In other words: A discussion of The Bush Administration
Yet another roundup
- Kerry's campaign joins call for Ohio recount
Kerry isn't sitting this out... just watching the sock to see which way the wind is blowing the ballots in Ohio. His folks even entering the story is pretty important and may be a sign that Kerry is noticing a bit of movement of that ol' wind sock that he watches so closely (that's a nice thing to think this weekend).
- Congressional Democrats ask Blackwell: What's going on?
Final count in Ohio gives Kerry 18,000 more votesJohn Kerry will pick up about 18,000 votes when Secretary of State Ken Blackwell certifies final results on Monday, according to county-by-county totals gathered by The Plain Dealer.
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On Thursday, a group of Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee led by Rep. John Conyers Jr. of Michigan wrote to Blackwell, asking him to respond to specific allegations of counting problems, spoiled ballots, provisional ballots and unusual results. In Cuyahoga County, the letter highlights a pattern in 10 Cleveland precincts where third-party candidates won hundreds of votes, an outcome the judiciary committee members deemed unlikely.
"Collectively, we are concerned that these complaints constitute a troubled portrait of a one-two punch that may well have altered and suppressed votes, particularly minority and Democratic votes," the letter said in part.- A nice and obvious headline: Ohio tally fit for Ukraine
And now Daily News reporter Larry Cohler-Esses and I have uncovered some more unusual vote totals, this time in black neighborhoods of Cleveland. Those results are from the precinct-by-precinct tallies released by the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections, where Cleveland is located.
In the 4th Ward on Cleveland's East Side, for example, two fringe presidential candidates did surprisingly well.
In precinct 4F, located at Benedictine High School on Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, Kerry received 290 votes, Bush 21 and Michael Peroutka, candidate of the ultra-conservative anti-immigrant Constitutional Party, an amazing 215 votes!
That many black votes for Peroutka is about as likely as all those Jewish votes for Buchanan in Florida's Palm Beach County in 2000.
In precinct 4N, also at Benedictine High School, the tally was Kerry 318, Bush 21, and Libertarian Party candidate Michael Badnarik 163.
Back in 2000, the combined third-party votes in those two precincts - including the Nader vote - was 8. Cuyahoga, like most of Ohio's 88 counties, uses punch-card balloting.
"That's terrible, I can't believe it," said City Councilman Kenneth Johnson, who has represented the 4th Ward since 1980. "It's obviously a malfunction with the machines."- And of Course Olbermann: Jackson verses Blackwell
You will recall that in his syndicated Op-Ed column (appearing principally in The Chicago Sun-Times) earlier this week, Jackson wrote the Ohio vote count was "marred by intolerable, often partisan, irregularities and discrepancies,” and added that "U.S. citizens have as much reason as those in Kiev to be concerned that the fix was in."And to follow up from yesterday about Bev Harris and Black Box Voting:
During the day Thursday, Secretary Blackwell's media secretary was firing back... calling the column blatantly inaccurate: "We expect someone writing an Op-Ed and a syndicate distributing that Op-Ed would fact-check information and have a responsibility to the facts."
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Blackwell gets to wait until Monday to certify the state’s vote, even though all 88 counties in the Buckeye State have finished their own confirmations. Data is still sketchy, but it turns out election officials accepted about 77% of the provisional ballots — about 121,000 of them. No statewide count of the provisionals yet, though results reported by one county — Franklin (that's Columbus), indicated that Senator Kerry had gotten nearly 7,700 of the more-than 12,000 provisional votes counted.
But of all the developments out of Ohio, the most provocative, clearly, is still stalled under the weight of its own paperwork. The Alliance for Democracy is not quite ready with its challenge to the vote yet. Lawyer Cliff Arnebeck, with who else but Reverend Jackson by his side today on the steps of the Ohio Supreme Court, said that the group hopes to file its election challenge tomorrow — if not, Monday — but it’s not guaranteeing anything.
If and when it gets around to it, the Alliance will be asking one high court justice to set the election results aside, pending a full investigation and hearing. Arnebeck said today he believes that if all ballots were counted in what he calls a "traditional context,” the outcome would not just swing from President Bush’s 130,000 vote election night lead — it would swing all the way in the opposite direction, and give Kerry a 130,000 vote lead.
“Once we file the litigation.” Arnebeck added, “aggressive discovery will proceed, and we'll get to the truth. I want to reemphasize once again as we did at the previous press conference that the purpose here is not partisan, the purpose here is not destructive toward anyone and we invite all candidates, we invite the Bush campaign and the Kerry campaign to join and cooperate in a non-partisan effort to find the truth, gather the facts, and assure the public, and assure both candidates, that this is an honest election."
Arnebeck sounded a little like a protestor in Kiev: "Our presidential election affects not just this country but all the citizens of the world. And therefore it's absolutely essential that the person who assumes the mantle of that office has the full confidence of our public and the world community that it was an honest election.”
Amen.I should clarify what I wrote in this space last night about Countdown’s interaction with Bev Harris of Black Box Voting. My staff is not certain that any of our messages to Ms. Harris inviting her on the show since the week of November 15 have specifically asked her for permission to play the videotapes of her work trying to audit the Florida vote. We think so, but I’ve got only three people booking all the guests on this program, and they each probably make about 100 calls a day.And if Bev's footage does exist, this is a sad bit of news. Of note is that though Olbermann has always commented on the fact that this important story is strangely not being covered elsewhere in detail, this is the first time he has noted that continuing to report on this issue might not be the best idea careerwise. That kind of scares me.
Complicating our effort is the fact that even as we hoped to provide a platform to publicize and illuminate her efforts, Ms. Harris had returned none of the messages left on her own voicemail by Countdown staffers since she spoke to our staffers briefly, twice, during the week of November 8. Only today did she even get back in touch with us, and was so belligerent, threatening, and demanding, that we have chosen to withdraw our invitation to her to appear, or to have videotape of her efforts played, on Countdown.
Threats against myself or my staff will not be tolerated. We are not only busting our humps on the voting irregularities beat, but we remain the only mainstream news organization to continue to cover this vital story. These are my people — they are running professional risks I can’t begin to describe — and I will stand up for them, first, last, and always.
- rob 5:56 PM - [PermaLink] -
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Good reading.
Daily Kos :: Why Sibel Edmonds will never talk (9/11)
- rob 5:32 PM - [PermaLink] -
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Do you feel safer now?- Thursday, December 02, 2004 -
Safety from terrorists on flights really hasn't improved, but no matter, basic human dignity can be sacrificed at the alter of mock "security."
What would Reagan think? Illegal Strip Searches at Reagan National?TSA Employee: "The look on their face would almost give you the sense that they felt like they were in a sense being raped. In a sense, being victimized and to a certain extent, they were. "
TSA Employee: "That really incensed me that someone felt that they could just put on some gloves and they could just violate someone to that degree."
TSA Employee: "They actually had the passenger remove the clothing that covered the sensitive area and perform a duck walk to see if something would fall out."
IN FACT, SOME OF THOSE SO-CALLED PRIVATE SCREENINGS WERE ALLEGEDLY CONDUCTED IN A VERY PUBLIC PLACE: THIS STAIRWELL…ACCESSIBLE TO OTHER PASSENGERS AND AIRPORT EMPLOYEES.
TSA Employee: "The private screenings were conducted right in that stairwell"
TSA EMPLOYEES SAY AFTER THEY COMPLAINED, THE SCREENINGS WERE MOVED INTO THIS MANAGERS' OFFICE… WHERE THEY ALLEGE, UNSUSPECTING PASSENGERS WERE EITHER VIDEOTAPED OR MONITORED ON CLOSED CIRCUIT TELEVISION.
TSA Employee: I couldn't believe it! I said is that a camera up there? And they said yeah
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Andrea McCarren: "You're saying a female passenger would be stopped for additional screening not because she set off an alarm but because of her breast size?"
TSA Employee: "Absolutely, Yes"
TSA: Tits, Strips, and Assholes
- rob 11:04 AM - [PermaLink] -
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Some Abstinence Programs Mislead Teens, Report Says (washingtonpost.com)Many American youngsters participating in federally funded abstinence-only programs have been taught over the past three years that abortion can lead to sterility and suicide, that half the gay male teenagers in the United States have tested positive for the AIDS virus, and that touching a person's genitals "can result in pregnancy," a congressional staff analysis has found.Said the courseware developer: "okay I may have been wrong about the touching of genitals part, but you got to admit touching someone's genitals is pretty icky. It's bad enough I have to touch myself to urinate."
Besides lowering human reproduction education to that of what these guys great grandfathers learned in back of the barn, they've also moved human behavior education to what those kids in back of the barn learned from their repressed Sunday school teacher.Some course materials cited in Waxman's report present as scientific fact notions about a man's need for "admiration" and "sexual fulfillment" compared with a woman's need for "financial support." One book in the "Choosing Best" series tells the story of a knight who married a village maiden instead of the princess because the princess offered so many tips on slaying the local dragon. "Moral of the story," notes the popular text: "Occasional suggestions and assistance may be alright, but too much of it will lessen a man's confidence or even turn him away from his princess."Yeah, if God meant woman to give advice on killing dragons God would have, you know, like given woman a mouth or something... that and, um... really cool dragons to kill, I mean... you know... dragons to give advice about... and dragons with wicked cool wings.
- rob 4:15 PM - [PermaLink] -
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Quick "fraud" update:
- Olbermann continues to follow the issue and brings a troubling trend up, is Bev Harris moving from a crusader for voting rights to someone aggrandizing herself at the cost of actually forwarding the cause of election transparency. We've linked to BlackBoxVoting from day one here at TCS (for close to 25 months), but her posts have gotten more theatrical, and if her recent postings are true she has evidence that could make this story explode (finally) into the nation conciseness. But I'm starting to wonder. I'd hate to stop linking to her, for a long time she was the lone voice on the issue of computerized voting that does not use a paper trail. She really got the goods on Diebold out to the public. California's lawsuit probably couldn't have happened without her.
Each and every day since our coverage of all this began on November 8, I have received a set of emails, some times a few, some times many, asking ?Why don?t you have Bev Harris on Countdown?,? ?Why don?t you run the Bev Harris videotapes?,? ?Why don?t you show the voting tapes Bev Harris found discarded in the trash in Florida??The tapes he is talking about as described by Bev:
Because she won?t let us.
I have not dealt with Ms. Harris directly, but my staff has, and though we have asked her on a regular basis to let us show these tapes on national television, she has declined.
We are running in risky waters as it is, offering a platform for tapes we can?t independently verify. But I have heretofore been convinced that she had credentials sufficient to make an interview segment with her both useful and reasonable.
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The usefulness of that videotape to the immediate issue at hand - were there widespread failures of the electronic voting systems in this country on November 2nd, and if so, were those failures enabledby any malfeasance - has an expiration date. If they show irregularities, if they show public servants at their worst, even if they?re guerrilla-style political confrontations, they have a public value - an urgent one.
Have you seen them?Monday Bev, Andy and Kathleen came in with a film crew and asked for the FOIA request. Deanie Lowe gave it over with a smile, but Harris noticed that one item, the polling place tapes, were not copies of the real ones, but instead were new printouts, done on Nov. 15, and not signed by anyone.Also on Black Box Voting Bev responds to Olbermann
Harris asked to see the real ones, and they said for "privacy" reasons they can't make copies of the signed ones. She insisted on at least viewing them (although refusing to give copies of the signatures is not legally defensible, according to Berkeley elections attorney, Lowell Finley). They said the real ones were in the County Elections warehouse. It was quittin' time and an arrangment was made to come back this morning to review them.
Lana Hires, a Volusia County employee who gained some notoriety in an election 2000 Diebold memo, where she asked for an explanation of minus 16,022 votes for Gore, so she wouldn't have to stand there "looking dumb" when the auditor came in, was particularly unhappy about seeing the Black Box Voting investigators in the office. She vigorously shook her head when Deanie Lowe suggested going to the warehouse.
Kathleen Wynne and Bev Harris showed up at the warehouse at 8:15 Tuesday morning, Nov. 16. There was Lana Hires looking especially gruff, yet surprised. She ordered them out. Well, they couldn't see why because there she was, with a couple other people, handling the original poll tapes. You know, the ones with the signatures on them. Harris and Wynne stepped out and Volusia County officials promptly shut the door.
There was a trash bag on the porch outside the door. Harris looked into it and what do you know, but there were poll tapes in there. They came out and glared at Harris and Wynne, who drove away a small bit, and then videotaped the license plates of the two vehicles marked 'City Council' member. Others came out to glare and soon all doors were slammed.Olbermann's producers had asked Harris to appear on the Countdown show twice, on Nov. 5 and Nov. 8. Each time, after Harris cleared her schedule to appear and shortly before the show, Olbermann's producers canceled the appearance without explanation.Who knows.
Harris showed the Volusia County tapes to CNN cameramen, but Harris has never been asked to show any Volusia County materials to any MSNBC producers, or NBC producers. The NBC local affiliate in Palm Beach County asked for the LePore videotape, which Harris promptly provided. The tapes, when showed without editing, show clearly that Olbermann's report was not accurate about the LePore incident either. An edited version of the LePore tape was aired on both Orlando and Palm Beach County NBC affiliates last night.
- Meanwhile Daily Kos members continue to do some investigating on their own: Kerry cost 369 votes at one Ohio polling place. Not an isolated problem: 115 lost at another
- rob 3:28 PM - [PermaLink] -
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A long and disheartening read: Fascism arrives in America: the Elephant in the Bathtub
- rob 2:57 PM - [PermaLink] -
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The Hosehead Goes To The Great White North- Wednesday, December 01, 2004 -
Take off eh
Bush-Martin back-slapping can't hide ideological divideThe warm standing ovation that greeted Bush on his way into what had been billed as a feel-good event turned to stony silence once the president began talking about actual policy.
- rob 10:51 AM - [PermaLink] -
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Time for another election "fraud" round up. Almost all of these posts appeared on The Daily Kos where members there are definitely keeping on top of the issue.
- evidence of machine tampering?
If you recall, several weeks ago there was a story about an authorized person getting access to a computer used for the election in Ohio. The full report is given below, but a few things to note: (a) the person was on the computer that was used to tabulate the votes, (b) the person was working on the computer over the weekend shortly before election day, (c) the person was not authorized to access the computer, (d) the person was not supervised while on the computer, and (e) the person was not even a current employee of ES&S (the software manufacturer), but a former employee.
My question is this. Couldn't one reasonably argue that this is prima facie evidence of machine tampering, which actually shifts the burden of proof over to election officials to prove that there was not fraud? Can't this be used as the basis to supeona the individual who was on the computer? Can't this be used as the basis to take the computer, software, etc. into evidence, and have computer experts look at them?- "Actionable Fraud" and More!
- Found (11/30) : vote aberrations, Ohio
NY Daily News columnist Juan Gonzalez told us on Tuesday (yesterday) about unbelievable vote-count spikes for 3rd party candidates in a bunch of African-American neighborhood precincts in Cleveland. The unexplained tallies were uncovered by Gonzalez and his colleague, reporter Larry Cohler-Esses. They found the 3rd-party-count vote surge for: Michael Peroutka (Precinct 4-F ) and Michael Badnarik (4-N ), and similarly for 12 other Cleveland precincts. Example- Kerry 318, Badnarik 163, Bush 21 (precinct 4N). Next example - Kerry 290 , Peroutka 215, Bush 21 (4F). Peroutka is an ultra-conservative.
"That's terrible, I can't believe it," said City Councilman Kenneth Johnson (4th ward rep since 1980) "It's obviously a malfunction with the machines."
The combined 3rd party votes last time around - in 2000 - including Nader was just 8 votes in all for the 2 precincts, F and N.
Look below, these figures are implausible. Gonzalez titles his column "Ohio tally fit for Ukraine" and he wonders if there are vote diversions that may be replicated in other parts of Ohio too. Are these counts symptomatic of something?- Kerry says "huh wha... I coulda been a contender?": Kerry Campaign Files Brief in Ohio
- Which brings us to the Greens having something the Democrats lack: A spine. Read: Campaigns Demand that Court Allow Recount. The Greens are asking for counts in Nevada and New Mexico now... does Kerry have a ManDate?
- And it looks like the media is blinking its eyes, yawning, and realizing there could be a big story here... a local Ukraine if you will. Here from the front Page of the Boston Globe:
In other places, machine undercounting or overcounting of votes was a problem. Several thousand votes were mistakenly double-counted in North Carolina, Ohio, Nebraska, and Washington state. Some votes in other areas were at first credited to the wrong candidates, with one Indiana county, by some quirk, misallocating several hundred votes for Democrats to Libertarians. In Florida, some machines temporarily indicated votes intended for challenger John F. Kerry were for President Bush, and vice versa.
- rob 2:26 PM - [PermaLink] -
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A good Christmas tradition
Let's Bring Em Home!Welcome to Let's Bring Em Home! This is our fourth year taking donations to purchase plane tickets for junior enlisted military personnel, allowing them the opportunity to fly home and spend the holidays with their families.Now wouldn't it be even nicer if they were allowed to stay home?
We are adding a new facet to the 2004 LBEH campaign. Some troops wounded in combat are unable to leave the hospitals where they are being treated, so we are looking into the possibility of delivering their loved ones to the hospitals for the holidays!
- rob 1:29 PM - [PermaLink] -
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Tolerance and acceptance now so Controversial that you can't air it on TV
Talking Points Memo: United Church of Christ commercial won't be aired by CBS, NBC, and UPNThe United Church of Christ (UCC) plans to run a major ad campaign in December to raise public awareness of the denomination. One of the ads is meant, in the words of a UCC press release, to convey the message "that -- like Jesus -- the United Church of Christ seeks to welcome all people, regardless of ability, age, race, economic circumstance or sexual orientation."See the ad, it is excellent. "Jesus didn't turn people away" is the controversy?
You can see the ad here -- it features two burly bouncers turning various people away from a church service. And if you watch it you'll see that the broad message of inclusion over intolerance places a prominent emphasis on acceptance of homosexuals in the life of the church.
Yet, according to press release out this evening from the UCC, both CBS and NBC have refused to air the ad because the subject matter is "too controversial."
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According to the UCC press release, CBS explained its decision, in part, as follows ..."Because this commercial touches on the exclusion of gay couples and other minority groups by other individuals and organizations," reads an explanation from CBS, "and the fact the Executive Branch has recently proposed a Constitutional Amendment to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman, this spot is unacceptable for broadcast on the [CBS and UPN] networks."
America's media is now pulling advertisements because they may be interpreted as a repudiation of one of an unpopular President's political stances?
Okay, America is now officially a very scary place.
If the Unitarians wanted to air an ad that said "Judge not least you be judged," would that not be aired? If Quakers ran an aid saying "thou shalt not kill" would that be banned?
How can "Christians" support the Bush administration? This makes me want to repost (yet again) this Mad magazine piece:
- rob 10:19 AM - [PermaLink] -
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I'd say "I love the smell of napalm in the morning" if I could gather the strength to be sarcastic after being weakened yet again by being let down by the leaders of a nation I otherwise love: America is again using Napalm:- Tuesday, November 30, 2004 -
U.S. uses napalm gas in Fallujah – WitnessesResidents in Fallujah reported that innocent civilians have been killed by napalm attacks, a poisonous cocktail of polystyrene and jet fuel which makes the human body melt.This is how we are to win the hearts and minds of Iraqis. Every day Bush is handing the terrorists recruits. Anger at America over this will last decades, and I have to go to a foreign news outlet to learn about this?
Since the U.S. offensive started in Fallujah earlier this month, there have been reports of “melted” bodies which proves that the napalm gas had been used.
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On Saturday, Labor MPs have demanded that British Prime Minister confront the Commons over the use of the deadly gas in Fallujah.
Halifax Labor MP Alice Mahon said: "I am calling on Mr. Blair to make an emergency statement to the Commons to explain why this is happening. It begs the question: 'Did we know about this hideous weapon's use in Iraq?'"
Furious critics have also demanded that Blair threatens the U.S. to pullout British forces from Iraq unless the U.S. stops using the world’s deadliest weapon.
The United Nations banned the use of the napalm gas against civilians in 1980 after pictures of a naked wounded girl in Vietnam shocked the world.
The United States, which didn't endorse the convention, is the only nation in the world still using the deadly weapon.
Perhaps I'm being to hard on the American press, after searching on google I did find one mainstream american media news articles about Napalm in Iraq. In March, 2003 CNN ran an article called Protecting Iraq's oil supply , and if you read down to the 12th paragraph you might notice thisIt is now estimated the hill was hit so badly by missiles, artillery and by the Air Force, that they shaved a couple of feet off it. And anything that was up there that was left after all the explosions was then hit with napalm. And that pretty much put an end to any Iraqi operations up on that hill.Does the American news media no longer believe reporting is important?
- rob 9:25 AM - [PermaLink] -
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Good Lord in Heaven, I (sorta) agree with Phyllis Schlafly!?!!??
No Child Left UnmedicatedBig Brother is on the march. A plan to subject all children to mental health screening is underway, and the pharmaceuticals are gearing up for bigger sales of psychotropic drugs.It looks as if parents may not only be unable to prevent these mental screening programs, they may not even be notified when they take place.
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The NFCMH recommends "routine and comprehensive" testing and mental health screening for every child in America, including preschoolers. President Bush has instructed 25 federal agencies to develop a plan to implement the Commission's recommendations.
The NFCMH proposes utilizing electronic medical records for mental health interrogation of both children and adults for mental illnesses in school and during routine physical exams. The NFCMH also recommends integrating electronic health records and personal health information systems.
The NFCMH recommends "linkage" of these mental examinations with "state-of-the-art treatments" using "specific medications for specific conditions." That means prescribing more expensive patented antidepressants and antipsychotic drugs.
Illinois became the first state to jump on board. By near-unanimous votes in 2003, the Legislature passed the $10 million Illinois Children's Mental Health Act creating a Children's Mental Health Partnership (ICMHP), which is expected to become a model for other states.
The ICMHP's plan, released on July 16, calls for periodic social and emotional developmental examinations to be administered to all children, and for all women to be interrogated for depression during pregnancy and up to a year postpartum. When the ICMHP showcased this plan with five public hearings stacked with bureaucrats and social service workers, a political tempest erupted, with state legislators saying they had no idea this was what they had voted for.
Illinois legislators were shocked to hear the details. The plan includes periodic developmental exams for children ages 0-18 years, a statewide data-reporting system to track information on each person, social-emotional development screens with all mandated school exams (K, 4th, and 9th), and report cards on children's social-emotional development.
The plan is to add mental health assessment to the state's physical examination certificate, along with mandatory immunization records. All children in Illinois, unless religiously exempt, are required to have up-to-date health examinations and immunizations for school entry.
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Parental rights are unclear or non-existent under these mental screening programs. What are the rights of youth and parents to refuse or opt out of mental screening?
But being a conservative nut job, Schlafly somehow convinces herself that a program created by a Republican President can be a liberal big-spending idea. Bush is the big spender and he is the one wanting your children to go through mental "screening." Its got Bush written all over it: New Freedom Commission on Mental Health? WTF? It even sounds scary.
- rob 5:30 PM - [PermaLink] -
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Found this on PandagonMy State is Blue
by Adam Wasson
Today you are joyous while I’m filled with rue
I canvassed, I voted, what more could I do?
I said invasion and you said “rescue”
Your state is red; my state is blue
You protect companies I want to sue
I’m pro-first amendment, you like number two
You promote abstinence; I like to screw
Your state is red; my state is blue
You say “be strong” and I say “be true”
I say “homophobia,” you say “value”
You’re killing health care and I’ve got the flu
Your state is red; my state is blue
You like the Cowboys, I side with the Sioux
My pets go “meow” and your pets go “moo”
You think that crap in the Bible is true
Your state is red; my state is blue
I fought the good fight, did all I could do
There are millions of me, and yet more of you
Oh Cheney, Cheney, you bastard, I’m through
Your state is red; my state is blue
- rob 5:17 PM - [PermaLink] -
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Your tax dollars at work
No shrimp left behindThe $388 billion bill is loaded with dollars going to special interests related to pumping out more food. Congress is maintaining agricultural subsidies amounting to $16.4 billion. Alaska is getting $1 million to market seafood. Mississippi is getting $269,000 to harvest seafood. Oregon is getting $443,000 to make salmon baby food. Maine is getting $236,000 to research blueberries.
Congress is so serious about animal control that it is giving $50,000 to Missouri to control wild hogs. New York is getting $199,000 to control Canada geese. It is so serious about plant protection that it is giving North Dakota $335,000 to shoo blackbirds off sunflowers. It is giving Alaska another $150,000 to protect the Anchorage botanical garden from hungry moose. The protection effort that drew the most sarcasm from Senator John McCain of Arizona was $1 million for a "Wild American Shrimp Initiative."
McCain asked, "Are American shrimp unruly and lacking initiative? Why does the US taxpayer need to fund this `No Shrimp Left Behind Act?' "
In flush times, this might be neither here nor there, and you could go back to stuffing your face. But the same budget that did all that, let alone provide $350,000 for "education programs" for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, is the same budget that will also slash eligibility for college Pell grants.
- rob 3:21 PM - [PermaLink] -
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Two very detailed posts with lots of numbers and stuff:
- COMPELLING: OHIO RECOUNT-- STEALING VOTES IN COLUMBUS-- INVESTIGATE DAMSCHRODER
- Miami Herald recount: No flaws...or were there?!?
- rob 3:17 PM - [PermaLink] -
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The American Way- Monday, November 29, 2004 -
Why does the kid who strikes out every single time at bat get rewarded, while the rest of us sluggers get nickeled and dimed to our graves?
With its stock plunging and its ability to thrive as an independent company uncertain, the drug giant Merck has adopted a plan that could give its top executives big bonuses if the company is taken over.
Yesterday, Merck said in a federal securities filing that its board had decided to give its top 230 managers the opportunity for a one-time payment of up to three years of salary and bonus if another company bought Merck - or merely bought over 20 percent of its shares. Any executive who was fired or resigned for good cause would receive the payment.
Many big companies have golden parachute plans to protect executives in the event of takeovers and to keep them from leaving if a takeover is looming. But experts on corporate governance said Merck's decision to adopt such a plan was particularly ill timed. The board is rewarding executives for its problems with Vioxx and the company's inability to bring new drugs to market, critics said. "It looks terrible, period," said Tom Dewey, a lawyer who has consulted for pharmaceutical companies and their boards.
Well how it looks depends on your point of view. I guess the smart money is to rise to the top on sheer incompetence, then run your company into the ground. It's what they teach you now in little league. Three strikes you're in.
- Michael 11:01 AM - [PermaLink] -
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Enough with helping people already
Democrats, humanitarians, liberals, etc. seem to be hung up on announcing their intentions: Helping people. That populace likes that, but not as much as we would like to think, and it does some harm to some very valid proposals and reforms.
Remember back in the Reagan era when Americans were happy with the idea that hundreds of intelligent but needy people would be denied affordable loans that would make it possible for them to go to college rather then have a few students purchase stereos with the loan money?
People seem to be happy with the idea of locking people up, but unhappy of programs that could prevent them from turning into criminals in the first place. Helping humanity as a marketing point doesn’t really work. I know it is hard to admit after growing up with Star Trek, but humanity isn’t really all it is cracked up to be.
Helping people can and always should be framed as a smart move for your tax dollar. Save money with the added bonus of helping people. People will go for that.
So many things we want our nation to be about: a fair justice system, healthcare, humanitarian aide, education, alternative fuels etc. can be correctly painted as initiatives that aide the economy, programs that increase the wealth for the whole nation and over time reduce the size of the government (less taxes). Other great achievements these programs provide that would benefit in marketing them: they reduce abortions and teen pregnancy, they reduce crime, they make America safer, and the truth is America finally becomes a true pro-life nation (while keeping abortion legal).
Reforming America’s health care system isn’t about providing coverage for America’s poor; it is the right thing to do for businesses big and small. Compute the amounts that businesses pay for covering (even partially) the health insurance of their employees. Compute the loss of productivity because HR and employees must wade through purposefully Byzantine HMO rules. Compute the loss of productivity due to employees being out sick because they didn't take preventative doctor visits (for fear of the cost). Compute the cost of the governments covering hospital bills of the uncovered. Etc. You will see that billions will go back into the economy and into people’s pockets if the health care system is completely revamped and perhaps even nationalized. And the minute someone says that America’s health system is the envy of the world just do a spit take. Show them our infant mortality rates vs. the rest of the developed world. Suddenly we’ll turn green.
The Democrats need to scratch everything when it comes to healthcare. The present system is gamed so that any healthcare “program” the government comes up with is just a band-aid on a huge gushing wound that needs to be cauterized.
Pre-natal care, infant and toddler care and assistance, and head start programs all have a positive impact on the economy (more jobs and more money into the economy while reducing federal expenditures in the long run). Availability of pre-natal and infant care would not only have a small reduction in abortion rates, but would definitely have huge reductions in later medical expenditures that the government would have to help with. Money spent on young children is worth ten times more then what is spent on teens (it is almost too late then). Programs like this actually increase test scores in later life, while reducing crime and teen pregnancy (really, a happy and secure toddler has a dramatically more healthy teen life both in body and in mind no matter what later befalls them). You save tax money in the long run (actually not even that long).
After school programs, youth groups, and job training programs reduce crime. Crime costs money. A large portion of your taxes goes to feed, shelter, and cloth people for years and years. Imagine if you spend money on programs that actually lead to a reduction in crime. It actually works out to tax dollars being saved, plus you get the added benefit that these people not in jail get jobs and pay taxes themselves. Sounds like a no brainier (helping people is just a side benefit).
International and humanitarian aide – looks a lot cheaper then a war in Iraq. Seriously, international aide should be shown in economic and security terms. It boosts America’s standing dramatically; this increases international responsiveness to our calls for assistance (imagine more aide in Iraq… that’d save us a LOT of tax dollars). It also decreases hatred towards America. This actually will impact risks to our security. Less risks - less expenditures. Humanitarian aide is about saving money.
Curb arms sales. Companies involved in trading weapons increase our tax burden. We spend money (our tax dollars) buying weapons to defend or attack people who are using weapons bought from the same companies we purchased ours (maybe not directly). An international decrease in arms is about saving money on our defense.
Democrats have allowed themselves to be painted anti-business, when they are not. Something that the Repugs preach but do not practice is the truth that one of the best ways to help folks is to make a vibrant economy (rising tide and shit). However, their definition of a vibrant economy is wrong (as is their means of reaching even their definition). Repugs (and too many democrats) consider huge multinationals as business, as the drivers of the economy. They are not; they are the source of much of America’s business woes. Small businesses are where it is at. You get innovation, you get local employees, you get companies that buy supplies and services locally, they almost never outsource. A million in small companies boosts our economy better then many millions in a multination. Repugs talk small business, and effectively, Democrats need to actively and publicly assist small business. Action and Talk.
Alternative fuel creates jobs. Lots and lots of jobs. Alternative fuel can be sold both as increasing our national security (for reasons that really should be obvious to everyone but often is not) and making America an innovation and business leader. Massive infrastructures will need to be updated and revamped to adapt to new fuel sources. Talk about an economic shot in the arm. This won’t be the government’s monies. This will be from businesses adapting to energy models that offer long-term benefits. Clean and alternative fuel sources lessen the very real risk of oil dependency (peak oil is real), and lessen their environmental clean up costs.
Good business is not about good profits; it is about sustainability. Look at all the good investment advice: buy long term. Almost all the large corporation strife and intrigue has been by companies who sought only short term profits. They were addicted to the quick buck, and their raises depended upon them. Our political process is addicted to the quick fix. Short term solutions to obvious long term needs. It is less work, and an easy talking point for re-election. Sustainability shouldn’t be a new age ideal, but an obvious economic benefit. Democrats often have sports cars that they market simply as useful means of transportation. Market them as fast, sleek, and sexy that doesn’t mean they aren’t useful means of transportation.
Sorry for the long bit. I think it is actually a companion piece to this post: We need a radical, which makes it quite long.
- rob 3:36 PM - [PermaLink] -
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Typical incorrect headline. It was actually the Constitution that was first to go.
Courts first to go in right-wing revolution"Congress controls the federal judiciary," Rep. Hostettler was quoted as saying. "If Congress wants to, it can refer all cases to the state courts. Congress can say the federal courts have limited power to enforce their decision."
Apparently, the Hoosier congressman has not heard of the balance of power among the three arms of our government. He was quoted as telling the Christian Coalition members:
"When the courts make unconstitutional decisions, we should not enforce them. Federal courts have no army or navy... The court can opine, decide, talk about, sing, whatever it wants to do. We're not saying they can't do that. At the end of the day, we're saying the court can't enforce its opinions."
- rob 3:32 PM - [PermaLink] -
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Are we surprised?
Audit: Halliburton lost track of U.S. property in Iraq
- rob 3:28 PM - [PermaLink] -
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No Duh!
'They hate our policies, not our freedom'
Quietly released Pentagon report contains major criticisms of administration.'Muslims do not hate our freedom, but rather they hate our policies [the report says]. The overwhelming majority voice their objections to what they see as one-sided support in favor of Israel and against Palestinian rights, and the long-standing, even increasing, support for what Muslims collectively see as tyrannies, most notably Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Pakistan and the Gulf states. Thus, when American public diplomacy talks about bringing democracy to Islamic societies, this is seen as no more than self-serving hypocrisy.'
- rob 3:26 PM - [PermaLink] -
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Frank Rich: The Great Indecency HoaxThe mainstream press, itself in love with the "moral values" story line and traumatized by the visual exaggerations of the red-blue map, is too cowed to challenge the likes of the American Family Association. So are politicians of both parties. It took a British publication, The Economist, to point out that the percentage of American voters citing moral and ethical values as their prime concern is actually down from 2000 (35 percent) and 1996 (40 percent).Okay, this is a stretch, but this kind of goes back to a theory of mine that Republicans want to restrict, limit, eliminate, illegalize everything they would want to do, want to watch, get their jollys from but they otherwise feel are sinful, meanwhile if liberals don't like something, they just don't do it, watch it, or enjoy it: Conservatives and the need for law and societal stigma.
...
The F.C.C. and the family values crusaders alike are cooking their numbers. The first empirical evidence was provided this month by Jeff Jarvis, a former TV Guide critic turned blogger. He had the ingenious idea of filing a Freedom of Information Act request to see the actual viewer complaints that drove the F.C.C. to threaten Fox and its affiliates with the largest indecency fine to date - $1.2 million for the sins of a now-defunct reality program called "Married by America." Though the F.C.C. had cited 159 public complaints in its legal case against Fox, the documents obtained by Mr. Jarvis showed that there were actually only 90 complaints, written by 23 individuals. Of those 23, all but 2 were identical repetitions of a form letter posted by the Parents Television Council. In other words, the total of actual, discrete complaints about "Married by America" was 3.
..."Desperate Housewives" is hardly a blue-state phenomenon. A hit everywhere, it is even a bigger hit in Oklahoma City than it is in Los Angeles, bigger in Kansas City than it is in New York.
- rob 3:23 PM - [PermaLink] -
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Quick election round up
- Jackson Joins Critics Of Ohio Vote
"This is about the integrity of the vote. This is not about the Kerry campaign," said Jackson, who supported the Democrat for president.
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"We can live with winning and losing. We cannot live with fraud and stealing," Jackson said.- And Olbermann continues his excellent updates about the situation:
“John Kerry supports a full investigation” of the voting irregularities in Ohio, the Rev. Jesse Jackson told reporters Saturday before he began two days of rallies in the state to push for an investigation - and a recount. “I talked with John Kerry last night (Friday), and he supports the investigation,” The Chicago Sun-Times further quoted Jackson. “His lawyers are observing it closely.”
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In his news conference and at his rally Sunday in Columbus, Jackson hit the now-familiar main points of the Ohio inquiry. He called the disconnect between exiting polling and actual voting “suspicious,” invoked the infamous Multiplying Voting Machine of Gahanna, cited the Warren County lockdown, and criticized Kenneth Blackwell’s dual role as Ohio’s Secretary of State (and thus its chief electoral official) and as Co-Chairman of the Bush-Cheney reelection campaign there. Love him or hate him, Rev. Jackson still has the knack for perfect imagery. “We need to investigate, coordinate, litigate, recount and recuse. Mr. Blackwell cannot be both the owner of the team and the umpire.”
Jackson may or may not have also introduced a new rotting fish into the pile of evidence that suggests Ohio did a very lousy job of running an election four weeks ago. “We don’t want to be presumptuous, but these numbers in Butler, Clermont, Warren and Hamilton counties are suspicious.” Jackson refers in part to what several voters’ groups see as the incongruity of an underfunded Democratic candidate for the Ohio Supreme Court, C. Ellen Connally, getting a net 45,000 more votes in Butler County relative to her Republican opponent than Kerry did relative to his. She finished ahead of her party’s presidential nominee by 10,000 net votes or more in five Ohio counties; by 5,000 or more in ten others.
It is not unprecedented for a statewide candidate - especially a popular, well-publicized one - to finish “ahead of the ticket.” But Connally was a retired African-American judge from Cleveland, and Butler County is as about as far away from Cleveland (on the Indiana border, and 40 miles north of Kentucky) as you can get and still be in Ohio.
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The fun continues throughout the Buckeye State. The Cincinnati Post Saturday quoted Chairman Tim Burke of the Hamilton County Board of Elections as saying that approximately 400 of the 3,000 provisional ballots invalidated in his jurisdiction were thrown out for an extraordinary reason. In some cases, one polling place served more than one voting precinct - and though they were in the correct building, voters were disqualified because they got in the wrong line. “400 voters were in the right place,” Burke says, “but not at the right table.” The newspaper says Burke plans to object to those disqualifications when Hamilton County meets Tuesday to certify its vote.
- rob 2:30 PM - [PermaLink] -
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Its a real big Corner!!! (you know the corner were supposedly turning when it came to the economy, and pretty much everything else).
Fears over recovery as Wal-Mart sales stall
If it wasn't for the fact that does signal bad things for the American economy, I can't help but be happy that Wal-Mart ain't doing as well as it should. They are symptomatic of almost everything wrong with many American businesses.
- rob 1:49 PM - [PermaLink] -
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Ooops: I missed last weeks: Top Ten Conservative Idiots7. Conan the Environmentalist
Governor Groping Austrian Beefcake is promising to boost hydrogen as an alternative fuel source in California - a laudable goal. Perhaps, though, he could start by practicing what he preaches. Arnie turned up at a photo-op last week driving a hydrogen-powered Hummer, which he proceeded to fill at a special pump in front of a crowd of enthusiastic photographers.
Unfortunately the makers of the Hummer admitted later that it not been retrofitted but built specially for the occasion and, could only travel 50 miles before needing to be refueled. And, uh, no hydrogen actually came out of the pump that Arnold was photographed using, it was just a prop. Finally, after the press had put their cameras and notebooks away, the Gropenator left in a regular gasoline-powered Hummer that gets 15 miles to the gallon. Oh well, at least he looked good for the cameras.
- rob 1:44 PM - [PermaLink] -
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