bewildered by sharp rise of CO2 in atmosphere for second year running.
This is weird. (flash video)
And this is very promising news on the cancer research front.
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October 9, 2004
Never heard of him before last week. This man is now my friggin' HERO. You already know why.
"Iraq: victory or defeat"
We seem so concerned about this inspection report and that troop strength report, and how much of our tax dollars are getting sucked up by the Halliburton corporate vacuum, and how there's no way voting could possibly succeed in January.... These all pale by far, as far as two points on the opposite ends of an infinite line, to the rapidly developing genocide we've started in this once proud Arab nation. We Americans must bow our heads in total shame to the human destruction we've allowed our leaders to deploy on such a massive scale.
You and I know, reader, deep down inside our souls, that we have partaken on an evil course in Iraq. For every breath you take while reading this, another innocent Iraqi civilian is getting maimed or murdered for no reason other than our being in their country. There is only one correct action to take, and that is to get out immediately, every last soldier, contractor, journalist and appointed politician. I am confident that you would not find a single US soldier willing to stay voluntarily. We then need to pay whatever it takes, to any willing nation not part of Bush's coalition gang, to peacefully enter Iraq and offer anything they ask: food, housing, utilities, water systems, transportation systems, schools.... We owe them a huge retribution for what we've done to them. There is no other moral solution.
Never heard of him before last week. This man is now my friggin' HERO. You already know why.
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Why the Iraqis hate (and I mean HATE) us
"Iraq: victory or defeat"
| By Mirza A. Beg (YellowTimes.org) If destruction was the objective, the United States could have destroyed Iraq in one fell swoop. Destroying Iraq was not the stated objective. Destroying it slowly with a promise to rebuild is proving to be excruciatingly expensive, in American reputation, lives and material. Winning means achieving the objectives of the war. The aim of removing Saddam from power was achieved, but the reasons for the war -- WMD, imminent threat of nuclear weapons, and collusion between al-Qaeda and Saddam -- were false and contrived, as proven by the 9/11 commission and congressional and independent inquiries as well as the CIA. Though Wolfowitz conceded in 2003 that creating democracy would not have been a sufficient reason to invade Iraq, Bush nevertheless, has settled on the war objective of bringing democracy to Iraq and being the "best friend" of Iraqis. Americans legitimately mourn the deaths of their service personnel and celebrate their sacrifices. American service men and women lay down their lives for their country at the order of the commander-in-chief. They follow orders regardless of the ineptitude of the leadership. The Bush administration cowardly hides behind the sacrifices of the servicemen by falsely equating the criticism of Bush policies to the criticism of the servicemen. While Iraq is spiraling down into death and destruction, Iraqi doubts of US sincerity are crystallizing into total distrust. Americans are oblivious to the Iraqi casualties. They may not matter to us. They matter enormously to the Iraqis and the rest of the world. The total counts of Iraqi dead and wounded are not even reported, let alone mourned in America. Rumsfeld calls them collateral damage. American media does show the dead children being pulled out of the rubble, but no one bats an eye. As of September 2004, about 1050 Americans have died and 7,000 have been wounded in Iraq. The ratio of American dead and wounded is about 1 to 7 Estimates of Iraqi dead range from 20,000 to as much as 60,000. The Iraqi wounded are overwhelmingly civilians caught in our "precision" aerial bombing in congested neighborhoods. Iraqis do not wear flack jackets or travel in armored vehicles. A conservative estimate of the ratio of Iraqi dead and wounded would be 1 to 15. Using the conservative figure of 20,000, means there are about 300,000 Iraqi wounded. In our own lives we know that if one of us was injured or killed, about 100 to 500 people would know and care enough to hate the perpetrators. Considering the low figure of 100 would result in 30 million Iraqis angry with the US for the death and destruction. The population of Iraq is only 24 million. Granted many injured may belong to the same family and would have overlapping circles of friends. Still the number is extremely high. Add to that the daily bombings by the insurgents and hostage taking because the US occupation cannot enforce law and order. Iraqis have experienced more death and destruction from their new "best friend" than the brutal and hated Saddam regime. Suddenly Saddam does not look as bad any more. This is borne out by the Iraqi public opinion surveys. The hatred of America has reached about 80%, which amount to about nineteen million Iraqis. After proclaiming "mission accomplished," Bush blamed the insurgency on the Saddam loyalist and foreign al-Qaeda sympathizers. It is only partly true because no insurgency can survive without the support of the population. The support has gradually grown and in effect Iraqis see it as a guerilla war of liberation against American occupation. The Bush Administration has banned Al Jazeera, in the US and in Iraq. This only deprives Americans from finding what others see. Iraqis intently watch American news and can see that Bush does not care how many Iraqis die or are maimed. There is no discussion or sadness in America about the Iraqi dead. Iraqis learn from Bush and his supporters that the war in Iraq is good, as it attracts the "terrorists" to Iraq to be killed so that the US remains safe. This is good propaganda for the US elections, but unfortunately Iraqis believe Bush, and hate us even more. Iraq is their home. They are killed, maimed and destroyed, while Bush is attracting the terrorists to Iraq to fight them there. Could al-Qaeda have hoped for a better a propaganda tool? Stubbornly, Bush insists on "staying the course." On this disastrous course the war objectives cannot be met. If the course is not changed, the war is as good as lost. |
We seem so concerned about this inspection report and that troop strength report, and how much of our tax dollars are getting sucked up by the Halliburton corporate vacuum, and how there's no way voting could possibly succeed in January.... These all pale by far, as far as two points on the opposite ends of an infinite line, to the rapidly developing genocide we've started in this once proud Arab nation. We Americans must bow our heads in total shame to the human destruction we've allowed our leaders to deploy on such a massive scale.
You and I know, reader, deep down inside our souls, that we have partaken on an evil course in Iraq. For every breath you take while reading this, another innocent Iraqi civilian is getting maimed or murdered for no reason other than our being in their country. There is only one correct action to take, and that is to get out immediately, every last soldier, contractor, journalist and appointed politician. I am confident that you would not find a single US soldier willing to stay voluntarily. We then need to pay whatever it takes, to any willing nation not part of Bush's coalition gang, to peacefully enter Iraq and offer anything they ask: food, housing, utilities, water systems, transportation systems, schools.... We owe them a huge retribution for what we've done to them. There is no other moral solution.
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October 8, 2004
ddjangoWIrE is signing off. He's going to be sorely missed. (He's okay; he's just no longer posting.)
A letter To God From Down Under
Bush Win: Good for Neocons, Bad for Everyone Else.
Face it: Bush Doesn't Like Iraqi Weddings.
Good to be in D.C.! (very funny political cartoon video)
Say Goodbye
ddjangoWIrE is signing off. He's going to be sorely missed. (He's okay; he's just no longer posting.)
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Around for Everyone
A letter To God From Down Under
Bush Win: Good for Neocons, Bad for Everyone Else.
Face it: Bush Doesn't Like Iraqi Weddings.
Good to be in D.C.! (very funny political cartoon video)
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I don't know what's wrong with Backblog's COMMENTS service. I miss hearing from you folks. As a paying Backblog customer, I think I deserve at least an explanation from them. (And, yes, I paid my subscription renewal.)
UPDATE: Yariv at Backblog pointed out to me that the apostrophe I had in my title ("It's hard work" which I changed to "It is hard work") was the culprit. Kind of a goofy thing (the apostrophe) that prevents the service from working, but I do appreciate the very quick reply to my request for help. I recommend Backblog for your blog comments; it's very stable and reliable, and the optional paid service gives you many useful features, including the ability to easily delete offensive comments. Of course, I like to leave the more offensive ones up, as it only reveals the commentor's sad mental state.
As billions were spent to prevent biological terrorism, officials fumbled a simple vaccine program.
Juan Cole summarizes Bush's "War on Terror":
Yes, I'd rehire them and then outsource/offshore them to the terrorists.
Watch THIS VIDEO CLIP of Representative Tim Ryan taking Bush to task for lying about the draft. It's so heartening to see someone speak what we think.
UPDATE: Yariv at Backblog pointed out to me that the apostrophe I had in my title ("It's hard work" which I changed to "It is hard work") was the culprit. Kind of a goofy thing (the apostrophe) that prevents the service from working, but I do appreciate the very quick reply to my request for help. I recommend Backblog for your blog comments; it's very stable and reliable, and the optional paid service gives you many useful features, including the ability to easily delete offensive comments. Of course, I like to leave the more offensive ones up, as it only reveals the commentor's sad mental state.
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The Failure to Deal With the Flu
As billions were spent to prevent biological terrorism, officials fumbled a simple vaccine program.
| COMMENTARY - By Matthew Davis - October 8, 2004 Over the last three years, the United States government has spent several billion dollars preparing for a biological attack by terrorists. Yet it now seems likely that starting in the next couple of weeks, tens of millions of Americans will be defenseless and thousands will die because we have botched preparations for a natural biological attack everyone knew was coming: the flu. This week, British health authorities halted production at a Liverpool factory operated by California's Chiron Corp. that supplies half of the flu vaccine for the U.S., about 48 million doses. U.S. officials claim to have been surprised at the shutdown despite widely publicized problems at the plant, which in August caused the contamination of more than a million doses of vaccine. There is now talk of a hasty plan to ration this year's vaccine. Ironically, only a couple of months ago, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was trying to greatly expand the pool of people it said should get a flu shot, not limit it. This is the second year in a row in which federal health authorities have fumbled the flu vaccine. Last year, the vaccine offered only minimal, if any, protection against what turned out to be the dominant and most virulent strain of the season, and there were shortages of that weak concoction as well. One wonders why, given what is at stake � flu kills about 36,000 people each year and sickens millions more � flu vaccine problems are not being addressed at the highest level. And it's not just the ordinary flu seasons, bad as they can be, that we should be worried about. The flu failures we have witnessed over the last two years are particularly alarming given that most disease experts believe we are long overdue for a flu pandemic. A pandemic is what happens when a new and horrifyingly virulent strain of flu emerges for which people have little if any natural protection. The pandemic that hit in 1918 and 1919 killed 500,000 people in the U.S. and millions worldwide. Americans are right to fear that a system that cannot properly prepare for a regular flu season would be easily overwhelmed in the event of a pandemic. Our government authorities put Americans at risk by stubbornly and stupidly depending on just two facilities, one located outside the U.S. and far removed from federal regulators, to provide all of our flu vaccine. Meanwhile, Britain had at least the minimal foresight to spread its vaccine purchases among several suppliers. Which brings us back to the billions recently spent in the U.S. on public health preparedness. How could we have invested so much yet really be no better prepared than we were three years ago for a major biological threat like the influenza virus? A key reason is that the health preparedness effort has focused almost exclusively on agents that might be used by terrorists, despite the fact that flu invasions are much more likely and, if it's a pandemic strain, will be much more deadly than an attack involving anthrax or smallpox. The proof of this poor judgment is there for all to see in today's easily avoidable flu vaccine shortage and the fact that preparations for a pandemic flu attack have progressed little beyond a draft plan that's been kicking around the federal bureaucracy for years. Moreover, we have failed to take advantage of modern vaccine production practices to improve both the quality and quantity of flu vaccines. Instead, the U.S. continues to rely on outdated, time-consuming methods that are to vaccine technology what the manual typewriter is to the personal computer. So, as we stand grossly unprepared for the upcoming flu season and the threat of an impending pandemic, it is cold comfort knowing that we have warehouses being stocked with smallpox vaccine and sophisticated sensors designed to detect biowarfare agents deployed in major cities. It's enough to make one wish: If only Al Qaeda, rather than Mother Nature, were the one threatening us with influenza. And what a shame that when it comes to biological threats, the human immune system, unlike U.S. policymakers, doesn't make such distinctions. |
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War on Tactics
Juan Cole summarizes Bush's "War on Terror":
| ...The Bush administration announced a "war on terror" in fall of 2001, but it has never been clear what exactly a war on terror was. Terror is not itself a concrete enemy. It is a tactic. As horrible as the tactic of inflicting deliberate harm on noncombatants is, it has been widely used in world history in all sorts of struggles. Warring on a tactic is a meaningless phrase. The actual wars fought by the Bush administration have only been two. The first was against the Taliban and al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, with mixed results. The Taliban regime was overthrown, but Afghanistan was not substantially rebuilt and remains unstable. The top leadership of al-Qaeda escaped capture and has continued to encourage terrorist actions. Ayman al-Zawahiri, the number two man in the organization, is said to have suggested the bombings in Istanbul last winter, and is probably behind Taba. The second was against the Baath regime in Iraq. It was not a purveyor of anti-American international terrorism and was so weak and ramshackle as to pose no conceivable threat to the United States. That war was won handily, but the subsequent guerrilla war and political struggle continues and appears to be growing in scope and influence. Bush opened the floodgates to terrorism in Iraq. This is a poor record for Bush to run on. Half of Afghanistan's gross national product derives from opium sales, creating the threat of major narco-terrorism. The Taliban are resurgent in some Pushtun areas of the south. The Afghan vice president was nearly assassinated earlier this week. National parliamentary elections were postponed nearly a year and only a presidential election is being held on Saturday. Usamah Bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri are at large, along with several other important leaders. Worse, al-Qaeda has morphed into a headless set of asymmetrical terrorist organizations, such as the Fizazi group based at al-Quds mosque in Tangiers, which hit both Casablanca and Madrid. The Bush administration thinks the problem is rogue states. But the real problem is radical terrorist groups. Bush has done all too little about the latter. Most of the al-Qaeda officials captured have been taken by the Pakistani military, so that this vital task has actually been outsourced. But where the Pakistani military wants to coddle an al-Qaeda-linked group, like the Army of the Prophet's Companions, it does, and Bush seems too weak to stop it. Bush and Cheney want now to overthrow Syria and Iran, pushing them into the sort of instability we have seen in Iraq. If you were a company that brought in terror consultants to work on this problem, and after 3 years you saw the sort of results we saw on Thursday, would you really rehire them? |
Yes, I'd rehire them and then outsource/offshore them to the terrorists.
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THIS is how you say it.
Watch THIS VIDEO CLIP of Representative Tim Ryan taking Bush to task for lying about the draft. It's so heartening to see someone speak what we think.