This story reminds me of the old Humpty Dumpty rhyme - "... and all the kings horses and all the kings men couldn't put Humpty Dumpty together again."

President Bush has the Pentagon, the State Department and others trying to figure out what happened to the missing explosives. Now!

Um... Mr. President? Saddam has been out of power for one and a half years and you're just now getting around to attempting to figure out where 380 tons of extremely powerful explosives might be?

Posted by Kevin at 12:56 PM |

WA 5: Making a mess for McMorris

From the Lewiston Morning Tribune:

Watch out: U.S. Chamber of Commerce is baaack (10/27)
Lewiston Morning Tribune, Column (Fisher) - Senn, Barbieri, McMorris, Murray, Nethercutt
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce apparently can't help itself. Its interference in the primary race for Washington attorney general angered its allies as well as its critics. But that hasn't stopped it from doing the same in the general election race for the same seat.
How could Democrat Deborah Senn be so lucky?

"We were holding our noses anyway. But that went too far," said Utah Republican Party Chairman Joe Cannon. "I and many others thought these were over the top."

Personally I think it's honorable that the local GOP Party people see the nastiness and aren't willing to be so ruthless as to allow the NRCC to do anything to win. It's apparently causing a war between the state and national party, however. This might be the ending of a beautiful friendship.

Posted by Carla at 02:11 PM |

Meanwhile back in the Twilight Zone...

... The Sydney Morning Herald (subscription required) is treading where our domestic media apparently fears to tread.

Yesterday they reported on Bush's Religious Right base and how many of them believe that God wants Bush to win.

Does God favour the Republican George Bush or the Democrat John Kerry? Bush supporters have no doubts.

"God is out there, actively campaigning for President Bush," said Beverly Ryan, a retired legal secretary and born-again Christian from West Palm Beach, Florida.

But Barry Lynn, a United Church of Christ minister and the executive director of the Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, said: "It is, I think, extremely dangerous for people to believe that God is a Republican or a Democrat or a Naderite or even a Libertarian."

When Mr Bush sought the presidency in 2000 he played down his religious convictions and played up his "compassionate conservative" values. But his political strategist, Karl Rove, realised that about 4 million evangelical Christian voters had not turned out in 2000, and set out a plan to get them on board in this year's re-election campaign.

I'm sure that nobody is surprised that Karl Rove's fingerprints are all over this particular spin job. Kerry for his part has started to fight back with the most appropriate tool for the task - the Bible.

Senator Kerry, after months of saying little about his own Catholic faith, has in recent weeks started to criticise Mr Bush obliquely.

At the urging of advisers, he has also started speaking seriously about his own Catholic faith.

At the Friendship Missionary Baptist Church in Miami he spoke of politicians who "talk a lot" about faith but who don't back up the talk with programs to help the needy.

"It is written in James: 'What does it mean, my brother, to say that you have faith if there are no deeds?"' Senator Kerry told a predominantly black congregation.

"Faith without works is dead."

Exactly! Talk is cheap. I could claim to be the Jolly Green Giant. But, does that assertion make it fact? Of course not! Likewise, I can claim to be a man of faith. But, if I don't walk what I'm talking then I'm just blowing hot air.

One last quote from the Herald piece:

Beverly Ryan said: "George Bush did what God wanted him to do. Who cares what the rest of the world thinks?"

I think that just about sums up the mentality of the extreme religious right.

Posted by Kevin at 12:50 PM |

October 26, 2004

Lions and tigers and bear consumer confidence?

For those who make the economy their top priority....not so good news if you are a Bush supporter:

U.S. consumer confidence fell for a third straight month in October, suggesting growing voter discontent with the economy a week before President George W. Bush seeks re-election.

The Conference Board's consumer confidence index dropped to 92.8, the lowest since March, from a revised 96.7 in September, down from the previous estimate. Americans' assessments of the current economy and their outlook for the next six months fell.

Yikes.

Posted by Carla at 06:58 PM |

Oops...they did it again

The Republicans are at it again:

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.

Election supervisor Ion Sancho believes some voters are being intimidated
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".

Ion Sancho, a Democrat, noted that Florida law allows political party operatives inside polling stations to stop voters from obtaining a ballot.

As I've stated before, Republicans can't win when lots of people turn out to vote. So the next best thing is to intimidate them into not being able to vote.

Posted by Carla at 04:58 PM |

Ostrich+Sand=Bush

John Kerry is pushing hard the last week of the campaign, going after Bush for not accepting the consequences of his mistakes and refusing to confront the problems he's created.

And Kerry has quite a list to choose from when it comes to citations of Bush's bad decisions. There's a series of twistedly awful demonstrations of incompetence.

It begins with 9/11. The Bush team ignored eight months of warnings about Al Qaida, actively pursing an agenda of cold war style policies. Even in the face of very alarming warnings specifically including Bin Laden and hijackings, the Administration rebuffed them in favor of it's focus on missile defense and whatever the antithesis of Clinton policy they could find. This was a fundamental betrayal of the trust Americans had placed with Bush.

Then there's the actively misleading and trumped up intel on Iraq's WMD. The complete and total reliance by the Bush team with a known criminal in Ahmed Chalabi is inexcusable. Cheney camping out at the CIA, pushing for intel to back the case to invade Iraq. Trotting out Colin Powell to make a case for aluminum tubes that were known by government experts to be impossible for the uses Powell testifyed to.

Then there's Abu Ghraib. This issue is the poster child for gross negligence and incompetence by Bush. The damage to our national security by this issue is yet unknown but could theoretically be the greatest recruiting tool the Iraqi insurgency and Al Qaida have at their disposal.

And of course the recent revelations on large quantities of RMX and HMX explosives that have gone missing in Iraq. This issue is a metaphor for just how badly Iraq has been handled. And it's also a master class on media spin. The Bush team and it's surrogates have been working overtime to turn this story into someone else's fault.

Incidentally, if you're interested in the details of that issue, go see Josh Marshall. You can start at the top and work your way down...there's a lot.

So according to Bush and his supporters:

9/11 was Clinton's fault.

Trumped up and bad intel on Iraq was the CIA's fault.

They never actually depended on Chalabi and they weren't close to him (never mind those pesky pictures of Chalabi right behind Laura during the SOTU)

Abu Ghraib is the fault of the soldiers on the scene.

Al Qaqaa's missing deadly explosives are the fault of...the IAEA..or maybe Saddam took them...(even though the US knew the site contained huge caches of weapons and would have been monitoring the site via satellite, knocking out any truck convoy with the complete air superiority we had over Hussein)...but it's not Bush's fault.

Responsibility is a four letter word to these people (Perhaps literally to Bush).

Posted by Carla at 10:50 AM |

October 25, 2004

Find your polling place

The fella that runs this site sent Kev and me an email asking us to give him a little exposure.

The site allows you to find your polling place in four clicks or so. check it out.

Posted by Carla at 03:50 PM |

CA: 20 Costa in trouble?

California's 20th Congressional District race should easily go to the Democrat, Jim Costa.

But it isn't.

Republican Roy Ashburn is making it a race. The reason? At least in part due to heavy NRCC marketing. The Republicans have dumped about $1 million into this race.

The Democrats need to keep an eye on this one and it seems like it's off everyone's radar. I don't have the latest polling yet, but my source tells me it's too close for comfort at the moment.

This could end up being a surprise pickup for the GOP, if the Dems aren't careful.

Posted by Carla at 02:53 PM |

Woah!

Rasmussen Reports has Kerry up by 2 percentage points - 48.4 to 46.4

I don't remember the last time that Rasmussen had Kerry up at all. Even when Kerry was riding high in the major polls, Rasmussen showed it a much closer race. Many have taken this to indicate a bias towards Bush. Which makes this Kerry lead significant.

Posted by Kevin at 01:07 PM |

WA 5 and 8: The good, the bad and the ugly

The race in Washington's 8th Congressional District appears to solidly moving for Dave Ross, the Democrat. Ross has been in a tough race with former sheriff Reichert. But Republican Reichert can't seem to gain traction in a district that's Progressive. This open GOP seat will very likely go Democrat on November 2.

The Washington District 5 race is looking less a winner for the Democrats. Barbieri's (D) own polls show him behind Cathy McMorris (R) by 5 points. The race is seen as very tight however, and the national Republicans just made a tactical error. The National Chamber of Commerce has been sending out attack mailings against Barbieri on an issue that the local Spokane Chamber of Commerce (that Barbieri used to lead) embraced. The ultimate outcome of this error is yet unknown but it may eat into McMorris' lead. This one is probably going to be a nailbiter.

Posted by Carla at 09:38 AM |

Genuine Draft

Is the US headed for a draft?

BC04 says no way, no how. KE04 says we're already having one of the backdoor sort and it's only a matter of time before Bush has to institute a real one in order to maintain his policies.

Paul Glastris floats the notion that if the worm turns in Iran and/or North Korea, Kerry's proposal to increase troop strength by 40,000 won't be enough (and if Bush wins, we'll be in an even deeper hole).

The solution? Glastris offers up a plan:

In a nutshell, we propose that every young person headed for a four-year college be required, as a condition of admittance, to serve his or her country for a year or two in some capacity--as an AmeriCorps member, in some homeland security role, or in the military. All who complete their service would receive G.I.-Bill-type college scholarships, with the largest grants going to those who serve the longest and choose the most dangerous duty. No one, then, would be required to join the military. But even if only, say, five percent of the million-plus young people who enter four-year colleges a year were to choose the military option, the U.S. military would be getting 50,000 additional college-grade volunteers to deploy as needed (probably as MPs and truck drivers in places like Kosovo and South Korea, but possibly in Iraq).

Glastris goes on to say that he's floated the idea to students deep in Bush Country (Twin Falls, Idaho) and more than half favored the idea. Glastris says he's had similar reactions all over the country.

I have a son who will be 18 at the end of Kerry's first term or Bush's second. He's very likely going to be a college bound student who would fall under the pirameters of Glastris' plan. I like the idea of him having options, especially if a military draft becomes inevitable.

How would we get this to work in a time where the military requires a regular draft? Would the service young people had already given be counted as a part of their service or would they have to start from scratch?

There's some important unanswered questions.

Posted by Carla at 08:31 AM |

October 24, 2004

If I had a hammer..I'd hammer in the morning...

I'd hammer in the evening...all over this guy's head:

The Republican National Committee is employing the services of a Texas-based activist who believes the United States is a “Christian nation” and the separation of church and state is “a myth.”

David Barton, the founder of an organization called Wallbuilders, was hired by the RNC as a political consultant and has been traveling the country for a year--speaking at about 300 RNC-sponsored lunches for local evangelical pastors. During the lunches, he presents a slide show of American monuments, discusses his view of America’s Christian heritage -- and tells pastors that they are allowed to endorse political candidates from the pulpit.

Wallbuilder, indeed. Must be part of the "Divider not a Uniter", set.

We have a "Christian heritage"? Is this something we want to embrace and be proud of?

The Christians in New England burned women at the stake for "witchcraft" and didn't allow people to vote unless they were a member of the church.

The Christians in the US used the Bible to advocate for subjugation of women, slavery and prohibition. Not to mention the denial of basic rights to women and blacks.

Christianity does a lot of good in the world. But (in general) when it mixes with the State...it always ends up screwing a bunch of folks.

And for the record, the US Constitution and American law in general are based on English Common Law (not the Bible..as the wingers like to tell us.

And any time you hear a preacher advocating for a particular candidate from the pulpit...report them to the IRS. Churches have tax exempt status as long as they don't get directly involved in politics. Preaching for a candidate is a no-no.

Thanks to Donald for the link.

Posted by Carla at 07:49 PM |

But we did manage to guard the Ministry of Oil

When the US invaded Iraq and went into Baghdad, there were widespread reports of looting, pillaging and plundering of all sorts.

Apparently lost in this ransacking of Iraq is some 350 tons of high explosives (RDX and HMX),
which were under IAEA seal while Saddam was in power.They were looted during the early days of the US occupation. Like much of Iraq, it was left unguarded.

The one place that the US managed to guard was Iraq's Ministry of Oil. That went untouched by looters.

So due to Bush Administration incompetence, we have 350 tons of some of the most powerful military explosive available...unaccounted for. But the paperwork at the Ministry of Oil in Iraq is all there. Nobody managed to loot it.

Feeling safer now?

Posted by Carla at 07:07 PM |

All the little chicks with the crimson lips go "Cleveland Rocks!"

Livin in sin with a safety pin go "Cleveland Rocks!"

Ohio has been talked about as the lynchpin of the Presidential race for most of the campaign season. But according to Bush's schedule..Ohio appears to be ceded to Kerry.

Todd at Centerfield thinks Bush can win fairly easily without Ohio. The comments on the thread from self-confessed political campaign guy Tully concur with Todd.

But Kos has been doing the math too and finds Bush coming up short:

Note Bush's upcoming schedule -- lots of Iowa, NM and Wisconsin. It increasingly looks like Bush will end up camping out in Wisconsin the last week of the election. Because without Wisconsin, he can't pull it off. (And here I am assuming that MN is increasingly out of reach -- a fact confirmed by Bush's upcoming travel schedule.)

The map above (see link at Kos--) puts the EV count at 262 Kerry, 254 Bush. NM and IA, combined, would not offset a Kerry victory in WI. Bush needs both Wisconsin and either Iowa or New Mexico. Wisconsin and NM, in this scenario, gives us the dreaded 269-269 tie that would send matters to the House of Representatives and a likely Bush victory.

Latest Zogby polling has Bush leading in Iowa, Wisconsin and New Mexico. And what I don't think Todd and Tully have taken into account is Bush losing Colorado (9 electoral votes), where he is currently polling four points down to Kerry.

And then there's Florida...where the last four polls are thus:

Miami-Herald
10/19-10/21, 800 LV's, MoE 3.5
Kerry 46
Bush 46

Research 2000
10/18-10/21, 600 LV's, MoE 4
Kerry 48
Bush 47

Quinnipiac
10/15-10/19, 808 LV's, MoE 3.5
Bush 48
Kerry 47

Survey USA
10/15-10/17, 601 LV's, MoE 4.1
Kerry 50
Bush 49

If Kerry wins Ohio, Pennsylvania, Florida AND Colorado (Kerry just made Arkansas competitive too), there's no way Bush can win.

Posted by Carla at 06:16 PM |

Time for a PSA

I just read a heart-wrenching series of posts over at Letters to Nowhere This woman's younger brother just died... apparently of a drug overdose. She is understandably grief-stricken.

This hits home for me. See... I used to be an addict myself. In 1988 I was diagnosed as dually addicted to cocaine and amphetamines (we called it "crank"). I've been clean ever since. But, it could easily have been me who put his family thru such profound grief. I didn't realize it until after I'd been clean a year or so and heard another cocaine addict describe her own overdose where she ended up in an ER. It chilled me to the bone to realize that the symptoms she described were ones that I had experienced once. Except she'd been where somebody could call 911. I was driving myself around all night, stopping now and then to do my coke. There was nobody there for me to tell about the chest pains... about the dizziness... about the racing heartbeat... But for the grace of God, I could have been the one putting my family thru the kind of intense grief that this woman exhibits on her blog.

Although it's not "fun" or entertaining... I would encourage all of our readers to go read what this woman has posted on her blog. If you or someone you know has a problem with drugs... don't pretend that you can safely ignore it and it'll get better somehow. It almost never does!

I have a pretty strong libertarian streak and believe that adults ought to be able to do pretty much what they want with their own bodies. And simply using hard drugs does not make one an addict. An addict is one who has lost the power of choice at some point in the game, and is no longer able to stop on the basis of willpower. Berating them for their lack of willpower is about as effective as standing outside a burning building complaining that the stupid people inside shouldn't have worn flamable clothing. Both approaches are equally effective in saving lives.

If you are unsure what to do about a friend or family member (or even yourself...) who might have a problem. Look up Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous, or Cocaine Anonymous in your local phone book. All have help hotlines in most areas. If the person answering the phone can't help you directly, they should be able to direct you to someone who can. Or you can find their websites online and seek info that way.

Posted by Kevin at 12:08 PM |

Maybe God is trying to tell you something...

Maybe God is trying to tell you right now, right now

What's He trying to tell you?

Perhaps that justice and law matter. And when we disallow justice and usurp law, we invite that same disallowance and usurpation to eventually come back to us.

From today's Washington Post:

At the request of the CIA, the Justice Department drafted a confidential memo that authorizes the agency to transfer detainees out of Iraq for interrogation -- a practice that international legal specialists say contravenes the Geneva Conventions.

One intelligence official familiar with the operation said the CIA has used the March draft memo as legal support for secretly transporting as many as a dozen detainees out of Iraq in the last six months. The agency has concealed the detainees from the International Committee of the Red Cross and other authorities, the official said.

The Bush Administration has officially turned the United States of America into a government that spits on the law.

You don't defeat terrorists by flouting the law and hiding from the Red Cross. You create more of them.

Posted by Carla at 11:44 AM |

October 23, 2004

Simply Amazing...

Electablog* has a really good post on a new PIPA poll that reveals a truly shocking level of ignorance among Bush supporters.

A few selected excerpts:

- 72% of Bush supporters (B.S.) still believe that Iraq had WMDs. (OK, stop here for second. Because I occasionally inject humor into my posts, I want to make something totally clear: This is not a parody.)

- 75% of B.S. believe that Saddam was providing substantial support to Al Qaeda. 60% believe most experts agree with this conclusion and 55% believe that was the ultimate finding of the 9-11 commission report. (This is ignorance at its worst. The B.S. are wildly wrong, and yet they don't even know that their position is marginal.)

- 75% of B.S. perceive the administration as saying that Iraq was providing substantial support to Al Qaeda.

There is lots more! And it goes well beyond the Iraq War. Read the rest of it here: Stand Up and Befuddled - The Shocking Untruth

To me this is a scathing indictment not only of the Karl Rove spin machine and our domestic media that regurgitates much of that spin as "news", but also of our school systems. Critical thinking isn't something one is born with! It needs to be taught. And last, but not least, it's a scathing indictment of the willful ignorance of partisan zealots.

Dale Carnegie made one of the most profound observations in human history when he wrote, "a man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still." Personally I think Herbert Spencer said it even better - "There is a principle which is a bar against all information, which is proof against all arguments and which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance - that principle is contempt prior to investigation."

Posted by Kevin at 07:54 PM |

And you cannot handle PRESSURE

The only thing you feel are loaded guns in your face, and you'll have to deal with PRESSURE

Sinclair Media Group caved to intense pressure from Kerry supporters and fairness advocates and didn't play the anti-Kerry "Stolen Honor" film. Instead they apparently played some piece apparently strung together by Sinclair, which appears to have been pretty sympathetic to Kerry.

And the Freepers are pissed.

LOL

Posted by Carla at 01:48 PM |

Oregon state district 29 race

My intention coming into this election was to vote a straight Dem ticket because I feel that the Repubs badly need to be slapped down until or unless they reign in the NeoCon wing of their party. Carla and I got to talking about it one day and I mentioned the legislative district race on my ballot. She lives in a neighboring legislative district.

Mary Gallegos is the incumbant Republican running for re-election. And Chuck Riley is the Democrat running against her. Incidently, Tom Cox, the Libertarian who ran a reasonably strong third for Governor against eventual winner Kulongoski and GOPer Kevin Mannix, is the third candidate for this seat. All three candidates have professional and business experience with computers, oddly enough. Although perhaps not too odd since this district is on the edge of the so-called Silicon Forest (Carla's district).

Anyway... Carla mentioned to me that she'd have a hard time voting against Gallegos because she had stood up to the rightwingers in the legislature. That gave me reason to pause and reconsider, since moderate Republicans are who I prefer to vote for most of the time. And slapping down the rightwing is my primary motivation this election...

So I get my ballot and Voter's Guides in the mail and was pondering my choice when a piece of political junk mail arrived. It was from group calling itself Majority 2004 with a P.O. box in Salem. It was an attack piece on Chuck Riley. So I read it. Now... for those readers who haven't been with us from the beginning here, I was and remain a huge fan of Howard Dean. The relevance is that this attack piece on Chuck Riley was all about out-of-state funding sources for Riley's campaign. Normally that would indeed be of interest to me. But I read the fine print and noticed that they listed Dean's Democracy for America as one of Riley's out-of-state sources of funding. So I jump on my computer and go to the DFA website (listed on our sidebar under Links) and did a search. I couldn't find anything about Chuck Riley. But, in any case it wouldn't have mattered. Believing as I do that our political system is seriously Cheneyed up and that DFA is one of the few organizations out there fighting for real change... I took even the accusation of Riley accepting money from DFA as an endorsement.

I guess you could say their attack backfired. My ballot is filled out and in the mail.

Posted by Kevin at 10:54 AM |

We report, you decide.

Republicans more likely to answer phone polls

I hate answering the phone when the Caller ID shows it to be an unknown number or a telemarketer. I rarely answer.

Could it be my fellow liberals do this in general?

Posted by Carla at 08:38 AM |

October 22, 2004

Taking Democracy For A Ride

Last night I sat down with my trusty Voter's Guide, ballot, (Oregonians vote by mail, so our ballots come to our mailing address)and black ink pen to fill out my ballot for the 2004 election. Voting gives me an intense feeling of civic pride and participation. I look forward to it every time.

That said I am really disenchanted with Oregon's ballot initiative process. For those that don't know, Oregon (I know California and Washington do this too) allows citizens to gather petitions to put issues on the ballot for voters.

Every year there's a cumbersome list of issues stemming from various interest groups trying to push their agenda. This year is no different.

Two iniatives of note are 36 and 37.

36 would amend the Oregon Constitution to make marriage legal only between a man and a woman. As you can well imagine, this one has the support of the conservative contingent in Oregon.

37 states that "governments must pay owners, or forgo enforcement, when certain land use restrictions reduce property values". In an nutshell, this means that if you used to be able to do something on your property and the government changes the land use laws and now you can't, then the government has taken something away from you and has to compensate you. This too has the hefty backing of the various conservatives in the state.

Most people in Oregon believe that the Oregon Constitution currently allows gays to legally marry. So therefore if 36 passes and gays are no longer allowed to marry, shouldn't the State of Oregon be compensating them for what was taken away?

Somehow I doubt THAT would have the backing of the conservatives.

Posted by Carla at 05:52 PM |

The Pork Barrel President

During the last debate President Bush quipped that Kerry is so liberal that he makes Senator Kennedy look like "the conservative" from Massachusetts. As usual that was just one more example of the Bush team trying to portray Kerry with the attributes that Bush himself possesses. Case in point is spending bills passed by Congress.

Bush is the first President ever to not veto a single piece of legislation. He talks on the campaign trail about the need to instill fiscal discipline in Congress. What kind of a spineless twerp can't locate his own damn cajones long enough to veto a single Pork Barrel Bill in nearly 4 years? George "Dubya" Bush, that's what kind.

Today President Bush quietly signed the latest Corporate Tax Break that landed on his desk.

Long-time opponent of Pork Barrel politics Senator John McCain called the measure, "the worst example of the influence of special interests that I have ever seen."

The cold, hard reality is that President Bush's fiscal record is so Liberal that John Kerry is "the Conservative" in the race. And frankly that's an open insult to Liberals, who actually advocate paying for their spending with something more substantial than an IOU to our children and grandchildren. Bush is in a category all his own here.

Posted by Kevin at 12:50 PM |

Just desserts....

Perennial Nazi sympathizer and McCarthyism student Ann Coulter was pelted with pies during her speech Thursday night at the University Arizona in Phoenix.

Unfortunately they missed her face and hit her in the shoulder.

Too bad Coulter doesn't show up here for a speech. But it's unlikely she'd actually have the courage to go somewhere where she'd be heckled and have to verbally defend herself.

Poor Ann. Being a shamless political slut is such hard work.

Update: And speaking of shameless, George W Bush's mother should get some cheese to go with that whine. Are we supposed to think she's just being a good mom with the "I'd give John Kerry another Purple Heart" complaint? Perhaps if she'd raised her son to take responsibility for his actions, his campaign wouldn't be so vulnerable to attack.

Posted by Carla at 10:32 AM |

TX 32: Frost/Sessions tied

According to a Hamilton Beattie and Staff poll, the 32nd Congressional District race in Texas is at a statistical tie.

Democrat Martin Frost is at 46% and Republican Pete Sessions is at 47%, according to the poll.

The Presidential race in this district is also surprisingly close with Kerry running at 43% and Bush running at 51%.

This was a poll conducted for the DCCC, so make whatever adjustments you think are appropriate.

Posted by Carla at 09:22 AM |

Decapitating the hydra...

....or the fundamental misunderstandings of terrorism by the Bush Administration.

From today's Washington Post:

Published and classified documents and interviews with officials at many levels portray a war plan that scored major victories in its first months. Notable among them were the destruction of al Qaeda's Afghan sanctuary, the death or capture of leading jihadists, and effective U.S. demands for action by reluctant foreign governments.

Bush's focus on the instruments of force, the officials said, has been slow to adapt to a swiftly changing enemy. Al Qaeda, they said, no longer exerts centralized control over a network of operational cells. It has rather become the inspirational hub of a global movement, fomenting terrorism that it neither funds nor directs. Internal government assessments describe this change with a disquieting metaphor: They say jihadist terrorism is "metastasizing."

Few would be surprised that BC04 are trying to inflate their successes against capturing terrorists in order to prop up their flagging reelection bid.

What's troubling is Bush's continual "decapitate the beast" strategy that isn't yielding appropriate results, yet he continues to follow it like a moth to a porchlight. This strategy along with the rest of Bush's foreign policy of arrogance is yielding something else even more dangerous: a sharp spike of anti-American sentiment throughout SE Asia, the Middle East and Europe:

Bush emphasizes force of will -- determination to prosecute the enemy, and equally to stand up to allies who disapprove. Bush and his aides most often deflect questions about recent global polls that have found sharply rising anti-U.S. sentiment in Arab and Muslim countries and in Europe, but one of them addressed it in a recent interview. Speaking for the president by White House arrangement, but declining to be identified, a high-ranking national security official said of the hostility detected in surveys: "I don't think it matters. It's about keeping the country safe, and I don't think that matters."

Retired Army Gen. Wayne A. Downing, who was summoned to lead the White House Office for Combating Terrorism a few weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks, said the war has been least successful where it has the highest stakes: slowing the growth of jihadist sympathies in populations that can provide the terrorists with money, concealment and recruits. Bin Laden has worked effectively to "convince the Islamic world the U.S. is the common enemy," Downing said. He added, "We have done little or nothing. That is the big failure."

Bush is going after the symptoms of terrorism with great gusto. But he refuses to go after the causes of terrorism with even a grain of that same zeal. It's creating a tidal wave of anti-American sentiment.

Americans haven't been attacked again as we were on 9/11. Certainly that can be considered a success in the short term. But the Bush Administration is, by all accounts, feeding the hydra of terrorism. And you can't kill a hydra by cutting off it's head.

Posted by Carla at 09:04 AM |

October 21, 2004

Land of the Empire Builders, land of the Golden West

Hail to thee Land of the Heroes, my Oregon!

Now having indulged my inner song lyrics savante...

Rob Salzman hails the business friendly Beaver State (run pretty much by Democrats) despite the
gnashing of teeth from Oregon's rightwing fringe Republican mouthpieces.

Posted by Carla at 03:10 PM |

If I go crazy then will you still call me Superman

I'll keep you by my side with my superhuman...my kryptonite

Progressive Women's Blogring member My Chiron (aka Laurel) has the scoop on Christopher Reeve's widow endorsing John Kerry. It ties into the Superman Complex of Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist and his unknowingly embracing the kryptonite of his own hypocrisy on health care and authoring "insider" books.

Posted by Carla at 01:10 PM |

Unfit for Command

The Bush White House opposes a provision in a Senate Bill to create a Counterproliferation Center.

Global Security Newswire reports:

Earlier this month, the House and Senate each approved separate versions of legislation intended to implement the intelligence reform proposals put forth this summer by the Sept. 11 commission — chiefly the creation of a national director of intelligence to oversee the U.S. intelligence community and the creation of a National Counterterrorism Center to conduct counterterrorism-related intelligence analysis and operational planning. During final debate on its bill, the Senate approved an amendment by Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) that would create a similar center to focus on counterproliferation efforts.

What's interesting about this is not only that our new ally Pakistan was the supplier of nuclear technology that spread to Iran, Libya and North Korea... but also the recent warning that Saddam's nuclear weapons research facilities were systematically stripped while our military was in control of Iraq. That removed Iraqi hardware is now unaccounted for. Obviously it went somewhere. And perhaps Bush et al don't want anybody poking their noses into exactly where it all ended up. Maybe South Korea? Condi Rice's expertise is in outdated Cold War stuff. Maybe she's sold Bush on recreating the whole "mutually assured destruction" philosophy albeit with the mutually assured destruction being between North and South Korea... as a means of managing the North Korean nuclear threat.

Posted by Kevin at 12:56 PM |

Atrios has noticed that Bush is taking Saturday off and notes how odd it is that Bush would take a day off so close to the election.

So which will it be..Iraq or Afghanistan? And will he be wearing a suit or the military codpiece?

Whoever guesses correctly first wins a lifetime supply of *Preemptive Karma gear.

(*available at Preemptive Karma Stores found in your local mall: circa 2118)

Posted by Carla at 11:41 AM |

Oxblog: Big John...big bad John

Big Bad John

Josh Chafetz of the centrist Oxblog outlines why he's run to Kerry:

I can envision a situation in which I think the United States ought to take military action and in which President Bush would agree, whereas President Kerry, because of his inordinate faith in the legitimizing power of international institutions, might not. But, first, let me note that, in any situation in which military force is clearly called for (e.g., another attack, leading to another Afghanistan), I have complete confidence that Kerry will make the right call. But what about another close call where I think we ought to send troops? It's true, Kerry might not make my preferred decision. But I am also convinced that Bush -- even a reelected Bush -- would lack the political capital to send American troops into battle again in a close call. In other words, in the primary situation in which Bush's advantage in grand strategy would be an issue, I don't think Bush would be able to put his preferred policy in place, anyway.

Excellent.

Kerry has made his case..and this instance..it rang true for an objective observer who has reasons to vote FOR Kerry, and not just against Bush.

(Oh..and Oxblog has a disclaimer on their site reminding the readers that the blog itself is endorsing no candidate.)

Posted by Carla at 11:32 AM |

Painting by numbers...

I gave up on the polls weeks ago. They seem all over the place..senselessly giving Bush eight point leads one day and Kerry three point leads the next.

But if you're a poll junkie and you're looking to freebase, EDM has your fix.

Posted by Carla at 11:22 AM |

VA 2: GOP attack on Vet could backfire

What is it with Republicans hating the nations veterans, anyway?

From Roll Call:

Both the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and the National Republican Congressional Committee went on broadcast television in Norfolk on Wednesday to supplement the ads each candidate already is running. The ads come in the wake of a controversial mailer sent out by the state GOP that accused Ashe of “weakening the war on terror” by supporting Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) in the presidential race.

The mailer received considerable press in the district, and at least one local newspaper editorialized that it was “cheap shot” at an Iraq veteran.

The Republicans have been pretty shameless in their ads this year against Democrats who happen to be veterans. The Democrats are attacked as weak...even though they've served their country with honor. Ashe is a former Marine..who signed up after finishing law school. Ashe was also a volunteer at Ground Zero, following the 9/11 attacks.

Ashe's opponent Republican Thelma Drake has been running a smear campaign. And while Republicans say they feel confident about this District (Bush won it easily in 2000) Ashe is a good fit. It's a high percentage of military families hosting the world's largest Naval base.

Posted by Carla at 10:57 AM |

October 20, 2004

The choke heard round the world...

Man do I love karma.

Bo Sox: 10
Yanks: 3

Consider this an open thread to gloat or grieve.

Posted by Carla at 09:17 PM |

Bill Kristol: Whiny baby

Bill Kristol has this myopic and silly diatribe posted in the current Weekly Standard.

The first wild premise, "WHO WOULD HAVE EXPECTED the Washington Post to inflict real damage on John Kerry's faltering presidential campaign? Yet they have." Maybe if Bill clicks his ruby slippers together three times and wishes real hard, Kerry might lose the momentum. But alas...it looks to me like Kristol's got flying monkeys coming out of his a...uh...keyboard.

And then there's the section in the Post that so greatly offends Kristol's senses:

Kerry's belief in working with allies runs so deep that he has maintained that the loss of American life can be better justified if it occurs in the course of a mission with international support. In 1994, discussing the possibility of U.S. troops being killed in Bosnia, he said, "If you mean dying in the course of the United Nations effort, yes, it is worth that. If you mean dying American troops unilaterally going in with some false presumption that we can affect the outcome, the answer is unequivocally no."

Imagine that. We're going to have a President that wants to work WITH our allies to ensure justice and security for our nation. He'll actually be putting our troops into situations where they will be working with other troops and other nation's resources. We won't be shouldering the heavy burdens of casualties and financial drain virtually by ourselves.

Poor Bill. It's a good thing that very soon we won't have George W. Bush too kick around anymore.

Posted by Carla at 08:06 PM |

Baffle them with BS?

The White House has denied that President Bush told the Chief Pharisee Pat Robertson before the March 2003 invasion of Iraq that, "Oh, no, we're not going to have any casualties," after Robertson warned him to prepare the American people for casualties.

Everything about this story screams "Twilight Zone" to me. I mean... why in the name of the God that Robertson only claims to serve would he say something like that about the candidate that he also claims to be 100% supportive of? Robertson claims political ignorance. But, he once ran for the GOP nomination for President. And he comments on politics all the time. But at the same time... what he claims Bush said to him doesn't make a lot of sense either. Clearly if Robertson was worried enough about impending casualties to warn Bush about it, doesn't it stand to reason that he warned him precisely because he didn't feel Bush was being upfront enough? And if that's the case, then why would he passively just accept a bald-faced assertion that there would be no casualties?

I frankly don't know whether to believe what Robertson said about the meeting with Bush. But, I certainly do believe that Robertson is politically savvy enough to have known that making the assertion could only have negative political consequences for Bush. Which begs the question of why? By his own account he began and ended the same CNN interview by stressing his unqualified support for Bush.

The entire thing is just bizzare!

Posted by Kevin at 07:37 PM |

The King heads out on the stump

The Guardian is reporting that the Big Dog..the one and only Bill Clinton...is leaving his sick bed to hit the stump for Kerry.

This is a big deal. Clinton is beloved by Kerry's base and will provide a huge buzz of energy for the campaign.

And he may just swing Arkansas for Kerry.

Posted by Carla at 05:00 PM |

Valuing families...

As seen on Rising Hegemon (more photos at their site)

Ted Kennedy is often villifed by the right as a man with no family values and as morally weak.

Yet Kennedy shows here that he is in fact a man who not only understands the value of family, he knows what it's like to lose loved ones in the prime of their lives. These images show honor to one who gave life in service of country. That is how we value these families.

You will see no photos of Bush or his people at the funerals of our fallen soldiers. There's a fundamental set of character flaws at work for a group who cannot bring themselves to send representatives to the funerals of the individuals that they sent to war.

Posted by Carla at 02:25 PM |

Kev and I are trying out Blogexplosion to draw a little more traffic to the site.

It's also turned out to be a pretty interesting way to discover new blogs.

We've got a little Blog Explosion button on the lower right. Feel free to check it out.

If you've got a blog and you decide to sign up, please do so through our button. That gets us a referral...which brings us even more traffic.

Posted by Carla at 01:57 PM |

Vote free or die

More Republican "squelch out the vote" efforts are underway, this time in Pennsylvania:

A last-minute Republican effort to relocate 63 Philadelphia polling places has sparked outrage from Democrat John Kerry's presidential campaign, which says the choice of locations in heavily African American neighborhoods shows that the GOP wants to suppress black voter turnout.

The challenges, filed late Friday, appear to have little chance of succeeding. Philadelphia voter-registration administrator Bob Lee said the late date of the Republicans' filing means that there is not sufficient time to post the proposed changes for the legally mandated five days before a hearing. Tomorrow is the last day that the city commissioners, who administer elections, can order a move.

Conventional wisdom states that Republican candidates do better when voter turnout is low...opposite for the Democrats. So the Republicans wait until two weeks before the election to attempt to change polling places in overwhelmingly Democratic districts.

The GOP excuse? Some of the polling places are in bars, homes or vacant buildings...and Democrats are entrenched in the districts. They want to "improve" the places where African Americans vote.

Interestingly they're not trying to move polling places from bars, homes and vacant buildings in heavily held GOP districts.

These Republicans are completely shameless. The values of fairness, equity and justice are nonexistent with this crowd. Voters must be allowed to exercise their basic right to vote in this country...and these voter supression efforts being perpetrated by the Republican Party (both on the local and national scale) are part of their continued betrayal of Americans and the US Constitution.

Posted by Carla at 01:14 PM |

TX 32: Dallas Morning News endorses Frost

From the Dallas Morning News:

32nd Congressional District: Frost has stronger record

Mr. Sessions is a talented and hardworking member of Congress; he will be an effective representative of the region if he wins. We wish North Texas could have them both working on its behalf. But it can't. Given that choice, we recommend that voters return Martin Frost to Congress. The election is Nov. 2. Early voting ends Oct. 29.

Posted by Carla at 01:07 PM |

October 19, 2004

Treacherous deception

The betrayal of the trust of the American people by the Bush Administration continues unabated, as evidenced in this Robert Scheer piece published today:

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.

"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."

The excuse for holding this report back from the public until after the election? National security.

The American electorate is constantly and consistently being held captive to the treachery and deception of the Bush Administration. The American people deserve to know what went on in the lead up to 9/11. And the individuals named in this report owe it to Americans to take responsibility for their part in that shameful debaucle of government.

Justice demands nothing less.

Posted by Carla at 02:22 PM |

IL 08: Coffin...meet nail

Democratic Congressional Candidate Melissa Bean (D) recieved the endorsement of Republican David Phelps. Phelps was the challenger in the Republican primary against Phil Crane, who is now running a tight race against Bean for the 8th Congressional District seat in Illinois.

Phelps issued a statement today saying,"Immediately following my loss to Phil Crane in the Republican Primary, I telephoned his office and stated I would support the Republican nominee this fall. That is a decision that I can not in good conscience let stand. I am a proud Republican. I believe in the principles of the Republican Party. But I cannot blindly back my party's candidate when we have such an excellent opportunity to elect someone who is deeply connected to our community and would do so much more for us than Phil Crane. Not only do I strongly endorse Melissa Bean and encourage every Republican who voted for me in the primary to do the same, but I also encourage all voters in the eighth district to support Melissa in the November election. She is by far the best candidate and I believe that she will do the best job representing the people of the eighth district. While Melissa Bean won't pursue every element of the Republican Partys agenda, she does not march in lockstep with the Democrats either. I am convinced that she will advance the principles of fiscal responsibility, strong national security and respect for our environment and natural resources. She will fight for the interests of families in the eighth district"

This endorsement may very well be the nail in the coffin on Phil Crane. This seat would be pickup for the Democrats, as Crane is the incumbent.

Posted by Carla at 02:00 PM |

Banana Republicans attempting voter fraud in Florida

Floridians are once again on the recieving end of a litany of attempts at voter fraud.

Salon(subscription or day pass required) interviews Leon County elections supervisor Ion Sancho who expresses dismay at the high volume of phone calls reaching his office on issues of voter fraud in Florida:

"It's 'Alice in Wonderland' here now," sighed Ion Sancho, elections supervisor for Leon County, which includes Tallahassee, Florida's capital. "Up is down, and down is up ... My feeling is that someone has essentially conned her into believing that she's going to be voting."

Sancho is a long-standing thorn in the side of Florida's governor, Jeb Bush, who presides from a building across the street. But even he seems astonished by the reports reaching his office these days. "I've been an elections supervisor for 16 years now, and nobody has ever called me with this kind of activity occurring," he said.

Complaints are running the gamit from mysterious phone calls claiming Floridians can vote on the phone using their phone keypad to offers to turn in ballots for people.

Jeb Bush appointee Glenda Hood is now the Secretary of State in Florida...taking Katherine Harris former position. It will be her job to certify the elections in Florida. There's not much hope that Ms. Hood will work hard to ensure the elections are fair and just.

Certainly Jeb isn't interested in it.

With all of the problems Florida experienced in 2000, it would seem obvious that this state needed a lot of work. They've had four years to do it. It appears that they are no more capable of having a fair and just election now than they were in 2000.

Jeb Bush has taken no responsibility for ensuring his state holds elections properly and takes an accurate count. This lack of personal responsibility is, by all accounts, genetic.

Posted by Carla at 11:31 AM |

Karma of the not so preemptive kind....

A Republican sign stealer Randall Wagner of Lakewood, Colorado felt the harsh sting of karma blast him right in the face.....literally.

A Lakewood Republican stealing campaign signs late one night got nabbed when he ran across a low- hanging driveway chain, fell face first onto a pilfered sign and the concrete and knocked himself unconscious.

Randal Wagner, 50, was loaded into an ambulance, treated at Lutheran Medical Center for abrasions and facial cuts and issued a summons.

Maybe divine intervention exists after all...eh?

Posted by Carla at 11:19 AM |

October 18, 2004

Conservative apoplexy...

More conservatives are fence hopping to the Kerry camp:

A backhanded endorsement from Scott McConnell of American Conservative Magazine highlights the ABB agenda. The basic gist: George W Bush has betrayed the United States with an unecessary war and is systematically breaking the backs of Americans with out of control spending on America's credit card.

And a lifelong Republican opines the loss of his once great Republican Party, finding the Democrats now resonate with his values of fairness, social justice and equal rights for all.

Posted by Carla at 10:32 PM |

Libel suit filed against "Stolen Honor"

From this Kos Diary:

A Vietnam veteran is suing Carlton Sherwood and the makers of 'Stolen Honor,' for libel, pointing out the obvious fact that the film is filled with malicious lies. The person suing is not a public figure, but rather a private citizen, so he actually may have a decent chance of prevailing. The person suing also hints that he will sue Sinclair if it ends up showing the movie on its 62 channels:

Interesting.

Does an individual that's not famous have a better chance of winning a libel suit on something like this?

Campbell is a decorated Vietnam Veteran. Given that the film shows Campbell in a photo with other war protestors with a voice over claiming that many protestors were shown to be frauds who never served in Vietnam, is that sufficient evidence that they libeled him?

In an aside issue, Sinclair is taking a hit on the stock market.

Posted by Carla at 04:41 PM |

Bait and switch?

Republican Switchers makes the case for conservatives to vote for Kerry.

Check it out.

Posted by Carla at 04:08 PM |

She blinded me with science...

...and failed me in biology

The US Department of Education, at the behest of Lynne Cheney, has destroyed more than 300,000 copies of a booklet designed to help parents and children learn more about America's past:

Cheney objected to the booklet's reference to the National Standards for History, guidelines for teaching history in secondary schools that were developed at the University of California, Los Angeles in the 1990s and that suggest that American history should be taught with an eye not only to America's successes but to its struggles and dark moments as well.

Good grief.

Are we destined to repeat the bad things we've done over the course of our history because the ignoramus wife of the Vice President thinks our children shouldn't learn about them? Why do they insist on constantly blowing sunshine up our skirts?

The United States is a great nation. One of the reasons we've been great is that we've studied our history and the history of other nations. We've paid attention to the mistakes made by others and by ourselves (at least some of us have) and worked to not repeat those same mistakes.

The arrogance and ignorance is palpable in this decision. My children attend public school. Is it now my responsibility to teach them the woes of McCarthyism and the Klan because Mrs Cheney thinks a strong focus on the negative is bad? Are our children only to know and understand the good things in our nation's history..destined to repeat the bad out of ignorance?

These people exasperate the hell out of me.

Posted by Carla at 03:51 PM |

Self fulfilling prophesy

I've had some email this weekend and today about the polls..some showing Kerry ahead...others showing Bush ahead...some showing a tie.

I find the polls to be stupid at best...self fulfilling prophesy at worst.

As EDM point out, polling data is breaking Kerry's way. Yet the chatter is all about Kerry's momentum coming to a hault.

The spin is that Bush has momentum despite three debate losses, upticks in American casualties in Iraq, a lackluster stock market and economic picture and fears of more terrorist attacks. The reason? Apparently Mary Cheney. That's inspid as hell.

In 2000, Gallup had Bush up by 13 points going into Election Day. Today they have Bush up by 8.

I'll take that poll...because after watching 2000 that's a net loss of 5 points for Bush. In other words, Bush loses.

Fine by me.

Posted by Carla at 03:11 PM |

October 17, 2004

The reality based community strikes back

According to the much blogged about piece in the Sunday NYT Magazine by Ron Suskind, the Bush Empire isn't much on logic, reason and reality:

The aide said that guys like me were ''in what we call the reality-based community,'' which he defined as people who ''believe that solutions emerge from your judicious study of discernible reality.'' I nodded and murmured something about enlightenment principles and empiricism. He cut me off. ''That's not the way the world really works anymore,'' he continued. ''We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you're studying that reality -- judiciously, as you will -- we'll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that's how things will sort out. We're history's actors . . . and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do.''

Creating their own reality? Schitzo is as schitzo does, apparently.

And while we're on the subject of reality, here's a dose for W, a la Kerry.

Posted by Carla at 08:49 PM |

GIs Who Refused Job Had Unarmored Trucks

So said their commanding General today.

"Not all of their trucks are completely armored. In their case, they haven't had the chance to get armored," said Brig. Gen. James E. Chambers, commanding general of 13th Corps Support Command, which sends some 250 convoys ferrying Army fuel, food and ammunition across Iraq each day.

Rather than spending a lot of time mischaracterizing John Kerry's votes on the Iraqi War funding to his heavily screened, partisan crowds on the campaign trail... the same cowardly President Bush who challanged Iraqi insurgents to "bring 'em on" (from the safety and comfort of American soil, no less) needs to be explaining to us why even with the $87 billion he got there are still soldiers without armored vehicles or bullet-proof vests being ordered into harms way. As well as why he ignored the advice of his Generals about what it would take to win the peace in Iraq after the completely foregone conclussion that Saddam's regime would be defeated.

As a related side note... A new National Annenberg Election Survey found that 62 percent in a poll of military members and their families said the administration didn't send an adequate number of troops to Iraq. And 59 percent said too much of a burden has been put on the National Guard and the reserves when regular forces should have been expanded instead.

Posted by Kevin at 12:31 PM |

Jeb knew.

Jeb Bush ignored the advice of his own state elections officials about the flawed program for generating the list of Floridian ex-felons who can't vote.

In a May 4 e-mail obtained by the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, Florida Department of Law Enforcement computer expert Jeff Long told his boss that a Department of State computer expert had told him "that yesterday they recommended to the Gov that they 'pull the plug'" on the voter database.

The e-mail said state election officials "weren't comfortable with the felon matching program they've got," but added, "The Gov rejected their suggestion to pull the plug, so they're 'going live' with it this weekend."

Bush's spokeswoman, Jill Bratina, denied allegations that the governor ignored warnings about the list.

"It's also irrelevant because the list isn't being used," Bratina said Saturday.

Is this really more ethical or moral, let alone more legal, than a President getting a blowjob in the Oval Office or lying about it under oath? I supported Clinton's Impeachment. And I'm not sorry that I did so. But, there is no way that I can accept the notion that this Bush clan is even on a moral or ethical par with Clinton, much less better. What Clinton did he did to save his own hide. What these Bush's are doing they are doing out of a naked thirst for power and a willful disregard for civil rights. That doesn't make what Clinton did okay. But it does lend it some perspective.

Posted by Kevin at 11:45 AM |

Flu vaccine shortage: up close and personal

Yesterday before my daughter's soccer match, I stopped in to the local Albertson's grocery store to pick up snacks for the game. It was about 8:30AM and when I pulled into the parking lot I noted that the lot was really full. For this market that's exceptionally odd because it's rarely very busy.

As I approached the entry I noticed a big line of folks, mostly elderly. They'd formed a line across the entrance and out the door. When I walked up I asked what the line was for. "Flu shots." one lady in line replied. They were to start at 10AM. After inquiring I found out that the folks at the front of the line had been there since 6:30AM.

The store was scrambling to find chairs for some of the folks to sit. (It looked like they'd hauled out their break room chairs and leftover resin stack chairs from last Summer's clearance sale). They were providing bottled water, too.

When I was a girl I remember watching news footage of the old Soviet Union bread lines. It looked a lot like that (except of course without the resin stack chairs and bottled water..LOL).

Bush seems quite concerned about health care rationing. Looked to me yesterday like we already have it.

Drum has some specifics and explanations on the flu vaccine shortage. Especially noteworthy to me were the free market explanations...which illustrate why it's so risky to manage vaccines this way.

Posted by Carla at 10:38 AM |

Why is Jon Stewart the best political reporter on TV?

Apparently the Gang That Can't Shoot Straight has been mulling that very question today.

How come these guys don't get that Stewart is parody? Is the collective ego mass of the media punditry so beyond reality that they can't see Stewart is begging them to self examine?

Oh yeah...and Tucker Carlson really is a dick.

Update:If you haven't seen the exchange between Carlson and Stewart, Wonkette has links to the various outlets.

Posted by Carla at 10:30 AM |

Edwards Rally photos...apologies

I know some of you have been waiting for me to post photos of the John Edwards Rally from last Wednesday.

For some reason, I've had a heck of a time getting these photos down to a managable size. Even when I change from a bmp to jpeg, they're still really huge. I've also cropped them and tried to manipulate them in various other ways to get them smaller. I just can't seem to get them right.

If anyone is interested, I'd be happy to email them out to a more tech savvy person than myself to be blog ready. Just let me know.

Otherwise I'll keep plugging away at it until I can get them right. Sorry for the delay.

Posted by Carla at 10:23 AM |

October 16, 2004

Outrage that rings false

Hilary Rosen explains why the GOP's outrage on the Mary Cheney/Kerry debate brouhaha is a very large load of bullcookies:

I think the record is pretty clear that fair-minded political leaders didn't talk publicly about Mary Cheney until her father did. All of a sudden it was clear to John Kerry and John Edwards that if the Bush campaign tried to attack them on the gay marriage issue, they should just respond by saying they had the same position on this issue as Dick Cheney. That is certainly the advice I gave them. How dare the president criticize Kerry, as he did again the other night, for taking the same position as Dick Cheney? And we know that anti-gay messages are being promoted in many districts around the country to get out the evangelical vote for President Bush on Election Day. The silent but admirable Mary Cheney has remained a loyal daughter and foot soldier in this homophobic campaign.

Dick Cheney, John Edwards and John Kerry all have the same position on gay marriage. George W Bush is the odd man out here. The outrage isn't about Kerry having a naked political agenda. The GOP crying wolf here about having their feelings hurt is simply ludicrous. This group had no cumpunction whatsoever about going after John McCain's wife and child in 2000. This is about Bush and so many Republicans being exposed for the bigots they are.

Posted by Carla at 04:00 PM |

NE:01 GOPers come out to support Democrat

University of Nebraska President L. Dennis Smith held a reception last Thursday for Republicans in support of Democratic congressional nominee Matt Connealy.

The $50 per person event was attended by three former Lincoln City Council Members who served with Connealy's opponent, Jeff Fortenberry.

Smith, a Republican said,"I am a Republican, but on this issue, and for the future of the Republican Party, the state and the university, I believe we're better off with Connealy."

Many individuals supporting Connealy say the schism between themselves and Fortenberry have to do with Fortenberry's opposition to stem cell research.

Connealy is a Catholic who described his view on stem cells: "..the most pro-life stand to take" would be to allow use of tissue that otherwise would be destroyed for research that might help treat major diseases.

Posted by Carla at 11:44 AM |

Strange bedfellows....

Bush 41 National Security Advisor Brent Scowcroft is breaking ranks with the current Bush Administration in regard to Iraq.

Scowcroft called Bush's handling of Iraq a "failing adventure" and Bush's unilateralist approach harmful to relations between the US and Europe.

Scowcroft lays blame for much of Bush's Iraqi foibles to Bush being "mesmerized" by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon:

"Sharon just has him wrapped around his little finger," Scowcroft told the Financial Times. "I think the president is mesmerized." He added: "When there is a suicide attack [followed by a reprisal] Sharon calls the president and says, 'I'm on the front line of terrorism,' and the president says, 'Yes, you are . . . ' He [Sharon] has been nothing but trouble."

This is a profound dissention in the ranks, especially given that Scowcroft has been a mentor for Condoleeza Rice. It's also interesting given Scowcroft's comments regarding terrorism's reduction to "nuisance" status in 2002, mirroring much of what John Kerry has been saying.

Posted by Carla at 11:34 AM |

October 15, 2004

Keep them dogies movin'

Move 'em on, head 'em up
Head 'em up, move 'em on
Move 'em on, head 'em up
Rawhide
Count 'em out, ride 'em in,
Ride 'em in, count 'em out,
Count 'em out, ride 'em in
Rawhide!

PK's source in DC allerted us to this breaking story out of Ohio: It seems that GOP camp officials who resigned over questions about absentee ballot applications have been sent to work for BC'04 in Ohio, according to an internal GOP memo.

GOP GOTV chair Larry Russell resigned along with five others this week, and the Division of Criminal Invstigation is conducting a probe. SD GOP Chair Randy Frederick said the party had a "zero-tolerance policy," but the GOP memo says they will now "lead the ground operations" in Cleveland for BC'04. SD GOP Exec. Dir. Jason Glodt said he would not comment on the internal communication, but confirmed that it was authentic.

Ex-Univ. of SD prof Alan Clem: "My impression is, there were some young Republicans in the last few years who got a little cocky, upset some people. I supose (Russell) is persona non grata in this state" (Woster/Kranz, Sioux Falls Argus Leader, 10/15)

I'm wondering if some of them were sent down to Toledo where the local Kerry/Edwards office was burglarized and computers with highly sensative data were stolen, ala Watergate.

Looks like Karl Rove has been very busy. He can't rely on the President's brother to deliver all of these other states like he can in Florida. So, the goon squad is getting shuffled from state to state.

Posted by Kevin at 12:51 PM |

Another stark contrast....

The US is refusing to sign on to a UN plan to ensure every woman has a right to education, health care and choice about having children.