Perusing through Andrew Sullivan’s blog as of late, one would get the distinct impression that this is an honest and straight-forward individual that would never permit mere ideology to stain his opinions on a slew of subjects. This proverbial third person might also believe that while there has always existed a schism of sorts between Sully and the Bushies over issues such as fiscal responsibility, it was the Republican embrace of the FMA that really got his panties in a twist. This is not to suggest that everyone should prime voting issues identically, but simply to suggest that those that regularly read his opinions on foreign policy, which wreaks of already-debunked neo-conservative methodology, and the use of military force might be well-served to digest a bottle of Tums prior to this rather risky endeavor.

Let’s recap. Wednesday, March 26, 2003:

My harping on this theme is not simply media criticism. It’s war analysis. Remember one of the key elements, we’re finding out, in this battle is the willingness of the Iraqi people to stand up to the Saddamite remnants. That willingness depends, in part, on their confidence that the allies are making progress. What the BBC is able to do, by broadcasting directly to these people, is to keep the Iraqi people’s morale as far down as possible, thereby helping to make the war more bloody, thereby helping discredit it in retrospect. If you assume that almost all these reporters and editors are anti-war, this BBC strategy makes sense. They’re a military player. And they are objectively pro-Saddam.

Why does the BBC hate America and freedom? Sullivan illuminates us with more.

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Challengers always have the more difficult task in presidential debates. I�€™ve been watching these events with great interest going back to the Reagan-Mondale showdown of 1984. John Kerry did more than just hold his own against George W. Bush. The senator took charge early on and defined the terms of the debate. It clearly was a referendum on the failed Iraq strategy perused by this president. Kerry offered a foreign policy vision that was more engaged and energetic than the Bush go-it-alone doctrine. My sense is that voters will respond well to his message. There was no knockout ala the Benson�€“Quayle 1988 debate (which would have been nice). But I think there is no question that John Kerry gave a much needed lift to his campaign.

There was more both candidates could have offered. I appreciated the questions on Darfur and Russia. Sadly, the ongoing genocide in Darfur has been largely overlooked during the campaign. Check out the White House web site and search for the name Darfur. A total of 40 possible entries on the crisis show up. Gay marriage: 848. This president hasn�€™t used his office to address the difficult issues. Instead he has focused on dividing the American people for political purposes. It was unfortunate that neither candidate was able to offer a fuller and richer debate on issues outside of Iraq and North Korea.

Although a transcript is yet to be available, and public opinion has yet to solidify, I think it is safe to say that John Kerry won. Despite my well-founded belief that Kerry would be timid, long-winded, and somewhat ineffective, he projected particularly well to me in my solitary confinement dorm room. Good posture, effective pauses, non-staccato and connected answers, and most importantly–a healthy and well-defined complexion.

On the other hand, Bush seemed on the ball in the middle 10-15 minutes of the first half hour (computer that however you wish), but the fact that his delivery was rather muted, juvenile, and at times incoherent made his message ineffective. If I were a typical Joe Public undecided voter watching at home, it would not be irrational to turn away from the television everytime Bush spoke, for the sake of cleaning out the plumbing.

On the issues, Bush’s strongest point, which he used rather sparingly, was Kerry’s nay-vote on the $87 billion supplemental for our troops and the reconstruction. Mentioning it only a handful of times, the utilization was nothing like that which was present in the plethora of attack ads chastising the Senator for his vote. Apparently, without an ominous voiceover and large block text flooding the screen, Bush’s flip-flop message is very futile. While effective in defining Kerry’s persona and introducing America to the challenger, they appeared to be misplaced in the context of his statements on the issues.

At other points, Bush mentioned portions of Kerry’s record and his prior statements in regards to national security, or Iraq in a guided effort to chide his lack of consistency. The problem, however, was that he did not qualify his statements, or elucidate the extent to which what he was saying was important with any rhetorical tools, but rather stood there after repeating a campaign commercial with his hand on his hip and the other in the air, going: “Like, Duh.”

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Did Bush just say he wants to put a leash on his daughters? And people say he didn’t know about Abu Ghraib.

(hears polls drop 35 points).

Here is a reprint of something that I posted about two months ago that I believe very accurately captures this president’s views on a variety of issues.

George W. Bush and me: no shirts, no pants, and no rules. I would hardly call the Bushies straight out liars, since such a word is politically charged and often requires extensive qualification when applied to the realm of the presidency. But to be fair, I really do not think there is anything unreasonable, or beyond the pale, or even negative in saying that he has intentionally misled on a variety of issues, cherry-picking events for the prosperity of his own campaign and regurgitating hollow rhetoric–as if repetition of falsehoods would suddenly make them true. Such an assessment, of misleading statements and actions meant to bolster political position, can also be applied to Mr. Kerry, hence nullifying the entire flip-flop argument. A politician, positioning himself, against the wishes of his constituency and his morals–never! You want a flip-flop? Here’s a flip-flop.

BEIJING, July 16, (Xinhuanet) — Astrophysicist Stephen Hawking has back-pedalled on his arguments that a black hole swallows up everything that falls into it, according to a report on CRIENGLISH.COM on Friday.

The world-famous author of a "Brief History of Time" says he and other scientists had gotten it wrong, the galactic traps may in fact allow information to escape.

He says a black hole only appears to form but later opens up and releases information about what fell inside.

Hawking reckons this means scientists like him can be sure of the past and predict the future.

I guess we all know who the terrorists are rooting for this November. But seriously, it’s time GWB and me tango like West Side Story. Let’s dance, you and I.

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Hugh Hewitt, all-encompassing conservative pundit and favorite blogger of one Glenn Reynolds, takes a shot at me in the mouth. While not addressing me directly–such a thing would get him smacked-up–he provides a well thought-out and highly informative retort to my criticism of the manner in which the 2000 debates were covered by the press.

IT STARTED on the Late, Late Show Monday night. Drudge posted a link to a picture of John Kerry’s suddenly orange face on Tuesday, and Blogs for Bush, Blogs of War, and Best of the Web started an Oompa Loompa meme Tuesday afternoon. I played the Oompa Loompa song a few times during the afternoon drive in scores of cities across the United States. Then Jay Leno opened his monologue with a combo botox/tan-in-a-can joke. Tens of millions of Americans kicked it around, and went to bed.

And the morning papers–except the New York Post– said not a word. The Boston Globe, the Chicago Sun-Times, and other old media found space to cover the decision of the Crawford, Texas’ Lone Star Iconoclast–circulation 425–to endorse John Kerry, but refused to acknowledge a genuine, though bizarre, story that is actually having an impact on the race–because they collectively don’t think it should be having an impact on the race.

…Old media’s refusal to note what ordinary Americans are talking about is the latest in a series of stubborn refusals that began with elitist indifference and ideological bent and which are ending in irrelevance. There have been others (Rathergate and Christmas-not-in-Cambodia) and there will be more.

We may have another moment tonight. Jim Lehrer takes his seat as debate moderator with the PBS brand as firmly affixed to his back as CBS is to Dan Rather’s. Moderating a presidential debate never carried much of a risk for the mother ship in the past, but in this era of new media, any detectable bias on Lehrer’s part will result in a cyber-tsunami headed towards PBS affiliates across the country.

You got that Jim “I’m not willing to ask the tough questions” Lehrer? If you do not ask John Kerry where he purchased his tanning cream from, PBS will go down like Rush Limbaugh on a maid with oxycontin. Do not consider this a threat, consider it a warning.

It is heartening to see that this country’s brightest lights have taken to task the media’s inability to treat the presidential campaign as if it were a season on The Bachelor. I mean, sure, sometimes Kerry says all the right things, and his posterior is impeccable, but the way he makes me feel in the morning, and that hat–my God, the hat!–is just such a turnoff. Like, you know?

I’m furious. And with tonight’s debate, I may be more furious still.

The largest total of dead children occurred in Baghdad today. Of 42 dead, 35 were children. They had come to the street to accept candy from US soldiers when a carbomb was detonated.

It does not matter, at moments like this, how widespread anti-American feeling is throughout Iraq, nor how much support is flowing to the insurgents in the general populace. I’m a parent and a human being, connected to those parents, those human beings. They do not condone or support the perpetrators at times like this.

They understand our troops were just giving out candy and logically, they know they are blameless. But they hate them for their presence anyway. So would I. There is a rage I feel at the brutality of children dying, no matter what the rationale is, because there is no rationale.

Iraqis want the blood to stop flowing. If it does not, they, too, will take up arms and lose some of their humanity in the process. Were I there, witnessing the deaths of 35 children, or in Beslan, where more than 150 died, no one could count on safety from my rage.

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The conventional wisdom regarding tonight’s presidential debate between Senator John Kerry and President George W. Bush is that it will be more of the same rhetoric from both sides. While Bush will continue poking fun at Kerry’s inability to give straight answers on Iraq, Kerry will blast Bush on his rush to war and his mismanagement of the post-war operation. Such a media narrative has been in the making for some time now. Of course, there is nothing to suggest that this line is inaccurate, since the tone of the campaigns have been pretty consistent throughout; Bush puts Kerry on the defensive; Kerry doesn’t fight back, but when he does he sounds retarded; Bush continues to suggest that Iraq is on the path to democracy; Kerry points out that Bush’s pants are on fire; the public doesn’t care, and the media continues to remain shy about pointing out the blatant fallacies, misrepresentations, and lies on both sides.

This vicious cycle of deception is somewhat discouraging for those such as myself that closely follow current events and international developments, but it was made clear long ago that the only people deserving of the candidates’ attentions are those idiots that stand at the cash register wondering whether they should get the juicy fruit or the winterfresh.

Much time has been spent discussing the relative positives, if they even exist, and the negatives, of which there are an abundance, of both candidates’ debating skills. While Bushites continue parroting the line that Kerry is the best debater since Cicero, which is rather denigrating to all those other guys during the past 2000 years, it is obvious that the definition of a good debater has drastically changed during the age of televised media. Barring a total Quayle-ish meltdown from either side, spinmeisters will decide the real outcome of the debate by flooding the airwaves, and the news media with pre-conceived notions as to which form of media priming will most effectively benefit their candidate. The effective outcome will be decided during the water-cooler intercourse on the subsequent day. In 2000, Gore’s repetitive sighing was more important than Bush’s avoidance of questions and his minimalist qualifications of most issues. What will it be this year?

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LET us vote then, you and I,
When the evening news is spreading lies
to the patients etherised upon a fable..

–David K. Beckwith, from The War Song of G. Dubya Bushrock

I’m proud to present a new poem by David K. Beckwith, also known as Anonymoses Hyperlincoln, who is my co-blogger at Iddybud. The poem was premiered yesterday at the BloggingPoet.com. If you sense a touch of T.S. Eliot, it is because Mr. Beckwith’s poem is a modern and witty telling of events based upon Eliot’s Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.I think he did a brilliant job.

The link below will take you to the poem.

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No, not the expectations game about tonight’s debate�€“ the bigger game. You know, the election expectations game.

The reason that all of September’s contradictory, GOP-weighted, dismaying, and/or downright useless polls matter, in the end, is that they’ve helped to give Republicans a sense that this one is already in the bag. And the reason that’s important should be obvious: four years ago, these people were convinced�€“ partly by pre-election polls, partly by their own overwhelming sense of entitlement�€“ that Bush was the rightful winner in Florida, and that Gore tried to steal the election. That’s why they fought in Florida with such passion. That’s why they rioted in Miami-Dade to stop the recount. That’s why they massed around the Vice-Presidential residence, chanting for Gore to “get out of Cheney’s house.” They truly believed that they played fair and square in 2000, and that Democrats�€“ together with the liberal media, which called Florida for Bush ten minutes before the polls closed and thereby suppressed untold millions of possible Bush votes�€“ manipulated the post-election numbers with their characteristic Democrat ruthlessness and cynicism.

And that’s the country we live in: George Bush’s frigging first cousin calls the election on Fox, in a state governed by his brother, and next thing you know, Billy Tauzin (R- La.) is demanding an investigation of the Florida results– in order to find out why the networks made their original call for Gore!
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Via Bob Fertik of Democrats.com — an alert Dem named Paul Lukasiak found a proportionally spaced document from the Texas Air National Guard dated 1971. It was discovered among documents (page 6) released by the Pentagon last Friday.

Also, several readers emailed this detailed analysis of the Killian memos backing up my contention that the memos could have been typed on a typewriter available in 1972. The study author agrees with several points I made a few days ago, such as the fact that the type face does not appear to be true Times Roman, for example.

It appears the fat lady ain’t sung yet.

The other day I was driving back to the office from lunch. I had stopped my 98 Honda Civic in the line of traffic waiting for a green light. It was nice weather and my windows were down. A man pulled up beside me, looked over and said, �€œyou don�€™t see many John Kerry bumper stickers around here.�€� �€œHere�€� is a well-manicured, well-to-do northern suburb of Atlanta.

I shouted back through my passenger-side window that that was true. Then we commiserated on the fact that Kerry was behind in the polls. I told him, �€œdon�€™t believe the media, don�€™t believe the polls.�€�

To this he expressed something I think every aware person feels; he sounded frustrated as he said he felt the same way about the media, but he didn�€™t have a voice.

And that just hung there. What could I say?

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In the American Prospect, Matthew Yglesias says that “..the president wants us to re-elect him because he’s a flawless leader whose mistake-free policies have created a lovely situation in Iraq, where freedom is blossoming and the war has made Americans safer.”

I realize that concerned Americans each hope the best for their country, each in their own way, but as mentally healthy people, we all come to a point where we understand the difference between hope and reality. Some clearly see reality sooner than others, but we all eventually reach a common conclusion when facts outweigh fantasy. Time passes and events cause us to understand that what we may have once believed may not necessarily be true, if we begin to trust our own eyes and our own intuition. The trouble is, our President may be the last to reach that realization, and we cannot let our nation fall into disgrace while our leader languishes in delusion. There may be many very decent and trusting Americans out there who really did buy into the president’s Iraq storyline. [Perhaps I should say storylines, because there have been so many varying rationales offered to the public]. My question is, as reality sets in, where will those Americans draw the line in their support for Bush’s policy, which is being revealed as sheer fantasy?
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Juan Cole writes that Iraqi President Ghazi al-Yawir has strongly protested US air strikes against Iraqi cities. Al-Yawir compares the U.S. bombing of Iraqi cities to the Nazi tactic of “collective punishment.” The Nazis would hold entire villages and towns responsible for any resistance activities there, and would carry out gruesome mass reprisals.

Collective punishment is forbidden by the 1949 Geneva Conventions:

Art. 33. No protected person may be punished for an offence he or she has not personally committed. Collective penalties and likewise all measures of intimidation or of terrorism are prohibited.

Pillage is prohibited. Reprisals against protected persons and their property are prohibited.

We’re fighting terrorism with more terrorism. Nice.

The use of air strikes against what the Bushies still insist is an unpopular insurgency does seem a bit, well, indiscriminate. But knowing the Bushies, the air strikes may have been ordered to pacify the insurgency pronto, by any means, before the November elections, if not before tonight’s debate.

Others speculate that the bombings are designed to prepare the way for a U.S. ground offensive into insurgent-held areas. If this is the case, the timing suggests that the Bushies are planning to launch the offensive before November, not after. Could this be the October surprise we’ve been waiting for? I’m sure Flight Suit Boy would love to be able to celebrate a big military victory pretty soon.

I’ve read a lot about Illinois Carpetbagger Candidate Alan Keyes lately and his daughter Maya’s blog (with continuing coverage by Chillinois)

And darn my liberal heart but I’m actually feeling sorry for many of the innocent victims in this debacle.

As a Democrat, I didn’t feel threatened by the rabid spew that was Zell Miller at the RNC. I simply felt embarrassed that the Democratic Party umbrella ever extended so broadly as to permit such a waste of a human being entry. Such crude individuals exist in both parties, at times. I take no glee in their presence on either side.

If some horrid Republican crossed to our side, I sure wouldn’t embrace him. However, growing up in Massachusetts and spending most of my adult life in Oregon, I’ve been fortunate. Both states have some of the most tolerant and moderate Republicans in the nation. Some of them I’ve liked quite well, actually, both officeholders and acquaintances.

And I have a hunch that many, perhaps the majority of Illinois Republicans, are moderates and perfectly decent people. It’s them I feel sorry for, and for Maya Keyes. She has to deal with her father’s disapproval. They have to deal with a terrible candidate whose extremist ideologies they did not choose. A few party leaders made that bad choice.

And it came to me that there’s a way that might benefit the innocents caught up in this unfolding debacle.

I propose that Illinois Republicans register their disapproval for what their party elders gave them by writing in the name of Maya Keyes for the Senate race. She may not fit the age qualifications but that’s irrelevant since she’s not going to win. But think of what good it could do.

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Dick Cheney, May 1992:

I would guess if we had gone on to Baghdad I would still have forces in Iraq today. I don’t know how we would have let go of that tar baby once we had grabbed hold of it.

A final point that I think is very important. Everybody is fond of looking back at Desert Storm and saying that it was, in fact, a low cost conflict because we didn’t suffer very many casualties. But for the 146 Americans who were killed in action and for their families, it was not a cheap or a low cost conflict. The question, to my mind, in terms of this notion that we should have gone on and occupied Iraq is how many additional American casualties would we have had to suffer? How many additional American lives is Saddam Hussein worth? And the answer I would give is not very damn many.

I think we got it right when we made the decision to use forces to liberate Kuwait; I think we got it right when the President made the decision, with my support and the support of everybody else, to stop when we did. And I, looking back on it now, think that the decisions both times were sound.

Colin Powell, Feb 24, 2001:

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Disconsolate Roy, ignored by the press for the last time, kills his keyboard…

An excellent way to notify any eighteen year olds you know, or the parents of 15 - 24 year olds of what’s in store for them next year: Draft ‘em.

Oliver Willis reports that MSNBC responded to public complaints in dropping a biased pollster from their debate coverage.

… from further embarrassment.

“The Kerry vote among women so far has been driven by domestic issues, but for him to close on those issues, he can’t get there until he makes himself acceptable on the security issues,” he said.

Debbie Walsh, director of Rutgers University Center for American Women and Politics, said Bush has done well by connecting the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq with new freedoms for women throughout the world.

Kerry likely would need to stress that making the world safer through coalition building is what will strengthen homeland security, she said.

Walsh said Kerry also should expand the foreign policy topic to include jobs and out-sourcing - areas where women have shown particular concern.

Polls taken this month in key states such as Colorado, Florida, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico and Ohio have shown that women support Kerry over Bush by a margin of 12 to 27 percentage points.

It is significant because women comprise the greatest number of swing voters and they vote in larger numbers than men, Walsh said.

Eleanor Smeal, director of the Feminist Majority, pointed out that Al Gore had an 11 percentage point “gender gap” nationwide in 2000 - then the largest such gap seen in presidential elections. The edge among women voters won Gore 16 crucial states, offsetting the strength that Bush had with male voters, she said.

Will they choose the Coward of Crawford because of that edge of danger he projects over a record of cluelessness? Or will they choose the kinder Kerry, who’s a proven fighter at the approach of danger?

Unless they’re drinking and voting, I’m certain the women of America will choose wisely.

The judiciary continues to reel in the most egregious features of the Patriot Act. U.S. District Judge Victor Marreo ruled that the part of the law which allows the FBI to demand information about people from communications companies, such as ISPs and telephone service providers, is unconstitutional under the protection against unreasonable search and seizure clause. In addition, he said that the requirement prohibiting a company from informing its customers that it had turned over the data violates free speech protections.

The most interesting part of this article was the following:

Because of this gag order, the ACLU initially had to file its suit against the Department of Justice under seal to avoid penalties for violation of the surveillance laws.

Wow. I’m speechless. Well, maybe not–thanks to the ACLU. Time to become a card-carrying member.

DD Sez has it.

I live in a very liberal city, Portland, in a swing state. The ground campaign here is intense. Canvassers routinely run into each other on the street. The Democrats and the ACT people studiously avoid cooperating, but it’s hard not to “know” what the other group is doing when you’re literally on each others’ heels. Sometimes one group will cede the territory and come back another day. Other times, they simply follow each other around. Everyone asks the same question: “Are you planning to vote for John Kerry?” They circle the appropriate number on their clipboards and move on to the next house.

I worry that the voters will get election fatigue. They’re starting to feel like they have a herd of puppies after them–all jumping up and down, squirming, and furiously trying to lick their faces. Many of the canvassers report perplexed and annoyed voters. “But you were just here!” they cry.

We explain, patiently, that we can’t help it. We’re not allowed to talk to those other folks. The voters don’t care though. DNC, ACT, MoveOn, Kerry campaign, county Democratic party, Conservation League, union squad, guerilla Shoeleather Brigade–they’re all the same. The average voter isn’t at all interested in hearing about the effects of the McCain-Feingold Act. They just want you to go away and stop interrupting their dinner.

I’ve had 3 or 4 canvassers come to my door when I answered, although I’ve seen literature left when I wasn’t at home. How about you? Are people with clipboards showing up on your doorstep?

Anyone seen Republican canvassers? I don’t know anyone who has had one come to their door.

Steve Chapman writes about the huge FCC fine levoed against CBS in Breast Police Intervention, then points out all the breasts that have appeared before, without getting FCCed up by the pseudo-prudes.

But the starkness of this hypocrisy becomes deadly clear with Jordan Barab’s comparison of a wee violation that ABC made.

It makes me so angry when I think of that and of the values imposed by a sick, sick government. Fuck you Michael Powell and the Colin you rode in on!

Nothing new here:

WASHINGTON - President Bush never was disciplined while serving in the Texas Air National Guard, never failed a physical and never asked his father or family friends for help to get him into the guard during the Vietnam War, the White House said Wednesday.

The White House answers came in response to a dozen questions submitted by The Associated Press in light of new records detailing Bush’s Guard service and allegations that have surfaced this election season.

But here’s a brand new excuse from the Excuse President:

The answers also addressed why Bush skipped a required physical in the summer of 1972, prompting the termination of his pilot status. “The president was transferring to Alabama to perform equivalent duty in a non-flying capacity, making a flight physical unnecessary,” the White House said.

The flop-flop of the girlie-man continues.

Lifetime Republican diplomat and son of the former President, flees party, now backs Kerry.

Via Atrios.

The hourlong event was held at a country-themed restaurant on the edge of the Twin Cities. A dozen invited small business owners surrounded Cheney and his wife, Lynne.

Across the street, four relatives of a Minnesota Marine killed in Iraq, Lance Cpl. Levi Angell, 20, of Cloquet, protested.

Angell’s grandmother, Lila, called the war a “useless, needless fix we’re in.”

Good for them! When’s the last time any member of Bush’s family died in defense of this country? Or risked his life to save his crewmates?

I extend my sympathies to the Angell family for the loss they’ve suffered. And I thank them for speaking truth to corruption.

Dr. Judith Palfry, a professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School (news - web sites) and past president of the Ambulatory Pediatric Association, spoke about a child with a degenerative disease who was denied leg braces by a private health insurance company because, the company reasoned, he would lose the ability to walk within a couple of years anyway.

“I have seen children, saved in our intensive care units, discharged to homeless shelters because the enormous medical bills have left families without money for rent or food,” she said. “The uncaring policies of the current administration are systematically shattering our promise to children.”

While Bush’s policies and proposed policies were seen as not enough, Kerry’s proposed policies were seen as charting the right course.

National leaders in pediatrics are laying out the case against Bush now.

If you have the most corrupt administration in US history with no achievements to fall back on - except those made by our military despite the admin’s incompetence - and the major media is starting to ask serious questions, what’s the fallback strategy?

If you guessed ‘intimidate the media and whistleblowers with the power of Ashcroft’, you win the prize.

Of course, since the DOJ’s has proven itself incapable of proving anything about anyone, how intimidating is it, really?

Oh. Right. I forgot that incarceration without legal representation, and torture are now permissible without a successful prosecution.

And, dammit, isn’t it about time the press and Kerry start hammering that point home, as well? To hell with the media consensus about Iraq & terrorism being the issues the election swings on. I still say independents can be won on civil liberties issues. Maybe it’ll take some locked up reporters to add some focus on that.

Addendum: Senator Robert Byrd gets it:

Byrd gave a fiery speech Monday, denouncing President Bush’s policies in Iraq. He called the president a threat to the Constitution.

“The Constitution of the United States has been undercut, undermined and is under attack,” Byrd said. “I have viewed with increasing alarm the erosion of the people’s liberties. What we’ve seen is a ruthless grab for power. This administration relies on fear and secrecy.”

The interviews are a little briefer than I prefer, but they still provide a glimpse of the personalities behind a few very articulate bloggers. Drop in and visit What She Said!, where recent interviews with team members Julia, Shari and Melanie await.

As a side note, I was rather surprised by what Melanie said about blogging with Kos, who I’ve respected for his dedication and drive.

I’m a District Leader for my local Democratic Party. That means that I lead a group of precinct workers who canvass their neighborhoods to identify supporters and get out the vote. This is politics in what I think is its purest form–neighbors talking to their neighbors.

Many of the precinct workers (otherwise known as precinct committee persons, or PCPs) are great! They serve above and beyond, canvassing their neighborhoods religiously, purchasing lawn signs for people who want them, helping other PCPs cover their territory, attending fundraisers and rallies, and showing up for phone banks. These are the people who are really going to make the difference in this election. If one of them shows up at your door, please thank them and offer them a glass of water and a chance to use the bathroom.

We are also blessed with a number of people who have great intentions, but difficulty with follow through. Maybe they’re terrified of talking to strangers at the door, maybe they’re bored to tears by phonebanking, maybe they get claustrophobic in crowds. And maybe they’re just lazy. To be fair, there are those who can’t canvass because of physical problems or time or childcare issues.

And then there are those who don’t respond to any type of communication, don’t come to any events, don’t volunteer for anything.

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I’ve read quite a few posts today that close election scenarios could get awfully ugly. Would another stolen election create armed resistance in the streets? Oh, I suppose so, but going the violence route would more likely be restricted to a few hotheads. But I ultimately expect it to be a moot point.

For one thing, my pal God has been dishing out the secrets lately and I’m happy to report that Kerry’s already won the first debate. Bank on it.

Second, the election’s not going to be as close as many think. The ebbs and peaks of campaigns commonly permit shifts of 8%-10% in the final month and in all but a couple swing states, margins of 6% or less exist.

Talking with many folks offline in many states, it’s pretty apparent that Bush is not popular and his war is a disaster. His support among women is understandably soft. They want to see Kerry succeed, but a great many have yet to hear his full message. And that’s not terribly surprising because the swingstate-centric campaign leaves nearly 30 states without the heavy ad barrages the swing states get.

There’s 4 debates ahead that will change that. You and I can’t deliver the goods if Kerry can’t. So consider this: Kerry will.

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It looks as if the crisis that Our Fearless Leader and Mr. Blair were seeking to avoid when they leaped into the fray was an epidemic of executive blue balls

Britain started to plan the invasion of Iraq months before the conflict, even as Prime Minister Tony Blair was denying he was on a course for war, according to a report on Wednesday quoting a leaked Pentagon document.

Senior British and US commanders met at a war-planning session in June 2002 and orders to prepare actual military operations were given on October 7 2002.

This was more than a month before a UN resolution giving a final warning to Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, the London Evening Standard reported.

Full battle plans were issued on October 31 2002, eight days before UN Resolution 1441 called for the resumption of arms inspections in Iraq and warned Saddam of “serious consequences” if he were still seeking weapons of mass destruction, the paper said.

The document quoted in the report is a Pentagon chronology used by US secretary of defence Donald Rumsfeld in an August 2003 presentation on the “strategic lessons learned from Operation Iraqi Freedom”.

The chronology lists a “UK and Australia planning conference” on June 28 2002.

But three weeks later, on July 16, the prime minister rejected the notion that Britain was gearing up for an invasion.

Well, we certainly did do a fine job of bombing Afghanistan out of the stone age.

Usually we journalists write about rogues, but Mukhtaran Bibi could not be more altruistic or brave, as the men who gang-raped her discovered. I firmly believe that the central moral challenge of this century, equivalent to the struggles against slavery in the 19th century or against totalitarianism in the 20th, will be to address sex inequality in the third world - and it’s the stories of women like Ms. Mukhtaran that convince me this is so.

The plight of women in developing countries isn’t addressed much in the West, and it certainly isn’t a hot topic in the presidential campaign. But it’s a life-and-death matter in villages like Meerwala, a 12-hour drive southeast from Islamabad.

In June 2002, the police say, members of a high-status tribe sexually abused one of Ms. Mukhtaran’s brothers and then covered up their crime by falsely accusing him of having an affair with a high-status woman. The village’s tribal council determined that the suitable punishment for the supposed affair was for high-status men to rape one of the boy’s sisters, so the council sentenced Ms. Mukhtaran to be gang-raped.

Read the rest of this entry »

To honor Aaron, a most Uppity Negro.

(via Mark Woods)

Both Kos and Insty will be blogging for The Guardian

Kristof found a bigtime hero but his conclusion is wrong.

We in the West could help chip away at that oppression, with health and literacy programs and by simply speaking out against it, just as we once stood up against slavery and totalitarianism. But instead of standing beside fighters like Ms. Mukhtaran, we’re still sitting on the fence.

Though other motives dominated, many in America backed the difficult choice to go to war because it was sold as a way to extend democracy to backwoods societies. I can recall more than a few bloggers discuss the brutal mistreatment of women in many societies, and not all Muslim ones, either.

Even those less aware of other cultures, when presented by a story like this, would be off the fence in a minute. But how do we ’stand next to fighters’ bef0re we know about them? And how would health and literacy programs resolve the abuses she endured?

I propose a different course of action.

Read the rest of this entry »

I see that several popular blawgers are in Blawg Republic already but there’s a few I’d add to make it a primo one stop law feed site. I wrote a few already, so if they get included, you’ll definiteely wantn this one on your blogroll.

A nice report on Halliburton:

Bringing Halliburton To Heel

Criminologist Edwin Sutherland could not have imagined the heights of war profiteering reached by Halliburton in Iraq. In his 1949 groundbreaking study White Collar Crime, Sutherland wrote about the role of corporations in last century�€™s world wars. He observed that: �€œ�€�the large corporations in time of war, when Western civilization was endangered, did not sacrifice their own interests and participate wholeheartedly in a national policy, but instead they attempted to use this emergency as an opportunity for extraordinary enrichment of themselves at the expense of others. �€�Profits are more important to large corporations than patriotism.�€�

As the largest contractor in the war on terror, Halliburton deserves all the scrutiny it has received�€”disregarding the partisan expectation that any resulting scandal would rub off on ex-CEO Dick Cheney.

Recently, John Kerry finally took off the gloves and used the H-word in a blistering attack on the Bush administration�€™s Iraq quagmire.

�€œAs president,�€� Kerry said, �€œI will stop companies like Halliburton from profiting at the expense of our troops and taxpayers. �€� And as commander in chief, I will have two words for companies that cheat the U.S. military: �€˜You’re fired.’�€�

Leading Pentagon watchdogs have been calling for Halliburton�€™s debarment or suspension from Pentagon contracts since August. At that time the Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA) issued a memo complaining that Halliburton could not account for more than $1.8 billion of $4.3 billion of work in Iraq and Kuwait. For the third time, the DCAA recommended that the Pentagon not pay Halliburton until it coughed up all the receipts.

The long list of waste, fraud, bribery and other abuses associated with Halliburton�€™s Iraq contracts now fill volumes. Vigilant oversight by Rep. Henry Waxman�€™s office and Pentagon investigators�€”with the help of company whistleblowers�€”have uncovered attempts to charge taxpayers $45 per case of soda, $100 per bag of laundry, $10,000 a day to use five-star hotels in Kuwait. (Meanwhile, the troops are sweating it out in tents in the desert). There�€™s been $167 million worth of price gouging for imported gasoline, and $186 million charged for meals that were never served to the troops, and a $6 million kickback to two employees (fired by the company) from a subcontractor.

Via ProgressiveTrail.org

More, from Halliburton employees.

[Part 1: The Morphing of the Conservative Movement]

Part 2: The Architecture of Fascism

The conservative movement’s transformation into pseudo-fascism isn’t immediately discernible because there’s nothing recognizably exceptional about any single aspect of it. Indeed, most of it seems all too familiar.

Part of the problem, of course, is that we’ve come to think of fascism as primarily a European phenomenon. That’s partly because fascism reflects the respective national identity of the nations where it arises; Nazism, for instance, was full of Germanic symbolism, and Italian fascism likewise suggested its national heritage. Its appearance in America, as such, will have little immediate resemblance to those earlier permutations.

Another reason it’s unlikely to be recognized is that part of the mythology that has sprung up around fascism is that it is dead — that it died in that Berlin bunker in 1945. But as reader Dante M writes:

Classical fascism is dead, and has been for a long time, despite the fevered wishes of skinheads and American Nazi Party members. But *fascism* as an ideology remains: it’s the Devil of the 20th Century, and its best trick was fooling people into thinking it doesn’t exist anymore, or that it was defeated in 1945, or that they’d know it when they see it (propaganda is another boogeyman that people are confident that they recognize on sight, even though the best propaganda never gets seen for what it is). Maybe fascism is a natural human reaction to hard times — a push for the certainty that is so missing from modern (and postmodern) life: People. Nation. Leader.

The idea has evolved to fit the times, which is something that most people don’t recognize — you say “Fascist” and they will conjure up recognizable images (Hitler, mass rallies, WW II, etc.). Or else it’s a slur without much thought behind it. No serious, practicing neo-fascist would ever use that word to describe themselves — only the most diehard Hitler worshippers would proudly tag themselves as “fascists.” I’d even wager that the most actually fascist of reactionaries would be offended if you called them that. They’d say they were patriots, and then call you a traitor.

Even the Nazis and the Fascists of Italy used a lot of tactics before assuming power, which is why fascism presents such a protean, serpentine aspect — that’s key to understanding them. The goal of the fascist is the assumption of absolute power — the one-party police state. That’s what they’ve always been about. Everything else is secondary to that objective. �€�

Fascism is a poisonous ideology that grows and adapts to its circumstances — Eurofascism reflected European vices; American fascism is similarly home-brewed. Therein lies the challenge in identifying it and combating it. Fascism always wraps itself in the flag, always seeks absolute power, always brands opponents as traitors, always relies heavily on propaganda for dissemination of its ideas, always invokes subversive enemies (at home and abroad), always embraces militarism and permanent war, always favors politicizing of police functions (and expanding them and the surveillance state), always scorns intellectuals, artists, and bourgeois democratic values, always is hostile to leftist and labor movements, and is obsessed with idealized images of a mythic “better time” of the past (while at the same time destroying that past, and the nation as a whole).

Fascism continues to live on because it derives from the meeting of human traits as ancient as Cain and the relatively recent rise of mass politics. It is, moreover, a phenomenon specifically associated with crises of democracy; so as long as there are democratic states — and the possibility of their failure — then the potential for fascism remains with us.
Read the rest of this entry »

Thursday night is the first of three debates between Bush and Kerry. I hope that John Kerry and his campaign are doing everything they can to be prepared. That means not only rehearsing for the debate, but making sure they have spent more than a little time putting in place contingency plans and discussing the risks inherent in partaking in the dirtiest and most significant Presidential election known since Abraham Lincoln was first elected.

What are some of the risks? Obviously, more attacks like from the Swift Boat Liars (which Michael Tomasky thinks did a great deal in hurting Kerry) are possible. One other possibility will be some type of nasty landmine could be laying in wait for just the right time.

One reason to prepare for nasty surprises is because Karl Rove is on the warpath. He is a vicious campaigner and he believes in destroying his opponent by going after his opponent’s strengths. Truly, there are more tricks up his sleeve for which Kerry must prepare. Consider the following tale (from Bush’s Brain).

In 1986, Rove was working on Bill Clements election for governor of Texas against Democratic incumbant Mark White. Just before the debates, Mark White was doing well in the polls and it looked like Bill Clements was going down to defeat. In the midst of this campaign less than a day before the debate, a transmitting device was found in Karl Rove’s office. He told the news media about how they had come to suspect that the campaign headquarters had been bugged when they realized a reporter had gotten some very sensitive information about the campaign. So they called in some experts to search the offices for listening devices.
Read the rest of this entry »

it turns out that, much to bill o’reilly’s consternation, the audience for the daily show with jon stewart is not only more educated, but more knowledgable about political affairs than the good ol’ boys that watch o’reilly.

you may or may not care that stewart appeared on o’reilly’s factor last week, where o’reilly accused stewart’s audience of being nothing more than “stoned slackers”:

o’reilly: you actually have an influence on this presidential election. that is scary.

stewart: if that were so, that would be quite frightening.

o’reilly: but it is. it’s true. i mean, you’ve got stoned slackers watching your dopey show every night, ok, and they can vote.

stewart: yeah.

o’reilly: you can’t stop them.

stewart: yeah, i just don’t know how motivated they would be, these stoned slackers…

Read the rest of this entry »

From today’s New York Times:

The same intelligence unit that produced a gloomy report in July about the prospect of growing instability in Iraq warned the Bush administration about the potential costly consequences of an American-led invasion two months before the war began, government officials said Monday.

[snip]

The assessments predicted that an American-led invasion of Iraq would increase support for political Islam and would result in a deeply divided Iraqi society prone to violent internal conflict.

One of the reports also warned of a possible insurgency against the new Iraqi government or American-led forces, saying that rogue elements from Saddam Hussein’s government could work with existing terrorist groups or act independently to wage guerrilla warfare, the officials said. The assessments also said a war would increase sympathy across the Islamic world for some terrorist objectives, at least in the short run.

[snip]

Secretary of State Colin L. Powell acknowledged that “we have seen an increase in anti-Americanism in the Muslim world'’ since the war began. Mr. Powell also said the insurgency in Iraq was “getting worse.'’

Outside the Bush machine/neocon/warblogger coccoon, no one who can find Iraq on a map doubts that things are going badly there.

What should John Kerry say about it? He should say more or less what he’s been saying:

1. Optimism is precious. Wishful thinking is dangerous. The difference is paying attention to reality.
2. The troops need a Commander-in Chief who knows the difference between optimism and wishful thinking.
3. Knowing what you believe isn’t helpful if what you believe isn’t true.
4. Staying the course doesn’t help if you’re on the wrong course.
5. We need a plan to win the peace in Iraq. Saying we’re winning isn’t the same as planning to win.

the tiny crawford lonestar iconoclast, the only newspaper in a wol’s hometown, has endorsed john kerry:

four items trouble us the most about the bush administration: his initiatives to disable the social security system, the deteriorating state of the american economy, a dangerous shift away from the basic freedoms established by our founding fathers, and his continuous mistakes regarding terrorism and iraq.

president bush has announced plans to change the social security system as we know it by privatizing it, which when considering all the tangents related to such a change, would put the entire economy in a dramatic tailspin.

the social security trust fund actually lends money to the rest of the government in exchange for government bonds, which is how the system must work by law, but how do you later repay social security while you are running a huge deficit? it�€™s impossible, without raising taxes sometime in the future or becoming fiscally responsible now. social security money is being used to escalate our deficit and, at the same time, mask a much larger government deficit, instead of paying down the national debt, which would be a proper use, to guarantee a future gain.

Read the rest of this entry »

The Christian Science Monitor/TIPP poll, taken Sept 22-27th, excludes Nader, but the results?

Kerry: 45%
Bush: 45%

So while other biased media keep chanting the false mantra that Kerry’s in some sort of trouble, this means he’s closed ANY post-convention gap in just 4 weeks. A STUNNING turnaround.

The odd thing is the CSM begins by saying the national polls give a decided edge to Bush, but end the article with their national poll calling it a tie!

Bush peaked too early, the momo is with Kerry now. If he keeps delivering like he has this month, he’s going to win easily.

And I hope he follows the Big Dog’s advice after the first debate, by going after the ECONOMY.

Read the rest of this entry »

Brought to you by our friends over at the American Enterprise Institute, which proudly includes in its ranks the likes of David Frum, creator of the axis of evil, and Richard Perle, all-around fool that said we would be greeted as liberators in Iraq.

Since the end of the cold war, the image of the United States as imperial hyperpower in a unipolar world has enjoyed wide currency. In fact, it’s a myth that needs re-examination if we want to build a more realistic understanding of world power in a globalized era. There never was a unipolar world. The “unipolar moment” that commentators saw when the cold war ended was pretty much that–a hallucinatory moment in history. And describing the United States as the world’s first “hyperpower” was little more than French hyperbole. These terms should be retired. Other possible descriptions such as “indispensable power” or “leader of the democratic world” might instead be re-examined to serve as credible definitions of America’s status in the world today. There is a huge gap between America’s military capacity and its actual ability to bend events according to its wish. America’s installed capacity as the sole superpower at the end of the cold war was, and remains, beyond dispute. A $11 trillion economy that facilitates enormous technological prowess and a defense budget that exceeds the combined total of the next 25 powers should leave no doubt about the potential of the United States.

…The United States possesses by far the largest pile of sophisticated weaponry on earth, yet its conventional military power is severely stretched in fighting one and a quarter wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Further, its nuclear edge is tempered by the other nations–including China, India and Russia, which have large, conventional forces and demographic depth–that have the means to respond with substantial nuclear retaliation. Even tiny North Korea, with maybe a half-dozen bombs, has become hard to tackle. The “war on terrorism,” for its part, is far more complex than a massive deployment of men and munitions against a clearly perceived enemy-state or coalition of states. In this war, terrorism is not the enemy; it is a battle tactic used by an elusive, globally dispersed, well-funded enemy. Building a worldwide coalition of allies to fight such an enemy is not a policy choice. It is the only option in a war without conventional battlefields. The formidable superiority of U.S. economic power is also under threat. The rapidly ballooning expense of the Iraq war is increasing budget deficits that were already huge. This is also intensifying a gathering U.S. fiscal crisis of growing debt, now financed by foreign capital.

Read the rest of this entry »

…who Gallup past the truth.

At a certain point, an American has to wonder whether the White House, DOJ, IRS or FBI are threatening journalists and pollsters, or their families. Because it’s moved past corporate gamesmanship. They’ve become the propaganda organs of the Third Right, putting out deliberately false information about the war, and the election.

As Chuck Colson used to say, “If you have them by the balls, their hearts and minds will follow.”

Clearly, Karl Rove owns Gallup’s balls. (See two page Onion article, also via The Left Coaster)

The failure of print-media and the always infamous broadcast journalists to call a lie a lie and spell out the true extent of the many distortions throughout this campaign have metastasized to historic levels as of late. Whether it was WMD strikes in less than 45 minutes, the state of the economy, John Kerry’s positions on a lew of subjects, or progress in Iraq, the GOP has played the castrated media marvelously, much to the chagrin of people who care about insignificant things such as facts, and reality. Classic example:

Bush on Saturday also touted efforts to train Iraqi security forces. He said nearly 100,000 �€œfully trained and equipped�€� Iraqi soldiers, police officers and other security personnel were already working and that the Iraqi government was on track to build a force of over 200,000 security personnel by the end of 2005.

Documents prepared by Defense Department officials and given to lawmakers showed fewer than 100,000 would be trained by the end of this year. They also showed that of the nearly 90,000 now in the police force, only 8,169 had the full eight-week academy training. It will be July 2006 before the administration�€™s new goal of 135,000 fully trained police is met.

In Bush’s defense, John Kerry wasn’t in Cambodia for the Yuletide. At least they’re consistent. How else could he deny his love-affair with one Ahmed Chalabi.

AQ is going to try and influence our elections. This was the buzz from the DHS this past summer, again, in the absence of any tangible evidence, whether that be location, manpower, methodology, etc. Some were skeptical. These people I appropriately label as traitors. Us rationally-thinking folks, however, were down with the jive emanating from our highly-efficient, highly-capable Department of Homeland Security. Of course AQ was going to try and influence our elections, and the fact that Kerry has experienced a dip in the polls during the past two months suggests that such an attack will surely occur in-and-around election day. Luckily for us, this violent electoral-process-disruption will not be taking place in Florida, or New Mexico, or even Ohio, but in Iraq.

President Bush and interim Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi insisted last week that Iraq would go ahead with elections scheduled for January, despite continuing violence. But U.S. officials tell TIME that the Bush team ran into trouble with another plan involving those elections �€” a secret “finding” written several months ago proposing a covert CIA operation to aid candidates favored by Washington. A source says the idea was to help such candidates �€” whose opponents might be receiving covert backing from other countries, like Iran �€” but not necessarily to go so far as to rig the elections. But lawmakers from both parties raised questions about the idea when it was sent to Capitol Hill. In particular, House minority leader Nancy Pelosi “came unglued” when she learned about what a source described as a plan for “the CIA to put an operation in place to affect the outcome of the elections.” Pelosi had strong words with National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice in a phone call about the issue.

Damn those cagey Republican cabinet members. It’s a good thing we handed over sovereignty on June 28th, or else it might appear as though the new government in Iraq was illegitimate.

… you just have to laugh.

All Out War Threatened in Nigeria’s Oil Rich Region

Insurgents in Nigeria�€™s southern Niger Delta will begin �€œa full-scale armed struggle�€� to wrest control of the region�€™s oil riches from the government on Friday, a rebel spokesman said today.

Fears of disruption in Nigerian oil supplies has already sent world prices spiralling beyond 50 US dollars a gallon.

Moujahid Dokubo-Asari, leader of the Niger Delta People�€™s Volunteer Force, also warned that all oil company employees would be legitimate targets and advised foreign embassies to pull their nationals out of the oil region.

I guess that’ll force a few hands.

This, plus North Korea’s announcement about having nuclear weapons. Wasn’t it Hitler who lost by warring on too many fronts at once? Gee… isn’t it too bad we’re bogged down in that unnecessary war in Iraq…

The terminally clueless David Brooks argues with some straw man in his own head that democracy is good.

I mention this case study because we are approaching election day in Afghanistan on Oct. 9. Six days later, voter registration begins in Iraq. Conditions in both places will be tense and chaotic. And in Washington, a mood of bogus tough-mindedness has swept the political class. As William Raspberry wrote yesterday in The Washington Post, “the new consensus seems to be that bringing American-style democracy to Iraq is no longer an achievable goal.” We should just settle for what John Kerry calls “stability.” We should be satisfied if some strongman comes in who can restore order.

The people who make this argument pat themselves on the back for being hard-headed, but the fact is they are naïve. They’ve got things exactly backward. The reason we should work for full democracy in Iraq and Afghanistan is not just because it’s noble, but because it’s practical. It is easier to defeat an insurgency and restore order with elections than without.

Brooks argues that a democratically elected, popularly supported government would bring more stability to Iraq in the long run than an unpopular dictator.

Next week, Brooks will discover that snow mostly falls in winter and that soup won’t burn your tongue if you let it cool off first. Read the rest of this entry »

From an email Steve Gilliard received, the report from an ER in Iraq.

Follow that by clicking through the link to ‘Wounded’ that commenter Editoress provides with a short excerpt.

WaPo’s Best Blogs voting is open, so go vote !

I’ll stick my neck out and give my recommendations:

It looks like Daily Kos, Eschaton and Talking Points Memo are up against National Review’s ‘The Corner’ or LGF in damn near every category. Way to split the Lefty vote, WaPo!

But some are easy. Since Daily Kos has raised more money for the Dems, he should get the nod for best Dem coverage. And he’s the only Lefty to choose for Best GOP coverage so I’ll give him that as well.

Read the rest of this entry »

Jordan King slaps Bush around and says “Dude, ya gotta wake up!”

On Tuesday, Washington’s strongest ally in the Middle East, King Abdullah of Jordan, went further.

The monarch said it was too dangerous to hold elections in Iraq and said if the U.S.-backed interim Iraqi government pushed ahead with them, extremists could well be the biggest winners.

“It seems impossible to me to organize indisputable elections in the chaos we see today,” he told French daily Le Figaro before meeting French President Jacques Chirac in Paris.

“If the elections take place in the current disorder, the best-organized faction will be that of the extremists and the result will reflect that advantage.”

And to think this could have been avoided if only he’d listened to his father two years ago.

Read the rest of this entry »

I can’t sleep tonight because God just woke me up on the hotline.

“Did you see my latest warning?” he demanded.

“Was that you?” I sarcastically replied.

“Funny. I’m pretending to laugh,” said the All-Knowing One, “but I’m serious. Better tell those folks in Washington and Oregon that a vote for Kerry can spare them the serious fire and brimstone again. They didn’t listen to me about Mondale in ‘84 and what clearer signal did they need that it was election related than when I took out Harry Truman?”

So, you denizens of the Pacific NW swing states, there you have it.

I’m sure everyone will blog about Jimmy Carter’s warning that Florida voting problems are likely to repeat in November. But someone’s asking deeper questions, like how come no one’s doing a serious investigation into the second voter disenfranchisement list?

Publius thinks there’s a strong likelihood that this was no accident and that it deserves a fullscale criminal investigation.

(found via Jeneane Sessum)

Wow. Iraq=Vietnam and because the investigations of Bush’s corruptions are likely to come out post-election, George-of-the-Bungle= Tricky Dick @Watergate.con

I never thought the flashbacks would be this real.

However, a judge has revived a lawsuit that could save the day.

Addendum: On this story, even Kos made it into Google News!.

Also, a reader named Julie sent a Matthew Chamberlin post that suggests things are getting verse.

In previous issues, we carried comments from a reporter assigned to the White House press corps. Some of these remarks, most especially one about Bush�€™s physical and mental problems, drew an enormous number of viewers and hundreds of inquiries, most especially from foreign press entities. The reporter advised us by email that there was rampant fury in the White House and security was becoming very tight. As a result of this, he decided to lay low for a few weeks and see how the wind was blowing. Yesterday, he sent us the following material which we are now posting. Some of it is outrageous in the extreme but to date, no one has proven him wrong.

September 22nd, 2004: �€œOne of the real hot spots of this campaign is the draft issue. People are walking on eggs here in the Monkey Palace. On the one hand, the President has set up all the machinery for a draft and plans to push it through when and if he gets a second term. Rove and his boys would like to put a spin on this and have their toadies in the press deny it but too many people are in the know so their best bet is to hunker down, invent something of superficial interest they can flog in the press until November and hope to God the draft issues doesn�€™t spill over its banks before then. Someone suggested, only partially in jest, that terrorists should kidnap one or both of the nasty Bush brats and threaten to cut off their heads! This is a standard joke around here but look for the truth in the jest, kids. They are frantic here to refocus public attention on unimportant issues like the Scott Peterson trial or the Florida Hurricanes. One of the more entertaining letters than came in here was from some religious nut (Bush loves them and sucks up to their leaders on a daily basis) that said that God was punishing Florida for stealing the last election!~ Someone made a copy of this and posted it in the mess. It was ripped down by furious Secret Service agents who are even now dusting it for fingerprints but a number of people saw it and I suspect the same mischief-maker will put up another copy soon�€��€�

I highlighted the hurricane part for the silly reason of noting that a few weeks back, I posted a satire piece saying God had told me he’d hit Florida already and Ivan was going to redirect to Texas to complete the punishment. A week or so later, the infamous map of hurricanes tracking through GOP counties in Florida started making the rounds, though I’m quite sure God spoke to me first (and btw, Ivan took a circuitous route but eventually slapped Texas a little.)

But that’s a sidelight to the real story here. This site has extensive info about the likelihood that a draft is in the works and should be functional by next June, though all the authorities maintain a strict denial mode for now.

If that doesn’t convince you, I should add that I asked God to look in Bush’s heart to see what was really there. God said his view was blocked because Cheney’s hand was clenching it, but in Bush’s head were two thoughts: ‘Iranistan is next’ and ‘Gotta draft me some peaceniks and minorities so they’ll quit yammering on those blogs.’

So there you have it, from the Ultimate Source: the draft is coming. And you heard it stated clearly here first.

Now excuse me; I have a nearly eighteen-year-old I have to go hide. And y’all better go get that Kerry feller elected or I’m asking Him to send an earthquake or locusts or a plague of freepers your way.

In my local paper, I saw the best terse response to the flawed practices of Dan Rather recently:

“I’d Rather not C-BS”

So what say you to outdoing all the mainstream media on Election Night?

Live Streaming Election Coverage by Mobloggers

What’s more powerful than all the broadcast and cable networks combined? Hundreds of moblogger/pollwatchers reporting live and on-the-scene from the polling places of America on Election Day, November 2, 2004.

Here’s what we have in mind:

–MoReporters: With cell phones, preferably on-site at polling places. Even better if you’re an official pollwatcher.

–MoBloggers: Planning you’re own election-night blog? We’ll try to follow it on the air.

–MoAnchors: We need two on-air personalities, preferably with access to a college radio or NPR studio. (The IT Conversations studio is equipped with industry-standard ISDN hardware.)

–MoProducers: Finally, we need people to coordinate the incoming calls and blogs and direct them to the anchors.

Interested in any of the above roles?

Then sign up at MoPollWatch.

(via Blogarithms)

What is a ‘progressive’ blog? (Pay attention; there’s a quiz at the end)

Ultimately it depends on one’s definition and on the purpose one has in pursuing progressive blog reading. In my case, that means a blog may demonstrate an open-mindedness to moral or human nature matters - which is progress - yet may not really add to the political discourse anything at all - which is opposite my purpose. Or if you prefer, my obsession. Thus, I can exclude blogs (or blogzines) like Gawker or Defamer from my definition, but not Wonkette, who displays a fair amount of attention to progressive politics amid her stargazing & gossipy entertainment.

It gets harder from there. If someone claims to be progressive, or even centrist, but displays some positions much further to the right, should I accept their self-definition? There’s no easy answer for that. I wouldn’t exclude every progressive who was misled into initial support for this war, but if they display too much love for warring in general, or show a broader conservative streak, I’m not prone to list them as progressive because they display some racial, gender or sexual identity tolerance.

Bob Packwood was pro-choice and there’s Log Cabin Republicans, but both display more conservativism than progressivism in my book. Among high traffic bloggers, I tend to disfavor, for example, Michael Totten as a progressive. And Dean’s World’s upholding of ‘liberal tradition’ falls well short of progressive.

Read the rest of this entry »

“Vote for us or you’re all going to die. Arrrr.”

Nothing is left to chance with Dick Cheney or George W. Bush these days. They cannot risk one heckler slipping in to one of their rallies lest the public should realize what a real cross-section of America actually thinks about their policies. Unfortunately, even Cheney’s hand-picked audiences have been turned off by his cataclysmic gloom-and-doom schtick. From a NYT article:

Campaign advance workers for each of the rallies and town hall or round-table discussions chose every participant, combing lists of Republican activists and donors. But these advance workers could not control what Mr. Cheney said or predict that his dark message would be out of sync with what many in his ardently supportive audience wanted to hear: his stand on domestic social issues.

The Kerry campaign is putting out a new ad slamming Cheney and Bush for their behavior. They claim the Republican ticket is using an appalling and divisive strategy of playing politics with the war on terror.

I find it very much like living in a cartoon whenever I’m watching Bush and Cheney employing frilly fantasy while speaking about how Iraq is on-track, and then watching them bare their fangs and terrorize their crowds with blood-dripping talk of terror and death at the hands of John Kerry.

It feels like flitting fairies are carrying me off to Utopia and Darkwing Duck is reading the script of “Nightmare on Elm Street” to me all in one sitting.

Today, in Ohio:

“You got to be able to speak clearly in order to make this world a more peaceful place,” Bush said. “You cannot expect to lead this world if you try to take both sides of every position.”

Notwithstanding his penchant for garbling the English language regularly to display his clear speech, I think Bush is spot on here. If you take the side of talking tough action, then bungle the action, that’s not leadership, that’s incompetence.

“He voted for the use of force in Iraq and then didn’t vote to fund the troops…{snip}

One year after the war began, Bush finally provided body armor to all our troops in Iraq. In March 2004.

Kerry’s words at the time he voted against funding were perfectly clear: he wanted accountability on how the money would be spent. He didn’t want it spent on Halliburton overcharges, or on Ahmad Chalabi’s wrong information. And after counting heads before the vote to make sure the troops would be properly funded, he cast his ‘No’ vote as a symbolic protest against the lack of accountability. And events since indicate his fears were justified about the misspending of funds.

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Remember back to your years in grade school. It�€™s the dining room. Sunday dinner. Mom�€™s putting it on the table and you�€™re looking forward those apple-glazed stuffed pork chops and the buttery egg noodles, when out of nowhere, she also plops a spoonful of cooked carrots in front of you. You grimace. But mom says it�€™s important to eat a balanced meal. While you�€™re cramming your cake hole with protein and carbs, mom wants a vegetable or two to pass your lips as well.

I�€™m your vegetable.

With all the tasty political meats and sweets on The American Street, General Glut is the new kid on the block, here to echo your mother and tell you that economic news is important. No, it�€™s essential. At the same time, maybe your mom, like mine, served you canned veggies instead of fresh. They�€™re often a little bland, covering that up with excess salt, often overcooked, and rarely visually appealing. If that�€™s the economic news and analysis you�€™re used to, I�€™ve got some nice fresh vegetables in the steamer for you right now. It�€™s not glazed pork chops, but it�€™s got the Vitamin A every growing body needs. Pull up a chair and stay a while.

On the menu today is the US housing bubble. The Census Bureau reports today that sales of new homes in August rose a hefty 9.4% over July. And the crowds go wild. But wait �€“ that�€™s only half the story.

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While President Bush calls John Kerry a traitor for questioning just how rosy things are in Iraq, Secretary of State Colin Powell chimes in to tell us that the situation in Iraq is worsening as we prepare to rig that nation’s elections this January. I sure as hell hope that Senator Kerry is listening, and can now add Secretary Powell’s remarks to his litany. The reality, of course, is that we are killing around twice as many innocent civilians as the insurgents, and once in a while, the President might want to check what his own Pentagon is saying about how rotten things are in Iraq, becuase it might prove, you know, that the President is a bald-faced LIAR.

Listening to National Palestine Radio (NPR) this morning, hardly a right-wing mouth-piece, I heard concerns of so-called “security moms” in swing states, or in plain English, women who Bush has successfully scared the bejeezus out of that only he can prevent Chechen terrorists from seizing and blowing up their kids’ schools. Indeed, some even lauded Bush for the Iraq adventure for “how much safer” it has made us. (Senator Kerry may have only himself to thank for this, having himself blasted Howard Dean for daring to tell the truth, i.e. that we are no safer whatsoever with Saddam Hussein in custody, about this last winter; but I digress.)

As many of you know, my own interview with Dick Morris last year hinted that if this election is about terror, Bush wins. If its about anything else, the Democrat wins. Well, for all of his much maligned prognostocative powers, current polling is showing Morris’s prediction to be alarmingly prescient.

Which is totally pathetic. Because Kerry COULD have taken this off the table a long time ago, instead of wasting time on reliving ‘Nam (which was a no-win then!), and domestic issues, which kind of have to be tied into the big picture (i.e. how can we “support our troops” if tax cuts are a bigger priority than equipping them; or perhaps– on a ‘Nam theme– our troops are winning battles in the field only to be denied victory in the war because there was no planning to win the peace.)

If Kerry starts highlighting stories such as this one, about entirely unarmed units being sent into Iraqi combat zones, to train the new Iraqi army no less! In short, Kerry must not stop HAMMERING at national security and terror issues, until the President starts talking about something else. He’s doing this late. I don’t know if I respect a strategy that involves only doing your real campaign for six weeks against a guy whose been campaigning non-stop for four years, but it’s all we got.

This one is close enough, still, so that we can recover and take this. But Democrats (and human beings of good will in this country, if there are any left) have got to realize that Kerry’s situation right now is urgent: “tracking poll internal gigashmite analysis” belies that hearts and minds are shifting toward the “strong man on a horse” (forgetting, of course, that the President is afraid of horses.) It’s crunch time.

Jonathan Alter writes in Newsweek that the Bush Administration has no plans for a draft. “He knows that a draft would vaporize any remaining support for his Iraq policy,” Alter writes. “This would be of concern to him even as a second-term, lame-duck president. One thing we’ve learned about Bush is that he has never taken a position that he knew beforehand would be politically unpopular, including invading Iraq.”

One thing we know about Bush is that he’s all about winning elections. The governing thing is just a prop. And if he wins in November, why would he care what we think?

And another thing we know about Bush is that he’s not being honest about Iraq. His statements on Iraq are hallucinatory.

But I suspect Alter is right. Bush has no plans for a draft. Of course, he didn’t plan for escalating violence in Iraq, either. He didn’t plan for the car bombs that injured soldiers near Fallujah yesterday, for example.

We can’t be sure what Bush is planning, or even if Bush is planning. There is speculation that he plans a major offensive at the end of the year to pacify the insurgents. Bob Novak says there are plans to cut and run after the January elections. Whatever. Clearly, Iraq is spinning out of his control.

So there’s no point asking if Bush has plans for a draft. The question is, what if he realizes he needs soldiers to actually defend America, and there aren’t enough to go around? Read the rest of this entry »

The Time Poll that declared Bush ahead by 10 to 12 points two weeks ago, now has Bush ahead by 4 to 5 points.

The other 5 taken since Gallup gave Bush a 13 pt lead, have pegged it between 0 and 4%, including Fox, which said a 2 pt lead.

Rasmussen has it at less than 1% as of today.

Iraq is rising up the voter priority issue scale though the economy has the top spot still.

Though questions remain unanswered, the LA Times has done a nice summary of everything known about Bush’s ANG service. It cuts through the spin clutter and points to places where doubts remain. It doesn’t mention drug use allegations and skims over his partying a bit briefly. But it’s nice work, overall.

Afghan opium harvest grows
Afghan farmers expanded opium poppy crops by a quarter in the past year, fuelling a drug trade that is endangering efforts to stabilise the country, US officials said yesterday.

And remember, illegal drugs also provide funding to terrorists, and reasons to miss your flight physicals during wartime.

But I didn’t come here to mock Caesar; I came to ask him about this democracy schedule. Is it just coincidence that they scheduled this vote in the middle of US presidential debate days?

Was that planned to facilitate our ‘October Surprise’, with it hiding right under our noses? Imagine how strong you’ll look for the third debate if the election happens while attacks are repulsed, ‘proving’ that democracy is winning there just like it ‘will’ in Iraq.

And, Mr. President, was the Afghan vote date set by Karl Rove? Neato. So you don’t need to win any of the debates. All you need is a good jobs report and a successful election in Afghanistan and you can just say “look at these fine results.” And it’s also convenient to have one in January in Iraq, just before your stirring inaugural speech.

Brilliant! How do you get millions of people to perform like that? Do you use one of those supersonic dogwhistles? It worked halfway well in November 2000 and in March of 2003, so it oughta work on all those grateful liberated people. Or at least for the men. Maybe.

But I can’t get over how well both elections were timed to fit your needs.

Maybe next time, you can schedule them to fit the needs of those nations or our nation, even. If there is a next time. And if any of the three elections turn out to be real, for a change.

But whatever deal goes down or doesn’t go down, can you get me a good price on some of that record opium harvest?

Scrutiny Hooligans has the happy news that Patsy Keever has a serious shot at winning the 11th Congressional District in North Carolina!

She’ll be upsetting an incumbent Republican so go check her out and toss a few bucks in her kitty.

I still think Edwards can carry North Carolina and with folks like Erskine Bowles and Keever bringing Dems to the polls, the odds keep getting better for that.

(And while you’re visiting Screwy Hoolie, if global oil depletion is a topic you’re interested in, join in the discussion!)

Crowd cheers after Heinz Kerry rebuts heckler. Some excellent quotes from Theresa that deserve repeating.

Polite, warm, humble, engaging, smart and cool under fire. Those are pretty cool family traditions.

The Archpundit passes along some news from Chillinois: Alan Keyes’ daughter blogs…. and speaks of her life as a lesbian.

I just hope they get that Skanktity of Mirage amendment passed before she meets Mary Cheney and they try to get merry.

I’m starting to get a good visual of all the family traditions the GOP is trying to uphold here: Dissing your kids as sinners and compelling them to say the Biblical version of the Pledge of Allegiance while bearing false witness against your Democrat neighbors, saying they’ll steal your Bibles and sue your doctors frivolously.

I kinda envy them. My family had to be really, really drunk before they brought out the traditional family values like that. And it looks like Illinois is getting more sober by the minute.

Take a look at the ads Hopper Videos has assembled: Election Guide 2004.

I’ve been having nightmares just like ‘em.

I usually view the Christian Science Monitor as a publication that achieves near perfect objectivity, free from bias. But sometimes, even they’re off-base:

US lawmakers are in a pre-election, chest-thumping mood to appear tough on terrorism. They’re rushing to implement most of the recommendations made by the 9/11 commission in July. In the next two weeks, the House and Senate will each take up a security bill, perhaps trying to score campaign points as much as trying to pass effective legislation.

While such measures would best be debated and approved after the election’s blast furnace of partisan politics, there’s one urgent step that, strangely, Democratic nominee John Kerry and the House Republican leadership agree on: better border security.

In a key speech on terrorism last Friday, Mr. Kerry said his top priority for homeland security would be to make the borders with Mexico and Canada less “porous.” He claimed border security has declined since Sept. 11, 2001, citing a 9/11 commission finding that border inspectors need better training and intelligence information to keep out terrorists. The GOP bill in the House, crafted by Speaker Dennis Hastert (R) of Illinois, differs from its Senate counterpart by including strong measures to beef up border controls.

If they’d seen Fahrenheit 9-11, they’d remember the part where an Oregon State police officer describes how he patrols the coast. Hundreds of miles of Oregon’s beaches are kept free of terrorists by just that one cop.

The GOP is worried about the top and bottom border, but Kerry considers the left and right borders to be important, too. Must be all that windsurfing and swiftboating that helps him remember 3,000 miles of border that the GOP keeps forgetting.

Oh, look, the Pakistanis killed a really bad one. So if we got the 9-11 mastermind and they got their public enemy #1, I guess we can rest easy now.

As soon as we bring this longtime enemy of the state in to face justice.

I seem to recall, about two years, $140 billion and 1000 dead soldiers ago, that we had to go to Iraq to install democracy and stop the spread of terrorism. But then I read this:

“The American people need to brace themselves for a long war in the Middle East and Central Asia,” said General John Abizaid, the U.S. commander whose territory stretches from Central Asia to the Horn of Africa and the Persian Gulf and most of the Middle East. The general, the most senior U.S. military commander, who is fluent in Arabic, painted the war as a sweeping ideological struggle for the hearts and minds of hundreds of millions of Muslims, a far broader war than Mr. Bush’s international war on terrorism.

“They need to brace themselves . . . because the battle is being waged out here between extremists and moderates,” the general said.

A broader war than Bush’s perpetual war against terrorism? How many eternities are we up to now?

Gen. Abizaid was talking an even longer view.

He said radical Islam as an “ideological movement is just starting to gain strength” and suggested the combined resources of the U.S. political, economic, diplomatic structures, “need to come together with military power to defeat this ideology of al-Qaeda, Zarqawi, Ansar al-Islam, the Islamic movement of Uzbekistan, et cetera.”

Those other guys are easy. It’s the deadly Et Ceteras I’m worried about.

And what’s with this ‘just starting to gain strength’ crap? I thought we were winning. Why just yesterday, I heard Bush say he’d repeat his “Mission Accomplished” photo-op, and he keeps saying how much of Al Qaida’s been destroyed, so how can they be stronger?

I’m confused. I was certain it was over when they took down that terror mastermind, Cat Stevens. Drat. I guess this means we’ll have to go after that Osama guy who keeps brainwashing the Muslim world from a cave. I mean, can’t those silly Muslims see that we’re here from the government and came to help?

Maybe we shocked them but were low on our stocks of awe.

Key Bush Assertions About Iraq in Dispute.

And I guess this just confirms that story:

“We have seen an increase in anti-Americanism in the Muslim world … I’m not denying this,” Powell said on ABC’s “This Week” program.

“But I think that that will be overcome in due course because what the Muslim world will see as well as the rest of the world is that in Afghanistan 10 million people who have registered to vote will vote on the ninth of October and bring in place a freely elected president, and I think we’re going to do the same thing in Iraq if we stay the course, if we defeat this insurgency,” Powell said.

Iraq plans to hold elections in January, but U.S. officials warn that insurgents will aim violence at preventing voting, including shooting at polling places.

“We are fighting an intense insurgency,” Powell said. “Yes it’s getting worse and the reason it’s getting worse is that they are determined to disrupt the election.”

Wait a sec… what’s all this ‘if’ stuff? You mean F troop might not be able to stop them with their invisible supersecret weapons?

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