In other words: A discussion of The Bush Administration
The Bible-Off, Debate #3
"This is my warning to my people," says the LORD Almighty. "Do not listen to these prophets when they prophesy to you, filling you with futile hopes. They are making up everything they say. They do not speak for the LORD! . . . How long will this go on? If they are prophets, they are prophets of deceit, inventing everything they say." -- Jeremiah 23:15, 23:26
Where are the Kerry quotes when you need them?
- Michael 8:41 PM - [PermaLink] -
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From the Dept. of Homeland Insecurity:- Friday, October 15, 2004 -
FEAR IS JUST AROUND THE CORNER
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Because Bush wants to bring about a world of hope and freedom and women being barefoot and pregnant?
U.S. Rejects U.N. Plan for WomenUNITED NATIONS — The United States has refused to join 85 heads of state and government in signing a statement that endorsed a 10-year-old U.N. plan to ensure every woman's right to education, healthcare and choice about having children.Umm... people should be allowed to have sex. True people not having sex would reduce war and crime and bring peace to the land because without babies the human race would die out.
The Bush administration said it withheld its signature because the statement included a reference to "sexual rights."
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Halloween is coming: Start you scary reading early!
The New York Times > Magazine > Without a Doubt''Just in the past few months,'' Bartlett said, ''I think a light has gone off for people who've spent time up close to Bush: that this instinct he's always talking about is this sort of weird, Messianic idea of what he thinks God has told him to do.'' Bartlett, a 53-year-old columnist and self-described libertarian Republican who has lately been a champion for traditional Republicans concerned about Bush's governance, went on to say: ''This is why George W. Bush is so clear-eyed about Al Qaeda and the Islamic fundamentalist enemy. He believes you have to kill them all. They can't be persuaded, that they're extremists, driven by a dark vision. He understands them, because he's just like them. . . .
''This is why he dispenses with people who confront him with inconvenient facts,'' Bartlett went on to say. ''He truly believes he's on a mission from God. Absolute faith like that overwhelms a need for analysis. The whole thing about faith is to believe things for which there is no empirical evidence.'' Bartlett paused, then said, ''But you can't run the world on faith.''
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The disdainful smirks and grimaces that many viewers were surprised to see in the first presidential debate are familiar expressions to those in the administration or in Congress who have simply asked the president to explain his positions. Since 9/11, those requests have grown scarce; Bush's intolerance of doubters has, if anything, increased, and few dare to question him now. A writ of infallibility -- a premise beneath the powerful Bushian certainty that has, in many ways, moved mountains -- is not just for public consumption: it has guided the inner life of the White House. As Whitman told me on the day in May 2003 that she announced her resignation as administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency: ''In meetings, I'd ask if there were any facts to support our case. And for that, I was accused of disloyalty!'' (Whitman, whose faith in Bush has since been renewed, denies making these remarks and is now a leader of the president's re-election effort in New Jersey.)
It just goes on and on and on and on. Read and keep on the night light!
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This proves Bush is serious about the war on terror - even though it has only been known for a couple of years that Zarqawi is responsible for many terrorist activities. And only after ten or so months of him placing bombs in Iraq killing our soldiers does Bush make this dramatic move: U.S. Orders Freeze on Zarqawi Network Assets
Why the hell wasn't this done years ago!!! Did Bush need to wait until all his pals fully divested from any Zarqawi related investments?!
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You don't want to die doing what Halliburton is supposed to do? -- Get arrested
Platoon defies orders in IraqA 17-member Army Reserve platoon with troops from Jackson and around the Southeast deployed to Iraq is under arrest for refusing a "suicide mission" to deliver fuel, the troops' relatives said Thursday.
The soldiers refused an order on Wednesday to go to Taji, Iraq — north of Baghdad — because their vehicles were considered "deadlined" or extremely unsafe, said Patricia McCook of Jackson, wife of Sgt. Larry O. McCook.
Sgt. McCook, a deputy at the Hinds County Detention Center, and the 16 other members of the 343rd Quartermaster Company from Rock Hill, S.C., were read their rights and moved from the military barracks into tents, Patricia McCook said her husband told her during a panicked phone call about 5 a.m. Thursday.
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Listen up Catholic Bishops! Are you "Pro-life" or "Pro-Bush?"
If the past 4 years are any esson: Bush will get more babies aborted.
Pro-life? Look at the fruitsI look at the fruits of political policies more than words. I analyzed the data on abortion during the George W. Bush presidency. There is no single source for this information - federal reports go only to 2000, and many states do not report - but I found enough data to identify trends. My findings are counterintuitive and disturbing.And you thought Bush's murders were limited to just American soldiers and Iraq militants and civilians. Bush is the most anti-life President I can think of.
Abortion was decreasing. When President Bush took office, the nation's abortion rates were at a 24-year low, after a 17.4% decline during the 1990s. This was an average decrease of 1.7% per year, mostly during the latter part of the decade. (This data comes from Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life using the Guttmacher Institute's studies).
Enter George W. Bush in 2001. One would expect the abortion rate to continue its consistent course downward, if not plunge. Instead, the opposite happened.
I found three states that have posted multi-year statistics through 2003, and abortion rates have risen in all three: Kentucky's increased by 3.2% from 2000 to 2003. Michigan's increased by 11.3% from 2000 to 2003. Pennsylvania's increased by 1.9% from 1999 to 2002. I found 13 additional states that reported statistics for 2001 and 2002. Eight states saw an increase in abortion rates (14.6% average increase), and five saw a decrease (4.3% average decrease).
Under President Bush, the decade-long trend of declining abortion rates appears to have reversed. Given the trends of the 1990s, 52,000 more abortions occurred in the United States in 2002 than would have been expected before this change of direction.
To be clear I am pro-choice, but a fetus is a life, it feels pain, it even has dreams (I'd bet pretty wild ones), but abortion still should be legal. Listen, if you were told another person needed to use your liver, your body, to survive, you can say no. Its your body. Even if it is only for a few months, even if it is your own child, even if that person would die without the use of your body (sharing it if you will), even if the person is innocent (not sure of the importance of that); you can still say no. It might not be nice, or fair, or good, or right, but it is legal. It should be legal. Roe v. Wade is the right decision based on extremely stupid reasoning ("it isn't life yet").
There are many things that can and should be done to minimize abortions, making them illegal isn't one of them.
And the truth of the matter is the Bush presidency ended a decline in abortions.
Pro Life: Vote Kerry.
It is deeds not slowly haltingly ignorantly spoken words.
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Stolen Democracy Update
Oregon investigates: GOP Consulting Firm Investigated for Voter Fraud Claims
and The Democratic Party tries out its recently acquired spine: DNC on the Sproul caseIn recent weeks, all over the country, the Republican Party has been engaged in systematic efforts to disenfranchise voters--to impose unlawful i.d. requirements in New Mexico, to throw eligible voters off the rolls in Clark County Nevada and to deprive voters of their rights to vote a provisional ballot in Ohio, among other examples.
And the Republicans' excuse for these efforts? It's always about protecting the process from "voter fraud." In fact the AP reported on September 19th that President Bush expressed to Nevada Governor Kenny Guinn and Attorney General Brian Sandoval he was concerned about voter fraud in Clark County.
But just last night, the American people have learned that it is actually the Republicans who are engaging in voter fraud in Nevada, Oregon and potentially other states as well and in fact you are paying for it.
Press reports in Nevada disclosed that a Republican organization, "Voters Outreach for America" has been ripping up Democratic voter registration forms in that state. According to those same reports, on KLAS-TV, Channel 8, that group has been "largely, if not entirely, funded by the Republican National Committee." Indeed, a classified ad recruiting paid workers for "Voters Outreach" in Nevada carried the disclaimer, "Paid for by the RNC."
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On Wednesday night the bulge was back:
It looks like Kerry has got a bit of a bulge back their too, maybe its the official "Skull and Bones Spinal Tap." And Bush's just has be bigger because he has so little spine?
From David Letterman (via a Phunkster): "Top 10 President Bush Explanations For The Bulge In His Jacket:"
10. "It's connected to an earpiece so Cheney can feed me answers--crap, I wasn't supposed to say that."
9. "It's a device that shocks me every time I mispronounce a word."
8. "Just a bunch of intelligence memos I haven't gotten around to reading yet."
7. "Mmm, delicious Muenster cheese."
6. "John Kerry initially voted for the bulge in my jacket, then voted against it."
5. "I'll tell you exactly what it is--it's a clear sign this econonmy is moving again."
4. "Halliburton is drilling my back for oil."
3. "Oh like you've never cheated in a presidential debate.
2. "Accidentally took some of Governor Schwarzenegger's 'roids."
1. "If Kerry's gonna look like a horse, then I'm gonna look like a camel."
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You'll hear a lot about the sex in the Bill O'Reilly lawsuit, but the scary part comes in the middle:If you cross FOX NEWS CHANNEL, it's not just me, it's [FOX President] Roger Ailes who will go after you. I'm the street guy out front making loud noises about the issues, but Ailes operates behind the scenes, strategizes and makes things happen so that one day BAM! The person gets what's coming to them but never sees it coming. Look at Al Franken, one day he's going to get a knock on his door and life as he's known it will change forever. That day will happen, trust me.So is the administration and FOX NEWS thugs in arms of does FOX NEWS have no problem with its shining star being an insane freak? We report, you decide.
During the course of this conversation, Defendant BILL O'REILLY bizarrely rambled further about Al Franken: "Ailes knows very powerful people and this goes all the way to the top." Plaintiff queried: "To the top of what?" Defendant responded: "Top of the country. Just look at who's on the cover of his book [Bush and Cheney], they're watching him and will be for years. [Al Franken's] finished, and he's going to be sorry he ever took FOX NEWS CHANNEL ON."
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A bunch of quick links:- Thursday, October 14, 2004 -
An accuracy check on last Wednesday night's debate: Attacks misleading and out of context
George says things are doing well, and that he's done a good job. Damn those facts getting in the way. Trade Deficit Soars, Jobless Claims Up
The DNC has too great videos up. Exaggeration and the really excellent and funny Not Funny (finally that damn chuckle used to hit Bush)
Voting in Florida is so screwed... the electoral vote of Florida depends on whether it is humid or not. E-Voting Machine Crash Deepens Concerns (actually if you read the article they ran the server in an unconditioned room that reached 90 degrees which again proves that having people who have no idea about computers relying on computers to guid our democracy.)
Will We Need a New 'All the President's Men'?UCH is the power of movies that the first image "Watergate" brings to mind three decades later is not Richard Nixon so much as the golden duo of Redford and Hoffman riding to the nation's rescue in "All the President's Men." But if our current presidency is now showing symptoms of a precancerous Watergate syndrome - as it is, daily - we have not yet reached that denouement immortalized by Hollywood, in which our scrappy heroes finally bring Nixon to heel in his second term. No, we're back instead in the earlier reels of his first term, before the criminality of the Watergate break-in, when no one had heard of Woodward and Bernstein. Back then an arrogant and secretive White House, furious at the bad press fueled by an unpopular and mismanaged war, was still flying high as it kneecapped with impunity any reporter or news organization that challenged its tightly enforced message of victory at hand.I'm of course of the opinion that Ashcroft is just trying to intimidate Judith Miller so she won't reveal to many of her sources that fed her all the bogus articles she wrote about Iraq being a threat and who in the Bush administration told her that Valerie Plame was an undercover CIA agent.
It was then that the vice president, Spiro Agnew, scripted by the speechwriter Pat Buchanan, tried to discredit the press as an elite - or, as he spelled it out, "a tiny, enclosed fraternity of privileged men." It was then that the attorney general, John Mitchell, under the pretext of national security, countenanced wiretaps of Hedrick Smith of The Times and Marvin Kalb of CBS News, as well as a full F.B.I. investigation of CBS's Daniel Schorr. Today it's John Ashcroft's Justice Department, also invoking "national security," that hopes to seize the phone records of Judith Miller and Philip Shenon of The Times, claiming that what amounts to a virtual wiretap is warranted by articles about Islamic charities and terrorism published nearly three years ago.
The RNC is really terrified of free speech: RNC threatens Rock the Vote over MILITARY DRAFTThis is outrageous, but also quite indicative of scared the Bushies really are. They're threatening Rock the Vote for doing an ad campaign around the issue of the draft! Why? Because the RNC claims - GET THIS - that President Bush has said there will be no draft, so clearly it should be illegal for any organization to even publicly discuss whether there will be!Follow up: Rock the Vote tells RNC to go Cheney themselvesDear Chairman Gillespie,
The letter I received from you yesterday was quite a surprise. It struck us as just the sort of “malicious political deception” that is likely to increase voter cynicism and decrease the youth vote. In fact, it is a textbook case of attempted censorship, very much in line with those that triggered our organization’s founding some fifteen years ago.
I am stunned that you would say that the issue of the military draft as an “urban myth” that has been “thoroughly debunked by no less than the President of the United States.”
I have some news for you. Just because President Bush, Vice President Cheney, and Secretary Rumsfeld, and for that matter Senator Kerry, say that there is not going to be a draft does not make it so. Just because Congress holds a transparently phony vote against the draft does not mean there isn’t going to be one. Anyone who thinks that the youth of America are going to take a politician’s word on this topic is living on another planet.
By your logic, there should be no debate about anything that you disagree with. There’s a place for that kind of sentiment (and your threats), but its not here in our country.
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an excellent quick little piece by One Good Move:
George Bush Liar (quicktime required... and patience required if you are on a dial up).
This needs to be on the air... as is... over and over.
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No Mr. Bush... Kerry didn't exaggerate... YOU LIED- Wednesday, October 13, 2004 -
Transcript: Bush, Kerry debate domestic policies - Oct 14, 2004KERRY: Yes. When the president had an opportunity to capture or kill Osama bin Laden, he took his focus off of them, outsourced the job to Afghan warlords, and Osama bin Laden escaped.Ohh... good come back Bush... you even got to say "Gosh." Too bad your lying your ass off.
Six months after he said Osama bin Laden must be caught dead or alive, this president was asked, "Where is Osama bin Laden?"
He said, "I don't know. I don't really think about him very much. I'm not that concerned."
We need a president who stays deadly focused on the real war on terror.
SCHIEFFER: Mr. President?
BUSH: Gosh, I just don't think I ever said I'm not worried about Osama bin Laden. It's kind of one of those exaggerations.
Of course we're worried about Osama bin Laden. We're on the hunt after Osama
From the White House web site (march, 2002):Q Mr. President, in your speeches now you rarely talk or mention Osama bin Laden. Why is that? ....
THE PRESIDENT:....So I don't know where he is. You know, I just don't spend that much time on him, Kelly, to be honest with you.
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Q But don't you believe that the threat that bin Laden posed won't truly be eliminated until he is found either dead or alive?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, as I say, we haven't heard much from him. And I wouldn't necessarily say he's at the center of any command structure. And, again, I don't know where he is. I -- I'll repeat what I said. I truly am not that concerned about him. I know he is on the run.
Oh and Mr. Bush... you Do own a limber company.
From Fact Check.org:Where the Republican argument goes off the rails is in inflating the number of "small businesses" affected by raising rates on those high-income individuals. Republicans count any individual as a "small business owner" who reports even as little as $1 of income from a sole proprietorship (reported on schedule "C" of federal income-tax returns), a partnership, or a "Subchapter S" corporation (one with fewer than 75 stockholders). In fact, the majority of those being counted as "small businesses" are really individuals who aren't primarily business owners, and a huge number have no employees.I found that link from the site: Needsumwood.com
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Bush & Cheney as "Small Business Owners"
To find examples of this we need look no farther than the top of the Bush-Cheney ticket:
President Bush himself would have qualified as a "small business owner" under the Republican definition, based on his 2001 federal income tax returns. He reported $84 of business income from his part ownership of a timber-growing enterprise. However, 99.99% of Bush's total income came from other sources that year. (Bush also qualified as a "small business owner" in 2000 based on $314 of "business income," but not in 2002 and 2003 when he reported his timber income as "royalties" on a different tax schedule.) [emphasis mine]
There are other sites like that you can find on "The Internets," such as The-Internets.com and for fun YouForgotPoland.com
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Kerry would and could internationalize the occupational force (beyond us and England... and oh yeah... Poland).
This would save American lives (though it may cost some German lives) and would improve America's stature in Iraq ('see we aren't occupiers... others are here too' we could say).
Germany in rethink on Iraq force deploymentGermany might deploy troops in Iraq if conditions there change, Peter Struck, the German defense minister, indicated on Tuesday in a gesture that appears to provide backing for John Kerry, the US Democratic presidential challenger.
In an interview with the Financial Times, Mr Struck departed from his government's resolve not to send troops to Iraq under any circumstances, saying: "At present I rule out the deployment of German troops in Iraq. In general, however, there is no one who can predict developments in Iraq in such a way that he could make a such a binding statement [about the future]."
Mr Struck also welcomed Mr Kerry's proposal that he would convene an international conference on Iraq including countries that opposed the war if he were to win next month's election.
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Iraq: For the Bush Family and Friends it is all about the PlunderJames Baker's Double LifeWhen President Bush appointed former Secretary of State James Baker III as his envoy on Iraq's debt on December 5, 2003, he called Baker's job "a noble mission." At the time, there was widespread concern about whether Baker's extensive business dealings in the Middle East would compromise that mission, which is to meet with heads of state and persuade them to forgive the debts owed to them by Iraq. Of particular concern was his relationship with merchant bank and defense contractor the Carlyle Group, where Baker is senior counselor and an equity partner with an estimated $180 million stake.
Until now, there has been no concrete evidence that Baker's loyalties are split, or that his power as Special Presidential Envoy--an unpaid position--has been used to benefit any of his corporate clients or employers. But according to documents obtained by The Nation, that is precisely what has happened. Carlyle has sought to secure an extraordinary $1 billion investment from the Kuwaiti government, with Baker's influence as debt envoy being used as a crucial lever.
The secret deal involves a complex transaction to transfer ownership of as much as $57 billion in unpaid Iraqi debts. The debts, now owed to the government of Kuwait, would be assigned to a foundation created and controlled by a consortium in which the key players are the Carlyle Group, the Albright Group (headed by another former Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright) and several other well-connected firms. Under the deal, the government of Kuwait would also give the consortium $2 billion up front to invest in a private equity fund devised by the consortium, with half of it going to Carlyle.
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kiss TCS goodbye: FEC May Regulate Web Political Activity
Ha... like anyone notices our dark unlit corner of the web.
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Oh by the way, security moms, don't listen to the debate. It is more important to just be afraid.
Be very afraid.
Chechen terrorists probed - The Washington TimesU.S. security officials are investigating a recent intelligence report that a group of 25 Chechen terrorists illegally entered the United States from Mexico in July.
The Chechen group is suspected of having links to Islamist terrorists seeking to separate the southern enclave of Chechnya from Russia, according to officials familiar with intelligence reports.
Members of the group, said to be wearing backpacks, secretly traveled to northern Mexico and crossed into a mountainous part of Arizona that is difficult for U.S. border security agents to monitor, said officials speaking on the condition of anonymity.
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It could not be learned whether the reported infiltration is related to the recent Education Department warning to school officials to examine security in the aftermath of the attack last month by pro-Chechnya Muslim terrorists on a school in Russia, in which more than 300 people were killed and some 700 wounded.
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The New Yorker shows what has become of America's image abroad:
Look closely and cry
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Technical expert: Bush was wired
A Bush spokesman tells Salon there is nothing to the story. But as the final presidential debate looms, speculation grows about the mysterious bulge.
Everyone's getting this one wrong. It quite obviously is the Lizard Alien spinal tap protruding. No big deal. Our evil lizard overlords will fix that in time for tonight's debate.
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2004 GOP Goal: Democracy for Republicans Only- Tuesday, October 12, 2004 -
Why is the Republican Party so scared of voters?
The October surprise: Concerted effort to eliminate Democratic Voters
Democracy under attack
Did I get your attention?
How about this: Paid Consultants of the Republican Party purposefully eliminating thousands upon thousands of Democratic voters. Our freedom is under attack by the GOP.
Here's a run down of the voter fraud story (hopefully soon to be reported by newspaper or news channel near you):
Voter Registrations Possibly Trashed(Oct. 12) -- Employees of a private voter registration company allege that hundreds, perhaps thousands of voters who may think they are registered will be rudely surprised on election day. The company claims hundreds of registration forms were thrown in the trash.
Anyone who has recently registered or re-registered to vote outside a mall or grocery store or even government building may be affected.
The I-Team has obtained information about an alleged widespread pattern of potential registration fraud aimed at democrats. Thee focus of the story is a private registration company called Voters Outreach of America, AKA America Votes.
The out-of-state firm has been in Las Vegas for the past few months, registering voters. It employed up to 300 part-time workers and collected hundreds of registrations per day, but former employees of the company say that Voters Outreach of America only wanted Republican registrations.
Two former workers say they personally witnessed company supervisors rip up and trash registration forms signed by Democrats.
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Eric Russell managed to retrieve a pile of shredded paperwork including signed voter registration forms, all from Democrats. We took them to the Clark County Election Department and confirmed that they had not, in fact, been filed with the county as required by law.
...
The company has been largely, if not entirely funded, by the Republican National Committee. Similar complaints have been received in Reno where the registrar has asked the FBI to investigate.
Janklow Criticizes GOP Vote EffortBill Janklow's commenting on the resignation of six people connected with the state Republican Party over absentee ballot applications.
The former governor and congressman says the national GOP is encouraging campaign workers to cheat. He says his ire is directed at the Republican Party's Victory operation, which helps register people and get them to the polls.
Janklow says his problem with the organization goes back to 2002 when he was a candidate for the US House.
Bradbury plans to investigate election complaintPORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Secretary of State Bill Bradbury and Attorney General Hardy Myers plan to investigate allegations that a paid canvasser might have destroyed voter registration forms.
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Bradbury learned of the conduct from KGW-TV, which interviewed Mike Johnson, 20, a canvasser who said he was instructed to only accept Republican registration forms. He told the TV reporter that he "might" destroy forms turned in by Democrats.
"I have never in my five years as secretary of state ever seen an allegation like the one that came up tonight — ever," Bradbury said. "I mean, frankly, it just totally offends me that someone would take someone else's registration and throw it out."
MISSING- One Million Voter Registration CardsApproximately 1.5 million voter registration cards have flown out of state and county election offices. Yet only a fraction of them--a mere 125,000--have been returned.
That discrepancy bothers Secretary of State Mary Kiffmeyer, causing her to wonder: What happened to them?
An amazing write up on what's going on (the comments are scary too):The smoking gun on voter registration fraud: Nathan SproulSearching for information on the voter registration fraud stories breaking tonight in Nevada and Oregon, I kept coming across the same name: Nathan Sproul of Sproul & Associates in Phoenix, Arizona.
Nathan Sproul is the former head of the Arizona Republican Party and of the Arizona Christian Coalition (ah, the irony... a Christian).
Sproul is connected with the Republican National Committee-funded voter registration organization, Voter Outreach, Inc., a group that used paid registrars to register voters in a number of states including Nevada, Oregon, Arizona and perhaps more, including Pennsylvania, Virginia, Maine and Missouri. (Others states pending, particularly swing states.) Sproul's organization also recruited registrars by fraudulently telling recruits that they would be working for America Votes, a legitimate nonpartisan GOTV operation!
For more and an unfortunately growing list of illegal activity go to (and check often): Voter Registration Fraud Clearinghouse
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Sinclair: It is only fair that we air lies against Kerry, the news keeps reporting facts which are against Bush
Plan to air divisive film raises questionsMark Hyman, vice president of corporate relations for Sinclair and an on-air conservative commentator for the company, told the Associated Press that the DNC's plan is "absolutely absurd." He added, "Would they suggest that our reporting a car bomb in Iraq is an in-kind contribution to the Kerry campaign?"Emphasis mine.
But many believe Sinclair's provocative decision shows how much the company has riding on the election.
With its heavy concentration of Fox and WB affiliates, ranking in the middle of the pack in mostly midsize markets, Sinclair is barely profitable and laden with debt. It had a net profit of $14 million on revenue of $739 million in 2003.
Sinclair hopes to change that by solidifying its hold on local markets by controlling, for example, two stations in more cities and sharing operating and news-gathering costs. But it needs the federal government to relax several media ownership restrictions.
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The Iraqi War - the means to supply the terrorsit with nuclear material for a dirty bomb (and more).
Can we ever stop thanking you King George
UN: Iraqi Nuclear-Related Materials Have VanishedUNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Equipment and materials that could be used to make nuclear weapons are disappearing from Iraq but neither Baghdad nor Washington appears to have noticed, the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency reported on Monday.
Satellite imagery shows that entire buildings in Iraq have been dismantled. They once housed high-precision equipment that could help a government or terror group make nuclear bombs, the International Atomic Energy Agency said in a report to the U.N. Security Council.
Equipment and materials helpful in making bombs also have been removed from open storage areas in Iraq and disappeared without a trace, according to the satellite pictures, IAEA Director-General Mohamed ElBaradei said.
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Halliburton: costing lives, money, and delivering nothing.
APArmy defends using soldiers as escorts for contractors"We have coalition troops, to include the (Missouri) unit in question, routinely providing security for civilian convoys which provide food, fuel and supplies for coalition troops throughout Iraq," Capt. Patrick Swan, a spokesman for the Combined Joint Task Force in Baghdad, said in an e-mail response to an inquiry from The Associated Press.So KBR (Halliburton) gets a contact to deliver food or fuel to the troops. The savings to the Pentagon is supposed to be that it frees up our manpower for other purposes and that the private firm would be more efficient then the Pentagon at supplying these services.
"This security can be through military vehicles escorting trucks, or the placing of coalition troops within the cabs of civilian trucks to provide additional firepower," Swan said.
So what we get is an integral part of the military misssion (supplies... you ain't fighting the enemy without food or fuel) that stops working when combat begins (what? combat? in a war), and thus having any cost or efficiency benefit go out the window, plus jeapordizing the mission. Then to get supplies through when things calm down a bit our military has be babysit the supplier. We have soldiers riding shotgun for drivers paid 4 times more and who can legally just cut and run if any trouble happens. KBR gets the money we get to have our soldiers risk their lives sitting in the cab of unprotected trucks.
Nice one Rummy.
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Q: What kind of company insults our democracy and abuses licenses granted by our government to serve in our interest just because the like Bush better?
From Reed Hundy, Former Chair, FCCWhy is it important that Sinclair Broadcasting be urged in all lawful ways that can be imagined to reconsider its decision to broadcast on its television stations the anti-Kerry "documentary"?
Because in a large, pluralistic information society democracy will not work unless electronic media distribute reasonably accurate information and also competing opinions about political candidates to the entire population. Certainly, for the overwhelming number of voters this year, controlling impressions of the candidates for President are obtained from television.
...
Part of this tradition is that broadcasters do not show propaganda for any candidate, no matter how much a station owner may personally favor one or dislike the other. Broadcasters understand that they have a special and conditional role in public discourse. They received their licenses from the public -- licenses to use airwaves that, for instance, cellular companies bought in auctions -- for free, and one condition is the obligation to help us hold a fair and free election. The Supreme Court has routinely upheld this "public interest" obligation. Virtually all broadcasters understand and honor it.
A: A company that compares people unwilling to air fradulent charges to people who deny the slaughter of 6 million Jews and 10 million Russians by the Nazis.
Sinclair Stations to Air Anti-Kerry DocumentarySinclair, based in the Baltimore suburb of Hunt Valley, decided to air the film after it was rejected for airing by the major broadcast networks, vice president Mark Hyman said. "This is a powerful story," Hyman said. "The networks are acting like Holocaust deniers and pretending [the POWs] don't exist. It would be irresponsible to ignore them."Bush has some sick friends.
Kerry campaign spokesman David Wade yesterday called the film "lies" and "a smear" and characterized Sinclair as "another one of President Bush's powerful corporate friends trying to help him."
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Who'd thought America would need the Madres de Plaza de Mayo to come visit?
(no they aren't really coming for a visit)
Yahoo! News - Rights group lists Al-Qaeda suspects in secret CIA custodyNEW YORK (AFP) - Human Rights Watch listed the names of 11 senior Al-Qaeda suspects it said were held by the CIA in secret locations overseas, where some had reportedly been tortured.
The suspects were detained with no notification to their families, no Red Cross access and, in some cases, no acknowledgement that they are even being held, the New York-based watchdog said in a 46-page report.
"'Disappearances' were a trademark abuse of Latin American military dictatorships in their 'dirty war' on alleged subversion," said Human Rights Watch special counsel Reed Brody.
"Now they have become a United States tactic in its conflict with Al-Qaeda," Brody said.
Latin American prisoners who were killed and buried in secret were often called the "disappeared."
- rob 1:46 PM - [PermaLink] -
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Cheney's Halliburton Helped Saddam Siphon UN $Bns
Under Cheney, Halliburton Helped Saddam Hussein Siphon Billions from UN Oil-for-Food ProgramWhen the Iraqi Survey Group released its long awaited report last week that said Iraq eliminated its weapons programs in the 1990s, President George W. Bush quickly changed his stance on reasons he authorized an invasion of Iraq. While he campaigned for a second term in office, Bush justified the war by saying that that Saddam Hussein was manipulating the United Nation's oil-for-food program, siphoning off billions of dollars from the venture that he intended to use to fund a weapons program.
The report on Iraq's non-existent weapons of mass destruction, prepared by Charles Duelfer, a former U.N. weapons inspector and head of the Iraqi Survey Group, said Saddam Hussein used revenue from the oil-for-food program and "created a web of front companies and used shadowy deals with foreign governments, corporations, and officials to amass $11 billion in illicit revenue in the decade before the US-led invasion last year," reports The New York Times.
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But the one company that helped Saddam exploit the oil-for-food program in the mid-1990s that wasn't identified in Duelfer's report was Halliburton, and the person at the helm of Halliburton at the time of the scheme was Vice President Dick Cheney. Halliburton and its subsidiaries were one of several American and foreign oil supply companies that helped Iraq increase its crude exports from $4 billion in 1997 to nearly $18 billion in 2000 by skirting U.S. laws and selling Iraq spare parts so it could repair its oil fields and pump more oil.
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U.N. documents show that Halliburton's affiliates have had controversial dealings with the Iraqi regime during Cheney's tenure at the company and played a part in helping Saddam Hussein illegally pocket billions of dollars under the U.N.'s oil-for-food program. The Clinton administration blocked one deal Halliburton was trying to push through sale because it was "not authorized under the oil-for-food deal," according to U.N. documents. That deal, between Halliburton subsidiary Ingersoll Dresser Pump Co. and Iraq, included agreements by the firm to sell nearly $1 million in spare parts, compressors and firefighting equipment to refurbish an offshore oil terminal, Khor al Amaya. Still, Halliburton used one of foreign subsidiaries to sell Iraq the equipment it needed so the country could pump more oil, according to a report in the Washington Post in June 2001.
The Halliburton subsidiaries, Dresser-Rand and Ingersoll Dresser Pump Co., sold water and sewage treatment pumps, spare parts for oil facilities and pipeline equipment to Baghdad through French affiliates from the first half of 1997 to the summer of 2000, U.N. records show. Ingersoll Dresser Pump also signed contracts -- later blocked by the United States -- according to the Post, to help repair an Iraqi oil terminal that U.S.-led military forces destroyed in the Gulf War years earlier.
- rob 1:32 PM - [PermaLink] -
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Today's GOP:
Calling you opponent a look alike for one of Saddam Hussein's sonsLEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) - Republican Sen. Jim Bunning apologized Monday for having said his Democratic opponent looked like one of Saddam Hussein's sons - and demanded the same from his rival for allegedly claiming Bunning's health was failing.
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Mongiardo denied spreading rumors. "I hope that you are healthy," Mongiardo said, then added: "You have conduct that has been unbecoming of a United States Senator, you have conduct that has been unbecoming of a Kentucky gentleman."
- rob 1:23 PM - [PermaLink] -
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A tech site's review of Bush's "Bulge"- Monday, October 11, 2004 -
Was Bush packing Wi-Fi in TV debate?In the first debate, during a reply to Kerry, he ranted, "Let me finish!" Oddly, neither his opponent, Senator Kerry, nor the moderator, Jim Lehrer, was attempting to cut him off, and he had plenty of time left on the clock. One explanation is that he was disoriented and confused, as he often is without a script. But a somewhat better explanation, in view of the pictures and his sudden debating competence, is that he was addressing not his opponent or the moderator, but a remote coach who had prompted him to move on to a fresh topic before he was ready to do so.
In the second debate, Bush went off the rails, again in a way that suggests remote coaching. According to the rules, each candidate answers questions in turn. The one to whom the question is addressed gets two minutes to reply, and his opponent gets ninety seconds to rebut. At the moderator's discretion, there may be a one-minute extension, providing each candidate an additional thirty seconds on each question.
At one point, when Bush had taken a question, and Kerry had delivered a spirited rebuttal, moderator Charlie Gibson decided to extend the session. But he had trouble getting the words out, as Bush leapt up and leaned into his face, repeatedly demanding the very extension that Gibson was attempting, without success, to offer him.Kerry: "We're gonna build alliances; we're not gonna go unilaterally [into war]; we're not gonna go alone, like this President did."...
Gibson: "Mr. President, let's extend for one minute..."
Bush: "Lemme just one question; I, I gotta answer this."
Gibson: "Exactly, and with reservists being held on duty..."
Bush: "Let, let me just answer this, what he said about goin' alone."
Gibson: "Well, I wanted to get into the issue."
Bush: "You tell Tony Blair we're goin' alone. Tell Tony Blair we're goin' alone. Tell Servio Belisconi we're goin' alone..."
Surveillance specialist James Atkinson has written a good generic description of the wireless device that Bush would likely have been connected to, along with a list of the radio frequencies that such devices typically employ.
All that remains is for Kerry to pat Bush down during the next debate, or for some enterprising geek to use Atkinson's information to intercept the President's coaching session, and record it. In the interest of public disclosure, we note that the final presidential debate will be held on Wednesday, 13 October on the campus of Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona, at the Gammage Auditorium, located on the northeast corner of Mill Avenue and Apache Boulevard.
- rob 1:20 PM - [PermaLink] -
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An Excellent Refereeing Job
washingtonpost.com: Second Presidential Debate -- President Bush and Sen. John Kerry
The entire transcript. See where there was a flag on the play.
- rob 5:32 PM - [PermaLink] -
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Just noticing that's all: Bush 10 years ago vs. Bush now (4.5 MB quicktime movie)
- rob 4:50 PM - [PermaLink] -
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The dunceHis former Harvard Business School professor recalls George W. Bush not just as a terrible student but as spoiled, loutish and a pathological liar.
- rob 4:33 PM - [PermaLink] -
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It's Monday:
The Top Ten Conservative Idiots, No. 17410. Deciphering Bush
Bush's "Internets" comment wasn't his only clanger of the night. (Did you expect it to be?) No, Bush put his foot in his mouth on a wide variety of other topics.
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From Bush's mouth:
"I had to make the decision to destroy more life, so we continue to destroy life - I made the decision to balance science and ethics."
In Bush's brain:
She'll be comin' round the mountain when she comes, she'll be comin' round the mountain when she comes... Dammit, Dubya! Focus!
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From Bush's mouth:
"Need some wood?"
In Bush's brain:
Heh heh! Wood...
From Bush's mouth:
"I really don't have - haven't picked anybody yet [for the Supreme Court]. Plus, I want them all voting for me."
In Bush's brain:
Folks should like that. Stealing the election was funny.
From Bush's mouth:
"Another example would be the Dred Scott case, which is where judges, years ago, said that the Constitution allowed slavery because of personal property rights. That's a personal opinion. That's not what the Constitution says. The Constitution of the United States says we're all - you know, it doesn't say that. It doesn't speak to the equality of America."
In Bush's brain:
Stupid Constitution.
- rob 4:09 PM - [PermaLink] -
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Read this:
The Left Coaster: How To Deal With Sinclair Broadcast Group's Attempt To Play Kingmaker
I'm personally not that big supporter of government control over public resources... it tends to lead to destruction and negligence (Bureau of Land Management anyone?). But the concept behind the FCC makes sense. You own the broadcasting spectrum. You breath it, it seeps through your pores, heck it probably increases your chance of brain cancer (but hey, for an episode of Gilligan's Island, its worth it). The FCC licenses firms that will use the spectrum to more or less benefit the local area. So remember, Wife Swap is for your own good. So we get Public Service Announcements, local news, and a decade or two ago we got local programming.
Well now Sinclair has decided to use your air to broadcast an anti-Kerry movie made by a guy whose previous works were a pro-Rev. Moon book. So this guy hates Kerry but loves a guy who has sold submarines to North Korea.
Read the above link and see what you can do to make sure Sinclair realizes that they might lose a license or two over this.
And for more on this go to the post on Talking Points Memo, and keep reading.
- rob 3:44 PM - [PermaLink] -
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Many of us are Voting Against Bush. Show as many people as you can "Going Upriver" and try to get people to Vote For Kerry. (of course all Kerry votes are nice, whatever the motiviation).
Going Upriver: The Long War of John Kerry
(for those of with really really good internet connections (it is 650MB or so))
- rob 2:55 PM - [PermaLink] -
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Your tax dollars at work.
Bush Ad Appears to Be News StoryWASHINGTON - The Bush administration has promoted its education law with a video that comes across as a news story but fails to make clear the reporter involved was paid with taxpayer money.
The government used a similar approach this year in promoting the new Medicare law and drew a rebuke from the investigative arm of Congress, which found the videos amounted to propaganda in violation of federal law.
The Education Department also has paid for rankings of newspaper coverage of the No Child Left Behind law, a centerpiece of the president's domestic agenda. Points are awarded for stories that say President Bush and the Republican Party are strong on education, among other factors.
The news ratings also rank individual reporters on how they cover the law, based on the points system set up by Ketchum, a public relations firm hired by the government.
- rob 1:48 PM - [PermaLink] -
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Businesses help Bush (ethics be damned)
Sinclair Stations to Air Anti-Kerry DocumentarySinclair Broadcast Group of Maryland, owner of the largest chain of television stations in the nation, plans to preempt regular programming two weeks before the Nov. 2 election to air a documentary that accuses Sen. John F. Kerry of betraying American prisoners during the Vietnam War.Who needs state owned media... in America "The Party" (that'd be the GOP) owns the media (thus the term SCLM which you may see on the web it means "So Called Liberal Media"). This is why the Bush Administration pushed so hard on letting media monopolies occur... its good for them.
Sinclair has ordered its 62 stations, some of which are in the critical swing states of Ohio, Florida, Iowa and Wisconsin, to air "Stolen Honor: Wounds That Never Heal" during prime-time hours next week. The Sinclair station group collectively reaches 24 percent of U.S. television households.
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Sinclair's top executives, including members of the controlling Smith family, have been strong financial supporters of Bush's campaign. The company made news in April when it ordered seven of its ABC-affiliated stations not to air a "Nightline" segment that featured a reading of the names of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq; a Sinclair executive called that broadcast "contrary to the public interest."
Sinclair also is one of the few station-group owners that puts corporate opinion on its local newscasts. Hyman delivers conservative commentaries called "The Point."
Because Bush is good for Business (ethics aside)
Crony capitalism and the occupation of IraqWhat qualifications did a company called Custer Battles have to get several no-bid security contracts worth more than $100 million a year from the Coalition Provisional Authority, including the contract to provide security for Baghdad Airport? The company was brand new, and neither of its principals had any actual security experience, though one was a fomer Army Ranger and defense consultant.
Why, the best qualification of all: the other principal was a Republican contributor and a former Republican congressional candidate (who is also a Fox News commentator). The name, which sounds like a sick joke, is actually the last names of the two principals.
Contracts in hand, Custer Battles seems to have proceeded to steal everything that wasn't nailed down and to pry up most of what was. With a few shell companies to do phony invoicing, it manged to inflate $3 million in costs on a cost-plus contract to $9 million. One estimate of the total fraud reaches $50 million.
And it's quite possible that, because the CPA technically wasn't part of the United States Government (an arrangement designed precisely to get around procurement rules), the False Claims Act doesn't apply, and the thieving war profiteers will get away with it. At least that seems to be the reason why the Justice Department declined to join in the whistleblower lawsuit (technically, a qui tam action) despite voluminous documentation of a most egregious set of frauds.
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The Custer Battles affair shows the same pattern of putting politics before victory that led to the staffing of the CPA with a staff of people chosen for political reliability (having posted resumes on the Heritage Foundation website) rather than knowledge of the business they ere going to handle, knowledge of Iraq, or knowledge of Arabic.
The firm has now been suspended from getting any new contract awards, but it gets to keep billing on its current contracts. No word about whether Mike Battles will keep reporting for Fox News.
- rob 1:18 PM - [PermaLink] -
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Happy to see Blue
Current Electoral Vote Predictor 2004
(this after I gave every one the wrong URL last night).
But sometimes it is hard to remember where things are on the internets.
- rob 10:14 AM - [PermaLink] -
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TCS Now offers a News Reader Feed
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