Krugman: It's Not Just Al Qaqaa

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Daily Kos :: Science Friday: Save This Man's Job - Vote Kerry

A senior research physicist with NASA and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Nelson is an internationally recognized authority on image analysis.

"I am willing to stake my scientific reputation to the statement that Bush was wearing something under his jacket during the debate. …This is not about a bad suit. And there's no way the bulge can be described as a wrinkled shirt."
...
Nelson and a scientific colleague produced the photos from a videotape, recorded by the colleague, who has chosen to remain anonymous, of the first debate. The images provide the most vivid details yet of the bulge beneath the president's suit. Amateurs have certainly had their turn at examining the bulge, but no professional with a résumé as impressive as Nelson's has ventured into public with an informed opinion. In fact, no one to date has enhanced photos of Bush's jacket to this degree of precision, and revealed what appears to be some kind of mechanical device with a wire snaking up the president's shoulder toward his neck and down his back to his waist. …

There is more fun to be found in the "Science Friday" article too...

Jeff Greenberg, a professor of psychology at the University Arizona in Tucson, Sheldon Solomon (Skidmore College) and Tom Pyszczynski, (University of Colorado, Colorado Springs) and their colleagues conducted an experiment that is scheduled to appear in the December 2004 issue of Psychological Science.

For their current research, the scientists asked students to think about their own death or a control topic and then read campaign statements of three hypothetical political candidates, each with a different leadership style: "charismatic" (i.e. those emphasizing greatness of the nation and a heroic victory over evil, as described above), task-oriented or relationship-oriented. Following a reminder of death, there was almost an 800 percent increase in votes for the charismatic leader, but no increase for the two other candidates.

"At a theoretical level," the authors wrote, "this study adds to the large body of empirical evidence attesting to the pervasive influence of reminders of death on a wide range of human activities. These findings fit particularly well with prior studies showing how mortality salience leads people toward individuals, groups, and actions that can help enhance their self-esteem. People want to identify with special, great things, and charismatic leaders typically offer the promise of just that."

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Bush says he's fighting for freedom all around the world, but when it comes to the U.S. he's fighting against voting.

Bush Seeks Limit to Suits Over Voting Rights
Administration lawyers argue that only the Justice Department, not the voters, may sue to enforce provisions in the Help America Vote Act.

WASHINGTON — Bush administration lawyers argued in three closely contested states last week that only the Justice Department, and not voters themselves, may sue to enforce the voting rights set out in the Help America Vote Act, which was passed in the aftermath of the disputed 2000 election.

Veteran voting-rights lawyers expressed surprise at the government's action, saying that closing the courthouse door to aspiring voters would reverse decades of precedent.

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It isn't too late to donate to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee: Contribute Now

I just got an excellent email from them:

With their backs against the wall, Republicans have launched one of the dirtiest campaigns ever to stop Democrats from capturing control of Congress next week.

Take the attacks on Ginny Schrader, a 60-year old grandmother of four with a powerful personal story and a successful business career. Just look at how Republicans are presenting this bright and accomplished candidate who they fear will capture this hotly contested seat presently held by a retiring Republican:

"Ginny Schrader raised money for her campaign by showing a film filled with propaganda that Hezbollah-related organizations offered to distribute."

That was how a recent mailer from the National Republican Congressional Committee described Schrader, simply for showing Fahrenheit 9/11. You can disagree with Michael Moore, but to associate a candidate with Hezbollah, a notorious terrorist organization, simply for showing his film, is just dirty, shocking, amazing, and outrageous. Unfortunately, this is just all too familiar territory for the Republicans. Help us fight back against this outrage by contributing right now:
https://secure.dccc.org/hate.aspx?id=hate

Far from an isolated incident, Karl Rove, Tom DeLay and their ethically-challenged brain trust is unleashing a torrent of smears, distortions, and wild accusations to cling to power.

Look at their accusations that David Ashe, an Iraq War veteran and attorney who volunteered at Ground Zero, of "weakening the War on Terror." Or linking Lois Murphy, a Pennsylvania mother and former Justice Department employee, to the Taliban by flashing "sanctioned rape" and "public executions" across the TV screen.

It isn't too late to donate to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee either: Contribute Now

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From the "it took you long enough" department: FBI Investigating Halliburton Contracts

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More from Ohio: Phony letters tell people they cannot vote

The phony letter says newly registered voters signed up by the Kerry or Capri Cafaro campaigns or the NAACP, their registrations are illegal and they will not be able to vote.

“That was not authorized by the Board of Elections, said Elections Director Jan Clair. “It was not mailed by the Lake County Board of Elections.”
...
Congressional candidate Capri Cafaro says she’s sure the letter came from the other side. “So it seems to me the Republicans will stop at nothing to win and this is just another voter suppression tactic,” she said. “I believe it came from someone with significant political motivation.”

In a race where the mud’s been flying, Cafaro’s opponent, Steve LaTorette, decided to sit this one out and said he would have no comment on her charges.

Well at least it is better then the ridiculous fliers that used to go out in the old days telling you not to vote.

Like this one from 1952:

Ooops... that is from 2004. Oh this is sad.

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Ohio - The new Florida
A, O, OH WAY TO GO OHIO - The Pretenders

Cuyahoga County is the most populous county in Ohio, but no one there knows who they're voting for:



Okay, where do you push out if you want to vote for Bush? (why you'd want to I have no idea, but nonetheless if you're going to vote, wouldn't it be nice to have your vote count). If you said "ignore the arrow and go for four." You'd be correct (and as the configuration of ballots are randomized for each precinct don't get all cynical and say "at least its Bush votes that don't count")

• Cuyahoga County is the most populous county in Ohio. It is also a Democratic stronghold, since it includes Cleveland. Ohio has 20 electoral votes. Anything that happens in Cuyahoga County affects the entire nation.
• There is no way to know if people who have already sent in their ballots voted by position or by number. This means that the issue here is worse than the 2000 Florida debacle, because there is no way to discern voter intent, "hanging chads" or not.
• Each ballot may be messed up differently. There are 22 possible layouts according to the Board of Elections.
• People may be less inclined to vote simply because of the confusion. I certainly was.
• The advice given to me by the Cuyahoga County hotline staffer turned out to be exactly incorrect. She should have said "keep the card in the same place, but ignore the arrows. By just saying, "keep the card in the same place," she was implying that I should vote by position on the ballot, instead of by number. You are supposed to vote by number.
• Nowhere in the directions does it say to ignore the arrows.
• The fact that some, but not all, numbers line up implies that they are supposed to, despite the fact that the Secretary of State claims they are not supposed to.

Meanwhile there are consious efforts to stop people from voting against Bush. One new method is to challange a person's right to vote by telling the courts that that person doesn't live where they say they do. This method is being used by the President of the College Republicans at the University of Toledo.

Former SG member Doctashock, a resident of Toledo, Ohio, in Lucas County, has received notice that the validity of his voter registration is being challenged, and that he will have to appear in court this Saturday to answer the challenge or be denied the right to vote.

Who challenged him? One Megan Harrington, President of the College Republicans at the University of Toledo.
...
On what grounds is his registration being challenged?

They say he doesn't live where he lives.
...
Doctashock registered as an Independent, and, for the record, he says that he does not live in a predominantly black neighborhood. However, he is an African American, with a name (Jermaine) that is common among African Americans. Makes you wonder why his registration was among those selected to be challenged, considering that 90% of blacks (Republicans, Democrats, and Independents) voted for Al Gore in 2000.

Doctashock will show up in court to defend his right to vote. How many won't?

This isn't a one time thing: GOP Voter Suppression in Ohio

ELECTION BOARD THROWS OUT 976 CHALLENGES BY REPUBLICAN PARTY

GOP Challenger Barbara Miller Could be Indicted on Felony Charges

AKRON, Ohio - The Summit County Board of Elections abruptly threw out 976 challenges of voter eligibility by the Republican Party today after Barbara Miller, the challenger, revealed that she did not have any personal information about the eligibility of any of the challenged voters.

976? That is more votes then elected Bush (he won by 1 vote in the 5 to 4 Supreme Court decision).

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In Florida? Don't forget to vote for Betty Castor.

Not in Florida? It still isn't to late to make a donation that may make a difference: Betty Castor for U.S. Senate:

I figure she must be cool. Get this: she links to us.

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What has the Present Day GOP turned into? Well its just gonna get worse... I believe we've just met the GOP of the future

Fund-raising group milks vulnerable senior citizens

The College Republican National Committee has raised $6.3 million this year through an aggressive and misleading fund-raising campaign that collected money from senior citizens who thought they were giving to the election efforts of President Bush and other top Republicans.
Many of the top donors were in their 80s and 90s. The donors wrote checks — sometimes hundreds and, in at least one case, totaling more than $100,000 — to groups with official sounding-names such as "Republican Headquarters 2004," "Republican Elections Committee" and the "National Republican Campaign Fund."

But all of those groups, according to the small print on the letters, were simply projects of the College Republicans, who collected all of the checks.

And little of the money went to election efforts.
...
"I don't have any more money," said Cecilia Barbier, a 90-year-old retired church council worker in New York City. "I'm stopping giving to everybody. That was all my savings that they got."

Barbier said she "wised up." But not before she made more than 300 donations totaling nearly $100,000 this year, the group's fund-raising records show.

Now, she said, "I'm really scrounging."

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And they say Bush is the "pro life" President

Household Survey Sees 100,000 Iraqi Deaths

LONDON -- A survey of deaths in Iraqi households estimates that as many as 100,000 more people may have died throughout the country in the 18 months after the U.S. invasion than would be expected based on the death rate before the war.

There is no official figure for the number of Iraqis killed since the conflict began, but some non-governmental estimates range from 10,000 to 30,000. As of Wednesday, 1,081 U.S. servicemen had been killed, according to the U.S. Defense Department.

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Read... send to your Bush voting friends... (yes, of course I have some)

100 Facts and 1 Opinion
The Non-Arguable Case Against the Bush Administration

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A vote for Bush is a vote for lower heating bills!
(because thanks to global warming it'll be nice and toasty all year long....)

Bush continues his war against science.

NASA Scientist: Bush Stifles Global Warming Evidence

IOWA CITY, Iowa - The Bush administration is trying to stifle scientific evidence of the dangers of global warming in an effort to keep the public uninformed, a NASA scientist said Tuesday night.

"In my more than three decades in government, I have never seen anything approaching the degree to which information flow from scientists to the public has been screened and controlled as it is now," James E. Hansen told a University of Iowa audience.

Hansen is director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York and has twice briefed a task force headed by Vice President Dick Cheney on global warming.

Hansen said the administration wants to hear only scientific results that "fit predetermined, inflexible positions." Evidence that would raise concerns about the dangers of climate change is often dismissed as not being of sufficient interest to the public.

"This, I believe, is a recipe for environmental disaster."

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With this ABC "terror video" and the 360 tons (or so) of really really powerful explosives... don't you miss the wacky carefree days of the "hard work" whiney debates?

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Alleged Terror Tape Gives ABC Pause

It has all the makings of an incendiary story: a chilling pre-election videotape featuring a supposed member of al Qaeda, declaring in English that "blood will run red in the streets of America."

The problem, say ABC News executives, is that they can't determine whether the tape, obtained by a producer, involves a real threat -- or even the identity of the figure on it, a man wearing an ammunition belt and a headdress that obscures his face. The network enlisted the aid of the FBI and CIA but still can't authenticate the 75-minute videotape.

ABC gets a tape they can't authenticate. They enlist the aide of the CIA and the FBI. Now here's what's weird. The White House knew of the tape and in fact new what was said on the tape, but it seems they didn't go to the FBI or the CIA... they go to Drudge.

Ross and other ABC staffers say they believe that a Bush administration official leaked the story to Internet gossip Matt Drudge as a way of pressuring the network into airing the tape, which would heighten concerns about terrorism in the final week of the president's reelection campaign. They note that whoever gave the information to Drudge had a transcript of the tape.

So did the White House get the same tape? Did they make the tape? Does Drudge remember his outrage at arab news networks aring terrorist tapes without the CIA checking first that they didn't include any secret messages? What has happened to the world?

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Bush: "that's just their stew."

But Bush and Fox News said it was taken away by elves before the war started.

EXCLUSIVE: 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS video may be linked to missing explosives in Iraq

A 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS crew in Iraq shortly after the fall of Saddam Hussein was in the area where tons of explosives disappeared, and may have videotaped some of those weapons.

The missing explosives are now an issue in the presidential debate. Democratic candidate John Kerry is accusing President Bush of not securing the site they allegedly disappeared from. President Bush says no one knows if the ammunition was taken before or after the fall of Baghdad on April 9, 2003 when coalition troops moved in to the area.

Okay, that excuse it itself is lame... this is one of the places the UN inspectors kept track of... you'd think a place we would too.

There were what appeared to be fuses for bombs. They also found bags of material men from the 101st couldn't identify, but box after box was clearly marked "explosive."

In one bunker, there were boxes marked with the name "Al Qaqaa", the munitions plant where tons of explosives allegedly went missing.

Once the doors to the bunkers were opened, they weren't secured. They were left open when the 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS crew and the military went back to their base.

"We weren't quite sure what were looking at, but we saw so much of it and it didn't appear that this was being secured in any way," said photojournalist Joe Caffrey.

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Conflicted Evangelicals Could Cost Bush Votes

The conflict goes like this. "Bush says he shares my beliefs, and he even talks to god... but everything he does and the end result of his every actions directly conflicts with the teachings of Jesus.... but then again he is the kind of guy I'd like to have over for dinner."

Others are like Joe Urcavich, pastor of the nondenominational evangelical Green Bay Community Church, where more than 2,000 people worship each Sunday. He is undecided, troubled by the bloodshed in the Middle East.

"It's hard for me to say that Christians should be marching against abortion and carrying signs, and then turn around and giving a pep rally for the war in Iraq without even contemplating that hundreds and hundreds of people are being killed on a regular basis over there," Urcavich said.

"I'm very antiabortion, but the reality is the right to life encompasses a much broader field than just abortion," he added. "If I'm a proponent of life, I have to think about the consequences of not providing prescription drugs to seniors or sending young men off to war."

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Looks like we're working normally again (sorry about yesterday's posts being even uglier then normal).

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THE MINORITY VOTE

Republican pollster Tony Fabrizio has just finished a survey of 12 battleground states and finds Bush and Kerry tied with 47% of the vote apiece. But when he weights for minority turnout based on the 2000 exit polls, Kerry is ahead 49.2%-45.7%. And when he further updates the weighting to take into account the most recent census results, Kerry is ahead 49.9%-44.7%.

As Fabrizio blandly puts it, "It is clear that minority turnout is a wildcard in this race and represents a huge upside for Sen. Kerry and a considerable challenge for the President's campaign." More accurately, if Fabrizio is right — that Kerry is ahead by 5% overall in the battleground states — Kerry is a sure winner on November 2.

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Unbelievable

Long lines, busy signals fuel voting frustration in Broward

The Broward County Supervisor of Elections Office pointed a finger at the U.S. Postal Service on Tuesday for nearly 60,000 missing absentee ballots, but took the blame for having a phone system that was being overwhelmed by calls from frustrated voters.

While the post office denied responsibility for the missing ballots, Broward County commissioners, anxious to void another failed election, offered to send county employees to help with the phones.

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Whe do we have to go to England to read this?

BBC NEWS | New Florida vote scandal feared
A secret document obtained from inside Bush campaign headquarters in Florida suggests a plan - possibly in violation of US law - to disrupt voting in the state's African-American voting districts, a BBC Newsnight investigation reveals.

Two e-mails, prepared for the executive director of the Bush campaign in Florida and the campaign's national research director in Washington DC, contain a 15-page so-called "caging list".

It lists 1,886 names and addresses of voters in predominantly black and traditionally Democrat areas of Jacksonville, Florida.

An elections supervisor in Tallahassee, when shown the list, told Newsnight: "The only possible reason why they would keep such a thing is to challenge voters on election day."

Ion Sancho, a Democrat, noted that Florida law allows political party operatives inside polling stations to stop voters from obtaining a ballot.
...
Mass challenges have never occurred in Florida. Indeed, says Mr Sancho, not one challenge has been made to a voter "in the 16 years I've been supervisor of elections."

"Quite frankly, this process can be used to slow down the voting process and cause chaos on election day; and discourage voters from voting."

Sancho calls it "intimidation." And it may be illegal.

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Even the food editor agrees:

Slate Votes - At this magazine, it's Kerry by a landslide!

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What the hell?

What is Bush running for? 'healer in chief?'



Thanks to: Daily Kos :: Political Analysis and other daily rants on the state of the nation.

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New strips at get your war on

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Dow under 10,000 and....U.S. Consumer Confidence Fell to a Seven-Month Low

I can't take too much more of Bush's "Recovery."

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Just to remind everyone... broadcast television and radio are using your resources... your very air. So on behalf of you, as your representative, your government gives out licenses to private companies to operate stations FOR THE PUBLIC GOOD. Now this used to mean running lots of local news, PSAs, and special reporting on local events and national issues. Now it means barely digitizing nudity in Survivor... It also means that your air now belongs to the GOP: Valley broadcaster donates airtime to aid Republicans

Attempting to boost Republican Party prospects, the owner of a chain of Central Valley television and radio stations has donated $325,000 in air time for GOP candidates in many of the state's hottest legislative elections.

This is not running crap on a cable station, or making a DVD or a movie at a theater... this is YOUR air!

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Now I....Who took the money, who took the money away.

Increase in War Funding Sought
Bush to Request $70 Billion More

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Some of the Eminem lyrics to the song linked lower on this page:

Imagine it pouring, it's raining down on us,
Mosh pits outside the oval office
Someone's trying to tell us something, maybe this is God just saying
we're responsible for this monster, this coward, that we have empowered
This is Bin Laden, look at his head nodding,
How could we allow something like this, Without pumping our fist
Now this is our, final hour
...
Let the President answer on high anarchy
Strap him with AK-47, let him go
Fight his own war, let him impress daddy that way
No more blood for oil, we got our own battles to fight on our soil
No more psychological warfare to trick us to think that we ain't loyal
If we don't serve our own country we're patronizing a hero
Look in his eyes, it's all lies, the stars and stripes
They've been swiped, washed out and wiped,
And Replaced with his own face, mosh now or die
If I get sniped tonight you'll know why, because I told you to fight
...
[Eminem speaking angrily]
And as we proceed, to mosh through this desert storm, in these closing statements, if they should argue, let us beg to differ, as we set aside our differences, and assemble our own army, to disarm this weapon of mass destruction that we call our president, for the present, and mosh for the future of our next generation, to speak and be heard, Mr. President, Mr. Senator

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Streaming Quicktime (be patient dail up folks)

Simply Amazing

I guess I like Eminem now... who'd of thunk?

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W Stands for Negligence

Allawi Blames Ambush on 'Negligence'

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraq (news - web sites)'s interim prime minister blamed U.S.-led coalition forces Tuesday for "great negligence" in the ambush that killed about 50 American-trained soldiers, and a U.S. airstrike in Fallujah killed an aide to Jordanian terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the military said.

An Iraqi insurgent group, meanwhile, said on a Web site it had taken 11 Iraqi National Guard soldiers hostage.

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Some Quick Fun:

Fun edit of Bush whining about Hard work. (video)

and a scary edit of the Republican Convention: GOP in 2 Minutes (video)

And for a different kind of fun... GOP idiots seem to be getting www.georgewbush.com confused with www.georgewbush.org. The org site is an anti-bush satire site, well it has been getting some email that was supposed to have been to the real .com site, and the site has kindly posted some excerpts of the misdirected emails.

From: ardean anvik [mailto:ardeananvik@hotmail.com]
> >Sent: Friday, July 16, 2004 12:47 PM
> >To: chrisvance@wsrp.org
> >Subject: Federal Campaign Law
> >
> >
> >Chris,
...
> >May I request that you or someone on your staff send directions
> >regarding
> >what Counties can and cannot do as it pertains to newsletters and phone
> >banks usage for federal candidates. There is a great deal of ignorance
> >out
> >here and many counties are violating the campaign law as I understood it
> >
> >from you. God help us if the Democrats find out. I think we all need
> >direction. Can you help us?
> >
> >Thanks, Chris
> >
> >Ardean A. Anvik
> >State Committeeman, Mason COunty

ooops

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The Big Story of The Week: Bush Incompetence and Greed Handed Over Explosives to the Terrorists - Explosives Which Are Now Being Used to Kill Our Soldiers
(okay, I admit... I'll never make it at the New York Post... I'm horrible with headlines)

Because Bush wanted to guard the oil we knowingly left extremely dangerouse explosives unguarded... and now... surprise they are missing.

Before the war the IAEA kept watch over them... we didn't, and now these same explosives are killing Americans and who knows how many world wide.

380 tons of explosives are missing, one pound of explosives like these is what took down the jet over Scotland in 1988. We've just handed over material to allow terrorists the opportunity to take down 760,000 jets.

We knew the explosives were there... Everyone knew the explosives were there... and Bush's folks couldn't be bothered to guard them?

Here's a rundown of coverage:

Huge Cache of Explosives Vanished From Site in Iraq

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Oct. 24 - The Iraqi interim government has warned the United States and international nuclear inspectors that nearly 380 tons of powerful conventional explosives - used to demolish buildings, make missile warheads and detonate nuclear weapons - are missing from one of Iraq's most sensitive former military installations.

The huge facility, called Al Qaqaa, was supposed to be under American military control but is now a no man's land, still picked over by looters as recently as Sunday. United Nations weapons inspectors had monitored the explosives for many years, but White House and Pentagon officials acknowledge that the explosives vanished sometime after the American-led invasion last year.

The White House said President Bush's national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, was informed within the past month that the explosives were missing. It is unclear whether President Bush was informed. American officials have never publicly announced the disappearance, but beginning last week they answered questions about it posed by The New York Times and the CBS News program "60 Minutes."
...
American weapons experts say their immediate concern is that the explosives could be used in major bombing attacks against American or Iraqi forces: the explosives, mainly HMX and RDX, could produce bombs strong enough to shatter airplanes or tear apart buildings.

The bomb that brought down Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988 used less than a pound of the same type of material, and larger amounts were apparently used in the bombing of a housing complex in November 2003 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and the blasts in a Moscow apartment complex in September 1999 that killed nearly 300 people.

The explosives could also be used to trigger a nuclear weapon, which was why international nuclear inspectors had kept a watch on the material, and even sealed and locked some of it. The other components of an atom bomb - the design and the radioactive fuel - are more difficult to obtain.

Vast explosives cache missing in Iraq, U.N. says
Nearly 380 tons of ‘dual-use’ explosives said to have vanished

The Iraqis told the nuclear agency the materials had been stolen and looted because of a lack of security at government installations, said Fleming, who said the IAEA feared “that these explosives could have fallen into the wrong hands.”

At the Pentagon, an official who monitors developments in Iraq said U.S.-led coalition troops had searched Al-Qaqaa in the immediate aftermath of the March 2003 invasion and confirmed that the explosives, which had been under IAEA seal since 1991, were intact. The site was not secured by U.S. forces, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

So get this we went there, saw the explosives were there and said "hey... shouldn't we be guarding the oil ministry?" and ran off?

Not surprisingly: Kerry demands answers about missing explosives (don't we all?)

"Today, the Bush administration must answer for what may be the most grave and catastrophic mistake in a tragic series of blunders in Iraq," senior Kerry advisor Joe Lockhart said in a statement dispatched before sunrise.

"How did they fail to secure nearly 380 tons of known, deadly explosives despite clear warnings from the International Atomic Energy Agency to do so? Why was this information unearthed by reporters -- and was it covered up by our national security officials?"

"These explosives can be used to blow up airplanes, level buildings, attack our troops and detonate nuclear weapons.

"The Bush administration knew where this stockpile was, but took no action to secure the site."

The International Atomic Energy Agency on Monday confirmed a report in The New York Times that the interim government of Iraq had voiced concern over the disappearance.

An IAEA spokeswoman added that the agency feared the powerful explosives may have "fallen into the wrong hands, terrorists'."

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Yes it is Monday.

The Top Ten Conservative Idiots, No. 176 - Democratic Underground

1. Team Bush
With just eight days to go until the election, George W. Bush and friends are launching a last-ditch attempt to keep their greasy paws on the key to the White House. You'd think that after four years in power they'd have something positive to run on, but sadly that doesn't seem to be the case. So instead they're relying on that old stand-by: scaring the crap out of the American people. Funny thing is, they even seem to be losing their touch at that.

Last week Team Bush released a new TV ad called "Wolves," which is pretty much a direct rip-off of a Reagan ad from 1984 called "Bear." In the "Wolves" ad a sequence of quick shots of a forest are accompanied by a husky female voice-over warning us that "even after the first terrorist attack on America, John Kerry and the liberals in Congress voted to slash America's intelligence operations." Then the ad cuts to the aforementioned wolves which start moving towards the camera in a supposedly threatening manner.

Sorry, Team Bush, but this is just laughable. Leaving aside the fact that the statement "even after the first terrorist attack on America, John Kerry and the liberals in Congress voted to slash America's intelligence operations," is a complete and utter distortion of reality, I'm afraid those wolves just ain't scary. TV commercials for "He's a Lady" are scary. A bunch of confused doggies aren't.

I mean, seriously, watch the ad and check out the pooch second from the right. He looks like he just spotted a rabbit. Come on, Team Bush - you can do better than that. At least give the wolves turbans and beards or something.
...
6. Vote Fraudsters
The GOP is clearly worried that they can't beat Kerry at the polls, so they've decided to simply try and stop Kerry voters from getting to the polls in the first place; the proof is found in various stories this week reporting vote suppression by Republican operatives. We made brief note last week of a scam in Nevada where a GOP-funded firm allegedly tore up Democratic voter registrations - turns out that firm has also been operating in Oregon.

But Nevada and Oregon aren't the only places where the GOP are doing everything they can to make life more difficult for voters. According to Philly.com, "Republican operatives working to re-elect President Bush submitted last-minute requests in Philadelphia on Friday to relocate 63 polling places ... Of the 63 requests for changes, 53 are in political divisions where the population of white voters is less than 10 percent." Fortunately the GOP failed in this blatant attempt at suppressing the vote.

In Scranton, PA, however, officials "successfully moved 21 polling places over both citizen and Democratic objections. The GOP had just grabbed a 2-1 majority on the county's board of commissioners ... opponents say the relocated voting spots will affect as many as 10,000 voters, and they fear that as many as 10 percent, or 1,000, might be thwarted by the moves."

In New Mexico, electronic voting machines have been recording a vote for John Kerry as a vote for George W. Bush. Early voter Kim Griffith "went to Valle Del Norte Community Center in Albuquerque, planning to vote for John Kerry. 'I pushed his name, but a green check mark appeared before President Bush's name,' she said."

In Ohio, anonymous callers have been contacting elderly voters and falsely telling them that their polling places have been changed.

And also in Ohio, officials "took formal steps yesterday to place thousands of recruits inside polling places on Election Day to challenge the qualifications of voters they suspect are not eligible to cast ballots ... Republicans said they had enlisted 3,600 by the deadline, many in heavily Democratic urban neighborhoods of Cleveland, Dayton and other cities. Each recruit was to be paid $100." Republican James P. Trakas said, "The organized left's efforts to, quote unquote, register voters - I call them ringers - have created these problems."

So what does this tell us about the Republican party? Simply, if they fear one thing above all others, it's the will of the people.

- rob 5:40 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Monday Morning Ketchup (in honor of our soon to be first lady):

• How does Bush expect to lead with these wishy washy statements? He's going to demoralize the troops.

  He said the nation is safer from terrorism, but "whether or not we can be ever fully safe is up — you know, up in the air."

  From: Kerry Ridicules Bush on Terrorism Remark. Kerry was right before when he stated that it is impossible to stop terrorism completely, but he sounded thoughtful and intelligent. Bush states basically the same thing (after ridiculing Kerry's earlier comments) but sounds horribly detached "you know, up in the air." Its like saying "yeah, they may have a dirty bomb, maybe, I mean, these things happen."
  
  
• Bad News for folks whose dad bailed them out of coke busts 3a years ago... it might still bite you in the ass: Some dispute Bush account of '73 charity work

  HOUSTON - Former employees of a now-defunct inner-city program here have disputed the role President Bush says he played working with troubled teens in 1973.
  
  "I was working full-time for an inner-city poverty program known as Project PULL," he said in his 1999 autobiography, A Charge to Keep. "My friend John White... asked me to come help him run the program... . I was intrigued by John's offer... . Now I had a chance to help people."
  
  Bush often has cited this work for the Professional United Leadership League as the source for his belief in compassionate conservatism.
  
  Some former associates of White, who died in 1988, speaking on the record for the first time, say that Bush wasn't helping to run the program but was instead a volunteer, and that White hadn't asked Bush to come aboard. Instead, the associates said, White told them he agreed to take Bush on as a favor to Bush's father, who was honorary cochairman of the program at the time. They say White, a tight end for the Houston Oilers in the '60s, told them Bush had gotten into some kind of trouble, but White never gave them specifics.
  
  While they question how he came to the group, they also praise his work and agree that he connected well with the youths.
  
  "We didn't know what kind of trouble he'd been in, only that he'd done something that required him to put in the time," said Althia Turner, White's administrative assistant.
  
  "He didn't help run the program. I was in charge of him and I wouldn't say I helped run the program, either," said David Anderson, a recreational director at PULL.

  
  
  
• Surprise! the Washington Post endorses Kerry (actually it is a bit of a surprise, it seems the Post has become rabid in its love of the inner circle).
  
  
• This administration can't handle the truth. Speak it and you'll get fired.
  
  Beyond the Call of Duty
  A whistle-blower objected to the government's Halliburton deals—and says now she's paying for it

  In February 2003, less than a month before the U.S. invaded Iraq, Bunnatine (Bunny) Greenhouse walked into a Pentagon meeting and with a quiet comment started what could be the end of her career. On the agenda was the awarding of an up to $7 billion deal to a subsidiary of Houston-based conglomerate Halliburton to restore Iraq's oil facilities. On hand were senior officials from the office of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and aides to retired Lieut. General Jay Garner, who would soon become the first U.S. administrator in Iraq.
  
  Then several representatives from Halliburton entered. Greenhouse, a top contracting specialist for the Army Corps of Engineers, grew increasingly concerned that they were privy to internal discussions of the contract's terms, so she whispered to the presiding general, insisting that he ask the Halliburton employees to leave the room.
  
  Once they had gone, Greenhouse raised other concerns. She argued that the five-year term for the contract, which had not been put out for competitive bid, was not justified, that it should be for one year only and then be opened to competition. But when the contract-approval document arrived the next day for Greenhouse's signature, the term was five years. With war imminent, she had little choice but to sign. But she added a handwritten reservation that extending a no-bid contract beyond one year could send a message that "there is not strong intent for a limited competition."
  ...
  Greenhouse seems to have got nothing but trouble for questioning the deal. Warned to stop interfering and threatened with a demotion, the career Corps employee decided to act on her conscience, according to her lawyer, Michael Kohn. Kohn, who has represented other federal whistle-blowers, last week sent a letter—obtained by TIME from congressional sources—on her behalf to the acting Secretary of the Army. In it Kohn recounts Greenhouse's Pentagon meeting and demands an investigation of alleged violations of Army regulations in the contract's awarding. (The Pentagon justified the contract procedures as necessary in a time of war, saying KBR was the only choice because of security clearances that it had received earlier.) Kohn charges that Greenhouse's superiors have tried to silence her; he says she has agreed to be interviewed, pending approval from her employer, but the Army failed to make her available despite repeated requests from TIME.
  
  "These charges undercut months of assertions by Administration officials that the Halliburton contract was on the level," says Democratic Representative Henry Waxman. As the Corps's top contract specialist, the letter says, Greenhouse had noted reservations on dozens of procurement documents over seven years. But it was only after she took exception to the Halliburton deal that she was warned not to do so anymore. The letter states that the major general who admonished her, Robert Griffin, later admitted in a sworn statement that her comments on contracts had "caused trouble" for the Army and that, given the controversy surrounding the contract, it was "intolerable" and "had to stop." The letter says he threatened to downgrade her.

• Things are worse in Iraq: Dozens of new Iraqi soldiers found dead
  U.S. security official killed near Baghdad airport
  
  
• Republicans are all for freedom and democracy... if your vote for them.
  
  It's really does seem to me that something is wrong that a major party is so frightened by voters: Big G.O.P. Bid to Challenge Voters at Polls in Key State

  Republican Party officials in Ohio took formal steps yesterday to place thousands of recruits inside polling places on Election Day to challenge the qualifications of voters they suspect are not eligible to cast ballots. [you know... like african-americans - TCS]
  ...
  Election officials in other swing states, from Arizona to Wisconsin and Florida, say they are bracing for similar efforts by Republicans to challenge new voters at polling places, reflecting months of disputes over voting procedures and the anticipation of an election as close as the one in 2000.
  
  Ohio election officials said they had never seen so large a drive to prepare for Election Day challenges. They said they were scrambling yesterday to be ready for disruptions in the voting process as well as alarm and complaints among voters. Some officials said they worried that the challenges could discourage or even frighten others waiting to vote.

- rob 4:59 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Something maybe you should know

From today's NYTimes:

To the Editor:

Re "War of Words," by Tommy Franks (Op-Ed, Oct. 19):

John Kerry is correct that resources were diverted from Afghanistan to Iraq before we accomplished our mission there. How can I be so sure? General Franks told me.
In my new book, "Intelligence Matters," I describe the moment that made me doubt the president's commitment to winning the war on terror.

On Feb. 19, 2002, I visited Central Command headquarters for a briefing on our mission in Afghanistan. After an upbeat assessment with maps, photographs and video, however, General Franks asked for an additional private word in his office. "Senator,'' he said, "we are not engaged in a war in Afghanistan. ...Military and intelligence personnel are being redeployed to prepare for an action in Iraq. ... The Predators are being relocated. What we are doing is a manhunt."
General Franks was telling me this 13 months before the beginning of combat operations in Iraq, and only four months after the beginning of combat in Afghanistan.

President Bush, when asked in his first debate with Senator Kerry whether he had made removing Saddam Hussein a higher priority than capturing Osama bin Laden, said, "We've got the capability of doing both."

If we had truly been able to do both, military and intelligence resources would not have been diverted from Afghanistan, and Osama bin Laden wouldn't be continuing to exhort his followers to greater acts of terror; he, like Saddam Hussein, would be in American hands.

Bob Graham

Washington, Oct. 22, 2004

The writer, a Florida Democrat, is a former chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.

- Michael 1:05 AM - [PermaLink] -

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